Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa18857; 30 Jan 94 12:44 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08382; Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:33:07 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08369; Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:33:02 CST Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:33:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9401301533.AA08369@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #51 TELECOM Digest Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 51 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Modems to Merlins (Steven Warner) Re: Modems to Merlins (Walter Syrek) Re: Modems to Merlins (Charlie Mingo) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Robert Endicott) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Randy Gellens) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (tah@cbosgd.att.com) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (David Esan) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Laurence Chiu) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Linc Madison) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Arthur Rubin) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Charles Reichley) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Chaim Frenkel) Re: Unmetered Local Service (J. D. McDonald) Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Martin McCormick) Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Jerry Leichter) Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Dan Lanciani) Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Charles Roberson) Telephone Nunbers in France (Earle Robinson) GSM Radio Interface Security (vps@triton.dsto.gov.au) Nine Pin Jack Into Cellular Phone - Connect to Computer? (John Hardin) Problems With French Telephone in Canada (Michel Brunet) 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: Steven Warner Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins Organization: RTFM / beachSystems, Sunnyvale, CA, USA Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 05:08:25 GMT (Cliff Sharp) writes: > 1. The primary reason I want the modem there is so that I can call > their machine and use some sort of remote-access software to figure > out what they're doing to their poor machine when they break it. The > Merlin "solution" sounds to me as though I would never be able to get > to their modem (or that the modem would answer any call that came in, > not just mine). Yes? No? Using a BTMI or a GPA (as you stated) will work. More below. > 2. For some incredibly silly reason I can't talk them out of, they > demand that the first line(s) of their hunt group remain open at all > times possible and unused by outbound calls. (Explaining hunting to > them is very like teaching the proverbial pig to sing.) From what I > understand, the adapter either seizes the first open line or has to be > manually routed. How does it really work? The GPA is plugged into a merlin set. It picks up whatever line the merlin phone would pick up, if you raised the handset. The GPA must plug into the expansion connector in the back of the phone. It will NOT plug directly into the switch. The BTMI (Basic telephone and modem interface) plugs directly between the switch and a modem, elimininating the need for a Merlin voice terminal. The BTMI can be programed to pick up any or all lines, and can be programed to select outgoing lines in a selection sequence much like that of a regular set. There are two versions of BTMI. The BTMI-1 has a problem that if the modem is using the line, and another line rings (that the BTMI would normally seize), camp-on tones are fed to the modem. This can cause a few problems. Modems plugged into a BTMI-1 also must dial '9' to get outside lines. The BTMI-2 has modes that disallow the camp-on tones, and even a mode that will present outside lines to the modem without dialing 9. > 3. This whole thing sounds as though they're going to have to plug > the adapter into a phone and route RJ-11 cable all over the office. > Friend likes the idea now, but he's gonna change his mind when he sees > it. Is there any other way to do it so we can run 4-pair to the modem > location? See BTMI above. > ANY ideas are welcome, including how to explain to a wall that a > dedicated line is his best solution. It may or may not be. a properly connected modem interface will allow quite functional sharing of the line. Be aware that 9600 baud is about as good as you will do thru this thing. Steven Warner (34W 36L) sgw@boy.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins From: walter.syrek@cld9.com (Walter Syrek) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:39:00 -0600 Organization: C-9 Communications I have an AT&T Merlin set on my desk at the office. It has two plugs on the bottom, one for the line cord, one marked "other". Does anybody know if I can plug a modem into the "other" socket? It's a strange size, not the same as the standard modular phone jack. ------------------------------ From: mingo@panix.com (Charlie Mingo) Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins Date: 30 Jan 1994 01:41:21 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC In article , Cliff Sharp wrote: > A friend is part owner of a small business using a Merlin Plus > system. He wants to add a modem to his coterie of computer equipment > (and I've been trying to get him to do it for the longest time!). > However, for some reason he feels that a dedicated line is too > expensive and wants to hook it into his Merlin system. > Now, a little research turned up a general-purpose adapter that > AT&T sells for just such use; it plugs into one of the telephones and > provides a POTS look-alike that somehow can use any line. While we're on that subject, my brother is trying to do exactly this with a Northern Telecom PBX dating from the mid-1980's. Does anyone know if Northern Telecom sells a similar POTS-line adaptor? Any idea how much it would be or where one would find it? ------------------------------ From: endicott@netcom.com (Robert Endicott) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 05:22:47 GMT Mark Crispin (MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU) wrote: > 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. I have solved the problem by putting a computer with a telephone interface board on the line. It answers the phone line and sounds just like an answering machine, and takes a message if the caller leaves one. HOWEVER, anyone I want to be able to get through. I tell them to touchtone a code during the outgoing message and it will interrupt the message and ring my phone. NOONE I don't know, ever knows that there is a way to get through. If the call is valid, I return the call. Since I've programmed it myself, I can have as many codes as I want. Robert Endicott ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 30 JAN 1994 11:01 GMT Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous varney@ihlpe.att.com writes: > 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. Do any telcos do this? How appalling. It violates the basic assumption of intercepts. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com| A Series System Software Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages| Mission Viejo, CA. to: rgellens@mcimail.com]| [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not really. Intercepts assume no useful information was passed to the caller, where with anonymous call rejection the information being passed tells the caller that the called party does not wish to speak with them since the caller is not known to them. It might be looked at as a way of saying 'I do not speak to strangers'. Unlike no such number, no circuit or out of order intercepts where the lack of communication is not the fault of the caller or called party, in this instance the called party is plainly saying that he refuses to communicate. Telco's posture seems to be they do not wish to be in the middle of a possible dispute between the parties, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:52:21 EST From: tah@cbosgd.att.com Subject: Re: Are Lata Maps Available? Organization: AT&T I received a National Lata Map at a trade show two years ago (believe it was COMNET) Anyway the company name and address on the bottom of the map is: CCMI Suite 1100 11300 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-3030 Phone 1-301-816-8950 ext 835. I don't know if they are still in business but it might be worth a try if you're still looking for a lata map. ------------------------------ From: de@moscom.com (David Esan) Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? Date: 30 Jan 94 05:13:44 GMT Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY In article wjhalv1@pacbell.com writes: > in most states there is only one LATA. Not true. Most states (and provinces) have more than one LATA. Attached are a list of states/provinces and the number of LATAs associated with them. AK 1 VT 1 NJ 4 MI 6 LA 8 OH 10 DC 1 CT 2 NM 4 MS 6 NE 8 TN 10 DE 1 NS 2 NV 4 PR 6 NY 8 FL 11 HI 1 ON 2 WA 4 UT 6 SC 8 IN 11 MB 1 AB 3 WV 4 KS 7 AL 9 NC 12 ME 1 BC 3 AZ 5 KY 7 IA 9 PA 12 NB 1 MA 3 ID 5 MT 7 SD 9 VA 12 NF 1 PQ 3 OR 5 OK 7 WI 9 CA 14 NH 1 MD 4 WY 5 CO 8 MN 10 IL 18 RI 1 ND 4 AR 6 GA 8 MO 10 TX 20 SK 1 The LATAs in NY, where I live, include: 132 - NYC 133 - Hudson Valley 134 - Albany 136 - Syracuse 138 - Binghamton 140 - Buffalo 921 - Fisher's Island (Independant) 974 - Rochester Telephone (Independant) The names associated with these places are just the large city in those LATAs. LATA 140 includes all of Western NY from Rochester (but not including Rochester) to the west, and three exchanges in Pennsylvania. David Esan de@moscom.com ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? Date: 29 Jan 1994 23:10:42 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com In article , John R. Grout wrote: > 1. How would 800 Directory Assistance (which, for the benefit of > readers outside North America, is 800-555-1212), handle calls coming > through USA Direct? I can imagine an AT&T operator asking such a > person "what area code are you calling from?", as they often do here, > and the conversation taking a turn for the worse. I don't know about 800 Directory assistance but on the few occasions I used USA Direct to make calls when I didn't know the number, I would hang on and wait for an operator. They knew what country I was calling from based on the line I guess. When I asked for directory assistance they would call that area's DA and identify themselves as AT&T and get the number for me and then connect me. Laurence Chiu Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 09:06:37 GMT Another point to mention is that (although every PTT in the world will deny it until they're blue in the face) the fact is, from many places you can simply dial +1-800-whatever, and the call *will* go through, at normal international rates. It isn't supposed to work, they don't want you to think it will work, but I have done it myself. I remember slugging Australian dollars into a callbox in the middle of the Outback. Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? From: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Date: 30 Jan 94 03:12:56 GMT Organization: Beckman Instruments, Inc. In grout@sp17.csrd.uiuc.edu (John R. Grout) writes: > 1. How would 800 Directory Assistance (which, for the benefit of > readers outside North America, is 800-555-1212), handle calls coming > through USA Direct? I can imagine an AT&T operator asking such a > person "what area code are you calling from?", as they often do here, > and the conversation taking a turn for the worse. Correct answer (to what area code are you calling from?): How should I know? (I once called 800 information from a SkyPhone (TM).) 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) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:59:03 EST From: Charles Reichley Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Reply-To: CREICHLEY@vnet.IBM.COM Organization: IBM Federal Systems Company (for now)- Manassas, VA USA For MOST things in this world, we all pay the same price regardless of how much we use it. I will pay the same for a TV as you, even if you watch your TV eight hours a day and I only watch mine for an hour a day. The only things which we pay for use are things that are actually USED UP. We pay for each gallon of heating oil, for each gallon of water, for each kilowatt of electricity (Electricity is a grey area -- while I can't use the same kilowatt as someone else, it is also the case that for many generating stations, there is a minimum output that exists and is 'wasted' if nobody uses it. But even in this case, the power is put somewhere and is lost). SO the question is, is phone service something you 'use up' by the minute, or something that is a fixed item. Cable TV is a lot like phone service, and I don't pay per minute for cable (well I don't have cable, but if I did I wouldn't be paying per use). It does cost the cable company more if there are more people on the line, as they have to boost the signal. But once the signal boosters are in place, it makes no difference whether I watch the cable or not. In the same way, if more people make phone calls, the phone company has to install additional switches/lines/equipment. But once the equipment is in place, the cost for the phone company is the same whether I make a phone call or not. Maybe phone usage should be billed on a split-system, where people are charged by the minute during times when the usage is over 80%, but not charged when the usage is less than that. Charles W. Reichley, Loral/FSC???, Manassas, Va. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How would people know which condition was in effect at the time? Many folks would gladly wait until overall usage dropped below a certain point in order to use the service 'for free' if they knew what the usage was. How would you convey that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: chaim@toxicavenger.fsrg.bear.com (Chaim Frenkel) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: 30 Jan 94 05:40:22 GMT Organization: Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. In article lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) writes: > Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local > calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method. > Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from > office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start > itemizing bills. Itemized billing, like flat rate local calling -- is > a feature of the American telephone system; it has ended up that way > mostly by accident. Certainly there is no logic that says subscribers > have the right to an itemized bill. (There may, however, in many > jurisdictions be a PUC regulation saying so.) I would argue that the customer has every right to an itemized bill. Consider an order placed with a mail order outfit, (or as they do in my neighborhood, place large phone orders with the local grocery store for delivery): would you accept only a total? If I would have a meter at my end that would independently corrobrate the phone company's numbers/total, you might have an argument. But as it is you have only the phone company's word as to the correct amount. There is no easy way to determine if the phone company is being honest (ie design error / built-in bias :-) or whether your phone line is being hacked/abused. Chaim Frenkel On contract at: chaim@nlk.com chaim@fsrg.bear.com Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. ------------------------------ From: mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (J. D. McDonald) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 06:26:53 GMT Organization: UIUC SCS In article rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) writes: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro- >> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most >> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers >> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority >> of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such >> as modem users -- pay more. > Please, Pat. That is not at all true. I live in downstate Ill., in Champaign. At one time we had the choice of measured or flat rates. The measured rate was clearly cheaper for me, in fact I seem to remember $6 monthly phone bills. Then they did away with the flat rate entirely ... everybody now has measured rates. At the same time they raised the minimum one paid for no calls at all, so as to be almost equal to what the previous flat rate was. So (almost) everybody lost. Doug McDonald ------------------------------ From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick) Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 07:58:58 GMT The technology to remove the DTMF tones is definitely here. The amateur radio magazine "QST" had an introductory series of articles, last year, about digital signal processing. The series featured a Texas Instruments DSP chip programmed to remove steady tones from an audio channel. The program simulated a filter which was capable of removing complex, but repetitive wave forms so it could remove several tones occurring at once from an audio signal. The article described what it was like to use the filter and mentioned that it occasionally produced very strange effects when it would mistakenly eat part of a human voice, but it generally did the job in removing heterodynes from voice signals without effecting the voice. Such a filter would gobble up DTMF signals without leaving anything behind but a click. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:19:36 EDT From: Jerry Leichter Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones You know, some of the ancient Greeks would have loved this mailing list (and the net general). It's populated by people who, like them, believe that sheer logic is enough to understand the world -- you don't need any "dirty" observation. "Everyone knows" (by simple reasoning) that replacing touchtone phones with rotary phones won't help because "the bad guys" will just go to Radio Shack and buy tone dialers. "Everyone knows" (by simple reasoning) that this whole approach just won't do anything. Well, the {New York Times} article that reported on the change contained information explicitly addressing both of these points. I don't have the article in front of me so don't recall exactly who was quoted, but I think it was a Nynex spokesman who mentioned tone dialers but also said that *as a matter of observed fact* few drug dealers bother to buy or use them. Why? Go ask them; but they don't. Further, in neighborhoods where rotary phones have been installed -- and remember, we are no longer just applying "pure reason", there have been such neighborhoods for a couple of years now -- it's a matter of *observed fact* that those phones tend not to be used as "offices" for drug dealers. Why? Again, go ask the drug dealers. Sometimes little things can have a disproportionate impact. Explaining *why* may be very difficult, but doesn't change the result -- the world works the way it does despite our lack of understanding of it. I don't know about you, but while I'm very willing to listen to reason, I'm even more willing to look at facts. Jerry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jerry, what you say makes very good sense. We have known for years that drug dealers are not usually the smartest people in the world (I am speaking now of the street corner salepeople, not the wholesalers and importers). You are quite correct that time and again in Chicago at least, when payphones have been converted to (a) one way outgoing service; (b) calling card/collect/third party billing only -- no coin -- during overnight hours; and/or (c) rotary dial service the drug dealers have simply moved elsewhere -- to phones which DO still have unrestricted service -- to conduct business. And for most people in the neighborhood, that's all they want is for the drug dealers to *go somewhere else*. I think often times people on Usenet (and some of that may rub off on the people who participate in this group) assume all the people in the world are of the same level of sophistication as themselves. I've caught myself falling into that rut. From my recent observations at a local Radio Shack store, I've noticed how many people have no idea even how to hook a modular cord into the back of the phone on one end and into the wall jack on the other end without it being done for them or shown to them in detail. Smart Radio Shack salesmakers (as Tandy likes to call them) make extra money going to customer's homes outside of business hours as a separate thing and installing what the customer bought that day in the store. Drug dealers do not read the {New York Times} and they certainly do not participate in Usenet newsgroups. Drug dealers are not too bright. *That* is probably the reason the rotary dial/outgoing service only combo works so well in the 'war on drugs'. The neighbors don't care who sells drugs; they just don't want the traffic around their area. You are right ... it works! Of course the neighbors are not much smarter and they can't see why touch tone is needed either so they are not inconvenienced for the most part even if the rest of us are. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 00:10:02 EST From: ddl@das.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors kevray@MCS.COM wrote: > I also use AT&T's switch box (pressing #1 transfer to yet ANOTHER > 'fake' line -- good for modems, faxes, multi answering machines, etc) > and the multi-ring box with this little toy did not work together > nicely (ie: MAJOR voltage problems ON the phone line). > Just so you know the one I have is called "Ring Decipher" by Command > Communications, Inc (Aurora, CO). The main problem with CCI's product is that it puts out a piddling 18V to simulate an on-hook condition. If you connect anything that monitors line voltage to determine on/off hook status to the CCI box, that device will likely be confused. I talked to CCI about this and they claim that most devices are happy with 18V to indicate on-hook. However, every device that *I* tried (including an AT&T answering machine, switch box (for similar additional fake line effect), fax machine, and phone) interpreted 18V as off-hook. Beware that other ring decoders have similar problems. Beware further that several other brands are simply re-labeled CCI boxes (e.g., Black Box). The only unit that I could find which put out a respectable 48V is the one sold in AT&T phone centers. (I think it is made by Multilink or somesuch.) Even this device required modifications (additional capacitors in the voltage trippler) to put out reasonable current at 48V. Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.* ------------------------------ From: roberson@aurxc7.aur.alcatel.com (Charles "Chip" Roberson) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors Date: 29 Jan 1994 16:42:39 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Inc., Raleigh, NC > Just saw an ad for a gizmo that will decipher the unique ringing cadence > for up to four lines and route them to a specified telephone device. I borrowed a friend's Viking PDF-2 (Phone/Data/Fax switch with Distinctive Ringing) and it doesn't want to work with my AT&T Answering System 1332. According to Mike at Viking Electronic's tech. support, AT&T doesn't like their ring signal. (The PDF-2 answers the line on the first ring and then generates the 'ring' back to the user as it rings the appropriate port.) Mike said get a new answering machine or try their FastPath switch which provides a clear channel to the phone port (which is where the normal ring is directed) so the answering machine will receive the CO ring signal. I guess the FastPath answers the other cadences. This apparently runs about $100. (The PDF is about $150). Hello Direct has a simple, four-port Ring Decipher for $89 which I'm considering as an alternative. Does anybody know of any other `well behaved' devices that are reasonably (read "less expensively") priced? Is there a dinstinctive ringing switch that can pass the CO ringing straight through on any port? In other words, can they just switch the line without answering the call (going off hook) to the CO? What about one that gives a each port a ringing signal that is similar in quality to the CO's for a simple cadence? Any reviews out there? Thanks, Chip Alcatel Network Systems * 2912 Wake Forest Road * Raleigh, NC 27609 Phone: +1 (919) 850-5011 FAX: +1 (919) 850-5588 DoD #1161 Roberson@AUR.Alcatel.com o&>o ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 94 22:21:30 EST From: Earle Robinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Telephone Nunbers in France Richard D G Cox said that the change in French phone numbers is put off due to complaints from users. This I doubt, since almost no one in France is aware of any impending change. There is almost complete ignorance of such questions in France, in part due to the few people who have access to Internet. Anyway, France Telecom does what it wants. There's no competition and the French just bow and obey. -er ------------------------------ From: vps@triton.dsto.gov.au Subject: GSM Radio Interface Security Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 09:11:16 GMT Organization: Defence Science and Technology Organisation Can anyone direct me to any information that quantitatively analyses the risk of interception and spoofing on the GSM radio interface? I am interested in any work which anybody has done to somehow quantify how hard it would be and what resources it would take (time, computing, equipment etc) to reverse calculate the relevant inputs of the cryptographic algorithms (A3,A8,A5) in GSM from there outputs. Cheers. ------------------------------ From: snowbee@tyrell.net (John Hardin) Subject: Nine Pin Jack Into Cellular Phone - Connect to Computer? Organization: Tyrell Corp. Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 18:11:47 GMT Hi there - There's a port on my cellular phone that looks like a parallel port for a computer. Is it possible to connect my computer to this port and reprogram my phone or do some good hacks on it? Thanks, John ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 22:23:19 -0500 From: aj783@freenet.carleton.ca (Michel Brunet) Subject: Problems With French Telephone in Canada Reply-To: aj783@freenet.carleton.ca Recently I returned from France and brought back an Alcatel telephone with me. The telephone has a built in answering machine. After connecting the telephone I tested some of the features. Everything that has to do with making a call with the telephone works just fine. However, to receive a call all I get from the telephone is a semi ring. I'm hoping someone could explain to me why it is doing this. If not, I would appreciate any information that anyone has on the ring voltage used here in Canada and the ring voltage used in France. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Merci! Michel Brunet Ottawa (Canada) E-Mail aj783@freenet.carleton.ca ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #51 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19027; 30 Jan 94 12:58 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08485; Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:35:33 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08474; Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:35:30 CST Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:35:30 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9401301535.AA08474@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #51 TELECOM Digest Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:33:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 51 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Modems to Merlins (Steven Warner) Re: Modems to Merlins (Walter Syrek) Re: Modems to Merlins (Charlie Mingo) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Robert Endicott) Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Randy Gellens) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (tah@cbosgd.att.com) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (David Esan) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Laurence Chiu) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Linc Madison) Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? (Arthur Rubin) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Charles Reichley) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Chaim Frenkel) Re: Unmetered Local Service (J. D. McDonald) Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Martin McCormick) Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (Jerry Leichter) Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Dan Lanciani) Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors (Charles Roberson) Telephone Nunbers in France (Earle Robinson) GSM Radio Interface Security (vps@triton.dsto.gov.au) Nine Pin Jack Into Cellular Phone - Connect to Computer? (John Hardin) Problems With French Telephone in Canada (Michel Brunet) 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: Steven Warner Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins Organization: RTFM / beachSystems, Sunnyvale, CA, USA Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 05:08:25 GMT (Cliff Sharp) writes: > 1. The primary reason I want the modem there is so that I can call > their machine and use some sort of remote-access software to figure > out what they're doing to their poor machine when they break it. The > Merlin "solution" sounds to me as though I would never be able to get > to their modem (or that the modem would answer any call that came in, > not just mine). Yes? No? Using a BTMI or a GPA (as you stated) will work. More below. > 2. For some incredibly silly reason I can't talk them out of, they > demand that the first line(s) of their hunt group remain open at all > times possible and unused by outbound calls. (Explaining hunting to > them is very like teaching the proverbial pig to sing.) From what I > understand, the adapter either seizes the first open line or has to be > manually routed. How does it really work? The GPA is plugged into a merlin set. It picks up whatever line the merlin phone would pick up, if you raised the handset. The GPA must plug into the expansion connector in the back of the phone. It will NOT plug directly into the switch. The BTMI (Basic telephone and modem interface) plugs directly between the switch and a modem, elimininating the need for a Merlin voice terminal. The BTMI can be programed to pick up any or all lines, and can be programed to select outgoing lines in a selection sequence much like that of a regular set. There are two versions of BTMI. The BTMI-1 has a problem that if the modem is using the line, and another line rings (that the BTMI would normally seize), camp-on tones are fed to the modem. This can cause a few problems. Modems plugged into a BTMI-1 also must dial '9' to get outside lines. The BTMI-2 has modes that disallow the camp-on tones, and even a mode that will present outside lines to the modem without dialing 9. > 3. This whole thing sounds as though they're going to have to plug > the adapter into a phone and route RJ-11 cable all over the office. > Friend likes the idea now, but he's gonna change his mind when he sees > it. Is there any other way to do it so we can run 4-pair to the modem > location? See BTMI above. > ANY ideas are welcome, including how to explain to a wall that a > dedicated line is his best solution. It may or may not be. a properly connected modem interface will allow quite functional sharing of the line. Be aware that 9600 baud is about as good as you will do thru this thing. Steven Warner (34W 36L) sgw@boy.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins From: walter.syrek@cld9.com (Walter Syrek) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:39:00 -0600 Organization: C-9 Communications I have an AT&T Merlin set on my desk at the office. It has two plugs on the bottom, one for the line cord, one marked "other". Does anybody know if I can plug a modem into the "other" socket? It's a strange size, not the same as the standard modular phone jack. ------------------------------ From: mingo@panix.com (Charlie Mingo) Subject: Re: Modems to Merlins Date: 30 Jan 1994 01:41:21 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC In article , Cliff Sharp wrote: > A friend is part owner of a small business using a Merlin Plus > system. He wants to add a modem to his coterie of computer equipment > (and I've been trying to get him to do it for the longest time!). > However, for some reason he feels that a dedicated line is too > expensive and wants to hook it into his Merlin system. > Now, a little research turned up a general-purpose adapter that > AT&T sells for just such use; it plugs into one of the telephones and > provides a POTS look-alike that somehow can use any line. While we're on that subject, my brother is trying to do exactly this with a Northern Telecom PBX dating from the mid-1980's. Does anyone know if Northern Telecom sells a similar POTS-line adaptor? Any idea how much it would be or where one would find it? ------------------------------ From: endicott@netcom.com (Robert Endicott) Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 05:22:47 GMT Mark Crispin (MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU) wrote: > 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. I have solved the problem by putting a computer with a telephone interface board on the line. It answers the phone line and sounds just like an answering machine, and takes a message if the caller leaves one. HOWEVER, anyone I want to be able to get through. I tell them to touchtone a code during the outgoing message and it will interrupt the message and ring my phone. NOONE I don't know, ever knows that there is a way to get through. If the call is valid, I return the call. Since I've programmed it myself, I can have as many codes as I want. Robert Endicott ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 30 JAN 1994 11:01 GMT Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous varney@ihlpe.att.com writes: > 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. Do any telcos do this? How appalling. It violates the basic assumption of intercepts. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com| A Series System Software Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages| Mission Viejo, CA. to: rgellens@mcimail.com]| [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not really. Intercepts assume no useful information was passed to the caller, where with anonymous call rejection the information being passed tells the caller that the called party does not wish to speak with them since the caller is not known to them. It might be looked at as a way of saying 'I do not speak to strangers'. Unlike no such number, no circuit or out of order intercepts where the lack of communication is not the fault of the caller or called party, in this instance the called party is plainly saying that he refuses to communicate. Telco's posture seems to be they do not wish to be in the middle of a possible dispute between the parties, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 09:52:21 EST From: tah@cbosgd.att.com Subject: Re: Are Lata Maps Available? Organization: AT&T I received a National Lata Map at a trade show two years ago (believe it was COMNET) Anyway the company name and address on the bottom of the map is: CCMI Suite 1100 11300 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852-3030 Phone 1-301-816-8950 ext 835. I don't know if they are still in business but it might be worth a try if you're still looking for a lata map. ------------------------------ From: de@moscom.com (David Esan) Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? Date: 30 Jan 94 05:13:44 GMT Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY In article wjhalv1@pacbell.com writes: > in most states there is only one LATA. Not true. Most states (and provinces) have more than one LATA. Attached are a list of states/provinces and the number of LATAs associated with them. AK 1 VT 1 NJ 4 MI 6 LA 8 OH 10 DC 1 CT 2 NM 4 MS 6 NE 8 TN 10 DE 1 NS 2 NV 4 PR 6 NY 8 FL 11 HI 1 ON 2 WA 4 UT 6 SC 8 IN 11 MB 1 AB 3 WV 4 KS 7 AL 9 NC 12 ME 1 BC 3 AZ 5 KY 7 IA 9 PA 12 NB 1 MA 3 ID 5 MT 7 SD 9 VA 12 NF 1 PQ 3 OR 5 OK 7 WI 9 CA 14 NH 1 MD 4 WY 5 CO 8 MN 10 IL 18 RI 1 ND 4 AR 6 GA 8 MO 10 TX 20 SK 1 The LATAs in NY, where I live, include: 132 - NYC 133 - Hudson Valley 134 - Albany 136 - Syracuse 138 - Binghamton 140 - Buffalo 921 - Fisher's Island (Independant) 974 - Rochester Telephone (Independant) The names associated with these places are just the large city in those LATAs. LATA 140 includes all of Western NY from Rochester (but not including Rochester) to the west, and three exchanges in Pennsylvania. David Esan de@moscom.com ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? Date: 29 Jan 1994 23:10:42 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com In article , John R. Grout wrote: > 1. How would 800 Directory Assistance (which, for the benefit of > readers outside North America, is 800-555-1212), handle calls coming > through USA Direct? I can imagine an AT&T operator asking such a > person "what area code are you calling from?", as they often do here, > and the conversation taking a turn for the worse. I don't know about 800 Directory assistance but on the few occasions I used USA Direct to make calls when I didn't know the number, I would hang on and wait for an operator. They knew what country I was calling from based on the line I guess. When I asked for directory assistance they would call that area's DA and identify themselves as AT&T and get the number for me and then connect me. Laurence Chiu Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 09:06:37 GMT Another point to mention is that (although every PTT in the world will deny it until they're blue in the face) the fact is, from many places you can simply dial +1-800-whatever, and the call *will* go through, at normal international rates. It isn't supposed to work, they don't want you to think it will work, but I have done it myself. I remember slugging Australian dollars into a callbox in the middle of the Outback. Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: How to Phone US 0800 Numbers From the UK? From: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Date: 30 Jan 94 03:12:56 GMT Organization: Beckman Instruments, Inc. In grout@sp17.csrd.uiuc.edu (John R. Grout) writes: > 1. How would 800 Directory Assistance (which, for the benefit of > readers outside North America, is 800-555-1212), handle calls coming > through USA Direct? I can imagine an AT&T operator asking such a > person "what area code are you calling from?", as they often do here, > and the conversation taking a turn for the worse. Correct answer (to what area code are you calling from?): How should I know? (I once called 800 information from a SkyPhone (TM).) 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) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:59:03 EST From: Charles Reichley Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Reply-To: CREICHLEY@vnet.IBM.COM Organization: IBM Federal Systems Company (for now)- Manassas, VA USA For MOST things in this world, we all pay the same price regardless of how much we use it. I will pay the same for a TV as you, even if you watch your TV eight hours a day and I only watch mine for an hour a day. The only things which we pay for use are things that are actually USED UP. We pay for each gallon of heating oil, for each gallon of water, for each kilowatt of electricity (Electricity is a grey area -- while I can't use the same kilowatt as someone else, it is also the case that for many generating stations, there is a minimum output that exists and is 'wasted' if nobody uses it. But even in this case, the power is put somewhere and is lost). SO the question is, is phone service something you 'use up' by the minute, or something that is a fixed item. Cable TV is a lot like phone service, and I don't pay per minute for cable (well I don't have cable, but if I did I wouldn't be paying per use). It does cost the cable company more if there are more people on the line, as they have to boost the signal. But once the signal boosters are in place, it makes no difference whether I watch the cable or not. In the same way, if more people make phone calls, the phone company has to install additional switches/lines/equipment. But once the equipment is in place, the cost for the phone company is the same whether I make a phone call or not. Maybe phone usage should be billed on a split-system, where people are charged by the minute during times when the usage is over 80%, but not charged when the usage is less than that. Charles W. Reichley, Loral/FSC???, Manassas, Va. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How would people know which condition was in effect at the time? Many folks would gladly wait until overall usage dropped below a certain point in order to use the service 'for free' if they knew what the usage was. How would you convey that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: chaim@toxicavenger.fsrg.bear.com (Chaim Frenkel) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: 30 Jan 94 05:40:22 GMT Organization: Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. In article lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) writes: > Hahahaha hahaha ha ha ... he ho hummmm ... Here in Denmark, local > calls have been metered for many, many years -- by the pulse method. > Itemized billing is NOT available, and there would be an uproar from > office workers -- on privacy grounds -- if the telco were to start > itemizing bills. Itemized billing, like flat rate local calling -- is > a feature of the American telephone system; it has ended up that way > mostly by accident. Certainly there is no logic that says subscribers > have the right to an itemized bill. (There may, however, in many > jurisdictions be a PUC regulation saying so.) I would argue that the customer has every right to an itemized bill. Consider an order placed with a mail order outfit, (or as they do in my neighborhood, place large phone orders with the local grocery store for delivery): would you accept only a total? If I would have a meter at my end that would independently corrobrate the phone company's numbers/total, you might have an argument. But as it is you have only the phone company's word as to the correct amount. There is no easy way to determine if the phone company is being honest (ie design error / built-in bias :-) or whether your phone line is being hacked/abused. Chaim Frenkel On contract at: chaim@nlk.com chaim@fsrg.bear.com Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. ------------------------------ From: mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (J. D. McDonald) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 06:26:53 GMT Organization: UIUC SCS In article rrb@deja-vu.aiss.uiuc.edu (Bill Pfeiffer) writes: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing Jack Decker and other pro- >> ponents of flat rate billing seem to forget or ignore is that in most >> instances of measured billing, the majority of telephone subscribers >> actually pay LESS for service than with flat rate. A small minority >> of the users -- mainly people with telephone intensive lifestyles such >> as modem users -- pay more. > Please, Pat. That is not at all true. I live in downstate Ill., in Champaign. At one time we had the choice of measured or flat rates. The measured rate was clearly cheaper for me, in fact I seem to remember $6 monthly phone bills. Then they did away with the flat rate entirely ... everybody now has measured rates. At the same time they raised the minimum one paid for no calls at all, so as to be almost equal to what the previous flat rate was. So (almost) everybody lost. Doug McDonald ------------------------------ From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick) Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 07:58:58 GMT The technology to remove the DTMF tones is definitely here. The amateur radio magazine "QST" had an introductory series of articles, last year, about digital signal processing. The series featured a Texas Instruments DSP chip programmed to remove steady tones from an audio channel. The program simulated a filter which was capable of removing complex, but repetitive wave forms so it could remove several tones occurring at once from an audio signal. The article described what it was like to use the filter and mentioned that it occasionally produced very strange effects when it would mistakenly eat part of a human voice, but it generally did the job in removing heterodynes from voice signals without effecting the voice. Such a filter would gobble up DTMF signals without leaving anything behind but a click. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 08:19:36 EDT From: Jerry Leichter Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones You know, some of the ancient Greeks would have loved this mailing list (and the net general). It's populated by people who, like them, believe that sheer logic is enough to understand the world -- you don't need any "dirty" observation. "Everyone knows" (by simple reasoning) that replacing touchtone phones with rotary phones won't help because "the bad guys" will just go to Radio Shack and buy tone dialers. "Everyone knows" (by simple reasoning) that this whole approach just won't do anything. Well, the {New York Times} article that reported on the change contained information explicitly addressing both of these points. I don't have the article in front of me so don't recall exactly who was quoted, but I think it was a Nynex spokesman who mentioned tone dialers but also said that *as a matter of observed fact* few drug dealers bother to buy or use them. Why? Go ask them; but they don't. Further, in neighborhoods where rotary phones have been installed -- and remember, we are no longer just applying "pure reason", there have been such neighborhoods for a couple of years now -- it's a matter of *observed fact* that those phones tend not to be used as "offices" for drug dealers. Why? Again, go ask the drug dealers. Sometimes little things can have a disproportionate impact. Explaining *why* may be very difficult, but doesn't change the result -- the world works the way it does despite our lack of understanding of it. I don't know about you, but while I'm very willing to listen to reason, I'm even more willing to look at facts. Jerry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jerry, what you say makes very good sense. We have known for years that drug dealers are not usually the smartest people in the world (I am speaking now of the street corner salepeople, not the wholesalers and importers). You are quite correct that time and again in Chicago at least, when payphones have been converted to (a) one way outgoing service; (b) calling card/collect/third party billing only -- no coin -- during overnight hours; and/or (c) rotary dial service the drug dealers have simply moved elsewhere -- to phones which DO still have unrestricted service -- to conduct business. And for most people in the neighborhood, that's all they want is for the drug dealers to *go somewhere else*. I think often times people on Usenet (and some of that may rub off on the people who participate in this group) assume all the people in the world are of the same level of sophistication as themselves. I've caught myself falling into that rut. From my recent observations at a local Radio Shack store, I've noticed how many people have no idea even how to hook a modular cord into the back of the phone on one end and into the wall jack on the other end without it being done for them or shown to them in detail. Smart Radio Shack salesmakers (as Tandy likes to call them) make extra money going to customer's homes outside of business hours as a separate thing and installing what the customer bought that day in the store. Drug dealers do not read the {New York Times} and they certainly do not participate in Usenet newsgroups. Drug dealers are not too bright. *That* is probably the reason the rotary dial/outgoing service only combo works so well in the 'war on drugs'. The neighbors don't care who sells drugs; they just don't want the traffic around their area. You are right ... it works! Of course the neighbors are not much smarter and they can't see why touch tone is needed either so they are not inconvenienced for the most part even if the rest of us are. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 00:10:02 EST From: ddl@das.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors kevray@MCS.COM wrote: > I also use AT&T's switch box (pressing #1 transfer to yet ANOTHER > 'fake' line -- good for modems, faxes, multi answering machines, etc) > and the multi-ring box with this little toy did not work together > nicely (ie: MAJOR voltage problems ON the phone line). > Just so you know the one I have is called "Ring Decipher" by Command > Communications, Inc (Aurora, CO). The main problem with CCI's product is that it puts out a piddling 18V to simulate an on-hook condition. If you connect anything that monitors line voltage to determine on/off hook status to the CCI box, that device will likely be confused. I talked to CCI about this and they claim that most devices are happy with 18V to indicate on-hook. However, every device that *I* tried (including an AT&T answering machine, switch box (for similar additional fake line effect), fax machine, and phone) interpreted 18V as off-hook. Beware that other ring decoders have similar problems. Beware further that several other brands are simply re-labeled CCI boxes (e.g., Black Box). The only unit that I could find which put out a respectable 48V is the one sold in AT&T phone centers. (I think it is made by Multilink or somesuch.) Even this device required modifications (additional capacitors in the voltage trippler) to put out reasonable current at 48V. Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.* ------------------------------ From: roberson@aurxc7.aur.alcatel.com (Charles "Chip" Roberson) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing and Ring Detectors Date: 29 Jan 1994 16:42:39 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Inc., Raleigh, NC > Just saw an ad for a gizmo that will decipher the unique ringing cadence > for up to four lines and route them to a specified telephone device. I borrowed a friend's Viking PDF-2 (Phone/Data/Fax switch with Distinctive Ringing) and it doesn't want to work with my AT&T Answering System 1332. According to Mike at Viking Electronic's tech. support, AT&T doesn't like their ring signal. (The PDF-2 answers the line on the first ring and then generates the 'ring' back to the user as it rings the appropriate port.) Mike said get a new answering machine or try their FastPath switch which provides a clear channel to the phone port (which is where the normal ring is directed) so the answering machine will receive the CO ring signal. I guess the FastPath answers the other cadences. This apparently runs about $100. (The PDF is about $150). Hello Direct has a simple, four-port Ring Decipher for $89 which I'm considering as an alternative. Does anybody know of any other `well behaved' devices that are reasonably (read "less expensively") priced? Is there a dinstinctive ringing switch that can pass the CO ringing straight through on any port? In other words, can they just switch the line without answering the call (going off hook) to the CO? What about one that gives a each port a ringing signal that is similar in quality to the CO's for a simple cadence? Any reviews out there? Thanks, Chip Alcatel Network Systems * 2912 Wake Forest Road * Raleigh, NC 27609 Phone: +1 (919) 850-5011 FAX: +1 (919) 850-5588 DoD #1161 Roberson@AUR.Alcatel.com o&>o ------------------------------ Date: 29 Jan 94 22:21:30 EST From: Earle Robinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Telephone Nunbers in France Richard D G Cox said that the change in French phone numbers is put off due to complaints from users. This I doubt, since almost no one in France is aware of any impending change. There is almost complete ignorance of such questions in France, in part due to the few people who have access to Internet. Anyway, France Telecom does what it wants. There's no competition and the French just bow and obey. -er ------------------------------ From: vps@triton.dsto.gov.au Subject: GSM Radio Interface Security Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 09:11:16 GMT Organization: Defence Science and Technology Organisation Can anyone direct me to any information that quantitatively analyses the risk of interception and spoofing on the GSM radio interface? I am interested in any work which anybody has done to somehow quantify how hard it would be and what resources it would take (time, computing, equipment etc) to reverse calculate the relevant inputs of the cryptographic algorithms (A3,A8,A5) in GSM from there outputs. Cheers. ------------------------------ From: snowbee@tyrell.net (John Hardin) Subject: Nine Pin Jack Into Cellular Phone - Connect to Computer? Organization: Tyrell Corp. Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 18:11:47 GMT Hi there - There's a port on my cellular phone that looks like a parallel port for a computer. Is it possible to connect my computer to this port and reprogram my phone or do some good hacks on it? Thanks, John ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 22:23:19 -0500 From: aj783@freenet.carleton.ca (Michel Brunet) Subject: Problems With French Telephone in Canada Reply-To: aj783@freenet.carleton.ca Recently I returned from France and brought back an Alcatel telephone with me. The telephone has a built in answering machine. After connecting the telephone I tested some of the features. Everything that has to do with making a call with the telephone works just fine. However, to receive a call all I get from the telephone is a semi ring. I'm hoping someone could explain to me why it is doing this. If not, I would appreciate any information that anyone has on the ring voltage used here in Canada and the ring voltage used in France. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Merci! Michel Brunet Ottawa (Canada) E-Mail aj783@freenet.carleton.ca ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #51 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19284; 30 Jan 94 13:33 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA09933; Sun, 30 Jan 94 10:27:06 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA09923; Sun, 30 Jan 94 10:27:02 CST Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 10:27:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9401301627.AA09923@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #52 TELECOM Digest Sun, 30 Jan 94 10:27:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 52 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Cellular Billing of Third Party, etc. (John R Levine) Re: ITU-TS (CCITT) Automated Mail Interface (Dan L. Dale) Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (Peter M. Weiss) Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source (David le Comte) Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State (David Breneman) Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Larry Jones) Re: All Wire Isn't The Same (Todd Inch) Re: Real Time Audio Compression (Les Reeves) Re: Real Time Audio Compression (David Breneman) Re: Shannon's Law (n1epotsp@ibmmail.com) Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem) (Ken Leonard) 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: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 17:39 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Cellular Billing of Third Party, etc. Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems in St. Louis was unable, for > whatever reason, to bill (900) numbers, collect calls, and third-party > billed long distance calls to cellular phones, IF the call went > through a long-distance carrier. > my assumption is that ANI just doesn't work on some (all?) cellular > systems. It is my understanding that cellular exchanges connect to the rest of the phone network like PBXes. Some look like large PBXes, e.g. my Boston NYNEX number which is in 617-645, where the entire prefix is cellular, and others look like small PBXes, e.g. my Vermont Atlantic Cellular number which is in 802-296, a prefix which is mostly normal wireline customers in White River Junction. In the latter case, I expect there are just a bunch of DID trunks into the local switch, with a modest block of numbers assigned to the cellular carrier. For the Boston number, ANI works to some extent, because they have equal access long distance. My long distance calls appear on a separate Sprint bill. (Actually, long distance calls made through NYNEX appear on the Sprint bill, even if I make them while roaming somewhere else, while those made from other places appear on the NYNEX bill.) Sprint has no trouble figuring out what number I'm calling from, although on the bill they give no direct indication where each call was made from, and if I care I have to match them up with the NYNEX local bill. I expect that NYNEX has direct trunks to the long distance carriers for toll calls, and pass only intra-LATA calls to the local exchange. 900 calls are a particular pain, because you have to translate them to know what the appropriate carrier is, so that the cellular switch would have to interface to the 900 lookup system, which would be expensive, and even worse, who knows what they'd do if the number were handled by a carrier with which they don't have a billing arrangement. 800 requires the same lookup, but they can pass them to the local telco via the PBX interface, even though it doesn't pass correct ANI, since they can get away without precisely identifying the calling number. That's why 800 calls from cell phones tend to report a random trunk belonging to the cellular carrier. But I expect that another reason that you can't bill anything other than a direct dialed call to a cellular phone is that the cellular phone companies don't have billing arrangements with the IXCs. Certainly, if I were a cellular carrier, I wouldn't make such arrange- ments unless the regulators forced me to, since the small amount the IXCs pay for billing would be unlikely to pay for grief of customer complaints about them. On a related note, it appears that only cellular carriers controlled by RBOCs (and probably GTE) have to offer equal access toll calling, due to the MFJ. Is this true? And are there plans to require other cell carriers to go to equal access and/or to require that they handle arbitrary IXC billing any time? Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 18:36 EST From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: ITU-TS (CCITT) Automated Mail Interface Thanks John ... I have used both the Gopher and direct-dial method with success. Would you happen to know if the IEEE or ANSI has a similar mailserver for pulling down standards? So far so good ... I've got RFC's, FYI's and ITU's, but no IEEE's or ANSI's. Pointers Gladly Accepted. Regards, Dan Dale 0005517538@mcimail.com Forwarded Message Date: Sat Jan 29, 1994 3:14 pm PDT Source-Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 17:07 EST From: John R Levine EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: johnl@iecc.com TO: * Dan L. Dale / MCI ID: 551-7538 TO: telecom EMS: INTERNET / MCI ID: 376-5414 MBX: telecom@iecc.com Subject: Re: ITU-TS (CCITT) Automated Mail Interface Message-Id: 80940129221408/0003765414NA1EM Source-Msg-Id: Users directly on the Internet should note that there are easier ways to get ITU documents than the e-mail interface. In particular, they're all available via gopher. If you have a local gopher program, gopher to info.itu.ch, at the usual gopher port number 70. If you don't have a local gopher client program, you can telnet to either ties.itu.ch (a VMS system) or info.itu.ch (an OSF/1 system) and log in as gopher. Both attempt to adapt to your terminal type; if you have a type they don't understand they give up and log you out. Generally you can fake them out by setting your TERM variable to ansi or vt100. You can get to all of the documents via gopher menus. Once you've found the document you want, type D for download, and it'll give you a large menu of choices. If you're dialed in from a PC, you'll probably want to use zmodem or kermit to retrieve documents to your local disk. If you're telnetted directly from a workstation, you can e-mail documents to yourself, and, on TIES only, give it a host, login, and password and it will FTP you the document. For people without a direct Internet connection, e-mail to the mail server is usually the best option. If you don't pay your own phone bill (or you happen to be a local phone call from Geneva) their dial-in number is +41 22 733 7575, and their X.25 address is #228468111112. The documentation suggests that documents are available by FTP, but at this point anonymous FTP to ties and info doesn't work. You can use the FTP option on their gopher server to receive files by FTP. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 09:07:17 EST From: Peter M. Weiss Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? Organization: Penn State University I believe you want the PDIAL document. Here is info on how to get it (abstracted from itself) -- From: PDIAL -07- Subject: How People Can Get The PDIAL (This List) EMAIL: From the Information Deli archive server (most up-to-date): To receive the current edition of the PDIAL, send email containing the phrase "Send PDIAL" to "info-deli-server@netcom.com". To be put on a list of people who receive future editions as they are published, send email containing the phrase "Subscribe PDIAL" to "info-deli-server@netcom.com". To receive both the most recent and future editions, send both messages. From time to time, I'll also be sending out news and happenings that relate to the PDIAL or The Information Deli. To receive the Info Deli News automatically, send email containing the phrase "Subscribe Info-Deli-News" to "info-deli-server@netcom.com". From the news.answers FAQ archive: Send email with the message "send usenet/news.answers/pdial" to "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu". For help, send the message "help" to "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu". USENET: The PDIAL list is posted semi-regularly to alt.internet.access.wanted, alt.bbs.lists, alt.online-service, ba.internet, and news.answers. FTP ARCHIVE SITES (PDIAL and other useful information): Information Deli FTP site: ftp.netcom.com:/pub/info-deli/public-access/pdial [192.100.81.100] As part of a collection of public access lists: VFL.Paramax.COM:/pub/pubnet/pdial [128.126.220.104] (used to be GVL.Unisys.COM) From the Merit Network Information Center Internet information archive: nic.merit.edu:/internet/providers/pdial [35.1.1.48] As part of an Internet access compilation file: liberty.uc.wlu.edu:/pub/lawlib/internet.access [137.113.10.35] As part of the news.answers FAQ archive: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/pdial [18.70.0.209] (pmw1@psuvm.psu.edu) Peter M. Weiss "The 'NET' never naps" +1 814 863 1843 31 Shields Bldg. -- Penn State Univ -- University Park, PA 16802-1202 USA ------------------------------ From: davelec@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (David le Comte) Subject: Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 21:16:30 GMT whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) writes: > In article , Paul D. Guthrie > wrote: >> I'm looking for a couple of answers about some ISDN questions that >> experience and Stalling's ISDN book have both left me unclear on. >> First, a CPE can be line powered (the AT&T 7506 e.g.), but my >> experience with NT1's are that they must be DC powered (but I've only >> dealt with rack mounted units). Can NT1's be line powered? > I am unaware of any "line powering" of ISDN CPE in the USA. Perhaps > what is meant by "line powering" of the AT&T 7506 is that the NT-1 and > associated power supply is located in a telephone equipment closet > somewhere at a customer location and that is the power supply for the > 7506. This is quite surprising. The standards were arranged around some (limited) power feeding at 60V. This power is(was) intended to supply sufficient power to drive one (and only one) TA attached to the "S" bus of the NT1 (2B1Q to "S" Bus interface). The power for this "special" device is supplied by an extra pair on the S bus reserved for it, or by reversing the polarity of the normal power feed supplied in Cailho fashion on the Rx and Tx pais of the "S" bus. In this manner, an ISDN telephone for, instance, would draw power from the normal Cailho feed and the reserved pair, or by use of a bridge from a reversed polarity Cailho feed. Are you sure that a 60V feed (max current of about 20-30ma) is not provided bu US Telcos, not even to power repeaters (if required)? Excuse me for being scheptical, but I'm not convinced, but then I am an Australian so "what would I know?". David le Comte davelec@extro.ucc.su.oz ------------------------------ From: daveb%jaws@dsinet.dgtl.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: New Area Code 360 in Washington State Date: 29 Jan 1994 20:29:47 GMT Organization: Digital Systems International, Redmond WA 0003991080@mcimail.com wrote: > I have not yet seen a map that shows exactly where the boundary > will lie, but scuttlebutt is that the northern boundary of 206 should > be somewhere between the King/Snohomish county line and the city of > Everett, and the southern boundary just south of Tacoma. The eastern > boundary should enclose the suburbs of Seattle that are currently > dialed toll-free from the city, but will not go all the way to the > boundary with 509 at the crest of the Cascade mountains. The western > boundary should be in Puget Sound, with islands that are currently > within the Seattle toll-free dialing area (Vashon, Bainbridge) to > remain in 206. I would assume therefore that islands and parts of the Peninsula that are part of the Tacoma toll-free dialing area will be included as well. This would make the western boundary somewhere near North Bay and the northern boundary roughly equivalent to the Pierce/Kitsap county line. Hiro Sugawara (hiro@lynx.com) wrote: > Just curious. I heard that all area codes have either 0 or 1 as the > second digit and so do all special numbers such as 911 and 411. Is > "360" possible? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the past, what you said was correct. > about thirty years ago, the three digit prefixes were letters of the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > alphabet rather than numbers and those letters were the first three ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > letters of words. As the usable supply of those became in short supply > exchange names were ditched in lieu of using all numbers. Time marches > on. Who knows what our phone numbers will look like a decade from now. PAT] In PNB country, the rule was two letters an a number. So, you had BRoadway2 (tacoma) EMerson5 (seattle) ULysses8 (Gig Harbor), etc. (although Gig Harbor was not PNB - it was the Island Empire Telephone Company). David Breneman Email: daveb@jaws.engineering.dgtl.com System Administrator, Voice: 206 881-7544 Fax: 206 556-8033 Product Development Platforms Digital Systems International, Inc. Redmond, Washington, U. S. o' A. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I gave a hasty rendition of the history. We went from 3L/4D to 2L/5D about 1950 or so; then about 1960 we began seeing 7D in the phone book and as the only way things were being assigned. We had a mix of 2L/5D and 7D in the phone book from about 1960 through the middle 1970's at which point the few remaining (on paper only, in the directory) 2L/5D listings were expressed only as 7D. PAT] ------------------------------ From: larry.jones@sdrc.com (Larry Jones) Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same Date: 29 Jan 1994 23:11:41 GMT In article , oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) writes: > Let's define four colors - R G Y B - and with that, here is a typical > so-called "quad" wire. > R G > Y B > This is Bad Wire For Two-Line Use. It is the cloverleaf type wire > mentioned above. Many Readers Have Reported Cross-Talk With Such > Wire. If your quad wire looks like this, it is indeed bad for two line use. The good kind of quad wire, in addition to the cloverleaf jacket that keeps the wires accurately positioned relative to each other, has the wires arranged like so: R B Y G (note that the yellow and black wires are reversed if you're looking at the other end of the wire). Arranging the wires in this configuration prevents crosstalk as well as twisted pair does. Since the yellow and black wires are equidistant from the red and green wires, any signal induced by the current running through the red wire is exactly canceled by the signal induced by the equal but opposite current running through the green wire and vice versa. If you're having a crosstalk problem with quad that has the good cloverleaf jacket but has the pairs side by side rather than opposite, you can fix it by ignoring the traditional color code and using opposite wires for each pair. Although good quad is as effective as twisted pair in preventing crosstalk, it is more susceptible to external interference, which can still cause problems in some cases. Larry Jones, SDRC, 2000 Eastman Dr., Milford, OH 45150-2789 513-576-2070 larry.jones@sdrc.com ------------------------------ From: Todd Inch Subject: Re: All Wire Isn't The Same Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 13:26:50 PST After reading everyone's thoughts on this exciting topic, I thought I'd better add my own. (Read: straighten you guys out :-) I USED to think that the solid-colored 22 AWG stuff (Red, Green, Yellow, Black) was not twisted pairs and that the striped 24 AWG stuff (White/Blue, Blue/White, etc.) was twisted, which is GENERALLY true, but I've since seen quite a few exceptions. Lots of the solid colored six-conductor stuff GTE installs (outdoor 22 AWG) is actually paired, as is some four-color underground drop cable. Then I recently bought some cross-connect cable (no outer sheath -- for jumpering between punch blocks in phone closets) which has a blue/white and orange/white "pair" but is actually four unpaired conductors. I ASKED for two-pair, but the label on the spool says "4 cond." and the pairs aren't individually twisted. So, now I strip off a few feet of sheath from "unknown" cable and determine for myself if the pairs are twisted or not. The pairs should be independantly twisted in twisted-pair cable. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 11:47:38 GMT From: Les Reeves Subject: Re: Real Time Audio Compression Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] In article : > I am just wondering if there is any device/algorithm which may > compress audio in real time, and let say use e.g. 4 kHz bandwidth for > an original audio bandwidth of 8 kHz, or likewise for higher > bandwidth? > To my knowledge there are such devices which compress audio signals > and then transmitt it in digital form over a digital (radio, satellite > or cable) link, but I never heard if that could be done over an audio > channel itself. I dunno about bandwidth compression via *analog* channels. There are many different ITU recommendations regarding digital audio. Many of these are available from the ITU's TIES (Telecom Information Exchange Services) automated document server. To get info on using it, send a message with the line "help" in the message body to: itudoc@itu.ch ------------------------------ From: daveb@jaws (David Breneman) Subject: Re: Real Time Audio Compression Date: 29 Jan 1994 20:37:28 GMT Organization: Digital Systems International, Redmond WA Alfredo E. Cotroneo (alfredo@quickt2.it12.bull.it) wrote: > I am just wondering if there is any device/algorithm which may > compress audio in real time, and let say use e.g. 4 kHz bandwidth for > an original audio bandwidth of 8 kHz, or likewise for higher > bandwidth? There is something akin to analog audio compression - the dbx noise reduction system. It raises the level of audio during periods of low volume, and reduces the level as volume builds. In this way, you can cram a greater dynamic range onto gawdawful recording media like cassette tapes. Still, there is no way to "compress" analog audio to get a greater frequency response than the wire it's travelling down. You have to get into the digital domain to do that. There are types of remote broadcast encoders used by radio stations that can split and frequency-shift a 15 kHz audio signal and feed it down four "voice grade" telephone lines, to be reassembled back at the station, but substituting four lines for one isn't exactly compression! David Breneman Email: daveb@jaws.engineering.dgtl.com System Administrator, Voice: 206 881-7544 Fax: 206 556-8033 Product Development Platforms Digital Systems International, Inc. Redmond, Washington, U. S. o' A. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 05:58:38 EST From: n1epotsp@ibmmail.COM Subject: Re: Shannon's Law > I'm the one who originally posted this question, for those who don't > know. It's nice to know what Shannon's law says -- if you assume a 30 > dB SNR and 3100 Hz bandwidth, the law above works out to about 31 > kilobits per second. If you happened to get a quiet channel, say, 40 > dB SNR, the equation returns about 41.2 kilobits per second. However, > this is still quite a ways off from a full-duplex, 28.8 kbps link, or > 57.6 kbps total transfer rate. So my question still stands: How do > they do it? Are they assuming a particularly quiet channel? Are they > assuming more than the standard 3100 Hz of bandwidth is available? Yet another statement of S's Law: C = W.log(1 + (P/(WN)), where W = bandwidth; P = transmitter power; N = noise power; C = capacity in bits/s. The important points are: 1: S's law is for the additive white Gaussian noise channel, not for any other model, so multiplicative noise, for example, is not taken into account. 2: S's law gives the capacity for arbitrarily small error rates. That is, up to the Shannon rate, we can transmit with as small an error as we please (by increaing the power, or the bandwidth). If we accept a non-zero probability of error, the Shannon rate can be exceeded. 3: In duplex transmission, you cannot add the rates in the two directions. S's law is monodirectional. 4: Efficient modulation and coding, can give up to 6dB extra S/N (e.g. high level QAM with adaptive trellis coding). ------------------------------ From: leonardk@happy.vf.ge.com (Ken Leonard) Subject: Re: Shannon's Law (was Re: Hayes' New Modem) Organization: GE Aerospace - VF Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 14:27:54 GMT In article , yatesc@eggo.usf.edu (Charles Randall Yates) writes: > I'm the one who originally posted this question, for those who don't > know. It's nice to know what Shannon's law says -- if you assume a > 30 dB SNR and 3100 Hz bandwidth, the law above works out to about 31 > kilobits per second. If you happened to get a quiet channel, say, 40 > dB SNR, the equation returns about 41.2 kilobits per second. > However, this is still quite a ways off from a full-duplex, 28.8 > kbps link, or 57.6 kbps total transfer rate. So my question still > stands: How do they do it? Are they assuming a particularly quiet > channel? Are they assuming more than the standard 3100 Hz of > bandwidth is available? The 57,600 bps is _not_ the bit rate on the > telephone line -- it is the bit rate between the computer and the modem. The bit rate on the telephone line is only 14,400 bps. The 4:1 compression is the _maximum_ that can be achieved by the (MNP) compression protocol. And that maximum compression can be achieved only for data having sufficient statistical redundancy -- compression happens by essentially removing redundant bits and recoding the remainder to eliminate ambiguity. A (nearly) truly (statistically) random data stream (like an .zip or .arc or .Z file already compressed) is usually not usefully compressible, and the computer-to-modem useful data rate will drop to the line rate. Ken ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #52 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa04927; 31 Jan 94 18:45 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11439; Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:45:58 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11424; Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:45:55 CST Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:45:55 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9401312045.AA11424@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #53 TELECOM Digest Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:45:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 53 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (Lars Poulsen) Re: Real Time Audio Compression (Ketil Albertsen) Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source (Bob Larribeau) Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (Tom Horsley) _Technopoly_ by Neil Postman (19249@mwvm.mitre.org) Brendan Update and His "Thanks" (CuD via Monty Solomon) How to Make a Sun Send Messages to a Pager or a GSM Phone (Jurgen Debedts) DID Questions (Thomas Tengdin) Data Over Power Lines (Stewart Fist) Cheap PBX For Home - Where? (Frank Keeney) Internet E-Mail Access in Mexico (Jeremie Kass) ISDN and Caller-ID (Will Martin) Pac Bell and the Earthquake (The Network Group) 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: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? Organization: CMC Networ.|k Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 08:04:52 GMT In article 92065034@ramsey.cs.laurentian. ca (J. Guitard) writes: > I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the > Internet. At first I thought the only way to connect was through a T1 > line, but now I hear you can connect with a 9600 baud line. Someone > told me they were connected through their local internet provider. Who > are these local internet providers? What are the costs for these > lines and monthly fees, etc? Email me or post here. Since you are posting from the computer science department of a Canadian University, I presume that you already are Internet connected at school, and your question is directed more towards "How can a person get a personal Internet connection that does not depend on Government sponsored privileges". The answer is that there are a variety of multi-user systems with Internet access on which you can get accounts. At the low end, there are bulletin boards, such as FIDONET systems that are often operated on a free volunteer basis, although the owners will be happy to accept a small donation to offset their costs. These systems tend to have only electronic mail connections to the Internet. You can connect to these systems using modems from 1200 bps to 14400 bps. In a way, the large North American BBS systems, like CompuServe, Genie, America Online or Prodigy represent the same idea taken to the utmost. While these systems have local access numbers, even in middle- sized cities, they tend to have more information available but at a higher cost. Typically, at least USD 5 / hour. They also have email-only connections to the Internet, although this is slowly beginning to change. The next step up, tends to be community organized Unix systems. Often these will give you a full unix shell, and many of them have full Internet connections. You can connect to these systems using modems from 1200 bps to 14400 bps. A widely circulated list of these systems is known as the PDIAL list. In the larger cities, it is not unusual to be able to get an account that allows you 20 hours of connect time for USD 20 per month or USD 75 for unlimited access. On the other hand, if it takes a long distance call to connect to it, the telephone charges will cost much more than the service. Indeed, some systems are totally funded on kickbacks from long distance carriers. In both of the above examples, your connection would be a plain terminal connection. The Internet service extends only to the access node, and after FTP-ing a file to the access node, you would have to download it to your own PC or Mac using the file transfer features of your terminal program (Kermit, Zmodem etc). For a bit more money, your could have your own machine become a real Internet node while you are online, using a link protocol such as SLIP or PPP. This will allow you to use the newer "Information Navigators" such as Mosaic, and also to FTP directly to your hard disk. Unless your connection is full-time, you will still need to keep your mailbox on the (unix) access host, although you can use a nicer client (such as Eudora) to download it transparently when you connect up. These connections are generally at 14400 bps. Because the service provider needs to install more equipment and usually ends up needing to give more support to these users, this service is more expensive than login service. Typical rates would be $200 per month for unlimited access. (If you can get to the access port with a "free" local call from home, this is a very economical way to become a "real" network node.) Finally, you can attach a whole cluster of systems on a local area network (LAN) to the Internet, either in dial-on-demand mode, or on a full-time leased line. Such access can be at any speed from 9600 bps to T-3 depending on your needs and budget. This class of service is generally of interest to businesses. Service on a 56kbps access line is generally available for USD 1000 per month at any long distance carrier's point of presence (POP); i.e. you have to add the cost of a leased line to that point. There is a whole industry of network service providers, ranging from the above mentioned FIDOnet amateurs to specialized carriers with annual sales of tens of millions of dollars. Some of them are local co-operatives, often affiliated with local colleges. Some are regional carriers, originally founded as groups of colleges banding together to link up the schools to NSF-net, and later opening up membership to businesses and individuals. Some of these have expanded to offer service anywhere in the US. And some are spin-offs from telephone companies. Since there are literally hundreds of vendors, I can only mention a few of the large ones: PSI.COM - Performance Systems International, in Troy, NY and with a sales office in Tyson's Corner, VA ALTER.NET - UUNET Technologies, in VA and with a Canadian branch in Ontario ANS.NET - Advanced Networks and Services, in Elmsford, NY Both PSI and ALTERnet offer everything from dialup-login to leased line packet service. ANS tends to go after the very large customers. 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: ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) Subject: Re: Real Time Audio Compression Organization: T I H / T I S I P Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 09:33:00 GMT In article , daveb@jaws (David Breneman) writes: > [...] Still, there is no way to "compress" analog audio to > get a greater frequency response than the wire it's travelling down. Quite a few years ago, I read about experiments done in Eastern Europe: They have (had?) almost exclusively AM broadcast transmitters. Researchers were investigating alternatives for obtaining better sound quality in a cheaper way than building up an all-new FM transmitter network. The research showed that the human ear is surprisingly insensitive to small frequency variations in the higher harmonics -- any frequency in the approximately correct range will be subjectively perceived as overtones. Also, while US AM broadcasts have a 9 kHz bandwidth, European ones have only a 6 kHz bandwidth (Are these figures correct? I believe so, but this is really too far away from my field of expertize!). This applies to the consumer (and studio) equipment, though -- the transmission equipment is "international", capable of handling 9 kHz. So the following solution was tried: Anything below 5.5 kHz was transmitted as before. Frequencies from 6.5 to 20 kHz was split into a dozen frequency bands. The *total* energy in each band steered the level of a *pure tone* transmitted in 6.5-9 kHz range, like the stereo pilot tone, but each band had its pilot tone. Obviously, the pilot tones where more closely spaced than the bands, in order to fit into 2.5 kHz! An old 6 kHz receiver would filter the pilot tones away. A new HiFi receiver would contain a dozen of white noise generators (with a frequency range limited to the corresponding frequency band) whose intensity was directly steered by the pilot tone for that band. Listening tests indicated that the perceived music reproduction quality was, although not quite as good as FM, dramatically improved. I never heard of this system being put into use, though. At time of writing it was not yet clear whether a sufficiently high percentage of consumer receivers in use actually did filter away everything above 6 kHz - if not, the listeners would be hearing a lot of high pitched noise, making it unacceptable. It could also be that the filters and white noise generators necessary in new HiFi receivers to exploit the higher quality sound turned out to be too expensive to be acceptable. Or it could be that the AM sensitivity to environment noise made it less interresting, after all. Yet, these experiments did show one (more or less) viable approach, from a technical point of view, to analog sound compression to lower bandwidth requirements. ------------------------------ From: Bob Larribeau Subject: Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 11:14:05 -0800 > whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) writes: >> In article , Paul D. Guthrie >> wrote: >>> I'm looking for a couple of answers about some ISDN questions that >>> experience and Stalling's ISDN book have both left me unclear on. > >>> First, a CPE can be line powered (the AT&T 7506 e.g.), but my >>> experience with NT1's are that they must be DC powered (but I've only >>> dealt with rack mounted units). Can NT1's be line powered? >> I am unaware of any "line powering" of ISDN CPE in the USA. Perhaps >> what is meant by "line powering" of the AT&T 7506 is that the NT-1 and >> associated power supply is located in a telephone equipment closet >> somewhere at a customer location and that is the power supply for the >> 7506. > This is quite surprising. The standards were arranged around some > (limited) power feeding at 60V. This power is(was) intended to supply > sufficient power to drive one (and only one) TA attached to the "S" > bus of the NT1 (2B1Q to "S" Bus interface). The power for this > "special" device is supplied by an extra pair on the S bus reserved > for it, or by reversing the polarity of the normal power feed supplied > in Cailho fashion on the Rx and Tx pais of the "S" bus. In this > manner, an ISDN telephone for, instance, would draw power from the > normal Cailho feed and the reserved pair, or by use of a bridge from a > reversed polarity Cailho feed. > Are you sure that a 60V feed (max current of about 20-30ma) is not > provided bu US Telcos, not even to power repeaters (if required)? > Excuse me for being scheptical, but I'm not convinced, but then I am > an Australian so "what would I know?". I am going to finally give in to temptation and jump into this one. You must remember that in the U.S. we use the U-interface, which is a two-wire local loop interface. The U-interface, as implemented in the U.S., does not provide power from the network. Powering is the customer's responsibility. There are various options that customers in the U.S. can use for providing power to the T-interface. T-interface ISDN telephones in the U.S. commonly use this customer provided line power as their power source. Many ISDN data terminal do not use the T-interface line power but use a separate power receptacle. Hope this helps. I understand that from your perspective we always get things upside down:-) Bob ------------------------------ From: tom@travis.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death Date: 31 Jan 1994 13:39:39 GMT Organization: Harris Computer Systems Division I am glad to see this response by George Gilder, he said it better than I could. When I read Postman's comments, I was reminded of a character described in Arthur C. Clarke's book "The Fountains of Paradise". He was talking about some 18th century professional quack (who's name I forget), who went around opposing things like trains with a bunch of psuedo science babble about how the breathtaking speed would be bound to psycologically damage the travellers. domain: tahorsley@csd.harris.com USMail: Tom Horsley 511 Kingbird Circle Delray Beach, FL 33444 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not get quite the same impression of Postman's speech that you and Gilder recieved. I do not think Postman said computers were dangerous, only that they could be misused and too much reliance could be placed in them. At least one other person enjoyed Postman's meditation, as the next letter in this issue will reveal. PAT] ------------------------------ From: 19249@mwvm.mitre.org Subject: _Technopoly_ by Neil Postman Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 15:20:08 EST Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean VA 22102 For those of you who liked Neil Postman's "Informing Ourselves to Death" you might like to know that it is revised and included as a chapter in his book _Technopoly, The Surrender of Culture to Technology_ published in 1993 by Vintage/Random House, ISBN 0-679-74540-8 in paperback. I found it to be a relatively quick and enjoyable read. Your mileage may vary. DW ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 01:43:27 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Brendan Update and his "Thanks" FYI. Excerpt from Cu Digest #6.11 Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 21:09:22 PST From: smlieu@CYGNUS.COM(Sun Ming Lieu) Subject: File 1--Brendan Update and his "thanks" ((MODERATORS' NOTE: The following update on Brendan Kehoe, author of ZEN AND THE ART OF THE INTERNET, CuD ftp archmeister, and cyberdenizen, is great news. We've also received two posts from him, and he sends along "THANKS" for all the posts. We mailed off the collection of e-wishes this week, and thanks to all those who contributed)). Brendan continues to make phenomenal progress in the last few days. His neurologist says that she has not seen a case like this in 12 years of practice. The hospital is letting Brendan out on extended passes, and so he has been visiting the hotel where his mother and brother are staying, eating out, and other outings. He will be moving to the Spaulding Center at Mass General in Boston on Tuesday (Feb 1). The injury to his ear was not as serious as originally expected - he can hear from it and it is okay for him to fly. I talked with Brendan for about 10 minutes by phone today. He and Jeff sprung it on me when Jeff called and was I surprised! Brendan just came on the line saying "This friend of mine who is working in California thinks you would like to talk to me" and started to talk up a storm. He's been reading his mail and kept talking about how much g++ traffic there has been and how eager he is to go back to work. He sounded happy and excited. We talked about the weather in Philadelphia, flying first class, living closer to the office so he wouldn't have to commute from Santa Cruz, the earthquake in Southern California, and so on ... Brendan wants to be done with the 2-3 weeks in Spaulding and be back in California as soon as possible -- he says end of February, although everyone is telling him to hold his horses and not count on it quite so soon. Does he know something we don't? Sun Ming ------------------------------ From: jdb@sunbim.be (Jurgen Debedts) Subject: How to Make a Sun Send Messages to a Pager or a GSM Telephone Reply-To: jdb@sunbim.be Organization: B.I.M. Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 08:16:28 GMT I'm looking for something quite special: We would want to have our Sun, (which is running critical applications), dial-out to a semascript pager to tell the sysadmin something is wrong. Typically, we have some sort of contool, which send a certain fixed message for a certain error-situation. This messages would then in fact be send to a modem that dials up a semascript pager, and passes on the error. In our dreams we would like to go even further, and have the Sun dial up a GSM telephone, and have the Sun speak to the sysadmin saying that there is a problem. (pre-recorded fixed messages). In this case, we thought of have a modem that directly dials up a GSM mobile telphone. But there are some problems to be solve with this: for example, a GSM will not give a Carrier Detect, only a connect signal. Anybody delt with this kind of problems before? Does anybody out there know of software that does one of these two things, or does anybody have some tips, or thoughts he or she would like to share with me? (Like which modems could we use, etc) The software may be commercial or public domain. I would greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance. Regards, Debedts Jurgen e-mail : jdb@sunbim.be (or uunet!mcsun!ub4b!sunbim!jdb) BIM sa-nv Kwikstraat, 4 B-3078 Everberg Belgium ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 23:34:33 -0800 From: Thomas Tengdin Subject: DID Questions Can anyone tell me how DID lines pass the number down the trunk? Either an explanation or a pointer to an old issue of the Digest would be great. Tnanks, T3 ------------------------------ Date: 31 Jan 94 07:37:08 EST From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Data Over Power Lines Thomson, under the RCA brand, has just released a product that allows you to plug a telephone into the power lines and use it as an extension line within a house or building. This should allow data over power lines between two PCs. The product is called Intelejack. The master control unit costs about US$150, and the extender about half as much. The phone/modem plugs into this extender using a normal RJ11 plug. You can have any number of extenders for voice use. You could probably connect Macs over this system using PhoneNet, if it isn't too noisy. ------------------------------ From: frank@calcom.socal.com (Frank Keeney) Reply-To: frank@calcom.socal.com Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 10:26:08 -0800 Subject: Cheap PBX For Home - Where? Organization: Calcom Communications, +1 818-791-0578 I'm looking for an inexpensive PBX system for my home. Something that will work with two or more CO lines and more than five extensions. Anybody know where I can find something like this? Frank Keeney | E-mail frank@calcom.socal.com 115 W. California Blvd., #411 | Fidonet 1:102/645 Pasadena, CA 91105-1509 USA | UUCP hatch!calcom!frank | FAX +1 818 791-0578 | Voice Mail +1 818-791-0578 x402 * Origin: yume no naka ni... (1:102/645) ------------------------------ From: kass@tacout.army.mil (Jeremie Kass) Subject: Internet E-mail Access in Mexico Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 8:41:31 EST Does anyone know if it's possible to get access either via a radio modem or some other way to Internet e-mail. This is just temporarily, while I'll be vacationing for a week. I believe the resort is on the western (Pacific) coast. Thanks a lot, Jeremie ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 12:40:16 CST From: Will Martin Subject: ISDN and Caller-ID Exactly how does ISDN interact with the legal issues surrounding Caller-ID? It is my understanding that making an ISDN connection involves setting up a header packet or some such initial-connection datastream in which both the destination and the originator are identified, and that this identification can have several levels of detail, ranging from nothing more than the bare phone numbers to a more elaborate chunk of data that includes free-form text such as a name. If this is true, the following questions arise: 1) Is the content of this datastream totally under the control of the caller, or does the telco switch insert its own identifier of the caller in there somewhere? 2) Can the caller put in false data to make the recipient believe that the call is coming from somewhere other than it is really originating, or does the callee use that originator data to establish the return path, and so providing false data would do nothing but make the complete ISDN circuit un-creatable? That is, the caller is calling from site "x", but falsifies the data to say he's calling from site "y". The callee then tries to respond to site "y" but they're not even up and on-line, so no connection ever gets established. (What would happen if site "y" WAS up and on-line, but already communicating with somebody else? Is there an ISDN equivalent of a busy signal that would be presented to him?) 3) In states where caller-ID is illegal, is any of this changed? Or does the telco providing ISDN ignore that or claim that this ISDN data does not meet the definition of "Caller-ID" as far as the law is concerned? I have a basic ignorance of ISDN details, so if all of this is nonsense as far as real ISDN is concerned, please set me straight! :-) Regards, Will If header address doesn't work, try: wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-04sima.army.mil ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:22:00 EST From: The Network Group <0004526627@mcimail.com> Subject: Pac Bell and the Earthquake A few days after the CA earthquake, Pac Bell started running full page ad's in the {L.A. Times} offering assistance to displaced businesses and promoting free installation of business service in homes of employees to promote telecommuting. They offer *FREE* install of Centrex, Business Voice Mail, Call Forwarding, ISDN and Switched 56. Hummm. I called their 800 number 1800-303-0309 for more information and spoke with a very knowledgable data specialist re DDs56 & IS DN. Apparently for $29.95 + tax per month you can get an ISDN line that is Basic Rate Interface (2B+D). He quoted the maximum price that includes to B 56Kbps channels + the 9.6 Packet channel on the D. I believe that the normal installation was somewhere around $800! I am tempted to go for it, but a little short this week in coming up with 400 bucks for the ISDN phone. I asked the technician if Feature Group A Special Access circuits were also included in the promotion and he said no. For those that are interested, this promotion is good for orders placed on or before 2/17/94 in area codes 818 and surrounding codes -- Northern CA does not apply, nor does San Diego. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #53 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa12976; 1 Feb 94 13:53 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA29433; Tue, 1 Feb 94 09:37:59 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA29418; Tue, 1 Feb 94 09:37:55 CST Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 09:37:55 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402011537.AA29418@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #54 TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Feb 94 09:37:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 54 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC $crews Pac Bell in PCS Race (Van Hefner) More Information on CSInt'l Dial-Back Service (Wolf Paul) What is Datex-M? (Dave Pattison) Business Phone System Questions (Daniel Neil Roberts) BBS Getting Internet Mail (Marcus Blankenship) NT-Meridian vs AT&T (Jeff Bennington) Audio Compression -> apt-X (Lauren Weinstein) Telephone Service During the Quake (Lauren Weinstein) Clipper Petition (Dave Banisar) Discount Long-Distance Digest (Van Hefner) Administrivia: Mail to the 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: vantek@aol.com Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 03:35:41 EST Subject: FCC $crews Pac Bell in PCS Race Pacific Telesis May Be Unplugged from New Market By Clint Swett, {The Sacramento Bee}, Calif. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 31 -- A little known decision issued last month by the Federal Communications Commission has enraged Pacific Telesis and could hobble the company in its bid to become a major player in what promises to be the next generation of wireless communications. The FCC is expected to formalize a decision today to award a free license to Cox Enterprises to serve the lucrative Southern California market with Personal Communications Services (PCS). Two other companies also were awarded free licenses -- one to serve New York, which is considered the most lucrative franchise in the nation, and the other to serve Washington, D.C. PCS, a type of cellular phone technology, involves low-power wireless communications that some experts say will cost about half of what cellular does today yet offer more features. They predict that PCS technology could in a few years make wireless phones as common as standard phones are today. Cox, a media conglomerate based in Atlanta, was handed one of two licenses to be awarded in Southern California -- considered one of the crown jewels of the wireless communications market. The other will be sold at an auction scheduled for May. All the heavyweights in the communications industry -- including AT&T, the regional Bells and MCI -- are expected to join the bidding, driving the price for the remaining license toward $1 billion. What irks Pacific Telesis Group officials is that while it slugs it out for the lone remaining Southern California license, Cox paid nothing for its franchise. "It's not just unfair to us, it's unfair to any other competitor," said PacTel spokesman Michael Runzler. He said that by receiving a free license, Cox gains a huge advantage over its potential competitors, who must recoup the hundreds of millions they will spend on buying one of the coveted licenses. In addition, Cox gets a head start in deploying its PCS network because it already knows it has won a license, while other companies must wait for the May auction. Cox's windfall came as a result of an FCC rule called "Pioneer Preference." Under that rule, companies were invited to demonstrate innovative technologies that would further the advance of PCS. Of the 50 that applied, three were chosen and awarded lucrative licenses. PacTel was among the 47 that lost out. Cox, which owns cable television systems in San Diego, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara and Eureka, demonstrated a technology in which wireless phone conversations could be sent to and from devices attached to their cable lines. The signals would be routed through the lines to phone switching equipment and then out to the phone network. "I think we deserve that leg up based on the testing (and development) we did, " said David Andersen, Cox's vice president of corporate affairs. "Our device allows us to use infrastructure of existing cable TV systems to provide service in a cost-efficient and expeditious way." He said Cox has not determined when it will deploy its PCS technology. More than 2,000 smaller, less powerful licenses remain to be awarded throughout the country. But only two licenses for the 30 megahertz blocks of the radio spectrum -- which can carry the most information and handle the most customers -- will be issued for each of 49 major metropolitan areas. And Cox has one of four for California already sewn up. Winning 30 megahertz licenses in Southern California and Northern California is especially important for PacTel, said Michael Killen, a telecommunications consultant in Palo Alto. With one of the four licenses for those areas already gone, its chances have decreased, he said. Killen, who advises companies on strategies to follow when bidding for PCS licenses, said since PacTel has avoided branching into other geographic areas, it must retain leadership in its backyard. "The next growth area in the telephone business, the next generation of phone service, will be PCS," Killen predicted. "If they don't win that license they will be prohibited from competing for the next generation of growth business." In fact, when PacTel decided to spin off its cellular business into a separate company, one of the factors driving that decision was that cellular companies will be prohibited from getting the coveted 30 megahertz licenses in areas they already serve with cellular. "That 30 megahertz has so much spectrum and covers such a big area, whoever gets the 30 has incredible advantage over its competitors," Killen said. Runzler of PacTel wouldn't go that far, but did allow, "The 30 megahertz frequencies are what we're most interested in." The pioneer preference awards could face court challenges, industry experts predict. PacTel already has written a letter to the FCC, disputing the decision on the basis that the winners allegedly made improper contact with FCC commissioners. "Challenges could occur," predicted PacTel's Runzler, who said the company would await the FCC's final decision before making any further decisions. Another PacTel complaint centers on the loss of revenue to the federal government that comes from handing out licenses that could be auctioned off for more than $2 billion. "It's unfair to taxpayers who have a right to think that the deficit is going to go down," Runzler said. He said PacTel's pioneer preference application included a provision that all winners pay a basic price for the frequencies they receive. But Rodney Small, an economist at the FCC's division of frequency allocation, said the recent federal budget bill directed the FCC to award the pioneer preferences according to merit, and without regard to potentially lost revenue. ----------------- (Geez, what a rip-off! We are serviced by Cox Cable here in Eureka, CA and I'm pretty sure Cox isn't the least bit interested in serving US with PCS! We're also served by Pac Bell here as well, and I'm sure our area isn't 'lucrative' enough for them either. Why is it these 'pioneers' are being given the most financially lucrative cities to operate in? It's not like those areas really NEED improved, and expanded services. Great, my tax dollars are going to be spent on subsidizing a poor company like Cox Cable to provide state-of-the-art expanded communications services to a bunch of 'communications spoiled' areas like New York, L.A., and D.C. Meanwhile I get sub-standard, overpriced CATV service from Cox, and Pac Bell says that POSSIBLY we'll have ISDN service available in my area in late 1996! And their target dates are are always a bit on the optimistic side! Oh well, just another collapsed overpass on country's information superhighway). Van Hefner Vantek Communications vantek@aol.com ------------------------------ From: cc_paul@aaf.alcatel.at (Wolf Paul) Subject: More Information on CSInt'l Dial-Back Service Organization: Alcatel Austria Research Centre Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 13:00:49 GMT After Pat commented that the service he represents (Telepassport) has a monthly minimum usage charge, I sent a query to Michael D. Beatty of Communication Services International. Here is part of my query and his reply: Me: > 1. Your information file does not say whether there is some setup Me: > charge for an account with you, or some fixed monthly charge or Me: > monthly minimum usage charge. Pat Townsend pointed out that the Me: > US Fibercom TelePassport service he sells has a monthly minimum charge Me: > of $25, "use it or lose it"; does your service have such charges? MDB: Comments: there is no charge to set up an account, and a charge of MDB: $27.50 minimum per month for usage and to encourage such. I also pointed out to him, and will point out in this forum that in many countries a consumer would get charged for the initial call to the dial-back provider, even though there would never be a connection established. To use Austria as an example, only the newer digital switches have call supervision, on the older switches you get charged for a local call from the time you pick up the receiver, and for the long distance call from the time you finish dialling. Since you'd get charged for at least one full minute for such a call, using a dial-back service for individual short calls seems to be rather uneconomical. As Pat said, it's not for small-time users. Similarly, BTW, it is no longer cheaper to call the US from Austria using USA-Direct (at least the AT&T variety) than calling at PTT rates. (But at least there is no monthly minimum charge on an AT&T card). Regards, 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) ------------------------------ From: pattison%xstacy.dnet.dec.com@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (Dave) Subject: What is Datex-M? Date: 1 Feb 1994 12:38:34 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Reply-To: pattison%xstacy.dnet.dec.com@nntpd.lkg.dec.com (Dave) Can anyone tell me anything about Datex-M? I know it's something developed by Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, and that it is ATM-based, but I'd like more information, such as for instance service details, AVAILABILITY and pricing. Thanks, Dave Pattison pattison@xstacy.enet.dec.com ------------------------------ From: neilr@netcom.com (Daniel Neil Roberts) Subject: Business Phone System Questions Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 00:31:06 GMT I have been suddenly put in charge of finding a phone system for one of our offices in Florida and hoped that I could get some advice from this group about evaluating systems. In general, I want the following: -About 30 extensions and 16 incoming lines with capacity to grow at least double. -Hands free operation on all extension phones, display on about 12 of them. -All of what I take to be the standard goodies such as call groups, follow-me forwarding, a good operator console, smart "holds", etc. I won't bore you with the details of my requirements as dictated to me, but I was wondering if any readers here could reccomend particular vendors or models or tell me which ones to avoid. For reference, they have apparently been given a quote for a TelRad digital key pbx and a digital Legend (Merlin) AT&T system, both including voice mail. Both of the quotes were delivered without any formal requirements analysis that I am aware of, and both of them are in the $23k to $25k range. I don't know if these prices are even within a mile of reasonable yet ... Any advice will be appreciated, email is fine. D. Neil Roberts neilr@netcom.com CI$:17051,1073 neil@mcs.com Child Health Systems,Inc. 1909 S. Highland #100C Lombard, IL 60148 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 16:26:22 PST From: blankenm@seq.oit.osshe.edu Subject: BBS Getting Internet Mail A friend and I are looking into setting up a BBS that we would like to have access to Internet e-mail. Just something where once/twice a day we connect to a host and send/get messages out the gate. Is this possible/available/done anywhere else? If this is not, just how much overhead is required to hook up with a full connection? Leased line? Marcus Blankenship Alpha-Telcom Inc Payphone Tech. Grants Pass, OR [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No leased or other special lines are needed. There are BBS software packages available -- many for free -- which have a UUCP-style interface built into them which allows the BBS to call and exchange mail/news with some other site. Waffle is one such program, and there is a newsgroup devoted to it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jgb@mcm.com (Jeff Bennington) Subject: NT-Meridian vs AT&T Reply-To: jgb@mcm.com (Jeff Bennington) Organization: Mellon Capital Management Corp., San Francisco Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 04:42:41 GMT My company is about to choose either an AT&T Generic 3i or a Northern Telecom Meridian-1/Option 11 PBX as a replacement for our Isotek/228 switch. If you have personal experience with either PBX (ups, downs, gotchas, etc.) and/or integration experience with an Octel ASPEN (Branch XL) or VMX-200 voice messaging platform with either of these PBXs please let me know. Also, if you've worked with PacTel/Meridian, or AT&T and can comment on their service/support, please let me know. Please reply via email: jgb@mcm.com Many thanks! Jeff Bennington, Systems Administrator jgb@mcm.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 19:03:00 PST From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Audio Compression -> apt-X A realtime (hardware-based) digital audio compression system that has seen considerable acceptance in pro-audio applications (especially due to its comparative tolerance to multiple encode/decode cycles) is the "apt-X" system from Audio Processing Technology (APT). They have a wide line of related products including Mac/PC-based cards. Some of their products have already been used to allow, for example, a BBC music program presenter to operate from his home on a regular basis over ISDN circuits. APT can be reached at +1 (213) 463 2963. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 23:53:00 PST From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Telephone Service During the Quake It's worth noting that most telephone service during the L.A. quake was amazingly stable. At no point were either GTE nor PacBell services with which I have to work disrupted on any of many lines, except for circuit overload conditions on both companies' switches (and such overload could hardly be unexpected under the circumstances). Getting dialtone took patience, and the PacBell Canoga Park CO service area (just a few miles from the epicenter) required multiple attempts to complete even local calls during some periods, especially the morning of the day *after* the quake when, apparently, everyone in the area (including me) was attempting to reach every manner of plumber, electrician, and the like. So, while power failed for most of the day, and water was severely disrupted in some areas, phone service by both companies was, overall, a bright spot. HOWEVER, it is about time that the telcos start informing the public the proper manner to get dialtone in load situations. Yes, during an emergency, the best policy is to stay off the phone unless you really need it. But often the people who DO need it *think* their phones are "broken" because they don't get an immediate dialtone when they pick up the handset. They keep picking it up and hanging up, losing their place in the queue each time. It needs to become general knowledge that in the vast majority of cases, if your line is still hooked up at all (and that can be determined by the presence of sidetone) you may need to *wait* for dialtone. Maybe it'll take 30 seconds. Maybe it'll take a minute or two or even longer. But most of the people who thought they were unable to place calls due to "broken phones" simply didn't know that they needed to wait. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ Organization: CPSR Washington Office From: Dave Banisar Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 15:59:20 EST Subject: Clipper Petition [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Monty Solomon and others who sent this identical message from other places where they saw it. We'll just go with the original instead. PAT] Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper Please Distribute Widely On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to withdraw the Clipper proposal. The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable, including coverage in the {New York Times} and numerous computer and security trade magazines. Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the letter. In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the names of all the people who oppose Clipper. To sign on to the letter, send a message to: Clipper.petition@cpsr.org with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes) You will receive a return message confirming your vote. Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express their opposition to the Clipper proposal. CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization. For membership information, please email cpsr@cpsr.org. For more information about Clipper, please consult the CPSR Internet Library - FTP/WAIS/Gopher CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper ===================================================================== The President The White House Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption proposal now under consideration by the White House. We wish to express our concern about this plan and similar technical standards that may be proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure. The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy protection. Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus beyond public review. The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous opposition to Clipper. In the formal request for comments conducted by the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of respondents supported the plan. Several hundred opposed it. If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be discouraged. Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations unfulfilled. Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable. The government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small. Few in the user community believe that the proposal would be truly voluntary. The Clipper proposal should not be adopted. We believe that if this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation will be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the openness necessary to ensure the successful development of the nation's communications infrastructure will be threatened. We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper proposal. ------------------------------ From: vantek@aol.com Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 01:14:47 EST Subject: Discount Long-Distance Digest DISCOUNT LONG-DISTANCE DIGEST is a weekly moderated internet mailing list available to all individuals involved in, or interested in becoming involved in, the discount (reseller) long-distance industry. The Digest mostly focuses on different companies which are resellers, wholesalers, or aggregators of long-distance services supplied by other companies (AT&T, Sprint, MCI, WilTel, ITT, Etc...). It is mostly geared towards people who are independent agents of these companies, or are still looking for a company to become an agent for. This is a growing industry that is picking up rapid speed as of late. To subscribe to DISCOUNT LONG-DISTANCE DIGEST just send you name and internet address to: telconet@aol.com. In the 'SUBJECT:' field of your e-mail print: 'SUBSCRIBE DIGEST' to be added to the list, or: 'UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST' to cancel your subscription. Submissions to the Digest can be sent to the same internet address. Each issue is sent out Late sunday night/early monday morning. Upon recipt of your request for addition to the list you will be sent our FAQ, which includes a list of many resellers, aggregators, wholesalers, etc.. and info on their sales programs, prices, and how to become an agent for them. This list has been running on AOL for a couple of months now, and I am just starting to make it available via internet. Please excuse the slowness of our mail system, since America Online has numerous outages, interruptions in service, duplicated mailings, lost mail, and many other problems that I will not get into. This Digest is NOT available as a USENET Newsgroup. I, myself, am an independent agent for Business Network Communications, a reseller of AT&T, WilTel, and MCI services. BNC agents are especially welcome, and I'd like to see the list act as a support vehicle for BNC agents as well as provide non-biased news on other vendors. I have no personal axe to grind and only wish to share information on this industry with other internet users. I personally was helped a great deal by other internet users and would like to help others looking to get into this industry. BTW, I would like to thank Pat for the great job he does with TELECOM Digest. It's helped me a great deal. I couldn't start to duplicate the kind of job he does here. Van Hefner Vantek Communications [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks very much for your kind words of encouragement. Like Avis, the rental-car people, I try harder. Best wishes for the success of your Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 08:44:22 CST From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Administrivia: Mail to the Digest As most of you know, some changes were made around here about a week ago, and a new computer is now installed in place of the old machine which served us well for a few years. The trouble is, the new one required lots of minor, somewhat obscure, long-forgotten scripts to be slightly re-written. A few such scripts were those used by telecom for filtering and sorting incoming mail, issuing the autoreply message and similar matters. Well, nothing goes right the first time. The only thing you can count on for sure in conversions like this is trouble, and I have seen my share. It became obvious several days ago that I was losing a certain amount of incoming mail due to the way the new machine 'thinks' about certain instructions pertaining to 'awk' and other things in the scripts used. On a daily basis, the sysadmin here has been working with me to debug things and it appears the mailer is just about back to normal in terms of volume of mail received. Last week I suspect I was getting only 15-25 percent of the mail (based on historical data as to what I usually receive) with the remainder vanishing in the stream as it made its way through the incoming filters and into the files where it belongs. As bugs were exterminated, that percentage increased but new bugs took the place of the old ones, etc ... now this morning when I woke up and connected to the site, the incoming queue was stuffed once again. If you did not get the usual autoreply message to something you sent last week, it is quite likely your mail was not received *by me* even though it may well have (and probably did) reach the site. Please bear in mind the volume of mail has become so heavy (I am not complaining; I am actually very gratified) that there is *no way* I can tell what got here and what did not unless I actually read it and see it myself. If it were not for the filters in place to handle daemons, subscription requests and other stuff, the mail would be even slower getting into print than it is already some days. Had we removed the filters for several days while the debugging was underway, then I would have gotten all the mail, but the mistakes would have taken much longer to find. So it is the old 'rock and hard place' analogy. I am certain dozens of letters were lost in transit over a period of a few days and extend my apologies, but there was (and still is, as the work goes on) no other way to correct the problems than to watch them as they occur. Gradually things are getting back to normal here. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #54 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa13879; 1 Feb 94 15:24 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02308; Tue, 1 Feb 94 11:11:03 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02296; Tue, 1 Feb 94 11:11:00 CST Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 11:11:00 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402011711.AA02296@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #55 TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Feb 94 11:11:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 55 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Like the Airlines? (Russ McGuire) E-Mail Spying By Employers (Van Hefner) Advertising by New York Telephone (James Joseph) Internet Connection via Satellite (jey@davidsys.com) Re: ISDN and Caller-ID (Al Varney) Re: ISDN and Caller-ID (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: ISDN and Caller-ID (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: Russ McGuire Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 08:48:52 -0600 Subject: Telecom Like the Airlines? The Travel Agency that serves The Williams Companies (the corporate parent of WilTel) had an interesting and humorous article ("Us, Do Business Like the Airlines?") in the most recent issue of their _Wings_ newsletter. I have modified it slightly to convert any pipeline references to telecom references ... =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= NOTE: THIS IS SATIRE AND NOT AT ALL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WAY THAT WILTEL REALLY DOES BUSINESS... =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= What if The Williams Companies sold gas transmission service or capacity on our telecommunications network the way airlines sell seats on their planes? Here's how a business deal might go. Customer: I need to move 500Mb of data from Los Angeles to Kansas City on Thursday. Us: Just one way? It'll cost you. Customer: OK, price it one-way and round-trip, please. Us: Let's see, I'm showing that all of our free, less-than-half price rates, and other discounted fares are sold out. Customer: Hey, I'm a big customer. What about a volume discount or some other consideration? Us: I'm sorry, you'll have to pay full price, which hardly anybody does -- except those people who really need to get their data somewhere. If you can wait until Saturday to ship your data, I've got discounted rates available at that time. Customer: No, I can't wait until Saturday. Us: So, should I go ahead and book you for Thursday at our full fare rate? Customer: OK. Us: Now, let me tell you what the restrictions are on this data transfer. You must pay us in advance. We may or may not get your data there on time, depending on a number of factors. If the fiber's not very full that day, we may cancel your data transfer because of unscheduled maintenance. In the interim, we would put your data in a nearby data repository. But rest assured, we are committed to getting your data where it's going as soon as it's practical. Well, your reservations are all made. Can I help you with any other data transfer plans today? Customer: No, I may start stringing up some tin cans for communications. Us: Thank you for using America's best data network -- where our customers are number one! =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= AGAIN NOTE: THIS IS SATIRE AND NOT AT ALL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WAY WILTEL DOES BUSINESS (although I can't speak for any other carriers...) =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= I couldn't help posting this after my trip home from ComNet. TWA cancelled my flight. Delta got me as far as Dallas, but wouldn't hold my connecting Tulsa flight for five minutes after their DC-Dallas flight was delayed by an hour by ground control. After spending the night in Dallas, American finally got me back to Tulsa ... In reality, WilTel provides high quality services across our nationwide fiber optic network. We highly value our customers and work closely with them to provide solutions that meet their needs. For the scenario described above, our WilBand (T-1 or Fractional T-1 bandwidth on command) or WilBand 3 (T-3 bandwidth on command) products may be excellent solutions. Reservations can be made up to a year in advance and are non-preemptable. At ComNet last week we also demonstrated a dialable wideband capability that we will be offering in the near future. This service will provide bandwidth in any increment of 64k up to T-1 on demand. Currently, none of our services (including 1+ long distance) have more expensive rates during weekdays than nights or weekends, providing excellent solutions for the business customers we serve. Russ McGuire Manager, Product Development WilTel, Inc. russ_mcguire@wiltel.com ------------------------------ From: vantek@aol.com Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 03:36:30 EST Subject: E-Mail Spying By Employers When You Use E-Mail at Work the Boss May Be Looking In By James McNair, {The Miami Herald} Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 30 -- AMID the sterile drudgery of office work, a computer screen beckons your wandering mind with the chance to escape. You send a message to a friend elsewhere in the building. It could signal a fleeting thought: After-work plans, an interesting new employee or a dumb decision by a boss. Or it could open up a more riveting subject: a smear campaign against the boss, a moonlighting venture on company time, or stealing customer lists. Whatever you drop into the electronic mailbox, it could come back to haunt you. In many companies, what seems to be a private communications network -- protected by passwords, no less -- is equipped with a back door in the computer room. In other words, your plots, your off-color barbs and your work-unrelated digressions might be camped on a computer disk somewhere, waiting to be read. "It's pretty much on every network," said Edward Gomez, a consultant for Byte Computers in Miami. "There are utilities that tell you what people are doing, what files are opening up and how much time people are spending on the computer." Sounds like an invitation to employee rebellion, but corporations insist they restrain themselves from systematic E-mail peeping. When they do play back the disks, it's for legitimate business reasons, such as investigating crimes, tracing security breaches or intercepting customer inquiries when an employee is absent. "Some people may say it's offensive and violates their privacy, but the employer just wants to ensure that its interests are protected," said Mike Losey, president of the Society for Human Resource Management. For now, employers are having their way. The 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act shields E-mail messages over public telephone lines, but not the inter-office variety. In privacy-invasion lawsuits across the country, courts have predominantly ruled in favor of employers. The false belief in E-mail privacy is so great that Congress is considering a law requiring employers to post policies, spelling out their E-mail access rights. Some South Florida companies such as Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., Barnett Banks and First Union Corp. have already taken this step. Nearly 27 million U.S. workers will have an E-mail password in 1994, up from 19 million in 1993, according to WorkGroup Technologies Inc., a research firm in Hampton, N.H. Given how E-mail is flourishing, the conflict between employee right to privacy and employer right to access was inevitable. Technology gets the brunt of the blame. Ever since desktop computer networks started popping up as a mainstream business tool ten years ago, computers have become alarmingly more powerful. The delivery speed of E-mail in a typical IBM-compatible or Macintosh network has made intracompany phone calls an absurd waste of time, handwritten memos a relic of the past. But what turned sealed letters into open books on the E-mail system is the new breed of networking software built into or added to computers. Professional computer installers say the network's ability to call up employee messages is now standard equipment. "They never ask for it," said Tim White, a consultant for Technology Solutions in Fort Lauderdale. "It's always something companies discover after it's there." But maybe not. According to a survey of 301 companies by Macworld magazine last July, six percent said they read employees' in-house messages. One of five companies said electronic monitoring is a good way to verify an act of wrongdoing. Two of three don't bother warning their employees. Alana Shoars, former E-mail manager at Epson America in Torrance, Calif., was one of those who told employees that their messages were secret. Then one day in 1990, she stumbled upon a supervisor's printer cranking out every message sent on the network. She complained and was fired. Shoars and 170 employees sued for invasion of privacy, but lost the case. Six months after leaving Epson, Warner Bros. hired her to run a 3,500-user E- mail system in which privacy would be guaranteed. The same Los Angeles court that ruled in favor of Epson also sided with Nissan Motor Co. in its defense of a privacy-invasion lawsuit filed by two employees whose messages had been read by managers they criticized. Mentor Graphics of Wilsonville, Ore., settled a similar lawsuit filed by two employees, even though it said the E-mail trail showed that the employees had been stealing trade secrets. Occasionally, corporations are the first to go to court. Last year, Borland International of Scotts Valley, Calif., pressed charges against a vice president who had been sending marketing plans and product-release dates to the president of a cross-town rival. Both men were indicted, but they defended themselves by accusing Borland of violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ban on tapping messages sent on commercial E-mail lines. The charges and a related lawsuit filed by Borland are still pending. Lawsuits are repulsive ways to settle differences, but they have served a good purpose in fomenting a spirited debate between employee and employer rights on the E-mail network. Privacy advocates take the side of the Bill of Rights. On the other side is a well-entrenched business lobby fighting for the plain right to use its equipment as it sees fit. Lewis Maltby, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Workplace Rights Project, said corporate E-mail systems should allow for some, if not full privacy. As it is, he said, the issuance of passwords and their suggestion of confidentiality gives employees a false impression of privacy. "Employers should think twice about reading messages because employees will clam up," Maltby said. "No one's going to be candid if they know someone's looking over their shoulder all the time." Some companies actually share employees' desire for E-mail privacy. Among those in South Florida, IBM Corp., Motorola, Siemens and the law firm Greenberg Traurig all say they can't read or recall employees' messages. Companies that can tap the E-mail system say they do so with restraint. "Managers don't have the ability to say, 'Print me out a report of all the E-mail communications that went out of my group last month,"' said Ken Smalling, a spokesman for Electronic Data Systems, which has about 300 employees at its System One airline reservations unit in Miramar. Others ducked questions about their E-mail monitoring powers. "No one's comfortable with saying something publicly," said Ryder System spokeswoman Terri Kopec. "We don't want our employees reading about it in the paper." "We'll take a pass on this one," said W.R. Grace spokesman Fred Bona. Government E-mail users have the least privacy of all -- even in the Oval Office. Last year, a federal judge ruled that millions of E-mail messages stored during the Reagan and Bush years must be preserved under the same guidelines as paper communications. In Broward County, all E-mail notes are public records. In Metro Dade, the issue is moot because the computer system isn't capable of recalling E- mail. While lawmakers and courts have upheld employers' full access to E-mail content, bills winding through Congress would ensure that employees are explicitly warned. Sponsored by Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont., it would require companies to post E-mail policy statements in the workplace. Many companies -- partly at the urging of their attorneys -- are ahead of the law, including First Union, Barnett Banks and Blockbuster Entertainment. First Union's policy, released last August, lists when the bank can rifle through E-mail files. "We saw a need to put a policy into place so that everybody knew exactly what we could and couldn't do," said First Union spokesman Monty Hagler. "It's a big issue when you have 18,000 users. You don't want to wait for trouble." ----------------- Van Hefner Vantek Communications vantek@aol.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This topic has come up here in the past. My personal belief is that employees should have no expectation of privacy where their employer's communications equipment -- of any sort, email, telephone, paper mail -- is concerned. You have every right to privacy when you contract for the above services on your own time with your own money and equipment, but not where someone else's equipment is concerned. Obviously, if you are a subscriber on a 'free BBS' with email, then whether or not you have an expectation of privacy depends on how the system is operated, although a courteous thing would be to tell users what to expect, even in an employee/employer relationship. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 16:13:39 -0500 From: joseph@c3.crd.ge.com (James Joseph) Subject: Advertising by New York Telephone New York Telephone has been spending truck loads of money advertising that they are changing their name to NYNEX. These include: 1. A full page advertisement in the local paper ({The Times Union}). I have to assume that they advertised in all the newspapers in their service area, and possibly more than once in each paper. 2. A barrage of TV advertisements, including at least two during the superbowl. The frequency of advertisements has been so substantial that, even a person like me who spends very little time watching TV has seen their commercials several times. As a subscriber am *I* paying for these commercials? Or is it coming out of their profits? (Yeah, get real, James!!) Why are they doing it? Who cares what their name is? Couldn't they just have included an insert in the monthly phone bills? If indeed I am paying for it, what would be the best way to get them to be a little less extravagent with my money? james joseph joseph@c3.crd.ge.com ------------------------------ From: jey@davidsys.com Subject: Internet Connection via Satellite Date: 31 Jan 94 18:49:31 PST Organization: DAVID Systems Inc, Sunnyvale CA What is the best way to connect to Internet from a location (in Asia) where there is no phone? A friend of mine is trying to setup via satellite but he has no idea of anything that involves in this connection. He is doing some research, and I am going to pass any information I get. Thanks to anyone who can give me any information. Jey jey@davidsys.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 16:42:19 CST From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: ISDN and Caller-ID Organization: AT&T In article Will Martin writes: > Exactly how does ISDN interact with the legal issues surrounding > Caller-ID? ISDN doesn't know anything about legal issues. > It is my understanding that making an ISDN connection involves setting > up a header packet or some such initial-connection datastream in which > both the destination and the originator are identified, and that this > identification can have several levels of detail, ranging from nothing > more than the bare phone numbers to a more elaborate chunk of data > that includes free-form text such as a name. If this is true, the > following questions arise: > 1) Is the content of this datastream totally under the control of the > caller, or does the telco switch insert its own identifier of the > caller in there somewhere? The caller can send almost anything -- the switch will dispose of total junk, and kill the line if it persists. Slipping in a false number is handled by the switch, which has a list of "valid" numbers that can be used by the line. Anything other than a valid number results in a valid number being substituted (and the invalid number may also be sent in another paramerter) or the call may be killed or ... (many options). > 2) Can the caller put in false data to make the recipient believe that > the call is coming from somewhere other than it is really originating, > or does the callee use that originator data to establish the return > path, See above -- false caller/billing data doesn't leave the CO. > 3) In states where caller-ID is illegal, is any of this changed? Or > does the telco providing ISDN ignore that or claim that this ISDN data > does not meet the definition of "Caller-ID" as far as the law is > concerned? Caller-ID via ISDN is usually tariffed differently than over analog lines (because it does have other capabilities). But "calling number delivery legal restrictions" (usually) apply to all forms of such delivery, perhaps including having an Operator tell you the caller's telephone number. COs exchange calling-party information in the same manner regardless of whether the caller is ISDN or not. Some areas permit intra-Centrex Caller-ID even if "outside" calls can't be identified. This is probably viewed by PBX vendors as yet another unfair form of competition. In our area, we got intra-group ISDN Caller-ID (and calling names, too) long before Illinois Bell won the Caller-ID argument. The day after the announced beginning of Caller-ID, we started seeing "outside" numbers on ISDN display sets. Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: ISDN and Caller-ID Date: 1 Feb 1994 05:21:49 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Littleton MA USA In article Will Martin writes: > Exactly how does ISDN interact with the legal issues surrounding > Caller-ID? The incoming SETUP message (switch-TE) includes a Calling Party ID field if the user requests ANI or Caller ID service. > 1) Is the content of this datastream totally under the control of the > caller, or does the telco switch insert its own identifier of the > caller in there somewhere? I'm not sure what current generics implement. The standards are pretty flexible. The data can come from the network or from the user. If the user is a PBX, for instance, the PBX could insert the originating extension number. > 2) Can the caller put in false data to make the recipient believe that > the call is coming from somewhere other than it is really originating, > or does the callee use that originator data to establish the return > path, and so providing false data would do nothing but make the > complete ISDN circuit un-creatable? That is, the caller is calling > from site "x", but falsifies the data to say he's calling from site > "y". The callee then tries to respond to site "y" but they're not even > up and on-line, so no connection ever gets established. (What would > happen if site "y" WAS up and on-line, but already communicating with > somebody else? Is there an ISDN equivalent of a busy signal that would > be presented to him?) They thought of this. There are screening indicators in the message. The network can screen the user-provided message and validate it against numbers that the user owns. It can pass it along and say it's invalid. Or the network can insert a number by itself, instead of relying on the customer. It is basically fraud-proof if everyone follows the rules; you can say anything but the network will not necessarily say it's valid. > 3) In states where caller-ID is illegal, is any of this changed? Or > does the telco providing ISDN ignore that or claim that this ISDN data > does not meet the definition of "Caller-ID" as far as the law is > concerned? Without caller ID, the information just isn't delivered. Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission ------------------------------ From: ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) Subject: Re: ISDN and Caller-ID Organization: T I H / T I S I P Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 11:03:06 GMT In article , Will Martin writes: > It is my understanding that making an ISDN connection involves setting > up a header packet or some such initial-connection datastream in which > both the destination and the originator are identified, and that this > identification can have several levels of detail, ranging from nothing > more than the bare phone numbers to a more elaborate chunk of data > that includes free-form text such as a name. Essentially correct, but the "free format" data field is for arbitrary use; it does not inherently serve any *identifying* function (it is very similar to the "user data" field of almost all computer network connection establishment procedures). > 1) Is the content of this datastream totally under the control of the > caller, or does the telco switch insert its own identifier of the > caller in there somewhere? Not totally. The format rules must of course be honored, and some of the fields are supplied by the network. The caller ID field may be supplied by you, but there is another field over which you have no control: The indicator whether the caller ID is "network supplied", "user supplied and verified by the network" or "user supplied, not verified". An ISDN number may have an optional "subaddress" field, which by definition is outside the scope of the switch/network, so it cannot be supplied or verified by the network but must be given by the subscriber. The telco switch does not insert its own ID in the message to the reciving phone (it might be that it is present in the SS7 messages between the switches -- I don't know SS7 very much). In principle, the local office of the caller may be deduced from the caller ID, as long as that info is reliable, but it might be very indirect (eg. if subscribers are allowed to move their phone number to their vacation home during summer it could change from one day to the next). And if the caller ID is verified, there is no reason why you would want the switch ID, is there? > 2) Can the caller put in false data If you try to forge your ID, the receiver will see it as "user supplied, not verified", so he should be warned. I suppose that your switch is also permitted to simply ignore your forged info, either supplying its own knowledge, marked as "network supplied", or leaving all caller ID info out. The caller ID info is not used for any sort of callback-like mechanism; you still have to implement that yourself if you need it. If you run a PABX with direct dial-in, there is no way that the network can supply the full caller ID. Eg. our college has 300 direct-dial lines, 300 subscriber numbers, all connected via the PABX to the telco switch by a 30B+D PRI. Our PABX generates a caller ID for outgoing calls, based on which of the 300 local lines originates the call. That is a private PABX (an NT2, in ISDN terms) which we control 100% ourselves, so it cannot generate "network verified" IDs. The telco switch can verify that the user supplied ID is one of the 300 subscriber numbers assigned to that PRI, but not which one of them. I don't know if it marks the ID as "network verified" when it *might* be the right one -- I would guess that the telco is responsible for identifying the *subscriber* (which is our college), and so confirm the ID. After all, even on a one-subscriber-number BRI, there may be eight phones and the switch cannot distinguish between them -- the PABX is just a scaled-up version of that situation. > What would happen if site "y" WAS up and on-line, but already > communicating with somebody else? Is there an ISDN equivalent of a > busy signal that would be presented to him? The Setup message arrives on the D channel in any case. "y" may then decide to ignore it, it may open another B channel (if one is available), it may disconnect an ongoing connection, or it may "park" the ongoing connection temporarily, without disconnecting it. Since there may be multiple devices (phones) on an ISDN interface, one of them (usually) may not on its own return a "busy" signal- one of the other devices may be willing to take the request. Even if all B channels are busy, the Setup message is offered to all (relevant) devices, so that they may disconnect to take the new call. However, I believe that there is also a "reject - all resources busy" answer that *may* be returned, but I left my Q.931 (there's the reference, if you want to know the details!) at home so I don't have the exact formats and names available here and now. Some calls do not use any B channel, but exchange packets on the D channel, and there is no "busy" concept at all (just like in IP). > 3) In states where caller-ID is illegal, is any of this changed? Or > does the telco providing ISDN ignore that or claim that this ISDN data > does not meet the definition of "Caller-ID" as far as the law is > concerned? The caller ID is always (?) exchanged between switches in the network (assuming that SS7 is used, which will be the case in an ISDN network), *but* there is also a "non-disclosure" flag that prohibits disclosure of the ID to the called party. The caller may set this flag (and the network is obliged to honor it), or the switch may set it. For now, the latter is the more common in this country (Norway) - a user with an ISDN phone will see the caller ID of even POTS callers, but since a POTS customer doesn't have any mechanism for setting the non-disclosure flag (there isn't any official dialing sequence for that, although rumours are that not all switches have disabled what came with the US develped software...), the only way to obtain similar privacy is to request the telco to *always* set the non-disclosure flag for your phone. Even if I did know something about legal implications in this country, it sure wouldn't apply in the USA. From a technical point of view, the ISDN caller ID is at least as "strong" as any POTS caller ID. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #55 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa14873; 1 Feb 94 16:49 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA05025; Tue, 1 Feb 94 12:21:06 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA04998; Tue, 1 Feb 94 12:21:02 CST Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 12:21:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402011821.AA04998@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #56 TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Feb 94 12:21:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 56 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: GTE is Annoyed With Me (John R. Levine) Re: GTE is Annoyed With Me (Thomas Lapp) Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer (Joe Lynn) Re: Cutover Dates For New Area Codes (Carl Moore) Re: Wiretapping Problems (Gary Breuckman) Re: Telecommuting Centers in LA (Shuang Deng) Re: Broadcast Paging on Merlin 3070 System (Steve Cogorno) Re: Hello Direct Noise Filter Worth Getting? (Dale Worley) Re: Pager Software Wanted (Ron Stone) Re: How to Make a Sun Send Messages to a Pager or a GSM Phone (M. Cullen) Re: Small Cellular Phones With Data Capability (Lars Nohling) Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (Ben Burch) Re: Phone Number History (Steve Schlesinger) Re: EMI Filter for Phone Line (Michael Jacobs) Re: Data over Power Lines (Michael Jacobs) Re: Caller ID in Software (james@kaiwan.com) Re: DID Questions (Jay Hennigan) Re: DID Questions (Mike King) 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: Mon, 31 Jan 94 19:44 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: GTE is Annoyed With Me Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > -- the local lightbulb manufacturer GTE Actually, GTE sold Sylvania several years ago. If you look at a Sylvania box, you'll see the company name is now Sylvania/Osram. Osram is an old Hungarian lightbulb company that GTE hooked up with as the cold war ended; I don't know the financial details of the Sylvania spinout. Since GTE has also sold off their central office equipment business to AT&T, this means that they have, in keeping with the latest in trendy management theories, divested business units that distract them from their primary mission: to provide the worst phone service in the known universe. Along sort of the same lines, I note that after buying Contel, they quickly sold off a lot of the Contel properties. In Vermont, for example, Contel Cellular was sold to NYNEX, and Contel's wireline properties were sold to Waitsfield Tel, a small but aggressive family owned independent telco. GTE's apparently sold off many of the Contel California high desert properties as well. Indeed, it looks like by next year they'll have sold off all of Contel. Given the relative quality of service offered by GTE and the outfits they've been selling to, the customers must be very relieved, but why did they buy it in the first place? Arbitrage? Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 07:38:18 EST From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Re: GTE is Annoyed With Me > Anyway, my printing of things published as internal communications at > the lightbulb factory has gotten *some people* very, very upset and > bothered, especially since they can't figure out who is sending me > those bulletins. I could see how this could happen. I think it is just a matter of timing. Even though GTE is a regulated monopoly, they are still a business with a public image as well as bottom line for shareholders. I think that I would get a little miffed as well if I saw my internal memos appear in a public forum within hours of their being created. While I agree that the media pipe from them might not have all the details that you get, it may also be true that the media office isn't getting fed that info either. So, if you didn't get detail, it might not be intentional on their part. It might be curious to see what information you could get two to four weeks after the event. Journals like IEEE Spectrum seem to get access to a lot of info when doing stories on things like failure of the NYC power grid. Who knows, maybe the media office could even help you get post-event internal information. internet mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu (home) lapp@cdcmvx.dnet.dupont.com (work) OSI C=US/A=MCI/S=LAPP/D=ID=4398613 uucp {ucbvax,mcvax,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Location Newark, DE, USA ------------------------------ From: jtl@MCS.COM (Joe Lynn) Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer Date: 01 Feb 1994 10:30:40 -0600 Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM writes: > I called Sprint in September to sign up for the offer (and was also > assured it was a 9600 baud external modem). My line was switched to > Sprint. I never received the modem, and every time I called I was > told something different. For a few months, I was told the modem For what it's worth, I signed up for the Dvorak offer in mid-September and completely forgot about the modem (too many things going on, I suppose): it showed up two weeks ago. It's a 9600 baud fax/2400 baud data internal modem. It's not elaborate, and I haven't taken the time to install it, but it's here, at least. Now MCI is offering me free AAdvantage miles if I switch over to them. We'll see.. :-) jtl@mcs.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: AT&T's thing now is frequent flyer miles on several participating airlines also. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 13:31:59 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Cutover Dates For New Area Codes > I am aware that there are at present three new area codes scheduled > for 1995: 334 in Alabama, 260 in Arizona, and 360 in Washington. That is 520 (to be formed by splitting 602) in Arizona, and the only information I have for its startup so far is March 1995. Please refer to the history file in the archives or to a slightly-later version available directly from me (I do mail it out on request). How do you arrive at the 8 Jan 1995 permissive date for 334 in Alabama? (I have 15 Jan 1995, one week later.) ------------------------------ From: puma@netcom.com (Gary Breuckman) Subject: Re: Wiretapping Problems Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 02:53:59 GMT In article D1749@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,CST) writes: > I am a bit concerned that my phone could be tapped (I am located in > Manila, where wire-tapping laws are not enforced all that well). Is > there some way I can tell that my phone has been tapped? My guess is > that there should be some drop in ambient voltage (on one of the RJ-11 > leads- TIP? RING?) if a tap is placed on your phone. However if the > wiretap is already in place and I look at the voltage after the tap > has been installed, I would not be able to detect it, right? Pls cc > your responses to d1749@applelink.apple.com, as I don't get this > newsgroup. If you are concerned about someone bridging your line and using it to make calls, that should be easy to detect. If you are worried about someone listening in, that's real hard to protect against since many high-impedance taps will not cause any voltage drop on the line. Equipment does exist to measure such things, but you would normally want to do that from the office end so the cable could be disconnected from their equipment. There is also a device (TDR, time-domain- reflectometer) that will bounce a signal down the line and give you a visual indication of bridge taps or irregularities in impedance along the circuit. You can usually see any splice or terminal box. puma@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: sd03@roger.gte.com (Shuang Deng) Subject: Re: Telecommuting Centers in LA Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 18:11:16 GMT I remember seeing a news release somewhere mentioning that GTE set up a telecommuting center for its employees in LA area. I seem to recall that it's a joint effort between GTE, PacTel and some other companies and government agencies. That's all I can recall now. I agree there are business opportunities to provide telecommuting services now in that area. By the time roads are back to the normal (say in a year), the users will probably keep using the service, for they have realized the benifits of telecommuting and worked out the solutions to management and other social issues. Shuang Deng | Email: sdeng@gte.com GTE Laboratories | or sd03@gte.com 40 Sylvan Road | Phone: +1 617 466 2165 Waltham, MA 02254, USA | Fax : +1 617 466 2650 ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Broadcast Paging on Merlin 3070 System Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 13:22:58 PST Said by: Brian Nunes > Does anyone know how to simultaneously page all stations using a > Merlin 3070 system? One of the people in my office did it by mistake > once but couldn't remember what she did. When I called AT&T, they > told me it couldn't be done, but I know it's possible. Maybe it's > undocumented? Does anyone know? On a Merlin Plus the Page codes are 70, 71 and 72. (70 being all, 71-group 1, 72 group 2) I know that the control codes are somtimes different, but I would assume that these might work because 3070s have a max of 70 extensions. Steve cogorno@netcom.com #608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive * Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015 ------------------------------ From: worley@Village.Com (Dale Worley) Subject: Re: Hello Direct Noise Filter Worth Getting? Date: 1 Feb 1994 11:58:53 GMT Organization: Village of Cambridge, Public-Access Internet Michael Rosen (mrosen@nyx.cs.du.edu) wrote: > I'm looking at the EMI noise filter in the Hello Direct catalog. I > currently only have a surge suppressor from Rent-A-Shack on my phone > line. How do I know if I truly need a noise filter? Could it make > improvements even though I currently don't notice many problems? I found an EMI filter to be useful. It turns out that my phone line was picking up a local radio station. This didn't cause a problem on voice calls, presumably because my phone and the CO are insensitive to RF. But when my modem went off-hook, it proceeded to rectify the RF into audio, and put it back on the line! So while the modem was dialing and attempting to connect, I could listen to the radio for free! After a number of calls, I managed to hear the callsign. Putting in an EMI filter fixed the problem. Dale ------------------------------ From: rstone@superior.carleton.ca (Ron Stone) Subject: Re: Pager Software Wanted Organization: Carleton University Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 07:29:48 -0500 In Sean Slattery writes: > I am considering getting a pager to alert me of problems on my > network, i.e. server down, WAN down etc. The software offered by the > major paging company's seems geared to use by a human and doesn't seem > to have a machine interface. > Does anyone know of a software package designed to monitor Netware or > Unix (perferably both) networks and send alpha messages to a pager if > certain events occur (or don't occur)? Alternatively a package with > an interface to which I could add my own scripts/batch files? The company I work for (Caravelle Networks Corp.) has a product for the PC called NetWORKS/PC, which does the type of thing you are asking about. It is designed as a multi protocol LAN Management tool with the ability to inform the administrator of problems in a variety of local or remote ways, including paging. You can set calanders of the times you will or will not be paged, so that for instance, a page will not wake you up at 3am on a Saturday if something goes down, but will wake you at 6am on a Monday. NetWORKS/PC also supports detailed statistics gathering about Netware servers and SNMP devices. Usings these stats, you can decide at what threshold you wish to be alerted about a given parameter. It is also available for the Mac. Our phone number is 1-800-363-5292. PS: I am sorry if this sounds to anyone reading like a commercial plug. I am replying because it sounds as though this product is the type of software you were asking about, and from what I know, its the only software with this combination of multi-protocol support and remote notifications. Ron Stone rstone@ccs.carleton.ca [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, don't worry about commercializing 'the net'. I do it all the time. Take it from me, Patrick "Make Money Fast!" Townson, before I started commercializing the net with my products, I was riding around in an old 1981 Chevy Cavalier. Well, within a month of sending out my first mass-mailing for the Orange Card, my car had been reposessed for late payments by the used car dealer who had sold it to me, and I started paying my phone bills three months late instead of two months late like I always had to do before. Like Ron Doaks or Joe Blokes or whatever his name is who posts his messages with evangelistic fervor in news.groups (it used to be every couple months, now lately there is a new one every few days), I am really starting to live in the style to which I am accustomed. :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: martin@devteq.co.uk (Martin Cullen) Subject: Re: How to Make a Sun Send Messages to a Pager or a GSM Telephone Organization: Devteq Ltd Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 13:00:32 GMT jdb@sunbim.be (Jurgen Debedts) writes: > I'm looking for something quite special: > We would want to have our Sun, (which is running critical > applications), dial-out to a semascript pager to tell the sysadmin > something is wrong. Typically, we have some sort of contool, which > send a certain fixed message for a certain error-situation. This > messages would then in fact be send to a modem that dials up a > semascript pager, and passes on the error. > In our dreams we would like to go even further, and have the Sun dial > up a GSM telephone, and have the Sun speak to the sysadmin saying that > there is a problem. (pre-recorded fixed messages). In this case, we > thought of have a modem that directly dials up a GSM mobile telphone. > But there are some problems to be solve with this: for example, a GSM > will not give a Carrier Detect, only a connect signal. Anybody delt > with this kind of problems before? > Does anybody out there know of software that does one of these two > things, or does anybody have some tips, or thoughts he or she would > like to share with me? (Like which modems could we use, etc) > The software may be commercial or public domain. There are a couple of things you could do but it will all be dependant on what facilities are supplied by you're network operator. You cannot use a modem as what you are describing above is a voice call, not a data call, if tried to do this then the network would treat the voice as modem tonals everything would fall apart. What you need to do is to get the SUN to establish a voice call to mobile, possibly using the modem to establish the connection but when this is done, take the modem out of the loop and send the voice. I don't know how easy / possible this is but if you manage it then let me know. Another thing you could use is the Short message capability of the mobile phone. I would think that you network operator should offer dial in access to their short message center then you could send short messages in a similar way that you are currently using the pager. Hope this helps. Martin Cullen ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 13:31 EST From: Lars Nohling Subject: Re: Small Cellular Phones With Data Capability The only direct connection between phone and modem that I know is shipping is the Nokia Portable phone + AT&T's Keep in Touch PCMCIA modem. Motorola has announced a direct connect PCMCIA modem for the flip phone but it has not started shipping yet. You can buy the "Cellular Data Adapter" from Motorola that will provide an RJ11 jack for the flip phones. It works fine but an extra black box + cables is a hassle. Megahertz has announced a PCMCIA modem the will direct connect to NEC and several other phones. In the next six months the market should be full of options. If you can't find these things in you area I work for a reseller who has a group the specializes in selling "Mobile Office" solutions, laptops, modems, cell phones and pagers. Lars Nohling Business Systems Solutions, inc. lnohling@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: Ben Burch Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted Organization: Motorola, Inc Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 20:39:30 GMT In article ssatchell on BIX, ssatchell@ BIX.com writes: > The cheapest I'm aware of is the PTT 5101, if you can find one > used. They are located in Huntsville, AL and you can call (205) > 971-8001 for more information. I've used both the 5101 and 5102 machines. They work quite well, and are very flexible. Ben Burch Motorola Wireless Data Group Ben_Burch@msmail.wes.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 16:47:30 PST From: Steve Schlesinger Subject: Re: Phone Number History Organization: NCR (Torrey Pines Development Center) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I gave a hasty rendition of the > history. We went from 3L/4D to 2L/5D about 1950 or so; then about 1960 > we began seeing 7D in the phone book and as the only way things were > being assigned. We had a mix of 2L/5D and 7D in the phone book from > about 1960 through the middle 1970's at which point the few remaining > (on paper only, in the directory) 2L/5D listings were expressed only as > 7D. PAT] Before 3L/4D wasn't there 2L/4D? Steve Schlesinger, NCR/Decision Enabling Systems Division 619-485-3528 16550 West Bernardo Dr. San Diego, CA 92127 ucsd.edu!sv001!steves NCR VoicePlus 440-3528 steve.schlesinger@SanDiegoCA.ncr.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not that I know of. Before name/number combinations (which existed almost from the beginning in big cities) there were just numbers. In small towns, one to four digit numbers were common and that was it. If a town had only one exchange, or switchboard, its name was usually the name of the town where it was located, and reciting it as part of the number was redundant. When things expanded to include names, some towns got to keep their (town) name as the phone exchange name; i.e. Atlantic City, NJ still has the exchange name ATlantic City, although 285-xxxx is the way it is expressed now. Where conflicts occurred, they made up other names for conflicting exchanges. When a community went from manual service to dial service, in order to fill out the dialing string to seven digits zeros were prepended to the shorter numbers. For example, the Walgreen's Drugstore in Whiting, IN had the old number (Whiting) 72 for upteen years. With the conversion to dial, WHIting was unavailable since at that time one could dial a Chicago number (WHItehall-xxxx) without area codes, so Whiting (which cut to dial about 1962 after 'all number dialing' was already the rule) got '659'. The drugstore went overnight from 'Whiting 72' (or just plain '72' when asking the operator for the number) to the new format: 659-0072. The Amoco Oil Refinery which makes up about ninety percent of the physical space in Whiting oddly enough had a dial PBX system in place for a few years before Whiting went from manual to dial service. When you dialed '9' from the PBX instead of getting a new dialtone you simply sat there a couple seconds and the 'number please?' lady came on the line. Their switchboard number was (Whiting) 2111 and it of course became 659-2111, although under the old system no one actually asked the operator for 2111, they merely would say 'Refinery' or 'Standard Oil' (as it was known in those days), and the operator would immediatly plug them into one of a dozen or so lines going into the company PBX. Hunt groups in those days consisted of the operator looking up at the several jacks all going to the same company and selecting one which did not already have a plug in it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 00:02:41 EDT From: Michael Jacobs Subject: Re: EMI Filter for Phone Line In TD V14 #49, the question was asked about benefits of an EMI filter and relevance to being unable to make dial-up connections at speeds greater than 9.6 kbps. 1) An EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) filter is designed to reduce the effects of induced Radio Frequency energy onto a telephone line. If you are not having RFI problems (ie-you do not hear an AM radio station or Ham or CB operator on the line), it will be a waste of money, as it will not reduce metallic or impulse noise. 2) Noise on the line is not the only determinant of data transmission speed. Depending on the circuit makeup (loaded or non-loaded, pair gain or copper, and length/number of bridge taps), and overall distance from the CO, a voice-grade telephone line may not be able to carry speeds over 1200 baud. Most telcos do not guarrantee that you can send data at all! A voice line is just that, for voice. Conditioned dial-up data circuits are available from most telephone companies; there may or may not be an additional charge to improve the line transmission to accommodate your required data rate. Michael W. Jacobs Service Technician Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 00:29:57 EDT From: Michael Jacobs Subject: Re: Data over Power Lines I have become concerned lately by the proliferation of technical devices of dubious efficacy which propose complicated alternative solutions to simple problems. In this case, I refer to those devices which allow the telephone user in need of an extension telephone jack to use a simple device which plugs into the house electrical wiringand then gives you a jack at any outlet. The prices I have seen for these devices are substantially higher than the cost for having a permanent jack installed by the telephone company (or other vendor). For $150 for the base transmitter and $60 for the remote unit, or a total of $210 you can have a professional Bell Atlantic technician (like me!) give you 2 1/2 hours of premise work. For comparison, the time it takes an experienced technician to install a jack can be as short as fifteen minutes, and probably rarely exceeds an hour. For situations where one does not expect to frequently relocate a jack, a permanent installation is, IMHO, better than these devices. Also, as a technician working on telephone lines daily, I have some serious reservations about the safety of these devices and the potential that in the event of a component failure they could backfeed house current onto the telephone line, resulting in fire, injury, or worse to both the homeowner and telephone workmen. Other devices of questionable economic value include those devices which interface fax machines and modems to electronic key telephone equipment. Customers should consider the cost of these devices, not only installation, but operating inconveniences and maintenance also when making a decision. It is usually much simpler and more efficient to install a dedicated line and jack for these devices, as it eliminates the frustration of conflicting uses of a line, particularly on incoming calls. Michael W. Jacobs Service Technician Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania ------------------------------ From: james@kaiwan.com Subject: Re: Caller ID in Software Organization: KAIWAN Internet Access Service Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 23:54:15 GMT In article , Chris Farrar wrote: > Rgbecker@xap.xyplex.com said something along the lines of the following: >> is a good question. I also have such a modem, and I've been looking >> for a utility like this ever since I got Caller ID (New England >> Telephone calls it PhoneSmart). It would be even better if it had an >> automatic logging capability. Anyone seen something like this? > ICON CS Canada Inc. sells a hardware board for a PC that will capture > CLID info, maintain a log, and even route the call to a specific port > (port 1, 2, or 3, or NUL) so you can decide who you want connecting. > Write art.hunter@f131.n163.fidonet.org for more info Try ZyXEL modems with their free ZFAX 3.02eb(PC only) program. You can get ZFAX 3.01 free from anonymous FTP kaiwan.com. and test run it, but you need a ZyXEL modem to make it work. ZFAX Specifications: FAX: Send faxes View fax files Print fax files Polling fax from remote fax Ability to receive faxes manually Convert document files to TIFF, PCX, FAX, or PRN Capture printouts from other applications and send them out as faxes Voice: Send voice files to a remote telephone number Record voices from a telephone set or external microphone Play voice files to a telephone set, internal speaker or SoundBlaster Convert voice format to AD2 (2-ADPCM), AD3 (3-ADPCM), or VOC (Sound- Blaster) Data: External terminal program ZFAX internal terminal program Send data files to a remote modem using ZMODEM protocol Receive data files from a remote modem using ZMODEM protocol Voice Mail: Up to 1000 mail boxes Greeting message management FaxBack document management, 10 files Voice announcement management, 10 files Phone transfer for small PBX Page operator Tx/Rx Log Reports: Fax in Fax out Voice messages Outgoing FaxBack documents Utilities: Manual answer Dial any remote fax number Execute external editor program of your choice Phone book management (grouping is also supported) Schedule management: voice, fax and data calls (uploading files) Setup Configurations: General hardware RS-232 and modem Fax configuration Distinctive ring feature Voice mail configuration Cover page configuration Printer capture configuration ZFAX and related programs' paths Caller ID and Distinctive Ring: Logs Caller ID information and displays it on the screen Allows different Actions to be taken for different Rings Supported actions: 1. Ignore 2. Fax only 3. Voice Mail System 4. Data handshake and file transfer 5. Data handshake and shell to external program 6. Detect ringing and shell to external program info@kaiwan.com,Anonymous FTP,Telnet kaiwan.com(192.215.30.2)FAX#714-638-0455 Data Lines# (714) 539-0829,452-9166, (310) 527-4279, (818) 579-6701,756-0180 ZyXEL U-1496E 16.8K: $279.00, U-1496E+ 19.2K: $389.00 Voice/FAX/Data Modems ------------------------------ From: jay@coyote.rain.org (Jay Hennigan) Subject: Re: DID Questions Date: 31 Jan 1994 20:13:56 -0800 Organization: Regional Access Information Network (RAIN) In article Thomas Tengdin writes: > Can anyone tell me how DID lines pass the number down the trunk? The answer is, "It depends." DID signaling options are specified when service is ordered, and vary by the customer and telco. Generally, the customer provides battery and ground on a two-wire DID trunk. When a call comes in, the CO seizes the trunk by drawing loop current. At this point, there are three choices: Immediate, delay dial, and wink. Immediate means that the CO will transmit the number immediately. Immediate trunks virtually always use dial pulse signalling. It is assumed that the customer's equipment is always ready to receive the information. DTMF is not used for immediate signalling as most PBX systems dynamically assign DTMF receivers, and one may not be "immediately" available. Delay dial means that after a preset interval the CO will transmit the number. Dial pulse signalling is the method of choice here also. 10 or 20 PPS can be used, as specified by the customer when the order is placed, if available from the telco. Wink signalling is most commonly used, especially with DTMF. When the CO seizes the trunk, the customer will detect the loop current and breifly interrupt battery or reverse polarity. The CO sends the information at the end of the "wink". So, the wink acts as a "ready to receive" signal from the customer to the CO. The CO then outputs the digits either in DTMF or pulse. An option on some PBX systems is to supply dial tone when ready to receive, but I'm not aware if "dial tone" is an option supported by any local exchange carriers. Another important factor in DID trunk usage is the return of answer supervision from the customer to the CO. When the called party answers, the PBX will reverse the polarity on the loop. This reversal is used by the CO to start timing the call for billing purposes. All of the above examples are for simple analog 2-wire DID circuits. T-carrier systems still typically use DTMF or pulse transmission, but the A and B signalling bits are used for supervision. The number of digits sent and any translations from what is dialed to what is sent are also specified on the order and subject to agreement by the serving telco. Jay Hennigan jay@rain.org Santa Barbara CA ------------------------------ From: mk@TFS.COM (Mike King) Subject: Re: DID Questions Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 09:23:17 PST In TELECOM Digest, V14 #53, Thomas Tengdin asks > Can anyone tell me how DID lines pass the number down the trunk? Sure. There is a set of trunks from the CO to the PBX. When a call arrives at the CO that is in the group of numbers "belonging" to the PBX, the CO will select one of the DID trunks and, in effect, take the trunk off-hook. The PBX provides battery to the trunk pair in the same manner the CO provides battery to a normal two-way trunk. When the PBX recognizes the CO has "seized" the trunk, it will signal to the CO to send the identification of the dialed number. The PBX does this by momentarily removing battery current; a "wink" condition. When the CO detects the wink, it will then begin pulsing the dialed extension to the PBX. This number may be two to five digits. The PBX is then responsible for completing the call to the extension, and returning ring signal or busy. If the dialed number does not exist, the PBX is required to provide some sort of intercept. Also, the PBX will return supervision to the CO when the call is answered. Newer PBXes can receive the extension indication via DTMF. This is known as DID-II. Mike King mk@tfs.