Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19035; 28 Jun 94 8:54 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11289; Tue, 28 Jun 94 04:35:10 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11280; Tue, 28 Jun 94 04:35:05 CDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 04:35:05 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406280935.AA11280@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #301 TELECOM Digest Tue, 28 Jun 94 04:35:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 301 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bidding War For - Western Union ?! (James H. Haynes) MCI Used NEXTSTEP For "Friends and Family" Campaign (Robert La Ferla) AT&T, Paris and Freedom (Jean-Bernard Condat) NYNEX 1+10D; EasyReach 700 International (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Need New ESN For my Cellphone (Douglas Reuben) Trunk Switch Bypass Device Needed (Leroy Casterline) Africa Email via X.25? (Ed Moore) TELECOM 95 Space Available (Jerry Skene) Industry Numbering Committee to Meet (Greg Monti) International Calls to Taiwan; Sometimes System Says "Not Valid" (R. Casey) Looking For Cell Phone Parts (gleason@mwk.com) How to Put '*' in Phone Number (Modem) (Henry Alan Segal) Washington Post Article (Stephen Goodman) (Very) Sorry Wrong (800) Number (Dave Thompson) Re: O.J. Simpson Case (David G. Cantor) Re: O.J. Simpson Case (TELECOM Digest Editor) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. 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: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (James H. Haynes) Subject: Bidding War For - Western Union ?! Date: 28 Jun 1994 05:20:22 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz Item in the Sunday paper says two companies, First Data Corp. and Forstmann Little & Co. are bidding for Western Union. First Data is described as an information-and-transaction-processing company that transfers money. Forstmann Little & Co. is a leveraged buyout firm. First Data bid $896 million, Forstmann Little bid $951 million, and First Data added $65 million to its bid. A bankruptcy court judge ruled friday that the company will be auctioned in September. (Get your bid in by Sept 2.) "Millions of people in the United States do not have bank accounts. Western Union, now 144 years old, wires money out of town for them and sells them money orders." Western Union Financial controls estimated 90% of the money-transfer business, took in about $400 million last year. (I guess that means the retail money-transfer business. First Data transfers money between bank accounts.) "Western Union created New Valley in 1991 and transferred all debt to it. [Some of us prefer to call it New Abyss.] New Valley, based in Paramus, N.J. went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in 1993." - haynes@cats.ucsc.edu ------------------------------ From: Robert La Ferla Subject: MCI Used NEXTSTEP For "Friends and Family" Campaign Reply-To: Robert La Ferla Organization: Hot Technologies Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 04:46:34 GMT I just got back from NEXTSTEP Expo where Steve Jobs mentioned in his keynote that MCI was able to steal tens of millions of customers away from it's competitors using a custom billing application developed under NEXTSTEP. He said that the object oriented NEXTSTEP gave MCI an 18 month jump on it's rivals. He also demonstrated an application (similar if not the MCI one) and I must say it was quite impressive. A marketing manager could send electronic mail with a "business object" (in this case a new marketing campaign) and the sales staff could simply drag it out of the mail application and drop it into the marketing application - the application would instantly have the "smarts" about "Friends and Family" or whatever the new campaign was. Incredible stuff. He said that "Enterprise Objects" is the most important innovation that NeXT has produced since they designed "NEXTSTEP" itself. Robert La Ferla Hot Technologies Registered NEXTSTEP Developer and Consultant Robert_La_Ferla@hot.com ------------------------------ From: JeanBernard_Condat@Email.FranceNet.FR (JeanBernard Condat) Organization: FranceNet Reply-To: JeanBernard_Condat@Email.FranceNet.FR Subject: AT&T, Paris and Freedom Date: 28 Jun 1994 07:22:36 GMT PARIS, France - June 27, 1994 18:30-22:00. AT&T salutes the one thing that brings people together better than we do. Freedom. Yesterday, I was invited to look at 'a sound sculpture for the Arc de Triomphe by Bill Fontana' in Paris. " This sound sculpture sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture, the City of Paris and AT&T includes three installations relating to the visual and aural experience of the Arc de Triomphe in the pedestrian access tunnels, at ground level, and on the observation level. In the pedestrian tunnels, the sound of the sea creates an acoustical passage for the traffic island as a sound island. On ground level, the same sound serves as a white sound to transform and hide the traffic noise occuring in the immense traffic circle. On the observation level where visitors have a panoramic view of Paris, an installation explores the idea of hearing as far as one can see, acoustically viewing Paris. " The Arc de Triomphe is part of one of the most dramatic visual perspective in Paris, being in the axis defined by the Pyramide at the Louvre and La Defense. Visitors standing on the upper observation level have dramatic panoramic views of Paris." -------------------- I invite all the reader of this message to appreciate during the next holidays in France, the Arc de Triomphe of Place de l'Etoile and to drink a beer on the Champs-Elysees without the poor Bill Fontana' sculpture and the English-written AT&T Direct Services publicity. Phone me directly with your "AT&T Calling Card" to +331 47874083, ok? Jean-Bernard Condat Chaos Computer Club France 47 rue des Rosiers, 93400 St-Ouen, France Phone: +331 47874083, Fax: +331 49450129 Email: JeanBernard_Condat@email.FranceNet.FR ------------------------------ From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: NYNEX 1+10D; EasyReach 700 International Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:36:02 -0400 Last Friday seems to have marked the end of the permissive dialing period in the 413 NPA. Since then, all intraLATA calls outside my local calling area must be dialed 1-413-NXX-XXXX. This includes calls that were formerly seven digits, which I hadn't expected from what I had read. One nice side-effect of this is that seven-digit calls are now entirely local (and included in my basic service fee), while all toll calls are now dialed via 1+. Having used a similar setup at UMass/Amherst, where local calls were 9 + 7D, and toll calls required use of a security code, I grew to like the reminder that the call I was dialing was in fact a toll call. Monday marked the beginning of International calls via AT&T EasyReach. When I entered the forwarding menu, I was told to enter AC + seven digits for a domestic number, and 011 + Number (it didn't specify Country Code, City Code, etc.) for international numbers. The help menu indicated that if I forwarded to an AT&T World Connect Country, all US and World Connect calls would be forwarded. If I forwarded to a non-World Connect country, only US calls would be forwarded. Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) Subject: Need New ESN For my Cellphone Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 00:59:49 PDT My old Audiovox CMT-450 is in the shop - after five years it stopped working and shows "NO SVC" even in excellent coverage areas. Audiovox is going to tell me how much it will cost to fix (I can't wait till they see the Novatel ESN in there and ask me why I have a 142/Novatel ESN instead of a 138/Audiovox one! ;) ) So I may need to get a new phone. However, in the past, I've sent my phones out to get them cloned, and although generally reliable, it takes a week and I have to lay out like $200 *each* for the process, so that I can have a variety of phones for differing situations, all with the same number(s). (But never on at the same time, of course ...) Is there any shop or service provider out there who will burn a chip for me if I give them the proper ESN? I can easily put the new chip in the phone myself, and thus save on the cost and time of not having my phone. I'd like to get all my phones onto one ESN, and if I do get a new phone I don't want to send all three (or four, depending on how much Audiovox wants to fix the old CMT-450) phones away and pay $800 to do the ESN changes. Obviously I'd like a reputable place, and I'd be glad to substantiate that I am the TRUE owner of the phone, ie, provide sales receipts, etc., so that no one suspects that I am trying to commit cell fraud by cloning other people's phones. (Although this would be a really dumb and slow way to do it, and most cell fraud criminals have phones which they can just put whatever ESN they want into ... Hey, actually, I'd like a phone like that, but for my own legitimate purposes...) So if anyone knows of a place where I can call in an ESN and a manufacturer's model, send some sales receipts or something, and have them mail me a new chip, PLEASE save me $800 and let me know! :) Thanks in advance, Doug CID Technologies (203) 499 - 5221 ------------------------------ From: casterli@csn.org (Leroy Casterline) Subject: Trunk Switch Bypass Device Needed Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:06:54 -0600 Organization: Cahill Casterline Limited Reply-To: casterli@csn.org Hello once again, telecom experts! I am looking for a device that I can use on a multi-line PC-based switch to bypass the switch in the event of a malfunction. The PC goes between the CO and the PBX on several trunks, so bypass in the event of failure is important. I'd like the bypass to operate in a 'watchdog' mode, where I send it confirmation every few seconds that I am alive and working, presumably via an RS-232 port. In the event that I stopped 'tickling' the port, it would switch the CO line directly to the PBX, bypassing my PC-based system. Ideally, the bypass device would be intelligent enough to switch each line individually, and could be set to NOT switch a line while it carried loop current, waiting for loop current to cease before switching that particular line. Lines which carried no loop current would be switched immediately. I need to handle between 12 and 48 lines (on each side of the PC box) per installation. What I have now: ------------------- | | CO ---------| PC-based Switch |--------- PBX | | ------------------- What I'd like: ------------------- | | CO ---------|-| - - - - - - |-|--------- PBX --| | Bypass | | | ------------------- RS-232 | | | Control | | | Line | ------------------- | | | --| PC-based Switch | | | ------------------- Thank you for your kind assistance. Leroy Casterline Cahill Casterline Limited 303/484-2212 casterli@csn.org ------------------------------ From: edmoore@vcd.hp.com (Ed Moore) Subject: Africa Email via X.25? Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:32:17 GMT Organization: Hewlett-Packard VCD Friends of mine will soon move to Togo (West Africa). We are exploring possibilities for them to establish email service. In another forum I'm discussing the email services available locally in Africa. Togo also has international X.25/X.28 service. My extremely limited knowledge of X.25 comes from hearing people talk about TYMNET and SPRINTNet, plus one paragraph in the O'Reilly book "Connecting to the Internet." I have no idea what X.28 is. 1) What kinds of email service providers in the US could be reached via X.25/X.28? I saw something that said MCIMail is reachable. Probably CompuServe. One site in Togo runs UUCP over X.25. Should I expect to find US Internet service providers who provide UUCP accounts, who are reachable via X.25? 2) This is the scenario I believe to be true. My friend calls a phone number in Togo to connect to X.25. I presume he logs in with a user ID and password. Then it seems he must identify what remote system he wants to connect to. That system prompts for another login. So he uses a standard, voice grade phone line to get to the X.25 entry point. What is the advantage of using X.25 to reach outside the country rather than continuing the call through ordinary voice grade phone lines? Clarity, cost? Thanks for any help you can give me. Ed Moore Hewlett-Packard Vancouver, WA, USA edmoore@vcd.hp.com ------------------------------ From: Jerry Skene Subject: TELECOM 95 Space Available Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 16:49:03 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) ---------------Telecom 95 space available.-------------------- If your company would be interested in having access to a fully appointed presentation room in the USA pavilion of Telecom 95 in Geneva next year, read on. We have two conference rooms which will be available to other companies for daily presentations or meetings. These rooms seat 16 people, and have video/slide projector, etc. Connection to PC or videoconference lines would also be possible. If your company cannot provide sufficient meeting space on your own stand, or you are on the long waiting list for exhibit space, or cannot afford a dedicated booth at Telecom, this would be an ideal way to ensure your company of a presence at this large and prestigious international telecommunications exhibition. If you are interested, please send me an Email to discuss. jskene@delphi.com ------------------------------ From: Greg Monti Subject: Industry Numbering Committee to Meet Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 17:51:59 EDT The June 24, 1994 issue of {Communications Daily} notes that the Telephone Industry Numbering Committee will meet July 24-29. Among the topics to be considered: personal communications system (PCS) number portability, assignment of 800-555 numbers and assignment guidelines for interchangeable area codes that no longer use 1 or 0 as the second digit. The story shows the contact for TINC to be Ron Havens, 913-634-6881. The meeting will be held in Toronto. Greg Monti, Tech Mgr, FISPO, Distribution Division National Public Radio Phone: 202 414-3343 635 Massachusetts Av NW Fax: 202 414-3036 Washington, DC 20001-3753 Internet: gmonti@npr.org ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Int'l Calls to Taiwan; Sometimes System Says "Not Valid" Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 02:52:19 GMT Called a friend in Taiwan lately, in the middle of the call, the line cuts out. (Backround noise went to zero, nothing unusual, as this happens when he's not talking, but this pause was longer. When I got no response, then I knew the connection was lost), OK, no biggie, it happens. Called the number again, got an error message saying that I had dialed a non-valid international number. Tried again, same message. After trying several times in around 20 minutes, the call went thru, and had my friend back. He says the same thing would happen when he (when living in the USA) tried to call his family from USA to Taiwan. He'd end up waiting a day or so before the problem would clear. He says telephone service in Taiwan is not too reliable. But why did the telephone system say that I dialed a not valid international number, and not say "lines to Taiwan are down now, try later"? Also, do they still have analog lines from here to there? I would have thought everything's digital now? Or is the Taiwan phone system noisy? ------------------------------ From: Lee K. Gleason Subject: Looking For Cell Phone Parts Date: 27 Jun 94 23:06:53 CST Organization: M. W. Kellogg, Houston TX I'm looking for a mail order source for cell phone parts such as power cords and antennae, for my Panasonic TP-500. The local stores charge proces for parts that are beyond outrageous ... anyone know of a source for this stuff? Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR Control-G Consultants gleason@mwk.com ------------------------------ From: segalh@ecf.toronto.edu (SEGAL HENRY ALAN) Subject: How to Put '*' in Phone Number (Modem) Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 02:20:00 -0400 I have call waiting on my line, and if a call comes in when I am using the line for my modem, it causes a disruption, sometimes logging me out. The solution is to dial *67 (I may have that wrong, but I know what it is) before the phone number. Now, I am using Procomm, and it doesn't accept the '*' character. Is it just the software? Is there an alternative code I can use? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In most telecom jurisdictions, the asterisk can be replaced with '11', as in 'eleven' -- not 'one, one' (to the dismay of some puritans, although you accomplish dialing 'eleven' by pressing the digit '1' twice in a row, granted. That is to say, '1167' will generally be accepted in lieu of *67. In fact, 11-anything generally can be used in place of *-anything if you are using Procomm or have one of those very old *ten* button touchtone sets where there is nothing on either side of the zero key. Try it on your phone and see. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Stephen Goodman <0003945654@mcimail.com> Subject: Washington Post Article on Free Access Wanted Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 10:41:00 EST The {Washington Post} had a story on either the 6/22 or 6/23 edition on page 1 about how Maryland is offering Free Internet access. Is this article available online? Does anyone have a copy of it they can either post on the Digest or send to me? I'm curious to read it. Thanks! Stephen_Goodman@MCIMail.com ------------------------------ From: Thompson, Dave Subject: (Very) Sorry Wrong (800) Number Date: Mon, 27 Jun 94 16:49:00 PDT {Network World} June 20 1994 page 2 has a "Correction" to an item June 6 page 2 about Bell Atlantic announcing new AIN features for 1-800 subscribers, with the subhead "Dial 1-800-OPTIONS". The correction says this "was believed to be a fictitious 800 number ... [but] is actually in service by another company and should not be used .... [For Bell Atlantic use] (703) 974-4507." Oops! I wonder if they actually tested it -- or maybe it's for an area that doesn't include their location (probably Framingham MA)? Come to think of it, is there a standard or convention for the intercept you get if you dial a 1-800 number from outside its subscribed area (or any of the areas for a geographically reused "local" number), as opposed to one not in service at all? I carefully follow the instructions given (sometimes approaching "from CONUS, PR/VI, and Ontario, except NYC and Ossining, dial ..." ;} so I've never paid attention to this behavior! Dave Thompson, davet@fpg.logica.com Logica North America, +1 617-890-7730 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached from your calling area. This is a recording, ." PAT] ------------------------------ From: David G. Cantor Subject: Re: O.J. Simpson Case Reply-To: dgc@math.ucla.edu Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:25:57 -0700 In TELECOM Digest, Mon, 27 Jun 94, Volume 14, Issue 300, Robert L. McMillin, in an article full of opinion, makes a number of comments about the O. J. Simpson case. Frankly, I don't see what the O. J. Simpson case has to do with telecommunications (except, perhaps that it was reported over telecommunications media). Moreover, his posting has numerous minor, but significant, errors. For example, he refers, twice, to the "Los Angeles City District Attorney". TELECOM Digest readers should be aware that the City of Los Angeles doesn't have a District Attorney. Gil Garcetti, the person to whom he is referring, is the Los Angeles COUNTY District Attorney. The difference between Los Angeles County and Los Angeles City is not trivial. While the City is the largest of over 80 cities in the County, the population of the County is roughly three times that of the City. Los Angeles City does have an elected City Attorney who handles, among other things, misdemeanor matters in the City. As another example, McMillin refers to "the municipal courts building in Santa Monica (or Beverly Hills)" as if one of those places is where the case will be heard. The case is, in fact, being tried in the Van Nuys SUPERIOR Court, the same Court in which the Menendez case was, and continues to be, heard. David G. Cantor Department of Mathematics University of California at Los Angeles dgc@math.ucla.edu ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 21:08:46 CDT Subject: Re: O.J. Simpson Case In article I noted: > Idiots are everywhere it seems; people were at the house the other day > trying to snatch up any bloody souveniers they could find; bits of the > carpet, etc. One fellow had a carpet-cutting tool with him to remove a bit > of the carpet. They in turn were arrested for trespassing; probably none of > them have any idea what they did wrong. Someone reading this mentioned to me that when the 'Los Angeles' crashed and burned in 193, souvenier hunters swarmed over the site snatching up anything they could, including the captain's Naval Academy ring (which was still attached to his cold dead finger). There seems to be nothing new under the sun, but sometimes I forget what all is under the sun to begin with. How's this one for exquisite taste and fine citizenship? A couple days ago a woman on the west side of Chicago was crossing the street pushing her shopping cart full of whatever she had purchased and leading her four year old daughter by the hand. A car swerves out of control and heads straight at her. She had the presence of mind to shove her daughter out of the way in the nick of time but she wound up getting hit by the car (with her daughter safely to the side) and her shopping cart overturned in the street. As she laid there unable to get up and unconscious, passers-by on the sidewalk came out into the street -- not to help her, mind you -- but to help themselves to the contents of her shopping cart and her purse which was laying nearby. All the while, the little girl was trying to protect her mother and telling people to 'leave us alone'. All of her groceries were stolen as well as whatever she had in her purse. The paramedics showed up within a couple minutes or less and hauled her off to the hospital along with the little girl who by now was totally terrified. Like one of my heroes Henry Ward Beecher, I've never believed in the concept of a place called Hell, but sometimes *I wish I did* because if anyone deserves to burn there it would be the nasty, greedy people who go to the site of disasters (either small personal ones or the more major type) and pick through the possessions of the helpless victims. That's life in Chicago and I guess its standard operating procedure for some in the City of Angeles as well. Truly, a nation of idiots. Thanks to David Cantor for his corrections to McMillin's article yester- day, but none the less, McMillin's comments are well-taken, at least by some of us. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #301 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa23421; 28 Jun 94 17:51 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA18564; Tue, 28 Jun 94 11:47:08 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA18552; Tue, 28 Jun 94 11:47:05 CDT Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 11:47:05 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406281647.AA18552@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #302 TELECOM Digest Tue, 28 Jun 94 11:47:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 302 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ITU-TSS vs. ANSI (Stephen Williams) Bilingual Telephone Numbers? (Andrew C. Green) Satellite Phone Wanted (John Biederstedt) Who's That Voice? (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Information Wanted on `Set-Top Box' (Lim JaiJin) Motorola Digital Cellular Phone (Ian Daniel Plotkin) Cellular Phones and Lightning (Shawn Gordhamer) Cellular Phone and Tower Handshaking (Shawn Gordhamer) Pointers to Information on Cable Modem Details (Steve Cogorno) Information on Transponders and Cable Network Development (Kevin Apperson) Need 300 mSec Phone Line Delay For Modem Testing (Dave Mc Mahan) 17.5 No-Surcharge Travel Service (Van Hefner) Info: Telephone Country/Area Codes: Anywhere:by Gopher|FTP (Monty Solomon) MS-Windows based Centrex Attendant Console (Robert J. Kinder) Testing Tool For Tele-Software Wanted (Filip Vertommen) SMR Licensees Wanted (Alex Cena) Hungarian Portables (Robert Scott) Modems for Kenya (Jason M. Githeko) Non-Tariffed Long Distance Telecommunications Carriers (Aaron Woolfson) GSM Coverage of Indonesia? (Ben Anderson) Sending Cross-Stitch by Telegraph: Did Anyone Ever do it? (Peter Rukavina) Phone Scrambler, Caller ID Information (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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: stephenw@Newbridge.COM (Stephen Williams) Subject: ITU-TSS vs. ANSI Reply-To: stephenw@Newbridge.COM Organization: Newbridge Networks Corporation Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:08:43 -0400 I am having trouble getting any definitive answers on the differences between the ITU-TSS and ANSI specifications for Frame Relay, etc. ANSI T1.602 says that it is identical to ITU-T's Q.920/921 combined. Fine. ANSI T1.617 says that it is similar to Q.933 and an extension to Q.922. And ANSI T1.618 says that it is similar to Q.922 and an extension to Q.921. It's those words "similar" that I don't like. What ARE the similarities, and differences? Are there any? I have never been able to figure this out by looking at any documentation, the ATM-FAQ, RFC 1490, etc. IE: If I want to implement the data link layer for frame relay, do I need to even look at the ANSI specs? Thanks, Stephen Williams (Please respond by e-mail: stephenw@newbridge.com) ------------------------------ From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Bilingual Telephone Numbers? Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:40:07 CDT Was waiting in line at the downtown Walgreen's this morning, and noticed a Caller Name and Number ID box on prominent display. The big marketing triumph which warranted its $59.99 price was trumpeted in a large, bilingual (English and Spanish) sticker on the box: "BILINGUAL NAME AND NUMBER DISPLAY!" Now, perhaps I'm missing something here, but I must admit I don't know how I would translate "Green, Andrew C." and "(312) 266-xxxx" into Spanish without the assistance of this thing. Clearly a bargain at twice the price! Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com 441 W. Huron Chicago, IL 60610-3498 ------------------------------ From: John@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU Subject: Satellite Phone Wanted Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 16:52:57 -0600 Organization: Mankato State University Is there a phone on the market that can use a satellite (not a cell) to communicate? Some friends and I want to take a trip to where there are no phones (obviously) and no cells. We thought maybe we could rent a satellite phone, if possible. John Biederstedt John@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU Mankato State University Mankato, MN 56002 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Wouldn't the ship to shore (or high seas) service work out in John's case? I am thinking of Marisat or Maristat? Can you get portable phones to carry around which use that service? PAT] ------------------------------ From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: Who's That Voice? Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 04:26:25 After reading an interesting discussion in the archives about Jane Barbe, the former voice of the Bell System, the voice of the time in several cities, and of many Octel systems (at least those that have not upgraded to a Marsha Graham software release), I was wondering if anyone has any information about yet another of those famous voices. The woman in question has done many recordings including the ubiquitous AT&T carrier identification chime and calling card auto attendant, the EasyReach voice prompts, RBOC recordings (including NYNEX's return call/repeat call prompts, and the new "You must dial 1+ the area code intercepts). I've always found it interesting to be able to put a name with a voice, so I thought I'd ask. Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu ------------------------------ From: jjin@olive.snu.ac.kr (Lim JaiJin) Subject: Information Wanted on 'Set-Top Box' Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 09:09:07 GMT Hi, everyone ! Is there anyone or anysite from whom or where I can get in contact with some informations about set-top box used in VOD (Video-On-Demand) as a customer information appliance like VCR ? Currently I'm studying the OS of set-top box. I'd like to know `OS requirements' of set-top box. I'd like to know why `real-time OS' is requred for set-top box. Any hints and notices would be greatly appreciated. NAME: Lim, Jai-jin EMAIL: jjin@olive.snu.ac.kr ADDRESS: Department of Computer Science & Statistics, Seoul National University, Sinlim-Dong, Gwanak-Ku, Seoul, 151-742, Republic Of Korea PHONE: +82-02-880-6582 FAX: +82-02-871-4912 ------------------------------ From: idp3286@hertz.njit.edu (Ian Daniel Plotkin) Subject: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 08:47:45 GMT Does anyone have any experience with Motorola's new Digital flip-fone? Is digital cellular as widespread as analog yet? The local carrier here in central NJ is Comcast/CellularOne. Does anyone know if NJ is covered by a digital network? While the other (analog) flipfones go for around $50 /w signon deal, is it worth it at this point in time to shell out the $300 or so (/w signon deal) for the digital phone? Any info would be appreciated! Thanks, Ian Daniel Plotkin idp3286@hertz.njit.edu (201)824-4701 (800)333-5729 x110 (908)246-3365 ------------------------------ From: shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) Subject: Cellular Phones and Lightning Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:04:33 GMT Someone told me that in a lightning storm, lightning can follow the radio waves given out by your cellular phone. I assume this is because the air is more ionized where the waves are strong. Is this true? Is it unsafe to use a handheld cellular phone in a lightning storm? I'm not talking about a mobile phone with a tall antenna. Shawn Gordhamer shawnlg@netcom.com Rochester, Minnesota USA ------------------------------ From: shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) Subject: Cellular Phone and Tower Handshaking Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:26:00 GMT I can tell when my cellular phone talks to the tower, because my tape player near it slows down and buzzes loudly whenever my phone transmits. Therefore, I know about how often my phone and the towers communicate when the phone is on but not being used. Sometimes when I turn my phone on, it doesn't bother talking to the tower at all. Sometimes, it transmits for a short period of time. But it usually does this once and not at set intervals. With this in mind, I have come up with the following theory about how a phone and tower keep track of each other. Someone please let me know if there is any truth in this. When you turn on a cellular phone, it knows what tower is nearest it. Each tower must have some unique ID so that your phone knows if it approaches a different tower. A tower does not ask a phone if it is there. Instead, the phone tells the tower it is there. Thus, if I turn on my phone for the first time and it is near tower A, it will tell tower A that it is near it. Tower A then assumes, until the cellular network tells it differently, that my phone is still near it. I can turn off my phone and turn it back on. It has in its memory the tower it last talked to. Thus, if I turn it off and back on, if it still picks up tower A as the strongest, it won't even tell tower A it is there again. It assumes that tower A still thinks it is there. There must be some timeout value. If I left my phone off for a year, it would probably tell tower A it was back when turned on. When the phone is on and not being used, it continually checks the different frequencies of the towers. If I move closer to tower B, my phone, and not the tower, realizes this. My phone then tells tower B it is there. Tower B is now the one that will deal with my phone, and the cellular network will tell tower A that I'm gone. When actually talking on my phone, the towers themselves must monitor my signal strength. I can hear my phone change frequencies quite often while I talk, even when I am just pasing around one room. The phone never transmits tower changes that often when it is not being used. Do I have this basically right? Also, why does my phone change frequencies so often? I can tell because the conversation cuts out for about 1/4 second and one or the other party usually misses a word in the conversation. Is this because I am between two towers and they can't decide who gets me? Or is this to thwart scanning by moving my conversation all over the frequency band? Either way, it's quite annoying, and I'd prefer the scan risk then always being cut off while my phone changes frequencies. Thanks for any info. Shawn Gordhamer shawnlg@netcom.com Rochester, Minnesota USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think what is happening is that the tower you were on has decided it is time to pass you on to the next tower, but the next tower has no channels available at that precise moment and it tells the first tower to continue holding you as long as possible. It is not so much a question of deciding who gets your call as it is finding a vacant channel on the tower you should be with. If it has nothing available for a few seconds or a minute even though logically you are in its range, then the earlier tower has to keep holding you, and when it can do so no longer then it has to give your call to some tower somewhere, even if the most likely one (nearest you, getting your signal the strongest) has no room for you. So, it then finds some tower someplace which can hear you at least a little better than it can and hands off your call if possible, otherwise you simply get dropped. PAT] ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Pointers to Information on Cable Modem Details Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 00:07:40 PDT Michael S. Pontecorvo said: > I am looking for information on cable modems. How the technology > works, baud rates, error recovery, etc. Any pointers would be helpful. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What is a 'cable modem'? PAT] A cable modem is a device that transmits/receives data over two-way cable lines (cable as in cable TV). Steve cogorno@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: kap@netcom.com (Kevin D. Apperson) Subject: Information on Transponders and Cable Network Development Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:24:07 GMT When is it ever better to lease than purchase a transponder when starting a cable channel? I really appreciate any references on this, and related information. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: mcmahan@netcom.com (Dave Mc Mahan) Subject: Need 300 mSec phone line delay for modem testing Organization: Dave McMahan @ NetCom Services Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 06:16:00 GMT I need to test a product that contains a modem. One of the requirements is that it work over a satellite. This requirement can be tested if we use a delay line between modems that has up to 300 milliseconds of delay in each direction. 1) The quality of the delayed signal must be such that a 2400 baud modem is able to operate over it. 2) Ideally, the delay would be adjustable over the range of 200 milliseconds to 300 milliseconds. If it is fixed, I think we can live with it. 3) The delay equipment must have the necessary 2-to-4 wire conversion circuitry to convert from telco signal to whatever is required internally by the delay. Ideally, we would just plug in an RJ-11 jack to obtain the desired delay. 4) Dialing and ringing via standard telco methods is not required. All I'm looking for is the delay function that is accessible via RJ-11 jacks. We are not looking to purchase this piece of test gear. We would like to rent it instead. If you know of a company that makes this type of equipment or one that rents it, please let me know. In the interests of brevity, please respond via e-mail directly to the poster at: mcmahan@netcom.com Dave McMahan mcmahan@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: VANTEK@aol.com Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 03:29:10 EDT Subject: 17.5 No-Surcharge Travel Service > The article was quite brief, but it seemed to indicate that ATN was > offering a Calling Card service charging 17.5 cents per minute DAY > rate, which is pretty good compared to the 23 cents which I am paying > now. > There is no surcharge associated with this service, and they didn't > mention any monthly fees. (Although maybe there are - I'll see when I > get their literature.) ATN doesn't have any monthly fees for their calling card. And yes, the 17.5 cents per minute is accurate. As a matter of fact, they will also provide you with your own personal (800) number (residential, or business) for $.18/min., also with no minimums, and no monthly fees. They just recently added a 'message service' to their calling card, which will deliver a recorded voice message to any number you dial that is busy, or has no answer. The actual long-distance service is provided by LDDS/MetroMedia. > I don't know if they offer six-second billing as does ConTelCom Yes, all billing for the calling card and (800) service uses six second incriments (30 sec. minimum). ATN resells long distance services for LDDS, MCI, AT&T, etc. If you'd like any free applications, or further info on the company you can also e-mail me. ATN is based in Buffalo, NY and I'm currently contracted with them to market their commercial and residential services. Van Hefner VANTEK Communications vantek@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: Information: Telephone Country/Area Codes: Anywhere:by Gopher|FTP Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 03:12:51 GMT Passed along FYI: From: jayarama@chaph.usc.edu (Prakash Jayaraman) Newsgroups: comp.archives Subject: [soc.culture.tamil] INFO: telephone country/area codes:anywhere: by go pher|ftp. Followup-To: poster Date: 15 Jun 1994 15:53:27 +0200 Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Archive-Name: auto/soc.culture.tamil/INFO-telephone-country-area-codes-anywhere-by-gopher-ftp Hi, Telephone Country codes/area codes are available through gopher or ftp. The gopher path that I went through was, Gopher (USC, LA client) Other gophers Gopher by subject Gopher by subject from Rice university Geography Telephone country /area codes Telephone country/area codes from U.of.Oregon search for country code/area code U need to specify the place to get the country/area code. Spelling is a problem. (I searched for Trichy, Tiruchy, Tiruchirappalli and Tiruchirapalli in vain. Tiruchirappally is there. :) Even places like Somarasampettai, Tirupparaaiththurai have been listed. There are two 'Hyderabad's. One in India and another in Pakistan. Both Indian Salem and American Salem are reported when u search for 'salem') (README file has some more info.) If u can't find out the area code by searching (because of wrong spelling), use ftp. README file can be read through Gopher. Each zone has been given a number. For example South Asia has been given the number 9. Download the corresponding file by ftp in the following site. (You can do it through gopher again.) The ftp site is: lcs.mit.edu:/telecom-archives/country-codes There is a file for each zone. Each is a .Z file. 'uncompress' the file u downloaded and load it in emacs editor. Now do a search. It is easy now. :) Hope it helps. _J._Prakash [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I don't know *where* this fellow is getting the country code files (which started out in the Telecom Archives) but as I have them posted they are *not* .Z or compressed files. They are straight ASCII text as filed in the public directory he mentions above. Carl Moore and David Leibold maintain this part of the Archives, and have for a few years now. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rkinder@gate.net (Robert J. Kinder) Subject: MS-Windows based Centrex Attendant Console Date: 28 Jun 1994 13:00:49 GMT I am searching for an MS-Windows based Centrex Attendant Console. Especially one which uses ISDN as the interface to the switch. Does anyone know if this is available? Thanks! Robert Kinder rkinder@gate.net Software Engineer Siemens Stromberg-Carlson Boca Raton, Florida ------------------------------ From: filipv@arti.vub.ac.be (Filip Vertommen) Subject: Testing Tool For Tele-Software Wanted Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 13:11:15 GMT Organization: VUB AI-LAB We are a medium sized company in Belgium. We have developed tele-software for our customers. We are currently looking for a testing and monitoring tool: this tool should allow us to control this tele-service from a customer's point of view and to test new developments in this area before bringing them to our customers. The tool should be able to: 1. easily register test-flows and the wanted results: in fact to simulate a customer 2. make comparisons between expected and real results As the software should be able to make telephone-calls as well as connection through a LAN, we think that a PC-program (running in MS-Windows(?)) would be the best solution. Does anyone know of such a program or does anyone have other suggestions? We are willing to pay a reasonable price for such a package. You can contact us by phone (Belgium: +32.2.422.75.29, Mr. Vertommen) or by E-mail (filipv@arti.vub.ac.be). Thank you, it would help us a lot. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jun 94 07:27:09 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: SMRs Licensees Wanted Can anyone supply me with a good source to locate SMR licensees in foreign markets? Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ From: rbs@cs.city.ac.uk (Robert Scott) Subject: Hungarian Portables Date: 28 Jun 1994 16:59:05 GMT Organization: Computer Science Dept, City University, London Reply-To: rbs@cs.city.ac.uk I noticed that quite a lot of people in Hungary have portable phones, maybe even approaching the percentage per population as in the UK (pure speculation from watching posers with portables on the street). Apparantly people are turning to portables because it still takes 10 years to get a phoneline installed in Hungary (unless you are a new convertable currency earning company). I was thinking that it might be handy to be able to roam between Hungary and the UK. Does anyone know anything about such roaming? It looked to me like many of the phones were GSM900 type with the smart card. Rob Scott, City University, London ------------------------------ From: githeko@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu (Jason M. Githeko) Subject: Modems For Kenya Date: 28 Jun 1994 21:06:48 GMT Organization: University of Illinois I am part of an effort to promote the use of simple computer networks to overcome the great difficulties that people in Kenya (and Africa in general) have in acquiring information. A number of sel-help organizations are involved in the effort including the Kenya Association for the Advancement of Computer Technolgy (KAACT) to which I belong. We appeal to anyone interested to help with procurement of modems (2400 to 9600 baud external) which are badly needed but not affordable by the health and educational institutions we seek to help. Modems may be new or used. You may contact me for further info regarding this effort. Thanks. Jason M. Githeko University of Illinois 1310 S. 6th, #345 Champaign, IL 61820 e-mail: githeko@uiuc.edu ------------------------------ From: awoolfso@uop.edu (Aaron Woolfson) Subject: Non-Tariffed Long Distance Telecommunications Carriers Date: 28 Jun 1994 04:26:28 -0700 Organization: University of the Pacific I would like to discuss SLAMMING, and ask for your help to help us stop it. Long Distance Carriers, just like consumers, DO NOT like having subscribers SLAMMED to their networks. It is generally the work of UNTARIFFED resellers who work on Commission and Flat-Fee per account only, not the work of fully tariffed Long Distance Carriers. SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SLAMMED, IN FACT, that I thought I would address this problem and ask for your assistance in helping solve it. Delta Telecommunications, based in Stockton, California, has recently submitted all of the respective paperwork to become a fully tariffed long distance telephone carrier to handle calls within the State of California. A certain carrier based in Hawaii, which I will not mention for fear of being sued for slander, has boxes in almost every establishment here in Stockton, California, advertising "Win a new Car!" What people who enter don't realize is the small text on THE BACK and on the bottom which says that WilTel will become the primary carrier. I phoned the president of the company and asked them if they were tariffed. They said "no" and that they just get a percentage from WilTel on billings. This would appear to a lot of people as "slamming". I called the Public Utilities Commission and asked them. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SIGNING UP SUBSCRIBERS WITHIN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND YOU ARE A SEPARATE ENTITY FROM THE RESPECTIVE CARRIER, THEN YOU MUST FILE A TARIFF. UNLESS, HOWEVER, YOU ARE JUST AN AGENT REPRESENTING THE RESPECTIVE TARIFFED CARRIER AND ARE OPERATING UNDER THEIR TARIFF. I.E. Phoenix Network D.B.A. Office Depot Communications. This is fine and legal. But ABC Resellers slamming subscribers to WilTel, Sprint, or AT&T is NOT fine. IF anyone has any questions regarding the technicalities of California Public Utilities Code or any of the procedures which Carriers must go through to become Tariffed, please call the California State Public Utilities Commission. IF anyone has a complaint, according to Joe McIlvane of the California Public Utilities Commission; the commission takes it very seriously. PLEASE complain if you get SLAMMED. ------------------------------ From: ben@pipkin.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Ben Anderson) Subject: GSM Coverage of Indonesia? Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 10:28:49 GMT Reply-To: B.Anderson@loughborough.ac.uk Organization: Loughborough University of Technology Hello, Does anyone know if GSM covers parts of Indonesia - specifically southern Sumatra. Or is it just a European service? Thanks, Ben Anderson LUTCHI Research Centre Department of Computer Studies Loughborough University Loughborough Leicestershire UK B.Anderson@lut.ac.uk ------------------------------ From: Peter Rukavina Subject: Sending cross-stitch by telegraph: did anyone ever do it? Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 09:48:52 +0100 As part of a "what is digital information, anyway?" spot for local radio I put together, I used the process of creating a cross-stitch pattern from a photograph -- essentially, you lay a grid on tracing paper over top and fill in the 'black' squares with an 'X' and leave the 'white' squares blank -- as an example of digitizing a picture. Earlier I had used the example of Morse Code as an example of the same sort of thing applied to text. It occured to me that "in the old days" it would have been possible to send a cross-stitch pattern (or any sort of similar "digitized picture") by telegraph just by using a 'dash' to represent an 'X' and a 'dot' to represent a 'blank.' Does anyone know whether anything like this was ever actually done? Peter ------------------------------ From: jlundgre@ohlone.kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Phone Scrambler, Caller ID Information Date: 28 Jun 94 09:40:01 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network I found a couple items of interest. Sorry about the blatant commercialism. TELEPHONE CALL SCRAMBLER from Vol 29 Supplement & Price List Manufacturer: TT Systems * Intercepts incoming calls with a synthesized voice message asking for secret code. * Auto disconnect when code is not entered * Three digit secret code is easily programmed by user between 000 and 999 * One button on/off control * LED allows user to see if incoming calls are being processed * Does not effect outgoing calls. * Simply plugs into telephone jack and AC outlet. Product No. TT-PS1000, Price: $79.83 Also many other catalog items available. Such as: Northern Telecom NT-XT Caller ID module $15.99, NT XT+ $18.97 Tele-Com Products, Inc. 1070 Hamilton Rd. Duarte, CA 91010 USA (800) 888-7466 / (818) 303-1183 Judi Lomas X413 FAX (818) 358-8485 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, don't worry about commercializing the net ... I do it all the time :) ... trouble is, the folks who complain about it had better hope -- they should be so lucky -- that my feeble little 'commercials' in the past are the worst it gets; but I don't think so. You should see all the stuff I am junking unused these days if you want to see what 'commercializing the net' is all about. It comes through heavily some days. Farewell to Usenet as we knew it ... :( PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #302 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa09699; 30 Jun 94 14:36 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08274; Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:54:12 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08265; Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:54:10 CDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:54:10 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406301554.AA08265@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #303 TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:54:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 303 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Dialing Plan in New York (Dave Niebuhr) Ameritech Playing Games? (Clifton T. Sharp) Caller ID and the FCC Ruling (Monty Solomon) Caller ID; the Argument Continues (John R. Levine) Calling Number ID For Cellular Users (Lynne Gregg) Cross-Country Caller ID (James Taranto) SOS For Online Telecom Consultants (tym%infoage%sdnpk@sdnhq.undp.org) Norstar Phone System for Sale (Brian Wicks) DECT Standards (Shree N. Murthy) ANSI and Bellcore Telecom Specs Wanted (Donald V. Johnson) KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? (John Refling) Telex Information - Good Sources Wanted (Matthew B. Campbell) IEEE Infocom '95 Announcement (Brian McKeever) 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: dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) Subject: New Dialing Plan in New York Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 09:28:10 EDT My latest NYNEX (NYTel land) bill insert has instructions on how to dial until September 24, 1994, when the cutover to 1+ dialing will become mandatory. This is what is given for the Metropolitan New York LATA which is defined as New York City (ACs 212, 718, 917), Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties - AC 516), Upstate NY (Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Counties, and Greenwood Lake, Highland Falls and Tuxedo in Orange County). No mention of the tiny portion of Connecticut (AC 203) that is served by NYTel and is in the NY LATA. Current Dialing: Calls to Other Area Codes: AC + 7D or 1+ AC + 7D Calls Within Area Code: 7D New Dialing: Calls to Other Area Codes: 1+ AC + 7D Calls Within Area Code: 7D (no change) Credit Card and Operator-Assisted Calls (within your area code) Current Dialing: 0 + 7D New Dialing: 0 + AC + 7D I'm making the assumption that the rest of NY will change in this manner; however, I don't know about Rochester Tel, Fisher's Island Tel and any other independents that are in the state. 