Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa06441; 26 May 94 14:59 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27470; Thu, 26 May 94 11:01:56 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27461; Thu, 26 May 94 11:01:54 CDT Date: Thu, 26 May 94 11:01:54 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405261601.AA27461@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #251 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 11:01:30 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 251 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? (Carol Gwilt) Re: GSM "Short Messages"==Pager? (Paul Hulbert) Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns (Steven Grevemeyer) Re: What Kind of Capacity is in VBI? (John Lundgren) Re: Pac-Tel (PC) Communication Software (Rob Lockhart) Re: Need Information on Complete PC (dolphinqst@delphi.com) Re: 800 number Billback (Smut) (castaldi@heroes.rowan.edu) Re: 800 Number Billback (Joseph Romero) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (William Sohl) Re: Speech Recognition "Word Spotting" (Al Varney) Re: Need Criteria for Choosing a Phone Number (Randy Gellens) Re: Long Range "Cordless" telephones (Scott D. Fybush) Re: DID Loophole or I'm Screwed up? (Paul Robinson) Re: "Erlang" the Programming Language (Jan van der Meer) Re: FAX Mailbox Services (Clarence Dold) Re: Hackers On Planet Earth Newsgroups (Carl Moore) Re: Hackers On Planet Earth Newsgroups (John Slater) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: cgwilt@vanbc.wimsey.com (Carol Gwilt) Subject: Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? Date: 25 May 1994 22:35:48 -0700 Organization: Wimsey Information Services xxmcleis@indsvax1.indstate.edu writes: > internet. Of course, we have very little money, but do have a few > computers. So the question is, can a computer (ie Unix) function as an > Internet router, or must we buy one of these routers like CISCO or > WellFleet? The answer is *mostly* yes. Most Unix distrib's come with all you need to set up some pretty elaborate routing on the host itself. The reason I say "mostly" is because you can usually find some extra goodies on a router that was built to be a router. All of the WAN protocols (and possibly some of the LAN protocols) might not be available on your brand of Unix -- ask your Unix vendor, or tell us what flavor Unix you have. >If so, what's the *cheapest* router available? CISCO routers have dropped in price substantially, but you pay for the WAN and LAN protocols that you need -- so, if you have a mix of protocols, you're still going to pay a pretty penny. A company called Cabletron has a program called GAN (good-as-new) and sells CISCO routers on this program (which I understand to mean that the equipment is "used"). ACC has some good mid-range routers/bridges that rival competitive high-end equipment. I've recently seen at least two reviews of *cheap* routers -- if you want really CHEAP, email me and I'll weed through my mountain of mags to find the manufacturers for you. If Cabletron and/or ACC aren't in your phone book, let me know -- I've got the numbers at my office. > Can a Unix box connect to a digital comm line (56k)? Normally you communicate on a high-speed serial port to a digital modem. You need a serial port that is capable of 56k -- but these are generally available. Good Luck!!! cgwilt@wimsey.com ------------------------------ From: hulbert@hasler.ascom.ch (Paul Hulbert) Subject: Re: GSM "Short Messages"==Pager? Organization: Ascom Hasler AG, Berne, Switzerland Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 06:59:45 GMT In article 6@eecs.nwu.edu, ketheesa@enws204.eas.asu.edu (K. Ketheesan) writes: > In article 3@eecs.nwu.edu, gregalex@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (Greg > Alexander) writes: >> Is it a pager -- or a digital message that appears when your phone is >> in range? My interest is because I will often be in No service areas >> (eg Asia Pacific -- Thailand, and non city areas of Australia). If its >> a pager -- cool, I will still be contactable. If it relies on being in >> the area -- good too (I will NEVER miss the message). > My understanding is that in order to deliver SMS messages in GSM, signaling > connection has to be established (if one is not already existing). So > that implies that when you are outside the coverage area, you will not > be able to send or receive SMS messages. But it is very important to add that if you are out of range when the message is sent to you you will still be able to receive it the next time your mobile makes radio contact with the network. Paul Hulbert ------------------------------ From: grevemes@VTC.TACOM.Army.Mil (Steven Grevemeyer) Subject: Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns Date: 25 May 1994 16:44:36 -0400 Organization: Vetronics Technology Center,US Army TACOM,Warren, Michigan USA Hmm. I wonder why they just didn't dial "0" for the operator and have the operator connect them? I have always used the operator as a fall back position in case the emergency system didn't work. (If the operator goes away chances are so did the rest of the phone system ...) Steven E. Grevemeyer Phone: (810)574-5106 FAX: -5008 US Army TACOM/Software Enginnering Division (AMSTA-OS) Vetronics Technology Center Warren, MI 48397-5000 Email: grevemes@vtc.tacom.army.mil ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: What Kind of Capacity is in VBI? Date: 26 May 94 00:15:52 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Paul Robinson (PAUL@TDR.COM) wrote: > A question I have is, for a U.S. signal, which I believe the Vertical > Blanking Interval also exists, how much capacity is available on a > single TV channel and at what speed can the data be sent? Is this > related to closed captioning? If not, what type equipment is needed > to decode VBI data and what kind of costs are involved to build it? Well, the line is (for the U.S.), occurring at 30 times a second, and there are a couple hundred dots. Maybe about 3K baud, I would say. Of course there would be other stuff like error correcting and such. ------------------------------ From: rlockhart@aol.com (RLockhart) Subject: Re: Pac-Tel (PC) Communication Software Date: 26 May 1994 06:11:03 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , przebien@news.delphi.com (PRZEBIENDA@DELPHI.COM) writes: > We had a home grown telecommunication package that allowed us to send > alphanumeric messages to our PAC-TEL pagers. We are interested in > updating the softwaree. We are interested in reasonably priced > commercial software or in the protocol specs of the 800 number we > communicate with the old package. Seems you've received some good advice on this, but let's take it one or two steps further ... I produce Motorola's Third Party Referral Guide to Alpha and Data Paging -- a freebie we give away at various shows and elsewhere. The Guide is updated on a quarterly basis and covers everything I know to be commercially available in the alpha and data paging sending and receiving software marketplace (both generic, app enablers/APIs, and vertical market apps) for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macs, AS/400s, UNIX, Mainframes, Atari Portfolios and HP100s. It's organized by platform, application type, and manufacturers/publishers and also covers some of the information service providers available for use on most paging services. The 04 March 94 edition of the Guide is available on some of the commercial services (e.g. CIS, AOL, AppleLink) as a Stuffed MacWord file or may be obtained on paper via our NewsStream/NewsCard hotline. (BTW, it lists contact information for some of the apps listed in the other responses to your request.) You also asked 'bout the protocol used by Pac*Tel -- now AirTouch, BTW. The protocol used is called TAP (Telocator Alpha Paging. PET and IXO are different (older) names for the same industry-standard alpha paging) protocol. The only formal source for this spec is PCIA (Personal Communications Industry Association, formerly Telocator) in Washington, DC, at 202.467.4770. If, however, you'd like to look at the more commonly used portions of TAP, I've a thread (culled from a now-out-of-print programmer's guide we used to publish that Telocator used to form the basis of TAP) I can send you that covers these. More than you *ev*er wanted to know, right? <- big toothie grin. Rob Lockhart, Resource Manager, Interactive Data Systems Paging Products Group, Motorola, Inc. Desktop I'net: lockhart-epag06_rob@email.mot.com Wireless I'net (<32K characters): rob_lockhart-erl003e@email.mot.com Wireless I'net (< 1K characters): rob.lockhart@radiomail.net ------------------------------ From: dolphinqst@delphi.com Subject: Re: Need Information on Complete PC Date: Wed, 26 May 94 20:49:04 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Almost every computer corner store that you walk into carries the Complete PC line of voicemail hardware; just give them a call. ------------------------------ From: castaldi@heroes.rowan.edu Subject: Re: 800 Number Billback (Smut) Organization: Rowan College of New Jersey, Glassboro, NJ 08028 Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 23:00:51 GMT I went through the game of blocking my numbers, calling the carriers ordering toll billing exception and none of it works. I have heard that since March 9 you can restrict your billing info on non-published numbers, but it doesn't work either. Now I have an idea ... I recently tries to dial a smut number from a private pay phone and guess what? I got a recording that I should try another phone. (This came from the sleeze provider). Can I order private pay phone trunks and terminate them in my switch and route my 800 calls over it? Would this be legal? I am getting $1500.00 a month worth of these calls placed by students in a college dorm. They are getting the majority of these numbers from {Rolling Stone Magazine}. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you term 'private payphone trunks' are just normal coin service lines from the central office provided the COCOT is correctly registered in telco's records. And no, telco won't give you coin lines to terminate on a PBX. They expect a phone with a coin box to be attached on that line (yours or theirs, no matter, but that kind of an instrument). I assume -- correct me if I am wrong -- that you have been successful in blocking 900 numbers. I assume, if you allow long distance calls in general from student dorm phones, that you have some method of requiring a PIN or access number that identifies *which* student and *which* phone made the call. If you do, why not simply require this PIN to be used on 800 calls as well? Also, you say billed number screening does not work, but maybe you have not gotten on enough databases yet or tried it long enough. In addtition to telling your local telco (which gets your number on the database used by telco, AT&T, Sprint, and MCI) you need to tell a couple of the other carriers directly. They'll add your numbers to their list also. Telling two or three of the other carriers, especially the ones which specialize in doing billing for the sex services, will get rid of 90 percent or more of those charges. Add to that requiring PINS on outgoing 'long distance' calls -- even 800 numbers -- for the purpose of identifying who made what calls, and your trouble should be greatly reduced if not eliminated entirely. PAT] ------------------------------ From: 1JCR7732@ibm.mtsac.edu Subject: Re: 800 Number Billback Date: Wed, 25 May 94 22:03:31 PDT Organization: Mt. San Antonio College In article steven@sgb.oau.org (Steven Bradley) writes: > Call the service as much as you want and as often as you can from PAY > PHONES and see how easily they (don't) get their money then! > Since pay phones permit 800 number calls without charge and the phone > companies see fit to permit them to go through since they are free, > there is no reason to prevent it passing. But alas ... some pay phones DO block 800 numbers. Joseph Romero 1jcr7732@ibm.mtsac.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But legally they are not supposed to. Genuine Bells never block 800, and the COCOTS are slowing learning they cannot legally do it either. PAT] ------------------------------ From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: 25 May 1994 11:40:09 -0400 Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) In article , Guorong Roger wrote: > Is there any kind of CORDLESS PHONE which can be used for ten to > twenty miles distance (not a cellular phone, not the regular cordless > phone which can only be used within the house). The telephone should > still use the regular telephone switching system. The master piece of > the phone should be installed at home, and the handset could be bring > ten to twenty miles away from the home but be still access the phone > at home. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are, but they are not legal for use > in the USA. About the closest you can come to this legally in the USA is > to use a manual phone patch attached to a CB radio or some other type of > legal radio service. CB description deleted for brevity ... > Now, if you use radios equipped for 144 megs -- what is known among > hams as 'two meters' -- then repeater sites equipped with telephone > patches are quite common. They usually belong to a local club whose > members jointly maintain the cost of the repeater site and phone line, > etc. A license is required from the FCC to operate a two meter radio, It is probably worth noting too, that the license requires passing a test on FCC regulations, elements of radio theory and safety. Additionally, the "phone patch" via an amateur radio repeater is only operated on an "originating call" basis. That is, a call from the person with the radio is the only way a call can be made. There is no provision (nor is it allowed by FCC rules) for a call to be made by someone (a non-ham) to the repeater phone patch line in an effort to contact someone via the radio (repeater) connection. > If you've got the money, you might consider setting up a little two > meter arrangement of your own with a private phone line attached, etc. While that is possible, it can only be done legally within the constraints of the FCC regulations as per my comments above. Additionally, there is a frequency coordination process that must be followed to obtain a fixed set of assigned two meter frequencies to establish a permanent repeater which is the only way this could be done and still be legal on the amateur two meter band. If you have any additional questions on this please ask. Cheers, Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.) Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!cc!whs70 201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@cc.bellcore.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 94 10:47:11 CDT From: varney@uscbu.ih.att.com Subject: Re: Speech Recognition "Word Spotting" In article pbflower@uts.EDU.AU wrote: > I'm looking for info on Word Spotting. Any info on developing a HMM to > do this would be much appreciated. Please mail information or names of > books, papers etc. that will do this. (It's in the mail.) November, 1993 issue of IEEE Communications Magazine contains an article by Roe & Wilpon called "Whither Speech Recognition: The Next 25 Years". HMMs are discussed -- 21 references are given, including Wilpon's "Automatic Recognition of Keywords in Unconstrained Speech Using Hidden Markov Models", from the Nov. 1990 IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ASSP). The Transactions and the companion Proceedings of IEEE International Conferences on ASSP are key to understanding the technology, and for finding people involved in it. Al Varney ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 25 MAY 94 23:06:00 GMT Subject: Re: Need Criteria for Choosing a Phone Number ross@ncd.com (Ross Oliver) writes: > I personally dislike lettered phone numbers. I don't like having to > translate on the telephone keypad, and it makes modem dialing VERY > difficult (1-800-CHK-DUAT for example). I also dislike lettered numbers. I notice some ads list both forms. Also, the Convergent Technologies Voice Module (which is a fun thing to play with, having two phone line jacks, a phone set jack, a modem, a CODEC, and an analog cross-point switch) comes with driver software that, among other nifty things, lets you enter a dial string as digits or letters. (Since this means A, B, C, and D now mean 2 or 3, the extra DTMF digits A-D are dialed with a ! first). I wish standard modems had this feature. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com (714) 380-6350 fax (714) 380-5912 Mail Stop MV 237 Net**2 656-6350 ------------------------------ From: fybush@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush) Subject: Re: Long Range "Cordless" telephones Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 00:59:10 GMT Al Cohan <0004526627/{s7@mcimail.com> writes: > Pat, someone recently asked about long range (ten to twenty mile) > "cordless" telephones -- not cellular. Yes, there are several illegal > high power full duplex cordless phones, but there are also rural > systems that are perfectly legal. [deletia] > Maybe Scott Fybush will jump on this thread and tell us how it worked > when he attended Deep Springs College here in CA. I actually saw and > heard their unit in a radio shop in Bishop, CA where the telco line > was connected. Didn't sound bad, but has now been replaced with > cellular. It has? That must be costing an arm and a leg! When I was there (six years ago already), the setup worked like this: At the Deep Springs end, a small (24 student) private college in an isolated desert mountain valley, we had a Panasonic KX-T616, set up with the full complement of 16 extensions, but with just the one incoming phone line. That line came in over a business-band radio system that operated, if memory serves, on 461.XXX/466.XXX (I'm not concealing; I just don't remember!) There was a small vertically- polarized yagi on the roof of the school, aimed up at Silver Peak in the White Mountains. A repeater up there bounced the signal down to that radio shop in Bishop. That was where Contel terminated 619-872- 2000. At the Deep Springs end, the transceiver box in the radio closet presented a standard RJ-11 to the KX-T616. From our end, it was essentially transparent: when we picked up the line at Deep Springs, the transceiver would send the appropriate signals to Bishop, the actual Contel line would be picked up at that end, and we'd dial just like normal. Audio quality? Well ... let's just say it was better than the ancient Contel wireline over the mountains, the old "Deep Springs Toll Station #2" that was pulled out circa 1986-1987. And of course you could direct dial into and out of the valley with the radio system. But the system was being pushed a bit beyond its capacity ... some 12 miles from Bishop up to Silver Peak and about 15 or so from Silver Peak back down to Deep Springs. There was a lot of audio fading ... a lot of noise whenever there were storms, and if that antenna were to be knocked ever so slightly off-beam, well ... forget about the phone! :-) When I left Deep Springs in June 1989, there was still no cell service in the valley, or in Bishop for that matter. I'd like to know more about the cell system they have in place now ... especially how Deep Springs justifies the cost of cellular usage. (When I was there, the 40 or so people living in the valley kept that one radio line humming almost 24 hours a day, and since the college had absorbed the initial cost of the equipment, we paid only the normal telco LD charges for our own personal calls!) Scott Fybush - Deep Springs '88 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 05:24:12 EDT From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: Re: DID Loophole or I'm Screwed up? Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA >> Per FCC Part 68 and TELCo tariffs, anything other than audible >> ring and busy tone (with some exceptions) is "meaningful" -- and >> the call must be supervised (answered). > I thought it was OK for a PBX to issue an intercept without > returning supervision. For example, "The extension you dialed > does not exist. Please call xyx-xxyy for assistance." Do these > messages have to be supervised? My office has Centrex service. As lines are not used, they return exactly that type of message, referring people to our main switchboard. I would assume that it is permitted to provide an unsupervised announcement since I believe the message does not supervise. And I doubt that even the telephone company can provide a class of service that violates an FCC regulation. Or perhaps Telco Centrex is not subject to the same rules as PBX service. ------------------------------ From: etmjvdm@angstrom.ericsson.se (Jan van der Meer) Subject: Re: "Erlang" the Programming Language Date: 26 May 1994 11:33:10 GMT Organization: Ericsson Telecom bv, Rijen, the Netherlands Hi, I am using Erlang for a couple of years now. There is more information available by anonymous ftp: euagate.eua.ericsson.se, start looking in file: /pub/eua/erlang/info/INDEX. The ISBN number of the book is: ISBN 0-13-285792-8 They classify Erlang as follows - Classification: Concurrent functional programming language for large industrial real-time systems. Untyped. Pattern matching syntax. Recursion equations. Explicit concurrency, asynchronous message passing. Relatively free from side effects. Transparent cross-platform distribution. Primitives for detecting run-time errors. Real-time GC. Modules. Dynamic code replacement (change code in running real-time system, without stopping system). Foreign language interface. Availability: Free version (subject to non-commercial licence) with no support. Commercial versions with support are available (Erlang Systems AB). Hope this helps you, Jan van der Meer Research Manager, Intelligent Networks Application Lab Ericsson Telecom, Rijen, the Netherlands ------------------------------ From: dold@rahul.net (Clarence Dold) Subject: Re: FAX Mailbox Services Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 05:48:57 GMT Jack Bzoza (JackB@delrina.com) wrote: > Clarence Gold wrote: Hmm, how much effort was it to misspell my name in the quote? Jack and I hashed out his slightly inflated claims via email. I think WinFax 4.0 is a wonderful product. I use it to retrieve my FaxMail from my system at work, which happens to be an AudioFax. This is done on a turnaround line, which Jack implies is my imagination. In order to retrieve my fax, I do need to key some touchtones. I might be able to accomplish this via a clever dialing strings, with empirically determined commas for delays, but I use a telephone. If you can use WinFax 4.0 to retrieve faxes without the need for touchtones, then it is an advance in program technology. My other point, that requiring a step backwards from Class 2 to Class 1 faxmodems seemed odd, was also lost on Jack. Perhaps everyone has the CPU power to drive Class 1 faxmodems, and Class 2 is a waste of time. I certainly hope Jack isn't in Tech Support. Clarence A Dold - dold@rahul.net - Milpitas (near San Jose) & Napa CA. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 04:17:35 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Hackers On Planet Earth Newsgroups And of course there is the song (from the "big band era") PEnnsylvania 6-5000. ------------------------------ From: johns@scroff.UK (John Slater) Subject: Re: Hackers On Planet Earth Newsgroups Date: 24 May 1994 15:43:02 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems (UK) Reply-To: johns@scroff.UK > it and used that number as part of the movie's theme. Then of course > there was the campy Dracula movie a few years ago which used a take-off > on the same thing with the number TRansylvania 6-5000. PAT] Then, of course, there was the Sesame Street version with Count von Count singing a song called "Transylvania 1-2-3-4-5". And no, I am not making this up. I saw it. John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know you are not making it up. Sesame Street is on television here every day; my nephew watches it. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #251 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa07185; 26 May 94 16:12 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01525; Thu, 26 May 94 12:18:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01516; Thu, 26 May 94 12:18:01 CDT Date: Thu, 26 May 94 12:18:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405261718.AA01516@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #252 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 12:18:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 252 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Eleven Montrealers Arrested in Telephone Fraud (Peter M. Weiss) Book Review: "Riding the Internet Highway" by Fisher (Rob Slade) Message Waiting Problem on OPX in CA (Barton F. Bruce) Nice Job, if You Can Get it! (Gerry Brown) Tellabs Information Request (Leroy Casterline) Flames For ISD? (Joe Jarrett) Looking for FEC Decoder (Harry Smith) What's a 1A3B? (Stan Schwartz) SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement (Manette B. Lazear) Paper on International Callbacks (Douglas Mckeen) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 05:36:37 EDT From: "Peter M. Weiss" Subject: Eleven Montrealers Arrested in Telephone Fraud Organization: Penn State University Original received From: Melvin Klassen A Canadian Press story: MONTREAL - Eleven people have been arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the phone systems of British Columbia, Alberta, and Edmonton of about $700,000. RCMP said the operation was run out of Montreal -- the eleven arrested are all Montrealers -- and it offered illegal cut-rate long-distance telephone service to overseas clients. Once a client got interested, an agent would contact a cohort in Edmonton, who could reroute the call anywhere in the world. The client had no indication that it wa an illegal operation. RCMP Corporal Dominique Delage said the mechanism used for conference- calls make long-distance fraud easy for people who charge the calls to companies that exist only on paper. Four men were arrested April 19 in Edmonton, and charged with theft, fraud, and conspiracy. The seven people arrested Thursday in Montreal were released, but are to be charged soon. ----------------- Mel's subtitle: "RCMP reach out and touch someone" :-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: RCMP = Royal Canadian Mounted Police, essentially the Canadian federal police force and equivilent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the USA. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 14:42:28 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Riding the Internet Highway" by Fisher BKRIDINT.RVW 940204 New Riders Publishing 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 phyllis@prenhall.com 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "Riding the Internet Highway", Fisher, 1993, 1-56205-192-X, U$16.95/C$21.95 slf@netcom.com Fisher shows admirable restraint in limiting the scope of this book. Where others try to produce "complete" documentation for the "whole" Internet, Fisher flatly states (correctly) that this is impossible. Where others try to take you "from the modem up," Fisher suggests you get some basic experience with local bulletin boards. The intent is to give desktop (PC and Mac) users some basic grounding in Internet functions and tools. As such, the book is much less imposing than most of the others of this ilk. (Cheaper, too.) The emphasis on the micro computer is followed through in the material covered. Like a number of other guides, some very basic UNIX background is given. It is clear, though, that the expectation is that the UNIX box is not on your desk, but a remote system on which you have an account. When discussing ftp, readers are reminded that they still need to download from the local host to their own desktop. Although I appreciate the limitation of the information contained herein, at times things are kept just slightly too terse. The very important tip about not sending subscription and signoff requests to the mailing list, itself, is here but the material isn't completely explicit about what *is* the correct procedure. Readers are told that ftp.misc.sri.com has a list of mailing lists; they aren't told the file name or directory. (Ironically, thirty-three pages later an ftp screen is used from that very directory -- although it doesn't list the interest-groups file.) One other regrettable shortcoming is the limited discussion of mail servers. Although Fisher obviously feels local service providers are the answer, for many users online commercial service vendors may be the only realistic answer, and these are often limited to email access. Some topics may appear fragmented, since the book is organized by application rather than function. Finger and whois are discussed under "Finding Information" rather than under email. Fisher's discussion of the distinctives of Usenet is very good -- but news *could* be discussed alongside mailing lists. For the majority of new users, however, this is a good, basic introduction. What shortcomings there are in specific information can be quickly filled in once a user has gotten onto the net. The very personal style here probably more than makes up for any other lacks -- the Internet is primarily other people, not technologies. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKRIDINT.RVW 940204. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com Subject: Message Waiting Problem on OPX in CA Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Date: 25 May 94 23:30:09 -0400 A site in CA has a problem getting the message waiting lamp to light at an off premise location three miles away. I am in Mass and so can only guess what is happening and have suggested some tests that may help pinpoint what is happening, but any help is most welcome. The PBX is a big Fugitsu with an OPX station card using 48VDC for talk battery, so loop supervision over that range should be no problem. The message waiting lamp signal is on the station line where it leaves the PBX site, but does not light the lamp at the remote station. The phone at the remote site does have the lamp flash during ringing, so it seems to be a working traditional neon lamp across T and R. I am assuming that PACBEL is running the line through something akin to a traditional dial-long-line (DLL) unit that lets them reinsert talk battery and is really necessary when working any distance from a PBX with 24VDC station battery. PACBEL probably just does this on all OPX lines to 'protect' themselves. This is all in the same town (Sebastopol). I am assuming that at that distance they are NOT doing a full four wire transmission system with FXO and FXS ends which could extend the station to any place even thousands of miles away. Any such equipment will immediately eliminate the message waiting signal. I am also assuming that breaking the loop at the PBX or reversing T and R there will propably not result in any differance in the on hook open circuit voltage seen at the station end -- further proving there is a DLL unit or equiv in between. Is there an alternate service that can be ordered that is just copper wires that PACBELL officially tolerates OPX stations on? USOC code or other incantation for it? Does one have to resort to ordering LADD type copper lines for 'short-haul' line driver modems and then using them otherwise? Are such copper only circuits readily available in CA? Is a four wire version only a tad more or is it exactly twice. i.e. could a second such circuit be ordered for peanuts more since only a single pair is really needed. Does PACBELL put those "RUDE" protectors/filters on LADD circuits that preclude DDS (or even faster:-) ) 'abuse' and that also preclude normal station battery let alone superimposed ringing and message waiting battery? There are plenty of 'cute' ways to repeat the message waiting signal given enough $s and possibly another circuit in parallel, but what is needed here is the right magic incantation to get an appropriate circuit from them that lets the message waiting light on the OPX line work the way it is supposed to. Does PACBELL have a consultant liason / out of state vendor type contact group with a competant staff? EMAIL if posting it is a bad idea. TIA, Barton ------------------------------ Date: 26 May 94 03:17 GMT From: BROWN.GERRY@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Gerry Brown Assoc, Gerry Brown,PAS) Subject: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! This could be retitiled, How can I ever thank them.. This afternoon, my home telephone went south. Anyone who called in got one ring followed by a fast busy. I called the local (Pac Bell) operator who forwarded me to PacBell service after confirming my problem. Service reminded me that they would have to charge me if it was internal wiring. I agreed to wait to report the problem until AFTER I had tested their side of the line. PacBell supplies each house with an external box that has a modular jack. To test it all one has to do is plug a phone into the external jack. If it works, the problem is internal -- my fault. If it doesn't, the problem is outside PacBell's fault. While reporting the problem, the service tech told me that effective June 1, 1994, PacBell will be charging for a service call WHETHER THE PROBLEM IS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. The only way around the charge is to subscribe to their Wire Service Plan. Not a bad scam, heh! I pay for service no matter who is at fault. The PacBell repair service claimed that the California PUC forced them to implement this plan. Boy am I glad that the telephone industry has been deregulated. Imagine what we would have to pay if that hadn't happened. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would double check the source on this. Do you mean to tell me that if there is a problem in the CO that *you* are going to have to pay for the repair? If the problem is on the pole in the alley behind your house *you* will have to pay? Gimme a break. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 21:59:53 -0600 From: Leroy Casterline Subject: Tellabs Information Request Salutations, telecom netlanders! Not long ago, I requested information from this group on loop-start <-> ground-start converters. My thanks to all who responded. Now I come to you once again requesting your assistance. Tellabs produces converters which appear to satisfy our need. While I have heard of Tellabs, I have no direct experience with them or their products, and therefore solicit your input on the company and its converters. The converters we are considering are: Tellabs Model 6007 - 2 line, PBX-side converter Tellabs Modem 9006 - 4 line, CO-side converter Thank you one and all! Leroy ------------------------------ From: joejarre@netcom.com (Joe Jarrett) Subject: Flames For ISD? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 21:49:57 GMT I'm the Field Applications engineer for Information Storage Devices, commonly known as "ISD". ISD makes a series of chips that store audio (speech, sounds, etc). I've been told that we have taken some bad press in one of the "telecom" newsgroups. Did that happen here? If so, if anyone has any copies of the threads that ran then, I'd appreciate them being sent to me. Otherwise, I would be willing to discuss the subject either via Email or here in the TELECOM Digest. Thanks for your time. Joe Jarrett, K5FOG joejarre@netcom.com Information Storage Devices FAE Austin, Texas ------------------------------ From: hsmith@lmsc.lockheed.com (Harry Smith) Subject: Looking For FEC Decoder Organization: Lockheed Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 00:54:45 GMT I have just picked up Sklar's book on digital communications. (It is a great book.) In the back it has code for doing Viterbi decoding on a PC. Does anyone know of an FTP site where I can find it in softcopy. (I have typing several pages of some elses code.) While I am at it, is this the correct location find information about the different error correcting codes and what people are doing? ( If not, can you point me to the right place.) Harry Smith hsmith@lmsc.lockheed.com ------------------------------ From: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) Subject: What's a 1A3B? Date: 26 May 1994 00:32:28 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Here in downstate NYNEXland if an exchange has not been "taken over" by a pager or cellular company, you can dial the NNX and 9901 to find out what kind of switch is in that C/O. For example, dialing (516)694-9901 will tell you that you have reached the Farmingdale 5ESS test number, serving the following prefixes ... (you get the idea). When dialing (516) 352-9901, however, I am told that I have reached the Floral Park 1A3B, the only one of it's kind in Nassau County. Now I have heard of 5ESS's and DMS-100's, but what is a 1A3B, and why is it such a distinction to have one? Thanks! Stan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 12:30:39 +0100 From: manette@mitre.org (Manette B. Lazear) Subject: SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement Special Interest Group on Networked Information, Discovery, and Retrieval (Previously SIGWAIS, Special Interest Group on Wide Area Information Server) The MITRE Corporation will sponsor the next meeting of the Special Interest Group on Networked Information, Discovery, and Retrieval. General topics of interest for this group are WAIS, gopher, World Wide Web, and other information retrieval and discovery technologies. We are planning for an interesting and exciting meeting. We look forward to seeing you there. This meeting will focus in on three areas: 1. security including firewall issues, 2. electronic publishing and copyright issues, and 3. knowbots and other information discovery technologies. IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN MAKING A PRESENTATION IN ANY OF THESE AREAS, PLEASE INDICATE THIS ON THE REGISTRATION FORM BELOW AND SEND IT TO US AT "signidr@mitre.org". Date: Thursday, August 4, 1994 Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Place: The MITRE Corporation 7525 Colshire Drive McLean, VA 22102 Registration: PLEASE REGISTER EARLY TO ASSURE YOUR ATTENDANCE. Space is limited to 300 attendees. Complete registration form below and return by e-mail or fax: e-mail: signidr@mitre.org fax: 703/883-1397 (c/o Lorrayne Schaefer) Fee: None Demos Welcome: If you have a demo you would like to share with your colleagues in our demo area, there is space to indicate this on the registration form; please let us know. Demo selection will be coordinated based on space availability and focus of presentation. Vendors Welcome: We would like to include vendor information and demos at this meeting. If you are a vendor and would like to participate please indicate this in the space provided on the registration form. Selection will be coordinated based on space availability and focus of presentation. Access: Free, on-site, parking at MITRE Corporation. Driving directions to MITRE will appear in a later announcement. Nearest Metro is West Falls Church (orange line) with approximately an $8 taxi ride (~7 minute) from Metro to MITRE. Bus #3B marked "Tyson's Corner" also runs from West Falls Church Metro to the vicinity of MITRE. The fare is $1 and takes about 15 min. plus a short walk from the bus stop. Airport: MITRE is approximately equi-distant from Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles Airport. Travel time from the airports to MITRE is about 25 minutes and taxi cost is approximately $30.00. Nearby Hotels: Best Western Tyson's Westpark 2 miles to MITRE 8401 Westpark Drive McLean, VA 22102 703/734-2800 McLean Hilton at Tyson's Corner 1.5 miles to MITRE 7920 Jones Branch Drive McLean, VA 22102 703/847-5000 Ritz-Carlton, Tyson's Corner .5 miles to MITRE 1700 Tyson's Blvd McLean, VA 22102 703/506-4300 Tyson's Corner Ramada 1 mile to MITRE 7801 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22043 703/893-1340 Tyson's Corner Marriott 1 mile to MITRE 8028 Leesburg Pike Vienna, VA 22182 800/228-9290 -------------Registration Form------------ SIGNIDR V Registration Thursday, August 4, 1994 MITRE CORPORATION McLean, VA Name:___________________________________________________________________ Title:____________________________________________________________________ Affiliation:_____________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ E-mail:___________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________FAX:______________________________ Which previous SIGNIDR/SIGWAIS have you attended? (Check all that apply.) SIGWAIS I (USGS, Reston, VA) _________ SIGWAIS II (Library of Congress, Wash., DC) _________ SIGNIDR III (Nat. Library of Med., Bethesda, MD) _________ SIGNIDR IV (Dept. of Commerce, Wash., DC) _________ Participant Information: If you wish to participate through a presentation, demonstration, or vendor display please complete the appropriate information area(s) below. For demos you must supply all equipment you will need, including workstations and other hardware, software, etc. Connections to the Internet will be available. PRESENTATION Title:_______________________________________________________ Brief Description:_________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ DEMO Name:________________________________________________________________ Demo Description:_________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ VENDOR Name:______________________________________________________________ Description of how you would like to participate:__________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Manette B. Lazear Digital Libraries Technologies MITRE, 7525 Colshire Dr., McLean, VA 22102 Phone: 703/883-6728 FAX:703/883-3315 (manette@mitre.org) MITRE Mail Stop: Z160 ------------------------------ From: dmckeen@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Douglas Mckeen) Subject: Paper on International Callbacks Date: 26 May 1994 06:18:21 GMT Organization: University of Alberta I am taking an international marketing course at the University of Alberta right now and I'm considering doing a paper on international callback. I am looking for information on callback services and any problems/experiences that either customers or suppliers of callback services have encountered. I am still debating whether to pursue this paper from a business plan perspective or from a research perspective. Any input I receive will probably sway me one way or the other. I am also looking to expand on some of the ideas I have already. Such as ... -The name of the service - One name for all markets served or tailor the name to suit the countries/customers served. -Language problems - I only speak one language. Will my customers require more? If so, how do I solve this? -Legal/Regulatory Issues (Possibly a whole paper on its own) -What markets should I serve? There are a few possible target markets. 1) Any customer wishing to connect from anyplace to any other place. (pretty broad) 2) Canadian companies abroad wishing to call Canada or other countries. 3) The many Americans struggling to call Cuba every day. (Canada doesn't have the embargo against Cuba) -Strategic Business Alliance - Should I form some form of alliance with "agents" in the foreign countries? That is, to what degree should I get involved? I could try promoting the service from here but it would be difficult. -Other - Still very important are issues such as price, billing, what countries to serve, costs, sales force, etc. I mentioned mostly marketing or business issues above; however, I am also interested in the technical and operational issues (these are part of the product). Any piece of information or insight you may have will be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any documentation/articles on the subject I would appreciate hearing about them. Thanks, in advance, for any info you send. If you would like to call me, my phone number is (403) 483-8759 (5pm-11pm MST) or you can e-mail me. :-) Regards, Doug McKeen dmckeen@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #252 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa07350; 26 May 94 16:17 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02625; Thu, 26 May 94 12:51:06 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02616; Thu, 26 May 94 12:51:04 CDT Date: Thu, 26 May 94 12:51:04 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405261751.AA02616@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #253 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 12:51:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 253 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phone/FAX/Data Calls (Summary/On-Site Experience) (Peter Leif Rasmussen) Call For Paper: CFIP'95 (French) (Jean-Marc Jezequel) Mandatory 1+ Dialing Coming to Area Code 516 (Dave Niebuhr) Micro Portable Suggestions (Bill Verry) How Smart is Call-Forwarding? (Shag Aristotelis) Large Norstar Systems (John Warne) Trans-Atlantic Fiber Operators (US Based) (Stu Jeffery) Looking for Used Panasonic 308KSU (Al Cohan) Directory Assistance Companies (Eric Maillet) Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine (quixote@eskimo.com) Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? (Joe Harrison) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 May 94 14:48:00 JST From: plr@ichigo.os.nasu.toshiba.co.jp (Peter Leif Rasmussen (SY-Gi)) Subject: Phone/FAX/Data Calls (Summary/On-Site Experience) Long time ago (no, this is not an adventure :-) I asked some questions here in the TELECOM Digest about getting my telephone connected in a way that would make it possible for me to receive FAX and data calls, unattended. I got some answers with the most useful (for me) being from Stuart Whitmore (whitmore@tahoma.cwu.edu) about a share ware program called BGFAX, now v.1.21, made by B.J. Guillot (st1R8@jetson.uh.edu), anonymous FTP://csn.org/Computech Being just a private hobby among several it took me a while to put it together, but I promised to post a summary if I got something useful and that is what I am doing now. As I have also been succesful in setting it up to work with redirection of incomming phone calls to an answering machine, if that is what the caller want, it may also be of some use for those with interest in such matters. My PC is an IBM Notebook (Japanese model) with a plain vanilla V.22bis/V.42bis MNP4-5 FAX/modem. To effectively split voice from FAX/data I bought a FAX- switch from JDR Microdevices of $90 USD. They also have a smaller version at $60 USD, which should work as well. The only difference being an extra connection for a modem, which will be useful if you have FAX and modem on different machines (not interesting in this case). The "effective split" is dealt with this way because I don't know of any special functions implemented in the (high-tech?) Japanese telephone network, e.g. distinctive ring, ANI, CID, etc. that seems to be available anywhere else?! So, if this works in Japan it should work in most other countries. The JDR Microdevices FAX-Switch can be programmed to redirect the call upon detection of certain DTMF tones upon connection. If no tones are heard, e.g. a FAX CNG tone, for a period of four seconds it assumes it is a telephone call and connects the phone. My phone has the answering machine built in (like about 90% of all phones in Japan), but there is a connector for a stand alone answe- ring machine. This means that a normal telephone caller only hear a different ring after connection, until I or the answering machine answers the phone. A FAX will also go through with no special action, unless the caller has an old FAX machine that doesn't transmit a CNG tone. However, the data caller has to add a pause (a few commas) and then the code for the modem redirection. Having come so far BGFAX takes over, to decide whether the incomming call is a FAX or a data call. If it is a FAX call, BGFAX receives the FAX and stores it on disk in a proprietary format, which is convertible to PCX or the format used by QL2FAX (a program usually bundled with modems). Various data about the call is stored in a log-file. There is also a program with it that makes you able to transmit FAX'es. It is shareware and costs $25 USD to register. It is simple, using a no-nonsense non-GUI style userinterface. It is shipped with a document, which is also a no-nonsense type making efforts to explain the (chaotic?) world of FAX/modems. For the unexperienced user it can be hard to understand, but unless you have a very odd modem it looks like you should be able to make it work (Said by the unexperienced user ;-) If BGFAX detects that the call is not FAX but data, it attempts to load a BBS program, set to be loaded by a front end processor. This is the way I have set it up, however it seems that originally BGFAX was made to make Fido Net SysOp's able to receive FAX'es on the same line, so BGFAX can also be loaded in a another way, called Rear End Mode. I didn't try that, but if you are a Fido Net SysOp you probably already know about it. Having entered the BBS, all control is taken over by that so now the caller will be able to do whatever he/she normally would. It is because BGFAX works in the Front End Mode with Batch files calling each other, so when the BBS is up and running BGFAX is totally out and vice versa. As stated before this is just a fun hobby, so I want it to cost as little as possible. Therefore I have been searching for cheap BBS's (and still are). In the beginning I tried Executive Host, which is the BBS extension of Telix. However, I couldn't make it work and tried by FAX and email to contact the people producing it, but I never got any answer even though I wanted to register?! I also tried a totally different approach, with a program called FreeMail that works with MS Windows and should be able to receive phone and data calls by some nifty software construction? But it weren't able to use a combined FAX/modem and split those two, so I dropped that. I also got some info about using QL2FAX as it has an "auto detect" option when answering the phone. It would seem perfect to have everything in the same package, but QL2FAX does nothing else but answering the phone? There is no info on how to for example write a script to make it continue as simple BBS, and at that time I was getting quite far in making BGFAX work so I dropped that, too. I finally made a BBS program called TriTel work together with BGFAX. It is very simple, though it claims to be very powerful, but the people that made it (shareware) wants $75 USD to register, so I am still searching. Stuart Whitmore claims that Wilcat works well with it, but that is a commercial software package costing $100 USD, so that is not yet interesting. A long story about getting connected in more ways, without having to pay the (competitive?) price of $770 USD in (no-competition-land) Japan for an extra telephone line (just to get connected). You realize that a little extra sweat can save you a lot of money. A little more "bashing" will hopefully eventually bring prices down (Go for it Clinton! EU are too busy "bashing" each other ;-) If questions are asked directly to me I will do what I can to answer, at least now being able to claim that I have some experience. Peter Rasmussen ------------------------------ From: Jean-Marc.Jezequel@irisa.fr (Jean-Marc Jezequel) Subject: Call For Paper: CFIP'95 (French) Date: 26 May 1994 09:30:45 GMT Organization: Irisa, Rennes(FR) *** If you don't understand French, you wouldn't be interested in this *** Appel aux communications ##### ####### ### ###### ### ###### ####### # # # # # ### # # # # # # # # # # # # # ##### # ###### # ###### ###### # # # # # # # # # # # # ##### # ### # ####### ####### Colloque Francophone sur l'Ingenierie des Protocoles 9-12 mai 1995 - Rennes - France Comite de Programme Presidents : Claude Jard (IRISA, France) et Pierre Rolin (Telecom-Bretagne, France) Membres : Paul Amer (Universite du Delaware, Etats-Unis) Bennani Abdelfdil (ENSIAS, Maroc) J. William Atwood (Universite de Concordia, Canada) Benkiran Amine (EMI, Maroc) Mohamed Bettaz (Universite de Constantine, Algerie) Ed Brinksma (Universite de Twente, Pays-Bas) Stanislaw Budkowski (INT, France) Richard Castanet (LaBRI, France) Ana Cavalli (INT, France) Wojciech Cellary (EFP, Pologne) Andre Danthine (Universite de Liege, Belgique) Piotr Dembinski (Academie des Sciences, Pologne) Michel Diaz (LAAS, France) Rachida Dssouli (Universite de Montreal, Canada) Jean Marc Farines (UFSC, Bresil) Serge Fdida (MASI, France) Alain Finkel (ENS Cachan, France) Roland Groz (FT/CNET, France) Farouk Kamoun (ENSI, Tunisie) Jacques Labetoulle (Eurecom, France) Guy Leduc (Universite de Liege, Belgique) Francis Lepage (CRAN, France) Luigi Logrippo (Universite d'Ottawa, Canada) Gerard Michel (IMAG, France) Pascale Minet (INRIA, France) Abdellatif Obaid (Univ. du Quebec a Hull, Canada) Omar Rafiq (Universite de Pau) Behcet Sarikaya (Universite de AIZU, Japon) Andre Schiper (EPFL, Suisse) Samir Tohme (ENST, France) Gregor von Bochmann (Univ. de Montreal, Canada) L'idee du Colloque Francophone sur l'Ingenierie des Protocoles qui a deja eu lieu par trois fois (1988, 1991 et 1993), est de permettre a la communaute francophone des enseignants, chercheurs et industriels dans le domaine des protocoles et reseaux informatiques, de faire regulierement le point en langue francaise. Le colloque comprend une journee de tutoriels, suivie de trois jours de conference. Le comite de programme souhaite se voir soumettre des communications qui traitent de tout sujet relatif au developpement des protocoles de communications. La liste non exhaustive qui suit, donne quelques points qui peuvent etre traites : - Conception, mise en oeuvre et gestion de reseaux et d'architectures de communication ; - Techniques et langages de specification ; - Techniques et outils de verification et de simulation ; application de ces techniques ; - Mise au point et integration des logiciels repartis dans les systemes ; - Architectures, methodes et outils de test de conformite et d'interoperabilite ; - Methodes formelles ou pragmatiques couvrant l'ensemble des etapes de developpements des protocoles ; - Conception et developpement de protocoles a haut debit ; - Modeles, evaluation et mesure de performances des reseaux ; - Conception, developpement et application multimedia dans les reseaux - Reseaux de mobiles ; reseaux radio ; - Securite dans les reseaux ; Le comite de programme souhaite recevoir des communications de la part d'universitaires, de chercheurs et d'industriels. Des articles de syntheses didactiques, des exposes de travaux de recherches theoriques et d'experiences pratiques sont attendus, ainsi que des propositions d'exposes pour les tutoriels. Les publications emanant de jeunes chercheurs sont particulierement les bienvenues. Un prix recompensera la meilleure publication. Les meilleures publications seront publiees dans des revues. Un espace sera disponible pour des demonstrations, le comite de programme sollicite des propositions sur les themes ci-dessus. Instruction aux Auteurs ----------------------- Si vous desirez soumettre une communication (12 pages maximum) ou un tutoriel, veuillez envoyer cinq exemplaires de l'article complet, avant le 1er septembre 1994, a : Pierre Rolin (Telecom-Bretagne, France) Telecom-Bretagne Antenne de Rennes Departement RSM Rue de la Chataigneraie BP 78 35512 - Cesson - Sevigne cedex FRANCE Tel : +33 99 12 70 21 Fax : +33 99 12 70 30 email : rolin@rennes.enst-bretagne.fr Les decisions du comite de programme vous seront notifiees le 15 janvier 1995. Pour etre publiees dans les actes du colloque les versions finales des articles doivent parvenir avant le 15 fevrier 1995. Dates a retenir --------------- 1er septembre 1994 : date limite pour la reception des articles soumis. 