Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05491; 9 Nov 90 4:43 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa18254; 9 Nov 90 3:03 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23723; 9 Nov 90 1:58 CST Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 0:59:48 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #801 BCC: Message-ID: <9011090059.ab24517@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 9 Nov 90 00:59:33 CST Volume 10 : Issue 801 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson UK Telephone Costs [Clive Feather] British Telecom Special Service Codes [Clive Feather] Wrong Number Nightmare [Arun Baheti] What Must 900 Sleazoids Say About Charges? [John Murray] Trivia Question About Butt Sets [David Barts] NT SL-1 Me{Meridian 1} vs. Mitel SX-200D [Bill Cerny] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Clive Feather Subject: UK Telephone Costs Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 7:34:00 GMT [More material from my British Telecom phone bill inserts.] I thought US readers might like to compare their phone costs against ours! Here is a complete list of British Telecom charges for installation, rental, and calls. It does not include equipment rental, as that is a free market (for example, of the three phones in my house (all on one line), one is a Taiwanese phone I was given as a birthday present, one is a UK made answering machine bought in a typewriter shop, and one is a BT made phone bought in a department store). All numbers are in pounds sterling, and exclude Value Added Tax at 15%. For US readers, this means that the number 1.00 means about $2.25. Note that BT bills quarterly, not monthly. ==== British Telecom charges from 1 September 1990. Installation (including up to 100 man-hours of work): Residential Business New customer, new line 129.26 141.65 Existing customer, new line 110.78 123.20 Take over existing line 19.65 19.65 Rental per quarter: Residential 17.13 Residential party line 15.69 Business 27.75 If a residential user uses less than 120 units (see below) in a quarter, then the rental is reduced by 0.058 per unit below this number. This will reduce the rental to 10.17 or 8.73 per quarter if no outgoing calls are made. Star services (all per quarter): Tone dialling FREE (US readers please note) Call Diversion 3.48 Call Waiting 3.48 Three-way Calling 3.48 Code Calling 3.48 (free if the above three services are all taken) Call Barring 6.09 Charge advice 0.05 per call Reminder call 0.10 per call (even if not answered) Dialled calls are charged in units. Each unit buys a certain amount of time, depending on the time of day and the distance between the two parties. A billed unit costs 0.044. From a BT payphone, a unit costs 0.10 (but this includes VAT). Inland calls: There are three time bands and 7 distance bands. The time bands are: P (peak) Monday to Friday 0900 to 1300 S (standard) Monday to Friday 0800 to 0900 and 1300 to 1800 C (cheap) All other times The distance bands are: L The same area code and adjacent area codes a All other calls less than 56.4 km b1 Calls over 56.4 km where Mercury are a serious commercial threat (some 232 bidirectional routes, of which 125 are to/from London) b Other calls over 56.4 km m Calls to mobile telephones I Calls from Great Britain to the Irish Republic p1 Premium rate services (US 900 numbers) Distances are between a nominal point in each area code, not the actual subscribers. Calls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland are at rates b1 or b. Calls between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are at rates L, a, b1, or b as appropriate. The non-distance based calls are as follows: Dialling code 0800 is free calling. Dialling code 0345 is billed at rate L. Dialling code 0055 is billed at rate a. Dialling code 0066 is billed at rate b. Dialling codes 0030 to 0039, 0077, 0860 are billed at rate m. Some calls with dialling codes 0831 and 0836 are billed at rate m. Dialling code 0898 is billed at rate p1. The time bought for one unit, in seconds, is: C S P L 240.0 85.0 60.0 from normal phones L 120.0 85.0 60.0 from payphones a 81.8 35.1 26.25 b1 51.5 31.0 23.25 b 38.8 24.8 18.6 m 12.0 8.0 8.0 I 10.8 8.0 8.0 p1 9.2 6.9 6.9 International: There are 13 distance bands (each country belongs to one band). Those bands marked "(only)" include only the countries named. Otherwise the countries listed are examples. 1 All European Community countries, Switzerland 2 Austria, Hungary, Sweden 3 Turkey, Libya, Iceland 4 (only) USA and Canada 5 (only) Other NANP countries (i.e. +1 809) 6 Australia, New Zealand 7 (only) Hong Kong and Singapore 8 Cuba, Romania, South Africa, USSR, Qatar 9 Israel, Egypt, Syria 10 Brazil, Panama, Namibia, Iran 11 (only) Japan 12 (only) India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka 13 Angola, Bolivia, China, Fiji, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea Most distance bands have a Standard time band and a Cheap time band. Calls to the NANP (bands 4 and 5) have a Peak rate between 1500 and 1700 on Monday to Friday. The time bought for one unit, in seconds, is: C S P Duration of Standard time band 1 9.00 7.20 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday 2 6.65 5.45 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday 3 5.15 4.35 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday 4 5.15 4.35 3.95 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday ) except 1500 to 5 4.68 3.95 3.59 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday ) 1700 (Peak rate) 6 3.80 3.05 0700 to 1430 and 1930 to 2400 daily 7 3.80 3.05 0800 to 2000 daily 8 3.55 2.90 0800 to 2000 daily 9 2.68 2.30 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday 10 2.65 2.25 0800 to 2000 Monday to Friday 11 2.26 2.15 0800 to 2000 daily 12 2.22 2.15 0800 to 2000 daily 13 2.19 2.15 0800 to 2000 daily Payphones: Payphones (COCOTs to US readers) require a meter pulsing service, which costs 6.08 per quarter. BT rent payphones at rates from 32.17 to 102.17 per quarter, or you can buy payphones for 150.00 or so. To quote the leaflet: "Call charges from some BT rented payphones may vary. In such cases the renter is required to display a notice near to the payphone stating the maximum price for certain types of calls and his or her name and address." Clive D.W. Feather | IXI Limited clive@x.co.uk | 62-74 Burleigh St. Phone: +44 223 462 131 | Cambridge CB1 1OJ (USA: 1 800 XDESK 57) | United Kingdom ------------------------------ From: Clive Feather Subject: British Telecom Special Service Codes Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 8:17:21 GMT I recently took up a free trial of some of British Telecom "Star Services". I was sent two manuals, one for "System X" (the local exchange equipment), and one for the AXE 10 (a.k.a "System Y") (which is apparently in use in some areas). These manuals listed the access codes for all services available. This table gives all the codes listed in the manuals. See below for key to abbreviations. Note that all codes end in #, parameters to the codes are mostly separated by *, and that "check" and "cancel" codes have the same code number but a different prefix to the "set up" codes. Set up features: [CD] *21*n# Divert all calls (dial tone changes) [CB] *261# Bar incoming calls (dial tone changes) [CB] *34x# Bar outgoing calls [AX] *40*n Charge advice (exchange calls back after the call ends) [SX] *40*n# Charge advice (ditto) *411# Charge advice on all future calls (ditto) [CW] *43# Set up call waiting [CC] *51*c*n# Set up abbreviated calling code *55*t# Set up reminder call [SX] *56*t*d# Set up regular reminder call (unlimited number of these) [CD] *61*n# Divert on no reply (dial tone changes) [CD] *67*n# Divert on busy (dial tone changes) Calling code calls: [CC] **c Calling code call [CC] **0 Redial last number (excluding calling code calls) Status checks on settings: [SX] *#001# Check which services are active [CD] *#21# Check diversion status and number [CB] *#261# Check barring of incoming calls (i.e. on or off) [CB] *#34# Check barring of outgoing calls (i.e. on or off) [CW] *#43# Check call waiting (i.e. on or off) [CC] *#51*c# Check calling code *#55# Check reminder calls [SX] *#56# Check regular reminder calls [CD] *#61# Check divert on no reply status and number [CD] *#67# Check divert on busy status and number Cancel features: [CD] #21# Cancel diversion [CB][AX] #261*p# Cancel barring of incoming calls [CB][SX] #261# Cancel barring of incoming calls [CB] #34x*p# Cancel barring of outgoing calls #411# Cancel charge advice on all calls [CW] #43# Cancel call waiting [CC] #51*c# Cancel calling code #55# Cancel reminder call [SX] #56*t*d# Cancel regular reminder call [SX] #56# Cancel all regular reminder calls [CD] #61# Cancel diversion on no reply [CD] #67# Cancel diversion on busy Pressing the "R" button on some phones causes a "time break" - on other phones, this can be done by pressing the handset rest switch *briefly*. This will put your current caller on hold (they get an announcement) and give you a dial tone. If you are in "one call" state (the normal situation), then all the above services are available, plus the following: *40# Turn on charge advice for this call [3W] n Set up second call If you are in "two call" state (either by setting up a second call, or because an incoming call is waiting), then the following codes can be used: [CW] 0 Reject all waiting calls until this call ends 1 End this call and switch to the other call 2 Place this call on hold and switch to the other call [3W] 3 Change to a 3-party call [3W] 5 Disconnect original call [3W] 7 Disconnect second call The manual does not make it clear whether "disconnect" means put the call on hold or end it. It also says that you cannot convert a waiting call to a 3-party call, but this may only apply if you have not paid for the [3W] service. If you hang up (clear down) after getting a dialtone through R, and there is still a call holding, the exchange will ring back. Key to abbreviations in the table: [SX] System X only [AX] AXE 10 (System Y) only [CB] Call barring service ) [CC] Code calling service ) There is an extra charge for each of these [CD] Call diversion service ) "packages". Codes not prefixed are part of [CW] Call waiting service ) standard telephone service. [3W] 3-way calling service ) c An abbreviated calling code: [SX] 3 to 29 [AX] 10 to 36. d 1 = Monday, 2 = Tuesday, ... 7 = Sunday, 8 = Mon to Fri, 9 = daily. n A standard telephone number. p A 4-digit password notified to the subscriber (cannot be changed). t A time - 4 digits using the 24 hour clock. x 1 = all calls except 999 (emergency) and 151 (repairs). 2 = [SX] all calls except charge rates L and p1. 2 = [AX] all calls except charge rate L. 3 = international calls. 4 = operator services except 999 and 151. 5 = Star services (except #34 codes). 6 = [SX] charge rate p1 calls. It is permitted to have more than one *34x# in operation. Clive D.W. Feather | IXI Limited clive@x.co.uk | 62-74 Burleigh St. Phone: +44 223 462 131 | Cambridge CB1 1OJ (USA: 1 800 XDESK 57) | United Kingdom ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 12:31 CDT From: "Arun Baheti " Subject: Wrong Number Nightmare Seeing someone else's wrong number story has prompted me to appeal to the listing in hopes that someone has a creative idea at solving my problem... One of the lines in my house in So. Cal. is 213/xxx-xxxx. It turns out that a car dealership in Downey (I am in Torrance) has the same line, but in the 714 for its Orange County customers. Most people, however, just assume that Downey is alwasy 213, and it doesn't help that it appears as 213 on many of the firms business cards. For a LONG time, we received calls and msgs on our answering machine (no, people didn't listen to the msg telling them that this was not the Car Lot; in fact the problem is compouneded by the fact that the line is apparently the car place's Spanish line!)... We have complained to the phone company and to the dealership to fix the problem, but everyone seems to think that we should pay to have our line changed or simply wait for their or simply wait for their cards, flyers, etc to cycle through in a year or so... sigh. I consider myself polite, but after getting 15 wrong numbers and messages asking "When can I pick up my truck?" (in Spanish and English) a day, I am beginning to grow tired of the whole game. Any ideas? I've already tried threatening the car dealer with the idea that I would begin to be rude to the wrong numbers and not refer them to the 714 area code. Someone? Anyone? It is amusing in one sense to listen to people on my answering machine (which makes no mention of cars) telling me about their trucks, billing problems, and car loan difficulties, but enough is enough. :-) Arun Baheti NBaheti.ElSegundo@Xerox.COM SABahe@Macalstr.EDU ------------------------------ From: John Murray Subject: What Must 900 Sleazoids Say About Charges? Date: 8 Nov 90 16:50:38 GMT Organization: SCRI, Florida State University What are 900-number operators required to tell the public about the charges for their services? I ask this question out of curiosity, sparked by an unsolicited letter I recieved today: "Your $5,000 limit Gold Card has been approved! Call our customer service operators RIGHT AWAY! at 1-900-xxx-xxxx(*)" ..and down at the bottom in tiny little type it says "(*) .95 charge per minute..." BUT (and here's the specific question) there's no mention of a minimum charge for the call. (most scum like this charge about $45 for the call) Are they required to tell us when there is a minimum billing of, say, 45 minutes? Not that I ever had any intention of calling, of course. This was obviously a look-alike card that is trying to seem like a Visa gold or an AmEx gold. A 2-in-1 attack on people without much common sense. Disclaimer: Any opinions above have little or nothing to do with reality. John R. Murray murray@vsjrm.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Research Inst. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 11:07:51 pst From: David Barts Subject: Trivia Question About Butt Sets Obscure Telecom Trivia Question No. 608: Why are butt set leads colored red/black/green instead of red/green/yellow? David Barts Pacer Corporation, Bothell, WA davidb@pacer.uucp ...!uunet!pilchuck!pacer!davidb ------------------------------ From: bill@toto.info.com (Bill Cerny) Subject: NT SL-1 Me{Meridian 1} vs. Mitel SX-200D Date: 8 Nov 90 01:58:04 GMT I need to replace a 12 trunk by 32 station PBX with either the NT SL-1 (Meridian 1) or the Mitel SX-200D (constraint: Dialogic has cards that speak to these switches; my v-mail software needs to talk to the PBX). The NT SL-1 is winning thus far. Please e-mail comments (or telephone number if you prefer to air your druthers), and I'll provide the consensus in a forthcoming article. Bill Cerny bill@toto.info.com | attmail: !denwa!bill ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #801 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06769; 9 Nov 90 5:59 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa28887; 9 Nov 90 4:06 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab18254; 9 Nov 90 3:03 CST Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 2:11:45 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #802 BCC: Message-ID: <9011090211.ab08869@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 9 Nov 90 02:11:27 CST Volume 10 : Issue 802 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Multi-Line Voicemail Boards [Robert J. Woodhead] Voice Activated Calling Cards [Arun Baheti] A New Type of 976 Fraud [David B. Whiteman] Help Needed With Term Paper on Email Snooping [Brian Hoffman] X.25 Software for PCs Running DOS or Xenix [Steve Corso] Source Needed For Line Simulator [Tom Lowe] Digit Overload in Dallas/Fort Worth [Dave Close] Differences Between Usenet and Altnet [Dennis G. Rears] Re: Cincinnati Area Notes (Was: Zone Maps Are Desirable) [Andy Jacobson] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System [Peter Thurston] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System [Vance Shipley] Re: CALL FOR VOTES: comp.dcom.fax [JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert J Woodhead Subject: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards Date: 7 Nov 90 04:31:44 GMT Organization: Biar Games, Inc. A couple of months ago I inquired about voicemail boards for the PC. Thanks to all that responded. I ended up getting a Bigmouth board from Talking Technologies of Alameda, CA [415-522-3800] for about $225. This board turns any old PC into a voicemail center, and the menu-driven software that comes with it (quite powerful) lets you set up voicemail boxes, phone trees, do voice questionaires, store and auto-forward voicemail, etc, etc, etc. I'm quite happy with it, but now I have a slightly more complicated bit of hardware on my Xmas shopping list. What I need is a board that has the following features: * Can handle four or more calls simultaneously. * DMTF detection, audio recording and playback. * PC compatible * Hopefully buffers incoming and outgoing sampled audio on the board so as to reduce the strain on the host machine. * Good low-level interface software library, in UNIX/XENIX if possible. * Also, it would be nice if more than one of these boards could be plugged into a single PC. Anyone got any leads on such a beastie? Oh yeah, if there is a multiline box that talks to it's host over Ethernet, that would do the trick too. Thanks in advance, Robert J Woodhead, Biar Games, Inc. !uunet!biar!trebor trebor@biar.UUCP ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 12:27 CDT From: "Arun Baheti " Subject: Voice Activated Calling Cards In V10 #794 (I am, believe it or not up-to-date on my reading for once) there is mention of a voice activated calling card system from Sprint. I recall a few years ago that there was a company (All-Net?) that allowed people not at touch-tone phones to "speak" their card numbers into a machine, one digit at a time, and then the destination number the same way. It then asked for verification with yes/no prompt. It worked quite well, and I don't remember any big complaints about overheard numbers, etc. Does anyone remember this as well, or have any more information? Arun_Baheti.ElSegundo@Xerox.COM Sabahe@Macalstr.EDU ------------------------------ From: "David B. Whiteman" Subject: A New Type of 976 Fraud Date: 7 Nov 90 08:18:10 GMT Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA Well the 976 people discovered a new way of fraud today: The hospital I work at leases a block of digital pagers from a local paging company. Each of these pagers has its own seven digit normal phone number -- when you dial the pager phone number you are suppose to enter the phone number you want the person to call back to, or in our hospital's case extension. This number then appears on the display on the pager. Well today a group of pagers, all of them with phone numbers in sequential order were each beeped with the message to call a 976 number. Obviously, a 976 company just autodialled the pager exchange. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 21:44:46 EST From: Brian Hoffman Subject: Help Needed With Term Paper on Email Snooping Organization: Columbia University I am currently writing a term paper on the legal and moral aspects of employers reading employee's e-mail. Right now, I am concentrating on the Epson America case referenced in last week's PC-Week. I would like some more sources of information. If anyone has seen an article on this or a related subject, please send me the citation. I am also interested in articles about the whole LoD - Jackson Games -Etc. fiasco. Please mail replies. Thank you for the time. Brian Hoffman brian@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu ------------------------------ From: mcnnet!steve@umich.edu Date: Thu Nov 8 10:33:08 1990 Subject: X.25 Software for PCs Running DOS or Xenix I am looking for software that will permit me to make a PC running DOS or Xenix handle X.25 calls (from a host). The host would be placing call requests to me and once the call has been set up I would then need to accept data streams from that host. Is there any software that can do this? I know I would have write some application code to handle the data. I would be glad to consolidate any responses I get and report back to the group. Thank you, Steve Corso mcnnet!steve@umich.edu ------------------------------ From: tel@cdsdb1.att.com Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 16:42 EST Subject: Source Needed For Line Simulator I need to find a source for a Line Simulator. I have seen some out there, but I have some specific needs. I am going to be using it to connect a telephone to a device that is not designed to have phones connected directly, but rather be connected to a dial tone line. The device can sense presence/absence of line current. One side is going to have a phone. It might be a speaker phone, so the unit must provide sufficient power to handle that. One simulator that I tried out didn't have enough power to run a speakerphone. It must also provide enough power to run an OPX (Off Premises Extension). When the phone is taken off hook, One of two things should happen: Ideally, a talk path should be setup, complete with battery. No ring is necessary. An alternative would be to have a ring with a programmable duration, such that I can make it very short. Now, the most important requirement is that when the phone is put onhook, battery must be removed from the other end, either until the phone is taken back offhook, or for a short interval. If you know of such a device, please let me know ASAP. I can be reached at 908-949-0428. EMAIL: tel@hound.ATT.COM Thanks! Tom Lowe AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ ------------------------------ From: Dave Close Subject: Digit Overload in Dallas/Fort Worth Date: Thu, 08 Nov 90 23:19:36 GMT Reply-To: davec@shared.sfs.UUCP (Dave Close) Organization: Shared Financial Systems In the Dallas/Fort Worth area of North Texas, two area codes are adjacent. The Dallas metro area is a part of the 214 area code; the Fort Worth metro area is a part of the 817 area code. Neither metro area completely occupies its area code. All phones in each city have unlimited toll-free calling to all other phones in the same city. The phone system recognizes that many folks in Dallas and Fort Worth have a frequent need to call the folks in the other city. It is possible to obtain a "metro" number which is considered a local (non-toll) call from and to all other numbers in both metro areas. Until two years ago, metro numbers in either city could be reached from both cities by dialing only seven digits. (Many businesses did not bother to mention their area code in advertising.) Now it is always necessary to dial the area code when calling from one side of the metro area to the other. However, a zero or one prefix is only required when the call is a toll call. Metro numbers, which still exist, are reached with 10 digits; non-metro numbers require 11 digits. If you attempt to call a metro number by dialing all 11 digits, you get a recording which says, "We're sorry. It is not necessary to dial a one or zero when calling this number." The message is misleading because what it really means is, "...It is not PERMITTED..." In effect, a caller must know whether a call is a toll call before dialing, or suffer the inconvenience of redialing. IMHO, the first two words of the recording couldn't be more accurate! The situation is slightly complicated for exchanges on the boundary between the cities. Those phones can make toll-free calls to adjacent non-metro exchanges on the other side of the line. So a call from a non-metro exchange in downtown Fort Worth (not on the boundary) to a non-metro exchange in Grand Prairie (just across the line toward Dallas) requires 11 digits. A call from any exchange in Arlington (on the boundary toward Fort Worth) to that same exchange in Grand Prairie requires 10 digits and fails with 11 digits. The use of a leading one or zero to distinguish a toll call is at least consistent. When calling from within the metro area to outside the metro area but still within the same area code, it is necessary to dial all 11 digits. I've encountered other places that used the leading digit to distinguish toll calls but I thought it was being phased out. I think that it is an overload on the leading digit for it to both introduce an area code and distinguish toll calls. Dave Close, Shared Financial Systems, Dallas My comments are my opinions and may not be shared by Shared. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 11:10:25 EST From: "Dennis G. Rears (FSAC)" Subject: Differences Between Usenet and Altnet Pat: This doesn't belong in the TELECOM Digest but it was brought up there. Why on USENET is comp.* considered respectable but alt.* considered the "black sheep". It's a real pain for me to read USENET so I don't keep up with it. Dennis [Moderator's Note: One difference between the two is that on Usenet, there is a more formal procedure for starting new groups which involves calling for a discussion regarding the new group and taking a vote to detirmine if it is really wanted or not. Generally, most sites receive most Usenet newsgroups, 'talk.*' being sort of an exception. On the other hand, the alt.groups are formed by anyone at anytime. No permission required. If you know how to do it, you can set one up even if no one but yourself ever posts in it. Many of the alt groups are just downright silly, and intended as jokes from the beginning, witness the spate of alt.big.boobs and similar groups in recent months started by parties unknown. Many sites do not receive the alt groups. In addition, the alt groups generally tend to be harder for a sysadmin to justify to his superiors when s/he is called upon to do so at budget request time, or following a flame war where everyone trashes the postmaster with mail at the same time, etc. If the topic is worth having a group established, it will generally withstand the scrutiny of Usenet debate and voting. Still, many groups would not be on Usenet today had they not proven themselves to be popular and worthwhile after a period of time on Altnet. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Nov 90 18:34 PST From: Andy Jacobson Subject: Re: Cincinnati area notes (Was: Zone maps are desirable) In response to : My knowlege of the Cincinatti area code/prefix biz I must admit is limited to notes in the front of the phonebook. The directory listed as I remember at least a couple of prefixes which could be reached from either 513 or 606. These were located "on the map" in both the areas for Ky, and Oh adjacent to the river. These were the only prefixes on the map that were listed to more than one geographical region (by map region number). I remember trying one of the numbers (from the Dayton area) and finding that I did not need the 606 area code to call it (It was a a business in Ky, if I remember) I don't remember how it was listed in the book (as requiring 513, or 606). It may be that what I'm thinking of was a early version of what we now have in the way of 976 numbers that are the same in two area codes. (I see a lot of ads for 976 numbers that are the same in 213 and 818.) As well, it could be more like a "choke" prefix, as many radio stations use. Which are in some cases the same prefixes in adjacent area codes. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 09:52:56 GMT From: Peter Thurston Subject: Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System (Various bits on who runs the Saudi phone system) I seem to remember when interviewed for a job at (the then) Philips TMC (In Malmsbury, UK) their pride and joy was the Saudi contact. We waw videos showing how many times round the moon their cable installations could reach. The switches were Philips PRX. I got thge impression that the contact involved the whole country, but then again ... it WAS a promotional video. On a different tack, somewhere I remember being told that internal calls in Saudi Arabia are all free? Peter Thurston MRC-APU Cambridge PRESTEL MAILBOX 095452219 [Moderator's Note: Speaking of Saudi Arabia and admittedly taking some privileges as Moderator, it now appears war is imminent, based on President Bush's remarks Thursday. Bad, bad news ... Whatever; I hope it does not go on for years like Viet Nam which I remember all too painfully, all too well. I guess Bush will do what he must do, but let's -- as the Post Office stamp cancellation used to say -- pray for peace. I feel pretty disheartened by it all. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System Organization: SwitchView - The Linton Technology Group Date: Wed, 07 Nov 90 14:29:25 GMT In article <14369@accuvax.nwu.edu> HWT@bnr.ca (Henry Troup) writes: >So the central office switches will be a mix of 1-ESS and DMS-100/200, >as my memory of the Saudi connection is that it goes back twenty years >or so. From what I am told by some people who were involoved in that project you can add SL-1 PBX's to the list of "CO" equipment used! Vance Shipley vances@ltg ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Nov 90 14:25:24 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: Re: CALL FOR VOTES: comp.dcom.fax > The establishment of 'comp.dcom.fax' would affect this group since it > is likely some messages which previously would have appeared in > telecom pertaining to Fax will no longer appear here. > I do not believe there is sufficient traffic in the subject matter of > Fax at this time to warrant a separate group. While I agree with some of PAT's arguments about the creation of comp.dcom.fax (note there already is an alt.fax with some regular traffic), I disagree with his recommendation to vote NO because: While it is true, that it would lose the vast knowledge available from the many readers of telecom. However, I don't recall seeing many fax-related messages in the Digest (most on switches and the like), while there are, on average, a few messages per day on alt.fax. PAT could 'fix' this loss by cross-posting himself (unless this is a violation of some Usenet tenet). This would enable him to perform is usual function of keeping signal to noise at a reasonable level while still keeping the information available. Of course I don't know if he wants more work to do ... However, the bigger issue in my mind is the volume of mail to the digest and the volume from it. Unless PAT is willing to commit to publishing ALL the fax-related messages, then some may be lost due to the winnowing and editing process he must, of necessity, do. And the digest volume and frequency present a lot of material to weed (no insult intended) through to find fax-specific information or replies. The fact that telecom is moderated also imposes a time buffer to the response process. Since I think PAT, himself, can fix the losses resulting from the creation of the new group, with apologies to all who are just now recovering from the pre-election deluge, I say vote YES. Jeff Sicherman [Moderator's Note: Thank you for your opinion, but PAT has no intention of taking on the extra work. As it is, I screen over a hundred articles daily for telecom, of which you see a minimum of 12-15 on days when I am too busy to do more than one issue, and perhaps 40-50 on days when I do several issues. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #802 ******************************    Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15988; 10 Nov 90 21:02 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06268; 10 Nov 90 19:23 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12223; 10 Nov 90 18:19 CST Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 18:11:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #803 BCC: Message-ID: <9011101811.ab10359@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Nov 90 18:10:38 CST Volume 10 : Issue 803 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Recording Adaptor/Phone [Jeff Sicherman] Learning Your Own Phone Number (Revisited) [Fred E.J. Linton] A Zero Length Phone Number! [Tony Fisher] Re: 911 Botch-up in Detroit [Sander J. Rabinowitz] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [Alain Fontaine] Re: Time Protocol, was Re: AT&T ISDN Set Question [Rob Elkins] PacTel Modem Line Charges [Arun Baheti] Re: Request INFO Sources About ISDN [Mike Olson] Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support [John Higdon] Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group [James Deibele] Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Distinctive Ringing Fax/Phone Switch [Tad Cook] Who Owns 800-878? [Dean Riddlebarger] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 13:19:18 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: Recording Adaptor/Phone I am looking for a two line phone that will support easy attachment of a tape recorder. Already have the Radio Shack recorder controller but that is a single line device and requires a three way adaptor and line switch (also from RS) to make it work. Wires all over the place. Would prefer a phone with some built-in capability or perhaps some adaptor that fits between the phone base and handset, like a headset adaptor. Can anybody suggest something? Jeff Sicherman jajz801@calstate.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: 10-NOV-1990 13:40:52.68 From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Learning Your Own Phone Number (Revisited) About a month ago someone suggested 1-800-666-6258 as a number that "... gives you a lot of advertising bla-bla AND your phone number ..." I tried it this morning: "... number has been changed ... new number is 817-877-5629 ..." Tried the new number as well -- ring, no answer. Oh well ... Fred (CT) ------------------------------ Date: 8 Nov 1990 10:58:21 GMT From: fisher@minster.york.ac.uk Subject: A Zero Length Phone Number! > St Helena (290) has three digit numbers! A pedant could claim that the Vatican City State has even shorter telephone numbers - viz. zero digits long. The country code is +39 66982, and the "country" has only one telephone number, which is: . Tony Fisher Dept. of Computer Science, The University of York, York YO1 5DD, U.K. Tel. +44 904 432738 or 432722 Janet: fisher@uk.ac.york.minster Internet: fisher%minster.york.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk UUCP: fisher@minster.UUCP (..!uunet!mcsun!reading!minster!fisher) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 911 Botch-up in Detroit Date: 7 Nov 90 01:21:47 EST (Wed) From: sander@anet.ann-arbor.mi.us (Sander J. Rabinowitz) In a TELECOM article of 3 November 1990, woody wrote the following: > An Associated Press report mentioned an incident in Detroit where a > girl (age 7) phoned 911 to report that her brother was being beaten. > She was told by a 911 operator to "get off the phone" and her call was > basically ignored. The operator's insistence that the girl hang up > interfered with the girl's pleadings for assistance. Readers of the original article know, of course, that the incident ended quite tragically. I believe that there are three other aspects to this case which need to be mentioned. (1) About one or two nights after the incident occured, I heard a recording of the actual 911 call played over WKBD-TV (Detroit TV50). In the first several seconds of the call, it appeared as though she was asking for someone at the "Ten O'Clock News". This fact alone does not excuse the 911 operator, although I cannot help but wonder how many Detroit 911 calls come from children playing with the phone, and whether the operator thought this may have been another such call. (2) I don't believe Detroit's 911 system is one where the caller's address is automatically relayed to the dispatcher -- in other words, the caller would be required to calmly relay his/her location to the operator. This not only complicates efforts to send help quickly (even a highly competant operator may not be able to get this information out of a seven-year old in time), but increases the chance that prank 911 calls may go through (since I suspect it would be more difficult to pinpoint their source). (3) (Disclaimer: This point is mostly speculative, but I don't believe it's way off the mark) I think it would be safe to say that Detroit is understaffed across the board insofar as emergency personnel is concerned, and that the problem extends to 911 operators. None of these points excuse the actions of the 911 operator, but I believe they point to a much larger problem involving Detroit's emergency services. I also believe that if the status quo continues, it's entirely possible that the above tradegy will repeat itself. Note: The First Amendment and all relevant disclaimers apply. Sander J. Rabinowitz | !sander@attmail.com | +1 313 478 6358 Farmington Hills, Mich. | --OR-- sjr@mcimail.com | *** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Nov 90 11:31:39 +0100 From: "Alain FONTAINE (Postmaster - NAD)" Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind CCIR Report 517 does indeed describe to procedure for introducing a 'negative' leap second, but it was never actually needed. Please note that there were also June 30 leap seconds in 81, 82, 83 and 85. Should raise some concern among anti-alcoholic leagues 8-). And don't forget to buy bottles in time for the Dec 31, 1990 leap second! AF ------------------------------ From: Rob Elkins Subject: Re: Time Protocol, was Re: AT&T ISDN Set Question Organization: DuPont Engineering Physics Lab Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 17:15:58 GMT In article <14292@accuvax.nwu.edu> roeber@cithe2.cithep.caltech.edu (Frederick Roeber) writes: >In article <14267@accuvax.nwu.edu>, coffland@roxanne (Doug Coffland) >writes: >RFC-1059 "Network Time Protocol (NTP)" describes (or at least points >to the paper describing) the algorithm used to solve this problem in >the IP network time protocol. Last I checked, RFC's can be ftp'd >from nic.ddn.mil. My EE Professor David Mills (Univ Delaware) is the creator of NTP. Brillant Man. His stuff is (was) available via anon FTP from louie.udel.edu Rob Elkins E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co, Inc Email: elkinsra%mlvax%dupont.com@csnet-relay Voice: 215-339-6253 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 12:19 CDT From: "Arun Baheti " Subject: PacTel Modem Line Charges You might try arguing with your PacTel rep if they are charging you for supposedly higher-wuality lines for your data connections. The lines are the same as their voice grade, and after a few minutes of intense conversation with my rep a few years ago, I was able to con- vince them that I didn't want/need the "special" lines, and that I would suffer through with normal voice grade lines. They will try to squirm their way out it, but you should push them on it ... its worth the money savings. ------------------------------ From: Mike Olson Subject: Re: Request INFO Sources About ISDN Date: Thu, 08 Nov 90 13:03:48 PST In <14447@accuvax.nwu.edu>, holos0!wdh@gatech.edu (Weaver Hickerson) writes: > I'm interested in finding what types, if any, of AT bus hardware is > available/in the works for ISDN, as well as simply learning more about > the service. If you have shelf space to burn and want the info for free, you can call Advanced Micro Devices and ask for their ISDN databook. They tell you what sort of ISDN chips they manufacture and sell, and give a reasonably good introduction to the topic. Best of all, it's free; they even pay shipping, on the assumption that you're more likely to buy their chips if you know they exist. To order, call 800 538 8450 and ask for x2264. They have data books and app notes on just about everything digital that goes on; ask specifically for stuff on ISDN. Other chip manufacturers almost certainly offer the same service, so you could try your favorite, if you want. By the way, for folks outside the US, call +1 408 732 2400, same extension. No affiliation with AMD (except I have their ISDN databook)... Mike Olson, UC Berkeley ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support Date: 8 Nov 90 13:56:07 PST (Thu) From: John Higdon hpubvwa!ssc!Tad.Cook@beaver.cs.washington.edu writes: > Higdon has a HUMBLE OPINION??!? No, but seriously, they recently > instituted this for support of MS DOS ONLY ... all their applications > support is free. Oh, I see. The "product" that put them on the map (other than a BASIC) is treated as a second-rate stepsister. The company has to protect itself from all those unwashed masses who might actually have some legitimate problem (oh, but how could they--DOS is perfect, right?) > Gee, *I* haven't had these problems. What makes Higdon so special? > But he often has problems communicating with phone companies and toll > carriers too... Well "Gee", that's wonderful for you. Of course, I deal with telecommunications and computer companies day in and day out without much difficulty. It's my job. I don't write about the successes much because it's pretty dull, but the failures are sometimes worth mentioning. The reason Microsoft stands out as being a stinker is because it ISN'T the norm. I have had great success dealing with dozens of hardware and software vendors. NOT with Microsoft. And the underlying problem seems to stem from how they handle telecommunications. > There is an advantage though to living within toll-free calling of > them (Seattle). Maybe if you had spent $15.00 on 900 charges getting nowhere rather than making a free local call, you would have a different view. > Also, if you want to follow up with a particular > support person, they will give you their network username. Roger. And when I called back to talk to this "particular person", the person that answered told me that he couldn't locate any "username" such as the one I gave. So I ended up relating the whole problem once again to this person. Yes, I had the correct name. > You can really blow their mind by getting on usenet and addressing your > followup communication to username@microsoft.uucp. I have done this, > and it ALWAYS gets a quick phone call, especially from the NEW folks > over there. It is a fast growing company, so the majority of support > folks are "new." When I offered to communicate with the original person via e-mail, there was much hemming and hawing and I was discouraged from doing this. At any rate, when I get home this weekend, I'll try to e-mail the username that I was origially supplied. And then I'm going to look for a different platform to handle my requirements. John Higdon (hiding out in the desert) ------------------------------ From: James Deibele Subject: Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group Organization: TECHbooks of Beaverton Oregon - Public Access Unix Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 19:18:15 GMT In article <14366@accuvax.nwu.edu> TERRY@spcvxa.bitnet (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr) writes: >In article <14335@accuvax.nwu.edu>, our Moderator writes: >> [Moderator's Note: I don't think you are correct. I think anywhere you >> enter the loop if that line is busy (i.e. you are in fact calling from >> it) the incoming call will continue forward in the hunt group. The >> exception would be as Mr. Levenson points out in the next message. PAT] > I know of several methods of setting up "hunt groups". Not all of >these are available on all switches: Thanks for an informative posting on hunt groups. Unfortunately, it seems that GTE has what you described as "single-entry hunt" where there's only one number per hunt group and the rest of the numbers can't hunt. Or that's what GTE tells me this time. I think I'll call back and talk to one or two more people to make sure that's correct. It would be nice if there was a "wizard" number that you could call and find out whether something was technically feasible or not. I have this nagging feeling that there's probably a way of doing what I want, but that the first- line people aren't used to handling things that way. They do have a "call when busy" feature (if number X or Y or Z is busy, call number A), but it's several dollars a line per month while the hunt group is free. Thanks to the people who suggested possible problems when calling from within the hunt group. That wasn't the situation in this case (I was calling from another phone line), but I confess that I never would have thought of such a thing as causing a problem. Public Access UNIX (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400 N81) --- Read alt.books.technical ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group Date: 9 Nov 90 13:53:45 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14335@accuvax.nwu.edu>, vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) writes: > One common mistake made when testing hunt groups is to use a member of > the hunt group to make the test calls. If you call line X from line X > you will get a busy, it will not hunt. You may have observed this on a #5 x-bar. The LDN, even, dialing itself will get a busy, so it is not a night answer issue in this case. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing Fax/Phone Switch From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Date: 9 Nov 90 17:34:10 GMT In article <14425@accuvax.nwu.edu>, inesc!jmc%eniac@relay.eu.net (Miguel Casteleiro) writes: > In article <14293@accuvax.nwu.edu>, dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.atc. olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes: > > I recently purchased a fax/phone/modem switch that claims to do just > > that. [...] It is supposed to be able > > to select one of two devices based on distinctive ringing. > Can someone please explain how do this devices work? Do they answer > to the phone line, and then decide based on the tones what type of > call is it? And then, do they simulate the calling tone to the fax > and the modem? If so, aren't this tones diferent from country to > country? No, the beauty of it is that they don't have to answer the phone, because they can tell from DISTINCTIVE RINGING what device the call is for. So I have the telco assign 555-0001 to my voice calls, 555-0002 for my modem calls, and 555-0003 for my fax calls. The telco sets it up so that all calls coming into my line when 0001 is dialed result in normal ringing cadence, 0002 causes a double ring, and 0003 causes a triple ring. The fax/phone/modem switch will divide the call among one of three outgoing RJ11 jacks according to the ringing cadence. In the example above, the numbers don't have to be consecutive. The telco just assigns three different telephone numbers to one line, and each one causes a different style (rhythm) ringing. > In short, suppose that I have a dumb fax and a dumb modem, can I > interface one of this devices between one phone line and them? Yes ... assuming that your telco offers DISTINCTIVE RINGING as a feature. One manufacturer of these devices is ITS Communications of Endicott, NY. They make the AutoLine Plus. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Dean Riddlebarger Subject: Who Owns 800-878? Date: 9 Nov 90 14:28:05 GMT Organization: Truevision Inc., Indianapolis, IN Which carrier "owns" the 878 exchange for 800 service? [Hint: I already know it's not AT&T.] On a larger scale, does anyone have the latest list of 800 exchange assignments? Thanks. Dean Riddlebarger Truevision, Inc. [317] 841-0332 dean@truevision.com uunet!epicb!dean ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #803 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa17685; 10 Nov 90 23:15 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14433; 10 Nov 90 21:33 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa32417; 10 Nov 90 20:25 CST Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 19:31:22 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #804 BCC: Message-ID: <9011101931.ab11525@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Nov 90 19:30:05 CST Volume 10 : Issue 804 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Strange "Calls To" [Carl Moore] Re: Strange "Calls To" [Jim Youll] Information Wanted About Aggregation [George Poynor] SDN For Anyone! (was Re: Mysterious LD Fraud) [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Broken Phone While Out of Town [Ron Heiby] Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed [Andy Jacobson] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [Louis A. Mamakos] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [James M. Turner] Thanks For the Responses [Joel Disini] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 15:53:10 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Strange "Calls To" What carrier handled the calls that bgsuvax!jyoull@cis.ohio-state.edu (Jim Youll) wrote of here? What does "aggregator" mean? >My last phone bill listed long distance calls to Cleveland, etc. >but also showed calls to : > WASZ 2 MD > PHSZ 43 PA >These calls were handled by an aggregator. Any idea why the funny >destination names, and what they mean? Moderator's Note: Carl, the answer to your question follows in the next three messages. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 17:25:24 -0500 From: Jim Youll Subject: Re: Strange "Calls To" The calls were handled by a company called "Afford A Call". They used to be called "Litel" but that's irrelevant. I think I understand this correctly, and hope that I used the correct terminology to describe what they do. Basically, an aggregator buys a chunk of service from ATT or somebody who is actually a long distance provider, and receives a discount for the volume purchase. They then resell smaller bites of the bandwidth to guys like me at a miniscule profit and hope that I stay with them for a long time. Then they go out of business and I switch to someone else. They are starting to offer 800 service and some other features like six-second billing, but that's mainly a function of their billing software, not the route the calls take. Jim PS: Remember that this information is worth approximately 10% less than you paid for it, due to inflation. [Moderator's Note: Hey! That's not nice to say. The subscribers here pay premium rates for this little journal. PAT ------------------------------ From: George Poynor Subject: Information Wanted About Aggregation Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 16:37:24 CDT We are being besieged by aggregators (aggravators ?) promising jillions of dollars in savings on our long distance bills. Can anyone comment on this phenomenon? George V. Poynor N9JTD | UUCP: {obdient | spl1 | tellab5}!wheaton!poynor Wheaton College | Voice: (708) 260-5019 (Office) ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: SDN For Anyone! (was -Re: Mysterious LD Fraud) Date: 9 Nov 90 15:24:24 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14303@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gutierrez@noc.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Michael Gutierrez) writes: > [BTW ... is this a chain hotel??? That would explain how they can > get/afford AT&T SDN.] Yes it was. BUT need not have been. You don't in ANY WAY need to be big or chain related these days to be using SDN. You just have to be using an AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER that has an SDN. You have probably been getting calls from them and not known what they were. Just simply ask if they are using SDN. There are many different ways these folks get money out of you. The smarter ones are NOT grouping you under a multi-location watts plan and then getting you to pay them a slice of your savings. Much better for them to get an AT&T SDN, and select the arrangement where the bill for your usage goes to YOU directly, but at a discount THEY control. The remainder of the discount, and any bonus 'deals' gets credited to their AT&T account and their own calls get to use that money. Of course AT&T occasionally sends them a 'refund' check for overpaying. All totally legal. SDN allows that. For instance, a hotel chain of independantly owned properties could get whopping discounts and the central group could cover their 800 and other network expenses servicing the chains reservations, etc. The separation allowed for here also lets anyone open an office and start peddling membership in his group. It is an easy sell - you pay him nothing, he gets you 21 or 25% off your AT&T bill from dollar one. His money slithers back a while later from AT&T. There is some sort of limit of 400 locations per month that can be added to any SDN. Some AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER (is there a better name for these useful sleezes) have more than one SDN. These are not configured for neat translation or international corporate network schemes, but are simply giving plain phone service at discount. SDN provides for such things as city-pairs being defined. A monthly charge of $200 gets better rates from any 'on-net' calls between these. I assume the big AGGRAGATOR/RESELLER watches for traffic patterns that allow him to subscribe to 'features' that maximise how much he gets beyond what he lets you get. Note well that YOU PAY HIM nothing! He, to get the biggest deals has to sign up for four years, and wants to stick you the same way. You can probably get a contract that lets you bail out any time. Just dig your heels in. They typically get you 21% starting at dollar one, not at dollar 2000 or what ever. If they know there are others after you, you should have NO PROBLEM getting 25%! There is plenty left beyond that for them to get fat on. Your even knowing what SDN is proves to him he better offer you the his better deal. BTW AT&T has useful promos. It used to cost BIG $$ to start an SDN, but now not so. You may want to look at starting your own if you are anything other than tiny. Right now, til sometime in December, AT&T is waiving their T1 installation charges for folks connecting that way. Some promos get 'extended' but they have to be careful that they don't get accused of lowering the tariff permanently without re-filing. They ARE working hard to get SDN to grow very fast. The A/R may not bother to mention these promo deals, but cost him nothing for you to use them if they are currently available. AT&T credit cards get discounts this way, too. There are MANY facets to SDN, and there are remote access schemes for staff from home, and depending on whether you let AT&T control passwords etc., you or they get fraud responsibility. They can get SO TIGHT that if you give your wife your access number to reach you on the road, and you use it elsewhere within certain time intervals, it gets invalidated. And small business *owners* joining an A/R's SDN might consider having their home phones included in the SDN. The assumption is that all LD calls from home would be for business use. For best discounts in a large chain operation where there are no problems splitting the bill up, you get billed at one location. The A/R would opt to have AT&T be responsible for getting bills to you. This may be changing come January, but some A/Rs have made seperate deals with the AT&T owned company that will be handling billing then. AT&T wants to save what they pay the LECs now for billing servises, I guess. The GREATEST SCHEME for J.Q.Public would be for some entity like the Audubon Society to set up an SDN that ALL members could join simply by paying the annual membership! Their membership would GROW FAST! The big rub here is that you NEED a base of heavy usage to get your monthly minutes way up so all get the best discount, but there is the darn 400 added sites per month limit that currently could kill this idea. I would MUCH RATHER have the extra discount I can't get go to some worthy cause than into the greedy A/R's pocket. There is very little effort they have to expend to do it! Failing that, I have heard that there is at least one SDN set up for 'members' that gives ALL discounts to the users - is a 0 profit one. I assume it is some professional society or trade group, but the AT&T staffer mentioning it was not allowed to say who/what it is! Does ANYONE know? AT&T has to be in a love/hate relationship with the A/Rs. AT&T is getting back a LOT of business under conditions that AT&T could not possibly themselves offer to those same small users. THEY are the dominant carrier, and MCI and Sprint etc would do everything possible to stop them. The A/R does what he wants. Who has an uncle that is on the Subject: Re: Broken Phone While Out of Town Date: 8 Nov 90 23:59:57 GMT Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Schaumburg, IL dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com (David Tamkin) writes: >repair at 509-2510. (It's still in 312.) ... >through to IBT Repair. Is that the number Ron Heiby couldn't reach? That number doesn't sound familiar, but I threw out my page of notes taken as I went though the mill several times. >Now, what I don't understand about Ron's story is why his wife >couldn't pick up the line that worked and dial 611 from it to report My wife absolutely *detests* dealing with phone repair, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, etc., etc. Thus, it falls upon me to arrange for things to be fixed when they break. Also, she didn't think of it. The line that was working is the Answering Machine and Modem line, which only I really make any use of (unless you count phone solicitors who leave messages or refuse to). Anyway, thanks much for the number. It's in my "Day-Timer", now! Ron Heiby, heiby@chg.mcd.mot.com Moderator: comp.newprod ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 90 02:42 PST From: Andy Jacobson Subject: Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed In TELECOM Digest V10 #796: Bob Yazz writes: >A new prefix had opened up in San Diego, and I got the number xyz-y000 >(that's XYZ Y-thousand). Early that Autumn, Neiman-Marcus >(Needless-Markup to those who know them) opened up shop. They got >xyz-y100 (XYZ Y-one-hundred) and I started getting their calls on my >answering machine. >The next day at work (How did they get my work number?) I received a >call from an AT&T Longlines Division Account Manager who was most >eager to "help solve Our problem". She told me that Neiman-Marcus's > She also wanted me to change my number. I did >NOT want that. Neiman's claimed they had already printed up too many >I finally changed (for free) my number to abc-1200. Everyone was very >very gracious. The VP was so apologetic about "all this Hey, don't do it. If you give up a phone number, next they'll want to build their store on your house just because their customers drive by your corner. (Ok, ok, I wont flame.) But I would never give up a phone number, especially a good one like that Let me tell you how I deal with a similar situation. My number is 213-X9Y-X000 in west L.A.. The Shadydump hotel in Marina Del Ray has listed 213-X0Y-X000. Because their customers are ignorant of NXX's having 1 or 0 as second digit (they must still be living back in the days when area codes were .... well ... you know ... area codes), they're somehow convinced that they wrote down a "9", when it really is "0". I really can't otherwise see how they could convert zero into a nine. Well, I really enjoy making reservations for them at $99.99 a night single occupancy. Then there was the woman who before even saying hello at 4:45AM announced that she was calling from West Germany (Aaaah, now a chance for the LD carrier to gouge away.my revenge ) -and wanted to conf-- ... I told her in no uncertain terms that she had the wrong number and summarily hung up on her. Well, she called back_twice_ (Hey, its her deutschmark!) The second time I told her in even less uncertain terms. The third time I just answered politely with the name of the hotel, and put her on hold. Four or five minutes later her patience timed out. She tried back again (brilliant!) This time she got the ring"XXXXXhotelholdplease" softclick response. Another four minutes of that winking LED, that got rid of her good! Let's see, that's about four 'first minutes', and eight additional from FRG, and its the middle of the afternoon there. My opinion is : F***em! If Neiman Markup, or Snears has dumb customers, take their orders! Take their credit card numbers! Tell them what the prices are. Tell them where the store is located! When they wind up at the city dump, they have no one to blame but themselves. You have every right to give 'em grief. The stores have ___NO___ right to even suggest that you change your number. Remember, their stock is trading on the AMEX, not yours. You're trying to live your life. Make the most of it. If the stupid customers ever get to the store, let'em beat up the manager. If it's in their business interest to not lose customers, and not tie up management, they'll make the effort to straighten people out. Then again, maybe the store would be willing to pay you a fat monthly fee to redirect their lost sheep. You might just let them know what their options are. Another point raised was: >The Directory Assistance voice computer didn't say Y-one-hundred, it >said Y-one-oh-oh. I don't know how 411 gives it, but it seems that the bell system intercept can say things like "XY hundred" and "X thousand." The GTE one here does not. [Moderator's Note: We had a series of messages on this some time back, with people who received the wrong number calls deliberatly giving phalse and misleading information to the caller. Some people thought it was very unethical to deliberatly give phalse information to the person who dialed a wrong number. But still, it can be a nuisance when there are a lot of calls like that. My new technique is to let them hang