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 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 19:50:54 CDT From: clifto@indep1.chi.il.us (Clifton T. Sharp) Subject: Ameritech Playing Games? AT&T's advertising in the Chicago area, saying that for a limited time tye would carry "C" and "D" band calls cheaper than Ameritech, has been talked about before in this newsgroup. I decided just now to try it for the first time. I dialed 10288 708 974 ... ... and an intercept told me, "When dialing a call outside your area code or an 800 number, dial 1 first. ..." Naturally, I tried 10288 1 708 974 ... got the same results. Ameritech's switch is grabbing my call! Well, let me try 1 800 222 0300 next ... ------------------------------ From: Monty Solomon Subject: Caller ID and the FCC Ruling Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 11:27:12 -0400 Excerpts from EPIC Alert 1.03 [3] FCC Caller ID Decision Appealed Several state utility commissions, including New York's and California's, have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its controversial Caller ID decision. The petitions ask the FCC to reverse its decision mandating per-call blocking for interstate calls and its preemption of state regulations. The commissions are concerned that the federal regulation will limit consumer privacy protection for intra-state calls. It is uncertain if the FCC will take the unusual action of accepting the petitions. Since the Caller ID decision was released in April, two new commissioners have joined the FCC. A total of 48 parties, including telephone companies who are concerned about which party is charged the cost of transmitting the information, have filed petitions asking the FCC to reconsider its decision. Per-call blocking, which is favored by telephone companies, requires that a caller to enter a series of numbers into their telephone before each call to prevent their number from being distributed. Under per-line blocking, privacy blocking is the default and the caller may opt to release their number. The New York Public Utility Commission's petition notes that "there is no technological bar to enabling each state to designate per line or per call blocking and have that privacy notation affixed to that caller's phone calls both intra and interstate." The PUC calls on the FCC, which did not hold a single hearing on Caller ID, to review the decisions of the many states that did hold hearings. Professor Rohan Samarajiva of Ohio State University, who also filed for reconsideration, found that 46 states held hearings on Caller ID before the FCC issued their final decision. He found that as information became more available on Caller ID, the state utility commissioners increasingly required that per-line blocking be offered in addition to per-call. By 1994, 33 jurisdictions developed rules with stronger privacy protection than the FCC decision. 18 states require per-line blocking be offered to all consumers, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, California and New York. CPSR has also filed a petition asking the FCC to revise its decision. CPSR calls for free per-line blocking and note the additional burden of per call blocking will cost consumers who have unlisted telephone numbers $1.2 billion each year through the disclosure of unlisted numbers. They describe the FCCUs suggestion that consumers who wish to ensure that their numbers remain private purchase equipment as unreliable and discriminatory. In addition, the California PUC has filed suit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to overturn the ruling and prevent its implementation. The FCC decision on Caller ID and the CPSR Petition for Reconsideration are available from cpsr.org. See below for details. [4] NY PUC Letter to FCC on Caller ID The following is a letter set by New York State Public Utility Committee Chairman Peter Bradford to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt on the FCC's Caller ID decision. For more information, contact Stacey Harwood at 518-473-0276. STATE OF NEW YORK PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ALBANY 12223 PETER A. BRADFORD THREE EMPIRE STATE PLAZA CHAIRMAN (518)474-2530 June 1, 1994 Reed Hundt, Chairman Federal Communications Commission 1919 M Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20554 Dear Chairman Hundt: I am writing to express My concern about the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision (Docket #91-281) limiting the range of privacy protections available to telephone callers in connection with Call ID service. The potential preemptive features of this decision undermine sensible allocation of responsibility between state and federal jurisdictions, namely that the federal government preempt only where issues of overriding national concern are clearly at stake and then only after strong proof that no alternative approach will protect the national concerns. All of these essential elements (clear national concern, strong proof, and the absence of other alternatives) are lacking here. Instead, the casual reasoning and the destructive remedy mock stated Clinton Administration eagerness to work with the states to assure that telecommunications decisions are sensitive to important consumer issues. The FCC's decision appears to ignore the states' considerable experience with Call ID. Prior to its authorization of Call ID, the New York Public Service Commission (like many other states) conducted extensive customer outreach and education programs to determine how best to balance the privacy interests of the calling and called parties. many witnesses, including psychiatrists, social workers, police, other public safety officials, as well as family violence crisis centers, saw danger and/or nuisance in Call ID without the option of per line blocking. These hearings established that privacy protection consisting only of per call blocking represents the worst of all worlds. The harassing caller is unlikely to forget to use per call blocking. It is the customer who does not realize the implications of the availability of Call ID to commercial number gatherers (or others who may abuse it) who is likely to make his or her telephone number inadvertently available. As a result, we concluded that in New York callers should have the option of both per call and per line blocking. Since Call ID service was approved with these options two years ago, no complaints have been received from either Call ID subscribers or callers on the issue of blocking. Furthermore, the market for Call ID does not seem to be hurt by the availability of per line blocking, for subscription rates are at least as high in states with per line blocking as elsewhere. Nevertheless, the FCC decision contemplates preemption of state requirements inconsistent with a federal per-call-blocking- only regime. Since per line blocking only for intrastate calls does not seem feasible, New York's standard (and those of some 40 other states) will be preempted. Protracted litigation over the FCC decision is certain and may impede the introduction of interstate Call ID service. Several states, including New York are seeking reconsideration of the FCC decision and California has challenged the FCC order in court. Customer confusion and disappointment with limitations on privacy options will spawn a host of complaints. Furthermore, it will be hard for state regulators, to justify the current surcharge for unpublished listings while telephone companies market a service that compromises the value of those listings. I have enclosed a recent New York notice raising this concern for parties in two major cases. Telephone companies are not likely to go forward with Call ID if they must forego tens of millions of dollars per year in charges for unpublished numbers. I hope that the FCC will think again about the impact of this decision. It is likely to damage the prospects for Call ID, and it is certain to damage federal-state relations in the communications area at a time when much depends on our mutual trust and cooperation. Sincerely, /sig Peter Bradford [6] Files Available for retrieval The CPSR Internet Library is a free service available via FTP/WAIS/Gopher/listserv from cpsr.org:/cpsr. Materials from Privacy International, the Taxpayers Assets Project and the Cypherpunks are also archived. For more information, contact ftp-admin@cpsr.org. Files on Caller ID: /privacy/communications/caller_id/ The FCC decision - fcc_caller_id_decision_94.txt. CPSR Petition for Reconsideration - CPSR_RFR_on_FCC_Caller-ID_Order.txt To subscribe to the EPIC Alert, send the message: SUBSCRIBE CPSR-ANNOUNCE Firstname Lastname to listserv@cpsr.org. You may also receive the Alert by reading the USENET newsgroup comp.org.cpsr.announce ---------------------- The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research center in Washington, DC. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy issues relating to the National Information Infrastructure, such as the Clipper Chip, the Digital Telephony proposal, medical record privacy, and the sale of consumer data. EPIC is sponsored by the Fund for Constitutional Government and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. EPIC publishes the EPIC Alert and EPIC Reports, pursues Freedom of Information Act litigation, and conducts policy research on emerging privacy issues. For more information email info@epic.org, or write EPIC, 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20003. +1 202 544 9240 (tel), +1 202 547 5482 (fax). The Fund for Constitutional Government is a non-profit organization established in 1974 to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is a national membership organization of people concerned about the impact of technology on society. For information contact: cpsr-info@cpsr.org ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Caller ID; The Argument Continues Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 9:34:12 EDT The New York Public Utility Committee Chairman Peter Bradford sent a letter dated June 1 to Reed Hunt at the FCC challenging the CLID decision. Major points: * Many states have had hearings on CLID, the FCC didn't, and the FCC didn't appear to take into account the states' experience with it. Claims that nobody will buy CLID if line blocking is available are not borne out by experience, subscription rates are similar in states with and without. * If unlisted subscribers can't get line blocking, state regulators are likely to reduce or eliminate the charge for an unlisted number, since the privacy it provides will have been considerably reduced. This last one could be interesting, since the amount of money telcos are likely to make from CLID is dwarfed by what they make from unlisted numbers. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Calling Number ID for Cellular Users Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 02:07:00 PDT johng@ecs.comm.mot.com wrote: > Caller ID service is among several services that have been available > to analog subscribers on narrow band AMPS (NAMPS) systems since 1991. > See the April 1991 issue of {Communications} magazine for more on NAMPS. Not so! Cellular services based on NAMPS do not deliver CPN. They rely upon the caller's willingness and inclination to key in their telephone number. These services can be a hassle for callers. Regards, Lynne ------------------------------ From: taranto@panix.com (James Taranto) Subject: Cross-Country Caller ID Date: 30 Jun 1994 01:04:26 GMT Organization: The Bad Taranto At 8:20 this evening, my phone in Brooklyn rang. I glanced at my Caller ID device and saw the number was unfamiliar, so I prepared myself for a surprise. I picked up the phone, and was indeed surprised -- it was my friend Rich from California. I looked more carefully at the Caller ID readout: 310-843-XXXX. It seems at least some numbers are being transmitted across LATA boundaries via Caller ID. I experimented a bit, calling through various long-distance carriers to my voice line. Sprint, MCI, AT&T, and ITT did not pass Caller ID data, even on an intra-LATA (intra-room, for that matter) call. I found one company that does, however. "Wiltel" (I don't know the spelling), whose access code is 10555. Cheers, James Taranto taranto@panix.com ------------------------------ From: tym%infoage%sdnpk@sdnhq.undp.org Date: 30 Jun 94 04:25:15 Subject: SOS For Online Telecom Consultants Dear Mr. Townson, My organization is attempting to introduce advanced telecom facilities in Pakistan for the first time. We desperately require online consultants to assist in ushering the Information Age into our country. You are requested to post this message onto the appropriate BBS/s because we have very limited connectivity for the time being. Thank you, Tayyab Yazdani. CEO, INFOAGE ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN FAX:92-51-212796 EMAIL:TYM%INFOAGE%SDNPK%SDNHQ@NYGATE.UNDP.ORG ------------------------------ From: bwgti16v@telerama.lm.com (Brian Wicks) Subject: Norstar Phone System for Sale Date: 29 Jun 1994 11:47:15 -0400 Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA For Sale: Bell Atlantic Meridian Phone System Includes: 1 Norstar DR5 6 Line CPU/Software Unit 3 Black M7208 Programmable Multi-line Phones This is a full featured, user programmable, expandable phone system. It would be perfect for any small business or startup. Purchased new for $2660 4-19-94. Asking $1495. ------------------------------ From: shree@maple.cse.ucsc.edu (Shree N. Murthy) Subject: DECT Standards Date: 29 Jun 1994 15:52:10 GMT Organization: UC Santa Cruz CIS/CE I am looking for an on-line source for the DECT standards put out by the European Telecomm Standards Institute (ETSI). Any information on an FTP site or CD-ROM vendor for these would be very much appreciated. Thank you, Timothy A. Gonsalves, Associate Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras - 600 036, India (91) (44) 235-1365 x 3512 E-mail: tag@iitm.ernet.in FAX: (91) (44) 235-2120 ------------------------------ From: c32dvj@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Donald V Johnson) Subject: ANSI and Bellcore Telecom Specs Wanted Organization: Delco Electronics Corp. Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 17:51:06 GMT A friend of mine -- his name is Dave -- is looking for on line documentation for ANSI and Bellcore telecom specs. If anyone knows of any sites with such documentation please email him at: scheer@lts.sel.alcatel.de You may also e-mail to me and I will forward to him, but direct is obviously preferred. Since I do not regurlarly read this newsgroup, I will not see any followup postings, so please e-mail. Thank you, Donald V. Johnson Delco Electronics Corp. c32dvj@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com The REAL Don Johnson (not some actor who stole my name!) ------------------------------ From: jrefling@rosslare.ece.uci.edu (John Refling) Subject: KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? Date: 29 Jun 1994 23:22:19 GMT Organization: University of California, Irvine Here's the situation: +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ | PC | - phone----> | UNIX BOX| -- INTERNET-->| UNIX BOX | +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ Now, after you dial the first unix box over the phone and are logged in, you telnet to the second unix box. On the second unix box, you start kermit to server mode. Then you escape back to the pc and try to transfer files and the whole thing dies. I can sort of see why things won't work -- maybe the boxes get confused over where thier input is coming from ... then again it's not a problem normally. Is there a way to get this to work? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: mcampbe8@mason1.gmu.edu (Matthew B Campbell) Subject: Telex Information - Good Sources Wanted Date: 30 Jun 1994 13:08:39 GMT Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA Hello, I am working on a project that involves controlling Telex lines within a larger network control system. I know a little about Telex, but I really need to know what to listen for on each side ("marks", and "spaces", etc.), what these things look like psysically (80v burst = "mark"?), and possibly information on what type of devices would be ideal for listening to the Telex channels, as well as controlling the "make or break" for each call. Any help, or references would be great! Matt Campbell Senior Engineer Synergistic Technologies, Inc. ------------------------------ From: mckeever@vax2.cstp.umkc.edu (Brian McKeever) Subject: IEEE Infocom '95 Announcement Date: 29 Jun 1994 15:17:20 GMT Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City, CSTP Reply-To: mckeever@vax2.cstp.umkc.edu IEEE INFOCOM'95 The Conference on Computer Communications Bringing Information to People April 2-6, 1995 Boston, MASS., USA CALL FOR PAPERS Fourteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies Sponsored by the Computer Communications Technical Committees of the Societies. Authors are invited to submit full papers on recent advances in computer communications. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: Gigabit Networks Congestion Control Internetworking (LAN/WAN) Switch Architectures ATM Wireless Networks Video Communications Protocols for High-Speed Networks Personal Communication Systems Network Management Protocol Design and Analysis Distributed Network Algorithms Network Design and Planning Computer Security and Privacy Photonic Switching Lightwave Networks Broadband ISDN Network Reliability Routing and Flow Control Multimedia Protocols Scheduling Testbeds and Measurements Network Standards Multimedia Terminals and Systems Traffic Management Multiple Access Signaling and Control Network Restoration SCHEDULE Full Paper (6 Copies, Double Sided Preferred) - August 1, 1994 Notification of Acceptance - November 1, 1994 Camera Ready Copy - January 13, 1995 Conference - April 4-6, 1995 Tutorials - April 2-3, 1995 General Chair: Jeffary M. Jaffe Technical Chairs: Aurel Lazar and Khosrow Sohraby Submit six double-spaced, double sided copies of the manuscript to: Prof. Khosrow Sohraby, Technical Program Co-Chair, IEEE INFOCOM '95 CSTP, University of Missouri-Kansas City 5100 Rockhill Rd., Kansas City, MO 64110 Email: infocom@cstp.umkc.edu, Telephone: (816) 235-2361 Fax: (816) 235-5159 (FAXED SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED) PLEASE INCLUDE KEYWORDS AT THE END OF THE ABSTRACT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #303 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa10553; 30 Jun 94 16:04 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10082; Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:08:07 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10073; Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:08:06 CDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:08:06 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406301708.AA10073@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #304 TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:08:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 304 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Need to Hook a Unix Machine to a BBS on a PC (Michael Hauben) CONVERSANT Problem - Help!!! (crooksie@aol.com) Call For Participation: TeleStrategies' Internet '94 Conference (M. Lucas) Workshop: User Interfaces of Communications Systems (Ashok Gupta) Recent BCI/Jones Intercable Dealings (Dave Leibold) Tele-Direct Comes to Hong Kong (Dave Leibold) The Telco as Broadcaster? (Dave Leibold) SONET/SDH Comparision TR Available From Committee T1 (Jim Burkitt) Book Review: "NetWare Troubleshooting" by Hader (Rob Slade) Bell Atlantic Marketing (Neil Weisenfeld) Looking For 386DX 32bits Operating System (James L. Yan) Outgoing Call Lockout, But Enabling it For One Call (John Stewart Pinnow) 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: sonicnet@panix.com (Michael Hauben) Subject: Need to Hook a Unix machine to a BBS on a PC Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:27:38 -0400 Organization: SonicNet BBS We are in the process of renting a T1-Leased Line in order to connect our BBS, SonicNet, to the Internet. In order to do this we are in the process of purchasing a Unix machine in order to connet to the incoming T-1 line. What I do not know how to do is how to connect the Unix machine to my PC. SonicNet runs on a 486/66 PC using the TBBS software. We currently have 8 phone lines connected via modems to a multiport Digiboard serial board. At this point I am unsure how I will connct the unix machine, which will support multiple telnet sessions, to the serial ports on the PC Digiboard. Of course we will be expanding the number of serial lines on the PC once we solve this problem. What I need is to somehow convert the incoming telnet connections on the unix machine into an RS-232 line on the BBS PC. Ideally it would be like connecting two serial ports via null modem cables. Others have suggested that I install an ethernet card to the PC running the bbs, but then I would be unsure how to redirect the incoming IP packets to the TBBS software. Also someone else suggested hooking up the unix machine up to a terminal server and the serial lines to the lines from my digiboard. The problem is that I know very little about the terminal servers, and less who to purchase them from. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to deal with my problem? I would also be interested in how other TBBS sysops have hooked their BBS's up to the Internet for telnet access. Thanks! Michael ------------------------------ From: crooksie@aol.com (CROOKSIE) Subject: CONVERSANT Problem - Help!!! Date: 28 Jun 1994 20:57:01 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Help Help Help!!! Relaying problem from TELECOM TECH SUPPORT (hope I got message right) - they cant seem to resolve - have ORACLE Server (Remote MAC Database) feeding a CONVERSANT (MAP100 V4.0) script - CONVERSANT accesses (queries) the ORACLE table - CONVERSANT needs to know what ORACLE table structure is to maintain integrity - during power surges, table structure dies as if ORACLE table was not defined - why is this happening? When power is restored, the structure should recover the table should recover the ORACLE table information. Any assistance would be appreciated from the net telecom "brain trust". ------------------------------ From: Matthew Lucas Subject: Call For Participation: TeleStrategies' Internet '94 Conference Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 08:13:13 +0000 TeleStrategies' is hosting "Internet: The New Way To Publish, Market and Advertise" on October 10-12, 1994 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The program will have both a conference and workshop track. The conference track will focus on new opportunities for publishing, advertising and marketing in the commercialized Internet. The workshop track will feature tutorials and live demonstrations of Internet applications, products and services. We are soliciting those in the telecommunications industry who have interest in demonstrating their products and services live on the Internet to our attendees. Approximately 450 people attended our March, 1994 program and we expect attendance to be even higher in October. If you have an Internet-based service or product and are interested in leading a workshop/demonstration session or exhibiting, please call TeleStrategies at (703) 734-7050. For workshop and demonstrations, ask for Lynn Stern. For exhibit or further information, ask for Jackie McGuigan. Thank you, Matthew Lucas TeleStrategies, Inc. (703 734-7050 ------------------------------ From: gupta@prlhp1.prl.philips.co.uk (Ashok Gupta) Subject: Workshop: User Interfaces of Communications systems Date: 29 Jun 94 12:19:07 GMT Reply-To: gupta@prl.philips.co.uk Organization: Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, UK Workshop Programme "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" Workshop of Special Interest Group 2.1.2 "Interactive Systems" German Computer Society (GI) to be held in Hamburg, Germany, during the Annual Conference of GI and IFIP-Congress'94 "Computer and Communications Evolution - The Driving Forces -" Wednesday, August 31, 1994, 14:00 - 17:30 pm On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Gesellschaft fuer Infor- matik, the German Computer Society GI, the 13th International IFIP World Congress will be held in Hamburg, Germany, together with the Annual Conference 1994 of the GI from August 28 through September 2, 1994. In the settings of the Congress/Conference the German Special Interest Group 2.1.2 of GI, "Interactive Systems", will organize in its 22nd year of work a workshop "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" covering topics related to the use of computer systems based on modern communication technologies. Modern communication technologies used in public digital networks or distributed computer systems demand new requirements in user interfaces of applications, both for network management organisations and for network users. Specifically there exist problems in the partly desired transparency of functional distribution, in explicit network management by the user, as well as in the manner in which users and system compo- nents cooperate in local and global networks. The workshop concentrates on aspects of the user interface, rather than the design, construction and running of networks themselves. The workshop addresses problems and issues in such areas as electronic mail and publication services, user interfaces to control and to access scientific and other information networks, user interfaces of communica-tion devices, and user interfaces in multi-user applications. Examples to be covered are new interaction techniques for operating telephones, user interfaces for wide-area networks, video-conferencing in its different forms, tools and techniques for designing and implementing multi-user applications, mobile computing, and knowledge- based communication systems. Relevant problems and vital issues of the computer and communication evolution are addressed in this workshop -- two fields which continue to grow together and influence each other in this decade and the next. The papers to be presented deal with the human-computer interaction of these existing and future computer-communication systems as seen from different angles, presenting various views of the field. Programme Committee: Coordinator: K. Froitzheim, Ulm, Germany Prof. Dr. Gerd Szwillus P. Gorny, Oldenburg, Germany Universitaet - GH - H.-J. Hoffmann, Darmstadt, Germany Paderborn, D. Jaepel, Zuerich, Switzerland FB Mathematik/Informatik P. Schulthess, Ulm, Germany D-33095 Paderborn G. Szwillus, Paderborn, Germany Phone intl+49+5251+60+2077 (Chairman) Fax intl+49+5251+60+3836 E-mail szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Programme Session 1 August 31, 14:00 - 15:30 pm Chair Prof. G. Szwillus On the way to Knowledge-based Human-Computer-Human-Communication R. Gunzenhaeuser, W. Dilly, M. Ressel University in Stuttgart, Dept. of Computer Science (in German) Usage of Communication Services with Drag-and-drop Techniques K. Froitzheim, P. Schulthess University in Ulm, Unit Distributed Systems (in German) Adaptive User Interfaces for Electronic Net Services H. Dieterich, M. Schneider-Hufschmidt, N. V. Carlsen Siemens AG, ZFE ST SN 51, Munich (in German) Session 2 August 31, 16:00 - 17:30 pm Chair Prof. P. Schulthess Interfaces for handling Multimedia Communication Systems M. Zajicek, X. Cao, D. Shrimpton, A. Tagg, J. Lehuby, D. Parish, P. Coventry, I. Phillips, J. Griffiths Oxford Brookes University & Loughborough University of Technology (in English) Aspects in User Interface Design for Mobile Multi-user Applications H.-W. Gellersen University in Karlsruhe, Telecooperation group (in German) The Virtual Office as a User Interface for Cooperative Working M. Sohlenkamp Gesellsch. f. Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD), Sankt Augustin (in German) Inquiries regarding the workshop to Prof. Szwillus, Univ. Paderborn, szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Inquiries regarding the IFIP Congress and the GI-Conference to Prof. Wolfinger, Univ. Hamburg, wolfinger@rz.informatik.uni-hamburg.d400.de ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: Recent BCI/Jones Intercable dealings Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] BCI, Jones Intercable fine-tune deal Bell Canada International Inc. (BCI), responsible for the international telecommunications investments and telecommunications consulting services for our parent company BCE, and Jones Intercable, Inc. of Colorado, have formally completed and signed a share purchase and shareholder agreement. Closing of the transaction is expected by late 1994, subject to certain conditions including the acquisition by Jones Intercable of the assets of Jones Spacelink, Ltd. The closing will include the following transactions: * BCI will purchase newly issued Class A shares of Jones Intercable for $206 million U.S., thereby increasing its total investment in Jones to $261 million U.S. for a 30 per cent interest. * BCI will purchase from Jones International, Ltd. and Glenn Jones an option worth $52 million U.S. for a controlling interest in Jones Intercable, exercisable in the future. * BCI will invest $35 million U.S. in other assets of Jones International, including Jones Lightwave, Ltd., a competitive access telecommunications service provider; Jones Education Networks, Inc., which operates the only distance network on basic cable television offering academic degree programs; and Jones Entertainment, Ltd., which acquires, produces and distributes original film and television entertainment programming. Jones Intercable, Inc. is one of the largest cable television operators in the United States. It is also the world's largest cable television management company, managing cable operations for publicly held entities. It manages operations in 20 states and three countries. ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: Tele-Direct Comes to Hong Kong Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] Hong Kong fingers will do the walking through BCE's pages Tele-Direct (Publications) Inc., our sister subsidiary in the BCE family, has formed a joint venture with Hongkong Telecom CSL to provide white pages and Yellow Pages directories for Hong Kong. Total revenue anticipated over the 10-year period of the agreement is US $1 billion. "The Hong Kong directories market is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and the association with Hongkong Telecom opens opportunities in southeast Asia and in the People's Republic of China," said Thomas Bourke, president and chief executive officer of Tele-Direct and group vice-president, Directories, of BCE. Tele-Direct will provide general management services and technical support to the joint-venture company, which will have a staff of some 200 employees. The Hongkong Telecom Group is currently the territory's sole provider of fixed telephone services, with some three million telephone exchange lines and a growing presence in the People's Republic of China. The company is 57.5 per cent owned by Cable and Wireless plc, the international telecommunications company. BCE and Cable & Wireless are also partners in two companies in the United Kingdom, Mercury Communications Limited and Bell Cablemedia Limited. ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: The Telco as Broadcaster? Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] Telcos to enter the broadcasting business? Canadian telephone companies would be able to hold broadcasting licences if the recommendations of a confidential report of the federal government are enacted. The report, prepared by the Industry Department, was obtained by the press under the Access to Information Act. Also recommended in the 12-page report entitled: The Cable and Telephone Networks: Proposals for a New Policy Approach is a revamping of the Bell Canada Act that presently prohibits us [Bell Canada] from holding a broadcasting licence. ------------------------------ From: Jim Burkitt Subject: SONET/SDH Comparision TR Available From Committee T1 Date: 29 Jun 1994 08:49:08 GMT From: Committee T1 Contact: Jim Burkitt, T1X1 Chair (914) 644-5075 ccmail.jburkitt@nynex.com (Internet) Subject: Technical Report on Comparison of SONET and SDH Committee T1 has just published a new technical report, "A Comparison of SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)." This technical report, Report #36, documents the differences between SONET and SDH as described in the applicable standards pertaining to the two hierarchies. SONET and SDH are compatible but not identical digital hierarchies. Though both define similar sets of overheads and functions, there are differences in the usage of the two overhead structures. The purpose of this technical report is to identify the areas where SONET and SDH differ: - in overhead/format definition, and - in usage/interpretation of overheads. Once the differences are clearly identified, it is possible to assess the appropriate actions to be taken to insure smooth interworking between networks based on the two hierarchies. Committee T1 is sponsored by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Copies of Report #36 can be purchased from ATIS or a postscript version can be obtained by anonymous ftp from test.t1bbs.org (192.187.216.3) using the file name: /pub/techrpts/tr.0/tr-36.zip ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "NetWare Troubleshooting" by Hader Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 03:08:46 MDT BKNTWTRB.RVW 940414 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com Keith Wollman, Trade Computer Group keithw@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Netware Troubleshooting", Hader, 1991, 0-201-57737-2, U$34.95/C$44.95 The format of the book is a combination of problem orientation, listing problems with explanations and solutions, and a general didactic approach. The format varies with the topic under discussion. In general, the problem outline method is most useful, and would be very helpful to those who are beginning to use or manage NetWare systems. The additional material can be used as reference as the new administrator grows into the task. The material covers a broad range of topics. File server optimization deals with memory, configuration, internal bridges and file attributes. Workstation topics discuss the shell configuration files, and logging in. Application software discussions are limited to Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect, unfortunately. There is also coverage of security, printing and management. Overall, the material is well written, but it does fall down in places. In particular, tables, figures and examples often are poorly chosen or designed for illustrating the points they are supposed to clarify. Another example is the treatment of effective rights: although the author states that this is a difficult subject and spends extra time here, the concept is not presented in a clear and accurate manner. A disk is included with a number of small, but potentially useful, utilities. You will, however, have to read the whole book to find out what is there and how to use it. There is no listing of the files collected anyplace in the book. The programs are described (very briefly) at points in the book where they address specific needs. The book, published in 1991, is slightly dated and covers only the ELS I, ELS II, Advanced NetWare, SFT and NetWare 386 versions. Many of the problem scenarios, however, are common to all NetWare versions, and address problems arising from the experienced DOS user unaware of some of the DOS/Netware interactions. A useful guide for the beginning sysadmin. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNTWTRB.RVW 940414. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca ------------------------------ From: weisen@alw.nih.gov (Neil Weisenfeld) Subject: Bell Atlantic Marketing Organization: NIH Div of Comp Rsrch and Technology Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 16:59:02 GMT Well, as many of you probably know, C&P Telephone in the Washington D.C. area has recently dropped the C&P name and is now using Bell Atlantic (Potomac?). Along with having Darth Vader welcome me to B.A. on those rare occasions when I call directory assistance, I'm also being assaulted by B.A. telemarketers who are trying to sell me extra services. Now, here's the interesting part. For three mornings in a row, they called me right after I called out to check my voice mail before leaving the house. Of course this could be coincidence and timing, but I'm wondering if the would (and if they could) set up a system so that my number popped up in front of one of their telemarketers shortly after I completed a call. This would practically ensure that I was home to take their call. Fortunately, three mornings of "late to work" as a response to "How are you today?" has sent them away, but just out of curiousity, I'm wondering: could they?, would they?, and do they? with regard to the scheme I proposed above. Regards, Neil ------------------------------ From: James L. Yan Subject: Looking For 386DX 32bits Operating System Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 21:37:57 GMT I need suggestions concerning 386DX 32 bits operating system for PBx. James L. Yan ------------------------------ From: jspinnow@netcom.com (John Stewart Pinnow) Subject: Outgoing Call Lockout, But Enabling it For One Call Organization: Tmoh Research, Milwaukee, WI Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 04:14:23 GMT Is there a feature on telephones which allows disabling outgoing calls, but allowing an authorized person to call out like with a PIN? We currently have a lock out on the phone and dial out via cell phone, but is there away to do the above authorization type feature, instead of racking up large cellular bills? Thank you, Tmoh Research Internet: jspinnow@netcom.com Phone: (414) 761-1537 John S. Pinnow jspinnow@world.std.com Disclaim: Opinions==Mine [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Most telcos allow toll-restriction on long distance calls, where LD calls are denied entirely. There is a method such as you describe where a PIN is required, but I don't know which telcos have this and which do not. The best course of action would be for you to get one of the call restriction devices from Radio Shack and install it on your line. It can do exactly what you want in a variety of combinations where dialing is concerned. A PIN is used to override the restrictions. It can be mounted in a secure, obscure and out of easy reach place so that it becomes (almost) tamper-proof. Inquire at your local Radio Shack. Another vendor of similar equipment is Hello Direct at 1-800-HI-HELLO. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #304 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa11319; 30 Jun 94 17:45 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA12934; Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:57:09 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA12920; Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:57:06 CDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:57:06 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406301857.AA12920@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #305 TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:57:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 305 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cellphone Tracking and O.J. Simpson (Willis H. Ware) O.J. Simpson and Telecommunications (Steve Bunning) Calling Cards - IXC vs LEC (Aaron Woolfson) GSM Countries (Juha Veijalainen) 3Com MIB(s) Sought (Paul Ferguson) Call Back w/X25, Direct Dialers (Martin Varsavsky) Request Information: Distinctive Ring Phone Line Switches (grstone@delphi) Connecting a Sound Card to a Telephone Line (Paul L. Egges) Mobile Phone Cabling (was: "Re-readiating" Cellular Antennas) (J. Schiefer) Need KSUless Music On Hold Adaptor - Help! (Ms. Sandra M. Levy) Voice-to-Text Answering Board (Chris Norley) BAM's Digital Footprint (Alex Cena) Programming Help Needed With Tandy CT 1030 (Brandon Roy) TDMA Phones RF Interference (Thomas W. Christoffel) Digital Cellular Data Transmission (Laura McDevitt) 811 Used For Business Office (Carl Moore) Wanted: Comm System For Nursing Floor (Cyndi Cuppernell) Re: Satellite Phone Wanted (Don Jamer) Re: Satellite Phone Wanted (Kevin McConnaughey) Re: Satellite Phone Wanted (Donald R. Newcomb) Re: Satellite Phone Wanted (Patton M Turner) Re: Satellite Phone Wanted (Rob Janssen) Some Random Thoughts From a Reader (Adam Gruen) 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: Willis H. Ware Reply-To: willis@rand.org Subject: Re: CELLFONE TRACKING Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 10:32:44 PDT PAT: As requested ... The recent "Freeway Chase" of O.J.Simpson's white Ford Bronco has brought into public consciousness the issue of whether a cellular telephone network is technically able to track a subscriber's handset and report its physical location. The {Los Angeles Times} published an article stating that the cellphone system had been used to track the vehicle. On the other hand, local TV stations also interviewed the young couple who, on their way to the beach, had visually sighted the car and used a roadside emergency phone to report it to authorities. The role of the cellular provider or its technical ability to track is not wholly clear; but on the basis of all the facts that appeared in local media, it does seem clear that the vehicle tracking was largely visual, not electronic. In fact later in the chase, the driver reported where he was and when he intended to make turns off/on the freeway network. The first technical observation would appear to be that a handset is either handling a call, is on standby, or is switched off. If the last, it must be invisible to the network. In standby, there must be some periodic communication between handset and the network -- perhaps polling, perhaps challenge and response -- that allows the cellphone net to know in which cell an active or standby handset is presently located. Otherwise the network could not know to which cell to direct an incoming call, or to hand off an outgoing call from one cell to the next as the handset moves from cell to cell. Therefore, one readily concludes that the cellphone network can track a unit to its current cell location and from cell to cell. Presumably, such location information could be available to the system operators as a matter of routine oversight of the system, to the creation of operational records and audit trails, and to billing records. So the cellular operator, AirTouch in this case, could probably report to authorities which cell the Bronco currently occupied. Probably, the present-cell-location information is available within the network whether the handset is active or in standby. As a matter of legalities, the {Los Angeles Times} article did say that the provider -- AirTouch -- had been "subpoenaed to cooperate" and it did also say that a wiretap court order had been obtained. The subpoena was probably to cover what is known as "transaction records" which in a cellular system might include location information but certainly caller and callee numbers and billing information. The wiretap order would be required to monitor and record the content of the calls. Next, however, there is a point of technical uncertainty. At cell-phone frequencies, the antennas are usually made up of multiple elements in order to get the desired azimuthal coverage and to avoid wasting energy by confining the transmitted energy to the desired service area, which for cellphones transmitters probably is a roughly round flat saucer of radiation. There would be no point in wasting energy by squirting it straight overhead or to unusually high angles. It is well known that broadcast transmitters -- AM/FM/TV -- control the radiation pattern of their antennas to maximize the transmitted energy into the service area. But, does a cellular transmitter control and manipulate the individual antenna elements for each transmission in order to maximize the energy directed toward the handset of interest? Is the phasing among the many elements adjusted dynamically to point a given transmission toward a handset and to track its motion? Are there even multiple transmitters so that individual calls can be assigned to particular antenna beams? Or is there a single transmitter that is used for all calls concurrently in progress and that deals with the multiple elements of the antenna as a single composite entity that has a fixed radiation pattern adapted to its particular location? In the present state of electronics, multiple transmitters and dynamic electronic beam pointing would be easily achieved. But how has the system been designed? If angular adjustment is indeed utilized for each transmission, then two cell sites that can hear the transmission could, in principle, function as a form of triangulation, and tracking could be more precise than just "the handset is in cell xx". IF angular positioning of the transmitted beam for a given call-in-progress is indeed used, then it's a collateral question of whether such information can be extracted from the system by its operational personnel. The Times article quoted a security consultant from Houston TX as saying that triangulation had been used by the authorities and that it had also been used to track down a drug figure in Columbia. In the latter case, I can imagine the DEA and other authorities having high quality triangulation equipment, but it would seem unlikely that local law authorities would. So if the triangulation story is correct, then it must follow that the cell transmitters themselves are able to provide some level of triangulation. What are the technical facts about the cellphone network, its ability to track, and its ability to report location? Willis Ware Santa Monica, CA ------------------------------ From: Steve Bunning Subject: O.J. Simpson and Telecommunications Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 14:24:16 EDT In TELECOM Digest, Tue, 28 Jun 94, Volume 14, Issue 301, David Cantor comments "Frankly, I don't see what the O.J. Simpson case has to do with telecommunications ...". How about the use of scanners to monitor cellular phone calls? I caught a few minutes of coverage as Simpson was being driven down the expressway. As the TV screen showed the vehicle, a graphic on the screen said something about a "scanner" report. The person reporting proceeded to reveal who Simpson had just called and a summary of their phone conversation. At least they didn't patch it directly on air. As has been said in the Digest before, don't count on your cellular phone calls being private. ------------------------------ From: awoolfso@uop.edu (Aaron Woolfson) Subject: Calling Cards - IXC vs LEC Date: 30 Jun 1994 02:05:31 -0700 Organization: University of the Pacific I have a question ... it sort of is something I need to think about here at Delta Telecommunications, since we will be issuing calling cards. What happens if your 1) AT&T card, 2) Pacific Bell card, and 3) Sprint card all have the same number on them -- i.e. for instance, my pacific bell card may be 209 956 4765 1111 and AT&T may be 209 956 4765 2222 and my Sprint may be 209 956 4765 3333. However, what happens when they are all the same number, including PIN, and I make a call over AT&T or Sprint. Does the respective IXC card get charged to, or does the Pacific Bell LEC card get charged to, or what? Thanks. Any information would be extremily helpful. Aaron Woolfson (awoolfso@unix1.cc.uop.edu) ------------------------------ From: juha.veijalainen@compart.fi (Juha Veijalainen) Subject: GSM Countries Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 08:16:00 +0200 Organization: ComPart BBS - Helsinki, Finland - +358-0-506-3329 (V.32bis) Here's a list of some (if not all) countries and operators using GSM. It's interesting to note that all continents, except America, have GSM networks. When is USA, for example, going to catch up ;-) Information is from 'GSM 940 - Roaming guide for countries and networks serving Telecom Finland's GSM customers 1994'. AUSTRALIA MOBILNET AUSTRIA E-NETZ BELGIUM MOB-3 DENMARK TDK-MOBIL SONOFON ESTONIA TELE FIN (Telecom Finland) FINLAND TELE FIN (Telecom Finland) (RADIOLINJA) FRANCE FRANCE TELECOM SFR GERMANY TELEKOM D1 D2 PRIVAT GREAT BRITAIN AND N.IRELAND VODAFONE GREAT BRITAIN CELLNET GREECE PANAFON SET HELLAS HONGKONG TCSL GSM SMARTONE HUNGARY PANNON WESTEL 900 IRELAND EIRCELL-GSM ITALY SIP LATVIA LMT GSM LIECHTENSTEIN (Switzerland network) NATEL D GSM LUXEMBOURG LUXGSM MONACO (France network) FRANCE TELECOM SFR THE NETHERLANDS PTT TELECOM NEW ZEALAND NORWAY TELE-MOBIL NETCOM GSM PORTUGAL TELEMOVEL TELECEL SINGAPORE ST-GSM-SGP SOUTH AFRICA TELECOM SA SPAIN TELEFONICA SWEDEN TELIA MOBILTEL COMVIQ EUROPOLITAN SWITZERLAND NATEL D GSM TURKEY PTT/TURKCELL GSM PTT/TEKNOTELL Prices vary a lot. Cheapest prices are in Scandinavia (Finland and Sweden). Operators may charge 0 - 15 % roaming charge. Some operators charge by second, some by other 'units'. When roaming, you'll also pay a surcharge for received calls (from 0,75 FIM/min in Scandinavia to 9,75 FIM/min in Hongkong). New GSM networks are also planned for at least: Russia (St.Petersburg), second network for Estonia, Arab Emirates. Juha Veijalainen Helsinki, Finland tel. +358 40 500 4402 ------------------------------ From: paul@sprintlink.net (Paul Ferguson) Subject: 3Com MIB(s) Sought Date: 30 Jun 1994 14:15:45 GMT Organization: Sprint Managed Network Engineering Reply-To: paul@hawksbill.sprintmrn.com Does anyone know an FTP site where I can find the 3Com MIBs's for the following: <3Com NetBuider II> SW/NBII-FF,7.0 X25 - 3.2 Frame Relay - 2.0 CLNP - 2.0 nb2 REM: 1.0.5 Copyright 1985-1994, 3Com Corporation <3Com NetBuilder-Remote Office> SW/NBRO-BA,7.0 SPMON Version 1.0.2 Copyright 1985-1994, 3Com Corporation An archie search doesn't provide anything useful. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Please respond via e-mail to . Thanks, Paul Ferguson US Sprint Managed Network Engineering tel: 703.904.2437 Herndon, Virginia USA internet: paul@hawk.sprintmrn.com ------------------------------ From: martinvars@aol.com (MARTINVARS) Subject: Call Back w/X25, Direct Dialers Date: 30 Jun 1994 09:59:02 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Does anybody know of a platform to recommend to interface a call back system with X25 messaging? Does anybody have a platform to recommend that provides Call Back service with voice recognition, voice mail and fax mail interface, call back with greeting, ability to network different call back switches in different countries, multicurrency billing? Does anybody know what are the best dialers that can be installed at the clients premises so the client dials normally and these dialers request the call back and dial without the client being aware of it? These dialers should be able to be programmed from the switching center. Martin Varsavsky Viatel, NYC. ------------------------------ From: grstone@delphi.com Subject: Request Info: Distinctive Ring Phone Line Switches Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 02:03:48 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) I want a BBS to answer on distincitive ringing, and to no other incoming calls with standard ringing. COMSHARE 450 costs $89 but has other bells and whistles I don't need. Anyone know of a simpler, cheaper product that does this? Oh, yes, the BBS is MAC. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: pegges@teal.csn.org (Paul L. Egges) Subject: Connecting a Sound Card to a Telephone Line Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc. Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 16:44:45 GMT Has anyone ever connected a sound cards input to a telephone line (via the speaker wires on modem preferably)? Does anyone know of a device sold for doing this (I'm feeling lazy and would rather not design anything). Thanks, Paul L. Egges ------------------------------ From: jas@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Jan Schiefer) Subject: Mobile Phone Cabling (was: "Re-readiating" Car Cellular Antennas) Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 17:57:39 GMT Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, England John Gilbert (johng@ecs.comm.mot.com) wrote: > for by the 3 db of gain the outside antenna provides. > Use a cable between the radio and the outside antenna. You will have much > better results. Just wondering: What cables do the people fitting mobile phones normally use? When the phone operates at 900MHz or even 1.8GHz, you could have much more cable loss than 3dB, for a roof-mounted aerial. And how many people are prepared to shell out real money for high-quality cable? And then there is the toy-coax-connector-on-bottom-of-handset problem. I guess a lot of people experience that the built-in aerial works much better than the 'professionally fitted' car-mount one. Cheers, Jan Schiefer, g0trr, jas@hplb.hpl.hp.com, HP Labs Bristol, UK. +44 272 228344 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 14:46:34 EDT From: CTDN53B@prodigy.com (MS SANDRA M LEVY) Subject: Need KSUless Music On Hold Adaptor A prospective customer has a simple two-line telephone and no KSU. He'd like to have us custom-create an informational tape for his callers on hold. Last I heard Radio Shack had a dandy little Music On Hold adaptor for up to two lines for right around $50. They've discontinued the product. Does anyone know where I can find a device that will allow a KSUless phone with a hold button to deliver audio when the hold button is pushed? Please answer to CTDN53B@prodigy.com. Thank you, Sandra (call me Sam) Levy Ideas On Hold 4300 NW 23rd Ave., Suite 299 Gainesville (home of the student murders, and today a toxic chemical cloud due to an accident -- oh, what a city!;) FL 32614-7050 Vox 1-800-879-4332 Fax 1-904-367-8339. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are a lot of Radio Shack people who read this Digest; maybe one or more will find the product you are seeking in their left-overs and discontinued products department in their stores. Regards Gainesville being such a bad place to live, all we here in Chicago should have to deal with are a few students murdered now and then plus toxic chemical clouds once in a while. We typically have three or four murders per day here; 1994 is running well ahead of previous years-to-date in that category. Violence is rampant all over the United States but it is worst in the large urban areas, with Chicago one of the leaders. You wanna move here and I will move there? Its all quite relative, you see. At least I was able to move out of Chicago permanently several months ago and it is a lot more peaceful here where I live now, albiet harder than ever to pay the bills living at the edge of Skokie/Wilmette. PAT] ------------------------------ From: norleyc@pwfl.com (Chris Norley) Subject: Voice-to-Text Answering Board Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 13:11:31 EDT I am looking for an answering machine that will provide voice-to-text capability. Is there such a beast available? I will summarize the answers that are sent to me. Thanks in advance, Chris Norley norleyc@pwfl.com Advanced Materials phone: 407-796-6561 Powdered Metal, Anyone? O/V (Profs) : norleyc ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 09:35:26 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: BAM's Digital Footprint Does anyone know how widespread Bell Atlantic's digital cellular service is in its major markets such as Washington DC and Philadelphia? In addition to service quality and availability, I am also interested in finding out what percent of cell sites contain digital radios. Regards, Alex ------------------------------ From: broy@k12.ucs.umass.edu (Brandon Roy) Subject: Programming Help Needed With Tandy CT 1030 Reply-To: broy@k12.ucs.umass.edu Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 20:40:50 -0400 Can anybody out there give me any information about programming this cellular phone? I'm pretty sure it can be programmed through the handset. I have information about the equivilant Radio Shack model, but apparently there are some differences. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: twc0@gte.com (Thomas W. Christoffel) Subject: TDMA Phones RF Interference Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 15:06:15 GMT Organization: GTE Laboratories Incorporated Anyone heard about RF interference from TDMA cellular telephones causing problems with automotive or medical electronics? Please send replies to tchristoffel@gte.com. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: mcdevitt@pip.oci.utoronto.ca (Laura McDevitt) Subject: Digital Cellular Data Transmission Organization: Ontario Cancer Institute, University of Toronto Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:41:03 GMT Anyone familiar with digital cellular high-speed data transmission? Specifically, I would like to hear about anyone's knowledge or experience concerning its application for videoconferencing. Please send your response to my e-mail address: mcdevitt@oci.utoronto.ca Thank you. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:20:21 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: 811 Used For Business Office Front Royal, Virginia is served by (703)635,636, and newer 622. I was just down there, and found that it is served by Centel, and that 811 or an 800 number are used for the business office in Charlottesville. Is the new Virginia area code public yet? ------------------------------ From: ccuppern@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Cyndi Cuppernell) Subject: Wanted: Comm System For Nursing Floor Date: 30 Jun 1994 14:51:58 GMT Organization: UIUC Department of Psychology I work on a floor at a hospital. Currently we use an overhead page during the days and evenings to communicate with nurses and others, telling the person they have a phone call; need to come to the nurses' station; asking that the person turn on a bedside call light, etc. We're trying to find an alternative system. Other floors use vibrating pagers, but we've heard that the pagers often break down. What system can you recommend? What would be both the advantages and the drawbacks of your system? Please e-mail me if possible. Thanks for your help. Cyndi Cuppernell RN ccuppern@s.psych.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ From: jamerd@nbnet.nb.ca (Don Jamer) Subject: Re: Satellite Phone Wanted Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 12:29:54 GMT Organization: NBTel In article John@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU writes: > Is there a phone on the market that can use a satellite (not a cell) > to communicate? Some friends and I want to take a trip to where there > are no phones (obviously) and no cells. We thought maybe we could > rent a satellite phone, if possible. Try "INMARSAT" (International Maritime Satellite), but boy! is it expensive ! You might be better off with an HF SSB (high frequency --3 - 30Mhz --, single sideband unit). They carry several thousand miles and are regularly used in remote areas including barges on the Mississippi (for long haul communications). ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Satellite Phone Wanted From: kevin@realtyme.com (Kevin McConnaughey) Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 18:30:48 EDT Organization: Retrograde Motion BBS - Oakton, VA. John@VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU writes: > Is there a phone on the market that can use a satellite (not a cell) > to communicate? Some friends and I want to take a trip to where there > are no phones (obviously) and no cells. We thought maybe we could > rent a satellite phone, if possible. There are a number of companies that make briefcase size portable telephone earth stations. Scientific Atlanta comes to mind, I think I recently saw an advertisement in a trade journal. You will want to arrange for INMARSAT "M" or "B" service with a service provider. The only two that I am aware of in the US are: IDB Mobile and Comsat Mobile. Both have offices in Rockville, MD. COMSAT has a promotional plan going with an introductory rate of about $4.95/minute. The non-discounted rate is regularly $5.50. I always get the two service names mixed up -- but they are both digital services that compress voice and encode it on the digital carrier. I think that you might be able to arrange to rent or lease a terminal through either of these providers. It would probably be a good idea since the terminals retail from $10,000 to $20,000. In addition to voice service there is also the significantly less expensive INMARSAT C teminals for low speed data. I am not sure what sort of services besides TELEX are offered but I would assume that you could get e-mail access. These terminals and the rates would be less than the voice services but I don't know prices. Regards, kevin@realtyme.com (Kevin McConnaughey) Retrograde Motion BBS - Oakton, Virginia +1-703-758-9084 ------------------------------ From: dnewcomb@whale.st.usm.edu (Donald R. Newcomb) Subject: Re: Satellite Phone Wanted Date: 29 Jun 1994 18:18:52 -0500 Organization: University of Southern Mississippi Yep! We have a couple of them in my office. About the size of a small suitcase. Has an umbrella-like dish antenna you set up and point at the satellite. For some strange reason, they call this an 'Ultra-light'. I guess the heavy-weight is van-mobile. I've been asking for training on how to use them but it hasn't happened yet. As I remember they said that the price was around $10K per unit (don't quote me on that.) OBTW, calls are $10 per minute. Donald R. Newcomb * University of Southern Mississippi dnewcomb@whale.st.usm.edu ------------------------------ From: pturner@netcom.com (Patton M Turner) Subject: Re: Satellite Phone Wanted Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 01:53:15 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Wouldn't the ship to shore (or high seas) > service work out in John's case? I am thinking of Marisat or Maristat? > Can you get portable phones to carry around which use that service? PAT] It's called INMARSAT and uses briefcase sized phones. Cost can be as low as $5/min for the newest phones. Ship to Shore is usually used to refer to the AT&T high seas HF service. Patton Turner KB4GRZ pturner@netcom.com FAA Telecommunications ------------------------------ From: robjan@rabo.nl (Rob Janssen) Subject: Re: Satellite Phone Wanted Date: 29 Jun 1994 13:14:08 +0100 Organization: Rabobank Nederland There are "portable" phones that use Inmarsat. Not something you carry in your pocket, but at least they are transportable. They should work anywhere between ~ 75 degrees north and south. However, the cost of calls is huge. The rent probably just as well. So, this is only realistic for purposes like sponsored expeditions, not for your average holiday trip ... Rob ------------------------------ From: Adam Gruen <0006449096@mcimail.com> Subject: Some Random Thoughts From a Reader Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 14:47:00 EST TELECOM Digest is a terrific service. I've learned more reading through back issues than I could have ever hoped to glean from perusing telecomm journal articles. I'm a historian of technology, a refugee from the Space Station program, so moving from aerospace to telecommunications is a challenge and TD helps. I find, by the way, that both fields have the same problem: translation from technese into English. As an MCI employee, naturally I always notice any complaints about MCI. I don't know what to do about Bill Garfield's complaint, and I'm certainly not an influential corporate person, but I'll try to do something about it. Maybe drop a hint with the legal department. Sidenote on the Simpson case, PAT. In the U.S. today, it's not "innocent until proven guilty". It's not even "guilty until proven innocent." Now, it's just "Guilty -- hang him." No proof needed, none wanted. Even the prospect of a justice system with no justice pales before the spectre of a bored media industry desperate to sell advertising time. I read not too long ago that CNN's ratings numbers have been down ever since the Gulf War ended. The problem, CNN analysts decided, was that there simply was no interesting crisis to grab the attention of the populace. One wonders how long it will be before such crises are manufactured to boost ratings. And I don't mean penny-ante trumped-up incidents such as Gulf of Tonkin or U.S.S. Maine -- I mean BIG news, like a nuclear war somewhere. Oh well. Veritas Praevalet. Dr. Adam L. Gruen [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for your very kind comments about the Digest. The Digest is something I've worked on for several years because of my strong belief in the need to educate the public at large about the way telephones operate. I've believed for many years that people need to know more and better understand how telephones and the telecom networks function -- not just from a technical viewpoint, but in all sorts of ways. Someone commented elsewhere recently that they do not believe there is an archives, or ftp repository anywhere on the Internet as comprehensive and detailed as the one for telecom. I don't know if that is true or not, but I know that ours is quite large and contains almost every back issue of this Digest since its beginning in 1981 under the tenure (in those days) of Jon Solomon. If people read them all, they will learn a lot about telecom ... possibly more than they ever wanted to know. The Telecom Archives can be accessed using anonymous ftp at lcs.mit.edu, or by Archie, Gopher, etc ... if you prefer email, use the Telecom Archives Email Information Service at tel-archives@lcs.mit.edu. Ask me for a help file using this if one is needed. Even though I work on the Digest because of my sincere belief that a good working knowlege of telecom is vital to people everywhere, still there remain such mundane things from day to day as paying the bills, eating, and keeping the phone turned on. To this extent, one very big and important part of the Digest is the funding provided by the International Telecommun- ication Union in Geneva, Switzerland. Their monthly grant is a very important part of how the Digest survives, but they cannot do it all, and donations from readers along with corporate assistance is also needed. If *your company* can assist at all with either a one time grant or a monthly subscription to the Digest, I cannot stress enough the importance of doing it today. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit educational activity and publication registered as such in the State of Illinois, and the County of Cook, Illinois. Checks may be made payable to TELECOM Digest. Please help however you can, in ways you deem appropriate. And to those who have helped in the past, or to whom I have obligations at this time, **you have not been forgotten** and your help is greatly appreciated. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #305 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa11549; 30 Jun 94 18:08 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA14206; Thu, 30 Jun 94 14:35:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA14197; Thu, 30 Jun 94 14:35:01 CDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 14:35:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9406301935.AA14197@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #306 TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 14:35:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 306 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Cellular Phones and Lightning (Steven King) Re: Cellular Phone and Tower Handshaking (Steven King) Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone (Donald J. Zanolla) Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone (Bernard Rupe) Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone (jskene@Delphi.com) Re: Satellite Telephone Wanted (Greg Monti) Re: Another National N11 Code Request (ssatchell@bix.com) Re: Help on Dial Line Protection From Storms (ssatchell@bix.com) Re: Who's That Voice? (Les Reeves) Her Voice Comes in Warm and Clear (Associated Press via Steve Bauer) Water Sensors For Equipment Rooms (Donald W. Filkins) Personal PBX Construction Article (Les Reeves) 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: king@wildebeest.cig.mot.com (Steven King, Software Archaeologist) Subject: Re: Cellular Phones and Lightning Date: 29 Jun 1994 14:24:17 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group Reply-To: king@cig.mot.com shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) publicly declared: > Someone told me that in a lightning storm, lightning can follow the > radio waves given out by your cellular phone. I assume this is > because the air is more ionized where the waves are strong. Is this > true? Is it unsafe to use a handheld cellular phone in a lightning > storm? I'm not talking about a mobile phone with a tall antenna. Oh yes, it's absolutely true. In fact, this is where the real risk of brain cancer lies. The cellphones don't directly cause it, but getting hit by lighting is a *definite* cause of cancer. Even if you don't feel it, you've probably been hit by a "microspark" if you've ever used the phone during a lighting storm. Cordless phones aren't an issue. As we all know (based on legal rulings in the U.S.) cordless phones are broadcast emissions while cellular phones are point-to-point between the phone and base station. You can't get zapped while talking on a cordless phone for this reason. By the way, don't *ever* use a cellular phone in New Jersey. The Red Lectroids from the Eighth Dimension can slip along the radio waves and take over your brain. Ever see the movie "Buckaroo Banzai"? 'Nuff said! Okay, enough fun. No, lighting won't "follow the radio waves" back to your phone. At least, I've never heard of that effect. I really doubt that 600 mW of omnidirectional RF can ionize anything, let alone make a more conductive path between the clouds and ground. It does make a nice urban legend, though. Steven King -- Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group ------------------------------ From: king@wildebeest.cig.mot.com (Steven King, Software Archaeologist) Subject: Re: Cellular Phone and Tower Handshaking Date: 29 Jun 1994 18:18:29 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group Reply-To: king@cig.mot.com shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) publicly declared: > Sometimes when I turn my phone on, it doesn't bother talking to the > tower at all. Sometimes, it transmits for a short period of time. > But it usually does this once and not at set intervals. With this in > mind, I have come up with the following theory about how a phone and > tower keep track of each other. Someone please let me know if there > is any truth in this. Here's what goes on. This may be slightly inaccurate; I haven't needed to look at the air interface spec for a number of years. Some of the relevant brain cells have undoubtedly been recycled by now. When you turn on your phone, it checks its memory to see if you're on the "A" carrier or the "B" carrier. It then starts scanning the signalling channels for the appropriate carrier to see which has the strongest signal. (If it can't find a channel on the home carrier it'll scan the other carrier's signalling channels, and then turn on the "No Service" lamp if it still can't find anything.) The phone will continually rescan the signalling channels to stay tuned to the strongest one. Depending on how your cellular system is set up, your mobile may have to periodically register with the system. Keeping track of your mobile saves effort when you have an incoming call -- the system can direct the page instead of blasting it across all cells. Periodically the base sites will send out a "registration check" command. This command contains a time stamp. Your mobile remembers the last time it registered and will re-register if it's past the registration period. Typically systems will want the mobile to register once an hour or so, but that's configurable by the cellular operating company. If the mobile has been turned off for more than an hour, it will always notice that it's past its registration time and will re-register. If it has been turned off for less than an hour it will wait until the full hour has elapsed before re-registering. This explains why your mobile "sometimes" sends data to the cell on power-up. The phone does *not* re-register each time it moves into a new cell, just when the timer expires. The timers are set up on a per-system basis. If you're moving along a corridor serviced by several companies (say, a freeway between two cities) it will probably re-register when it moves into a different system. > When actually talking on my phone, the towers themselves must monitor > my signal strength. I can hear my phone change frequencies quite > often while I talk, even when I am just pasing around one room. The > phone never transmits tower changes that often when it is not being > used. While you're talking, the cell signals your phone by blanking the voice path and sending a burst of digital data on the same channel. You hear this as a momentary blank spot in conversation. However, the only things the cell should be telling your phone at this time are "go to another channel" or "change your power level". You shouldn't be handing off just walking around a room. There's some hysterisis in the signal strength determination to keep mobiles in the fringe between two cells from handing off back and forth rapidly. Ditto for changing power levels. I don't know why you're hearing frequent drop-outs while you're talking, but I suspect your phone (or the cell) shouldn't be doing that. Can you borrow someone else's phone and test it under the same conditions? Steven King -- Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group ------------------------------ From: zanolla@agouti.cig.mot.com (Donald J. Zanolla) Subject: Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone Date: 29 Jun 94 18:00:58 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellulsr Infrastructure Group idp3286@hertz.njit.edu (Ian Daniel Plotkin) writes: > Does anyone have any experience with Motorola's new Digital flip-fone? > Is digital cellular as widespread as analog yet? The local carrier > here in central NJ is Comcast/CellularOne. Does anyone know if NJ is > covered by a digital network? While the other (analog) flipfones go > for around $50 /w signon deal, is it worth it at this point in time to > shell out the $300 or so (/w signon deal) for the digital phone? Any > info would be appreciated! NO, digital is not vary widespread, as yet; my guess would be about 5% of the cellular services are digital. If you are considering a digital phone then: 1 - Make sure it is a dual-mode phone; dual-mode phones will operate as either digital or analog. When the phone powers-up in the default mode (either digital or analog) it will look for service in that mode; if there is no service available then it will search for service in the other mode. This is important when you are out of your home service area; the phone will be able to find you service in either mode. 2 - The default mode is controlable by the phone user NOT the service provider. This would be useful if you are not happy with the current mode and YOU can change to the other mode to see if the service is better there. The cellular provides are pushing digital because it gives better call security AND they can get more calls on the same piece of copper as with analog. Unless, the cellular provide is giving you much lower cost/minute as compared to analog then probably you should stay with a analog phone. Donald Zanolla zanolla@agouti.cig.mot.com ------------------------------ From: rupe@wombat.cig.mot.com (Bernard Rupe) Subject: Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone Date: 29 Jun 1994 15:31:29 GMT Organization: Cellular Infrastructure Group, Motorola In article idp3286@hertz.njit.edu (Ian Daniel Plotkin) writes: > Does anyone have any experience with Motorola's new Digital flip-fone? > Is digital cellular as widespread as analog yet? The local carrier > here in central NJ is Comcast/CellularOne. Does anyone know if NJ is > covered by a digital network? While the other (analog) flipfones go > for around $50 /w signon deal, is it worth it at this point in time to > shell out the $300 or so (/w signon deal) for the digital phone? Any > info would be appreciated! TDMA (digital cellular) is not as near wide spread as analog yet. In fact, Ameritech has decided that TDMA does not meet its needs and so will not deploy it. They are instead waiting for CDMA (a competing form of digital). The main user difference (ie. outside of the obvious operator benefits) between digital and analog is that digital will maintain a higher signal quality but will suddenly drop where analog would continue the call with degraded signal quality. With a strong signal, I don't think most people would notice much of a difference between the two. Motorola Cellular Infrastructure (I'm not offically speaking for the company, but am just relaying information as I understand it) has taken the position that CDMA is a superior technology to TDMA. We will be deploying CMDA systems (ie. non-trial, full commercial) at the beginning of next year. US West and AirTouch (formerly PacTel Cellular) will be deploying CDMA. I'm sure there are people around who would argue that TDMA meets all of our needs. We may very well end up with both technologies being widely deployed. One of them could also win out. In that case, either TDMA or CDMA phones might be worthless four or five years from now. Bernie Rupe 1501 W. Shure Drive Room 1315 Motorola, Inc. Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Cellular Infrastructure Group +1 708 632 2814 rupe@cig.mot.com ------------------------------ From: jskene@news.delphi.com Subject: Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phone Date: 29 Jun 1994 21:28:11 -0000 Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation Digital cellular has several advantages over the older analog systems. You will suffer much less congestion, typically have clearer voice, and will not be susceptible to illegal phone taps from someone with a Radio SHack scanner. The extra cost may well be worth it if these are important issues to you. ------------------------------ From: Greg Monti Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 15:57:26 EDT Subject: Re: Satellite Telephone Wanted Here are manufacturers I know of that sell phones that can be used to communicate on the worldwide Inmarsat system. In this business, "portable" is a relative term. Ask what they have; they are getting lighter and cheaper with time. A demo I saw last week was of a 40 or 50-pound aluminum suitcase with a phone and all transmit and receive electronics in it. To use it, you must asssemble and deploy a "parasol" antenna made of metal fabric and attach it to the RF electronics. The antenna is about 2 feet in diamter when deployed. You must then find one of the four Inmarsat satellites using approximate pointing instructions that are included. At the frequency used, about 1.5 GHz, the beam width of a 0.6 meter antenna is fairly wide so "finding" the spacecraft is not as hard as it sounds. The antenna must still be peaked for best signal. Once "commissioned" (given an account) with Inmarsat or a reseller, the phone is assigned a seven-digit number and can make incoming and outgoing calls. Outgoing calls are dialed 00 + country code + city code + local number. Incoming calls to the phone are dialed as if each Inmarsat satellite is its own "country". The country codes for Inmarsat for the Atlantic Ocean region are 871 and 874 (I forget which is east and which is west). The country codes for Pacific and Indian Ocean regions are 872 and 873, maybe not in that order. Sort of like old-fashioned "roaming" with cellular; you must know which market (in this case, spacecraft) the phone is "in" to reach it. The phones are in the $10,000 to $50,000 range each if bought new. I have no idea if any of these companies have leasing programs. The "air time" is between $8.00 and $10.00 per minute. But, hey, it will work atop the Himalayas or on Gilligan's Island. Inmaresat birds are geostanionary satellites and cannot be communicated with north of about 83 N nor south of about 83 S latitude. Battery not included. You either plug it in to 120 or 240 volts or you bring a battery pack or maybe a motorcycle battery -- and some way of charging it. I understand that climbers who did one of the big mountains in Asia hauled one of these things up there and called to report their success, as well as -- presumably -- to retrieve their messages from voice mail back home. Mobile TeleSystems, Inc., 300 Professional Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20879; 301 590-8500; fax 301 590-8558. Olivia Communications Group, 1 Park Place, 621 NW 53rd Street, Boca Raton, FL 33487-8211; 407 995-1422; fax 407 995-1499. Mackay Communications, 300 Columbus Circle, Edison, NJ 08837; 908 225-0909; fax 908 225-2848. Calian Communications Systems, Ltd., 300 Leggett Drive, Kanata, Ontario K2K 1Y5 Canada; 613 592-3020; fax 613 592-3378. Comsat Mobile Communications, 22300 Comsat Drive, Clarksburg, MD 20871; 301 428-2222; fax 301 601-5951. GTE Government Systems, don't have address. Suggest starting with 1700 Old Meadow Road, McLean, VA 22102; 703 848-1000; fax 703 848-0004. Greg Monti, Tech Mgr, FISPO, Distribution Division National Public Radio Phone: 202 414-3343 635 Massachusetts Av NW Fax: 202 414-3036 Washington, DC 20001-3753 Internet: gmonti@npr.org ------------------------------ From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX) Subject: Re: Another National N11 Code Request Date: 30 Jun 94 06:19:17 GMT Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation Greg Monti writes: > With 011 and 111 unavailable, and with 411 and 911 in use in most > places, that leaves only six N11 codes unused (211, 311, 511, 611, > 711, 811). 611, 811 (and if applications from newspepers are > approved, 311 and 511) are already used in some places. The article > notes that the FCC has opened a pleading cycle on the subject. > Comments to the Commission are due Aug. 19. "Reply comments" are due > Sept. 23. There are some other common usages. 611 has been used extensively for "repair servie", while "811" is used to reach the telephone office. You find these in RBOCs as a rule. ------------------------------ From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX) Subject: Re: Help on Dial Line Protection From Storms Date: 30 Jun 94 06:24:38 GMT Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation mike_foltz@sgate.com writes: > I am experiancing problems on our BBS and Internet dial-in lines when > there is wicked lighting storms. We have a total of 30 lines both > local and 1800 numbers all feeding Multitech a rack mount card cage > with MT1432BR modems. On the RS-232 the modems feed a Shiva lan rover > for ARA or a cisco CS-516 for Internet access. We also have other > vendors modems such as Intel, ZyXel and Scout modems for testing, SLIP > and fax services. > I seems that the storms do most harm on the Multitech modems, but it > appears not to bother the other modems. The past 2 storms i have had > to reprogram the Multitechs most lost what they were originally setup > with. Some did not recover even with reprogramming. I am able to > connect but either get no data or just garbage. > Is there some type of pads, isolators etc that can be used on the > dialup lines to protect the modems from getting trashed and also let > 14.4K rates pass? Is there guides to BBS or Modem installations that > address this issue? I am a bit confused why the other modems didn't > have problems? They have phone lines that come in over the same > copper bundle that feeds the Multitechs. Here are some tips: you can get surge suppressors which mount on 66 blocks. Punch down the lines from the telco onto the 66 block. The surge suppressors then bridge the pair; connect the earth side to a really good ground. (Indee, locate the 66 block near a very good ground point to keep the ground wire short.) Here's the trick: make sure you have AT LEAST 50 feet of inside wire between your 66 block and the modems. 100 feet is better. If you decide to use 100 feet but the distance between the 66 block and modems is less, mount the wire on the wall in a serpentine manner, keeping each run at least 6 inches apart. The 66-block surge suppressors keeps the spikes down to a reasonable level. The extra wire added enough distributed series inductance and parallel capacitance that any spikes that *do* get through are attenuated nicely. The stuff to make this happen is available from Anixter and others. ------------------------------ From: lreeves@crl.com (Les Reeves) Subject: Re: Who's That Voice? Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:21:57 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Jeffrey W. McKeough (jwm@student.umass.edu) wrote: > After reading an interesting discussion in the archives about Jane > Barbe, the former voice of the Bell System, the voice of the time in > several cities, and of many Octel systems (at least those that have > not upgraded to a Marsha Graham software release), I was wondering if > anyone has any information about yet another of those famous voices. > The woman in question has done many recordings including the > ubiquitous AT&T carrier identification chime and calling card auto > attendant, the EasyReach voice prompts, RBOC recordings (including > NYNEX's return call/repeat call prompts, and the new "You must dial 1+ > the area code intercepts). I've always found it interesting to be > able to put a name with a voice, so I thought I'd ask. Her name is Pat Fleet. Les lreeves@crl.com Atlanta,GA 404.874.7806 ------------------------------ From: steve.bauer@boardwatch.com Organization: Boardwatch Magazine Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 06:19:39 MST Subject: Her Voice Comes in Warm and Clear (was Re: Who's That Voice?) In TELECOM Digest 14, 302 the question was posed regarding who the female voice is on many telephone systems. Jeff, You asked about who the female voice on phone systems was, well, I think I have the answer. The following should answer any questions you may have. HER VOICE COMES IN WARM AND CLEAR Note: This article is reprinted with permission from the Associated Press. OAKLAND, Calif.--Joan Kenley sometimes talks to herself, but that's understandable. After all, millions of people listen to her. Among other things, Kenley is the ubiquitous voice of Voice Mail, Pacific Bell's computerized answering service that more businesses are turning to instead of human operators. When you pick up the phone at a hotel, Kenley could be on the other end. She's the voice of Guest Messenger, a Sheraton Hotel chain service similar to Voice Mail. Or you might hear her pear-shaped tones rattling off the prices at computerized grocery store checkout counters. "I'm even the English-speaking voice on pay phones in Japan," said Kenley, who is also the voice on software designer Northern Telecom's Meridian Mail and the interstate long distance voice for several companies, including Michigan and Ohio Bell. One reason her voice is so popular is that the melody "tends not to go away" and so allows sound technicians to mix old tapes with new ones. If there is a criticism of her voice, it's that "it's too real." "People can easily start talking to it, but that's a compliment as well." She even does it herself. Kenley said she was checking into a hotel recently "and when I picked up the house phone I ended up talking to myself. It's kind of spooky." Kenley has done price-voicing for 50 grocery store chains. The automated service sounds out the cost of an item when it is passed over the checkout machine. "My uncle in Cleveland was leaving a checkout where I say "thank you" and he answered, "You're welcome, Joan," she said. Kenley, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, said her big break came ten years ago when she was contacted by University of California professor Forrest Mozer, who developed a way to put the human voice on a computer chip. Mozer felt the best way for humans to "interface" with computers would be vocally. "He said he wanted a voice that was warm, but not too sexy," Kenley recalled. Kenley says her work is "a kind of immortality." "A hundred years from now, I'll be long gone. But my voice will still be going out into the stratosphere saying, "Two dollars and fifty cents, please." ------------------------------ From: dfilkins@iastate.edu (Donald W Filkins) Subject: Water Sensors For Equipment Rooms Date: 30 Jun 1994 18:40:28 GMT Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (USA) I work for the Iowa State University Telecommunications Dept. We have several equipment rooms we would like to monitor for water intrusion. I have only one product in mind so far (Dorlen Products Water Alert) and would like to be able to evaluate a few more. So far none of our equipment vendors has come up with an alternate source so any additonal info would be helpful. We already have autodialers in place to monitor door alarms and other environmental parameters so all I require is a sensor with a contact closure ( or open ) and the approprate power supply if the unit is not battery powered. I would prefer some sort of ac or switch battery powered device to avoid the hassle of periodically changing batteries. Please post to this group or email me directly. Thanks in advance, Don Filkins ------------------------------ From: lreeves@crl.com (Les Reeves) Subject: Personal PBX Construction Article Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:11:17 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] The July issue of {The Computer Applications Journal} has a construction article for a build-it-yourself personal PBX. The article describes an eight-station PBX which uses standard 2500 type sets. The little PBX is designed around industry-standard IC's, and uses solid telephony design techniques. The controller is an 8031, and the switching matrix is a M093 IC. All the circuit elements of the PBX, such as the Ring Generator, Subscriber Line Interface Circuit (SLIC), DTMF receiver and tone generator, are described in detail. Even if you are not at all interested in building a PBX, this article is an excellent tutorial on how they are designed. Les lreeves@crl.com Atlanta,GA 404.874.7806 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #306 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa13672; 1 Jul 94 2:12 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21917; Thu, 30 Jun 94 22:38:14 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21902; Thu, 30 Jun 94 22:38:11 CDT Date: Thu, 30 Jun 94 22:38:11 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407010338.AA21902@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #307 TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 22:38:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 307 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson USACM Calls for Clipper Withdrawal (Association For Computing Machinery) ACM Releases Crypto Study (Association For Computing Machinery) BOC Name Changes (was Re: Bell Atlantic Marketing) (Garrett Wollman) Cheapest Cellular Carrier in NYC? (krazykev@panix.com) Information Wanted on TDD Devices (Arieh Cimet) Re: KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? (James Carlson) Re: KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? (Kenneth J. Morrill) Re: Bilingual Telephone Numbers? (Jeff Bamford) Re: Bilingual Telephone Numbers? (John Harris) Re: AT&T, Paris and Freedom (Stephen Melvin) Re: Bidding War For - Western Union ?! (Daryl Gibson) Re: Cellular Phones and Lightning (Tobin M. Creek) 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, 30 Jun 1994 16:35:37 +0000 From: US ACM, DC Office Subject: USACM Calls for Clipper Withdrawal U S A C M Association for Computing Machinery, U.S. Public Policy Committee * PRESS RELEASE * Thursday, June 30, 1994 Contact: Barbara Simons (408) 463-5661, simons@acm.org (e-mail) Jim Horning (415) 853-2216, horning@src.dec.com (e-mail) Rob Kling (714) 856-5955, kling@ics.uci.edu (e-mail) COMPUTER POLICY COMMITTEE CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF CLIPPER COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY "TOO IMPORTANT" FOR SECRET DECISION-MAKING WASHINGTON, DC The public policy arm of the oldest and largest international computing society today urged the White House to withdraw the controversial "Clipper Chip" encryption proposal. Noting that the "security and privacy of electronic communications are vital to the development of national and international information infrastructures," the Association for Computing Machinery's U.S. Public Policy Committee (USACM) added its voice to the growing debate over encryption and privacy policy. In a position statement released at a press conference on Capitol Hill, the USACM said that "communications security is too important to be left to secret processes and classified algorithms." The Clipper technology was developed by the National Security Agency, which classified the cryptographic algorithm that underlies the encryption device. The USACM believes that Clipper "will put U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage in the global market and will adversely affect technological development within the United States." The technology has been championed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NSA, which claim that "non-escrowed" encryption technology threatens law enforcement and national security. "As a body concerned with the development of government technology policy, USACM is troubled by the process that gave rise to the Clipper initiative," said Dr. Barbara Simons, a computer scientist with IBM who chairs the USACM. "It is vitally important that privacy protections for our communications networks be developed openly and with full public participation." The USACM position statement was issued after completion of a comprehensive study of cryptography policy sponsored by the ACM (see companion release). The study, "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: Issues in U.S Crypto Policy," was prepared by a panel of experts representing various constituencies involved in the debate over encryption. The ACM, founded in 1947, is a 85,000 member non-profit educational and scientific society dedicated to the development and use of information technology, and to addressing the impact of that technology on the world's major social challenges. USACM was created by ACM to provide a means for presenting and discussing technological issues to and with U.S. policymakers and the general public. For further information on USACM, please call (202) 298- 0842. ============================================================= USACM Position on the Escrowed Encryption Standard The ACM study "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: Issues in U.S Crypto Policy" sets forth the complex technical and social issues underlying the current debate over widespread use of encryption. The importance of encryption, and the need for appropriate policies, will increase as networked communication grows. Security and privacy of electronic communications are vital to the development of national and international information infrastructures. The Clipper Chip, or "Escrowed Encryption Standard" (EES) Initiative, raises fundamental policy issues that must be fully addressed and publicly debated. After reviewing the ACM study, which provides a balanced discussion of the issues, the U.S. Public Policy Committee of ACM (USACM) makes the following recommendations. 1. The USACM supports the development of public policies and technical standards for communications security in open forums in which all stakeholders -- government, industry, and the public -- participate. Because we are moving rapidly to open networks, a prerequisite for the success of those networks must be standards for which there is widespread consensus, including international acceptance. The USACM believes that communications security is too important to be left to secret processes and classified algorithms. We support the principles underlying the Computer Security Act of 1987, in which Congress expressed its preference for the development of open and unclassified security standards. 2. The USACM recommends that any encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government not place U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage in the global market or adversely affect technological development within the United States. Few other nations are likely to adopt a standard that includes a classified algorithm and keys escrowed with the U.S. government. 3. The USACM supports changes in the process of developing Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) employed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This process is currently predicated on the use of such standards solely to support Federal procurement. Increasingly, the standards set through the FIPS process directly affect non-federal organizations and the public at large. In the case of the EES, the vast majority of comments solicited by NIST opposed the standard, but were openly ignored. The USACM recommends that the standards process be placed under the Administrative Procedures Act so that citizens may have the same opportunity to challenge government actions in the area of information processing standards as they do in other important aspects of Federal agency policy making. 4. The USACM urges the Administration at this point to withdraw the Clipper Chip proposal and to begin an open and public review of encryption policy. The escrowed encryption initiative raises vital issues of privacy, law enforcement, competitiveness and scientific innovation that must be openly discussed. 5. The USACM reaffirms its support for privacy protection and urges the administration to encourage the development of technologies and institutional practices that will provide real privacy for future users of the National Information Infrastructure. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 16:34:47 +0000 From: "US ACM, DC Office" Subject: ACM Releases Crypto Study Association for Computing Machinery PRESS RELEASE Thursday, June 30, 1994 Contact: Joseph DeBlasi, ACM Executive Director (212) 869-7440 Dr. Stephen Kent, Panel Chair (617) 873-3988 Dr. Susan Landau, Panel Staff (413) 545-0263 COMPUTING SOCIETY RELEASES REPORT ON ENCRYPTION POLICY "CLIPPER CHIP" CONTROVERSY EXPLORED BY EXPERT PANEL WASHINGTON, DC A panel of experts convened by the nation's foremost computing society today released a comprehensive report on U.S. cryptography policy. The report, "Codes, Keys and Conflicts: Issues in U.S Crypto Policy," is the culmination of a ten-month review conducted by the panel of representatives of the computer industry and academia, government officials, and attorneys. The 50-page document explores the complex technical and social issues underlying the current debate over the Clipper Chip and the export control of information security technology. "With the development of the information superhighway, cryptography has become a hotly debated policy issue," according to Joseph DeBlasi, Executive Director of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which convened the expert panel. "The ACM believes that this report is a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the Clipper Chip and encryption policy. It cuts through the rhetoric and lays out the facts." Dr. Stephen Kent, Chief Scientist for Security Technology with the firm of Bolt Beranek and Newman, said that he was pleased with the final report. "It provides a very balanced discussion of many of the issues that surround the debate on crypto policy, and we hope that it will serve as a foundation for further public debate on this topic." The ACM report addresses the competing interests of the various stakeholders in the encryption debate -- law enforcement agencies, the intelligence community, industry and users of communications services. It reviews the recent history of U.S. cryptography policy and identifies key questions that policymakers must resolve as they grapple with this controversial issue. The ACM cryptography panel was chaired by Dr. Stephen Kent. Dr. Susan Landau, Research Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts, co-ordinated the work of the panel and did most of the writing. Other panel members were Dr. Clinton Brooks, Advisor to the Director, National Security Agency; Scott Charney, Chief of the Computer Crime Unit, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Dr. Dorothy Denning, Computer Science Chair, Georgetown University; Dr. Whitfield Diffie, Distinguished Engineer, Sun Microsystems; Dr. Anthony Lauck, Corporate Consulting Engineer, Digital Equipment Corporation; Douglas Miller, Government Affairs Manager, Software Publishers Association; Dr. Peter Neumann, Principal Scientist, SRI International; and David Sobel, Legal Counsel, Electronic Privacy Information Center. Funding for the cryptography study was provided in part by the National Science Foundation. The ACM, founded in 1947, is a 85,000 member non-profit educational and scientific society dedicated to the development and use of information technology, and to addressing the impact of that technology on the world's major social challenges. For general information, contact ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. (212) 869-7440 (tel), (212) 869-0481 (fax). Information on accessing the report electronically will be posted soon in this newsgroup. ------------------------------ From: wollman@ginger.lcs.