Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa10381; 4 Jan 94 4:10 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA09505 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:33 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA19446 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:04 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 00:08:04 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401040608.AA19446@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #1 TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 00:08:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 1 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Happy New Year (TELECOM Digest Editor) Directory to Telecom Archives (TELECOM Digest Editor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 23:05:17 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Happy New Year Happy new year to all readers, and welcome to another volume of TELECOM Digest. We begin volume 14 with this issue. With this issue of the Digest is a copy of the index to the Telecom Archives to bring you up to date on the several hundred files at your disposal there which include all the past issues of the Digest since its beginning in 1981. One new thing you will notice about the Archives is that a sub-directory has been set aside for participants in the unmoderated TELECOM-TECH mailing list maintained by former Digest participant John Higdon. Mr. Higdon has been given a method by which copies of his journal can be automatically forwarded to the archives where back issues can be fetched by interested parties. At the present time, there is very little in this area of the archives, but no doubt it will have additional files whenever TELECOM-TECH is published, should they wish to make their journal available for all archives users. I'd like to point out also that the generous financial assistance sent to the Digest by many readers during the past year has been the main reason I have been able to continue publication of this journal, and I hope those of you who see fit to contribute financially from time to time will continue to do so during 1994, although of course there is no obligation whatsoever on your part. So throughout 1994, I hope you will enjoy the Digest and benefit from the collective wisdom of our reader/writer/participants. That of course means you as well ... feel free to write and comment anytime. The volume of mail is such that only a small sample can be used, but I try to print as wide and diverse a range of material as possible, and your mail makes it possible. Patrick Townson TELECOM Digest Editor ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Directory to Telecom-Archives Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 0:45:27 EST The Telecom Archives is a repository of information about telecom topics and a collection of the back issues of this Digest. It is available using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu, and also by using the Telecom Archives Email Information Service. Attached here is the most recent directory to the files in the archives, as of this date. The various areas of interest (broken down into sub-directories) are listed first, then below that, the contents of each area. The indices to authors and subjects is in the process of being updated to include the final issues of 1993 and should be totally complete in the next day or two. total 28 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 0 Jan 3 22:00 Index-telecom.archives -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1173 Sep 25 02:28 Welcome.to.archives dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:19 aos-cocot/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 25 14:04 areacodes/ drwxrwxr-x 11 ptownson 512 Dec 27 00:44 back.issues/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 21:06 caller-id/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Oct 27 03:30 carriers/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:11 cellular/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 14:05 country.codes/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:14 email/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Nov 25 16:59 glossaries/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 13:50 history/ drwxrwxr-x 2 ptownson 512 Oct 3 13:21 indices/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Oct 4 13:05 legal-fcc/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Nov 20 1990 minitel/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Dec 25 13:23 miscellaneous/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 22:01 modems/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 00:38 new-readers/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:21 npa.800/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:21 npa.900/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Jan 5 1992 npa.exchange.list-canada/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 25 04:25 public.access/ drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1536 Dec 29 22:01 reports/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 20:09 security-fraud/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Oct 15 11:05 technical/ drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 27 00:58 telecom-tech.digest/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 10 1990 tymnet/ aos-cocot: total 209 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68508 Sep 24 23:43 aos.proposals -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68224 Sep 24 23:44 aos.rules-procedures -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21206 Sep 24 23:48 call.blocking -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 38981 Oct 12 1990 complaint.sticker -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15023 Sep 30 1990 violation-label areacodes: total 272 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18580 Jan 1 1993 210-512.split.texas -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18238 Nov 9 1990 214-903.split.texas -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34805 Jul 30 1991 301-410.split.maryland -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 41444 May 19 1992 404-706.split.georgia -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11139 Sep 16 19:58 416-905.split.ontario -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35073 Dec 9 16:28 guide -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10746 Dec 25 13:09 history -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32625 Sep 25 00:59 how.numbers.are.assigned -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2795 Aug 3 1991 npa.510.sed.script -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35934 Dec 13 1991 npa.809.prefixes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10861 Dec 1 11:19 program.in.c -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21165 Dec 1 11:20 script.and.intl.codes back.issues: total 3811 dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:55 1981-86.volumes.1-5/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1987.volumes.6-7/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1988.volume.8/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Sep 24 18:56 1989.volume.9/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1990.volume.10/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1991.volume.11/ dr-xr-xr-x 2 ptownson 1024 Sep 24 18:57 1992.volume.12/ drwxr-xr-x 2 ptownson 512 Dec 6 05:27 1993.volume.13/ -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 663 Jan 27 1991 READ.ME.FIRST -r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1098294 Sep 22 03:06 auth.subj.idx-vol.12-13 -r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1577582 Oct 3 13:11 auth.subj.idx-vol.9-10-11 drwxrwxr-x 2 ptownson 1536 Dec 30 15:55 recent.single.issues/ back.issues/1981-86.volumes.1-5: total 5666 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 423659 Dec 16 1990 vol1.most.issues -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 620814 Dec 16 1990 vol2.iss001-088 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 382277 Jan 14 1990 vol2.iss089-141 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 619185 Jan 20 1991 vol3.iss001-083 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 364946 Jan 20 1991 vol3.iss084-128 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 618694 Jan 20 1991 vol4.iss001-075 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 411337 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss064-118 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 169101 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss119-140 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 127814 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss142-154 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 357252 Dec 10 1990 vol4.iss155-208 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 658 Jan 27 1990 vol5.READ-ME-FIRST -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 623292 Jan 27 1990 vol5.iss001-076 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861286 Jan 27 1990 vol5.iss077-161 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 74260 Jan 20 1991 vol5.misc.msgs back.issues/1987.volumes.6-7: total 920 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 639112 Jan 26 1990 volume.6.most.issues -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 274580 Jan 20 1990 volume.7.all.issues back.issues/1988.volume.8: total 2321 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 371 Jan 20 1991 1987.vol8.READ-ME-FIRST -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 577639 Jan 20 1991 1987.vol8.iss001-071 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 73630 Jan 20 1991 misc.telecom.msgs -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 726882 Jan 20 1991 vol8.iss070-139 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 724832 Aug 1 1989 vol8.iss140-189 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 227589 Aug 1 1989 vol8.iss190-213 back.issues/1989.volume.9: total 8672 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 577173 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss001-049 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 564262 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss050-100 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 653097 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss101-150 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 637611 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss151-200 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 744800 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss201-250 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 787166 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss251-300 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 805328 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss301-350 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 780366 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss351-400 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 784366 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss401-450 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 758330 Jan 15 1990 vol9.iss451-500 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 794183 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss501-550 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 856691 Jan 14 1990 vol9.iss551-603 back.issues/1990.volume.10: total 15800 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861272 Jan 28 1990 vol10.iss001-050 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 820574 Feb 14 1990 vol10.iss051-100 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 842877 Mar 8 1990 vol10.iss101-150 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 855090 Mar 24 1990 vol10.iss151-200 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 853551 Apr 13 1990 vol10.iss201-250 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 908585 May 1 1990 vol10.iss251-300 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 873608 May 16 1990 vol10.iss301-350 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 858605 May 31 1990 vol10.iss351-400 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 919538 Jun 23 1990 vol10.iss401-450 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 885056 Jul 20 1990 vol10.iss451-500 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 863414 Aug 8 1990 vol10.iss501-550 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 886042 Aug 29 1990 vol10.iss551-600 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 974899 Sep 17 1990 vol10.iss601-650 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 870218 Oct 1 1990 vol10.iss651-700 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 868902 Oct 22 1990 vol10.iss701-750 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 902018 Nov 10 1990 vol10.iss751-800 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 880896 Nov 28 1990 vol10.iss801-850 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 867675 Dec 23 1990 vol10.iss851-900 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 133082 Jan 1 1991 vol10.iss901-908 back.issues/1991.volume.11: total 18640 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 893021 Jan 20 1991 vol11.iss001-050 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 900405 Feb 8 1991 vol11.iss051-100 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 949798 Dec 27 1991 vol11.iss1001-1050 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864550 Feb 22 1991 vol11.iss101-150 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 189348 Dec 31 1991 vol11.iss1051-1061 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 869932 Mar 14 1991 vol11.iss151-200 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861113 Mar 30 1991 vol11.iss201-250 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864673 Apr 23 1991 vol11.iss251-300 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 872293 May 12 1991 vol11.iss301-350 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861315 May 27 1991 vol11.iss351-400 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 941952 Jun 14 1991 vol11.iss401-450 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 922446 Jun 30 1991 vol11.iss451-500 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 871735 Jul 20 1991 vol11.iss501-550 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 872633 Aug 3 1991 vol11.iss551-600 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 868651 Aug 22 1991 vol11.iss601-650 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 901687 Sep 6 1991 vol11.iss651-700 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 861278 Sep 20 1991 vol11.iss701-750 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 856742 Oct 8 1991 vol11.iss751-800 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 909356 Oct 25 1991 vol11.iss801-850 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 864298 Nov 9 1991 vol11.iss851-900 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 882326 Nov 23 1991 vol11.iss901-950 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 918465 Dec 13 1991 vol11.iss951-1000 back.issues/1992.volume.12: total 17312 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 900594 Jan 20 1992 vol12.iss001-050 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 921470 Feb 1 1992 vol12.iss051-100 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 905907 Feb 20 1992 vol12.iss101-150 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 920896 Mar 7 1992 vol12.iss151-200 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 886584 Mar 22 1992 vol12.iss201-250 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 948652 Apr 7 1992 vol12.iss251-300 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 936106 Apr 29 1992 vol12.iss301-350 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 895354 May 20 1992 vol12.iss351-400 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 884860 Jun 6 1992 vol12.iss401-450 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 936120 Jun 21 1992 vol12.iss451-500 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 898774 Jul 15 1992 vol12.iss501-550 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 986567 Aug 2 1992 vol12.iss551-600 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 941731 Aug 22 1992 vol12.iss601-650 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 951483 Sep 11 1992 vol12.iss651-700 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 952503 Oct 2 1992 vol12.iss701-750 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 986788 Oct 25 1992 vol12.iss751-800 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 990138 Nov 16 1992 vol12.iss801-850 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1053771 Dec 12 1992 vol12.iss851-900 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 593668 Jan 2 1993 vol12.iss901-928 back.issues/1993.volume.13: total 18608 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1116357 Aug 24 21:15 vol13.iss001-050 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1069719 Feb 16 1993 vol13.iss051-100 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1076701 Mar 4 1993 vol13.iss101-150 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1114780 Mar 23 1993 vol13.iss151-200 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1077570 Apr 10 1993 vol13.iss201-250 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1144023 May 4 1993 vol13.iss251-300 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1254595 May 26 1993 vol13.iss301-350 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1196757 Jun 19 1993 vol13.iss351-400 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1126854 Jul 5 1993 vol13.iss401-450 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1188811 Jul 23 02:02 vol13.iss451-500 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1169634 Aug 8 02:21 vol13.iss501-550 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1303262 Aug 24 21:42 vol13.iss551-600 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1266873 Sep 15 05:07 vol13.iss601-650 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1246209 Oct 15 11:10 vol13.iss651-700 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1202985 Nov 10 19:30 vol13.iss701-750 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 1293683 Dec 6 05:27 vol13.iss751-800 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 1055917 Dec 30 14:25 vol13.iss801-844 back.issues/recent.single.issues: total 1144 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29168 Dec 6 05:18 V13_#800 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28245 Dec 6 06:47 V13_#801 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24438 Dec 7 17:45 V13_#802 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29343 Dec 8 07:40 V13_#803 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25345 Dec 8 17:22 V13_#804 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24137 Dec 8 18:32 V13_#805 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22951 Dec 9 10:46 V13_#806 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25661 Dec 9 12:24 V13_#807 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22594 Dec 9 13:07 V13_#808 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20881 Dec 9 20:08 V13_#809 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23405 Dec 10 05:27 V13_#810 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23821 Dec 13 15:40 V13_#811 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25051 Dec 13 16:24 V13_#812 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23163 Dec 13 17:47 V13_#813 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24218 Dec 13 18:07 V13_#814 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30450 Dec 13 19:23 V13_#815 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22987 Dec 13 16:47 V13_#816 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30206 Dec 14 03:51 V13_#817 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27870 Dec 14 15:24 V13_#818 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22023 Dec 15 05:59 V13_#819 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24790 Dec 16 04:27 V13_#820 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24786 Dec 16 05:47 V13_#821 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29661 Dec 16 18:26 V13_#822 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24968 Dec 17 18:36 V13_#823 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24166 Dec 18 07:22 V13_#824 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23775 Dec 19 01:03 V13_#825 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28123 Dec 19 01:58 V13_#826 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24749 Dec 19 02:34 V13_#827 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31167 Dec 19 19:29 V13_#828 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27623 Dec 19 22:46 V13_#829 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23188 Dec 20 14:31 V13_#830 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15715 Dec 20 15:30 V13_#831 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26305 Dec 21 09:02 V13_#832 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26410 Dec 22 16:27 V13_#833 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27956 Dec 22 17:34 V13_#834 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24361 Dec 23 07:34 V13_#835 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26845 Dec 23 08:28 V13_#836 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25525 Dec 26 00:00 V13_#837 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26056 Dec 26 00:53 V13_#838 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28974 Dec 27 06:24 V13_#839 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23255 Dec 28 17:10 V13_#840 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23885 Dec 29 14:07 V13_#841 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30556 Dec 30 03:18 V13_#842 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23370 Dec 30 04:34 V13_#843 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27125 Dec 30 15:55 V13_#844 caller-id: total 180 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10795 Jul 30 14:47 asp.procomm -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4569 Feb 2 1992 bellcore.specs -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11267 Sep 24 21:06 cpid-ani.developments -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 61504 Jul 30 1990 legal-decision -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 85802 Aug 24 20:05 ohio-decree -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6807 Feb 2 1992 specifications carriers: total 256 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9886 Jan 23 1990 10xxx.access.codes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6847 Mar 2 1991 10xxx.list.updated -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 7714 Jul 23 1991 10xxx.new.revision -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8593 May 5 1990 10xxx.notes.updates -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8734 Dec 13 1991 att-reach.out-calculator -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Feb 11 1990 att.service.outage.1-90 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10590 Aug 11 1991 lata.names-numbers.table -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 801 Aug 1 1989 ld.discounts-1985 -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 2271 Aug 1 1989 ld.rate.notes-1985 -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 13675 Aug 1 1989 ld.rates.comparison-1985 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3417 Oct 27 03:30 orange.calling.card -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11489 Sep 29 1991 phone.home-usa -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4184 Jul 27 1991 sprint.rates -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 46738 Jan 18 1990 starlink.vrs.pcp -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27533 Feb 9 1990 telco.name.list.formatted -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31487 Jan 28 1990 telco.name.listing -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31396 Oct 27 03:28 telepassport.intl.calls -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26614 May 29 1990 unitel-canada.ld.service -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 427 Sep 20 1991 usa.direct.service cellular: total 133 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39449 Dec 14 1990 carrier.codes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35488 Aug 22 1992 cellular.and.900.in.uk -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15141 Sep 24 19:52 cellular.sieve -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16188 Mar 14 1991 fraud.article-abernathy -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2755 Mar 14 1991 fraud.prevention -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24455 Feb 6 1991 motorola.programming -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 298 May 31 1990 west.germany.cellular country.codes: total 830 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6089 Dec 27 1991 READ.ME.FIRST -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 9150 Jan 31 1990 david.leibold.listing -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21165 Dec 25 14:05 intl.codes.script -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11370 Feb 9 1990 john.covert.listing -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12260 Jan 20 1990 london.ac.script -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12069 Mar 5 1990 london.codes.script -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 190125 Jan 31 1993 norway.goes.8.digits -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18138 Sep 24 20:23 toll.free.prefixes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34771 Sep 24 21:25 zone.1.areacode.guide -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 267 Apr 10 1993 zone.1.canada.area.codes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35934 Apr 10 1993 zone.1.npa.809.countries -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 645 Dec 27 1991 zone.1.usa.areacodes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35128 Jan 27 1993 zone.2 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31857 Dec 27 1991 zone.3 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37294 Dec 27 1991 zone.4 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 141455 Apr 8 1993 zone.4.uk.44.detailed -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 56224 Jun 20 1992 zone.5.codes.50-54 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60921 Jun 20 1992 zone.5.codes.55-59 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27587 Dec 15 1991 zone.6 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8787 Nov 16 1992 zone.7 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17716 Nov 16 1992 zone.8 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43018 Sep 27 1992 zone.9 email: total 276 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62602 Aug 1 1989 ecpa.1986 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 97987 Aug 4 1990 federal.laws -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25794 Aug 24 19:57 internet.mail.guide.8-93 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19158 Nov 16 1992 mcimail.worldwide.service -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5922 Feb 22 1991 middle.east.troups -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20660 Sep 5 1990 privacy -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13622 Aug 18 1991 system.survey -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32160 Feb 26 1992 telex.from.internet glossaries: total 409 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43101 Nov 25 16:52 isdn.acronyms -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 118555 Nov 25 16:50 misc.acronyms -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 115325 Nov 25 16:59 more.acronyms -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 42188 Jan 14 1990 phrack.acronyms -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 69007 Oct 2 20:33 telecom.acronyms history: total 243 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17903 Sep 24 20:51 19th-century-telegraphers -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10746 Dec 1 11:20 area.splits -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Sep 25 00:09 att.service.outage.1-90 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1247 Feb 10 1990 digest.first.issue.cover -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2395 Oct 23 13:08 enterprise-numbers -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 7597 Feb 10 1990 exchange.names -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 47203 Aug 1 1989 fire.in.chicago.5-88 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1998 Jan 27 1990 fire.in.st-louis.1-90 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 377 Jan 27 1990 fires.elsewhere.in.past -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16534 Feb 11 1990 nsa.original.charter-1952 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14354 Aug 12 1990 octothorpe.gets.its.name -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8504 Jan 27 1990 old.fashioned.coinphones -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 2756 Jan 27 1990 old.hello.message -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 5492 Aug 1 1989 pearl.harbor.phones -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11387 Aug 24 19:14 phone.magazine.from.1926 -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 4816 Aug 1 1989 song-day.bell.system.died -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17129 Jan 5 1992 stock.ticker -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3864 Aug 22 1992 tat-8.fiber.optic -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2337 Jan 27 1990 telecom.digest -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27984 Nov 23 1991 teletype -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30996 Feb 26 1992 western.union indices: total 2670 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ptownson 30279 Jan 3 14:40 archives-index -r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1577582 Oct 3 13:11 authors-subjects.1989-91 -r--r--r-- 2 ptownson 1098294 Sep 22 03:06 authors-subjects.1992-93 legal-fcc: total 633 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29980 Oct 29 1991 87-215.modem.tax -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68508 Sep 24 20:40 aos.proposals -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68224 Sep 24 20:41 aos.rules-procedures -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 484 Jan 14 1990 aos.ruling -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60505 Feb 24 1991 apple.data.pcs.petition -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21206 Nov 18 1991 call.blocking -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 70477 Sep 5 1990 computer.bbs.and.the.law -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39956 Jul 14 1990 elec.frontier.foundation -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 36549 Aug 24 19:44 equal.access.rules -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 53628 Dec 6 1991 house.of.reps.bill.3515 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24706 Oct 29 1991 modem.tax.action -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 19378 Aug 1 1989 modem.tax.discussion -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103069 Sep 24 23:45 sysops.legal.liability -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 33199 Oct 4 13:05 wiretap.laws-procedures minitel: total 222 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11736 Apr 22 1990 dial-up.numbers -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 95917 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu1 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 94305 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu2 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 22688 Apr 22 1990 minitel.tar.Z.uu3 miscellaneous: total 203 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5795 Jan 27 1993 bellcore.public.documents -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4788 Jun 10 1990 books.about.phones -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3397 Jul 30 20:43 comp.dcom.telecom.charter -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14105 Nov 24 1990 genie.star-service -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15604 Aug 1 1989 mass.lines -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 463 Aug 1 1989 measured-service -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27351 Nov 8 21:55 no-amer.isdn.users.group -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9764 Jan 20 1990 starline.features -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 4527 Oct 27 03:34 telecom-services -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62927 Oct 7 19:32 telecom.newsgroup.faq -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28529 Nov 25 17:46 uiuc.telecom.syllabus -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 116 Oct 22 1990 white.pages -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24541 Aug 1 1989 zum.debate modems: total 258 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2450 Jan 20 1990 call-waiting -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 106028 Aug 22 1992 digital.data -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30981 Feb 9 1992 hotel.phones -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103336 Jan 28 1992 tutorial new-readers: total 80 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62927 Sep 25 00:38 frequently.asked.question -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15302 Jan 20 1991 how.to.post.msgs.here -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 3014 Jan 27 1990 letter.to.new.readers npa.800: total 77 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 45105 Mar 2 1991 carrier.assignments -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17618 Feb 2 1992 carrier.list -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13779 Sep 19 1990 prefix.assignments npa.900: total 89 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 40940 Mar 4 1993 800.collect.callbacks -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32815 Mar 25 1990 900.service.special.issue -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15488 Nov 20 1990 carrier.assignment npa.exchange.list-canada: total 230 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15271 Dec 15 1991 npa.204.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18564 Dec 27 1991 npa.306.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23266 Dec 15 1991 npa.403.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17076 Dec 15 1991 npa.416.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14843 Dec 15 1991 npa.418.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10384 Jan 5 1992 npa.506.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 11672 Dec 15 1991 npa.514.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13919 Dec 15 1991 npa.519.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19166 Dec 15 1991 npa.604.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12413 Dec 15 1991 npa.613.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12956 Dec 15 1991 npa.705.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13081 Dec 27 1991 npa.709.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5566 Feb 7 1990 npa.800.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 10503 Dec 15 1991 npa.807.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15611 Dec 15 1991 npa.819.exchanges-canada -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13118 Dec 15 1991 npa.902.exchanges-canada public.access: total 190 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28296 Sep 29 1990 dialup.access.in.uk -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9087 Jan 27 1993 dialups.to.internet -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9087 Jan 27 1993 internet.dialup.access -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 70153 Sep 25 01:02 pc.pursuit -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 75793 Sep 25 01:00 unix.public.access.sites reports: total 1351 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 58455 Dec 27 07:19 25th.anniversary.of.unix -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17389 Oct 1 1992 ada.phone.requirements -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13983 Apr 19 1992 alascom.story -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16833 Nov 3 1992 autovon-dod.phone.co -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18962 Jun 20 1992 autovon.instructions -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23355 Feb 14 1993 cable.role.in.telephony -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 40784 Feb 25 1993 clinton.hi-tech.speech -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 52871 Apr 10 1993 coming.of.the.fibersphere -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37177 Aug 22 1992 computer.in.hotel -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 23944 Aug 1 1989 computer.state -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 436 Mar 16 1991 deaf.communicate.on.tdd -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 86136 May 19 1992 deregulated.telecom.mkt -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15877 Sep 1 1990 dial.tone.monopoly -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8234 Sep 26 1991 exploring.950-1288 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19836 Nov 20 1990 fax.products.for.pc -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 32625 Mar 29 1990 how.numbers.are.assigned -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 54041 Dec 13 1991 hr.3515.federal.law -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 126515 Dec 18 01:54 info.policy.conference -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25799 Sep 12 1990 internet.story-abernathy -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 39296 Nov 25 17:31 issaquah.miracle -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 33400 Nov 25 17:39 metcalfs.law.and.legacy -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29973 Aug 11 1991 monitor.soviet.xmissions -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 99565 Sep 27 00:06 natl.info.infrastructure -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 55287 Nov 25 17:15 new.rule.of.wireless -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28201 Nov 25 17:03 number.crisis.in.zone.1 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 38772 Aug 1 1989 pizza.auto.nmbr.id -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17950 Jan 14 1990 rotenberg.privacy.speech -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20526 Jun 11 1991 st.louis.phone.outage -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103069 Apr 26 1990 sysops.libel.liability -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43671 Nov 16 1992 telex.ansback.to.internet -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21831 Jan 20 1991 telsat-canada-report -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 18138 Sep 29 1991 toll-free.tolled.list -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 75793 Apr 8 1993 unix.public.access.sites -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 29377 Nov 20 06:22 venezuela.telecom.strike security-fraud: total 1058 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 24515 Sep 3 1991 atm-bank.fraud -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16188 Sep 24 19:57 cellular.fraud-abernathy -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2755 Mar 14 1991 cellular.fraud.prevention -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13343 Feb 25 1990 computer.fraud.abuse.act -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 27395 Jun 23 1990 craig.neidorf.indictment -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9354 Jul 30 1990 craig.not.guilty -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 67190 Jun 23 1990 crime.and.puzzlement -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 62602 Aug 12 1990 ecpa.1986 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 97987 Aug 12 1990 ecpa.1986.federal.laws -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6303 Apr 10 1993 herb.zinn.story -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 21918 Dec 2 1990 illinois.computer.laws -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28935 May 19 1990 jolnet-2600.magazine.art -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 30751 Mar 7 1990 jolnet-attctc.crackers -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 43365 Jan 28 1990 kevin.polsen -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 35612 Apr 1 1990 legion.of.doom -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 20703 Aug 12 1990 len.rose-legion.of.doom -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 2516 Jun 14 1991 len.rose.in.prison -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 184494 Jun 22 1991 len.rose.indictment-1 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 192078 Jun 22 1991 len.rose.indictment-2 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 15355 Feb 1 1993 sentencing.guidelines -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 109927 Sep 24 20:08 telecom.usa.call.blocking -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 6344 May 24 1992 virgin.islands.phreak -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14821 Sep 12 1990 war.on.computer.crime technical: total 1059 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14124 Mar 24 1992 air.fone.frequencies -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3551 Jan 27 1993 ans.mach.exclusion.scheme -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 474 Sep 25 00:09 att.service.outage.1-90 -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 18937 Sep 24 19:10 auto.coin.collection -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 8526 Dec 29 1992 boing.zip -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16292 Mar 18 1990 class.ss7.features -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 16367 Sep 1 1990 e-series.recommendations -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3422 Jan 20 1990 early.digital.ESS -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 9052 Aug 1 1989 find.pair -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 26717 Sep 16 19:28 foreign.exchange.service -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 68804 Feb 2 1990 hi.perf.computing.net -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 31520 Aug 11 1991 how.phones.work -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 17016 Aug 5 1990 iridium -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 19745 Mar 12 1993 isdn.paper -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12896 Nov 20 1990 isdn.pc.adapter-hayes -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 73366 Feb 15 1993 ixo.program.scripts -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 42150 Feb 14 1993 ixo.tap.protocol -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 12961 Aug 18 1991 lightning.surge.protect -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 36641 Aug 1 1989 mnp.protocol -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 106028 Sep 24 21:59 modem.for.digital.data -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 103336 Sep 24 22:00 modem.tutorial -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 23449 Jan 18 1992 motorola.programming -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 60707 Aug 18 1991 pager.bin.uqx -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 13079 Aug 22 1991 pager.ixo.example -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 41112 Jun 20 1992 phone.hardware.you.build -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 28922 Aug 11 1991 phone.patches -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 34337 Sep 24 23:56 radio-phone.interference -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 74604 Oct 15 11:00 slip.setup.server.machine -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5921 Apr 8 1993 tdd.specifications -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 11752 Aug 1 1989 telstar -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 14429 Jan 18 1992 test.numbers -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 55580 Sep 16 20:16 truevoice.dsp.analysis -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 37947 Aug 1 1989 wire-it-yourself -rw-rw-r-- 1 telecom 4101 Aug 1 1989 wiring.inside.phones telecom-tech.digest: total 245 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 1194 Dec 25 11:01 READ.ME.FIRST -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 91765 Oct 5 19:03 cdtt.1st.vote.results -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 9719 Nov 11 16:22 cdtt.2nd.vote.discussion -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 84272 Dec 8 12:39 cdtt.2nd.vote.results -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 5251 Nov 25 22:51 cdtt.group.charter -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 53693 Nov 1 06:46 cdtt.newsgroup.discussion -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 709 Dec 27 00:56 intro.to.tel-tech tymnet: total 54 -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 25098 Dec 2 1990 inbound-outbound.rates -r--r--r-- 1 ptownson 3979 Dec 2 1990 tymdial-9.6-links -rw-r--r-- 1 ptownson 24577 Dec 10 1990 tymnet.outdials ================================ The above is accurate as of this date. It changes daily as new issues of the Digest are published and as new special reports and other files are added. Get an updated copy on a regular basis. If you cannot do anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu (then cd telecom-archives) you can request the help file for using the Email Service instead. Patrick Townson TELECOM Digest Editor ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #1 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa18410; 4 Jan 94 6:10 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30587 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 02:14:30 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA02536 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 02:14:01 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 02:14:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Digest Message-Id: <199401040814.AA02536@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #2 TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 02:14:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 2 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Rate of Change (Stewart Fist) Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey J. Carpenter) Wireless Transceiver Boards (Aninda Dasgupta) Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Earl Vickers) Question About Ring Frequency (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Jeffrey L. Haynes) Questions About VOXSON 899 Mobile Phone (Yang Yu-shuang) US West's India Project Delayed by Foreign Investment Debate (A. Indiresan) Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (Linc Madison) Operator, Where Are My Car Keys? (Charles Hoequist, Jr.) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 03 Jan 94 23:18:27 EST From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Rate of Change [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This semi-thread, a wee bit off-topic perhaps, was in progress as last year came to an end and it seems a very fitting way to begin the new year; thus I present as the first order of business in 1994 this essay from Stewart Fist. PAT] On 28 Dec 1993, H.A. Kippenhan Jr wrote: > It's probably safe to say that technology is advancing at a greater > than exponential rate. One of the things that is often overlooked is > that there are more scientists alive [and hopefully working - 8-)] > today than the total in mankind's history to date. It's no wonder > that things are changing so fast. > We want to be careful about 'run(ning) out of things to invent'. > There was a proposal just shortly after the Civil War to close the > U.S.Patent Office because everything that could possibly be invented > had been thought of. No criticism here (I assume that 'run(ning) out > of things to invent' was a -in-cheek remark). Without being critical, what's interesting in this string is that your correspondents find it curious and worthy of note, that our ancestors (stupidly) thought their old pace of change was extraordinary. We are being invited to snicker at this quaint and ridiculous idea. Everyone knows, that (by comparison with today) the pace of change of our ancestors was very slow and sedate? That's the sub-text here. But! Every generation thinks that it lives in THE period of most rapid change. Past generations always look slow by comparison because we look at THEIR change from OUR perspective. My guess is that we technologists view the world, distorted in this egoistic way, because our 'present' is always mid-stream in the technological changes that dominate our lives. And, since we egoists are obviously at the centre of the universe, ipso facto, these changes must appear extraordinary and revolutionary to the hoi polloi who don't understand things as well as we do. To our ancestors, these changes would be extraordinary! The distortion comes about because of our viewpoint. The problems and attitudes of the past always appear trivial to us -- because they are SOLVED. Relativity is such a simple and obvious concept -- why did it take an Einstein and X years to work it out? A smart high-school kid today could write a better explanation of relativity than Einstein in a week. And, similarly, we judge the rate of change selectively from our own perspective, having grown up with the 'solved' technologies which caused all the troubles in the past. And our judgement as to what is important is always a perspective from today's vantage point -- but people in the past found other aspects of change more important and difficult to handle -- things that are now trivial to us. This is where Tofler falls down in his "Future Shock" idea. I don't see any evidence that people today don't handle technological change reasonably well and easily. Ten years after Toffler warned us of technology's disruptive effects, Future Shock hasn't appeared in the way that was postulated. Today's technologies certainly aren't any more difficult for us to handle than those that gave 'Future Shock' to past generations (Crystal sets, for instance. Trams and buses for another) Morse-code telegraphy had ten times the impact of satellites. Telex has been a thousand times more important and more revolutionary than electronic mail. Computers and modern communications technologies might be revolutionary to the half-million technologists, but to the five billion users these chips and fibres are just creating marginal improvements on the adequate 'service facilities' they had before. Computers produce a very evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change to our culture when you compare them to the impact of something like the motor car. My mother was ten before she saw her first motor car, 18 before she saw an aeroplane, but she lived to fly the Concorde and see a man step on the moon. How does this pace of change compare with my life span, when cars, aeroplanes and space travel are reasonably commonplace? And the car I drive now is not really much different to the one I drove 30 years ago. The car has made very little 'revolutionary' impact on my life because I've always had one, and it has always worked at about the same speed and travelled the same miles. So I have reservations about all this philosophical "Future Shock" and "Information Society/Age" stuff -- I think it is tabloid sensationalism under the guise of a pseudo-academic cloak. I see little evidence that the 'perceived' pace of change in the community is faster now than it has been over the last hundred years. It seems to me that 'present' change has always been perceived as 'amazingly fast' -- it's a perspective illusion. If you were to identify the time in recent history where citizens faced most 'Future Shock' then it would have to be the 1890s and early 1900s. This was when Bell invented the telephone; Edison the light bulb and phonograph; photography and the movies became popular; Marconi and De Forrest created radio; and trams, buses, cars, trucks (and later aeroplanes) replaced the horse and carriage and bicycle. All of these technologies had a direct, disruptive and rapid effect on the way (and place) people lived, worked and played. It is hard to think of anything in the last twenty years with one-tenth the impact of the steam-train in the 1800s. In fact, if you stand back and look at the last century of technology with a dispassionate eye, then the computer and fibre revolution has been rather benign for the average citizen. Fibre optics just means better phone quality. And these days the technologists placed considerable emphasis on 'user-friendliness' and on the 'transparency' of most computer applications -- so a large part of the computer's power is directed at making it easy to assimilate, and easy to use. This didn't happen with technologies in the past - 'real men' learned to double de-clutch. Most computers are hidden, and work behind the scene. Technologists see these things and marvel, but the average Joe Bloggs in the streets just finds things easier to work, or with a few extra features. Few people are conscious when driving a modern car, that computers are controlling the ignition, brakes and radio-tuning. These 'revolutionary' technical changes are just technical trivia. How do you compare these things with the impact on people and cultures from the 'transport revolution' of the early 1900's: horses almost disappeared from the roads, and trams, trains and motor cars replaced them. Suddenly everyone could travel -- from suburbs to the city, between towns, and even between states. Families were no longer isolated by distance; people had access to all forms of entertainment and recreation, most of which had only previously been available to the rich with stables. And it all happened in about the same period of time that we have been dealing with the computer revolution -- about 20 years. I think we need to get our feet back on the ground and stop imagining that we are more important than we are. ================ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mr. Fist, thanks very much for an excellent presentation of a point of view we often tend to overlook. If any readers want to present a rebuttal to Mr. Fist, or elaborate further on his comments, I'll be happy to carry the thread here for a bit longer. It makes a great topic to begin the new year. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 12:13:27 EST From: Jeffrey J. Carpenter Subject: Caller ID in Pennsylvania I received a copy of Pennsylvania Act 83 of 1993. This law permits Caller-ID in Pennsylvania as long as both per-line and per-call blocking are available. There may be a charge for per-line blocking, but not for per-call blocking. There are a number of parties that are excluded from charges for per-line blocking, including victims of domestic violence, women's shelters, and health and counseling centers. People ordering phone service may get per-line blocking at no charge within 60 days of ordering service. It permits a service that will automatically block calls from lines with blocking, and permits selective unblocking of lines with per-line blocking. There are a number of blocking exceptions for PBX's, 911 services and 800/900 services. Telephone companies offering this service must notify their customers sixty days in advance of the implementation to allow subscribers to obtain per-line blocking. jeff ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jan 94 14:45:44 EST From: add@philabs.Philips.Com (Aninda Dasgupta) Subject: Wireless Transceiver Boards I want to design a wireless data network for indoor (office space) applications. I want to use as many off-the-shelf products as possible. The first item I need is a wireless transceiver. The requirements are: 1) should work around corners and through walls (a range of say three to four rooms/offices), 2) support a data rate anywhere from 10 to 64 Kbps, 3) should use carrier frequencies that are not restricted by the FCC and are unlikely to be very crowded by other systems, 4) should be priced around $10. I would like to get off-the-shelf boards to which I can hook up my micro-processor based systems to build wireless nodes on the network. Can anyone point me to manufacturers of transceiver boards? Requirement one means that I can't use infra-red. I should probably use RF. How about the 900 MHz systems? The FCC allows only a few tens of watts of power in the 900 MHz range. What frequencies do other such systems (e.g. Echelon) use and what power levels do they provide? Model airplanes and toy cars use RF remotes. So does the BOSE home audio remote controller. What freq. and power levels do these use? Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated. I will summarize if I get sufficient replies. Thanks in advance. Regards, Aninda DasGupta (add@philabs.philips.com) Ph:(914)945-6071 Fax:(914)945-6552 Philips Labs\n 345 Scarborough Rd\n Briarcliff Manor\n NY 10510 ------------------------------ From: earl@netcom.com (Earl Vickers) Subject: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 03:04:48 GMT I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but they all seem to have disappeared. For example, there used to be one where you could leave whatever strange sound effects or messages you wanted, and they would periodically edit and splice them into their new outgoing greeting. And there used to be a number in San Francisco called the Earthquake Prevention Hotline, with a different oddball comedy bit every couple days. All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song number, (718) 963-6962. And dialing 1073214049889664 gets you a computer voice that reads you your own phone number, in case you forgot or something. (This works from San Jose, CA, and I'm told it's toll free but I couldn't swear to it.) Please post or email any interesting numbers you may know of. (Obviously, please, no answering machines that might sometimes be answered by a human.) Thanks! Earl Vickers earl@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple of numbers I'll add to this list are 312-731-1100 and 312-731-1505. Both are operated by a fellow named Sherman Skolnick in Chicago who is a 'conspiracy buff'; you know, one of those people who believe that everyone but Oswald killed JFK. Both are five minute recordings, and he changes the two messages two or three times per week. PAT] ------------------------------ From: joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) Subject: Question About Ring Frequency Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 05:45:09 GMT Can someone tell me the ring frequecies and durations of the standard US telephone ring? Thanks, joeshmoe@world.std.com Jascha Franklin-Hodge ------------------------------ From: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com (Jeffrey L. Haynes) Subject: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 21:13:38 GMT Reply-To: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com Organization: AIX Defect Support I am trying to figure out how to wire two phone lines into a regular phone jack. Is this possible? I thought it was because only two wires are used. I have tried connecting the yellow and black to the red and green on the second line, but that doesn't seem to work. Anybody know anything about this stuff? Thanks, Jeff Haynes email: jhaynes@austin.ibm.com AIX Defect Support [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess we know a few things about it Jeff. You do not want to connect the yellow and black wires to the red and green; that causes both lines to get shorted out. R/G is typically the first line (of two in a two pair cable) and Y/B is the second line. (I'm talking like an American now; forget about Europe or other countries for the purpose of this discussion.) You bring Y/B to your phone in the same way the R/G are brought there, but as *separate and distinct* things. You need a second phone instrument or at least a phone with two distinct lines on it in order to use the Y/B pair of wires, and that is presuming of course that telco has the wires connected at their end and in service. If you have two lines from telco, then what you do is at the modular connection box depends on the kind of phone(s) you are using. If you have a true two-line phone, then connect the four wires to the four screw terminals as indicated by the color markings for each. In addition you attach the four wires from the cover of the modular box to the associated screw terminals in the same way. Plug in your two line phone and it should work okay. If you are using two separate phones, we do it a bit differently. Inside the modular box, have the four wires connected as above, but from the Y/B terminals, run two little jumper wires to a second modular box you bought from Radio Shack or similar. Connect the jumper wires from the Y/B screws of the first box to the R/G screws in the new, second modular box. Now plug your second phone into your second box. The reason we wire the jumpers from Y/B in the one to R/G in the other is because R/G is traditionally known as the 'first line' and Y/B is traditionally known as the 'second line'. Most devices which handle only one phone line (i.e. a single-line phone instrument, an answering machine, a modem, etc) are wired internally to operate on the 'first line'; that is, to respond to and connect with R/G. So if you plan to use the 'second' (or Y/B) line for a modem or answering machine or fax machine, etc you need to give it whatever phone service you are going to have there on the 'first line' as far as it can tell, meaning see to it that the R/G on the newly installed modular terminal box gets the feed, ** but in a separate modular terminal box **. Never allow any of the four wires to touch each other. If more questions arise in this project, please write again. PAT] ------------------------------ From: yang@mundoe.maths.mu.OZ.AU (Yang Yu-shuang) Subject: Questions About VOXSON 899 Mobile Phone Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 01:47:37 GMT Hi Net Friends, I bought a VOXSON CELLVOX 899 mobile phone recently. I have a few questions about it: (1) It comes with a 12 VDC 1000mA adaptor plug into the desktop charger. Is the adaptor just the ordinary AC-DC adaptor? Can I use the car cigarette lighter instead of the AC-DC adaptor? (2) I am thinking of making a small charger to be used in the car. What are the points to note? Can the battery be treated as the ordinary NiCad battery? (3) The battery has six metal pieces. Two of them are in contact with the phone which power the phone and four of them are in contact with the charger. The four in contact with the charger are labeled as "-", "S", "T", "+". What does those labels mean? (4) I noticed that the same type of phone in different shops carries different labels. For instance, the phones sold by Strathfield has a sticker saying "produced in Australia" while the ones in Myer has a sticker saying "made in Japan". The phone and the model number are the same otherwise. Are there any internal differences? Thank you in advance for any suggestions. YS (Sam) Yang yang@maths.mu.oz.au [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You can use any 'clean' (i.e. regulated) DC power supply rated at 10-13 volts and at least one amp, although my Micronta 13.8 VDC power supply is rated at three amps. Your car battery via the cigarette lighter will work fine. You don't need a charger in the car; just use a connector which fits the cigarette lighter on one end and your cellular phone battery charge connection on the other. As long as the motor is running your car battery will juice up the phone battery and let you use the phone as well. The plus and minus signs are for the positive and negative sides of the battery; most likely the S and T have to do with whether or not your phone is (or can be) wired into the circuitry of the car so that an incoming call will cause your horn to sound or your lights to flash if your car is parked somewhere and you are outside the car with the phone left in the vehicle turned on. Are you *certain* there are only two connections between the battery and the phone and not at least three or four of the six which reach the charger? It could also be that the S and T connections are like thermal switches -- when the battery gets fully juiced up it gets a little warm and some cellphone batteries use a thermal coupler to shut off the charger when the battery says it is no longer needed. There are probably no significant differences in the internals of your phone and those from Japan or Korea or Hong Kong or China or the local Radio Shack, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: US West's India Project Delayed by Foreign-Investment Debate Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 18:54:51 -0500 From: Atri Indiresan This report is from the India-D listserv group. I do not have the original citation for the article. Atri ------ US WEST'S PROJECT IN INDIA IS DELAYED BY DEBATE OF FOREIGN-INVESTMENT POLICY US West Inc.'s pioneering proposal to offer an alternative to India's state-owned phone system has been put on hold. The regional project, which would amount to a revolution in India's tightly controlled telecommunications industry, has run into opposition from some members of India's parliament and from unions representing workers in the state-owned network. US West proposes offering an alternative to the government-run network in parts of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Also on hold are 17 similar proposals lined up behind U S West's initiative, which received approval last month from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Technically, the project has been returned to the investment board for certain evaluations. However, a senior official has said that no clearance will be given until the government reaches a consensus on the role of private and foreign investment in the telecommunications industry. The unions say basic telecommunications services shouldn't be opened to competition. They have the support of some left-wing parliament members and are threatening to strike if there is a change in policy. However, a policy change is just what is needed, says Nagarajan Vittal, head of the Department of Telecommunications. He has been pushing for one since assuming his post in October. Now, his proposals are awaiting consideration by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and his cabinet. If the review goes as expected, a new policy is likely to be announced before the end of January. Mr. Vittal argues that there is no alternative to opening up basic services to competition. He dismisses as inadequate a 400 billion rupee ($12.85 billion) plan he inherited, which would increase the country's phone lines to 20 million in 200 from the current seven million. That plan would still leave a waiting list of two years, compared with today's five or six, he estimates. "We should target 1.2 trillion rupees ($38.54 billion) to bridge this perennial gap," Mr. Vittal says. India has less than one telephone per 1000 people. The global average is 10.5. Mr. Vittal wants India to have 20 million lines by the end of 1995. But because India lacks the resources to finance such expansion on its own, he wants to admit foreign investors. "I want India's telephone density to be at world levels and to provide telephones on demand," Mr. Vittal says. "The quality of services must go up, and that can only happen with competition." According to Boli Madappa, U S West's director of international network projects, the first stage of U S West's plan would create 430,000 lines with an investment of $90 million in and around the textile exporting town of Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. In the second stage, to be completed by 2004, the total investment would rise to $176 million and the number of lines to 930,000. U S West would provide basic telephone service, as well as data services, public call offices and cable television. Several companies seeking to enter the market are closely watching the outcome of the U S West proposal. According to Mr. Vittal, American Telephone & Telegraph Co. has offered to eliminate the waiting list in 71 towns by providing competitive services, and Motorola Inc. has offered a "waitlist-buster" proposal that, among other things, would be designed to clear the waiting list in New Delhi, India's capital, in six months. ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 22:41:40 GMT Several people have written recently about ten-digit dialing schemes for local calls to adjacent area codes. The idea is to preserve the concept that any local call can be dialed without a '1' even if prefix shortages make it no longer possible to dial just the seven-digit number. In most cases, you are permitted, but not required, to dial the 1 anyway, and all telcos are recommended to allow 1 + NPA + number for all calls within the NANP, including local calls within the same NPA. I was recently in Dallas, where you *must* dial: 7-digit number local, same area code NPA + 7-digit number local, different area code 1 + NPA + 7-digit number all non-local calls If you dial, for example, 1-817-265-xxxx instead of 817-265-xxxx, you get an intercept recording telling you to dial again without the 1. If you dial 1-214-nxx-xxxx instead of nxx-xxxx for a local call, you get a similar intercept. There is some logic, at least, in saying that any call that incurs a toll must be dialed with the 1, and thus that any call that does not incur a toll *may* be dialed without the 1, but there is just no excuse whatsoever for *prohibiting* the 1 for local calls. I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern Bell, since my parents had to accept exile to be within commute distance of my father's new office location. It is possible that SWB does better on this point, as well as in every single other facet of telephone service. Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 15:20:00 +0000 From: charles (c.a.) hoequist Subject: Operator, Where Are my Car Keys? Esteemed Editor, This is a followup to my posting concerning the new 411 service in Atlanta. In response to an e-mail request to post more details to the Digest about subscriber requests which don't exactly fit the telco's DA template, here is a selection. Bear in mind that the operator doesn't dare just brush off the subscriber. That may bring a complaint. But if the call takes too long, the operator's AWT (average work time -- the average duration of the calls at the operator's position) will go up, which is also evil. So everything has to be either solved or at least properly redirected, preferably in 20 seconds or less. First, there are some frequent errors, such as subscribers asking for DA in another area code. A subclass of of these are the telephony- challenged. The operators usually read out the entire sequence for the call to the subscriber ("Dial one, then , then ..") and in one case the subscriber obediently hit DTMF 1 ("ma'am?" "Yes?" "You have to hang up first.") Second, there are ambiguous or poorly-stated listing requests. These can be mildly humorous: "I'd like the number of X in Jefferson" "Which one, ma'am? I have two Jefferson listings for that name." "Well, it's the one on the main street." "Neither is listed as having Main Street as an address." "No, it's the main street, it runs right through the center of town." (pause) "Ma'am, I don't know the name of that street." "Hmm. Well, it's the one that turns into the state road a little out of town ..." This can go on and on. Others would get me fired for talking back to customers if I had to put up with them: "Well, that's what _I_ always call my bank, and _they_ always know what I'm talking about!" Then there are some which are telephony-related, but not DA calls, like the bozo who badgered the operator endlessly about whether he'd get charged for a DA call made from his cellular phone. Or requests for beeper numbers. Finally, there are the miscellaneous requests: - what time is it? Not, what is the number to get the time recording? The subscriber was very explicit. - when do the buses run? - what zipcode is ? - and the winner: "Could you tell me what research is going on at Emory University?" Charles Hoequist, Jr. | Internet: hoequist@bnr.ca BNR, Inc. | voice: 919-991-8642 PO Box 13478 | fax: 919-991-8008 Research Triangle Park NC 27709-3478 USA The number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate your telephone ninety degrees and try again. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, directory assistance operators (in fact, all telco operators) get a tremendous amount of abuse in a day's time. As Ms. Murphy, my former next-door neighbor and retired IBT operator once told me, "I thought something was wrong if I hadn't been cussed out by at least two or three subscribers before noon each day ...". Murphy was the very first union steward for the operators in Chicago over a half century ago; back in the days when 'everyone knew' no one would ever organize "the Bell" ... too big, too large, it just can't be done ... Murphy helped do it and after some forty years in the service of Ma Bell she retired in the early 1960's. She said to me she often missed the subscribers cursing at her all day long. :) PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #2 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19231; 4 Jan 94 7:21 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25031 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 03:52:53 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30138 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 03:52:25 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 03:52:25 -0600 From: TELECOM Digest Message-Id: <199401040952.AA30138@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #3 TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 03:52:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 3 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin (Seng-Poh Lee) US Digital Cellular Standard (Weiyun Yu) Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John C. Fowler) CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94 (Patrick Dowd) Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China? (Laurence Chiu) Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France (Jean-Bernard Condat) ISDN Cards for IBM PCs (Arie Markus) GSM-Phones From London (Sami Vainionpaa) GTE vs. Cellular One (Michael Judson) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lee@gdc.com (Seng-Poh Lee) Subject: GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 17:31:32 EST Organization: General DataComm Ind. Inc., Middlebury, CT What follows is a bulletin from General DataComm regarding the availability of our V.FAST modem. For LITERATURE ONLY, please call 1-800-777-4005 (outside the US, call (203) 792-0542). For TECHNICAL or PRODUCT questions, you may either fax your queries to (203) 758-9129, or send e-mail to vfast@gdc.com. Please include a daytime phone number. Please mention that you heard about it in TELECOM Digest. ---------------------------------------------------- General DataComm, Inc. 1579 Straits Turnpike. , Middlebury, CT 06762-1299 INTERNET BULLETIN GDC ANNOUNCES V.FAST MODEM AVAILABILITY Middlebury, CT, December 30 -- General DataComm has just announced immediate availability of their new V.F 28.8 Series modems. These modems operate at full duplex speeds of 28.8 Kbps (Kilobits per second) in each direction, with compressed file speeds exceeding four times that rate. Currently shipping V.F 28.8 models are the DeskTop standalone modem and SpectraComm 7" high density rackmount version for central site installations. The DataComm V.F 28.8 standard rackmount model will be available in January. These modems are guaranteed to meet the new V.34 ITU-T recommendations as soon as it is ratified. Units purchased now will be upgraded, free, over the phone line. With 2- and 4-wire, synchronous and asynchronous, dial up and leased line operations, these may be considered universal modems. Containing the ITU-T V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.32bis, V.34 and Bell 212A and 103 modulations and V.42/V.42bis error detection and correction with data compression, this modem covers speeds from 300 bps to 28.8 Kbps, with effective throughput up to 128 Kbps with data compression. V.fast - V.fastest! Currently there are few actual 28.8 Kbps modems in the market. Testing the DeskTop V.F 28.8 Series against two of these has shown GDC the clear winner in the speed race. From random, incompressible files, to data base and graphics files so common in LAN and multi-media applications, GDC bests the competition by as much as 100%. With over twice the speed in many applications, using lines that are typical of over 50% of the U.S. dial-up network, the results clearly indicate GDC modems provide the best high-speed solution. These tests are currently being confirmed by an independent testing laboratory. Speed Saves For modem users, this means that with graphics and database file transfers, they will be cutting their phone bill in half using GDC's modems over the other V.fast solutions, and saving significantly more over V.32bis or slower modems. Companies and individuals looking for high speed modems to meet their applications requirements, are sensitive to these cost issues. Buying the wrong modem could cost many times the price of the unit. In fact, it may be shown that, even if you were given a competitive modem at no cost, it would pay to purchase a GDC unit. The GDC V.F 28,8 Series may also be equipped with high speed interfaces - both ITU-T V.35, ITU-T V.24/V.28/ISO2593 and EIA/TIA 530-A, ITU-T V.10/V.11/V.24/ISO 2110 are available for international and domestic use. This is very important, since these interfaces may be required to actually achieve the inherent speeds available using these new modems. With approvals already received for more than 30 countries, and more on the way, the GDC V.F 28.8 should be considered the international modem of choice for multi-national concerns. FLASH Flash All GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems are currently shipping with FLASH memory, allowing feature enhancements to the modems to be implemented by upgrading the software electronically, rather than swapping PROM chips. This means that obsolescence is a thing of the past, and users will be able to keep their modems up-to-date by making a phone call and downloading code for: - invoking new features - implementing code enhancements - insuring compatibility with the V.34 standard - establishing connectivity with new software communication packages and other devices. Many of today's modems are based on modified V.32bis chip sets incorporating proprietary modulation firmware which cannot be upgraded to V.34 when the standard is ratified. Phrases like "V.fast technology", "V.32terbo", "V.fast Class" are commonly used to infer compliance with the V.fast recommendations. This may not, in fact, become a reality when the standard becomes available. GDC guarantees its modems can be upgraded to the V.34 standard via download. Competitive modems still have to physically update the hardware as well as the software when upgrading products. Loss of the use of the modem while transporting it to and from the manufacturer for upgrade, disruption of service while the service technician replaces the chip and tests it, and the costs of providing services during these times are typical costs associated with other modem updates for your prospect. "These costs are avoided using the new GDC software upgrade technology. With GDC, a phone call does it all." says Dick Drake, Director of Marketing for Transmission Products. In January, GDC will begin compliance testing with the proposed V.34 standard, insuring GDC will be ready to implement the changes necessary when the standard is ratified. In addition, there are a number of new features already in the works. These include: Automatic Dial Restoral (ADR) for backup of leased lines with dial circuits; Password and Security Callback; V.25bis serial dialing (sync and async); and Remote Configuration of modems from other locations. How Upgrades Work There are two characteristics built into the V.F 28.8 that allow upgrades to be achieved over the phone line. First is the ability of the hardware, in this case a universal communications platform, to change it's functionality based on the resident software provided. The second characteristic is the ability to download the modem-defining software by connecting to the GDC Bulletin Board (BBS). The new software containing the desired features and operational characteristics -- the modem personality -- for the upgrade are then loaded down to the internal FLASH memory of the V.F 28.8 modem. Since the modem has the capability of storing up to four custom configurations, along with four fixed pre-defined profiles, and up to ten customer-defined phone numbers, these are also saved so the customer retains all unique operational parameters during this upgrade process. Safety Concerns In addition to the approved modem standards, many modem customers are concerned with safety issues. The V.F 28.8 Series has passed UL safety tests for lightning protection (UL1459) and for flammability (UL94V0). And heat is not an issue. With less than six watts of power consumption, our V.fast modems produce much less heat than our competitors with 12 watts, or more. This translates into greater safety, reliability, and savings for the customer. Digital Impact In some cases, users may wish to use the new V.F 28.8 modems as a substitute for, or backup of, digital circuits. With effective throughput speeds exceeding 100 Kbps, applications abound: 1. The V.F 28.8 Series is ideally suited for backup of Switched 56 Kbps analog or 64 Kbps digital leased lines using the dial-up network. Speeds are now compatible with many LAN-to-LAN applications. This insures both reliability and cost efficiencies. 2. Many managers are taking a hard look at the costs of upgrading to an all-digital network. Some of the benefits they see by staying with high-speed modems are: a. Modems fit in existing networks, and can be incrementally added as required versus installing a whole new digital system. b. Modems provide the only universal connectivity worldwide. c. Installation, training and support are all minimized with modems versus having to retrain, re-equip, and re-educate the department when switching to new technology. d. Modem technology is inherently more cost effective. e. Most MIS managers are more "comfortable" with modem technology, and the GDC V.F 28.8 Series may be changed into a managed modem with minimum network disruption with a simple download. Equipment obsolescence is virtually eliminated. 3. Generic applications, using modems as just another design element, are appearing from non-traditional sources. Applications from medical (CAT scan data transfer), to multi-media (training and manual field updates) are appearing daily. Many of these, due to larger file sizes, require higher speeds and universal transport - ideal for the GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems. 4. Most large users have occasion to work overseas. Many are multi-national. The GDC V.F 28.8 Series is currently homologated (approved for use) in thirty countries. In most cases, GDC is the only game in town (and country). "It would be a shame for a user to get new V.fast modems for his U.S. offices and then find out that his overseas offices, where he spends big communications bucks, can't use all the available speed because they implemented a proprietary system with a modem not approved in this country." said Drake. General DataComm, Inc. is a leading provider of multimedia networks and telecommunications equipment worldwide. Based in Connecticut, GDC serves corporate customers and telephone operating companies throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. ------------------------------ From: weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu) Subject: US Digital Cellular Standard Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 00:35:12 GMT It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject. My specific questions are: 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM. 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved. 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third standard that can be used world wide? Does anyone know the answers? Dr Weiyun Yu "Why Me?" | Internet: weiyun@ucc.su.oz.au Dept of Surgery, Uni of Sydney, Australia | Voice: 61+2-692-3851 Personal opinions only... | Fax: 61+2-692-4887 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 00:02 EST From: John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.com> Subject: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones The following is from an interesting insert in my December telephone bill. A SPECIAL NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN COLORADO: EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 1994, YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR CALLS YOU MAKE TO CERTAIN CELLULAR TELEPHONE NUMBERS. If the cellular phone you are calling begins with 1 + 579, you will be billed for the cellular airtime charges and also any long distance charges associated with the call when applicable. Like most other 1+ calls, there will be a charge for placing calls to these cellular 1+ numbers. The cost of the call will depend upon the cellular customer you call. (The charges for these calls are deter- mined by the cellular carriers, not by U.S. West.) If there are any questions about cellular airtime charges that appear on your bill, to the above prefix, please call the Customer Inquiry Center at 1-800-USW-BILL. A couple of comments: Colorado is one of those states where any non-local call requires that a 1 be dialed before the number. Currently, 1 + 7D can be used, but 1 + NPA + 7D will need to be used after February 27, 1994. Also, the use of the 579 prefix may not apply to other states. For example, my mother, who lives in Dixon, New Mexico, has a regular phone number on the 579 prefix there. I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular service. John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: dowd@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dowd) Subject: CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94 Reply-To: dowd@eng.buffalo.edu Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 14:46:32 GMT Call for Papers ACM SIGCOMM'94 CONFERENCE Communications Architectures, Protocols and Applications University College London London, UK August 31 to September 2, 1994 (Tutorials and Workshop, August 30) An international forum on communication network applications and technologies, architectures, protocols, and algorithms. Authors are invited to submit full papers concerned with both theory and practice. The areas of interest include, but are not limited to: -- Analysis and design of computer network architectures and algorithms, -- Innovative results in local area networks, -- Mixed-media networks, -- High-speed networks, routing and addressing, support for mobile hosts, -- Resource sharing in distributed systems, -- Network management, -- Distributed operating systems and databases, -- Protocol specification, verification, and analysis. A single-track, highly selective conference where successful submissions typically report results firmly substantiated by experiment, implementation, simulation, or mathematical analysis. Papers must be less than 20 double-spaced pages long, have an abstract of 100-150 words, and be original material that has not been previously published or be currently under review with another conference or journal. In addition to its high quality technical program, SIGCOMM '94 will offer tutorials by noted instructors such as Paul Green and Van Jacobson (tentative), and a workshop on distributed systems led by Derek McAuley. Important Dates: Paper submissions: 1 February 1994 Tutorial proposals: 1 March 1994 Notification of acceptance: 2 May 1994 Camera ready papers due: 9 June 1994 All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality and relevance through double-blind reviewing where the identities of the authors are withheld from the reviewers. Authors names should not appear on the paper. A cover letter is required that identifies the paper title and lists the name, affiliation, telephone number, email, and fax number of all authors. Authors of accepted papers need to sign an ACM copyright release form. The Proceedings will be published as a special issue of ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review. The program committee will also select a few papers for possible publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Submissions from North America should be sent to: Craig Partridge BBN 10 Moulton St Cambridge MA 02138 All other submissions should be sent to: Stephen Pink Swedish Institute of Computer Science Box 1263 S-164 28 Kista Sweden Five copies are required for paper submissions. Electronic submissions (uuencoded, compressed postscript) should be sent to each program chair. Authors should also e-mail the title, author names and abstract of their paper to each program chair and identify any special equipment that will be required during its presentation. Due to the high number of anticipated submissions, authors are encouraged to strictly adhere to the submission date. Student Paper Award: Papers submitted by students will enter a student-paper award contest. Among the accepted papers, a maximum of four outstanding papers will be awarded full conference registration and a travel grant of $500 US dollars. To be eligible the student must be the sole author, or the first author and primary contributor. A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for this competition. Mail and E-mail Addresses: General Chair Jon Crowcroft Department of Computer Science University College London London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom Phone: +44 71 380 7296 Fax: +44 71 387 1397 E-Mail: J.Crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk Program Chairs Stephen Pink (Program Chair) Swedish Institute of Computer Science Box 1263 S-164 28 Kista Sweden Phone: +46 8 752 1559 Fax: +46 8 751 7230 E-mail: steve@sics.se Craig Partridge (Program Co-Chair for North America) BBN 10 Moulton St Cambridge MA 02138 Phone: +1 415 326 4541 E-mail: craig@bbn.com ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China? Date: 03 Jan 1994 10:22:36 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com I plan to travel to mainland China in the near future. I am hoping to be able to use a cellular phone in the area but from distant recollection I think they use GSM. I don't know of any US provider that uses GSM and hence would have no idea how to purchase a phone that uses that standard. Does anybody have any ideas on how to get one? Purchasing one in China would be exorbitant I would imagine. An an aside I think Hong Kong uses AMPS and with the massive amount of trade between Senzhen (sp?) -- the new economic zone in southern China, I wonder what system they use there? How would one roam between the two areas? Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: cccf@altern.com (cccf) Subject: Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 9:25:34 EST Translated in French language by Jean-Bernard Condat, Mark A. Ludwig's book "The Little Black Book of Computer Viruses" is actually available in all bookstores for 198 FF. The editor of this event is: Addison-Wesley France (41 rue de Turbigo, 75003 paris, France; Phone: +33 1 48879797, Fax: +33 1 48879799). Monday Dec. 27th, Addison-Wesley France received a legal pursuit to stop the diffusion of all issues of "Naissance d'un Virus" immediately. The judgment became definitive on Dec. 30th at 11:00 at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. Followed the increadible text, piece of humor :-) +++++++ ASSIGNATION EN REFERE D'HEURE EN HEURE devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris L'an mil neuf cent quatre vingt treize et le VINGT SEPT DECEMBRE A Dix Heures Cinquante Cinq minutes A LA DEMANDE DE : LA SOCIETE PRESSIMAGE SARL au capital de 250 000 francs - inscrite au RCS Paris B 332 127 828 dont le siege social est 19, rue Hegesippe-Moreau 75018 Paris agissant poursuites et diligences de ses representants legaux domicilies audit siege Ayant pour avocat Maitre Eric ANDRIEU, avocat associ{ demeurant a 75017 Paris - 22, rue Fortuny - Toque R 047 - Tel: 47637426 - Telecopie: 42272675 J'AI DONNE ASSIGNATION A : 1/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig domicilie aux editions Addison-Wesley France 41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 Paris 2/ LES EDITIONS ADDISON-WESLEY FRANCE prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit siege 41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 PARIS 3/ LES EDITIONS BORDAS prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit siege 17 rue Remy Dumoncel - 75014 PARIS D'avoir a comparaitre le TRENTE DECEMBRE 1993 a 11 HEURES a l'audience et par devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, tenant l'audience des referes au Palais de Justice de 4 boulevard du Palais - 75001 PARIS Vous devrez comparaitre a cette audience ou vous y faire representer par un Avocat inscrit au Barreau. A defaut, vous vous exposeriez a ce revues editees par Pressimage est, au-dela de leur contenu editorial, la remise simultanee a titre de prime aux acheteurs des journaux de disquettes informatiques pouvant etre utilisees sur les micro-ordinateurs de chacun. 2/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig est unnfiance de la part de la clientele de Pressimage qui peut craindre, en utilisant les disquettes editees par la requerante, d'introduire un virus dans son propre systeme informatique. Au surplus, la diffusion de l'ouvrage litigieux et de son annexe cree un SOUS TOUTES RESERVES Pieces versees aux debats: - livre "Naissance d'un virus" - justificatifs des activites de Pressimage. -------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is quite interesting. Perhaps one of our readers versed in French will translate the above for me, and I'll run the English translation in a day or two. It is not that common for books to be banned in the United States. Generally the only time a book will be censored (or banned outright) in the USA is when the govern- ment feels very threatened by it. Two which come to mind are "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" and "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia". Both were written by former operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency when George Bush was in charge of that agency. In both instances the government convinced a court that publication/distribution of the book would be quite harmful to the government's interests. When the books were finally allowed to be published they contained large amounts of blank space -- entire pages were completely blank in places -- as the authors and publishers attempted to comply with the court order while still printing *something*. When reading the books, I'd be on a page and halfway through a paragraph; the printed text would stop and resume perhaps an inch or two down the page with a note in the middle saying the text originally planned to appear there was removed by court order. In one section, the text stopped halfway down the page, and about a dozen completely blank pages followed with the text resuming about two- thirds of the way through the thirteenth page with the same notation on each of the blank pages. The books were deliberatly published that way with the gaping holes in the text throughout to show the public the large amount of stuff the government had censored. I believe the authors remain under government-imposed silence even today, over two decades after the books were written. Is there anyone in this room old enough to remember when {Ramparts Magazine} published AT&T's calling card check-digit secrets back in the middle 1960's? AT&T went to court at the time of publication and got an order banning that issue of the magazine. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 15:12:39 IST From: Arie Markus Subject: ISDN Cards For IBM PCs Hi, I would like to know if there are any ISDN cards for the IBM PCs yet. Please reply via direct mail as I am not subscribed. Any help would be appreciated. Arie Markus (VE3JLM/4X6JO) ------------------------------ Reply-To: comp.dcom.telecom@mpoli.fi Subject: GSM-Phones From London From: sami.vainionpaa@mpoli.fi (Sami Vainionpaa) Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 03:14:00 +0200 Organization: Metropoli, Finland Hi, I live in Finland and I'm going to travel to London in the beginning of next year and I found out that GSM-telephones are quite cheap there (at least cheaper than in Finland) ;) But I don't know where to buy it. So I would appreciate to get all kinds of information (addresses, prices, tel. numbers, FAX-numbers, etc.) I am interested in knowing if GSM-phones have EUR-certifications; that proves they are European made. Especially interested in marks like: Ascom Crystal, Ericsson GH 197, Nokia 1011. ------------------------------ From: judson@crl.com (Michael Judson) Subject: GTE vs. Cellular One Date: 3 Jan 1994 23:47:43 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Does anybody have any comments regarding which cellular service is better, GTE or Cellular One? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Which* Cellular One and *which* GTE in *which* market area? Judging from the site where you logged in, it is likely you are referring to the Bay Area in California, but that might not be your physical location. 'Cellular One' is a trademark name for numerous carriers on the 'A' side; GTE has several telephone operating companies. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #3 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa27912; 4 Jan 94 23:38 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA22625 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 20:12:22 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08331 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 20:11:51 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 20:11:51 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401050211.AA08331@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #4 TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 20:10:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 4 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Sprint Response to MCI Announcement (John D. Gretzinger) Magazine Telemarketers From (Heck) (Andrew C. Green) Book Review: "Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol" by Da Cruz (Rob Slade) Need Help Wiring OLD Extension Phone to Modern System (Rob Levandowski) Old AT&T/Wsetern Electric Documents (George Thurman) TasCom Managers, etc. Sought (Scott Sanbeg) NBC Computer Series (Barry Mishkind) SWBMS to Reduce Roam Rates! (Mark W. Earle) Fundraising/Saving Program (Steve Freedkin) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: JOHN.D.GRETZINGER@sprint.sprint.com Date: 4 Jan 94 19:18:24-0500 Subject: Sprint Response to MCI Announcement Passed along for your enjoyment. John D. Gretzinger Sprint doesn't speak for me, and I don't speak for them. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Forwarded message from PC SprintMail: STATEMENT FROM WILLIAM T. ESREY, SPRINT CHAIRMAN & CEO IN RESPONSE TO MCI "NETWORK CATCH-UP" ANNOUNCEMENT "Sprint is not at all surprised by MCI's network catch-up announcement. More than a year ago, Sprint announced its broadband network plans to deploy SONET and ATM. We were the first to offer commercial ATM service in August 1993. We continue to have the most modern network and remain as the only 100 percent digital, fiber-optic long distance carrier. "MCI is very good at packaging announcements that make mountains out of molehills. Sprint hopes the public will take this latest ploy for what it is -- a slick admission of being behind in terms of technology deployment. "On the other hand, MCI's foray into local access has some merit. Sprint long has endorsed expanded local competition and believes MCI's efforts may be one in a long series of steps necessary before local competition will exist. Network Upgrades "We agree with MCI that it's going to take a lot of people working together to build the information superhighway. Sprint welcomes MCI and others aboard this significant effort. "An important first step in the investment in the National Information Infrastructure is the development and expansion of the network. "We announced our strategic vision for our advanced network a year and a half ago and are the only carrier implementing a broadband data strategy. We were also the first carrier to announce plans for SONET, which we revealed over a year ago. Since that time, we have moved from opening up pipes, which is the basis of today's announcement, to the many exciting applications that are driving the National Information Infrastructure concept. "The examples are numerous. For example, our InterNet capabilities are unrivaled. Sprint offers the most widespread Internet connectivity through SprintLink(R) network -- the first and only TCP/IP network service for commercial and government Internet users to be offered by a carrier. This service has expanded to offer international connections and forms the core of the global Internet, with two-thirds of the international Internet traffic to and from the United States being carried on SprintLink. This service originated from a cooperative agreement between Sprint and the National Science Foundation to provide international InterNet connections to the domestic InterNet. "Sprint has been and continues to be the leader in introducing leading edge technologies, which are the 'building blocks' of the information superhighway, to the marketplace. We led the industry by being the first major long distance company to deploy frame relay, and we have more frame relay customers than any of our competitors. We were also the first to deploy ATM service and our first customer turned up service last year. "Our leadership in this key technology has been widely recognized -- most recently by the government by being selected to provide ESNet for the Department of Energy and NASA -- because of our unique ability to offer ATM. "That recognition as the technology leader in ATM extends to the telecom industry, as well as the academic and government communities, by being the only company selected to provide ATM for the National Information Infrastructure Testbed. NIIT is a consortium of business, government and academic leaders working together to speed the delivery of the information highway. "Our ATM leadership, in conjunction with our 1993 deployment of SONET, will ensure that Sprint continues to build on its reputation as the advanced networking leader. Local Access "The virtual monopoly that exists today in local access is troublesome for the long distance industry. Currently, more than 99 percent of long distance traffic originates and terminates over facilities owned by local telephone companies, principally the Regional Bell Operating Companies. Long distance competitors are at the mercy of local telcos, since they are the only way to reach our customers. Today, about 45 percent of the cost to carry a long distance call is a direct payment to the local telephone company for the 'last mile' connection. "Sprint has been an advocate of expanded competition in local access primarily because of the excessive cost of access charged by the RBOCs in their respective operating areas. "MCI's plan to build local access networks in major metropolitan areas could be another step toward local competition. Competition will not happen overnight, however. It took more than 15 years of constant litigation and ultimately the breakup of the Bell System before competing carriers were able to establish a meaningful presence in long distance. The local monopolies of the RBOCs are at least as strong as the monopoly enjoyed by Bell in long distance prior to divestiture. "MCI's plans, no matter how grand, should be viewed much the same as the plans for local access that have been announced by cable television, cellular and PCS providers -- positively, but without expectations of near-term impact. "The issue of RBOC entry into the interexchange market does not change with MCI's plans. True competition for local access is still many years away. Until there is actual and effective competition in the local loop and the bottleneck is broken, the RBOCs should not be allowed to act as both competitors and virtual sole source access providers to long distance carriers. When the means and opportunity for the RBOCs to discriminate against long distance competitors is lifted through competitive local access, then, and only then, should the restrictions on the Bell companies be lifted." Jan. 4, 1994 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 10:33:40 CST From: "Andrew C. Green" Subject: Magazine Telemarketers From (Heck) As a member of what are apparently some very popular demographic categories, I get a constant stream of telemarketing calls. Most are semi-intelligent types who drop the effort when we decline the offer, but recently we've had a string of bozos all originating from one source, and before I go on the attack, I thought I'd poll the forum here for anyone else who's had the same experience. I recently renewed my subscription to "Car and Driver" magazine, a publication boasting circulation of something like 1.1 million, if memory serves. At about the same time, I received a call from a true whacko who thanked me for resubscribing to C&D, then offered me one of those multi-magazine subscriptions where they quote you a low weekly rate (failing to mention that the monthly charge is higher than individual subscriptions direct from the actual publishers), plus a set of Ginsu steak knives. Yes, really. He got insulting when I pointed out that his math didn't add up and that Car and Driver probably did not appreciate his trying to sell "Road and Track" subscriptions from their mailing list. Last night I got another call from a girl who also thanked me for my C&D subscription, then tried desperately to foist a 16.9% Visa card at me. No, thank you, said I. "But it's pre-approved!" she shrieked, apparently not aware that gainfully-employed people get those things all the time. ;-) Not _two_ _hours_ later, an elderly lady from "DialAmerica Marketing" called. You guessed it: she thanked me for my Car & Driver subscription, and would I like to extend it at the 1993 rate? She disavowed any knowledge of the preceding Froot Loops, which I sort of believed, as it appears that Car & Driver has painted my phone number on an expressway overpass somewhere, and promised to relocate my number to their "Do Not Call" list. Nevertheless, this magazine has far surpassed all others on my Telemarketing Annoyance scale, and before I start complaining to the magazine, I'd be interested in hearing from any other TELECOM Digest/Car and Driver subscribers who have experienced the same thing. E-mail is fine; I'll submit any interesting followup news in the future. Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com 441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jan 94 14:59 -0600 From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol" by Da Cruz BKKERMIT.RVW 931123 Digital Press PO Box 3027 One Burlington Woods Drive Burlington, MA 01803-9593 800-DIGITAL (800-344-4825) "Kermit: a File Transfer Protocol", da Cruz, 1987 KERMIT@CUVMA.BITNET fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu It may be that Kermit is popular because it is a robust file transfer protocol suitable for almost any line or network conditions. It may be that Kermit is popular because it is available for pretty much any computer you can name (and a bunch that you can't). It may be that Kermit is popular because it is free. Or, it may be that Kermit is popular because of the (written) communications skills of Christine Gianone and Frank da Cruz. As Kermit is both protocol and communications program, so this book is an introduction to computer communications, protocol specification, introduction to the Kermit implementations and programmers' reference guide, all rolled into one. An ambitious task, but one handled with grace and skill, in this instance. Part one gives us the basics of the development of Kermit and of data communications from the user's perspective. This confirms that, yes, the name was inspired by the Jim Henson muppet character (or, more exactly, by a Muppets wall calendar). One hopes that Jim Henson approves of this memorial. Chapter two does not get into exhaustive detail on computer (mostly PC) communications, but does cover the fundamental steps and needs with more brevity, completeness and wit than one sees in many works intended for the mass market. (I am sorry to see the confusion of "baud" and "bits per second", although the two terms are correctly defined in the glossary.) Part two gives us two primers; one on computers and data files, and the other on data communications. The section is well named. Both chapters are easily understood by the novice and provide the minimum necessary information to proceed from. Excellent pieces, both of them. Part three is an introduction to using Kermit. Chapter five describes a set of the most commonly used commands, including an introduction to the simplest login scripts. Chapter six discusses common problems while seven deals with the possibly thorny issue of getting Kermit into your machine in the first place. Included in this last chapter is a BASIC source code program for a "read only" Kermit protocol for downloading files. Part four is a guide to writing a Kermit implementation. Quite a complete guide: not only does it give you the protocol specification (which is still *the* protocol specification) but also optional features, advanced options and even tips on programming style. Appendices give you the bulk of the Kermit source code (in C), a command summary, packet summary, the ASCII character set and a discussion of binary, octal and hexadecimal numbers and notation. If you want to build your own implementation of Kermit, this is the book for you. If you care nothing for programming, and have only bought your computer in order to "get online", this is the book for you, too. (Be sure to get "Using MS-DOS Kermit," too.) (cf. BKUMSKMT.RVW) For those in between, this is an excellent resource to have around to answer those "how does work?" type questions. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKKERMIT.RVW 931123 Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca ------------------------------ From: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Rob Levandowski) Subject: Need Help Wiring OLD Extension Phone to Modern System Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 22:38:20 GMT Hi! I have an antique extension phone that I'd like to connect to my phone system. It's a small black desk set, with no dial, but there is a blank for one. On the back, below the hook, is stamped the legend "D1 USA". Inside, "K-7" is stamped into the metal and "IV 37" is printed in red paint. The handset is labelled "Western Electric [tm etc] E1". The cord from handset to base is fabric-sheathed, and contains three rubber-sheathed wires: red, white, and black. Inside, the hook operates two leaf switches. The black and white wires are each attached to just one of the two leaf switches; i.e., black to one switch, white to the other. The red wire is attached to a terminal by itself. The line cord is missing; the empty terminals on the switches are marked for green (GN) and yellow (Y) wire. I don't want to add a ringer or a dial; I'd simply like to be able to use this phone to answer a call when I hear another phone ringing. If anyone can tell me what I need to do to connect this to a modern phone system, I'd sure appreciate it -- and so would my mother! :) Please cc: replies to macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu; I am on vacation and won't be reading news often, but email will get forwarded to someplace I can reach it! :) Rob Levandowski Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu ------------------------------ From: gst@gagme.wwa.com (George Thurman) Subject: Old AT&T/Wsetern Electric Documents Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 05:37:18 CST Here is a message I saw on Fidonet that I thought TELECOM Digest readers would find of interest. *********************** Msg#:14544 *SHORTWAVE* 07-25-93 21:37:00 From: DON KIMBERLIN To: ALL Subj: AT&T INFO ON-LINE It's fairly often that someone comes across an old bit of Western Electric-made equipment from the heyday of the Olde Bell System, and lacks the needed drawings or instructions to try to make use of it. Perhaps the most common old items we hear people asking about are the old 1A Key Telephone Systems using 26-pair cable to hook the telephone sets up to their common equipment cabinets in a wide variety of configurations. Or, perhaps there are items of how things like managing trouble reports in telecommunications systems are handled, or what _are_ all those abbreviations and acronyms used by telephone companies? Or, perhaps you even need documentation for something newer, like a 3B2 minicomputer or a System 75 or 85 PBX ... or maybe you have a strange "data set" with a nomenclature like 201C or 2048, and would like to know if you can make use of it. There _is_ a repository of much of this information that's often handed down verbally or misquoted from memory. Today's name for it is the AT&T Customer Information Center, and it's located in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can telephone (800) 432-6600 or (317) 322-6484 to get telephone assistance from the AT&T CIC staff, and place orders with them for publications to help you, and there's now an on-line searchable link to their catalog, so you can browse as you will at any hour of the day or night through all their many years of material. Here's some text from their announcement of the AT&T CIC on-line offering: "INTRODUCING THE MOST COMPLETE CATALOG OF AT&T DOCUMENTS AT&T's Customer Information Center (CIC) now offers a free on-line catalog where you can locate and order from over 380,000 documents using your PC terminal. Find documents using key word, title, subject or document number. Then use the on-line order form for simple and quick service! Access the CIC database using the directions below, then simply follow the prompts: AT&T Datakit Users Dial-Up Users At the "destination" prompt, enter: Telephone Sue Rea at 426/813/nik1.telnet..sunids 317-322-6491 for instructions and a logon ID and password. THROUGH THE CIC CATALOG YOU CAN LOCATE: o AT&T Plant and Engineering Practices o Product Manuals o User Guides o Installation and Service Manuals o Books o Brochures o Catalogs o Product Bulletins o Handbooks o Newsletters o Training Materials o Engineering Drawings o Technical Bulletins o Product Specifications o Administrative Forms o Employee Benefit Literature o International Telephone Directories Questions regarding the CIC catalog should be directed to Brenda Oeff at 317-322-6626." Origin: Borderline! BBS Kannapolis,N.C. (704) 938-6207 (1:379 (1:379/37.0) ----------------- GEORGE S. THURMAN (312) 509-6308 gst@wwa.com ------------------------------ From: ssanbeg@hebron.connected.com (Scott Sanbeg) Subject: TasCom Managers, etc. Sought Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 14:40:24 -0800 Organization: Connected INC -- Internet Services Provider Hello all, We are using two TasCOM systems to provide call-center services to our client base. I am searching for other users/managers of this system, and any info on user groups, periodicals, internals and so forth on the machine. Please email if interested. Scott Sanbeg Computer Systems Engineer, Seattle, WA ssanbeg@hebron.connected.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:52 MST From: barry@coyote.datalog.com (barry mishkind) Subject: NBC Computer Series Last week NBC did a series of reports on the "Information Superhighway." A couple of things I noticed: 1. The address for the broadcast is nightly@nbc.com 2. During the report on voice recognition, the filming was done at a 'state-of-the-art voice recognition company'. The man demonstrating the system was dictating something about sending information " ... on voice mail ..." Sure ... the crt printed out " ... envoy smell". Really. Do you suppose this was a poke at the State Department? Barry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:39 EST From: Mark W. Earle <0006127039@mcimail.com> Subject: SWBMS to Reduce Roam Rates! Enclosed with my cellular bill from Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, Corpus Christi, TX was the usual glossy newsletter. Of interest: Now it is more convenient and more economical to take your cellular phone with you when you're traveling. SWBMS is working iwth other cellular companies to give you lower roaming rates in over 350 markets, or approximately 25% of all cellular markets. Beginning in December, cellular companies will begin lowering roaming rates in two ways. First, the daily charges will be eliminated and second, the per minute rate will be reduced. You will save money based on the amount of roaming that you do. For example, if you travel to a market where the daily charge is $3/day and .75/min, you'll receive a tremendous savings. (Note: I'd be happy while roaming, with zero daily fee and any airtime rate < $1/min. This looks pretty good) SWBMS customers currently enjoy reduced roaming rates throughout Texas. When you are traveling in the Lone Star Cellular Network, you already pay a reduced rate of only .50/min. The LSCN is an exclusive service of SWBMS (Note: In GTE cities, Houston and Austin, the rate charged by GTE is .40/min. Although "exclusive" to SWBMS, Texas GTE MobilNet customers are also part of the LSCN for billing purposes when they roam in SWBMS cities. mwe) Through these agreements, you will enjoy the added benefit of using your cellular phone while traveling (Cynical note: We'll make even more monies!) and you will see what an added value a cellular phone can be. And you can be sure SWBMS will continue to lead the way by providing even better service to our coustomers. (OK, when is seamless roaming for the 'B' side coming? When will my features, forwarding, voice mail, etc. work while I'm roaming?) (Note: Any month there is roaming billed, a $3 "roamer admin fee" is added to the bill. With GTE, it's cheaper than roaming in SWBMS nearby systems, strangely. No list of cities comprising the 350 markets was provided). Typos my own: SWBMS always spelled out, I abbreviated it. Likewise LSCN. mwearle@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:56:14 -0800 From: Steve Freedkin Subject: Fundraising/Saving Program MONEY SAVING & RAISING OPPORTUNITY Hello, and happy new year! -- I want to let you know about an opportunity for organizations and individuals to save 10% on all their long-distance calling, and organizations to raise money with minimal cost and no obligation. The deregulation of long-distance telephone service created many opportunities, including this one, which should be of interest to those who follow telecommunications developments. | * GUARANTEED! 