up, then punch *69 and call them back, advising them to take care in the future with their dialing. That really freaks them out since they wonder how I could possibly have known their number! PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 08:34:25 EST From: "Louis A. Mamakos" Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind Organization: The University of Maryland, College Park >Leap seconds are never removed. Well, none have ever been removed *yet*. The Network Time Protocol has a leap-second warning field in the packet, which indicates a leap second will occur at the end of the current day. There are provisions for both adding and deleting a leap second. louie ------------------------------ From: "James M. Turner" Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind Date: 8 Nov 90 09:54:07 EST hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net (Toby Nixon) writes: >One very nice program is "Professional TIMESET" by Dr. Peter Petrakis >of Life Sciences Editorial Services, 1236 River Bay Road, Annapolis >MD 21401. Not to toot my own horn, but I've just posted a Unix tool called utcclock to alt.sources and comp.protocols.time.ntp, which calls this number and sets your clock accurate to about +/- 50ms. Name: James M. Turner Company: Kendall Square Research Email: turner@ksr.com, ksr!turner Phone: (617) 895-9400 ------------------------------ Subject: Thanks For the Responses From: "Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,PRT" Date: 09 Nov 90 10:28 GMT I'd especially like to thank the group for all the great answers provided to my inquiry - I have never received such a comprehensive response before (I was asking about MNP drivers for MS-DOS). Since they probably cc'ed their replies here, I shall not repost them but I would especially like to thank: Javier Henderson Toby Nixon Ken Donaldson Bob Falcon Sincerely, Joel Disini ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #804 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18808; 11 Nov 90 0:11 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa20623; 10 Nov 90 22:37 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab14433; 10 Nov 90 21:34 CST Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 20:26:28 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #805 BCC: Message-ID: <9011102026.ab14757@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Nov 90 20:25:48 CST Volume 10 : Issue 805 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [David Lemson] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Glenn F. Leavell] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Adam M. Gaffin] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Ken McGlothlen] Re: Broken Phone While Out of Town [John Cowan] Re: Wrong Number Nightmare [John Higdon] People Unclear on the Concept [Ed Greenberg] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Lemson Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 18:13:57 GMT 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes: >I'm interested in knowing just how successful Prodigy *really* is. >1. Prodigy claims nearly 500,000 subscribers. What's the turnover >rate? Do people "buy the yellow box", keep Prodigy for awhile, and >then cut it off? And what is this 500K number really based on; boxes >sold/given away, or active bill-paying subscribers? First off, I had Prodigy for about five months ending in August, 1990. So, I haven't been on in a few months. I have kept track of it in things like alt.bbs, though. I get the impression that the 500,000 is just a bit of an exaggeration, or possibly a prediction that was supposed to have come true by now, but hasn't. >2. Is anything besides the e-mail/BBS service really popular with >subscribers? Is the shopping at home/banking at home making a dent? I went to the home banking service, and read that in my area (St. Louis at the time), there was only two banks that would service me. They were nationwide services. If you bank with IBM Credit Union (you have to be an IBM employee), I think there's no service charge. Most of the other banks will charge you. It's just not worth it to me. My main banking is done with a mutual fund management corp., and they have an 800 number with computerized auto-attendant that can do about anything I want. As for the E-mail, it was pretty good. It was quite cheap for the ability to send mail to so many people. Problems: You have to move the cursor down to "PgDn" to make a new screen or to scroll to the new screen. "Screens" are about 15 rows by 60 cols., and take FOREVER to scroll, even at 2400 bps. I asked them MANY times if they would ever install MNP on their modems. "Duhh, what's MNP? We already have a PROPRIETARY ERROR CORRECTION SCHEME! We can't tell you anything about it!!!" This was to Harold Goldes, the so-called "Technical head of Prodigy". After I explained what MNP was, and they saw that it would require capital outlay. NO WAY would they spend more money so that we would have greater speed. Problem now: in a few months, they are going to start charging something like $.25 per E-mail message over about 30 per month. Gag. Advice: Stick with Internet. Prodigy's messages have a four or five screen limit, too. Grocery services were supposed to be good. In STL, we had Schnuck's, and the prices were exactly the same as the shelf price, plus a $8 flat fee for pick-up (they're ready for you ahead of time) or about $15 for delivery. A good deal for someone who can't get out, and they do carry several thousand items on-line, and will even accept coupons on delivery orders. >3. What do you think people are really responding to with Prodigy -- >the ability to access information, the ability to finally put their PC >to good use, the e-mail/BBSs, or something else? It's mainly people who don't know why they ever bought that $500 Hayes Smartmodem 1200 so many years ago. It's for people who don't know that BBSs provide almost the same thing for much cheaper. (Well, not the SAME, but at least they don't censor your messages on BBSs that much.) >4. Do you/did you use it, and how do you/did you like it? Yes, I used it when I was writing to four people at once each day. If they made me pay extra for all that, I doubt I'd use it. Now that I have Internet and can write without a monthly charge, I prefer that. >[Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. So >'they' say, several users recently were summarily evicted from the >service after they sent email to other users criticizing the service's >plan to begin charging for 'excessive' amounts of email. Does anyone >have any details on this? PAT] I've heard the same thing. People posted "public" messages asking people to boycott the Prodigy advertisers! (Each Prodigy screen features an advertisement for an on-line store or special feature, in case you didn't know -- and this adds to the VERY SLOW service) So, Prodigy kicked about three or four accounts off. The executive interviewed said, "Yeah, we did it, they went after our advertisers, and we don't stand for that." Make up your own minds. David E. Lemson UofI Computing Svcs Student Consultant Internet : lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu University of Illinois, Urbana ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service From: "Glenn F. Leavell" Organization: University of Georgia Economics Department Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 18:57:32 GMT In article <14478@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) writes: >I'm interested in knowing just how successful Prodigy *really* is. [ stuff deleted ] >[Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. So >'they' say, several users recently were summarily evicted from the >service after they sent email to other users criticizing the service's >plan to begin charging for 'excessive' amounts of email. Does anyone >have any details on this? PAT] I too have read this information, but, alas, I did not save the source, and I don't remember what the source was. So, I will try to remember a few things about what I read. A group of Prodigy users recently tried to form a boycott of all Prodigy advertisers (Prodigy is cheaper than services like CompuServe becuase they run ads at the bottom of the screen). This boycott was in response to a recent Prodigy rate increase, particularly a plan to begin charging for e-mail messages that exceeded some limit X per household. This group of boycotting users began sending e-mail to all subscribers trying to rally converts to their cause. Prodigy likened this mass mailing to "junk mail" and eventually removed the instigators from the system. I understand that Prodigy now has a rule that the subject of the rate increase and boycott are not to be mentioned in any mailings or postings on the system, and that any messages that do mention them will be returned to the sender. Once again, I must state that I don't have the source of this information. I do not guarantee any of this information. Does anyone else have any corrections, clarifications, or additions? If much of this is true, it raises some possibly interesting questions: If Prodigy is returning messages to the sender based on content, does this mean that they are reading all messages sent on the system? Is this "right"? Is this the same as censorship? Becuase Prodigy is a private service, are they allowed to censor non-offensive material? But, they are using a common-carrier (the phone) as their only access method. Does this have any bearing on the situation? Glenn F. Leavell glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu 404-542-3488 Systems Administrator University of Georgia Economics Department. 147 Brooks Hall. Athens, GA 30602 [Moderator's Note: Having telco as the transport mechanism would not change things either way: after all, telco is not the one reviewing and/or deleting mail. Whether or not Prodigy is a common carrier remains to be seen. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Adam M Gaffin Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Organization: The World Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 04:12:09 GMT Tis true that a number of Prodigy users have been kicked off -- I've talked to three of 15 now. The company claims they were harassing other users and (gasp!) advertisers by sending out increasingly obnoxious e-mail messages by the bushel. The users, organized into something called the Coordinated Defense Campaign, say they were only letting people know about the impending e-mail charges (25 cents per message above a monthly free maximum of 30) and that they did not send to anybody who didn't want to hear from them. I've written about this, so if anybody wants copies of the article, let me know. Adam Gaffin Middlesex News, Framingham, Mass. adamg@world.std.com Voice: (508) 626-3968 Fred the Middlesex News Computer: (508) 872-8461. [Moderator's Note: Adam, it has been awhile since we ran one of your columns from the News here in the Digest, so by all means send along your article and we will post it here. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ken McGlothlen Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 10 Nov 90 20:57:18 GMT Organization: Dubious. In article <14478@accuvax.nwu.edu> 0003209613@mcimail.com (Sandy Kyrish) asks: | I'm interested in knowing just how successful Prodigy *really* is. [...] | 1. Prodigy claims nearly 500,000 subscribers. What's the turnover rate? Do | people "buy the yellow box", keep Prodigy for awhile, and then cut it off? | And what is this 500K number really based on; boxes sold/given away, or | active bill-paying subscribers? Personally, I suspect that the number of *active* users numbers less than a quarter of that. Whoever's sending out Prodigy's mail tends toward the redundant, to put it nicely. I'm still receiving stuff from them, after having cancelled several months ago. Heck, they even billed me for four months after I had cancelled (no, I didn't pay them for those four months). Duplicate that sort of behavior a few thousand times, and you have oodles more people that are being charged for your services. | 2. Is anything besides the e-mail/BBS service really popular with | subscribers? Is the shopping at home/banking at home making a dent? No idea. The E-mail aspect wasn't terribly useful to me, but then, even after about six scans of areas where I knew people, I hadn't seen a single person I knew or wanted to contact. Perhaps that's changed now, but ... | 3. What do you think people are really responding to with Prodigy -- the | ability to access information, the ability to finally put their PC to good | use, the e-mail/BBSs, or something else? The advertisements. On the television, it looks pretty good -- spiffy, colorful, whizbang, and fast. In person: | 4. Do you/did you use it, and how do you/did you like it? Yep, I did use it, for a few months. The first thing that struck me was that it was sure awfully slow. Configuration was easy enough, but the graphics were painfully slow, and the characters flowed across the screen at a speed slightly better than a 300bps modem (from a 2400bps connection). The characters were big, which meant that it filled up a screen faster than your average 80x24 screen, but I basically read along with the text as it was printed, and then had to wait for it to accept my input and wait for it to think about the next page. The menus were poorly organized. There was no way to get a simple list of keywords downloaded. Execution -- I can't stress this enough -- was really, really slow. And with EVERY SINGLE SCREEN, it took up some more time and space to barrage me with yet *another* advertisement. When I heard that any public posting made on Prodigy was filtered by the staff, that was just another point against it. The only semi-useful thing I got out of it was trying to navigate EASY SABRE to see if I could reserve an airline ticket. Again, here, the menus were poorly organized, frequently *almost* redundant (to wit, two menus allowed you to see *exactly* the same information, except for one little item -- I had to abort the reservation process and go off to inspect the flight number again), and in general, barely useful. The vast majority of the board is an electronic advertisement. The usefulness of the news services was amazingly limited (I could have gotten the same thing on television with much better graphics, more detail, and at higher speed), the games were ... well, mediocre ... and there was no way to just simply download a file. I would have killed by the end of it to be able to dial in with Kermit, and just see ASCII characters, but no ceegar. USENET. Can't touch that. As I said, their billing department doesn't seem to be on its toes, either. | [Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. I heard the same thing from a different source that currently uses Prodigy, if that helps. :) Still, it wouldn't surprise me -- Prodigy seems to really like being in control. Ken McGlothlen mcglk@cpac.washington.edu mcglk@cpac.bitnet ------------------------------ From: John Cowan Subject: Re: Broken Phone While Out of Town Organization: The Logical Language Group, Inc. Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 19:24:33 GMT In article <14329@accuvax.nwu.edu> Bill Huttig writes: >[Moderator's Note: That's very nice of them [ATT], if in fact they still do >it. I know prior to divestiture the long distance operator would >contact 'inward' in your community and that operator would turn in the >report. Who knows now ... PAT] Sure 'nough, they do. I had reason to believe that my father's phone was out of order one fine night some months ago. He lives in Bethlehem PA (Bell of PA -- Bell Atlantic) and I live in NYC (New York Tel -- NYNEX). Dialling 10288-0 got me an operator who got me an operator who got me a number in 215-land. I called it and filed a report. Bingo. cowan@marob.masa.com (aka ...!hombre!marob!cowan) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Wrong Number Nightmare Date: 9 Nov 90 11:18:30 PST (Fri) From: John Higdon "Arun Baheti " writes: > We have complained to the phone company and to the dealership to fix > the problem, but everyone seems to think that we should pay to have > our line changed or simply wait for their or simply wait for their > cards, flyers, etc to cycle through in a year or so... sigh. I > consider myself polite, but after getting 15 wrong numbers and > messages asking "When can I pick up my truck?" (in Spanish and > English) a day, I am beginning to grow tired of the whole game. Any > ideas? I've already tried threatening the car dealer with the idea > that I would begin to be rude to the wrong numbers and not refer them > to the 714 area code. Someone? Anyone? Time to actually implement "the final solution". Tell the callers that the dealership has probably gone out of business (with the implication that maybe they have lost their money!) or any other smart-aleck comment that you may deem appropriate. If that doesn't seem to help, then you will have to convince GTE that it really would be in its best interests to give you a free number change. (I'm surprised that even GTE would insist that you pay for a number change to avoid harrassing calls, but then GTE never ceases to amaze and astound.) In any event, remember that you are the innocent victim here and under no circumstances should you have to pay for a car dealer's (especially a car dealer's!) negligence. John Higdon (hiding out in the desert) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 11:46 PST From: Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com Subject: People Unclear on the Concept I dropped by the local Burger King the other day, for my ration of fast breakfast. Outside is a brand spanking new COCOT. Inside is a sign that states, "We do not give change for the phone." Now, given that the BK is in it for the cash, why discourage usage? This COCOT allows use of AT&T. Dialing 10288 causes the phone to say "Thank you" and then it outdials 102880. This fact is indicated on the instruction card. "Card Calls completed by Com Systems. To use AT&T dial 10288" I'm impressed. edg Moderator's Note: Perhaps the answer is they know they will make just as much money anyway without the extra effort of making change. The poor devils who have to use the phone can simply use the change they were planning to use to get on the bus instead, and go somewhere else to look for bus fare money. When you go to that sort of dump to eat, why are you surprised by anything they say or do? PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #805 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa19896; 11 Nov 90 1:24 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa26791; 10 Nov 90 23:41 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab20623; 10 Nov 90 22:38 CST Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 21:51:17 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #806 BCC: Message-ID: <9011102151.ab07790@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 10 Nov 90 21:50:38 CST Volume 10 : Issue 806 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards [Dave Levenson] Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards [Alex Novickis] Dialogic vs. AT&T Voice Power vs. ... [Jim Gottlieb] Re: Is the "V&H" Tape Still Available? [Bob Stratton] Re: Former 312-Area Ringback Prefixes [Norman R. Tiedemann] Re: Searching For a Battery [Barton F. Bruce] Re: DTMF Decoder Wanted (or Chips/Schematics) [Tad Cook] Re: Request INFO Sources About ISDN [Arnold Robbins] Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Telecom Art [Peter da Silva] Re: Voice Activated Calling Cards [Steve Rhoades] Re: Digit Overload in Dallas/Fort Worth [Carl Moore] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards Date: 9 Nov 90 22:51:29 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <14492@accuvax.nwu.edu>, biar!trebor@uunet.uu.net (Robert J Woodhead) writes: [comments about bigmOuth PC voice equipment] > I'm quite happy with it, but now I have a slightly more complicated > bit of hardware on my Xmas shopping list. What I need is a board that > has the following features: > * Can handle four or more calls simultaneously. > * DMTF detection, audio recording and playback. > * PC compatible > * Hopefully buffers incoming and outgoing sampled audio on the board > so as to reduce the strain on the host machine. > * Good low-level interface software library, in UNIX/XENIX if possible. > * Also, it would be nice if more than one of these boards could be plugged > into a single PC. Check out Dialogic Corp. of Parsippany, NJ. They offer two, four, and twelve-line cards, with MS-DOS and UNIX system software (drivers and libraries). These cards detect and generate touch tones, play and record voice, and detect ring. Add-ons allow this equipment to work with DID trunks, T-1 circuits, interoffice (MF) trunks, voice- recognition boards, and an audio switch matrix. The latter, with some adaptors that include telephone set interfaces, ringing power supplies, etc., allows your PC to become a full PBX if you need that much functionality. > Anyone got any leads on such a beastie? Oh yeah, if there is a > multiline box that talks to it's host over Ethernet, that would do the > trick too. Put their cards in your PC and let the PC (running DOS or UNIX) talk to the rest of your network. No, I don't work for Dialogic. Westmark is a value-added reseller of their voice products, which we embed in our voice-response banking applications. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: Alex Novickis Subject: Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards Date: 11 Nov 90 01:11:08 GMT Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA In article <14492@accuvax.nwu.edu> biar!trebor@uunet.uu.net (Robert J Woodhead) writes: >A couple of months ago I inquired about voicemail boards for the PC. >Thanks to all that responded. I ended up getting a Bigmouth board >from Talking Technologies of Alameda, CA [415-522-3800] for about >$225. This board turns any old PC into a voicemail center, and the >menu-driven software that comes with it (quite powerful) lets you set >up voicemail boxes, phone trees, do voice questionaires, store and >auto-forward voicemail, etc, etc, etc. >I'm quite happy with it, but now I have a slightly more complicated >bit of hardware on my Xmas shopping list. What I need is a board that >has the following features: >into a single PC. >Anyone got any leads on such a beastie? Oh yeah, if there is a >multiline box that talks to it's host over Ethernet, that would do the >trick too. There's a company in Los Gatos, CA called VICOM or maybe VYCOM and they used to have a 64 line card for the PC, however I believe it only did voice out, DTMF in type stuff. They may have more of such stuff ... this was made for mass termination lines, e.g. 900 or 976 use. Alex P. Novickis, Real Time systems demi-guru. (W) 408-370-4541 ALINK:alex.n (PAGE) 989-6678 {amdahl,claris,pyramid,sun,decwrl,well,ubvax,ames}!apn@apple.com,apn@nonvon ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Dialogic vs. AT&T Voice Power vs. ... Date: 11 Nov 90 01:44:54 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles We have been using Dialogic voice boards for several years now and have several hundred in service. Yet I am not completely happy with them and would like to hear about the competition. Specific complaints include bad ring-detect circuitry (shout into the phone and the board goes off-hook) and the lack of a hybrid circuit to prevent output audio from finding its way into the touch-tone receiver (the board will often not hear a touch-tone from the user if pressed at the same time as speech is being played). The other four-port boards that I know of are the AT&T Voice Power board, and a similar board from Rhetorex. How do these compare? Unfortunately, Rhetorex does not provide Unix drivers. Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: or V-Mail: +1 213 551 7702 Fax: 478-3060 Voice: 824-5454 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 10:54:10 EST From: Bob Stratton Subject: Re: Is the "V&H" tape still Available? >There used to be a mag tape called a "V&H" tape that you could get >from AT&T for about $43. It had every NPA-NXX code, the location's >name, and its Vertical and Horizontal coordinates. This is from my 1989 Bellcore Catalog of Technical Information: - NPA-NXX Vertical and Horizontal Coordinates Tape - This tape contains for each active NPA-NXX in the North American Numbering Plan, the industry type data applicable to that point. The data contained includes the vertical and horizontal coordinate, the LATA or LATA-like code, the place, name, and time zone indicators. This tape is available monthly and contains, in addition to a data set, two data files: 1) a complete master of all active NPA/NXX's and 2) a file of only the updates made since the last issue. NPA/NXX V + H Coordinates Tape $320.00 To place orders or to obtain further assistance, contace the TRA (Traffic Routing Administration) Hotline on 201-829-3071, or: Bellcore Traffic Routing Administration 435 South Street, Room 1J321 Morristown, New Jersey 07960-1961 I hope this helps. Bob Stratton | dsc3rjs@nmdsc{20 | 10}.nmdsc.nnmc.navy.mil [Internet] Stratton Systems Design | dsc3rjs@vmnmdsc.BITNET [BITNET - only if you must!] | +1 703 823 MIND [PSTNet] Disclaimer: The above opinions are mine alone - Who else would want them? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 12:01:31 EST From: Norman R Tiedemann Subject: Re: Former 312-Area Ringback Prefixes Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article <14476@accuvax.nwu.edu>, the Moderator notes: > [Moderator's Note: Well actually, the correct numbers are 1-571 > through 1-577. No area code, but you must use 1 plus the appropriate > three digit code for your CO (571 through 577) plus the last four > digits of the phone you want to ring back. For example xxx-2368 would > be rung back by dialing 1-571-2368 (or 572, 573, whatever applies in > your office -- test 'em all to find out which!) The corect combination > will return dial tone. ... Here at Bell Labs in Naperville, we have ISDN from IBT. This ring back does not work through ISDN. Interestingly enough the phone number voice back (1-200) works. Actually, it voiced back your number very quietly and then give a loud annoying fast busy. You have to pull your ear away fast after the number. Anytime I try the ring back, it rings and then I get the intercept tone and the "To call a number outside your area code, dial 1 plus area code ... To call a number within your areacode just dial the seven digit number." I also noted that the touchtone test will not work if you do not subscribe to touch tone service. (Or at least I couldn't get it to work at home.) If anyone knows how to ring back through ISDN, I'd be interested in finding out how. Norm Tiedemann AT&T Bell Labs IH 2G-419 att!ihlpy!normt 2000 Naperville Rd. normt@ihlpy.att.com Naperville, IL 60566 ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Searching For a Battery Date: 9 Nov 90 13:01:44 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14268@accuvax.nwu.edu>, pssc@cdp.uucp writes: > I am looking for a type of battery (D cell, 1.5 volts) I've not seen > in a long time. It is an Everready but is only one-half the height > of a standard D cell. Would anyone know if these are still You maybe should ask the manufacturer of the product it goes in for a current recommendation. You haven't given enough info to really pin down what you have, but maybe this will help. An EVEREADY # E94 (USASI Designation - L80) is 1 11/32" diameter (same as a "D"), but is 1 13/64 overall length. > I've tried calling Union Carbide and the response has been "we never > made one." It is, of course, sitting on my desk. But, sadly, long > dead. Ask for EVEREADY's "Battery Applications - Engineering Data" handbook. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: DTMF Decoder Wanted (or Chips/Schematics) From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Date: 9 Nov 90 17:16:09 GMT In article <14411@accuvax.nwu.edu>, BRUCE@ccavax.camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) writes: > If you are just tinkering, go to Radio Shack. They have TT decode > chips, but are hardly where you need to go if you are going to make a > product. Radio Shack no longer carries the SSI DTMF receiver. But you can contact SSI directly at 714-731-7110. Or you can get Teltone's DTMF receiver from them at 206-827-9626. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ Reply-To: arnold@audiofax.com From: Arnold Robbins Subject: Re: Request Info Sources About ISDN Date: 9 Nov 90 14:42:36 GMT Organization: AudioFAX Inc., Atlanta In article <14447@accuvax.nwu.edu> holos0!wdh@gatech.edu (Weaver Hickerson) writes: >I'm interested in finding what types, if any, of AT bus hardware is >available/in the works for ISDN, as well as simply learning more about >the service. At SuperComm '90 this past spring, AT&T had a huge "booth". One of the things they showed was an ISDN card for the AT bus. So, I know it exists. However, my experience has been that AT&T is *SO* large that finding someone who knows what you want so that you can order it is next to impossible. Good luck, Arnold Robbins AudioFAX, Inc. 2000 Powers Ferry Road, #200 / Marietta, GA. 30067 INTERNET: arnold@audiofax.com Phone: +1 404 933 7612 UUCP: emory!audfax!arnold Fax-box: +1 404 618 4581 ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed Date: 9 Nov 90 18:17:00 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14374@accuvax.nwu.edu>, dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com (David Tamkin) writes: > This is no 100% cure-all solution, but it may help: as long as Dave > and Dan have an answering machine, they should start their OGM with, > "Sears Roebuck & Co.'s telephone number has been changed to XYA-5600; Perhaps the following would prove useful: "If you have a problem and want BETTER service, call J .C. Penney at xxx.xxxx" Followed, after a modestly long pause, by some suitable message for callers to Dave or Dan. ------------------------------ From: peter da silva Subject: Re: Telecom Art Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 18:08:56 GMT The locations of most users can be found by examining comp.mail.maps: the location of most sites are given, with street address and latitude and longitude. These maps are updated and posted monthly. Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. peter@ferranti.com ------------------------------ From: Steve Rhoades Subject: Re: Voice Activated Calling Cards Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 19:18:05 GMT In article <14493@accuvax.nwu.edu> SABAHE@macalstr.edu (Arun Baheti ) writes: >Sprint. I recall a few years ago that there was a company (All-Net?) >that allowed people not at touch-tone phones to "speak" their card >numbers into a machine, one digit at a time, and then the destination >number the same way. It then asked for verification with yes/no I remember a couple of companies about ten years ago that had this system. One in particular, I think it was called Travelnet, comes to mind. It was sort of a favorite phreaker thing to play with, especially from coin phones. Most of the coin phones in Los Angeles were rotary at that time. The major difference in these old systems and the new Sprint service is Sprint uses voice-PATTERN recognition along with regular voice recognition. i.e. In the old systems, it didn't care who you were, just as long as you uttered something resembling digits. With Sprint's service, the uttered digits are supposed to match ones you've previously recorded. I am curious how their system would work from a noisy location, like outside an airport. It seems that the additional outside noise might cause errors in the system. Internet: slr@tybalt.caltech.edu | Voice-mail: (818) 794-6004 UUCP: ...elroy!tybalt!slr | USmail: Box 1000, Mt. Wilson, Ca. 91023 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 16:32:43 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Digit Overload in Dallas/Fort Worth responding to Dave Close : >However, a zero or one prefix is only required when the call is a >toll call. What do you mean by "zero"? Pay phones in Delaware, Maryland, and nearby have instruction cards suggesting 0+ for LOCAL calls if you are out of change. The only difference among these cards is that if the area has NNX prefixes only, it'll say 0+number, but if the area has NXX prefixes it'll say 0+areacode+number. In Dallas/Fort Worth area, 214 has NXX prefixes and is just now being split to form 903, with Dallas metro area remaining in 214; 817 has NNX only as far as I know, but it has (right?) the same instructions for toll and 0+ as does 214, for the sake of area-wide uniformity (like "statewide uniformity" for 201/609 in New Jersey). In Washington DC area (now requiring areacode + 7D on local calls crossing areacode boundary, apparently similar to what you have in Dallas/Fort Worth area), at least on the pay phones you can optionally add the leading 1+; this, by the way, would help you out if you are bringing in a programmed phone from an area where the DC area was long distance. But you are saying I cannot put in the leading 1+ if the call in Dallas/Fort Worth area across areacode line is local. >I think that it is an overload on the leading digit for it to both >introduce an area code and distinguish toll calls. I'm not sure what you are talking about. With or without local calls across an area code boundary, you should NOT have your own or nearby area codes as prefixes! This reduces confusion for advertisements, word of mouth, etc. going across areacode border, and makes it possible to drop the leading 1+ for out-of-areacode local calls which can no longer be just seven digits. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #806 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23824; 11 Nov 90 4:23 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa03257; 11 Nov 90 2:46 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04233; 11 Nov 90 1:42 CST Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 0:43:25 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #807 BCC: Message-ID: <9011110043.ab25101@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 11 Nov 90 00:43:10 CST Volume 10 : Issue 807 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Turkey City Codes [Jim Rees] Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets [Jim Rees] Re: Want to Build SNA Gateway [Tom Wiencko] Re: What Happens When 800 Fills Up? [John R. Levine] Re: What Happens When 800 Fills Up? [Jeff Sicherman] Transatlantic Computer Traffic via Satellite [Frederick Roeber] Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address [William M. Gilroy] Call-Waiting Disable [Arun Baheti] Latest 900 Scam [Syd Weinstein] Copy of Videotape Wanted [Tom Streeter] Re: X.25 Software for PCs Running DOS or Xenix [Michael A. Shiels] Real-Time Information Over Networks [Tony Goodloe] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rees@pisa.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Turkey City Codes Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 22:25:52 GMT In article <14460@accuvax.nwu.edu>, clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather) writes: >Clearly, 905 is a subset of 90, but the phone user will find the >information under "Cyprus", not under "Turkey". In other words, we're >all in agreement. My phone book lists just plain Cyprus as 357 (that's the Greek half, although the book doesn't say so). It doesn't list the Turkish half at all, either under Cyprus or Turkey. Presumably this will change in next year's book as our government tries to cozy up to Turkey in view of the serious situation in the Arabian Gulf (formerly the Persian Gulf). By the way, if you want to give me a call to discuss this, the country code for the People's Republic of Ann Arbor, Michigan is 1313. [Moderator's Smirk: I'll let that last paragraph go through this time; but watch how you talk about our friends at umich.edu! :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: rees@pisa.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Organization: University of Michigan IFS Project Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 23:20:37 GMT In article <14486@accuvax.nwu.edu>, davidb@pacer.uucp (David Barts) writes: >Why are butt set leads colored red/black/green instead of >red/green/yellow? Wire color codes -- one of my favorite questions! I can't answer this one, but this has always amused me: Electricity <100v Electricity >100v Telephones Ground Black Green Yellow Neutral -- White Red Hot Red Black Green I've used electrician's terms here. Telephones are actually balanced line, so there isn't that big a distinction between tip and ring, at least not at the subscriber's end. Note that someone used to automotive electrical systems will electrocute himself when he grabs the black wire in his house fuse box, thinking it's ground. And an electrician will disable all his phones when he connects the green telephone lead to ground. How did all this come about? ------------------------------ From: Tom Wiencko Subject: Re: Want to Build SNA Gateway Date: 10 Nov 90 18:34:26 GMT Organization: Wiencko & Associates, Inc. In article <14474@accuvax.nwu.edu> mcia@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Mike Ciaraldi) writes: >I'm trying to set up a gateway system to route between workstations >connected by Ethernet and an IBM mainframe host connected by a 56kb >line running SNA/SDLC. There are about 547 ways to do this. I'll outline a few. >What I have working now is a Sun 4/330 with a Systech communications >board and software from SSI. The software provides 3270 terminal >emulation and 3770 RJE emulation. The custom routing software uses >something from SSI called "HLLAPI", the High Level Language >Applications Program Interface. This gives us a standard set of >subroutines for sending keystrokes, querying fields on the emulated >3270 screen, etc. HLLAPI is just the programmatic way of getting into the SNA data stream. This is not a protocol by itself, it is merely IBM doublespeak for an interface library to the communications subsystem. >I've been able to handle 200+ simultaneous 3270 sessions, plus card >reader, punch, and printer emulation like an RJE terminal. >I'm looking for a hardware/software solution that provides the same >functionality, but with lower performance (say, 20 sessions) and cost. The easiest way to do this is to equip your mainframe with TCP/IP and run TN3270 across your Ethernet (or Token Ring) to a 3172 controller. Alas, this is not an SNA solution. A lot depends on what devices are where: are the workstations local to the mainframe, or are they remote (you imply that they are remote). If they are remote and you absolutely must have an SNA link, the problem is different. You would need some device which can act as a gateway from your workstations to SNA. You can do this with Token Ring with a 3174 remote controller, but I don't believe this works on Ethernet. There are several third parties who have other gateway solutions, but as I tend to live in an IBM world, I have no names handy (but SSI could probably point you in the right direction). >The comm board we use is only available for the VMEbus, so we can't >plug it into a SPARCstation. I found some comm boards for the S-bus >that provide synchronous communications, but so far haven't found one >that provides HLLAPI compatiblity or RJE. >What I don't need is a package that just opens a 3270 emulation screen >on a Sun screen; I need to get to the emulated screens from my program >so I can digest them and send them to the workstations. This does make things more complicated. This is a good reason to try to do this with TCP/IP, as most TCP/IP implementations come with a socket library which would allow you to do this easily. >Right now I'm mostly interested in a Sun-based solution, but I'd >consider other platforms if porting my HLLAPI-based C code wouldn't be >too hard. And I need RJE support, of course. IBM's RS/6000 has a thing called SNA Services which might be just the ticket. It supports this stuff six ways from Sunday. It has *no* application code with it (it is just an API) so you can roll your own any way you want. If you want RJE or 3270 emulation, you can get software to do that from SSI or TPS (I can get you addresses and phone numbers on request). >Any suggestions? Anyone done something similar? BTW, is there a >newsgroup that would be a better choice? Thanks. comp.protocols.ibm maybe? Tom Wiencko & Associates, Inc. (404) 977-4515 {backbone}!emory!stiatl!vta!wiencko!tom ------------------------------ Subject: Re: What Happens When 800 Fills Up? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge MA 02238 Date: 9 Nov 90 09:23:30 EST (Fri) From: "John R. Levine" In article <14468@accuvax.nwu.edu> is written: >Has any particular plan been made for what to do when the North >American area code for toll-free calls, 800, fills up? According to the chart in the Telecom Archives, of the 800 possible prefixes in NPA 800, 434 are assigned to a carrier, leaving 366 totally empty. Of those 434 prefixes, none to my knowledge are full, and some appear to be empty as well. Since you never dial an 800 number without the area code, it should be possible to assign the 1XX and 0XX prefixes as well. So at this point, 800 is less than half full, maybe less than 1/3 full. At some point in the next few years when the network is upgraded, the current system of routing 800 numbers by prefix will change to route by full number, allowing numbers to be reclaimed from carriers who haven't used up the ones they have. By the time 800 fills up it will be well past 1995, and I expect they'll use a prefix like 880 or 888. It may seem that 800 will fill up quickly with the advent of residential 800 numbers, but do keep in mind that the fact that half of the contributors to telecom have one doesn't say much about the public at large. I'd get one myself if only I could figure out a use for it. Just like a cellular phone. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 90 21:05:01 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: Re: What Happens When 800 Fills Up I think the problem posed by this question goes beyond the issue of just 800 numbers: > Has any particular plan been made for what to do when the North > American area code for toll-free calls, 800, fills up? It would be > nice if a code that was somewhat similar had been reserved for > splitting it. Given that 700, 801, and 900 are all in some sort of > use, the best choice would seem to be 810. > What fraction of the 800-number namespace is currently allocated? The escalating splitting of municipalities into multiple area codes, the proliferation of faxs and cellular phones that will exacerbate this suggest that the once adequate phone numbering system is getting out of hand and is unequal to the load of modern telecommunications possibilities. The resulting confusion of phone numbers versus geographical areas occasioned by the splitting and the uncertainty of charges is just once manifestation of it. The proliferation of services such as call forwarding, call waiting, and the like also reflect, to some degree, a addressing scheme that is focused on the hardware rather than the user and becoming confusing and difficult for the average customer to manage, especially in any informed way. Like the awkwardness of programming many VCR's, I think this will leave much of the network's potential underexploited. (Except by us expert readers of TELECOM Digest :-) What are the telephone companies, research institutions, regulatory agencies, or anyone else doing to address this. To what extent may ISDN provide some solutions to this (I can think of a few). Jeff Sicherman ------------------------------ From: Frederick Roeber Subject: Transatlantic Computer Traffic via Satellite Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Date: 10 Nov 90 12:23:25 PST It has been mentioned that recently much transatlantic computer traffic has been routed via satellite because of a broken undersea cable. I just called Washington from Switzerland and got a `half-duplex' connection (pardon the computer term; I mean when one person was speaking, the other direction was cut off.) From the delay, it was clearly a satellite link. However, I also traced the Internet link between Geneva and Pasadena, and the long delay I've seen recently (that I figured was the transatlantic hop) has disappeared! Does anybody know what's going on? Frederick G. M. Roeber | e-mail: roeber@caltech.edu or roeber@vxcern.cern.ch r-mail: CERN/SL-CO, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland | telephone: +41 22 767 5373 [Moderator's Note: The message we got was that one of the repeaters in the cable was out. A ship was on location to work on it. A private message sent to me Saturday night said the repairs are apparently finished and the cable is back in service. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 10:44:09 EST From: William M Gilroy Subject: Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I was wondering how and where I would obtain a listing by street of every telephone number on that street. I want something like this: 1 Oak st (201) 555-1212 2 Oak st (201) 555-1212 3 Oak st (201) 555-1212 I assume that this information is available somewhere. Can it be purchased from the phone company (RBOC I guess)? Or do I purchase it from some other company. What forms does it come in (magtape, floppy disk, paper listing)? Any pointers will be appreciated. If there is enough interest I will summarize to the net, if not I will just mail the summary to the people who request it. Thanks in advance, Bill Gilroy (908) 949-2566 wmg@pixels.att.com [Moderator's Note: Criss-cross directories usually have two parts, the first being a listing like you describe; the second being a listing in telephone number order. Most public libraries have at the least a copy of the criss-cross for their own community, frequently in the Business Department or the Reference Department. The most prolific publishers of criss-cross directories are Haynes, R. L. Polk, Dressers, and City Publishing Company of Independence, KS. CPC seems to be strong with listings for Florida. Haynes is strong with the northeast US cities. Donnelly Directory (a subsidiary of several telcos) also has lots of criss-cross books also. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 13:33 CDT From: "Arun Baheti " Subject: Call-Waiting Disable I'm having trouble disabling the call waiting feature in the Twin Cities area. While the standard methods (*70 and 1170) are listed in the phone book, and the phone company claims vehmently that these methods will work, I continue to receive "call not completed" messages whenever I try. The normal methods work in SoCal (Pac*Tel), so I am beginning to wonder ... Does anyone else have experience with the Twin Cities system? [Moderator's Note: Two assumptions are in order: (1) You *do* have Call Waiting on the line in question (not just 'think you do'), and (2) the serving CO is equipped with the proper generics. For example, here in the Illinois Bell LATA almost everyone has *70 available. But the folks in Mor(t)on Grove -- Moron Grove is the sister city of the People's Republic of Ann Arbor, yuk, yuk! -- do not have it. The generics on their switch are different. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Syd Weinstein Subject: Latest 900 Scam Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 15:59:28 EST Reply-To: syd@dsi.com Well, an autodial computer just dialed every one of our trunks in order to advertise an 1-900 scam for 'a free hotel stay', of course its $5.00/minute on the 1-900 number if you call to claim, and it will take at least three minutes to claim. They gave a name, although I am sure its an alias, but does anyone know who owns 226 in the 900 exchange (ie what carrier). The machine was capable of dialing more than one number at once, as lines would ring before the preceeding one hung up. A real nusiance to watch every line in order ring. They just set the entire exchange to be dialed in sequence. Of course, what's neat is that 9900 is high enough that in most exchanges it used to be reserved for payphones. Such fun, such fun. Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP Elm Coordinator Datacomp Systems, Inc. Voice: (215) 947-9900 syd@DSI.COM or dsinc!syd FAX: (215) 938-0235 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 90 11:52:23 EST From: Tom Streeter Subject: Copy of Videotape Wanted Several months ago at the Nat'l Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Atlanta, there were several panels featuring representatives from various RBOCs talking about their plans for broadband video delivery into the home. At one panel (which I unfortunately missed) a tape was shown which featured a demo of a proposed service. I think it was produced by Northern Telecom (but I could well be in error on that). It caused a bit of a stir among some broadcast station owners who were not really aware of the potential for such services. Does anyone have any info on how I could track down this tape (or others like it)? It would be helpful for a class I'm teaching next term. Tom Streeter streeter@uga.cc.uga.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Re: X.25 Software for PCs Running DOS or Xenix Reply-To: "Michael A. Shiels" Organization: MaS Network Software and Consulting Date: 10 Nov 90 08:39:57 EST (Sat) From: tmsoft!mshiels@uunet.uu.net In Montreal, Quebec, Canada there is a company called EICON technologies. They have a very good X.25 card and interface API. ------------------------------ From: Tony Goodloe Subject: Real-Time Information Over Networks Date: 9 Nov 90 16:06:59 GMT Organization: Intergraph Corp. Huntsville, AL I'm looking for reference works on doing things like voice and realtime data transmission over non-deterministic networks like ethernet. Anyone have any pointers? Thanks, Tony ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #807 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa12499; 12 Nov 90 0:57 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa06525; 11 Nov 90 22:54 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14694; 11 Nov 90 21:49 CST Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 21:07:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #808 BCC: Message-ID: <9011112107.ab28151@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 11 Nov 90 21:06:30 CST Volume 10 : Issue 808 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson What Price, Cellular? [Larry Rachman] GTE Mobilnet Restricts International Dialing Nationwide [George Goble] Infra-Red and Lan Bridges [Andrew A. Beveridge] Is There a Listing of AT&T (Corporate) 800 Numbers? [Jeff Sicherman] A Phone Set Wiring Question [Dave W. Hamaker] CENTREX/10BaseT Conflict [Gene N. Cartier] Frank and Phunny Phone Call Tapes Wanted! [Mike Danseglio] AFRICOM-CCDC/91: Conference on Computer Communication [Pierre Laforgue] UTP-THIN Warning [John Kemp] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 09 Nov 90 07:00:25 EST From: Larry Rachman <74066.2004@compuserve.com> Subject: What Price, Cellular? In a recent issue of the Digest, John Higdon writes: >Much has been said concerning various cellular operators and what >appear to be outrageous charges. Quite honestly, most cellular charges >are way out of line. However, what you are seeing is the marketplace >at work. With all due respect, that's not how I see it. What I see is a government-imposed duopoly artificially driving prices up into the highest atmospheric layers. Sure, demand has been high, but that doesn't that usually drive prices down, not up? >At the moment I am roaming in the much-maligned LA area PacTel system. >These are the slimes who charge for call attempts even if it's the >system's fault that the call bombs. They charge roamers $0.70/min >during the day.. In suburban Long Island (NY), I'm paying $0.95/min during the day, when in HOME mode. I live near the north shore of Long Island; despite being five miles from the nearest cell site, I roam to Connecticut from my driveway. ("...we know about the problem, sir, but the Connecticut signal is stronger, there...) >But don't expect rates to come down any time soon. Those who find the >system convenient and helpful will use it; those who do not think the >charges are worth it will not. The providers are NOT hurting for >customers. When someone complains that the charges are outrageous, >he's right. I'll bet the rates would drop like a rock if the opportunity to provide service was opened up to more competition. These phones are getting down into the $300-$400 range even without the kickbacks; there's no technical reason why they shoudn't be as omnipresent as leather seats and air conditioning. They should be making life convenient and safe for the general population, not just the affluent (and us telecom hackers). Surely, new technology would make it possible to have a multitude of carriers in a given area. But could it be done with existing phones, by clever reconfiguration of the System ID, and Default Calling Channel? (I don't know; it is left as an exercise for the reader). Nearly every phone I've opened had the EPROM socketed. Of course this all presumes no *political* impediments, which may not be realistic. When you've invested several hundreds of millions of dollars cellular physical plant, and buying up other cellular companies (and licenses), you're not about to let go without a *protracted* legal battle. >And when he refuses to subscribe, that's natural selection >at work. Piffle! Its more like when a bunch of new homeowners petition for a moratorium on construction, to keep the 'rabble' out of the neighborhood. Larry Rachman, WA2BUX 74066.2004@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: George Goble Subject: GTE Mobilnet Restricts International Dialing Nationwide Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network Date: Wed, 7 Nov 90 15:14:47 GMT I received notice last month that GTE Mobilnet was dropping the ability to direct dial international calls from cell phones, even if you were roaming on somebody else's system. All they cited was rising "fraud". The notice said that operator made calls on credit card, etc. would still be possible though. What kind of "fraud" do you think is going on? I thought "bandit" roamers and all that were pretty well under control with "positive verification" now? The local switch engineers say that bandits can sometimes get one call off before being shutdown (maybe a long one?) All the local switch operators knew about the dialing restriction was that it was "national", and they were not given a reason other than what we got. Just think of all the scanner bait of people passing credit card numbers on voice now! This sounds far less secure to me, but "somebody else" gets stuck with the charges, not Mobilnet. ghg [Moerator's Note: The more I think about it, the more I realize what a good deal Ameritech Cellular is: very inexpensive rates and an excellent signal. Re international dialing on GTE, I suspect you will still be able to zero plus the calls through the desired carrier; i.e. 01 + overseas number + calling card number. While you can't fool all the phreaks all the time, translating the sounds of a card number being entered requires more effort than copying down with a pencil what you hear on the scanner when a subscriber passes the card number to an operator. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Friday, 9 Nov 1990 19:39:28 EST From: "Andrew A. Beveridge" Subject: Infra-Red and Lan Bridges Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center We are trying to connect our building to a campus Ethernet, which then goes on to TCP/IP. We cannot draw a cable under the street. (Or if we can it will take us ten years to find out.) The computer center is about 1/4 mile away. We understand the Infrared is the way to go. 1) What is the cost of such a set-up, and who would be a good vendor? 2) Can Infrared simultaneously handle voice (like from a bunch of phones for a PBX. We have priced one set-up out to around 18k. Plus a spare Laser Gun or whatever they are? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please E-mail me direct, and I will put up a summary. Andrew A. Beveridge Department of Sociology Queens College and Graduate Center City University of New York 209 Kissena Hall Flushing, NY 11367 718-520-7093 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 90 21:04:05 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: List of AT&T (Corporate) 800 Numbers Wanted Having seen several AT&T 1-800 services mentioned in the Digest, is there a comprehensive list of all or most of them available anywhere ? Jeff Sicherman ------------------------------ From: "Dave W. Hamaker" Subject: A Phone Set Wiring Question Date: 10 Nov 90 02:51:46 GMT Reply-To: "Dave W. Hamaker" Organization: The Wollongong Group, Palo Alto, CA I recently remodeled my home and, as a consequence, redid most of the inside wiring. Like many computer-oriented people, I have two phone lines: one for people to use, and one for modem connections. Since I now had four-wire cable going everywhere, I decided to put the modem line on the black-yellow pair connected to the outside modular jack connector pair of each jack intended for normal phone use (I wired separate jacks in the computer area). I expected single-line phones would ignore the yellow-black pair, unless rewired internally. I figured it might be useful to have the modem line available at all jacks, even though I didn't plan to take advantage of this. I was subsequently surprised to discover that one of my telephone sets, a standard-looking single-line touch-tone desk model purchased from the equipment-selling arm of my local telephone conglomerate (PAC*TEL and Pacific Telesis, respectively), would take both lines off hook when in use. It didn't seem to actually use the modem line; the person using that phone wouldn't hear what transpired on the modem line while it stayed off hook for the duration of the call. When I finally figured out what was going on, I opened up the phone set and disconnected the yellow-black wire pair. I wove the disconnected wires into the wire nest in the phone to keep them from flapping about and shorting something. I think I may buy a two-wire line cord and reconnect the wires so they are securely tied down again. While I've uncovered the reason for some occasional strangeness, and I've restored things to normal, I remain puzzled as to the why of the PAC*TEL phone. I thought one of our more expert readers might know. The phone seems to be made by COMDIAL and the black wire was connected to a terminal labeled "L1," while the yellow wire was connected to a terminal labeled "G." I can give more detailed info on the device if I know what to look for. Any ideas? Dave Hamaker dwh@twg.com ...!sun!amdahl!twg-ap!dwh ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 09:25:43 MST From: "Gene N. Cartier" Subject: CENTREX/10BaseT Conflict We are considering migrating one of our branch offices from an old NBI word processing system to a state-of-the-art system based on DEC 5000's running Ultrix and using X-Windows Terminals. The current environment uses one twisted pair in a six conductor sheath to support the NBI connection an additional pair is used to provide phone service via CENTREX from the telco. I have planned to support the new system using 802.3 using 10BaseT connections. The penny pinchers want me to use the existing wiring. This means that the 802.3 and CENTREX conductors will be in the same sheath. I remember reading somewhere that this is not a good idea because CENTREX ringing will poke holes in the data because of voltage differences. Even though it is more expensive I have recommended that we recable. Am I being an alarmist? Does anyone have any experience in this area and better yet can anyone provide me with some hard copy references that I can use to defend my position or ease my concerns. I'll consolidate all responses and post them. Thanks, Gene Cartier SRA CORP SRA@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (703) 558-7507 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Nov 90 07:46:06 EDT From: Mike Danseglio Subject: Frank and Phunny Phone Call Tapes Wanted! To anyone and everyone! I am in search of any copies (except the one I have!) of the 'Frank and the Phunny Phone Call' tapes. You remember, the ones where they victimized Francis J. Haynes up in Fairfax, Virginia? Someone(s) got onto his cable pair at his local green-box and connected him with various people and places. Sometimes his phone would ring, and sometimes they'd divert his outgoing phone calls to a third location (usually a Seven-Eleven!). The only one I have is an edited (deleted the dead-end calls and time-consuming dialings) First tape. From what I understand, there were at least three more editions. Anyone know where I can find them? P.S. Vinnie G.: if you're out there, send me mail NOW!!! Mike Danseglio BitNet: dansegli@ucf1vm Computer Services / I & R Support InterNet: dansegli@ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu University of Central Florida UUCP: dansegli@bilver.UUCP [Moderator's Note: Some time ago we touched on this topic, of telephone pranks which harass innocent users. I still do not think it is funny, or phunny. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Pierre LAFORGUE Subject: AFRICOM-CCDC/91: Conference on Computer Communication Date: 9 Nov 90 17:27:37 GMT Reply-To: tuniscni!africom@uunet.uu.net Organization: IMAG Institute, University of Grenoble, France >From: belhadj%tuniscni@imag.fr (Belhadj Yahia Ezzedine) SCOPE AFRICOM-CCDC /91 is an international conference that will focus on computer communication technologies in the developing world. The aim of this conference is to report the progress achieved in these fields and to give participants the opportunity to explore the new horizons thus opened up to developing countries. It is not reserved for a specific category of attendee but is aimed at a diversified public of users, designers, researchers, planners and managers of information systems. TOPICS A) NETWORKS -Planning, network operation and managemnent, pricing policies. -Last-mile problems. -ISDN evolution, intelligent networks, academic and research networks. -High capacity networks. -Planning for the unexpected or disasterous, architectures and designs for risk managemnent in data and telecommunication networks. B) APPLICATIONS -Research and academic network applications. -Government networks -Corporate communications. -Banking, international trade, commercial partners. -Electronic data interchange(EDI). -Skills training requirements of specialists as well as of users in the field of communications. -International Cooperation in this field. C)TELEMATIC SERVICES AND MEDIA -Messaging and teleconference systems; the role of satellites. -Technical information networks. -Security, and impacts on development. Authors are invited to address one or more of the following issues of relevance to developing countries : cost effectiveness of technology, adaptation of existing communication networks, local manufacturing opportunities, standards, appropriate technologies and applications for developing countries, multi-language systems, education and training, socio-political issues... INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS Full papers (between 3000 and 8000 words should not have been published elsewhere and submitted in five copies). The first page should include the title of the communication, the author's (') full name, affiliation, address, telephone, telex and fax numbers, electronic mail and an abstract (200 words maximum). The conference organization will hold the copyright of accepted papers which will be published in the conference proceedings. IMPORTANT DATES Today Fill in and mail the enclosed reply form. 1st December 90 Deadline for the reception of papers by the programme committee chairman. 14 February 91 Notification of acceptance. 1st April 91 Deadline for the reception of final copy by the programme committee chairman. INFORMATION Centre National de l'Informatique 17,Rue belhassen ben chaabane 1005-El Omrane Tunis, TUNISIA Telex: 13904 CENINF - Fax: 781.862 E-mail: africom@tuniscni.uucp F.KAMOUN F.RACHDI Programme Committee Organizing Committee Chairman Chairman Phone # (216) 1 782.996 Phone # (216) 1 782.774 Pierre LAFORGUE laforgue@imag.Fr ------------------------------ From: John Kemp Subject: UTP-THIN Warning Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Date: Fri, 9 Nov 90 21:12:11 GMT This is a warning if you are planning on installing an Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) repeater and using UTP-THIN transceivers to extend your network... UTP-THIN has problems with existing platforms !!! In particular, we have a Vaxstation 2000 in a Local Area Vaxcluster running the DECNET protocol that repeatedly drops and reestablish connections for up to a minute. And we have seen an IBM RS/6000 320 come up and subsequently lose it's connection network after a number of hours. The connection is never reestablished. Both machines worked fine on AUI-THIN repeater segments. Putting the IBM on an AUI-UTP transceiver appears to have corrected the problem. It should also be noted that two MacII's were on the same segment with the IBM when UTP-thin was being used. On the Vaxstation, it was the only station on the net. Various cable lengths were tried. Cable continuity was checked in both cases. Moral: don't count on UTP-THIN transceivers! If you do, you had damn well better try before you buy, and even then, if you add a different type of machine to the segment you may be hosed. Our system was a Plexnet repeater with Plexit 10baseT UTP-THIN transceivers. (Your mileage may vary. I am only speaking from painful experience.) You have been warned. john kemp internet - kemp@uiatma.atmos.uiuc.edu decnet - uiatmb::kemp univ of illinois bitnet - {uunet,convex} dept of atmos sci !uiucuxc!uiatma!kemp 105 s gregory ave phone - (217) 333-6881 urbana, il 61801 fax - (217) 444-4393 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #808 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa13127; 12 Nov 90 1:35 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa00152; 11 Nov 90 23:58 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab06525; 11 Nov 90 22:54 CST Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 22:41:07 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #809 BCC: Message-ID: <9011112241.ab14231@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 11 Nov 90 22:40:57 CST Volume 10 : Issue 809 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users [Middlesex News via Adam M. Gaffin] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Tad Cook] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [John Higdon] Genie Star*Services [Jeff Sicherman] Re: Request Info Sources About ISDN [David Lemson] Re: British Telecom Special Service Codes [Tony Walton] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Adam M Gaffin Subject: Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users Organization: The World Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 17:11:25 GMT Hi, Pat, You asked for it, so here goes :-) What follows is a news story and a column. Since the story ran, Prodigy restored the account of the "Prodigy Nine'' and then, a few days after that, pulled them again! The total number is actually now up to about 15. At least one of them also lost access to his checking account and there is a question about how these people can get what's left in their mailboxes. ---------- {Middlesex News}, Framingham, Mass., 11/2/90 Prodigy Pulls Plug on Electronic Mail Service For Some By Adam Gaffin NEWS STAFF WRITER Users of a national computer network vow to continue a protest against censorship and a new charge for electronic mail even though the company kicked them off-line this week. Brian Ek, spokesman for the network, Prodigy, said the ``handful'' of users had begun harassing other users and advertisers on the service and that some had even created programs ``to flood members' `mailboxes' with (thousands of) repeated and increasingly strident harangues,'' he said. But leaders of the protest say they sent only polite letters -- approved by the company's legal department -- using techniques taught by the company itself. Up to nine of them had their accounts pulled hips week. Protests began in September when the company said it would cut unlimited electronic mail from its monthly fee -- which includes such services as on-line airline reservations, weather and games -- and would charge 25 cents for every message above a monthly quota of 30. Ek says the design of the Prodigy network makes ``e-mail'' very expensive and that few users send more than 30 messages a month. But Penny Hay, the only organizer of the ``Cooperative Defense Committee'' whose account was not shut this week, said she and others are upset with Prodigy's ``bait and switch'' tactics: the company continues to promote ``free'' electronic mail as a major feature. She said Prodigy itself had spurred use of e-mail by encouraging subscribers to set up private e-mail ``lists'' rather than use public forums and that the charges will especially hurt families, because the quota is per household, not person. Ek said relatively few members protested the rate chqange. Gary Arlen, who publishes a newsletter about on-line services, called the controversy ''a tempest in a teapot.'' Hay, however, said the group now has the backing of nearly 19,000 Prodigy users -- the ones advertisers would want to see on-line because they are the most active ones on the system and so more likely to see their ads. The group is also upset with the way the company screens messages meant for public conferences. Other services allow users to see ``postings'' immediately. ``They are infamous for this unpredicible and unfathomable censorship,'' Hay said. ``We feel what we are doing is not censoring because what we are essentially doing is electronic publishing,'' Ek said, comparing the public messages to letters to the editor of a family newspaper. Neil Harris, marketing director at the competing GEnie service, said many people would feel intimidated knowing that what they write is being screened. He said GEnie only rarely has to deleted messages. And he said GEnie has picked up several thousand new customers from among disgruntled Prodigy users. ---------- "Conversations with Fred," {Middlesex News}, Framingham, 11/6/90. The story is bizarre but true, swears Herb Rothman. Seems Prodigy, the network run as a joint venture by Sears and IBM, wouldn't let somebody post a message in a coin-collecting forum that he was looking for a particular Roosevelt dime for his collection. Upset, the man called ``member services.'' The representative told him the message violated a Prodigy rule against mentioning another user in a public message. ``What user?'' the man asked. ``Roosevelt Dime,'' the rep replied. ``That's not a person!'' the man said. ``Yes he is, he's a halfback for the Chicago Bears,'' the rep shot back. Rothman is one of those alleged compu-terrorists Prodigy claims is harassing other users and companies that advertise on the service by sending out thousands upon thousands of increasingly hostile messages in protest of a Prodigy plan to begin charging users who send more than 30 e-mail messages a month. Rothman and the others say they sent very polite messages to people (Penny Hay of Los Angeles says her messages were even approved by the Prodigy legal department) telling them about the new fees and urging them to protest. What's really happening is that Prodigy is proving its complete arrogance and total lack of understanding of the dynamics of on-line communication. They just don't get it. People are NOT going to spend nearly $130 a year just to see the weather in Oregon or order trips to Hawaii. Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the real value of the service is in finding new friends and holding intelligent "discussions'' with others across the country. But Prodigy blithely goes on censoring everything meant for public consumption, unlike other nationwide services (or even bulletin-board systems run out of some teenager's bedroom). Rothman's story is not the only one about capricious or just plain stupid censoring. Dog fanciers can't use the word ``bitch'' when talking about their pets, yet the service recently ran an advice column all about oral sex. One user who complained when a message commenting on the use of the term ``queen bitch'' on ``L.A. Law'' was not allowed on was told that ``queen b***h'' would be acceptable, because adults would know what it meant but the kiddies would be saved. So when the supposed technology illiterates Prodigy thinks make up its user base managed to get around this through the creation of private mail "lists'' (and, in fact, many did so at the urging of Prodigy itself!), Prodigy started complaining of "e-mail hogs,'' quietly announced plans to levy charges for more than a minute number of e-mail messages each month and finally, simply canceled the accounts of those who protested the loudest! And now we are watching history in the making, with the nation's first nationwide protest movement organized almost entirely by electronic mail (now don't tell Prodigy this, but all those people they kicked off quickly got back onto the system -- Prodogy allows up to six users per household account, and friends simply loaned their empty slots to the protest leaders). It's truly amazing how little faith Prodigy has in the ability of users to behave themselves. Other systems have "sysops'' to keep things in line, but rarely do they have to pull messages. Plus, Prodigy is just being plain dumb. Rothman now has a mailing list of about 1,500. That means every time he sends out one of his newsletters on collectibles, he sends 1,500 e-mail messages, which, yes, costs more for Prodigy to send over long-distance lines and store in its central computers. But if they realized their users are generally mature, rather than treating them as 4-year-olds, Rothman could post just one message in a public area, that everybody could see. Is this any way to run an on-line system? Does Prodigy really want to drive away the people most inclined to use the service -- and see all those ads that pop up at the bottom of the screen? Prodigy may soon have to do some accounting to the folks at IBM and Sears, who by most accounts have already poured at least $750 million into "this thing.'' -------------- With your computer and modem, you can reach Fred the Middlesex News Computer anytime, day or night, at (508) 872-8461. Set your parameters to 8-1-N and up to 2400 baud. [Moderator's Note: Thank you very much, Adam, for sharing these items with us. Please keep us posted if further information goes in your paper. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Date: 11 Nov 90 02:53:02 GMT In article <14478@accuvax.nwu.edu>, TELECOM Moderator notes: > [Moderator's Note: I'm hearing some bad news about Prodigy lately. So > 'they' say, several users recently were summarily evicted from the > service after they sent email to other users criticizing the service's > plan to begin charging for 'excessive' amounts of email. Does anyone > have any details on this? PAT] The {Wall Street Journal} has had several articles concerning Prodigy recently. Apparently there was an outcry when the "moderators" at Prodigy started deleting postings on controversial topics. They said it was a "family" type service, and I imagine they wanted to avoid the kind of flamewars that have developed elsewhere. So when the deletions were criticized, their response was that users could still email whatever they wanted to each other. Of course, this is not the same as posting to a public forum. At the time they announced that, there were no email charges. Then recently they started charging for email. When a number of people started questioning this, they found themselves cut off from the network. It should be interesting to see how this develops. Remember that when you post to a Prodigy, it may SEEM like a public forum ... but it is actually controlled by IBM and Sears. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 11 Nov 90 12:46:44 PST (Sun) From: John Higdon Today's {SJ Mercury} had a scathing editorial on Prodigy and also included a concise cronology of events leading up to the latest fracus. Some time back, the service had a version of "newsgroups". There arose some spirited discussions and debates between religious fundamentalists and gay people. You know, the stuff that you see debated ad nauseum on TV. The Prodigy czars decided that this would be offensive to their reference "little old lady from Pasadena" and pulled the plug on the discussion group. The enterprizing users discovered a way around this and a way to keep the discussion away from the Prodigy censors. They formed "mailing lists" (a la TELECOM Digest) using the e-mail service of the system. When the Prodigy dweebs discovered this, they broke their "flat rate promise" and announced the charging of $0.25 for each message over thirty in any given month. Conveniently, this would only affect the "mailing list" people. When the mailing lists started buzzing with discussion of this latest outrage, the Prodigy morons started pulling the plug on users. Users hinted that a boycott of Prodigy advertisers might be in order, and things really got nasty. "We're not going to post something designed to destroy our business." Users who mentioned "boycott" got their accounts pulled. Prodigy gestapo have repeatedly said that the service is a private business. It is their toy and they will play with it any way they like. Apparently, they have decided that it is to be an online shopping service and nothing else. And from what I've read, it is inferior to simply using a catalog's 800 number (as least it's more expensive, if not slower). If this is "what the PC was invented for", then you can take PCs and... I have a question: is it true that the Prodigy interface doesn't allow any of the material that comes in online to be printed or saved as files? If this is the case, then what ever benefits over and above an online "shopping channel" the system may possess would be pretty well negated. I ask this after having just seen a Prodigy commercial that touts an online encyclopedia. If you can't print anything, then I would assume that you would have to have an awfully good memory or be able to write fast. Is it all as bogus as it appears? Do you "really gotta get this thing"? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 13:49:37 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: Genie Star*Services Since Prodigy has come up recently in the Digest, does anybody have any experience with the new Genie Star*Services - a $4.95/mo flat rate competitor to Prodigy. Offers a subset of regular Genie services (email specifically excluded as yet, I believe). Besides being cheaper I'm considering recommending it because of the speed considerations: none of the graphics that slows down Prodigy and would like to hear about actual comparisons. Jeff Sicherman jajz801@calstate.bitnet ------------------------------ From: David Lemson Subject: Re: Request Info Sources About ISDN Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 05:30:13 GMT arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) writes: >In article <14447@accuvax.nwu.edu> holos0!wdh@gatech.edu (Weaver >Hickerson) writes: >>I'm interested in finding what types, if any, of AT bus hardware is >>available/in the works for ISDN, as well as simply learning more about >>the service. >At SuperComm '90 this past spring, AT&T had a huge "booth". One of >the things they showed was an ISDN card for the AT bus. So, I know it >exists. I remember seeing on Hayes (the modem people) 800 BBS an announcement for their new ISDN Card. It was going to have full "narrowband" (read: present 'standard') ISDN compatibility, and should have been introduced by now. I believe the number to Hayes' BBS is (was?) 800-US-HAYES. Perhaps someone from Hayes reads this and will comment on a confirmation, price, etc. David E. Lemson UofI Computing Svcs Student Consultant Internet : lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu University of Illinois, Urbana ------------------------------ From: Tony Walton Subject: Re: British Telecom Special Service Codes Date: 11 Nov 90 03:02:56 GMT Organization: Olivetti Systems & Networks Ltd, U.K. clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather) writes: >I recently took up a free trial of some of British Telecom "Star >Services". I was sent two manuals, one for "System X" (the local >exchange equipment), and one for the AXE 10 (a.k.a "System Y") (which How on earth did you get hold of this? It took me about three weeks to convince my local BT "service" centre that my local exchange (081 446) had become digital. A couple of weeks later they (grudgingly) let me have a leaflet which mentioned "Charge Advice" and "Reminder Calls" as being "free" (ie no extra rental). It did not, however, give details of the codes needed to access these services. A few calls later I found an operator who had heard of *55* and the *40* / *411# services (reminder calls and charge advice calls). Unfortunately no-one mentioned *56* (repeated reminder) - this explains the "spurious" reminder calls I've been getting ever since I played about with the star services and which BT have been unable to explain :-( >This table gives all the codes listed in the manuals. This is exactly what I have been trying to wrench from BT for several months now. Thanks, Clive. Has anybody any idea why BT seem so loath to release any information about the services which they offer? As I recall their leaflet made no reference to call barring (I may be wrong here - I don't have the leaflet handy). [Moderator's Note: Is BT a lot like the American telcos in this respect, that they try to keep their customers from speaking directly with anyone who actually knows anything? Here in the States, it is a very fortunate subscriber indeed who can get past the several layers of supervision in the Business Office and speak with an actual technician or central office person. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #809 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa14098; 12 Nov 90 2:36 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15099; 12 Nov 90 1:03 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab00152; 11 Nov 90 23:58 CST Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 23:32:24 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #810 BCC: Message-ID: <9011112332.ab24975@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 11 Nov 90 23:32:14 CST Volume 10 : Issue 810 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards [Brian Gordon] Re: A New Type of 976 Fraud [Tad Cook] Re: Copy of Videotape Wanted [John Higdon] Re: Who Owns 800-878? [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed [David Lesher] Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets [Tim Pozar] Re: DTMF Decoder Wanted (or Chips/Schematics) [John Murray] Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group [John Higdon] Re: Call-Waiting Disable [Roy M. Silvernail] Re: Call-Waiting Disable [George Pell] Re: Call-Waiting Disable [halcyon!ralphs@sumax.seattleu.edu] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Brian Gordon Subject: Re: Multi-Line Voicemail Boards Date: 11 Nov 90 04:58:09 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. I don't remember ever seeing info on phone/voicemail stuff for a Mac. Does such a beast exist? Is the Mac (e.g. Mac II) alive in the telecommunications world? Brian G. Gordon briang@Sun.COM (if you trust exotic mailers) ...!sun!briangordon (if you route it yourself) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A New Type of 976 Fraud From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Date: 11 Nov 90 03:04:36 GMT In article <14494@accuvax.nwu.edu>, dbw@crash.cts.com (David B. Whiteman) writes: > Well today a group of pagers, all of them with phone numbers in > sequential order were each beeped with the message to call a 976 > number. Obviously, a 976 company just autodialled the pager exchange. Sounds like the antics of some jokester, rather than fraud by a 976 "information provider." I'll bet if you look into this, you'll find that the number is for "Call me ... I'm Michelle." Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Copy of Videotape Wanted Date: 11 Nov 90 11:19:54 PST (Sun) From: John Higdon Tom Streeter writes: > Several months ago at the Nat'l Association of Broadcasters (NAB) > convention in Atlanta, there were several panels featuring > representatives from various RBOCs talking about their plans for > broadband video delivery into the home. Unfortunately, I don't have the info you want, but I'm glad you brought this up. Coincidently, a number of us have been subjected to the self-serving arguments from both the RBOCs and the Cable Clowns. An insert in the Falcon Cable bill (Victorville) decried the possibility of allowing telcos to carry video to homes. The gist was that if they were allowed a foot in the door, then they would put the valient traditional cable companies out of business and then would jack up rates. While there may be a shred of truth here, no cable company that I have seen has a whole lot of room to talk about "value". Most of them have removed the "import" channels (remember why we used to subscribe to cable?) and replaced them with stuff off the satelite that they either get paid to carry or can charge subscribers to view. At night, these channels carry one "infomercial" after another. So does broadcast TV, but we'll talk about the demise of broadcasting slime some other day. In essence, cable TV has a soft, cushy racket. The quality of service is steadily going down and the price is going up. Why would they be motivated to have it any other way? Most of the audience is captive. On the other side of the aisle, there is the spectre of cable companies (and others) supplying dial tone. RBOCs are so terrified of this that they won't even admit publically that this is possible. If this could come about, then maybe stodgy Pac*Bell could get a kick in the posterior. While Patrick is talking about nailing nuisance callers with '*69', we in Pac*Belland are lucky to get dial tone off of 35 year-old crossbar switches. Ironically, I just came back from the rural desert area that is served by Contel -- and digital switches loaded with features and services. GTE will put an end to that soon. This is not to mention all of the currently self-serving tarrifs that are in place. I have been informed that there are no more pairs currently available to get additional lines into my home. Could it be delivered on T1? Sure, but it would cost $300/month PLUS all of the normal phone charges. What? Use two pairs to do the work of fourteen, saving all that EXPENSIVE copper, and the customer has to pay for it? It is fascinating to watch these two players go at it. Each is capable of providing the service of the other but regulations currently stand in the way. Wouldn't it be fun to watch telcos and cable companies go toe to toe? Things could be a lot better -- in both arenas! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: It sounds to me like you are wishing a plague on both their houses! :) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 11-NOV-1990 04:52:19.27 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Re: Who Owns 800-878? [In response to Dean Riddlebarger's question as to what company owns 800-878...] Dean- I think it is Allnet. I called 800-878-9970 (-99xx is USUALLY not used in many 800 prefixes), and heard the recording saying that the number was not in service. Normally, I can tell from the message which company operates the 800 prefix, especially if it is Sprint or MCI. They seem to use the same voices and styles of recordings for their 800 services as they do for their regular long distance service. This time, I wasn't sure, but fortunately they had a number to call for Customer Service. A call to the number resulted in "You have reached Allnet customer service...". So the company that provides the actual LD service is probably Allnet; I'm not sure if Allnet "owns" that prefix or just services it for some call- aggregator (for lack of a better term) type outfit that deals in 800 numbers...(ARE there such things?) It took a really long time to connect, and my switch (1ESS) didn't "click" for about seven seconds after I dialed the last digit of the 800 number, which is usually a good indicator that you are not using an AT&T 800 number. (AT&T 800's "click" right away - the "other" ones seem to take a lot longer just to get out of my local switch...). Hope this helps ! Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu drueben@wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: Wrong Number Suggestions Needed Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 8:14:12 EST Reply-To: David Lesher Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers David Tamkin writes: |"If you have a problem and want BETTER service, call J .C. Penney at |xxx.xxxx" |Followed, after a modestly long pause, by some suitable message for |callers to Dave or Dan. When Carterphone first hit, lots of garbage answering machines showed up all at one. [Come to think of it, there STILL are lots of garbage -- but I digress] Well it seem that the local rep. for one of the International Record Carriers (those folks that carry intl. Telex, telegrams, etc, traffic) called up his competitor and got an answering machine. Hmmmm, what's this? What neat things does it do? For MANY weeks afterwards, Company A's OGM said: We're busy, call Company B I do not imagine that *that* machine was used for long ;-} wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM ------------------------------ From: Tim Pozar Subject: Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets Date: 11 Nov 90 20:32:03 GMT Reply-To: Tim Pozar Organization: Late Night Software (San Francisco) In article <14551@accuvax.nwu.edu> rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: >I've used electrician's terms here. Telephones are actually balanced >line, so there isn't that big a distinction between tip and ring, at >least not at the subscriber's end. Other than battery polarity? Some sets will not power the DTMF encoder unless they are wired in the proper polarity. Tim uunet!hoptoad!kumr!pozar Fido: 1:125/555 PaBell: (415) 788-3904 USNail: KKSF-FM / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108 ------------------------------ From: John Murray Subject: Re: DTMF Decoder Wanted (or Chips/Schematics) Date: 12 Nov 90 00:22:13 GMT Organization: SCRI, Florida State University In article <14411@accuvax.nwu.edu>, BRUCE@ccavax.camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) writes: > If you are just tinkering, go to Radio Shack. They have TT decode > chips, but are hardly where you need to go if you are going to make a > product. In article <14544@accuvax.nwu.edu> tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) writes: >Radio Shack no longer carries the SSI DTMF receiver. But you can >contact SSI directly at 714-731-7110. Or you can get Teltone's DTMF >receiver from them at 206-827-9626. Hmm ... check your local Radio Schlocks anyway! Just today I saw three or four1 of the DTMF decoder chips on the clearance racks in a local Schlock for, oh, 4.95 or so (the original price was a little above $10.00). Disclaimer: Any opinions above (or below) have nothing to do with reality. John R. Murray murray@vsjrm.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Research Inst. ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Logistics of Setting up a Modem Hunt Group Date: 10 Nov 90 20:19:49 PST (Sat) From: John Higdon James Deibele writes: > Or that's what GTE tells me this time. I think I'll call > back and talk to one or two more people to make sure that's correct. > It would be nice if there was a "wizard" number that you could call > and find out whether something was technically feasible or not. Even if GTE set up a "wizard" line, the information that would be dispensed would be misleading, harmful, and just plain wrong. As you have already discovered, the temptation with GTE is to use the "mass action" theory which holds that if you make enough inquiries and average the responses, the answer that emerges will approach the truth as the number of attempts approaches infinity. Not true. It is a bad theory when applied to GTE. It is likely that NONE of the responses obtained from GTE personel bear any resemblance to reality. From personal experience it is possible to say that if you want to determine anything about GTE's system, you will have to use a back door approach. It is necessary to befriend a sympathetic employee who will give you the straight poop. But it is a one-shot affair; usually such a person goes on to work for a real company before you get a chance to pick his brain again. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Call-Waiting Disable From: "Roy M. Silvernail" Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 12:40:36 CST Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN SABAHE@macalstr.edu (Arun Baheti ) writes: > I'm having trouble disabling the call waiting feature in the Twin > Cities area. While the standard methods (*70 and 1170) are listed in > the phone book, and the phone company claims vehmently that these > methods will work, I continue to receive "call not completed" messages > whenever I try. The normal methods work in SoCal (Pac*Tel), so I am > beginning to wonder ... Does anyone else have experience with the Twin > Cities system? I think I qualify. The line I use (which actually belongs to a roommate, else the damnable feature wouldn't be there at all) has Call-Waiting. It is indeed 100% fatal to a modem connection. I have no problem, though, disabling it with *70. In fact, my outbound UUCP poll batch file can be told whether or not the poll is 'nukeable' and will select the dialing prefix accordingly. Pat's note is timely ... do you _actually_ have Call-Waiting on your line? (i.e. have you ever been C-W beeped during a conversation?) If you are simply losing modem connections, perhaps the problem lies elsewhere. Roy M. Silvernail now available at: cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu ------------------------------ From: George Pell Subject: Re: Call-Waiting Disable Date: 11 Nov 90 19:54:19 GMT Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. In article <14557@accuvax.nwu.edu> SABAHE@macalstr.edu (Arun Baheti ) writes: +I'm having trouble disabling the call waiting feature in the Twin +Cities area. +[Moderator's Note: Two assumptions are in order: (1) You *do* have +Call Waiting on the line in question (not just 'think you do'), and +(2) the serving CO is equipped with the proper generics. Actually, there is one more assumption to be made, and that is that disable call waiting is included in your call waiting package. This is not the case with GTE here in the Pacific Northwest. I have to pay $1 a month extra for Cancel Call Waiting. geo ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Call-Waiting Disable From: halcyon!ralphs@sumax.seattleu.edu Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 19:49:32 PST Organization: The 23:00 News Here's a toy for those systems that can't get call-waiting to disable. Feel free to hack on this (I was always one for taking the hardest path to a solution): 1 ' 2 'CW.BAS 5 'This short program solves the problem of call waiting interrupting 6 'a communications session. Just run this before your communcations 7 'program. It remains in effect until you reset your Hayes Smartmodem. 8 ' 10 'NOTE: I think I found this on CompuServe quite a while ago. 11 'Submitted by ralphs@halcyon.uucp with absolutely no gurantees. 12 'Keep flames at home. Check your smoke detector. 13 ' 30 COLOR 15,9 31 CLS:LOCATE 12,18 32 PRINT CHR$(7);"Setting Hayes Smartmodem 1200 for Call Waiting" 35 OUT 1020,4:GOSUB 110:OUT 1020,3:GOSUB 110 40 OPEN "COM1:1200,N,8,1,DS" AS #1:GOSUB 110 50 MSG$="ATS10=100"+CHR$(13):GOSUB 100:GOSUB 110 70 CLOSE 71 LOCATE 12,1:PRINT SPACE$(80) 72 LOCATE 12,22:PRINT CHR$(7);"Now execute comm program" 80 SYSTEM 100 FOR X=1 TO LEN(MSG$):PRINT #1,MID$(MSG$,X,1);:NEXT 110 FOR X=1 TO 1500:NEXT 120 RETURN 125 ' 130 ' Line 35: Port 1020 (3FC) is the MCR (Modem Control Register). The 131 ' bits are described on page 6-9 of the Hayes Smartmodem 132 ' 1200 manual. First CALLWAIT sends a 4, which enables the 133 ' interrupt line drivers, and allows the UART to interrupt 134 ' the controller. If there are any problems with the serial 135 ' port, this command should generate some kind of error. 136 ' OUT 1020,3 will reset the modem and is equivalent to 137 ' power off/power on. This must be held for at least 50 ms. 138 ' This is done using the timing loop at line 110. 139 ' 140 ' Line 40: Open the COM1 port for 1200 baud, no parity and 8 bit words 141 ' using buffer #1. 142 ' 143 ' Line 50: Sends a command to the modem. The AT is the ATtention code, 144 ' which must precede all modem commands. The S10=100 is 145 ' described on page 6-7 of the manual. It allows the carrier 146 ' signal to momentarily disappear. The S10=100 sets the time 147 ' interval for which the carrier may be lost. This interval 148 ' is adjustable in tenths of a second. [Moderator's Note: This of course simply sets one of the S Registers to a longer time out value ... long enough that the call waiting tone won't disconnect you, although it may very well damage the data getting transferred at the same moment. The other hangup (pun intended) is how do you get the *other end* to hang around for those milliseconds while you are gone? In the situation where this program would be the most helpful -- calling a BBS -- wouldn't the sysop of that board have to have the modem on that end likewise adjusted before the adjustment on your end would be of any real help? PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #810 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa15390; 12 Nov 90 3:38 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac18823; 12 Nov 90 2:08 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab15099; 12 Nov 90 1:03 CST Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 0:48:11 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #811 BCC: Message-ID: <9011120048.ab10291@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Nov 90 00:47:59 CST Volume 10 : Issue 811 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: 911 Botch-up in Detroit [John Palmer] NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission [Link Letter, via John Palmer] Re: CALL FOR VOTES: comp.dcom.fax [Ofer Inbar] Re: More on MCI Mail Rate Increase [Steve Forrette] Re: $4 Per Day Roaming Charge [Steve Forrette] Cellular Sleaze [Jack Winslade] *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [Andrew M. Boardman] Need Help With Scheduling Software [Christine Paustian] N00 Exchanges, Anywhere? [Steve Kass] Routing and Termination Algorithms [Anthony Lee] What a Combination! [Toby Gottfried] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: cat@tygra.ddmi.com (CAT-TALK Maint. Account) Subject: Re: 911 Botch-up in Detroit Date: 11 Nov 90 14:13:46 GMT Reply-To: jpp@tygra.ddmi.com (John Palmer) Organization: CAT-TALK Conferencing Network, Detroit, MI In article <14512@accuvax.nwu.edu> sander@anet.ann-arbor.mi.us (Sander J. Rabinowitz) writes: "An Associated Press report mentioned an incident in Detroit where a "girl (age 7) phoned 911 to report that her brother was being beaten. "She was told by a 911 operator to "get off the phone" and her call was "basically ignored. The operator's insistence that the girl hang up "interfered with the girl's pleadings for assistance. Detroit 911 has been very helpful and quick during the times that I had to call them (the guy next door is a drunk who was thrown out of his house by his wife. Every now and then he comes back, waving a gun at her and threatening to kill her and her two children). "(2) I don't believe Detroit's 911 system is one where the caller's "address is automatically relayed to the dispatcher -- in other words, "the caller would be required to calmly relay his/her location to the "operator. False. The Detroit 911 system has full ANI capabilities. When a call comes in, the address of the calling number is displayed on the operators CRT. Both times when I have called, the operator has said "so the trouble is one house north of " without me saying a thing. "(3) (Disclaimer: This point is mostly speculative, but I don't believe "it's way off the mark) I think it would be safe to say that Detroit is "understaffed across the board insofar as emergency personnel is "concerned, and that the problem extends to 911 operators. That's probably true. King Coleman (Young) likes to divert funds to other more important areas like building more convention space downtown. (By the way -- ignore the recent ABC broadcast which depicted Detroit as a wasteland. It is yellow journalism at its worst. We have a few political bad apples to get rid of, but the city is much nicer than some other cities like NYC, LA and Chicago). ------------------------------ From: cat@tygra.ddmi.com (CAT-TALK Maint. Account) Subject: NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission Date: 11 Nov 90 15:03:34 GMT Reply-To: cat@tygra.UUCP (CAT-TALK Maint. Account) Organization: CAT-TALK Conferencing Network, Detroit, MI In article <14555@accuvax.nwu.edu> roeber@cithe2.cithep.caltech.edu (Frederick Roeber) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 807, Message 6 of 12 "It has been mentioned that recently much transatlantic computer "traffic has been routed via satellite because of a broken undersea "cable. [questions about Internet links overseas] The following article appeared in the U-M Computing Center News (October 25, 1990, V 5, No 18, Pg 10) ----------------------- NSFNET DEMONSTRATES INTERCONTINENTAL ISO TRANSMISSION [Editor's note: The following article is reprinted, with modifications, from the September 1990 issue of the Link Letter (Vol 3, No 4), published by the Merit/NSFNET backbone project] At the end of September, partners in the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) announced a succesful demonstration of intercontinental data transmission using the International Standards Organization Conectionless Network Protocol (ISO CLNP). The international exchange of ISO CLNP packets was demonstrated betweeen end systems at the NSFNET Network Operations Center in Ann Arbor and in Bonn, West Germany, using the NSFNET backbone infrastructure and the European Academic Supercomputer Initiative (EASInet) backbone. The prototype OSI (this, I think is a typo - it should be ISO) implementation is intended to provide wide area connectivity between OSI networks, including networks using the DECNet Phase V protocols. The new software was integrated into the NSFNET's "packet switching" (data transmission) nodes by David Katz and Susan Hares of the Merit Computer Network, with support from IBM's software developement departments in Milford, CT and Yorktown Heights, NY. NSFNET is the first federally supported computer network to acheive international ISO CLNP transmission on an operating network, according to Merit's Hans-Werner Braun, Principle Investigator for the NSFNET Project. The Prototype ISO implementation is being designed to coexist with NSFNET's operational Internet Protocol (IP) network, and is a significant step towards offering OSI services on the NSFNET backbone. Eric Aupperle, President of Merit and acting director of ITD Network Systems, says that "the demonstration shows that we're capable of transporting OSI traffic. Now we're working to deploy this experimental service as fast as possible." An implementation of CLNP was first demonstrated by Merit/NSFNET staff at the InterOp '89 conference. That implementation of CLNP was originally developed as part of the ARGO project at the University of Wisconsin, Madision, with the support of the IBM Corporation. by Ken Horning DTD Network Systems. ------------------------------ From: Ofer Inbar Subject: Re: CALL FOR VOTES: comp.dcom.fax Date: 12 Nov 90 04:25:46 GMT Organization: Brandeis University Computer Science Dept Just a note to people considering voting on this: This is not an official vote as per Usenet guidelines, since the CFD and CFV did not appear in news.announce.newgroups; consequently, you will find that it will likely get low propogation. Also, it will make things more confusing if someone later tries to create this group 'officially'. Whether or not you like the guidelines, realize that there are newsadmins who will not create an 'unofficial' newsgroup. So you might want to forget this and start over again with a CFD, this time in news.announce.newgroups as well as here. Yes, I know, there was an official CFD a while back, but the poster withdrew it and it has long since expired anyway, without vote. Cos (Ofer Inbar) -- cos@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu WBRS (BRiS) -- WBRS@binah.cc.brandeis.edu WBRS@brandeis.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 03:11:32 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: More On MCI Mail Rate Increase Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <14334@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon writes: >Microsoft is a company that could probably have all of its phones >disconnected and not suffer a reduction in communication capabiltiy. John, you may be interested to know that Microsoft's LEC is GTE! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 12:50:42 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: $4 Per Day Roaming Charge Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <14378@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >What about roaming in foriegn countries (HK in particular)? I remember a few months back that someone posted an article about foreign roaming, and that one of the systems in Hong Kong was compatible with the North American standard. All you needed was a credit card for billing, and you were set! [Moderator's Note: I think the expert on this would probably be John Covert. He has written before about cell phone use in Germany. Maybe he can add to this thread. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Nov 90 19:46:25 EST From: Jack Winslade Subject: Cellular Sleaze Reply-to: Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537 I'm writing this primarily to the rep's of the various cellular operators I've seen in this conference lately, although I would like to share the comments with all. In article <14280@accuvax.nwu.edu>, (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: >Wouldn't they make more money in the long run by encouraging the cell >phone to be used as often as possible, rather than tacking on charges >that tend discourage use? In article <2.273BB2E3@iugate.UUCP> (Jim Rees) writes: > But the people who set cell phone rates don't have much incentive > to lower rates, especially when they enjoy a duopoly ... companies > are so sleazy that I would rather not have to deal with them. Not are they only getting the same reputation (here) as AOS services and COCOT owners, but in the consumer world, they are being put in the same class (spelled sleezoid) as streetcorner 'credit' car lots and late-night 'infomercials'. (Cellular operators, are you still listening ??) Contrary to what industry people may think, consumers ARE noticing such things as: o Nonuniform rate structures. Some people seem to get reasonable rates, others (more like the norm) pay through the nose. Often times Mr. Joe Consumer pays more than businesses do, kind of the reverse of hard-wired telco pricing. Rates vary considerably even for the same service from the same vendor. It's often times 'who you know' that will get you a good rate. o Unbundling of charges and nickle-diming. Contrary to the fact that yes, it may USE certain resources, since day one, it's been CUSTOMARY in the telephone industry NOT to charge for such things as busy signals, no-answers, call setup time, etc. People do not mind paying a fair price for services rendered, but they do object to such drek as double airtime for 3-way calls, airtime for forwarded calls, extortive (and double-billing of) roamer charges. o Mass-marketing and kickback schemes using almost any dealer who has a pulse. One Omaha tire dealership now throws in a free cellular phone with the purchase of four new tires. Of course they do not mention the service commitment and non-bargain airtime pricing until they have to. This does not do any good for the image of the industry. The bottom line is that if the cellular industry does not clean up its act voluntarily, consumers will start demanding that the industry will become regulated to one degree or another. I don't think any of the cellular operators want that. Good Day! JSW [1:285/666@fidonet] DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha (1:285/666) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jack.Winslade@f2.n285.z1.fidonet.org [Moderator's Note: On the other hand, telcos have never had uniform local rates; they have recently been unbundling their charges with the 'nickle and dime' approach; and they have been pushing their new feature services heavily -- to the extent that in Chicago at least, about half the time there is no installation fee for any of the Custom Calling features, just to get people signed up as quickly as possible. With telco also, what you know detirmines many times what you pay. So why should the cellular companies be different? And unlike the telco, where they come one to a community with little or no choice in the matter for John Consumer, at least the cell operators come in twos and the consumer has 'twice as much' choice among them. I'd look for the day to come when telco begins charging for incomplete call attempts just like some of the cell guys do now, saying it uses up resources to attempt to make the connection, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 04:40:24 EST From: "Andrew M. Boardman" Subject: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? There are all sorts of methods these days for maintaining IP connections over dialup lines, so the idea has been raised of normally dialled calls as an alternative to leased lines, i.e., just making one "permanent" phone call for one's connection. If one utilises untimed service of some sort, the economic advantage in enormous. My questions: - What would one's local phone company think of this? - In the expected case that they aren't too fond of losing out on the megabucks for a leased line, do they have legal ground telling you to stop? - Since some uucp sites have so much traffic that they can spend days on one call anyway, has anyone ever heard of previous telco complaints in this area? ------------------------------ From: ckp@cup.portal.com Subject: Need Help With Scheduling Software Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 06:30:50 PST Has anyone had any experience with a scheduler for ACD staff that is both effective and efficient? The product we are currently struggling with is called NAMES-10, it's an MS-DOS based package marketed by AT&T. It's extremely difficult to use and our supervisory staff spends an excessive amount of time attempting to get it to meet our needs. We have a situation here where the tail (software) is wagging the dog (organization). Any and all recommendations are welcome. Within reason, money is no issue at this point in time. We need something that will help us cover our volumes effectively, without dooming our supervisors to endless attempts to 'fool' the system into meeting our needs. Many thanks. Christine ckp@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 19:51 EDT From: Subject: N00 Exchanges, Anywhere? Are the N00 prefixes used anywhere in the US? I get quite a variety of messages from NJ Bell territory when I dial them. Here's a summary: 200-xxxx : "The number you have reached, two-oh-oh-ex-ex-ex-ex, is being checked for trouble. Please try your call again later." 300-xxxx : "We're sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is not in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again." (rings before message) 400 to 600: "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialled. Please check the number and call again." (interrupts after 3 digits) 700-xxxx : "We're sorry. You must first dial a 1 when calling this number. (800,900) Will you please hang up and try your call again." (Rings right after seventh digit is dialled. 1+ is not necessary within area code 201, but this makes a bit of sense.) 1-700-xxxx :"We're sorry. Your call did not go through. Will you please try your call again?" (Probably waiting for 11 digits) Steve Kass -- Dept of Math and CS -- Drew U -- Madison NJ 07940 -- 2014083614 ------------------------------ From: Anthony Lee Subject: Routing and Termination Algorithms Date: 12 Nov 90 04:08:14 GMT Reply-To: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au Could someone please explain the following routing and termination algorithms ? 1. Hunting, 2. bridging, 3. coverage, 4. least-cost routing. Are there others? Anthony Lee ACSnet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz TEL:+(61)-7-371-2651 Internet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au +(61)-7-377-4139 (w) SNAIL: Dept Comp. Science, University of Qld, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Nov 90 17:27:06 pst From: Toby Gottfried Subject: What a Combination! Quoted from the Government pages of a local telephone directory: "CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES Congressional 24-Hour Voice Mail Service 2 Dollars Per Minute There is a Charge to Dial This Number ...... 900 740-3030" (followed by local office listings for area Representatives) No further comment. Toby Gottfried FileNet Corp ...!hplabs!felix!toby Costa Mesa, CA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #811 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06109; 13 Nov 90 1:47 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa00284; 13 Nov 90 0:22 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12963; 12 Nov 90 23:16 CST Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 22:28:09 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #812 BCC: Message-ID: <9011122228.ab11259@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Nov 90 22:28:00 CST Volume 10 : Issue 812 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users [John Higdon] Re: Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users [Lou Judice] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Michael Graff] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Paul Jonathan Estalilla Go] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [akcs@ddsw1.mcs.com] Re: GEnie Star*Services [David Tamkin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users Date: 12 Nov 90 00:48:52 PST (Mon) From: John Higdon Adam M Gaffin most correctly enscribes: > What's really happening is that Prodigy is proving its complete > arrogance and total lack of understanding of the dynamics of on-line > communication. They just don't get it. People are NOT going to spend > nearly $130 a year just to see the weather in Oregon or order trips to > Hawaii. > Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the > real value of the service is in finding new friends and holding > intelligent "discussions'' with others across the country. Amen and Amen. Some years ago, when I had divested myself of the nightmare called Interconnect Telecommunications Systems (don't ask -- but some will anyway), I decided to get back into "computing". It had been some years since the Altairs and Imsais had been relegated to the garage for the purpose of dust collecting. It was necessary to go "au currant", and an IBM PC clone was obtained which sported a gold plate Hayes 1200 bps internal modem. Packed with the modem was the obligatory Compuserve intro package. I bit. Got my account going and after a number of months of playing with OAG, "weather in Oregon", and endless reading of news articles from the St. Louis somethingorother, discovered e-mail and discussion groups. And then I discovered CHARGES. You know, those which occur when you stay connected for long periods. But I had learned something: the real fun of connectivity was communicating with people--friends, strangers with common interests, even strangers that would like to string you up by your thumbs. But sitting online with the clock ticking seemed most inefficient. Then some friends introduced me to UNIX, and the rest, as they say, is history. For the free-wheeling, uncensored, internationally distributed, fully gatewayed, fast, and unmeasured Internet, the price of admission is a system, the software and a friendly (or several friendly) local business(es) who has a gigantic VAX or some such who enjoys being connected to smaller sites. No per-message charges. No censoring of news submissions (Moderation is not censorship). No advertising. Just mostly responsible people who can share ideas. But this is not the purpose of Prodigy. The purpose of Prodigy is to sell computers, products, services, and itself. The interaction of subscribers is not only secondary, but probably undesirable to those in charge. Other than the graphics (and the apparently restrictive interface), what would Prodigy offer over, say, Compuserve? Many banks offer online banking direct without a third party. OAG is available as a separate subscription. Games are available from many sources. Anyone who operates a computer network that aspires to greatness will have to remember that the real goal is communication. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 08:14:50 PST From: Peripheral Visionary 12-Nov-1990 1031 Subject: Re: Prodigy Pulls Plug on Email Users I've been a Prodigy subscriber for about 6 months, and all I can say is that anyone with the PATIENCE to use Prodigy for anything more involved than getting a weather map is a better person than me. Really, try it sometime, and you'll see what I mean. ljj ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 14:26:55 PST From: Michael Graff Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Reply-To: graff@mlpvm2.iinus1.ibm.com After reading the Prodigy items in Digest issues 805 and 809, I think I'll take a stab at "this Prodigy thing." I'm an IBMer and a Prodigy subscriber, but I don't speak for either IBM or Prodigy. Sandy Kyrish asks where the claim of 500,000 subscribers comes from. My understanding is that it is the number of active userids. Prodigy charges a monthly rate per "household" which allows as many as six separate userids (one for Dad, one for Mom, and so on). So, not all of those 500,000 subscribers are paying. And some of them probably don't log on very often. But from Prodigy's point of view, it doesn't really matter who's paying and who isn't. They make their money by selling the ads that take up the bottom quarter of the screen. There's no charge for connect time. What are people responding to with Prodigy? For one thing, it's accessible. It's very easy to learn and get around. There are no cryptic commands as on the traditional online services like Compuserve. There's no charge for connect time, so there's no pressure to keep your usage down. The graphics are cute and fun. David Lemson mentions MNP. I don't think it would make any difference. Since Prodigy already has its own compression and correction schemes, adding another one wouldn't help. Glenn F. Leavell asks about Prodigy screening message content. Keep in mind that there are two kinds of messages on Prodigy. There are private messages that you send to an individual (email), and there are public messages that you post on Prodigy's bulletin boards. Prodigy screens the bulletins, but as far as I know, they leave the private mail alone. The exception on the private mail is if a subscriber complains about private mail received from somebody else, then Prodigy will get involved. Prodigy gets a lot of flap for screening messages on the bulletin boards, but to me it seems no different from Patrick screening messages for TELECOM. Ken McGlothlen talks about Prodigy's slow speed. Prodigy's new software is noticeably faster than the previous version. Also, your PC hardware makes a big difference, especially processor speed. Finally, perception has a lot to do with it. I find it generally reasonable on a fast XT clone. Also, it's easy to get a list of all the JUMPwords. If you JUMP INDEX, there is an option on that screen to print them all. As for navigation, I find it generally easy to get around. Eaasy Sabre (that's the correct spelling - it's run by American Airlines) used to be particularly clumsy, but they improved it a while back. I use it to check schedules, but I prefer to buy my tickets from a travel agent. The navigation of the bulletin boards is now in its third version, much better than before, but still a long way to go. Otherwise, most of the service is very easy to get around. Adam M. Gaffin talks about the person who sends 1500 email messages. I dare say, if he tried that on MCI Mail or Compuserve, he would go broke very fast. Tad Cook talks about how Prodigy is controlled by IBM and Sears. I really don't know how much actual control IBM or Sears puts on Prodigy. I've heard plenty of IBMers complaining about how Prodigy's handling of the email and censorship flaps is making IBM look bad, and IBM doesn't seem to be doing much to either distance itself or get Prodigy to straighten up. In any case, IBM's and Sears' control of Prodigy is probably less than the public perception. John Higdon asks about printing or saving information from Prodigy. Prodigy supports printing in some, but not all, areas of the service. It's a lot better now than it used to be. Prodigy doesn't directly support saving information to a file, but there are plenty of utilities around that can redirect print output to a file. I use one and it works well. As for the online encyclopedia, I understand that it's the same one used on PC-Link, GEnie, and other services. I've looked up a few things in it and found it to be pretty decent. With a print redirection utility, I have saved some items to disk. Jeff Sicherman mentions GEnie's new Star Services. Unlimited text email *is* included in the $4.95 monthly rate, and a lot of the heavy email users on Prodigy are jumping over to GEnie. Ironically, GEnie announced Star Services about the same time that Prodigy announced its new email charge. Michael Graff ------------------------------ From: Paul Jonathan Estalilla Go Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 11 Nov 90 01:14:31 GMT Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 I got my Prodigy start-up kit for free as a promo offer from Prodigy, and I am now in the one month "trial" period. (1) Prodigy is charging me $12.95/month + tax. Is this a new rate (as the LA Times article on Prodigy users says that the rate used to be $9.95/mo.)