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: BOC Name Changes (was Re: Bell Atlantic Marketing) Date: 30 Jun 1994 21:56:15 GMT Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science In article , Neil Weisenfeld wrote: > Well, as many of you probably know, C&P Telephone in the Washington > D.C. area has recently dropped the C&P name and is now using Bell > Atlantic (Potomac?). I don't recall seeing this in the Digest, so ... a few weeks ago, the Rhode Island PUC announced that NYNEX would not be permitted to charge customers for the costs associated with their marketing campaign to get people to forget `New England Telephone'. (Now, of course, this is a complete sham, since ratepayers end up paying for everything anyway, but at least the RI PUC has got some independent-minded people on it ...) Garrett A. Wollman wollman@lcs.mit.edu ------------------------------ From: krazykev@panix.com Subject: Cheapest Cellular Carrier in NYC? Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 18:31:54 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Hi, Who has the cheapest rates for cellular calls in NYC? I am considering getting a cellular phone. I already have the phone, so it is just a question of who has the best deal. If you could email me at: krazykev@panix.com that would be great. ------------------------------ From: anl433!cimet@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com (Arieh Cimet) Subject: Info on TDD Devices Organization: Motorola Land Mobile Products Sector Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 02:18:57 GMT I need information on how TDDs (Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf) work. I have checked the Bellcore catalog and with the phone company but have come up with very little. In particular, I need to know the protocols, interfaces, speed, and modulation types that such devices use. Also, if these devices have been adapated for cellular use. I would appreciate any pointers to standards, documents or any books available on the subject. Thanks in advance for any response. I. Arieh Cimet e-mail: cimet@comm.mot.com Motorola ESMR Infrastructure phone: (708) 576-4565 1301 E. Algonquin Road fax: (708) 538-3472 Schaumburg, IL 60196 ------------------------------ From: carlson@xylogics.com (James Carlson) Subject: Re: KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? Date: 30 Jun 1994 16:40:43 GMT Organization: Xylogics Incorporated Reply-To: carlson@xylogics.com In article , jrefling@rosslare.ece.uci. edu (John Refling) writes: > Here's the situation: > +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ > | PC | - phone----> | UNIX BOX| -- INTERNET-->| UNIX BOX | > +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ > Now, after you dial the first unix box over the phone and are logged > in, you telnet to the second unix box. On the second unix box, you > start kermit to server mode. Then you escape back to the pc and try > to transfer files and the whole thing dies. > I can sort of see why things won't work -- maybe the boxes get > confused over where thier input is coming from ... then again it's not > a problem normally. > Is there a way to get this to work? The problem is most likely that either (1) one of those links isn't transparent or (2) flow control is broken somewhere. Start by making sure that the telnet is transparent. Break to the telnet prompt and turn off the escape character: set escape off Then make sure that the rest of the line is transparent ... James Carlson Tel: +1 617 272 8140 Annex Software Support / Xylogics, Inc. +1 800 225 3317 53 Third Avenue / Burlington MA 01803-4491 Fax: +1 617 272 2618 ------------------------------ From: kmorrill@strauss.udel.edu (Kenneth J Morrill) Subject: Re: KERMIT Through an Intermediate Telnet Node? How? Date: 30 Jun 1994 14:58:00 -0400 Organization: University of Delaware In article , John Refling wrote: > Here's the situation: > +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ > | PC | - phone----> | UNIX BOX| -- INTERNET-->| UNIX BOX | > +-----+ +---------+ +-----------+ > Now, after you dial the first unix box over the phone and are logged > in, you telnet to the second unix box. On the second unix box, you > start kermit to server mode. Then you escape back to the pc and try > to transfer files and the whole thing dies. I connect from home under the same circumstances. I found that the zmodem protocol works for one file, but not for a batch of files. I have been following the practice of uuencoding binary files and capturing them as text files, then uudecoding them back to binaries. I known that this is not the ultimate solution. Ken Morrill ------------------------------ From: jeffb@audiolab.uwaterloo.ca (Jeff Bamford) Subject: Re: Bilingual Telephone Numbers? Organization: Audio Research Group, University of Waterloo Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 14:42:22 GMT In article , Andrew C. Green wrote: [Found a Caller I.D. box that was bilingual] > Now, perhaps I'm missing something here, but I must admit I don't know > how I would translate "Green, Andrew C." and "(312) 266-xxxx" into > Spanish without the assistance of this thing. Clearly a bargain at > twice the price! Well, Call Display boxes here are bilingual (at least they are from the telco). En francais the time is in 24 hour, the date is obviously French. The message that you have new callers is in French, albeit shortened (nouv appel) etc. However, if your box only displayed name and number there would be no difference. If I had Call Display I'd run the display in French just to get 24h times. Any boxes have that choice? Jeff Bamford jsbamford@uwaterloo.ca -- NeXT Mail welcome ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 06:40:00 -0400 From: joharris@io.org (John Harris) Subject: Re: Bilingual Telephone Numbers? The customer is the person to decide if a product makes her/him feel good. If a person's native tongue is Spanish, s/he may prefer to see "Nueva Llamada" instead of "New Calls" on an alpha-capable display. How much can a few bytes of ROM cost? It's just good design/marketing to add low incremental cost features. John O. Harris BEL-Tronics Ltd. Mississauga, ON joharris@io.org (905) 828-1002 ------------------------------ From: melvin@netcom.com (Stephen Melvin) Subject: Re: AT&T, Paris and Freedom Organization: Zytek, Lda. - Paris Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 20:03:12 GMT In article JeanBernard_Condat@Email.France Net.FR writes: > Yesterday, I was invited to look at 'a sound sculpture for the Arc de > Triomphe by Bill Fontana' in Paris. I went down there today to check it out, actually I thought it was pretty neat. This was not obvious from the blurb, but the speakers at the observation level are transmitting *live* sounds picked up from microphones around the city. For example there is a speaker labeled "Cafe Les Deux Magots" through which you can hear dishes clattering and people talking as you are looking out in the general direction of that place. There are about 15 microphones in cafes, train stations, etc. I think it's an interesting idea. The street level speakers are transmitting ocean surf sounds. (NB: it costs FRF 31 (~USD 6) to go up to the top). > I invite all the reader of this message to appreciate during the next > holidays in France, the Arc de Triomphe of Place de l'Etoile and to > drink a beer on the Champs-Elysees without the poor Bill Fontana' > sculpture and the English-written AT&T Direct Services publicity. I don't understand your objection Jean-Bernard. I don't see this as an AT&T publicity thing. They just funded part of it and their name only appears in small letters at the bottom of the poster describing the exhibit, I had trouble even finding it. So what if they have both French and English descriptions, lots of exhibits in Paris do. Steve Melvin melvin@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: Daryl Gibson Subject: Re: Bidding War For - Western Union ?! Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 19:36:09 MST > Item in the Sunday paper says two companies, First Data Corp. and > Forstmann Little & Co. are bidding for Western Union. First Data is > described as an information-and-transaction-processing company that > transfers money. Forstmann Little & Co. is a leveraged buyout firm. > First Data bid $896 million, Forstmann Little bid $951 million, and > First Data added $65 million to its bid. A bankruptcy court judge > ruled friday that the company will be auctioned in September. (Get > your bid in by Sept 2.) Just a note on First Data. First Data is a fairly major firm these days ... it was spun off of American Express a little over a year ago, I believe; at any rate, if you send American Express money transfers (as opposed to Western Union money transfers), you're dealing with First Data. I believe I read something that said they were also the company that was doing the 1-800-COLLECT operator work for MCI, but I could be wrong. They are a big transaction processing firm, a large telemarketing firm, and also do a huge amount of credit card transaction processing for smaller banks. They also do American Express' billing, and I believe have Amex Money Orders, as well. American Express spun off the company as an independent entity; I think it made First Data's bank customers rest easier, knowing that a competing credit card company wasn't taking care of their customers; Before the First Data spinoff, that put Amex in the unlikely position of being one of the biggest issuers of Visa and Mastercards in the United States. And while I'm blathering on about Amex, I remember reading that as one of the first ISDN sites, Amex wired their computers so that when an agent in their Phoenix office answered the phone, they already knew who it was on the other end, and had your account on their screen (assuming you were calling from a number they knew, of course) they had to ban their customer reps from picking up the phone and saying "American Express ... how can I help you, Mr. Jones," because it was bothering too many customers ... Daryl (801) 378-2950 (801) 489-6348 drg@du1.byu.edu 71171.2036@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: tmcreek@eos.ncsu.edu (Tobin M. Creek) Subject: Re: Cellular Phones and Lightning Date: 29 Jun 94 14:57:41 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) writes: > Someone told me that in a lightning storm, lightning can follow the > radio waves given out by your cellular phone. I assume this is > because the air is more ionized where the waves are strong. Is this > true? Is it unsafe to use a handheld cellular phone in a lightning > storm? I'm not talking about a mobile phone with a tall antenna. I call "Urban Legend" on this one. I doubt that that statement has any scientific basis whatsoever. If it does, then one of these days, my Motorola will go ZOT! and so will I. :) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #307 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa20438; 1 Jul 94 19:05 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11008; Fri, 1 Jul 94 15:44:29 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA10999; Fri, 1 Jul 94 15:44:27 CDT Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 15:44:27 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407012044.AA10999@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #308 TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Jul 94 15:44:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 308 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Maryland, Free Internet Access (Richard Layman) Automatic HF Channel Allocation (S.A. Iskenderian) Underseas Cable Data (Pat McClure) Modem Test Equipment Wanted (Scott Platenberg) Reasonably Priced In-State Calls? (Ed Gehringer) Unitel Switched Ne a Little Early! (Jeff Bamford) AT&T Keep In Touch (William J. Rehm) 17.5 No-Surcharge Travel Service: Details (Ed Gehringer) New FTP Site/Test (Nate Zelnick) Is There a Market For PC Voice Mail Developers Card? (Chris B. Sakkas) Calling Card Cancellation (Ted J. Jardine) Last Laugh! OJ/Telecom-Related Commercials (Michael P. Deignan) 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: Richard Layman Subject: Maryland, Free Internet Access (fwd) Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 12:14:06 EDT Forwarded FYI to the Digest. Richard Layman ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 18:03:28 LCL From: "Kaplan, Dan" Subject: Maryland, Free Internet Access For those of you who had not heard. The State of Maryland announced earlier this week, that it would offer free Internet access to its residents. Brian Reilly sent me the following Washington Post article on the subject. This public announcement should act as a catalyst to propel CCIA to the forefront of this issue in Chicago (Illinois), if we react appropriately. We need your input on how to best capitalize on this window of opportunity. Send comments to myself, Dan Kaplan at DKaplan@ChiReader.com or (312)-828-0350 or to Brian Reilly Reilly.21@nd.edu or (312) 868-4227. Looking forward to your input! Copyright 1994 The Washington Post The Washington Post June 23, 1994, Thursday, Final Edition SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A1 HEADLINE: Information Highway Without Tollbooths; Maryland Is the First State to Offer Free Access to the Internet BYLINE: Tabitha M. Powledge, Special to The Washington Post Maryland next month will become the first state in the nation to offer its residents direct connections to the Internet for free. The Internet is the massive network of networks that connects an estimated 20 million computer users by telephone lines to thousands of electronic information storehouses worldwide. At no cost except for a local phone call, state officials say, anyone in the area with a computer and a modem will eventually be able to connect with a state-run "gopher" site -- a computer that provides the most popular tool to link up with some of the Internet's vast resources. The mind-boggling array ranges from pictures of poultry from Texas A&M University to the bagpipe archives of Dartmouth to a definitive list of kosher restaurants in Sydney, to up-to-the-minute Commerce Department statistics on employment, energy or industrial productivity. The new noncommercial service, called "Sailor" in tribute to Maryland's maritime heritage, is a project of the state's library system. Maryland will place no time constraints on Sailor users at the outset. But Sailor's organizers expect the service to be so popular that strain on the system's 192-telephone-line capacity may eventually force limits. Free Internet connections are available in some cities such as Cleveland where community-based links to the giant network began. A similar service in the Washington area is called CapAccess, but it is supported by contributions. At least half the states are exploring hooking their library systems up to the Internet, and some have already done so. But their Internet resources are used chiefly by the librarians, not the patrons. A full complement of additional Internet services via Sailor (e-mail plus the ability to transfer files, the site-to-site connections known as telnet and the hundreds of special-interest electronic discourses called Usenet newsgroups) will cost $ 100 a year. Electronic mail service as a single option will cost $35 a year, library officials say. A commercial provider of full Internet connections such as Digital Express Group Inc. of Greenbelt charges $ 20 for setup, plus a $ 250 yearly fee and $1 an hour for use in excess of six hours per day. Of the major information services, America Online is arguably the most technically advanced, and it does not yet offer the full line of Internet services. Access to America Online costs $ 9.95 a month, plus $ 3.50 an hour after the first five hours in a month. Because its services will be free or low-cost, Maryland library officials hope Sailor will entice into the on-line universe people who have so far taken little part in the computerizing of American life. "Part of the function of the library is to keep the playing field level," says Maurice Travillian, assistant state superintendent for libraries. "That's becoming harder in our digitized world, where people with the power of machines can really bring in a lot more stuff" than can the poor. A random cruise through the layers of gopher menus accessible through Sailor is a short course in the allure and frustrations of the electronic meandering that has come to be known as cybersurfing. On the Internet, the opening menu of choices on the gopher leads to other menus of choices that lead to yet more menus in a fashion that ultimately guides a user to information. But resources mutate from moment to moment. Sources of information open and close, appear and disappear, for no discernible reason. There is no card catalogue. Authoritative, in-depth, highly reliable knowledge sits side-by-side with trivia and sometimes drivel. Select "Federal Government Resources" from Sailor's main menu, for example, and then the "National Institutes of Health" from the next menu, and you can retrieve information about NIH grants, search the NIH phone book -- and also get a weather forecast. The Library of Congress's MARVEL service offers, in addition to the library's incomparable catalogue, a database of pending federal legislation, information about Congress, and connections to the offices of Rep. Sam Coppersmith (D-Ariz.)and Rep. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), two congressmen who have established a formal presence on the Internet. But MARVEL is also a gateway to help-wanted ads all over the Internet, as well as to information about openings at the library. The library was looking outside its own ranks to fill four jobs as of Sunday. The King of Thailand was reportedly seeking 120 mechanical engineers, some to do robotics research. Although Sailor significantly undercuts the prices of commercial Internet access providers, neither they nor Maryland library officials see themselves as competitors. "Libraries have always been in competition with bookstores and video stores," says Travillian. "We stimulate interest. If people get on and like this and want more access, they'll switch over to a commercial vendor, who will probably get more customers than he would if we didn't exist at all." "I really do think they will complement one another," says Debra Young, spokeswoman for CompuServe Information Service. The largest of the commercial on-line services, CompuServe is not scheduled to offer a full Internet connection until later this year. Peaceful coexistence of both commercial and noncommercial conduits to the Internet is desirable to preserve free access to the information on it, said Daniel Weitzner of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Washington-based champion of computer users' civil rights. "I would be very concerned if all Americans' access to the Internet was controlled by government-funded institutions, because they already have a record of censoring controversial content," he said. Commercial providers, by contrast, have little motive to censor. "They just want more business," he said. "By the same token, I think libraries over time have been absolutely vehement about protecting the privacy rights of their users," Weitzner said. "I'm sure that's a value that they'll bring to this system." The price tag on Sailor's start-up and first year of operation is just under $ 2 million, all of it federal money. Spurred on by the administration's enthusiasm for building the National Research and Education Network -- often called the information superhighway -- the funds came from the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), under the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA). Sailor's LSCA money will run out by September 1995. The library system must then turn to Maryland taxpayers for continued support. When the state legislature returns to Annapolis next winter, it will be asked for $ 825,000 for fiscal 1996 to continue Sailor. Sailor is up and running in test mode now. However, phone numbers that the public can use will be made available on a county-by-county basis as lines are hooked up and librarians are trained. The city of Baltimore and Carroll County are scheduled to go public by the end of July. Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Charles counties plan to be on-line in August and Montgomery County in September. Most of the rest of the state will be connected by the end of the summer, according to Barbara G. Smith, chief of the State Library and Information Services Section, who heads the project. Phone numbers for reaching Sailor will be available from local public libraries. The exceptions are Calvert County and southern St. Mary's County in southern Maryland; the state's westernmost county, Garrett; and Kent County on the Eastern Shore. In those areas, access via a local phone number will not be possible until next year at the earliest. Their residents can use Sailor if they are willing to make a toll call to a nearby Sailor number. Connections to the Internet are two-way, which means that while Marylanders are using Sailor to depart the state on planet-wide electronic cruises, computer users anywhere else on Earth can enter Sailor to explore much that a Maryland librarian could access. Many of these unique databases house information about Maryland. But they also include, for example, what is believed to be the world's most complete bibliography on occupational diseases of musicians, maintained by the Music Medicine Clearinghouse at the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty Library, and a guide to the Jane Austen collection at Goucher College, Travillian is particularly enthusiastic about the impact Sailor is likely to have in schools -- especially schools where funds for books and other sources of information have been cut back. Maryland libraries are also being urged to add computers so that Sailor will be handy for people who lack the hardware at home. The organizers say they are even fantasizing about Sailor kiosks in malls and supermarkets. Travillian predicts what he calls "a flood in the modem pool." At the outset, the system will accommodate only 192 dial-in users at one time, in addition to those who arrive via direct connections from local libraries and from sites elsewhere on the Internet. Although library officials point out that it is impossible to estimate the likely demand for such a novel service, no one involved in the project really believes present capacity will be anything close to adequate. ------------------------------ From: saisk1@mdw074.cc.monash.edu.au (Mr SA Iskenderian) Subject: Automatic HF Channel Allocation Date: 1 Jul 1994 02:48:14 GMT Organization: Monash University As part of my final year Electrical Engineering thesis project at Monash University in Melbourne, Austrlia, I have undertaken to research into 'Self Tracking Automatic HF Optimisation of Voice and Data'. The project work is on behalf of Melbourne based company, BHP Petroleum that make great use of telecommunication equipment in remote locations both locally and overseas. The latest equipment I came across that handles automatic allocation of HF channels is the Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) 1045 controller. I managed to get a copy of a brochure on ALE 1045 detailing its possible arrangement in conjunction with a PC, high speed data modem and an HF radio. Having also read through the US Federal Standards 1045 on ALE titled 'Telecommunications: Radio Automatic Link Establishment', I would greatly appreciate further information on ALE or relevant equipment and about the possibility of transmitting voice as well as data using this system. Could someone please clarify the following points: AA) Is it viable to digitize and compress voice before transmitting it as data blocks but switching off the 'retransmission' mode to prevent echoes? What type of Codec might be suitable for voice digitisation? BB) Can an ALE system be used to allocate the optimum HF channel at regular intervals and switch over to normal analog voice communication? Any references to literature or technical articles would also be much appreciated. Thanking in advance, Shiraz Iskenderian, Monash University. saisk1@ccds.cc.monash.edu.au ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 20:19:27 -0700 From: pmcclure@netcom.com (Pat McClure) Subject: Underseas Cable Data To: Patrick Townson, TELECOM Digest Editor, telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Fm: Pat McClure, Consulting Engineer, pmcclure@netcom.com Mr. Townson: I got you name from an interesting history of underseas cables which I obtained from ftp.lcs.mit.edu. I'm doing a forecast of communications (private line) costs over the next ten years, particularly international costs. Do you know where I can find data on the underseas cables that have been installed in the last ten years, plus the capacity and cost of each? Any references or leads you could give me would surely be appreciated. Regards, Pat McClure, pmcclure@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Perhaps some readers will write to Pat McClure with the requested details. Thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ecci@nic.cerf.net (Scott Platenberg) Subject: Modem Test Equipment Date: 01 Jul 1994 01:41:05 GMT Organization: CERFnet Dial n' CERF Customer I am just starting to look for equipment that will help me test several (10 to 100) modem lines simultaneously. Does anyone have any good recommendations for telco eliminators? Any help is greatly appreciated. Please email response to "scottp@ecci.com". Scott scottp@ecci.com ------------------------------ From: gehringe@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: Reasonably Priced In-State Calls? Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 13:42:29 -0400 Thanks to info gleaned from the TELECOM Digest, I now have services that provide reasonably priced interstate "calling-card" calls during the daytime (ATN: 17.5c/min. interstate, 23c/min.) and night/wknd. (AT&T Reach Out America with Calling-Card Option: $3.15/mo. + 10c/min.) calls. Does anyone have any ideas on how to-- - avoid a surcharge and get reasonable rates on intra-LATA "calling card" calls? - get lower rates on inter-LATA intrastate "calling card" calls? - beat the 17.5c/min. rate for long interstate "calling card" calls in the evening (low rates, minimal surcharge needed), - get lower 1+ rates for intrastate calls (within NC)? If you do not know where I can obtain cheaper service, can you at least give me some pointers to follow? Thanks, Ed ------------------------------ From: jeffb@audiolab.uwaterloo.ca (Jeff Bamford) Subject: Unitel Switched Me a Little Early! Organization: Audio Research Group, University of Waterloo Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 08:05:03 GMT After only three hours of equal access in Canada I've been switched to Unitel from Bell Canada. The only strange thing is that, I never actually requested the change! I got in earlier and thought, well it's July 1st and equal access is here so I'll give it a try. I dialed 1-700-555-4141 and was extremely surprised to find that I was now with Unitel. I also tried 10323-1-700-555-4141 (323 is Bell Canada) and was even further surprised that this worked! At this point, I thought gotta call Unitel, gotta call Unitel. So, I called them up and informed the operator at Unitel that I called the 1-700 number to check your carrier and was surprised to be already switched to Unitel. I then added that I was even more surprised as I never actually requested the change. She then put me on hold. When she came back she said that they could switch me back to Bell if I wanted. I said that I wanted Unitel, I just wondered why they switched me without asking. She said it must've been an error. I hope they aren't just switching all their customers! In any case, I gave her my name and phone number to make it official. Since I had them on the phone, I asked her what Unitel's carrier number is. She didn't quite know what I meant at first. I said, "In the states you can use another carrier by dialing 10xxx-1-rest of number". She then knew what I meant but had to look up the number, turns out that it is: 869. Jeff Bamford jsbamford@uwaterloo.ca -- NeXT Mail welcome ------------------------------ From: wjrst1+@pitt.edu (William J Rehm) Subject: AT&T Keep In Touch Date: 1 Jul 1994 14:59:35 GMT Organization: University of Pittsburgh Reply-To: wjrst1+@pitt.edu Will the AT&T Keep In Touch PCMCIA modem work with an acoustic coupler? We have a group of salesmen who need to connect from phone booths. We have a call in to AT&T customer service, but we're in a bit of a jam, so I thought I'd try here. Obviously, if it is possible, we haven't managed to do it. If anyone could post/mail directions, I'd appreciate it. TIA, Bill Rehm wjrst1+@pitt.edu ------------------------------ From: gehringe@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: 17.5 No-Surcharge Travel Service: details Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 13:18:48 -0400 Just phoned ATN's Buffalo office and got the details. I hope I have copied all of the intricacies correctly. Their "calling card" has rates of 17.5c/min. interstate at all times, no minimum. Intrastate charges are higher, e.g., 23c/min. at all times in NC. Their 1+ service has basic rate of 23c/min. peak (0800-1700 M-F only) and 12.5c/min. off-peak (all other times). There is a surcharge of $7.50/mo. However, if you make at least 60 min. of *interstate* calls per month with the service, the rate *for calls to your "top 5" area codes only* drops to 18.4c/min. peak and 10c/min. off-peak. ("Top 5" is determined by number of minutes. Hey, here's a company that realizes additional revenue on every NPA split! :-) Also, the $7.50 surcharge is waived. So, yes, Virginia, it is much cheaper to call for 60 min. in a month than for 40 min. Again, intrastate rates are higher, e.g., in NC, 25c/min. peak and 15.5c/min. off-peak. Ed ------------------------------ From: BRP Publications Subject: New FTP Site/Test Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 12:09:07 EDT FYI, Business Research Publications has made an initial move toward getting its 18 publications on the Net. BRP has set up an FTP site (ftp.digex.net /pub/access/brpinc) with newsletter issues, in both raw ASCII and Common Ground formats, as well as other research reports, a conference calendar and other related information. Topics cover information and online services, email, telecom regulation and legislation, interactive TV/cable TV, security technology, wireless and mobile technologies, data communications, and labor and human resources matters. Once we gauge the use and usefulness of the information, we'll consider posting more information to the Net in the future. My publishers tell me that they're still concerned about unauthorized distribution of copyrighted information, but for now they say the information at the FTP site can be copied and distributed as long as the full text of each newsletter is kept intact and the copyright notice is included. Any comments on whether this will work? Nate Zelnick Editor Information & Interactive Services Report ------------------------------ From: sakkascb@ucunix.san.uc.EDU (Chris B. Sakkas) Subject: Is There a Market For PC Voice Mail Developers Card? Organization: University of Cincinnati Date: Fri, 01 Jul 1994 12:11:58 -0400 I recently developed a PC-compatible voice mail card with the abilities to record and playback voice messages to the telephone, receive and transmit DTMF tones, and other general telephone control. My hardware also has a microphone input and an amplified output for a speaker. A volume control is provided to adjust playback level to the speaker. The interface to the telephone is through a pre-approved FCC Part 68 device. The single quantity price for the components used in this project are under $65. I have developed a software library to support the above functions, and have generated a limited voice mail application. Although my design was made to support only a single telephone line, I believe it would be possible to use multiple cards in a PC for several lines. The question that I have is this: With the advent of inexpensive PC-compatible voice mail cards, especially the new low-cost DSP based systems that incorporate modem/fax capabilites, is there a market for a reasonably priced card for developers like the one I described above? I believe that there may be many opportunites for interactive voice applications, and the software I have would make it easy for others to develop voice mail apps, fax-back systems, control of other systems via telephone, etc. So, do you think there is a market for what I have? Would it be reasonable to think that several hundred/year could be sold? I thank you for your opinions! Chris B. Sakkas (sakkascb@ucunix.san.uc.edu) ------------------------------ From: tjj@chinook.halcyon.com (T. J. Jardine (Ted)) Subject: Calling Card Cancellation Date: 1 Jul 1994 14:52:11 GMT Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. In January, 1994 we received a notice from GTE that allowed us to decline to have our name, address, and telephone number sent to other long distance carriers when we used our GTE Calling Card. This is for a telephone number which is unlisted. On May 1, 1994, GTE (without any notification, even in the January letter) cancelled our Calling Card. Has anyone else had a similar experience (with GTE or another carrier)? Is this something which would warrant a complaint to the FCC? Ted Jardine E-mail: tjj@halcyon.com Voice: 206 788 6305 (Voice mail/FAX) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They probably should have sent you notice of cancellation and will probably claim that they did sent it even it if was somehow lost in the mail, etc. The reason they cancelled your calling card was because they are obligated to provide your billing name and address to other telcos who extend you credit based on your GTE account. You can forbid them to exchange that information, but then the other telcos have no way to protect themselves against fraudulent usage which might be incurred on your PIN. Personally, I can't see why anyone would make such a prohibition since the other telcos are expressly forbidden by the same regulations (which require sharing of names and numbers for billing purposes) from using the information for anything other than their billing. I've had credit cards from Ameritech, Sprint, and AT&T for ages and never once have been improperly solicited. Numerous federal regulations pertaining to billing, credit and collection practices protect us quite well ... making that prohibition to telco on the exchange of names and numbers simply gums up the works and makes it more difficult to make calls from other locations where the use of telco credit cards is concerned. To each his own I guess, but it seems excessively paranoid to worry about it as a privacy issue. Yes, I know the idea that the phone may ring some evening with a telemarketer on the other end strikes fear in the hearts of many of you also, but its really a non-issue to me. PAT] ------------------------------ From: md@pstc3.pstc.brown.edu (Michael P. Deignan) Subject: Last Laugh! OJ/Telecom-Related Commercials Date: 1 Jul 1994 16:51:13 GMT Organization: Brown University How long before we see OJ/Telecom-related commercials, ie: "Ever smell OJ burn... You will. And the company that will bring it to you? California Power and Light Co." or footage of White Bronco driving down Rt. 405, w/ voiceover: "Cellular-One 'Follow-Me Roaming'. No matter where you run, we'll be right there with you..." Michael P. Deignan Amalgamated Baby Seal Poachers Union, Local 101 "Get 'The Club'... Endorsed by Baby Seal poachers everywhere..." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Poor OJ ... he's gotten part of his anatomy in the wringer, that's for sure. According to this week's issue of {The Globe} -- a truthful newspaper sold at better newstands everywhere -- OJ Was Framed! Yes, that's the headline in this week's issue of the supermarket tabloid. The story says that someone else committed the murders most foul and then left as OJS was getting there (the first time) to make it look like he was responsible. As we prepare for a three-day holiday in the United States, I wish all our USA readers a happy Independence Day; do take care when playing with your firecracker over the weekend; no messy explosions or anyone getting hurt if you please; and do drive safely and all that. I'll see if its possible to get an issue or two of this rag out to you over the weekend, otherwise Tuesday for sure! PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #308 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa02638; 7 Jul 94 3:17 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA03765; Wed, 6 Jul 94 23:51:50 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA03755; Wed, 6 Jul 94 23:51:49 CDT Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 23:51:49 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407070451.AA03755@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #309 TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Jul 94 23:51:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 309 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Telephone Numbers in the Netherlands (Dik T. Winter) Book Review: "TCP/IP Network Administration" by Hunt (Rob Slade) Big SS7 Problems (was Re: Int'l Calls to Taiwan) (Jim Gottlieb) IP to X.121 Translation? (Tudor Jebelean) Automatic Machines on a Network (Guillope Emmanuel) Telecommunications Developments at Western (Judy Noordermeer) COCOTs Lose Again (was Re: AT&T Keep In Touch) (Jim Gottlieb) NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering (Jeffrey W. McKeough) RFD: comp.dcom.cdpd (Bob Smith) Film to Video Transfer Unit (Alan Sieben) Info Highway - Virtual Factories (Lars Kalsen) Last Laugh! Dial 999 For Trouble! (Van Hefner) 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: Dik.Winter@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) Subject: New Telephone Numbers in the Netherlands Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 00:23:04 GMT In October 1996 most telephone numbers in the Netherlands will change (approximately 75% of all current telephone numbers). The changes occur for a number of reasons: 1. To make all telephonenumbers equally long (when counting area code plus local number). 2. To make most area codes shorter. 3. To remove local numbers starting with the digit 1 (and also 7 to 9). This is due to a directive by the European Union where emergency numbers and other general numbers will start with 1 (digits 7 to 9 will be reserved for competitors of the now monopolistic PTT). 4. To remove area codes starting with 8. Also due to an EU directive where area code 0800 will be used for toll-free numbers. The changes do not apply for mobile telephones, free numbers and premium numbers; although I suspect they will all change later. Some history. (Note: when I talk about n-digit area codes I include the access digit, 0, because that is common practise overhere). When automatic non-local dialing was introduced the country was split in a hierarchical system of area codes. All codes were five digits, the first the access digit, the next two the code for the district exchange, and the following two were used for further refinement. So Muiden (in the neighborhood of Amsterdam) had area code 02942; a subsection of sector Weesp (02940) which in turn was in the district of Amsterdam (with area code 02900). There were in total nearly 2000 area codes in use, distributed amongst about 15 districts. Even before the automization was complete changes had taken place, the area codes of the largest cities were reduced to three digits; since that time Amsterdam has area code 020. After completion a lot more sectors have gotten three digit area codes, so currently there is a mixture of three and five digit area codes. Also since old times local numbers were not equally long. When a sector grew out of numbers some numbers would get an additional digit prefixed freeing up a lot of initial digits. That is how the Amsterdam number 53121 was changed to 953121 and later to 6953121. Previously it probably was 3121. This was not done for all numbers in an area code at once, so it was very usual to have different length numbers within a single area code. Currently numbers are six or seven digits when the area code is three digits, or three to five digits when the area code is five digits. This will change to universally a three digit area code with a seven digit local number or a four digit area code with a six digit local number. This means that *all* numbers that do not fit this pattern will change next year. And that is all of the country except the three big cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague), the (probably for you unknown) entity of Almere and the small township of Almelo which will change already this year. There is no simple rule for number changes. PTT has issued a 44 page booklet describing the changes, and you need all those pages; it will be distributed country wide next year. A feature of the change is that all old numbers will go through for six months after the change (unlike when Belgium changed all numbers overnight, quite some years ago.) But this permissive dialing has its problems (i.e. more changes are made than would otherwise be needed). How does it change (a global overview): If the old area code was three digits (except 080 and 085) the area code remains unchanged, and if the old number was six digits, a single digit is prepended. The digit prepended depends on the area code and in some cases also on the initial digit of the old local number. Area codes 080 and 085 will additionally be changed to 024 and 026 respectively. Otherwise the old area code was five digits. There are two possibilities: 1. The area is incorporated in a neighboring three digit area code area. In that case the local number will be prefixed by a number of digits to make the local number seven digits. 2. The last digit of the area code is dropped. The local number is prefixed to make the number six digits. In all cases the prefix must be found in the conversion table and may also depend on the initial digit of the original local number; and in most cases the first digit of the prefix has no relation to the dropped digit from the area code. In addition, area codes in the range 083xx will move to the range 031x and area codes in the range 088xx will move to the range 048x. Moreover, Almelo (which changes this year) will go from 0549x to 0546. And finally, rule two is not totally general, there are cases where two or more new four digit area codes are combined, so that also the final digit of the new area code is not totally predictable. I think we will have some fun over here. dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098 home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 12:52:14 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "TCP/IP Network Administration" by Hunt BKTCPADM.RVW 940328 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 103 Morris Street, Suite A Sebastopol, CA 95472 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 info@ora.com or nuts@ora.com "TCP/IP Network Administration", Hunt, 1992, 0-937175-82-X The growth of the Internet, in terms of the number of computers connected, has been doubling each year for at least the last ten. This means that in this coming year about three million computers will get connected, and in the year following, approximately six million. This growth cannot continue indefinitely. One constraint is the number of computers in the world, and another is the limit on the number of numeric Internet IP addresses available. One of the most important limiting factors, however, is the availability of knowledge about the connection and configuration of computers to the Internet. This book addresses this latter problem. If you are a UNIX system manager, this book is a thorough guide to configuring an Internet connection. (Even if you are not on the Internet, it is an excellent overview of the requirements for using TCP/IP to network your own machines.) For some, the guide may be on the technical side -- but then, network administration is a formidably technical task. The first three chapters discuss the concepts behind TCP/IP, routing, and the domain name and name service. The next four cover the basics of connections and configuration. Chapters eight to ten give details on the primary network services. There are also chapters on troubleshooting, security and appendices, including Internet service contacts, and the various application forms for registration. If you are not working in UNIX, many of the low level specifics will not be of much use. Many of the items, however, can either be used as rough outlines, or adapted to non-UNIX systems. Many programs may be different, but a lot of the structure, data and concepts will be the same. For those charged with the practical details of bringing a system into the Internet, this book is uniquely helpful. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKTCPADM.RVW 940328, 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: jimmy@tokyo07.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Subject: Big SS7 Problems (was Re: Int'l Calls to Taiwan) Reply-To: jimmy@denwa.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Organization: Info Connections, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 06:22:36 GMT A recent article talked about problems calling Taiwan. I would like to propose that the carriers are all having severe problems with regard to SS7 connectivity with foreign carriers. Although I have almost no problems when calling to the U.S. from Japan, I have had many problems calling Japan from the U.S. recently. For example, I find that when trying to call a number in Japan that is busy, instead of a busy signal I often get "The call you have made can not be completed in the country you have dialed" from AT&T while Sprint just gives a reorder. A few weeks ago, I kept getting a "not valid" recording when trying to call a Tokyo mobile number. I got it to work only by adding a '0' after the country code, something you're not supposed to have to do. A few days later, it was working again, with or without the '0'. The carriers need to take a serious look at these problems. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Chuo 1-27-8, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Fax: +81 3 5389 0188 Voice Mail: +81 3 5389 1099 ------------------------------ From: tjebelea@risc.uni-linz.ac.at (Tudor Jebelean) Subject: IP to X.121 Translation? Organization: RISC, J.K. University of Linz, Austria Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 16:20:26 GMT Dear colleagues, This is a request for help. Do you know how to translate IP address into X.121 address? More specifically (since I no nothing on the matter): I address computers (for instance by telnet or ftp) with something like "melmac.risc.uni-linz.ac.at", which is equivalent to a number, for instance 193.170.36.100. Apparently this is called IP address. However some computers are connected to the world in a way which does not recognize this addresses. I know somebody in Romania who receives mail through Sprint, and can also do telnet or ftp, however the addresses he has to use look different: he told me this is called X.121 format, and there should be a translation scheme -- but we do not know it. So the question is: does this make sense? Is there such a translation scheme? How does it work? Thank you very much for any help. Please send it directly by e-mail since I do not read this group. Dr. Tudor Jebelean phone:(Austria)7236-3231-50 RISC-Linz, A-4040, Austria fax: (Austria)7236-3231-30 ------------------------------ From: News@goliath.france.NCR.COM Subject: Automatic Machines on a Network Date: 6 Jul 94 14:19:31 GMT Organization: ATT GIS France I want to connect automatic can dispenser machines on a network. I need advices to help us to investigate extraordinary solutions like: wireless network transmissions on 110 volts wires spread spectrum, etc. The rules of the "game" are simple: There is NO telephone line near the machine. Data collection is triggerred by a jam, empty state, etc or by a visit of technician for cleaning and filling. It's a one way communication from a machine to a server. If anybody has an idea even special feel free to contact me GUILLOPE EMMANUEL / CSSD SUPPORT OCC / ATT-GIS France BP101 98 RUE DE PARIS / 91301 MASSY CEDEX / FRANCE PHONE #: (33)1 69-93-36-51 VOICEPLUS 3253651 FAX #: (33)1 69-93-36-01 VOICEPLUS 3253601 EMAIL #:Emanuel.Guillope@France.NCR.COM ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jul 94 16:04:04 -0400 From: jnoorder@julian.uwo.ca (Judy Noordermeer) Subject: Telecommunications Developments at Western LEADING-EDGE MEDICAL NETWORK TO RECEIVE $2.2 MILLION IN PROVINCIAL FUNDING June 13/94 An innovative fibre optic network linking London's leading medical institutions will receive $2.2 million from the provincial government, Frances Lankin, minister of economic development and trade, announced at Western today. LARG*net -- London and Region Global Network -- will connect The University of Western Ontario, Robarts Research Institute, University Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Victoria Hospital, the London Regional Cancer Centre and Fanshawe College. The high technology network will allow the seven health care delivery, education and research institutions shared access to medical imaging databases, research data, information resources, video training and teaching cases. By sharing information, they will save invaluable time and money and learn from each others' expertise. "The network represents the collective excellence that London possesses in terms of telecommunications, health care delivery and education," says Dr. Trevor Cradduck, professor and chair of the division of nuclear medicine at Western and general manager of LARG*net. "Quite distinct from the developmental and research aspects of the network, I believe the infrastructure will also be crucial to helping the health care and educational institutions collaborate more effectively and efficiently," he says. The LARG*net experience will be watched carefully across North America. "LARG*net will benefit not only Western, but the entire community," says Michael Gourley, vice-president of administration at the University. "The network brings London to the forefront of the information and telecommunications revolution. The implementation of this initiative leads to the type of high technology investment and jobs which the new economy demands," he says. The provincial government contribution to LARG*net represents 40 per cent of the total cost of the project. The funds were made available through the Ontario Network Infrastructure Program, a jobsONTARIO initiative. For more information, contact Dr. Trevor Cradduck, LARG*net general manager, at (519) 667-6574, or Judy Noordermeer, Public Affairs Officer, at (519) 661-2046. Judy Noordermeer Public Affairs Officer University Relations and Information (519) 661-2046 Fax: (519) 661-3921 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 15:02 JST From: jimmy@denwa.linc.or.jp (Jim Gottlieb) Subject: COCOTs Lose Again (was Re: AT&T Keep In Touch) Organization: Info Connections, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan In article is written: > Will the AT&T Keep In Touch PCMCIA modem work with an acoustic > coupler? We have a group of salesmen who need to connect from phone > booths. Here in Japan, NTT is rapidly replacing all public telephones with a new model containing both digital (ISDN) and analog data jacks. I would say that about 80% of the public phones near where I live have already been upgraded. Companies like Sharp and Casio are introducing products to take advantage of this ubiquitous data connectivity. Under current conditions this will never happen in the U.S. The telcos can't afford to do this when they are competing against sleazy private pay phone operators who would never make this kind of investment. So while the Japanese will be able to plug in anywhere, U.S. residents are still stuck with acoustic couplers. Yuck! Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Chuo 1-27-8, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Fax: +81 3 5389 0188 Voice Mail: +81 3 5389 1099 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 07:15:28 -0400 From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst While I had intended to read replies to the post I sent in regarding Ringmate before ordering, I decided yesterday to call NYNEX to verify that the service is indeed available in my area. I was told by two individuals that Ringmate is incompatible with Call Answering on the 5ESS. I remember reading in the archives that at least one person (was it you, PAT?) in fact had both features and was served by a 5E. I am assuming that the interaction is between Ringmate and the Busy/Don't Answer forward that is installed along with Call Answering. (Since the switch really shouldn't care what the Octel system does.) My aunt at SNET said that this feature combination works fine on the 5ESS switches that she oversees. She speculates that it could be a tariff issue, i.e. NYNEX never got approval to offer B/DA forwarding in combination with Ringmate. So, does anybody out there have these two features on a 5ESS? And if it isn't a technical problem, is there anything I can do to try and get the service that I would like? Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu P.S. Responses to my other questions would still be appreciated! ------------------------------ From: Bob Smith Subject: RFD: comp.dcom.cdpd Organization: a2i network Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 16:48:31 GMT REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD) comp.dcom.cdpd (This is **NOT** a Call For Votes. A Call For Votes will be issued in the groups to which this message is posted 21 to 30 days from the date that this message first appears. Voting is to be recorded by a neutral third party.) Group Name: comp.dcom.cdpd Status: Unmoderated Summary: Discussion of all aspects of Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), including discussions of carriers, services, applications, specifications, and noteworthy events. Distribution: World CHARTER CDPD is wireless protocol which offers low cost and ubiquitous radio coverage to TCP-IP networks. The technology uses the idle voice channels available in the existing cellular telephone system for packet data transmission. Application interface to CDPD can be via telnet, SLIP, UDP, or TCP. A CDPD modem uses the AT command set and has an IP address which is assigned by the local cellular company (just as your cellular carrier assigned the phone number to your cellular phone). CDPD may be the preferred remote/mobile WAN since the time and cost overhead of a cellular call establishment is not present. The aim of comp.dcom.CDPD would be to provide an informal electronic conference for anyone curious about, or involved with CDPD. It is hoped that the group may further the understanding and awareness of CDPD. CDPD's success requires the cooperation and coordination of many diverse players: application developers, system integrators, cellular carriers, infrastructure manufacturers, and modem manufactures. A newsgroup where ideas, suggestions, and questions can be freely exchanged is needed to help tie these players into an industry. The FAQs would be an important part of the newsgroup and would include as a minimum: FAQs about the nature and scope of CDPD a list of CDPD carriers and services offered a list of CDPD modem manufacturers a list of other CDPD products available This newsgroup would allow the rapid and timely discussion of CDPD related issues and events which might otherwise never be fully disseminated. Topics for discussion would include :- Product announcements Press releases of interest to the CDPD community Innovative CDPD applications CDPD deployment issues and plans Interpretation of the CDPD specification Infrastructure hardware: NMS, MDBS, MD-IS, ... Infrastructure software: NMS, MDBS, MD-IS, ... Modems - specifications, opinions, etc. New product ideas Databases, lists of... CDPD security, encryption, and firewalls Announcements/reviews of papers/conferences Comparisons to alternatives such as RAM, Ardis General discussion/opinions/questions. Positions vacant Professional news Economic issues We hope that you will support this group, and look forward to your comments and participation in the discussions in news.groups. Please distribute this proposal to your friends and colleagues. This RFD has been posted to: alt.digital.radio comp.dcom.lans.misc comp.dcom.modems comp.dcom.telecom comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip comp.os.ms-windows.programming.networks comp.protocols.misc comp.protocols.tcp-ip comp.std.wireless news.announce.newgroups sci.geo.satellite-nav Thank you. The Process of Creating a Newsgroup (a) RFD: Request for Discussion, i.e.., public hearing to take place in the newsgroup news.groups on Internet for approximately one month (b) CFV: Call for votes (the voting period will be about 25 days) (c) Counting of votes and public display of votes (d) Announcement of new newsgroup (a)-->(b) assumes no major disagreements about this newsgroup during discussion. (c)-->(d) assumes that the vote is favorable, i.e., Y > N+100 .and. Y > (2/3)(Y+N) Y being the number of YES votes, N being the number of NO votes for the creation of the proposed newsgroup. Bob Smith ------------------------------ From: Alan_Sieben@mindlink.bc.ca (Alan Sieben) Subject: Film to Video Transfer Unit Date: Wed, 06 Jul 94 16:38:05 PDT Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada I'm looking to purchase an ELMO TRV S8 film to video transfer unit. This unit is no longer made by ELMO. It transfers Super 8 film to a video signal thatu can be recorded on tape. Also interested in anything else that transfers home movie film to video. Post here or reply to alan_sieben@mindlink.bc.ca. ------------------------------ From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen) Subject: Info Highway - Virtual Factories Date: 6 Jul 94 21:12:43 GMT Organization: DKnet Hi - out there, I have a question concering what is called the The National Information Infrastructure in US - the Information Superhighway. I have a feeling that with such an infrastructure you could have a more decentralized production. You could link factories together and production could be where the workers and raw materials are. In fact you could think of VIRTUEL FACTORIES where many production facilities were linked together acting as one ordinary factory. The different production facilities could of course have different owners. Have you heard about similar ideas or seen articles about this subject? Please email me with any peace of information -- or send an articles to this newsgroup with your thoughts. Greerting from Denmark, Lars Kalsen dalk@login.dkuug.dk ------------------------------ From: VANTEK@aol.com Date: Mon, 04 Jul 94 18:57:52 EDT Subject: Last Laugh! Dial 999 For Trouble! WIRES CROSS AS LOVERS DIAL M FOR MOTHER LONDON, July 2 (Reuter) - A terrified British mother put police on red alert after mistaking the sound of lovemaking for a cry for help from her daughter. The Independent newspaper said on Saturday that two accidental phone calls woke the woman in Devizes, southern England, in the small hours of the morning. Hearing moaning, groaning and shouting, she dismissed the first as an obscene call, but in the second she recognised her daughter crying: "Oh my God," and heard a man's voice. Convinced her daughter was being attacked in her bedroom 100 miles (160 km) away, she dialled the emergency number 999 and a police squad sped to the daughter's home to investigate. "Officers rushed round and found she wasn't being attacked -- in fact she was quite willing," a police spokesman said. "They explained that during the moments of passion one of the couple accidentally pushed the last-number redial button on the bedside telephone with a toe. Unfortunately on both occasions it was the girl's mother's phone number," he said. "This is a warning for other people -- if you're going to indulge in this sort of thing, move the phone." The mother and daughter have apologized to police for the confusion. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #309 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa03509; 7 Jul 94 4:06 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA05033; Thu, 7 Jul 94 00:42:16 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA05023; Thu, 7 Jul 94 00:42:14 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jul 94 00:42:14 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407070542.AA05023@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #310 TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jul 94 00:42:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 310 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NYTimes, err, FBI, Looking For Telco Hacker (Danny Burstein) AT&T Calls Between 312/708 Area Codes (Jayne C. McGrath) Theoretical Maximum Limits of Packets Per Second (Rachana D. Patel) Bell Atlantic Cuts Long Distance Rates (Phillip Dampier) Two Antennas For One Car Phone (Ben Wright) LAN Certification Process (John Ray) Ridgeley, W.Va. - No Dialing Changes Found (Carl Moore) Wanted: Voice Mail System (Masakazu Nakano) ISDN Residential Use? (Keith Knipschild) Dial 114 For Dial-A-Verse Service (Van Hefner) Washington Post Article on Free Access Wanted (Doug Granzow) Looking for US Radio Pager Information (Julian Edwards) AlphaNumeric Paging via Email (Patrick Larkin, Jr) Are Any Bellcore or ITU Docs Available via FTP? (John Morey) Looking For a TMN Compatable Object Builder But Having no Luck (John Morey) Royal Dutch PTT Telecom Wins Unisys Customerize Award (Randy Gellens) 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: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: NYTimes, err, FBI, Looking For Telco Hacker Date: 6 Jul 1994 03:10:11 -0400 The following article is based on a {New York Times} story of Monday, July 4th, 1994 and was distributed over the SCIFRAUD list. It has quite a bit of telco (and computer) relevance. Check out my comments after the main body ... From: ACHiggins Subject: A Darkside Hacker A Darkside Hacker Here is a report in the Times concerning a notorious darkside hacker, Kevin Mitnick. This is the young man who, among other things, was the model behind the 1983 movie, "War Games." He's been in touble with authorities since high school where, for example, he broke into the school's computer. Since then, he has served time in prison and in treatment programs designed to "cure" his "addiction" to computer hacking. Mitnick is not reported to be after money. Rather, his rewards seem to derive from his "being in charge" of computers, mainframes, and phone companies. He has not sold anything he's stolen, just used what he has stolen to best the authorities and to escape detection. He's very good at what he does. With access to the mainframes the authorities are using to track him, he manages to avoid detection. With access to motor vehicle mainframes, he is able to create new identities for himself and to follow his enemies. Finding him has not been easy nor will it get easier. It is reported that he delights in making his pursuers look bad. ++++++++++ \Markoff, John "Cyberspace's Most Wanted: Hacker Eludes F.B.I. Pursuit," {New York Times}, 4 July 1994, pp. 1, 36.\ Here on the front page of the Times is the news that long-time darkside hacker Kevin Mitnick is again in trouble with the law and the federal authorities can't seem to catch up with him. Authorities are looking for him for violating probation and, perhaps, stealing software and data from more than a half dozen leading cellular telephone manufacturers. Kevin Mitnick was a major figure in Hefner and Markoff's book, Cyperpunk (Touchstone, 1992) where Mitnick is described as a kid on a power trip and described as "...an obese, nearsighted twenty-five-year- old dropout from L.A. whose diet consisted of greasy cheeseburgers and Big Gulp colas from the nearby 7- Eleven..." (p. 132-133) Mitnick has eluded capture now for nearly a year and a half and "'he has created a lot of frustration inside the bureau.'" (p. 36) "It is not clear if Mr. Mitnick has computing skills that are unusual in the world or programming, but he is clearly adept at what is known in the computer underground as 'social engineering.' "By masquerading as a company executive in a telephone call, he frequently talks an unsuspecting company employee into giving him passwords and other information that makes it possible for him to gain entry to computers illegally. Using a personal computer and a modem, he then connects to a company's computer and, with his knowledge of how operation system work, commands it to copy software illegally, display confidential electronic messages of alter a telephone switch so he can silently monitor a call. "There is no evidence that Mr. Mitnick has used his computer skills illegally to make money, although the cellular phone companies say the person who stole their software could sell it to competing manufacturers in Asia or to criminals who want to offer free phone calls. F.B.I. and Justice Department officials said they were still uncertain of his motives and did not have absolute proof that he was behind the attacks on cellular phone companies..." (p. 36) Mitnick's been arrested time and time again, since his high schools days for various computer crimes. "After Mr. Mitnick's 1988 arrest, his lawyer convinced the judge that Mr. Mitnick's problem was similar to a drug or gambling addiction. He served a year in prison at the low-security prison in Lompoc, Calif. He then spent six months in a small residential treatment program that emphasizes the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous. "During his treatment program, Mr. Mitnick was prohibited from touching a computer or a modem. He began exercising regularly and lost more than 100 pounds. Later he briefly obtained a job as a programmer for a health care provider." "The California Department of Motor Vehicles has also issued a warrant for his arrest. The warrant, issued in September, states that Mr. Mitnick wiretapped F.B.I. agents' calls to the state agency. He then used law-enforcement access codes he had obtained by eavesdropping on the agents to make illegal requests for drivers' licenses, state investigators say. "The information from such drivers' licenses could help him gain a false identity and help him find out where his enemies live. It is just such tactics that will make Mr. Mitnick very hard to find." (p. 36) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + A. C. Higgins + + SS 359 SUNYA Albany, New York 12222 + + E-mail: ACH13@ALBNYVMS; ACH13@UACSC1.Albany.edu + + Phone: (518) 442 - 4678; FAX: (518) 442 - 4936 + + SCIFRAUD@ALBNYVM1 + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ to which Dannyb adds: Haven't the telcos (and the federales) been claiming for years that there is no way for the central office switches/computers to 'dupe out' the audio portion of a phone call? And, of course, even if they could do this, there's no way you could remotely program the CO to send the talk path to you in your office, could you? Amazing what undocumented features can be found in these systems... dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) ------------------------------ From: jcm8@midway.uchicago.edu (jayne c mcgrath) Subject: AT&T Calls Between 312/708 Area Codes Reply-To: jcm8@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 18:47:04 GMT Pat, It does seem that AT&T will save you approximately 10% on calls between the 708/312 area codes over the local Ameritech rates when the mileage is greater than fifteen miles (excluding local volume discounts). I recently received a phone bill for two "local" calls routed through AT&T using 10288+ dialing. My calculations using rates provided by AT&T over the phone also indicate that they overbilled me by approximately 6% on one call for an overcharge of 5 cents (my rates or method of calculation may be incorrect). It appears that I was charged for two initial minutes, one in each rate period for a multiple rate period call. I thought the initial minute charge was a one time per call charge. Anyone for requiring the Bells to provide rate tariffs to any person requesting them (instead of going through FCC copies in Washington or local Public Utility Commissions)? If anyone can verify or correct my calculations, please let me know (via post or e-mail). Below is the relevant bill information, rates, and my calculations. Did I make an error? Should there only be one initial minute (or first minute) charge per call? Thanks. AT&T billed vs Ameritech Calculated: Ameritech Code AT&T Billed Calculated Call 1 6-9-94 (Thur) AEM 8:58P 21 minutes $ .46 $ .505 Call 2 6-22-94 (Wed) AEM 1:51P 30 minutes $ .95 $ 1.056 Ameritech Rates: (from front of local phone book) Miles Mon-Fri 9am-11am Mon-Fri 8am-9am Other hrs 2pm-8pm 11am-2pm & 8pm-9pm Sat-Sun-Hol 15-40 First Minute $ .104 $ .094 $ .062 Additional Min. $ .034 $ .031 $ .020 Day Evening Nights AT&T rates: First Minute $ .094 $ .085 $ .055 23 miles Additional Min. $ .030 $ .023 $ .0186 (Note: approximate rates from 1-800-222-0300 operator.) How AT&T may have over billed me for Call 2. My calculation of the charges amounts to $ .899 or $.90 -- but I think they truncate instead of round so it might even be $.89 My calculated break down of Call 2: 151P Initial minute $ .085 (1) * (.085) 152-200P 8 addl mins $ .184 (8) * (.023) 200-221 21 addl min $ .63 (21) * (.030) ======= $ .899 What I think happened is that AT&T charged me for two Initial Minutes. One when the call was started and one when the rate period changed. How it might have been billed by AT&T: 151P Initial minute $ .085 (1) * (085) 152-200P 8 addl mins $ .184 (8) * (.023) 200-201P Initial minute $ .094 (1) * (.094) 201-221P 20 addl min $ .60 (20) * (.030) ======= $ .963 (Well, they were approximate rates) (or maybe they truncate for each calculation) 151P Initial minute $ .08 (1) * (085) 152-200P 8 addl mins $ .18 (8) * (.023) 200-201P Initial minute $ .09 (1) * (.094) 201-221P 20 addl min $ .60 (20) * (.030) ======= $ .95 (the actual amount billed) ------------------------------ From: rpatel@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Rachana D Patel) Subject: Theoretical Maximum Limits of Packets per Second Date: 6 Jul 1994 13:57:14 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania I was wondering if anyone knew how theoretical maximum packets per seconds are computed given a certain size packet. For example, 64 Byte packets have a limit of 14,880 pps in ethernet. If one computes this by hand even with an overhead of 14 or 18 bytes, one cannot reach the given number. The limit for ethernet is 10Mbps: 10,000 bits per sec / [ (64 Bytes + Overhead Bytes) * (8bits per byte) ] The numbers I get are much larger than 14,880. Am I missing something? Thanks in advance, Rachana D. Patel University of Pennsylvania rpatel@eniac.seas.upenn.edu Telecommunication Systems & Management and Technology Program Strategic Management ------------------------------ From: phil@rochgte.fidonet.org (Phillip Dampier) Reply-To: phil@rochgte.fidonet.org Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 10:41:02 -0500 Subject: Bell Atlantic Cuts Long Distance Rates BELL ATLANTIC CUSTOMERS BENEFIT FROM REDUCED TOLL RATES BETWEEN 302 AND 215/610 AREA CODES - July 5, 1994 Wilmington, DE -- Bell Atlantic customers in Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania can now make toll calls between the 302 and 215/610 area codes at significantly reduced rates. Customers will save $3.7 million annually as the result of the lower toll rates. The reductions are the sixth by Bell Atlantic in the last four years for toll calls between the 302 and 215/610 area codes. The new rates were implemented July 2, 1994 following FCC approval. "We believe our customers will benefit from the new lower toll rates," said Carolyn S. Burger, president and CEO of Bell Atlantic - Delaware. "The fact is that Bell Atlantic's standard toll rates for calls between 215 and 610 area codes and Delaware are lower, on balance, than our competitors' standard rates." For example, the new day rate for a four minute call between Newark, Delaware and Philadelphia is 92 cents, a 12.4% reduction. The new day rate for a five minute call between Valley Forge and Dover is $1.15, a 15.4% reduction. Burger said Bell Atlantic's night and weekend toll rates have been reduced as well. "Our goal is to delight our customers by providing the highest quality service at competitive prices. We are pleased that the FCC has approved our rate reduction proposal." ------------------------------ From: benwright@lsupoz.apana.org.au (Ben Wright) Subject: Two Antennas For One Car Phone Date: 6 Jul 1994 22:12:59 +1000 Organization: Linux Support OZ +61-2-418-8750 I've seen some cars with two antenna for their one phone. Apparently one antenna transmits while both antenna receive. The guy at the service centre said that with this antenna system you can get up to four times the distance over a normal antenna, plus, you get less static on the line when the car is moving slow. Is there anything in this, should I go out and get it installed? Ben ------------------------------ From: johnr@meaddata.com (John Ray) Subject: LAN Certification Process Date: 6 Jul 1994 19:41:30 GMT Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH Hello LAN Gurus, I am in need of help. I have been tasked with the effort of developing a certification process for introducing new components/technology (i.e. new hubs, routers, LAN attached printers, NIC's etc). If anyone has some documentation on such a process, or an outline, or anything I would be very grateful. Any help or information would be very much appreciated -- Thanks !! John Ray (513) 865-1077 Mead Data Central Distributed Net. Eng. P.O. Box 933 johnr@meaddata.com Dayton,Ohio 45401 ...!uunet!meaddata!johnr ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 12:51:26 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Ridgeley, W.Va. - No Dialing Changes Found Ridgeley, W. Va. is served by 726 and 738 in area code 304. I have found the old instructions (1+7D for long distance within 304 and 7D for local to other area) still in use, with the new instructions (7D for long distance within 304 and 1+NPA+7D for local to other area) not even useable. Ridgeley is local to Cumberland (Md.). In addition, a pay phone 738-xxxx had area code 301 on it! (In an unrelated item: a store window showed a poster for someone running for sheriff of Allegany County, MARYLAND; perhaps many people going down to Ridgeley from Maryland?) ------------------------------ From: mack@win.or.jp (Masakazu Nakano) Subject: Wanted: Voice Mail System Date: 6 Jul 1994 03:58:46 GMT Organization: Internet provider WIN (World-wide Information Network),JAPAN [wanted] Telephone line module for PC/AT. Now I'm looking for any boards, dealers and more development information. Dialogic Model DMX Digital Multiline Mixer ? LSI-C Line amplifier ? D/121B 12 line interface ? D/41B 4 line interface ? Vocalnet ATI-24 , AG-24 Make offer , If you sell for me. Please e-mail. Masakazu Nakano e-mail: mack@yokohama.win.or.jp pxh03521@niftyserve.or.jp ------------------------------ From: keith.knipschild@asb.com Organization: America's Suggestion Box - BBS (516) 471-8625 Date: Wed, 06 Jul 94 23:33:29 Subject: ISDN Residential Use? I am interested in ISDN, and was wondering could it be used in residential use? From what I read I understand that there are 2 64k lines and a 16k. What is a standard analog line? Also, do you have one phone number with three lines for incomming and outgoing? Would it be possible to be having a VOICE conversation,and be online with your local BBS and beable to recieve a FAX all at the same time with only one pair of wires coming into your house? If I am asking to many DUMB questions, please refer me to a file that I should DOWNLOAD. Thanks, Keith.knipschild@asb.com <<<<<<<<<<< Internet 70302,2701 <<<<<<<<<<< Compuserve (516) 979 5348 <<<<<<<<<<< Voice ------------------------------ From: VANTEK@aol.com Date: Wed, 06 Jul 94 03:56:40 EDT Subject: Dial 114 For Dial-A-Verse Service DIAL-A-VERSE SERVICE FOR TEHRAN KORAN LOVERS NICOSIA, June 29 (Reuter) - Sex-phone lines offering erotic conversations may be the rage in other countries, but in Iran the latest telephone service features recitations from the Moslem holy book, the Koran. Tehran residents can now dial 114, then punch the chapter and verse number to listen to one of the best Iranian Koran reciters go through their favourite part of the Moslem holy book, Iranian television said on Wednesday. The number was chosen because there are 114 chapters in the Koran. There are plans to expand the computerised service to 28 telephone lines from the current 12. The report did not say if the service was accessible to subscribers outside the Iranian capital or overseas. ------------------------------ From: doug.granzow@cynosure.clark.net (Doug Granzow) Subject: Washington Post Article on Free Access Wanted Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 00:00:57 GMT Organization: Cynosure Online - 410-781-6271 -> The Washington Post had a story on either the 6/22 or 6/23 edition on -> page 1 about how Maryland is offering Free Internet access. Is this -> article available online? Does anyone have a copy of it they can eit -> post on the Digest or send to me? I'm curious to read it. Sorry, I don't have the article, but I did read it. Maryland is *not* offering Free Internet access. Maryland is offering free Gopher access, with slightly under 200 dialup lines for the entire state. Full internet accounts will be available for a price. (Gopher + email only costs $35/year, which is more than the $20 I charge my users for email and Usenet.) Doug Granzow - Ask me about Cynosure Online - 410-781-6271 Access to email and Usenet in Baltimore, MD - $20/year dig@cynosure.clark.net - granzow@midget.towson.edu - dig@clark.net ------------------------------ From: wjedwd@wmaster.isl.com (Julian Edwards) Subject: Looking For US Radio Pager Info Date: 06 Jul 1994 16:39:10 GMT Organization: Internet Systems Ltd I'm posting this on behalf of Martin Pitwood (s0tmp@exnet.com), who is looking for any information he can get on US radio pagers. If there's anyone out there that can help, he'd appreciate a mail, and explain in more detail as to what he wants. Reply set to s0tmp@exnet.com. Thanks, Julian Edwards, Internet Systems Ltd. Woking, Surrey, UK. Internet: wjedwd@isl.com (preferred) or julian.edwards@isl.com (MSMAIL, aagh) ------------------------------ From: plarkin@iphase.com (Patrick Larkin Jr) Subject: AlphaNumeric Paging via Email Date: 06 Jul 1994 10:50:41 -0500 Organization: Interphase Corporation - Dallas Texas We are looking into a system supplied but SWB "MobileComm" that provides alpha-numeric pagers and some software you install on a MS-Windows system with a modem. The "operator" runs this program and fills in the blanks, then the PC dials up some system and transmits the page info. What I WANT to do is put some program/script on my SMTP hub (a Sparc system) and setup some email aliases so that anyone can mail to 'user-pager@domain' and it will send the Subject: and From: headers to the pager as if it were a person keying in this info on that PC. This seems like it would be much more useful for after hours paging than physically using this 'magical' PC. Has anyone done this? I am interested in ALL possibilities be they freeware, commercial ($$) or just specs on what these systems expect when you connect to them. Thanks, PATRICK LARKIN - System Administrator #include /* Interphase Corporation #include "clever_quote_de_jour.h" /* Dallas TX - USA ------------------------------ From: jmorey@crl.com (John Morey) Subject: Are Any Bellcore or ITU Docs Available via FTP? Date: 6 Jul 1994 06:59:28 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access I was wondering if Bellcore or ITU documents are available via FTP? Thanks for any info. John Morey - jmorey@crl.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes there are, and this question is asked very frequently. Users can respond to you directly with the information if they wish. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jmorey@crl.com (John Morey) Subject: Looking For a TMN Compatable Object Builder But Having no Luck Date: 6 Jul 1994 07:02:38 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access I have been told to find a TMN (?) compatable object builder. Not sure what it is except that it has something to do with SONET. I have not had any luck so far. Anyone have any pointers? Thanks for any info. John Morey - jmorey@crl.com ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 06 JUL 1994 15:01:00 GMT Subject: Royal Dutch PTT Telecom Wins Unisys Customerize Award For Excellence THREE CLIENTS NAMED WINNERS OF CUSTOMERIZE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE Signet Banking Corporation of Richmond, Virginia, the Social Security System of the Republic of the Philippines and the Royal Dutch PTT Telecom B.V. of the Netherlands have been recognized as winners of the 1994 Unisys Customerize Award for Excellence, recognizing the leading customer-oriented organizations from entries submitted from among Unisys 60,000 worldwide customer base. Two years ago, Unisys embarked on a global program designed to assist its clients in providing better service to their customers. As part of this initiative, the 1994 Customerize Award winners were selected because of their exemplary commitment to customer requirements, the operation and efficiency of their customer service organizations, the aligning of their information strategy to better meet customer needs and their overall understanding and dedication to helping the customer work closer with their customers. Unisys Customerize program is more than just selecting award recipients. The Customerize concept is based on the premise that customers deserve, and today demand, that companies and government agencies treat them for what they are -- the source of revenue for the organization and the reason for the organization's existence. "Without clients, there is no business, no service industry, no justification for running an operation," says Victor Millar, president, Unisys Worldwide Information Services, which sponsors the international competition. "We have taken the original idea that our client is number one and added additional components, believing that if our client is important, then our clients' clients are just as important." Unisys has implemented customer-oriented activities around the world, including extensive training programs, special events and an ongoing series of symposia and workshops designed to help organizations learn more about what it takes to put customers' needs first and to be successful at it. The selection of the three winners for the 1994 Customerize awards is a key element in this program. Top executives in each winning organization are being honored at special events in their country or area. The winners will be presented with a unique Steuben Crystal Customerize Award and invited to participate in or send an executive to a special one week customer- centered course co-sponsored by Unisys, on "Managing Service: Reengineering for Customer Satisfaction" at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #310 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa03730; 7 Jul 94 4:43 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA05701; Thu, 7 Jul 94 01:17:09 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA05692; Thu, 7 Jul 94 01:17:07 CDT Date: Thu, 7 Jul 94 01:17:07 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407070617.AA05692@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #311 TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Jul 94 01:17:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 311 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC Callback Ruling (Leroy Casterline) Book Review: "Using C-Kermit" by ds Cruz/Gianone (Rob Slade) Recommendations For Lightning Protection (Bert Roseberry) Questions About NYNEX Ringmate (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Workshop - User Interfaces for Communications Systems (Ashok Gupta) Looking For a Phone-Number: Country-Wide Instead of Area-Code (Wayne Smith) Seeking Info on TAPI/TSAPI SDK (Ed Pimentel) Looking For Source Code (Dong-Jun Wang) 1-800-COLLECT vs. 1-800-OPERATOR/CALL-ATT (Jeffrey W. McKeough) China-HK Telecom Development (Cedric Hui) 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: casterli@csn.org (Leroy Casterline) Subject: FCC Callback Ruling Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 13:18:48 -0600 Organization: Cahill Casterline Limited Reply-To: casterli@csn.org Pat, Sorry it took me so long to post this. I was hoping to OCR it from a fax, but no such luck. I typed it in, so any errors are mine ... Leroy Report No. CC-572 Common Carrier Action April 22, 1994 FCC AUTHORIZES THREE APPLICANTS TO PROVIDE RESOLD INTERNATIONAL SWITCHED VOICE SERVICE The Commission has granted the applications of VIA USA, Ltd. (Viatel), Telegroup, Inc., and Discount Call International Co. (DCI), to resell the public switched services of other U.S. carriers, over the objection of AT&T. Viatel is a Colorado corporation that sought authority to offer resold, tariffed international switched voice and facsimile service between the United States and various international points. Telegroup, an Iowa corporation, sought authority to offer resold international switched voice and data service between the United States and various international points. DCI, a Florida corporation, sought authority to operate a "typical telephone dialback operation" between points in the United States and various South American and Central American countries. AT&T, in its petition to deny, alleged that the applicants intended to engage in a "call turn-around" or "call-back" service. AT&T opposed the applications to the extent that the applicants proposed to use the resold services to provide call-back services using a "code-calling" configuration. AT&T stated that a reseller using "code-calling" instructs its customers in foreign locations to dial a U.S. telephone number, hang up after a pre-arranged number of rings, but before the call is completed, and wait for the reseller (usually through a conferencing unit) to return a call to the predesignated foreign telephone number, providing U.S. dial tone to the foreign customer. The connection between the calling and the called party is established via a U.S-originated switched service call to the called location. The customer does not pay the foreign carrier for the initial uncompleted call. After reviewing the applications and pleadings, the Commission found that the public convenience and necessity will be served by granting the applications to resell the international switched voice services of various U.S. common carriers. Moreover, the Commission could not find, based on the record, that uncompleted call signalling ("code-calling") constituted an unreasonable practice under Section 201(b) of the Communications Act. The Commission has long recognized that increased competition in the international marketplace benefits U.S. ratepayers, and has routinely granted applications for Section 214 authorizations for the resale of international switched voice services to further that goal. The Commission believes the proposed services would provide similar benefits associated with increased competition, in line with its statutory mandate to establish a rapid, efficient, nation- wide, and worldwide wire and radio communications service. The Commission noted that use of the resold services for international call-back activity could place significant downward pressure on foreign collection rates, to the ultimate benefit of U.S. ratepayers and industry. The commission disagreed with AT&T that uncompleted call signalling constituted an unreasonable practice under Section 201 of the Act, or otherwise was not in the public interest. The Commission reemphasized, however, that resellers of U.S. switched voice services are common carriers and continue to be subject to obligations of common carriers, including those in Sections 201(b) and 214. AT&T alleged that this activity imposed costs on its ratepayers through use of its facilities without compensation. However, the Commission agreed with the applicants that AT&T had presented no evidence that uncompleted call signalling occurred often enough or made sufficient us of the network to impede revenue-producing use of the network by AT&T or to otherwise impose costs on AT&T or its ratepayers. The Commission noted that AT&T and its foreign correspondents have the ability to address uncompleted call signalling practices that are imposing costs on them. In response to concerns expressed by AT&T and by certain foreign carriers about the effect of uncompleted call signalling on principles of international comity, the Commission required that the applicants provide service in a manner that is consistent with the laws of countries in which they operate. However, the Commission recognized that the legality of the proposed activities under foreign law is a matter for foreign authorities and courts to decide. Action by the Commission April 12, 1994, by Order, Authorization and Certificate (FCC 94-96). Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello and Barrett. -FCC- News Media contact: Patricia A. Chew at (202) 632-5050. Common Carrier Bureau contact: Adam L. Kupetsky at (202) 632-1305. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 12:47:48 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Using C-Kermit" by ds Cruz/Gianone BKUSCKMT.RVW 940404 Digital Press / Butterworth-Heinemann 225 Wildwood Street Woburn, MA 01801 Voice: 1-800-366-BOOK Fax: 1-617-933-6333 or Kermit Distribution Columbia University 612 West 115th Street New York, NY 10025 Voice: 1-212-854-3703 Fax: 1-212-663-8202 Email: kermit@columbia.edu "Using C-Kermit", da Cruz/Gianone, 1993, 1-55558-108-0 fdc@columbia.edu cmg@columbia.edu Kermit is the most widely available communications software in the world. Versions on some platforms, however, may lack features available on others. Also, there may be a few computers to which Kermit has not been ported. This is where C-Kermit comes in. C-Kermit is the C language source code for a very feature-rich version of Kermit, very similar in function to the highly mature MS-DOS version of Kermit. This is the native version for at least four of the Kermit versions on major platforms, and there is no longer any reason not to have a Kermit for *your* machine. This is the user level manual for C-Kermit. (General advice on porting, configuration and compiling is included with the source, available from the Kermit distribution centre at Columbia University. Extensive documentation and back issues of the Info-Kermit digest are also available.) Well thought out, well presented, well written, the book is an excellent addition to the previous "Kermit: a file transfer protocol" (BKKERMIT.RVW) and "Using MS-DOS Kermit" (BKUMSKMT.RVW). The structure and order of the book is logically organized for users, new and old. Chapter three states that it assumes you are familiar with the basic data communications parameters. If you are not, it directs you to a comprehensive tutorial in appendix two. The only minor oddity in the arrangement is that scripting, possibly of most use to non-programming users, comes after the chapters on macros and programming. This is intended to give some basic programming concepts prior to introducing scripts, since the book assumes no programming background. It is, however, possible to write simple scripts without much in the way of conditional structures, controls or variables, and it would be a pity if non-programmers gave up too early to find this out. C-Kermit will likely become, as far as possible, the standard for the Kermit interface and functions. This, therefore, will be the standard Kermit user guide. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKUSCKMT.RVW 940404. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver p1@arkham.wimsey.bc.ca "If a train station Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca is where a train Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca stops, what happens User p1@CyberStore.ca at a workstation?" Security Canada V7K 2G6 Frederick Wheeler ------------------------------ From: Bert Roseberry Subject: Recommendations For Lightning Protection Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Date: 6 Jul 94 14:52:04 -0400 Any recommendations on in-line lightning protection for the typical residential phone? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 04:01:12 -0400 From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: Questions About NYNEX Ringmate Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst I'm considering getting Ringmate from NYNEX to help me screen calls. I have caller ID, but for the time being it only works on intra-LATA calls. I also get a large number of local calls (both business and personal) from UMass/Amherst's MD-110 PBX, all of which show up as "out of area." I would like to give one Ringmate number to my family and distant friends, one to my friends locally, and use my main number for all other callers. I have a number of questions about the way the Ringmate feature is handled in NYNEXville (and elsewhere): 1) Does NYNEX charge to have the Ringmate numbers nonpublished, or can they be set up as "special non-listed" as with a second line? 2) If I choose to have all three numbers assigned to Call Forwarding Variable, will the distinctive ringing pattern be preserved through the forward? (If it helps, my line is on a 5ESS.) 3) I have been considering getting collect/third party blocking on my main number. (This after an incident last summer when my housemate's friend called several 900 and 800 callback-collect phone numbers. 900 blocking is already in place.) I have been reluctant, since there are certain people from whom I would accept collect calls in an emergency. Would it be possible to block only my main published number, while still allowing collect calls to the Ringmate numbers? This would eliminate any further housemate/friend incidents, since the callback would be to the ANI of the main number, but it would allow those in possession of my Ringmate numbers to call collect if necessary. 4) I have Call Answering with busy/no answer forwarding. Can I have the Ringmate numbers programmed to forward to call answering even if I decide not to have them assigned to variable forwarding? 5) There has been discussion in the Digest about selecting vanity numbers. Every company seems to have a different policy about what numbers they will offer the customer and what fee, if any, they charge. Does anybody have any experience with NYNEX (MA) in this area? (I guess I could call my aunt, who's an area operations manager in Eastern MA, and see if she could do anything, but I'd rather not bother her if it's a simple matter.) 6) An AT&T EasyReach question: Will AT&T allow me to assign one of the Ringmate numbers as my default number? It would make sense since I give that number out to the same people who I would give my Ringmate number to, and they might call via EasyReach if they thought I wasn't at home. I could also forward PIN calls to the non-default Ringmate number, which would allow me to tell if, say, my brother had called with or without his PIN. (I know that the calls are EasyReach because the "gee whiz" factor always causes people to mention that they used the 700 number.) Thanks in advance for any information. Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu ------------------------------ From: gupta@prlhp1.prl.philips.co.uk (Ashok Gupta) Subject: Workshop - User Interfaces for Communications Systems Date: 6 Jul 94 09:14:55 GMT Reply-To: gupta@prl.philips.co.uk Organization: Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, UK Workshop Programme "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" Workshop of Special Interest Group 2.1.2 "Interactive Systems" German Computer Society (GI) to be held in Hamburg, Germany, during the Annual Conference of GI and IFIP-Congress'94 "Computer and Communications Evolution - The Driving Forces -" Wednesday, August 31, 1994, 14:00 - 17:30 pm On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Gesellschaft fuer Infor- matik, the German Computer Society GI, the 13th International IFIP World Congress will be held in Hamburg, Germany, together with the Annual Con- ference 1994 of the GI from August 28 through September 2, 1994. In the settings of the Congress/Conference the German Special Interest Group 2.1.2 of GI, "Interactive Systems", will organize in its 22nd year of work a workshop "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" covering topics related to the use of computer systems based on modern communication technologies. Modern communication technologies used in public digital networks or distributed computer systems demand new requirements in user interfaces of applications, both for network management organisations and for net- work users. Specifically there exist problems in the partly desired transparency of functional distribution, in explicit network management by the user, as well as in the manner in which users and system compo- nents cooperate in local and global networks. The workshop concentrates on aspects of the user interface, rather than the design, construction and running of networks themselves. The workshop addresses problems and issues in such areas as electronic mail and publication services, user interfaces to control and to access scientific and other information networks, user interfaces of communica- tion devices, and user interfaces in multi-user applications. Examples to be covered are new interaction techniques for operating telephones, user interfaces for wide-area networks, video-conferencing in its diffe- rent forms, tools and techniques for designing and implementing multi- user applications, mobile computing, and knowledge-based communication systems. Relevant problems and vital issues of the computer and communication evolution are addressed in this workshop -- two fields which continue to grow together and influence each other in this decade and the next. The papers to be presented deal with the human-computer interaction of these existing and future computer-communication systems as seen from diffe- rent angles, presenting various views of the field. Programme Committee: Coordinator: K. Froitzheim, Ulm, Germany Prof. Dr. Gerd Szwillus P. Gorny, Oldenburg, Germany Universitaet - GH - H.-J. Hoffmann, Darmstadt, Germany Paderborn, D. Jaepel, Zuerich, Switzerland FB Mathematik/Informatik P. Schulthess, Ulm, Germany D-33095 Paderborn G. Szwillus, Paderborn, Germany Phone intl+49+5251+60+2077 (Chairman) Fax intl+49+5251+60+3836 E-mail szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Programme Session 1 August 31, 14:00 - 15:30 pm Chair Prof. G. Szwillus On the way to Knowledge-based Human-Computer-Human-Communication R. Gunzenhaeuser, W. Dilly, M. Ressel University in Stuttgart, Dept. of Computer Science (in German) Usage of Communication Services with Drag-and-drop Techniques K. Froitzheim, P. Schulthess University in Ulm, Unit Distributed Systems (in German) Adaptive User Interfaces for Electronic Net Services H. Dieterich, M. Schneider-Hufschmidt, N. V. Carlsen Siemens AG, ZFE ST SN 51, Munich (in German) Session 2 August 31, 16:00 - 17:30 pm Chair Prof. P. Schulthess Interfaces for handling Multimedia Communication Systems M. Zajicek, X. Cao, D. Shrimpton, A. Tagg, J. Lehuby, D. Parish, P. Coventry, I. Phillips, J. Griffiths Oxford Brookes University & Loughborough University of Technology (in English) Aspects in User Interface Design for Mobile Multi-user Applications H.-W. Gellersen University in Karlsruhe, Telecooperation group (in German) The Virtual Office as a User Interface for Cooperative Working M. Sohlenkamp Gesellsch. f. Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD), Sankt Augustin (in German) Inquiries regarding the workshop to Prof. Szwillus, Univ. Paderborn, szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Inquiries regarding the IFIP Congress and the GI-Conference to Prof. Wolfinger, Univ. Hamburg, wolfinger@rz.informatik.uni-hamburg.d400.de ------------------------------ From: wlsmith@valve.heart.rri.uwo.ca (Wayne Smith) Subject: Looking For a Phone Number: Country-Wide Instead of Area-Code Date: 5 Jul 1994 02:51:46 GMT Reply-To: wlsmith@heartlab.rri.uwo.ca I'm trying to locate a particular company (Periscoptics) but all I have to go on is the name. I have no clue as to where they might be located. I've tried 1-800-555-1212, but, since I'm in Canada, all I can verify is that this company has no 1-800 number that works up here. So, instead of going through all the possible combinations of 1-xxx-555-1212, is there any way I can find out where this company is, or what their phone number is? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Possibly some reader familiar with the company will write and give you their address and/or phone number. PAT] ------------------------------ From: epimntl@netcom.com (Ed Pimentel) Subject: Seeking Info on TAPI/TSAPI SDK Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 01:11:34 GMT I am seeking information on pc based voice/fax/data software toolkits. Who is supporting MS TAPi and or AT&T/ Novell TSAPI? Who supports Vbasic vbx? or Powerbuilder, Novell App Ware? What are there licensing arrangements? Are there any who provides drivers/vbx that supports the AT+ V options for modems? Who has low cost PC based dsp boards that support fax/voice/v.fast and or the latest voice view standard? Thanks in advance, Ed Pimentel p.o. box 95901 epimntl@netcom.com Atlanta, Ga. 30347-0901 epimntl@cybmondo.atl.ga.us 404-985-1763 voice 70611,3703@compuserve 404-985-1198 Fax/Data/CMC ------------------------------ From: wangdo@ecf.toronto.edu (WANG DONG-JUN) Subject: Looking For Source Code ... Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 22:20:20 -0400 Hi, folks: I am looking for C library functions which provide interrupt driven RS-232 communications up to 115k baud for up to 34 COM ports, and support: hardware handshaking and Xon/Xoff;NS 16550 UART; ANSI and VT52/100 terminal emulation; Kermit, ZModem and YModem and YModem protocols. Does any one have the above source code or know the ftp site? Thank you for your time. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 05:34:44 GMT From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: 1-800-COLLECT vs. 1-800-OPERATOR/CALL-ATT Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst After seeing the 8934th ad touting the benefits of COLLECT vs. CALL-ATT, I decided to call the respective carriers and find out who really has the lowest collect surcharge. The result: it's a tie. Both MCI and AT&T charge $1.50/call (plus the appropriate per-minute rate) for parties receiving collect calls through these services. AT&T charges $.55 more for a "live" operator ($2.05), and I forgot to ask what MCI charges. An interesting note: AT&T said that they will discount 1-800-CALL-ATT collect calls for True USA customers, while MCI said that 1-800-COLLECT calls are charged at the full rate to their customers, since the collect calls do not come from a calling circle member. MCI calls accepted by AT&T customers will not receive any discount. So I guess that if you are an AT&T True USA subscriber (which I am), 1-800-CALL-ATT offers you a better deal. Of course the ads try to persuade the caller, and not the recipient, so I guess I only get a discount if AT&T's ads work. It's interesting that here you have a case in which the billed party has no control over the carrier selection. (Other than to refuse the call, but depending on the circumstances that might not be a good idea.) Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu ------------------------------ From: chui@netcom.com (Cedric Hui) Subject: China-HK Telecom Development Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 06:38:39 GMT Last month Motorola announced that it is investing US$40 million in Hong Kong to develop a high speed wireless computing network based on the latest microcellular packet switched technology. In the meantime Northern Telecom introduced the Proximity family of wireless access equipment for telephone networks at the Pan-Asia Wireless Local Loop Summit Conference in Hong Kong. Since China and HK are tied closely both politically and economically, these recent telecommunications developments are significant that it shows the readiness of the China-HK telecom market in deployment of new technology and the growth potential of the market. The June 94 issue of the LAN magazine cited that "Both (Chinese) gov't and private enterprise are including computer and telecommunications businesses among the industries to receive top priority in financial backing." and "the International Data Corp studies project a growth rate in China's information technology market of between 14.5% and 18.5% per year between 1991-1995%". Amidst the growth potential of the vast market and the absent of telecommunications infrastructure in some area, China will enjoy the advantage of transfering advance technologies from the West, avoid pitfalls and obsolete technologies. By the way, the Computer Network Center of Chinese Academy of Science has recently established direct connected to the Internet to the US. The people's Republic of China's top level domain is CN-DOM. Initially, the CAS, Tsinghua & Beijing University' campus networks will be connected to Internet via Stockton(US). China has also decided to construct nation wide education computer networks which connect six universities by the end of this year thru X.25 network. Perhaps, not too far off, we will see a China offramp sign on the Information superhighway. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #311 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19656; 8 Jul 94 17:20 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08349; Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:11 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08340; Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:09 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:09 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407081844.AA08340@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #312 TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 312 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson China's Telecom Structure (Cedric Hui) Telco's Records - Do They Include CNID? (Danny Burstein) Exchanges Local to Entire LATA (Steve Arlow) Sprint to Face the Wrath Of Ernie!! (Jack Winslade) Forwarded Mail From Russia (Lars Poulsen) Help on Research (Fausto Zambrano) USA Area Code Databases w/Zip (Cory Krell) Long Distance Telemarketers (David A. Moe) DECT - Datacommunications ? (Lars Kalsen) Strange CNID Name Text (Clifton T. Sharp) AT&T Response to Sprint (DeFantom@aol.com) Comparisons of U.S. and Canadian Telecommuinication Costs (Mitch Dawson) Cheapest Way to Call Israel and South Africa From the USA? (krazykev@panix) Billing Software for LD Company (Hindra Irawan) SL-1 PBX Information Needed (login_name@hookup.net) Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! (Earl Christy) 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: chui@netcom.com (Cedric Hui) Subject: China's Telecom Structure Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 07:33:18 GMT In responding to some enquiries on China telecommunications infrastructure, I found an excellent reference published in the September 1993 issue of the "Electronics News for China". This is my first attempt in Chinese to English translation. Please let me know if I have used the wrong technical term in the translation (I am sure the experienced will spot the error by context). This part of the article covers the structure of the telecommunications network of China and an overview of China's telecommunications policy. Cedric --------- The critical moment as China entering the booming era of telecommuni- cations development. Economic reform, the opening of the market economy and the top pripority placed in telecommunications as strategic economic policy, provides the favorable conditions for improvement and expansion in China's telecommunications industry, as well as foreign investment opportunity in China. written by Tan, Shu Cheng Deputy Chief Engineer Technology Intelligent Center Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of PRC ------------------ As the modern world is entering the Information Age, the development of the society become more relying on the support of information. Economic activities, like manufacturing, distributing, trading and comsumer spending, generate enormous information. They are manipulated, processed and transported through the communication networks which in turn connect societies into an unified virtual entity. Telecommunication as the society's infrastructure and the essentail element in supporting the economic development has received top priority in the national development policy in China. Since the reform and the opening of the Chinese market, Chinese economy has achieved prominent improvemnets. The increase of economic activities incite the growth of information exchange. In fact, the growth rate of the telecommunications industry has exceeded the national economic growth and is the major factor in the high growth of the Chinese economy. Currently, China's reform is entering another new era of development. As new demands for telecommunications services come to light, China's telecommunications industry is once again facing the challenge of new demands and requiremnets. This is the critical moment as China entering the booming era of telecommunications development. The Structure of the Telecommunications Network and its Management System China's telecommunication network consist of the national public network and the departmental proprietary networks (Rail, Power, Oil etc). The public Network is the backbone of the national telecommunications network. Propeitary networks are supplemental to the public network. The public network is based on the long distance telephone network and is organised into 5 levels of hierarchical network structure. The first levels exchange centers are directly connected to form the network in the highest hierarchy and each lower level exchange centers connect directly to the higher level exchange centers. Lower level connection within the same hierarchy are mainly handled by switching with supplemented some number of direct circuits. Level 1 exchange centers serve between and among capital and provinces (Wide-Area Center). They are the communication hub for provinces(including Autonomy) within a Wide-Area. There are also supplemental inter-provincial exchange center in some geophically larger or economically more developed area. Level 2 are provincial centers. Being the communication hub for the province or autonomy, a level 2 exchange center serves regional areas and cities within the province. Supplemetal provincial center may be established if needed. Level 3 center is regional exchange center serves between and among counties. It's location is usually confined to its services area. The main function of the level 1 to level 3 exchange center is to facilitate long distance telephone service within its service area. Level 4 is the terminating point for long distance telephone services. Its service area includes the towns and villeges within the same county. Level 5 is the local central office switches. In recent years, digital electronic systems are more widely used in China and the expansion of the regional economies lead to the increase of local telephone networks. The telephone network structure will gradually be simplified and the levels in the hierarchy be reduced. Local telephone network as opposed to the national long distance telephone network is confined to a regional area. Its service area may include a certain number of central offices and exchange centers which forms a dialing zone. There is a long distance telephone network access point in the local telephone network and its level is defined by its hierarchy in the long distance telephone network. Thus, based on the concept of local and long distance telephone network, the long distance telephone access point is not part of the local telephone network structure. The local telephone network model may seems to resemble the traditional municipal telephone system. However, the local telephone network has a much wider service area compare to the municipal telephone system. For instance, the Beijing municipal telephone system includes Beijing city and the near suburban area while the Beijing local telephone network also includes the surround 10 counties. With China's telecommunications development as a national policy and the long term interest of the national telecommunications infrastructure in mind, knowing that the telecommunications infrastructure is relatively backward, the management and development of the national public telephone network will be the responsibility of the government. In order to accelerate telecommunications development and centralized limited resouces, the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of the People's Republic of China will centralize the regulating, development and the management of the most of the telecommunications services for the public telephone network with some services open to the private sector. The Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications will seek a cooperative relations with the proprietary networks in network development and integration based on the priciple of mutual benefit and acess compensation. ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Telco's Records - Do They Include CNID? Date: 8 Jul 1994 04:13:06 -0400 As all folk who read TELECOM Digest know, the majority of United States telco central office switches now have full detail records of all calls made from your phone (i.e. time it was made and the number you called), and also keeps track of calls made -to- you. This is, of course, something which has been phased in over the past few decades as the switches have become more and more advamced. (In the old days, as far too many of us recall, billing was done by mechanical counters which were photographed each month, but I digress ...) Which brings to mind a question about what data fields are actually kept. Specifically, what I'd like to know (and hopefully someone out in digest land may know the answer) is if these records, now that CNID is phasing in nationwide, store the number calling you. We've had a couple of high profile cases involving telecom in NYC, i.e. the World Trade Center bombing, and telco records were one of the things used in the investigation and prosecution. For example, they got the records from the suspects' home telephones which showed, let's say, a call coming in at 16:45. Given this specific case, I'm sure the gendarmes had the people and computer access to have every CO in the tristate area queried with a 'what calls were made between 16:44 and 16:46 and were any of tehm made to this phone number?" type of check, but what about a more routine and less public investigation? (One of the results of this was that the federales tracked calls back to a coin phone in a convenience store, which was fortuitously videotaped - and they then got photos of teh suspects. Of course there are lots of other things that were done which have never been disclosed, but that's another story) So if anyone knows if a) current CO programming keeps the CNID in one of the fields, or b) this is an available "feature" which hasn't been implemented or c) while not yet implemented it will be, etc., etc., could you advise? Thanks muchly, Danny dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) ------------------------------ From: sea@umcc.umcc.umich.edu (Steve Arlow) Subject: Exchanges Local to Entire LATA Date: 7 Jul 1994 12:16:54 -0400 Organization: UMCC, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Somehow, some providers of cellular, pager, and voice-mail services get phone numbers in exchanges which are a *local* call from anywhere within the LATA. And some of these companies are charging a flat rate for their service, which seems to imply that these numbers can be had for a flat monthly (or annual?) rate, regardless of usage. How can one go about getting such a number? (My RBOC is Ameritech). I suspect that this arrangement is only available to companies which are willing to purchase an entire exchange. Does anyone know the details of how this works? I can think of quite a number of other profitable ways such an exchange could be used. Steve Arlow, Yorick Software \ sea@umcc.umich.edu 39336 Polo Club Dr. #103, \ (810) 473-0920 Farmington Hills, MI 48335-5634 \ FAX select box 3 ------------------------------ From: jsw@gonix.gonix.com (Jack Winslade) Subject: Sprint to Face the Wrath Of Ernie!! Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 00:53:37 CDT (For those of you not familiar with Omaha politics, State Senator Ernie Chambers has represented Omaha's second district for as long as I am aware. Ernie (he does not like to be addressed as 'Senator') has developed a reputation as a gloves-off and very outspoken guy who is very effective in representing his constituents. As far as I know, he has never had a serious challenger for his office. Ernie is originally a barber, and he holds a law degree from Creighton University, but has never sought to be admitted to the Bar.) State Senator Ernie Chambers invites his constituents to phone him directly at his office in Lincoln, collect, if they ever have any need to get in touch with him. (State offices in Lincoln are a toll call from Omaha, and such a call will often cost more than a similar-length call from Omaha to either coast. Such 50-mile calls are intrastate, but inter-LATA, so they are handled by any of several carriers.) He's had this policy for years, and receives many collect calls from constituents, other taxpayers, and other elected officials. Beginning June 22, for reasons that are still not clear, those trying to phone Ernie collect using Sprint received an intercept stating that collect calls were not permitted to that number. Users of other carriers had no difficulty making collect calls to Chambers' office. Ernie was made aware of this block on Wednesday, when a constituent reported the intercept. He then asked a fellow Senator to try a collect call from outstate, confirming the fact that Sprint was indeed blocking those calls. Ernie immediately contacted Sprint and demanded an explanation. He also filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission. Sprint's initial response (according to television station KETV) was that Sprint had some trouble with a previous holder of Ernie's office phone number. Ernie was enraged at the response, since Ernie has had that number for more than ten years. He told a reporter "I will show them (Sprint) what it is like to have their corporate throats attacked by an enraged legislative pit-bull." Historically, Ernie is well known for NOT letting things drop, and carrying things through to the end when he believed he is right. The department that oversees the state telephone system was not aware that Sprint placed a block on the line. Chambers stated that he would file a formal complaint with the PSC and explore the possibility of legal action against Sprint. Good day JSW (Information above included material presented by the {Omaha World-Herald} and television stations KETV and WOWT.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 03:27:02 PDT From: lars@reggae.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Forwarded Mail From Russia Date: 01 Jul 94 03:39:27 EDT From: Ivan Bobrovnikov <75020.337@compuserve.com> To: Lars Subject: ISDN providers. please help Lars, I got your e-mail address in one of the telecom groups. Can ask you for a favor to post an article on my behalf in comp.dcom.isdn or in telecom digest (is Pat still around?)? I wish I could do that myself, but do not know how to use the damn newsreader. Thanks. I'm trying to establish basic ISDN link between our office in Seattle, WA and Moscow, Russia. Which companies should I go to for the service? Is it all possible? Please respond via e-mail: 75020.337@compuserve.com Thanks, Ivan Bobrovnikov ----- End Included Message ----- ------------------------------ Date: 08 Jul 94 10:37:54 EDT From: Fausto Zambrano Subject: Help on Research Hello everyone! I am helping a friend doing a research paper on the affects on personnel productivity when the corporation decides to go multisite; i.e. R&D is located in California and Headquarters in Michigan. How telecommunications are affected in order to keep the sense of unity. I have some books about this topic, but we need more input so If you have any titles or articles that could help us, please send me an E-Mail note. Thanks again!! Fausto Zambrano Amway Telecommunications Voice: 616-676-7039 ccMail: fzambran E-Mail: fzambran@amwayusa.mhs.compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: cory@akix.cts.com (Cory Krell) Subject: USA Area Code Databases w/Zip Organization: BOI Inc. Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 01:12:29 GMT Hi, I'm looking for a database of USA areacodes and prefixes that also includes Zip code and if needed, more address info. For example: 619-471-xxxx = 92069, San Marcos, CA Does anyone know where I can find this? Thanks in advance, - Cory (p.s. please e-mail me - my net connection is marginal.) Cory Krell cory@akix.cts.com - or - {nosc,ucsd,hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!akix!cory [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answers you want are right here with long time Digest reader Carl Moore. I'm sure Carl will see this and be in touch with you soon. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 11:48:37 CDT From: dmoe@ted.cray.com (David A. Moe) Subject: Long Distance Telemarketers I'm tired of being called by AT&T, MCI and Sprint asking to switch my long distance phone service. I've (politely) asked to have my name removed from their telemarketing list, but that doesn't seem to work. My question is: Is there a list - similar to the "take my name off the junkmail mailing list" - I can get my phone number added to to avoid/stop these telemarketers (ALL telemarketers would be even better, but I'm not greedy). Any and all responses would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Dave ------------------------------ From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen) Subject: DECT - Datacommunications? Date: 8 Jul 94 14:34:17 GMT Organization: DKnet Hi - outthere, Can DECT systems be used for datatransmission - for example for setting up a wireless LAN. Plaese E-mail if you have any information. Greetings, Lars Kalsen dalk@login.dkuug.dk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 01:43:14 CDT From: clifto@indep1.chi.il.us (Clifton T. Sharp) Subject: Strange CNID Name Text The past couple of days, the name information that comes along with CNID has been ending (sometimes) with " 0R", i.e. "Doe,John 0R". It's intermittent and even calls from the same person might or might not have it. Does this ring a bell with anyone? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure it does. Someone programming the output at the central offices in question has one or more misplaced or mismatched quote marks in a print statement. Maybe a semi-colon is there instead of the correct terminator for a print statement. So when it is sent out to your box, the text gets printed but the junk on the end is some value; maybe the value of some string; they did not close the quote correctly. Instead of the instruction being 'Print "name"; then do something' they screwed it up to be 'Print "name; do something".' Well you get the idea. Is 0R possibly the value of a carriage return or something like that in the language being used? Instead of taking whatever action is accomplished by the opcode 0R (I assume it is an operand to whatever comes before it or after it) its getting printed out instead because of the way the quote was incorrectly closed. It is intermittent because CNID comes from various servers or locations and over various circuits, etc. Only one (hopefully) is screwed up. Get handled by that equipment and you get the bug. Ummm ... call 611 and tell 'em, will ya. ... If ya wanna send information about your central office and the calling numbers, etc it maybe some tech from the area will see it and try to help. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DeFantom@aol.com Date: Fri, 08 Jul 94 22:09:15 EDT Subject: AT&T Response to Sprint Thought everyone would be interested in what AT&T had to say about the Sprint deal. (From AT&T Online) AT&T COMMENTS ON SPRINT DEAL WITH FRENCH AND GERMAN CARRIERS NEW YORK -- AT&T issued the following statement following an announcement this morning by Sprint that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom "to offer seamless global telecommunications services to business, consumer and carrier markets worldwide." "There's something very wrong when telephone companies like the France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom monopolies can buy into the U.S. telecom market while keeping their home markets closed tighter than a drum. "French and German businesses and consumers will be denied lower prices and service innovations until there is fair and open competition in their countries. "We urge the United States government to condition approval of the proposed equity investment in Sprint on the French and German governments opening their telecommunications markets on the same terms as the United States market is open to France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom." ------------------------------ From: Dawson, Mitch Subject: Comparisons of U.S. and Canadian Telecommunication Costs Date: Fri, 08 Jul 94 16:29:00 EST Hello ... just a shot in the dark. I am looking for any studies(or data) which compares the cost of telecommunications in Canada and the U.S. Anything available on the NET would be great! Thanks for your time, Mitch Dawson dawsonm@i7e.istc.ca ------------------------------ From: krazykev@panix.com Subject: Cheapest Way to Call Israel and South Africa From the USA? Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 02:08:54 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Hi, I make a lot of calls to Israel and South Africa. Currently the only really cheap time for me to call is on the weekends with Sprint's Most Worldwide Plan. Normally weekends cost $.76/minute to Israel and $.75/minute to South Africa. Right now, until the end of 7/94 or so I can call for $.38/minute to Israel and $.375/minute to South Africa, but only on the weekends. I have seen rates dropping like crazy internationally and flat rate plans seem to be popping up all over the place with calls to Europe as low as 35 cents per minute, with six second billing and thirty seconds minimum. Has anyone seen low rates to Israel and South Africa for calling during the week during our business day (9-5 EST)? ------------------------------ From: irawan@netcom.com (Hindra Irawan) Subject: Billing Software for LD Company Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 16:33:20 GMT I am researching for my company looking for billing software, not call accounting software for PBX. I need to find out if there publishers out there that deals with billing software. Does anybody have a recommendation or experience to share? Thanks in advance, Hindra MIS Manager Bittel Telecommunications, inc. ------------------------------ From: login_name@hookup.net Subject: SL-1 PBX Information Needed Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 18:43:30 GMT Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Oakville, Ontario, CANADA I am looking for tests to determine proper installation for Sl-1 PBX specifications in areas where PBX security can be compromised and what can be done to compensate. Lists of any publications that are available on this topic would be appreciated. This information is required for a PBX Audit. ------------------------------ From: bladerunner@ping (Earl Christy) Subject: Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! Date: 7 Jul 1994 20:19:10 GMT Organization: Amateur Radio Gateway WA4MEI, Chamblee, GA There's an old saying about contests- "if you can't give away really cool prizes don't even bother." So before starting this Internet contest a group of Ohioans in pursuit of excellence invented the only prize that would be totally new, extremely cyber, and absolutely cutting edge. And now you can win it! Introducing the Cyber Sabre -- the only cutting edge product ever designed to be given away in cyberspace. Cyber Sabres are beautiful limited-edition versions of the world famous Christy sliding-blade pocket knife. Like all Christy knives, Cyber Sabres are handmade at the 104 year-old Christy Co. in Fremont, Ohio USA. Even with hundreds of Cyber Sabres up for grabs there's still no time to waste. Quickly turn the page and enter now by filling in all the fields including the number of knives [from one to one million] that you'd like to see the Christy Company sell during 1994. Then send your entry to: bladerunner@ping.com. Good luck and remember, Barnum Lives! To get a picture of the Cyber Sabre, do an anonymous FTP to ftp.netcom.com (/pub/contest). You can also find it in alt.binaries. pictures.misc. --- Official Cyber Sabre Contest Entry Form --- name: address: city: state: zip code: country: phone: e-mail: # of knives: This is a contest not a commercial. It is void where prohibited, taxed, or otherwise restricted. The decision of the judges is final. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #312 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa19656; 8 Jul 94 17:20 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08349; Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:11 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA08340; Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:09 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:09 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407081844.AA08340@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #312 TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jul 94 13:44:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 312 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson China's Telecom Structure (Cedric Hui) Telco's Records - Do They Include CNID? (Danny Burstein) Exchanges Local to Entire LATA (Steve Arlow) Sprint to Face the Wrath Of Ernie!! (Jack Winslade) Forwarded Mail From Russia (Lars Poulsen) Help on Research (Fausto Zambrano) USA Area Code Databases w/Zip (Cory Krell) Long Distance Telemarketers (David A. Moe) DECT - Datacommunications ? (Lars Kalsen) Strange CNID Name Text (Clifton T. Sharp) AT&T Response to Sprint (DeFantom@aol.com) Comparisons of U.S. and Canadian Telecommuinication Costs (Mitch Dawson) Cheapest Way to Call Israel and South Africa From the USA? (krazykev@panix) Billing Software for LD Company (Hindra Irawan) SL-1 PBX Information Needed (login_name@hookup.net) Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! (Earl Christy) 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: chui@netcom.com (Cedric Hui) Subject: China's Telecom Structure Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 07:33:18 GMT In responding to some enquiries on China telecommunications infrastructure, I found an excellent reference published in the September 1993 issue of the "Electronics News for China". This is my first attempt in Chinese to English translation. Please let me know if I have used the wrong technical term in the translation (I am sure the experienced will spot the error by context). This part of the article covers the structure of the telecommunications network of China and an overview of China's telecommunications policy. Cedric --------- The critical moment as China entering the booming era of telecommuni- cations development. Economic reform, the opening of the market economy and the top pripority placed in telecommunications as strategic economic policy, provides the favorable conditions for improvement and expansion in China's telecommunications industry, as well as foreign investment opportunity in China. written by Tan, Shu Cheng Deputy Chief Engineer Technology Intelligent Center Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of PRC ------------------ As the modern world is entering the Information Age, the development of the society become more relying on the support of information. Economic activities, like manufacturing, distributing, trading and comsumer spending, generate enormous information. They are manipulated, processed and transported through the communication networks which in turn connect societies into an unified virtual entity. Telecommunication as the society's infrastructure and the essentail element in supporting the economic development has received top priority in the national development policy in China. Since the reform and the opening of the Chinese market, Chinese economy has achieved prominent improvemnets. The increase of economic activities incite the growth of information exchange. In fact, the growth rate of the telecommunications industry has exceeded the national economic growth and is the major factor in the high growth of the Chinese economy. Currently, China's reform is entering another new era of development. As new demands for telecommunications services come to light, China's telecommunications industry is once again facing the challenge of new demands and requiremnets. This is the critical moment as China entering the booming era of telecommunications development. The Structure of the Telecommunications Network and its Management System China's telecommunication network consist of the national public network and the departmental proprietary networks (Rail, Power, Oil etc). The public Network is the backbone of the national telecommunications network. Propeitary networks are supplemental to the public network. The public network is based on the long distance telephone network and is organised into 5 levels of hierarchical network structure. The first levels exchange centers are directly connected to form the network in the highest hierarchy and each lower level exchange centers connect directly to the higher level exchange centers. Lower level connection within the same hierarchy are mainly handled by switching with supplemented some number of direct circuits. Level 1 exchange centers serve between and among capital and provinces (Wide-Area Center). They are the communication hub for provinces(including Autonomy) within a Wide-Area. There are also supplemental inter-provincial exchange center in some geophically larger or economically more developed area. Level 2 are provincial centers. Being the communication hub for the province or autonomy, a level 2 exchange center serves regional areas and cities within the province. Supplemetal provincial center may be established if needed. Level 3 center is regional exchange center serves between and among counties. It's location is usually confined to its services area. The main function of the level 1 to level 3 exchange center is to facilitate long distance telephone service within its service area. Level 4 is the terminating point for long distance telephone services. Its service area includes the towns and villeges within the same county. Level 5 is the local central office switches. In recent years, digital electronic systems are more widely used in China and the expansion of the regional economies lead to the increase of local telephone networks. The telephone network structure will gradually be simplified and the levels in the hierarchy be reduced. Local telephone network as opposed to the national long distance telephone network is confined to a regional area. Its service area may include a certain number of central offices and exchange centers which forms a dialing zone. There is a long distance telephone network access point in the local telephone network and its level is defined by its hierarchy in the long distance telephone network. Thus, based on the concept of local and long distance telephone network, the long distance telephone access point is not part of the local telephone network structure. The local telephone network model may seems to resemble the traditional municipal telephone system. However, the local telephone network has a much wider service area compare to the municipal telephone system. For instance, the Beijing municipal telephone system includes Beijing city and the near suburban area while the Beijing local telephone network also includes the surround 10 counties. With China's telecommunications development as a national policy and the long term interest of the national telecommunications infrastructure in mind, knowing that the telecommunications infrastructure is relatively backward, the management and development of the national public telephone network will be the responsibility of the government. In order to accelerate telecommunications development and centralized limited resouces, the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of the People's Republic of China will centralize the regulating, development and the management of the most of the telecommunications services for the public telephone network with some services open to the private sector. The Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications will seek a cooperative relations with the proprietary networks in network development and integration based on the priciple of mutual benefit and acess compensation. ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Telco's Records - Do They Include CNID? Date: 8 Jul 1994 04:13:06 -0400 As all folk who read TELECOM Digest know, the majority of United States telco central office switches now have full detail records of all calls made from your phone (i.e. time it was made and the number you called), and also keeps track of calls made -to- you. This is, of course, something which has been phased in over the past few decades as the switches have become more and more advamced. (In the old days, as far too many of us recall, billing was done by mechanical counters which were photographed each month, but I digress ...) Which brings to mind a question about what data fields are actually kept. Specifically, what I'd like to know (and hopefully someone out in digest land may know the answer) is if these records, now that CNID is phasing in nationwide, store the number calling you. We've had a couple of high profile cases involving telecom in NYC, i.e. the World Trade Center bombing, and telco records were one of the things used in the investigation and prosecution. For example, they got the records from the suspects' home telephones which showed, let's say, a call coming in at 16:45. Given this specific case, I'm sure the gendarmes had the people and computer access to have every CO in the tristate area queried with a 'what calls were made between 16:44 and 16:46 and were any of tehm made to this phone number?" type of check, but what about a more routine and less public investigation? (One of the results of this was that the federales tracked calls back to a coin phone in a convenience store, which was fortuitously videotaped - and they then got photos of teh suspects. Of course there are lots of other things that were done which have never been disclosed, but that's another story) So if anyone knows if a) current CO programming keeps the CNID in one of the fields, or b) this is an available "feature" which hasn't been implemented or c) while not yet implemented it will be, etc., etc., could you advise? Thanks muchly, Danny dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) ------------------------------ From: sea@umcc.umcc.umich.edu (Steve Arlow) Subject: Exchanges Local to Entire LATA Date: 7 Jul 1994 12:16:54 -0400 Organization: UMCC, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Somehow, some providers of cellular, pager, and voice-mail services get phone numbers in exchanges which are a *local* call from anywhere within the LATA. And some of these companies are charging a flat rate for their service, which seems to imply that these numbers can be had for a flat monthly (or annual?) rate, regardless of usage. How can one go about getting such a number? (My RBOC is Ameritech). I suspect that this arrangement is only available to companies which are willing to purchase an entire exchange. Does anyone know the details of how this works? I can think of quite a number of other profitable ways such an exchange could be used. Steve Arlow, Yorick Software \ sea@umcc.umich.edu 39336 Polo Club Dr. #103, \ (810) 473-0920 Farmington Hills, MI 48335-5634 \ FAX select box 3 ------------------------------ From: jsw@gonix.gonix.com (Jack Winslade) Subject: Sprint to Face the Wrath Of Ernie!! Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 00:53:37 CDT (For those of you not familiar with Omaha politics, State Senator Ernie Chambers has represented Omaha's second district for as long as I am aware. Ernie (he does not like to be addressed as 'Senator') has developed a reputation as a gloves-off and very outspoken guy who is very effective in representing his constituents. As far as I know, he has never had a serious challenger for his office. Ernie is originally a barber, and he holds a law degree from Creighton University, but has never sought to be admitted to the Bar.) State Senator Ernie Chambers invites his constituents to phone him directly at his office in Lincoln, collect, if they ever have any need to get in touch with him. (State offices in Lincoln are a toll call from Omaha, and such a call will often cost more than a similar-length call from Omaha to either coast. Such 50-mile calls are intrastate, but inter-LATA, so they are handled by any of several carriers.) He's had this policy for years, and receives many collect calls from constituents, other taxpayers, and other elected officials. Beginning June 22, for reasons that are still not clear, those trying to phone Ernie collect using Sprint received an intercept stating that collect calls were not permitted to that number. Users of other carriers had no difficulty making collect calls to Chambers' office. Ernie was made aware of this block on Wednesday, when a constituent reported the intercept. He then asked a fellow Senator to try a collect call from outstate, confirming the fact that Sprint was indeed blocking those calls. Ernie immediately contacted Sprint and demanded an explanation. He also filed a complaint with the Public Service Commission. Sprint's initial response (according to television station KETV) was that Sprint had some trouble with a previous holder of Ernie's office phone number. Ernie was enraged at the response, since Ernie has had that number for more than ten years. He told a reporter "I will show them (Sprint) what it is like to have their corporate throats attacked by an enraged legislative pit-bull." Historically, Ernie is well known for NOT letting things drop, and carrying things through to the end when he believed he is right. The department that oversees the state telephone system was not aware that Sprint placed a block on the line. Chambers stated that he would file a formal complaint with the PSC and explore the possibility of legal action against Sprint. Good day JSW (Information above included material presented by the {Omaha World-Herald} and television stations KETV and WOWT.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 03:27:02 PDT From: lars@reggae.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Forwarded Mail From Russia Date: 01 Jul 94 03:39:27 EDT From: Ivan Bobrovnikov <75020.337@compuserve.com> To: Lars Subject: ISDN providers. please help Lars, I got your e-mail address in one of the telecom groups. Can ask you for a favor to post an article on my behalf in comp.dcom.isdn or in telecom digest (is Pat still around?)? I wish I could do that myself, but do not know how to use the damn newsreader. Thanks. I'm trying to establish basic ISDN link between our office in Seattle, WA and Moscow, Russia. Which companies should I go to for the service? Is it all possible? Please respond via e-mail: 75020.337@compuserve.com Thanks, Ivan Bobrovnikov ----- End Included Message ----- ------------------------------ Date: 08 Jul 94 10:37:54 EDT From: Fausto Zambrano Subject: Help on Research Hello everyone! I am helping a friend doing a research paper on the affects on personnel productivity when the corporation decides to go multisite; i.e. R&D is located in California and Headquarters in Michigan. How telecommunications are affected in order to keep the sense of unity. I have some books about this topic, but we need more input so If you have any titles or articles that could help us, please send me an E-Mail note. Thanks again!! Fausto Zambrano Amway Telecommunications Voice: 616-676-7039 ccMail: fzambran E-Mail: fzambran@amwayusa.mhs.compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: cory@akix.cts.com (Cory Krell) Subject: USA Area Code Databases w/Zip Organization: BOI Inc. Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 01:12:29 GMT Hi, I'm looking for a database of USA areacodes and prefixes that also includes Zip code and if needed, more address info. For example: 619-471-xxxx = 92069, San Marcos, CA Does anyone know where I can find this? Thanks in advance, - Cory (p.s. please e-mail me - my net connection is marginal.) Cory Krell cory@akix.cts.com - or - {nosc,ucsd,hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!akix!cory [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answers you want are right here with long time Digest reader Carl Moore. I'm sure Carl will see this and be in touch with you soon. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 11:48:37 CDT From: dmoe@ted.cray.com (David A. Moe) Subject: Long Distance Telemarketers I'm tired of being called by AT&T, MCI and Sprint asking to switch my long distance phone service. I've (politely) asked to have my name removed from their telemarketing list, but that doesn't seem to work. My question is: Is there a list - similar to the "take my name off the junkmail mailing list" - I can get my phone number added to to avoid/stop these telemarketers (ALL telemarketers would be even better, but I'm not greedy). Any and all responses would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Dave ------------------------------ From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen) Subject: DECT - Datacommunications? Date: 8 Jul 94 14:34:17 GMT Organization: DKnet Hi - outthere, Can DECT systems be used for datatransmission - for example for setting up a wireless LAN. Plaese E-mail if you have any information. Greetings, Lars Kalsen dalk@login.dkuug.dk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 01:43:14 CDT From: clifto@indep1.chi.il.us (Clifton T. Sharp) Subject: Strange CNID Name Text The past couple of days, the name information that comes along with CNID has been ending (sometimes) with " 0R", i.e. "Doe,John 0R". It's intermittent and even calls from the same person might or might not have it. Does this ring a bell with anyone? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure it does. Someone programming the output at the central offices in question has one or more misplaced or mismatched quote marks in a print statement. Maybe a semi-colon is there instead of the correct terminator for a print statement. So when it is sent out to your box, the text gets printed but the junk on the end is some value; maybe the value of some string; they did not close the quote correctly. Instead of the instruction being 'Print "name"; then do something' they screwed it up to be 'Print "name; do something".' Well you get the idea. Is 0R possibly the value of a carriage return or something like that in the language being used? Instead of taking whatever action is accomplished by the opcode 0R (I assume it is an operand to whatever comes before it or after it) its getting printed out instead because of the way the quote was incorrectly closed. It is intermittent because CNID comes from various servers or locations and over various circuits, etc. Only one (hopefully) is screwed up. Get handled by that equipment and you get the bug. Ummm ... call 611 and tell 'em, will ya. ... If ya wanna send information about your central office and the calling numbers, etc it maybe some tech from the area will see it and try to help. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DeFantom@aol.com Date: Fri, 08 Jul 94 22:09:15 EDT Subject: AT&T Response to Sprint Thought everyone would be interested in what AT&T had to say about the Sprint deal. (From AT&T Online) AT&T COMMENTS ON SPRINT DEAL WITH FRENCH AND GERMAN CARRIERS NEW YORK -- AT&T issued the following statement following an announcement this morning by Sprint that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom "to offer seamless global telecommunications services to business, consumer and carrier markets worldwide." "There's something very wrong when telephone companies like the France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom monopolies can buy into the U.S. telecom market while keeping their home markets closed tighter than a drum. "French and German businesses and consumers will be denied lower prices and service innovations until there is fair and open competition in their countries. "We urge the United States government to condition approval of the proposed equity investment in Sprint on the French and German governments opening their telecommunications markets on the same terms as the United States market is open to France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom." ------------------------------ From: Dawson, Mitch Subject: Comparisons of U.S. and Canadian Telecommunication Costs Date: Fri, 08 Jul 94 16:29:00 EST Hello ... just a shot in the dark. I am looking for any studies(or data) which compares the cost of telecommunications in Canada and the U.S. Anything available on the NET would be great! Thanks for your time, Mitch Dawson dawsonm@i7e.istc.ca ------------------------------ From: krazykev@panix.com Subject: Cheapest Way to Call Israel and South Africa From the USA? Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 02:08:54 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Hi, I make a lot of calls to Israel and South Africa. Currently the only really cheap time for me to call is on the weekends with Sprint's Most Worldwide Plan. Normally weekends cost $.76/minute to Israel and $.75/minute to South Africa. Right now, until the end of 7/94 or so I can call for $.38/minute to Israel and $.375/minute to South Africa, but only on the weekends. I have seen rates dropping like crazy internationally and flat rate plans seem to be popping up all over the place with calls to Europe as low as 35 cents per minute, with six second billing and thirty seconds minimum. Has anyone seen low rates to Israel and South Africa for calling during the week during our business day (9-5 EST)? ------------------------------ From: irawan@netcom.com (Hindra Irawan) Subject: Billing Software for LD Company Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 16:33:20 GMT I am researching for my company looking for billing software, not call accounting software for PBX. I need to find out if there publishers out there that deals with billing software. Does anybody have a recommendation or experience to share? Thanks in advance, Hindra MIS Manager Bittel Telecommunications, inc. ------------------------------ From: login_name@hookup.net Subject: SL-1 PBX Information Needed Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 18:43:30 GMT Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Oakville, Ontario, CANADA I am looking for tests to determine proper installation for Sl-1 PBX specifications in areas where PBX security can be compromised and what can be done to compensate. Lists of any publications that are available on this topic would be appreciated. This information is required for a PBX Audit. ------------------------------ From: bladerunner@ping (Earl Christy) Subject: Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! Date: 7 Jul 1994 20:19:10 GMT Organization: Amateur Radio Gateway WA4MEI, Chamblee, GA There's an old saying about contests- "if you can't give away really cool prizes don't even bother." So before starting this Internet contest a group of Ohioans in pursuit of excellence invented the only prize that would be totally new, extremely cyber, and absolutely cutting edge. And now you can win it! Introducing the Cyber Sabre -- the only cutting edge product ever designed to be given away in cyberspace. Cyber Sabres are beautiful limited-edition versions of the world famous Christy sliding-blade pocket knife. Like all Christy knives, Cyber Sabres are handmade at the 104 year-old Christy Co. in Fremont, Ohio USA. Even with hundreds of Cyber Sabres up for grabs there's still no time to waste. Quickly turn the page and enter now by filling in all the fields including the number of knives [from one to one million] that you'd like to see the Christy Company sell during 1994. Then send your entry to: bladerunner@ping.com. Good luck and remember, Barnum Lives! To get a picture of the Cyber Sabre, do an anonymous FTP to ftp.netcom.com (/pub/contest). You can also find it in alt.binaries. pictures.misc. --- Official Cyber Sabre Contest Entry Form --- name: address: city: state: zip code: country: phone: e-mail: # of knives: This is a contest not a commercial. It is void where prohibited, taxed, or otherwise restricted. The decision of the judges is final. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #312 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa21068; 8 Jul 94 18:34 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11254; Fri, 8 Jul 94 14:59:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11244; Fri, 8 Jul 94 14:59:01 CDT Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 14:59:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407081959.AA11244@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #313 TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Jul 94 14:59:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 313 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CellOne/NY Problem (Stan Schwartz) Older Siemens PBX Numbering Plan Question (swc!bruce@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov) Calling All Calling Card/800 Number Resellers (Seng-Poh Lee) Wanted: VoiceMail for Meridian System (Stephen Sayer) Digital Spread-Spectrum Cordless Phone -- Experience? (Marion Hakanson) Panasonic KX T2346 Phones (Larry Broat) AT&T New 1-500 Service (AT&T True Connections) (dquist@ben3b01.attmail.com) Virginia's New Area Code: 540 (Greg Monti) Book Review: "TCP/IP Illlustrated" by Stevens (Rob Slade) March 95 Conference in Nashville (Jane Fraser) Re: Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! (Tom Gillman) 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: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) Subject: CellOne/NY Problem Date: 7 Jul 1994 20:26:53 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Last month, I posted about a problem I had while roaming in Montreal. I am a Cell One NY/NJ customer, and I couldn't make any calls in Montreal, although I was able to receive calls there through NACN delivery. The CellOne rep's answer at the time was that I was roaming on the wrong carrier. While it seemed impossible, I didn't pursue it. *** UNTIL THE BILL CAME, THAT IS *** I was charged almost $12.00 for calls I attempted to make in Montreal, and the only preson I ended up talking to was a CanTel rep. At the time, he said that there was an indicator on my account that he'd never seen before that was not allowing me to make calls. When I called for credit for the incomplete calls, a more-knowledgeable CellOne rep figured out the problem. The stupid "Fraud Prevention" feature indicator, which is not supposed to be passed to other systems, was passed to CanTel and they didn't know how to handle it. Cell One's solution is that if you know you're going to be roaming and you have the feature, call and have them verify that it's not a city that they're having a problem with or they'll have to temporarily de-activate the fraud prevention service for the duration of your trip. Stan ------------------------------ From: swc!bruce@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov Subject: Older Siemens PBX Numbering Plan Question Date: 8 Jul 94 12:00:19 GMT Organization: Standard Wire & Cable, Inc. We have a Siemens SD-192MX PBX which has been working fine for years. The software diskette is labeled: SIEMENS 192MX S30809-B1298- D500-*-B900 GS1 We are concerned about the change to the new North American Numbering Plan next year. The software will not allow us to add the new style area codes to the LCR database, giving the following error: CONFIGURATION MAIN LCR D500-GS1 ENTER C OR M: C WAIT - DISK OPERATION ENTER KEY WAIT - DISK OPERATION HARD COPY REQUIRED? YES-1,NO-0 1 2 07/05/94 13:42:31 424 WAIT - DISK OPERATION ENTER NEW AREA CODE: 324 ENTER PRIMARY ROUTE LIST FOR AREA CODE = 001 ERR-FLD 1 ANY KEY I assume that Siemens will not itself be upgrading the software for this system. Does anybody know if there is anybody out there who may be producing an upgrade to offer the new necessary features? Our repair vendor cannot seem to find any. Their solution was either to disable all LCR features and restrictions, thereby allowing any number to be dialed, or selling us a new system. If the software is not available, any suggestions for a system with similar capabilities but with the ability to handle the new numbering plan? System has 27 trunks, 64 stations, DID, LCR, 1 attendant console, speed dialing, night answer plus other standard features. We hate to have to buy a new systems since this one has been so reliable, but we have some fairly large customers in some of the new area codes. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How many outgoing trunk lines do you have on the switchboard? A temporary fix which will hold things together for the time being has been suggested to me recently. Unless the number of ougoing trunks is so outrageously large as to make it financially out of the question, get a bunch of toll restrictors -- one for each line and maybe a couple of spares -- from a place like Radio Shack or similar company. Put these on the line *before* the switchboard, at the place where the telco lines first come into your premises. Program them one by one to challenge/deny outgoing calls not of your liking such as 900 and 976, etc. Then disable all toll restrictions on the PBX itself, letting the PBX pass everything it gets. That will of course enable the new area codes while allowing the peripheral devices to stomp on and kill whatever displeases them ... when the PBX seizes a trunk for an outgoing call the toll restrictor on that line is gonna see it and deal with it. Beware of some possibly flaky interaction between the two; especially at first in getting the wiring correct. This will prevent you from being totally unprotected while still allowing calls to the new codes. Where you draw the line of course is the cost of the devices times the number of lines to be protected versus the cost of software replacement (you should be so lucky) or god forbid, having to pull the board and replace it entirely ... you'll want to get an overview of fraud as it occurs through your PBX as well; how much protection do you need now that you are gonna have to *pay someone dearly* to cure it for you? (that's the same as but with the word 'bitter' in front of it) ... only you know your traffic and your exchange, but throwing together some externals to make life more difficult for the abusers can't hurt. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Seng-Poh Lee Subject: Calling All Calling Card/800 Number Resellers Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 22:40:57 EDT Ok, I'm soliciting information on as many calling card and 800 numbers service as possible. If you are a reseller or service provider and meet the criteria below, please send me information on your service; Criteria: 1) Per minute rate less than 20 cents a minute. 2) Setup charge less than $20 3) No minimum usage, or month charge. Thanks! Seng-Poh Lee finger splee@noel.pd.org for PGP public key [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jeeze, these collectors of information on resellers, et al along with their distant cousins the folks who need help with research papers are becoming as common around here as the age/gender checks on Compuserve CB. If I get one person a day writing to ask for help collecting information on resellers, etc. I must get a dozen. I wonder if any of them read through the archives, or otherwise check back issues, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ssayer@garnet.msen.com (Stephen Sayer) Subject: Wanted: VoiceMail for Meridian System Date: 8 Jul 1994 04:10:07 GMT Organization: Hijinx Meridian phone system. We have line and station expansion units and are using three digit DNs, which evidently eliminates one of the only systems that would have otherwise been acceptable. Please respond or request summary via email (either address in SIG below). Later, { ssayer@mail.msen.com | ssayer@umcc.umich.edu } ------------------------------ Subject: Digital Spread-Spectrum Cordless Phone - Experience? Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 18:08:17 -0700 From: Marion Hakanson Folks, I've recently seen an advertisement for the Escort model 9020 (and companion 9010 with internal handset antenna) cordless telephone, which uses digital spread-spectrum technology to do its magic. It also claims to provide encryption between handset and base. If I understand correctly the meaning of "digital spread-spectrum" and "encryption", this phone should provide exceptionally noise-free and private operation, and may entice me into overcoming my hesitance regarding the privacy issues involved in taking advantage of the convenience afforded by using cordless telephones. A colleague is also interested in it for use in a EM-noisy machine room environment. Since the price is rather steep for a personal experiment, by my reckoning ($299 for the 9020, and $279 for the 9010, if memory serves correctly), I'm hoping someone out there has some experience which they can relate, regarding either this particular phone, or with one using similar technology. A product review by someone knowledgeable in the field (or pointer to same) would be especially appreciated, and comments regarding range, noise, convenience, etc. are welcome. If folks prefer to reply directly to myself, I will be happy to collect and summarize here any responses I may receive. Thanks. Marion Hakanson Information Highway Maintenance -- OGI CS&E Division ------------------------------ From: larry broat Subject: Panasonic KX T2346 Phones Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 8:12:07 PDT Organization: ICNet The Innovative Concepts Network Your Link to the Internet Does anyone know where I can buy Panasonic KX T2346 phones? My present distributor says that the phones have been discontinued and are no longer available. The Panasonic phones with their message waiting indicators work very well with our Tadiran switch. I also am looking for a good distributor that will sell to end users. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: dquist@ben3b01.attmail.com (dquist) Date: 7 Jul 94 23:07:47 GMT Subject: AT&T NEW 1-500 SERVICE (AT&T True Connections) ADVISORY: New Consumer 500 Service Introduced ANNOUNCEMENT: AT&T today announced a new service that will give consumers personal long-distance numbers in the new "500 area code" beginning July 12. Called AT&T True Connections(sm), the worldwide 500-number service will give customers flexible, advanced, personal numbers that travel with them. Because callers to AT&T 500 numbers will dial the same number for one person every time, they won't need to know the location of the person. But AT&T True Connections customers will be able to decide when and if they want to be reached. BACKGROUND: AT&T True Connections customers will have access to a family of useful services currently unavailable from any long-distance company. These services range from call forwarding to call sequencing, which allows the owner to program his or her 500 number to ring in several locations in sequence. For instance, a person could have calls made to his or her AT&T 500 number routed first to the office, then to a cellular phone, then to home or even to a hotel. The person could change the sequence as often as desired. AT&T True Connections customers also will be able to place calls and have their unanswered incoming calls go to voice mailboxes in the AT&T Worldwide Intelligent Network. This new service builds on AT&T EasyReach(R) 700 Service, which allows customers to forward their calls to almost any location in the world. AT&T True Connections will have the added benefits of call sequencing, voice mail, customized feature selection and more. The service will be available in the fall, pending tariff filing and regulatory approval, and dialing availability of 500 numbers from local telephone company networks. With 500 service, customers will have more flexibility in managing their personal communications. For example, with 500 numbers, consumers will be able to have their calls follow them to more than one location: subscribers will be able to program their numbers to ring twice at home, twice at the office, twice in the car--and finally go to their voice mailbox. A 500 number gives customers the ability to be reached virtually anywhere they are -- and they can choose to pay for those calls. Customers will be able to keep the same 500 number if their local telephone number changes. Prices for the various personal number services will vary. In general, there will be a low monthly fee, and the normal long- distance rates associated with calls made to the number to which the calls are forwarded. ... Will I be able to forward my 500 number to international locations? Yes. Calls may be forwarded to any country where AT&T provides AT&T USA Direct Service. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, this all sounds very nice, but what about the existing Easy Reach 700 service? Wouldn't it have made enhancements to that service instead? Such things as making it non- network specific (so that 1+700 would work from any network without the annoying 10288 that must be prepended each time); such things as adding the sequence hunting and international calling ... why is AT&T coming up with this whole new service instead of installing some badly needed fixes in the existing Easy Reach? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 7:27:44 EDT From: Greg Monti Subject: Virginia's New Area code: 540 It's apparently official. In a story on page A1 of the July 7, 1994, {Washington Post}, the tale is told of Virginia's 703 area being split. The new code will be 540. The dividing line will be very close to Washington DC. Judging by the map published in the {Post}, the portion of Virginia which lies within the Washington LATA (Local Access and Transport Area) will remain 703. This will include Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William Counties, an eastern slice of Loudoun County, a northern slice of Stafford County and a tiny slice of Fauquier County -- plus Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park cities. This area is served partly by Bell Atlantic Virginia and partly by GTE Virginia. The entire remainder of what is now 703, about 40 cities and counties, will become 540. This area is served by numerous phone companies including Bell Atlantic, GTE and Sprint (Centel). The story spends quite a bit of copy explaining how this is among the first area codes not to use a zero or a one as the second digit. The writer even interviewed Ron Conners of Bellcore's numbering plan administration who noted that Bellcore employees are hitting the hotel seminar circuit to explain the new area code system to telephone technicans who may need to modify hundreds of thousands of central office and privately owned switches. The {Post} reporter notes that Alabama's new area code, 334, duplicates the prefix within the 202 area that is used by the {Post}. If someone in DC forgets to dial the 1 in the string 1-334-555-1212 to reach southern Alabama directory assitance, they will be connected to Post production employee Gary H. Lucke, whose number is presumably 202 334-5551. The split takes effect July 15, 1995. The end date of permissive dialing was not noted. Greg Monti, Tech Mgr, FISPO, Distribution Division National Public Radio Phone: 202 414-3343 635 Massachusetts Av NW Fax: 202 414-3036 Washington, DC 20001-3753 Internet: gmonti@npr.org ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Jul 1994 12:34:15 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "TCP/IP Illlustrated" by Stevens BKTCPIPI.RVW 940325 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com Keith Wollman, Trade Computer Group keithw@aw.com Lisa Roth Blackman, Trade Computer Group lisaro@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1", Stevens, 1994, 0-201-63346-9, U$47.50 rstevens@noao.edu A clear, readable, well-organized, thorough, and detailed explanation of the Internet Protocol Suite. The author has carefully constructed his chapters on the layered model of the protocol, itself. Starting with the data link layer, each chapter adds to what has gone before, and relies solely on what has gone before. For system managers, this gives a practical account of the operations of the network and major applications. The "illustrated" part of the title seems to refer to the fact that examples are given from a real network. The network is given in the book, and is complex enough that the network traffic analyzed can be indicative of real world situations rather than idealized theory. For instructors considering course texts, a very strong plus in the book are the chapter exercises. The answers are not simply a check on whether the student has read the text. They are well thought out questions which will need a thorough understanding of the concepts--plus a bit of work. For anyone looking for the details of the TCP/IP protocols, an excellent choice. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKTCPIPI.RVW 940325 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: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 12:47:10 EDT From: fraser@ccl2.eng.ohio-state.edu Subject: March 95 Conference in Nashville Forwarded from BEZALEL GAVISH : C A L L for P A P E R S 3rd International Conference on Telecommunication Systems Modelling and Analysis March 16-19, 1995 Nashville, TN The 3rd International Conference on Telecommunication Systems Modelling and Analysis will be held in Nashville, Tennessee on March 16-19, 1995. With a few changes, the same basic format as the 1994 conference will be used. The general idea is to build on the success of earlier conferences by limiting the number of participants, concentrate on a few topics, present new problems and problem areas, encouraging informal interaction and exchanges of ideas. The objective is to advance the state of the modelling and analysis in telecommunications by stimulating research activity on new and important problems. The conference will be divided into segments with each segment devoted to a specific topic. This will allow for little conflict between segments. All papers will be screened rigorously to ensure the quality of presentations. The number of participants will be limited in order to encourage interaction during and after the formal presentations. In response to suggestions made by last year's participants, social and cultural activities will be included in the 1995 agenda. The Program Committee includes: Anant Balakrishnan - MIT, Jerome Chifflet - CNET, Suk-Gwon Chang - Hanyang U., Imrich Chlamtac - University of Massachusetts at Amherst, John Daigle - MITRE, Robert Doverspike - Bellcore, Bezalel Gavish - Vanderbilt University (Chairman), Andre Girard - INRS-Telecom, Richard Harris - Royal Melborn Institute of Technology, Konosuke Kawashima - NTT, Raj Jain - DEC, Jeff Mackie-Mason - U. of Michigan, Benjamin Melamed - NEC, USA, Michelle Minoux - U. of Paris, June Park - U. of Iowa, Miguel A. Perez - Katolique U. of Chile, Scott Rogers - Toronto U., William W. Sharkey - Bellcore, David Simchi-Levi - Columbia University, Edward A. Sykes - University of Virginia, Yutaka Takahashi - Kyoto University, Nicos Van Dijk - U. of Amsterdam. Listed below are some of the potential segments: -- Topological Design and Network Configuration Problems -- Design and Analysis of Local Access Networks and Outside Plant Problems -- Low Earth Orbit Satellite communication systems -- Time Dependent Expansion of Telecommunication Systems -- Designing Networks for Reliability and Availability -- Network Design Problems in Gigabit and Terabit Networks -- LAN, WAN Global Network Interconnection -- Quantitative Methods in Network Management -- Pricing and Economic Analysis of Telecommunications -- Impact of Telecommunications on Industrial Organization -- Performance Evaluation of Telecommunication Systems -- Distributed Computing and Distributed Data Bases -- Cellular Systems and PCS Modelling and Configuration The Program Committee is open to any ideas you might have regarding additional topics or format of the conference. The intention is to limit the number of parallel sessions to two. The conference is scheduled over a weekend so as to reduce teaching conflicts for academic participants and to take advantage of weekend hotel airfare rates. This message is sent to a select group of participants which the Program Committee feels will benefit from and will contribute to the conference success. Due to the limited number of participants early registration is recommended. To ensure your participation, please use the following steps: 1. Send to Bezalel Gavish (address below) by August 1, 1994, a paper (preferable), or titles and abstracts for potential presentations to be considered for the conference. Sending more than one abstract is encouraged, enabling the Program Committee to have a wider choice in terms of assigning talks to segments. Use E-mail to expedite the submission of titles and abstracts. 2. Use the form at the end of this message to preregister for the conference. Some institutions require participants to have formal duties in a conference in order to be reimburesed for expensses, let us also know if you would like to have a formal duty during the conference as: Session chair, or discussant. 3. You will be notified by October 15, 1994, which abstract/s have been selected for the conference. December 1, 1994, is the deadline for sending a complete paper. The paper will go through a quick review process and feedback will be sent back by January 1, 1995. A final version of the paper is expected by January 30, 1995. Participants will receive copies of the collection of papers to be presented. All papers submitted to the conference will be considered for publication in the "Telecommunication Systems" Journal. The Program Committee looks forward to receiving your feedback/ideas. Feel free to volunteer any help you can offer. If you have suggestions for Segment Leaders (i.e., individuals who will have a longer time to give an overview/state of the art talk on their segment subject) please E-mail them to me. Also, if there are individuals whose participation you view as important, please send their names and E-mail addresses to the Program Committee Chairman, or forward to them a copy of this message. I look forward to a very successful conference. Sincerely yours, Bezalel Gavish Third International Conference on Telecommunication Systems Modelling and Analysis REGISTRATION FORM Date: __________________ Location: Nashville, TN Dates: March 16, 1995 (afternoon) to March 19, 1995 Name: ________________________________________ Title: __________________ Affiliation: __________________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Phone: ____________________________ FAX: _______________________________ E-mail: __________________________________________________________________ Potential Title of Paper(s): __________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ I would like to Volunteer as Comments A Session Chair : Yes No ________________________________________________ A Discussant : Yes No ________________________________________________ Organize a Session: Yes No ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ REGISTRATION RATES and DEADLINES Last Applicable Participant Type Date Academic Industry ---------------- -------- -------- 1. Registration 1 Sept 15, 1994 $ 350 $ 495 2. Registration 2 Jan. 1, 1995 $ 495 $ 595 3. On Site Registration* (or when full) $ 595 $ 795 * We reserve the right to invoke this rate after November 1, 1994 or when the capacity limit has been reached. Mail your registration form and check to: Professor Bezalel Gavish Owen Graduate School of Management Vanderbilt University 401 21st Avenue, South Nashville, TN 37203, USA The check should be addressed to: 3-rd Int. Telecomm Systems Conference Refund Policy: Half refund, for requests received by January 15, 1995. No refund after January 15, 1995. Bezalel Gavish Owen Graduate School of Management Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN, 37203 Bitnet: GAVISHB@VUCTRVAX Tel: (615) 322-3659 FAX: (615) 343-7177 ------------------------------ From: syshtg@gsusgi2.gsu.edu (Tom Gillman) Subject: Re: Cyber Sabre Giveaway - Enter and Win NOW! Date: 8 Jul 1994 15:29:16 -0400 Organization: Georgia State University Isn't this the same guy that lost his account over at netcom.com for posting this exact same article to half the newsgroups on the planet? l8r! Tom Gillman, Unix/AIX Systems Weenie Wells Computer Center-Ga. State Univ. (404) 651-4503 syshtg@gsusgi2.gsu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'm not sure if he is or not. I did not follow that earlier episode. But you know, your name seems familiar to me: aren't you the dude who writes all the time to various newsgroups complaining about 'blatant commercial crap'? I was going to say something about the contest when I published the earlier message today but then I figured, hey iof they are going to give away a free knife to the winner(s) of the contest then that's fine with me. Anyway, haven't you heard? The Acceptable Use regulations are all but gone. Hardly anyone bothers with them any longer, even in spirit if not in practice. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #313 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa21701; 11 Jul 94 16:40 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA13427; Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:46:05 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA13411; Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:46:02 CDT Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:46:02 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407111646.AA13411@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #314 TELECOM Digest Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:46:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 314 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson China Telephone Service (Cedric Hui) Virginia to Get Area Code 540 (Paul Robinson) Internet Underground Music Archive (Robert L. McMillin) Intelligent Buildings (Pablo del Amor Saavedra) Call Accounting vs Service Bureau (Ann Genovese) Televirtuality -- Looking For Labs Working in This Area (Robert Jacobson) Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering (Steve Forrette) Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering (Steve Waddell) Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering (Dave Ptasnik) An Answer From NYNEX (Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate) (Jeffrey W. McKeough) 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: chui@netcom.com (Cedric Hui) Subject: China Telephone Service Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 03:07:22 GMT This second part of the series covers the development of basic telephone services in China for the last 8 years. (note that the article was published in 1993). Some of the recent development might sound like a late comer in telecommunications services, but yet, it is never too late. Looking closely on various expansion basic telephone services in China, international services represents the most important and impressive development. It is understandable that international trade is vital to the national economic growth, thus, receives a higher priority than the resential needs. Moreover, it probably will take some time before China could provide universal access to telephone services to every citizen in every corner of the nation. Cedric ------------ The critical moment as China entering the booming era of telecommunications development. Economic reform, the opening of the market economy and the top pripority placed in telecommunications as strategic economic policy, provides the favorable conditions for improvement and expansion in China's telecommunications industry, as well as foreign investment opportunity in China. written by Tan, Shu Cheng Deputy Chief Engineer Technology Intelligent Center Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of PRC ------------ The 8 years of accelerated expansion. Since 1985, following the successful completion of the 7th national economic development plan, telecommunications development surpassed the target goals of the "7-5" plan and reached the first stage of strategic plan of the tele- communications development. For the last 8 years, China's telecommunications has expanded at unprecedented rate. In integrated communications capacity, service volume, or dollar sales volume, the annual growth rate has exceeded 20%. Especially in 1992, with the expansion of the market economy, telecommunications has achieved the highest growth rate in China's history. The national income improved by 12% and the number of telephone has increased by 32%(1.9 million in 1992). From urban cities to rural area, from the coastal market economy in the East and the South, to the western inland China, telecommunications was undergoing revolutary changes. The explosive growth in telephone services Telephone is the most basic telecommunications service. In the past 8 years, the primary goal of China's tele- communications policy was to satisfy the demand for telephone services. As of 1992, there were 1.9 million installed tele- phone, a 64 times increased compared to 1950. The average annual growth rate was 10.4% with an impressive growth rate of 32% from 1991-1992. Obviously, the expansion of telephone services was accelerated and China is now among the nations with the highest public telephone network capacity. (see table 1) Table 1: The first 10 nations in number of telephone trunks Country # of trunks US 127,178,122 Japan 52,453,493 Germany 32,000,000 France 28,000,000 Gr. Britain 25,000,000 Italy 22,350,000 S. Korea 13,513,523 Canada 13,206,233 Brazil 9,081,649 China 6,850,303 Source: Yearbook of Common Carrier Telecommunications Statistics(1981-1991) In 1992, there was 1.63 telephone per a hundred persons in China. Up by 3.8 times from 1980 with 11.7% annual growth rate. Compared to 1991, 1992 has seen a 26.3% increase. In the contrary, the world's average annual growth in telephone service was 4-5%. Thus, it is unusual for a nation with 1.2 billion population in maintaining a continuous high rate of growth. In 1992, long distance telephone calls via the public switch telephone network increased from 25% in 1985 to 86.4% of the total telephone services (1991 was 76%). International direct dial has reached 876 cities (571 in 1991). National direct dial service is available to 1,476 cities, an increase of 330 cities from 1991). With the advent of the network digitization, the capacity and capability of the public telephone network has greatly improved. Valued-added services like conference-call, call forwarding, call waiting, card pay phone are now avaliable. China has also established 64kbps satellite international link with US, Japan and Hong Kong in order to meet the high bandwidth application requirement used by the international organisations and foreign corporations in Beijing. To remedy the lack of public pay phone, the Ministry has expedited the installation of public pay phone. At the end of 1992, public phones are available in transit terminals, piers, airports, long distance bus terminals, hospitals, shopping malls and tourists area in major urban areas. There are one public phone in every 200 meters along the main road in those areas. Card phone is recently introduced into China. Guangdong province is the pioneer in using card phones. They are now available in more than 30 cities. For instance, in the province of Kiangsu, universial card phone are installed in 9 major cities. Development of other telecommunications services In the past 8 years, besides the traditional telephone services, other telecommunications services are also benefited by utilizing advanced communication technologies. Various new services like data communication, facimile, mobile communication, video phone, electronic mail and other information services are also introduced into China. Medium to low speed data communication and divisional exchage network are established nation wide. Transmission services under 300bps are handled by telegram network; 2400bps data transmission service is provided by the PSTN. Currently, Shanghai, Beijing ,Guangchow and other major cities have established a divisional data exchange network. The national In 1993, the backbone of the national divisional data exchage network will be completed and the service will be available to all provincial capitals, major cities, and perphaps to some counties. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 07:17:31 EDT From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: Virginia to Get Area Code 540 Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA This article summarizes two articles, one from the {Washington Post} and one from the {Washington Times}. Summary, "Reach out and Touch...540?" Front Page, {Washington Post}, July 7 Mike Mills front page article in Thursday's {Washington Post} explaining that because of exhaustion of prefixes, the 703 area code will be split into a new 540 area code, effective July 15, 1995, was the first major-media article to be surprisingly comprehensive on the entire story of the new area code, new format and why it is happening. The article mentions about the new area code system - how 0 or 1 originally meant an area code - and that Alabama, Arizona, Illinois and Washington state will also be getting new-style area codes. It mentions how all software in telephone switches will have to be modified to handle the new area code format, and mentions that Great Britain had it worse because next year they have to add another digit to their telephone system to handle the overflow. It also mentions stop-gaps phone companies would use to delay issuing an area code, such as the use of area-code style telephone prefixes that have 0 or 1 in them. The District first started this in 1987 when the Library of Congress was issued numbers beginning with 202-707. The use of this feature in Virginia has allowed Bell Atlantic to postpone adding an area code until next year. It also discusses the issue of using "1" before a 7-digit short-haul long distance number in the same area code, and that feature will no longer be possible once the new area codes come into effect. DC does not have toll calls within the 202 area code, and Virginia and Maryland have already set up this feature of requiring 1 plus area code on all toll calls. The article has a personal slant to it: the phone numbers for the Washington Post in area code 202 all start with 334, the same number as the new area code in Alabama. If you want directory assistance there, you have to dial 1-334-555-1212, but if you were in the District and forget to dial 1 first, 334-5551 will ring through to the desk "of Gary Locke, a nice guy who works in the Post's Production Department." It mentions Bellcore originally expected (in the 1940s, when the area code system was created) to run out of area codes by 2000, and was off by only five years. -------------- Summary, "Region's on-the-go-phone fetish gives Virginia its third area code", {Washington Times}, July 7, Page B7. Doug Abrams' article has a more personal slant to it, explaining that essentially every exchange in the 703 area outside of Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William Counties in Virginia will be assigned to area code 540. This article also mentions that even with this split, the "new" area code 703 will have to be split again in about 13 years. Area code 804 (the current area code in Southern Virginia) will need to be split about 2002. It mentions that the 803 area code was created in 1973 with Richmond and the Tidewater areas being included and the rest of the state staying in 703. It also contains a list of prefixes being moved into the new 540 area code. ------------------------------ From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin) Subject: Internet Underground Music Archive Organization: Surf City Software/TBFW Project Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 07:02:16 GMT (Author's Note: the following is an edited version of an article recently appearing on the la-radio mailing list. I forwarded this, sparked by the "101 best things you can do with an NII" post.) In yet another random act of net.cluelessness by the mass media, {Newsweek} ran a story on a band called the Whistle Pigs in their June 27, 1994 issue. Unless you know about the Internet Underground Music Archive, you probably haven't heard about these guys. Of course, {Newsweek} didn't give out the following helpful info that came to me from Frederick Smythe, Esq., who responded to my query on rec.music.misc: > Date: Fri, 8 Jul 94 17:28:30 PDT > From: jonl@hal.com (frederick smythe, esquire) > To: rlm@helen.surfcty.com > Subject: Whistle Pigs > the whistle pigs are a local band out of santa cruz, and one of > the first set of bands uploaded to IUMA (the internet underground music > archive). you can access it through the following methods: > ftp: ftp.iuma.com > gopher: www.iuma.com > web: http://www.iuma.com/index.html > if you want to jump directly to the Whistle Pigs' info, you can get to it: > ftp: ftp.iuma.com:/music/The_Whistle_Pigs/ > gopher: www.iuma.com -> music -> The_Whistle_Pigs > web: http://www.iuma.com/band_html/The_Whistle_Pigs.html The Pigs have done so well for themselves on the rotating magnetic storage at iuma.com, rather than the spinning CDs at a radio station, that an unnamed independent label signed them. Stories like this one make record execs nervous. According to {Newsweek}, Sony Music CEO Michael Schulhof posed the question in March, "Is retail dead?". {Newsweek}: "He said no, but it took five minutes to explain why." It should also make anyone owning a broadcast license jittery. Elsewhere on the Net: In related (old) news, ex-MTV VJ Adam Curry's old site, mtv.com, has moved to metaverse.com. (You can write Adam, or his right hand, Ken, at adam@metaverse.com or ken@metaverse.com, but don't expect a reply any time soon.) Apparently Viacom/MTV Networks didn't like the idea of Curry using the mtv.com domain, and are suing him to get it back. I checked into mtv.com yesterday; aside from a URL pointer to the new site, it's an empty shell. Curry these days is busying himself with his company On Ramp, which tries to help record labels get on the Net "without getting ripped off". To join la-radio: send a single-line e-mail message to la-radio-request@helen.surfcty.com, containing the word "subscribe". Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com Surf City Software | Purveying superior SCSI backup/utilities for the Mac Contact chris@surfcty.com for sales info. ------------------------------ From: plas@sait01.plc.um.es (Pablo del Amor Saavedra) Subject: Intelligent Buildings Organization: Universidad de Murcia Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 09:43:59 GMT A project on the integration of structured networks and the distribution of technical services. Background: In recent years, we have seen the birth and development of a new concept which is revolutionising the construction and telecommunication sectors. This is known as Intelligent Buildings. In this field, technical communication of the different data which is involved in the control process of these so called buildings has progressed in different ways. Today it has resulted firstly in a communication network for the technical services and secondly it is responsible for voice transmission, data and images under a structured cable system. Object of the project: The project attemps to unite, under the same format, the two communication philosophies that have been developed so far to give the solution a universality and compatibility aspect that has been inexistant so far. In order to do this market research will inicially be carried out in two ways. Firstly, the aim is to obtain the specialized opinions and suggestions of the key companies in this field. Secondly, it is hope to compile all the existing preferences in the present market which has been asked for by the buying companies of the product, focusing on both the impact and the welcome that the product would receive. Message: In this market research, we would be grateful for any opinion, suggestion or information that you could contribuite to this project based on its aims and which would be useful to obtain the best solution. Please send any suggestion to plas@plc.um.es, Thanks. Direction: D. Nicolas Hernandez Robles. CEEIC. Aulas de Formacion. Polgono Industrial Cabezo Beaza. C/ Berln, Parcela 3-F. 30395 Cartagena ( Murcia ). SPAIN. Telf. : ( 968 ) 52 77 56 FAX: ( 968 ) 50 08 39 EMAIL: plas@plc.um.es ------------------------------ From: AGENOVES@wpsco.gmu.edu (ANN GENOVESE ) Subject: Call Accounting vs Service Bureau Date: Mon, Jul 11 08:44:58 1994 Hello to all: I am working on a comparison of call accounting systems and telecom service bureaus and would like your input on the "pros" and "cons" of each. We are a medium sized University with a resident student population of about 2,000 and a faculty/staff population of about 3,000. We are interested in student re-sale of telephone service and want the flexibility to adjust rates charged to students "on demand". Faculty/staff telephone charges are billed back on a department (budget code) basis. We presently have Centrex service. I am most interested in those that have call accounting and/or service bureaus sharing with me what they like least and best about their systems/services. You can respond to me directly through EMail at AGENOVES@GMU.EDU Thanks! ------------------------------ From: cyberoid@u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) Subject: Televirtuality - Looking For Labs Working in This Area Date: 11 Jul 1994 09:22:16 GMT Organization: WORLDESIGN, Seattle Televirtuality is the use of telecommunications networks to link virtual worlds generators, creating shared virtual worlds "in" the net. I am looking for labs in the U.S. and elsewhere working in this area for possible inclusion on a major conference panel. Thanks. Bob Jacobson ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering Date: 11 Jul 1994 00:47:58 GMT Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) In , jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) writes: > I was told by two individuals [at NYNEX] that Ringmate is incompatible > with Call Answering on the 5ESS. > I am assuming that the interaction is between Ringmate and the > Busy/Don't Answer forward that is installed along with Call Answering. > My aunt at SNET said that this feature combination works fine on the > 5ESS switches that she oversees. She speculates that it could be a > tariff issue, i.e. NYNEX never got approval to offer B/DA forwarding > in combination with Ringmate. I had a similar problem with Pacific Bell a few years back. In my case, I wanted to have busy/no-answer transfer and call waiting on the same line. They told me "can't be done." They said that the switch could not do it. At the time, I was served by a 1AESS, and I had just had service terminated in US West territory on a 1A that had exactly that combination of services. So, I persisted with the knowledge that the switch can do it just fine. As is often the case, it came down to a tariff issue. Once I got to the right person, I was quoted chapter and verse from the tariff. There was a clause which specifically stated that "busy/no-answer transfer cannot be used on any line that has call waiting." As is unfortunately the case with many of these issues, the reason for the tariff restriction is not stated in the tariff. Someone must have had a reason for putting in a specific clause that forbids this combination, but nobody seems to know why. Since my only solution to the problem was to get another line, perhaps the motivation was to make sure that heavy users who need a lot of features get mutiple lines (at a higher cost of course). I know a couple of long-time Bell engineers, and explained the situation to them. They told me that this is not an unusual case. What happens is that there is some good reason (such as many switches at the time the tariff was written not supporting this combination) that the restriction was put in. Since that time, the switches have advanced to the point where it is no longer a problem, but nobody at Bell notices this and so no proactive action to update the tariff is taken. What usually causes a change is some big customer needing the service and who has the clout to get in touch with a person with the power to initiate a tariff change. With my specific situation, I'm sure that the busy/no-answer tranfser and call waiting restriction has been removed now that Pacific Bell has their Message Center voicemail. After all, they would lose a lot of business if they told customers that they had to cancel call waiting in order to get telco voice mail. This is an excellent example of how the telco's unregulated service division competes unfairly with non-telco companies. Any outside vendor wishing to provide voice mail had a hard time in doing so because none of their customers could have call waiting because of the tariff specific tariff provision. However, now that the telco wants to sell voice mail, all of a sudden the tariff gets updated. Sure, "everybody" has to abide by the same tariff, but it is quite possible for the telco to engineer the tariff in order to prevent any competitor from getting a head start in the market before the telco is good and ready to offer their "unregulated" product. Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure they can modify the tariff when the need arises, but some telcos have a tariff filed which allows for various and sundry things not covered in other tariffs. Case in point: Back about 1973-75 when I was operating my telephone recorded message service I had a huge number of lines all wired in a rotary hunt group with answering machines rented from Illinois Bell on each line. I had a bunch of things done on the lines such as having the machines all slaved to each other so I could make my daily recording on just the first machine and the others would all capture it. I had a provision to 'busy-out' all the lines during the five minutes or so daily required to install the new three minute message each day. Curious, but not wanting to press my luck I inquired of the service rep handling my account what tariff(s) allowed for the chaining together of the machines in the way they did it -- they said I was the first customer in their history who had a configuration exactly the way I had it set up with so many lines -- and the next day a man called me back to say that IBT had Tariff on file which was intended to cover any circumstances not included in other tariffs ... sort of a 'just in case we accidentally forgot to include something else,' tariff. NYNEX may have the same thing, so that if something technically violates one tariff they can handle it through a catch-all tariff elsewhere. PAT] ------------------------------ From: waddell@iglou.iglou.com (Steve Waddell) Subject: Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering Organization: The Internet Gateway of Louisville, KY Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 15:43:44 GMT If that is the question ... According to BellSouth technical documents, it is available, but only the main number will be carried on the forwarded call, so only the main number's Voice Mailbox can answer no matter which of the RingMaster numbers were dialed/forwarded. On other switches (1A) only main number is forwarded, or all numbers are forwarded with appropriate numbers carried (DMS). It may be that AmericaTech's "Methods and Procedures" do not address the situation, and for the tech it is then "technically" impossible, since he has never been told that he can do it. Creativity is not allowed. Steve :^> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - waddell@iglou.com 10307 St. Rene Rd. voice 502-266-5695 Louisville, KY 40299-4040 "It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for" Will Rogers [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hey, Will Rogers was a third cousin of mine, via the Rogers family which married the Martins and produced my grandmother Susie Martin about 1890. Will Rogers was her cousin removed, I think. Any quotes of his in .signature files are good enough to leave intact here in the Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ From: davep@u.washington.edu (Dave Ptasnik) Subject: Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering Date: 11 Jul 1994 15:54:14 GMT Organization: University of Washington jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) writes: > While I had intended to read replies to the post I sent in regarding > Ringmate before ordering, I decided yesterday to call NYNEX to verify > that the service is indeed available in my area. I was told by two > individuals that Ringmate is incompatible with Call Answering on the > 5ESS. I remember reading in the archives that at least one person > (was it you, PAT?) in fact had both features and was served by a 5E. The University of Washington has Centrex/Centron from a 5ESS, with an Octel Voice Mail. Custom ringing (ringmate) does work well with this configuration. When the caller reaches the Octel, the Octel answers with the voice mail box for the number dialed. In other words, one line, three phone numbers, three voice mail boxes. Everyone gets their own messages, and only their own messages. Dave Ptasnik davep@u.washington.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Might have been me when I used to live in Chicago. One thing to say about Chicago, they have modern phone service even if everything else there stinks to high heaven. Here in Skokie we are not so fortunate. I heard we are gonna get dial service sometime in a year or so. ... our little village does not rank as high in importance as Chicago where telecommunications and Illinois Bell is concerned. Is it true some people can dial calls direct all the way to Milwaukee without having to go through an operator? In the example you cited, remember telco is dealing with a large institutional subscriber. They can have whatever they want, when they want it. Not so the average subscriber. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 05:55:03 -0400 From: jwm@student.umass.edu (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Subject: An Answer From NYNEX (Re: NYNEX Says No Ringmate With Call Answering) Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst I spoke last week with a NYNEX rep who, after taking my Ringmate order discovered that, in fact, I could not combine Ringmate with Call Answering. She did a quick bit of research, though, and came up with an explanation. It seems that the first rep with whom I spoke was wrong when she said that I could order the feature, but that it wouldn't work with Busy/Don't Answer forwarding. The second rep, who said that the two features would only work in offices served by switches other than the #5ESS, was also wrong. Apparently, the problem is that the CO in Amherst is running an older version of the 5E generic (I don't know which one) that supports both Ringmate and the setup needed for Call Answering, but not in combination. So now all I have to do is get NYNEX to upgrade the generic. %-) (Actually, is that even remotely possible?) BTW, there was no setup fee for Ringmate. The monthly fee was $3 for one number and $5 for two numbers. Call Forwarding Variable could be set in the CO to forward any combination of the directory numbers. Thereafter, *72 would forward the preprogrammed number(s) to whichever number I selected. I couldn't get the numbers I wanted (NXX-9595 and NXX-2525) because they were reserved by a company. I was given about 15 numbers to choose from, though, and I was fairly happy with the ones I wound up with. The Ringmate numbers could be non-published with no extra fee, as long as I had one published number. (One of the earlier reps was from Rhode Island, and said that there was a fee. It turns out that that is true--in Rhode Island. Well, looks like no Ringmate for me just yet. :-( Jeffrey W. McKeough jwm@student.umass.