Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa19605; 8 Aug 93 2:03 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA03058 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sat, 7 Aug 1993 23:43:36 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08355 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sat, 7 Aug 1993 23:43:03 -0500 Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 23:43:03 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308080443.AA08355@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #551 TELECOM Digest Sat, 7 Aug 93 23:43:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 551 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is This Legal? (Gang Zhou) Re: Is This Legal? (Richard Osterberg) Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) (Pierre Asselin) Re: Translation Help Needed with Telephony Terms in Spanish (Robt Morelos) Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Push 1 to ... (Chris Ambler) Re: Dialing "1" First (Bob Goudreau) Re: Choosing LD Service (Jeff Miller) Re: Newton MessagePad Now Available From Apple (Monty Solomon) Re: Victory For 900 Users: FTC Rules Announced (Dave Levenson) Re: Looking For Information and Experience With LCI (Macy Hallock) Re: Movie: In the Line of Fire (Paul Houle) Re: Do We Have a Theme Song? (Scott Bridgewater) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gzhou@pollux.usc.edu (Gang Zhou) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 7 Aug 1993 17:38:41 -0700 Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA In article mlevin@nyx.cs.du.edu, writes: > illegal? Must the school provide equal access even though these are ^^^^^^^^^^^^ > not real phone numbers or lines which can be dialed directly from > outside? If this is in fact illegal, how can I make the school let me > choose the carrier on a per-call basis (a la 10xxx)? Apparently the > equipment just doesn't allow 1+ or 0+ calls. My school, USC, explained that there are certain kind of buildings like hotel, prison, school residential buildings which are different as normal residential buildings, so they don't need to provide equal access to LD carriers. The lack of freedom of choosing LD carrier is the very reason for our very high LD rates. Is it true that the school dorms are in the same category of hotel, prison in regards of equal access? I was told that students of Stanford filed a law suit against the school. They lost in California, and now the law suit reached the Supreme Court. Gang ------------------------------ From: osterber@%husc8.harvard.edu Subject: Re: Is This Legal? From: osterber@husc8.harvard.edu (Richard Osterberg) Date: 8 Aug 93 03:08:06 GMT > If I were to recommend anything to the telecom department, it would be > to rebid their LD contract and get a better deal. As far as them > being responsible for unpaid LD calls, I would make arrangements to > hold the grades of any offender -- I can't imagine a University or > telecom department being responsible for any students unpaid bills!!! I was told last year by our campus telephone office (talked to the director himself) that the new ruling wouldn't force them to offer us anything different. Right now, Harvard gets an excellent rate from MCI ... they receive a 50% discount on all long distance calls. However, Harvard only passes a 5% discount onto students. In other words, 45% of what I'm paying in LD charges is going to Harvard. They claim that they need it to pay for things like directory assistance operators and switchboard operators. And -- I'm curious as to technical sides of the system. Our system is each phone line has an outside number (direct dial in). We dial 9+xxx-xxxx to get out, but can dial the last five digits within campus. (All numbers ar 617-49x-xxxx). What exactly would be the term for this type of system? Would it generally be capable of providing 10xxx access? Rick Osterberg osterber@husc.harvard.edu 617-527-6664 617-965-0370 [Moderator's Note: The name for your system is centrex. Yes, it can provide 10xxx dialing. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) Date: 7 Aug 93 12:53:29 PDT (Sat) From: pa@verano.sba.ca.us (Pierre Asselin) > [Moderator's Note: But as pointed out by some, UUCP operates without > human intervention. So who is there to see the warning message? PAT] In practice, no one. In theory, the calling site could turn on debugging and the root user would later find the login banner in the logs, if he cares to looks. Of course it's too late by then. It's hard to imagine anyone "innocently" setting up the config files and dialing the 900 number by uucp. More likely, the warning is meant for unsuspecting browsers who try to dial in interactively. Pierre Asselin, Santa Barbara, California pa@verano.sba.ca.us ------------------------------ From: robert@ee4.eng.hawaii.edu (Robert Morelos) Subject: Re: Translation Help Needed with Telephony Terms in Spanish Organization: University of Hawaii, Dept. of Electrical Engineering Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 08:45:05 GMT In article myerston@qm.sri.com writes: >> I am badly in need of official (CCITT ?) Spanish language translations >> for the following terms: >> Echo Return Level >> Singing Return Loss >> and the ever present: TIP & RING. I know this varies from country >> to country. I have run into PUNTA, ANILLO, NUCA and "A & B". Any >> ideas? > I can propose the following translations: > Echo Return Level: nivel de retorno de eco > Singing Return Loss: perdida de retorno para el cebado > Concerning Tip & Ring, the official Spanish terms are tron y ron. ^^^^^^^ But, surely you mean Spain's Spanish and not Latin American Spanish. I have lived in Mexico must of my life and always had trouble understanding books written in Spain. May I propose the following: Singing Return Loss: perdida de retorno de oscilamiento Regards, Robert H. Morelos-Zaragoza, Research Associate Dept. of Information and Computer Sciences e-mail: Faculty of Engineering Science robert@ics.es.osaka-u.ac.jp Osaka University Toyonaka, Osaka 560 Japan +81 (6) 850-3060 ------------------------------ From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 03:49:00 GMT In article hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) writes: > Can anyone give a BRIEF description of the electrical coding > scheme on all these high speed twisted pair systems (such as ISDN)? I > haven't taken the time to research it at all. How many bits per baud > are being run? Is it a multi-level coding system or just two or three > level (such as positive/negative or positive/zero/negative). I've > always thought that on an analog medium, such as a pair of wires, we > should run as many levels as we can until noise starts making level > determination at the far end difficult, making the error correction > overhead exceed the data throughput benefit of running more levels. > Do such systems treat the twisted pair as a transmission line, > matching the characteristic impedance to prevent reflections? Do they > work full duplex using some sort of hybrid, or just go real fast half > duplex? Can we use these techniques over leased lines ordered from > the local phone company (like 3002 lines)? One of the little sound bites I like to throw into my Transmission class is that "at the bottom, all transmission systems are analog"! So it's not a simple answer to a very good question. I'll give a summary of ISDN. The BRI S/T interface (inside wire) uses Modified Duo-Binary (MDB) coding, which is a three-level code. A 1 is no voltage and a 0 is a positive or negative voltage pulse, each pulse the opposite of the last (with some exceptions). The coding used for the Primary Rate, that is to say T1 and E1, is Alternate Mark Inversion. That's sort of like MDB except that 0's are no voltage and 1's an alternating pulse, but note that the pulse shapes are specified quite differently for the BRI (Basic Rate 2B+D) and the PRI (T1/E1), among other details. At the U interface of the BRI (outside wire, local loop), the coding is now usually "2B1Q". This takes two bits from the scrambled data stream and encodes them as +2.5, +.7, -.7, or -2.5 (about) volts. So one pulse is two bits (thus 2 Bits one Quat). Don't quote me on the exact voltages; I don't have the spec handy. Again there's pulse shaping. To make all this work, impedance is specified, with very picky transformers needed for S/T to meet spec. S/T uses separate transmit and receive wires, thus a 4-wire interface. The BRI U uses one pair, so there's some fancy echo cancellation done inside the transceiver ("UBAT", in AT&T terms) chip. Real fancy. 3002 lines are utterly obsolete. Voice-grade is now used for dial-up, and the "state of the art" is being presented in the developing V.fast world. In lieu of 3002 most phone companies (in America at least) will sell you 56k service. THis could be provisioned using ISDN technology, but in practice there are cheaper purpose-built line drivers. Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission ------------------------------ From: cambler@cymbal.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler -- Phish) Subject: Re: Push 1 to ... Organization: The Phishtank Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1993 04:05:59 GMT rupa@sugar.NeoSoft.Com (Rupa Schomaker) says: > I'm looking for a `voice mail' type system which would interface with > some sort of database. > Is there a such a system which is commercially available that can do > this? Ease of programming would be nice. While the system I've written won't do this out of the box, I do offer custom changes at very reasonable cost (to toot my own horn, since you asked :-)). The product, FSVMP, is essentially a voice BBS. It has normal voice mailboxes, announcement facilities, and up to 560 public topics which act like BBS areas (listen in chronological order, post, reply, or reply to voice mail). It runs on a Talking Technology PowerLine II card, which provides 2 lines. A multicard version (8 cards, 16 lines max) is in the works. This all runs on a PC under MS/PCDOS. The 2 line version will run on a 386SX with 640K even. Adding a feature like you ask would be very simple, as I've reserved a number of top-level choices for expansion and customization. If you want more information, I can be reached at (805) 542-0336, or send email and I can fax the information and spec sheet to you. Sorry if this sounds like a commercial. I've deliberately left out pricing and all that jazz to make it a bit more Usenet friendly :-) cambler@zeus.calpoly.edu | Christopher J. Ambler chris@toys.fubarsys.com | Author, FSUUCP 1.32 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 17:58:42 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Dialing "1" First daveb%avatar@dsinet.dgtl.com (David Breneman) writes: > johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) writes: >> To tell a number like 802-5556 from 802-555-6789, there are >> two dialing plans in use in North America. In one plan, all calls >> within your area code are dialed with seven digits, whether they are >> local or toll. In the other, all toll calls are dialed with eleven >> digits, even within your area code. > There's also another dialing plan -- all toll calls are dialed with a > 1 first. If its inside your area code, you dial eight digits; if its > outside your area code, you dial 11 digits. This is the way it was in > 206 until last year when we were switched to 1-206 for all toll calls. You're completely missing John's point, which is that the scheme you describe (eight-digit dialing for intra-NPA long distance) is an old hack whose time has now gone. Eight-digit dialing only works well when no exchange in that area code matches some other area code. However, as you've seen recently in 206-land, quite a few areas have now been forced to introduce N0X and N1X exchanges (like John's 802 example), which causes the aforementioned ambiguities unless 8-digit dialing is replaced by 7- or 11-digit dialing. (The ambiguity can otherwise be resolved only by the ugly practices of using a time-out after the eigth digit, or (for touch-tone phones only) using a '#' tone as the number terminator.) And it will get even worse in 1995, when the first NNX area code (334 in Alabama) appears. By then, every area in the NANP should have eliminated eight-digit dialing. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: jmiller@afit.af.mil (Jeff Miller) Subject: Re: Choosing LD service Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 23:00:48 GMT > You see, I don't care about price, quality, and all those > things because I know about 10XXX+ dialing. What I want to do is make > money by switching my long distance service, so I want to know which > carrier I should subscribe to to maximize my chance of getting a check > from another carrier to switch my service over. The impression I have > is that AT&T seems to send checks out to MCI subscribers, since this > happened to a friend of mine whose landlord broke his lease, kicked > him out, and changed the service on that line to MCI. [Don't ask how > we know that] He got a letter from AT&T offering him $70 to slam that > number, so he happily cashed it. Well, I'm a Sprint customer, and got a nice $75 check from AT&T a month ago. I've also been trying to decide if I should take them up on the offer, or use it to wangle some free calls out of Sprint. Seems to me we had a discussion on this three months ago or so ... perhaps the esteemed Moderator could give us a pointer to which issues in the archive apply? Jeff Miller, NH6ZW/N8, AFA1HE (ex WD6CQV, AFA8JM, AFA1DO) AFIT School of Engineering, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH [Moderator's Note: Not off hand I can't tell you which issues, although this discussion comes up from time to time. The way to find subjects or authors in back issues (volumes nine through twelve -- 1989 to 1992) is by getting the archives file 'index-vol.9-10-11.subj.Z' and/or the file 'index-vol.12.subj.Z'. These are compressed files, so pull them from the archives (anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu) with the type set to 'I' for binary files. Uncompress them at your site -- not at the archives, thank you! heh heh! ... 'grep Intro ' for a help file built into the indexes. I suggest you be very liberal in your arguments to grep; ie don't check up/low case, and use wild cards frequently, etc. If you are too loose in your search, you will get flooded with subject titles or author names. If you are too tight, you will not get a hit, or not the hit you are looking for. Experient with it. You can search for author names in these indexes as well. These are called accelerated indexes: all they do is point to volumes and *groups of fifty issues* in which the subject line or author name can be found. You take the information gleaned from the indexes and then go back to the archives and pull the *file of fifty issues*. You get that to your site and you start your grep search all over within that group of issues. For volume 13 (this year) there is no index as of yet. I suppose I should work up one for the first half of this year, but it takes a bit of work. Prior to volume 9 (1989) no index is available as of yet ... just one more thing waiting for time to work on since the issues before that date were not in the same format as now and I have not yet figured out how to automatically create an index for those files. To get the information you want from this year until the index is prepared, grep the various back issues. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 22:57:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Re: Newton MessagePad Now Available From Apple > The words "Now Available" in the subject line are an exaggeration. I > spent yesterday rattling doors to try to buy one, and I'll share the > details with you. But NPR and other news sources say that unless you > snagged one of the several thousand units for sale in Boston at the > MacWorld Expo this week, you're out of luck until around Labor Day. Computer City, CompUSA, and Computer Town have them in stock. They also have many of the accessories. They all have the Newton Communications Kit. The Newton Professional Communications Kit is not available yet. Computer Town $797 603 893 8812 / 800 666 0004 Computer City $869 508 626 2800 CompUSA $899 508 875 8300 > But right now, there are a few flies in the ointment. Aside from the > delayed availability, the dealers who did have prices said they could > only sell it in bundled systems, the Newton Communications Kit and the > Newton Professional Communications Kit. Lechmere and Computer City sell the basic Newton MessagePad for $699. All of the Newton accessories are also available thru the Apple Catalog 800 795 1000. Monty Solomon / PO Box 2486 / Framingham, MA 01701-0405 monty%roscom@think.com ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Victory For 900 Users: FTC Rules Announced Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 02:05:45 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Maybe I am missing something here. Every UUCP-style > account I have ever seen requires that the host have a daemon-user by > I know (or am pretty sure) that UUNET has an anonymous > FTP-like thing running on a 900 number, but anonymous UUCP? How does > that work? How could the host possibly know how to hand out mail and > news under the circumstances? PAT] Anonymous UUCP is supported by most versions of UNIX -- not for delivery of addressed communications such as mail or news, but for file transfers (much like anonymous ftp). Anyone may enter a command like: uucp uunet!~/ftp/sources/something mysystem!~/my_dir/ and receive the file. If the user's system is recognized as a UUNET subscriber, then this call may be placed to their 800 or 703 or other telephone number. Otherwise, it may be placed to their 900 number. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: macy@fmsys.fmsystm.ncoast.org (Macy Hallock) Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 23:20:18 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: macy@telemax.com Subject: Re: Looking For Information and Experience With LCI > Does anyone have any experience with LCI? I have a firend who is > thinking about useing some of LCI's services and he would like to know LCI does a fine job. I can reccomend them based on personal experience as a telecom engineer. A few notes that may be of interest: They are not a nationwide company, but connect to several other regional carriers (and all of the other major carriers) to handle their nationwide requirements. For switched dialup services, my experience with them has been first rate. I've got customers using them for substantial volumes of incoming and outgoing calls, with good results. Both 1+ customers and T-1 access clients like the service and the price, too. I'm a bit less happy with their leased line services that connect to other carriers (but I am pleased with leased line service wholly within their own system). I've had a couple of finger pointing episodes with LCI where they connected to another carrier for some lines going to southern states via a third carrier. (In every case the fault was _not_ LCI's, BTW). LCI is the only major carrier that will work with me on technical issues directly with Central Office people, who will change programming or configurations to immediatly repair, modify or alter a service to put a client back into service. Every other carrier gives me the run-around or ignorant droids, which I have to bypass in order to get things fixed. I use LCI for my personal and our company's services. I really like their Feature Group B access, which other companies are backing off on ... Regards, Macy Hallock N8OBG Voice= +1.216.723.3030 Fax= +1.216.723.3223 macy@telemax.com Telemax Inc. and F M Systems Inc. 152 Highland Drive Medina, Ohio 44256 USA [Moderator's Note: I've found regards Orange Card billing matters and such they are quite cooperative also. OC customer service goes through their office in Pennsylvania. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Paul.Houle@leotech.MV.COM (Paul Houle) Reply-To: houle@leotech.MV.COM Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1993 14:05:00 Subject: Re: Movie: In the Line of Fire > After reading this Digest for a couple of years, I'm kind of > skeptical of these ideas. It would have made sense to me if the > assassin had been calling through 1-900-STOPPER (though it would > have taken too much explanation to the telecom-illiterate), but > what do you other readers think? Is there reason to believe that > any end-user device could spoof ANI? Could a government agency > run a trace without telco assistance? (Let's exclude speculations > about the NSA, since we all know they're magic and can do > anything. ;-) I had some phriends who did some experimentation in the late 80's attempting to spoof ANI feeds; they had read some documents describing the protocols used to communicate between IXCs and local carriers. Using an analog interface, a sequence of MF tone pulses is used to transmit the calling and called numbers as well as some information about the calling station and class of call. Attempts were made with a number of carriers to transmit tones to both spoof and disrupt ANI transmissions during call setup, but these were unsuccessful. What they ~were~ able to do is send false packets to certain "third party" AOS services, the ones that blow you off with 2600 hz when you ask to speak to a local or AT&T operator. On some of these services, the IXC-local interface resets when this happens, and puts you through to a local operator when the trunk times out. They discovered that it was possible to send these guys a homemade ANI/called number packet, although there are a large number of countermeasures that could be put into this kind of system to prevent this. The bad guy in "In the Line of Fire" had a briefcase full of electronic equipment, which would be consistent with this kind of attack, which allows one to direct the ANI anywhere. Also, on some SxS switches, one could disrupt transmission of the ANI spill to the IXC by flashing the switchook an operator comes on the line and says "What number are you calling from?" and enters the ANI information by hand. To misdirect ANI, there are a number of approaches based on using somebody else's dialtone as well. This would include 1-900-STOPPER, climbing a telephone pole, and the abuse of PBXs and call-forwarding devices, all of which can be done without any additional props. However, the guy in the movie did seem to have the ability to transmit an arbitrary number for ANI, since the secret service busted in on an innocent family. BTW, what number do calls from 1-900-STOPPER appear to call from? What happens when "The Joker" sees this number? So far as running a trace without Telco "assistance", this has been done many times by people who gained unauthorized access to Telco computers. It wouldn't suprise me if certain government agencies had already made agreements with various carriers to make certain information availible; if one could get real-time access to switches, a smart "joker" could probably get through 1-900-STOPPR rather easily. Origin: NETIS (603)432-2517/432-0922 (HST/V32) (1:132/189) ------------------------------ From: scottyb@access.digex.net (Scott Bridgewater) Subject: Re: Do We Have a Theme Song? Date: 7 Aug 1993 19:27:53 -0400 Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA How about "Jocko Homo" on the touch tone telephone from the album "DEVOTEES"? If not... "Telstar" (!) sb ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #551 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id ab22386; 8 Aug 93 3:28 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25266 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 01:01:33 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA01532 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 01:01:00 -0500 Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 01:01:00 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308080601.AA01532@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #552 TELECOM Digest Sun, 8 Aug 93 01:01:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 552 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Radar Detectors (Cliff Sharp) Re: Radar Detectors (was Re: New AM Band Violates ...) (Dave Levenson) Re: Reflections on Hacker Sentencing (Michael Covington) Re: 950 Calling Cards (Marshall Levin) Re: PCPursuit Service Still Around? (Jon Carmichael) Ring Detector Circuit (John J. Butz) PacBell Call Return (Randy Gellens) New Use For Orange Cards (J. Philip Miller) Local Calls via LD Carrier? (Paul Theodoropoulos) Reccomendation For Caller-ID Box Requested (Jeff Wasilko) Is Fiber Coming to New Jersey? (Steve Kass) How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? (Daniel R. Kegel) Administrivia: Looking to the Week Ahead of Us (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Date: Sat, 7 Aug 93 5:25:35 CDT From: Cliff Sharp I earlier wrote about radar detectors and offered a defense. TELECOM Moderator noted in reply: > [Moderator's Note: First, try that explanation around here and a lot > of Chicago police would be upside your head in a minute. Second, for True, but they'd do the same in any other matter where they tried to assert jurisdiction while having none. > all your knowledge of FCC regs, how come you failed to mention the one > which specifically says you are forbidden to act upon or profit from > transmissions you happen to overhear which are not intended for you? Well, first, you're not forbidden to act upon overhearing a transmission, you're forbidden to act upon its content. Similarly, you can't profit from the content, but there's no prohibition against profiting from knowing that someone's on the air (although I can't imagine too many other uses for that tidbit of information). > What you hear on WGN-Channel 9 is intended for you to act upon and > benefit from, i.e. the sponsor's messages. Radio transmissions in the > frequency range where RADAR (it is an acronym for something, I forget RAdio Detection And Ranging. > what right now) are *not* broadcasts. They are transmissions by > (presumably) licensed radio operators and/or their employees (the > police). They are not for your ears. There's a Supreme Court decision on that; I lost the papers during my last move, but the folks at Escort (formerly Cincinnati Microwave) are happy to send out their radar packet to anyone who asks, and it's cited in there chapter and verse. Paraphrased, the Supreme Court Justice who wrote the decision said something to the effect that if the police can use sneaky, surreptitious means to spy on your activities (and in most cases without probable cause), the citizen has every right to avail himself of any and all means to detect such spying. But radar transmissions are broadcasts anyway. They are rarely specifically aimed, but sent to bounce off many cars (whether or not the operator can see many cars in the beam path) and detect the greatest frequency deviation caused by the Doppler effect. I believe 47 CFR 90 defines them that way, but don't have a copy to refer to and can't confirm. This is because the police aren't transmitting to themselves or other officers, but transmitting to the vehicle(s) and monitoring the echo. > How do you act upon or benefit from what you overhear on RADAR? You > slow your car down don't you? You act in your own best interest to > avoid a ticket, don't you? That amounts to acknowledging that you > overheard something on the radio, which is illegal to do. You can't See the Supreme Court mention above; the Supremes don't agree. In any event, the primary reason I bought a radar detector wasn't to speed. First, my very first speeding ticket was a fraud, and only luck got me out of it; the officer who wrote it had been thrown off the force before I got to court, and the unofficial scuttlebutt was that some judge had noticed that all his tickets for any given day showed exactly the same speed. He was apparently getting one good reading and using the same reading all day without resetting his gun. Had I had a detector at that time, I could have asked the officer to repeat his performance of getting a reading on me without setting off my detector, and could have testified in court that he wasn't transmitting when I was within his range, had he not been caught at it. The second reason is that everyone (now, admit it) can get a bit heavy on the foot without realizing it from time to time. If I toss a gum wrapper on the sidewalk, seldom do I get more of a reaction than "Pick it up", i.e. I get a second chance to correct my "error". With radar I don't get that chance. The detector serves to remind me to check my speed and make sure I'm doing what I wanted to do, that is to stay within the limits (or at least with the speed of traffic). Finally, there are occasional reasons where I use the detector to speed with impunity. Most of them involve those clowns who do 75 to pass me and then slow down to 40 until I pass them again. Once I had a bleeding passenger who had to get to the hospital fast, and didn't need the aggravation of bleeding at 25 MPH or that of bleeding at 0 MPH while some officer wasted five precious minutes stopping me. > two-way radio transmissions then benefit from them is illegal. You > also seem somehow to think that a local police officer cannot detain > or arrest you for violations of federal law. They certainly can; they > can take cases to the US Attorney just as easily as they can take They can most certainly detain you in their capacity as duly authorized agents of the law, but they cannot confiscate property that does not cause an immediate danger to anyone or anything, and once the Feds are in on it their only recourse is to act as witnesses to the act. That takes the whole thing out of the purview of state law, which is the only place that radar detectors are banned. > cases to the local prosecutor. Most cops would tell you that you have > a smart mouth. PAT] With good reason, I might add. :-) But again, they'd do the same in any situation where they tried to assert jurisdiction or authority they didn't have. And there's always the alternative of building a 100 watt transmit- ter at 10.495 GHz and calling a Morse code CQ whenever I see a squad .. :-) I don't have the 800 number handy, but I believe Escort Corp. still sends out those "radar packets" free for those who'd like to see the court citations and quotes from the justice. ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors (was Re: New AM Band Violates ...) Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 02:35:35 GMT > frequency range where RADAR (it is an acronym for something, I forget > what right now) are *not* broadcasts. They are transmissions by RADAR = RAdio Direction And Rangefinding Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 [Moderator's Note: While your at it then, how about SONAR and LORAN and ELF? 'Radar' is one of those acronymns which has turned into a word on its own ... much like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and CARE (Committee on American Relief in Europe). Got any other examples of 'words' which are really acronymns instead? PAT] ------------------------------ From: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington) Subject: Re: Reflections on Hacker Sentencing Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 04:18:25 GMT Couple of quick points: (1) G. K. Chesterton's concept of the criminal as artistic prankster is a nice anticipation of one type of cracker. (See some of the Father Brown stories.) (2) There's more than one kind of cracker. (a) The "joyrider": - pure technological triumph; hacking to show what can be done - common before 1985 or so, becoming rare. (b) The "antihero": - wants to assume the social and cultural role of a "hacker"; - expects to be admired by someone; - may have little real interest in technology, and no originality of technique; - more destructive than type (a), simply because he wants to make an _impression_ rather than achieve a secret technical success; - post-1985, grew up on video games. (c) The truly malicious: (fortunately still rare). Michael A. Covington, Associate Research Scientist Artificial Intelligence Programs mcovingt@ai.uga.edu The University of Georgia phone 706 542-0358 Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A. amateur radio N4TMI ------------------------------ From: mlevin@nyx.cs.du.edu (Marshall Levin) Subject: Re: 950 Calling Cards Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci. Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 04:36:58 GMT dan.srebnick@islenet.com writes: > I work in a facility served by an ESS CO Centrex. The telephone > company has a toll restriction on most lines. Unfortunately, this > seems to restrict outgoing 800 calls as well as the ability to dial a > 0+ call. I'm looking for a carrier that offers 950 access on their > calling cards. I am not restricted from dialing 950-xxxx calls. In addition to being able to use the 800 number, I have found that I can use my MCI card with 950-1022 by dialing 950-1022 + destination number + card number. Hope that helps, Marshall ------------------------------ Subject: Re: PCPursuit Service Still Around? From: jon.carmichael@uplherc.upl.com (Jon Carmichael) Date: 7 Aug 93 19:12:00 GMT Organization: The Continuum PCBoard - Pasadena, CA - 818-441-2625 Reply-To: jon.carmichael@uplherc.upl.com (Jon Carmichael) > [Moderator's Note: PC Pursuit is still around, and operated by Sprint > over in (I think) Reston, VA. Try 1-800-TELENET but I am not certain. > I do not think however PC Pursuit is designed for quite the > application your associate has in mind. PAT] Acutally it is, ... they have a daytime version of the same (PCPursuit) network, where connect time is billed at 3.50 or 4.50 dollars per hour. You have a monthly minimum of $90.00, but for business day use. It is intended where speed is not important and saving money is. It's still a good deal. JONC The Continuum PCBoard -*- @9600+ call 818-441-2625 @2400- call 818-799-9633 ------------------------------ From: John.J.Butz@att.com Date: Fri, 6 Aug 93 11:50:16 EDT Subject: Ring Detector Circuit Help! Could someone reply directly to me with an answer to following: What are the specs for a ring signal, so I can build a simple circuit to latch on detection of a ring. Scanning the archives revealed liitle info to answer my question. J Butz ER700 Sys Eng jbutz@hogpa.att.com AT&T - CCS ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 06 AUG 93 20:21 Subject: PacBell Call Return When I first started using Call Return, I noticed that if the returned call was toll, it would appear on my bill with the last four digits replaced by "****" (to prevent disclosure of the number, since CLID is not offered). On my most recent bill, however, there was a toll returned call, and the last four digits were displayed. The bill now identifies calls as "direct" or "return" and notes that on returned calls, 'private' numbers are not shown. Not sure what they mean by 'private' since normal usage would mean a CLID-suppressed number, but without CLID, that doesn't make sense. They may mean non-published. Randy Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com A Series System Software [if mail bounces, please Unisys Corporation forward bounce msg to Mission Viejo, CA rgellens@mcimail.com] Opinions are personal; facts are suspect; I speak only for myself| ------------------------------ From: phil@wubios.wustl.edu (J. Philip Miller) Subject: New Use For Orange Cards Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 18:37:56 -0500 (CDT) Here is Missouri we have finally gotten CallerID and I quickly signed up thinking that I could delete call return, call blocker, and select- ive ring. As I started thinking about it, it became clear that there was an aspect of loss of privacy that I had never heard discussed in the many years of reading the Digest -- now if I called home, or the office, they would know where I was! Normally this is, of course, no problem. Since all calls out of the medical center show the same, generic number, there is no problem with whether I am in my office or someone elses. I quickly did note that when I called from my cellular phone, it registered as "Out of Area." Now I do not know why that is, particularly since my cellular service is from the B carrier -- SWBT, the same one that provides the CallerID service. It quickly dawned upon me, that I could use my friendly Orange Card, kindly provided by the Moderator to also place an "Out of Area" call and the recepient could not tell where I was -- and at a rather reasonable cost even for a local call! J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067 Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110 phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - (314) 362-3617 [362-2693(FAX)] [Moderator's Note: Yes, you can do that. You can also accomplis the same goal with Talk Tickets. For more info, see me after the show! PAT] ------------------------------ From: pt@crl.com (paul theodoropoulos) Subject: Local Calls via LD Carrier? Date: 7 Aug 1993 18:20:25 -0700 I have a fuzzy recollection of postings in the Digest some time back discussing ways to use one's long distance provider to make "local" calls. The reason of course is to save money on the outrageous amounts the local telcos sometimes charge (as I suffered this past month, calling a friend sixty miles away, and through the nose for the privilege). I also have very fuzzy recollection that there was some question as to the legality of it. Is my memory faulty, and on the off chance it *isn't*, can you provide more information? paul theodoropoulos pt@crl.com diogenes@well.sf.ca.us [Moderator's Note: Long distance carriers have to file tariffs with state regulatory agencies in order to handle local calls, which some of them do. Whether or not it is less expensive is an applications thing for each user. You certainly have to dial extra digits to send your calls that way. I think you will see in the next few years the distinction between 'local carrier' and 'long distance company' be- comes very blurred as the LD companies begin handling more and more local service. Most of them are happy to have calls terminated right at the subscriber's premises now rather than paying the local telco access fees. And programs like AT&T's Easy Reach 700 service allow calls to be placed within the local telco's LATA quite easily. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 22:52:35 -0800 From: jeffw@triple-i.com (Jeff Wasilko) Subject: Reccomendation For Caller-ID Box Requested I'm getting Caller-ID service, so I need a box. I remember a thread recently about a box with a hard to read display, so I'd like to know which one to get (and which ones to avoid). Thanks, Jeff Wasilko, Information International +1 617 275 7070 Application Support Specialist ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1993 23:26:33 -0400 (EDT) From: SKASS@DREW.DREW.EDU Subject: Is Fiber Coming to New Jersey? I have heard rumors in the neighborhood that my town, Madison, NJ, along with neighboring Chatham and Florham Park, will be equipped with a fiber optic telephone network, as a demonstration site, by the end of 1994. Can anyone verify this, give details (fiber right to my network interface?), or tell me what this will mean for me? Steve Kass/ Math and CS/ Drew U/ Madison, NJ 07940 201-514-1187/ skass@drew.drew.edu ------------------------------ From: dank@blacks.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Daniel R. Kegel) Subject: How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? Date: 7 Aug 93 22:54:36 GMT Organization: Image Analysis Systems Group, JPL Hi, I am trying to figure out what equipment I need to let a PC connect to a switched-56 line and transfer files to another PC connected to an ISDN line using the ZMODEM file transfer protocol. One thing that I can't figure out is how a 56 kilobit/sec line can talk to a 64 kilobit/sec line. Where do the rates get matched, and does either of the PC's have to know how to do/undo the rate adaptation? My ideal system would consist of a single plugin card for the PC at either end, and no separate DSU or TA. It would also have terminal emulation software for both ends that can do ZMODEM file transfers and provide a simple 'host mode' (a la procomm) that lets one PC act as a server which waits for phone calls, verifies username and password, then lets the caller select which directory they want to transfer files from/to. Dan Kegel ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Administrivia: Looking at the Week Ahead of Us Date: Sun, 08 Aug 1993 00:21:00 CDT Later this week marks the twelfth anniversary of the beginning of TELECOM Digest. August 11 is the day, if I can keeo things up and running until then ... :( The week ahead promises to be a difficult one where The Phone Company is concerned with bills due and past due, and TPC making their usual noises. The financial condition of the Digest is slowly improving and as the residuals come in from the various affinity programs offered, there is a light, oh so distant, at the end of the tunnel which began for me earlier this year. Telepassport is taking a bit of time each day, and the residuals from that are still about a month or more away. The Mutual of New York people (MONY) have a couple thousand dollars of my money which is also about six weeks away from arriving. Things loom so close, yet not close enough where TPC and others like it are concerned. Plans in the next few months include a reorganization of the Archives, more indexes and reference material and hopefully a dialup where the Archives and the Digest can be obtained by anyone calling in. There may possibly be a fax version of the Digest available as well. Please remember that TELECOM Digest production expenses including the phone lines, archives and editorial costs are met entirely by myself with the generous support of readers like yourself who want to see the Digest continue as a high-quality mailing list and moderated newsgroup. For a decade now, Usenet's comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup as been the gateway newsgroup to the Digest and the 'mainstream' newsgroup for telecommunications news, views and general discussion. Many readers have contributed handsomely and generously in the past; others have made modest but meaningful financial contributions within their means. If everyone who reads the Digest regularly and benefits from it sent one dollar *per year*, the financial burdens involved with production costs, phone bills, etc would vanish forever. As you feel it appropriate, support the Digest financially. There is no connection between what appears in the Digest and what benefactors choose to do or not do. I keep on being myself and sending this your way; you keep on reading/writing and helping as you see fit. There are no subscription fees required to be here with us; learning from us and teaching us. That's what its all about! Your donations appreciated, and they may be made payable to TELECOM Digest and sent to the office. Telecom Digest / 2241 West Howard Street #208 / Chicago, IL 60645 USA Thank you! PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #552 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa08240; 8 Aug 93 14:28 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25966 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 12:11:39 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12662 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 12:11:05 -0500 Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 12:11:05 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308081711.AA12662@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #553 TELECOM Digest Sun, 8 Aug 93 12:11:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 553 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Experience With USWest Phone Service (Joan Kroll) Cordless (Not Cellular) Modem Interface (Steven Hodas) PC Emulator For Teletel/Minitel/Videotext Needed (itsik@onyx.co.il) Re: T1, Internet Access (Barton Bruce) Re: T1, Internet Access (Brad Cox) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (David Lemson) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (Floyd Davidson) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Ray Normandeau) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Pat Turner) Re: L.A. Cellular Telephone Complaint (Steven H. Lichter) Re: Handsets For the Hearing Impaired (Nigel Allen) Re: Radar Detectors (was Re: New AM Band Violates ...) (Gregory M. Paris) Re: Need Sources/Info For Cheap Voicemail (Al Varney) Re: Area 205 to Split (Patton Turner) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Experience With USWest Phone Service From: cmptech!jkroll@csn.org (Joan Kroll) Date: Sun, 08 Aug 93 01:16:22 MDT Organization: Computech BBS at 719.260.6279 - Colorado Springs, CO We just left Houston for Colorado Springs about six weeks ago. Since then we have enjoyed the low crime and traffic, clean air and gentle people. It seems the only predator out here is our friendly telephone monopoly. I say friendly because the phone answerers (BOPs -- babes on phones as the teen boys say) ARE cordial -- they're just untrained and apt to take your instructions and forget, change, manipulate, mutilate, cancel them, ad infinitum ... Here's what happened the first week: 1. Ordered additional phone line to supplement the two we already had installed before we moved into our house. What did they do? The cut off our two lines and activated a third. We only found this out when our contacts called upset about the recording telling them that our numbers had been disconnected! We also requested UNLISTED numbers. Big mistake. These gals take this stuff personally, I guess. It took four weeks of calling directory assistance and getting our three phone numbers from the teledroids to convince USW that they hadn't done their jobs. Yet, all their documentation said it had been done, then double and triple checked!! By what??? Monkeys with keyboards? I won't go into the confusion, frustration and hyperventillation I suffered trying to get different services and long distance carriers for different lines! The people at USW ought to publish these incidents in their own TELEBLOOPERS DIGEST -- they'd make millions! Before I called them, I'd say a prayer and drink tequila shooters just to numb the pain I knew would be coming. I'm glad I never had to order anything SPECIAL from them cause it sure seemed that every request from fourth request for phone books to tenth requests to put my damned long distance carrier back on my line to my final mistake: ORDERING A FOURTH LINE! They lied about the installation date. (at least the guy showed up when I had proper clothes on -- the other guy banged at my dining room window and found half of us in our skivvies -- he could have rung our front door bell, but that would have required a few living brain cells) Then after it was finally installed at the demarc, it provided dial tone for a while then after a few hours, there wasn't even battery on the line. Two promised repair dates later they strung a wire from the demarc across the grass, behind the deck, across the neighboring field and to the telco box by the curb. In the process, they smashed flower pots and left the mess for you know who. But the line worked! Its been a month since they fixed line four, but the wire is still draped across my property out in the open. Its great to mow the lawn around your own phone line. But, I should have faith, after all they did promise to send out a work crew to bury the critter only three weeks ago! I don't want to go into the rest of it. All I can say is that in the move FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, I still cheer when they rob the phone company -- and now you know why! jkroll%cmptech.uucp@csn.org (Joan Kroll) This came from Computech BBS .... +1 719.260.6279 in Colorado Springs, CO. ------------------------------ From: hhll@stein.u.washington.edu (Steven Hodas) Subject: Cordless (Not Cellular) Modem Interface Date: 8 Aug 1993 08:13:33 GMT Organization: University of Washington Is there any reason you couldn't patch a modem into a standard handset from a cordless phone? What would it take? Steven Hodas School of Education University of Washington Leadership and Policy Studies 206.285.5734 hhll@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ From: cirs@aristo.tau.ac.il (Cirs account) Subject: PC Emulator For Teletel/Minitel/Videotext Needed Organization: Tel-Aviv University Computation Center Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 08:47:18 GMT We need an emulator for PC that runs the TELETEL terminal. We also need information about T100/T101 Standards. Please email me directly at: itsik@onyx.co.il. Thanks, Itsik ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com Subject: Re: T1, Internet Access Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Date: 8 Aug 93 03:25:18 -0400 In article , MARK EARLE <73117.351@ CompuServe.COM> writes: > Maybe I'm calling/emailing the wrong folks, but so far no direct, > simple answers have come forth. Objective: Find out the costs to set > up a service which would offer dial up access to Internet facilities. > We envision something similiar to netcom.com. Callers dial with > "standard" modems over plain old telephone service. They get a unix > The 'Unix' part is easy to cost out. The unknowns are: How do I get an > "internet" connection? Where? Via what media? What does it cost, who Who are the active regional Internet access providers in your area? Failing them, try PSI, Alternet, or even (yuk) ANS. Sprint's SprintLink is also good. They are clean and professional - you are not cutting into their game. You are a GOOD typical potential customer now that they have decided who they need to sell to. From Sprint you will be able to resell even SLIP dialup service, but would ALSO need to be a CIX member to resell anything heavier. If you have $s to blow monthly, let Sprint supply a cisco and the FT1 csu/dsu. Far better BUY a cisco 2000 (should be enough for what you described, else get a 3000), and a FT1 csu/dsu. Sprint techs MUST have your cisco's password and be able to telnet or access it via SNMP. You can start low speed at maybe 128kb over the T1, and can change on a few days notice to the next speed for a nominal $250 processing fee. $s for bandwidth is more like for the log of the speed. t1 is about $2700 per month and 128 is probably ~ $1200 (without actually looking it up) + the T1 loop to their POP. Buy low and grow as needed despite the temptation to start big at 384 or 512kb. > Best way to get an initial batch of 50 lines and then have > expandability. Centrex, T1, and other things are mentioned. I can't > imagine 50 or 500 RJ-11's and that many external modems laying around. > Surely "something" exists that essentially takes t1 from the phone You bet something exists, but you probably can't afford it. The two vendors of T1 to modem to pad/terminal_server/slip_engine to router all in the same rack and all without a rats nest of wires want serious $s. Primary Access sells to AT&T, Sprint, UPS, Compu$werve class customers. Their traditional rack takes only 20 T1s and all 480 calls wind up lumped on x.25 lines off to someones antique x.25 net. They have noticed their market has changed and are rapidly redesigning for modern terminal servers rather than x.25 pads. LAT, Telnet, SLIP, CSLIP, PPP, should all be supported and the resulting ethernet should then go to your choice of router to some wan port -- possibly frame relay, ATM or FDDI for campus or remote POP use. For you, the ethernet will be fine. USR has noticed Primary Acceses unique spot in the market and is making a much newer design that in a 7" high box supports only two T1s (48 ports), but has some nice innovations. Four high speed busses, three actually initially used, do the work -- no rats nest. They have the modems on DSP cards, but the front end can be other cards for T1, or yet others for ISDN Basic or ISDN PRI, or even POTS phone lines. In many areas, telco T1 is a ripoff or not available. Use POTS front end cards. When telco wakes up, use T1. The actual modem or terminal server portion is unchanged. Neither company is so stupid as to try to reinvent terminal servers or routers, but will integrate from selected other vendors. Obviously, ISDN can be handled, too! As can voice or FAX applications. Note also that both support FG-B and FG-D as well as vanilla D4 format T1 signaling. This means that on equal access to POP situations (10xxx) or FG-B (950) they have not only what you dialed (DNIS) to get there (the same trunks might serve several access codes) as well as who you are (ANI), and they can very well selectively provide different services or just simply route you internally to the ethernet of the implied recipient where the IXC provides contract private labled services for several entities all out of the verysame rack of hardware. USR claims that at $1000/port minimum, they are 1/2 of Primary Access. So go buy a pile of USR Sportsters at $175 each, buy a DEC DS700 16 port job at 41% software developer discount off the $3200, and get a cheap rack and a barrel of West-Taiwanese rs232 cables from computer shopper at 95 cents each and you are in business. Get your phone lines delivered to a RJ21X block -- 66 punch in to 25 pair Amphenol out. Don't get ripped by telco for $125 for the block. FCC ruling allows YOU to provide it and it costs maybe $30 at Graybar. Do spend the BIG bucks for RJ21x in and out lightinig protector of serious grade. I have been using Porta Systems 581 blocks with their Delta Modules. These are SERIOUS CO grade protectors, but the 581 block no longer is available RJ21x in, but only out, so you have to punch down a cable on the 66 in side and actually its best to punch both sides as the 66 to 66 version is far cheapest. But now, ITW's Links division HAS a new protector series JUST available and has not only RJ21X in and out but has gender choice even. Rugged protection for all 25 pair. Anixter is their big stocking distributor. A short connectorized cable form the actual RJ21X block itself goes to protection, and then another longer cable (that otherwise would have gone immediately to the RJ21X block) goes from protection to the rack. Elcheapo 25 pair cable with connectors ($30 for a prefab 100 footer, less for shorter) gets you to your rack and lets you move or relocate things easily. At the rack, use a 25 port 'harmonica' to break out the cable to 25 RJ11 jacks. $200-$400 here is VERY well spent. Get a serious ground but one BONDED to the power ground so no potential difference exists between differnet wires entering your rack. Get serious power protection. too. Don't stack any think like modems more than three or four deep, and look for cheap easily mounted power strips for all the wall-warts. Each DS700 can run all 16 ports at 115.2kb and with the newest optional s/w does LAT, Telnet, SLIP, CSLIP, PPP, and can use Kerberos. Or look at Zyplex, Xylogics, Livingston, cisco, Telebit or many others. If some alternate carrier like Met Fiber or Teleport Systems is colocating with local telcos, and you want 'presence' in several areas to provide local dial access, see if you can cut a deal for a colocated rack in these guy's POP, or even contract for them to locate your stuff in telco's space! They may be able to get T1s to you cheap. For that type location, you WILL NEED Primay Access or the newer USR rack mount T1 fed systems, and possibly in the -48VCD rather than the 110VAC version! You may be able to resell Telnet access to other local BBSes out of your 'POPs'. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 07:39:55 -0500 From: bcox@gmu.edu (Brad Cox) Subject: Re: T1, Internet Access MARK EARLE <73117.351@CompuServe.COM> wrote: > Best way to get an initial batch of 50 lines and then have > expandability. Centrex, T1, and other things are mentioned. I can't > imagine 50 or 500 RJ-11's and that many external modems laying around. > Surely "something" exists that essentially takes t1 from the phone > company and gives me seperate sync or async lines that the unix system > can deal with. I'm responding to the group because I'm really not sure why Telnet, Tymnet, Sprintnet and so forth isn't this fellow's answer. Compuserve and America Online use them extensively, hiding whatever the cost to them is inside the subscriber's fee. The costs can't be *too* exorbitant, given that AOL's fee is only $9.50/mo. > I'm in Corpus Christi, TX if that makes any difference. Replies to > the Digest OK, or possibly, to my email and I'll summarize. Thanks! I don't understand why this shouldn't work for Unix systems too, especialy since it delivers connectivity via a local call from everywhere to anywhere. Brad Cox; bcox@gmu.edu; 703 968 8229 Voice 703 968 8798 Fax George Mason Program on Social and Organizational Learning ------------------------------ From: lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (David Lemson) Subject: Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Date: 8 Aug 1993 14:30:18 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Reply-To: lemson@uiuc.edu Christopher Zguris <0004854540@mcimail.com> writes: > I have service from MCI and I know they offer to code fax lines as fax > lines on the bill -- but they rely on me telling them which lines are > carrying data. I have two or three lines that carry data and/or fax I recommend against letting MCI know which lines are fax lines. About a year ago, I was sending a few overseas faxes from my home number and got a few wrong numbers in the batch. I called customer service to try to get them credited (even a one minute call is several dollars). At first I told them that I was making fax calls and when I finally got to a customer service person, they told me that their computers were down at the time but that they wouldn't issue credit for wrong numbers on fax calls anyway. I waited a day, called again, and told them that I was making regular voice calls and got wrong numbers and they cheerfully took them off the bill. (the computers were working properly this time) David Lemson (217) 244-1205 University of Illinois Computing & Comm Services Office System Administrator Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson NeXTMail & MIME accepted BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD [Moderator's Note: What do they have against giving credit for fax wrong numbers? PAT] ------------------------------ From: floyd@hayes.ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson) Subject: Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Organization: University of Alaska Computer Network Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 06:21:49 GMT In article Bruce Sullivan writes: > Now, before you all run off and flame me with YOUR PARTICULAR > exception, I didn't say there's no way to tell, ever. I take greater > issue with the "do" statement than the "can" statement. MCI, AT&T, et > al, are unlikely to know or care, unless it's some part of a pre- > existing business (usually) arrangement. I wouldn't expect them to > have any idea which calls from my home came from a modem, fax, or a > phone. I know of precisely two instances where the phone company (LEC, IXC, whoever) cares one hoot if it is a modem or a voice, and in neither case is it recorded in any way, nor is there even a mechanism to record it. Instance one is Echo Cancellors/Suppressors are disabled when a modem tone is present. Instance two is when any system that can compress the bandwidth required for a call is in use, it will be disabled for a modem. The last I knew (a couple years ago) there were NO long distance carriers using compression on domestic calls. (On many international calls you are in fact going to be compressed.) Floyd floyd@ims.alaska.edu A guest on the Institute of Marine Science computer Salcha, Alaska system at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Date: 8 Aug 93 02:28:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) > I decided to try the UnDirectory service mentioned by Blake Patterson > (900-933-3330). It successfully got (and pronounced) my brother's name and > address in Newton Highlands, MA. How much does the service cost? ------------------------------ From: turner@Dixie.Com Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 11:59 EDT From: rsiatl!turner@rsiatl.UUCP Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address > number you have or address across the country. Remember, there is so > much information *publicly available* between courthouse records, library > criss cross books, post office box rental and forwarding address > records, voter registration offices, and more, that you don't have to > resort to illegal sources (for the public) such as NCIC. PAT] Pat, One day my mother mentioned to me that she had never been on a piece of timberland she owns since she bought it. Since we were passing through the county seat later that day, I asked her to stop at the courthouse for a minute. I walked up to the probate judges office and asked to use the map room. As usual they said "sure". We went into the map room, and I pulled the M-Z Alpha index (about 3" thick) and looked up my mother's name. There was only one parcel of land I didn't recognize so I recorded the map and plot number. Then on the other side of the room I pulled out the plot map and found the property. I wrote down the land description. After putting the maps back up, I went downstairs and borrowed a topo map from the SCS/ASCS people, copied it, and marked the property lines on it. Total time was about five to ten minutes. My mother was amazed. She thought I had done something illegal, and couldn't believe this was public information. Apparently a lot of people think this isn't public information. Ob Telecom tie: I got real good at this doing OSP construction, especially clearing land before plowing fiber. Telco tells you where the ROW is, but if you don't want to piss off the landowners who think they own the land you call ahead. Ten minutes of dozer work here, or a load of firewood there works wonders. Patton Turner KB4GRZ FAA Telecommunications turner@dixie.com [Moderator's Note: Your story is a good one. Yes, that's one reason that skip-tracers, private detectives, etc make such good money. They *know* about all the free, totally public information that's around and exactly where to go find it. Remember, court houses are public places as are criminal/civil trials, and by extension, all the paper- work generated as a result. Just help yourself! There are databases galore on the American public. Learn to use them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) Subject: Re: L.A. Cellular Telephone Complaint Date: 8 Aug 1993 06:07:30 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA) I had an experence with them when I first go my phone. For some reason they wanted a huge deposit and was unable to tell me why since no credit report was ever done. I contacted PacBell Cellular and within an hour a tech from the local service company came out and programmed my phone and within 30 minutes it was working. When I replaced it with a handheld the dealer did it and again it was working within a very short time. Twice I have had to send phone in for service to them under the extended service warranty, which by the way does not cost anything as long as you keep the service for 12 months. Each time they sent a loaner out by Federal Express and it was working almost as soon as I called them as was it when I got my regular one back. Their service is very good and have not had any problems with it anywhere that I have traveled and the roaming works fine. Also they have opted to wait for the more advanced digital system where LAC has gone the other way. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 08:30 EDT From: ndallen@io.org (Nigel Allen) Subject: Re: Handsets For the Hearing Impaired Organization: Internex Online - Toronto, Canada (416) 363-3783 In Canada, special telecommunications equipment for people with disabilities is available from the local telephone company. Bell Canada operates "Centres for People with Special Needs" in Montreal and Toronto, and other telephone companies have similarly-named offices which provide equipment to people with disabilities, and which may also arrange for other company services, such as an exemption from directory assistance charges for people who can't read the phone book. The Canadian Hearing Society also sells telecommunications devices for the deaf and other "special needs" telecom equipment. In the United States and other countries, "special needs" telecom equipment may be available from the local telephone company, charitable organizations that work with people with disabilities (the Canadian Hearing Society would be an example), mail-order companies like Hello Direct (telephone 1-800-HI-HELLO in the U.S. and Canada), and AT&T, which I think has a "special needs center" of its own. [Moderator's Note: For all their other foibles and complaints people have about them, the Bell Companies in the USA have always been very generous and imaginative at finding solutions for people with disabil- ities. Alex Bell was a teacher of deaf people, you know. PAT] ------------------------------ From: paris@merlin.dev.cdx.mot.com (Gregory M. Paris) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors (was Re: New AM Band Violates ...) Organization: Motorola Codex, Canton, Massachusetts Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 14:15:16 GMT > and CARE (Committee on American Relief in Europe). Got any other > examples of 'words' which are really acronymns instead? PAT] scuba -- self contained underwater breathing apparatus (invented by Jaques Cousteau, I believe). Greg Paris Motorola Codex, 20 Cabot Blvd C1-30, Mansfield, MA 02048-1193 [Moderator's Note: Wow! That is a new one on me! I like it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 09:22:00 CDT From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: Need Sources/Info For Cheap Voicemail Organization: AT&T Network Systems Dub Dublin,HOU281 2303,CTN-596-3199, (hwdub@chevron.com) wrote: > I need to find information about, and sources of *inexpensive* voice > mail systems. I need a fair amount of programmability (new voice > information service), so I'm assuming a PC-based system is my best > bet. If it's real cheap, .... > system soon. It's VERY important that the system be able to execute > arbitrary commands in the OS as a result of a user menu choice. If you're not tied to PC-hardware/software, Great Valley Products (GVP) offers a "PhonePak(tm)" system for any Amiga A2000/A3000 computer. Current mail order prices are $299 or less -- the A2000 is going for steep discounts in the <$1000 range with hard-drive. This is a combination voice mail system (multiple mailboxes) and fax store/print/forward/faxback system bundled with an internal script language and AREXX (Amiga REXX) interface. On lines with "transfer" capability, the system can transfer calls to other numbers based on caller input. An internal database for names, numbers and addresses is supplied, as is a scheduler for timed sending of faxes. The Amiga OS is multi-tasking, so the system can be doing other things while handling phone calls. The AREXX interface allows virtually any program to be run (and controlled) from the PhonePak software. If nothing else, this would make a cheap development/test machine; such applications are not always easy to debug ... GVP can be reached on (215) 337-8770 (FAX on 215-337-9922). Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 11:58 EDT From: rsiatl!turner@rsiatl.UUCP Subject: Re: Area 205 to Split Carl Moore writes: > I don't have this in front of me: is there a 205-334 exchange > anywhere? Are there any local calls across the future 205/334 > boundary? Sorry I took so long to respond. 334 acording to some SCB info I got a while back is actually in Georgetown, GA, a small town just across the river from Eufaula, AL. It looks like the split was made along LATA lines. I haven't been back to AL since the split was announced, so I'm not sure. As the LATA lines pass just south of my hometown, Alexander City, and north of Auburn University, I'll see about local calls on the east side of the state as soon as I see the maps. I think some Alltel area will be cut in half regardless due to their large north-south range. (Camp Hill to south of Ecletic for anyone familiar with that area.) There are some real crappy interconnects in Alabama, I feel sorry for their customers when they fail to update ARS tables. Patton Turner KB4GRZ FAA Telecommunications turner@dixie.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #553 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02434; 8 Aug 93 21:10 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA16574 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 16:13:43 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA31850 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 16:13:14 -0500 Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 16:13:14 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308082113.AA31850@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Subject: Would YOU Use a 'Voicemail Edition' of the Digest? Dear Readers, An opportunity has presented itself which seems to have some good merit to it, and I toss the idea out for quick yes/no/maybe answers to see if any interest is present. This will be a multi-line 'voice BBS' service for TELECOM Digest and comp.dcom.telecom participants. Best of all, it will mostly be FREE to participate in the message bases, etc. Private voicemail boxes will be available to friends of the Digest who have donated any amount of money at any time in the past or who have purchased services from the Digest. But *anyone* will otherwise be free to post messages in their own voice and listen to the replies from others. There will probably be three message bases: One : General telecom related comments and questions Two : Technical comments and questions Three: Conference/Seminar announcements; job postings; misc. Messages can be up to a minute in length; replies can be up to the same length. Participants can include their own name/address/phone in the messages or refer others to a voicemail box. Commercial messages for products and services can go in the third category above for some negotiable fee. Users with voicemail boxes will be able to use them for whatever purpose they wish, and all voicemail stuff will be *private and unmoderated* ... the public areas will be 'moderated' in the same way the Digest is now ... loosely, but with a goal toward keeping things running smoothly. Another category will be a series of helpful tutorial messages; a sort of FAQ which I hope volunteers will agree to fill for me. Naturally, you get to listen to comments about the Orange Card and Telepassport while in the announcement area! ... It might well be up and running in the next day or two, so I would like *quick* answers from readers, directed to my personal email address: ptownson@eecs.nwu.edu REMEMBER: If you have already assisted financially with the Digest or purchased any affinity services, you are *already entitled* to a free confidential voicemail box if you want one (provided this service does start). The message bases would be intended as a fast, quick turnaround for telecom related comments and questions. Your messages would stay 'on line' until the stacks filled up, then the oldest messages would be deleted automatically. Depending on usage, that could be anywhere between several days and three or four weeks. Please let me know when you read this, with the understanding there is no obligation whatsoever. If your company would be interested in having a slot for commercial messages, please contact me also. Thanks, Patrick Townson TELECOM Moderator   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02606; 8 Aug 93 21:16 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA03393 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 17:17:55 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA15002 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Sun, 8 Aug 1993 17:17:22 -0500 Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 17:17:22 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308082217.AA15002@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #554 TELECOM Digest Sun, 8 Aug 93 17:17:20 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 554 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Lynx ExtraLine Voice/FAX/Modem Switch (Steve Diamond) Re: What is Category 5? (Patton Turner) Re: Movie: In the Line of Fire (Richard Osterberg) Re: Looking For Information and Experience With LCI (henryc@oar.net) Re: Is Fiber Coming to New Jersey? (shag@gnu.ai.mit.edu) Re: Area-Code Splits and State Capitols (Ken Rossen) Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? (Brett Frankenberger) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Elana Beach) Re: T1, Internet Access (Garrett Wollman) Re: Local Calls via LD Carrier (A.T. Furman) Re: Psychological Effect of "Busy" Signal (William J. Carpenter) ---------------------- TELECOM Digest is an e-journal devoted mostly -- but not exclusively -- to discussions on voice telephony. The Digest is a not-for-profit public service published frequently by Patrick Townson Associates. PTA markets a no-surcharge telephone calling card and a no monthly fee 800 service. In addition, we are resellers of AT&T's Software Defined Network. For a detailed discussion of our services, write and ask for the file 'products'. The Digest is delivered at no charge by email to qualified subscribers on any electronic mail service connected to the Internet. To join the mail- ing list, write and tell us how you qualify: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu. All article submissions MUST be sent to our email address: telecom@eecs. nwu.edu -- NOT as replies to comp.dcom.telecom. Back issues and numerous other telephone-related files of interest are available from the Telecom Archives, using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. Login anonymous, then 'cd telecom-archives'. At the present time, the Digest is also ported to Usenet at the request of many readers there, where it is known as 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Use of the Digest does not require the use of our products and services. The two are separate. All articles are the responsibility of the individual authors. Organi- zations listed, if any, are for identification purposes only. The Digest is compilation-copyrighted, 1993. **DO NOT** cross-post articles between the Digest and other Usenet or alt newsgroups. Do not compile mailing lists from the net-addresses appearing herein. Send tithes and love offerings to PO Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690. :) Phone: 312-465-2700. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 10:26:19 -0700 From: diamond@netcom.com (diamond) Subject: Lynx ExtraLine Voice/FAX/Modem Switch I've experienced an odd problem testing the Lynx ExtraLine Voice/FAX/Modem switch for which I'd appreciate some comp.dcom.telecom expertise. I'm attempting to use it to switch incoming calls between a modem and a FAX machine. What I liked about the Lynx was that it doesn't require any special modem setup or the FAX operator to enter any touch-tones, it's completely transparent. The ExtraLine is supposed to work like this in the modem/FAX mode: it routes incoming calls to the modem port, and if the modem answers and connects, the Extraline is done. If the modem doesn't answer or it times out (in 15 seconds with ATS7=15) because the call is a FAX call, the ExtraLine generates a simulated ringing signal to the FAX and then switches the call to the FAX port. My problem appeared in testing. If I call from my second line, the modem answers but the ExtraLine immediately switches to the FAX anyway before I even get answer tone from the modem. If I call from a cellphone however, everything works fine. Is there something different about a call originating from the same central office as the answering phone that would cause the answering line to see a call differently and thus somehow confuse the ExtraLine? And if so, is there a solution other than not being able to handle modem calls from within ones own central office? I tried unsuccessfully to explain this problem to the Lynx people, who of course found everything working fine when they called the modem/FAX line. I'd appreciate any suggestions! Steve Diamond diamond@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 11:59 EDT From: rsiatl!turner@rsiatl.UUCP Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Harold Hallikainen writes: > Can anyone give a BRIEF description of the electrical coding > scheme on all these high speed twisted pair systems (such as ISDN)? I > haven't taken the time to research it at all. How many bits per baud > are being run? Is it a multi-level coding system or just two or three BRI ISDN uses 2B1Q line coding for the outside plant. Two bits per baud, with voltages of +-2.5 and +-.83 volts. PRI ISDN uses T1 like coding ( AMI or B8ZS) with P-P voltages of up to 6 volts. ISDN S interface (the inside wiring) uses 1 bit/baud, psuedoternary line codes, and +-.75V. > Do such systems treat the twisted pair as a transmission line, > matching the characteristic impedance to prevent reflections? Do they > work full duplex using some sort of hybrid, or just go real fast half > duplex? Can we use these techniques over leased lines ordered from Yes, most twisted pair transceivers use 100 or 130 ohms. The former seems to be the T1 standard. ISDN multidrop segments (S interface) use a terminating resistor. Everything else I am familiar with uses point to point links with the termination in the receiver. All of the American stuff I know of uses full duplex except for some ADSL and similar loops in very limited use, especially for anything faster than a DSO with secondary channel. Some other countries use a pingpong method to deliver ISDN. This decision was made before 2B1Q chips were available. Notice I left out 10BASET? I'll leave the LAN stuff to those more knowledgeable. Everything I mentioned was <= 1.544 mbps, and very compatible with PIC/old UTP cable. Patton Turner KB4GRZ FAA Telecommunications turner@dixie.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Movie: In the Line of Fire From: osterber@husc8.harvard.edu (Richard Osterberg) Date: 8 Aug 93 16:49:35 GMT > It wouldn't suprise me if certain government agencies had > already made agreements with various carriers to make certain > information availible; if one could get real-time access to switches, > a smart "joker" could probably get through 1-900-STOPPR rather easily. My guess is that when you're protecting the life of the president, *never* underestimate the power of government agencies. Rick Osterberg osterber@husc.harvard.edu 617-527-6664 617-965-0370 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 14:06:23 -0400 From: henryc@oar.net Subject: Re: Looking For Information and Experience With LCI In article TELECOM Moderator mistakenly notes: > [Moderator's Note: LCI is the fourth largest long distance carrier in > the USA, coming behind only AT&T, MCI and Sprint in that order. Their > corporate offices are in Virginia. They are also the carrier handling > calls for the Orange Card, the affinity calling card program offered > to readers of this newsgroup and Digest. Their service is good. PAT] Ummm, LCI, formerly LiTel, is based in here in Columbus (OH). henry [Moderator's Note: When I talk to some of their people, they are always in an office in Virginia somewhere. Do they have a facility there as well? PAT] ------------------------------ From: birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag) Subject: Re: Is Fiber Coming to New Jersey? Date: 8 Aug 93 18:22:55 GMT Organization: Screaming in Digital, the Queensryche Digest SKASS@DREW.DREW.EDU writes: > I have heard rumors in the neighborhood that my town, Madison, NJ, > along with neighboring Chatham and Florham Park, will be equipped with > a fiber optic telephone network, as a demonstration site, by the end > of 1994. Can anyone verify this, give details (fiber right to my > network interface?), or tell me what this will mean for me? First, to answer your subject line -- fiber's already here. NJ Bell has been targeting corporate, government, and institutional customers so far, and has gotten quite a bit installed. In aerial installation, look for thin black cables, with orange sleeves around them at the poles. Easy to spot. :) As for the demo towns -- I believe they're planning to fiber-ize two towns as demonstrations, one up your way and one down along the shore -- Ocean County, I think. This should mean ISDN for all the residential customers in those towns. I don't know if they'll be doing this for free, but I suspect they'll be nice about it, otherwise people would put up a fight. As for people elsewhere in the state, a friend of mine tells me that one _can_ now get residential ISDN in New Jersey, but that the first ISDN customer in the exchange foots the cost ($1800) of getting the ISDN card put into the ESS5 ... Shag shag@gnu.ai.mit.edu - birchall@pilot.njin.net - shag@glia.biostr.washington.edu PPI 14.4 FXSA - ShagNet, Burlington County NJ - GeoWorks Ensemble 2.0 GeoSadist ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 14:20:40 EDT From: Ken Rossen Subject: Re: Area-Code Splits and State Capitols > Rhode Island is approximately 35 x 45 miles. I forgot to mention, > Acquidneck Island (Which is Newport and Jamestown) can't call BEYOND > the island without incurring a toll. Small correction: Aquidneck Island (which was at times called "Rhode Island" and which gave the state its name) has the towns Portsmouth, Middletown, and Newport on it -- but NOT Jamestown, which is by itself on the adjacent Conanicut Island, connected to Aquidneck by one bridge and to the Western bay shore by another. One hopes that Jamestown callers are not charged nonlocal rates for all off-island calls! KENR@SHL.COM ------------------------------ From: brettf@netcom.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 19:30:57 GMT brettf@netcom.com (Brett Frankenberger) writes: > Stuff going through 10xxx is not verified by the local telco (Once you > get the MCI bong, it's MCI's call). Some LD companies, for whatever > reason, elect to only accept LEC cards on their 10XXX access. But > it't strictly up to them. I believe AT&T will accept its card or an > LEC card on their 10288. > > [Moderator's Note: Oh? Stuff going through 10xxx is not validated by > the local telco? Then how come when I wanted to change the PIN on my > AT&T Calling Card and had to ask twice to get it done, the second time > the rep at AT&T said "I will send a FAX to Illinois Bell right now and > ask what is the delay in processing this," ?? And how come she later > said IBT had lost the original order to do it? I believe that anything > dialed via 10xxx is first examined -- in its entirety -- by the local > telco, and then is handled, passed to a carrier, treated or whatever. > How come whenever I want to change calling plans or do anything with > my AT&T account the answer is always it will be done whenever Illinois > Bell gets around to it, etc.? PAT] My statement was open to mis-interpretation. First, I was referring only to 10XXX-0- ... (but I think you know that). What I should have said is that the validation is the responsibility of the IXC ... that is, the IXC gives the bong, uses it's DTMF receivers to capture what you dial, and then makes its own decision on whether or not to accept the call. It could decide to pass them all, reject them all, look in its own database, or whatever. Apparently in the case of AT&T, it looks in the database of LEC issued cards, which AT&T does not have access to change. AT&T could, if it wanted, check the LEC database, and if there was no match, then check its own database for AT&T issued cards. For whatever reason, AT&T has decided not to do this. If it isn't in the LEC database, they don't accept it, but it's the IXC that does the rejection (although said rejection may be made based on information received from an LEC maintained database). If you don't key in a number after the bong, you will be connected to an IXC operator, not an LEC operator. Brett (brettf@netcom.com) (formerly rfranken@cs.umr.edu) ------------------------------ From: elana@netcom.com (Elana Beach) Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 19:35:38 GMT > [Moderator's Note: Your story is a good one. Yes, that's one reason > that skip-tracers, private detectives, etc make such good money. They > *know* about all the free, totally public information that's around > and exactly where to go find it. Remember, court houses are public > places as are criminal/civil trials, and by extension, all the paper- > work generated as a result. Just help yourself! There are databases > galore on the American public. Learn to use them. PAT] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Great! But HOW? Where does one start to find out all the ways of becoming a do-it-yourself private investigator? What books to buy or what net.sources should I know about? ObTelecom: My Caller-ID box from US West does not yet identify callers from out of the US West territory, expecially long-distance. Anyone have any idea when this will change?? Elana [Moderator's Note: Well, there is a company called 'Computer Detective' which sells passwords to their system ... not inexpensively, I might add. Its something like $750 for a password and a usage fee of some- where above $20 per hour. In return you get access to drivers' records for 49 states; the records of criminal and civil litigation in about 85 percent of the county courthouses in the USA including civil judg- ments; tax assessments cross referenced by address; who owns the parcel of land; numerous telephone directories and criss-cross directories by telephone number and address; credit bureau files from the three major bureaus; whether someone has ever been in prison or not, and what for; I think they have about 200 'cooperating databases' they scan. You call them with your modem, identify the person you are dealing with as best you can, and the databases you want searched. Depending on how wide and varied the search, and how common the name, results come back in a few seconds or several hours later. You log off in that case and they send email with the search results. They are very ethical, i.e. they require a written form saying you have 'legitimate business reasons' before they will access the credit bureaus due to federal laws about same and they don't access 'non- public' databases like NCIC. They content themselves with staying totally within the law looking at *public* information. They also do 'box inquiry' with post offices to find out who belongs to given post offices boxes and the actual street address of same. PO Box info *is* public, you know, if you know who to ask and the phrases to use when you invoke Freedom of Information. Their service is used to find deadbeat parents owing child support money; locating people who owe money in general or to whom money is owed; for finding old classmates for a reunion, whatever. They encourage people to *resell* their service as a dealer, or information provider. I think they even sell franchises under the name 'Computer Detective' complete with helpful instruction manuals. In other words, people come to you looking for someone. You charge $50 per hour, take down the details, scan the databases and go back to your client the next day with the results and tell them it took you three hours! :) I would begin one of thier franchises immediatly -- or at least obtain a pass- word and become 'Internet Detective' if I had the damn $750 to start with! I'd probably set up a server to take requests and email back the answers, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wollman@trantor.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: T1, Internet Access Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 20:57:21 GMT In article , Brad Cox wrote: > I'm responding to the group because I'm really not sure why Telnet, > Tymnet, Sprintnet and so forth isn't this fellow's answer. In three words: "Because X.25 sucks." In many cases, depending on the system vendor, it is actually cheaper to install the sort of service that other people have described, then just to buy the software to make a system speak X.25. Furthermore, the PDN's X.25 PADs are generally limited to 9600bps maximum (and that's usually at the most expensive rate), and often have difficulty dealing with modern file-transfer and communications protocols. As other people have pointed out, if you go the route of getting T1 entrance facilities and an expensive modem rack, you make it possible for people to connect to you using other mechanisms besides modem; e.g., ISDN or Switched 56, and depending on the sort of connection you buy from telco, it may provide you with useful information about your callers which could be used to provide enhanced services. Back in the 1970s, there were two, parallel lines of networking development going on. One gave us the Internet. The other gave us Triple-X (X.25, X.121, and something else). Which one would you choose, today, knowing about the relative popularity of these two technologies? Garrett A. Wollman wollman@emba.uvm.edu uvm-gen!wollman UVM disagrees. ------------------------------ From: atfurman@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Local Calls via LD Carrier? Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 14:38:45 PDT Thus spake our Moderator: > I think you will see in the next few years the distinction between > 'local carrier' and 'long distance company' becomes very blurred as > the LD companies begin handling more and more local service. Most of > them are happy to have calls terminated right at the subscriber's > premises now rather than paying the local telco access fees. What carries the signal over the infamous Last Mile? If the density of the alternate carrier's subscribers is far below the density of subscribers to the by-appointment-to-their-majesties-the-Public- Utilities-Commission local exchange carrier, I would expect the cost per subscriber of installing their own local loops to be vastly higher. [Moderator's Note: The carriers will either go with T-1 or a satellite dish on the roof, or similiar. If it suits them better, they will still use local telco leased lines, etc, but if they do it will be transparent to the end-user. Consider now how AT&T is glad to terminate directly for these guys who run chat services, etc. If the carrier has to pay two pennies to the LEC for termination or a penny to the end user instead, why not terminate with the end user if he has the volume of traffic to warrant it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bill@attmail.com Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 21:43:08 GMT Subject: Re: Psychological Effect of "Busy" Signal Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories [[Don't be fooled by where I work. I don't know nuthin bout buzzin no busies!]] I have a recollection of reading/hearing somewhere that a lot of thought and research went into the sound they chose for the ringer on a phone. The puzzle to solve was an optimization between using a sound urgent enough to make you want to answer pronto and not using a sound so annoying that you wouldn't want a phone. (My scrambled recollection of this may be confusing the original bells with today's popular electronic warblers.) It wouldn't surprise me to hear that the busy signal was chosen in a similar way. After all, since the billing model is that you don't pay for busy calls in the US, the phone company wants you to give up as soon as you know it's a busy. Bill@attmail.com billc@pegasus.ATT.COM or +1 908 576 2932, Fax x6406 William_J_Carpenter@ATT.COM AT&T Bell Labs / AT&T EasyLink Services LZ 3C-207 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #554 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16754; 9 Aug 93 6:25 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12564 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Mon, 9 Aug 1993 03:59:54 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA32173 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Mon, 9 Aug 1993 03:59:16 -0500 Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 03:59:16 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308090859.AA32173@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #555 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Aug 93 03:59:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 555 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Fire in Australian Telephone Exchange (David E A Wilson) FTP Sites Wanted for IEEE, CCITT etc Docs (Ross Douglas Alexander) People, Not Profits (A.T. Furman) Internet to Commerical E-Mail (Van H. Schallenberg) History of AT&T, The Day Dr. Bell Was Buried (Craig Myers) Another Look At Alex Bell (was Re: Hearing Impaired) (Kai Schlichting) LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation (Bert Roseberry) Radar and Acronyms (Cliff Sharp) Status of Cellular Data (Peter Lucas) Dial N'CERF (Gary Edwards) Pager Followup (Dan Reiner) Re: How to Change Pager Alert Sound? (Jacob DeGlopper) Re: Caller-ID Software Wanted (Dan Lawrence) Re: Borneo Malaysia Phones (John Gottschalk) Please Recommend a BRI ISDN Box (Carl Oppedahl) Re: T1, Internet Access (Brad Cox) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) Subject: Fire in Australian Telephone Exchange Date: 9 Aug 1993 12:29:03 +1000 Organization: University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Last week the TV news reported a fire in the Kiama telephone exchange. It said that approximatly 20% of trunks were damaged (I think -- this is from memory) and a number of special services (ATMs and railway ticket machines) were out as well. The next day the local newspaper had the following (small) article: "Telecom fire linked to railway A recently installed railway automatic ticket machine may have caused a $300,000 fire in the Kiama Telecom building. Police said the fire caused extensive internal damage to the Manning St. building. State Rail employees noticed sparks coming from the ticket machine at Kiama station." Note that I have not yet seen any confirmation that the ticket machine was the cause. The fire brigade had to break into the building to put the fire out. David Wilson +61 42 213802 voice, +61 42 213262 fax Dept Comp Sci, Uni of Wollongong david@cs.uow.edu.au ------------------------------ From: rale1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz (Ross Douglas Alexander) Subject: FTP Sites Wanted For IEEE, CCITT etc Docs Organization: Computer Science Dept. University of Auckland Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 22:48:36 GMT I'm after networking documents for (specifically IEEE 802.6, SMDS) computer and telephony networks. The documents I am interested in a sort of the following IETF - I know these ones IEEE - ???.ieee.org CCITT - Bellcore - AT&T - ISO - Many thanks, Ross Alexander Computer Science Auckland University ------------------------------ From: atfurman@cup.portal.com Subject: People, Not Profits Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 19:24:22 PDT No sooner had I submitted my response to the following example of capitalist-bashing: > CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP": NREN Takeover Moves Ahead Unopposed > By Vigdor Schreibman > ...These > measures would authorize a takeover of the NREN by private industry to > serve its own interests guided by the morality of the market place and > the ethic of profit maximization... Than I found the following, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.internet.access. wanted, in an unrelated posting by Simon Poole (Zurich, CH), who is involved with Internet operations in Europe: >> considering that email service can be gotten from private >> corporations in North America for anywhere from $10-$30/month. > You forget that infrastructure costs are about one order of > magnitude higher in Western European countries than in the > states (a 64K leased line will roughly set us back the same ammount > a T1 link would in the states)... Permit me to summarize. Western Europeans may pay far more for communications bandwidth provided by their State-owned monopolies, but they are at least protected from the horror of "private industry" allowed to "serve its own interest." Therefore, we should keep data networking under the control of the folks who brought you the Clipper Chip. People, not profits. While privatization programs pick up momentum in Russia, Hungary, and Czechslovakia, and the Prime Minister of Poland puts her political career on the line to get a key privatization bill through Parliament, we in the USA are treated to Vigdor Schreibman. > guided by the morality of the market place and the ethic of profit > maximization. To speak of "morality of the market place" and "ethic of profit maximization," that is, to *qualify* the terms "morality" and "ethic" to serve notice that they are not being used in the same sense that decent, right-thinking people use them, is to presuppose that business is, in some sense, basically immoral. It is to imply that business- people should be presumed guilty. Better, instead, we should leave it all to the folks who brought you the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms? Bibliography: _The Road to Serfdom_ by Friedrich A. v. Hayek > Federal Information News Syndicate, Vigdor Schreibman, Editor & Publisher, > 18 - 9th Street NE #206, Washington, DC 20002-6042. Copyright 1993 FINS. Copyright? Imagine my surprise. Mr Schreibman couldn't POSSIBLY be serving his own interests here, could he? ------------------------------ From: u951007@unx.ucc.okstate.edu (u951007) Subject: Internet to Commerical E-Mail Organization: Oklahoma State University Computer Center, Stillwater OK Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 03:13:50 GMT Has anyone ever developed a list of the formats necessary to send internet electronic mail to commercial electronic mail services? If not, I would be interested in preparing such a list. The list should include only commercial electronic mail services, both in the United States and in other countries. Such a list would facilitate converting from the normal address for a user on the service to the internet format. For example, I have compiled the following listing: SERVICE FORMAT REMARKS AT&T MAIL xxxxxxx@attmail.com where xxxxxxx is service username EASYLINK nnnnnnnn@eln.attmail.com where nnnnnnnn is user number COMPUSERVE nnnnn.nnnn@compuserve.com where nnnnn.nnnn is user number with comma changed to a period MCI MAIL 000nnnnnnn@mcimail.com where nnnnnnn is user number If others would e-mail the internet format for other commercial services I would compile and post. Thanks, Van H. Schallenberg schallenberg@attmail.com u951007@unx.ucc.okstate.edu [Moderator's Note: There have been some of these tables written up before and in fact we have one in the archives at present although it is a couple years old. PAT] ------------------------------ From: craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (Craig Myers) Subject: History of AT&T, The Day Dr. Bell Was Buried Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 02:47:15 GMT This is a little late... > From the "Events in Telecommunications History" August 4, 1922 "Telephone service was suspended for one minute, just before sunset (6:25 to 6:26 PM) on the entire telephone system of the United States and Canada during the funeral service for Dr. Bell." [Moderator's Note: This is correct. Although in his later years Alex Bell had nothing to do with the Bell System (he really was not even active much after the first couple years of the company), he remained a major stockholder in AT&T as did his wife Mable. When he died about the first of August 71 years ago, Mable called the executives of the company to tell them of his passing and they agreed to that minute of silence as a tribute. It took a couple days to get the message out to the far flung branches of the company. There was not total silence since some independent telcos became silent in sympathy with AT&T but others did not. Numerous executives of the company attended the funeral service that August evening, even though a lot of them hated Alex Bell as much as he hated them when he was alive. Some people in the company liked him a lot though, and remembered the personal generosity of Mable and Alex several years earlier at the time of the ugly incident at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works employees picnic in Chicago when the boat on which the employees were cruising sank in the Chicago River at Dearborn Street, drowning some 812 persons who were trapped under the overturned boat. As a shocked Bell System grieved over the death of several hundred co-workers and members of their families at the annual company picnic and awards ceremony which had turned into a hideous nightmare, Alex and Mable came to Chicago to personally visit the survivors and to make personal gifts to the families of those who were killed in the disaster to (as Mable put it) 'help tide them over as they try to begin their lives again ...' When they visited Hawthorne Works three days after the incident, they sat with employees in work-rooms at which half the working places were empty -- co-workers who had lost their lives the Sunday afternoon before -- and Mable took copious notes of the names of those no longer living; their families received personal notes and gifts from Alex and Mable a few days later. Not everyone though agrees that Alex Bell was such a good guy. The next message in this issue tells a different version of things. PAT] ------------------------------ From: acorn@info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (Kai Schlichting) Subject: Another Look at Alex Bell (was Re: Handsets ... Hearing Impaired) Date: 8 Aug 1993 23:31:15 GMT Organization: Newsserver, Comp.Center (RUS), U of Stuttgart, FRG > [Moderator's Note: For all their other foibles and complaints people > have about them, the Bell Companies in the USA have always been very > generous and imaginative at finding solutions for people with disabil- > ities. Alex Bell was a teacher of deaf people, you know. PAT] Some more information on Alex Bell: he had a deaf wife, but was not in favour of the deaf community at all. In fact, he wanted to destroy sign language, the only common denominator and centerpoint of culture deaf people have, by forcing and promoting deaf people (including his wife) to learn lipreading and have them go to oral school. If I am right, he even promoted laws that would forbid deaf people to marry (if both were deaf), to reduce the number of deaf people over all. (Sidenote: This is nonsense of course; there are more than 150 common causes for deafness, and only part of these are genetic reasons.) Alex Bell was not a teacher for the deaf, he was the centerforce of mainstreaming the deaf and destroying their unique culture, to clear up with a myth, if it ever was one. To the deaf, he was the ultimate person of intolerance and oppression. Bye, Kai (Hearing, but a proud husband of a deaf wife.) [Moderator's Note: Thank you very much for a challenging response on this 71st anniversary of Bell's death. Are there rebuttals to Kai's comments or validating remarks by other readers? Again, thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Aug 1993 22:08:17 EDT From: Bert Roseberry Subject: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Pat, LORAN stands for LOng Range Aid to Navigation. LORAN is one of the Coast Guard's responsibilities. Although now most LORAN sites are becoming automated, the biggest threat for Coast Guard people for many years was sending someone to isolated duty on a LORAN station in the middle of no where. Back several years ago when President Reagan bombed Omar Quedaffi he fought back by trying to bomb the LORAN Station on Lampadusa, a small island off of Italy. The bomb fell short. So much for trivia. Bert Roseberry roseberry@eisner.decus.org or US Coast Guard bert@mailstorm.dot.gov ------------------------------ Subject: Radar and Acronyms Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 18:01:53 CDT From: Cliff Sharp >> RADAR = RAdio Direction And Rangefinding > [Moderator's Note: While you're at it then, how about SONAR and LORAN > and ELF? 'Radar' is one of those acronymns which has turned into a > word on its own ... much like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) > and CARE (Committee on American Relief in Europe). Got any other > examples of 'words' which are really acronymns instead? PAT] SONAR - SOund Navigation And Ranging LORAN - LOng RAnge Navigation ELF - Extremely Low Frequency (which is among the hierarchy: ELF - Extremely Low Frequency below 10 KHz VLF - Very Low Frequency 10 - 30 KHz LF - Low Frequency 30 - 300 KHz MF - Medium Frequency 300 KHz - 3 MHz HF - High Frequency 3 - 30 MHz VHF - Very High Frequency 30 - 300 MHz UHF - Ultra High Frequency 300 MHz - 3 GHz SHF - Super High Frequency 3 - 30 GHz EHF - Extremely High Frequency 30 -300 GHz ) Other acronyms: LASER - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation MASER - Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (coherent microwave beams, just as lasers give coherent light) TASER - (before anyone asks) I think this is a made-up Trademark, but maybe it should be Telescoping Anti-personnel Shocker Emasculated by Rodney King :-) SEATO - SouthEast Atlantic Treaty Organization TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction (very apropos!) JEEP = G.P. - General Purpose vehicle WAC, WAVE, etc. SHAEF, COMSEC, CINCPAC, probably a zillion other military ones FUBAR SCSI (scuzzy) - Small Computer Systems Interface LATA - Lousy A**h*les Treating you Arrogantly :-) BELLCORE - BELL COmmunications REsearch UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter MODEM - MOdulator/DEModulator CODEC - COder/DECoder VOCODER - VOice enCODER RAID - Redundant Array of Independent Disks Off the top of my head (that's all the barber could fit :-)... [Moderator's Note: The only one I will dispute with you is SEATO. The /A/ stands for 'Asia' -- not 'Atlantic'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Peter Lucas Subject: Status of Cellular Data Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 22:23:47 -0400 Organization: Sponsored acct, H&SS Dean's Office, Carnegie Mellon, Pitts, PA Can anyone post an update on what's going on in the world of cellular data? I used to assume that wireless data connectivity would evolve out of alphanumeric pager service, but I gather that the cellular voice carriers are gearing up to soak up their spare bandwidth by providing cellular packet data. Is this right? How's it going? When can I expect to have affordable two-way email from my laptop? I know about Embarc et al, but it is SOOOO expensive. It currently appears to be far cheaper per byte to use a cellular phone and modem than to use the alpha-pager services and that seems crazy. Anybody know what's coming down in this area? ------------------------------ Subject: Dial N'CERF From: uttsbbs!gary.edwards@PacBell.COM (Gary Edwards) Date: 8 Aug 93 21:01:00 GMT Organization: The Transfer Station BBS, Danville, CA - 510-837-4610/837-5591 Reply-To: uttsbbs!gary.edwards@PacBell.COM (Gary Edwards) A friend living in Sacramento mentioned he was interested in Dial N'CERF. Does anyone have any information regarding this that they can share? Supposedly, my friend believes this Dial N'CERF to be "THE HOT SETUP!" The Transfer Station BBS (510) 837-4610 & 837-5591 (V.32bis both lines) Danville, California, USA. 1.5 GIG Files & FREE public Internet Access ------------------------------ From: dbr@world.std.com (Dan Reiner) Subject: Re: How To Change Pager Alert Sound? Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 00:55:22 GMT I recently asked for information on changing the alert sound of a Bravo-plus pager. This turns out to be under the control of the paging service, as I found out when I asked them a second time. The Bravo-plus is capable of at least four different sound patterns, depending on what is transmitted to it. Thanks to all who replied. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 23:26:19 -0400 From: Jacob DeGlopper Subject: Re: How to Change Pager Alert Sound? Dan Reiner writes: > My Motorola Bravo-plus pager signals an incoming page with a loud, > annoying "short-long, short-long" beep. Other same-make/model pagers, > I own my pager. Can I change its beep style by moving a jumper or > something like that? Or is this in firmware? The paging service If you look at the bottom of your pager, inside the battery compartment there are three gold contacts. All pager options are programmed via these contacts, so you need to find someone with a Bravo Plus programmer. I'm surprised your pager company wouldn't do it for you -- that should be part of the service. You either need to find a different paging compnay or a Motorola dealer with the right programmer. You can not only change the beep cadence, but also add features such as a priority alert that will make the pager beep even in silent mode for certain phone numbers. Jacob DeGlopper, EMT-A, Wheaton (MD) Volunteer Rescue Squad Case Western Reserve University - jrd5@po.cwru.edu LAN Administration, The Orkand Corporation ------------------------------ From: dan@halcyon.halcyon.com (Dan Lawrence) Subject: Re: Caller-ID Software Wanted Date: 8 Aug 1993 17:30:11 -0700 Organization: "A World of Information at your Fingertips" In article taylor@perlis.mcs.gvsu.edu (Steve Taylor) writes: > I am interested in computer software that displays incoming telephone > numbers on my computer screen. Caller-ID was just introduced in my > area and I'm interested in a package to utilize it. I am also looking for some CID software. I have a Supra fax modem and PC clone computer. We just got CID in the 206 area (US west) and I would like to have some software. Ideally it should log all calls, Display incoming number and name in BIG letters on the screen. It would be even better if it would announce the calling number over a sound card (I have a sound blaster). It would be nice if you could substitute a custom sound file for particular numbers so it might say "Dan's Calling!" instead of a number. I am about ready to write it myself but it would be nice to see what other peoples software does. ------------------------------ From: john@citr.uq.oz.au (John Gottschalk) Subject: Re: Borneo Malaysia Phones Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 03:10:41 GMT JVE%FNAHA@TRENGA.UniGate1.Unisys.COM writes: >>> Smartfon is a 100m range cordless phone, which you use near to a >>> posted transmitter. It's smaller than a cellular phone, which I think >>> may also be available. >> If this is the same as the System used in Singapore, then you can >> make only outgoing calls. All over Singapore are the little signs >> >> Very interesting concept -- I had not heard it being used anywhere else. > These CT2 phones are used quite widely around the world, only the > service name varies, usually it is a variation of 'Telepoint'. In > Europe I know that at least England, France and Finland have telepoint > services. In Australia the service offered by Telstra (AKA Telecom Australia) is called Talkabout. It allows incoming as well as outgoing calls. When the user of the cordless phone is not near a basestation the calls are recorded using voicemail, and when the user registers with a base station the recorded phone calls are played to them. While they are registered they can send and recieve phone calls. People can also buy (rent?) a base station for the home, and it can be used in offices. I hear that the cordless PABX technology is similar to the Talkabout technology. Regards, John Gottschalk, john@citr.uq.oz.au Project Manager, CiTR, +61 7 365 4321 (phone) The University of Queensland, 4072, +61 7 365 4399 (fax) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Please Recommend a BRI ISDN Box Date: 8 Aug 1993 22:50:20 -0400 Organization: Oppedahl & Larson I am thinking of signing up with Basic Rate Interface ISDN from Nynex. To do so I need an interface box that connects with the two-wire BRI ISDN signal and provides "dial tones" and RS-232 connections. Can some kind soul recommend makes of BRI boxes, and suppliers? Thanks, Carl Oppedahl AA2KW (patent lawyer) 1992 Commerce Street #309 Yorktown Heights, NY 10598-4412 voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 1993 23:37:32 -0500 From: bcox@gmu.edu (Brad Cox @ GMU/PSOL) Subject: Re: T1, Internet Access wollman@trantor.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) wrote: > In three words: "Because X.25 sucks." > Back in the 1970s, there were two, parallel lines of networking > development going on. One gave us the Internet. The other gave us > Triple-X (X.25, X.121, and something else). Which one would you > choose, today, knowing about the relative popularity of these two > technologies? But I don't 'know' their relative popularity. It varies according to whose propaganda I read. I know internet is popular in universities, but America Online, GEnie, and Compuserve (and others) use X.25. Compuserve and Prodigy's propaganda makes them loom very large. I have no way of knowing for sure. Incidentally, they don't "have difficulty dealing with modern file-transfer and communications protocols" assuming you mean zmodem which I use routinely without difficulty. They do seem to be restricted to 2400 baud, but AOL keeps promising 9600 baud RSN. If anyone has recent information re: number of subscribers for all infoage services I'd be deeply grateful. I need it for a new book, "Taming the Electronic Frontier". Brad Cox; bcox@gmu.edu; 703 968 8229 Voice 703 968 8798 Fax George Mason Program on Social and Organizational Learning ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #555 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa16525; 10 Aug 93 2:21 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA23385 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 00:03:56 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30727 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 00:03:21 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 00:03:21 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308100503.AA30727@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #556 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 00:03:15 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 556 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Sprint Workers Fed Up, Start Unionizing (Nigel Allen) MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Weekend) (B.J. Guillot) Ringmate/CNID on Panasonic EMSS (Monty Solomon) Need Programming Information: Mitsubishi 1500 Cell Phone (Jim Miller) Hotel Rip-Off - is This a Record? (John Slater) Cell Phone Fraud and New Systems (Jon Allen) Information Request on PCN/PCS (Hans Kruse) Competition at the LEC Level (R. Shin) New Telecom Products in Sharper Image (Christopher Zguris) Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (Frank E. Carey) Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (Joel Upchurch) Re: Administrivia: Looking at the Week Ahead of Us (Michael Covington) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ndallen@io.org (Nigel Allen) Subject: Sprint Workers Fed Up, Start Unionizing Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 20:00:00 -0400 (EDT) Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto New Liberation News Service posted the following story to misc.activism.progressive. I should mention that I've never worked for Sprint, and that I therefore have no first-hand information about the company. Perhaps someone from Sprint might care to comment on the information in the NLNS story. Sprint Workers Fed Up, Start Unionizing by Linda Greene, NLNS (NLNS)--Working at Sprint leaves a lot to be desired besides decent pay. Sprint requires its telemarketers, mostly women, to stay on the phone for precisely 6.7 hours a day and talk with each customer for exactly 150-210 seconds. A telemarketer has 10 seconds -- no more, no less -- between calls and must make a sale every 3.5 minutes. Mostly women also, operators and service representatives at Sprint make $6,000-7,000 less a year than others in the telephone industry, which is largely unionized. The work schedules of Sprint operators change completely every week. Ever try making a long-term child care arrangement with a work schedule like that? If a worker arrives a few minutes late or leaves a few minutes early six times in a year, she or he is fired. Flexibility for emergencies or child care problems? Not at Sprint. Supervisors eavesdrop electronically on Sprint workers and impose unrealistically high work standards and constant work speed-ups, causing employee burnout and high turnover. Each year, 25% of Sprint operators quit their jobs. Sex discrimination at Sprint? You bet. The wage gap between jobs that mainly men vs. mainly women hold at Sprint is 25% greater than at AT&T and the Bell companies. Sprint operators make $6,160 less a year than their unionized counterparts at AT&T. Customer service representatives make $9,235 less; technicians, $3,445 less. In '91, William T. Esrey, chair and CEO of Sprint, made $2.4 million, almost 100 times the average pay of his nonmanagement employees. Sprint is the third-largest long distance phone company in the U.S., with 10% of the market and revenues in the billions of dollars. It employs over 16,000 people and owns local telephone companies in 18 states, for a total of 29,000 employees, nearly half of whom belong to unions. Having merged recently with Centel, Sprint now owns cellular operations in 19 states, for another 1,080 employees, and also owns long distance services in 199 countries besides the U.S. That doesn't count its special data transmission and video teleconferencing services, marketed in over 100 countries. It's no wonder Sprint workers are ready to organize. Sprint management, however, isn't cooperating. Rather, it has a formal policy of busting unionizing activity and squelching free speech. For instance, all Sprint supervisors receive a manual on "union-free management," and the company holds meetings at which attendance is mandatory and only antiunion workers can speak. Sprint has even been known to prevent the posting and distribution of union leaflets in public areas outside the company's buildings. This year Sprint made the Coalition of Labor Union Women's "Hit List" of the nation's most sexist people and corporations, "for waging an anti-union campaign in the face of the organizing efforts of its mostly female workforce ..." Recently Sprint workers successfully forced the company to alter its policy on how workers should handle obscene phone calls. Other phone companies and police departments recommend hanging up immediately, but not Sprint management: it required operators to warn the caller twice -- and then thank him for using Sprint before hanging up! In March, Sprint agreed to let employees refer obscene calls to a supervisor. Whether or not you're a Sprint customer, you can support Sprint workers' efforts to unionize by joining Friends of Sprint Workers, Communications Workers of America, 501 Third St., NW, Washington, DC 20001-2797 (phone 202-434-1182, fax 202-434-1201). (Source: CWA). ------------- The New Liberation News Service (NLNS) is a project of the non-profit Institute for Social and Cultural Change that seeks to facilitate the sharing of news, opinion, experiences, support and solidarity among progressive, grass-roots media outlets. NLNS can be reached at PO Box 325, Kendall Square Branch, Cambridge, MA 02142; (617) 492-8316; nlns@igc.apc.org. ------------- Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ndallen@io.org [Moderator's Note: There was a time when AT&T used to be a bunch of nasty old devils to work for also in the company's pre-union days in the early part of this century. People like Chicagoan Myrtle Murphy, a retired (for thirty year's now! That's longer than some of you are old and longer than any of you have worked for a living) operator at IBT who was the first union steward here back in the 1930's changed that. She recalls the other operators used to laugh at her and say stuff like, 'you will never organize Bell ... no one can organize the Bell'. The supervisors told the other workers to 'stay away from Myrtle; she is a trouble-maker and she will get you in trouble with the Company too', ... but she kept getting 'the other girls' to sign union cards and come to meetings. She was an operator for forty years. I am reminded of 'Mother' Emma Jones. You recall her don't you? When a reporter for a newspaper once asked her what was her occupation, she thought about it for a second and said, "...my occupation? I'm a Hell-Raiser." So was Myrtle and many of the other operators in the 1930's despite the fact that the Great Depression was on and like all companies, Bell had a hundred women in line at the Employment Office every day of the week ready to take a job and the food off the table of someone else at a minute's notice for the princely sum of fifteen dollars per week as an operator. Of course in those days five dollars took home three large bags of groceries from the Safeway and a month's rent was $20-25 for a nice apartment. PAT] ------------------------------ From: st1r8@elroy.uh.edu (B.J. Guillot) Subject: MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Weekend) Date: 9 Aug 1993 08:50 CDT Organization: University of Houston Passed along FYI to the group: Press Release 07/26/93 09:00 EDT Systems Solutions, the owner and operator of The Virginia Connection bulletin board system, the Washington, DC area's premier PCBoard BBS system located in Reston, VA announced today that The Virginia Connection is one of the first bulletin boards in the United States selected by MCI Telecommunications, Inc. to participate as an official startup BBS member of the MCI PC CONNECT computer telephone network. MCI PC CONNECT is an exciting new program being offered by MCI which provides computer modem users with low long distance rates for telephone calls made to bulletin boards from both intrastate and interstate calls. MCI PC Connect(sm) FEE/RATES: ============================= - $3.00 monthly fee (does not apply towards usage) - Includes calling to continental U.S. in addition to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. PC Connect Customer to NON-PC Connect Customer: ----------------------------------------------- $0.22 during Day (Mon-Fri: 8am - 5pm) $0.10 during E/N/W (Mon-Fri: 5pm-8am: Sat/Sun: 24 hours) PC Connect Customer to PC Connect Customer: ------------------------------------------- $.176 during Day $.08 during E/N/W Friends & Family discount does not apply to fee For an additional $1.50 per month, MCI PC Connect customers can include in-state calls at the same MCI PC Connect plan rates as above. Available in the following states: ================================== Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin Not Available in the following states: ====================================== Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming It is important to remember that you must be a member of MCI PC CONNECT in order to receive these rates! The thousands of computer bulletin board users should immediately contact MCI and become members of this low cost calling service to take advantage of the low rate structure and the ability to reach the best bulletin boards in the country at the best long distance rates. The Virginia Connection BBS has been in operation since 1985 and serves thousands of users. This BBS supports most computers with features which include: 50,000 programs available for downloading, National and International E-Mail via FidoNet, SmartNet, MetroLink, and RelayNet International Message Exchange, 20 incoming telephone lines connected to computer modems capable of operating from 1200 to 14400 baud, and on-line games for individual and team players. This BBS is a member of The Capital Area SysOps Association, a group of over 200 metropolitan Washington, DC area bulletin board operators. MCI PC CONNECT will allow computer users from most of the United States to participate on these bulletin boards for very reasonable long distance rates. Now long distance callers will be able to utilize the quality and depth of this exceptional BBS as local computer bulletin board users have done for years. Modem users can reach The Virginia Connection BBS by dialing (703) 648-1841. In order to receive all information regarding this MCI PC CONNECT service, call 1-800-333-2511 and MCI operators will provide you with more details. Call now! Do not delay! Don't be satisfied with less! Take advantage of the service -- save money! The Virginia Connection BBS c/o Systems Solutions 11088 Thrush Ridge Road Reston, VA 22091-4722 Contact: Tony McClenny Voice: (703) 758-7984 Modem: (703) 648-1841 -------------- Regards, B.J. Guillot ... Houston, Texas USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 04:37:50 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Ringmate/CNID on Panasonic EMSS Will Ringmate (distinctive ringing) and/or CNID work with the Panasonic KX-T123211D EMSS? Thanks, Monty Solomon / PO Box 2486 / Framingham, MA 01701-0405 monty%roscom@think.