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #56 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa15855; 1 Feb 94 19:02 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10789; Tue, 1 Feb 94 14:55:05 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10777; Tue, 1 Feb 94 14:55:02 CST Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 14:55:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402012055.AA10777@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #57 TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Feb 94 14:55:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 57 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The IIA "Free" Internet Account (Paul Robinson) Modems For 3002 Circuits Wanted (Javier Henderson) Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (Gordon Torrie) Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (John R. Levine) Increasing Cordless Range? (Bill Leeke) Re: Snail Mail Newsgroup (Nigel Allen) Re: How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem? (Carl Oppedahl) Re: Multi-line BBS's (John DuBois) Re: Telephone Nunbers in France (markr@mcil.comm.mot.com) Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling (Carl Moore) Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling (dong@umiacs.umd.edu) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Steve Cogorno) Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (Lars Poulsen) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Kriston J. Rehberg) Re: Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1) (Carl Oppedahl) 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: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 13:00:36 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: The IIA "Free" Internet Account Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Awhile back there was talk here of a "free" account from the IIA (International Internet Association). One of the comments was that they required a credit card for people outside the local area who might use their 800 number so the company could bill them at 25c a minute. I personally coined the term for this: "The Nevada Plan". That's where a company provides a service in which they pay for the service via charges based on telephone calls into the service. A talk line in Nevada started this in which you dialed a specific 702 number and were connected. The kicker was that you had to call long distance via AT&T. AT&T gave them the 2c/minute fee for the connection. At least one other company has ticked off a similar deal with Sprint and with MCI for another service. For those of you going to one of the various convetions who would like to be able to contact your home computer, there is already a full internet service which is accessible as real "Nevada Plan" service -- all it costs is a call over AT&T to the provider's number -- and doesn't have additional charges larded onto it the way this 800 number thingy does. (They assess the charges via the credit card supplied to them.) The service is called Speedway, and the number -- which has to be called via AT&T -- is (10288) 1-503-520-2222. I have no connection with that company other than as someone who has used their service. The provider of speedway offers shell access to a Unix system, and includes full internet connectivity, including E-Mail, almost all national newsgroups, and the usual internet tools including whois, ping, nslookup, etc. The company also offers slip connections, and will act as a DNS receiver for DNS forwarded mail for those wanting their own domain name. All at no cost above the AT&T 12c a minute rates at night or higher during days. At my own request, they have added a gateway for outgoing SMTP mail, which is accessed via the command SMTP at the login: prompt. This is quite useful for a system that has an incoming mail gateway that wants a means to post mail which is possibly less expensive. Since the rate per minute is whatever AT&T charges -- which is probably less than 25c a minute except during daylight prime time and may be less if you have a calling plan -- this option is a suitable alternative to using IIAs overpriced "free" service (unless you happen to be in the local area of their service). Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ From: henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com Subject: Modems for 3002 circuits Date: 1 Feb 94 09:13:06 PST Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA Can anyone recommend a pair of modems, in the 9600bps range, that will work on 3002 circuits? Thanks, Javier Henderson henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? From: gordon@torrie.org (Gordon Torrie) Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 14:22:24 -0500 Organization: Torrie Communications Services 92065034@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca (J. Guitard) writes: > I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the > Internet. At first I thought the only way to connect was through a T1 > line, but now I hear you can connect with a 9600 baud line. Someone > told me they were connected through their local internet provider. Who > are these local internet providers? What are the costs for these > lines and monthly fees, etc? Email me or post here. There is a file called the Public Dialup Internet List (PDIAL) that lists Internet service providers, the local calling areas each serves, the services they offer and outlines their rates. It lists many providers in North America and a few that are eleswhere in the world. Look for PDIAL015.ZIP on a local BBS. Gord Torrie ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 20:32 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the > Internet. A good source is Susan Estrada's "Connecting to the Internet", O'Reilly, ISBN 1-56592-061-9. It describes the various ways to hook up, pros and cons, and has a lot of providers listed, in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. For a general introduction to the Internet, including a fair amount of discussion of how you hook up using a PC or a Mac, try "The Internet for Dummies", IDG Books, ISDN 1-56884-024-1. I think it's one of the most superb books ever written in the English language, but since I wrote it, I may be biased. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bill Leeke) Subject: Increasing Cordless Range Date: 1 Feb 1994 17:31:33 GMT Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston IL USA I would like to increase the range of my cordless phone. Does anyone know if there is an easy way to do this? i.e. clip/screw a few resistors ... Would it be possible to put a linear amp on the base? Could you also increase the gain of the base antenna? Any suggestions welcome. BTW: Im only interested in the technical aspects of doing this. bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember that whatever you do, you also need to increase th handset's range accordingly. It is pointless to have the base be able to talk for a mile if the handset is not strong enough to get back to it. Remember also that the more distance you are able to cover with your cordless, the more others will be able to get back to your dialtone also, especially if you have an older style cordless. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 02:28:04 -0500 From: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca (Nigel Allen) Subject: Re: Snail Mail Newsgroup Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Canada Reply-To: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca In a previous article, roberts_n@svhdev.te.bt.co.uk (Nigel Roberts) says: > Some time ago there was an announcement of a mailing list or newsgroup > (I can't remember which) which covered the topic of the world's postal > services (a.k.a `snail mail'). The newsgroup is named alt.snail-mail, and has had some lively discussions recently about postal operations and policies. Most of the messages deal with the U.S. Postal Service, but private courier companies and the postal administrations of other countries have also been discussed. Stamp collectors will find rec.collecting.stamps more interesting. Nigel Allen ae446@freenet.carleton.ca [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks also to Peter Weiss for the same answer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem? Date: 31 Jan 1994 12:26:24 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In Barry Lustig writes: > A friend of mine lives in a coop apartment in New York City. He has a > run of four wire non-twisted pair running from the demarc in the > basement to his apartment. He would like to be able to run more than > two phone circuits to his apartment (modem, fax, phone, etc), but the > coop won't let him run any additional wire. Is there anyway to get > more that two phone circuits running over the four wires? Or perhaps BRI ISDN on one of the pairs and normal loop-start on the other ... Or perhaps BRI ISDN twice -- once on each of two pairs. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: spcecdt@armory.com (John DuBois) Subject: Re: Multi-line BBS's Organization: The Armory Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 04:14:38 GMT In article , Fred R. Goldstein wrote: > In article dannie@coplex.coplex.com > (Dannie Gregoire) writes: >> 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 ... As a data point ... the systems here currently have 12 data lines. All but one (our ISDN line for IP connectivity) are analog lines, and cost $8.50/mo. ($3 of that for undesired "network access for interstate calling" which I'm told I can't skip), since they're measured rate, which makes sense for our purposes since they're dialin only. Pac Bell just pulls another five-pair cable each time we run out, and wires it up to another six-position network interface, which now are arranged in a nice row along the outside of the house. When we had used up the third set of lines (we have five voice lines too), I expected them to pull out the five-pair cables and replace them with a 25-pair cable, but they somehow managed to get not just one but (for a change) two more five-pair cables through the conduit. I doubt we'll need more than 25 pairs, so I don't get to see what they'd do next :) The data lines are connected to a motley assortment of modems which are on multiport boards. John DuBois spcecdt@armory.com KC6QKZ ------------------------------ From: markr@mot.com (Mark) Subject: Re: Telephone Nunbers in France Reply-To: markr@mcil.comm.mot.com Organization: MCIL Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 15:07:37 GMT In article mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk writes: > etm@email.teaser.com (Erik Thomas Mueller) said: >>> By the way, note that the current numbering plan in France is scheduled >>> to be replaced in 1995 by the uniform NPA + 8D where NPA = >>> 1 Ile-de-France (Paris, ...) >>> 2 Northeast France >>> 3 Southeast France >>> 4 Southwest France >>> 5 Northwest France > Oddly enough, France has roughly the same number of telephones as the > UK; but the UK is about to change from a 10 digit scheme to an 11 > digit scheme. I somehow doubt if the North West France zone will be > given code "5"; because that would entail callers dialling 05 to call > NW France. At the moment 05 is the French toll-free code, the > equivalent of 1-800 and 0800, which they call "numberos verts" - green > numbers. The French 05 will, I am told, in due course change to 0800. > A separate code (06?) has been allocated for mobiles. Speaking about adding a digit, is there any plan in the USA to add a digit when the system runs out of valid area codes? Or will they buy time by changing the N0X N1X requirement? Mark [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We *have* run out of area codes and 'they' have abandoned the N0X/N1X requirement. New area codes will be almost any three digit number. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 01:14:41 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling Who'd use 011 to call INTO country code 1? Try +1 (instead of 011-1 or 1) in front of the 719 area code. ------------------------------ From: dong@umiacs.umd.edu (D.C.) Subject: Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling Date: 01 Feb 1994 13:02:32 -0500 Organization: UMIACS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 I once saw somebody selling this type of dialback equipment on the Usenet. Does anybody have the information? Can you point to me where I can find such an equipment? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 11:42:18 PST > Correct me if I am wrong but local call costs are very usage > insensitive (the costs of running a local telephone exchange will be > virtually the same if we are calling all the time or if we never use > our telephones). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are costs involved with the > common equipment and the amount of it in place which to large extent > detirmined by how much the phone is used. Even so, why shouldn't > telco get paid for the value of the service? PAT] THe telco SHOULD get paid for the value of its service -- via the monthly service charge. Steve cogorno@netcom.com #608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive * Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015 ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 19:20:13 GMT dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones) writes: >> I am in need of a phone line simulator. It will be used to verify the >> functionality of modems for a large computing network. In article Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> writes: > Any of the Proctor Telephone Demonstrators will do this. There are > three models, from two to four lines, and the newest one will also do > Caller ID and CENTREX emulation. In the last couple of years, I have been using various such devices, ranging from simple ringdown boxes to small PBXes, for exactly this application. I have found a great variety in the quality of these units. Here are some issues: (1) Some ringdown boxes burn out, if they have to supply dial tone to both sides at once. I experienced this problem with some very inexpensive (USD 106 at Graybar!!) ringdowns. That made them unusable for my purpose, but they would work fine for one-way ringdown applications, and could indeed be strapped for one-way. (2) The TelTone TLS-3, considered by my colleagues in the voice-mail industry to be the Cadillac of line simulators has shown many problems on my bench: Weak ring signals (won't reliably trigger my ZyXEL modems), lots of glare (because it is slow to recognize a hangup; like many Centrex lines I have seen). This can sometimes be a nuisance when stress testing two-way dial-on-demand routers. (I wonder how the Proctor units compare in this respect.) (3) The Panasonics KX-T308 and 616 series have been great for this application, but they have a limited number of talk paths. For example, the 308 allows four simultaneous calls, the 616 allows 8, I think. So if you are using any trunk side connections, you may experience blocking on local calls. This is not well documented. (Actually, I think you can have blocking even if you don't have trunkside connections. I've moved away from the lab with the KX-T's - anyone care to test and report ?) 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 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:07:28 EST From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'New York pager scam' involved this guy who took out a very expensive (to call) phone line on the 540 (?) exchange in New York City. That exchange *only when calling from the LATA (212/708/914/516?)* charges the callers in the same way that 900 or 976 service works elsewhere. This guy had a line which cost the calling party something like $20-30 each time they dialed it and he sent page messages to (apparently) thousands of pagers in the area asking them to call him back on his expensive number ... they responded by the thousands and he got a nice commission from telco -- just like you would get if you ran a 900/976 service. The people who called got very large charges on their phone bill, and the guy made a mint from it. PAT] NYNEX has created a new area code 917 for pager, cellular, and "certain other services", in addition to their 212 and 718 numbers. In an area where almost every tall office building has at least one PBX with direct-dial extensions, NYC is a pure example of the so-called "phone number shortage" myth. They just keep adding NPA's. If someone can explain how there could possibly be a phone number shortage, especially with the elimination of both 1 + 7D and the recent expansion of area code second-digit assignments please send me E-mail or post here to the Digest. I have always believed this to be an urban legend, especially in light of the elimination of 1 + 7D in the past ten years and the more recent second-digit area code allowance. Back to the original thought of the post, I always thought that the only pay exchanges in all of the NYC area codes was 976. This has nothing to do with 1-900, by the way. By the way, I don't see area code 708 in NYC. You probably meant 718 (Queens/Bronx/Bkln). 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 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, that was a typographical error. I meant to say 718, not 708. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1) Date: 01 Feb 1994 10:29:35 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In kindred@telesciences.com (David L Kindred ) writes: > for a minute, she realized that she was the only person in the office, > and that the lines couldn't be in use. At this point she picks up the > line, and "This is the Credit Union, may I help you?". One of the > people on the line mumbles something like "isn't so-and-so there?" and > hangs up. My mother then hung-up and was able to use the line to make > her call. The next day, she reported this event to NJ Bell. A day or > two after that, one of the phone lines went dead, and again NJ Bell > was involved. > As you might expect, the next phone bill was quadruple the normal. > Most of the "mystery" calls were to Manilla (sp?), and a few to > Panama. > This is where things stand for the moment. I'll report further on > whether NJ Bell/AT&T give her a hassle about the bogus charges, and > how long it takes to clear the "unexpected" connections. [deletia] > There have been numerous reports here about unscrupulous persons > making their own connections to other people's phone lines. The > person (or persons) involved here seem to have known that the lines > they "borrowed" were from a business, and what the normal working > hours for the business were. Only a few late nights led to the > discovery of the problem before the first bill showed up. Is there a > way a small business can protect themselves from this, or do we all > have to rely on the phone company straightening things out afterwards? This is a problem, and is going to be more and more prevalent as the years go on. Indeed how can a telephone customer protect himself/herself? Here in no particular order are a few thoughts. 1. If you get ISDN you will virtually eliminate this problem. The ne'er-do-wells who tap onto phone lines these days use very inexpensive conventional telephone equipment in their efforts, and cannot accomplish anything with an ISDN line (other than generating synch errors). It will be many years (perhaps a decade) before equipment to permit seamlessly connecting to an ISDN line becomes commonly available. 2. Before moving into a premises, do a security survey of the incoming utilities. Ideally the cable from telco passes underground, directly into your building. Ideally within your building the cable then goes straight to a room that nobody gets into without a key (ideally your key). Etc. Etc. 3. One bad situation is if your building is multi-tenant, and if the telephone wiring is in places that lots of people can get at (some public hallway in the basement, say). 4. Another bad situation is if there is a connection box outdoors, where anybody can get at it, with your non-ISDN dial tone ripe for the plucking. It is probably "locked" with a hex bolt that can only be "unlocked" by people who have such rare tools as socket wrenches. The key is to think about this *before* you move in. It is generally impossible to get the telephone company interested in the situation once you are there. "Yes, New Jersey Bell, that is *exactly* what I want you to do! Now get out here with that backhoe and put that line underground right now!" It is also generally impossible to get a landlord to do anything about this *after* you move in. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #57 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa04461; 3 Feb 94 14:28 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA28698; Thu, 3 Feb 94 09:56:04 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA28686; Thu, 3 Feb 94 09:56:01 CST Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 09:56:01 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402031556.AA28686@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #58 TELECOM Digest Thu, 3 Feb 94 09:56:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 58 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The Internet Guide for New Users" by Dern (Rob Slade) The Dawn of A New Age (Stephen Goodman) New Area Code 281 for Houston (Richard R. Guadajardo) Terrible Net Lag - Information Rquested (Robert Zawalski) Lowest Rates in the Long Distance Industry! (Dan Dindinger) GSDN Programming Question (Jerry Aguirre) Lebanon Telephone Infrastructure (Alex Cena) Best Low-Price Cordless Phone (Darby Holliman) Internet Access in Germany (Michael Weir) U.S.A. - Cuba Telecommunications (macbainr@nbnet.nb.ca) I Want Your War Stories! (Jeff Kagan) Dialogic Help Please? (Rich Padula) PC Anywhere Disconnect in Windows? (albertip@woods.uml.edu) Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing (Robb Topolski) That Illusive Program: swIXO (Marcus Blankenship) The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right (Paul Robinson) 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, 02 Feb 1994 09:53:45 MDT From: Rob Slade (rslade@sfu.ca) Subject: Book Review: "The Internet Guide for New Users" by Dern BKTIGFNU.RVW 931229 McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne 300 Water Street Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6 905-430-5000 905-430-5047 Rita Bisram, Marketing fax: 905-430-5020 or 2600 Tenth St. Berkeley, CA 94710 USA 510-548-2805 800-227-0900 or 1221 Avenue of th NY 10020 "The Internet Guide for New Users", Dern, 1994, 0-07-016511-4, U$27.95 ddern@world.std.com In the Preface, Dern expands on the title, explaining the audience and purpose of the book. He emphasizes users, stating that the book is not about protocols or administration. I would second that, and note the other boundary condition: the book is not for dabblers. This is for people who are serious about using the resources of the Internet. Dern also stresses "new", proposing that the book could be for those who have never used a computer or a modem before. This may be stretching things a bit. There certainly is not sufficient background here for someone who has just bought a PC to get communications software and hardware up and running. (Dern does suggest that you find at least a BBS buddy to get started.) On the other hand, no prior knowledge is assumed: there is even a section on "Enough UNIX to Survive," which goes so far as to explain what an operating system is. Part one has four chapters explaining Internet history and background, getting connected, Internet addressing and the aforementioned UNIX overview. This survey describes the "tools" of email, Usenet, remote login and file transfer (ftp). I would query the status of Usenet here; new users generally have a function oriented approach and it might more generally be seen as a part of the concept of discussion groups, and refer to mailing and distribution lists. Part three explains tools to aid in finding and accessing information; chapter nine, in conceptual terms, and chapter ten, describing the specific individual programs and systems. Part four discusses Internet "citizenship" in terms of etiquette and culture (chapter eleven) and in getting help and assistance (chapter twelve). Part five is a miscellany, looking at special sites, mailing and distribution. This book will very likely be seen as a successor to Krol's "Whole InternUser's Guide and Catalog" (cf BKKROL.RVW). The two share a very common history, size and UNIX bias. Dern's work is larger and more complete, in many respects, and has the advantage, in this very rapidly changing arena, of more recent information. (Being up to date, however, has a very emphemeral value in the Internet world.) Dern also shows less reliance on the navigating tools of gopher and WAIS which are still not accessible to even a majority of users. On the other hand, Krol's "Catalog" is a lot of fun, although far from exhaustive. (Both major internet guides have this UNIX flavour. Dern does give a credible explanation of why this is so, and also tends to use the UNIX examples in a more useful fashion. If you are using ftp and telnet extensively, then you should know the examples.) I am happy to see the emphasis on netiquette and online culture. Given both the personal nature and the importance of the topic, I would prefer to see somewhat less discussion of this area. Dern also provides useful lists of "common mistakes." I am also pleased to see some prominence given to the use of various functions via email. Literally millions of online service users have access to the Internet via email gateways -- and don't know it. This section could use some expansion; even with references to other sections of the book, the examples are quit true of the Internet. This work deserves serious consideration. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKTIGFNU.RVW 931229 ====================== 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 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Feb 94 16:48 EST From: Stephen Goodman <0003945654@mcimail.com> Subject: The Dawn of A New Age Here is what the future could bring!!! TCI, the nation's largest cable television company, is in talks to launch a unique pilot project in conjunction with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Microsoft Corporation to design a "smart home". The home automation industry is expected to triple in size, from $1.7 billion this year to more than $5.1 billion by the year 2000. Here is the diary of a future homeowner! ================ November 28, 1995 Moved in at last. Finally, we live in the smartest house in the neighborhood. Everything's networked. The cable TV is connected to our phone, which is connected to my PC, which is connected to the power lines, all the appliances and the security system. Everything runs off a universal remote with the friendliest interface I've ever used. Programming is a snap. I'm, like, totally wired. November 30 Hot stuff! Programmed my VCR from the office, turned up the thermostat and switched on the lights with the car phone, remotely tweaked the oven a few degrees for my pizza. Everything nice and cozy when I arrived. Maybe I should get the the universal remote surgically attached. December 3 Yesterday, the kitchen crashed. Freak event. As I opened the refigerator door, the light bulb blew. Immediately, everything else electrical shut down -- lights, microwave, coffee maker -- everything! Carefully, I unplugged and replugged all the appliances. Nothing. Called the cable company (but not from the kitchen phone). They refer me to the utility company. The utility insists the problem was in the software. So the software company runs some remote telediagnostics via my house processor. Their expert system claims it has to be the utility's fault. I don't care, I just weant my kitchen back. More phone calls. More remote diagnostics. Turns out the problem was "unanticipated failure mode" -- the network had never seen a refrigerator bulb failure while the door was open. So the fuzzy logic interpreted the burnout as a power surge and shut down the entire kitchen. But because sensor memory confirmed that there hadn't actually been a power surge, the kitchen's logic sequence was confused so it couldn't do a standard restart. The utility guy swears this was the first time this has ever happened. Rebooting the kitchen took over an hour. December 7 The police are not happy. Our house keeps calling them for help. We discover that whenever we play the TV or stereo above 25 decibels, it creates patterns of micro-vibrations that get amplified when they hit the window. When these vibrations mix with a gust of wind, the security sensors are actuated and the police computer concludes that someone is trying to break in. Go figure ... Another glitch: whenever the basement is in self-diagnostic mode, the universal remote won't let me change the channels on my TV. That means I actually have to get up off the couch and change the channels by hand. The software and the utility people say this flaw will be fixed in the next upgrade -- SmartHouse 2.1, but it's not ready yet. December 12 This is a nightmare. There's a virus in the house. My personal computer caught it while browsing on the public access network. I come home and the livingroom is a sauna, the bedroom windows are covered with ice, the refrigerator has defrosted, the washing machine has flooded the basement, the garage door is cycling up and down and the TV is stuck on the Home Shopping channel. Throughout the house, lights flicker like stroboscopes until they explode from the strain. Broken glass is everywhere. Of course, the security sensors detect nothing. I look at a message slowly throbbing on my PC screen: "Welcome to HomeWrecker!!! Now the FUN begins ... (be it ever so humble, there's no virus like HomeWrecker ...)". I get out of the house. Fast. December 18 They think I've digitally desinfected the house but the place is a shambles. Pipes have burst and we're not completely sure we've got the part of the virus that attacks toilets. Nevertheless, The Exorcists (as the anti-virus SWAT members like to call themselves) are confident the worst is over. "HomeWrecker is pretty bad," one tells me, "but consider yourself lucky you did'nt get Poltergeist. That one is really evil". December 19 Apparently, our house isn't insured for viruses. "Fires and mudslides yes," says the claims adjuster, "viruses, no." My agreement with the SmartHouse people explicitly states that all claims and warranties are null and void if any appliance or computer in my house networks in any way, shape or form with a noncertified on-line service. Everybody's very, very sorry but they can't be expected to anticipate every virus that may be created. We call our lawyer. He laughs. He's excited. December 21 I get a call from a SmartHouse sales rep. As a special holiday offer, we get the free opportunity to become a beta site for the company's new SmartHouse 2.1 upgrade. He says I'll be able to meet the programmers personally. "Sure, I tell him"... To Be Continued ... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 02:31:42 CST From: "RICHARD R. GUAJARDO" Subject: New Area Code 281 for Houston Houston, Tex. will be getting a new area code, probably 281, in 1995. The {Houston Chronicle} in an article by Dwight Silverman (Jan. 21, 1994) states than a number of ways to implement the new code are currently being studied. More details were expected in about two months. Area code 713 currently serves the Houston metro area (Harris County and small parts of adjoining counties) According to the news article the following options were being considered for the new area code: 1) an overlay of 713, assigning 281 to new installations (neighbors would have different area codes) 2) an overlay of 713, assigning 281 to all pagers and cellular phones 3) a split of 713, half of Houston in 281 and the remaining half in 713 Previously 713 was split to create 409 for East Texas (1983). Richard Guajardo Guajardo@UH.Edu ------------------------------ From: bobz@crl.com (Robert Zawalski) Subject: Terrible Net Lag - Information Requested Date: 3 Feb 1994 00:45:17 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access In the last two weeks I'm experiencing terrible net-lag at the Canadian servers. Running a version of "traceroute", and running a "ping" script that returns a summary of transfer times leads me to conclude that something is quite broken along the path. I'd like to learn about the implementation details of network connections before being the four-thousandth person to call sys-admin's at the problem sites. Yes I know the net is always slow in Canada, but until a few weeks ago, this was moot. It was easily fast enough for my fingers and modem :') Please email suggested information to read etc. if this topic is outside the usual scope of discussions among this group. Thanks, Bob Zawalski bobz@crl.com ------------------------------ From: dedindin@ouray.cudnvr.denver.colorado.edu (UtiliComm Consultants) Subject: Lowest Rates in the Long Distance Industry! Date: 3 Feb 94 08:42:35 GMT Organization: UtiliComm Consultants QUALITY & SERVICE FROM $0.0895/min TO $0.1495/min I need to inform you of a company out of San Francisco called Phoenix Network. Phoenix (NASDAQ Symbol: PHXN) has been in business since 1987, with 1993 revenues surpassing $30 million. Phoenix is in business because it can save small to medium sized businesses money on their long distance phone charges. Phoenix offers a range of rates starting from $0.0895/min up to $0.1495/min. These rates are flat rates, which means they are good anytime/anywhere throughout the U.S. Phoenix also offers International rates which are discounted 50% off that of major carriers. (The rates that are basically the same for outgoing calls and for incoming 1-800#'s.) WHAT ABOUT QUALITY? You can be assured of the highest quality transmission, as your actual service will continue to be with the major carriers (ATT, MCI & Sprint) but at a huge discount. Phoenix is a re-biller which purchases large volumes of long distance service, and is able to offer your business the lowest rates possible. Phoenix also offers a customer service center with over 60 employees ready to help. Phoenix can offer your company a customized long distance service to match your exact needs -- PLUS it will save you money. There is no fee to sign up, so give me a call at (303) 797-7034 for a demonstration of how much you can save. Dan Dindinger UtiliComm Consultants Voice: (303) 797-7034 Fax: (619) 287-4188 P.S. This offer is only available to businesses that use over $200/month in long distance telephone service. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, I see -- just skimming the cream from the better business customers; smart thinking! PAT] ------------------------------ From: jerry@strobe.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Jerry Aguirre) Subject: GSDN Programming Question Date: 3 Feb 1994 06:56:25 GMT Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, CA; USA We, along with other locations of our company, are members of GSDN. Our lines to AT&T come in on a T1 to a system 75 Generic 1 switch. When promoting GSDN the sales people said that calls to other sites that were part of GSDN would automatically get billed as GSDN calls. (Explaination by hand waving!) Now that we see the bills it is obvious that the only way calls route as GSDN is if we manually dial the trunk access code, GSDN code, and extension at the other end. Now one method is to tell everyone about the new method of calling the other offices; And then hope enough of them use it to achieve better rates. Does anyone have any suggestions on a more transparrent, or at least easier to dial, method? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 08:12:48 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Lebanon Telephone Infrastructure The Lebanese government has approved contracts to buy one million telephone lines from Alcatel Alsthom NV, Siemens AG and AB L.M. Ericsson. How the work will be divided between the three vendors will share the work still has not been decided. Can someone tell me what role if any wireless technology, especially cellular, may play in this project? Thanks in advance, Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 08:56:00 +0000 From: Darby Holliman Subject: Best Low-Price Cordless Phone Which of the lower priced cordless phones has the best reception. I've heard Panasonic makes a good phone for the price. Darby Holliman Northern Telecom atdlh01@nt.com (404)496-2280 ------------------------------ From: mweir@elvis.umd.umich.edu (michael weir) Subject: Internet Access in Germany Date: 3 Feb 1994 03:15:17 GMT Organization: Umich I am searching for Internet access for a friend of mine who lives in Wiesbaden Germany. There are three different types of access that I am interested and they are as follows: (in order of preference) 1) My friend is an Opel employee and the first option would be to obtain an account through Opel. Does anyone have a contact within Opel or know what Opel's procedure is? 2) The second type of access would be through a local Freenet. Does anyone have any information regarding Freenets in the Wiesbaden area? 3) Third and finally would be pay access. This would preferably be a last resort but if that is all that's available that's fine. Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ From: macbainr@nbnet.nb.ca (Raymond Luxury Yacht) Subject: U.S.A. - Cuba Telecommunications Organization: nbnet Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:37:02 GMT Is there anybody out there who knows anything about the present Cuba -- USA telecommunications regulation situation or even anything about telephony in Cuba? Specifically, I would be interested in knowing anything you can tell me about: - Is it possible to call from the USA to Cuba today? I understand the old Florida City radio link was wrecked during Hurricane Andrew. Is it illegal under the embargo, or are there just no facilities? If it is possible, do you have any idea of the aproximate cost/min? - What is the penetration of telephones in Cuba? How many phones are installed and where are they? Also, any general info about the state of telecom in Cuba and between Cuba and the USA would be appreciated. No need to post unless someone else shows interest -- just email me. TIA ------------------------------ From: jeffkagan@delphi.com Subject: I Want Your War Stories! Date: Wed, 2 Feb 94 21:02:35 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) I am participating in an article on phone company overcharging and gouging, etc. I know there are a million stories in the naked city (as Joe Friday of Dragnet used to say). Let me hear yours! Jeffrey Kagan Tele Choice Consulting Atlanta JEFFKAGAN@Dephi.Com ------------------------------ From: rpadula@aol.com Date: Wed, 02 Feb 94 21:37:18 EST Subject: Dialogic Help Please? SOS! I am trying to write a program for the Dialogic D/40B in QuickC. I thought things were OK, but I've found that when a user holds down a DTMF keypress, my program skips though many states, as if the long DTMF is being seen as many DTMF presses. If anyone out there has any helpful hints, could we discuss in e-mail? BTW, QuickC = V2.0, D/4X driver = V2.98 Thanks, rich ------------------------------ From: mailrus!samsung!ulowell!aspen.uml.edu!albertip@uunet.UU.NET Subject: PC Anywhere Disconnect in Windows? Date: 4 Feb 94 00:28:50 -0500 Organization: University of Massachusetts Lowell Anyone know any reason why Norton PC Anywhere (v 4.5) disconnects after it paints the opening screen in Windows? It disconnects, then, when I dial back in, Windows runs fine the rest of the time. Please EMail, I don't follow this group much. Thanks in advance! Pete albertip@woods.uml.edu ------------------------------ From: topolski@kaiwan.com (Robb Topolski) Subject: Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing Organization: KJ6YT Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 20:53:11 GMT Just so there's no confusion, in my area: Remote Call Fowarding is a seven-digit number that exists in the CO only that your callers call to be connected with another (usually distant) number. Distinctive Ringing is a feature on your telephone that provides a distinctive ring (short-long-short) when a call originating from a particular number is received. You create this list by inputting the number or by pressing *61 immediately following a call from a number you want added to the list. QUESTION: If a caller (from 555-1133) dials my Remote Call Forwarding number (555-9922) which is forwarded to my home, which number is evaluated by Distinctive Ringing? Robb Topolski KJ6YT topolski@kaiwan.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 10:04:58 PST From: blankenm@seq.oit.osshe.edu Subject: That Illusive Program: swIXO While reading through the archives trying to find shareware/PD software that sends text messages to Motorola Advisor pagers via the IXO protocal I found a message that refered to a free program called swIXO. The message even contained a portion of the README.TXT file that came with the program. Unfortuantly, it did _not_ tell where the program could be retrieved from. If someone know where/who has this please e-mail to my address. Any ftp sites or shareware companies would be appreciated. Marcus Blankenship Alpha-Telcom Inc. Payphone Tech. ------------------------------ Reply-To: PAUL@TDR.COM From: Paul Robinson Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 01:36:58 EST Subject: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... Reply-To: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring MD USA Today we had a problem with one of the employees that wanted to call the University of California at Davis, in that he said that the main number - 752-1011 - wasn't working, and he was unable to get through. He told me he had tried calling the number, and even Directory Assistance in area code 707 had given him the same number. So I tried calling that number both via the government FTS network and as a commercial call. and an announcement that the number was bad occurred in both cases. I called 707-555-1212 on the FTS network and asked for the main number of U.C. Davis. The computer read off the *same* number: 752-1011. Still didn't work. I called the FTS trouble hotline and they got the same recording and directory assistance in 707 gave them the same number. If it was "Joe's Bar" I could understand that it could be out of service, but the main number for a State University? (This is in Central California, far outside the earthquake zone.) Then we discovered the problem. Davis is in the *916* areacode, *NOT* in 707. And the funny thing was, living in the Washington, DC area, I'm used to hearing the local DA recording give the area code before a number. Later tonight, in repeating the experiment, I called 707 information. The first Directory Assistance operator informed me that the area code for Davis is 916, and to dial 916-555-1212 to get Directory Assistance there. The second call to 707 DA gave me the 752-1011 number without mentioning the area code. Paul Robinson - PAUL@TDR.COM / TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way it works is that a lot of DA Bureaus are handled from the same location by the same operators and they are *supposed* to pay attention to what lines the incoming calls arrive on, but they do not always do that. You'd think it would be just as simple to ignore the identity of the incoming trunk and just always recite the response with an area code on the front to avoid this kind of confusion, but the answer to that is that since most people do in fact call the correct area code (plus 555-1212) to obtain the desired number, the recital of the area code at the start of the number would confuse people (the local people) into thinking *they* had to dial the area code first also. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #58 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa05457; 3 Feb 94 16:00 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02508; Thu, 3 Feb 94 11:44:14 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02498; Thu, 3 Feb 94 11:44:11 CST Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 11:44:11 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402031744.AA02498@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #59 TELECOM Digest Thu, 3 Feb 94 11:44:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 59 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson V&H Report - 15 January 1994 (David Esan) Book Review: "Navigating the Internet" by Gibbs/Smith (Rob Slade) Data-Communication on Voice Lines in Bell Atlantic Territory (S. Davidson) 20GHz Wireless is the Future? (S. L. Lee) Need Information About POLYCOM Soundstation (Markolf Gudjons) Moriarity Fax Number, -Maybe- (Ken Staggers, misc.legal via Danny Burstein) Can Anybody Tell Me About: V.26 Modems, Signalling System 6? (David Myers) Is Shortened BCH Code a Shortened Cyclic Code? (G.R. Pradeep) Caller ID/CNAM (Michael G. Godwin) Inmarsat-B (mph469@aberdeen.ac.uk) Question on Trunks and T1's (Steven L. Spak) Looking For Videoconferencing Newsgroups (cthurrot@jade.tufts.edu) Brussels Student Needs Information on Israel Telco (Severine Burgers) Cancellation of VSI94 (A. Padgett Peterson) Last Laugh: Tayna Harding Uses Talk Tickets to Avoid Detection (S Forrette) 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: de@moscom.com (David Esan) Subject: V&H Report - 15 January 1994 Date: 2 Feb 94 20:30:29 GMT Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY Once a quarter I USED to receive the BellCore V&H tape. Using this information I could total the number of exchanges in each area code. The twenty most populous area codes are listed below. After the written text of this article I have included the count for each of the area codes. This is no longer our procedure. The information in FCC #10 is now detailed enough that we no longer need to order the tape from BellCore and are using FCC #10 for our V&H information. There will be some changes during the changeover, FCC #10 is more current, and some exchanges due for addition and included in the tape may not yet be in FCC #10. We have used pages issued prior to January 15, 1994. I am not responsible for the information supplied in FCC #10. I have not included the following in my counts of exchanges: - NXX's that are not dialable by a standard user (ie nxx's that begin with a 1 or 0). - Mexican exchanges in the 52? series of area codes. I've got them, you can dial them with 011, but they're not really NPAs. - Exchanges that are non-dialable in the 88? series of area codes. I've got those also, but you can't dial them, so I'm not including them. Numbers that begin with 88 are nondialable stations in the US, Canada and Mexico. They are ranches in the middle of the Nevada or Texas desert, or isolated outpost of civilization (always wanted to use that phrase) in the tundra of Canada. I find place names like the Bar J Ranch, Double B Ranch, and JD Dye, Texas, Amargosa, Corncreek and Reese Valley, NV, and Chick Lake, Redknife and Taglu, NT. I gather they are ringdown stations, or radio-telephone stations. [It has been noted in c.d.t. that at least two of these numbers are for a bordello on the NV-CA border.] - This list includes three new area codes: 905, 810, and 910. I have not yet received information on 610. The fields are: ------------ rank last in October, 1993 213: 736 (1, 7) area code --^^^ ^^^ ^------- number of new exchanges |-------------- total number of exchanges 919: 723 ( 1, 12) 206: 682 ( 7, 12) 212: 639 (12, 2) 615: 601 (18, 9) 313: 722 ( 2, 16) 602: 676 ( 9, 14) 604: 617 (14, 8) 303: 601 (19, 13) 205: 716 ( 3, 10) 708: 675 ( 8, 8) 403: 617 (13, 2) 503: 597 (16, 3) 416: 699 ( 4, 7) 713: 663 (10, 10) 216: 604 (15, 5) 813: 592 (21, 15) 215: 696 ( 6, 15) 703: 645 (11, 5) 803: 602 (17, 10) 404: 590 (20, 7) 1. 919 - split is in progress. Number should be reduced by split. 2. 313 - split is in progress. Number should be reduced by split. 3. 205 - split is planned. Number should be reduced by split. 4. 416 - split is in progress. Number should be reduced by split. 5. 215 - split is in progress. Number should be reduced by split. 6. 206 - split is planned. Number should be reduced by split. 7. 602 - split is planned. Number should be reduced by split. -> The NPA that is largest and is not splitting nor has plans, at this time, to split, is 708. [PAT - keep your ears open for the impending split!] -> The 3 smallest NPA's were 302, 906, 807. They are now: 302: 134 - Delaware (+1 exchanges) 906: 117 - Michigan's Upper Peninsula (no change) 807: 106 - Western Ontario (no change) -> The NPAs with the greatest growth rates are: NPA % growth 917 4.35 314 3.01 909 2.75 406 2.70 813 2.60 310 2.55 305 2.49 504 2.47 214 2.45 817 2.44 -> The 10 NPAs with the least growth rates are: NPA % growth 714 -39.57 *Decline due to deletion of NXXs now in 909.* 512 -8.71 *Decline due to deletion of NXXs now in 210.* 218 0 306 0 316 0 319 0 413 0 418 0 506 0 517 0 All the NPAs and the number of nxx's in each are listed below: 919: 723 612: 581 201: 466 316: 390 408: 357 208: 315 709: 264 313: 722 314: 581 412: 461 219: 389 204: 357 613: 309 806: 263 205: 716 809: 577 913: 454 213: 386 318: 356 706: 308 608: 259 416: 699 305: 577 306: 454 704: 384 207: 356 918: 307 509: 258 215: 696 501: 567 614: 447 406: 380 304: 349 218: 302 603: 251 206: 682 904: 561 818: 443 914: 379 512: 346 909: 299 901: 244 602: 676 203: 561 407: 443 910: 379 419: 345 202: 296 308: 216 708: 675 619: 560 210: 443 502: 375 517: 343 903: 291 417: 214 713: 663 817: 545 410: 441 217: 375 319: 342 808: 291 707: 205 703: 645 405: 545 515: 440 801: 374 505: 340 606: 291 506: 186 212: 639 804: 534 601: 437 504: 373 618: 339 610: 290 719: 184 604: 617 310: 523 617: 435 908: 372 702: 333 712: 288 802: 183 403: 617 717: 521 415: 434 301: 371 805: 331 812: 287 307: 181 216: 604 312: 517 402: 426 418: 370 915: 324 518: 279 607: 178 803: 602 414: 514 516: 421 510: 368 715: 321 507: 279 917: 168 615: 601 514: 509 714: 417 701: 364 815: 319 902: 278 401: 146 303: 601 718: 508 907: 411 605: 360 409: 318 705: 275 413: 135 503: 597 816: 486 716: 410 912: 359 819: 317 814: 271 302: 134 813: 592 513: 484 508: 410 519: 359 905: 315 315: 270 906: 117 404: 590 317: 481 616: 408 810: 358 609: 315 309: 268 807: 106 214: 585 916: 471 209: 396 David Esan de@moscom.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 05:41:50 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Navigating the Internet" by Gibbs/Smith This happens to be (not *entirely* by my own choice :-) the textbook to be used in two upcoming seminars that I will be giving. If you are in the area of Vancouver, BC on Feb. 19th and Feb. 24, 25th, you might contact Cyberstore at 604-526-3373 or susan@cyberstore.ca. They are the ones organizing the seminars. (The one day course is the first day of the two day seminar.) BKNAVINT.RVW 940110 Prentice Hall/SAMS Publishing 11711 N. College Avenue, Suite 140 Carmel, IN 46032 1-800-428-5331 Fax: 1-800-835-3202 "Navigating the Internet", Gibbs/Smith, 0-672-30362-0, U$24.95/C$31.95 rjs@lis.pitt.edu mgibbs@rain.org 75600.1002@compuserve.com With this title, one would expect an emphasis less on introduction and more on the search tools of the Internet. This is not the case; what we have here, is, again, another introductory guide to the Internet. The book leans quite heavily on the "Internet as ocean" metaphor in the first chapter, but thereafter abandons it. The choice and organization of individual chapters is reasonable, but tends to be application specific rather than function specific. The discussion of LISTSERV mailing lists gets a chapter of its own rather than being combined with either email, which is how you use them, or Usenet news, to deal generically with conferencing or discussion type activities. The organization within chapters is somewhat discontinuous, with topics being discussed in two or three places within a chapter, but most chapters are short enough that this should not be a problem. Coverage is not exhaustive; the topic on finding people does not list the extremely useful MIT "usenet-addresses" mail server; but should be enough to get a novice started. The tone is very light, at times flippant. (The computer humour literate will immediately recognize a description of a FORTRAN specific ftp site as coming from the "Rambo Guide to Real Programmers".) This should not prove too much of a problem as most of the asides are clearly that, and could not be mistaken for directions. Indeed, one story by Mark Gibbs about carelessly reading a message and confusing "resent" (as in taking offense) for "re-sent" (as in forwarding of a message) is a fine object lesson in the importance of thoughtful reading of email. (I am glad to see the extended coverage given to network etiquette.) One bad fault is in the proofreading, confusing ".ed" for ".edu" as the educational domain, and calling the "rn" newsreader "nr". The UNIX bias is even more deeply embedded than with Krol (cf. BKKROL.RVW) or Dern (cf. BKTIGFNU.RVW) and assumes that everyone is on a UNIX system with Elm and rn. Strangely, though, there seems to be an underlying BITNET bias as well. One example is the insistence that domain names can be shortened as long as a unique version remains. In the Internet this would very much depend upon the (possibly multiple) domain name servers between the user and the target system. In BITNET, however, all sites have unique machine names, and so the .BITNET domain can be dropped. The LISTSERV program discussed is also limited to the BITNET version, with no discussion of the general differences between it and the Internet version, and no mention of the JANET (UK) MAILBASE system. Finally, there seems to be an odd confusion between BITNET and Usenet, referring to BITNET "newsgroups" and to Usenet as if it were an actual network. Nonetheless, the book is a handy introduction. Appendix B is a command reference for archie, elm, ftp, gopher, LISTSERVE, rn, telnet, WAIS and World Wide Web (WWW). There is also a tear-out reference card for common mail gateways, ftp, telnet and gopher. Appendix E, the Internet Navigator's Gazetteer, is a resource guide. It is a nice counterpoint to Krol's Catalogue. Where Krol goes overboard on WAIS, WWW and gopher, this Gazetteer is almost exclusively mailing lists (most of them BITNET). Many are outdated. The listings are by no means complete. A complete list, of course, would be an enormous task, and one which would be out of date before it ever saw print. Nevertheless, in my own searching I could find no entries for computer communications, data communications, or telecomm- unications, nor did I find any for computer security. I looked in vain for a general listing on ecology, although I did find an ecology list under another topic. Part of the difficulty lies in the practice of major headings with subdivisions. The subheads can go on for pages, and the major topics are not "carried forward" to following pages. (I found a subheading of "Viruses" under the "Computer" topic. I noted two listings for VIRUS-L one of which had an obsolete address, and VALERT-L list, a list I'd never heard of which didn't seem to have much to do with the topic, three listings for the cert.org ftp site, and one for the VTC site at the University of Hamburg. And there, at the end of the subsection on Page 350, is your humble scribe's Quick Reference Antiviral Review Chart. Fame!) A substantial number of people will have access through UNIX systems, and will have elm and rn available. Even for those who do not, this work is a good guide. The errors are not major, and the included resources may be a very handy start. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNAVINT.RVW 940110 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 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 01:35:25 -0400 From: DAVIDSON Subject: Data-Communication on Voice Lines in Bell Atlantic Territory In issue #56 Michael W. Jacobs, Service Technician Bell Atlantic- Pennsylvania wrote: > 2) Noise on the line is not the only determinant of data transmission > speed. Depending on the circuit makeup (loaded or non-loaded, pair > gain or copper, and length/number of bridge taps), and overall > distance from the CO, a voice-grade telephone line may not be able to > carry speeds over 1200 baud. Most telcos do not guarrantee that you > can send data at all! A voice line is just that, for voice. > Conditioned dial-up data circuits are available from most telephone > companies; there may or may not be an additional charge to improve > the line transmission to accommodate your required data rate. I don't question the data provided here, but I suggest the "plug" for a conditioned line may be overstated. I have found now at two locations that a trouble call to 611 has resulted in a visit from a repairman who in both instances swapped pairs until he found me a quieter one. In one case, this was an internal job at my business location and required tracing lines through 4-5 junction boxes in a 70+ year old three story building. The repairman came back twice. In the other case, it was at my temporary residence, the repairman took 10-15 minutes to find a quieter pair and even set-up a new demarc for it. I paid nothing in either case to assure reliable 14.4Kbps connections. Steven J. Davidson, MD, MBA, FACEP | Davidson@ccc.medcolpa.edu Division of Emergency Medical Services | 71535.204@compuserve.com 3426 Conrad Street, Phila. PA 19129-1651 | 215.843.3001/3029 voice/fax ------------------------------ From: sllee@bronze.coil.com (S. L. Lee) Subject: 20GHz Wireless is the Future? Date: 3 Feb 1994 07:08:57 -0500 Organization: Central Ohio Internet Link (614-538-8294 login: guest) I heard that a technology is available (or becoming available) that can transmit voice, data, fax, video, two-way and simultaneous and automatically routed. I posted a msg but might have misposted. I would like to see professional evaluation of its feasibility. I have the following questions: 1. Would there be any health hazard? 2. Can the technology be implemented internationally, if not, what are the barriers? 3. How long has this idea been around? Why didn't anybody look at it? I would like to see discussion on various aspects of this technology. SL ------------------------------ From: markolf@lfbs.rwth-aachen.de (Markolf Gudjons) Subject: Need Information About POLYCOM Soundstation Date: 2 Feb 1994 18:33:37 GMT Organization: Lehrstuhl fuer Betriebssysteme, RWTH Aachen, Germany Hi, I need information concerning a telephone named "POLYCOM Soundstation", produced by POLYCOM, USA. We need to buy one and cannot find it locally. No one here seems to have heard of it. I would like to know whether it is a current product, how expensive it is, and where we can buy one (mail order or shop outlets in Europe). The address of POLYCOM Corp. would be nice as well. Answers by email please, I'll summarize to the group. Thank you. Markolf Gudjons, Lehrstuhl fuer Betriebssysteme RWTH Aachen, Kopernikusstr. 16, D-52056 Aachen Tel. : 0241/80-6344 | Fax : 0241/80-6346 e-Mail : markolf@lfbs.rwth-aachen.de ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Moriarity Fax Number, -Maybe- Date: 3 Feb 1994 01:51:37 -0500 I found the attached note in misc.legal, in which the author states taht the actor Michael Moriarity (now in a -big- dispute with Janet Reno over TV censorship), has set up a fax line with an '800' number. I -don't- know if this is really his, or if someone is spoofing, but I figure people in the telecom group are smart enough to understand the deal ... (Now why doesn't someone set up a 1-800 number to fax stuff to teh White House??) ================ From misc.legal Thu Feb 3 01:45:49 1994 From: staggers@cup.hp.com (Ken Staggers) Subject: L&O: Moriarty sets up 800 number for fans Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 20:12:20 GMT Followup-To: rec.arts.tv On the Howard Stern Show, Michael Moriarty gave out an 800 number so that fans can FAX him letters of support. The number is 1-800-890-3195. I tried it this morning, but I havent used the fax part of my modem very often, so I am not sure if it actually worked (I sent it three times. I would have tried more, but this guy is paying $$$ for my mistakes via the 800 number, so I stopped at three). I told him to take his message to the Internet. I hope he has access. The thing I find very interesting is that he said (if I heard him correctly this morning) he put full page ads in {Variety} and the {Hollywood Reporter} and got no support except for the Cagney & Lacey producer. He said that he will be placing another ad, costing him $52,000 in another paper soon. I wasn't sure if he said the {New York Times}, the {Washington Post}, or {USA Today}. Does anyone know? Where is Mike getting all this money? If I heard him correctly, he has already spent between $100,000 to $150,000 on ads. He has not only set up a fax number for fans to show their support, he is ALSO paying for the calls. Now you know once this number is propagated thru the net, he is going to get a TON of FAX calls, and he has to pay for each of them. And of course, this man has no job. What is he thinking? Ken ------------------- dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) (10288) 0-700-864-3242 ------------------------------ From: dcmyers@astro.umd.edu (David Myers) Subject: Can Anybody Tell Me About: V.26 Modems, Signalling System 6? Date: 3 Feb 1994 15:56:47 GMT Organization: U. of Maryland @ College Park, Astronomy My company is evaluating a project calling for the interfacing of billing data collection systems to Alcatel 10C switches, a semi-digital switch of approximately 20 years ago. These switches output data over V.26 modems using Signalling System 6 protocol. V.26 is apparently a synchronous modem standard operating at 2400 bps. SS6, I would suppose, is the precursor to SS7, but I can't guess much else. Can anybody point me to technical info on these, or to companies that have these products? Thanks for any help. Please respond by e-mail, as I don't often read these groups. ------------------------------ From: prad@master.miel.mot.com (Pradeep G R) Subject: Is Shortened BCH Code a Shortened Cyclic Code? Organization: Motorola India Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 07:05:40 GMT I am working on an error correction scheme that uses a shortened version of the (63,51) BCH code primitive. I have read that BCH codes are cyclic in nature. I have read about implementations of shortened cyclic codes being similar to that of ordinary cyclic codes. Can a shortened cyclic code encoder be used as an encoder for these BCH codes? The polynomial I have for the code generates a shortened linear systematic block code with a minimum distance of 5. Thanks in advance. Pradeep Email: prad@master.miel.mot.com No.1 St.Marks Road Bangalore India 560 001 Voice: (091)-80-2213175 x318 ------------------------------ From: mgodwin@mcl.bdm.com (Michael G. Godwin) Subject: Caller ID/CNAM Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 12:07:09 Organization: BDM International, Inc. I recently purchased a Caller-ID box that will not only receive the calling party's number, but the name the number is registered (billed) to. So I hook this thing up and call my phone company to sign up for Caller-ID. While I'm on the phone, I ask if they offer the CNAM (caller name) service, and much to my surprise, the rep says she's never heard of it! Now I'd have been less surprised if this were in Hicksville, USA, but I'm in Metropolitan Washington D.C.! Anyway, the box works great, I just don't get the name (and it sure would come in handy for those numbers I don't recognize). Now to my question: Does anyone know if, and where, CNAM is currently up and running? I'd imagine SOMEONE should be using it if the boxes support it. Mike mgodwin@mcl.bdm.com ------------------------------ From: mph469@aberdeen.ac.uk Subject: Inmarsat-B Date: 2 Feb 1994 12:13:30 -0600 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Hi, I saw your query about INMARSAT in comp.dcom.telecom. For my knowledge, INMARSAT uses digital transmission. Burst modems are used as it works on DAMA mode. Security is not a problem because the data is encrypted. We are searching for INMARSAT - B service providers. Could you please give some guidance? We are intending to purchase ViaSat LYNXX INMARSAT-B Terminal. It is a portable earth station with eight telephone channels, one FAX and one compressed video channel. Do you know any suitable service provider( space segment)? Sooriyajeevan ------------------------------ From: sspak@seas.gwu.edu (Steven L. Spak) Subject: Re: Question on Trunks and T1's Date: 03 Feb 1994 02:02:57 GMT Organization: George Washington University I'm fairly certain that it's really the telco's choice as to how to provide transport for your T1s. If the fiber isn't nearby and copper is in sufficient quantity, why pull a cable in and place a terminal that could run $30k? A neat idea would be to tariff "Fiber T1s" and charge a bit more for the CLEANER pipe. Steven Spak sspak@seas.gwu.edu Transmission Engineer Tel: (202) 392-1611 Fax: (202) 392-1261 ------------------------------ From: cthurrot@jade.tufts.edu (cthurrot@pearl) Subject: Looking For Videoconferencing Newsgroups Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 02:51:10 GMT Hi all, I was just wondering if anyone knows of a newsgroup that discusses videoconferencing technology and usage. I figured this group was pretty clsoe but that there may be something more specific out there. If anyone has any ideas, please e-mail me. Chris___]cthurrot@jade.tufts.edu ------------------------------ From: hw42858@is1.vub.ac.be (BURGERS SEVERINE) Subject: Brussels Student Needs Information on Israel Telco Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 10:51:35 MET [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is a note I got in the mail recently. Can anyone help this student with his assignment? PAT] Mister P. Townson, The reason of my writing is that I have to ask a few questions about telecommunication and I hope that you can answer them. I'm studying communication sciences at Brussels Free University in Belgium and at this moment I'm working on a paper about telecommunication in the occupied territories in Israel. But I don't know the name of the national telecommunication operator of Israel, nor the actual telecommunication situation in the occupied territories. And, of course, this is of great importance for my paper. I should be very grateful if you can send me the name and the adress of the telecommunication authorithy. Thanks in advance and greetings from Brussels, Severine Burgers, hw42858@is1.vub.ac.be hw42858@is1.vub.ac.be (BURGERS SEVERINE) Student Communicatiewetenschappen Vrije Universiteit Brussel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 11:48:42 -0500 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Cancellation of VSI94 Unfortunately it has become necessary to cancel the anti-virus conference scheduled for 28-29 March in Philadelphia (aka VSI 94), there was just insufficient interest. A. Padgett Peterson, P.E. Program Chairman ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:24:45 -0800 From: Steve Forrette Subject: Last Laugh: Tayna Harding Uses Talk Tickets to Avoid Detection During this afternoon's press conference, an attorney stated that the FBI had surveilled Tanya Harding and her cohorts using "Talk and Toss" long distance calling cards from payphones in order to avoid toll records that were associated with them from being generated. I guess this method doesn't work too well when you're under surveillance. So, Pat, is Tanya one of *your* customers? :-) Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I hereby use my Fifth Amendment to the USA Constitution rights to refuse to answer, on the grounds that my answer may tend to commercialize the net, and we all know what happens to people like that when they get a life sentence in Usenet, forced to read news.groups. The other inmates don't like people who engage in intellectual intercourse with small minds. I guess you've read the latest proposal for a 'news group': (I am being serious now) ... its name is 'zoophile', and it, uh, has to do with people who uh, like sex with Fido, Garfield and J. Fred Muggs. I don't know if this is the result of a schism in the existing alt.sex.bestiality group or what. (Yes, I am still being serious) ... Following the discussion, there will be one of the infamous 'Usenet votes' after which the results will be completely ignored and some decision reached by the person in charge of those things. Sysadmins everywhere will rush to be first to newgroup the new forum in their haste to prove they are more tolerant and liberal than the others. Those who don't carry the group will be called 'zoo-phobes', and over all, it should be an exciting month on Abusenet, the place where anything goes, and usually does. :) PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #59 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa07408; 3 Feb 94 18:30 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06585; Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:30:37 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06573; Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:30:34 CST Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:30:34 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402032030.AA06573@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #60 TELECOM Digest Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:29:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 60 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Digital Sound and Unisys Agreement; Other News (Randall Gellens) Recommendations on Small Cellular Phones Wanted (Steve Lawrence) Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones (Yang Yu-shuang) Data Over Power Lines: a Newbie Question (David Anthony Ruppel) Looking For Inexpensive/Simple Analog PBX (Sam Lipson) Wanted: Fortran VCR+ Program / Eight Digit Decode (David Roberts) Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (David Hough) Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (Christopher M. Wolf) Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (Carl Moore) Re: Informing Ourselves to Death (Timothy Finin) Re: DID Questions (David Devereaux-Weber) Re: Phone Number History (Rich Greenberg) Re: Phone Number History (Al Varney) Re: Phone Number History (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: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 03 FEB 94 09:11:00 GMT Subject: Digital Sound and Unisys Agreement Agreement Extends Message Processing Solution to New Markets Worldwide Digital Sound and Unisys yesterday announced an agreement to offer midrange message-processing solutions to telephone companies worldwide. Under this agreement Unisys will market the Digital Sound VoiceServer 3110 message-processing system as part of its voice- messaging architecture. Partnering with Digital Sound will enable Unisys to economically provide enhanced services to the more remote serving areas of larger telephone companies, communicating voice, fax and text messages between the VoiceServer 3110 and Unisys own Network Application Platform (NAP) message-processing system over data communications facilities. The Digital Sound open systems platform already interoperates with NAP, and together the two platforms combine into a distributed architecture to offer a total solution to telecommunications service providers. Additionally, the VoiceServer 3110, Digital Sound's largest-capacity message-processing system will scale the NAP capabilities downward allowing smaller telecommunications companies to benefit from distributed voice processing and mixed-media services. "We believe the partnership with Unisys will allow us to reach new customers and new markets, especially overseas," said Robert Knight, president of Digital Sound. Eight of America's ten largest phone companies call on Unisys to execute millions of mission-critical transactions daily. Thirty-five of the world's largest telecommunications companies also rely on Unisys to deliver innovative new sources of revenue. Unisys NAP provides cost-effective solutions for the rapid introduction of voice messaging, fax mail, enhanced 911 capability, and other market-sensitive offerings. Digital Sound is a leading supplier of high-capacity network-based message processing systems. It makes and markets the VoiceServer family of products which integrate voice, fax, e-mail and other messaging technologies on a single, open systems platform that links to both telephony and computer networks. A CONSORTIUM OF CANADIAN COMPANIES is developing interactive cable television in Quebec (AP, 1/24/94). During the next three years, the companies plan to spend $200 million to begin offering movies on demand, shopping, banking and advertising services. Recently, Hearst Corp. has joined the consortium, investing $20 million. It will provide business listing and advertising services on the cable system, called UBI (Universal Bidirectional Interactivity). The system is an attempt to move some of the services traditionally available through personal computers to television, said Frank Bennack Jr., Hearst's president and chief executive. Other consortium members include Le Group Videotron, National Bank of Canada, Hydro-Quebec, Canada Post Corp., Videoway Communications and Loto-Quebec. HEWLETT-PACKARD AND PACIFIC TELESIS GROUP will develop an interactive video-on-demand service for the California market later this year (AP, 1/24/94). Pacific Telesis Video Services will use HP computers to store and transmit movies to regions where it is upgrading its wires, including Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego and the Silicon Valley. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com| A Series System Software Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages| Mission Viejo, CA to: rgellens@mcimail.com]| ------------------------------ From: lawrence@s1.elec.uq.oz.au (Steve Lawrence) Subject: Recommendations on Small Cellular Phones Wanted Date: 3 Feb 94 02:30:10 GMT Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland I am looking for information on which is the best of the really compact cellular phones. I have heard that the Audiovox Mini-vox lite is prone to the case falling apart. Thanks for any information. Steve ------------------------------ From: yang@mundoe.maths.mu.OZ.AU (Yang Yu-shuang) Subject: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 05:06:08 GMT Hi Net Friends, I am a new mobile phone user. In general, it is an useful toy. However, it also has some potential problems. The biggest problem is with the battery life. It is a bit of pain to carry a heavy battery and to re-charge it everyday. Most of the battery power is consumed during the stand-by time. People can't afford to talk to long. The problem could be solved if the mobile phones are designed differently. For instance, it could have an internal switch which turned the receiver circuit on and off periodically for a short interval to monitor the incoming calls. Off because it should be on during the conversation. For instance, turn it on for 0.01 seconds every second would not miss an incoming call but could increase the stand-by time by a factor of 100. We all know that a pager consumes very little power and many cordless phones do this to save battery power. Any comments? YSY yang@maths.mu.oz.au ------------------------------ From: umruppel@cc.umanitoba.ca (David Anthony Ruppel) Subject: Data Over Power Lines: a Newbie Question Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 18:49:26 -0500 Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada I am interested in finding information related to devices such as the 'plug'n'power' units available at Radio Shack and similar units. Any information or reference would be greatly appreciated. Please reply via e-mail to: umruppel@cc.umanitoba.ca Thanks in advance. D. Ruppel ------------------------------ From: srl@dirac.i-kinetics.com (Sam Lipson) Subject: Looking For Inexpensive/Simple Analog PBX Organization: I-Kinetics, Inc., Cambridge, MA USA Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 22:34:36 GMT We're looking for a simple, or at least inexpensive PBX to use for connecting data and or FAX modems to outside phone lines. What we have in mind is two to four outside phone lines, and say, six to twelve internal "ports". A modem, or FAX machine, dials out (perhaps with 9+ number), and gets connected to one of the free outside lines, if one is available. An inbound call would get connected to one of two designated devices. We have absolutely no need to call between "extensions", and in fact could skip the inbound calling capability if it significantly lowers the price. I've been pointed towards the AT&T Partner system, but in the two line, six extension configuration it prices out at $1K (list?). Sam ------------------------------ From: daver@sulawesi.Eng.Sun.COM (David Roberts) Subject: Wanted: Fortran VCR+ Program / Eight Digit Decode Date: 2 Feb 1994 19:15:57 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA Recently, someone posted a Fortran version of the vcrplus decoder to either rec.video or comp.dcom. I'd like a copy. I've looked for an archive of rec.video, but can't find one, is there one? I'm also looking for vcr+ software that handles eight digit codes. (the standard C one only does six digits) Does anyone have this? Thanks, DaveR ------------------------------ From: dave@llondel.demon.co.uk (David Hough) Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 07:08:51 GMT In article tom@travis.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) writes: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not get quite the same impression > of Postman's speech that you and Gilder recieved. I do not think > Postman said computers were dangerous, only that they could be misused > and too much reliance could be placed in them. At least one other person > enjoyed Postman's meditation, as the next letter in this issue will > reveal. PAT] Is this an apt place for the quote 'To err is human, but to really foul it up you need a computer'? Dave G4WRW @ GB7WRW.#41.GBR.EU AX25 dave@llondel.demon.co.uk Internet g4wrw@g4wrw.ampr.org Amprnet [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A sign I had hanging on the wall for a few years said, "Our computer is so human that when it makes a mistake it blames it on another computer." PAT] ------------------------------ From: cmwolf@fsh.mtu.edu (Christopher M. Wolf) Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death Date: Thu, 03 Feb 1994 07:49:39 EST I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the article "Informing Ourselves to Death" that you mailed. I re-mailed it to several people. As an Electrical Engineer and a Computer Scientist, I think it was a good article to keep in mind in the future. Christopher Wolf cmwolf@fsh.mtu.edu Electrical Engineer/Computer Scientist [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reactions have been mixed. You probably read what George Gilder said here the next day; I guess it must have pushed his buttons the wrong way. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 06:45:53 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death tom@travis.csd.harris.com writes: > He was talking about some 18th century professional quack (who's > name I forget), who went around opposing things like trains with a > bunch of psuedo science babble about how the breathtaking speed would > be bound to psycologically damage the travellers. How do you arrive at 18th century (the 1700s)? Trains came in the 19th century, and I remember reading someplace that 30 miles per hour was considered fast back then. (In some old "Highlights for Children" magazine of about 30 years ago, I recall some composer being held back in some studying out of fear of "hurting the brain".) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 21:07:30 -0500 From: Timothy Finin Subject: Re: Informing Ourselves to Death Organization: Computer Science, University of Maryland Baltimore County I found the comments by Neil Postman to be quite interesting but paradoxical, or at least ironic. The real point of this speech (for me) seems to me to be expressed in the following passages: > The tie between information and action has been severed. Information > is now a commodity that can be bought and sold, or used as a form of > entertainment, or worn like a garment to enhance one's status. It > comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected > from usefulness; we are glutted with information, drowning in > information, have no control over it, don't know what to do with it. > And there are two reasons we do not know what to do with it. First, as > I have said, we no longer have a coherent conception of ourselves, and > our universe, and our relation to one another and our world. ... > Second, we have directed all of our energies and intelligence to inventing > machinery that does nothing but increase the supply of information. ... > Or, let us come down to a more personal level: If you and your spouse > are unhappy together, and end your marriage in divorce, will it happen > because of a lack of information? If your children misbehave and bring > shame to your family, does it happen because of a lack of information? > If someone in your family has a mental breakdown, will it happen > because of a lack of information? > I believe you will have to concede that what ails us, what causes us the > most misery and pain - at both cultural and personal levels - has nothing > to do with the sort of information made accessible by computers. The > computer and its information cannot answer any of the fundamental quest- > ions we need to address to make our lives more meaningful and humane. ... and is a comment on the *content* of the information which is being conveyed by the new medium. What I found ironic is that I was only reading this interesting and thought-provoking essay *by virtue of the new medium*. And what's more, there are probably tens of thousands of people like me who would never have read and thought about Postman's ideas if it were not for the Internet, newsgroups and email. And what's even more, the article has generated dozens or maybe hundreds of interactions and conversations among people arguing over these ideas and the underlying philosophical notions. To me, this was evidence that the strong reading of his essay is not true. Tim Finin Phone: 410-455-3522 Computer Science Department Fax: 410-455-3969 University of Maryland Baltimore County Email: finin@cs.umbc.edu 5401 Wilkens Ave., Baltimore MD 21228 Home: 410-783-2625, 215-386-1749 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 08:27:14 CST From: weberdd@clover.macc.wisc.edu Reply-To: weberdd@macc.wisc.edu Subject: Re: DID Questions On Sun, 30 Jan 1994 23:34:33 -0800 Thomas Tengdin wrote: > Can anyone tell me how DID lines pass the number down the trunk? The DID trunks I have used in the past have used pulse or DTMF. David Devereaux-Weber, P.E. weberdd@macc.wisc.edu (Internet) The University of Wisconsin - Madison (608)262-3584 (voice) DoIT - MACC Communications; B263 (608)262-4679 (FAX) 1210 W Dayton St. Madison, WI 53706 ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Phone Number History Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 22:02:35 GMT In article TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Steve Schlesinger : > The Amoco Oil Refinery which makes up about ninety percent of the > physical space in Whiting oddly enough had a dial PBX system in place > for a few years before Whiting went from manual to dial service. When > you dialed '9' from the PBX instead of getting a new dialtone you > simply sat there a couple seconds and the 'number please?' lady came > on the line. Their switchboard number was (Whiting) 2111 and it of > course became 659-2111, although under the old system no one actually > asked the operator for 2111, they merely would say 'Refinery' or > 'Standard Oil' (as it was known in those days), and the operator would > immediatly plug them into one of a dozen or so lines going into the > company PBX. Hunt groups in those days consisted of the operator Pat, what happened after the operator plugged into the refinery's "hunt group"? Did the outside caller get an Amoco operator who then connected them to the desired extension? Were the dial capabilities of the PBX only usable within Amoco? Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677 N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 GMT-8 I speak for myself and my dogs only. Canines: Chinook & Husky [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In those days there was a network called 'Stan-O-Tel' which stood for 'Standard Oil Telecom'. All Amoco (but then its name was Standard Oil of Indiana) facilities around the USA were connected through Stan-O-Tel. All the refineries had tie-lines to each other and the headquarters in Chicago via SOT. Each local facility as well as the Chicago headquarters dialed 9 to get an 'outside line' in their local community. I think they dialed 8 to get the telecom switch at the headquarters in Chicago (followed by a four digit extension at someone's desk at headquarters). I think they dialed 7 followed by three digit codes to connect with the tie lines to other facilties followed by the extension at the local facility which depending on the local equipment might be two, three or four digits. I think Whiting Refinery also had some code you could dial which got you a 'Chicago dial tone' on a FX line. I know Whiting Refinery had a Chicago number in addition to the Whiting number 2111. I think it was 'SOuth Chicago-8 2000' but my memory fades out on that. All PBXs in those days were one-way things. You had internal extension-to-extension dialing and 9 for outside lines. Incoming calls went to the PBX operator who extended them, usually on a cord board. When my grandfather worked there he was one of the managers and he had a six-button, five line phone on his desk. The phone had two refinery extensions, plus an FX line with a Chicago number and his own private local number, Whiting 372. His home number was Whiting 6159, and a school I went to there sometimes was 3200. The payphone in the school cafeteria was 9567. *Those* numbers I do remember. I seem to recall them putting in the 'new automatic switchboard' at Amoco about 1955 or so. Prior to that, intra-refinery calls were handled by an operator at a switchboard within the complex along with all the incoming and outgoing calls. Whiting was the last place in the Chicago area to 'convert to dial service', and that was about 1962. From everywhere else we had dial service, but if you wanted to call someone in Whiting we dialed '711' and it would click ... from five seconds to a minute later a woman (during the day; they had some guy at night) would answer by saying "Whiting!" and you'd tell 'em the number you wanted. When it was announced Whiting was 'cutting to dial service' on a certain date at 2:00 AM, I stayed at my grandparent's house (in Whiting) that night to see how it was done. Starting about 1:55 AM I went off hook and the guy said 'number please?'. I asked for '1234' which was the number for the recorded message giving showtimes at the Hoosier Theatre downtown. I did it again at 1:59 AM and the man connected me again. At about ten seconds after 2:00 AM I went off hook and got nothing. At 2:01 AM I went off hook and there was dial tone. No more 'number please', however dialing 659-1234 got me the theatre announcement. The phones originally had blank fronts with no dial but for about three months before the cutover the installers had gone to every phone in town and retrofitted the instruments with a rotary dial and a little tag which said 'dial is not in operation until xx/xx/xx at 2:00 AM.' (I think it was 1959-60). A curious thing the day before: From a phone in *Chicago* the 711/wait for operator/give number worked as always. But I tried dialing (a day prematurely) 659-1234 and it rang! The theatre box office answered but within a few seconds the Whiting operator came on the line asking 'number please?' The way she saw it, the theatre phone had gone off hook to make an outgoing call when in reality they had gone off hook to answer me. I guess it was all wired in parallel at that point pending the cutover, and at the time, they saw no reason for anyone in Whiting to go off hook unless the Whiting operator was handling the call. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 07:53:56 CST From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: Phone Number History Organization: AT&T In article , PAT says: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I gave a hasty rendition of the >> history. We went from 3L/4D to 2L/5D about 1950 or so; then about 1960 >> we began seeing 7D in the phone book and as the only way things were >> being assigned. And Steve Schlesinger asks: > Before 3L/4D wasn't there 2L/4D? PAT responds, in part, with: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not that I know of. Before name/number > combinations (which existed almost from the beginning in big cities) > there were just numbers. In small towns, one to four digit numbers were > common and that was it. If a town had only one exchange, or switchboard, > its name was usually the name of the town where it was located, and > reciting it as part of the number was redundant. When things expanded > to include names, some towns got to keep their (town) name as the phone > exchange name; i.e. Atlantic City, NJ still has the exchange name > ATlantic City, although 285-xxxx is the way it is expressed now. Where > conflicts occurred, they made up other names for conflicting exchanges. Exchanges never had conflicting names because telephone companies always had to name the building containing the exchange. In most cases, the town name WAS the exchange name and was also the name customers were told to use for calling purposes. In advertising, this permitted such phrases as "Springfield Lumber Co., Telephone 37". (I have exactly this text -- for another town -- on a wooden yard-stick from the 40s.) Of course, after customer dialing became common, the exchange names were chosen for their ease of dialing/spelling in the local area. But regional differences made such names as "KArl" vs. "CArl" a source of operator dialing errors, so the Bell System created an "approved list" of exchange names. The oft-referenced BSTJ article from September, 1952, "Nationwide Numbering Plan", indicates there were then about 20,000 COs in the USA and Canada. Eleven different numbering plans were in use within the Bell System. By then, the three-letter exchange names had "officially" been eliminated; for example, PENnsylvania in New York was changed to PEnnsylvania-6 (of course, the customer still dialed the same 636 code). These 11 plans were (page 854 of above BSTJ volume): Referred to as Listed as Dialed as Place ---------------- ----------------- ---------- ----------------- Two-five LOcust 4-5678 LO 4-5678 Philadelphia, PA Two-four MArket 6789 MA 6789 Indianapolis, IN 1 letter, 4 or Franklin 9-2345 F 9-2345 San Diego, CA 5 digit Franklin 6789 F 6789 Five digit 2-5678 2-5678 Binghamton, NY Four digit 3456 3456 Winchester, VA Three digit 325 325 Jamesport, NY Combined 5 & 4-1234 4-1234 Des Moines, IA 6 digit 62-2345 62-2345 The remaining plans were combinations of the above: Combined two-four and two-five Los Angeles, CA Combined two-five and five digit El Paso, TX Combined four and five digit Manchester, CT Combined three and four digit Ayer, MA It would appear there was no instance of a single "6 digit" area. And exchanges still have names -- however, the names are not used for dialing purposes. Interestingly, there are very few LEC records that use NPA-NXX for identification of an exchange. The name (or a shorthand) is used instead. Al Varney [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you point out is true here in the Chicago area. None of the IBT facilities are known as 312-whatever where conversation among telco employees is concerned. They are all known by the name of some one exchange within the building which was there from fifty years ago, i.e. 'Irving' or 'Merrimac' or 'Newcastle'. "What office do you work in?" ... "I'm in the Lakeview CO ..." PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 14:40:21 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Phone Number History This responds to the Moderator's Note. I don't have the information in front of me, but I do NOT think Atlantic City, NJ uses prefixes of the form 28x. There ARE prefixes there of form 34x. (It's in area 609, which arrived in late 1950s[?]. There is a 201-285 nowadays in Morristown, NJ, but I don't know how old it is.) There are several exchanges which retained the place name, with many of them in the NYC area. I have never before heard of 7D calling across the state line between Illinois and Indiana at Chicago; I take it this is very old. (I did see 7D calling in a Wilmington [Del.] call guide from some Wilmington prefixes to metro Philadelphia area, although the flate rate area was only in Delaware. I think it was later when local calling from Wilmington was extended into Pennsylvania, and such is still 7D today; rest of Phila. metro area requires 1+NPA+7D to reach from Delaware, and there has been a 328 at Swarthmore, PA for years, duplicating 328 at New Castle, Delaware.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Atlantic City *did* have "ATLantic City" exchanges a long time ago. Regards 7D between Hammond/Whiting/East Chicago, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois, yes, this is quite old. Hammond had dial service beginning about 1956 or so; Chicago numbers were just dialed 7D, and vice-versa. Whiting subscribers asked the operator for the seven digit number (no reference needed to 'Chicago') or the seven digit number in Hammond and the Whiting operator *touchtoned* the number. I remember being amazed at how fast the beep-beep-bloop tones went out. From Chicago we could dial Hammond numbers as 7D but we were not to ask the local operator for Whiting numbers. We could do that, but the policy was to dial 711 and talk to the Whiting operator direct. Or maybe not ... maybe we were to call the local operator and *she* dialed 711 to place the call, thus the phraseology 'Whiting' when the distant operator answered; it is more likely operators would say this to each other rather than to the subscriber. All of northern Indiana used to be under Illinois Bell rather than Indiana Bell until about twenty years ago. A historian who has written quite a bit about northern Indiana and Standard Oil's relationship to the area has reminded me that until sometime in the 1920's (when Illinois Bell was created out of the old Chicago Telephone Company) that phone service in Whiting was handled by Standard Oil at the refinery switchboard. Whiting always was a 'company town' just like Gary, Indiana. The Whiting Refinery has been around since 1890. When Whiting had its own phone directory (it has been merged into one for northern Indiana for several years) the entire directory was all of seven or eight pages with the listings for Standard Oil taking up about half the book. They've had centrex now for a few years on their own exchange with the rest of Whiting keeping the old 659 numbers. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #60 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa21105; 4 Feb 94 5:38 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21205; Fri, 4 Feb 94 01:46:23 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21194; Fri, 4 Feb 94 01:46:20 CST Date: Fri, 4 Feb 94 01:46:20 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402040746.AA21194@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #61 TELECOM Digest Fri, 4 Feb 94 01:46:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 61 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Clock Slip and { Once More (Mike Long) 610/215 Split - Now I Can't Call 1-800- (David Horvath) Calling 911 on a Cellphone When Out of Area (John Galloway) Cable Modem Manufacturers Wanted (Tom Simonds) SW56 Tutorial Wanted (J. Beatson) Hybrid (Wired and Wireless) Article Wanted (Jae-Soo Kim) Sources for Caller-ID Boxes (John Iacoletti) An Alternative to a Modem (Steve Waller) Caller ID Answering Machines Summary and Saga (Chris Garrigues) Re: Are Lata Maps Available? (Fred Heald) Help With 28 kpbs Test Number (Serge Burjak) Re: Are Lata Maps Available? (Tony Harminc) Caller-ID in UK? (Steven Cooper) Re: Cellular Phone (Analog) With Modem FAQ? (John R. Levine) Re: Telecommuting Centers in LA (Bob Schwartz) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Martin McCormick) Re: FCC $crews Pac Bell in PCS Race (Erik Ramberg) Re: Telephone Nunbers in France (Jean-Noel Marchalot) Re: Wiretapping Problems (Pawel Dobrowolski) 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: mikelong@netcom.com (Mike Long) Subject: Clock Slip and { Once More Organization: HPC Consulting Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 03:52:40 GMT About two years ago I first ran into the clock slip problem and seeing {{{{ on my screen. The problem finally cleared up after a lot of hassle with Pacific Bell. Now I'm at a different location and I have just starting seeing it again with a slight twist. Now I see ^?{ combination rather than {{{{ plus a few interspersed random characters. Now my question is this: what is it about clock slip that causes a { character or 01111011 to appear on my screen? Now it is possible that I saw ^?{ before but I only remember the {{{. I know what to do about it, I'd just like to understand what is going on. I was told before that the clock at the central office could be slipping or was left in the wrong mode after a maintenance call. Given that, how does the { get to my screen and why { and not some other character? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks in advance. Mike Long J M Long & Associates HPC Consultant 467-628 Saratoga Ave. (408) 296-8847 San Jose, CA 95129 ------------------------------ From: dhorvath@sas.upenn.edu (David Horvath) Subject: 610/215 Split - Now I Can't Call 1-800- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 21:35:27 EST With all the advertising about the 610/215 area code split, you'd think they'd get it right -- I'm now in 610 (even my new cellular phone reports 610). But I can't make a lot of 1-800 calls. I have AT&T on one line and Sprint (remember the modem offer) on the other. Same problem on both. My wife was trying to order a video tape from a particular nationally syndicated radio shock-jock but couldn't. I tried it. I tried it on both lines. The error messages were slightly different, but the general message was that they don't take calls from our area. Gee, they took calls from us back in December. A call to 611 ultimately resulted in a call back that it was AT&T's problem and has been reported to them. Now what? David Horvath [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The trouble is, the long distance carriers think you are in Canada (which is where 610 used to be) and operating a TWX machine (which is what 610 used to be assigned for in Canada.) It *is* the carriers' fault; all your local telco does in the case of 800 numbers is detirmine which carrier handles the traffic and give the call to them with a record of your calling number. Very few 800 numbers in the USA are reachable from Canada which is why 'calls are not accepted from your area'. Your telco may have reported the problem to the carriers, but then again maybe they did not do so, only saying that to appease you when you called. Try calling the carriers yourself. Don't just complain to the first rep who answers because you'll be wasting your time and your words. Instead, ask to be connected to whichever department handles 800 numbers. If asked why, don't say you have a complaint or you 'cannot get through on calls' because you'll not be connected with anyone who can help you'; you'll be told it is the problem of your local telco 'and we have reported it' and you'll be written off as just another crank caller. What you tell the first person, if asked, is that you want to inquire about getting 800 service. That way, you will get connected to the carrier's sales department and someone who knows about 800 service. Tell *that person* about the problem which seems to me to be that the carrier does not have its tables correctly installed, and refuses to accept calls from 610 as a valid USA area code. And you know what else? I'll betcha those folks with 800 numbers who *do* accept calls from Canada are getting calls from your area okay -- but billed at Canadian rates. Its a shame when customers have to run the repair department and repair clerks act like subscribers, but that's the way things are these days. Sprint is not alone; even Mother has got a bunch of dingbats working for her also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jrg@rahul.net (John Galloway) Subject: Calling 911 on a Cellphone When Out of Area Organization: Galloway Research Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 01:15:47 GMT When I call 911 on my cellular (having seen an accident just happen) it appears that I get forwarded to a fixed site that just dispatches the call to the proper 911 officem i.e. the first person answers "911 emergency" but just asks where you are, and then the phone rings a second time and you get another "911 emergency". This seems silly since obviously the provider has the necessary info about where you are to do this automatically. I have not ever called 911 when out of my area. Would I still get the same (Northern CA) based dispatch operator who would then have to send me to (e.g.) Austin Texas 911??? (I am using Cellular-One). jrg internet jrg@galloway.sj.ca.us John R. Galloway, Jr 795 Beaver Creek Way applelink D3413 CEO...receptionist San Jose, CA 95133 Galloway Research (408) 259-2490 ------------------------------ From: tom@interaccess.com (Tom Simonds) Subject: Cable Modem Manufacturers Wanted Date: 3 Feb 1994 14:15:09 -0600 Organization: The second InterAccess INN server Does anyone know the names of any cable modem manufacturers? city/state and phone number information would be helpful, too. Please email to tom@interaccess.com. Thanks in advance, Tom Simonds InterAccess tom@interaccess.com 708-671-0112 ------------------------------ From: beatson_j@chq1.cdx.mot.com Subject: SW56 Tutorial Organization: Motorola Codex Corporation Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 22:02:14 GMT Does anyone know of any telecom publication that discusses the operation of SW56 services? I'm looking for a tutorial type of article that discusses SW56 call establishment. i.e. "How it works?" ------------------------------ From: jkim@acsu.buffalo.edu (Jae-Soo Kim) Subject: Hybrid (Wired and Wireless) Article Wanted Organization: UB Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 18:24:45 GMT Hello, Does anyone know if there is any paper, article or standards for the resource allocation or protocols in hybrid ( (fiber)wired and wireless) networks? If there is any ftp site for this, it would be much better. Please send e-mail to me; I will post the result if there is enough interest. Thanks, Jae Kim jkim@eng.buffalo.edu ------------------------------ From: johniac@austin.ibm.com (John Iacoletti) Subject: Sources For Caller-ID Boxes Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 19:03:03 GMT Organization: IBM RISC System/6000 Division, Austin, TX I figured this would be an FAQ, but I didn't find anything at the FAQ site. Is there a list of sources anywhere for Caller-ID display units? SW Bell has an arrangement with a vendor called Cidco, which will provide a box for $59.95 + tax + $6.95 shipping. This has a 60 number memory, and an alphanumeric display which will support the "Calling Party Name" service which will be offered next year. I figure I can get a better price elsewhere. Any ideas? John Iacoletti IBM RISC System/6000 Division johniac@austin.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: waller@gate.transalta.ab.ca (Steve Waller) Subject: An Alternative to a Modem Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 16:01:00 GMT Reply-To: WALLER.STEVE@TransAlta.AB.CA Organization: TransAlta Utilities I am currently developing an application that runs on an Apple Macintosh. This application will basically pull the caller id off of a phone call then hang-up, there is no data transfered. I will have three separate phone lines, so I need to distinguish which phone line the call was received. I would need three modems capable of retrieving the caller id. This seems like over kill to me. Is there a way to do this without modems. The company supplying the auto- dialer suggests I order a "TYPE 1 interface, 4 Wire E & M trunk circuit. The phone company will install an E & M circuit card with 4 inputs and 6 outputs. The trunk is configured as follows: standard feature group D protocol MF. Now my questions: What does the output look like? Do I need one or three modems, or do I need a call processing card in my Mac capable of getting the caller's telephone number? Does a call processing card exist for Macintosh computers? The cheapest solution is preferred. Please respond by e-mail. Thanks for any help. Steve WALLER.STEVE@TransAlta.ab.ca ------------------------------ From: cwg@mcc.com (Chris Garrigues) Subject: Caller ID Answering Machines Summary and Saga Organization: MCC Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 16:35:59 GMT Last week I posted a query about answering machines which support Caller ID. I got a total of three replies. David Jones suggested getting an Amiga with a ZyXEL modem and ZVM software (or alternately, there must be similar software for the PC). This seemed like overkill for my home and besides I'm a Unix hacker by profession and a Mac user at home. Both Jim Ray and Bill Berbenich mentioned the PhoneMate 8900 and Bill mentioned that J&R Music World in New York City carried it for $99. This was the ad that I'd noticed months ago in the {New York Times.} Bill also relayed the following: > If you call around looking for this machine, > be sure that they know that it is the Phone Mate 8900, and not the > Phone Mate 9800. So many places that I called said "Oh yeah, we've got > it," then when I questioned them about it ("Are you sure it is the > 8900"?) they'd say something like "Oh, I thought you meant 9800." I > learned to ask after I went and waited in line at Circuit City for > 20 minutes only to find out that they just had the 9800 and had never > carried the 8900. To find a local dealer, I tried calling PhoneMate directly. 1-800 directory assistance did not have a listing for them. My old machine was a PhoneMate, so I determined from my old literature that they're located in Torrance, CA. I called Torrance Directory assistance got their main number. Phone Mate sent me to a marketing company in Dallas who sent me to a distributor in 800-land who told me that they didn't carry this model. I called the folks in Dallas again who promised to call me back yesterday and haven't done so yet. They also asked if I'd tried OfficeMax or Circuit City. Based on Bill's story above, I didn't try Circuit City, but I work near OfficeMax, so I stopped by there after work yesterday. No luck. Office Max is next door to Best Buy, so I wandered in there as well. They had exactly one and it was in a damaged box and marked down from $97 to $89. After inspecting it, I bought it from a salesman who insisted that Caller ID wasn't available in Austin anyway. (I don't know how many salescritters have told me that in this past week.) My next task is to call Southwestern Bell and assure that it will be enabled on my line when Caller ID becomes real on February 7. Chris Garrigues cwg@mcc.com Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation +1 512 338 3328 3500 West Balcones Center Drive Fax +1 512 338 3838 Austin, TX 78759-6509 USA ------------------------------ From: justfred@netcom.com (Fred Heald) Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 05:39:35 GMT By the way, trivia question: are there LATAs that are in more than one state? Answer: Yes. And surprisingly many, especially those with just one or two exchanges in the 'other' state, but also (in the Dakotas, I believe) covering large areas of two states. I used to have a neat color map but I forgot to steal it from my last job. tah@cbosgd.att.com wrote: > CCMI > I don't know if they are still in business but it might be worth a try > if you're still looking for a lata map. I sure hope they're still in business, we depend on them for V+H files once a month, for which we pay a handsome sum indeed. They compile and sell all sorts of Bellcore and other data, including rates and calling areas online (Qtel-1000). Fred Heald justfred@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: serge@tmxbris.mhs.oz.au (Serge Burjak) Date: Thu, 4 Feb 94 22:16:52 +1000 Organization: SYSTECH (Australia) Subject: Help With 28Kbps Modem Test Number Hello Pat, Have you not received my posts about looking for a test number for a 28000bps modem that I have on Beta test? This is the third try. If it has gone into the bit bucket can you arrange for the following note to go into an aritcle. BEGIN Subject: Looking for 28000bps test number Looking for test number to do interoperability testing over a satellite link on a 28000 bps modem. Any info greatly appreciated. Serge Burjak serge@tmxbris.mhs.oz.au END [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It looks like the problems here as a result of the computer conversion a week ago are finally corrected. I *know* a great deal of mail over the past several days was lost in processing. All the scripts used here by telecom to filter and sort incoming mail had to be re-written to suit the new hardware, and it was a mess for a few days. My thanks go to the sysadmin here for his all-day efforts on a couple of occassions when I reported a massive leakage of mail. Probably 200-300 letters from over the last weekend never reached me because they were destroyed in the delivery process by the bugs in my scripts. At the rate the mail pours in here (literally about a letter every 10-15 minutes day and night) I had to sit here sort of helplessly and watch it vanish in the ether as the sysadmin and myself kept diddling with the scripts trying to find out what the new hardware did not like about 'awk' and 'sed' according to the way the old hardware dealt with those things. To top it off -- to add a little icing to the cake -- some obscure changes in sendmail (as it is run here) and an *older* version of mail than what we had been using before fixed things so no issues of the Digest got out over that weekend at all, ergo four hundred plus messages in the queue once things were running. Apparently all is now okay since incoming mail has been literally pouring in all day Thursday. Allow for some backlogs in the next few days; a few very old messages you never have seen finally getting posted, etc. My sincere thanks to Bill L. and others here at nwu.edu who dug into the problems and corrected them. Their interest in it is partly academic: they are interested in seeing how well the new hardware can handle the load caused by telecom; they are interested in seeing how it responds over time as I run four or five invocations of sendmail all at once to a list of now about 2000 names; all the while the autoreply daemons humming and buzzing and doing their thing; me editing more issues, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 18:48:17 EST From: Tony Harminc Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? de@moscom.com (David Esan) wrote: > Not true. Most states (and provinces) have more than one LATA. > Attached are a list of states/provinces and the number of LATAs > associated with them. Apart from the missing provinces, it should be pointed out that there are no LATAs in Canada. Why Bellcore has chosen to assign some magic numbers to certain groupings of CO prefixes in Canada is a mystery to me. LATA is not a technical division -- it is purely a political concept set up to match certain US politics of the early 1980s. The forces shaping LD competition in Canada in the 1990s are quite different. It seems extremely unlikely that an artificial split between IXCs and local telcos as in the US model will ever happen here. Tony Harminc In Toronto ------------------------------ From: Steven@leigh.demon.co.uk (Steven Cooper) Subject: Caller ID in UK? Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 00:00:00 GMT Has anone got any idea if the caller ID facility will become available in the UK?? Are there any moves on this by BT/Mercury? Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 17:56 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Cellular Phone (Analog) With Modem FAQ? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. AMPS uses a vanilla analog radio connection between the cell site and the phone. There are a bunch of problems with using a modem: -- the connection is just noisier than a normal typical landline; -- when you switch from one cell site to another (which can happen even when you're not moving) there's a very audible dropout which many modems misinterpret as a hangup; -- as you're moving, the characteristics of the connection change, which is bad news for modems that adjust to the characteristics during the initial handshake; -- for dialout, the scheme used to place the call is totally different from that used for a land line; The new TDMA and CDMA schemes use a digital connection which have different advantages and disadvantages. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Telecommuting Centers in LA From: bob@bci.nbn.com (Bob Schwartz) Date: Thu, 03 Feb 94 20:53:21 PST Organization: Bill Correctors, Inc., Marin County, California Mike Lanza writes: > Commentators have said that the LA earthquake forces many Angelenos to > try mass transit and see if they like it. More importantly, from my > point of view, the quake will force many Angelenos to try > telecommuting. > I'd like to know about the telecommuting centers that exist today in > the LA area, and any new plans for such centers in the aftermath of > the quake. How many are there? How big? What sort of equipment do > they have? > Has anyone in government thought about this? > How about entrepreneurs? If I were in LA right now, I'd be looking > into setting up a telecommuting center myself ... Here's information on seven telecommuting centers in the affected area: Lancaster - Suzette Cecchini - 805 726-7700 Highland - Chris Judy - 909 425-8060 Riverside - Tanya Love - 909 787-6600 Santa Clarita - Jim Backer - 805 255-4046 Apple Valley - Pete Peterson - 619 946 9675 Ontario - Steve PonTell - 909 460-7500 Simi Valley - Charles Coffey - 805 526-3900 This list was recieved by me today as a part of the efforts that Pacific Bell is making to help. Also, in an effort to "ease the pain" they are offering to waive installation charges for many telecommuting related services-e.g.- PBX Trunks (from switch to home), Centrex lines (main CO to homes), ISDN, Switched 56, Business lines (in home or at commercial location), Custom 800, voice mail, and Custiom Calling(call waiting, three way calling, Call forwarding). They sent me this information as a California consultant in order to help affected clients. I am not a Pacific Bell employee. The toll free number for more information at Pacific Bell is ! 800 303 0309. It is a very beneficial program for those in need. Regards, Bob Schwartz bob@bci.nbn.com Bill Correctors, Inc. +1 415 488 9000 Marin County, California ------------------------------ From: martin@datacomm.ucc.okstate.edu (Martin McCormick) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Organization: Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 17:26:23 GMT In article CREICHLEY@vnet.IBM.COM writes: > Maybe phone usage should be billed on a split-system, > where people are charged by the minute during times when the usage is > over 80%, but not charged when the usage is less than that. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How would people know which condition > was in effect at the time? Many folks would gladly wait until overall > usage dropped below a certain point in order to use the service 'for > free' if they knew what the usage was. How would you convey that? PAT] The ideas expressed above are quite good ones. It would seem that the easiest way to let subscribers know would be to do something to the dialtone like add a third frequency so that it sounded differently during high-usage periods. Television and radio commercials could easily educate the public as to the sounds they should listen for. TDD's and other devices such as fax machines and modems could be designed to "listen" for the extra tones and either let their operators know or wait a while to see if usage levels off and try again. One would think that telephone companies would like this type of system because it might make the difference between dealing with an overload condition in which things start breaking and a nice comfortable flat-topped usage peak in which the equipment is working at top effic- iency, but is not overly taxed. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK O.S.U. Computer Center Data Communications Group ------------------------------ From: erik_ramberg@SMTP.esl.com (Erik Ramberg) Subject: Re: FCC $crews Pac Bell in PCS Race Date: 3 Feb 1994 21:06:31 GMT Organization: ESL Inc. In article , vantek@aol.com wrote: > (Geez, what a rip-off! We are serviced by Cox Cable here in Eureka, CA > and I'm pretty sure Cox isn't the least bit interested in serving US > with PCS! We're also served by Pac Bell here as well, and I'm sure > our area isn't 'lucrative' enough for them either. Why is it these > 'pioneers' are being given the most financially lucrative cities to > operate in? It's not like those areas really NEED improved, and > expanded services. Great, my tax dollars are going to be spent on ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > subsidizing a poor company like Cox Cable to provide state-of-the-art ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm not sure how the government is 'subsidizing' them ... they've simply been granted a waiver from the auction ... not really a subsidy. In fact, lots of people are still complaining about the decision to hold a spectrum auction. Erik ------------------------------ From: marchalo@aur.alcatel.com (Jean-Noel Marchalot) Subject: Re: Telephone Nunbers in France Date: 3 Feb 1994 21:08:18 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh NC Reply-To: marchalo@aur.alcatel.com In article 18@eecs.nwu.edu, Earle Robinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM> writes: > Richard D G Cox said that the change in French phone numbers is put > off due to complaints from users. This I doubt, since almost no one > in France is aware of any impending change. There is almost complete > ignorance of such questions in France, in part due to the few people > who have access to Internet. Never heard about something called Minitel? Any idea about the penetration rate compared with Internet? (probably an order of magnitude larger). > Anyway, France Telecom does what it wants. There's no competition > and the French just bow and obey. Sure, now they are still really lucky to enjoy a network that has evolved in 15 years from one of the most backward to one of the most advanced in the world. There must be some mysterious mechanism, beyond competition, that made sure that France Telecom would be a little responsive to the users' needs and the users do more than "bow and obey"? Jean-Noel Marchalot ------------------------------ From: dobrowol@husc8.harvard.edu (Pawel Dobrowolski) Subject: Re: Wiretapping Problems Date: 3 Feb 1994 21:27:35 GMT Organization: Harvard University Science Center > There is also a device (TDR, time-domain- > reflectometer) that will bounce a signal down the line and give you a > visual indication of bridge taps or irregularities in impedance along > the circuit. You can usually see any splice or terminal box. Anyone care to answer the following questions? -how much tech. knowledge do I need to use it? -how to operate it? -how much does it cost? -where to get it? Thanks a lot, Pawel ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #61 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa12107; 6 Feb 94 7:24 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07743; Sun, 6 Feb 94 04:27:23 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07732; Sun, 6 Feb 94 04:27:20 CST Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 04:27:20 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402061027.AA07732@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #62 TELECOM Digest Sun, 6 Feb 94 04:27:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 62 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson USA Senate Establishes FTP Server (EFF and CPD via MVM@cup.portal.com) Harrassing One-Ring Calls (Bill Garfield) Merg-O-Mania (Van Hefner) ISDN in USA and Electronic Highways (Vermijlen Tom) Two Stories on MCI (Paul Robinson) MCI Joins Mexican Phone Venture (Paul Robinson) Book Review: "Crossing the Internet Threshold" (Rob Slade) Designing Local Phone Number Access to Regional BBSs (Lloyd Brodsky) ROA Can't Cover All My Lines - NYNEX's Fault (Barton F. Bruce) Lebanese Get Drunken Phones (was Re: Lebanon Telephone) (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. 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: MVM@cup.portal.com Subject: USA Senate Establishes FTP Server Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 00:26:19 PST From the Computer Privacy Digest: ================================= From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 11:28:00 -0600 (CST) Subject: US Senate FTP Site On Line Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee The following is taken from the EFFector Online, issue 07.02, Jan. 25, 1993, A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ISSN 1062-9424: Senate FTP Site Online A new FTP site has been put on line to hold the publicly available documents and press releases of our Senators. Chris Casey of the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy says "Some progress is being made here on the Hill. The Senate now has an anonymous ftp server running. It's sparsly populated, only Kennedy and Stevens have posted anything so far, but I imagine the rest will find their way shortly. At least it's a start. The fact that the Senate has an anonymous ftp server is not a secret, but I don't think it's widely known either." You can access the server by FTPing to ftp.senate.gov, logging in as "anonymous" (without the quotes) and giving your email address as password. The site's general information bulletin is as follows: Welcome to the United States Senate's Anonymous FTP Server (ftp.senate.gov). This service is provided by the Office of the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. This server contains general information files about the United States Senate in the directory "general". Directories are also provided for specific Senators' offices, in alphabetical order by two-letter state abbreviations, and for Senate committees and other Senate offices. If an office is not included in the directory, this indicates no files have been posted by that office. No files can be uploaded to this system. Please direct questions about a specific Senate office's use of this service to the Senate office in question. General inquiries not involving a specific Senate office can be directed via Internet e-mail to: ftpadmin@scc.senate.gov Subdirectories for Senator's offices are structured as follows: /member/state_abbrev./senator's_name/releases/filename or /member/state_abbrev./senator's_name/general/filename The "releases" subdirectories contain press releases and related materials, and "general" subdirectories contain information of long-term interest such as office contacts. As of Jan. 24, 1994, the site was not being used very extensively, but individual Senators' directories contained various informational files, such as the following: Ted Stevens (AK): member/ak/stevens/releases -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1321 Jan 21 16:16 Childhood_Immunizations -rw-r--r-- 1 1 828 Jan 21 16:16 Inman_Statement -rw-r--r-- 1 1 3152 Jan 05 11:45 Ketchikan_Subcontractors -rw-r--r-- 1 1 3488 Jan 21 16:16 Seafood_Inspection -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1910 Jan 21 16:17 new_staff -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1661 Jan 21 16:17 tongass_timber Edward Kennedy (MA): member/ma/kennedy/general -rw-r--r-- 1 1 138842 Jan 13 13:49 S1150_Goals_2000 -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1011 Dec 13 15:04 on-line_access -rw-r--r-- 1 1 133477 Dec 27 10:08 s1040.txt member/ma/kennedy/releases -rw-r--r-- 1 1 3591 Jan 14 15:23 Human_Radiation_Experimentation -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1664 Jan 05 11:11 Statement_on_Firearms_Proposal -rw-r--r-- 1 1 16188 Dec 15 14:19 major_accomplishment_93 -rw-r--r-- 1 1 14523 Jan 13 11:58 national_health_reform_debate -rw-r--r-- 1 1 1298 Dec 15 14:18 worker_retraining_grant Please express your interest in this first small step, and encourage your Senators to utilize this new Congressional Internet resource. Ask your Representatives to look into the possibility of a similar system for the House. [Computer Privacy Digest Moderator's note: Rather than logging in with the userid 'anonymous', this system (and many systems like it) permits a login with the userid 'ftp'. This is a small difference, but it does not contain the (incorrect) presumption that no one knows who you are.] ------------------------------ Subject: Harrassing One-Ring Calls From: bill.garfield@yob.com (Bill Garfield) Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 22:32:00 -0600 Organization: Ye Olde Bailey BBS - Houston, TX - 713-520-1569 Reply-To: bill.garfield@yob.com (Bill Garfield) OK all you telephone company techno-jocks, I need some help with this. We are being besieged by single-jingle (one ring) calls. My MITEL SX2000SG PBX is served by Houston's "National" CO (SWBT). We have all of the 989-xxxx number block plus the 4000-6899 block in the 627 exchange. Fiber DS-3 terminates in a Rockwell Muldem adjacent to the PBX. Among the numerous facilities therein, there are 96 DINA trunks dedicated to the 4000-6899 block on 4 spans (21DINA7136275401). Here is the problem: For several months, various users have called the PBX room complaining about 1-ringer/single jingles. The offending source, whatever it is, will single out one or two DID extensions to "annoy" and then pound on only these extensions for a day or so, then gradually diminish in frequency of annoyance before moving on to another extension or two to pound on. During the cycle of peak annoyance, call frequency will vary from 3 to 15 calls per hour, per extension, at fairly regular intervals. So far, no extension has ever been singled out to endure this punishment more than once. They're always single jingles ... in other words, if my user doesn't answer, the phone only rings once. If they do answer, the incoming seizure has already released - gone -. We have the incoming SMDR records & have scanned them for repetitious inbound traffic of seven seconds duration or less. Result: The offending traffic is spread fairly evenly across all DID trunks. Hypothesis: Some type of automated dialing equipment has gone awry and is driving us crazy. I would really hate to think something like this would be malicious or intentional. :-( I really don't think we're being scanned. We've been scanned several times over the past four to five years and we recognize -those- calls. Whatever is pounding on us this time locks into one or two extensions and stays there, finally moving on to pester someone else after a day or so. SMDR logs indicate this is only happening during normal working hours, and seldom at nights or on weekends. Also ... this seems to only be hammering on the 627 exchange. None of my 989 group has yet complained. Our local SWB account rep claims SWB is -helpless- in getting this tracked down, due to the extremely short duration and something about it being DID trunk calls and not POTS. Why would that matter? Is the local telco -REALLY- that helpless in putting a lid on this? In some of the really persistent cases, I've been able to mask the problem by programming front-end ring delay against the targeted extension(s). This eats the first two ring cycles before presenting the call, but this is _not_ an acceptable long term fix. I need some help. Has anyone experienced any harrassing calls like this? Any suggestions on what it might be and/or how it could be traced back to its origin? Bill Garfield The PBX guy... Panhandle Eastern Corp. Houston, TX Voice: (713) 627-5228 FAX: (713) 627-5285 Ye Olde Bailey BBS Zyxel 713-520-1569(V.32bis) Hayes 713-520-9566 (V.FC) Houston,Texas yob.com Home of alt.cosuard ------------------------------ From: vantek@aol.com Date: Sun, 06 Feb 94 01:33:24 EST Subject: Merg-O-Mania U.S. Long Distance announces intent to acquire Call America Riverside SAN ANTONIO, TX Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Long Distance Corp. (NASDAQ NMS: USLD) today announced that it signed a letter of intent to acquire Inland Call America, Inc., d/b/a Call America Riverside, a privately owned direct dial long distance services company based in Riverside, California. U.S. Long Distance anticipates that the acquisition will be completed by March 1, 1994. Parris H. Holmes, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The acquisition of Call America Riverside is an important strategic move for U.S. Long Distance because it expands our direct dial origination capabilities into California. Call America Riverside has provided service in Southern California for eleven years and has an excellent reputation in that region. Mike Vaughn, Vice President and General Manager of Call America Riverside, and his staff will remain with the company, ensuring a smooth transition and providing Call America Riverside's existing client base with the same level of service and support they have been receiving." The letter of intent provides, among other things, that U.S. Long Distance will acquire Call America Riverside for 175,000 shares of U.S. Long Distance Common Stock. This acquisition is subject to certain conditions, including, among other things, the negotiation, execution and delivery of a definitive acquisition agreement and the satisfactory completion of due diligence. Call America Riverside's revenues for calendar 1993 were $3.5 million. Vernon Hall, Chairman of Call America Riverside, said, "We are excited about joining the U.S. Long Distance team. By combining forces, we will increase our technological capabilities and broaden our product line. Our California customers will directly benefit from this partnership." U.S. Long Distance is a fully integrated long distance telecommunications and information services company with three primary areas of business: direct dial (one-plus) long distance services in areas of the Southwest and Pacific Northwest; national operator service for the hospitality and pay telephone industries; and billing clearinghouse and information management services for operator services and direct dial long distance companies. For fiscal 1993 the Company reported $134.1 million in total revenues. Van Hefner - Vantek Communications - DLD Digest - Vantek@aol.com ------------------------------ From: hw43213@vub.ac.be (Vermijlen Tom) Subject: ISDN in Usa and Electronic Highways Date: 5 Feb 1994 14:35:19 GMT Organization: Brussels Free Universities (VUB/ULB), Belgium Hello, is there someone who will converse a bit with me about the electronic highways in the USA and its advantages and disadvantages? hw43213@is1.vub.ac.be (Vermijlen Tom) Student Communicatiewetenschappen Vrije Universiteit Brussel ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 11:46:22 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: Two Stories on MCI Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA The following two items appeared on page F1 (The front page of the Business Section) of the {Washington Post}: 1. "MCI Communications of Washington received a three-year, $38 million contract to provide 800 service to Home Shopping Network, Inc." 2. For those of you confused over MCI's ad with some little girl with an English accent, speaking gibberish, you're not alone. The girl is 11-year-old Anna Paquin of New Zealand, who was in the movie "The Piano". As for the ad itself, 'When pressed, [Jerry] Taylor [of MCI] and Tom Messner of Messner Vetere [Berger McNamee Scheterer, MCI's ad agency] explain that "NetworkMCI" is the company's corporate name for services MCI plans to offer someday, such as local phone connections, portable digital communications, and "interactive multimedia" telecommunications such as video phone calls and home shopping.' What it really means is that this is MCI's equivalent to AT&T's "You Will" campaign. Now AT&T can run a sniping ad with Tom Seleck, "Did you ever think one of our competitors would do an ad like this one and make it so you can't understand it? You will, err, or rather, you won't." :) Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 1994 12:00:29 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: MCI Joins Mexican Phone Venture Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA The article of this title appeared on page D3 of the 1/26 {New York Times}. Capsule: MCI and the largest bank in Mexico will form a joint venture to build an upgrade to the phone service in Mexico. This is a part of MCI's plan to build a seamless phone network throughout North America. They're not the only American Telephone company interested or who has investments there, due to less than two years remaining on the Mexican telephone company's phone service monopoly. Summary: MCI and Grupo Financiero Banamex Accival, the holding company for Banco National de Mexico, over a three-year-period, will add a fiber-optic network linking Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, with long-term plans to cover the whole country. This deal would primarily give MCI access to the bank's customer base, although the bank is putting up some (unspecified amount of) money. The deal is valued at $1 billion, with MCI putting up about $450 in startup capital and will direct operations. The local phone company, Tele'fonos de Mexico has a monopoly on all local and long distance service, which by law ends in 1996. American Companies have been very interested; Southwestern Bell put $458 million in 1990 into Tele'fonos for 5% ownership. Bell Atlantic paid $1 Billion last fall for a stake in cellular phone company Grupo Iusacell. MCI will have to get Mexican Government permission (likely), and in a manner similar to Equal Access in the US, will have to negotiate with Tele'fonos over the charges to connect to the phone system. This is part of MCI's long term plan to have a "seamless communication system" over all of North America, since it is already invested in Canada's Stentor. MCI may even be able to use the same brands and perhaps the same equipment in all three countries. Estimates are that of Mexico's $6 billion a year in telephone service (10% of the U.S. Market), 45% is international traffic, 90% going to the U.S. According to an accompanying map, the following are the number of hours of calls traveling among the three countries: Mexico To USA: 10.1 Million; USA to Mexico: 21.3 Million; Canada To USA: 25.2 Million; USA to Canada: 37.1 Million. Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 14:38:57 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Crossing the Internet Threshold" by Tennant/Ober/Lipow BKCRSTHR.RVW 931229 Library Solutions Institute and Press 2137 Oregon St. Berkeley, CA 94705 510-841-2933 510-841-2636 or 1100 Industrial Road, Suite 9 San Carlos, CA 94070 fax: 415-594-0411 "Crossing the Internet Threshold", Tennant/Ober/Lipow, 1882208013, U$45.00 alipow@library.berkeley.edu jlo-lis@cmsa.berkeley.Edu rtennant@library.Berkeley.Edu This book is useful for newcomers to the Internet. This book is useful for trainers. This book is useful for librarians. Ultimately, this book is most useful for those training librarians who are new to the Internet. The contents cover the basics as an introduction to the Internet. There is an "Internetworking Overview" which is a bit long for a beginner but helpful for a trainer. "Important Information for Beginners" is important, but primarily to those needing either to get a connection to the Internet or to keep current with Internet developments. The bibliography is generally sound and with helpful annotations. (There are some gaps, such as no mention of O'Reilly and Associates "!%@::" (cf BKDEMAC.RVW), but most of the other references one might name are more recent publications.) Three chapters cover email, remote login and file transfers (ftp). There are very helpful "fact sheets" on the basics of related functions, such as archive and gopher, as well as projects such as Freenet. In addition, there are trainers' aids, and appendix materials. A newcomer to the Internet might find this material a bit disorganized, but very definitely helpful and useful. It is heartening to see the very strong emphasis on Internet etiquette and culture which all too often gets short shrift, even in introductory guides. The grouping of discussion lists and electronic journals with email is a logical extension which is not always made. The work is not limited to the novice, though; many Internet users would find the fact sheets to be a handy quick reference. The material here was originally developed for a workshop and, unfortunately, it is all too obvious at some points. The Internet maps and certain other materials could be useful in seminars, but have no associated explanatory materials. The exercises are useful but missing information at certain points. For example, the list of special databases to try out does not always have full information on how to log in. This would, of course, be supplied in the workshop, and can be figured out by an experienced "net surfer," but it would be nice to see more help for novice users. The training resources, as well, would require some work. The "Introduction to Networking" overhead, for example, is far too cluttered, and, realistically, should be subdivided into at least five parts. This is, however, the first of a series of related works. As the material is subdivided, and the different audiences defined, the material will undoubtedly improve. The work shows a fundamental understanding and promise which bodes well for future editions, once organization and isolated materials are improved. Still, the book is useful to all those parties mentioned in the opening paragraph. For those serious about Internet training, or the use of the Internet in a library situation, this should definitely be on your bookshelf. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKCRSTHR.RVW 931229. Resdistribution permitted only via 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: lbrodsky@teal.csn.org (Lloyd Brodsky) Subject: Designing Local Phone Number Access to Regional BBSs Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc. Date: Sat, 5 Feb 1994 21:49:26 GMT I would appreciate pointers and info about reasonable approaches to provide local phone number access to an on-line service where there are several medium-sized population centers all of which are a toll call from each other and where the service needs to plug into an Internet POP someplace. Given the regulatory complexities (clusters of there are within the same LATA, giving only one choice without running a leased line a long ways away to get inter-LATA pricing, while others are not) and the desire to be able to have a system that is scalable (since it will take a while to build demand) what's the best way to go about this. Pay the telco for central office services and feed the calls into a leased line? Set up a small PBX in each town? Give up? Lloyd Brodsky Internet: lbrodsky@rocksolid.com President, RockSolid Communications P.O. Box 101804 Voice: 303-758-7030 Fax: 303-758-7277 Denver, Colorado 80250-1804, USA ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com (Barton F. Bruce / CCA) Subject: ROA Can't Cover All My Lines - NYNEX's Fault Date: 5 Feb 94 17:24:01 -0500 Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. AT&T promised me all my lines could be on my ROA plan. NYNEX bills folks individually bills for multiple phone lines. AT&T says "Whoops, NYNEX's multiple bills precludes ROA covering all lines (but you can order a second ROA plan if you like ...)" NYNEX says that since their multiple billing does not aggregate all the ten per line free DA calls you are allotted into one pot, *AND* if and ONLY if you have been charged for excess 411 calls on one line but had unused on another and COMPLAINED, they *might* try to get you on a 'combined' billing program. Of course, the 1,000s of trees and $s of postage they waste could concern them less, since every dollar they waste means more they get to markup and have the regulators let them milk out of the customers. So I would be willing to make excess 411 calls on ONE line and NONE on others to be able a month later to scream and get combined billing (since polite reasonable requests are ignored), but they still can't/won't give me combined billing because my classes of service are a tad different even though my lines are all residential and IN ONE HUNT group with adjacent numbers, even. So I have now decided to try another route. What if they could use my MAIN mumber as ANI for any other lines!? That would get ALL LD calls onto the ONE bill that has ROA. The residence business office decided I needed to call the business business office. So I stuck it to someone that was also taking DID tk and other commercial orders from me for work. She understands wink-start and all sorts of other fairly obscure stuff, but when I ask about fixing my home line ANI, sho is **STUCK**. So on to executive appeals ("hello - office of the president"). Normally they do get back in one day. Not this time. ANY useful war stories or suggestions? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 00:02:06 -0800 From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Lebanese Get Drunken Phones (was Re: Lebanon Telephone Infrastructure) Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) In article Alex Cena wrote: > The Lebanese government has approved contracts to buy one million > telephone lines from Alcatel Alsthom NV, Siemens AG and AB L.M. Ericsson. ^^^^^^^ Well, here in Oakland, "Alcatel" is a liquor store (near the corner of ALCAtraz and TELegraph), so I can't get away from images of phone lines arriving by the keg ... Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #62 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa12547; 6 Feb 94 9:20 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08924; Sun, 6 Feb 94 06:29:06 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08911; Sun, 6 Feb 94 06:29:03 CST Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 06:29:03 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402061229.AA08911@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #63 TELECOM Digest Sun, 6 Feb 94 06:29:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 63 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Time Domain Reflectometers (Mark Earle) More California / Caller ID Questions (Ethan C. Tuttle) Can I Request LTN For ANI on All Trunks? (Barton F. Bruce) Information on Northridge, CA Switch After Earthquake? (Jodi Weber) Trick to Get Free NYNEX Screening (Barton F. Bruce) Telecommunications Over Cable Lines (Paul Jonathan E. Go) NTI Recommendations With Care! (Steve Bauer) A Cheap Long Distance Service (Allen Walker) "Miniplex" == Digital Local Loop? (Ray Berry) For Sale: PBX, Dual Channel Bank, DSX Panel (Paula Toledo) Request For Cellular Phone Standards (R. Chandrasekar) Data-Communication on Voice Lines in Bell Atlantic Territory (Ed Lally) More Information on the Economics of Dial-Back Services (Wolf Paul) CompuServe's New Rates Effective February 6, 1994 (Ray Normandeau) Extend-A-Phone (Ray Normandeau) Looking For Reviews of Routers (Rob Ryan) Help Wanted With NET2 Test Spec for X25 (Dave McConnell) Re: Clock Slip and { Once More (Lars Poulsen) Re: Clock Slip and { Once More (Bill Mayhew) 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: Sat, 5 Feb 94 09:11:40 CST From: mearle@cbi.tamucc.edu (Mark Earle) Subject: Time Domain Reflectometers Last time I needed one of these, we called a company in Los Angeles, LeaseMetric. They supply specialized test gear short term; will ship second day or overnight, etc. Generally, you need a corporate P.O. or a credit card with a pretty high limit/available credit line. We used a TDR to verify cables pulled by subcontractors were run with no splices. The TDR we used had an o-scope, and a small calibrated dial, and some "range" buttons. You clip the tdr on the cable under test, and you get a flat line on the scope. Turn the range knob, until a "bump" appears. Read the digits on the range knob/range buttons; it is accurate to about three inches. Newer versions of the TDR of course do this automatically, and can even use a laptop as a terminal, storing stuff in a flat file, and allowing automated test routines to be written using the terminal program macro language (I've seen this done with Procomm Plus in particular). For more general information on TDR's, you might contact Techtronix, Hitachi, or other "major" vendors of test gear. Other uses of TDR's: On radio towers, to verify location of splices in transmission line; to find bullet holes in feedlines. In underground wires or cables, to find where they "turn" without digging up the whole landscape, etc. Quite a handy device. mwearle@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: ethan@medisg.Stanford.EDU (Ethan C. Tuttle) Subject: More California / Caller ID Questions Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 10:19:06 -0800 Organization: Stanford University I have a technical/political question about CallerID in California: Say someone calls me long distance from an LEC that supports Caller ID. My understanding is that the long distance carrier would pass the Caller ID info to my LEC, which would then forward those digits to my CallerID equipment. EXCEPT, perhaps, in California. Does the Caller ID legislation in CA protect the privacy of those outside of the state? As a Californian, do I get that Caller ID info from out-of-state callers? More important, does (or will) PacBell actually forward the Caller ID info? I don't yet have a Caller ID box to test. I tried to ask PacBell, but all they seem to know about Caller ID is 'uh, no.' I am primarily interested in Caller ID as a cheap transport mechanism for ANI. Ethan Tuttle ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) Subject: Can I Request LTN For ANI on All Trunks? Date: 5 Feb 94 17:04:18 -0500 Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. The ANI number that the LEC presents to the FG-B trunk when you make a call need not be the actual physical line you are on (WTN), but may often be the Listed (LTN) number or possibly the Billing (BTN) number if they happen to differ for historical reasons. This seems to happen randomly, but sure would be nice to be able to ORDER in some standardised way. Now that many 800 mail order companies make effective use of recognising your number, it would be nice if all company two way G/S trunks into the PBX had *JUST* the LTN of xxx.x000 or whatever glamor number you have. We have MANY totally scattered numbers in DIFFERENT exchanges in the same hunt group. Folks at the far end may even have a "REDIAL-THE-LAST- CALLER" button on their 800 based support phones. I am having a devil of a time trying to convince telco to give me the ANI I want (LTN) on trunks I am adding. OTOH, I **KNOW** some folks out there have gotten telco to do this. Is there any magic incantation or better USOC code for ordering this? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 16:00:11 EST From: jodiweber@attmail.att.com Subject: Info on Northridge, CA Switch after Earthquake? Organization: AT&T I hope I haven't missed this already during the past few weeks, but I'm interested in any information regarding how badly the Northridge, CA switch was damaged during the earthquake a few weeks ago, where service was out, why and for how long. Apparently, after the quake there was no dial tone for a period of time, then users had to wait but were able to get dial tone. I'd appreciate any details on the situation. By the way, an addendum on the dial tone availability after the quake: While land lines were dead for some period of time, cellular service was uninterrupted (at least for one user in Northridge at the time). Jodi Weber jodiweber@attmail.com or jweber@cbnewsg.cb.att.com ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com (Barton F. Bruce) Subject: Trick to Get Free NYNEX Screening Date: 5 Feb 94 17:39:54 -0500 Organization: Cambridge Computer Associates, Inc. A most interesting bill stuffer from NYNEX just now details a back door way to get FREE screening to eliminate collect and third party billing abuse to your number rather than paying their usual 97 cents per month. Seems you can now LEGALLY request that they NOT give your name and address to other carriers if you so request. Of course they say that if you have their LEC calling card and place that restriction they will have to CANCEL your card. Seems they can't just restrict your use to IXCs that just bill via the LEC's billing service, and so might have to divulge the billing information were you to use the card with the 'wrong' carrier. So *IF* I request them to NOT divulge my name , I get my card cancelled, **AND** I get F R E E collect and third party screening tossed on the line(s) FREE! So if you want that service, or are paying for it now, and don't have KIDS that ever might need to call collect in some emergency, you can now arrange for free screening by requesting the right set of options. In my case my kids have their ROA cards that have no CC charges and are preferred, but they ALSO know the PIN on the all too obvious LEC card. If there were some accident or whatever, I really WANT them to be able to use the easy LEC card number or be able to call collect. But I am sure some other folks would like this new free NYNEX service :-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually no, telco cannot refuse to give your name and address to other carriers *for billing purposes only*, even if you have a non-published number. So go ahead and cancel your calling card if that is what you wish, but bear in mind that if someone calls you via a phone subscribed to a carrier who *does not* check the database used jointly by AT&T/MCI/Sprint and the local Bell companies, and you accept collect charges, then you *will* get billed for the call anyway, and the AOS/COCOT firm which originated the call will get your name, address and phone number. 'Billed Number Screening' as it is called (where collect and third-party calls are blocked right on the spot at the time/place of origin) ONLY works when the database is consulted. Some of the larger carriers (other than the Big Three who all cooperate on this) maintain their own database also. For example, Integratel does their own thing and does not consult the database used by AT&T. So regardless of what you advise your local telco (acting as billing and collection agent for the Big Three), unless you call Integratel and tell them the same thing (and Oncor to name another example) then the payphones of those companies will still be passing along collect calls (at outrageous rates I might add!) unchallenged, and your local telco will bill for them because under the law they have to. Integratel will add you to their database on behalf of their clients at your request with no qualms. Its no skin off their nose since all they do is bill for a bunch of small outfits. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pj@cco.caltech.edu (Paul Jonathan E. Go) Subject: Telecommunications Over Cable Lines Date: Sat, 5 Feb 1994 17:29:45 PST In the Philippines, we have a severe shortage of telephone lines. If one does not bribe someone at the phone company, the wait for a new phone line is measured in years or decades. However, the cable systems do not seem to have a backlog. (1) How are cable networks usually set up? (a) Are they in a "bus" or "star" topology? (b) How are signals transmitted? Are they FDMA? (2) What kind of equipment is needed to turn the cable network into a telecommunications network? Could you point out a reference that might answer these questions? Thanks in advance. Paul Jonathan E. Go Caltech MSC 1028 Pasadena CA 91126 ------------------------------ From: STEVE BAUER Subject: NTI Recommendations With Care! Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 19:53:35 CST Jeff, I am running the NOrthern Telecom Meridian Mail (GP) Voice Mail system. I have been pleased with the equipment, but can't say that NTI is an easy company to work with. Forget technical support unless you have an emergency. It's just not available. I could write an entire TELECOM Digest on the troubles I have had trying to get someone to even bid on a maintenance contract and on parts to upgrade the system. In a nutshell, the equipment is nice, but the NTI is just too big and one division does not talk to another. I will be happy to discuss things in more detail by phone if you would like. Steve Telecommunication manager INTRUST Financial Corporation (316) 383-1144 ------------------------------ From: Allen Walker Subject: A Cheap Long Distance Service Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 23:13:54 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) If anyone is interested, I have found a telco long distance service that only charges $2.60/hr. Those calls can be placed at any time of day to anywhere (even your own state) at that rate. There are some other restrictions. If anyone wants info, send email to Allen0@delphi.com. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are so many of these things (notes about 'cheap long distance') showing up here in the mail each day. It has gotten almost as bad as 'Make Money Fast'. That one is showing up fresh on various Usenet newsgroups at the rate of about once every two weeks now (as the net increases in size so will the number of Make Money Fast postings; in snail mail I get two or three such chain letters *each week* in my PO Box), and the 'cheap long distance' resellers are also all over the place now, and bound to increase in numbers. So, Allen0, tell us about 'the one you found which charges $2.60 per hour'. How they manage to do that -- long distance calls day or night, inter/intrastate at 4.33 cents per minute -- without some deceptive nonsense having to do with multi-level-marketing or some other gimmick we've read about here several times in the past -- should make great reading. Tell us about it here so that you are not bothered with a lot of email, that is unless you are selling 'what you found' and want the email. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ray@hebron.connected.com (Ray Berry) Subject: "Miniplex" == digital local loop? Date: Sat, 5 Feb 1994 13:31:36 -0800 Organization: Ascendant Systems US West recently installed two numbers in my residence on a single copper pair. They did this by installing a Raychem "Miniplex 4-in-3 RT", which supposedly muxes two lines onto a single pair by converting both to a digital data stream, which is deciphered at the CO by a mating card. When the installer explained this to me, I became a bit wary about fax and data signals making it through, but both seem to work fine (at least for 1 data + 1 simultaneous voice call; I haven't tested it with two simultaneous data transmissions). Being a techie type I'd like to know more about this device but don't know where to ask. Can someone here expound further? ray berry kb7ht rjberry@eskimo.com ray@connected.com 73407.3152@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: toledo@unixg.ubc.ca (Paula Toledo) Subject: For Sale: PBX, Dual Channel Bank, DSX Panel Date: 6 Feb 94 00:17:54 GMT Organization: The University of British Columbia 3 MSU Redcom Configured with 28 extensions 8 Ground start circuits 20 DID circuits Westcom dual channel bank 20 DID cards 8 Ground start cards 25 circuit DSX panel For more information e-mail Paula at Toledo@unixg.ubc.ca ------------------------------ From: News account Subject: Request for Cellular Phone Standards Organization: National Centre for Software Technology, Bombay, India. Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 07:25:38 GMT Greetings! A colleague wants to know where standards for Cellular Phones may be obtained from. He is interested in some standard called US94 or US95, in particular. Are these available online? If so, where? If not, whom should one contact to get these standards? Any info on this would be much appreciated. May I request you to send your responses by email to: mickey@saathi.ncst.ernet.in Thank you, R Chandrasekar Email: mickey@ncst.ernet.in National Centre for Software Technology Fax : +91 (22) 621 0139 Gulmohar Cross Road No. 9 Phone: +91 (22) 620 1606 Juhu, Bombay 400 049, INDIA Telex: +81 (11) 78260 NCST IN ------------------------------ Subject: Data-Communication on Voice Lines in Bell Atlantic Territory From: el3@cellar.org Date: Sun, 06 Feb 94 01:28:46 EST Organization: The Cellar electronic community and public access system DAVIDSON writes: > I don't question the data provided here, but I suggest the "plug" for > a conditioned line may be overstated. I have found now at two > locations that a trouble call to 611 has resulted in a visit from a > repairman who in both instances swapped pairs until he found me a > quieter one. In one case, this was an internal job at my business > location and required tracing lines through 4-5 junction boxes in a > 70+ year old three story building. The repairman came back twice. In > the other case, it was at my temporary residence, the repairman took > 10-15 minutes to find a quieter pair and even set-up a new demarc for > it. I paid nothing in either case to assure reliable 14.4Kbps connections. I don't know how reliable this is, but both our office phone person and my modem manufacturer (home use) claim that there's no physical difference between POTS and data service pairs. They claim that the only difference is in price (with many local carriers charging a premium for the data service). Ed Lally el3@cellar.org ------------------------------ From: cc_paul@aaf.alcatel.at (Wolf Paul) Subject: More Information on the Economics of Dial-Back Services Reply-To: Wolf.Paul@aaf.alcatel.at Organization: Alcatel Austria Research Center, Vienna, Austria Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 04:00:16 GMT After the recent repost here in the Digest of information on Communications Systems International's Dial-Back service I wrote to Mr. Beatty and eventually received a DOS program from him which permits one to select any country of origin and any target country, and find the rate charged by CSI for a call during any one of three time periods (11p-8a, 8a-5p, 5p-11p US time, probably Mountain, since CSI is located in Colorado). Of course, the most interesting relation to me was Austria-US, and the prices quoted for that are: First Minute 1.50 / 1.99 / 1.59 Add'l Minute 1.14 / 1.57 / 1.21 Then I looked into the current phone book to find out what our local phone company (the Austrian PTT) charges for a call to the U.S.: AS 18 / minute == $ 1.50 Thus for much of the time, the regular long distance charge is as cheap or even cheaper than CSI's rate, especially during those hours when I am likely to reach anyone in the U.S. Add to that (a) the monthly minimum charge and (b) the inconvenience of only being able to call from the number where the dial-back box is going to call you back at, and I begin to wonder if this is such a good deal at all. Of course you can forget about using the service to call European, Middle Eastern or North African countries as well; there are slightly more substantial savings to be realized when calling countries in Latin America or the Far East. But since my need to call these places is rather limited, I guess I will currently pass on Mr. Beatty's service. 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) ------------------------------ Subject: CompuServe's New Rates Effective February 6, 1994 From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Date: 6 Feb 94 00:09:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) I was wondering if you would save by switching to CompuServe's $8.95/month membership rather than the $2.50/month membership? If you use 2400 bps the break-even point is at 50 minutes as can be seen from the spread sheet results below. Hourly Meter Monthly Minutes Hours Rate Total Rate Total 50 .83 $12.50 10.42 2.50 $12.92 50 .83 $4.80 4.00 8.95 $12.95 Ray Normandeau Normandeau Newswire (J 5) at the Invention Factory BBS, 212-274-8110. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Could you give us more details about how the new rate structure works? What are the prices now? PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Extend-A-Phone From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Date: 6 Feb 94 01:49:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) I have an Extend-A-Phone manufactured in 1981. It is a Model R900 Handheld = c. 49.89 Mhz Base = c. 1.7 Mhz No dial pad. I was always happy with this phone. I only used it when visiting other people's apartments. Never needed to dial. The fact that the base at 1.7 Mhz is unlikely to be monitored by anyone is fine with me. Anyone else have one? Within the last year or so it stopped functioning. When I checked battery with a multi-meter voltage seemed to be OK. Anyone else encounter such a problem and corrected it? If so, how? Thanks, Ray Normandeau Normandeau Newswire (J 5) at the Invention Factory BBS, 212-274-8110 ------------------------------ From: rryan@panix.com (Rob Ryan) Subject: Looking For Reviews of Routers (Harvard Labs Review) Date: 5 Feb 1994 17:51:55 -0500 Organization: System Constructs, Inc I'm looking for the text of a review of routers by Harvard Labs. Does anyone out there know anything about it? Can anyone point me in the right direction? If not, then any similar unbiased review of routers. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Dave@daisy.ee.und.ac.za, Subject: Help With NET2 Test Spec For X25 Date: 6 Feb 1994 08:27:02 GMT Organization: Consultancy in Advanced Technology Hi, I need to do some qualification testing of an X25 implementation. Our local telecom company informs me that the NET2 test suite is what is required to be met but cannot supply me with a test specification (believe it or not!). They apparently have a machine programmed with the test suite but don't have the spec itself. Does anybody know where I could get the Net2 test specification for X25? An ftp sight would be the best but any info will help. Thanks, Dave McConnell (cat@daisy.ee.und.ac.za) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We have some readers of this Digest at the telkom.za site. Perhaps someone will respond and help you. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Clock Slip and { Once More Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 00:00:30 GMT In article mikelong@netcom.com (Mike Long) writes: > About two years ago I first ran into the clock slip problem and seeing > {{{{ on my screen. The problem finally cleared up after ... > Now I see ^?{ combination rather than {{{{ plus a few interspersed > random characters. > Now my question is this: what is it about clock slip that causes a { > character or 01111011 to appear on my screen? Now it is possible that > I saw ^?{ before but I only remember the {{{. > I know what to do about it, I'd just like to understand what is going > on. I was told before that the clock at the central office could be > slipping or was left in the wrong mode after a maintenance call. > Given that, how does the { get to my screen and why { and not some > other character? When the asynchronous link is idle, it is sending "mark" bits, 11111111111111111111111111111 .... which the modem encodes into some other pattern, which gets turned into tones, which get digitized at the CO and sent over a trunk .... The clock slip inserts (or drops) a bit in this other, digitized, bit stream. This causes a temporary difference in the pattern, which causes a couple of bit errors on the receiving end. Exactly what comes out depends on: - which modulation is used (2400, 9600, 14400 ...); - whether it's a bit insert or a bit delete, and whether the channel bank dropped a whole frame; But for a given trunk, these factors tends to be the same. It is common to see these with 2400 bps. For the last year, I have been using only V.32bis, and the error correction takes care of the junk. 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: wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew) Subject: Re: Clock Slip and { Once More Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 16:48:59 GMT Modems use a scrambler polynomial which has a 16 bit cylce. This cyclic stream of 1s and 0s has an even division between the two values. When a call is placed, the modems sychronize the scrambler value at both ends, The scrambler data is eclusive-or'ed with the data at both ends so that under ideal conditions, the input and output data are identical. The purpose of using the scrambler data is to ensure an equal distribution between 1 and 0 while the cirucit is in an idle marking condition while no data are transmitted. This allows the demodulator at the receiver to stay in track with the other end. The design of the scrambler circuit ensures that a single bit error in the transmission will hit two adjacent characters in the output stream due the way the shift-register is tapped and the fact it is a 16 bit cycle. The design is no accident, as this assists in spotting transmission errors -- though I sure wouldn't count on this as insurance of being able to sptot errors. For an idle line, the most common error in the direction of the originate modem is ~r at 1200 bps. At 2400 bps, the most common error you'll see is _w. If you are using different byte lengths other than (8N1), you may see something else. Sure is irriating to have a T1 span dropping frames between you and the place you want to go. I went around on such a problem with then Ohio Bell for several years. I'd imagine the upper eschelon of craftpeople could have been aware of the problem because all the T1 common equpment racks I've seen (which is hardly exhaustive of all available) have some sort of error lamp or LED that lights up and stays on when a framing error is received. Ohio Bell eventually fixed the problem, but didn't respond quickly because the POTS lines I was using met applicable specifications of the regualting tariff. If I were buying a conditioned line, things would have been different. Since we need to support itineratnt users from variable locations, dedicated lines were not a parctical or inexpensive consideration. Until the problem was solved, we bought Telebit modems that did not find the noise bothersome to their PEP protocol. I have a feeling that all that was necessary was to flip a switch on a T1 rack somewhere from FREE RUN to LOOP TIMING, but getting somebody to understand what I wanted and also willing to take action proved difficult. Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511 wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu amateur radio 146.58: N8WED ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #63 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa13846; 6 Feb 94 13:39 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11238; Sun, 6 Feb 94 10:47:22 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11226; Sun, 6 Feb 94 10:47:18 CST Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 10:47:18 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402061647.AA11226@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #64 TELECOM Digest Sun, 6 Feb 94 10:47:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 64 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ISDN and Caller-ID (Al Varney) Re: DID Questions (Tom Watson) Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer (Randy Gellens) Re: More About INTERNET Connections (Lars Poulsen) Re: Increasing Cordless Range (John Gilbert) Re: Increasing Cordless Range (Alan Boritz) Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones (M.A. Karinen) Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones (Gary Breuckman) Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones (Bill Mayhew) Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones (Bill Walker) 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: Sat, 5 Feb 94 22:46:30 CST From: varney@ihlpe.att.com Subject: Re: ISDN and Caller-ID Organization: AT&T In article ketil@edb.tih.no (Ketil Albertsen,TIH) writes: > In article , Will Martin ARMY.MIL> writes: > .... Our PABX generates a caller ID for outgoing calls, based on > which of the 300 local lines originates the call. That is a private > PABX (an NT2, in ISDN terms) which we control 100% ourselves, so it > cannot generate "network verified" IDs. The telco switch can verify > that the user supplied ID is one of the 300 subscriber numbers > assigned to that PRI, but not which one of them. I don't know if it > marks the ID as "network verified" when it *might* be the right one -- > I would guess that the telco is responsible for identifying the > *subscriber* (which is our college), and so confirm the ID. Bellcore's thoughts on this are embodied in TR-268, which goes beyond the ITU Q.93X procedures (and is very World-Zone-1 specific). In summary: 1) If the calling user equipment (PRA/PRI or BRA/BRI line) is required to supply the Calling Party Number (CPN) on all originations, then the call is rejected if the CPN is not supplied or one of the valid DNs associated with the equipment. If valid, the supplied number is used for billing, determining any per-DN call characteristics such as permitted Bearer Capabilities and presubscribed IXC/INC and this number is supplied to the terminating switch as the CPN. Any received CPN by the called party will be marked "user-provided number, number passed network screening". 2) If the line is not required to supply a CPN, and doesn't, a default DN associated with this line and Bearer Capability is used for billing, per-DN characteristics and CPN to the far switch. I believe the CPN, if delivered to the called party, will be marked "network-provided number". 