10% SAVINGS ON ALL LONG-DISTANCE CALLS | | * 5% OF YOUR CALLING BENEFITS NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION | I used to be director of a local nonprofit peace resource center that raised money through a service that saved our constituents money *and* generated royalties for us. The program is a long-distance telephone service that was started in 1990 to benefit nonprofits. The company, Affinity Fund, gives each customer rates *guaranteed* to be below whatever the person is currently paying for long distance, and at the same time gives the nonprofit that signs up the customer a 5-percent royalty on that person's long-distance usage every month. (Affinity arranges for the actual service to be provided by one of the nation's foremost long-distance carriers, so there's no difference in service quality.) Groups that are raising money this way now include schools, Central America support groups, community radio stations, Sister Cities programs, local and national peace groups (War Resisters League is one), nonprofit community newspapers and media services, etc. If you'd like information about Affinity please contact me and I'll pass it along. Or, please pass this note on to the appropriate person. Let me know whether you're interested as a customer who'd like to save 10% on all your long-distance; representing a nonprofit that might like to raise money using this method; or both. | If you *aren't* interested please ignore | | this message, and accept my best wishes. | Thanks for your attention, and have a safe and prosperous 1994! Peace, Steve Freedkin Email: sfreedkin@igc.apc.org P.O. Box 91817 Phone: 805/682-9986 Santa Barbara, Recorded message (3 minutes): 805/569-0983 CA 93190-1817 Explains Affinity Fund, Available 24 hours [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'm happy to pass along Steve's message even though as all regular readers here know, I do the very same thing myself where this Digest is concerned. Orange Calling Card royalties along with Telepassport royalties help in a small way to offset the cost of producing this Digest each day. The 'affinity' method of selling long distance phone service is an approach which has helped many non-profit organizations in the past three years since it was conceived. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #4 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa28387; 5 Jan 94 1:15 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA26272 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 21:31:33 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA17879 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Tue, 4 Jan 1994 21:31:00 -0600 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 21:31:00 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401050331.AA17879@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #5 TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 21:31:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 5 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Motorola Cellular Phone Programming (Mark Crispin) CFP: Home, Informatics, Tele ... Intl. Conference June 94 (Kresten Bjerg) Bandwidth to Russia Wanted (Alex Turkenich) Excel LD Provider: Yea or Nay? (Dave Read) Info on Cellular One NACP (Colin Tuttle) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 16:35:08 PST From: Mark Crispin Subject: Motorola Cellular Phone Programming Here is a documentation file I wrote: Motorola Digital Personal Communicator secrets revealed!! INTRODUCTION AND RELIGIOUS STATEMENT The purpose of this document is to enable the hacker who wants to know everything about his DPC cellular telephone. It is based upon the belief that the bad guys already know this information, so keeping it secret doesn't do any good except to annoy those of us who want to know *everything* about our phones. Some of this information only applies to certain models, or varies from model to model. I entered the information for the model of DPC which I have. If you have a different model, either figure it out on your own or get ahold of the Motorola documentation and look it up there. Have fun with this information, but don't try to use it for illegal activity (fraud, harassment, illegal transmission). The cellular companies and the FCC are becoming quite aggressive (and skilled) at tracking such activity down. At best, your phone's ESN will be blacklisted nationwide; at worst, you could face federal criminal charges. The bad guys use stolen phones or phones with altered ESNs, and either toss the phone or alter the ESN after a day or so of misuse. This hole will be closed upon the completion of a North American ESN database which the cellular companies are busily setting up. On the other hand, feel perfectly free to tell a new cellular company (e.g. when you move to a new city) to buzz off when they want to charge you $25 to reprogram your phone. Tell them just to give you the various details of programming information you need (system ID, telephone number, station class mark, access overload class, group ID, paging channel, MIN mark, and local use mark) and do it yourself and save $25. Even better, if you decide to get an evaluation account with the other carrier, you can program your dual NAM without letting the new or old carriers know too much about your other account. [If you've ever dealt with the customer service people at the carrier you know why this is desirable ...] Remember, it's your phone; you own it (even *if* the cellular carrier puts its name on it). You can do anything with it that you damn well please, as long as you don't use it to transmit in an unauthorized fashion or attempt to place fraudulent calls. I pay for every call I make; you should too. USER MODE COMMANDS PWR toggle power on/off unlock phone (nnn = unlock code) CLR erase last digit (hold to clear all) 1 (held down) dial number in location 01 SND place call nn SND place call from memory nn SND redial attempt for next four minutes SND switch hook toggle during a call END terminate call or mode VOL adjust earpiece volume STO nn store in memory nn RCL nn recall from memory nn (*/# to scroll) RCL nn RCL SND tone dial from memory nn RCL 00 view last number called RCL SND continue to next after pause in dialing sequence RCL * system type selection (* to scroll, STO to select, END to exit): Std A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home non-wireline) Std B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home wireline) SCAn A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home wireline) SCAn B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home non-wireline) Home home only SCAn A non-wireline only SCAn B wireline only RCL # view own phone number RCL # STO change to alternate phone number (dual NAM feature) RCL # # view individual call timer RCL # # # view resettable call timer RCL # # # # view cumulative call timer FCN VOL adjust ringer volume FCN SND insert pause in dialing sequence FCN RCL nn insert tone dial from memory nn in dialing sequence FCN 0 1 STO enable call restriction (only memory 01-10 permitted) FCN 0 4 STO disable call restriction FCN 0 7 CLR reset resettable call timer FCN 0 9 RCL view non-default status (*/# to scroll, END to exit) SiG oFF signal strength meter disabled AnSWer automatic answer enabled AUtoLoc automatic local enabled Emr OFF emergency dialing disabled vOX VOX mode enabled L dtMF Long-tone DTMF enabled LEvEL 1 call restriction enabled SCAn A B non-wireline first, then wireline (home wireline) SCAn B A wireline first, then non-wireline (home non-wireline) Home home only SCAn A non-wireline only SCAn B wireline only FCN 0 RCL display unlock code FCN 0 STO change lock code FCN 0 RCL program phone (* to scroll, # to exit, SND during entry number display to save changes) WARNING: if the phone is reprogrammed too many times, programming will be disabled. The only way to fix this is to completely wipe out the memory with 32# in Test Mode. 01 System ID 02 Area Code 03 Telephone Number 04 Station Class Mark 05 Access Overload Class 06 Group ID Mark 07 Security Code 08 Unlock Code 09 Initial Paging Channel (0333 for A, 0334 for B) 10 Option Programming Bits (default 011100) 100000 Internal Speaker Disable 010000 Local Use enable (responds to local control orders) 001000 MIN Mark enable (0 = area code always sent) NOT CHANGEABLE IN CURRENT MODELS 000100 Auto Recall enable (speed dial from memory) 000010 Second Telephone Number Enable 000001 Diversity enable (dual antennas) 11 Option Programming Bits (default 11110) 10000 Failed Page Indicator Disable (0 = user told about failed inbound calls due to weak signal) 01000 Motorola Enhanced Scan enable 00100 Long Tone DTMF enable 00010 Transportable Internal Ringer/Speaker enable 00001 Eight Hour Timeout disable (0 = phone shuts down after 8 hours) 12 start of information for second phone number (steps 07, 08, and 11 are skipped) FCN 1 view features (*/# to scroll, END to exit): _ SiGnAL OFF signal strength meter enabled o SiGnAL OFF signal strength meter disabled _ AnSWr AUTO automatic answer disabled o AnSWr AUTO automatic answer enabled _ AUTO LOC automatic lock disabled o AUTO LOC automatic lock enabled _ EMrCY OFF energency dialing enabled o EMrCY OFF energency dialing disabled _ vOX MOdE VOX mode disabled o vOX MOdE VOX mode enabled _ LOnG dtMF Long-tone DTMF disabled o LOnG dtMF Long-tone DTMF enabled FCN 2 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does FCN 3 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does FCN 4 battery meter FCN 5 lock phone FCN 6 mute toggle FCN 7 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does FCN 8 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does FCN 9 ??? I don't know what, if anything, this does TEST MODE COMMANDS Shorting the middle pin of the battery connector puts the phone in test mode upon power up. Unlock the phone first if necessary. It starts out in Status Display Level. The display will alternately flash two values: xxx yyy xxx = channel, yyy = RSSI (signal strength) abcdefg a (D)SAT (supervisory audio tone): 0 5970 Hz 1 6000 Hz 2 6030 Hz 3 No SAT 0 - 6 DSAT vector 7 No DSAT b TX (1 = on) c Signalling Tone (1 = on) d Power Level (0-7) e Control Channel (1 = on) f RX Audio (1 = off) g TX Audio (1 = off) Pushing the # key will put the telephone in Servicing Level. The display will be US '. This can be done without unlocking it. WARNING!!! Some of these commands will cause the phone to transmit. This may get your cellular phone company annoyed at you. Of greater concern is the fact that doing so is *illegal* under federal law and can get the FCC breathing down your neck. ``Verbum sat sapenti...'' Servicing Level commands are: 01# Restart (re-enter DC power start-up routine) 02# Display Current Telephone Status (non alternating version of Status Display) 04# Initialize Telephone to Standard Default Conditions 05# TX Carrier On 06# TX Carrier Off 07# RX Audio Off (mute receiver audio) 08# RX Audio On 09# TX Audio Off 10# TX Audio On 11 # Set Transceived to specified Channel 12 # Set Power Step (0 = maximum, 7 = minimum) 13# Power Off 14# 10 KHz Signaling Tone on 15# 10 KHz Signaling Tone off 16# Setup (transmits a five word RECC message) 17# Voice (transmits a two word RECC message) 18# C-SCAN (allow entry of as many as 5 negative SIDs for each NAM) 19# Display Software Version Number 25 # SAT On (value is SAT tone number, 0-2) 26# SAT Off 27# Transmit Data (transmits continuous control channel data) # terminates 32# Clear the telephone. This may be necessary to reprogram the telephone after too much reprogramming. The following data is erased: System Registration, *all* timers, repertory memory, all user programmable features, last number dialed, directory. This can take up to three minutes, wait until an apostrophe shows on the display. 33 # Turn on DTMF for indicated key (0-9, *, #) 34# Turn DTMF off 35 # Set Audio Path 1 Speaker 2 Alert 3 Handset 4 Mute 5 External Telephone 6 External Handset 36# Scan (TDMA only) 38# Display ESN (Electronic Serial Number) one byte at a time (* to scroll, # to exit) 43# Disable Diversity (use R antenna) 44# Disable Diversity (use T/R antenna) 45# Display RSSI (signal strength) as 3-digit number 46# Display Cumulative Call Timer 47 # Set RX Audio Level (0 = lowest, 7 = highest) 48# Side Tone On 49# Side Tone Off 55# Test Mode Programming (* to scroll, # to exit without making changes) 01 System ID 02 A Option Byte (default 101xx1x1) 10000000 Local Use enable 01000000 Preferred System (1 = A, 0 = B) 00100000 End-to-End Signaling enabled 00010000 unused 00001000 Repertory Memory NOT CHANGEABLE 00000100 Auxillary Alert enabled 00000010 unused 00000001 MIN Mark enabled NOT CHANGEABLE 03 Telephone Number 04 Station Class Mark 05 Access Overload Class 06 Group ID Mark 07 Security Code 08 Unlock Code 09 Service Level 001 memory dialing 01-10 only 002 memory dialing only (no keypad, no speed dial) 003 keypad dialing only (no memory) 004 no call restrictions 005 seven-digit dialing only 006 full dialing, but no memory changing 007 memory dialing only 10 B Option byte (default xxx00100) 10000000 unused 01000000 unused 00100000 unused 00010000 Extended Field enable (not used in NA) 00001000 Single System Scan enable 00000100 Auto Recall enable (speed dial) 00000010 Disable Service Level setting 00000001 Lock Code Disable 11 C Option byte (default 0000000) 10000000 User NAM Programmability disable 01000000 2nd Number Registration enable 00100000 unused 00010000 Auto Redial disable 00001000 Internal Speaker Disable 00000100 Dual IMTS/Cellular enable 00000010 Selectable System disable 00000001 Dual Antenna Enable 12 Initial Paging Channel (0333 for A, 0334 for B) 13 Initial Paging Channel for System A (0333) 14 Initial Paging Channel for System B (0334) 15 Number of Dedicated Paging Channels (021 in NA) 16 D Option byte (default 0011000x) 10000000 Motorola Enhanced Scan enable 01000000 Cellular Connection (0 = SERIES II) 00100000 Long Tone DTMF 00010000 Transportable Internal Ringer/Speaker 00001000 Eight Hour Timeout disable 00000100 not used 00000010 Failed Page Indicator disable 00000001 Portable Scan (DO NOT CHANGE) Entering a * after 16 reprograms the phone 57 # Call Processing Mode 0 AMPS 1 NAMPS 5 TDMA signaling 6 TDMA signaling with loopback 7 TDMA signaling with loopback voice 8 TDMA signaling with loopback FACCH after decoding 9 TDMA forced synchronization 58# Compander On (audio compressor and expander) 59# Compander Off 61# ESN transfer 62# Turn On Ringer Audio Path 63# Turn Off Ringer Audio Path 66# Identify Transfer 68# Display FLEX and Model Information 69# used with identify transfer ------------------------------ From: kresten@vax.psl.ku.dk (Kresten Bjerg) Subject: CFP: Home, Informatics, Tele... Intl. Conference, June 94 Organization: IFIP WG 9.3 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 11:56:48 GMT CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS A cross-disciplinary international conference HOME-ORIENTED INFORMATICS, TELEMATICS & AUTOMATION From 'State of the Art' through 'Prospects' and 'Blueprints' to 'Implementation' organized by IFIP Working Group 9.3 in cooperation with the University of Copenhagen University of Copenhagen, Denmark June 27 - July 1, 1994 BACKGROUND The home offers a great potential for new automation, information and communication technologies and related services. A wide array of innovations are already under way, with many more to come. They will transform the home and everyday life in the emerging information society. They will condition how private households will be enabled to function in changing social, economic and political structures. AIMS AND SCOPE The conference will assess and conceptualize perspectives and options, which attach to developments of domestic informatics, telematics and automation across the levels of - consumer hard- and software, - network infrastructures - storage & distribution media, - teleservices and - socio-cultural & economic structures. How can these new technologies - seen together - be used to empower consumers and private households? How can both users and suppliers get the optimal benefits from the possible new technologies? - and with which global impact? Can these technologies contribute to the emergence of a new home concept, an "Oikos", where the private household can reestablish itself in an experienced way as a living and production centre, embedded in and interacting with a larger community? Addressing such questions requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Therefore the conference aims to bring together experts from many fields and disciplines. Researchers and practitioners, designers and users, policy makers and industrialists, each with new knowledge and new questions from their experience of recent and expected development. The conference will not only serve as a forum to present and exchange experience, results of research and ideas, but also to explore and discuss strategic approaches and alliances for product research and development, and for prototyping and field experiments. MAJOR THEMES * The social construction of new domestic technologies. * Bridging between the various disciplinary approaches. * The changing position and importance of households in the new social and economic structure of the information and communication society. * Strategies for creating professional and public awareness of the converging potentials and implications of constructive innovations for everyday life and for social, cultural, educational, health, energy, and economic policies. * Ways of organizing relations between research and product development which can further the long-term interest of consumers, and save produ- cers from waste of investments in development of products and services which are doomed to failure. * Relevance for developing countries, cultural diversities and the general goals of the UN year of the family 1994. MAIN AREAS Advanced Home Technologies (e.g. Intelligent home - Linking of TV, telephone, computer and VCR - Interactive multimedia and domestic virtual reality - Security-systems - Household appliances - Environmental control and ecology - Bio-electronics and health-monitoring.) Communication and telematics (e.g. Convergence of broadcast and telecom networks - Interactive teleservices and teletransactions - Tele-education - Telework - Evolving informal networks - Home-to-Home interfacing.) Economics and politics of HOIT (e.g. Interests of industry and service providers - Links between R&D and marketing - Prices and tarifs - Legal and regulatory policies on national and international level - The future of home economics.) Cultural and social impact on everyday life (e.g. Personal development and knowledge distribution - Intra- and interfamily relations - Functions for children, elderly, disabled and home-bound people - Community structure - Cultural continuity.) CONTRIBUTIONS We solicit Research papers Papers on experiments and case studies Policy and strategy papers Opinion and position papers which will address State of the Art, Prospects, Blueprints or Implementation within these general areas. Besides full papers, short contributions like posters and statements papers may be submitted. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS Notification of the intention to submit a full paper (including title and subject area) should preferably be sent as early as possible. Two page abstracts of full papers are due at latest January 15, 1993. Notification of acceptance March 1, 1994. Deadline for submission of final full papers and short contributions May 1, 1994. All accepted contributions will be published in the preceedings available at the conference. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings. PROGRAM COMMITTEE Felix van Rijn (Chair), Univ. of Amsterdam, Dept. of Communications (NL) Kresten Bjerg, University of Copenhagen, Psychological Laboratory (DK) Gunilla Bradley, Stockholm University, Inst. of Internatl. Education (S) Valerie Frissen, Univ. of Amsterdam, Dept. of Communications (NL) Karamjit Gill, Seake Centre, University of Brighton (GB) Leslie Haddon, University of Sussex (GB) Gisela Lehmer, Ministry of Telecommunications, Kln (D) Mara Gabrila Macra, IDAT, Montpellier (Fr) Kurt Monse, IWT, Universitaet Wuppertal (D) Bjoern Nake, University of Copenhagen (DK) Toomas Niit, Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law, Tallin (Estonia) Gerrit Noltes, Ministerie van WVC (NL) Yves Punie, Free University of Brussels (B) Andy Sloane, School of Comp. & Inf. Techn. Univ. of Wolwerhampton (GB) Alladi Venkatesh, Grad. Sch. of Management, Univ. of Calif., Irvine (USA) L.E. Zegers, European Home Systems Association, Eindhoven (NL) ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Kresten Bjerg (DK), Bjoern Nake (DK), Dan Melkane (DK), Poul Groenhoej(DK) REPLY FORMAT Please e-mail, fax or photocopy and mail to: HOIT-94, Kresten Bjerg, Psychological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, 88, Njalsgade, DK 2300 Copenhagen S. Tel.:+45 31541856 Fax: +45 32963138 E-mail: kresten@vax.psl.ku.dk [ ] I/we consider participating. [ ] I/we intend to submit a full paper. Area: Preliminary title: [ ] I/we intend to submit a short contribution, poster or audio-visual demonstration. Topic: [ ] I/we want to exhibit/demonstrate electronic or mechanic equipment, taking max. m2 floorspace. Subject: Name: Institution: Street address: City / postal code: Country: Voice telephone: Fax: E-mail: Observe news.groups for the ongoing RFD and later CFV concerning comp.home.misc. ------------------------------ Reply-To: alex@mvision.com Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 12:37:25 EST From: alex@mvision.com (Alex Turkenich) Organization: Market Vision Inc. Subject: Bandwidth to Russia Wanted Several of my friends and I working part time as agents for one of the telephone companies were able to get about 50,000 minutes per month of switched traffic from US to the former Soviet Union. SERVICE DESCRIPTION: The subscribers to our service do not have to switch their long distance provider. The subscriber simply dials 1-800 ... number and if his ANI is registered he gets a dial tone if the switch does not recognize the ANI (when the subscriber is calling from a payphone or a hotel) the subscriber is prompted to enter his Travel Code. Some customers have preset spending limits and are prompted before each call regarding the amount of credit they have left. PROBLEMS: The main complaints of our customers is that the service is not reliable. The switch is usually down several hours a day, many of the calls placed to the Former Soviet Union do not go through, FAXes cannot be sent. We feel that these reasons are preventing us from increasing our traffic and are contrtibuting to loss of customers. OUR WISH LIST: Here are some of the solutions we envision (listed in order of preference): 1) A direct E1 (or T1) trunk from US (preferably 60 Hudson St, New York) to Moscow, Russia. All of the 30 (24 for T1) circuits have to approved by FCC for switched traffic. We can arrange to distribute traffic from Moscow. We would prefer the lines to be multiplexed between 4:1 and 6:1. We approached several US telephone companies about leasing E1 or T1 and were given monthly prices that were about twice the prices quoted by some US companies in Moscow. 2) We are also willing to route all our traffic through some other provider if we can get some reasonable rate per minute and still are able to provide the same service as we are providing now (see SERVICE DESCRIPTION). If you can offer one of the above two services or have any ideas where we can obtain these services please send e-mail to : alex@mvision.com or call me at: (212) 306-0410 (work) (201) 575-8215 (home) (201) 227-5037 (fax) Alex Turkenich ------------------------------ From: dave@kentrox.com (Dave Read) Subject: Excel LD provider: Yea or Nay? Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:44:49 PST Yesterday a friend put the full-court press on me to sign up with some long-distance outfit called Excel. I'd never heard of 'em, but he made it sound like your basic multi-level marketing scheme, get bucks when you sign people up, and more bucks when *they* sign people up, etc etc etc. Reminded me of Amway. :-) Anyway, any experiences/opinions? I presume they buy their LD service from the biggie providers (AT&T, Sprint, MCI etc), but beyond that I haven't a clue if Excel is on the level or not. Thanks, dave ------------------------------ Subject: Info on Cellular One NACP From: ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle) Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 00:21:25 CST Organization: Pillar Communication, Oklahoma City, Ok I have a question regarding the Cellular One North American Cellular Network. I have Cellular One service in Oklahoma (McCaw Communications) and found the system works well passing my calls from Oklahoma City to Tulsa when I travel (about 100 miles but part of Cellular One's SuperSystem). Everyone who has called me on my Oklahoma City number gets me in Tulsa with no problems, delays, etc. Everything works the way it should. Now this past week I went down to Austin, (a NACN City) turned on the cell phone and immediately called my Oklahoma City number from a nearby pay phone. It rang twice and then my cell phone rang. Now my question is how does Cellular One Austin so quickly notify Cellular One Oklahoma City I am in Austin Texas about 400 miles from home and immediately send my calls to me? I assume when I turn on my phone the cell processes my ESN and sends the information either to its computer or my home system. What impressed me was how fast it did all this, and without me telling it to do this. Whatever system they use must also allow greater security, as if your phone is stolen they could immediately deactivate it around the country. Is this a FAQ, or could someone briefly explain how the Cellular One NACN actually works? The computing power to keep track of all of these ESN's must be great as well as passing all of this information from system to system obviously in real-time. ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle) Pillar Communications BBS, Oklahoma City, OK -- +1 405 942 8794 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #5 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa29662; 5 Jan 94 4:16 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA01271 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 00:54:29 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA06448 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 00:54:00 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 00:54:00 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401050654.AA06448@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #6 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Jan 94 00:54:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 6 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Index For 1993 Now Complete (TELECOM Digest Editor) Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John McDermott) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Curtis Bohl) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John R. Levine) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Steve Wood) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John C. Fowler) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Kelly Bert Manning) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Carl B. Page) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jack Decker) Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Greg Vaeth) Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania (Lynne Gregg) Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? (Linc Madison) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 22:30:33 -0600 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Index For 1993 Now Complete The 1992-93 Index of Authors and Subjects for TELECOM Digest, Volumes 12 and 13 has now been updated to include all messages through the end of last year. It is housed in the Telecom Archives sub-directory called 'indices' with a cross-reference located in 'back.issues'. This is the companion volume to the 1989-91 index which lists all the authors and subjects for volumes 9, 10 and 11. Look for them in the indices sub-directory under the title 'authors-subjects.1989-91' and 'authors-subjects.1992-93'. Should you wish to capture these files and print them out as hard copy for future reference, you should note that the first volume is 24,939 lines, or about 380-390 pages in length, and the second volume is 19,760 lines, or about 300-310 pages in length. The index is split into two volumes for ease in handling in case you want one part but not the other, etc. Users of anonymous FTP can take either or both volumes. Users of the Email Information Service will find that the command SEARCH checks both volumes in the process of returning reference results. Should you obtain a copy of the file(s) for yourself, please note that the following characteristics apply: The left column of numbers indicates the volume and *bundle of fifty issues* to be pulled for the desired topic. For example, if the reference given is 13/101-150, that means go to the back issues area and pull volume 13, issues 101-150. 09/501-550 would refer to volume 9, issues 501-550 and so on. The subjects are then filed in strict alphabetical order, with instances of 'Re:' ignored where they appear. Where two or more articles have an identical title (because there was an original article followed by one or more 'Re: Article Title' responses (and since 'Re:' is ignored, therefore the articles would appear to be identical), the sort further continues by author name, again in alphabetical order *by the first name* of the author. For example, an article by John Smith would be listed ahead of an article with the identical title by Paul Brown, because /J/ comes before /P/. You can also search the indexes (or indices as they are known to the email server to avoid conflict with the information file 'index') using the Unix command 'grep -i'. Due to some irregularities in the way articles were named and author's names included. I suggest a liberal interpretation of grep when searching the indexes. If your search criteria is too narrow, you won't get any hits. If your search criteria is too wide, you will get flooded with article titles you do not want. Experiment for the best combination. Technically, these are accelerated indexes because they do not point to the actual article in question but merely *to other groups of indexes and batches of issues* wherein the article(s) will be found. If something you wanted was found in 13/150-200 for example, you would then get the batch of back issues labled Volume 13 Issues 150-200 and check the Index contained at the start of each issue of the Digest to see if your article(s) were found there. Or of course you could then 'grep -i' the batch of fifty issues if you prefer. One final note: within the two volume index itself resides a limited help file with a few details to help with your searches. You can read this help file by grepping (-i) "HELP-". The first fifty or sixty lines of text in each file is the 'help' part. Each line in the help section begins with "HELP-". Whatever you grep for in these indexes is what you will get, so you can search article titles, key phrases which appeared in several article titles, author names, or by volume and batch-of-issues number if you wish. It is up to date through issue 844, the final issue of 1993. This was quite a labor of love, and I am still checking it for errors in my spare time, but it is pretty well cleaned up and quite reliable for use as it appears now. Good luck in your searches, and I hope you find the indexes easy and convenient to use. If you need a help file for use with the Email Information Service, just ask. Patrick Townson TELECOM Digest Editor ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:00:52 -0600 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident Word has reached me that well known net participant Brendan Kehoe was quite seriously injured in an automobile accident in Newton, PA on December 31. Kehoe wrote 'Zen and the Art of the Internet' and he is also the archivist for Computer Underground Digest. Apparently the injuries were quite serious, and there was some question in the very early period afterward if he would even survive or not. I guess the doctors are still unwilling to make any commitment regards his recovery other than to say he will be hospitalized for a long time and perhaps permanently disabled. Some parts of his body were badly mangled. Greeting cards and electronic mail messages are being solicited and I refer you to the current issue of Computer Underground Digest for a full report on the incident and how to respond with your notes of sympathy and support. What an awful way to end one year and begin another. My best wishes for Brendan's recovery and eventual return to the net. I imagine all telecom readers agree with my sentiments. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: mcdermot@cs.unm.edu (John McDermott) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: Computer Science Department, University of New Mexico Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 15:55:49 GMT In article John C. Fowler <0003513813@ mcimail.com> writes: > I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular > service. We've had caller-pays cellular in NM for some time. Those I know who have it have their phones primarily for "emergency" use or to call to/from home. Most of these users have a billing plan with little or no prepaid time. This makes the call more expensive, but quite useful for someone stranded in a dead car at night. John McDermott 505/897-2064 H/W mcdermot@cs.unm.edu [ UNM only lets me use this account because they are nice. I have no relationship with them whatsoever (besides being friends).] ------------------------------ From: EXTMO4H@mizzou1.missouri.edu (Missouri 4-H Youth Development Programs) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: University of Missouri Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:07:51 CST In Sedalia, MO, calls to local cellular numbers are always toll calls, to both the A and B cellular carrier, even though both have locally- based offices. What I was told is that SWB wanted to take their cut of the cellular market. (BTW, SWB Mobile does not have the wireline carrier.) In the city where I work, calls to both cellular systems here are local calls. Curtis Bohl Computer Programmer/Analyst extmo4h@mizzou1.missouri.edu 4-H Youth Development Alternate: bohlc@ext.missouri.edu Programs (314) 882-2034 University of Missouri-Columbia ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 11:26 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > [in Colorado] > If the cellular phone you are calling begins with 1 + 579, you will be > billed for the cellular airtime charges and also any long distance > charges associated with the call when applicable. > If there are any questions about cellular airtime charges that appear > on your bill, to the above prefix, please call the Customer Inquiry > Center at 1-800-USW-BILL. Could someone in Colorado call US West and inquire whether these 579 numbers will be reachable from outside of Colorado? Long-distance carriers are absolutely unwilling to bill surcharges for other than 900 numbers, so the two likely scenarios are either that IXCs don't get surcharged, so out of state callers can call at normal toll rates, or 579 is only reachable from inside the LATA. (In the first case, if you can divert your call to an IXC, a Colorado caller can avoid the surcharge, too.) Either way, sounds pretty brain damaged. I have seen both of these scenarios in different places. Surcharged numbers like 212-540, 617-550, and -976 aren't available from long distance. On the other hand, the number in Chicago which gives reverse D.A. is surcharged if you call it locally but a normal call from elsewhere. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: Steve Wood Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:00:00 PST > I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular > service. I would definitely have used this in my consulting business if it had been available. It makes it palatable to freely publish your mobile phone number and not have to worry about paying for a lot of calls you don't want. My business clients would have no problem paying for the airtime. I can also imagine that this would make a lot of sense for many other service businesses, like PR agencies and law firms. They typically bill their clients for the airtime charges anyway, many times with a markup. Steve Wood steve.wood@mccaw.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 12:51 EST From: John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones I've gotten copies of a couple of messages asking whether or not the new 579 prefix (a cellular prefix in Colorado which charges the caller for airtime) could be dialed from outside Colorado. I checked with the number on the U.S. West insert, and the first operator who came on immediately answered "Yes." This seemed a bit suspicious to me (I'm not used to the first person who answers the telephone actually knowing something), so I decided to call AT&T to verify. I went through four operators there, but the best answer I could get was "Probably Yes." So I guess all those COCOT owners out there reading the Digest (yes, both of you) should program their phones not to accept 303-579 or 719-579 for coin calls. Just remember that 579 is a regular prefix most everywhere else. John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: ua602@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Kelly Bert Manning) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Reply-To: ua602@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Kelly Bert Manning) Organization: Camosun College, Victoria, B.C. Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 08:35:49 GMT The switch my phone number is on has Caller ID blocked on every line because it can't provide CLASS services. A friend who is on the same exchange says that her mother's Caller ID box always shows "unknown number" when she calls, which is a problem because she can't unblock the blanket caller ID suppression. Sounds like this new "service" could run into similar problems. ------------------------------ From: carlp@teleport.com (Carl B. Page) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Date: 4 Jan 1994 10:05:43 GMT Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 Recently, our esteemed moderator wrote this about calling a phone that rejects anonymous callers from a blocked phone: : [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes they do. The person placing the : call need only dial the appropriate 'unblock code' (what is it, : typically *67) before dialing his call and it will go through just : fine. PAT] Lets not give wrong emergency advice! That won't work in Oregon or other places where PERMANENT LINE BLOCKING cannot be turned off. This was deemed a better functionality choice than allowing blocking to be toggled without any feedback about the final state. (So you can block safely even if you don't know whether the phone was already line-blocked.) In such an emergency your only option is to call the operator and ask them to put your call thru. Incidentally, you can also use the operator as a way of making an anonymous call. US WEST actually suggested this before the Oregon PUC when they were hoping they could use it as an argument to justify with-holding per-line blocking. In an area where no blocking is allowed, although telling an operator to dial for you lacks a certain feeling of privacy. (arl carlp@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 220-0636 (1200/2400, N81) [Moderator's Note: But placing your call through the operator won't provide ID to the called party! Calls from the operator always show up as 'outside'. Of course people who reject 'private' most likely will accept 'outside' so I guess your call would get through. And in the case of using the operator to bypass the identification given to the police when you call 911, the rule is the operator is supposed to remain on the line until the police answer and then announce the calling number, as in "... this is the operator, I have an emergency call for the police from the number 123-4567 ..." Some operators do that; some don't, but they are supposed to. No such requirement is in effect for routine calls handled by the operator -- only calls where you dial the operator, state that an emergency exists and ask for the police. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Date: 4 Jan 1994 03:55:52 GMT Organization: Youngstown State/Youngstown Free-Net Reply-To: ao944@yfn.ysu.edu (Jack Decker) On Thu Dec 30 11:49:05 1993, jfh@netcom.com (Jack Hamilton) wrote: > dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) wrote: >> A new service offered in the NYC area by NY Tel (soon to be called >> Nynex) is called "Anonymous Call Rejection." This tariff allows you >> (at a fee, of course) to take calls coming from caller-id BLOCKed >> numbers and reroutte them to a recording saying something like: >> We're sorry, the person you called does not take calls from anonymous >> callers. If you want to reach this person, please redial from an >> unblocked line ... > Do such services offer a way around the blocking in an emergency, > either by subscriber (911 and other services could call all numbers > without being blocked) or on a per-call basis through the operator? [.....] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes they do. The person placing the > call need only dial the appropriate 'unblock code' (what is it, > typically *67) before dialing his call and it will go through just > fine. PAT] I would point out that relying on this could be dangerous. Just to give you one example: I have a dialer on my line (which I use to convert touch tones to dial pulses, so I don't have to pay GTE $2.00 per month to accept my touch tones directly), and when Caller ID is offered here, it will be a trivial matter for me to program the dialer to prepend 1167 to all outgoing calls (and there are "standalone" units that do the same thing for touch tone lines, that are even less expensive than dialers). Now suppose that you are one of those folks who cops an attitude and says "if you don't call me with your number unblocked, you must be some sort of scum, and I'm not going to talk to you!" Now suppose you are my neighbor, and late one night my wife sees a fire starting in your kitchen window, and I'm not home. She tries to call you to wake you up, but gets the "please redial from an unblocked line" recording, and has no idea how to respond to that (and since I'm not home, I can't even look up the programming to disable the blocking for her, although your house might be pretty well gone by the time I figured it out anyway). Sure, she would probably then call 911 and report the fire, but if you or your family are sleeping upstairs, you might just have appreciated getting that first call. If you think that the fire example is farfetched, just consider that there are other situations where you might want folks to reach you ... anything from someone responding to a classified ad you've placed to someone who has found one of your possessions, or your pet, or one of your kids. When they get your "please redial ..." message, they just might figure "why bother, I don't know what the ---- that message means anyway", and take some other action that would be more detrimental to you or those you care about. The problem with "Anonymous Call Rejection" is that the folks who take it assume that if someone wants to reach them, they will know whether the line they are using is blocked, and if it is, how to unblock it. In the case of a blocked line, that assumption would quite possibly be true only for the person who either ordered the per-line blocking, or installed the device to automatically prepend the "*67" or "1167" blocking code (and don't think such devices won't become more common in the future). Even if we assume that person knows how to bypass the blocking (which is quite an assumption to make), it's not realistic to assume that every potential user of that line knows how to unblock it. It's a calculated risk, of course. If you are plagued by nuisance callers now, you may figure it's worth the risk. But "Anonymous Call Rejection" is not the sort of service I'd advise anyone to order unless they are currently having a genuine problem with nuisance callers, to the point that it's really disrupting their lives (or their sanity). By the way, I always get a chuckle out of the folks who say "if you don't want me to know your number, don't call me!" Believe me, if I knew that someone I was contemplating calling felt that way, there's no way I would call them, just because they sound like the sort of paranoid personality I wouldn't want to deal with. But in at least some cases, it would quite likely be their loss. But I can see that there is no way folks are ever going to agree on this issue! Jack ------------------------------ From: gvaeth@netcom.com (Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications) Subject: Re: Caller ID in Pennsylvania Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 17:00:58 GMT Is the Bill mentioned under consideration, or has it passed? Regards, Gregory Vaeth Jerrold Communications internet: gvaeth@netcom.com General Instrument voicenet: (215) 956-6488 2200 Byberry Road faxnet: (215) 675-4059 Hatboro, PA 19040 My opinions are my own, and do not represent those of my employer. ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Re Caller ID in Pennsylvania Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 09:06:00 PST Jeffrey Carpenter's wrote: > Pennsylvania Act 83 of 1993 ... > Caller-ID in Pennsylvania as long as both per-line and per-call > blocking are available. Jeffrey, thanks for the post. My understanding is that although the State's PUC has ruled on Caller ID service, deployment (by local carriers) is being held by a State Supreme Court challenge. As in several other States, the issue is wiretap law violation. The basic issue is privacy. If you're aware of a ruling by the Court, please post again (or to me). Thanks, Lynne Gregg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 12:40:57 -0800 From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) In article you wrote: > I've got a friend who'll soon be moving to the UK (Durham actually). > She's got a Hayes compatible 9600 baud modem that she would like to > take with her and use there. > Can anyone tell me if she can expect it to work with the British phone > system? Is there a special initialization necessary for the modem? > Do they use the same standard phone jacks as used in the US? Yes, a US 9600bps modem will work in the UK, *provided*: (1) You have a power source for the modem that will take 240V/50Hz instead of 110V/60Hz. If you buy a generic adapter, be sure that it will give the correct output voltage AND amperage for the modem, and make sure that it is the correct type -- AC or DC. (My modem uses 14.5V AC, so don't just assume it's DC.) I very much do NOT recommend using a 240/120 "traveller" adapter with the US modem power supply. (2) You have a phone jack adapter. The jacks used in the UK are different both in shape and in wiring. You need to buy in the US one of those adapters that allows you to put a two-line phone on two single-line phone jacks (available from Radio Schlock or AT&T Phone Center Store, etc.). The cable to connect from the jack to the adapter you can buy in Britain probably more easily than in the US. You **may** also be able to buy a cable that does the necessary pin-switching. (Both types of jacks have six slots for wires, the middle four normally in use. The US jack uses the center pair (wires 3 & 4) for 'line 1'; the UK jack uses the outer pair (wires 2 & 5). (Wires 1 & 6 are not used in either.) If you get a "bog-standard" cable, plug the British end into the phone jack and the US end into the "Both" port of your two-line phone adapter. Run a short US phone cable from the "Line 2" port to your modem. (You can perform the same operations with an adapter for running two single-line phones from a single two-line jack, but you'll need a female-female "in-line adapter" as well, since the "Both" port on this adapter is male.) (3) You don't tell anyone connected with British Telecom, OfTel, etc., that you're doing this, because it's technically illegal unless the modem has been certified as meeting the appropriate BS (British Standard -- no, I'm not joking, although the acronym is sometimes apt). If it has been certified, it will have a large green dot somewhere on the hardware (about 1/2" diameter). (4) If your phone line in the UK is pulse, you may want to add into the setup string the code to set the make/break pattern to UK standard instead of US standard. However, in practice, most phone switches are not sensitive enough to tell the difference between 39/61 and 33/67. The command is AT&P1 for UK, AT&P0 for US. Touch-tone is the same in both. Don't even try to use pulse in Scandinavia or New Zealand. (5) If you use the modem to connect to a low-speed European modem (1200 bps or lower), you may need to include ATB0 to use CCITT instead of Bell standards for these speeds. (ATB1 is the default, Bell/U.S. standard) Again, at 2400 and above, you needn't worry about it. (6) I have seen reports that for dialing the US you can use 010-1-83-area.code-number instead of the usual 010-1-AC-number to force a cable rather than satellite circuit. I don't know if this is true; I've never tried it. Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com (formerly) London, England * {Telecom, Linc}@hedonist.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #6 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa00253; 5 Jan 94 5:44 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA01233 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 02:18:54 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13268 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 02:18:25 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 02:18:25 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401050818.AA13268@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #7 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 02:18:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 7 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Feedlebom) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (C. Bongaarts) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (J. Carlson) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Carl Moore) Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Thomas M. Godbold) Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones (Steve Wood) Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (John R. Levine) Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (Lars Poulsen) Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (Fulcrum) Re: 500 Channel Cable Television (Michael Jacobs) Re: Radio Religion (was 500 Channels...) (Gene Fornario) Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones (Ken Hoehn) Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones (Neil L. Kleeman) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Toby Nixon) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (George Zmijewski) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: feedle@kaiwan.com (Feedlebom) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Organization: KAIWAN Internet Access (310-527-4279,714-539-0829) Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:10:15 GMT Earl Vickers (earl@netcom.com) wrote: > I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded > information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but > they all seem to have disappeared. For example, there used to be one > where you could leave whatever strange sound effects or messages you > wanted, and they would periodically edit and splice them into their > new outgoing greeting. And there used to be a number in San Francisco > called the Earthquake Prevention Hotline, with a different oddball > comedy bit every couple days. Here in the Los Angeles area, there used to be a handful of such "comment" lines, but unfortunately, they've all dissappeared. A few of the operators of them are running 976/900 services, but most just got disinterested and took 'em down. I was involved with the world-infamous NEEON-19 line in Orange County, and I can tell you that running such a line takes money, patience, and time, something most people don't have anymore. It would take anywhere from three to seven hours to edit the tape down, and countless more assembling other bits for the program. It's a bit like running a radio show: for every hour of content, there's five hours of work. And then there's the equipment ... > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A couple of numbers I'll add to this > list are 312-731-1100 and 312-731-1505. Both are operated by a fellow > named Sherman Skolnick in Chicago who is a 'conspiracy buff'; you know, > one of those people who believe that everyone but Oswald killed JFK. > Both are five minute recordings, and he changes the two messages two > or three times per week. PAT] Then there are the countless White Aryan Resistance and KKK lines around the country ... if you have a pager, you've no doubt been paged by one of them. (None come to mind right now ...) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We had one from the American Nazi Party here for quite awhile which was always good for a laugh, but I have not heard it lately, and don't remember the number so I cannot say for sure if it is stilll operating or not. Regards the amount of preparation involved, you are quite correct that it takes much, much longer than the presentation itself if you want it to be halfway decent. When I had my phone news and information service back in the 1970's, these nincompoops would ask me how could it possibly be a job which takes several hours per day ... I had to investigate what I wanted to talk about; write it down and edit it a few times; practice speaking it; then finally record it. All that for a three minute recording. Of course I had bookkeeping and maintainence to do on 35 phone lines; advertisers to contact regards payment, etc. I am reminded of the nincompoops of today -- the denizens of Usenet who hang around news.groups (a really nasty place as newsgroups go) who ask such questions as if 'all I do' is sort through some messages and put out a couple dozen or so each day, how could it 'possibly' take more than a couple minutes maximum ... I don't know if I should laugh or cry when I read some of that stuff. As you well know from your own experience, quality work takes time. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bong0004@gold.tc.umn.edu (Chris Bongaarts) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 05:33:41 GMT earl@netcom.com (Earl Vickers) writes: > I'm putting together a list of phone numbers for bizarre recorded > information services. I used to have lots of numbers like this, but [...] > All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song > number, (718) 963-6962. As those of you who may have tried calling this know, this number is the incorrect one printed in the liner notes the TMBG's "Apollo 18" CD. The correct number (from "Flood", "Lincoln", and their self-titled "19-track debut album") is: 718-387-6962 From all of us at alt.music.tmbg, thanks... =========================================== bong0004@gold.tc.umn.edu Chris Bongaarts (Sir Taxi of the Wild Crew) cbongaar@sunrayce.solar.umn.edu Call the Game Center BBS! (612)942-7531 cbongaar@reality.cs.umn.edu My opinions are my own, and they are right. cbongaar@mermaid.micro.umn.edu ------------------------------ From: carlson@xylogics.com (James Carlson) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Date: 4 Jan 1994 15:21:34 GMT Organization: Xylogics Incorporated Reply-To: carlson@xylogics.com In article , earl@netcom.com (Earl Vickers) writes: [...] >> All I have to offer so far is They Might Be Giants's Dial-a-Song >> number, (718) 963-6962. Hmpf. Not so cool. It's been disconnected! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As the message before this suggests, try 718-387-6962. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:21:42 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services 718-963-6962 is disconnected (I just tried it). But I did reach 410-337-FUNN (3866), the "Joke Du Jour" hotline of "Rouse and company" on WQSR-FM 105.7 in Baltimore, Maryland. ------------------------------ From: mctmg@perot.mtsu.edu (Thomas M. Godbold) Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones Date: 05 Jan 1994 03:27:03 GMT Organization: Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee In tony@cmhcsys.cmhcsys.com (Tony Barnecut) writes: > I am looking for information on a cellular phone called SIMON. I saw a > picture of it in a recent issue of {InfoWorld} but it did not say who > the manufacturer is or where it could be purchased. From the short ... SIMON is a cellphone/pager/calendar/personal data device/fax/etc. all wrapped into one compact and versatile package. Having never seen the actual unit, I cannot vouch for its functionality. However, it is marketed (will be, anyway, as of 3/94) by BELLSOUTH CELLULAR CORPORATION (my company, BTW) and I would be happy to do a brief synopsis of the product here from the extensive (albeit a bit wordy) pre-release literature we received, as well as the test period we will have soon ... with the MODERATOR's permission. Please address inquiries/etc to : mctmg@knuth.mtsu.edu My opinions are strictly my own and are not those of BellSouth Mobility, BellSouth Cellular Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, or any of its subsidiaries or entities. Don't you just *hate* these disclaimers? Tom Godbold mctmg@knuth.mtsu.edu ------------------------------ From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones Date: 05 Jan 1994 01:34:22 -0500 Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA tony@cmhcsys.cmhcsys.com (Tony Barnecut) writes: > I am looking for information on a cellular phone called SIMON. I saw a > picture of it in a recent issue of {InfoWorld} but it did not say who > the manufacturer is or where it could be purchased. From the short > description that was included I found that it has an LCD panel where > the keypad would be with interchangable cards that make it act as a > phone, pager and other things. With different cards, different icons > appear on the LCD panel for the functions for that particular card. > Any information anyone could give me on this this product would be > greatly appreciated. The SIMON is made by IBM exclusively for BellSouth. It is not just a cellular phone but a "personal digital assistant" with a pen operating system of some sort. Michael D. Sullivan mds@access.digex.net avogadro@well.sf.ca.us Washington, D.C. 74160.1134@compuserve.com mikesullivan@bix.com ------------------------------ From: Steve Wood Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Simon Cellular Phones Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 10:39:00 PST In response to Tony Barnecut's inquiry about Simon on 12/29: It is manufactured by IBM and marketed (I think exclusively at least for now) by Bell South. Steve Wood steve.wood@mccaw.