15 janvier 1995 : notification aux auteurs de la decision du comite de programme. 15 fevrier 1995 : date limite pour la reception des textes definitifs a inclure dans les actes du colloque. Comite d'organisation --------------------- Jean-Marc Jezequel (IRISA) Sylvie Brunet (Telecom-Bretagne) Noel Plouzeau (IRISA) Elisabeth Lebret (IRISA) Joseph Fromont (CCETT) Marie-Noelle Georgeault (IRISA) Alain Leger (CCETT) Jean-Marc Jezequel, IRISA/CNRS, 35042 RENNES (FRANCE) // jezequel@irisa.fr ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 08:28:37 EDT From: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: Mandatory 1+ Dialing Coming to Area Code 516 Today's {Newsday}, 5/26/94, contained an article with the title "LI, Get Set to Dial '1'". Mandatory 1+ dialing to numbers in area codes other than 516 (Long Island) will go into effect on Sept. 24, 1994. It now is and has been optional for several years. Area code 914 is also affected by this change but I cannot say anything about the other area codes in New York with the exception of 212 (Manhattan), 718 (Brooklyn (Kings County), Bronx, Queens and Staten Island (Richmond County) and 917 (cellular, pager, etc. that is an overlay area code. 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 1+(516) 282-3093 FAX 1+(516) 282-7688 ------------------------------ From: billverry@aol.com (BillVerry) Subject: Micro Portable Suggestions Date: 26 May 1994 09:24:02 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) I'm in the market for a micro portable cell phone and need some advice. From what I've gathered it seems these devices are not too reliable when it comes to clarity and battery life. Most everyone I've spoken to has suggested I stay with the car phone and forget the "pocket" phone. I suspect this has to do with the low ouput of the units? If there is a manufacturer or a particular type of phone I should get I would greatly appreciate such contrasting opinion. Thank you, BV Please respond via email (billverry@aol.com) ------------------------------ From: birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag Aristotelis) Subject: How smart is call-forwarding? Date: 26 May 94 06:39:36 GMT Organization: Screaming in Digital, the Queensryche Digest A question for those more knowledgeable than I: Being out in the sticks and not "local" to the nearest dialup, I got a line put in at a relative's house in an NXX bordering both my NXX and the net's NXX a couple years back, with call forwarding on it. Simply put, my connectivity looks like this: [Me] -- [Fwd] -- [Net] In my state (NJ) the telco (Bell Atlantic-NJ) has diligently replaced all the trunk lines with fiber, much to my delight. Most of the overhead wires are still copper, at least as far as residential lines go, though. There's a fiber shed around the corner from my house, and the transition is made at that point. Thus, we arrive at one of two scenarios: 1) If BA-NJ's switching computers are smart and simply shunt calls on to their forwarded destination: [Me] -c- [Shed] -f- [CO1] -f- [CO2] -f- [CO3] -c- [Net] 2) If BA-NJ's switching computers aren't smart, and actually route a forwarded call out to the number (over copper!) and back again(???): [Me] -c- [Shed] -f- [CO1] -f- [CO2] -c- [Fwd] -c- [CO2] -f- [CO3] -c- [Net] Recently, I've encountered _nasty_ noise. Even the latest greatest 28.8kbps modems with all the connection-holding capability in the world can't connect. If I dial _directly_ without using the forward (thus incurring big tolls) the routing is as follows, and there is no noise: [Me] -c- [Shed] -f- [C01] -f- ([C02] -f-?) [C03] -c- [Net] (Note, I'm not sure whether a direct call would pass through the CO in NXX 2.) It looks like one of two things is happening here: 1) The computers are dumb, and are routing the call out to the number and back again, and something's causing noise on the loop. 2) The computers are ok, but something's causing noise in NXX 2's CO itself. I'm going to call BA-NJ in the morning, and go through the usual process of explaining to them that I'm _absolutely certain_ it's not my inside wiring, since there _is no inside wiring_ on that line... ;) but I figured I'd toss this out, in hopes that someone out there knows more about how the computers handle call-forwarding. Shag Screaming in Digital: queensryche-request@pilot.njin.net GEOS Binary Moderator: comp-binaries-geos@pilot.njin.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 13:20:59 EDT From: John Warne <19064001@SBACVM.SBAC.EDU> Organization: School Board of Alachua County, FL. Subject: Large Norstar Systems We have some IWATSU IDS-128 hybrid switches that we will have to schedule for replacement soon (new North American Dialing/Numbering plan, a recently discovered method to totally defeat existing software toll restriction in the things, age, parts, etc). On option being studied (one of *many* options being studied) is to replace the systems with Norstar systems. I am comfortable with the Norstar in small configurations, but would like to chat with anyone with experience in using/supporting large configurations (20X88 or 20X104, for example). Thanks, 19064001@sbacvm.sbac.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 15:11:43 -0800 From: stu@shell.portal.com (Stu Jeffery) Subject: Trans-Atlantic Fiber Operators (US based) I am trying to find out the names of the smaller US based companies that operate trans-Atlantic fiber cables. The ones I know of are: ATT, MCI, Sprint, Wiltel and Compuserve. Does anyone know of any others? Any pointers would be appreciated. Stu Jeffery Internet: stu@shell.portal.com 1072 Seena Ave. voice: 415-966-8199 Los Altos, CA. 94024 fax: 415-966-8199 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 94 16:29 EST From: Al Cohan <0004526627@mcimail.com> Subject: Looking for Used Panasonic 308KSU I have a small client that is upgrading his old *I mean OLD* 1A2 to a PBX. If anyone has a used Panasonic 308 for sale, please contact me direct. Thanks in advance, Al ------------------------------ From: maillet@delphi.com Subject: Directory Assistance Companies Date: Wed, 25 May 94 23:32:17 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Responding to josephh888@aol.com: The Alliance Network is a telecommunications consulting company that specializes in serving clients with monthly billings exceeding $1,000. Depending on your specific needs, we should be able to help you significantly reduce those $5,000 monthly directory assistance charges. If you are spending $5,000 just on directory assistance, chances are good that you are spending too much on your other telephone services as well. If this is the case, then The Alliance Network can be of considerable service to you. For details, you can contact The Alliance Network at 1-800-608-0028. Ask for Michael Nicosia. Or, if you prefer, leave us a message here on the Internet. We will get back to you promptly. Thank you for your consideration. Eric Maillet The Alliance Network ------------------------------ From: quixote@eskimo.com Subject: Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine Organization: Eskimo North Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 04:55:06 GMT Somehow I missed the first article of this thread. But I assume you are talking about an answering machine that when it receives a message, it will dial a preprogrammed number to alert about the message just received. I would be interested in such a machine, either the one mentioned in this thread or similar ones in the market. Any help with brands or where to buy them, will be greatly appreciated. Carlos ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 09:22:40 +0100 From: J.Harrison@bra0112.wins.icl.co.uk Subject: Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? General view of Digest readers (except Miss Manners) seems to be that it is, on the basis that it leaves the called party with a gnawing feeling of wonderment as to who called them and why. I can't see how; do modern answering machines work differently from my fairly-old Panasonic? With mine, callers who hear the outgoing message all the way through and then hang up (before the beep) just don't activate the message counter, so I don't even know they called. The few seconds gap between the end of the outgoing message and the beep gives them plenty of time. Suits me fine, and I had assumed they all worked much the same way. Incidentally while I'm at the keyboard ... it's taken me a while to realise that US analogue cellular systems providers require you, the the phone owner and payer of the airtime bill, actually to pay for incoming calls. How the heck have they managed to convince people to go for that?!? Joe ICL Ltd. Bracknell Berkshire RG12 8SN UK (+44-344-473424) J.Harrison@bra0112.wins.icl.co.uk S=Harrison/I=J/OU1=bra0112/O=icl/P=icl/A=gold 400/C=GB ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #253 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa08183; 26 May 94 18:02 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA04990; Thu, 26 May 94 13:56:12 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA04981; Thu, 26 May 94 13:56:10 CDT Date: Thu, 26 May 94 13:56:10 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405261856.AA04981@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #254 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 13:56:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 254 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bulk Call Display (Alan Leon Varney) Re: CNID and ANI - Will They Become One and the Same? (Alan Leon Varney) Re: SMDI Question (Al Farnham) Re: RBOCS & Video Remote learning in Schools? (Robert Virzi) Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed (John Lundgren) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (John Lundgren) Re: Hunting Service From GTE (Jeff Hibbard) Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? (David Devereaux-Weber) Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? (Lars Poulsen) Re: Call Return (Hugh Pritchard) Re: Microsoft Telephony API (Guy Blair) Re: Internet Access from the Solomon Islands? (Don Newcomb) Re: How Can I Ring Up Myself? (Nathan N. Duehr) 57x in Old Area 312 (Carl Moore) Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World (avb@cais.com) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 08:29:47 +0600 From: varney@uscbu.ih.att.com (Alan Leon Varney) Subject: Re: Bulk Call Display Organization: AT&T Network Systems In article Paul Robinson writes: >>> So what interface are they using to receive the Call Display data? >> I believe there is just such a bulk interface available, called >> something like SMDA (Service Message Desk Accounting?). > I think you mean "SMDF" -- Simplified Message Desk Format. Some > attendant console systems have the capability to use it in order to > route calls automatically. I know the system we have at my other > office has it as an option. From the switch perspective, it's SMSI (Simplified Message Service Interface), an early version of the Voice Messaging Interface. Both of these deliver the number of a forwarding telephone (so they will know the client or "mailbox" they are representing for voice messaging purposes) unless the call is "direct" to the VM system. Some switches offer a Bulk Calling Line ID interface -- basically the same as SMSI/VMI. In fact, both pieces of information can be delivered if the message service is configured properly. The standard interface is RS-232 asynch, up to 9600 baud. Bellcore has requirements for BRI and PRI to provide the same information. Al Varney ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 08:30:13 +0600 From: varney@uscbu.ih.att.com (Alan Leon Varney) Subject: Re: CNID and ANI - Will They Become One and the Same? Organization: AT&T Network Systems In article johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) writes: [someone wrote] >> With the FCC mandate for CNID service, is it not possible that the >> telcos will use this to drop ANI? > Considering that ANI is what they use to bill for toll calls, I would > think that such a move is, to put it mildly, unlikely. Not only that but, for many classes of calls (many PBX, forwarded calls, etc.), the CNID and ANI are different numbers. I would not like paying the toll charges when calling a local phone forwarded to China -- particularly if it was made without using my favorite INC :). >> Also it has been mentioned that "911 service requires special trunk lines >> and equipment". Clearly CNID does not and needs only a low-cost display. CNID may only need a low-cost display; 911 needs a lot of other things. Even if 911 used CNID, it's likely that a few dedicated 911 trunks would be required. At least they would after the first lawsuit claiming that congestion on "public trunks" in competition with a 911 call lead to injury/death. >> Will this make local 911 response a possibility? I'm not sure what this means -- 911 is a "local response" mechanism today. How would CNID change this???? > The hard part about 911 isn't delivering the ANI. The hard part is > creating a complete and reliable data base with accurate street > addresses in which the number can be looked up. .... > Whether the number comes from ANI or CLID is a nit. My friends down the hall (in AT&T Public Safety) would disagree. The hard part of 911 is EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. Getting it routed to the right PSAP, insuring there are adequate (but not too many) trunks from EVERY switch, getting a myriad of public agencies to cooperate, funding on an ongoing basis, providing operator HOLD or RINGBACK where needed, educating the PBX folks (and cellular), getting a myriad of TELCOs and vendors to agree on standards, receiving/making daily updates from multiple LECs, etc. So maybe the database is a problem -- but it isn't the only (or hardest) one to handle. Al Varney ------------------------------ From: AL.FARNHAM@hq.doe.gov Date: 26 May 94 09:56:00 -0400 Subject: Re: SMDI Question Here is the message format for an SMDI link between a switch and a Message Desk (Voice Mail System). The link is normally 1200bps full duplex without handshaking although some new implementations run at 9600bps. The Bell spec is TSR-TSY-000283. SMDI Message protocol: The system checks messages that it receives from the Message Desk for adherence to the following message protocols. Incoming messages - (Voice Mail System to Switch): There are two kinds of incoming messages the switch can accept from the message desk: OP:MWI(SP)nnnnnnn!(D) RMV:MWI(SP)nnnnnnn!(D) where: nnnnnnnnnn = station number (can be 7 or 10 digits) (D) = control-D (End Of Transmission) (SP) = space The first message activates the message waiting indication. The second deactivates the message waiting indication. For example, if Station B (DN 234-2000) forwards calls to the Message Desk and receives a message, the Message Desk activates message waiting indication for Station B with the following message: OP:MWI 2342000!(D) After Station B retrieves the messages from the Message Desk, the Message Desk deactivates message waiting indication for Station B with the following message: RMV:MWI 2342000!(D) Outgoing messages - (Switch to Voice Mail System) There are two groups of messages from the switch to the message desk. Call details - These message types give items of information concerning calls which the Message Desk received: (CR)(LF)MDgggmmmmannnnnnn(SP)yyyyyyy(SP)(CR)(LF)(Y) (CR)(LF)MDgggmmmmannnnnnn(SP)(SP)(CR)(LF)(Y) (CR)(LF)MDgggmmmma(SP)yyyyyyy(SP)(CR)(LF)(Y) MWI change failure - The request to change the Message Waiting Indication failed because it was either invalid (INV) or the switch unable to perform the change when requested (BLK). (CR)(LF)MWInnnnnnn(SP)INV(CR)(LF)(DL)(DL)(Y) (CR)(LF)MWInnnnnnn(SP)BLK(CR)(LF)(DL)(DL)(Y) where: (CR) = carriage return (LF) = line feed (SP) = space (DL) = delete character (ASCII value FF) (Y) = control-Y ggg = message desk number (001-063) mmmm = message desk terminal (0001-2047) nnnnnnnnnn = forwarding from station number (can be 7 or 10 digits) yyyyyyyyyy = calling station number (can be 7 or 10 digits) a = type of call where D = Direct Calls, A = Forward All Calls, B = Forward Busy Calls, N = Forward No Answer Calls For example, Station B (DN 234-2000) forwards all calls to the Message Desk. Station A (DN 678-1234) calls Station B and forwards to Message Desk number 002, terminal 009. The switch sends the following message to the Message Desk: (CR)(LF)MD0020009A2342000 6781234 (CR)(LF)(Y) Hope this information answers the question. Regards, Al ------------------------------ From: rv01@gte.com (Robert Virzi) Subject: Re: RBOCS & Video Remote learning in Schools? Date: 26 May 1994 14:54:19 GMT Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA In article , Gerry Moersdorf wrote: > Does anyone have an opinion on what the RBOCS are trying to do by > pushing TV remote learning grants and equipment to school systems? > The schools in our district don't even have telephones in classrooms > let alone a LAN for a client server teaching tool. To me the priorities > are all turned around. What possible business could RBOCS build with the > "poor" school districts? Well, I have an *opinion*, which is probably worth what it cost you. ;-) Telcos want to get into the data highway business, whatever that means. There is much concern over the potential for creating a "data underclass" that threatens the entire enchilada. By showing a willingness (to congress, the FCC, the press) to support not just wealthy communities, the telcos could be buying a great deal of good will. The goal is to turn this good will into a multi-billion dollar business. Of course, these are only my opinions, and do not in any way relate to what my employer may or may not be doing in this arena. Bob Virzi rvirzi@gte.com Just another ascii character +1 (617) 466-2881 ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed Date: 26 May 94 16:05:02 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network DANIEL FINKLER (dfinkler@world.std.com) wrote: > west_c212@orion.crc.monroecc.edu writes: >> I am writing a program that needs to decode telephone touch tone >> signals. The problem is that I am having trouble finding a DTMF >> decoder. If anyone know where I can get ahold of one I would >> appreciate it. > You can use USRobotics courier modems' touch tone recognition feature. > They can recognize DTMF tones, including A,B,C,D. Also, ZyXEL modems can recognize DTMF. There is a ZyXEL FAQ at nctuccca.edu.tw. Under /pc/zyxel/ directory. There are other sites also. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 VOI (714) JOHN GAB \ FAX (714) JOHN FRY jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: 26 May 94 16:11:55 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Guorong Roger (hu_g@isis.cs.odu.edu) wrote: > Is there any kind of CORDLESS PHONE which can be used for ten to > twenty miles distance (not a cellular phone, not the regular cordless > phone which can only be used within the house). The telephone should > still use the regular telephone switching system. The master piece of > the phone should be installed at home, and the handset could be bring > ten to twenty miles away from the home but be still access the phone > at home. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are, but they are not legal for use > in the USA. About the closest you can come to this legally in the USA is > to use a manual phone patch attached to a CB radio or some other type of > legal radio service. I have a phone patch here for example which I have [stuff deleted] > and hard to find here in the USA. If you've got the money, you might con- > sider setting up a little two meter arrangement of your own with a private > phone line attached, etc. PAT] The important point here is that the amateur radio service is for recreational non-commerial use only, and the hams tend to police themselves fairly well, especially in metro areas where the bands are crowded. And, naturally, the phonempany co doesn't want people to bypass their cellular service. So getting a legal ten mile phone is not easy. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 VOI (714) JOHN GAB \ FAX (714) JOHN FRY jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ From: jeff@bradley.bradley.edu (Jeff Hibbard) Subject: Re: Hunting Service From GTE Date: 26 May 1994 10:18:25 -0500 Organization: Bradley University stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > In many states, GTE does not offer hunting to residential customers > at any price (here in Washington State is an example), even though the > RBOC in the same area does. Both are also true in Illinois. GTE here doesn't offer hunting on residential lines at any price; Ameritech lets you have it for free. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 10:15:18 CDT From: David Devereaux-Weber Reply-To: David Devereaux-Weber Subject: Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? Most routers _are_ UNIX computers. However, the routing software within them is not trivial. The purpose of requiring a router is to prevent traffic from going to or coming from the outside network. A router looks at each packet, examining the protocol and destination. Only packets whose protocols and addresses are OK are forwarded. This reduces unnecessary traffic from the Internet to your network, and from your network to the Internet. Despite the cost of a router, you will be better off in the long run to buy it. Further, using a commercial router will reassure your Internet provider -- they may even require it. However, on lines slower than T1, many network implementors are using lower cost bridges from companies like Combinet instead of routers. Internet access can be provided on a 56 KBPS line, but that is slow. ISDN is better, T1 is better than that, and so on. It depends on how may schools and computers you intend to connect, how many users will be using the network, and how much the schools can afford. Explore any benefits which may acrue to you because of your status as an educational institution. Is Ameritech your local telephone provider? They may be willing to set up a pilot ISDN project. They may be offering fiber to the schools as a deregulatory incentive to state legislators. If a router will be required, give several vendors a call. They may be able to give you some pointers to foundations who may be able to help out. Who is your local cable television provider? You might want to explore connectivity through them. Who are you thinking of using for your provider? Are they local to Terre Haute? If so, a cable television connection may be feasible. David Devereaux-Weber, P.E. weberdd@macc.wisc.edu (Internet) The University of Wisconsin - Madison (608)262-3584 (voice) Division of Information Technology (608)262-4679 (FAX) Network Engineering ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Thu, 26 May 94 11:35:48 GMT In article xxmcleis@indsvax1.indstate. edu writes: > can a computer (ie Unix) function as an Internet router, Certain UNIX systems include enough routing code that they can be configured as routers. In general, however, this requires you to install add-on hardware and software to drive multiple line interfaces. This complicates both the network setup and the system management of the unix system. In particular, I suspect that since you are emphasizing your lack of money, the UNIX system in question is a PC-based unix system, for which you do not have source code for the system itself. > or must we buy one of these routers like CISCO or WellFleet? > If so, what's the *cheapest* router available? Routers come in all sizes and price classes, depending on what you want to connect to. One of the least expensive is the Rockwell NetHopper, which is designed to connect a local area network to the Internet over a dial-up modem connection. Including the built-in V.32bis/V.42bis modem, the list price is $1695. > Can a Unix box connect to a digital comm line (56k)? Starting in August, we will be shipping a version of the NetHopper with a synchronous line interface. This can be connected to either a leased DDS-56 line, a switched-56 line, or an ISDN BRI line running at up to 112 Kbps. I don't think pricing has been set yet. These units can also be used to connect two LANs at different locations using either Internet Protocol or Novell IPX or both. Where the other options that you have mentioned require significant investment in learning how to set them up, the NetHopper is very simple to install and configure. The initial configuration asks you a few simple questions (name of this box, management password, IP address, remote IP address, remote phone number, and the like) and leaves you with a working system, which you can then tune if you want to. Before I get accused of too blatant advertising, I hasten to mention that there are other, similar products. The May 31 issue of {PC Magazine} has a comparative test of several routers in this class. Claimer: I am one of the engineers working on the NetHopper products. Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@RNS.COM Rockwell Network Systems Internets: designed and built while you wait Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08 DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 10:38 EST From: Hugh Pritchard <0006348214@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Call Return I used Call Return once. It didn't quite work as advertised. I was at home, and just missed a call which I was sure had been from my wife at work. Instead of using our speed-dial, I chose to dial *69, Call Return. I reached the firm in the basement of her building! The building's owner has his own offices in the basement, and apparently Call Return saw the "main" number for the building -- even though each firm in that three-level building has its own phone system (not quite -- there's an intercom capability between floors, possibly meaning a single PBX for the entire building). I re-placed the call, using the speed-dial. The original call I'd missed had indeed been from my wife at work; moreover, she was annoyed that I'd "wasted" 75 cents trying Call Return. Hugh Pritchard, Hugh_Pritchard@MCImail.com ------------------------------ From: blair@salem.intel.com (Guy Blair) Subject: Re: Microsoft Telephony API Date: 25 May 1994 23:57:48 GMT Organization: Intel Corporation In mpinones@netmon.mty.itesm.mx (Marco A. Pinones) writes: > I would like to know if there is any advance on Microsoft efforts to > provide a "standard" programming interface for PBXs and telephony > services. I sent mail to people at Ericcsson about this and they told > me they are working on it. Does somebody know if other companies are > working on it? Marco, THere are over 40 vendors developing Service Providers for the Telephony API (TAPI) developed by Intel and Microsoft. There is a list of companies in in a Technical Note included with the TAPI SDK you can get (free of charge) off CompuServe (GO WINEXT) or via anonymous ftp from ftp.microsoft.com \devtools\tapi. The list includes products, estimated release dates and contact names/phone numbers/email addresses. Service providers from PBX vendors, analog add-in board vendors, isoethernet, switch to host link, client server, ISDN, etc. have been announced and demonstrated this year. If you have specific questions, either post them on GO WINEXT or send to telephon@microsoft.com. I can try to help you as well. Regards, Guy Blair Intel Architecture Labs ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 10:19:29 -0500 From: don newcomb Subject: Re: Internet Access from the Solomon Islands? Organization: Naval Oceanographic Office In article TELECOM Digest Editor notes: > In response to your side note, I certainly hope your comments were not > driven by any cannibalphobic attitudes on your part. If the Solomon Islands > do join the Internet and get a news feed, will someone issue a Call For > Votes on a newsgroup devoted to cannibalism? I wonder where such a news- > group would go in the Usenet hierarchy? Probably under rec.food.cannibalism. Pat, how dare you?! Don't you know it's not called "cannibalism" any more; that is a term of oppression! The Politically Correct term is "human recycling." Have a nice day. Donald R. Newcomb * newcomb@pops.navo.navy.mil Naval Oceanographic Office * drn@fiddle.noo.navy.mil Stennis Space Center, MS 39522 * Voice: (601) 688-5998 FAX: (601) 688-5485 * DSN: 485-5998 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You have a nice day also, and thank you for sharing. PAT] ------------------------------ From: nduehr@netcom.com (Nathan N. Duehr) Subject: Re: How Can I Ring Up Myself? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 10:21:50 GMT Joseph Herl (jherl@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu) wrote: > Our family is moving to a new house next week, and we will have the > same telephone number at both places for several days. How can I call > between them? Pat replied with information regarding how to ring back a phone in the Illinois area. For the the information of others on the net, in the Denver, Colorado area use the same technique described by Pat except with a 99x prefix and do not dial a 1 before the prefix. I live in the North Glenn/Westminster area and 996 works here. It appears that it works in exactly the way as Pat described his to work. Regards, Nate Duehr nduehr@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 6:07:50 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: 57x in Old Area 312 In old area 312, I found all 57x in use and all of them moving to 708. And you mention 1-57x (with that leading 1)? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, in the old, old, old days of 312, it was just 571, get new dial tone, click, get high pitched tone, dial 6, hang up, get ringback, go off hook, end ring back. Needless to say, we had no 312-571 exchange in those days. No matter what your number was, that did it. In the more recent 'old 312' times, even though we had a 312-571 prefix, doing it as 1-571 (and as per above) worked. Then finally it changed to the present scheme where it became 1-57x-last four, etc. Another excursion into weird numbers here are the 'prefix-1-prefix' num- bers. I don't know if those are around in other than Illinois Bell terri- tory or not. For example, 708-329-1329 or 708-677-1677; and there are lots more. After the area code (312 or 708) dial the prefix, then a one, and the prefix again. Quite a few respond with a high-pitched tone, and others respond with a rapid busy or reorder tone. All the old 9954/9955 loop-arounds are dead though; they were all killed after that scandal several years ago. PAT] ------------------------------ From: avb@cais.com (FCC World) Subject: Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World Date: 26 May 1994 17:57:39 GMT Organization: Capital Area Internet Service The Washington, DC telecommunications law firm of Smithwick & Belendiuk proudly announces the launch of a new BBS -- FCC WORLD -- featuring information on the Federal Communications Commission. We feature FCC documents on-line (many you cannot find on Internet), texts of important FCC Reports and decisions (IVDS, PCS Auction info -- on-line now!), Forums on hot FCC issues, free Classified ads and more! The best thing -- its free and without a daily time limit. Give it a try at 202-887-5718 (14.4 baud)! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #254 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa08537; 26 May 94 18:40 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07648; Thu, 26 May 94 14:55:02 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07639; Thu, 26 May 94 14:55:00 CDT Date: Thu, 26 May 94 14:55:00 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405261955.AA07639@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #255 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 14:55:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 255 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Caller ID With Serial Port (John Harris) VIVE Caller ID Device Problems (Evan Gamblin) Even More on VIVE Caller ID Box (Dan Lanciani) Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter (Al Cohan) Re: Replace POST-MAIL by FAX (Timothy L. Kay) Re: What Kind of Capacity is in VBI? (Robert Berger) Re: "Erlang" the Programming Language (Steven 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 May 94 17:43 WET From: joharris@io.org (John Harris) Subject: Re: Caller ID With Serial Port ddl@das.harvard.edu wrote: > joharris@io.org (John Harris) wrote: >> Try contacting Vive Synergies Inc., >> 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 2, >> Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3K1 >> (905) 882-6107 Fax (905) 882-6238 >> This manufacturer advertises in the local paper as having a "CALL >> EDITOR II" for $199.00 > Beware of this device. The design is seriously flawed and Vive isn't > interested in fixing it. Here is something I wrote about it a while > back when I (foolishly) bought one from HAL. (HAL sells Vive's Call > Editor II, obviously ...) > The HAL box also has a fairly severe bug. When a call comes in, you > see a lot of garbage characters on the RS-232 interface before the > actual CNID string. Worse, what you are seeing is the box's echo > of garbage characters that it thinks came in over the RS-232 > interface. /* text deleted */ > The third person said that it is the fault of the CNID chip that they > use and cannot be fixed. He insisted that all I needed to do was > write a ``software filter'' to ignore the garbage. He did not seem to > understand that their command interpreter was seeing the garbage and > could generate spurious dial commands (or who knows what else). He > also said that this isn't a problem with telephones in Canada (where > they are). It's true. In Bell Canada territory, we are almost exclusively DMS-100 switches; and there are fewer problems than elsewhere. I thought I recognized a problem typical of the GTD-5 switch with a Motorola MC145447 Caller ID chip. So I forwarded Dan's comments to VIVE Synergies. > An ``engineer'' is supposed to get back to me sometime so I > can tell him how to fix the firmware... > (Needless to say, the engineer never called back.) I will concede to Dan that some companies are hard to get hold of; but having Carl's extension number makes a big difference. The following comes from VIVE. For point number 3, I confess. It was I that didn't read the ad close enough to see that software was included, too. John Harris BEL-Tronics Ltd, 2422 Dunwin Drive Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1J9 joharris@io.org (905) 828-1002 Fax (905) 828-2951 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The letter from John Harris included a reply from VIVE, but that letter was also forwarded directly to me by Evan Gamblin ... so I have deleted it here and present it as a stand- alone message on its own immediatly following this one. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 22:20:59 -0400 From: egamblin@ott.hookup.net (Evan Gamblin) Subject: VIVE Caller ID Device Problems In an earlier message, Dan Lanciani (ddl@harvard.*) wrote: >> Try contacting Vive Synergies Inc., >> 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 2, >> Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3K1 >> (905) 882-6107 Fax (905) 882-6238 In the interests of getting Dan an answer, and maybe getting this fixed, I forwarded the above to Vive (with whom I have no other connection). The president, Carl K.S. Too, replies as follows: 1. Call Editor II is a product that we supply: i. as part of a package consisting of Call Editor II + WindowsHinge, an interfacing software for use with all Windows applications in general and with ACT! For Windows in particular, ii. as part of a package consisting of Call Editor II + VIVE Vision, contact management software running under DOS and published by us, or iii. as a hardware component with Caller ID capability for bundling with specific applications software (as in the case of HAL). We supplied Call Editor II to Home Automation Laboratories (HAL) for use with its Dynasty software. 2. The Caller ID decoder used in Call Editor made by Sierra has some inherent limitation in that it does not lend itself to noise filtering to eliminate the noises that occur on the telephone line. As such we have to implement noise-filtering function in the software for use with Call Editor II. Both WindowsHinge and VIVE Vision have such noise filters implemented in the software. I believe Dynasty software has it as well. Dan Lanciani should have been advised of the limitation of use. In any event HAL should not have offered Call Editor II for sale to people who are not prepared or who do not have the knowledge to develop the noise-filtering programs in their application software. 3. It was wrongly quoted in the previous message that "this mfr advertises in the local paper as having a Call Editor II for $199". The fact is Call Editor II + WindowsHinge as a package is offered at C$199 in Canada and at US$149 in USA. 4. Dan Lanciani is only partially correct in his surmise about the circuit design of Call Editor II. While we do not wish to discuss details of our design, we would comment that the suggestion detailed by Dan Lanciani for improvement to the hardware firmware is a valid one, but our engineers believed that such modification would not be sufficient to overcome the inherent weakness of the Caller ID decoder used, with repect to the noises and the resultant stray characters. An engineer would have contacted Dan Lanciani to discuss the technical aspects of the proposed modifications with him if not for the fact that unfortunately the telephone number given by Dan Lanciani was inadvertently misplaced and lost. However, readers should know that Dan Lanciani's experience with Call Editor II is at least 6 months old. In our industry 6 months is a long time. We have made many improvements to the product and have introduced some other products for Caller ID applications in this period. Dan Lanciani is invited to call me to discuss our current products or provide us with his mailing address so that we may mail him current product information on our Caller ID products, including a multi-line adaptor known as Concentrator (for use with multiple telephone lines in a LAN environment) and a recent release known as TeleServer. 5. Call Editor II works very well with WindowsHinge and VIVE Vision as they are designed to do. 6. Readers may be interested to know that we make another product known as Call Editor RSA which uses a different Caller ID decoder that enables it to output decoded data without "garbage" characters. However, unlike Call Editor II it is not capable of standalone operation, and must be used with a computer. Dan Lanciani is advised to use Call Editor RSA for his application instead of Call Editor II. With Call Editor RSA, he would not have to worry about any noise interference. Call Editor RSA + WindowsHinge as a package is being offered at C$119.99 in Canada and at US$89.99 in USA. Call Editor RSA (as a separate unit) is offered at US$80 in USA and C$100 in Canada. Carl K.S. Too President VIVE Synergies Inc. 30 West Beaver Creek Rd, Unit 2, Richmond Hill, Ont L4B 3K1. Tel 905 882-8107, ext 11. Fax: 905 882-8238 -------------------- Evan Gamblin The Halifax Group 903-275 Sparks St Ottawa, Ont K1R 7X9 Canada [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the next message in this issue, Dan gives his response to the comments by Carl Too. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 94 20:22:18 EDT From: ddl@das.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) Subject: Even More on VIVE CNID Box I'm sorry, but I can't let this pass without further comment: From joharris@io.org Wed May 25 17:43:56 1994 > ddl@das.harvard.edu wrote: >> joharris@io.org (John Harris) wrote: >>> Try contacting Vive Synergies Inc., >>> 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 2, >>> Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3K1 >>> (905) 882-6107 Fax (905) 882-6238 >>> This manufacturer advertises in the local paper as having a "CALL >>> EDITOR II" for $199.00 >> Beware of this device. The design is seriously flawed and Vive isn't >> interested in fixing it. Here is something I wrote about it a while >> back when I (foolishly) bought one from HAL. (HAL sells Vive's Call >> Editor II, obviously ...) >> The HAL box also has a fairly severe bug. When a call comes in, you >> see a lot of garbage characters on the RS-232 interface before the >> actual CNID string. Worse, what you are seeing is the box's echo >> of garbage characters that it thinks came in over the RS-232 >> interface. [my original technical description deleted] Let me try once more to describe the problem. I think maybe it's so simple that some people are missing the forest for the trees looking for a more subtle/complicated interpretation. The device in question connects to the phone line and to an RS-232 serial interface. The RS-232 interface presents a very simple command interpreter "shell" to the user. There are a few commands that the user can type at this shell, including a Dial and a List command. The microcontroller within the device has a single, built-in, bi-directional serial port. The output side of this port is routed directly to the RS-232 interface. The input side of this port is switched between the RS-232 interface and a caller ID chip's serial output. In other words, some of the time the microcontroller is receiving user keystrokes and sometimes it is receiving the output of the caller ID chip -- all through a single serial port. The microcontroller uses one of its parallel output bits to switch between the two uses of the serial port. Most of the time the port is connected to the RS-232 interface. However, when a call is detected, the port is switched to the caller ID chip. The problem is that the microcontroller takes some bytes from the caller ID chip as "shell" input. That is, it thinks the user typed these bytes at the RS-232 interface. This may be caused by a failure to clear the serial buffers after switching usage or perhaps by setting usage flags at the wrong time. The net result is that the simple "shell" believes that the user (or program) has sent it these bytes as commands. Being an interactive ``shell,'' it echos the garbage bytes back out the RS-232 interface AND ACTS ON THEM. In just a few minutes of trials I saw the box generate several unknown-command messages when the garbage bytes managed to include a return character. It is just a matter of time until the bytes include a "D" and a return ... all the "filter" software in the world isn't going to prevent this since it happens entirely within the unit. If anybody is interested in examining the device, I'd be happy to make mine available for loan. (It certainly isn't going to be connected to my phone line. :) Just cover the postage. I suggest this might be a good idea for anyone considering purchase. [...] > It's true. In Bell Canada territory, we are almost exclusively DMS-100 > switches; and there are fewer problems than elsewhere. This is not a switch problem. > I thought I recognized a problem typical of the GTD-5 switch with a > Motorola MC145447 Caller ID chip. So I forwarded Dan's comments to > VIVE Synergies. I don't see how you could have concluded this from my comments. The problem is not with the caller ID chip. It is with the incorrect manipulation of the microcontroller's serial port. Please re-read my original explanation or the new one above. [...] > The following comes from VIVE. For point number 3, I confess. It was > I that didn't read the ad close enough to see that software was included, > too. > Response to Dan Lanciani's statements (surmises) on Call Editor II [Comments following are from Too's response] > 2. The Caller ID decoder used in Call Editor made by Sierra, has > some inherent limitation in that it does not lend itself to noise > filtering to eliminate the noises that occur on the telephone > line.As such we have to implement noise-filtering function in the > software for use with Call Editor II. Both WindowsHinge and VIVE > Vision have such noise filters implemented in the softwares. I > believe Dynasty software has it as well. This is obfuscation. You are confusing the interface of the caller id chip (which is a component of your product) with the external interface of the product itself. You have a microcontroller in between these two interfaces. > Dan Lanciani should have been advised of the limitation of use. Indeed. The limitation is that it cannot be used reliably. > In any event HAL should not have offered for Call Editor II for sale > to people who are not prepared or do not have the knowledge to develop > the noise-filtering programs in their application software. This is more obfuscation combined with an almost-clever insult. No "noise-filtering programs" will help since the "noise" is being seen and processed by the command interpreter of the product before it ever gets to the external interface! > 4. Dan Lanciani is only partially correct in his surmise about the > circuit design of Call Editor II. Enlighten us! As I mentioned, my analysis was based on only a few minutes with a logic probe, and some of the ICs have their part numbers obscured. Still, it's hard to hide the functioning of such a simple circuit. A few years ago I would have fixed the firmware myself just for an exercise. Now, time has become too valuable. Besides, there are plenty of competitive solutions that work out of the box. > While we do not wish to discuss details of our design, If it were my design, I'd be embarrassed to discuss the details too. > we would comment that the suggestion detailed by Dan Lanciani for > improvement to the hardware firmware is a valid one but our engineers > believed that such modification would not be sufficient to overcome > the inherent weakness of the Caller ID decoder used with respect to > the noises and the resultant stray characters. Sorry, wrong answer. The problem isn't with the caller ID decoder chip. It's how you use it. Regardless of what "noise" the chip puts out on its serial line, there is simply no excuse for sending those bytes into your command interpreter. You _know_ when the serial input of the microcontroller is switched to the caller ID chip. You should not be treating caller-ID-chip-generated bytes (be they garbage or valid characters) as user keyboard input. > An engineer would have contacted Dan Lanciani to discuss the > technical aspects of the proposed modifications with him if not for > the fact that, unfortunately, the telephone number given by Dan > Lanciani for contact was inadvertently misplaced and lost. No comment. > However, the readers should know that Dan Lanciani's experience > with Call Editor II is at least 6 months old. In our industry 6 > months is a long time. We have made many improvements to the product ... So, exactly what changes have you made and do they fix the problem? Are you sending out firmware updates? If, as you say above, you didn't implement my suggestions, then how did you improve the situation? > and have introduced some other products for Caller ID applications in > this period. [remainder of advertisement deleted] > 5. Call Editor II works very well with WindowsHinge and VIVE Vision > as they are designed to do. I truly look forward to the day when just the right combination of "noise" has one of these units repeatedly generating hang-up calls to a nice, litigious subscriber. :) Seriously, though, it's devices like this that contribute to the growing problem of "flakey" systems. They work a lot of the time and we are expected to simply tolerate the glitches as long as nothing too bad happens. We build bigger systems around them and then try to patch the problems with "filters" (otherwise known as quick hacks). Eventually, circumstances conspire to make the whole fail in an unpleasant way. Then we start talking about software engineering and project management and ... (Well, this is turning into a RISKS posting.) > Dan Lanciani is advised to use Call Editor RSA for his application > instead of Call Editor II. With Call Editor RSA, he would not have > to worry about any noise interference. Gee, thanks, but no thanks. I'm perfectly happy with the simple, direct caller ID<->RS232 interface I'm now using. It generates plenty of garbage characters, but it doesn't have a microcontroller trying to act on them to dial my phone. In any case, I think this answers my question about whether the Call Editor II was fixed ... > Carl K.S. Teo > President,VIVE Synergies Inc., 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 2, > Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3K1. > Tel: 905-882-6107 Ext.11, Fax: 905-882-6238 [address left for reference] Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.* ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 12:32 EST From: Al Cohan <0004526627@mcimail.com> Subject: Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter I purchased a device from Lynx Automation, Inc. in Washington State and the device is purported to sense the incoming ring cadence an forward the call to either a phone system or fax. This unit is available in two and four line versions corresponding to the four distinct industry standard cadences available. We now come to find out that the company says "Oh, it sometimes doesn't work with 1A2 and some PBX's. It seems to work okay with the newer electronic key systems". Well I am steamed! MY client is not about to upgrade to a new system nor pay the $100 installation charge for a residential line plus about $26.00 per month for low fax usage. The select-a-ring option only cost $9 to install and $4 - $5 per month for the second number on the line. Now, what do I do? My client thinks I'm a damn fool and don't know what I'm doing -- and isn't about to get a separate fax line. Does anyone on the net know of another company or companies that manufacture a ring decoder that actually *works*? Thanks in advance, Al Cohan ------------------------------ From: timkay@netcom.com (Timothy L. Kay) Subject: Re: Replace POST-MAIL by FAX Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 18:30:27 GMT Herb Effron (herb@halcyon.com) wrote: > I have never had a fax machine. Instead, I use a 14.4 fax modem (which is > New way #1: > I now send a "Quick Fax" -- when I want to ask a brief question or > New way #2: > I now send _only_ fax correspondence (in place of 'paper') whenever I agree that the concept of using a fax modem to handle my correspondences seems a good idea. Unfortunately, I find that technology is letting me down. Unlike Herb, I am trapped in the world of Microsoft Windows, and I have been unable make fax software work reliably. I have tried Delrina (the market leader) Winfax Pro 3.0 and 4.0 and Sofnet Faxworks Pro 3.0. None of these packages will reliably receive faxes. Winfax Pro 3.0 was by far the best, but it has a very poor user interface. The other two packages are quite unreliable at receiving faxes. And the upgrade to Winfax 4.0 disables version 3.0. I'm finally so disgusted that I now leave my old, dusty, curly-paper fax machine turned on to receive faxes. Details: I am using a Supra Fax Modem V.32bis which is on the approved list from both Delrina and Sofnet. I upgraded to Supra's latest ROM to make sure that the modem wasn't at fault. My testing consists of trying to receive a fax-back catalog from various companies. The testing is repeatable, and invariably fails with Winfax Pro 4.0. It is slightly less unreliable with Faxworks Pro 3.0 but still fails frequently. As I said, I can no longer test Winfax Pro 3.0. My dusty fax machine has no trouble receving any faxes. I tried faxing a question to Delrina. My note was very explicit, and mentioned all relevant information. I received back from them a fax stating that, if I am to receive help from them via fax, then I must fill out the attached form. They then also included a ten page document of troubleshooting tips which was completely inappropriate for the problems I was experiencing. To make matters worse, they had problems sending the fax to me and kept trying, so I ended up with about 50 pages of curly paper. I have as yet been unable to get an answer from Delrina. For those of you familiar with the software, I will also mention that I have applied the latest Winfax Pro 4.0 patches from Delrina. Their patch program took an hour to run! And it didn't fix any problems. D E L R I N A, are you out there?? All indications are that you have many unhappy (want-to-be) users out here. And I know it isn't my modem. I talked to another user of Winfax Pro 4.0 who has a completely different modem, and he was having identical problems. We had to revert from the nifty concept of computer-to-computer- communications-via-fax-modems to the (relatively) old-fashioned paper-to- paper-via-fax-machines. As for the matter of sending faxes, all of the programs work flawlessly. And I paste a scanned signature, and nobody ever complain. Personally, I would never accept a faxed signature, but that is a different matter. Tim ------------------------------ From: rwb@alexander.alias.cs.cmu.edu (Robert Berger) Subject: Re: What Kind of Capacity is in VBI? Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 19:07:57 GMT > A question I have is, for a U.S. signal, which I believe the Vertical > Blanking Interval also exists, how much capacity is available on a > single TV channel and at what speed can the data be sent? Is this > related to closed captioning? If not, what type equipment is needed > to decode VBI data and what kind of costs are involved to build it? The WST standard for NTSC puts 32 bytes on a VBI line. These lines are per field, so with one VBI line you get: 32 bytes x 8 bits/byte * 60 fields/second = 15 kbps If you use all 10 available data VBI lines, you can get 150 kbps. ------------------------------ From: king@wildebeest.cig.mot.com (Steven King) Subject: Re: "Erlang" the Programming Language Date: 26 May 1994 19:13:52 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group Reply-To: king@wildebeest.cig.mot.com king@wildebeest.cig.mot.com publicly declared: > Does anyone have any information on a programming language called > "Erlang"? Minutes after sending this inquiry I remembered that we have a very nice technical library just upstairs from me. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "Doh!" In any case, our library had the book. In there I found contact information for the authors. One of the authors responded to my query with a pointer to their ftp site. Now I have *tons* of information on the language, as well as a compiler for MS-DOS. (Would have prefered a Unix version, but hey ...) Thanks to everyone else who responded to me as well! The email contact is erlang@erix.ericsson.se; the ftp location is euagate.eua.ericsson.se (directory /pub/eua/erlang). Here's the short blurb I pulled from the site. I'll let interested parties grab the rest of the docs (mostly PostScript) themselves. Erlang - "Concurrent Programming in Erlang", J. Armstrong, M. Williams & R. Virding, P-H 1993. Classification: Concurrent functional programming language for large industrial real-time systems. Untyped. Pattern matching syntax. Recursion equations. Explicit concurrency, asynchronous message passing. Relatively free from side effects. Transparent cross-platform distribution. Primitives for detecting run-time errors. Real-time GC. Modules. Dynamic code replacement (change code in running real-time system, without stopping system). Foreign language interface. Availability: Free version (subject to non-commercial licence) with no support. Commercial versions with support are available (Erlang Systems AB). The language looks very interesting to me. I'd still like to hear from people who have direct experience with it. Steven King -- Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #255 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa13378; 27 May 94 6:39 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25313; Fri, 27 May 94 02:22:05 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA25304; Fri, 27 May 94 02:22:03 CDT Date: Fri, 27 May 94 02:22:03 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405270722.AA25304@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #256 TELECOM Digest Fri, 27 May 94 02:22:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 256 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "NetWare for Dummies" by Tittel (Rob Slade) Need Information on "Microcel" Technology/Products/Company (Jeff Miller) Lower Domestic Telephone Rates (National Information Systems) Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted (Steve Chafe) DTMF Decoding via SoundBlaster Card? (Eric L. Hinson) Two Line/LED 'In Use' Mod (Eric L. Hinson) NYNEX Announces Mandatory 1+NPA (Stan Schwartz) Reverse Directory FAQ Wanted (Lloyd Matthews) Un*x Based SS7 Decoders (Mark Gallion) NH E911 (was Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns) (Paul S. Sawyer) Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies (Jonathan Loo) FCC World BBS Now Distributes TELECOM Digest (TELECOM Digest Editor) National BBS Numbers Available (David Smith) Re: Government Regulates Modem Redial Attempts (Paul Lee) Re: Internet Access at Home? (Dave Mausner) Re: Internet Access at Home? (K. M. Peterson) Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns (Carl Moore) Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns (Jonathan) What Did You Have For Dinner Today? (was Re: Solomon Islands) (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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 13:23:48 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "NetWare for Dummies" by Tittel BKNTWDUM.RVW 940208 IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. 155 Bovet Road, Suite 310 San Mateo, CA 94402 "Netware for Dummies", Tittel, 1993, 1-56884-003-9, U$19.95/C$26.95 Dummies are not supposed to run networks. This was probably not a terribly good concept. A computer network is a complicated object. There are many factors to consider in planning, building and running a network. Given the complexity, the topic is not a good candidate for an easy reading manual. In addition, the network operating system chosen is Novell NetWare, which is not only complex in terms of the feature set, but also in terms of incompatible versions. The "... For Dummies" breezy and light-minded style does not suit the topic. Too many topics are opened simply to be discarded when the going gets tough. An example is security rights, one of the areas that many administrators have problems with. Combinations of attribute rights, trustee rights, and rights masks contribute to effective rights. All of the various rights and attributes are mentioned, but no formula is given for calculating effective rights and there is only a single example. The content is presented in an organized and amusing manner. If you are faced with getting up a Novell network and are terrified of the prospect, you may find this easier to read through than the NetWare documentation. It will also help you consider some aspects, such as cabling (although there is not much detail here, either). This may, therefore be a helpful starting guide -- but no more. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNTWDUM.RVW 940208. Distribution is permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 17:26:09 -0700 From: cornhead@netcom.com (Jeff Miller) Subject: Need Information on "Microcel" Technology/Products/Company Hi, a surplus dealer friend of mine has stumbled onto some "Microcel" equipment and I'd like to know if it would be usefull to me. If it simply can be used as a decent cordless phone I'd be happy! The system consists of three rechargeable handsets that seem at least as fancy as the typical cellular phone, an ~15 pound "control unit" and another plastic unit which I would guess is an antenna/receiver unit. The control and "antenna" are joined by an ~25 conductor DIN cable. A photocopy stuffed in with the antenna indicates minimum clearance figures. A quick glance at the owner's manual for the handset (the only manual available) indicates the handsets can intercom to each other and what not. A modular cord is boxed with the control unit, so I guess you can plug it into a standard telephone outlet. With luck it has modest PBX funtionality, too. Pawing over the system, I remembered a press release I read about a year ago about a "new" type of cellular phone with 1/4 mile radius blah blah blah ... I wonder if this system might be related. This surplus dealer friend suggested the system might not work out of the box, that the phones might somehow be (hmmm, what's the phrase?) node locked or some such. I myself wondered if the whole affair might have been a test-bed or demo system and might not have proper FCC approval at this point. So I am looking for any hints or information on this system. If you are familiar with these systems, deos it sound complete? Will it work out of the box, and is it feasible for me to get it working without any technical docs? What is its status in the eyes of the FCC? I'm suspicious of the whole thing because I've never heard of anything quite like it being generally available. But it sure deos seem cool and I can probably get it cheap so I'd like to know. The only model number I gleaned from the system was "2400". I'd be glad for any information via e-mail. Thanks! cornhead@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: nis@netcom.com (National Information Systems) Subject: Lower Domestic Telephone Rates Organization: NIS, San Jose CA Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 21:44:02 GMT Does anyone know of a company that shops for low telephone rates for you? For the last five years, we've changed phone companies every year. Each time we sign up for low rates in one area we're calling to but the other areas are very expensive. We use the telephones for tele-sales and heavy outgoing FAXes. I've heard there are small, independent telephone consultants that can mix and match the best rates into a coherent package deal. We're looking for something customized to us. Has anyone ever heard of this? Please respond in this group -- don't email me, ok? dave (dave@nis.com) ------------------------------ From: itstevec@rocky.ucdavis.edu (Steve Chafe) Subject: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted Organization: Information Resources, UC Davis Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 21:58:45 GMT Hello, Does anyone know what the average speed (in characters per minute, or whatever is appropriate) of a professional telegrapher would have been when wire telegraphy was the main mode of electronic communication? I'm trying to do a comparison of data communication speed then and now, so I'd love to hear any thoughts that people can offer. Thanks, Steve Chafe itstevec@hamlet.ucdavis.edu ------------------------------ From: ehinson@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Eric L. Hinson) Subject: DTMF Decoding via SoundBlaster Card? Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 20:42:47 MDT I would like to be able to call up my computer from a remote phone, dial in a code and then have the system transfer me to various places. For this I would need a line controlling device of some sort (could just use a modem) and a way to link the SoundBlaster to the phone line. Any information/suggestions on this will be greatly appreciated. Eric L. Hinson (kb4rzf) / 'finger -l ehinson@satelnet.org' for PGP Public Key Internet: ehinson@nyx.cs.du.edu (finger this address for more info about me) Snail Mail: 69 Sanford St, St. Augustine, FL 32084 USA / Phone: (904)823-8668 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above may not be those of the sys admin(s) ------------------------------ From: ehinson@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Eric L. Hinson) Subject: Two Line/LED 'In Use' Mod? Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 20:51:07 MDT I have an old Western Electric desk phone that I would like to modify for two-line use. If possible I would like to have the ability to determine which lines are in use before picking up the phone. Does such a modification exist already? If so, how is it done? Thanks, Eric L. Hinson (kb4rzf) / 'finger -l ehinson@satelnet.org' for PGP Public Key Internet: ehinson@nyx.cs.du.edu (finger this address for more info about me) Snail Mail: 69 Sanford St, St. Augustine, FL 32084 USA / Phone: (904)823-8668 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above may not be those of the sys admin(s) ------------------------------ From: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) Subject: NYNEX Announces Mandatory 1+NPA Date: 27 May 1994 00:54:32 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC NYNEX announced yesterday that they will close the last gap and make 1+NPA dialing mandatory for inter-NPA calls from the 516 and 914 area codes, effective 9/24/94. Until now (as far as 516 was concerned), we were able to use the old-style ten-digit dialing method. In related news, the new Suffolk County (516) phone book instructs callers to dial 0+516+XXX+XXXX for INTRA-NPA operator-assisted/calling card calls. I assume this will also be mandatory on 9/24/94. Stan ------------------------------ From: lloyd@pebbles.esl.com (Lloyd Matthews) Subject: Reverse Directory FAQ Wanted Date: 26 May 1994 21:21:57 GMT Organization: TTC - ESL, Inc. Is there a Reverse Directory FAQ available? From the comments in the Digest, it seems that a Reverse Directory with consistently up-to-date telco databases would be welcomed. I am new to commercial telecom applications, and have found this group fascinating and educational. I would welcome any information that would help me put one together. (And also whether I could actually make any money operating one!) ------------------------------ From: bellcore!iscp.bellcore.com!gark@uunet.UU.NET (Mark Gallion) Subject: Un*x Based SS7 Decoders? Organization: Bellcore Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 19:23:08 GMT Does anyone know of any Un*x based software that might convert binary SS7 data to a "pretty print" format. I'm trying to find something that isn't unlike a protocol analyzer, but would just format and display the binary data that I already have access to and not be a separate hardware device. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Mark S. Gallion Bell Communications Research Piscataway, NJ gark@iscp.bellcore.com ------------------------------ From: paul@senex.unh.edu (Paul S. Sawyer) Subject: NH E911 (was Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns) Date: 26 May 1994 20:13:05 GMT Organization: UNH Telecommunications and Network Services In article rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester. edu (Rob Levandowski) writes: > [article about child drowning because parents dialed '911' in an area > with no '911' service deleted] > In any case, I'm sure the following bit of information is as true in > other rural non-911 areas as it is in Cheshire County: If you can't > get through to 911, you should try dialing 0 for the operator. The > operator can connect you more quickly than it would take you to look > up the number in a phone book or try to dredge it out of memory when > you're in a panic. Most N.H. towns, especially the non-911 ones, have nice fluorescent stickers which they hand out so that the number can be handy on each of your phones. A few years ago, my town, on the other side of the state, had six or seven numbers on that sticker under "to report a fire ..." These were the home numbers of the volunteer firefighters which would likely have someone there to answer most of the time. If the first one did not answer, just go down the list until someone answers (or the fire burns itself out ... :-) Of course, we have just one number (not 911) now, and that is to a 24-hour dispatch center; and soon, > The gossip I've heard is that Cheshire County will jump directly to > Enhanced 911 once all of the local offices install modern switches. > Since virtually all emergency calls are handled out of the Mutual Aid > center in Keene as it is, the political-boundaries question Pat > mentioned is already resolved. The statewide E911 system is more than gossip. At this point, it is a "done deal" with NYNEX, to be up and running mid-1995. This of course cuts through the petty bureaucracies by imposing a much larger one and adds a level of complexety or more. Your parents, and all the rest of us are already paying for it through a monthly charge on our phone bills. By the way, the center you speak of (S.W.N.H.) has been operating for many years as a good example of a coordinated regional dispatch center, thanks in a large part to its first chief/coordinator, Bob Callahan. Paul S. Sawyer - University of New Hampshire CIS - Paul.Sawyer@UNH.Edu Telecommunications and Network Services VOX: +1 603 862 3262 50 College Road FAX: +1 603 862 2030 Durham, New Hampshire 03824-3523 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 20:39:06 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies In a recent TELECOM Digest Editor's Note, Pat Townson wrote: > the rules currently say that local telcos may not withhold > name and address information from long distance carriers -- even if > the number is otherwise non-published -- for billing purposes. This is a security problem. Customers should be allowed to block the delivery of their name and address information if they have non-published telephone numbers or non-listed addresses. If a customer does this, then the telephone company should either act as billing agent for the long distance companies, or billing-block all calls placed through long-distance companies that the customer doesn't want. This won't affect COCOT equal access; users should still be able to place calls from the COCOT over whatever company that they choose; but the customer may request a BILLING block for all companies except those designated by the customer. This would prevent excessive dissemination of customer name and address information. Also, the customer name and address information should be confidential by law. Jonathan D. Loo [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Fancy that; customer name and address information should be confidential by law; I guess under such a law only criminals would publish, distribute or possess telephone directories. Jonathan, how do you suppose R.L. Polk, Haines, and the other directory publishers all did business back in the 1920's? (Yes, they have been around that long compiling their 'criss-cross' books ...) They had dozens of women sitting at the machines of those days each with pages taken from local telephone books, sitting there keying in the data by hand. When punch cards became the norm, the same women sat at keypunch machines and punched cards with the data right off the pages of the phone book. They'd then take those cards to the IBM machine (was it a 1401 that sorted cards out to the ten pockets based on the punches in each column?) and sort them by phone number, then by street number and name, etc ... off it went to the printer. Until you outlaw phone books you will not be able to outlaw the dissemination of customer names and addresses. And there is *already* a law in place which says long distance companies can use CNA for one purpose, and one purpose only: billing for calls. Already, they are unable to get the names of subscribers who are not their customers. Why add another layer? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 18:30:58 CDT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: FCC World BBS Now Distributes TELECOM Digest I am pleased to welcome FCC World, a new BBS operating in Washington, DC to the network of independent systems on which this Digest is distributed on a regular basis. Effective in the next few days, each issue of the Digest will be made available to read or download in a section of the Library files on FCC World, and our readers in the Washington, DC metro area may find it more convenient to use this new service than reading through Usenet and comp.dcom.telecom. The choice of course is yours, and I hope you will join me in thanking attorney Shaun A. Maher (sysop of FCC World) for making this option available. They are also inviting TELECOM Digest readers to open a user account on the BBS if you want up-to-date news from the Federal Communications Commission as it occurs. In addition to the email address 'avb@cais.com' you can contact these folks as follows: Shaun A. Maher, Esq. Smithwick & Belendiuk, P.C. Sysop of FCC WORLD Voice - 202-785-2800 Fax - 202-785-2804 BBS - 202-887-5718 The BBS is multi-line, but I am told it has been quite busy in the past week with new subscribers coming on board, so be patient in trying to get in. Thanks again to Shaun Maher for agreeing to make TELECOM Digest available on a regular basis to the FCC World subscribers. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: David Smith Subject: National BBS Numbers Date: Thu, 26 May 94 23:15:45 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) This is an invitation to join DJSA Bulletin Board. You can call DJSA BBS in one of two ways. You can either call us direct at (305) 749-6458 or you can call your local Tymenet or Telenet number and connect through Global Access. DJSA Bulletin Board has been online since April 21, 1989. We are a multi-node BBS specializing in SHAREWARE and PUBLIC DOMAIN software. We publish the National BBS Directory which contains a list of over 2,000 BBS numbers throughout the USA. The directory is released quarterly in March, June, September and December. You can gain immediate membership to DJSA BBS by calling our Telephone Access Billing System (TABS). TABS will allow you to call our 1-900 numbers from any touch tone telephone, 24 hours per day. This phone call is not made with your computer modem, it is made by voice. A computer automated voice will ask you to input the number of our BBS. You enter the following phone number ... <749-6458>. Have a pen handy so that you can write down the access code that you are given by the computer automated voice. You need this access code to gain entry to DJSA BBS. Then, call DJSA Bulletin Board and enter the access code when you log in. You have two choices of subscriptions at DJSA BBS. You can pay $10.00 for one month of access by calling TABS at (900) 622-8227. You can pay $25.00 for four months of access by calling TABS at (900) 622-5225. The cost of this call will be on your next telephone bill. Customers under the age of 18 must get their parents permission before they call TABS. TABS is a service of True Media Inc. If you would like more information,then please call customer service toll free number at (800) 889-DJSA. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 23:30:00 CDT From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Government Regulates Modem Redial Attempts In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 Issue 250, Steven Bradley wrote: > if you are a developer, do NOT use the internal redial option in the > faxmodem, use the BUSY, VOICE, NO ANSWER result codes to re-dial it using > the software command to ... allow unlimited and unregulated re-dialing Indeed, most of the communications software I've encountered uses the modem result (either numeric code or verbose text string) to determine the result of a dial attempt. The software can keep track of "BUSY" results and redial up to a preset number of attempts. Why, though, would one want to redial upon encountering a "VOICE" or a "NO ANSWER" result? A "VOICE" result would typically indicate that the modem's dial attempt has reached either an intercept message or a live body at the dialed number, indicating that a wrong number is being dialed (for legitimate purposes, at least). A "NO ANSWER" result on a valid number typically results from a problem with the modem or fax machine that should have answered at the other end. I can understand making numerous redial attempts on a "BUSY" condition, but what would be the purpose of redialing on a "VOICE" or "NO ANSWER" result, other than to harass (whether innocently, ignorantly, or maliciously) the recipient of the call? And our esteemed and unflappable editor admonishes Mr. Bradley: > I hope you are the next victim of someone's 'unregulated and > unlimited redialing' rather than me. And no, I do not think 'it is > about time we fired the FCC ...'. I think it is time we gave the > agency even greater enforcement powers in a few instances that I will > not go into here at this minute. If I may presume to interpret and amplify Mr. Townson's sentiment: Much of the basis for the existence of the FCC and most government regulatory agencies is the trouble and frustration brought about by careless, thoughtless, malicious, or brazenly stupid actions taken by a relatively small percentage of society. The irony in this, of course, is that many actions taken by those very agencies (that is, the people who constitute those agencies) are, themselves, careless, thoughtless, malicious, or brazenly stupid. I cannot determine which of those four categories might describe Mr. Bradley's desire to provide for "unregulated and unlimited redialing", but I would like to point out to him, and to others who might engage in such a practice, that they and their actions comprise a part of the *reason* for the existence of the FCC and other regulators of telephone equipment and services. Bearing that in mind, Mr. Bradley's sentiment concerning it being "about time we fired the FCC" seems disturbingly hypocritical, self-righteous, and irresponsible. The irresponsibility is manifested by proposing the demise of an agency, while promoting practices that serve to justify the existence of that same agency. That's like an organized crime boss proposing to do away with the FBI, or a drug lord advocating the demise of the DEA. It smacks of thugism, and it annihilates credibility. It's an argument that proves itself false. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET , WOLVERINE@ASU.Edu says: > I am interested in getting a internet link to my home. I'm not > talking about a call up service, but am referring to an actual link to > my house. I am thinking of setting up a server. I need to know where > to start. How does one go about getting a line set up and what > hardware is required? Any response will be appreciated. Start here: 1. Contact the system or network manager at the nearest college or university, either by phone, or by mail. Engage this person in the above discussion. By offering a bottle of booze or other spiffs, you might obtain help in connecting to the backbone; if not, at least you will have a new friend. You will have to pay for your telco line. 2. Obtain a list of internet service providers near you (the guys who offer dialup access). One example I can think of is PSI, Inc. (Telephone 1-800-82-PSI-82). They usually offer higher-cost direct-line services, such as ISDN connections to their routers. 3. There are often bedroom sysops running public unix systems who already have net connections, and they will either offer you a feed, or put you in touch with their upstream connection. Continue swimming upstream until the costs are beyond your reach. Warning: Don't be surprised by costs starting at several hundred bucks per month. the faster your connection, the more you will pay for termination gear and phone charges. Still think the internet is free? Suggestion: let the group know how your quest progresses. Dave Mausner, Sr Consultant, Braun Technology Group, Chicago. ------------------------------ From: kmp@tiac.net (K. M. Peterson) Subject: Re: Internet Access at Home? Date: 26 May 1994 21:01:42 GMT Organization: KMPeterson/Boston In article TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to an WOLVERINE@ASU.Edu and articles by others: > They're very typical of what I get in the mail, and hopefully > answers from readers will be seen by many others who are asking the > same thing. PAT 1) Monitor alt.internet.access.wanted to find out what questions are currently being posed and how they are being answered. 2) Purchase the book "Connecting to the Internet" ($15.95 from O'Reilly & Associates 800-889-8969, ISBN 1-56592-061-9). 3) Call the network support people at ASU and ask _them_. Ask them who their regional provider is. Ask them about whether they would sell you the service. A pointer: getting a dedicated line is probably going to be _very_ expensive, depending on the provider that you settle on and the distance to their point of presence (POP). You really may not need that kind of access ... try finding a provider who can provide dialup PPP and try that first. You didn't say much about what kind of setup you want and why. You may be under the (mistaken) impression that the only dialup access is to a Un*x box, and running Un*x commands in a shell. This isn't true: running PPP on my Mac, InterNews, Eudora (for mail), and a collection of other utilities gives me _identical_ access as if I were connected to an Ethernet connected to the 'Net, except for the speed of the connection. And you pay for speed, eh PAT? K. M. Peterson email: KMP@TIAC.NET phone: +1 617 731 6177 voice +1 617 730 5969 fax [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You sure do ... then you pay some more. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 17:18:15 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns There are lots of cases where a phone prefix crosses county lines. Near me: 1. Extreme southern New Castle County (Delaware) is served by the Smyrna CO, whose service is mostly in Kent County. 2. A tiny portion of eastern Baltimore County (Md.) is served by the Edgewood exchange, in Harford County. 3. A tiny portion of the 610-388 Mendenhall exchange (Chester County, Pa.) is across the Brandywine creek in Delaware County. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 21:16:51 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns The Editor wrote: > The trouble is, no one seems willing to let some other town > handle their emergency calls. I think that it would be a good idea to coordinate 911 so that each 911 center can transfer calls to any emergency agency that serves nearby areas; and 911 centers within each state should be able to handle calls throughout the state. This would allow the telephone company to re-route calls more flexibly around network congestion, and also would keep people from being bounced from agency to agency or being told to call a seven-digit number. In addition, many areas have several emergency response agencies serving them; for example, some places are served by state, county and city police at the same time. 911 should be able to dispatch the nearest available unit, regardless of agency. If E911 is not available then 911 should route calls to some nearby emergency agency, such as the state police, or to the operator, or somebody who can provide emergency dispatch. People who call the emergency number should get intercept only when the system is hopelessly malfunctioning. Just my suggestions, for the record. Jonathan D. Loo ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 94 16:25:56 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: What Did You Have For Dinner Today? (was Re: Solomon Islands) How could you write about cannibalism and forget Alfred E. Packer? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Alfred Packer is probably the most famous (or infamous) cannibal in the history of these United States, or at least he was until Mr. Dahmer's naughty behavior became known to the police officers who opened the door of his refrigerator and looked inside. Packer, a resident of Colorado in the middle to late 19th century found himself stuck in the Rocky Mountains one cold, very extreme winter with nothing to eat but his associates in the party of six persons who were on the expedition. So he did just that ... killed the other five and ate them. With the warm spring weather, a rescue party was able to traipse up the mountain to bring all concerned back to safety. Shocked at finding a healthy and well-fed Mr. Packer and but the bones and unedible remains of the others they arrested Alfred and held him over for trial on charges of cannibalism. (Oops, pardon me, there goes my politcal incorrectness again, I mean 'human recycling'.) At his trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to the peniteniary for the remainder of his natural life to be served at hard labor. At the time of his sentencing, a furious judge remarked, "there were only seven Republicans in the entire county, and you, you son of a bitch, you had to kill and eat five of them!" To honor his memory after his death in the late 1800's, a university there (I believe in Boulder but I am not certain) named its student dining hall after him. The Alfred E. Packer Memorial Cafeteria in the Student Union Building at the university served nutricious and delicious meals to students for many years. For all I know it may still be in operation. Seriously ... some historians contend that naming the student dining hall after Packer was not done to glorify his cannibalism but rather to remember him as an individual persecuted by the government for doing, well, what he had to do under the circum- stances in order to survive all winter in the rugged mountains. In other correctional industry news, the {World Weekly News}, one of the few journals which Tells the Truth About Things -- other than this Digest of course -- reported in a recent issue that Jeff Dahmer has been placed in solitary confinement at the maximum security mental hospital where he is being cared for after he killed five other inmates in their sleep and was caught eating them. My thanks to Carl Moore for reminding me of Alfred Packer and suggesting this commentary which many of you will read during your breakfast on Friday! ... PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #256 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa21512; 28 May 94 3:30 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17139; Sat, 28 May 94 00:17:06 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17130; Sat, 28 May 94 00:17:04 CDT Date: Sat, 28 May 94 00:17:04 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405280517.AA17130@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #257 TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 May 94 00:17:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 257 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Annoying COCOT Problem (Darren Alex Griffiths) Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Dan Matte) Book Review: "Networks" by Ramteke (Rob Slade) Countries Using GSM? (Stephane Bausson) DS3 to Fiber Optic Convertor (Multimode) (Chuck Ludinsky) Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? (Axel Cleeremans) Anyone Using SwiftCall in the UK? (Dinesh Rehani) Security of a Code? (Andy La Varre) Hexadecimal Uuencode??? (Andy La Varre) Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! (Rich Greenberg) Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! (Tony Pelliccio) Re: SMS Messages on ORANGE (Richard Cox) Re: Distinctive Ring Line Effects? (Steven Bradley) Re: Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter (Paul Mokey) Telecommunications Management (Jose Luis Sanchez) Need Site Name For Bellcore Standards (Kevin Hanson) Re: What Did You Have For Dinner Today? (Cole Keirsey) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: dag@ossi.com (Darren Alex Griffiths) Subject: Annoying COCOT Problem Date: 27 May 1994 15:49:02 -0700 Organization: Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions, Inc. The area I live in (the Mission District of San Francisco) has a number of COCOTs provided by a company called T.D. Rowe. They also make jukeboxes and various vending machines. I've had a number of problems with the phones and would dearly love to stop using them, but they are so prevalent that I frequently don't have a choice. Besides over charging, poor maintenance and seemingly random assignment of long distance provider there has been one problem that is extremely annoying. Basically, if I call my voice mail system to check for messages the phone frequently cuts out the keypad, disabling DTMF tones, before I'm finished with the call. I've given up using my calling card since the extra digits allow me to only check two or three messages; without the calling card I can get through a few more messages but using the pause or rewind functions are not advised. Misdialing of the password essenti- ally makes the call useless since I have to redial it and by that time I wasted most of my precious digits. I believe that the company is only allowing a certain number of digits be pressed to limit your choices of other long disance companies, I've never counted the number of digits but it appears to be less than 25. I have called their service line but they don't seem to want to help. Does anyone happen to know if the CPUC requires complete operation of the keypad? If they do then I can start to get a little meaner with them. If they don't I suppose I'll have to live with the problem. Thanks, Alex Griffiths dag@ossi.com Senior Software Engineer Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions, Inc. 408-456-7815 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why not consider getting a cellular phone and putting an end to the hassle once and for all? I think you will find that on short (one or two minute) calls, the cost on cellular will be almost equal with what the COCOT is charging, particularly if you are getting a surcharge for the call due to using your calling card. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Reon_Can@mindlink.bc.ca (Dan Matte) Subject: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: Fri, 27 May 94 16:21:10 PDT Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada I am working on a proposal for an email system that will operate exclusively over cellular in case of disaster resulting in land line failure. Essentially, remote offices will dial-up over cellular to the central office and retrieve messages in case of emergency. The system will operate independently of land lines. There is one technical issue for which I need some additional information. In British Columbia the cellular provider that we will be using deploys "Class-A" service only in case of emergency so that cell phones that have been registered with the Provincial Emergency Program will still have access to the cellular system while non-Class-A subscribers will be denied access. This is accomplished by front end control access channels that validate the calls and determine whether or not to allow access to actual communication channels. The idea is that there should be enough capacity in the control access channels that the front end won't be a bottleneck to Class-A subscribers' ability to access the actual communication channels. As there hasn't been an event that triggered Class-A only service on a wide scale (such as an earthquake), I have no data showing if or how access for Class-A subscribers would be affected given that non-Class-A subscribers will make many attempts to access the system. If anyone can provide information on the performance of the cellular system in L.A. after the recent earthquake or direct me to where I can find information pertinent to my project, I would be greatly appreciative. Dan Matte reon_can@mindlink.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 09:39:06 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Networks" by Ramteke BKNTWRKS.RVW 940209 Prentice Hall/Brady/Ellis Horwood/Simon and Schuster/New Riders/Digital Press 113 Sylvan Avenue Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (515) 284-6751 FAX (515) 284-2607 phyllis@prenhall.com 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "Networks," Ramteke, 1994, 0-13-958059-X ramteke@pilot.njin.net The task of a reviewer is not necessarily an easy one. The hours involved in doing the actual reviews are not overwhelming when set against the tracking down and requesting of materials. So, when an author asks if you want a copy of his book, you generally jump at the chance. There is, however, a danger here. When the book arrives not from the publisher, but directly from the author, with a covering letter, personally autographed, you tend to feel a sense of obligation. One may be dismayed at the possibilities of a book said to cover both voice and data communications technologies. To have the book then arrive with the singular title of "Networks" is bemusing. What does it cover? More on TCP/IP? LANs? WANs? Public switched telephone networks? Yes. And very well, too. When a book less than 500 pages long attempts to cover concepts of networks, OSI, fiber optics, telephony, voice processing, SNA, X.25, SONET, Ethernet, NetWare, ATM and much, much more, something has to be left out. Ramteke, though, seems to be able to keep the most practical aspects of everything he covers. I have often bemoaned the inability of NetWare specific books to clarify Novell's security structure. Here, it is set out clearly in one page and a single illustration. Can't recall the minimum transceiver distance on Ethernet? It's here. (Unfortunately the "half wave length"; the reason for the transceiver distance; isn't.) Want to know how AT&T differs from MCI and Sprint -- technically? This is your book. (And I am not just saying this from any sense of obligation.) In the Preface, and more so in the covering letter, Ramteke makes it clear that he sees this as an introductory networking text. An outline is included which sets forth four different course streams for digital transmission, voice, WANs, and LANs. Questions are included at the end of each chapter. This, however, may sell the book short. With the convergence of all forms of communications and networking, the computer and systems professional may have a need for such a book to cover gaps in the spectrum of knowledge. The technical manager, or even executive, will very likely have a use for the diverse information contained herein. Ramteke requests readers to comment on the work to improve it. I would heartily recommend that experts in the various fields do so. This has the potential to become a technical classic. It isn't perfect. The chapter questions are very simplistic and probably only of use as a check to make sure the reader hasn't skipped anything. The historical sections, while containing interesting tidbits, really don't contribute to an analytical understanding of what is involved. (Note to authors: when outlining the history of X.25, don't forget to mention Datapac and the Canadian contribution. Particularly if you are sending the book to a Canadian reviewer.) I can, however, forgive a lot to someone who entitles his glossary of acronyms, "Last Call for Soup." copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNTWRKS.RVW 940209. Publication permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ From: sbausson@ensem.u-nancy.fr (Stephane BAUSSON) Subject: Countries Using GSM? Date: 27 May 1994 19:45:48 GMT Organization: Ensem, Nancy, France Hello, Does anyone have the list of countries using GSM? Thanks, Stephane BAUSSON Engineering student at ENSEM (Nancy - France) Smail: 4, Rue de Grand, F-88630 CHERMISEY, France Email: sbausson@ensem.u-nancy.fr ------------------------------ From: cjl@mitre.org Subject: DS3 to Fiber Optic Convertor (Multimode) Date: 27 May 1994 20:03:40 GMT Organization: The MITRE Corporation Reply-To: cjl@mitre.org Does anyone know of a DS3 to fiber optic (multimode) converter? That is a device that extends a T3 line over multimode optical fiber> Chuck Ludinsky ------------------------------ From: axcleer@ulb.ac.be (Axel Cleeremans) Subject: Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? Date: 27 May 1994 08:10:19 GMT Organization: ULB - Laboratoire de Psychologie Industrielle Hello, A friend of mine would like to set up an interactive voice-mail system based on a PC for a small business, and was wondering about what kind of solutions are available. The basic requirement is that callers, who would interact with the remote PC through a touch-tone phone, should be able to receive different kinds of information by working their way through a hierarchy of "menu" selections. The system should also allow users to input strings of digits, for instance to order an item or to request that specific information be mailed to them. I am not sure how such a system is called but we have all interacted with something like that while communicating with banks or mail-order businesses. The specific question I have to this group is whether there exists a hardware device that will perform these functions, or a subset of them, when hooked up to or put inside a PC. If so, I would greatly appreciate receiving pointers to who would be selling such devices, and some indication of their cost. Thanks, Axel Cleeremans - NFSR Research Associate - Psychology Internet: axcleer@ulb.ac.be - Voice: +322 6503296 ULB CP122 - Ave FD Roosevelt 50 - 1050 Brussels Belgium ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 94 12:31:18 GMT From: rehani@utcdsv.SINet.SLB.COM (Dinesh Rehani +44 400 81999) Subject: Anyone Using SwiftCall in the UK? I am looking for comments from TELECOM Digest readers who might be subscribers to the SwiftCall service, especially in the UK. How good is their service? Are the advertised savings for real or are there hidden charges? How does Swift compare to TP and other callback services available? dinesh rehani@utcdsv.sinet.slb.com ------------------------------ From: alavarre@ids.net Subject: Security of a Code? Date: Fri, 27 May 94 15:59:46 EST Organization: IDS World Network Internet Access Service, (401) 884-9002 GUEST Any cryptology/code gurus out there that could help? What is the basic measure of the security of a code? What is the "bible" on the topic? The problem at hand is to assess the "security" of some encoding/encryption techniques. Where does one go to get smart about the basic measure of security in this context -- presumably the probability of cracking the code within X hours given a PRN sequence of length Y, etc. etc. Just a quick and dirty table of relative securities of different types of codes and ciphers would help me get started in the right direction. Email if you prefer, and Thanks in advance Andy La Varre alavarre@ids.net ------------------------------ From: alavarre@ids.net Subject: Hexadecimal Uuencode? Date: Fri, 27 May 94 16:04:35 EST Organization: IDS World Network Internet Access Service, (401) 884-9002 GUEST We're having a problem properly recieving attachments from a remote site. The administrator claims the remote site has a "binary to hexadecimal" encoder, implying that hex is being transmitted. The remote site is using CC:Mail. The users we're working with haven't got a clue ... Sounds like hogwash to me, I've never heard of such, and all my docs on three different sets of uuxxcode only talk about binary to ASCII and back. But before I jump down their throat I thought I'd ask somebody that *really* knows what's happening ... TIA, Andy La Varre alavarre@ids.net ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 18:12:10 GMT In article BROWN.GERRY@AppleLink.Apple. COM (Gerry Brown Assoc, Gerry Brown,PAS) writes: > While reporting the problem, the service tech told me that effective > June 1, 1994, PacBell will be charging for a service call WHETHER THE > PROBLEM IS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. The only way around the charge is to > subscribe to their Wire Service Plan. > Not a bad scam, heh! I pay for service no matter who is at fault. > The PacBell repair service claimed that the California PUC forced them > to implement this plan. Boy am I glad that the telephone industry has > been deregulated. Imagine what we would have to pay if that hadn't > happened. Pat, I had a problem believing this so I called the CPUC to try and get the answer from "the Horses Mouth" so to speak. Its not correct. If the problem is outside the NIJ, its still no cost to the user. What has changed is that previously, some PaBell techs were coming out, finding the problem was inside, and just telling the customer they had an inside problem and leaving without charging them if the customer assumed responsibility for the repair. They would only charge if they actually did the inside repair (assuming the customer didn't have the inside wire repair ripoff). Now, they have been instructed to enter a charge in any case if the problem is inside from the NIJ. Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677 N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 Pacific time. I speak for myself and my dogs only. Canines: Chinook & Husky ------------------------------ From: Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! Date: 27 May 1994 19:14:25 GMT Organization: Brown University ADIR In article , BROWN.GERRY@AppleLink.Apple. COM (Gerry Brown Assoc, Gerry Brown,PAS) wrote: > While reporting the problem, the service tech told me that effective > June 1, 1994, PacBell will be charging for a service call WHETHER THE > PROBLEM IS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. The only way around the charge is to > subscribe to their Wire Service Plan. > Not a bad scam, heh! I pay for service no matter who is at fault. > The PacBell repair service claimed that the California PUC forced them > to implement this plan. Boy am I glad that the telephone industry has > been deregulated. Imagine what we would have to pay if that hadn't > happened. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would double check the source on > this. Do you mean to tell me that if there is a problem in the CO > that *you* are going to have to pay for the repair? If the problem > is on the pole in the alley behind your house *you* will have to pay? > Gimme a break. PAT] Hey, I kind of like that. By their logic it means you now have free-run of the cable right through to the CO, and then on the switch itself. So next time a pair goes south on you, just go on up and swap it yourself. Let the phone company figure out the rest. Then again, it's not like telcos records of cable pair are all that accurate anyhow. I agree with Pat though, if they're going to charge for service wether or not it's your fault then rates should go down. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu, Tel. (401) 863-1880 Fax. (401) 863-2269 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But see Rich Greenberg's response earlier in this issue. Apparently all that is changing is they are cracking down on charging for visits made by technicians; if a technician is dispatched to your premises you will pay for it whether the tech does the work or you do the work. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 15:48:14 -0700 From: richard@mandarin.com Subject: Re: SMS Messages on ORANGE d92-sam@nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) wrote: >> Yes, but wouldn't 0956700111@orange.uk be nicer?! No ... my ORANGE number (when I publish it) will be a lot nicer than that ! >> Is there any such service out there? It will be coming soon. However there are some VERY long mail messages on the 'net ... you wouldn't even get the header of some in 160 characters! >>> It will become possible to send text messages from the handset (or >>> computer) to any other GSM/PCN system, to any of the old analogue >>> paging networks, or as an X400 message or a facsimile document. >> I am pretty sure that what you are talkin about is ordinary datatransfer >> that occupies a 9600 bit voice channel. Actually the rate of transfer is >> sligtly higher but I've never heard of a 11.4kbit modem :-) Data transfer will indeed be available, but SMS 160-character messages can be converted into fax format, and then sent as such *directly* from SMS. >> Like if your voice-mailbox or fax-mailbox sent you an SMS every time >> it receives a message. Yes, all ORANGE phones have voicemailboxes. They are *free* ... calls diverting to them are *free* (for anyone outside the UK, can I add that free access to voicemail is for from being the norm here. In some cases on cellular the calls are surcharged (33p/min for calls that were diverted to voicemail as opposed to 25p/min for ordinary calls). On ORANGE you only pay for retrieving messages from voicemail (and then it's only 7.5p/minute) The voicemailbox does indeed use SMS notification, as you suggest. However there are even quicker ways to respond to a voicemail notification. Clever people, these Finns !!! Richard D G Cox Mandarin Technology, P.O. Box 111, Penarth, South Glamorgan, Wales: CF64 3YG Voice: 0956 700111 Fax: 0956 700110 VoiceMail: 0941 151515 Pager 0941 115555 E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request ------------------------------ From: steven@sgb.oau.org (Steven Bradley) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ring Line Effects? Organization: The Forest City Exchange, Forest City, Florida Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 01:30:01 GMT Rattlesnake Stu (whitmore@tahoma.cwu.edu) wrote: > 1. I recently had distinctive ringing enabled on a phone line that > leads to my BBS. Since then, I've had a significant increase in > handshake problems when receiving BBS calls. (The modem itself > determines the ring, and seems to be 100% accurate in doing so. I use I have a four line multi-user Unix system. Three lines on an inward rotary and a fourth line outward only. There are five phone numbers total. Two numbers go to the third line in the rotary. I use a Ring Decipher made by Command Communications ($70) box which decodes the ring pattern and sends to correct line. Such a box may help you if you feel the modem is having problems doing both tasks. The main number is for voice, the special ring number is for data, and it's accessed with fwd on busy from preceding line. Works well everytime. It does need two rings before it will answer though. > 2. Is there a way to boost a signal between the wall and the modem, > or would I even want to? I'm running an extension cord about 200' > that distance -- should I even worry about it? Should not be a problem normally, line voltage should be between 48 and 52v DC. If its less, you have a problem, if its a little more, do not worry about it. Ringing voltage is around 90v AC as I recall. Normally, the larger problem is the number of phones on a single line making a load, this measurement is listed with the FCC ID data. Your modem should have come with instructions that explained what the load number means and how many devices you can have (based on these values) on one line. I doubt you need to boost the signal. You may need a 16550 UART though to handle the throughput. You also may have handshake problems by not having configured it correctly. Normally you use RTS/CTS flow control, through hardware, but this requires the modem to be set up properly. Try looking in comp.dcom.modems. Internet: steven@sgb.oau.org Steven G. Bradley steven@gate.net GEnie: s.bradley6@genie.geis.com CompuServe: 73232.505@compuserve.com America Online: sgbradley@aol.com ------------------------------ From: bkron@netcom.com (Paul Mokey) Subject: Re: Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 05:49:44 GMT Al Cohan <0004526627@mcimail.com> writes: > Does anyone on the net know of another company or companies that > manufacture a ring decoder that actually *works*? I've been using a Multi-Link SR3 for just such a purpose for years without a single problem. They're located in Lexington, KY; but their products are sold in telephone specialty shops everywhere. Call 'em for a dealer near you or look in the Yellow Pages under Telephone Equipment & Systems. I bought mine retail for under $100. ------------------------------ From: josel@vms.ucc.okstate.edu Subject: Telecommunications Management Organization: Oklahoma State University Computer Center Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 15:29:19 GMT Hello, I am looking for special events or seminars (one or two weeks) related to Management, Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Privatization in Telecommunications. People selected for these events are managers of several telecommunications areas with no technical background. Would you please let me know if you have some information about that. I want to thank you kindly, before hand, for your prompt response. Jose Luis Sanchez josel@vms.ucc.okstate.edu Electrical and Computer Eng. Oklahoma State University [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest you simply keep on reading here. This Digest publishes a large number of seminar announcements, training class notices and related matter on the subjects you mention. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 12:37:31 -0500 From: Kevin Hanson Subject: Need Site Name for Bellcore Standards Organization: Texas Metronet, Internet for the Individual 214-705-2917 (info) Does anyone know if there is an ftp site where I can find Bellcore documents? Specifically I am looking for the Common Language Code set (CLLI, CLFI, etc) plus any TL-1 documentation that may be available. Kevin Hanson kevinh@feenix.metronet.com ------------------------------ From: cole@advtech.uswest.com (Cole Keirsey) Subject: Re: What Did You Have For Dinner Today? (was Re: Solomon Islands) Date: 27 May 1994 17:29:39 GMT Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies Yes, the cafeteria in the student center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is still called the Packer Grill. If memory serves, the folks Packer ate, and the judge who sentenced him, were Democrats (not Republicans as the previous article said). Honestly, now, who do you think would make a better meal -- Senator Dole or President Clinton? Packer did not serve out his life sentence, but was released after a few years. I believe that he became a personal body guard for the editor of a Denver newspaper, who had lobbied for Packer's release. Bon apetite. C. C. Keirsey cole@advtech.uswest.