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1993 11:53:03 -0400 (EDT) From: jmiller@wendy.bowlgreen.oh.US (Jim Miller) Subject: Need Programming Info: Mitsubishi 1500 Cell Phone Hi everybody, I have a Mitsubishi 1500 TPK transportable cell phone, and would like some information on it. First, I would like the programming information on this unit. I recently switched cellular carriers, and they changed one of the security codes (for local/long-d/incoming only restriction, among other things) to 0000. If you have programming information on this unit, I would be more than happy to pay duplication and postage costs, in order to receive a copy of it. Second, this unit has some type of option for a data port. I have not been able to find any information, specifications, or even a place to purchase the option. If you know anything about this port, I'd like to hear from you. Thank you very much! Jim Miller - PLEASE RESPOND TO: jmiller@cinnet.sdrc.com, not the From: address. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 19:09:23 BST From: John.Slater@UK.Sun.COM (John Slater) Subject: Hotel Rip-Off - Is This a Record? I have just had the dubious pleasure of staying for a couple of weeks at the Hyatt Regency Alicante in Anaheim, California. Being an avid TELECOM Digest reader, I went straight to the rate card by the phone even before I unpacked my case. Even by British hotel standards (typically 400% mark-up on BT's standard unit charge), the Hyatt was extortionate. Consider what they charge for international calls: Operator-assisted rates (even though the call is direct-dialled) PLUS a $2.50 access charge per call! PLUS 45c per minute!! Even a conservative estimate for a five or ten minute call weighs in at several hundred percent mark-up. To my regret I never did call the 1-800 number listed on the card to compare AT&T's operator-assisted and direct-dial call charges, and I never did collar the hotel management to chew them out for such outrageous pricing -- I was working and had better things to do. Can anyone put some rough figures on these items? The charge for 1-800 calls was 75c, but they only seemed to charge this for long-distance access numbers such as MCI (1-800-950-1022). Local calls were 75c too. Plain old 950-1022 was blocked. The card said that all LD traffic was carried by AT&T, incidentally, but I did use 1-800-950-1022 from the room once. The domestic long-distance rates were similarly structured, but with a lower access charge and a lower per-minute charge. (WHY? Why should they rip me off any more just because I'm dialing overseas? The cost to them is the same. I guess the answer is "because they can" :-( ). Fortunately I was travelling on business, so I used BT's UK Direct 1-800 number with a BT card that is billed to my company. Next time I'm in the US privately, I'll be using Telepassport. Who needs COCOTs when hotels rip us off so effectively? John ------------------------------ From: jrallen@devildog.att.com (Jon Allen) Subject: Cell Phone Fraud and New Systems Organization: AT&T IMS - Piscataway, NJ (USA) Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 21:49:39 GMT I just got home tonight and turned on channel 4 from New York to see a story on new types of cell phone fraud. It said that thieves are using an ESN reader to read the ESNs and phone numbers right off the air as people drive by (it said that the phones transmit this info to the cell regardless of whether or not a person is talking), and then program them into their own phones to rip people off. The interesting part is that they said that next year, Cellular One would be converting over to a digital system which would solve the problem. I am curious if anyone knows more about this specifically. There must be some way to phase in the digital system so as that both the old and new systems are active at the same time. Do they share the same radio frequencies? If so, the system must somehow recognize the different phones. Or is this whole story just media hype? I was thinking about buying a cell phone, but if the current phones will be obsolete in a year, it seems wise to wait. Jon Allen [Moderator's Note: Yep, ESN 'readers' are the latest thing in vogue for phreaks. It lets them hit up the cellular carriers for a few million per year with stolen ESN's which are sold to other unsavory types. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Subject: Information Request on PCN/PCS Reply-To: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Organization: Ohio University Computing & Technology Services Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 17:12:45 GMT I have been asked to write a section of a report being compiled for state regulators on Personal Communication Systems/Networks. My specific area is the technical interconnection of the PCN/PCS to the public (landline) network, including routing and number assignment issues. If you have any information you feel should be covered/included, or can point me to sources of information, please send these to me. The deadline is short, so electronic and FAX routes are preferred. Hans Kruse McClure School of Communication Systems Management Ohio University 9 S. College Street Athens, OH 45701 614-593-4891 (voice) 614-593-4889 (FAX) kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Thanks! ------------------------------ Subject: Competition at the LEC Level From: R.SHIN@sysb.ftc.gov Date: 09 Aug 93 09:53:43 EDT I am doing a study examining the effect of competition and different forms of regulation on local exchange carriers' costs. To conduct this study, I need information on the status of competition at the local exchange level in various states. I need to know whether competition is allowed in the provision of intraLATA toll service or in local exchange service. I would like to know when such competition was allowed for a given state or a tier-1 local exchange company, and additional information on how long it took before a competitor actually entered the market would be useful. Please e-mail me at R.Shin@sysb.FTC.edu I will summarize the replies and posted here. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 20:06 GMT From: Christopher Zguris <0004854540@mcimail.com> Subject: New Telecom Products in Sharper Image I don't want this to sound like a commercial, but the new Sharper Image catalog (800-344-4444) has a three interesting telecom items (only available from the catalog): 1) Fone Link -- Use your cordless phone to control IR remote control devices. No specific details in ad blurb. 2) Hands Free Ear Phone -- A hands free phone without a mike boom, the mic is built into the ear piece, so you only wear a ear bud-type earphone. 3) Cellular Phone Scrambler, scrambles cellular calls -- This one is interesting. The blurb says you install the device (custom-wired for your phone) and then call Secure-Net's 800 number and are billed by Secure-Net. I'm guessing that you call them using your secure line, then they call your party on a land-line. Does anyone know about Secure-Net? Is this something new? Christopher Zguris 485-4540@MCIMail.com [Moderator's Note: Ah, don't worry about commercializing this newsgroup. As any idiot would tell you -- and many of them have told me -- the death of Usenet occurred back in February when I made a three dollar profit on an Orange Calling Card someone purchased from my office. Why, the Chairlady of the California Cowgirls Association herself pronounced the benediction and led the singing of the closing hymn at the funeral service, which is still going on actually, there being so many stanzas to sing, each with the old familiar refrain. Like the catsup people, the organist has 57 Variations on a Theme, each with its own massive fugue. I guess they take a break for the pause that refreshes now and then when the cowgirl goes off stage to change into a fresh pair of (Mormon-defined) Holy Underwear, or 'garments' as they are known by LDS insiders. Anyway, you committed a grievous sin: you failed to include prices in your message and put stars and borders around the text, ala VIC-20 phreak BBS messages. And next time, include the phrases 'final offer! and 'one week sale!' in your message if you expect me to accept a bribe for running it here. You surely don't expect me to run anything here but Talk Ticket messages for free do you? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 10:16:51 EDT From: fec@arch2.att.com Subject: Re: Another Look at Alex Bell Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories There's a rather interesting view of the life of Alexander Bell available to visitors to the Bell museum in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. I visited it decades ago and seem to remember learning that: - he was swindled out of his invention and his company very early on; - he became so bitter he left the country and renounced his citizenship; - he abandoned his interest in telephony and worked on manned flight. The museum has lots of information and displays on his kite experiments. This does seem inconsistent with the reported visits to Hawthorne families, etc. Can anybody confirm my recollections of this long ago visit? Needless to say, we aren't exposed to this view in house. Frank Carey at Bell Labs f.e.carey@att.com [Moderator's Note: He kept his considerable shares of stock in AT&T until his death at which time the stock passed to Mable; that hardly seems a way to swindle a man out of his invention and his company. They did go to Canada to live, but he returned quite often to the USA on business matters. He did grow disinterested in telephony which was the main reason he did not take an active role in the company; that and he didn't like many of the executives running things. But I don't think he ever felt he had been cheated. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Another Look at Alex Bell From: aaahq01!upchrch!joel@uunet.UU.NET (Joel Upchurch) Date: Mon, 09 Aug 93 13:43:16 EDT Organization: Upchurch Computer Consulting, Orlando FL acorn@info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (Kai Schlichting) writes: > Some more information on Alex Bell: he had a deaf wife, but was not in > favour of the deaf community at all. In fact, he wanted to destroy > sign language, the only common denominator and centerpoint of culture > deaf people have, by forcing and promoting deaf people (including his > wife) to learn lipreading and have them go to oral school. If I am > right, he even promoted laws that would forbid deaf people to marry > (if both were deaf), to reduce the number of deaf people over all. > (Sidenote: This is nonsense of course; there are more than 150 common > causes for deafness, and only part of these are genetic reasons.) > Alex Bell was not a teacher for the deaf, he was the centerforce of > mainstreaming the deaf and destroying their unique culture, to clear > up with a myth, if it ever was one. To the deaf, he was the ultimate > person of intolerance and oppression. It looks to me like Kai wants to retroactively apply nineties standards of political correctness to a century ago. I really doubt that efforts to mainstream the deaf and teach them lip reading would be viewed as oppression by the standards of Mr. Bell's era. As for discouraging deaf people to marry it seems to me that could simply be because a child without at least one hearing parent would have greater difficulties learning to talk. It also seems hard to fault Mr. Bell for not having available to him our medical knowledge of the causes of deafness. (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 [Moderator's Note: And thank you for adding to this thread. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 00:49:36 -0400 From: Michael Covington Subject: Re: Administrivia: Looking at the Week Ahead of Us Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens > August 11 An auspicious day: a spectacular meteor shower is predicted. Michael A. Covington, Associate Research Scientist Artificial Intelligence Programs mcovingt@ai.uga.edu The University of Georgia phone 706 542-0358 Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A. amateur radio N4TMI [Moderator's Note: That's right! God is putting on the show in honor of the twelfth anniversary of this Digest, one of the oldest, if not the oldest continuing newsgroup/Internet mailing list on the net. :) PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #556 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18168; 10 Aug 93 3:20 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA31291 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:10:03 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA03057 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:09:28 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:09:28 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308100609.AA03057@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #557 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 01:10:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 557 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Status of Cellular Data (Gregory M. Paris) Re: Status of Cellular Data (A.N. Ananth) Re: Status of Cellular Data (Jim Rees) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Steven J. Tucker) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Garrett Wollman) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Tad Cook) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Blake Patterson) Re: Central Office Tours? (Tad Cook) Re: Central Office Tours? (Harold Hallikainen) Re: Radar Detectors (Michael Covington) Re: Radar Detectors (Harold Hallikainen) Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation (Garrett Wollman) Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? (Mike King) Re: Do We Have a Theme Song? (Jim Haynes) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: paris@merlin.dev.cdx.mot.com (Gregory M. Paris) Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data Organization: Motorola Codex, Canton, Massachusetts Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 18:27:20 GMT > Can anyone post an update on what's going on in the world of cellular > data? I used to assume that wireless data connectivity would evolve > out of alphanumeric pager service, but I gather that the cellular > voice carriers are gearing up to soak up their spare bandwidth by > providing cellular packet data. By no means do I claim to be an expert on this topic, but at last week's USENIX "Mobile & Location-Independent Computing Symposium" I heard a presentation by Phil Karn of Qualcomm on an IP-over-CDMA digital cellular implementation they've been working on. Phil mentioned an effective data rate of 8 kbps for this digital cellular IP connection. At least one attendee claimed to be able to better that rate using PPP, a Cellblazer (or maybe he said a Q-blazer) modem, and a regular analog cellular connection. In any case, the data rate doesn't compare favorably with a "hard-fibered" connection, but it still sounds pretty cool to me. Of course, you have to wait for CDMA to come to your cell system before you can take advantage ... Greg Paris Motorola Codex, 20 Cabot Blvd C1-30, Mansfield, MA 02048-1193 ------------------------------ From: ananth@access.digex.net (A N Ananth) Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data Date: 9 Aug 1993 22:40:37 -0400 Organization: Biligiri International, Ellicott City, MD USA In article Peter Lucas writes: > Can anyone post an update on what's going on in the world of cellular > data? > Is this right? Hows it going? Anybody know what's coming down in > this area? Even though you ask specifically about cellular data, I assume you really mean wireless datacom. At Westinghouse, we are involved in putting together a geosynchronous satellite network that will provide mobile datacom coverage to the entire North American continent. This is the MSAT program and it offers a mobile field unit with a dish the size of a frisbee and optional cellular interoperable voice and fax to boot. Brief details are: X.25/X.3 connectivity, custom protocols for broadcast/multicast traffic, 2400/4800 bps, connectivity to all manner of datanets and other prodigy-like services is planned. The project is under active development and is expected to be pressed into commercial service in 3Q/4Q 1994. ananth Work: (410) 765-9281 ------------------------------ From: Jim.Rees@umich.edu Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data Date: 9 Aug 1993 16:18:33 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI In article , Peter Lucas writes: > Can anyone post an update on what's going on in the world of cellular > data? This is part of our area of research, so I'll take a stab at it. I'm afraid this will be a bit US-centric, since that's what I'm familiar with. We mostly use analog modems over voice cellular. This is the cheapest way to go right now. Bandwidth is around 6-8 Kbps, call setup times are very long (a minute or so including modem connect time), and roaming is a problem, but coverage is pretty good and it's relatively cheap. There are currently two cellular data service providers in the US, Ardis and RAM Mobile. These systems are sort of like the cellular phone systems, but are data only, and are not affiliated with cellular phone. They have limited coverage, mostly only in cities and suburbs. Bandwidth is around 10 Kbps, setup times are small, and cost is about ten times that of analog modem over voice cellular. These services are resold by various value-adders, such as PSI, mostly for email. On the horizon, there are three proposals for data over voice cellular. CDPD, or Celluplan II, puts data into unused "holes" in the current cellular allocations. It's intended to piggyback onto existing systems as a transition to full digital cellular (see below). I think it's being tested in a number of places, but I don't know of any production deployment yet. Qualcomm CDMA uses spread-spectrum technology for digital voice. Now that Phil Karn is working at Qualcomm, there is a good chance that any CDMA systems will include provisions for data, probably using tcp/ip/ppp. CDMA is being tested in San Diego (home of Qualcomm) but hasn't been deployed anywhere. TDMA is a time-division multiplexed digital voice system that preceded CDMA but is technically inferior. I don't know whether it makes any provision for data, but I suspect it does. I think it's being tested in a few places (probably Chicago, home of Motorola). Either CDMA or TDMA, but not both, will eventually be the successor to today's AMPS analog system. Any digital voice cellular system will probably have to include some provision for data, since you can't run a modem over one of these. The big question is whether the data services will be priced reasonably, or priced like Ardis. Peter Honeyman has said that some day we may look back on the early '90s as the golden age of cellular data communication. There's also NAMPS, an analog stopgap being deployed by some cellular service providers in congested areas. It doesn't do data, and in fact probably won't even carry modem traffic. Then there's GSM, the non-US digital cellular system of the future. It's been deployed in a few places, and I think it has provisions for data, but I don't know much more about it. It's unlikely to be deployed in the US, since it wasn't invented here and can optionally use encryption, which our government would like to outlaw. ------------------------------ From: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker) Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Date: 9 Aug 1993 17:07:32 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker) In a previous article, elana@netcom.com (Elana Beach) says: > [Moderator's Note: Well, there is a company called 'Computer Detective' > which sells passwords to their system ... not inexpensively, I might > add. Its something like $750 for a password and a usage fee of some- > where above $20 per hour. In return you get access to drivers' records Where can I get more information about/from this company? Steve [Moderator's Note: I refuse to say because maybe I will become a dealer/representative for them in the near future. ... then I can further commercialize the net by giving you my office address at the Metro Office Building on Howard Street when you want to snoop on your neighbors. If that doesn't cause the Friends of Cowgirl to insist that their chairperson wear clean, fresh LDS-approved Holy Underwear at all times, I don't know what will. :). PAT] ------------------------------ From: wollman@trantor.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 18:40:29 GMT In article , TELECOM Moderator noted in response to Elana Beach : > PO Box info *is* public, you know, if you know who to ask and the > phrases to use when you invoke Freedom of Information. Yet another reason to buy this service from a company like Mail Boxes Etc. (And you get the added benefit that alternative carriers like UPS and FedEx can deliver to these "boxes".) I should point out that a lot of people, reporters especially, like to try to bluster their way to getting the information they want by referencing FOIA. Sometimes they do themselves more harm than good; mentioning FOIA in a Federal courthouse isn't likely to get you anywhere since the courts are not subject to FOIA and the officials who work there know it. (I could go into some detail about this, but won't.) Garrett A. Wollman wollman@emba.uvm.edu uvm-gen!wollman UVM disagrees. [Moderator's Note: Years ago, Postal Form 1537 (authorization to deliver mail to an agent, complete with true name and address of the final recipient of the mail) was mandatory, and postal inspectors would quite often review the forms. The mail drop was not supposed to start accepting mail for a client until the Post Office verified the form, which they did by giving it to the route carrier for the address specified as the 'true' address of the client. The carrier had to see if there was a mailbox at the address specified with the name specified so for a couple weeks the client had to scotch-tape the name "Smith" or whatever on the front of his mailbox along with his own name so the carrier would see it when he came past. Most mail drops are nothing more than fraud-hives with a few legitimate customers among the ranks of the carpet baggers and deadbeats. Now the form is voluntary. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 15:26:47 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) elana@netcom.com (Elana Beach) writes: > Great! But HOW? Where does one start to find out all the ways of > becoming a do-it-yourself private investigator? What books to buy or > what net.sources should I know about? Check out these books. I found them in the online database at Seattle Public Library: AUTHOR MacHovec, Frank J. TITLE Private investigation : methods and materials / by Frank MacHovec. PUBLISHER Springfield, Ill., U.S.A. : C.C. Thomas, c1991. AUTHOR Akin, Richard H. TITLE The private investigator's basic manual / by Richard H. Akin. PUBLISHER Springfield, Ill. : Thomas, c1976. tad@ssc.com (if it bounces, use 3288544@mcimail.com) Tad Cook | Packet Amateur Radio: | Home Phone: Seattle, WA | KT7H @ N7DUO.WA.USA.NA | 206-527-4089 [Moderator's Note: Or, get any of those dreadful, gory {True Detective Story} magazines at your local newstand and read the ads. There are plenty of manuals offered in the classified ads, along with skip-tracing services, mail drops and similar services in-between the "She Cut Off Her Husband's Head and Shipped the Rest in a Suitcase to San Jose" and "He Cruised the Malls Looking For Little Boys He Could Multilate" tales. {The Christian Science Monitor} they ain't; but not nearly as boring either. Never an issue without at least one mutilation murder or sex crime, usually as kinky as they come. :) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 12:13:56 EDT From: blake@hou2h.att.com Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Organization: AT&T In article ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) writes: >> I decided to try the UnDirectory service mentioned by Blake Patterson >> (900-933-3330). It successfully got (and pronounced) my brother's name and >> address in Newton Highlands, MA. > How much does the service cost? The UnDirectory national reverse directory costs $1 a minute. (Service sponsor: Clarity Inc, P.O. Box 8357, Red Bank, NJ 07701.) When I call the UnDirectory service I usually can get three lookups a minute, but to get that rate I have to interrupt the spoken prompts and punch in digits fast. If the names and addresses are long, three listings take longer than a minute. One unadvertised UnDirectory feature I've found that speeds lookups: When I make a mistake during number entry, I can press * to erase the last digit. The voice states the remaining last three digits so I know where I am in the ten-digit number. (Pressing # during digit entry erases everything and I have to begin again.) Do any phone companies allow midstream digit correction when placing a phone call? I've never heard of that option, but I'd pay for it. Blake Patterson ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Central Office Tours? Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 15:28:32 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) writes: > The last time I can remember PacBell having tours was some years ago > when electronic switching was just getting installed. I'm sure you > could get into one of their offices if you were to contact a division > staff office or their main office in San Ramon. I know GTE gives tours > to groups at times, but not like it was years ago. But then there are > not a lot of people left that can take the time to work these things > and try and answer some pretty dumb questions. Some time back US West switched our local exchange from a combined 1AESS/#5XBAR to a new 5ESS. I called the telco about a tour, and was told there would be one for the neighborhood right after the cutover. Following the cut date they had some labor problems, so they postponed the tour. They never did reschedule one. I called several times, but never could talk them into doing it. A few years later I was talking to a neighbor who worked for US West as a DA operator. She said they had a DA office where she worked on the top floor of that exchange. When I mentioned my disappointment about the tour, she said "lets go over there now, and I'll give you one!" (this was Sunday afternoon). We walked over to the office, she let us in with her keys, and I got to roam through the whole place. What particularly impressed me was the amount of empty space left in the building now that the old switches had been scrapped. Judging by the number of prefixes served out of this building, it currently has a maximum capacity of 80,000 lines. There is another CO a couple of miles away in a much smaller building that also serves eight prefixes. The old switch room on the first floor was completely vacant. There was a big battery room in the basement, and a lot of trunks and fiber optic equipment. The switch was in a bunch of cabinets on an upper floor. It was totally unmanned, at least on this weekend. There wasn't really much to see. Tours in the old days were probably much more interesting, with those old steppers or crossbars making all that wonderful racket. Maybe that is another reason why they don't do as many tours anymore. tad@ssc.com (if it bounces, use 3288544@mcimail.com) Tad Cook | Packet Amateur Radio: | Home Phone: Seattle, WA | KT7H @ N7DUO.WA.USA.NA | 206-527-4089 ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: Central Office Tours? Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 03:05:05 GMT Within the past few years, I've been able to arrange group tours of the General Telephone CO in Santa Maria, CA and the AT&T undersea cable termination here in SLO (in a several story underground building mounted on springs). Pretty neat stuff! Harold ------------------------------ From: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 04:37:36 GMT You are quite right; the Electronic Communications Privacy Act only forbids obtaining the _content_ of a transmission (they are thinking in terms of modulated sound, picture, or data). Detecting the _presence_ of a signal on a frequency is permissible (and is necessary for many kinds of engineering work and troubleshooting). But the reason a state might have jurisdiction over radar detectors is this: although they don't control radio transmitters or receivers, they do control automotive safety. Lots of places won't let you have a TV set in the car visible from the driver's seat, because they consider it a safety hazard. Similarly, they could argue that a radar detector is a device that impairs the safety of driving. (I'm not claiming to _agree_ with them; merely pointing out the possible argument.) In response to the acronymns thread: Initialisms (initial acronyms): Laser - Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation Maser - Microwave... (ditto) CMOS - Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor Syllable acronyms: Transistor - trans(fer) (re)sistor Fortran - for(mula) tran(slation) Recursive acronyms: Gnu - Gnu's Not Unix Mung - Mung Until No Good Michael A. Covington, Associate Research Scientist Artificial Intelligence Programs mcovingt@ai.uga.edu The University of Georgia phone 706 542-0358 Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A. amateur radio N4TMI ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 04:09:01 GMT All the legal issues surrounding use of radar detectors is interesting, but I don't think I'd want to be in the business of making something whose chief purpose is to help people violate the law. I've seen ads about how radar detectors promote safe driving. Somehow I'm not convinced ... Harold ------------------------------ From: wollman@trantor.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation Organization: University of Vermont, EMBA Computer Facility Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 19:20:08 GMT In article , Bert Roseberry wrote: > LORAN stands for LOng Range Aid to Navigation. Just to get a bit of telecom relevance here, one interesting thing about the LORAN system is that it can be used to derive a very accurate time signal. Dave Mills and crew at the University of Delaware have actually developed a timekeeper that listens to a LORAN chain and provides a very precise timecode which can then be injected into the NTP matrix to provide global time service. For those who are unaware, NTP is the Network Time Protocol, a protcol for deriving the correct (according-to-standard) time and setting same on hosts, while operating over an unstable network of unbounded delay on hosts which normally do something else. According to various authorities, NTP provides time service for PBS, Kennedy Space Center, and the University of Vermont (at my insistence), using sources including the standard time and frequency stations CHU, DCF, MSF, and WWV, as well as LORAN-C, GPS, and the Australian national time standard. It is discussed in the newsgroup comp.protocols.time.ntp. Garrett A. Wollman wollman@emba.uvm.edu uvm-gen!wollman UVM disagrees. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 08:58:05 EDT From: mking@fsd.com (Mike King) Subject: Re: Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? In TELECOM Digest, V13 #547, Pat asked: > How come whenever I want to change calling plans or do anything with > my AT&T account the answer is always it will be done whenever Illinois > Bell gets around to it, etc.? Because IBT acts as the agent for AT&T, under contract. Regardless of the disclaimer on your bills, IBT can and does provide much of the data entry and collections support for AT&T in your area. My former employer had an AT&T pro-WATS account for a while, and even though the plan was through AT&T, and only discounted calls carried by AT&T, the monthly adminstration fee was shown on the Ohio Bell records. Nine years after divestiture is a short time to undo over a hundred years of tradition. Mike King * Software Sourcerer * Fairchild Space * +1 301.428.5384 mking@fsd.com or 73710.1430@compuserve.com * (usual disclaimers) ------------------------------ From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes) Subject: Re: Do We Have a Theme Song? Date: 9 Aug 1993 20:13:03 GMT Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz In article daniel@nstn.ns.ca (Daniel MacKay) writes: > ELO tunes: "Telephone Line" and "Ma Ma Ma Bell". Which reminded me of the old and terrible pun: Q: What is the first name of the telephone company? A: Michelle (Remember the Beatles song that goes, "Michelle, Ma Bell,...") haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #557 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18702; 10 Aug 93 3:55 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA05204 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:42:43 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA28721 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:42:07 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:42:07 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308100642.AA28721@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #558 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 01:42:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 558 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (Kai Schlichting) Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (Jim Cobban) Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) (John Macdonald) Re: Borneo Malaysia Phones (Harold Hallikainen) Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) (Harold Hallikainen) Re: Busy Signal Strangeness (was Re: Revisit ..) (Jack Winslade) Re: How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: ATT Truevoice (Ken Thompson) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (David G. Lewis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: acorn@info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (Kai Schlichting) Subject: Re: Another Look at Alex Bell Date: 10 Aug 1993 05:47:08 GMT Organization: Newsserver, Comp.Center (RUS), U of Stuttgart, FRG Joel Upchurch (aaahq01!upchrch!joel@uunet.UU.NET) wrote: > It looks to me like Kai wants to retroactively apply nineties > standards of political correctness to a century ago. I really doubt > that efforts to mainstream the deaf and teach them lip reading would > be viewed as oppression by the standards of Mr. Bell's era. As for > discouraging deaf people to marry it seems to me that could simply be > because a child without at least one hearing parent would have greater > difficulties learning to talk. It also seems hard to fault Mr. Bell > for not having available to him our medical knowledge of the causes of > deafness. If you knew a few people I usually communicate with, they'd tell you that I am as politically incorrect as can be. But that's another matter. You say it wouldn't be seen as oppression a century ago -- yes. And that is as true as to say slaves are no human beings and deserve to work (in 1830 maybe) or Indians are nothing but savages (90 years ago?). Oppression must be perceived from the perspective of the oppressed, not the oppressors. The reason not to allow deaf people to marry in order to protect a (prospective) child is entirely bullshit (sorry about rude language, but it's really hitting a nerve of mine): The brother of my wife happens to be hard of hearing in an all deaf family, and the last time I met him, he spoke pretty damn well! (There was external help, sure, but he attends a normal school, for example, and signs equally well. This is called BiBi in the deaf communities (Bilingual, Bicultural). To line it out once more: it was Alex Bells' announced goal to eliminate the deaf and the deaf community (which not existed in those times), and to prevent deaf people from forming such a community. I realize well that he was not really knowing what he was talking about when arguing against marriages of deaf people, as he probably wasn't even interested to take a look at the facts, in the form of statistics: 95% of all children of (both) deaf parents are hearing. 95% of all deaf children have hearing parents. These are statistics that were accessible,or could have been produced at that time. Recognizing oppression and working against it is a part of PC that I endorse, I will disagree on the means, though, that I see all around me. Bye, Kai ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 12:11:00 +0000 From: Jim Cobban Subject: Re: Another Look at Alex Bell Kai Schlichting writes: > Some more information on Alex Bell: he had a deaf wife, but was not in > favour of the deaf community at all. In fact, he wanted to destroy > sign language, the only common denominator and centerpoint of culture > deaf people have, by forcing and promoting deaf people (including his > wife) to learn lipreading and have them go to oral school. If I am ... > Alex Bell was not a teacher for the deaf, he was the centerforce of > mainstreaming the deaf and destroying their unique culture, to clear > up with a myth, if it ever was one. To the deaf, he was the ultimate > person of intolerance and oppression. It is not reasonable to condemn Bell for holding a philosophy with regard to the education of the handicapped which is still very widely held today. It was Bell's position that the deaf should not be limited to the deaf community. By learning lip reading and learning how to vocalize speech which could be understood by the non-deaf, he felt that the deaf could operate as full members of hearing society. To that end he, among other things, established the first integrated school for deaf and hearing students. Do not confuse your own opinion, or what you and your wife feel is best for her, with a universal belief, even within the deaf community. Many deaf people worshipped Bell. For example Helen Keller dedicated her auto-biography to him, because he was the first person, other than her own father, who treated her as a human being who could be taught to function in society. It was at Bell's instigation that Helen's father hired Annie Sullivan as a tutor for his daughter. However many deaf people resent the dogmatism and paternalism of the education system which was instigated and inspired by Bell. Lip reading and vocalization or signed exact speech are useful to a deaf person communicating with a hearing person, but they are frustratingly slow for communication within the deaf community. I know that in Canada the Canadian Hearing Society and other deaf advocacy groups have been contending with the educational institutions run by the provinces in a long battle to introduce ASL as the primary instruc- tional language. What was Bell doing, in insisting upon [signed] English as the primary language of instruction, and in insisting that the students respond to the teacher in [signed] English, that is any different than the insistence of our hearing educational systems that immigrants be educated in the primary language of the country? It seems to me it is the deaf advocacy groups which are out of touch. Every other handicap that I hear about has its advocacy group insisting upon mainstreaming. For example the Association for the Mentally Retarded, at least in Canada, has changed its name to the Association for Community Living! Bell may not have been a teacher "for" the deaf, but he definitely considered himself to be a teacher *of* the deaf first, and an inventor second. Jim Cobban jcobban@bnr.ca Phone: (613) 763-8013 BNR Ltd. bnrgate.bnr.ca!bcars5!jcobban FAX: (613) 763-2626 [Moderator's Note: My thanks to all who participated in this thread which, despite the side you come down on, presented a side to Alex Bell that most telephone/communication enthusiasts know very little about. It was fun. Thanks Kai, Jim, others. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Aug 93 22:20:28 -0600 From: ivgate!jsw@uunet.UU.NET Subject: Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) You are correct that UUCP connections are normally set up between two cooperating sites, but Uunet's service is an exception to this. I can probably find a machine-readable copy of their blurb on this if you want it. Uucp users can be set up on a system in several ways. One is to provide each site with a unique login name, often times beginning with 'uu' by custom, but not by any mandate. Any normal-looking user name will work as long as the Permissions are correct and that the login shell for that user login is set to /usr/lib/uucp/uucico or the local equivalent. Many times a common login name will be used for several sites. This can be 'uucp' or 'nuucp' in many cases but in actuality can be about anything. In this case the remote site is identified with the S{sitename} packet in the UUCP handshake sequence. In most cases, the UUCP is set up to return the terse 'You are unknown to me' in the case of an unknown site, but it can be set to accept a connection from any site. Uunet's service is simply a raw file copy -- the classical purpose of uucp, and not really on the level of the mail, news, and other uucp applications that we're familiar with. Their Permissions are set to give rdefault read permission to anyone. As I said, if you want some promotional material on this service, I can probably find it if I dig around here. Good day. JSW ------------------------------ From: jmm@Elegant.COM (John Macdonald) Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 14:12:59 -0400 Organization: Elegant Communications Inc. Subject: Re: Anonymous UUCP (was Re: 900 Numbers; FTC Rules) In article : >> [Moderator's Note: But as pointed out by some, UUCP operates without >> human intervention. So who is there to see the warning message? PAT] > In practice, no one. In theory, the calling site could turn on > debugging and the root user would later find the login banner in the > logs, if he cares to looks. Of course it's too late by then. > It's hard to imagine anyone "innocently" setting up the config files > and dialing the 900 number by uucp. More likely, the warning is meant > for unsuspecting browsers who try to dial in interactively. Actually, practice is closer to what is above described as theory ... Whenever a person configures a new connection for uucp, it is quite likely that the first time that they use that connection it wil be with debugging turned on. There is just too much room for special requirements or problems -- a typo in entering the phone number or chat script, need for longer than normal delays for a particular destination, choosing the best/right configuration choice [PEP, V32, etc.]. So the login banner would likely be visible to a human in passing, who might read it closely enough to notice particularly obnoxiopus terms. On the other hand, after the connection is set up and working, it is likely that a banner message "our rates just changed from $0.50/min to $99.99/min" would not be read by a human and would cause a big surprize on the subsequent phone bill. In the case of uunet's 900 number, it has been around long enough and it is clearly uunet's major source of revenue but a source of publicity and a "win leader" (they aren't losing on it, but otherwise it is much like a "loss leader") that people can have a certain amount of faith that they aren't going to have that sort of trick played on them. Earlier, Pat mentioned that the need to find out the directory layout on uunet to be able to ask for the particular files you want means that a personal (voice) contact would need to be made first. In fact, uunet provides a ls-lR.Z file which is a compressed recursive listing of the archive -- so all that is required is for the user to request *that* file from the 900 dial-in number, read through it to find out the pathname of the file(s) he really wants, and then ask for them. (And possibly a few others that he hadn't known he wanted until he saw them listed in the ls-lR.Z file. :-) (Disclaimer -- I haven't actually used the 900 line service, since our company has an regular account with uunet.ca.) John Macdonald jmm@Elegant.COM ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: Borneo Malaysia Phones Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 03:23:12 GMT In article JVE%FNAHA@TRENGA.UniGate1. Unisys.COM writes: > In Finland the Finnish Telecom markets only Motorola CT2 phone (called > Silverlink 2000). It is essentially a cordless phone using > frequencies around 864 MHz. 40 channels, digital communication at > 38400 bps range from 300 - 50 metres. Telepoint service allows only > outgoing calls; if you have bought your own base station, you can use > it at home as a normal cordless phone. The home base station is kinda interesting. It seems that these could form microcells for people passing by, except that they'd end up making someone's home phone line busy. Still, it would be interesting if somehow it would "find" another talk path and turn everyone's cordless phone base station into a microcell. Harold ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 04:05:35 GMT In article goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec. com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes: > One of the little sound bites I like to throw into my Transmission > class is that "at the bottom, all transmission systems are analog"! > So it's not a simple answer to a very good question. > At the U interface of the BRI (outside wire, local loop), the coding > is now usually "2B1Q". This takes two bits from the scrambled data > stream and encodes them as +2.5, +.7, -.7, or -2.5 (about) volts. So > one pulse is two bits (thus 2 Bits one Quat). Don't quote me on the > exact voltages; I don't have the spec handy. Again there's pulse > shaping. I've gotten several mile local loops (for FM radio stations) with 70 dB or more of dynamic range. So, why do they only use 4 levels in the 2B1Q? Seems like a lot more would be available (stuffing more bps into a baud) before noise starts making it difficult to determine what the actual transmit analog level is. Or, is the problem intersymbol interference where the level of one quat has an effect on those surrounding it, making the level of this particular quat difficult to determine? > To make all this work, impedance is specified, with very picky > transformers needed for S/T to meet spec. S/T uses separate transmit > and receive wires, thus a 4-wire interface. The BRI U uses one pair, > so there's some fancy echo cancellation done inside the transceiver > ("UBAT", in AT&T terms) chip. Real fancy. It seems that if the characteristic impedance of the line is matched, there should be no "far end echo", or , at least, it should be substantially attenuated. The "near end echo" (side tone on POTS) seems like it could be cancelled pretty well if we precisely know the impedance the line presents to the interface. If the far end has indeed terminated the line with its characteristic impedance, then it seems the near end should have the same impedance. I haven't messed with long twisted pairs to play with the transmission line effects, but it would sure be fun. It seems like the throughput of a line is going to be limited by its analog dynamic range and the attenuation versus frequency. Is the attenuation versus frequency (frequency response) reversible with an equalizer? It seems that most equalizers that adjust the amplitude response also adjust the phase response (making it nonlinear). It also seems that a long twisted pair would have a linear phase response (propogation delay relatively independent of frequency). Can we feed a high speed multilevel pulse waveform in one end of a twisted pair and, with equalization, pull it back out the other end? > 3002 lines are utterly obsolete. Voice-grade is now used for dial-up, > and the "state of the art" is being presented in the developing V.fast > world. In lieu of 3002 most phone companies (in America at least) > will sell you 56k service. THis could be provisioned using ISDN > technology, but in practice there are cheaper purpose-built line > drivers. We sell transmitter control and telemetry equipment to radio and television stations. They are generally using a 3002 type circuit to send 1200 to 2400 bps full duplex data. I'm wondering what other sort of leased line circuits they could use, and how the data could be coded to go down that line. Harold Hallikainen ap621@Cleveland.Freenet.edu Hallikainen & Friends, Inc. hhallika@oboe.calpoly.edu 141 Suburban Road, Bldg E4 phone 805 541 0200 fax 544 6715 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-7590 telex 4932775 HFI UI ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Aug 93 07:31:18 CST From: Jack.Winslade@axolotl.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) Subject: Re: Busy Signal Strangeness (was Re: Revisit ..) Reply-To: jack.winslade%drbbs@axolotl.omahug.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha In a message dated 04-AUG-93, Jack Decker writes: > I can't really explain why this happened in your case, but I do know > that GTE North in Michigan has always used a "supervising busy" signal > as a test number (generally the exchange prefix + 9999) on their Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall some test numbers that supervised and de-supervised at about the cadence of a busy signal, but without the tone. If you called these through a couple of tandems or (better ;-) some toll circuits, they had a very amusing series of clunks and beeps. I assume these were used simply to check (whatever) for the proper response to far end supervision. Good day. JSW DRBBS, Omaha (1:285/666.0) ------------------------------ From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 04:23:16 GMT In article dank@blacks.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Daniel R. Kegel) writes: > One thing that I can't figure out is how a 56 kilobit/sec line can > talk to a 64 kilobit/sec line. Where do the rates get matched, and > does either of the PC's have to know how to do/undo the rate > adaptation? The Switched 56 network interworks with ISDN by using a 7-out-of-8 bit mapping, within the network, which is also called V.110/56k. The way 56k normally works is that the network carries it in 7 out of 8 bits in a 64k channel; the low order bit carries signaling and is always "1" during an active call. ISDN can give you all 8 bits (signaling is on the D channel) but the call setup message can indicate that V.110/56k is in use, and thus you know that the low order bit of each octet is padding. The ISDN card or TA has to know how to do this, but it's pretty standard. Example: My Gandalf 5510 ISDN Bridge/TA can do 56k. I had to test some software against a router in France. I dialed up the call using AT&T's Accunet Switched 56 service and connected. Most American ISDN gear handles 56k just fine, since it's the only option available in some areas (even on ISDN since the inter-office trunks are sometimes old). But the French folks had to hunt around for an ISDN terminal adapter that could handle it, since everything there is 64k clear channel. Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission ------------------------------ From: ken thompson Subject: Re: ATT Truevoice Date: 9 Aug 93 14:36:59 GMT Organization: NCR Corporation Wichita, KS Someone mentioned their impressions of Truevoice. Lows boosted and overall volumne increased. Is not bandwidth needed to transmit a signal related to the bandwidth of the information in that signal. And if they reduce the highs, and the bandwidth requirements, does not let them get more voice channels into a given digital transmition channel? Is not this marketing getting people ready for the distorted sound quality as this carrier crams more voices on a wire? Will not high speed modems have trouble with this distored channel, switch to slower speeds automaticaly and maybe unknown to the user, and spend more time connected to get their data through? Am I too cynical? Ken Thompson N0ITL Disk Array Hardware Development Peripheral Products Division NCR Corp. an AT&T company 3718 N. Rock Road Wichita,Ks 67226 (316) 636-8783 Ken.Thompson@wichitaks.ncr.com ------------------------------ From: deej@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (david.g.lewis) Subject: Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Organization: AT&T Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 16:36:24 GMT In article roeber@cern.ch writes: > Well, yes. Your fax or modem is taking a slow digital signal (say, > 9600) and converting it to an analog signal. The phone company is > hardly going to take this analog signal, re-digitize it up to 56k and > waste an entire voice channel on it. It's much more economical for > telco to demodulate it back to the original 9600 signal, wrap it up > with a few others, and put them all on one 56k line. "Economical" if the driving force in your cost equation is bandwidth. At the limits, if bandwidth is infinitely expensive and processing is infinitely cheap, the carrier should do as much processing as possible to minimize bandwidth; if bandwidth is infinitely cheap and processing is infinitely expensive, the carrier should use as much bandwidth as necessary to minimize processing. Reality is somewhere in the middle, of course; however, with 1.7Gb/s fiber optic transport systems all over the place, I'd submit that bandwidth is sufficiently cheap -- for a carrier -- that the processing necessary to recognize a signal as data, determine which modem standard is being used, connect the line to a modem of that type, run that through a subrate mux/demux, and put the whole thing on a data network -- at both ends of the connection -- is nowhere near economical. David G Lewis AT&T Bell Laboratories david.g.lewis@att.com or !att!goofy!deej Switching & ISDN Implementation ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #558 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa24317; 10 Aug 93 6:40 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA11238 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 03:41:01 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA11806 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 03:40:16 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 03:40:16 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308100840.AA11806@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #559 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 03:40:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 559 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Leftover Drops (Mark A. Cnota) Re: Is This Legal? (Danny Padwa) Re: 950 Calling Cards (Johnny J. Chin) Re: AT&T Spending $5(m) on Video Games (G. Deinstadt) Re: Traffic Calculator Wanted (Hans Kruse) Re: Tracking Incoming Calls (Al Varney) Re: Motorola Iridium (?) Satalite-Based Message Network (Hans Kruse) Re: Flow Control With Unixware (Steve Cogorno) Re: Zoom Hotshot (*67) Problem (Glen Ecklund) Inter-LATA Caller*ID Arrives in NJ (Dave Levenson) What is the Makeup of Caller ID Data? (Cliff Sharp) What is TOPMS? (Dave Grabowski) Looking For Low-Cost Voice Mail System (Steve Herman) How Calls Are Billed With the 'Carte France Telecom' (Jean-Bernard Condat) ---------------------- TELECOM Digest is an e-journal devoted mostly -- but not exclusively -- to discussions on voice telephony. The Digest is a not-for-profit public service published frequently by Patrick Townson Associates. PTA markets a no-surcharge telephone calling card and a no monthly fee 800 service. In addition, we are resellers of AT&T's Software Defined Network. For a detailed discussion of our services, write and ask for the file 'products'. The Digest is delivered at no charge by email to qualified subscribers on any electronic mail service connected to the Internet. To join the mail- ing list, write and tell us how you qualify: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu. All article submissions MUST be sent to our email address: telecom@eecs. nwu.edu -- NOT as replies to comp.dcom.telecom. Back issues and numerous other telephone-related files of interest are available from the Telecom Archives, using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. Login anonymous, then 'cd telecom-archives'. At the present time, the Digest is also ported to Usenet at the request of many readers there, where it is known as 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Use of the Digest does not require the use of our products and services. The two are separate. All articles are the responsibility of the individual authors. Organi- zations listed, if any, are for identification purposes only. The Digest is compilation-copyrighted, 1993. **DO NOT** cross-post articles between the Digest and other Usenet or alt newsgroups. Do not compile mailing lists from the net-addresses appearing herein. Send tithes and love offerings to PO Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690. :) Phone: 312-465-2700. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mac@rci.chi.il.us (Mark A. Cnota) Subject: Re: Leftover Drops Organization: Ripco Communications Incorporated Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 22:29:49 GMT There is, and probably always will be, "multiple plant" in most urban areas. This means that the telco will terminate the same central office pairs in more than one place, so they can be used at either depending on where the need is. This is cheaper than providing everyone with their own separate pairs all the way back to the C.O., including what you can predict for "future use" which may or may not ever be used. I think we can agree that it's economically unfeasible to send a technician out to disconnect every unused drop or even to pull a jumper wire at an interface box or inside terminal when a line is disconnected. Pat's example above is a little extreme because not too many single family homes have direct central office counts in them. What is more common is for the drop wire (and the interface cross-connect if applicable) to stay in place after a line is disconnected so that if another line is ordered the same facilities can be re-used, saving manpower. Now if the same central office pair is in multiple with another interface or even direct to a distribution terminal, it may get used over there at any time. The result would be the appearance of dial tone in both places, including going all the way through the "saved" cross-connect and drop wires, and through to someone's black-yellow or whatever depending on house wiring. The bottom line is this is a wiring problem (detarriffed) and is the responsibility of the property owner. In a multi-tenant residential or business situation, the subscriber should NOT be hunting around on the 66 block, the TELCO's side of the NETPOP. All new terminal installations have the telco side and customer side clearly marked. And if you request, the telco MUST convert your existing service to Network Interface, which provides you with an RJ-11 jack or RJ-21X connecting block. This is a result of deregulation and some people still aren't used to the idea. As a general rule with the exception of wire maintenance plans, the telco can't be responsible for customer wiring and associated problems, including anything on the customer side of the demarcation point (NETPOP). The above paragraph only applies to my knowledge of tarriffs effective in Illinois Bell's serving area and might be different elsewhere. Mark A. Cnota (Ameritech Outside Plant Engineering) mac@rci.chi.il.us mcnota@interaccess.com [Moderator's Note: Are you suggesting that it is *my problem* if my phones are disrupted because in the building down the street some tenant decides to save the cost of a professional installation by doing it themselves and they park on my dial tone instead of their own? You are correct that not too many single family homes have direct central office counts in them, but Chicago is made up of lots and lots of older highrise buildings with a rat's nest of wiring in the basement for tenants and others to get into. Sure we have single family homes here but we also have a lakefront full of one highrise after another, many dating back years to when all those buildings had switchboard service in them with a front desk lobby clerk. Most of the old buildings got rid of their switchboards twenty years ago in lieu of the tenant having their own phone service. Where telco had previously had fifteen or twenty pairs come in and terminate on the switchboard as trunk lines serving maybe 100-120 apartments, when the board was yanked they had to come up with another hundred pairs or so from the street that they could 'wire through' the big terminal box in the basement to the house pairs into each apartment. Now where does customer premises wiring begin exactly? Just inside the four walls of my apartment, or at the house pair terminal box out in the hall, or in the basement at the big box, or where? In many big old buildings, even the house pairs are multipled between floors for gosh sakes! Do the house pairs belong to the building or are they part of telco plant? If the building, then the building janitor can work on them, right? If the wires inside my apartment are my responsibility and I refuse to have wire-maintainence, then if the yellow/black pair I am not using get shorted somehow is it my problem, the person living down the street's problem or telco's problem? When we had the big Chicago River flood last year, companies which got no flood-water at all still lost their phone service. Why? Because all their pairs showed up as multiples in the basement of the Pittsfield Building, two blocks away, under twenty feet of water, or in the basement of the Board of Trade Building under water. Whose fault is that? You are correct that people who live in the suburbs in ticky-tacky houses that all look just the same have a few pairs neatly put on the back of their house, and that is it. Not so in Chicago. The fire in the Paxton Hotel which killed 36 people several months ago also knocked out phones in splotches all over the neighborhood because everything in the big terminal box behind the Paxton switchboard got melted in the fire. Not to make light of the tragedy, but who do I sue if my phones are not working, the owners of the Paxton for the poor maintainence of their wires? Or would you say my wires in their custody, or? None of those big old wooden cabinets have locks on them; you just lift the wooden front up and out of the way. Most people do not even realize that between themselves and the CO may be five or six places the pair can be jumped -- just look in the basement of the building down the street. I should start a school and teach the general public about their phone service. Bell would hate me for it. :) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1993 09:31:05 -0400 (EDT) From: padwad@psd.gs.com (Danny Padwa) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? > And -- I'm curious as to technical sides of the system. Our system is > each phone line has an outside number (direct dial in). We dial > 9+xxx-xxxx to get out, but can dial the last five digits within > campus. (All numbers ar 617-49x-xxxx). What exactly would be the > term for this type of system? Would it generally be capable of > providing 10xxx access? > [Moderator's Note: The name for your system is centrex. Yes, it can > provide 10xxx dialing. PAT] Is Centrex the only service that can provide this? Harvard recently (last three years) rebuilt its phone system (down to the local loops). It had been Centrex before, but when they were installing it their literature referred to the installation of their own 5ESS switch on Ware Street. This services the (617) 493, 495, and 496 exchanges At the same time that this went in, the student (not staff/faculty) numbers switched from the 498 to 493 exchange, and service (billing, changes, features, etc) switched from New England Tel to the campus folks. They also have an interesting system for billing calls ... any call that is chargeable (not "local" based upon the phone's calling plan) requires the input of your PIN. This allows making long-distance calls from other people's rooms, and also (they say) helps avoid roommate squabbles over phone charges, since everyone gets their own bill. It also opens a huge avenue for fraud (figure ~6.5k students, 5 digit PIN ... shouldn't take too many guesses), but now that the University runs the phones, phone fraud is a University offense, and grounds to be "required to withdraw". I know that Columbia has a similar policy of billing a person, rather than a phone, for LD calls. Is this common? Danny Padwa padwad@psd.gs.com (or padwa@husc3.harvard.edu) ------------------------------ From: jchin@panix.com (Johnny J Chin) Subject: Re: 950 Calling Cards Date: 9 Aug 1993 16:28:14 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In article , Marshall Levin wrote: > dan.srebnick@islenet.com writes: >> I work in a facility served by an ESS CO Centrex. The telephone >> company has a toll restriction on most lines. Unfortunately, this >> seems to restrict outgoing 800 calls as well as the ability to dial a >> 0+ call. I'm looking for a carrier that offers 950 access on their >> calling cards. I am not restricted from dialing 950-xxxx calls. > In addition to being able to use the 800 number, I have found that I > can use my MCI card with 950-1022 by dialing 950-1022 + destination > number + card number. Does anyone know the 950-xxxx number for US-Sprint and AT&T? Oh, AT&T now has an 800 number (in case the 10288 or 10-ATT does not work): 800-321-0ATT 800-321-1288 Thanks for all replies. Johnny J. Chin (jchin@panix.com) LAN/WAN/PC Consultant Onesimus Enterprises Int'l Inc. ------------------------------ From: GVC.COM!GDeinstadt (Gord Deinstadt) Subject: Re: AT&T Spending $5(m) on Video Games Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 17:27:06 -0400 In Paul Robinson writes: > A few years ago some other company did the same thing, e.g. allow > people to connect to a system and access video games and the > equivalent. The company went bankrupt because people couldn't see > paying a monthly fee for access to video games when you can purchase > them once. Access to other people might be more valuable, I'm not > sure. Nabu did this in Ottawa, and although the company failed they had no trouble selling consumers on the deal. In marketing trials something like 75 or 80 percent of customers signed up to pay after their free trial was over, an astonishingly high rate. Basically their kids wouldn't let them drop out. This was some years ago and the cost of video game cartridges and hard disks has dropped, while the bandwidth of cable (8 Mb/s in the Nabu system) no longer seems so great. But the main problem is that all the popular games are sewn up by the video-game makers and they seem oblivious to the possibilities for telcom. I do think that "access to other people" as you put it is worth a WHOLE lot; games are just games but other people are friends. Nintendo or a competitor could have set up a data network for long-distance game playing years ago. Their failure to do so, or even to provide cheap modems and support for them in their games, is IMO one of the great business blunders of the 20th century. (Right up there with Telex providers ignoring the advent of PCs.) Gord Deinstadt gdeinstadt@geovision.gvc.com <-- for the moment ad577@freenet.carleton.ca <-- permanent ------------------------------ From: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Subject: Re: Traffic Calculator Wanted Reply-To: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Organization: Ohio University Computing & Technology Services Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 16:46:34 GMT In article , mcharry@cwc.com (McHarry) writes: > At one time I had a neat little program for doing traffic calculations > on a PC. Does anyone know where to find another? It was a lot nicer > than using the tables. Telecom Library sells a traffic engineering handbook by Harder, Wand and Richards; they include a PC program to compute most (but not all) the tables in the book. Hans Kruse ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 11:57:43 CDT From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: Tracking Incoming Calls Organization: AT&T In article karenc@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Karen Conyngham) writes: > I work for a social service agency and we cannot answer all the > calls we receive. As a result, even though we put many people on > hold, we still have a number of abandoned calls. We can install a "Abandoned" calls in telephony terms are those that ring but are not answered. Calls that reach "busy" are not "abandoned". > We need a method of tracking the number of calls to a particular > number, versus the the number of calls that get answered. We do not > want our legislators calling in to an Automatic Call Director. Isn't such "special" treatment just another means of "spoiling" them??? That aside, most telephone companies are capable of performing all sorts of "line studies" to determine number of calls reaching busy, number answered, average call duration, etc. Even if you're on a PBX, some of those measurements are useful. If you are not paying "business" rates, they may be less eager to do the studies. If they thing it will result in new lines or service sales to you, the marketing group should be happy to discuss their measurement capabilities. Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ From: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Subject: Re: Motorola Iridium (?) Satalite-based message network ? Reply-To: kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu Organization: Ohio University Computing & Technology Services Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 16:44:20 GMT In article , adykes@jpradley.jpr.com (Al Dykes) writes: > I recall that Motorola and a bunch of other companies announced plans to > build a network of low orbit satelites to do store-and-forward messaging. > This was a year or more ago. I have not heard anything since. An article in the August 2 {Wall Street Journal} says that the "first round of funding" has been completed, and gives some details of the project status (nothing really new, however). Hans Kruse kruse@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Flow Control With Unixware Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 17:36:43 PDT > I've also seen a box marketed especially for computers, that allows > the computer to be off, and will power it up when a call comes in. It > monitors the modem connection, and will turn the power off again after > the user disconnects and a time delay elapses. So, if the computer > hangs, you just need to disconnect and stay off for the time delay > period. May not work too well for systems with multiple users, or if > you would rather leave the system powered up all the time. The cost > of this particular switch was just under $200. Greg, If this is for a Mac, there is a box called PowerUP that costs about $35. Works great. As soon as a ring is detected, a Power On Signal is sent through the ADB (Apple Desktop Bus -- the port you plug your keyboard in) and the Power Supply (which is constantly monitoring for this signal) fires up the Mac. Steve cogorno@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: glen@slate.cs.wisc.edu (Glen Ecklund) Subject: Re: Zoom Hotshot (*67) Problem Organization: U of Wisconsin Madison - Computer Sciences Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 04:15:05 GMT davep@carson.u.washington.edu (Dave Ptasnik) writes: > Based on recent discussion here, I went out and bought a Zoom Hotshot > Dialer from the local Graybar office. It was less than $50 and was > very straight forward to set up. > I set it to send a *67 one second after hearing a dialtone the first > time on every call and it works like a champ. > The problem: the unit apparently interferes with my modem. Calls at > 14.4 will no longer connect to any other site, including the Practical > Peripherals BBS. Calls at 9600 or slower seem to be OK. I suggest that you get one of those $6 (I think) gizmos which are sold to cut off the answering machine when a phone is picked up. Rig it to cut off the Hotshot when the modem is active. This might not work, however, depending on your wiring configuration, as you might not be able to make it cut off the Hotshot for the modem without cutting it off when a phone set at another location is used. Before I got my second line, I had the gizmo set to disconnect all phones when the modem was in use, so that no one would accidentally interfere with my modem connection. Glen Ecklund glen@cs.wisc.edu (608) 262-1318 Office, 262-1204 Dept. Sec'y Department of Computer Sciences 1210 W. Dayton St., Room 3355 University of Wisconsin, Madison Madison, Wis. 53706 U.S.A. ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Inter-LATA Caller*ID Arrives in NJ Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 01:27:24 GMT In early July, we began seeing area codes other than 908 and 201 on our Caller*ID display. For the first time since the service was offered in the state, we also began seeing an occasional "PRIVATE NUMBER" display. Some experimentation has shown that inter-LATA calls carried by Cable & Wireless to our 800 number are the only ones that deliver these out-of-area numbers. Calls dialed to our 908 number via AT&T, MCI, and US-SPRINT still arrive as OUT OF AREA. Calls placed over Cable & Wireless to our 908 number also show OUT OF AREA if they are billed using the C & W calling card. If there's anybody out there who is not in the Northern New Jersey LATA, and who uses Cable & Wireless without a calling card (as a dial-1 carrier, or who can select it with 10223) who would like to call us on our 908 number, we can see if that works. It would appear that the arrival of 800 portability coincided (approximately, at any rate) with the arrival of intra-LATA Caller*ID on 800 calls. Is this a coincidence or not? (Note: We also get 800 service from Telecom*USA, and they do not yet deliver Caller*ID to New Jersey Bell.) Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Subject: What is the Makeup of Caller ID Data? Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 13:26:18 CDT From: Cliff Sharp While we're on the subject of CNID software, does anyone have the data on the actual data format of the CNID data transmitted down the telephone line between rings 1 and 2? I'm looking for bit-by-bit breakdown. Of course it's available from Bellcore, but my present state of poverty precludes any such luxury. If anyone would be willing to share the information, I'd appreciate it. Don't know if the net is interested in such, so unless a Moderator's note below suggests otherwise, email might be prudent. Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM Use whichever one works ------------------------------ From: dcg5662@hertz.njit.edu (Dave Grabowski) Subject: What is TOPMS? Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 05:17:56 GMT The subject says it all. What is TOPMS? A friend of mine works for some company that does surveys for AT&T PBX System customers, and this TOPMS thing keeps coming up. He wants to know what the heck it is (and now I wanna know, too!) Dave dcg5662@hertz.njit.edu 70721.2222@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: sjh@philabs.philips.com (Steve Herman) Subject: Looking For Low-Cost Voice Mail System Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff, New York Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 16:36:46 GMT I am looking for an inexpensive, stand-alone voice mail system. It should have at least one incoming mail box to record sequences of incoming messages. It needs to have several (four or more) outgoing mail boxes which can be accessed by phone callers in response to verbal prompts ("For information about foo1 press 1 on your touch tone telephone.") I know that I can get this (and much more) with PC add-on cards. However, I do not want to run a PC 24 hours a day. Therefore, I am looking for a stand alone unit. Any hints would be appreciated. Thank you, Stephen Herman ------------------------------ From: cccf@email.teaser.com (Jean-Bernard Condat) Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 09:11:10 GMT Subject: How Calls Are Billed With the 'Carte France Telecom' Since July 1st, France Telecom is pleased to announce the new 'Carte France Telecom' in place of the old 'Carte Pastel'. Two types of card are available: (1) 'Carte France Telecom selection' with ten pre-dial phone numbers. You can give it to your children with only the possibility to dial your private and businness numbers; (2) 'Carte France Telecom' that give you the opportunity to phone without any coins: * from a public phone: the calls are bill all five calls directly on your phone bill associated with the card; * from any public or private line via the automatic 3610 service (in France) and 'France Direct' service in all major countries (same billing process). The card possess an electronic encoding device with a 13-digit number on it ... and a four-digit secret code (send by separate mail as soon as you order the card). The new services already offer is the possibility to phone from the TGV ("train a grande vitesse") in France and the possibility to ask directly for a translator help between you and a foreigh corres- pondant. Yesterday, I was in a great hotel and I have use my Carte France Telecom for my work. My surprise was to discover that the hotel had bill me 4 U (1 UT=FF.73 and is the minimal billing unit in France) for the use of the free 3610 service. This night I have phone 45 times for zero FF ... but I will bill FF 131.40 for having use the hotel's phone :-) Jean-Bernard Condat General Secretary Chaos Computer Club France, B.P. 155, 93404 St-Ouen Cedex, France Private Address: P.O. 8005, 69351 Lyon Cedex 08, France Phone: +33 1 40101764, Fax: +33 1 47877070 InterNet: cccf@altern.com or cccf@email.teaser.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #559 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa26976; 11 Aug 93 1:51 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13358 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:22:39 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA20990 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:22:00 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:22:00 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308110422.AA20990@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #560 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 23:22:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 560 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson CPSR and the NII (Mark Boolootian) Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems (Dave Mc Mahan) ADSI-Protocol (Arnaud Leene) Desperate SWF Needs Help! (Margaret Labrecque) Re: Is This Legal? (Donald R. Sailer) Re: Is This Legal? (Bonnie J. Johnson) Re: Is This Legal? (Marc Unangst) Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation (Floyd Davidson) Re: An Experience With the AT&T Language Line (Christian Weisgerber) Telecomics - Just Like a COCOT (David Leibold) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: booloo@framsparc.ocf.llnl.gov (Mark Boolootian) Subject: CPSR and the NII Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 12:28:44 -0700 (PDT) Passed on to the group FYI: Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 09:43:40 PDT From: Nikki Draper Subject: CPSR and the NII COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS ADD SOCIAL CONSCIENCE TO NATIONAL NETWORK DEBATE Palo Alto, Calif., August 6, 1993 -- At a recent meeting in Washington D.C., board members from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) were challenged by top level telecommunications policy experts to craft a public interest vision of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). The experts at the roundtable discussion included Mike Nelson from the President's Office of Science and Technology, Vint Cerf from the Internet Society, Jamie Love from the Taxpayer's Assets Project, Ken Kay from Computer Systems Policy Project, and Laura Breeden from FARnet. "We were excited to discover that CPSR is in a position to play a key role in shaping NII policy," said CPSR Board President, Eric Roberts. "The commercial sector is already in the thick of the debate, but there has been little coordinated response from the noncommercial constituencies. After talking about the issues and CPSR's role, the Board committed to meeting this challenge." So far, the debate about the NII has centered around fiber versus ISDN, cable companies versus telephone companies, research versus commercialization, and so on. These are real questions with important implications. However, CPSR believes that a better starting point is a set of guiding principles as the context for all these more detailed questions about "architecture," technical standards, and prime contractor. Before arguing over bits and bytes, it is crucial to clarify the vision and values that underlie a major endeavor like the NII. As individuals in the computing profession, CPSR's membership knows that new technologies bring enormous social change. CPSR's goal is to help shape this change in an informed manner. Key issues discussed in the paper will include: o ensuring that the design remains both open and flexible so that it can evolve with changing technology. o ensuring that all citizens have affordable network access and the training necessary to use these resources. o ensuring that risks of network failure and the concomitant social costs are carefully considered in the NII design. o protecting privacy and First Amendment principles in electronic communication. o guaranteeing that the public sector, and particularly schools and libraries, have access to public data at a reasonable cost. o seeking ways in which the network can strengthen democratic participation and community development at all levels. o ensuring that the network continues to be a medium for experimentation and non commercial sharing of resources, where individual citizens are producers as well as consumers. o extending the vision of an information infrastructure beyond its current focus of a national network, to include a global perspective. The national membership of CPSR brings a unique perspective to the overall conception of the NII. Throughout CPSR's history, the organization has worked to encourage public discussion of decisions involving the use of computers in systems critical to society and to challenge the assumption that technology alone can solve political and social problems. This past year, CPSR's staff, national and chapter leadership have worked on privacy guidelines for the National Research and Education Network (NREN), conducted a successful conference on participatory design, created local community networks, organized on-line discussion groups on intellectual property, and much more. To ensure that its position paper is broadly representative, CPSR will work in concert with other public interest groups concerned about the NII, such as the newly established coalition in Washington D.C., the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable. CPSR chapters are will be conducting a broad based public campaign to reach out beyond the technical experts and producers -- to people who will be affected by the NII even if they never directly log on. CPSR will begin distributing its completed paper to policy makers on October 16th at its annual meeting in Seattle, Washington. The meeting will bring together local, regional and national decision makers to take a critical look at the NII. Founded in 1981, CPSR is a national, non-profit, public interest organization of computer scientists and other professionals concerned with the impact of computer technology on society. With offices in Palo Alto, California, and Washington D.C., CPSR works to dispel popular myths about technological systems and to encourage the use of computer technology to improve the quality of life. For more information on CPSR's position paper , contact Todd Newman, CPSR board member, at 415-390-1614. For more information about CPSR, contact Nikki Draper, Communications Director, at 415-322-3778 or draper@csli.stanford.edu. ------------------------------ From: mcmahan@netcom.com (Dave Mc Mahan) Subject: Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems Organization: Dave McMahan @ NetCom Services Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 18:18:57 GMT Dear Telecom Modem Users, I am currently trying to design yet another phone modem protocol that is capable of handling some unique requirements of my product. After looking at the various standard modem protocols out there, I have found that none will be able to fulfill all the objectives I need. This is mainly due to lack of efficiency (Kermit and XMODEM fall into this category) or inability to pass data in two directions at the same time (ZMODEM falls into this category). To make a long story short, a unique protocol is required. I have specified a protocol that will do the job. My problem lies in the fact that I don't have good data on types of errors that occur when going through the public telephone network. This means I can't pick the optimal message packet size to trade off protocol efficiency versus retransmit probability. I would like input from you as to where I can find this data. Ideally, I'd like to get something in print so that I can justify selection of various parameters in my protocol. A publication, magazine, or book would be ideal. If the information exists at an FTP site or one some network like CompuServe, I would like to get a reference so I can go look it up. If you only have information locally due to your past experience or testing, I'd also like to get that. Please e-mail me directly with your references or info, as I don't normally read all the newsgroups I'm posting this to. Information I'm Trying To Find: I'd like to get specific answers the following questions. In most cases, I'm looking for hard numbers such as "AT&T guarantees a bit error rate of 1e-5 or better for 99% of the time". I don't need to get answers such as "Your protocol should still work even if you get an error once in a while." My specific environment is using a 2400 baud modem running the CCITT V.22bis modulation scheme. The link will be using standard dial-up voice quality lines available in North America and Europe. A variety of long distance carriers could be used (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc.), so please feel free to differentiate based on the specific carrier if you have that type of information. I will be using modems that are compliant with the Hayes-AT command set. One side of the link will be a custom embedded product. The other side will be an MSDOS clone running custom software for this application. Both sides will be using custom software and can be adjusted for optimal conditions. 1) What types of errors usually occur? Can I assume random errors due to background noise (thus giving me a normal distribution of errors) or are errors most probably going to occur in bursts? 2) What are the specific probabilities of the various error mechanisms? (I'd like numbers such as 1 error in 100,000 for 98.5% of the time). 3) What are the general worst-case error probabilities I am likely to encounter? 4) What are the effects of Call-Waiting on my carrier? Will I always lose carrier if Call-Waiting interruption occurs, or can I set my modem parameters to be more tolerant of such errors? If I do make such changes, what side effects am I likely to see? Thanks for helping me out on this. Once again, please e-mail information and references directly to me rather than posting to the newsgroup. Dave McMahan mcmahan@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 11:58:56 +0000 (GMT) From: A.Leene@research.ptt.nl (Arnaud Leene) Subject: ADSI-Protocol Organization: PTT Research, The Netherlands I am currently looking at the ADSI-protocol. This protocol is meant to make the users of CLASS-services happier. ADSI allows for the mixing of data and voice. Thus the access to information services will be much user friendlier than for instance the videotex-protocol. In order to use ADSI the customer needs specific CPE, such as a Smart Phone. It is unclear to me what the status of ADSI is at the moment. I have the following questions: - Is ADSI alreay a (Bellcore) standard? - Will ADSI be implemented by the RBOC's? When? - Are there any pilots in the U.S.? - Who will deliver Customer Premises Equipment? If you have an answer or can tell me where I can get an answer, many thanks. Dr. Arnaud Leene PTT Research Tele-informatics Post: P.O. Box 15000, 9700 CD Groningen. Fysical: Winschoterdiep OZ 46, 9723 AC Groningen Voice: +31 50 821086 Fax: +31 50 122415 Email (Internet): A.Leene@research.ptt.nl Email (X.400): C=NL;A=400Net;P=PTT Research;S=Leene ------------------------------ From: octela!!margaret@uunet.UU.NET (Margaret Labrecque) Subject: Desperate SWF Needs Help! Organization: Octel Communications Inc., Milpitas Ca. Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 01:50:13 GMT Help! I'm in marketing hell. Former engineer (MIT MSEE '89) is in between 1st and 2nd years of Stanford MBA program and naively fell into a summer job which demands that she get a bunch of surveys filled out. "I'm desperate; my brain is becoming mush; cold-calling just isn't my forte ... PLEASE HELP!" This information will be used to evaluate the compatibility of technologies that could integrate your computer and telephony communication systems (voice-mail, E-mail and Fax) and will not be made available to any parties outside of the surveying organization. If you have any questions, call Margaret LaBrecque at (408) 321-3783. Please give answers for your site only and fill this out only if your company uses VOICE-MAIL. Name: Title: Company Name/Division: Street Address: City: State: Zip: Telephone: Fax: 1. Which of the following characterizes your computing environment? Check all that apply ( ) Host/terminal ( ) Client/Server ( ) Networked PCs ( ) PCs without LAN If you check Client/Server or Networked PCs in question 1, please answer the following questions. Otherwise, skip to question 11. Note: Questions 2 through 5 seek to differentiate between LAN backbone(s) and attached networks AT THIS SITE. 2. NUMBER OF MAJOR LAN BACKBONES, a backbone being defined as a high- speed link joining together several networks which may or may not run the same protocols: 3. For this (these) backbone(s), how many support ( ) a single common protocol (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk, X.25, DecNet, OSI, SNA, etc.) present protocol: planned protocol: ( ) multiple protocols present protocols: planned protocols: 4. NUMBER OF MAJOR NETWORKS, a network being defined as a group of desktop computers running the same protocol and connected by the same physical media present: planned: 5. On how many of the above networks are you running each of the following? ( ) TCP/IP ( ) Novell IPX/SPX ( ) AppleTalk ( ) X.25 ( ) DecNet ( ) MAP/TOP ( ) OSI ( ) SNA ( ) Other 6. If you are running different protocols on different networks, do they communicate with each other via routers (Yes/No/Some do, some don't) ? present: planned: 7. LAN ENVIRONMENT (4M/16M Token Ring, Ethernet thick/thin/10BaseT /twist, StarLan, ArcNet, LocalTalk, X.25, FDDI, ATM, Frame Relay, etc.) present: planned: 8. LAN Network Management Platforms (IBM NetView, SunNet, HP OpenView, DEC EMA, etc.) present: planned: 9. Server Operating Systems (Novell Netware, Microsoft Lan Manager, MAC O/S, LAN Server--IBM, PC LAN Program--IBM, Vines--Banyan, UNIX--Solaris 1, 2.x, 4.x, HP, DEC, BSD, AT&T, DEC PathWorks, 3Com--3+, 3+Open, etc.) present: planned: 10. Server Platform(s) (HP, Sun, IBM, Apple, DEC, SGI, Other) present: planned: 11. Estimate number of desktop computers at your location present: planned: 12. PRESENT Desktop Operating Systems (Estimate percentages) ( ) Apple System 7 ( ) Prior Apple Systems ( ) MS Windows ( ) DOS only ( ) Windows NT ( ) OS/2 ( ) UNIX ( ) Other: 13. PLANNED Desktop Operating Systems (Estimate percentages) ( ) Apple System 7 ( ) Prior Apple Systems ( ) MS Windows ( ) DOS only ( ) Windows NT ( ) OS/2 ( ) UNIX ( ) Other: 14. E-Mail Software Applications (Microsoft Mail, CC: Mail, SMTP, SendMail, etc.) present: planned: 15. FUTURE plans for desktop multimedia capabilities (fill limited/fairly extensive/widespread penetration) sound: video capture: fax/modem: voice recording: voice recognition: other: Thanks, everyone one of these gets me closer to freedom! ------------------------------ From: SAILER@ucsvax.ucs.umass.edu (DONALD R SAILER) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 10 Aug 1993 13:17:40 GMT Organization: UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS - AMHERST In padwad@psd.gs.com writes: > They also have an interesting system for billing calls ... any call > that is chargeable (not "local" based upon the phone's calling plan) > requires the input of your PIN. This allows making long-distance > calls from other people's rooms, and also (they say) helps avoid > roommate squabbles over phone charges, since everyone gets their own > bill. It also opens a huge avenue for fraud (figure ~6.5k students, 5 > digit PIN ... shouldn't take too many guesses), but now that the > University runs the phones, phone fraud is a University offense, and > grounds to be "required to withdraw". We have a similar policy here at the University of Massachusetts and when we switched from billing to the phone to billing the individual a few years ago, our students applauded the move; they do not get into the hassles with roomates over the phone bill anymore. Some universities use 'station specific' authorization codes so a code works from only one phone. This is more secure, but more inconvenient for the students. Even if the number is guessed, the SMDR (Station Message Detail Record) includes the phone number of the phone used to place the call. Most places have no 'public' student phones, so it is fairly easy to track down a hacker. At UMass, it is also a violation of the code of student conduct to use someone elses auth code. I believe Harvard is using New England Telephone Centrex service. It can seem almost like a PBX, even for students. Randy Sailer University of Massachusetts Randy.Sailer@OCIS.UMass.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 11:19:52 EDT From: Bonnie J Johnson Subject: Re: Is This Legal? I've been away for a couple of days and will try to answer some more of the questions which have come in on the issue of equal access. One person stated that he was told by the telecom office that certain "buildings" don't need to provide equal access, and they point to hotels, prisons, etc.. "Universities are in the same class as hotels, airport phones and we ARE, by FCC definition, aggreators". We (colleges and universities) must provide equal access. Some schools because of older switch technologie were given more time than others to comply with equal access. If some schools, by older switch design can not provide basic 10xxxx access, they CAN provide basically the same freedom by obtaining the 800 number for major carriers and advertising that number to its customers, i.e. faculty, staff and students. Right after the ruling came down, good old AT&T sent a message to the higher ed institutions offering to "make them compliant for free". I suspect, don't know for sure, that their 800 number access to LD was the way they were going to accomplish this. The guy who wrote from Harvard and said the telecom Director told him the new ruling wouln't require them to do anything just might want to give the telcom director a copy of the FCC ruling. Concerning his switch, and dialing 9 to get out, this has less to do with the ability to provide 10xxxx than does the switch type, i.e. 4600 gtd, 5ESS, Intel, DMS, so forth. For those individuals who say they don't have 10xxxx, ask the telecom department for the 800's for access to the major carriers. If anyone else wants a copy of the FCC ruling, give me your snailmail address. [Moderator's Note: Bonnie, would you want to just send that FCC ruling along for inclusion here? I would print it, and everyone involved could give it to their telecom departments. Have you an easy way to get the file on line and to the Digest? PAT] ------------------------------ From: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 10 Aug 1993 11:32:06 -0400 Organization: The Programmers' Pit Stop, Ann Arbor MI padwad@psd.gs.com (Danny Padwa) writes: > I know that Columbia has a similar policy of billing a person, rather > than a phone, for LD calls. Is this common? Carnegie Mellon has a similar setup. According to the information I've received so far, telephone service is provided through a Centrex, with long-distance provide by ACUS (AT&T College and University Systems). Internal numbers are dialed with the five-digit Centrex extension number. Outside local calls are 9 + 7D. Long-distance calls are 9 + NPA + 7D, followed by your eight-digit PSC (Personal Security Code). Calls are billed by PSC, not by line. Interestingly enough, the materials I've gotten mention in several places that I shouldn't sign up for calling plans like Reach Out America or Reach Out World, because they "are not compatible with [the] campus telephone service". There are also no mentions of equal-access; it will be interesting to see if 9 + 10XXX + 1 + NPA + 7D works like it should. Marc Unangst, N8VRH mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us ------------------------------ From: floyd@hayes.ims.alaska.edu (Floyd Davidson) Subject: Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation Organization: University of Alaska Computer Network Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 07:27:18 GMT In article wollman@trantor.emba.uvm. edu (Garrett Wollman) writes: > In article , Bert Roseberry Eisner.DECUS.Org> wrote: >> LORAN stands for LOng Range Aid to Navigation. > Just to get a bit of telecom relevance here, one interesting thing > about the LORAN system is that it can be used to derive a very > accurate time signal. Dave Mills and crew at the University of > Delaware have actually developed a timekeeper that listens to a LORAN > chain and provides a very precise timecode which can then be injected > into the NTP matrix to provide global time service. For many years now the LORAN-C station at Tok, Alaska has been the source for syncronizing the station clock at the Fairbank Toll Center. For the past two years it has been the secondary source but before that is was primary for at least a dozen years. The equipment we use to obtain a time base takes up most of a six foot rack, and is all fairly old technology by today's standards. But this piece of equipment worked without flaw for about a decade. And then one day it failed ... red lights, bong-bong alarms, the whole bit. And our old superviser (since retired, bless his heart) was quickly on the spot, looking things over, and like all the rest of us that had no idea how it worked: we were all dumbfounded. But then, we heard (distinctly! I heard it myself!) "Who went to school on this thing?" I just happened to be facing the a direction where the door to the parking lot was visible. I swear, honest, that when someone said "Doug!", that I saw Doug, with coat in hand heading through the door about as fast as he could move! The boss never did find out what happened, but Doug ain't no dummy. He had been to school on it when it was installed and ten years later had no more idea than anyone what to do with it. The boss was going to expect him to fix it NOW. Not finding him, it was ok if the rest of us took awhile to figure it out and fix it slowly in an hour or so. Darn thing has been breaking every six months since then ... Floyd floyd@ims.alaska.edu A guest on the Institute of Marine Science computer Salcha, Alaska system at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 14:20:46 +0200 From: naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org (Christian Weisgerber) Reply-To: naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org Subject: Re: An Experience With the AT&T Language Line In is written: > Several weeks ago I phoned the AT&T Language Line and asked for some > details about their service. The marketing rep told me about their > 140 languages available 24 hours/day, and offered to mail me some ^^^ Does anybody have a list of those available? 140 languages sounds like a lot to cover the globe ... I mean, we're talking about business languages here, aren't we? I took a look at a map of Europe and started writing down languages, came up with about forty and there's probably a dozen more (depending on where you draw the European border probably dozens). Although I don't think there would be much need for having an interpreter for, say, Provencal or Frisian. Let's say about 30-35 languages for Europe ... that still leaves a lot for Africa and Asia. Hmm. Do we have readers in those parts of the world, who could comment? Christian 'naddy' Weisgerber, Germany naddy@ruessel.sub.org ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 23:25 EDT From: djcl@io.org (woody) Subject: Telecomics - Just Like a COCOT Today's episode of the Ernie comic started with someone with a broken vehicle wanting to use the phone in the "Piranha Club", an association dedicated to sleazy tactics for those not familiar with the running gags of this strip. The punch line (!spoiler!) in the last panel, where the "payphone" is, goes: A: "How does this thing work?" B: "Two plums and a watermelon or three cherries and your call goes through." (What's so phunny about a standard Las Vegas COCOT? :-)) David Leibold ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #560 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa27729; 11 Aug 93 2:09 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA04778 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:49:43 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA09032 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:49:06 -0500 Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 23:49:06 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308110449.AA09032@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #561 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Aug 93 23:49:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 561 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail (Mike King) Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail (dbuerger@cup.portal.com) Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail (Stan Hall) Inter-Network Mail Guide (was Re: Internet to Commercial) (Many Readers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 18:06:29 EDT From: mking@fsd.com (Mike King) Subject: Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail In TELECOM Digest, V13 #555, schallenberg@attmail.com (Van H. Schallenberg) wrote: > Has anyone ever developed a list of the formats necessary to send > internet electronic mail to commercial electronic mail services? If Use anonymous ftp and connect to csd4.csd.uwm.edu. Scott Yanoff has collected many different inter-service formats into a document called internetwork-mail-guide in the directory /pub. The latest version I have is dated 8/1/93. Scott also creates the excellent "SPECIAL INTERNET CONNECTIONS" list (inet.services.txt in the same directory) which he updates every two weeks. It's a great resource for finding stuff on the 'net. The latest is 8/2/93. Finger yanoff@csd4.csd.uwm.edu for further information. Mike King * Software Sourcerer * Fairchild Space * +1 301.428.5384 mking@fsd.com or 73710.1430@compuserve.com * (usual disclaimers) [Moderator's Note: Actually, he won't have to FTP, nor will any readers since I have attached the file at the end of this issue. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dbuerger@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail Date: Mon, 9 Aug 93 06:56:52 PDT For instructions on sending email between various commercial services (i.e. how to get the addressing syntax right), see David Strom's article, "How to Make E-Mail Gateways Work," Network Computing, January 1992, p. 83 and 86. ------------------------------ Subject: Internet to Commercial E-Mail From: kilgore@wuntvor.pillar.com (Stan Hall) Date: Mon, 09 Aug 93 10:58:13 CDT Organization: The Eternal Apprentice BBS, Oklahoma City, Ok u951007@unx.ucc.okstate.edu (u951007) writes: > Has anyone ever developed a list of the formats necessary to send > internet electronic mail to commercial electronic mail services? If There are two lists that I know of. The first one is maintained by Scott Yanoff (yanoff@csd4.csd.uwm.edu) and is posted at least once a month to the folling newsgroups: comp.mail.misc, alt.bbs.lists, alt.internet.services, comp.misc, news.answers The subject heading is: Subject: Updated Inter-Network Mail Guide The second list is the "Internet Mailing Guide" maintained by Ajay Shekhawat (ajay@cs.Buffalo.EDU). The latest version I have is dated 04/15/1992 (Version 1.2). If anyone is interested in either of these lists I will be happy to send a copy via email. kilgore@wuntvor.pillar.com (Stan Hall) The Eternal Apprentice BBS, Oklahoma City, OK -- +1 405 942 8794 [Moderator's Note: People may want to see the guide by Ajay, but the other one is attached next in this issue so all the mailing list people can have a copy as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Several Readers Subject: Inter-Network Mail Guide (was Re: Internet to Commercial E-Mail) Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 20:24:56 CDT [Moderator's Note: We have a copy of this in our archives although not as recent as the version attached below. My thanks to the dozen of you who sent this identical posting to my attention today. No names are needed, you all know who you are. Thanks to all. PAT] * INTER-NETWORK MAIL GUIDE: Last Update: 8/1/93 * Further modifications and (C) 1993 by Scott Yanoff (yanoff@csd4.csd.uwm.edu) Inter-Network Mail Guide - Original Copyright (C) 1992 by John J. Chew This guide is available via anonymous ftp to: csd4.csd.uwm.edu INTRODUCTION This file documents methods of sending mail from one network to another. It represents the aggregate knowledge of the readers of comp.mail.misc and many contributors elsewhere. If you know of any corrections or additions to this file, please follow the instructions in the section entitled 'HOW TO FORMAT INFORMATION FOR SUBMISSION' and then mail the information to me: Scott A. Yanoff . HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE If you just want to browse the guide manually for information, this is what you need to know. The guide is organized as a list of entries. Each entry tells you how to get from one network to another. Here is what a typical entry might look like: #FROM: mynet #TO: yournet #RECIPIENT: youraddress #CONTACT: contactaddress #INSTR: send to 'youraddress@thegateway' This means that to send mail FROM a network called 'mynet' TO a RECIPIENT address 'youraddress' on a network called 'yournet', you should follow the INSTRUCTIONS shown and address your mail to 'youraddress@thegateway'. Names and descriptions of the possible FROM and TO fields: N: aol ; America Online; America Online, Inc.; commercial; N: applelink ; AppleLink; Apple Computer, Inc.; in-house; N: arcom ; X.400; ?; ?; N: att ; AT&T Mail; AT&T; commercial; N: bitnet ; BITNET; none; academic; N: bix ; Byte Information eXchange; Byte magazine; commercial; N: bmug ; ? ; Berkeley Macintosh Users Group; in-house; N: compuserve ; CompuServe; CompuServe Inc.; commercial; N: connect ; Connect Professional Information Network; ?; commercial; N: easylink ; Easylink; AT&T; commercial; N: easynet ; Easynet; DEC; in-house; N: envoy ; Envoy-100; Telecom Canada; commercial; X.400 N: fax ; Facsimile document transmission; none; none; N: fidonet ; FidoNet; none; bbs; N: genie ; GEnie; GE Information Services; commercial; N: geonet ; GeoNet Mailbox Systems; - Geonet Mailbox Services GmbH/Systems Inc.; commercial; N: gold-400 ; GNS Gold 400; British Telecom; commercial; X.400 N: goldgate ; GoldGate Telcom Gold; Net-Tel Computer Systems; ?; N: greennet ; GreenNet; Soft Solutions Ltd; commercial; N: gsfcmail ; GSFCmail; NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center; in-house; N: ibm ; VNET; IBM; in-house; N: internet ; Internet; none; academic; N: keylink ; KeyLink; Telecom Australia; commercial; X.400 N: mailnet ; X.400; ?; ?; N: mausnet ; Mausnet; Mausnet; non-profit; N: mci ; MCIMail; MCI; commercial; N: nasamail ; NASAMail; NASA; in-house; N: nsi ; NASA Science Internet; NASA; government; - Dual-protocol: instructions given here pertain only to NSI-DECnet addresses - (NSI-TCP/IP addresses should be treated as shown for 'internet') N: omnet ; OMNET; OMNET; commercial; N: peacenet ; PeaceNet; Institute for Global Communications; - non-profit; N: prodigy ; PRODIGY; commercial; ?; N: sinet ; Schlumberger Information NETwork; ?; ?; N: sprintmail ; SprintMail; Sprint; commercial; formerly Telemail N: thenet ; Texas Higher Education Network; University of Texas; - academic ; N: wwivnet ; WWIVnet; WWIVnet; non-profit; The 'RECIPIENT' record gives an example of an address on the destination network, to make it clear in subsequent lines what text requires subsitution. The 'CONTACT' record gives an address for inquiries concerning the gateway, expressed as an address reachable from the source (#FROM:) network. Presumably, if you can't get the gateway to work at all, then knowing an unreachable address on another network will not be of great help. The 'INSTR' records, of which there may be several, give verbal instructions to a user of the source network to let them send mail to a user on the destination network. Text that needs to be typed will appear in double quotes, with C-style escapes if necessary. If the instructions consist simply of mailing to a certain address, this will be indicated by the words 'send to' followed by a quoted address. If there are alternative addresses, they will be marked 'or to' instead. HOW TO FORMAT INFORMATION FOR SUBMISSION Here is what I really want in the way of information. If you are adding a new network to the list, tell me what its official name is (pay attention to capitalization), what the name of its responsible organization is, and what kind of a network it is (academic, commercial, government, in-house or non-profit). If this isn't clear, look at the examples above. For each connection, give me an entry that looks something like: #FROM: foonet #TO: barnet #RECIPIENT: baraddress #CONTACT: contactaddress #INSTR: send to 'baraddress@thegateway' Note that 'contactaddress' must be an address expressed in foonet's native format, and not that of barnet, since if a user is having trouble accessing barnet, giving him/her an address on that net to contact for help is not productive. If there is no contact/postmaster address, please tell me. If there are more complicated instructions, use additional #INSTR: lines. Once you've got all the information together, send it to me in an e-mail message with the words 'INMG update' in the Subject: line. You can in general expect an answer back from me within a week. #FROM: aol #TO: applelink #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: Internet #INSTR: send to 'user@applelink' #FROM: aol #TO: compuserve #RECIPIENT: 71234,567 #CONTACT: Internet #INSTR: send to '71234.567@cis' #FROM: aol #TO: genie #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: Internet #INSTR: send to 'user@genie' #FROM: aol #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: Internet #INSTR: send to 'user@domain' #FROM: applelink #TO: bitnet #RECIPIENT: user@site #INSTR: send to 'user@site.bitnet@internet#' #FROM: applelink #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'user@domain@internet#' (address must be < 35 characters) #FROM: arcom #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: fred@Domain.dd.uu.us #INSTR: send to C=CH,A=ARCOM,P=SWITCH,ORG=us,OU1=uu,OU2=dd,OU3=Domain,S=fred #FROM: att #TO: bitnet #RECIPIENT: user@site #INSTR: send to 'internet!site.bitnet!user' #FROM: att #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'internet!domain!user' #FROM: bitnet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: Methods for sending mail from Bitnet to the Internet vary depending on #- what mail software is running at the Bitnet site in question. In the #- best case, users should simply be able to send mail to 'user@domain'. #- If this doesn't work, try 'user%domain@gateway' where 'gateway' is a #- Bitnet-Internet gateway site nearby. Finally, if neither of these #- works, you may have to try hand-coding an SMTP envelope for your mail. #FROM: compuserve #TO: fax #RECIPIENT: +1 415 555 1212 #INSTR: send to '>FAX 14155551212' #INSTR: not transitive - message must originate from a CompuServe user #INSTR: for calls outside the NANP, use '011' as the international prefix #FROM: compuserve #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'INTERNET:user@domain' (only from CompuServe users) #FROM: compuserve #TO: mci #RECIPIENT: 123-4567 #INSTR: send to '>MCIMAIL:123-4567' (only from CompuServe users) #FROM: connect #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'DASN' #- and set the first line of message: '"user@domain"@DASN' #FROM: easynet #TO: bitnet #RECIPIENT: user@site #CONTACT: DECWRL::ADMIN #INSTR: send to 'nm%DECWRL::"user@site.bitnet"' (from VMS using NMAIL) #INSTR: send to 'user@site.bitnet' (from Ultrix) #INSTR: or to 'user%site.bitnet@decwrl.dec.com' (from Ultrix via IP) #INSTR: or to 'DECWRL::"user@site.bitnet"' (from Ultrix via DECN) #FROM: easynet #TO: fidonet #RECIPIENT: john smith at 1:2/3.4 #CONTACT: DECWRL::ADMIN #INSTR: send to 'nm%DECWRL::"john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org"' #- (from VMS using NMAIL) #INSTR: send to 'john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org' #- (from Ultrix) #INSTR: or to '"john.smith%p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org"@decwrl.dec.com' #- (from Ultrix via IP) #INSTR: or to 'DECWRL::"john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org"' #- (from Ultrix via DECN) #FROM: easynet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: DECWRL::ADMIN #INSTR: send to 'nm%DECWRL::"user@domain"' (from VMS using NMAIL) #INSTR: send to 'user@domain' (from Ultrix) #INSTR: or to 'user%domain@decwrl.dec.com' (from Ultrix via IP) #INSTR: or to 'DECWRL::"user@domain"' (from Ultrix via DECN) #INSTR: or to 'user@domain @Internet' (using ALL-IN-1) #FROM: envoy #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: ICS.TEST or ICS.BOARD #INSTR: send to '[RFC-822="user(a)domain"]INTERNET/TELEMAIL/US' #INSTR: for special characters, use @=(a), !=(b), _=(u), #INSTR: any=(three octal digits) #FROM: fidonet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@machine.site.domain #INSTR: convert to 'user@machine.site.domain ON 1:1/31 #FROM: fidonet #TO: wwivnet #RECIPIENT: number@node #CONTACT: Kevin C. ON 1:100/215 #INSTR: convert to '#number @node ON 1:100/215' #INSTR: WWIVgate; LOW TRAFFIC SITE, USE SPARINGLY.. Gateway is modem-based, #- they absorb cost of long distance connects to pick-up and deliver. #- Keep messages under 10K, use infrequently, do NOT use mail-lists or #- file/list-server commands. #FROM: genie #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: postmaster@genie.geis.com #INSTR: send to user@domain@INET# #FROM: geonet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'DASN' #INSTR: set subject line to 'user@domain!subject' #FROM: gold-400 #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@host #INSTR: send to '/DD.RFC-822=user(a)host/O=uknet/PRMD=uk.ac/ADMD=gold 400/C=GB/' #INSTR: for special characters, use @=(a), %=(p), !=(b), "=(q) #FROM: gsfcmail #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: cust.svc #INSTR: send to '(SITE:SMTPMAIL,ID:)' #INSTR: or to '(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:SMTPMAIL,ID:)' #INSTR: or send to 'POSTMAN' #- and set the first line of message to 'To: user@domain' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: gsfcmail #TO: nsi #RECIPIENT: host::user #CONTACT: cust.svc #INSTR: send to '(SITE:SMTPMAIL,ID:)' #INSTR: or to '(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:SMTPMAIL,ID:)' #INSTR: or send to 'POSTMAN' #- and set the first line of message to 'To: user@host.DN.NASA.GOV' #FROM: internet #TO: aol #RECIPIENT: A User #CONTACT: postmaster@aol.com #INSTR: send to auser@aol.com (all lower-case, remove spaces) #INSTR: msgs are truncated to 32K (8K for PCs), all characters except newline #- & printable ASCII characters are mapped to spaces, users are limited to #- 75 pieces of Internet mail in their mailbox at a time. #FROM: internet #TO: applelink #RECIPIENT: user #INSTR: send to 'user@applelink.apple.com' #FROM: internet #TO: arcom #RECIPIENT: (G:John, I:Q., S:Smith, OU:ORG_UNIT, O:Org, P:PRMD, A:ADMD, C:CA) #INSTR: send to: #- /G=John/I=Q/S=Smith/OU=ORG_UNIT/O=Org/P=PRMD/A=ADMD/C=CA@chx400.switch.ch #FROM: internet #TO: att #RECIPIENT: user #INSTR: send to 'user@attmail.com' #FROM: internet #TO: bitnet #RECIPIENT: user@site #INSTR: send to 'user%site.bitnet@gateway' where 'gateway' is a gateway host #- that is on both the internet and bitnet. Some examples of gateways #- are: cunyvm.cuny.edu mitvma.mit.edu. Check first to see what local #- policies are concerning inter-network forwarding. #FROM: internet #TO: bix #RECIPIENT: user #INSTR: send to 'user@bix.com' #FROM: internet #TO: bmug #RECIPIENT: John Smith #INSTR: send to 'John.Smith@bmug.fidonet.org' #FROM: internet #TO: compuserve #RECIPIENT: 71234,567 #INSTR: send to '71234.567@CompuServe.com' #INSTR: Ordinary Compuserve account IDs are pairs of octal numbers #FROM: internet #TO: compuserve #RECIPIENT: organization:department:user #INSTR: send to 'user@department.organization.compuserve.com' #INSTR: This syntax is for use with members of organizations which have a #- private CompuServe mail area. 'department' may not always be present. #FROM: internet #TO: connect #RECIPIENT: NAME #INSTR: send to 'NAME@connectinc.com' #FROM: internet #TO: easylink #RECIPIENT: user mail number 1234567 #INSTR: send to: 1234567@eln.attmail.com #FROM: internet #TO: easynet #RECIPIENT: HOST::USER #CONTACT: admin@decwrl.dec.com #INSTR: send to 'user@host.enet.dec.com' #INSTR: or to 'user%host.enet@decwrl.dec.com' #FROM: internet #TO: easynet #RECIPIENT: John Smith @ABC #CONTACT: admin@decwrl.dec.com #INSTR: send to 'John.Smith@ABC.MTS.DEC.COM' #INSTR: this syntax is for sending mail to ALL-IN-1 users #FROM: internet #TO: envoy #RECIPIENT: John Smith (ID=userid) #INSTR: send to 'uunet.uu.net!att!attmail!mhs!envoy!userid' #FROM: internet #TO: envoy #RECIPIENT: John Smith (ID=userid) #CONTACT: /C=CA/ADMD=TELECOM.CANADA/ID=ICS.TEST/S=TEST_GROUP/@nasamail.nasa.gov #INSTR: send to #INSTR: '/C=CA/ADMD=TELECOM.CANADA/DD.ID=userid/PN=John_Smith/@Sprint.COM' #FROM: internet #TO: fidonet #RECIPIENT: john smith at 1:2/3.4 #INSTR: send to 'john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org' #FROM: internet #TO: genie #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: postmaster@genie.geis.com #INSTR: send to user@genie.geis.com #FROM: internet #TO: geonet #RECIPIENT: user at host #INSTR: send to 'user:host@map.das.net' #INSTR: or to 'user@host.geomail.org' (known to work for geo2) #INSTR: known hosts: geo1 (Europe), geo2 (UK), geo4 (USA) #FROM: internet #TO: gold-400 #RECIPIENT: (G:John, I:Q, S:Smith, OU: org_unit, O:organization, PRMD:prmd) #INSTR: send to 'john.q.smith@org_unit.org.prmd.gold-400.gb' #INSTR: or to #- '"/G=John/I=Q/S=Smith/OU=org_unit/O=org/PRMD=prmd/ADMD=gold 400/C=GB/" #- @mhs-relay.ac.uk' #FROM: internet #TO: goldgate #RECIPIENT: 10087:CQQ061 #INSTR: send to '10087.CQQ061@goldgate.ac.uk' #INSTR: or to '/G=10087/S=CQQ061/P=uk.ac/O=GoldGate/C=GB/' #FROM: internet #TO: greennet #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: support@gn.apc.org #INSTR: user@gn.apc.org (or user@gn.uucp if mailing from JANET) #FROM: internet #TO: gsfcmail #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: naic@nasa.gov #INSTR: send to 'user@gsfcmail.nasa.gov' #INSTR: or to '/PN=user/ADMD=TELEMAIL/PRMD=GSFC/O=GSFCMAIL/C=US/ #- @x400.msfc.nasa.gov' #FROM: internet #TO: ibm #RECIPIENT: user@vmnode.tertiary_domain (syntax?) #CONTACT: nic@vnet.ibm.com #INSTR: send to 'user@vmnode.tertiary_domain.ibm.com' #INSTR: To look up a user's mailbox name, mail to nic@vnet.ibm.com with #- the line 'WHOIS name' in the message body. #FROM: internet #TO: keylink #RECIPIENT: (G:John, I:Q, S:Smith, O:MyOrg, A:Telememo, C:au) #CONTACT: aarnet@aarnet.edu.au #INSTR: send to John.Q.Smith@MyOrg.telememo.au #INSTR: for keylink Private Mail Domains such as #INSTR: (G:John, S:Smith, O:MyDept, P:AusGov, A:Telememo, C:au) #INSTR: send to John.Smith@MyDept.AusGov.telememo.au #FROM: internet #TO: mausnet #RECIPIENT: hans schmidt @ box #CONTACT: sysop@k2.maus.de #INSTR: send to 'hans_schmidt@box.maus.de' #FROM: internet #TO: mci #RECIPIENT: John Smith (123-4567) #INSTR: send to '1234567@mcimail.com' #INSTR: or to 'JSmith@mcimail.com' (if 'JSmith' is unique) #INSTR: or to 'John_Smith@mcimail.com' (if 'John Smith' is unique - note the #- underscore!) #INSTR: or to 'John_Smith/1234567@mcimail.com' (if 'John Smith' is NOT unique) #FROM: internet #TO: nasamail #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: naic@nasa.gov #INSTR: send to 'user@nasamail.nasa.gov' #INSTR: Help is available by phoning +1 205 544 1771 or +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: internet #TO: nsi #RECIPIENT: host::user #CONTACT: naic@nasa.gov #INSTR: send to 'user@host.dnet.nasa.gov' #INSTR: or to 'user%host.dnet@ames.arc.nasa.gov' #INSTR: or to 'user%host.dnet@east.gsfc.nasa.gov' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: internet #TO: omnet #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: naic@nasa.gov #INSTR: send to 'user@omnet.nasa.gov' #INSTR: or to 'user/omnet@omnet.nasa.gov' (?) #INSTR: or to '/DD.UN=user/O=OMN/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@Sprint.COM' #INSTR: Help is available by phoning +1 800 858 9947 #FROM: internet #TO: peacenet #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: support@igc.org #INSTR: send to 'user@cdp.igc.org' #FROM: internet #TO: prodigy #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: admin@prodigy.com #INSTR: send to 'user@prodigy.com' For example: abcd12a@prodigy.com #- Please note that this service is still currently being tested! #FROM: internet #TO: sinet #RECIPIENT: node::user or node1::node::user #INSTR: send to 'user@node.SINet.SLB.COM' #INSTR: or to 'user%node@node1.SINet.SLB.COM' #FROM: internet #TO: sprintmail #RECIPIENT: John Smith at SomeOrganization #INSTR: send to #- '/G=John/S=Smith/O=SomeOrganization/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@Sprint.COM' #FROM: internet #TO: thenet #RECIPIENT: user@host #INSTR: send to 'user%host.decnet@utadnx.cc.utexas.edu' #FROM: internet #TO: wwivnet #RECIPIENT: number@node #CONTACT: faq-request@tfsquad.mn.org or bryen@tfsquad.mn.org #INSTR: convert to 'number-node@wwiv.tfsquad.mn.org' #INSTR: WWCPgate; LOW TRAFFIC SITE, USE SPARINGLY.. Gateway is modem-based, #- they absorb cost of long distance connects to pick-up and deliver. #- Keep messages under 10K, use infrequently, do NOT use mail-lists or #- file/list-server commands. #FROM: keylink #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: John Smith #CONTACT: (G:CUSTOMER, S:SERVICE, O:CUST.SERVICE, P:telememo, C:au) #INSTR: send to '(C:au, A:telememo, P:oz.au, "RFC-822":"John Smith #- ")' #INSTR: special characters must be mapped: @->(a), %->(p), !->(b), "->(q) #FROM: mausnet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: sysop@k2 #INSTR: send to 'user@domain' #FROM: mci #TO: compuserve #RECIPIENT: John Smith (71234,567) #CONTACT: 267-1163 (MCI Help) #INSTR: at the 'To:' prompt type 'John Smith (EMS)' #INSTR: at the 'EMS:' prompt type 'compuserve' #INSTR: at the 'Mbx:' prompt type '71234,567' #FROM: mci #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: John Smith #CONTACT: 267-1163 (MCI Help) #INSTR: at the 'To:' prompt type 'John Smith (EMS)' #INSTR: at the 'EMS:' prompt type 'INTERNET' #INSTR: at the 'Mbx:' prompt type 'user@domain' #FROM: nasamail #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: admin #INSTR: send to '(site:smtpmail,id:)' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 205 544 1771 and at 'admin/nasa'. #FROM: nasamail #TO: nsi #RECIPIENT: host::user #CONTACT: admin #INSTR: send to '(site:smtpmail,id:)' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 205 544 1771 and at 'admin/nasa'. #FROM: nsi #TO: gsfcmail #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: naic@nasa.gov #INSTR: send to 'east::"user@gsfcmail.nasa.gov"' #INSTR: or to 'east::"/PN=user/ADMD=TELEMAIL/PRMD=GSFC/O=GSFCMAIL/C=US/ #- @x400.msfc.nasa.gov' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: nsi #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: east::"naic@nasa.gov" #INSTR: send to 'east::"user@domain"' #INSTR: or to 'dftnic::"user@domain"' #INSTR: or to 'nssdca::in%"user@domain"' #INSTR: or to 'jpllsi::"user@domain"' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: nsi #TO: omnet #RECIPIENT: user #CONTACT: omnet.service #INSTR: send to 'east::"user@omnet.nasa.gov"' #INSTR: Help also available by phoning +1 617 244 4333 (OMN customers only) #FROM: nsi #TO: sprintmail #RECIPIENT: John Smith at SomeOrganization #CONTACT: east::"naic@nasa.gov" #INSTR: send to #- '/G=John/S=Smith/O=SomeOrganization/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@Sprint.COM' #INSTR: Help is also available by phoning +1 800 858 9947. #FROM: omnet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #CONTACT: omnet.service #INSTR: Enter 'compose manual' at the command prompt. Choose the Internet #- address option from the menu that appears. Note that this gateway #- service charges based on the number of 1000-character blocks sent. #INSTR: Help also available by phoning +1 617 244 4333 (OMN customers only). #FROM: sinet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'M_MAILNOW::M_INTERNET::"user@domain"' #INSTR: or to 'M_MAILNOW::M_INTERNET::domain::user' #FROM: sprintmail #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to '(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:INTERNET,"RFC-822":) DEL' #INSTR: Help available within the United States by phoning +1 800 336 0437 and #- pressing '2' on a TouchTone phone. #FROM: sprintmail #TO: nsi #RECIPIENT: host::user #INSTR: send to #- '(C:USA,A:TELEMAIL,P:INTERNET,"RFC-822":) DEL' #INSTR: Help available within the United States by phoning +1 800 336 0437 and #- pressing '2' on a TouchTone phone. #FROM: thenet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@domain #INSTR: send to 'UTADNX::WINS%" user@domain "' #FROM: wwivnet #TO: fidonet #RECIPIENT: First Last ON zone:node/fnet #CONTACT: 1@3469 #INSTR: convert to 'First Last ON zone:node/fnet @656' #INSTR: WWIVgate; LOW TRAFFIC SITE, USE SPARINGLY.. Gateway is modem-based, #- they absorb cost of long distance connects to pick-up and deliver. #- Keep messages under 10K, use infrequently, do NOT use mail-lists or #- file/list-servers commands. #FROM: wwivnet #TO: internet #RECIPIENT: user@machine.site.domain #CONTACT: faq-request@9702 or 1@9702 #INSTR: convert to 'user#machine.site.domain@506' #- If 'user' begins with digits, begin address with a quote. #INSTR: WWCPgate; LOW TRAFFIC SITE, USE SPARINGLY.. Gateway is modem-based, #- they absorb cost of long distance connects to pick-up and deliver. #- Keep messages under 10K, use infrequently, do NOT use mail-lists or #- file/list-server commands. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #561 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02709; 11 Aug 93 23:34 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA21613 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 11 Aug 1993 20:54:37 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30185 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Wed, 11 Aug 1993 20:54:01 -0500 Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 20:54:01 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308120154.AA30185@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #562 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Aug 93 20:54:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 562 Inside This Issue: This Concludes 12 Years of It! Re: Is This Legal? (James Olsen) Re: Is This Legal? (Gang Zhou) Re: Is This Legal? (H. Peter Anvin) Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? (Jon Kimbrough) Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? (Steve Cogorno) Re: Leftover Drops (Alan Boritz) Re: Leftover Drops (Dave Carpentier) Re: AT&T Spending $5(m) on Video Games (John Schroeder) Re: Caller-ID Across LATAs? (Bob Snyder) Re: Radar Detectors (Eric N. Florack) Re: Sprint Workers Fed Up, Start Unionizing (David Boettger) Re: Radar and Acronyms (M. Otto) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 11:34:47 -0400 From: olsen@hing.LCS.MIT.EDU (James Olsen) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? I summarized the FCC action on call blocking two years ago, when the rules were issued. Full details are available in the Federal Register of August 16, 1991 (vol. 56, no. 159), pages 40793-9 and 40844-7. Here are the main points: - As of March 16, 1992, all operator service providers (OSP's), including AT&T, have to provide "800" or "950" access numbers. - Also as of March 16, 1992, all COCOT's have to unblock 10XXX access code calls. - Also as of March 16, 1992, all non-payphone call aggregators (such as hospitals, hotels, and colleges) must unblock 10XXX calls if their equipment can safely do so. - All aggregator equipment made or imported into the US after April 16, 1992 must unblock 10XXX calls as soon as it is installed. - As of March 16, 1993, all non-payphone call aggregators must unblock 10XXX calls if they can safely do so at a cost of no more than $15.00 per [inside] line. - By April 17, 1997, all call aggregators must unblock 10XXX calls. This means that hotels, colleges, prisons, and similar 'call aggregators' must not block 10XXX access codes unless - Their switching equipment was made or imported before April 16, 1992, and - Their equipment cannot safely unblock 10XXX calls, and - Changing the equipment to safely unblock 10XXX calls would cost more than than $15.00 per inside line. If all three of these criteria are met, then the aggregator has until April 17, 1997 to unblock 10XXX calls. ------------------------------ From: gzhou@pollux.usc.edu (Gang Zhou) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 11 Aug 1993 10:25:42 -0700 Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA In article Bonnie J Johnson writes: > If some schools, by older switch design can not provide basic 10xxxx USC is setting up the phone system right now, so it must be a new system, but they don't provide basic 10xxxx. > access, they CAN provide basically the same freedom by obtaining the > 800 number for major carriers and advertising that number to its We can use the calling card via the 800 number for major carriers. It seams that USC has done its part of "equal access", right? But it's still not fair, or equal, because calling card bears a surcharge .75/1.75 for every call. Gang ------------------------------ From: hpa (H. Peter Anvin N9ITP) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Reply-To: hpa@nwu.edu (H. Peter Anvin) Organization: Hierarchial directory structure Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 16:45:54 GMT In article of comp.dcom.telecom, padwad@psd.gs.com (Danny Padwa) writes: > I know that Columbia has a similar policy of billing a person, rather > than a phone, for LD calls. Is this common? Northwestern has a similar policy/system. The students here hate it because although the University made a bug fuzz about the "discounts" we would get on long-distance calls, we got our *local* calls hiked to business rate! In Illinois Bell territory that means that even if you are calling across the street you pay a per-minute charge, while residential rates pay a nickel-a-call. They make it even sneakier by sticking the monthly service bill on the University tuition/housing bill that gets sent to the *parents*, so it looks like a bargain on the bill (no monthly charge -- wow) but in fact it is billed differently. My main complaint about the system, however, is that they have licensed AT&T to handle billing. These people are incredible. They shut my phone service off and refused to reinstate it *for a week* because of *their mistake*. Their only excuse was "we are doing billing on your university and our records are unavailable". Uh-huh. hpa INTERNET: hpa@nwu.edu FINGER/TALK: hpa@ahab.eecs.nwu.edu IBM MAIL: 36073 at IBMX400 NeXTMAIL: hpa@speedy.acns.nwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 13:51:43 EDT From: jkimbro@hercii.lasc.lockheed.com (Jon Kimbrough) Subject: Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? In article 7@eecs.nwu.edu, our Moderator notes: > [Moderator's Note: Oh? Stuff going through 10xxx is not validated by > the local telco? Then how come when I wanted to change the PIN on my > AT&T Calling Card and had to ask twice to get it done, the second time > the rep at AT&T said "I will send a FAX to Illinois Bell right now and > ask what is the delay in processing this," ?? And how come she later > said IBT had lost the original order to do it? I believe that anything > dialed via 10xxx is first examined -- in its entirety -- by the local > telco, and then is handled, passed to a carrier, treated or whatever. > How come whenever I want to change calling plans or do anything with > my AT&T account the answer is always it will be done whenever Illinois > Bell gets around to it, etc.? PAT] Hey, the people at AT&T aren't stupid! Why take the blame when you can pass it off on someone else? Actually, I can see where changing your calling plan or other _billing_ related issues would be handled through IBT, since, as your local telco, they handle the billing of your AT&T account. Jon Kimbrough jkimbro@lasc.lockheed.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein, either stated or implied, are solely my own and do not reflect Lockheed's views in any manner. ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 22:55:54 PDT > Stuff going through 10xxx is not verified by the local telco (Once you > get the MCI bong, it's MCI's call). Some LD companies, for whatever > reason, elect to only accept LEC cards on their 10XXX access. But > it't strictly up to them. I believe AT&T will accept its card or an > LEC card on their 10288. > [Moderator's Note: Oh? Stuff going through 10xxx is not validated by > the local telco? Then how come when I wanted to change the PIN on my > AT&T Calling Card and had to ask twice to get it done, the second time > the rep at AT&T said "I will send a FAX to Illinois Bell right now and > ask what is the delay in processing this," ?? And how come she later > said IBT had lost the original order to do it? I believe that anything > dialed via 10xxx is first examined -- in its entirety -- by the local > telco, and then is handled, passed to a carrier, treated or whatever. > How come whenever I want to change calling plans or do anything with > my AT&T account the answer is always it will be done whenever Illinois > Bell gets around to it, etc.? PAT] Pat, I am not speaking from experience, but I would think that card numbers are not processed by the local telco because my cardnumber works when I am in NYNEX Territory even though I am a PacBell customer. I suppose the LECs could share the card info, but why would they go through extra work to make this happen when AT&T has the definative lists on their card numbers? AT&T could do it. Steve cogorno@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 93 07:53:01 EDT From: Alan Boritz <72446.461@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Leftover Drops mac@rci.chi.il.us (Mark A. Cnota) writes: > There is, and probably always will be, "multiple plant" in most urban > areas. This means that the telco will terminate the same central > office pairs in more than one place, so they can be used at either > depending on where the need is. This is cheaper than providing > everyone with their own separate pairs all the way back to the C.O., > including what you can predict for "future use" which may or may not > ever be used. I don't know about you, but I don't have party-line service here. Since I pay for individual line service I expect performance equal to, or better than, that of any other individual line subscriber. If NJ Bell has any bridge-taps on my circuits they're getting away with it only because I haven't discovered service degradation. > I think we can agree that it's economically unfeasible to send a > technician out to disconnect every unused drop or even to pull a > jumper wire at an interface box or inside terminal when a line is > disconnected. No, I don't think we can agree on that issue. If a telco can't afford to perform competent work, they shouldn't be in business. > The bottom line is this is a wiring problem (detarriffed) and is the > responsibility of the property owner. In a multi-tenant residential or > business situation, the subscriber should NOT be hunting around on the 66 > block, the TELCO's side of the NETPOP. Granted that a tenant should not be poking around where he has no business (no pun intended ;), but neither should a building owner unless if he owns the backbone wire. A tenant's demarc is *in his demised space, not in any common area of the building*. > [Moderator's Note: Are you suggesting that it is *my problem* if my > phones are disrupted because in the building down the street some > tenant decides to save the cost of a professional installation by > doing it themselves and they park on my dial tone instead of their > own? In a matter of speaking, YES. You (Mr. Tenant) have the responsibility of insuring that the problem is not on YOUR side of the demarc, and to get telco working on it. One sure thing is that I (Mr. Building Owner) have no responsibility to you or Mr. Telco in any respect unless if I own the backbone wire, provide the dialtone, or physically damage the tenant's or telco's facilities. > Most of the old buildings got rid of their switchboards twenty years > ago in lieu of the tenant having their own phone service. Where telco > had previously had fifteen or twenty pairs come in and terminate on > the switchboard as trunk lines serving maybe 100-120 apartments, when > the board was yanked they had to come up with another hundred pairs or > so from the street that they could 'wire through' the big terminal box > in the basement to the house pairs into each apartment. The scenario you've described is the exception, rather than the rule, for typical New York City muli-tenant buildings. However, if telco haphazardly used former switch cabling for individual co lines it is clearly THEIR responsibility to deal with the consquences of poor facilities management later (assuming that someone hasn't purchased it or taken it by legal means). > Now where does customer premises wiring begin exactly? No question about it: inside of a tenant's demised space. A tenant has no business dealing with, and has no legal rights to, wire in any common area of the building without the building-owner's explicit permission. Telco's wire between the street and common areas of the building is *backbone* wire and is treated differently than inside wire, *Inside* wire begins at the customer's demarc inside of the tenant's space. > Do the house pairs belong to the building or are they part of telco > plant? If the building, then the building janitor can work on them, > right? Yes, the janitor could conceivably perform that function. Backbone wire ownership is governed by local property laws, consistent with the FCC docket on the wire detariffing issue. As long as telco continues to supply dialtone through the facilities, they still own it. Once they abandon the cable, it belongs to the building. For example, Western Union once provided direct service to customers in the Empire State Building through their own underground and backbone cables. Years ago they discontinued service, and abandoned the cables in place. I had WU fire-stop their conduit from the street (containing only a pull-string), and the other conduits they had running from their right-of-way (in the street) was cleared and re-used for Teleport fiber cables. All of their backbone wiring (still shown on their plant drawings) now belongs to ESB. WU literally gave up a treasured (and valuable) plant facility running though some of the most expensive business real estate. MCI (who purchased WU's rights-of-way) now owns empty pipes into the basement (and some well-preserved, but useless plant facility plans), and has no legal rights to go any further. > If the wires inside my apartment are my responsibility and I > refuse to have wire-maintainence, then if the yellow/black pair I am > not using get shorted somehow is it my problem, the person living down > the street's problem or telco's problem? Your responsibility extends to your demarc. If you have bridges on YOUR side of the demarc it's YOUR problem. However, if the pair is shorted, how do you know that there's someone else involved? > Most people do not even realize that between themselves and the CO > may be five or six places the pair can be jumped -- just look in > the basement of the building down the street. And most people couldn't care less, until their service is disrupted. It's clearly telco's responsibility. Just like hap-hazard fiber service deployment, they will deal with the consequences sooner or later, but how soon (or if at all) depends upon good (independent) telecom people to make them answer for poor plant management. Alan Boritz 72446.461@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: dave.carpentier@oln.com Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 18:44:33 -0400 Subject: Re: Leftover Drops mac@rci.chi.il.us (Mark A. Cnota) writes: > depending on where the need is. This is cheaper than providing > everyone with their own separate pairs all the way back to the C.O., > including what you can predict for "future use" which may or may not > ever be used. Up here, this becomes somewhat less of a problem with the use of the SAC (service area concept) system. The plant is dedicated directly to the SAC box from the CO, and any outgoing plant cannot be multipled (at least in theory) . > What is more common is for the drop wire (and the interface > cross-connect if applicable) to stay in place after a line is > disconnected so that if another line is ordered the same facilities > can be re-used, saving manpower. Now if the same central office pair We call these situations "mail-outs", and the girls in assignment get plenty upset when we try to steal one to patch-up another trouble. It's policy to disconnect the old drop if a mail-out is to be assigned elsewhere. I suppose it does cost more, though. > business situation, the subscriber should NOT be hunting around on the 66 > block, the TELCO's side of the NETPOP. All new terminal installations have > the telco side and customer side clearly marked. And if you request, the I find the new BIPS and BEPS to work fine for this problem, they are sealed and can even be locked to keep curious fingers out (and flames in.). Course, building one of these out to a BIX system kinda makes it moot, as the wires can again be accessed by John Q. We don't use 66 blocks anymore because of the hazards of fire and metal broomhandles. Dave [Moderator's Note: When Illinois Bell guys are working on the pole or in some basement and they can't get a working pair, they just rip off some other pair and let someone else worry about it. :) One day my second line went dead but my first line was okay. I look out the window and see telco guy on the pole in the alley. I called Repair Service then and there and said to the lady please call the guy on the pole and tell him to undo whatever he just did. She gives me all this sass about how do I know its not in my own equipment and if they have to send smmeone out they will charge me, etc. I told her, look, I took a course in logic in college, my phone is working fine five minutes ago and now it is dead. I see a phone guy on the pole outside and you want to tell me to check my instruments? I told her if I had to go outside to see the man on the pole myself I would break his fingers so he would never be able to work on telephone wires again in his life! :) I guess they told him, because a couple minutes later I picked up my second line and heard him talking to somebody in the office about trying to get a good pair 'somewhere'. A long time ago I had a line which was one-way incoming, thus only battery and no dial tone on that line if you went off hook otherwise. The guys were really fond of using that one whenever they came up short somewhere else. When they heard no dialtone on it, they 'just assumed' it was an idle pair. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oracle@cwis.unomaha.edu (John Schroeder) Subject: Re: AT&T Spending $5(m) on Video Games Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 15:42:52 GMT GVC.COM!GDeinstadt (Gord Deinstadt) writes: > In Paul Robinson > writes: >> A few years ago some other company did the same thing, e.g. allow >> people to connect to a system and access video games and the >> equivalent. The company went bankrupt because people couldn't see >> paying a monthly fee for access to video games when you can purchase >> them once. Access to other people might be more valuable, I'm not >> sure. Actually, Sierra Inc. has a gaming BBS with interactive-online gaming. They've been running it for over two years, if I remember the ads correctly, and apparently are doing well. The BBS, from what I under- stand is about 80% gaming and 20% customer service -- selling games over the bbs and technical support type things. I don't belong myself, but know some people who do belong. I've not heard of anyone else doing this, but Sierra has stated in thier magazine that they do fairly well and I'm sure that part of it is the novelty of interactive gaming with people you don't know seeing VGA battles over your phone line! > I do think that "access to other people" as you put it is worth a > WHOLE lot; games are just games but other people are friends. > Nintendo or a competitor could have set up a data network for > long-distance game playing years ago. Their failure to do so, or even > to provide cheap modems and support for them in their games, is IMO > one of the great business blunders of the 20th century. (Right up > there with Telex providers ignoring the advent of PCs.) Well, maybe some other game companies will get on the bandwago if Sierra doesn't pack it all in in a few years! BTW: from an article in the last Sierra Newsletter, Sierra was one of those companies hard-hit from the drop in cartridge prices -- Almost wiped them out of business! John G. Schroeder oracle@unomaha.edu University of Nebraska @ Omaha Omaha, Nebraska, USA The Oracle/NetSeer The Oracle of the Heart ------------------------------ From: snyderra@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu (Bob Snyder) Subject: Re: Caller-ID Across LATAs? Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 07:51:11 -0400 (EDT) In article : > First, it is conceivable that a local telco is handling the whole > call, if an interLATA corridor has been authorized between the two > area codes. For example, New York Telephone is authorized to carry > traffic from 212 to most of 201, even though that is interLATA, > apparently because it convinced the FCC to honor some historical > corridor. Such a corridor does exist, but must be used explicitly, and does not reach 201. There is a corridor between the Philadelphia area of 215 and the New Jersey counties near Philly (Camden, Burlington, and I believe Glouster counties) in the 609 area code. Access is via 10NJB on the NJ Bell side and 10BPA on the Bell of Pennsylvania side. I believe the same thing exists between NYC and northern NJ counties. > If this is how the 215-to-201 call was handled, then maybe that > explains how the caller ID info got onto your screen. I could imagine > such a corridor for New Jersey Bell or for Bell of PA. No caller ID information comes across this corridor. At least, none that I have seen, and I know I get called using 10BPA from Philly because I do it to check my machine. Bob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 05:18:06 PDT From: Eric_N._Florack.cru-mc@xerox.com Subject: Re: Radar Detectors In #557,Harold Hallikainen writes about how he wouldn't want to be in the business of making something that allowed people to violate the law. Pardon me, Harold, but it seems to me that several other things qualify as that. SCanners can be used for that, as well, yet these have legal purposes. SO can guns. So can computers. Any of thousands of things I might name. And further, (To tie this back to telcom) I view this in the same light as a subject I recall popping up in this list a couple years ago ... that being extension phones. Remember it used to be against the law to have extension phones not installed by the telco? I recall (still have it on file someplace) a rather lengthy post from someone in Michigan on just this subject. Took a whole Digest, as I recall it. In both cases, the only harm being caused is the larger group, loses a revenue source, regardless of the other (bogus) arguments presented. Which, in fact, is the primary purpose of traffic radar ... a revenue source. /E ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 07:34:00 +0000 From: David (D.) Boettger Subject: Re: Sprint Workers Fed Up, Start Unionizing Oh, puh-leeze let's not start a pro/anti-union debate. This is NOT the place for it. (You should know that, Mr. Moderator.) David Boettger boettger@bnr.ca I don't speak for my employer. [Moderator's Note: Certainly this is not a newsgroup to debate the pros and cons of union membership, but when large telecom companies find themselves in the middle of a debate on same by their employees it does become newsworthy. No one can seriously say that unions have greatly influenced the way AT&T has operated over the years. Good or bad? That's a topic for elsewhere I guess, but the changes are very plain to any historian of the company in the past hundred years. PAT] ------------------------------ From: otto@vaxb.acs.unt.edu Subject: Re: Radar and Acronyms Organization: University of North Texas Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 21:06:28 GMT Cliff Sharp writes: > LASER - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation > MASER - Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation > (coherent microwave beams, just as lasers give coherent light) > TASER - (before anyone asks) I think this is a made-up Trademark, but > maybe it should be Telescoping Anti-personnel Shocker Emasculated > by Rodney King :-) It's Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle; the inventor(s) came up with the acronym to make it fit in with laser, maser, and the like even though the principle has nothing to do with radiation. > FUBAR Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. > LATA - Lousy A**h*les Treating you Arrogantly :-) What does it really stand for? I'm a newcomer to this list/newsgroup; is there a FAQ for frequently seen acronyms like the one that sci.space and sci.astro has? M. Otto otto@vaxb.acs.unt.edu "A virtual prisoner of UNT's VAX" [Moderator's Note: Local Area Transport something ... yes we have acronym files. All readers should have copies at hand for reference. Go to the archives and pull all the files which begin with the word 'glossary'. Use anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. PAT] Further note: This issue concludes the twelfth year of publication of TELECOM Digest. May year thirteen bring good luck to all of us! PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #562 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa23890; 12 Aug 93 13:25 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30073 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 10:40:24 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA02444 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 10:39:44 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 10:39:44 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308121539.AA02444@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #563 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 10:40:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 563 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson NSA Seeks Delay in Clipper (Dave Banisar) Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular (Paul Robinson) GSM Roaming Experiences (Juha Veijalainen) Motorola 8000H Mail Order? (William F. Quinn) Checks From IXC's (was "Toner Phoners") (Ole C. Hellevik) *69 as Caller-ID? (Rob Hansen) Jabra Earphone (was Sharper Image Products) (Brian Hess) About Caller-ID blocking in Virginia (Paul Robinson) FCC Docket 91-35 (Bonnie J. Johnson) Copyright Law FAQ (Terry Carroll) Talking Thermometer (Paul Cook) Bell Canada Prepay Card Trial (David Leibold) Motorola Jobs (Gary Sanders) Starting Another Year Here (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: CPSR Washington Office From: Dave Banisar Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 9:37:14 EST Subject: NSA Seeks Delay in Clipper NSA Seeks Delay in Clipper Case The National Security Agency (NSA) has asked a federal court for a one-year delay in a lawsuit challenging the secrecy of the government's "Clipper Chip" encryption proposal. The suit was filed by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) on May 28 and seeks the disclosure of all information concerning the controversial plan. In an affidavit submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on August 9, NSA Director of Policy Michael A. Smith states that NSA's search for records responsive to [CPSR's] request is under way, but is not yet complete. Because the Clipper Chip program is a significant one involving the participation of organizations in four of NSA's five Directorates and the Director's staff, the volume of responsive documents is likely to be quite large. Moreover, because the Clipper Chip program is highly complex and technical and is, in substantial part, classified for national security purposes, the review process cannot be accomplished quickly. CPSR called for the disclosure of all relevant information and full public debate on the proposal on April 16, the day it was announced. While NSA has insisted from the outset that the "Skipjack" encryption algorithm, which underlies the Clipper proposal, must remain secret, the Smith affidavit contains the first suggestion that the entire federal program is classified "in substantial part." In the interest of obtaining timely judicial review of the agency's broad classification claim, CPSR intends to oppose NSA's request for delay in the court proceedings. In another case involving government cryptography policy, CPSR has challenged NSA's classification of information concerning the development of the Digital Signature Standard (DSS). The court is currently considering the issue and a decision is expected soon. CPSR is a national public-interest alliance of computer industry professionals dedicated to examining the impact of technology on society. CPSR has 21 chapters in the U.S. and maintains offices in Palo Alto, California, and Washington, DC. For additional information on CPSR, call (415) 322-3778 or e-mail . David L. Sobel CPSR Legal Counsel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:42:01 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA A co-worker of mine obtained a cellular phone with service provided via Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems (BAMS). Bell Atlantic is the parent company of C&P Telephone {of Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia}. I had the opportunity to read the introductory pamphlet they send out and take notes. I thought this might be interesting: There is a "cute" thing: the page numbers at the bottom side are telephone buttons: page 5 consists of a button with rounded sides that says "5 JKL". Page 12 has two buttons on it, and so on. If your call is made to a number in the same area code, dial seven digits. If the number is in another area code, dial it plus the seven digit number. Dialing 1+ is not needed even for long distance calls. International calls must be made by dialing "0". Only calls to AT&T Long Distance will appear on the BAMS bill; all other carriers will bill separately. Airtime charges begin when the "send" key is pressed. Each partial minute of usage is billed as a full minute. Airtime charges include calls to opeator but do not include calls to busy numbers. Automaic Call Delivery is available in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Metro New York. Follow Me Roaming (FMR) is also available, by dialing *18 to activate and *19 to cancel. FMR automatically cancels at midnight. The pamphlet also states that "Follow Me Roaming is a registered trademark of GTE Telecommunications Services." The usual services on a home phone including Call Waiting and Call Forwarding, among others, are available. (Call Waiting is toggled using the SEND key in place of the switch hook.) Airtime is charged for calls forwarded plus tolls and landline termination if sent to a wire phone. One feature mentioned is "Contact Line" which refers to "the most advanced wireless service ever launched commercially in the U.S., assigns a phone number to a person, not a place. Your number will follow you anywhere -- you decide where your number will ring and which calls you'll take ..." and it comes in four flavors. Want to bet it's more expensive than an AT&T 700 number and you pay for all incoming calls? Some dialable features include: *BAM - Customer Service (No airtime charge) *ITG - "Info To Go" (Airtime plus toll if applicable.) Horoscopes, Ski Conditions, Soap Opera updates and so on. You can get this for a local call on a wired phone by dialing the free (non surcharged) number from the competitive Yellow Pages or the C&P pages. *JAM - Connects you to a traffic consultant who will find alternate routing around traffic backups. Billing Indications also include: * - Call Crosses a rate period between peak and off-peak # - Call via call-waiting @ - Call via 3-way & - Call Forwarded call Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ From: JVE%FNAHA@TRENGA.UniGate1.Unisys.COM Date: 12 AUG 93 08:46 Subject: GSM Roaming Experiences Two weeks ago I had a chance to use my Finnish registered GSM phone in England. In general I was quite happy with it. Here are some notes: * first difference I noticed that registering to a network (in my case Vodafone) took longer time than at home, some 20 - 30 seconds instead of 5 - 10 seconds back home. * calls were connected almost immediately, no difference between local or international calls * GSM network coverage in central London was surprisingly patchy. For example Oxford street had several places were there was no network visible for my handheld phone (Ascom Crystal with small 1/8 (?) antenna). * despite earlier information, roaming foreign customers pay the normal or almost normal rate for local (within UK) calls. On the other hand, international calls were at significantly higher rates than back in Finland. * some functions were not available. For example, inquiring various call forwarding setups always returned a 'network error' message. * normal office phones in England seemed to be very sensitive to GSM transmission. I had to stay several metres away from _any_ phones; otherwise people would not have been able to use them, all they would have heard was a loud buzz. My own phone at home and my office phone are not so sensitive. GSM phone antenna needs to be within centimetres of the phone before you can hear any interference. Anyone got an explanation? Lax EC phone/electrical standards... ;-) Juha Veijalainen 4ge system analyst, tel. +358 0 4528 426 Unisys Finland Internet: JVE%FNAHA@trenga.tredydev.unisys.com >> Mielipiteet omiani ** Opinions are PERSONAL, facts are suspect << ------------------------------ From: quinn@austin.ibm.com (William F. Quinn) Subject: Motorola 8000H Mail Order? Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:15:28 GMT Reply-To: quinn@austin.ibm.com Organization: IBM Austin Anyone know of a discount mail order company specializing in celluar phone hardware? Thanks. ------------------------------ Subject: Checks From IXC's (was "Toner Phoners") Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 22:43:19 PDT From: ole!linqdev!oleh@nwnexus.wa.com Stephen Friedl (friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US) and David Breneman (daveb@jaws.engineering.dgtl.com) both seem to complain that they receive checks from various LD carriers. Not only are businesses complaining that expected checks are not received, some even complain of unwanted checks! Stop whining and make sure you read incoming mail before you act upon it. USMail is not a secure channel. This goes for checks and whatever else you might receive. ~~:-( I received a $75 check from AT&T approx three or four months ago with the same 'endorse = switch' small print, but threw it away because I like my current carrier (MCI). A month or so later I received another check, and this time I called MCI customer service ("I really love you, but this is seventy-five bucks!), acting on a posting on c.d.t. Their customer-service person asked me to mail her the check (with her name as attention), and I received a thank-you-for-telling-us note a little while later. Last Friday I got my last USWest phone bill and it included three credit items from MCI, $75 (the AT&T check), $10 (I don't remember what for) and $6.something (they had a different number for my second international Friends and Family). Result: my total bill for this month was 11.03C (that is credit), i.e.: MCI paid even my local phone bill for that month. I'm one happy phone customer, just hoping to receive more checks in the mail. If I can use them I'll cash them, otherwise I will throw them away. Ole C. Hellevik oleh@linqdev.com I do not speak for anyone but myself. ------------------------------ From: hansen@inference.com (Rob Hansen) Subject: *69 as Caller-ID? Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 07:59:12 PDT As you probably know, Caller-ID is not available in California. However, Priority*Ring (distinctive ring when someone on your personal list calls you) and Call*Return are both available. I personally use Priority*Ring, and have used it as a form of Caller-ID. When I suspected a certain individual was making annoying calls to me, I deleted everyone else from my list and was able to confirm or deny my suspicions. I do not have Call*Return. My question is this: If I call "John Doe" who uses Call*Return on me, will the system read my number back to him? Assuming it won't and isn't allowed to, what happens if I'm far enough away from John that I the call costs him money? Will my number show up on his phone bill? If it will, isn't this a violation of the rules? Curious ... Rob ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 23:32:49 -0400 From: bnh@active.com (Brian Hess) Subject: Jabra Earphone [Re: Sharper Image products] > 2) Hands Free Ear Phone -- A hands free phone without a mike boom The company that makes these has the euphonious name "Jabra" (onomotopoeic for "jabber" to me :-). They claim that the microphone *does* pick up some room sounds, but it's not too annoying. They also make an earbud/mic combination for Macs so you can plug into the mic/speaker on the back of your machine. Their president said something about hoping for a cordless version someday soon, and was describing a thing somewhat smaller than the size of their current base unit, that would be tucked in your shirt pocket. And then she went on about R&D for a bone-conduction microphone instead of the hole-in-the-earbud model. Who knows ... Anybody have any actual use data on these babies? They certainly look cute, but who can tell without having been on both sides of the conversation with one. (For example, I saw people here talking about comparing some cordless digital thing with the Tropez. Well, the Tropez is just *awful* IMHO, doing low-res digitization and clipping off the front of your speech (perhaps as a result of the res). You don't know this of course, until a friend on the other end of the line asks if you have a cold or something!) Come on, fess up, you gadget freaks who bought one as soon as you saw it -- inquiring minds want to know! Brian Hess Active Ingredients, Inc. bnh@active.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:23:12 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: About Caller-ID Blocking in Virginia From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA I was visiting my sister in Arlington, Virginia and wanted to check something. Since I "knew" that Caller-ID blocking is not available in Virginia, and my sister is not a police officer or someone with special permission, I decided to dial the *67 code to see what the recording was for someone not authorized (in Maryland I'd get a stutter dial tone meaning it was accepted.) So I dialed *67 expecting a recording. What I got was a STUTTER DIAL TONE! I don't know anyone who has a Caller-ID box to try and ask them if this works, but it makes me wonder: has C&P Telephone simply programmed all of their switches in the Washington, DC area the same way (and thus installed Caller-ID blocking in the Virginia suburbs even though it's not required) or is it a mistake of some kind? Or are they simply implementing Caller ID block even though they don't have to do so? I don't want to ask the phone company in case it's a mistake, (then again, some of them might read this column anyway ...) I want to find out if this is a "real" block or just the switch accepting *67 and then ignoring it. Can someone who has (or knows someone who has) Caller-ID block blocking in the Washington, DC Area (Montgomery & Prince George's Counties in Maryland; Washington, DC; Arlington, and Fairfax Counties and the independent cities of Fairfax, Alexandria, Vienna and Falls Church, VA) give me a number to check that would refuse blocked calls? I used to have one but I can't find it. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 08:49:02 EDT From: Bonnie J Johnson Subject: FCC Docket 91-35 Sorry Pat, I wish I could find an easy way to FTP but my source right now is only hard copy-they are working on a version for the Mac, but that wouldn't help. Sorry, bj [Moderator's Note: Then as you volunteered earlier, people who want a copy will need to contact you directly with their mail address. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 23:55:24 EDT From: Terry Carroll Subject: Copyright Law FAQ In case anyone cares about this type of thing, I've written a fairly extensive FAQ on U.S. copyright law, which is available via ftp from charon.amdahl.com, /pub/misc.legal/Copyright-FAQ. I've noted a lot of erroneous statements on copyright law on the net, so I decided to do my part to try to clarify it. For most assertions of law, the FAQ contains citation to statutes, regulations, or cases for support. Terry Carroll, Santa Clara, CA Internet: tjc50@juts.ccc.amdahl.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 15:27 GMT From: 0003991080@mcimail.com Subject: Talking Thermometer Can anyone help me find a talking thermometer? It would help if it were rugged enough for continuous commercial use, read out in degrees C, and even better if it had a telephone line interface, although this is not an absolute necessity. Paul Cook 206-881-7000 Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080 15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282 Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 23:17 EDT From: djcl@io.org (woody) Subject: Bell Canada Prepay Card Trial [from Bell News (Bell Canada / Bell Ontario) 9 August 1993] Bell to conduct market trial for prepaid LD cards. Bell, joined by BCTel and AGT, will conduct a market trial of a new product that will allow customers in Canada without Calling Cards [tm], credit cards or coins, to call virtually anywhere in the world. Called HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass, the card is designed to help international and domestic travellers in Canada. The trials are scheduled to take place from September 20, 1993 to March 31, 1994. The HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass will become available on a Stentor-wide national basis in spring 1994, pending the outcome of the trial. Bell and the other Stentor phone companies are the first major long distance carriers in Canada to test this new product. The HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass service is just one of the many new services we are rolling out for the benefit of our customers. Convenient and easy to use, the HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass will be about the same size and shape as a Calling Card [tm], and will be available in denominations of $20 for the duration of the trial. The cost of the card includes applicable federal and provincial taxes. Eventually the HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass will be available in larger and smaller denominations. Customers will initially be able to purchase the cards at selected Bell Phonecentre [tm] stores, or at vending machines in certain high traffic areas. Over time, the cards would become available through other convenient channels. The cards will initially be available in English, French, Cantonese and Japanese. Other languages may be available in the future. To use the card, a customer simply dials 1-800 to reach an automated multi- lingual voice response system. The customer then inputs a 12 digit card number found on the back of the card, followed by the long distance number desired. Once the number is dialed, the system determines the value remaining on the card, and states the allowable number of minutes for that particular call. The call may continue until the funds ont the card reach zero, or until the caller wishes to terminate the conversation. The voice system informs the caller when the call is within one minute of reaching zero funds. Additional features will be added to the HELLO! [tm] Phone Pass service as it evolves over time. [end of article] -------------------- DL: Some things come to mind in the above: 1) how did Bell Canada pull off the trademark on the word HELLO??? 2) Talk Tickets seem to be similar (and perhaps even more advanced) to the service Bell is trying here; 3) aren't there more digits after one "simply dials 1-800"?; 4) are Talk Tickets (the apparent inspiration for this new Bell Canada venture) available to Canadians and/or usable from Canada?) [Moderator's Note: In David's message above he referred to 'AT&T Talk Tickets' and I removed the 'AT&T' part since that company is the carrier for the Talk Ticket traffic but not the owner of the card other than through very indirect connections with their largest reseller and aggregator, etc. I don't know which debit card came first; Western Union started with them about the same time as Talk Ticket I believe. Everyone seems to have gotten the idea at the same time as there are now several competing brands. Mine are still 39 cents per minute when purchased in quantity at a discount, but I don't have nearly the distribution network of the big players. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 07:34 EDT From: gws@n8emr.cmhnet.org (Gary Sanders) Subject: Motorola Jobs I posted a note several weeks ago about the Motorola Iridium program starting because I received a call from head hunters. I received many email messages and a couple phone calls from people wanting the head hunters info. At the time I didn't have it because I wasn't interested in the job and just round filed the info. I received a followup letter from them. Here's the information. I have nothing to do with the company; I am just passing on the info. CCS Consultants 908-264-8300 I talked with Pamela Lamb. Gary W. Sanders gws@n8emr.cmhnet.org, 72277,1325 N8EMR @ N8JYV (ip addr) 44.70.0.1 [Ohio AMPR address coordinator] HAM BBS 614-895-2553 (1200/2400/V.32/PEP) Voice: 614-895-2552 (eves/weekends) ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Starting Another Year Here Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 10:03:00 CDT TELECOM Digest started on August 11, 1981 so the list has completed twelve years of publication and starts year thirteen at this time. The list has grown tremendously since the beginning, and now the Digest is circulated not only through its own mailing list and on Usenet (where it appears as comp.dcom.telecom) but also on just about every email system in the world -- wherever people ask to subscribe -- and numerous independent bulletin board systems. Readers on GEnie and Compuserve receive it as to readers on America On-Line, Prodigy and quite a few other places. From one issue of the Digest every two or three days in the beginning, the volume of mail has grown to the point that several issues per day are needed to keep up with the flow most days, and several hours per day of time are required to edit the submissions, circulate them, and maintain the mailing list, among other duties. My thanks are given to the many readers who have sent notes of congratulations and encouragement in the past few days marking this anniversary. Please remember that TELECOM Digest is financially supported through the generous gifts of readers and the sale of telephone services and products on an affinity and ongoing residual basis. Your help is very important -- more important than ever -- as year thirteen gets under way here. Our office address is: Telecom Digest / 2241 W. Howard St. #208 / Chicago, IL 60645 Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #563 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa02541; 12 Aug 93 19:25 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA10546 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 16:40:20 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA23573 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 16:39:43 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 16:39:43 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308122139.AA23573@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #564 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 16:39:30 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 564 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Country Code Reverse List (Paul Cook) Call for Papers IFIP SEC'94 Caribbean (fortrie@cipher.nl) Bidirectional and 7-Bit Zmodem (Paul Robinson) Instream Inaccurate Digit Correcton (Paul Robinson) Unrequested Remote Call Forwarding (Paul Robinson) Cellular Phone With Mac Powerbook (Brandy N. Justice) Looking For Information: ISDN Data Modules (Kurt Kokko) A Converter From Pulse to Tone (Vittorio Mischi) ---------------------- TELECOM Digest is an e-journal devoted mostly -- but not exclusively -- to discussions on voice telephony. The Digest is a not-for-profit public service published frequently by Patrick Townson Associates. PTA markets a no-surcharge telephone calling card and a no monthly fee 800 service. In addition, we are resellers of AT&T's Software Defined Network. For a detailed discussion of our services, write and ask for the file 'products'. The Digest is delivered at no charge by email to qualified subscribers on any electronic mail service connected to the Internet. To join the mail- ing list, write and tell us how you qualify: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu. All article submissions MUST be sent to our email address: telecom@eecs. nwu.edu -- NOT as replies to comp.dcom.telecom. Back issues and numerous other telephone-related files of interest are available from the Telecom Archives, using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. Login anonymous, then 'cd telecom-archives'. At the present time, the Digest is also ported to Usenet at the request of many readers there, where it is known as 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Use of the Digest does not require the use of our products and services. The two are separate. All articles are the responsibility of the individual authors. Organi- zations listed, if any, are for identification purposes only. The Digest is compilation-copyrighted, 1993. **DO NOT** cross-post articles between the Digest and other Usenet or alt newsgroups. Do not compile mailing lists from the net-addresses appearing herein. Send tithes and love offerings to PO Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690. :) Phone: 312-465-2700. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 18:35 GMT From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> Subject: Country Code Reverse List Sometimes I get a fax from overseas and there is no clue as to where it is from. I decided I needed a reverse list of country codes in numerical order, after I wearied of paging through the AT&T International Telecommunications Guide. Here is one that I just sorted. If there isn't one already in the Telecom Archives, maybe this could go there. Country Country Country Country Code Code 7 Armenia (C.I.S.) 350 Gibraltar 7 Azerbaijan (C.I.S.) 351 Azores 7 Belarus (C.I.S.) 351 Madeira Island 7 Georgia (C.I.S.) 351 Portugal 7 Kazakhstan (C.I.S.) 352 Luxembourg 7 Kyrgyzstan (C.I.S.) 353 Ireland 7 Lithuania (C.I.S.) 354 Iceland 7 Moldova (C.I.S.) 355 Albania 7 Russia (C.I.S.) 356 Malta 7 Tajikstan (C.I.S.) 357 Cyprus 7 Turkmenistan (C.I.S.) 358 Finland 7 Ukraine (C.I.S.) 359 Bulgaria 7 Uzbekistan (C.I.S.) 372 Estonia (C.I.S.) 20 Egypt, Arab Rep. 374 Latvia (C.I.S.) 27 South Africa 500 Falkland Island 30 Greece 501 Belize 31 Netherlands(Holland) 502 Guatemala 32 Belgium 503 El Salvador 33 Andorra 504 Honduras 33 France 505 Nicaragua 33 Monaco 506 Costa Rica 34 Canary Islands 507 Panama 34 Spain 508 St. Pierre/Miquelon 36 Hungary 509 Haiti 38 Yugoslavia 590 Guadelope 39 Italy 591 Bolivia 39 San Marino, Rep. 592 Guyana 39 Vatican City 593 Ecuador 40 Romania 594 Cayenne (Fr.Guiana) 41 Liechtenstein 594 French Guiana 41 Switzerland 595 Paraguay 42 Czechoslovakia 596 French Antilles 43 Austria 596 Martinique (Fr.Ant.) 44 United Kingdom 597 Suriname 45 Denmark 598 Uruguay 46 Sweden 599 Curacao (Neth.Ant.) 47 Norway 599 Netherlands Ant. 48 Poland 599 Saba (Neth.Ant.) 49 Germany 599 St. Eustatius 51 Peru 599 St. Maarten 52 Mexico 642 Antartica 53 Guantanamo Bay 670 Mariana Is. (Saipan) 54 Argentine Rep. 670 Saipan 55 Brazil 671 Guam 56 Chile 672 Antartica 57 Colombia 672 Christmas Island 58 Venezuela 672 Cocos Island 60 Malaysia 672 Norfolk Island 61 Australia 673 Brunei 62 Indonesia 674 Naura 63 Philippines 675 Papua (New Guinea) 64 New Zealand 676 Tonga 65 Singapore 677 Solomon Islands 66 Thailand 678 Vanuatu 81 Japan 679 Fiji Islands 81 Okinawa 680 Palau 82 Korea 681 Wallis & Futuna 84 Vietnam 682 Cook Islands 86 China, People's Rep 683 Niue Island 90 Turkey 684 American Samoa 91 India 685 Western Samoa 92 Pakistan 686 Gilbert Islands 93 Afghanistan 686 Kiribati 94 Sri Lanka 687 New Caledonia 98 Iran 688 Tuvalu 212 Morocco 689 French Polynesia 213 Algeria 689 Tahiti 214 Algeria 691 Micronesia 215 Algeria 692 Marshall Islands 216 Tunisia AC 809 Anguilla 218 Libyan Arab Rep. AC 809 Antigua 220 Gambia AC 809 Bahamas 221 Senegal AC 809 Barbados 222 Mauritania AC 809 Bermuda 223 Mali Republic AC 809 British V.I. 224 Guinea AC 809 Cayman Islands 225 Ivory Coast AC 809 Dominica 226 Burkina Faso AC 809 Dominican Republic 227 Rep. of Niger AC 809 Grenada (W.I.) 228 Togolese Rep. AC 809 Jamaica 229 Dahomey (Benin) AC 809 Montserrat 230 Mauritius AC 809 Nevis 231 Liberia AC 809 St. Croix 232 Sierra Leone AC 809 St. Kitts 233 Ghana AC 809 St. Lucia 234 Nigeria AC 809 St. Thomas 235 Chad AC 809 St. Vincent 236 Cent. Afr. Republic AC 809 Trinidad/Tobago 237 Cameroon AC 809 Turks/Caicos 238 Cape Verde Islands AC 809 Puerto Rico 239 Principe 852 Hong Kong 239 Sao Tome 853 Macao 240 Equatorial Guinea 855 Cambodia 241 Gabon Republic 871 Inmarsat (E. Atl.) 242 Congo 872 Inmarsat (Pacific) 243 Zaire 873 Inmarsat (Indian) 244 Angola 874 Inmarsat (W. Atl.) 245 Guinea-Bissau 880 Bangladesh 247 Ascension Island 886 China, Taiwan 248 Seychelle 886 Taiwan (Rep of China) 250 Rwanda 960 Maldive Islands 251 Ethiopia 961 Lebanon 253 Djibouti 962 Jordan 254 Kenya 963 Syrian Arab Republic 255 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 964 Iraq 256 Uganda 965 Kuwait 257 Burundi 966 Saudi Arabia 258 Mozambique 967 Yemen(Arab Republic) 260 Zambia 968 Muscat 261 Madagascar 968 Oman 262 Reunion Island 971 Abu Dhabi (UAE) 263 Zimbabwe 971 Ajman (UAE) 264 Namibia 971 Dubai (UAE) 264 Southwest Africa 971 Fujairah (UAE) 265 Malawi 971 Ra's Al Khaymah (UAE) 266 Lesotho 971 Sharjah (UAE) 267 Botswana 971 Umm Al Qaiwain (UAE) 268 Swaziland 971 United Arab Emirates 269 Comoros 972 Israel 269 Mayotte Island 973 Bahrain 290 St. Helena Island 974 Qatar 297 Aruba (Neth.Ant) 975 Bhutan 298 Faeroe Islands 976 Mongolia 299 Greenland 977 Nepal Paul Cook 206-881-7000 Proctor & Associates MCI Mail 399-1080 15050 NE 36th St. fax: 206-885-3282 Redmond, WA 98052-5378 3991080@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 01:45 +0100 From: fortrie@cipher.nl Subject: Call for Papers IFIP SEC'94 Caribbean Call for Papers IFIP SEC'94 - updated information August 1993 C A L L F O R P A P E R S Technical Committee 11 - Security and Protection in Information Processing Systems - of the UNESCO affiliated INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR INFORMATION PROCESSING - IFIP, announces: Its TENTH INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SECURITY CONFERENCE, IFIP SEC'94 TO BE HELD IN THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES (CARIBBEAN), FROM MAY 23 THROUGH MAY 27, 1994. Organized by Technical Committee 11 of IFIP, in close cooperation with the Special Interest Group on Information Security of the Dutch Computer Society and hosted by the Caribbean Computer Society, the TENTH International Information Security Conference IFIP SEC'94 will be devoted to advances in data, computer and communications security management, planning and control. The conference will encompass developments in both theory and practise, envisioning a broad perspective of the future of information security. The event will be lead by its main theme "Dynamic Views on Information Security in Progress". Papers are invited and may be practical, conceptual, theoretical, tutorial or descriptive in nature, addressing any issue, aspect or topic of information security. Submitted papers will be refereed, and those presented at the conference, will be included in the formal conference proceedings. Submissions must not have been previously published and must be the original work of the author(s). Both the conference and the five tutorial expert workshops are open for refereed presentations. The purpose of IFIP SEC'94 is to provide the most comprehensive international forum and platform, sharing experiences and interchanging ideas, research results, development activities and applications amongst academics, practitioners, manufacturers and other professionals, directly or indirectly involved with information security. The conference is intended for computer security researchers, security managers, advisors, consultants, accountants, lawyers, edp auditors, IT, adminiatration and system managers from government, industry and the academia, as well as individuals interested and/or involved in information security and protection. IFIP SEC'94 will consist of a FIVE DAY - FIVE PARALLEL STREAM - enhanced conference, including a cluster of SIX FULL DAY expert tutorial workshops. In total over 120 presentations will be held. During the event the second Kristian Beckman award will be presented. The conference will address virtually all aspects of computer and communications security, ranging from viruses to cryptology, legislation to military trusted systems, safety critical systems to network security, etc. The six expert tutorial workshops, each a full day, will cover the following issues: Tutorial A: Medical Information Security Tutorial B: Information Security in Developing Nations Tutorial C: Modern Cryptology Tutorial D: IT Security Evaluation Criteria Tutorial E: Information Security in the Banking and Financial Industry Tutorial F: Security of Open/Distributed Systems Each of the tutorials will be chaired by a most senior and internationally respected expert. The formal proceedings will be published by Elsevier North Holland Publishers, including all presentations, accepted papers, key-note talks, and invited speeches. The Venue for IFIP SEC'94 is the ITC World Trade Center Convention Facility at Piscadera Bay, Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. A unique social program, including formal banquet, giant 'all you can eat' beach BBQ, island Carnival night, and much more will take care of leisure and relax time. A vast partners program is available, ranging from island hopping, boating, snorkeling and diving to trips to Bonaire, St. Maarten, and Caracas. A special explorers trip up the Venezuela jungle and the Orinoco River is also available. For families a full service kindergarten can take care of youngsters. The conference will be held in the English language. Spanish translation for Latin American delegates will be available. Special arrangements with a wide range of hotels and appartments complexes in all rate categories have been made to accommodate the delegates and accompanying guests. (*) The host organizer has made special exclusive arrangements with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and ALM Antillean Airlines for worldwide promotional fares in both business and tourist class. (**) (*)(**) Our own IFIP TC11 inhouse TRAVEL DESK will serve from any city on the globe. All authors of papers submitted for the referee process will enjoy special benefits. Authors of papers accepted by the International Referee Committee will enjoy extra benefits. If sufficient proof (written) is provided, students of colleges, universities and science institutes within the academic community, may opt for student enrollment. These include special airfares, appartment accommodations, discounted participation, all in a one packet prepaid price. (Authors' benefits will not be affected) INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS Five copies of the EXTENDED ABSTRACT, consisting of no more than 25 double spaced typewritten pages, including diagrams and illustrations, of approximately 5000 words, must be received by the Program Committee no later than November 15th, 1993. We regret that electronically transmitted papers, papers on diskettes, papers transmitted by fax and handwritten papers are not accepted. Each paper must have a title page, which includes the title of the paper, full names of all author(s) and their title(s), complete address(es), including affiliation(s), employer(s), telephone/fax number(s) and email address(es). To facilitate the blind refereeing process the author(s)' particulars should only appear on the separate title page. The language of the conference papers is English. The first page of the manuscript should include the title, a keyword list and a 50 word introduction. The last page of the manuscript should include the reference work (if any). Authors are invited to express their interest in participating in the contest, providing the Program Committee with the subject or issue that the authors intend to address (e.g. crypto, viruses, legal, privacy, design, access control, etc.) This should be done preferably by email to < TC11@CIPHER.NL >, or alternately sending a faxmessage to +31 43 619449 (Program Committee IFIP SEC'94) The extended abstracts must be received by the Program Committee on or before November 15th, 1993. Notification of acceptance will be mailed to contestants on or before December 31, 1993. This notification will hold particular detailed instructions for the presentation and the preparation of camera ready manuscripts of the full paper. Camera ready manuscripts must be ready and received by the Program Committee on or before February 28, 1994. If you want to submit a paper, or you want particular information on the event, including participation, please write to: IFIP SEC'94 Secretariat Postoffice Box 1555 6201 BN MAASTRICHT THE NETHERLANDS - EUROPE or fax to: IFIP SEC'94 Secretariat: +31 43 619449 (Netherlands) or email to: < TC11@CIPHER.NL > Special request to all electronic mail readers: Please forward this Call for Papers to all networks and listservices that you have access to, or otherwise know of. Sincerely, IFIP TC 11 Secretariat ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 12:57:36 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Bidirectional and 7-Bit Zmodem From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA I'd like to find people interested in either a Bidirectional version of Zmodem or in one which will operate on a 7-bit link. (Current Zmodem implementations use 8 bits.) Those who are interested in: (1) the idea; (2) the concepts; (3) in defining the specifications; (4) in making suggestions; (5) in writing code; are requested to write to me and if there is much interest, I'll set up a mailing list to handle it. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 12:11:38 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Instream Inaccurate Digit Correcton From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA In an article titled " Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address", Blake Patterson , writes: > Do any phone companies allow midstream digit correction when > placing a phone call? I've never heard of that option, but > I'd pay for it. I don't see how you can do it now. Unless we make the * key the delete key at any point *except* as the first character of the dialed number to allow for feature requests such as *70 or *67. Since ** might be used for some features, a * could not be used to edit a star code either. The answer is to buy a phone that has on-hook dialing with a display so you can do that. We have two very nice laser fax machines at my office, both have the capacity to read a fax in and store it and send it out after reading it, so you can load one or more faxes into memory while a fax is being sent or received. There is a "clear" key on the front panel that if you push it, it backspaces one digit off the dialed number (unless you are dialing directly, then, of course it can't.) It is a *very nice* feature, especially on overseas calls where a number can be misread. I wish the feature was more widely available. I like the capability of fixing a number before dialing it. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 11:20:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Paul Robinson <0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM> Reply-To: Paul Robinson <0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM> Subject: Unrequested Remote Call Forwarding Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA A posting on the Risks list discussed how an inmate at a state penetentiary was able to get some private party's phone to be enabled with Remote Call Forwarding (RCF), AND got someone from the phone company to give them the security code over the phone. I just thought about this. A while back I had two additional phone lines installed in my house to add to the two I already had. At the request of the person who wanted the extra line, I put "Ultra Call Forward" (C&P Telephone's name for RCF) on one of the lines. It just occurred to me, if I'm not mistaken, that the clerk did give me the information (800 number if long distance; local number if local) to set up the service and passcode) at the time I requested the service change even though he did not ask me for any personal identification when I placed the order. It's been said on TELECOM Digest several times that inmates in prisons make calls that have to be made collect only. Are they referring to the phones provided by the correctional facility or are the pay phones set up so they cannot place calls other than collect? If prison pay phones can only call collect, then the person that did this had to have an outsider do this, or they had to be calling an 800 number (can prison phones call 1-800 numbers? If not, how do they call their lawyer if he has one?) Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 12:11:20 -0400 (EDT) From: brandy n justice Subject: Cellular Phone With Mac Powerbook I'm attempting to hook up a Mac Powerbook with my cellular phone in hopes of accessing the Internet. The Powerbook has an internal modem... Global Village, I think. I'm not sure if I need a different phone or what. Any suggestions? Do you know if I need any special equipment or anything of that sort? Thanks for your help, because I know nothing about this. Brandy N. Justice Furman University Freshman (615) 435-4572 ------------------------------ From: kokko@esca.com (Kurt Kokko) Subject: Looking for info -ISDN Data Modules Organization: ESCA Corporation, Bellevue WA Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 16:38:28 GMT I am looking for info on availible ISDN "data modules" (RBOC's term.) I need a device to provide access to both B channels from a V.35 port, and to support ACU (V.25 bis) dialing. Our RBOC wants $1,100 per B channel. Thanks, kokko@esca.com Kurt Kokko (206) 822-6800 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 19:10:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Vittorio Mischi Subject: A Converter From Pulse to Tone I am looking for a device that converts pulse signals into tone signals. I believe there must be circuits around. I am looking for something that can be plugged into a PC as any modem board and can be used on a bank of lines concurrently (that is from different users at the same time). It should be able to fill up a buffer and then spit out the sequential string of tones quickly. I also have a question on the conversion: are there any unique strings of pulse signals that can be translated into the #,*,A,B,C,or D Tone? Any comment, reference or offer for help is very appreciated. Thanks, Vittorio Mischi Carnegie Mellon University (standard disclaimers apply) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #564 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa03262; 12 Aug 93 19:57 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA26817 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:21:18 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA26570 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:20:41 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:20:41 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308122220.AA26570@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #565 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:20:40 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 565 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) (Al Varney) Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Is This Legal? (Jim Rees) Re: Is This Legal? (Gary L. Dare) Re: Is This Legal? (Atri Indiresan) Re: Is This Legal? (Paul Joslin) Re: Hotel Rip-Off - Is This a Record? (Ken Thompson) Re: Hotel Rip-Off - Is This a Record? (Greg Abbott) Re: Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems (David Leibold) Re: Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems (Paul Robinson) Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (Derek Andrew) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:49:34 CDT From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Organization: AT&T In article hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) writes: > In article goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec. > com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes: > I've gotten several mile local loops (for FM radio stations) > with 70 dB or more of dynamic range. So, why do they only use 4 > levels in the 2B1Q? Seems like a lot more would be available > (stuffing more bps into a baud) before noise starts making it > difficult to determine what the actual transmit analog level is. Or, > is the problem intersymbol interference where the level of one quat > has an effect on those surrounding it, making the level of this > particular quat difficult to determine? I've written about loop plant characteristics in the "comp.dcom.isdn" a few times, and won't repeat all the stuff here. Much of my meager knowledge is based on the book "Digital Transmission Systems and Networks", Vol. II, M. J. Miller & S.V. Ahamed, Computer Science Press, Rockville, MD, 1988. A sub-chapter is headed "The major limitations for loop data transmission" and details the following imperfections of subscriber loops and their effects on ISDN data rates: Physical: - 1 or more guage changes between CO and subscriber (each of these junctions can be a reflection point, and obviously alter the overall loop characteristics) - Bridged taps (open circuit cable sections tapped off the "main" loop) (these provide reflections of transmitted signals, and attenuation of signals from the far end, as well as major shifts in impedance. Imagine a quarter-wave unterminated circuit bridged onto your loop at one or more arbitrary points -- a reflected pulse will return just in time to occupy the next bit position.) - Loading coils, used on loops longer than about 18000 ft (5486 km) (these suppress high frequencies to the point that everyone just says these won't support the "U" interface) In the US in 1973, such loops accounted for 24% of subscriber loops. This number has certainly gone down due to DLC, etc. deployment. - Open wire (inductive 60 Hz coupling/crosstalk and impedance changes with weather). - Temperature (can change reactive component of impedance significantly). Electrical: - Crosstalk (including crosstalk from adjacent T1 lines;) - Lightning surges; - EMF; In a 1973 loop survey of (pre-divest) AT&T loops, the average loop was 7748.63 ft. long (2.262 km), had 4 sections and 1.64 bridged taps. The average tap was 922.42 ft. (0.282 km). Loops of less than 1000 ft. had taps averaging 1333 ft. in length. Characteristic impedance toward the CO is markedly different than toward the subscriber on the same loop. >> To make all this work, impedance is specified, with very picky >> transformers needed for S/T to meet spec. S/T uses separate transmit >> and receive wires, thus a 4-wire interface. The BRI U uses one pair, >> so there's some fancy echo cancellation done inside the transceiver >> ("UBAT", in AT&T terms) chip. Real fancy. > It seems that if the characteristic impedance of the line is > matched, there should be no "far end echo", or , at least, it should > be substantially attenuated. The "near end echo" (side tone on POTS) > seems like it could be cancelled pretty well if we precisely know the > impedance the line presents to the interface. If the far end has > indeed terminated the line with its characteristic impedance, then it > seems the near end should have the same impedance. I haven't messed > with long twisted pairs to play with the transmission line effects, > but it would sure be fun. See above -- remember that ISDN deployment SHOULD be possible without doing fancy impedance matching on loops, and SHOULD continue to work as the loop plant changes with weather, time, repairs, etc. > It seems like the throughput of a line is going to be limited by its > analog dynamic range and the attenuation versus frequency. Is the > attenuation versus frequency (frequency response) reversible with an > equalizer? It seems that most equalizers that adjust the amplitude > response also adjust the phase response (making it nonlinear). > It also seems that a long twisted pair would have a linear phase > response (propogation delay relatively independent of frequency). Can > we feed a high speed multilevel pulse waveform in one end of a twisted > pair and, with equalization, pull it back out the other end? The trickest part for ISDN seems to be handling echo since the 2-wire line is both sending and receiving at the same time (in the 2B1Q version). You seem to be looking at a uni-directional signal on a two-wire pair. The four-wire version of ISDN will work over dozens of miles, since this is essentially a low-speed verison of a T1 (1.544MHz) line. Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 05:19:03 GMT In article hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) writes: Sheesh! I post a glib answer and somebody comes back with a substantive reply! :-) > I've gotten several mile local loops (for FM radio stations) > with 70 dB or more of dynamic range. So, why do they only use 4 > levels in the 2B1Q? Seems like a lot more would be available > (stuffing more bps into a baud) before noise starts making it > difficult to determine what the actual transmit analog level is. Or, > is the problem intersymbol interference where the level of one quat > has an effect on those surrounding it, making the level of this > particular quat difficult to determine? The four-level signal was selected over a couple of three-level proposals. Remember they have to reliably distinguish an attenuated signal in the presence of crosstalk. The bit rate is 160 kbps, the baud rate (symbol rate) is 80 kbps, and the energy peak is 40 kbps. That's a lot higher than FM music, thus the shorter range. >> To make all this work, impedance is specified, with very picky >> transformers needed for S/T to meet spec. S/T uses separate transmit >> and receive wires, thus a 4-wire interface. The BRI U uses one pair, >> so there's some fancy echo cancellation done inside the transceiver >> ("UBAT", in AT&T terms) chip. Real fancy. > It seems that if the characteristic impedance of the line is > matched, there should be no "far end echo", or , at least, it should > be substantially attenuated. The "near end echo" (side tone on POTS) > seems like it could be cancelled pretty well if we precisely know the > impedance the line presents to the interface. If the far end has > indeed terminated the line with its characteristic impedance, then it > seems the near end should have the same impedance. I haven't messed > with long twisted pairs to play with the transmission line effects, > but it would sure be fun. The NEXT (near-end cross talk) is easy. The FEXT isn't terribly tough. What kills things is the junk in the middle. While ISDN lines are not supposed to have bridge taps (little stubs off the middle), the reality is that bridge taps happen. And a little bit of bridge tap creates whopping echo somewhere, which the chip tries to cancel. We actually verified (unwanted!) bridge taps on lines which were still sort of working, but not working well enough to be useful. > We sell transmitter control and telemetry equipment to radio > and television stations. They are generally using a 3002 type circuit > to send 1200 to 2400 bps full duplex data. I'm wondering what other > sort of leased line circuits they could use, and how the data could be > coded to go down that line. If all you need is remote control and telemetry, low-speed analog is fine. Most datacomm can use 56k though, especially at the same price. Digital lines are not like 3002s; they don't have the same terminators and may have different repeaters. And no bridge taps :-). Fred R. Goldstein goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission ------------------------------ From: Jim.Rees@umich.edu Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 12 Aug 1993 16:53:35 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI In article , olsen@hing.LCS.MIT.EDU (James Olsen) writes: > I summarized the FCC action on call blocking two years ago, when the > rules were issued. Full details are available in the Federal Register > of August 16, 1991 (vol. 56, no. 159), pages 40793-9 and 40844-7. I found a gopher server that has a link to the Federal Register, but the link doesn't point at anything. So someone probably has this online but I don't know how to get at it. The gopher is at gopher.netsys.com, port 2001, if anyone wants to pursue it. ------------------------------ From: gld@jambo.cc.columbia.edu (Gary L Dare) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 12 Aug 1993 17:02:37 GMT Organization: The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (now Columbia University) padwad@psd.gs.com (Danny Padwa) writes: > Is Centrex the only service that can provide this? Harvard recently > (last three years) rebuilt its phone system (down to the local loops). I'm of the impression that "centrex" is a genericized term much like "kleenex" (i.e., after a successful brand name, starting with a capital letter). You can get excellent technicals from using PABX systems made by, say, Northern Telecom ... > They also have an interesting system for billing calls ... any call > that is chargeable (not "local" based upon the phone's calling plan) > requires the input of your PIN. > I know that Columbia has a similar policy of billing a person, > rather than a phone, for LD calls. Is this common? Yes, it's called a calling card. (-; Seriously, types of calling cards are proliferating at a wild pace and having internal ones is not that much different from using your MCI card or getting your credit card converted to an MCI card (as recently discussed). Gary L. Dare gld@columbia.EDU gld@cunixc.BITNET ------------------------------ From: atri@eecs.umich.edu (Atri Indiresan) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 12 Aug 93 15:14:11 Organization: University of Michigan In article olsen@hing.LCS.MIT.EDU (James Olsen) writes: > I summarized the FCC action on call blocking two years ago, when the > rules were issued. Full details are available in the Federal Register > of August 16, 1991 (vol. 56, no. 159), pages 40793-9 and 40844-7. [details of conditions for aggregators to provide 10XXX access deleted] I enclosed this information to the head of the U. of Michigan Telecom (UMTEL), along with this: " I have been gathering information on the legal aspects of our telephone service restrictions, and would like to know if UMTEL is in compliance with these "equal access" regulations. My understanding is that we have a rather modern switch, and there are no technical bars to providing 10xxx service, at least to the major carriers. " In his reply, he totally avoided the issue of whether the conditions of the ruling, as posted by James Olsen, were met. He said: " Yes, we have fully complied with all aspects. This provides for equal access for 0+ calls which we have always allowed. This does not refer to direct dial access. We have legal representation on this issue and adhere to all state and federal laws and tariffs. " Do the FCC regulations say anything specific about 10XXX access, or, is there legal opinion/agreement around that implies that 0+ access is good enough? 0+ access is not equal to 10XXX, but is it equal enough to satisfy the FCC? Atri ------------------------------ From: pjoslin@mbvlab.wpafb.af.mil (Paul Joslin (Sverdrup)) Subject: Re: Is This Legal? Date: 12 Aug 1993 12:57:17 GMT Organization: Model Based Vision Lab, Wright Laboratory In article , Gang Zhou (gzhou@pollux.usc. edu) wrote: > In article Bonnie J Johnson > writes: >> If some schools, by older switch design can not provide basic 10xxxx > USC is setting up the phone system right now, so it must be a new > system, but they don't provide basic 10xxxx. >> access, they CAN provide basically the same freedom by obtaining the >> 800 number for major carriers and advertising that number to its > We can use the calling card via the 800 number for major carriers. It > seams that USC has done its part of "equal access", right? But it's > still not fair, or equal, because calling card bears a surcharge > .75/1.75 for every call. Another interesting change is that Universities may have to file tariffs. Apparently, AT&T filed suit against the FCC, saying that the FCC policy requiring only the "dominant" carrier (i.e. AT&T) to file tariffs was illegal. A court agreed with them, and MCI was also forced to file tariffs. AT&T sued MCI and the FCC, saying the MCI tariffs were vague, and succeeded in forcing MCI to file more detailed tariffs. According to Network World, the result of the suit may be that all providers, from MCI and Sprint through aggregators, hotels and universities, may have to file. The FCC is challenging the ruling. Paul R. Joslin +1 513 255 1115 ------------------------------ From: ken thompson Subject: Re: Hotel Rip-Off - Is This a Record? Date: 12 Aug 93 13:26:00 GMT Organization: NCR Corporation Wichita, KS John.Slater@UK.Sun.COM (John Slater) writes: > I have just had the dubious pleasure of staying for a couple of weeks > at the Hyatt Regency Alicante in Anaheim, California. Being an avid > Who needs COCOTs when hotels rip us off so effectively? The phoney companies need rate approvals for their charges. ( Why they call them trariffs still I do not understand.) How can the hotels get away with what they do? It seems as if consumer agencies would go after them. Ken Thompson N0ITL Disk Array Hardware Development Peripheral Products MPD-Wichita NCR Corp. an AT&T company 3718 N. Rock Road Wichita,Ks 67226 (316) 636-8783 Ken.Thompson@wichitaks.ncr.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 12:40:03 CST From: Greg Abbott Reply-To: gabbott@uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Hotel Rip-Off - Is This a Record? John.Slater@UK.Sun.COM (John Slater) wrote: > I have just had the dubious pleasure of staying for a couple of weeks > at the Hyatt Regency Alicante in Anaheim, California. Being an avid > TELECOM Digest reader, I went straight to the rate card by the phone > even before I unpacked my case. > Even by British hotel standards (typically 400% mark-up on BT's > standard unit charge), the Hyatt was extortionate. Consider what they > charge for international calls: > Operator-assisted rates (even though the call is direct-dialled) > PLUS a $2.50 access charge per call! > PLUS 45c per minute!! Just as a side note, I recently complained to the Chicago Hilton Towers regarding their policy to charge $1 for each local and 800 number call. I received a telephone call from their Telecommuni- cations Manager to inform me that she had forwarded my complaint to someone at the corporate level. It seems they had been receiving numerous complaints regarding this policy. Based on these complaints, a new policy was issued by corporate to eliminate this charge. I guess it does do some good to complain occasionally! GREG ABBOTT E-MAIL: GABBOTT@UIUC.EDU 9-1-1 COORDINATOR COMPUSERVE MAIL: 76046,3107 VOICE: 217/333-4348 METCAD FAX: 217/384-7003 1905 E. MAIN ST. PAGER: 800/222-6651 URBANA, IL 61801 PIN # 9541 ------------------------------ From: djcl@io.org (woody) Subject: Re: Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems Date: 12 Aug 1993 02:42:27 GMT Organization: Internex Online - Toronto, Canada (416) 363-3783 In article mcmahan@netcom.com (Dave Mc Mahan) writes: > I am currently trying to design yet another phone modem protocol that > is capable of handling some unique requirements of my product. After > looking at the various standard modem protocols out there, I have > found that none will be able to fulfill all the objectives I need. > This is mainly due to lack of efficiency (Kermit and XMODEM fall into > this category) or inability to pass data in two directions at the same > time (ZMODEM falls into this category). To make a long story short, a > unique protocol is required. There are protocols available in the BBS world that will send data in both directions concurrently. The first well-known one was Bi-Modem, and the recent protocol (with an open approach to protocol specs) is Hydra. With Bi-Modem, and I think also Hydra, there is even an added facility to allow for a "chat" channel while the transfer is taking place; ie. a fraction of the bandwidth can be dedicated to on line communication between a user and sysop, say. I believe the file transfer activity is fairly continuous in both directions, akin to Zmodem. However, these may not be the only protocols, and hopefully the protocol you specified will be useful for the task at hand. David Leibold ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 12:37:28 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Re: Error Rates For 2400 Baud Modems From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA > I am currently trying to design yet another phone modem protocol > that is capable of handling some unique requirements of my product. > After looking at the various standard modem protocols out there, I > have found that none will be able to fulfill all the objectives I > need. This is mainly due to lack of efficiency (Kermit and XMODEM > fall into this category) or inability to pass data in two > directions at the same time (ZMODEM falls into this category). To > make a long story short, a unique protocol is required. Have you checked on the Bimodem protocol? It's either from Vern Buerg or S.H. Smith, I forget which. > I have specified a protocol that will do the job. My problem lies > in the fact that I don't have good data on types of errors that > occur when going through the public telephone network. This means > I can't pick the optimal message packet size to trade off protocol > efficiency versus retransmit probability. I would like input from > you as to where I can find this data. Find a copy of Chuck Forsberg's 1987 specifications and source code (both in the public domain) explaining how Zmodem works and why it was developed. What you do is pick an 'optimum' size buffer based on how much data would be transmitted in a stream and how fast the receiver can handle it. At 300 baud, it might be 128 bytes; at 1200, 1K; 2400, 2 or 4K; and at 9600, 8K. If there is an error, you tell the receiver to back up to some point earlier in the transmission which is 'known good'. This is done by a CRC. You keep count of the number of errors. If the number of errors starts to rise above a 'threshhold' then you reduce the number of bytes sent in a packet to a smaller amount, e.g. you 'throttle down' the packet size. If the errors stay low, you can try slowly increasing the size of the packet until you start getting errors. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 06:56:47 GMT From: andrew@herald.usask.ca (Derek Andrew) Subject: Re: Another Look at Alex Bell (was Re: Handsets; Hearing Impaired) Reply-To: andrew@herald.usask.ca Organization: University of Saskatchewan > Alex Bell was not a teacher for the deaf, he was the centerforce of > mainstreaming the deaf and destroying their unique culture, to clear > up with a myth, if it ever was one. To the deaf, he was the ultimate > person of intolerance and oppression. I took a sign language course recently and the instructore explained the debate about 'deaf culture' to me. The pro-deaf culture stance is that there is a unique culture among the deaf which is propogated by being with other deaf people and using sign language. It is a culture as powerful as any racial culture. They want to keep it. The anti-deaf culture stance is that by continuing to promote sign language rather than teaching lip reading, we are isolating the deaf from the hearing culture. It prevents the deaf from integrating into the larger hearing culture. Imagine if you only spoke Spanish and tried to function in an English only environment, but were not capable of learning even a few English words (like STOP or DANGER). The politics were highlighted during the recent closing of the only school for the deaf in this city. The students were distributed to regular schools and given aids to assist in learning how to function in the hearing community. The main discussions did not concentrate on the benefits to the students, but rather on the loss of the centre of the deaf community. It was the adults that were going to suffer, not the students! I wanted to send in this submission to show that there is another side to destroying the deaf culture -- and it can be considered positive. Derek.Andrew@USask.CA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #565 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa04313; 12 Aug 93 20:51 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA04176 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:06:24 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA18068 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:05:45 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:05:45 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308122305.AA18068@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #566 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 18:05:45 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 566 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Status of Cellular Data (Robert Rosenberg) Re: Status of Cellular Data (Erik Ramberg) Re: Status of Cellular Data (Lynne Gregg) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (John R. Levine) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (Jan Ceuleers) Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible (Vance Shipley) Re: ATT Truevoice (David G. Lewis) Re: ATT Truevoice (Al Varney) Re: NXX Report: July 1993 (Trenton del Rey Gallowglass) Re: Who/What Determines Call (Vance Shipley) Re: Leftover Drops (Richard Thomsen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:10:14 EDT From: Robert Rosenberg Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data > Can anyone post an update on what's going on in the world of cellular > data? I used to assume that wireless data connectivity would evolve > out of alphanumeric pager service, but I gather that the cellular > voice carriers are gearing up to soak up their spare bandwidth by > providing cellular packet data. > Is this right? How's it going? When can I expect to have affordable > two-way email from my laptop? I know about Embarc et al, but it is SOOOO > expensive. It currently appears to be far cheaper per byte to use a > cellular phone and modem than to use the alpha-pager services and that > seems crazy. Anybody know what's coming down in this area? Our recent study of wireless data transport suggests that cellular is indeed live and well, but there are a number of technology options that must be assessed. Specialized mobile radio (SMR) is being developed as a digital cellular-telephone technology. Though some industry experts maintain that data business opportunities are less pressing than those for voice, others are moving aggressively to provide data services or combined voice and data services via SMR frequencies. The reality is that in 1993 more cars and trucks have SMR than have cellular telephones-though this a service that is arguably lower in quality than cellular (measured by both transmission quality and fraction of call attempts that are blocked because of no available channels), lower in functionality (limited connectivity to the public switched telephone network as well as to other customers), but also lower in cost. Wireless data communications will find a market using SMR frequencies, as a packet-radio overlay technology atop voice services. We expect to see dial-up cellular-telephone modems become increasingly popular as a cellular telephone with dial-up data and fax modem becomes a standard option on laptop or notebook PCs. The costs associated with building wireless modems will slide down the cost curve-in part because of the trend toward nomadic computing and growth in the cellular-telephone network. These devices will function on either a wireline or a wireless network, though the typical applications will be to fax or to dial into a terrestrial wireline network. However, Insight analysis suggests that the cost of dial-up cellular-telephone service could make more cost-effective packet-radio services the preferred mode for wireless data communications in the next five years. Packet-radio maps beautifully to data communications: it involves sharing a scarce resource-radio spectrum-among many different users. The packet-radio paradigm is assumed to be relatively bursty-typically, an interactive terminal/host session actually will send or receive information only 0.1 percent of the time or less. The business question is will packet radio evolve via standalone networks-such as Ardis and Ram Mobile Data, which employ SMR frequencies to handle data alone-or will it piggyback off the capital-equipment outlay for voice wireless network. If piggybacking makes the better business case, will packet radio evolve using guard bands in cellular network frequencies or via transmission over unused frequencies in the cellular analog voice network, as adopted by the backers of the cellular digital packet data (CDPD) protocols? The key issue here is ease of use, which in part translates into coverage. Cellular-telephone networks already have greater geographic coverage than SMR networks; hence the lower cost approach to wireless data is to share costs with a voice cellular-telephone service providers. Because of the open nature of the CDPD consortium formed by McCaw, GTE Cellular, Sprint, and six of the seven RBOCs, the willingness to publish an architecture, and to make the technology available to all interested parties, Insight's analysis suggests success for the CDPD consortium. Open systems rewrote the rules in the computer industry in the 1980s and will continue to dominate computing and telecommunications the 1990s. By way of contrast, those backing cellular data via guard bands expect to reap profits from locking customers into proprietary technologies and interfaces, an approach out of step with present realities. Bob Rosenberg Insight Research Corporation bob@insight-corp.com ------------------------------ From: esl!SMTP!erik_ramberg@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Erik Ramberg) Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data Date: 12 Aug 93 21:24:38 GMT Organization: ESL Inc. In article , Jim.Rees@umich.edu wrote: > Then there's GSM, the non-US digital cellular system of the future. > It's been deployed in a few places, and I think it has provisions for > data, but I don't know much more about it. It's unlikely to be > deployed in the US, since it wasn't invented here and can optionally > use encryption, which our government would like to outlaw. Of more importance is the fact that GSM is not working at full capacity due to technical problems..this includes the frequency hopping portion of the protocol. Supposidly the problems are most pronounced in large valleys. (i.e. multipath) FYI GSM is not rated to be of higher capacity than the current US AMPS standard. The government is not totally opposed to encryption...take alook at the CDMA system ... it uses encryption. hmmmmm ... Erik Nothing that I say can be construed as the opinion of my employer. ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Re: Status of Cellular Data Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 10:00:00 PDT Aside from work on CDPD (cellular packet data communications), cellular networks are used extensively for voice, data, and fax communications. You'll find a range of PC modems that are designed for use with cellular networks (containing added error correction and compression). If you have specific Q's on using cellular for your voice, data, or fax communications -- AND optimizing communications, I'd be happy to help. Regards, Lynne P.S. This was brought to you over McCaw's North American Cellular Network (Cellular One) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 12:33 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Organization: I.E.C.C. Hey, aren't we all missing what the point of the "modem tax" was? The FCC has a well-defined set of connection protocols between local telcos and long distance carriers, known as feature groups A through D. All normal long distance carriers use them, and pay per minute charges for both origination and termination of about five cents per minute. The 1987 proposal simply was going to treat long haul data carriers like Telenet and Compuserve (which is as much a network company as an on-line service) the same way as long haul voice carriers. People got very upset, since the locals telcos would be charging a couple of dollars an hour for incoming calls, same as they do to AT&T or Sprint. The FCC backed off, so data networks hook up like business POTS customers, not like long distance carriers. There was a small fully of excitement a few months ago about whether local telcos should be compelled to provide new features to data carriers at the lower rate. The answer seems to be no, but they can keep their POTS lines forever. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl ------------------------------ From: Jan.Ceuleers@k12.be (Jan Ceuleers) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:23:22 Subject: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Organization: K12 Belgium (S-Team) I quote david.g.lewis: > I'd submit that bandwidth is sufficiently cheap -- for a carrier -- > that the processing necessary to recognize a signal as data, determine > which modem standard is being used, connect the line to a modem of > that type, run that through a subrate mux/demux, and put the whole > thing on a data network -- at both ends of the connection -- is > nowhere near economical. And I'd submit that it's also impossible or at least impractical. Many modems don't emit the CNG tone (a tone produced by automatic equipment after dialing and while waiting for carrier; such as fax machines), so that the carrier would have to listen for the 2100 Hz answer tone. (Admittedly, this is already done for the purpose of disabling echo cancellers). However, at that time, it doesn't yet know whether this is a fax or a modem call. Even assuming you know it's a modem call, you don't know which protocol until it's fully negotiated. And still, how do you know the protocol is fully negotiated? For example, HST modems first connect using V.22bis and then switch to HST mode (I think). The carrier would then have to break the speech path and introduce modems at either end, already in the 'connected' state, without causing loss of carrier. This *might* be possible, but I think it'd cause more grief than it'd be worth. Jan Origin: Experimenter Board, Antwerp, Belgium (2:292/857) ------------------------------ From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: Modem/Data Tax - Technically Possible Organization: XeniTec Consulting Services, Kitchener, Ontario Canada Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 01:22:16 GMT In Canada to avoid paying contribution charges which only apply to voice networks a carrier must have a mechanism in place to detect, and disconnect a voice call. Unitel have used this for years on their "Facsroute" service. If there is no carrier tone on the line within 70 seconds they will disconnect the call. I used to get calls from users of their Broadband service that would consistently be disconnected. The CRTC's regulations at the time only allowed for private line use of Broadband for voice. You could however make a PSTN bound call and be tarrifed under Facsroute. The PBXs were supposed to keep the voice users from accessing Facsroute. In these cases a routing problem in their PBX was allowing their voice calls on to the Broadband lines and out to Unitel's (then CNCP) PSTN access. Vance Shipley, vances@xenitec.on.ca ------------------------------ From: deej@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (david.g.lewis) Subject: Re: ATT Truevoice Organization: AT&T Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:38:02 GMT In article ken thompson writes: > Someone mentioned their impressions of Truevoice. Lows boosted and > overall volumne increased. > Is not bandwidth needed to transmit a signal related to the bandwidth > of the information in that signal. And if they reduce the highs, and > the bandwidth requirements, does not let them get more voice channels > into a given digital transmition channel? You're confusing frequency with amplitude. The bandwidth required to transmit a signal is a function of the overall bandwidth of the signal, not the amplitude of the signal at any given frequency. If you increase or decrease the amplitude across the frequency band or a subset of the frequency band without affecting the overall bandwidth of the signal, you don't change the transmission bandwidth required (provided you don't exceed the limits of the channel in any other way, such as boosting the signal level beyond the capacity of the channel to handle it). Furthermore, I don't think anyone has claimed that TrueVoice (TM) is *reducing* anything, even amplitude; although boosting the level at the low end of the frequency range will make the high end sound relatively quieter, that's perceptive acoustics, not actual volume reduction ... > Is not this marketing getting people ready for the distorted sound > quality as this carrier crams more voices on a wire? No, because you don't cram more voices on a wire -- you're getting the same digital trunk you always got. > Will not high speed modems have trouble with this distored channel, > switch to slower speeds automaticaly and maybe unknown to the user, > and spend more time connected to get their data through? No, because (a) as we've established (which I note CommWeek picked up on a few weeks ago), the tone to disable echo control will disable TrueVoice, and (b) the same bandwidth is available anyway. > Am I too cynical? Yes. David G Lewis AT&T Bell Laboratories david.g.lewis@att.com or !att!goofy!deej Switching & ISDN Implementation ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 14:00:45 CDT From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: ATT Truevoice Organization: AT&T Disclaimer: I know nothing about AT&T TrueVoice(sm) implementation except what I've read in the public press and non-proprietary news releases. In article ken thompson writes: > Someone mentioned their impressions of Truevoice. Lows boosted and > overall volumne increased. > Is not bandwidth needed to transmit a signal related to the bandwidth > of the information in that signal. And if they reduce the highs, and > the bandwidth requirements, does not let them get more voice channels > into a given digital transmission channel? If you want to throw out fifteen years worth of digital transmission equipment in order to re-slice the 1.544MHz T1 line channels, I guess this would be possible -- but the cost would probably be greater than the cost of just running more fiber. I don't believe most large carriers need more voice channels -- the trade press believes there's plenty of fiber out there ... One thing to remember about digital switches is that they are all "tuned" to switch 64Kbps PCM signals. Since one of the major savings of such switches is the ability to directly terminate DS1 and higher rate signals, and switch the individual channels internally. In order to "re-slice" the signals without replacing the switches ($$$$$$), some form of "front-end" would have to sit between the switch and the fiber/transmission network, reshuffling the "compressed" bit stream into switch-compatible DS1 signals. This would cost $$$ and also eliminate much of the advantage of the direct DS1 interface. And even more important, you took the phrase "lows boosted" and seemed to assume that implied 1) highs were reduced and 2) less bandwidth was needed. This is incorrect, as I understand it. Instead, think of it as just selectively amplifying voice using the existing bandwidth. Similar things happen in Dolby(tm) noise reduction and "graphic" equalizers in automobiles, or in radio station equipment that puts more "punch" in their limited bandwidth. There are many ("purists"??) that object that all of the above alter voice/music in ways that "distort" natural sound. Remember the vinyl vs. CD debate? The transistor vs. tube amplifier debate? > Is not this marketing getting people ready for the distorted sound > quality as this carrier crams more voices on a wire? But 80% of one consumer test group "preferred" the TrueVoice enhanced sound quality. So far as I can tell, there is no "cramming" of more voices on a wire. If that's what they wanted to do, why not just keep the same "sound"? > Will not high speed modems have trouble with this distored channel, > switch to slower speeds automaticaly and maybe unknown to the user, > and spend more time connected to get their data through? I've been told that non-voice (modem, FAX, etc.) signals will not be affected. Just one aside: I seen some state that Tom's (you know, Mr. Selleck) voice for the TrueVoice demo was recorded through microphones/special equipment to make the difference sound even better. NOPE. He made a trip to record his voice at Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ (not a studio). He spoke through a "regular consumer telephone set" over a regular AT&T switched network connection into an AT&T Conversant(tm) voice response system. You hear, as close as possible, what Tom would sound like if he called you over a TrueVoice connection. (summarized from Bell Labs News article.) > Am I too cynical? Hard to say -- do you think OS/2(tm) is a plot to sell memory chips? Do you think UNIX(tm of BTL/AT&T/USL/????) is a plot to sell memory AND hard drives? That "multi-media"(tm unknown) is a plot to sell memory/ hard drives/CPUs/monitors AND lots of peripherals? Al Varney - just MY OPINION, not anything official ------------------------------ From: trenton@netcom.com (Trenton del Rey Gallowglass) Subject: Re: NXX Report: July 1993 Organization: The Monastary for Reclusive Monks Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 22:20:37 GMT David Esan (de@moscom.com) wrote: > This is no longer our procedure. The information in FCC #10 is now > detailed enough that we no longer need to order the tape from BellCore > and are using FCC #10 for our V&H information. What is FCC #10? Trenton trenton@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: Who/What Determines Call Organization: XeniTec Consulting Services, Kitchener, Ontario Canada Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 00:56:33 GMT In article tim gorman <71336.1270@Compu Serve.COM> writes: > If you actually have an ISDN phone that is showing a name, it would be > interesting to see how it is being implemented. I have a Meridian 5209 set on my desk. This is a DMS centrex business set with several lines and display. It is part of a large centrex my company has in downtown Toronto. The other day I called a friend at Northern Telecom in Mississauga and lo and behold his first and last name popped up on my phone! I had never seen a name on the phone before, only trunk group identifiers. I wouldn't have been so impressed if I didn't know their setup. I would have assumed he was also a centrex user. The real situation is that he has an extension on a Meridian 1 PBX with a primary rate access to the CO (Bell Canada's MegaLink service). Apparently the PBX is sending the CPND, (Northern's Calling Party Name Display) across the PRA to Bell. OK so this wasn't exactly 'an ISDN phone' but it's close :) Incidently Bell Canada has "Number Replacement" available which allows you to specify which number to send as the Calling Line ID. You may use the number of any line you have in the same NXX. How you would normally use this is by having all the outgoing trunk lines of your PBX send the main listed number of your PBX as the CLID. This actually makes CLASS features like Call Return work with PBXs. There is no recurring charge for Number Replacement and no setup charge if you order it when you order your lines. Remember to ask for this when ordering lines in the future! Vance Shipley, vances@xenitec.on.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:57:14 -0600 From: rgt@spitfire.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) Subject: Re: Leftover Drops In an article about "multiple plant" in urban areas, Pat says: > None of those big old wooden cabinets have locks on them; you just > lift the wooden front up and out of the way. Most people do not even > realize that between themselves and the CO may be five or six places > the pair can be jumped -- just look in the basement of the building > down the street. I should start a school and teach the general public > about their phone service. Bell would hate me for it. :) PAT] Most of us poor fools are at the mercy of the telephone company. I keep hearing stories of people getting fraudulent calls on their bills, and TPC says "It must be your call, as it is your wire." Is there any definitive evidence that someone can post or something to help us fight fraudulent calls on telephone bills? Something to take to the PUC or court or whatever, so that when TPC uses its "direct wire" argument, it can be countered? Of course, I suppose this "evidence" can be used to fraudulently get out of paying for legitimate calls, so it could work both ways. I have no answers, but do have sympathy for the innocent party on either side. I have not (yet) been victimized by this, but I can see these big green posts sticking up all over my area that I know contain all the wires for the telephone system. It would be trivial to open one of these, attach clip wires to a line, and make telephone calls. And I would not even have to go to a neighbor's house to use the wires where they enter. Richard Thomsen Los Alamos National Laboratory rgt@lanl.gov ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #566 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa05492; 12 Aug 93 21:48 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA10305 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 19:23:41 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA16571 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 19:23:02 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 19:23:02 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308130023.AA16571@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #567 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 19:23:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 567 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Cell Phone Fraud and New Systems (David Boettger) Re: Reflections on Hacker Sentencing (Anonymous-3) Re: Unrequested Remote Call Forwarding (Danny Burstein) Re: MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Week) (Hallikainen) Re: MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Week) (A. Gallatin) Re: Caller-ID Software Wanted (Paul Robinson) Re: Caller-ID Across LATAs? (John R. Levine) Re: Inter-LATA Caller*ID Arrives in NJ (Paul Guthrie) Re: *69 as Caller-ID? (Arthur Rubin) Re: About Caller-ID Blocking in Virginia (John Boteler) Caller-ID in Kentucky (Baron Chandler) Re: 800 Alternatives and Billing (Mike King) Re: Central Office Tours? (Steven H. Lichter) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 07:58:00 From: David Boettger Subject: Re: Cell Phone Fraud and New Systems Jon Allen writes: > The interesting part is that they said that next year, Cellular One > would be converting over to a digital system which would solve the > problem. I am curious if anyone knows more about this specifically. > There must be some way to phase in the digital system so as that both > the old and new systems are active at the same time. Do they share > the same radio frequencies? If so, the system must somehow recognize > the different phones. Or is this whole story just media hype? I was > thinking about buying a cell phone, but if the current phones will be > obsolete in a year, it seems wise to wait. Your analog phone will be useful for a long time. 'Converting over' to digital is really not what is going to happen. 'Phasing in' is more like it. TDMA digital cellular (IS-54B) uses the same frequencies that AMPS does. A cell could potentially use certain channels in digital mode and certain channels in analog mode simultaneously (a 'hybrid' cell). In fact, that's probably the way it will normally work. (Ob. plug for employer: The Northern Telecom Dual-mode Radio Unit can switch from analog mode to digital mode and back on-the-fly.) I believe that Cellular One uses Ericsson stuff, so analog cell radios will have to be replaced with digital-only ones, thus preventing an analog user from ever using that frequency in that cell. All TDMA mobile phones are dual-mode: They can switch between analog and digital modes on a per-call basis. Though the same frequencies are allocated for analog and digital cellular, the two have totally different modulation schemes; of course the system recognizes the different phones. Fraud protection is much better in TDMA cellular. Privacy is also better, but if you want secure communication, don't go wireless. David Boettger boettger@bnr.ca The preceding opinions are my own and not the opinions of Northern Telecom or Bell Northern Research. ------------------------------ From: Anonymous-3 Subject: Re: Reflections on Hacker Sentencing Organization: Not Relevant Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 15:51:48 GMT Pat, I'm not sure how to handle this -- I'd like to respond as below to the original poster, but wouldn't like to let some of the information out. If someone read the below and knew my company, the identity of the "cracker" would be clear, and I wouldn't like to be responsible for the treatment of him following that ... If it can be posted anonmously please do so, else please don't post at all. [Moderator's Note: Okay, one last time around on this. Here we go. PAT] In article Anonymous (telecom@eecs. nwu.edu) writes: > I'm done with probation and my community service (computer-related, of > course), and I'm going to be entering my third year of college -- > majoring in computer engineering. I don't know how I'm ever going to > find a job, with this felony looming in my past. I'm unsure if I'll be > able to get it expunged, because there is no precident. What > corporation would want to hire a convicted felon as an engineer? I might. I have on my staff a fellow that was popped for cracking a system, and for causing damage to files on that system when being hunted by some sysadmins. I figured that he had done his time and paid the price, and since he's a talented programmer I've given him a job. I suspect that most of the duties here have been interesting enough to occupy his time, and he's not engaging in cracking any longer. 'Course, if I find out he's still cracking I'll come down on him so hard he'll wish he'd never heard of cracking ... Anyway, sufficient talent and some demonstration of a willingness to work can overcome a lot of old problems. BTW: when he came here he thought we'd never heard of his past cracking experiences -- I'd heard enough of them to understand that it was mostly a case of raging hormones that got out of control, and likely something I could've done myself. I can't give much more detail or give away the whole thing, but the only cost was some sysadmin time and some pulled hair. I'd not be likely to hire someone that caused serious damage or loss. > Who was the real criminal in all of this? Yes, I committed a crime, > and it appears that I may have to pay for it for the rest of my life. > Meanwhile, the person who works for Equifax who initially released the > account information that let us IN the system in the first place is > probably still working there. (No, I have no idea who this person > was). Personal note: stay away from this train of thought -- it's too close to the "blame someone else" thinking that seems to pervade much of society anymore, and close to the "he left the door unlocked" argument used by burglars. It doesn't wash. ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Re: Unrequested Remote Call Forwarding Date: 12 Aug 1993 18:49:25 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In Paul Robinson <0005066432@MCIMAIL. COM> writes: > A posting on the Risks list discussed how an inmate at a state > penetentiary was able to get some private party's phone to be enabled > with Remote Call Forwarding (RCF), AND got someone from the phone > company to give them the security code over the phone. > It's been said on TELECOM Digest several times that inmates in prisons > make calls that have to be made collect only. Are they referring to > the phones provided by the correctional facility or are the pay phones > set up so they cannot place calls other than collect? > If prison pay phones can only call collect, then the person that did > this had to have an outsider do this, or they had to be calling an 800 > number (can prison phones call 1-800 numbers? If not, how do they > call their lawyer if he has one?) When I first saw this note on Risks-Digest, I caught quite a few problems in it (and sent off a respnse to them as well.) Highlights: the posting is a reprint of an article in a newspaper, and in it, the homeowner states that he became suspicious when his phone would give lots of "single rings." Usually when he picked it up, all he got wa a dial-tone. However, on one occassion he was quick enough and got a recording saying something like: "collect call from xyz prison, this call will be monitored, do you accept ..." Problems with all of this: a) the single ring durign call forwarding is ONLY an alert that call forwarding is in effect. Picking up the phone, even at that instant, will NOT hook you into the call. b) The aformentioned bit about the prisoners not being able to reset the RCf since they can't make the calls. c) All such RCF commands are stored by the telco. While it may not be up to the standards of legal/criminal proof, it is certainly adequate for screening purposes. BTW, there is one possible addition to all this. (Assuming any of this stuff is true), the inmates could have had someone on the outside setting up the rcf, with the instructions being that "Jim" calls out at 15:00-15:15, "Tom" at 15:30-15:45, etc. This -might- explain the abilityoto pick up the call (i.e., if "Tom" called a few minutes early ...) Take care, dannyb@panix.com ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Weekend) Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 03:47:59 GMT Am I correct in guessing that MCI is demodulating the modem data at the first opportunity, then dropping it into their network as digital data instead of digitized audio which was previously modulated with a digital signal? If so, I'd suspect rates should be more bit sensitive and less connect time sensitive (other than tying up their modem ports), but maybe they just have a modem connect time charge and are giving away the data transport? Also, what shows up at the member BBS? Do they get a bunch of POTS lines with remodulated modem data? Seems like they otta get a single digital circuit (DS0 on up) with all the user data packetized and muxed down the one circuit. This would save the BBS from having to put in all those modems and serial ports. Harold ------------------------------ From: amg@acpub.duke.edu (Alan M. Gallatin) Subject: Re: MCI PC Connect Plan (Eight Cents/Min Evening/Night/Weekend) Date: 12 Aug 93 13:06:20 GMT Organization: Duke University; Durham, North Carolina USA In a previous article, st1r8@elroy.uh.edu (B.J. Guillot) wrote: > MCI PC Connect(sm) FEE/RATES: > ============================= > - $3.00 monthly fee (does not apply towards usage) > PC Connect Customer to NON-PC Connect Customer: > ----------------------------------------------- > $0.22 during Day (Mon-Fri: 8am - 5pm) > $0.10 during E/N/W (Mon-Fri: 5pm-8am: Sat/Sun: 24 hours) > PC Connect Customer to PC Connect Customer: > ------------------------------------------- > $.176 during Day > $.08 during E/N/W > Friends & Family discount does not apply to fee > For an additional $1.50 per month, MCI PC Connect customers can include > in-state calls at the same MCI PC Connect plan rates as above. This is a nice deal, but really nothing special to MCI dial-one customers. MCI currently as a normal plan called "Easy Rate" which runs $3/month and, like above, charges $.22/min day, $.10/min E/N/W -- the discount charges to a PC Connect Customer seems to take the place of a F&F discount as the quoted rates are 20% less. Now, if someone called more than 20 BBS's which were PC Connect, that would be great as a F&F list would not get strained. The real question here is: if you get PC Connect, does F&F still apply to your voice calls? If not, it is time to start working out the tradeoffs -- if so, then people using Easy Rate should just simply switch. Also, for all interested people (as a side note): MCI recently launched a new dial plan without any significant advertising. "Any Time" is a variation of AT&T's "Any Hour." $9.90/month gets you $.20/min day and $.11/min E/N/W -- The $9.90 gets you an hour which takes day calls first. There are exactly three differences between this and AT&T: 1) AT&T's plan costs $10 (instead of $9.90) for same rates 2) MCI will give F&F discounts on calls under this plan 3) AT&T offers an additional $2 calling card option which gives a flat 20% off of calling card calls. Hope this helps! Alan M. Gallatin Personal Student, Duke Law School UJA or AJIN Durham, NC USA Jerusalem 1 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:29:55 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Caller-ID Software Wanted From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Steve Taylor writes: > I am interested in computer software that displays incoming > telephone numbers on my computer screen. Caller-ID was just > introduced in my area and I'm interested in a package to utilize > it. I have received many posts as to hardware like Supra's modem > that displays it, but I'm interested in software. Thanks for your > help. And exactly how are you getting the information? Generally you need some form of hardware to deliver it to a computer. Since the caller-id information is sent as a data signal, the usual device that reads it is a modem. Therefore the most common way is as a set of characters delivered to a serial port on a PC. Any program that can obtain information from the serial ports on a PC will be able to read it. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 10:33 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Caller-ID Across LATAs? Organization: I.E.C.C. > Such a corridor does exist, but must be used explicitly, and does not > reach 201. There's a corridor between New York City and most of 201 just like the one between Phila and the Camden area. You use 10NJB or 10NYT. Most telco payphones have been programmed to stuff 10NJB on applicable calls unless overridden by a customer 10XXX. I have no idea if CLID is passed to or from NYC. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl ------------------------------ From: pdg@access.digex.net (Paul Guthrie) Subject: Re: Inter-LATA Caller*ID Arrives in NJ Date: 12 Aug 1993 11:57:24 -0400 Organization: The League of Crafty Hackers In article dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) writes: > In early July, we began seeing area codes other than 908 and 201 on > our Caller*ID display. For the first time since the service was > offered in the state, we also began seeing an occasional "PRIVATE > NUMBER" display. > Some experimentation has shown that inter-LATA calls carried by Cable > & Wireless to our 800 number are the only ones that deliver these > out-of-area numbers. Calls dialed to our 908 number via AT&T, MCI, > and US-SPRINT still arrive as OUT OF AREA. This information, while normally available in the IXCs network because of CCS, is not transfered to the terminating operating company simply because the IXC has no incentive to, not because of any technical restrictions. Bellcore is currently soliciting stakeholders from interested parties to petition the FCC to force the IXCs to provide this information to the terminating operating companies. Seemingly C&W has seen the way of things to come and has started passing this info along. > It would appear that the arrival of 800 portability coincided > (approximately, at any rate) with the arrival of intra-LATA Caller*ID > on 800 calls. Is this a coincidence or not? 800 portability forced the IXCs to connect their CCS networks with the RBOCs and independants. If C&W was not previously so connected, then this might have been the driving force. Certainly, CCS connectivity in the big three was very widespread even before portability. Paul Guthrie pdg@vorpal.digex.net paul@nsacray.