??? (2) My main use for Prodigy is to get stock quotes. Although their quotes are loooong delayed, they are better than waiting for tomorrow's newspaper. (3) I am still debating whether to stay with Prodigy or not; I have a Macintosh SE, and (a) it is SLOW; (b) I cannot take advantage of color; (c) AOL has a much better user interface, albeit the per hour charges. (4) I am very disappointed in Prodigy. Their databases do not give me the information I need, only traces here and there, and it is very hard to navigate through the thing!!! AOL's news reporting was much better, in my opinion. Paul Jonathan E. Go ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 22:03 CST From: BBS Public Access Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service There is a lot of discussion on the Well (San Francisco BBS) concerning Prodigy. Much flaming, but some informed commentary as well. Speculation has it the published subscription numbers (500,000) are bogus. One "subscription" may mean several family ID's - all of which are included in the 500,000 figure even though they may be inactive or fictional. Prodigy users who cancelled their subscriptions and then returned months later report their old IDs are still on the directory. This suggests that cancelled subscriptions are still counted in the 500,000. The current e-mail problem at Prodigy is related to their past problems with controversial message boards. Some months ago, Prodigy removed several controversial message boards that were generating flames. This was done presumably to avoid offending advertisers and preserve the "family" image. Users of the cancelled boards were outraged, but they apparently found a work-around with e-mail. Result: specialty mailing lists flourished and e-mail traffic exploded. Some of the people who were coordinating the mailing lists were sending thousands of e-mail messages every day. This created another problem for Prodigy, which responded by charging $.25 per e-mail message after the first 30 messages in a month. This is likely to put the kibosh on the mailing lists. My take on this is that advertising and interactive communications don't mix - if "interactive" means user-to-user interaction. Prodigy never had that sort of interaction in mind, though. ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: GEnie Star*Services Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 11:54:08 CST Jeff Sicherman wrote in volume 10, issue 809: | Since Prodigy has come up recently in the Digest, does anybody have | any experience with the new Genie Star*Services - a $4.95/mo flat rate | competitor to Prodigy. Offers a subset of regular Genie services | (email specifically excluded as yet, I believe). On the contrary, email is specifically *in*cluded. Time spent on line composing, sending, and reading text email is covered in the flat rate during non-prime hours (evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays). Time spent uploading and downloading binary email, however, costs the usual $6/hour during non-prime time and $18/hour during prime time. | Besides being cheaper I'm considering recommending it because of the | speed considerations: none of the graphics that slows down Prodigy | and would like to hear about actual comparisons. Not only is GEnie far faster than Prodigy is said to be and not limited to proprietary terminal software available for only two machines, but also there is no constant barrage of advertising. (Lest I sound too praiseworthy, I'm not in love with GEnie but it's hard to make anything look bad in comparison to what I hear and know about Prodigy.) GEnie customers speculated that the new pricing was a response to Prodigy's and perhaps Delphi's rates, but then Prodigy raised its rates and surcharged higher volumes of outgoing email. As a general rule, Star*Services cover text email, information bases, and the text areas of non-tech roundtables. Computer-topic round- tables, real-time conversation, and file transfers still carry connect charges. During prime time, all of GEnie has a connect time charge. But to say "Star*Services are a subset of regular GEnie services" can be misleading. Star*Services are a proper subset of the whole of GEnie, yes, in that some parts of the system are not covered by the monthly fee and a connect time charge still applies in them. However, Star*Services are not a separately subscribable option (GEnie's original releases made that very unclear), and you cannot set up an account that is restricted by GEnie to staying inside the flat-rate areas (you can stay inside them by self-discipline, of course), nor can you opt out of Star*Services and pay connect charges in all parts of the system instead of the $4.95 monthly fee. GEnie personnel explained the conversion to me as follows: all GEnie accounts, starting October 1, 1990, are under the Star*Services plan. The choice given on line to existing accounts during August and September was between consenting to the new rate structure as of October 1 and having your account canceled as of October 1 if you didn't like the new arrangement (say, you used GEnie for a few minutes a month and didn't feel you would get $4.95 worth out of it under the new rates). That way people who simply stopped using GEnie as of October 1, 1990 (or hadn't been using it during August or September and didn't know about the change), wouldn't get charged the $4.95 a month unless they logged in and used the system. Anyone who hadn't consented to the change by September 30 and logged in on or after October 1 had (and still has) to pick the new rate structure or immediate cancellation. (By then all customers with valid addresses on file should have received hardcopy about the change.) Any actual use of the system on or after October 1 requires consent to Star*Services pricing. Pre-existing accounts for which the customer doesn't make a choice by March 31, 1991, will be deemed canceled. Also, in volume 10, issue 810, David Lesher attributed this to me: > |"If you have a problem and want BETTER service, call J. C. Penney at > |xxx.xxxx" > |Followed, after a modestly long pause, by some suitable message for > |callers to Dave or Dan. This is one time Mr. Lesher didn't get it straight from the horse's mouth, because I didn't write that! Barton Bruce did. Not only does Mr. Bruce deserve credit for his own words, but moreover those are words with which I disagree strongly: the wrong numbers are not Sears Roebuck's fault (as they would be if, say, Sears had distributed advertising with a misprinted telephone number) and should not be taken out on Sears. Now, "Sears Roebuck and Company's number is XY*A*-5600, but they won't sell anything to people who are so stupid that they can't even dial a telephone" wouldn't bother me a bit. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com [Moderator's Note: David recently attended an 'open house' sponsored by Centel at their central office here. Perhaps he will write an article for the Digest soon talking about the affair. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #812 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06241; 13 Nov 90 1:55 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab00284; 13 Nov 90 0:25 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab12963; 12 Nov 90 23:16 CST Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 23:01:35 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #813 BCC: Message-ID: <9011122301.ab27934@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Nov 90 23:01:03 CST Volume 10 : Issue 813 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft Support Sleeze (was: Microsoft Use of 900) [John G. DeArmond] Re: Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address [Bob Sherman] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [J. Stephen Reed] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [Greg Monti via John R. Covert] Re: People Unclear on the Concept [David Tamkin] Re: Telecom Art [David Tamkin] Re: British Telecom Special Service Codes [Jim R. Oldroyd] Re: ISDN Frame Relay Service [Ed Benyukhis] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "John G. DeArmond" Subject: Microsoft Support Sleeze (was: Microsoft Use of 900 ) Date: 11 Nov 90 06:45:16 GMT Organization: Radiation Systems, Inc. (a thinktank, motorcycle, car and gun works facility) john@mojave.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >Oh, I see. The "product" that put them on the map (other than a BASIC) >is treated as a second-rate stepsister. The company has to protect >itself from all those unwashed masses who might actually have some >legitimate problem (oh, but how could they--DOS is perfect, right?) >NOT with Microsoft. And the underlying problem seems to stem from >how they handle telecommunications. >> You can really blow their mind by getting on usenet and addressing your >> followup communication to username@microsoft.uucp. John, I agree with you 100% regarding Microsoft and their tech support. I'VE used Usenet in a slightly manner for resolving problems with Microsoft problems. A couple of years ago, I had a problem in which Microsoft C 5.1 would lock up my computers running Novell networking software code. I called Microsoft tech support and got a dweeb who suggested that the problem was Novell's (correct, as chance would have it) and told me that what I needed to do was trash Novell and buy Microsoft network or whatever. I got on the net and flamed Microsoft to a crisp and published Bill Gates' direct dial number (which I've unfortunately since lost) and suggested that anyone who disliked this degree of tech support should call him directly and complain. A day later I got a call from Jim Dosch who is the manager of Systems Language Support. He told me that the problem I was having was a known one caused by Novell's anet3.com TSR and that an updated version fixed the problem. He then gave me his phone number (206 882 6701) and asked that I call him direct with any future support problems. I've never used it since I solved the Microsoft support problem the old fashioned way - I switched to Turbo-C :-) Perhaps that number will be of use to you in the future. John De Armond, WD4OQC Rapid Deployment System, Inc. Marietta, Ga {emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd ------------------------------ From: Bob Sherman Subject: Re: Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 05:47:05 GMT In <14556@accuvax.nwu.edu> wmg@howard.att.com (William M Gilroy) writes: >I was wondering how and where I would obtain a listing by street of >every telephone number on that street. I want something like this: > 1 Oak st (201) 555-1212 > 2 Oak st (201) 555-1212 > 3 Oak st (201) 555-1212 There are at least two online databases that I know of that can be subscribed to (at rather high rates) that will give you such info. However you put in an address, and they then give you the names, addresses, and phone numbers of eight or ten addresses on both sides. On the other hand you can put in a phone number, it gives who listed to, and the same deal on the neighbors if you want it. One database claims 94 million listings, and the other claims about 114 million listings. The larger of the two is called "MetroMail" and I "think" it is operated by a sub of Donnelly.. bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu | bsherman@pro-exchange | MCI MAIL:BSHERMAN ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 06:23 GMT From: "J. Stephen Reed" <0002909785@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind David Tamkin (and others) have just rescued a small portion of my mental health! Tamkin recently responded to an item on the "leap second": >> [Philip Gladstone:] >> A point to note is that the leap second which is inserted (or >> removed) is the last second before 00:00:00 *GMT*. > Leap seconds are never removed. The whole reason that we have leap > seconds is that the second was redefined in the late 1960's by some > physical or atomic standard (just as the meter was redefined around > the same time and the inch followed); there was a choice between a > definition that was slightly too short for 1/86,400 of an average > solar day and having to add leap seconds occasionally and one that > was slightly too long with a result of needing to skip leap seconds > occasionally. I remember vividly being a callow lad of 13 on June 30, 1972, when the leap-second was announced in the papers for that night, as a curiosity item. It scared me to death! Why? Because I was credulous enough (as a brainy but unworldly kid would be) to take the AP wire reporter's explanation at face value. The way it was phrased, the explanation implied that the earth was not keeping pace with accurate clocks (True, in one sense, but far from the whole truth!) So I got out my dad's Bowmar Brain (arithmetic functions only, ten cubic inches, $299.95) to figure the number of seconds in a day, and then to divide that by five. (For the article predicted the need for a leap second every four to five years. This ended up being conservative, as someone else noted -- we've had ten or twleve since.) The quite natural result was that the earth would stop revolving in about A.D. 19252. (86,400 seconds/day divided by 5 being 17,280 years.) And, of course, this would be The End. Not in a geologic epoch, when the Sun turns nova, but in 700 human generations. I was scared stiff! As I matured, I suspected that something was wrong with that explanation of the leap second, but I put it at the back of my mind. Nonetheless, you don't shake pubescent fears that easily out of your subconscious. Later, I read that the mean solar day had been estimated to have shortened by as few as ten minutes over the past three billion years of geologic evidence. Still, though, this nagged at me. Thank you, Mr. Tamkin et al., for saving my mental equilibrium by stating the connection between clocks, the earth, and the leap second. Now on to more important things, like predicting when we'll "liberate" Kuwait. Steve Reed Liberty Network, Ltd. * P.O. Box 11296 * Chicago, IL 60611 0002909785@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 17:39:37 PST From: "John R. Covert 11-Nov-1990 2041" Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind From: Greg Monti Date: 5 November 1990 TELECOM Moderator writes: > In any event, do slow down and stay in step with the rest of us, > starting Sunday morning at 2:00 AM *whatever* time zone you are in. To > set computer clocks: > 1-202-653-0351 1200 baud (NAVOSBY) > 1-202-494-4774 1200 baud (National Bureau of Standards) Hmm, That second one is impossible. There is no 202-494 exchange nor is there one in 301 or 703 within the old "7-digit distance" of 202. Dunno the correct number, but Nat Bur Stds main number is 301 975-2000 in Gaithersburg, MD, if anyone cares to negotiate the bureaucracy to find it. :) Greg Monti, Arlington, VA; work +1 202 822-2633 [Moderator's Note: Well actually I meant to say area 303, as in Boulder, CO -- not 202. Thanks for catching it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: People Unclear on the Concept Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 22:43:11 CST Ed Greenberg wrote in volume 10, issue 805: | I dropped by the local Burger King the other day, for my ration of | fast breakfast. Outside is a brand spanking new COCOT. Inside is a | sign that states, "We do not give change for the phone." The operative word here is "outside." | Now, given that the BK is in it for the cash, why discourage usage? Because the BK franchisee doesn't own the COCOT. The landlord owns the COCOT. The BK franchisee got sick of being short of change for its own customers by the end of the day (and losing sales when customers walked out) because it provided change for the landlord's customers. The franchisee got sick of having its lines lengthened and its real customers forced to wait because its employees were tied up handling zero-profit transactions to help the landlord make money. The only money they owe the landlord is what is stated in their lease. COCOTS, by the way, should not be spanking. Spanked, yes. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: Telecom Art Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 23:03:40 CST Peter da Silva wrote in volume 10, issue 606: | The locations of most users can be found by examining comp.mail.maps: | the location of most sites are given, with street address and latitude | and longitude. These maps are updated and posted monthly. Well, that probably holds for .edu sites, but you're best off checking Organization: lines or .signatures. There are people who have remote logins to machines at the home office, and those of us who use the net on our own time actually place TELEPHONE CALLS (shock!) to *other* locations (fright!) to use a computer that is on the net rather than sitting at a terminal that is hard-wired to one. I have submitted to this forum from machines in Washington, D.C. and Cupertino, California. I could submit from one in Columbus, Ohio, and until a couple weeks ago could have used one in Sparkill, New York. Until last April I could have subscribed to DASNet and posted from a system in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Where I really am located in northeastern Illinois, there are three in Chicago, one in Villa Park, one in Palatine, and this one I am currently using in Wheeling. For nostalgia's sake, I'll include a defunct machine in Homer Township, Will County, Illinois, from which I used to submit. If by "most" Peter means "strictly more than 50%" I guess he's right, but as a mapping algorithm I don't think it will be correct often enough. Anyone mapping by that theory, please pretend that I always post from gagme; you'll be off by a negligible quarter-mile. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com ------------------------------ From: Jim R Oldroyd Subject: Re: British Telecom Special Service Codes Date: 13 Nov 90 02:45:27 GMT Reply-To: "Jim R Oldroyd" Organization: The Instruction Set, Waltham, MA Recently, olapw@olgb1.oliv.co.uk wrote: > clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather) writes (various bits deleted): > How on earth did you get hold of this? It took me about three weeks > to convince my local BT "service" centre that my local exchange (081 > 446) had become digital. A couple of weeks later they (grudgingly) let > me have a leaflet which mentioned "Charge Advice" and "Reminder Calls" > as being "free" (ie no extra rental). It did not, however, give > details of the codes needed to access these services. > Has anybody any idea why BT seem so loath to release any information > about the services which they offer? As I recall their leaflet made > [Moderator's Note: Is BT a lot like the American telcos in this > respect, that they try to keep their customers from speaking directly > with anyone who actually knows anything? Here in the States, it is a > very fortunate subscriber indeed who can get past the several layers > of supervision in the Business Office and speak with an actual > technician or central office person. PAT] This reminds me of my own experiences with BT, when I lived in London several years back... Now, I used to work at Philips TMC - now AT&T/Philips Telecoms (who make central office switches), so I had access to lots of info about what switches BT had installed all over the country, and what features they offered. I later moved to London, to the (then) 01-386 exchange. Needing tone dialling, I looked in my (now out-of-date) book, and discovered that 368 did, indeed, support this option. Well, it took me about nine weeks and 30 or 40 calls to convince the BT customer service staff that this service really did exist. In the end, it was a Senior Supervisor (not just any old Supervisor) who was able to look up in her manuals the fact that 368 really did support tone dialling. And it took her about three minutes (while I waited on the phone) to enable the service. With delightful grace, she then waived the #10 change of service fee which would have been applicable! I did learn one thing from all this. If you want any real help from your local BT office (in London, anyway), call the 100 operator and ask for "XXX Engineering" (where XXX is your exhange). The operator will put you straight through, without question. Once there, ask for the Senior Technial Engineer - this may take a bit more effort if you don't know his/her name. Once you're through, the world's your oyster! Enjoy, Jim [Moderator's Note: I'm *still* trying to convince repair service attendants and Business Office people at IBT that I have Call Screening (*60) on my line. It works fine, usually, but there are a couple bugs that need attention. But they still insist that I don't have it on my line. One person today even offered to have it removed from my bill and credit issued (they do see it on the billing record) since " ... it is not a service we are offering yet ... and you should not be paying for something you are not getting ..." Sigh. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ed Benyukhis Subject: Re: ISDN Frame Relay Service Date: 9 Nov 90 14:29:48 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <14396@accuvax.nwu.edu>, zweig@cs.uiuc.edu (Johnny Zweig) writes: > I was talking to Van Jacobson last week and he described a service his > local telco is going to offer real soon now in which the customer sets > up virtual calls using the D-channel and then dumps HDLC frames onto > the B-channel and they get routed by the CO switch. Zounds! This > sounds really neat -- the functionality of IP coming right out of the > funny-looking ISDN jack on the wall. > Does anyone know more about this service? I am mostly interested in > how reliable the frame delivery would be, whether frames would be > delivered in order, whether one could set up calls to the same > destination over both B-channels in a PRI (to crank out 128kbps to a > single other machine) and that sort of thing. The way you describe the connection and looking at the data transfer rate, you are referring to a BRI and not a PRI. The subject, of your post semms to suggest that you want to know more about Broadband ISDN services and recomendation. Frame Relay Service is really an OC-1 CCITT standard that is being implemented with laboratory equipment and in laboratory conditions at this point. If it is a BRI that you want know about, as it is currently implemented on some CO switches, here it is: B-channel connection can be provisioned with either packet or circuit services or both on-demand (ODB). All connections over the B-channel are set-up via D-channel Q.931 control messages. However, in the case of a circuit switched connection, layers 2-7 are not defined nor used. Users can/should provide their own synchronization and error control mechanisms. In the case of the Packet Switching over the B-channel, layer 2 is LAPB and layer 3 is X.25. You get your basic synch, error correction and the flow control with these two layers. Yes, PVC guarantees that frames will be delivered in order, and yes, both B-channesl can be routed to the same destination address. I am not really sure if this is what you are looking for of if it is different ISDN services you are interested in. Drop me a line if you want to find out more about ISDN or BISDN. Regards, Edward Benyukhis, Motorola, CIG (708) 632-4658 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #813 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07189; 13 Nov 90 2:54 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa31458; 13 Nov 90 1:30 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac00284; 13 Nov 90 0:26 CST Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 23:49:58 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #814 BCC: Message-ID: <9011122349.ab01574@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Nov 90 23:49:45 CST Volume 10 : Issue 814 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination [Bob Yasi] Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination [Tom Gray] Re: Call-Waiting Disable [Andrew Boardman] Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question [Tom Wiencko] Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets [Miguel Casteleiro] Re: Massachusetts DPU Fees for COCOT Info [Barton F. Bruce] Re: GTE Mobilnet Restricts International Dialing Nationwide [John Higdon] Re: McCaw "Nationlink" vs. Follow Me Roaming [Lang Zerner] Re: Zone Maps are Desireable [Dave Levenson] Re: NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission [Mukesh Kacker] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob Yasi Subject: Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination Date: 12 Nov 90 07:28:26 GMT Organization: Locus Computing Corp., Los Angeles > The service described above (called Cut Off on Disconnect around here) > is the removal of loop current for a few hundred milliseconds. The > exact timimgs of this cut off will vary greatly depending on the type > of equipment installed. My local central office has a DMS (100 or 200?) switch. The normal duration of the disconnect signal (called CPC around here) is 800 ms, or 0.8 seconds. This "signal" is the electrical equivalent of unplugging your phone for the specified duration. You can actually see it happening if you have a phone that lights up with led's using the power supplied by the phone line -- the led's turn off from the lack of power, then come back on again. But, some answering machines or other "customer provided" equipment does better with a longer signal. If you have the same switch as I do (and maybe even if you don't) you can call repair and they will set a software option for your telephone line and up the duration to 1200 ms, or 1.2 seconds. The service reps seemed to know about this as a general response to "My answering machine acts funny". In one of the conversations I had with an actual technical person in the CO, I asked if there were any other "software options" that were free. I was told there were none. Bob Yazz -- yazz@locus.com ------------------------------ From: Tom Gray Subject: Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination Date: 12 Nov 90 13:20:50 GMT Reply-To: Tom Gray Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. >>I'm wondering if anyone here knows exactly (or not so exactly :-) ) >>what the "wink", or I believe it is sometimes called "CPC" signal is. Tom Gray wrote: >The problem described here occurs on loop start lines on which no >answer supervision is provided. A call is answerd by a machine The Tom Gray now humbly writes perhaps I should truly read the question before I pontificate on telephone loop siganlling. The writer asked a simple question on how his answering machine worked. I replied with the mechanisms which would be used by expensive CPE equipment which needs to eliminate fraud and to maximize the use of trunks. My answer was true for CPE. For the question on answering machines, the machine detects the end of the conversation by detecting dial tone. When the calling party clears, the connection will be broken. The local office will time out and regard the off hook from the answering machine as an origination and provide dial tone. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 09:18:29 EST From: Andrew Boardman Subject: Re: Call-Waiting Disable >[Moderator's Note: This of course simply sets one of the S Registers >to a longer time out value ... long enough that the call waiting tone >won't disconnect you, although it may very well damage the data >getting transferred at the same moment. The other hangup (pun intended) >...how do you get the *other end* to hang around for those >milliseconds while you are gone? Most dialup services in my neck of the woods do configure their modems in this manner. Consider: when making a voice call, the CW tone momentarily disrupts the connection with noise. You have the option of ansewring or ignoring. When making a data call, you still get a disruptive burst of noise, allowing you the option of terminating your connection gracefully to answer or ignoring it. The functionality is maintained. ------------------------------ From: Tom Wiencko Subject: Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question Date: 12 Nov 90 13:46:58 GMT Organization: Wiencko & Associates, Inc. In article <14566@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Dave W. Hamaker" writes: >I expected single-line phones would ignore the yellow-black pair, >unless rewired internally. ... A long time ago it used to be that Princess phones used the yellow/black pair to carry a local DC voltage to power the little light which illuminated the dial pad. If this phone you were wiring has some sort of light on it, that is probably what the yellow/black pair is for. Tom Wiencko & Associates, Inc. (404) 977-4515 {backbone}!emory!stiatl!vta!wiencko!tom ------------------------------ From: Miguel Casteleiro Subject: Re: Trivia Question About Butt Sets Date: 12 Nov 90 20:31:12 GMT Organization: INESC - Inst. Eng. Sistemas e Computadores, LISBOA. PORTUGAL. In article <14551@accuvax.nwu.edu>, rees@pisa.ifs.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: > In article <14486@accuvax.nwu.edu>, davidb@pacer.uucp (David Barts) > writes: >> Why are butt set leads colored red/black/green instead of >> red/green/yellow? > Wire color codes -- one of my favorite questions! I can't answer this > one, but this has always amused me: > Electricity <100v Electricity >100v Telephones > Ground Black Green Yellow > Neutral -- White Red > Hot Red Black Green Well, here it's different: Electricity >100v Ground Black or Blue Neutral Yellow and Green (in stripes) Hot Brown The rest are the same colors! Miguel Casteleiro at INESC, Lisboa, Portugal. UUCP: ...!mcsun!inesc!jmc ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Massachusetts DPU Fees for COCOT Innfo Date: 12 Nov 90 17:49:58 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14471@accuvax.nwu.edu>, carols@world.std.com (Carol Springs) writes: > the Mass. DPU saying that they had a "package" of info for me, for > which the cost would be $45 if I wanted it. I immediately phoned to The Attorney General's Office maintains a consumer info service that is geared to getting info out of stubborn other agencies and giving it to the requesting consumer. I have gotten DPU stuff before this way when there was NO charge but NO WAY to get it other than going and reading it there. They got it internally and simply sent me copies! ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: GTE Mobilnet Restricts International Dialing Nationwide Date: 12 Nov 90 17:03:13 PST (Mon) From: John Higdon George Goble writes: > I received notice last month that GTE Mobilnet was dropping the > ability to direct dial international calls from cell phones, even if > you were roaming on somebody else's system. A call to Mobilnet's "competition", Cellular One (PacTel/McCaw) reveals that company allows international dialing. They also informed me that if I wanted to switch and break my "Business Club" contract with Mobilnet, they would help me. Business Club is Mobilnet's way of tying you into a year-at-a-time service commitment. You agree to stay on for a year (automatically renewable) and they will give you all custom calling and $5.50 off the normal monthly charge. Even if you don't use the custom calling, it's worth it to save on the monthly. Anyway, according to the Cellular One rep, by eliminating the international dialing, Mobilnet has themselves broken the contract in that you are getting less service than you signed up for. Then I called Mobilnet and pointed out that I was unable to place an international call the night before. She confirmed that due to "roamer fraud", it was necessary to restrict international dialing. She indicated that someone would call me back. Since this was obviously a front line person with no horsepower, I saved the speech. When I get that call back, I will point out that taking the easy way out and penalizing the customer is the least acceptable option. Why doesn't Cellular One have this problem? The answer could lie in the fact that unlike Mobilnet, Cellular One allows equal access. The customer deals directly with his long distance company and if there is any LD dispute, Cellular One is left out of the discussion and not holding the bag. My question will be to the Mobilnet rep, "Why doesn't Mobilnet allow equal access?" I haven't decided whether or not to actually switch carriers yet. GTE's attitude, as usual, is reprehensible. On the other hand, I make maybe 2 or 3 international calls per year and switching my TWO cell phones is a pain in the rear. The MicroTac I can do myself but the 6000 has the wrong head for self-programming. Perhaps I'll make that decision based on what this Mobilnet person says when my call is returned tomorrow. > [Moerator's Note: The more I think about it, the more I realize what a > good deal Ameritech Cellular is: very inexpensive rates and an > excellent signal. Re international dialing on GTE, I suspect you will > still be able to zero plus the calls through the desired carrier; i.e. > 01 + overseas number + calling card number. Patrick, it must be nice living in civilization. You have superior cellular service for a fraction of what we get reamed here. I just called my deep throat at Pac*Bell and found out that my crossbar MAY be replaced AS EARLY AS December, 1991. Think about that next time you play with your CLASS features! You are correct: international can be dialed '01+' and you get ka-bonged. And wonder of wonders, Sprint didn't even block my test call to Japan through their 800 number from my cell phone! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 19:20:52 PST From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: McCaw "Nationlink" vs. Follow Me Roaming Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mt. View, CA Pat-- In article <14477@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >...I always give them my 'direct cell phone number' whenever they want to >have a good time or buy something from me: 911-6278. PAT] Did you mean to put a smiley-face in there, or are you advocating the tying up of 911 emergency trunks simply to have a good prank? Especially after the recent discussion here raising similar concerns about putting OUT-OF-ORDER stickers on COCOTs that violate PUC regulations, I am surprised that you have presented such a potentially damaging prank without mentioning the possible risk involved. Pat, I've come to expect you to be vigilant when it comes to responsible editing of comp.dcom.telecom messages (censoring numbers which are inappropriate to publish, for example), so I would not be at all surprised if I misunderstood what you wrote. However, if your intent really is to give your "victims" a little scare by having them reach the police when they call about illegal activity, you could at the very least give them the local NON-emergency number. Be seeing you. Lang Zerner [Moderator's Note: I know drug dealers are for the most part among the dumbest people alive. Very few of the 'street sales persons' -- whatever their 'product line or service' -- have a brain equal to the one God gave a goose; but do you think anyone is fooled by a message inviting them to have a good time by calling 911-2368? Yeah, you are probably right, there are some. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Zone Maps are Desireable Date: 12 Nov 90 23:34:20 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <14382@accuvax.nwu.edu>, IZZYAS1@oac.ucla.edu (Andy Jacobson) writes: > Well, Cincinatti Bell (Not part of the old AT&T, and thus never > actually divested) does just that in their directory. They also list a > small number of prefixes right around the river that can be reached > from either the Ohio(513) or Kentucky(606) side without dialing the > area code. I assume they can do this as its all within their LATA. > Rather a nifty service if you ask me ... I don't remember what the > prefixes are, but I wonder if you could reach those numbers from > outside the LATA by dialing either 513- or 606- area codes. That has been done in many places, where a local calling area straddles an area-code boundary. I lived in the Washington DC metro area for the first twenty years of my life. Throughout that period, (well, going back to when DDD and area codes first turned up!) the local calling area included all of the DC (202), and portions of MD (301) and VA (703). Calls within the local calling area could always be dialed with seven digits, even if you were crossing two area code boundaries (such as from Prince George's County, MD (East of DC) to McLean, VA (West of DC)). It used to be possible to reach numbers in the Maryland suburbs from far away by dialing either 301 or 202. In the Washington area, that has just changed. It is now necessary to dial the area code when placing local calls which cross the area code boundaries. This frees up all of the prefixes in 202 for assignment in the 301 area code. It also frees up the prefixes in the nearby Maryland suburbs for assignment within the District. They haven't needed an area code split, but they needed a dialing plan change to accomodate growth. There are probably lots of other areas where local calls which cross an area code boundary can (or could) be dialed with seven digits. Can anybody point to other places where this is/was done. Have others changed as the DC has recently? Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: Mukesh Kacker Subject: Re: NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission Date: 12 Nov 90 18:33:39 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. >At the end of September, partners in the National Science Foundation >Network (NSFNET) announced a succesful demonstration of >intercontinental data transmission using the International Standards >Organization Conectionless Network Protocol (ISO CLNP). The >international exchange of ISO CLNP packets was demonstrated betweeen >end systems at the NSFNET Network Operations Center in Ann Arbor and >in Bonn, West Germany, using the NSFNET backbone infrastructure and >the European Academic Supercomputer Initiative (EASInet) backbone. >The prototype OSI (this, I think is a typo - it should be ISO) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >implementation is intended to provide wide area connectivity between >OSI networks, including networks using the DECNet Phase V protocols. This is not a typo. OSI stands for "Open Systems Interconnectioni" which is broad suite of protocols for data transmission in computer networks following a seven layer model. The other suite of protocols normally used on NSFNET/Internet is called the Internet suite or commonly as the TCP/IP suite. ISO stands for "International Standards Organization" and is the standards body under which the OSI suite of protocols is being developed. However ISO is not limited to computer networking standards. The standards for the paper sizes used on your copier or the nuts and bolts sizes on your furniture were probably developed under ISO. ISO CLNP referred above is one of the Layer 3 (Network Layer) protocols in the OSI protocol suite. This set of standard protocols(OSI) is available in products from most major computer vendors including the ones made by my employer Sun Microsystems Inc. Mukesh Kacker OSI Engineer Sun Microsystems Inc. Mountain View, CA 94043 e-mail: mukesh@eng.sun.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #814 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa08740; 13 Nov 90 4:05 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa30929; 13 Nov 90 2:35 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab31458; 13 Nov 90 1:30 CST Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 0:31:50 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #815 BCC: Message-ID: <9011130031.ab03868@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 13 Nov 90 00:31:15 CST Volume 10 : Issue 815 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Ed Hopper] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Mike Van Pelt] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Toby Nixon] Re: Genie Star*Services [Mike Van Pelt] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System [Hakan Winkvist] Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [John Higdon] Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question [Vance Shipley] First Issue: AT&T ACCUNET DataBriefs [Peter M. Weiss] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ed Hopper Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 07:23:18 CST Organization: Ed Hopper's BBS - Houston, Texas 713-997-7575 john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > I have a question: is it true that the Prodigy interface doesn't allow > any of the material that comes in online to be printed or saved as > files? If this is the case, then what ever benefits over and above an > online "shopping channel" the system may possess would be pretty well > negated. > I ask this after having just seen a Prodigy commercial that touts an > online encyclopedia. If you can't print anything, then I would assume > that you would have to have an awfully good memory or be able to write > fast. Is it all as bogus as it appears? Do you "really gotta get this > thing"? I tried Prodigy during its intro to Houston. True to the spirit (and a mean spirit it is) of Prodigy, you can print what "they" want you to print. At the bottom of each screen are several option buttons. If the prodigy.gods decided that you should be able to retrieve information, your airline schedule on SAABRE, for example, a "print" button appears, you can select that option and print the screen (as ASCII text). An MS-DOS print screen command didn't work, I believe. But then, what did you expect from IBM? After getting disgusted with Prodigy and still wanting a good source of wire service news and SAABRE access, I signed up with the online service of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, StarText. Also $9.95 a month, but you pay toll. Of course, if you're in Seattle, etc. the local news in Fort Worth is not of much interest. It was very useful, however, during the Panama invasion to dial up StarText and capture and print out the latest AP story. I'd post it on the (cork) bulletin board at work as they came in. I wish more papers did this sort of thing. Ed Hopper ------------------------------ From: Mike Van Pelt Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 13 Nov 90 02:33:04 GMT Reply-To: Mike Van Pelt Organization: Video 7 + G2 = Headland Technology I've got Prodigy; mostly because my sister-in-law in Denver has it, and I save more than $10/mo in phone bills for conversations between her and my wife. With the new charges, that may no longer be the case. The new charge of $ .25/message over 30 per month starts in January. This is made worse by the fact that email is limited to 48 lines, at about 40 characters per line. Yecch. Ginny and Barb typically send four or five letters per session to get everything said that they want to say. Then, whoever's receiving the message has to go through all manner of contortions to get the messages in chronological order. Mail is in your mailbox in "Last in, first out" order, and Prodigy provides a "NEXT MAIL" button, but no "PREVIOUS MAIL", so you have to go all the way back to the mail menu and manually select the previous message. I've glanced at a couple of the bulletin boards, but it is so *G*R*O*T*E*S*Q*U*E*L*Y* *P*A*I*N*F*U*L*L*Y* *S*L*O*W* that I haven't looked at them in months. I joined a mailing list at one point, but quickly gave that up. Again, it's **SLOW**, and very inflexible. Everyone on the mailing list has to create a "mailing list" alias specifying everyone on the list. And again, you can not easily read mail in chronological order. The $ .25/message charge doesn't only affect mailing lists; my sister-in-law sends several messages per day to various "modem pals." As for printing, you can print screens -- if, and only if, Prodigy saw fit to equip that screen with a "PRINT" button, or enabled the "COPY" function on the Jump Screen. You can print out your stock quotes, and the encyclopedia entries are printable. You can not save to disk with the Prodigy software, but there are shareware utilities that get around this. I sometimes run a TSR that diverts all print into a file, which works if the screens you're interested in are printable. There is also a utility that will print an "unprintable" screen, but I haven't used it. In general, if you're technically sophisticated enough to be reading TELECOM Digest, then you'll find that Prodigy is an insult to your intelligence. It resembles most of all those TeleText things in the airports. So, I'm trying to convince my in-laws to get a GEnie account or a Unix EMAIL account. If and when I'm sucessful, the Prodigy account goes. On the plus side, Ginny would never touch the computer until we got Prodigy. Now she's playing games on the PC, and even using Microsoft Word. Mike Van Pelt Headland Technology/Video 7 ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ From: Toby Nixon Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 12 Nov 90 17:00:35 GMT Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA In article <14532@accuvax.nwu.edu>, glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu (Glenn F. Leavell) writes: > If much of this is true, it raises some possibly interesting > questions: If Prodigy is returning messages to the sender based on > content, does this mean that they are reading all messages sent on the > system? Is this "right"? Is this the same as censorship? Becuase > Prodigy is a private service, are they allowed to censor non-offensive > material? But, they are using a common-carrier (the phone) as their > only access method. Does this have any bearing on the situation? I am not speaking for Hayes here! Prodigy doesn't read mail sent directly from one subscriber to another. However, all forums/newsgroups/SIGs/(whatever they're called on Prodigy) are MODERATED, just like comp.dcom.telecom, and the moderator can reject any message they deem to be inappropriate. What happened in this case is that these folks' messages inciting a boycott were getting rejected by the moderators, so they (the agitators) started mass mailing messages to other users individually. When the recipients of these messages complained to Prodigy management, the senders were expelled. It's censorship, yes, but because it's not done by the government it is completely legal. There's no law against private censorship in this country; you don't have unrestricted rights to newspapers, radio, TV, etc. Using the phone as an access method doesn't change this at all; the phone company isn't doing the censoring. I think that since Prodigy moderates their forums/SIGs, they accept responsibility for the content. That puts them outside the realm of being a common carrier -- they shouldn't receive the protections a common carrier receives, but they also aren't required to carry anything regardless of content. Prodigy, after all, isn't a regulated monopoly with exclusive right to serve a particular territory, like your local exchange carrier. You CAN choose to use other services. As for their kicking people off the system for broadcasting individual messages: if their rules say you can't do that, then they're within their rights to terminate service. Compuserve has strict rules against employees of other information services recruiting users via Compuserve messages, too, and they'd probably squelch any public criticism that was as repetative and harrassing as (alledgedly) were these Prodigy messages. All those angry ex-Prodigy subscribers are perfectly welcome to move their business to Internet, FidoNet, Compuserve, Genie, or just about anyplace else. _I_ did, as soon as I got the first bill from Prodigy following the free introductory period. Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer | Voice +1-404-449-8791 Telex 151243420 Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax +1-404-447-0178 CIS 70271,404 P.O. Box 105203 | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon AT&T !tnixon Atlanta, Georgia 30348 USA | Internet hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net ------------------------------ From: Mike Van Pelt Subject: Re: Genie Star*Services Date: 13 Nov 90 03:23:13 GMT Reply-To: Mike Van Pelt Organization: Video 7 + G2 = Headland Technology In article <14575@accuvax.nwu.edu> JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet writes: > Since Prodigy has come up recently in the Digest, does anybody have >any experience with the new Genie Star*Services - a $4.95/mo flat rate >competitor to Prodigy. Offers a subset of regular Genie services >(email specifically excluded as yet, I believe). Besides being cheaper Email is specifically *IN*cluded. For your flat $4.95/mo, you have unlimited Email, and unlimited use of the things on Star*Services, which includes most of the "chat" type Roundtables. What is excluded is mostly (1) file X/Y/Zmodem upload/download, (2) Realtime Conferencing (Like Compu$erve's "CB Simulator") and (3) all of the computer-related Roundtables. There's nothing different you have to do to access the non-flat-rate services. Just remember that when you enter one of those sections, the clock starts ticking. >I'm considering recommending it because of the speed considerations: >none of the graphics that slows down Prodigy and would like to hear >about actual comparisons. There isn't any comparison. It is vastly faster, as it's ASCII, not some graphics protocol. You can use your favorite terminal program. The commands might be confusing to a computer novice, but GEnie has a "Smart front-end" called "Aladdin" which takes care of all that for Email and Roundtable BBS'ing. Configuring Aladdin would probably be confusing for a computer novice, but using it is very simple. Start up Aladdin, hit "1" for pass one, and go out to dinner while it calls in and retrieves your email and all new messages on your roundtables, then hangs up. When you return, read and reply offline with a "mini-wordstar" type editor, then hit "2" for pass two, and go watch the Simpsons while your messages are sent. Very nice. I mostly use just the Star*Services, but Aladdin would be even more of a win if you're using the $6/hour services. Aladdin is free, except for the cost to download it via Zmodem or whatever, and there is no restriction on handing it out to others, so it may be available on your local BBS. You need version 1.30 for the new Genie command structure. I just hope the flat rate isn't a "bait-and-switch" ... Even if it is, and they go back to $6/hour, I think that with Aladdin it will be cheaper than Prodigy, no matter what your Email usage is. A disadvantage is that you can't use it between 7AM and 6PM, or they sock you for $18/hour. Mike Van Pelt Headland Technology/Video 7 ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ From: hw@tts.lth.se (Hakan Winkvist) Subject: Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System Reply-To: hw@tts.lth.se (Hakan Winkvist) Organization: Communication Systems, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 09:15:22 GMT In article <14369@accuvax.nwu.edu> HWT@bnr.ca (Henry Troup) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 792, Message 7 of 10 >Mike Doughney writes: >> It almost looks like American workers had a hand in its production; >Bell Canada built and used to operate the Saudi phone system, on >contract for the government. I think that the latest operations >contract went to someone else. >So the central office switches will be a mix of 1-ESS and DMS-100/200, >as my memory of the Saudi connection is that it goes back twenty years >or so. In Saudi Arabia existed a few years back following number of switches in the public telephone network: 4 Ericsson ARE 13 transit switches around 60 Ericsson AXE 10 as both local and transit switches. Some of the transit switches are used to switch cellular mobile traffic according to the NMT-450 system. around 10 Ericsson ARE 11 local switches. Philips PRX local switches, mostly rural. Philips/AT&T PRX-D/ESS5 Local switches 10 Hitachi local containerized switches. (Old crossbar switches) 2 AT&T ESS1A Used at the international airports in Jeddah and Riyadh. Hakan Winkvist ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? Date: 12 Nov 90 02:14:54 PST (Mon) From: John Higdon "Andrew M. Boardman" writes: > "permanent" phone call for one's connection. If one utilises untimed > service of some sort, the economic advantage in enormous. My > questions: > - What would one's local phone company think of this? Pac*Bell used this as one of the justifications for charging for all business local calls on a timed basis. Long data calls were specifically singled out. > - In the expected case that they aren't too fond of losing > out on the megabucks for a leased line, do they have > legal ground telling you to stop? In the case of California, this would only apply to residence service. I recently discussed this hypothetically with an associate. Telco might not be able to tell you to stop, but you can be sure that a) they would eventually notice it; and b) they would find a surefire way to regrade the service to business. The telco may not take action against a single person or company, but you can bet that a number of "permanent" unmeasured local connections would probably send telco packing to the nearest PUC to get flat-rate service discontinued. > - Since some uucp sites have so much traffic that they can > spend days on one call anyway, has anyone ever heard of > previous telco complaints in this area? I have never heard of this happening. I am familiar with some larger sites in the area, and while the modems may be off hook a major portion of the time, it is never with one call. The longest UUCP calls last on the order of 20 minutes. Besides, a business would be measured and telco couldn't care less -- the meter would be running. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question Organization: SwitchView - The Linton Technology Group Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 17:44:22 GMT In article <14566@accuvax.nwu.edu> "Dave W. Hamaker" writes: >The phone seems to be made by COMDIAL and the black wire was connected >to a terminal labeled "L1," while the yellow wire was connected to a >terminal labeled "G." I can give more detailed info on the device if >I know what to look for. Any ideas? The telephone has been set up for A&A1 control. This is to interwork with a key telephone system, see last months postings on A&A1. vance ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Monday, 12 Nov 1990 12:11:49 EST From: "Peter M. Weiss" Subject: First Issue: AT&T ACCUNET DataBriefs "Welcome to ACCUNET DataBriefs! This is the first issue of our new quarterly newsletter dedicated to the AT&T ACCUNET Family of Digital Services." reads the introductory paragraph. Contents of the first issue: Innovative Center Optimizes Network Design Oil Company Gets More For Its Money Frame Relay Speeds Data Transfer Centers Focus on Service-Specific Rules Linking Distributed Information Departments Interview Product Update For more information, telephone: 1-800-247-1212 ext 381 Peter M. Weiss | pmw1 @ PSUADMIN | vm.psu.edu | psuvm 31 Shields Bldg - PennState Univ. University Park, PA USA 16802 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #815 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa09974; 13 Nov 90 5:36 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa12749; 13 Nov 90 3:40 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab30929; 13 Nov 90 2:35 CST Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 1:53:12 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #816 BCC: Message-ID: <9011130153.ab15137@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 13 Nov 90 01:52:38 CST Volume 10 : Issue 816 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson ... And it Keeps on Ticking [Joel Shprentz] Modifying the NANP? (was: What Happens When 800 Fills Up) [Fred Goldstein] Charging For Incomplete Calls (was: Cellular Sleaze) [Henry E. Schaffer] Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? [Michael C. Berch] 900 Number Junk Mail [Danial Hamilton] George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers [Steve Forrette] CID Decoding Hardware Available [Bob Falcon] Special Section on Communications Technology (WSJ - Nov 9) [Werner Uhrig] Why Are They Called 'Generics'? [Jeff Wasilko] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Joel Shprentz Subject: ... And it Keeps on Ticking Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 10:17:39 EST Following the good advice from you and Jim Rees, I got my Western Union clock running this weekend. F cells are a little hard to come by, so I bought two alkaline D cells with a holder and wired them to the motor solenoid and lamp circuits. The original battery wiring was not connected, so I'm not sure I got the polarity right. It works. The clockworks were in good shape. I wound and unwound the spring several times to spin off the dust (there wasn't much). The minute hand's final gear was off by one notch; I adjusted it to reset to :00 instead of :03. The clock case was covered with years of grime. A little cleaner and elbow grease made it presentable again. The glass rattled in the case because the clips inside were loose. I replaced each clip's dried rubber with foam weatherstripping. The clock has been running well since Sunday afternoon. It seems to keep good time -- I'll measure its accuracy during the next few days. The spring rewind motor runs for about 13 seconds each hour. Jim is sending me his circuit to generate hourly pulses from a cheap digital clock. The Naval Observatory is a local call, so I'm hoping to use my computer to synchronize the clock to its original time standard. Joel Shprentz Phone: (703) 848-7305 BDM International, Inc. Uucp: {rutgers,vrdxhq,rlgvax}!bdmrrr!shprentz 7915 Jones Branch Drive Internet: shprentz@bdmrrr.bdm.com McLean, Virginia 22102 [Moderator's Note: Your batteries won't last very long, unfortunately. Why don't you instead find a little AC/DC transformer which puts out about 3 volts at say, 500 m.a. Plug the transformer in the wall and run thin wire up behind the clock, and use it to power the motor which winds the spring. Also, rewire the contact which makes the little red lightbulb light (normally when the setting circuit is powered) so that it lights for the 13 seconds or so when the clock winds once an hour. Finally, by removing the cotter pin you'll find in the 'finger' which the setting circuit uses to jerk the minute hand into place, you'll change the grace period for setting from two minutes on either side of the hour to about 29 minutes on either side of the hour! (It still has trouble if the hand is right on the six.) Good luck, and enjoy it! PAT] ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Modifying the NANP? (was: What Happens When 800 Fills Up) Date: 12 Nov 90 16:40:12 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article <14554@accuvax.nwu.edu>, JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet writes: >I think the problem posed by this question goes beyond the issue of >just 800 numbers: > The escalating splitting of municipalities into multiple area codes, >the proliferation of faxs and cellular phones that will exacerbate >this suggest that the once adequate phone numbering system is getting >out of hand and is unequal to the load of modern telecommunications >possibilities. The resulting confusion of phone numbers versus >geographical areas occasioned by the splitting and the uncertainty of >charges is just once manifestation of it. > What are the telephone companies, research institutions, regulatory >agencies, or anyone else doing to address this. To what extent may >ISDN provide some solutions to this (I can think of a few). Jeff points out a potentially serious problem. The North American Numbering Plan is very expandable and flexible, but the expansion is occuring more rapidly than (I suspect) was originally foreseen, and it's generating a higher pain level than the public seems happy with. Right now the plan says that NPAs are split when they get crowded. Thus West LA gets 310, Bronx gets 908, etc. Soon (after 1995) we'll be able to have NPA codes like 260, 420, etc.; these REQUIRE strict 1+ dialing rules to avoid ambiguity. (Some small NPAs have no NN0 codes, which gives them a little slack.) A possible solution, which to the best of my knowledge has not been seriously entertained by Bellcore (yet), is to use "overlay" NPAs. This is hinted at by 908, which gets Bronx plus Manhattan's cellular phones. An overlay NPA is geographically coterminous with another code, but comes from the NNX space (post-1995, of course). Residential and POTS numbers can be allocated from the remaining "traditional" pool; these aren't the ones causing the exhaustion. Business can pay extra for numbers in the traditional NPA, but default DID rates get you overlay numbers, which are also used for cellular, PBX trunks (beyond the listed one?), fax machines, data services, etc. Then we can stop splitting NPAs. Existing numbers remain intact, in general, but growth gets new numbers. The last few NYX codes (i.e., 710, 810, 909, 410) can be reserved for areas that really do need to split, after overlays reduce demand for current-NPA numbers. I wonder if the idea will sell. (The NANP discussion at ANSI T1S1 ended last year, due to lack of consensus, so I can't bring it up there.) Fred R. Goldstein Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 Do you think anyone else on the planet would share my opinions, let alone a multi-billion dollar corporation? ------------------------------ From: "Henry E. Schaffer" Subject: Charging For Incomplete Calls (was: Cellular Sleaze) Reply-To: "Henry E. Schaffer" Organization: NCSU Computing Center Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 21:24:48 GMT In article <14594@accuvax.nwu.edu> Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1. fidonet.org writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 811, Message 6 of 11 >o Unbundling of charges and nickle-diming. Contrary to the fact that > yes, it may USE certain resources, since day one, it's been > CUSTOMARY in the telephone industry NOT to charge for such things > as busy signals, no-answers, call setup time, etc. ... >[Moderator's Note: ... I'd look for >the day to come when telco begins charging for incomplete call >attempts just like some of the cell guys do now, saying it uses up >resources to attempt to make the connection, etc. PAT] There has been a custom, rooted in history, of not charging for events which could be the fault of the phone company. This saves an enormous amount of controversy and wear and tear on good will of the telco. Dialing and receiving a reorder does indicate use of some telco resources, but also may indicate a telco problem (e.g., insufficient resources, fault in switching, ... .) Charging for this would cause resentment far beyond the amount of revenue it would generate. An example of this is the public attitude towards charges for no answer (due to lack of supervision available to some of the LD providers.) Because of this I predict that the telco and cell providers will all charge only for services actually (sucessfully) rendered. henry schaffer n c state univ [Moderator's Note: There have been many 'customs rooted in history' where the telcos in general, and the Bell System in particular are concerned. The judge tossed all that out in one fell swoop. History and traditions be damned, you might say. In the whole industry nothing works the way it used to. I'd like to think you are correct; it is very important than you be correct ... but I think we are going to see more and more rip-offs of an unsophisticated public. I do not mean Digest readers; I mean John Q. Public. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 18:28:06 -0800 From: "Michael C. Berch" Subject: Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? I have read, from time to time, messages in TELECOM Digest which assert that it is supposed to be toll-free for a landline telephone subscriber with flat-rate service to call any cellular subscriber in whatever the regional cellular calling area is supposed to be. The only charge is airtime to the cellular subscriber. Indeed, I call a particular cellular subscriber often (a member of my staff) and have never been charged, either from my home or office. (I assume the office calls, being business service, are billed as Zone 1.) However, last month I called him from a coin phone (PacBell, not a COCOT) and was told the call was not free. I provided a calling card number and was connected. Afterward, I dialed the PacBell operator, explained my impression of the tariff, and asked for credit. She demurred, but I convinced a supervisor (or so I thought) and was toldI would get credit. Needless to say, there was no credit on my next bill, and the call was charged as a standard call to an Oakland NXX. Can anyone shed some light on this? Does it matter with whom the cellular customer has a contract (out here, GTE Mobilnet vs. Cellular One)? Are coin phones treated differently than normal residential or business service? Michael C. Berch mcb@presto.ig.com / uunet!presto.ig.com!mcb / ames!bionet!mcb [Moderator's Note: In Chicago, calls to cellular numbers are 'local' calls, meaning one untimed unit charge applies from residence phones. From IBT payphones you still pay 25 cents. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Danial Hamilton Subject: 900 Number Junk Mail Date: 9 Nov 90 14:11:51 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL About a month ago, out of curiosity and a certain amount of naivete about the purpose of these companies, my wife called a 900 number in response to a card that came in the mail. I don't remember what the offer was, but my wife ended up disconnecting the call when she realized the value of the offer would soon be exceeded by the cost of the call. Anyway, we are now being deluged with similar offerings in the mail. I mean we are getting these things about three or four times a week. Most of them are postcards that say we have "Definitely won one of the following prizes ... Please call 1 900 xxx xxxx to claim your prize." There is always a one inch square that contains about 500 words in three point type, disclaiming the need to make a call ("You can mail us this card, but of course that will take weeks and weeks, so why not call and get your prize NOW!") and listing the prize odds as confusingly as possible, but always 1:1000000 for the cash prize and 1:1 for the junk prize. The cards aren't really a problem, they come in the mail, I drop them in the trash. I just wondered if the one time response flagged us as suckers for this kind of junk or is everyone getting flodded with these offers? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 04:18:03 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers The other day, while watching the election returns on TV, President Bush came on the screen. He was asking for the public's support of the USO. To make a donation, the viewer was asked to call a 900 number (Three or so dollars a call, I think). I suppose that it is the Commander-In-Chief's job to generate support for the armed services, but something just doesn't seem right about the President of the United States advertising a 900 number. ------------------------------ Subject: CID Decoding Hardware Available Date: 11 Nov 90 05:02:50 EST (Sun) From: Bob Falcon Hi Pat and all, This is from NOV. 5, 1990 {PC WEEK} : [page 73] Caller ID+Plus To Tap ID Phone Service A small Texas developer plans to tap into the telephone business application market next month with a contact-management system that uses [the] phone companies' new "caller ID" services. Caller ID+Plus, from Rochelle Communications Inc., consists of a hardware device that connects a PC's serial port [to] with a telephone [line] to access the caller-ID service. That service, formerly known as Custom Local Area Signaling Service [CLASS] ,automatically identifies an incoming call's phone number. It is currently offered for local customers in five states and the District of Columbia. If the caller's number has been stored on Caller ID+Plus' DOS based database software, a file is automatically called up on-screen that gives a user access to three windows: one that includes the caller's name, company and address; one that contains a list of prior contacts with the caller; and one that contains general information and any notes taken about the caller, said Gilbert Amine, the company's president. A new file can be created to store the number of a first-time caller, he said. The $249 package is slated for formal introduction at Comdex/Fall next week. It will be available late this month or in early December directly from Rochelle and through outlets, said Amine. Rochelle Communications, of Austin Texas, can be reached at (512) 794-0088. -------------- I thought this would be of interest to the readers of the Digest here. $249 may not be 'cheap' but it gives you the hardware to *PLAY* with. And who knows , someone may even find the software that comes with it useful . Catchya later, Bob Falcon [ Co-Sysop : Turbo 386 Remote Access ] [ (1:273/906) @Fidonet ] [ (215) 745-9774 HST/DS ] internet: bfalcon@rescon.uucp or bfalcon@alba2l.uucp uucp: [backbonesite]!bpa!alba2l!rescon!bfalcon ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 1990 7:09:28 CST From: Werner Uhrig Reply-To: Werner Uhrig Subject: Special Section on Communications Technology (WSJ - Nov 9) Friday's {Wall Street Journal} contained a special TECHNOLOGY section. The contents are listed below. Reprints are available for $2 from: TECHNOLOGY Dow Jones & Company Inc. 200 Burnett Road Chicopee, Mass 01021 Table of Contents OPENERS 5 FACTS AND FIGURES Telecommunications trivia - from cellular phones to Yellow Pages to fax machines CUTTING THE CORD 6 WIRELESS WORLD A telephone in everyone's pocket: That's the daunting goal of the communications industry 16 NO VACANCIES The wireless revolution faces a major obstacle: There's no room on the frequency spectrum 18 ROCKET TO REALITY The hopes of the commercial-launch business plummet back to earth 21 PERPLEXING PRICING Cellular-phone users find that talk isn't cheap, and they're not sure why SIDE EFFECTS 23 NO PLACE TO HIDE The dark side of the telecommunications revolution: You're never out of touch. 27 PHONY POWER Technology leads to new absurdities in a Hollywood obsessed by the telephone 34 THE PARTY LINE When you speak on a cellular phone, the world may be listening in 39 MISTERY VOICE The person who answers your call to an 800 number probably knows more about you than you realize TOMORROW 42 FUTURE PHONES Someday your telephone won't ring, it will shout the name of the caller; it will also listen to you and obey your command 45 MOTOROLA ON THE MOVE The company is pushing a 77-satellite cellular system that would serve remote areas around the world 48 NINTENDO NATION The Japanese company's video-game players may be linked in a vast network 52 BABY BELLS GROW UP They await a key ruling before resuming their lobbying effort to win freedom from Judge Greene's control ESSAY 54 THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR You're in luck! Whereever you are, I can find you! ------------------------------ From: Jeff Wasilko Date: Mon, 12 Nov 1990 17:59:37 EST Subject: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? As I was catching up on my Digest-reading, a thought occured to me -- why are switch programs called 'generics'? Thanks, Jeff Wasilko RIT Communications ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #816 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01185; 14 Nov 90 4:42 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23862; 14 Nov 90 2:56 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa11940; 14 Nov 90 1:49 CST Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 1:00:50 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #817 BCC: Message-ID: <9011140100.ab22482@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 14 Nov 90 01:00:42 CST Volume 10 : Issue 817 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Real-Time Information Over Networks [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Need Help With Scheduling Software [Bill Crane] Re: Request Info Sources About ISDN [Eric Smith] Re: Centel PBX - Strange Codes? [Lars Poulsen] Re: George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers [Werner Uhrig] Re: AT Bus Hardware For ISDN [Ed Hopper] Re: *Long* Phone Calls - What Does Ma Think [Christopher Ambler] Call Waiting in Twin Cities Area [Kevin Bluml] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Phone Numbers Indexed by Street Address Date: 13 Nov 90 01:43:49 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14556@accuvax.nwu.edu>, wmg@howard.att.com (William M Gilroy) writes: > I was wondering how and where I would obtain a listing by street of > every telephone number on that street. I want something like this: With NYNEX's extremely overpriced CDROM based product, one can simply scan up and down a street. Great fun finding neighbors you never knew you had. I don't know what the retreival capabilities of the more reasonably priced and wider area CDROM listings are. There is a YELLOW PAGES CDROM that doesn't mention street capability, but come to think of it that would be GREAT! I often know exactly WHERE something is, but don't know if it is listed under JUNK or ELECTRONICS or USED-COMPUTERS, and a street scan would let me recognise the name or category. Ask the folks at 1-800-45-SPEED for info if CDROM business listings are of interest. ------------------------------ From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Real-Time Information Over Networks Date: 13 Nov 90 02:03:19 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14561@accuvax.nwu.edu>, ingr!b11!b11!goodloe@uunet.uu.net (Tony Goodloe) writes: > I'm looking for reference works on doing things like voice and > realtime data transmission over non-deterministic networks like > ethernet. Anyone have any pointers? I am very interested, too, but am looking for working hardware. The first such thing I would like to find would be a little butt-set like device capable of plugging into a thin-net BNC, an 10baseT jack, or an AUI connector on a tranceiver. The simple one should only be able to 'dial' its mate, presumably elsewhere in the building and plugged into a PBX extension. One could go off hook and dial from any wiring closet. The second device would be much more sophisticated, and would make use of enough compression to make using several such devices over a typical office's 56kb internet connection quite feasable. Imagine signature lines including a phone/voice-mail address that looked like 140.186.64.37! Anyone know of any? ------------------------------ From: chara!daysinns!bill@gatech.edu Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 16:13:38 EST Subject: Re: Need Help With Scheduling Software Organization: Days Inns of America In article <14596@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 811, Message 8 of 11 >Has anyone had any experience with a scheduler for ACD staff that is >both effective and efficient? The product we are currently struggling >with is called NAMES-10, it's an MS-DOS based package marketed by >AT&T. My sympathy is with you. We also use(d) NAMES. >It's extremely difficult to use and our supervisory staff spends an >excessive amount of time attempting to get it to meet our needs. We >have a situation here where the tail (software) is wagging the dog >(organization). Yes, that describes NAMES perfectly. >Any and all recommendations are welcome. Within reason, money is no >issue at this point in time. We need something that will help us >cover our volumes effectively, without dooming our supervisors to >endless attempts to 'fool' the system into meeting our needs. Let me tell you what not to use. We have also used EMPS (marketed by Cybernetics Systems International in Miami). EMPS has a much better user interface than NAMES, so its easier to use, but the schedules it produces aren't worth a whole lot by our estimation. We scrapped EMPS in favor of NAMES, and are now scrapping NAMES as well. FYI, I work at the reservation center for Days Inns. We have an AT&T System 85 in Atlanta supporting 200 reservations agents, and two other System 85's in Knoxville supporting 400 more agents. Our center in Knoxville is about to purchase MPS by TCS. I have not worked with TCS, but I saw a demonstration that was given by one of their salesmen. I have some reservations about the product, but the folks in Knoxville were willing to go along with it. Two of us here in the Atlanta office are currently writing our own package (This software is being developed with our own resources away from the company). We feel especially qualified, having viewed the shortcomings of two other packages. Our product should be ready within four months, at which time we intend to market it. Just out of curiosity, what kind of setup do you have (how many agent positions, what kind of hardware, anticipated call volume, type of operation)? (Our product is not ready to be marketed, I'm just curious). Also, could I dig up the name of a TCS representative and send it your way? Bill Crane ...!gatech!daysinns!bill bill%daysinns@gatech.edu Days Inns of America Inc., Atlanta GA ------------------------------ From: Eric Smith Subject: Re: Request Info Sources About ISDN Date: 13 Nov 90 03:19:44 GMT Organization: Frobozz Magic Widget Company In article <14545@accuvax.nwu.edu> arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs. emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) writes: > However, my experience has been that AT&T is *SO* large that finding > someone who knows what you want so that you can order it is next to > impossible. No kidding! I want to get information on AT&T 7500 series ISDN data sets and voice terminals, and possibly to buy some. I called AT&T Direct. They never heard of them. They said that the 7500 series are "probably obsolete." I called AT&T Business Telephone Systems & Facsimile. I called AT&T PBX & Data Systems. I called the local AT&T Business Marketing Sales Office. People at each of these offices denied the existence of any 7500 series devices, although I suspect that some of the people I spoke to were using them. I know the local AT&T Microelectronics office has them. Each AT&T employee gave me another number to try. Eventually I spoke to one woman a second time, and she tried harder to help me. She was able to come up with a ComCode for the 7507 (105-678-304), at a price of $1080, but she didn't have any information on it, and AT&T's national parts center (or whatever it is called) doesn't carry them. The Business Telephone Systems people and the Business Marketing Sales Office people didn't want to talk to me because I don't own an AT&T PBX, or have an account with AT&T. If I were an AT&T stock holder, I would be very upset that they are trying very hard NOT to sell their products. Anybody got a good suggestion for a *responsible* person at AT&T to whom I can write? Eric L. Smith Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those esmith@apple.com of my employer, friends, family, computer, or even me! :-) ------------------------------ From: Lars Poulsen Subject: Re: Centel PBX - Strange Codes? Organization: Rockwell CMC Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 08:11:40 GMT In article <14463@accuvax.nwu.edu> gil@limbic.ssdl.com (Gil Kloepfer Jr.) writes: >At the office, we have a Centel PBX system. ... >If I dial '87' on the phone, I get a second dial tone. This isn't the >same as dialling '9' for an outside line -- it also sounds like a >standard dial tone. However, it performs some funky dialing depending >on what I do. For example -- if I dial NNX-YYYY-111-1111 it seems to >dial the standard NNX-YYYY -- but I do need to dial the 7 ones after >it. This sounds like the access code to a software defined network. Is your facility a pampered engineering unit in an otherwise cheapskate large corporation ? The data communications company that I work for, is owned by Rockwell, which is a large aerospace company. We recently were merged into Rockwell's MCI based software defined network. Where we used to dial long distance the same way as local (just hit "9" for an apparently outside dial tone, which was really generated by the PBX so that the numbers dialled could be validated/translated/routed), this will now only work for 911, 411 and a specified lit of local prefixes. Everything else must use the "COMNET" access, which is very much like the above. The "111-1111" corresponds to our personal access code, which is like a calling card. Our facility gets a phone bill from corporate telecom each month for each access code. So instead of going straight into MCI's local POP (point of presence), we now send them to Rockwell's switch in Seal Beach (near Long Beach) where the access code is validated, and then they are splashed to MCI down there. The obvious bad part is that it's a pain in the butt to remember yet another code. The good part is that we will increase our volume discount from about 15% to about 20% by joining a larger pool. My guess, is that when you dial as above, the calls get charged to some other division of your corporate parent. 111-1111 should not have been enabled; it's probably owned by the telecom unit as a test code. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 3:55:59 CST From: Werner Uhrig Reply-To: Werner Uhrig Subject: Re: George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers [ Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 816, Message 6 of 9 ] > The other day, while watching the election returns on TV, President > Bush came on the screen. He was asking for the public's support of > the USO. To make a donation, the viewer was asked to call a 900 > number (Three or so dollars a call, I think). I suppose that it is > the Commander-In-Chief's job to generate support for the armed > services, but something just doesn't seem right about the President of > the United States advertising a 900 number. Did you watch his LIPS ??!!?? :-)) (It May have been dubbed in after he was told to say 1-800-...) I keep seeing a sleezy 1-900 ad in the CBS Nightwatch program since a couple of nights ago also, but I failed to take note to see if it is the same ad Bush was on earlier (maybe someone told him he was supporting sleeze ?!? This one is hyping something like: "support our troops, let them know that you support them, call 1-900-mumble ... Operation Mail Call (sounds like paper, doesn't it?!!) And just during the last few seconds: $2.50 a minute I wonder if a very slow secretary is sitting on a PC and an impact printer sending letters to some APO-address now that ATT's free fax program is discontinued (if I remember my rumours right...) Internet: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu werner@astro.as.utexas.edu werner@cs.utexas.edu BITnet: werner@UTXVM UUCP: ...!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!werner OR ...!utastro!werner ------------------------------ From: Ed Hopper Date: Sun, 11 Nov 90 19:42:21 CST Organization: Ed Hopper's BBS - Houston, Texas 713-997-7575 Subject: AT Bus Hardware For ISDN arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) writes: > In article <14447@accuvax.nwu.edu> holos0!wdh@gatech.edu (Weaver > Hickerson) writes: > >I'm interested in finding what types, if any, of AT bus hardware is > >available/in the works for ISDN, as well as simply learning more about > >the service. > At SuperComm '90 this past spring, AT&T had a huge "booth". One of > the things they showed was an ISDN card for the AT bus. So, I know it > exists. > However, my experience has been that AT&T is *SO* large that finding > someone who knows what you want so that you can order it is next to > impossible. Just to avoid the inevitable "AT&T is so dumb they could sell ice cubes in the desert" BS, here are a couple of leads as to where you can and cannot find that card. I believe the card is a product of AT&T Network Systems. These are the guys who sell 5ESS and that sort of stuff to the LECs. The idea being that the LECs would sell it to endusers via their hardware subsidiaries. They also sell "7500" series ISDN sets the same way. The card may also be available via the PBX sales folks, but I doubt it (for a large enough order they could probably get it via the "special bid" procedure inside AT&T). There has existed for some time a similar card intended for the System 75/85/Definity DCP protocols. Last I heard, that card was not compatible with BRI (2B+D). There is also a slight possiblity that AT&T Paradyne has an offering in this area. The card is NOT, I repeat, NOT an AT&T Computer Systems product. Computer Systems does not sell DCE, period. Ed Hopper AT&T Computer Systems ------------------------------ From: cambler@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Fubar's Carbonated Hormones) Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 9:48:59 GMT John Higdon recently informed us: >"Andrew M. Boardman" writes: >> - Since some uucp sites have so much traffic that they can >> spend days on one call anyway, has anyone ever heard of >> previous telco complaints in this area? >I have never heard of this happening. I am familiar with some larger >sites in the area, and while the modems may be off hook a major >portion of the time, it is never with one call. The longest UUCP >calls last on the order of 20 minutes. Besides, a business would be >measured and telco couldn't care less -- the meter would be running. Well, I run a Usenet carrying BBS. The incoming line is measured service residential, and the outgoing line is flat-rate residential. I told the telco-order-taking-being that the measured service number would be for a *HOBBY* BBS (read: not business), and would never be called out on. Fine. I even got a personalized number (54-FUBAR... waited a year for the previous "occupant" to "vacate" ... even offered him $50 to swap ... but I digress). The outgoing line is for UUCP connections at 2400MNP (4800). While I don't carry a full feed, the calls HAVE been known to go up to 30 hours a shot. At one point, I can recall a transfer that went for three days (had been down for a while, and news was queueing up as fast as I could get it). This was all GTE, and I have since moved to San Luis Obispo, where we have Pac*Bell. Longest call here has been on the order of eight hours. But I can forsee such long calls again. On another aspect, my feed has told me that if I buy a pair of telebits, he'll run SLIP for me ... so I *WOULD* be on the phone 99% of the time ... but remember, this is all a hobby. I take no money for my BBS ... so what do you think the phone*co would say? ++Christopher(); --- cambler@polyslo.calpoly.edu --- chris@erotica.fubarsys.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 19:34:49 CST From: Kevin Bluml Subject: Call Waiting in Twin Cities Area In article <14557@accuvax.nwu.edu> SABAHE@macalstr.edu (Arun Baheti ) writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 807, Message 8 of 12 >I'm having trouble disabling the call waiting feature in the Twin >Cities area. While the standard methods (*70 and 1170) are listed in >Does anyone else have experience with the Twin >Cities system? Pat's answer is correct I think. Each office (exchange) is updated seperately. Mine (612-722) does not yet have the disable capability. As noted in the US West phone book.. "You can deactivate Call Waiting ...by following the instructions below. HOWEVER (emphasis mine) it is not available in all offices. Call your service representative for information." Kevin V. Bluml - Cray Research Inc. 612-683-3036 USmail - 655E - Lone Oak Drive, Eagan, MN 55121 Internet - kevin@cray.com UUCP - uunet!cray!ferris!kevin ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #817 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa03429; 14 Nov 90 6:59 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa11831; 14 Nov 90 5:02 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa25378; 14 Nov 90 3:57 CST Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 2:51:10 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #818 BCC: Message-ID: <9011140251.ab05848@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 14 Nov 90 02:51:03 CST Volume 10 : Issue 818 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Bronx Area Code [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission [R.Kevin Oberman] Why Prodigy Will Make It, Regardless [Brendan Kehoe] Computer Accessible Phone Directory? [Nadim Massoud] Re: GTE Mobilnet and International Calls [Douglas Scott Reuben] T3 Equipment Info Needed [Ron Watkins] Talk to a Pioneer [Will Martin] The Real Meaning of ISO [Ole J. Jacobsen] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Servie [Randy Day] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13-NOV-1990 12:05:41.30 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Bronx Area Code Just a quick note about the new Bronx, NY area code... I think the new are code is 917, not 908. After reading Fred Goldstien's post, I was pretty dumb, and called 908-555-1212 to see if I would get NY DA. Well, I got New Jersey Bell DA that cost a nice 60 cents! :-) I know, I know, I should know that 908 is the new area code for Jersey...! BUT, after making this silly mistake, I tried 1-917-555-1212, and rather than my phone dropping into the "We're sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed..." message right away, I got the * AT&T * recording saying that " Your call can not be completed as dialed...Please check the number and dial your call again ... 718-2T". I was calling LOCALLY (from NY Metro), not LD. Why does it do this? Was 917 assigned somewhere "LD" before? (I don't think it was ... was it?). Strange that we get an AT&T intercept rather than a NY Tel recording. (Note: I tried this from a DMS-100, a 5XBar, and a 1(A?) ESS, all of which had the same results!) On an aside, for those in the NY area, let's say I want to call Jersey DA, and dial it via 10NYT-1-201-555-1212. This routes the call over NY Tel's network, even though it goes across state lines. (This was mentioned in previous issues of the Digest.) So how am I billed? 60 cents? Or perhaps 40 cents? (what NY Tel charges for local DA above your three call allowance from residence phones). Just curious ... Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet P.S. THANKS (again) to everyone who responded to my question about "Wink/ CPC" signalling. I tried to respond to many of you, but my mailer bounced most of the .COM mail ... It does that occasionally. I DO appreciate the time you took to answer! -DR ------------------------------ From: oberman@rogue.llnl.gov Subject: Re: NSFNet Intercontinental ISO Transmission Date: 13 Nov 90 16:10:02 GMT In article <14625@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mukesh@eng.sun.com (Mukesh Kacker) writes: >>The prototype OSI (this, I think is a typo - it should be ISO) > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>implementation is intended to provide wide area connectivity between >>OSI networks, including networks using the DECNet Phase V protocols. > This is not a typo. OSI stands for "Open Systems Interconnectioni" > which is broad suite of protocols for data transmission in computer > networks following a seven layer model. The other suite of protocols > normally used on NSFNET/Internet is called the Internet suite or > commonly as the TCP/IP suite. OK. I guess I'll have to pick some nits here. OSI is a reference model for networking, not a protocol suite. It is an ISO standard itself (ISO 7498), and any set of protocols which fit this reference model is OSI. It does not imply interoperability or any such useful thing, but moves in that direction. For example, there are five different Transport Protocols that are ISO standards and fit in the OSI model, cleverly called TP0, TP1, TP2, TP3, and TP4. Each serves different purposes and political requirements. And just wait until you get to deal with the 50 or so address formats! Various bodies, governmental and otherwise, are writing "profiles" to specify just what protocols they will use and how. In the US and UK there is a "Government OSI Profile" that is mandated for most government systems. Unfortunately, UK GOSIP and US GOSIP don't interoperate directly bacause UK requires a different set of protocols at the lower levels then the US. There are enough options in the OSI world that everyone can have a standard network that won't communicate with anyone else's. > ISO stands for "International Standards Organization" and is the > standards body under which the OSI suite of protocols is being > developed. Reasonably accurate except that the name of the body is "The Organization for International Standardization", at least in English. The name "ISO" was selected because it "looks right" in a lot of languages without being an actual acronym for the name of the body in any language, thus avoiding offending either anglophiles or francophiles. This is the sort of silliness international bodies have to go through to keep users happy and why there are five Transport Protocols, of which only three are likely to ever be implemented and probably only two really used much. Of course, some country will probably select TP1 and a major computer vendor select TP3 just to be a pain :-). But enough OSI bashing. Given market forces some rational set of protocols should emerge and they may even work. And OSI does allow a lot of neat functionallity beyond what the TCP/IP suite allows. Just don't expect it tomorrow! R. Kevin Oberman Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Internet: oberman@icdc.llnl.gov 415) 422-6955 Disclaimer: Don't take this too seriously. I just like to improve my typing and probably don't really know anything useful about anything. ------------------------------ From: Brendan Kehoe Subject: Why Prodigy Will Make It, Regardless Date: 13 Nov 90 17:24:48 GMT Reply-To: Brendan Kehoe Organization: University of Pennsylvania When all of this hit the fan, I called up a friend of mine who mentioned that he was using Prodigy quite a bit. Boy did HE have a lot to say. He said that very morning he'd mailed off his last check with a 3-page letter explaining why he was cancelling the service. From what he said, more than "9 or 15" people are disgruntled about all of this [censorship, email tariffs, etc]. He said he personally knew upwards of 200 people that chose to sign off the system at about the same time. But debating whether or not they should do all of this is, in my opinion, a pretty big waste of time. Why? Because of the market Prodigy's trying to hit. They're not aiming for the people that see the GEnie ads in Compute! magazine, or those that try out CompuServe with their intro kit; they're looking for the people that are walking through Sears' electronics department looking for a good deal on video tapes & happen to see this bright yellow box with people smiling all over it, right next to the computer they were given for Christmas. They don't want the people that have any kind of technical ability at all. They want those that still view computers as complete and utter mysteries never to be solved. And as long as they blitz the media & have it as widely distributed & available as it is now, they'll never have a shortage of customers. In about a month this will probably die down to a low murmur (though I'd LOVE to see this covered on the Today show, but I doubt it will happen), and they'll keep raking in the naive customers. Whatcha think? Brendan Kehoe | brendan@cs.widener.edu [ It's here, but it won't resolve yet ] For now: kehoe@scotty.dccs.upenn.edu | Also: brendan.kehoe@cyber.widener.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 02:52:14 EST From: NADIM MASSOUD Subject: Computer Accessible Phone Directory? Hi, I was wondering why there isn't (or is there?) a way to find a person's telephone number in the USA, by calling via modem. In France, any Minitel terminal owner (the terminal is free) can do this, with a variety of options in the search. Does anyone know if this is planned or already exists? I also would apreciate any comments about the future of Minitel in the USA. A Minitel is a videotext terminal. A regular minitel works at 1200/75 bau ds, and anyone with a phone can have on free in France. There are a few Minitel services in the USA ... emulations exist for various micros. [Moderato's Note: Actually, there are a few telco operated programs like this in the USA, but they seem to be few and far between. Illinois Bell has a service called 'Directory Express' which is like what you described above. It is tariffed for business customers, and at present has only a few. Primarily heavy users of directory assistance are interested, since the service costs quite a bit per hour of use monthly. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 13-NOV-1990 12:21:46.64 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: re: GTE Mobilnet and International Calls Hi- I too got a notice in my bill from GTE Mobilnet (San Francisco). They said that ALL international calls were blocked. Again being dumb I called up GTE (and after waiting for 20 minutes, as usual...), I asked if that included Canada. The sales rep. said "Yes, any call outside the lower 48 states..." (Does she really mean this? IE, we can't call Alaska and Hawaii direct? Doubtful...) I told her that I would like to call Canada at times, and that if I use my calling card, then I will get billed more because: (A)- There is an 80 cent surcharge on AT&T Card calls. (B)- If I dial 0+416-555-5555, I pay airtime, even if no one is there. IE, once I access AT&T's Calling Card system, charges begin, since AT&T's Calling Card system doesn't pass along answer superivision on a call-by-call basis. (I doubt that this is possible, or even desireable on their calling card system). So, if the number is busy, or there is no one there, I pay airtime anyhow, which I shouldn't have to. (IE, that's not what I bargained for in my Business Club or whatever they call it when I initially signed up for that type of account.) She seemed to know where I was coming from, and said "I see how this could be a problem for you ... I'll have a sales rep or manager call you back to see if we can arrange to let you make Canadian and 011 from YOUR mobile phone number." So I guess they can allow this from individual phones. I've noticed Metro One (the generally overpriced rip-off "A" outfit in New York, the one that has NO *611/611 number for Customer Service - you must dial the 800 and pay airtime - which as a recent poster here noted can be as high as 95 cents per minute! - but anyhow..) ... so Metro One in NYC has an option that you can toggle on or off at their switch to block "011" calls. (And other types of calls as well.). Could this be what GTE is doing? IE, it turned off "011" (and Canadian) access for everyone, and then turns in back on for those who complain on a case-by-case basis? If this is so, it sounds pretty silly to me... Yet they were VERY polite to me and almost apologetic about all this, and noted that since I roam a lot, it should not affect me too much, since they can only block such calls in their system, not in everyone else's. (IE, you can dial 011 and Canada from non-GTE system, it would seem ... It works fine from New York City's "B" System - NYNEX, and Connecticut's "B" system, SNET.) So hopefully I won't have to send GTE a letter about this! :-) And while John Higdon may be right that this is sort of a poor showing by GTE Mobilnet, he hasn't seen anything if you want to talk about *MY* favorite mobile company, Metro Mobile! :-) After sending them a *5* page letter asking WHY they charge airtime for Call-Forwarding, I got a call back on my answering system from a "Mr. Linderman". He said "Hello, Douglas? This is Mr. Linderman from Metro Mobile. I am returning your call ... errr ... letter ... errr calling about the letter you sent last week." That's it. No callback number, no extension. Metro Mobile has like 6 800 numbers, and a number for their main national heaquarters in New York City. I call ALL of them - no Mr. Linderman. THEN, as I am about to hang up, I am told "We do have a Chairman of the Board named that, but I *doubt* he would call *you*!" Err ... yeah, GEE! Thanks! I guess I should know that us peasants never get such calls! So compared to Metro Mobile of Connecticut, GTE Mobilnet/SF is a dream! (Not to mention Ameritech which sounds quite responsbile as well. Hmmm ... Since GTE also charges airtime for Call-forwarding (and waiting, and three-way, and voicemail - checking and receiving!) I wonder if I can 're-cycle' my Metro Mobile letter and send it along to GTE ... ?! The letter is sort of generic - just cross out the "Metro Mobile" and put "GTE" in there instead! :-) Should I *really* be spending more time complaining about cell service than I actually spend using the silly phone anyow??? :-( Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Ron Watkins Subject: T3 Equipment Info Needed Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 07:39:20 EDT I am in need of vender names, phone#numbers and description of their T3 products. I need a box to sit on either end of a fiberoptic cable and make ~24 T1 channels. Can anyone recommend such a beast? Thank you, Ron Watkins ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 8:11:41 CST From: Will Martin Subject: Talk to a Pioneer Reference the recent discussion of Telephone Pioneers: if you want to talk to a Telephone Pioneer, they staff the "Contact 2" consumer-assistance phone lines run by Channel 2 (KTVI) here in St. Louis. These lines are open for calls from 11 AM - 1 PM and 5-7 PM Central Time, at these numbers: 800-782-2222 314-282-2222 I don't know if there is any geographic limit on the 800 number; do these new 800 services still have geographic limits, or has the old concept of "WATS Bands" disappeared with the flood of competing 800-providers? I have no idea how busy these people are with the consumer-affairs service this is designed to provide -- if things are slow, they might be willing to chat about the Pioneers and telecom issues. If you have a consumer problem with a company in the St. Louis area, you can use these numbers to register a complaint or get information or maybe help with the difficulty. (The other two mjor network-affiliate TV stations in this region also have such lines, but they don't have the Pioneers, which is what makes this Telecom-related.) Regards, Will wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 8:28:22 PST From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: The Real Meaning of ISO Quick note: ISO does *not* stand for "International Standards Organization". It is *not* and acronym, but it does refer to the organzation whose official name is: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION. This "mistake" is perhaps the most common in the entire communications industry. Ole J Jacobsen, Editor & Publisher ConneXions--The Interoperability Report Interop, Inc., 480 San Antonio Road, Suite 100, Mountain View, CA 94040, USA Phone: (415) 941-3399 FAX: (415) 949-1779 Email: ole@csli.stanford.edu ------------------------------ From: microsoft!randyd@uunet.uu.net To: nucsrl!telecom-request@uunet.uu.net Date: Tue Nov 13 12:56:54 1990 Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA I use Prodigy three to five times a week. I use it almost exclusively for stock quotes and for doing stock trades. I think the service is pretty primative, especially the mail servcies. The potential is there, but their execution is stone-age. The number of useful things you can do are very limited (for instance, the news part is a complete waste. You have to scan the news in the order they provide. There is no capability to scan headlines and pick the stories you're interested in, much less search-by-keyword capabilities.) The only thing that keeps me using Prodigy is that the fee is fixed. This is what I really respond to. Getting stock quotes/doing stock trades is much cheaper via Prodigy than via something like Dow Jones News Retrival (which I also subscribe to). Randy Day (Opinions expressed here are mine and mine only. They are not a reflection of my employer's opinion.) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #818 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23942; 15 Nov 90 3:58 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa08730; 15 Nov 90 2:14 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15899; 15 Nov 90 1:08 CST Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 0:59:15 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #819 BCC: Message-ID: <9011150059.ab30252@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 15 Nov 90 00:58:26 CST Volume 10 : Issue 819 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? [Fred R. Goldstein] Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? [Jeffrey C. Martin] Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? [Dave Levenson] Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [Paul Gauthier] The Right Choice [Dan Breslau] More Splitsville [Jeff Sicherman] Re: N00 Exchanges, Anywhere? [Carl Moore] Northern Illinois CLASS Installation Schedule [Dan Veeneman] Need Info on ANSI X.12 [FEK101@psuvm.psu.edu] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? Date: 13 Nov 90 18:47:23 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article <14643@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jjwcmp@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Jeff Wasilko) writes... >As I was catching up on my Digest-reading, a thought occured to me -- >why are switch programs called 'generics'? You had to own/manage a Rolm 7000-series CBX to really appreciate what a generic is! (No, it doesn't mean "cheaper than name-brand software".) Back in the '70s and early '80s I used to run a bunch of them. Some early computer-controlled telephone switches had highly customized software. You told the manufacturer what your hardware configuration was, how many of this and how many of that feature, how you routed your calls, your numbering plan, etc., and they linked an executable software module Just For You. At Rolm, this process was called "Sysgen", and produced a "configuration". Changing this required a "deconfiguration" (print it out with any changes made) and "reconfiguration". So, for example, if you wanted to changed the wired-for configuration to include more tie lines, DID trunks, or a different mix of ordinary/fancy phones, you had to reconfigure. Even changing a hunt group pilot number nominally took a six-week-plus reconfiguration cycle, though _certain_ things could be patched if you knew whom to ask. (And a few things could be changed using undocumented commands.) Needless to say, Rolm had "releases", but not "generics". A generic is a set of software that could be field-customized to meet the user's requirement. It may or may not have all the optional feature licenses, but it's generally configurable, so customers don't need factory intervention in order to set the machine up and maintain it. Most PBXs today as well as central offices use generic software. If there's another explanation, I'd be curious to hear it too. Fred R. Goldstein Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 Do you think anyone else on the planet would share my opinions, let alone a multi-billion dollar corporation? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 17:07:51 EST From: Jeffrey C Martin Subject: Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article <14643@accuvax.nwu.edu>, Jeff Wasilko writes: > As I was catching up on my Digest-reading, a thought occured to me -- > why are switch programs called 'generics'? Generic: adj, "relating to ... a whole group or class" (from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). The word "generic" started out in the No. 1 ESS with its usual adjectival usage, as "generic program": i.e., a program usable in multiple central office environments, customized by changing "parameters" and "translations." Over time, people shortened the term to "generic" and started using the word as a noun. Here's a fairly early reference, from the September, 1964 issue of "The Bell System Technical Journal": No. 1 ESS: System Organization and Objectives By W. KEISTER, R. W. KETCHLEDGE and H. E. VAUGHAN (Manuscript received January 22, 1964) "This paper is an introduction to the No. 1 electronic switching system, a new general-purpose switching system developed for use in the Bell System. Organization and objectives of the system are outlined to provide a back- ground for the detailed technical papers which follow." 3.3 Programs "Approximately 90 programs totaling about 100,000 words are used to control the operations required for telephone service and to control the maintenance of the system. These programs, each an ordered set of instructions to provide a particular function, are stored in the program store. The call programs provide the solution to any problem a customer can present to the system, either directly or through some other switching system. An assembly of call programs must tailor-make a connection according to the demands of the customer. "Several approaches toward providing programs for a large number of different offices could be used. A generic program, which is the same for each office, with detailed differences listed in a parameter table, is the approach used in No. 1 ESS. The generic program includes all features for a large number of offices, covering sizes from 2,000 to 65,000 lines and means for handling growth and changing traffic conditions. This approach simplifies record keeping, because only the parameter tables which specify present size and operating conditions are unique to each office. Additional data which characterize a particular office are found in translation tables also in the program store. Typically, 18 different sets of translations are required in each office. These include directory number to equipment number translations for both lines and trunks, class of service, and special treatment for lines and trunks. "In the future, economics may dictate the need for several generic programs - for instance, one for small offices, one for large offices, one for four-wire offices, and perhaps some combinations of these..." This excerpt was from the lead article in a two-volume special issue on the No. 1 ESS switch. That special issue was a true classic. When I joined No. 1 ESS development in late '72, those two volumes were still the basic reference for bringing people on board with the switch, and I believe they remained so throughout its development life. They still make for pretty good reading. Jeff Martin ..tt!ihlpf!jeffm ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? Date: 15 Nov 90 04:59:26 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <14643@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jjwcmp@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Jeff Wasilko) writes: > As I was catching up on my Digest-reading, a thought occured to me -- > why are switch programs called 'generics'? The term comes from the early history of electronic switching. The switch required memory. Three kinds of memory. There is memory which contains the parameters which are customized for every installation. This has subscriber class-of-service, call-routing tables, and other such. It is called "Translation" because it is the tables that translate the dialed number into a physical route. Translation is where the custom features are enabled or disabled. It is writeable only from the administrator's console. The second kind of memory is called "status". (Earlier, it was called 'call-store'. It holds the details of the calls in progress right now: the digits you've just dialed, the state of your switchhook, and the map that indicates which trunks and links are idle, busy, or in maintenance mode. Status memory is where you look when you're debugging a central office crash. It is writeable by the operational software and may be readable by the administrator. The third kind of memory contains the operational software. It is identical in every installation -- the per-installation customization is in translation memory. Because it is always the same, it is called generic. It is ROM. Bell Labs writes it! (Or they did in the old days.) Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: Paul Gauthier Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 14:01:29 -0400 In article <14595@accuvax.nwu.edu> amb@ai.mit.edu (Andrew M. Boardman) writes: [Why not make one *long* call rather than lease a line?] > - What would one's local phone company think of this? Many people have pointed out that the phone company would come after you right quick with some concocted reason to make you lose any advantage this scheme might have. If this is the case, why not simply rig the software to break the connection once daily and then redial. Maybe even less frequently depending on what duration the phone company would find distressing. PG ------------------------------ From: Dan Breslau Subject: The Right Choice Date: 13 Nov 90 17:30:43 GMT Organization: Codex Corp., Canton MA The following was sent to me by a friend of mine; I asked her if it would be OK to post it here. Her reply: > YES!!!! Put it on the USENET! And by all means, add US Sprint's 800 > number! It's 1/800-877-4646. Disclaimer: Neither the original writer nor I have any relationship with these companies, other than as customers. ----------- To all of you who are *still* using AT&T, I offer the following little story: Saturday, after working all day and late into the night, (3 AM, to be precise) I return home, trying not to wake the housemates, and collect my mail from the dining room table. Scanning through the usual junk mail and bills, I pause to read yet another solicitation from AT&T, telling me how they've changed, they're not the same since I've left them, and that I should come back. Now my parents still have AT&T (due only to the remoteness of their home -- the other companies don't reach that far north), and I have asked them if they've noticed any difference. All I get is stoney silence, before the usual "you-never-come-and-visit-anymore" sigh. Hmmm. I look over the letter. Right on the top, it says, in BOLDFACE TYPE, they've LOWERED THEIR RATES! "Wow!", I say, "can it really be true?" Then, a little memory creeps in and whispers: "Wait. Don't be duped." I walk over and pick up a copy of the {Wall Street Journal} from the previous week. (Wednesday's, I think.) Front page: AT&T INCREASES ITS LONG DISTANCE RATES. Now, I may not be a rocket scientist, but I can read. These two things do not add up. Truth in advertising? There is an "800" number on the letter. It's 3 AM. I go to the phone. I dial. It's really not like me to harrass a poor telephone operator who is only doing her job. Really. I'm a live-and-let-live kind of person. But it's 3 AM, and AT&T has just sent yet another sleazey piece of propaganda. The operator doesn't know anything about the rate hike or the mailer. She gives me to her manager, who is so programmed that I don't think he could tie his shoe without an instruction manual. ME: I have just received this letter from AT&T saying that they've LOWERED THEIR RATES. AT&T: That's right. We've LOWERED OUR RATES on long distance service. Would you like to change from your present carrier? ME: Well, perhaps. Do you read the Wall Street Journal? AT&T: No, ma'm, I don't. ME: Do you think that *your* supervisor reads it? AT&T: I have no idea. ME: I thought not. Why do you think that last Wednesday's Wall Street Journal would have an article on the front page saying that you've *raised* your rates? Is AT&T going to sue the Journal for libel? Would you like me to be a witness? AT&T: I don't know anything about a lawsuit, ma'm. ME: Well, now think for a minute. I read that AT&T was *raising* their rates just nine days ago. But you are telling me that AT&T has LOWERED THEIR RATES today. Am I supposed to believe this advertisement, or the Wall Street Journal? The manager then proceeded to tell me this long-winded story about how the mailer was printed weeks ago, and the advertising department might not have known that the *other department* that is in charge of rates would be raising them, but anyway, it's not much of a rate hike, only a few cents per minute, really, and it doesn't add up to very much when you get right down to it. And only a couple of other people had called to complain tonight, so what was the big deal? I thought of all the things I wanted to say, cleared my throat, and asked to be removed from any future mailings. I also asked if they would mail out an apology to everyone for lying to them about LOWERING THEIR RATES. Know what I got for an answer? *click* I suggest US Sprint. Great service, very, very inexpensive. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 13:00:47 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: More Splitsville PacBell and GTE just announced a proposal to split the current 714 area code (Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino counties) in two, taking effect in January 1993. Boundaries are not firm (hearings will be held) but it is expected that Orange County (Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, and many other attractions) will stay in the 714 code and the remaining counties will receive a new one. The newspaper article doesn't mention it but a TV report specified 909 and the area code list in the archives shows that as unassigned. The reason given was the proliferation of phone numbers (as with the 213-310 split for Los Angeles). This was probably exacerbated by growth rates of Riverside and San Bernadino (due to housing costs elsewhere) and the proliferation of cellular phones and faxes and modems in Orange County, which is a relatively affluent area. Jeff Sicherman ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 9:38:22 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: N00 Exchanges, Anywhere? SKASS@drew.bitnet writes: >1-700-xxxx :"We're sorry. Your call did not go through. Will you please > try your call again?" (Probably waiting for 11 digits) With an attempt at 700-xxxx just above it which got a message saying you first had to dial a 1. It wasn't said in the message I am responding to, but 1 + 7-digit number should not work in an area using NXX (not NNX) prefixes. Try getting a Los Angeles area directory and looking up areas 213 and 818 for prefixes of the N00 form. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 15:52:24 CST From: Dan Veeneman Subject: Northern Illinois CLASS Installation Schedule I just got off the phone with an Illinois Bell supervisor, who told me that CLASS services for 708-639 (Cary, a far northwest suburb) will not be available until next year. She couldn't tell me exactly when it *would* be available, as she had not yet received the installation schedule for 1991. She stated that the list she is using now for 1990 was received by her office in January, and that they are "doing their best" to stay on schedule. Her example was Waukegan, which had a cutover date of October 15. BTW, ANAC (Automatic Number Announcement Circuit) for the 312 and 708 area follows the pattern 1-200-xxxx, where the xxxx changes approximately every other month (and yes, IBT is very tight-lipped about letting that number out). People I knew who had the number generally got it by looking over a service person's shoulder as he/she dialed it in to their buttset. Dan veeneman@mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Tuesday, 13 Nov 1990 17:18:55 EST From: FEK101@psuvm.psu.edu Subject: Need Info on ANSI X.12 I am looking for information on EDI, specifically on ANSI X.12. I would greatly appreciate any information anyone could send me on the ANSI X.12 standards, or a phone number I may call to get the info. Thank you. FEK101 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #819 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24916; 15 Nov 90 5:06 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa01015; 15 Nov 90 3:21 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab08730; 15 Nov 90 2:15 CST Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 1:45:05 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #820 BCC: Message-ID: <9011150145.ab21736@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 15 Nov 90 01:44:56 CST Volume 10 : Issue 820 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson New Area Code in Southern California [David G. Cantor] New Area Codes and International Dialing [Olivier Giffard] Cable and Wireless 800 Service [Douglas Scott Reuben] FAX Machine at Home: Options For Incoming Transmissions [Joel M. Snyder] Wrong Number Rights [Paolo Bellutta] Re: $4 Per Day Roaming Charge [Douglas Scott Reuben] Re: People Unclear on the Concept [Kenneth Herron] Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question [Rich Zellich] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply-To: dgc@math.ucla.edu Subject: New Area Code in Southern California Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 11:43:20 -0800 From: "David G. Cantor" A partial quote from today's {Los Angeles Times}: "Faced with a shortage of phone numbers because of rapid growth in Orange County and the Inland Empire, GTE and Pacific Bell officials have decided to carve out a new area code out of the existing 714 area, officials said Monday. Phone company officials said they will announce today who among the region's 4.7 million customers will be affected by the split when it takes effect in January, 1993. Unlike past area code changes in the state, this one has a twist: For the first time, the phone companies will offer three proposed boundaries for the new area code and allow time for public response to help decide how the boundaries will look, officials said. . ." The new area-code number was not given. Together with the existing area codes, 213, 310 (already planned for West Los Angeles), 619, 714, 805, and 818, this gives Southern California 7 area codes. Perhaps it would be much simpler for all concerned if the telcos were simply to switch to 8-digit numbers for all of Southern California. Of course, it could then be given a two-digit "country code" :-). David G. Cantor Department of Mathematics University of California Los Angeles, CA 90024-1555 Internet: dgc@math.ucla.edu ------------------------------ From: Olivier Giffard Subject: New Area Codes and International Dialling Date: 14 Nov 90 17:08:09 GMT Reply-To: Olivier Giffard Organization: Chorus systemes, Saint Quentin en Yvelines, France I've just tried to dial a number in the 917 area code (non existent yet) from France. I got a French intercept message just after dialing the 7 of 917 saying that this code was not in service. What means has a switch in France to know that. There must be some kind of table to look up in; but then how is it updated? In particular I'm wondering whether area code 917 will be available from France the very second it is put in service. I suppose there must be some kind of cooperation between ?BellCore? and foreign Telecom companies? Can anyone comment on this? ------------------------------ Date: 13-NOV-1990 12:51:26.16 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Cable and Wireless 800 Service Hello again! I've noticed that Cable and Wireless's programmable 800 service hasn't been working too well lately. I've tried reprogramming numerous times, and each time it accepts the new number, but even hours later won't switch it over. I've spoken to customer service and to some higher-ups, and they said there is a general problem in the system, and they were looking into it. Has anyone else heard about this or had trouble using it lately? Also, since I was calling anyhow, I mentioned that I too was experiencing a problem with an early return of answer supervision. (A previous poster a long time ago -- the one who (thankfully!) mentioned C&W's programmable 800 service noted this as well). They sounded genuinely concerned, and are looking into that as well. (This is a problem if one calls the 800 number from a carphone or to a land number which is forwarded to the 800 number -- billing will start for such calls BEFORE you hear a busy, a ring, or someone picks up. You SHOULD only get answer supervision if someone picks up ... right?) Overall, though, I have been very impressed with their service and ig*9]pricing, and their staff are exceptional -- I'd put them at almost the same level as AT&T's, in some cases even better! And the fact that they are open 24 hours a day, and you can talk to a technician at 3AM if you need to is an added bonus! Once they get these (hopefully) temporary problems fixed, Cable and Wireless 800/Programmable is truly a superior 800 service provider! Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Nov 1990 23:29:07 MST From: Subject: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions Telecom readers: I am facing a problem which I believe that several of you have already faced, and many of you will soon: the proliferation of things-that-use- the-phone. This week I invested in a FAX modem (Dove FAX if any of you care; works incredibly well for $280). But now I need some way to receive FAX transmissions at home. I think that there are four distinct options, which I will rank from most to least expensive. My query to you all is simple: what advice and information do you have to offer? Please send your feedback to me at jms@carat.arizona.edu, and I do promise to organize a summary for distribution through the Digest. Here are the options (are there any more?) 1. Get an extra telephone line. This is clearly the most desirable, but is also the most expensive. A $50 to $100 fee, plus a monthly fixed expense of $10 to $20 per month (note: all rates are given with a midpoint of the cost quoted me by US West or local merchants). 2. Get distinctive ringing. With this option, you have two telephone numbers, but only one line -- calls to number A ring differently from number B. The key here is that you can get a box (any suggestions which one?) for around $100 which will route calls to one jack or another (that is, voice phone or FAX machine) based on the ringing. Downsides: the $100 box; you can't use both devices at once; a monthly fee of $2 to $7 (plus possible installation fees of about $10 to $20, although U S West has a "special" until December 5). 3. No telco change, but get FAX/voice box. It seems that some FAX machines send a tone called CNG when they are calling. Note that this is different from modems, where the originating modem is silent until the answering modem says something. What this FAX feature means is that one could build a box to distinguish between the two. Several people already have (any suggestions as to which one?) for $60 to $100 which picks up the phone and listens for CNG tones, passing the call to the FAX if it detects CNG and to the phone/answering machine if not. Downsides: similar to (2), although there is no recurring charge. My big question on this option is, "how many FAX machines present CNG tones?" Is this something which all FAX machines built in the last two or three years have, or is this a feature which some FAX machines built even today don't have? Anyone know any more about this? 4. Null hypothesis. No changes. Downsides: you have to pre-arrange whenever you expect to receive a FAX. But, it's CHEAP! Again, please don't send replies to the list. Send them to me, and I will collect and summarize! If you just want a copy of the answers, look for it in TELECOM Digest late next week. Thanks in advance for any help and advice! Joel M Snyder, The Mosaic Group, 627 E Speedway, 85705 Phone: 602.626.8680 (University of Arizona, Dep't of MIS, Eller Graduate School of Management) BITNET: jms@arizmis Internet: jms@carat.arizona.edu SPAN: 47541::uamis::jms ------------------------------ From: Paolo Bellutta Organization: I.R.S.T. 38050 POVO (TRENTO) ITALY Subject: Wrong Number Rights Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 10:11:47 MET DST In TELECOM Digest V10 #804: Andy Jacobson writes: > My opinion is : F***em! If Neiman Markup, or Snears has dumb > customers, take their orders! Take their credit card numbers! Tell > them what the prices are. Tell them where the store is located! When > they wind up at the city dump, they have no one to blame but > themselves. You have every right to give 'em grief. The stores have > ___NO___ right to even suggest that you change your number. I hate flames, but this drove me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I found US people very kind, a different class I would say, compared to the rudeness of Italians (especially public services). And for the two (supposedly) wrong numbers problems my friends and I had in the US, I have plenty of good memories of your country. 1) The first time I came in the US I wanted to book the first night of stay. It was in Chicago, I had little money and decide to call a cheap hotel that was reported on a book I bought in Italy. I called four or five times before being fed up to be hung up without answer (a simple 'wrong number" would have reduced the number of calls). Now I suppose that the number PRINTED on the book was wrong. This caused little trouble since I had lots of numbers to call for lodging. 2) Two years ago, friends of mine visited the US for the first time. They visited the south west. They wanted to book a room in Page (border Utah - Arizona) and they called a motel. They called the number that was reported on the directory listing of the motel chain (I don't recall the name). They took the reservation, name, C.C. #. Being a bit late, they called again to be sure the reservation was held after 6pm. They arrived, after a 400 miles ride, at the motel in Page at 9pm. No reservation, no vacancy, nearest place: St.George. They arrived in bed at 4am next day. Do you still believe that if the number is PRINTED wrongly, you have the right to make fool of the people calling you? If so, think what would be your reaction to situation 2) in a country of which you barely understand the language? Paolo Bellutta (bellutta@irst.uucp) [Moderator's Note: I think if the number is incorrectly printed, and people like yourself for example, are victimized as a result it is indeed a shame. But the other victim is the person receiving an endless stream of wrong number calls. If anything, your own anger as a result of the inconvenience should be directed toward the business place which mis-printed it's literature. They are the ones who caused the confusion, are they not? But I do see your point, and Americans can be very rude at times to guests in our country. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 13-NOV-1990 13:06:03.51 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Re: $4 Per Day Roaming Charge Some Digest readers mentioned recently that the reason cellular roamers were assesed a "daily charge" was so that the roaming system could cover the costs of verifying with the roamer's home system if the roamer is a customer "in good standing", ie, has paid all the bills, etc. Although I agree that this is necessary and quite desireable, I would tend to argue (as have others) that $2 or 3 per day is WAY too high a charge for such a service. Not only is it too high, but roam rates in some systems (especially those set up along highways on the outskirts of large cities) tend to be SO much higher than a home customer pays that the profit from one 1 minute call alone will probably be enough to cover the costs of verification. (I'm not sure how true this is, but it seems that many smaller systems are set up, if possible, along the periphery of a larger system, generally along a stretch of highway, so that they can "get" customers who live in/use the larger system. IE, I'm driving south of Albany,NY, and once I leave the Albany system there is some system called "Cell One of Upstate New York" [upstate= south of Albany??!!?]) along I-87. This system stays in range for about 25 minutes, and had quite good coverage on the Thruway/I-87. They charge $3 per day to roam, and about 90 cents per minute! I doubt they charge their "home" customers (all 20 of them! :-) ) the same rate. So do they figure they will make a lot of extra $$$$ because they have one or two towers near the Thruway and will pick up Albany customers (or other cusotmers going along I-87) who don't realize that they are in a the "Upstate/Cell One" system?) Moreover, even though there may be costs associated with verification of a roamer, doesn't this occur BOTH ways? IE, although Metrophone/"A"/Phil. may charge ME $3 per day for roaming, Metro Mobile (my 'company') charges the same for Metrophone customers roaming in Metro Mobile's area. So why can't they just say "We'll verify your customers for free if you verify ours for free as well..."? Or do they both make too much money with this example of a 'nickel-and-dime surcharge' that they see no reason to end it? (I don't get charged if I use my Pac*Bell calling card in NY Tel territory for "verification", and NY Tel customer's don't get charged in California, besides local usage rates, or course. I'm sure NY Tel has to verify Pac*Bell cards [one would hope! :-) ], yet they don't charge anything extra. Why do Cell companies think they should be able to do this?) Finally, even if they should be allowed to charge for this, why is it that some companies, like Cell One/Boston, don't charge a daily roam charge? (They don't charge for Metro Mobile or Metro One (NY) customers; they may have other agreements with other carriers.) If they can work out a system where there is NO roam charge as in the case of Boston, what is to prevent this on a uniform, national basis?? Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet ------------------------------ From: Kenneth Herron Subject: Re: People Unclear on the Concept Date: 13 Nov 90 16:30:20 GMT Reply-To: Kenneth Herron Organization: U of Kentucky, Mathematical Sciences >I dropped by the local Burger King the other day ... Outside is a >brand spanking new COCOT. Inside is a sign that states, "We do not >give change for the phone." >Now, given that the BK is in it for the cash, why discourage usage? Fast-food cash registers are more secure than the usual models; it may be that the front-line workers can't open the cash drawer without ringing up a sale. Back when I worked at Arby's, we had the same problem when a coin-op car wash opened next door. Kenneth Herron ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 13:10:40 CST From: Rich Zellich Subject: Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question I recently moved to a newly-built home, into which I had had two three-pair cables installed. One cable is for possible future use; currently I have two lines used on the other cable. On hooking up various phones I, too, found that one single-line phone would take *both* lines off-hook. This is a "novelty" phone - a slightly-undersized payphone lookalike, so it is not wired for any DC-operated lights, keyset use, or anything like that. It is also a fairly good phone, which I have been using as my main telephone for several years now. I haven't yet tried to disassemble it to see where the other two wires are going. What I would like to find is one of the little three-inch-long cords used to connect a phone to a wall jack, with only two wires wired for use instead of all four -- that should fix the problem without having to modify the phone. Of course, finding such a cord is turning out to be a problem ... I can't even find a four-wire one anywhere so far (without cannibalizing one from another phone, anyway). On the reverse side of the coin, I have a recently-acquired 6-outlet surge protector that also has a pair of phone jacks built in. *It* only has two wires connected, so I can't use it to protect both lines into one of my two-line phones (an old GTE telephone-terminal with built-in 300 baud modem). The phone/terminal has two single-line input jacks, and I have to split the two-line service at the wall jack (and feed only one of the lines throught the protector to the terminal), rather than at the output side of the surge protector. Guess the surge protector is worth about what I paid for it (under $10 from EggHead Discount Software on a super-sale deal). ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #820 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16234; 16 Nov 90 2:48 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa30581; 16 Nov 90 0:43 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa05973; 15 Nov 90 23:39 CST Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 23:00:13 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #821 BCC: Message-ID: <9011152300.ab18012@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 15 Nov 90 23:00:00 CST Volume 10 : Issue 821 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson AT&T MAIL ACCESS Program Description [Nelson Bolyard] The Horrors of GTE (Was: Logistics of Modem Hunt Group) [Andy Jacobson] Comp.dcom.fax - Interim Mass Acknowledgement [Evan Leibovitch] Noise Reduction [Jeff Sicherman] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nelson Bolyard Subject: AT&T MAIL ACCESS Program Description Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 01:31:30 GMT Executive (:-) Summary: If you have and use AT&T Mail's "ACCESS" program for the PC or MacIntosh, please write a description of how it works, how you use it, how user-friendly it is, etc, and mail it to me or post it to the TELECOM Digest (comp.dcom.telecom). In article <14630@accuvax.nwu.edu> Mike Van Pelt wrote about the GEnie Star*Services, and provided a wonderful description of GEnies' program called Aladdin. Aladdin essentially allows you to forget that GEnie is an on-line service. Instead of perceiving yourself as logged into a computer far away, you interact with your own personal computer, and it deals with GEnie off-line (that is to say, behind your back, while you're not looking). Like Mike, I want to use e-mail to converse with a distant relative. Since I am already on the Internet, I want an e-mail service for my relative with a mail gateway to the Internet. GEnie's Star*Services e-mail has no such gateway (or so I have been told by one of GEnie's e-mail operations personnel, not a customer sales rep). So I chose AT&T Mail. $30/year, a few cents per message (I forget the exact amount), no connect time charges, 800-number so no toll charges. And they have a mail gateway to the Internet. AT&T has a pair of programs that they want you to buy to use AT&T Mail. Both are named "ACCESS", one is for the PC, one for the MacIntosh. Each reportedly costs about $150 (just went up, used to be about $100). I have been trying, unsuccessfully, for about six weeks to get some information on those programs. I have called 800-MAIL-672 about six times, and written numerous e-mail letters to people at attmail.com. So far, I've received three brochures, one of which has two sentences about ACCESS, one has one paragraph, and one (actually a sheet describing system requirements) that tells me the PC version is actually five TSRs, which take up a total of something like 350 K bytes (I think). One e-mail letter I got from someone at attmail.com told me that ACCESS provides only "glass teletype" terminal emulation, no VT-100 or other terminal emulation. So I know what it DOESN'T do, but what DOES it do? It has fewer ADVERTISED features than any other terminal emulation programs I can think of (like Procomm Plus) that cost less than one third of the price of ACCESS. Now I suppose, if its main purpose is to be like Aladdin and hide the interaction with the central mail hub from the end-user, that it's OK for it to not have good terminal emulation. But why should I have to make a wild-a**ed guess about what their $150 program does before buying it? Evidently, AT&T has NO brochures to SELL their expensive program! The only way to get the owners manual is to buy the product, and there's no satisfaction-or-your-money-back no-questions-asked 30-day guarantee. No demo version is available, and the local AT&T sales reps don't know about ACCESS and can't demo it. Every time I think about this, I remember something I read in an old TELECOM Digest article about "couldn't sell drugs at a Grateful Dead concert". So, please, if you use this ACCESS program and are willing to play AT&T sales rep, please tell me all about it. Or, if you're in the San Francisco Bay area, and are willing to do a demo, please call me. Nelson Bolyard nelson@sgi.COM {decwrl,sun}!sgi!whizzer!nelson 415-335-1919 Disclaimer: Views expressed herein do not represent the views of my employer. [Moderator's Note: You do *not* need those programs to use ATT Mail! I use one of my terminals and the printer attached to it and get along just fine. Some time ago, they tried to tell me I needed a PC to use the mail. Whether or not the program you describe, at the price offered is worthwhile or not is a judgment you need to make. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 03:38 PST From: Andy Jacobson Subject: The Horrors of GTE (Was: Logistics of a Modem Hunt Group) In TELECOM Digest V10 #810: John Higdon writes: >NONE of the responses obtained from GTE personel bear any resemblance >to reality. From personal experience it is possible to say that if you >want to determine anything about GTE's system, you will have to use a >back door approach. It is necessary to befriend a sympathetic employee Back in March I moved out of the locale my switch served. I wanted to keep my same number, and I of course with great dread called the GTE customer service office to inquire how. I was told I could either pay thousands of dollars one time plus hundreds a month for foreign exchange service, or I could get the handy feature "Remote Call Forwarding" (RCF) where my number would be permanently forwarded to a number of my choosing from the CO in my old neighborhood, but with no dial tone provided. On the surface this would seem like the solution. But as you might guess, it costs $80 one time, plus $25 a month, plus $0.05 per forwarded call (measured service). I _had_ basic non-measured POTS at $10 a month, and I was moving to the free call zone of the original switch. How could it be that it was so much more expensive to give me less service? All they were doing was not giving me a subscriber loop! As well, the residential CSO wouldn't handle it. I would have to completely switch my service to business class. I wasn't running a business, I just wanted to keep the same phone number on a three mile move. It was explained to me that only a business would want to keep their same number, and then only till the next directory came out. (I love having GTE tell me what I do not apparently have a right to want.) I was furious. I remember seeing in a phone book RCF was available for cheap. It was. It's called Pac*Bell. I called them up and was told that I could have it for $5 one time charge, and $2 a month, residential service, no problems, no questions asked. My number was unfortunately not in Pac *Bell-land though. How could GTE ream me like that for the same exact thing that Pac*Bell could do for cheap? I called the Public Utilities Commission. I explained the situation to the representative who apologized for being ignorant of what RCF was. The next day the fully briefed PUC representative told me that GTE never bothered to file a tariff for residential RCF, just business class, whereas Pac*Bell did both. So what could I do about it? Nothing. I can't make GTE file a tariff if they don't want to. I could file a formal complaint, but because it was not in reference to a filed tariff, it would most likely disappear in the cracks. Luckily, I had a friend in my old neighborhood who has now an extra outgoing line with free local calling. (The phone has no ringer and I use regular Call Forwarding). Maybe a month later, I'm on the phone with an AT&T rep about the cost effectiveness of buying a PBX. He tells me that the residential organization I represent could really save big on aggregate buying of LD service from AT&T (SDN I suppose). But what about local trunks? Well, if we only were in Pac*Bell land we could have them for $4 and some change a month. But in GTE land, it's $19.80 for the same damn thing. He confides in me that he has lost PBX sales in GTE land because of this factor. Who to? GTE of course! GTE's "CentraNet" (Centrex).that is, which is aimed at the PBX market, and priced per line lower than a simple non-DID outgoing trunk! Yes, GTE's got you coming and going. No doubt they're using their predatory power as common carrier to tariff PBX's out of cost effectiveness. (I should note too that it's not only AT&T's PBX, but it's also AT&T's 1ESS, and Centrex that GTE is peddling). GTE's edge however may be short-lived, as according to their CentraNet sales rep, GTE has no plans to upgrade their 1E switches, and thus no plans to offer ISDN. (I repeat from an earlier posting GTE = Generic Telephone Equivalent). All the above being bad enough, GTE's POTS is 10-20% more expensive than Pac*Bell, and GTE still uses it's status as local carrier to cross peddle it's trashy equipment. Well after 1984 they were pushing Sprint LD service down people's throats at their public offices. Still to this day GTE is doing it. (They slammed me to Sprint in July all by themselves. Sprint said GTE issued the order.) I personally think that the omission of GTE is one huge glaring error (among soooo many) of the MFJ. GTE gets away with so much that the BOC's can't, and wouldn't. A. Jacobson ------------------------------ From: Evan Leibovitch Subject: Comp.dcom.fax - Interim Mass Acknowledgement Date: Wed, 14 Nov 1990 00:32:07 -0500 The following 163 people have submitted valid votes either for or against the proposed group. Since no individual acknowledgements will be sent, this will be the only receipt for your vote. If you have submitted a vote but your name is not here, please re-submit it to: fax@telly.on.ca -or- uunet!attcan!telly!fax Thank you for participating. VOTES RECEIVED TO DATE (NOV 14): AMillar@cup.portal.com Allan D. Griefer Andy Jacobson Andy Malis Andy Rabagliati Andy.Linton@comp.vuw.ac.nz Atro Tossavainen Barton F.Bruce Bengt Larsson Bill Campbell Bob Clair Bob Sloane Bob Yasi Brain in Neutral Bryon Johnson Chip Hill Craig_Everhart@transarc.com DeadHead@cup.portal.com Dion Johnson Dmitry V. Volodin Douglas F. DeJulio Ed Basart Ed Braaten Ed Vielmetti Frank D. Cringle Fred E.J. Linton Geoff Twibell HAVANAMOON@cup.portal.com Harald Boegeholz Hardy Pottinger Ittai Hershman JMS@mis.Arizona.EDU (Programmin' up a storm.) James H. Thompson - HNL Jeff Beadles Jim Knowles John Mann Ken Dykes Kevin Purcell Larry Masinter Lars H}kedal Mark Alexander Davis Neon.Stanford.EDU!kaufman Olaf Brandt Peter Quirk Petri Helenius ROEBER@cithe2.cithep.caltech.edu (Frederick G. M. Roeber) Robin Schaufler Roger Fajman Samuel Lam Scott Kay Stefan Karlsson Steve Elias Steve Hayman Toby Nixon U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au Wingnut@cup.portal.com af747@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Stacie Simerson) asuvax.eas.asu.edu!stjhmc!stjhmc.fidonet.org!ddodell asv@hsi.hsi.com (Stan Voket) atlas.dev.abccomp.oz.au!peter atrc!mofh!alvant@alberta.uucp (alvan tom) att!akgua!akgue!wrg balden@wimsey.bc.ca (Bruce Balden) bandw!craig@uunet.uucp (Craig Goss) bgoldberg@cdp.uucp blair@obdient.chi.il.us (Doug Blair) bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) christopher williams clements@BBN.COM coplex!johnv@uunet.uucp (John Vaccaro) cvax.cs.uwm.edu!levine cxr5@po.CWRU.Edu (Cyndee Richards) dciem!jsitcom!brett dez@asr1.att.com (Daniel E Zuccarelli) dias@muztag.eecs.ucdavis.edu (Gihan Dias) dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com (Eric Dittman) djcl@contact.uucp (woody) dlr@daver.bungi.com (Dave Rand) dplatt@coherent.com dsrekrg@prism.gatech.edu (Rob Gibson) elsie.nci.nih.gov!ado esf00@uts.amdahl.com (Elliott S Frank) fjs@cobalt.cco.caltech.edu (Fernando J. Selman) fmsystm!macy@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu (Macy Hallock) foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu fr@icdi10.COMPU.COM (Fred Rump from home) friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US (Stephen Friedl) geertj@ica.philips.nl (Geert Jan de Groot) gsm@PWS.BULL.COM halcyon!ralphs@sumax.seattleu.edu hankm@gammalink.com (H. S. Magnuski) heiby@chg.mcd.mot.com (Ron Heiby) heinau@methan.chemie.fu-berlin.de (Vera Heinau) icsg8003@cs.montana.edu igloo.Scum.com!wmf@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Bill Fischer) inesc!jmc%eagle@relay.EU.net (Miguel Casteleiro) jimmy@denwa.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) jiro@trumpet.CIT.CORNELL.EDU (Jiro Nakamura NeXT Developer) jjwcmp@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Jeff Wasilko) johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) jon_sree@world.std.com (Jon Sreekanth) jonathan@comp.vuw.ac.nz klaus u schallhorn km@mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg) laird@slum.mv.com (Laird Heal) lark@tivoli.com (Lar Kaufman) mac900@yaouk.anu.edu.au ("Mark Corbould") mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) mehl@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Mark M Mehl) meilchen@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Melchior A. Meilchen) merce@iguana.uucp (Jim Mercer) merk!cogsys!cam@uunet.UU.NET midway.uchicago.edu!pbhx mingo@cup.portal.com mje99!mje@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Mark J Elkins) mrm@Sceard.COM (M.R.Murphy) ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) nmrdc1.nmrdc.nnmc.navy.mil!rdc30med ocf.Berkeley.EDU!appel olsa99!tabbs!aris@ddsw1.mcs.com (Aris Stathakis) paolo@sixcom.it (Paolo Crini) parsley@PWS.BULL.COM peirce@gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Leonard Peirce) penguin@gnh-igloo.cts.com (Mark Steiger) poirot@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Daniel Poirot) polari!dwennick@sumax.seattleu.edu (Don Wennick) preuss@sutro.SFSU.EDU (Peter Preuss) rcsmith@anagld.analytics.com (Ray Smith) rhb3@cbnewsi.att.com rick@PAVLOV.SSCTR.BCM.TMC.EDU (Richard H. Miller) rk@theep.uucp (Robert A. Kukura) root%heurikon.UUCP@cs.wisc.edu (0000-Admin(0000)) rtc%westford.ccur.com@RELAY.CS.NET russ@wpg.com (Russell Lawrence) sichermn@beach.csulb.edu (Jeff Sicherman) sjl@world.std.com (Scott J Loftesness) sl@wimsey.bc.ca (Stuart Lynne) troby@diana.cair.du.edu (Thorn Roby) uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu!syoon unix.cis.pitt.edu!tjw uunet!aspect!kevinc uunet!blackbox!cbradley (Chris Bradley) uunet!bywater!scifi!njs (Nicholas J. Simicich) uunet!cdl!pajari () uunet!consult!bob uunet!domain.com!mdv (Mike Verstegen) uunet!gammalink.com!mikes (mike spann) uunet!kksys.KKSYS.MN.ORG!gk (Greg Kemnitz) uunet!motcid!marble!ibbotson (Craig Ibbotson) uunet!motcid!void!marocchi (Jim Marocchi) uunet!paralogics!compsm!rlg uunet!pnet51.orb.mn.org!elec (Doug Renner) uunet!wubios.wustl.edu!phil (J. Philip Miller) uunet!yale!bronson!tan (Tan Bronson) uunet.UU.NET!decwrl!teda!attain!jxh vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) virtech!cpcahil@uunet.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) vu0425@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu well!wjwhite@apple.com (Bill White) wex@PWS.BULL.COM wmf@chinet.chi.il.us (Bill Fischer) yost@DPW.COM zawada@ecn.purdue.edu (Paul J Zawada) Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / (416) 452-0504 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 13:01:22 PST From: JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet Subject: Noise Reduction Due to roommate pressure over phone hogging with modem use, I am putting another line in. However, I will be forced to accept the existing four-wire, non-twisted-pair that is currently installed, using the second line of the pair. Based upon previous discussions in the digest, I expect noise problems with the modem. What can I do to avoid or minimize this. Hardware solutions may include a new modem but nothing *too* expensive please. Jeff Sicherman jajz801@calstate.bitnet ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #821 ******************************   Received: from [129.105.5.103] by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa22347; 16 Nov 90 9:39 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa11658; 16 Nov 90 7:48 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa15218; 16 Nov 90 6:44 CST Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 6:32:04 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #822 BCC: Message-ID: <9011160632.ab04965@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 16 Nov 90 06:31:28 CST Volume 10 : Issue 822 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? [William F. Thompson] Re: Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? [Bob Sherman] Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination [Steve Forrette] Re: Cellular Daily Roaming Surcharge $4.00 per Day? [John Macdonald] Re: AT Bus Hardware For ISDN [Rick Rodman] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System [Carl Moore] Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [John Higdon] Re: The Real Meaning of ISO [Henry Troup] Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind [Tom Neff] Re: Dealing with Telemarketers [Tom Neff] Re: Talk to a Pioneer [Richard Gehrig] Re: Modifying the NANP? [Carl Moore] Gratuitous Bashing vrs. Legitimate Complaints [Jack Dominey] Calling USA From Mexico [George S. Thurman] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 01:28:29 EST From: William F Thompson Subject: Re: Why Are They Called 'Generics'? Organization: Tex and Edna Boil's Prairie Warehouse and Curio Emporium From article <14643@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by Jeff Wasilko : > As I was catching up on my Digest-reading, a thought occured to me -- > why are switch programs called 'generics'? I always wondered that too (and I even develop software for them). But wonder no more - they're now called Software Releases. Bill Thompson AT&T Network Systems att!ihlpf!foz ------------------------------ From: Bob Sherman Subject: Re: Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 09:59:32 GMT In <14638@accuvax.nwu.edu> mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) writes: >I have read, from time to time, messages in TELECOM Digest which >assert that it is supposed to be toll-free for a landline telephone >subscriber with flat-rate service to call any cellular subscriber in >whatever the regional cellular calling area is supposed to be. The >only charge is airtime to the cellular subscriber. A recent item in one of the communications trade publications stated that a major New England cellular provider was about to begin reversing that trend by charging the landline caller for calls made TO cell phones. In other words, if the cell phone places the call, they pay the air charges, but if a landline places the call to the cell phone, they will be charged the air charges.. If you remember back a ways, it was always that way with the old mobile phone service on vhf/uhf channels. You told the operator you wanted to place a "mobile call" and they handed you off to the mobile operator, and you gave them the YJ, JP, JL or whatever number you were calling. The costs appeared on YOUR bill. Same if you make a call through the "marine operator". Seems to me that this could cut down on some of the junk calls that are being placed via random dialing through the cell phone prefixes (in this area anyways). It will be interesting to see if the this becomes a trend, and spreads to other parts of the country. bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu | bsherman@pro-exchange | MCI MAIL:BSHERMAN ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 13:35:51 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: CPC / "Wink" Call Termination Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article <14617@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >For the question on answering machines, the machine >detects the end of the conversation by detecting dial tone. When the >calling party clears, the connection will be broken. The local office >will time out and regard the off hook from the answering machine as an >origination and provide dial tone. This is not true for all machines. My Panasonic DOES deal with CPC. It's really nice not having to listen to dialtone at the end of each message. Also, it can even detect a hangup during the play of the outgoing message. It stops play immediately, and resets for the next call. I've the KX-T1427 model, and it's great! (Yea, I know, if I was REALLY hi-tech, I'd have a voice board, but oh well.) ------------------------------ From: John Macdonald Subject: Re: Cellular Daily Roaming Surcharge $4.00 per Day? Reply-To: John Macdonald Organization: Elegant Communications Inc. Date: Wed, 7 Nov 1990 09:47:45 -0500 |[Moderator's Note: That's why I fully support the concept of learning |to program your own phone, and getting accounts on many systems. PAT] Perhaps eveyone should throw out their AT&T cards and get a separate one for each local telco they deal with too. The problem here is that cellular service sort of falls in the cracks of the great breakup - they are local service providers except that their service is available over a wide range of locations. John Macdonald jmm@eci386 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 22:50:43 -0500 From: Rick Rodman Subject: Re: AT Bus Hardware For ISDN AT&T's card requires CPU attention from the AT-bus computer (read: pokey). Contact DGM&S in New Jersey for some nice hardware using 80188 and TI 320C30 DSP! Also there is a very expensive board from Mitel. Rick Rodman uunet!virtech!rickr "Yesterday's Tomorrow is Here Today" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 17:45:11 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Saudi Arabia's Telepone System Mark Hahn writes: >To call my old home phone, dial 011-966-387-42688. 011-966 is, of >course, the international access for Saudi. 3 is, I think the escape >for Aramco. 87 is, I think, the city code for Dhahran. I don't have a map of Saudi Arabia in front of me as I write this. Could it be the other way around? (I.e., could you have 3 as city code for Dhahran and 87 as an "exchange" reserved for Aramco there?) Here is what I have for Saudi Arabia city codes: 966 Saudi Arabia 1 Riyadh 2 or 21 Jeddah 2 or 22 Mecca 41 Medina ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? Date: 14 Nov 90 10:48:44 PST (Wed) From: John Higdon cambler@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Fubar's Carbonated Hormones) writes: > While I don't carry a full feed, the > calls HAVE been known to go up to 30 hours a shot. At one point, I > can recall a transfer that went for three days (had been down for a > while, and news was queueing up as fast as I could get it). This was > all GTE, and I have since moved to San Luis Obispo, where we have > Pac*Bell. Longest call here has been on the order of eight hours. But > I can forsee such long calls again. My news/mail system DOES carry a full USENET feed, and exchanges news with no less than eight other sites. It has five modems, three of which are Telebits. Back before Telebits, eight hours was not uncommon for a news delivery. Now, the longest connection I have seen is about three hours, but that happens only when there has been constipation in the feed and backed-up news is flushing out. IMHO, any site that does any amount of news should be using high speed modems. In any event, telco has never given any flack about long local calls (on residence service). > On another aspect, my feed has told me that if I buy a pair of > telebits, he'll run SLIP for me ... so I *WOULD* be on the phone 99% > of the time ... but remember, this is all a hobby. I take no money > for my BBS ... so what do you think the phone*co would say? My experience is that telco will not give you any trouble. It might be questionable if you are trying to create a "leased line" out of an unmeasured dialup. But just "long" calls are not a problem. As far as defining what type of service you qualify for, the tarrifs are quite clear. For non-business related hobby use, you get residence. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: 14 Nov 90 14:03:00 EST From: Henry Troup Subject: Re: The Real Meaning of ISO Ole J. Jacobsen writes: > Quick note: ISO does *not* stand for "International Standards > Organization". It is *not* an acronym, but it does refer to the > organzation whose official name is: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR > STANDARDIZATION. This "mistake" is perhaps the most common in the > entire communications industry. Isn't the real "real name" in French? Same as CCITT is "Comitte Consulatif Internationale pour Telefon et Telegraf" (errors in French spelling and lack of accents notwithstanding). I think that the CCITT at least dates from the period where French was the standard language of diplomacy, and therefore international organizations used it as the official language of choice. ------------------------------ From: Tom Neff Subject: Re: Spring Ahead, Fall Behind Date: 14 Nov 90 00:23:15 GMT Reply-To: Tom Neff When I see all these automated clock setting tools being posted far and wide on CompuServe, Usenet etc., I can't help wondering: is the NBS up to the job of answering all the new calls generated from thousands of American basements and desktops? ------------------------------ From: Tom Neff Subject: Re: Dealing with Telemarketers Date: 14 Nov 90 00:48:18 GMT Reply-To: Tom Neff I discovered a really fun way to deal with telemarketers! *RING* *RING* ME: Hello? TM: Hello, is this Thomas Neff? ME: Yes, can I help you? TM: Well Mr Neff, I'm calling from XXXXX and I was wondering if you had a few moments to talk about blah blah blah blah....... (I wait for the whole sentence to finish -- don't cut him off) ME: What number are you calling from? TM: Um... urgh... errr... um.... Well have you heard about our blah blah blah....? ME: I asked you what number you're calling from. TM: Well... Perhaps this isn't a good time to call you... ME: No, it's a fine time to call. What number are you calling from? TM: <...pause...> *CLICK* I've done this three times recently, with only minor variations. It is more fun than ice cream! The poor TM slaves have to go by their carefully prepared scripts, but nothing has prepared them for my perfectly reasonable non-answerable question! I can't be accused of abusive behavior, yet they MUST hang up! Pass it on ... it would be terrific if a few thousand exchanges like the above took place this month :-) ------------------------------ From: rgehrig@bcm1a05.attmail.com Date: Wed Nov 14 15:48:40 CST 1990 Subject: Re: Talk to a Pioneer Regarding TELECOM Digest V10 #818 11-13, >Reference the recent discussion of Telephone Pioneers: if you want to >talk to a Telephone Pioneer, they staff the "Contact 2" >consumer-assistance phone lines run by Channel 2 (KTVI) here in St. >Louis. These lines are open for calls from 11 AM - 1 PM and 5-7 PM >Central Time, at these numbers: >800-782-2222 314-282-2222 >I don't know if there is any geographic limit on the 800 number; do >these new 800 services still have geographic limits, or has the old >concept of "WATS Bands" disappeared with the flood of competing >800-providers? Yes ... "WATS Bands" are alive and well, as well as "customized" 800 services. Customized 800 services available now can terminate on POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines, with no special equipment or "dedicated" lines needed. Some 800 services allow the customer to pick and choose which area codes to receive 800 calls from. The 800 number above (for Channel 2 (KTVI)) can be reached by callers in Illinois and Missouri only. Richard Gehrig attmail!bcm1a05!rgehrig Rookie Reader ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 18:32:53 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Modifying the NANP? As Doug Reuben pointed out, 908 is in New Jersey (it's being formed by splitting 201), not New York. In a posting some months(?) ago, I cited a {N.Y. Times} article saying that the latest proposal for implementing the 917 area code, given that only one borough line remains WITHIN 212, was to put Manhattan's cellular and mobile lines along with all of the Bronx into 917; only the Manhattan land lines would remain in 212. Much further back, someone (not me) put down the idea of putting new telephone listings into new area codes. Area codes are being kept contiguous (right) to avoid confusion. (The Manhattan overlay -- see above -- is unprecedented.) The weirdest shape for an area code that I know of is that of 409 (formed 1983 by splitting 713) in Texas; it's got the pre-split 713 area except for a hole punched out for Houston and nearby suburbs. (As for new listings, they are likely to go into new PREFIXES within a given exchange area; for example, I am on 302-731 and I know of newer arrivals on 302-292 in Newark, Delaware.) Yes, I am aware of the NN0 area codes, to start coming on line when the N0X/N1X are used up. But wasn't there a note in the Digest saying that Mexico will (then or later) become reachable via pseudo area codes of 52x form (where x won't be zero)? Afterthought: 917 in Bronx would be right next door to 914 in Westchester. [Moderator's Note: Carl, I think you might agree that 312/708 has some odd boundary lines also, with one small section of 312 completely surrounded by 708 at Ohare Airport and one section of 708 completely surrounded by 312 on the northwest side of Chicago in an area not actually in the city. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jdominey@bsga05.attmail.com Subject: Gratuitous Bashing vrs. Legitimate Complaints Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 00:00:00 EST I must protest the article in V10 #819 from Dan Breslau, forwarding a message from a Sprint customer. I work for AT&T and am probably being hypersensitive, but I think I have a legitimate complaint. I believe the article does fit the general thread we've often seen here of "customer rep horror stories". That's fine, every company has its share of ignorant and annoying people on the phones. A sales rep (much less a supervisor!) who can't handle a reasonable question is a liability and should be pulled off the line quickfashion. My problem with the article is that the customer was basically trying to pick a fight. S/he didn't really seem interested in finding out why the flyer said one thing and the {Wall Street Journal} article headline said another. S/he decided that the flyer was "a sleazey (sic) piece of propaganda". So s/he harangues the supervisor who is foolish enough to admit he hasn't read the WSJ. The overwhelming majority of "war stories" published in TELECOM Digest are from people who were genuinely trying to obtain information, order service, get repair, etc. I can sympathize. But it seems out of character to run a story from someone who admits the purpose of the call was to "harrass a poor telephone operator who is only doing her job". I can't even tell if the customer bothered to read either the article or the flyer. I'm sure our Moderator must constantly winnow gratuitous bashing from legitimate complaints. The article in question is somewhere in between, but from my partisan position, looks closer to the former. P.S. I suspect the flyer and the Journal were talking about different rates, either business vs. residential, day vs. evening/night, or standard vs. calling plan. But without reading both, and knowing when this took place, (last week? last month? this summer?) I can't tell for sure. Jack Dominey | AT&T Commercial Marketing | 800-241-4285 | AT&T Mail !dominey ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 03:05 GMT From: George S Thurman <0004056081@mcimail.com> Subject: Calling USA From Mexico A friend of mine will be going to Mexico on vacation in a few weeks, and he would like to know if there is a way to reach a US operator (AT&T or any other carrier) from the following cities: Cuernavaca, Taxeco(sp) and Acapulco(sp). Thanks, G. S. Thurman 40560@mcimail.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #822 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23614; 16 Nov 90 10:59 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa25131; 16 Nov 90 8:51 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab11658; 16 Nov 90 7:48 CST Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 7:32:45 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #823 BCC: Message-ID: <9011160732.ab17179@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 16 Nov 90 07:32:05 CST Volume 10 : Issue 823 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question [Barton F. Bruce] AS 1317 BU Telephone Set [Howard Pierpont] All Those Jacks [Richard Lerner] Slick-96 [Kevin Griffin] Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support [Gordon Letwin] GTE Mobilnet's Response [John Higdon] RBOC Special Services (was: British Telecom Codes) [Jim R. Oldroyd] Breaking News? 714 Split [Andy Jacobson] Measured Local Service [Sander J. Rabinowitz] Area-Code 714 Will be Split [Steve Rhoades] ISO's Meaning (was: NSFNet etc.) [Jim Breen] Unitel (Canada) Fax Service [Paul Gauthier] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question Date: 13 Nov 90 16:49:00 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14566@accuvax.nwu.edu>, dwh@twg.com (Dave W. Hamaker) writes: > I expected single-line phones would ignore the yellow-black pair, > I was subsequently surprised to discover that one of my telephone > sets ... would take both lines off hook when in use. Your set was probably wired for "A" lead control and the black and yellow wires were expected to be connected to "A" and "A1" in a 1A2 key system to light the lamps and cut ringing and knock it off hold if it had been help by a key phone. Don't bother getting a two wire cord. The two terminals those wires went to were probably just interconnections to two wires coming from the hook-switch and have NO OTHER connections internally. Try replacing them and move one of the two hook-switch wires OFF one of your two terminals and onto the OTHER. This leave the H/S contact doing nothing. There is NO path between your yellow and black, and no floating wires. Failing that, take the yellow and black wires off the terminals, and fold an inch or so of tape onto itself (sticky to sticky) lengthwise to sandwich each flapping spade lug individually. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 14:20:18 PST From: Howard Pierpont Subject: AS 1317 BU Telephone Set I recently purchased, it is amazing what tele addicts will do, an AS 1317 BU Telephone Set. The inside cover has the schematic and shows that the earpiece was an "over the head" [operator] style arrangment. The unit was "Push to Talk Pull to receive" wooden box wall mount unit. It is 95% complete and I am interested in learning more about the unit or how to make it functional today. Howard Pierpont Home Digital Equipment Corp. P.O. Box 128 South Berlin, MA 01549 450 Donald Lynch Blvd AT&T 508-838-2696 Marlboro, MA 01752 NYNEX Cell Voice Mail 508-751-2772 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 1990 17:28-EST From: Richard.Lerner@lerner.avalon.cs.cmu.edu Reply-To: ral+@cs.cmu.edu Subject: All Those Jacks Could someone post a list and short description of the various jacks used in the telecommunications world? For example, what is the difference between an RJ11, RJ31X, RJ35, etc.? I looked in the archives but didn't find this information. Thanks, Rick ------------------------------ From: KEVIN GRIFFIN Subject: Slick-96 Date: Tue, 13 Nov 90 06:40:45 CST Organization: Ed Hopper's BBS - Houston, Texas 713-997-7575 Can anyone tell me what a "Slick 96" switch is and what kind of services are available from it. One of my local (SWB) techs told me that one is about to be installed in my local exchange, but he didn't want to tell me anything about it. Kevin Griffin ------------------------------ From: gordonl@microsoft.UUCP (Gordon LETWIN) Subject: Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support Date: 14 Nov 90 01:27:47 GMT Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA In article <14517@accuvax.nwu.edu>, john@mojave.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > hpubvwa!ssc!Tad.Cook@beaver.cs.washington.edu writes: > > Higdon has a HUMBLE OPINION??!? No, but seriously, they recently > > instituted this for support of MS DOS ONLY ... all their applications > > support is free. > Oh, I see. The "product" that put them on the map (other than a BASIC) > is treated as a second-rate stepsister. The company has to protect > itself from all those unwashed masses who might actually have some > legitimate problem (oh, but how could they--DOS is perfect, right?) What a hostile person you are. If you reasoned as well as you hate you'd get somewhere. DOS has been sold strictly as an OEM product. That means it was "wholesaled" to an OEM for them to sell with their product, the computer. Microsoft receives only a few dollars a copy for each MS-DOS. In a similar manner, car makers may license a Bosch ABS system. If you have a problem with that ABS, you don't call Bosch, you call GM. GM made the retail profit on the product and part of their contract with Bosch is that GM supports it. The same holds true for MS-DOS. Part of our contract with the OEM is that they support the product they sell, not us. We provide support to OUR customer - the OEM. They can call us any time. We also provide them training programs, I'm pretty sure. One thing which confuses people is that the disks say Microsoft all over them, whereas their ABS system just says "GM". This makes it harder for folks to understand that they bought it from the OEM, not Microsoft. There's two reasons for this. One is Copyright. The ABS is protected by patents, but software is protected by Copyright. One requirement for copyright protection is a notice; our product *has* to say Microsoft on it and in it to be protected. Secondly, an operating system is a standard product and the OEM needs to assure the customer that they're getting the real standard, so the OEM wants to make sure that the user knows it's Microsoft DOS. In the early years this wasn't always true; some OEMs forbade us to say that their BASIC was Microsoft BASIC. So we offer "free" support for our retail products because we received the retail markup and support is one of the things you do to earn that money. We didn't receive the retail markup for DOS, the OEM did, and the OEM is the person who needs to support it; that was their agreement. As a convenience to customers who don't want to call the OEM or whose OEM's are not doing a good job, Microsoft now offers support for DOS, but we have to charge for it now since we didn't get any money for that service when we sold your OEM the DOS. gordon letwin not an official microsoft spokesperson ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: GTE Mobilnet's Response Date: 13 Nov 90 20:29:16 PST (Tue) From: John Higdon I had no actual conversation with anyone at GTE Mobilnet today concerning their blocking of international dialing. We played voicemail tag. I left a stern message concerning the attitude toward customers, treating them all like crooks. A responding message indicated that they simply were trying to reduce loss. I responded with the comment that it was their problem and that I was going to investigate Cellular One. And then the surprise. There was a message informing me that international dialing had been reinstated on my two accounts! There was no other comment, but IDDD does work on my cellular phones. Apparently the "national policy" isn't carved in stone. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Jim R Oldroyd Subject: RBOC Special Services (was: British Telecom Codes) Date: 14 Nov 90 04:59:46 GMT Reply-To: "Jim R Oldroyd" Organization: The Instruction Set, Waltham, MA Recently, Moderator (PAT) wrote: > [Moderator's Note: I'm *still* trying to convince repair service > attendants and Business Office people at IBT that I have Call > Screening (*60) on my line. It works fine, usually, but there are a > couple bugs that need attention. But they still insist that I don't > have it on my line. One person today even offered to have it removed I've seen a few messages recently suggesting that there are interesting services (*60, *69, *72, I think) which I do not havem but which I would like. My RBOC (New England Telephone, on 617-227) knows nothing of these. Does anyone have a list of them, and are there any secret words one needs to know in order to convince them to provide you with the service? If anyone has a list, with dialing codes, service name, and short description, that would be great. Oh, yes, and the magic words too! Jim [Moderator's Note: There are no magic words or secret codes. Either your phone switch is equipped with CLASS or it is not. If it is, and has been for awhile, then all the reps seem to know about it. If it is very new, or in beta test (as it is here apparently, now I am told), then there will be a lot of confusion among reps as to what is and what is not available. Now that mine is installed and my contacts at IBT are aware of it, they call *me* a couple times a week to see how it is working. The codes are: *60 = invoke call screening; *80 = suspend call screening; *66 = Repeat Dialing; *69 = Auto callback to the last call you received. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 02:12 PST From: Andy Jacobson Subject: Breaking News? 714 Split According to Tuesday editions of the {L.A. Times}, Pac*Bell and GTE announced Monday that they will be splitting up area code 714. The change is to take effect in Jan. 1993. Unique about this split is that the telcos won't just decree new boundries, but will actually submit three proposed boundries, and allow for public comment on the three plans. (How is not explained). Seems Southern California with its incredible growth is just sucking up area codes right and left. 619 (San Diego and eastern California) was carved out of 714. Then 818 (San Fernando valley) and now 310(West L.A. and South Bay) out of 213. In 1993, 714 splits again, what next? At this rate NANP will be using NNX's very soon. Andy Jacobson ------------------------------ Subject: Measured Local Service Date: 13 Nov 90 20:36:13 EST (Tue) From: "Sander J. Rabinowitz" I wonder how any TELECOM Digest readers might react to the following: For the last five months, my Dad's telephone bill included a statement urging him to switched to a measured local service (i.e. first 50 calls are free with the remaining calls being charged). Presently, for a fixed monthly fee, unlimited local calls are allowed. The statement also reads something like this (these are not Michigan Bell's exact words): "As a free service to you, we have kept track of the number of local calls you've made this month so you can see if you save money with our measured service. This month, you made -0- local calls--therefore, you would have saved $3.44 this month had you used our other plan." Now I KNOW for each of the last five months, more than 50 local calls per month were made on that line. (I made many of them myself. =) Meanwhile, my own telephone bill doesn't have that message, even though my line also has the unlimited calling feature. Is this something for the local public service commission to look at? It seems like a harmless computer glitch, but I can't shake the feeling that something fishy is going on here. Sander J. Rabinowitz | !sander@attmail.com | +1 313 478 6358 Farmington Hills, Mich. | -OR- sjr@mcimail.com | 8-) ------------------------------ From: Steve Rhoades Subject: Area-Code 714 Will be Split Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 11:03:39 PST The folks at GTE and Pac*Bell held a press conference yesterday announcing that they will be splitting area-code 714, which serves Orange County in Southern California. The new area-code will be 909 (gasp!). They will be holding public hearings as to how the area will be split. Several plans are in the offering: 1.) Have Pac*Bell's area retain 714 while GTE gets 909. 2.) Orange County retains 714 while the bordering counties, some of which are in 714, get the new 909. 3.) Have all new phone numbers issued after Jan. 1993 get the new area-code. (I never heard of this before.) Pac*Bell claims that the proliferation of cellular phones and pagers are causing them to run out of numbers in 714 sooner than expected. This will be the second time 714 was split. The first was several years ago when San Diego and the desert areas broke away to form 619. The new area code will be effective in Jan of 1993. Internet: slr@tybalt.caltech.edu | Voice-mail: (818) 794-6004 UUCP: ...elroy!tybalt!slr | USmail: Box 1000, Mt. Wilson, Ca. 91023 [Moderator's Note: And 619 is *hardly* an over-populated area code. You'd think they could have shoved the boundaries around on that one a little and recovered quite a bit of territory. Currently Telenet uses 909 as the 'area code' for their administrative lines in Virginia. I guess they will change it to something else starting in a couple years. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: ISO's Meaning (was: NSFNet etc.) Organization: Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 22:12:16 GMT In article <14658@accuvax.nwu.edu>, oberman@rogue.llnl.gov writes: > Reasonably accurate except that the name of the body is "The > Organization for International Standardization", at least in English. > The name "ISO" was selected because it "looks right" in a lot of > languages without being an actual acronym for the name of the body in > any language, thus avoiding offending either anglophiles or > francophiles. Reasonably accurate, except that it's "International Organization for Standardization". I'm quoting from my copy of ISO 8802-2, which on my desk right in front of me. The name appears about five times on the first three pages. Jim Breen ($B?