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 13:03 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. According to a wire service account in the {Boston Globe}, AT&T is changing their rates to be more like MCI and Sprint. The list price for calls goes up, but with a calling plan, you pay about what you would have before. AT&T characterized the changes as revenue neutral. The i plan is going away, presumably because nobody could figure out what it was. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 22:01:12 GMT In article , Paul Robinson writes: > {Washington Post} 12/29 Pg B3: > NOTICE TO AT&T LONG DISTANCE CUSTOMERS > Card Station $2.05 $2.12 > Operator Station: > -Collect $2.05 $2.12 > -Billed to Third Party $2.11 $2.18 > -Sent Paid--Non-Coin $2.05 $2.12 I wonder why they bother to have a special rate for third-party. The increment seems hardly worth the bother of explaining that it's different. > Effective February 10, 1994, AT&T USADirect* (R) Optional Calling Plan > - Option A, institutes a 30-call restriction on the number of Plan > calls eligible for discounted rates in a one month period. I have never heard about optional calling plans for USA Direct. I have a Universal card, and occasionally use it for USA Direct. Do you have any information about this plan? Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08 Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08 DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait ------------------------------ From: fulcrum@NeoSoft.com (Fulcrum) Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television Organization: NeoSoft Internet Services -- +1 713 684 5969 Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 16:33:56 GMT In article thale@Novell.COM (Todd D. Hale) writes: > wait, myself. Imagine sitting down to local news and hitting some > NEXT story button when you're ready to move on. Or, select a set of > stories from a table of contents and play it through. Etc, etc ... Hmmm ... I think many of us already do this to an extent through various news sources we get through on-line services or Internet. The technology is incorporate the other aspects that television has (ie video, sound, etc) is actually coming about as we speak. Personally, I've never liked what comes out of my TV News anyway. They are slow, alarmist, and they always show the need to cut down everything to 40 second blurbs. Right now, harder news is found in the better newspapers (the ones that do more analytical news than fact reporting) or shortwave radio where you can usually get the word out from the mouths of the particular country. If the future is more 40 second blurbs, then there's really no point for much news from these TV-Packages. Mike Fulcrum - That Sassy Sassy Style... The Internet Experience: Fulcrum@Neosoft.Com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 22:38:12 EDT From: Michael Jacobs Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable Television I think a lot of the problem that some people seem to have with understanding the telephone/cable convergence is a tendency toward linear thinking, ie-15 channels yesterday, 50 channels today, 500 channels tomorrow. Rather, we are going to see revolutionary (exponential) changes as the convergence of cable tv and telephony progresses. The concept that many RBOC's are working towards is video dialtone. This entails an available, dedicated high-bandwidth connection between a subscriber and a software (programming) source on-demand. Each subscriber will be able to access common (ie-network) programming or custom (on-demand) programming in real-time. The keys to this are: 1) high-bandwidth subscriber loops; 2) ATM broadband switching; and 3)mass-storage programming systems (called video servers). There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will be available to the subscriber on demand! The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to watch , whether it is a movie from Paramount's library, episode #121 of Donna Reed, Howard Stern's latest special, or the current ABC network program. The telephone company will merely provide the bandwidth from software provider to the residence, other vendors (and RBOC subsidiaries) will compete for viewership. The value of the service will lie in the diversity of programming available to the customer, much as the value of the current telephone network lies not in the fact that there is a phone in your home, but that there is a phone in every home! If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500 channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100 years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive obsolescence. Personal Opinions Only Michael Jacobs, JMT0@lafibm.lafayette.edu Service Technician, Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania ------------------------------ From: genef@netcom.com (Gene Fornario) Subject: Re: Radio Religion (was 500 Channels...) Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 05:51:20 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well by the middle 1960's all-religious > stations were starting to be heard in a few places. WYCA-FM in > Hammond, Indiana came on the air I guess about 1963; WMBI in Chicago > started their FM affiliate station sometime in the early to middle BTW, have you noticed that Canada doesn't not either have or license all-religous stations? I have asked why in rec.radio.broadcasting, and most think it was because there was a lot of fighting going on between such stations in the early days of radio ... can you add to that? Gene genef@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I really don't know anything at all about the rules in Canada or how they can be be created; I'll take a pass on this rather than second-guess my friend Bill Pfieffer with his newsgroup and journal. I don't think there has ever been any rules oer laws against it here in the USA simply because the government here really cannot regulate speech, and technical requirements have to be applied equally to all license holders regardless of the content of their speech. Other ideas or suggestions, anyone? PAT] ------------------------------ From: kenh@w8hd.org (Ken Hoehn) Subject: Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones Date: 04 Jan 1994 17:01:48 -0500 Organization: The w8hd Group octela!!mikedi@uunet.UU.NET (Michael Dimitrov) writes: > A few months ago I saw an ad for a long range radio telephone -- it > works like cordless, but it's range is about 100 miles (right, one > hundred miles). Of course, it said "Not for sale in the US". A > friend of mine from Eastern Europe would like to buy one of these, but > I've lost the ad since then. Could anyone provide information about > similar telephone systems -- manufacturers, reteilers, technical > details etc. There are no such systems legal for operation in the United States. They are merely interconnected business radio systems, utilizing low band (30-50 mHz) radio facilities, and interconnect units to connect the phone line to the unit. You would get away with using for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. The co-channel users would complain up a storm, and the Commission would get you. They are intended only for surreptitious use in 'uncontrolled' (read: out of control) countries. Sorry. kenh@w8hd.org Ken Hoehn - Teletech, Inc. Compuserve: 70007,2374 N8NYO P.O.Box 924 FAX: (313) 562-8612 Dearborn, MI 48121 VOICE: (313) 562-6873 ------------------------------ From: ssinlk@solsys.com (Neil L. Kleeman) Subject: Re: Super Long Range Cordless Phones Organization: Solution Systems Inc. Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 10:03:38 GMT In Article , Mark W. Earle <0006127039@ mcimail.com> wrote: > Michael Dimitrov wrote: >> A few months ago I saw an ad for a long range radio telephone -- it >> works like cordless, but it's range is about 100 miles .... > These usually turn out to be nothing more than 1/2 duplex, two way > radios (hand held or mobiles) with a telephone interconnect similiar > to an amateur radio "autopatch". The reason they are not for sale in > the US is that, to use such a device requires a business or other > license; the gear must be FCC type accepted. Thanks for all of that information. Can you give me any idea what manufacturers might have this type of equipment available? Please respond via email. Thanks, Neil L. Kleeman, President Internet: ssinlk@solsys.com Solution Systems Incorporated Voice: (215) 668-4620 114 Forrest Avenue Fax: (215) 668-2157 Narberth, PA 19072 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As pointed out before, no one has this type of equipment for sale if they know you intend to use it in the USA. Something interesting I found out the other day about Radio Shack is their corporate policy which states that if you discuss with their clerk your intent to modify radio equipment you purchase from them so it will operate in an illegal way, the clerk is supposed to refuse to sell you the equipment. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tnixon@microsoft.com (Toby Nixon) Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers Organization: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond WA, USA Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 23:10:19 GMT In article Anthony wrote: > What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing > telephone numbers? I've noticed the following: > (plus symbol) (country code) (city/area code) (number) This is described in Recommendation E.123. You have it basically right. A "+" and the country code, a space, the city code (optionally enclosed within parenthesis to indicate that it is optionally dialed if you're within the same city code), then another space, and the local number. It is preferred that if the local number is to be broken up into segments (e.g., 555 1212) that a space character be used, but other characters are permitted by local convention (e.g., period, hyphen). E.123 (the title is something like "Representation of Telephone Numbers in Printed Materials"; sorry, I don't have a copy handy) includes guidance on how to differentiate different types of lines, such as voice and fax, and how to indicate that an answering machine may be in use, etc. Toby ------------------------------ From: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski) Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers Organization: MGZ Computer Services Reply-To: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 22:24:16 GMT In article 0003250251@mcimail.com writes: > What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing I don't know what the ITU decided but in UK we are told to use: MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456 international +44 123 123456 This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any), seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another country). In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code numbers and 00 as prefix for country codes. With such a system in operation is it sensible to include the first 0 in your number? Or should we all use numbers with country code. Anybody inside the country will know what digits to drop? But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33 xxxxxxxx ). Is it a revenge for changing CCITT to ITU? George Zmijewski ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #7 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa05052; 5 Jan 94 19:54 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25306 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:30:37 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA25602 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:30:18 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:30:18 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401052130.AA25602@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #8 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 15:30:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 8 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bellcore FTP Site For ISDN Information (William H. Sohl) Communication Over Power Lines? (Michael Duane) Telephone Answering Machine Question (Ray Normandeau) Federal Telemarketing Laws (Bob Rankin) Access Charges if LD Carrier = Telco? (Charles F. Hofacker) What Ways Can Three Regional Offices Share One Phone Number? (J. Ortiz) California ANI Question (Phydeaux) Quick Question About Caller ID (Ashish Parikh) SLIP Information Needed (Lance M. Cottrell) Long Distance Dial/Pay Methods (Terry Brainerd Chadwick) Calling Card Statistics Wanted (Terry Brainerd Chadwick) Merlin Question (Vince Dugar) Cellular Phones Come to Belgium/Pactel (Massimo Mauro) How Are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated? (Dan Cromer) Emergency Only Cellphone (Dale Farmer) Best Remote Software? (Joseph Ferguson) Best Modem For Developing World (David Davidson) Help Needed With V.42bis (bobphin@nbnet.nb.ca) Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' (Stephen Ng) Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' (Dave Niebuhr) Re: TDD Software Wanted (Don Perrott) Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation (Steve Forrette) Re: Being Paged by Mystery 800 Number (Timothy S. Shea) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) Date: 5 Jan 1994 14:01 EST Subject: Bellcore FTP site for ISDN Information Pat, The following announces the availability of ISDN documentation via FTP from Bellcore. Additional documentation will be added to the FTP site as we progress in 1994. Thanks, Bill Sohl and Barbara Shaw - Bellcore ISDN Hotline 1-800-992-ISDN -------------------Bellcore FTP ISDN Info Announcement----------- Bellcore's National ISDN Hotline Announces: Availability of National ISDN Information over Internet Information about National ISDN is now available by anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) over the Internet at host "info.bellcore.com" FTP allows the retrieval of formatted documents and software. The files are available in PostScript through anonymous FTP from "info.bellcore.com" in the /pub/ISDN sub directory. I M P O R T A N T: Many of the files are large. It is essential that you first get the README (the upper case is important) file for detailed information on retrieving various files associated with documents. The following text describes a typical anonymous FTP session: system: ftp info.bellcore.com Connected to info. 220 info FTP server (SunOS 4.1) ready. Name: anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password. Password: 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> cd /pub/ISDN 250 CWD command successful. ftp> mget README mget README? yes 200 PORT command successful. 150 ASCII data connection for README (8758 bytes). 226 ASCII Transfer complete. local: README remote: README 8943 bytes received in 0.19 seconds (46 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit 221 Goodbye. represents pressing the "enter" or "return" key on your computer keyboard. The README file is in ASCII format and may be read on any word processor. The other files in the directory are in PostScript format and may be downloaded as needed by using the "mget" command while in the FTP. The PostScript files may be printed on a PostScript printer by using the "lprr" command. A typical Post Script print command may look like: lpr -P -h -v where: represents printer name on your network, and represents a PostScript file. '-h' corresponds to the option of suppressing the printing of burst page while '-v' corresponds to the option of printing raster image, i.e., PostScript. Please note that the printer must support PostScript imaging model in order to print these files. If you have problems or you'd like to comment on the information stored at this site or wish to make recommendations for future enhancements, you can email us at: isdn@cc.bellcore.com Or, call us at Bellcore's National ISDN Hotline: 1-800-992-ISDN ------------------------------ From: duanem@apollo4.eng.sematech.org (Michael Duane) Subject: Communication Over Power Lines? Date: 5 Jan 1994 18:10:01 GMT Organization: SEMATECH, Austin Reply-To: michael_duane@sematech.org I received the following question from a friend. Post replies here, or mail directly to thausken@ota.gov. "This is an all points bulletin to answer an question we were pondering here the other day. The question is "Can the power company send telephone or radio signals over the power lines?" Never mind for the moment any switching problems -- just consider broadcast for now. (There *is* a proposal that power companies install fiber optic cable to homes to help monitor power usage, and in turn sell the capacity to the phone companies. I am asking something different. I am interested in using the actual power lines themselves. My campus radio station used power lines to send the local FM channel, but I don't know how they did it.) The questions are: 1. What is the cutoff frequency of the power grid? Or better, what is the bandwidth vs. distance curve? This is a basic two wire conductor problem but I don't know things like the skin resistance, etc. 2. How do you mix the frequencies? Is the 60 Hz line the carrier, mixed with the signal? Or can you combine them some other way? Any help is appreciated!! Please pass the problem on if you cannot help. Tom michael.duane@sematech.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might be interested to know that the telephones inside the cars on the subway in Chicago used by conductors and motormen to communicate with their dispatcher used to operate via the 'third rail' (power supply for the trains). I guess you can talk over the the third rail quite nicely. Lately they have used UHF radios, but some of the phones in the fare collection booths used on the internal CTA phone system are still interconnected via the third rail. Are the connections noisy you ask? Are they? Are they!! But it works. PAT] ------------------------------ From: factory!ray.normandeau@uu6.psi.com Subject: Telephone Answering Machine Question Date: 4 Jan 94 22:15:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) In December, {Back Stage} newspaper in NYC had the following ad: "EARN $50 While staying at home Call 289-6048 for info" The phone is in the 212 area code. I have called several times, at least once a week for the last few weeks. Altho the OGM says "Please leave a message", and I think that I am leaving one, I am not sure if it is being recorded because my calls are not being returned. It has happened to me that I put my own TAD on "Outgoing Message Only" without realizing it and that people who thought they were leaving a message for me, were not as my TAD was not recording them. Is there any way to figure out if the machine at 212-289-6048 is taking my messages or not? The ad might make some people think that it is a scam, but the newspaper {Back Stage} has a VERY GOOD reputation for screening out scam ads. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 11:48:08 EST From: Bob Rankin Subject: Federal Telemarketing Laws I just read through the archives from late 1991 looking for info on congressional action regarding automated telemarketing. I found this little excursion quite fascinating, but failed in my quest, save for a few references to Rep. Frank's appearance on NightLine discussing some proposed legislation. Kind readers, please enlighten me as to the details of whatever federal law(s) may have been passed regarding telemarketing. I'm interested to learn if *all* forms of automated outbound calling are verboten, or if it just applies to "sales" calls. For example, - A club calling members to notify them of a meeting; - A library calling to notify you of an overdue book; - An automated survey/questionnaire (for non-commercial purposes); - An announcement of a free community service; - A political party calling with a "please vote today" message; (maybe even "Press 1 if you need transportation to the polls") All these seem to be legitimate uses of automated outbound calling, since they either provide useful information/services or offer a significant labor and time savings to a caller who has no profit motive. I welcome private or public replies on this matter. Bob Rankin (r3@vnet.ibm.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All the above examples you cite are exempt from the federal regulations. Political calls (vote today) are considered freedom of speech. The library (return our book) has a pre-existing relationship with you as does the club calling to notify you about a meeting. Announcements about free community services also come under freedom of speech. The only calls which are really regulated are those from commercial organizations with whom you have no previous business relationship. They have to follow regulations pertaining to how they call you (using automated techniques or not, etc). The others want to maintain your goodwill, so they follow the same guidelines for the most part, but are not absolutely required to follow them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Charles F. Hofacker Subject: Access Charges if LD Carrier = Telco? Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:08:06 EST The recent announcement by MCI that they were going to compete in the local loop has made me curious about something. One of the motivations for this announcement was that MCI could then avoid 'access charges' which are I believe are paid by the long distance provider to the local telco. Since my local telco is Sprint (904-386), if I sign up for Sprint long distance also, shouldn't things be cheaper for me? Why should Sprint charge Sprint access charges? Do I have a point here or is there some regulatory reason that my logic fails? I called the Sprint Long Distance 800 number and the sales rep said he had never heard of access charges. Charlie Hofacker chofack@cob.fsu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Probably the 'Sprint' which handles your local loop is not the same branch of 'Sprint' which handles your long distance calls. Additionally, there is no reason why MCI *has* to not charge you the access fee once they get in the local loop business; just that they apparently choose not to. They apparently have chosen to 'do their bookkeeping' differently than Sprint. Under the law, whoever supplies/maintains the wires coming to your home is entitled to be compensated for the use of the wires in long distance calls and apparently Sprint (the division of the company supplying your local service) chooses to be compensated. Maybe MCI's gimmick will be to have slightly higher long distance rates in exchange for no local-loop charge. It all comes out the same in the end, or nearly so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ortiz@cactus.org (J. Ortiz) Subject: What Ways Can Three Regional Offices Share One Phone Number? Organization: Capital Area Central Texas UNIX Society, Austin, Tx Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 17:12:26 GMT I was curious what is available from telephone services or just products on the market that would allow for a single phone number that a customer can dial and be able to connect to one of three separately located offices. Some thing like a support center, call one number and connect to the office/extension or the first available office/extension. Also could this be done with an 800 number as well? All ideas would be appreciated. I'd like to be informed before I talk to the AT&T and MCIs of the world. Thanks, joe ortiz@cactus.org [TELECOM Digest Editors's Note: Well it can most definitly be arranged with 800 service. Your 800 number would terminate different places depending on the place where the call originated. You can also have one of the regional offices be the central answering point and forward the calls one by one to the two other offices manually, then have call- forwarding on the line for after-hours connection to the other two offices. The thing is, how convenient would this be for your customers? At least two of the three regional offices would have to receive calls from *their* customers over a long distance number if all three offices used the same number (which could only be 'local service' to one of the three offices.) If you really want to pay for all the incoming calls from your customers, complainers, deadbeats and anyone else who calls the company, then go with a single 800 number which is routed on a time-of-day/day-of-week/location of call orgination basis, but I don't think you will find it terribly cost-effective. I'd say go with three 'local' numbers for each of the three offices, and internal tie-lines which allowed the receptionist/operator handling incoming calls to manually pass the call to one of the other offices if that was desired. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 17:21:03 -0800 From: reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) Subject: California ANI Question Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm sure someone here knows for sure. reb [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What can I tell you? Ask your colleague if he thinks 800 numbers are illegal in California. If not, then there is your answer. ANI and 800 go hand in hand. That's the way the system works. In a way, that's what makes the debate over Caller-ID so silly: People who can afford 800 numbers and insist on receiving all their calls over the 800 number have always had 'caller-ID', even in backward areas like California. :) No, ANI is not illegal in California. PAT] ------------------------------ From: aparikh@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Mr. Ashish Parikh ) Subject: Quick Question About Caller ID Date: 5 Jan 1994 04:35:09 GMT Organization: The Ohio State University I am under the impression that only listed (in phonebooks) numbers get identified in one's Caller-ID system. what I mean is that for example my number is unlisted and I call a person with Caller-ID -- according to my views, my number doesn't get recognized by his/her system. My question to you intelligent/experienced folks: Is that true? Could you please briefly describe how the whole Caller-ID thing works. Thanks very much. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your views are quite seriously mistaken. CID depends on a few things, but having an unlisted or non-pub number is not one of them. First, both telephone exchanges -- that of the caller and the called party -- have to be equipped for the service. If the receiving office is equipped but the sending office is not, then sub- scribers to Caller-ID in the receiving office will get the message 'out of area' on their display when the sending office passes a call. If the sending office is equipped but the receiving office is not, then it all becomes a moot point. Now let us assume both telephone exchanges, that of caller and called party are equipped to handle Caller-ID. The calling party's ID will *always* be passed to the exchange serving the called party. Whether or not the called exchange passes the information on to the called party depends on two things: one, is the called party a subscriber to the Caller-ID service and two, did the calling party not explicitly refuse the passing of the information. By that I mean, did the calling party prepend a special code to his dialing string (typically *67) to tell *his* phone exchange to deny the information to the called party. So if both exchanges are equipped for the service and the called party subscribes to the service, he *will* get your number unless you have specifically told your exchange (to tell the other exchange) to not pass that information along. In the event you request that the inform- ation not be passed along, then the called party will receive a message on his display screen saying 'Private'. Note the difference: the display will say 'private' when the sender denies the receiver the right to the information and the display will say 'out of area' when the receiving exchange is unable (as opposed to not permitted) to supply the information. How you have your phone listed with directory assistance (or not) has no bearing on this at all. All your non-pub listing gets you is the inability of a third person to match your name with a number through the directory and/or the inability to match your number with a name/address through a cross-reference (or 'criss-cross' as they are usually called) directory. So the called party will get your *number* via Caller-ID (unless you specifically block delivery using *67), but it still remains relatively meaningless without a name/address to go with it. Note also that 'automatic call return' where that service exists is not affected by the 'private' status of Caller-ID (calls can still be returned although the return-caller will not know the number being called) and the ability to block Caller-ID via *67 is disabled when calling 911 or *any* telephone company facility or operator. In other words, you can never refuse the telephone company the right to know your number, nor can you hide from the police, etc. Likewise, your number is always known (or soon ascertained) by subscribers to toll- free 800 numbers that you may dial. You can't block that either. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sdphu3!loki@UCSD.EDU (Lance M Cottrell) Subject: SLIP Information Needed Date: 5 Jan 1994 05:38:44 GMT Organization: Physics Department, UCSD I am looking for information of setting up a SLIP on a Sun for call in. The Sun is not directly connected to the phone. I dial into a phone bank and telnet to the computer. Can I establish SLIP after I telnet? Thanks, Lance Cottrell ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 09:11:12 -0700 From: Terry Brainerd Chadwick Organization: InfoQuest! Information Services Subject: Long Distance Dial/Pay Methods How are both consumer and business long distance calling distributed between direct dialing, some form of card, collect calls, and other? ($ volume or percentage) Where is this information available? Thank you, Terry Brainerd Chadwick p00653@psilink.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 09:06:37 -0700 From: Terry Brainerd Chadwick Organization: InfoQuest! Information Services Subject: Calling Cards Statistics Wanted Where can I get a list of all long distance calling (including credit and debit) cards, their issuers, benefits, and rates? Also, the breakdown of card usage by consumers and business? Thank you, Terry Brainerd Chadwick p00653@psilink.com ------------------------------ From: vdugar@stortek.stortek.com (Vince Dugar) Subject: Merlin Question Organization: StorageTek Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:46:15 GMT Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK) Vince Dugar | CIS: 71011,2657 Boulder, Colorado | Opinions expressed are my own. Vince_Dugar@stortek.com | ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular Phones Come to Belgium/Pactel From: massimo@west.darkside.com (Massimo Mauro) Date: Tue, 04 Jan 94 01:14:33 PST Organization: The Dark Side of the Moon +1 408 245 SPAM With lots of fireworks to celebrate the event even this derelict (certainly as far as telecoms are concerned) country joins the cellular circus (GSM operational as from 1 Jan, 1994). Cellular phones, besides being a yuppy accessory, are unfortunately pretty useful, but cost over here an awful lot of money, as the service provider (a joint venture between the Belgian telecom and Pactel) operates a near monopoly. Can some cellular whiz kid tell me whether a cellular telephone (say, a Motorola or Nokia, for instance) purchased in the US or in Canada would be able to operate here? Given that frequency allocation and modulation scheme standardisation are done internationally (ITU), I expect it to be so. Thanks for emailing me some info, were it even to tell me I am wrong. massimo@west.darkside.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 05:47:29 EST From: Dan Cromer <19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU> Organization: School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida Subject: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated Greetings, How are VCR Plus+ code numbers, the up-to-eight digit numbers for each TV program used in programming some new VCRs and VCR-programming remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL, to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to set up a programmable calculator so that it would generate the code for them. I know there is a 900 number at 95 cents/minute, but don't think they should have to pay $1.90 every time they want to use the system. Daniel H. Cromer, Jr. Director, Information Resources School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida 19016007@sbacvm.sbac.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Its a secret. No one knows for sure how it is done except the proprietors of the system, and they aren't going to tell. There *are* scripts around in various ftp archives sites which make a stab at this, but I understand none of them are perfect and all have a few bugs. The topic is even discussed on a regular basis in a couple of newsgroups devoted to cable television and vcr's, etc. I'm sure some readers will send you email telling you where to find the programs which have attempted to work out the VCR+ codes, but part of the reason for selling the device and operating the 900 phone number is so the proprietors can make money on the deal which I guess is the main reason their lips are zipped. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dale@access3.digex.net (Dale Farmer) Subject: Emergency Only Cellphone Date: 5 Jan 1994 13:33:42 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA I just ran across a flyer advertising (to me at least) a new cellular phone service. It is called HELPTEL, marketed by a company here in Massachusetts. 800 370 4445 if you want to call them yourself. What they are selling is a cell phone that has one button. You plug the phone into the cigarette lighter plug, press the HELP button and talk to some form of operator. The marketing is aimed squarely at the emergency only cellular customer. Rates are $35 per year, plus an unmentioned purchase price, plus an unmentioned per call charge. I thought you may be interested. Dale Farmer ------------------------------ From: Joseph Ferguson Subject: Best Remote Software? Date: Wed, 03 Jan 94 14:03:17 EST Organization: Delphi Internet I need a reliable remote software program that will actually run Windows. I use an Intel 400 at home and at work. Haven't had any luck trying PcTools Commute. Do any of these remote programs run Windows? Thanks for any suggestions. Joe ------------------------------ From: davidson@ccrs.emr.ca (David Davidson) Subject: Best Modem For Developing World Organization: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:32:28 GMT I got another request from a group in a developing nation who want to set up digital communication. They asked what would be the best modem to use. I asked on this newsgroup once before and I believe the response was the Telebit Worldblazer. Is this correct? I would appreciate some comments or recommendations that I could pass along. Please accept my thanks in advance. David ------------------------------ From: bobphin@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (ral) Subject: Help Needed With V.42bis Organization: nbnet Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:50:05 GMT I have a Zoltrix 14,400 data/fax modem. I am not sure if I am getting compression or if so what kind. My manual indicates the S95 registar gives extended result codes. For example S95=003 will give me the Protocal: result code, usually Lap-M. Since S95 is bit mapped, I do not know the values I should use to get the codes I want. The manual further says: Bit Description 0 CONNECT indicates DCE speed 1 Append/ARQ to the connect result code if the protocol is other than NONE 2 Carrier result code 3 PROTOCOL: result code 4 reserved 5 COMPRESSION: result code 6 reserved 7 reserved I should also say that when S95=003, I get codes for bit0,1,2,3. In other words I get everything I want, except for the compression code. I've tried S95=005, but this does not work.Please help. Answer here or e-mail bobphin@nbnet.nb.ca ------------------------------ From: steveng@world.std.com (Stephen Ng) Subject: Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' Organization: Sedona Software Consulting, Arlington, MA Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 16:56:27 GMT Given the availability of the national white pages on cd-rom, couldn't anyone set up such a service, for both business and residential listings? Stephen Ng Sedona Software Consulting 617-648-8120 steveng@world.std.com 70302, 1510 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Certainly they could. Really, the only considerations would be financial: having the cash flow to do it and the money needed to keep it running while it was first starting up. Of course you need the computer and CD-Rom, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 17:00:46 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Re: New Service From NY Tel - 'Reverse Directory' I mentioned earlier about testing out the NYTel 'Reverse Directory Assistance' and John Levine (john@iecc.com) wanted to know the number so that he could try it. Actually, it was simple. The first was looking in the Manhattan phone book and picking a business name then calling Manhattan DA and asking for the whole thing. That took some time since no one there seemed to know what I wanted. Well, I just tried it in Area Code 516 and got the whole kit and kaboodle (phone, address and zip) one-two-three. The cost for the DA will be about $.45 US and I think about $.35-$.45 US for the extra. Your mileage might vary. Have a Safe, Sane Healthy and Happy New Year! Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred) niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 14:09:18 PDT From: DON PERROTT Subject: Re: TDD Software Wanted In article , peltz@cerl.uiuc.edu (Steve Peltz) wrote: > In article , wrote: >> Mike, the phone company is right -- you can't get ASCII to Baudot >> (code used by TYs) communication by software alone. You're going to >> need a hybrid ASCII/Baudot modem. There are several on the market, >> including the MIC300i, and they have a version for the Mac too. > Baudot is just a 5-bit code, right? Any synchronous-capable serial > chip can do that (such as a Mac). Is the modem encoding itself also > different, possibly different carrier frequencies or such? It can't be > just Baudot coding that causes the problem. > Why don't they start releasing dual-mode TDD machines, that can handle > ASCII and "standard" modem standards, and eventually phase out Baudot- > only machines? I want to suggest that this topic has been very thoroughly covered in past issues of the TELECOM Digest. I did a search on TDD several weeks ago and found that there have been numerous requests on the topic and some excellent answers over the years. There are issues with Baudot to ASCII conversion with SHIFT characters as well as the hardware issues with half duplex communication which is no tone between characters and 1400/1800 Hz tones unlike any normal modem used today. Also, the baud rate is 45.5 bps. You can purchase dual-mode TDD machines that handle Baudot and ASCII but for some reason they have never really taken off in the deaf community. They tend to be the high end (read expensive) TDD's and are very much overkill for those only interested in TDD communications. Also, the ASCII capabilities usually provided are 300 baud ... insufficient to be useful for much else. There seems to be some lawmaker intervention in this area. Some software was written by John W. Spalding that can be used to emulate TDD on a TRS-80 Color Computer or an IBM PC/PCjr using the cassette port and a modified telephone amplifier. It is well worth getting if only for the comments in the code to help you understand how TDD works. I downloaded it from the HEX BBS (301) 593-7357. It is called tdd56.zip. I am interested in extending the concept of tdd56 and building a simple hardware interface to either use an XT/AT serial port or a simple adapter card. I have some concepts in mind but would be very happy to receive ideas (or encouragement) from anyone. Don Perrott perrott@bbs.ug.eds.com General Motors of Canada Oshawa, Ontario, Canada ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation Date: 05 Jan 1994 22:14:10 GMT Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) In , hedlund@reed.edu (M. Hedlund) writes: > I also saw a news piece about 911 technology and cellular phones, > saying that Caller-ID/Signalling System Seven had speeded response to > home calls (as discussed) but that only _some_ systems could ID > cellular phones -- Seattle was mentioned as considering cellular- > Caller ID to improve 911. Apologies if this overlaps a thread I > missed, but anyone in Seattle with info? I have cellular accounts with both of the Seattle carriers: US West Cellular and Cellular One. At least when calling 800 numbers, the US West Cellular system will report my actual cellular number as the ANI, whereas Cellular One reports a non-dialable number that's common on all subscribers. Since 911 systems are often implemented using operator-service trunks, I would imagine that the 'correct ANI' feature of the US West system would also work with 911, although I don't have any specific knowledge that this is the case. As far as Cellular One goes, they could implement 911 ANI with some sort of special data line to the PSAP, without converting to full ANI for all outbound calls. One benefit of the US West Cellular ANI situation is that it allows me to select any IXC that's generally available via Equal Access as my default carrier for the cellular phone. Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ From: tsshea@mmm.com (Timothy S. Shea) Subject: Re: Being Paged by Mystery 800 Number Organization: 3M - St. Paul, MN 55144-1000 US Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 00:22:52 GMT Bud Couch (bud@kentrox.com) wrote: > In the meantime, let me offer my own WAG. I tried the number from my > PC and found that it connected at *1200* bps, although my modem is a > V.22bis (2400). This means that the machine at the other end is > forcing the speed to be that low. Why? > I suspect that the modem on the other end is an older (in modem terms > more than two years is *old*) ZOOM modem, for their 1200 units had an > interesting security feature: the entry password to the modem was not > an ascii string, but a four number *touchtone* sequence.If the correct > code wasn't entered within a few seconds of answer, the unit hung up. > We may have just stumbled into someone's database "server" that has > this security feature. I don't know about that theory. I have several scripts running on our systems that check for status or any error conditions. If it finds something wrong our communications server pages me through an old 1200 bps modem ... Or this is way the company pages its people and someone just entered in the number wrong ... internet: tsshea@mmm.com timothy shea compuserve: 76300,1230 Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #8 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id ab05435; 5 Jan 94 20:48 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13663 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:39:17 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA18282 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:39:01 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:39:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401052239.AA18282@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #9 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 16:39:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 9 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se) Re: US Digital Cellular Standard (Dan J. Declerck) Re: Digital Cordless Phones Question (KATHY1310@delphi.com) Re: Digital Cordless Phones/Rolm Switch (Kathleen Denial) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Oliver Rothe) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Curtis R. Nelson) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jon Edelson) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (John R. Levine) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Mark Blumhardt) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Keith McNeill) Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions (David Weiss) Re: Telix and Busy Signals (Steven J. Tucker) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Fernando Lagrana) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Carl Moore) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Ketil Albertsen) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard Reply-To: ebcguss@ebc.ericsson.se Organization: Ericsson Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 10:45:33 GMT In article 2@eecs.nwu.edu, weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu) writes: > It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards > adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we > have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit > more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject. > My specific questions are: > 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM. There are basically three standards -- AMPS used in North America, JSM (?) used in Japan, and GSM used in the rest of the world. It's the same with TV-sets. In Europe we have PAL and SECAM, in the U.S. they have NTSC; don't know about the rest of the world. As I see it, this is a producer-pushed scenario that we will have to live with. The reason is that the producers will be able to sell more terminal-units -- those who need to be accessable in all three areas will have to buy three units instead of one. I don't know a whole lot about the technical differences on the different standards. > 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into > the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved. With GSM, all the operators must be open for roaming with other operators. But for roaming between GSM, AMPS, and JSM, I think we'll have to wait. > 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third > standard that can be used world wide? There are at least two companies working on a satellite based system for digital mobile communication that is to be working worldwide. As I understand these will be working as plain cellular phones when inside i.e. a GSM- cell, but as a satellite-phone when you are in the desert or someplace else without access to a cellular provider. Claes ------------------------------ From: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck) Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standard Date: 5 Jan 1994 19:21:38 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group In article , Weiyun Yu wrote: > 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM. N-AMPS, ADC, and DS-CDMA all offer, at least, 2x the capacity of GSM. NAMPS and CDMA do not have the pulsed-noise interference of GSM. CDMA has the potential to have a longer talk-time. GSM has terrible data services vis-a-vis' Group 3 Fax. > 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into > the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved. > 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third > standard that can be used world wide? The frequencies and access methods (GSM is TDMA/GMSK each channel is 200 KHz, ADC is TDMA/QPSK channels ea 30 KHz, CDMA is DS-CDMA ea channel 1.25 MHz) are completely incompatible. GSM is like ISDN over the air, whereas the other standards aren't so rich. Dan DeClerck EMAIL: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com Motorola Cellular APD Phone: (708) 632-4596 ------------------------------ From: KATHY1310@delphi.com Subject: Re: Digital Cordless Phones Question Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 16:46:06 EST Organization: Delphi Internet I have an AT&T Model 9100. As you have stated, I have had no problems with range within my house (or for that matter in my next door neighbor's house. However, the range outside my house is only about 3/8 mile (it's very hilly and densly populated). I have not exper- ienced any quality problems as of yet. ------------------------------ From: kathi_denial@net.com (Kathleen Denial) Subject: Digital Cordless Phones/Rolm Switch Date: 5 Jan 94 17:12:29 GMT Organization: N.E.T. I am currently looking into using digital cordless phones in conjunction with our Rolm 9751 switch. Has anyone tried this yet? My idea is to assign a persons second line to a SLI channel. The purpose is to allow people reach the IT department when we are away from our desks. As most of you know many problems can be solved immediately if the user can reach you, and get an answer. Has anyone tried this application/do you have any suggestions? Also does anyone have any information on the technology used for the digital cordless phone. Thanks, Kathi Denial ------------------------------ From: Oliver Rothe Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: ISGI GmbH Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 09:31:12 GMT Jack Decker (ao944@yfn.ysu.edu) wrote: > If you think that the fire example is farfetched, just consider that > there are other situations where you might want folks to reach you ... For example, people from other countries (Here in Germany there is still no caller ID, although I assume that the switching systems used would allow for it in most parts of country). Oliver Rothe isgi@ztivax.zfe.siemens.com also reachable via: 100265.1543@compuserve.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However people in other countries, like people in a central office just a couple miles from me not yet equipped with Caller-ID can get through; the difference is the display box says 'out of area' rather than 'private'. That is the key. Even people who refuse to take calls from blocked numbers still accept calls from those sources where the calling number is not known (by the exchange). PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 12:50:19 CST From: CRN@VAX3.ltec.com Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous In TELECOM Digest V14 #6 (Thu, 5 Jan 94), Jack Decker wrote regarding Caller ID Blocking and Anonymous Caller Rejection: > ... and when Caller ID is offered here, it will be a trivial matter > for me to program the dialer wo prepend 1167 to all outgoing calls ... and, > ...By the way, I always get a chuckle out of the folks who say "if you > don't want me to know your number, don't call me!" Believe me, if I > knew that someone I was contemplating calling felt that way, there's > no way I would call them, just because they sound like the sort of > paranoid personality I wouldn't want to deal with. ... Now who's the paranoid one? Another thought: If someone knocks on your door, do they have the right to cover your peep hole ("Visitor ID Blocking"). Curtis R. Nelson, P.E. email: cnelson@ltec.com Lincoln Telephone Company phone: (402) 476-4886 1440 'M' Street fax: (402) 476-5527 Lincoln, NE 68508 ------------------------------ From: winnie@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Jon Edelson) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: Princeton University Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 18:44:59 GMT The question that one must ask oneself when using something like 'Anonymous Call Rejection' can be phrased 'How open do I want to leave my door?' This is not a trivial question; my response is always to put the tools out there so that individuals can make the choices for themselves, as I figure that the question is difficult enough that I shouldn't be answering it for someone else. To take the fire example of this thread: [The situation was a neighbor noticing a house fire, and attempting to call, but getting rejected because of anonymous call rejection.] If the neighbor's front door was unlocked, then people could run in and wake everyone up, or put out the fire. But leaving the door unlocked is a risk. Do people have little glass boxes with 'Pull for emergency access' on their doors, so that anyone can get in if necessary? No, because that would defeat the purpose of the lock on the door. But people do give keys to neighbors, because the additional risk is offset by the enhanced safety of having another set of (trusted) eyes able to look out for you. I tend to turn off the ringer of my phone when I want to sleep. That way people can call me at any time without worrying about disturbing me. However, if there was an emergency when I was in bed, my phone would be worse than useless. I doubt that I would ever get anonymous call rejection; my only need to know who is calling is for convenience. But I say 'Let it be an option, allow people to choose the risk.' Jon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 14:46 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from. People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't receive calls. You can either enter explicit numbers, or tell it to add whoever just called, even if the call had CLID blocked. It's available the same places as other CLASS services, including some where CLID isn't, because it doesn't present the privacy problems. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: msb@advtech.uswest.com (Mark Blumhardt) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 20:45:49 GMT I have not seen the tariff for this service, but I think that a lot of readers on this thread are missing an important distiction. This distinction is between a number not being available and being blocked. That is, the calling party number may not be available for inter-LATA calls, and in my opinion, these calls should not be rejected. This is quite different than if the delivery of a number has been blocked (i.e. *67), which is when calls should be rejected by this service. If the service is worth anything, it would make this distiction. ISUP carries the calling party number and address presentation restriction information (see TR-246 T1.113.3 3.7). Hence, the service could reject calls where calling party number delivery has been blocked and allow calls when the number is not available. Just my observation, Mark ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 10:03:42 EST From: mcneill@ngt.sungard.com (Keith McNeill) Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess we know a few things > If you have two lines from telco, then what you do is at the modular > connection box depends on the kind of phone(s) you are using. If you > have a true two-line phone, then connect the four wires to the four > screw terminals as indicated by the color markings for each. In > addition you attach the four wires from the cover of the modular box > to the associated screw terminals in the same way. Plug in your two > line phone and it should work okay. If you are using two separate > phones, we do it a bit differently. Inside the modular box, have the > four wires connected as above, but from the Y/B terminals, run two > little jumper wires to a second modular box you bought from Radio > Shack or similar. Connect the jumper wires from the Y/B screws of > the first box to the R/G screws in the new, second modular box. Now > plug your second phone into your second box. Actually, Radio Shack sells an RJ11 adaptor that splits out the 1st and second line for you. It looks like a normal one phone jack to two phone jack adaptor, except it has three jacks. One for line one, one for line two and one for both lines. There is no need to do the extra wiring. On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line (first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone (Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX just trying to gouge me? Keith D. McNeill SunGard Capital Markets +1 212 371 1116 560 Lexington Ave, 10th Floor mcneill@ngt.sungard.com New York, NY, 10022 USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may have actually not had any record of the second pair in your apartment or may have had a record of it but shown it to be actually a multiple of someone else's first pair or what-have-you. Have you tested that pair to see if it is alive (with someone else's service because some installer in the past never opened it up at the pole) or if it is in good condition? Have you traced it back to the demarc, such as in the basement of the building where you live? If you can get that second pair back as far as the demarc for the building (or yourself, whichever applies), then you have a second pair and it should not be required for telco to make any visit to your home with the high cost for same. You have to be careful though; make sure that set of wires you are looking at actually goes somewhere and reaches the demarc. If not, then you are possibly stuck for the high installation costs of a second line. You should trace that pair first, getting it back to the demarc if at all possible. Note on the demarc there may be some notations (little tags tied on with bits of string are common) telling the installers what goes where. If you see a notation saying something like 'cable 74, pair 29' or similar then when you call back to the business office if you get the same rap about how a new line has to be installed in your apartment tell the rep you *think* 'cable 74 pair 29' is there already. Note I emphasize 'think'. You're not a phone installer so don't try to act like one. But stress you have seen complete wires back to the demarc which appear to be idle, and you are wondering if the rep will please have someone confirm or correct the outside plant records. PAT] ------------------------------ From: D_WEISS@delphi.com Subject: Re: V.35 to RS-232 Conversions Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 21:31:17 EST Organization: Delphi Internet V.35 to RS-232 Converters are readily available and come in several types, from simple in-line, line powered converters (as for example thoes manufactured by RAD) to A/C powered devices with full line driver capability (Dataprobe). For Information on V.35 specifications, get a copy of the CCITT V series specs. Hope this helps, David Weiss ------------------------------ From: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker) Subject: Re: Telix and Busy signals Date: 5 Jan 1994 06:24:42 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: dh395@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven J Tucker) In a previous article, ericw@seanews.akita.com (Eric Walrod) says: > Okay, I just set up a new PC Logic 14.4kbps Internal Fax/Modem for a > friend, and set-up deltaComm's Telix v3.21 for it. > I CANNOT get Telix to recognize a busy signal. I am already using > ATX4V1 to no avail (sp?). Is your modem actually reporting 'BUSY' when you get a busy signal? If it is, the problem is prob in the configuration of Telix. Type ALT-O and choose option M (Modem and Dialing), Suboption G of this menu defines the 'No Connect Strings'. Make sure 'BUSY' is listed there. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:31:49 +0100 From: LAGRANA Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers In Telecom Digest V13 #842, Anthony D. Vullo asks: > What is the ITU reference for the standard method of writing > telephone numbers? I've noticed the following: > (plus symbol) (country code) (city/area code) (number) Toby Nixon is right when answering that ITU's corresponding reference is Recommendation E.123. This Recommendation was adopted in Melbourne in 1988 and is still in force. Its title is "Notation for national and international telephone numbers". Let me thank Toby Nixon for his answer. Let me not thank George Zmijewski for his, hhhuuummm, rather rough one (I'm both French and TSB official, ha, ha, ha!!!). Fernando Lagrana International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Bureau Editor, Catalogue of Recommmendations Coordinator, Electronic Document Handling Internet: lagrana@itu.ch Voice: + 41 22 730 58 94 Fax: + 41 22 730 58 53 X.400: SURNAME=lagrana, PRIVATE_DOMAIN=itu, ADMIN_DOMAIN=arcom, COUNTRY=ch ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:28:52 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers This responds to mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski): You write: > MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456 > international +44 123 123456 > This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any), > seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody > knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another > country). If an American (i.e. country code 1) telephone number (including the area code) is being to someone outside, it needs +1 in front. By coincidence, a leading 1 is used for long distance within country code 1. ------------------------------ From: ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers Organization: T I H / T I S I P Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:48:00 GMT In article , mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski) writes: > This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any), > seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody > knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another > country). Remembering that USA is 1 is fairly simple, but remembering that Norway is 47 is more difficult. Adopting the American practice of not including country code at all is simply not applicable outside North America. > In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code > numbers and 00 as prefix for country codes. Not at all true, as a general rule. Here in Norway, we currently use 095 1 xxx... to dial North American numbers. Up until last year, a (single) leading 0 generally indicated "not a local, ordinary phone no" but anything else, like long distance (0 + area code), out-of-country (0 95 + country code + national no), directory service (0 180 Nordic countries, 0 181 International), weather forecast, news summary, error reports for the phone system etc.etc.etc. But during 1993, area codes have been removed; you can now in principle move all across the country keeping your old number ("for administrative reasons" they will currently give you a new number, but they admit that one of the reasons for dropping area codes was to open up this possibility from a technical point of view), and the leading zero has been removed from all special services. (There were three special emergency numbers which did have double leading zeros, for Fire alarm, Ambulance and Police respectively; they now have a single leading zero). So it all boils down to 0 being a perfectly ordinary digit, even as a leading one, in the Norwegian national numbering plan. > But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system > (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33 > xxxxxxxx ). According to my phone book, France is 33. Then, if the first digit is 1, then it is Paris, if the first digit is something else, it is NOT Paris but some other area. Is that really "stupid"? You could similarly classify it as stupid that any international number starting with +4722 is Oslo, starting with +4772 or +4773 is Trondheim, and the est of the country is +47 and not +4722, +4772 or +4773. But we see it differently -- the first digits after the country code indicate which city. Plain and simple: There are always eight digits, the leading ones hinting about the location. (Until they open up for taking your phone number along when you move to another city.) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #9 **************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa05969; 5 Jan 94 22:13 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA13066 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 18:33:20 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA30086 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 18:33:03 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 18:33:03 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401060033.AA30086@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #10 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 18:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 10 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Bill Pfeiffer) Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David H. Close) Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David L. Kindred) FCC Approval for Telcom Devices (Jon Batcheller) Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (David Horvath) Hayes' New Modem (Charles Randall Yates) Data Services - GSM (Lars Kalsen) Professor Neon's TV and Movie Mania Machine (Lauren Weinstein) AT&T Secure Software (David R. Arneke) Notice to Antique Phone Buyers (Todd Inch) Japan's Telecom Market (Alex Cena) SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Lenny Escalante) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Carl Moore) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime to Call Some Cellular Phones Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Martin McCormick) Re: Caller-ID in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey J. Carpenter) Re: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts (Jan Ceuleers) Re: Question About Ring Frequency (Tony Pelliccio) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 10:28:44 CST Michael Jacobs wrote: > This entails an available, dedicated high-bandwidth > connection between a subscriber and a software (programming) source > on-demand. Each subscriber will be able to access common (ie-network) > programming or custom (on-demand) programming in real-time. > The keys to this are: > 1) high-bandwidth subscriber loops; > 2) ATM broadband switching; and > 3)mass-storage programming systems (called video servers). Let's not forget #4: Total accounting as to who is watching what channel. Arbitron will have a field day. > There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels > to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one > available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the > current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will > be available to the subscriber on demand! Well that will be a real kick in the teeth for couch potato(e) channel surfers, won't it :-). I think I'll take my cable-clicker (which I can use to sample the wares on several channels quickly) over this system. > The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in > NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to > watch. No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu. Current tv technology offers you a choice among the available programming. On-demand exists now. Nobody holds that channel selector but you. How does the medium of delivery change the fact that someone else still creates the programming? > If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500 > channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go > the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100 > years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive > obsolescence. Well, Mike, I am old enough to remember all the fancy claims that 'cable-tv' would put over-the-air tv out of business, would make networks obsolete, would transform our very lives, would offer first-run movies, would offer live video from foreign countries, would bring the classroom to the living room, would offer access to niche programming, fine arts, etc etc etc. What we wound up with is re-run mills, home shopping channels, music videos, 24 hour weather channels, preachers, pay-per-view wrestling and more commercials than ever. Even the so-called premium services like HBO are lame and repetitive. So before I go GA-GA over this new network idea, I gotta see the plans. If the tele-entertainment industry's history of 'promising heaven and delivering re-runs' is any indication, we will have 500 channels of on-demand QVC and pay-per-view wrestling. > Personal Opinions Only Same here. William Pfeiffer - Moderator/Editor rec.radio.broadcasting - Airwaves Radio Journal - Internet email - Article Submission: articles@airwaves.chi.il.us Subscription Desk: subscribe@airwaves.chi.il.us ------------------------------ From: dhclose@cco.caltech.edu (David H. Close) Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas Date: 5 Jan 1994 07:56:59 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) writes [about Dallas/Fort Worth]: > In most cases, you are permitted, but not required, to dial the 1 > anyway, and all telcos are recommended to allow 1 + NPA + number for > all calls within the NANP, including local calls within the same NPA. > I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern Bell, > since my parents had to accept exile to be within commute distance of > my father's new office location. It is possible that SWB does better > on this point, as well as in every single other facet of telephone > service. True also for SWB. In fact the recording is, "We're sorry..." As I've posted before, they certainly are! Whatever the solution to the 1+ problem, it sure would be nice if *something* worked everywhere. Even if other techniques were local option. Maybe a new prefix, 111+ NPA+7D, which could be used *anywhere*, for either local or LD calls, same NPA or different. Perhaps the third 1 (or whatever) could be considered a country code, so that whatever scheme is adopted will eventually work world-wide. The 1+ problem seems like a NANP problem now, but will certainly be a world problem soon. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa dhclose@alumni.caltech.ed dave@compata.attmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:18 EST From: kindred@telesciences.com (David L Kindred) Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas Linc Madison writes: > I only tried this from GTE Southwest, not from Southwestern > Bell, since my parents had to accept exile to be within > commute distance of my father's new office location. It is > possible that SWB does better on this point, as well as in > every single other facet of telephone service. My parents lived in the SWB part of the Dallas area a few years ago. During the time they lived there, the dialing requirements not only varied due to area code and "localness", but also by whether the "other" phone company was involved. I don't remember the particulars, but dialing a local SWB-SWB call was different than dialing a local SWB-GTE call. As I recall, you needed at least ten, if not eleven digits, to call a GTE 214xxxxxxx number from a SWB 214xxxxxxx number, even if the call was to the next exchange (or next house...). One major annoyance was the percentage of calls into GTE that went high-and-dry. Has any of this changed recently? Dave ------------------------------ From: jonb@library1.mentorg.com (Jon Batcheller) Subject: FCC Approval for Telcom Devices Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 22:29:33 GMT Organization: Mentor Graphics I am looking for a lab or list of labs to get FCC approval of a telcom device to be marketed in the US. Thanks! Jon A. Batcheller Mentor Graphics Campus 8005 SW Boeckman Rd., Wilsonville, OR 97070-7777 (503) 685-1249 jonb@mentorg.com ------------------------------ From: dhorvath@sas.upenn.edu (David Horvath) Subject: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! Date:v Wed, 5 Jan 94 17:40:17 EST I was one of those who, a few months ago, ordered Sprint LD service while under the impression that I would get *one* external 9600 baud *data* modem with FAX. After speaking with the post-offer Sprint staff, I accepted the internal 2400 baud data and 9600 baud fax modem. Now the problem -- I just got a second modem in the mail! Exactly the same as the first. All I have is an 818 area code phone number for Best Data, so I don't want to call them back; it came UPS, so I can't just throw it in the mail with REFUSED scribbled all over it. I doubt the Sprint rep's will be able to help. Now what? David Horvath [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do you want an honest answer or a correct answer? Let me know, and I'll reply. PAT] ------------------------------ From: yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates) Subject: Hayes' New Modem Date: 5 Jan 1994 19:52:24 GMT Organization: University of South Florida Dear Information Theorists: Have any of you heard about the Hayes Optima 288 V.FC + FAX modem? It can allegedly transmit data over a phone line at 28.8 kilobits per second *WITHOUT COMPRESSION*!!!! I thought you guys told us the upper limit was in the low 20's. What gives? Randy Yates Electrical Engineering/Mathematics Major ------------------------------ From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen) Subject: Data Services - GSM Date: 5 Jan 94 19:56:03 GMT Hi - outthere, I have a couple of questions about data services in GSM: - is there right now terminal equipment on the European market for datatransmission via GSM? - what plans do the different suppliers of mobile telephones have to put on GSM the market in 1994? - will the GSM-operators offer all the data services in the GSM-specifications - or will they all offer different subsets of these? Please e-mail me if you have any piece of information. I will put the information together and send this to all who respond to this letter. Happy New Year, Lars Kalsen dalk@login.dkuug.dk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 11:34 PST From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Professor Neon's TV and Movie Mania Machine On the subject of fun phone numbers, "Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania Machine" is definitely still up and running! --- (310) 455-0971 --> Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania Machine! Greetings. In honor of the bygone days of telephone entertainment, I'm pleased to announce that Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania Machine is available, 24 hours/day, on +1 (310) 455-0971. This of course is an ordinary phone number, so only regular phone charges (if any) apply. Callers will receive a randomly selected item relating to television and cinema, including nostalgia, trivia, games, viewing suggestions, and more. Right now, the nostalgia element strongly predominates. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that most of the materials on there now are things that you haven't heard anywhere for at least 20 years -- if not longer -- or ever! You'll fire up some old neurons and relive memories you thought had faded away decades ago. Will you go running for your old polyester leisure suit or bell-bottoms? I certainly hope not. Have fun. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ From: darneke@attmail.com (David R Arneke) Date: 5 Jan 94 15:24:16 GMT Subject: AT&T SecureE Software AT&T LICENSES LINKABLE CODE FOR SECURE SOFTWARE GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- AT&T is giving software developers access to linkable code modules for encryption, public key exchange and other communications security functions. AT&T announced today that a comprehensive library of linkable code modules, including RSA security technology and the NIST Digital Signature Algorithm, is available for licensing. Linkable code is available in the form of linkable object module libraries and Windows Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), which are under license from Information Security Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois. The code is compatible with shrink-wrapped programs recently introduced by AT&T. The security functions included have applications for a broad variety of software, including tax returns and other electronic-forms programs, electronic mail, electronic data interchange and electronic fund transfers. "Electronic commerce has an inherent requirement for privacy, data integrity, authentication and non-repudiation," said Larry Salter, director of secure systems and services for AT&T Secure Communications Systems. "These capabilities are ideal for PCMCIA and smart-card applications as well as conventional software for PCs and workstations." The package includes code for DES encryption, the ElGamal public key cryptosystem, the Digital Signature Algorithm, the Secure Hash Standard and most RSA security functions, including RSA encryption, key management and digital signatures; MD5 hashing functions; and the Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol. A proprietary encryption algorithm for exportable applications is available as well. More than a dozen military and civilian federal agencies and a growing number of corporations have already licensed the code for new software applications, Salter said. "This is a full range of information security functions, relying on the most widely accepted government and commercial standards," Salter said. Prices for code packages containing DSA technology are $750 for the DOS/Windows version, $1,000 for the Macintosh version and $1250 for the UNIX version. For code packages containing RSA technology are $300 for the DOS/Windows version, $400 for the Macintosh version and $500 for the UNIX version. The license allows developers to load the code into two workstations for software development. Royalty payments are required for distribution of applications to end users. AT&T and ISC have incorporated the code modules into software that provides a wide range of security capabilities. AT&T SecretAgent (R) Software provides DES encryption, ElGamal key management and DSA digital signature technology. AT&T SecretAgent (R) II Software provides DES encryption, RSA digital signatures and key management, and MD5 for message digests. AT&T Surity (TM) DSA Signature Software is a digital signature program. And AT&T SecureZMODEM (R) provides DES encryption and user-transparent key management for data communications using the ZMODEM protocol. Programs using RSA technology are in development. Software developers can get more information on licensing the AT&T linkable code module library by calling the AT&T Secure Communications Customer Service Center, 1 800 203-5563. ------------------------------ From: toddi@ocsg.com (Todd Inch) Subject: Notice to Antique Phone Buyers Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:54:43 PST I finally checked out an old phone that has been in a locked case at the local thrift store for months and wonder if any collectors out there want me to buy it for them, or buy my old Monophone, for that matter. It's shaped like an old Monophone, but has an all-brass base and a swivel-up handle apparently for carrying it. The handset is bakelight and the handset cord is cloth covered. RTT56 is stamped on the underside and I believe RTT is in a logo on the dial. It also has a white button in front of the dial on the front. It's priced at $79.99, which is surprisingly expensive for a thrift store where I occasionally get "real" (e.g. WECO, ITT, Stromberg, etc) touch-tone phones for $5 or so. I can probably get it for half that with a coupon or during one of their "half off everything" days, which are on every major holiday. Anybody interested, or have more information? It's only in fair shape. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 16:12:23 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Japan's Telecom Market There are several deadlines coming up in Japan over the next few weeks on various disputes. Feb. 11 is the deadline for a deal on opening Japan's government procurement market for telecommunications equipment. 1) Does anyone have any details or thoughts on this issue? 2) Are there any US firms that do well selling to private firms in Japan? Why? Why not? 3) Has anyone seen anything in industry publications on this? TIA, Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 12:17:27 EST From: Lenny Escalante Subject: SW-56 and ISDN Questions Sirs: I'm a tech with Brown University in Providence RI. My question is basic, yet important to our work here at Brown, perhaps you may be able to give me some direction to obtain the answers. 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable? 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are still operating at SW-56? 3. If you know, who are their carriers? Please respond to Leonardo_Escalante@Brown.edu, or fax to 401-863-7329. Many thanks in advance, Lenny Escalante ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:47:43 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones The 1 + 7D --> 1 + NPA + 7D is for long distance within your own area code. (Refers to the comment about Colorado.) Colorado has two area codes as of 1988: 303 and 719. In which area code is 579 located, or do both area codes have it? ------------------------------ From: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: MGZ Computer Services Reply-To: mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:20:06 GMT In article 0003513813@mcimail.com "John C. Fowler" writes: > I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular > service. In UK calls to cellphones were *always* "caller pays". Some rip-off companies charged also for incoming calls but that idea died very quickly. Who will want to pay for incoming calls if they have the choice of getting them for "free"? The UK system of tariffs seems to me logical (unlike US). If you call cellphones you pay 4.2p for every 7.61 sec (33p per minute); if you call from cellphone you pay 25p per minute to anywhere in UK including another cellphone. IMHO this price structure made it possible for cellphone to become so popular -- most calls to cellphones are made from offices where somebody else pays for the call :-) Also the cellphones are subsidized by the airtime providers (in the best times the dealer would get GBP 400 for connecting new cus- tomers -- now this commission is down to about GBP 100. BTW the idea of free local calls is unknown here. :-( George Zmijewski ------------------------------ From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:57:52 GMT Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes perfect sense to me. It isn't any more fair or proper to charge cellular subscribers for received calls than it is to charge any other type of subscriber. There should be a choice of two different types of cellular service. One would charge the caller for the call with the cell phone getting no aditional charges for received calls while the other would be what we have now with the cellular subscriber paying for both answered and originated calls. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 15:51:49 EST From: Jeffrey J. Carpenter Subject: Re: Caller-ID in Pennsylvania In article is written: > I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that Gov. Casey as one of his first > acts after taking the reigns of leadership back signed a Caller-ID > bill for PA which includes blocking provisions. Can anyone substantiate > that and give more information about how and when it will be available? Senate Bill 860 was passed and signed into law as Act 83. I have been told that it permits Caller-ID with per call blocking. The person who drafted the bill is on vacation until Monday, so I won't get any more specifics until then. They are sending me a copy of the bill. Bell of Pennsylvania says it will be available in 1994, but the schedule for which exchanges will have it when is not yet determined (or ready for public announcement). Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter Computing and Information Services, University of Pittsburgh 600 Epsilon Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238-2887 jjc+@pitt.edu, +1 412 624 6424, FAX +1 412 624 6436 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 13:54:09 PST From: Jan.Ceuleers@f857.n292.z2.fidonet.org (Jan Ceuleers) Subject: Re: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts I quote Dave Levenson: > Does the user experience talk-off only from one telephone > set? Try replacing its handset or transmitter element. Can > the minimum tone duration on your voice mail system be > administered? Try increasing it a few tens of milliseconds. > We have found that 50 - 75 msec. work well. Unfortunately, this is not in accordance with the specifications laid out in many countries. A Q.23 receiver must typically be able to reliably detect as little as 40 ms at up to -28 dBm. In the case of a voice mail system, the level requirements are even more stringent (-43 dBm). In some countries, these tests are performed while dial tone at e.g. -7 dBm is also present on the line. Elsewhere, (I think it's Spain) they even superimpose a voice signal at some ludicrously high level (-2 dBm or something). In my opinion, the level requirements are unrealistic in many cases. Requiring a Q.23 receiver to detect a tone at -43dBm means that the network is allowed to attenuate by some 36 dB, given the fact that DTMF tones must be transmitted at -7 dBm. Jan Origin: Experimenter Board, Antwerp, Belgium (2:292/857) uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!2!292!857!Jan.Ceuleers Internet: Jan.Ceuleers@f857.n292.z2.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Question About Ring Frequency Date: 5 Jan 1994 15:07:50 GMT Organization: Brown University Alumni & Development Office In article , joeshmoe@world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) wrote: > Can someone tell me the ring frequecies and durations of the standard US > telephone ring? Around here it's a 20Hz signal, two seconds on, four seconds off. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR Anthony_Pelliccio@Brown.edu Brown University Alumni & Development Computing Services Box 1908 Providence, RI 02912 (401) 863-1880 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #10 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa06256; 5 Jan 94 23:16 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA22429 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:41:25 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA22775 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:41:10 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 19:41:10 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401060141.AA22775@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #11 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 19:41:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 11 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Digicom Modems FAQ Version 2.01 (Wolfgang Henke) Fax Services Wanted (Darren Ingram) Brendan Kehoe Critically Injured in Car Accident (Monty Solomon) How to Send Your Thoughts to Brendan Kehoe (Jim Thomas & Gordon Meyer) How do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest? (Wolf Paul) Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wolfgang@netcom.com (Wolfgang Henke) Subject: Digicom Modems FAQ Version 2.01 Organization: Netcom Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 01:55:47 GMT Digicom Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.01 archived at ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang/Digicom.faq email additions to wolfgang@netcom.com 1. Which different models of Digicom modems are there? 2. What is SoftModem technology and what are its benefits? 3. What is special about Digicom? 4. Can you explain the Signal Computing Architecture? 5. Are there Digicom related ftp sites? 6. What is the recommended setup string? 7. What are the current ROM revisions? 8. Where can I get technical support? 9. Are there any reviews available? 10. Where can I purchase Digicom modems? 11. What's so hot about modems? 1. Which different models of Digicom modems are there? Digicom currently offers Connection series, Scout+ series and 9624 series modems and a 1.544 Mbps digital CSU/DSU. A) Connection series The Connection modems are the industry's first SoftModems. Two models are available: the Connection 14.4+ is an internal 14,400 bps data modem and the Connection 14.4+ FAX is an internal 14,400 bps data and 14,400 bps fax modem. Connection series modems are software upgradeable without having to burn EPROMs. Digicom Connection 14.4+ (internal) software Digicom Connection 14.4+ FAX (internal) upgradeable CCITT V.32bis Modulation (14,400/12,000/7200 bps) X CCITT V.42bis Data Compression X CCITT V.32 Modulation (9600bps/4800bps) X CCITT V.22bis, Bell 212A (2400/1200bps) X V.42 (LAPM) and MNP 4 Error Control X Built-In Speaker for Line Monitoring X Autobaud and Automatic Speed Negotiation X DTE Speeds up to 115,200 baud X Flow Control Selection (Xon/Xoff or RTS/CTS) X Configurable COM Ports 1-4, IRQ 3-5 Support X Extended AT Command Set X V.54 Test Modes and Diagnostics X 16550A UART Compatibility X FCC Class A/B Approved X Five Year Warranty X Qmodem Lite Communication Software X Send/Receive Fax 14,400 bps V.17 Class 1 Group 3 X SoftModem manager, Delrina Winfax Lite (included with the Connection 14.4+ FAX) V.32terbo (19,200/16,800 bps de facto standard) X (available December/January) B) Scout+ series: There are five different Scout+ modems available. The Scout+ is an external 14,400 bps data and fax modem. The Scout+ PC is an internal 14,400 bps data and fax modem. The Scout+ Terbo is an external 19,200 bps data and 14,400 bps fax modem. External modems are also available for the Apple MacIntosh. Digicom Scout+ (external) 14,400 bps data 14,400 bps fax Digicom Scout+ PC (internal) 14,400 bps data 14,400 bps fax Digicom Scout+ Terbo (external) 19,200 bps data 14,400 bps fax V.32terbo de facto standard (19,200/16,800 bps) (Scout+ Terbo only) CCITT V.32bis Modulation (14,400/12,000/7200 bps) CCITT V.42bis Data Compression CCITT V.32 Modulation (9600bps/4800bps) CCITT V.22bis, Bell 212A (2400/1200bps) V.42 (LAPM) and MNP 4 Error Control Built-In Speaker for Line Monitoring Autobaud and Automatic Speed Negotiation DTE Speeds up to 57,600 baud (115,200 baud for Scout+ Terbo) Flow Control Selection (Xon/Xoff or RTS/CTS) V.54 Test Modes and Diagnostics Online help and signal quality testing 16550A UART Compatibility FCC Class A/B Approved Five Year Warranty Qmodem Lite Communication Software Send/Receive Fax 14,400 bps V.17 Class 1 Group 3 Delrina Winfax Lite and Dosfax Lite Compuserve and Prodigy membership kits C) 9624 series modems The 9624 series modems are 14,400 bps data and fax modems which are available in external and rack mounted versions. Digicom 9624LE+ (external) Digicom 9624LR+ (rack mounted; 16 per rack) Digicom 9624E+ (external) Digicom 9624AR+ (rack mounted; 16 per rack; modem management) V.32bis, V.32, V.22bis, V.22, V.21, Bell 212A 14,400, 12,000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400, and 1200 bps V.42bis and MNP 5 data compression V.42 (Lap M, MNP 4), MNP 2, 3 and 4 error correction Group 3 send and receive fax, V.29, V.27ter and V.21 adaptive handshake, auto line monitor and retrain full duplex dial-up and two-wire leased line operation asynchronous 10 or 11 bit including start/stop synchronous with internal or external timing flow control XON/XOFF, RTS/CTS, HP ENQ/ACK single number call-back EIA RS-232C up to 38,400 bps RJ-11 with MI/MIC support transmit level -10 dBm (dial), -2 and -10 dBm (leased) receive level 33 db dynamic range, (-43 dBm dial, -35 dBm leased) test modes V.54 analog, digital and remote loopback with selftest Temperature 0 to 50 degrees Celsius relative humidity 0 to 95 degrees non-condensing Appropriate FCC, DOC, UL and CSA certificates with Qmodem and Fax software very low ping latency 2 year warranty 9624LE+ (external): eight LED indicator lights grey/white metal housing talk/data switch 1.5 x 6.5 x 9.0 inches 7 Watts maximum 9624LR+ (rack): 9 LEDS and fits into the 9100RS rack. The 9100RS accepts up to sixteen rack cards. Card dimension 6.25 x 0.8 x 11.5 inches Power: 18 VAC supplied to card Rack dimension: 7 x 19 x 14 inches Power: 117 VAC 60 Hz input 9624E+ (external): all features of 9624LE+ plus 4 wire leased line operation, V.25bis autodial, LCD front panel 9624AR+ (rack): all features of the 9624LR+ plus 4 wire leased line operation, V.25bis autodial, dial backup and Network Management support for 9000ARS rack system D) Digital CSU/DSU The Digicom 5664 FT1 is a fractional T1 CSU/DSU. The bandwith on digital lines can be increased in increments of 56,000/64,000 bps up to a maximum speed of 1,544,000 bps. Digicom 5664 FT1 fractional T1 CSU/DSU 1,544,000 bps digital line Framing: D4, ESF BIT Rate: 1,544 Mbps + 50 Hz Time-Slot Allocation: User defined Transmit Timing: Internal, Network, DTE and External DTE ports: 2,4 and 6 (field expandable) Line code: AMI Signal Levels: 3.0 V + 0.3 V Connector: D-Type 15 pin male Interface Type: RS-449, V.35 or EIA530 Network Performance Monitoring Alarms 2. What is SoftModem Technology and what are its benefits? The SoftModem (tm) Technology Story Digicom Systems' exclusive SoftModem Technology has revolutionized modem design using a general-purpose, reprogrammable Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip. This neat software solution allows you to take advantage of on-board RAM-based modem/DSP memory. The SoftModem approach allows operational algorithms to be easily installed, quickly changed, and most importantly, upgraded via software. Designed using upgradeable hardware architecture, SoftModem Technology provides the flexibility necessary to keep up with evolving communications standards and changing command interfaces. In addition, this design improves support and service and facilitates the integration of data, fax, and voice-related applications. SoftModem Technology provides all the standard features and characteristics of a high-speed, high-performance modem as a hardware programmable solution that can be modified or enhanced and then distributed over the telephone line, computer networks or on a diskette. Based on SoftModem Technology Upgrade modem features without changing the hardware. That means you can keep up with changing standards and save money. Just install new software to get more out of your modem! FREE ROM updates such as V.32bis (14,400 bps), V.42bis and MNP5 (data compression) can be downloaded. Feature upgrades like Send/Receive V.17 Fax (14,400 bps) and V.32terbo (19,200 bps) will be available from your local computer reseller or online distributors. The Connection 144+ is the world's first software upgradeable modem. It's based on SoftModem Technology, which reduces the risk of obsolescence that is always a problem with traditional modems. Protect your modem investment - the Connection 14.4+ will serve your needs for years to come. 3. What's so special about Digicom? Some background on Digicom: Digicom Systems, Inc. was one of the first to realize the power and flexibility of digital signal processing solutions in data communications (in 1987). DSI then emerged as a leader in modem DSP design which allowed them the flexibility to introduce the first V.32 modem using just one, albeit very powerful DSP. Digicom introduced the industry's first V.32bis modem to market, the first V.32bis modem with send and receive fax capability and very recently the first modem based on SoftModem Technology. A local Silicon Valley manufacturer. 4. Can you explain Signal Computing Architecture? Digicom's products are based on Analog Devices general purpose digital signal processors, abbreviated DSP. Modem algorithms require powerful computational resources and DSPs are well suited to meet them cost effectively. Analog Devices has introduced a common architecture for its DSPs and the accompanying peripheral chips. It is called the Signal Computing Architecture. The advantages of this approach are manifold. Companies developing in different areas of digital signal processing like voice, data communications, graphics can join efforts more easily and offer a more unified interface to application program developers. The Signal Computing Architecture is indeed very popular at present and is attracting more and more developers, like AOX, Cardinal, Dialogic, Hewlett Packard, Media Vision, Spectron and many others. For interested readers BYTE magazine's four article series on Signal Computing may be a good start (November 1992). The Signal Computing Architecture is emerging as a cost effective albeit powerful and versatile platform for communications and multimedia applications. 5. Are there Digicom related ftp sites? feenix.metronet.com /pub/wolfgang SoftModem related files. The subdirectory /smodem carries the latest production algorithms and open beta files. Drivers for Linux and OS/2 are available here. ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang General information files, like this file Digicom.FAQ. ftp.rahul.net /pub/wolfgang Scout+ modem files sgi.com /sgi/fax FlexFAX Unix fax software and fax related documents and information. 6. What is the recommended setup for PCs, Macs and Suns? Here are a few simple setup strings for three different operating systems which work well for the author. They should work with the Digicom Scout+ as well as Digicom 9624 series of modems. For the Connection 14.4+ modems AT&F&W1 should work fine in most cases. Enabling &W1 will report error correction call progress when connecting. Setup for the Digicom Scout+ modem. Setup string for IBM compatibles: AT&F&W Software Qmodem at*o MODEL:SCOUT PLUS DTE: 57600 N81 DCE: IDLE E1 K1 M1 Q0 V1 X4 TONE &B0 &C1 &D2 &R2 &T5 *E9 *F3 *G1 *M1 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1 S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255 S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000 S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000 S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000 OK Setup string for Apple MacIntosh: AT&F&D0&W Software Quicklink II, cable included with modem Use *F0 with Eagle and non hardware handshake cable at*o MODEL:SCOUT PLUS DTE: 57600 N81 DCE: IDLE E1 K1 M1 Q0 V1 X4 TONE &B0 &C1 &D0 &R2 &T5 *E9 *F3 *G1 *M1 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1 S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255 S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000 S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000 S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000 OK Setup string for Sun 3/60: AT&F*F2*M0X5M0&W Software tip from 4.1.1 at*o MODEL:SCOUT PLUS DTE: 38400 N81 DCE: IDLE E1 K1 M0 Q0 V1 X5 TONE &B0 &C1 &D0 &R2 &T5 *E9 *F2 *G1 *M0 *N6 *P0 *Q1 *S1 *T1 S00=002 S04=010 S08=002 S15=255 S01=000 S05=008 S09=000 S18=000 S02=043 S06=002 S10=003 S25=000 S03=013 S07=045 S12=050 S26=000 OK 7. Where can I get technical support? Digicom Systems, Inc. 188 Topaz Street, Milpitas, CA 95035 Voice: (408) 262-1277 FAX: (408) 262-1390 Digicom BBS: (408) 262-1412 SoftModem BBS: (408) 262-5629 Also have a look at the ftp sites listed under answer #5 and the list of competent resellers and distributors listed under answer #10. A few commands which can be very helpful in case of difficulties are ATI7 online help ATI6 reason of last disconnect ATSQ signal quality monitor AT*O display current connection statistics and register settings. 8. What are the current ROM code revisions? Latest production ROM releases: Scout+ 11.98 MHz 3225/2930 no V.17 3225/3310 with V.17 3507/3506 Eagle 3310/3310 Scout+ Terbo 3823/3A22 Connection 96+ DATA96 3628/3413 DATA144 3628/3413 DATA144B 3628/3610 FAX144C1 3614/3413 TEST.DSI 3628/3413 9624LE+/9624PC+/9624LR+ 1B11/2503 9624E+/9624AR+ 2227/2503 The first number represents the controller code revision, the second number (after the slash) the DSP code revision. It's datecoded: 3225 e.g. translates into 1993 February 25. 9. Are there any reviews available? There are numerous modem reviews in which Digicom modems are usually fairing quite well. Here is only a brief selection. PC Computing Magazine rated the Digicom Scout+ as the top choice from the 48 modem reviewed in the June 1993 issue. Modems were rated for price/performance. ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang/Scout.txt has a review of the Scout+ by the author of these frequently asked questions. sgi.com /sgi/fax/bakeoff carries extensive test results on the fax capabilities of several current modems and rates them according to a metric called faxstones. The test was performed by Sam Leffler. The Scout+ faired well. PC Week reviewed the Digicom 9624LE+ favorably in its November 19, 1990 issue. PCWeek published benchmark results on April 29, 1991. The 9624LE+ was selected as the Analysts' choice. The fractional FT1 CSU/DSU received the 1993 user choice award in Communications News. Digicom is supplying modems and chipsets to several other modem manufacturers under OEM aggreements. 10. Where can I purchase Digicom modems? Firms that carry Digicom communication products and know them well: Argentina: Turbo Bulletin Board Service +54-1-545-0370 voice/fax +54-1-545-0365 BBS claudio@satlink.net contact: Claudio Vidal Australia: Amuse Developments New Zealand: +64-3-379-5000 +64-3-379-8760 BBS/fax jay@amuse.adsp.sub.org chrish@python.equinox.gen.nz contact: Jeremy Elgin Austria: Focus EDV GesmbH +43-316-28-16-16-0 +43-316-28-16-16-981 (fax) contact: Georg Tamm Germany: Seicom Computer Vertriebs- und Service GmbH +49-7121-9770-0 +49-7121-9770-19 (fax) +49-7121-9770-20 (Fido) +49-7121-9770-30 (Unix Test BBS) haug@seicom.de contact: Winfried Haug DIGICOM MODEM Support & Distribution Site in Germany Hongkong: Global Network Communication Technology Co. +852-4925025 (BBS) tomyan@gnct.com (retail) garyng@gnct.com (corporate) contact: Gary Ng Ireland: Gallimaufry Ltd. +353-88-599673 (Mobile) Paul Harrington +353-88-547228 (Mobile) Ronan Waldron +353-1-966052 (fax) phrrngtn@gallimaufry.ie info@gallimaufry.ie phrrngtn@dsg.cs.tcd.ie contact: Paul Harrington "We support the FSF. We support/install/configure Scout+ modems for fax, e-mail, slip, uucp etc. We offer consultancy by e-mail as well as by remote login over internet and phone." Japan: Independant Research Associates +81-75-951-1168 +81-75-957-1087 (fax) davidg@aegis.org davidg@aegis.or.jp (within Japan) contact: Dave McLane IRA offers Telix (DOS) and Z-term (Mac) installations configured for Scout+ (no extra charge) and consults on various telcommunication projects (contact for fees). Singapore: Modems By Mail order c/o DLS Pte. Ltd. 462 Siglap Road #01-06 Singapore 1545 pg: 4004316 fax: 4485831 inet: kohkhang@iscs.nus.sg contact: Jerry Koh USA: WH Networks +1-415-390-9316 +1-415-964-2027 (fax) wolfgang@netcom.com contact: Wolfgang Henke 11. What's so hot about modems? "A lowly device, called modem, was central to the initial formation stages of our information based society. For several decades after the invention of the transistor its cost of production declined dramatically while the cost of bandwidth remained high due to cost-plus regulation of local telephone monopolies." 4th grade textbook, 2043 WH Networks (415) 390-9316 2672 Bayshore Parkway Suite 503 fax (415) 964-2027 Mountain View CA 94043 ftp.netcom.com /pub/wolfgang USA feenix.metronet.com /pub/wolfgang ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 20:39 GMT From: Darren Ingram Subject: Fax Services Wanted Reply-To: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk Greetings, I am looking for a low cost service which I can use to send faxes around the world. I have prime requirements to send fax to NA and the Asia Pacific regions. I could do with single copy and mailing list type services. Ideally I'd like to deliver straight ASCII via Internet for faxing out, *but* it must not have lots of urwry@fax.me. received @iworuw.;rwioruwr.wriu type gibberish; ergo, I'd want a similar output to that you'd expect through a fax card and winfax. Any ideas? By mail please! TIA, Darren Ingram, M2 Communications Ltd ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Jan 1994 13:32:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Brendan Kehoe Critically Injured in Car Accident [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This report is presented FYI and passed along by Monty Solomon from our sister publication Computer Underground Digest to present more details about the accident and how to respond. Following this, a message from Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer of CuD which will elaborate further. My thanks to the several readers who wrote to ask for more specifics both about Kehoe and CuD. Hopefully the messages which follow in this issue will answer questions. PAT] Begin forwarded message: Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 14:41:00 CST Reply-To: TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU Sender: CU-DIGEST list From: TK0JUT2@NIU.bitnet Subject: Brendan Kehoe critically injured in car accident To: Multiple recipients of list CUDIGEST Brendan Kehoe, Cu Digest archivist at ftp.eff.org and author of ZEN AND THE ART OF THE INTERNET, was critically injured in an automobile accident in Pennsylvania on Friday, 31 December. He sustained massive head injuries, but on Monday, the prognosis for his survival was "cautiously optimistic," according to his brother. Tragically, the severity of the injuries will likely produce permanent disability, although the nature and extent remains uncertain at this time. Doctors expect that he will be semi-comatose for at least two weeks. The hospital is not allowing him to receive flowers or other tangibles. Cards may be sent to him at: Brendan Kehoe c/o Alice Kehoe Penn Tower Hotel Civic Center Blvd ad 34th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 Brendan will not be able to directly communicate for some time. But, his brother and a few friends intend to set up a net-link to keep people informed of his condition. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 18:52 CST From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu) Subject: How to Send Your Thoughts to Brendan Kehoe As Pat noted in a previous issue of TELECOM Digest, Brendan Kehoe was seriously injured in a car crash on 31 December. Brendan's wit and helpfulness earned him many friends. The Cu Digest editors are encouraging netfolk to send electronic messages to him that include a joke, funny story, or a "get-well" recipe. The editors will accept e-mail contributions until about January 19. Then, we'll print the responses on rag-bond paper, bind them, and send them to him as a "net anthology." Send notes to: tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu with the subject header: TO BRENDAN Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer CuD Editors [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I hope all readers of this Digest who are familiar with Brendan Kehoe will take a few minutes sometime in the next week or so to send their thoughts to Jim and Gordon per the examples above. I hope they get so much stuff they have to make two or three volumes to hold it all! :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: cc_paul@aaf.alcatel.at (Wolf Paul) Subject: How Do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest? Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 14:20:15 MET Unfortunately some of us don't know how to get hold of the current issue of the CUD. Could you please post a pointer to it, or post the appropriate sections here. Thanks, Wolf Paul (who wants to send a card). Wolf N. Paul, Computer Center wnp@aaf.alcatel.at Alcatel Austria Research Center +43-1-391621-122 (w) Ruthnergasse 1-7 +43-1-391452 (fax) A-1210 Vienna-Austria/Europe +43-1-2206481 (h) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The message before this one explains how to write to Brendan. For those readers who are not familiar with Computer Underground Digest, now is a good time to tell you about it. It began back in 1990 as an overflow mailing list for a series of messages here in TELECOM Digest dealing with hacking and phreaking, and some persons who had been arrested and put on trial for related things. The messages just kept rolling in and CuD stayed around to become -- like this Digest -- a very popular, very well-read e-journal on the computer networks of the world. CuD should definitly be on your 'must read' list of e-journals and if you would like to subscribe I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I do. Let me repeat the address Jim Thomas gave earlier: tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu This will get you a free subscription to our sister publication, Computer Underground Digest, and I hope you will sign up today. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 9:38:55 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident Where in Pennsylvania is Newton? I know of West Newton, Newton Hamilton, Newtown Square, and Newtown. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point, Carl. According to my Rand McNally atlas there are two separate communities in Pennsylvania each called "Newtown"; between them their combined population is less than four thousand people. There appears to be no such place as 'Newton' in Pennsylvania. Perhaps JT or the writer of the original message will issue a correction. In the meantime, his mother Alice is staying in Philadelphia; see an earlier message in this issue. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #11 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa06600; 6 Jan 94 0:46 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA05824 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:15:46 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA06093 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:15:33 -0600 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 21:15:33 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401060315.AA06093@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #12 TELECOM Digest Wed, 5 Jan 94 21:15:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 12 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Dik T. Winter) Re: California ANI Question (Steve Forrette) Re: California ANI Question (Steven H. Lichter) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Carl Oppedahl) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (David A. Kaye) Re: Wireless Transciever Boards (Cliff Sharp) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Joe George) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (R. McMillin) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Ron Schnell) Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Peter Gregory) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (John S. Roberts Jr.) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Carl Oppedahl) Re: Telephone Answering Machine Question (Carl Moore) Calvacom: New Distribution Site For Digest (TELECOM Digest Editor) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dik.Winter@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 02:22:39 GMT In article mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk writes: > I don't know what the ITU decided but in UK we are told to use: > MYCOMPANY NAME (0123) 123456 > international +44 123 123456 The second line is the recommended ITU method. > This seems a bit stupid -- the American system (if there is any), > seems to be much better -- just the area code plus number. Everybody > knows when to add 1 or when to add 001 (if calling from another > country). Most American numbers I see are in the form (202) 855-4444. Should I add a 1? Or 001? None will work. > In Europe 0 is being now used as prefix for area code numbers and 00 > as prefix for country codes. Hey! When did you change to 00 as prefix instead of 010? I thought that was in the future? > But then some French idiots come up with a stupid numbering system > (for Paris *and* Greater Paris +331 xxxxxxxx rest of the country +33 > xxxxxxxx ). Is it a revenge for changing CCITT to ITU? The French may be idiots, but you are an idiot parsing numbers. The first should be +33 1xxxxxxxx. So the country is +33. Anyhow, try to phone me. Area code plus home number are 206372010. Try your logic preceding it with either 1 or 001. A better choice for you would be 01031 (and 0031 in the future). dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098 home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Date: 6 Jan 1994 00:46:16 GMT Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) In , reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) writes: > Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that > "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he > understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm > sure someone here knows for sure. ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can get your ANI. I manage a switch which has hundreds of 800 numbers going to it (about five of them for my personal use), and I can assure you that I have no problems at all getting ANI from California. In fact, only about .5 percent of all calls nationwide arrive with no ANI, and California is no exception. Since my switch is not located in California, all calls that come to it from the Golden State are interstate commerce, and any laws that the state may have do not apply to them (BTW, there are no laws regarding ANI in CA that I am aware of anyway). I even have a couple of customers in CA that receive ANI delivery from me, either in real-time via inband DTMF, through voice mail and pager mail, and of course on their bills (just like any 800 service today). Perhaps the state may have something to say about that in the future if they choose to do so, but they have not chosen to do so up to now. Also, it is questionable as to what would happen at that point anyway, since the calls would still cross the state line before returning to California (and no, this is not done to get around CA's [nonexistant] ANI regulation - it just so happens that I don't live in CA anymore). And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number. I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and programmed it to block 800 numbers :-)) Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ From: co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Date: 5 Jan 1994 23:27:49 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA) I have an 800 number coming into my BBS for a few friends and myself to use and have the call reports from AT&T. They are overwelming each month, but I'm able to see all the wrong numbers (under 30 seconds) and the phone hackers looking for a DID trunk (New York, New Jersey). I sure wish they would finally get CID here in California. -=- Sysop: Apple Elite II -=- an Ogg-Net Hub BBS (909) 359-5338 12/24/96/14.4 V32/V42bis Via PCP CACOL/12/24 ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated Date: 5 Jan 1994 17:23:04 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In Dan Cromer <19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU> writes: > How are VCR Plus+ code numbers, the up-to-eight digit numbers for each > TV program used in programming some new VCRs and VCR-programming > remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL, > to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR > Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to > set up a programmable calculator so that it would generate the code > for them. I know there is a 900 number at 95 cents/minute, but don't > think they should have to pay $1.90 every time they want to use the > system. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Its a secret. No one knows for sure how > it is done except the proprietors of the system, and they aren't going > to tell. There *are* scripts around in various ftp archives sites > which make a stab at this, but I understand none of them are perfect > and all have a few bugs. The topic is even discussed on a regular basis > in a couple of newsgroups devoted to cable television and vcr's, etc. > I'm sure some readers will send you email telling you where to find the > programs which have attempted to work out the VCR+ codes, but part of > the reason for selling the device and operating the 900 phone number is > so the proprietors can make money on the deal which I guess is the > main reason their lips are zipped. PAT] Well, it is not a secret. The algorithm, at least for the relatively short (four to six digit) codes, was published a year or so ago in {Cryptologia} magazine. Three people managed to reverse-engineer the algorithm. And the patent that is said to cover it was published in Europe a year ago or so ... although it does not reveal much of the algorithm. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Has anyone ever been completely successful with this yet? Radio Shack has a VCR+ thing they sell now which does not even have written documentation with it. All the 'instructions' tell you to do is (after you buy it, shoplift it or whatever) take it home and call a certain 800 phone number to speak with someone who will then *program it over the phone* for you based on what you tell them about your VCR/television equipment. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye) Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated Date: 5 Jan 1994 16:40:08 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Dan Cromer (19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU) wrote: > remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL, > to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR > Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date, time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these? ------------------------------ From: indep1!clifto (Cliff Sharp) Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 11:48:32 GMT Subject: Re: Wireless Transceiver Boards In article add@philabs.Philips.Com (Aninda Dasgupta) writes: > 1) should work around corners and through walls (a range of say > three to four rooms/offices), > 2) support a data rate anywhere from 10 to 64 Kbps, > 3) should use carrier frequencies that are not restricted by the FCC and > are unlikely to be very crowded by other systems, > 4) should be priced around $10. Are you _serious_? I'd like to see something like this under $150/station. In fact, I'd like to know of a source for a decent, shielded 25' RS-232 cable around $10. The _only_ things along this line I'm aware of are the spread-spectrum 902-928 MHz modems some companies made and are presumably still making. (Unfortunately, I just threw away the information; "never needed it". Bah.) Last I asked, they were in the $300-600 range (per station). Someone _may_ make power-line modems that might work over these distances, but I've yet to get a manufacturer's name. If you find anything like a $10, 64KBPS wireless modem, I know where I can sell a hundred thousand or so ... Cliff Sharp clifto@indep1.chi.il.us WA9PDM clifto@indep1.UUCP never works ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 08:09 EST From: jgeorge@nbi.com (Joe George) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We had one from the American Nazi Party > here for quite awhile which was always good for a laugh, but I have > not heard it lately, and don't remember the number so I cannot say for > sure if it is stilll operating or not. Regards the amount of preparation The Wizard of the north Georgia KKK has a 'hotline' number as well. I'd say this number is good for a VERY non-Politically Correct laugh from time to time. The number is (706) 967-3479. Might be (404) 967-3479 with the recent arguments over area code boundaries. Joe George (jgeorge@crl.com, jgeorge@nbi.com) The NBI Press: Typesetting, Graphic Artwork, Fine Italian Cuisine If I put Vicki Robinson in my sig, will she put me in hers? "Usenet is a cesspool, a dungheap." -Patrick Townson [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I dunno about Vicki Robinson but if you put me in your .sig I'll be sure not to truncate it when I publish your fine cuisine (of some sort!) in this Digest. ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Organization: Surf City Software/TBFW Project Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 15:06:17 GMT On Tue, 4 Jan 94 17:21:42 EST, Carl Moore said: > 718-963-6962 is disconnected (I just tried it). > But I did reach 410-337-FUNN (3866), the "Joke Du Jour" hotline of > "Rouse and company" on WQSR-FM 105.7 in Baltimore, Maryland. On again, off again over a period of the last fifteen or more years is the Zzygot dial-a-joke line (714-839-3000). Some days you get a joke, others the phone rings and rings and rings. Lately it's been just rings. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com 13442 Wilson St. | Garden Grove, CA | 92644 voice: 714-638-2459 | fax: 714-638-2384 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 12:08:13 EST From: Ron Schnell Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous I have anonymous call rejection enabled on my phone in Miami, FL, and someone tried to call me from a cellular phone that was installed in a rental car in San Diego in their rental car and got the rejection message. I assume that the cellular rental company uses some ultra-cheap LD service (to make the most amount of money possible on the $2.00/minute rental charge!) that uses a local out-going line in Miami that disabled CID. Ron (ronnie@twitch.mit.edu) ------------------------------ From: peter.gregory@asix.com (Peter Gregory) Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP Date: 5 Jan 1994 21:43:37 GMT Organization: Asix, Inc. Reply-To: peter.gregory@asix.com In article 5@eecs.nwu.edu, ctuttle@obelisk.pillar.com (Colin Tuttle) writes: > Now this past week I went down to Austin, (a NACN City) turned on the > cell phone and immediately called my Oklahoma City number from a > nearby pay phone. It rang twice and then my cell phone rang. Now my > question is how does Cellular One Austin so quickly notify Cellular > One Oklahoma City I am in Austin Texas about 400 miles from home and > immediately send my calls to me? The secret is this: as soon as you turned on your phone in Austin, the local switch picked up your ESN; when a local database lookup failed, it requested your profile from the main database, which was then sent to the local switch. Peter Gregory [NICname PG11] peter.gregory@asix.com Senior Consultant. ASIX Inc., 1420 Fifth Ave, Suite 2200, Seattle, WA 98101 on-site at Wireless Data Div., McCaw Cellular Communications, Kirkland, WA ------------------------------ From: John S. Roberts Jr. Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Date: 5 Jan 1994 16:32:10 -0500 Organization: University of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa. Is there any solution to this? Thanks, John S. Roberts, Jr. 100 McVey Hall Work: 257-2275 University of Kentucky Home: 272-1417 - FAX: 272-7105 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two'; you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line brought up to them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Date: 5 Jan 1994 20:54:40 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In mcneill@ngt.sungard.com (Keith McNeill) writes: > On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want > to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my > apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line > (first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a > totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little > that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second > pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer > service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a > totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone > (Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX > just trying to gouge me? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant > records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may > have actually not had any record of the second pair in your apartment > or may have had a record of it but shown it to be actually a multiple > of someone else's first pair or what-have-you. Have you tested that > pair to see if it is alive (with someone else's service because some > installer in the past never opened it up at the pole) or if it is in > good condition? Have you traced it back to the demarc, such as in the > basement of the building where you live? If you can get that second > pair back as far as the demarc for the building (or yourself, whichever > applies), then you have a second pair and it should not be required > for telco to make any visit to your home with the high cost for same. > You have to be careful though; make sure that set of wires you are > looking at actually goes somewhere and reaches the demarc. If not, then > you are possibly stuck for the high installation costs of a second line. > You should trace that pair first, getting it back to the demarc if at > all possible. Note on the demarc there may be some notations (little > tags tied on with bits of string are common) telling the installers > what goes where. If you see a notation saying something like 'cable 74, > pair 29' or similar then when you call back to the business office if > you get the same rap about how a new line has to be installed in your > apartment tell the rep you *think* 'cable 74 pair 29' is there already. > Note I emphasize 'think'. You're not a phone installer so don't try to > act like one. But stress you have seen complete wires back to the demarc > which appear to be idle, and you are wondering if the rep will please > have someone confirm or correct the outside plant records. PAT] In some states the steps the moderator describes are exactly right. In New York, things are a little different. Telco is obligated to provide a network interface jack (if that is what you want) *in your apartment*, for a price that is fixed -- unaffected by how long it takes to do. This is the case regardless of whether their records show a previous second line in your apartment; all that changes is the amount of the fixed price. Last I checked the cost for your situation (where they claim there was never a second line) is $88. Then you just connect your own wiring to that second NIJ. The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone service. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 18:20:07 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Telephone Answering Machine Question I don't know the answer; I had a note in this Digest long ago about an "action line" telephone number which gave a beep but did not take messages -- AND THE RECORDING SPECIFICALLY SAID IT DID NOT TAKE MESSAGES. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 20:06:54 -0600 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Calvacom: New Distribution Site For Digest This is just a note of welcome to the subscribers of Calvacom, a service in France which was described to me as 'a lot like Compuserve in the USA'. I've been in correspondence with someone there about making TELECOM Digest available to the subscribers on that system, and distribution has now begun. If the participants on Calvacom choose to send mail to this Digest, you'll see network addresses for them of the form '@calvacom.fr'. I appreciate very much them thinking of me and asking to have this Digest included among the various features available to their users. I would also like to mention that the gateway to Prodigy now seems to be in place and a welcome is in order to the several susbcribers from that network who have requested subscriptions to the Digest in recent days. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #12 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa10542; 6 Jan 94 14:10 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA02605 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:13:42 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA24461 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:13:26 -0600 Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:13:26 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401061513.AA24461@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #13 TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 09:13:20 CST Volume 14 : Issue 13 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson MCI's ATM Communications Response (Dan L. Dale) A Tale of Two Dialtones (Paul Robinson) Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (A. Padgett Peterson) Re: Fax Services Wanted (Arlington Hewes) Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers (Robert L. Ullmann) Cable Channels and Satellites (Miles Thomas) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 22:55 EST From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com> Subject: MCI's ATM Communications Response SUBJECT ARTICLE: Setting the record straight on the Communications Week article "User's Want Data Details for MCI" (12/20/93) DATE: January 4, 1993 On December 20, 1993, Communications Week published a front-page article entitled "Users Want Data Details From MCI". This article criticized MCI for not publicly disclosing detailed plans for ATM service offerings. Customers may ask about the article and MCI's overall strategic data direction related to emerging technologies such as ATM. Communications Week extensively quoted Paul Weichselbaum, MCI's vice president of data marketing, along with many telecommunications managers from a variety of companies. Mr. Weichselbaum has written to Communications Week regarding their news coverage. His letter to the editor seeks to place his comments in the appropriate context and accurately explain MCI's approach to ATM. The complete text of the Communications Week article and MCI's response is included below. The article began by stating MCI "will renege on a promise to detail its ATM plans by year's end, frustrating users who are trying to understand the carrier's data strategy". The article continued to criticize our lack of an ATM switch vendor and the lack of service and pricing details. It is important that MCI assist customers in placing emerging technologies in the proper perspective. Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) are two emerging technologies that will play an important role in the next generation of data service offerings from MCI. ATM employs fixed-length cells to carry data, voice, and video at speeds suitable for wide area connections. This technology has the potential to support new applications and consolidate traffic. ATM will obviate the need, at least technically, for the multiple separate networks (such as data, voice, and video-conference) most companies maintain. This technology could allow corporations to build a single enterprise wide area network carrying all their communications traffic. For better or worse, ATM is often looked upon as a networking panacea. The reality is that ATM is one of several solutions that may or may not be appropriate for a customer at this time or in the near future. The following are key points to remember when discussing MCI's view of ATM technology: MCI believes ATM, in its current state, is more of a technology than a service; MCI has found that most of our customer's current application can be served with existing data services. ATM's full potential and value will be realized through the implementation of future applications; ATM technology must mature; standards must be developed and finalized. The technology is quickly maturing; product and hardware life cycles are short. The first generation switches are not adequate to offer a robust central office based service offering. MCI continues to actively work with switch vendors to influence second generation technology. As noted above, experience has shown that the vast majority of customer applications do not require transport rates in excess of 1.544 Mbps. ATM is traditionally associated with transport speeds in excess of 45 Mbps. Although potential standards are being evaluated for ATM below 45 Mbps speeds, other issues must be resolved before ATM becomes a truly viable service offering. MCI understands these issues and is working with manufacturers and standards bodies to arrive at solutions that will allow carriers to offer interoperable, network based ATM service offerings. Various trade publications have echoed MCI's concerns. John McQuillan's recent article in Business Communications Review ("Where are the ATM Applications?", pp 12-14, November 1993) noted that "...there are simpler and less expensive alternatives to ATM". He continued to state that "...while the ATM community has been focused on ATM at 45 Mbps rates and up, customers spend most of their money at T1 rates and below". Mr. McQuillan is widely recognized as a leading industry expert on ATM technology. Readers of the Communications Week article may form the impression that MCI is behind everyone else since we have not publicly disclosed specific ATM service plans. MCI has chosen not to tell our ATM story via the media. There are two primary reasons for this. MCI cannot control the media and their spin to a story. In addition, our discussions with vendors and end users impact the formulation of ideas and thinking about what our ATM service directions should be; we want to keep that information away from the competition for the time being. MCI is not at a competitive disadvantage related to the understanding of ATM technology. MCI is actively participating in the ATM Forum and other standards bodies. We actively participate in the development of standards and applications related to ATM. MCI is also investigating current ATM research and technical design issues. We have implemented a trial ATM network to study ATM. Our trial network has allowed the engineering lab to study flow control interactions between higher layer protocols and ATM switches. We have also found that the high speed access lines and bursty nature of today's high performance applications such as file transfer and distributed database applications can easily overrun small buffers that are often found in ATM switches. These detailed simulations have allowed us to understand the impact of existing buffer management schemes on TCP flow control mechanics and the resulting useful throughput that can be achieved. Although MCI has not announced an ATM switch vendor, switches from leading ATM vendors have undergone evaluation in MCI's Network Engineering Laboratory. Testing continues on second generation switches. We have found that ATM technology is quickly maturing and switch hardware life cycles are short. To further the development of ATM, MCI has provided feedback to ATM switch manufacturers on the key issues we have learned. Our methodical approach will allow us to influence the technology changes in the next generation of switches. This approach will ultimately be advantageous to our customers. More than a dozen ATM products have been announced in 1993 - and more will be available in 1994. Hardware vendors interested in ATM technologies include Cabletron, Cisco Systems, Motorola Codex, Newbridge, Northern Telecom, StrataCom, and Wellfleet to name a few. At the present time, most switch vendors only provide a partial set of service characteristics associated with ATM (e.g. access classes and the timing, bit rate and connection mode attributes, etc.). Industry analysts generally agree with MCI's view that ATM standards must be further developed to address additional areas of concern to a perspective end user such as the lack of flow control between switches, no LAN bridging specifications, and a lack of quality of service definition. In addition, many service features offered by vendors are proprietary in nature. Only when these issues are addressed, will the full potential of ATM be realized. Once again, other industry analysts and periodicals mirror MCI viewpoint. For instance, an article in Data Communications magazine ("ATM at Your Service?", pp 85-88, November 1993) noted that "without standard service definitions, carriers may end up developing their own approaches, a scenario that could lead to the same troubles that have plagued ISDN: lack of interoperability and spotty geographic coverage." The press and general public is often unaware of the work MCI has undertaken with ATM. Our focus is on driving service related issues with standards bodies and vendors; not to engage in public debates, create unfulfilled service expectations, pre-announce products, or provide proprietary service solutions in the absence of industry standards. The above is not meant to provide you with all the details on MCI's strategic data direction or our work with ATM. It is meant to inform you that MCI is actively undertaking initiatives to develop expertise with the technology. MCI's pragmatic approach will allow us to effectively develop, market and support the existing and emerging services required by our customers. These considerations will ultimately prove to be in the customers' best interest. COMMUNICATIONS WEEK ARTICLE: Communications Week via First! : WASHINGTON MCI Communications Corp. will renege on a promise to detail its ATM service plans by year's end, frustrating users who are trying to understand the carrier's data strategy. "I just wish I knew what its data strategy is," said Thomas O'Toole, director of communications systems for Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh. "MCI always, for some reason, has struggled with a data strategy." In briefings delivered several times during the year, MCI has glossed over its plans to offer asynchronous transfer mode services. MCI officials have said the company will provide ATM services, but they have given no details on prices, operating speeds, network management capabilities, switching platform or classes of service. That kind of information is already available from AT&T, Sprint and WilTel-MCI's main competitors. "We clearly have a different approach," said Paul Weichselbaum, MCI's vice president of data marketing. In May, Weichselbaum said that by the end of this year, MCI would select an ATM switch vendor, begin field trials and provide service details (Communications Week, May 31). It is clear that MCI will not meet those goals. MCI now expects to select its ATM switch vendor during the first half of next year and roll out a service late next year, Weichselbaum said in an interview with Communications Week. He would not discuss service characteristics or say when such information would be available. Weichselbaum explained the delay by saying that MCI has tested ATM switches, but found that they did not measure up to its expectations. SMDS Late Too MCI also has vacillated on its plans to offer a switched multimegabit data service, which it announced in October 1992 for general availability in mid-1993. During the May briefing, Weichselbaum said MCI was postponing SMDS availability because of software delays. MCI canceled an SMDS beta test that had been planned with Rockwell International Corp., Seal Beach, Calif. MCI was supposed to reschedule the test, but has yet to do so, according to Chuck Ramey, Rockwell's manager of network hardware-telecommunications services. Weichselbaum said this month that SMDS will be generally available in the first half of next year. He said users are trying the service now, but he declined to name them. Users said MCI's failure to provide details on its ATM plans or roll out SMDS indicates that the carrier's data strategy is in disarray. "If they want to be seen as a leader in the industry, they need to provide information on [ATM] pricing and service levels pretty quickly," said Blair Sanders, senior member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas. During a recent interview, MCI chairman and CEO Bert Roberts insisted that MCI has a strong data strategy. If there's confusion, he said, MCI may not be doing a good job of communicating its plans. "Sometimes it's a market perception, but in this case, I think it's a real issue," said Rosemary Cochran, principal with Vertical Systems Group, Dedham, Mass. Details, Details The information on data services MCI recently supplied Domino's Pizza in response to a request for proposals was "far less detailed" than that received from AT&T and Sprint, said Daniel Gonos, telecommunications manager at the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza company. "I'm not sure whether it's a learning curve with MCI, or that it's just trying to be careful," Gonos said. "But it's clear, for whatever reason, that MCI is behind everyone else." Jeffrey Marshall, director of communications for Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., New York, said MCI has done a good job articulating a broad data strategy, but that the details are missing. Other MCI users said they are satisfied with the information they have received from MCI. "I think it's been up-front since the beginning with ATM," said William Johnson, director of communications at Woolworth Corp., New York. "It wanted to make sure it had its act together before implementing a program. I don't think it's at that point yet. We need more details, but we can wait." Donald Moore, communications technology manager at Aldus Corp., a Seattle-based software maker, said ATM is still far enough in the future that his company can wait for details. Moore said, however, that he was told that MCI already has selected its switch vendor but won't publicly disclose its choice. Apparently, confusion over the switch vendor extends to Roberts, who said earlier this month that MCI has selected an ATM switch vendor. MCI representatives later denied that Roberts made that statement. Weichselbaum argued that MCI has a solid data portfolio, and that the carrier has yet to find an application that can't be handled by its existing services. He said ATM is not necessary today because frame-relay, SMDS and other switched data services offer users what they need. MCI tries to encourage companies to consider data services like frame-relay or SMDS, rather than ATM, Weichselbaum said. But MCI will bid on request for proposals in cases where users insist on ATM. "We would have to install switches if the bid were approved," he said. This approach bothers some users, who said they would prefer to use an established network. "We don't mind being a test pilot, but if it's a matter of getting into an airplane that's never been made before, we're a little shy about that," said Marshall of Bear, Stearns. MFS Datanet Inc., Sprint and WilTel already offer ATM-based services. AT&T has detailed its service, which will be available in mid-1994. "There's no compelling application that absolutely requires ATM today," Weichselbaum said. "We don't want to do it because everyone else is doing it." Industry analysts said MCI is too wrapped up in its purchase of BT North America Inc., San Jose, Calif., to focus adequate attention on its data strategy. Roberts confirmed that the company was preoccupied for at least two months working out the details of their joint arrangement. [12-22-93 at 14:59 EST, Copyright 1993, CMP Publications, Inc., File: c1222056.2mp] MCI RESPONSE TO THE COMMUNICATION WEEK ARTICLE: MCI's Paul Wiechselbaum, vice-president data marketing, wrote the following letter to the editors of Communications Week. The letter will probably be published in the 1/10/94 issue. MCI takes great exception to the tone and content of your December 20, 1993 article, "Users Want Data Details From MCI." You quote me as saying "we clearly have a different approach [to ATM]," without giving your readers the opportunity to understand or evaluate that approach. First, MCI approaches ATM not as a high technology company, but rather as a service company; we employ high tech products in the provisioning of our services. We want to offer data services to the marketplace that will help customers compete more effectively. In our opinion, ATM in its current state is more a technology than a service; it's a fast-bit pipe using ATM multiplexing. CommWeek editors seemed to agree with this point, given the November 22, 1993 editorial, "Bridging the Gap of ATM Theory and Reality." Our market research shows that it will be a couple of years before the multimedia promise of ATM can be fully deployed as a broadly available, economically compelling and completely standards-based service. We've found that most of our customers' current applications can be served with existing services. In other words, ATM's full potential is required for future market applications and much less so for current ones. At the same time, our discussions with ATM switch vendors over the past three years have convinced us that the technology is maturing quickly and product life cycles are short. With first generation switch technology only a pale imitation of what ATM could be and the market still immature, we are taking the time to try to influence second generation technological changes to our customers' advantage. We believe we can enter the market with a much richer ATM service well before it gains much momentum and the longer we can wait before making this investment, the more likely it is that a particular vendor of ATM technology will have something better to offer than we've seen to date. Our experience with frame relay reflects the merits of such an approach. While we were among the last to offer a commercial frame relay service, the fact that our HyperStream Frame Relay continues to be unique in the marketplace a full 18 months after introduction -- with its sustained burst capabilities, usage and mileage sensitive pricing, and asymmetrical provisioning -- is telling. Such capabilities give our customers greater control and ultimately, save money over competitive offerings. HyperStream's success has convinced us that our market strategy is on target. Given this experience, we don't feel compelled to mimic other carriers in the ATM arena; our focus is on the market. Your broad generalization that "users want data details from MCI" is misleading. CommWeek knows very well that MCI's data strategy is much broader than just ATM. And we are certainly telling customers what our ATM directions are and how these fit with our overall data plans. However, to date we've chosen to do this in private customer briefings. These briefings serve to validate our current conclusions on ATM services while enabling us to protect competitive advantages we gain as a result of those discussions. MCI clearly does have a different approach to ATM. We believe it's a methodical, realistic, customer-oriented and responsible one. It reflects the market window available to us as well as the technology cycles we're seeing and shaping. The feedback from our customers has been both positive and constructive. It's unfortunate that our rationale for pursuing this different strategy was not fully represented in the story. Paul J. Weichselbaum Vice President Data Marketing ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:00:49 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: A Tale of Two Dialtones Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA It was the best of dials, it was the worst of dials ... I originally had four phone lines coming into my house. The family member who needed the fourth line didn't need it any longer, so I had it shut off. Recently, another relative had to move in with us and wanted their own phone line. Since I had a circuit left I called the phone company to have them turn that on ($47.00) from the office instead of their paying another $65.00 to have another circuit installed (when the new wire was installed, the old wire, which the installer discovered was spliced, was pulled and replaced with a six-pair cable; see "Dial Tone is No Extra Charge" printed last year.) I do my own wiring so I had put in the wire and turn on was scheduled for the 5th. Earlier in the day I had made a call from my computer line. I went to work and called home to check up on my mother who is recovering from Cancer. The phone doesn't answer. This is unusual. Over several hours I tried it, off and on, and got no answer. Tried calling the special number in the hall (it's used for my 800 number) no answer. I was worried a little, so when I got home I discovered nothing unusual. I picked up the phone and got dial tone. I did, however, discover later that the hall phone / answering machine's power had become unplugged, which meant it wouldn't even allow me to dial out. Plugged back in it gave me dial tone. Note this is the electrical plug, in addition to the telephone line. I went down to the basement demarc and finished wiring the new phone line. No problem and I get a dial tone. I dialed my home number and it was busy. Dialed the special number that runs to the hall phone and it just rang (as stated above). I must have, in running the 50 or so feet of wire down to the basement, miswired the phone onto my line. But since each circuit goes through its own gas fuse, I thought I had done it correctly. I left the phone on a busy signal and went to the other phone. Dial tone. All I did was hook up the new phone. This doesn't make sense. Then it hit me. I hung up the new phone, went back to the regular phone, and dialed the regular number. The new phone rang. Went upstairs, got the paper with the new phone number C&P supplied me when I placed the order. Dialed that number and my old phone rang! I never touched my original connection, so the problem is with the phone company. This is what happened: in ordering the new service, the phone company put the new service on the original number, and put our old service on the new line! Well, tomorrow morning I'll call and make a stink about it. There are at least six or more outlets running wires into the original connection for me to change them all, so I'll complain and insist they fix it. Beyond that, for all I know they may charge me for moving my phone service to a different pair! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 07:54:38 -0500 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped It was announced yesterday that Southern Bell has agreed to drop the U$1.00/line/month surcharge for tone dialing in the Orlando area that had been in effect since the introduction of touch-tone dialing service. It is not known exactly when this change will take place other than it is expected "within 60 days". Warmly, Padgett ------------------------------ From: Arlington Hewes Subject: Re: Fax Services Wanted Date: Wed, 05 Jan 1994 19:48:15 -0800 > Greetings, I am looking for a low cost service which I can use to send > faxes around the world. I have prime requirements to send fax to NA > and the Asia Pacific regions. Send a note to tpc-faq@town.hall.org and check out the TPC.INT project. mtr ------------------------------ From: ariel@world.std.com (Robert L Ullmann) Subject: Re: ITU Method For Writing Telephone Numbers Organization: The World in Boston Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 04:03:45 GMT tnixon@microsoft.com (Toby Nixon) writes: > right. A "+" and the country code, a space, the city code (optionally > enclosed within parenthesis to indicate that it is optionally dialed > if you're within the same city code), then another space, and the No, not exactly. Numbers in parens should not appear in the + form. If they do, they mean _do_not_ dial this to the international caller: a London number might be +44 (0) 71 123 4576. BTW: IMHO, BT does a disservice to the UK consumer by always listing city codes with the leading "0"; the consumer is going to have trouble understanding that the "0" is an access code, not part of the city code. I think the +1 code for the NANP being the same as the 1- access code for long distance within the NANP isn't a coincidence. ATT invented the international plan ... When I first saw country codes in the telephone book years ago, I wondered why the USA code wasn't listed. (Some droid figured: "but you don't NEED that from the USA". Never mind businesses trying to figure out how to list themselves.) To this day the phone books list places like Izmir, Turkey (+851 according to NYNEX Boston 1993) but omit the USA and Canada. No wonder most ordinary people don't *understand* the system! Back then I called the operator: "What is the country code for the USA?" Oper: "Sir, you don't NEED the country code to dial the USA." Me: "sigh, can I have the overseas operator?" Overseas op: "Sir, you don't NEED ..." Me: "may I have your supervisor please?" Super: "hmmm, I don't know that. Why would you need it?" Me: "suppose I want to place an ad in an international magazine?" Super: "hmmm" Me: "can we ask the overseas operator in, say, London?" Super: "sure!" London: "It is ONE. But why would YOU need it? ..." Robert Ullmann Ariel@World.STD.COM +1 617 693 1315 ------------------------------ Date: 05 Jan 94 23:07:02 EST From: Miles Thomas <70624.130@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Cable Channels and Satellites lars@eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) wrote > The largest satellite operator (German ASTRA which has a near monopoly > on service to Germany, Scandinavia and I think Be-ne-lux as well) has > two birds in the same nominal slot (and a third one planned) so that > you can get 24 channels without re-aiming the dish. This has allowed > the sale of very inexpensive receiver systems (I have seen a low end > system with 18" dish on sale for USD 155 including 25% VAT!! A normal > price is about twice that for a system with built-in descrambler with > 2 "smart card" slots). This kind of pricing for "wireless cable" led > to sharp reductions on cable service prices. The ASTRA sats also broadcast to the UK, Spain etc etc. Its actually owned by a company in Luxembourg, SES. The two birds are actually 0.25 of a degree apart, which is close enough for a dish toi see both (it has to be within 1 degree to see it). I understand that they plan to add a third, ie one at 0.25, one at 0.5 and one a 0.75. The only reason that they aren't spaced any closer is that it would require constant manoeuvering to stop the sats hitting each other as they wiggle slightly in orbit. Just for you info, the Marcopolo high power sat used for BSB with the infamous dinner plate or sqarial antennae has been retargeted onto Scandanavia for their DBS services. Miles Thomas ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #13 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa10819; 6 Jan 94 14:32 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA11423 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:12:17 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA22594 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:12:01 -0600 Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:12:01 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401061612.AA22594@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #14 TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:12:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 14 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Announcing networkMCI (Dan L. Dale) "Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime (Paul Robinson) Dialing Changes for Delaware (Carl Moore) Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Feedlebom) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Art Walker) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Dave Reus) Re: California ANI Question (David Josephson) Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Dan Osborn) Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Gary W. Sanders) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Al Varney) Re: Help Needed With v.42bis (Janusz Purwin) Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore) Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Jim Thomas) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 22:56 EST From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com> Subject: Announcing networkMCI MCI UNVEILS LONG-RANGE VISION: networkMCI Opens Nation's First Transcontinental Information Superhighway; Announces $20 Billion in Strategic Initiatives Washington, D.C., January 4, 1994--MCI today unveiled a sweeping strategic vision under which MCI and associated partners are expected to invest more than $20 billion to create and deliver a wide array of new branded services to teleconsumers, businesses, research facilities and government customers. "Our notion of the future of telecommunications and MCI is going to have a brand name: networkMCI," said Bert C. Roberts, MCI chairman and CEO. "This strategic vision is the sum of all our plans and opportunities in the new emerging markets with services that consumers, businesses and governments will want at their fingertips as we move into the 21st Century. As a core strategy, it leverages the tremendous opportunities brought on by the convergence of telephony, entertainment and the computer." Transcontinental Information Superhighway Today the company announced, as an initial element of the networkMCI vision, the inauguration of the nation's first trans- continental information superhighway. Often talked about as a key ingredient to keeping America competitive in tomorrow's world economy, the MCI superhighway's roadbed uses SONET fiber optic technology at speeds 15 times faster than any SONET network available today. MCI said that the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) is the first user of its New York to Los Angeles SONET fiber system. The NSFNET Backbone Service is the fastest and most powerful of the university, government and commercial networks known collectively as the Internet. "Some people may be surprised to learn that MCI developed these intercity links for the Internet six years ago," said Roberts. "The NSFNET service today reaches nearly 15,000 networks around the world that participate in the Internet." "The Internet doubles in size annually and now links over two million computers serving some six million users," said Vinton Cerf, President of the Internet Society. "When electronic mail interconnects are taken into account, nearly 20 million users conduct their business from labs, homes and offices over the Internet. MCI and its partners, IBM, Merit and ANS, pioneered the use of 45 megabit per second technology for the NSFNET Backbone Service. NSFNET now carries a volume of information that approximately equals the holdings of the Library of Congress EACH MONTH, and MCI's announcement indicates the potential to carry more than 50 times that much traffic." SONET, which stands for Synchronous Optical Network, is a high-speed transmission technology that MCI is using to hasten the widespread availability of broadcast quality videophones, electronic data interchange (EDI), long distance medical imaging, multimedia education, movies on demand, and a single-number Personal Communications Service (PCS) that will use the same pocket-sized telephone anywhere in the world. High-speed SONET technology was deployed in half of MCI's network at year-end 1993, far outpacing its long distance rivals. Under the development program announced today, SONET will be available throughout MCI's domestic network by the end of 1994 and on international routes across the Atlantic and the Pacific by 1995. The company said it will further increase carrying speeds on existing fiber from 2.5 gigabits (billion bits) per second to more than 10 gigabits per second by 1995. MCI Metro As another element of its long-range vision, the company announced the creation of MCI Metro, a wholly owned subsidiary that is expected to invest $2 billion in fiber rings and local switching infrastructure in major U.S. metropolitan markets. Through its metropolitan area facilities, MCI will connect directly to customers and begin providing alternative local telecommunications services. Referring to these connections as "digital on/off ramps" to the nationwide information superhighway, Roberts noted that they would be a vital addition to America's economic infrastructure for the 21st Century. Construction has already begun in Atlanta, with completion expected there by mid- year. Roberts announced the appointment of two key executives to lead this subsidiary. Executive vice president Gary M. Parsons will be chief executive officer of MCI Metro, and senior vice president Nate A. Davis will become its chief operating officer. The subsidiary owns properties and rights-of-way in several hundred cities. "MCI Metro will ensure the availability of superior local access facilities at reasonable cost," said Roberts. "During the last decade, MCI was instrumental in bringing the benefits of competition to the long distance marketplace. During the next decade, we must secure those same benefits for customers of local telephone service. In addition, these digital backbone facilities will strongly position MCI in the emerging markets of interactive multimedia and wireless PCS." networkMCI Roberts said that networkMCI is being introduced to the public via a national advertising campaign utilizing television, magazines and newspapers to explain the company's vision to consumers, businesses, investors and potential partners. "When we announced our global alliance with BT (British Telecom) last year, we said that the added financial flexibility would allow us to invest in America's infrastructure, economy and future," said Roberts. "With networkMCI, we have cast a strategy to deliver on that promise, and then some." MCI expects that other partner companies with complementary skills and resources will participate in projects within the overall networkMCI vision, through equity stakes, joint ventures or other business arrangements. "As telecommunications, computing and television converge, no one company will have the infrastructure and the skills to do everything alone," said Roberts. "Partnering is smart strategy for the 1990's, and MCI has proven repeatedly that it doesn't have to own and control another party in order to work together effectively." MCI cited a number of customer usage trends underlying the decision to make the additional multibillion dollar investments. The company has been growing more than twice as fast as the long distance industry as a whole, and is winning the lion's share of growth in the booming market for international calls to and from the U.S. Data traffic is another major growth factor, with business customers' usage of data communications expected to surpass voice by 1998. In wireless communications, the superior performance of the emerging PCS technology is expected to help drive the total number of wireless devices in the U.S. to 70 million by the turn of the century, which will increase network usage. "Beyond the long-term vision," Roberts continued, "there are a number of immediate benefits that networkMCI brings to the everyday, workaday MCI network. We have created this long-term strategy to meet the demands of a nation of teleconsumers who use telecommunications more frequently and in more ways than ever before. American businesses of all sizes want competitive advantage from their communications. And potential partners in this arena want to create new opportunities. With networkMCI, there will be a clear path to follow." MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers a full range of domestic and global telecommunications services through one of the world's largest state-of-the-art networks. With annual revenue of more than $12 billion, the company is the second largest long distance provider in the U.S. and has more than 65 offices in 55 countries and places. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:23:50 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: "Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Recently, someone announced that Colorado would be having calls to 579 exchange charged for as "caller pays" cellular airtime in addition to toll charges. It's been asked whether or not people could call this number from out of state. The AT&T Operator quoted me the standard 26c for a call to 303-579. But let's not forget that long distance calls are going to net between 2 and 5c in local termination charges from the carrier anyway, so the caller is paying something for the connection. The person who mentioned this told that U.S. West offered a number to call 1-800-USW-BILL for questions. Surprizingly enough, this number does work from Maryland. That 800 number apparently handles surcharged lines including 900, 976 and cellular airtime. The clerk, a person with a very strong foreign accent, indicated that the 579 exchange is a "caller pays" exchange. If someone (in Colorado) calls a 579 number, the caller pays for the airtime. If the user of a 579 number calls someone, they pay for their airtime. I asked whether this was something akin to a 900 or 976 number, trying to explain to the woman what I meant (a number where the called party gets a fee for each incoming call) and apparently she got the gist of what I was trying to point out, in that the caller is surcharged for a call made to the number. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:14:41 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Dialing Changes for Delaware I have heard from Carl Drake, over whose name a letter had been sent to Delaware customers regarding new area code 610 in Pennsylvania. He says the Delaware PUC (public utility commission) ordered 1 + 10D for long distance within Delaware; permissive is to start April 1 and mandatory is to come Jan. 7, 1995 (latter is the same as the full cutover for 610 in Pennsylvania). (Delaware is area code 302.) ------------------------------ From: feedle@kaiwan.com (Feedlebom) Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 07:00:14 GMT Robert L. McMillin (rlm@helen.surfcty.com) wrote: > (something about Zzzzzzygot Dial-a-joke which was trashed by my reader) Interestingly enough, it's still in the new 1994 Pacific Bell white pages. It's gotta have some kind of record for being the last number in the phone book ... close to 15 years in a row, always the last number in the white pages. "839-3000, Not particularly funny, but that's the number you've reached ..." ------------------------------ From: walker@unomaha.edu (Art Walker) Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Nebraska at Omaha Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 08:09:25 GMT David A. Kaye (dk@crl.com) wrote: > I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote > control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date, > time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front > of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be > done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these? As an aside, what most people *really* want is a VCR that all you have to do is walk up to it, say "tape letterman tonight", and that's it. Art Walker (walker@guinness.unomaha.edu) (walker@beeble.omahug.org) ------------------------------ From: dave@geis.geis.com Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:12:00 GMT Subject: Re: How Are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated On 5 Jan 1994 dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye) wrote: > I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote > control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date, > time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front > of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be > done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these? I've seen one of these in my local (Frederick, MD) Montgomery Wards store: It is a slim device that has several LCD windows and a thumbwheel by each. One for Month, Day, Channel, and Time.... and a TRANSMIT button. It was pretty cheap, so I opened the box and looked at the docs that came with it: It was clear to me that this device only worked with the specific brand of VCR as it had no options for setup for different brands. Can't remember what brand it was tho! Dave Reus ------------------------------ From: davidj@rahul.net (David Josephson) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:09:15 GMT In stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > In , reb@ingres.com (Phydeaux) writes: >> Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that >> "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he >> understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm >> sure someone here knows for sure. > ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with > very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can The CPUC tariff is the law. CPUC denied Pacific Bell's tariff filing that would have offered CNID. Only that which is tariffed is permissible. > interstate commerce, and any laws that the state may have do not apply > to them (BTW, there are no laws regarding ANI in CA that I am aware of > anyway). > I even have a couple of customers in CA that receive ANI delivery from > me, either in real-time via inband DTMF, through voice mail and pager > mail, and of course on their bills (just like any 800 service today). > Perhaps the state may have something to say about that in the future > if they choose to do so, but they have not chosen to do so up to now. Yah, what could they do, make it illegal for a CA subscriber to obtain an interstate service from you? Not too likely. > And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or > my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are > doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number. > I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could > even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and > programmed it to block 800 numbers :-)) I wonder if the per-number (56# or whatever it was?) CNID blocking from here would block a INWATS ANI/CNID? David Josephson [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Nothing* blocks ANI delivery. Nothing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dosborn@Internet.cnmw.com Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 08:37:25 EST Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! Pat: I too signed up of the Sprint Modem offer. However, I apparently signed up too late. I talked to a Sprint Rep on Oct 6 about the Dvorak offer and then switched to Sprint under the assumption that I would be receiving a modem. I then waited for it to appear in the mail. In November, I received a bill from Sprint on an existing (but forgotten) Sprint account that I had. It listed only the $7 charge for my calling plan but no actual calls. I called Sprint to enquire about this and I was told to try the 1-700 number to verify my long distance carrier. It was still AT&T! This would explain why I had not received my modem; I hadn't made any calls on Sprint yet. Well, the Sprint rep told me the easiest way to rectify this was to call my local company (Cincinnati Bell) and tell them to switch me. This I did. Still, I waited and waited and waited for my modem. When I called at the end of December to enquire about the status of my modem, I was informed that since I had signed up after Oct 1st, I was too late -- there were no more modems to be had. Wanting to minimize the amount of hassle (my life is currently preoccupied with the birth of my second daughter), I just asked Sprint to credit my account with the amount of the LD switching fees so I could switch back. I'm relating this tale of woe so that (with clear conscience) David could send me his "extra" modem. (I'm sending him a copy of this directly). I will gladly pay for shipping. And should he ever receive a nasty-gram demanding the return of the modem, I will return it to/for him. After all, he would be doing me a favor, and I want to minimize his hassle. Dan Osborn * dosborn@internet.cnmw.com * (513) 247-4623 * FAX: (513) 489-0819 Cincinnati Microwave Inc. * One Microwave Plaza * Cincinnati, OH 45249-9502 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well now, that's very gracious and generous of you to agree to take that extra modem off his hands. :) Meanwhile, back in California, I am wondering what is going on with the lawsuit against Sprint the guys were starting based on alleged misrepresentations of the product being shipped, etc. Can anyone bring us up to date on that side of it? PAT] ------------------------------ From: gary.w.sanders@att.com Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:34:52 GMT Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV Organization: AT&T In article rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) writes: > No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a > restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu. Current tv > technology offers you a choice among the available programming. > On-demand exists now. Nobody holds that channel selector but you. > How does the medium of delivery change the fact that someone else > still creates the programming? Not totally true. With 500 channels you now open the way for more programmers. What cable system is going to give a small time programmer access to one of its 50 channels? Not many unless the programmer has a proven track record. However with 500 channels they can try many different programmers and let the consumers decide what is popular. How many cable companies are carrying the "outdoor channel" 24h/day? How many people have even heard of this? If you have a satellite dish check out F2/3. Programming is so/so at best. A few good shows and lots of commercials for gold prosper club. This service has little chance on a 50 channel system but I am sure would get on a 500 channel system. >> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500 >> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go >> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100 >> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive >> obsolescence. Price of the dialtone will be the factor here. Many cable pay-per-view companys have gone under or been forced to merge with others to survive. Why? Cost. Why would someone pay $8 to watch a movie when just about every street corner has a video store with $1-$2 movies. Early PPV also generated negative views of PPV with over priced and poor quality of service. Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR) gary.w.sanders@att.com AT&T Bell Labs 614.860.5965 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 09:01:04 CST From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: AT&T In article johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) writes: > Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is > it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for > about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps > I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult > to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the > phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from. > People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call > Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't > receive calls. You can either enter explicit numbers, or tell it to > add whoever just called, even if the call had CLID blocked. It's > available the same places as other CLASS services, including some > where CLID isn't, because it doesn't present the privacy problems. I don't HAVE ACR (or other CLASS services) on my residential lines. However, the first public announcement of the service was over two years ago by Bell Atlantic, at a National Communications Forum in Chicago. Ray Albers discussed the service, indicated the pricing and played a recording of the announcement he received attempting to call such a line after dialing a *67 prefix. The first service was in C&P Maryland, but it has probably been offered elsewhere in Bell Atlantic by now. In discussions about this service, I don't recall "... too scared to answer ..." being a reason for wanting the service. It was primarily a tool to avoid unwanted calls (not repeated annoyance calls, just unwanted ones). [I recognize some folks treat any unwanted call as an "annoyance", but the intent is to avoid calls even from phones that have never called before, so that Call Block is not a reasonable option.] In fact, Bell Atlantic was offering ACR for a small monthly fee even to those who did not have any other CLASS features! The idea was that the caller doesn't KNOW if you have Caller ID, but you might be willing to use ACR as a primitive means of screening out a "class" of callers -- those that suppress Caller ID delivery. They won't ring your phone OR generate call waiting tones while you are on another call. If you have call forwarding on a line with ACR active, the call will not forward. Also note that telco can elect to turn on supervision when connecting to the ACR announcement, so the call will be considered "completed" for billing purposes. Also note that Bell Atlantic was offering ACR on a user-controlled basis; customers can turn it on and off as desired. See Bellcore TR-NWT-000567 for other details. Al Varney ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 9:59:16 EST From: PURWIN@XANADU.XYPLEX.COM (Janusz Purwin tel 508-952-4711) Subject: Re: Help Needed With v.42bis Well don't worry about if it does work or not. Firstly V.42 requires that both modems have to have that feature enabled. Secondly it is most useless feature ever put into modem. Its good for marketing people to brag about and give false advertising about how faster modem will transmit data without pointing out when it happens. The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme that is based on generating dictionary as you transfer a file. What that mean is, it will not compress as you type. The compression ratio is related to the type of file you will send. The text will compress to about 25 % of its original size any other files like binaries have much lower compression rate. But here is the catch normally ALL files are compressed by PKzip, ARC or ARJ LHA GIF programs. Those are using precisely same algorithm as V.42. So those files are not compressible. If you try to compress them again the file size will be larger than original. The only time you might get any benefit from compression is when you get screens of text send to you. Again you will trade size of the file versus time (it takes time to compress on a fly) versus link speed. ... So the benefits of V.42 for the user are minimal! Happy compressing Jan! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 9:24:08 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident I do see that Brendan's mother is staying in Philadelphia, and it's possible Brendan had to be transferred to a hospital in Philadelphia due to the severity of his injuries. Of the places I named, two are near Philadelphia: Newtown, Bucks County, 215-968 prefix Newtown Square, Delaware County, 215-353 & 356 prefixes (and at least one other; goes to 610 later) Newton Hamilton, zipcode 17075 in Mifflin County, is in central Pa. West Newton (zipcode 15089 and phone prefix 412-872) is in western Pa. in Westmoreland County. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 22:52 CST From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu) Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident Carl Moore writes: > Where in Pennsylvania is Newton? I know of West Newton, Newtown > Hamilton, Newtown Square, and Newtown. Sorry for the typo. It was NEWTOWN. Here's an excerpt from the conversation with Newtown police: According to Newtown police, the accident was called in at 1:45 p.m, and police arrived at 1:49 p.m. According to a police spokesperson, Brendan was driving on Eagle Road, on which there is a stop sign at the Rightstown road intersection, where the accident occured. According to the police spokesperson, there was one passenger with him who was treated and released. Brendan was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The patient information number: (215-662-3308) Jim Thomas [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just a reminder to readers that Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer, the Moderators of CuD are collecting notes for Brendan from netters everywhere and will forward them at an approp- riate time. Please send along your notes to them. Brendan remains in very critical condition, and as of yet the doctors have not made any statements about an estimated time for his recovery or the extent of the physical damage he has suffered. It is believed that full-recovery is unlikely, and that partial rehabilitation may well be several weeks or months. Very grim, very sad news. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #14 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa11708; 6 Jan 94 16:11 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA08344 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 12:05:14 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA21437 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Thu, 6 Jan 1994 12:05:00 -0600 Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 12:05:00 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401061805.AA21437@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #15 TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:05:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 15 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Dave Niebuhr) Re: US Digital Cellular Standards (Alistair Munro via Weiyun Yu) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Olaf Seibert) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John R. Levine) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Arthur Rubin) Re: Info on Cellular One NACP (Phil Wherry) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Jorge Lach) Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Randy te Velde) Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws (John R. Levine) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Carl Oppedahl) Re: California ANI Question (Carl Oppedahl) Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (Scott Pelham) Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:40:00 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped > In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 : Issue 13 : padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com > (A. Padgett Peterson) writes: > It was announced yesterday that Southern Bell has agreed to drop the > U$1.00/line/month surcharge for tone dialing in the Orlando area that > had been in effect since the introduction of touch-tone dialing > service. > It is not known exactly when this change will take place other than it > is expected "within 60 days". NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50 per month which is still not enough. In addition, it is phasing out the optional business Flat Rate and untimed Message Rate plans for businesses in upstate NY and imposing timed message rate for them. Other charges that are reduced are Intra-LATA calls that are Inter-Region (the NY Metropolitan LATA has Lower Westchester (AC 914), NYC (212/718/917) and Nassau County, West Suffolk County and East Suffolk County (AC 516). There were more changes involved in Upstate NY but I can't recall them now. Dave Niebuhr Internet: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (preferred) niebuhr@bnl.gov / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973 (516)-282-3093 ------------------------------ From: weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu) Subject: Re: US Digital Cellular Standards Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 16:22:21 GMT This is a posting on behalf of Alistair Munro in relation to my original posting... From: Alistair Munro Subject: US Digital Cellular standards Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 14:33:03 +0000 (GMT) To expand on Dan Leclerck's reply: > In article , Weiyun Yu ucc.su.OZ.AU> wrote: > 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM. > N-AMPS, ADC, and DS-CDMA all offer, at least, 2x the capacity of GSM. > NAMPS and CDMA do not have the pulsed-noise interference of GSM. CDMA > has the potential to have a longer talk-time. There is a paper by David Goodman: "Second Generation Wireless Information Networks", IEEE Trans on Vehicular Technology, Vol 40, No 2, May 1991; this describes key aspects of GSM compared with IS-54 (sort of digital AMPS) and might be useful for you. > GSM has terrible data services vis-a-vis' Group 3 Fax. GSM specifies terminal adaptation functions for both asynchronous (V.21, V.22, V.23, I.420, V.25) and synchronous (V.22, V.22bis, V.26ter, V.32 X.21, X.25, X.32, V.25, I.420) bearers. This seems to cover almost every packet or character mode interface in the CCITT world at least. As far as I know, they are not implemented yet by any of the operators. Whether they are terrible or not, time will tell, but I expect they will be dire. One of the main technical issues seems to be that they are very expensive to provide with TDMA, and with the GSM TDMA in particular. There is a new project in the the ETSI GSM group called GPRS (GSM packet radio services?) which might provide a multiple access scheme more suited to data traffic. If you want a comparison, try the US CDPD spec that provides data with AMPS. There is also a data message service (SMS) and I believe that this is is available from some operators. >> 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into >> the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved. >> 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third >> standard that can be used world wide? > The frequencies and access methods (GSM is TDMA/GMSK each channel is > 200 KHz, ADC is TDMA/QPSK channels ea 30 KHz, CDMA is DS-CDMA ea > channel 1.25 MHz) are completely incompatible. GSM is like ISDN over > the air, whereas the other standards aren't so rich. As Dan says, compatibilty is zero at the signalling level. However it is conceivable that manufacturers could agree on control and management protocol that would permit subscribers to have a single telephone number that they could move between handsets for the respective systems. I would prefer to have it said that GSM call-control protocol is like ISDN D-channel call-control. Obviously they diverge at the physical level. Perhaps you could pass this on to the newsgroup as I don't get near such things normally. Dr. Alistair Munro, Centre for Communications Research, Bristol University Rm 1.3 Queen's Building, University Walk, BS8 1TR UK E-mail: A.Munro@bristol.ac.uk Tel: +44-272-291403 | +44-272-288620; Fax: +44-272-255265 ----------- Dr Weiyun Yu "Why Me?" | Internet: weiyun@ucc.su.oz.au Dept of Surgery, Uni of Sydney, Australia | Voice: 61+2-692-3851 ------------------------------ From: rhialto@mbfys.kun.nl (Olaf Seibert) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 16:07:42 GMT In John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail. com> writes: > I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular > service. As far as I know, in the Netherlands calls to or from cellular phones (or car telephones as they are usually called here) have always been more expensive than regular calls. I don't know about the rates for calls *between* cell phones. Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert rhialto@mbfys.kun.nl ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 11:14 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes > perfect sense to me. In the abstract, it makes some sense. On the other hand, surcharged numbers are a pain for callers, local telcos, and long distance carriers since the prices tend to be mysterious and the bills at the end of the month often an unpleasant surprise. How long do you think it will take for someone to complain to US West "nobody told me that a call to 1-579 cost 65 cents* a minute"? If it's as much as two days after the first bill is sent, I'll be surprised. The day after that, people will demand 579 blocking, like 900 and 976 blocking. In concrete terms, it's basically impossible to implement long distance calls to surcharged given the way that toll charging works in the U.S. Inter-LATA toll rates are based entirely on distance. There's no provision for passing around surcharges from one carrier to another -- that's why surcharged numbers like the notorious 212-540 only work from points where the local telco carries the call. The only exception is 900 numbers, which have an extremely complicated billing setup that would be impractical for individual cellular customers. I suppose that we could reserve a prefix in each area code (900, perhaps) to be used for local surcharged numbers and try to set up some arrangement for settling the surcharge amounts among various carriers, but it seems like a awful lot of mechanism for a small set of users. Also, experience with 900, 976, and 540 numbers suggests that a lot of callers will be extremely displeased to find yet another kind of phone number that costs extra and has to be blocked, passworded, etc. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com * - a plausible guess, 50 cents for airtime plus 15 cents for toll ------------------------------ Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated From: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Date: 6 Jan 94 16:55:30 GMT Organization: Beckman Instruments, Inc. In TELECOM Digest Editor responded to oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl): > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Has anyone ever been completely successful > with this yet? Radio Shack has a VCR+ thing they sell now which does > not even have written documentation with it. All the 'instructions' tell > you to do is (after you buy it, shoplift it or whatever) take it home > and call a certain 800 phone number to speak with someone who will then > *program it over the phone* for you based on what you tell them about > your VCR/television equipment. PAT] Well, you do need to program in the translator from the "published" channel numbers (the ones used to encode the VCR+ code) to the channel numbers your VCR and/or cable box use, and to program the box to learn how to program your VCR and/or cable box, but I don't THINK there's anything more that needs to be done. (Of course, all of this was intended for those people whose VCR is blinking "12:00" (actually, mine blinks "--:--" when not set), so do you really expect them to attempt to tell you how to program a "universal remote".) 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) ------------------------------ From: psw@carillon.mitre.org (Phil Wherry) Subject: Re: Info on Cellular One NACP Date: 6 Jan 1994 15:44:31 GMT Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va Reply-To: psw@carillon.mitre.org (Phil Wherry) The talk about automatic cellular call delivery raises an interesting question: under what circumstances can a cellular telephone transmit when "on-hook." The response to a poll (ring) message is one obvious example where this happens -- what are the others? Phillip Wherry Member of the Technical Staff The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA psw@mitre.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When a cellular phone is first powered on (even if just in the standby mode instead of in calling mode) it immediatly announces itself to the nearest tower and makes it known that it is available to receive calls. When the tower sees that this new arrival on the scene is not one of its own kind, then it passes the information along and the database is queried to see who the newcomer might be part of. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jorge@erex.East.Sun.COM (Jorge Lach - Sun BOS Hardware) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Date: 6 Jan 1994 15:53:28 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc. - BDC Reply-To: jorge@erex.East.Sun.COM It would seem to me people keep trying to find compelling reasons for and against each one of these services: how it won't work, under what circumstances it's counterproductive, how it protects potential victims, etc ... Now, let's just call this services (and most/all other new services) what they really are. With a fully software-controlled telephone network, a bunch of people in the central office can come up with uncounted software options to suit anyone's desires ... all at a price. The phone companies are just milking the infrastructure they built. They'll offer products for everybody. At 3.95/month, that's roughly $50 per year, out of a potential market of 100 million-plus phones, you figure out how much money that is. I see this as being analogous to buying clothes at the mall. There are stores for every taste, and styles for everybody. You don't have to understand or rationalize it. Producers try to figure out which thing people like, get them made and then try to sell them. Consumers will buy some and reject others ... for what reasons, nobody knows. So, this "Anonymous Call Rejection" is just another way for the phone companies of making an honest buck. Nothing more. Jorge Lach Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation Jorge.Lach@Sun.Com East Coast Division, Chelmsford, MA Phone: (508) 442-0214 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: True, but where it becomes critical for the anti-Caller-ID crowd is that the automatic blocking of anonymous calls cuts into their ability to control their calling universe. That is, they are suddenly no longer able to call anywhere they please anytime they please on their own terms ... in order for them to regain that one hundred percent control over where/who/when they call, they have to give up that extra bit of privacy they regard so highly: the with- holding of their telephone number. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:40:35 EST From: Randy te Velde Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV On Wed, 5 Jan 1994, rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) wrote: > Michael Jacobs wrote: >> There will be no choice to make as to which of 500 different channels >> to watch, rather it will be a choice as to what to program on the one >> available video dialtone line, much as one chooses who to call on the >> current voice telephone line. ALL SOFTWARE WITH NETWORK ACCESS will >> be available to the subscriber on demand! > Well that will be a real kick in the teeth for couch potato(e) channel > surfers, won't it :-). I think I'll take my cable-clicker (which I > can use to sample the wares on several channels quickly) over this > system. Again, it looks like we're ignoring both the interactivity and the power of the upstream capacity. You wouldn't want to control your computer with a cable-clicker, would you? Remember that interactive software for use on a widely deployed broadband network hasn't been invented yet. No one wrote groupware applications until ethernet cards were cheap and widely deployed. >> The revolutionary concept here is that instead of some programmer in >> NY or LA deciding what I should watch, it will be me choosing what to >> watch. > No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a > restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu... It's true that the list of options will have _some_ limitation. But I think the prevailing metaphor would be the white pages, not a resturant menu. >> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500 >> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go >> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100 >> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive >> obsolescence. > Well, Mike, I am old enough to remember all the fancy claims that > 'cable-tv' would put over-the-air tv out of business, would make > networks obsolete, would transform our very lives, would offer > first-run movies, would offer live video from foreign countries, would > bring the classroom to the living room, would offer access to niche > programming, fine arts, etc etc etc. What we wound up with is re-run > mills, home shopping channels, music videos, 24 hour weather channels, > preachers, pay-per-view wrestling and more commercials than ever. _Univeral_ _access_ to programming a public network is the key ingredient missing from this comparison. No one wants more infomercials and PPV wrestling. These are the best arguments I can think of to open the network up for _everyone_ to provide content. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 11:34 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Federal Telemarketing Laws Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > I just read through the archives from late 1991 looking for info on > congressional action regarding automated telemarketing. The current {Privacy Journal} has a lead article entitled "Can the telemarketers' autodialers be controlled at all?". It details court action all over the country against both the federal law and 22 similar state laws. Judges in Oregon and New Jersey found such laws to be an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech, while in Minnesota it was upheld. The issue appears to be that restrictions on time, place, and manner of speech are OK, while restrictions on content are not. The federal law permits the FCC to exempt some types of calls such as random surveys and political calls, but that's a content distinction. Presumably a law that outlawed all unsolicited robot dialing would be constitutional. We can only hope. FYI, {Privacy Journal} is an excellent monthly newsletter. It costs $109/yr, but is usually discounted to $69 if you pay in advance. Phone is +1 401 274 7861, e-mail 5101719@mcimail.com. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Date: 6 Jan 1994 11:43:00 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In John S. Roberts Jr. writes: > I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through > my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa. > Is there any solution to this? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the > loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires > and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of > the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two'; > you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as > well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is > in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some > loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of > wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly > go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line > brought up to them. PAT] Let's reread the original post. I think he is able to use both lines and is merely getting crosstalk. If that is the case, it is not a "touching conductors" problem at all. It is probably just a case of someone whose house was wired with quad wire (back when Y & B was power for the lights on the Princess phone) who will always have crosstalk. Until, that is, he goes back and installs some new pairs, hopefully with true twisted pair. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Date: 6 Jan 1994 11:47:54 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) writes: > I have an 800 number coming into my BBS for a few friends and myself > to use and have the call reports from AT&T. They are overwelming each > month, but I'm able to see all the wrong numbers (under 30 seconds) > and the phone hackers looking for a DID trunk (New York, New Jersey). > I sure wish they would finally get CID here in California. I have a similar 800 number (I am in New York). Each month I get the call detail and each month there are twenty or so calls from crackers (not hackers) trying to see what mischief they can get into. What's interesting is that my cracker calls all come from Florida. Sometimes I get curious and try calling the origin phone numbers listed on my 800 call detail. One of them, ending in either -0002 or -9998, I forget which, was aswered with the name of a telephone company. If the person at the other end was telling the truth, I had reached a phone company frame room or switch room. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Considering that -9998 is as often as not a number assigned for internal use at telco, your assumption is probably correct. What's that you say? You didn't know that crackers and phreaks often times have jobs working for telcos? Makes you feel real good about the security and integrity of the telephone network in the USA doesn't it ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: /G=J.SCOTT/S=PELHAM/O=GTE/PRMD=GTEMAIL/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com Date: 6 Jan 94 12:05:44-0500 Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas David L Kindred writes: > My parents lived in the SWB part of the Dallas area a few years ago. > During the time they lived there, the dialing requirements not only > varied due to area code and "localness", but also by whether the > "other" phone company was involved. I don't remember the particulars, > but dialing a local SWB-SWB call was different than dialing a local > SWB-GTE call. As I recall, you needed at least ten, if not eleven > digits, to call a GTE 214xxxxxxx number from a SWB 214xxxxxxx number, > even if the call was to the next exchange (or next house...). To clear up how it works in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I'll just expain it then respond to David's comments. Dallas county is mostly in 214 area code, Tarrant county (Fort Worth) is mostly included in 817 area code. The area in between the two cities is all suburban towns. The two cities just sort of run together. When dialing within one area code, in the Metroplex, you only dial seven digits regardless of whether it is a GTE or SW Bell number. When dialing from one area code to the other you dial 1+, just like you would from any other two area codes. The difference is when the number being called, *or* the number being called from, is a "Metro" number. "Metro" number means the call is no longer a long distance call, rather the owner of the Metro number is paying a higher monthly charge, but can call or receive calls from 214 or 817 without paying long distance rates. In this case you dial the area code and exchange, without the leading 1. I personally don't have a metro number so I can't give any particulars about the cost. These metro numbers were provided so that people and businesses can be reached easily and inexpensively by friends and customers outside their area code, but potentially next door. I have lived in Dallas/Ft Worth for almost three years and I have never dailed any differently when I lived in SW Bell or now that I live in GTE service area. > One major annoyance was the percentage of calls into GTE that went > high-and-dry. Again in nearly three years I have never had a call end "high and dry", in GTE or SW Bell. > Has any of this changed recently? Apparently much has changed or you didn't understand it in the first place. Scott Pelham ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:08:55 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident Some of you may remember reading that Jan Berry (singer, and the "Jan" of Jan and Dean) was seriously injured, with brain damage, in a 1966 automobile accident not far from "Dead Man's Curve". He had go through long therapy, and I have personally seen him twice in concert with Dean in the last 13 years. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: From what we are told so far, it appears Brendan Kehoe is in for the long term with a lot of time needed for basic recovery then a period following of therapy. I have no more recent details than what has appeared here in the past couple of days, but his is not going to be a quick and easy return to his usual lifestyle ... if there is a return at all. :( PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #15 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19691; 7 Jan 94 16:42 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA18842 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:33:30 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA29039 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:33:14 -0600 Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:33:14 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401071733.AA29039@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #16 TELECOM Digest Fri, 7 Jan 94 11:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 16 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Rate of Change (Gordan Palameta) Re: Communication Over Power Lines? (James H. Haynes) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (Kriston J. Rehberg) Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl (Al Varney) Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack (John S. Roberts Jr.) Re: Hayes' New Modem (Michael P. Deignan) Re: Radio Religion in Canada (Rich Wales) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gord@nmx701.attmail.com Date: 7 Jan 94 05:06:37 GMT Subject: Re: Rate of Change Stewart Fist wrote: > Computers and modern communications technologies might be revolutionary > to the half-million technologists, but to the five billion users these > chips and fibres are just creating marginal improvements on the > adequate 'service facilities' they had before. Computers produce a > very evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change to our culture > when you compare them to the impact of something like the motor car. > My mother was ten before she saw her first motor car, 18 before she > saw an aeroplane, but she lived to fly the Concorde and see a man step > on the moon. How does this pace of change compare with my life span, > when cars, aeroplanes and space travel are reasonably commonplace? > And it all happened in about the same period of time that we have been > dealing with the computer revolution -- about 20 years. I think we > need to get our feet back on the ground and stop imagining that we are > more important than we are. Hmm, perhaps in the year 2040, someone will write an article about the rapidly-changing 1940s. Atomic bombs and computers were invented then, and just look at the impact computers have had on society: why, we can use our wristwatch PDAs to download the Encyclopedia Galactica directly into our brain cells. By contrast, this newfangled teleportation technology is just an evolutionary change ... The point is, when we consider the impact of airplanes, automobiles, etc. from our perspective, we are really compressing eighty years of history. A fair comparison with computers would require a similar eighty-year perspective. It was some time, for instance, before automobiles could be driven reliably by someone who was not a skilled mechanic. It took even longer for automobiles to change society in fundamental ways (the suburbanization of America, etc). The same is even more true for airplanes. It was decades before the invention of jet aircraft and other developments made flying widely available. As recently as the late 40s, a transatlantic flight cost the same as a semester at Harvard. Cheap flights for the masses didn't become a reality until US deregulation barely a decade ago. On the one hand, computers are still an "elite" technology, as user-unfriendly to the average user as the Model T was to the mechanically challenged. We can anticipate that computers, just like cars and planes, will need a few more decades before they become widespread and commonplace enough to truly change the way we live. On the other hand, however, in a very real sense, it won't take a few more decades; it's already happened. Computers have already had an enormous impact on the way we live, but it's overlooked because it's indirect and behind the scenes. Computers are ubiquitous and invisible, embedded in other products and (especially) services. The fact that you are able to book a flight tomorrow (not to mention a hotel room and rental car) is thanks not just to aircraft technology but to computerized reservation and scheduling systems. You could argue that this is merely a quantitative change, not a qualitative change: computers merely make the process more efficient. But this is not so: a sufficiently large quantitative change eventually becomes a qualitative change. Instead of merely doing the same thing more efficiently, you can do new things that would never have been considered previously. For instance, a modern, mechanically reliable car lets you commute fifty miles a day to work and back, every day. You can't do that with a horse. Early cars were merely faster horses; modern cars are something qualitatively different. Without computers, even an army of airline clerks couldn't manually synchronize takeoff and landing times across the continent, not unless air traffic levels were several orders of magnitude smaller than they are today. Again, this represents a qualitative change. No one would fly on routine overnight business trips, or fly home for Christmas. The tourism and hospitality industry, one of the largest employers, would hardly exist in its present form. We can generalize this: computers make high-volume applications practical, and make it possible for companies to offer many services widely and cheaply. Without computers, many such services wouldn't even exist because the market wouldn't be large enough to outweigh the fixed overhead costs. Others, such as air travel, would be restricted to an elite or moneyed group, and would therefore have very little impact on society as a whole. When considering the impact of technology, we tend to focus too much on things that are flashy and highly visible. A generation ago, people figured that by now we'd be zipping around in rocket ships and flying to work with our own personal jet packs. Few bothered to predict simple things like fax machines. And similarly, when we look back on the twentieth century, we tend to focus on cars and planes and space shuttles, while we overlook the unobtrusive things that have had an enormous indirect impact. Consider plastics: one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, yet often overlooked because they too are behind the scenes and "internal" to other products. Consider air conditioning: without it, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Las Vegas simply wouldn't exist in their present form as business centers, and the massive ongoing population shift to the Sunbelt wouldn't be taking place. And consider computers. In the future, they will be embedded into other products in ways that would seem extravagant or preposterous to us (consider the intelligent volleyball and the smart spray paint in Vernor Vinge's "Marooned in Real Time"). And their impact on society will be as great then as it is now. (I'll let someone else argue the case for telecom technologies; this is already far too long). Gordan Palameta (416) 979-7700 x134 Numetrix Ltd. Suite 1700 gord@numetrix.com (416) 979-7559 fax 655 Bay St. Toronto, Ont. M5G 2K4 [or gord@nmx701.attmail.com] ------------------------------ From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (James H. Haynes) Subject: Re: Communication Over Power Lines? Date: 6 Jan 1994 23:00:18 GMT Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz Back in the days when you could walk into a telephone office and pay your bill in cash, there were a bunch of pamphlets in a rack on the wall giving things like tips on telephone usage, the history of the telephone, how the telephone works, etc. I remember one of these had an illustration of rural telephone service using a carrier system operating over the power wire. In this case they used the high-voltage line for the carrier, isolated from the telephone equipment by a high-voltage capacitor presumably installed by the pwoer company for the purpose. The booklet didn't go into detail as to whether there were multiple carrier frequencies so that several subscribers could be served on one power line. Then there are articles in magazines from time to time, and maybe commercial products you can buy, that use the 120v house wiring for conductors; but in that case the interest is in communicating just within the building, or maybe to nearby houses connected to the same transformer. I don't think you'll get carrier frequencies to go through a power transformer and on to the high-voltage side and back through another transformer to the 120v side on another circuit. I believe the power companies also use carrier current for signaling and controlling their relays and things, again working on the high-voltage side of things so they don't have to go through transformers. haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 17:35:21 EST From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu Quoted from mcneill@ngt.sungard.com's message of Wed, 5 Jan 94 10:03:42 EST: > On a side note, I recently called NY Telephone (or NYNEX as they want > to be called now) about getting a second phone line installed in my > apartment. I was shocked to get a quote of $185 for the second line > (first line costs about $60). This is the price for installing a > totally different phone line in the apartment. I complained a little > that they didn't need to do that as there was a perfectly good second > pair coming into the apartment I didn't get very far as the customer > service rep wasn't technical. Is there really any need to get a > totally seperate line into my apartment? Diamond State Telephone > (Delaware) was able to put a second line on the second pair. Is NYNEX > just trying to gouge me? Perhaps they were trying to sell you installation of the wire INSIDE your house. That is the extra $80-$100 or so. If you just want them to put a wire up to your network interface (typically in the basement of your apartment) that will cost you more like $85 from NYNEX. They will always assume the most expensive option, so you say "just hook your wire up to my building's interface box and activate my service". It's then your responsibility for the inside wiring. On your point about four-wire hookups, NYNEX will almost never install a second telephone line onto the second pair in a typical residential phone cable (probably) for reasons discussed on the Digest earlier in which noise can leak between the lines due to induction. They also want to have an extra modular jack inside their network interface for quick connect/disconnect if things go wrong. Not only that, they do want to make money installing inside wiring, which they are NOT obliged to do BY LAW, but are not really itching to tell you that you don't need them to do it for you. You have to be an educated consumer. Read on. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not necessarily. Telco outside plant > records are in notoriously bad condition in some places. The rep may As I said earlier, the NYNEX (formerly NY Telephone) telco doesn't seem particularly fond of second pairs. I actually looked into the network interface when they were done with it and they actually installed an extra interface jack and had cut off the second pair on the original wires so I couldn't hope to use them ... those bastards. Anyhow, you can probably hook it up to the second pair after the line is hooked up (and they leave) by using that same Radio Shack converter with your existing phone line inside the network interface and saved yourself some wiring headaches. Remember to tell NYNEX only to bring the wire to the network interface box in the basement. I told them I wanted them to do that in my old house, and they were more than happy to charge me the cheaper $85 for simple pole-to-house hookup and activation. I now live in an apartment in a semi-suburban/rural area and just recently checked with the local business office and the phone book, and nothing has changed even though it has to go to the basement of the house. In an extreme case, if there aren't any extra wires coming in (kinda unlikely in an apartment) and/or there aren't any more terminals on the pole (in a house situation) they're supposedly allowed to charge you an extra $30-$50 or so bringing the cost to more like $85 + $50 = $135. Then the optional charge for installing the wires in the house would probably bring the cost up to the $185 you stated. Don't let the bean counters cheat you! oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) wrote: > In some states the steps the moderator describes are exactly right. In > New York, things are a little different. Telco is obligated to provide > a network interface jack (if that is what you want) *in your apartment*, > for a price that is fixed -- unaffected by how long it takes to do. > This is the case regardless of whether their records show a previous > second line in your apartment; all that changes is the amount of the > fixed price. Last I checked the cost for your situation (where they > claim there was never a second line) is $88. It's $88, but if there aren't any more terminals on the pole they will charge you an extra $30 to $50 (depending on the work needed) to add that extra line terminal to the pole. This is information from the technicians and the business office here in Binghamton, NY. These are the same idiots who replaced our two pole-to-house lines twice. Once with two wires, and the second time two months later with a single two-line cable (we lived in a house with two dwellings in it). I think they were training their technicians at the time. Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 12:31:52 CST From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl Organization: AT&T In article oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) writes: > The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone > service. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone > service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT] What's this, Pat? Surely you are aware that Carl is a multi-talented lawyer, author on telecom and all-around consumer advocate? And a ham? Assuming Carl is too modest to review his book, I'll provide: BOOK REVIEW The Phone Book : How to get the Telephone Equipment and Service You Want - and Pay Less by Carl Oppedahl, a Consumer Reports Book ISBN 0-89043-364-X (pb), 1991, a revision of the book originally published by Weber Systems, Inc in 1987 as "The Phone Book" This book is a non-technical, "consumer-oriented" collection of information on telephones, telephone service, long-distance carriers, cellular carriers, and reference lists of PUC/Consumer Advocates for each state. The most technical content is a GOOD summary of what an REN is (and why a consumer might be interested), what the USOC codes like RJ11 mean (with pin/wire color information) and how to parse the FCC Part 68 registration number on equipment. The remaining 300+ pages consist of about 200 pages on how to wire one- and two-line telephones and troubleshoot the installation, intermingled with 100 pages of useful (and probably well-known to Digest readers) information on long-distance carriers, cellular/fax/ answering-machines and typical problems in connecting them, dealing with the Phone Company and how to read a phone bill. There is probably more information in this book than most consumers need, but it tends to be information they would not otherwise easily find. Those who need only wiring information might feel more at home with some Radio Shack-style publication, but they would be missing out on the substantial background information mingled in with the technical. Occasionally, there are little anecdotes to illustrate a point. For example, p. 96 mentions "Ruth's" inability to get Equal Access of any form when she moved to Townsend, Tennessee [pop. about 300, so this isn't an oblique PAT reference -- or is it?]. Carl indicates here that even without Equal Access, Ruth may be able to save money by using one of AT&T's discount plans. (It may not occur to many such captive customers that the discount plan can apply even if they have no choice in IXCs.) Some complaints: -ANI is defined as the service we here call "Caller ID", which will be confusing when talking to those who know the difference. -Quad wire is blessed as a method of installing 2-line telephones, and as a general inside wiring method. (Modems and their problems are not high-lighted in the book, but Carl does mention how to get around the A-lead control some modems have, for example.) -The cellular information should include information on ESN-cloning and other problems with cellular service. -Information (see below) useful to apartment dwellers is indexed under the term "multiunit buildings", not under "apartment". (In general, there is little "lawyer-speak" in the book.) SUMMARY: For its audience, this is an excellent reference book. BIO: Carl Oppedahl is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a practicing patent attorney. As a consumer activist, he has championed the interests of consumers in obtaining cost-effective telephone service. +++++++++ To get back to the original topic, Carl's book has several pages of information on various Network Interfaces and FCC/state rules on where/how such interfaces and demarcation points interact. On p. 29, describing NI Jacks in multiunit buildings: "In New York, for instance, the jack is located within the premises of each individual tenant. In Illinois the jack is located at the point where the telephone wiring first enters the building, generally in a basement room. (In a state like Illinois, you and not the local telephone company are responsible for the maintenance of the wiring running from the basement to your premises even though the landlord may not allow you access to such wiring. ..." Carl does indicate that such wiring should be maintained by the landlord at no cost to you, just as such electrical wiring is maintained. (Check your lease.) He lists 14 "renter-beware" states that make the renter responsible for running from the basement any wiring needed for service, such as a second line. He also lists 2 "interface- unfriendly" states that do not require TELCO to install (at little or no charge) a network interface at customer request on new service orders. Al Varney - I have no connection with Consumers Union, except as a happy customer. I have no connection with any lawyer, except as an unhappy customer. ------------------------------ From: John S. Roberts Jr. Subject: Re: Connecting Two Phone Lines to One Phone Jack Date: 6 Jan 1994 13:42:02 -0500 Organization: University of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences John S. Roberts Jr. writes: > I connected up the "other two wires" on all the lines running through > my house. Now, I can hear line two when using line one and vice-versa. > Is there any solution to this? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The solution is that somewhere in the > loop you (or someone long gone before you) cross connected the wires > and what you think is the 'other two wires' is really just part of > the first two wires. You don't really have 'line one' and 'line two'; > you have one line wired in multiple so to speak. Go to each box as > well as to the head end and find out where the cross connection is > in place. It may be nothing more than a real messy box with some > loose wires which are touching the connectors for the first set of > wires. Clean up that mess, and your 'other two wires' will suddenly > go dead again unless/until you have an actual second phone line > brought up to them. PAT] I DO have two phone lines. That is the problem. I know that they are not shorted because I can make two seperate calls on each of the lines, however I can HEAR the line one conversation when I am using line two. I have heard people talking about how when you run four conductor wire (like from Radio Shack) and use two conductors for one line and two conductors for the other you often get bleed over. I am looking for a solution to this other than running another set of wires to seperate the two lines from being so close. Thanks so much, John S. Roberts, Jr. 100 McVey Hall Work: 257-2275 +=- University of Kentucky Home: 272-1417 - FAX: 272-7105 +=- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, okay, that clarifies things. Indeed then, the thing you want to be careful about is the choice of wire you use. Some wire tends to 'bleed' more than others. You don't need two separate cables -- one set with four or more wires in it will do -- but be careful about what you use, as others have noted. PAT] ------------------------------ From: md@maxcy2.maxcy.brown.edu (Michael P. Deignan) Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem Reply-To: mpd@anomaly.sbs.com Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 17:54:39 GMT In article , yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates) writes: >> Have any of you heard about the Hayes Optima 288 V.FC + FAX modem? It >> can allegedly transmit data over a phone line at 28.8 kilobits per >> second *WITHOUT COMPRESSION*!!!! I thought you guys told us the upper >> limit was in the low 20's. What gives? Quite easy, actually. These new modems use a combination of phase-shift and amplitude modulation to transmit four, eight, even twelve bits for each baud. So, given a standard 2400 baud modem using a modified quadrature amplitude modulation scheme, you could conceivably get this level of thruput. Its all a matter of how sensitive your equipment is to detecting minute phase shifts and amplitude changes in the carrier, then it could be quite easy to get twelve bits of data transmitted with each baud. Think of it this way: Each baud is represented by a 360 degree sine wave. You can vary the phase of the sine wave to actually transmit multiple bits for each baud. For example, early "dibit phase shift keying" was a modulation scheme used by 1200bps modems. The modems were really 600 baud modems, but each baud transmitted two bits, depending on how much "out of phase" the baud's sine wave was. For instance: 0 degrees out of phase = hex 00 90 degrees out of phase = hex 01 180 " " " " = hex 10 270 " " " " = hex 11 So, by varying the phase of each baud's sine wave, you could technically transmit two bits of data for each baud. Early 9600bps modems used this same method. 9600bps modems are still technically 2400baud modems - there are only 2400 signal samples (or sine wave occurances) in each second. Using a modified phase shift keying, you could transmit 4 bits of data for each baud, hence, 9600bps. Now, sine waves have more than a phase charactistic. They also have an amplitude. You can modulate a carrier wave's signal via amplitude - tune to a local AM broadcast station, they're using amplitude modulation to transmit their signal. If you combined the two methods -- phase shift and amplitude -- you can transmit many bits simultaneously by modifying those two characteristics. For example (and I don't know if this is technically feasible, given our current technology) if you could measure a 1-degree shift in the phase of a carrier wave, in conjunction with 23 different amplitudes, then theoretically you could transmit one of 360x23 unique "values". 360x23=8280, so we could then use this combination to represent one of 2^13, or 8196, different values. Since we're transmitting 13 bits per baud, multipled by 2400 baud per second, we're getting an effective throughput of 13x2400, or 31200 bits per second, uncompressed. Of course, I don't know if this is how Hayes does it, but remember, you can only modulate a sine wave one of three ways: amplitude, phase, and frequency. Ain't technology wonderful? Michael P. Deignan Population Studies & Training Center Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912 (401) 863-7284 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 13:03:01 EST From: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales) Subject: Re: Radio Religion in Canada Reply-To: richw@mks.com (Rich Wales) Organization: Mortice Kern Systems Inc., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Gene Fornario wrote: > BTW, have you noticed that Canada doesn't either have or license > all-religious stations? Up till recently at least, the CRTC (Canadian FCC-analogue) would not license so-called "single-faith" radio or TV stations. I think there's one religious radio station in Newfoundland that was there before the province became part of Canada and got grandfathered, but that's all. However, I heard a few months ago that the CRTC had changed the rules and will now permit religious radio stations. I don't have the details, though, and I don't know how soon these stations might start appearing. Rich Wales (VE3HKZ, WA6SGA/VE3) Mortice Kern Systems Inc. richw@mks.com 35 King Street North +1 (519) 884-2251 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2W9 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #16 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa20196; 7 Jan 94 17:47 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA19460 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:23:22 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA28845 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:23:07 -0600 Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:23:07 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401071923.AA28845@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #17 TELECOM Digest Fri, 7 Jan 94 13:23:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 17 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Bruce Taylor) Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions (Bill Halverson) Re: Best Remote Software? (Andy McKinsey) Re: California ANI Question (Steve Forrette) Re: California ANI Question (Jon Edelson) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Ronald Oakes) Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Eric De Mund) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Mark Crispin) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (A. Padgett Peterson) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Alan Boritz) Re: Merlin Question (Steve Cogorno) Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Kriston Rehberg) Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation (Alan Dahl) Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Chris Ambler) Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Alan T. Furman) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 11:30:58 EST From: Bruce Taylor Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions Dear Lenny, You questions are so broad that it would be nearly impossible to answer with any accuracy. But, since this is Usenet, I'll try :-) > 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable? 1: Answer depends on which long distance carrier (IXC) that you use to get to the countries. In Europe, most countries are apparently ISDN capable. Getting there, on the other hand ... > 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are > still operating at SW-56? 2: Again, depends on the local exchange carrier, and the IXC as well. Most switched that are fully digital are ISDN capable. The LEC may not have a tariff for it, though. This is not an exclusive choice, though. Pittsburgh has both ISDN and SW56 services available. > 3. If you know, who are their carriers? 3: Argh -- whose carriers? Cities? Not relevant. There are LEC's and IXC's. In theory, any IXC can carry ISDN to any LEC. Depends greatly on which combination you're talking about. May I suggest: Talking with your college telecom group, your LEC (a 'Bell' company), and your IXCs (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, LCI, Wiltel, etc.). They could help you in greater detail. Best wishes for your research, Bruce Taylor (blt@cmu.edu) (412) 268-6249 New Projects Coordinator, Telecommunications, Carnegie Mellon University ------------------------------ From: wjhalv1@pacbell.com Subject: Re: SW-56 and ISDN Questions Date: 6 Jan 94 18:56:44 GMT Organization: Pacific * Bell In article , writes: > Sirs: I'm a tech with Brown University in Providence RI. My question > is basic, yet important to our work here at Brown, perhaps you may be > able to give me some direction to obtain the answers. > 1. Which countries/provinces have SW-56 service and are ISDN capable? Within the USA, these two services are considered to be "complementary", in the sense they can coexist within a network. > 2. Here in the US what cities have been converted to ISDN, and who are > still operating at SW-56? In California, Pacific Bell is offering both ISDN and SW-56. Since the service is hardware dependent, the prefix you get from the phone company will determine whether the switch you receive dialtone from provides either or both service. Here is an 800 number you can call to find out what is availble in our service territory: 800-995-0346 You need a touch-tone phone. You will be able to find out what kind of service is available based on the NPANXX combination you enter. Hope this helps!! Bill Halverson Pacific Bell ------------------------------ From: aam@crl.com (Andy McKinsey) Subject: Re: Best Remote Software? Date: 6 Jan 1994 10:14:03 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Joseph Ferguson (JOEJR1@delphi.com) wrote: > I need a reliable remote software program that will actually run > Windows. I use an Intel 400 at home and at work. Haven't had any luck > trying PcTools Commute. Do any of these remote programs run Windows? > Thanks for any suggestions. Try Reachout software from Ocean Isle software. 407/770-4777 Vero Beach, FL. You can run windows over a dial up link or on a network. Andy ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Date: 6 Jan 1994 19:29:28 GMT Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) In , davidj@rahul.net (David Josephson) writes: > In stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: >> ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with >> very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can > The CPUC tariff is the law. CPUC denied Pacific Bell's tariff filing > that would have offered CNID. Only that which is tariffed is > permissible. What does the tariff filing on Caller ID have to do with 800 ANI? (answer: nothing!) 800 ANI for inter-state calls is tariffed by the FCC for all three of the Big Three IXC's. Since 800 ANI is tariffed, it is permissable. > I wonder if the per-number (56# or whatever it was?) CNID blocking > from here would block a INWATS ANI/CNID? Not unless Caller ID blocking prevents you from making a 1+ long distance call (which it doesn't). There is no way to block 800 ANI short of not calling the number. Even the traditional methods of blocking Caller ID do not work: a) you can't call an 800 number by using a calling card; b) calling through the Operator doesn't block your number (on AT&T, operator assisted 800 calls still deliver the correct ANI to the recipient, and other carriers do not have operator assisted 800 calls); or c) calling over non-SS7 facilities, as SS7 is not required to support 800 ANI. This is why it works for 99.5% of all calls. Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ From: winnie@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Jon Edelson) Subject: Re: California ANI Question Organization: Princeton University Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 15:10:16 GMT In article stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or > my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are > doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number. > I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could > even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and > programmed it to block 800 numbers :-)) Yea! Another service that the telephone company can offer to make money. 800 number ANI blocking. For a small monthly fee, your 800 calls will go through, but _you_ will have to pay for them. In exchange for actually paying for the service, your ANI will not be transmitted. The various carriers charge more per call, and split the additional profit :-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do this already. You simply dial the regular ten digit number for the person or company; you pay for the call; everyone is happy. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:59:37 CST From: oakes@wildebeest.cig.mot.com (Ronald Oakes) Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group In article John Levine writes: >> Charging the land-line caller to a cellular number makes >> perfect sense to me. > In the abstract, it makes some sense. On the other hand, surcharged > numbers are a pain for callers, local telcos, and long distance > carriers since the prices tend to be mysterious and the bills at the > end of the month often an unpleasant surprise. How long do you think > it will take for someone to complain to US West "nobody told me that a > call to 1-579 cost 65 cents* a minute"? If it's as much as two days > after the first bill is sent, I'll be surprised. The day after that, > people will demand 579 blocking, like 900 and 976 blocking. There already is blocking for 1-579, and 1-976 blocking, at least for people familiar with using telephones in Colorado, New Mexico and other "civilized" parts of the country. In these parts of the country -- assuming they are not pressured to change -- dialing a "1" before a seven digit number, or after conversion the local area code, is a clear and deliberate indication that the call is toll. If you do not know that, then you simply will receive a polite "please dial 1" or "please dial 1 303" message when you attempt the call. This simple solution removes many of the problems with charge calls that become present when you allow seven digit toll calling. This would have prevented -- or at least lessened -- the New York pager scam, and can reduce the problems with 976 numbers. And for cellular services, unlike 900 and 976 like numbers, the charge will probably be a flat rate, published in the phone book, or available from the operator upon request. Ronald B. Oakes ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 13:50:44 PST From: Eric De Mund Subject: Re: Sucharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped Reply-To: Eric De Mund Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Genome Computing Group People, Dave Niebuhr in TELECOM Digest V14 #15: > NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been > ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50 > per month which is still not enough. Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York, telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible. Can anyone confirm this? Eric De Mund ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 13:44:47 PST From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous I just saw in an electronics toy catalog (Danmark or one of those) a Caller ID box that implements something like Anonymous Call Rejection as its own feature. If you enable it, it automatically answers the call and plays a refusal message, than hangs up. What I see as different between this box and the telco's feature: 1) You don't have to beg the ACLU for this feature, after having begged them for CNID. 2) No monthly charge beyond the CNID. 3) You need to wire the box in series with all your extensions, otherwise you won't get the ring suppression on the other ones. 4) I doubt that it interacts well with Call Waiting. 5) The ability to set the refusal message (I don't know if this particular box has it, but doubtless others will). Big win. So, there are interesting tradeoffs. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Plus which, the call *supervises*, and the scorned calling party gets to pay for a thirty second message telling him his call is unwanted. :) Some say that condition should be the default on this sort of thing, but at least when the telcos do it they can optionally toggle it either way. I am reminded of this guy who had a phone line installed in a remote area which he used only occassionally. The number was never given out, and he used it maybe once a week for a call or two, but he wanted a phone available when he needed it. The first thing he noticed following installation was how many wrong numbers this line was getting; like three or four a day from all sorts of people who were looking for someone or something else -- there was no set pattern to the wrong numbers. He knew for a fact no one would ever call *him* on that line because he never gave to the number to anyone for any reason. His solution was to put a real cheap answering machine on the line with an outgoing message which said, "You have reached a wrong number. For your convenience, this line is answered 24 hours per day by this recording. The person or company you are seeking is not at this number. Because of your carelessness in dialing, you have been charged for this call. Goodbye." He later said the funny part was how many people paid absolutely no attention and at the tone went ahead and recorded their airline reservations, questions for customer service, requests for songs to be played on the radio, etc. A few did actually listen and take note of the message; many of those chose to respond with anonymous (of course) obscene incoming messages, some made sounds into the phone which resembled belching or passing of 'gas', a couple were gales of hysterical laughter, etc. He finally changed his outgoing message on that line referring to it as the "Telephone Company Wrong Number Respository". ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 16:45:55 -0500 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous > Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is > it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for > about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. I can see a very valid use -- computer modem lines. On my dial-ups I use Caller-ID to validate the caller before permitting connections. If the CNID is blocked, I just do not answer the phone but the line is still occupied until the caller hangs up. Even if I did not have CNID, I doubt that many people would be willing to use a Demon Dialer if they could not block CNID since they would not *know* if I were logging. It certainly would put a crimp in annoyance calls that rely on anomynity. Warmly, Padgett ------------------------------ Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz) Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 06:42:56 EST Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861 johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) writes: > Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? I've had the function working for a good part of a year, but with the Colonial Data Technologies "Block The Blocker" CNID box. Works like a charm. ;) NJ Bell sent out a flyer on 1/1/94 to all of their CNID customers announcing CNID privacy block (*67) and anonymous call rejection (*77). However, it also added that the call rejection feature would not be available in some areas for a while. > It impresses me as one of those features which you get for > about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps > I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult > to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the > phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from. Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines (our exchanges are low numbers in the 201 area). Telemarketing calls are an enormous time-waster, and more than half of the investment scam callers are pushy and rude. Invade my privacy at home with a useless sales pitch AND hide your CNID from me and I'll redefine the word "rude" for you. ;) If you're hiding your identity from me (privacy block), then I don't want to talk to you. My time is worth more than yours (anonymous caller, that is) and I don't appreciate it being wasted. > People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call > Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't > receive calls. That Class feature only handles ten numbers, maximum (and can handle privacy-blocked numbers), and has to be manually programmed. That's not a solution, except for the most obnoxious and uninventive abusive callers (those who can't figure out that they could pick up ANOTHER un-blocked phone to call you). aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861 ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Merlin Question Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 14:13:36 PST Said by: Vince Dugar > Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but > it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper > solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for > CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK) Sure -- instead of buying a BTMI or Data Adapter, you can wire your modem straight into the demarc point (bypass the Merlin altogether). Of course, this will prevent you from using Merlin Features, but if you want to play you gotta pay :-) Steve cogorno@netcom.com #608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive * Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated Reply-To: krehberg@vnet.IBM.COM Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 17:51:16 EST From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu In dk@crl.com's message of 5 Jan 1994 16:40:08 -0800 was written: > Dan Cromer (19016007@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU) wrote: >> remotes, generated. I bought a new VCR for my folks in Lakeland, FL, >> to make it easy for them to set up the VCR for recording, but the VCR >> Plus+ codes aren't listed in their newspaper. I'd like to be able to > I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote > control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date, > time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front > of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be > done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these? Yah, modern Panasonic VCR's with VCR/Plus has a thumwheel on the remote control which lets you cycle through the days. It also has a meager explanation of VCR/Plus and lets you graphically program the channel positions into the VCR so that it will automatically know which channel is which. It had some kind of cross-reference listing on it as to which channels go where so that the codes might actually work for your local cable system. Prevue Guide (the TV-Guide channel that allows the cable system to automatically select the preview commercials based on your area's channels) also provides VCR plus on almost all the programs in the commercial section, and at least some of them in the program listing section. Pretty cool, if you ask me. But I'm not among those millions of people who can't program something as simple as a VCR. Come to think of it, just setting up this Panasonic VCR for VCR/Plus would give this kind of person a coronary. Kris ------------------------------ From: alan.dahl@mccaw.com (Alan Dahl) Subject: Re: Caller ID/911 Seattle and Article Recommendation Date: 6 Jan 1994 23:28:49 GMT Organization: McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. In article stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > In , hedlund@reed.edu (M. Hedlund) writes: >> I also saw a news piece about 911 technology and cellular phones, >> saying that Caller-ID/Signalling System Seven had speeded response to >> home calls (as discussed) but that only _some_ systems could ID >> cellular phones -- Seattle was mentioned as considering cellular- >> Caller ID to improve 911. Apologies if this overlaps a thread I >> missed, but anyone in Seattle with info? > I have cellular accounts with both of the Seattle carriers: US West > Cellular and Cellular One. At least when calling 800 numbers, the US > West Cellular system will report my actual cellular number as the ANI, > whereas Cellular One reports a non-dialable number that's common on > all subscribers. Since 911 systems are often implemented using > operator-service trunks, I would imagine that the 'correct ANI' > feature of the US West system would also work with 911, although I > don't have any specific knowledge that this is the case. As far as > Cellular One goes, they could implement 911 ANI with some sort of > special data line to the PSAP, without converting to full ANI for all > outbound calls. One benefit of the US West Cellular ANI situation is > that it allows me to select any IXC that's generally available via > Equal Access as my default carrier for the cellular phone. The problem, of course, with using ANI with cellular numbers for enhanced-911 is that it only gives the 911 people some of the information they need. It will give them your cell number (assuming that the ANI works correctly) so they can try calling back if the number is disconnected but there is no way for them to translate this number into a location since the cellular phone could be anywhere. With normal 911 the phone number is translated to a street address, and since houses (with the possible exception of mudslides in LA :-) rarely move, the 911 operator (and thus the police/fire department/whatever) can be relatively sure that that's where you're calling from so that help can be dispatched to the right address if you are unable to communicate. With a cellular phone the information that is _really_ needed is the cell site that the phone is communicating with. This could, in turn, be translated to a street address that would at least get the police to within a thousand feet or so of your location in the event you are cut off, don't know where you are or are unable to communicate. You can imagine the frustration of a 911 operator talking to a child over a cell phone (say, after a car accident) where the child may be unable to explain where the car is and the 911 operator helpless to narrow down the location at all without help from the cellular provider (and a lot of valuable time lost). Coming up with a way to communicate cell site address to the 911 operator is non-trivial and will probably take a fair amount of effort to implement. Since I don't work on that side of the company I'll let someone else explain the technological challenges. I understand (from what I read in the papers, I don't know anything even remotely official) that McCaw is committed to delivering this functionality within the next couple of years. Alan Dahl Axys Development Team alan.dahl@mccaw.com McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. Phone: (206) 803-4496 P.O. Box 97060 Fax: (206) 803-4901 Kirkland, WA 98083-9760 ------------------------------ From: cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler - Fubar) Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! Organization: The Phishtank Date: Fri, 07 Jan 1994 02:01:44 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well now, that's very gracious and generous > of you to agree to take that extra modem off his hands. :) Meanwhile, > back in California, I am wondering what is going on with the lawsuit against > Sprint the guys were starting based on alleged misrepresentations of the > product being shipped, etc. Can anyone bring us up to date on that side > of it? PAT] Certainly! I have received from Sprint a letter from their agent here in California informing me that they are the proper people to serve. The papers have been made out accordingly. I am in the process of receiving legal advice on my claim, and should be filing this month. I'm being very careful about what I'm doing so as to not make any mistakes. I want this to be as "fair" a case as possible, at least from my end. And, since I know that Sprint reads this group (since they were able to quote me my own words on the phone from a post here), a hearty hello to them as well, expect me to file shortly. This has been a learning experience for me if nothing else, I've come to understand how the law works in these cases, and believe I have a very strong case. I look forward to its resolution. Meanwhile, the modems sit, sealed and unopened, in a cool dry safe place, awaiting their day in court :-) Pat, might I ask you the easiest way for me to scan the archives for all messages posted on this subject? I have been advised that I should have them all handy, since Sprint will most likely have the same. Christopher(); // All original text is strictly the opinion of the poster Christopher J. Ambler, Author, FSUUCP 1.42, FSVMP 1.0, chris@toys.fubarsys.com Ozric Tentacles Mailing List: ozric-request@toys.fubarsys.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you get the index to subjects and authors in the Digest for volume 13 from the Telecom Archives, use the Unix command 'grep' to search for the words 'Sprint' and 'modem' in the same subject line. If you use the Telecom Archives Email Information Service, one of the commands available to you is SEARCH and you would search for those same keywords. The results would be returned by email and you would then order the issues of the Digest referenced in the index. As a practical matter however, the majority of the discussion went on during September through November, and you could just pull all the back issues from that period and scan the indexes given at the start of each issue (if you get the Digest format rather than c.d.t.). Also, are you *sure* those modems are sitting in their original unopened boxes in a cool, dry place? Have you fellows been playing with your new toys? I am reminded of this dude twenty years ago who used to buy CB radios from Radio Shack at a time when CB's were easily modified to install an additional 250 channels and with luck oscillate clear up in ten meters. He'd buy the radios and modify them, then resell them to folks. Naturally, once in awhile there'd be an accident. He'd mess up something, ie, the radio would blow up. In that case, he'd scrap all the internals he wanted -- the chips, etc -- for spares to use elsewhere and he would *carefully* put the unit back together otherwise, *carefully* repackage the remains and take it back to Radio Shack to complain the unit was defective. Now the RS clerks didn't pay any attention; they'd just swap him out and send the 'defective' unit back through the system to their regional center. Over time the 'defective' CB would find its way back to the factory in Korea (Hong Kong? China?) where it was made. Just imagine the scene: the Chinese factory workers open the radio and look inside. As they look closer, they squint their eyes and proclaim, "Holy $%^%# ... look at this! No master crystal, no trim-pots, no final ... how did this thing pass quality control and get out of here to start with!" ... :). PAT] ------------------------------ From: atfurman@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 21:17:45 PST > I was one of those who, a few months ago, ordered Sprint LD service > while under the impression that I would get *one* external 9600 baud > *data* modem with FAX. After speaking with the post-offer Sprint > staff, I accepted the internal 2400 baud data and 9600 baud fax modem. > Now the problem -- I just got a second modem in the mail! Exactly the > same as the first. All I have is an 818 area code phone number for > Best Data, so I don't want to call them back; it came UPS, so I can't > just throw it in the mail with REFUSED scribbled all over it. I doubt > the Sprint rep's will be able to help. Now what? Look at it this way: You now have a total of 4800 bits/sec of data bandwidth. It is not yet 9600, but you are halfway there. Alan Furman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's he supposed to do, wire them in parallel somehow and process the data through each at twice the speed or something? Ha ha ha ... :) Poor Sprint ... I'll bet they cuss everytime they see this thread come back to life here. I know they rue the day some brainy person in their marketing department ever thought up the promotion. What was that nice lady's name who went to all the trouble of calling each person trying to get it straightened out? And now, just when they thought the long nightmare was over ... PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #17 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa24939; 8 Jan 94 12:32 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA18277 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Sat, 8 Jan 1994 09:22:16 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA16922 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Sat, 8 Jan 1994 09:22:02 -0600 Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 09:22:02 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401081522.AA16922@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #19 TELECOM Digest Sat, 8 Jan 94 09:22:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 19 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl (Carl Oppedahl) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Richard Masoner) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Anthony E. Siegman) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (James R. Saker Jr.) Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Carl Oppedahl) Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Ed Greenberg) Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (A. Padgett Peterson) Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped (Chris Labatt-Simon) Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis (Jim Graham) Re: Hayes' New Modem (Jakob Hummes) Re: Communication Over Power Lines? (Michael D. Griffin) Re: How are VCR Plus Codes+ Generated (Peter Capek) Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Finally (Dan Osborn) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Book Review: "The Phone Book" by Carl Oppedahl Date: 7 Jan 1994 17:52:11 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In varney@ihlpe.att.com writes: > In article oppedahl@panix.com (Carl > Oppedahl) writes: >> The state-to-state differences are discussed in my book about phone >> service. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What's this about your book about phone >> service? Please review it for us and tell us how to obtain copies. PAT] [most of review omitted here -- thank you by the way to Mr. Verney!] > Some complaints: > -ANI is defined as the service we here call "Caller ID", which will > be confusing when talking to those who know the difference. Yes, Mr. Varney is right. I incorrectly used the terms as if interchangeable, which of course they are not. If and when there is another edition I will correct this. > -Quad wire is blessed as a method of installing 2-line telephones, and > as a general inside wiring method. Again Mr. Varney is right. While I am pleased with most of what I wrote, I am very embarassed that I did not then appreciate the difference between quad and twisted-pair for multiline purposes. As readers here are aware (1) many home have quad already in place so adding twisted-pair is more work and (2) quad often yields annoying crosstalk. I wish I had made the latter point in my book, and hope to cover that point in another edition. > -The cellular information should include information on ESN-cloning > and other problems with cellular service. Again he is right. > -Information (see below) useful to apartment dwellers is indexed under > the term "multiunit buildings", not under "apartment". (In general, > there is little "lawyer-speak" in the book.) Yes, and what's annoying is, I supplied an index and the publisher did not use it -- they used one prepared by an index consultant that they had used on other books. Oh, well. > Al Varney - I have no connection with Consumers Union, except as > a happy customer. I have no connection with any lawyer, > except as an unhappy customer. Well, thank you for taking the time to write it up. Now, dear readers, here is how we can get a new edition that corrects the bugs Mr. Varney mentioned, and that reflects everything else people in this newsgroup might want to add -- you can guess. People would have to buy the present print run. So, trot down to your local bookstore and clear those shelves. Buy extra copies for use as gifts. Or call up Consumer Reports Books and order it by phone. But seriously, thank you for the writeup. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: cendata!richardm@uunet.UU.NET (Richard Masoner) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: Central Data Corp., Champaign, IL Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 21:44:22 GMT In article drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz) writes: > Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing > idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when > we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines (our > exchanges are low numbers in the 201 area). Telemarketing calls are > an enormous time-waster, and more than half of the investment scam > callers are pushy and rude. Invade my privacy at home with a useless > sales pitch AND hide your CNID from me and I'll redefine the word > "rude" for you. ;) Many (not all) telemarketing calls actually originate from somewhere outside of your area code (places where rent and labor is cheap). Rejecting anonymous callers doesn't work for them. > If you're hiding your identity from me (privacy block), then I don't > want to talk to you. My time is worth more than yours (anonymous > caller, that is) and I don't appreciate it being wasted. Many people do have legitimate privacy concerns, and don't want their phone numbers to be known outside of a select circle. Just my observations. Richard F. Masoner Central Data Corporation 1602 Newton Dr., Champaign, IL 61821 (217) 359-8010 x251 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 16:57:53 PST From: Anthony E. Siegman Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous > Then you probably don't receive a lot of calls from telemarketing > idiots and nosy scam artists. We go through periods at work when > we're inundated with those, and calls from telemarketing machines ... > Telemarketing calls are an enormous time-waster, and more than half > of the investment scam callers are pushy and rude. Ditto here. In past two days San Jose Mercury telemarketers have managed to ring all four university extensions on my secretary's desk (selling newspaper subscriptions to Stanford University office extensions? -- but then, who expects intelligence from telemarketers). Let me once again pitch the simple idea that telemarketers should be allowed total freedom to call anyone -- but required to do it with CNID from a special "telemarketing area code" prefix, like 300 or 400 or ??? (just like the "Advertisement" warning at the top of commercial inserts in reputable magazines). Those who wanted could then buy a cheap black box to block all such calls. No First Amendment problems, no "do not call this number" databases to prepare and maintain, burden of protection entirely on the callee (but easily done), etc. ------------------------------ From: jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu (James R. Saker Jr.) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 19:22:27 GMT Ron Schnell writes: > I have anonymous call rejection enabled on my phone in Miami, FL, and > someone tried to call me from a cellular phone that was installed in a > rental car in San Diego in their rental car and got the rejection > message. > I assume that the cellular rental company uses some ultra-cheap LD > service (to make the most amount of money possible on the $2.00/minute > rental charge!) that uses a local out-going line in Miami that > disabled CID. I've got US West Cellular service in Omaha, Nebraska (all you can eat a month for $150!). Several of my friends and business associates who have caller ID services have noticed that whenever they receive calls from me on my cellular phone, they appear as anonymous calls. Attempts to use last-call-return also fail (with some useless message). Evidently it's not just cheap cellular providers which demonstrate this problem ... Jamie Saker jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu Chief Operating Officer Business/IS Major Synergistic Communications Univ. Nebraska at Omaha voice: (402) 680-8280 fax: (402) 391-7283 ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped Date: 7 Jan 1994 17:24:46 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In Eric De Mund writes: > Dave Niebuhr in TELECOM Digest V14 #15: >> NYTel, as part of a multi-million dollar rate rollback has been >> ordered to reduce the cost of touch-tone dialing from $1.35 to $.50 >> per month which is still not enough. > Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me > the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at > his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York, > telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible. I don't know the situation now, but a few years ago a friend in Westbury had three lines in the house, one of which was a 516-333. The 516-333 had been in place for a decade or more, and he kept it because it was a flat-rate line -- no charge for local calls. Makes me think that 516-333 was some sort of ancient equipment, a stepper exchange, maybe. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: edg@netcom.com (Ed Greenberg) Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 14:20:02 GMT In article Eric De Mund writes: > Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me > the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at > his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York, > telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible. Since 516-333 is served out of the Westbury DMS-100, it would surprise me if it couldn't handle touchtone. Now, NYTel may have some foolish reason for not providing it, but be assured that 516-333 isn't step or some other ancient technology. Ed Greenberg edg@netcom.com Ham Radio: KM6CG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 08:39:39 -0500 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped > In addition, it is phasing out the optional business Flat Rate and > untimed Message Rate plans for businesses in upstate NY and imposing > timed message rate for them. This is the scary part simce everywhere I go I see regional carriers attempting to eliminate "flat" and "unmetered" plans. As telecommuting and information hightway access begins to take hold, the elimination of unmetered local service is the biggest threat to individual connectivity that I can imagine. Of course, the biggies (Compu$erve, Plodigy, etc.) will have 800 numbers and just pass the cost along, but one might expect amateur BBSs, SLIPs, and the like to become much less popular. The biggest threat would be to the infant telecommuting industry and the home office which relies on unlimited local service and the best means for achieving the Clinton/Gore "20% reduction in commuting" would go up in smoke. True, TANSTAAFL still applies and I suppose metering is inevitable particularly since it is both cheap and desirable for the Telcos. The only advantage that I can see for the consumer would be that with metered service, the subscriber would have a right to a call detail listing the individual calls by called number, time, and duration. Chilly today, Padgett [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Chilly is an understatement, Padgett. Four degrees below zero at 9:00 AM this Saturday morning is not my idea of a pleasant spring day in Chicago! :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon) Subject: Re: Surcharge for Tone Dialing to be Dropped Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:51:01 GMT Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA Eric De Mund writes: > Given that backwards state of affairs, maybe my dad *is* telling me > the truth when he says that he can't even *get* touch-tone service at > his home in central Nassau County (Westbury), Long Island, New York, > telephone number (516) 333-xxxx. Incredible. I have a friend in Islip (Nassau County) who has touchtone. I though this was a capability that was in all switches manufactured in the last umpteen (how much is an umpteen anyway?) years, and that if a customer wanted pulse service, the phone company had to disable touchtone. Anyone? Anyone? Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601 Albany, New York PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539 Subscribe to the Lotus Notes Mailing List - e-mail me for info.... ------------------------------ From: jim@n5ial.mythical.com (Jim Graham) Subject: Correction: Re: Help Needed With V.42bis Organization: Future site of Vaporware Corporation (maybe). --Teletoons (NW) Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 16:13:08 GMT The purpose of this posting is to correct some major technical goofs in another post. These corrections come right out of the ITU-T (ex-CCITT) text for V.42 and V.42bis, as well as info from one of the authors of both standards. General comments, of course, are mine. :-) In article PURWIN@XANADU.XYPLEX.COM (Janusz Purwin tel 508-952-4711) writes: > Well don't worry about if it does work or not. Firstly V.42 requires > that both modems have to have that feature enabled. Secondly it is > most useless feature ever put into modem. Its good for marketing > people to brag about and give false advertising about how faster modem > will transmit data without pointing out when it happens. First off, V.42 *IS* an important feature, especially for high-speed modems. If you didn't have some type of error control, you could run into all kinds of problems. Remember, high speed modems (e.g., V.32bis and the up-and-coming V.34) really stretch the limits of a normal POTS line. I won't bore everyone here with the details, since that's not going to be anything new to anyone anyway. Second, V.42 (and MNP3) strip off the start/stop bits, thus using only 8 bits per character instead of 10. For a V.32bis connection, this means going from a throughput of absolutely no more than 1440 cps to somewhere around 1650 cps to 1724 cps (after protocol overhead). See the discussion over in comp.dcom.modems for more details on this. But when have you ever seen a vendor 'brag' about this? > The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme Sorry, but V.42 doesn't do any compression, period. V.42 is an error control protocol, as is clearly indicated by the title of ITU-T (ex-CCITT) Recommendation V.42: "Error-Correcting Procedures For DCEs Using Asynchronous-to-Synchronous Conversion" (originally in all-caps). V.42 is an HDLC-based error control procedure. It operates in one of two modes: LAPM (Link Access Procedure for Modems), which is its primary mode, and an alternate mode specified in Annex A, which is basically an MNP4 clone (added to provide support for older modems that don't have V.42). If you can find anything about data compression in Recommendation V.42, you must be reading a different version than the one that was written by the CCITT (now the ITU-T). Now, assuming that your reference to V.42 was a typo, and you really meant V.42bis ... > The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme that is based on > generating dictionary as you transfer a file. What that mean is, it > will not compress as you type. First off, V.42bis uses a modified version of Lempel-Ziv-Welch compression. Various extensions were added to LZW to make it more effective in a modem environment where it would be required to compress continuous streams of data. It compresses whatever data it can, regardless of whether that data is typed by you, is a screen of data from the remote computer, or is a file being transferred. Second, even if V.42bis only worked when *FILES* were being transferred, and not when text screens, etc., were moving, would you please explain to me how it's supposed to know the difference? :-) Think about it ... > But here is the catch normally ALL files are compressed You seem to be assuming that the only use for high-speed modems is downloading files from a BBS. This is, in fact, far from the truth. There are lots of people using modems to access various other online applications, and V.42bis can definitely help a *LOT* in this case. And even if all you're doing is snarfing up some file from a BBS, isn't it nice to have those file listings move faster? Hey, if I'm grabbing a file from a BBS, I usually have something I want to do WITH that file -- I'd rather get on with that than sit there waiting for screen after screen of info. > by PKzip, ARC or ARJ LHA GIF programs. Those are using precisely > same algorithm as V.42. As already covered above, V.42 isn't data compression, and V.42bis (which *IS* data compression) uses a modified version of LZW that is designed specifically for the modem world. In fact, zip, etc., usually do better than V.42bis, so where possible (and it isn't always possible) you're better off compressing files with something like zip or gzip prior to sending them. > So those files are not compressible. If you try to compress them > again the file size will be larger than original. Not true. Unlike MNP5, V.42bis is nice enough to not expand pre-compressed data, so the worst you'll get is 1:1. For more details, refer to section 7.8 of Recommendation V.42bis ("Data compressibility test"). > ... So the benefits of V.42 for the user are minimal! That depends on what the user is doing. The benefits for YOU may be minimal, and that's fine. But just remember that there are other modem users in the world, and they don't all do things exactly the same way you do. Later, jim 73 DE N5IAL (/4) < Running Linux 0.99 PL10 > jim@n5ial.mythical.com ICBM: 30.23N 86.32W || j.graham@ieee.org Packet: N5IAL@W4ZBB (Ft. Walton Beach, FL) E-mail me for information about KAMterm (host mode for Kantronics TNCs). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Jim for submitting this correction. It is very difficult from where I sit to catch some of the errors in the more complex technical articles which appear here in the Digest, thus the importance of readers sending in corrections when they are needed. Never hesitate to send in corrections and to be sure they catch my eye given the high volume of mail received, be sure to add some phrase in the subject line such as 'correction to posting' or similiar. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hummes@osf.org (Jakob Hummes) Subject: Re: Hayes' New Modem Date: 7 Jan 1994 21:04:43 GMT Organization: Open Software Foundation In article , md@maxcy2.maxcy.brown.edu (Michael P. Deignan) writes: > Of course, I don't know if this is how Hayes does it, but remember, > you can only modulate a sine wave one of three ways: amplitude, phase, > and frequency. > Ain't technology wonderful? Yes, it is. But there is an absolute limit (Shannon's Law). The question was about the transmission over a *real* phone line. And that means there exists *noise*. The limit of bps is proportional to the logarithm of the signal to noise ratio. Unfortunately I don't remember the constant factors. Jakob Hummes ------------------------------ From: mgriffin@access3.digex.net (Michael D. Griffin) Subject: Re: Communication Over Power Lines? Date: 7 Jan 1994 19:38:21 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA James H. Haynes (haynes@cats.ucsc.edu) wrote: > I believe the power companies also use carrier current for signaling > and controlling their relays and things, again working on the high-voltage > side of things so they don't have to go through transformers. Actually many of them (most) have discovered that they can run a fiber optic cable right along side or even inside the high voltage cables since the opticial signals are immune to the electrical interference ... now if someone could only figure out how to transmit electric power via fiber cable the power companies would really be happy. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 15:14:54 EST From: Peter Capek Subject: Re: How Are VCR Plus+ Codes Generated VCR Plus codes are a "secret" encoding of the channel, start date and time, and length of a program. Gemstar seems to have elected to try to keep the encoding secret, so as to maintain their ability to sell the device, and also to sell to the newspapers the codes. This may be because they couldn't get an effective patent or other form of protection. Unfortunately, they seem not to have anticipated that this strategy would be interpreted by many as a challenge. As a result, almost all details of the encoding were deduced and published in a paper, published in Cryptologia about two years ago. As far as I know, there's no other protection on the encoding, so that no legal barrier prevents a newspaper (at least, one which isn't already under contract to Gemstar) from creating the codes itself and publishing them (modulo the missing details), although there is undoubtedly protection on the VCR Plus trademark itself. Peter Capek ------------------------------ From: dosborn@Internet.cnmw.com Date: Fri, 07 Jan 94 15:28:01 EST Subject: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Finally Pat: As a final effort to obtain my sprint modem, I scanned back issues for Diane Worthy's number. The number associated with her is no longer in service. However, in my search I came across the number for Shawn Larimer. One article listed him as the person in charge. I called that number and left a message. Well, I just received a return call, not from Mr. Larimer, but from Don Sivesind (913-624-5136). He was very nice, even cheerful. When I breifly explained to him my tale of woe, he (much to my delight) said that he would order me a modem right away. It turns out that instead of setting up a new account (which would have trigged a modem order) they re-activated on old account. Well, I'm a "happy camper" now, and not "so" down on Sprint's customer service. Although, this still leaves David in a quandry about what to do with his extra modem. Dan Osborn [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the followup on this. I'm glad to hear Sprint was willing to work along with you. Regards David and his extra modem, I wonder if he has been staying awake all night wondering what to do about it. :) Hey, he can send it to me if nothing else; somehow I will find a way to sacrifice one of the empty slots in my 386. :) I'll try to stay warm today as it is miserably cold here in Chicago, and the forecast is for sub-zero weather for a couple days. Otherwise, have a nice weekend! PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #19 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa25039; 8 Jan 94 12:32 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA32425 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for telecom-recent@lcs.mit.edu); Sat, 8 Jan 1994 08:34:20 -0600 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu id AA07001 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for /usr/lib/sendmail -oQ/var/spool/mqueue.big -odi -oi -ftelecom-request telecomlist-outbound); Sat, 8 Jan 1994 08:34:05 -0600 Date: Sat, 8 Jan 1994 08:34:05 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <199401081434.AA07001@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #18 TELECOM Digest Sat, 8 Jan 94 08:34:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 18 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T and NYTel (Larry Nathanson) How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Maaruf Ali) Looking For Information on Faxmail Systems (Greg Trotter) Technical Description of PBXs Wanted (Don Pelton) High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences (Daren Cline) SprintNet Access From the Internet (Robert J. Rodriguez) User Interface From Hell (John Limpert) "Dynamic" SLIP? (Mike Eggley) Two Changes to Caller*ID in NJ (Dave Levenson) Multi-line BBS's (Dannie Gregoire) Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment (Nevin Liber) GSM Recs on the CD ROM (Volkmar Scharf-Katz) Looking For Cordless Headset Phone (Gregory Corbett) Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers (William M. Eldridge) Re: Merlin Question (Paul Cook) Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? (Laurence Chiu) Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas (David H. Close) Re: Help Needed With V.42bis (Sean P Peacock) Re: Announcing networkMCI (Tom Horsley) Re: How Do I Subscribe to Computer Underground Digest? (Monty Solomon) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:12:25 -0500 From: Larry Nathanson Subject: AT&T and NYTel I've just had an interesting time on the phone with the droid-reps of NYTel and AT&T ... It seems that my last bill came in with a munged minutes column of the AT&T portion. (Half of the calls had no minutes value, and there was a $10.14 call to Sacramento at 11pm that said 8 minutes! (The call is my roommate's -- I'm not sure how long it really was for.)) I called AT&T, whose rep suggested that I call NYTel, as the problem was with their printing of the bills. The NYTel rep said that AT&T had messed up the tapes, and that they had dropped the minutes column for calls that were between one and four minutes. (Obviously this is not the whole story -- many of the calls in that range are listed, not to mention the $1.25+/min call to CA!) When I suggessted that I'd like a corrected bill, she said "Oh no, were not equipped to do that!" When I persisted, she called AT&T, and her final conclusion was that AT&T would call her back with the minutes information in about two weeks, and then she would call me. At that point I asked to speak to manager (I consider yelling at droids on a par with teaching pigs to sing). I was told that one would call me back later ... As far as I'm concerned, if they want my money, they'll have to send me an accurate bill. Some of the lines on the bill fail simple sanity checking -- so as far as I'm concerned, the whole page is suspect. Anyone else have a similar experience with them? L ------------------------------ From: MAARUF ALI Subject: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? Date: 8 Jan 94 08:42:04 GMT Organization: King's College London Could someone please tell me how to phone US 0800 numbers from the UK? Thanks. Maaruf Ali [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We do not have '0800' numbers. If you mean 800 (toll free numbers), the answer is that generally you cannot call them from outside the USA. Most of the subscribers to 800 service only pay to accept calls from places inside the USA. Subscribers in the USA who wish to accept toll-free (reverse charge) calls from other countries have numbers assigned to them in the actual format used by the other country. In other words, if there is an 0800 number listed in your directory which states that it rings into the USA somewhere, you can call it. If you otherwise see (in advertising or whatever) a number in the USA marked 800-something, you *cannot* call it from outside the USA under normal conditions. They don't want to accept your call and have to pay for it. One exception to this is that you can call the 'home direct' services of the various carriers and some of these carriers will handle it so that you pay for a call to the USA and the 800 subscriber on this end pays only for the portion of the call which is in the USA. You need to match carrier with 800 number for this however; the carrier of the 800 number is the carrier who's 'home direct' service you need to connect with, *and not all of them will do this*, although I think AT&T and MCI will. PAT] ------------------------------ From: greg@gallifrey.ucs.uoknor.edu (Greg Trotter) Subject: Looking For Information on Faxmail Systems Date: 8 Jan 1994 08:52:12 GMT Hello! I am looking for information on systems that can handle fax calls on a store-and-forward basis. I've used systems like FaxFacts from Copia, but am not sure about their support on a few key issues: CLID support DID support If anybody has information on software/hardware to do this, I'd appreciate the information. greg ------------------------------ Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Date: Friday, 7 Jan 1994 11:26:29 PST From: Don Pelton Subject: Technical Description of PBXs Wanted I'm looking for sources of good technical descriptions of PBX technology and standards. Can anyone suggest books, articles, newsgroups and/or other internet resources? Standards documents? Thanks, Don Pelton (dep@slac.stanford.edu) ------------------------------ From: dcline@PICARD.TAMU.EDU (Daren Cline) Subject: High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:17:43 GMT Organization: Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University Subject: High Speed Telephone Cables for Residences I am designing a home to be built this spring and summer and I want to specify the telephone cables it will have. With all the news about phone companies improving their networks for higher speed transmission I wonder if there will be (in, say, five years) correspondingly higher standards for residences. I'd like to anticipate them if possible. Locally, at least, it seems that fiber optics is out of the question since it would require very expensive multiplexing and demultiplexing equipment. For twisted pair copper cable, the industry grades by "level" which is roughly corresponding to speed or throughput. Apparently most homes have level 1 or 2. Level 3 supposedly can handle up to 10 megabits per second, level 4 higher and level 5 maybe 20mbps. I have two questions. Responses by e-mail are welcome. 1) Is there any reason to expect that level 3 will not be sufficient in the near future, keeping in mind what the phone and cable TV companies are likely to provide? 2) Besides cable and jacks, what else should I be careful to specify? (I do plan to specify 4 twisted pairs per cable.) Daren Cline ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 17:32:22 EST From: Robert J. Rodriguez Subject: SprintNet Access From the Internet Has anyone found a public gateway to access SprintNet (specifically PC Pursuit) from the Internet using a TELNET connection? This might be useful at sites that don't have direct modem dialout access but do have an Internet connection. Robert Rodriguez (alternate address kjjy@musicb.marist.edu at Marist College) ------------------------------ From: johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov (John Limpert) Subject: User Interface From Hell Date: 7 Jan 1994 22:58:00 GMT Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- InterNetNews site I just received the user guide for our ROLM PBX voice mail system. Although I like to think of myself as technologically literate, the user interface for the voice mail system intimidates me. The rather thick user guide lists many features, options and user commands. The system structure is summarized in 6 pages of decision tree diagrams. User commands are things like "*73" (replay a message), and there are alot of them. I already have an 89 page user guide for my ROLM telephone. Does anyone else find this as frustrating as I do? The local phone company uses similar commands to access the new features that have been added to their switch software. I don't mean to single out ROLM, I'm sure other vendors have similar systems and problems. The ROLM PBX has some nice features that I never use because I can't remember groups of commands like "FLASH-*-*-3". The telephone has mutated from an easily understandable electric instrument to a terminal for a complex computer/data switch. It still has the same basic external layout except for the addition of a few extra buttons in some telephones. How can telephones be made easier to use? The local phone companies are going to have a hard time selling new features to their customers if they expect them to press "*-*-FLASH-4-2-#-6-6-6" every time they use them. John Limpert johnl@medusa.gsfc.nasa.gov ------------------------------ From: mse@ins.infonet.net Subject: "Dynamic" SLIP Date: 8 Jan 1994 04:12:21 GMT Organization: INFOnet - Iowa Network Services, Inc. Reply-To: mse@ins.infonet.net My understanding of SLIP is that it is a point-to-point dedicated configuration, requiring a modem on the receiving end to be dedicated to a specific user (due to IP I think). I've heard some talk about so-called 'dynamic' SLIP -- where the SLIP connection is made, but through a mux or terminal server, allowing the provider to serve multiple dial-up customers instead of a 1-1 ratio. Any insight, knowledge on this would be much appreciated. If this is totally off-base I'd like to know that too. Thanks, Mike Eggley mse@ins.infonet.net ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Two Changes to Caller*ID in NJ Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 02:21:26 GMT Effective January 1, NJ Bell has begun offering two new services related to Caller*ID: Anonymous calling, and anonymous call rejection. For no additional charge, you may dial *67 before any call, and your number will not be revealed to the called party. But, if you dial *77 at any time, others who attempt to call you after dialing *67 are routed to a telco-supplied recording advising them that you do not accept calls with blocked identification. Anonymous call rejection is available at no additional charge to all customers who subscribe to Caller*ID. 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 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 00:56 EST From: dannie@coplex.coplex.com (Dannie Gregoire) Subject: Multi-line BBS's Hi Pat, I'll direct this question to you if possible, as you are the true phone system guru. I asked it in the newsgroup a couple of months back with no useful response. I would like to know how some of these bulletin boards have 60-100 lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do they simply have that many individual lines run or is there a nifty service that the TELCO offers through a PBX? I apologize if this is a stupid question, but it is one that has baffled me, and I gotta know the answer. Thanks for any help ... Dannie J. Gregoire dannie@coplex.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the compliment, but you overestimate my skills a little. Depending on your application or needs, you can have as many actual lines run as desired. I suspect most very large systems these days however use what is called T-1 or similar, where a large number of circuits are multiplexed or handled over just a few actual pairs of wires. In addition to T-1, there are similar methods for bringing in a large number of circuits on only a few wires. In my own personal applications in the past, I always just had the physical wires, but that was several years ago before the present technology became available. Perhaps Fred Goldstein or one of the *real* tech people here will reply. PAT] ------------------------------ From: nevin@cs.arizona.edu (Nevin Liber) Subject: Methods to Prevent Stalking and Phone Harrassment Date: 8 Jan 1994 23:59:20 -0700 Organization: University of Arizona CS Department, Tucson AZ A friend of mine (in Cook County, IL) is currently being stalked by a mutual acquiantance of ours. This has been going on for over a year. Unfortunately, the only evidence that my friend has is circumstantial (eg: the phone calls temporarily stopped when the suspect went on vacation, and resumed when the suspect returned back to IL). Much of what the suspect is doing is in the way of harassing phone calls, including calls from various payphones in the area where my friend lives, calls at all hours of the day and night, calling pagers and leaving my friend's phone number, etc. Does my friend have any recourse (legal or technological)? He has tried many of the new technological means (I don't want to go into detail, since the suspect has net access and potentially reads this newsgroup), but he's running out of ideas. A legal means might be preferred (since that might help against the stalking as well as the harassment), but just being able to curtail the phone harassment (and it is happening at both his home and his work, so just changing the phone number won't be enough) would be helpful. Nevin ":-)" Liber nevin@cs.arizona.edu (602) 293-2799 ^^^ (520) after 3/95 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are laws against stalking and harassment in place here in Illinois. If your friend wants to do something about it legally, I suggest that he go to court and ask for a 'peace bond'. If the court agrees the circumstances warrant it, the other person will be told to come to court and the 'peace bond' will be issued against him; he'll be ordered to keep his distance and refrain from harassing activities. Failure to do so will result in his arrest. Your friend may get a run-around from court personnel if he shows up without an attorney so he might want to hire a lawyer to go in and get it done for him. Changing his home phone number will eliminate at least some of the problem, however it is hard to say what might help at work since you don't mention the type of phone system there. Really though, he should not have to change his number at home. That is an inconvenience on him. I think my first steps would be to secure the peace bond and install selective call screening (subscriber can punch in up to ten numbers from which he does not wish to receive calls) on my line. Each time the guy called, I'd add 'last call received' to my list of screened numbers. That would keep him looking for new payphones to use since I'd always keep *his* home phone(s) and office phone(s) on the screened list. If that did not discourage him, then with the peace bond in hand I'd ask Illinois Bell to install a trap on my line. I assume your friend has the stalker's home address and place of employment? Getting served with a court order to lay off might be all it takes; the person might be sufficiently discouraged at that point. What kind of phone system does your friend have at work? Would employees there (for example the operator/receptionist) be willing to help eliminate the problem? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Volkmar Scharf-Katz Subject: GSM Recs on the CD ROM Date: 8 Jan 1994 08:24:48 +0100 Organization: Detecon GmbH - Projekt Digitaler Mobilfunk - Vermittlungstechnik Does anybody know whether GSM Recommendations are on CD? Best regards, Volkmar Scharf-Katz (katz@duitex3.pdmv.detecon.de) ------------------------------ From: gcorbett@husc8.harvard.edu (Gregory Corbett) Subject: Looking For Cordless Headset Telephone Date: 8 Jan 94 05:47:50 GMT Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Can anyone help me? I am looking to obtain a cordless, "Headset" telephone that operates with a small microphone and "walkman-like" earpiece. Where can I obtain such a phone? Thanks in advance. Greg Corbett gcorbett@husc.harvard.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try the "Hello Direct" mail order catalog. Phone 1-800-HI-HELLO for details. "Hello Direct" is now an official supplier of equipment to Illinois Bell customers through telco's 'work at home center'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bill@COGNET.UCLA.EDU (William M. Eldridge) Subject: Re: Notice to AT&T Long Distance Customers Date: 8 Jan 1994 00:42:09 -0800 Organization: UCLA Cognitive Science Research Program > According to a wire service account in the {Boston Globe}, AT&T is > changing their rates to be more like MCI and Sprint. The list price As somebody who just switched from AT&T to MCI, I have a few qualifications for this. On international calls, MCI has all weekend rates, while AT&T leaves its three Day-Evening-Night slots the same, seven days a week. MCI has better hours during the week. AT&T had worse setup (first minute) charges. For U.S. calls, the MCI regular charges are not much more than the AT&T monthly plans (something like .12/minute vs. 11/minute at night). Bill Eldridge bill@cognet.ucla.edu 310-206-3960 (3987 fax) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 03:09 EST From: Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Merlin Question vdugar@stortek.stortek.com (Vince Dugar) writes: > Why does the Merlin system charge users so much (I forget now, but > it's a lot) to buy a special modem adapter? Is there a cheaper > solution? What about using an acoustic modem? (only want it for > CompuServe mail handling, so low baud would be OK) This is a device that talks to the Merlin KSU using it's proprietary signalling, but can connect to a modem, standard single line phone, or fax machine, and provide ringing and a standard, 2-wire telco line type connection on the output side. If you just want to use the modem for dial out, a much cheaper solution is to bypass the KSU with an exclusion device that will provide protection against interruption to both the Merlin system and the modem, since there is no reason to have the added expense of ringing or an expensive connection to the key system's station side. You can use Proctor's 41434 Voice/Data Privacy module. Install it on one of the CO lines ahead of the KSU. One of the outputs will go to the same place on the KSU where this outside line used to plug in, and the other output will run directly to the modem. When this trunk isn't in use, the modem can seize it and dial out. If the line is already in use, the modem will be blocked. If someone attempts to place an outgoing call on this line from the Merlin system while the modem is using the line, they will be blocked from interrupting the modem transmission. If you have a number of incoming lines in a hunting rotation, and one line is used the least, install the modem access on that least used line. For more information, contact Proctor via fax/email/telephone via one of the numbers below. 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 ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Re: Use a 9600 Baud US Modem in UK? Date: 8 Jan 1994 01:08:30 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access In article , Linc Madison wrote: > In article you wrote: >> I've got a friend who'll soon be moving to the UK (Durham actually). >> She's got a Hayes compatible 9600 baud modem that she would like to >> take with her and use there. > (4) If your phone line in the UK is pulse, you may want to add into > the setup string the code to set the make/break pattern to UK standard > instead of US standard. However, in practice, most phone switches are > not sensitive enough to tell the difference between 39/61 and 33/67. > The command is AT&P1 for UK, AT&P0 for US. Touch-tone is the same in > both. Don't even try to use pulse in Scandinavia or New Zealand. Why not in New Zealand? You just have to change your numbers so that they are modulo 10. I think since the old telephone dial went 0....9. Of course there's no earthly reason to use pulse in NZ since all exchanges are MTDF capable. Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730 (work) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: dhclose@cco.caltech.edu (David H. Close) Subject: Re: Dialing 1 First Prohibited in Dallas Date: 8 Jan 1994 07:28:00 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena /G=J.SCOTT/S=PELHAM/O=GTE/PRMD=GTEMAIL/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com writes: > When dialing within one area code, in the Metroplex, you only dial > seven digits regardless of whether it is a GTE or SW Bell number. > When dialing from one area code to the other you dial 1+, just like > you would from any other two area codes. The difference is when the > number being called, *or* the number being called from, is a "Metro" > number. Apparently much has changed or you didn't understand it in > the first place. It could look that way if you live in either Dallas or Fort Worth. But if you live near the boundary, the problem is complicated by the fact that some exchanges in the "other" area code are local. So you don't dial the one, even though the number is not metro. However, if you call from one end of either area code to the other end, such that the call is not local, you do dial the one and the area code, even within your own area code. What that all means is you can memorize all the metro exchanges (a big job) but it still won't always help you. Whether a call requires a one or not depends on whether it is local, and that depends on both the calling and the called numbers. So if you recognize an exchange as not bein