3) If the line is not required to supply a CPN, but does, and the line is marked CPN SCREENING=NO, the default DN (above) is used for billing and per-DN characteristics. The unscreened CPN and the default DN are passed to the terminating switch. The default DN is used for call trace, etc. purposes and may also be delivered to the called party. The CPN, if delivered to the called party, will be marked "user-provided number, number not screened" 4) If the line is not required to supply a CPN, but does, and the line is marked CPN SCREENING=YES, the supplied number is checked against the list of valid DNs for this line. If valid, it is handled as in case 1) above. If invalid, it is handled as in case 3) above, except the CPN will be marked "user-provided number, number failed network screening". "Presentation prohibited" or "Presentation allowed" are also attributes passed to the terminating user -- if "prohibited" then the number itself is not delivered (but the "screening" information is delivered). As an exercise for the user, try determining how the above applies to X.25 packet connections. In particular, determine how "screening" information is delivered, whether a CPN used to set up a Packet B-channel connection is ever involved in an X.25 connection and how these procedures interact with Reverse Charging. > After all, even on a one-subscriber-number BRI, there may be > eight phones and the switch cannot distinguish between them -- the PABX > is just a scaled-up version of that situation. A better PABX analogy might be a ten-number BRI with eight phones and two B-channels, and multiple DN apperances on each of the eight phones. Al Varney ------------------------------ From: tsw@cypher.apple.com (Tom Watson) Subject: Re: DID Questions Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 18:52:26 -0800 Organization: Apple Computer (more or less) In TELECOM Digest, V14 #53, Thomas Tengdin asks: > Can anyone tell me how DID lines pass the number down the trunk? Previous follow ups to this question related the techniques that are used for DID service. Having been on the ordering side of these goodies (we used them in answering service computer boxes) I note some other facts relating to DID service. 1) If you want to "crudely" simulate the CO side of DID service, a regular dial phone (if you get pulse type signalling) works very well. A bi-color LED in series will also tell you the status of answer/wink supervision. 2) If you don't provide battery back to the central office, a whole bunch of people get upset (telephone company, the DID user, and the guy calling in). Sometimes it takes frantic calls to repair droids to re-activate the trunks. Usually the calls require such items as T&N numbers, trunk group numbers, or other such data that you never have in front of you, and is usually NOT supplied by the telephone company. 3) Crossbar (#5XB) behaves much differently from ESS1/1A offices. On Crossbar offices there is no timeout (or at least it is really wierd) when the customer site has no battery. You end up sticking a "sender" which the CO guys get really upset about. On ESS offices the dial pulses (the only type of signalling I had experience with) are not done by opening & closing of a contact, but rather by the CO changing battery voltages on its side of the line. In addition, the first pulse of a dialed digit has a "serration" in it. This serration usually won't effect relays as it is very fast, but if you detect loop signalling by an optical isolator (like we did) its there!! 4) The T1 carrier facilities used to transport DID trunks are called DPO (dial pulse originate) and DPT (dial pulse terminate). Some of these draw small amounts of current from your equipment when idle. Don't make your loop sensor too sensitive, as it will be tripped up all the time. 5) The customer equipment determines when the call is "answered" by reversing the polarity of the loop supply. When telephone companies supplied termination equipment, the audio path was one way (from PBX to CO) until the call was "answered" to prevent people from not answering calls and getting work done. This allowed the PBX to send back things like ring, busy, and announcements. You could also "cheat" and not send back answer supervision. This is frowned upon, as the call is free. At one time I had a tone & voice pager that was connected to DID trunks that didn't return answer supervision. I could page from pay phones and get my money back. Fun and games (they don't do it any more). 6) The number of digits pulsed (or signalled) out from the CO is variable; we usually used three digits (the last three of the phone number), even though we didn't subscribe to 1000 phone numbers. 7) The billing arrangements are in two parts: Number of trunks, and the number of numbers. The number groups can be diverse, I've seen xxx-3400 to xxx-3499 and xxx-5600 to xxx-5699 on the same trun group signalling 400-499 and 600-699. I hope this aids in the understanding of DID lines and how they work. Have fun! Tom Watson tsw@cypher.apple.com ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 06 Feb 1994 00:30:00 GMT Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer Earlier, I wrote: > Finally, I talked to a supervisor, and we went through the notes on my > account. It seems my original call was taken by someone not familiar > with the offer, and this person failed to sign me up for the modem > (but did switch my line). > When I pointed out that I had called to sign up for the modem before > the offer expired, and that it was no fault of mine if the Sprint rep > didn't do it right, the supervisor promised to contact the manager in > charge (no longer Diane Worthy, it seems) and appeal. This was at the > end of last year, and I still have not heard anything. I received a call back from the supervisor, and he told me a modem would be shipped. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com A Series System Software Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages Mission Viejo, CA to: rgellens@mcimail.com] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 94 23:04:22 +0100 From: lars@eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: More About INTERNET Connections After my article about Internet conenctions, I have received many generic questions about connecting to the Internet. Here are some answers: 1) I have a BBS (or I'm setting one up). How do I get Internet Email access? The least expensive way to get mail to and from the Internet from a BBS environment is by using the UUCP protocol to connect to a site that has a "real" Internet connection. The Waffle BBS system (which is shareware) uses UUCP for external mail, and can also link up with USENET newsgroups [foot note 1]. If you aren't on friendly terms with an Internet site that can be persuaded to give you dial-up UUCP access, call UUNET or PSI. 2) The article listed several classes of Internet service providers in the US. How do I get service in Europe? The same classes of service exist in Europe. Be prepared to spend more for the telephone call charges, though. Except for Austria, there are no untimed local calls in Europe, so far as I know. There are several providers. EUNET has outlets in most west European countries. They can be reached by sending mail to info@eu.net and asking for rates and local access sites. 3) You mentioned a PC or Mac e-mail client called Eudora. Can you tell me more? Eudora exists in a Mac version (which I have used with MacTCP) and in a PC/Windows version. It used to be NCSA freeware, but the author moved to QualComm who have decided to take it commercial. The older version is still available by FTP from ftp.qualcomm.com. In a TCP environment, Eudora uses Post Office Protocol (POP3) to receive mail, and uses SMTP to send mail. Mail folders live on your PC (or Mac) in Unix mail file format. Your mailbox lives on a Unix host with a POP3 server daemon. When you start Eudora, and at interval thereafter, it polls the POP server, which authenticates you (username/password) and then hands over the current contents of /usr/spool/mail/username, which is then appended to the tail end of your INBOX. The interface then looks a lot like MAILTOOL. (It also looks a lot like QuickMail.) You can now read, reply and compose messages all you like. Later, you can flush the OUTBOX to the SMTP server on the same or a different mailhost. At least in the Mac environment, you can login in regular async mode instead of using TCP for uploads and downloads. Using PPP to connect to the host by modem, would be another option. The commercial Windows package costs $65 including floppy, manual and a year of free maintenance. The manual alone is $15. For more information, send mail to jwn2@qualcomm.com 4) You mentioned the PDIAL list of public access systems. How do I get this list? Send a message with the phrase "send PDIAL" to info-deli-server@netcom.com. 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: johng@ecs.comm.mot.com (John Gilbert) Subject: Re: Increasing Cordless Range Organization: Motorola, LMPS Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 12:43:52 -0600 In article , bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bill Leeke) wrote: > I would like to increase the range of my cordless phone. Does anyone > know if there is an easy way to do this? i.e. clip/screw a few > resistors ... > Would it be possible to put a linear amp on the base? Could you also > increase the gain of the base antenna? If you live in an area with lots of neighbors, the quickest and easiest way to increase your range is to buy a 900 MHz phone and put the base as high as possible in your house. An external antenna could be put on the base of a 46/49 phone, but this would violate the FCC part 15 type acceptance of the phone. Additionally, your base would receive more interference from other handsets so you would have fewer clear channels available for your use. You would also have a much higher probability of causing interference to your neighbors phones and baby monitors. In an area with very light use of the 46/49 band, an external antenna might help. RF amplifiers at the base and handset probably wouldn't help without other changes to the radios. Other elements of the radio such as the duplexers and RF bypassing aren't designed for the higher power and probably wouldn't work as well as before. Linear amplifiers aren't required for FM signals and consume more battery than a class C (non-linear) amplifier. John Gilbert johng@ecs.comm.mot.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Increasing Cordless Range From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz) Date: Sun, 06 Feb 94 07:41:31 EST Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861 bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bill Leeke) writes: > I would like to increase the range of my cordless phone. Does anyone > know if there is an easy way to do this? i.e. clip/screw a few > resistors ... > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember that whatever you do, you also > need to increase th handset's range accordingly. Remember also that it's highly illegal to do that in the US. aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes indeed, it is illegal, and although I don't know of any cases where the FBI/FCC/whoever has made a case out of it, the fact is to increase the range of a cordless phone is a lot of work for little improvement, a lot more interference, and the frustrations of the handset (at some newsly created distance away) being able to receive the base quite clearly but not being able to get back to it. Ever get in the outer fringes of where your cordless phone will operate and have an incoming call arrive? Your handset chirps as it should, you press the appropriate key to answer but the handset keeps on chirping. Why? It hears the base calling it, but the base hears nothing back in return and keeps on sending a ringing signal. It is *hard* to increase the range of the handset, thus the equal distance in either direction which must be maintained for the unit to work properly is lost. In fact, increasing the base output is *so easy* (just a trim pot or two, clip a diode maybe) and *it* (the base) will talk loud and far. But for what reason if the handset cannot get back to it and all the baby monitors in between get to listen to it instead. Overall, don't bother. Go 900 megs with the base unit as high as you can get it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 06 Feb 94 03:55:51 EST From: M A Karinen <73270.2240@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones It seems to me that the problem described in a recent message: > It is a bit of pain to carry a heavy battery and to re-charge it > everyday. Most of the battery power is consumed during the stand-by > time. People can't afford to talk to long. ... should mostly be history by now, if you have an advanced cellular network and a modern handheld phone. My analogue Nokia 101 handset, a very small one, easily stays powered for about four days (4*24 hours) with light calling with the thicker battery, and two days (2*24 hours) with the smallest battery. The thicker battery provides about two hours of talk time in city environs (ie the phone probably uses low power because the cell site is nearby); the smallest battery does about 45-50 minutes. The thick battery carries me well through two business days of active calling, typically, and the thin one through one day. On my previous phone the power ran out halfway through the day: I understand the improvement come through something called "battery save managament" that was installed in the cellular network (the NMT system), and new phones compatible with the feature. I do not know how the battery management feature works, in practice. So, I am fairly happy -- if I did not need to worry what my typical 45 minutes of daily airtime costs ... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 07:04:08 -0800 From: puma@netcom.com (Gary Breuckman) Subject: Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones In article is written: > I am a new mobile phone user. In general, it is an useful toy. > However, it also has some potential problems. The biggest problem is > with the battery life. It is a bit of pain to carry a heavy battery > and to re-charge it everyday. Most of the battery power is consumed > during the stand-by time. People can't afford to talk to long. > The problem could be solved if the mobile phones are designed > differently. For instance, it could have an internal switch which > turned the receiver circuit on and off periodically for a short interval > to monitor the incoming calls. Off because it should be on during the > conversation. For instance, turn it on for 0.01 seconds every second > would not miss an incoming call but could increase the stand-by time > by a factor of 100. We all know that a pager consumes very little power > and many cordless phones do this to save battery power. Since the same folks who make pagers make cellular phones, I would think that at least some of the power conservation schemes have been implemented, and that they are doing the best job they can. What I think is a better idea is to use a pager, with voicemail if desired, and have folks call that. You can then choose which calls to return using your expensive cellular airtime, and if a landline phone is available, you can return calls using that. You would turn your cellular off entirely except when making calls. puma@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew) Subject: Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 21:16:04 GMT I am pretty sure that pocket type cellular phones here in the US use a power saving feature that cycles the reciever off and on while the unit is in standby mode. It seems to take a second or two for my Motorola pocket phone to decide it should ring. The cellular paging channel does send the page out to the mobile several times in a row, so there is a reasonable chance of catching the page even if the mobile unit were to cycle its receiver. The Motorola flip phone will run for more than 24 hours in standby mode with a nickle-metal-hydride battery. The unit and battery are easily small enough to fit inside a suit coat pocket. The 24 hour ni-cd battery is a bit bigger than the n-m-h pack, but has the advantage of tolerating overcharging better and has less self-discharge when not in use. I'm not familiar with the way GSM phones in other parts of the world work, so there might be a reason they need to stay on continuously. Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511 wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu amateur radio 146.58: N8WED ------------------------------ From: wwalker@qualcomm.com (Bill Walker) Subject: Re: Increase Stand-by Time of Mobile Phones Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 16:00:26 -0800 Organization: Qualcomm, Inc. In article , yang@mundoe.maths.mu.OZ.AU (Yang Yu-shuang) wrote: > Hi Net Friends, [cellular phone battery life is too short] > The problem could be solved if the mobile phones are designed > differently. For instance, it could have an internal switch which > turned the receiver circuit on and off periodically for a short interval > to monitor the incoming calls. Off because it should be on during the > conversation. For instance, turn it on for 0.01 seconds every second > would not miss an incoming call but could increase the stand-by time > by a factor of 100. We all know that a pager consumes very little power > and many cordless phones do this to save battery power. Unfortunately, you _would_ miss an incoming call, since in a cellular network the call is really just a short message (a "page") sent to your phone. Unless the base station knows exactly when the mobile will "wake up", calls cannot go through. The U.S. CDMA Digital Cellular system (as specified by EIA/TIA IS-95) provides for a scheme such as you describe. The Paging Channel is divided into time slots, and mobiles may be set up to only wake up during certain slots. When the mobile registers in the system, it informs the system in which slots messages can be sent to the mobile. I note that your address is in Australia, which I believe is currently deploying GSM. I don't know whether GSM provides for this. Bill Walker - WWalker@qualcomm.com - QUALCOMM, Inc., San Diego, CA USA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #64 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa27350; 7 Feb 94 11:52 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA28305; Mon, 7 Feb 94 07:30:58 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA28293; Mon, 7 Feb 94 07:30:54 CST Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 07:30:54 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402071330.AA28293@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #65 TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Feb 94 07:31:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 65 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CERT Warning: Corrupted Passwords (Ben Delisle) Guard Your Royal Database (Hackers Still With Us) (Donald E. Kimberlin) A Small Town in Wyoming (John Sullivan) Ordering 56Kb Leased Line (Chris Ambler) Any LD Carriers With Cellular Plans? (Dave Goldblatt) Re: Phone Number History (Daryl R. Gibson) Re: Phone Number History (Dave Niebuhr) Re: Phone Number History (Carl Moore) Re: Phone Number History (Jay Hennigan) Re: Phone Number History (David A. Kaye) Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... (J.S. Wylie) Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... (jdl@wam.umd.edu) Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... (Carl Moore) Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... (Jerry Natowitz) Re: Wiretapping Problems (Michael D. Griffin) Re: Wiretapping Problems (Gary Breuckman) Re: Caller ID in Software (Stuart Whitmore) Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones (coyne@cc.utexas.edu) 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: delisle@eskimo.com (Ben Delisle) Subject: CERT Warning: Corrupted Passwords. Organization: Corner Core Dump Cafe Date: Sun, 6 Feb 1994 20:49:42 GMT Internet Warning. Your passwords may have been compromised. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you remotely use Telnet, Ftp, or Rlogin, ect. Read This Now. According to an advisiory from CERT (see comp.security.announce) as well as articles in several national newspapers -- {Seattle Times, NY Times, Washington Post}, others -- there is a group(s) of hackers on the Internet with 'sniffers' that are grabbing passwords and account information on its way to it's final destinations. The sniffers are looking for password information as you remotely FTP, Telnet rsh, rlogin, or other related functions. It is possible for them to attatch a sniffer to your system; if they can get in, they will use your system to grab more passwords. The sniffers are programs placed in systems, computers, routers that may be in the path between your site and the remote site. **> If you see strange things in your account contact your system administrator at once. <** According to published reports, several tens-of-thousands of passwords may have been captured. This is affecting much of the Internet. I have no other details. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The same report was in all the papers here Sunday morning. Everyone is urged to change their password(s) immediatly, and it really would not hurt to get into the habit of changing your password at least every two or three months. Readers may recall a few years ago when the thing with Len Rose came up (he was an active Usenet participant / Internet denizen who was sent to the penitentiary [I don't know how penitent he became if at all, but that is another matter] for his hacking activities), the scheme then involved the sneaky collection of passwords by tampering with the Unix program 'su' (or 'superuser') and propogating a patch to 'su' which would collect the passwords presented by users. So, it looks like the password and account sneak thieves are hard at work once again ... let's get those passwords changed. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 18:07 EST From: Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> Subject: Guard Your Royal Database (Hackers Still With Us) COMPUTER VANDALS SAY THEY GOT DRUNK, TRIED TO RING UP QUEEN (Feb. 3) A couple of British computerists have told a London TV station they gained access to British Telecom's secret phone files and even tried to make drunken phone calls to Queen Elizabeth II. The two -- aged 23 and 16, who agreed to appear on a Channel Four television documentary called "Walk On The Wild Side" on the grounds they would not be identified -- said they called the queen at Buckingham Palace several times but that servants answered the phone. One of the men, who was from southeast England, said the Buckingham Palace calls eventually were traced by authorities, adding, "The first time I was ever traced was from Buckingham Palace when I found the direct dial-up for Buckingham Palace. And I had too much to drink one night and thought I'd have a chat with the queen but it didn't go down too well. That was my first call that was ever traced." United Press International, reporting on the broadcast, said the pair also showed the film makers, from the independent television company Big Star In A Wee Picture, "how to hack into the U.S. military system and to steal from credit card companies." Said the wire service, "They said they only stole from the credit companies when they needed a new piece of computer equipment. They also claimed to have made free use of gaps in the telephone system to make free international calls." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There was an instance several years ago of obscene calls made to Queen Elizabeth II which were traced to an interna- tional origin here in the United States. It took a cooperative effort between British Telecom, AT&T, and Illinois Bell to catch him, but they finally did. The story has been here in the Digest in the past. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sullivan@msri.org (John Sullivan) Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 14:45:49 PST Subject: A Small Town in Wyoming While driving across South Dakota and Wyoming last fall, there wasn't much choice of radio stations to listen to. At one point I was near Buffalo, Wyoming, tuned to FM 92.7, which at the time was giving local small-town news. This included notice that someone had found a dog. The owner was asked to "call us [the radio station] at 5126". Could it be that in this town, four-digit dialing is possible? Or does everyone just know what the exchange is? (The phone book at the next gas station showed Buffalo as 684, I think.) John Sullivan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although four digit dialing might still be possible, it is unlikely. Probably everyone in town gives their number out that way, with the exchange assumed. Not only is everyone in town on the same exchange, but if the place is really small, all the numbers may possibly begin with '5' as well! I've seen that in a few cases; all the listings fit on two or three pages as a supplement to some other (larger) phone book, with the first *four* (or sometimes five!) digits all the same and only the last three digits varying. Small town, America! Very small town ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler - Fubar) Subject: Ordering 56Kb Leased Line Organization: The Phishtank Date: Mon, 07 Feb 1994 07:13:41 GMT I find I need to order a leased line from my premesis in San Luis Obispo, CA (805-782 or 805-781) to either San Jose, CA (408-241), Culver City (310-842) or Irvine (714-708). Who do I call? AT&T? MCI? Sprint? Are there others that can do this? This is for simple Internet access; it'll be going to a service provider who will be putting a CSU/DSU & router on both ends. Suggestions, bids, phone numbers, etc, are needed. Thanks! ++Christopher(); // All original text is strictly the _opinion_ of the poster chris@toys.fubarsys.com / cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu Christopher J. Ambler, Author, FSUUCP 1.42, FSVMP 1.0, UUPlus Utilities Erpnotes: The Ozric Tentacles Mailing List: erpnotes-request@toys.fubarsys.com ------------------------------ From: daveg@locus.com (Dave Goldblatt) Subject: Any LD Carriers With Cellular Plans? Date: 07 Feb 1994 03:59:12 GMT Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Burlington MA Reply-To: daveg@locus.com Having recently broken down and picked up a cellular phone, I decided to determine what the delta was between using it and my home phone service was. Cellular One / Boston has a program which waives airtime charges at night, so it basically comes down to what the LD carriers will charge me. (I'm not too worried about local calls) Since I have AT&T as my primary on my home lines, I figured I'd give them a shot. As I've got ROA, I called that group to see if they had any ideas about there being any discount programs available on "residential" cellular. I received the telephonic equivalent of a blank look, followed by a lengthy chain of runarounds at AT&T, even to groups that didn't deal with long distance. ("Thought of getting pissed at us? You will.") While I'm not particularly hopeful, I'm curious if anyone knows if any of the major carriers offer discounts to cellular customers. Thanks! Dave Goldblatt (daveg@locus.com) Locus Computing Corporation Burlington, MA (617) 229-4980 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 1994 00:27:01 MST From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Re: Phone Number History Pat, I've enjoyed your phone history notes ... I remember taking a tour (as a kid) around the local CO/switchboard, and watching the operators plugging in the lines. One interesting note about that small town switchboard was that the switchboard summoned the local police and fire departments. When a call came in for the fire department, the operator would ring five "fire phones" at volunteer firemen's homes, until someone answered, when she'd put the caller through. If she couldn't get a fireman, she'd keep ringing other phones until she got one. Before she rang the fire phone, though, she'd throw a switch that would start a siren to bring all the volunteer firemen, (and most of the town, of course) to the fire station. To summon the police, she'd take down the information and hit a switch that lit a light hanging over main street ... the local cops would see the light, presumably, while driving down the street, and would then call in and find out what was up ... when they changed to a dial system, they wired the cop phone to that same switch, somehow, so when you rang the phone number, it would turn on the light and activate this huge old answering machine. Our phone number was 200, and my father's work number was "96." When they went to direct dialing, he had a sign painter come over and paint over the number on the sign in front of the shop. I notice that the new paint has chipped off, though after 30 years, so it's gone back to "phone 96" on the sign ... Daryl [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you ride the elevated train in Chicago there is a point along the trip where a building to the west of the tracks has a large, very faded sign advertising some local merchant (of fifty years ago) and his phone number 'Edgewater 537'. The use of a flashing strobe light to announce a phone call is common enough. There is a taxicab stand near one of the elevated train stations here where idle cabs will park to wait for passengers. A phone is in a weather-proof box mounted on the wall and an incoming call to that number causes a little strobe light on the top to flash. Any cab driver parked along there who sees it is invited to go over and answer the phone and get a pickup order. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 07:21:33 EST From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Re: Phone Number History Re: The discussion about prefix names: My exchange prefix is known ATlantic. 516-281-XXXX is still referred to as ATlantic in the phone books yet none of the older ones using the 516-28x designation state anything about ATlantic. 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: Mon, 7 Feb 94 06:58:38 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Phone Number History No, PENnsylvania becomes 736, not 636 ! ------------------------------ From: jay@coyote.rain.org (Jay Hennigan) Subject: Re: Phone Number History Date: 6 Feb 1994 22:18:35 -0800 Organization: Regional Access Information Network (RAIN) This is a fascinating thread on the evolution of numbering plans. Does anyone remember phone numbers with a letter suffix? In Riverside, CA (Pacific Telephone) the manual numbers for party-line service had a letter at the end of the number. My parents' house was 4699J. The letter was the Morse Code symbol for the ringing cadence. "J" was one short and three longs. They cut to crossbar (one of the first crossbar exchanges, I believe) around 1955 or 56. The numbering plan was 2-5, but could just as easily have been 3-4, as the only exchange was OVerland 3-xxxx which equates to OVErland-xxxx. Jay Hennigan jay@rain.org Santa Barbara CA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the party line suffixes in most places were -J, -M -R and -W. I never had a party line, but a friend of mine did. Do party lines still exist anywhere or are they all discontinued by now? PAT] ------------------------------ From: dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye) Subject: Re: Phone Number History Date: 6 Feb 1994 19:30:45 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] varney@ihlpe.att.com wrote: > Exchanges never had conflicting names because telephone companies > always had to name the building containing the exchange. In most > cases, the town name WAS the exchange name ... I think there was a tendency to create CO names which didn't conflict with CO names in other cities, too. In the SF Bay Area we had lots of CO names which had nothing to do with their towns, neighborhoods, or local companies. However, we did have TEmplebar in Oakland, which was named after the Temple Bar where telco employees hung out. We had BAyview in SF, but it was more than five miles from the Bayview neighborhood. We never had a MUrray Hill (68) as in New York, but we did have a MUlberry. Oakland had an OLympic, while Fremont, 15 miles to the south had an OLiver. The Bay Area suffered through many other contortions which didn't mean anything to us, such as TWinoaks, THornwall, GReenleaf, HEmlock, WAbash, WYman, BEacon, BRowning, JEfferson, ELgin, KEllogg, and HIgate. I haven't seen any of these combinations in other cities, so I can only assume that when an operaor in New York or Chicago was asked to call "TWinoaks 2000" s/he knew to call a number in Oakland, California. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There were some exchange names which seemed to be common everywhere, while others were unique to some community. Many places had PLAza, and we had a WABash here in Chicago. But some we had here I have never heard of in other places: GRAceland, MULberry, TUXedo, INTerocean, VICtory, EDGewater and IRVing are a few which come to mind. PAT] ------------------------------ From: JSWYLIE@delphi.com Subject: Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 19:10:45 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) I feel that the proper solution is for Directory Assistance always to quote the ten digit number. It IS NOT reasonable to assume that callers will know of the latest NPA splits. Therefore the companies have an obligation to do everything to assist the poor caller. It IS reasonable to assume that the caller has learned the basics of the phone system. Here, the only OBLIGATION is to provide clear instruc- tions in the telephone directory. However, they could eliminate the confusion for those who don't/won't learn by accepting 1+ and 0+ ten digits for ALL calls, not just long distance ones. I've tried this on several 215-land switches and it works just fine. It didn't when I tried it a number of years ago. Things do get better. Please understand, I'm not against helping the less fortunate, but when it is done at the expense of those who are willing to use their brains, then I get upset. ------------------------------ From: jdl@wam.umd.edu (HornUser) Subject: Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... Date: 7 Feb 1994 03:11:58 GMT Organization: University of Maryland College Park In article Paul Robinson writes: > Then we discovered the problem. Davis is in the *916* areacode, *NOT* > in 707. And the funny thing was, living in the Washington, DC area, > I'm used to hearing the local DA recording give the area code before a > number. Later tonight, in repeating the experiment, I called 707 > information. The first Directory Assistance operator informed me that > the area code for Davis is 916, and to dial 916-555-1212 to get > Directory Assistance there. The second call to 707 DA gave me the > 752-1011 number without mentioning the area code. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way it works is that a lot of DA > Bureaus are handled from the same location by the same operators and > they are *supposed* to pay attention to what lines the incoming calls > arrive on, but they do not always do that. You'd think it would be > just as simple to ignore the identity of the incoming trunk and just > always recite the response with an area code on the front to avoid > this kind of confusion, but the answer to that is that since most > people do in fact call the correct area code (plus 555-1212) to obtain > the desired number, the recital of the area code at the start of the > number would confuse people (the local people) into thinking *they* > had to dial the area code first also. PAT] Why can't the computers automatically give out the correct area codes when the caller dialed the incorrect area code? Surely it is not impossible for someone who calls 707 555-1212 to get a recording that says 916 nnn-nnnn whenever the COMPUTER detects that the caller called 707 DA? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think in some places the DA clerk sees the correct number on a terminal screen and moves the cursor to that spot for the computer to begin vocalizing what is at the cursor, and it does not include an area code. I think it can be done to include the area code (if different) provided the operator tells the system it is to be added, but generally they assume the caller is using the right number to get into the DA system. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 94 13:13:59 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... The editor's note mentions confusion caused by giving out the area code with all number referrals. Was that ever a problem in the DC area? (By the way, I believe the DC area allows any direct-dialed call in country code 1 to go as 1 + NPA + 7D -- even when 7D, for a local call within an area code, is available.) But yes, the area code needs to be given out when it is different from the area code used by the caller. I had a case where I called Maryland directory assistance (301 area before the 410 split) and was given a number in Washington DC without the 202 area code. (I was talking to a person at the other end, so I said it should have been given out with the area code.) ------------------------------ From: jin@spdcc.com (Jerry Natowitz) Subject: Re: The Right Number, But Not *Quite* Right ... Organization: Guest of Stephen Dyer Consulting Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1994 18:27:23 GMT Organization: Guest of Stephen Dyer Consulting Related to DI operators making sure you have the correct area code: I live in Brookline Massachusetts, which my NJ accent oftens pronounces as Brooklyn. One day I call the local DI for a number in Brookline. The operator informs me that Brooklyn in in AC 718. Jerry Natowitz - jin@spdcc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is a chronic problem all over the USA as operators in the south try to figure out what the northerners are saying, and vice-versa. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mgriffin@access3.digex.net (Michael D. Griffin) Subject: Re: Wiretapping Problems Date: 6 Feb 1994 16:17:55 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA Pawel Dobrowolski (dobrowol@husc8.harvard.edu) wrote: >> There is also a device (TDR, time-domain- >> reflectometer) that will bounce a signal down the line and give you a >> visual indication of bridge taps or irregularities in impedance along >> the circuit. You can usually see any splice or terminal box. > Anyone care to answer the following questions? > - how much tech. knowledge do I need to use it? Some :-), TDR's provide a o'scope like trace of the line. Thus it must be interpreted and the user must know what each *glitch* or *event indication* indicates. The real problem is that if you have no previous record of what the line looked like before the *tap* was placed, how can you distinguish between a *normal* event and an *added* one. > -how to operate it? This is not really the problem. See above. > -how much does it cost? Anywhere from about $3,000 to about $8,000, depends on range and resolution desired. > -where to get it? Tektronix and Riser-Bond (and others) sell them. You can also rent them at about 10% of purchase price/month. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 08:49:27 GMT From: puma@netcom.com (Gary Breuckman) Subject: Re: Wiretapping Problems In article is written: > Anyone care to answer the following questions? > -how much tech. knowledge do I need to use it? > -how to operate it? > -how much does it cost? > -where to get it? OK, an example ... Tektronix 1503C metallic cable tester. Quoting TEK DIRECT: "The 1503C metallic cable tester will relentlessly hunt down problems in LANs, WANs, phone lines and CATV metworks. From 10 inches to 50,000 ft, the powerful 1503C can pinpoint a fault with lethal accuracy in seconds with pulse widths from 2 to 1000 ns. And its optional YT-1 chart recorder lets you document the event for the troops back home. $4,950.00, add $950 for the chart recorder option." The chart produced, or screen image, is an oscilloscope trace with a horizontal line representing distance. Any impedance change, bridge tap, terminal block (depending on how good and seamless the block is), change in wire type, shows up as 'squiggles' on the line. You should probably talk with a Tektronic sales engineer regarding your specific application. Other manufacturers, HP, etc., have similar equipment. puma@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 1994 04:43:05 -0800 From: whitmore@tahoma.cwu.edu (Rattlesnake Stu) Subject: Re: Caller ID in Software Organization: Central Washington University james@kaiwan.com wrote: > 5. Data handshake and shell to external program Ah, yes, but ZFAX doesn't tell that external program anything relevant (e.g., COM port, connected speed, error correction status...). I wish it did! If it did that, and if it swapped itself to XMS and only left a few K active in conventional memory, I'd use it for a front-end to a BBS. (A front end that can handle voice mail, faxback, etc. -- that's my idea of COOL software!) -stuart whitmore@tahoma.cwu.edu ------------------------------ From: coyne@thing1.cc.utexas.edu Subject: Re: New York Telephone Issuing "New" Rotary Phones Date: 6 Feb 1994 23:48:36 GMT Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas In article Jerry Leichter writes: > You know, some of the ancient Greeks would have loved this mailing > list (and the net general). It's populated by people who, like them, > believe that sheer logic is enough to understand the world -- you don't > need any "dirty" observation. > "Everyone knows" (by simple reasoning) that replacing touchtone phones > with rotary phones won't help because "the bad guys" will just go to > Radio Shack and buy tone dialers. "Everyone knows" (by simple > reasoning) that this whole approach just won't do anything. This recurring thread has this simple middle class suburbanite confused and baffled. Why does crippling the phone system cripple the drug trade? I have applied sheer logic to the problem and am unable to fathom any reason for the drug trade to be particularly dependent on telecommunication infrastructure. Jerry Leichter may ridicule me, if he must, but I prefer to ask here rather than do "'dirty" observation." I am hopeful that he will understand. ;-) What are the mechanics of the trade that are particularly dependent on telecommunication infrastructure? Pagers, cell tels, and pay phones receive frequent mention in this forum and in the popular press as REALLY IMPORTANT drug trade infrastructure, but I cannot imagine why. Is it some way to minimize the legal risk? Do they have a tele- clientele? Is it some way to stay ahead of the street cops? Do they actually have a rigid hierarchical structure with formal command and control procedures? Are call records useless to law enforcement agencies? Baffled but enquiring minds want to know. My spouse works in a public school district and I have always suspected that the real reason educators want to ban pagers and the like is that since educators are in a telecom black hole during the day the students must be forced to join them. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Basically, using the phone is a way for drug dealers to make contacts at a safe, discreet distance. Any why does any business have telephone service? Why do pizza delivery places have phone service? The answer would seem to me to be for the convenience of thieir customers in placing orders. So this convenience factor, plus the obvious inability of drug dealers to accept straight walk-up traffic without knowing *who* they are dealing with make the telephone an ideal tool of the trade. You take away the convenience and the ability to hide which the telephone affords its users, and it puts a crimp in the drug dealer's business, which is all most neighborhood people are asking for. The theory seems to be the sales will never stop, but if the phones around here are hard to use, they'll go somewhere else. It seems to work, probably because drug dealers don't usually keep up on developments in telecom. They don't patronize Radio Shack and they apparently do not read this Digest! :) It works, say the neighborhood people. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #65 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa15602; 8 Feb 94 4:11 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA24506; Tue, 8 Feb 94 00:58:02 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA24496; Tue, 8 Feb 94 00:57:58 CST Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 00:57:58 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402080657.AA24496@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #66 TELECOM Digest Tue, 8 Feb 94 00:58:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 66 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson TeleStrategies Conference Announcement (Matthew Lucas) Campaign Against Clipper (Dave Banisar) Skeptical Inquirer: EMF Scare (Monty Solomon) VPN Services (Jeffrey Stone) Busy Call Return and Hunt Groups (David Leibold) Egghead Software Sells Bogus Phone Directory Software? (Alan Boritz) BCE (Bell Canada Parent) Posts Loss (David Leibold) The Hi-Tech Green Weenies (The Door Magazine via David Leibold) 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: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 17:52:11 -0500 From: Matthew Lucas Subject: TeleStrategies Conference Announcement INTERNETcom '94 An Internet Commercialization Conference and Exposition Washington, DC March 21-23, 1994 *How to Market and Sell to 20 Million Internet Users *Entrepreneurial Opportunities Created by New Internet Policies *Leveraging Internet For a Competitive Advantage Tuesday, March 22, 1994 8:30-9:00 Registration 9:00-10:30 OVERVIEW Commercial traffic on the Internet is rapidly increasing. What is driving this growth? Where will new markets emerge? How large will they be? Who are the current and potential players? What business opportunities are being created? What commercial uses of the Internet are emerging? How will today's Internet culture change? What challenges must be met as commercialization efforts move forward? What is the role of the National Science Foundation? Gordon Cook, President, Cook Network Consultants Anthony Rutkowski, Vice President, Internet Society Bill Washburn, Executive Director Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) 10:30-11:00 Coffee Break 11:00-12:00 SECURITY ISSUES Security is still a critical issue for anyone who wants to do business on the Internet. The speaker will address the threats, concerns and countermeasures that are important and discuss what security policies and procedures need to be established. Stephen Crocker, Vice President Trusted Information Systems, Inc. 12:00-1:30 Hosted Lunch and Exhibits 1:30-3:30 DESIGN AND DELIVERY OF INFORMATION SERVICES What does it take to design and deliver a successful information service? Who will the customers be, what do they want and how much will they pay? What impact will commercialization efforts have on the information service industry? What challenges lie ahead, including copyright and licensing issues? What business strategies should the information industry adopt? Jeff Crigler, Director, Business Information Services Mead Data Central Isabella Hinds, Manager, Professional Relations Copyright Clearance Center Robert Raisch, President, The Internet Company Richard Vancil, Vice President, Marketing, Individual Inc. 3:30-4:00 Coffee Break and Exhibits 4:00-4:30 HOW TO ADVERTISE EFFECTIVELY How can effective, nonintrusive advertising be accomplished on the Internet? What features of the Internet culture and etiquette are important to understand in order to be successful? Judith Axler Turner, a head of the working group on advertising for the Coalition for Networked Information 4:30-5:30 USING THE INTERNET FOR A COMPETITIVE EDGE How can business owners enhance their operations by using the Internet not only to offer a variety of information and document delivery services, but also to market and sell? The speakers will discuss the lessons learned in implementing and using Internet connectivity and explain how to identify business costs. Chris Vandenburg, Internetworking Product Manager Rockwell International Speaker to be Announced 5:30-6:30 Reception and Exhibits Wednesday, March 23, 1994 8:30-9:15 INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS What opportunities exist for providing Internet access? What will be driving growth over the next few years? What range of services can be provided? What are end users looking for? What does it take to be successful? Michael Ballard, Chief Operating Officer, UUNET Speaker to be Announced 9:15-10:00 NAVIGATION TOOLS What are the primary challenges to navigating on the Internet and what tools are currently available? Bruce Antelman, President, Information Express Kevin Oliveau, Engineer, WAIS, Inc. 10:00-10:30 Coffee Break and Exhibits 10:30-11:30 BILLING AND SETTLEMENT ISSUES The speakers will address the following topics: billing/accounting issues and Internet service provisioning; cost and rate structures; billing options available to information service providers; and an update on billing-related activities of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Taso Devetzis, Member Technical Staff, Bellcore Bob Doyle, Director, Marketing, Sprint 11:30-11:45 Coffee Break 11:45-12:30 INTERNET ACCESS VIA CABLE TV Cable companies are looking at advanced communications uses for today's cable TV systems. One such use is remote high-speed access. The speakers will describe a cable-based access method and provide an update on cable/Internet trials, including a distance education project. Gordon Cook, President, Cook Network Consultants - MODERATOR James Ginsburg, Senior Information Officer, Jones Intercable, Inc. Ed Moura, Vice President, Marketing and Sales Hybrid Networks, Inc. Pre-Conference Tutorial UNDERSTANDING INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES FOR NON-ENGINEERS AND STRATEGIC PLANNERS by Dr. Jerry Lucas and Invited Faculty Monday, March 21, 1994 * 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. This one-day tutorial is for the non-engineer, strategic planner, entrepreneur or anyone who has to understand the Internet in order to make business decisions about emerging commercial opportunities. This tutorial covers not only Internet technologies, economics and leading-edge opportunities, but also looks at operational issues such as addressing, network management and security from a business development perspective. 1. INTERNET OVERVIEW: What is the Internet? Who controls it? What can you do with it? Who pays for it? Who are the players domestically and internationally? What is the role of the NII and NREN? Why are the RBOCs, cable TV companies, IXCs and PDA vendors interested in Internet? Why all the attention to commercialization? 2. INTERNET ACCESS, NAVIGATION AND APPLICATIONS: How to find, share and sell information on the Internet. The basic application tools and navigation/search systems (FTP, TELNET, ARCHIE, GOPHER, WWW, WAIS, etc.). Access service providers (CIX, PSI, Sprint and others). Access options (dial-up, dedicated, frame relay, cable TV and wireless). New entrepreneurial developments. 3. INTERNET ADDRESSING: IP addressing. How to obtain addresses (Class A,B,and C). CIDR, Internet DNS and how to register. Setting up an E-mail server, bulletin board and directory service. New business opportunities. 4. INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES: Role of TCP/IP. MAC vs. PC products. LAN access (SLIP, PPP, frame relay, etc.) and WAN and ATM developments. IPX, DECNET and APPLETALK. Leading edge vendors and where their products are headed. 5. INTERNET MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY: Managing a commercial Internet service. SNMP management tools and products. Security concerns, encryption, authentication and Clipper Chip issues. Other operational concerns related to doing business on the Internet. WORKSHOP TRACK Monday, March 21, 1994 9:00-12:30 INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET What is the Internet? How does it work? How can it help me? How much does it cost to use? What are the rules and policies that govern the Internet? GETTING CONNECTED What does it take to get connected to the Internet? What choices are available? How much does it cost to get connected? What should I look for in a service provider? What problems can I expect and how can they be solved? 2:00-5:00 INFORMATION ACCESS AND DELIVERY How can I find out what electronic information is available on the Internet? Specifically, what information, catalogs, textual documents and databases are available and how can they be accessed? Tuesday, March 22, 1994 9:00-12:00 NAVIGATING THE INTERNET What tools are available for navigating through the Internet and searching for information? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these techniques? What is the outlook for the future? 2:00-5:00 ACCESS AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES Once your organization has been connected to the Internet, who should have access? What guidelines and policies should be set to maximize the benefits for everyone? What management and training issues will arise in this new environment? RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL FOR INTERNET ENTREPRENEURS What are venture capitalists looking for when they want to invest? How should you structure your business plan to make it attractive to investors? Wednesday, March 23, 1994 9:00-12:00 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET What electronic information resources developed by and about the government are available on the Internet? DEMONSTRATIONS / EXHIBITS Live Demonstrations of: * Navigating Tools - Online Services * Internet-based Commercial Applications * Internet Access via Cable TV * Fax-on-Demand Exhibit Hours: Monday, March 21, 1994 12:00PM-7:00PM Tuesday, March 22, 1994 10:00AM-7:00PM Wednesday, March 23, 1994 10:00AM-2:00PM ----------------------------------------------------- CONFERENCE HOTEL: The conference will be held at the SHERATON CRYSTAL CITY HOTEL 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202, (703) 486-1111. CONFERENCE HOURS: Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday. Session hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday; 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday; and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR IMMEDIATE REGISTRATION CALL TELESTRATEGIES AT 703-734-7050 For exhibit information call JACKIE McGUIGAN at (703) 734-7050. ------------------------------ Organization: CPSR Washington Office From: Dave Banisar Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 22:28:08 EST Subject: Campaign Against Clipper CPSR ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN TO OPPOSE CLIPPER PROPOSAL contact: rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org (202 544 9240) Washington, DC -- Following the White House decision on Friday to endorse a secret surveillance standard for the information highway, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) today announced a national campaign to oppose the government plan. The Clipper proposal, developed in secret by the National Security Agency, is a technical standard that will make it easier for government agents to wiretap the emerging data highway. Industry groups, professional associations and civil liberties organizations have expressed almost unanimous opposition to the plan since it was first proposed in April 1993. According to Marc Rotenberg, CPSR Washington director, the Administration made a major blunder with Clipper. "The public does not like Clipper and will not accept it. This proposal is fatally flawed." CPSR cited several problems with the Clipper plan: o The technical standard is subject to misuse and compromise. It would provide government agents with copies of the keys that protect electronic communications. "It is a nightmare for computer security," said CPSR Policy Analyst Dave Banisar. o The underlying technology was developed in secret by the NSA, an intelligence agency responsible for electronic eavesdropping, not privacy protection. Congressional investigations in the 1970s disclosed widespread NSA abuses, including the illegal interception of millions of cables sent by American citizens. o Computer security experts question the integrity of the technology. Clipper was developed in secret and its specifications are classified. CPSR has sued the government seeking public disclosure of the Clipper scheme. o NSA overstepped its legal authority in developing the standard. A 1987 law explicitly limits the intelligence agency's power to set standards for the nation's communications network. o There is no evidence to support law enforcement's claims that new technologies are hampering criminal investigations. CPSR recently forced the release of FBI documents that show no such problems. o The Administration ignored the overwhelming opposition of the general public. When the Commerce Department solicited public comments on the proposal last fall, hundreds of people opposed the plan while only a few expressed support. CPSR today announced four goals for its campaign to oppose the Clipper initiative: o First, to educate the public about the implications of the Clipper proposal. o Second, to encourage people to express their views on the Clipper proposal, particularly through the computer network. Toward that goal, CPSR has already begun an electronic petition on the Internet computer network urging the President to withdraw the Clipper proposal. In less than one week, the CPSR campaign has drawn thousands of electronic mail messages expressing concern about Clipper. To sign on, email clipper.petition@cpsr.org with the message "I oppose clipper" in the body of the text. o Third, to pursue litigation to force the public disclosure of documents concerning the Clipper proposal and to test the legality of the Department of Commerce's decision to endorse the plan. o Fourth, to examine alternative approaches to Clipper. Mr. Rotenberg said "We want the public to understand the full implications of this plan. Today it is only a few experts and industry groups that understand the proposal. But the consequences of Clipper will touch everyone. It will affect medical payments, cable television service, and everything in between. CPSR is a membership-based public interest organization. For more information about CPSR, send email to cpsr@cpsr.org or call 415 322 3778. For more information about Clipper, check the CPSR Internet library CPSR.ORG. FTP/WAIS/Gopher and listserv access are available. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 15:58:28 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Skeptical Inquirer: EMF Scare Reply-To: roscom!monty@Think.COM FYI. Newsgroups: alt.cellular From: aeldra@netcom.com (Patrick Kane) Subject: Skeptical Inquirer: EMF scare Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 15:38:10 GMT The recent cellular telephone cancer scare got America thinking about electromagnetic fields in the air around us. Do they cause cancer? Is at even *possible* that they could cause cancer? This quarter's Skeptical Inquirer examines the various claims and arguments on this convoluted issue. An excerpt follows: ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD CANCER SCARES BY SID DEUTSCH Do electromagnetic fields cause cancer? Those who claim that they do cause cancer seek ascientific explanation for the phenomenon. In this sense, it is not a paranormal claim, but it is a "fringe science" claim and is therefore a valid subject for the Skeptical Inquirer. Asingle example illustrates the importance of the subject (Fischetti 1993). In the United States, in 1993, 17,500 of us will develop brain cancer (according to the National Cancer Institute). About one out of 50 people use handheld cellular telephones. Statistically, therefore, 350 of the people who use these telephones will develop brain cancer. It is reasonable to estimate that 10 of these tumors will occur on the side of the head near where the telephone is held. On January 21, 1993, David Reynard of St. Petersburg, Florida, blamed his wife's use of a handheld cellular telephone for her death due to brain cancer. The media, ever eager to protect hapless citizens, exposed this hitherto unknown cause of cancer. In a few days, cellular-phone stock prices dropped by 17 percent, and the Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association has pledged to spend $15 million to $25 million in the next three to five years to study the issue. A great deal of research has been, and will be, done to determine safe limits of electromagnetic energy. I was personally involved in a project some 30 years ago in which the eyes of anesthetized rabbits were held against the open end of a microwave waveguide. Not surprisingly, when the microwave energy was sufficient to cause a sustained temperature rise to abnormal levels, the eyes were damaged (Rosenthal 1976). This, incidentally, illustrates one of the boundary conditions: If incident energy induces an appreciable temperature rise anywhere in the body, it is potentially dangerous. This is, of course, the microwave-oven effect. Bear in mind, however, that a seven-degree- Fahrenheit fever is one of the body's normal defense mechanisms. It happens that it is a relatively simple procedure to calculate and measure temperature rise in tissue. If it were only a matter of an artificial fever, however, there would be no controversy. The problem is that the David Reynards and their lawyers and many in the media maintain that cancer is somehow caused or aggravated by electromagnetic energy that is below the level of appreciable temperature rise. Fringe science resides in the word "somehow." ------------------ So begins this issue's featured article from Skeptical Inquirer magazine. This article and others from Skeptical Inquirer Magazine and additional publications are available free from The Electronic Newsstand, a service which collects articles, editorials, and table of contents from over 50 magazines and provides them to the Global Internet community. Access to The Electronic Newsstand is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via Gopher, an information navigation and retrieval tech- nology from the University of Minnesota. For those without a local Gopher client program, The Electronic Newsstand provides a telnet account which will allow you to use a text based Gopher client to access our service. To access The Electronic Newsstand, via Local Gopher Client: Hostname: gopher.internet.com Port: 2100 via the Gopher Home Menu at U of Minn: Other Gopher and Information Servers/ North America/ USA/ General/ The Electronic Newsstand (tm) via Gopher Link Information: Name=The Electronic Newsstand Type=1 Port=2100 Path=1/ Host=gopher.internet.com via Telnet: Hostname: gopher.internet.com Loginname: enews Password: via World Wide Web: URL: gopher://gopher.inter.com/ If you have any suggestions on how we might improve this service, or need more information, please email staff@enews.com The Electronic Newsstand Staff ------------------------------ From: jstone@netcom.com (Jeffrey Stone) Subject: VPN Services Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 22:48:17 GMT Does anyone have any information comparing the VPN (virtual private network) services of the major interexchange carriers? Any references to documents or reports? Thanks, Jeffrey Stone stone@netcom.com info/mation 415.299.9444 ------------------------------ From: djcl@io.org Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 00:29:22 -0500 Subject: Busy Call Return and Hunt Groups I have a busy call return feature on a phone line for the time being. When *66 is dialed after a call to a busy line, the service is supposed to give a special ring back (short-short-long?) when the line is no longer busy. *66 for a number that is not busy will ring the number (last called number redial). I tried this after getting a busy on a number that represents a hunt group of many incoming lines. The free line special ringing never seems to occur despite the many incoming lines that would connect and disconnect on a frequent basis. I eventually dialed again manuallly and getting through. I have attempted such a call return on a few occasions by now, and get similar results. When a *66 is dialed, there is a voice indication that I would be called back by special ring when the line is free; this is not a case of a DID/PBX where such call returns won't work (presumably because they are not connected directly to the telco CCS7 network). Does the busy call return (depending on the telco) only signal a free line if only a specific incoming line (such as the first line) of a hunt group becomes free, or should it signal the line is free when any one of the hunt group lines become free? David Leibold ------------------------------ Subject: Egghead Software Sells Bogus Phone Directory Software From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz) Date: Tue, 08 Feb 94 00:12:46 EST Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861 So, a friend of mine who lives in L.A. just bought a real computer with a built-in CD rom drive. He spotted a great little national phone directory on CD rom at Egghead Software, so he bought one. When he brought it home, he found that the access program for the database gave him an intriguing message about how he "bought" a record, after viewing a full address and phone record. It seems that the instructions INSIDE of the CD rom package explain that he didn't buy the whole database, but a only finite number of views of full database records (considerably less than the total number of records in the database). There was no indication on the OUTSIDE of the box about that restriction. There was also no indication that this product would have lengthy beg screens (this wasn't a shareware product at shareware prices). To make matters worse, the documentation warns the buyer against using the database for mailing lists, because they state that they've seeded it with phony records! I certainly hope that this doesn't represent how we can expect what we previously considered "respectable" software dealers to market "cheap" CD rom products for the masses. This kind of deceptive marketing could kill CD roms before they really get rolling. aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861 ------------------------------ From: djcl@io.org Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 00:21:06 -0500 Subject: BCE (Bell Canada parent) Posts Loss [from Bell News, Bell Canada, Bell Ontario, 7 Feb 94] Renewal underway -- First ever loss for our parent, BCE Losses to the tune of $815 million from discontinued operations in real estate and finance resulted in a net earnings loss of $656 million in 1993 for BCE Inc., our parent company. Montreal Trustco Inc. and BCE's interests in BF Realty Holdings Ltd. and Brookfield Development Corporation constitute the "discontinued" operations. For BCE shareholders, this translates into a net loss per common share of $2.44 for the year, compared with a net earnings per common share of $4.21 in 1992. For the fourth quarter alone, net loss per common share was $1.73 compared with net earnings of $1.65 per common share for the same period in 1992. Total revenues for the year were $19,827 million, compared with 1992 revenues of $19,572 million. BCE chairman and president, 'Red' Wilson, pointed out that 1993's earnings "reflect revenue and margin pressures and restructuring charges at Northern Telecom, as well as increased competition and lower returns at Bell. "They also reflect provisions for losses ont he proposed sale of non- telecommunications businesses." Calling 1993 "a year of transition for BCE," Wilson said it was "also a year of renewal." "Our businesses is telecommunications," he said, "and we intend to continue to build on our existing strengths ni Canada and abroad." Telecom group lower -- BCE's Canadian Telecom group contributed $749 million in 1993, compared with $945 million last year. The per-share contribution was $2.44, compared with $3.07 for 1992. The decrease for the year in the Canadian Telecom group is attributable to a lower contribution by Bell Canada and a special $70 million provision mainly related to the goodwill compenent of BCE's investment in Telesat Canada. Profit returns to Northern -- Northern Telecom made a negative contribution of $1.90 to BCE's earnings per common share for 1993 (including $2.04 per common share for special charges), compared with a contribution of $1.11 in 1992. Northern Telecom was back to profitability for the fourth quarter, with a contribution of $0.24, compared with $0.53 for the same period a year earlier. BCE's Telecom International group contributed $0.19 to BCE's consolidated earnings per share, compared with $0.07 in 1992. The fourth quarter contribution was $0.10, compared with $0.08 for the same period last year. Growth was mainly due to BCE Telecom International's 20 per cent interest in Mercury Communications Limited, acquired in December 1992. ------------------------------ From: djcl@io.org Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 00:18:22 -0500 Subject: The Hi-Tech Green Weenies (from {The Door}) The Jan/Feb 1994 edition of {The Door} is out, and its "Loser of the Month" awards is a three-way tie with the theme: "The Technological Green Weenie". The first award winner is the East Coast Christian Connection, which offers a USD$1.95/min 900 number voice greeting exchange service. "'A new and exciting way for you to build new relationships, meet new friends, or just fellowship and share with someone who has the same beliefs as you'... uh *and* make it possible for the East Coast Christian Connection, Inc. to make a few bucks on the side." (Whatever happened to doing this sort of stuff in person?) The second award winner is the MARET counselling software package that makes its pitch to pastors: "Now when someone is in trouble, you can set your laptop on your knees and 'assess both individuals and relationships ... from a pastor's perspective,' for only $99 per module." Next release could be artificially intelligent enough to do its own counselling, one supposes. The third winner -- two out of three telecom-related green weenies isn't bad -- is In-Touch Systems which is a telemarketing-style autodialer that calls plenty of numbers in sequence. One application of this "teleministry" device: "Stay 'In-Touch' weekly with a word of encouragement and Bible reading from the pastor. (Pastor quote) "The response has been phenomenal, especially from my senior citizens. It's because they are lonely and a message from the pastor, even if it is recorded, is a blessing to them." The folks at {The Door}, having dispensed with their green weenie presentations, concludes: "technology in the hands of religious people is a very scary thing." ObWittenburg: {The Door}, originally {The Wittenburg Door} is a publication of California-based Youth Specialties. This 'zine is best described as a Mad Magazine for churches, though it contains interviews such as the one in the previous issue with the controversial EIB Network radio host Rush Limbaugh. David Leibold ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #66 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa16425; 8 Feb 94 5:57 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25827; Tue, 8 Feb 94 02:45:06 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25817; Tue, 8 Feb 94 02:45:02 CST Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 02:45:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402080845.AA25817@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #67 TELECOM Digest Tue, 8 Feb 94 02:45:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 67 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Please Dial 507-XXXX. No, Please Don't do That (Mark Brader) Codex Modem - Sun SparcStation Configuration Settings Needed (Jim Guentner) Internet Access in Singapore (Gregory J. Donaldson) Microwave Transmissions (Matt McClung) Thanks For Using Your Local Phone Company (Douglas W. Martin) Help Needed With Panasonic Easaphone (John Geddie) Router Problem (Meade Eggleston) Temporary Cellular For Travellers (Joel Disini) Need Poisson Tables (Al Farnham) Blinking Lights to Announce Phone Calls (Bill Bradford) Re: A Small Town in Wyoming (Mark Crispin) Re: A Small Town in Wyoming (Tom Coradeschi) Re: Advertising by New York Telephone (Barry Margolin) Re: BBS Getting Internet Mail (Chris Ambler) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Jeff Hakner) Re: Remapping Phone Buttons (Hiro Sugawara) Re: Clipper Petition (Chaim Frenkel) Re: V.32vis -> Bell_102 Due to CO Data Compression (S. Ssatchell) Re: Lebanon Telephone Infrastructure (Fadi J. Kurdahi) 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: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Please Dial 507-XXXX. No, Please Don't do That Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 06:50:03 GMT [Background: area code 905 was split off 416 in October. Local calls between these two area codes are dialed as 10 digits, but as permissive dialing is still in effect for another month or so, seven digits still works.] Yesterday I tried to call the phone number on someone's business card. The number on the card was 416-624-XXXX and I was calling from 416-239-XXXX. The call was intercepted, and the recording informed me that the number I was calling, 624-XXXX, had been changed to 507-XXXX. So I hung up and dialed 507-XXXX -- and the call was intercepted. This time the recording informed me that the number had moved to area code 905 and I would soon have to dial the 905 before the number, but my call was now being put through. The call was then intercepted *again* and went to voice mail. My first thought was that the first intercept was silly to not tell me the area code. But then I realized that in fact the 624 prefix is *also* in area code 905 -- both are Cooksville numbers, in Mississauga -- so the change of numbers had not changed the area code and the intercept was reasonable. What wasn't so reasonable was that I didn't get the second intercept message on the first call, to remind me that 624 had moved to 905 ... I had intended to reproduce here the exact wording of the second intercept, but I'm typing this at home, and I find that from my home phone in 416-488-XXXX, using seven digits to dial a local call to 905 does not produce any intercept. Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 08:29:42 PST From: guentner@ocp.mc.xerox.com (Jim Guentner(23057)) Subject: Codex Modem - Sun SparcStation Configuration Settings Needed I have a Motorola 3261 modem. I gave tried and failed to configure it correctly on and off for two months. I am trying to set up a simple 9600 dial in/out line on a Sun SparcStation 10. I currently have Hayes SmartModem 2400 working on the same Sparc10, so I think the configuration on the Sun side is not the problem. I have very little knowledge of CCITT, rs232, sync., async. or any other type of communication protocal, so cofiguring this nodem has become a nightmare. I am about ready to send it back to motorola and tell them to shuv it ... or throw it out the window. Has anyone ever got a Codex 3260 configured and working on a Sparc10, or any other Sparc for that matter. If you have, could you PLEASE mail me a copy of your switch and register configuration settings! Jim Guentner 716-422-3057 guentner@ocp.mc.xerox.com ------------------------------ From: itsmgjd@nebula.syscon.hii.com Subject: Internet Access in Singapore From: itsmgjd@nebula.syscon.hii.com (Gregory J. Donaldson) Date: 7 Feb 94 11:48:56 -0700 Organization: SYSCON Corporation Several months ago there was a thread on free Internet access in Singapore. Back then I was not interested in this topic but now I am. Does anyone have this information or is there an archive that might have the original postings. Thanks! Greg Donaldson, Senior Systems Analyst SYSCON Corporation GDonaldson@SYSCON.HII.COM 1000 Thomas Jefferson St. NW (202) 342-4123 Washington, DC 20007 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Telecom Archives is accessible using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. You can begin your search there through the indexes of authors and subjects. If you prefer to use the email information service, then use the SEARCH command within the text of your email request. For a help file on how to use the Telecom Archives Email Inform- ation Service, just ask me. PAT] ------------------------------ From: matt@ux1.isu.edu (Matt McClung) Subject: Microwave Transmissions Date: 7 Feb 1994 10:17:44 -0700 Organization: Idaho State University, Pocatello I am on a informational seach on microwave transmissions and its applications If you have any information or can direct my efforts towards someplace that does (besides my U's Library...) I would be appreciative of the help. I am a novice in this area of communications and am trying to inform myself for the future use of this technology. Matt McClung matt@ux1.isu.edu (208) 237-8508 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 13:58:51 PST From: martin@cod.nosc.mil (Douglas W. Martin) Subject: Thanks For Using Your Local Phone Company Speaking of telecom in small town America, I was in Rugby, North Dakota last July, and made a credit card call from a pay phone. I got the standard "bong", entered my card number, and got, "Thanks for using your local telephone company." I've used lots of pay phones, COCOTS mostly, that thank me for using some wierd long distance carrier, but "your local phone company"!? Anybody know anything about the system in Rugby ND;, what kind of switches are used, and what carrier might have handled my call? Doug Martin martin@nosc.mil [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suspect the local telco just never did change the default message supplied by the vendor (possibly AT&T) when they bought the equipment to provide the bong tone, initiate the validation process and thank the customer. On the other hand, maybe you *were* using a COCOT (unwittingly perhaps; some are very cleverly designed so that only a real expert or telecom-affectionado would know the difference) and your call was one the AOS for the COCOT did not want to handle or could not handle for some reason and it was bounced back to traditional telco for handling. If the COCOT/AOS people deal with local telcos all over the USA (many do), then they might have programmed their machine to give that generic thank-you message, much in the same way that when AT&T sends out voucher checks to subscribers they make no attempt to customize the payee. In every instance, the line simply reads 'Pay to the Order of The Telephone Company' for obvious reasons of convenience in handling. PAT] ------------------------------ From: johngee@cscns.com (John Geddie) Subject: Help Needed With Panasonic Easaphone Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 18:47:50 MST I need help. I have a Panasonic Easaphone telephone/answering machine, model number KX-T2390, but no instruction booklet. In order to get the answering machine and fax machine to work together on the same line, I need to be able to set the answering machine to answer after one to four rings. At present, because of the toll saver function, it normally will only answer after ring number fiue. Can anyone give me instructions on how to change the ring setting? I'd appreciate e-mail if you can help. John Geddie johngee@etrib.com home: (505) 293-1220 work: (505) 827-2855 ------------------------------ Subject: Router Problem From: eggleston@readmore.com (Meade Eggleston) Date: 07 Feb 94 10:37:24 EST Hi all, I'm in the middle of a very strange problem. I have a 56K line between two sites. When I try to route IP packets accross this line I get an unacceptable number of CRC errors. My current setup is as follows: Side A Router - Cisco 4000, SW Ver 9.1(4), 2 Serial, 1 Ether. CSU/DSU- Codex 3500 Side B - Cisco CSC2, SW Ver 8.2(7), 2 Serial, 2 Ether. CSU/DSU- Codex 3500 The routers are also used to connect into the Internet. They can do this without any problem. I've had the telco test the line and they can't find any problems. I turned off all routing and ran a test where variable length packets were sent from one router to the other. During this test, which ran for three days, I didn't have one CRC error. As soon as I tried to route packets across this line the amount of CRC increases quickly. I've had Cisco look at the configuration and they can't find any thing wrong with it. If anyone has any suggestions or has had a similar problem, please e-mail me. Thanks, Meade Eggleston Manager Data Processing/Telecommications eggleston@readmore.com Readmore Inc. (800) 221 - 3306 22 Cortlandt St. (212) 233 - 0746 (Fax) NY, NY 10007 ------------------------------ From: D1749@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Disini SW, Emmanuel Disini,CST) Subject: Temporary Cellular For Travellers Date: 7 Feb 1994 03:50:46 -0600 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway I am a foreigner who will be in the US for an extended period of time -- about two or three months, and will be travelling all about. In that time I would like to have a cellular phone available so I can stay in touch with all my clients/contacts. Ideally I would like to arrive in the US, activate the phone, use it, leave after two or three months, deactivate the phone, and not pay any more monthly charges till my next visit. I wondering though if such a plan is feasible? I know that Pacific Bell, for instance, has a hefty activation and deactivation charge for regular residential/business telephones. For someone who will be using a cellular phone heavily (say 30-60 calls a day), does using a cellular make more sense than, say, getting a pager, and using an AT&T calling card from whatever phone is available? Please cc your responses to d1749@applelink.apple.com. (I don't get this newsgroup.) Thanks, Joel Disini ------------------------------ From: al.farnham%gtecn01@mailgw.er.doe.gov Date: 7 Feb 94 09:17:00 -0500 Subject: Need Poisson Tables I am in need of Poisson tables (P.001, P.005, P.01, P.05) for trunk groups with 200 to 500 trunks. All the information I have stops at 200 trunks. TIA, Al ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 11:29:57 -0600 (CST) From: Bill Bradford Subject: Blinking Lights to Announce Phone Calls Speaking of blinking lights announcing phone calls: I'm a disk jockey at a local 100Kw country radio station. Instead of a bell on the phone, there's a lightbulb in the ceiling. Instead of ringing, the light flashes on and off rapidly (as to not interfere if the DJ is giving the weather, etc). We've also got a standard multi-line phone, but it's modified to not ring (the DJ just has to notice the light ringing, or hear the phones in the other rooms ringing, if the control room door is open). Bill Bradford stubradfowc@mercur.usao.edu * wl-mr_bill-h-p@society.com bill.bradford@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is common in radio rooms to wire the phone bell in series through the microphone key in such a way that when the microphone is live (and the person there is 'on the air') that the phone bell will remain silent and a beehive lamp is illuminated instead. When I was heavily 'into' CB Radio about fifteen years ago, I had my base station wired that way. Using six conductor cable, the phone line came in on the traditional red/green but the bell was not in the circuit. The yellow/black pair then took telco back out of the phone and to a little relay box under my desk. When the microphone was not keyed up, then one relay was normally open ('on the air' sign was dark) and another relay was normally closed (telco looped through it and came back to the bell in the phone via the blue/white pair which fed only the bell in the phone. When the microphone was keyed up, the relays flipped the other way, lighting the 'on the air' sign and the circuit to the phone bell would go open. The beehive lamp was wired in parallel so it always flashed, bell ringing or not. That worked okay when I was doing strictly AM transmissions since the relays took about three watts of power (the RF carrier going to the antenna) to activate. When I started using USB/LSB (upper sideband and lower sideband) I had trouble. Sideband does not use carrier, or not that much of it. Sideband uses the voice modulations. The RF carrier was not sufficient to throw the relays, except when I modulated (or talked), and then the 'on the air' sign would flash off and on and the relays would chatter. The way I operated my radio was by having a microphone hang down from the ceiling right in front of my face on a chain such as used for a swag-lamp; to key-up I had a foot switch from an old Dictaphone machine. Sitting at my desk, I'd step on the switch, talk, then move my foot off the switch. That left both hands free to do other things. I also had a microphone/earphone combination I constructed out of a telephone operator's headset and wired via the foot pedal. I also had a phone patch so I could put phone calls over the air or place phone calls for CB'ers in distress in their automobiles; and an intercom to the antenna which was eight stories above me (I was on the first floor of an eight story building overlooking Lake Michigan; the antenna was a hundred feet above me mounted on the roof of the elevator machine room on the top of the building.) To adjust the antenna, one person would be at the base downstairs and someone else would be on top of the elevator penthouse; we'd talk on the intercom. That antenna had to endure some **strong** winds and a couple of very severe Chicago winters up there. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 17:46:19 PST From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: A Small Town in Wyoming In Bainbridge Island, WA, it is common for people -- particularly long-term residents -- to give their phone number as four digits, meaning "842 plus the four digits". A couple of years ago, the 780 exchange was added. But, hardly anyone is on it, and certainly nobody important, just some newcomers. ;-) ;-) ------------------------------ From: Tom Coradeschi Subject: Re: A Small Town in Wyoming Organization: Electric Armts Div, US Army ARDEC, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 15:21:24 GMT sullivan@msri.org (John Sullivan) wrote: > While driving across South Dakota and Wyoming last fall, there wasn't > much choice of radio stations to listen to. At one point I was near > Buffalo, Wyoming, tuned to FM 92.7, which at the time was giving local > small-town news. This included notice that someone had found a dog. > The owner was asked to "call us [the radio station] at 5126". > Could it be that in this town, four-digit dialing is possible? Or > does everyone just know what the exchange is? (The phone book at the > next gas station showed Buffalo as 684, I think.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although four digit dialing might still > be possible, it is unlikely. Probably everyone in town gives their number > out that way, with the exchange assumed. Quite likely. My dry cleaners writes down my phone number as 2-5459. Everyone knows what the first two digits are ... tom coradeschi <+> tcora@pica.army.mil <+> DoD#413 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My mother lives in Independence, Kansas and the people there do the same thing; just the last four digits with the 316-331 part assumed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: barmar@Think.COM (Barry Margolin) Subject: Re: Advertising by New York Telephone Date: 8 Feb 1994 04:14:20 GMT Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA In article joseph@c3.crd.ge.com (James Joseph) writes: > New York Telephone has been spending truck loads of money advertising > that they are changing their name to NYNEX. We're also getting them in New England Telephone land. > As a subscriber am *I* paying for these commercials? Or is it coming > out of their profits? (Yeah, get real, James!!) Why are they doing > it? Who cares what their name is? Couldn't they just have included > an insert in the monthly phone bills? If they weren't going to make a big deal about it, they wouldn't have bothered changing their names in the first place. The reason they changed the names of the subsidiaries was to change their image. The advertising that has always annoyed me is the "We're the one for you, New England" commercials, asking you to use NET to call your friends and relatives within Massachusetts. What other phone company would we use? Presumably, the goal of both the name change and the advertising is to increase revenues. Assuming it succeeds and the increased revenues offset the cost of the advertising, the cost isn't coming out of anyone's pockets; the profits might even result in the next rate increase being smaller (yeah, right :-). If it doesn't, it was a bad business decision, just like any other failed project. I'm sure NYNEX has spent our money on lots of failed projects -- the only difference with this one is that we can see it going on. We subscribers are also paying alot more for upgrades to CO's to support ISDN, and it will probably be much longer before the phone companies see ISDN turn a profit than they see positive results of the name change. Barry Margolin System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp. barmar@think.com {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar ------------------------------ From: cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu (Chris Ambler - Fubar) Subject: Re: BBS Getting Internet Mail Organization: The Phishtank Date: Tue, 08 Feb 1994 06:28:30 GMT blankenm@seq.oit.osshe.edu says: > A friend and I are looking into setting up a BBS that we would like to > have access to Internet e-mail. Just something where once/twice a day > we connect to a host and send/get messages out the gate. Is this > possible/available/done anywhere else? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No leased or other special lines are > needed. There are BBS software packages available -- many for free -- > which have a UUCP-style interface built into them which allows the > BBS to call and exchange mail/news with some other site. Waffle is > one such program, and there is a newsgroup devoted to it. PAT] To grab for some of that equal time(tm), Major BBS and Wildcat! both offer UUCP gateways for their systems. I happen to like them both very much, but that may be because I wrote the transport engines for them. :-) Christopher chris@toys.fubarsys.com / cambler@cymbal.aix.calpoly.edu Christopher J. Ambler, Author, FSUUCP 1.42, FSVMP 1.0, UUPlus Utilities [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Whatever happened with you guys and your problem with the Sprint modems? Are you still suing Sprint? PAT] ------------------------------ From: hak@alf.cooper.edu (Jeff Hakner) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Organization: The Cooper Union ( NY, NY ) Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 06:04:19 GMT In article , Charles Reichley says: > For MOST things in this world, we all pay the same price regardless of > how much we use it. I will pay the same for a TV as you, even if you > watch your TV eight hours a day and I only watch mine for an hour a > day. The only things which we pay for use are things that are > actually USED UP. We pay for each gallon of heating oil, for each [...discussion of electricity and cable TV ...] > makes no difference whether I watch the cable or not. In the same > way, if more people make phone calls, the phone company has to install > additional switches/lines/equipment. But once the equipment is in > place, the cost for the phone company is the same whether I make a > phone call or not. Maybe phone usage should be billed on a split-system, > where people are charged by the minute during times when the usage is > over 80%, but not charged when the usage is less than that. There is a subtle flaw in this line of reasoning. While a one hour phone conversation may not incur a greater expenditure of consumables than a one minute conversation, a large number of people making long calls will decrease the available bandwidth on inter-office lines. In today's complex market of data channels being carried by telcos, this translates into less spare bandwidth that can be sold to other customers. In addition, there is the motivation issue: By charging for connect time, conservation of bandwidth is encouraged, thus maximizing the telco's ROI from capital equipment. Exercise for the reader: consider economic motivation in the context of contemporary Internet connectivity, where most sites are charged a flat rate for peak bandwidth, and the effects that per-packet and/or per-byte rate structures would (will?!) have on Internet usage patterns, and (extra credit) Internet culture in general. ------------------------------ From: hiro@lynx.com (Hiro Sugawara) Subject: Re: Remapping Phone Buttons Organization: Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc., Los Gatos, CA Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 00:12:05 GMT In article aneely@toth.uwo.ca (Amer Neely) writes: > I have a third-party phone which I purchased quite some time ago. > Recently a friend tried to call her place to check for messages on her > Bell Call Answer. She couldn't get past the point where she was asked > to `Press the pound key ...'. On my phone it's mapped to a Redial > function. Is it possible to re-wire the phone or something so this > can be done? I don't really need the redial and would just as soon > have a fully compatible phone if possible (without renting one from > Bell). Also, the star button is mapped to Mute. Is this something I > can change too? Buy any phone that has separate redial and mute buttons (and thus the pound and star buttons do work as expected). I bought a GE phone recently at a local store at $19.95. hiro@lynx.com ------------------------------ From: chaim@toxicavenger.fsrg.bear.com (Chaim Frenkel) Subject: Re: Clipper Petition Date: 7 Feb 94 14:00:55 GMT Organization: Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. In article banisar@washofc.cpsr.org (Dave Banisar) writes: > Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the > letter. In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an > Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will > deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the > names of all the people who oppose Clipper. > To sign on to the letter, send a message to: > Clipper.petition@cpsr.org > with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes) I may be getting paranoid, but this is ridiculous. What ties my signature to the document that will be delivered to the President. And if the president (or his advisors) had any sense, why should they trust the signatures? Consider the possiblity of a massive grep through the News Spool directory and just add names to the list. And if you don't want to work hard, just get the names database from rtfm.mit.edu. I think this is counter-productive. Real signatures and hard copy letters would be more appropriate. Chaim Frenkel On contract at: chaim@nlk.com chaim@fsrg.bear.com Nonlinear Knowledge, Inc. Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. ------------------------------ From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX) Subject: Re: V.32vis -> Bell_102 Due to CO Data Compression Date: 19 Jan 94 02:58:44 GMT Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation ross@turock.psych.upenn.edu (Ross Porter) writes: > A few days ago my father-in-law reported that he could no longer get a > V.32bis connection between his Gainesville home and the University of > Florida's modem pool. 1200bps (Bell 102) was the best he could do. > He of course initially suspected his own equipment, but he later > learned from the data center staff that a number of other people > suddenly developed this problem. The local telephone people reported > that they had recently installed some data compression equipment that > could well cause this problem. Since voice traffic is relatively > unaffected, the phone company politely abdicated any further > responsibility. > Could someone speculate and enlighten me as to what kind of data > compression is being used -- is it lossy (given the large drop in > maximum transmission rate)? I am not unsympathetic to the telephone > company's position, but does anyone have suggestions for lobbying the > telephone company? This is a problem, and I've found that the FCC Rules and Regulations cover this situation. Oh, yes, more than likely the local phone company converted a number of people from a clear-channel subscriber line carrier (SLC) system to one with "pairgain" or ADPCM. (More than likely, ITU-T Recommendation G.721 since this is known to give modems fits.) Before I can do anything to help stop this nonsense, I need help: a list of all the local exchange carriers in the United States. Once I send a one-page letter to each and every one of these companies (with a copy to the FCC) then the phone company will never be able to make such a change without written notification to the customers well enough in advance that they can do something. I'd rather not tip my hand *too* much until I get the foundation in place. Any help appreciated. ssatchell@bix.com ------------------------------ From: kurdahi@chopin.eng.uci.edu (Fadi J. Kurdahi) Subject: Re: Lebanon Telephone Infrastructure Date: 7 Feb 1994 17:24:59 GMT Organization: UC Irvine, Dept. of ECE Reply-To: kurdahi@chopin.eng.uci.edu (Fadi J. Kurdahi) In article , Alex Cena writes: > The Lebanese government has approved contracts to buy one million > telephone lines from Alcatel Alsthom NV, Siemens AG and AB L.M. > Ericsson. How the work will be divided between the three vendors will > share the work still has not been decided. Can someone tell me what > role if any wireless technology, especially cellular, may play in this > project? As far as I can tell, there is another contract out for bids on a separate cellular system. The above contract is only for standard telephone overhaul, and to increase the capacity from ~500K lines to 1M lines. The current contract is worth about $380M. Regards, Fadi J. Kurdahi, Associate Professor PHONE: +1 (714) 856-8104 Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering FAX: +1 (714) 856-4152 University of California at Irvine EMAIL: kurdahi@ece.uci.edu, Irvine, CA 92717 USA KURDAHI@UCI.BITNET ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #67 ***************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa28824; 9 Feb 94 11:19 EST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25917; Wed, 9 Feb 94 07:35:42 CST Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25907; Wed, 9 Feb 94 07:35:39 CST Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 07:35:39 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Message-Id: <9402091335.AA25907@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #67 TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Feb 94 07:35:30 CST Volume 14 : Issue 68 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Remote Call Forwarding to Priority Ringing (Robb Topolski) Re: Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing (Carl Moore) Re: Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing (KATHY1310@delphi.com) Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source (Stefan Bethke) Re: Caller ID/CNAM (Jonathan T Cronin) Re: The IIA "Free" Internet Account (Randal L. Schwartz) Information Superhighway Panel Discussion (Esther Yasui) Re: New Area Code 281 for Houston (Carl Moore) Re: U.S.A. - Cuba Telecommunications (Jack Hamilton) Re: 20GHz Wireless is the Future? (db15@ukc.ac.uk) Re: V&H Report - 15 January 1994 (Carl Moore) Caller ID Software With Log (Doug Reuben) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (Michael Dalby) Re: Are LATA Maps Available? (John R. Grout) Re: Internet Connection via Satellite (Josh Backon) Re: Calling 911 on a Cellphone When Out of Area (David S. Taylor) Re: GTE is Annoyed With Me (Steven H. Lichter) 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, 9 Feb 1994 09:43:32 GMT From: Robb Topolski KJ6YT Subject: Remote Call Forwarding to Priority Ringing Organization: Amateur radio KJ6YT Brief background: REMOTE CALL FORWARDING: Your distant callers dial a seven-digit number which is set to automatically forward to your home or office. PRIORITY RINGING: You program a list of up to ten numbers. When you receive a call from one of those numbers, your phone will ring in some distictive way (short-long-short). Question: I have remote call forwarding. Can I set priority ringing to my remote call-fowarding number so when anyone calls me via that number I get the distinctive ring? Or is the calling number reported to the feature the caller's actual number rather than the forwarder's number? Robb Topolski KJ6YT topolski@kaiwan.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 03:32:19 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing > QUESTION: If a caller (from 555-1133) dials my Remote Call Forwarding > number (555-9922) which is forwarded to my home, which number is > evaluated by Distinctive Ringing? A non-technical guess (but familiar with call forwarding) is that your Remote Call Forwarding number (555-9922 in the example) is the one to be evaluated for Distinctive Ringing. This assumes that your home phone can only "see" the call from the Remote Call Forwarding number. I do know along the same lines that the caller from 555-1133 would get charged for message units or long distance only to the Remote Call Forwarding number, which in turn picks up the tab for message units or long distance from that point to your home. (I have used forwarding myself.) ------------------------------ From: KATHY1310@delphi.com Subject: Re: Remote Call Forwarding and Distinctive Ringing Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 00:29:29 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Robb Topolski writes: > QUESTION: If a caller (from 555-1133) dials my Remote Call Forwarding > number (555-9922) which is forwarded to my home, which number is > evaluated by Distinctive Ringing? Unfortunately, the RCF number (555-9922) will be forwarded to your home due to the way the features intereact in the switch software and the signalling network (SS7). AT&T is theoretically working on a fix. Bug your local telco about the improper functioning of these features. The switched redirect service is the best that you'll probably do. It's the closest thing to virtual numbering (it uses the Advanced Intelligent Network platform). Because the way numbers are allocated and the out-of-date code in the C.O. switches, it is difficult to give you numbers allocated to other switches, plus it can tie up a lot of interoffice facilities. You could always opt for the "trunk" route, but you'll pay quite a bit more that way. You can always try MFS (they have recently filed for switched service capability in the state of MD.) They may be able to offer a creative solution for you. Best of luck. ------------------------------ From: stefan@sixpack.six.de (Stefan Bethke) Subject: Re: ISDN NT1 Power Source Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1994 03:30:45 GMT Reply-To: stefan@sixpack.six.de (Stefan Bethke) Organization: Promo GmbH, Hamburg, Germany In article , Bob Larribeau writes: > You must remember that in the U.S. we use the U-interface, which is a > two-wire local loop interface. The U-interface, as implemented in the > U.S., does not provide power from the network. Powering is the > customer's responsibility. At least for Germany, this is not the case and I understand that in most other european countries this is the same. In Germany we have a emergency feed from the switch powering the NT1 (via U interface) and at most one device on the S bus (i.e. you set a switch on the telephone for this). Normal power feed to S bus comes from NT1 (by means of normal line power). Emergency power is indicated by reversed polarity on the S bus. [Btw. S0 and T0 are electrically identical. Normally, the term 'T interface' is used only for the interface between NT1 and NT2. If there is no NT2, the interface is 'S'.] Stefan Bethke Promo Datentechnik: Internet stefan@sixpack.six.de, promo@applelink.apple.com Systemberatung GmbH AppleLink: PROMO Waterloohain 6-8 Vox: +49 (40) 43 13 60-0 D-22769 Hamburg Fax: +49 (40) 43 13 60-60 ------------------------------ From: jtc@world.std.com (Jonathan T Cronin) Subject: Re: Caller ID/CNAM Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1994 06:58:29 GMT Caller name is available in various areas served by USWest (and maybe other places, too. USWest is all I know about.) C&P (or Bell Atlantic, if you will) is testing it "in-house" and will, I hear, first market it in Virginia, so you probably didn't waste your money on the CNAM feature. Jonathan Cronin jtc@world.std.com Evans, Griffiths and Hart Inc. Lexington, MA ------------------------------ From: merlyn@ora.com (Randal L. Schwartz) Subject: Re: The IIA "Free" Internet Account Date: 08 Feb 1994 02:55:51 GMT Organization: Stonehenge Consulting Services; Portland, Oregon, USA "Paul" == Paul Robinson writes: > The service is called Speedway, and the number -- which has to be > called via AT&T -- is (10288) 1-503-520-2222. I have no connection > with that company other than as someone who has used their service. Which means that for those of us within the Portland Oregon LATA, we must look *somewhere else*. Geez, why couldn't these guys have been in Idaho or something? :-) Just another native Portlander, Name: Randal L. Schwartz / Stonehenge Consulting Services (503) 777-0095 Email: Snail/FAX: (Call) aka: ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1994 00:53:39 PST From: Esther Yasui Subject: Information Superhighway Panel Discussion Dear TELECOM Moderator: I would like to pass along some information from the Asian Business League to readers, particularly those in the Southern California area, about an upcoming panel discussion on the "Information Superhighway." ----------------- The Asian Business League (ABL) of Southern California and the Asian Business Association - Orange County Chapter will be holding a panel discussion entitled "The Information Superhighway: The Future of Interactive Video and Its Impact on Southern Calfornia." February 24, 1994 Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel in Costa Mesa 6 - 8 pm Registration and refreshments begin at 6pm Program begins at 6:30 pm Representatives of Pacific Bell, Sprint, Knowledge Advantage, UC Irvine, and the University of Southern California Multimedia Lab will be presenting their views on what Vice President Al Gore called the National Information Infrastructure, the vehicle that will allow America to grow and prosper in the 21st century. In fact, according to Senator Barbara Boxer, who introduced the Vice President at the Electronic Media Summit held at UCLA on January 11th, the U.S. could generate an additional $3.5 trillion in GNP from the implementation of the Information Superhighway after the year 2000. Individuals wanting to know more about interactive television, 500 channel multimedia broadcasting, fiber optic digital networks, and video on demand should attend this informative and entertaining event. The high-level overviews that the panelists will be discussing are topics that are in the news daily, from entertainment, cable and phone company mergers, to a change in direction of the aerospace defense industry. Generous corporate sponsors for this event include the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, Pacific Bell, Kenneth Leventhal & Co. and Sprint. Cost for the event is $15 for ABL members, $20 for non-members, and $25 at the door. To RSVP by email send message c/o eky@kaiwan.com. To RSVP by phone or for more information, call Henry Yee at (310) 769-1604. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Feb 94 12:21:39 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: New Area Code 281 for Houston What do you mean, "probably" 281? What exactly did the article say when it mentioned what the new area code will/could be? (Of course, there is no surprise about the NNX form of the code.) The only overlay that has been put into effect so far is area code 917, used for cellular and pagers in New York City (landlines there are in 212 and 718). The new-telephone-numbers option has never been used so far. In New York City: splitting Manhattan would have aroused much controversy (according to what I have read); it wasn't enough just to remove Bronx from the 212 area; and Bronx moved to 718, not 917, because of objections about being lumped in with "nonhumans". The digest had the suggestion that an overlay be used in area 708 in Illinois, and also said that if some suburbs were kept in 312 (split in 1989 to form 708), there'd be complaints from areas which had to leave 312. (The later splits for 313 and 215 kept the old area code in more than just Detroit and Philadelphia respectively.) 708 has a lot of phones despite the split being so recent there. ------------------------------ From: jfh@netcom.com (Jack Hamilton) Subject: Re: U.S.A. - Cuba Telecommunications Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1994 07:33:53 GMT macbainr@nbnet.nb.ca (Raymond Luxury Yacht) wrote: > Also, any general info about the state of telecom in Cuba and between > Cuba and the USA would be appreciated. > No need to post unless someone else shows interest -- just email me. It's probably a good general rule that someone else will be interested in it, whatever it is (as long as it's telecommunications and not a digression into whatever). So please post any replies, folks. I don't have any plans to call Cuba, but I've wondered about the telephone link. By the way, amateur radio communications with Cuba seem to be taking off. There have been several articles in the ham magazines about it recently. Jack Hamilton USMail: POB 281107 SF CA 94128 USA jfh@netcom.com Packet: kd6ttl@w6pw.#nocal.ca.us.na ------------------------------ From: db15@ukc.ac.uk Subject: Re: 20GHz Wireless is the Future? Date: Wed, 08 Feb 94 00:49:00 GMT Organization: University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. Reply-To: Damiano Bolla In article , S. L. Lee wrote: > I heard that a technology is available (or becoming available) that > can transmit voice, data, fax, video, two-way and simultaneous and > automatically routed. I posted a msg but might have misposted. > I would like to see professional evaluation of its feasibility. I > have the following questions: > 1. Would there be any health hazard? > 2. Can the technology be implemented internationally, if not, what are the > barriers? > 3. How long has this idea been around? Why didn't anybody look at it? > I would like to see discussion on various aspects of this technology. I personally I would like to ask: 4. How many "transmitters" per square kilometer can operate simultaneously? This is to understand what is the density of use we can reach before the entire system stops working. Damiano ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Feb 94 06:09:16 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: V&H Report - 15 January 1994 Not noted in your report was the split in 713, information only having arrived February 3). That area ranks BEHIND 708. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Feb 1994 06:18:11 EST From: dreuben@ROC.CON.WESLEYAN.EDU (Doug Reuben) Subject: Caller ID Software With Log I've seen a few posts recently concerning modem-based Caller ID software and Caller ID call logs. In case anyone's interested, we've been working on some software to do this sort of thing, ie, keep a log, let you know how many rings each call was, etc. It also can call you remotely at a pager or telephone and give out the CID info. (It beeps it into the pager, and uses a simple code system to "beep" you at a regular telphone.) It can also (crudely) leave a coded message on a remote answering machine to let you know that a call was received. Presently, it's Mac-based, but we are working on a PC version as well. I'm not sure how much interest there is in this sort of thing on the net, but from the recent postings it seems that a few people may care. (We originally developed this in-house for our own use [and just to play around with Cable & Wireless's 800 service that USED to *reliably* show CID -- they seem to have turned it off from many areas after a few people mentioned it to them -- AND , they simply WON'T talk about it -- they never return a call on this subject! :( ],...but, perhaps others may be interested as well.) If anyone is interested in getting a demo version to see if it works for them, lemme know. Doug dreuben@roc.con.wesleyan.edu (129.133.29.81) dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu (129.133.10.10) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 19:43:19 -0800 From: Michael Dalby Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? Do you know whether LATA maps are available, eg. from the FCC? I know about the useful list of LATAs in your telecom archive, but I am wondering about LATA boundaries, and, for that matter, the principles by which telcos establish LATAs and those (if any) by which the regulators approve them. I have "enjoyed" trying to find this out through the FCC public info system, but have had no luck. Separately, there is a movement at the FCC to put information of some sort on line. The phone number is 202 254-6040. The guy's name is Vincent. He thinks the machine at fcc.gov should be in business some time in the first or early second quarter. However, he didn't know anything about LATAs. Thanks, and best regards. Michael Dalby (md@well.sf.ca.us) ------------------------------ From: grout@sp17.csrd.uiuc.edu (John R. Grout) Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available? Reply-To: j-grout@uiuc.edu Organization: UIUC Center for Supercomputing Research and Development Date: Tue, 8 Feb 94 21:02:45 GMT In Tony Harminc writes: > Apart from the missing provinces, it should be pointed out that there > are no LATAs in Canada. Why Bellcore has chosen to assign some magic > numbers to certain groupings of CO prefixes in Canada is a mystery to > me. LATA is not a technical division -- it is purely a political > concept set up to match certain US politics of the early 1980s. This sounds like a confusion between the LATA concept as a representation of the physical plant of AT&T's regional telephone subsidiaries (e.g., New York Telephone, New England Telephone) and various independent telcos (e.g., Rochester Telephone) at the time of divestiture and the _use_ of the LATA concept (by Judge Greene) to divide provision of telephone service _using_ the LATA concept. The claim that LATA _layout_ was "not a technical division" is clearly false. For example, _all_ the cases of LATAs for independent telcos or those which cross state lines _exactly_ represent physical plant. Also, the AT&T divestiture was not a "political" one taken by the Administration or the Congress, but was ordered by a Federal Judge. > The forces shaping LD competition in Canada in the 1990s are quite > different. It seems extremely unlikely that an artificial split > between IXCs and local telcos as in the US model will ever happen > here. Having grown up in Rochester, NY, home of what was then the largest single-area independent telco in the USA, I don't think it was an artificial distinction at all. AT&T's monopoly on long distance service and the cross-subsidization it allowed was draining money out of our area to subsidize New York Telephone's local telephone rates (so Rochester Telephone's local telephone rates were _far_ higher than NY Tels before divestiture): that was simply _WRONG_. Rochester Telephone consistently fought AT&T's monopoly, was on the winning side (against AT&T) of the Carterfone decision in the late 1960's, and divestiture finally corrected the gross injustice of cross-subsidy for the benefit of another company's customers. I might not object to the RBOC's providing inter-LATA long distance service to their own local-service customers, but I would want them as _additional_ players, not dominant players, right from the beginning; that is, no automatic cutover of customers to _their_ service, no cross-subsidy of their long distance service by their local service, and so on. This is how both Rochester Telephone (which is allowed to provide unlimited inter-LATA service through their RCI subsdiary) and New Jersey Bell (which provides limited service to New York and to Philadelphia from nearby New Jersey counties) market such services. John R. Grout INTERNET: j-grout@uiuc.edu ------------------------------ From: BACKON@vms.huji.ac.il Subject: Re: Internet Connection via Satellite Date: 8 Feb 94 16:52:03 GMT Organization: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem In article , jey@davidsys.com writes: > What is the best way to connect to Internet from a location (in Asia) > where there is no phone? A friend of mine is trying to setup via > satellite but he has no idea of anything that involves in this > connection. He is doing some research, and I am going to pass any > information I get. The first thing one must do is to see whether a private satellite teleport is allowed to be set up in that country. If it is, then depending upon bandwith requirements, you can get away with a cheap VSAT or a $400,000 teleport. The interesting news is that new VSAT's are being developed that will allow uplink/downlink of T1 bandwith and these are expected to be marketed by first quarter 1995. Once you have your teleport up and arrange for space segments, you'll need to arrange for a US (or other) teleport for uplink/downlink services. Be prepared to pay big bucks for this. Last but not least, you'll have to arrange Internet connectivity through a provider. Josh backon@VMS.HUJI.AC.IL ------------------------------