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Subject: Re: *69 as Caller-ID? From: a_rubin%dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Date: 12 Aug 93 17:54:59 GMT Reply-To: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) In hansen@inference.com (Rob Hansen) writes: > As you probably know, Caller-ID is not available in California. > I do not have Call*Return. My question is this: If I call "John Doe" > who uses Call*Return on me, will the system read my number back to > him? Assuming it won't and isn't allowed to, what happens if I'm far > enough away from John that I the call costs him money? Will my number > show up on his phone bill? If it will, isn't this a violation of the > rules? According to PacBell's insert, the last four digits of the number will be X'd out on (his) phone bill. (John Higdon reported he would refuse to pay that portion of the phone bill. I have not heard anything else from him.) 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. ------------------------------ From: bote@access.digex.net (John Boteler) Subject: Re: About Caller-ID Blocking in Virginia Date: 12 Aug 1993 17:00:33 -0400 Organization: Express Access Public Access UNIX, Greenbelt, Maryland USA 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM writes: > Since I [thought] that Caller-ID blocking is not available in Virginia, Caller*ID blocking has been available in Virginia for over two months. bote@access.digex.net (John Boteler) ------------------------------ From: Baron Chandler Subject: Caller-ID in Kentucky Date: 12 Aug 93 13:45:06 CDT Organization: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY After getting off the phone with SouthCentral Bell, I find that they have enabled long-distance connections with caller ID. Louisville, KY, and Frankfort, KY (same area code, about 60 miles apart) have been merged as well as a few other smaller areas. Rather amazing, for Kentucky -- but our governor has decided that we'll have a state-wide fiberoptic network in place within 18 months ... (I am biting my tongue but I am not holding my breath!) I did get a very strange fluke one day -- recieved a 212 area code call "supposedly" anyway. But it wasn't at all. We were somewhat surprised to see an area code on the 'box'... but it was just a neighbor calling. Wonder how it got thru the error checking? Also, some 800 numbers are able to retrieve your phone number. General Motors (1800-4-a-buick) for example. Could someone explain how this is achieved. Is this what is known as ISDN Source Telephone Recognition, or am I totally ignorant and way-off-base? Thanks! Baron Chandler chandbl@wkuvx1.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:04:09 EDT From: mking@fsd.com (Mike King) Subject: Re: 800 Alternatives and Billing In TELECOM Digest, V13 #548, Pat noted: > [Moderator's Note: Back in the days when AT&T controlled all 800 > numbers (well, let's say in the 1970's - 1980's) 800 numbers did not > work like they do now. Now, your carrier gets the number dialed, > translates it to a regular number and dials it back out. In other > times, your 800 number was a number unto itself with a physical wire > pair which came to you and an instrument upon which you spoke. It was > a separate and distinct thing. Now you get 800 on your regular line; > then you had to have a separate instrument and wires. On the phone > sitting there (which usually had a flat plastic piece across where the > dial would go -- like an old manual service line -- since you could > not dial out on it anyway; picking it up you'd hear battery but no > dialtone) a little number sticker actually referred to it as 800-xxx-xxxx. Ah, yes, I had well forgotten how much things had changed. Now I remember that Ohio Bell required that an 800 number had to be terminated with TWO lines, minimum. Of course, we assumed that if the published 800 number was 800-xxx-1234, the second line was 800-xxx-1235. But things didn't work that way. ;-) I remember the lack of dialtone when going offhook. I also remember that 800 prefixes were allocated according to territory and whether the 800 number was in-state or out-of-state. 800-762 was in-state Ohio, terminating in the 513 area, while 800-543 was out-of-state terminating in Cincinnati. > Where before AT&T handled the In-WATS call to the telco and said 'here > is a call, who is it locally? Translate it and deal with it ...' now > the carriers do the translations and simply hand telco a call to be > completed to an already defined (by the LD carrier) number before the > local telco even sees it. Am I correct for once, someone? PAT] Yes, you're correct. I humbly apologize for doubting you. Mike King * Software Sourcerer * Fairchild Space * +1 301.428.5384 mking@fsd.com or 73710.1430@compuserve.com * (usual disclaimers) [Moderator's Note: And 800-621 was Band 6 Interstate terminating in Illinois. Now and then I still see someone in Chicago with an 800-621 number and I realize they've probably had it for ten years or more. When divestiture occurred, AT&T kept the lion's share of the 800-xxx prefixes since they had all those 'banded' interstate and intrastate billing plans in place in each state, each plan requiring its own one or more of the 800-xxx numbers. The unassigned 'xxx' at that point were the ones handed out to MCI, Sprint and other carriers. PAT] ------------------------------ From: co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) Subject: Re: Central Office Tours? Date: 12 Aug 1993 11:09:39 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA) Yes the step equipment was a lot more interesting. We had mockups of switch trains that would let the tours see how the calls went through, and there were also contests for free long distance calls. I know it was fun to work those tours. We got paid for it and had a lot of fun. But then in those days the job was fun; today all I can think of many days it getting out of there or vacation. Had I been offered a package I'm sure I would have taken it. I do my job the way I was trained, but the stress level at times is really something. Steven H. Lichter GTECalif COEI ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #567 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa06673; 12 Aug 93 22:46 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA23748 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 20:29:48 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA10678 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 20:29:09 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 20:29:09 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308130129.AA10678@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Subject: Toronto Free-NET FAQ I got this a couple days ago, and although it is a bit long, I thought it important enough to share with readers here. I like the concept of Free-Net, which is something we really need here in Chicago; I guess it is one more thing I'll have to spend money on when I win the Illinois State Lottery or get lucky -- *real* lucky -- with those little pull tabs McDonald's puts on the French Fry containers giving prizes away. :) PAT] Date: Tue, 10 Aug 93 21:06:35 EDT From: Rick Broadhead Subject: Toronto Free-Net FAQ To: Telecom Digest Pat, This document is obviously too long for inclusion in the Digest, but I'd appreciate if you could consider sending it out as a separate issue (or item). Free-Nets are on the leading edge of telecommunications, and this document has had a very favourable reception on the Net. We want to get the whole world excited about this! Just take a look at the list of cities with Free-Net organizing committees! 45 cities around the world and growing every month! The FAQ has already been distributed on the net-happenings mailing list, but TELECOM Digest would be a more appropriate spot. Regards, Rick --------------------- Q. What city is missing from this list? Dillon, Montana Buffalo, New York Cleveland, Ohio Denver, Colorado Peoria, Illinois Elyria, Ohio Medina, Ohio Ottawa, Ontario Tallahassee, Florida Cincinnati, Ohio Victoria, British Columbia Columbia, Missouri Youngstown, Ohio Wellington, New Zealand A. Toronto ********************************************************************* * * * * * COMING MARCH 31, 1994.....THE TORONTO FREE-NET * * * * * ********************************************************************* News/Weather local, provincial, national, and international news headlines, weather forecasts.... Transportation road and highway conditions, TTC route and fare information, VIA schedules and ticket prices, GO Transit route and fare information, airline schedules.... Travel and Tourism convention and visitor information, travel and tourist information, hotel/motel directories, sightseeing information, information on tourist attractions in Toronto, information from foreign embassies and consulates, travel advisories... Education directory of school trustees, public and separate school directories, college and university program information, alternative education information, information on continuing education programs.... Employment job listings, union activities, employment standards information, job training information.... Legal legal aid services, general legal information Library Information We expect that the Toronto Free-Net will provide on-line access to public library catalogues across Metropolitan Toronto. Our goal is to make it possible for Free-Net users to search the library holdings of all six municipal library systems in Metro from the Toronto Free-Net. Library representatives from East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, and York are working closely with the Toronto Free-Net Committee. The Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library is also involved in the discussions. We also hope to link the Toronto Free-Net to university library catalogues around the world. The Toronto Media Ottawa's daily newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen, uses the National Capital FreeNet to post guides to community events, the Arts, sports, dining, and entertainment. The Ottawa Citizen also has a mailbox on the National Capital FreeNet so that users can electronically submit a letter to the Editor. We hope that the Toronto media will participate on the Toronto Free-Net in a similar fashion. The media could use the Free-Net to receive suggestions and comments, letters to columnists/broadcasters, and other items for publication/broadcast. In addition, radio and television stations could place their broadcast schedules on the Toronto Free-Net. Here's just one example of how the media can use Free-Nets to disseminate information to the community. Shortly after Prime Minister Kim Campbell announced her new cabinet, the Ottawa Citizen posted the list of new ministers on the National Capital FreeNet. Callers to the FreeNet were able to review the ministerial line-up on-line and download (transfer) the list to their personal computers. Who Will Pay For the Operation of the Toronto Free-Net? Free-Nets depend on the generosity of the community. It is expected that the operating costs of the Toronto Free-Net will be covered by grants and donations from the government, businesses in the community, and from the users themselves. By far, our greatest expense will be the phone bill. To help us offset this cost, businesses and organizations will have the opportunity to sponsor phone lines. Callers who receive a sponsored line will see the name of the sponsor on the screen. How Do I Become a Member of the Toronto Free-Net? In order to have full use of the facilities on the Toronto Free-Net, users will be required to complete and mail a registration form. There is no fee to register, except for the cost of a postage stamp. The registration form will be available on the Free-Net itself, as well as at public libraries throughout Metro Toronto. Anyone will be able to access the Toronto Free-Net as a guest, and look around, but only registered users will be given an account, and allowed to use all of the services on the Free-Net. When you register with us, you become a member of the Toronto Free-Net. You'll be assigned a personal account name and a password. An account is necessary in order to send and receive electronic mail. Is There a Time Limit on my Free-Net Session? Yes. To give everyone an opportunity to use the system, all users will be subject to a limit of one hour on their Free-Net session. However, there is no limit on the number of sessions that a Free-Net user can have on any given day. How Will I Access the Toronto Free-Net? Anyone with a computer, a modem, and a telephone line will be able to access the Toronto Free-Net by dialing a central telephone number in Toronto. The Toronto Free-Net will be menu-driven. Once you connect to the Free-Net, you'll be able to move around the system by selecting options from menus on the screen. Is Computer Literacy a Prerequisite to Use the Toronto Free-Net? No. Our committees are working hard to develop a system that is easy to use, regardless of the user's level of computer experience. The Toronto Free-Net is a community computer system, and the community must be able to use it. When resources permit, we intend to develop manuals and run training sessions to ensure that our users are able to make optimal use of the system. Ease of use is one of our most important priorities. Where Will the Toronto Free-Net be Located? The Toronto Free-Net's administrative offices and its physical facilities (i.e. the Free-Net computers) will be located in Metropolitan Toronto; precise locations have not yet been determined. Will the Toronto Free-Net Require Any Paid Personnel? Yes. While the Toronto Free-Net will be largely run by volunteers, the size and scope of the system will make it necessary for us to hire some staff. A typical Free-Net will have a full-time Project Manager or Executive Director, a system manager, a system administrator, and clerical and technical support staff. What If I Don't Have a Computer? Public access terminals will be established at libraries throughout Metropolitan Toronto for those people who don't have the capability of calling the Toronto Free-Net from their home or office. We expect that community centers, schools, and hotels will want to provide public access terminals as well. Public access terminals can be established virtually anywhere in the city. Are Free-Nets Interconnected? Yes. The Toronto Free-Net will be connected to other Free-Nets around the world. This means that users of the Toronto Free-Net will be able to access the information on other community computer systems across the United States and around the world. The Toronto Free-Net will be part of a growing network of community computer systems. Here's How It Works: On the Toronto Free-Net, there will be a list of all the participating Free-Nets in the world. To go to another Free-Net, you select that Free-Net from the menu, and the connection is made automatically. When the connection is in place, you will be physically connected to the other Free-Net computer, just as if you were living in the host city, and dialling the Free-Net locally. As more and more Free-Nets come on-line, the list of cities that you can electronically "travel" to will grow. It's conceivable that every major metropolitan city will eventually have a community computer system of its own. From the Toronto Free-Net, you'll be able to access organizations, individuals, and local information, just about anywhere in the world. Just think of the possibilities! In order to have full use of the services on another Free-Net, you'll have to register with them first, just as you have to register with us to have unrestricted access to our facility. But most Free-Nets will accept registrations from outside their local calling area, so you don't have to be a local resident to use the system. Bear in mind that registration isn't necessary if all you want to do is read the information on another Free-Net. Most Free-Nets will permit people to use their system as a "guest". A guest is a term for an unregistered user, or a non-member. Guests are free to look around the system and view the databases, but they can't send or receive electronic mail. Naturally, the Toronto Free-Net will be accepting connections from users on other Free-Nets, just as other Free-Nets will accept connections from our users. We will also be accepting registrations from anywhere in the world. You don't have to be a Toronto resident to use the system, or become a member of the Toronto Free-Net, but the information on the Free-Net will be local and community-based. Many of the people that connect to the Toronto Free-Net from around the world will be using our system as a guest. But we also expect to have many international users register with us, and become members. You will be able to connect to the Toronto Free-Net via the Internet, or by dialing a Toronto telephone number (area code 416). How Will the Toronto Free-Net Impact Tourism? While the Toronto Free-Net's primary focus is to serve the local community, it will have an international audience. The information on the Toronto Free-Net will be available to thousands of people around the globe, since it will be possible for anyone on the global Internet to tap into the Toronto Free-Net and browse our databases. The Toronto Free-Net is already attracting international attention, and once we open our doors to the public, people from all over the world will be able to use the Toronto Free-Net to discover what Toronto has to offer the visitor. Without question, our tourism industry will benefit from the exposure that the city will receive as a result of the Toronto Free-Net's presence on the Internet. We expect that Free-Net terminals will be placed in hotel lobbies across Toronto so that tourists and other visitors can use the system to get information about the city. Tourists could use the Toronto Free-Net to: * find a taxicab * get public transit information * get a list of tourist attractions, their operating hours and entrance fees * obtain a list of restaurants in the city * get the addresses of consulates and embassies in Toronto * get general facts about Toronto (population, history, etc.) Are Free-Nets Independent? Each Free-Net is run autonomously, but all Free-Nets are affiliates of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN), based in Cleveland, Ohio. The NPTN distributes the software needed to run a Free-Net, provides support to existing Free-Nets, and promotes the development of community computer systems. The NPTN also organizes an annual meeting, which brings together representatives from all its affiliates. The term "Free-Net" is a registered servicemark of the NPTN, so only affiliates of the NPTN are allowed to call themselves a Free-Net. Who Will Benefit From a Toronto Free-Net? Residents Residents are given free access to a wealth of community-related information. By removing economic and social barriers to information, the Toronto Free-Net will make information more accessible to the public. Because the Toronto Free-Net will be connected to the Internet, Toronto Free-Net users will be able to correspond electronically with municipal, provincial, and federal government offices that use the Internet. The Toronto Free-Net will make it easier for officials at all levels of government to communicate with their constituents. It is projected that by the end of 1995, all Federal Government officials will have e-mail. And by the end of this year, all Ontario Government electronic mail accounts are expected to be conencted to the Internet. The Community Because the Toronto Free-Net is a volunteer effort, it provides new and exciting opportunities for individuals to become more involved in their community - by providing information to the Free-Net, starting a Special Interest Group, serving on a Free-Net committee, or simply by interacting with other Toronto Free-Net users. Clubs and community groups will benefit from the Toronto Free-Net's electronic messaging facilities, which will expedite communications and make it easier for groups to share information, coordinate their activities, and liaise with the public. The Toronto Free-Net has tremendous potential to draw the community closer together. Community/Professional Associations and Government Clubs and community groups will enhance their public relations by participating on the Toronto Free-Net as an information provider. Community organizations that establish an electronic mailbox on the Free-Net will increase their accessibility and visibility to the general public. At any time of the day or night, Free-Net users can leave messages for participating organizations and access information on government and community services. The Toronto Free-Net will provide an innovative and powerful way for community organizations to communicate with the public. The government will find that the Toronto Free-Net provides a fast, effective, and efficient way to distribute important information to the community. Seniors and People With Disabilities Senior citizens and people with disabilities will be able to access and exchange information easily and at no charge, without leaving their home. Teachers and Educators The Free-Net will provide a cost-effective means for public and secondary schools to teach telecomputing to their students. Teachers and students will be able to communicate with their counterparts around the world, using the Free-Net's electronic mail system. Many public and secondary schools in the U.S. and Canada already have some connection to the Internet. Another Benefit: Increased Computer Literacy Computer literacy will increase in the community as people learn how to use the Toronto Free-Net to gain quick and easy access to information resources electronically. Because the Toronto Free-Net will give its members access to modern telecommunications facilities, users will develop an understanding and an appreciation of the role and importance of electronic communications and information technology. How Will the Toronto Free-Net Affect Employment? The Toronto Free-Net has the potential to create new employment opportunities in community and government organizations that actively participate on the system. Once organizations realize the benefits of being involved with the Free-Net, they may assign personnel to serve as the organization's liaison with the Free-Net. These people would update the organization's information on the Free-Net and manage the organization's Free-Net mailbox. They would also be responsible for finding new ways for the organization to use the Toronto Free-Net to improve its relations with the public. How Will the Free-Net be Different from Bulletin Board Systems and Commercial Services? * The Toronto Free-Net will be free to the user, unlike commercial systems which charge for their services. * The Toronto Free-Net will not be suitable for heavy commercial traffic * The Toronto Free-Net has a mandate that is community-oriented, unlike many large commercial systems and small bulletin board systems, which have a much narrower focus, and appeal to users with specific interests. The Toronto Free-Net will have dozens of community databases. We'll have something for everyone! * Many bulletin board systems are chat or message-oriented, and are designed for the computer hobbyist. The Toronto Free-Net will be information-oriented, and it will be designed with the community user in mind. No computer experience required! * The Toronto Free-Net will not have software archives or offer computer programs. The one exception may be off-line mail readers. * The Toronto Free-Net will be funded by government and business donations * The Toronto Free-Net will be very easy to navigate and use It is not our intention to compete with commercial and smaller, private systems. The Toronto Free-Net will actually expand the market for commercial services and bulletin board systems by increasing computer literacy in the community. We want to work with operators of bulletin board systems and the larger commercial systems to promote their use and make the general public aware of their existence. When Will the Toronto Free-Net Be Operational? The official launch date is March 31, 1994, but our rate of progress depends on the amount of support we receive from the community. Who Can Participate? Everyone in Metro Toronto is invited to participate. This is a community effort, and there is an opportunity for everyone in the city to get involved. Does the Toronto Free-Net Committee Need My Help? Yes! We are actively seeking volunteers to help with public relations, fund-raising, hardware and software issues, organizational matters, and information collection. We need clubs, community and professional associations, and the government to contribute information to the Free-Net. How can your organization participate? We are looking for institutions that are interested in being a public access site for the Toronto Free-Net. We need financial support to cover the costs of phone lines and hardware/software. How Can I or My Business or Association Get Involved? Please contact anyone on the Board of Directors or one of the Committee Chairs to find how you or your organization can contribute to the development of the Toronto Free-Net. We need volunteers from the commmunity, as well as the involvement of businesses and community associations to help the Toronto Free-Net achieve its true potential. For further information on the Toronto Free-Net, contact: Rick Broadhead ysar1111@VM1.YorkU.CA (Internet) Faculty of Administrative Studies ysar1111@yorkvm1 (Bitnet) York University ...!bitnet!yorkvm1!ysar1111 (UUCP) Toronto, CANADA --------------------- [TELECOM Moderator's Note: Isn't that a mouth-watering proposition? But you know who else is missing from the list of cities? Chicago. And we are going to desparately need the 'school house' programs offered by Free-Net since it is pretty well established that our public school system here will not be operational for some period of time during the school year starting later this month. I have corresponded with the Free-Net people in Ohio to see what, if anything can be done here, but where the money will come from I have no idea at this point, and of course a year or better is needed to even operate the humblest of sites. My first thought on seeing this message earlier this week was to get set up with on line terminals in every public library and school in Chicago. "Dream on, Moderator," was the answer one person sent me in email. Sigh ... sad, and true. And what about your city? Is it on that list above? If not, why not? If you think a Free-Net is needed in your town as much as I think one is needed here, then do this: First -- use anonymous ftp to nptn.org. Pull the several files in the /pub/info.nptn directory. Read them closely, then for more information write to: info@nptn.org My thanks to Rick Broadhead for passing along the FAQ on Toronto. Best wishes in getting the site actually up and running! Patrick Townson   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa08054; 12 Aug 93 23:49 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA20978 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 21:37:39 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12201 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Thu, 12 Aug 1993 21:37:00 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 21:37:00 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308130237.AA12201@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #568 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Aug 93 21:37:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 568 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Call Tracker Device (Hindra Irawan) Re: When Will General Computing Conquer Telecom Switching? (Randy Gellens) Re: Radar Detectors (Dave Carpentier) Re: Radar Detectors (Cliff Sharp) Re: Radar Detectors (David Breneman) Re: Radar Detectors (Paul Robinson) Re: Radar and Acronyms (Dave Levenson) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Justin Greene) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (wizzy!andyr@hp-col.col.hp.com) Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address (Jack Decker) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: irawan@netcom.com (Hindra Irawan) Subject: Re: Call Tracker Device Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 19:10:37 GMT Hindra Irawan (irawan@netcom.com) wrote: > Does anybody know of a device that would do the following: > - record the number called (tone and/or pulse dialing); > - record the time and day of the call made; > - record the duration of the call; > - dump the data collected to a PC or Mac; > - capable of handling multiple lines. > The reason I asked this is because in the country where I am going > (Indonesia) there are no such thing as itemized phone bill. I need to > use this as an analysis tool. Hopefully so that I can work on my own > as telecom consultant. > If you have information on where to get such device and how much, > please send it to my email address (irawan@netcom.com). Apparently my inquiry generated quite an interest among other netters, so here is the summary of all the email I have received until today. Some responses are edited for the sake of conciseness. Thank you very much for all of you that have responded. Cheers, Hindra At 2:06 PM 8/9/93 -0700, Jim Gottlieb wrote: If you're going to have more than one line anyway, pick up a Panasonic KX-T308 PBX. It will do this for you and a lot more. They are sold in Indonesia. Best to find a wholesale distributor. I had one name in Surubaya but not with me now. You could buy one in the U.S. and take it with you, but it would be a 110V version. Best to buy it over there. Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: jimmy@denwa.info.com In Japan: jimmy@info.juice.or.jp V-Mail: +1 310 551 7702 Fax: 478-3060 Voice: 824-5454 At 2:28 PM 8/9/93 -0500, Warne, John wrote: The company Moscom makes a tip and ring scanner that will do most of the things you want. The disadvantage is it comes in 48 line increments and costs around $4,000.00. It's a Model 548. MOSCOM Corporation, 300 Main Street, East Rochester, NY 14445, 716-385-6440. I'd appreciate a summary of any other units you hear about. I'm looking for something in a smaller, less expensive package. John Warne Voice: 904-336-3522 FAX: 904-336-3744 Telecommunications Manager I-NET: 19064001@sbacvm.sbac.edu School Board of Alachua County CIS: 76424,2220 Fred C. Sivia, Jr. Support Center 3700-B NE 53rd Avenue Gainesville, Florida 32609 At 2:38 PM 8/9/93 -0700, Herb Jellinek wrote: Hindra yth, Mencobalah "Hello Direct"; nomornya 1-800-HI-HELLO (1-800-444-3556). Mereka tersediah banyak devisi seperti itu. [translation] Try "Hello Direct", their number is 1-800-HI-HELLO (1-800-444-3556). They have a lot of that kind of a device. At 5:18 PM 8/9/93 -0700, Steve Cogorno wrote: I think you need a CAT or a Call Accounting Device. AT&T sells them with their popular Merlin, System 75 and SPIRIT systems. If this is for home use, you might want to get a Merlin Plus - not too expensive, but is very full featured. Also, just about every phone system should have some typew of CAT that it supports. AT&T's CAT also is programmed with your local tariffs (I don't know if this would work in Singapore :-). So you can also get per-call costs on each call (to bill departments and the like.) You can also specify a percent to mark-up calls to account for system maintenence. Steve cogorno@netcom.com At 4:42 AM 8/9/93 -0400, Jack Decker wrote: Among other devices you may hear about, I know that the Mitel Smart-1 dialer can do all of the above, more or less. I say more or less because it will unquestionably do the first three. It will do number four (dump the data) in REAL TIME to a printer or other device connected to its serial port. In other words, it doesn't have any onboard memory to hold call detail - if the printer or computer isn't hooked up to the Smart-1's RS-232 serial port at the time that a call is placed, the detail for that call won't be recorded. And you can buy Mitel Smart-1 dialers in one, two, or four port (line) models... to handle more lines, you add more dialers, which can be chained together. However, I suspect that an "obsolete" XT class computer (which could be dedicated to the task of recording call detail) connected to a Smart-1 might cost less than a unit designed specifically for call detail recording. I'm not sure but I think you can pick up Smart-1's on the used market for $200 to $400 dollars (that's a guess, but I suspect I'm pretty close... a single line unit might be even less). If you get Telecom Gear magazine, look for ads from Square One Electronics (U.S. 800-666-4300, International Sales 314-651-3162) or King Technologies (800-489-7372). Both sell refurbished Smart-1's. The following paragraphs were lifted from an article about dialers in general (referred to as "call controllers" here), and will give you a little better idea of what else these units are capable of: In addition to Call Detail recording, call controllers allow you to deny (block) calls to certain phone numbers, telephone exchanges, or area codes. They allow you to route calls via particular long distance carriers, possibly selecting the least expensive carrier for any given call, and automatically (and transparently) adding any necesary digits to complete the call (for example, you might dial 1 plus a number; the call controller might translate that to dial into a carrier's switch, then dial an account code and the desired number. While this method of long distance access isn't used much anymore, it's clearly within the call controller's capabilities). And, some call controllers allow you to assign an identification code to each employee, and may even allow the assignment of project codes. This, someone dialing a toll call would have to enter their ID code, which would identify who placed the call (or restrict the call if an invalid code is dialed), and then perhaps a project code that would specify at the time of the call to which account the call is to be rebilled! Those in certain professions (e.g. attorneys and accountants) find the ability to tag each call with a project code to be invaluable. Most call controllers have speed dial capability, allowing you to store frequently called numbers in memory, and dial them using just two or three buttons on your phones. While many phones have speed dial capabilities these days, the advantage of putting speed dial numbers in a call controller is that the speed dial feature can then the used from every phone in the building, even older "dumb" phones with no memory. Many call controllers can even do esoteric functions like allowing you to use touch tone phones on a rotary dial line (nice if you're on an older exchange, or don't want to pay the phone company an extra monthly charge for touch-tone service). One final capabability that deserves special mention is the ability to insert special dialing prefixes for calls to selected numbers, or all numbers. For example, you could automatically dial the code to cancel call waiting whenever a toll call, or an international call is placed. If you don't want your phone number showing up on the displays of telephone customers who have Caller-ID service, you could prepend the *67 blocking code to all outgoing calls. You could also do number translation on certain calls (for example, if your community doesn't have 911 service yet, you can set it up so that when someone dials 911, the local police number is called instead). [End of material from article.] In your situation, I think that the Smart-1 has a couple capabilities that might be of interest to you. One is "cloning"... you set up one unit with a "default" configuration, then as you program units for new clients, you can "clone" the program from your master unit into your client units. Or, alternately, you can program the units using a computer connected via the serial port. Also, the Smart-1 accepts either touch tones or dial pulses and output whatever the line will accept. If your client wants to use touch tone phones on a rotary exchange, no problem. Or, if your client has some rotary phones but you want to send touch tones to the phone company or a LD carrier (e.g. via a "country direct" number), you can do that. For example, if you have a client that calls the U.S.A. often, you could program the dialer to look for calls to the international dialing prefix and country code "1", and the dialer might then dial the U.S.A. direct number, listen for "boing" tone, dial the U.S.A. part of the number, dial an account code, and then cut through. It would be transparent to callers; they would never know anything unusual had happened. Well, that's about all I can tell you, and I just got a call that I have to attend to, so I have to go. Hope this helps. Jack Decker | ao944@yfn.ysu.edu or ac388@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu At 1:28 AM 8/10/93 -0500, - - wrote: I'm working on such a device now. Let me know if you find anything else. bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 12 AUG 93 01:31 Subject: Re: When Will General Computing Conquer Telecom Switching? > So my answer to when General Purpose Computing will overcome Telecom > Switching: never. There is simply no way that the general purpose > computing community is ever going to bear the cost of the reliability > that we consider mandatory for switching. I'm not so sure. One of the areas in which my company specializes is mission-critical systems [no, those aren't sarcastic system which make fun of your company's mission :-) ]. For example, an airline reservation system, or a core on-line transaction processing system. If an airline can't get at its reservation system, it loses money big-time. If a company which sells over the phone (such as a TV shopping channel) can't get at its database, it is shut down. Companies are demanding ever-increasing reliability for their mainframe systems. What is acceptable for a single-user PC is not OK for a machine on which your business depends. As for vulnerability to viruses, a system can be open and still be more resistent than most. Open means the ability to run applications with a standard API (such as Posix), it is not a synonym for Unix. Our A Series systems, for example, are already very open and getting more so all the time. The underlying hardware is object-oriented, and uses tags to differentiate types of data. So, it knows the difference between an executable instruction and an operand. It knows about arrays and pointers, and dosn't permit indexing out of bounds or pointing into an invalid area. Coupled with the operating system security, executable files cannot be created or modified except by trusted compilers. The absolute highest level of security is required to mark a compiler as trusted. There is no assembler (no need for one because the high-level languages are fast and powerful, since they match the hardware archetecture). So, any program which tried to infect other programs would fail, unless it has already totally bypassed system security (not an easy feat). The point of all this is that general-purpose computers are becoming much more failure-resistant, and it is possible to have systems which are open and resistant to viruses. I would not rule out using general purpose systems for switches, although the main problem I see is that the operating systems are usually not ideal for real-time applications (although the A Series is a very nice interrupt-driven hardware and software archetecture). Randy Gellens....................|.............randy@mv-oc.unisys.com A Series System Software.........|...........[if mail bounces, please Unisys Corporation...............|..............forward bounce msg to Mission Viejo, CA................|..............rgellens@mcimail.com] Opinions are personal;...facts are suspect;...I speak only for myself ------------------------------ From: dave.carpentier@oln.com Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 18:44:31 -0400 Subject: Re: Radar Detectors hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) wrote: > All the legal issues surrounding use of radar detectors is > interesting, but I don't think I'd want to be in the business of > making something whose chief purpose is to help people violate the > law. I've seen ads about how radar detectors promote safe driving. > Somehow I'm not convinced ... I suppose it could be likened to 'flashing' the golden-three to an oncoming car to warn of a radar trap. If caught, you could say that you were just trying to prevent someone from breaking the law. Of course, the police could say that you were creating a hazard by flashing your lights. Dave ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Date: Wed, 11 Aug 93 5:19:19 CDT From: Cliff Sharp In article , hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) writes: > All the legal issues surrounding use of radar detectors is > interesting, but I don't think I'd want to be in the business of > making something whose chief purpose is to help people violate the > law. I've seen ads about how radar detectors promote safe driving. > Somehow I'm not convinced ... Darnit, I can't find the stuff, but part of the package I received from Escort (formerly, and apparently still, Cincinnati Microwave) contained an article from a major newspaper citing a traffic study showing that people who used radar detectors were safer drivers, with fewer accidents and more likely to use seat belts. I believe they even said such drivers were less likely to speed (although if they did, this could be colored by the fact that such drivers could be less likely to get caught). I do notice, however, that most drivers who _really_ speed (i.e., 20+ MPH over the limit) do not have a radar detector visible. And as I mentioned in a previous posting, I have mine for totally different reasons than speeding. I'd like to hear from anyone who's been driving for more than a month who hasn't found himself unintentionally over the limit at some time or another, and who wouldn't want a "second chance" to correct this before getting ticketed for it. I strongly suggest to anyone with even a marginal interest in this subject that they call Escort at 1-800-543-1608 and request their free packet on radar. Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us OR clifto@indep1.uucp WA9PDM Use whichever one works ------------------------------ From: daveb%jaws@dsinet.dgtl.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Date: 12 Aug 93 19:59:32 GMT Organization: Digital Systems International, Redmond WA Harold Hallikainen (hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu) wrote: > All the legal issues surrounding use of radar detectors is > interesting, but I don't think I'd want to be in the business of > making something whose chief purpose is to help people violate the > law. I've seen ads about how radar detectors promote safe driving. > Somehow I'm not convinced ... Oh! And here I thought you were talking about radar *guns*. Let's see -- warrantless search without probable cause ... yeah, that's breaking the law alright. Manufacturers say they promote safety ... Yup. There is nothing noble in blind obedience to unjust laws. David Breneman Email: daveb@jaws.engineering.dgtl.com System Administrator, Software Engineering Services Digital Systems International, Inc. Voice: 206 881-7544 Fax: 206 556-8033 (Typical disclaimers vis a vis my employer, since somebody is *bound* to find that last sentence controversial; and more's the pity.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 12:19:58 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Re: Radar Detectors From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Harold Hallikainen , writes: > All the legal issues surrounding use of radar detectors is > interesting, but I don't think I'd want to be in the business of > making something whose chief purpose is to help people violate the > law. I've seen ads about how radar detectors promote safe driving. > Somehow I'm not convinced ... This ignores the question about whether the law is right or not. The alleged purpose of the 55 MPH speed limit was to save gasoline during a supposed oil shortage (which was caused by government allocation rules). When this oil shortage ended, the low limit stayed for a long time therafter and is still in effect in some areas including my alleged "Freestate" of Maryland. No one ever asked the public whether they wanted this law; it was imposed upon us (and usually over general public opposition.) If there was a vote I wonder what the result would be, since most people who drive vote against the law by the speed they use. As with the ban on cellular receivers, it was imposed on the public without regard as to whether it was right or moral to do so or whether it was even necessary or even if it would work. It is one thing to have a law to punish those who commit crimes against others; this is the legitimate purpose of a government. Punishing toll fraud is a valid activity. Laws prohibiting giving out the contents of private communications over radio are probably reasonable but that's borderline. Going beyond that which is the legitimate purpose of government and using police power to define what non-injurious conduct is acceptable gets into excess government interference in the lives and property of the citizens and is usually arbitrary and often capricious. Also, when government gets involved in these things, it is always to the detriment of its legitimate responsibilities. Time spent tracking down people who owned illegal receivers, if enforced, would take away from resources which could be used to detect telephone fraud. I can give other examples where the government gets involved in things it has no business getting into and thus causing the legitimate functions of government such as police protection to suffer, but they are not germane to the subject of telecommunications. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Radar and Acronyms Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 21:38:53 GMT In article , Cliff Sharp writes: > LORAN - LOng RAnge Navigation > ELF - Extremely Low Frequency (which is among the hierarchy: and lots more, to which I would like to add: NTSC - National Television Standards Committee " - Never Twice the Same Color Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: jgreene@nyx.cs.du.edu (Justin Greene) Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept. Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 19:55:56 GMT > Yet another reason to buy this service from a company like Mail Boxes > Etc. (And you get the added benefit that alternative carriers like > UPS and FedEx can deliver to these "boxes".) [Deleted stuff] > [Moderator's Note: Years ago, Postal Form 1537 (authorization to > deliver mail to an agent, complete with true name and address of the > final recipient of the mail) was mandatory, and postal inspectors > would quite often review the forms. The mail drop was not supposed to [Deleted] > of the carpet baggers and deadbeats. Now the form is voluntary. PAT] I think it is still required. The mailhouse is supposed to turn these in to the PO so that they have it in their files. I have looked up private mail house boxes at the main post office. The trouble is that most private houses do not file the forms so the post office doesn't have them and nobody cares (did I say problem ;-) ). Justin Greene Finger for PGP 2.x public key [Moderator's Note: According to the Mailing Requirements Division at the Chicago Main Post Office, the form is now voluntary. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wizzy!andyr@hp-col.col.hp.com Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:18 MDT Reply-To: andyr@wizzy.com Organization: W.Z.I. Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address In article , TELECOM Moderator noted: > [Moderator's Note: Years ago, Postal Form 1537 (authorization to > deliver mail to an agent, ..... Now the form is voluntary. PAT] I have a mailbox, (and no, I neither bag carpets, beat deads nor have any penniless ex-wives) and was recently required to fill out one of these forms. They also asked for *two* forms of identification (a credit card being acceptable as one!). The owner was most apologetic, but said that the PO required it. I only gave one -- my green card from the INS. I figure nobody has a database indexed by that ... Cheers, Andy [Moderator's Note: Individual agents can operate their maildrops by whatever legitimate rules they choose. Some have gotten so tired of seeing the postal inspectors they just make the form mandatory for their own records and then when the customer complains, blame it on the post office for requiring it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 23:43:17 EDT From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker) Subject: Re: Phone Number -> Name/Address In message , wollman@trantor.emba.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman) wrote: > In article , TELECOM Moderator noted in > response to Elana Beach : >> PO Box info *is* public, you know, if you know who to ask and the >> phrases to use when you invoke Freedom of Information. > Yet another reason to buy this service from a company like Mail Boxes > Etc. (And you get the added benefit that alternative carriers like > UPS and FedEx can deliver to these "boxes".) [remainder of Mr. Wollman's message deleted] And then Pat made this comment in response: > Most mail drops are nothing more than fraud-hives with a few > legitimate customers among the ranks of the carpet baggers and > deadbeats. Pat, I think you really need to get out of Chicago for a while; you're becoming overly suspicious of everyone's motives. The fact is that out here in the hinterlands, many smaller post offices simply don't have enough P.O. Boxes to meet the demand, so if you want a box without waiting for weeks or months, you go to one of the independents. (Some- how, I have to speculate that the downtown Chicago P.O., built in an era when folks weren't as afraid to go downtown, has more than enough boxes to go around). Other reasons to use such a service: Better location, or cheaper price for the size box you want to rent, or perhaps just less government red tape. Also, the fact that U.P.S. and similar carriers can deliver to these drops is no small thing, and some of these places will even receive incoming FAXes or telephone messages for you and place them in your box. And there's one other possible advantage -- you receive less junk mail (since you don't get the mail addressed to "boxholder" that you'd get in an official P.O.Box). What I don't understand is why you'd be more suspicious of someone renting a private P.O. Box as opposed to someone renting a regular P.O. Box? A lot of scams have been pulled off using "official" P.O. boxes, and in the event that there is serious mail fraud, I'm sure the private P.O. box outfit could be compelled to disclose whatever info they may have about the box renter. I doubt it is any less mail fraud just because a private mail drop is used. Perhaps you're just a bit steamed because those in the private investigation business can't easily get information about private mail drop users? Jack Decker | ao944@yfn.ysu.edu or ac388@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu [Moderator's Note: This issue is getting full, so I will respond in some detail in the next issue. I'll tell you in some detail about the post office known as Loop Station Lockbox, 60690. There is too much for a note here. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #568 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa12693; 13 Aug 93 3:15 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA09370 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 00:49:47 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA14328 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 00:49:08 -0500 Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 00:49:08 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308130549.AA14328@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #569 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Aug 93 00:49:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 569 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Chicago Post Office, Mail Drops, etc. (TELECOM Moderator) Interesting 800 Number Response (Chris Ambler) NPA Saturation (Yue-shun E. Ho) Promotional Calling Cards? (Peter Kaminski) ATT Sued by Centigram Over TrueVoice Name (Les Reeves) ANAC Codes by NPA (Les Reeves) Looking For DISCRETE MODEM Technology (S/W Modem Will Do) (Ajay Sanghi) I-405 Construction Hotline (Cellular Dial #405) (Ben Delisle) EasyReach Service Changes (John J. Butz) Prototype Unified Areacode Database Now Available by FTP (Graham Toal) Telecom Feature Interactions (John Adams) What Are the Cable Differences? (Yee-Lee Shyong) Cannot Share T1? (Ed Ellesson) More Three-Character 'From' Locations (Orange Card) (Carl Moore) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 23:26:03 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Chicago Post Office, Mail Drops, etc. Jack Decker commented on my remarks about maildrops: > Pat, I think you really need to get out of Chicago for a while; you're > becoming overly suspicious of everyone's motives. You don't have to live in Chicago to feel that way, but indeed, I'd love to leave Chicago anytime, for good. The city is a dirty, rotten, nasty, terrible place to live or visit. What other city can boast of 96 people violently murdered in the month of July alone, 18 of whom were children under twelve years of age in gang related violence? You may have heard or read in your newspaper that our public schools here will not be in operation some or most of the school year which begins later this month. But I digress; let's go on ... > The fact is that out here in the hinterlands, many smaller post > offices simply don't have enough P.O. Boxes to meet the demand, so if > you want a box without waiting for weeks or months, you go to one of > the independents. You have to wait 'weeks or months' here also for a PO Box depending on the post office you go to. The two majors downtown (60680 and 60690) are always full with a waiting list. And remember, you have to wait at least a few days while the application you fill out is given to the street carrier for your route. The carrier is supposed to verify that your name is on a mailbox at the street address you put on your form. > (somehow, I have to speculate that the downtown Chicago P.O., built > in an era when folks weren't as afraid to go downtown, has more than > enough boxes to go around). Not really. The post office in the central part of downtown opened in 1974. I had my box at the old courthouse and post office on the same location beginning in 1967; when they tore it down to build the new post office (and a seperate federal building across the street) we boxholders got shuffled off to a makeshift storefront place a block down the street for the two years the construction went on. Once the new place opened -- with about ten thousand boxes -- my box number turned out to be a smaller size box than it had been in the old place. I kept it so I could keep the number (I've had the box number 26 years) and wound up paying less rent since now it was a smaller box. For maybe a year they had lots of boxes available. But now, with the big problem in many major cities of theft from mailboxes (in apartment entrances, etc) many tenants in bad neighborhoods -- like mine for example -- prefer to have some security for the mail so they use boxes at whatever nearby post office has them. You are correct that the downtown area in Chicago is totally deserted after about 6 PM plus all day Saturday and Sunday, but downtown workers get their mail on the way home. Physically located at 210 South Clark Street, 60604, the lock boxes are zip 60690. That post office is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week in the box area, although the retail windows are closed. I go in at 3 AM and get my mail if I happen to be in that area. > Other reasons to use such a service: > Better location, or cheaper price for the size box you want to rent, > or perhaps just less government red tape. I agree you can get boxes faster from the private agents and usually at a size you prefer rather than what the PO has available. > Also, the fact that U.P.S. and similar carriers can deliver to these > drops is no small thing, and some of these places will even receive > incoming FAXes or telephone messages for you and place them in your > box. This is true, and the fact that the parcel services deliver to them is one fact which makes them conducive to fraud. Let's say a company will not usually ship merchandise on open account credit to a post office box, or because they use UPS they can't ship to one. Many con-artists will show their address as ' Suite 139' rather than 'Box 139', leaving the creditor thinking it is a legitimate company in 'Suite 139'. > What I don't understand is why you'd be more suspicious of someone > renting a private P.O. Box as opposed to someone renting a regular P.O. > Box? I never said that. There are legitimate users of both services and lots of illigitimate users of both services. > A lot of scams have been pulled off using "official" P.O. boxes, Certainly. Quite a few years ago, a chap took Diner's Club for about $8000 in unpaid bills. They mailed the credit card to what he claimed was his office address: 434 West Van Buren, #17, Chicago IL 60607. It so happens 434 West Van Buren is the Main Post Office, and window 17 was for General Delivery; the boxes and windows are 60680. > and in the event that there is serious mail fraud, I'm sure the private > P.O. box outfit could be compelled to disclose whatever info they may > have about the box renter. Most of the agents don't have to be 'compelled'. The postal inspector shows up, the agent gives him the records. Its no skin off his nose, and he is not going to jail for his customers. Quite a few drops even say in their service agreement that they cooperate with the Bureau of Inquisition and other federal agencies if it comes to that. > I doubt it is any less mail fraud just because a private mail drop is > used. No, you are correct. Fraud is fraud. If you deposit something in the United States mail (or cause someone else to deposit something in the mail such as a credit card mailed to you by a company) with the intent of committing fraud, it is a federal crime. Some maildrop agents themselves have scams going they blame on their customers, but then post office clerks are not all honest either. 60690 has had some really strange people working there over the years (about 60 full time people work in lockbox during the day, and a dozen or so overnight). The postal inspectors spy on the workers at 60690 to catch them stealing from the mail. It used to be if you got a lot of cash money in the mail in your box at 60690, God help you if the sorting clerks found out about it. Now the sorting clerks in the basement or at the loading docks have to wear coveralls with no pockets. But about ten years ago they hit up the Missionary Fathers (that's a con in itself, the outfit which sends you the free calendar or some cheesey pencil as your 'free gift from the Indian children in the orphange; won't you send us money to help support the orphans, etc; they had many boxes at 60690 for years) for about $50,000 in cash over a year's time. Postal Inspectors 'salted' Missionary Fathers' mail with marked cash and used hidden cameras to watch the employee's restroom as mail sorters, counter clerks and even one supervisor would help themselves to a few M.F. remittance envelopes, disappear into the restroom and come out a few minutes later with a twenty dollar bill in their pocket they did not have when they went in and the rest of the evidence flushed away down the toilet. Some had the nerve to go back for a second or third helping! On another occassion, a credit card fraud ring hit Amoco/Standard Oil for about a hundred grand; all the members of the fraud ring had boxes at 60690 of course -- but four of them worked there as well in the sorting room, all on the midnight shift. The postal inspectors knew it was partly an inside job. Interestingly, the credit applications they filled out had them 'living' at 170 West Harrison in a few cases and 'working' at the same address in others -- it is a mail drop. I went down to get my mail one night and everyone in the place was new except for a couple people. All the other employees got fired in mass the night before. Then after the Missionary Fathers mess, the inspectors cleaned the place out again. Remember the clerk in the post office in Toronto who worked on Oral Roberts for several years and about a half-million dollars before they caught the guy? So to respond to your statement, large urban area industrial size post office box facilities can be and are many times fraud-hives also, and its not just the postal patrons in all cases. :). As we used to say at Amoco/Diners Club credit card office when I worked there twenty years ago, 'cash in the mail attracts undesirable strange hands'. At least after I sued First National Bank in Small Claims Court several years ago I got the pleasure of seeing them fire half their mail room and remittance processing clerks -- 18 people -- in one day who were caught stealing money after a two week investigation. Mail fraud, credit card fraud and financial crimes in general are at higher levels than they have ever been in this country. Too many people on drugs need money. > Perhaps you're just a bit steamed because those in the private > investigation business can't easily get information about private mail > drop users? It doesn't matter to me, Jack. As you pointed out, if the fraud ceases being petty, the heat gets put on the private agents by postal inspectors and others. For further protection, credit card issuers and other credit grantors attempt to verify applications sent to them and a criss-cross directory will list a mail drop for what it is. Generally that throws up a red flag for a credit grantor, at least in a big urban area like Chicago. Say! Did you say I could move out of Chicago and come to live at your house, or least put in a change of address and get my bills all sent out there? :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: cambler@cymbal.