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #257 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa00675; 29 May 94 21:25 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06935; Sun, 29 May 94 11:06:34 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06902; Sun, 29 May 94 11:05:03 CDT Date: Sun, 29 May 94 11:05:03 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405291605.AA06902@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #258 TELECOM Digest Sun, 29 May 94 11:05:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 258 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telegraph Wires [Transcript of American Numismatic Broadcast] (N. Allen) Re: How Smart is Call-forwarding? (Brett Frankenberger) Re: How Smart is Call-forwarding? (John Lundgren) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted (Fred Blonder) Re: Government Regulates Modem Redial Attempts (Aaron Leonard) Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing (Gordon Burditt) Book Review: "The Internet Message" by Rose (Rob Slade) Re: Hunting Service From GTE (Paul Lee) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (John Lundgren) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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, 28 May 1994 14:06:47 -0400 From: ae446@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Nigel Allen) Subject: Telegraph Wires [Transcript of American Numismatic Assn Broadcast] Organization: 52 Manchester Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Reply-To: ae446@FreeNet.Carleton.CA The American Numismatic Association, a long-established group of collectors of coins and other types of money, prepares a daily radio broadcast about some aspect of collecting and posts it to the rec.collecting newsgroup. The following transcript was posted by ana@athena.csdco.com (ANA), and will be of particular interest to readers of the TELECOM Digest. Transcript No. 427 May 24, 1994 TELEGRAPH WIRES By Lee F. McKenzie Along the roadside, a determined tourist trips over a cactus. She struggles up an embankment and through sagebrush to get past telephone poles and wires. Finally, with camera in hand, she has an unobstructed view of Jenny Lake and the beautiful Teton Mountains. How often have you struggled to get just the right picture -- a photo without telephone wires to ruin a beautiful scene? This is "A-N-A's Money Talks." Many years ago, an artist sat at his workbench carefully engraving metal plates. He was an employee of the American Bank Note Company. The work before him was a vignette, or small picture, which would be used on checks issued by a bank in Elmira, New York. In the 1870s, banks prided themselves on the beautiful art work that adorned their checks. The vignettes often reflected achievements of society or the ambitions of local people. When the new checks for the Elmira bank were completed, a small vignette showed a country scene with cows in a quiet meadow, a distant bridge, and poles with a pair of wires connected between them. How odd that an artist would "ruin" a beautiful country scene with telegraph wires! What you and I would find annoying in our photos, was somehow important to an artist in 1878. Today marks the 150th anniversary of Samuel Morse's first telegraph message. In 1844, that message was sent 40 miles between Washington D.C. and Baltimore. The message Morse sent was, "What God Hath Wrought." These simple words reflected the inventor's own humble awe at a miracle. Suddenly, the pioneers of America had a fast way of hearing from home. Loved ones no longer seemed so far away. Business decisions that once took weeks now took a couple of days or less. In so many ways the art and history in old coins and paper money speak to us. When we see telegraph wires carefully engraved on an old check, we're reminded that money truly does talk. This has been "Money Talks." Today's program was written by Lee McKenzie and underwritten by Heritage Rare Coin Galleries, the world's largest rare coin firm. This is a production of the American Numismatic Association, America's coin club for over a century. For a transcript and a free ancient Egyptian coin, be the first to call 1-800-367-9723 with your local station's call letters. Request program 427. Nigel Allen ae446@freenet.carleton.ca ------------------------------ From: brettf@netcom.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: How Smart is Call-forwarding? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 20:39:54 GMT birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag Aristotelis) writes: [ SUMMARY: The author has obtained a standard residential line with call forwarding in a town half way between the author's residence and a number that the author wishes to call frequently. Author has programmed the call forwarding on the 'middle' number to forward to the number he wishes to call frequently, for the purpose of eliminating toll charges. Author wants to know if, when he calls the middle number from his residence if it routed from the author phone to the author's CO, to the 'middle' CO, to the terminating CO, then to the number he is calling, or if it router from the author's phone to the authors CO to the middle CO, to the telephone terminating the 'middle' line, back from that telephone to the middle CO (presumably on a separate pair?), then to the terminating CO, and to the terminating number. (Obviously I'm not mentioning any intermediate Tandams between COs here). Author also notes that all inter-CO trunks are fiber.] The answer is that the CO handles it ... it doesn't go out and back. There isn't any means for it to do so, as the path between the CO and the 'middle' telephone can only carry one call. (Some people get two lines and have a forwarding device that they buy perform a rudimentary type of forwarding whereby when line one rings, line two automatically calls another number and the lines are connected, and they would send the call out and back ... also, large businesses sometimes program forwarding on their PBX's to take an incoming call and route it back out somewhere else, and that would also send the call out and back ... but in both cases there are *2* lines going to user's location, not one ... and in both cases, the telco is not invloved with the forwarding ... in the case you mention where you are buying the call forwarding feature from the telco (*72 or whatever it is), it doesn't go out to the 'middle number's' telephone and back. > Recently, I've encountered _nasty_ noise. Even the latest greatest > 28.8kbps modems with all the connection-holding capability in the > world can't connect. If I dial _directly_ without using the forward > (thus incurring big tolls) the routing is as follows, and there is no > noise: [ NOTE : In a part of the original msg that I deleted, author defines CO1 as his CO, CO2 as the CO of the middle line, and CO3 as the CO of the terminating connection, and [Net] as the number he is seeking to avoid toll charges to. ] > [Me] -c- [Shed] -f- [C01] -f- ([C02] -f-?) [C03] -c- [Net] > > (Note, I'm not sure whether a direct call would pass through the CO > in NXX 2.) It may or may not, depending on how the telco has set up the routing for calls from CO1 to CO3. > It looks like one of two things is happening here: > > 1) The computers are dumb, and are routing the call out to the number and > back again, and something's causing noise on the loop. That's not an issue ... it couldn't do that ... the wires just ain't there ... > 2) The computers are ok, but something's causing noise in NXX 2's CO > itself. Unless you *know* what the routing of your call is, don't assume you do. The routing for the toll versus the non-toll version of the call could be *completely different* ... Also, don't assume the routing is 100% fiber unless you *know* it is ... the routing could be completely different ... > I'm going to call BA-NJ in the morning, and go through the usual > process of explaining to them that I'm _absolutely certain_ it's not > my inside wiring, since there _is no inside wiring_ on that line... ;) Most telco types will immediately know that of course it doesn't involve the wiring on the middle line since the switch handles the forwarding ... (I'm not saying *you* are an idiot for not knowing that, but for someone in the telephone industry, they should know it immediately). > but I figured I'd toss this out, in hopes that someone out there knows > more about how the computers handle call-forwarding. So ... to address the issue of what is it ... if the only place it is analog is between your home and your CO and the terminating CO and the terminating number, then the problem has to be digital, since those same analog lines are used for the toll and the forwarded way of calling. Do you know if it is digital all the way. (i.e. are all the intermediate switches digital, or they converting the fiber back to analog to route through some kind of mechanical switch?) If it is digital all the way, they probably are taking frame-slips somewhere between the two COs ... make data calls from CO2 to CO3 and CO1 to CO2 and see which one fails ... (Ovviously, it's the telco's responsibility to do that, not you, but if there is anything compliated about the problem at all, they will probably be confused ...) If it is analog, then somewhere, there is something noisy ... it might be in CO1 or CO3, but just on trunks to CO2 ... who knows ... Good luck. Brett (brettf@netcom.com) Brett Frankenberger ------------------------------ From: sgiblab!news.kn.PacBell.COM!jlundgre@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: How Smart is call-forwarding? Date: 28 May 94 18:18:54 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Maybe something in the carrier plant is causing the trouble. Something like a ADPCM or whatever circuit that doesn't recognize the modem and tries to compress what it thinks is voice. jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ From: fred@nasirc.hq.nasa.gov (Fred Blonder) Subject: Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted Date: 28 May 1994 23:30:49 GMT Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- InterNetNews site > Does anyone know what the average speed (in characters per > minute, or whatever is appropriate) of a professional > telegrapher would have been when wire telegraphy was the main > mode of electronic communication? . . . I don't know, but I've got a funny story: One of my C.S. professors at the University of Maryland was a ham radio operator, and was always trying to combine his hobbies. He wanted to transmit ASCII, but at the time the FCC didn't allow ASCII on the ham bands. (I've no idea if that's changed.) He and his friends settled on transmitting computer-generated and decoded Morse Code. The funny part is when they decided that nothing in the regs set a maximum rate for morse code, so they cranked it up to the equivalent of about 1200 baud. It was completely unintelligible to the human ear, but it was proper morse, and the FCC never gave them a hard time about it. If you want more info on archaic transmission methods, about four months ago, {Scientific American} ran a good article about semaphore telegraph systems. Fred Blonder fred@nasirc.hq.nasa.gov Hughes STX Corp. (301) 441-4079 7701 Greenbelt Rd. Greenbelt, Md. 20770 ------------------------------ From: leonard@telcom.arizona.edu (Aaron Leonard) Subject: Re: Government Regulates Modem Redial Attempts Date: 28 May 1994 17:26:34 GMT Organization: University of Arizona Telecommunications Reply-To: Leonard@Arizona.EDU In article , Paul A. Lee writes: > In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 Issue 250, Steven Bradley org> wrote: >> if you are a developer, do NOT use the internal redial option in the >> faxmodem, use the BUSY, VOICE, NO ANSWER result codes to re-dial it using >> the software command to ... allow unlimited and unregulated re-dialing > Indeed, most of the communications software I've encountered uses the > modem result (either numeric code or verbose text string) to determine > the result of a dial attempt. The software can keep track of "BUSY" > results and redial up to a preset number of attempts. > Why, though, would one want to redial upon encountering a "VOICE" or a > "NO ANSWER" result? A "VOICE" result would typically indicate that the > modem's dial attempt has reached either an intercept message or a live > body at the dialed number, indicating that a wrong number is being > dialed (for legitimate purposes, at least). A "NO ANSWER" result on a > valid number typically results from a problem with the modem or fax > machine that should have answered at the other end. > I can understand making numerous redial attempts on a "BUSY" > condition, but what would be the purpose of redialing on a "VOICE" or > "NO ANSWER" result, other than to harass (whether innocently, > gnorantly, or maliciously) the recipient of the call? I agree that redialing on voice would seem to be a rude and useless thing to do. However, redialing on NO ANSWER can make some sense. For example, assume that you are dialing into a pool of hundreds of modems (for example, the one we run). At any given time, it's likely that a small number of these modems will fail to answer, due to some malfunction. However, the odds are great, in such a case, that a successive dialin to the same pool, will succeed (because we've configured our rotary to "walk thru" the lines.) Aaron Leonard (AL104), University of Arizona Network Operations, Tucson AZ 85721 ------------------------------ From: gordon@sneaky.lonestar.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 08:56:24 GMT > Currently, 0+ calls are sent to the operator services provider > (OSP) to which the premises owner or payphone provider presubscribes. > Under BPP, calls would be routed automatically to the OSP preferred by > the party being billed for the call. For example, a calling card call > would be routed to the cardholder's preferred OSP. A collect call > would be routed to the called party's preferred OSP. A call billed to > a third party would be routed to the OSP to which that third party had > presubscribed. Interesting. It's a good way to avoid AOS rates that approach those of 900 numbers. But what happens if: - The called party's preferred long distance carrier is "none of the above"? (This is a valid choice, and it does not prevent making LD calls using 10XXX codes.) - The called party's preferred long distance carrier has no presence in the area the caller is calling from? (E.g. how many areas of the USA DON'T have service from Vartec Telecom (10811)? If I selected them, could someone call me collect from one of these areas?) - The called party's preferred long distance carrier doesn't handle collect calls (yet, or has no plans to)? Does the call not complete? Does the carrier used fall back to the dialed prefix or the carrier of the originating phone? Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 11:03:36 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Internet Message" by Rose BKINTMSG.RVW 940309 Prentice Hall 113 Sylvan Avenue Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (515) 284-6751 FAX (515) 284-2607 phyllis@prenhall.com 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "The Internet Message", Rose, 1993, 0-13-092941-7 mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us Could there be some connection between a cover design strongly reminiscent of Douglas Adam's, "Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul" and a banner stating that this is the fourth book in Marshall Rose's trilogy? For those wanting to know how to use Internet mail, this is not your book. This is a technical work examining the design aspects of electronic mail systems. The Internet RFC822 and OSI's (Open System Interconnection) MHS (Message Handling System), aka X.400, are the two major examples used in the review. Those who know Rose's views of OSI will know which comes off better. In spite of the strong (and readily admitted) bias, this is a thorough analysis of a frequently bypassed field. For those who need to build or design messaging systems, this is required reading. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKINTMSG.RVW 940309. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 May 1994 12:57:31 -0400 From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Hunting Service From GTE Since this thread seems to have expanded into a general comparison of GTE service offerings compared to other LECs, I'll offer a few pieces of my experience with GTE: About two years ago, I moved from a GTE area in Pennsylvania to Ameritech territory in Wisconsin. I now have two residential lines (with hunting), instead of one, and make about three times as many calls in a local service area that's about eight times as large, for about the same money. My company has two major sites that are served by GTE -- one in California and one in Florida. Digital (T-1) trunking is agony to get installed and running. DID trunks cost $350-$415 per month from GTE, compared to $45-$120 per month from NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, Ameritech, PacTel, etc. I can almost rely on GTE to be anywhere from several hours to a few *days* late -- or sometimes *early*, just to keep it interesting -- on installs and changes of service. On the other hand, GTE people seem to go out of their way to try and be helpful in case of a problem -- that is, beyond professional, to downright friendly. I've had GTE technicians give me their home phone numbers. I've been able to talk directly with OP crew leaders about coordinating their work with our contractors' work. I've been given phone numbers to directly reach test boards and central offices. That kind of stuff has been rather rare in the Baby Bells. Overall, I guess I'd have to chalk it up to "cultural diversity". Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET ------------------------------ From: sgiblab!news.kn.PacBell.COM!jlundgre@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: 28 May 94 16:11:55 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Guorong Roger (hu_g@isis.cs.odu.edu) wrote: > Is there any kind of CORDLESS PHONE which can be used for ten to > twenty miles distance (not a cellular phone, not the regular cordless > phone which can only be used within the house). The telephone should > still use the regular telephone switching system. The master piece of > the phone should be installed at home, and the handset could be bring > ten to twenty miles away from the home but be still access the phone > at home. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are, but they are not legal for use > in the USA. About the closest you can come to this legally in the USA is > to use a manual phone patch attached to a CB radio or some other type of > legal radio service. I have a phone patch here for example which I have The important point here is that the amateur radio service is for recreational non-commerial use only, and the hams tend to police themselves fairly well, especially in metro areas where the bands are crowded. And, naturally, the phone co doesn't want people to bypass their cellular service. So getting a legal ten mile phone is not easy. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 VOI (714) JOHN GAB \ FAX (714) JOHN FRY jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #258 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa17049; 31 May 94 22:53 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA23171; Tue, 31 May 94 07:07:10 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA23141; Tue, 31 May 94 07:07:07 CDT Date: Tue, 31 May 94 07:07:07 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405311207.AA23141@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #259 TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Jun 94 07:07:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 259 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Some D-Day Telecom History (Donald E. Kimberlin) Book Review: "Exploring the Internet" by Malamud (Rob Slade) Communication Courses at Berkeley This Summer (Richard V. Tsina) Dialing Changes For West Virginia and Connecticut (Carl Moore) Pac*Bell Plans to Become Internet Provider? (Robert L. McMillin) Current List of Areacodes Wanted (Michael Conley) How do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? (Kevin Centanni) ETSI Contact (Joao Perdigoto) Why Does Long Distance Cost Extra? (James Baker) Cost of Caller ID in PA (Greg Vaeth) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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, 30 May 94 15:56 EST From: Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> Subject: Some D-Day Telecom History As the 50th anniversary of D-Day nears, here are a couple of sntaches of an incomplete story about the parts radio people played in the largest invasion so far accomplished by man. There were at least two relatively unpublished items of interest to the technically-inclined about radio in that era: First, there are lots of recordings of bits of Edward R. Murrow from London during the blitz, as well as other correspondents like Richard C. Hottelet dating back to before D-Day. Bear in mind we are speaking here of a time before telephone cables crossed the Atlantic (although 21 telegraph cables had been laid dating back to 1866, so "cablegrams," competing with RCA's "radiograms" were the business communications norm of the era for civilians). There was telephone connectivity available, dating back to 1927. In addition to the one (ever) low-frequency telephone circuit between New York and London (50 kHz USB eastbound; 60 kHz USB westbound), HF radio links that operated ISB with channel shifters to produce two 3 kHz speech channels on each sideband had been put into operation between various capital cities. Within the limits of the selective fading and noise of HF radio, broadcasters could order, in general, either a 3 kHz "message grade" channel or a 6 kHz "program channel," by special arrangement, occupying the space of two telephone circuits and using program-equalized channels linking the HF radio plants and the broadcasters. The cost was rather high for those, of course. There was strain on the capacity of the total installed plant, however, and in fact, a different mode of operation called "EB circuits" for "Emergency Bandwidth" was put into place as the U.S. entered the European war and Eisenhower's SHAPE settled into the buildup of the invasion force in England. "EB" used the channel filtering abilities of the Type A "band-splitting" Privacy units developed in the late 1930's. A Type A Privacy was a beastly affair containing iron/copper speech channel filters and modulators that could split a 3 kHz voice channel into five sub-bands, and shift each sub-band to a different range for transmission, while restoring the proper sequence at the receiver. Type A Privacies were beastly things, each one for a typical four-channel HF link occupying THREE 30-inch-wide, eleven-foot high relay racks. In addition to shifting sub-bands around, the Type A Privacy also contained a motor-driven cam switch that could change the shifting pattern every few seconds. However, maintaining sync between the transmitting and recieving Type A's was so difficult that after only a few years, they were generally operated in a fixed pattern, perhaps changing the code once a day at most. (By the early 1960's, they were largely disused, but maintained, as technical operators would use them for an adjustable band-stop filter when needed to knock out one sub-band to get rid of QRM by plugging out one filter.) But, at the time of D-Day, the Type A Privacies, with some minor modifications, were pressed into service, to split the nominal 3 kHz channels into two "Emergency Band" telephone circuits, effectively doubling the number of circuits by producing telephone circuits of around 1700 Hz bandwidth. Thus, if you hear some WWII actualties from HF radio that sound rather muffled and lacking any sibilance or fricatives in the speech, it's likely they were on EB circuits. That's one aspect, fine for public communications where on the U.S. end, it was AT&T connecting into the telephone network, met on the U.K. (or in later cases, other country's) government-owned telephone "Adminstration," as they are called in ITU lingo. But another, far-less published aspect has to do with the actual invasion of Normandy and the rush across Europe to end the war in just eleven months -- that of the people of a firm called Press Wireless in its support of actualities from the moving Allied Expeditionary Force. No small part of operating a full-bore war effort and keeping the "folks at home" at maximum interest and production was to provide them news actualities, in an time after "no radio" (WWI) and the Satellite Era (Vietnam). The scheme drawn up was to have mobile HF broadcast transmitting facilities landed as soon as possible after a beachhead was established, and make origination facilities available to radio journalists as close to the front as possible. Fortunately, although sunspot counts were nearing their eleven-year cyclic minimum in 1944, solar disturbances were also relatively minor, so HF radio across the Atlantic was rather reliable. To accomplish this, the services of a firm called Press Wireless were engaged. Few people know much about "Pree-Wee," jargon that grew out of its telegraphic route address of PreWi, but it actually dated back to the earliest days of HF radio, PreWi was established in the time when RCA, Westinghouse and GE tied up purchase of HF radio gear, by setting conditions under which you effectively had to purchase a complete transmitter from RCA using the patented high-power vacuum tubes of GE or Westinghouse, or nothing. This was tied to a strong suggestion that "you might as well rent channels from RCA rather than do so." Well, that was fine, except then getting RCA to run channels where the press wanted them was not always realistic. So, the press associations formed Press Wireless, to purchase high-powered tubes from Brown-Boveri in Switzerland, and develop its own HF links. And, develop a lot, PreWi did. if you ever get into those musty old textbooks and IRE Proceedings of the 1920's and 1930's, many of the studies of HF propagation can be found to be of PreWi origin. Although not well known to the public, PreWi was well known in the HF radio community and the press establishment. And, its people had built any number of prioneering and/or one-time HF links to connect sites around the world; places that the public telephone or telegraph establishments weren't prepared to handle. D-Day was an event tailor-made for PreWi to make its largest single effort ever, as well. The PreWi engineers built up 50 kW HF transmitter plants into sets of trailers, complete with an AC power trailer and a studio trailer, and staffed them with "war correspondents" who were, in fact civilian radio broadcast engineers seconded to PreWi for the job. They landed right behind the troops on the firing line, and were in operation back to the PreWi receivers at Southampton, Long Island by the night of June 6, with German bullets still whizzing close by, providing program channels back to the States for radio journalists of the several networks from a war-torn Normandy. When you hear actualities from HF radio during this week that originated in Normandy, they were on those PreWi HF links, received at Southampton, then carried into New York on phoneco facilities to the several radio networks. (Similarly, PreWi trailer-mounted links were operating from Juno and Gold Beaches back to England for the BBC to get its feeds, when you hear British actualities of the events of D-Day.) The entire operation continued, moving with the Allied Expeditionary Force, providing Eisenhower his HF radiotelephone links back to the telephone networks of England and the U.S. once he moved onto the continent, and until the war was over and the regular facilities of the government-owned PTTs were rebuilt in each nation. You'll likely hear snatches about the heroics of the journalists and even the Army Signal Corps, which went about placing AM broadcast transmitters (sometimes jammers) in carious cities as the armies moved across the Continent, but you're not likely to hear anuything about the civilians who supported the Allies in war as PreWi provided the news to "back home." I know I wouldn't, if I had never had the privilege of working for Gene Rider, who had been Chief Engineer of WQAM and later WIOD at Miami, who had himself been one of those "civilian war correspondents" on loan to PreWi at the time. Gene never spoke about it, and only tipped his hand to me a while after I went to work for ITT, and sent him a postcard from the rather famous Westbury Hotel in London. His only real comment, in a reply card was, "The Westbury" Oh, yeah, I know that place!" Only then did some of his comments made over the years fall into place. (epilogue) PreWi went on after the war to continue its pioneering work, and was purchased by ITT. ITT merged PreWi into ITT's World Communications operations, which took over the PreWi transmitters at Brentwood and receivers at Southampton. One of its later innovations that never flew was a proposal to put HF radiotelephones onto Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's Constellations that flew passengers to Latin America. Regrettably, Captain Eddie declined, saying there was not sufficient payload space on the Connies to accommodate the function. I have a copy of Rickenbacker's letter to the president of PreWi declining the offer. So, I hope that little story gives you some interesting insight into a little-published portion of the D-Day Story. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As always Don, thanks for another very interesting history lesson. An organization here in Chicago is planning a complete historical re-inactment of D-Day for later this month. They are going to be using the Lake Michigan beach around Montrose Avenue for anyone interested in attending. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 12:44:28 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Exploring the Internet" by Malamud BKEXPINT.RVW 940310 Prentice Hall 113 Sylvan Avenue Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 (515) 284-6751 FAX (515) 284-2607 phyllis@prenhall.com 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "Exploring the InterNet", Malamud, 1993, 0-13-296898-3, U$26.95 carl@malamud.com The naive reader might be forgiven for thinking that this book is about the Internet and how to use it. The author seems to think that this book has something to do with the ITU's initial interest in, and later refusal of, publishing the "Blue Book" of telecommunications standards on the Internet. The phrase, "technical travelogue," gets bandied about as if it had some meaning. (It is interesting that on the fourth or fifth visit to Paris the author is unable to explain to anyone, including his aunt, what the phrase means.) Dan Lynch reports as Malamud's proposal a statement that makes as much sense as anything: "Buy my airplane tickets and I'll try to get into as much trouble as I can. Then, I'll write a book." After reading the cover blurbs, one suspects that if you were to try to design a project antithetical to the aims and workings of the Internet, one couldn't get much closer than a six- month trip circling the globe a few times, dropping in on a number of people engaged in esoteric projects for interviews. It isn't a travelogue, since that would imply some sort of logical plan behind the route travelled or the places visited. It isn't all that technical, except that the majority of people discussed work in technical fields. Some of it has to do with the Internet; much of it doesn't. What it is, is hilarious. While novice users looking for documentation on ftp will be mystified, net gurus, particularly those with some knowledge of the players mentioned, will be laughing their socks off. Even the net-illiterate will get some chuckles out of it -- Malamud has a dry wit and a keen eye for the absurd. I can readily sympathize with his tale of a story killed by a marketing department. I still haven't got the slightest idea what the book is supposed to be *about*, but it's a lot of fun. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKEXPINT.RVW 940310. Distribution per- mitted in TELECOM Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups. PAT] Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 03:45:47 GMT From: rtsina1@uclink.berkeley.edu (Richard V Tsina) Subject: Communication Courses at Berkeley this Summer Organization: University of California, Berkeley U.C. BERKELEY Continuing Education in Engineering Announces 2 short courses on Communication Technology: 1. WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (July 26-27, 1994) There are technical bottlenecks to developing a ubiquitous wireless multimedia environment: the capacity of the radio link, its unreliability due to the adverse multipath propagation channel, and severe interference from other channels. This course covers the principles and fundamental concepts engineers need to tackle these limitations (e.g., a thorough treatment of channel impairments such as fading and multipath dispersion and their effect on link and network performance). Topics include: Introduction to Wireless Channels, Cellular Telephone Networks, Analog and Digital Transmission and Wireless Data Networks. Comprehensive course notes will be provided. Lecturer: JEAN-PAUL M.G. LINNARTZ, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley. His work on traffic analysis in mobile radio networks received the Veder Prize, an innovative research in telecommunications award in the Netherlands. At Berkeley he works on communications for intelligent vehicle highway systems and multimedia communications. Professor Linnartz is the author of numerous publications and the book "Narrow Land-Mobile Radio Networks" (Artech House, 1993), the text for the course. 2. COMMUNICATION NETWORKS: FROM FDDI TO ATM (August 9-10), 1994) This course provides an overview of the operating principles and design guidelines for communication networks, and includes a description of the popular current networks and a discussion of major industry trends. Topics include: History and Operating Principles, Open System Interconnection, Overview of High-Speed Networks, Physical Layer, Switching, Trends in Data Networks (FDDI, DQDB, Frame Relay, SMDS), Trends in Telecommunication Networks (SONET, Fiber to the home, ISDN, Intelligent Networks, ATM), Topological Design of Networks, Control of ATM Networks. Comprehensive course notes will be provided. Lecturers: PRAVIN VARAIYA, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley he works on stochastic systems, communication networks, power systems and urban economics. He is the author of "Stochastic Systems: Estimation, Identification, and Adaptive Control" (Prentice-Hall, 1986) and coeditor of "Discrete Event Systems: Models and Applications" (Springer, 1988). He is a fellow of the IEEE. JEAN WALRAND, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of "An Introduction to Queuing Networks" (Prentice-Hall, 1988) and "Communication Networks: A First Course" (Irwin/Aksen, 1991). For more information (complete course descriptions, outlines, instructor bios, etc.,) contact: Richard Tsina U.C. Berkeley Extension Continuing Education in Engineering 2223 Fulton St. Berkeley, CA 94720 Tel: (510) 642-4151 Fax: (510) 643-8683 email: course@garnet.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 94 20:29:40 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Dialing Changes For West Virginia and Connecticut The Huntington (W.Va.) and Cumberland (Md.) directories have dialing changes for West Virginia (area 304): 16 or 30 April 1994 -- 1 + NPA + 7D for local to other area codes; 7D for long distance within 304 is permissive April 30 and mandatory October 1. There is at least one case of a local prefix outside of 304 duplicating something in 304: 722 at St. Albans (W.Va.) and Cumberland (Md.), and I wrote earlier of local calls from Ridgeley (W.Va.) to Cumberland, Md. For Connecticut, I found Southern New England Telephone directories whose effective date is 25 April, and they have 1 + 203 + 7D for long distance within Connecticut. Notice that the southwestern corner (Greenwich and vicinity) is served by NYNEX, not by SNET. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 May 94 19:02 PDT From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin) Subject: Pac*Bell Plans to Become Internet Provider? Has anyone heard anything about Pac*Bell's plans to become an Internet provider? It seems perfectly logical that they would do so -- after all, they *do* own a lot of the physical "plant". I have heard rumblings from a couple of sources, and wondered if anyone on this forum may have heard of something. ------------------------------ From: MICHAEL.CONLEY@mogur.com (MICHAEL CONLEY) Subject: Current List of Areacodes Wanted Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 03:14:00 GMT Organization: The MOG-UR'S EMS/TGT Technologies, Los Angeles, CA Does anyone happen to know where I might acquire an ASCII text listing of current telephone area codes including the communities that they serve? Any replies should be addressed to michael.conley@cabin.com Thanks! The MOG-UR'S EMS, Granada Hills, CA: 818-366-1238/8929, @mogur.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might check out the Telecom Archives for a general summary of area codes and the territories they serve. In addition, Carl Moore and David Leibold are our resident area code archivists here, and they may have more complete lists. In fact, I am sure they do. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kpc@panix.com (Kevin Centanni) Subject: How Do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? Date: 30 May 1994 13:48:11 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC I have some voice mail cards for PC's such as Watson, BigMouth, and the NSC TyIn2000. Each of these cards has two modular jacks -- one for 'phone' and one for 'line'. I'd like to be able to send audio into the telephone and send and receive touch-tones WITHOUT being connected to an actual working teleco line. None of these cards provides the appropriate voltage to power the telephone. I've tried to just hook a 12V supply directly to the TIP and RING on my phone ... the phone works (I can hear touch-tones in the receiver) -- but I cannot decode those tones with the voice mail cards ... additionally, there is a very annoying hum (60 Hz?) in the earpiece of the telephone. Does someone sell a box that provides the right voltage? Is this a simple circuit that I can construct? Thanks. kpc@panix.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You need to wire the voicemail card in series to the telephone through the battery -- not in parallel. That is, the tip of the telephone to the ring of the card, the tip of the card to the negative of the power supply, and the positive of the power supply to the ring of the phone. If you have the phone and the voicemail card wired in parallel to the power supply, they (phone and card) won't be able to hear or talk to each other. For example, I have a Dialogic card here which I trip by applying ringing voltage to the circuit *while the phone is on hook*, thus no open path and potentially high voltage to harm the card's innards. Press the momentary switch to apply the ringing voltage; the phone rings, the card sees the ringing voltage and responds. I take the phone off hook immediatly to create the series loop the card is looking for to stay off hook and use it to do what I want to do with the card. The ringing voltage will wake up the card, but upon waking if it does not find that current from the series loop on there it will disconnect and go back to sleep. So remem- ber, all devices (phones, etc) on one side of the power supply have to be in series -- not parallel -- with whatever is on the other side (voice mail card, etc). And the way to get rid of that hum is by rectifying the direct current. It has to be clean. You can't just use any old power supply with the right voltage. Try one of the 13.8 volt DC supplies from Radio Shack. I have one and it works fine for intercom use with a couple phones here. Then get a separate supply for the ringing voltage and wire it in parallel with the 'clean' DC talk battery. Break the circuit through a little minature push-button you build into the phone. Superimpose ringing current on the line by depressing the little button for a second. Listen to the phone itself ring (at the same time the voicemail card is being tickled). Let go of that button and lift the phone receiver immediatly; you should be in business. I use the yellow/black second pair for this. Green/red first pair operates the phone as always; they are the two wires that are in series through the Dialogic card and the power supply. The negative of my ringing current supply is in parallel with the negative of the talk battery. I bring the positive of the ringing voltage up to the phone through the yellow wire, break it at the press-switch, and take it back down through the black wire to be in parallel to the positive of the talking battery. **As long as the phone is not off hook when you press the button for the ringing voltage** the loop will not be completed and no harm will come to the voicemail card or the talk-battery. Now if you find yourself accidentally pressing the button supplying the ring current while the phone is off hook (and looped in series to the card), you can eliminate ugly accidents (like blowing up the card) by using the 'normally closed' contact in the phone itself. (I am speaking now of a standard 500 desk set type phone). While most contacts in the phone 'network' (or innards) are 'normally open' and close only when the phone is off hook, there is one in there which functions the other way around. It is not used for anything else that I know of, so I take that ringing current and break it not only at the push button I installed, but also through the 'normally closed' contact in the phone itself. This way, when the phone is off hook, you can press the button all you like, but the ringing voltage will go nowhere because you have that loop cut off. Of course it never hurts to add a couple fuses in the line to prevent other short circuits, etc from playing nasty games. PAT] ------------------------------ From: perdigot@hp_1.dee.uc.pt (Joao Perdigoto) Subject: ETSI contact Date: 30 May 1994 08:54:08 GMT Organization: Dep. de Matematica da Univ. de Coimbra Hi, Does anyone knows if ETSI has an ftp site available? joao perdigoto ------------------------------ From: jbaker@halcyon.com (James Baker) Subject: Why Does Long Distance Cost Extra? Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 18:13:22 -0800 Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. As I understand it, 90 percent of the cost phone service is for the 'last mile', ie the local loops. So 10 percent or less is for long distance. Yet we pay dearly for the use of this 10 percent. I also understand it costs more to track and bill for long distance than to provide the service. Is this correct? And somebody has to pay for those TV ads ... or do they? I know the historical reasons for charging extra for what years ago was technically difficult (sendind undistorted signals over long wires). And how business users were thought to be bigger users and better able to afford long distance. That's not what I'm asking here. I'm wanting more technical info for a possible article. Does anybody know how much the national long distance plant cost to build? And what would it cost if useage doubled or increased five times because long distance was "free"? In case you can't guess I think it would be great for the economy and the country as a whole to have one nationwide calling zone. But is it technically feasable? Comments? James Baker Seattle, WA jbaker@halcyon.com ------------------------------ From: gvaeth@netcom.com (Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications) Subject: Cost of Caller ID in PA Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 00:48:37 GMT Hi, An insert in my latest bill contained a notice that Bell Atlantic will offer Caller ID in Pennsylvania in August. The cost for residential customers is $6.50/month, business is $8.50. Call blocking and anonymous call rejection are free. This charge seem outrageous considering that the equipment to do it is already there, right? How else does return call, repeat call and all that stuff work. How does this rate compare to other states? Regards, Gregory Vaeth General Instrument internet: gvaeth@netcom.com Communications Division voicenet: (215) 956-6488 2200 Byberry Road faxnet: (215) 675-4059 Hatboro, PA 19040 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #259 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa17210; 31 May 94 23:04 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02830; Tue, 31 May 94 07:46:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02800; Tue, 31 May 94 07:46:01 CDT Date: Tue, 31 May 94 07:46:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9405311246.AA02800@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #260 TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 May 94 07:46:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 260 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone (Kathy Vincent) x.25 and Internet (Min Hu) Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose (Terry Greenlee) Re: Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter (puma@netcom.com) Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? (Glen C. Hoag) Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? (Rob Levandowski) Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? (John Gardiner Myers) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted (John Lundgren) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted (Evan Gamblin) Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing (safer@delphi.com) Re: Annoying COCOT Problem (Stu Jeffery) Re: Annoying COCOT Problem (safer@delphi.com) Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed (John Lundgren) Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? (John R Levine) Re: Using Call Forwarding to Avoid Tolls (Shag Aristotelis) Re: Sprint "Combined Billing" Error (Mark E Daniel) Re: Equal Access is Not Available Here (David Devereaux-Weber) Re: Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? (Ole Hellevik) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: vincentk@ac.wfunet.wfu.edu (Kathy Vincent) Subject: Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone Date: 31 May 1994 03:23:49 GMT Organization: Wake Forest University A friend of mine is having problems on her business telephone line with a combination FAX machine, answering machine, and two-line cordless telephone. Description of the setup: She has two telephone lines -- two separate jacks, one for the business line and one for the personal line. (Both are voice lines.) The business line has three pieces of equipment on it, connected in the following order: WALL ----> FAX -------> Answering ----> Cordless Machine Machine Telephone The answering machine has to come after the FAX machine on the line so that if the answering machine picks up and a FAX tone is coming in, the FAX machine will hear the tone and pick up the line. The personal line is also connected to the same cordless telephone -- from the wall directly to the telephone (a two-line phone). The equipment is: FAX machine: Sharp GQ-60 (5 yrs old) Answering machine: Sony digital TAM-1000 (3 mos old) Telephone: Panasonic 2-line phone system KX-T3980H (1 mo old) (cordless) Description of the problem: Anytime the line is open for 120 seconds, the FAX machine cuts in. Even if my friend is talking on the phone, even if she is just calling in remotely to pick up messages from her answering machine. The only way to stop the FAX machine from cutting in is to turn it off -- which defeats the purpose of having the machine. Also, my friend spends a lot of time out of the office as part of her work, so she's not there to turn off the machine -- and, furthermore, needs the whole collection of equipment to be working precisely BECAUSE she's not there. Request for help/suggestions/anythingelseuseful: 1. Does anyone have any ideas how my friend might be able to get all that equipment to work together -- and keep the FAX machine from interrupting after any and every 120 seconds of open line? Any useful tricks to try? Might there be some piece of not-too-expensive (<$100) equipment that could solve the problem? 2. Can anyone recommend integrated equipment -- a 3-in-one combination in which all THREE elements are quality? She says she's found some combinations, but the answering machine is usually junk. She would prefer a digital answering machine (i.e., no tapes). Can anyone recommend anything that might do the job -- especially anything <=$500? Thanks for any help, via follow-up or email. If anyone else is interested, I'll summarize any email responses on the net. Kathy Vincent vincentk@ac.wfunet.wfu.edu ------------------------------ Subject: x.25 and Internet From: Min Hu Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 02:24:32 -0400 I am wondering if there is any free gateway between X.25 network and Internet. Specifically speaking, a friend of mine has account in the X.25 network -- DATAPAC, a X.25 network in Canada. I have an account on an Internet machine. I want to transfer some files to him, but do not know if there is a gateway between DATAPAC and the Internet so that he can log into my system. Thanks, MIN ------------------------------ From: terry@hh.sbay.org (Terry Greenlee) Subject: Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose Date: 30 May 94 20:44:36 GMT Organization: Hip-Hop BBS I am having trouble with my phone lines at home and I was wondering if anyone else had this same thing happen to them? My existing two lines in my home work fine at 14.4. The phone company brought in more lines to add a third line. The third line will only connect at 7200 bd at best and usually 4800 bd. I tested them at the box beside the house to make sure it was not my inside wires. The phone company tested it from the main office and found no problem. Monday a Bell tech will come out to test. I have this same problem in Modesto on a fax line also. Does anyone at Pacific Bell know how to fix these problems? Can you point my in the right direction? Thank you for any help. Terry terry@hh.sbay.org ------------------------------ From: puma@netcom.com (puma) Subject: Re: Need Distinctive Ring Line Splitter Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 01:07:21 GMT In article , Al Cohan <0004526627@mcimail. com> wrote: > I purchased a device from Lynx Automation, Inc. in Washington State > and the device is purported to sense the incoming ring cadence an > forward the call to either a phone system or fax. This unit is > available in two and four line versions corresponding to the four > distinct industry standard cadences available. > We now come to find out that the company says "Oh, it sometimes > doesn't work with 1A2 and some PBX's. It seems to work okay with the > newer electronic key systems". Well I am steamed! MY client is not > about to upgrade to a new system nor pay the $100 installation charge > for a residential line plus about $26.00 per month for low fax usage. I would think, provided that your PBX or 1A2 has individually numbered trunk lines coming in (as opposed to a DID scheme where telco passes the number dialed to you on common trunk lines) that you could install a distinctive ring type switch on the line BEFORE the PBX/1A2. In other words, the incoming line would go to the switch, and the normal single ring output would go to the PBX/1A2, the double ring output would go directly to the FAX. The problem I still see is with hunt groups. The fax line would have to be a separate line not part of a hunt group, otherwise you could not tell which trunk the calls would come in on. I wouldn't think you could get distinctive ring in that situation anyway. puma@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: Glen C. Hoag Subject: Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? Date: Mon, 30 May 94 10:46:07 CDT Organization: Lamir Software Corp. Reply-To: glenhoag@banana-9000.nuance.com In article , alavarre@ids.net writes: > We're having a problem properly recieving attachments from a remote > site. The administrator claims the remote site has a "binary to > hexadecimal" encoder, implying that hex is being transmitted. The > remote site is using CC:Mail. The users we're working with haven't > got a clue ... > Sounds like hogwash to me, I've never heard of such, and all my docs > on three different sets of uuxxcode only talk about binary to ASCII > and back. > But before I jump down their throat I thought I'd ask somebody that > *really* knows what's happening ... Is it possible that the site in question is Mac-based and using BinHex? BinHex is a standard encoding for Macintosh files over "foreign" systems. I'm not familiar with the encoding choices that cc:Mail offers, but many Mac <-> SMTP/UUCP gateways support BinHex and UUencoded AppleSingle (which is yet another can of worms). The actual standard for BinHex is available at the usual Macintosh archives, such as sumex-aim.stanford.edu and mac.archive.umich.edu. There are BinHex decoders for other platforms, as well. ------------------------------ From: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Rob Levandowski) Subject: Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York Date: Mon, 30 May 94 17:46:52 GMT In alavarre@ids.net writes: > We're having a problem properly recieving attachments from a remote > site. The administrator claims the remote site has a "binary to > hexadecimal" encoder, implying that hex is being transmitted. The > remote site is using CC:Mail. The users we're working with haven't > got a clue ... Could it be "BinHex", the Macintosh file converter? Mac files are usually run through this program for UNIX emailing; the Mac file structure is difficult to convert to a binary format that other computers can deal with. BinHex, and its workalikes, convert the Mac file to an ASCII representation (which, I believe, is in hexadecimal code). Such files are normally suffixed ".hqx". Rob Levandowski macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester ------------------------------ From: John Gardiner Myers Subject: Re: Hexadecimal Uuencode? Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 16:48:39 -0400 Organization: Systems Group 97, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Well, it would help to see a sample of the message to determine what format it might be in. One possibility might be that it is in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format, a relatively new but increasingly popular standard for encoding non-text things in messages. The base64 encoding of MIME, which is usually used for the encoding of binary objects, looks something like: WW91IGhhdmUgdG9vIG11Y2ggdGltZSBvbiB5b3VyIGhhbmRzLCB0byByZWFkIHRoaXMuICAg There is also an encoding called quoted-printable, which looks like normal text with a bunch of = signs in it, especially at the ends of lines. Assuming you don't have any existing MIME-aware software, the easiest way to be able to decode MIME is to get mpack/munpack, via anonymous FTP to ftp.andrew.cmu.edu, in directory pub/mpack. Versions are available for Unix, MS-DOS, Macintosh, and the Amiga. The software can also decode uuencoded messages. If munpack does not produce any results on a particular MIME message, it might help to try again using the "-t" switch (or on the Macintosh, by checking the "Extract Text Parts" box under Preferences). John G. Myers Internet: jgm+@CMU.EDU LoseNet: ...!seismo!ihnp4!wiscvm.wisc.edu!give!up ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted Date: 31 May 94 00:49:44 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Steve Chafe (itstevec@rocky.ucdavis.edu) wrote: > Does anyone know what the average speed (in characters per minute, or > whatever is appropriate) of a professional telegrapher would have been > when wire telegraphy was the main mode of electronic communication? > I'm trying to do a comparison of data communication speed then and > now, so I'd love to hear any thoughts that people can offer. The biography of Thos. A. Edison had some stuff about how fast Edison was at the key. But he was at least twice as fast as an average telegrapher, maybe more. My guess would be about twenty words per minute. BTW You could ask the hams on rec.radio.amateur.misc for an answer. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 20:23:03 -0400 From: egamblin@ott.hookup.net (Evan Gamblin) Subject: Re Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted > Does anyone know what the average speed (in characters per minute, > or whatever is appropriate) of a professional telegrapher would have > been when wire telegraphy was the main mode of electronic > communication? "A top operator could bang out 40-50 words a minute; 25-35 words was competent". This was the situation in the mid-1850s, according to A Voice From Afar (The History of Telecommunications in Canada), ISBN 0-07-082867-9. Were these five-letter words, as in typing? Evan Gamblin The Halifax Group 903-275 Sparks St Ottawa, Ont K1R 7X9 Canada ------------------------------ From: safer@delphi.com Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing Date: Mon, 30 May 94 18:12:20 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Gordon Burditt writes: >> Currently, 0+ calls are sent to the operator services provider >> (OSP) to which the premises owner or payphone provider presubscribes. >> Under BPP, calls would be routed automatically to the OSP preferred by >> the party being billed for the call. For example, a calling card call >> would be routed to the cardholder's preferred OSP. A collect call >> would be routed to the called party's preferred OSP. A call billed to >> a third party would be routed to the OSP to which that third party had >> presubscribed. That just great, lay off thousands from OSP companies. Destroy an entire inudstry, just because a couple of people can't figure out 10xxx? Plus we the consumer will have to come up with millions to fund Bill Party Preference. Then as consumers were going to have to subsidize it too. If you want my opion it's just simplier to dial 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-CALL-ATT. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 05:30:47 -0800 From: stu@shell.portal.com (Stu Jeffery) Subject: Re Annoying COCOT Problem In TELECOM Digest V14 #257, Darren Griffitsh writes: > Basically, if I call my voice mail system to check for messages the > phone frequently cuts out the keypad, disabling DTMF tones ... Why don't you try a pocket dialer from Radio Shack, etc. Stu Jeffery Internet: stu@shell.portal.com 1072 Seena Ave. voice: 415-966-8199 Los Altos, CA. 94024 fax: 415-966-8199 ------------------------------ From: safer@delphi.com Subject: Re: Annoying COCOT Problem Date: Tue, 31 May 94 07:02:16 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Darren Alex Griffiths writes: > Basically, if I call my voice mail system to check for messages the > phone frequently cuts out the keypad, disabling DTMF tones, before I'm > finished with the call. I've given up using my calling card since the > extra digits allow me to only check two or three messages; without the > calling card I can get through a few more messages but using the pause > or rewind functions are not advised. Misdialing of the password essenti- > ally makes the call useless since I have to redial it and by that time > I wasted most of my precious digits. As a owner of 2000 COCOTS I like to say in defense that we lock out our keypads after connection for protection against fraud because the LEC splashes back dial tone sometimes after a disconnect. NEPTUNEZ@MCIMAIL.COM [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why don't *you* resolve that problem by registering with telco to get a coin line then? With telco's assistance and using call supervision, you could eliminate most of the fraud problems you encounter while not making it so rough on your honest customers. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sgiblab!news.kn.PacBell.COM!jlundgre@uucp-gw-2.pa.dec.com (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed Date: 30 May 94 16:05:02 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network DANIEL FINKLER (dfinkler@world.std.com) wrote: > west_c212@orion.crc.monroecc.edu writes: >> I am writing a program that needs to decode telephone touch tone >> signals. The problem is that I am having trouble finding a DTMF >> decoder. If anyone know where I can get ahold of one I would >> appreciate it. > You can use USRobotics courier modems' touch tone recognition feature. > They can recognize DTMF tones, including A,B,C,D. Also, ZyXEL modems can recognize DTMF. There is a ZyXEL FAQ at nctuccca.edu.tw. Under /pc/zyxel/ directory. There are other sites also. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 VOI (714) JOHN GAB \ FAX (714) JOHN FRY jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 94 12:37 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Can a Unix Box Work as an Internet Router? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > If so, what's the *cheapest* router available? Can a Unix box > connect to a digital comm line (56k)? The answer to the first question is an old 286, which costs about $300, running PCROUTE, which is free. You need to add in an Ethernet card, about $60, and the DDS interface. The leased line FAQ just posted includes, a reference for a DDS interface with packet driver software that will let it work under PCROUTE. It's true, PCROUTE has been around for a while. But fortunately IP routing (other than at the highest performance backbone sites) hasn't changed for years, so it works just fine. I use a pair of 286es with Wavelan wireless Ethernet cards to hook to the Internet and it works great. Hard to beat the price. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag Aristotelis) Subject: Re: Using Call Forwarding to Avoid Tolls Date: 31 May 94 00:42:52 GMT Organization: Screaming in Digital, the Queensryche Digest I can offer some practical experience and information concerning the legality of this practice. Two years ago, I put in a forwarding line at a relative's house to avoid tolls on calls to the 'net. At the time, I talked quite a bit to multiple people at the RBOC, and established that it was legal (if, perhaps, not very ethical) since I was paying for all the services involved. Since that time, I have paid $15/month for the line with forwarding, and have as a result had unlimited access to the 'net. The dialin I use has 48 modems on it, in a hunt group, so I also let other net-users from my county (a fairly rural area) dial in through that number and through the data line here, which now also has forwarding on it, pointing to the original forwarding line. This effectively provides free dialins to the state universities for users in two dozen townships. The maximum distance possible from a user through the two forwards to the university dialup is currently approximately 35 to 40 miles. I have developed diagrams covering the entire RBOC territory in this state, and at least one other similar (one-hop) system is in place in the next area code. In the coming months, there's a possibility that an internet access provider will be established in my county, using forwarding lines (set up by guess who) to connect to a higher-level service provider near the city. Shag Screaming in Digital: queensryche-request@pilot.njin.net GEOS Binary Moderator: comp-binaries-geos@pilot.njin.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30May 1994 16:53:04 EST From: mark@legend.akron.oh.us (Mark E Daniel) Subject: Re: Sprint "Combined Billing" Error In article is written: > pheel@panix.com (Mike Pollock) writes: >> Sprint recently changed me over from direct billing to "combined >> billing" on my NYNEX local telephone bill. Simple, right? Wrong. > One solution is simply to not pay the NYNEX bill, call Sprint, and The thing I really dislike about combined billing is that it takes so damn long to be billed for a call. If I make an Ameritech Calling Card today I will be billed for it on my June 1, 94 bill. But if I make a 1+ or a FONCARD call with Sprint (my default carrier) I won't be billed until 7/1. I suppose I ought to call Sprint and say I want a seperate bill as it *used* to be. Either that or switch back. AT&T doesn't suffer from this slowness. Mark E Daniel (Loving SysOp of The Legend BBS) Inet: mark@legend.akron.oh.us medaniel@delphi.com (Direct INet) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 May 94 14:47:45 CDT From: David Devereaux-Weber Reply-To: David Devereaux-Weber Subject: Re: Equal Access is Not Available Here Jeff.Shaver@f615.n14.z1.fidonet.org asked about equal access. Jeff, you don't say where this is. Equal Access depends on "generic" software in the telephone central office switch. If their switch doesn't support it, they can't do it untill they put in a new CO switch. Switches costs continue to rise. The increase of technical complexity and cost is making it increasingly difficult for small independents. Public Service Commissions regulate telephone service within their state, and the Federal Communications Commission regulates telephone companies at the federal level. If you want to get the phone company's attention, send them a letter asking them to let you know when they intend to implement equal access. Let them know that if you don't get a response, your next letter will be copied to the PSC and the FCC. David Devereaux-Weber, P.E. weberdd@macc.wisc.edu (Internet) The University of Wisconsin - Madison (608)262-3584 (voice) Division of Information Technology (608)262-4679 (FAX) Network Engineering ------------------------------ From: oleh@eskimo.com (Ole Hellevik) Subject: Re: Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 21:26:02 GMT J.Harrison@bra0112.wins.icl.co.uk wrote: [ stuff about answering machines deleted ] > Incidentally while I'm at the keyboard ... it's taken me a while to > realise that US analogue cellular systems providers require you, the > the phone owner and payer of the airtime bill, actually to pay for > incoming calls. How the heck have they managed to convince people to > go for that?!? By making the other cost of calling to and from a cellular phone the same as a land line phone, i.e.: no charge (except airtime) if you're in the same city. I don't know how it works in the UK, but I know that in Norway, there is always a toll charge equivalent to the most expensive LD call no matter how close (or far away) the cellphone is. Ole C. Hellevik linqdev!oleh@ole.cdac.com oleh@eskimo.com 74151.1136@compuserve.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #260 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa26565; 1 Jun 94 23:14 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA12624; Wed, 1 Jun 94 12:34:37 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA12601; Wed, 1 Jun 94 12:34:35 CDT Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 12:34:35 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406011734.AA12601@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #262 TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Jun 94 12:34:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 262 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Annoying COCOT Problem (Mark E. Daniel) Re: Annoying COCOT Problem (Steve Kass) Re: How Do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? (Paul Jonathan E. Go) Re: How Do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? (David B. Thomas) Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed (David B. Thomas) Re: RBOCS & Video Remote Learning in Schools? (Bob Schwartz) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (David B. Thomas) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (Tawfig Al-Rabiah) Re: Book Review: "Internet: Mailing Lists" by Hardie/Neou (Nick Sayer) Re: DS3 to Fiber Optic Convertor (Paul J. Zawada) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted (Bill Mayhew) Re: Misdialed Numbers (Mike Pollock) Re: Sprint "Combined Billing" Error (Mike Pollock) Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine (animallib@aol.com) Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine (Gary D. Shapiro) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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, 31 May 1994 04:16:06 EST From: mark@legend.akron.oh.us (Mark E Daniel) Subject: Re: Annoying COCOT Problem You could just use an external tone dialer. They don't disable the mouth piece. :) I believe this is done to stop hackers and the like. But all it really does is annoy honest people since a hacker is probably going to have a tone dialer or a tape recorder anyway. I also find it annoying that the COCOT (what does that stand for anyway) phones have these little computers in them that verify what I'm dialing. Only problem is that they are not kept up-to-date. And what's the point of verifing my dialing anyway ... I've never had it deny an 800 number. But then I've never tried a 900 number. :) Maybe that's it. Also within the last ten months GTE made a deal with Ameritech to allow me to use my Ameritech calling card in GTE-land for local calls except that I get billed 10 cents extra plus three cents tax for that one call. :). Oh, I HATE non-Ameritech payphones. I stick my tounge out at them and run ... :) Mark E Daniel (Loving SysOp of The Legend BBS) Inet: mark@legend.akron.oh.us [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: COCOT = 'Customer Owned, Coin Operated Telephone'. Or perhaps the correct phrase is 'Coin Operated, Customer Owned Telephone'. For all the rotten things people have had to say about the Telephone Company over the years, you sure can't beat their coin phone service, eh? At least not when compared to the others. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Annoying COCOT Problem From: skass@drunivac.drew.edu (Steve Kass) Date: 1 Jun 94 11:25:52 EDT Organization: Drew Univ Academic Computing In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 : Issue 260 Stu Jeffery writes: > In TELECOM Digest V14 #257, Darren Griffitsh writes: >> Basically, if I call my voice mail system to check for messages the >> phone frequently cuts out the keypad, disabling DTMF tones ... > Why don't you try a pocket dialer from Radio Shack, etc. A pocket dialer may not work. The technology is in place to detect DTMF whether or not it is generated by the instrument. This is not solely a COCOT problem, either. NYTel and many other BOCs routinely disable the keypad, and even disconnect calls, after some "excessive" number of tones, under the guise of the war against drugs. My belief from hazy information provided me by AT&T, NYTel, and various regulatory organizations is that local law enforcement officials work with the telcos to discourage the use of voice mail and beeper services in certain parts of certain cities at certain times. So far as I have been able to gather, the telcos are free to do this, or at least no regulatory agency seems to care that they do this. I do wonder, however, how they can get away with detecting DTMF generated outside the instrument and disconnecting a call as a result. Is this any different from disconnecting a call when vulgar words are spoken? Anyone care to speculate? For now, the best solution is to ask your long distance carrier to remove the charges for calls that have been disconnected. AT&T will do so, and perhaps if this happens often enough, they will get annoyed enough to help put pressure on the BOCs to stop this nonsense. Steve Kass/ Math & CS/ Drew U/ Madison NJ 07940/ 201-514-1187 skass@drunivac.drew.edu ------------------------------ From: pj@ugcs.caltech.edu (Paul Jonathan E. Go) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 23:21:22 -0700 Subject: Re: How Do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA > ... The ringing voltage will wake up the card, but upon waking if it > does not find that current from the series loop on there it will > disconnect and go back to sleep ... Pat -- Would you know how the card detects the series loop current? I'm building a patch through box, and it would be nice if the box could hang up when everyone else has hung up. Paul Jonathan E. Go Caltech MSC 1028 213 344 7275 Pasadena CA 91126 pj@cco.caltech.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Off hand I do not know the technical aspects of the card itself; only what it will and won't do. Remove the current from the line and the card quits. That's one reason why in my opinion anyone using such a card in a public voicemail applica- tion is advised to get ground start lines from telco. That way once the calling party hangs up, the current is gone; no risk of (for example) the card getting hung somehow, coming back into service and finding dialtone on the line and doing something ugly you don't want it to do, like making outgoing 900 calls for someone hanging on the other side of it. To answer your question, the easy answer would be just make sure the current is not there between calls. No current, no action. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dt@yenta.abq.nm.us (David B. Thomas) Subject: Re: How Do You Simulate Telco Battery Voltage? Organization: Yenta public access, Albuquerque, NM Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 00:53:26 GMT I have a schematic for a loop simulator that offers short and long line simulation as well as ring and backward polarity. It's pretty simple to build. I have the schematic only in paper form but I am willing to snailmail it to anyone who is interested. (I have built myself one of these and I use it all the time. You can even plug two phones in and have them talk to each other, or one phone and one answering machine, for offline testing.) David ------------------------------ From: dt@yenta.abq.nm.us (David B. Thomas) Subject: Re: DTMF Decoding Help Needed Organization: Yenta public access, Albuquerque, NM Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 00:55:32 GMT If you're an electronics hobbyist, you can get a DTMF receiver chip that never fails for under five bucks. Then you can interface it with a display and/or memory (to make your own standalone device) or with a serial line, for attaching to your computer or a terminal. I can get you part numbers, supply houses, even example circuits. Also try on sci.electronics. Nuts&Volts magazine has ads for kits and also ready-made DTMF readers. David ------------------------------ Subject: Re: RBOCS & Video Remote Learning in Schools? From: bob@bci.nbn.com (Bob Schwartz) Date: Tue, 31 May 94 18:08:59 PDT Organization: Bill Correctors, Inc., Marin County, California rv01@gte.com (Robert Virzi) writes: > In article , Gerry Moersdorf com> wrote: >> Does anyone have an opinion on what the RBOCS are trying to do by >> pushing TV remote learning grants and equipment to school systems? >> The schools in our district don't even have telephones in classrooms >> let alone a LAN for a client server teaching tool. To me the priorities >> are all turned around. What possible business could RBOCS build with the >> "poor" school districts? Consider that such "video lines" would allow teachers of special subjects to "travel" to schools telephonically. Advantage: One teacher could instruct more students in the course of a day. Disadvantage: The quality of instruction and the impact on jobs for teachers. This represents financial benefit to a school which must either bus the student to the teacher or get the teacher to be on campus. Stickey wicket with very broad ramifications 'eh? Education via television ... who else could benefit by turning teachers into TV proctors? Oh yes, let's not forget the absent mechanisms protecting children from commercial advertisment when they're a captive audience. Bob Schwartz bob@bci.nbn.com Bill Correctors, Inc. +1 415 488 9000 Marin County, California [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Wasn't that the complaint about a company called 'Channel One' which was going to give a bunch of video equipement free to any schools that wanted it? In return, all the schools had to do was tune in the broadcast Channel One presented every day to students with news reports, etc. Of course, there would be messages from the sponsor as well. But really, I can't get too worked up about that scenario. Life in the real world -- a place not frequented by very many Usenetters it seems -- :) calls for *money*, the root of all evil/good, to accomplish certain things. To me, its a trade off which if kept in the proper balance is a good one. For example, the schools in Chicago are in such terrible condition that anything -- anything at all -- would help. But they turned down Channel One's offer here; after all, there might be a commercial for some product and all the little children and their stupid teachers might somehow be unduly influenced. I suggest taking all those free offers being made to the schools, etc. After all, with the general condition of public education in the United States today, what possible harm could it do? Oh, I am sure the teacher's union would not like it, but phooey to them. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dt@yenta.yenta.abq.nm.us (David B. Thomas) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Organization: Yenta public access, Albuquerque, NM Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 01:07:40 GMT I used to belong to a ham radio club and we had a repeater up on a nearby mountain (sandia crest, for those who know new mexico). It has a phone patch on it and of course the range is in the hundreds of miles. Unfortunately, ham radio people in Albuquerque being what they are, anyone under 50 years of age is subtly discouraged from using it, with whatever lame excuses are handy at the time. Naturally, I quit paying the dues! But the technical part worked great, and I came really close to establishing my own club and repeater. I still own the phone patch and repeater hardware (wanna buy it??). I ended up setting up a simplex autopatch for my own use (which I'm also trying to get rid of). This is not as cool as a full duplex unit, as you cannot interrupt each other. It relies on timeouts and pauses during conversation. Actually I found that how well it works is a good indicator of the intelligence of the person on the other end. It definitely stopped me from dating some real bimbos. ;^) My grandma, a relative technophobe, handled it magnificently. Perhaps she comes from the old school where you wait till the other person stops speaking before you start. :-/ My setup wasn't strictly legal because the base station lacked an automatic station identifier. But those are cheap. (So was I.) I lived in a suburb of Albuquerque and beamed my signal into the city. It covered the whole city just fine, plus several miles outside in all directions. I had a nice high antenna on high terrain, though. So if you have a ham license or don't mind getting one, and are willing to spend some money up front on radios and the like, you can set yourself up pretty well. It's true that you're not allowed to conduct business transactions over the amateur radio service. This has never stopped me from ordering a pizza but it should be borne in mind! David occasionally admitting to call sign N5IZU ------------------------------ From: tawfig@cs.pitt.edu (Tawfig Al-Rabiah) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: 31 May 1994 18:24:01 GMT Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science Do you know who sells this type of phones? I need to get one to use overseas. Tawfig [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, we understand, for export only. (Loud guffaws heard coming from audience). I suggest you buy one overseas in whatever country you plan to use it in. If it is legal in that country, I'm sure there are radio and telephone sales places that will gladly part with one in exchange for money. PAT] ------------------------------ From: nsayer@quack.kfu.com (Nick Sayer) Subject: Re: Book Review: "Internet: Mailing Lists" by Hardie/Neou Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'. Date: 31 May 1994 18:02:40 UTC Rob Slade writes: > "Most of the book is a listing of a number of mailing lists. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! It's bad enough that electronic sources for lists of mailing lists are so out of date. Now we have it all carved in stone so that generations of newbies yet to come will send mail to obsolete addresses that died eons ago. I don't suppose the authors asked before they put lists in their book. I don't suppose they _even_ _checked_ _up_ to see if the list was still alive. Will someone who has the book please look and see if 'catv@quack.kfu.com' or 'catv@quack.sac.ca.us' is in there and please put a contract out on the author(s) if so? > You can get similar lists on the net, but this includes lists from a > number of sources, as well as more detail than you might get from a > simple listing. They also have probably done some editing to get rid > of some deadwood. More than deadwood, actually. NETTRAIN doesn't > make it." > "So you could get all this free? Why buy the book?" > "Oh, you could get all the info, and more up to date stuff as well. That's the understatement of the year. I bet the rough draft was obsolete before it even got to the editor's. > But you'd have to grab yourself three or four huge files. Even then, > you wouldn't have all the info that is listed here. You'd also have > to check it out different ways, search all the synonyms for what you > want, and that sort of thing. If you are just a hobby user, maybe you > don't want this, but if you are serious about the Internet, then you > probably do. If you are acting as an Internet resource or trainer you > *definitely* want this book." NOT! They really want us to believe that a book is easier to search than a file? Barnum was right. Nick Sayer N6QQQ @ N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NOAM +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest' PGP 2.2 key and geek code via finger ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 16:26:32 -0500 From: Paul J Zawada Subject: Re: DS3 to Fiber Optic Convertor In article is written: > Does anyone know of a DS3 to fiber optic (multimode) converter? That > is a device that extends a T3 line over multimode optical fiber> Canoga-Perkins (818-718-6300) make T3-to-fiber converters in both multi- and single-mode varieties. Canoga-Perkins sells direct. Telco Systems makes a single-mode version but I don't know about multi-mode. (You can make single-mode optics work over multi-mode fiber over short distances.) Telco Systems equipment can be obtained through one of the big telecom distributors like Anixter. These things are pretty expensive. You can expect to pay about US$10,000 for a pair of multi-mode T3 extenders; US$15,000 for a pair of single-mode extenders. Paul J. Zawada KB9FMN NCSAnet Network Engineer zawada@ncsa.uiuc.edu National Center for Supercomputing Applications [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I though Anixter was more in the wire and cable business. Their headquarters is a block away from me over on Golf Road; in fact I applied for a job there once. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew) Subject: Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 02:48:29 GMT That would be a good question to refer to the rec.ham-radio. There were some pretty good articles on the subject posted there within the last year. From my faulty recollection, unassisted human send and receive speed records are in the 70 WPM range. That is five character words separated by a space. International Morse Code is a bit strange in that the symbol length is variable. Common letters such are encoded with short symbols. For instance, E is a single "dit". J is di-dah-dah-dah. ... and you thoght that the ideas behind LHZ compression were born in the 20th century? It isn't too difficult with a little practice to send and receive about 20 WPM without special equipment. That is about my level, and I don't particularly like brass-pounding on the radio. Several of my friends can hear 40 WPM, but use electronic keyers that have separate dit and dah paddles to make sending easier. I've never really gotten the hand of an electronic keyer ... it seems a little like defeating the purpose of sending Morse Code to use a keyer. Purists like to think of Morse Code transmission in religious terms. I don't really care too much, but code sending has the great advatage of being able to send a message around the world with just a few watts of power. A five watt Morse Code rig can probably send just as copyable, albeit slower, message as a 1500 watt single sideband voice rig in many situations. For Morse transmissions, the bandwidth necessary is approximately the WPM * 4. 60 WPM code only needs 240 Hz of bandwidth to prevent intersymbol interferece at the receiving end. On the shortwave bands, a voice signal might use as much as 2,300 Hz bandwidth and probably won't be able to do any better than 60 WPM spoken without error. For 8-bit radio telegraphy, ASCII for instance, the necessary bandwith is approximated by BW = ISHIFT * 1.2 * BAUD. To answer the prvious posting, yes, ASCII coded transmissions are now allowable. I forget when ASCII was adopted, but it's been in the ham radio hobby for 15 years or so. Before ASCII, the FCC permitted 5-level Baudot coded transmissions. A lot of Teletype brand and Kleinschmidt gear filtered out of the Bell system into ham radio in the 1960s. I still have a Teleype model 19 that first went into bell system service in 1932 sitting in my basement. The poroblem is that I can't find any easy way to get rid of it. Hams typically used 60 WPM transmission, but 72 was common in some nets. Some military machines were geared for 45.45 baud. I worked at Ft. Meade as late as 1980, and 45.45 baud maritime service was still common them. Such low speeds seemed ridiculous even then, but there was still a huge infrastructure of model 28 TTYs still around. 60 mA current loop operation was common for ham equipment. Government stuff operated at 60 uA with special magnets and contacts to minimize RF emissions for keyboards, perfs and trnamsmitter-distributor equipment. Ham radio has come a long way. 10.55 GHz links running tcp/ip at two Mb/s are in use. There are national infrasctructures running 9600 bps backbones AX.25 packet on VHF links scattered around the globe. Most local traffic is still relatively slow 1200 bps AX.25, but 9600 is gaining in popularity. HF links use multitone CLOVER systems now, with 300 baud the defacto standard, but 1200 baud and even higher tieing the continents together. Hams have even launched quite a few low earth orbit satelites with packet store and forward capabilities in an assortment of HF, VHF and UHF link and speed combinations. Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department Rootstown, OH 44272-0095 USA phone: 216-325-2511 wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu amateur radio 146.58: N8WED ------------------------------ From: pheel@panix.com (Mike Pollock) Subject: Re: Misdialed Numbers Date: 31 May 1994 14:40:32 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC About a year ago I got a call on my personal 800 number from a southern- accented guy. Apparently some friends of his at a truckstop had told him about the personal 800 numbers they use to keep in touch with loved-ones back home. He, it turned out, was simply trying to call his sister, who did NOT have an 800 number, by putting 800 in front of her seven-digit local number, which was the same as the last seven digits of my 800 number. I found all this out only after getting two confused-sounding hang-ups on my answering machine (I was screening). I answered the third call with "customer service?" at which point the gentleman explained his plight. I politely explained that, unless his sister subscribed to an 800 service, he couldn't just call her by adding 800 to her local number. ------------------------------ From: pheel@panix.com (Mike Pollock) Subject: Re: Sprint "Combined Billing" Error Date: 31 May 1994 14:45:49 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Robert M. Hamer (hamer@gandalf.rutgers.edu) wrote: > One solution is simply to not pay the NYNEX bill, call Sprint, and > tell them you don't want "combined billing." They didn't kick when I > did that. If they did kick, tell them you'll feel free to change to > another long distance company. You ought to be able to get rates > similar to Sprint's from lots of places. I subsequently did change back from combined to direct billing, but that was mostly because, as a combined subscriber, I could no longer get automated account information from the Sprint 800 number. Mike ------------------------------ From: animallib@aol.com (Animal Lib) Subject: Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine Date: 31 May 1994 17:32:02 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , quixote@eskimo.com writes: One other solution is to get the "CALL BLOCK" service from your local telco. This service, at least in Florida, allows you to enter a code to block the last number called. Since you don't have Caller ID you don't know the number anyway, but the call block service will permanently stop the machine from calling you. Also, Carlos, the SONY A3000 has call transfer. It lets you enter up to 32 digits so you can program it to call a beeper or whatever. Peace ... ------------------------------ From: gshapiro@rain.org (Gary D. Shapiro) Subject: Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine Date: 01 Jun 1994 01:08:40 -0700 quixote@eskimo.com wrote: > Somehow I missed the first article of this thread. But I assume you > are talking about an answering machine that when it receives a > message, it will dial a preprogrammed number to alert about the > message just received. > I would be interested in such a machine, either the one mentioned in > this thread or similar ones in the market. Any help with brands or > where to buy them, will be greatly appreciated. Panasonic has more than one model that will forward messages. Mine, a KXT2634, is currently in a box in the closet. Its audio quality, both for the digital announcement and the microcassette messages is poor. Hopefully, this model is no longer available. Gary D. Shapiro Santa Barbara, California +1 805 682-5523 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #262 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa26785; 1 Jun 94 23:49 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01419; Wed, 1 Jun 94 11:26:05 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01391; Wed, 1 Jun 94 11:23:15 CDT Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 11:23:15 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406011623.AA01391@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #261 TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Jun 94 11:23:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 261 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway (Nigel Allen) Canadian Telcos and Access Awareness Week (Dave Leibold) New Bellcore Documents (Dave Leibold) Firewall FAQ and Products Wanted (Thomas Hinders) S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection (K.M. Peterson) Out-Going Call Blocking to Local Numbers (thssamj@iitmax.iit.edu) Information Wanted on IVPN (Gerard Carat) CLID Information on Trunks Needed (Tom Ridgeway) Ground-Start Trunk Line Sharing Product? (Rod Regier) Could SLC-96 Cause Low Volume? (Michael D. Corbett) Bellcore Specifications of AIN/1 and Later (David D'Lima) Information Wanted on AMIS (Rob Schmersel) Information Wanted on Cyclone (Gerard Carat) New Kinds of Inmarsat Service (Dave Leibold) Help: Program For Cumulative Normal Function (Wei-Tyng Hong) Software Information Mailing List Being Compiled (Peter Bruce) Remote Access to the 'Net (Lynne Gregg) Re: Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World (Ted Timar) Bibliography of Telecom Periodicals Wanted (Bruce Roberts) Re: Trans-Atlantic Fiber Operators (US Based) (Kevin McConnaughey) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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, 31 May 1994 17:25:16 -0400 From: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca (Nigel Allen) Subject: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway Organization: 52 Manchester Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1V3, Canada Reply-To: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca The following article appeared in the alt.snail-mail newsgroup. It was originally posted by jackson@igs.cviog.uga.edu (Ed Jackson). Usenet Philatelic New Service Release 94-44 May 30, 1994 Runyon Sees Role for the USPS on Information Highway Once a national electronic communications infrastructure is fully defined, Postmaster General and CEO Marvin Runyon sees an opportunity for the Postal Service to help the American public gain access. "The Postal Service is America's first 'information superhighway' with 123 million information channels as close as the mailbox," Runyon said in his annual report to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. "None of us should lose sight of the fact that the residents and businesses of our nation depend on us to communicate and do business." Change is having a dramatic effect on the Postal Service and on the communications industry as a whole. The PMG said the USPS needs to remain competitive in a communications market that continues to evolve. "The mail remains the most pervasive means of communication and commerce available to our nation, but technology and other companies continue to challenge us with new alternatives," he noted. "As far as I am concern, the competition is good. It is pushing us to improve, and to look ahead to the next century and the next generation of communications products our customers will need." As technology evolves and an electronic infrastructure provides greater access for interaction among individuals, business, and government the Postal Service is particularly well placed to participate, he noted. "We can and should make a contribution to this effort," Runyon said. "After more than two centuries of service to the American people, we are a trusted third party for millions of businesses and residents. We have a strong technological base, with expertise in high-speed electronic recognition, message interchange, material handling, and infrastructure maintenance." The National Performance Review team established by President Clinton and overseen by Vice President Al Gore has asked the Postal Service to deliver electronic information available from the federal agencies to the public using interactive kiosks in post office lobbies. "There may be other ways we can contribute," Runyon said. "Perhaps post office lobbies could serve as on-ramps providing access to anyone who wants to be on the electronic highway. "Or, maybe we can help certify electronic messages and safeguard their privacy, securing one company's market-sensitive information from the intruding eyes of its competitors," he said. Runyon told the senators he looks forward to returning to the committee with ideas approved by its Board of Governors. "In the meantime, we will be working to improve the information superhighway that we have, by focusing on listening to and satisfying the needs of our customers, improving our finances, and demonstrating our commitment to employees," he said. "We see a continuing need for a nationwide hard-copy mail system well into the future. The better the job we do, the more value the mail will represent, and the more likely people will continue to use the trusted, reliable, and economical mail." (This article appeared in the may 1994 issue of "memo to mailers," a non-copyrighted monthly publication of the U.S. Postal Service distributed to mail center managers. For more information on UPNS, contact Ed Jackson at .) Nigel Allen ae446@freenet.carleton.ca [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Despite what Runyan may say, the United States Postal Service is in very bad condition. Over the past three months there have been major upheavals in the USPS here in Chicago, as Runyan himself can attest. Several top officials of the post office here have been replaced; several local mail carriers have been discovered stealing mail -- thousands of pieces of mail each -- and local postal operations in some of the branch stations here are in complete dissarray. There is a considerable amount of personal unhappieness among USPS employees over the entire country. What other organization has had three instances of employees turning into mass-murderers on the job and killing several co-workers on the spot, ie, Highland Park, Michigan a few years ago and Enid, Oklahoma a few years ago to name two examples? Although we here in Chicago have not had the violence seen in the two post offices named above, it was necessary for Runyan to come here to visit a month or so ago and try to sort out the several problems with our mail which have been occurring with an alarming frequency over the past few years. He found mail carriers with *tons* of undelivered mail stashed in the base- ment of their homes. One guy had over ten thousand undelivered letters in his home; it was discovered only when his house caught fire and the firemen were sorting through the basement making sure the fire was out. The best thing the USPS could do at this point is gracefully go out of business and turn things over to private companies like Federal Express and Emory. But oh no, instead of that, not only are they not willing to simply admit their defeat and get out of business, they *refuse* to allow any competition! You've probably read in the papers recently about how they are hassling people who are using private courier services. If you use a private courier service to deliver first class mail in the USA on a *non-emergency basis* (they do allow that much latitude), then if the Post Office finds out about it, you can be (a) fined, and (b) forced to pay the amount of money the post office *would have charged* had they been the ones to deliver (or mis-deliver, or not deliver at all) your mail. But try suing the USPS for their malfeasance; for losing your very important documents, or for stealing cash they find in the mail. (Tell me about it! The sorting room employees at 60690 hit me up for thousands of dollars over the years once they learned my box got cash money in the mail) ... *they* are immune, like all other government agencies in these rotten United States; you can't sue them. I say close it down completely and let the private companies take it over. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 31 May 94 01:01:04 -0500 Subject: Canadian Telcos and Access Awareness Week Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway [from Bell News, 30 May 1994] National Access Awareness Week aims to show "Access is Working" As an official sponsor of National Access Awareness Week (NAAW), the Stentor alliance is kicking off the event today May 30 in Calgary with Prime Minister Jean Chretien assisting in a demonstration of the 711 Relay Service. The service allows hearing people and persons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired to communicate through a TTY/TTD - Teletypewriter/ Telecommunications Device for the Deaf. Following Rick Hansen's Man in Motion Tour in 1987, NAAW was established to sensitize Canadians to creating and supporting equal access for persons with disabilities in the areas of transportation, housing, recreation, education and employement. Further east, Bell Canada, for the sixth consecutive year, is showing its commitment to workforce diversity through direct involvement in NAAW. ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 31 May 94 01:01:16 -0500 Subject: New Bellcore Documents Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway From Bellcore's list of New Releases: - a new edition of the famous "Notes" book is out: BOC Notes on the LEC Networks - 1994 (SR-TSV-002275 Issue 2, April 1994) ... cost is only USD$395.00 (the same cost as the previous issue, if I recall correctly) ... this is an overview of technologies and topics of the phone network - Telephone Area Code Directory (TACD) Issue 9, January 1994 (TR-EOP-000093) is also available, with list of dialable locations, NPAs (ie. area codes), and a bonus list of Carrier Identification Codes for USA use. Price is USD$49,(I remember the 1991 edition of TACD selling for USD$30) - a National ISDN-3 document, going for USD$70, that describes and defines the latest ISDN standards (SR-NWT-002457, Issue 1, December 1993) ------------------------------ Date: 31 May 1994 10:47:10 EDT From: Hinders, Thomas Subject: Firewall FAQ and Products Wanted I am looking for a FAQ on Internet firewalls and products ... any leads. Please reply directly; I will summerize and repost. Tom Hinders/Soft-Switch +1 610 640 7487 (v/vm) +1 610 640 7511 (f) Internet: thinder@SSW.COM X.400: C=US A=Telemail P=Softswitch S=Hinders G=Thomas ------------------------------ From: kmp@tiac.net (K. M. Peterson) Subject: S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection Date: 31 May 1994 15:22:35 GMT Organization: KMPeterson/Boston Hi, Stretching my one phone line ever further, I'm considering getting voicemail from our local telco. My problem: I don't want to have to lift the handset to find out if I have messages. Has someone come up with a box to sit on one's line and detect this (and flash a lamp or something)? Thanks for any pointers! K. M. Peterson email: KMP@TIAC.NET phone: +1 617 731 6177 voice +1 617 730 5969 fax ------------------------------ From: thssamj@iitmax.iit.edu (jani) Subject: Out-Going Call Blocking to Local Numbers Organization: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Date: Tue, 31 May 94 15:32:38 GMT Is it possible to block outgoing calls to selected local numbers? Ameritech says they do not have such a service. Only kind of outgoing call blocking they offer is to 1-900 numbers and total blocking to long distance service. They suggested I should check out if there was such a device available from a third party. Is there such a thing? I would prefer if the phone company could do it at their end as it would be more secure. (The device can not be unplugged and disabled.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Telco does have classes of service which allow total blocking to local calls; blocking of long distance calls (toll restriction); service which allows direct dial only with the subscriber blocked from reaching the operator; or in reverse, no DDD with all calls going through the operator and denial of third number billing, i.e. collect calls only, but not for selected local calls that I know of. Some of these very specialized classes of service are primarily used in correctional institution settings. The classes of service I know about are: Unrestricted (just regular service, call anywhere, get collect calls, etc); No long distance (1+ is blocked, operator cannot complete on 0+); No local calls (but long distance allowed, 1+ only, or 0+ only or both); No calls to any number on a given exchange (exchange entirely blocked out); 900/976 restrictions (no DDD to these and operator cannot complete calls); Directory assistance blocked (no calls to '411' or '555-1212'); No incoming service (outgoing only, with or without above restrictions); No outgoing service (incoming only, with or without collect, third number); No incoming or outgoing service (intercom only, from within customer premises); No coin calls allowed from 'payphone' (calls must be collect or calling card); No DDD service (calls can only be made to operator who completes or denies); There are customer-maintained toll restrictors which do a pretty good job and are quite secure. You might check into the one offered by Radio Shack or the one from Hello Direct (1-800-HI-HELLO). Both can be programmed for the usual connections along with a dozen or so local numbers; really whatever you want to put in them, but it is against the law to block 911 calls. Both of these have the components in a secure plastic case which screws together and can be secreted in an out-of-the-way place on your premises. A detirmined person could get into them, but they do the job in most cases. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 94 15:08:31 GMT From: news@dispatch.demon.co.uk From: Gerard Carat Subject: Information Wanted on IVPN Organization: aiit Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 14:08:29 GMT Can anyone explain how an international VPN works? ------------------------------ From: Tom.Ridgeway@UC.Edu Subject: CLID Information on Trunks Needed Date: 31 May 94 10:27:36 EST Organization: University of Cincinnati Could someone please refresh my memory on Caller ID? We have a large switch with hundreds of outbound local trunks and all calls out show the actual line number of the trunk on caller I.D. displays. This causes lots of confusion for the receiver of calls from our campus - users don't understand about trunk lines and DID numbers. I think I remember someone posting here that they had the local telco set the line ID for all their outbounds to show the lead/billing number. We have requested this from Cincinnati Bell and they don't know how to do this for us, although they agree it would be handy. I do know that our C.O. was recently upgraded to an ESS5 and can tell you that all of our ourbound locals are ground starts. If you have had your lines set to all show a specific number or know how to program this on a "5", please drop me a line with at least the name of your telco so I can let Cinti. Bell who to contact for more specifics. And if I'm dreaming, I'm sure you'll let me know that as well! :-) Tom Ridgeway Ridgewte@UC.edu University of Cincinnati V. 513-558-2580 Telecommunications F. 513-558-0999 ------------------------------ From: Rod Regier Reply-To: RRegier@dymaxion.ns.ca Subject: Ground-start trunk line sharing product? Date: 31 May 94 15:20:11 AST Organization: Dymaxion Research Limited, NS, Canada Background: My organization is currently using a Mitel SX-100 PBX. The incoming TELCO trunk lines are ground-start trunks. I have no "free" locals remaining on the PBX. I do not want to purchase any more line cards to add locals. If I invest in any more PBX equipment, it will be to install a new system, not to upgrade my existing system. I have a two-line "rotary" pool coming from a Telco electro-mechanical exchange as part of the over-all PBX trunk pool. These two lines are used for both incoming and outgoing calls. The two line-pool is used during the day to accept incoming sales calls using our old published number. They are corrently not being used in any significant way at night. Problem: I would like to use the two-line pool at night to add to my dialup modem pool without adding any additional (expensive, $C1000/yr) telco lines. If the two-line pool used normal loop lines, I could use a product like the Cardinal Communications Comshare 550 to support both incoming voice and data calls, as well as outgoing PBX calls. There doesn't seem to be a product or combination of products that will offer the same solution for the ground-start trunks. Can anyone suggest an inexpensive solution to this apparent dilemma without investing money in PBX components? TIA, Rod Regier, Software Development bus: (902)422-1973 x108 Dymaxion Research Ltd., 5515 Cogswell St., fax: (902)421-1267 Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 1R2 Canada Internet: rr@dymaxion.ns.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 12:13:31 -0700 From: Michael D. Corbett Subject: Could SLC-96 Cause Low Volume? Greetings, I seem to recall some discussion in this group about SLC-96 and it's associated peculiarities. I can't find anything in the archives on this subject. In a nutshell, is there a situation where one would encounter low volumes using SLC-96 trunks? My understanding of SLC-96 is where the CO doesn't have enough copper, they multipelx 96 Subscriber Loop Circuits on something like three or four pairs. Am I correct? Anyway, the end coustomer is complaining of "low volume" and "chopped" voice mail messages from one of our systems which is fed trunks off of a SLC-96. Any help or pointers would be appreciated. Regards, Mike Corbett Internet: mcorbett@halcyon.com Applied Voice Technology Voice: +1 206 820 6000 P.O. Box 97025 Fax: +1 206 820 4040 Kirkland WA 98083 AVT has never taken me seriously, either should you. ------------------------------ Subject: Bellcore Specifications of AIN/1 and Later Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 08:49:25 IST From: David D'Lima Pat: I wonder whether I can pick up the Bellcore AIN/1 and later specs off an anon-ftp site. If so, can you let me know the hostname? Thanks in advance, David D'Lima dlima@tcsernet.tcs.ernet.in ------------------------------ From: etmrosc@crosby.ericsson.se (Rob Schmersel) Subject: Information Wanted on AMIS Reply-To: etmrosc@crosby.ericsson.se Organization: Ericsson Telecommunication Rijen (ETM) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 13:19:39 GMT Hello, Anybody ever heard about AMIS (Audio Messaging Interchange Specification) and know where I can find any documentation about this protocol? Thanks in advance, Rob ------------------------------ From: Gerard Carat Subject: Information Wanted on Cyclone Organization: aiit Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:49:29 GMT Following the FCC's green light to Newco (the BT-MCI venture), has anyone got ideas on Cyclone's development? ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 31 May 94 23:37:06 -0500 Subject: New Kinds of Inmarsat Service Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway [from Infocom (Bell Canada), April 1994] Inmarsat Service - Reduced Rates Effective 1994 04 27, customers will pay less for outbound Inmarsat calls with two new options, Inmarsat B and M. Inmarsat is a mobile service that uses satellite facilities to provide two- way voice and data communications from Canada to remote locations virtually anywhere in the world. Using Inmarsat, a customer can call (direct dial or via an operator) a mobile terminal on an off-shore base, aircraft, ship, or in countries where terrestrial communications cannot always be relied on. Inmarsat B and M are established as alternative mobile systems which also provide calling to Inmarsat Service destinations. Service Description: Inmarsat B: Enables customers to place voice grade digital communications (voice, fax, data) at transmission speeds up to 16 kbps. Per minute rate is $11.95 Inmarsat M: Enables customers to place voice grade digital communications (voice, fax, data) at transmission speeds up to 2.4 kbps. Per minute rate is $10.20. By comparison with Inmarsat A (previously known as Inmarsat Maritime Service), Inmarsat M & B offer improved voice and data transmission quality through digital technology, as well as service charges that are lower by 33% to 43%. With rates as low as $9.20 per minute for Advantage Preferred users, Inmarsat B and M are the most cost effective solutions to communicate with travellers in remote areas as well as operators of marine vessels or oil rigs. In the past, the main users of Inmarsat Service have been shipping, mining and oil companies, as well as government departments. However, with the establishment of Inmarsat B & M, business travellers to remote areas where telecommunications infrastructures are not fully developed can now also take advantage of these new offerings and place Inmarsat calls at less cost. Coupled with the fact that new portable terminals are more compact, reliable and a lot less expensive, Inmarsat Service B & M can be attractive alternative choices in these special situations. For further information, please contact your sales representative. ------------------------------ From: u8213801@cc.nctu.edu.tw (Jeff) Subject: Help: Program For Cumulative Normal Function Date: 1 Jun 1994 08:10:10 GMT Organization: Computer Sci. & Information Eng. Chiao Tung Univ. Taiwan, R.O.C Hello, I need a program to calc. the C(x) (the cumulative normal function). C(x)=prob(X Subject: Software Information Mailing List Being Compiled Would you like to receive information via email about commercially available statistical software? We're compiling a list of people who would like such information, and another list of people who do not want such information. ____ Yes, want info ____ No, do not want info Thanks! Attn: Peter Bruce resample@cais.com Resampling Stats, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Remote Access to the 'Net Date: Tue, 31 May 94 13:01:00 PDT Jarlath Lyons asked for suggestions on accessing Internet from remote locales. I highly recommend the use of a VAN like Compuserve. All your pal needs is a dial tone to reach CIS. It's unlikely that any of the major networks have local access nodes in such far-flung corners, but there's always one accessible by long distance call. Best of luck to your adventurous friend. There's a lot to be said for vegetarianism! Regards, Lynne [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Lynne's last paragraph is of course in response to last week's discourse here on cannibalism and whether or not it is still practiced in the Solomon Islands and/or Boulder, Colorado and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tmatimar@isgtec.com (Ted Timar) Subject: Re: Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World Reply-To: tmatimar@isgtec.com Organization: ISG Technologies, Inc Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 08:59:22 -0400 In article , avb@cais.com (FCC World) writes about a new BBS, "FCC WORLD" which features info on the FCC, and is free to anyone with a 14.4 baud modem. Two questions: 1) Is there going to be a tax on using this bulletin board? :-) 2) Where do I get a 14.4 baud modem? Who in their right mind would use one? Most modems I know of only go down to 110 baud. Is the FCC going to call for a tax on all modems faster than 14.4 baud? :-) (For those who don't know, one longtime Usenet Urban Legend is that the FCC is about to start taxing modems.) Ted Timar tmatimar@isgtec.