Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16855; 16 Nov 92 2:26 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA10254 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 15 Nov 1992 23:59:00 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA04061 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 15 Nov 1992 23:58:43 -0600 Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 23:58:43 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211160558.AA04061@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #851 TELECOM Digest Sun, 15 Nov 92 23:58:45 CST Volume 12 : Issue 851 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson AT&T to Offer a 900 MHz Cordless Phone (Brent Whitlock) AT&T ISDN Buffoonery (David E. Martin) Third Party Billing (Richard McCombs) Book Review - Two Books About Telegraphy (Jim Haynes) InterOffice Trunk Help Needed (Bill Garfield) Severe Combinet Problem (David E. Martin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bwhitlock@uiuc.edu (Brent Whitlock) Subject: AT&T to Offer a 900 MHz Cordless Phone Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 18:27:12 GMT I saw a post in another group saying that AT&T will be offering a 900MHz cordless phone soon. I was wondering if anyone else has more information about this. I apologize if this was already discussed here; I haven't read this Digest for a while, and I don't have access to any archives (at least none that I am aware of.) Thanks. --- INCLUDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --- From: grund@calypso.som.cwru.edu (Victor Grund) Newsgroups: misc.consumers Subject: AT&T to offer 900Mhz Cordless Phone Date: 13 Nov 1992 05:15:57 GMT This evening I asked about 900Mhz cordless phones at my local AT&T Phone Store. I learned that AT&T indeed has developed a 900Mhz model but has delayed introduction due to last minute changes in the FCC rules for the new frequencies. Look for an AT&T version in January, priced at approximately $280. They also claim a 1-2 mile range. Yeah, right. I'd like to see that in writing! They didn't know if the AT&T model would be standard analog, like the Panasonic, or digital, like the VTECH Tropez. Victor D. Grund | grund@pyrite.som.cwru.edu IBM Cleveland Mktg Ops | grund@vnet.ibm.com RISC System/6000 & AIX | DETVMIC6(VGRUND) (216) 664-7381 | FAX: (216) 664-7348 --- END INCLUDED MESSAGE --- * * * * * * --> DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself. <-- * * * * * * Brent Whitlock Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology bwhitlock@uiuc.edu Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [Moderator's Note: You have access to the Telecom Archives, where all back issues of this Digest (eleven year's worth!) are stored. You can use anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. Then 'cd telecom-archives'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dem@nhmpw2.fnal.gov (David E. Martin) Subject: AT&T ISDN Buffoonery Date: 15 Nov 92 18:41:07 GMT Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, USA Reply-To: dem@fnal.fnal.gov I have had ISDN into my home since April. I use it to tie into the Fermilab network from my home PC. When I first had the service installed, I thought I might need to my some out-of-LATA ISDN data calls. Therefor, I called AT&T and asked what the rates would be. Unfortunately, no one at AT&T could give me a rate schedule, and supplying area codes and exchanges produced widely varying prices. Finally, I gave up and prefixed a circuit-switched data call with 10288 and decided to wait for the bill. The calls never showed up on my Illinois Bell bill and I forgot about it. Today in the mail I received a bill directly from AT&T for the three calls that I made using 10288 in April (Nothing like timely billing!). The interesting part of the bill: NO Date Time To Place Area-Number * Min AMOUNT 1. Apr 22 1110AM Batavia IL 708-840-xxxx D 10.3 4.22 2. Apr 22 1211PM Batavia IL 708-840-xxxx D .5 .30 3. Apr 23 635AM Batavia IL 708-840-xxxx N .5 .25 I called the customer service number listed on the bill (800-544-6514) and asked for an explanation. The woman I spoke with said they had no access to billing information, but if I faxed my bill to her (she has an 800 number for her fax) she would explain the bill. I asked if I could just get a rate chart, and she said the only one she had was put out in February and was out of date. She said that call cost was based on time and distance (in air miles). I asked to speak to her supervisor. I got Phil Huntley, who said I needed to fax him my bill before he could help at all. When pressed, he said that all calls in IL are charge at $0.20 for the first half-minute and $0.004 for each additional six seconds, regardless of distance or time. When I said this didn't agree with my bill or the woman I first spoke with, he demanded that I fax him the bill and he would call me right back. I faxed him the bill and half an hour later yet another woman called me back and said they are investigating and will call me next week. Anyone know how to beat a Switched 56/64 rate chart out of AT&T? David E. Martin National HEPnet Management Phone: +1 708 840-8275 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory FAX: +1 708 840-8463 P.O. Box 500, MS 368; Batavia, IL 60510 USA E-Mail: dem@hep.net ------------------------------ Subject: Third Party Billing From: rick@ricksys.lonestar.org (Richard McCombs KB5SNF) Reply-To: rick@ricksys.lonestar.org Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 21:02:28 CST Organization: The Red Headed League; Lawton, Ok I work at a motel and I just had confrontation with a customer because I would not allow her to charge a call to her home phone. She became verbally abusive and I almost didn't get to explain to her that when a call was charged to a third party unless it was verified at the time of the call that when that party's bill came they could say that it wasn't their call and it would be put on her bill. (That is maybe a run-on sentence but I'm still upset with the tone she used with me.) At the end I said "If you don't like it get a Calling Card." Why don't people get Calling Cards? Why don't they understand that if they are here and nobody is home then how can anyone tell if they are charging it to their own phone, or their enemy, or something they pulled out of the air? The real question is why do the phone companies continue to allow third party billing? I guess it is because they can always stick someone with the bill. Internet: rick@ricksys.lonestar.org, bo836@cleveland.freenet.edu UUCP: ...!rwsys!ricksys!rick, {backbones}!ricksys.lonestar.org!rick BITNET: bo836%cleveland.freenet.edu@cunyvm Fidonet: Richard McCombs @ 1:385/6 [Moderator's Note: Why didn't you suggest that she use the payphone and place the call? Why didn't you let the telco operator handle the matter and avoid the hassle for yourself? If the number she billed it to was the number shown as her home phone on her registration card at your motel, and you saw some form of identification from her when she checked in, I'd think that would be adequate protection for the motel. In addition, Calling Cards are quite phreakable; I presume if she had a phalse Calling Card number that could have posed a problem also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes) Subject: Book Review - Two Books about Telegraphy Date: 15 Nov 1992 09:15:22 GMT Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz Review - Two Little Books about Telegraphy 1. Collectors' Reprint of Bunnell Student's Manual of 1884. privately printed by L. A. Bailey, 909 S. Evergreen Ave., Clearwater, FL 34616. 48 pp. $8.00 ppd. 2. Railroad Telegrapher's Handbook, by Tom French. Artifax Books, Box 88-D, Maynard, MA 01754. 60 pp. $11.95 ppd. I found these books advertised in "Dots and Dashes", the quarterly newspaper of the Morse Telegraph Club, Inc. (subscription $7.00 per year to R. A. Iwasyk, 12350 W. Offner Rd., Manhattan, IL 60442) The "Student's Manual" is a beautiful reproduction of the 1884 original, including the gray cover. J(esse) H. Bunnell & Co. was a leading manufacturer of telegraph instruments in the 19th century and remained in business, doing a lot of contract manufacturing for Western Union, until, I guess, the 1960s or later. In contrast to the reality reported by Edwin Gabler this booklet suggested excellent employment prospects existed for telegraph operators. The first topic covered is the technical explanation of the telegraph, consisting of battery, line wire, transmitting key, and sounder. The battery described in the wet gravity cell, containing copper sulphate and a zinc "crowfoot" electrode. Line wires are usually made of iron, for cheapness and strength; while copper insulated with silk or gutta-percha is used inside buildings. The earth is used as one conductor, so that a single wire may be used per circuit. They key and sounder are described next. Earlier practice was to use a register to record signals on paper tape. After several years of practical telegraphy operators discovered they could read the characters by the sound of the instrument as easily as by looking at the marks on the tape; so registers fell into disuse. Next the student is instructed in detail how to set up and care for the battery and connect and adjust the instruments. Then he or she is to practice alone sending, practice sending and receiving with a companion, and practice sending and receiving with the companion in another room, or in another house. Several pages are devoted to details of learning the code. This is followed by examples of messages and discussion of common abbreviations and telegraph office practices. The popular amateur radio signal '73', now usually rendered as "best regards", was in use in that day as "accept my compliments." Then there is a discussion of how to construct private lines, and the need for a lightning arrestor. It is noted that the total resistance of the sounders should nearly equal the total resistance of the line wire, showing that the maximum power transfer theorem was known (whether by theory or by trial-and-error) in that day. The book concludes with a catalog of instruments available from J. H. Bunnell, and page of testimonials to the excellence of Bunnell's keys. Keys, sounders, batteries, etc. are all illustrated. The back cover shows the appearance of Bunnell's store and factory at 112 Liberty Street, New York. The Railroad Telegrapher's Handbook is a newly-written (1991) book that tells all about how Morse telegraphy was used on railroads until nearly the present time. (An article in Dots and Dashes reproduces a train order that was received by Morse in 1982, on the Burlington-Northern, and may have been the last train order so transmitted.) Lists of operating rules are given, presumably taken from the rule books of actual railroads, along with sample train order messages. Railroad telegraphy is a lot more complicated than the ordinary Western Union office. Railroad messages are critical to safety; some messages are not complete until they have been repeated back to the sender, delivered to the addressees, read and signed by the addressees, and the signatures transmitted back to the sender. Most require multiple copies. A railroad operator would write with a stylus on thin, translucent paper, using double-sided carbon paper. Semaphore signals and the hooks for delivering messages to the crews of moving trains are described. Wiring diagrams are given for an operating table connected to several lines, and for a Morse repeater. There is a map of the New Mexico Division of AT&SF, showing how various offices are connected to several line circuits. A selector system is described, which allows calling up a particular telegraph office without requiring operators to listen constantly for their office call letters. (Most circuits were "way" operated, meaning that several offices were connected by the same circuit and sounders at all responded to all the traffic on the line.) The book is made all the more enjoyable with reproductions of advertisements that appeared in trade magazines: typewriters, telegraph instruments, Vibroplex keys, swivel chairs, shorthand instruction, and an attachment to enable a bicycle to be ridden on the railroad rail. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad was advertising for operators "able to copy Morse at 25 words per minute, and should be in good physical condition." as recently as 1954. Of considerable interest in this day when we hear so much about repetitive motion injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome, there is an advertisement for Telegrapher Liniment, which never fails where directions are followed implicitly. "Operator's Paralysis or Writer's Cramp comes like a thief in the night, and almost before you are aware of it you find it impossible to send any kind of readable Morse." Another advertisement is for the "Operator's Friend" a massage or exercise device whidh "prevents and cures telegrapher's paralysis and writer's cramp." The front cover reproduces an artist's illustration from the front cover of a 1904 telegrapher's magazine, showing a young man clad in white shirt, high collar, and vest working at his key while a uniformed trainman waits at his elbow for orders. There are two pages of railroad slang and two pages of bibliography. haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet ------------------------------ Subject: InterOffice Trunk Help Needed From: bill.garfield@yob.sccsi.com (Bill Garfield) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 20:13:00 -0600 Organization: Ye Olde Bailey BBS - Houston, TX - 713-520-1569 Reply-To: bill.garfield@yob.sccsi.com (Bill Garfield) Background: I have two MITEL SX2000SG 3-cabinet PBX's side-by-side in my office. Southwestern Bell service arrives via 44.736 Mbps (DS3) fiber terminating in Rockwell equipment. The PBX's are digital, The trunks are digital. There is no channel bank equipment at my end. Network synchronization is derived from SWB. Span status logs indicate *NO* frame slips, *NO* bit errors and no CRC errors. Everything is in sync, fat, dumb and happy. Two CO's across town (near a business associate) I have another MITEL three-cabinet SG. Just coincidentally, this machine is served by the same CO as my business associate (about more later). Only the PSTN service from SWB and my IXC feeds (USS) are non ISDN. All the MITELS derive network sync from one of the machines here at the corporate office, which in turn derives its sync from SWB. We've tried different sync sources, even let 'er go freerun without any change in the problem. Zero suppression is AMI -- throughout the network ... I've checked. The problem: For a _very_ long time now I have been having fits trying to RELIABLY receive 9600 bps FAX transmissions from a very large business associate across town. (Two central offices away). The brand of fax machine in use at either end has no bearing, as we've both tried several brands, multiple machines on multiple extensions. In desperation, I installed a copper POTS line (from SWB) direct to ONE of my 170 fax machines (yes, 170!). This works SWELL, but doesn't address the central issue of the business associate being unable to reliably send long, multiple-page fax messages from any of his 75 fax machines to any of the other 169 machines at my corporate office. In answer to the obvious question, neither we nor the business associate are experiencing any fax problems with anyone else that we know of. Testing and research: A few nights ago, the business associate & I attempted sending nearly 100 fax images from his location to mine via the SWB PSTN. As it was off-peak, all my PBX's were basically idle, so I was able to busy out selected DID T-1's, thereby effectively "steering" his inbound fax calls from SWB onto specific individual T-1's, and recording the span and channel number being seized. I thought I was going to find a bunch of bad trunks. I didn't. What I found was that whenever a specific trunk WOULD pass his fax image to me flawlessly, the next time the SAME trunk got selected the fax would fail. We tried these same tests on nine different SWB DID T-1's, busying out eight spans and leaving one span of 24 trunks open. The failure rate was nearly identical. Five of these spans are served by a 5AESS and the other four by a 1A, but that too seems not to matter. When things failed, as they did at an alarming rate of 50% of the time, the fax machines would experience difficult link negotiations and then sync up at 4800 or 2400. The received image captured from a marginal link contains SERIOUSLY misaligned pixels -- it looks like a noisey image, but at close scrutiny, it isn't noise, as no "extra" gibberish is present. The desired image was there, but with literally thousands of "holes" in it from "missing" pixels. The missing pixels are all there, but are scattered about the page, appearing as noise dots. The received image is so mutilated as to be virtually unintelligible. Brainstorm! I took an unused DID number on my downtown PBX (near the associate) and "routed" it via my internal ISDN trunks to send the call to the same fax machine on the same extension, cable and pair, but using my internal trunks instead of Bell's. This WORKS! - So WHY can't ma bell give me usable fax circuits over her PSTN? What's different? I strongly suspect inter-machine trunk trouble between the National and Clay central offices, but how do I prove this and how do I get through to the teledroid at repair service that we're experiencing this problem on ALL 216 DID trunks? Profound thoughts and ideas are welcomed. Ye Olde Bailey BBS Houston,Texas Node 1: 1 713 520 1569 yob.sccsi.com ------------------------------ From: dem@nhmpw2.fnal.gov (David E. Martin) Subject: Severe Combinet Problem Date: 15 Nov 92 18:24:25 GMT Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL, USA Reply-To: dem@fnal.fnal.gov !!!!!!WARNING TO THOSE USING COMBINET ISDN-ETHERNET BRIDGES!!!!!! There is a severe problem with Combinet's ISDN bridges. In the event that the internal table of 1500 ethernet addresses gets filled up, the bridge echoes local LAN traffic back onto the LAN. This can cause massive problems in a large network. In fact, the Fermilab network experienced almost total outage until the problem was traced to the Combinet bridge. If your network has more than 1500 ethernet devices, you are susceptible to this problem. A quick fix is to set the aging time to a small value (like 60 sec). Combinet is working on a fix. David E. Martin National HEPnet Management Phone: +1 708 840-8275 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory FAX: +1 708 840-8463 P.O. Box 500, MS 368; Batavia, IL 60510 USA E-Mail: dem@hep.net ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #851 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa21591; 16 Nov 92 5:01 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25753 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 02:17:16 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA14542 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 02:16:59 -0600 Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 02:16:59 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211160816.AA14542@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #852 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Nov 92 02:17:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 852 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Dialing Changes in New England Tel Land (Scott Fybush) New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User (Mark Earle) Transcontinental ISDN Project (TRIP '92) (Nigel Allen) MCI MAIL Announces "Full Support" of Internet Gateway (Randy Gellens) Dial Tone on CATV (Randy Gellens) Help With Locating DSP Expertise (tretech@well.sf.ca.us) British Telecom Profits (monty@vnet.ibm.com) Dumb Question About LATA/Toll (Bill Hofmann) NEC Electra-16/48 (Martin Zimmerman) Internet Conversion Document (Paul Robinson) Cross-Over Switch With RJ14C (Charlie Rosenberg) Source Wanted For Area Code Information (Daniel Furnier) 'Allo 'Allo; Paris, France Included in the New Los Angeles Area (R.Gellens) Measure Twice, Cut Once ... (David Lesher) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us (Scott Fybush) Subject: Dialing Changes in New England Tel Land Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 19:51:38 -0500 (EST) New England Tel is getting ready for the introduction of NNX-style NPAs in a few years. This morning's papers announce that the end of 1-NNX-XXXX dialing for long distance within area code is imminent. NETel is replacing it with NNX-XXXX, which IMHO is a mistake, since there are some rather expensive calls that can be made within NPAs here, and the telecom-illiterate will have no easy way of knowing whether the NXX-XXXX they're about to dial is around the corner or 100 miles away. I would have preferred 1-NPA-NXX-XXXX, but I'll have to live with what they've chosen (and for me in 617 there are only about a dozen NXX's that will change anyway). The announced phase-in dates are: February 1993: Westfield, Russell, and Monson MA (413-562, 568, 572; 413-862; and 413-267). by December 1993: all of 413, 401, 603, and 802. by 1994: all of 207, 508, and 617. Accompanying this change in 508 will be a revision of dialing procedures for local calls which cross state lines. Consumers now dial just seven digits; henceforth they'll dial 1-603 or 1-401, as the case may be. Presently calls dialed with 1-603 or 1-401 are carried by an IXC and billed at toll rates; presumably NET will intercept those calls in the switch and carry them themselves. Anyone really wanting to pay toll rates will presumably be able to dial 10XXX first. No word on whether calls in the other direction will have to use 1-508, or whether seven digits will continue to be used. BTW, all the local media did a good job reporting the story accurately, noting the way the change will make 640 new NPAs available, and even mentioning that New England Tel will be able to add new NXX-style exchanges (although it obviously was not phrased that way). If anyone heard the version of the story that aired on WBZ radio Friday morning 11/13, I'd welcome comments ... I wrote it and tried to make it both telecom-accurate and accessible to the non-telecom listener. I hope it worked :-) Scott Fybush -- fybush@unixland.natick.ma.us These are not the opinions of WBZ radio or Group W. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 14:56:32 CST From: mearle@pro-party.cts.com Subject: New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User This last weekend (November 7) a friend and I were in Houston attending a conference. He is from San Antonio, which the week prior had officially cut over to area code 210 (from 512). He dutifully went and had his portable cmt reprogrammed, and reports calls in and out worked fine all week while in San Antonio. Upon arriving in Houston, he tried to make some calls, but got constant reorder -- no message. Upon checking with customer service, it turns out that GTE Mobilnet hadn't updated "something" and believed his phone number and esn not to match the data base, and thereby denied him service. He was unable to use his phone the entire weekend. No one in CS seemed to be able to do anything for him; it "might" be fixed by Monday, they said. Seems like, with over a year's advance notification of the exact date, and all the publicity, *someone* at GTE Mobilnet would have considered this and done whatever updates were required. Oh well. At least my phone (on the same carrier as my friend's, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems) worked, since my home area, Corpus Christi, did not change with the new A/C. mearle@pro-party.cts.com (Mark Earle) [WA2MCT/5]-= + FidoNet at Opus 1:160/50.0 Bitnet adblu001@ccsu.vm1 Internet 73117.351@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 19:00:00 -0500 Subject: Transcontinental ISDN Project (TRIP '92) Organization: Echo Beach Many telephone companies, including Bell Canada, will be offering ISDN demonstrations in connection with the Transcontinental ISDN Project (TRIP '92) next week. TRIP '92 will focus on three major elements - demonstrations of actual applications of ISDN, national interconnectivity of ISDN through the interexchange network, and a series of activities centered in the Washington area. For information about Bell Canada's participation in TRIP, call the Communications Seminar at (416) 581-2400 in Toronto, (613) 785-2020 in Ottawa or (514) 875-2511 in Montreal. For more information on ISDN demonstrations in your area, call the Corporation for Open Systems International (COSI) at 1-800-759-COSI voice or 703-848-4572 fax, or the ISDN manager at your local telephone company. A message from Bell Canada follows: The week of November 16-20, 1992 has been chosen as it coincides with the industry's most extensive event of the year - the Transcontinental ISDN Project 1992 (TRIP '92). TRIP '92 heralds the arrival of National ISDN-1, the first ISDN service based on standards accepted by all vendors in North America. The week-long program includes a number of two-hour tours scattered throughout each day, three or four per day, starting Tuesday, November 17 through Friday, November 20. Each tour will be hosted by numerous live demonstrations of the latest ISDN applications. Each day, except Friday November 20, will end with a one-hour Video Dial-up multipoint demonstration, between 5-6 PM and cocktail reception, sponsored by Canadian distributors of videoconferencing equipment. The program will be held simultaneously in the three Bell Communications Seminars located in Toronto - Bell Trinity Square, Ottawa - Place Bell Canada and Montreal - Place Victoria. As this is certain to be a busy week, please confirm your attendance by calling the Communications Seminar, listed below, and reserve for this most exciting event. Toronto : 416-581-2400 Ottawa: 613-785-2020 Montreal: 514-875-2511 We look forward to seeing you there. Canada Remote Systems - Toronto, Ontario World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044 ------------------------------ From: MPA15AB!RANDY@TRENGA.tredydev.unisys.com Date: 15 NOV 92 04:00 Subject: MCI MAIL Announces "Full Support" of Internet Gateway A flier in this month's MCI MAIL bill announces "Full support of MCI MAIL's gateway to the internet!" and notes that the connection was "previously experimental." I know when I've complained in the past about mail never arriving, MCI MAIL told me the gateway was experimental. I assume this announcement means it is now supported. Randy Gellens randy%mpa15ab@trenga.tredydev.unisys.com| A Series System Software if mail bounces, forward to| Unisys Mission Viejo, CA rgellens@mcimail.com| Opinions are personal; facts are suspect; I speak only for myself| [Moderator's Note: I'll be happy if they can manage to deliver this Digest on a timely basis to our fifty-plus subscribers on that network without dumping the whole thing undelivered back to me. Hopefully part of their 'full support' includes compliance with Internet standards for delivery of mail. :( PAT] ------------------------------ From: MPA15AB!RANDY@TRENGA.tredydev.unisys.com Date: 15 NOV 92 04:03 Subject: Dial Tone on CATV With all the talk about cable companies wanting to compete with LECs for local dial tone, I started wondering: how can a cable company offer dial tone, when their cable runs out from their office, with houses strung off it (instead of LEC wires, which form individual local loops with houses)? How can they keep everyone's calls separate? I guess they could put everyone on a different frequency, but that would probably use up all of the cable, and then some. Don't they want to leave room for TV? Randy Gellens randy%mpa15ab@trenga.tredydev.unisys.com| A Series System Software if mail bounces, forward to| Unisys Mission Viejo, CA rgellens@mcimail.com| Opinions are personal; facts are suspect; I speak only for myself| ------------------------------ From: tretech@well.sf.ca.us (Tretech Solutions Inc) Subject: Help With Locating DSP Expertise Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 15:05:32 GMT I have a client in need of some expertise in Digital Signal Processing. They are developing algorithms for modem chips. They have specific needs for folks with V.FAST, V.32, or V.17 standards experience. There is an excellent career opportunity available with our client for the right person. Does anyone have any suggestions where I can find this expertise? Please E-mail response to: TRETECH@WELL.SF.CA.US. Thanks in advance, Frank ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 15:34:44 GMT From: monty@vnet.ibm.com Subject: British Telecom Profits Hello, I recently noticed this on teletext (textual information sent with the TV picture -- I don't remember the technical name!): British Telecom (BT) recently announced pre-tax profits of 1.027bn pounds (sterling) for the six months up to 30 September, this being 36.2% down on last years figure of 1.61 bn.(NB 1 bn = 100,000,000). This (apparently) works out at about 65 pounds profit a second (compared to last years 102 pounds). BTs voluntary redundancy program has led to a loss of thousands of jobs from the company and a reduction in profits due to their payments. With these sorts of figures, it is not surprising that BT is facing stiff competition from other providers (CATV). Perhaps due to this and/or excessive profits BT has charge all calls within the UK on Sunday afternoon/evening at local rates for two of the last Sundays. Maybe they are listening to their customers?? I don't suppose so! Cheers. ------------------------------ From: wdh@netcom.com (Bill Hofmann) Subject: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 17:47:16 GMT It truly is a dumb question, probably a definitional one. Are all intra-LATA calls non-toll, and all inter-LATA calls toll, by definition? Following on to that, can anyone suggest some good basic documents about the structure of telecom in the US, so I don't ask these questions again? Also, various people have posted LATA information. Is information about what prefixes of a given NPA are in a given LATA (if there's > one LATA per an NPA) available, and if so, from whom? What's a good first phone number to call with questions like this? Inquiring minds need to know. Bill Hofmann (wdh@netcom.com) [Moderator's Note: LATAs are the geographic territories each telco is allowed to serve. It could sort of be compared to their 'franchise' territory. Usually you'll see one telco per LATA, but not always. LATAs can be and frequently do cover a wide geographic area. In such cases, there will probably be toll calls between various intra-LATA points. On the other hand, two communities which sit on opposite sides of some boundary line (such as a river, or a state line dividing an urban area in two parts) may well have a different LATA (and possibly a different telco) on each side of the boundary -- yet calls between the two sides will be treated as 'local calls' by mutual agreement between the telcos if there happen to be two of them. I guess it would be safe to say that with the exception of places right along the edge of a LATA, inter-LATA calls would in most cases be a toll call; not because of the different LATAs, but because of the mileage involved. Does anyone know the exact rule by which LATAs were drawn up? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun 15 Nov 92 16:04 From: Martin@wooga.cuc.ab.ca (Martin Zimmerman) Subject: NEC Electra-16/48 Our office just moved, and with our new building, we got a new phone system. Well, it isn't exactly "new", but it is newer than the one we had before. It is an NEC Electra-16/48. I am still new to all this PBX talk, and it is a bit of an annoyance that I have yet to discover how to program and use this thing, let alone any of it's capabilities. We have one manual called "INSTALLATION SERVICE MANUAL" which is rather cryptic. It assumes that you know all the PBX lingo and what you are doing. On top of all that the local telco no longer supports this beast so we have to get someone from a differnt company in to make any changes to the wiring or programming. We develop software and hardware here, so this is all right in line with the technical capabilites of myself and a few other employees. How do I do anything with this? Where can I find out more information? Does anyone still manufacture options for this? (The manual is dated 1983). All I have to do is learn, so where do I look first? Hopefully comp.dcom.telecom is the place to start. Cheers, Camz. [Moderator's Note: You've come to the right place. If anyone knows, the readers here will know. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 21:57:15 EST Subject: Internet Conversion Document I have sent to the Telecom Archives a combined document describing the correlation between Internet domain names, Telex Answerback codes, Country telex numbers, and international telephone numbers. This document is titled "internet.txt". I have submitted it also to the Internet RFC Editor, Jon Postel, for inclusion as an Internet RFC, and as such, it should be published there in about one month. Here's a sample from the first few lines: Telephone TELEX Country COUNTRY ANSWER Internet Name of Area/Country/Item Code CODE BACK Domain Abu Dhabi (UAE) ---- 949 EM AE Academic Internet clients ---- --- --- EDU Adeli Land ---- --- --- --- Adv. Res. Proj. Agc. - US DOD ---- --- --- ARPA Afganistan 93 930 AF --- Ajman (UAE) 971 949,958 EM AE Alaska (USA) 1907 --- UA AK.US Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These opinions are mine alone. [Moderator's Note: This is now available in the Telecom Archives and is accessible using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu, then 'cd telecom-archives'. My thanks to Paul Robinson for sending it along. Other new files in the archives are revised Zone 7 and Zone 8 IDDD city codes and a file on MCI Mail interconnections throughout the world. Thanks to all who have donated files in recent days. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 19:23:33 PST From: Charlie Rosenberg Subject: Cross-Over Switch With RJ14C I am looking for a cross-over switch with modular phone connections. I currently have a tee attatched to both jacks of a two line phone and from those tees, one line goes to a fax and the other to a modem. I often need to swap those lines to make a long distance call on one device or the other. I am open to other scenarios to achive the swap, anything that avoids the unplugging of phone cords all the time. ------------------------------ Subject: Source Wanted For Area Code Information From: cccbbs!daniel.furnier@uceng.UC.EDU (Daniel Furnier) Date: 15 Nov 92 06:48:00 GMT Organization: Cincinnati Computer Connection BBS-Cincinnati,OH - 513-752-8248 Reply-To: cccbbs!daniel.furnier@uceng.UC.EDU (Daniel Furnier) I am a AT&T System 75 Administrator, I also run two predictive dialing systems. Does anyone know where I can find out each time a new area code comes out? The phone company never notifies me and I usually find out a few weeks after the fact by my phone operators. And a lot of the time, I am not sure if the areacodes I am dialing are correct or if someone made a data entry error. Thank you, Dan Furnier ------------------------------ From: MPA15AB!RANDY@TRENGA.tredydev.unisys.com Date: 15 NOV 92 20:22 Subject: 'Allo 'Allo: Paris, France is Included in New Los Angeles Area This is from {Computergram} (Nov 5 & 6, '92) + 'ALLO 'ALLO: PARIS, FRANCE IS INCLUDED IN THE NEW LOS ANGELES AREA CODE Strange but true -- telephone users in Los Angeles have been trying to dial local numbers, only to find themselves put through to France. A slip of the finger? Apparently not -- Joshua Greenbaum, a freelance writer based in Paris has received eight different calls in the last month from callers in Los Angeles who dialed a local number. The final twist -- which propels the affair into the Twilight Zone -- came when a Los Angeles-based acquaintance tried to dial the facsimile machine on the desk next to him and found himself talking to his Paris-based buddy. The next day a call appeared on Greenbaum's answering machine, a recorded conversation in which a Pacific Bell operator explained to Greebaum's Los Angeles chum that she had just tried to call the number, had got no connection and that anyway "it is absolutely impossible to dial a seven-digit number in Los Angeles and get connected all the way to Paris, France". The problem seems to be a glitch in the implementation of a new Los Angeles area code: all of the callers who mistakenly got through to Greenbaum were trying to call a number within the new Los Angeles 310 area. The code for Paris is +331. Will the tangled tale ever get sorted? In the words of the immortalised PacBell operator "Well, sir, I'll just have to check into this." ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Measure Twice, Cut Once ... Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 21:51:46 EDT Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher) Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex ClariNet/UPI reports that AT&T's cable from Japan to Point Arena, California came up six miles short. Oops ... Hey boss... Suppose we yank hard and pull up the slack? wb8foz@scl.cwru.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #852 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa29405; 16 Nov 92 23:34 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA05607 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:09:19 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA11759 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:08:45 -0600 Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:08:45 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211170308.AA11759@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #853 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Nov 92 21:08:40 CST Volume 12 : Issue 853 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Cable & Wireless Announces Major Alliance With BCE (Nigel Allen) Announcement: Short Course on MPEG Compression (Steve Haigh) AT&T Language Line -- A Practical Query (Will Martin) Testing Long Distance Connections (Tom Holodnik) Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone (John Simpson) NovAtel Cellular Systems (Gregory Youngblood) Nicad "Memory Effect" (was Cordless Phone Newbie Question) (Paul Cook) What Equipment is Required For Switched 56k? (Monty Solomon) Broadcasting Towers (Hector Salgado-Galicia) Dimension 2000 Guru Wanted (Patrick M. Landry) Telephone Lines Being Disconnected; Question (Paul Robinson) "Porthole" For Routing Cables Through Walls? (Don Jackson) They Love to Tell the Story (Mark Brader) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Nigel Allen Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:00:00 -0500 Subject: Cable & Wireless Announces Major Alliance with BCE Organization: NDA Here is a press release from Cable & Wireless. An employee of the U.S. subsidiary of Cable & Wireless posted it in the MDF echo on Fidonet. CABLE & WIRELESS ANNOUNCES MAJOR ALLIANCE WITH BCE London, 11 November 1992 -- Cable & Wireless today announced the formation of a major alliance with BCE whose principal subsidiaries provide a full range of telecommunications services and systems to almost three quarters of the Canadian population. The new alliance is to be supported by BCE acquiring a 20 percent shareholding in Mercury for 480 million pounds and Cable & Wireless investing 30 million pounds into BCE's UK cable TV interests. Announcing the alliance, Lord Young, Executive Chairman of Cable & Wireless, said: "This advances the strategy of both Cable & Wireless and Mercury. Our partnership with one of the leading telecommunications companies will give us access to understanding research and development facilities. We look forward to working with BCE across the world, especially in Europe. "Our investment in BCE's cable TV interests will greatly enhance our ability to access residential customers and small and medium sized businesses reinforcing Mercury's role as the second force in UK telecommunications." BCE, Canada's largest company, recorded turnover of 10.4 billion pounds and profit before tax of 1.3 billion pounds in the year ended 31st December 1991. Its core business is in the provision of telecommunications services and the manufacture of telecommunications equipment. The corporation's principal subsidiaries include: Bell Canada, Canada's largest supplier of telecommunications services; Northern Telecom, one of the world's leading suppliers of fully digital communications systems; and Bell-Northern Research, Canada's largest research and development organization and a world leader in the design of advanced telecommunications systems. BCE's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. L.R. Wilson, commented: "This alliance represents a major step in BCE's strategy of expanding our global interests in our core telecommunications business. Cable & Wireless is one of the largest and most broadly based international telecommunications companies and is a strong partner. BCE's investment in Mercury will significantly enlarge our earnings base and open opportunities for further international investment in partnership with Cable & Wireless." The net cash to be generated from these transactions will be applied in reducing Cable & Wireless' gearing. Mercury will be substantially debt free after the transactions. Cable & Wireless will maintain management control of Mercury. However, BCE will have management involvement including the right to appoint two directors to the Board of Mercury and have a senior executive appointed to the company's Chief Executive's Committee. The Cable & Wireless investment in BCE's UK cable interests of 30 million pounds of long term capital will be a combination of equity and convertible securities. Cable & Wireless will have an initial shareholding of 12 percent, rising to 20 percent on full conversion. BCE has two major investments in the UK cable industry: an 80.4 percent interest in East London Telecommunications Limited and a 30.7 percent interest in Videotron Holdings Limited. Together the two companies hold 14 franchises in Central London covering approximately 60 percent or 1.6 million of London's homes, as well as franchises in Winchester and Southampton covering 200,000 homes. The franchise areas also give access to an estimated 120,000 small to medium sized businesses. Agreements covering the acquisition of the interests in Mercury and BCE's UK cable interests are expected to be signed shortly. Completion, which will be subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions including regulatory approvals, is expected in January 1993. Cable & Wireless has been advised by Lazard Brothers & Co., Limited and Lazard Freres & Co., Limited. Canada Remote Systems - Toronto, Ontario World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044 ------------------------------ From: sh@cypress.com (Steve Haigh/VDSP) Subject: Announcement: Short Course on MPEG Compression Organization: Cypress Semiconductor/San Jose, CA Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 20:01:44 GMT Part 1: MPEG video. 9am - 5pm, Nov 30th -Dec 2nd 1992. $600. Part 2: MPEG audio and systems. 9am - 5pm, Dec 3rd - Dec 4th 1992. $500. Parts 1 and 2: $1000. At the Techmart. Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California. This short course is designed for engineers, managers and professionals seeking an overview of the key concepts and techniques in video and audio compression for entertainment, communications and multi-media applications. The presentation will not dwell on complex mathematical proofs and no prior knowledge of video techniques or digital signal processing is assumed. Instead, the course will lead participants through a descriptive and substantive review of video and audio compression without getting mired in complexity. Presented by Steve Haigh, Director of video DSP, Cypress Semiconductor. Part 1 introduces transform based video coding and the draft ISO standard MPEG video compression algorithm. Day 1: o Applications for video compression. o Overview of spacial, temporal and entropy coding. o Motion video coding for MPEG and Px64 (h.261). o Transform based coding of images. Day2: o Motion estimation and compensation of moving picture sequences. o Entropy coding. o Quantization, rate buffer control and encoding techniques. o Performance requirement for real time coding and decoding. Day3: o MPEG 1 bit stream syntax. o MPEG 2 work in progress. Part 2 introduces MPEG audio compression layers 1 through 3 and the MPEG systems layer. Day 1: o Psychoacoustics. o Quadrature mirror filters. o MPEG audio layers I and II. o MPEG audio layer III. Day 2: o MPEG audio bit stream syntax. o Performance requirement for real time coding and decoding. o MPEG systems overview. Attendance is limited to 30 people. Payment can be made with Visa, Master Card or American Express. Call 408 943 2904 for more details and registration. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 8:47:41 CST From: Will Martin Subject: AT&T Language Line -- A Practical Query There's been some mention in recent Digests about the AT&T Language Line service, and I've seen ads for it in various law-enforcement magazines. While the people who've used it and reported on it here have given clear descriptions of how it works, I am still confused by one aspect of using it. While it is pretty obvious how one can set up a conference call when one knows what language interpretation will be needed, how does it work in the opposite situation -- when a call comes in to you in an unknown language? I usually see these ads in the context of something like 911 service, where a non-English-speaking individual is calling in an emergency situation. It has never been explained just how the caller's unknown language is identified. For example, suppose you are a 911 dispatcher for an agency that subscribes to AT&T Language Line. You get a call from a frantic-sounding individual and what you hear sounds like "Deegle bangle skoov YAWP!". What do you do if your inquiries in English (or any other languages you know) get no intelligible responses? After all, you have no idea if this is Uzbek, Tamil, Xosa, or whatever (and, face it, the average US native knows zilch of foreign tongues). Does the AT&T LL have some sort of "Identification Service" where you can patch in a person trained to recognize different languages who will then route the call to the proper interpreter? If so, how do you make clear to the individual on the other end that they have to wait and hold on while this conference call is set up? Considering that the caller is in some form of emergency, it is not unlikely that limited English-language skills may have deserted him due to the emotional state he is in. How long does this call set-up process take, anyway? (I can't see putting the caller on "hold" and then expecting him to still be there when the emergency center and the LL people come back on-line ...) I've never seen this situation addressed in any of the AT&T LL ads I've seen, so I suspect it might be an insoluble problem, or at least one they have not yet been able to cope with. Yet it would seem to me to be one of the prime reasons a government operation like a 911 dispatch center would subscribe to an LL-like service. Anybody know just how this situation is handled by AT&T LL? Regards, Will wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 10:57:32 -0500 (EST) From: Tom Holodnik Subject: Testing Long Distance Connections Is there a way I can test a particular modem over a long distance line, without travelling long distance? The things I'd like to test are: - whether a particular modem is sensitive to noise unique to long distance connections. - whether a particular modem works better over one long distance carrier than another. The gist of this is that I'd like to know, per long distance carrier, how to set up a long distance loopback. Is this possible? Would I need to enlist the aid of another party somewhere? Thanks (much), Tom Holodnik Network Development Carnegie Mellon University ------------------------------ From: jsimpson@darmok.uoregon.edu (John Simpson) Subject: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone Organization: University of Oregon Network Services Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:54:25 GMT I've always enjoyed the sound of the coin bells inside the old three-slot payphones. I would like to own one for myself to use inside my residence. Of course I would want a coinbox key! I have two big questions, first, is it kosher to have a coin phone on a private residential line? Second, where can I buy one of these beasts? John Simpson Voice +1-503-345-0858 Fax +1-503-485-5712 CIS 74106,2203 Internet jsimpson@darmok.uoregon.edu ------------------------------ Subject: NovAtel Cellular Systems From: srcsip!tcscs!zeta@src.honeywell.com (Gregory Youngblood) Reply-To: srcsip!tcscs!zeta@src.honeywell.com Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 14:46:05 CST Organization: TCS Consulting Services I'm trying to compile a list of cellular networks that use the NovAtel cellular system. It should be noted that Northern Telecom bought NovAtel in July or so of this year. I know NovAtel systems, and am hoping to find a job with one of these people. If anyone can help out with this I would greatly appreciate it, and so would my wife. :) Thanks in advance. Greg TCS Consulting Services P.O. Box 600008 St. Paul, MN 55106-0008 ..!srcsip!tcscs!zeta ..!src.honeywell.com!tcscs!zeta . zeta%tcscs@idss.nwa.com tcscs!zeta@idss.nwa.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 22:00 GMT From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> Subject: Nicad "Memory Effect" (was Cordless Phone Newbie Question) In a recent TELECOM Digest, betsys@cs.umb.edu (Elizabeth Schwartz) writes: > 4) Is this thing supposed to be left in the base or can I bring it > outside and wait for it to ring? Does it have to stand up in the base? wdp@gagme.chi.il.us (Bill Pfeiffer) responds: > No need to keep it in the base, except for charging. However, it is > best NOT to keep charging and recharging. Better to use the batteries > until the battery-low light comes on. Continued short charges can > cause the battery to aquire a short-memory, and begin to lose it's > ability to stay charged for a full term. Actually, the "memory effect" myth about nicad batteries has been pretty well debunked. Turns out that a memory effect can only be demonstrated under very carefully controlled lab conditions, where the cell is slightly discharged hundreds of times to exactly the same discharge point. Otherwise it does not exist. The most damage done to nicad cells by the memory effect is when users attempt to fully discharge the cells to avoid the mythical effect, and then drive it into reverse polarity, damaging the cells. Sorry I don't have references with me on this. There was an article in the past year in QST (a ham radio magazine, published by the American Radio Relay League) about this, and a few years back there was an item in QST Technical Correspondence from a battery engineer at Gould explaining that memory effect in nicads does not exist. The myth is quite popular though. I have seen ads for fancy microprocessor controlled nicad charges that carefully do a deep discharge before each charge. Paul Cook 206-881-7000 Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080 15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282 Redmond, WA 98052-5317 3991080@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:31:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: What Equipment is Required For Switched 56k? We have several sites around the country that we want to connect via TCP/IP using something like switched 56k service. What equipment is required at each location? What are the typical startup and recurring charges for this level of service. What other alternatives are available besides switched 56k service? Several of the sites are in the greater San Francisco area. What kind of services and rates does PacBell offer? Thanks. Monty Solomon / PO Box 2486 / Framingham, MA 01701-0405 monty%roscom@think.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:43:31 -0500 (EST) From: Hector Salgado-Galicia Subject: Broadcasting Towers A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. Could someone comment on regulations at the City, State or Federal level that could be employed to support their case? H. Salgado hs1c@andrew.cmu.edu ------------------------------ From: pml@cajun18.cacs.usl.edu (Patrick M. Landry) Subject: Dimension 2000 Guru Wanted Organization: The Center for Advanced Computer Studies Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 01:47:58 GMT If there is anyone out there who is very familiar with ATT's Dimension 2000 PBX and wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions I would love to hear from you. Please e-mail me as I do not read this group. Thanks!! patrick pml@cacs.usl.edu ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: Paul Robinson Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 00:19:43 EST Subject: Telephone Lines Being Disconnected; Question Several people have commented about alarm systems being cut and other such things. (I deleted the message I had from a gentleman in South Africa; I replied to him about telephone reliability). Other people have spoke about "pinging" lines and so on. In the original Die Hard (the one that started all of the competitors including Die Harder, Under Siege, Passenger 57, and so on) the opening scene involves a group of criminals intercepting certain phone lines with a briefcase sized device that apparently generated a tone on a certain frequency, probably to simulate a circuit being active for alarms that are triggered if cut. The other member of the group then cut all the phone lines for the building by running a chainsaw through the four conduits which are about as thick as a man's arm, cutting off everyone's phone service. I notice that in the first film, one of the people had either a cellular or older wireless telephone in a suitcase to call 9-1-1 with (looked like a cellular handset) but it was very large. I'm not sure if cellular has gotten much more popular recently than it was before, but then again most people don't have cellular phones at their desks when they have a fully working centrex system. In the second film several cellular phones were used, including some trick shots, like calling UP to a plane radiotelephone, nice try but not yet available. Question: Does anyone on here have a personal 800 number that shows ANI, and called it from a cellular phone, as well as a cellular phone on a plane, to see what phone number showed up on the ANI list? Or tried calling that special ANI id number on AT&T's private phone network (someone remember, it's a number in Atlanta on a special 10xxx exchange?) Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These opinions are mine alone. [Moderator's Note: Cellular phones have gained a lot of popularity here in Chicago in the past few weeks because of several vicious attacks on motorists traveling alone on the highway who have been murdered by people who stopped to 'help them get their car going', etc. To Caller-ID in Chicago, a call from a cell phone registers as 'outside'; with 800 ANI, in the case of Ameritech Mobile, those calls show up with a phone number in the Illinois Bell CO in one of the soutwest suburbs. Try calling back to that number and you are told the number xxx-xxxx is not in service for incoming calls. Do a name and address check on the number and you are told it is listed to "Eye Bee Tea Co." at an address on West 87th Street in one of the suburbs which happens to be the street address of the CO. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: "Porthole" For Routing Cables Through Walls? Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 21:41:03 PST From: Don Jackson This is one of those "not really telecom, but some folks on this list will know the answer" questions: I have converted the closet in my study to be my "machine room". But I need to feed a number of cables through the wall (esp monitor and keyboard cables). I am looking for some sort of porthole or flange that I can mount in the sheetrock on the wall between my closet and study to satisfy the following requirements: 1) Looks better than a gaping hole; 2) Provides some sonic insulation (rubber gaskets?). Does anybody out there know of anything I can buy for this? ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: They Love to Tell the Story Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:28:46 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Oh dear me! This story has been around *so long* -- > it has appeared in this Digest at least a half-dozen times over the > past ten years. ...] And, I think, including on every occasion the assertion that there is such a place spelled "Winnepeg" and that it is in Ontario. At least this shows that people are generally repeating it the way they got it rather than adding new distortions! Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com [Moderator's Note: Yep, "Winnepeg, Ontario" always goes with it! :) PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #853 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa00390; 17 Nov 92 0:14 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA07679 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:58:20 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA18428 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:58:00 -0600 Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:58:00 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211170358.AA18428@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #854 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Nov 92 21:58:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 854 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: San Jose Mercury Again (Robert Lenoil) Re: San Jose Mercury Again (John R. Levine) Re: San Jose Mercury Again (John Higdon) Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones (John W. Lydic, Jr.) Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones (H. Peter Anvin) Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones (Joseph T. Malloy) Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones (Paul Cook) Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll (William H. Sohl) Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll (John Adams) Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll (Johnathan Rosenberg) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (Alan L. Varney) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (John Adams) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Catalogic, Mountain View, California [Voice: 415-961-4649] Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 03:44:47 -0800 From: Robert Lenoil Subject: Re: San Jose Mercury Again > So how about it, Bay Area folks? If you are tired of the {San Jose > Mercury} constantly calling you at the dinner hour, why not "call the > cops"? For those of you who think this is a bit drastic, remember that > I have already done the following: [laundry list omitted] > Any other ideas? Yes. Hang up when they call and go on with your life. I can't imagine this being worth all the trouble. Are you on a special hit list with the Merc? I've been at the same (listed) number for six years and can count the calls from them on two hands. > [Moderator's Note: Because you acted so strongly against this > originally, I have to wonder if the latest call(s)? were deliberate or > made in error by a new person or were due to an error in the software. > They surely could not be so willful as to deliberatly start the calls > again. Why not make some copies of your earlier correspondence and > send them by registered mail or courier to the telemarketing firm and > ask them what happened ... did something go wrong in their system, > etc, as you can't belive they are *willfully* violating your request. PAT] Although I don't agree with John that this is worth expending the energy that he obviously is, PAT's point is not really relevant. Of course the newspaper didn't *willfully* call John - they have nothing to gain from that but a migraine headache. The point is that if a firm has been repeatedly warned, then they are at fault for not implementing the proper systems to avoid calling numbers where they are not wanted. If a judge had issued a restraining order barring the Merc from calling John, you can bet that they would have been found in contempt for calling him even if it was the result of an "error by a new person or ... in the software." Pleading employee ignorance or equipment failure does not release a company from liability for its actions. Robert Lenoil ------------------------------ Subject: Re: San Jose Mercury Again Organization: I.E.C.C. Date: 16 Nov 92 13:33:47 EST (Mon) From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) > [Moderator's Note: Because you acted so strongly against this > originally, I have to wonder if the latest call(s)? were deliberate or > made in error by a new person or were due to an error in the software. Given their previous behavior, I'd expect that the only way to make them upgrade their equipment and procedures would be to put the principals of the company in jail until they do so. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl [Moderator's Note: You might expect that if you wish, but it won't happen that way. John explains why in the response which follows. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 02:40 PST From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: Re: San Jose Mercury Again On Nov 15 at 23:44, Robert Lenoil writes: > Yes. Hang up when they call and go on with your life. I can't > imagine this being worth all the trouble. Are you on a special hit > list with the Merc? I've been at the same (listed) number for six > years and can count the calls from them on two hands. I have sixteen phone lines in my home. I realize that you may not see any need for me to have those lines, and probably feel that if I am going to be so silly as to have that many numbers that I probably deserve whatever I get. However, as a person who can count the calls from the Merc on two hands, how do you feel entitled to judge the actions of someone who has endured literally hundreds of these calls -- sometimes ten in one evening. And on more than one occasion, I have done as you suggested and been called right back and had the person issue verbal abuse. And on one of THOSE occasions, the person was not satisfied with that and called back repeatedly, hanging up each time I answered. You should realize that whether your number is listed, unlisted, or whether you have had the number for two days or two decades, or even if you already take the paper, none of this influences whether you are called. The numbers come from a psuedo-random number generator. Supposedly they run a "reject list" but I had submitted my numbers not thirty days previously. On Nov 16 at 13:33, John R. Levine writes: > Given their previous behavior, I'd expect that the only way to make them > upgrade their equipment and procedures would be to put the principals of > the company in jail until they do so. It is a "square one" situation. The Mercury has changed telemarketing contractors. The new firm, Metro News, apparently did not inherit any of the reject lists from the previous nuisance company. There were profuse apologies and assurances that this would not happen again. When I threatened them with the cops, several people called back over the course of two days. There were promises and assurances to beat the band. This time I took it easy and only gave out the numbers that actually ring telephones in my house rather than giving the company every single phone number that appears here. I figure that if these people want to hear various flavors of modems screech at them, they are welcome to it. And who knows? Maybe one of the telesaleslime can sell a subscription to one of the ignorant animals that populate my "party line". John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 ------------------------------ From: lydic@ka8lvz.uucp (lydic) Subject: Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 00:15:45 GMT In article Alistair Grant <100032.525@ CompuServe.COM> writes: > I have a program that creates the average of these tones for the > corresponding number but when I put it to the phone nothing happens. > Can you tell me what is going wrong? I have the tones last for 0.5 of > a second and seperated by 0.1 of a second. If you can shed any light > on the subject that would be cool. I think the averaging situation has been adaquately covered by the rest of the net. The standard durations for MF and I believe also for DTMF are .070 on and .070 off (yes - 70 milliseconds). John W. Lydic Jr lydic@ka8lvz.cmhnet.org ------------------------------ From: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin N9ITP) Subject: Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones Reply-To: hpa@nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 07:24:53 GMT In article of comp.dcom.telecom, Alistair Grant <100032.525@CompuServe.COM> writes: > The response about DTMF tones was great. Every one says I need > both tones, not the average -- ok -- but my physics book says that > when two pure frequencies are emitted then the resultant frequency and > frequency only is the average. > Anyway with just one speaker how do I emulate two tones so as to > fool the phone? I have seen watches that dial telephone number; how do > they do it? They do it by feeding the sum of two sinusoids to their single speaker. It is just that the phony square wave generator of the PC only can generate 0's and 1's, which is not good enough. Your physics book is correct, with a reservation. It all is due to the equation: cos(f1) + cos(f2) = 2 * cos((f1+f2)/2) * cos((f1-f2)/2) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Average freq. Difference freq. If the difference between the two frequencies is significantly smaller than the average, the waveform looks like the average frequency *modulated by the difference frequency*. These two frequencies are called _carrier_frequency_ and _beat_frequency_, respectively. I'd suggest putting this equation in a spreadsheet model and plot out the graph. It will be very clear, but do it over enough periods so the pattern is clear. Then go out and get a synthesizer board, preferrably one which handles digitized sound. Then all you need to do is compute the equation above and feed it to the DAC. hpa INTERNET: hpa@nwu.edu TALK: hpa@casbah.acns.nwu.edu BITNET: HPA@NUACC IBMNET: 16331@IBMX400 HAM RADIO: N9ITP NeXTMAIL: hpa@lenny.acns.nwu.edu ------------------------------ From: jmalloy@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Joseph T. Malloy) Subject: Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones Organization: Hamilton College - Clinton, NY Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 16:03:48 GMT DTMF requires both tones, no question there. But my ancient physics memory recalls that when two waves are combined, the resulting output is (unless filtered) four tones: the original two, another that is the sum of the first two, and a fourth that is the difference between the original two. Do I have this wrong? Joe jmalloy@hamilton.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 22:02 GMT From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Help Needed With DTMF Tones Alistair Grant <100032.525@CompuServe.COM> writes: > Can you tell me what is going wrong? I have the tones last for 0.5 of > a second and seperated by 0.1 of a second. koos!kzdoos.hacktic.nl@kzdoos.hacktic.nl responds: > Mark and Space times (On and Off) need to be of the same length > (>=0.5 sec) to be recognized as valid. For DTMF signalling, the tones do NOT have to be the same length as the quiet time, and the time does NOT have to be greater than 1/2 second. Most DTMF receivers will test down to an on-time or an interdigit time of 40 ms or less, although most claim a time of 50 ms. If the tones and quiet time had to be the same length in order to be valid, can you IMAGINE the complexities of manually dialing a touchtone phone? Paul Cook 206-881-7000 Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080 15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282 Redmond, WA 98052-5317 3991080@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: whs70@dancer.cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) Subject: Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 13:34:00 GMT > Does anyone know the exact rule by which LATAs were drawn up? PAT] As near as I can recall, LATA's were determined using population centers called SMAs. An SMA was a S(not sure what the S stands for) Metropolitan Area. I think the goal was to have a limited number of SMAs in any one LATA. Additional considerations were the existing geographic and political boundaries, existing telco service areas, etc. The intent was to indeed make all inter-LATA calls served by an inter-LATA carrier. The practicality of that lead, however, to numerous exceptions such as, NJ Hudson River communities and NYC, Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, etc. Those special exemptions allowed for existing non-toll calling that was handled by the two local exchange carriers to continue. There are something like 160 LATA's. Standard Disclaimer- Any opinions, etc. are mine and NOT my employer's. Note - If email replying to me with an automatic addressing process bounces, manually address the resend using one of the addresses below. Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.) Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!dancer!whs70 201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@dancer.cc.bellcore.com [Moderator's Note: The /S/ is either 'Statistical' or 'Standard'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 14:45:45 GMT > Does anyone know the exact rule by which LATAs were drawn up? PAT] The Lata Design Requirements according to the Modified Final Judgment, Section IV, 9.1-4 (A sure cure for insominia): Any area may encompass one or more contiguous local exchanges serving common social, economic, and other purposes - even where such configuration transcends municpal or other local-government boundaries. Every point served by a BOC within a state will be included within an exchange area. Any area that includes part or all of one Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSAs are geographic areas defined by Uncle Sam for gathering and reporting various federal statistics), or a Standard Consolidated Statistical Area (SCSA) in the case of densely populated states, needs Court approval to include a substantial part of any other SMSA or SCSA. Except with Court approval, no exchange area located in one state may include any point located within another state. This last point has received a number of "limited corridor" exceptions. Jack (John) Adams Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Rosenberg Subject: Re: Dumb Question About LATA/Toll Organization: Bellcore Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 02:57:00 GMT I believe that the original LATAs were drawn up by AT&T at divestiture (submitted to Judge Greene for approval, of course. I saw a list recently of the rules that were used. There were only a few & if memory serves correctly, they were: 1) Any LATA that includes part of one "Major Metropolitan Area" may not include part of another. [I know the term in "" ain't the right term for what I want, but it's something like that. The term describes the major metropolitan areas as defined by the Gov't.] 2) No LATA may cross a state boundary without court approval. There may have been another rule, but I can't recall it now. I'll check when I get to the office tomorrow (where I have the source). JR [Moderator's Note: Actually, John Adams did a good enough job of it; thanks anyway. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 07:10:25 CST From: varney@ihlpl.att.com (Alan L Varney) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL In article capek@watson.ibm.com writes: > While trying to make a credit card call to a persistently busy number > recently, after typing in the card number for the n-teenth time, I > wondered if SS7 protocol would allow the calling exchange to "look > ahead" at the called number and inquire if it is (at that instant) > busy, before prompting me for the card number. Of course, I might > still get a busy if either the line became busy after I keyed in the > credit card number, or if the response to the query didn't make it > back to the originating exchange in time. The advantage (to me) would > be not having to repeatedly pound in the billing. The advantage > (small) to the carrier would be not having to do the credit card > verification, and perhaps getting the line on which I'm calling free a > bit quicker. If the call in question were third party bill, or > collect, the savings could be a lot greater. Brief answer: It's possible. SS7 supports a "primitive" query of 'distant line status'; the response indicates busy/idle and some other information. However, there are problems with this mechanism. 1) Only very recent standards changes support such queries over IC SS7 facilities (that is, between LATAs). Since your call probably would reach IC operator facilities on the larger ICs, this isn't a huge issue, but until such standards are implemented, ICs that use the LECs for operator services would have a problem. 2) There is currently no standard for "billing" an IC or LEC for the query, unlike the billing mechanism for queries about LEC calling cards and 'static' line information (e.g., line does not accept collect calls). If the query were billed similarly to the calling card database, it would likely cost more (in access charges) than the cost of attempting to complete a call to the line. It's true that when real operators are involved, the early query might save the IC some operator time and reduce costs. The current implementation at least slows down the number of uncompleted call attempts you can make :-). 3) Customer confusion about the meaning of "busy" during dialing. Today, such a tone usually means you mis-dialed the call. I would bet there would also be hundreds of "auto-dialing" systems confused by the tone. If the response to such confusion is to re-try the call, the IC has gained nothing. Such repeated attempts cost the IC a small sum, but generate no revenue. (Such auto-dialing systems might include "smart" coin phones, PBXs, credit-card POS units, etc. All this "smart" CPE causes lots of problems whenever the telephone network is changed in very small ways -- much of it was developed by trial and error using a few leased lines for testing, and it does not adapt as easily as humans to changes.) The obvious solution to repeated busy tone is also possible with SS7. The 'automatic recall' or 'repeat dialing' CLASS capability would permit one to request the network to call you when the line is available. This should work for most non-PBX and non-coin telephones when the 'query via IC' standards become widely implemented. For PBX and coin lines (most coin stations do not have CLASS), the solution is to "complete" the call even when the line is busy. The more obvious solutions are either voice mail, pagers, call waiting, a portable DTMF generator containing your credit card number (RISKY?), or a LEC/IC mechanism that provides for automatic repeated message delivery. Only the last two methods require no action on the part of the called party. AL Varney - just MY opinion. ------------------------------ From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 13:23:05 GMT In article , capek@watson.ibm.com writes: > While trying to make a credit card call to a persistently busy number > recently, after typing in the card number for the n-teenth time, I > wondered if SS7 protocol would allow the calling exchange to "look > ahead" at the called number and inquire if it is (at that instant) > busy, before prompting me for the card number. The protocol will allow this. Whether it ever comes to pass is another matter. Currently, line busy is returned from the distant office for a variety of reasons. > Of course, I might still get a busy if either the line became busy > after I keyed in the credit card number, or if the response to the > query didn't make it back to the originating exchange in time. The > advantage (to me) would be not having to repeatedly pound in the > billing. The advantage (small) to the carrier would be not having to > do the credit card verification, and perhaps getting the line on which > I'm calling free a bit quicker. This approach has merit, but would involve modification of OSPS or TOPS or whosever operator services system you are using and a corresponding change in the TRs which govern their functions. Another aspect of all of this is that "Carrier Connect Time", the period of time between your LD company accessing the distant (originating works pretty much the same way) LEC, is revenue for the LEC (The LD company pays) regardless of whether the call ever completes! Jack (John) Adams | Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} | (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com | kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #854 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02284; 17 Nov 92 1:08 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12662 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:47:12 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA02695 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:46:51 -0600 Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:46:51 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211170446.AA02695@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #855 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Nov 92 22:46:50 CST Volume 12 : Issue 855 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Dial Tone on CATV (Marvin Sirbu) Re: Dial Tone on CATV (Marc Unangst) Re: No Caller ID in Texas (Alan L. Varney) Re: No Caller-ID in Texas (Dennis G. Rears) Re: Telco Handling Of Cable Cut (David G. Lewis) Re: Telco Handling Of Cable Cut (rfranken@cs.umr.edu) Re: AT&T's COLOR Videophone With Motion (Karl Denninger) Re: BC Tel Pay Numbers (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 23:11:18 -0500 (EST) From: Marvin Sirbu Subject: Re: Dial Tone on CATV Excerpts from netnews.comp.dcom.telecom: 15-Nov-92 Dial Tone on CATV by RANDY@TRENGA.tredydev.un > With all the talk about cable companies wanting to compete with LECs > for local dial tone, I started wondering: how can a cable company > offer dial tone, when their cable runs out from their office, with > houses strung off it (instead of LEC wires, which form individual > local loops with houses)? How can they keep everyone's calls > separate? I guess they could put everyone on a different frequency, > but that would probably use up all of the cable, and then some. Don't > they want to leave room for TV? Modern cable TV systems run fiber optic links out from the head end to an optical network interface (ONI) serving a neighborhood of 500 - 2000 homes. A community of 50,000 homes only requires 25 such fiber runs, so the added cost per household is cheap. Based on typical residential calling patterns, even 2000 homes would require no more than 400 voice channels at the peak hour. To provide dialtone, one can use frequency agile RF modems at each household which can select any one of 400 channels. Even allowing a generous 30 KHz in each direction for carrying a voice channel, 400 channels would occupy only 12 MHz or two TV channels worth of capacity for each direction. If the ONI serves only 500 households you can dedicate the frequencies and use cheaper RF modems. Some schemes assume Time Division Multiplexing: instead of 400 RF channels, a smaller number of carrier frequencies each handle multiple voice channels using TDM. At the optical network interface the voice circuits are connected to a channel bank and backhauled digitally over an extra pair of fibers to the headend. From the headend they may be further multiplexed to higher digital rates and either delivered to a carrier for switching (e.g an IEC) or switched by the telco with its own switch. Marvin Sirbu Carnegie Mellon University ------------------------------ From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) Subject: Re: Dial Tone on CATV Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 03:09:57 GMT Organization: The Programmer's Pit Stop, Ann Arbor MI In article MPA15AB!RANDY@TRENGA. tredydev.unisys.com writes: > for local dial tone, I started wondering: how can a cable company > offer dial tone, when their cable runs out from their office, with > houses strung off it (instead of LEC wires, which form individual > local loops with houses)? How can they keep everyone's calls > separate? I guess they could put everyone on a different frequency, Assuming that they use some sort of digital transmission on the coax (which is not altogether unreasonable), it would not be difficult at all to separate calls. I would be more concerned about the fact that anyone else on the same coax segment would be able to tap in and listen to your calls, unless they use some sort of encryption. Marc Unangst, N8VRH mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 07:21:06 CST From: varney@ihlpl.att.com (Alan L Varney) Subject: Re: No Caller ID in Texas Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL In article scm3775@tamsun.tamu.edu (Sean Malloy) writes: > The law that prevents the adoption of the service predates the > development of Caller ID (The No. 5 ESS?) and prevents anyone outside > law enforcement and some businesses from using trap-and-trace devices. Caller ID (and most other CLASS features) were invented for and first implemented on the 1A ESS(tm) switch in the early 1980's, using CCIS 6 (pre-SS7) signaling. Most trial areas did not allow Caller ID into customer hands because of all the un-resolved 'privacy' issues. (Harrisburg, PA was one of those areas.) Al Varney ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 9:28:01 EST From: Dennis G. Rears Subject: Re: No Caller-ID in Texas Jerry Blackerby writes: > Maybe if people in Texas would find out the phone numbers of the PUC > (Public Utility Commission) members and everyone start calling each of > them at "odd hours", they might decide there could be a reason to have > Caller-ID. This is great. The PUC does or does not something thet Jerry likes, and he suggests harassing all the members by phone. Depending on the extent of the harassment it is illegal. If that happens I suggest the telephone company traces those calls and cut off service to the harassers. If you can't use a phone responsibly, it should be taken away. Caller ID will not prevent harassment from determined individuals; it might stop the casual person but that's it. dennis ------------------------------ From: deej@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (david.g.lewis) Subject: Re: Telco Handling Of Cable Cut Organization: AT&T Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:50:30 GMT In article vixen!jadams@uunet.UU.NET (22475-adams) writes: > In article , rfranken@cs.umr.edu > writes: >> First, let me clarify exactly what I meant. The point I was making is >> that a switch need not know that anything has happened. >> ... >> I an fairly certain that supervision on the trunk will not be lost >> during the interval that the trunk is being rerouted. > The previous post (this issue) from Al Varney about signaling on DS1 > indicates a very short (less than 125 us) interval needed to maintain > supervision. Protection switching operates with switching times of at > least two orders of magnitude higher. As such, it is highly unlikely > that individual circuit supervision will survive such a switch. I missed Al's article, but I don't think the time needed to maintain a trunk in the active state is that short. Notes (BOC Notes on the LEC Networks -- 1990, SR-TSV-002275 -- the pfabulous repfrence with the pfunny name), Section 6.21, Carrier Group Alarm, says: "After a carrier failure occurs but before CGA trunk conditioning begins, it is desirable to maintain the same supervisory states on each trunk that existed before the failure. If the carrier cannot be restored in a reasonable time (for example, 2.5 seconds), trunk processing should be initiated to remove the trunks from service. However, since there is no fixed maximum in this case, the time could be longer or shorter than the 2.5 seconds given above. The time should be long enough to maximize the possibility of restoring the carrier before trunk processing begins, but short enough so that the customers using the facility are not more annoted by the effects caused by the delay in processing the failure than they are by the effects of the carrier failure ..." "Typical intervals between carrier failure and the beginning of trunk processing vary from 300 ms to 2.5 seconds ..." ("Trunk processing" refers to the application of on-hook to clear the call and stop charging, followed about ten seconds later by an offhook to prevent the trunk from being selected for a call.) So if a protection switch occurs in less than 300ms (not 125us), it is virtually guaranteed to occur prior to any trunk conditioning; a protection switch accomplished in less than a second is very likely to not cause trunk conditioning. > Moreover, in current digital facilties (FT3 comes to mind), this > protection switching is built in to automatically switch to a spare > line when the BER exceeds 10-6(?). I don't know the FT3, but most new fiber optic systems that use protection switching will switch on a BER threshold crossing or a loss of signal, or potentially other parameters. >> Do any telephone companies actually use this for voice circuits? I >> don't know, but my point was that it could be done if they wanted to. > Now that we've beaten this to death, I reiterate that I know of NO > telephone companies (this doesn't mean that none exist!) that use this > approach. Increasing the cost of trunking by a factor of two is not a popular thing to do. David G Lewis AT&T Bell Laboratories david.g.lewis@att.com or !att!goofy!deej Switching & ISDN Implementation ------------------------------ From: rfranken@cs.umr.edu Subject: Re: Telco Handling Of Cable Cut Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 20:01:29 CST >> Equipment to do this DOES exist. I work for a railroad, in the >> telecommunications department (although not the switched network >> group), and we have equipment (I can't remember the name - I'll refer >> to it as a DACS, although that is not really an accurate name) that >> does this. > If railroad signaling (I'm a RR wannabe as a hobbyist) is what is > carried, it is natural to have protection switching (What the telecom > industry calls its schemes to maintain reliable transmission > facilities) in place for safety reasons. In the public switched > telephone network (PSTN), the consequences of dropping a connection > are not as severe. Agreed. I remember a quote from some telco engineer after a fairly major outage (not sure which one) who said words to the effect of "We can make the telephone network as reliable as you want, but you'll have to pay for it." Actually, I believe it is being used for data circuits (important to the business, but not for safety - there are other protection methods for safety related stuff such as dispather radios, but that is irrelevant here), and I think the plan is to put voice trunks (PBX tie-lines) on it at some point (maybe) ... the point is it could be done. >> I an fairly certain that supervision on the trunk will not be lost >> during the interval that the trunk is being rerouted. If it was, > The previous post (this issue) from Al Varney about signaling on DS1 > indicates a very short (less than 125 us) interval needed to maintain > supervision. Protection switching operates with switching times of at > least two orders of magnitude higher. As such, it is highly unlikely > that individual circuit supervision will survive such a switch. I don't know what the requirements to maintain supervision are, but this equipment is better described as a packet switch, rather than a DACS. The voice signals are packetized and sent. (No packets when the line is quiet, supervision sent only when it changes, etc), and so the receiving end would (I believe) tolerate a second or two of no packets without dropping supervision. (Again, this is general info only - I am not the engineer in charge of this project). In this case, there would no NO loss of supervision (for any period of time). > Now that we've beaten this to death, I reiterate that I know of NO True. This is the last I'll say on this topic. Its certainly possible that NO telcos use this method. > telephone companies (this doesn't mean that none exist!) that use this > approach. (Well, at some point, you will probably be able to add the railroad's switched network "mini telco" (but bigger than some real telcos) to the list that do this). Brett ------------------------------ From: karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger) Subject: Re: AT&T's COLOR Videophone With Motion Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 23:18:04 GMT Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Chicago, IL In article Jim.Rees@umich.edu writes: > In article , Tansin A. Darcos & Company > <0005066432@mcimail.com> writes: >> To put it into perspective, we think that SEVEN frames per second is >> terrible and we are trying to eventually get to THIRTY frames per >> second. Thirty frames per second is the same as the number of >> animation stills they use in cartooning. Supposedly, one cannot tell >> the difference between live video and thirty frames per second video. > In the US, broadcast video is 30 fps. Elsewhere it's 25 fps. Cartoon > animation is never done at 30 fps, even by Disney. 8 or 12 is > typical. Motion pictures usually run at 24 fps. Frame rates are important for interactive video (like videophones). Below 12-15 fps you can see visible "flicker" or "jump" in the image. This is perceptable at 20fps if you're real sensitive to it. I have >serious< problems with image flicker; more than an hour or so of it and my eyes complain profusely. Now, at REAL slow frame rates (5fps and below) its just annoying to me and doesn't give me headaches and the like. Its the median amounts that are troublesome for me. Most motion pictures are 24fps, as above. Broadcast video is 1/2 the line rate normally (30fps interlaced in the US, 25fps where power is 50Hz). However, if you run a high-res short-persistence display at 30fps you WILL see flicker in the image. The sharper the picture the worse the problem. This is why newer monitors for computer systems tend to run 72Hz non-interlaced displays (no flicker AND no "beat" or even multiple with the 60Hz beat of office lighting). Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, !ddsw1!karl) Data Line: [+1 312 248-0900] Anon. arch. (nuucp) 00:00-06:00 C[SD]T Request file: /u/public/sources/DIRECTORY/README for instructions ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 09:21 PST From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: Re: BC Tel Pay Numbers andys@internet.sbi.com (Andy Sherman) writes: > It must be wonderful to be so perfect and smug and sanctimonious. You > moan and groan about the upsurge in crime, and about the downsurge in > people taking responsibility for their own actions. Yet you > consistantly excuse criminals who prey upon an unsuspecting public > with tricks such as this and the beeper scam. Methinks you are being a wee bit harsh on our Moderator. Responsibility is responsibility and demanding it from one group does not excuse the actions of another. If I have locks on my doors, cooperation from my neighbors, and a state-of-the-art security system to attempt to hang on to my toys, this is not a statement of approval of the actions of burglars. Rather, I would consider it an adjustment to the real world. Anyone who owns or rents a pager has already progressed to a plateau above the buck-novice telephone user. There are people who use pagers in lieu of an answering service or secretary (or even a smart answering machine) and these people have the responsibility to determine the nature and charges for the return calls they make. I carry a pager. Do I blindly return calls to every number that appears in the display? Absolutely not. And I have a better-than-average knowledge of the prefixes and locations in my region. And concerning systems that dial out such as BBS verification: how dare anyone fail to put restrictions and limits in the system, leave everything wide open, and then whine and moan about being bitten by a scam artist. Really, Andy, what would you say to someone who had an EasyHack (r) DISA on a PBX and then cried to your former employer to have the $22,000-worth of charges removed? And what makes that situation different from the BBS operator? Is the BBS operator "excused" because he is "just a little guy"? And how can any of these observations be construed to be approval of crooks and scammers? The fact is that they are out there and must be dealt with AT THE PREVENTION LEVEL first and foremost. Demanding more laws and punishment is akin to the passage and enforcement of laws proscribing the monitoring of cellular frequencies. Crooks and scam operators are bad guys; on that point there is no disagreement. But concerning the matter of responsibility: It is still ultimately in the hands of the customer. I have a toy "partyline conference" which is free to anyone who calls. It connects a number of people together on multiple lines. It is not designed to allow anyone to have access to the dial tone on another line. BUT, since nothing is perfect including hardware and certainly my software, I have taken just a few precautions. The lines are all ground start, absolutely preventing a stuck connection from returning wide open dial tone to a caller. They all have billed number screening for third-party and collect calls. The account is passworded. There are even a few other precautions that are not public. Taking these preventative measures is not a statement, explicit or implicit, that I approve of the actions of dishonest people. And because I take this responsibility seriously, I can scarcely remember a time when any of the nightmares described on this forum have become a matter of personal expense or inconvenience. But it is slightly irritating to have people excused from responsibility when scum inevitably strike. Rather than demand that "something be done" about crooks by law enforcement, it is more realistic to encourage citizens to avoid becoming victims. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #855 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05763; 17 Nov 92 2:35 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29846 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 17 Nov 1992 00:24:38 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13095 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 17 Nov 1992 00:24:17 -0600 Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 00:24:17 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211170624.AA13095@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #856 TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Nov 92 00:24:15 CST Volume 12 : Issue 856 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: British Telecom Profits (Martin Baines) Re: Phone Harassment (a New Solution?) (Will Martin) Re: Third Party Billing (Paul Houle) Re: Listing of CLLIs (Alan L. Varney) Re: Source Wanted For Area Code Information (Alan L. Varney) Re: Dialing Changes in New England Tel Land (John R. Levine) Re: Fax Back From DTMF - Summary (Michael Rosen) Re: Airfone -- Phooey (Gordon Hlavenka) Re: New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User (Carl Moore) Re: Equal Access Codes: How To Find Them (David Leibold) Re: Cordless Phone Newbie Question (Tony Pelliccio) Re: Telephone Headsets and Cordless Headsets (skeeter@skatter.usask.ca) Wanted: Cordless Headset (Mark R. Jenkins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: martin.baines@uk.Sun.COM (Martin Baines) Subject: Re: British Telecom Profits Date: 16 Nov 1992 12:44:20 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.Sun.COM In article 7@eecs.nwu.edu, monty@vnet.ibm.com writes: > I recently noticed this on teletext (textual information sent with the > TV picture -- I don't remember the technical name!): Teletext is the correct technical name: CEEFAX is the brand name of the BBC service ORACLE the brand name of the service on ITV and C4, SKYTEXT for that on Sky TV etc. > British Telecom (BT) recently announced pre-tax profits of 1.027bn > pounds (sterling) for the six months up to 30 September, this being > 36.2% down on last years figure of 1.61 bn.(NB 1 bn = 100,000,000). > This (apparently) works out at about 65 pounds profit a second > (compared to last years 102 pounds). BTs voluntary redundancy program > has led to a loss of thousands of jobs from the company and a > reduction in profits due to their payments. N.B. 1 Billion = 1,000,000,000 in this context. > With these sorts of figures, it is not surprising that BT is facing > stiff competition from other providers (CATV). I agree that the competition is a "good thing", but why does everyone think profits are such a bad thing? Profits represent how much business has grown not how much money has gone into greedy shareholders pockets. The dividend payed by BT is fairly modest (around 5% per share in line with most UK blue chip companies), not to mention the 33% Corporation Tax paid to the government on the proits (thereby reducing all our tax bills). The rest will be put back into the business for things like modernising the network and other investment for the future. BT is the largest company in the UK, so everything about it will be hugh. This does not mean that its profits are excessive. > Perhaps due to this and/or excessive profits BT has charged all calls > within the UK on Sunday afternoon/evening at local rates for two of > the last Sundays. Maybe they are listening to their customers?? I > don't suppose so! Or maybe they think that there can be a win-win situation: the promotion increases calls so that they make more money than on a normal Sunday; the customer gets to call cheaper as well. Not to mention taking some market share back from Mercury: I certainly didn't use Mercury to call my Mum yesterday :-) Martin Baines, Sales Support Manager, Sun Microsystems Ltd, 306 Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 4WG, UK Phone: +44 223 420421 Fax: +44 223 420257 JANET: Martin.Baines@uk.co.sun Other UK: Martin.Baines@sun.co.uk Internet: Martin.Baines@UK.sun.com X.400: g=martin s=baines prmd=sunir admd=mci c=us ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 8:26:20 CST From: Will Martin Subject: Re: Phone Harassment (a New Solution?) > Moderator's Note: Illinois Bell will put a trap on a line to catch > the person involved, but only on one condition: you must first give > them a written okay to turn their evidence over to the police and > agree to prosecute the offender ... no exceptions. IBT won't get in > the middle of it; it could be a total stranger, some sick person or > perhaps someone you know -- a relative or a 'friend'. IBT won't do a > trap and play detective for you just to satisfy your curiosity. I understand how this attitude would prevail in the old Bell System days, but I find it hard to understand the telco maintaining this position in the current climate. Why won't IBT just do it and charge you for it? After all, every other telco "service" or "feature" is now viewed as a money-making opportunity these days, from Directory Assistance to wiring maintenance. Why not just figure out what it costs to do this, and then charge double or triple (or more! :-) for doing it on a completely private basis, not inolving law enforcement. After all, this is really no different than Caller-ID, so if the telco is in a state where the local authorities have approved Caller-ID, then there should be no legal hassle to the telco in selling this service. Sure, I can see them not doing it on a no-charge basis unless you agree to follow-up with a criminal complaint. But if the customer wants the telco to put a trap-and-trace on his own line, and is willing to pay for it, why not just do it for the bucks? Regards, Will wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil [Moderator's Note: The difference is that with Caller-ID, the calling party usually can use *67 to avoid registering his call on the called party's device. On the other hand, with 'trap and trace', no one is able to avoid detection. So by collecting the information and selling it to the called party, Caller-ID and Name/Address information is being provided by a backdoor method. If the called party has no valid reason for the information, evidenced by his refusal to prosecute the caller, then the caller could claim *his* privacy had been violated and that normal procedures in effect to protect his privacy, i.e. *67 to block the Caller-ID display, had been circumvented. Telco is saying that if you expect *them* to put their neck on the chopping block you will begin by signing off on the whole thing and having *your neck* out there also. This is much like asking a police officer who did not personally witness a crime to arrest someone you claim committed a crime. The cop says if you are willing to sign a complaint, he'll arrest the person, not otherwise ... no fool is he when it comes to false arrest charges. Nor will telco put itself in a postion to have ugly charges and lawsuits brought against them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: houle@nmt.edu (Paul Houle) Subject: Re: Third Party Billing Organization: New Mexico Tech Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 15:29:39 GMT In article rick@ricksys.lonestar.org writes: > Why don't people get Calling Cards? > Why don't they understand that if they are here and nobody is home > then how can anyone tell if they are charging it to their own phone, > or their enemy, or something they pulled out of the air? > The real question is why do the phone companies continue to allow > third party billing? > I guess it is because they can always stick someone with the bill. Plus with the proliferation of alternative operator services, it has become very easy to abuse third party billing. I've heard stories of AOSes billing calls to drug abuse hotlines, police stations, telephone company test numbers and just about anything else. One time, a phriend of mine used an AOS to bill a call to a tone sweep, and the operator said to "Hold on for a minute so we can verify this ...", but it seems that she never did verify it since she let the call go through (after waiting a minute). It's just really disgusting to see how COCOTS and AOSes not only degrade service to honest people, but also allow dishonest people to sock anybody with the expense of a call. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 08:32:26 CST From: varney@ihlpl.att.com (Alan L Varney) Subject: Re: Listing of CLLIs Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL In article Cliff Sharp writes: > In article vixen!jadams@uunet.UU.NET > (22475-adams) writes: >> I'm not sure whether having a complete list of Common Language >> Location Identifier codes (CLLI) would be of much help in what you are >> trying to do. If your user is an average telephone subscriber, he/she > Actually, I'm cross-referencing one file against another by a > common field (not exactly relational database but similar idea); the > field could just as well contain ABCDEFGH as CHCGILCA but the latter > might come in handy some day. The CLLI(tm) and other such identifiers under the Common Language (rg.tm) are owned/managed by Bellcore, and are available in a myiad of formats, usually under a License agreement. For information about prices/services, contact: Bellcore Language Standards Division, (908) 699-3350 Any other source is likely to be out-dated, but cheaper. For switches, the CLLI is usually formatted as four-char city, two-char state, two-char/number building and three-char/number entity ID. Most switches have a two-character type and a one-digit sequence number (e.g., CG1 for the second 1/1A ESS(tm) switch in the building.) This was the scheme published in pre-divestiture documents -- Bellcore is free to change the rules. Al Varney - just a some-times customer of Bellcore documents ... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 08:52:52 CST From: varney@ihlpl.att.com (Alan L Varney) Subject: Re: Source Wanted For Area Code Information Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL In article cccbbs!daniel.furnier@ uceng.UC.EDU (Daniel Furnier) writes: > I am a AT&T System 75 Administrator, I also run two predictive dialing > systems. Does anyone know where I can find out each time a new area > code comes out? The phone company never notifies me and I usually > find out a few weeks after the fact by my phone operators. And a lot > of the time, I am not sure if the areacodes I am dialing are correct > or if someone made a data entry error. You can find out officially the same way others do: Subscribe to Bellcore's NPA/NXX Activity Guide. Available on paper or DOS floppy (1.44MB, 3.5 inch) for $250/year, it lists new NPA or NXX schedules, etc. Contact Bellcore's Traffic Routing Administration, (201) 829-3071. Al Varney ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Dialing Changes in New England Tel Land Organization: I.E.C.C. Date: 16 Nov 92 14:18:28 EST (Mon) From: johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) > NETel is replacing [1+NNX-XXXX] with NNX-XXXX, which IMHO is a > mistake, since there are some rather expensive calls that can be made > within NPAs here, and the telecom-illiterate will have no easy way of > knowing whether the NXX-XXXX they're about to dial is around the > corner or 100 miles away. One can always look it up in the phone book, since all NET phone books have complete prefix listings for the local NPA. Agreed, some intra-NPA calls can be expensive, particularly in Vermont. (From Burlington it's cheaper to call Los Angeles or Montreal than to call Brattleboro.) But I can say from experience in New Jersey that people live without 1+ for toll perfectly well, and there is a definite convenience factor in not having to remember what needs 1+ and what doesn't. I might also point out that due to the screwy local rates around here, from here in Cambridge on weekends it's cheaper for me to call Nantucket which is a 1+ toll call than it is to call Lexington which is allegedly local. But on my other phone line, calls to Lexington are free because I have "metro" service. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl ------------------------------ From: mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu (Michael Rosen) Subject: Re: Fax Back From DTMF - Summary Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci. Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 05:56:20 GMT Intel has such a "Fax-Back" service available by calling 1-800-525-3019. I believe you can have up to five documents faxed to you concerning Intel's products. Michael Rosen Tau Epsilon Phi - George Washington University mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu Michael.Rosen@bbs.oit.unc.edu or @lambada.oit.unc.edu ------------------------------ From: cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (gordon hlavenka) Subject: Re: Airfone -- Phooey Organization: Vpnet Public Access Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 04:51:42 GMT > ... but I find the process of setting up a call to be a bit > counterintuitive at best. Excuse me? You remove the handset from the holder, look for the green LED to come _on_, telling you a line is available. Then you run your credit card through the reader. Then you wait for the dial tone. Finally, you dial the area code and phone number. A bit long, but not confusing. The only two flaws of the Airfone system are that it's completely analog, and that all signalling is in-band. (That's the "beeps and boops.") Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 9:14:00 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User What do you mean, "cut over" to 210? The archive file history.of. area.splits has only the PERMISSIVE dialing in effect now, meaning San Antonio could still be reached in 512. You're saying that 210 couldn't be reached from some other place in Texas? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 23:35:51 EST From: David Leibold Subject: Re: Equal Access Codes: How To Find Them The 10xxx+ 1 700 555.4141 seems to work for some of the codes, but certain carriers might not bother with such an announcement. I don't think there's even a guarantee that they won't try to soak a huge 900-style message charge from 700 555.4141 (700 is used by some carriers for special premium services such as conference calling, or 900-style numbers). The official 10xxx and 950.xxxx assignments may be found in the Bellcore's Telephone Area Code Directory, which I purchased last year for USD$30 (plus any incidental charges). Not only are various places listed with their area codes, but an appendix contains the Carrier Identification Codes (CIC) which are at the heart of 10xxx and 950.xxxx numbers. Even the various Domino Pizza numbers (950.1430 is one of them) are listed. dleibold@vm1.yorku.ca dleibold1@attmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 13:44:36 EST From: Tony Pelliccio Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Newbie Question RE: William Pfieffer's post about the Sony SPP-75 Cordless Phone: Your tip about recharding is correct for MOST cordless units which use NiCd batteries but not the Sony. They use a Lead-Acid Gel Cell in that unit and recommend leaving the phone in the charging stand at any time when it's not in use. Here's how it breaks down in time: A) Standby mode can be left active for seven days before the battery completely discharges. B) Talk time is 12 hours. In my opinion this is MUCH better than NiCd. Tony Pelliccio PJJ125@URIACC.URI.EDU ------------------------------ From: skeeter@skatter.USask.ca Subject: Re: Telephone Headsets and Cordless Headsets Organization: University of Saskatchewan Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 09:04:53 -0700 In article , bier@acuson.com (Jeff Bier) writes: > I'm seeking recommendations on telephone headsets. I have in mind the > kind that replaces the handset on a typical telephone. I'm also > curious to know if anyone makes a cordless telephone headset. Radio Shack sold a cordless headset phone, with FM radio! :) for about $400 last year or the year before. I use a DUoFONE 119 headset at work and it's great. I bought it for about $50. It has volume control and I installed a mute switch. skeeter@skatter.usask.ca ------------------------------ From: MARCUS@CPVA.SAIC.COM (Mark R. Jenkins 619.458.2794) Subject: Wanted: Cordless Headset Date: 16 Nov 92 11:17:05 PST Organization: Science Applications Int'l Corp./San Diego I would *really* like to find a cordless headset. I have an old Plantronics LiteSet(tm) which underwent 'destructive testing' by some individuals apparently interesting in its operation. Plantronics apparently no longer sells the LiteSet. I don't need fantastic range -- my office is only 10'x12'. Does anyone know of any source for a cordless headset? Mark Jenkins | My views do not necessarily match yours. SAICnet Logical Network Manager | My opinions are not necessarily SAIC's. Science Applications International Corporation San Diego, CA USA (619) 458-2794 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #856 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa09322; 17 Nov 92 4:44 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA28253 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:24:22 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13796 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:24:03 -0600 Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:24:03 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211170824.AA13796@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #857 TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Nov 92 02:24:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 857 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Broadcasting Towers (John Higdon) Re: A New DMS-100 in Town (Todd Lawrence) Re: What Equipment is Required For Switched 56k? (Robert Lenoil) Re: Dial Tone on CATV (Paul Robinson) Re: Very Weird Telephone Problem (Cliff Sharp) Re: Music on Call (Cliff Sharp) Regulating Cellular (David Gast) PP 2000 and USWest (Roy M. Silvernail) Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? (Paul Robinson) Junk FAX (Nigel Allen) Wanted: Information on Personal 800 Numbers (Burt J. Guillot) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 22:17 PST From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers Hector Salgado-Galicia writes: > A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want > to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. Could > someone comment on regulations at the City, State or Federal level > that could be employed to support their case? The trendy approach is to claim "potential health hazards" from the EMR. After working in the broadcast business for many years around very high-powered transmitters, someone decided that it was "dangerous" to be exposed to radio frequency energy. Based upon inconclusive tests on animals and on some nifty sounding theories, the Federal government adopted the ANSI standards regarding "safe" EMR exposure. Harm based on "evil, mysterious forces" is in vogue. Even if science or reality is not on your side, it should be no trouble to convince governmental authorities that placement of communications towers in populated areas will produce a strain of mutants. BTW, you realize that we are all going to die of cancer from using our cellular phones, do you not? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 [Moderator's Note: I think if I were going to make objections to a tower, the objections would be based on esthetic considerations and also on the difficulty of receiving radio signals other than those of the nearby tower due to the dense radiation it was emiting. As an example, I am thinking of the towers for WBBM (780-AM) and WGN (720-AM) in one of the western suburbs of Chicago. As we drive down the street within about a half-mile of either tower, the signal from each tower completely overwhelms our car radio. No matter where we tune on the AM dial, all we get is WBBM ... then a short distance later WGN overloads the radio in the same way. People living in the area have to have filters on their phone lines. In the northwest corner of Indiana, the residents of North Hammond get WYCA-FM in their telephones, on their computer speakers and everything else. The transmitter and antenna of WYCA-FM (Northern Indiana Christian Broadcasters, Inc.) is only four blocks away, in a large empty field in Burnham, Illinois. For more information on what living near a radio station transmitter/tower can do to disrupt your normal telephone, radio and television listening habits, see the article "Praise the Lord and Pass the RF Filters" in a 1989 issue of this Digest. Maybe I should reprint it. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A New DMS-100 in Town From: todd@valinor.mythical.com (Todd Lawrence) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:30:18 CST Organization: (What? Organized??) - Mythical Computer Systems bo836@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Richard D. Mccombs) writes: > We have a new DMS-100 in town, is there anything in particular I > should know? DMS-100 is A Northern Telecom switch, the notes I have specify that it is a ISDN compatible "LOCAL" switch that has the capacity to serve 1500-100,000 customers, it can also handle an average of 350,000 calls per hour. (FYI) - DMS-200 is a tandem (TOLL) switch that has the capacity to function as a local switch as well and can serve 400-60,000 trunks. "PROTEL" is the switch programming language (if you wish to impress your local CO tech!). I had the opportunity to have DMS when I was in connectictt, and had no complaints with it whatsoever. Todd Lawrence LOD! Communications internet : todd@valinor.mythical.com IMF Acquisition Group uucp : uunet!valinor!todd ------------------------------ From: lenoil@catalogic.com (Robert Lenoil) Subject: Re: What Equipment is Required For Switched 56k? Date: 17 Nov 92 06:46:37 GMT Organization: Catalogic, Mountain View, California [Voice: 415-961-4649] > What other alternatives are available besides switched 56k service? Are your connectivity needs bursty or relatively constant? If you only need 56k at certain times of the day and *nothing* most of the time, then you should investigate dialup IP routers. Models like the Telebit NetBlazer offer inverse multiplexing, carrying traffic between two LANs over several dialup lines for effective baud rates of 56k and higher. The box makes connections transparently based on IP address, so all you see is a brief delay when the initial call is made. This solution will be exceptionally cost effective for your sites within local phone call distance from each other. ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:21:52 EST Subject: Re: Dial Tone on CATV In TELECOM Digest 12-852, on "15 NOV 92 04:03" Randy Gellens writes: > With all the talk about cable companies wanting to compete with LECs > for local dial tone, I started wondering: how can a cable company > offer dial tone...I guess they could put everyone on a different > frequency, but that would probably use up all of the cable, and > then some. Don't they want to leave room for TV? I'm not a hardware engineer but the answer seems -- to me -- to be quite obvious. One TV channel takes 6MHZ of bandwidth. One telephone channel takes up about 10KHZ of bandwidth if I remember correctly. This implies that if you separated each channel by an equal amount of spacing (to make it easy) that you can put 300 telephone calls on a single channel, simply by raising or lowering the frequency inband on that particular channel. For receiving telephone calls, it's really simple; there can be a dedicated channel that does nothing but send out the equivalent of Cellular phone "MIN/ESN" signals, telling a local phone to (1) ring (2) select a certain channel as the place where the call is originating from (3) start a "guard tone" while the call is in progress at a certain frequency above the regular channel. In fact, I suspect that a number of features used in cellular telephones may be useful for use in running telephone calls over cable TV. To make outgoing calls requires some synchronization, i.e. you could have a "guard tone" in the empty space between calls as an indicator that a channel is empty. The dial unit listens starting at a certain channel for a guard tone and if it finds one, climbs up by 10KHZ to the next channel, until it either finds an empty channel or reaches the top of the band. When it gets to the top of the band, it starts over at the bottom until it recycles. Assuming that a full search of the entire band of 300 channels can be done in, say, three seconds, if it can't find an open channel, it doesn't give a dial tone. Now, once you find an open channel, you send a guard tone and in that band a signal to request a dial tone by sending your id code. (Funny this is sounding more-and-more like cellular). If you get your code back and dial tone, you know you've siezed an outgoing trunk and can proceed to dial; you pass the dial tone on to the telephone. If you don't get your code back, then someone else has simultaneously grabbed the line; if the line does have dial tone now, you know that another party has the line because they got it first, so you go back and climb "up" the channel list looking again. There are other options, such as assigning a specific channel to a specific line and thus when the user sends a guard tone or whatever signal is used to indicate "off hook" he gets a dial tone if there are dial-tone senders available. What can be done is on the pole, they could reserve a whole coaxial cable - all 50 channels or so, which would allow 15,000 simultaneous telephone calls -- to run from the general location to the cable company's hub end. So what can happen is something like this: 1. Your phone is assigned a certain frequency on your wire. 2. When you pick up the phone, your "network interface block" sends a guard tone along that frequency's signalling band to request a dial tone. 3. The local sender converts your channel into the open slot for this area from the 15,000 open channels available. 4. The hub end sees if you're authorized and returns a dial tone. 5. You get the dial tone and dial a number. All of this happens within about one or two seconds from the time you pick up the phone. An article I read about four or five months ago in {Forbes} stated that for cable companies to offer telephone service, they would probably have to spend as much as $500 per subscriber to install the necessary equipment. On the other hand, the same article claims, using ordinary single pair, the phone company could run as many as three TV channels. I find it hard to believe that someone could run 18MHZ of signal through a pair of wire, or even two pair. Paul Robinson TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These opinions are mine alone. ------------------------------ From: clifto@indep1.uucp (Cliff Sharp) Date: Tue Nov 17 00:03:04 1992 Subject: Re: Very Weird Telephone Problem In article phaedrus@unkaphaed. gbdata.com (James Hartman, Sysop) writes: > According to recent FCC blurbs, it is illegal for a radio station to > broadcast your voice unless you've either been asked and said OK, or > if you call as part of an obvious phone-in portion of a program. Seems that way around here. There's a program I like to listen to when I get up early, "Murphy in the morning", that does all kinds of whacky things to/with/for/by people, and whenever they contact someone by phone you never hear the voice of the callee until they've been asked if they can be put on the air. (Most say it's okay.) The fun happens after they agree ... > Follow-ups to rec.radio.broadcasting. Sorry, not only didn't I know that newsgroup existed (though I'm going to get it as soon as I can), I have no access to it so thought I'd answer here. Not to get a discussion started, but then that's why this is a moderated group. (I can be reached as clifto@indep1.chi.il.us for netmail followup.) Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM ------------------------------ From: clifto@indep1.uucp (Cliff Sharp) Date: Tue Nov 17 00:15:44 1992 Subject: Re: Music On Call? In article In article >> I came home recently to find a strange message on my answering >>> machine: Several minutes of music. There was no voiceover anywhere in > "Hello? Hello?" and end-of-message. Someone told me that several > companies are using a gadget that basically calls you and says a > canned message like "Hello, this is the X corporation. We'd like to > discuss something with you; please stay on the line and a > representative will be with you shortly.", then music, then somebody > appears on the line expecting a human. Their initial message seems to > be shorter than my outgoing one, so I never hear that part. > [Moderator's Note: The use of those dialers to pre-connect calls > before anyone is ready to talk to you is the height of rudeness. I > always disconnect instantly when one of those things calls me. I'll > gladly hold for a few seconds *if* you are already talking to me and > have a incoming call-waiting. I won't wait when you had no intention > of being available immediatly when you dialed. PAT] I agree wholeheartedly! I got two in a row one day when I was screening calls. The first was the canned music followed by the usual "Hello?" The second was the canned music followed by silence, then the remark "Cute." and a disconnect. Apparently he believes to this day that someone figured out a way to detect and deter his machine calls. To this day I don't know who did it, but since I've moved to another town I don't get those calls any more. (Maybe a collection agent? 1/2 :) Can't afford Caller ID and the associated hardware right now, and since the offending calls have stopped I can't say more. But had Caller ID been available at the time I would not have winced at pinching pennies and eating beanie-weenie stew for a few weeks just for the pleasure of finding out. (Then again, they've probably found a way to automatically block that; we in Illinois Bell territory have per-call blocking.) Question to the knowledgable: Incoming 800 service has ANI which can't be blocked. Does outgoing 800 service give a caller ID, and/or ANI? Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM [Moderator's Note: Usually outgoing WATS calls are inter-LATA, so they produce a response of 'outside' on a Caller ID display unit. These lines can produce various responses, depending on how they are wired, but rarely will they cause a Caller-ID box or ANI to give the right answer. It would not that often be ANI, since outgoing WATS lines can't call into 800/900 type service that I know of. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 14:31:26 -0800 From: gast@CS.UCLA.EDU (David Gast) Subject: Regulating Cellular I don't believe anyone else has posted anything on this topic, so I'll take a stab at it. A couple weeks ago, the {LAT} reported that the CA PUC is considering regulating cellular rates because cellular remains too expensive. Representatives of the cellular industry said that cellular is priced at market, not cost. They also maintained that lower rates would increase demand and result in higher prices. The article noted, as I recall, that hardware prices have fallen 90%, but air time has not really changed at all over the last eight years or so. Could it be the real intent is to increase the number of cullular carriers beyond two? Of course, the PUC cannot do that directly. david ------------------------------ Subject: PP 2000 and USWest From: roy@cybrspc.UUCP (Roy M. Silvernail) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 21:43:46 CST Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN I have now received two phone bills since my California trip, and the charges for my Public Phone 2000 calls have yet to appear. The other calling-card charges I made were on the last bill. It will be interesting to see when (or if) they do finally appear. Also in my USWest bill is a notice that, under the orders of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, tiered service rates are being discontinued, in favor of a modified single rate structure. Being in a formerly Tier I location, my basic rate increases from $14.17 to $14.59. Tier II saw a $0.03 reduction, Tier III was reduced $1.08 and Tier IV (which, I believe, is only far outlying suburbs of Minneapolis) was cut by $3.31. The enclosure noted old vs. new rates for business and residence service in all four tiers. Curiously, the business rates are all exactly three times the residential rates, plus or minus a penny. Roy M. Silvernail |+| roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 01:27:28 EST Subject: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? I would like to point out something that I noticed more than a year ago when I was wading through the Electronic Communications Protection Act, the law that (it is claimed) makes it illegal to intentionally listen to a cellular phone. I noticed another thing which I noted, and no one seemed to dispute. According to the ECPA, a "trap and trace device" is a device that is used for the purpose of picking up someone's phone number who is calling the line the T&T is on, is illegal without a court order. If this is a correct interpretation, it means that the decisions in various states about Caller-ID are all irrelevant since this Federal law has made any caller ID box illegal (except for calls which are not "in interstate commerce."). I'm waiting for some slick attorney who has a client who was caught with a Caller-ID box raise ECPA to not only have the evidence of calls excluded, but have the victim charged with a civil suit of violating the ECPA for installing an illegal trap and trace device without a court order, which if I remember, ECPA allows civil damages as high as $10,000. Not fun. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These (uninformed) opinions are my responsibility alone, no one else is (stupid enough to be) responsible for them. ------------------------------ From: ndallen@r-node.gts.org (Nigel Allen) Subject: Junk FAX Date: 16 Nov 92 05:35:37 GMT Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto [Moderator's Note: The original message for this did not appear in the telecom newsgroup. PAT] In article <1992Nov9.133800.24913@analsyn.gts.org> anton@analsyn. gts.org (Anton J Aylward) writes: > If some promotion company uses an autodialer and tape message to > keep calling me, soliciting for support for tax reform, to think of > just one subject I have been harassed by, I can call Bell and > complain, and eventually get something done. > How about FAXes ? > I am getting faxes sent in the early hours to my home number from: > Mark Muchnick > World Computers Ltd > Seattle, WA > Not only is this information of no interest or relevance to me, but it > comes a couple of times a week between 4am and 6am. If a legitimate business is sending you unwanted faxes, the best way to get the faxes to stop is to ask the company to stop. This will work quite well if the company is spending the cost of a long-distance call to get the fax to you. On the other hand, one Toronto-based company that operates several 976 numbers likes to send out faxes promoting those numbers. It seems to ignore requests to remove fax machines from the junk fax list. But in your case, a one-paragraph letter sent by fax should work quite nicely. The same thing applies for local travel agencies, computer dealers and office supply dealers, who don't generally want to annoy people unncessarily. Nigel Allen ------------------------------ From: st1r8@elroy.uh.edu (Guillot, Burt J.) Subject: Wanted: Information on Personal 800 Numbers Date: 16 Nov 1992 14:30 CST Organization: University of Houston I'd like to know what companies offer personal 1-800 numbers, the rates, etc. Does someone already have a list with this data? [Moderator's Note: Readers, please reply direct to this. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #857 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16983; 18 Nov 92 3:39 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA19121 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 01:23:19 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA07157 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 01:22:58 -0600 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 01:22:58 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211180722.AA07157@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #858 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Nov 92 01:23:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 858 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Apartment Callbox Ties in With Telco Line Annoyance? (Dave Tse) Fake Call-Waiting Product (Dave Levenson) Old British Callboxes (Ken Wheatley) Call Boxes (was Telephone Lines Being Disconnected; Question) (Carl Moore) MCI Service Outage (Ron Dippold) Collect Calls From County Jail: Which County? (Peter Kaplan) IBT Raises Pay Phone Rates to 30c "Temporarily" (Phydeaux) Lack of Dial Tone When Programming PC Fax (Thomas K. Hinders) Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking (Jeff Wasilko) Phone Customers Face Dialing Changes (Boston Globe via Monty Solomon) Washington Post and Caller-ID (Paul Robinson) Ring...Ring...Ring...If You Wish to Make a Call (David Lesher) "rrrringg-BOOP" (Steve Kass) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: tpang@sfu.ca (Tsui Ting Debbie Pang) Subject: Apartment Callbox Ties in With Telco Line Annoyance? Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:15:14 GMT I live in an apartment complex which uses a callbox at the front door and it rings thru on my phone line (primary line). But there are some times when it has problems: 1. When I am using modem, disable call-waiting won't work if someone rings my call box, since I can't disable their stupid tie-in to the PBX. Luckily it doesn't happen much in my case. 2. When I am on a phone call, and someone rings my call box, I could 'flash' to the call box, and open the gate/door, but can't flash back. The other side was hung up when I flash to the call box! Is there any way for the apartment management to improve the hardware of the PBX to make it nicer? Call-waiting is called call-alert in B.C., which took me a while to get used to, having used to the term call-waiting when living in California. Also they charge CDN$0.75 extra per month for cancel- call-waiting! Before I have the V.32bis/V.42bis modem, my dial-in to the site I am using now has lots of line noise, now it doesn't but sometimes I got hung up after a few hours. My friend in San Diego was on his modem and has his call-waiting cancelled, but got broken thru from my long distance call, which never happened to him before. Later I had the same experience from a long distance call. For him, I had to dial many times before I got the break-thru. Any answers? Thanks to any answers to the above. David Tse [Moderator's Note: In your questions above, (1) put your modem on your second line, if you have one. Suspend call waiting is not supposed to override front door intercom service. (2) The control unit for the front door must be out of order, because flashing is supposed to work the same way as with 'regular' call-waiting; it is supposed to put the central office on hold while you respond to the door. Is the common equipment on the premises of the apartment complex or is it in the telco central office? (Both versions are in use.) Regards suspend call-waiting being overridden by a long distance call, this is a mystery to me. I'd think when the LD call is handed over to your local CO for delivery, it would be treated like any other call and passed through on call-waiting or bounced back to the sender if the line was busy. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Fake Call-Waiting Product Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:37:57 GMT A Mr. David H. Schmidt has invented a product called "Gotta Go". You can buy it for $14.95 and plug it into your telephone. When you've got someone on the line who won't let you go, you push the button and it makes a click-beep that sounds like a Call Waiting signal. You can then use that as an excuse to bring the unwanted conversation to an end. That's what it says in this morning's {New York Times}! It may well work with the general public. The telecom-literate, of course, will realize that the beep is only heard by the party who is receiving the call-waiting, not by the far-end. (Yes, with the 1ESS and 1AESS both parties get a click, but only the party receiving the call-waiting gets the beep. With the 5ESS, the party who is not receiving a call hears only silence while the other party gets a beep.) It should be easy enough to differentiate between a real call-waiting interruption and a fake created by the party who is tired of talking to us, and is embarrassed to say so. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: UXBAHA!KW@TRENGA.tredydev.unisys.com Date: 17 NOV 92 10:15 Subject: Old British Callboxes Someone recently mentioned the old coinboxes in the UK that had 'buttons A and B', and said he wouldn't go on to describe them as he was sure someone more knowledgable than himself would do so. That hasn't happened, so I'll start the ball rolling with my (non-expert) memories of them. They were black enamelled boxes with a bakelite headset connected via a twisted cloth-covered cord. On the top were slots for coins -- when in common use they took (pre-decimal) pennies, threepennies and sixpences. On the front was a large silver push-button labelled 'A'. On the right-hand side was another button (B) that had to be pushed away from you (i.e it actually slid). To use the 'phone you lifted the receiver and inserted some money (For a long time four old pence). These fell into the box with a satisfying clunk. You then dialed the call. When the called party answered you pressed button A, the money dropped, and you were through. If the call failed, or the wrong person answered, you replaced the receiver and pushed button 'B' to get your dosh back. Until you pressed button A the called party couldn't hear you. I only remember them in pre-STD days, when the 4d (old pence) local call was unmetered. Trunk calls had to be made through the operator who told you how much money you had to insert for a three-minute call. When your time was up you got discreet 'pips' on the line and would eventually get disconnected unless you deposited more money (i think the time unit after the initial three minutes was one minute). These disappeared in urban centres in the 1960s, but I was surprised to read that the last such box (in a remote Scottish village) was in use until THIS SUMMER. Does that mean they didn't have STD? I hope someone 'in the know' will fill me in on more details of these devices from a gentler age! Ken Wheatley, Unisys, Citygate, London +44 71 525 6283 (Unisys) E-Mail 7747, A-Mail Net2 731-6283 **All opinions are either my own or plagiarised** ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 11:07:35 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Call Boxes (was Telephone Lines Being Disconnected) Re PAT's note about cellular phones on Chicago-area highways: Some highways (including the interstate highways in Delaware) have call boxes, although I've seen it written up somewhere that you might not end up right at a call box. Maryland does not have this, and when my previous car broke down there with what turned out to be a blown head gasket, I had to wait on the shoulder for the state police who were on routine patrol. [Moderator's Note: The problem here is that it very unwise to get out of your car and wait by the side of the expressway. For example, on the Dan Ryan expressway, which runs next to several housing projects on the south side of Chicago has roaming maruders on it quite often who set upon stalled motorists, assaulting and robbing them, etc. Even when your vehicle is moving, they fire at you with assault rifles and the like from the buildings along the side of the expressway. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rdippold@qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) Subject: MCI Service Outage Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:31:29 GMT As I type, MCI long distance out of San Diego is sporadic. Apparently their cable up to LA has been damaged (no word on why), and their backup cable can't handle the load. No word on service resumption. ------------------------------ From: kaplan@sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu (Peter Kaplan -Yodh) Subject: Collect Calls From County Jail: Which County? Date: 17 Nov 92 21:02:37 GMT Organization: Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, U. of Penn. Recently my father-in-law was killed in his home. Amongst the varied horrors of dealing with this situation, a telecom question has cropped up. We are now collecting messages remotely from his answering machine in San Antonio, Texas. There are many messages which are the first few words of a recordings announcing something like "This is a collect call from the county jail. To accept this call ..." But the message doesn't say WHAT county the "county jail" is in. We can not actually answer the phone; it's a thousand miles away. Is there any way to find out where (or who) the calls are from? Many thanks, Peter (kaplan@sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu) [Moderator's Note: Our thoughts are with you in your grief. If any of those calls were actually answered by someone who accepted them, then they will eventually show up on the phone bill and that will identify the location of the correctional institution. Is there any way to have the phone put on call forwarding so it will ring direct to your line? If so, then you could answer the next such call personally. Under the circumstances, telco would probably set up the forwarding for you in the CO without someone having to go there to physically use the phone to set it up. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 14:36:15 PST From: reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) Subject: IBT Raises Pay Phone Rates to 30c "Temporarily" I just heard on the radio that Illinois Bell plans to raise pay phone rates by 5c to 30c until they raise 30 million dollars. I forget what they "need" the money for, I think it was to pay for something they did that they shouldn't have. After they raise the money they "plan" to lower the rate back to 25c. reb -- *-=#= Phydeaux =#=-* reb@ingres.com or reb%ingres.com@lll-winken.llnl.GOV ICBM: 41.55N 87.40W h:828 South May Street Chicago, IL 60607 312-733-3090 w:reb Ingres 10255 West Higgins Road Suite 500 Rosemont, IL 60018 708-803-9500 [Moderator's Note: It was NOT to 'pay for something they did they shouldn't have ...'; it is to compensate for the dizzy ruling from a judge here saying that taxes have to be collected on pay phone calls. Since pay phones cannot accept pennies and there is a tax on local phone calls courtesy of our city council, IBT had been spreading the pay phone portion of the tax -- being unable to collect a penny or two from each pay phone user -- among all subscribers. All of us pay City of Chicago tax on our phone bills; it was perhaps ten or fifteen cents per month more than it would have been had pay phone users been paying the tax also. IBT had to refund several year's worth of pro-rated taxes collected from subscribers (I got, I think, fifteen cents per month refund covering several years of service) as a credit on the phone bill back in September. At the same time, pay phone calls were raised five cents so the tax could be collected. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 92 13:03:17-0800 From: /PN=Thomas.K.Hinders/OU=CCMAIL/O=CHAN.IS/PRMD=MMC/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com Subject: Lack of Dial Tone When Programming PC Fax I a trying to program a PC-Fax board to dial using my calling card. The problem I encounter is that the LD carrier uses voice/bong prompts that aren't "recoginzed" by the fax modem. I use Hayes ",,,'s" to delay the srting, but the response of the LD is so variable that often the Fax/modem is too early or late. We have the same complaint from our travelling types. They say that trying to use the laptops to connect to corp computer resources while on the road is difficult. We haven't had much success with pre- programming the laptop modems either. Do the LDs offer some sort of "data" or modem-compatable connection service? Would it be possible to have the carriers issue a "short" burst of dialtone between entries, so one could program a FAX/modem with a "w" command? Has anyone else figured out a way around the lack of dialtone? Thanks in advance. Thomas K Hinders Martin Marietta Computing Standards 4795 Meadow Wood Lane Chantilly, VA 22021 703.802.5593 (v) 703.802.5027 (f) ------------------------------ From: Jeff@digtype.airage.com (Jeff Wasilko) Subject: Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 21:37:19 EST Organization: Univ of Fnord; Roslyn's Cafe Div. Reply-To: jeff@digtype.airage.com We need to connect our two offices (which are about five miles apart) together. We run a mix of TCP/IP and Appletalk. The remote site will have three or four NCD Xterminals, a couple of printers (hung off the NCDs) and five or six Macs. The Macs will be doing light work over the remote connection (printing, opening and saving small docs to the fileserver, email, etc). We could eventually end up with six or so Xterminals and ten Macs. A 56kb line is the same installation cost as a T1, and the monthly difference is only $250/mo ($250/mo for a 56kb line, $500/mo for a T1). What kind of demands does X place on the network? Will a 56kb line be sufficent, or should we jump to the T1? Our X users are using them as terminal replacements, and they're also running WordPerfect and Lotus on our Sun. I'm also looking for suggestions for routers. I'm familiar (by reputation only) with cisco (or is it Cisco this week?). What else should I consider? Is bridging worth considering, too? What should I look for in a good CDU/DSU? Are the all the same, or are there large differences from manufacturer to manufacture? Thanks in advance, Jeff Jeff's Oasis at Home. Jeff can also be reached at work at: jwasilko@airage.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:06:35 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Phone Customers Face Dialing Changes From {The Boston Globe} 11/13/92. Taking steps to replenish the depleted supply of area codes, New England Telephone Co. said yesterday it would begin phasing in several dialing changes in February. The changes will eventually permit phone companies to use area codes that don't have "0" or "1" as their middle numeral, freeing up 640 new possibilities nationwide. The additional area codes are needed to create new telephone lines, which are in scare [sic] supply bacause [sic] of the rising use of computers, facsimile machines, pagers and cellular phones. But for that central reprogramming to work, customers will have to learn new dialing habits, New England Telephone said. Today, callers dial some calls in their area codes with seven digits, while other calls require "1" plus the seven digits. But by 1994 area residents won't have to add a "1" before before [sic] making a call in their own area code. Customers will still have to add that digit when making calls to other area codes. That change will take effect Feb. 2, 1993, in western Massachusetts exchanges of Wesfield, Russell and Monson. Next year the new procedure will spread throughout the 413, 603, 802, and 401 area codes. In 1994 residents in 617, 508, and 207 will hear the calling. New England Telephone provides phone service in every New England state except Connecticut. The switch won't change local calling areas or rates. "A toll call is still a toll call," Cronin said. Another change over the next couple of years will include a shift in the dialing for operator-assisted and calling card calls. Under the new plan, customers will have to dial "0" plus the area code and the number even if they are dialing within the same area code. New England Telephone said that its effort to establish a uniform dialing pattern for all its customers coincides with similar programs elsewhere in the nation. By 1995, besides the new area codes, the changes will free up an additional 152 local exchanged codes within existing area codes. It will increase the supply of available phone numbers nationwide from 1 billion to 6.3 billion. End of article. One problem with this change is that callers won't automatically know that a call is a toll call at the time that they place it. For example, any non-local call which I dial within area code 508 yields a recording which states: "Sorry we cannot complete your call as dialed. To call beyond the local area you must dial 1 first. Do not dial 1 when dialing a local call. This is a recording." I always know that I will incur toll charges when dialing an inital 1 for calls within my area code. Unfortunately, I can't easily distinguish between calls dialed to area code 617 which are included in my calling plan at no additional charge and those that incur toll charges since I always have to dial 1 617 to reach them. Cellular One/Boston doesn't require the dialing of an inital "1" for calls within the same area code. They route the call to their closest point of interconnect and it ends up usually being a local call. Often it is cheaper for me to use my cellular phone than to use my land line. Monty Solomon / PO Box 2486 / Framingham, MA 01701-0405 monty%roscom@think.com ------------------------------ Reply-To: tdarcos@mcimail.com From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 02:57:25 EST Subject: Washington Post and Caller-ID A point that was made about a year ago was that before Caller-ID was available either from or to telephones located in the District of Columbia, the {Washington Post} was running articles about the horror stories of bad happenings due to Caller-ID being available. When C&P Telephone of Washington DC was allowed to offer Caller-ID, the {Washington Post} had it included along with the new telephone system they installed. The Post never told anyone that it had installed Caller-ID. It wasn't until {The Washington Times} (a competing newspaper in DC) broke the story that anyone knew what the Post had done. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM (These opinions are mine alone.) [Moderator's Note: It is not unusual for people in the media to consider themselves so Special and Different that the editorials they print each day would agree with John Bunyan's description of his own life: " ... what I say, and what I do in real life are often two ..." Channel Two in Chicago (WBBM - CBS affiliate here) constantly takes a pro-gun control stance; yet their camera crews always have a weapon in the van when they go to the scene of disasters and other news worthy events in 'certain neighborhoods' (read: black ghetto areas). And talk about hypocrisy! My competitor {The New York Times} takes a pro-gun control stance, yet whenever Arthur Oakes Sulzberg deigns to come into the city to his office in his chauffer-driven limousine, he always carries a handgun. I guess what they mean is *you* should not be allowed to have Caller-ID or handguns; its okay for the lawyers, politicians and media mogels though; they Know What is Best For Us. Kay Graham with her {Washington Post} and News Weak is no different. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Ring...Ring...Ring...If You Wish to Make a Call Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 23:12:21 EST Reply-To: wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (David Lesher) Organization: NRK Clinic for habitual NetNews abusers - Beltway Annex Over the last decade or so, it seems that rather than getting dumped into reorder, or SIT / voice intercept, you get what I titled this article ... Now this strikes me as a real pain and pointless. Why should I have to wait for three ring cycles to go by before getting told that the switch has lost my call? [Hey, *I* know I dialed it correctly ...] About the only reason I can think of for this deliberate misdirection is just that -- deliberate misdirection. Have the LEC's done this just to foil COCOTs and Demon Dialers? wb8foz@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu pob 1433 20915-1433 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 21:56 EST From: SKASS@drew.drew.edu Subject: "rrrringg-BOOP" When I am using my IBX work phone and someone calls, I hear a tone, and the caller hears "rrrringg-BOOP rrrringg-BOOP ..." I know that at least some callers from outside our switch hear the BOOP, but I'm wondering how far it extends. I had always thought that the ring signal was generated locally, and if that's true, then my switch must be passing some signal for "phone in use, but call waiting ringing," to which the caller's switch generates the "rrrringg-BOOP." I think it would be a nice thing to have nationwide so I knew the difference between a ring/phone-on-hook and a ring/interrupting-a-call. Can someone in the know fill me in on the technical details of "rrrringg-BOOP" ? We own our own switch here, but I don't know what kind it is. Steve Kass/ Dept of Math and CS/ Drew U/ Madison NJ 07940 skass@drew.drew.edu 201-514-1187 [Moderator's Note: Actually, if you listen closely, when the called party answers you will hear a certain kind of click on the line if you interuppted them on call waiting which you won't hear if you did not. A few PBXs using Direct Inward Dialing have the special ring signal you describe when cal-waiting interupts an extension user. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #858 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18225; 18 Nov 92 4:24 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA03798 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:10:47 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA06092 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:10:29 -0600 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:10:29 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211180810.AA06092@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #859 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Nov 92 02:10:30 CST Volume 12 : Issue 859 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? (Ben Harrell) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Dave Niebuhr) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Richard M. Greenberg) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Ted Hadley) More Tower Jive (John Adams) DBASE Program to Convert Area Codes (Paul Robinson) Any Advice For Large Move Order? (Christopher J. Ambler) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bharrell@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Ben Harrell) Subject: Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? Reply-To: cmebh01@nt.com (Ben Harrell) Organization: Computers and Technologies Theme Program-NCSU-NC Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 00:59:37 GMT FZC@CU.NIH.GOV writes: > I would like to point out something that I noticed more than a year > ago when I was wading through the Electronic Communications Protection > Act, the law that (it is claimed) makes it illegal to intentionally > listen to a cellular phone. I noticed another thing which I noted, > and no one seemed to dispute. > According to the ECPA, a "trap and trace device" is a device that is > used for the purpose of picking up someone's phone number who is > calling the line the T&T is on, is illegal without a court order. > If this is a correct interpretation, it means that the decisions in > various states about Caller-ID are all irrelevant since this Federal > law has made any caller ID box illegal (except for calls which are not > "in interstate commerce."). Trap and trace laws generally (in the great majority of states) and in the FCC have been interpreted to mean that a device is illegally "tapped" into a line, usually without the knowledge of the party whose line is being tapped, for the purpose of "trapping" originating dialed digits and "tracing" terminating calls to their originating directory number. CLASS CLID, ISDN CLID, and 800/900 ANI do not fit this definition because 1) there is no "tapping" with illegal devices going on (it is an inherent network capability), and 2) it is always done with the full knowledge and consent of the telephone company and the terminating service subscriber in the form of a "payment for service rendered", and 3) the legality of the ANI delivery by AT&T, MCI, and Sprint to 800/900 customers (which they have been doing for several years) on inter-LATA calls has NEVER been questioned. I do understand that ANI is technically the "billing" number, whereas CLID is technically the "originating" number, but for most residential and single line business customers these two numbers are one and the same. Also, I would like for someone to explain to me the conceptual difference between someone calling me and someone knocking on my door. Unless I know who is on the other side of that door, I'm not likely to answer it, and if I do I'm going to be very careful about it. In the entire history of telephony, I having had that capability. But now with CLID, I do. I understand that battered spouse shelters, undercover policemen, etc. need protection, but for the average person or business, why is CLID any different "personal privacy" wise to my going and knocking on my neighbors door. Why would I expect him/her to answer that door, if he doesn't recognize me or my voice? I know that I don't have to tell him/her were *I* live, but I just don't see the difference and don't understand what people get so upset about with CLID. Maybe I'm just dense. Ben Harrell cmebh01@nt.com ........... bharrell@catt.ncsu.edu ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 06:51:19 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers John Higdon writes: > Hector Salgado-Galicia writes: >> A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want >> to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. > The trendy approach is to claim "potential health hazards" from the > EMR. After working in the broadcast business for many years around > very high-powered transmitters, someone decided that it was > "dangerous" to be exposed to radio frequency energy. Based upon > inconclusive tests on animals and on some nifty sounding theories, the > Federal government adopted the ANSI standards regarding "safe" EMR > exposure. > [Moderator's Note: I think if I were going to make objections to a > tower, the objections would be based on esthetic considerations and > also on the difficulty of receiving radio signals other than those of > the nearby tower due to the dense radiation it was emiting. A similar problem occurred not long ago when the National Weather Service wanted to put one of its new Doppler Radar systems in a community about 15 miles from my house. Naturally, there was a large hue and cry about all of the associated EMR problems and the local congresscritter (18 years seniority and bounced on Election Day just like his checks) took up the call. After a lot of wrangling and posturing, the new system is going to be installed at Brookhaven National Lab, about 20 miles away which is where it should have gone in the first place. Some people just don't think. These people live about 25 miles from the defunct Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant and BNL has two working reactors right now. Some of the protestors even work at these two places. Sheesh! What hypocrites. Dave ------------------------------ From: rmg50@ccc.amdahl.com (Richard M Greenberg) Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers Date: 17 Nov 92 20:18:41 GMT Reply-To: richg@hatch.socal.com Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA > [Moderator's Note: > telephone, radio and television listening habits, see the article > "Praise the Lord and Pass the RF Filters" in a 1989 issue of this > Digest. Maybe I should reprint it. PAT] Please do. Rich Greenberg Work: rmg50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com N6LRT Play: richg@hatch.socal.com What? Me speak for Amdahl? Surely you jest.... [Moderator's Note: I am greatly overloaded with messages, but maybe I will soon. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tedh@cylink.COM (Ted Hadley) Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers Organization: Cylink Corp. Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 20:49:48 GMT Hector Salgado-Galicia writes: > A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want > to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. Could > someone comment on regulations at the City, State or Federal level > that could be employed to support their case? In Sunnyvale, CA, my neighbors and I successfully got CellularOne to not place a tower by involving the entire neighborhood. I read the technical specs filed with the city, which were full of errors indicating the one who filed was inept. I used the facts against them. We had a geologist from the USGS (my neighbor) report on seismic issues and safety due to collapse, and one other neighbor got a friend who was a real-estate broker to comment on property value impact with specific examples from other cities. We also had a petition signed by 150 residents opposing the tower. We then showed up in force at the preliminary City Planner's hearing. CellularOne was _Blown Away_ by the action, research, and the facts we presented. The city immediately rejected the plans. It takes planning & effort, but it worked for us. Ted A. Hadley tedh@cylink.COM Tertullian Cylink Corporation, 310 N. Mary Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA 408-735-5847 All opinions expressed are my own, and probably not liked by my employer. ------------------------------ From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: More Tower Jive Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 16:15:57 GMT Having just read John Higdon's response to the current EMI is causing my tomato plants to glow thread, I came across the following item in this morning's Bellcore Information Research Center report: INTELLECT: THE DAILY INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - PRODUCED BY BELLCORE'S IRC BOONTON TWP. PURSUES EXPERT ADVICE ON TOWER Star Ledger:Newark-NJ 11/17/92 P 64 Last night, the Township Committee of Boonton, NJ, directed its attorney to seek experts who can give testimony on whether a proposed NYNEX communications tower will affect the health of the township's residents. NYNEX would pay the township $25,000 per year for 10 years for the tower, which would be built on municipal land to relay mobile telephone transmissions. NYNEX would also allow the township the use of the tower for police communications. Some residents are fearful that microwave transmissions could pose a health risk. A citizens' group has requested that the Township Committee seek expert opinion on the matter. Copyright (C) 1992 Bellcore. All Rights Reserved. Jack (John) Adams Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:43:04 EST Subject: DBASE Program to Convert Area Codes There are a lot of places using DBASE or its clones to handle database work, so I thought I'd include the program I use to convert our organization's database whenever an area code splits. It's generic enough that I can run it against our database and update all changed records. I thought other people might be able to use it. Paul Robinson The following is a procedure in DBASE that I wrote to convert telephone numbers from one area code to another. Some people on the list may be able to use it, so here it is. This was created for a government agency so it is in the public domain. --- File CONVPHN.DBF --- Cut here --- * DBASE III PROGRAM TO CONVERT TELEPHONE NUMBERS * WHICH ARE CONVERTED FROM AN OLD AREA CODE NUMBER TO THE * NEW ONE. ALSO CHECKS THAT STATES LISTED FOR SPECIFIC * ADDRESSES ARE VALID. INACCURATE NUMBERS ARE NOT CHANGED. * * REQUIRES THE PRE-CREATED "PHONETAB" DATABASE FILE WHICH * CONTAINS ALL THE PREFIXES WHICH ARE CHANGING. THIS IS * A DBASE FILE CONSISTING OF THE OLD AREA CODE AND PREFIX * AND THE NEW AREA CODE AND PREFIX REPLACING IT. THE PREFIX * MAY BE THE SAME OR IT MAY BE DIFFERENT. * * BASED ON ORIGINAL PROGRAM BY PAUL W. ROBINSON, 8/9/90, 9/11/90 * WHICH CHANGED NUMBERS IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA AND IGNORED * NON 703 VIRGINIA NUMBERS * * THE NEED FOR THIS PROGRAM OCCURRED WHEN AT&T ANNOUNCED AN * IMMEDIATE CHANGE TO CERTAIN TEXAS AND NEW JERSEY AREA CODES, * AND THUS PHONE NUMBERS IN SOME EXCHANGES NEEDED TO BE CHANGED * THIS WILL ALSO BE OF USE WHEN THE NEW 410 AREA CODE COMES INTO * EFFECT IN MARYLAND. * * THIS REQUIRES YOU MAKE A DATA BASE LISTING THE OLD NUMBERS BY * OLD AREA CODE AND PREFIX, AND THE NEW NUMBERS REPLACING THOSE BY * AREA CODE AND PREFIX. THIS CAN BE DONE WITH A SIMPLE TEXT * FILE MERGED INTO A DATA BASE USING THE IMPORT FUNCTION. * THIS FILE MUST BE CALLED 'PHONETAB', IT CARRIES 3 FIELDS: * 'OLD', 'AC', 'PFX' AND MUST BE INDEXED ON 'OLD' * TO FILE 'AC'. * * IT IS ASSUMED THE FILE TO BE EDITED 'HOME' IS INDEXED USING * 'NAME', AND CONTAINS THE FIELD OF 'STATE' AND 'PHONE' WHERE * PHONE CONTAINS 12 DIGITS NPA-NXX-XXXX IF THE NUMBER IS OUT * OF THE AREA CODE. * * PAUL W ROBINSON E-Mail: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM 6-MAY-1991 * This program is in the Public Domain. * CLEAR STORE .F. TO DEBUG SET TALK OFF SET ECHO OFF SET PRINT OFF STORE '$MDDCVATNALAKAZARCACOCTDEFLGAHIIDILINIAKS' TO STATES STORE STATES+'KYLAMEMAMIMNMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKOR' TO STATES STORE STATES+'PARISCSDTXUTVTWAWVWIWYCZ' TO STATES * NOTE: TENNESSEE (TN) MUST APPEAR EARLY BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT * WILL BE ERRONEOUSLY FOUND BETWEEN MONTANA (MT) * AND NEBRASKA (NE) * ADD OUR OWN ABBREVIATIONS FOR SPECIAL CASES STORE STATES+'**Z1Z2Z3Z4Z5Z6Z7Z8Z9' TO STATES SELECT 3 USE PHONETAB INDEX AC GO TOP SELECT 2 USE HOME INDEX NAME, XPHONE GO TOP DO WHILE .NOT. EOF() * CHECK THAT THE STATE NAME IS OKAY. STORE TRIM(STATE) TO S STORE TRIM(HOME_PHONE) TO P STORE ' ' TO NPA STORE ' ' TO NXX STORE ' ' TO XXXX STORE ' ' TO L I = AT(S,STATES)/2 IF I<>INT(I) .OR. I<1 IF .NOT. DEBUG SET PRINT ON ENDIF ? '***BAD STATE NAME:' DISPLAY SET PRINT OFF ELSE * STATE NAME IS OKAY, CHECK AREA CODE IF LEN(P)=12 STORE LEFT(P,3) TO NPA STORE SUBSTR(P,5,3) TO NXX STORE RIGHT(P,4) TO XXXX STORE NPA+NXX TO L SELECT 3 GO TOP FIND &L IF .NOT. EOF() STORE STR(AC,3) TO NPA STORE STR(PFX,3) TO NXX STORE NPA+'-'+NXX+'-'+XXXX TO P SELECT 2 IF .NOT. DEBUG SET PRINT ON ENDIF ? ' CHANGING RECORD ' DISPLAY REPLACE HOME_PHONE WITH P ? ' TO ' DISPLAY SET PRINT OFF ENDIF ENDIF ENDIF SET ECHO OFF SET TALK OFF SELECT 2 SKIP ENDDO CLOSE ALL --- Cut here The following shows the format of the DBF file PHONETAB. After creating this file, you will need to do "INDEX ON OLD TO AC" in order to index this file to make the above procedure work. . display structure Structure for database: C:phonetab.dbf Number of data records: 376 Date of last update : 11/16/92 Field Field Name Type Width Dec 1 OLD Numeric 6 2 AC Numeric 3 3 PFX Numeric 3 ** Total ** 13 Now the first three and last three records of the PHONETAB.DBF file. OLD AC PFX 301205 410 205 301208 410 208 301221 410 221 - Circa 370 records deleted 301996 410 996 301997 410 997 301998 410 998 301999 410 999 The following is the complete set of codes which have changed from Area Code 301 to 410. List of Prefixes changed from 301-xxx to 410-xxx 205 208 221 222 224 225 226 228 232 233 234 235 237 239 242 243 244 247 250 252 254 255 256 257 260 263 265 266 267 268 269 272 273 275 276 278 280 281 282 284 285 287 288 289 290 291 296 298 307 312 313 316 319 321 323 325 326 327 328 329 332 333 335 337 338 339 342 343 346 347 348 351 352 354 355 356 357 358 360 361 362 363 364 366 367 368 370 374 376 377 378 379 381 382 383 385 388 389 391 392 393 396 397 398 425 426 429 430 433 435 437 438 440 442 444 446 448 450 451 452 455 456 457 458 461 462 465 466 467 471 472 476 477 479 482 483 484 485 486 488 489 494 515 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 541 542 543 544 546 547 548 549 550 551 553 554 556 557 558 560 561 562 563 566 569 573 574 575 576 578 581 583 584 586 591 592 594 597 602 605 612 613 623 624 625 626 628 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 641 642 643 644 646 647 648 651 653 655 658 659 661 664 665 666 667 668 669 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 679 682 683 684 685 686 687 691 692 693 712 719 720 721 723 726 727 728 730 732 734 740 741 742 744 745 747 748 749 750 751 752 754 755 756 757 758 760 761 764 765 766 768 771 775 778 780 781 783 784 785 787 788 789 792 793 795 796 798 799 808 820 821 822 823 825 827 828 830 832 833 835 836 837 838 841 848 849 850 857 859 860 861 866 867 873 875 876 877 879 880 882 883 885 886 887 889 892 893 896 906 920 922 923 928 931 938 939 941 943 944 945 947 955 956 957 960 962 964 965 966 968 969 971 974 978 979 987 988 991 992 993 995 996 997 998 999 Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM #INCLUDE ------------------------------ From: cambler@zeus.calpoly.edu (Christopher J. Ambler, Phish) Subject: Any Advice For Large Move Order? Organization: Fantasy, Incorporated: Reality None of Our Business. Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 13:29:00 GMT I, and two of my three roomates will be moving on 1 January, and will have the following order to place: old house --> new house a. 2 measured in circ hunt --> (change billing) b. 2 measured in circ hunt --> (change billing) c. 3 flatrate --> (change billing) d. 2 flatrate --> (same billing) e. ISDN (2B2D-BRI) --> (same billing) f. --> add 1 new flatrate custom number g. --> add 700 link to 1 of the 3 flatrates (c) h. keep 2 existing in old house All lines are residential. a-e are MOVE orders, f and g are new installs. By change billing, I mean that they are currently in the name of the fourth roommate who will be staying and keeping the last two existing lines (as in h), and I want them changed to my name. Question is, is this an unusually large order for Pac*Bell? Should I expect trouble? How early should I call it in? Any tips or suggestions in placing the order (other than get ready to pay for it dearly)? cambler@zeus.calpoly.edu (805) 756-6634/ISDN ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #859 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18586; 18 Nov 92 4:29 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12322 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:25:13 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA09746 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:24:54 -0600 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 02:24:54 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211180824.AA09746@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Subject: Telephone Quotations Remember the request the other day for telecom quotations? Here is the results. PAT From: ecampbel@metz.une.edu.au (Ed Campbell) Subject: Telephone Quotations : Summary Date: 17 Nov 92 22:14:55 GMT > Do you know of any quotes concerning the telephone, that you are > willing to share , eg "Do you know who I've always depended on?. Not > strangers, not friends. The telephone. That's my best friend" - > Marilyn Munroe. Another well-known one is [picks up phone, not-ringing] "Hello! What! Yes!" [hangs up phone] Eric Morecombe, The Morecombe and Wise Show. (I think you have to see the show). THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES I RECEIVED. A list follows. First here are some I found while rummaging through Dictionaries of Quotations in the local library They (wives) are people who think when the telephone bell rings, it is against the law not to answer it" --- Ring Lardner , 1923 "La servitude. C'est ca, le telephone. Il sonne: tu accours. Ou bien tu n'accours pas, mais tu te ronges les sangs de regret ou de curiosite insatisfaite" --- Gabrielle Roy "Le telephone ne convient pas aux amoureux! Dans leurs conversations c'est le regard qui joue le role principal." --- Robert Hollier "You cannot settle the problems of Europe by long-distance telephone calls and telegrams. Round the table we must get ... " --- Ernest Bevin 1945. "Well if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone" --- James Thurber "Mr. Watson , come here, I want you" --- Alexander Graham Bell ( first telephone message) (obviously didn't have a good sense of occasion,... or a scriptwriter)) "It (the telephone) will unmake our work. No greater instrument of counter revolution and conspiracy can be imagined" --- Josef Vissarvonovich Stalin "Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made" --- Richard Milhous Nixon ,20 July 1969, speaking to first men to land on the moon. From: Rob Knauerhase Here are a few. The attribution is all the source I have, but I assume they are accurate. "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union memo, 1877 "Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires. Even if it were, it would be of no practical value." -- Boston Post 1865 "The FTS2000 10-digit number will match the commercial number. In other words, your FTS2000 number will be the same as your commercial number." -- a USA-CERL bulletin on updates to the Federal phone system (USA-CERL is the Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Labs) From: tds@hoserve.att.com (Tony DeSimone) Sender: Antonio_DeSimone@ATT.COM (Tony DeSimone) "Communism must be like one big phone company." Lenny Bruce as quoted on "All Things Considered" 10/8/91 "The possibilities of a private home telephone system throughout the country is out of the question. Almost the entire working population of the United States would be needed to switch cable." unidentified NY telphone financier, 1887 quoted in C. J. Cain in vol 35 of the Fiber Optic Reprint Series, from Information Gatekeepers INC. "Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires. Even if it were, it would be of no practical value." - Boston Post 1865 "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -Western Union memo, 1877 -- "According to Judge Greene, "Despite AT&T's argument that Bell Labs was [a] leader in invention and innovation, and despite excellence and `scientific genius' of the Labs, they have produced few products of practical value." From: haynes@cats.UCSC.EDU (Jim Haynes) "It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us - the high, the low, the rich , the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage - may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss -- except the inventor of the telephone." Mark Twain, 1890 From: John Boteler Organization: Express Access Public Access UNIX, Greenbelt, Maryland USA Operater: "Are you havin trouble with an operator in Virginia?" Frank: "I'm havin trouble with the tephone cumpny, PERIOD!" From: "Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr" A quich grope, errr... grep through my 20,000-plus item cookie file yields the following: Button: I don't mind being in touch with reality, so long as I don't have to pay the phone bill Automatic calling unit - teenager with a telephone -- Data communications glossary Hollerith - what thou doest when thy phone is on the fritzeth -- Data communications glossary %% One good reason why computers can do more work than people is that they never have to stop and answer the phone. %% We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company. %% As you know, birds do not have sexual organs because they would interfere with flight. [In fact, this was the big breakthrough for the Wright Brothers. They were watching birds one day, trying to figure out how to get their crude machine to fly, when suddenly it dawned on Wilbur. "Orville," he said, "all we have to do is remove the sexual organs!" You should have seen their original design.] As a result, birds are very, very difficult to arouse sexually. You almost never see an aroused bird. So when they want to reproduce, birds fly up and stand on telephone lines, where they monitor telephone conversations with their feet. When they find a conversation in which people are talking dirty, they grip the line very tightly until they are both highly aroused, at which point the female gets pregnant. -- Dave Barry, "Sex and the Single Amoeba: What Every Teen Should Know" %% Ask not for whom the telephone bell tolls... if thou art in the bathtub, it tolls for thee. %% Atlanta makes it against the law to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp. %% For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off. -- Johnny Carson %% People who are funny and smart and return phone calls get much better press than people who are just funny and smart. -- Howard Simons, "The Washington Post" %% Real Users know your home telephone number. %% Telephone, n.: An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance. -- Ambrose Bierce %% There were in this country two very large monopolies. The larger of the two had the following record: the Vietnam War, Watergate, double- digit inflation, fuel and energy shortages, bankrupt airlines, and the 8-cent postcard. The second was responsible for such things as the transistor, the solar cell, lasers, synthetic crystals, high fidelity stereo recording, sound motion pictures, radio astronomy, negative feedback, magnetic tape, magnetic "bubbles", electronic switching systems, microwave radio and TV relay systems, information theory, the first electrical digital computer, and the first communications satellite. Guess which one got to tell the other how to run the telephone business? %% To understand this important story, you have to understand how the telephone company works. Your telephone is connected to a local computer, which is in turn connected to a regional computer, which is in turn connected to a loudspeaker the size of a garbage truck on the lawn of Edna A. Bargewater of Lawrence, Kan. Whenever you talk on the phone, your local computer listens in. If it suspects you're going to discuss an intimate topic, it notifies the computer above it, which listens in and decides whether to alert the one above it, until finally, if you really humiliate yourself, maybe break down in tears and tell your closest friend about a sordid incident from your past involving a seedy motel, a neighbor's spouse, an entire religious order, a garden hose and six quarts of tapioca pudding, the top computer feeds your conversation into Edna's loudspeaker, and she and her friends come out on the porch to listen and drink gin and laugh themselves silly. -- Dave Barry, "Won't It Be Just Great Owning Our Own Phones?" %% "Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from Presidents and Kings to the scum of the earth..." %% BUG [from telephone terminology, "bugs in a telephone cable", blamed for noisy lines; however, Jean Sammet has repeatedly been heard to claim that the use of the term in CS comes from a story concerning actual bugs found wedged in an early malfunctioning computer] n. An unwanted and unintended property of a program. (People can have bugs too (even winners) as in "PHW is a super winner, but he has some bugs.") See FEATURE. -- From the AI Hackers' Dictionary %% Hokey Dial, n. (also called Pseudo-Leased). A means of connecting terminals over a switched-line network (usually the public telephone system), when the terminals concerned are designed to work only on a permanently connected ("leased") line. What happens is that the user manually dials the connection and then starts the communications, and the hardware at each end hopefully cannot detect the difference. Used as emergency fall-back in some cases where the dedicated lines fail; also used as a cheap substitute for proper lines. National communication authorities do not always approve. -- from the IBM Jargon Dictionary %% MSG, v. (message) To communicate via a computer-transmitted message, rather than by telephone. Usage: "MSG me when you are ready to go to lunch". -- from the IBM Jargon Dictionary %% To the habitual reader, reading is a drug of which he is the slave; deprive him of printed matter and he grows nervous, moody, and restless; then, like the alcoholic bereft of brandy who will drink shellac or methylated spirit, he will make do with the advertisements of a paper five years old; he will make do with a telephone directory. -- W. Somerset Maugham, "The Bum" %% Here at the Phone Company, we serve all kinds of people; from President's and Kings to the scum of the earth... -- Lily Tomlin %% Now, telephone companies are not stupid, at least for large values of 'stupid'. -- Michael O'Brien (Mr. Protocol) %% A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, a big TV with a hi-fi VCR and a nice stereo, a full fridge, a microwave, a UNIX system, two phone lines, a high speed modem, and thou. %% In recognizing AT&T Bell Laboratories for corporate innovation, for its invention of cellular mobile communications, IEEE President Russell C. Drew referred to the cellular telephone as a "basic necessity." How times have changed, one observer remarked: many in the room recalled the advent of direct dialing. -- The Institute, July 1988, pg. 11 %% This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. %% "You know you have answered too many Tech Support questions when your Pavlovian response to a ringing phone is to throw it out a window" -- mcmahon@tgv.com (John 'Fast-Eddie' McMahon) %% An agent is a vampire with a telephone. -- Any Editor %% I once met a lassie named Ruth In a long distance telephone booth. Now I know the perfection Of an ideal connection Even if somewhat uncouth. %% A mathematician named Hall Has a hexahedronical ball, And the cube of its weight Times his pecker's, plus eight Is his phone number -- give him a call.. %% I'm too shy to express my sexual needs except over the phone to people I don't know. -- Gary Shandling %% DOLL: operate a telephone. "Jes doll me up sometime!" -- Texan Dictionary %% Maybe Hamton's right. Maybe Buster is shy about inviting me to the prom. Maybe he's waiting until the last minute to call me. Maybe I should run home right now and sit by the phone like a drooling maniac so I don't miss his call! No, I'm way too cool for that. BUT I CAN'T TAKE THAT CHANCE!!! -- Babs Bunny %% [ring ring] "Hello?" "Hello, Babs. This is the President of the United States." "Get off the line, Mac! I'm waiting for an important call!!!!" -- Babs & George Bush %% If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word "National." -- George Will %% In an attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone pole. %% %% Last Words of Advice: If you pay your taxes and don't get into debt and go to bed early and never answer the telephone -- no harm can befall you. -- Professor Charles P. Issawi %% Parkinson's Telephone Law: The effectiveness of a telephone conversation is in inverse proportion to the time spent on it. %% The honeymoon is over when he phones that he'll be late for supper -- and she has already left a note that it's in the refrigerator. -- Bill Laurence %% The phone will not ring until you leave your desk and walk to the other end of the building. -- Linda A. Lawyer %% The telephone pole was approaching fast, I was attempting to swerve out of it's path when it struck my front end. %% Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, opulence is when you have three -- and paradise is when you have none. -- Doug Larson %% Thoughts on Programming, Number 41: I know it. I know what needs to be done - but every time I try to tackle a technical problem, some bloody fool wants me to make a decision about trucks - or telephones - or some damn thing. -- Robert Heinlein, "The Man Who Sold the Moon" %% "Just for today" I'll do something I have been putting off for a long time. I finally write that letter, make that phone call, clean out that closet or desk or straighten out those drawers. -- Abigail van Buren (a.k.a. "Dear Abby") from the annual "The New Years Resolutions list" %% From: Richard Lucas Don't know if this is quite what you're looking for, but as a former and still occasional telecom consultant who has worked on local rate cases it was always one of my favorites (at least with regards to U.S. domestic situations): "Where is it somewhere embedded in the Constitution that the price of local telephone service should never be greater than the price of a big pizza?" - Prof. Alfred Kahn, ex-New York Public Service Commission & ex-CAB chief. (found in _Teleconnect_, 2/88, p. 154) Ever since then I've compared local phone rates to pizza prices - and he's right, there isn't much difference between local phone rates and large pizza prices. Rather frightening in a way... (Don't have the exact quote on my #2 comment, which I heard some time after the AT&T Divestiture split and the open market sale of telephone sets. One writer somewhere commented that the new lightweight sets just didn't feel right; if the handset wasn't heavy enough to be used as a murder weapon, it wasn't really a proper telephone.) Ed.   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02668; 20 Nov 92 3:14 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29724 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:06:51 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA22286 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:06:31 -0600 Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:06:31 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211200706.AA22286@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #860 TELECOM Digest Fri, 20 Nov 92 01:06:30 CST Volume 12 : Issue 860 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Praise the Lord and Pass the RF Filters (Digest Reprint from 6/22/89) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Marc T. Kaufman) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Steve Forrette) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Doug Zolmer) Re: Broadcasting Towers (Alan Boritz) Re: Headsets, etc. (Cliff Sharp) Re: AT&T's COLOR Videophone With Motion (Cliff Sharp) New Version of History.of.area.splits (Carl Moore) Excuse my Error, Please (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Praise the Lord and Pass the RF Filters Date: Thursday, November 19, 1992 [Moderator's Note: This article first appeared in TELECOM Digest on Thursday, June 22, 1989. (Volume 9, Issue 208). I thought newer readers would enjoy seeing it and older readers might enjoy a repeat as part of the thread on Broadcasting Towers. Since this was written, most of the problems have been corrected. PAT] ----------- Indiana Bell service in the northeast section of Hammond, IN has gone to hell, but the telco says its not their fault, and they are trying to work with the people involved to correct the problem. For instance, consider the case of Steve Gescheidler, a resident of north Hammond, living just a few blocks from the Illinois/Indiana state line: he shares a party line with Jesus. When he picks up his telephone, a voice will often be on the wire reading from Ephesians, or bellowing at him to repent before he Burns In Hell forever. Sometimes the voice is trying to sell him spiritually enlightening audio tapes -- Visa and MasterCard accepted, of course. His neighbor around the corner, Judy Maruszczak, has a heavenly instrument also: When she tries to make a phone call, it will often times be drowned out by hand-clapping gospel music. Her VCR also likes to preach to her. The Hammond legal firm of Efron and Efron owns a pious dictaphone machine. When the secretary is in the midst of transcribing legalese, threats of fire and brimstone suddenly are heard on the tape. In addition, their phone system is electronic, and when they put calls on hold, as often as not a few seconds later the hold is broken and the call is lost. Several times per day the phone will ring, and no one is on the line at all. Linda Reynolds, another resident in the area said her television, her VCR and her cordless phone all began urging her down the righteous path last fall. She said sometimes at night the cordless phone begins ringing by itself, and going off hook for no reason, tying up their wire-line. Nine year old Tommy Kotul learned how to find salvation while he was trying to play 'Sports Baseball', an Atari game cartridge. He also said that one day in school, a choir started singing hymns over the school's public address system, which is in the form of speakerphones connected to the intercom phone on each teacher's desk. Although the sanctified interference shows up in the damndedest ways, on all sorts of electronic gizmos, it invariably is on the phone lines of the good (and presumably by now, God-fearing) residents of North Hammond, an Indiana community which straddles the Illinois state line with the communities of Burnham and Calumet City, Illinois to the south and west, and Chicago at it's northwest tip on the state line. So people began asking Indiana Bell, "what the heck is this, anyway?"... WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. ... that's what it is ... this religious station, operating at 92.3 on the dial, licensed in Hammond, IN, with transmitter facilities in Burnham, IL is the culprit. Operating with an antenna height of 500 feet, and 50,000 watts of radiated power, the folks at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. are literally *saturating* a two mile area around the northern end of the Indiana/Illinois state line, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Gescheidler lives about four blocks from WYCA's transmitter. He first began noticing the sanctified interference last fall, and it became louder and louder as the months went on, always on his end. "It seems like when I am in the middle of an important conversation, some preacher always comes on and tells me I'm going to Hell," he said, adding that the phone lines had already gone to hell, and no one seemed to give a damn about it. After complaining several times to Indiana Bell, Gescheidler and his neighbors complained to the Federal Communications Commission, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission, and finally to the radio station itself. No one, he realized, least of all the radio station, was willing to take any responsibility for the problem. WYCA isn't breaking any broadcasting rules according to Paul Gomell, an FCC Chicago office technician whose duties include periodic examination of WYCA's equipment. "The home equipment is probably not adequately filtered," he said. "The problem has nothing to do with Indiana Bell's equipment," said Delores Steur-Wagner, Indiana Bell's community affairs manager for Hammond. "If there are complaints, they should go to the FCC." Chris Alexander, Dallas-based Vice President-Engineering for WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters' parent corporation said, "The signal is so strong, you expect this kind of interference in devices that are not well-shielded. We try to advise people as best we can, and we have worked closely with Indiana Bell and Illinois Bell to resolve complaints." In November, 1986, the station raised its antenna to 500 feet from 400 feet, and increased its power from 30,000 to 50,000 watts, Alexander said. "We made these changes only after receiving permission to do so from the Federal Communications Commission." Alexander said that this change in power and antenna height created a so-called 'blanketing area' -- an area of about 1.7 miles in any direction of the transmitter and antenna -- where the signal is so strong and so permeating, it is literally everywhere, in everything. "Indeed this is the case," said one neighbor five blocks from the site. "I have gone for early morning walks in the open field where the antenna is constructed. In the crisp, early morning air, you can almost feel the signal; smell that ozone; sense the corona." Alexander said, "We operate completely within the law. We observe all FCC regulations at all times." He noted that one condition for the change in antenna height and power output being granted by the Commission was that WYCA was ordered to assume responsibility for correcting certain types of radio interference in an area 1.7 miles in any direction of the station for a period of *one year* afterward. Alexander said during that time they worked closely with the telcos involved and "....anyone who complained about interference was given free of charge the filtering devices they needed ... some of our people helped install them ... just what the FCC said we had to do, we did it, in the geographic area required, for the length of time required...." Alexander noted one of the first complaints about the increased power came when prosecutors in a federal drug trial in Hammond tried to play wiretap evidence for the jury: instead, the tape recorder offered up hymns and homilies. Paul Gomell of the FCC noted that they have received complaints about the station relating to answering machines, speed-dialing equipment, cordless phones, cheapie phones, hold buttons, Touch-Tone service, and VCR's. These appurtenances and others -- like the preaching Atari game -- lend to the appearance that God is everywhere, at least in Hammond. One Indiana Bell service representative spoke, on the condition that she could remain nameless, saying that the telco had handled over 130 WYCA-related problems in the past year, but Bell spokeswoman Steur-Wagner said the company does not keep track of such things and she had no way of confirming this report. The next step to reduce the interference -- with no guarentees that it will completely end -- is to have all the interior phone wire shielded in steel casings, said Tim Timmons, Indiana Bell's regional maintainence manager for northern Indiana, "...plus of course have good filtering where the phone lines come into the building..." "What a deal!", said Gescheidler. He recently priced the job at $300 per phone from an independent contractor. "Indiana Bell said *maybe* they could do it a little cheaper for us ... but they say it is not their obligation to resolve the problem any further." He mentioned that, "...one day some guy from WYCA came here with a phone man; they had some cheapie looking filter they plugged in ... it didn't seem to do any good." Although the parent corporation of WYCA in Dallas may have good public relations, the neighborhood says local staff at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. isn't at all concerned any longer. "They have heard so many complaints I guess they quit listening to them any longer," said a neighbor. "When I called one day -- one day when it seemed like they were much louder than usual -- and asked them in a nice way couldn't they modulate their signal a little better, a lady there told me I was being blasphemous. She told me it was anti-religious to complain. She said I should be thankful that I was able to hear the Word of God, and she hoped I would someday realize I would Burn In Hell without accepting Jesus as my Savior. That's the last time I bothered calling *them* to complain. Now the FCC and Indiana Bell say *they* can't do any more either?" No madame, they cannot. As Chris Alexander, VP-Engineering has explained time and again when asked, the Corporation follows all FCC rules at all times. "We ALWAYS do exactly what the government tells us to do," he said. And Indiana Bell brings the wire to the drop by your house. They say the line is as clean as it can be at that point. You do the rest. An old folk-prayer says, "My Lord ... nothing is going to happen that You and I can't handle together. Amen." But one can have too much togetherness, as the residents of North Hammond will attest. Said Steve Gescheidler, "On the radio, they are praying for me. Meanwhile, I am praying for a phone line I can talk on without being disrupted by the choir and the organist." Radio Station WYCA-FM Studios and Executive Offices 6336 Calumet Avenue Hammond, IN 46301 92.3 on FM dial throughout northern Illinois and northern Indiana. [Moderator's Note, appended 1/1/91: Shortly after this article appeared, tbe FCC instructed WYCA to intensify their efforts to resolve the problems of the Hammond residents. 'Better' RF filters were devised and technical help was given in their installation. For about a month, WYCA was required to announce over the air at intervals that assistance would be provided freely on request to anyone within a 1.7 mile radius of the transmitter experiencing problems. There have been no recent complaints, so I assume things are better now. PAT] [Moderator's Note: Several people requested this reprint in recent days. When WYCA first went on the air in the late 1950's, not that many people in Hammond had FM radios. WYCA's solution was to announce that you could also hear them 'quite well' on your television set by setting the dial to channel 6 and running the fine tuning upward a distance ... of course, channel 6 comes in around what? 80 megs or so; the old television sets of the era could be warped up enough to reach 92.3 ... that's how eager they were to be heard, praise the Lord! :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: kaufman@xenon.stanford.edu (Marc T. Kaufman) Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers Reply-To: kaufman@cs.stanford.edu Organization: CS Department, Stanford University, California, USA Date: 19 Nov 92 17:55:57 GMT tedh@cylink.COM (Ted Hadley) writes: > In Sunnyvale, CA, my neighbors and I successfully got CellularOne to > not place a tower by involving the entire neighborhood... I hope you don't have or use a cellular phone. To do so would be hypocritical, since the towers are necessary to cellular phone service and have to go *somewhere*. The same comment applies to your neighbors ... Marc Kaufman (kaufman@CS.Stanford.EDU) ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc., Seattle, WA Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 08:57:35 GMT > Hector Salgado-Galicia writes: >> A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want >> to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. Could >> someone comment on regulations at the City, State or Federal level >> that could be employed to support their case? I wish they *would* place a Cellular One tower near my neighborhood so that I could decent cellular service near my home! :-) Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:37:00 +0000 From: Doug (D.W.J.) Zolmer Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers This is a little off-topic for telecom, but the stories about people complaining about broadcast towers reminds me of a similar situation in the city of Kanata, a small suburban city west of Ottawa (Canada's capital city). Some high tension power lines were proposed about 100 metres from the backyards of a new subdivision. For two years people whined and complained. After the environmental study showed there would be no problems, the power lines were installed. Almost immediately, complaints about health problems and other mysterious goings-on (such as television interference, and appliances turning on and off by themselves) started appearing. The interesting things is that these complaints preceded the time (by about four months) when current was actually flowing through those power lines. Sheesh! Doug W.J. Zolmer Disclaimer: My opinions only, not BNR's 7N61 - Service Control Point - Number Services Design Voice +1 613 763 8217 or ESN 393 8217 ------------------------------ Date: 19 Nov 92 06:58:35 EST From: Alan Boritz <72446.461@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Broadcasting Towers hs1c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Hector Salgado-Galicia) writes: > A friend of mine is doing research for a group of clients. They want > to keep communications towers away from their neighborhood. Could > someone comment on regulations at the City, State or Federal level > that could be employed to support their case? Very few, as long as it's structurally sound. It's foolish to go on a "witch hunt" just because you don't like who's moving into the neighborhood. Communications towers are good for the local economy, since they bring in additional public-sector revenue and provide an additional business opportunity that wouldn't necessarily exist without it. Unless if someone's planning on pushing megawatts (no joke) of VHF or higher frequency RF power, there's not likely to be even a slight possibility of hazardous RFR exposure, as far as modern science can suggest. The "harmful non-ionizing radiation" story is an old sick joke used by immature idiots and ignorant fools to promote a hidden agenda. Alan Boritz 72446.461@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Headsets etc. Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 1:27:34 CST From: Cliff Sharp In article I'm seeking recommendations on telephone headsets. I have in mind the > kind that replaces the handset on a typical telephone. I'm also > curious to know if anyone makes a cordless telephone headset. Years ago, I was searching for one myself. After trying on several dozen types, from Radio Shack (like having my head in a clothespin; hurt after just a few seconds) to Plantronics (heavy, similar to large stereo headphones which cover the entire ear and shut out all outside noise, sweaty and generally uncomfortable ... at least the ones I could find up to $300), I happened to walk into a Heathkit store and found something not in the catalog. This little gem by Nady Systems (unfortunately, address and other info unknown) had a headset similar to foam-pad walkman-type headphones, VERY comfortable, small control box inserts between handpiece and phoneset and is switchable to use either handset or headset. Best of all, it was just under $40. I've seen a cordless headset (with DTMF pad) in one of the DAK/Damark type catalogs at around $200; they're out there. If anyone knows where I could get another Nady Systems headset, I'd enjoy knowing, since this one is years old and may not last too many more decades ... Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM ------------------------------ Subject: Re: AT&T's COLOR Videophone With Motion Date: Thu 19 Nov 92 1:33:05 CST From: Cliff Sharp In article All video is 30fps. All right, let's put the whole thing in perspective. The PAL and SECAM systems in use in other parts of the world use a (roughly) 50 Hz FIELD rate, or 50 fps, which equates to 25 FRAMES per second, or 25 Fps. The NTSC system in use in the US, as broadcast, is regulated strictly by the FCC and goes like this: The color subcarrier frequency is 3,579,545 Hz. The horizontal scan frequency is 2/455 times the color subcarrier freq. The vertical scan frequency (field rate) is 2/525 times the horizontal scan frequency. This makes the field rate right around 59.94 Hz. The frame rate is 1/2 that, or roughly 29.97 Hz. Now, go videotape a movie that was originally on film, or a Bugs Bunny cartoon, or something like that. In most cases, if you go "frame by frame" (actually field-by-field on most VHS VCRs), you'll notice that the film frames are shown something like this; film frame 1, three TV fields; film frame 2, two TV fields; repeat 3/2/3/2 to try to approximate 24 film frames per second (60/2.5 = 24; since they can't show 2-1/2 fields each time, they run 3,2,3,2). Because of the difference between 59.94 and 60 Hz, there's a correction factor that the film chain inserts every so often, but what it is and how often I haven't deciphered yet. Now, tape a Saturday-morning Hanna-Barbera cartoon and you'll find they usually run about four to five different pictures per second (or per 60 fields, or presses of the "frame advance" button on your remote). If you have an old-fashioned wind-up watch (most of which tick five times per second), you can listen to it, watch the picture and note that the watch ticks more often than the picture changes at full speed. Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:41:28 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: New Version of History.of.area.splits Just installed in the Telecom Archives today, with the following changes: In list of areas which have N0X/N1X prefixes, I have shifted 212/917/718 and 512/210 to present tense. I already had a note about 813 having N0X/N1X prefixes, so I added that the instructions also apply to 305,407,904. For the 416/905 full cutover, I previously had Jan. 1994 with no exact date available and I now have 10 Jan. 1994. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 00:24:15 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Excuse my Error, Please I got his name wrong yesterday. It is Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. I stand corrected and apologize for the error. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #860 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa03406; 20 Nov 92 3:48 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA27920 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:36:44 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA02578 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:36:18 -0600 Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:36:18 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211200736.AA02578@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #861 TELECOM Digest Fri, 20 Nov 92 01:36:15 CST Volume 12 : Issue 861 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Telecom Quotations (Mark Brader) Re: Telecom Quotations (Richard Cox) Re: Telecom Quotations (Rich Greenberg) Re: Telecom Quotations (Eric Weaver) Re: Telecom Quotations (Bart Z. Lederman) Re: Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking (Doug Faunt) Re: Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking (Lars Poulsen) Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems (Todd Inch) Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems (Gordon Burditt) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 23:37:51 GMT > "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a > means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." > -- Western Union memo, 1877 This one is on the list three times! [Moderator's Note: Yeah, but it is the best one of all! I deliberatly did not edit it out. I should have left it in three more times! :) PAT] > BUG [from telephone terminology, "bugs in a telephone cable", blamed > for noisy lines; however, Jean Sammet has repeatedly been heard to > claim that the use of the term in CS comes from a story concerning > actual bugs found wedged in an early malfunctioning computer] n. An > unwanted and unintended property of a program. (People can have > bugs too (even winners) as in "PHW is a super winner, but he has > some bugs.") See FEATURE. > -- From the AI Hackers' Dictionary The document is properly called the Jargon File these days in its online form; in print it has been The Hacker's Dictionary and now The New Hacker's Dictionary. The version above is quite an old one is, but the expanded current version mentions telephony even less. FYI: :bug: n. An unwanted and unintended property of a program or piece of hardware, esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of {feature}. Examples: "There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backwards." "The system crashed because of a hardware bug." "Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs" (i.e., Fred is a good guy, but he has a few personality problems). Historical note: Some have said this term came from telephone company usage, in which "bugs in a telephone cable" were blamed for noisy lines, but this appears to be an incorrect folk etymology. Admiral Grace Hopper (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing {COBOL}) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a persistent {glitch} in the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated {bug} in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the `Annals of the History of Computing', Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1945), reads "1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being found". This wording seems to establish that the term was already in use at the time in its current specific sense --- and Hopper herself reports that the term `bug' was regularly applied to problems in radar electronics during WWII. Indeed, the use of `bug' to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, and `bug' in the sense of an disruptive event goes back to Shakespeare! In the first edition of Samuel Johnson's dictionary one meaning of `bug' is "A frightful object; a walking spectre"; this is traced to `bugbear', a Welsh term for a variety of mythological monster which (to complete the circle) has recently been reintroduced into the popular lexicon through fantasy role-playing games. In any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to insects. Here is a plausible conversation that never actually happened: "There is a bug in this ant farm!" "What do you mean? I don't see any ants in it." "That's the bug." [There has been a widespread myth that the original bug was moved to the Smithsonian, and an earlier version of this entry so asserted. A correspondent who thought to check discovered that the bug was not there. While investigating this in late 1990, your editor discovered that the NSWC still had the bug, but had unsuccessfully tried to get the Smithsonian to accept it --- and that the present curator of their History of American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it would make a worthwhile exhibit. It was moved to the Smithsonian in mid-1991. Thus, the process of investigating the original-computer-bug bug fixed it in an entirely unexpected way, by making the myth true! --- ESR] [1992 update: the plot thickens! A usually reliable source reports having seen The Bug at the Smithsonian in 1978. I am unable to reconcile the conflicting histories I have been offered, and merely report this fact here. --- ESR.] ESR is Eric Raymond, the current editor. Add to the list this one, which I use as one of my signature quotes: "I can direct dial today a man my parents warred with. They wanted to kill him, I want to sell software to him." -- Brad Templeton In one of Arthur C. Clarke's novels there's a beautiful throwaway line about the historic abolition of long-distance charges on January 1, 2001, or some such date. It's quoted in a recent nonfiction book of his which I've been meaning to review for Telecom; I'll find the quote if I remember. Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 15:49 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk >> "Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room >> at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic >> telephone call ever made." And probably the most expensive. There was a rumour that he called collect! Richard Cox Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF Voice: +44 222 747111 Fax: +44 222 711111 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101 E-mail: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Not diallable on 511 in mainland USA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 08:06:50 PST From: richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Organization: Hatch Usenet and E-mail. Playa del Rey, CA > We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company. This should be attributed to the late Lilly Tomlin. Rich Greenberg Work: rmg50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com N6LRT Play: richg@hatch.socal.com What? Me speak for Amdahl? Surely you jest.... ------------------------------ From: weaver@sfc.sony.com (Eric Weaver) Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Organization: SONY Advanced Video Technology Center San Jose, CA USA Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:54:24 GMT > "Mr. Watson , come here, I want you" > --- Alexander Graham Bell (first telephone message) > (obviously didn't have a good sense of occasion ... or a scriptwriter)) I believe the occasion was that Bell had just spilled battery acid in his lap, and the message sounds fairly appropriate under the circs. Eric Weaver Sony AVTC 677 River Oaks Pkwy, MS 35 SJ CA 95134 408 944-4904 & Chief Engineer, KFJC 89.7 Foothill College, Los Altos Hills CA 94022 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:28:55 EST From: B. Z. Lederman Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations I missed your original request for telephone quotations. One of my favorites comes from the "Two Ronnies", an English television show where they used to do a pseudo news reading. "So many people have written to complain about the telephone service that the Post Office is actually going to show a profit this year." Bart Z. Lederman System Resources Corp. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 07:41:41 -0800 From: Doug Faunt Subject: Re: Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking It's cisco if you've been around a while, or Cisco if you believe the marketing people. You can send mail to cs@cisco.com, and your message should be forwarded to the proper people. 73, doug ------------------------------ From: lars@spectrum.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Advice Needed on Wide Area Networking Organization: CMC Network Systems (Rockwell DCD), Santa Barbara, CA, USA Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 16:17:31 GMT In article jeff@digtype.airage.com writes: [Some questions about how to connect two offices five miles apart with TCP/IP (X terminals) and Appletalk.] > We could eventually end up with six or so Xterminals and ten Macs. > A 56kb line is the same installation cost as a T1, and the monthly > difference is only $250/mo ($250/mo for a 56kb line, $500/mo for a T1). > What kind of demands does X place on the network? > Will a 56kb >line be sufficent, or should we jump to the T1? If you have enough money in the budget to easily afford the bandwidth, go for the T1. While your average traffic will probably fit in the 56Kbps line, there will be times when you are waiting for the line. The performance needs of X terminals depend enormously on the applications. Some applications transfer enormous amounts of data to support what looks like modest displays. I recently saw an X dialog editor, which transferred about 250 KB before turning the window on. It had a lot of widgets and menus that were set up even though they were not going to be displayed anytime soon. We were working on evaluating whether X terminals could usefully be employed over a V.32bis link, and this application could not: It took almost two minutes from application launch for the window showed up, and users (even the programmers who knew the program) were killing and restarting the program over and over because their patience ran out. On a 56kbps link, this would take about 45 seconds to start. Uncomfortable but survivable. On the T1, about 3 seconds: No problem. Most applications won't be this hungry. But you have to try it before you know what YOUR applications will be like. With a T1, you can load your X terminals over the link, and you can painlessly remote-mount file systems. With a 56K, that is kind of iffy. With a T1, you may consider getting a pair of drop/insert muxes and pulling a couple of voice channels out, so that you can tie the PBXs together and save a couple of outside lines. This may pay for the increment in line costs. > I'm also looking for suggestions for routers. I'm familiar (by > reputation only) with cisco (or is it Cisco this week?). What else > should I consider? It is indeed Cisco these days. Cisco is the flagship of the industry, enjoying the kind of name recognition that IBM used to have in corporate computing. They are also enormously profitable, and have adopted IBM attitudes. They don't participate in comparative evaluations by magazines, and they don't participate in industry interoperability test labs any more. I don't like that attitude. There are about 50 manufacturers of bridges and routers in the market, and most of them are okay for your application. > Is bridging worth considering, too? Yes. Your network management will be much easier with bridging: There is just one LAN. Bridges are much less expensive. > What should I look for in a good CDU/DSU? Are the all the same, or > are there large differences from manufacturer to manufacture? CSU/DSUs are commodity items these days, and even different brands usually work together. If you choose to mix voice and data on the line, the multiplexer is the CSU (channel service unit) and the DSU (Data Service Unit) is a channel card that plugs into the mux. Don't buy the DSU until you have selected the router, because you need to order DSU and router with matching cable interfaces. There are actually about five standards for that connection. V.35 is becoming the most common, though RS422 (MIL-188) is probably better. RS232 is also often used for 56kbps. One thing to look for in the DSU if you decide to multiplex is whether the DSU card produces a "smooth clock" or a "gapped clock". Most DTEs don't mind a gapped clock, but some do (although I have only seen specific problems with video gear) and why invite problems. Have fun. Did you go to InterOp to look at equipment? Next chance will be in March in Washington, DC. And no, the routers that my company makes, do not (yet) connect to synchronous lines, so I am a somewhat neutral observer. There is, however, a decent product made by another Santa Barbara company, called Advanced Computer Communications. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM CMC Network Products / Rockwell Int'l Telephone: +1-805-968-4262 Santa Barbara, CA 93117-3083 TeleFAX: +1-805-968-8256 ------------------------------ From: toddi@mav.com (Todd Inch) Subject: Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems Organization: Maverick International Inc. Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 16:46:59 GMT In article khx@se44.wg2.waii.com writes: > c) Why were cable connections cut? The four-conductor underground phone cable I've seen looks a LOT like coax, especially underground coax. Assuming that most thieves are pretty stupid, it's easier to just cut all the cables just to make sure. One thought that came to me while reading this for a "cut phone wire detector" is to simply add another piece of underground phone cable from the demarc down into the ground a few feet. This dummy cable could then be connected directly to your alarm, either as an open loop or closed loop (or, better yet since you have four conductors, one of each) depending on how you terminate the stub in the dirt. If this gets cut, you KNOW someone is tampering with your phone cables. I suppose you could use any unused pairs in your actual phone cable as open-loop detectors, but someday the phone company will use them or short them or something and give you a false alarm. Of course real cut-line-detectors measure the voltage across the line, but those can be spoofed by carefully connecting a power supply of the right voltage to the demarc prior to cutting the wire. I would expect that most monitoring/alarm companies can install one of these at your request. Of course, most theives would rather find an open door or break a window than learn to pick locks, so a typical thief won't drag a variable battery-operated supply and voltmeter to the side of your house. If this type of problem goes on a lot in your area it might be worth setting up a "neighborhood watch" where everybody has a battery-backed CB walkie-talkie tuned to the same channel (9?) and left on all the time with the squelch turned up. You could always rig up a tape recorder and the push-to-talk button to your alarm to announce the situation and your address. This would work best if you have some reliable retired or otherwise home all the time people in your neighborhood. Just gotta keep the kids from playing "practical" jokes. ------------------------------ From: gordon@sneaky.lonestar.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems Organization: Gordon Burditt Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 06:41:37 GMT Has anyone considered a telephone line alarm? This thing would go between your house wiring and the phone company's demarcation point. It sounds an alarm (although you probably wouldn't want this to directly call the police) when: (1) The line is disconnected (loss of battery). Might misfire during CO cutovers -- or maybe you wanted to detect them. (2) The line is shorted. Might also detect a flooded CO. (3) If the line goes off-hook from OUTSIDE your house, but not inside. This may signal a lineman or phone service thief connecting a butt set into your line to make free phone calls, or a neighbor who found this extra live pair run into his house, or an incompetent cop or private detective installing a wiretap. Naturally, the alarm has to tolerate incoming and outgoing calls without false alarms. An optional function when the alarm detected (3) would be to jam the line by going off hook and sending a test tone to jam dialing. (What would happen if you jammed pulse dialing by sending a sequence of 15 pulses, timed just like dialing "0" but more of them? Would technicians at the central office get mad?) This you would need to turn off if you reported trouble and expected tests and/or repairs done on your line. Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #861 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05042; 20 Nov 92 4:49 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA00366 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 02:26:30 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA15854 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 20 Nov 1992 02:26:04 -0600 Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 02:26:04 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211200826.AA15854@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #862 TELECOM Digest Fri, 20 Nov 92 02:26:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 862 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson 950-0666 Becomes, Well, 950 (Brad S. Hicks) Privacy Has an Ed Tel Price-Tag (Richard Nash) Foreign Exchange Installation Alternatives? (J.L. Gomez) GE Quick*Net Gateway? (Alan Boritz) If it's Wednesday, it's NYTel Ad Day (Dave Niebuhr) Bellcore ADSI Specification? (Richard W. Desaulniers) Latency in Current Analog Phone Lines? (James Kempf) Cordless Phone Users Gain Some Privacy Rights (Jerry Leichter) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU=0205925@mhs.attmail.com Date: 19 Nov 92 16:10:49 GMT Subject: 950-0666 Becomes, Well, 950 Here at MasterCard, we received the following piece of incomprehensible bureaucratese from the office of Bellcore's Wendy K. Messer, NANPA Administration, LCC 1B231, 290 West Mt. Pleasant Ave., Livingston, NJ 07039. I'm forwarding it both because the content may be of interest and as an example of Bellcore's dealings with end-users. (Any typos or misspellings are almost certainly mine.) For those of you who really are interested in the content, I've affixed an attempt at a translation at the end. As you read this, remember that this memo as addressed to our Director of Operations Administration, a management, not engineering, position. - - - - - - - - - - North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) is responsible for the assignment of Carrier Identification Codes (CICs) to entities (interexchange carriers and end users). NANPA maintains records of the assignments and issues reports to the FCC and industry as required. Our records show that one or more CIC(s) have been assigned to your company. NANPA is contacting you via this certified letter in connection with the industry project to expand CICs from three to four digits, which is outlined in the Industry Carrier Compatibility Forum (ICCF) CIC Administrative Guidelines. The first phase affects FG B and is scheduled for 1Q93. At that time, two things will occur First, CICs will be split into two separate pools, one for Feature Group B (FG B) and one for Feature Group D (FG D). After this split occurs, any entity wishing to purchase both FG B and FG D access will have to request separate FG B and FG D CICs, and there is no guarantee that the CICs assigned for FG B and FG D service will be the same. Second those existing three-digit CICs which are designated as FG B CICs, i.e. CICs which are used in the carrier access code 950-WXXX (where the assignee has selected the W digit as 0 or 1), will be expanded to four digits by prefixing the three digit CIC with the selected W digit. New CICs will be assigned as 4 digits. FG D CICs will remain at three digits until FG D expansion, which is currently scheduled for 1995. At that time, they will be expanded by prefixing a 0 to the three-digit FG D CIC. Existing CIC assignments will be designated as FG B or FG D based on type of access as of 1Q93. Thus, FG B CICs will be expanded as follows: CIC XXX with W = 0 (950-0XXX) will become FG B CIC 0XXX. Likewise, CIC XXX with W = 1 (950-1XXX) will become FG B CIC 1XXX. If the CIC is currently in use for FG D, the entity will retain the assignment of the three-digit CIC for FG D. Usage will be determined from the quarterly usage reports submitted to NANPA by the local exchange carriers. If the CIC is not currently used for FG D, the CIC will be made available to another entity for FG D. The attached sheet lists the CIC assignment(s) on record for your company, as well as the type of use, i.e. FG B and/or FG D. It also lists your assignment(s) as they will look after FG B expansion occurs. Please check the information for accuracy, make any changes necessary, sign it, and return it to NANPA at the address indicated. If the information is correct, please sign the sheet and return it to NANPA also. If you believe the information is incorrect, please explain why. Your reply must also be returned by the date indicated or else we will proceed with the information as listed. You are also responsible for notifying NANPA if there are any subsequent changes to the information. New CIC assignment guidelines have been developed by the industry through the ICCF. These guidelines, which cover the transition from three-to four-digit CICs and assignment procedures for four-digit CICs, seek maximum industry cooperation in this important effort, and we ask that you help us accordingly. Copies are available on request. If you have any questions, please call Jim Deak on 201-xxx-xxxx or me on 201-xxx-xxxx. Thank you, (s) Wendy Messer - - - - - - - - - - Did you make it through that? TRANSLATION: Right now if a company owns both a 950-0nnn (or 950-1nnn) code AND a 10-nnn-0 code, the "nnn" is the same. Bellcore is breaking this so that they have more slack in the 950-nnnn pseudo-exchange ... and while they're at it, they're expanding the 0/1 after the 950 to any digit, so they can assign numbers like 950-7448 or 950-3825. So if you're at a company called (for example) Hellcore, and you own "FG B" number 950-0666, but you're not a long-distance carrier with the 10-666-0 prefix, then after early next year if somebody wants to start a long-distance carrier, say, "Ma Hell," and use 10-666-0 as their access number, then they can. If this confuses telecom-literate customers who are used to relating the 950-0nnn and 10-nnn-0 codes, so be it. Oh yeah, and some time in the 1995 (for example) Ma Hell's 10-666-0 will probably become 10-0666-0, too. As our in-house telephone guru put it when the memo finally got to him: "Why didn't they just =say= that?" J. Brad Hicks Internet: mhs!mc!Brad_Hicks@attmail.com X.400: c=US admd=ATTMAIL prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad I am not an official MasterCard spokesperson, and the message above does not contain official MasterCard statements or policies. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 21:42:52 -0700 From: rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) Subject: Privacy Has an Ed Tel Price-Tag From the {Edmonton Sun}, Nov 18, 1992 Comment section page 11 By Sun columnist Donna Marie Artuso Selective Call Blocking (SCB) seem to be the very latest in a series of wondrous developments that have delivered us from the days of black, rotary dial telephones and party lines (ah, the good old days) into the era of touch-tone phones that look like Mickey Mouse, take your messages and forward calls to anywhere in the world. SCB allows telephone customers to prevent their number from being known by people who subscribe to another technological wonder, the Call Display feature. It is particularly desirable for folks with security concerns. For example, victims of family violence who are in hiding from their attackers, and medical professionals who wish to keep their numbers confidential from the patients they counsel after hours - by phone from their homes. C O N C E R N S A B O U T P R I V A C Y Consumer groups too, have voiced concerns about the right to privacy of seniors and other shut-ins who shop by phone. Yesterday, Ed Tel president and CEO R.H. David appeared at a meeting of the city's utilities and public works committee in support of Ed Tel's request to extend the SCB service for the not-so-modest service charge of $17.70 per customer. Perhaps recognizing that many people who need SCB might not be able to afford the fee, David did allow that it would be provided free of charge whenever there was demonstrable need, such as when an individual has a restraining order against someone who has threatened them from the past. Ed Tel's fee-for-service rationale also included some reference to a "deterrent" factor which led David to distinguish between "legitimate" requests for SCB and requests from abusers, or those thousands of people who, every year, get on the horn to make threatening and obscene calls. It was an especially weak argument considering that such wierdos are now far easier to detect, thanks to a technology known as Call Trace which is available to everyone free of charge. Abusers, who have their calls connected by the 411 service, can now also be traced quite readily. Besides, if $17.70 was going to deter anyone from making an obscene phone call, we'd have licked the problem a long time ago. It was Ald. Tooker Gomberg who raised the subject of other telephone companies and their SCB strategies. He should be interested to know that AGT supplies Selective Call Blocking to any customer who asks for it, absolutely free of charge. Explains AGT product manager and spokesman Laurie Schultz: "We didn't want to have to make privacy decisions for our customers. We didn't want to have to play the role of judge and jury and decide who had a good reason for getting it free and who didn't." AGT was the first company in Canada to introduce call display and call blocking. They were first tested in Red Deer in 1990. R e s p o n s e t o R e s i s t a n c e Says Schultz: "Like all telephone companies, we were new to privacy impacts. But we found there was some resistance to call display, so we minimized it by providing call block for free." As is the usual proceedure in these matters, Ed Tel's request will be considered by city counsil at its next full meeting. There, aldermen will have to decide whether or not their constituents will have to pay for the privacy that, arguably, is their right. Charging for SCB, of course, would have the effect of raking in a little more dough for the city-owned corporation which last year reported a net profit of $270 million. It sure sounds as though Ed Tel has someything to learn from its country cousins at AGT. And on Monday, city manage Richard Picherack revealed that he was eyeing Ed Tel's cash reserves to help retire the city's deficit. Hello? Hello? end of article: Ed Tel is a wholly owned corporation of the City of Edmonton. AGT Ltd., a private share holder owned company, is the Alberta provincial provider of long distance service, and also all local services excluding the City of Edmonton. Richard Nash Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6K 0E8 UUCP: rickie%trickie@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca Amatuer Radio Packet: ve6bon%ve6bon.ampr.ab.ca@gw-1.ampr.ab.ca VE6BON @ VE6MC.AB.CAN.NA ve6bon.ampr.ab.ca [192.75.200.15] ------------------------------ From: gomez@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (JL Gomez) Subject: Foreign Exchange Installation Alternatives? Organization: Arizona State University Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:06:25 GMT Is there any alternatives to having a phone line installed in a different area code in which you live in? I've called my PacBell representative and they offer foreign exchange installation for a hefty initial installation fee and heavy monthly fee. One alternative someone mentioned is to use call forwarding but that will involve putting the line in someone else's home. What about a 900 phone number? By the way, this is for a friend's BBS. Thanks for the info. gomez@enxuha.eas.asu.edu [Moderator's Note: He could put in a 900 line and set the charge for calls to ZERO. The caller would pay nothing, but your friend would still have to pay the carriage fee to whichever provider he got the service from, and at 25-30 cents *per minute* this probably would not be any less expensive than FX. If he wants to use call forwarding, the phone could always hang on a wall in an answering service; he'd have to pay the service some fee (maybe $10 or $15 per month) to leave it there. If he goes with call forwarding, make sure the line doing the forwarding gets *untimed, unmeasured local service* to the BBS; if not, then this alternative will turn out to be more expensive than planned also. There is also a telco service in many places called Remote Call Forwarding. This amounts to a line terminated in the distant CO which is set to permanently forward calls at the DID rate in effect. But these are rarely if ever tariffed for residential use, and if it is a business line then the chances of having unmeasured local service outboound from it is not too likely. Personally, I'd stick with FX if he insists he wants to pay the phone bill for his users, or else go with an 800 number, and pay those rates. There is no inexpensive way to do what he wants; telco *always* gets their money regardless of your configuration. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Nov 92 07:02:25 EST From: Alan Boritz <72446.461@CompuServe.COM> Subject: GE Quick*Net Gateway? Would anyone know of Internet or Compu$erve gateways to GE Quick*Net? And while I have your attention ;), would you also know of gateways into Sprint's public x.400 system (perhaps it may be the remains of the old Telemail system?). I have a few friends with mail accounts on both of those systems (which talk to each other) and was wondering if they accept mail from the rest of the world (yet). Thanks. Alan Boritz 72446.461@compuserve.com [Moderator's Note: In the latter case, 'address@sprint.com' will get you where you want to go. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 13:03:58 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: If it's Wednesday, it's NYTel Ad Day It seems that every Wednesday, NYTel takes out ads concerning upcoming services for various products. This week's entries are: 1. Directory Assistance Call Completion (the telco does the dialing for $0.35 US per call; 2. Clarification of Text for Restoral Charges; 3. Tariff Filing for the Introducion of Digital Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Prime Service; 4. Tariff Filing for Blocking Service (more options) (970, 976, etc. numbers). Nothing earth shaking but interesting to read and to keep informed. Dave Niebuhr Internet: niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 11:58:59 From: desaulni@mprgate.mpr.ca (Richard W. Desaulniers) Subject: Bellcore ADSI Specification? I would like to get in touch with anyone out there who know anything or knows of a Bellcore contact who knows about the Analog Display Service Interface (ADSI) specification that Bellcore is supposedly developing. According to our sources Bellcore is trialling this in the US and Canada. As we understand it this is a specification for telephone sets or terminals equipped with programmable displays. Example: in the case of voice messaging, menus would be downloaded to your phone showing what keys to press for which function. Please contact me directly via e-mail if possible. Richard W. Desaulniers InterNet: desaulni@mprgate.mpr.ca MPR Teltech Ltd. ------------------------------ From: kempf@suntana.Eng.Sun.COM (James Kempf) Subject: Latency in Current Analog Phone Lines? Date: 19 Nov 1992 00:13:49 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Reply-To: kempf@suntana.Eng.Sun.COM Does anybody have an idea what the approximate latency is in current analog phone lines? By "latency" I mean the time between when you send off a signal down the wire and when it gets to the other end. Most useful would be if this could be categorized by transport medium (e.g. local wire, national microwave, satellite, cellular, etc.), but a rough figure will do. Please reply to me directly, since I don't regularly monitor this group. Thanks. jak ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 11:26:21 EDT From: Jerry Leichter Subject: Cordless Phone Users Gain Some Privacy Rights Cordless telephone users, whose conversations have been easy prey for electronic eavesdroppers, finally won a degree of privacy in a federal appeals-court ruling. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a criminal case, said that when such phone users reasonably expect their conversations to be private, the government can't listen in. But the court said the Fourth Amendment privacy right must be evaluated case by case, depending on such factors as whether the phone user had sought privacy by purchasing devices intended to foil eavesdroppers or by using phones known to be more difficult to tap. The ruling is apparently the first in which a federal court has allowed cordless-phone users any privacy rights. Previously, other appeals courts have said the phones are so easy to eavesdrop on -- with an AM/FM radio or even with another cordless phone -- that any expectation of privacy was ridiculous. The Eight U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the late 1980s that eavesdropping was allowed, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision. The New Orleans court noted that the previous opinions are all several years old, and that the technology has since advanced in the $1.39 billion cordless-phone market. Some phones on store shelves now, for instance, come with scrambling devices made to combat high-tech eavesdroppers. Other phones work within shorter ranges, so their frequencies can't be as easily intercepted as they were in the past. More than 18 million cordless phones are expected to be sold this year ... "The reasonableness of expectations of privacy for a cordless phone conversation will depend, in large part, upon the specific telephone at issue," the court said. It declined to spell out the technological features it considered most relevant. [The actual drug conviction, based on information recorded by a neighbor, was upheld since no evidence about the phone had been introduced.] Privacy-rights lawyers applauded the broader ruling, which they said is a step toward preventing eavesdropping by private citizens as well as police. The lawyers noted that cellular-phone conversations already are protected [though technically they are as easy to intercept.] ... [N]ow that cordless phones are more secure, they should be treated the same as cellular phones, Ms. [Janlori] Goldman [of the ACLU] said. "People who use these different kinds of phones do not make these kinds of distinctions," she said. "One circuit is willing to recognize that this might be an absurd distinction." ... [For those interested, the case citation is U.S. vs. David Lee Smith, Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans, 91-5077. Can we expect future Willie Horton's who beat the rap to get hired by the maker of their phone to tout it as "private -- and a court agreed?"] Jerry ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #862 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24566; 22 Nov 92 1:16 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA23254 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sat, 21 Nov 1992 23:17:18 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA17589 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sat, 21 Nov 1992 23:16:59 -0600 Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 23:16:59 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211220516.AA17589@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #863 TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Nov 92 23:17:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 863 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Administrivia: Article/Subject Headers (TELECOM Moderator) Need Information on Aggregator (One Stop Financial) (Jeff Wasilko) Only One Phone Works ... Help! (Andy Wolf) International Dialing (Nigel Allen) Lilly Tomlin (Rich Greenberg) Apologies to Cisco (Lars Poulsen) Cisco's Participation (Bing Liao) Moving and Trying to Keep Phone Number (Dave Borden via Monty Solomon) High-Quality Voice Over POTS (Robert M. Hamer) FYI 215 NXX Additions (Cody M. Ries) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 22:26:14 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Administrivia: Article/Subject Headers Lately I've been receiving a lot of items from people who reply to the newsgroup rather than send their submission via email. Then there are people who send articles via email, but reply to the subject rather than construct it correctly. For example: "Re: TELECOM Digest V12 #850" is <> an acceptable title for an article. Neither are blanks where the subject is left out entirely. Since I don't have time for anything except a brief screening of articles, I will just skip over those that don't have subjects from now on. Likewise I am getting tired of people cross posting to a dozen other groups as well as telecom, and a variety of other articles which come here totally unedited, rambling on and on, etc. If there is no subject header, or the subject simply refers to an issue of the Digest, it won't get published. If the article comes to me from 'news@wherever' (meaning someone tried to post it to comp.dcom.telecom and it got caught and sent to me in multiples), then it won't get published. I am arranging my filtering program to take articles like these and dump them unread. I don't need a hundred plus articles daily to go through and not be able to arrange them by subject because the writer did not bother to include one. The one and only way to submit articles here is by addressing them in email to 'telecom@eecs.nwu.edu' AND including a valid subject header which either matches an earlier one with a 'Re:' in front, or by creating a new header entirely. I've got a couple dozen articles waiting for review now with no subject and my solution is to toss them out. This also applies to articles where the person simply captured the entire Digest as part of their reply, leaving me to yank a couple hundred lines out with my editor after reading it all to see what part he was replying to, etc. Thank you. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Jeff@digtype.airage.com (Jeff Wasilko) Subject: Need Information on Aggregator (One Stop Financial) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 22:51:36 EST Organization: Univ of Fnord; Roslyn's Cafe Div. Reply-To: jeff@digtype.airage.com I got a call from a company called One Stop Financial. They claimed that they could save us an additional 29% on our AT&T 800 service. From the good folks in the TELECOM Digest, I knew he was an aggregator before he even started his sales pitch (thanks everyone!). He faxed me some info, and they seem on the up and up. Here's what it said: o 29% off from dollar one; o discounts appear as line items on AT&T bill; o No time/volume committments; o letter of agency allows me to continue to deal with AT&T for service problems/changes; o They claim to be insured by ACI (American Credit Indemnity, a D&B company) against "cases of insolvencies and slow pay by AT&T/One Stop Financial telecommunications end-users"; (from ACI letter to One Stop Finanical that was faxed to me). o Payments still go directly to AT&T. They take 30% of the savings as their fee, billed quarterly. They claim to have Merril Lynch, ADP, Airborne, Cigna Insurance, Roadway Package Systems, and The NY Mets (and lots others) among their Fortune 500 clients. They also offer a 31% discount on 1+ service (but we're on with MCI now). For example, on a $1,000 800 bill, the normal AT$T discount is $80. Their additional discount is $210. They charge $63 for the month. I realize AT&T has other discount plans. They are pushing me for a 15%-off term plan, with either 18 or 36 month committment. With portability on its way, I'd rather not be tied to any carrier right now. Has anyone dealt with them (they're located in Little Falls, NJ). What should I look at as we consider using an aggregator? I intend to check references and with the BBB in NJ. I'm also going to check their insurance policy out. Thanks in advance, Jeff Jeff's Oasis at Home. Jeff can also be reached at work at: jwasilko@airage.com ------------------------------ From: awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu (Andy Wolf) Subject: Only One Phone Works ... Help! Organization: Milton S. Hershey Med Ctr / Penn St College of Med / Hershey,PA Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 02:28:55 GMT I have a problem in an apartment that I recently moved into. There is a phone jack in the kitchen that I have been using with a Panasonic phone/answering machine with no problem. There is a phone jack in the third bedroom that had been plugged in to a standard honest-to-god Western Electric tan 2500 set (everybody has one, right?). This phone I assumed worked correctly since I had used it to talk to someone at the same time the kitchen phone was in use talking to the same party (we have one line). However, my wife told me that she could not dial out on that line, and sure enough, she's right. If I hit the buttons, I hear the DTMF, but I still get dial tone no matter how many numbers I hit. To further complicate matters, there is a phone line in the wall between the master bedroom and the second bedroom. Right now, this line extends into the second bedroom and is tied in a loose knot. It is not terminated in an RJ-11 (some might say six-pin modular jack), it was just cut. The phone in bedroom three also rings on incoming calls. Now the questions. 1. Why doesn't the phone in bedroom three work? Bad phone cord? Is is because of the mess with the other line? Could it be the (bulletproof) phone? 2. In a rental situation, is it typical that the apartment company should fix this problem, or do I have the burden? 3. If I properly terminate the other cord (I am capable of doing this since I work with data communications) might this problem go away? 4. If it is my responsibility and I want the phone company (tm) to fix this (charging at the 1/4-hour interval, of course), should I first put the $2.00/month line maintenance service into effect, then not have to pay the big bucks, then remove it next month? My guesses are: #1 faulty wiring in the apartment, or the patch cord to the phone; #2 It is probably up to me to fix this; #3 only a factor if the lines are shorting; #4 the maintainence fee will eliminate the problem of the $$$ payout to fix the problem. Thanks for your time. Please mail your thoughts to awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu T H A N K Y O U ! ! Andy Wolf Internet awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center BITNET awolf%cit.hmc.psu.edu@PSUHMC Penn State College of Medicine Phonenet 717.531.5825 Hershey, PA 17033 Footnet C5756A [Moderator's Note: Have you tried other instruments in BR-3 to see if they work on the line? If so, then your problem is in the phone. Even if you are hearing tones, they could be out of frequency. Have you tried the phone in BR-3 in the jack in the kitchen to see if it works there? The fact that you can talk on the BR-3 phone on the same call as the kitchen phone suggests the line is okay and the phone is also okay with the exception of the touch tone pad. Don't worry about the loose wires in BR-2 for the moment. If they were shorting out or crossed somehow, then you'd not be able to use the other phones at all. I'd begin with a different phone in BR-3 and see what happens. The landlord does not have to fix the problem. Telco is not as easily chiseled out of their fees as you suggest. Most telco maintainence plans require at least a few months on the plan in order to be covered. Much like insurance policies, telco maintainence plans may not always cover pre-existing problems. But I strongly believe your trouble is simply in the phone itself. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 19:00:00 -0500 Subject: International Dialing Organization: Echo Beach The following information from Stentor Canadian Network Management, the consortium of major Canadian telephone companies, was distributed through the Canadian Department of Communications' Terminal Attachment Program Advisory Committee as TAPAC bulletin 92-13. Advance Notice of Change in the Maximum Length of International Telephone Numbers: Beginning midnight December 31, 1996, CCITT Recommendation E.164 will be implemented. This recommendation allows the expansion of international telephone numbers from 12 to 15 digits. Although the North American Numbering Plan will not change, some foreign administrations may assign numbers up to 15 digits long to subscribers. Therefore, terminal equipment originating calls to these subscribers must be able to handle the additional digits. For more information on this change, please contact: Marion Norman Stentor Canadian Network Management 410 Laurier Ave. West, 8th Floor P.O. Box 2410, Station D Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1P 6H5 telephone (613) 560-3420 fax (613) 560-3226 Note from NDA: I think the "international telephone number" in this context includes the country code but excludes the access prefix, such as 011 in Canada and the United States. Readers in the United States should presumably contact the North American Numbering Plan Administration at Bellcore rather than Stentor. Canada Remote Systems - Toronto, Ontario World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 13:17:17 PST From: richg@hatch.socal.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Lilly Tomlin Pat, I have been advised by three other Digest readers that Lilly Tomlin is not "the late...". I thought I had heard of her death a while ago but I may well be wrong. My apologies to Ms. Tomlin if I am indeed wrong. Rich Greenberg Work: rmg50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com N6LRT Play: richg@hatch.socal.com What? Me speak for Amdahl? Surely you jest.... [Moderator's Note: As Mark Twain would say, the rumors of her death are greatly exaggerated! :) I don't know either way. If you say so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lars@spectrum.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Apologies to Cisco Organization: CMC Network Systems (Rockwell DCD), Santa Barbara, CA, USA Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 21:30:04 GMT In article I wrote: > It is indeed Cisco these days. Cisco is the flagship of the industry, > enjoying the kind of name recognition that IBM used to have in > corporate computing. They are also enormously profitable, and have > adopted IBM attitudes. They don't participate in comparative > evaluations by magazines, and they don't participate in industry > interoperability test labs any more. I don't like that attitude. My basis for this was a recent comparative evaluation of router remote manageability by SNMP, I believe it was in {Data Communications} magazine; it came out during InterOp week. The article stated that despite repeated requests, Cisco had declined to participate. Unfortunately, I have purged my magazine shelf. Certainly, Cisco chose not to participate with 15 vendors in the PPP interoperability demonstration of routers at InterOp. On the other hand, Cisco did in fact show up for the PPP Interoperability Consortium's test lab the week before InterOp to check out the new (not yet released, I believe) PPP option for their new terminal server (CS-500 ?). In other words, my statement was overly broad, and I apologize. Every vendor must balance the benefit of what can be learned from test labs against the expense, and also must balance the benefit of a good review against the risk of losing credibility through a possibly ill-informed negative review. When you are in a leadership position, the risk can be significant. Lars Poulsen - eating crow at Rockwell ... Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM CMC Network Products / Rockwell Int'l Telephone: +1-805-968-4262 Santa Barbara, CA 93117-3083 TeleFAX: +1-805-968-8256 [Moderator's Note: I've received another comment on this subject as well, and it is included next. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bing Liao Subject: Cisco's Participation Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 13:06:40 MST > It is indeed Cisco these days. Cisco is the flagship of the industry, > enjoying the kind of name recognition that IBM used to have in > corporate computing. They are also enormously profitable, and have > adopted IBM attitudes. They don't participate in comparative > evaluations by magazines, and they don't participate in industry > interoperability test labs any more. I don't like that attitude. This is absolutely not true. We participated in Bradner Performance Tests, and Datacom Lab Tests just very recently. Results are published elsewhere. We did not participate in INTEROP Fall. '92 this year because we had done similar tests before at INTEROP. We will never adopt the IBM attitude if it means we are alienating our customer base. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 14:57:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Moving and Trying to Keep Phone Number [Moderator's Note: Monty passed this along from another newsgroup. PAT] From: borden@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Dave Borden) Subject: Re: Moving and Trying to Keep Phone Number - Need Advice Date: 19 Nov 92 18:57:10 GMT Reply-To: borden@m5.harvard.edu Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA In article <1992Nov19.172109.9888@m5.harvard.edu> borden@m5.harvard. edu writes: > I'm trying to find out if I have any options for keeping my current > phone number if I move out of town. My situation is: I live in > Central Square, Cambridge. I really want to find another apartment, > and it has to be cheap, which makes it harder to find something in > Cambridge. I have a freelance business (I play piano), and there are > hundreds of flyers and cards out there with my Cambridge phone number > on them. I need to keep this number active in some sense, for an > indefinite period of time, maybe permanently. New England Telephone > will only put a message on the number for a few months, then they > recirculate the number; to get a Cambridge number in anyplace other > than Cambridge is extremely expensive. > So the question is: does anyone know a way to keep a phone number > without maintaining a residence? Thanks in advance for any help you > are able to give. I've been able to answer my own question since I posted this. In case anyone is interested, here's the answer: There's a service offered through New England Telephone's business service office (737-7000), which is also available to residential customers, called Remote Call Forwarding. This allows one to keep one's old phone number without the phone line, and have the calls forwarded to a new phone number, any number you want. You pay $41.54 for installation, $16.97 per month for the service, and for the phone line usage, whatever the call would normally cost, from your old number to your new number. For example, if you Cambridge to Somerville, as I might do, and someone calls you at your old Cambridge number, you would pay the local message units charge on their call. Hope this is of use to someone out there. Dave Borden borden@m5.harvard.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 11:27 EDT From: Robert M. Hamer Subject: High-Quality Voice Over POTS A local public radio station stated recently that due to a lack of funds, they were changing their methodology with respect to interviews in which the interviewee was out of town. Their previous practice was to have the interviewee go to a local station and interview that person via satallite. They said the replacement methodology would be simple telephone, and that listeners would notice a decline in voice quality of the interviewee. Shouldn't it be possible to digitize and compress the voice with the proper equipment, and uncompress and reconstruct it at the station, producing quality comparable to satallite? Is it that POTS still has too little bandwidth to handle digitized and compressed voice? Is it that the long distance companies already digitize and multiplex the signal they pass so much that it can't handle signal that is already digitized and compressed? Is it just the practical consideration of getting the equipment to the site of the interviewee in time (although any of the express companies ought to be able to get it there overnight)? We use various compression schemes with modems via long distance companies, don't we? ------------------------------ From: Coby M. Ries Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 13:31:07 EST Subject: FYI 215 NXX Additions The following is taken from a letter that I received from our local bypass carrier(Eastern Telelogic): "Several new NXXs have been introduced into the 215 area. You may need to have these NXXs programmed into you PBX. NXX LOCATION EFFECTIVE DATE --- -------- -------------- 239 Norristown 12/15/92 305 W. Conshohocken 12/15/92 306 W. Conshohocken 12/15/92 413 Philadelphia 12/20/92 619 Ambler 12/10/92 815 Norristown 01/01/93 819 Philadelphia 12/01/92 916 Leesport 12/28/92 These are not the first NXX exchanges to go into affect in the 215 NPA. About a month ago my boss came into my office telling me he couldn't reach his wife's car phone at a 215-816-XXXX number. I am assuming other NXXs may have been added at that time (approximatly two months ago). I am also going to call Eastern Telelogic and request a copy of the "Updated NXX List". I post anything that looks relatively new/interesting. I also heard from my Bell of PA rep that 215 will be splitting some time in the near future. This was according to a Bell of PA internal letter. I think he said 810 was the new NPA. Any truth to this? Coby Ries, coby%deadlock@uunet.uu.net, Voice +1 215 963 7350 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #863 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa27308; 22 Nov 92 2:07 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA00149 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 00:08:20 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA24331 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 00:07:54 -0600 Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 00:07:54 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211220607.AA24331@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #864 TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Nov 92 00:07:50 CST Volume 12 : Issue 864 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Network Design Algorithm (Stephan Weber) Phone Harrassment (Rajesh Kumar Singh) Recommendations For Modems + Terminal Server Rack? (Shobhana) Characters on International Phone Keypads - Compilation (Andy W. Lafleur) Roving Laptops and Automatic Phone Number Conversions (Michael A. Shiels) Internships in SF Bay Area? (Neil Kruse) Telephone Costs? (Chris Bengtsson) Info Wanted on SNET Rate and Service Change (Seng-Poh Lee) Conference Calls (J. Philip Miller) 714fix: A Conversion Program For 714/909 Area Code Split (Paul Eggert) Ten Digit Dialing in Oregon (Leonard Erickson) A New Wireless Phone From Japan (New York Times via Monty Solomon) Any Free Calling Cards Left? (ronnie@media.mit.edu) How Do *You* Use ISDN? (Tom Perrine) Clarification Regarding BBS\APL (Paul Robinson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 09:40:58 +0100 From: Stephan Weber Subject: Network Design Algorithm Reply-To: weber@iam.unibe.ch Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Berne, Switzerland Help Wanted For Network Design Algorithms !!!! I am working on a project to design telecomunication networks. I found in the book "Data Networks " by Dimitri Bertsekas and Robert Gallagher (1987) the description of the Capacity Assignment Problem. There are a formal Description and a heuristic algorithm given. Now I have a question. Do you know other papers or books which describe this kind of problems (Design of Backbone - Network based on traffic matrices). Also I would like to get in concact with people working in thies area to discuss problems and questions. My interests are specially in people working with operation research methods and on the other side with artificial intelligence methods. My question is, how these two techniques can be used to design in a efficient way cost-effective telecommunication networks. I appreciate all the information you can provide me. Thanks a lot. Stephan Weber Institut fuer Informatik und angewandte Mathematik Universitaet Bern Laenggassstrasse 51 CH - 3012 Bern Telephone: ..41 31 65 49 03 TeleFax ..41 31 65 39 65 eMail weber@iam.unibe.ch ------------------------------ From: rsingh@goliath.Stanford.EDU Subject: Phone Harrassment Organization: Makalu Mountain Hermitage, Mt Makalu, Nepal Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 05:31:12 GMT A friend of mine (well, my friend's roomie) is getting life threatening phone calls, but the police won't do anything until actual harm is done ... they are keeping a log of each call. This is in State of Missouri. The callers DON'T know the dorm or room number or phone number. The operator has been asked to NOT TO give the phone number/address to any callers. HOWEVER, this university has a peculiar system that a student can call the operator and ask to be connected to "John Doe" and if John Doe is a student, the operator WILL put the call through. Thus, even though the number is not to be given out, the abuser is able to connect. So far, the abuser is trying to get the friend and my friend's roommate to DIVULGE address/number, but my friend and my friend's roommate have been very careful. My feeling is that something is fishy about an operator connecting to people based on a name only, but what do you all think? Especially, I'd like to hear from anyone from Missouri that knows about the local telephone company policies. Rajesh Kumar Singh E-mail: rsingh@goliath.stanford.edu [Moderator's Note: You are not dealing with 'local telco policies' in this case; you are dealing with how the university chooses to operate its telephone switchboard. Actually, most people would be pleased with the idea of getting calls through to them where the caller only knows the name but not the correct number. I can understand your friend's anxiety over the calls, but has he considered asking the university switchboard to NOT put the calls through? What happens when he just hangs up immediatly on hearing the first word from the harasser? The fun goes away fast when no one is there to listen and be abused. You say 'they' are keeping a log of each call. Who is 'they'; your friend, the police, the university operator? Has the university switchboard supervisor been tipped off that this problem exists and asked to try and derail the caller? PAT] ------------------------------ From: shobhana@shakti.ncst.ernet.in (Shobhana) Subject: Recommendations For Modems + Terminal Server Rack? Date: 21 Nov 1992 01:29:00 -0600 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway We need to have dial-up connectivity at our facility here -- we'll be looking to provide about 50 lines. Given that our facility has a TCP/IP based network with workstations connected over ethernet, what configuration you would recommend for a modem + terminal server rack? Is there any way to avoid using 50 modems? What about PBXes? Would they be useful? I would appreciate E-mail responses since our site tends to lose news sometimes. Please reply to shobhana@shakti.ncst.ernet.in. Thanks in advance, Shobhana ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 15:44:00 -0500 (EST) From: Andy W Lafleur Subject: Characters on International Phone Keypads - Compilation I need to internationalize a product which contains a phone keypad. From the research I have been able to do so far, it appears that a twelve key, four row * three column arrangement is pretty typical of keypads in various countries, and looks like: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 # There is, however, a lot of variation between countries as to whether alphabetic characters are also present with the numerals on these keypads; and where the alphabetic characters exist, there is much variation in the placement of different characters. CCITT Recommen- dation E.161 indicates that such variation is permis sible, however, I would like to determine what exactly these variants are. (There has been an ongoing discussion thread in comp.human-factors on this subject for those who are interested.) I'd like to survey telecom readers in different countries to compile these differences, and will post the results for any other people interested. So if you co uld take a minute to fill in the questionnaire below, it would be much appreciated. Please email reply to awl@world.std.com. ----------- Country:______ 1) Do typical phoneset keypads in this country depict alphabetic characters associated with the keypad's numeric keys? 2) Are these characters actually used for a purpose? If so, in what way? (For example, the characters could: - be part of the country's dialing plan -- i.e., some people's phone numbers have a "D" in them; - or, they could be used for mnemonic dialing, so that phone 'numbers' are more easily remembered as strings -- i.e., dial 1-800-NO-FLAME; - or, the characters are typically used to configure or modify non-connection features -- voice mail, etc.; - or, other (describe). 3) What is the relationship between the numeric keys and the different characters? Please indicate below, underneath the examples given. If an indicated character does not apply to your national language, please overtype it with a space character. If you need to indicate a hard-to-display character like a diacritical, just add a notation to that effect. If your keypad characters are laid out the same as one of the examples, please indicate which one. Examples: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CCITT Rec E.161 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 0 7 0 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 US Variant 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 US Variant 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 US Variant 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 0 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 0 US Variant 4 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 1 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 1 Your keypad: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks in advance. Andy Lafleur awl@world.std.com ------------------------------ From: mshiels@TMSoftware.Ca (Michael A. Shiels) Subject: Roving Laptops and Automatic Phone Number Conversions Organization: MaS Network Software and Consulting Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 07:05:55 -0500 Is it possible to automatically edit a phone number (assuming it includes full area code information) based upon the user saying where they are now? I know here in area code 416 it was difficult during the change over where we went from just dialing 1-xxx-xxxx for long distance to 1-416-... How can you find out which area codes require dialing long distance as 1-areacode and which only use the 1? Thanks! Michael A. Shiels | mshiels@masnet.uucp MaS Network Software and Consulting | mshiels@tmsoftware.ca ------------------------------ Date: 21 Nov 92 06:47:00 +0600 From: KRUSE_NEIL@tandem.com Subject: Internships in SF Bay Area? My brother is a graduate student in Telecommunications Management at Golden Gate University. He was wondering if any telecommunications companies in the San Francisco bay area offered any sort of internships or college co-op programs, or entry level positions. Any lead would be greatly appreciated. Neil Kruse kruse_neil@tandem.com ------------------------------ From: bagus@elixir.e.kth.se (Chris Bengtsson) Subject: Telephone Costs? Reply-To: bagus@elixir.e.kth.se (Chris Bengtsson) Organization: U s e U S, Sweden Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 15:03:01 GMT In Sweden, the telephone company charges nearly US$30 to give the taxing-meter reading, inbetween billing periods. Does anyone know of a (cheap) device that can monitor taxing, allowing me to continually know what my telephone bill be, as well as controlling my telephone bill. I make a lot of overseas calls and hate the suprise of my telephone bill. (In Sweden the telephone company bills every three months.) Thanks in advance for any response! Chris Bengtsson voice/fax: +46 8 195904 email: Bagus@elixir.e.kthe.se ------------------------------ From: splee@pd.org (Seng-Poh Lee, Speedy) Subject: Info Wanted on SNET Rate and Service Change Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 11:03:29 -0500 (EST) I am interested in the recent rate and service change that SNET in Connecticut has just submitted to the CPUC. Apparently, it is supposed to equalize the rate businesses pay for service, compared to residential service (from 3:1 to 2:1). It also changes the basic local calling areas for most towns. I am more interested in the change in local calling area. SNET is proposing an Extended Calling Area (for about double the current cost). I'd like to know if the proposed basic rate keeps the current calling area, at a slightly raised cost, or whether the new rate cuts down on the current local calling area. Also, I'm interested in how wide an Extended Calling Area SNET is proposing for most towns. Thanks, Seng-Poh Lee ------------------------------ From: phil@wubios.wustl.edu (J. Philip Miller) Subject: Conference Calls Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 08:32:07 -0600 (CST) We frequently have the need to set up conference calls involving 10-15 individuals scattered through the US. We have generally been using AT&T, but I had never looked carefully at the charges. We just finished talking with the Atlanta conference center. They charge $10.00/party plus $.49/minute/party for each call. It does not matter where the call originates or what conference center it is made from. This is about double the rates of standard long distance connections from each participant to Atlanta (or whichever center is being used). A 60 minute phone call will cost $39.40/person, no matter where they are located, so that a 10-15 person conference will cost $400-$600. Our local switchboard cannot support conferences of this size. Are there alternatives which we should be looking at that will give us good quality connections at a more economical charge? J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067 Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110 phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - Internet (314) 362-3617 [362-2694(FAX)] ------------------------------ From: eggert@twinsun.com (Paul Eggert) Subject: 714fix: A Conversion Program For 714/909 Area Code Split Organization: Twin Sun, Inc Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 21:20:28 GMT Here's '714fix', a Unix Bourne shell script that reads standard input and writes standard output, converting telephone numbers to adjust for the split of California's 714 and 909 area codes on 15 November 1992. You can apply this program to arbitrary text: it modifies only the affected telephone numbers. There is NO WARRANTY with this program. This program is derived from data supplied by GTE, and it probably contains errors. Use it at your own risk. #!/bin/sh # Read argument files (or standard input if none), and write standard output, # adjusting telephone numbers to account for the 714/909 area code split. # $Id: 714fix,v 1.1 1992/09/15 07:53:17 eggert Exp $ # Please send corrections (with justifications) to eggert@twinsun.com. # The source is: # GTE CA 5706C phone bill insert # The following prefixs are duplicated in both 714 and 909 area codes, # so they are not included in the list below. # 555 long distance info # 561 reserved for future emergency use # 853 time # 950 long distance carrier access # 976 info providers # area codes from=714 to=909 # Compute the sed commands from the area codes and prefixes to be changed. sedsed='{ s@#.*@@ s@[ ]@@g /^$/d s@.*@s/\\([^0-9]\\)'$from'\\([-). ][-). ]*&[-. ]\\)/\\1'$to'\\2/g@ }' sed_commands=` sed "$sedsed" <<'EOF' # prefixes in $from that should be moved to $to 24[2-7] 27[2-9] 30[1-47-9] 33[5-8] 34[13] 35[0-9] 36[09] 37[01] 38[1-46-9] 39[0-9] 42[0-8] 43[19] 46[0-9] 47[3578] 48[1-8] 58[45] 59[0-9] 60[3-57] 62[0-9] 65[2-9] 67[246-9] 68[1-9] 69[4-9] 710 73[4-7] 76[35-79] 78[0-57-9] 79[02-9] 82[02-59] 84[59] 86[0-24-9] 87[2-8] 88[0-9] 899 92[02-9] 93[013] 9[48][0-9] EOF ` # Run the sed script. exec sed ' /'$from'/{ s/^/ / '"$sed_commands"' s/^ // } ' ${1+"$@"} ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 19:48:57 PDT From: Leonard.Erickson@f51.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Ten Digit Dialing in Oregon My new US West phone directory has the following buried inside on page A23: NEW DIALING PLAN COMING TO OREGON Oregon's traditional seven digit dialing within the 503 area code will be phased out beginning July 10, 1993. Starting then, you will need to dial 1 + 503 + the seven digits for all long distance calls within the 503 area code. This change is necessary because of telephone growth in Oregon. The new dialing patterm will allow these [sic] numbers currently reserved for area codes to be used for local prefixes, and make available more combinations when assigning telephone numbers. It will also allow you to know When [sic] a charge applies to your calls. After July 10, 1993, you will get a recording telling you how to dial if you have not dialed 1 + 503 + seven digits on long distance calls within the 503 area code. Local calls are not affected by the change. ---------- I note several things of interest here: 1. There's no apparent provision for a period where both methods will work. (I tried 1-503-NXX-XXXX and got an error recording). 2. It makes no mention of the *current* dialing method, which requires a 1 on long distance inside 503. 3. Unlike the other states mentioned in the list, we get to keep seven digit local calls. (And thus, a way to avoid inadvertant LD charges!) I understand that they've already done this with the 206 area code in Washington. In the same way ... Must be a "left coast" right coast" difference! uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!51!Leonard.Erickson Internet: Leonard.Erickson@f51.n105.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 01:50:58 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A New Wireless Phone From Japan From the {New York Times} 11/18/92. Japan is experimenting with wireless telephones that are cheaper and possibly closer to availability than the latest versions under development in the United States, according to Japan's second-largest long-distance carrier. Dr. Sachio Semmoto, senior vice president with the DDI Corporation, said yesterday that his company was developing a new system called "personal handy phone." The Japanese phones may be commercially available as early as next year, he said. Equivalent United States phone systems called personal communications services may be three or more years away from market. Despite manufacturing most of America's cellular telephones, Japan has had until recently a fledgling domestic market for wireless telephone service. High service prices have discouraged all but the corporate customer. There are one million cellular subscribers in Japan compared with 10 million in the United States, which has a population double that of Japan. Japanese cellular phones, which can only be rented, cost the equivalent of $100 or more a month for access charges and $1.60 for three minutes of air time. By contrast, DDI's personal handy phones are expected to cost only $16.26 a month in access charges and 24 cents for three minutes of air time. Personal handy phones would resemble American cordless telephones, which operate on different radio frequencies from cellular. The Japanese phones, however, would use the same frequencies contemplated for American personal communications services. The handy-phone network would cost only one-hundredth as much as a cellular network to build, and the prices for service would be sharply lower than that for cellular, Dr. Semmoto, who has a doctorate in electrical engineering, said. Cellular "base stations" of radio transmitting equipment that make cellular service possible cost as much as $3 million; stations for personal handy phones might cost as little as $30,000. Personal handy phones, designed to weigh about half the smallest cellular phones, could be used only within 1,000 feet of the base station and could not be operated in a car or on the street. But because of common technical standards, Japanese users could operate their handy phones from building to building. Base stations could be installed in homes, office buildings, supermarkets, department stores and other buildings. "Our concept is to attack the consumer market, rather than the business market," Dr. Semmoto said. "But our ultimate goal is for this technology to spread around the world, especially to the United States and Europe." Dr. Semmoto is visiting United States companies to discuss the technology so they might consider adopting it. He said he had met with regional Bell companies, cable-television companies and long-distance carriers like the MCI Communications Corporation, which recently proposed building a national network of small wireless phones. ------------------------------ From: ronnie@media.mit.edu Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 02:40:45 -0500 Subject: Any Free Calling Cards Left? Are there any calling cards left that don't charge an initial fee? I remember Telecom*USA had one for a while, but I also remember hearing MCI took them over. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am living in a hotel for the next few months. Ron (ronnie@media.mit.edu) ------------------------------ From: tep@tots.Logicon.COM (Tom Perrine) Subject: How Do *You* Use ISDN? Date: 21 Nov 92 02:24:19 GMT Organization: Logicon, Inc., San Diego, California After hearing about how ISDN is going to "save us all", and seeing people in this group mention, "using my ISDN phone I ...", I have been wondering: Just what are the mechanics of establishing a data connection via an ISDN phone? I am in southern Pac Bell land, where ISDN is completely unknown, and I have never even *seen* an ISDN desk set. I know that you can use ISDN to connect a home machine to a LAN, but how do you *do* it? How would I establish a connection between two "home computers" in parallel with a voice call to the same person? Enquiring minds (and a victim od ISDN-envy :-) want to know! Tom E. Perrine (tep) | tep@Logicon.COM |Voice: +1 619 597 7221 Logicon, Inc. | sun!suntan!tots!tep | or : +1 619 455 1330 4010 Sorrento Valley Blvd| | FAX: +1 619 552 0729 San Diego CA 92121-1498 ------------------------------ From: Tdarcos@f120.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Tdarcos) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 00:26:30 -0500 Subject: Clarification Regarding BBS\APL Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM There was a BBS in Baltimore called "APL" which was siezed by federal authorities for the unlawful distribution of copyrighted software. There is a BBS in Silver Spring, MD, called the BBS\APL which deals with issues involving the APL Programming language. That BBS, which is called at +1 301 384 3672, is operated by Dick Holt and has no connection whatsoever with the "APL" BBS that was raided. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These opinions ARE those of the owner of this account. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #864 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa01721; 22 Nov 92 4:11 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA26127 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:12:09 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA19950 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:11:51 -0600 Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:11:51 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211220811.AA19950@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #865 TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Nov 92 02:11:45 CST Volume 12 : Issue 865 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson New NPA 210 Prefixes (Moving From 512) (David Leibold) CompuServe and Hutchison Provide Access From Hong Kong (Daniel K. Cheng) Dom Tuffy Tapes (Paul Migliorelli) Caller ID Devices For RS-232 Wanted (W. Gregg Stefancik) Caller ID in Area Code 516 (Dave Niebuhr) Cellular NPA-NXX List? (rizvi@paul.rutgers.edu) Tariff Comparisons Wanted (Richard Cox) ATT Boing: What is it? (Argun Tekant) Ringing My Own Phone (Ross Hayden) Distinctive Ringing Devices (Mike Bray) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 01:29:09 EST From: David Leibold Subject: New NPA 210 Prefixes (Moving From 512) With the new area code 210 in effect, splitting the Texas 512 area (currently in a "permissive" dialing mode, where both 512 and 210 may be used for a while), I finally dug up some information on what exchanges are changing from 512 to 210. I did not have a chance to check and sort out what's staying in 512, but that might be an Archives file for later. dleibold@vm1.yorku.ca ------------- Area Code 210 Texas (22 November 1992) The following exchanges are in the new 210 area code (Texas, San Antonio and area), following the split from NPA 512. Any other exchange in 512 such as in Austin remains in 512 if not listed here. NPA NXX Place --- --- ----------- 210 202 Harlingen 210 203 San Antonio 210 208 San Antonio 210 212 San Antonio 210 213 San Antonio 210 220 San Antonio 210 221 San Antonio 210 222 San Antonio 210 223 San Antonio 210 224 San Antonio 210 225 San Antonio 210 226 San Antonio 210 227 San Antonio 210 228 San Antonio 210 229 San Antonio 210 230 San Antonio 210 231 San Antonio 210 232 Frio Canyon 210 233 Los Fresnos 210 234 Barksdale 210 235 San Antonio 210 236 Westloff 210 238 Hunt 210 239 Range 210 240 San Antonio 210 246 San Antonio 210 248 San Perlita 210 249 Boerne 210 254 Karnes City 210 257 Kerrville 210 260 San Antonio 210 262 Edcouch 210 270 San Antonio 210 271 San Antonio 210 277 Charlotte 210 278 Uvalde 210 283 San Antonio 210 290 Harlingen 210 291 Harlingen 210 298 Del Rio 210 299 San Antonio 210 304 San Antonio 210 308 San Antonio 210 313 Del Rio 210 315 San Antonio 210 316 Edinburg 210 317 San Antonio 210 318 Edinburg 210 324 Sisterdale 210 330 Edinburg 210 333 San Antonio 210 334 Pearsall 210 336 Kenberg 210 337 San Antonio 210 340 San Antonio 210 341 San Antonio 210 342 San Antonio 210 344 San Antonio 210 347 Lyford 210 349 San Antonio 210 350 Brownsville 210 351 San Antonio 210 359 San Antonio 210 361 San Benito 210 363 D Hanis 210 365 La Pryor 210 366 San Antonio 210 367 Ingram 210 372 Seguin 210 373 Fowlerton 210 374 Crystal City 210 376 Batesville 210 377 San Antonio 210 378 Millett 210 379 Seguin 210 380 Edinburg 210 381 Edinburg 210 382 Edinburg 210 383 Edinburg 210 393 Floresville 210 395 Vinegarroon 210 399 San Benito 210 401 Seguin 210 402 Wetmore 210 405 Brownsville 210 407 Harlingen 210 408 Shavano 210 410 San Antonio 210 412 Harlingen 210 414 San Antonio 210 415 San Antonio 210 417 Dolores 210 418 Laredo 210 419 Laredo 210 420 Marion 210 421 Harlingen 210 423 Harlingen 210 424 Leesville 210 425 Harlingen 210 426 Hondo 210 427 Harlingen 210 428 Harlingen 210 429 Somerset 210 430 Harlingen 210 431 San Antonio 210 432 San Antonio 210 433 San Antonio 210 434 San Antonio 210 435 San Antonio 210 436 San Antonio 210 437 Cost 210 438 Bulverde 210 457 Big Wells 210 464 Donna 210 466 San Miguel 210 468 Asherton 210 470 San Antonio 210 481 San Isidro 210 484 Poth 210 485 Sullivan City 210 486 El Sauz 210 487 Rio Grande City 210 490 Wetmore 210 491 Wetmore 210 492 Shavano 210 493 Shavano 210 494 Wetmore 210 496 Wetmore 210 497 Elm Creek 210 498 Babcock 210 500 Rio Grande City 210 504 Brownsville 210 506 San Antonio 210 507 Brownsville 210 509 Culebra 210 513 Medical Center 210 514 Mercedes 210 518 San Antonio 210 519 Mission 210 520 Culebra 210 521 Culebra 210 522 Culebra 210 523 Culebra 210 524 San Antonio 210 525 San Antonio 210 530 San Antonio 210 531 San Antonio 210 532 San Antonio 210 533 San Antonio 210 534 San Antonio 210 535 Pine Creek 210 536 San Antonio 210 537 Sabina 210 538 Castroville 210 540 Saturn 210 541 Brownsville 210 542 Brownsville 210 544 Brownsville 210 545 Wetmore 210 546 Brownsville 210 548 Brownsville 210 549 Brownsville 210 551 Brownsville 210 554 San Antonio 210 557 Seguin 210 558 Babcock 210 561 Babcock 210 562 Tarpley 210 563 Brackettville 210 565 Mercedes 210 567 Medical Center 210 569 Pleasanton 210 570 Brownsville 210 579 Campbellton 210 580 Mission 210 581 Mission 210 582 Nixon 210 583 Kenedy 210 585 Mission 210 587 Smiley 210 589 Medina 210 590 Fratt 210 591 Uvalde 210 593 Medical Center 210 597 Camp Wood 210 598 Granite Shoals 210 599 Fratt 210 605 Edinburg 210 607 Edinburg 210 608 New Braunsfels 210 612 Lasara 210 613 Medical Center 210 614 Medical Center 210 615 Medical Center 210 616 Medical Center 210 617 Medical Center 210 618 McAllen 210 619 Fratt 210 620 New Braunsfels 210 621 Sandy Hills 210 622 Jarratt 210 623 Indian Creek 210 624 Oak Island 210 625 New Braunsfels 210 626 Thelma 210 627 Buena Vista 210 628 Palo Alto 210 629 New Braunsfels 210 630 McAllen 210 631 McAllen 210 632 McAllen 210 633 Southton 210 634 Center Point 210 635 Elmendorf 210 636 Santa Rosa 210 637 Fratt 210 638 McAllen 210 639 Kingsbury 210 640 Garven Store 210 641 Babcock 210 642 Lasara 210 644 Stonewall 210 646 Fratt 210 647 Culebra 210 648 Foster 210 649 Sayers 210 650 Fratt 210 651 Bracken 210 652 Universal City 210 653 Fratt 210 654 Fratt 210 655 Fratt 210 656 Fratt 210 657 Fratt 210 658 Universal City 210 659 Universal City 210 661 Martinez 210 662 Martinez 210 663 Devine 210 665 Waelder 210 666 Martinez 210 667 St Hedwig 210 669 Doss 210 670 Lackland 210 671 Lackland 210 672 Gonzales 210 673 Lackland 210 674 Lackland 210 675 Lackland 210 676 Artesia Wells 210 677 Montgomery Bexar210 678 Lackland 210 679 Potranco 210 680 Culebra 210 681 Culebra 210 682 McAllen 210 683 Rocksprings 210 684 Culebra 210 685 Willow City 210 686 McAllen 210 687 McAllen 210 688 Geronimo Creek 210 689 Raymondville 210 690 Babcock 210 691 Babcock 210 692 Babcock 210 693 Marble Falls 210 694 Babcock 210 695 Helotes 210 696 Babcock 210 697 Babcock 210 698 Leon Springs 210 699 Babcock 210 702 Pharr 210 703 Del Rio 210 717 Laredo 210 718 Laredo 210 720 San Antonio 210 721 Laredo 210 722 Laredo 210 723 Laredo 210 724 Laredo 210 725 Laredo 210 726 Laredo 210 727 Laredo 210 731 San Antonio 210 732 San Antonio 210 733 San Antonio 210 734 San Antonio 210 735 San Antonio 210 736 San Antonio 210 737 San Antonio 210 738 San Antonio 210 739 Kerrville 210 742 Poteet 210 743 Stillman 210 744 Laredo 210 745 Kosciusko 210 748 Rio Hondo 210 751 Medina Lake 210 755 Balcones 210 757 Eagle Pass 210 760 Harlingen 210 761 Port Isabel 210 762 Lacoste 210 763 Laredo 210 765 Zapata 210 769 Jourdanton 210 772 Lytle 210 773 Eagle Pass 210 774 Del Rio 210 775 Del Rio 210 779 Lavernia 210 780 Karnes City 210 781 Pharr 210 783 Pharr 210 784 Christine 210 787 Pharr 210 789 Gillett 210 791 Laredo 210 792 Kerrville 210 796 Bandera 210 797 La Feria 210 799 Dolores 210 803 San Antonio 210 804 San Antonio 210 805 San Antonio 210 807 San Antonio 210 820 San Antonio 210 821 San Antonio 210 822 San Antonio 210 824 San Antonio 210 825 Round Mountain 210 826 San Antonio 210 827 San Antonio 210 828 San Antonio 210 829 San Antonio 210 831 Brownsville 210 833 Blanco 210 839 Rocky Creek 210 841 San Antonio 210 842 McCook 210 843 McAllen 210 845 Hargill 210 848 Falcon Heights 210 849 Roma 210 861 San Antonio 210 864 Harper 210 866 Mountain Home 210 868 Johnson City 210 871 Fratt 210 875 Luling 210 876 Carrizo Springs 210 879 Cotulla 210 885 Smithsons Valley210 895 Kerrville 210 896 Kerrville 210 899 Cranes Mill 210 904 Smithsons Valley210 905 Cranes Mill 210 906 Hancock 210 907 Sattler 210 921 San Antonio 210 922 San Antonio 210 923 San Antonio 210 924 San Antonio 210 925 San Antonio 210 927 San Antonio 210 934 Knippa 210 935 Hancock 210 943 Port Isabel 210 944 Port Mansfield 210 945 Universal City 210 947 Sutherland Spgs 210 948 Encinal 210 951 San Antonio 210 954 San Antonio 210 961 Weslaco 210 962 Weslaco 210 963 Weslaco 210 964 Sattler 210 965 Dilley 210 966 Utopia 210 968 Weslaco 210 969 Weslaco 210 971 McAllen 210 974 Weslaco 210 976 [976 Service - external billing based in San Antonio] 210 977 San Antonio 210 978 San Antonio 210 979 San Antonio 210 980 Bulverde 210 981 Balcones 210 982 Brownsville 210 986 Brownsville 210 988 Sabinal 210 989 Medical Center 210 995 Comfort 210 996 Stockdale 210 997 Fredricksburg 210 999 Catarina ------------------- --------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 05:51 GMT From: Daniel K. Cheng <0004654269@mcimail.com> Subject: CompuServe and Hutchison Provide Access From Hong Kong Just released by CompuServe: Hutchison Information Services will start providing local CompuServe access from Hong Kong starting from December 1st. Network surcharge under this access option will be US$15/hr (vs. INFONET's US$50/hr previously). ***************** Welcome to CompuServe Hong Kong *************** a Service from Hutchison Information Services, Ltd. We are pleased to introduce "CompuServe Hong Kong" to our members in Hong Kong. Beginning December 1st, on behalf of CompuServe Incorporated, Hutchison Information Services will provide you with many new benefits to your current membership. CONVENIENT ACCESS VIA THE COMPUSERVE NETWORK After December 1st, you will be able to access the CompuServe Information Service through CompuServe's local node in Hong Kong. This node will support access up to and including 9600 bps. To logon to CompuServe Hong Kong via this CompuServe node using CompuServe Information Manager (CIM), just modify the phone number field to 304-1332, and select the "CompuServe" network option. To access the service using another communication software package, type GO LOGON to obtain logon information. COST EFFECTIVE RATES All your CompuServe Hong Kong charges will be translated into H.K. dollars by Hutchison at a rate of 7.8. The total communication surcharges for the CompuServe Hong Kong Service using the CompuServe access number listed above will be $15.00 (US) per hour. This is in addition to the standard connect rates of $12.50 (US) per hour, monthly fees for any billing option you may choose, and premium surcharges. Also, your monthly International Handling Fee of $10.00 (US) will be replaced by a $80.00 (HK) monthly handling fee beginning with your December billing. For a complete explanation of these rates, contact CompuServe Hong Kong Customer Service, or type GO RATES once online. LOCAL CUSTOMER SERVICE & SALES CompuServe Hong Kong offers friendly and convenient customer support and sales. Your current membership and billing information will be transferred to them. You can call them Monday through Friday (9 am to 6 pm) and Saturday (9 am to 12 pm) or send them a Feedback message (GO FEEDBACK once online) for assistance. Please contact CompuServe Hong Kong after December 1st for all your support needs. They will also have membership materials available for sale at the Sales telephone number listed below. Customer Support 867-0102 Sales & Inquiry 867-0118 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 10:34 est From: paul@migs.shecora.sai.com (Paul Migliorelli) Subject: Dom Tuffy Tapes Do any of you out there remember the Dom Tuffy Tapes? They were a number of skits poking fun at New York Telephone security, and such. I've been trying to find complete and good quality copies. Can any of you help? Any response via email would be appreciated. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: wstef@hubcap.clemson.edu (W. Gregg Stefancik) Subject: Caller ID Devices For RS-232 Wanted Organization: Clemson University Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 21:19:49 GMT We just got Caller ID here in SC. I understand that there are a variety of devices which can deal with Caller ID available. I am very interested in a device which would turn the Caller ID info into something my computer could use (RS-232 data). So I would be interested in a list of sources for various Caller ID devices. Please respond via e-mail. I will compile my responses and post. W. Gregg Stefancik wstef@hubcap.clemson.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 13:55:20 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Caller ID in Area Code 516 Caller ID was deployed in the 516, 718 and 914 Area Codes on Monday, November 16, 1992. I decided to take the list of exchanges that have that capability and derive some sort of figures concerning the breakdown of Area Code 516. Total Exchanges: 483 Nassau County: 191 Western Suffolk: 114 Eastern Suffolk: 41 Caller ID Avail: 209 The balance of exchanges are special cased (Telco, Cell Services, Time/Weather, etc.) I noticed that exchanges bordering the Nassau-Suffolk Counties and the Nassau-Queens Counties borders do not, in a majority of the cases, have Caller ID. This non-availability seems to be fairly solid going about two Central Offices away from the borders. Another interesting thing is that if a portion of an exchange is taken by a major employer, CallerID is not available (516-282 and 516-341 are good examples). My employer has 5,000 of the former and 100 of the latter). Dave Niebuhr Internet: niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093 [Moderator's Note: I don't think the key here is if the subscriber is a 'major employer', but rather, the type of phone system the subscriber has, and of course large firms tend to have large and elaborate systems. I think what you are experiencing is a large block of numbers used for DID, centrex or other purposes where the software is not presently compatible with what is needed to do Caller ID. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rizvi@paul.rutgers.edu (HGR) Subject: Cellular NPA-NXX List? Date: 22 Nov 92 05:22:51 GMT Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Are there fixed sets of npa-nxx from which cellular numbers are allocated (disjoint from non-cellular npa-nxx)? If so, is such a list available thru some source (electronic/paper)? Any help appreciated Raghib [Moderator's Note: The cellular companies get their number assignments from the local telco. Whatever they are, they are. Is there a complete list of the prefixes used in cellular service available by area code? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 21:38 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: Tariff Comparisons Wanted Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk I am researching into the variations in telco tariffs across the USA and Canada. It would be a considerable help if readers of this digest could Email me as much detail of *their* *local* tariff as they can manage. The sort of detail I need includes: Different rates of line rental - does it matter what the line terminates on? What are the charges for ISDN lines, where they are available? Are ISDN calls charged at different rates? Calls within a LATA - when are they chargeable? 800 calls - how are these charged: do 800-portable numbers cost more per call 700 calls - ditto. Particular interest in calls that for whatever reason access carriers via the less usual channels ... is it Feature Group D on 950 numbers? I am trying to establish the width of the variation, not the average! (I want to include the material in a conference presentation in London soon, dealing with equal access, numbering, tariffing and billing. The stories in this Digest on carrier billing, 900 scams, etc have all been very helpful). All information will be gratefully acknowledged - but the identity of sources will remain confidential unless they request otherwise! Richard Cox Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF Voice: +44 222 747111 Fax: +44 222 711111 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101 E-mail: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Not diallable on 511 in mainland USA ------------------------------ From: atekant@wimsey.bc.ca (Argun Tekant) Subject: ATT Boing: What is it? Organization: BC News and Mail Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 21:22:47 GMT This is probably a FAQ (Do we have a FAQ?), but can anyone tell me the frequency or function or whatever for the AT&T Boing? Thanks. Argun Tekant [Moderator's Note: The telecom FAQ is in the Telecom Archives and is available via anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. (frequent.asked.questions) PAT] ------------------------------ From: haydedr@wkuvx1.bitnet (Ross Hayden) Subject: Ringing My Own Phone Date: 21 Nov 92 20:47:36 CST Organization: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY I'm new to this newsgroup, and know very little about telephony techno stuff. I do hope to learn more here, though. My question is this: Is there a way to find out a number I can dial that will make my phone ring (other than calling a friend and asking for a callback)? In the city I used to live in, you could dial 959-XXXX, where XXXX is your phone number suffix, do a little dance on the switchhook by hanging up three or four times quickly, and, viola, the phone would ring after the final hangup. I've since moved to another city, and the operators here don't seem to know what I'm talking about, and 959-XXXX doesn't work. Thanks in advance for any help! Ross Hayden haydedr@wkuvx1.bitnet [Moderator's Note: This changes from one town to the next, and sometimes the same telco may change it every two or three months. There is no standard. Perhaps someone familiar with Bowling Green will write you with details. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 16:37:30 EDT From: mike@camphq.FIDONET.ORG (Mike Bray) Subject: Distinctive Ringing Devices A while back someone graciously volunteered to collect data on the various "distinctive ringing" or "Ident-a-ring" boxes. Would that person kindly post their results? (or contact me) Mike Bray mike@camphq.FIDONET.ORG (or) ...!apple!camphq!mike ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #865 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa03315; 22 Nov 92 5:05 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA28221 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:57:52 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA24149 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:57:30 -0600 Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:57:30 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211220857.AA24149@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #866 TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Nov 92 02:57:30 CST Volume 12 : Issue 866 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Headsets etc. (John Adams) Re: Headsets etc. (Tom Coradeschi) Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" (Dave Bonney) Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" (Bob Yazz) Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" (Thomas Brown) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (Vance Shipley) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (Richard Nash) Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone (John Adams) Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone (Todd Lawrence) Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product (Ed Greenberg) Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product (Jeff Wasilko) Re: Need Widget to Connect Two Faxes or Modems Together (Todd Inch) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Re: Headsets etc. Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 12:53:48 GMT In article Cliff Sharp writes: > If anyone knows where I could get another Nady Systems headset, I'd > enjoy knowing, since this one is years old and may not last too many > more decades ... That goes for me too. Perhaps someone can help us all out on locating this. Domo Arigato! Jack (John) Adams Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 11:18:17 EST From: Tom Coradeschi Subject: Re: Headsets etc. Organization: Electric Armts Div, US Army ARDEC, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ Cliff Sharp writes: > If anyone knows where I could get another Nady Systems headset, I'd > enjoy knowing, since this one is years old and may not last too many > more decades ... Surprisingly enough, I'd suggest that you start at your nearby motorcycle dealer! Nady is (big time) into wireless communication systems geared toward folks riding in groups. Ought to get you their address/phone, at the least. Better yet: a quick ftp check on the rec.motorcycles ftp site , grab the "yellow pages" and ... Nady Systems 510-652-2411 6701 Bay St. Emeryville, CA 94608 catalog free accessories--electronics tom coradeschi <+> tcora@pica.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:27:58 PST From: dab@wiretap.spies.com (Dave Bonney) Subject: Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" In , Steve Kass, SKASS@drew.drew.edu wrote: > When I am using my IBX work phone and someone calls, I hear a tone, ^^^ > Can someone in the know fill me in on the technical details of > "rrrringg-BOOP" ? We own our own switch here, but I don't know what > kind it is. As you indicated. It's probably an 'IBX', manufactured by 'Intecom' near Dallas, Texas. > I had always thought that the ring signal was generated locally, and > if that's true, then my switch must be passing some signal for "phone > in use, but call waiting ringing," to which the caller's switch > generates the "rrrringg-BOOP." ... False. You've got your terminology backwards. In the current (normal) environment, the 'Ring-Back' signal is generated by the switch local to the called (ringing) telephphone, not the caller's switch or CO. (Unless of course it is a local call within the same system.) On the Intecom IBX (and TELARI) systems, the ring-back audible signal is controlled by matrix parameters in both the originating (trunk group in this case) and terminating (station) 'Class of Service' (COS) and 'User Group'. There are (literally) pages of parameters that can be altered to fit the needs of the system. (Users or administrators as the case may be.) Maybe you want a 'Priority Ring' (a triple [three short] ring)? No problem. It can even be altered to provide no ring at all. [Note: Kind of hard on the users though. :-) ] > We own our own switch here, but I don't know what kind it is. See above. It's probably an IBX. > [Moderator's Note: Actually, if you listen closely, when the called > party answers you will hear a certain kind of click on the line if you > interuppted them on call waiting which you won't hear if you did not. Not on the IBX. > A few PBXs using Direct Inward Dialing have the special ring signal > you describe when call-waiting interupts an extension user. PAT] Called, for some strange reason, 'Call Waiting Ring-Back' [ A Telecommunications Professional Now Unemployed In Westford MA ] [No Employer, No Disclaimer. Just My Own Thoughts. ] [ Inquiries To MCIMail 422-4552 or Internet ] [ or a guest account at (really!) ] [ Telephone +1 (508) 692-4194 ] ------------------------------ From: Bob Yazz Subject: Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 03:07:13 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Actually, if you listen closely, when the called > party answers you will hear a certain kind of click on the line if you > interuppted them on call waiting which you won't hear if you did not. If you phone someone on a DMS switch that has certain older software revisions installed, there is a subtle difference in how you hear ringback tone if you've come in as a call-waiting beep. The first ring that you hear is short; that is, you come into the ring cycle at a slightly different spot. I regret that this feature was removed in later software revisions; what with Caller ID and all, I can't imagine how this would constitute an invasion of privacy. Does anyone know what Northern Telecom's rationale was for this change, or why a BOC like Pac Bell would request it? The same short-first-ring occurs with error recordings generated by the local switch, which I think is a 5ESS (619/587). If you listen carefully, these error ringback tones also waver in pitch slightly, like a slightly off-center record. Bob Yazz ------------------------------ From: Thomas Brown Subject: Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 20:26:04 GMT Organization: Lehigh University You have an Intecom IBX switch; the ring-boop indicates that someone on the called line is on the phone. They receive a single or double ring once to indicate that someone is calling them from on-site or from off-site, respectively. If someone calls from outside, they only hear the normal ring (without any "boop"). The only other exception is a three-ring signal if someone returns a callback when you are on the line. Thomas Brown, KA2UGQ Internet: twb0@lehigh.edu Lehigh University UC Box 855 UUCP: ..!uunet!lehigh.edu!twb0 Bethlehem, PA 18015 AX.25: ka2ugq@ka2ugq.nj.usa.na ------------------------------ From: vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Organization: SwitchView Inc., Waterloo, Ontario Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 21:27:29 GMT In article jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore. com (adams,john) writes: > Another aspect of all of this is that "Carrier Connect Time", the > period of time between your LD company accessing the distant > (originating works pretty much the same way) LEC, is revenue for the > LEC (The LD company pays) regardless of whether the call ever > completes! Is this true of regular calls or only operator assisted? Vance Shipley vances@xenitec.on.ca vances@switchview.com vances@ltg.uucp ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 19:14:33 -0700 From: rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Peter Capek writes: > While trying to make a credit card call to a persistently busy number > recently, after typing in the card number for the n-teenth time, I > wondered if SS7 protocol would allow the calling exchange to "look > ahead" at the called number and inquire if it is (at that instant) > busy, before prompting me for the card number. Of course, I might > still get a busy if either the line became busy after I keyed in the > credit card number, or if the response to the query didn't make it > back to the originating exchange in time. The advantage (to me) would > be not having to repeatedly pound in the billing. The advantage > (small) to the carrier would be not having to do the credit card > verification, and perhaps getting the line on which I'm calling free a > bit quicker. If the call in question were third party bill, or > collect, the savings could be a lot greater. Unfortunately in a basic call setup message, 0+ wants to first secure the billing method before determining the state of the called party line. Yes, it would be possible to determine the line state of the called party first, but this would require actually connecting to the called party first, playing out an announcement to advise them to wait while the billing information was secured, and then either advising them that the calling party will be with them or that the calling party's credit check has failed. Correct me if I am wrong, but SS7 does not have a 'prober' style message that asks the far end to return information of the busy/idle status of a line. In fact, it is telco optional as to whether or not the treatment will actually be returned back to the originating end. Richard Nash Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6K 0E8 UUCP: rickie%trickie@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca Amatuer Radio Packet: VE6BON @ VE6MC.AB.CAN.NA VE6BON.ampr.org [44.135.147.206] ------------------------------ From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 12:47:38 GMT In article jsimpson@darmok.uoregon.edu (John Simpson) writes: > I've always enjoyed the sound of the coin bells inside the old > three-slot payphones. I would like to own one for myself to use > inside my residence. > Of course I would want a coinbox key! I have two big questions, > first, is it kosher to have a coin phone on a private residential > line? Second, where can I buy one of these beasts? Yes. Of course it will only function as a normal instrument ... it won't collect or reject coins without a coin service line from the phone company. My friend, Ken LaFreniere (AT&T Coin Telephone Product Manager), told me about three small companies who specialize in refurbishing (mechnically and electrically) old coin phones from Western Electric, Automatic Electric, Northern, etc. I have called for their catalogues and will be purchasing one of the old WE 233 multislot units as a present for a retiree! The names and telephones: PHONECO 608-582-4124 RUSSELL PATE 407-777-1759 A.W. MERRELL & CO 407-655-5417 Jack (John) Adams Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone From: todd@valinor.mythical.com (Todd Lawrence) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 23:07:08 CST jsimpson@darmok.uoregon.edu (John Simpson) writes: > I've always enjoyed the sound of the coin bells inside the old > three-slot payphones. I would like to own one for myself to use > inside my residence. > Of course I would want a coinbox key! I have two big questions, > first, is it kosher to have a coin phone on a private residential > line? Second, where can I buy one of these beasts? John, Installing a coin-phone on a residential line should pose no legal problems whatsoever, however it will have to be used as a "residential" type phone, you will not unfortunately be able to use it as a coin station from your residence for two reasons (you may already be familiar with this but anyway ...) 1) a coin station is defined as such to the local switch software and you can not have coin/resident- ial on the same line. (you could bypass this problem by installing a second line though). 2) the software that is responsible for tallying the coin insertion (ACTS it's called), would no longer recognize the bell tones as coin deposits. However I know of several folks who have these things in their homes and they do make great phones. I believe they got them at antique stores, I'll ask them and see if I can find any more information for you and anyone else interested in em. Todd Lawrence LOD! Communications internet : todd@valinor.mythical.com IMF Acquisition Group uucp : uunet!valinor!todd ------------------------------ From: edg@netcom.com (Ed Greenberg) Subject: Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 21:45:52 GMT In article dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) writes: > It may well work with the general public. The telecom-literate, of > course, will realize that the beep is only heard by the party who is > receiving the call-waiting, not by the far-end. (Yes, with the 1ESS > and 1AESS both parties get a click, but only the party receiving the > call-waiting gets the beep. With the 5ESS, the party who is not > receiving a call hears only silence while the other party gets a > beep.) It should be easy enough to differentiate between a real > call-waiting interruption and a fake created by the party who is tired > of talking to us, and is embarrassed to say so. I heard this demonstrated by the inventor on Marketplace (American Public Radio) last night. I couldn't tell the difference between it and traditional click-clunk call waiting. You don't heard a beep, just a click-clunk. You'd have to be really literate and know what kind of switch is on the other end in order to get wise to this. Edward W. Greenberg | Home: +1 408 283 0511 | edg@netcom.com 1600 Stokes St. #24 | Work: +1 408 764 5305 | DoD#: 0357 San Jose, CA 95126 | Fax: +1 408 764 5003 | KM6CG (ex WB2GOH) ------------------------------ From: Jeff@digtype.airage.com (Jeff Wasilko) Subject: Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 20:48:34 EST Organization: Univ of Fnord; Roslyn's Cafe Div. Reply-To: jeff@digtype.airage.com Regards dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson)'s article in the TELECOM Digest: > A Mr. David H. Schmidt has invented a product called "Gotta Go". You > can buy it for $14.95 and plug it into your telephone. When you've > got someone on the line who won't let you go, you push the button and > it makes a click-beep that sounds like a Call Waiting signal. You can > then use that as an excuse to bring the unwanted conversation to an > end. I heard a demo on the radio this week (apparently the inventor is from Connecticut). The box simulates what the other party hears on a 1AESS or 1ESS -- just the clicks. From what I heard on the radio, it sounds just like the real thing. Jeff Jeff's Oasis at Home. Jeff can also be reached at work at: jwasilko@airage.com ------------------------------ From: toddi@mav.com (Todd Inch) Subject: Re: Need Widget to Connect Two Faxes or Modems Together Organization: Maverick International Inc. Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:11:00 GMT In article 0003991080@mcimail.com (Proctor & Associates) writes: > Randolph J. Herber, rjh@yclept.chi.il.us writes: >> A friend wants to connect two fax machines together via their telco >> connections so that the machines could be used as copiers. Also, she >> wants to connect a fax modem equipped PC to a fax machine so that the >> fax machine could be used both as a scanner and as a printer. >> She would like a small and inexpensive piece of euipment with two >> modular telephone jacks with just enough "smarts" to supply a dial >> tone and appropriate ringing signals. I have successfully connected two modems with ONLY a modular cable. You have to force them to go on-line, but once the connection is established it works fine. For two phones or speakerphones to be used as an intercom, I use a nine-volt battery in SERIES with two modular jacks to provide the talk battery current -- this doesn't provide ringing. Line powered devices may require a few more batteries. Depending on how "dumb" your fax/modems are and whether the software really insists on dialing and waiting for ringing, you might get away with one of these solutions. I suspect that it depends on your specific machines, but it would probably be worth trying before you go out and plunk down a few hundred bucks. Instead of the line simulators, which seem a bit pricey to me, I've often wondered if it wouldn't be more cost-effective and versatile to get a small PBX that supports single-line devices, such as the Panasonic 308, which should cost about $300 to $500 from someone in Telecom Gear magazine (write me for more info) and would allow up to eight devices to interconnect or connect to real phone lines as needed. In fact, I sold a PBX myself for this very purpose (well, testing modems, actually, but it was bought instead of a line simulator.) Even an AT&T Partner 206 module is only about $400 new, retail and will connect six devices and (if you choose) two phone lines. These have the modular jacks right on the side so you don't even have to know how to do phone wiring to use them. Depending on the size of your office, it might double as a fax/modem "courier" and the office phone system at the same time. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #866 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa04270; 22 Nov 92 5:32 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29149 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 03:28:03 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA31319 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 22 Nov 1992 03:27:30 -0600 Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 03:27:30 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211220927.AA31319@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #867 TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Nov 92 03:27:30 CST Volume 12 : Issue 867 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines (Barton F. Bruce) Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines (Kris Harris) Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines (Pat Turner) Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines (Joel Upchurch) Re: Help With Keyline System (Todd Inch) Re: InterOffice Trunk Help Needed (Steve Forrette) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bruce@camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) Subject: Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines Date: 21 Nov 92 19:48:15 EDT Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. In article , rgt@beta.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) writes: > I live in the mountains, where lightning and my location are > synonymous. I have lost telephone equipment several times. Once, Add your OWN premium telco CO grade protection at the service entrance. Add arrestors to your power service entrance. Bond both grounds (as you have done) together with substantial guage wire without any sharp bends. That done you have a erected a first wall of defense, and by bonding the grounds have tried to limit the potential difference seen between ANY wires from ANY service within your equipment. Put some MORE protection, ideally on both power and phone line, at your equipment to clip anything that gets through the front line. This latter protection may well not be located where you can get a substantial ground (the 'green' ground wire in branch circuits is a joke in this situation). At least be sure both phone and power protection grounds are again connected together in this last ditch protection. Again you are trying to limit the voltage between any of the different wires entering your equipment. Some protection products contain both power and phone protection in a common package sharing a ground. This is goodness in theory, but most companies do one type of protection much better that the other. Most of the el-cheapo protected power strips are a joke, and the ones with fax or phone jacks, too, are hardly much better. Bare minimum for the outside phone block is a three electrode gas tube unit - NOT two of the two electrode gas tube assemblies. The three electrode design clamps BOTH sides of the line to ground on any arcing between any two of the three electrodes. Cook and TTI (or is it TII) make such devices. A common shape is a black log with three wires or lugs protruding. These come loose to add on top of some earlier design protector, or in a plastic or metal outdoor housing designed for one, two, or six, or even twelve units. Graybar, Anixter, AlTel, North Supply all carry these, but may not sell to you as an individual. Call from work. Inside, you can use even better hardware. CO grade protectors, also used in higher pair count situations such as office building entrances, use plug in modules. The are available in MANY grades. The cheap ones use carbon gaps. Better ones use two electrode gas tubes. Even better are the three electrode models. Beyond that there are premium units that take a three electrode gas tube and add fast diodes and sneak current fuses or heat coils. There are also some 'electronic' units that are very fast but that probably can't hack the blast a good gas tube can. If you get Porta System's "DELTA" series modules (three electrode gas + diodes + sneak current) you will be going VERY well. The diodes are very fast and protect til the gas tube fires. Diodes alone would get fried too easily. The DELTA modules we use are # 95BCDXN 230, and are rated for COs with electronic switching systems. This is the proprietary Porta Systems shape, but they also make an industry standard slightly less compact version that plugs into NTI (Cook), ATT, and Reliable blocks. All those vendors make some similar product. The normal blocks are 25, 50, or 100 pair! but there are some 6 and 10 pair units that can mount like a 66 M block. Something like this in the cellar just inside the entrance and VERY solidly grounded will nip off whatever the telco protector misses. Same supply houses as above. For home use, the power service entrance protector need not be the very expensive units you may have seen. GE makes a little grey fist sized blob that mounts in a standard 1/2" KO on your panel. Other companies like Delta, whose products are often found at deep well submersible supply or local electrical supply houses for well under $40 are very good, and you are not paying $10 or $20 more for the GE name. These may be silicon carbide units. At your equipment, there are folks like TripLite with their IsoBar filters that do a good job on the power, but won't be in the league with Porta System's CO grade phone protection with their integral phone line protection in their IsoTel combined unit. OTOH Porta Systems makes a "Six Pack +" that is a six-pair block to take the plugin protectors (get the Delta series not their lesser units) and that has a power protector built in. The power part may snub well but lacks the additional filtering of the TripLite units. The Six Pack + has open 66 type punch clips and is designed for WALL mounting, not for dangling behind your desk. It really targets small keysystems - power and phone lines together, and additional phone only blocks can be grounded to it for larger systems needing more than six-pair. The real bottom line is that there is NO ONE GOOD UNIVERSAL product. And protection at just one place in the fairly FAT guage power line is NOT enough. The Delta class phone protection may be enough at just one location, but more is better. Catching and dumping to ground as much as possible at the entrance is very desirable. Spit and polish cleanup of anything left on the lines can then more safely be handled by typically poorly grounded protection AT the equipment needing protection. This latter protection at least clamps ALL wires entering your box to be within modest voltage of each other -- reguardless of how many volts are between there and outside ground, or of which service's wires are guilty of carrying in the danger. If you have a direct hit, all bets are off. But anything further out, even a few poles away, and you have a good chance of being able to handle it. You spoke of driven rod grounds. No city water lines? Any well casings? Good wet earth? or rocky dry sandy soil? Sometimes an array of driven rods spaced some feet apart can help. ------------------------------ From: kah005@acad.drake.edu Subject: Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines Organization: Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, USA Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 02:20:29 GMT In article , rgt@beta.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) writes: > I live in the mountains, where lightning and my location are > synonymous. I have lost telephone equipment several times. Once, > about three feet of my telephone cord exploded, separating the wires > in the modular cable, and removing the copper in one wire. (It arced > to my X-10 controller, which did not do so well with the arc. There > was a black spot inside where the circuit board said "F1" should be :-)). > Does anyone know where I can get some *good* gas discharge tubes or > any other suggestions for protecting my telephone wiring? I live in > Contel (now GTE) area, so I am not sure how much good it would do to > call them. Other people in my area have come home to find pieces of > telephone all over their living room, so this is not an isolated > situation up here. Well, this may be an expensive option, but may get GTE's attention: GTE will be more than happy to RENT you telephone equipment and provide an inside wire maintainance agreement. That way, nothing is your problem. Every month, you will bring your melted phones in for exchange, and the maintainance agreement should cover jacks and such. Just a thought ... Kris Harris - P.O. Box 2410 - Des Moines, Iowa 50311-0410 - +1 515 254-2117 ------------------------------ From: turner@Dixie.COM Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 19:16 EST From: rsiatl!turner@rsiatl.UUCP Subject: Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines Reply-To: turner@Dixie.COM > It seems to be arcing between the telephone lines and the electrical > system. The telephones themselves are not hurt, unless they are > plugged into the house wiring or touching something that is plugged > in. This is indicative of common mode surges, which is usually the case with lightning induced surges. The surge is between Tip and Ring and ground I would get some good AT&T or Reliance five-pin surge protectors such as the AT&T 3C1SC. They can either be mounted in a Small Pair Count Protector, or soldered to the individual wires. Connections to the Small Pair Count Protector are made with 110 blocks, but the grey "push like hell" caps are included, which will do the job if you don't own a punchdown tool (doesn't everybody :-)) six and 25 pair models are available and they can be had empty, or already populated with protectors. Protectors such as they AT&T model mentioned above should fail with tip and ring shorted to ground. Additional protection can be had by ataching them to your demarc with 26 or 28 ga wire to act as a fuse. You could also use a spark gap on the CO side of the protector, or use a common mode choke if you desire. Make sure the protectors are well grounded and avoid sharp turns in the lead. Bond all your grounds (CATV, telco, the protector and the lead from your power pannel, which should bond your neutral and power groung together. You may want to consider using multiple rods well bonded together. Pat Turner KB4GRZ turner@dixie.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Lightning Protection on Telephone Lines From: upchrch!joel@peora.sdc.ccur.com (Joel Upchurch ) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 18:01:29 EST Organization: Upchurch Computer Consulting, Orlando FL rgt@beta.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) writes: > years ago, so they do not seem to have done much good. Last weekend, > I wired the telephone ground line outside to the electrical ground > outside (the copper rod driven into the ground just under the > electricity meter), and I hope that this will help some. I suspect that the phone company may take a very dim view of anybody fiddling with the ground lines on their protectors. I wouldn't be surprised if any damage happened to their equipment they might hold you liable. From what I understand the wire only belongs to you after it comes off the protector. If you aren't happy with the phone company's ground it might be a better idea to call them and see if they'll change it. Does anybody know more about this? (If your mail bounces use the address below.) Joel Upchurch/Upchurch Computer Consulting/718 Galsworthy/Orlando, FL 32809 joel@peora.ccur.com {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd,ucf-cs}!peora!joel (407) 859-0982 ------------------------------ From: toddi@mav.com (Todd Inch) Subject: Re: Help With Keyline System Organization: Maverick International Inc. Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 00:45:02 GMT In article infmx!jms@uunet.UU.NET (Jack Stephens) writes: > I'm about to move into a house that is currently outfitted with an > older phone system ("key line", I think). It uses older phones and > five lighted push buttons connecting to some sort of central trunk. In phone system lingo, "key" means "button" or "switch", so a key telephone system has buttons to select features and lines. A "line key" would be a button to select a particular line. If yours has the "a little longer than single line" phones with the huge 1/2" diameter cables and the 25 pair (50 conductor) connectors, it's probably a 1A2 system, which was very popular and reliable. These usually have a Key Service Unit (KSU) under a big beige housing bolted to the wall with a grey power supply and lots of model 66 connection "punchblocks" nearby. I have done a little work on these and installed one in my home. Some "gotchas" are: How/where to find the cable and 25 pair connectors. I usually scrounge these. In one case, I was able to remove the 25 pair cable from an office where they had modular adapters plugged in their ends and replace them with cheaper three-pair cable and proper modular jacks which I purchased. I calculated that if I had to buy all the cable and connectors to wire my house, I could have bought a small PBX phone system for the price and used cheaper wire and jacks! Whenever possible, leave the connectors attached to the cable ends. The older connectors solder on, which you can do with a solder iron, but it's a lot of work. The newer ones use insulation displacement/ piercing connections which are supposed to use a special tool but can be done manually with pliers/screwdriver if necessary, but you have to be very careful and it also takes time. Another gotcha: The 66 punch blocks, usually white with 25 rows of little metal clip/fingers. If there are five columns, all five of each row are internally interconnected. If there are four columns, the left two are probably separate from the right two- - wiggle them and see if the entire row wiggles. DO NOT spread apart the metal fingers to insert wire or shove anything into the clip cracks other than the wire. You should really buy the special tool for this -- the cheap ones are about $25. If necessary, you can shove the wires in by straddling the clip with needle-nose pliers. Don't strip them first, the clip will rub the insulation out of the way and make contact with the conductor. I'd highly recommend powering down the system when making connections unless you have the proper punch tool -- it's too easy to short the rows of clips together. A sharp wood chisel (that you aren't particularly fond of) can be used to trim the wire beside the clip after shoving it in. If you are adding an extension, you can just split off an existing jack, except if you have individual intercom numbers to buzz/ring individual phones you will either have both phones on the same extension, have to disconnect the bell or buzzer in one phone, or have to wire the bell/buzzer of phone phone onto a non-standard unused pair and connect it to an unused intercom ring pair back at the KSU. I REALLY prefer to run a separate "home run" to each jack directly from the punch-blocks because it makes wiring so much easier than trying to splice and increases flexibility. Example: I'm running serial RS232 over some unused pairs of some jacks, but use those same unused pairs for the VCR remote control at other jacks, and run audio between speakers and the amplifier at other jacks. Also, if you try to run too many phones off one cable the lights keep getting dimmer as you add phones and the brightness depends on how many lights are lit, etc. It's asthetically unpleasant if one line on hold flashing on-off causes another line in-use to flash dim-bright. It looks like there's a photon shortage or something. If you have to, you can run some 50, 100 or 200 pair wire into a closet halfway between the jack and KSU and install more punchblocks there (if, say, you can get a bunch of cables with ends but they aren't quite long enough.) In fact, I'll give you some of this cable (got a nice hunk of 400 pair about 100 feet long out of a dumpster) if you want to pay shipping -- I keep tripping over it in the garage. Remember -- the bells (or ringing phone lines) are operated by about 100 volt dc pulses which will wake you up (on the wrong side of the bed) if you aren't paying attention. And, these voltages are present on those uncovered 66 block and the connectors -- don't let small children (or coerce your delinquent teenagers to) put their fingers in them. The following accessories might come in handy. They are available from places like Graybar, or maybe try a local small business phone installer: - Two-way splitters for 25-pair connectors. - Extension cables with male and female connectors on opposite ends. - 66 punch blocks with connectors built into their sides. - Phone jacks (25 pair connectors) inside little boxes that mount on the wall and have the 66-type clips inside for connection to the cut end of a cable. Send me e-mail if you have specific questions or need names/numbers of suppliers of used phones/equipment. You can even buy used 66 blocks. Now you know why the phone company will charge you so much. :-) ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: InterOffice Trunk Help Needed Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc., Seattle, WA Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 08:38:43 GMT In article bill.garfield@yob.sccsi.com (Bill Garfield) writes: [description of problem deleted] > I strongly suspect inter-machine trunk trouble between the > National and Clay central offices, but how do I prove this and how do > I get through to the teledroid at repair service that we're > experiencing this problem on ALL 216 DID trunks? Profound thoughts > and ideas are welcomed. Last summer I was having a lot of problems with my home POTS service from Pacific Bell. Often when I would try to dial, I would get a reorder. Also, callers to me would report that my line had been busy when I know it was not, and sometimes callers would get reorder when calling me. This was happening on all of my lines. Since I was served from a brand new 5ESS Remote that had been cut over just recently, I suspected a lack of facilities problem between my CO and the one that it was slaved off of. My first call to Repair Service resulted in my cordless phone being to blame, or perhaps my tone generator in my phone was broken, or perhaps any number of causes that were not Pacific Bell's responsibility. While I was on the line with Repair, they checked my line and reported that it was fine (their line test of course would not show a lack of inter-office facilities problem). I went along with the program, filed my trouble report, and was promised resolution by "5pm tomorrow." When the same problem happened a few days later, I called back Repair, and entered another report, since the first one had been cleared. When it started happening again, I called Repair again, and this time insisted to be allowed to talk to someone technical, since I had followed all of their suggestions (such as unplugging my cordless phone, using separate instruments, etc.), and they just kept clearing out the tickets without fixing it. I again posed the possibility of inter-office lack of facilities, and asked the Repair operator if they have access to reports that would indicate times when all facilities were full. She said "no," and I then said "Well you can't rule that out then, can you, since you don't know!" I was polite but firm, and they finally agreed to have a technical person call me back. The next day, I got a call from an obviously technical CO person, who had obviously not been through the "telephone manners" training that the normal reps go through. Not that he was rude, but it was obvious that this person's primary job was not to talk to customers on the phone, which is exactly the kind of person I needed. I could discuss the technical details, and suggest what I thought the problem was, and he understood and agreed with my suggestions. He called back the next day to tell me that this was exactly the problem -- my switch had way too few trunks to the switch it was slaved off, and there were frequent times when no facilities were available. He thanked my profusely, and said that by being persistant, "You have saved Pacific Bell millions of dollars" in lost revenue and problems in the future. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but he could not thank me enough, and within a week, the problem went away. The moral to the story is to go with the regular Repair Service program for a couple of cycles, and after the ticket gets cleared a couple of times with no resolution, be polite but firm and insist that your problem be escalated and that you be allowed to talk with the level of person you need. Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #867 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18793; 23 Nov 92 4:24 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA00897 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:11:19 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA04970 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:11:01 -0600 Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:11:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211230611.AA04970@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #868 TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Nov 92 00:11:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 868 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Panasonic and Tropez 900 MHz Phones (Wayne Sung) FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes (Bart Z. Lederman) Unitel LD Service and Data (Ian Evans) Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers (Robert S. Helfman) Can I Use a US Modem in Switzerland? (Radu Hambasan) Help on Settling an Argument About Leased T1 Lines (Mark C. Tucker) Information Providers Seek Monopoly (Omni Magazine via Christoper Schmidt) Not Your Typical Telecom/Radio Station Story (Roy M. Silvernail) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 21:56:52 -0500 From: Wayne Sung Subject: Panasonic and Tropez 900 MHz Phones I recently had the chance to use both the Panasonic and Tropez 900 MHz phones. Here is a quick comparison. Note that these are subjective -- I didn't try to make any measurements. Range: Tropez gives almost three times the range outdoors, a small amount extra indoors. I can get two houses down the street with the Panasonic, more than six with the Tropez. Indoors, I cannot get from my desk to my machine room with the Panasonic (less than 100 ft but through several walls). The Tropez makes it, although there are some dead spots. As long as it rings, I can always take it into another room to answer. Fidelity: Panasonic sounds better than Tropez, although both are very good. In particular, under some circumstances the Tropez audio will have a low level clicking to it. There is also some gating noticeable on the Tropez in a noisy room. Neither had any static (49 MHz phones do not work at all in my machine room - all they do is buzz). Dropouts are quite abrupt on both, i.e. near the range limit the audio will come and go rather than have increasing noise. Convenience: Panasonic is smaller, and has a belt clip. It is smaller because the mouthpiece folds, and also the antenna is shorter. The clip that holds the mouthpiece looked flimsy, though. Also, Panasonic supplies two batteries with the phone. There is a charging slot in the base for the spare pack. No wires are used in the Panasonic packs, the Tropez pack has a pair of wires and a connector. The Panasonic can be switched totally off, the Tropez is always in standby (even though there is an off button). Operation: The Tropez has a dial in the base, the Panasonic does not. Both have page/intercom. The Tropez further allows the handset to prevent the base from conferencing into a call. Normally a tone indicates that the base has been added. When out of range, the Tropez will start beeping as you exceed range whether a call in in progress or not. The Panasonic only indicates during a call. Both allow you time to get back in range before disconnecting. The Tropez has a problem (perhaps only with documentation) with the out-of- range signal. The manual says press any key to stop this signal. Pressing 'off' does _not_ stop it, nor does pressing any of the function keys. Only the main pad keys do it. Also, if you stop the out-of-range signal and then attempt to get a line while still out of range, the phone seems to buffer up the line button: press line, no dial tone, press again (maybe a few times). This can result in the phone beeping several minutes (a fast beep, different from the out-of-range signal). Also if you disconnect the base to move it, you will cause the security code to change in the base but not necessarily the handset. You will have to put the handset in the base for maybe half a minute for them to resync. Otherwise you get either no response or a lot of noise. There are three pins that connect the base to the phone -- two carry DC and the third is a data link. The line is answered upon removing the phone from the base, no separate switch is required. The Panasonic necessarily requires opening the mouthpiece to answer. Misc: Both phones state that they run at maximum power allowed for their respective types of operation, but that maximum range may not be attainable in actual oeration. However, neither one specifically says what range to expect. There is also no mention of battery operation time. Tropez doesn't even say how long the warranty is. I would judge the Tropez to be the more capable phone, especially since the voice is digitized. However, it is quite a bit less costly than the Panasonic even considering I saw the Panasonic at two discount stores and the Tropez at a phone store which normally has everything priced higher. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 12:50:56 EST From: B. Z. Lederman Subject: FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes I don't think I've seen this discussed here, though it ought to be of interest. According to an article on page 29 of the November 9, 1992 issue of {Network World}: "The FCC has kicked off an inquiry into a massive overhaul of the way in which telephone numbers are assigned in North America, a change that may have a substantial impact on users." It talks about the limitations of the "1 and 0" limit on area codes, that switches have to be re-programmed, that there are few numbers reserved for country-wide numbers and that the only such numbers now (976, 555, 520) were originally for diagnostic use, and so on. More important: there are 60 days for users, carriers, and other interested parties to offer suggestions and comments. So keep those cards and letters flowing in! Bart Z. Lederman System Resources Corp. Burlington, MA (working on contract for the U.S. DOT, hence the mail address). [Moderator's Note: Something seems strange here. The plan to begin using area codes with assorted digits in the middle space has been known about for years. Did the FCC just now find out about it? Do the activities of Bellcore fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC? PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Unitel LD Seervice and Data From: ian.evans@bville.gts.org (Ian Evans) Date: 23 Nov 92 00:40:00 GMT Organization: Baudeville BBS - Toronto, Canada 416-283-0114 2200+ conferences Reply-To: ian.evans@bville.gts.org (Ian Evans) Anybody here from Canada using Unitel's long distance service? How are they in handling data calls? I'm thinking of getting the 'black box' service, as the thought of adding all those access codes to the dial string gives me the willies. CompuServe ID: 73117,545 UUCP: bville!ian.evans| Ian Evans - Sysop INTERNET:ian.evans@bville.gts.org | Baudeville BBS - Toronto OTHERS: ian.evans@canrem.com | 416-283-0114 (v32bis/HST) * DeLuxe2 1.26b #5896 * Baudeville BBS - The Economical Email Emporium ------------------------------ From: helfman@aero.org (Robert S. Helfman) Subject: Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers Date: 22 Nov 1992 21:30:15 GMT Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA Last week, I was in Washington, D.C. and called home to collect messages from my answering machine. The machine seemed to have gone off-hook, then suddenly I got a telco message that they were "unable to complete your call as dialed". When I called again, my line was busy, and stayed that way for at least 20 more minutes -- much longer than could be ascribed to the answering machine finishing its cycle. Normally, I would have assumed that my answering machine had died, but in this case, the fact that I got a telco-generated message made me think the switchgear was doing something wierd. I wanted to call repair service for my CO but of course, I surely couldn't dial 611 in Washington, D.C. and expect to get repair service for a CO across the country. I in fact have a seven-digit number for the repair service guys at my CO (I have needed it before when reporting my home number from my office) -- but it was in my office in L.A. I called AT&T LD information for L.A. and asked for a seven-digit number for repair service (giving them my home prefix). It turned out that the number they gave me is for a PacBell center in San Diego, but they took the information and must have cleared the line, because 30 minutes later I found my line worked AND a message had been left on my machine by my local CO. In the message they gave me THEIR seven-digit number, which needless to say, I've enshrined in my briefcase in case this happens again. Moral: All you children should get your seven-digit repair service number from 611 NOW so that you can report your home phone when you're away. It would save a real hassle. ------------------------------ From: rjh2@crux1.cit.cornell.edu (Radu Hambasan) Subject: Can I Use a US Modem in Switzerland? Organization: Cornell Information Technologies Date: 22 Nov 92 07:41:58 GMT Does anyone know if there is any reason why a modem made for use in the United States would not work correctly in Switzerland? The Swiss government says you must use modems that are "homologue" (approved) by the PTT, the Swiss postal/telecom authority. However such modems cost hundreds of dollars more and I am skeptical as to whether there is any functional difference -- it seems more like a form of economic protectionism. Then there is the problem of jacks: Swiss phones apparently do not plug into the wall via the tiny plastic connectors used here, but use much larger connectors that would never find room on the back of a PC, much less a modem card. I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me, from experience or otherwise, if Switzerland uses a different voltage in its phone lines, if touch tones are of the same frequency as here, and where I could get the appropriate connectors, or would simply patching the wires be OK? Thanks in advance for your help. (I'd rather not pay $500 for an "approved" 2400 baud modem!) Radu Hambasan --> rjh2@cornell.edu ------------------------------ From: mct@philabs.philips.com (Mark C. Tucker) Subject: Help on Settling an Argument About Leased T1 Lines Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff, New York Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 20:12:09 GMT A colleague and I were having an argument about leased T1 lines. Perhaps some experts can settle this issue for us. Let's say I lease a T1 link from the LEC. So I have 24 DS0 TDM slots going to the the LEC's CO. My data has to go across two CO hops to our downtown site where again we have 24 contiguous DS0 slots being delivered from the terminating CO to our downtown building. Now, the question is whether the contiguity of the original 24 DS0 TDM slots will be maintained across the links between the originating and terminating CO's. In other words, will a dedicated T1 link (or a fixed T3 slot) be allocated to me and my individual DS0 slots never demultiplexed at the originating CO? Or will my 24 slots be chopped up and carried over separate portions of the inter-office T3 links, only to be reassembled at the terminating CO and delivered as one chunk of 24 DS0's again? Do the answers change if I lease T1 circuits from an IXC and go directly to their POP instead of going through the LEC's CO ? Please help us resolve this issue. Thanks in advance. Regards, Mark Tucker email: mct@philabs.philips.com Member of Research Staff tel: (914) 945-6564 Philips Laboratories fax: (914) 945-6552 ------------------------------ Subject: Information Providers Seek Monopoly Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 15:00:15 EST From: Christopher Schmidt INFORMATION PROVIDERS SEEK MONOPOLY "Today's fat cats, like the robber barons of old, get ready to carve up cyberspace -- and your future." by Tom Dworetzky Contributing Editor, Omni Magazine [This editorial originally appeared in the August 1992 issue of {Omni Magazine}.] Trolleys were electric trains, clean running, as environmentally sound (or sounder than) buses. Years later, I find out that the disappearance and destruction of the country's trolley systems was the result not of free-market forces and consumer preference, but of a callous, monopolistic deal to crush the trolleys nationwide. To make their deal secure, the industrialists paved over trolley rails from coast to coast. Now the land is carved up with highways; trolley cars, if you can find them at all, exist only in museums. As we head into the Information Age, we'll soon find ourselves in a parallel situation. Two great technologies now battle it out for the transport of information: telephone and cable companies. Recently, matters came to a head when the Baby Bells started a push to change their original deregulation mandate and offer information services. Newspaper companies across the continent swelled with indignation. Turns out most cable in the United States is owned by media elephants such as Time Warner. While busy on the one hand reporting on the evil phone companies' attempts to crush newspapers and other information organizations with monopolistic muscle, these media companies with their other hand have been shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars into a race to beat the local Bells at the information business. In fact, 30 cable companies have reportedly obtained federal licenses to construct wireless phone networks that will employ cable wiring and cellular phones as an alternative to the standard phone company. Back when the country was new and the frontier's bounty stretched forever, rails and roads competed for profits from the transport of grain, steel, cattle, and oil -- the fruits of the blossoming industrial revolution. That was, or seemed to be, good: It brought a surge of development and wealth that fed, housed, and clothed us all. Unfortunately, a century later, we find the frontier despoiled and spent, plundered by the greedy and reduced to the present economic and environmental morass. As we enter the Information Age, let's look at the war shaping up "between" cable/newspaper and phone giants. Are their interests ours? Are they really concerned about our information needs? Or are they just colluding to provide us with a Hobbesian choice between two lesser evils? -- between one overpriced, moderately bad system and another. Just because they own the patents, do they have the power to carve up the future between them and squeeze out any newer, fairer, cheaper, more-useful technologies that might actually serve us all and make for a better information landscape? Look at your phone bill, then ask yourself: If they all start delivering information, as in the electronic workplace, won't the bills run hundreds of dollars a month, and won't we have to pay them? And won't that be a sort of hidden tax, the price of entry to becoming a worker in the Information Age? The resolution won't be the flurry of proposed legislation in DC to block, free, or regulate the move of data carriers into the information businewss. I don't know what the answer is. But I do know that if you listen quietly, you can hear the metallic whisper of knife edge on sharpening stone as today's fat cats, like the robber barons of old, get ready to carve up cyberspace -- and your future. ---------------- [Moderator's Note: The author's comments are worth thinking about. One minor error was his reference to 'trolley tracks': Streetcars ran on tracks, while trolleys ran on the street with regular rubber tires on their wheels. Both methods of transportation used overhead wires to draw their electrical current through a 'catenary', or pole hoisted in the air above the vehicle. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Not Your Typical Telecom/Radio Station Story From: roy@cybrspc.UUCP (Roy M. Silvernail) Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 23:32:47 CST Organization: Villa CyberSpace, Minneapolis, MN [Moderator's Disclaimer: The article which follows contains language which may be offensive to some readers. Although it *is* funny, it is a little out of character for the Digest. This is the final article in this issue, and if an excessive amount of profanity or vulgar expressions would offend you, then you should quit reading this issue at this time. PAT] ------------- Many of the telecom/radio stories on the Digest have a technical theme. Not this one ... I was going through some old tapes from my radio days, and dug out a little gem I obtained years ago in Nome, Alaska through a very strange route. An ex-staff member hailed from Providence, Rhode Island, and had returned after his stint was over. A few months later, the station got a letter from him, with a little enclosure. 100 or so feet of tape, wrapped around a piece of cardboard. There was a note on the cardboard ... "It will be worth it." We laboriously wrapped the tape onto a reel, and threaded it onto a deck in the production studio. We found a hilarious parody of a New York Telephone commercial, obviously done at the same session with some legitimate spots. (radio pros already know that we passed these things around a lot ... ask anybody with a copy of a PAMS Christmas party). The spot isn't anywhere near politically correct. I'm including a copy with this article, but I leave it to PAT's discretion whether this belongs in the Digest or the Archives. (but if you divert it, PAT, please try to summarize :-) New York Telephone Parody Commercial: New York City ... it's still a hell of a town. (music in and up. The girls sing "New York Telephone, mmm mmm mmm...") At New York Telephone, we know that getting a malicious or obscene phone call can really piss you off. If you get such a call, fuck it! Hang up immediately. In most instances, that's enough to stop the caller from becoming a pain in the ass. Too often, though, people unwittingly encourage the caller by talking back. Don't be a prick! You can't argue with a sick mind, so don't try! If hanging up quickly doesn't work, for shit's sake, don't panic. Just call our business office. You'll find the number in the front of your telephone directory. In persistant cases, our Annoyance Call Bureau takes over to try and trap the fucker. Working with the police, our Annoyance Call Bureau has been responsible for 844 arrests and 54 abortions. And defendants have learned that a 10 cent phone call can cost them as much as thousand dollars and jam their ass in prison for a year. At New York Telephone, we're in business to give you service ... and part of our obligation is to see to it that no mother fucker abuses that service! After all ... the service we give you is obscene enough. (Music up, the girls sing again, and out.) Roy M. Silvernail |+| roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu [Moderator's Note: Blush. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #868 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa20056; 23 Nov 92 5:09 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08227 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 01:21:38 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08087 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 01:21:20 -0600 Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 01:21:20 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211230721.AA08087@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #870 TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Nov 92 01:21:19 CST Volume 12 : Issue 870 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? (Andy Sherman) Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? (Jack Decker) Re: No Caller ID in Texas (Sean Malloy) Re: MCI Service Outage (Bob Yazz) Re: At NYNEX, CNID is Coming Before E911 (Bob Turner) Re: Only One Phone Works ... Help! (Marc Unangst) Re: Only One Phone Works ... Help! (Michael Heggen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: andys@internet.sbi.com (Andy Sherman) Subject: Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 12:49:55 EST > [ Description of section in the Electronic Communications Privacy > Act that makes trap-and-trace devices illegal without a court > order. ] > If this is a correct interpretation, it means that the decisions in > various states about Caller-ID are all irrelevant since this Federal > law has made any caller ID box illegal (except for calls which are not > "in interstate commerce."). Do note that the decisions about Caller ID in the various states *only* apply to calls which are *not* in interstate commerce, since the state utility agencies and courts have no jurisdiction to allow or disallow Caller ID on interstate calls. > I'm waiting for some slick attorney who has a client who was caught > with a Caller-ID box raise ECPA to not only have the evidence of calls > excluded, but have the victim charged with a civil suit of violating > the ECPA for installing an illegal trap and trace device without a > court order, which if I remember, ECPA allows civil damages as high as > $10,000. First off, since Caller ID is only available for in-state calls, the slick attorney would need a dunce for a judge to succeed. But further, anybody who used a Caller ID service which was tariffed by the phone company and approved by the state would have the defense of having in good faith acted in accordance with state and local law. Meanwhile, I'm surprised you don't mention a potential conflict between 800 number ANI delivery by inter-exchange carriers and the ECPA. Since the FCC has approved the service I assume that delivery of the calling number to the party accepting a collect call (which is the legal description of ANI delivery to an 800 subscriber) does not constitute trap and trace since the party getting the number is the party paying for the call. Pat, I suspect that it's time for this thread to move to the privacy list, but, hey, you're the editor. :^) Andy Sherman Salomon Inc - Unix Systems Support - Rutherford, NJ (201) 896-7018 - andys@sbi.com or asherman@sbi.com "These opinions are mine, all *MINE*. My employer can't have them." [Moderator's Note: Every once in a while, an article on Caller-ID and 'privacy' comes along; I should know by now there is never going to be any consensus. We'll have two more replies, then that's it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 11:29:24 EST From: Jack.Decker@f8.n154.z1.fidonet.org (Jack Decker) Subject: Re: Is Caller-ID an Illegal Trap and Trace? In message , bharrell@garfield.catt. ncsu.edu (Ben Harrell) wrote: > Also, I would like for someone to explain to me the conceptual > difference between someone calling me and someone knocking on my door. > Unless I know who is on the other side of that door, I'm not likely to > answer it, and if I do I'm going to be very careful about it. In the > entire history of telephony, I having had that capability. But now > with CLID, I do. I understand that battered spouse shelters, > undercover policemen, etc. need protection, but for the average person > or business, why is CLID any different "personal privacy" wise to my > going and knocking on my neighbors door. Why would I expect him/her > to answer that door, if he doesn't recognize me or my voice? I think where your analogy falls flat is that Caller ID is delivered to ALL users of that service when you call them, not just those you want to have your number. Let's think about your "person at the door" analogy a bit more. Consider the case of a stranger at the door: You have the right to refuse to answer the door if you don't know the person there, but you don't really know anything about him or her, certainly not their address. But let's suppose that the door in question is not the front door to your home, but rather the front door to a place of business. Let's suppose, just to make things interesting, that it's an insurance agency that sells auto, life, and health and accident insurance. Let's suppose that you walk by and see a sign that says "Low rates on Auto Insurance - Inquire Inside" (the equivalent of a yellow pages ad?) so you attempt to enter. But, you are met at the door by a greeter who says that you cannot enter, cannot ask a question, or cannot talk to anyone there about anything until you have provided your name and current address. Now, I don't know about you, but at that point I'd probably start thinking that once they have my name and address, they can come to my door and harass me about my need for various types of insurance, and if they can't give me a estimate on their "low auto insurance rate" without giving me the third degree, I'll take my business elsewhere. Or, alternately, I might consent to give the information, but at least I've given it with my full knowledge and consent. In the case of Caller ID, the information (my phone number) is just taken from me and given to selected people that I call, but I have no way of knowing who's getting my number, nor do I get a chance to pre-approve the giving of that information (unless per-line blocking is available, and I gather that's what you object to). Generally, if I call another residential customer, I don't really mind them knowing that it's me calling (though there may occasionally be exceptions). But what I REALLY object to is the giving of my number to businesses that may capture it and then use it later on for unsolicited "cold" sales calls. Just as you don't normally identify yourself when you walk into most places of business, I do not want my phone number automatically provided to businesses that I call. If they request my phone number, I may well give it to them, but *I* want to make that decision. By the way, some have asked how come folks don't object to ANI information going out on 800 number calls. I think it's partly because folks don't realize it's happening, and partly because folks who do realize it's happening also understand that when you are paying for the calls, you need to know where the calls are coming from in order to avoid fradulent billing. But if I'm paying for the call, or if it's a local call, that argument falls flat, because Caller ID data is never used for billing verification. > I know that I don't have to tell him/her were *I* live, but I just > don't see the difference and don't understand what people get so upset > about with CLID. Maybe I'm just dense. You're not dense, but you possibly haven't considered that Caller ID data is delivered to both businesses and residences, and you don't even know that it happens. It's a different situation with the stranger at your door ... if you choose to answer your door, you still don't know their home address unless they tell you, and if you're a business owner you probably aren't going to demand their home address when they walk in your door! Jack Decker, via the Great Lakes Internet <=> FidoNet Gateway Internet: Jack.Decker@f8.n154.z1.fidonet.org UUCP: ...!umich!wsu-cs!royaljok!154!8!Jack.Decker ------------------------------ From: scm3775@tamsun.tamu.edu (Sean Malloy) Subject: Re: No Caller ID in Texas Date: 22 Nov 1992 06:00:26 -0600 Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station Well, the Nov 17, 1992 {Houston Chronicle} has an editorial supporting the recent PUC decision to not allow Caller ID in Texas. I won't include it here (I didn't call to get permission) but I will quote a paragraph or two ... grammar is theirs, spelling is mine. "It is true that Caller ID would offer a measure of convenience to those residential customers receiving unwanted telephone calls. But that would come at the price of changing long-held public notions of rights of privacy. The identifier's potential to put callers in life-threatening situations has led to opposition from groups such as the Texas Council on Family Violence. Law enforcement agencies have also opposed Caller ID on the grounds that it would make those who want to remain anonymous - who do not wish to be identified through their telephone numbers - less willing to cooperate with authorities in crime-solving efforts. These concerns override any "service" [Quotes theirs] Caller ID may offer customers." They also continue to say that the choice is one of privacy v. gimmickry and that the PUC has "wisely chosen to uphold Texans' privacy rights." The editorial doesn't mention that the PUC is composed of three members. One declared it illegal, another said it's legal, and a third said that it's legal, but only for some businesses under current law. I called my local GTE office, and also talked to a SW Bell representative who said that tracking a number can currently be done by means of a "Call Trace" service, which costs $10 (US) per trace. The (somewhat more informed) SW Bell rep also said that the results of the trace can only be turned over to their "Security Department" and not to the customer. GTE did not say this, but my understanding is that this is because of state law, and not a Telco policy. Why am I not surprised that a newspaper that uses telemarketers to drum-up subscriptions is opposed to the adoption of Caller ID? Anyone wanting to send a letter to the {Chronicle} should send a fax to {Viewpoints} at (713) 220-6575. Include Name, full address and phone number. Sean C. Malloy - Texas A&M University - scm@tamu.edu [Moderator's Note: Enough already! No more Caller-ID pros and cons. This will never be resolved. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bob Yazz Subject: Re: MCI Service Outage Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:49:56 GMT rdippold@qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes: > As I type, MCI long distance out of San Diego is sporadic. Apparently > their cable up to LA has been damaged (no word on why), and their > backup cable can't handle the load. No word on service resumption. It's a day or two ago now, but where I work here in San Diego, we couldn't use AT&T either. Most calls were blocked, both in and out. Unfortunately, our phone consultant has yet to reprogram the company switch to permit 10xxx dialing, so we couldn't even try other carriers. We did get an AT&T operator who explained that "one of the other carriers" was having a problem (likely cable cut) but that the Pacific Bell office couldn't handle things. Seems to me they should have been able to. Bob Yazz ------------------------------ From: turner@udecc.engr.udayton.edu (Bob Turner) Subject: Re: At NYNEX, CNID is Coming Before E911 Organization: Univ. of Dayton, School of Engineering Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:55:24 GMT In article rocker@vnet.ibm.com (Joshua E. Muskovitz) writes: > To their credit, the rep understood everything I said, but pointed out > that in this area, at least, we do not have enhanced 911 and so I must > dial *67 911 in order for them to be able to find me. She claimed > that the delay in setting up E911 ("we've been working on it for three > years") is from the post office -- they have to convert all the Rural > Route addresses and such to street addresses before an E911 system can > be installed. > Personally, I don't believe it. Why not simply install it now for the > more urban addresses, and update it for those addresses when they are > converted? Oh you better believe it!!! And thank god they are not putting a E911 system up without address rectification. This is a difficult problem that my company and my joint venture partner deal with on a daily basis. There is nothing worse then an E911 system that cannot be trusted. Waiting for the post office is a typical problem, eavne worse with the current round of lay-offs. In Kentucky, a big market for us, the addressing support person in Louisville was "early retired" on Sept 15. So for addressing support your on your own in Kentucky. Address rectification is only one aspect of putting a E911 database together. And it has to be done. The phone company records are inaccurate (at best). This usually isn't a problem because the addresses they have are for billing purposes not Location ID. However the legal and operation ramifications are tremendous. Try to convince your Emergency crews to kill themselves to get to an address that the ALI computer spitout. Especially when the past performance has been less than 45% (Actual occurance). Plus the liability potential is horrendous. > [Moderator's Note: If she told you 'you must dial *67-911 in order for > them to find you' then I would question how much she understood about > what she was saying. *67 usually toggles the status of CLID delivery, > but in any event it *never* affects the 911 display (if there is one; > some older 911's don't have it.) PAT] Correct. E911 is driven off the billing systems for calling number delivery. Thats why the trunks going into a PSAP are generally CAMA or TSPS. CNID and CLASS don't have anything to do with this. Bob Turner Senior System Engineer 513-434-2738 turner@udecc.engr.udayton.edu CommSys, Inc. 77 West Elmwood Drive, Suite 101, Dayton, OH 45459 ------------------------------ From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) Subject: Re: Only One Phone Works ... Help! Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 20:33:25 GMT Organization: The Programmer's Pit Stop, Ann Arbor MI In article awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu (Andy Wolf) writes: > 1. Why doesn't the phone in bedroom three work? Bad phone cord? Is > is because of the mess with the other line? Could it be the > (bulletproof) phone? This sounds like tip and ring are reversed in the BR3 jack. Most newer phones have a rectifier circuit so they are polarity-immune, but older phones can be polarity-sensitive. DTMF tones not breaking dialtone is a symptom of a polarity reversal. To fix this, just take the jack off the wall and reverse the connections of the red and green wires. Marc Unangst, N8VRH mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us [Moderator's Note: But he said he could hear the tones. In the old style phones where polarity mattered, if tip and ring were reversed the CO could not hear the tones, but then, neither could you. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mike@percy.rain.com (Michael Heggen) Subject: Re: Only One Phone Works ... Help! Organization: /etc/organization Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 00:05:00 GMT awolf@cit.hmc.psu.edu (Andy Wolf) writes: > I have a problem in an apartment that I recently moved into. There is [stuff deleted] > 2. In a rental situation, is it typical that the apartment company > should fix this problem, or do I have the burden? > [Moderator's Note: Have you tried other instruments in BR- to see if [stuff deleted] > The landlord does not have to fix the problem. Telco is not as easily With all due respect to the Moderator, I would suggest that Andy Wolf check his rental agreement as well as the landlord-tenant law in his state. In Oregon telephone service can fall under the portion of the landlord-tenant law regarding maintenance of necessary services. This is sort of a grey area, as I discovered with a somewhat senile (but definitely obnoxious) landlady at a previous residence. I had had a second line installed. The apartment complex was wired using multi-pair cable (8-pair? Don't remember ...) and there were twelve units in the complex. The phone guy just found an unused pair and we hooked that up as the yellow-black pair on our regular jacks in apartment. After a few weeks, I started getting noise on the line and it degraded to the point that you couldn't hear dialtone. I spoke to my landlady about it and she said that it was her responsibility to keep the wiring maintained, so she would pay to have it fixed if it was determined that that was where the problem was. Great! So I called the phone company (Pacific Northwest Bell) who came out and determined that the problem was probably at a junction somewhere in between the first and second floors. They also discovered that all the rest of the unused pairs were just as bad as mine was (if not worse) and that the wiring was really awful (complex was probably wired by a independent contractor during construction). It would require that they go into several other apartments, etc. and would run a couple of hours time in all (in addition to the $90 already spent to track down the problem). Now the fun starts: my landlady claims that the installation of a second line was "an unauthorized modification" to the apartment. She claimed that it was "tampering" and therefore in violation of the lease. She claimed that her responsibility was only for my first line and that she would not pay for the repair service (any of it), nor would she allow repairs to be made. End result: I had to disconnect my second line and pay a $90 repair bill (the phone guys -- yes, there were two of them) were nice enough to knock an hour's time off the bill, but it was still $90. And, I had no data line. Storal of the mory: get it in writing from your landlord beforehand. Michael Heggen ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #870 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa20426; 23 Nov 92 5:22 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA07884 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:41:02 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08327 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:40:45 -0600 Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 00:40:45 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211230640.AA08327@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #869 TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Nov 92 00:40:45 CST Volume 12 : Issue 869 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Telecom Quotations (Mark Brader) "How the World Was One", by Arthur C. Clarke (a review) (Mark Brader) Internet Question (Richard Budd) Internet Services in Former USSR (Richard Budd) Encrypted Cordless Phones: How? (Randy Sales) Re: New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User (Mark Earle) Re: Microsoft/Intel Team up on Video for PCs (Richard Nash) Re: Who Are the Major Players in CT2 Phones and Equipment? (David Tse) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 21:48:00 -0500 From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations I have one more quote, from the same book. > In one of Arthur C. Clarke's novels there's a beautiful throwaway > line ... Found it. I'll give the context where I found it, because I think it's interesting too. He quoted himself in a short 1988 speech, which he then printed in his new book "How the World was One". He first talked about how the British post office, by converting to a flat-rate system for domestic mail, was able to adopt in 1840 a postage rate of only 1d, with immeasurable benefit to commerce and society. Then: I'm sure you'll see what I'm driving at, and because I can never resist an opportunity for a commercial, I'd like to end by reading to you a paragraph from my *latest* last book: "...In the beginning, the Earth had possessed the single super-continent of Pangea [sic], which over the aeons had split asunder. So had the human species, into innumerable tribes and nations; now it was merging together, as the old linguistic and cultural divisions began to blur.... With the historic abolition of long-distance charges on December 31, 2000, every telephone call became a local one, and the human race greeted the new millennium by transforming itself into one huge, gossiping family." ("2061: Odyssey Three", Chapter 3) Here are a few more quotes from "How the World was One". Clarke prints in the book a speech he gave at the United Nations on World Telecommunications Day, May 17, 1983. It begins: There is always something new to be learned from the past, and I would like to open with two anecdotes from the early days of the telephone. They illustrate perfectly how difficult -- if not impossible -- it is to anticipate the social impact of a truly revolutionary invention. Though the first story is now rather famous -- and I must apologize to those of you who've heard if before -- I hope it's unfamiliar to most of you. ... When news of Alexander Graham Bell's invention reached the United Kingdom, the chief engineer of the British Post Office failed to be impressed. "The Americans," he said loftily, have need of the telephone -- but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys..." The second story I heard only quite recently, and in some ways it's even more instructive. In contrast to the British engineer, the mayor of a certain American city was wildly enthusiastic. He thought that the telephone was a marvelous device and ventured this stunning prediction: "I can see the time," he said solemnly, "*when every city will have one*." And from his speech on the occasion of the Intelsat agreement: For today, gentleman, whether you intend it or not -- whether you wish it or not -- you have signed far more than yet another intergovernmental agreement. You have just signed the first draft of the Articles of Federation of the United States of Earth. Then there's this one; this isn't Clarke writing, but an electric engineer named W. E. Ayrton. There is no doubt that the day will come, maybe when you and I are forgotten, when copper wires, gutta-percha coverings, and iron sheathings will be relegated to the Museum of Antiquities. Then, when a person wants to telegraph to a friend, he knows not where, he will call an electromagnetic voice, which will be heard loud by him who has the electromagnetic ear, but will be silent to everyone else. He will call "Where are you?" and the reply will come, "I am at the bottom of the coal-mine" or "Crossing the Andes" or "In the middle of the Pacific"; or perhaps no reply will come at all, and he may then conclude that his friend is dead. Mr. Ayrton said this at a lecture at the Imperial Institute ... in *1897*. Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 23:00:00 -0500 From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: "How the World Was One", by Arthur C. Clarke (a review) In another item which I expect Pat will run in the same Digest as this one, I gave several quotes from Arthur C. Clarke's latest book. Here's the full description ... "How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village", 1992 Bantam hardcover, approx 300 pages. US price $22.50. ISBN 0-553-07440-7. I think this book will be of considerable interest to many Telecom readers, although those who are voracious Clarke fans may find that they've read considerable parts of it before. The book contains five main parts. The first and longest one tells about the early history of submarine telegraph cables, culminating with the tribulation-filled laying of the first successful cable across the Atlantic; and the second part rapidly takes the story forward to transoceanic telephony and radio. Most of this material was taken from Clarke's 1958 book "Voice Across the Sea", but I had not read that one, and I found it fascinating. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the many kinds of technical difficulties encountered in the early days. Cables were too light, too heavy, too short; they broke, they leaked; they even sabotaged themselves (no, I won't explain that one!). And then there were people problems -- wrong assumptions about technology went untested until after they had been embedded in thousands of miles of cable. On one of the cable-laying attempts, two ships started out in the middle of the ocean and sailed in opposite directions with the two ends of the cable, each paying it out as it went. Their only communication with each other was by telegraph through the cable itself. At one point the connection broke and the ships returned to their starting point -- and each hailed the other with "How did the cable break?" Something had happened on the seabed, and they never did find out what. Then when the first cable was finally laid and the technology finally tested, it hardly worked: after 12 days of trying to adjust the instruments, the operators still needed over 16 hours to transmit a 99-word official telegram. Depending just how they timed their Morse-like code, I figure that the transmission rate must have been somewhere between .05 and .1 baud! The remaining three parts of the book do not really tell a continuous story as do the first two; there are many distinct essays and speeches and even a few pieces of fiction. I had read several of the pieces before, and some of them overlap to some extent. So for these reasons I didn't enjoy the second half of the book as much as the first; but I still found it well worth reading. The third part deals with Clarke's own involvement in the early development of communication satellites. As most of you will know, he invented the idea of using the geostationary orbit for comsats -- though it didn't occur to him then that they might be unmanned! This part puts the idea in context of what he was doing at the time and of what had already been invented by others, and includes the short story "I Remember Babylon" where he anticipated some less savory uses to which comsats might be put. The fourth part concerns the impact of comsats as it has turned out in fact, and Clarke's thoughts on where how they should develop in the future; and the short fifth part is about the renaissance of submarine cables with the appearance of fiber optics. The thesis of the book is simple, and one with which most of us on Usenet will agree. I know *I* do. Better communication unites societies, reduces ignorance, and generally benefits everyone; and it is, accordingly, something on which the expenditure of time and money is well worthwhile. Mark Brader "... There are three kinds of death in this world. SoftQuad Inc., Toronto There's heart death, there's brain death, and utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com there's being off the network." -- Guy Almes ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 13:09:12 EDT From: Richard Budd Subject: Internet Question Organization: CSAV UTIA Since arriving in Prague, Czechoslovakia, I have had to improvise many times from previous habits while using the facilities of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Among them was routing Internet messages through a different mailer than the one where it would normally be sent. In the case I described below, the message would have been sent through SMTP at INTERBIT at the Universitaet Wien, but instead I addressed it to City University of New York on BITNET. As I learn more about telecommuications and the Internet, I wonder if explanations I previously have made were correct, or if I had just attributed a phenomenon to another cause. If the explanation I gave my friend was incorrect, could you set me onto the right course. Thanks. ------------Original Message---------- You can select the computer path from which to route messages, if the default link is not available. From Marist, email messages normally route through University of Connecticut (UCONNVM) or Yale (YALEVM). However, you can specify a machine at another campus by writing the destination node as userid, percent sign, node; and then write "at" sign and the node whose mailer you want to use. For example, if you wanted to send a message through CUNY's machine rather than Yale's, you would address the note as follows: budd%cspgas11@cunyvm.bitnet (you would probably drop .bitnet) By specifying cunyvm or maristb as the mailer of choice, it got me around the problem with SMTP/INTERBIT at the University of Vienna. You may want to try it sometime. I may want to write to the TELECOM forum to learn more why it works. ------------End Message--------- Let me know if there is a different explanation for this. If readers are interested, I can write something on the calling cards available in Prague for making long distance phone calls from local booths. Richard Budd | USA klub@maristb.bitnet | CSFR budd@cspgas11.bitnet | 139 S. Hamilton St. | Kolackova 8 | Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 | 18200 Praha 8 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 12:42:34 EDT From: Richard Budd Subject: Internet Services in Former USSR Organization: CSAV UTIA There was a question several days back about Internet Facilities in the former Soviet Union and whether WorldNews was being received there. An excerpt from a recent article written for the RIPE Connectivity Working Group could answer that question. My apologies for being unable to reproduce the original posting in TELECOM Digest, but I probably erased it sometime back. ----------- The 9.6 kbit/s leased line from Moscow to Copenhagen, Denmark which used to connected the EARN node in Moscow to the EARN/BITNET network has been replaced by a dial-up link to Stockholm due to funding problems. A considerable effort undertaken by the RELCOM networking organization has brought e-mail connectivity to several thousands of sites all over the former Soviet Union. The growth of the network was several 100% a year. RELCOM has been operating some IP links in the Moskow and St. Petersburg areas and in other communities (Novosibirsk Barnaul in Altai). Other national IP connections are expected to connect Ukraine, Siberia, St. Petersburg, Soviet Far East, and other regions to setup a kernel of a nation wide IP backbone. The whole network has about 60 regional centres, some of which connect more than 500 sites. RELCOM's international traffic is split over two dial-up lines, one to the Finish EUnet backbone and one into the central EUnet node in Amsterdam. Both operate as gateways on application level. The rapidly growing volume of international mail traffic makes the need for a medium speed IP channel to Europe urgent. Part of the international traffic is carried by the filtered IP line to AlterNet. The first EARN node started its operation in Moscow late in 1991, but the increasing availability of EARN services is still expected. An e-mail gateway now exists between RELCOM DEMOS and SUEARN. SUEARN also provides international mail relay services for FREENET, a national research IP network which interconnects some 45 institutes of the Academy of Sciences mostly in the Moskow area with international connections to Jaroslavl and Baku. The current situation has been badly affected by the split of RELCOM into two independent entities (RELCOM RelTeam Ldt. and RELCOM DEMOS). Each of them holds a part of CIS network users and part of their international connectivity. While RELCOM RelTeam Ldt. has inherited the RELCOM's membership in EUnet, RELCOM DEMOS seems to position itself as a partner of AlterNet in CIS. Negotiations are still underway to find a cooperative approach to national and international connectivity. Contact persons: Valery Bardin - EUnet - RELCOM Misha Popov - EUnet - RELCOM Demos Andrej Mendkovich - CIS EARN director Nickolay M.Saukh - EUnet - RELCOM Igor Sviridov - EUnet - Ukraine contact. Oleg Tabarovsky - EUnet - RELCOM Dima Volodin - EUnet - RELCOM Demos Prague School of Economics e-mail : Milan.Sterba@vse.cs I have the whole article on file. It is a survey of network connections and services available in every country in Central and Eastern Europe. It is quite a long article - over 900 lines. Pat may have to put out a special issue of the Digest to accommodate it. Richard Budd | USA klub@maristb.bitnet | CSFR budd@cspgas11.bitnet | 139 S. Hamilton St. | Kolackova 8 | Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 | 18200 Praha 8 ------------------------------ From: alpha@vpnet.chi.il.us (Randy Sales) Subject: Encrypted Cordless Phones: How? Organization: Vpnet - Free Usenet access Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 05:00:18 GMT I am interested if someone could tell me generally how they are encrypting these cordless phones I have seen by Motorola and Phone Mate. The Phone Mate one says it helps with interference and cross signaling. It seems like a good idea for also keeping the scanners from listening in and if it is digital I could see how it could help with noise. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 21:21:45 CST From: mearle@pro-party.cts.com (Mark Earle) Subject: Re: New Area Code Blitzes Cell Phone User No, I'm saying, despite it being permissive, the SA cellular providers made a deadline, and told everyone to get their phones re-programmed. Then, aparently, the GTE mobilnet switches in Houston were not updated in a timely manner -- we later found out the ESN of my of my friends phone was declared "bad" because it no longer matched the data base entry. Regular land line type non-cmt phone companies are, thankfully, doing better than GTE Mobilenet. mwe mearle@pro-party.cts.com (Mark Earle) [WA2MCT/5] FidoNet at Opus 1:160/50.0 Bitnet adblu001@ccsu.vm1 Internet 73117.351@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 19:28:58 -0700 From: rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) Subject: Re: Microsoft/Intel Team up on Video for PCs In article >Paul Robinson writes: > Microsoft and Intel are putting together a combined software and > hardware package to allow people to work with video, including editing > and retrieving video footage into documents, thus allowing a PC to > etc..... > Note: The article -- either because the writer thinks it's dead, or > because he's never heard of it -- fails to say anything about the > Video Toaster that has been out for the Amiga for two years and > already does this stuff. As usual the Amiga is not recognized by the PC media. Is it really free unbiased reporting or rather the extreme ignorant mentality of the industry that refuses to acknowledge the exceptional work of Steve Jobs' Next or the Amiga from Commodore that even today the PC MS Windows crowd is trying to mature above? Richard Nash Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6K 0E8 UUCP: rickie%trickie@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca ------------------------------ From: tpang@sfu.ca (Tsui Ting Debbie Pang) Subject: Re: Who Are the Major Players in CT2 Phones and Equipment? Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 11:48:32 GMT CT2 has been testing in Hong Kong for a while, but handheld cellular is by far still most popular. David Tse ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #869 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07693; 24 Nov 92 4:10 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA05584 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:31:46 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA26799 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:31:24 -0600 Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:31:24 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211240731.AA26799@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #871 TELECOM Digest Tue, 24 Nov 92 01:31:25 CST Volume 12 : Issue 871 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday (TELECOM Moderator) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (John Adams) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (David G. Lewis) Re: FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes (Jonathan Rosenberg) Re: FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes (Arthur Rubin) Re: Headsets etc. (Julian Macassey) Re: Headsets etc. SUMMARY (Jeff Bier) Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone (Jim Rees) Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone (Andreas Meyer) Re: Telecom Quotations (Richard Cox) Re: Can I Use a US Modem in Switzerland? (Keith Bechard) Re: High-Quality Voice Over POTS (Robert Eden) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:24:22 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday I'll be taking a few days off to enjoy the Thanksiving Day holiday this coming weekend, so the remainder of this week will be spend emptying the queue of the many articles waiting for publication. ** Please do not send any further articles to telecom until Monday, 11-30. I'll put out an issue or two early Monday if I can, or sometime Monday at the latest. ** If there are any urgent messages which must go out, someone will be attending to it for me. Thanks, and happy holidays to all. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 13:03:15 GMT In article vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) writes: > In article jadams@vixen.cc.bellcore. > com (adams,john) writes: >> Another aspect of all of this is that "Carrier Connect Time", the >> period of time between your LD company accessing the distant >> (originating works pretty much the same way) LEC, is revenue for the >> LEC (The LD company pays) regardless of whether the call ever >> completes! > Is this true of regular calls or only operator assisted? In a word, yes. Bellcore's TA-NWT-000394 Switching System Requirements for Interexchange Carrier Interconnection Using the Integrated Services Digital Network User Part (ISUP) provides lots more details on this. Briefly, the elapsed time for Interexchange Carrier equal access billing ($$ that IXC's pay LEC's) is determined by the total of the "Carrier Connect Time (CCT)" - the "Disconnect Time (DT)"equal. Note that this works with Feature Group D - Circuit Associated Signalling as well as SS7. In article rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) writes: > Peter Capek writes: >> > implemented soon> > Unfortunately in a basic call setup message, 0+ wants to first secure > the billing method before determining the state of the called party > line. Correct! > Yes, it would be possible to determine the line state of the > called party first, but this would require actually connecting to the > called party first, playing out an announcement to advise them to wait > while the billing information was secured, and then either advising > them that the calling party will be with them or that the calling > party's credit check has failed. Not entirely correct. See example below. The only case where an actual *CONNECTION* would be required to the called number would be in the case of collect billing. > Correct me if I am wrong, but SS7 does not have a 'prober' style > message that asks the far end to return information of the busy/idle > status of a line. In fact, it is telco optional as to whether or not > the treatment will actually be returned back to the originating end. You stand corrected. For instance, consider the CLASS (SM of Bellcore) Automatic All Back Service, when the distant office cannot support called line scanning, the AC feature is implemented by the originating office via a query sent to the terminating office containing the number of the distant subscriber (among other things). The distant office performs a busy/idle test on the called number and returns the results to the originating office in a response to the query. Therefore, it is technically feasible to extend this method to the case the original poster proposed. Jack (John) Adams Bellcore NVC 2Z-220 (908) 758-5372 {Voice} (908) 758-4389 {Facsimile} jadams@vixen.bellcore.com kahuna@attmail.com ------------------------------ From: deej@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (david.g.lewis) Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Organization: AT&T Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 14:42:03 GMT In article rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) writes: > Peter Capek writes: >> While trying to make a credit card call to a persistently busy number >> recently, after typing in the card number for the n-teenth time, I >> wondered if SS7 protocol would allow the calling exchange to "look >> ahead" at the called number and inquire if it is (at that instant) >> busy, before prompting me for the card number. > Unfortunately in a basic call setup message, 0+ wants to first secure > the billing method before determining the state of the called party > line. Yes, it would be possible to determine the line state of the > called party first, but this would require actually connecting to the > called party first, playing out an announcement to advise them to wait > while the billing information was secured, and then either advising > them that the calling party will be with them or that the calling > party's credit check has failed. > Correct me if I am wrong, but SS7 does not have a 'prober' style > message that asks the far end to return information of the busy/idle > status of a line. In fact, it is telco optional as to whether or not > the treatment will actually be returned back to the originating end. Not exactly correct. SS7 TCAP supports a "query" message. No connection attempt is needed; one switch sends a TCAP query to the other switch asking for line status. This is how the (pick your favorite name) Auto Recall service works (call someone, get a busy signal, enter a *XX feature code, get a special ring when the far end goes idle, pick up the phone and automatically place the recall). 0+ calls just aren't designed to work that way. David G Lewis AT&T Bell Laboratories david.g.lewis@att.com or !att!goofy!deej Switching & ISDN Implementation ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Rosenberg Subject: Re: FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes Organization: Bellcore Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 13:46:45 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Something seems strange here. The plan to begin > using area codes with assorted digits in the middle space has been > known about for years. Did the FCC just now find out about it? Do the > activities of Bellcore fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC? PAT] Seems strange to me, also, since as you point out, this plan has been around for quite a while. And to answer your last question: yes, Bellcore's activities in number administration fall under the FCC's jurisdiction. JR ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 08:56:41 PST Subject: Re: FCC Wants Comments on Area Codes From: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Organization: Beckman Instruments, Inc. > According to an article on page 29 of the November 9, 1992 issue of > {Network World}: > "The FCC has kicked off an inquiry into a massive overhaul of the way > in which telephone numbers are assigned in North America, a change > that may have a substantial impact on users." > It talks about the limitations of the "1 and 0" limit on area codes, > So keep those cards and letters flowing in! What's the docket number? Considering all the "modem tax" rumors going around, the FCC probably won't see any letters without a specific docket number; the staff will count them but file them under "crank letters". Arthur L. Rubin: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (work) Beckman Instruments/Brea 216-5888@mcimail.com 70707.453@compuserve.com arthur@pnet01.cts.com (personal) My opinions are my own, and do not represent those of my employer. My interaction with our news system is unstable; please mail anything important. ------------------------------ From: julian%bongo.UUCP@nosc.mil (Julian Macassey) Subject: Re: Headsets etc. Date: 23 Nov 92 04:25:55 GMT Reply-To: julian@bongo.info.com (Julian Macassey) Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood California U.S.A. In article Cliff Sharp writes: > If anyone knows where I could get another Nady Systems headset, I'd > enjoy knowing, since this one is years old and may not last too many > more decades ... I have never seen NADY phone headsets that I recall. I do know that Mr Nady was interested in producing them. I once had a rather strange meeting with him about this. His company "NADY Systems". Was based in Oakland, California. His product line when I met him consisted of wireless microphones and Infra Red headsets. All his stuff was produced in the Far East. There are various companies in the U.S. that specialise in headsets. Here is one that comes to mind. There are many others. Communitech Inc. 110 Gordon Street Elk Grove Village Illinois 60007 Phone: (708) 439-4333 They carry headsets by Plantronics, UNEX (Not UNIX), ACS, GN Netcom (GNT), and VXI. Julian Macassey, julian@bongo.info.com N6ARE@WA6FWI.#SOCA.CA.USA.NA 742 1/2 North Hayworth Avenue Hollywood CA 90046-7142 voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 10:34:20 PST From: bier@acuson.com (Jeff Bier) Subject: Re: Headsets etc. SUMMARY I recently posted to comp.dcom.telecom, asking for sources of corded and cordless headsets. Below is an edited summary of the responses I received. Just about everyone suggested contacting "Hello Direct," which I did. I got a copy of their catalog about two days later, and they carry both corded and cordless headsets. *** From: Jeff@digtype.airage.com (Jeff Wasilko) Hello direct has cordless headsets. They're not cheap--around $300 or so. You can get them at 800-HI-HELLO. I'm also looking for reccomendations, so I'd appreciate a copy of replies you get. Jeff *** From skeeter@skatter.usask.ca Mon Nov 16 08:43:10 1992 Radio Shack sold a cordless headset phone, with FM radio! :) for about $400 last year or the year before. I use a DUoFONE 119 headset at work and it's great. I bought it for about $50. It has volume control and I installed a mute switch. *** From jgb@mcm.com Mon Nov 16 10:42:44 1992 I STRONGLY recommend Plantronics headsets. I have no connection with Plantronics, but you may wish to consider: 1. They're considered the leader in the field 2. AT&T and local bell subsidiaries use Plantronics 3. Plantronics stuff is very rugged; we exclusively use their product lines on our switch. Jeff Bennington *** From max@besami.esd.sgi.com Tue Nov 17 11:46:34 1992 Jeff, 'Hello Direct' sells a Cordless headset (product name Hello Set Cordless) for $369.00. Their telephone number is 1-800-444-3556. I believe it is 900Mhz type and has 32 channels. Max Torneros *** From fernwood!uunet.UU.NET!mtndew!friedl Wed Nov 18 05:14:14 1992 Hi Jeff, AT&T makes/sells some nice ones, but be aware of some options that may make a difference. The cheap ones literally do replace the handset, which means that you have to find some way to muck around with the switchhook to pick up/hang up a call. You end up having to flip a switch (to select handset -vs- headset) AND mess with the switchhook to take a call. This is a hassle and often confusing. The better units have a switch that completely controls the switchhook, and are much less confusing. You just punch the button to pick up or hang up the phone, and the handset just stays in the cradle. These almost always cost more, and often specific to one particular kind of telephone instrument, but are much nicer. Good luck, Stephen ------------------------------ From: rees@dabo.citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone Date: 24 Nov 1992 02:18:10 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI Reply-To: Jim.Rees@umich.edu In article , todd@valinor.mythical.com (Todd Lawrence) writes: > Installing a coin-phone on a residential line should pose no legal > problems whatsoever, however it will have to be used as a > "residential" type phone, you will not unfortunately be able to use it > as a coin station from your residence for two reasons ... That's true in the strictest sense, but I would expect the phone itself could be rewired in such a way that the dial and transmitter don't get cut through until you insert a coin of some kind. This would obviously be for fun rather than profit, but would certainly lend some authenticity to the phone, and might work well enough to fool visitors. ------------------------------ Reply-To: ahm@spatula.rent.com (Andreas Meyer) Organization: Meyer residence, Dunellen NJ Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 05:46:18 GMT From: ahm@spatula.rent.com (Andreas Meyer) Subject: Re: Looking For Three-Slot Coin Phone jsimpson@darmok.uoregon.edu (John Simpson) writes: > I've always enjoyed the sound of the coin bells inside the old > three-slot payphones. I would like to own one for myself to use > inside my residence. Damark is advertising a three-slotter replica on page 37 of their 1992 Holiday Issue catalog. Item # B-6008-322936 is Thomas model #PP8 and sells for $59.99 The ad says "... It even accepts quarters, nickles and dimes with a brass bell jingle, but it doesn't require money to make a call. Features push button dialing disguised as a rotary dial and locked change storage compartment ..." (My only association with Damark is as an occasional customer). Andreas Meyer, N2FYE ahm@spatula.rent.com "Been there. Did that." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 12:22 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk lederman@dts66.uscghq.uscg.mil (B. Z. Lederman) writes: >> "So many people have written to complain about the telephone >> service that the Post Office is actually going to show a profit this >> year." To fully understand this, you need to know that, at the time that was broadcast, the telephone service in the UK was *run by* the Post Office! Richard Cox Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF Voice: +44 222 747111 Fax: +44 222 711111 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101 E-mail: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Not diallable on 511 in mainland USA ------------------------------ From: keithb@advtech.uswest.com (Keith Bechard) Subject: Re: Can I Use a US Modem in Switzerland? Organization: U S WEST/Advanced Technologies Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 14:19:10 GMT In article , rjh2@crux1.cit.cornell.edu (Radu Hambasan) wrote: > Does anyone know if there is any reason why a modem made for use in > the United States would not work correctly in Switzerland? I had the same problem in Germany this summer. Supposedly, any modem used in Germany must be approved by the German PTT. However, I was using a PowerBook 170 with an integral modem and it worked fine. The biggest problem I had was that Germany doesn't just use one type of plug -- there must be about five different types!! So, I went to the local electronics store and bought as many adaptors as I could find. I would use those whenever I could. However, there were still situations (especially in hotels) where I could not match the adaptor. In that case, I had a four wire modular plug with just the four wires sticking out of one side. I could then use wires with alligator clips to connect to tip and ring. A little messy, but was flexible and worked. The other problem was with my fax or modem software. The European dial tones do not correspond with the US. So any software looking for dial tone before it will dial out will not work. So make sure your software has a mechanism to dial immediately. Keith Bechard U S WEST/Advanced Technologies keithb@advtech.uswest.com (303) 678-7867 ------------------------------ From: Robert Eden - 0491 Subject: Re: High-Quality Voice Over POTS Date: 23 Nov 92 09:31:17 CST Organization: Texas Utilities, Glen Rose TX In article , Robert M. Hamer writes: > A local public radio station stated recently that due to a lack of > funds, they were changing their methodology with respect to interviews > in which the interviewee was out of town. Their previous practice was > to have the interviewee go to a local station and interview that > person via satallite. They said the replacement methodology would be > simple telephone, and that listeners would notice a decline in voice > quality of the interviewee. When I saw a radio station using a remote setup in College Station, TX (about seven years ago) they had a box that provided the necessary bandwidth by using two POTS circuits. I doubt the expense is justified for interviews. They were spinning the music at this remote. Robert Eden 817-897-0491 Glen Rose, TX Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station robert@cpvax.cpses.tu.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #871 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa29159; 24 Nov 92 23:08 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29023 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 24 Nov 1992 20:56:33 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA06468 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 24 Nov 1992 20:56:02 -0600 Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 20:56:02 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211250256.AA06468@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #872 TELECOM Digest Tue, 24 Nov 92 20:56:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 872 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson International Premium Teleservices (Niall Gallagher) *69 in NJ Bell Land (John J. Butz) Paging in 708/312 (Bob Frankston) Email to Prodigy (Louis Schmittroth) SMDS DXI Local Management Interface (LMI) (Myron Hattig) CPC Detection and Purpose (Edwin Slonim) Integrating PBX's With Voice Mail (Michael D. Corbett) Information Wanted on Allied Telecom Corp. (ATCO) (Stu Labovitz) Telemarketing Again (Syed S. Haider) Searching For Simple Two-Line Patch (Jerry Black) Use Coins For Your Next Call? (Carl Moore) 800 Privacy (Andrew Klossner) Intercepts and Verifications (Paul Migliorelli) From Our '...' Department (Paul Robinson) Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 11:03:00 +0000 From: Niall Gallagher Subject: International Premium Teleservices There have been a couple of postings recently on the topic of international premium services -- how do the telco and the service provider make money? I came across this tidbit from Australia ... "OTC, the international business unit of AOTC, is already in the business, known generically as audiotex, but its information is only accessible from outside Australia. Information provided on OTC's World Info service includes a weekly message from the Pope and soft porn for the Italian market from Maurizia, billed as Italy's newest X-rated movie star. According to the {Sydney Morning Herald}, hundreds of thousands of people in 25 countries, mostly European, call the service every week to hear a host of messages from soft porn to horoscopes. The SMH said the service was highly lucrative for OTC. OTC cannot charge premium rates for calls to its World Info service, nor can it bill callers. It makes its money because the call is a normal international call which would not otherwise be made, and the usual cost component for domestic termination of the call is not present. Information providers are paid a commission on the income OTC receives." --------------- For your information, OTC's major international gateways are in Sydney and Perth. The international access code for Sydney is +61-2, Perth is +61-9. So now you know! Niall Gallagher niall@bnr.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 11:31:08 EST From: jbutz@hogpa.ho.att.com (John J Butz +1 908 949 5302) Subject: *69 in NJ Bell Land Here's a puzzler: The Return Call Class feature (*69) offered by NJ Bell will call back the number of the last person to call your phone. (When used to screen calls can be considered a poor man's Caller ID). When my friend Ali calls me from his home across town (intra-lata), *69 after his call will ring his phone, as expected with $.75 applied to my bill. When my parents call me from NY (inter-lata), *69 after their call will play an announcement that says, "You cannot activate this feature, since the number is outside the class calling area." No bill is generated for this call. When I place a call from an intra-lata payphone to reset the "register," *69 from my home phone will ring the payphone. However, when I place a call from an intra-lata payphone using a calling card, *69 will give me the inter-lata "... cannot active this feature ..." message? Go figure. Return Call also does not work on my Centrex-ISDN phone in the office. Does anyone (Bellcore folks perhaps) know the complete specs for the operation of this feature? J Butz ER700 Sys Eng jbutz@hogpa.att.com AT&T - BL [Moderator's Note: The same service is available here in Chicago, but we pay a flat monthly rate with no additional charge per use other than paying for the phone calls generated in return. We sometimes get a message saying, "I'm sorry, you cannot use this feature with the number you are calling." This will typically be if the number is outside the Chicago 312/708 area, but also included are DID and centrex numbers (sometimes). Also, there seems to be only one buffer used for both the Return Last Call and Automatic Redial features. If you get a call and *place an outgoing call* prior to returning the received call, the response is "I'm sorry, that number has been forgotten", or words to that effect. Calls which cannot be repeat dialed or auto called back likewise cannot be identified with Caller-ID nor blocked with Call Screening. And oddly enough, when trying to add certain numbers to the Call Screening list (such as from places with DID) a response will be "I'm sorry, that number is temporarily unavailable. Please try again in a few minutes to add it to your list." The trouble is, those numbers never become available; you are always told to 'try again in a few minutes'. ??? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bob_Frankston@frankston.com Subject: Paging in 708/312 Date: Tue 24 Nov 1992 11:52 -0400 Perhaps our Moderator would know more about this. I just returned from a few days in Chicago. I have a pager number that works when I'm in the area -- it is on the 312-365 exchange. Within 312 it is a free call. But from 708, it seems to be a $.35 call? Or is that an artifact of the particular pay phone I was using. The reason I was using a pay phone was that the hotel phone could not reach the pager -- dialing 8-1-312-365 etc got me a recorded message telling me that my access code did not allow me to make the call. I presume there either an error in the hotel's PBX exchange tables or that there is a bug in the billing protocols. Does anyone know more about this? [Moderator's Note: Where were you in Chicago when it was a 'free' call? And by 'free' do you mean the pay phone did not ask for any money, or you only saw a local unit on your home phone, or what? There are lots of places in 708 which are toll charges to 312 and vice-versa. Then too, it could have been the COCOT you were using. There is no special rate to call pagers that I know of. All cellular phones in 312 cost 25 cents from a payphone in 312 regardless if they are on Ameritech or Cellular One; but a cellular phone with a 708 number costs more from a payphone in 312 and vice-versa. PAT] ------------------------------ From: louis@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Louis Schmittroth) Subject: Email to Prodigy Date: 24 Nov 92 16:56:11 GMT I want to find out if Prodigy offers service to Alberta, and if so is there a email address of an administrative unit of Prodigy where I can find out what the rates are? Louis Schmittroth louis@cs.athabascau.ca NW 1/4 18 67 21 W4 Alberta. ------------------------------ From: kentrox!myron@uunet.UU.NET (Myron Hattig) Subject: SMDS DXI Local Management Interface (LMI) Organization: ADC Kentrox, Portland OR Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 00:26:52 GMT Hello, Does anyone know of Router or DSU vendors that support Local Management Interface (LMI)? I'm building a LMI test bed. LMI is an SNMP-like scheme to network manage a DSU through a router. LMI does not require an Ethernet or Slip connection to the DSU. LMI uses the SMDS DXI interface between the router and the DSU. I would appreciate all e-mail responses coming directly to me, just to be sure I get them. Thanks in advance, Myron Hattig myron@kentrox.com Phone: (503) 643-1681 FAX: (503) 641-3321 ADC Kentrox, 14375 NW Science Park Drive, Portland, OR 97229 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 09:35:10 PST From: Edwin Slonim Subject: CPC Detection and Purpose My Panasonic KXT30810 PABX system at home has programmable settings for CPC on each CO line. I think CPC is Call Progress something ... How can I detect if my exchange(s) support CPC? What are the benefits of CPC? What default should I set if I am unsure whether CPC is present? I have two lines to a digital exchange, and one to an old crossbar. Thanks, Edwin Slonim, Connectivity & Systems Software, Intel Israel, PO Box 1659, Haifa, 31072 Israel voicemail (916)356-2005, slonim@iil.intel.com phone (011)+972-435-5910, fax (011)-972-435-5674 [Moderator's Note: CPC = Called Party Control. This means the called party detirmines when the connection is broken by hanging up the phone. In older systems the connection would stay up at least awhile longer if the calling party did not disconnect. Your answering machine can be set so it will disconnect immediatly when there is a loss of the battery on the line (which is caused when calling party hangs up.) The reason you might not want to use this feature is because call waiting causes the same reaction from your answering machine which will disconnect when it senses the battery is gone, which is what happens for just a second when you get a call waiting tone. So you set the switch on all the time and leave it that way *unless* you have call waiting on the answering machine line and are likely to have the answering machine get 'call-waited' and disconnect on someone trying to leave a message. On the old crossbar system you mention it does not matter either way; on the newer exchanges it does matter. Experiment with it both ways and see which works best for you. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 14:21:52 -0800 From: Michael D. Corbett Subject: Integrating PBX's With Voice Mail Greetings TELECOM Digest readers. I have been reading the Digest for over two years and finally got real access to the internet and thought I should submit something. I work for a company called Applied Voice Technology located in Kirkland WA. We produce PC based Voice Mail, Automated Attendant etc. system called CallXpress. I personally am responsible for writing integration software which provides the Voice Mail system with calling/called party ID, setting and clearing of Message Waiting Indicators, in some cases transfers. I thought some of you might find a description of one of our latest products interesting. It involves integrating both a Northern Telecom Meridian PBX and NT Norstar Key System with our Voice Mail system. We produce a hardware card (called an NTDIU for Northern Telecom Digital Integration Unit) which plugs into the bus of a PC (for power) and emulates NT digital phones. The NTDIU has a jumper, so it is setup to emulate either a NT 2008 handset in the case of the Meridian PBX, or an M7310 in the case of the Norstar. Both the Norstar and the Meridian are ISDN (with minor variations) and they were close enough to use the one card to emulate either phone type. Each NTDIU can emulate four digital phones. By properly programming the PBX i.e. into a hunt group with appropriate class of sevice etc. you have four ports of integrated voice mail. The analog audio portion of the signal is passed into industry standard cards made by Dialogic and they are used for the actual digitization and compression of voice in both integrated and non-integrated systems. The key to the whole setup is the LCD display on the 'phone'. The scenereo goes something like this: A trunk call comes into VM (Voice Mail). The display is read by the NTDIU, and the trunk group, id etc. is passed to the integration software via RS-232. I pass the trunk id, VM port number etc. to the VM system. VM knows there is an external trunk call and plays the annoying chimey audio trademark. Now picture the display on a forwarded internal call i.e. Bill X333 calls Sally X334 but X334 is forward all to VM. The display in the NTDIU will have the calling and called party ID, which again is passed via RS-232 to the integration, and on to the VM. The first spoken prompt in this case is the personal greeting recorded by Sally to leave a message ... Bill however, _hates_ VM and hangs up, *grin*, the display in the NTDIU goes back to time date, the integration gets a digital on-hook from the NTDIU, which is passed to VM and a nearly instantaneous on hook condition is achieved for the VM port. It actually works quite nicely. I hope this description is clear enough and that I have not used terms too loosely. You have to understand that before 1988 I literally didn't know what DTMF meant, and now I routinely program PBX's. Let's just say there was a bit of a learning curve. :) I still can't keep up with some of the CO jargon and acronyms. Please apply trademarks liberally to CallXpress, Norstar, Meridian, Northern Telecom, Dialogic and anything else I may have forgotten. As is customary, my opinions are soley mine and I do not speak for my employer. Mike Corbett Applied Voice Technology 11410 NE 122nd. Way Kirkland WA 98083 mcorbett@halcyon.com ------------------------------ Subject: Information Wanted on Allied Telecom Corp (ATCO) From: stu@valinor.mythical.com (Stu Labovitz) Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 18:40:15 CST Organization: (What? Organized??) - Mythical Computer Systems I have just received a brochure from Allied Telecom Corporation (ATCO) of Cranston, Rhode Island, attempting to sell me discount long distance service. To be honest, I probably would have tossed it right away, except I noticed that the return address on the envelope was that of an old grade school/high school classmate. This gentleman seems to now be one of ATCO's marketing reps. The marketing sheet that I received claims that ATCO provides 100% digital fiber optic service. The example daytime rates that they show on the sheet (most likely selected to best demonstrate their rates) indicate that they enjoy an average price advantage of 23.5% over AT&T (MTS and Pro WATS), MCI (Prism and Preferred), and SPRINT (Basic and Plus). To give my old friend the benefit of the doubt, I am posting this request for information on and experiences with ATCO. If you have anything to share, please post to this newsgroup or mail it to my account (in which case I will submit a summary to our esteemed moderator at a later date). Many, many thanks in advance! Stuart L Labovitz home: stu@valinor.mythical.com (insert standard disclaimer here) or uunet!valinor!stu ------------------------------ From: allegra!ssh@allegra.att.com (syed s haider) Subject: Telemarketing Again Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 21:40:56 GMT Last Sunday's {Parade} supplement carries an article on telemarketing. One item caught my eye. Basically, it stated that many come-ons give you an 800 number making you think that the call is toll-free. But after you call you're switched to a 900 number and get a hefty bill the following month. Is this possible? I was under the impression that 800 calls are toll-free no matter what. [Moderator's Note: They are free unless an unethical person answering the call patches you through to a 900 number in the process of answering you. It is not the 800 part to be concerned about -- those are free. It is the resulting 900 number to which the 800 number has been forwarded. We covered this in detail several months ago here. You might want to look for the "USA Today" and "Mystic Marketing" threads in the Telecom Archives (ftp lcs.mit.edu). PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jerry Glomph Black Subject: Searching For Simple Two-Line Patch Organization: E. Power Biggs, et al. Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 10:40:14 -0500 I'm facing a situation where I'll have two phone lines, one with decent dial-out capabilities, another with none. I want to be able to call in to the latter, be patched to the former, and be able to dial out on the capable line using tones generated by my distant handset. This patching is preferably triggered by keying some security code. I vaguely remember seeing a fairly cheap box (Radio Shack? Hello Direct?) which would do this task. This weekend I checked both catalogs, and found nothing like this. Please post answer, and email to black@LL.MIT.EDU Thanks! Jerry Black [Moderator's Note: E. Power Biggs has been gone about ten years now, but I liked him, so I left your 'organization' line intact. You know how it is with we Moderators and our arbitrary editing of things. Virgil Fox he wasn't, but he was okay. Fox has been gone now for about a decade also :( Between them, I've got a couple hundred recordings; in Fox's case, even a couple 78's (the 1933 stuff he did at the Chicago World's Fair) and the very early 1947-49 stuff recorded on 33 rpm for Columbia Records at Riverside Church. I've got the 1949 recording that Biggs made at Columbia University also. Meanwhile, in these United States, the people have elected a president who is actually *younger* than I am. I need a vacation. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 12:36:04 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Use Coins For Your Next Call? This is from a leaflet from TeleCoin Communications Ltd. (Keystone Commons, 525 Braddock Avenue, Turtle Creek, PA 15145; tel. 412-825-6006), found in a service area along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Use COINS to place your next call and SAVE up to 50% over calling cards. Call the 48 States; deposit $1 for 3 minutes for calls outside this calling area. The TeleCoin Difference... --Discount Coin Calls: Save up to 50% by using coin to make calls out of this calling area--$1 for 3 minutes. --Resaonable Rates for all other calls. --Full access to all long distance carriers. --24-hour operator assistance --Courtesy phones at selected Marriott Plazas. --Facsimile machines at selected Marriott Plazas. --Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDD) at selected Marriott Plazas. ------------------------------ From: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com (Andrew Klossner) Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 15:36:30 PST Subject: 800 Privacy Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com Organization: Tektronix Color Printers, Wilsonville, Oregon John Higdon writes, regarding real-time ANI on 800 lines: > For some reason, it makes the "privacy" activists very happy > to have business customers the only entities than can have > caller number delivery." This is a misrepresentation. We privacy nuts are not at all happy about 800 ANI. But we concede that the person paying for the phone call deserves the information, so we make our 800 calls from behind PBXs. Andrew Klossner (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 02:42 est From: paul@migs.shecora.sai.com (Paul Migliorelli) Subject: Intercepts and Verifications I'm aware that for certain parts of New York Telephone, (areas 212 516 914 and 718), the 9901 suffix is used for digital switch verification readouts. Do any of you have such standard numbers for other areas of the country that might be interesting to hear? What about for other parts of New York where 9901 doesn't do this? A very funny one that was passed on to me was for Carmel. It's 408-624-0624.) [Moderator's Note: In Chicago, many exchanges have a funny tone signal on xxx-1xxx. Try 312-332-1332 and 528-1528 as examples. This is not the case on every exchange, but on quite a few. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 20:25:18 EST Subject: From Our '...' Department "From our 'If it's not on TV it didn't happen/doesn't exist' dept." Monday's {USA Today} notices an advertisement for a Sony TV in front of the Grand Canyon. A small child goes by and doesn't realize where he is at UNTIL the TV set goes on where it is showing the exact image of 10 feet behind it. The child then says (at the TV set) "Look! It's the Grand Canyon!" Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM - These opinions are mine alone. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:24:22 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday I'll be taking a few days off to enjoy the Thanksiving Day holiday this coming weekend, so the remainder of this week will be spend emptying the queue of the many articles waiting for publication. ** Please do not send any further articles to telecom until Monday, 11-30. I'll put out an issue or two early Monday if I can, or sometime Monday at the latest. ** Thanks, and happy holidays to all. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #872 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa09575; 25 Nov 92 5:07 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA05461 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 25 Nov 1992 02:49:20 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA14917 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Wed, 25 Nov 1992 02:49:01 -0600 Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 02:49:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211250849.AA14917@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #873 TELECOM Digest Wed, 25 Nov 92 02:49:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 873 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Moscow and Data Compressors (Hank Nussbacher) Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams in Virginia (Nigel Allen) LAN Capable Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf Info (Gene Cartier) Question About Strange Recording on Answering Machine (Yonsook Enloe) Cellular One TV Commercial (Hey, Mom, That's Me!) (Anthony E. Siegman) AT&T Telephone 764 and Canadian Caller ID Question (Alex Leyn) ** Attention Internet Radio Journal Subscribers ** (Bill Pfeiffer) Accessing Internet to Bitnet Addresses (Paul Robinson) Comm Software/Protocol (Chou Sui Lin) Re: Ringing My Own Phone (Todd Lawrence) Re: Ringing My Own Phone (Daniel Drucker) Re: Any Free Calling Cards Left? (jdg111@psuvm.psu.edu) Re: Any Free Calling Cards Left? (John Murray) Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: Bar-Ilan University Computing Center, Israel Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 11:37:14 IST From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: Moscow and data compressors > There was a question several days back about Internet Facilities in > the former Soviet Union and whether WorldNews was being received > there. An excerpt from a recent article written for the RIPE > Connectivity Working Group could answer that question. > The 9.6 kbit/s leased line from Moscow to Copenhagen, Denmark which > used to connected the EARN node in Moscow to the EARN/BITNET network > has been replaced by a dial-up link to Stockholm due to funding > problems. After reading in the network about Moscow's disconnection from EARN due to increased line costs, ILAN has decided to donate a set of data compressors for use on a 9.6kb line that can effectively run up to four 9.6kb virtual lines. This will allow various networking organizations in the Moscow area to share a single 9.6kb line to Denmark and run IP as well as EARN traffic over the same line -- each at 9.6kb speed. The data compressors are already in the mail to Moscow and Denmark. Hank Nussbacher ILAN - Israeli Academic Network Tel-Aviv, Israel ------------------------------ From: Nigel Allen Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 19:00:00 -0500 Subject: Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams In Virginia Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto. (Since this deals with Western Union's money transfer services, I though Telecom readers might want to see this.) Here is a press release from the Virginia State Police. Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams In Virginia Contact: Information Office, Virginia State Police, 804-674-2016 RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 23 -- Col. Carl R. Baker said today that the Department of State Police has received reports concerning various scams involving individuals posing as police officers. In one scam, a person claiming to be a state trooper indicates he or she is raising funds for the Virginia State Police. In another, persons identifying themselves as state troopers or police officers call local businesses requesting money for an accident victim who is known to the person called. The scam involving accident victims has been reported throughout Virginia, according to State Police. Police have received reports of this scam from Pennsylvania, California, Arkansas, New York and Missouri. In one case, Virginia investigators traced a telephone call to Atlanta. A person claiming to be a state trooper or police officer calls a local business requesting money for an accident victim. The caller explains that a relative, friend, or business associate has been involved in an accident and needs money wired as soon as possible. The amount of money is generally between $250 and $500 and is said to be needed for auto repairs or charges for minor treatment at a hospital. The victims are told to go to a nearby Western Union office and to instruct that office to waive identification of the person picking up the cash by using a test question or password rather than a name. The callers usually call collect and primarily target businesses, although the type of establishment varies. In most cases, they ask to speak with whomever is in charge, claiming that the company president or chief officer is the accident victim. The callers are professional con men and control their delivery; they have familiarized themselves with background knowledge such as the names of the victims' coworkers and the roads nearby the victim's place of business. State Police said that several intended victims have thwarted the callers' efforts by asking for additional identification and telephone numbers through which they can verify the request. Canada Remote Systems - Toronto, Ontario World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 08:23:27 EST From: Gene Cartier Subject: LAN Capable Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf Info In order to comply with the new Disabilities Act we are looking for a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) that is LAN capable. They will be used mostly by our hearing customer support staff. The ideal device would be one that could have and audable ring, a visual screen "RINGING" signal and be answered by any workstation on a small customer support LAN. Even better would be a TDD that could configured via software to use a defined LAN workstation so that person could be the "TDD Operator of the Day". Our current basic environment for customer support are IBM Token Ring LANS running OS/2. If no products exist then any suggestions on how to "tweak" existing products to gain the same capability will be appreciated. Please respond direct to the list or to me and I will combine the answers and post them back. Gene Cartier Systems Research & Applications Corp Arlington, VA cartierg@smtplink.sra.com (703) 803-1734 ------------------------------ From: yonsook@nsisrv.gsfc.nasa.gov (Yonsook Enloe) Subject: Question About Strange Recording on Answering Machine Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 8:40:51 EST Hello! I have had the same two or three very strange recordings on my answering machine at home this last month. When I play back the recorded message, I hear a phone ringing, then the phone gets picked up and a recorded message there says, "Your number cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the area code ..." How is it possible to get this message on my answering message? No one was home so no one could have dialed out on my telephone line. I'd appreciate help on this. Thanks. Yonsook Enloe [Moderator's Note: You might want to check out the messages on this same topic from earlier this month. Back issues of TELECOM Digest are available using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. It is possible someone called you and upon hearing the answering machine decided not to leave a message and go on to their next call instead. They flashed very rapidly and got a conference dial tone by accident. They dialed their number, but did so incorrectly and disconnected. For a couple seconds there would be a three way connection between your answering machine, the calling party and the distant intercept message. That is one possibility. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 12:53:33 PST From: Anthony E. Siegman Subject: Cellular One TV Commercial (Hey, Mom, That's Me!) Wasn't it pop artist Andy Warhol who said that in this world everyone -- even lowly telecom lurkers -- gets 15 minutes of fame? You may soon be seeing a Cellular One TV commercial showing a aerial view of a yuppie type in a red convertible, top down, talking on his car phone while descending a steep cliffside road above the Pacific, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. The yuppie's not actually me (a professional stunt man, in fact); but the gorgeous classic '67 Mustang he's driving -- that's my baby! (rented for a couple days by the ad agency). If anyone happens to catch this on videotape, well ... (I don't happen to own a TV set myself; just reading comp.dcom.telecom is enough). [Moderator's Note: Ah, that's nice of you to say that! :) Yes, Warhol said everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame. Your fifteen minutes will be an aggregation of many three or four second glimpses over the several weeks the commercial will be running. Mine was the same way: about thirty years ago a local television station here made a homebrew version of the Star Spangled Banner for use when they signed off the air at night. The Marshall Field and Company Choral Society (a group of several dozen employees of the downtown Chicago department store who enjoyed singing as a group) sang it with an orchestra, and the television people superimposed a couple dozen still photos of Chicagoans onto the film. One photo was of myself and a friend standing in the entrance of the old Greyhound Bus Station downtown. Four seconds of fame once a day at 2:00 AM for a few years until the station started using another film version of the anthem. And I looked *so awful* in that picture. The MF&Co. Choral Society disbanded years ago; the bus station was torn down five years ago at the urging of the City Fathers, and the president of these United States is younger than I am. :( :( I need a vacation. PAT] ------------------------------ From: maysoft@r-node.gts.org (Alex Leyn) Subject: AT&T Telephone 764 and Canadian Caller ID Question Organization: R-node Public Access UNIX Information System (416-249-5366) Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 01:23:02 -0500 I have recently come into possesion of a fancy new AT&T 764 phone. This phone will boil, broil, and flip your eggs for you. However, the most useful features use the Caller ID (aka Call Display) service. I know that there are differences between the US and Canadian standard for Caller ID. Strangely enough, the 764 does not work in Canada. Does anyone know if there exists an official (AT&T sponsored) or an unofficial patch, workaround, or upgrade to allow this phone to work with the Canadian Caller ID service. I have not opened the phone up yet, but if that is required, I have no qualms about modifying the internal microcontroller code -- if I have the source and if the microcontroller is something relatively widely available. As a side question: The differences between the Canadian Caller ID message format and the US equivalent is very small. From the specs, it appears that a Caller ID receiver could easily determine which format the incomming message is in and make appropriate decoding/ processing. To increase market exposure, why would AT&T and other manufacturers not add this simple code as a standard feature? Am I missing some logical or marketting issue here? Thanks for all replies, Alex Leyn MaySoft Engineering Internet: maysoft@r-node.pci.on.ca maysoft@r-node.gts.org rampage@electrical.watstar.uwaterloo.ca ------------------------------ From: Bill.Pfeiffer@gagme.chi.il.us (Bill Pfeiffer) Subject: ** Attention Internet Radio Journal Subscribers ** Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 15:27:29 -0600 (CST) A massive disk crash at my host mailing system for the Internet Radio Journal (the e-mail echo of rec.radio.broadcasting) has rendered my mailing database almost two months out of date. The last backup of data was October 11, 1992. Anyone who has subscribed, or cancelled a subscription, since then should re-submit their request again. The last issue of the journal, before the system was backed up, was 202. All issues have been sent, but the file of addresses is way out of date. Please re-send if you fail to get issue 223, or if you GET 223, even though you have cancelled your subscription. The address is journal@airwaves.chi.il.us. Thanks, William Pfeiffer Moderator - rec.radio.broadcasting - Internet Radio Journal [Moderator's Note: Now you know why backups are so important. I've got this mailing list backed up along with all my software; and it is duplicated on other sites where I have accounts. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM, TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 16:10:33 EST Subject: Accessing Internet to Bitnet Addresses In TELECOM Digest 12-869, Richard Budd (BUDD@CSPGAS11.BITNET) writes that he has trouble getting through from Internet addresses. I submitted to the Telecom Archives a conversion chart between Internet Domain names (two, three and four character), telex answerbacks (two or three) and telephone and telex country codes. I submitted this same document to Jon Postel for inclusion as an Internet RFC. When Mr. Postel wrote back, he stated that two entries I had, .UUCP and .BITNET were invalid because they are NOT INTERNET DOMAINS. Bitnet is a separate network that has gateways to and from Internet but is not a part of the Internet. Therefore unless one is on a system that is on both networks, one MUST either send to a gateway to get from BITNET to Internet, or if on Internet and sending to a Bitnet address, go through the gateway. Mr. Budd is wrong on one point. He is already _on_ BITNET, he should only need to address someone directly, i.e. as in BUDD@CSPGAS11.BITNET (some will even allow BUDD@CSPGAS11). His use of an address such as BUDD%CSPGAS11@CUNYVM.BITNET isn't needed because he's already ON bitnet. Only someone on Internet who wanted to reach a BITNET ONLY address would need to do this, and they would use the full internet routing. Also, there are two routings: user%system.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu and user%system.bitnet@pucc.princeton.edu So you would use: budd%cspgas11.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu or budd%cspgas11.bitnet@pucc.princeton.edu (Most of the BITNET lists I get on MCI come through Princeton.) Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM - These opinions are mine alone. ------------------------------ From: chou@csd.csd.hku.hk (Chou Sui Lin) Subject: Comm Software/Protocol Date: 24 Nov 1992 09:51:31 -0600 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Hello netters: We're looking for way of doing remote printing over a X.25 connection connecting to a packet-switched network from a remote PC with a printer attached to our Sun SPARCserver. The remote PC will run a terminal emulator (vt100) and run our application. We would like to be able to do background printing while the remote user is on-line. We've tried using the vt100 printing escape sequences. It worked but not reliably especially when the printer is off-line or switched off. Either the PC got hung or an DOS abort message returned. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Ringing My Own Phone From: todd@valinor.mythical.com (Todd Lawrence) Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 00:04:25 CST haydedr@wkuvx1.bitnet (Ross Hayden) writes: > My question is this: Is there a way to find out a number I can dial > that will make my phone ring (other than calling a friend and asking > for a callback)? > [Moderator's Note: This changes from one town to the next, and > sometimes the same telco may change it every two or three months. > There is no standard. Perhaps someone familiar with Bowling Green will > write you with details. PAT] Also, In every NPA I ever had the privilege to be in, I've simply called the operator (TSPS/OSP/ETC..) and asked the ever popular: "Can I have a ringback please ..." Todd Lawrence LOD! Communications internet : todd@valinor.mythical.com IMF Acquisition Group uucp : uunet!valinor!todd ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Ringing My Own Phone From: mertwig!xyzzy@uunet.UU.NET (Daniel Drucker) Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 16:23:49 EST Organization: Odd Parity Hacker's Group haydedr@wkuvx1.bitnet (Ross Hayden) writes: > In the city I used to live in, you could dial 959-XXXX, where XXXX is > your phone number suffix, do a little dance on the switchhook by > hanging up three or four times quickly, and, viola, the phone would > ring after the final hangup. Try 660-XXXX. Thats what works here. Xyzzy T. Plugh mertwig!xyzzy@jaflrn.uucp Daniel Max P. Drucker, the 14 year old networks wizard. ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 16:40:44 EST From: JDG111@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Subject: Re: Any Free Calling Cards Left? > Are there a ny free calling cards left? I just got a SPrint FonCard, and it costs me nothing. No initial fee, no yearly or monthly charge either. COurse, it's $.75 each call, PLUS the LD fees. SO I have yet to actually USE the thing ... :) ------------------------------ From: jxm@engin.umich.edu (John Murray) Subject: Re: Any Free Calling Cards Left? Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 17:00:17 EST Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor In article ronnie@media.mit.edu writes: > Are there any calling cards left that don't charge an initial fee? I > remember Telecom*USA had one for a while, but I also remember hearing > MCI took them over. Aren't the calling cards issued by local phone companies usable for this purpose? I've used mine in a variety of situations without a problem. In fact, the card number is just your own phone number plus a four-digit code, from PacBell and Ameritech anyway. (Not sure about use with foreign telcos directly, but one can call AT&T Direct from lots of places and use the card then.) Which reminds me -- isn't the AT&T card also free, provided you use it once in a while? And since it's a credit card and separate from a phone account, it would be usable by someone who did not have a phone at home to charge the calls to, right? Hope this helps, JM, Univ. of Mich. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 01:24:22 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Administrivia: Closing For the Holiday I'll be taking a few days off to enjoy the Thanksiving Day holiday this coming weekend, so the remainder of this week will be spend emptying the queue of the many articles waiting for publication. ** Please do not send any further articles to telecom until Monday, 11-30. I'll put out an issue or two early Monday if I can, or sometime Monday at the latest. ** Thanks, and happy holidays to all. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #873 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa14640; 26 Nov 92 2:25 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA10555 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 00:24:28 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30475 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 00:24:09 -0600 Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 00:24:09 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211260624.AA30475@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #874 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Nov 92 00:24:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 874 Index To This Issue: Happy Thanksgiving Day, Everyone! AT&T Smart Phone 2100 (Steve Diamond) Article: The Numbering Crisis in World Zone 1 (K. M. Peterson) COCOM Limit Fibre (Terence Cross) Strange Busy Signal (Bob Bracalente) Canadian LD Carrier Numbers Needed (g5100035@nickel.laurentian.ca) Need 486-Based Customer Support Environments With ANI (Ralph Hyre) New England Tel Plans to Drop 1+ Dialing For Local Area Toll (T. Pelliccio) Caller ID Modification (Joe Smooth) Re: How Do *You* Use ISDN? (Matt Holdrege) Re: How Do *You* Use ISDN? (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product (Mark D. Wuest) Re: 950-0666 Becomes, Well, 950 (Richard Cox) Re: FYI 215 NXX Additions (Carl Moore) Re: Ten Digit Dialing in Oregon (Carl Moore) Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems (Jack Winslade) Re: ATT Boing: What is it? (Andrew Little) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: diamond@forever.Eng.Sun.COM (Steve Diamond) Subject: AT&T Smart Phone 2100 Date: 25 Nov 1992 21:02:50 GMT Organization: SunSoft, Inc. Reply-To: diamond@forever.Eng.Sun.COM In the April 20, 1992 issue of {Fortune Magazine}, the AT&T "Smart Phone 2100" which apparently incorporates "DSP technology" and a large soft key LCD screen, is pictured with the caption "Smart Phone 2100 with touch-sensitive screen for access to banking and information services (AT&T, $499)." What's the status of the Smart Phone 2100? Is it available anywhere? Have any of you used it? With special services or standalone? Steve Diamond SunSoft, Inc., 2550 Garcia Ave, M/S MTV08-221, Mountain View, CA 94043 uucp: steve.diamond@Eng.Sun.COM The opinions expressed are my own. ------------------------------ From: KMP@Logos.Prime.COM (K. M. Peterson) Date: 25 Nov 1992 13:48:55 EST Subject: Article: The Numbering Crisis in World Zone 1 {The Sciences}, a magazine published by the New York Academy of Sciences, has an interesting article this month (November/December 1992) called "The Numbering Crisis in World Zone 1" which talks about the scarcity of phone numbers. Being a somewhat infrequent follower of this list, I was filled in on some of the history of the numbering plan here in North America, with some additional insight on [very] basic telephone switch theory. An entertaining article that I'd like to recommend. I'm sure the contents are not new to PAT, but I did get a better feeling for some of the topics discussed here. Also, good to send along to others you might know as a primer on some of the North American switching/naming issues. {The Sciences} is available on newsstands for $3.50, and is recommended in general. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 14:00:16 GMT From: eeitecs@eeiuc.ericsson.se (Terence Cross) Subject: COCOM Limit Fibre I found this in a news item. Isn't it a little bit paranoid, by the west, limiting fibre in Russia? After all cheap communications helps democracy to flourish. I suppose COCOM are just trying to save their own jobs. ------------------- COCOM TO RELAX RESTRICTIONS. The Coordinating Committee (COCOM) for establishing export controls on Western technology to the former East bloc has revised its regulations, Reuters reported on 24 November. Countries currently subject to restrictions may apply for exemptions for next year if they apply by year-end 1992 and pledge specifically not to re-export or use sensitive technology for military purposes. It is not clear, however, how far COCOM is now willing to relax restrictions; it is still insisting that it will make judgments on a country-by-country basis. Although there has been some relaxation over the last few years, COCOM technology embargoes still handicap significant projects in the region, including the Trans-Siberian fibre optic communications line. from: Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull The RFE/RL Daily Report is produced by the RFE/RL Research Institute (a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.) with the assistance of the RFE/RL News and Current Affairs Division (NCA). ---------------- Terence Cross +1 353 902 74601 Software Engineer ECN: 830 1498 AXE Operations & Maintenance Committee Ericsson Systems Expertise Irl. Ltd. eeitecs@eeiuc.ericsson.se Athlone, Ireland eeitecs@memo.ericsson.se ------------------------------ From: bbracal@gandalf.ca (Bob Bracalente) Subject: Strange Busy Signal Organization: Gandalf Data Ltd. Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 14:22:30 GMT I live in southern NJ, and my LD carrier is Sprint. Last night, I tried to place a call to Philadelphia via Sprint. The call didn't connect, and I heard a "high-pithched" slow busy signal (not a reorder). I called a Sprint operator, and she got the same results when she placed the call. Next, I tried to dial the call using New Jersy Bell's "Pensy-Link" service (10652 - some kind of intra-LATA lines between NJ and PA that I don't really understand), and got the same results. When I placed the call using good old AT&T (10288), I received a normally pitched slow busy. When I tried again a few hours later and actually got connected, it turns out that the party I was calling was in fact on the phone during the time I called. So why did I get this strange busy from Sprint and New Jersey Bell? ------------------------------ From: g5100035@nickel.laurentian.ca Subject: Canadian LD Carrier Numbers Needed Organization: Laurentian University Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 14:55:49 GMT Could someone email me the telephone numbers for the new long distance carriers in Canada? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: cinpmx!cdid!rhyre%major@attmail.com Date: 25 Nov 92 15:05:42 GMT Subject: Need 486-Based Customer Support Environments With ANI I'm looking for information on 486-based packages that assist with Customer Support tasks in a Direct Marketing environment. The usual scenario is as follows: Customer receives product information, calls an 800 number to order or further inquire about products. Calls go to an Automatic Call Director (ACD), where they are queued for a Customer Service Rep (CSR) to become available. It is desirable to capture the caller's number (ANI) in real-time to bring up the appropriate customer record on the chosen CSR's PC. (I belive American Express and Mac Warehouse do something like this today.) The technical environment envisioned involves an AT&T Definity PBX, with quasi-ISDN AT&T instruments. (Believed to be 7400-series phones with a Data Stand (serial port that can send PBX data to the user's PC)). DOS or 486/Unix packages are acceptable, although DOS/Windows is preferred. (If the Unix product is a multi-user system, then it should scale to a user community of around 100 users on networked PC's.) A nice-to-have feature would be the ability to interface with the ACD to influence the choice of CSR's with the ANI information (so that the same customer has a chance at getting the same CSR each time they call.) Would also appreciate lists of trade publication with ads and other information on these type of products. I will summarize responses back to telecom. Thanks (in advance) for your help. Ralph Hyre (rhyre@attmail.com) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 14:50:56 EST From: Tony Pelliccio Subject: New England Tel Plans to Drop 1+ Dialing For Local Area Toll An article in the November 23, 1992 {Providence Journal-Bulletin} states that as of June 1993, New England Telephone will be dropping 1+ dialing for toll calls within Rhode Island. Here are some notes about it though: 1) 1+ dialing will still work for three months after the changeover; 2) They plan to adjust customer bills for at least six months after the cutover because of possible mistaken toll dialing. All in all, it seems pretty fair to me. And it won't be that difficult to figure out what's toll and what's not. It's a small state. I feel sorry for places that have a wider toll area though. Tony Pelliccio PJJ125 @ URIACC.URI.EDU ------------------------------ From: Joe Smooth Subject: Caller ID Modification Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 22:47:40 GMT Is it possible to modify a Caller ID box somehow to let you receive the numbers that are calling you with *69 and call blocking? [Moderator's Note: No it is not possible. You can't get blood out of a turnip, as 'they' say, nor can you get information out of a Caller-ID box which was not sent by the CO. Did you mean *69 (call back last call received) or did you mean *67 (block ID)? In any event, if the calling party blocks his identification, either by default on the line or by *67, then the CO will not pass the information to you, regardless of what tampering you may have done with the box. The box is only a receiver of what is sent: nothing sent, then nothing received. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 19:49 GMT From: Matthew Holdrege Subject: Re: How Do *You* Use ISDN? > Just what are the mechanics of establishing a data connection via an > ISDN phone? I am in southern Pac Bell land, where ISDN is completely > unknown, and I have never even *seen* an ISDN desk set. I wouldn't say that ISDN is unknown in So Cal. In fact one of the largest ISDN users in the country is in Pasadena. JPL has (I've read) thousands of BRI lines. The problem here is that California has no single line tariffs. You have to order at least two-line Centrex service to get ISDN. That unfortunate situation should change by next summer (I hope.) Ideally Pac Bell and GTE will price BRI connections the same as Ameritech has. About $35 per month and $6 per hour of connect time. Or they could go really far and price it cheaper. 8-) > I know that you can use ISDN to connect a home machine to a LAN, but > how do you *do* it? There are a lot of methods for connecting to a LAN. Bridges, routers, and terminal adapters are all available. One method I used last year was to connect the NT1 to a Gandalf Terminal Adapter which connected to a Vitalink WAN bridge. This effectively utilized both B channels as one 128K WAN link. I expect that you could do it cheaper now. But I have another question. I would like to use one B channel for data and one for voice. I would like to connect the voice channel to our Rolm PBX. Does anyone know of a slick way to do this? I guess that I need an adapter to split the B channels, run the data channel to a bridge/router and the voice to ????? Matt Holdrege 5156065@mcimail.com 714-229-2518 ------------------------------ From: goldstein@carafe.dnet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: How Do *You* Use ISDN? Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 03:04:46 GMT In article , tep@tots.Logicon.COM (Tom Perrine) writes... > Just what are the mechanics of establishing a data connection via an > ISDN phone? I am in southern Pac Bell land, where ISDN is completely > unknown, and I have never even *seen* an ISDN desk set. > I know that you can use ISDN to connect a home machine to a LAN, but > how do you *do* it? Well, it's all up to how your ISDN Terminal Equipment does it. Generally, there's no point to using an "ISDN Telephone" at home, unless it's a home office. And certainly not for data ... I am right now using a Gandalf Premier 5510 LANLine personal ISDN bridge. It takes Ethernet and maps it over ISDN, but it currently requires a big multiport bridge arrangement to dial into (at the LAN end). That'll change soon, I suspect. And there are similar bridges made by other vendors such as Digiboard (Minneapolis) and Combinet (Sunnyvale). On the Gandalf, a front panel three-button panel lets me initiate and terminate calls. I can also use my async port into a control port on back of the bridge. Digiboard and Combinet don't have front panel controls. THey can (like Gandalf) be programmed to dial when they see LAN activity and hang up on prolonged inactivity. Or they can be controlled via a serial port. Digiboard's IMAC lets you talk to it using RSHELL, which is nice for Unix weenies if not readily available on DOS or OS2. Or you can get an integral ISDN card. There are a number of them out there; in this case, the driver has some kind of control program. Some are (too) modem-like, other LAN-like, or can be used either way depending on the software. And some workstations (like the DEC3000) have integral ISDN jacks. I've played with that one; it has a cute X-windows control panel that paints a fancy phone on your screen. Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com k1io or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice:+1 508 952 3274 Standard Disclaimer: Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission. ------------------------------ From: mdw@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (mark.d.wuest) Subject: Re: Fake Call-Waiting Product Organization: AT&T Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 14:07:01 GMT [device which simulates the "click/chunk" a 1ESS makes for call waiting]. If you're on a 5E, you can just use the "mute" button many phones now have. "Wow, it's already? Oops, got another call." ;-) Mark Wuest *MY* opinions, not AT&T's!! mark.wuest@att.com mdw@cheshire.att.com (NeXT Mail) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 12:22 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: Re: 950-0666 Becomes, Well, 950 Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU=0205925@m (better known as J Brad Hicks!) writes: > Oh yeah, and some time in the 1995 (for example) Ma Hell's 10-666-0 will > probably become 10-0666-0, too. Now I thought (from previous Digests) that 10-666-0 was going to change to become 101-0666-0. Which is right? I had understood that a simple change to 10-0666-0 would make it difficult to trap misdialing? Richard Cox Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF Voice: +44 222 747111 Fax: +44 222 711111 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101 E-mail: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Not diallable on 511 in mainland USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 10:23:16 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: FYI 215 NXX Additions 810 already appears in history.of.area.splits as coming into use in 1994 in split of 313 in Michigan. 910 is unassigned. Given that 610 and 710 and N11 are not available as geographic area codes, the last resort (before NNX area codes become available -- deadline 1 Jan 1995) would be to use 200,300,400,500,600 as area codes. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 10:34:16 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Ten Digit Dialing in Oregon OK, so this means that Oregon has to prepare for N0X/N1X prefixes, although the system has to be ready for NNX area codes by Jan. 1, 1995 anyway. As noted, 206 in Washington state already has this, and I noticed that 509 is to get this when it's time to get ready for the NNX area codes. > Unlike the other states mentioned in the list, we get to keep seven > digit local calls. (And thus, a way to avoid inadvertant LD charges!) What does this mean? Local calls within own area code are seven digits (no change in this method), and you have to inquire locally about local calls to a different area code. Using 1 + NPA + 7D for within-area long distance does have the advantage of retaining "leading 1 = toll call", because the alternative would be to remove the leading 1 from 1 + 7D, as happened in area 215 in Pennsylvania. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 20:49:28 CST From: Jack.Winslade@ivgate.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) Subject: Re: Advice Needed on Telephone Security Systems Reply-To: jack.winslade%drbbs@ivgate.omahug.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha In a message dated 15-NOV-92, Dave Ptasnik writes: > Several people have asked me about the telco feature that notifies > alarm monitoring compaines that your line has been cut, so I called US > West to get a few more details: > US West offers the service under the name Scan Alert. Installation is I wonder if I didn't stumble on this about a month ago without knowing what it was. For the local Computer Faire sponsored by the Omaha User Group Association, we rented the gymnasium at a local high school. They gave us permission to borrow all phone lines in the building for those displays that needed modems, so I and another volunteer (you listening in there, Splice ;-) rigged up some temporary connections to what appeared to be a stone-age house cable. (It was an ancient double-cotton insulated cable multipled umpteen times between the high school, a tunnel under the street, and the elementary school across the street.) A Merlin system and who knows what were connected to one of the junction boxes. After the event took place we pulled out all of our temporary wiring, checked all of the local phones to make sure they worked, and split. About 15 minutes later I got paged by the school custodian who got a call from the alarm company saying that their fire alarm was showing as being disconnected from the line. I went back, poked around a bit, and paged my cohort who knew more about how those alarms are hooked up. To make a long story short, it turned out that one of the old conductors had broken and become intermittent. I also remember the night before when we were setting up, hearing some tones on one of the lines while checking them out with a butt set. This was maybe a burst of 1.5-2 kHz tones. I figure that there is one of two ways the alarm company can know it's off line, and that is to have the alarm dial the alarm company every so often, or some kind of a special arrangement. Anyone know for sure? Good day. JSW Ybbat (DRBBS) 8.9 v. 3.14 r.1 DRBBS (1:285/666.0) ------------------------------ From: andy@balr.com (Andrew Little) Subject: Re: ATT Boing: What is it? Organization: BALR Corporation, Oak Brook, Illinois. Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 22:39:51 GMT In article atekant@wimsey.bc.ca (Argun Tekant) writes: > This is probably a FAQ (Do we have a FAQ?), but can anyone tell me the > frequency or function or whatever for the AT&T Boing? From Notes on the Network (an older copy - I don't think its changed): Automatic Credit Card Dialing - Prompt Tone Frequencies Temporal Pattern Levels 941 + 1477 60 msec -10 dBm/frequency at followed immediately by -3 TLP 440 + 350 940 msec (exponentially decayed from -10dBm per frequency at -3 TLP at time constant of 200 msec) Enjoy, Andy Little andy@balr.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #874 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa20289; 26 Nov 92 5:48 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA24503 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 02:54:15 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29705 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 02:53:58 -0600 Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 02:53:58 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211260853.AA29705@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #875 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Nov 92 02:54:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 875 Index To This Issue: Happy Thanksgiving Day, Everyone! Closing For the Holiday (TELECOM Moderator) Re: Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers (Eli Mantel) Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" (Thomas E. Lowe) Re: Paging in 708/312 (John Gilbert) Re: Telemarketing Again (Steve Forrette) Re: Help on Settling an Argument About Leased T1 Lines (Richard Nash) Re: *69 in NJ Bell Land (Tom Coradeschi) Re: At NYNEX, CNID is Coming Before E911 (Kevin Herrboldt) Re: Encrypted Cordless Phones: How? (Vance Shipley) Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? (Laird Broadfield) Re: Email to Prodigy (David Baird) Re: Searching For Simple Two-Line Patch (Jim Rees) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 01:24:22 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Closing For the Holiday I'll be taking a few days off to enjoy the Thanksiving Day holiday this coming weekend, so the remainder of this week will be spend emptying the queue of the many articles waiting for publication. ** Please do not send any further articles to telecom until Monday, 11-30. I'll put out an issue or two early Monday if I can, or sometime Monday at the latest. ** Thanks, and remember, wherever you are today, and whatever you are doing; whatever circumstances you may find yourself in, you have lots of things for which to be thankful. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 22:22:19 -0500 From: Eli.Mantel@lambada.oit.unc.edu Subject: Re: Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers Organization: University of North Carolina Extended Bulletin Board Service In article helfman@aero.org writes: > I called AT&T LD information for L.A. and asked for a seven-digit > number for repair service (giving them my home prefix). It turned out > that the number they gave me is for a PacBell center in San Diego, ... > this happens again. > Moral: All you children should get your seven-digit repair service > number from 611 NOW so that you can report your home phone when you're > away. It would save a real hassle. Getting a seven-digit phone number for repair service or for any local phone company function (e.g. business office, customer complaint bureau) is not necessarily going to enable you to reach them. This is because at least some of the phone companies have designated special prefixes, for exclusive use by the phone company, which provide for toll-free access from within their service area. Outside of their service areas, these special prefixes are absolutely, positively, not dialable. Worse (in my experience), when you call long distance directory assistance, these numbers come up on the operator's screen as if they were perfectly valid numbers, and the operator may or may not be smart enough to advise you of this fact. As an example of how this works, here in Raleigh, North Carolina, served by Southern Bell, the white pages listing for Southern Bell lists 780-2355 as the number for the business office. If I take a trip to Durham, NC, served by GTE, there is no way to reach that number. OTOH, if I travel to Charlotte, NC, which is in another area code but is served by Southern Bell, the 780-2355 number will get through. BTW, when calling 611 from any Southern Bell area in North Carolina, you will always reach the same office in Winston-Salem, NC. If you call the business office number, you may reach any of several offices. Eli Mantel (eli.mantel@launchpad.unc.edu) ------------------------------ From: telb@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (thomas.e.lowe) Subject: Re: "rrrringg-BOOP" Organization: AT&T Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 14:22:33 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Actually, if you listen closely, when the called > party answers you will hear a certain kind of click on the line if you > interuppted them on call waiting which you won't hear if you did not. Not always true ... I can't tell any difference at all when call waiting is in effect at my home. I just tried calling someones car phone in Atlanta (404-403-xxxx) and got the rrrrringggg-BOOP. I assume they are on their phone, but I don't know if they have call waiting or not. Tom Lowe tlowe@attmail.com [Moderator's Note: Here in Chicago, if I call someone and they are already on the line, when they flash to bring me in, there always seems to be a couple extra 'click click' sounds in the second or two before they say hello, as they are flashing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: johng@comm.mot.com (John Gilbert) Subject: Re: Paging in 708/312 Organization: Motorola, Land Mobile Products Sector Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 05:43:47 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Where were you in Chicago when it was a 'free' > call? And by 'free' do you mean the pay phone did not ask for any > money, or you only saw a local unit on your home phone, or what? I have seen paging telephone numbers that are free from Illinois Bell payphones. For example, pagers in the 708-881-XXXX exchange seem to work this way. If the paging company equipment simply didn't return supervision, IBT would still ask for the coin, but should then return it. IBT never wants coins when calling pagers in this exchange. This exchange appears to act like a "local" 800 number, so it must be set up by IBT. Any ideas how is this done? John Gilbert johng@ecs.comm.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 23:34:05 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: Telemarketing Again Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc., Seattle, WA In article allegra!ssh@allegra.att.com (syed s haider) writes: > Last Sunday's {Parade} supplement carries an article on telemarketing. > One item caught my eye. Basically, it stated that many come-ons give > you an 800 number making you think that the call is toll-free. But > after you call you're switched to a 900 number and get a hefty bill > the following month. > [Moderator's Note: They are free unless an unethical person answering > the call patches you through to a 900 number in the process of > answering you. We covered this in detail several months ago here. How this was technically accomplished was never explained. Assuming that the IXC, and not the information provider, is generating the billing data for the 900 service, I don't think we ever figured out how this was actually accomplished. Can someone elaborate? If the IP used the standard "call forwarding" feature, then the ANI for the final leg of the call to the 900 number would show the IP's billing number, not that of the original caller. Also, as far as I know, it is not possible to place a call to a 900 number via dedicated trunks to the IXC. So, how was this done? Would anyone who got stuck by the Mystic Marketing ploy care to comment on whether the 900 charge was billed from one of the major IXCs, or was it from an AOS type of outfit that perhaps would allow the IP to submit the billing data for calls to the 900 number? Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com [Moderator's Note: By the way, the company changed its name, or perhaps it merely has a new subsidiary called Myriad Marketing, also based out of Reno on the same office phone numbers as Mystic. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 20:43:00 -0700 From: rickie@trickie.ualberta.ca (Richard Nash) Subject: Re: Help on Settling an Argument About Leased T1 Lines > A colleague and I were having an argument about leased T1 lines. > Perhaps some experts can settle this issue for us. > Let's say I lease a T1 link from the LEC. So I have 24 DS0 TDM slots > going to the the LEC's CO. My data has to go across two CO hops to our > downtown site where again we have 24 contiguous DS0 slots being > delivered from the terminating CO to our downtown building. Now, the > question is whether the contiguity of the original 24 DS0 TDM slots > will be maintained across the links between the originating and > terminating CO's. In other words, will a dedicated T1 link (or a > fixed T3 slot) be allocated to me and my individual DS0 slots never > demultiplexed at the originating CO? Or will my 24 slots be chopped up > and carried over separate portions of the inter-office T3 links, only > to be reassembled at the terminating CO and delivered as one chunk of > 24 DS0's again? Multiplexing/demultiplexing only serves a purpose when something is to be gained in maximizing bandwidth. For no obvious reason could I see the telco wanting to slice and dice a T1 only to have to reconstruct it back into one contiguous stream. The telco's aren't exactly noted for their ambitious nature. All of the wiring necessary to effect what is described above would require a very warped self flagilation attitude. > Do the answers change if I lease T1 circuits from an IXC and go > directly to their POP instead of going through the LEC's CO? At a higher multiplexed rate (T3) yes, but why would they bother for a lower rate? Richard Nash Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6K 0E8 UUCP: rickie%trickie@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca Amatuer Radio Packet: ve6bon%ve6bon.ampr.ab.ca@gw-1.ampr.ab.ca VE6BON@VE6MC.AB.CAN.NA ve6bon.ampr.ab.ca [192.75.200.15] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 8:08:00 EST From: Tom Coradeschi Subject: Re: *69 in NJ Bell Land Organization: Electric Armts Div, US Army ARDEC, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ writes: > The Return Call Class feature (*69) offered by NJ Bell will call back > the number of the last person to call your phone. (When used to > screen calls can be considered a poor man's Caller ID). > [Moderator's Note: The same service is available here in Chicago, but > we pay a flat monthly rate with no additional charge per use other > than paying for the phone calls generated in return. We sometimes get > a message saying, "I'm sorry, you cannot use this feature with the NJ Bell gives us the option of flat-rate monthly or per-usage billing. The per-usage kicks in if you choose not to subscribe to the monthly plan (I opt for per-usage, myself). Sorry I can't help with the original question. tom coradeschi <+> tcora@pica.army.mil ------------------------------ From: kksys!mpls911!kevin@uum1.UUCP (Kevin Herrboldt) Subject: Re: At NYNEX, CNID is Coming Before E911 Organization: City of Minneapolis Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 15:14:48 GMT turner@udecc.engr.udayton.edu (Bob Turner) writes: > In article rocker@vnet.ibm.com (Joshua > E. Muskovitz) writes: > Address rectification is only one aspect of putting a E911 database > together. And it has to be done. The phone company records are > inaccurate (at best). This usually isn't a problem because the > addresses they have are for billing purposes not Location ID. > However the legal and operation ramifications are tremendous. Try to > convince your Emergency crews to kill themselves to get to an address > that the ALI computer spitout. Especially when the past performance > has been less than 45% (Actual occurance). Plus the liability > potential is horrendous. We have E911 here in Minneapolis, but it is SOP for our 911 operators to ask the caller for the address to verify what USWEST sends us. The major benefit to E911 is for those calls where someone dials 911 but is unable to talk or if the line gets cut. Kevin Herrboldt mpls911!kevin@mishima.mn.org Emergency Communications Center City Hall Room B-911, Mpls, MN 55415 (612) 348-7216 ------------------------------ From: vances@xenitec.on.ca (Vance Shipley) Subject: Re: Encrypted Cordless Phones: How? Organization: XeniTec Consulting, Kitchener, Ontario, CANADA Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 17:53:07 GMT In article alpha@vpnet.chi.il.us (Randy Sales) writes: > I am interested if someone could tell me generally how they are > encrypting these cordless phones I have seen by Motorola and Phone > Mate. The Phone Mate one says it helps with interference and cross > signaling. It seems like a good idea for also keeping the scanners > from listening in and if it is digital I could see how it could help > with noise. The Motorola unit INVERTS the analog audio signal. Vance Shipley vances@xenitec.on.ca vances@switchview.com vances@ltg.uucp ------------------------------ From: lairdb@crash.cts.com Subject: Re: Does SS7 Support Early Busy Signal? Date: 25 Nov 92 19:31:15 GMT In deej@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (david.g. lewis) writes: > Not exactly correct. SS7 TCAP supports a "query" message. No > connection attempt is needed; one switch sends a TCAP query to the > other switch asking for line status. This is how the (pick your > favorite name) Auto Recall service works (call someone, get a busy > signal, enter a *XX feature code, get a special ring when the far end > goes idle, pick up the phone and automatically place the recall). Will there be a way (legitimately) for an end user (perhaps an ISDN user?) to issue SS7 messages? For example, could I take my ISDN card and send these "query" messages and receive the responses? (All this assumes I move out of PatheticBell territory, so I can get ISDN at all ...) Laird P. Broadfield lairdb@crash.cts.com ...{ucsd, nosc}!crash!lairdb ------------------------------ From: xdab@midway.uchicago.edu (David Baird) Subject: Re: Email to Prodigy Reply-To: xdab@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1992 21:37:23 GMT In article louis@aupair.cs. athabascau.ca (Louis Schmittroth) writes: > I want to find out if Prodigy offers service to Alberta, and if so is > there a email address of an administrative unit of Prodigy where I can > find out what the rates are? The last I knew the people who ran Prodigy were not hooked into any other network, nor were they going to be in the future. It seems that either one was on Prodigy to communicate with a Prodigy user, or one did not communicate with the Prodigy user using Prodigy's service. Or to put it another way, there are no gateways between Prodigy and Compu$erve or the InterNet. Give Prodigy a call and complain about this situation. It is one of two primary reasons why I never signed on to Prodigy. David Baird xdab@midway.uchicago.edu University of Chicago d-baird@uchicago.edu University Computing Organizations (312) 702-7161 ------------------------------ From: rees@pisa.citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) Subject: Re: Searching For Simple Two-Line Patch Date: 25 Nov 1992 22:52:18 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI Reply-To: Jim.Rees@umich.edu I didn't know you were an organ fan. I heard E. Power Biggs play the tracker organ at Harvard a few years back and was much impressed. I too have some of his stuff on 78. I helped restore a theater organ once, about 15 years ago. My job was to clean the relays. At that time, I wondered if it would be possible to use telephone switching gear to reduce the amount of wiring needed. Relay systems tend to want to switch an entire manual (59 wires) to an entire bank of pipes (30-100 wires). I reasoned that if you could somehow multiplex the 59 wires, you could then switch the whole thing with a telephone crossbar. The resulting system would be much more flexible than the hard-wired relay system, since any manual could be switched to any rank easily. These days, the switching is all done electronically, just like in an ESS. I still find the parallels between pipe organ wiring and telephone wiring quite interesting. [Moderator's Note: There have been experiments such as you describe, but I don't know of any which were taken to completion. One that comes to mind was the renovation/restoration of the instrument at the Mormon Tabernacle in 1948. I don't remember ever reading/hearing why they decided against it, although Alexander Schriener had some comments on it at the time. The Chicago Temple also considered it when they did repairs and restoration around 1960 at a cost of about forty thousand (1960) dollars. The idea was advanced back in the 1920's by Henry LeMare during his tenure as municipal organist for the City of Atlantic City, NJ. He did not refer to it as 'crossbar' but he made analogies to 'wiring in the style of a modern telephone exchange ...' Virgil Fox also commented on the 'virtual telephone exchange driving the mechanicals at Riverside ...' Not *all* switching is done electronically; in the newer organ installations, yes, but my interest is more in the older (circa 1910-1930 era) installations of E.M. Skinner and those from the later merger with Aeolian. Such is the instrument at the Chicago Temple, there from the building's opening about 1925. The strands of wire from the console to the pipe chambers on the second and third floor form a bundle as thick as my wrist. The relays are very sensitive to dirt and dust; the pipes to changes in humidity. The relays are noisy, and they tend to stick at inappropriate times, unless you think in the middle of a 'sing along Messiah' is an appropriate time for a cipher; the cipher started near the end of one of the choruses and stuck until the end of that piece, and the only way the organist got rid of it then was by cycling the power (with the resulting 'whoosh' as the wind pressure started rising again) for a few seconds before starting the next part. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #875 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa07015; 26 Nov 92 16:05 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA15493 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 14:14:16 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA31983 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 14:13:59 -0600 Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 14:13:59 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211262013.AA31983@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V12 #876 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Nov 92 14:14:00 CST Volume 12 : Issue 876 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Romania Joins BITNET (Richard Budd) LD Costs, ANI, Modems etc (John Pettitt) Re: Two Cellular Phones on the Same Number (George Goble) Re: LAN Capable Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf Info (Kevin Barth) Re: Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams In Virginia (Michael Heggen) Re: Computerized Sales Call "Locked" My Line (Steve Hutzley) Re: CPC Detection and Purpose (Irving Wolfe) Re: Telecom Quotations (Jack Winslade) Re: Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers (David W. Tamkin) Re: Info Wanted on SNET Rate and Service Change (Nigel Allen) Re: Characters on International Phone Keypads - Compilation (Carl Moore) Re: Roving Laptops and Automatic Phone Number Conversions (Carl Moore) Re: Telemarketing Again (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 17:50:46 EDT From: Richard Budd Subject: Romania Joins BITNET Organization: CSAV UTIA This message came this morning from the Czech Technical University (where I may soon be working in telecom coordination). It is to announce the connection of Romania, namely the University of Bucharest, to BITNET. (EARN is its European equivalent). I especially want to address this to TW Hinders, who asked me off-line about IP in Romania. Unfortunately, I lost his email address (it was misplaced in the deluge of mail that came from the CIS posting) and was not able to send him the whole article personally. So now Bucharest has something else from the West to savor besides Michael Jackson. ================Original Message=========== This information (sent by Mr. Rastl, the Austrian EARN director) may be of interest: Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 18:00:11 MEZ Reply-To: EARN Board of Directors Sender: EARN Board of Directors From: Peter Rastl Subject: EARN connection to Romania I'd like to inform you that the EARN connection to Romania (leased line 9600 bit/s connecting ROEARN with AEARN) is operational as of today. The announcement of the Romanian EARN nodes will be effective with the new tables on Dec 1. [Moderator's Note: Readers are also referred to the special mailing from TELECOM Digest Thursday discussing Eastern European connectivity in more detail. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jpp@StarConn.com (John Pettitt) Subject: LD Costs, ANI, Modems etc Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 9:54:58 PST I'm putting together a business plan for a new venture. One of features of the service we will be offering is going to involve lots of phone lines and LD calling. What I need to know is what sort of price can I expect for national calling if I get a T1 (probably several) from one of the LD companies? We will be making one to five minute calls at close to 100% duty cycle on as many as 100 lines once this thing starts rolling. Numbers would be useful for fixed cost and cost per minute (with billing increment). Is is sensible to use the same cost numbers 800 service inbound or do they charge on a different basis for this? Second, does anybody know of a modem `channel bank' that will give me ANI `in band' with the modem data from an 800 service. I would like the caller number to appear in the form "CONNECT 9600 from 415 967 8682" or some such. If this is not possible then I can live without it. (N.B. Caller ID wont do it because A) You can't get it in CA and B) until everybody gets SS7 it does not work nationally). Thanks in advance. John Pettitt Mail: jpp@StarConn.com Voice: +1 415 967 UNIX Fax: +1 415 967 8682 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 09:21:57 -0500 From: ghg@ecn.purdue.edu (George Goble) Subject: Re: Two Cellular Phones on the Same Number Pat, I know this goes against everything said so far, and the current "fraud detection" schemes, but some GTE Mobilnet Agents in Indiana are talking about offering the service in December. I talked to a couple of engineers I know at the switch, and here is what I came up with: 1) GTE Mobilnet Indianapolis just cut over to ATT switches/cell sites for Indy, Lafayette, and of much of the rest of the state. (The switch runs UNIX :). They had been using Motorola equipment, which was mostly assembly language. 2) They have more software capabilities now. 3) The new switch has the software capability of having multiple ESNs (you have to register them) of being associated with one MIN (phone number). This doesn't interfere with fraud detection, since the ESNs are pre registered. Fraud detection has now speeded up to where it can be done during call setup, and the call is dumped before it is connected on bad ESNs. Older switches allowed ONE call to make it out before red flagging the ESN/MIN as bandit. I asked what happens when both phones are on and an inbound call comes in, and "which one rings?". I was told the one which responded first would "ring", and the other call [phone] would be dropped. This was not stated, but this may mean they will BOTH RING, and the first one to answer would get the call, and the other one would drop. [It would obviously not be a "party line" with multiple portables answering]. Also, they stated, that it might not be limited to just two phones, but maybe three or four may be possible, for office "work groups" which have a person "on call" (three or four phones), and any one of them can take the call. Also [two phone case], I asked them if one tried to call the "other" phone, and they thought it would work OK, since the switch would know YOUR ESN was originating the call, and would ring the "other" ESN. Lots of my friends, and I am sure on TELECOM Digest have wanted this feature (spare phone in the car for emergency use only, but don't want to pay for another full blown account). I don't even want to think of the ramifications of all this when roaming (follow me roaming?) happens. I bet some switches get mighty confused. ghg ------------------------------ From: barth@wam.umd.edu (Kevin J. Barth) Subject: Re: LAN Capable Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf Info Organization: Workstations at Maryland, University of Maryland, College Park Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 03:05:08 GMT In article Gene Cartier writes: > In order to comply with the new Disabilities Act we are looking for a > Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) that is LAN capable. They > If no products exist then any suggestions on how to "tweak" existing > products to gain the same capability will be appreciated. TDDs, by and large, are simple terminals with no capability to interface with anything except, in some cases, a printer. On the other hand, TDD-compatible modems are available from a number of sources. Your solution seems to be to attach such a modem to a PC, write a driver (which would have to do code conversion, since TDDs use Baudot code rather than ASCII) and connect the PC to your LAN. A sample of code (in C) to handle to conversion can be downloaded as BAUDOT.C from the HEX BBS, whose phone numbers are given below. I notice we're both in the DC area, so this should impose no problems. HEX - the Handicapped Educational Exchange BBS 301-593-7033 (TDD and 300 baud ASCII 301-593-7357 (300-2400 baud, ASCII only) ------------------------------ From: mike@percy.rain.com (Michael Heggen) Subject: Re: Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams In Virginia Date: Thu, 26 Nov 992 00:07:59 GMT Nigel Allen writes: > Police Officer Impersonators Running Scams In Virginia > The scam involving accident victims has been reported throughout > Virginia, according to State Police. Police have received reports of > this scam from Pennsylvania, California, Arkansas, New York and > Missouri. In one case, Virginia investigators traced a telephone call > to Atlanta. I might add that the exact same scheme has been used in Oregon recently as well, according to a recent article in {The Oregoninan} newspaper. In all cases, the money was wired to a Western Union office with a code word to release it to the "proper" person. Michael Heggen ------------------------------ From: hutzley@ranger.dec.com (Steve Hutzley) Subject: Re: Computerized Sales Call "Locked" My Line Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 02:42:23 GMT In article , rayj@Celestial.COM (Ray Jones) writes: > In birmingh@fnalf.fnal.gov writes, > quoting others: > I too had this problem several years ago in San Jose, CA. I waited > and left my phone number and address. They called the next day and I > set up an appointment -- but -- insisted that they come to my house at > 5 PM on Friday. That time assured that the salesman would spend at > least two hours on the freeway. When the salesman did show (late as > expected), I told him I was NOT interested in his product (solar hot > water heater) I just wanted them to get my name OFF the call list. > You take my time -- I take yours. Ahh yes ... one time at about 2:30am the phone rang. Fearing the worst with older parents 600 miles away, I jumped from the bed, just to hear "Hello, My name is Tom, I'm a computerized messaging service ..." ... WHAM!, I slammed the phone down. Now in retrospect, I wish I would have stayed on the line to find out who owned TOM. The only thing I can figure is that the boss told the intern to have the machine start calling at 2:30, and not realizing it, told the machine 02:30, not 14:30 (like computers think). Now YOU try to go back to sleep.! Steve ------------------------------ From: irving@happy-man.com (Irving_Wolfe) Subject: Re: CPC Detection and Purpose Reply-To: Irving_Wolfe@happy-man.com Organization: Happy Man Corp., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399 Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 03:18:53 GMT Okay, since PAT stepped into this with more information, let me also expand the question about CPC. Aspect 1: What _exactly_ is going on, and how does this differ between modern CO switches and the older ones some of us are forced to endure? Does the service depend on the switch? Aspect 2: More advanced phone systems allow one to set a time in milliseconds for CPC reaction, without explaining anything about what this means or how to decide. I guessed that this was a way of having the phone system dump a dead call, since CPC wouldn't carry through to an answering machine beneath the (Panasonic 1232) phone system; failure to dump a dead call results in the CO line being held active at our end and we eventually get either a nobody-there when someone answers or else the answering machine gets a message from the local "telco" saying "your call could not be completed as dialed". What on earth is the time referring to, and can I set it, somehow, to eliminate the dead calls from caller hangups that we aren't letting go of fast enough? Or is my understanding all wrong? Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com Happy Man Corp. 206/463-9399 x101 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA 98070-7399 fax x108 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 12:21:50 CST From: Jack.Winslade@ivgate.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) Subject: Re: Telecom Quotations Reply-To: jack.winslade%drbbs@ivgate.omahug.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha In a message dated 19-NOV-92, Eric Weaver writes: >> "Mr. Watson , come here, I want you" >> --- Alexander Graham Bell (first telephone message) >> (obviously didn't have a good sense of occasion ... or a scriptwriter)) > I believe the occasion was that Bell had just spilled battery acid in > his lap, and the message sounds fairly appropriate under the circs. However (comma) taking a trip to the real world we would find something more along the line of this for the first telephone call: 'Oh $#!+, *^&$%#$ Watson, come here, throw me a rag, I just spilled this &$%#ing acid all over the &$%#ing place. Owww. ^&$%#. Hurry, this $#!+ is eating the %^#$ out of my &*($^%$^. ($^$#@$%^%% !!!' ;-) ;-) Somehow, I think the history writers have cleaned it up just a bit. ;-) I still like the version of it that appeared in {MAD} a while back. Bell: Mr Watson, come here, I want you. Phone: Boop-boo-beep We're sorry, you have not reached a working number. Of course, I took the liberty of adding the SIT tones. ;-) Good day. JSW Ybbat (DRBBS) 8.9 v. 3.14 r.1 DRBBS (1:285/666.0) ------------------------------ From: dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com (DWT) Subject: Re: Seven-Digit Repair Service Numbers Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 01:33:59 GMT Organization: Contributor Account at ddsw1, Chicago, Illinois 60657 helfman@aero.org (Robert S. Helfman) wrote in what became of volume 12, issue 868: > Moral: All you children should get your seven-digit repair service > number from 611 NOW so that you can report your home phone when you're > away. It would save a real hassle. It might not be so easy. Of the two landline providers here, Centel freely admits in its directory that 611 translates to 708-698-9955 (and they give an 800 number as well) so that you can report a problem with a Centel line from outside their satrapy. On the other hand, Illinois Bell personnel disavow any knowledge of a way to get to their repair service other than dialing 611; they say that if you're outside Illinois Bell's service area, you should travel into it or call someone with a working Illinois Bell line and ask him or her to report the problem. On the other hand, if you're reporting a problem with a Centel line to Centel repair but they're backed up and can't answer your call right away, their recording while you're on hold will tell you that if you're trying to report trouble on an Illinois Bell line, you should call Illinois Bell repair at 312-509-2510. David W. Tamkin Box 59297 Northtown Station, Illinois 60659-0297 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com CompuServe: 73720,1570 MCI Mail: 426-1818 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 18:44 EST From: ndallen@r-node.gts.org (Nigel Allen) Subject: Re: Info Wanted on SNET Rate and Service Change Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto splee@pd.org (Seng-Poh Lee, Speedy) writes: > I am interested in the recent rate and service change that SNET in > Connecticut has just submitted to the CPUC. In general, regulated companies that apply for a rate increase will supply a copy of their application free of charge to anyone who asks for one. Simply contact the company's regulatory department. As well, the application may be available for inspection at the company's business offices or storefront locations. I routinely receive copies of applications to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission from Canadian telecommunications carriers. Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario ndallen@r-node.gts.org ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 14:47:23 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Characters on International Phone Keypads - Compilation In the U.S. (and Canada, too?) phone numbers were commonly expressed as two capital letters followed by five digits (and in many earlier cases as three capital letters followed by four digits), but this has been replaced by ANC (all-number calling). The number/letter mapping I know to be on U.S. dials is "U.S. variant 1", which has no representation for Q and Z (thus, when someone ran a telephone poll regarding the major U.S. vice-presidential nominees in 1988 and told callers to hit B for Bentsen or Q for Quayle, the poll failed for lack of the letter Q). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 14:54:42 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Roving Laptops and Automatic Phone Number Conversions The history.of.area.splits file in the telecom archives describes the changes made to dialing instructions because of the coming of N0X/N1X prefixes in many areas, which is why 1+7D for long distance within 416 gave way to 1 + 416 + 7D. An ideal which is not in universal practice is that you should be able to dial ANY call within country code 1 as 1+NPA+7D, since the system should be smart enough to capture the particular area codes and prefixes which signal a local call, and I believe Washington DC and its suburbs have such a system in place now. I don't have a list of dialing requirements for other areas, but it doesn't take that much to know what the possible requirements are. I got tripped up recently when I had to place a 0+ long distance call within area 804 in Virginia; 0 + 804 + 7D failed, and I forgot that I was calling within 804 and thus had to use 0 + 7D, which is still in use there. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 08:54 PST From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: Re: Telemarketing Again Steve Forrette writes: > So, how was this done? Would anyone who got stuck by the Mystic > Marketing ploy care to comment on whether the 900 charge was billed > from one of the major IXCs, or was it from an AOS type of outfit that > perhaps would allow the IP to submit the billing data for calls to the > 900 number? If memory serves, this was done by none other than good ole AT&T. It involved a special arrangement for both the 800 and 900 service and, of course, used dedicated trunks. At the time of the original broohaha, you had AT&T spokespersons piously decrying such sleazy tactics simultaneously with marketing reps pushing customers to the new, lucrative billing scheme. It all seems to have faded into the background now. But I vividly remember AT&T people intoning on the media that this practice "struck at the heart of public confidence in the toll-free 800 service." And all along it was AT&T who was offering the scam. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #876 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa08165; 26 Nov 92 16:42 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA04402 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 13:23:08 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29998 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 26 Nov 1992 13:22:49 -0600 Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1992 13:22:49 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199211261922.AA29998@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Subject: Internet Connectivity in Eastern Europe Richard Budd sent this along before the holiday and I thought you might enjoy seeing it. PAT Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 10:43:25 EDT From: Richard Budd Subject: Internet Connectivity in Eastern Europe Organization: CSAV UTIA This is the article from Milan Sterba for the RIPE Connectivty Group containing information about the state of international connectivity in the nations of East and Central Europe. I have edited the article to try to make it easier for American audiences to read without taking away the meaning Professor Sterba is trying to express. Any comments or corrections, please forward to me. Professor Sterba would also appreciate any updates or comments you may want to make. His address, repeated several times in the article, is on Internet. The article was not copyrighted, and can be reprinted. Out of courtesy to the author, please leave his name and address on the header. Common abbreviations: ECE=East and Central Europe IP=Internet Protocol RIPE=Regional Internet Protocol Orgnization (I believe) EARN=European version of BITNET Richard Budd U.S.A. C.S.F.R draft version 5 September 1992 An overview of East and Central European networking activities Milan Sterba 1. Introduction This paper is based on work o