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler) Subject: Interesting 800 Number Response Organization: The Phishtank Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 02:54:57 GMT I just called an 800 number for an electronics supplier. After one ring, I got, "Thank you for calling. Our office is now closed. Please call back during normal business hours" ... and then after about 10 seconds (I noticed that it did not disconnect me, so I hung on to see what would happen) I got, "We're sorry, your call could not be completed. 213-xxx" ... the first message, interestingly enough, was the same female voice that seems to do all of the "Thank you for calling Pacific Bell" recordings when you call the phone*company here. Anyone know what this was? A Pacific*Bell service? cambler@zeus.calpoly.edu | Christopher J. Ambler chris@toys.fubarsys.com | Author, FSUUCP 1.32 ------------------------------ From: yho@netcom.com (Yue-shun E. Ho) Subject: NPA Saturation Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 21:08:26 PDT I wonder what is the maximum number of user-dialable NPA that the current rules allow. Does someone here has all the published rules? I believe the rule about the second digit can only be '0' or '1' will soon be broken. Any official estimation (from Bellcore) about when this will happen? Also, is there a rule about the second and third digits cannot be the same? Thanks much in advance. Yue-shun yue-shun e ho +1 416 272 1322 (home) +1 416 452 4934 (work) yho@utcc.utoronto.ca or yho@netcom.com (personal) yho@bnr.ca (business) [Moderator's Note: Early in 1995 is the changeover date. Zero or one have to be the second digit now, and x11 or x00 combinations are not used. 700, 800, and 900 are service codes rather than area codes. You should be able to do the math and figure out the rest. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski) Subject: Promotional Calling Cards? Organization: The Information Deli Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 20:39:30 GMT Social acquaintances of ours have commemorated a special occasion by mailing out a "have a call on us" calling card, with a photo of the occasion on one side, and an 800 number, PIN, and dialing instructions (for North America or international) on the back. Is this the wave of the future? Are the PIN(s) likely to be allocated per promotion/occasion, or per card (looks like it is a series of 150 cards in this case)? Do they still pay per hour for these kinds of things, or is it perhaps some sort of flat rate deal with an upper limit on use? Ever more interesting doth telephony get, Pete ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:44:11 -0400 (EDT) From: LESREEVES@delphi.com Subject: ATT Sued by Centigram Over TrueVoice Name * Centigram Communications, based in San Jose, California, said it has filed a lawsuit against AT&T for trademark infringement. Centigram, which manufactures voice processing telephone equipment, said it uses TruVoice to signify the quality of its voice technology. The company said AT&T has been using TrueVoice in its advertisements placed in connection with its long distance services. Centigram said it has sought a temporary restraining order to block AT&T from using the trademark and "AT&T has agreed to stop placing any new advertisements using the mark 'TrueVoice'." AT&T, however, said it has not made such an agreement. A court hearing is set for Friday, in which AT&T expects "to prevail on the merits of the issue." (Communications Daily, 8/11/93) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:46:19 -0400 (EDT) From: LESREEVES@delphi.com Subject: ANAC Codes by NPA Area Code / ANAC # to dial Area Code / ANAC # to dial 201 / 958 205 / 908-222-2222 212 / 958 213 / 114 213 / 1223 213 / 61056 214 / 970-xxxx 215 / 410-xxxx 217 / 200-xxx-xxxx 217 / 290 305 / 200-222-2222 309 / 200-xxx-xxxx 312 / 1-200-5863 312 / 290 312 / 200-xxx-xxxx 313 / 200-222-2222 317 / 310-222-2222 317 / 743-1218 401 / 222-2222 403 / 908-222-2222 404 / 940-xxx-xxxx 407 / 200-222-2222 408 / 300-xxx-xxxx 409 / 970-xxxx 414 / 330-2234 415 / 200-555-1212 415 / 211-2111 415 / 2222 415 / 640 415 / 760 415 / 760-2878 415 / 7600 415 / 7600-2222 502 / 997-555-1212 509 / 560 512 / 200-222-2222 512 / 970-xxxx 516 / 958 517 / 200-222-2222 518 / 997 518 / 998 602 / 593-0809 602 / 593-6017 602 / 593 7451 604 / 1116 604 / 116 604 / 1211 604 / 211 612 / 511 615 / 830 616 / 200-222-2222 617 / 200-xxx-xxxx 617 / 220-2622 618 / 200-xxx-xxxx 618 / 290 713 / 970-xxxx 714 / 211-2121 716 / 511 718 / 958 806 / 970-xxxx 812 / 410-555-1212 815 / 200-xxx-xxxx 815 / 290 817 / 211 817 / 970-xxxx 906 / 200-222-2222 914 / 1-990-1111 914 / 99 914 / 990 914 / 990-1111 915 / 970-xxxx 919 / 711 ------------------------------ From: ajay@rahul.net (Ajay Sanghi) Subject: Looking For DISCRETE MODEM Technology (S/W Modem will do) Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 23:34:02 GMT I am looking for a discrete modem technology; by this I mean the old modem technology when maybe just the OPAMS were used to build modems rather than custom chips. Specifically what I want to achieve is to be able to change the carrier frequencies, play with different modulation schemes and filter characteristics keeping intact the telephone line electrical characteristics. I don't know if there are software modules out there where all the above mentioned parameters can be changed. Most probably, these software modules would be written to be executed over a DSP. 1200bps speed, full-duplex is sufficient for me. This request may sound primitive and weird, but trust me, I have a good reason to do so. I thank you for your consideration and help. Please email me your replies. Ajay Sanghi Tel: 408 984-7559, email: ajay@rahul.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 19:24:39 -0700 From: delisle@eskimo.com (Ben Delisle) Subject: I-405 Construction Hotline (Cellular Dial #405) Organization: Eskimo North 206-For-Ever | Public Access Internet & Unix U S West Cellular helps keep drivers moving during construction on I-405. U S West Cellular and the Washington State Department of Transportation are joining forces to help drivers deal with summer construction on Interstate 405 in the Bellevue area, which is expected to cause heavy congestion and lengthy delays. By dialing #405 on their USWC phones, drivers can access the Department of Transportation Hotline and receive up-to-the-minute reports on I-405 traffic conditions. The service begins August 6 and will remain operational throughout the planned 20-day lane closure period. Calls placed to "#405" will be toll and airtime free. Callers can also access the line from the comfort of their home or office by dialing (206)-948-KARS. delisle@eskimo.com ------------------------------ From: John.J.Butz@att.com Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 10:23:53 EDT Subject: EasyReach Service Changes A new EasyReach release cut over this past weekend. I suppose marketing will be sending out brochures to current subscribers to highlight the new features. I'd like to tell you all about one feature that I think is pretty cool. A Subscriber can get back inside the EasyReach subscriber main menu after calling home or calling the forwarding number by pressing "*R" on pre-answer or post-called-party-disconnect conditions. This feature is similar to sequence card calling, in that it saves the subcriber the steps of hanging up, redialing the 700 number, and re-entering the Master PIN. J Butz ER700 Sys Eng jbutz@hogpa.att.com AT&T - CCS ------------------------------ From: gtoal@an-teallach.com (Graham Toal) Subject: Prototype Unified Areacode Database Now Available by FTP Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 18:33:38 +0000 I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was putting together an areacode database in machine-usable form; a first prototype of this is now available for ftp from src.doc.ic.ac.uk:usenet/uk.telecom/ area-codes/areacode.* The file currently covers only those areas in the zone.* files on the telecom archives; Canada isn't covered and Michael Shiels is currently preparing much more detailed listings for the USA. However at 600K already it's worth using as it stands, and I'll be updating the copy on src.doc as regularly as I can. I'd really like people who use areacode info online to fetch this and adapt your own programs to use it -- feed back to me any changes you need in the data format, and pass on any programs that use it for me to add to the archive. Apologies to everyone who has been waiting for this -- there's too many of you to mail individually -- this is the promised announcement. I'm trying to get my own ftp server in place so that subsequent updates will be more timely. Graham PS Anyone sending me big files by mail, *don't* send them to the above address please -- I've set up a user 'ftp@an-teallach.com' that will accept big files without forwarding them to my home machine like my ordinary ID does. (Down an expensive BT phone line...) ------------------------------ From: jadams@athens.cc.bellcore.com (adams,john) Subject: Telecom Feature Interactions Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 15:29:19 GMT Yesterday's snail mail brought (unshredded for a change) concurrent issues from the IEEE highlighting research into a growing topic of concern within the industry, Feature Interaction within the public network. Appropriately, the IEEE Computer Magazine's cover chose a "house of cards" illustration to bring attention to the seriousness of the potential problem. Having read the guest editor's introductions and the two tutorial articles, I'm inclined to believe that there isn't much practical information beyond these. It's a shame that the editor's couldn't have included some of the practical initiatives underway within the industry. The Internetwork Interoperability Test Program (IITP) is making very strong contributions to insuring the integrity of the underlying SS7 network in the US. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 18:07:01 From: apollo@n2sun1.ccl.itri.org.tw (Yee-Lee Shyong) Subject: What Are the Cable Differences? Can anyone tell me what's the difference of cables using in Local Loop (POTS), HDSL, ADSL, and T1? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 17:07:04 EDT From: ellesson@vnet.IBM.COM Subject: Cannot Share T1? I have been told that SW Bell will not allow a T1 line to be shared across both public switched access and private line services. That is, I am told that they will not permit you to subscribe to one T1 line with, say, 14 channels for dialup POTS service from the local CO switch, and the other 10 dedicated to leased line service for data. Does anyone know why a telco would not consider this to be a reasonable service to offer? (Especially since these services are available from SW Bell over separate T1's.) I would have thought offering such a mixed service would be a simple matter of a few DACS configuration entries. Do all RBOCs have a similar policy? Perhaps this is a matter of regulatory jurisdiction? Ed Ellesson Emerging Technologies IBM Networking Systems Architecture (Standard Disclaimer: IBM may or may not agree) PO Box 12195, C70/673 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 email: ellesson@vnet.ibm.com Phone: 919-254-4115 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 13:53:02 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: More Three-Character 'From' Locations (Orange Card) My latest Orange Card bill has several different three-character location codes in the FROM part. Aside from BAL and MAK (I can't figure out what MAK has to do with Delaware), I got the following: 800, for calls from the 717 area; For two calls from 814 area: BED (Bedford?); For calls from Washington County, Md. (area 301): FRD (Frederick?); For one call from Harpers Ferry, W. Va.: MAR (Martinsburg?); For one call on U.S. 340 in Virginia just east of Harpers Ferry, W. Va.: LEE (Leesburg?); From the 215 area: FTW (Fort Washington, Pa.? That's near Philadelphia.) For one call from 908-996 in Frenchtown, NJ: CLI, which I also got from an earlier call from the Clinton, NJ exchange. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #569 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa18879; 13 Aug 93 7:05 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA27112 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 02:12:38 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA31776 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 02:12:00 -0500 Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 02:12:00 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308130712.AA31776@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #570 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Aug 93 02:12:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 570 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: How to Change Pager Alert Sound? (Vance Shipley) Re: Writing VoiceMail Program: Any Suggestions? (Paul Robinson) Re: How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? (Paul Robinson) Re: Flooding in the Midwest (Richard Thomsen) Re: Local Calls via LD Carrier? (Clarence Dold) Re: An Experience With the AT&T Language Line (Jim Rees) Re: Why do I Often Get "Off-Hook" Telco Message on Ans Machine (Ben Burch) Re: Traffic Calculator Wanted (Martin Weiss) Re: 950 Calling Cards (James R. Saker Jr.) Re: CPSR and the NII (Brad Hicks) Re: CPSR and the NII (Michael Peirce) Re: Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular (Carl Moore) Re: Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular (Jim Rees) Re: Toronto Free-Net FAQ (Rick Broadhead) Last Laugh! Why Light a Candle if You Can Curse the Darkness? (G. Gilder) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Vance Shipley Subject: Re: How to Change Pager Alert Sound? Organization: XeniTec Consulting Services, Kitchener, Ontario Canada Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 11:53:07 GMT In article Jacob DeGlopper writes: > You can not only change the beep cadence, but also add features such > as a priority alert that will make the pager beep even in silent mode > for certain phone numbers. I have a Motorola Advisor alphanumeric pager. I can change the alert with the menu on the pager but what I would like to do is have priority and none priority pages. I want to have my email forwarded to the pager as well as having emergency calls. I would want the emergency pages to use a long, loud alert while the email pages should be either the short beep or the vibrator. Can the Advisor support multiple numbers? Where can I find out what the capabilities of this thing are? Vance Shipley, vances@xenitec.on.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:34:26 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Re: Writing VoiceMail Program: Any Suggestions? From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Having used several voice mail systems, I'll mention some features that I have used and liked: 1. Time Stamp: It says the time of the message and if not today, when. For example, today is Wednesday when I wrote this message. A message sent today would be marked "2 47 am..." A message sent to me on Tuesday would be marked as "Yesterday, 4 14 pm...". A message sent Monday would come in "Monday, 3 0 4 am..." A message sent last week would come in "August 3rd, 12 noon..." 2. Timed Call Back: I can tell the system that if I get a message between 10am and 2pm, to call me at a certain number and ask me if I want the message, and all I have to do is input my password, and it will act exactly as if I had called it, giving me the regular prompts and so on. However, any message coming in between 2:01pm and 9:59am is held until 10:00am. The nice thing about this is you can't miss messages. If I call in and retrieve my messages, and there are none left, the system doesn't call me. 3. Help: If I wait too long after a prompt - usually 5 seconds or so - the system will tell me what my options are at that point, like "Press P to play your message again, S to save it and go on to the next message, D to discard, B to back up to the previous message." When using administrative features (such as changing numbers for dial out, passwords, etc.) it prompts for the entries. 4. Variable Help and Type-Through: If I know the system I can set the help level low so that I only get help if I have a problem or are using an unfamiliar feature, but if I don't use the system much, I can leave it on full help and it will walk me through. Also, I can "type ahead" in which I can press keys to do the options at any time when any prompt or announcement is on. 5. Remail and non-remail. I can forward a message to another mailbox on the system or I can mark a message as private so it cannot be forwarded. (Useful for mailboxes used by a group.) 6. Spoken Name: Each mailbox is identified by number until I give it a "spoken name". In addition to the message, I can record a permanent identifier for the mailbox and this identifier is given out for messages from me. 7. Send to others: I can send a message to someone at another telephone number and it will call them and attempt to deliver the message, asking for them by name and asking them to press "1" if they want the message, and allowing them to record a reply. Or I can send a message to another mailbox user. It will put my spoken name on the message unless I don't create a spoken name, in which case it will use the mailbox number. 8. Identify mailbox messages: If a message is from another mailbox user, it will say, before the date, "From " and then the user's own spoken name. 9. Distribution List: I can create a distribution list so that I can enter one identifier and all the people on the list are called and given the message. 10. Broadcast and mixed addressing: I can create a message to be sent to multiple recipients, including users on the system, external users and distribution lists. Just consider any feature available on E-Mail and it is probably useful on voice mail. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 08:38:36 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: 0005066432@MCIMAIL.COM Subject: Re: How Does Switched-56 Interwork With ISDN? From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA > My ideal system would consist of a single plugin card for the PC > at either end, and no separate DSU or TA. > It would also have terminal emulation software for both ends that > can do ZMODEM file transfers and provide a simple 'host mode' (a > la procomm) that lets one PC act as a server which waits for phone > calls, verifies username and password, then lets the caller select > which directory they want to transfer files from/to. As for this, a good choice is a program called "Telemate". Has built-in Zmodem, a script language as powerful as many programming languages, plus a prewritten host script that you can customize for your own interests. Telemate will access a port either (1) via the ROM-BIOS (2) via direct computer-computer connection (3) via a modem (4) via a fossil driver. It should be able to handle most any connection with one of these capabilities. Telemate version 4.00 is on many BBS systems including the SIMTEL-20 mirrors as "TM400-1.ZIP" through "TM400-4.ZIP" in (obviously) four parts. Paul Robinson - TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 23:26:14 -0600 From: rgt@spitfire.lanl.gov (Richard Thomsen) Subject: Re: Flooding in the Midwest Pat, Last year, during Hurricane Andrew, you posted requests for supplies and such to be sent to help the victims. This year, you have posted articles on the flooding, but no names and addresses of groups for sending help. Do you have any particular groups you recommend or have heard that are doing some real good? It may be nice to post the addresses. By the way, I know of someone who sent some money to the American Red Cross to help out after the hurricane. He was inundated with letters from them ever since asking for more money. He got so miffed at this, that I suspect he will never again send them anything. I did not get inundated with requests, but I did get letters saying "Some neighbors of yours in {northern New Mexico community} are still suffering the result of Hurricane Andrew, and still need your help." I guess I did not realize how extensive the damage was! Richard Thomsen Los Alamos National Laboratory rgt@lanl.gov [Moderator's Note: Yeah, didn't you know that Hurricane Andrew stormed in to New Mexico with a huff and a puff like a Big Bad Wolf and blew down the house where the three pigs lived? Mama Pig stuffs the envel- opes, Baby Pig licks the stamps, and Papa Pig drives to the post office to mail the latest appeal and pick up what money arrived in their post office box the day before that the Post Office Pigs have not yet found out about to steal. Since as any {TV Guide} telemarketing droid could explain to you New Mexico is not part of the United States, it will be necessary for the Pigs to appeal to the Mexican government for help. Regards the unfortunate people around Des Moines and the upper part of the river which flooded first, has the water gone down any at all? The last picture I saw a few days ago showed the same water sitting in the same fields, covering up the same houses, etc. Now the government is saying it is the most costly natural disaster in our history. I guess they are still talking about buying up all the land and having the people move elsewhere. If you have money to spare, send it to the Red Cross in your local community, noting it is for midwest flood victims. Apparently they do not need food, nor clothing, nor ordinary household supplies this time around: just money. So send money to the Red Cross, not to the Pig family post office box! :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@unislc.slc.unisys.com (Clarence Dold) Subject: Re: Local Calls via LD Carrier? Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 15:49:09 GMT paul theodoropoulos (pt@crl.com) wrote: > I have a fuzzy recollection of postings in the Digest some time back > discussing ways to use one's long distance provider to make "local" Assuming you are properly registered with the carrier, which is certainly true if you have selected them as your equal access LD carrier, you can force intra-lata calls to be carried by them, rather than your default regional carrier, by pressing the access code prior to placing any (all) phone call. 503-555-1212 would be routed to your selected LD carrier, 525-1212 would probably be handled by your local carrier. 10288#525-1212 would force the call to be passed to AT&T for handling, rahter than allowing your local carrier to decide whether to handle or pass. Intra-Lata calls currently support the cost of providing "the last mile", so I expect this price break to dissappear in the next several months, as inra-lata traffic is also deregulated. Clarence A Dold - dold@tsmiti.sj.Unisys.COM ...pyramid!ctnews!tsmiti!dold ------------------------------ From: Jim.Rees@umich.edu Subject: Re: An Experience With the AT&T Language Line Date: 12 Aug 1993 16:15:19 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI In article , naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org (Christian Weisgerber) writes: > Does anybody have a list of those available? 140 languages sounds like > a lot to cover the globe ... I mean, we're talking about business > languages here, aren't we? I believe India alone has over 100 mutually incomprehensible languages. But Language Line doesn't limit itself to the mutually incomprehensible. A recent message here indicated that it lists both Czech and Slovak, for example. If you include such "close but different" languages, I think India has about 800, China has several hundred, Africa has hundreds, and even the US has several dozen. ------------------------------ From: Ben Burch Subject: Re: Why do I Often Get "Off-Hook" Telco Message on Ans Machine? Organization: Motorola, Inc. Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:16:49 GMT In article TELECOM Moderator noted in response to Edward Zotti (ezotti@merle.acns.nwu.edu): > [Moderator's Note: The caller has to hang up sort of in the middle of > the ring the machine is going to answer on. Also, I have seen some machines that don't supervise a ring properly, and they believe they have been rung during line testing. Not too hard a mistake to make. I did several phone answering devices for NT, and it took a bit of work to supervise and count rings correctly in the face of the several different ring cycles defined in the Handbook. Most machines don't do this as they are usually programmed to answer on ring two or above. "I don't speak for Motorola; They don't speak for me." Ben Burch | Motorola Wireless Data Group: Ben_Burch@msmail.wes.mot.com | Good PDAs go EVERYWHERE. ------------------------------ From: mbw@icarus.lis.pitt.edu (Martin Weiss) Subject: Re: Traffic Calculator Wanted Organization: University of Pittsburgh Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 17:37:21 GMT In article , mcharry@cwc.com (McHarry) writes: > At one time I had a neat little program for doing traffic calculations > on a PC. Does anyone know where to find another? It was a lot nicer > than using the tables. I wrote a little C program that computes Erlang-B and Erlang-C recursively. If enough people are interested, I can post it. Martin Weiss University of Pittsburgh Telecommunications Program Department of Information Science ------------------------------ From: jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu (James R. Saker Jr.) Subject: Re: 950 Calling Cards Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 03:57:44 GMT mlevin@nyx.cs.du.edu (Marshall Levin) writes: > dan.srebnick@islenet.com writes: >> I work in a facility served by an ESS CO Centrex. The telephone >> company has a toll restriction on most lines. Unfortunately, this >> seems to restrict outgoing 800 calls as well as the ability to dial a >> 0+ call. I'm looking for a carrier that offers 950 access on their >> calling cards. I am not restricted from dialing 950-xxxx calls. > In addition to being able to use the 800 number, I have found that I > can use my MCI card with 950-1022 by dialing 950-1022 + destination > number + card number. Something you might want to investigate is utilizing a smaller interexchange carrier for your 950 traffic. From my investigation of feature group B service offerings in Nebraska, I discovered that the large carriers typically seem uninterested in residential 950 access (and typically don't have products for it). For example, when I lived just 25 miles north of Omaha (until 2 months ago!), I explored 950 access since I lived in an area serviced by a tiny independent local exchange carrier with a state-wide reputation of excessively charging its customers. (Note: Nebraska's PUC does not regulate local exchange carriers on rates and product offerings). My findings were as follows: AT&T: Sales/customer service folks did not have information available on 950 products. Offered 800 calling card instead (at travel card rates -- much higher than feature group B should be!!!) Sprint:Rep didn't even know what 950 access was. Told me I could 10xxx or be pic'ed to Sprint "since Sprint filed tariffs in your state". I encouraged the rep to try placing a pic on my line, being in a non-equal access prefix! MCI: Actually has a 950 product available (that the sales folks were aware of). However, the product is rated the same as their 800 calling card. LDDS: Not behind our 5ESS at the time (to my knowledge) so not included in the exercise. However, several of the smaller IXCs doing service in our area had competitive feature group products (oriented towards dialer customers actually) which were $0.05 to $0.10 cheaper than calling card products. For those who don't know why 950 access beats the heck out of 800 access from a strict costing perspective, here's a brief explaination of the difference from a interexchange carrier's point of view. A caller originating on feature group B (950) incurs per minute network charges equivelent (or slightly less) than a feature group D (1+, only in equal access areas). In dollars, we're looking at a charge ranging between $0.028/min in larger BOC areas (PACBELL, Bell South) at lower mileage to $0.12/min for tiny independents many miles from the access tandem. Compare this with your 800 access charges (Sprint/AT&T/MCI/WILTEL) which can range anywhere around $0.10 on up and you have a considerable cost differential. So, if you're interested in keeping costs down, negotiate with some of the smaller interexchange carriers on a 950 product. If you can get them down to $0.14/min day and $0.10/min offday, you're doing good! Jamie Saker jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu Systems Commando Business/MIS Major Telenational Communications Univ. Nebraska at Omaha MyLine: (402) 255-1111 fax: (402) 391-7283 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are mine and not my employers, nor the University of Nebraska at Omaha's. ------------------------------ From: mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU=0205925@mhs.attmail.com Date: 12 Aug 93 16:53:18 GMT Subject: Re: CPSR and the NII > o ensuring that all citizens have affordable network access and > the training necessary to use these resources. ... > o guaranteeing that the public sector, and particularly schools > and libraries, have access to public data at a reasonable cost. Whenever the CPSR, or any other group, starts talking like this, I get nervous. Very, very nervous. The 64-kilobit question is this: WHO defines "reasonable cost"? The provider or the customer? If "all citizens have affordable network access" then they can't price NII any higher than phone service ... which means one of two things, (a) running it at a loss (hah), or (b) holding a gun to my head again and demanding that I fork over yet more dough. Sigh. Wasn't it Tom Foley who just the other day said that the Democrat tax increases send "a clear message" to the American people: "Stand and deliver"? ("Stand and deliver" is obsolete slang for "stick 'em up, then give me all your dough.") The 30%+ of my gross income that I'm paying in one tax or another isn't good enough, now you want me to pay more, to subsidize every po'bucker and Welfare brat's access to the Internet? You think I'm being mean-spirited? Even after the second-largest tax increase in American history, and even if you believe that Congress will keep its word on the promised cuts (and they never have, so if you do, you're a fool), and even if economic growth does live up to the Clinton administration's estimates, then after five years of increasingly tough "deficit reduction" we'll still be outspending our income by close to a trillion dollars per year. I submit that whatever the benefits of granting Internet access to the poor, they don't justify going further into debt at a time when the US can't make more than token payments on its principal. Internet access already costs a fraction of what it did ten years ago. Leave it alone for ten more years, and it =will= be affordable to everyone. If you screw with it, you'll break it. NII: The liberals' answer to SDI. J. Brad Hicks Internet: mc!Brad_Hicks@mhs.attmail.com X.400: c=US admd=ATTMail prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad ------------------------------ From: peirce@outpost.SF-Bay.org (Michael Peirce) Subject: Re: CPSR and the NII Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 14:50:23 PST Organization: Peirce Software Reply-To: peirce@outpost.SF-Bay.org (Michael Peirce) In article , booloo@framsparc.ocf.llnl. gov wrote: > "We were excited to discover that CPSR is in a position to play a key > role in shaping NII policy," said CPSR Board President, Eric Roberts. It may (or may not) be well and good that the CPSR can lobby its way into getting to influence policy in Washington, but is there anyone out there besides me that get's ticked off when they start sounding like they represent all "computer professionals"? They sure don't represent me, nor most of the "computer professionals" that I know, and I resent their attempt at coming across as such. They should least change the title of their press released to say "Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility add social concience to national network debate". Michael Peirce peirce@outpost.sf-bay.org Peirce Software Suite 301, 719 Hibiscus Place San Jose, California USA 95117 Makers of: voice: +1.408.244.6554 fax: +1.408.244.6882 Smoothie -- AppleLink: peirce & America Online: AFC Peirce ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 12:16:22 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular Seven digits within the same area code; area code + seven digits if calling a different area code; Where is this being used from? What about time-outs or N0X/N1X prefixes or the coming of NNX area codes? ------------------------------ From: Jim.Rees@umich.edu Subject: Re: Analysis of Bell Atlantic Cellular Date: 12 Aug 1993 17:08:18 GMT Organization: University of Michigan CITI In article , Paul Robinson writes: > Airtime charges begin when the "send" key is pressed. As anyone who has seen a cellular phone bill can tell you, the "SND" key is short for "SpeND," not "SeND." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 23:33:58 EDT From: Rick Broadhead Subject: Re: Toronto Free-Net FAQ Pat, The Toronto Free-Net FAQ that was posted on TELECOM Digest is an abridged version. Anyone who would like a complete copy is welcome to e-mail me. Rick Broadhead Internet: ysar1111@vm1.yorku.ca Director, Toronto Free-Net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 00:16 GMT From: George Gilder <0004091174@mcimail.com> Subject: Last Laugh! Why Light a Candle if You Can Curse the Darkness? Surely Pan Am Telecom (PAT) will soon begin service delivering dark fiber communications now that the FCC has ruled that the RBOCs must also accomodate the forces of darkness. [Virtual Moderator responds: Ahem ... did I just hear my name taken in vain? Well George, its like my pastor, the Reverend Bob Dobbs of the Church of the Sub-Genius once said, "--ck 'em if they can't take a joke ..." Stick around with us for awhile, okay? This newsgroup gets almost as hysterical as some of the things I used to read in dear old Malcomb's magazine before he departed this vail of tears. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #570 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa26444; 13 Aug 93 15:02 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA24132 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 10:26:53 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30904 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 10:26:13 -0500 Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 10:26:13 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308131526.AA30904@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #571 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Aug 93 10:26:00 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 571 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson The Information "Free"way (Rob Slade) Re: Radar and Acronyms (A. Padgett Peterson) Re: Radar and Acronyms (Michael Jennings) Re: Radar Detectors (John Stanley) Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation (Jack Winslade) Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? (Andy Sherman) Re: Bell Atlantic Mobile Cell Features (Lee Sweet) Re: Pay-Phone Wanted -- Where to Get? (Michael G. Katzmann) Re: Un-directory (Ray Normandeau) Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) (Al Varney) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: roberts@decus.arc.ab.ca (Rob Slade) Subject: The Information "Free"way Date: 12 Aug 1993 15:58:59 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Hannen Swaffer, about 1928: "Freedom of the press in Britain is freedom to print such of the proprietor's prejudices as the advertisers don't object to". Currently popular "siggy" and tagline quote on the nets: "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one". From an article in the Vancouver Sun of August 3, 1993 (originally by John Duncan and Nick Pront in the Toronto Star): "Computer information networks free to the general public have been carrying chatter about Karla Teale's manslaughter trial, including details that fall under the judge's publication ban". (I should, for those few non-Canadians on the mailing list, give a brief resume of the case. Karla and Paul Bernardo have been charged with the murders, sex related, of school aged girls. They are being tried separately. Their marriage has apparently broken up. Paul Bernardo legally changed his name to Paul Teale; Karla is being referred to as Teale as well. Paul has not yet stood trial. Karla has, has been convicted, and the judge imposed a publication ban on the trial.) I won't go into detail on the Sun article. Some of the text is reasonable; some is incorrect. The important thing is the fact that information banned from publication in the press is available on computer networks and conferencing systems. There is one other absolutely fascinating aspect: according to an expert media lawyer quoted in the article the posters are probably not breaking the law. Apparently the publication ban covers only material obtained from the court. Publication of the same information, if obtained from other sources, is permissible. Let us look first at the gathering and dissemination of the information itself. This is only the latest of many recent examples of information distribution being better served by the mere existence of the technology than the efforts of the media. Although the relative numbers of those involved with computer networks are relatively small, in comparison with either the general population or the professional media, the technology allows for much more effective management of information. Information can be accessed or restricted by subject, date and even author. In contrast, the professional media may give you some slight sorting by broad topical outlines, but you only get today's events, unless you make extra efforts to create your own archives, and rarely know who wrote or researched a piece. A system like Usenet, therefore, can generate the equivalent of fifty to one hundred fat novels *per day*, and still remain accessible. This allows for the discussion of quite limited and specialized interests, without the need for censorship on the basis of topic. (I will freely admit that there *is* a desperate need for censorship on the bases of grammar, style and coherence ...) As well, the networks, unlike the professional media, are directly interactive. In the case of the Sun article, I might wish to correct the reference to BBSes as "information highways", since that term has only recently come into use as a specialized reference to an upgraded "backbone" for research institutions. Were such an article to be posted on a computer network, I could immediately do so, either sending a reply to the author, or, if I felt that my trivial detail was of sufficient interest to the world as a whole, "posting" a reply in that particular "conference", "newsgroup" or "echo". If I wish to reply to the printed article, I have to find the mailing address for the Sun, generate a physical letter, find an envelope and stamp and take it to the post office. Then, assuming the editors of the Sun can stop laughing long enough, *they* have to find the address of the Toronto Star and forward it on. In the unlikely event that anyone at either the Sun or the Star thought it worthwhile, my article might be printed in a few of the papers to print the original article, about a month after everyone had forgotten that there even was an original article. Now, I have an unfair advantage in critiquing the Sun article: this is a specialized field and I am a specialist. Very few of the general populace even *care* that electronic bulletin board systems are not called "billboards". Journalists, after all, are selected on the basis of journalism degrees, which does tend to cut down on the number of other specialties one can acquire. "online" computer users, on the other hand, are selected only on the basis of possession of a computer, a telephone and a modem. This doesn't really exclude all that many people, and very few "classes" of people. (The very poor, perhaps. They can borrow, as many of us do.) This means that there is a very broad diversity of background available to the net as a whole. Another advantage the net has is dispersion. Most computer networks have connections in most of the developed world, and some in large parts of the developing world as well. Individual workers in the professional media may have a few contacts in scattered places that they can call by phone, but only a select few have the ability to travel as they please. Even these few media stars do not, and cannot, have the constant, even daily, interaction that "net" workers have with dozens of contacts in other countries and continents. In common with anyone in the "online community" I have friends that I found through mutual interests, and have developed over the years. However, were I to select new fields of interest, I would likely be able to obtain twenty to fifty valuable contacts within the first week of joining a new topic. It is this diffused nature of the net that leads to the legal aspects briefly discussed on the article. The media is prevented from publishing any material obtained directly from the trial itself. The professional media, however, cannot afford to develop arcane contacts simply for this one story, and therefore the trial goes unreported. The net, on the other hand, already has more arcane contacts than you can shake a stick at. In addition to those directly on the net, there are "friends of friends" which extend its reach greatly. The population of the net can be estimated (no one knows its true size with any certainty) at about two million people. Given that the average person has about two thousand acquaintances, the number of people in indirect contact with the net approaches the total population of the earth. (This estimate, of course, neglects a great many factors, not least the duplication of friendships. Still, it is a figure to give one pause.) The net, then, as an entity, has contacts that the most lavishly funded media outlet can only dream of. The publication ban which the courts can impose on the media is meaningless in the context of the net. The law, and most governments, are completely unaware of the scope of the net in this regard. Politicians, fortunately or unfortunately, are too busy devoting their efforts to getting elected to keep abreast of such recent technological advances as the move from vacuum tubes to transistors. All sarcasm aside, however, only those with direct experience of computer networks can even partially understand their breadth and reach. Governments may be blissfully unaware of the developing cyberspace, or they may take panicked and ineffectual action against some imagined threat. Or, should some of the leadership come to the beginnings of an understanding of the nature of "inter"networking, they might start to use the powers of the net for the better governance of regions and nations; assessing the mood of the populace, interoffice communications, research and so forth. (The nets are woefully ineffectual as propaganda tools, but you can't have everything.) I have throughout this editorial contrasted, in a sense, the computer networks with the established order. This contrast is highly unnecessary. As just noted, established institutions ignore the new technology at their peril. They need not, however, fear it in all cases. Already some few of the professional media are doing research on the nets for articles which then appear in print and on the electronic media. Class assignment for next week: would it be illegal for a paper to research the Bernardo/Teale trials through the computer networks, and publish that material? Would it be illegal for a reporter to research the trials through the nets and thus have a head start on the competition once the publication ban is lifted? copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 09:24:56 -0400 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Re: Radar and Acronyms otto@vaxb.acs.unt.edu wrote: >> FUBAR > Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. Actually this is a "dual use" acronym probably invented by the military containing a local meaning (among equals) and an "official" meaning (subordinate to superior or vica-versa e.g. son to mother). Pronouncing acronyms is old hat for Americans dating at least back into the 1800s (Wobblies for IWW members) and was picked up early by the military (during WWI the Curtis model JN was immediatelly dubbed the "Jenny" and when a General Purpose vehicle was designed by for the Army, with some influence by a "Popeye" character of the time, it became the "Jeep". The first multiple definition acronym that I am aware of was SNAFU duning WWII or "Situation Normal, All F...ed Up" from this was derived, FUBB (F...ed Up Beyond Belief), FUBAR (above), and, in the Air Force the B-52 became BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F....er) in this case the "public" translation was "Fellow". The most creative one I know of is IHTFP which, often posted in public ares was "officially" translated as "I Have Truely Found Paradise" and in private as "I Hate This F...ing Place". Since military technicians often became civilian technicians and engineers, this tradition has carried forward in RTFM and RTFM-P ("Read The F...ing Manual" and "Read The F...ing Manual - Please !") though pronunciation is not easy. Of course in E-Mail, pronunciation is unnecessary 8*). Warmly, Padgett ------------------------------ From: M.J.Jennings@amtp.cam.ac.uk (Michael Jennings) Subject: Re: Radar and Acronyms Organization: University of Cambridge, DAMTP Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 03:39:37 GMT In article dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) writes: > In article , Cliff Sharp chi.il.us> writes: >> LORAN - LOng RAnge Navigation >> ELF - Extremely Low Frequency (which is among the hierarchy: > and lots more, to which I would like to add: > NTSC - National Television Standards Committee > " - Never Twice the Same Color > And whilst we're at it, the two competing TV systems: PAL - Phase alternation line - Picture always lousy SECAM - (Something in French I can't remember) - System even crappier than American method Michael ------------------------------ From: stanley@skyking.oce.orst.edu (John Stanley) Subject: Re: Radar Detectors Date: 13 Aug 1993 04:44:48 GMT Organization: Coastal Imaging Lab, College of Oceanography In article Cliff Sharp writes: > I do notice, however, that most drivers who _really_ speed (i.e., > 20+ MPH over the limit) do not have a radar detector visible. I have noticed here in Oregon, when I get a chance to use I-5, that most people who speed do not have radar detectors. Even those who are 20 over. I know. I have been watching carefully. Especially the really fast ones. I bought a Gunn microwave emitter at Dayton last year. The fast ones would be the most fun. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Aug 93 05:37:24 CST From: Jack.Winslade@axolotl.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) Subject: Re: LORAN -- LOng Range Aid to Navigation Reply-To: jack.winslade%drbbs@axolotl.omahug.org Organization: DRBBS Technical BBS, Omaha > Although now most LORAN sites are becoming automated, the biggest > threat for Coast Guard people for many years was sending someone > to isolated duty on a LORAN station in the middle of no where. Years ago I spent time at the LORAN stations at Orote Point, Guam and Saipan, about 100 miles north of Guam. These were not nearly as bad as some of the other, such as Tern Island, French Frigate Shoales or Attu Island in the Aleutians. > Back several years ago when President Reagan bombed Omar Quedaffi > he fought back by trying to bomb the LORAN Station on Lampadusa, > a small island off of Italy. The bomb fell short. If I remember my LORAN trivial correctly, MEDSEC (Coast Guard) had a LORAN station in Libya up until a political p*ssing incident in the early 1970's. I forget any details of that incident. When I was involved in LORAN, the older LORAN-A was being phased out and the newer (now standard) LORAN-C was being phased in. Other than the fact that C was more accurate, it had a much greater range, thus fewer stations were needed for any given coverage area. Obtelecom: In 'another conference' there has been some recent discussion on using LORAN signals (derived from an atomic frequency standard) to calibrate oscillators in T1 (and similar) equipment, thus making it more resistant to sync slips. Good day, JSW Happy Birthday TELECOM Digest -- Happy Birthday DRBBS (1:285/666.0) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 22:41:17 EDT From: andys@internet.sbi.com (Andy Sherman) Subject: Re: Valid Card Declared Invalid? In article 7@eecs.nwu.edu, Pat the Moderator notes: > [Moderator's Note: Oh? Stuff going through 10xxx is not validated by > the local telco? Then how come when I wanted to change the PIN on my > AT&T Calling Card and had to ask twice to get it done, the second time > the rep at AT&T said "I will send a FAX to Illinois Bell right now and > ask what is the delay in processing this," ?? And how come she later > said IBT had lost the original order to do it? I believe that anything > dialed via 10xxx is first examined -- in its entirety -- by the local > telco, and then is handled, passed to a carrier, treated or whatever. > How come whenever I want to change calling plans or do anything with > my AT&T account the answer is always it will be done whenever Illinois > Bell gets around to it, etc.? PAT] Pat, you're confusing a lot of different interactions between IXCs and LECs, and assuming that they're all connected. a) When you dial 10xxx+number, the end office switch waits to get the entire number you are dialing before routing the call, so they can grab inter-LATA calls, make sure you don't try to carrier-select an 800 call, etc. Once they route the call to the IXC, they are out of the DTMF interpretation business. You get the bong from the IXC switch, and it gets your digits. b) If Illinois Bell had to execute the PIN change on your card, I would assume it was the old-style card using your real phone number plus a PIN. In that case, the LEC was the number issuer, not AT&T. These days, AT&T will still validate any LEC issued card number for an AT&T call. AT&T also provides validation services to the LECs for local calls billed to the new style CIID numbers issued by AT&T. c) The reason why IBT is in the loop on your calling plan changes is that IBT is still providing billing service for AT&T. That has nothing to do with how the network does routing and card verification, but has everything to do with how AT&T still does its measurement, rating, and billing. Andy Sherman Salomon Inc - Unix Systems Support - Rutherford, NJ (201) 896-7018 - andys@sbi.com or asherman@sbi.com ------------------------------ From: decrsc!leesweet@uunet.UU.NET (Lee Sweet) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic Mobile Cell Features Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1993 13:51:26 -0400 (EDT) One correction, I believe ... the latest bill has a flyer that implies that follow-me roaming is now *automatic* for BAM customers. It says you can disable this, but not permanently ... i.e., like the way follow-me used to be, you have to enable it (then) or disable it (now) daily. Anyone have more details/experience with this? Seems like it would have to be permanently-disable-able, like call-waiting and three-way calling. (These are an extra monthly charge [automatically applied to your bill!] if you didn't/don't call BAM and say "don't want it!".) Lee Sweet Internet *lists* - leesweet@datatel.com Chief Systems Consultant Internet *e-mail* - lee@datatel.com Datatel, Inc. Phone - 703-968-4661 4375 Fair Lakes Court FAX - 703-968-4625 Fairfax, VA 22033 (Opinions are my own, and only my own!) ------------------------------ From: slc1!vk2bea!michael@uunet.UU.NET (Michael G. Katzmann) Subject: Re: Pay-Phone Wanted -- Where to Get? Date: 12 Aug 93 17:23:37 GMT Reply-To: slc1!vk2bea!michael@uunet.UU.NET (Michael G. Katzmann) Organization: Broadcast Sports Technology, Crofton. Maryland. In article hudel@waterloo.hp.com (Christopher Hudel) writes: > I'd like to put one of those old (or not so old) pay-phones in my > apartment as a "novelty" item and wonder if anybody knows where I can > pick one up and approximately how much I should expect to pay. I picked up an unused COCOT (WECO housing / Elcotel electronics) at a hamfest for $100. (I think they normally go for around $1000) M H Z electronics in Phoenix, which is a second hand electronics outlet had some GTE phone co (dumb) and WECO wall mount (like at the airport) phone co phones, when I was there last. Might be worth a call. Michael Katzmann Broadcast Sports Technology Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crofton, Maryland. U.S.A NV3Z / VK2BEA / G4NYV michael@vk2bea.UUCP ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Un-directory From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Date: 12 Aug 93 17:11:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) > When I call the UnDirectory service I usually can get three lookups a > minute, but to get that rate I have to interrupt the spoken prompts and > punch in digits fast. If the names and addresses are long, three listings > take longer than a minute. You could pre-program them in temporary memory locations of a memory dialer for even more speed. One unadvertised UnDirectory feature I've found that speeds lookups: When I make a mistake during number entry, I can press * to erase the last digit. The voice states the remaining last three digits so I know where I am in the ten-digit number. (Pressing # during digit entry erases everything and I have to begin again.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Aug 93 18:51:29 CDT From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: What is Category 5 (re: ISDN) Organization: AT&T In article goldstein@carafe.tay2. dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes: > In article hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu > (Harold Hallikainen) writes: > The NEXT (near-end cross talk) is easy. The FEXT isn't terribly > tough. What kills things is the junk in the middle. {You bet -- and unfortunately without the middle, you got no loop!!} > ... While ISDN lines are not supposed to have bridge taps (little > stubs off the middle), the reality is that bridge taps happen. And a > little bit of bridge tap creates whopping echo somewhere, which the > chip tries to cancel. We actually verified (unwanted!) bridge taps on > lines which were still sort of working, but not working well enough to > be useful. [...] Hmmm! Assuming your idea of an ISDN "line" is the same as mine (2B1Q U interface outside customer prem.), then howcome there's something like 16 test configurations that a "U" interface has to handle, and most have multiple bridge taps and multiple cable guages??? One has, if I recall correctly, a bridge tap off of a bridge tap. Are you saying ISDN wasn't reliable over a 2B1Q two-wire interface with a bridge tap? Or were you talking about the S/T interface (four-wire)? Even the pre-ANSI AT&T U interface would handle 12000 ft. with a bridge tap or two. > Digital lines are not like 3002s; they don't have the same terminators > and may have different repeaters. And no bridge taps :-). Maybe you are talking "T1" (DS1 rate) lines with taps -- they can be a problem only because there's no echo-canceling at the bipolar level on these four-wire circuits. For ISDN, the TELCos do NOT want to have to "groom" every BRI line to remove all the lint. :) Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #571 ******************************   Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by mintaka.lcs.mit.edu id aa00873; 13 Aug 93 19:12 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA12998 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 16:35:30 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA16418 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecomlist); Fri, 13 Aug 1993 16:34:50 -0500 Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 16:34:50 -0500 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199308132134.AA16418@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #572 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Aug 93 16:34:45 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 572 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Review of HyperACCESS/5 (Rob Slade, DECrypt Editor) Hearing Impairment (was Another Side of Alex Bell) (A. Padgett Peterson) New Directory Assistance Charges in Canada (David Leibold) Any Use For Dead ATT 510 Console? (Andy Meijers) Positions Available at the University of Arizona (Walt Moody) Wiring/Schematics/Info on Merlin? (Gregory J. Nelson) New Jersey Pulls the Plug on Computer-Dialed Calls (Thomas Hinders) Caller ID Box With Serial Port From AT&T (Russell Kroll) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Aug 93 14:44 -0600 From: Rob Slade, DECrypt Editor Subject: Review of HyperACCESS/5 This is a series on antiviral programs, right? So what am I doing reviewing a terminal emaulation program? Well, HyperACCESS/5 is both. I first heard about HA5 several years ago when I first started doing antiviral reviews. I have only recently, though, been able to get a copy. Without further ado, then: PCHA5.RVW 930809 Comparison Review Company and product: Hilgraeve Inc. 111 Conant Ave., #A Monroe, MI 48161 800-826-2760 313-243-0576 fax: 313-243-0645 BBS: 313-243-5915 HyperACCESS/5 3.0 Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation 1 Ease of use 2 Help systems 2 Compatibility 3 Company Stability 2 Support 2 Documentation 2 Hardware required 2 Performance 3 Availability 2 Local Support 1 General Description: Feature rich communications and terminal emulation program, but definitely for the advanced user. Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation I was surprised to find, given Hilgraeve's emphasis on virus detection, that the disks, five 360Ks and three 720Ks, were shipped unprotected. Installation, interestingly, is not covered in the manual. Amongst the ads for Compuserve, Dow-Jones, NewsNet, OAG and other goodies, is a flyer labelled "Quick Install Guide". The only information on the installation is that you run the INSTALL program. (Installation apparently makes no attempt to add to your "path": you are directed to change to the HyperACCESS directory before running the program.) The manual does, however, list the files supplied, and their functions, in Appendix J. Installation, due to the fact that files are shipped compressed, is a fairly lengthy process, taking 45 minutes on the old XT test machine. It is not very dependable, either, missing some of the options that it specifically asked me about during the process. The only information about the disk space needed is a comment on the card that you could install it to a 1.2 meg or larger floppy. The INSTALL program at one point gives you the option of a "full" installation taking up 1.1 megs of space, or a 400K minimal installation. Unlike some other programs which allow this kind of customization, you are only offered these two options, with nothing in between. In any case, it turns out to be nonsense. The program will not install if there is less than 1.5 megs of disk space available. I thought this might have been due to decompression needs, but, in fact, this is the size needed for a full install. Therefore, you *cannot*, in contradiction to both the documentation and the INSTALL program, install to a floppy disk. I am not sure what the minimal installation might be after you have deleted extraneous files, but I estimate it to be about 1 meg. Ease of use While beginners will find HyperACCESS reasonably easy to use, it is likely to be the "Power User" who is really interested in this program. There are a range of fascinating features, such as the ability to use the mouse to choose options from the screen, even on strictly text based systems. Hilgraeve obviously sees PROCOMM as the competition, and has followed, to a certain extent, the "one key command" philosophy. Not entirely; many of the HyperACCESS functions must be chosen from a menu. In certain cases, however, HyperACCESS has chosen a better route. Many of the "one key" commands are more intuitive (Alt-H for help, for instance) and the menu and screen layouts are more comprehensible. Unfortunately, many of the screens and functions are much less intuitive, and the program takes some getting used to. Once you start getting into the settings for various functions, this is definitely for experienced users only. One example: sending ASCII text. This is a fairly normal function, in that many users will compose a message "offline", and then send it to the BBS, email or text editing systems they are using on the "host" computer. Many "host" systems will present a "prompt" at the beginning of each line, and it is best to "wait" before sending the next line. HyperACCESS/5 has a feature to do so, and it is unthreateningly called "wait for this character after sending each line". However, the prompt character to wait for must be entered as a hexadecimal representation. (An "ASCII" character chart is provided. As usual, it covers not only the "proper" 7 bit ASCII characters but the 8 bit IBM PC graphics characters as well.) The script language, HyperPilot, is extensive and seems to owe much to the C language. The table of contents alone for the language reference chapter is three and a half pages of very dense type. Chapter eleven, however, does give a briefer overview of the more common commands. Once again, this is a compiled script situation. Scripts that have not been pre-compiled with be so after the first usage, if the proper files are all available. Help systems Alt-H is a "universal" help key, but this is another program where if you don't know the answer already, you are going to have a hard time finding it in the help system. Compatibility An interesting feature is the ability to "import" a Procomm dialling directory file. The program is also available for OS/2 and, in fact, is shipped with both versions on disk. VT terminal emulation is generally good. File transfer protocols are generally good, although there is a problem with Kermit uploading. Company Stability