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just to remind our Washington, DC readers about the new availability of this Digest on a local connection, I reprint an excerpt from the original message: > The Washington, DC telecommunications law firm of Smithwick & > Belendiuk proudly announces the launch of a new BBS -- FCC WORLD -- > featuring information on the Federal Communications Commission. We > feature FCC documents on-line (many you cannot find on Internet), > texts of important FCC Reports and decisions (IVDS, PCS Auction info -- > on-line now!), Forums on hot FCC issues, free Classified ads and more! > The best thing -- its free and without a daily time limit. Give it a > try at 202-887-5718 (14.4 baud)! Your favorite telecommunications e-journal (I hope!) is also available as each issue is published in a special file section on the FCC World BBS. Check it out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bruce.roberts@greatesc.com (Bruce Roberts) Subject: Bibliography of Telecom Periodicals Wanted Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 05:35:00 GMT Organization: The Great Escape - Gardena, CA - (310) 676-3534 Hello all. I'm currently subscribing to {Telephony Magazine} and find it fascinating but primarily marketing/business oriented. I'm looking for a periodical that is more technical in nature and covers the same PSTN, Information Infrastructure, ISDN, Sonet, ATM sort of stuff. This is not my line of work so but rather something I find interesting (and something that will affect all of us soon) so it will be an educational experience. Suggestions and subscribing information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Bruce Roberts, bruce.roberts@greatesc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: {Telephony} is the grandfather of all telecom industry publications. It has been around since sometime in the 1920's. It was the only publication of its kind in an era when there was but one phone company. The two were closely intertwined and there was a point at which subscriptions to the magazine were restricted to persons who were employed somewhere in the Bell System. It used to be much more technically oriented. I've always considered it sort of dry and boring compared to (for example) Harry Newton's {Teleconnect}, a more recent arrival on the scene. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Trans-Atlantic Fiber Operators (US based) From: kevin@realtyme.com (Kevin McConnaughey) Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 09:24:59 EDT Organization: Retrograde Motion BBS - Oakton, VA. stu@shell.portal.com (Stu Jeffery) writes: > I am trying to find out the names of the smaller US based companies > that operate trans-Atlantic fiber cables. The ones I know of are: ATT, > MCI, Sprint, Wiltel and Compuserve. Stu: I assume that you mean companies that *own* capacity in trans-Atlantic fiber cables, not operate. If you do mean operate then the list you have is not correct. AT&T is a cable operator of numerous US cables landing on the US East coast. Sprint is the operator of PTAT-1 with C&W the operator on the UK end. MCI is not a cable operator in the US to my knowledge nor is Wiltel or Compuserve. On the Pacific side, Pacific Telecom operates the North Pacific Cable and all others connecting to CONUS are operated, I believe, by AT&T. I have heard that Wiltel has applied for permission to build and operate a cable to Cuba but this would still be in the planning stages. One might also include in your list BT, C&W, and possibly other PTTs that have operations here in the US and that are cable operators on the Western side of the Atlantic. I am not sure what your purpose is, but I would not want to limit myself to looking at just the US. There are trans-Atlantic cables that terminate in Canada too. These are (I am assuming since I have not actually checked) operated by Teleglobe. I hope this is helpful. kevin@realtyme.com (Kevin McConnaughey) Retrograde Motion BBS - Oakton, Virginia +1-703-758-9084 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #261 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa27312; 2 Jun 94 1:57 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27197; Wed, 1 Jun 94 15:35:47 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27168; Wed, 1 Jun 94 15:35:45 CDT Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 15:35:45 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406012035.AA27168@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #264 TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Jun 94 15:35:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 264 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Geographical Boundaries of COE's Reference Needed (semnet@gate.net) CALTEL Membership Questions (Russell Bunge) Box to Add Digits When Dialing (Marco A. Pinones) British Call Forwarding in 1960s (Randy Gellens) Re: Itemized Billing in UK (Richard Barry) Re: Itemized Billing in UK (Carl Moore) Recommendation For AlphaNumeric Paging Software (David Dodell) Re: Frame Relay SVC Specs Wanted (Dick Rawson) Re: How Smart is Call-Forwarding? (John Lundgren) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Steven H. Lichter) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (John Nagle) Correction: Re: VIVE Caller ID Device Problems (Evan Gamblin) Re: SMS Messages on ORANGE (Sam Spens Clason) Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! (Rich Greenberg) Re: RBOCS & Video Remote learning in Schools? (Michael Chui) Re: Lower Domestic Telephone Rates (Chris Barr) Re: Leased Line Internet Access (Joseph J. Gerber) Re: Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose (Rob Levandowski) Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns (Ry Jones) Re: What's a 1A3B? (Alan Leon Varney) Re: What Did You Have For Dinner Today? (Dave Thompson) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: semnet@inca.gate.net (Seminar Network) Subject: Geographical Boundaries of COE's Reference Needed Date: 1 Jun 1994 11:29:07 -0400 Is there a book or set of maps that contain the Central Office Exchanges corresponding with geographical boundaries? For example, if I would like to know what physical boundary belongs to 617-753-0000, where 753 is the COE, is there a resource for that type of information. That is, I'm looking to know where all the subscribers who are in the 753 exchange are located. An analogy to this is the zip code maps where a certain zip code has a defined physical boundary. The bounday may overlap a couple of cities however. Just to re-iterate, a MAP is what I'm looking for, not a criss-cross directory that has street names or anything like that. Perhaps Bellcore has a set of publications for each LATA or NPA, I don't know. Thank you, semnet@gate.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest you begin by speaking with Carl Moore (cmoore@brl.mil). He maintains those things in great detail. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rbunge@callamer.com (Russell Bunge) Subject: CALTEL Membership Questions Organization: SLONET Community Access System Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 18:00:16 GMT I'm looking for membership information on an association called CALTEL. I understand that CALTEL is an organization of Independent Long Distance providers in California, but I can't seem to find out where they are headquartered nor which companies belong. I've checked the Encyclopedia of Associations, no luck. I'd appreciate any information on this organization readers of this newsgroup can provide. Thanks, Russell Bunge rbunge@slonet.org ------------------------------ From: mpinones@netmon.mty.itesm.mx (Marco A. Pinones I.) Subject: Box to Add Digits When Dialing Date: 1 Jun 1994 18:14:16 GMT Organization: ITESM, Campus Monterrey I am looking for a box that could detect when digits are being dialed and add some digits at the very beginning. This is because we have a Vsats arrangement and the NEC equipment can only identify the links with two to four digits. To be compatible with our actual numbering, we need the vsat stations to be able to dial between them and to the rest of the net (with four digit extensions). The equipment at the vsat nodes is a Panasonic 1232. There is a link group on the NEC box that handles 16 channels to the voice net, asigned to a number that my vsat stations need to dial. I want this to be transparent to the user at each end, so I am thinking about a box that could read the digits when being dialed from vsat stations and can add the digits for the NEC equipment to select the 16 channels and the pass the other digits. Does such equipment exist? Greetings and thanks for any help. ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 01 JUN 94 00:55:00 GMT Subject: British Call Forwarding in 1960s On an episode of _The_Avengers_ shown the other day (this British series from, I think, the 1960s is probably always in re-runs somewhere -- I see it on the A&E Network), the central character is about to go on holiday. He puts his luggage down, and runs through a checklist (plants, lights, windows, etc.) On reaching 'phone,' he pick up his phone (black, rotary desk set of course) and dials three digits. He says "Operator? This is WHitehall xxxx. My name is John Steed. I will be away for the next three weeks. Please forward my calls to the usual number." (He might have used 'direct' or a similar word instead of 'forward.') What sort of call-forwarding was offered by British Telecom in the 1960s? Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com (714) 380-6350 fax (714) 380-5912 Mail Stop MV 237 Net**2 656-6350 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think they had the same kind of 'call forwarding' that we had here in the USA in the 1930's: (pick up the receiver and wait for operator) ... "Beulah? This is Mr. Smith. I am going down to my office for a few hours so if any calls come in put them on that line instead" ... And how did Caller-ID work here in the USA back in the same era? (pick up the receiver and wait for operator) ... "Gertrude, is that you? Hi Gert ... listen the phone was ringing when I was coming in the door with my three bags of groceries (unspoken: which I got from Safeway for five dollars) ... who was calling me? Would you get them back on the line please?" PAT] ------------------------------ From: Richard Barry Subject: Re: Itemized Billing in UK Date: 01 Jun 1994 09:42:20 +0100 Organization: Ireland On-Line In article telecom14.250.3@eecs.nwu.edu, John Slater (johns@scroff. uk) wrote: > First of all, East End and West End are areas of London, so it's a > local call. (I believe Greater London is the largest geographic > calling area in the world). ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ While Greater London might have the largest population of any local calling area, it is not geographically the largest. The longest distance local call in London would be about 50km. In many parts of Ireland you can call up to 100kms away at the local call rate. And at weekends the entire country is a 1p/min "local call" area (including calls *from* IRL to Northern Ireland. Using the weekend tariff you can call points up to 400kms distant between 0h SAT - 24h SUN for the equivalent of 1.4 US c/min. One suspects that there are even larger local calling areas in Australia, Greenland, etc? Richard Barry rbarry@iol.ie ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 12:07:45 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Itemized Billing in UK So in summary: In the UK, over a certain cost gets itemized (and this can include a very long local call on measured service). In the U.S., all calls beyond my local calling area are itemized. In my case, I opted for no local-call allowance, so any local calls I make are lumped into local-message-unit charge item on my phone bill. ------------------------------ Subject: Recommendation For AlphaNumeric Paging Software From: david@stat.com (David Dodell) Reply-To: david@stat.com (David Dodell) Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 06:38:47 MST Organization: Stat Gateway Service, WB7TPY I'm always seeing inquiries about alpha numeric paging software for PC's and would like to recommend a company that I have no connection with. The software is called PopPage and sells for $19.95 The software is DOS based, will run under Window. It handles IXO/TAP, and will load high as a TSR if desired. Statistical Control Systems can be reached at 1-813-954-8816 voice, 1-813-954-8624 fax. They also make something called Interceptor - Digital Paging System Analyzer but I do not know anything about this product. I'm just a happy user of PopPage. David Dodell Editor, HICNet Medical Newsletter Internet: david@stat.com FAX: +1 (602) 451-1165 Bitnet: ATW1H@ASUACAD ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 94 15:22:31 PDT From: drawson@Tymnet.COM (Dick Rawson) Subject: Re: Frame Relay SVC Specs Wanted Recently? You want ANSI T1.617-1991, with the Supplement T1.617a-1993. Maybe it was the supplement that was "recent". Dick ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: How Smart is Call-Forwarding? Date: 31 May 94 18:18:54 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Maybe something in the carrier plant is causing the trouble. Something like a ADPCM or whatever circuit that doesn't recognize the modem and tries to compress what it thinks is voice. jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com \ jlundgr@eis.calstate.edu ------------------------------ From: co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steven H. Lichter) Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: 01 Jun 1994 13:22:23 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA) Right after the earthquake I was able to reach my father on his cellular phone which is on LA Cellular. I have PacBell (Air Touch) and used it to call him since all wire lines were blocked. Since his is A and mine was B it seemed to work fine. Also arn't most cellular phones switchable, I know mine witll go A or B or both. Sysop: Apple Elite II -=- an Ogg-Net Hub BBS (909) 359-5338 12/24/96/14.4 V32/V42bis ------------------------------ From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 16:41:47 GMT Reon_Can@mindlink.bc.ca (Dan Matte) writes: > I am working on a proposal for an email system that will operate > exclusively over cellular in case of disaster resulting in land line > failure. Essentially, remote offices will dial-up over cellular to > the central office and retrieve messages in case of emergency. The > system will operate independently of land lines. Er, cell sites are typically linked by land line to a central site that controls the system. Only the last hop to the mobile phone is radio. If you lose the link to the central site, even two phones in the same cell can't talk. It's not a distributed system at all. John Nagle ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 06:29:59 -0400 From: egamblin@ott.hookup.net (Evan Gamblin) Subject: Correction Re: VIVE Caller ID Device Problems [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore wrote to inquire about an error in a previous posting, and Evan Gamblin responded. PAT] > I notice there are inconsistencies in the spelling of the > following Carl's last name, and there is also an inconsistency > in the fax number. > Carl K.S. Too > President > VIVE Synergies Inc. 30 West Beaver Creek Rd, Unit 2, Richmond Hill, Ont > L4B 3K1. Tel 905 882-8107, ext 11. Fax: 905 882-8238 > Carl K.S. Teo > President,VIVE Synergies Inc., 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 2, > Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3K1. > Tel: 905-882-6107 Ext.11, Fax: 905-882-6238 Thanks for pointing those out, Carl. I don't know what type of fax VIVE uses, but it compresses characters vertically. Makes it tricky to decide whether a letter is a, o, or e, and whether nos. are 0, 6, or 8. Cheers, Evan Gamblin The Halifax Group 903-275 Sparks St Ottawa, Ont K1R 7X9 Canada ------------------------------ From: d92-sam@nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) Subject: Re: SMS Messages on ORANGE Date: 01 Jun 1994 13:48:44 GMT Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden In article , richard@mandarin.com writes: > d92-sam@nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) wrote: Richard: >> It will become possible to send text messages from the handset (or >> computer) to any other GSM/PCN system, to any of the old analogue >> paging networks, or as an X400 message or a facsimile document. Me: >> I am pretty sure that what you are talking about is >> ordinary datatransfer that occupies a 9600 bit voice >> channel. Actually the rate of transfer is sligtly >> higher but I've never heard of a 11.4kbit modem Oops, since no one else has either corrected nor flamed me I guess I'll have to do it myself :-) It should say 13kbit (22.8 including overhead), I was sligtly ahead of my time as 11.4kbit is the data-transfer in future halfrate encoding systems. Related question: When can we expect halfrate encoding being in use?! Sam Spens Clason, Web ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 23:50:21 GMT In article TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Anthony_Pelliccio@brown.edu: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But see Rich Greenberg's response earlier > in this issue. Apparently all that is changing is they are cracking down > on charging for visits made by technicians; if a technician is dispatched > to your premises you will pay for it whether the tech does the work or > you do the work. PAT] That is only partly correct Pat. It would be correct if you add: ... you do the work if the trouble is found to be on the customer side of the demark. Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677 N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 21:34:38 -0500 From: Michael Chui Subject: Re: RBOCS & Video Remote learning in Schools? Organization: Computer Science, Indiana University In article , Gerry Moersdorf wrote: > Does anyone have an opinion on what the RBOCS are trying to do by > pushing TV remote learning grants and equipment to school systems? > The schools in our district don't even have telephones in classrooms > let alone a LAN for a client server teaching tool. To me the priorities > are all turned around. What possible business could RBOCS build with the > "poor" school districts? Ameritech has installed their Genius Theater distance learning system in some of the local schools here gratis, but with a commitment only for two years. I'm sure they wouldn't complain if the schools found it an *indispensable* tool (even if only as a symbol of commitment to using technology in the school), and were willing to start paying for it when the two years is up. Others might suggest that some cheap local bitpipe would be a much more effective contribution to learning. Michael Chui mchui@cs.indiana.edu ------------------------------ From: cbarr@world.std.com (Chris Barr) Subject: Re: Lower Domestic Telephone Rates Organization: Entrepreneur's Source Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 15:36:18 GMT > Does anyone know of a company that shops for low telephone rates for > you? > We use the telephones for tele-sales and heavy outgoing FAXes. I've > heard there are small, independent telephone consultants that can mix > and match the best rates into a coherent package deal. We're looking > for something customized to us. At least a few long distance providers read this newsgroup regularly -- why don't you post your current rates and usage and ask for responses? Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 05:05:01 PDT From: Joseph_J._Gerber.Henr801e@xerox.com Subject: Re: Leased Line Internet Access Very interesting and informative article. Would like to obtain FAQ on modems. Is this available? We have a Help Desk at Xerox and we are running into every strange and wonderful modem man ever built. Having an FAQ might strengthen our training program on subject. Thanks, Joe Gerber [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well you might also try subscribing to the Usenet newsgroup 'comp.dcom.modems'. A lot of readers there will be able to assist you from time to time with questions and answers also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Rob Levandowski) Subject: Re: Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 15:55:14 GMT In terry@hh.sbay.org (Terry Greenlee) writes: > The third line will only connect at 7200 bd at best and usually 4800 > bd. I tested them at the box beside the house to make sure it was not > my inside wires. The phone company tested it from the main office and > found no problem. Monday a Bell tech will come out to test. I have had similar problems with phone companies out here. Often, their test equipment says "perfect" when that is not the case. I had a phone line in Geneseo, New York, that tested perfect but had audible crosstalk from a ringer in the CO. Because of that, my modem was very unhappy. Finally, I called the unresolved-complaints line, and spoke to a very pleasant person there. I kindly asked if they could swap the line from my apartment to the CO with a new pair, and she said it would be no problem. They came and swapped the line, and everything was fine. My modem was happy. So, I guess that telco "perfect" isn't always modem "perfect" :) Rob Levandowski macwhiz@cif.rochester.edu Computer Interest Floor associate / University of Rochester ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 09:39:09 -0700 From: Ry Jones Subject: Re: No 911 Available as Tot Drowns - comp.dcom.telecom #1701 In article , Andrew C. Green wrote: > Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) writes: >> {The Toronto Star} reports of a 14-month-old boy in Barrie, Ontario >> who drowned while his mother attempted to dial 911. Unlike many >> centres in Canada, Barrie does not have a 911 service, thus calls to >> 911 are usually completed to a not-in-service recording. > I have encountered this myself occasionally in the past when I had to > call 911 from some unfamiliar location, and precious seconds would be > wasted slamming down the phone and redialing for the Operator. This > sort of begs the question, naive though this may be: Instead of > routing the call to an intercept, can't it be routed to an operator > instead? Any operator anywhere would probably be better than a > recorded intercept telling the caller to hang up and guess again. In Terre Haute, IN, before we got 911 (the tariff was passed but the service wasn't turned up), dialing 911 generated a GTE intercept. The operators would forward your call to the local police. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This goes back a number of years, but here in Chicago in the month or so prior to 911 starting (when we were still dialing 'POlice 5-1313' and 'FIre 7-1313' there was a special intercept in place. Someone called 'Chicago Special Operator' answered by asking what was the number you were calling from, then dialed into the proper number. Under the old arrangement, every CO took calls to PO-5-1313 or FI-7-1313 and translated them into 'other.things-1313' so that the police and fire dispatchers could see the *general location* from which the call was orig- inating. For example, where I lived, calls to PO-5-1313 were actually translated in the central office to HAymarket 1-1313. When the HAymarket phone rang at police headquarters, they knew it was a call from my area of the city. It speeded up dispatching even if they did not know the exact address until the caller told them. Then, when 911 was turned on, for about two months after that the PO-5 and FI-7 numbers were routed into 911 with a very quick recorded intercept message tossed in as the call was being forwarded: "In the future please dial 911 for emergencies." PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 11:39:29 +0600 From: varney@uscbu.ih.att.com (Alan Leon Varney) Subject: Re: What's a 1A3B? Organization: AT&T Network Systems In article stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) writes: > Here in downstate NYNEXland if an exchange has not been "taken over" > by a pager or cellular company, you can dial the NNX and 9901 to find > out what kind of switch is in that C/O. For example, dialing > (516)694-9901 will tell you that you have reached the Farmingdale 5ESS > test number, serving the following prefixes ... (you get the idea). > When dialing (516) 352-9901, however, I am told that I have reached > the Floral Park 1A3B, the only one of it's kind in Nassau County. Now > I have heard of 5ESS's and DMS-100's, but what is a 1A3B, and why is > it such a distinction to have one? It's no distinction, except in areas quickly going to digital COs. The "1A3B" is really a 1A ESS(tm) switch with an Attached Processor System (APS) controlled by a 3B20 Duplex(tm) processor. The 3B20D supplies the switch with backup disk storage, and possibily other services such as SS7. There are several hundred such analog COs deployed across the USA. Al Varney ------------------------------ From: Thompson, Dave Subject: RE: What Did You Have For Dinner Today? Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 11:58:00 PDT In TELECOM Digest 14.256, Thu, 26 May 94 16:25:56 EDT Carl Moore wrote: > How could you write about cannibalism and forget Alfred E. > Packer? [explanation by PAT deleted that we might still have an appetite for dinner tonight ...] Coincidentally, CNN sometime late this past Memorial weekend had a filler item (sorry!), which I only caught part of while surfing, about some city (I *think* they said in CO) which has an annual "manburger" coooking contest in memory of Packer. The (female) anchors were, or acted, stumped for innocuous patter on this one. Dave Thompson, davet@fpg.logica.com Logica North America, +1 617-890-7730 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, every year or so the folks there have a 'memorial service' to honor Mr. Packer. 'Manburgers' are served as part of the occassion. Not content to let this thread die peacefully, a regular Digest contributor (who must remain unnamed since his comments were sent to me not for publication under his name) had an additional query: > Regarding the Alfred Packer thread you were reminiscing about, isn't > there another old celebrity a bit closer to home? I am referring here > to Ed Gein -- if memory serves, didn't he do much the same thing in > Wisconsin back around 1957? I don't recall the details myself ... Ah yes, Ed Gein. When Ed made the cover of {Time Magazine} back in 1957 I was a sophomore in high school. The news reports were certain to point out that his name was pronounced 'Gein, as in fiend, not Gyne as in fine.' Why the two most recent well-known cannibals in the USA both came from Wisconsin -- within fifty miles or so of each other -- I do not know. Maybe it is something in the atomosphere. Dahmer was from Milwaukee and Gein was from a little rural village maybe fifty miles from there. Of course we had John Gacy and Larry Eyler both here in Chicago and they lived only five miles apart but never knew each other. Alfred Hitchcock was so inspired by Ed Gein that he produced his most famous movie ever ("Psycho") based on Ed's true story. Ed was a bachelor farmer about fifty years of age living in rural Wisconsin. He had this hangup about his mother who had died a few years earlier. He missed her so much one night he went out to the old cemetery and dug her up and brought her back home with him. He sat her in her favorite rocking chair in the living room and left her there for a couple more years. But that's not all! Two children in the nearby village disappeared and no one ever knew what happened to them; except Ed, that is ... he ate them. He killed another woman and kept only her hair and her skin, tossing out the remainder. He would wear the skin on himself along with the hair. There were other disturbances at the old cemetery outside the village but the townspeople always attributed the problem to animals. Then one day Ed killed Mrs. Wharton, the proprietor of Wharton's Hardware Store in the village. He slipped up; he was seen by her son in the store a few minutes before she disappeared. Knowing his mom would never leave the store in the middle of the day, abandoned and unlocked, he notified the police. The country bumpkins they were, it took them a couple days to get around to deciding maybe Ed had something to do with it (everyone in town knew him; they knew he was mentally retarded but never suspected anything of this magnitude). When the police went to his house they found Mrs. Wharton in the barn, completely disemboweled and hung upside down from a rafter; the way one would go about slaughtering and preparing a deer or a cow. Her intestines and the rest of her organs were in a large galvanized tub nearby, still steaming in the chilly fall air in Wisconsin. The police on the scene told Ed they wanted to go look inside his house, and he had no objections to that at all; he proudly let the way. Inside they found the preserved skin and hair of the other victim; they found evidence of the two children Ed had kidnapped (he preserved some body parts in jars) and a few other things. But the best was yet to come: the police walked into the living room and there sat Mrs. Gein -- Eddie's mother -- right in the rocking chair where he had left her all this time. Over the next two months, Ed Gein was questioned at length (when the police were able to make any sense out of what he was talking about at all) about other unsolved crimes in recent years. Of particular interest to the authorities were the mutilation murders of three young boys in Chicago in September, 1955. Anton and Robert Schuessler, brothers aged 11 and 13,and their friend Robert Peterson, age 12 had been murdered with their nude and mutilated bodies left in a wooded area on the northwest side of Chicago. Ed Gein had been in Chicago that day. He would not confess to that crime despite having knowledge known otherwise only to the police. That crime has never been solved or closed off the books. After a mental examination, Ed Gein was found to be totally insane. When the results of his mental examination were entered in evidence at his trial, the state of Wisconsin dismissed the charges against him (in this country we do not prosecute or punish persons who are incompetent or unable to understand that what they did was wrong) and he was placed in the protective custody of the state hospital for criminally insane people. About ten years later he attempted to be granted parole from the hospital but it was not given to him. He died in the maximum security unit of the state hospital after twenty years there in the middle 1970's. Poor Ed Gein ... {Time Magazine} called him a hideous monster. Alfred Hitchcock called him 'my biggest money maker ever' ... you do remember Norman Bates' mother in the rocking chair in the cellar in 'Psycho' don't you? And it was Ed who spoke the words said later by Norman Bates as he was in jail awaiting trial: "My son is a good boy! Why, he would not even harm a fly ..." PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #264 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa28859; 2 Jun 94 3:27 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA29706; Wed, 1 Jun 94 13:21:08 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA29684; Wed, 1 Jun 94 13:21:06 CDT Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 13:21:06 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406011821.AA29684@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #263 TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Jun 94 13:21:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 263 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Billed Party Preference (Doug Reuben) Re: Some D-Day Telecom History (Andrew C. Green) Re: DID Loophole or I'm Screwed up? (Alan Leon Varney) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (Ken Thompson) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (Ed Ellers) Re: Cellular Billing (John R. Levine) Re: Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies (Mike King) Re: Internet Access at Home? (Laurence Chiu) Re: Replace POST-MAIL by FAX (Chris Barr) Re: Money Talks (Daryl R. Gibson) Re: LD Carrier's Message Delivery Service (Mark E. Daniel) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Billed Party Preference Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 14:32:21 PDT On Mon May 30, 1994, safer@delphi.com writes: [post about how the FCC wants to implement a system where your calling card is linked to your default Long Distance carrier for 0+ calls from payphones, hotels, other phones, etc. omitted] > That just great, lay off thousands from OSP companies. Destroy an > entire inudstry, just because a couple of people can't figure out > 10xxx? This reminds me of a windshield wiper guy I "met" upon driving into NYC one day. He came to my car, attempted to "clean" my windshield, and when I indicated that it was not in his best interests to do so, he said something like "Hey, if I didn't do this I'd be stealing and robbing people". Now I don't mean to equate AOS firms and what the poster calls OSP firms with the guy in the above example (much...;) ), but come on! Does the poster mean to assert that AOSs should be allowed to continue ripping off the general public just so we can continue to employ their (not all too friendly) employees? The main reason the industry exists is because most people (rightly or wrongly) just don't have the technical background, desire, or even the time to try to figure out how to use 10XXX dialing or 800 access methods prior to getting burned by a $5 local call billed to a Bell Calling Card. This is how most AOS firms make money -- they "service" a generally captive audience at private payphones, hotels, colleges, etc., and rake up an outrageous surcharge because the caller didn't know to use a 10xxx code or an 800# to access his or her preferred LD carrier. There are many COCOTs and hotels which either totally block 10XXX access, or do things like disable the keypad after "X" digits to make it difficult to use another carrier. (Yes, I know, blocking is illegal, yet it's still done. Many COCOTs also block 800-321-0288, etc ...) I'm not going to go into the problems with most AOS firms; they've been discussed widely here in the Digest. What I will say is that when you subscribe to an LD carrier at home or at your office, you or your company probably wants to use that same LD carrier on the road, etc. If not, there are plenty of OSPs which provide VERY reasonable Calling Card service through both 0+ and 800 access, many without any surcharge at all. What most people probably DON'T want is to be billed by a company which they don't normally do business with, at a rate which they are not used to paying, just because some AOS or OSP agreed to pay the owner of a given phone a kickback for using them. What I and I think (hope?) other Calling Card users want to know is exactly what they will pay before making a call. We also do not want to be forced to go through some silly procedure (which can vary from phone to phone, adding to the confusion) in order to assure that we will get billed by the correct company. > Plus we the consumer will have to come up with millions to fund > Bill Party Preference. Then as consumers were going to have to > subsidize it too. If you want my opion it's just simplier to dial > 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-CALL-ATT. I have seen no figures on the cost of BPP, so I can't comment on that, but whatever it is I'm sure it's considerably less than what AOS firms rip off from American consumers over the period of a year. If OSPs and AOSs are so great, then why fear BBP? I'm sure *SO* many people will all of a sudden notice a great void in their lives (yet no longer in their wallets!) that they will all rush out to get the 10XXX codes for their favorite AOS and OSP so they can use them instead of their preferred carrier. So you AOs have nothing to fear, of course, because you all provide such a great service that everyone will just go out of their way to start using you once BBP comes into effect! Let me make myself clear: I think that AOSs, and to a lesser extent OSPs like Sprint (who has (had?) a 0+ system in place ONLY to get AT&T/Bell card calls and which doesn't service their OWN customers) are illegitimate business, and need to be removed. They prey on the ignorance of the general public, and charge a large markup for unquestionably inferior service. In the case of Sprint, MCI, et. al. who have 0+ service just to capture AT&T/Bell traffic, they migrate customers who normally use AT&T to use *their* service, causing billing confusion and reducing the number of calls which an AT&T customer can apply to his or her savings plan (or business WATS Calling Card plan). Billed Party Preference is an EXCELLENT idea -- it will force slimey AOS firms out of business, and make MCI, Sprint, AT&T and anyone else who wants to play compete more aggressively for your business. If they want your business, they will have to provide you with something better than your preferred carrier (lower rates, lower surcharge, etc.) in order to get you to use them. Who knows, it may even bring into the market a 0+ OSP with no calling card surcharge and rates in line with standard direct dial rates. But whatever the case may be, anything which lessens consumer confusion in the industry and removes the "hold" which AOSs still seem to have over many calling card users will be a positive step. I am sympathetic to the actual people who will lose their jobs at AOS firms as a result of this, but as for the AOSs themselves, well, the sooner we are rid of these outfits the better. Doug CID Technologies (203) 499-5221 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 17:52:11 CDT From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Some D-Day Telecom History Donald E. Kimberlin <0004133373@mcimail.com> writes: > First, there are lots of recordings of bits of Edward R. Murrow from > London during the blitz, as well as other correspondents like Richard > C. Hottelet dating back to before D-Day. ... and our Moderator notes: > An organization here in Chicago is planning a complete historical > re-inactment of D-Day for later this month. This might be a good time to mention the rebroadcasts of news bulletins from D-Day and days following it, planned for upcoming Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts of "Those Were the Days", hosted by Chuck Schaden on WNIB-FM 97.1 here in Chicago, each Saturday afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m. A large portion of the material is also syndicated nationwide, so it may be available in other cities on or around the same dates. (I believe the syndicated programs are hosted by Art Fleming, but I can't swear to that.) For some time now, Chuck has been rebroadcasting the CBS World News from fifty years ago each Saturday afternoon, almost to the day. These braodcasts give a good impression of the state of radio at that time, and how reports were assembled, recorded, transmitted or shipped. The broadcast itself, uncut and with wartime commercials for Admiral radio, appears to have been recorded on transcription discs, basically really big records. The majority of each broadcast is concerned with the war effort, of course, and almost always features interviews with the troops. These interviews are presumably genuine, but it is painfully obvious that both reporter and subject are reading their comments from a printed script; presumably the interview had to be written down and approved by a censor for broadcast, at which point the two people would sit at a microphone and read their remarks all over again. Again just guessing here, I get the distinct impression that those man-in-the-trench recordings were made in Europe on disc, then shipped to the states for broadcast, since in some programs they have run what sound like phoned-in reports, usually from the Pacific. These reports are always introduced with the cautionary phrase, "Following a short delay, we will take you to" (so-and-so reporting from somewhere). And sure enough, there is a pregnant pause of five seconds or so before the on-site correspondent gets going. I have no idea what the pause was for; I have visions of engineers at a cord board somewhere madly yanking on plugs and switching phone lines as fast as they can ... Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com 441 W. Huron Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 11:38:59 +0600 From: varney@uscbu.ih.att.com (Alan Leon Varney) Subject: Re: DID Loophole or I'm Screwed up? Organization: AT&T Network Systems In article Paul Robinson writes: [I originally wrote] >>> Per FCC Part 68 and TELCo tariffs, anything other than audible >>> ring and busy tone (with some exceptions) is "meaningful" -- and >>> the call must be supervised (answered). >> I thought it was OK for a PBX to issue an intercept without >> returning supervision. For example, "The extension you dialed >> does not exist. Please call xyx-xxyy for assistance." Do these >> messages have to be supervised? "... have to be ..." is an interesting phrase in a world of standards, requirements, regulations, tariffs and shady PBX operators. > My office has Centrex service. As lines are not used, they return > exactly that type of message, referring people to our main switchboard. > I would assume that it is permitted to provide an unsupervised announcement > since I believe the message does not supervise. I hesitate to quote old material, but if everyone keeps in mind that it is from 1992 (and that I am not a lawyer or FCC lackey) I'll proceed ... From 10-1-92 Edition of 47 CFR (FCC), Part 68: Section 68.314 Billing protection (a) Call Duration Requirements.... (no data for 2 seconds after answer) (b) ... on-hook power ... (no on-hook transmission) (c) ... loop current on answer ... (maintain current for 5 seconds) (d) ... signaling interference ... (no blue-boxing) (e) ... AIOD ... (no lying about numbers) (f) ... on-hook signals for digital connections (no on-hook transmission) (g) ... off-hook signals for digital connections (hold off-hook for 5 seconds) (h) DID requirements (1) Answer supervision for DID calls ... through a PBX or similar system shall be returned ... on all calls: (i) Answered by called DID station (ii) Answered by attendant (iii) Routed to an announcement, except for "number invalid", "not in service" or "not assigned" recordings (iv) Routed to a dialing prompt, or (v) Routed back to the public switched network by the PBX, including calls routed to [above announcements]. (2) DID calls which do not require the PBX to return answer supervision are those: (i) Which are not routed back to the public switched network and, in addition, are: (A) Unanswered (the called DID station is alerted and does not answer, or the DID station o which the call is forwarded is alerted but does not answer) (B) Routed to busy signal (C) Routed to a reorder signal, or (D) Routed to [above mentioned announcements] and those (ii) Which are routed back to the public switched network and, in addition, are: (A) Unanswered (called or forwarded station) (B) Routed to busy signal (C) Routed to a reorder signal. (3) Answer supervision on DID calls shall be provided in accordance with industry engineering standards [EIA RS-464, for example] (4) PBX and similar systems built after 1990 shall comply. Earlier systems shall comply if newly installed or relocated by mid-1992. Such equipment must be reregistered if previously not compliant with paragraph (h). Compliance ... shall require that ... it will return answer supervision in conformity with this rule in a manner which cannot be readily altered by software control or other user controlled media. (5) "similar systems" means key equipment, multifunction systems, multiplexers, and any equipment for which adopted industry standard signaling is the standard mode of returning answer supervision. [Originally written in 1980, amended in March 1982, Sept. 1982, again in Sept. 1982, Dec. 1984, July 1985, Jan. 1986, May 1986 and Nov. 1990.] As CPE "users" try other means of avoiding being charged for completed calls, I'm sure the regulations will evolve. The PBX interface extends the public network into the PBX, and relys on it to be "honest". Those manufacturers and/or users who abused this interface in the past caused many of the above regulations to be spelled out -- perhaps limiting other legitimate uses of withholding answer supervision. Unfortunately, the good users and applications are saddled with the fruits of the shady ones. And I still can't believe the FCC ruling regarding international call-back services, which are receiving a "free" service. Al Varney ------------------------------ From: Ken Thompson Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 08:27:38 Organization: AT&T Global Information Solutions > Guorong Roger (hu_g@isis.cs.odu.edu) wrote: >> Is there any kind of CORDLESS PHONE which can be used for ten to >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are, but they are not legal for use >> in the USA. About the closest you can come to this legally in the USA is >> to use a manual phone patch attached to a CB radio or some other type of >> legal radio service. I have a phone patch here for example which I have > The important point here is that the amateur radio service is for > recreational non-commerial use only, and the hams tend to police > themselves fairly well, especially in metro areas where the bands are > crowded. And, naturally, the phone co doesn't want people to bypass > their cellular service. So getting a legal ten mile phone is not > easy. Another note. It is very illegal to use CB with phone patches. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It most certainly is *NOT* illegal to use a phone patch with Citizen's Band radios. To be sure, there are lots of more effecient ways of doing it these days, but it is not illegal. The rules say in the case of CB, the process has to include an operator at the base station to physically make the connection and key/unkey the microphone. It cannot be an automated process. Where it gets to be a real pain is due to the ignorance of the party receiving the call. Generally they do not realize until it has been explained to them three or four times that unlike a 'regular' phone call they are not on a full duplex connection. It is useless for them to speak while the party on the radio end is speaking or when they hear 'hash' or static in their ear. They are only to speak when the base station operator tells them to speak. Unlike a regular phone call, there have to be short, precise sentences by the speakers on each end followed by a pause in speaking, otherwise the base operator goes crazy trying to anticipate when to key and unkey the microphone. Twenty years ago I used to do this to help the expressway motorists in distress but I haven't fooled with CB for many years other than my own personal handheld I use for fun sometimes. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 00:43:04 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) sohl,william h writes: > While that is possible, it can only be done legally within the > constraints of the FCC regulations as per my comments above. > Additionally, there is a frequency coordination process that must be > followed to obtain a fixed set of assigned two meter frequencies to > establish a permanent repeater which is the only way this could be > done and still be legal on the amateur two meter band. A minor correction to what Bill's saying -- it's no longer MANDATORY to get coordination for an amateur repeater. If you can find a frequency pair you can use it, BUT if you cause interference to a coordinated repeater you'll have to move or shut down. Also, 2m isn't the only repeater band -- a ham who wants to set up his own autopatch badly enough can do it on a higher band where open frequency pairs are more likely to exist. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 12:02:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Cellular Billing Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > Incidentally while I'm at the keyboard ... it's taken me a while to > realise that US analogue cellular systems providers require you, the > the phone owner and payer of the airtime bill, actually to pay for > incoming calls. How the heck have they managed to convince people to > go for that?!? Given the way that billing works here, there isn't much choice. We don't have billing pulses, we record call detail information and compute the charges at the time the bill is printed based on the originating and terminating numbers, time of day, and any of the 15,000 special billing plans now available. Our cellular numbers are integrated into the regular dialing plan, so for example my car phone's numbers in Boston and Vermont are as far as callers can tell regular local phone numbers. The number in Vermont is in 802-296, a prefix shared with wireline phones. This means there's no way for billing software to distinguish between calls to cellular and calls to wireline numbers, so the cellular customer has to pick up any extra charges beyond the normal call charge to his number. In a few places, the local phone company has a special prefix for caller-pays cellular. But there's no way to charge back the surcharge to long distance callers. (Remember, long distance and local service are provided by separate companies, and the long distance company pays a flat per-minute access charge to the local telco.) Long distance companies block calls to other surcharged numbers such as 976-XXXX audio programs, so I expect that you won't be able to call a caller-pays cellular number from out of the local area. Depending on the cellular customer's needs, this may be either an advantage or a disadvantage. The 500 NPA is apparently being allocated to new wireless services, and it may be possible that national caller-pays cellular numbers could reside there. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However John, why aren't cellular carriers treated like any other telco or long distance carrier for the purpose of intercompany billings and settlements. When we call between a telco one place and some other telco elsewhere via a long distance carrier, the whole thing is very transparent to the caller/called party. As we have discussed in the 'combined billing' thread recently, you can write one check to the telco and be done with it for all anyone cares. Why are the cellular companies not part of the process as a routine thing? PAT] ------------------------------ From: mk@TFS.COM (Mike King) Subject: Re: Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 06:33:07 PDT In TELECOM Digest, V14, #256, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Jonathan : >> the rules currently say that local telcos may not withhold >> name and address information from long distance carriers -- even if >> the number is otherwise non-published -- for billing purposes. They can now. Someone else said: > This is a security problem. Customers should be allowed to block the > delivery of their name and address information if they have non-published > telephone numbers or non-listed addresses. If a customer does this, The FCC has decreed this. Because a friend here in CA is being harrassed by Integratel over a call he did not make, I'm not about to allow that to happen to me. I have a non-published number. When P*B announced that I can prevent my billing name and address from being released, I immediately signed for the plan. P*B's requirements include (1) a non-published number, (2) collect and 3rd-party blocking, and (3) no P*B calling cards. [Darn! ] Should I wish to remove the restriction, I have to inform them in writing. I realize that I can call Integratel and ask to be added to their blocking database, but I don't think it should be my responsibility to search for every potential OCC to have my number added to their blocking database. Mike King mk@tfs.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It isn't your responsibility, and in fact historically -- back in the days when we had the Bell *System* (my emphasis) -- you did do business with just one place, the local telco business office. But the rules are different now. The carriers do not cooperate with each other except when they feel it is in their best interest to do so. The first rule in telephony these days is the customer be damned! I speak purely from a pragmatic approach: go around and tell each of them what you want. It will get done that way (usually) and with a minimum of effort on your part cleaning up messes later. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Re: Internet Access at Home? Date: 01 Jun 1994 11:55:17 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access In article , K. M. Peterson wrote: > You didn't say much about what kind of setup you want and why. You > may be under the (mistaken) impression that the only dialup access is > to a Un*x box, and running Un*x commands in a shell. This isn't true: > running PPP on my Mac, InterNews, Eudora (for mail), and a collection > of other utilities gives me _identical_ access as if I were connected > to an Ethernet connected to the 'Net, except for the speed of the > connection. And you pay for speed, eh PAT? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You sure do ... then you pay some > more. PAT] Well I have a SLIP connection to an Internet provider for which I pay $30/month for 30 hrs and $1/hr over that. I chose to go with 14.4 modems even though the provider offers 28.8. I think if I got 28.8 working okay, then SLIP at that speed would be quite acceptable since if you're using Mosaic or Cello to access WWW, much of the stuff coming down is plain text which should benefit from modem data compression. Mosaic at 14.4 is okay apart from the embedded GIF files and trying to play those 900K MPEG movies :-) As an aside I could get 24x7 SLIP for $90 I think. Laurence Chiu Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730 (work) Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: cbarr@world.std.com (Chris Barr) Subject: Re: Replace POST-MAIL by FAX Organization: Entrepreneur's Source Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 15:55:45 GMT > ... I have been unable make fax software work reliably. I have > tried Delrina (the market leader) Winfax Pro 3.0 and 4.0 and Sofnet > Faxworks Pro 3.0. None of these packages will reliably receive faxes. Well, are the sends comparable to the receives? i.e. as long and numerous and to/from similar end points? If so -- well, what's different? You might try using a lower speed, for starters. Also I'd look at Delrina's modem initialization string. Is the phone line good? Some 2nd phone lines use yellow & black wires in a bundle with wires for the 1st line - crosstalk can disturb data calls. > Details: I am using a Supra Fax Modem V.32bis which is on the approved > list from both Delrina and Sofnet. I upgraded to Supra's latest ROM > to make sure that the modem wasn't at fault. Supra has a nice reputation but still they're based on the Rockwell chipset which has poorer line noise handling than US Robotics, Hayes or Microcom. See the modem newsgroup -- some users at sites with multiple brands of modem report that Supras fail under noisy line conditions which other brands can handle. > I tried faxing a question to Delrina. ... You sound like a glutton for punishment :-) I've gotten good help by mailing/posting a problem on their Compuserve newsgroup (go delrina). No BS about long descriptions of my situation, but I did include some key details. Please let us know how it turns out! Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 10:38:11 (MST) From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Re: Money Talks > Along the roadside, a determined tourist trips over a cactus. > She struggles up an embankment and through sagebrush to get past > telephone poles and wires. Finally, with camera in hand, she has an > unobstructed view of Jenny Lake and the beautiful Teton Mountains. > How often have you struggled to get just the right picture -- a photo > without telephone wires to ruin a beautiful scene? > This is "A-N-A's Money Talks." All right. I'm being picky, but while money may talk, it's not too accurate a conversationalist. This was obviously written by someone who has never been to Jenny Lake. I can't think of more than a couple of exposed wires inside the park. There are a few, but by and large, everything's buried underground. I've yet to see cactus there, and since Grand Teton's at an altitude of around 7,000 feet, temperatures in the winter drop down to -20F and lower, and the area's covered by several feet of snow through March. I was there once on January 1, and the snow banks were much higher than I was. As someone who intentionally photographs telephone and power wires and structures occasionally, I know there are many ways to shoot a photo without getting a wire in it. Of course, that hasn't kept me from finding one in a frame, without realizing it was there when I shot it. But there's nothing like a row of telephone poles paralleling a country road at sunset, glass insulators shimmering in the sun to set a mood. Admittedly, there aren't too many of those around anymore ... Daryl (801)378- 2950 (801)489-6348 drg@du1.byu.edu 71171.2036@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 04:13:46 EST From: mark@legend.akron.oh.us (Mark E Daniel) Subject: Re: LD Carrier's Message Delivery Service In article is written: > MCI is offering one of these services via their calling cards, and in > the three occasions I have tried it, all three parties have not > received their messages. In one case, the party may not have been > home within the allotted eight hour time frame in which the call must I just tried delievering a message on my voice line which has an answering machine on it using Sprint's service. It was in the middle of the message by the time the machine started recording. It did however repeat the message from the begining after completeing it. So as long as the greeting isn't LOOOOONG you should have no problems. Mine runs about ~20 seconds. I guess they figure we're all capible of leaving messages on answering machines ourselves. :) And they're right. But it would be nicew if they did it intellegently enough to wait until the answeree stoped speaking before they delievered the message. Mark E Daniel (Loving SysOp of The Legend BBS) Inet: mark@legend.akron.oh.us medaniel@delphi.com (Direct INet) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #263 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa06855; 3 Jun 94 0:35 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10949; Thu, 2 Jun 94 09:35:05 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10910; Thu, 2 Jun 94 09:29:19 CDT Date: Thu, 2 Jun 94 09:29:19 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406021429.AA10910@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #265 TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Jun 94 09:29:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 265 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson TAP-INFO Memo to NSF on Internet Access (Bill Blum) 716 Now Split Between 7D and 1 + 716 + 7D (Scott D. Fybush) OSP's Aren't the Only Ones (A. Padgett Peterson) Question About OO-CHILL (Hwan Wook Sohn) Internet Through Local Cable TV Provider (Jeff Lin) Telephone Switch Vendors - Read This (Scott Sanbeg) Does MCI Transmit CNID? (Eric R. Sandeen) Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? (Paul A. Lee) Re: Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? (Robert Casey) Re: E911 Portland OR Has Problems (Robert Casey) Re: 800 Number Billback (Paul S. Sawyer) Re: Micro Portable Suggestions (Steve Wood) Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA (Stephen Denny) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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, 01 Jun 94 16:44:48 EDT From: Bill Blum Subject: TAP-INFO Memo to NSF on Internet Access Subject: Metered Usage of the Internet: JSN In the future, you might have to pay a charge for every E-mail message you send or receive, every Usenet article you read, every kilobyte of data you transfer with ftp, every hypertext link you follow with NCSA Mosaic or Gopher ... Hopefully this frightens you as much as it does me. But it will happen, unless YOU do something about it. Please read the attached, fill out the requested info, and mail it back to mike@essential.org. It also wouldn't hurt to forward a copy of this to everyone you know on the Internet. Thanks for your support. Craig Smith, Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? In {TELECOM Digest} Volume 14 Issue 257, Axel Cleeremans wrote: > A friend of mine would like to set up an interactive voice-mail > system based on a PC ... is ... there ... a hardware device that will > perform these functions ... when hooked up to or put inside a PC. The basic hardware device that meets these requirements is typically referred to as a "voice board" or a "voice port board". Most such boards contain a telephone line interface, a telephone-bandwidth audio signal coder/decoder (CODEC), and a DTMF (touch tone) receiver-decoder, for one or more ports, and sometimes an external audio interface and foreplane interfaces to adjunct boards. Following are some North America-based manufacturers of such boards; many of these companies also make European versions and have European sales and support operations: Dialogic +1 201 334 8450 Brooktrout +1 617 449 4100 New Voice +1 703 448 0570 Rhetorex +1 408 370 0881 Natural MicroSystems +1 508 650 1300 SpeechSoft +1 609 466 1100 Pika Technologies +1 613 591 1555 Each of these manufacturers provides some degree of software support, from basic hardware drivers and development kits, to more sophisticated voice mail or IVR (interactive voice response) applications. The manufacturers can also refer you to developers and system integrators using their hardware. A typical voice port board will cost from US$500 to US$1500. A typical four port voice response system, including the PC and application software, ready to be loaded with your data and programmed for your application, will cost between US$5000 and US$10000. There are thousands of companies (and individuals) writing applications and assembling systems based on voice boards and PCs. You will have to do quite a bit of shopping to find the best product for your needs at the best price. You may also be able to adapt one of the "shrink-wrapped" single port voice mail/modem boards to your application. National Semiconductor, Intel, and Boca Research are among the US manufacturers, and there are certainly others. Check with a full-line PC communications products dealer in your part of the world. These devices should cost under US$800 -- some as low as US$200. Paul A. Lee Voice +1 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX +1 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Re: Rude Not to Leave Answering Machine Messages? Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 17:09:12 GMT In article J.Harrison@bra0112.wins.icl.co. uk writes: > General view of Digest readers (except Miss Manners) seems to be that > it is, on the basis that it leaves the called party with a gnawing > feeling of wonderment as to who called them and why. I can't see how; > do modern answering machines work differently from my fairly-old > Panasonic? > With mine, callers who hear the outgoing message all the way through > and then hang up (before the beep) just don't activate the message > counter, so I don't even know they called. The few seconds gap between > the end of the outgoing message and the beep gives them plenty of > time. Suits me fine, and I had assumed they all worked much the same > way. My answering machine (a Code-a-phone) puts short beeps to indicate that someone called but left no message. Sometimes, when I'm trying to reach someone to actually talk with, I'll get their machine several times before they're there, so I don't leave a message each time (why waste the tape on their machine?). Except for one friend who gets annoyed if I don't leave a message every time, then I'll leave a short message. Other times, I just called to say the equivalent of "Hey, how's it goin'", in which case, a message on the machine is somewhat pointless. ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: E911 Portland OR Has Problems Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 17:20:42 GMT Read in the local paper (Oregonian) last week about how Portland's 911 system has some serious problems and poor morale. Mentioned about the Fire Department didn't like the use of "civilians" for the 911 call takers, and that they didn't like having to deal with some elements of the police methods. (Note: I'm not familiar with the details of such work). Portland installed new 911 equipment a few months ago, (same stuff that San Diego, CA has, according to the paper) and has had many problems. People on hold for like 15 minutes on 911. Wrong locations given to ambulances and such. Portland got rid of their old emergency director, and appointed a new one. ------------------------------ From: paul@senex.unh.edu (Paul S. Sawyer) Subject: Re: 800 Number Billback Date: 31 May 1994 19:31:56 GMT Organization: UNH Telecommunications and Network Services > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: [...] Add to that requiring PINS > on outgoing 'long distance' calls -- even 800 numbers -- for the purpose > of identifying who made what calls, and your trouble should be greatly > reduced if not eliminated entirely. PAT] There is no problem identifying "who made what calls" -- but the way they are billed usually has no relation to how they are made. The dialed number looks nothing like the billed number, the time and length may not match, and misleading terms like "credit card" and "collect call" appear when the only call is an outgoing 800- call. We don't need to require authorization codes for 800 - numbers, since we can bill to the extension for such calls, and to "punish" the users of legitimate 800- numbers by having them dial extra digits would not be favorably met by our customers. Most of these bogus charges can be tracked and/or denied, but the problem is definitely bigger than it needs to be. Paul S. Sawyer - University of New Hampshire CIS - Paul.Sawyer@UNH.Edu Telecommunications and Network Services VOX: +1 603 862 3262 50 College Road FAX: +1 603 862 2030 Durham, New Hampshire 03824-3523 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, another solution is sort of rough and dirty, but it would work. How many outgoing trunks do you have that those 800 calls would be routed on? If you have some way to insure that calls to 800 numbers get routed over some minimum number of trunks, and always the same trunks then get some el-cheapo call restrictors and add them to those outgoing lines. For example, Radio Shack has some nifty little units which allow restricting specific numbers, local or long distance. I think maybe you can program up to 30 numbers you don't want dialed in them. Get one for each outgoing trunk handling 800 calls, and again, if you can fix things so the 'toll-free' calls are all wedged into a group of maybe a half-dozen to a dozen trunks you will minimize your expense. Get as many of the toll restrictors as needed. Load them with the dozen or two dozen most commonly (ab)used 800 numbers, as noted in your personal copy of {Rolling Stone} and/or {Penthouse} magazine. No one else will even see the difference, but boy, will those kids trying to reach the selected 800 numbers be frustrated! :). They'll dial those numbers, your switch will process normally and send them out on the appropriate trunks. The toll restrictors will see them coming and dump them. Your users hear dial tone, click, click, clunk! Dead line, switch dial tone returned to them. Total investment, maybe a thousand dollars for several toll restrictors. Start by loading them with the 800 numbers you have been able to match up from your last couple phone bills. Each time you get your phone bill for a couple months, add the newest discoveries. You watch ... after two or three months it will drop to zero or almost zero. The best part of all will be the nitwits who come to you to report that their phone (or your lines) must be 'out of order'. ... you will innocently ask them what number they were attempting to reach so that you can investigate the problem ... they'll tell you (or if they have a few brains they will try to avoid telling you the exact number) and you'll clean them out right on the spot. ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Wood Subject: Re: Micro Portable Suggestions Date: Tue, 31 May 94 14:11:00 PDT Bill Verry writes: > I'm in the market for a micro portable cell phone and need some > advice. From what I've gathered it seems these devices are not too > reliable when it comes to clarity and battery life. Most everyone I've > spoken to has suggested I stay with the car phone and forget the > "pocket" phone. I suspect this has to do with the low ouput of the > units? If there is a manufacturer or a particular type of phone I > should get I would greatly appreciate such contrasting opinion. I suggest getting a portable with a hands-free adaptor kit for the car. At McCaw I get to try out lots of phones, and that is the setup I use. I've got a Motorola digital flip phone with the hands-free kit. Most car kits offer a three watt amplifier for use in the car, so you get the best of both worlds. Steve Wood (steve.wood@mccaw.com) ------------------------------ From: sdenny@spd.dsccc.com (Stephen Denny) Subject: Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA Date: 1 Jun 1994 03:55:31 GMT Organization: DSC Communications Corporation, Plano, Texas USA In article , Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications wrote: > An insert in my latest bill contained a notice that Bell Atlantic will > offer Caller ID in Pennsylvania in August. The cost for residential > customers is $6.50/month, business is $8.50. Call blocking and > anonymous call rejection are free. This charge seem outrageous > considering that the equipment to do it is already there, right? How > else does return call, repeat call and all that stuff work. How does > this rate compare to other states? I can't remember the exact Southwestern Bell charges for Caller ID but they were in the same range for Caller ID number, perhaps more to include the Caller ID name. I'd love to have it, but I don't know if it's worth that much to me. As far as the equipment, I can't really speak for the Central Office equipment, but assuming the info is to be carried via SS7 (as the number is now), adding a name look-up adds a significant load to the SS7 signaling network, if this is to be done for most every call. To support this additional load, I would expect the regionals as well as long distance carriers to add additional SS7 links, processing capacity and database lookup support (which may be billed by a separate supplier). This additional SS7 capacity *don't come cheap*. Stephen Denny sdenny@spd.dsccc.com DSC Communications Corp. Plano, TX **Standard Disclaimer** ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #265 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa07434; 3 Jun 94 2:35 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07359; Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:22:22 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA07325; Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:22:19 CDT Date: Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:22:19 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406021622.AA07325@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #267 TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:22:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 267 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC Fact Sheet on Future Changes in Telephone Numbering (Bob Keller) 2nd Radio Montreux (June 9-11) (Alfredo E. Cotroneo) NYNEX Bill Insert - Rate Changes (Jonathan Welch) Spread Spectrum Video (Charbel Tannous) ATT/MCI Numbering War (Rick Watson) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 11:40:10 EDT From: Bob Keller Subject: FCC Fact Sheet on Future Changes in Telephone Numbering nrcc4029.txt ==> from ftp.fcc.gov FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION INDUSTRY ANALYSIS DIVISION FACT SHEET MAY 1994 Future Changes in Telephone Numbering Several important changes will affect the North American Numbering Plan during the next few years. These changes will require telephone companies to modify their network switches. They will also require some users to modify their customer premises equipment. The equipment affected includes payphones and privately owned switchboards (generically known as private branch exchanges or PBXs). This Fact Sheet has been prepared to answer the most frequently asked questions about upcoming changes in telephone numbers. It also provides sources of further information and assistance. Interchangeable Area Codes Currently, the second digit of an area code is always "0" or "1". All usable three-digit numbers in this format have been assigned as area codes. Beginning in 1995, new area codes will have numbers other than "0" or "1" as the second digit. As a result, area codes will have the same format as the central office codes that appear at the beginning of local telephone numbers -- hence, the term "interchangeable" codes. Three interchangeable area codes have been assigned for service during early 1995. These new area codes will be placed in service in Alabama (334), Washington State (360), and Arizona (520). Some parts of the telephone network -- including both telephone company switches and customer equipment -- were not designed to handle interchangeable codes. When a call to an interchangeable area code is attempted from such equipment, the call will not be routed correctly. Therefore, this equipment must be reprogrammed, modified, or replaced in order to handle the dialing of interchangeable area codes. New Dialing Procedures Dialing procedures have traditionally been determined by local telephone companies and state public utility commissions. Consequently, they are not uniform, especially for toll calls that originate and terminate within the same area code. Over a period of many years, three basic dialing procedures have evolved for toll calls that do not cross an area code boundary. In some states, such calls are made simply by dialing a seven-digit number. In other states, these calls are placed by dialing "1" as a toll indicator, followed by the seven-digit number. In still other states, toll calls within the same area code are placed by dialing "1" plus ten digits (the local area code plus the seven digit number). When interchangeable codes are activated in 1995, the prefix "1" will be used to indicate that the call is longer than seven digits. This means that the "1 plus 7" method of dialing toll calls within the same area code will no longer be feasible. Each state that used "1 plus 7" dialing has selected one of the other two dialing options. Some states have already completed the change and others are in the process of doing so. The use of "1" as an indicator of ten-digit calls means that, in most areas, systems cannot rely on a leading "1" as a toll indicator. PBXs or other switches that have been programmed to block toll calls based on the use of "1" as a toll indicator will need to be altered. Conversion to 101XXXX Access Codes Callers sometimes reach long distance carriers by dialing carrier access numbers in the format 10XXX (where "XXX" represents a carrier's three-digit identification code). AT&T's code is 288, MCI's is 222, etc. Thus, customers can reach AT&T by dialing 10288, reach MCI by dialing 10222, etc. Because almost all three-digit identification codes have been assigned, four-digit identification codes will be assigned in 1995. Carriers with four-digit identification codes will be reached by dialing 101XXXX. Under current law, new equipment manufactured for use by aggregators (PBXs or key systems used by hotels, motels, hospitals, universities, payphones, and others that provide telephones for "transient" users) must be capable of processing 10XXX access code dialing. Newly manufactured equipment should have the capability of processing 101XXXX dialing, but some payphones and other older equipment will not be able to complete calls to 101XXXX numbers. During a transition period, both 10XXX and 101XXXX access codes will be used. At the end of the transition period, all access codes will use the 101XXXX format. The transition period will provide owners of non-conforming equipment with time to modify, reprogram, or replace that equipment. However, users of such equipment will not be able to reach carriers with the new four-digit identification codes until modifications are made. The FCC has proposed a transition period of six years. Thus, users may have several years to make the necessary changes. The date when such changes will become mandatory has not yet been established. Longer International Telephone Numbers Under international agreements, international telephone numbers are now limited to 12 digits. Beginning in 1997, the maximum permissible length will be increased to 15 digits. Although there are no plans to increase the length of telephone numbers in the United States, Germany has announced its intention to lengthen its numbers. Several other countries are also likely to do so. When the length of international telephone numbers is increased, customer premises equipment will have to store and process the longer numbers. Where to Go for More Help For questions regarding specific customer premises equipment and what must be done to ensure readiness to process the new numbers, users should first consult the manufacturers or equipment suppliers. Additional information is also available from the following sources: *** The North American Numbering Plan is administered by Bell Communications Research. The administrator has prepared a report, Status of Numbering in the NANP Served Area, that provides more detail on each of the coming changes and includes the dialing plan in each state. The report is available without charge from: Claudette Keith North American Numbering Plan Administration Bell Communications Research Room 1E240 290 West Mt. Pleasant Avenue Livingston, New Jersey 07039-2798 201 740-6792 201 740-6860 (FAX) Questions on interchangeable area codes, dialing plans, and international telephone numbers can be addressed to: Garry Benoit North American Numbering Plan Administration Bell Communications Research Room 1B227 290 West Mt. Pleasant Avenue Livingston, New Jersey 07039-2798 201 740-4592 201 740-6860 (FAX) Questions on the expansion of carrier identification codes can be addressed to: Jim Deak North American Numbering Plan Administration Bell Communications Research Room 1B227 290 West Mt. Pleasant Avenue Livingston, New Jersey 07039-2798 201 740-4594 201 740-6860 (FAX) *** The vast amount of information necessary for routing calls throughout the telephone network is maintained by Bellcore's Traffic Routing Administration. The information is contained in large data bases and most can be reached through on-line computer access. Much of the information can also be purchased in a variety of formats (paper, tape, microfiche, and CD-ROM). A catalog describing the products available can be obtained from the Traffic Routing Administration Hotline at 201 740-7500. For more information, contact: Donald Baechler Traffic Routing Administration Bell Communications Research Room 1E235 290 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave Livingston, N.J. 07039-2798 201 740-7575 201 740-6999 (FAX) *** Local telephone companies and long distance carriers have been preparing for the coming changes. The United States Telephone Association has prepared several information bulletins that are available without charge. These publications can be obtained from, and questions about the telephone network can be addressed to: Dennis Byrne Executive Director Operations and Engineering United States Telephone Association Suite 600 1401 H Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-2136 202 326-7296 202 326-7333 (FAX) *** The North American Telecommunications Association represents both suppliers and users of telecommunications equipment. They have prepared a publication called The North American Numbering Plan: A Guide to Preparing for the New Number Formats. This publication can be obtained for a charge of $25.00 by calling 800 538-6282, Ext. 260. Questions can be addressed to: Mary Bradshaw Director, Industry Relations North American Telecommunications Association Suite 550 2000 M Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 202 296-9800, Ext. 210 202 296-4993 (FAX) *** All of the publications referred to above are available in the Public Reference Room operated by the Commission's Industry Analysis Division. Questions may be addressed to the Commission's staff at: Industry Analysis Division Federal Communications Commission 1250 23rd Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 202 632-0745 202 632-1411 (FAX) -FCC- Bob Keller Robert J. Keller, P.C. Tel +1 301 229 5208 rjk@telcomlaw.com Federal Telecommunications Law Fax +1 301 229 6875 finger me for daily FCC info + see ftp.clark.net:/pub/rjk/ for other files ------------------------------ From: 100020.1013@CompuServe.COM (Alfredo E. Cotroneo) Subject: 2nd Radio Montreux (June 9-11) Date: 2 Jun 1994 09:51:15 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway From Thursday June 9, 1994, till Saturday June 11 Montreux will host the 2nd Radio Montreux, with an interesting Symposium and Technical Exibition for those who are interested in Radio Broadcasting, especially in Europe. Montreux is one hour drive/train from Geneva, on the Lake of Geneva (Switzerland). There will be three parallel sessions during the three days, divided on topics related to Radio Station Management, Programming, and Engineering. Below I am transcribing the titles of the sessions, as they appear on the official program: * THURSDAY JUNE 9, 1994 * 10:30 Opening Ceremony 12:00 Highlight Session: The future of Radio, followed by Wine Reception Management: THURSDAY JUNE 9, 1994 14:30-16:00 The Co-existence of Public and Private Radio - The rules of the Game (The Funding of Radio) 16:30-18:00 Open Discussion 18:00-19:00 Traffic and service information Programming: THURSDAY JUNE 9, 1994 09:00-10:30 Continuity and Broadcast Operations (also Automation, and RDS in BBC Radio Networks) * FRIDAY JUNE 10, 1994 * Management: FRIDAY JUNE 10, 1994 08:00-09:00 Workshop: Methods of Audience Rating 09:00-10:30 Who will pay for new technologies? 11:00-12:30 What will DAB change in Broadacsting Life? 14:30-18:00 Maximising Advertising, Sponsorship and Sales Income Programming: FRIDAY JUNE 10, 1994 08:00-09:00 Workshop: Human Resources, How to Save your Job? 09:00-10:30 Changes in Musical Formats 11:00-12:30 The Future of International Programme Exchange 14:30-16:00 Is the Format Model Still Valid in Europe? 16:30-18:00 Is Automation Killing the Spirit of Radio? Engineering: FRIDAY JUNE 10, 1994 09:00-10:30 Training 11:00-12:30 Transmission and Reception (Excluding Digital Radio) 14:30-18:00 Digital Radio 18:00-19:30 Workshop- Additional Data Services for DAB: Dynamic Range Control (DRC) * SATURDAY JUNE 11,1994 * Management: SATURDAY JUNE 11,1994 08:00-09:00 Workshop - The Future of International Radio Services 09:00-10:30 The Regulation of Radio in the Year 2000 11:00-12:30 Marketing and Promotion Programming: SATURDAY JUNE 11,1994 08:00-09:00 Breakfast Session - New Tools and Applications for Integrated Research 09:00-10:30 Planning and Positioning the Station 11:00-12:30 Winning with Consultants Engineering: SATURDAY JUNE 11,1994 09:00-12:30 Production Environment and Acoustic Developements and, to end, on Saturday: FAREWELL EVENING: Concert and Buffet reception at the Auditorium Starvinski, Montreux. The technical Exhibition is open daily between 10:00-18:00. Any error or omission is mine, so check the source, and do not trust me :) FINAL NOTE, AND DISCLAIMER: Needless to say that I have no relation with the organizers, and for any details you have better to check with them: Phone: +41-21-963 3220 or fax: +41-21-963 88 51. They can take care of Hotel reservation as they did for me, as well as for travel, and Conference registration. I will be there, so if you plan to be there as well you may leave me a message at the desk, if you want. Please contact the 2nd Radio Montreux organizers for more information, *NOT* ME, please. Alfredo E. Cotroneo, NEXUS-Int'l Broadcasting Associaton PO BOX 10980, I-20110 Milano, Italy phone: +39-337-297788 / +39-2-266 6971 Fax: +39-2-706 38 151 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 11:51:44 -0500 From: Jonathan_Welch Subject: NYNEX Bill Insert - Rate Changes April 1994 bill insert on rate changes: On April 14, 1994 new rates became effective for our customers in Massachusetts. The new rates are reflected in this bill. These rate changes are part of a series of changes designed to gradually move the prices of NYNEX services closer to the actual costs of providing the services. NYNEX receives no additional revenue as a result of the new rates. Increases in prices of some services have been offset by decreases in prices of other services. RATE CHANGES AT A GLANCE Residence Services New Service: A new calling service is introduced for residence service cus- tomers in the 413 area code. The new optional calling plan is called CallAround 413 Plus Service and it allows unlimited calling within the 413 area code for a single monthly rate of $29.80, including the dial tone line rate. Exchange Service: Residence unlimited basic exchange service is increased by an average of $1.96. The residence measured service dial tone line rate is increased by $2.49 to $9.91. Circle Calling, a Residence Premium exchange service, is increased by an average of $4.57. Until now, residence unlimited exchange service had five sep- arate rates and Circle Calling Service had three, depending upon the exchange in which the service was provided. Now, there is a single statewide rate for each of these services. The applicable charges are: Residence unlimited one-party service - $16.85; Circle Calling Service - $34.24. Service Rates: The residence Temporary Suspension of Service charge equals the residential dial tone line rate. It increases by $2.49 to $9.91. Business Services Until now, business unlimited exchange line service and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) trunk service had four sepa- rate rates depending upon the exchange in which those ser- vices were provided. Now, there is a single statewide rate of $38.42 for each business unlimited exchange line and $57.63 for each unlimited PBX trunk. The 800 Service dial tone line monthly rate is reduced from $25.00 to $20.00. Operator-Handled Business, Residence and Coin Calls Operator-handled surcharges will continue to apply to opera- tor-assisted calls. Other Changes Rates for various analog private line services will be increased; the prices for some digital private line services will be decreased. Rates for Direct Inward Dialing Service for business Private Branch Exchange (PBX) trunks and stations are reduced. RESIDENCE SERVICE OPTIONS** Service Description Rates Measured Provides per-call charging on $9.91 all local calls Unlimited Provides unlimited calling within $16.85 the local calling area Two Party $11.75 Circle Calling Provides unlimited local calling $34.24 and toll-free calling within 20 miles CallAround 413 Provides unlimited calling within $29.80 Plus Service the 413 area code. **Not all services are available in all locations. Please consult the introductory pages of your NYNEX telephone directory for detailed information, or call your service representative at the telephone number on page 1 on the NYNEX Itemization of Account section of your bill. If you want or need to change your local service, there is no charge to change from Circle Calling to Basic Unlimited or Measured Service. HOW TO CONTACT US If you want more information or if vou have any questions about these changes, please call our Customer Response Center at 1 800 555-5000, weekdays between 7:30 am and 8:00 pm and Saturday between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. If you are calling from outside Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont, please call a NYNEX Service Representative at the telephone number on page 1 of the NYNEX Itemization of Account section of your bill. Customers with disabilities should contact us at our Customer Contact Center for Individuals with Disabilities by calling 1 800 974-6006 (V/TTY). ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Jun 1994 20:51:44 GMT From: Charbel_Tannous@engr.usask.ca (Charbel Tannous) Subject: Spread Spectrum Video Organization: University of Saskatchewan SPREAD SPECTRUM FOR INDOOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION by Dr. Eric J. Salt, Dr. Surinder Kumar and Prof. David Dodds 250 page manual included $395. A comprehensive 3 cassette program for engineers and researchers wanting to achieve a thorough understanding of the principles of Spread Spectrum. [Six hours]. Description Principles of Spread Spectrum in a single path setting: Spreading with PN sequences. Effects of Broad-band Noise & Simultaneous users. Types of PN sequences. Receiver performance in the presence of Co-users. The In-Building channel: The effect of absorbers and scatterers. A ray model of the Channel. Delay power spectrum. Doppler spreading. Distance dependent loss. Statistical model of the Channel. The principles of Spread Spectrum in a Multiple Path Setting: Performance of a RAKE receiver. Effects of a Co-user on the decision variable. Performance calculation. Issues in Synchronization: Single user- Single path. Multiple Access- Single path. Multiple Access- Multiple path. SAW and RAKE Receivers in an in-building CDMA system: Matched Filter concepts. SAW devices for implementing Matched Filters. Receiver Structure using a SAW matched filter. System performance with a RAKE receiver. TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGES 1.Principles of Spread Spectrum in a Single Path Setting (Eric Salt) (a) Mechanisms for Spread and Despreading 1- 12 (b) Effects of a Co-User 13- 17 (c) Spreading Codes 18- 42 (d) Receiver Performance 46- 67 (e) System Performance Example 68- 72 2.The In-Building Channel (Eric Salt) (a) The Channel Viewed as a Collection of Scatters 73- 85 (b) Delay Spread & Coherence Bandwidth 86- 91 (c) Doppler Spread 92- 94 (d) Odds & Ends 95- 105 3.Principles of Spread Spectrum in a Multiple Path Setting (Eric Salt) (a) Simple Receiver in a Two-Path Channel 106- 112 (b) Two-Tap RAKE Receiver 113- 134 (c) Increasing the Capacity with Forward Error Correction & Sectorization 135- 148 (d) Pedagogical Example 148- 164 4.Issues in Synchronization (David Dodds) (a) Single User - Path 165- 169 (b) Multiple Access - Single Path 170- 174 (c) Search Strategies 175- 182 (d) Multiple Access - Multiple Path 183- 188 5.SAW and RAKE Receivers for In-Building CDMA Systems (Surinder Kumar) (a) Matched Filter Concepts 189- 200 (b) SAW Devices for CDMA Systems 201- 208 (c) CDMA Receiver Using SAW Devices 209- 220 (d) RAKE Receiver 221- 222 (e) Computer Simulation Results 223- 244 ** ORDER FORM ** To order: telephone, FAX or mail to: TRLabs, Suite 108- 15 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK CANADA S7N 2X8 Tel: (306)-668-8200 FAX: (306) 668-1944 Please send me one (1) @ 395 Candian Funds $ _______________ Please send me additional sets @ $160.0 each $ _______________ Please send me additional manuals @ $180.0 each $ _______________ Please send me additional cassettes @ $80.0 each $ _______________ (Prices do not include shipping and handling) TOTAL $ _______________ Payment options: My cheque is enclosed _____ Please bill me _____ Purchase order # ____ Please charge my credit card: Visa _____ American Express _____ Card # _____________Exp. Date_______ Signature:________________________ PLEASE SHIP MY ORDER TO: Name:__________________________________ Title:__________________ Company Name:__________________________ Street:_________________ City:__________________________________ Province/State:________ Postal code/ZIP:_____________ Telephone:( )_______________ Fax:( )______________ About TRLabs: TRLabs is a non-profit joint Industry-University-Government collaboration in applied telecommunications research with the aim of contributing trained people and innovative technology to industry. TRLabs Sponsors: AGT Limited Digital Equipment Corp. QCC Communication Corp. Alberta Government Digital Systems Group Inc. Saskatchewan Government AT&T MTS Manitoba Government Bell Northern Research EDTel SaskTel Communications Canada LSI Logic Corp. SED Systems Inc. NovAtel Communications University of Alberta SMART Technologies University of Calgary University of Saskatchewan University of Manitoba WaveCom Electronics Inc. Develcon Electronics Ltd. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jun 94 12:06:27 EDT From: Rick Watson Subject: ATT/MCI Numbering War > In an effort to snag more long distance telephone calls (charged to > a credit card or a third number), AT&T reserved the toll-free number > 1-800-OPERATOR. Not to be outdone, and perhaps knowing the public > better, MCI reserved the number 1-800-OPERATER and has been scooping > up calls intended for its arch-rival. Is this why AT&T is switching from 1-800-OPERATOR to 1-800-CALL-ATT? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: AT&T had the latter of the two numbers in > service for quite awhile prior to starting 'OPERATOR'. I would not be > surprised to hear there was a lot of confusion between OPERATOR and > OPERATER however. PAT] You think thats where it ends? Try dialing 1-800-ATT-CALL. (You get MCI!) Rick Watson Telecomm Analyst/NYU Computer Center ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #267 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa07610; 3 Jun 94 2:50 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27318; Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:05:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA27287; Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:05:01 CDT Date: Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:05:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406021605.AA27287@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #266 TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Jun 94 11:05:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 266 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose (John R. Haggis) Re: Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone (Steve Cogorno) Re: Security of a Code? (Mark Brukhartz) Re: Ground-start trunk line sharing product? (Dave Ptasnik) Re: S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection (Dave Ptasnik) Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway (Dave O'Shea) Re: Out-Going Call Blocking to Local Numbers (thssamj@iitmax.iit.edu) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy (Wes Leatherock) Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy (Dick St.Peters) Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA (Fred Linton) Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA (Robert G. Schaffrath) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: haggis@netcom.com (John R. Haggis) Subject: Re: Help: Bad Phone Lines in San Jose Organization: Millennium Research Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 12:21:03 GMT In article terry@hh.sbay.org (Terry Greenlee) writes: > I am having trouble with my phone lines at home and I was wondering if > anyone else had this same thing happen to them? Terry, I've had bad phone lines all over the place, including the rusty, musty lines up in Boulder creek. > Monday a Bell tech will come out to test. Yeah, and he'll say, "We don't guarantee lines for more than 4800 baud. You have to get a leased line to do better." This is their mantra. Don't accept it for a second. > Does anyone at Pacific Bell know how to fix these problems? No. That's the problem. Short of replacing all the lines, everywhere. Maybe we should get phone service over the cable TV lines ... Seriously, here's how you deal with them. To the "not rated over 4800 baud" mantra, just insist that everybody else has better operation, and keep insisting that it's your individual lines. Keep insisting that they change drops or incoming trunk lines until it works. Tell them it worked before for you at another house (it has for me, both the strategy and the mechanics). Above all, keep calling and going over peoples' heads. The people at Pac Bell, while regular, nice people on the outside, become flaming assholes when at work under the strain of a job they have no concept or understanding of. Give 'em h*ll. John (haggis@netcom.com) ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 11:14:56 PDT Said by: Kathy Vincent > 2. Can anyone recommend integrated equipment -- a three-in-one > combination in which all THREE elements are quality? > She says she's found some combinations, but the answering > machine is usually junk. She would prefer a digital answering > machine (i.e., no tapes). Can anyone recommend anything that might > do the job -- especially anything <=$500? Does she have a computer? I have a modem that is made by Promethus Products, called the Ultima Home Office. It integrates 14,400 bps DATA, 14,400 Send/Receive Fax, and Voice mail with up to 100 mailboxes. It will only handle one line, and it has a few quirks, but once you get the hang of it, it works wonderfully. There are PC and Macintosh versions availible for around $390. One caveat: for voice mail, the computer must be on, and running the MaxFax software (it can be in the background; the modem will automatically bring it to the front). If she has a Macintosh with Solid-State power (All of the Macintosh II series, Quadra 700, 800, 840, 900) there is an adated availible for about $30 that will turn on the computer on the first detected ring. For other models, you can get a similar adapter, but more expensive (around $150) which is like a power strip: you plug the computer into it, and it turns the power on after the first ring. Steve cogorno@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 14:12:25 -0500 From: mark_brukhartz@il.us.swissbank.com (Mark Brukhartz) Subject: Re: Security of a Code? The basic measure of cipher strength is key length. If a cipher has no other weaknesses (a major point), it can still be broken by trying every key until one produces recognizable data. This is known as a "brute force attack." Each bit of key length doubles the time needed for a brute force attack. Assume that an attacker has a million CPUs, each capable of trying a thousand keys per second. (I believe that those are reasonable figures for a well financed opponent attacking a typical cipher.) Here are the average times to break a cipher by brute force for several key lengths: 40 bits 9 minutes 48 bits 40 hours 56 bits 1 year 64 bits 300 years 72 bits 7 thousand years 80 bits 20 million years These times will shrink as computers get faster. For data which must remain secure for several decades, extraordinarily long keys are warranted. Ciphers based upon typical pseudo-random number generators are weak, and can be broken quickly by a professional cryptographer regardless of key length. Such ciphers are all too common, often built in to applications such as word processors and spreadsheets. Academic cryptographers publish new ciphers which have passed analysis by their immediate colleagues. Many of these ciphers, if not most of them, are still broken within a few years. Beware of proprietary ciphers, because they have not been subjected to such scrutiny. For moderate data security, the old US Data Encryption Standard (DES) is still a decent algorithm. In over fifteen years of academic analysis, no serious weakness has been revealed. Unfortunately, its 56 bit key is small by today's standards. It is widely speculated that government spy bureaus have built specialized DES cracking hardware which can complete a brute force attack within minutes. DES still provides excellent security from ordinary hackers and nosy employees, though. Mark Brukhartz mdb@il.us.swissbank.com ------------------------------ From: davep@u.washington.edu (Dave Ptasnik) Subject: Re: Ground-Start Trunk Line Sharing Product? Date: 1 Jun 1994 19:16:42 GMT Organization: University of Washington Rod Regier writes: > Background: > My organization is currently using a Mitel SX-100 PBX. The incoming > TELCO trunk lines are ground-start trunks. I have no "free" locals > I would like to use the two-line pool at night to add to my dialup > modem pool without adding any additional (expensive, $C1000/yr) telco > lines. > If the two-line pool used normal loop lines, I could use a product > like the Cardinal Communications Comshare 550 to support both incoming > voice and data calls, as well as outgoing PBX calls. One of the Mitel family of SMar-T dialers includes a loop/ground start converter. Placet this on the line and you can use any 2500 equivalent on a ground start trunk. Ask you Mitel dealer for details. A 4 line unit probably costs less than $300. Dave Ptasnik davep@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ From: davep@u.washington.edu (Dave Ptasnik) Subject: Re: S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection Date: 1 Jun 1994 19:26:00 GMT Organization: University of Washington kmp@tiac.net (K. M. Peterson) writes: > My problem: I don't want to have to lift the handset to find out if I > have messages. Has someone come up with a box to sit on one's line > and detect this (and flash a lamp or something)? A Canadian company called Xinex Networks, Inc. makes an amazing telephone called the mindSET. It periodically samples the line looking for stutter dial tone, and turns on a big message light when it finds it. There is a nice display that shows Caller-ID information. It also has a whole bunch of speed dial keys and function keys, or you can enter in bunches of names and scroll through them on the display, like a Rolodex. Naturally it has a speakerphone. It also passes through the ring provided by the phone company, so if you have custom ringing, you can hear the different patterns. All in all a very nice unit. Don't know the price, just got to play with a demo unit for a while. Dave Ptasnik davep@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ From: dos@spam.wdns.wiltel.com (Dave O'Shea) Subject: Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway Date: 1 Jun 1994 20:04:27 GMT Organization: WilTel Reply-To: dave_oshea@wiltel.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Despite what Runyan may say, the United > States Postal Service is in very bad condition. Over the past three months > there have been major upheavals in the USPS here in Chicago, as Runyan > himself can attest. Several top officials of the post office here have There is value in the post office, though: Much like New York City's subways, where "I took the subway" is excuse for any lateness at all, "it's in the mail" is a wonderful, irrefutable excuse for whatever kind of misbehavior you feel like. If I forget to send my car loan payment in, I just say "the check's in the mail" when they call. End of case, I have two weeks to do whatever I want. Now, If I was dumb enough to use someone like Fedex, the bank could simply ask for an airbill number, and in 30 seconds, I'd be hanging my head in shame, admitting that I blew the car payment on a new 500mb drive. (Sarcasm intended. I drop by the post office weekly to give them the mail that has been delivered to me, though it is addressed to people sometimes near, sometimes far. And exchanging mis-delivered mail is a great way to meet the neighbors.) Dave O'Shea dave_oshea@wiltel.com Sr. Network Support Engineer 201.236.3730 WilTel Data NelzNitwork Services [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do the same thing at my post office box downtown. Whenever I go in, I'll find several items in my Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 (intended for me) with a rubber stamp endorsement on the front of the envelope saying 'opened in error by First National Bank of Chicago'. As well, there will be a few items in my box not for me, but either for a nearby box or as often as not, someone who lives at 1570 (some street) or Apartment 1570 (at some address), Chicago 60609, or Buffalo Grove, IL 60090. I used to simply take them to the call counter and leave them with the clerk, but sometimes the very same letter would be in my box *again the next day*. Now I have a little rubber stamp which reads "Not For Box 1570 at Chicago 60690" and I stamp that on the envelope before giving it back. If I still get the same letter back a couple times more (it has happened) then I take a pen and completely obliterate the zip code the writer put on the envelope forcing the 'nixies clerk' to seek it out manually. One little kid sent a postcard to WGN-TV at their box, which is 10003 (note the extra zero in the middle), Chicago, IL 60610. He wanted his free prize offered on some television show for little folks. I got that damn postcard *three times* recycled to my box. Finally I penciled in a note on the front by the address saying 'Try Fort Dearborn Station at 606-one-oh'. When it arrived a fourth time (yes!) at my box the next day with my 'try Fort Dearborn' notation scratched out I took the card with me and dropped it off with the receptionist at the front desk at WGN's offices, 2301 W. Bradley Place on my way home. But the best one of all was printed in {Pravda} several years ago. It seems some Soviet school children had been given the assignment of writing letters to the leaders of different countries asking them about their country and encouraging them to work for peace among nations. One little guy named Ivan had written to President Reagan. The picture in {Pravda} showed this kid about ten years old with a very bewildered look on his face and an envelope in front of him addressed to "President Reagan, United States of America". On the envelope, a rubber stamp endorsement quite plain for everyone to read, "Moved, left no forwarding address, return to sender" with indicia of the Washington, DC post office. (He was president at the time.) The newspaper's caption to the picture read, "Postal Service says cannot locate President". The picture and accompanying story was on the employees bulletin board at 60690 for several months. It was taken down finally when it had accumulated quite a bit of graffiti written on it, no doubt by disgruntled postal workers and/or customers who saw it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: thssamj@iitmax.iit.edu (jani) Subject: Re: Out-Going Call Blocking to Local Numbers Organization: Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 20:08:28 GMT In article thssamj@iitmax.iit.edu (jani) writes: > Is it possible to block outgoing calls to selected local numbers? > Ameritech says they do not have such a service. Only kind of outgoing > call blocking they offer is to 1-900 numbers and total blocking to > long distance service. > They suggested I should check out if there was such a device available > from a third party. Is there such a thing? > I would prefer if the phone company could do it at their end as it > would be more secure. (The device can not be unplugged and disabled.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Telco does have classes of service which > allow total blocking to local calls; blocking of long distance calls [deleted...] > and can be secreted in an out-of-the-way place on your premises. A > detirmined person could get into them, but they do the job in most > cases. PAT] The phone company, Ameritech in Illinois says they do not offer the class of service that blocks all local calls as they are in the business of getting people to make more calls -- not restrict calls. Are they saying this because it is not technically possible or is it because they have marketing considerations in mind? Is it possible to change to a phone company that offers such a service. The line is located in a apartment building. Is there another local phone company in the area (Chicago) that would offer such a service? amj [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is, for all intents and purposes, no alternative to Illinois Bell (Ameritech) in your case. Your volume of business does not warrant it. If your phone bill was like that of University of Chicago, or City of Chicago, or Amoco, or Rush-Presbyterian and around five hundred thousand dollars per *month* and you had a service representative at telco assigned exclusively to your account, who worked on nothing but 'amj' business eight hours a day like the above accounts, then telco would be coming around asking you what you wanted. *Yes*, they do offer a class of service which restricts all local calls and only allows long distance. And when you called and asked about it, the rep who dealt with you probably wrote you off as a crackpot and let it go at that. They won't give it to you, so forget it. For quite a few years I had a part time job reconciling the phone bill and making service changes for a large company downtown with centrex. A phone on my desk was for long distance only. If I dialed seven digits to anywhere it went to intercept (call cannot be completed as dialed). It did accept 1+ ten digits; it did not accept 0+ dialing. I think the bill there was only about sixty thousand dollars per month, making it one of the smaller 'larger' accounts. If you want to do business with the 'competition' at Teleport (or whoever it is that moved in on Ameritech's territory), plan to show them where you can give them at least several thousand dollars per month in business. They do not handle residence stuff. You are not in Central Telephone's territory (I assume you are not in the little sliver of land they control on the northwest side) so you cannot go to them unless you want foreign exchange service and believe me you, when you see the bill for FX you'll wish you had stayed with IBT and a few unauthorized local calls from time to time. Do as you were told here yesterday and visit the local Radio Shack store in your neighborhood. Be creative and find a way to secrete the device on your premises, under lock and key if necessary. You will get along just fine. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 08:50:22 Organization: [ OU BBS University Of Oklahoma (405)325-6128 TBBS ] Subject: Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Wanted Quoting itstevec@rocky.ucdavis.edu (Steve Chafe) > Does anyone know what the average speed (in characters per minute, > or whatever is appropriate) of a professional telegrapher would > have been when wire telegraphy was the main mode of electronic > communication? I'm trying to do a comparison of data communication > speed then and now, so I'd love to hear any thoughts that people > can offer. I can't give a numeric figure, but I can provide some anecdotal information. In the 1950s, I was a reporter and editor for United Press in Dallas. Our circuits serving clients (newspapers and radio stations, primarily) were 60-speed Teletype circuits fed by ASR machines (punched tape run through a distributor so that full throughput could be obtained, unlike hand keying which is not more than two-thirds as fast effectively, and often much less.) On Saturday afternoons during the football season, many of the accounts of football games came in on Western Union short period leased circuits. (At that time, Western Union had exclusive contracts with virtually all stadiums, including college stadiums.) We would have several such games coming in over Western Union circuits, most of them set up on teletypewriters which were apparently hand cranked at the stadium end by Western Union operators drawn from their regular pool. However, occasionally we had the pleasure of seeing a real live operator show up with his key and sounder. This was always a pleasure. The stories that came in by Western Union teletypewriter were always slow and frequently had errors that had to be questioned. (Press copy uses full text, full punctuation, etc., and a story about a football game is naturally full of figures and statistics, all of which seem to be foreign to what Western Union operators usually handled.) But the Morse operator with his key was something different. (Some used bugs, some straight keys.) And obviously his counterpart at the game was similarly competent. You could start a story moving on the wire as soon as the Morse operator gave you a couple of paragraphs. He would stay ahead of the 60-speed Teletype circuit without any difficulty. If there was a question, he would break the sending operator and get the matter straightened out immediately, even if the operator at the game had to ask the writer. (Often, if there was something questionable, the receiving operator had already noticed and asked the sending operator.) They were real professionals and it was always a pleasure to deal with them. And their real output was a whole lot faster than the hand cranked teletypewriter copy of the other circuits, and much more accurate. Of course, these were operators with real press experience and used the Phillips code, understood what the press requirements were, and I think got real pleasure out of exercising their skills, and incidentally drawing our admiration. A few years before, I had been writing play-by-play (newspapers used that in early editions in the 1940s) for University of Oklahoma games, and I had a Western Union operator sitting beside me, sending each paragraph as I wrote it. He, too, was similarly good and not infrequently caught me in mistakes (in a friendly, helpful manner, too). Press operators were, I think probably the elite of operators sending in the wire telegraph days. Perhaps those working for brokerage wire houses could also put in a claim to this, but I'm not sufficiently familiar with them to be able to judge. Wes Leatherock wes@obelisk.pillar.com wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters) Subject: Re: Average Data Speed of Wire Telegraphy Reply-To: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com Organization: GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 22:54:12 GMT What a bunch of old memories this question brings up! 30 years ago I used to run very high speed machine-keyed transmissions for people to practice listening to, out of W1MX, the MIT student ham radio station. W1AW, the ARRL station, used to tranmit practice transmissions at speeds up to 35 wpm. We started there and ran up to 65 wpm. How fast someone can copy depends a LOT on the nature of what is being sent. Simple text that makes sense is an awful lot easier than the random letters and numbers taken from the tables of vacuum tube characteristics that were sent for a latter portion of the transmission at each speed. Nobody can copy that at the higher speeds, because of the way people hear code. At very low speeds, you hear individual dits and dahs. Somewhere around 5 wpm there's a barrier where you can't go higher until you learn to hear whole letters. Get past that barrier, and you can run up to 20+ wpm pretty quickly, where there's another barrier where you have to start hearing whole syllables, even whole words. Once through that, you can again progress rapidly (with practice) up to 60 wpm or so, where you max out. At these speeds, code essentially has become another language. If the transmission has a spelling error, you "hear" the error as a sort of dissonance ... you still get the meaning, but it doesn't sound right in the same way a basic grammar error doesn't sound right in language. That changed way of perceiving code at ca. 20+ wpm makes it very hard to transcribe code at higher speeds. Up to the character-at-a-time barrier, you can learn to type the characters as they come in with a kind of brain bypass ... code character to finger keystroke. Once you hear whole words, you can no longer do this. Also, someone who can hear the 60 wpm language with no sweat can have a problem copying very slow transmission. Ah well, 'twas a looong time ago. Dick St.Peters, Gatekeeper, Pearly Gateway; currently at: GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com ------------------------------ From: flinton@wesleyan.edu Subject: Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 20:41:25 GMT Organization: Wesleyan University In article gvaeth@netcom.com (Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications) writes: > Caller ID in Pennsylvania ... for residential customers is > $6.50/month, business is $8.50. How does this rate compare to other > states? Caller ID for SNET residential customers in Connecticut is also $6.50/mo., where available. Calls to New Haven (203 776 xxxx) often get reported as "out of area" or, more bluntly, "error", or even just " ------ " whenever the routing utilizes a non-caller-ID-aware switch (even on calls known independently to originate in the same 776 exchange (!)). So a "perfect privacy filter" Caller ID is certainly not. But, at $0.20 per day, it's good cheap fun, anyway, to see whether SNET got it right this time, or muffed it yet again. Fred [E.J. Linton : FLinton@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU : fejlinton@mcimail.com] ------------------------------ From: gfimda!rgs@uunet.UU.NET (Robert G. Schaffrath) Subject: Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 01:09:40 GMT Organization: Kraft General Foods > An insert in my latest bill contained a notice that Bell Atlantic will > offer Caller ID in Pennsylvania in August. The cost for residential > customers is $6.50/month, business is $8.50. Call blocking and > anonymous call rejection are free. This charge seem outrageous > considering that the equipment to do it is already there, right? How > else does return call, repeat call and all that stuff work. How does > this rate compare to other states? New York Telephone, uh NYNEX, also charges $6.50. It's a rip off but I really wanted the technology. I got even though. I was carrying custom calling feature (forwarding and call waiting) which totalled more than the $6.50. I dropped them so my bill actually went down! Robert G. Schaffrath, N2JTX Internet: rgs%wpmax2%gfimda@uunet.uu.net Systems Engineer CompuServe: 76330,1057 Maxwell House Coffee Company Phone: 914-335-2777 Kraft General Foods Corp. Slogan: "ervice is ur mott" ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #266 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa14833; 3 Jun 94 23:32 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01711; Fri, 3 Jun 94 12:15:54 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA01682; Fri, 3 Jun 94 12:13:16 CDT Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 12:13:16 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406031713.AA01682@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #268 TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Jun 94 12:13:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 268 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NYNEX Bill Insert on DA Changes (Jonathan Welch) NYNEX April 1994 Bill Insert on Maintenance Changes (Jonathan Welch) Gathering Cellular Statistics (Richard L. Shapiro) Splitting Newswires (RS-232) (Marty Lyons) How to Get White pages Data From GTE? (Frank Dziuba) Replacement Wanted For Bogen Friday (Robert La Ferla) Pointers Wanted to TDD Specifications Please (Joseph Chiu) Need Book Recommendations For CTI (Paul Kendall) Positions Available: Telecommunications Senior Engineers (John F. Nymark) Pac Bell's "ISDN Anywhere" (Michael L. Judson) German Telephone Equipment in France (Niedner) Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing (Steve Brack) Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing (James Payton) Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing (Karl Johnson) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Thomas N. Harding) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Jim Burks) Re: Recommendation For AlphaNumeric Paging Software (Rob Lockhart) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 11:55:50 -0500 From: Jonathan_Welch Subject: NYNEX Bill Insert on DA Changes April 1994 bill insert on DA changes: During June, NYNEX will begin the introduction of a new service in selected telephone exchanges in Massachusetts. This service will enable you to complete a call within the 617, 508 or 413 Area Codes to a telephone number which you have requested from Directory Assistance without having to hang up and dial the number. How does new the service work? After receiving the telephone number you have requested from Directory Assistance, you will hear a brief recorded announcement. Simply press "1" from any touch-tone phone any time during the special announcement, or say "yes" after the tone at the end of the announcement and the number you received will then be automatically dialed. How much will it cost? Each completed call will cost 35 cents plus the applicable usage and directory assistance charges. If there is no answer or the line is busy, there is no charge. How do I get this service? NYNEX will add the ability to use this service to all residence and business lines served by telephone switching offices that are equipped to provide it. What if I don't want to use this service? If you want the telephone number from Directory Assistance but do not want the call completed automatically, simply hang up after you receive the requested number. Can I block this service from my telephone? Yes. If you decide that you do not want to have access to this new service, please advise us and this option will be removed from your line(s) at no charge. To make these arrangements, customers with residential telephone service should call 1 800 555-5000, ext. 80. Business telephone service customers should call their account representative, or call a service representative at the number following the words "to order or change your service call" listed at the top of page 1 of your monthly bill. Can I still get two numbers on one call to Directory Assistance? Yes, you can continue to get two numbers from Directory Assistance on one call. Just ask the Directory Assistance operator at the beginning of the call. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 11:59:11 -0500 From: Jonathan_Welch Subject: NYNEX April 1994 Bill Insert on Maintenance Changes April 1994 bill insert on maintenance changes: NYNEX is making changes in the optional TeleSure Basic maintenance plan for residence and business customers. The changes are effective July 1, 1994 and affect the TeleSure Basic maintenance plan only. The TeleSure PLUS maintenance plan is not affected. The rate for the residence TeleSure Basic maintenance plan is increased from $0.45 to $0.95 per month. The business TeleSure Basic maintenance plan is eliminated. The TeleSure Basic maintenance plan covers inside jack and wire repairs only. If, after diagnosis, the problem is determined to be in your equipment or telephone, residence telephone service customers will be charged a visit charge of $25.00 plus a minimum time charge of $13.75, a total of $38.75 for the first 15 minutes of the visit. Each additional 15 minutes will be billed at $13.75, and charges apply for materials used. The minimum repair visit charge for business customers is $49.95 plus a minimum time charge of $13.75, a total of $63.70 for the first 15 minutes. Additional 15 minute increments will be billed at $13.75 each. Also, charges apply for materials used. In addition to the above changes in the Telesure maintenance plans, the changes include the introduction of visit charges for time and material installation service for both residence and business customers. For residence customers, the installation visit charge of $39.95 is coupled with the minimum time charge of $13.75 for a total of $53.70 for the first 15 minutes. The charge for each additional 15 minute increment is $13.75, and charges apply for materials used. The installation visit charge for business customers is $49.95. This charge, coupled witll the minimum time charge of $13.75 adds to a total of $63.70 for the first 15 minutes. The charge for each additional 15 minute increment is $13.75, and charges apply for materials used. Residence customers with questions about the changes or rates should call the NYNEX Customer Response Center at 1 800 555-5000 between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Business customers with questions about the changes or rates should call the NYNEX Direct Marketing Center at 1 800 343-4343, ext. 687, between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. ------------------------------ From: rshapiro@interaccess.com (Richard L. Shapiro) Subject: Gathering Cellular Statistics Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 11:57:39 Organization: InterAccess,Chicagoland's Full Service Internet Provider Good Day, My name is Richard Shapiro with Sprint Cellular and we are trying to locate some data related to cellular services through Internet. For about the past month I have been exploring Internet as a way to make other contacts in the Cellular Industry. But we have a specific piece of information we are seeking and I thought someone might know where I could look or who I could speak to thru an e-mail. I am trying to find the growth rate of the top 10-15 Cellular carriers in the U.S. for the past year including the 1st quarter of this year. Does anyone has any idea where I might look. Thanks for your help in advance. Richard V J Enterprises - Joshua Shapiro - Niles, IL Internet:rshapiro@interaccess.com ------------------------------ From: marty@nic.cerf.net (Marty Lyons) Subject: Splitting newswires (RS-232) Date: 2 Jun 1994 17:30:13 GMT Organization: CERFnet I have a need to split a newswire feed (UPI, Reuters, etc), which is one way RS-232 traffic, out to several devices. Has anyone ever gotten a general purpose device such as: - Telebit Netblazer - Xylogics Annex - Gandalf - Equinox to take an input stream (call in I) and generate multiple outbound streams (call them O1 ... On). Ideally, I'd rather use something off the shelf than making custom cables (which we've done, for one of these splits, and it is a pain). Kinda looks like: +----- O1 | I ---->---------+----- O2 dataflow | . . +----- On Thanks in advance! Marty Lyons * Sprocket Labs, Inc. * marty@sprocket.com 1030 East El Camino Real, Suite 450, Sunnyvale, CA 94087, USA +1 408 245 9600 ------------------------------ From: fjd@rain.org (Frank Dziuba) Subject: How to Get White pages Data From GTE? Date: 2 Jun 1994 14:08:52 -0700 Organization: Regional Access Information Network Hi, I would like to get the White Pages listings for my area from GTE in a computer-readable format. I know that there are cd-roms of the US phone books available, but they have heavy copyrights on them and I want to put a searchable phone book on my BBS. I called GTE who said they don't sell that data, but how did ProPhone get it? I heard that they scanned the phonebooks and OCR'ed them. Is that legal? Aren't they breaking some kind of copyright law? What is the copyright on the phone book information anyway? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Frank Dziuba MS-Windows Consulting fjd@rain.org ------------------------------ From: Robert La Ferla Subject: Replacement Wanted For Bogen Friday Reply-To: Robert La Ferla Organization: Hot Technologies Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 04:34:54 GMT Anyone know of a better product (and $300-500) than the Bogen two-line Friday voicemail system? I am having quite a few problems with it. Robert ------------------------------ From: josephc@cco.caltech.edu (Joseph Chiu) Subject: Pointers Wanted to TDD Specifications Please Date: 2 Jun 1994 09:05:29 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena After looking through various journals and computer-rags (all the way back to mid-80's!), and looking around at FAQ's and such, I'm still stumped in my search for technical information on TDD's. In particular, I'd like to know what the mark/space frequencies are, the data format, and what the character codes are. As I recall, it was a 5-bit encoding system, and (obviously) non-ASCII ... *sigh* If I had only saved those _really_ _old_ manuals! :-> So, this is my last-ditch effort for help. If TELECOM Digest can't help, I dunno who can! Thanks in advance! Joseph Chiu If America On-Line is truly America on-line, then I MSC 380 - Caltech am worried about the future of America... Pasadena, CA 91126 +1 818 449 5457 josephc@cco.caltech.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now, now ... don't have thoughts like that about the folks at aol.com. A lot of them are just a bunch of kids having a good time. They're okay. Not terribly bright perhaps, but the same is true of any commercial online service of that genre, i.e. Compuserve and Prodigy. What you see there is a picture of the USA painted with a rather broad brush. Americans generally are not quite as well-bred as people in other parts of the world. You should hear the young guys on Compuserve talk about 'getting an account on the Internet' ... to them, that would be the thrill of a lifetime. To answer your question about TDD specs, why not check out the Telecom Archives (anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu, then cd telecom-archives). We might have some of what you want there. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jfrank@netcom.com (J Frank and Associates) Subject: Need Book Recommendations For CTI Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 21:30:33 GMT I'm an Open Systems software developer just getting started on a Computer Telephone Integration project and need literature to get me up to speed. I'm mostly interested in the "big picture" view at this point; that is, how all the various pieces of equipment connect, what protocols are involved, etc. (specifically, literature that explains what switches do, what SS7 is used for, that sort of thing). In addition, I'm interested in who's doing development on telephony APIs to tie ACDs and VRUs together, like that. (I have the Microsoft TAPI stuff.) So, any book reviews out there? Thanks, Paul Kendall J. Frank Consulting Palo Alto, CA Paul.Kendall@jfrank.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our resident book reviewer here in the Digest is Rob Slade (roberts@decus.ca). He sends in a lot of review material; you might ask him about your topic of interest. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: jnymark@nycor.win.net (John F. Nymark) Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 15:47:50 Subject: Positions Available: Telecommunications Senior Engineers From: jnymark@nycor.win.net (John F. Nymark) TELECOMMUNICATIONS/TELEPHONY MULTIPLE OPPORTUNIITES SOFTWARE & HARDWARE ENGINEERS Positions require bachelor's degree in CS,EE or equivalent and a minimum of three (3) years INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE. SOFTWARE: Experience in software and systems development with an emphasis on embedded systems. Direct experience with telephony systems, real-time systems applications and "C" language needed. Senior Software Project Engineer - Develop the system strategies for fault tolerance including performance monitoring, fault detection, isolation, recovery with protection switching, logging and distributed processing. Senior Software Design Engineer - Develop the detailed operation for Network Element Management implementation. HARDWARE: Design methodologies will employ HP UNIX workstations with Mentor 8.25 software. Requires knowledge in the following areas: * ASIC/FPGA Design * PCB and Micro Controller Design * Collision Based Protocols * Telecommunication Standards These opportunities are in Minneapolis, MN. with a company that offers offers a REAL opportunity to expand your career and in a community that sets standards for QUALITY OF LIFE!!!!! PLease contact Michael Wagner @ NYCOR 4930 West 77th Street, Suite #300, Minneapolis, MN. 55435 Phone (612) 831-6444 FAX (612) 835-2883 ------------------------------ From: judson%linex@uunet.UU.NET (Michael L Judson) Subject: Pac Bell's "ISDN Anywhere" Organization: North Bay Network Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 22:47:34 GMT I saw in a news report about a new service from Pacific Bell called "ISDN Anywhere." When I called up Pac Bell, they had no idea what I was talking about. The news report didn't give much more information other than they would start offering it in about a month. Does anybody else have any ideas about what is so different about "ISDN Anywhere?" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So typical, isn't it, of the telcos that they run big full page advertisements on new services they are going to offer, then don't bother to tell any of their front line people what it is about, leaving them completely ignorant where customer questions are concerned. It is almost as big a waste of money as those American firms which take out full page ads in European publications then only give an 800 number for contact. PAT] ------------------------------ From: niedner@petrus.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr (Niedner) Subject: German Telephone Equipment in France Date: 2 Jun 1994 14:27:51 GMT Organization: CRIBX1 , Universite de Bordeaux I , France Hello, everyone! Is there anyone reading this who has experience with German (or any other European) phone equipment connected to the network of France Telecom? What happened: I bought an adapter and changed the western plug (1234 -> 2143). Now the phone works, but I cannot end the communication. Any help? Please sent answers as e-mail as well: niedner@petrus.lcab.u-bordeaux.fr Thanks, Sven ------------------------------ From: sbrack@esserv01.utnetw.utoledo.edu (Steve Brack) Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing Organization: University of Toledo Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 19:17:00 GMT safer@delphi.com wrote: > That just great, lay off thousands from OSP companies. Destroy an > entire inudstry, just because a couple of people can't figure out > 10xxx? Plus we the consumer will have to come up with millions to fund > Bill Party Preference. Then as consumers were going to have to > subsidize it too. If you want my opion it's just simplier to dial > 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-CALL-ATT. In almost every other area of business I can think of, the greatest latitude in billing arrangements is given to the person paying for the service, rather than the person using it. All BPP will do is bring telephone billing in line with standard commercial practice. Steven S. Brack sbrack@esserv01.eng.utoledo.edu Toledo, OH 43613-1605 STU0061@UOFT01.BITNET MY OWN OPINIONS sbrack@jupiter.cse.utoledo.edu ------------------------------ From: payton@ins.infonet.net Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing Date: 3 Jun 1994 04:36:02 GMT Organization: INS Info Services, Des Moines, IA USA Reply-To: payton@ins.infonet.net In article , dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) writes: > Billed Party Preference is an EXCELLENT idea -- it will force slimey > AOS firms out of business, and make MCI, Sprint, AT&T and anyone else > who wants to play compete more aggressively for your business. If they > want your business, they will have to provide you with something > better than your preferred carrier (lower rates, lower surcharge, > etc.) in order to get you to use them. Who knows, it may even bring > into the market a 0+ OSP with no calling card surcharge and rates in > line with standard direct dial rates. First of all, I don't think you should lump OSPs like MCI and Sprint in with the rest of the AOS firms. It was MCI who first offered 1-800-COLLECT as a way to make cheaper collect calls. Sure AT&T offered a similar product a short time later, but do you think they would have done so without the competition from MCI? It's true that people are being ripped off by some AOS companies. But that is the reality of a free marketplace. Uneducated consumers get ripped off on everything from toasters to automobiles all the time. Like it or not, the old Bell System goals of universal pricing and service are long gone. And even with a BPP system in place, there are *still* going to be problems for consumers. Example: A caller is making an AT&T CC call to an MCI customer. Caller dials 0+ but fails to enter the card number correctly. The local telco (who has the called number but not the CC number) routes the call to an MCI operator. The MCI operator cannot bill the proprietary AT&T card and refers the caller to 1-800-321-0288. This is similar to what happens today, *without* BPP. Example: A caller is making a third party call from a public phone. Dials 0+ and holds for an operator. The called party has AT&T, so the call routes to an AT&T operator. The caller requests a third party call and gives the billed number. The billed number's "preference" is Sprint. Would the AT&T operator be able to tell this? If so, does the AT&T operator process the call anyway, somehow hand it off to a Sprint operator, or refer the caller to 10333 + 0? To my knowledge there is no transfer system in place among IXC operators. Billed Party Preference wouldn't really solve all the problems, and it would obviously be expensive to implement. And *everyone* would end up paying for it (even those who never make 0+ calls) through increases in their local phone service. I'm sorry that some people are being ripped off by AOSs, but *I* don't want to be forced to pay higher rates because they are unwilling to educate themselves about the phone system. I think BPP is a BAD idea. James Payton payton@ins.infonet.net ------------------------------ Date: 03 Jun 94 08:28:58 EDT From: Karl Johnson Subject: Re: FCC Seeks Further Comments on 0+ Call Routing safer@delphi.com writes: > Gordon Burditt writes: >> Currently, 0+ calls are sent to the operator services provider >> (OSP) to which the premises owner or payphone provider presubscribes. >> Under BPP, calls would be routed automatically to the OSP preferred by >> the party being billed for the call. For example, a calling card call >> would be routed to the cardholder's preferred OSP. A collect call >> would be routed to the called party's preferred OSP. A call billed to >> a third party would be routed to the OSP to which that third party had >> presubscribed. > That just great, lay off thousands from OSP companies. Destroy an > entire inudstry, just because a couple of people can't figure out > 10xxx? Plus we the consumer will have to come up with millions to fund > Bill Party Preference. Then as consumers were going to have to > subsidize it too. If you want my opion it's just simplier to dial > 1-800-COLLECT or 1-800-CALL-ATT. I disagree with what you are said here. The rates at COTs will go down as the result of this as the which carrier is PICed for each COT on the basis of who gives the owner of the phone the highest commission. Where as under the new rules it will be who ever gives the consumer (the one who pays the bill) the best price. The OSP companies will then lower their prices to truly compete or go out of business IMO any company that makes the latter choice does not belong in business anyway. I think that when TPC was broken up and Equal Access was set up that all payphones should have been required to have their PIC set to none so that the consumer would have to make the choice. This would be true competition. ------------------------------ From: harding@wombat.cig.mot.com (Thomas N. Harding) Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: 3 Jun 1994 13:24:46 GMT Organization: Cellular Infrastructure Group, Motorola In regards to a cellular based email system for disaster use, remember that during disasters the priority of things like email is pretty low. Some systems can invoke emergency priority calling which prioritizes fire and police calls. As far as system stability goes I believe that cellular holds its own in emergencies due to backup power systems which are not feasible for distributed land line systems. San Francisco cellular service was the only thing up after their big quake. TH ------------------------------ From: Jim Burks Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: 3 Jun 1994 15:13:28 GMT Organization: The Promus Companies, Inc. In article , nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) says: > Er, cell sites are typically linked by land line to a central > site that controls the system. Only the last hop to the mobile phone > is radio. If you lose the link to the central site, even two phones > in the same cell can't talk. It's not a distributed system at all. Here in the Memphis area, most carriers link their cells with microwave links. Each tower has a horn pointed at another cell's tower, and the central site has horns going off in many directions. That still wouldn't replace the link from the central cell switch to the wireline telco. Jim Burks jburks@promus.com Database Administrator / Systems Engineer The Promus Companies, Inc. Memphis, TN USA http://stargate.promus.com/public/jbb.html ------------------------------ From: rlockhart@aol.com (RLockhart) Subject: Re: Recommendation For AlphaNumeric Paging Software Date: 1 Jun 1994 22:43:01 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , david@stat.com (David Dodell) writes: > I'm always seeing inquiries about alpha numeric paging software for > PC's and would like to recommend a company that I have no connection > with. The software is called PopPage and sells for $19.95 SCSC's PopPage certainly works in a DOS environment, but there are quite a few other DOS alpha paging apps available ... and Windows ones and OS/2 ones and Mac ones and Unix ones and HP100 ones and Newton ones (hmm, those aren't shipping yet ... scratch that one ) and ... well, quite a few. If you're looking to compare what's in the market- place for alpha paging apps, app enablers, vertical market apps, information service providers, Internet paging gateways, and the like, try taking a look at our freebie Motorola Third Party Referral Guide to Alpha and Data Paging. It's available on some of the commercial services (e.g., CIS, AOL, AppleLink) in a Stuffed MacWord 5.1 file format. > They also make something called Interceptor - Digital Paging System > Analyzer but I do not know anything about this product. Interceptor is a bundled, PC-based hardware/software package that monitors the paging channel and decodes all the numeric and alpha paging information on the channel in real time. The purpose in using such an animal is to allow frame/channel optimization. Rob Lockhart, Resource Manager, Interactive Data Systems Paging Products Group, Motorola, Inc. Desktop I'net: lockhart-epag06_rob@email.mot.com Wireless I'net (<32K characters): rob_lockhart-erl003e@email.mot.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #268 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa15039; 4 Jun 94 0:15 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02712; Fri, 3 Jun 94 13:35:25 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA02684; Fri, 3 Jun 94 13:35:22 CDT Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 13:35:22 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406031835.AA02684@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #269 TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Jun 94 13:35:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 269 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: 800 Number Billback (Paul S. Sawyer) Re: 800 Number Billback (Jonathan Loo) Re: Need Criteria for Choosing a Phone Number (Jack Brand) Re: Help With Northern Telecom Meridian System (budkafes@delphi.com) Re: Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies (Jonathan Loo) Re: Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World (James Holland) Re: Box to Add Digits When Dialing (Russell Nelson) Largest Calling Areas (was Re: Itemized Billing in UK) (Brendan Jones) Re: Internet Through Local Cable TV Provider (Mike Perry) Re: S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection (John Costello) Re: Does MCI Transmit CNID? (Glen Roberts) Re: Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone (Kathy Vincent) Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range (Les Reeves) Re: Internet Access at Home (Noel Moss) Re: British Call Forwarding in 1960s (Andrew C. Green) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Gerald Serviss) Seeking Bellcore CID Specifications (ivansoh@solomon.technet.sg) Re: Need Site Name for Bellcore Standards (Marty Lawlor) Re: Cellular Billing (Gregory Youngblood) Re: 716 Now Split Between 7D and 1 + 716 + 7D (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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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 edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** 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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. 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: paul@senex.unh.edu (Paul S. Sawyer) Subject: Re: 800 Number Billback Date: 2 Jun 1994 15:49:29 GMT Organization: UNH Telecommunications and Network Services > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, another solution [...] > [...] If you have some way to insure that calls > to 800 numbers get routed over some minimum number of trunks, and always > the same trunks then get some el-cheapo call restrictors and add them to > those outgoing lines. [...] Load them with the dozen or two dozen > most commonly (ab)used 800 numbers, as noted in your personal copy of > {Rolling Stone} and/or {Penthouse} magazine. [...] > The best part of all will be the nitwits who come to you to report that > their phone (or your lines) must be 'out of order'. ... you will > innocently ask them what number they were attempting to reach so that > you can investigate the problem ... they'll tell you (or if they have > a few brains they will try to avoid telling you the exact number) and > you'll clean them out right on the spot. ... PAT] This is almost exactly how we operate, except that our switch handles the restrictions directly. New numbers keep appearing, though ... By the way, when someone calls one of these numbers belonging to an IP that HAS restricted our numbers (as we ask all of them), the message says something like "BECAUSE OF NON PAYMENT (or at your request) the number you have dialed can not be connected. Please try again from another phone". Paul S. Sawyer - University of New Hampshire CIS - Paul.Sawyer@UNH.Edu Telecommunications and Network Services VOX: +1 603 862 3262 50 College Road FAX: +1 603 862 2030 Durham, New Hampshire 03824-3523 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Jun 1994 20:42:57 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: Re: 800 Number Billback If you call an 800 number with billback from a pay phone, then either the local telephone company or the owner of the property on which the telephone is located will have to pay for the call. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is generally correct. In cases of 'Genuine Bell' payphones, if the phone is installed on a 'semi-public' basis (meaning the proprietor of the establishment pays a fee for the phone to be there and gets no commission on calls made) then he is the subscriber; he gets stuck with those billback charges. On the other hand if the phone is 'public' (rather than 'semi-') the person on whose premises the phone is located receives a commission on usage and pays nothing for it to be there. In those cases, telco itself is technically the 'subscriber', and yes, they get the billback charges. But this only happens if somehow the phone was not listed in the database. When telco as the 'subscriber' in this instance refuses to pay the billback (and they always refuse to pay), then the phone is quickly added to the OAS's list of phones to which service is to be refused. PAT] ------------------------------ From: uswnvg!jlbrand@uunet.UU.NET (Jack Brand) Subject: Re: Need Criteria for Choosing a Phone Number Date: 02 Jun 94 23:46:46 GMT Organization: US West NewVector, Inc., Bellevue, WA In barry.s.rein@jpl.nasa.gov (Barry S. Rein) writes: > I'm looking for criteria on what makes a telephone number easy to > remember. Restaurants are supposedly willing to kill for a memorable > phone number, so I wonder if there is any research or recommendations > on how to select one, ie what combinations are remembered; what > combinations are most often mis-dialed, etc. One idea that works nicely is if your street address happens to be four digits long, get your last four digits of your phone number to match. Very convenient, especially for small children in the household who need to memorize their address/phone number. (We did, however, have to straighten them out when we realized they thought *everyone's* phone number was their address :-} ). jb ------------------------------ From: budkafes@delphi.com Subject: Re: Help With Northern Telecom Meridian System Date: Fri, 03 Jun 94 08:34:19 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Lance Ware writes: > 800 number into our system. Currently the line terminates at one > phone, and goes unanswered if the desk where the phone sits is vacant. Just input the CO line that goes to that phone into an unused if you have one CO port on your meridian systgem. You need to program that line to ring at the answering position. I'd be glad to help, how far are you from Baltimore, MD? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 15:33:45 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: Re: Name and Address -> Long Distance Companies The editor of the TELECOM Digest wrote a note to the effect that my proposal to make customer name and address information confidential would prevent the publishing and use of telephone directories. I would like to clarify my point. I want to prohibit the publication of the names and addresses of customers with non-published numbers, and the addresses of customers with unlisted addresses. If the name and address are in the telephone book, then anybody can have access to them. I hope that people will also respect (and enforce) existing privacy laws. This should make my point clearer. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes it does make it clearer, however you must bear in mind that the criss-cross directory publishers rarely have non-pub numbers listed anyway. All they have to work with is what appears in the regular phone book, plus whatever they are able to pick up from other sources. Generally if you have a non-pub number you need not worry about being listed in a criss-cross book. Of course your neighbors *will* be listed, and it is the easiest thing in the world for someone to call your neighbors, claim to have an important reason to get in touch with you and have the neighbors inadvertently spill the beans by giving out your number to whoever asks on the phone. It happens all the time. PAT] ------------------------------ From: holland@perot.mtsu.edu (Mr. James Holland) Subject: Re: Announcing New FCC BBS - FCC World Date: 2 Jun 1994 19:26:04 -0500 Organization: Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee In avb@cais.com (FCC World) writes: > The Washington, DC telecommunications law firm of Smithwick & > Belendiuk proudly announces the launch of a new BBS -- FCC WORLD -- > featuring information on the Federal Communications Commission. We > feature FCC documents on-line (many you cannot find on Internet), > texts of important FCC Reports and decisions (IVDS, PCS Auction info -- > on-line now!), Forums on hot FCC issues, free Classified ads and more! > The best thing -- its free and without a daily time limit. Give it a > try at 202-887-5718 (14.4 baud)! Is there not a (modem reachable) service ran by the FCC where you can punch up a FCC ID number from a FCC Class B item and find out some info about it. I'd like to check on some off-shore PC's that I suspect aren't quite legit as far FCC Class B is concerned ... Thanks, James Holland holland@knuth.mtsu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jun 94 23:10 EDT From: nelson@crynwr.com (Russell Nelson) Subject: Re: Box to Add Digits When Dialing mpinones@netmon.mty.itesm.mx (Marco A. Pinones) wrote: > I am looking for a box that could detect when digits are being dialed > and add some digits at the very beginning. You want a Mitel PAV+. You can call Mitel at +1-315-393-8000 and ask for the list of dialer distributors, or buy it from Dale Waton at 404-978-3426 with Hollis Group, cost me about $130. russ ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav Crynwr Software 11 Grant St. +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) Potsdam, NY 13676 ------------------------------ From: brendan@macadam.mpce.mq.edu.au (Brendan Jones) Subject: Largest Calling Areas (was Re: Itemized Billing in UK) Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 15:35:57 EST In article telecom14.250.3@eecs.nwu.edu, johns@scroff.UK (John Slater) wrote: > I believe Greater London is the largest geographic calling area in the world. Then you believe mistakenly! Australia has many calling areas larger than this. Much *much* larger! The largest calling area in Australia is the (089) zone which covers all of the Northern Territory and then some. It is about 1700 km N-S and about 900 km E-W in size, and has an area of approximately 1.55 *million* square kilometres, hence is about 6.5 times the size of the entire United Kingdom. The next largest is the (091) calling area in Western Australia, centred on Derby and occupying the northern 40% of that State. It has an area just over one million square kilometres. Despite these impressive sizes, they still may not be the largest in the World. If Greenland is one calling area, it would be larger still at about 2.2 million square kilometres. And what about possibly huge calling areas in the north of Canada? However, Australia should beat all of these by 1997. The current dialing plan reorganization in Australia will introduce eight digit local numbers and reduce the number of area codes from 54 to 4. These new area codes will dwarf the old ones in size. A new calling area will be created covering all of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, an area of 4.9 million square kilometres. *20* times the area of the United Kingdom or nearly 60% of the area of the United States. Brendan Jones (PhD Student) Email: brendan@mpce.mq.edu.au Electronics Department Voice: +61 2 850 9072 School of MPC&E Fax : +61 2 850 9128 Macquarie University Snail: +NSW 2109 AUSTRALIA ------------------------------ From: discover@halcyon.com (Mike Perry) Subject: Re: Internet Through Local Cable TV Provider Date: Fri, 03 Jun 1994 08:11:40 -0900 Organization: Discovery Institute, Seattle In article , linj@Texaco.COM (Jeff Lin) wrote: > Is it possible to get Internet connectivity through a local cable TV > provider? Has any cable TV provider around the country started (or > planned) this kind of service? > If this is possible, how does the bandwidth privided by a typical > local cable TV media compare with T1 and other media types? Technically, it's easy if the cable is two-way. Just use a chunk of unused spectrum. I believe there is a cable company on the east coast that has been providing HP employees with an ethernet connection to work this way. Intel and several other companies are also in the process of developing cable-tv modems that initially sell for about $500 but should quickly drop to under $200. That could give you an up to 10 megahertz connection. ------------------------------ From: jpc@mtrac.com Subject: Re: S-s-s-stuttering Dial Tone Detection Date: Fri, 03 Jun 94 11:32:43 PDT Organization: The Internet Access Company > Stretching my one phone line ever further, I'm considering getting > voicemail from our local telco. > My problem: I don't want to have to lift the handset to find out if I > have messages. Has someone come up with a box to sit on one's line > and detect this (and flash a lamp or something)? I believe the BelTronics Caller-ID unit also has a "MSG" display on the unit. You can get this unit at Lechmere. John Costello jpc@restrac.com ------------------------------ From: glr@ripco.com (Glen Roberts) Subject: Re: Does MCI Transmit CNID? Organization: RCI, Chicago, IL Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 16:16:54 GMT Eric R Sandeen (sandeen@kazoo.cecer.army.mil) wrote: > Does MCI transmit CNID? > I call from Champaign (IL) to Austin via MCI, and in Austin it says > "out of area." Anyone else have this problem? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is not just MCI. I don't think any long > distance carrier at the present time would provide the CLID between those > points. PAT] I get CNID from Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, from people who, in those locations use WilTel as their long distance carrier. I am in Northern Illinois. (Remember, California is not even a caller-id state). Also, *67 before the number, does not block it from appearing on my box. I have get CNID from numerous other locations, but have not tracked it down as to carrier specifics. Dialing to Michigan from here, via WilTel, DOES NOT pass CNID. Glen L. Roberts, Publisher, Directory of Elect Surv Equip Suppliers Host Full Disclosure Live (WWCR 5,810 khz - Sundays 7pm central) Box 734, Antioch, Illinois 60002 Fax: (708) 838-0316 Surveillance Hotline: (708) 356-9646 Bust the Bureaucrats: (708) 356-6726 ------------------------------ From: vincentk@ac.wfunet.wfu.edu (Kathy Vincent) Subject: Re: Help Needed: Fax/Answering Machine/Phone Date: 3 Jun 1994 16:36:47 GMT Organization: Wake Forest University Steve Cogorno (cogorno@netcom.com) wrote: > Said by: Kathy Vincent >> 2. Can anyone recommend integrated equipment -- a three-in-one >> combination in which all THREE elements are quality? > Does she have a computer? I have a modem that is made by Promethus > Products, called the Ultima Home Office. It integrates 14,400 bps Alas, the computer is otherwise occupied in another room in the house. She's been thinking about getting a computer of her own, though, so that's one approach to consider. Thanks, Kathy ------------------------------ From: lreeves@crl.com (Les Reeves) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Wanted With Ten Mile Range Date: 2 Jun 1994 09:53:26 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Tawfig Al-Rabiah (tawfig@cs.pitt.edu) wrote: > Do you know who sells this type of phones? I need to get one to use > overseas. If you really are going to use it overseas, you should get in touch with TeleDynamics in Austin, TX. 800 847 5629 or 512 928 1533 They carry the SuperFone long range cordless by Tamagawa. They show various models with ranges of 4 km to 70 km. BTW, the TeleDynamics catalog has lots of really cool stuff, at very good prices. Les lreeves@crl.com Atlanta,GA 404.874.7806 ------------------------------ From: nmoss@slacc.com Subject: Re: Internet Access at Home Organization: SLACC STACK BBS - St. Louis, Missouri Date: Fri, 03 Jun 94 11:58:38 CST In V14, #263, Laurence Chiu wrote about his cost for SLIP access at 14.4 Kbps dialup. He estimates a cost of about $90/month for 7x24 service. This is realistic. Washington University in St. Louis has 7X24 dialup SLIP access in the $1200 - $1500 per year range, if I recall their rate schedule correctly. The system on which I access Internet uses the university's 7x24 dialup UUCP access at $360 per year. Best regards, Noel Moss ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 12:24:22 CDT From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: British Call Forwarding in 1960s Randall Gellens (RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM) writes: > He picks up his phone [...] and dials three digits. He says > "Operator? This is WHitehall xxxx. My name is John Steed. I will > be away for the next three weeks. Please forward my calls to the > usual number." > What sort of call-forwarding was offered by British Telecom in the > 1960s? At the risk of over-analyzing a fictional scene, I get the impression he wasn't speaking to the telephone company operator, but to some sort of government operator at the other end of a private line. I base this conclusion on the fact that he dialed only three digits (I would have expected contemporary numbers in the London area to be at least five), and referred to his own number as "Whitehall", an inspired (if not fictitious) choice for a British government phone network prefix. Had he called whatever the local equivalent of 611 was (for repair or some other service), I don't think he would have addressed the other party as "Operator". Just my tuppence, of course ... Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com 441 W. Huron Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: serviss@tazdevil.cig.mot.com (Gerald Serviss) Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: 3 Jun 1994 17:35:12 GMT Organization: Cellular Infrastructure Group, Motorola In article (John Nagle) writes: > Er, cell sites are typically linked by land line to a central > site that controls the system. Only the last hop to the mobile phone > is radio. If you lose the link to the central site, even two phones > in the same cell can't talk. It's not a distributed system at all. Some of what you say is true but, we have many customers that exclusively use microwave systems to haul the cell to switch traffic. In addition we have customers that use a combination of microwave and leased land circuits to haul the traffic. Both of these methods can provide improved reliability in the event of an outage and are fairly common. It is of course possible for an earthquake to take out the microwave towers and then you are sunk. Most cellular systems are distributed computing systems, there are processors and databases in the cells and the switches. This is my definition of a distributed system You are correct in the assertion that two mobiles in the same cell do not make a path connect thru the cell. That is what the switch is for :). I am not aware of any commercial cellular system that has a distributed switching architecture. Jerry Serviss Motorola Inc serviss@cig.mot.com ------------------------------ From: ivansoh@solomon.technet.sg Subject: Bellcore CID Specifications Wanted Date: 3 Jun 1994 17:47:18 GMT Organization: Technet, Singapore Can anyone tell me the document number for the specs. for Caller ID protocol and how I can obtain them from Bellcore (Fax/Tel and Address please). Thanks, Ivan ------------------------------ From: mel@cci.com (Marty Lawlor) Subject: Re: Need Site Name for Bellcore Standards Organization: Northern Telecom Inc., NAS Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 16:21:01 GMT In article , Kevin Hanson wrote: > Does anyone know if there is an ftp site where I can find Bellcore > documents? Specifically I am looking for the Common Language Code set > (CLLI, CLFI, etc) plus any TL-1 documentation that may be available. Bellcore does not offer an ftp site of fulltext documents; they do allow telnet access to a database of document abstracts. Once you find the documents, you need to order them from Bellcore. To access the abstracts database, telnet to "info.bellcore.com" and login as "cat10". To order docs, call 800-521-CORE. Marty Lawlor Northern Telecom mel@cci.com ------------------------------ From: zeta@tcscs.com (Gregory Youngblood) Subject: Re: Cellular Billing Date: Fri, 03 Jun 1994 08:20:00 PST Organization: The Complete Solution > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However John, why aren't cellular carriers > treated like any other telco or long distance carrier for the purpose of > intercompany billings and settlements. When we call between a telco one > place and some other telco elsewhere via a long distance carrier, the > whole thing is very transparent to the caller/called party. As we have > discussed in the 'combined billing' thread recently, you can write one > check to the telco and be done with it for all anyone cares. Why are > the cellular companies not part of the process as a routine thing? PAT] Specifically because the cellular carriers are not connected with the telcos in such a way to allow that to happen. For the most part, each cellular carrier has their own switch, which ties into a telco at some point to process calls into the landline phone system. There is no data communication between cellular switches and telco switches. There is work being done on connecting cellular switches together nationwide, and it is coming, and from what I understand some are also working on connecting into the landline phone system in a similar way. The problem stems from how calls are processed. For instance, incoming calls might come over a T1 span, a circuit is selected, the appropriate signalling starts and MF or DTMF (usually MF) tones are sent down the circuit with the terminating number (in this case, a cellular phone). The originating number (the land line) is never identified. _IF_ the billing were setup to allow for this, an agreement was reached with landline telco to work this way, and the originating party were identified, then it would seem possible to run off a billing tape for the telco for incoming calls,