@Ip(J) (jwb@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au) Dept of Robotics & Digital Technology. Monash University PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia (ph) +61 3 573 2552 (fax) +61 3 573 2745 ------------------------------ From: Paul Gauthier Subject: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Date: Wed, 14 Nov 1990 20:18:39 -0400 A Canadian Company has recently begun to offer a special reduced rate to fax users. The user pays only a small monthly fee ($10, I think) and receives a little black box which attaches to their fax machine. When the fax machine dials I presume this black box intercepts the dial and calls a 1-800 number or somesuch and then routes the call out from there. The user recieves a big discount on calls placed in this manner. MT&T (Bell Canada) offers a similar service, but you have to pay for a special line which will place local calls of any type, but will only allow fax calls to be place long distance. Of course, when I read this in the paper I wondered how they detected this. I called MT&T and asked what would happen if a voice call was placed on such a line. They assured me it would be very quickly disconnected. The person I spoke to also claimed that MT&T was 'listening' to the call and was actually sensing fax protocol and thus deciding whether the call should be allowed to continue or not. Does anyone know if such services actually detect and interpret fax protocol to decide whether to axe the call? The idea that first struck me was using this service to get cheap rates for long distance modem calls. If all the hardware is listening for is something that resembles a data call (carrier) then perhaps a modem would fool it. Any thought? PG gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca tyrant@dalac.bitnet tyrant@ac.dal.ca ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #823 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24631; 16 Nov 90 11:50 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa28552; 16 Nov 90 9:55 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab25131; 16 Nov 90 8:52 CST Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 8:10:50 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #824 BCC: Message-ID: <9011160810.ab20727@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 16 Nov 90 08:10:38 CST Volume 10 : Issue 824 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson A Current Prodigy Subscriber Responds [George Sinos] Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service [Craig R. Watkins] Message Relay Service: Nova Scotia, P.E.I. [Nigel Allen] AT&T Puts it in Writing - Rate Increase [Jody Kravitz] Ohio Bell Class of Service Requirements [Macy Hallock] Crosspoint Switch For IBM-PC [Jim Marocchi] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 21:31:39 EST From: George Sinos Subject: A Current Prodigy Subscriber Responds Reply-to: George.Sinos@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha, Ne. 402-896-3537 I just thought I would throw in two cents from a current Prodigy subscriber. The new software must be considerably better than the old, it can be used either with a mouse or with the keyboard. The menuing system is a bit on the tutorial side, but you must remember, Prodigy is not for the hard core BBS types. It is for the computer owner that can't really figure out how to use his computer or what he bought it for in the first place. Is it slow? Slower than I would like, but it works. Are there 500k users? That's hard to say. I, my wife, and my three kids that live at home each have individual IDs but pay one bill. Is this one or five users? Do they kick people off the system? Well, according to the incredibly long agreement that you must read and accept before you can officially log on they reserve the right to do that, to read your mail and return it to you for any reason they want, and you or they can terminate at any time for any reason. Personal experience: Slow but very good service. Why do we keep it? Because there is execellent educational material availble for my kids. They use it much more than my wife or I, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying games for my pc. Personal experience: On a Saturday morning a shower head in one of our bathrooms broke. Later that day, I was digging around on Prodigy and ran across Consumer Reports. My wife suggested I look up shower heads. The top rated shower head just happened to be sold by one of the Prodigy vendors. I switched to that vendor, ordered the shower head and it was in my house the following Tuesday night. On Sunday morning, however, I noticed that the same shower head was advertised nationally for two dollars off the price I had paid. When my bill arrived, it had been adjusted accordingly. I think that is good service. I think that is what Prodigy is supposed to be all about. I think email is a tacked on gee-gaw and not really meant to be the main thrust of Prodigy. Remember, the whole thing was started by IBM and Sears. These two companies put this whole thing together to gain a competitive advantage, not to provide a nice place for computer hobbyists to play. All the other services, are just there to keep you coming back so you can be exposed to the ads on the bottom of the screen. The closest analog I can think of is commercial television. We will continue to subscribe as long as it is useful to us. We will not even consider doing anything quite so rude as posting public messages insulting our host. (Don't you think you would be escorted out of Kmart if you stood in the middle of the store complaining about prices?) When we don't like it anymore we will just stop using it and cancel our agreement. George Sinos, Papillion, Nebraska. --- Ybbat (DRBBS) 8.9 v. 3.11 r.4 [1:285/666@fidonet] DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha (1:285/666.0) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 George.Sinos@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: "Craig R. Watkins" Subject: Re: Info Needed on Prodigy Service Date: 15 Nov 90 09:35:20 EST Organization: HRB Systems In article <14534@accuvax.nwu.edu>, mcglk@bailey.cpac.washington.edu (Ken McGlothlen) writes: > The first thing that struck me was that it was sure awfully slow. > Configuration was easy enough, but the graphics were painfully slow, > and the characters flowed across the screen at a speed slightly better > than a 300bps modem (from a 2400bps connection). I've used Prodigy on a Mac, a couple different PC's, and I've even run it on my VAXstation (under SoftPC). While I was running it on a 386SX, I found I could speed it up a decent amount by calling at 9600 baud. There's a SCRIPT.R file on your disk for connecting to Tymnet at 9600. You have to find a 9600 baud Tymnet number to tell Prodigy to use along with type "R." You also will have to hand-edit some configuration file(s) to tell Prodigy to use 9600 baud since the only menu selections are 1200 and 2400. I don't remember what the file(s) were, but it wasn't hard although it did require some guesswork -- try switching the setup between 1200 and 2400 and see what changes. (The SCRIPT.R file is on the Mac disk, too, but I didn't try that.) I had a few people at "Ask Prodigy" tell me 9600 baud usage was not possible in direct reply to mail that I sent saying that I was using it at that very moment! I also had one person there tell me to STOP using it. When I pursued the question of what I would do if I only had a 9600 baud modem, someone else said I could continue to use it, but it wasn't supported. I left it at that. The bottom line is that if you are a Prodigy user, depending on your platform, 9600 may help (it was definitely worthwhile on a 386SX). As for the usefulness of the service: I can certainly see that it could be a good deal (with "flat" rate service) for people that are interested in the services that are offered. Me? I canceled. As an interesting sidenote -- earlier this week I was attending a a PREPnet (Pennsylvania's regional branch of the Internet) meeting in Philly and saw a Prodigy machine set up in the lobby of the Holiday Inn at 18th & Market. One could just walk up and use it -- I actually checked weather for the drive home. I was amused to note that the PC was by AT&T and not IBM! Craig R. Watkins Internet: CRW@ICF.HRB.COM HRB Systems, Inc. Bitnet: CRW%HRB@PSUECL.Bitnet +1 814 238-4311 UUCP: ...!psuvax1!hrbicf!crw ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Subject: Message Relay Service: Nova Scotia, P.E.I. Reply-To: ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 22:51:52 GMT MT&T and Island Tel to Offer Message Relay Service for the Hearing and Speech Impaired [Press release dated November 8, 1990 from the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission, slightly edited] Hearing and speech-impaired persons in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will find it easier to communicate by telephone when Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company, Limited (MT&T) and Island Telephone Company Limited (Island Tel) introduce Message Relay Service (MRS) next spring. The companies were ordered to offer the service by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). (Reference: CRTC Telecom Letter Decisions 90-16 and 90-17, November 8, 1990) [MT&T is the only telephone company in Nova Scotia; Island Tel, which is partly owned by MT&T, is the only phone company in P.E.I.] "It's a question of fairness," said CRTC Chairman David Colville. "The hearing and speech impaired pay full price for basic telephone service, as well as the extra cost of buying a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), and they should be able to make full use of the service. We're pleased that both telephone companies offered to introduce MRS." With MRS in place, a specially-trained operator will relay messages between a hearing or speech-impaired person who communicates with the use of a TDD and a person who does not use a TDD to communicate. MRS will be available from MT&T and Island Tel 24 hours a day, seven days a week. MT&T and Island Tel will give access to MRS through 800 or equivalent service. The CRTC has approved Island Tel's proposal to implement MRS jointly with MT&T because this is most cost-effective that if the company made MRS available independently of MT&T. Both MT&T and Island Tel will offer a 50% discount on all long- distance calls placed through MRS to any part of Canada. Today's decisions direct the companies to file the necessary tariff proposals with the CRTC at least 30 days before they launch MRS. The introduction of MRS was considered at public hearings held earlier this Fall in Halifax and Charlottetown to determine the overall revenue requirements of MT&T and Island Tel. The CRTC intends to take into account the expense of establishing MRS when making its final decisions on MT&T's and Island Tel's revenue requirements. "The Commission decided to issue decisions on MRS at this time, prior to rendering final decisions on revenue requirements, to avoid any undue delay in the introduction of the service," Mr. Colville explained. "We appreciate the valuable advice the Commission received during its deliberations from the Canadian Association of the Deaf and the Society of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Nova Scotians." ---------------- If you would like more information, contact Maritime Tel & Tel, Halifax, N.S. at (902) 421-5586, or CRTC Information Services in Hull, Quebec, at (819) 997-0313. Bell Canada and the British Columbia Telephone Company have each offered message relay service for several years. B.C. Tel initially contracted its MRS to the Western Institute for the Deaf in Vancouver, but now provides the service using B.C. Tel operators. Nigel Allen telephone (416) 535-8916 52 Manchester Avenue fax (416) 978-7736 Toronto, Ontario M6G 1V3, Canada ------------------------------ From: foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 23:09:39 PST Subject: AT&T Puts it in Writing - Rate Increase I found this ad in the Thursday, Oct 29 edition of the {LA Times}. It was in section one, on a page of article continuations and department store ads. It was two columns wide and about four inches long. Although this ad does not contain any information about the discount rate plans, it does "put it in writing" for the basic rate structure. I don't understand the implications of the rate changes. Perhaps someone else could comment on this? N O T I C E T O A T & T C U S T O M E R S On October 19, 1990, AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission to change dial station night/weekend prices for interstate calls within the U.S. and calls between Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S. mainland. Dial station rates apply when the person originating the call dials the telephone number desired, competes the call without the assit- ance of a Company operator and the call is billed ot the calling station. These rates are scheudled to become effective on November 2, 1990. DIAL STATION-NIGHT/WEEKEND U.S. INTERSTATE RATES Existing Proposed ---------------------- --------------------- Rate Initial Additional Initial Additional Milage Minute Minute Minute Minute --------- ------ ------ ------ ------ 1-10 $0.1000 $0.0975 $0.1051 $0.1051 11-22 0.1130 0.1100 0.1139 0.1139 23-55 0.1200 0.1200 0.1208 0.1208 56-124 0.1200 0.1200 0.1208 0.1208 125-292 0.1215 0.1215 0.1223 0.1223 293-430 0.1250 0.1225 0.1256 0.1256 431-925 0.1300 0.1260 0.1306 0.1306 926-1910 0.1325 0.1300 0.1331 0.1331 1911-3000 0.1350 0.1325 0.1357 0.1357 3001-4250 0.1650 0.1600 0.1650 0.1650 4251-5750 0.1750 0.1700 0.1750 0.1750 DIAL STATION-PUERTO RICO/U.S. VIRTIN ISLANDS- U.S.MAINLAND NIGHT/WEEKEND RATES Existing Proposed ---------------------- --------------------- Rate Initial Additional Initial Additional Milage Minute Minute Minute Minute --------- ------ ------ ------ ------ 926-1910 0.1325 0.1300 0.1331 0.1331 1911-3000 0.1350 0.1325 0.1357 0.1357 3001-4250 0.1650 0.1600 0.1650 0.1650 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 90 20:20 EST From: Macy Hallock Subject: Re: Two Residential Lines; Different Owners; Same Class of Service Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <14112@accuvax.nwu.edu>: [Discussion of problems with Ohio Bell permitting two lines with different types of service in the same house with different apartments] Having gone through this with Ohio Bell on behalf of a friend, I am aware of their policies: In order for a premises to be considered a separate residence, a separate street address or apartment number must be on the door, mailbox or exterior surface for each unit. There are exceptions allowed for hotel, dormitory and health care facilities. This is specified in their tariff, and administrative policy fills in the gaps in interpretations. If the premises is not in Ohio Bell's computer listing of street maps, things get interesting. The installer will adhere to these rules and check. Now, for the fun part: There a several classes of service in Ohio for residences: flat rate, measured and economy. You cannot mix classes in single residence. A flat rate line for voice and measured for a fax/modem is not allowed. In Ohio Bell territory, only measured lines are available for business use. If you have a business line in your home, your residence line must also be measured. (This is Ohio Bell way of preventing cheating on message units on business lines, I guess.) Residence lines cannot be installed into a business address without proof of residence (a bed and cooking facilities must exist). This is to prevent the installation of a flat rate residence line into a business. On residence service, rotary line hunting is free. Touch tone costs about $1. You may split your 1+ carriers on multi-line residential installations. Directory listing of additional lines is optional, and sublistings such as "fax line" or "children's line" are no charge. OBT does charge for unlisted service, of course. Listing to a different name is permitted, but often questioned by the business office representative. (I always use the "wife's maiden name" explanation.) Residential centrex is only available with measured service, not flat or economy. TT is free, but they soak you for everything else. Not a great deal, unless you have a detached barn or a garage down the road, then it is pretty useful (saves the cost of cable to link the locations). We'll report on GTE Ohio's ideas of residential assignment later ;-( Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: Jim Marocchi Subject: Crosspoint Switch For IBM-PC Date: 14 Nov 90 22:19:33 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL Does anyone know if a crosspoint switch on a card(s) exists for use in an IBM-PC? This hardware should be capable of interfacing to analog lines, and be capable of performing a simple crosspoint switch function. No fancy functions are necessary, just switch inputs to outputs. This equipment would be used for demo purposes, so the numbers of lines switched is fairly small. I remember seeing something like this awhile ago, but don't remember the source. Any pointers would be appreciated. Posts or e-mail appreciated. Jim Marocchi 708/632-2407 | Motorola, Inc Cellular 1501 W. Shure Dr. ...uunet!motcid!marocchi | Arlington Heights, IL 60004 USA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #824 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa12347; 17 Nov 90 4:47 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa23629; 17 Nov 90 3:04 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab02824; 17 Nov 90 2:00 CST Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 1:44:46 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #825 BCC: Message-ID: <9011170144.ab16799@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 17 Nov 90 01:44:22 CST Volume 10 : Issue 825 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Austrian PTT to be Restructured [Der Standard, via Wolf Paul] Getting Rid of Bell Tap [Bruce E. Howells] Caller-ID Bulk Data Question [Doug Blair] 900 Sleaze Infests the USENET [Michael P. Deignan] Transoceanic Cables [Mark Brader] Operation Desert Fax [Ed Hopper] Telemarketing Sleezoids [Steve Warner] Re: Telecom Art [Peter da Silva] Re: A New Type of 976 Fraud [Steven King] Re: Question About "Point of Demarcation" [Jeff Scheer] Telephone Pioneers Museum in Atlanta, GA [Subodh Bapat] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wolf paul Subject: Austrian PTT to be Restructured Date: 15 Nov 90 09:39:15 GMT Reply-To: wolf paul Organization: IIASA, Laxenburg/Vienna, Austria, Europe Summarized from an article by Ernst Brandstetter in Vienna's "DER STANDARD", of 1990-11-14: In the coming legislative period Austria's PTT will not only lose part of its income, but also some of its regulatory power and responsibility. In the telecommunications area, the PTT will retain only the "lines monopoly", i.e. other vendors offering services will have to lease their lines from the PTT instead of being allowed to install their own. This was agreed upon by coalition negotiators from Austria's two larges political parties, Social Democrats and Conservatives. This restructuring of the PTT into a regulatory body and a service provider/vendor will take place by 1992. Prior to this time, a comprehensive, EEC-compatible telecommunications act will have to be prepared and passed by Parliament. Vienna's Economic University will be given the task to prepare a comparative study of existing legislation of this kind in other countries. The purpose of the restructuring is the elimination of the disadvantage private vendors face in competing with a state monopoly organization which is vendor/service provider and regulator at once. For the same reason, cross subsidizing within the PTT will be prohibited, and the PTT will have to pass on some of its very high telephony profits to its subscribers. Both domestic long distance charges and the fixed monthly subscriber charge are to be reduced to reflect the lower cost of providing these services as a result of technological progress. Wolf N. Paul, UNIX SysAdmin, IIASA, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa@relay.eu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 19:35:10 -0500 From: beh@bu-pub.bu.edu Subject: Getting Rid of Bell Tap What can be done to supress "bell tap"? Situation: University dorm room, behind a Centrex so old it creaks until they get it it's coffee in the morning ... two phones and a modem on the line, all FCC registered and allegedly polite. The problem is that one of the phones (a Cobra Princess-Phone lookalike) bell taps quite loudly every time anything hangs up, including the modem. Quite annoying - particuarly to my roommate who gets immediate notification of the end of my late-night (ahem) programming sessions. Anything I can do to supress this? I'm pretty technically competent, so if it's a "throw something across/in the line" solution that'll be very welcome - I'd just rather not go hacking into the hardware on someone else's Centrex without more background on what I'm doing. Thank you. f*Bruce Howells, beh@bu.edu | engnbsc@buacca (BITNet) me? just a random Engineering undergrad... ------------------------------ Subject: Caller-ID Bulk Data Question Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 12:51:43 CST From: Doug Blair We're engaged in development of a Caller-ID device for use in multi-line (PBX etc) installations. The Bellcore docs (in TR-TSY-000032) mention a dedicated line for data delivery and specify the interface details are available in TR-TSY-000034, "Dedicated In-Band Analog Signalling Data Interface." TR-TSY-000034 was never published according to the nice order lady at Bellcore, so I'm looking for the technical specs (things like FSK frequencies, word lengths, stop bits, etc) that we'll need to decode this information if it's supplied on a seperate line. Does anybody know a) if the signalling for bulk lines is the same or similar to that described for a single line (in TR-TSY-000030) or b) where a complete description may be found? Doug Blair Obedient Software Corp. 1007 Naperville Rd, Wheaton IL 60187 708-653-5527 blair@obdient.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Subject: 900 Sleaze Infests the Usenet Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 14:08:27 EST From: "Michael P. Deignan" 900 Sleaze has invaded Usenet. Behold the message which recently appeared in misc.consumers... ----------------- My friend has a number of '900' numbers for sale. If you do not know what these are, they're phone lines with which the caller gets charged for each minute he/she is on the line. These lines are legitimately leased from long-distance carriers, and all callers are billed through AT&T. The normal rate for leasing one of these lines is anywhere from $4000/month. Now, for a limited number of lines, you can lease these lines for a substantial savings off the regular price. The lines can be used for any legitimate purpose with a few exceptions being pornography and credit repair. These lines start paying for themselves the day you start using them. The caller gets billed by AT&T at $2 for each minute they're on the phone. Also one can set up a message answering service for round-the-clock calls. This could be an enormous boost to your business or vocation. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. One person made $14,000 in one month by placing an ad which said: Respond to the Mideast crisis! call 1-900-555-1212 These numbers are accessible nationwide, and you do not even have to answer the line from where you work or live. A remote answering service can take care of all the calls, and you get credited monthly for all the calls being made. If you or a friend may be interested in leasing one of these lines, they are being offered for the incredibly low price of $750/month. See if you would like to work out a deal for the lease of these lines. Do *not* email! Call (AAA) BBB-CCC. Ask for Ruze. ------------- Now, ask yourself: would you *ever* buy phone service from someone named "Ruze"? MD ------------------------------ From: Mark Brader Subject: transoceanic cables Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Thu, 15 Nov 1990 02:16:49 -0500 Recent articles have referred to the TAT-8 transatlantic cable, and the TAT-9 cable under construction. Do these numbers imply that there are exactly eight transatlantic cables, or possibly fewer if some older ones have been retired? Or are there other namespaces besides TAT-n? Roughly how many transoceanic cables are there under all the oceans of the world? Roughly what fraction of calls use them rather than satellites? (Or rather, what fraction of half-calls, since it was said recently that a call can be satellite one way, cable one way.) Curiously, Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ From: Ed Hopper Subject: Operation Desert Fax Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 09:05:50 CST Organization: Ed Hopper's BBS - Houston, Texas 713-997-7575 werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) writes: > I wonder if a very slow secretary is sitting on a PC and an impact > printer sending letters to some APO-address now that ATT's free fax > program is discontinued (if I remember my rumours right...) AT&T's Operation Desert Fax is still active. It will continue through 12/31/90. I believe you are referring to the free USA Direct calls. The Saudi PTT shut that down after one week instead of two due to volume. Desert Fax has handled 250,000 messages so far. Ed Hopper [Moderator's Note: And a very worthwhile and generous program it is ... you can stop in at any AT&T Phone Store to send a Fax message to a friend or spouse on duty in the middle east right now. There is no charge to send it. Write out a short note on the spot or prepare a longer letter at home and take it in. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 09:17:19 PST From: Steve Warner Subject: Telemarketing Sleezoids Tonight I received the first telemarketing call in some months. The call went something like this... Me: Hello? TMS (Telemarket Slease): Is Jane Frazzlebottom there? Me: Sorry - there is no one here by THAT name! TMS: Is John Frazzlebottom there then.. This is AT(&)(N)T Calling... Me: No - No one here by that name either, sorry. TMS: Did I call the correct number (415) nXX-xxxx? Me: Yes that is my number now TMS: Oh - you must have had the number only a short while then. Me: (catching on to this crap) What company did you say you are with??? TMS: AT(&)(N)T. [sounded like AT&T but was slurred very expertly] Me: Did you say AT [AND] T or AT [N] T. TMS: AT [N] T. Me: You guys are a joke. Click. This was obviously going to degrade into some sort of push to switch to their brand of rotten LD service. And if I hadn't seen someone HERE mention that someone was using ATNT as a company name - I may have fallen for it too. The line they called me on is one of three, which I changed numbers to, in order to get PAC*BELL message center. Previously my lines were on a new prefix which never got telemarketing. As soon as I hung up, it rang again - annoyed I answered, thinking it was ATNT again - the caller asked if my paper was arriving ok, this is the {San Jose Mercury News} calling. (This REALLY happened.) Time to change that number BACK to the orginal prefix! Steve Warner fremont, ca, USA etc replys to: sun!indetech!stables!sw [Moderator's Note: A story in TELECOM Digest in 1988 told about a fellow here in Chicago who had incorporated his business using the name "The Phone Company". He was selling an insurance policy dealing with phone repair/replacements as needed, just like Illinois Bell with their 'Line Backer' service. The Illinois Consumer Protection Office made him stop. I feel rather certain ATNT is so close in sound to AT and T that when Mother finds out about his scheme he'll get sued and be forced at the least to change his name to something not infringing on theirs. PAT] ------------------------------ From: peter da silva Subject: Re: Telecom Art Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 22:32:09 GMT I have often considered combining the Usenet locations with the messages and putting up a map of the Usenet world. For each message in the spool, I'd pulse all the systems it went through to get to me, translating the net into a softly glowing, pulsating, galaxy ... flaring up at high traffic periods, perhaps watching the night (hacker time, when one expects most messages get posted) sweep across the globe... Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. peter@ferranti.com ------------------------------ From: Steven King Subject: Re: A New Type of 976 Fraud Date: 14 Nov 90 19:56:49 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <14494@accuvax.nwu.edu> dbw@crash.cts.com (David B. Whiteman) writes: >Well today a group of pagers, all of them with phone numbers in >sequential order were each beeped with the message to call a 976 >number. Obviously, a 976 company just autodialled the pager exchange. So, did anyone call the 976 number to find out who the slimy little reptilian company was? Might have been interesting. Steven King, Motorola Cellular (...uunet!motcid!king) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 21:29:44 EST From: Jeff Scheer Subject: Re: Question About "Point of Demarcation" Reply-to: Jeff.Scheer@f23.n285.z1.fidonet.org Most obviously any large business, regardless of two trunks or fifty trunks has a demarc box outside. I for one, have a hundred pair demarc cable block outside my back door, but then again, most people don't run a business out of their home. As for large PBX's, would a voice mail operation with five DID trunks count as a "PBX"?? As for a "PBX" itself, what about a 555 cord board for a main answering point? I know I need an RJ21X, but how many? Will one cover the incoming DID trunks, along with business lines and the voice mail inbound directly to a"regular" house jack? Please respond as I am in a wheelchair, and can't really get out to investigate at the library/ or the library at the USWEST office in Omaha; although I have asked USWEST to send me a copy of the schematic for a 555. I know this is the ninties, but I enter messages on the computer with a software program that I have. I can jumper into the computer along with the voice mail card to provide simultaneous voice/data by using one line out for the computer and me on the other. Anyway with the electric situation that usually occurs in the Midwest during the summer or winter, I feel that a 555 cord board is "handy" to have around, since I'm not dependent on an auxilliary generator to have the power to run both computer and phone system. The .COMmand Center [200:5010/23@metronet] (1:285/23) (Opus 1:285/23) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jeff.Scheer@f23.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: Subodh Bapat Subject: Telephone Pioneers Museum in Atlanta, GA Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 15:16:10 EDT While on a recent visit to Atlanta, GA, I happened to discover the Telephone Pioneer's Museum located there. This is a fascinating place, featuring all kinds of telephone equipment from the early days of telephone history. Aside from technical displays, it also chronicles the business history of the telephone industry - the legal patent battles between Bell and Elisha Gray, the empire-building expansionism of Ted Vail, antitrust legislation through the ages, the disastrous experiment with the nationalization of AT&T by the Federal Government during World War I, etc. etc. It also contains a recording of a speech given by Thomas Watson in 1927 (?) describing the moments of the first telephone invention when he worked with Bell. An interesting titbit I picked up was the fact that the first words - now legend - spoken by Bell on the phone "Come here, Mr. Watson, I need you!" were not what he planned to say, but they came out because, just as he was picking up the phone, Bell accidentally knocked over the battery that was powering his apparatus, spilling acid all over his arm. It is perhaps fitting that the first telephone coversation was a 911 call :-). For those of you planning to visit Atlanta, it's located on the third floor of the 45-story Southern Bell Building in midtown Atlanta, open 11am-1pm on weekdays. It's definitely worth a visit (and worth skipping lunch if you have to!) P.S. On a unrelated note, just two blocks from the Southern Bell Building, I ran into the worst COCOTs I've ever seen. Aside from the usual woes - horrible sound quality, multiple intercepts coming on simultaneously, snarfing coins on unsupervised calls, no alternative LD carrier access, refusal to accept calling cards, I ran into a new atrocity - "0" and "00" not producing live operators, but instead recordings saying no operators were available followed by calling instructions. It would have taken very little tempting to get me to violation-label those phones right there. Subodh Bapat bapat@rm1.uu.net OR ...uunet!rm1!bapat MS E-204, PO Box 407044, Racal-Milgo, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33340 (305) 846-6068 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #825 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa25870; 17 Nov 90 19:51 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa17723; 17 Nov 90 18:10 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa31671; 17 Nov 90 17:06 CST Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 16:08:29 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #826 BCC: Message-ID: <9011171608.ab18534@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 17 Nov 90 16:08:13 CST Volume 10 : Issue 826 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: New Area Codes and International Dialing [John R. Covert] 1-800-WANT-POT Disconnected [Eduardo Krell] New Area Code for Southern California [Javier Henderson] Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [Jack Winslade] Re: Sprint's New Calling Card [Glenn F. Leavell] Looking For Info on WATSON [Kevin Maher] Re: Wrong Number Nightmare [Carl Moore] Sources For Catalogs [Adam Mottershead] Re: The Right Choice [John Higdon] Two Men Indicted in Telephone Scheme [Pittsburgh Press via Tom Neudecker] Re: Dialogic vs. AT&T Voice Power vs. ... [Dave Levenson] AT&T Public Phones - Data Jack [Bill Rubin] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 06:05:35 PST From: "John R. Covert 15-Nov-1990 0851" Subject: Re: New Area Codes and International Dialing >I've just tried to dial a number in the 917 area code (non existent >yet) from France. I got a French intercept message just after dialing >the 7 of 917 saying that this code was not in service. What means has >a switch in France to know that. International exchanges in foreign countries must have a table of area codes in World Numbering Zone 1 in order to know whether to send calls to the Canadian international exchange (in Montreal), to one of AT&T's gateways in New York, Pittsburg, Denver, Atlanta or Sacramento (or to a gateway for another carrier if multiple carriers are providing two-way service), or to the gateways in Honolulu and Anchorage for calls to Hawaii and Alaska. In addition, for area code 809, they must do six-digit translation in order to send traffic to the appropriate island or country. There is not a single point where all other countries may send 809 traffic. A determination must be made as to whether to send traffic to Bermuda, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, etc. Also, even where traffic to multiple destinations may be permitted to transit through a third country which does additional routing translation, in countries where charging is done by charge pulses (almost all countries outside North America), the appropriate rate has to be computed before the call can be placed by determining which of the above destinations is being dialled. This can only be done by knowing where each area code is, and for area code 809, knowing where each exchange is. BTW, since I brought up multiple carriers: The CCITT recommendations specify what to do about multiple carriers. Since customers in countries having circuits to and from the U.S. provided by multiple U.S. carriers don't have a way of selecting ATT/MCI/Sprint for calls to the U.S., the rule is that outgoing traffic is to be statistically assigned to each carrier based on the same percentages as the incoming traffic. john ------------------------------ From: ekrell@ulysses.att.com Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 09:22:52 EST Subject: 1-800-WANT-POT Disconnected There was an arrest this past week in Greenwich Village in New York City of the leader of the "Church of the Realized Fantasy" (Michael Cesar) who ran the 1-800-WANT-POT service from his comic book shop. People would call this number and bicycle messengers would be dispatched with marijuana. Four messengers were arrested as well. Mr. Cesar has a record of drug convictions and ran telephone services in the past with names such as DIAL-A-JOINT and 777-CASH. Eduardo Krell AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ UUCP: {att,decvax,ucbvax}!ulysses!ekrell Internet: ekrell@ulysses.att.com ------------------------------ From: Javier Henderson Subject: New Area Code for Southern California Date: 15 Nov 90 08:26:48 PST Organization: Hamilton Avnet Computer; Culver City, CA According to the local newspaper, the current 714 area code will be split up again. The last time they did it was when they created 619 for the San Diego area. Now San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and a few cities in the Los Angeles county, will have 909. GTE and Pacific Bell would make a formal announcement on January 1991, and the new area code would go into effect during 1993. They said that the demand for new phone lines for fax, computer and cellular services has grown up quite a bit. Javier Henderson Engineering Services Avnet Computer Los Angeles, CA henderson@hamavnet.com {simpact,asylum,elroy,dhw68k}!hamavnet!henderson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 09:51:31 EST From: Jack Winslade Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? In message <1190094024@iugate.UUCP>, "andrew M. Boardman" writes: { ... in regards to >>VERY<< long calls } > - What would one's local phone company think of this? > - In the expected case that they aren't too fond of losing > out on the megabucks for a leased line, do they have > legal ground telling you to stop? Back around 1970 or so, there was a belief held by some members of the electronic community that if you were to order two lines (in different locations, of course), dialed one into the other and >>NEVER<< broke the connection, there would be no bill for the call, since the billing was done at the time the call was terminated. Of course I never knew anyone who really tried this. This supposedly would work whether the endless call was local or across the country. This idea was reinforced when an employee of AT&T Long Lines told me that there was a good chance that after several months, after the billing tapes were changed several times or something like that, there was a good chance that the equipment would 'forget' about the connection and never bill at all, even if/when it was terminated. Yes, I know about 'chasing permanents', but this was in the NYC area circa 1970, where many of the offices were aging panel and #1 crossbar that were held together with scotch tape and typically had such things like unused twisted-pair jumpers banjo-strung all over the frames. The switch crews were busy just keeping the switches up, let alone tracing permanents (if the PS lamps weren't burned out. ;-) There was some kind of a tape-based CAMA system that billed a whole group of offices from a central point. I think some of the offices still billed for local units with 'odometer' type counters which were photographed each month. Maybe some of the 'experts' on billing systems could confirm if this was true at that time. I am, of course, assuming that if it were true, the case has been dealt with and the modern billing software is smart enough to catch it and bill for it. Good Day! JSW [1:285/666@fidonet] DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha (1:285/666) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Jack.Winslade@f666.n285.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: "Glenn F. Leavell" Subject: Re: Sprint's New Calling Card Organization: University of Georgia Economics Department Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 19:10:05 GMT In RISKS-FORUM Digest 10.60, Jerry Glomph Black writes: [concerning Sprint's FONCARD:] >Sometimes it's annoying to dial 11 digits of access >code(1-800-877-8000), then the 11 digits of the destination number, then the >bloody 14-digit number. My wife refuses to do this, so we got an AT&T card, >where all you have to remember is FOUR DIGITS (tacked on to your 10-digit home >number, which you presumably know). Anybody know why Sprint didn't just adopt >this method? I believe that AT&T offers two different kinds of calling cards. One kind is "anchored" to your home phone number - the first ten digits of the calling card number are the same ten digits which make up your home phone number. Then other ("unanchored") type is similar to Sprint's card in that the numbers on the card are "random". This means that you can get an AT&T calling card even if you don't have a private phone number. For some reason, all Sprint calling cards seem to be "unanchored". Does anyone know why Sprint chose to use "unanchored" cards? Corrections are welcomed. Glenn F. Leavell glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu 404-542-3488 Systems Administrator University of Georgia Economics Department. 147 Brooks Hall. Athens, GA 30602 ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Thursday, 15 Nov 1990 15:57:09 EST From: Kevin Maher Subject: Looking For Info on WATSON I am looking for information on a voice mail product called WATSON. What I would like to know are specifics on how this product works. This is for a class project on EDI/Voice-mail. Any info you could send, or a phone number or address of where I can get information would be appreciated beyond measure. Please email responses directly, unless you know it wont arrive. Thanks. KDM101@PSUVM O04@PSUVM KXM@PSUARCH kmaher@psusun01 Why should I want to disclaim anything??? It only makes me look guilty! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 15:28:37 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Wrong Number Nightmare In other words, the car dealership has a number in the 714 area for customers in Orange County, but when it went out on many of that firm's business cards, it was printed with area 213 instead of area 714 -- that is, it printed your number on those cards. If that is indeed supposed to be a special number for Spanish-speaking customers, you might have to explain (in Spanish on your answering machine tape?) that the business card was printed wrong and that you should redial your call using area 714? (Could this confuse English-speaking callers who do indeed want to reach you?) There have been some cases where a local newspaper had to publish the problem to cut down on such wrong-number calls. Back around 1975-76, when Gerald Ford was U.S. president, some calls for the White House (202-456-1414) ended up going to a residence in Springfield, Va. at 703-451-1414, where Springfield was among those suburban points then reachable via area code 202. (You can no longer reach DC area suburban points using area code 202; use 301 for Md. and 703 for Va.) Back around 1964, there was some recording in Washington (at the Smithsonian?) which was advertised, and many people called that number from New York City and forgot to dial area code 202, and wound up reaching a Schlosser family in Brooklyn. (New York City had only one area code then: 212.) ------------------------------ From: adam mottershead Subject: Sources For Catalogs Organization: Contact Public Unix BBS. Toronto, Canada. Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 05:34:55 GMT I am looking the the address and/or phone numbers to obtain catalogs from AT&T and Bellcore. I am sure this information has been posted previously, but seeing as I am a new user to the net, it probably passed me by. Also include prices, if applicable. Adam Mottershead (contact.UUCP) ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: The Right Choice Date: 15 Nov 90 13:04:38 PST (Thu) From: John Higdon Dan Breslau writes: [a story about AT&T's silly and stupid advertising and how it apparently conflicted with a {Wall Street Journal} article] This past election, if serving no other purpose, should have convinced the last hold-outs that a person cannot, repeat CANNOT, base a purchasing, financial, or voting decision based on advertising. Advertising is designed to sell products, not to be critically analyzed or studied to collect information. The big-three IECs are no different when it comes to misleading and ridiculous media hype. I use Sprint and AT&T. Sprint has advantages in some areas, AT&T in others. Sprint has generally lower INTERstate rates, while INTRAstate is about on a par with AT&T. Audio quality is even-Steven. AT&T offers its usual little-known services such as foreign language translation, deaf forwarding, the ability to reach inward numbers at LECs (such as repair), etc. Sprint's billing is far superior and much more detailed (at least on my commercial account). Sprint allows 800 and 950 access to it's network (to get around errant COCOTs), but AT&T's calling card is easier to use in non-restrictive situations. It is one's right to be offended by any image or face a company puts forward and even a right to take whatever action is deemed appropriate. But I would hate to think that someone was depriving him/herself of the best or most appropriate product because of an attitude generated from advertising. Especially if that attitude was already present and the advertising merely provided a convenient justification to perpetuate a possibly unwarranted opinion. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Nov 90 18:35:31 -0500 (EST) From: Thomas Neudecker Subject: Two Men Indicted in Telephone Scheme From the {Pittsburgh Press}, Page B4 11/15/90 Two Men Indicted in Telephone Scheme Two Allegheny County men have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud, inter-state transportation of stolen property and conspiracy. Named in the six-count indictment yesterday were Michael E. Katora III, 38, of Regal Court, of Monroeville [Pa.] and Daniel A. Squire, 26, of Ellsworth Avenue, Shadyside. According to the indictment, Katora and Squire operated a telecommunications scheme that computers to generate [dial] 320,414 telephone calls to "900" phone numbers assigned to a company they owned and controlled they then sold accounts receivable that totaled $3,959,808 in user fees for the fraudulent calls to a commercial factoring company. If convicted on all counts, the men could receive 45-year prison sentences and fines totaling $1.5 million. TN ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Dialogic vs. AT&T Voice Power vs. ... Date: 16 Nov 90 01:37:38 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <14540@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jimmy@denwa.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) writes: [ regarding PC voice i/o boards ] > The other four-port boards that I know of are the AT&T Voice Power > board, and a similar board from Rhetorex. How do these compare? > Unfortunately, Rhetorex does not provide Unix drivers. AT&T Voice Power includes a UNIX driver (for AT&T UNIX SysV/386) and a C application program interface library. As far as I know, no driver for MS-DOS was ever offered. The audio quality is better than Dialogic. Compression is more effective (2000 bytes per second of speech, with optional silence-compression making it even tighter). Early versions of the board suffered from talk-off (speech being detected as touch-tones) and from imperfect silence detection. Later versions improved both of these areas. The cost per line is about 2x the Dialogic cost for the four-line board. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 10:58:34 EST From: Bill Rubin Subject: AT&T Public Phones - Data Jack Can someone out there give me some advice on how to successfully use the data jack on the AT&T Public Phones in airport lounges with my laptop computer? I was quite disappointed to see that you couldn't autodial with them, and then when I tried to manually dial and sync up it still would not work. What is the appropriate sequence of events and modem commands that I need to do? There must be a way to make it work, and it sure would be nice if the instructions on the phone told you how (ie, what to do after the phone goes into data mode). I tried calling AT&T customer service about this when I tried it a few weeks ago, but I got sent from one number to another, to another, until I finally gave up. Bill Rubin rubin@ibm.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #826 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05992; 18 Nov 90 5:00 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa14526; 18 Nov 90 3:17 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa02548; 18 Nov 90 2:12 CST Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 1:46:16 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #827 BCC: Message-ID: <9011180146.ab22746@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 01:45:34 CST Volume 10 : Issue 827 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions [Dave Levenson] Re: George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers [Lon Stowell] Re: Wanted: "Pole Climbers" [Macy Hallock] Re: Wanted: Home Phone System [Macy Hallock] Re: Area-Code 714 Will be Split [Bill Huttig] Re: Slick-96 [Dan'l DanehyOakes] Re: More Splitsville [Carl Moore] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System [Jeff Carroll] Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support [John Higdon] Re: Answer Supervision on PBX [Paul S. Sawyer] Re: Noise Reduction [Ken Abrams] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions Date: 16 Nov 90 04:51:48 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <14682@accuvax.nwu.edu>, JMS@mis.Arizona.EDU writes: [ regarding voice/fax switching boxes ] > charge. My big question on this option is, "how many FAX machines > present CNG tones?" Is this something which all FAX machines built in > the last two or three years have, or is this a feature which some FAX > machines built even today don't have? Anyone know any more about > this? All current-production fax machines are capable of producing CNG tones. The problem is that some operators of these machines don't use them that way. My fax machine is equipped with a handset, and may be used as an expensive replacement for a standard single-line telephone. If I lift the handset and dial your number, my machine thinks I'm placing a voice call, and sends no CNG tones. If your fax machine answers, I can then drop a document into my machine and press the SEND key. But if your switch answered while I was on the handset, and listened for my CNG tone, it would decide that I'm placing a voice call, and direct it to your telephone set. If I insert the document, and dial your number, and press the send key, my machine will know in advance that I'm trying to send a fax, and it will then generate the tones. The question is, how many fax users understand these details well enough to send a fax to your fax machine? Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: George Bush Pushing 900 Numbers Date: 16 Nov 90 00:24:01 GMT Reply-To: Lon Stowell Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA Just be glad he wasn't pushing 1-900-BALANCE at $10K or so per call as a way of balancing the budget! :-D ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 00:10 EST From: Macy Hallock Subject: Re: Wanted: "Pole Climbers" Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <14128@accuvax.nwu.edu>: >Anyone have a pair of those spiked pole-climbers that the outside >plant guys put on over their boots in order to climb poles? If so, are >you interested in selling them? Beware of used spurs. The condition and style of these is a safety issue not to be ignored. Old ones can be cracked, brittle or too short. If you are not trained in pole climbing, I'd advise against it. Even trained professionals get a chestful of splinters once in a while. That's why most of use use fiberglass ladders: it is safer. (Especially for those of us who just turned 40 and spend most of their time behind a desk ;-). I suggest you receive instruction from an experienced instructor in the selection and use of climbers. It is just too easy to get hurt. (There are other safety issues in pole climbing, such as dealing with electric power lines ... that stuff can fry you on the pole!) Extreme care is advised here ... we need all the Digest readers we can get, don't get yourself hurt! Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 00:39 EST From: Macy Hallock Subject: Re: Wanted: Home Phone System Organization: F M Systems, Inc. Medina, Ohio USA +1 216 723-3000 In article <14080@accuvax.nwu.edu>: >I'm interested in updating my home phones. >[Moderator's Note: It sounds to me like a small residential PBX would >be what you need. A couple manufacturers which come to mind are Rolm >and Melco. ROLM??? Patrick, you sure are loose with other peoples money! ;-) I know Ken Oshman has one in his home, but don't you think one of these is a little bit much for the average home? Why not a System 25 or a Mitel SX-200D? Seriously, I think the Melco is now not even actively marketed, it is not even in my North Supply catalog anymore. About the only Mini-PBX that freely accepts single line phones anymore is the Panasonic, if you can get one (they are still in short supply). Anyone else know of a decent small PBX or key system that freely accepts mostly single line phones? I'd be very interested to know? (I think the Comdial nee Cardinal is too large.) BTW, I carry a Panasonic KX-T308 system for voice mail demos, modem and fax tests and such. Best source of portable dial tone I know. I even hook it up to my cellular phone's single line 2500 jack as a trunk for use in business shows. I have a KX-T616 in my house with a 1A2 behind it ... (it is a long story.) I'm just sitting here typing and missing the NATA show this year due to a service coverage conflict (can't send _everybody_ to NATA, someone's got to take care of the paying customers.) So, anyone care to post updates on happenings at NATA? Macy M. Hallock, Jr. macy@NCoast.ORG uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy [Moderator's Note: I'm almost certain Rolm has/had a tiny little unit which handled one or two outside lines and up to six extensions. I think Mitel had something similar also. For my money, the Melco 212 was the best deal around with two outside lines and up to twelve extensions. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bill Huttig Subject: Re: Area-Code 714 Will be Split Date: 16 Nov 90 17:33:26 GMT Reply-To: Bill Huttig Organization: Florida Institute of Technology, ACS, Melbourne, FL In article <14716@accuvax.nwu.edu> slr@tybalt.caltech.edu (Steve Rhoades) writes: >2.) Orange County retains 714 while the bordering counties, some of which > are in 714, get the new 909. Most likely. >3.) Have all new phone numbers issued after Jan. 1993 get the > new area-code. (I never heard of this before.) I like it but think how DA would work. How many stupid people would not dial an area code ... wouldn't local calls have to go to ten digit dialing? I dont think it will work ... I wish the phone companies would just go to eight digit local numbers and a diferent area code setup. (They could tell the difference between new numbers and old numbers by the length of them.) >little and recovered quite a bit of territory. Currently Telenet uses >909 as the 'area code' for their administrative lines in Virginia. I >guess they will change it to something else starting in a couple >years. PAT] PAT - You mean SprintNet ;-) ... Sprint net has not changed the PAD address in the 407 area yet (at least Melbourne, FL) so i doubt they would change any addresses. It seems as though they will keep the old area code boundaries. Bill Moderator's Note: They've done the same thing here. The places now in 708 are still addressed as 312 on SprintNet. My local dial-in is now a 708 number in Glencoe, IL, but when on line, doing a @STAT returns an answer of 312 something. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dan'l DanehyOakes Subject: Re: Slick-96 Date: 16 Nov 90 22:21:34 GMT Reply-To: Dan'l DanehyOakes Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA In article <14710@accuvax.nwu.edu> KEVIN.GRIFFIN@ehpcb.wlk.com (KEVIN GRIFFIN) writes: >Can anyone tell me what a "Slick 96" switch is and what kind of >services are available from it. Actually, that's "SLC-96," for "Subscriber Loop Carrier." It's a digital carrier designed to carry [up to] 96 lines ("conversations") or the equivalent to a distribution point farther from a Central Office than the usual limit for local loops. Basically you can do anything with it that you can do with an aggregator of digital (or digitized analog) lines. The Roach ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 17:52:44 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: More Splitsville So, from the present 714 area (post 714/619 split), Orange County points will probably stay in 714, and those in San Bernardino and Riverside counties will go into 909? That means 714 is being restricted even more to the far eastern suburbs of Los Angeles. 714 at the time of 714/619 split had no N0X/N1X prefixes; are there still none in the present 714 and 619 areas? Apparently, Anaheim and Santa Ana would stay in 714? (Yes, I know Disneyland is in Anaheim, although Disney World in Florida went into 407 at the time of the 305/407 split there.) ------------------------------ From: Jeff Carroll Subject: Re: Saudi Arabia's Telephone System Date: 17 Nov 90 00:48:14 GMT Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle In article <14369@accuvax.nwu.edu> HWT@bnr.ca (Henry Troup) writes: >Mike Doughney writes: >> It almost looks like American workers had a hand in its production; >Bell Canada built and used to operate the Saudi phone system, on >contract for the government. I think that the latest operations >contract went to someone else. As someone else pointed out, there is also the Aramco system, and I happen to know that AT&T also built and maintained a telecom system in KSA. My employer is currently under contract to deliver and deploy yet another (independent, unconnected) telecom network to Saudi Arabia, as part of their air defense system. This one will use the European TDM hierarchy rather than the North American; the switches, last I knew, were going to be ITT/Alcatel System 10s. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Microsoft Use of 900 Number for Tech Support Date: 16 Nov 90 17:47:55 PST (Fri) From: John Higdon gordonl@microsoft.UUCP (Gordon LETWIN) writes: > What a hostile person you are. If you reasoned as well as you hate > you'd get somewhere. [plus a lengthy explanation of why Microsoft isn't responsible for DOS] My version of DOS 4.01 says nothing but Microsoft on the box, the manuals and the disks. I purchased it at Fry's Electronics as generic Microsoft DOS 4.01. It is NOT OEMed. So who is responsible? Who made the big bucks? Now, that out of the way, let me set the record straight on what product my original question was about. It was Microsoft Windows 3.0. Is that OEMed as well? I bought it at the same time as the DOS at Fry's. Your comments are certainly consistent with those I received from others at Microsoft. The problem lies everywhere else. My hardware, my other software, even me. Now you claim that others are getting rich off of Microsoft products, so the company isn't even responsible for collecting the profits! How do you equate my observations of poor customer service with hate? Is it hostility to expect that a manufacturer would make even a reasonable attempt to support a product? Is demurement about a 900 number for "customer service" a symptom of latent aggression? > So we offer "free" support for our retail products because we received > the retail markup and support is one of the things you do to earn that > money. We didn't receive the retail markup for DOS, the OEM did, and > the OEM is the person who needs to support it; that was their > agreement. As a convenience to customers who don't want to call the > OEM or whose OEM's are not doing a good job, Microsoft now offers > support for DOS, but we have to charge for it now since we didn't get > any money for that service when we sold your OEM the DOS. I'm sorry, but my observations indicate that this is totally bogus. The only number listed for technical help with Windows 3.0 is a 900 number. Could you supply me with the OEM for that product? I am positive that whoever it is, they could supply far better assistance than I have managed to get from Microsoft (for my $15.00 in 900 charges). Actually, even though the principle of "900" customer assistance is offensive, my attitude would be somewhat different if I could have received any value for my $15.00. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Answer Supervision on PBX Date: 16 Nov 90 14:45:08 EST (Fri) From: "Paul S. Sawyer" Please forgive the late response, but our news feed has been constipated lately.... B-( I said: > >Well, Pat, they keep telling us that our System 85 can't do it, but > >that they would be glad to sell us a 5ESS.... ??? First of all, keep in mind that I only do the DATA PROCESSING for the system, i.e., get them calls billed, and my memory of what they said (above) is not from a telecom viewpoint ... (My view being that the S85 is a computer, after all, and a computer should be hackable to do what the customer wants.) Our Telecom folk don't read the news. vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) said: > Paul, can you provide us with some background? What is you're > trunking arrangement? (PRA,T-1,Analog,etc.) What generic is the > switch running? We are running System 85 Release 2, Version 3; We have T1 circuits to the current LD carriers of choice (might be ATT, MCI, Sprint, LDN (Long Distance North) at any particular time) But intra-LATA, 800-, 900-, etc., (LEC) is not T1. My main problems in billing non answer-supervised calls are: 1. We set the minimums high (1.0 min for 1+NPA, 1.5 min for 011+), so we miss billing for some completed calls (tho no one complains ;-) 2. This is not long enough for some people; and, it can take more than 1.5 minutes just to get a busy signal from some countries 3. Even if we had an accurate 900 call pricing table, we would need accurate call length info to bill close to what students expect 4. Since DA calls are fixed price and often short, we bill all DA calls of 0.2 minutes or longer, some of which of course are not connected. For years we have explained this to faculty and staff, who squawk but have to put up with it; we are serving students now, who would like to believe that all phone systems work the way their home systems do. Thanks for the interest. Paul S. Sawyer paul@unhtel.uucp {uunet,attmail}!unhtel!paul UNH CIS - - Telecommunications and Network Services p_sawyer1@unhh.unh.edu Durham, NH 03824-3523 VOX: +1 603 862 3262 FAX: +1 603 862 2030 ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Noise Reduction Date: 16 Nov 90 23:39:31 GMT Reply-To: Ken Abrams Organization: Athenanet, Inc., Springfield, Illinois In article <14692@accuvax.nwu.edu> JAJZ801@calstate.bitnet writes: > Due to roommate pressure over phone hogging with modem use, I am >putting another line in. However, I will be forced to accept the >existing four-wire, non-twisted-pair that is currently installed, >using the second line of the pair. Based upon previous discussions in >the Digest, I expect noise problems with the modem. What can I do to >avoid or minimize this. Hardware solutions may include a new modem but My advice is: Don't panic. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Try it out first. I have been using modems in a residential environment on standard quad (non-twisted) for a long time and have yet to experience any significant noise problems. If the wiring run is fairly short (< 300 ft) and it isn't close to any external noise sources like fluorescent lights, you might get by just fine. Some modems are more imune to noise than others. I have had good luck with a Supra 2400 and a USR HST. Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #827 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06777; 18 Nov 90 5:59 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa02612; 18 Nov 90 4:21 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab14526; 18 Nov 90 3:17 CST Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 2:26:43 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #828 BCC: Message-ID: <9011180226.ab04455@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 02:26:34 CST Volume 10 : Issue 828 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Western Union Clock Service [Paul Schleck] Re: Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? [David Tamkin] Re: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service [mingo@cup.portal.com] Re: AT&T MAIL ACCESS Program Description [Tim Evans] Re: Measured Local Service [John Higdon] Re: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service [Vance Shipley] Re: Dealing With Telemarketers [Jeff Carroll] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 00:51:37 EST From: Paul Schleck Subject: Re: Western Union Clock Service Reply-to: Paul.Schleck@f27.n285.z1.fidonet.org Well, after reading the myriad posts about the Western Union Clock service and deciding that I just >>had<< to get one of my own, I reached for the nearest yellow pages and talked to just about every clock repair shop and antique dealer who would pick up the phone. My search ended with an antique dealer in Omaha. He said he had two of them (standard wall model, I assume). He was at home (got his calls forwarded) and said he would sell them for "100-120 bucks or so." Does this sound like a fair price? Since he DOES have two, someone else can snap up the other one. Mindful of the Fidonet ban on "advertising", I will let prospective buyers contact me at home via the telephone. I have no financial interest in any transaction that will take place between you and this dealer. There was a post on this conference about someone who made a circuit to synchronize the clock via the telegraph line hookup. Are these schematics available? Are the obligatory SASE's and green stamps for copying costs involved? Let me know. My local BBS sysop deletes often, so the relevant posts are now in the bit bucket. I was thinking of homebrewing a tone discriminator that would monitor WWV and listen for that standard reference tone at the top of the hour (which is different from the tone at the other 59 minutes), detect it for a fraction of a second (to prevent falsing) and send a synchronization signal to the clock. Any ideas on this one? Can't wait to have one of these beauties in the computer room/hamshack whirring away at the top of each hour. My girlfriend ALREADY thinks I'm nuts for collecting "all this wierd junk." Paul W. Schleck, KD3FU (402) 291-6176 (6-9 p.m. Central) Internet pschleck@alf.unomaha.edu --- Ybbat (DRBBS) 8.9 v. 3.12 r.5 [1:285/27@fidonet] Neb. Inns of Court 402/593-1192 (1:285/27.0) --- Through FidoNet gateway node 1:16/390 Paul.Schleck@f27.n285.z1.fidonet.org [Moderator's Note: I'd say the price he quoted is fair, assuming the clocks actually work. If they are not working, you can still cheat by putting an electric clock works in the case and use only the dial, hands and cabinet. Regards the various plans for a pseudo setting circuit, if you think it is worth the time, go ahead; but I can tell you that if the clock is hung *perfectly level* and the pendulum calibrated properly (a few days of testing by setting the time and watching for inaccuracies a day or so later) you will find the clock stays accurate within a minute or less per month as is. My two WU clocks do their own thing and when I think of it once a month or so I set them if they are more than a minute off. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: Are Cellular Calls Free to Landline Customers, or Not? Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 11:22:29 CST Bob Sherman wrote in volume 10, issue 822: | A recent item in one of the communications trade publications stated | that a major New England cellular provider was about to begin | reversing that trend by charging the landline caller for calls made TO | cell phones. | In other words, if the cell phone places the call, they pay the air | charges, but if a landline places the call to the cell phone, they | will be charged the air charges. There's a bit of a complication here. How much do I, using a landline to place a call to a cellular phone, pay for airtime? If the wireline carrier and the non-wireline carrier charge different amounts for airtime, do I pay different amounts for calling the customers of one from the customers of the other? If one acquaintance of mine uses a cell phone for business and has a package that involves prepaying for ten hours of airtime every month and then 33c peak, 20c off-peak after that, but another friend uses the cell phone principally for weekend getaways and road emergencies and has an after-hours package of no prepaid airtime, 65c peak, and 10c off-peak, do I pay the airtime rates in their packages for calling them (or perhaps nothing for calling the first person I mentioned if his/her total airtime for that billing cycle, including my call, is under the prepaid minimum)? Is it ethical or even legal for the cellular companies to tell my telco what arrangements their customers have with them? Instead, does my telco charge me some standard generic rate structure for calls to cellular phones, perhaps with various high-usage packages available for those of us (say, if we have cell phones ourselves and sometimes forward our landlines to them) who call cellular numbers a lot? There is also the matter of placing long-distance calls to cellular numbers. What I described above has to be answered again for every inter-LATA carrier. Next: suppose the caller claims that the number he or she dialed had been misrepresented to him or her as a landline, and he or she refuses to pay the airtime charge? Maybe the connection was very clear, or the caller hung up instantly upon suspecting that it was a mobile phone but still gets billed for one minute of airtime. There are a *lot* of complications here. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com ------------------------------ From: mingo@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 21:59:52 PST gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca writes: > A Canadian Company has recently begun to offer a special reduced >rate to fax users. The user pays only a small monthly fee ($10, I >think) and receives a little black box which attaches to their fax >machine ... MT&T (Bell Canada) offers a similar >service, but you have to pay for a special line which will place local >calls of any type, but will only allow fax calls to be place long >distance. First of all, as an expatriate Nova Scotian, I assure you that Bell Canada does *not* own Maratime Tel & Tel: they tried to take it over in 1967, and Premier Stanfield passed a law restricting shareholdings to 10%. >Of course, when I read this in the paper I wondered how they detected >this. I called MT&T and asked what would happen if a voice call was >placed on such a line. They assured me it would be very quickly >disconnected. My modem has no trouble distinguishing voice from data calls: the data calls feature constant frequency tones, and voice calls feature changing frequencies. >The person I spoke to also claimed that MT&T was >'listening' to the call and was actually sensing fax protocol and thus >deciding whether the call should be allowed to continue or not. > Does anyone know if such services actually detect and interpret fax >protocol to decide whether to axe the call? The idea that first struck >me was using this service to get cheap rates for long distance modem >calls. If all the hardware is listening for is something that >resembles a data call (carrier) then perhaps a modem would fool it. >Any thought? I expect it might. It was my understanding that the black box was intended solely to keep you from using the line for voice. According to the Globe & Mail, the CRTC only permitted this class of service if the fax calls could be segregated from voice. Apparently, this setup is not yet available in New Brunswick, because NB Tel has yet to implement "audit features" to ensure compliance. ------------------------------ From: Tim Evans Subject: Re: AT&T MAIL ACCESS Program Description Date: 17 Nov 90 14:13:32 GMT Organization: Fallston, MD In <14689@accuvax.nwu.edu> nelson%odin.corp.sgi.com@sgi.com (Nelson Bolyard) writes: >Executive (:-) Summary: If you have and use AT&T Mail's "ACCESS" >program for the PC or MacIntosh, please write a description of how it >works, how you use it, how user-friendly it is, etc, and mail it to me >So I chose AT&T Mail. >AT&T has a pair of programs that they want you to buy to use AT&T >Mail. Both are named "ACCESS", one is for the PC, one for the >MacIntosh. Each reportedly costs about $150 (just went up, used to be >about $100). Missing here is the fact that ATTMail can be used non-interactively. AT&T does after all run UNIX on its systems, including the ATTMail system. If your system is a UNIX or UNIX-derived system, just establish a UUCP link to ATTMail (they will allow this) and then use your local mail agent to compose messages with UUCP-style addresses. They will be delivered just like any other UUCP mail. Morever, since ATTMail charges more for "on line" message composition than for messages "uploaded" via UUCP, you save even more money this way. PC and Mac users: don't despair. Get a PD UUCP (i.e., 'uupc' or similar agent) and connect to ATTMail as a "UNIX" system. Even if you _buy_ a DOS/MacOS UUCP-style mailer, you're still ahead of where you'd be buying ACCESS, because you can use it to talk to systems other than ATTMail. I don't thing anyone disagrees that AT&T's marketing of ATTMail is p*ss poor, but if you insist that you want to connect a "UNIX" system (even if your "UNIX" system is really a DOS system), somebody in Customer Service should be able to find somebody who knows somebody who can help you. Just don't confuse them by telling them you're using a PC or Mac. UUCP: {rutgers|ames|uunet}!mimsy!woodb!fallst!tkevans INTERNET: tkevans%fallst@wb3ffv.ampr.org Tim Evans 2201 Brookhaven Ct, Fallston, MD 21047 ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Measured Local Service Date: 16 Nov 90 18:11:53 PST (Fri) From: John Higdon "Sander J. Rabinowitz" writes: > "As a free service to you, we have kept track of the number of local > calls you've made this month so you can see if you save money with our > measured service. This month, you made -0- local calls--therefore, > you would have saved $3.44 this month had you used our other plan." This is very scary and you should be concerned. Most telcos have discovered that PUCs and equivalents are most reluctant to allow the summary discontinuance of unmeasured residence service, so they use a more sophisticated approach these days. Step one involves switching as many people over to measured as possible. Reps are primed to push measured service as a way of saving money. To this end, in areas that offer both measured and unmeasured residence service, the pricing is set up to make measured as attractive to as many as possible. One approach is to use a generous allowance for measured service. Another is to price unmeasured in the stratosphere. Then, when a majority of customers have measured service, the telco goes to the PUC and argues that unmeasured service is no longer in real demand and that it would have minor reactions to its discontinuance. At some point, the PUC gives in and unmeasured service goes away. The first subsequent action by telco is to remove the allowance. This is easy, since it is not technically a rate increase. Then the monthly rate for measured becomes as high as the former unmeasured rate and telco has what it wants: every bit of facility usage paid for. > Now I KNOW for each of the last five months, more than 50 local calls > per month were made on that line. (I made many of them myself. =) > Meanwhile, my own telephone bill doesn't have that message, even > though my line also has the unlimited calling feature. Events have led me to believe that telcos (at least Pac*Bell) do not have a foolproof way of monitoring local traffic on individual lines. On more than one occasion, I have had measured lines that are NEVER used for local outgoing and have large Zone 1 usage ticketed. Calls to the business office result in the rep freely removing the calls ("what do you think the usage was, Mr. Higdon?"). This does not cause me to have a great deal of confidence in local metering. > Is this something for the local public service commission to look at? > It seems like a harmless computer glitch, but I can't shake the > feeling that something fishy is going on here. You betcha. You may be headed down the slippery slope of measured-only service. Watch out! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: Unitel (Canada) Fax Service Organization: SwitchView - The Linton Technology Group Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 18:35:07 GMT In article <14718@accuvax.nwu.edu> gauthier@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul Gauthier) writes: > I called MT&T and asked what would happen if a voice call was >placed on such a line. They assured me it would be very quickly >disconnected. The person I spoke to also claimed that MT&T was >'listening' to the call and was actually sensing fax protocol and thus >deciding whether the call should be allowed to continue or not. > Does anyone know if such services actually detect and interpret fax >protocol to decide whether to axe the call? The idea that first struck >me was using this service to get cheap rates for long distance modem >calls. If all the hardware is listening for is something that >resembles a data call (carrier) then perhaps a modem would fool it. >Any thought? I believe you'll have to go with Unitel's Facsroute service to use modems. It seems that Telecom Canada (the real provider of Faxcom) does look for fax protocol. Unitel does not, they only check for "carrier". If this is very confusing for our american listeners let me elaborate. Here in Canada we have not deregulated long distance telephone service. The only carrier for public switched voice service is Telecom Canada (Bell Canada, and they rest of the phone companies). Data is a different story though and there is competition. Unitel (formerly CNCP) is the main alternative. The question here regards the methods used by both carriers to ensure that their fax services (deemed as data by Unitel) carry no voice calls. Vance Shipley vances@ltg ------------------------------ From: Jeff Carroll Subject: Re: Dealing with Telemarketers Date: 17 Nov 90 01:00:39 GMT Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle In article <14383@accuvax.nwu.edu> nickless@flash.ras.anl.gov (Bill Nickless) writes: >Sleaze: "Is Mr. Nickless available?" (Or better yet, I live with my > recently widowed aunt, and the Sleaze asks for "Mr. or Mrs. > White....") >(20 minutes later, Sleaze hangs up in disgust, realizing that it has >lost that time to harass someone else.) :-) >[Moderator's Note: Based on only one sentence from the person calling, >how do you know it was a telemarketer and not a police officer, >hospital clerk or someone Mr. and Mrs. White *do* need and want to >speak with? PAT] For about three years after we got married, our phone was listed under my wife's maiden name, though I usually answered the phone. It was not very difficult to figure out what was afoot on calls like these: Me: Hello? Other person: "Mr. Burns?" Actually, here in Bellevue, the police department (or, rather, the Police Officers' Guild) *does* engage in telemarketing. I was interrupted during the second game of the World Series by a police officer seeking a rather large donation ($25/head) to pay for "tickets for disadvantaged youth" to a circus that was coming to town. Being wrapped up in the ball game, I didn't bother to investigate further, but it did sound a little fishy -- not to mention the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies receiving phone calls from local cops asking for money. Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #828 ******************************  ISSUES 829-830 GOT REVERSED IN TRANSMISSION. 829 COMES AFTER 830 HERE.  Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24932; 19 Nov 90 1:29 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab02760; 18 Nov 90 23:32 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ab10375; 18 Nov 90 22:25 CST Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 22:23:10 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #830 BCC: Message-ID: <9011182223.ab11490@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 22:22:57 CST Volume 10 : Issue 830 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Telephonic Paranoia [The Irish Times, via Charles Bryant] Prodigy Communications Protocol [Robert S. Maier] Manitoba and the NXX of the Beast? [Gerard Stafleu, via David Leibold] NEW ZEALAND Telecom Information and News [Pat Cain] Request for Cellular Tech Info [David Leibold] N00 in 213 and 818 [Carl Moore] No N0X/N1X in Area 714? [Carl Moore] GTE Mobilnet's Response [Jerry Durand] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Charles Bryant Subject: Telephonic Paranoia Organization: Datacode Communications Ltd, Dublin, Ireland Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 16:03:10 GMT The following article is excerpted from "The Saturday Column" of "The Irish Times", November 17th - a column with a humorous slant. (Mary Robinson was recently elected President. She is not a member of any party, but was supported by the parties of the left). More Telephonic Paranoia Two well known lefties were cruelly disturbed in the midst of their separate Mary Robinson celebrations last weekend. Both received phone calls of such a frightening nature that they took the matter up with the telephone authorities first thing on Monday morning. The cause of their concern was that their phones would ring and when answered the only reply they got was their own voices coming back at them. One of the recipients even had his baby's background cries played back down the line. As this disturbance occurred up to a dozen times over the weekend a certain paranoia took hold which led them to believe that maybe the forces of the right were indeed plotting a coup. President Allende and all that befell him, and his supporters, sprang to mind. The excitement died quickly when Bord Telecom was contacted. They told the two concerned lefties, who were now on the point of organising resistance, that they had received hundreds of such worried calls from paranoid householders. Nothing sinister was afoot. A weird technical fault meant that most incoming calls from overseas were creating this response on Irish phones. "But surely the Special Branch..." the lefties ventured. Not at all, said Telecom. Charles Bryant (ch@dce.ie) ------------------------------ From: "Robert S. Maier" Subject: Prodigy Communications Protocol Date: 18 Nov 90 21:20:48 GMT Organization: University of Arizona Mathematics Department There have been a good many articles in TELECOM Digest complaining about Prodigy. Besides Prodigy's policies, many posters are irritated by their inability to capture Prodigy output to a file. Has anyone done anything about this? I gather Prodigy uses a proprietary communications protocol, but is it possible to reverse-engineer it? That would open the door to custom-designed Prodigy clients, running on any architecture. And it would facilitate the addition of new features, such as capturing text and graphics output. Or is it simply too difficult a job? Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@math.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: uunet!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | FAX: +1 602 621 8322 U.S.A. | Voice(POTS): +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ From: woody Subject: Manitoba and the NXX of the Beast? Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 21:43:08 EST [the following was copied from a Canadian-based newsgroup...] From: gerard@uwovax.uwo.ca (Gerard Stafleu) Newsgroups: can.general Subject: Numbers Game in Manitoba Date: 8 Nov 90 13:50:19 GMT Organization: University of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada In an interesting news item this morning, it was revealed that the telephone company in Manitoba has been forced to give up its plans to have an exchange with numbers strarting with 666. People said they would rather be accused of superstition than have to live with these numbers. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, observers believe the reason is that the number 666 would conjure up images of stacks of 333 two dollar bills in the minds of Manitobans. "We are not about to be aced by the deuces," as one Manitoban put it. Gerard Stafleu (519) 661-2151 Ext. 6043 Internet: gerard@uwovax.uwo.ca BITNET: gerard@uwovax [Notes from djcl: MTS is the telephone company in Manitoba, and from my listings, 666 has yet to be assigned. That didn't stop the federal government from getting it in NPA 604 (Vancouver BC), and Bell Canada had this as one of the last NNX exchanges in 416 (before converting to NXX format back in March) - 416-666 is Whitby, just east of Toronto, or 519-666 Ilderton ON or 306-666 Fox Valley, SK]] ------------------------------ Subject: NEW ZEALAND Telecoms Information and News From: Pat Cain Date: Mon, 19 Nov 90 13:33:34 NZD Organization: Sideways BB, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, +64 4 661231 RECENT TELECOM NEWS FROM NEW ZEALAND Here are a few snippets of information and recent news about the New Zealand Telecom system for anyone who is interested. 0) Recent changes to the telecom system 1) Clear Communications - rival company to Telecom 2) Last manually operated exchange in NZ closed 3) Problems with 111 emergency service 0) Recent changes For those who didn't already know, the telephone system in New Zealand was run as a government department by the New Zealand Post Office. Over the past few years it has been privatised and sold off to various New Zealand and American companies. Telecom still holds a virtual monopoly over the cellular, toll and local call services. Before Telecom were privatised/sold, they ran a large number of Television advertisements where the following three promises were carved into a large stone. Telecom "voluntarily" made these three promises to the public: 1) Free local calls for residential customers 2) The cost of residential phone services would not rise above the cost of living unless Telecom's profits were unreasonably affected. 3) Residential phone services would remain at the same rate throughout the country (even though it costs Telecom more to maintian these in rural areas). Major changes since Telecom have been privatised and sold off: BEFORE ... * Local area calls free (ie. no time charge) * Toll services subsidising local area services. AFTER ... * Businesses pay for calls by the minute. Residential accounts rise in price dramatically, ~$NZ35/month... local calls still free. * Cheaper toll calls; More expensive monthly charge. * Businesses now have to pay to make directory inquiries. * Various services rise in price. * Telecom fire a large proportion of their staff and begin contracting out work such as phone installations. * Time taken to install phones decreases from several months to two days or less! * Tone-dial, SPC exchanges installed. Services such as conference calling, call waiting, call diversion, do not disturb and so on made available. * Telecom start bombarding everyone with 'cute' advertisments in Television, Radio and Print - Telecom become the biggest spending advertiser in the country. Residential subscribers receive an information pamphlet each month full of useful and useless information. * Telecom begin to convert the whole country's telephone numbering system FROM: Over 80 area codes of a varying length and varying length telephone numbers TO: Five single digit area codes with all telephone numbers being seven digits. 1) Clear Communications Just a couple of days ago Clear Communications announced a that they would be forming an rival company to Telecom. Shareholders in Clear Communications are NZ Railways (who have fibre optic links installed along their railway lines throughout most of the country), Todd Corporation, Television New Zealand, MCI Communications and Bell Canada International. New Zealand has a population of only 3.5 million yet Clear Comms says NZ will be a highly competitive market place. They claim that their system will utilise the most up to date technology in the world, and that they expect the NZ telecom market will grow rapidly. They expect to have the first business connections by early January, 1991. And general/residential connections by 1st April 1991. 2) The Last Manual Telephone Exchange in NZ The Claris Post Office Exchange on Great Barrier Island operated by Sue Daly was recently decommissioned. Great Barrier Island has a population of 1000 people, some of whom are sad to see the exchange go, others are pleased. After dark, when the exchange was not staffed, only emergency calls could be made. 3) Emergency Service Problems During the last few years, as Telecom has been upgrading their exchanges, there seem to have been more problems with Telecom's emergency service (111). Incidents such as number-unobtainable, number-busy and being diverted to tolls operators on other parts of the country have occured. At least one death has occured due to calls not being put through correctly to the emergency service. A friend here in Wellington recently called 111 to report a fire and was greeted with "Tolls". Friend: "Fire please". The operator seemed confused, and rustled some paper around (presumably looking for the number of the fire service) and said "Ummmm..." and said "That's Wellington isn't it?", then a few seconds later said "That's an emergency service isn't it?". Friend: "YES!". Operator says "You should be ringing on 111!". Friend: "I just have!". Operator says "Oh well, in that case one moment please..". Operator then put friend through to fire service. The friend didn't report this to Telecom, but as can be seen from this editorial, he's not the only one who has had problems. IF ALL ELSE FAILS, SCREAM [Editorial from Evening Post, November 12, 1990] FIRE, accident, assault in the neighbourhood -- most people's reflex reaction is to dial 111 to ask for an emergency service. Every month 28,000 people do and are efficiently connected. But occasionally a call goes wrong. In July a major computer problem blocked a Dunedin family trying desperately to call an ambulance for a man who had collapsed, and who died before help could be summoned. Last week emergency calls from Dunedin and Blenheim flew around the country, causing delays before the messages got through. Telecom's explanation was hardly reassuring: "Unfortunately a tecnicality meant that two calls for Dunedin and two for Blenheim emergency services were put through to the right emergency service, but in the wrong city." Unfortunately, indeed. Incidents like these send a shudder through people who wonder whether they too will be at the mercy of a computer hiccup if ever they need to dial 111. Politicians, too, have expressed alarm at the lack of a backup system. The previous government thought of asking one of its departments to look into the matter, but with Telecom privatised could not work out which department should be responsible. When Telecom was sold it gave no undertaking to continue the 111 service. It was not one of the three public guarantees carved in stone, and there is no formal contract to provide it. But it was part of the package it inherited and, commercial pressures not withstanding, Telecom feels bound to maintain it, and gives emergency calls top priority. The ordinary person is understandably mystified, however, when a call for the police in Dunedin is answered in Palmerston North, relayed to Christchurch, and returns to Dunedin by way of the police network, as occured last week. The first of these steps happened as it should, because the Christchurch nerve centre was out for maintenance and calls were automatically diverted to the nearest 111 exchange: Palmerston North. The second should not have happened, but the tag showing the area of origin was missing -- a glitch that needs urgent attention - and the operator who answered put the call through to the Christchurch police instead. The third need not have happened: when the operator found it was the wrong city she could have reconnected to Dunedin, but the police in Christchurch chose to take the message and pass it on themselves, with consequent delay. Because life and death ride on the system the public and emergency services have a right to be concerned whenever something goes wrong. But there is certainly no cause to lose faith in the system. Callers themselves can help by observing elementary essentials like waiting for the dial tone, dialling 111 firmly, waiting up to 10 seconds for the operator to answer, saying precisely where the problem is (particularly if using a cellphone) -- and not clogging the lines with the 20,000 false calls they are making every month. People making needless calls might be less inclined to do so if they realised their numbers are all identified. As for a total backup, that would mean duplicating the present telephone network. Telecom could do it. But in the end it's the users who would have to pay. Patrick Cain )) Voice: +64 4 698330 (GMT+12) PO Box 2060 (( Modem: +64 4 661231 (Sideways BB, BBC/Archimedes/Text) Wellington, NZ )) Email: patrick@sideways.gen.nz or patrick@actrix.co.nz ------------------------------ From: woody Subject: Request for Cellular Tech Info Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 0:35:27 EST I am forwarding a request for cellular info made by someone on the BBS I operate ... e-mail responses would be appreciated. Perhaps someone out there in the know might want to whip up a reference file on cellular tech details and that, suitable for TD Archives. Msg# : 286 Tue 6 Nov 90 11:08p From : Alan Wilcocks-Gynn To : All Subject: Cellular Control Channel Format Status : Can anyone tell me how I can get access to the following information: -Physical data format for cellular control channels. -Control channel protocol. -Differences (if any) between Cantel and Bell Cellular control formats. Thanks. --- Maximus-CBCS v1.02 * Origin: (89:480/126) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 21:21:45 -0500 From: Carl Moore <00860@vax1.udel.edu> Reply-to: cmoore@brl.mil Subject: N00 in 213 and 818 August, 1989, Los Angeles call guide: 213-600 Los Angeles 818-300 Alhambra 818-500 Glendale 818-700 Reseda ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 21:23:49 -0500 From: Carl Moore <00860@vax1.udel.edu> Subject: No N0X/N1X in Area 714? Reply-to: cmoore@brl.mil August 1989 call guide for Los Angeles (served by PacBell) lists 714-602 Riverside. Is this a misprint? It did not show up in later call guides: June 1990 -- San Bernardino (GTE) November 1989 -- Orange County (PacBell) ------------------------------ From: JDurand@cup.portal.com Subject: GTE Mobilnet's Response Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 09:36:32 PST X-Possible-Reply-Path: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!JDurand In Message-ID: <14712@accuvax.nwu.edu> john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >I had no actual conversation with anyone at GTE Mobilnet today >concerning their blocking of international dialing. We played >And then the surprise. There was a message informing me that >international dialing had been reinstated on my two accounts! There >was no other comment, but IDDD does work on my cellular phones. I called the local GTE customer service number (*611, San Jose, CA area) and to my surprise they answered before my batteries died! (8-) I asked about getting IDDD turned back on since I have customers in several countries. The CS person told me to dial *111 (trouble number, sometimes answered). The person there told me to call Roxann Metzger (sp?) at the original CS number. I finally got through to her and within an hour of talking to her my phone was working again. Since she didn't argue more than a minute or two, I assume John had just gotten done with her (thanks John). Jerry Durand, Durand Interstellar, Inc., 408 356-3886, jdurand@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #830 ******************************   Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24934; 19 Nov 90 1:29 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa02760; 18 Nov 90 23:29 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa10375; 18 Nov 90 22:25 CST Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 21:42:03 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #829 BCC: Message-ID: <9011182142.ac03134@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 21:41:52 CST Volume 10 : Issue 829 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson More Deregulation in Britain [Der Standard, via Wolf Paul] Video Conferencing Information Needed [Bill Crane] Alternatives to Traditional Multi-Drop 4-Wire Data Lines [Richard Szabo] Cellular Phones of the Future [Jane Wilde] New 410 Code for MD [Washington Post, via Michael Katzmann/Roger Fajman] What is PC Pursuit? [David McKellar] Modernizing the Hungarian Telephone System [Der Standard, via Wolf Paul] What is MFJ a TLA For? [Roy Smith] 900 Numbers and Media 4 Advertising Survey [Steven M. Mailman] GENIE Information (was: Info Needed on Prodigy Service) [Ben Burch] Wireless Phonejak [Gary W. Sanders] High Technology on the Street [New York Post, via Winston Lawrence] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wolf paul Subject: More Deregulation in Britain Date: 15 Nov 90 09:21:41 GMT Reply-To: wolf paul Organization: IIASA, Laxenburg/Vienna, Austria, Europe The following is taken Vienna's "DER STANDARD", 1990-11-15: Great Britain's government wants to open the country's telecommunications market to additional vendors. Minister of Trade Peter Lilley recently said in London that the market which is currently dominated by British Telecommunications Plc. and Mercury Communications Ltd. should be made accessible to other competitors. His proposals are contained in a discussion paper which has been presented to Parliament. The government and the regulatory agency for telecommunications (Oftel) want to encourage cable television companies to also supply telephone and other services, said Lilley. On the other hand, British Telecom should be prohibited for the next ten years from entering the entertainment sector. These proposals underscore the efforts of the Thatcher government to push ahead with the liberalization of the telecommunications market which started with the privatization of British Telecom in 1984. Wolf N. Paul, UNIX SysAdmin, IIASA, A 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa@relay.eu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET ------------------------------ From: Bill Crane Subject: Video Conferencing Information Needed Date: 16 Nov 90 23:28:18 GMT Reply-To: Bill Crane Organization: Days Inns of America We are planning to establish a video conferencing network between our Atlanta and Knoxville (we have dedicated ISDN service between these offices (T1.5)). We have received some information from PictureTel Corporation in Atlanta, but we are interested in finding other vendors of this service so that we can be sure that we're getting a competitive price. Is anyone else using a Video Conferencing Network, or can anyone recommend a vendor? Bill Crane ...!gatech!daysinns!bill bill%daysinns@gatech.edu Days Inns of America Inc., Atlanta GA ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Nov 90 04:00:32 -0500 From: Richard Szabo Subject: Alternatives to Traditional Multi-Drop 4-Wire Data Lines Reply-To: ac220@cleveland.freenet.edu What are the alternatives to the following: My shop runs a data network over multi-drop four-wire leased lines to ~80 branch locations stragetically sprinkled over half of our state, Ohio. The lines run SDLC or Bisync and carry IBM 3270 terminal traffic. There are 4800- and 9600-bps circuits. The lines are utilized only during normal business hours. They cost a lot. Is there a good way to have switched lines dial into a bridge to create a multi-drop image? Is X.25 a viable alternative? Are there new services such as ISDN or Virtual Private Data Networks or anything else that could substitute? Rich Szabo Cleveland, Ohio, USA +1 216 662 1112 Internet: ac220@cleveland.freenet.edu ------------------------------ From: jane wilde Subject: Cellular Phones of the Future Date: 18 Nov 90 01:58:27 GMT Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh. I think these phones are a great idea - calling the person, not the place. But the price will keep them off the market to the general public. According to an article in {USA Today}, Motorola has a phone which will cost approx. $1,500. Another article I read says that an Ohio based company will be able to put them on the market for about $100. There's a big difference in price. How so? If this is true, maybe it won't be long before everyone has a "pocket phone". And if that's the case, won't this be a major distraction to others. How would you like to be at the movies and have someone talking on the phone? Also, what about frequencies? Will everyone be able to listen in on your conversation? Or will it be publicly broadcast? jwilde@barney.bgsu.edu. ------------------------------ From: opel!arinc!vk2bea!eccles!michael@uunet.uu.net Subject: New 410 Code For MD Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 4:35:24 UTC From: {The Washington Post}, Sat Nov 17 1990 2nd Area Code for Md. Maryland will get its second telephone area code next year. The entire state now uses a single area code, 301. The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. of Maryland said Friday a second code is needed to accommodate requests for telephone service and for telecommunications services such as mobile phones, facsimile machines and beepers. The new 410 area code will serve metropolitan Baltimore, the entire Eastern Shore, Calvert County and the majority of Carroll, Howard and Anne Arundel counties. The rest of the state will use the existing 301 area code. "There will be no change in rates customers are charged, and there will be no change in local calling areas," said C&P spokesman Al Burman. The new area code will be phased in over the next two years. Customers will be encouraged to begin using it next November. During most of 1992, customers will be able to use either 301 or 410 to place calls to the 410 area code. In November, 1992, customers will have to use the correct area code. Using the wrong one will cause them to hear a recorded message. Michael Katzmann Broadcast Sports Technology Amateur Radio Stations: NV3Z / VK2BEA / G4NYV UUCP: ..uunet!mimsy!arinc!vk2bea!michael [Moderator's Note: Thanks also to Roger Fajman for an almost identical article he submitted. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 13:04:48 EST From: David McKellar Subject: What Is PC Pursuit? Reply-To: djm@dmntor.UUCP (Dave McKellar @ Digital Media Networks) Organization: Digital Media Networks, Toronto, Canada What is PC Pursuit ? Is is a service to make low-cost long distance data phone calls ? If it is I'm interested and would like to get their phone number. Thanks. [Moderator's Note: You are correct about the purpose of the service, which is operated by Sprint / Telenet. $30 per month gets you 30 hours of service via a local dialup. You dial out in distant cities through modems on the SprintNet (what we used to call Telenet) network. I am not sure how it operates from Canada, or if it does. You may have to go through Canada DataPac to connect with the gateway in the USA. For information, call 703-689-6000 from outside the USA and ask for information on the PC Pursuit program. I've been a member for about seven years and find it quite worthwhile. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wolf paul Subject: Modernizing the Hungarian Telephone System Date: 16 Nov 90 11:12:49 GMT Reply-To: wolf paul Organization: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Translated from an article in Vienna's "DER STANDARD" of Nov. 16, 1990: The deadline for bids to modernize Hungary's telephone system is in about two weeks, and the competition among the world's largest suppliers of central office equipment is reaching a climax. The winner will get a contract to install switching equipment for approximately 1.5 million subscriber lines, valued at about one billion dollars. Three Austrian companies are among the bidders: Schrack and Kapsch through their joint-venture company Austria Telecom, as well as Siemens Austria. Other competitors include all of the world's telecom giants, like the Swedish Ericsson, the French/German Alcatel-SEL, as well as Japanese companies. "We're in a good starting position", Siemens' Telecom Export Manager Alfred Gruenzweig is certain. Siemens already has met one of the main requirements of the Hungarian PTT by establishing a joint-venture company with a Hungarian company, Budapest's telephone manufacturer "Telefongyar", for the production of system components. In order to save hard currency, one of the major criteria in the decision will be the proportion of system components to be manufactured in Hungary. Austria Telecom (AT), a joint venture of Austrian telecom companies Kapsch and Schrack, is another bidder. AT is offering a European version of Northern Telecom's DMS family, which is being adapted in Austria under the name "OES-D". AT's partner for the eventual production of central office switches is Hungary's BHG. The Hungarian PTT intends to announce its decision before the end of the year. In a manner paralleling the situation in Austria, two suppliers will be chosen, each of which will receive 35% of the total volume. The remaining 30% will be awarded on the basis of individual project bids from these two suppliers. The details of financing the modernizing project have not yet been worked out; among the options are World Bank loans. Wolf N. Paul, UNIX SysAdmin, IIASA, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe PHONE: +43-2236-71521-465 FAX: +43-2236-71313 UUCP: uunet!iiasa!wnp INTERNET: wnp%iiasa@relay.eu.net BITNET: tuvie!iiasa!wnp@awiuni01.BITNET [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, this message was truncated at about the point it ends, above. I printed what I was able to reconstruct. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 10:07:57 EST From: Roy Smith Subject: What is MFJ a TLA For? Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City > I personally think that the omission of GTE is one huge glaring error > (among soooo many) of the MFJ. OK, I give up. What's MFJ a TLA (Three Letter Acronym) for? Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy [Moderator's Note: MFJ = Modified Final Judgment, i.e. what Harold, in his, uh, wisdom issued in the process of busting up the Bell System. Judge Harold Greene delivered himself of his ruling (the MFJ) back in 1983. He has modified the judgment a few times since then. PAT] ------------------------------ From: "Steven M. Mailman" Subject: 900 Numbers and Media 4 Advertising Survey Date: 16 Nov 90 16:24:29 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Yesterday I received (actually, my answering machine received) a a recorded announcement telling me about about free gifts and trips if I call 1-900-741-1200 for a fee of $3.50. I don't know anything about the free gifts and free trips but the $3.50 fee IS A LIE! Ma Bell told me, and the company admitted, that the cost of that number is $9.90. (I'd bet that the free gifts and free trips part is a lie too!) If you get a call from 900-741-1200, it is run by Media 4 Advertising Survey and you can call them at 800-346-6329 and ask to be removed from list (or added to a list of people that should not be called). Steve Mailman Digital Equipment Corporation mailman@tle.enet.dec.com Disclaimer: The opinions and statements expressed by me are not necessarily those of Digital Equipment Corporation. ------------------------------ From: Ben Burch Subject: GENIE Information (was: Info Needed on Prodigy Service) Organization: Analysts International Corp, Chicago Branch Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 20:49:59 GMT In article <14534@accuvax.nwu.edu> mcglk@bailey.cpac.washington.edu (Ken McGlothlen) writes: >The only semi-useful thing I got out of it was trying to navigate >EASY SABRE to see if I could reserve an airline ticket. Again, here, >the menus were poorly organized, frequently *almost* redundant (to >wit, two menus allowed you to see *exactly* the same information, >except for one little item -- I had to abort the reservation process >and go off to inspect the flight number again), and in general, >barely useful. I have been a GENIE subscriber for some years (And have no other connection with them.) Recently, perhaps in response to Prodigy, they began charging a flat $4.95 per month rate for a number of the core services like E-mail and the non-profession, non-computer related bboards, and the non-multiplayer games. These they group as "*STAR Services". Also under this flat fee is EASY SABRE and the Groliers Electronic Encyclopedia. Access to other services (downloads, multiplayer games, chat-like stuff) is billed at $6 per hour at 300 through 2400 baud. The Macintosh libraries, and product support libraries have been really quite useful to me in the past, although I never spent any time with the non-computer stuff until it became "free". Having spent some time playing with the Groliers and Easy Sabre, and etc, I feel it is worth my $4.95 per month. Also, there are very few online ads (mostly in the one page login bulletins) although they do have a range of electronic shopping services. You might check it out. Ben Burch bb@aicchi.chi.aic.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 12:25:55 EST From: Gary W Sanders Subject: Wireless Phonejak Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In the latest Damark catalog I ran across an interesting telephone gizmo: Wireless phonejak by phonex. "Expand the phone system through your home or office with the phonex wireless phonejak. This easy to install phonejak system converts an AC outlet into a phone jack allows you to place your (*) phone, on any outlet in any room, indoors or out!" (*) not my bad typing, just as it appears in the ad. You get two units that plug into the wall. It looks like a carrier currnet phone extender. I wonder how well it works; has anyone used one? Can you use more than one unit? How well does it work with BSR devices? DAMARK 1-800-827-6767 Gary Sanders (N8EMR) AT&T Bell Labs, Columbus Ohio gws@cblph.att.com 614-860-5965 ------------------------------ From: Winston Lawrence Subject: High Technology on the Street Date: Fri, 16 Nov 90 13:42:55 EST Organization: The Dorsai Diplomatic Mission, NYC I kept a quote from somewhere regarding the fact that the street finds its own use for high technology. The following is taken from the {New York Post} (11/15/90). A marijuana service - available by dialing 1-800-WANT-POT and run by the self-ordained "pope of Dope" was snuffed out yesterday by Manhattan narcotics cops. Michael "Mickey" Cesar, high priest of the "Church of Realized Fantasies", was arrested at 120 Walker St., the "church" loft where he took his takeout calls, said police. "He had six phones and took 360 calls an hour," said Capt. Thomas Fahey of Manhattan South Narcotics. "Every phone rang once a minute." "If you dialed that number, bike messengers would deliver anywhere in Manhattan. He was the Domino's Pizza of pot dealers." Cesar, 48, of 675 Hudson St., frequently bragged to cops and reporters that his pot service pulled in $30,000 a day. Cops also seized seven pounds of marijuana, which would have brought in nearly $54,000 at the price he was charging. No, I didn't try calling the number, I can just imagine what New York's Finest are now doing with the ANI information provided by the network. Still, I wonder who the Long Distance Carrier who signed this one up was. Winston Lawrence (larryw@Dorsai.com) **** The street finds its own use for high technology *** "Ten-four. I'm calling from my mobile phone. A litterer in the car in front of me just threw a candy wrapper out the window. I will remain in pursuit of the perpetrator and attempt citizen's arrest." ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #829 ******************************  ISSUES 829 AND 830 WERE REVERSED IN TRANSMISSION. 830 CAME IN AHEAD OF 829 IN THIS ARCHIVES. 831 FOLLOWS NEXT.  Received: from hub.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa25709; 19 Nov 90 2:18 EST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id aa04444; 19 Nov 90 0:36 CST Received: from mailinglists.eecs.nwu.edu by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id ac02760; 18 Nov 90 23:32 CST Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 23:02:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator [To]: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V10 #831 BCC: Message-ID: <9011182302.ab27012@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 18 Nov 90 23:01:46 CST Volume 10 : Issue 831 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Slick-96 [Barton F. Bruce] Re: Slick-96 [Jody Kravitz] Re: Telemarketing Sleezoids [Dave Levenson] Re: Dealing with Telemarketers [John Higdon] Re: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions [S. Nomura] Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question [Tad Cook] Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? [John Higdon] Re: Saudi Arabia's Telepone System [Hakan Winkvist] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Barton F. Bruce" Subject: Re: Slick-96 Date: 17 Nov 90 01:30:43 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article <14710@accuvax.nwu.edu>, KEVIN.GRIFFIN@ehpcb.wlk.com (KEVIN GRIFFIN) writes: > Can anyone tell me what a "Slick 96" switch is and what kind of > services are available from it. One of my local (SWB) techs told me It really is SLC 96. Subscriber Line (Carrier? or Concentrator?) Think of a T1 channel bank like device designed to be stuck out on a concrete pad in the boonies (-40C to +65C rating), or in the cellar of an urban high-rise. Think of it as remoting a piece of the CO out on the end of some digital facilities. It can handle single and multi party, coin, VF special services, and up to 56kb data. Can use copper T1s, or fiber at T2 (4xT1). It operates in three modes. Mode I uses four T1s to 96 subscriber ckts (full availability) with an optional 5th T1 hot standby. The single + multi party plug-ins are two ckts per card, thus filling the box. Mode II Concentrated config. Uses two T1 (48 ckts) with an optional third T1 hot spare to serve 96 subscribers with a fixed 2:1 concentration for single and multi-party lines. In this mode it can also support up to 16 special service circuits that are NOT concentrated, and their ckts are one per card. Mode III Special services ONLY using two T1s with optional third T1 spare. The 48 possible ckts, at one per card fill the system. Perhaps you would care to order the doc + practice set: 700-546 SLC-96 Documentation and Practices - seems to be only $3.25 (may be typo) in a distributor's catalog. The Schematics are: # 700-548. ------------------------------ From: foxtail!kravitz@ucsd.edu Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 09:14:46 PST Subject: Re: Slick-96 In Volume 10, Issue 823, Message 4 of 12, Keven Griffith asks about Slick 96. SLC-96 means "Subscriber Loop Carrier-96" and it is a method of digital multiplexing to accomplish "pair gain". The remote end of SLC-96 is a box which is mounted in the field. The box has an AC operated power supply and gel-cel storage batteries. For each 24 subscribers, it uses two pairs back to the central office. Thus 96 subscribers are supported by 8 pairs. Usually there are two spare CO pairs brought in for good measure. The pairs run at T1 rate (1.544 MB/Sec). It is possible to run with 1/2 the number of CO pairs, but then you can't give everyone service at once. If the office is an analog office, another box like the one in the field converts the eight pairs back into 96 pairs. If the office end of the setup is a #5 ESS (any size), the digitally multiplexed lines connect directly to the switching equipment. Forgive the pun: it is very slick. There was an entire Bell Labs Technical Journal dedicated to SLC-96 in December of 1984. It is Volume 63 Number 10, Part 2. Any large engineering library (university) should have it. Jody ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Telemarketing Sleezoids Date: 18 Nov 90 13:01:32 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article <68864@bu.edu.bu.edu>, stables!sw@indetech.com (Steve Warner) writes: > to their brand of rotten LD service. And if I hadn't seen someone HERE > mention that someone was using ATNT as a company name - I may have > [Moderator's Note: A story in TELECOM Digest in 1988 told about a > fellow here in Chicago who had incorporated his business using the > name "The Phone Company". He was selling an insurance policy > dealing... A friend of mine here in New Jersey owns an unincorporated business which operates under the name New Jersey Telephone Bell Company. As far as I know, his business has never done much advertising, and is not particularly visible. Perhaps this is why the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, a local utility, hasn't bothered him. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 [Moderator's Note: Well this guy in Chicago had phone solictors calling people, telling them they were calling from "The Phone Company", and inviting them to sign a contract giving them free repair of their telephone and the use of a loaner set as needed. Needless to say most folks thought he was calling from the phone company. His fatal mistake was in telling one person he contacted that he was associated with IBT. He accidentally called an IBT security guy at home to peddle his repair/telephone loaner service. IBT later admitted they could not stop him from being incorporated as "The Phone Company" since IBT does not own that trademark. Nor could they prevent him from sending out bills each month which looked amazingly like theirs. They *could* stop him from saying he was associated with IBT, and they did. In the meantime, the Illinois Consumer Fraud office convinced the man it would be a good idea to abandon his use of the phrase "The Phone Company". PAT] ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Dealing with Telemarketers Date: 18 Nov 90 11:03:51 PST (Sun) From: John Higdon Jeff Carroll writes: > Being wrapped up in the ball game, I didn't bother to > investigate further, but it did sound a little fishy -- not to mention > the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies receiving phone calls from > local cops asking for money. While we are on the subject of telemarketing, perhaps it should be mentioned why some upper executives are hard to reach and hide behind secretaries. In addition to many others, the Police Athletic League in San Jose (now called the Police Activities League) was a most aggressive telemarketer, along with the Peace Officers Association. When I was president of a telecommunications firm (and part owner), there could be ten to twenty telemarketing calls a day. Some were unsophisticated and simply asked for the "owner of the business". Others did some homework and found out names. (Corporate officers are a matter of public record.) We had a very sharp receptionist, but even she would succomb to, "This is Sergeant McFlatfoot with the San Jose Police Department. May I speak to Mr. John Higdon please?" in authoritative tones. Sgt. McFlatfoot would of course attempt to cause guilt if I didn't buy a block of tickets to help the disadvantaged youth in his program. All in all, anyone in business is deluged with junk calls all day long. Investments, office products, insurance, invoice factoring, collection services, and charities of every manner and description are just some of the garbage that attempts to enter via the telephone. This is not to mention the foot traffic--picture sellers, car waxers, nicnac peddlers, even custom tailored suits are offered door to door. Anyone who feels that solicitation is annoying at home should have the experience of owning a business. It makes one a seasoned expert at saying "no". John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: "S. Nomura" Subject: Re: FAX Machine at Home: Options for Incoming Transmissions Date: 16 Nov 90 00:41:30 GMT Reply-To: b460nom@utarlg.uta.edu Organization: The University of Texas at Arlington In article <14682@accuvax.nwu.edu>, JMS@mis.Arizona.EDU writes: >Telecom readers: >I am facing a problem which I believe that several of you have already >faced, and many of you will soon: the proliferation of things-that-use- >the-phone. My configuration: At office: a 386 PC with Complete Communicator (PC fax, answering machine, modem all in one board). At home: a 386 SX PC with a 2400 baud modem. Software: pcANYWHERE, GWS (Grahpics Workshop, shareware) Scenario: 1) People can send faxes and leave messages to the 386 at my office day and night. 2) In the evening at my home, I use pcANYWHERE to connect to the 386 at my office and check to see if there are any faxes received. If there are, I use the software that came with the board to convert the fax file to PCX format. I then transfer the PCX file to my machine at home and can do whatever I want. 3) If I need to send a fax, I call the 386 at my office by PC *ANYWHERE* and configure the fax software so that it sends fax automatically in three minutes. I then hang up. I don't have a fax machine at home yet I can retrieve and send faxes from home. S. Nomura Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Texas 76019-023 internet: b460nom@utarlg.utarl.edu bitnet:b460nom@utarlg +1 817 273 2012 (press 2 for fax) ------------------------------ From: hpubvwa!ssc!Tad.Cook@beaver.cs.washington.edu Subject: Re: A Phone Set Wiring Question Date: Sun, 18 Nov 90 0:59:12 PST In article <14686@accuvax.nwu.edu>, zellich@stl-07sima.army.mil (Rich Zellich) writes: > I recently moved to a newly-built home, into which I had had two > three-pair cables installed. One cable is for possible future use; > currently I have two lines used on the other cable. > On hooking up various phones I, too, found that one single-line phone > would take *both* lines off-hook. This is a "novelty" phone - a The problem is, you have a phone that uses the outer pair (black/yellow wires) for the A and A1 leads, which short together when you go off hook. You have this plugged into an RJ14 jack, which has the second line wired to the outer pair. When the phone goes off hook, it uses the line hooked to the center pair, and shorts the outer pair. Rewire the jack so that only the red/green pair is active. This will make it a standard RJ11 jack. Then take the separate black/yellow pair, and wire it to the center pair (red green) of another jack. The RJ14 type wiring should only be used with a 2 line phone that is wired for RJ14. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Packet: KT7H @ N7HFZ.WA.USA.NA Phone: 206/527-4089 MCI Mail: 3288544 Telex: 6503288544 MCI UW USENET:...uw-beaver!sumax!amc-gw!ssc!tad or, tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: *Long* Phone Calls -- What Does Ma Think? Date: 17 Nov 90 19:42:57 PST (Sat) From: John Higdon Jack Winslade writes: > Yes, I know about 'chasing permanents', but this was in the NYC area > circa 1970, where many of the offices were aging panel and #1 crossbar > that were held together with scotch tape and typically had such things > like unused twisted-pair jumpers banjo-strung all over the frames. > The switch crews were busy just keeping the switches up, let alone > tracing permanents (if the PS lamps weren't burned out. ;-) There was > some kind of a tape-based CAMA system that billed a whole group of > offices from a central point. I think some of the offices still > billed for local units with 'odometer' type counters which were > photographed each month. A little clarification on the term "permanent signal" is in order. A telephone that has been off the hook for a long time is not necessarily a "permanent signal" and it most certainly is not if connected to another telephone through the network. PS refers to lines that have come off-hook and are pulling dial tone without dialing, or have been involved with conversation and have failed to go on-hook at call termination. There is no need to "trace permanents". When a line comes off hook and the dial tone times out, it generally goes to a howler trunk for a few minutes to attempt to alert the customer of the off-hook condition and then it is connected to