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #314 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa22183; 11 Jul 94 17:24 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA14553; Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:26:49 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA14543; Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:26:47 CDT Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:26:47 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407111726.AA14543@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #315 TELECOM Digest Mon, 11 Jul 94 12:26:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 315 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ISDN Residential Use? (John Canning) Re: ISDN Residential Use? (William H. Sohl) Re: ISDN Residential Use? (Jayne C. McGrath) Re: ISDN Residential Use? (Lars Poulsen) Re: ISDN Residential Use? (Chris Garrigues) Re: Calling Cards - IXC vs LEC (Paul Robinson) Re: Cell One/NY Problem (Doug Reuben) Re: NYTimes, err, FBI, Looking For Telco Hacker (Steve Waddell) NEA-On Line Update (brerdier@access.digex.net) Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company (Chad Jones) 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: john@banzai.PCC.COM (John Canning) Subject: Re: ISDN Residential Use? Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 20:40:36 GMT Organization: The People's Computer Company, Essex Junction, VT keith.knipschild@asb.com writes: > I am interested in ISDN, and was wondering could it be used in > residential use? > From what I read I understand that there are 2 64k lines and a 16k. > What is a standard analog line? > Also, do you have one phone number with three lines for incomming and > outgoing? Would it be possible to be having a VOICE conversation,and > be online with your local BBS and beable to recieve a FAX all at the > same time with only one pair of wires coming into your house? > If I am asking to many DUMB questions, please refer me to a file that > I should DOWNLOAD. Keith - Let me answer your questions backwards: 1. Your questions are quite reasonable. I do not know of a file that can be downloaded that contains ISDN answers. However, Codex publishes a very complete and easy to read overview of ISDN. The book is called: The Basics Book of ISDN. It is from the Motorola University Press (Codex is a division of Motorola), and is published by Addison-Wesley. I purchased my copy at a Barnes and Nobles book store in Vermont. 2. ISDN at home is called BRI for Basic Rate Interface. I use the two wires that come into your house to provide three channels for data. The first two are 64K bands and can be used for data or voice. The third channel is 8K wide and is used for switching information. In other words, when you are on the phone with your office and your Mom calls you, the 8K channel is used to signal you, rather than those annoying call-waiting clicks that we have now. Of course, the signal includes the caller's phone number so that you know "wow - that's Mom, I bet it's important..." You can have two active calls, not three. The calls can also be data calls. In other words, you could have a 64K BPS connection to your office's network and be on the phone with a friend. Or, if you want to get into video conferencing, you can use both 64K BPS channels to create one 128K BPS channel, which is what's needed to send video back and forth. My understanding is that you'll have one phone number unless you specifically request one phone number for you, a different one for your computer, and a third one for your roommate. The other type of ISDN is PRI or Primary Rate Interface. This uses a T1 connection to provide 23 64K BPS data channels and one 64K BPS channel for signalling. Of course, the signalling channel can be broken down into an 8K channel for signalling, and a 56K BPS channel for something else. T1's use 2 twisted pairs (maybe it's just one twisted pair, I apologize for having a cloudy memory). The coolest part about ISDN is that you can use the channels for data or voice or video. You get to decide what's going over the system each time you pick up the phone (or turn on the computer, etc.). 3. Finally, here's an attempt at answering your question as to what is a standard analog line... With a standard analog line, you can, at best, have 2,400 baud. In other words, you can transfer, at best, 2,400 BPS. Of course, we all have modems that run at 14.4K BPS now, but that's because they've figured out additional ways of encoding data into those 2,400 cycles per second. At some point, your analog phone line is converted into digital data and is attached to a T1 that takes it into the "Central Office." From there, it travels over other T1's to whomever you are calling. At some point, of course, it gets tranferred back into an analog conversation again. It is interesting to note that ISDN can be added to your existing phone line at home. All you need to do is purchase a $600-$900 ISDN compatible telephone and convince your local phone representative that ISDN is available in your town. Tarrifs and line amplifiers are the biggest delay in making ISDN available to everyone in the US at this time. According to a posting on the net earlier in the week, Japan is pretty much ISDN ready to the point that payphones offer ISDN data jacks for people's laptops. Well, there's an attempt at putting ISDN into a nutshell. Best of luck! John Canning The People's Computer Company Essex Junction, VT 05452 ------------------------------ From: whs70@cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h) Subject: Re: ISDN Residential Use? Date: 11 Jul 1994 04:13:35 -0400 Organization: Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) In article , wrote: > I am interested in ISDN, and was wondering could it be used in > residential use? > From what I read I understand that there are 2 64k lines and a 16k. > What is a standard analog line? Today's analog line can support up to 14.4Kb well (and there are also 28.8Kb modems also). > Also, do you have one phone number with three lines for incomming and > outgoing? You can have one number or many. > Would it be possible to be having a VOICE conversation,and > be online with your local BBS and beable to recieve a FAX all at the > same time with only one pair of wires coming into your house? Yes, you could have one voice conversation on one B channel, you could receive a FAX on the other B channel and the D channel could be connected via packet data (X.25) to your BBS (if the BBS had a packet capability). To receive an ISDN information package, call us at our toll free number (1-800-992-ISDN) or send an email request to: isdn@cc.bellcore.com 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 ------------------------------ From: jcm8@midway.uchicago.edu (jayne c mcgrath) Subject: Re: ISDN Residential Use? Reply-To: jcm8@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 15:26:07 GMT > I am interested in ISDN, and was wondering could it be used in > residential use? Yes, I nearly ordered ISDN for my residence so that I could experiment and have certain calls forwarded/deflected under computer control to other numbers based on incoming number or time of day. The inital cost was $1000 to $2000+ depending on the ISDN equipment you purchase, I expect these costs still hold today. > From what I read I understand that there are 2 64k lines and a 16k. > What is a standard analog line? A standard analog line is between 32k and 64k, depending on how the phone company wants to provide you with voice service. The human ear can't detect the loss of analog signal from 64k to 32k, so this technique allows the Bell to get double the Plain Old Telephone Set capacity on its lines. Sometimes the phone company will detect when you have data on the line requiring more than 32k will switch you to a 64k line, other times you need to have the line set up as a 64k line only. And the 64k line may really only be a 56k line if the phone company robs you of every 8th bit for such things as error checking and signalling (sort of their own "D" channel). > Also, do you have one phone number with three lines for incomming and > outgoing? Would it be possible to be having a VOICE conversation,and > be online with your local BBS and beable to recieve a FAX all at the > same time with only one pair of wires coming into your house? Well maybe. The 16k "D" line is usually used as a signalling channel to make and break calls on the other two 64k "B" channels. I think it is possible to send data over the 16k line in and X.25 mode, but I don't know what happens to your signalling capabilities (are incoming and outcoming calls frozen until the 16k is free for signalling or can you time slice a signal in with the other X.25 traffic). Yes, you get two wires into your house. ISDN will work on the residential cable to your house. You will need the NT-1 interface which splits to two wire signal into a four wire signal to the ISDN set. You can put a Terminal Adapter (TA) in the line to allow the use of analog equipment. And you also need to decide how you want the lines provisioned (Voice-Voice, Voice-Data), I think you can have at least one of the lines as a dynamic line (Voice or Data, you decide in your call set-up). > If I am asking to many DUMB questions, please refer me to a file that > I should DOWNLOAD. For Ameritech ISDN info, try 1-800-TEAM-DATA. You can talk to a person, or have documents faxed back to you via touch-tone prompts. I think document 9999 is a list of the other documents. They even give you the rates for the service. ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: ISDN Residential Use? Organization: Rockwell Network Systems, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 14:07:27 GMT To begin with the simplest: A standard analog line is a pair of wires from your house to the central office. With appropriate modems, you can get up to 28800 bps of data traffic across it. An ISDN circuit allows you to have TWO phone calls at a time. Each of these can carry a normal phone call or 64 Kbps of data. It also has a slow (16kbps) data circuit used for setting up calls. This allows you (or rather your telephone gear) to talk to the exchange without disturbing the active connections. This side traffic could be things like the central office telling you there's another call coming in, and would you like to put one of the current ones on hold while you answer the new one? In some central offices, you could also use this to talk to an X.25 network. It is unlikely that a BBS would want to be connected to that packet network, though. Where this is used, it is more for really low-volume applications like credit card authorizations. If there are ISDN fax machines available yet, they are very expensive. To just connect a telephone and an answering machine to an ISDN line will cost you something like: Network Termination unit, with power supply ... $250 ISDN Telephone (nice model with speakerphone) . $280 Analog terminal adapter (to connect std asw m). $400 This stuff is still quite expensive. But once you are over the price hump, it is also quite nice. 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 ------------------------------ From: cwg@mcc.com Subject: Re: ISDN Residential Use? Organization: Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 14:41:50 GMT > I am interested in ISDN, and was wondering could it be used in > residential use? > From what I read I understand that there are 2 64k lines and a 16k. This is what's referred to as 2B+D. > What is a standard analog line? A standard analog line is something short of 64K. > Also, do you have one phone number with three lines for incomming and > outgoing? Would it be possible to be having a VOICE conversation,and > be online with your local BBS and beable to recieve a FAX all at the > same time with only one pair of wires coming into your house? The D channel is generally used for switching information. It doesn't have enough bandwidth for voice data. Basically, you can think of it as two phone lines although it's possible for a data connection to use both B channels at the same time. Conceptually, you might have a situation something like this: You're using Mosaic to browse on the net and you see something you like, so you start a download. The download takes both B channels, so it's cooking pretty fast. While this is happening, a ring for a FAX comes in on the D channel, so the download falls back to using only one B channel and the fax starts arriving. At this point, a ring for a voice connection comes in on the D channel. Now you're kinda stuck because both B channels are in use, but you can see what the number is, and you know that it's important, so you drop the data connection and take the phone call. The download hangs. The fax then completes and frees up the other B channel, so the download can reestablish the connection on that B channel. Fortunately, this happened before the download timed out. Note that I was *not* talking about a BBS, but instead was talking about a real network connection over your ISDN circuit. Most local BBSes will continue to be analog connections for a while and will therefore appear to the ISDN equipment just like a voice line, and even those which do bring up a ISDN circuit, will probably simulate a modem line rather than really implementing a network style connection, so they'll be hard to "pause" like this. Chris Garrigues (MIME capable) cwg@mcc.com Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation +1 512 338 3328 3500 West Balcones Center Fax +1 512 338 3838 Austin, TX 78759-5398 USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 08:41:46 EDT From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: Re: Calling Cards - IXC vs LEC Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA > What happens if your 1) AT&T card, 2) Pacific Bell card, and > 3) Sprint card all have the same number on them Won't happen unless you ask for it that way, and maybe not with Sprint, I'm not sure. Local telephone companies still issue calling cards where the number is the subscriber's telephone number. AT&T's standard cards are a random set of 10 digits plus PIN starting with "85", and don't match the number. Local telephone companies will accept AT&T's card, as will AT&T. Nobody else will accept an AT&T Card number. If you want, you can ask for one of the requested number cards where they issue you a card with the specified number on it. In which case you can ask for the PIN to be anything you want. > However, what happens when they are all the same number, including PIN, > and I make a call over AT&T or Sprint. Does the respective IXC card get > charged to, or does the Pacific Bell LEC card get charged to, or what? If your Long Distance Company card is identical with your local telephone company card including PIN, (and since each company has its own checking system for valid PINs, you would have had to request the specific number) what's going to happen is the match will be based on whichever database the long distance company looks up first, the national one of local telephone company cards, or their own list of their own cards. My guess is that if you requested a long distance company card with the same number and PIN as your local telephone company's credit card, then the long distance company's computer probably will, when you dial a number, assume it's the local company's card since they probably check that database first. Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) Subject: Re: Cell One/NY Problem Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 13:31:50 PDT On Thu Jul 7 17:26:53 1994, stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) wrote: > I am a Cell One NY/NJ customer, and I couldn't make any calls in > Montreal, although I was able to receive calls there through NACN > delivery. The CellOne rep's answer at the time was that I was roaming > on the wrong carrier. While it seemed impossible, I didn't pursue it. ... which is too bad -- the "wrong carrier" is a typical response you get from poorly-trained customer service reps who simply want to dismiss you and get on to the next call. Had they actually listened to you, and noted that you WERE able to receive NACN calls, the "wrong carrier" item on their "things which the customer can mess up" list would be eliminated from consideration. I am a bit surprised that this happened/ with CO/NY -- they usually have better than average customer service reps, who will pass the issue on to the right people if they can not answer it. It's a shame that customers almost need to insist that they know what they are doing before anyone pays attention to them. It just reflects poorly upon customer service training and how the reps are updated with new features to the local and NACN systems. There needs to be a mechanism in place where cust. svc. reps. are mandated to keep up to date, ie, reading service bulletins and being tested on what they read, and even going so far as to mandate that they actually USE their (usually free) carphones and roam with them "X" hours per month so they can see for themselves what real customers are experiencing on a daily basis. This isn't AS much a problem with CO/NY, but some other carriers even have switch techs and customer service managers who have absolutely no idea what is going on outside their offices! Bell Atlantic's B side *troubleshooting* people (one rep called Anne in particular) had NO IDEA that call-forwarding outside your home market was legal -- she gave me that old standby "Oh, the FCC prohibits this ...", which made me absolutely furious that I had to sit there and argue with someone who supposedly was there to help! And many times when a customer calls customer service, especially with a roaming issue such as the above, the call concerns a problem which is easily rectified, as long as the customer service representative *understands* the nature of the problem. In the instant case, however, this did not happen, and Stan Schwartz could have simply got fed up and said "I'm switching to NYNEX, since my friend's NYNEX/B-Side service works fine in Montreal, with no problems at all." If cell cos. wish to remain competitive with each other as well as with newly emerging alternate wireless services, it is incumbent upon them to improve the degree of service rendered by cust svc., which in most cases that I've been involved in is well below any reasonable standard of customer satisfaction when dealing with even the most simple of technical issues. > *** UNTIL THE BILL CAME, THAT IS *** > I was charged almost $12.00 for calls I attempted to make in Montreal, > and the only preson I ended up talking to was a CanTel rep. At the > time, he said that there was an indicator on my account that he'd > never seen before that was not allowing me to make calls. Hmmm ... weird ... the fraud prevention feature should have just disallowed all calls and hit you with a re-order or "The telephone you are calling from is restricted from calling the number dialed" or something to that effect. If you were indeed billed for blocked calls, it is either a CanTel billing problem or something weird on the NACN in Canada where you are still billed for blocked calls. The same thing happened to me and I was not billed, but maybe something new is going on ... > When I called for credit for the incomplete calls, a more-knowledgeable > CellOne rep figured out the problem. The stupid "Fraud Prevention" > feature indicator, which is not supposed to be passed to other > systems, was passed to CanTel and they didn't know how to handle it. The "feature" is in the NY switch -- when you make a call from the NY market or from a system that gets a copy of your home user profile (ie, what features you have) as do most (all?) NACN systems, the Fraud Prevention indicator is sent with it (I think). Actually, I'm not sure if the Fraud Prevention feature is actually part of the subscriber profile in the visited market on the temporary assigned number, or if the visited switch looks back to NY/00025 and says "Hey, can this guy make this type of call?", or maybe both? I say this because you are both blocked placing calls from Montreal, thus your temp. number (TDN) in the Montreal switch is not allowing you to make calls, while at the same time you can not access your forwarding features in NY, which I *THINK* is based on the NY switch's refusal to allow CF modifications rather than Cantel's TDN refusing feature act/deact codes as a result of the presence of the fraud protection feature in the profile sent up from NYC when you first registered in Montreal and were assigned a TDN. Basically, the *56/*560 codes should work ANYWHERE where you get auto-call delivery and can use you other features. The only place where this will not work is Connecticut and Western Mass, since BA/Metro Mobile is NOT on the NACN, and will not accept the *56/*560 feature codes (or at least they didn't a few months ago). So you could roam there, get calls just fine, but if you wanted to place any, or to force calls back to voicemail (remember they just die in most areas if you don't answer the phone as a result of DOJ rules :( ) then you will get a re-order tone and the attempt will fail. I spend a good deal of time in CT and this was unacceptable, so I told CO/NY to take the fraud protection feature off of my account. > Cell One's solution is that if you know you're going to be roaming and > you have the feature, call and have them verify that it's not a city > that they're having a problem with or they'll have to temporarily > de-activate the fraud prevention service for the duration of your > trip. Ummm ... OK ... seems like a bit of a pain. It *should* work in any NACN market, and not make a difference anywhere else, except CT for CO/NY customers. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone on the NACN with the fraud prevention feature who finds that they can not use it in another NACN market. Doug CID Technologies (203) 499 - 5221 ------------------------------ From: waddell@iglou.iglou.com (Steve Waddell) Subject: Re: NYTimes, err, FBI, Looking For Telco Hacker Organization: The Internet Gateway of Louisville, KY Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 15:58:13 GMT Concerning the "Darkside Hacker": Don't take the NYT's, or for that matter the FBI's, description of technical matters too seriously. NYT employs reporters and editors of all levels of technical ability. The chances of having an article written _and_ edited by a knowledgable person is slim. ANd the reporter's sources are unknown or suspect. The FBI wants to catch this guy and cover their own ineptness, not give good information to the press. Frontal assualt to CO's and administrative computers is unlikely to be at all effective, but this guy's methods seem to be much more elegant and crude. The "Social Engineering" that is described is a huge threat, to the Phone Companies, and *many* others. You do not need to be technically adept to use it, just smooth. Have you ever seen "The Sting"? ... Steve waddell@iglou.com 10307 St. Rene Rd. voice 502-266-5695 Louisville, KY 40299-4040 ------------------------------ From: brerdier@access.digex.net (NEA) Subject: NEA-On Line Update Date: 11 Jul 1994 07:18:01 -0400 Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA Cyberspace Beckons Educators The Future is Now NEW ORLEANS -- Until the annual meeting of the National Education Association began July 1 MrECH, LindaTeach, Wee Moose, and scores of other NEA activists around the country knew each other only by their colorful "screen names." After six days at the NEA meeting, these cyberspace pioneers have met face-to-face and helped their 2.2 million-member Association take a giant step into the Information Age. NEA's 1994 Annual Meeting was the first to link -- via cyberspace -- the convention's over 9,000 elected delegates to NEA members around the country. NEA is believed to be the largest national association that offers its member colleagues their own access ramp to the Information Superhighway. NEA Online was launched last September as a special forum for NEA members within America Online, the nation's fastest growing electronic network. During the convention, NEA members around the country were able to access NEA Online to discuss the issues debated by delegates in New Orleans. Articles from the daily convention newspaper distributed to every delegate were also placed online each evening -- as were the complete texts of addresses delivered to the RA by First Lady Hillary Clinton and other convention speakers. For many convention delegates -- and NEA members around the country -- access to the Information Superhighway is an important new issue that deserves considerable attention. Teachers and other school staff who live in non-metropolitan areas must currently make a toll call to access America Online or any other electronic national data service. To help remedy this gaping pothole on the Information Superhighway, delegates at the NEA convention signed and mailed thousands of postcards urging state public utility commissions and telecommunications agencies to give educators an affordable "on ramp" onto the information superhighway. In other cyberspace-related action, delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly also voted to have their Association begin placing Internet addresses on all materials the Association circulates. Throughout the NEA Annual Meeting, which ended July 6, delegates had a chance to test-drive the Information Superhighway in a special, computer-equipped demonstration area. By the end of the meeting, the convention hall was peppered with delegates wearing flashy lapel buttons -- "Hi. My screen name is ..." -- that asked fellow delegates to meet them online. If you have any questions or comments about the NEA's attempts to make the internet more accessible to its members via NEA On-Line, please direct them to: NEATECH@aol.com (or) NEACOMM1@aol.com (or) NEAHELP@aol.com ------------------------------ From: cjones@gse.ucla.edu (Chad Jones) Subject: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 05:10:46 -0700 Organization: University of California, Los Angeles I just moved into a large apartment complex (maybe 400 units) in Culver City, CA. I got a note on the door yesterday from the management that they are thinking of contracting out the telephone service to a private company called ResCom, Inc. Apparently a survey will be conducted next week among tenants. Currently our service is provided by Pacific Bell. I have a few questions about this service and maybe someone familiar with this kind of service can answer them: I have two phone lines. Can I keep both? Will I have to change my phone numbers? We were told we would get more services for less money. IS this true? What about local long distance rates? Can I get the kinds of calling plans offered by Pac Bell? Will I have a choice of long distance companies? Can I choose to stay with Pac Bell while everyone else is with ResCom? Will ResCom offer ISDN- or ATM-capbable connections? What about services such as call waiting? I just bought new phones. Will they work with the new system? Is ResCom regulated by the Public Utilities Commission? I plan on asking these questions and more to ResCom when they call. Chad Jones Network Manager UCLA Graduate School of Education cjones@gse.ucla.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would say most of those questions are going to be difficult to answer until you see information provided by the proposed vendor. When it arrives, please do share it here. One thing is certain, they *all* say you will get more for less. MCI was giving its very first customers back in 1973 that very same rap; they all lie -- there is no such thing as more for less, just different ways of figuring out the bill each month and various sneaky ways of hiding certain charges which are bundled in with others, etc. So it won't be more for less; it will be the apartment management gettipiece of the action at the expense of the tenants by sticking them with this new scheme which may or may not be mutally beneficial for the tenants involved. Wait and see, and please keep us advised. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #315 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa01582; 12 Jul 94 20:45 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17068; Tue, 12 Jul 94 16:49:14 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17059; Tue, 12 Jul 94 16:49:12 CDT Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 16:49:12 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407122149.AA17059@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #316 TELECOM Digest Tue, 12 Jul 94 16:49:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 316 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Global Networks" ed. Harasim (Rob Slade) Broadband Networking News (enews@access.digex.net) AlphaNumeric Paging via Email (Follow-Up) (Patrick Larkin. Jr.) Cellular Towers and Frequencies (Shawn Gordhamer) New Bellcore Book on New Technologies and Services (Van Hefner) Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company (Danny Burstein) Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company (Jim Gottlieb) Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company (bailbutton@aol.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: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 12:48:47 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Global Networks" ed. Harasim BKGLBLNT.RVW 940330 The MIT Press 55 Hayward Street Cambridge, MA 02142-1399 Robert V. Prior, Editor - Computer Science prior@mitvma.mit.edu Maureen Curtin, Int'l Promo. - curtin@mit.edu "Global Networks", Harasim, 1993, 0-262-08222-5, U$29.95 linda_harasim@sfu.ca A few days before I got this book, I noted a news story which talked about the slow growth of the Internet in Japan. A local pundit was explaining that the Internet culture and mindset was inappropriate in Japan, leaving the impression that the American mindset was different. Well, not to worry, Japan. The Americans, by and large, don't understand the Internet any better than you do. This was also interesting in view of the article in the book by a Japanese author. At one point he states that email is unsuitable for the Japanese, because Japanese communication relies so much on context. (Whose doesn't?) In the very next paragraph, he states that email is most suitable for Japanese because email addressees can't interrupt the sender. The preface doesn't give a clear picture of the purpose of the book. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and written by "experts in their fields", but the nature of those fields is remarkably hard to pin down. Chapter one is really an extension of the preface, and does give us a description of four parts to the book, but, aside from "Applications" (more properly very limited case studies), any article could be said to fit the designations of "From Technology to Community", "Issues in Globalizing Networks", or "Visions for the Future". I read the articles in the book with a growing sense of disbelief. It seemed to be an almost deliberate parody on the uselessness of academic research. Papers without premises, conclusions that don't conclude, and articles by people all of whom presumably have Internet access, but almost none of whom seemed to have used it to explore a wider world. The preface states this is a multi-disciplinary study: it seems to be a remarkably undisciplined one. (I must excuse certain parties from this indictment. Quarterman is as cogent as ever; Kapor and Weitzner, while prosletizing for the IPN, at least know whereof they speak. Jacobson does, as well, and while his piece has a decided "new age" flavour, it contains about the only passion in the book.) One possible indicator of the lack of network familiarity is the continual use of analogies to other forms of "community". Computer communications is a new medium, and a new type of community. The articles are therefore bolstered by literature surveys and ten-year-old studies. The only recent experiment cited is the Global Authoring Network, which can't be said to be an overwhelming success: it produced this book. Or perhaps it was the participants. Two note (citing a prior study of some sort) that email is not suitable for collaborative work. Having spent seven years in one particular collaborative research project, I have some trouble with a statement like that. (The design of the collaboration over the Global Authoring Network may also be at fault here. Network activity is much more suitable to concurrent, multi-threaded tasks and discussions than the arbitrary, sequential activity described in the book.) The range of topics covered is broad. The representations of specialty and culture by the various authors is likewise impressive and potentially useful. The papers, however, all seem to be the work of network neophytes, or, if they have some experience, it is with a single specialty system or topic. About half the articles must bring us the surprising news that on the net, no one knows your height or skin colour. All of this stuff would have been interesting--fifteen years ago. This book has a possible place as a text for a course in computer mediated communications, preferably as a springboard to further research or a discussion starter. I would have trouble recommending it even to a newcomer to the online world. I may be judging it too harshly out of a sense of deep personal disappointment. I have an abiding interest in the social, as opposed to purely technical, aspects of the net. I have been looking for a book of this type for a long time. I wish it had been done better. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKGLBLNT.RVW 940330. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups. 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: enews@access.digex.net (enews) Subject: Broadband Networking News Date: 12 Jul 1994 12:28:38 -0400 Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA The featured article from the June 28 issue of {Broadband Networking News} looks at the use of ATM to provide video and audio clips of the World Cup. Here is an excerpt from "WORLD CUP '94 GETS A KICK OUT OF ATM." _____ World Cup '94 is using ATM to link sites across the United States to make real-time video and audio clips of soccer match highlights available to fans. This represents the most sophisticated implementation of communications technology at a sporting event ever. At the games in Italy four years ago, daily updates of scores and game statistics were transferred to diskettes and physically transported to game headquarters in Rome. This year, ATM is being used by the World Cup News Services as part of the World Cup Multimedia Project. Four SynOptics' LattisCell ATM switches will be linked to as many as 32 multimedia Sun workstations or kiosks at World Cup venues in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Games and high-lights are being videotaped at each site. The analog video is being sent over high-capacity networks to Dallas where the information is digitized, compressed and distributed to each of the remote video servers. Dallas plays the role of host for the central news bureau. Each Sun server is connected to Dallas via multiple Sprint- supplied T1 connections operating at 1.544 Mbps. World Cup attenders will be able to retrieve real-time, full-motion color video clips from matches being held at the participating venues at kiosks set up at press rooms, hospitality areas and VIP tents. ...Technology at Your Finger Tips Also available are video clips of individual player highlights, interviews with coaches, and other information. Typical clips will be 30 seconds to one minute long consuming anywhere from 15-20 megabytes worth of electronic storage. Additionally, more than 150 minutes of prepared video, representing approximately 9 gigabytes, will be resident on each video server. "Because highlights and video information viewed on each kiosk requires full-motion (30 frames per second), and full-sized NTSC (640x480) 24-bit color video, ATM technology is essential in pulling this off," said John Jaeger, SynOptics ATM product manager. "Another key advantage with using ATM over other network technologies to link the multimedia kiosks is the low latency required to support audio and video." Sun SPARCstation 10 workstations will serve as the kiosks for users linked via high-speed fiber optic connections operating at 155 Mbps to SynOptics LattisCell ATM switches. Also connected to each ATM switch will be a Sun video server containing the digitized information available for viewing at each of the kiosks. _____________________ So begins this issue's featured article from {Broadband Networking News}. This article and others from Broadband Networking News and additional publications can be viewed at no charge on The Electronic Newsstand, a service which collects articles, editorials, and table of contents from over 120 magazines and provides them to the Global Internet community. Access to The Electronic Newsstand is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via Gopher, an information navigation and retrieval technology from the University of Minnesota. For those without a local Gopher client program, The Electronic Newsstand provides a telnet account which will allow you to use a text based Gopher client to access our service. To access The Electronic Newsstand, via Local Gopher Client: Hostname: gopher.internet.com Port: 2100 via the Gopher Home Menu at U of Minn: Other Gopher and Information Servers/ North America/ USA/ General/ The Electronic Newsstand (tm) via Gopher Link Information: Name=The Electronic Newsstand Type=1 Port=2100 Path=1/ Host=gopher.internet.com via Telnet: Hostname: gopher.internet.com Loginname: enews Password: via World Wide Web: URL: gopher://gopher.internet.com/ If you have any suggestions on how we might improve this service, or need more information, please email staff@enews.com. --The Electronic Newsstand Staff ------------------------------ From: plarkin@iphase.com (Patrick Larkin Jr) Subject: AlphaNumeric Paging via Email (Follow-Up) Date: 12 Jul 1994 09:00:26 -0500 Organization: Interphase Corporation - Dallas Texas Previously I posted to these groups: > We are looking into a system supplied but SWB "MobileComm" that > provides alpha-numeric pagers and some software you install on a > MS-Windows system with a modem. The "operator" runs this program and > fills in the blanks, then the PC dials up some system and transmits > the page info. > What I WANT to do is put some program/script on my SMTP hub (a Sparc > system) and setup some email aliases so that anyone can mail to > 'user-pager@domain' and it will send the Subject: and From: headers to > the pager as if it were a person keying in this info on that PC. Well, I wish to thank all of those who replied (I won't publish the list of people because I will certainly leave someone out!). Anyway, here's what I've found. Most Alpha-Numeric pagers' "Pager Central" talk 'ixo' via a modem line. The first thing you want to do is see if YOUR pager uses IXO. Dial up the computer that the PC dials up (try 300, 1200, ... 19200 if you get garbage) and press . If it speaks 'ixo' protocal, the system will return 'ID=' after several C/Rs. Once you've confirmed that your pager company uses IXO, find 'tpage' or 'ixobeeper' in archie. (They are the same program). These are a collection of Perl Scripts and a C-Program to do the actual conversation. You may have to mess around with it a bit to make it work (I had to do some minor tweaks for our modems and add a sleep so that Pager Central would have time to respond before I gave up. Here's a few lines from the INSTALL notes: [quotes on] If you run SunOS you won't have to edit ixocico.c. If you don't run SunOS you're going to have the fun of porting this program. I put in a couple of #defines to get you started. Anyway, compile it with a simple "make ixocico" and you're done with it. Do you run SCO Unix? Have you gotten ixocico to compile? Nobody else has! Please join the ixo mailing list (ixo-request@warren.mentorg.com) and tell us what you did! [quotes off] I wish to thank Tom Limoncelli, tal@warren.mentorg.com for writing this program! Keep Up the good work, Tom! PATRICK LARKIN - System Administrator #include /* Interphase Corporation #include "clever_quote_de_jour.h" /* Dallas TX - USA ------------------------------ From: shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) Subject: Cellular Towers and Frequencies Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 15:16:23 GMT I understand that cellular towers with small cell radius allow the cellular frequencies to be used over and over, allowing thousands of simultanious cellular conversations. I also understand that no two adjacent towers can use the same frequencies because there will be interference. Where I live, there are lots of small towns that have only one cellular tower. Since there are 333 frequencies per carrier, this is probably plenty of frequencies for now. However, as cellular (hopefully) becomes cheaper, and more and more people get the phones, even 333 channels for a small town may not be enough. A one-tower town cannot just put up another tower, because the towers will be adjacent, and they cannot use the same frequencies. Therefore, they would get no benefit from two towers splitting the same frequencies. Even three or four towers wouldn't help, because they would all still be adjacent and would have to share the same 333 frequencies. I would think that there needs to be at least five towers before any frequency reuse is possible. In fact, for a large town with dozens of towers, each tower would have to use at most 1/4 of the channels, making a grid pattern like the following: A B A B A B A B C D C D C D C D A B A B A B A B C D C D C D C D Am I correct in this assumption? Shawn Gordhamer shawnlg@netcom.com Rochester, Minnesota USA ------------------------------ From: VANTEK@aol.com Date: Tue, 12 Jul 94 02:16:04 EDT Subject: New Bellcore Book on New Technologies and Services New Bellcore guidebook gives inside track on what's new in telecommunications; insights on technologies and services LIVINGSTON, N.J. (JULY 6) BUSINESS WIRE - July 6, 1994 -- People who need to know about the latest advances in telecommunications will find Bellcore's A Guide to New Technologies and Services a "must-have" for their reference libraries. The Guide, previously available to Bellcore's owner/clients only, is now being offered to the public for the first time. "We tried to take complex technical material and broad public policy issues, and make them easier to understand," notes Bob Whitefleet, Bellcore Vice President, Business Analysis Services. "It was a real challenge, but we think the result was well worth the effort." The Guide is intended to provide people -- from network engineers to public policy professionals -- with a quick and basic knowledge of many new technologies and services currently being developed and/or deployed by telephone companies, along with the accompanying regulatory and public policy issues. The 330-page, 14-section Guide is organized into three major parts: Technologies, Services and Public Policy Initiatives. Descriptions of the major technologies and services, and related public policy issues are included in Parts 1 and 2, Technologies and Services, respectively (Sections 1-9). Technologies covered include Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), ATM/Broadband Networks, and Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN). Services discussed include Fast Packet Services, Video Dial Tone, and Personal Communications Services. Part 3, Public Policy Initiatives (Sections 10-14), discusses current and emerging public policies which affect the implementation of new technologies and services. Among those policies addressed are Open Network Architecture, Price Cap Regulation, and the National Information Infrastructure/Research Education Network. "The telecommunications industry is changing fast," notes Whitefleet, "and staying informed is getting harder and harder. This new Guide is one easy way to make sure you're aware of what's happening." To order A Guide to New Technologies and Services, contact Bellcore Customer Services, 1-800-521-CORE (within the USA) and (908) 699-5800 everywhere else. The price is $150. Bellcore provides research and technical support to the telecommunications companies of Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell Corporation, and U S WEST, as well as Cincinnati Bell Inc., The Southern New England Telephone Company, and other leaders in industry and government. CONTACT: Bellcore, Livingston Ken Branson, 201/740-6111 Barbara Kaufman, 201/740-4324 ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company Date: 12 Jul 1994 00:39:37 -0400 Actually, back in 1973(?) when MCI first went public with its execunet service, they -were- quite a bit cheapr than AT&T. So was Sprint, which I started with back when it was a division of Southern Pacific Railway. I remember the booklet they sent me giving the area codes -and exchanges!- that I could dial before they went nationwide. (I used it for calling my gilfriend who lived in New Haven. MCI did not cover the area.) So yes, they -used- to have rates that were much lower (in my case about 40% less, and even better when using a coin phone). Of course today they've been matched (if you know how to shop.) dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Nope, you are wrong. They were not any cheaper back then unless you play games with the phone bill and juggle the bill's components around. See my furthern comments below. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jimmy@tokyo07.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Subject: Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company Reply-To: jimmy@denwa.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Organization: Info Connections, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 05:33:09 GMT In article cjones@gse.ucla.edu (Chad Jones) writes: > I got a note on the door yesterday from the management that they are > thinking of contracting out the telephone service to a private company > called ResCom, Inc. I would be _very_ wary of such a move. Typically, they will come in and offer service at lower cost and with a kickback to the apartment owner. Like GTE, it may be just fine for POTS, but forget about anything remotely advanced. I bet ResCom has no plans to offer ISDN or digital entrance facilities. Ask them what kind of switch they are using. And what about CLASS features? And and and ... My apartment complex in West Los Angeles made a similar move. They threw out the local cable TV company and brought in some fly-by-night (and without asking us!). Sure, the rate was a few dollars cheaper, but we went from having 70 channels to having 35 channels, and we lost our local public access, educational access, L.A. City Council meetings, UCLA campus radio station, and other specialized channels. This company only came on-site once a week, so any problems had to wait until their weekly Tuesday visit. > Can I choose to stay with Pac Bell while everyone else is with ResCom? This is crucial. I would insist that any tenant have the right to have Pacific Bell service if they so choose. ResCom won't want to do this, because they will only achieve their required volume if all tenants are forced to switch. They will probably provide a list of the features they offer and it will look rather complete; Call Forwarding, Call Waiting, etc. But what happens after you switch and you find that they are using ADPCM compression to squeeze more voice channels in and you can't get data through on your line reliably. Competition in the local loop may be a good thing. But only if there truly is competition such that the end user can choose. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Chuo 1-27-8, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164 Fax: +81 3 5389 0188 Voice Mail: +81 3 5389 1099 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are right on the mark, Jim. All those fly-by-night outfits which talk about equal access and local competition don't really want that ... those are the words that make it look good. They rely heavily on unsophisticated telephone subscribers anxious to get service 'cheaper' than local telco can provide it. Yes indeed, you were quite right in advising correspondent to be very wary. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bailbutton@aol.com Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 23:47:01 EDT Subject: Re: Apartment Complex is Getting its Own Phone Company Today I received my first editions of the TELECOM Digest. I was somewhat puzzled by Pat Townsend's response to the query about alternative residential service. The comment "they all lie" seems a bit harsh. In 1973 I was responsible for a small data network at Westinghouse which polled a number of remoted sites and collected information for central processing (God am I old!). We were among the first to use MCI for our carrier. While we had some technical problems, our experience was that MCI provided quality service for significantly less money. I no longer recall the amounts, but my recollection was that when we used AT&T Long Distance during system problems our bills went up by a factor of ten. It will be interesting to hear about the experience of the questioner. Jim Lawson [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to the growing readership base of the Digest Jim. Yours was one of about a dozen new additions to the list on a daily basis ... a list which I'm hoping will exceed ten thousand names by the end of the year. Yes Jim, they were all liars. Here is the catch: Although they *did* charge less per minute on long distance calls, they neglected to tell you -- until at least in MCI's case they got sued -- that *local call charges would apply when calling their switch*. Remember now, in those days twenty years ago, calls via outhern

acific ailroad nternal etwork elecomm- unications (hey, that's SPRINT !!) or icrowave ommunications (I>ncorp- orated were dialed as seven digit local numbers to their switch, *then* outbound through the switch with tone dialers, etc. There was no one plus or 950 or 800 access. Here in Chicago we dialed 876-0001 for the SPRINT switch, listened for new dial tone then dialed the ten digit long distance number. What this meant was we paid for a local call *whether or not the long distance end completed (it might have been DA/BY) the call*. MCI went after large companies knowing full well that Corporation X went through a hundred thousand local call units per month, and a mere ten thousand more would go unnoticed for all intents and purposes. If you tried five times to get through on a long distance call via MCI/Sprint, you paid for five local calls to the carrier's switch -- again, remember they did not have local or equal access as now. So when the bill came each month, they could point to the long distance portion of the bill where all the *coin-rated* calls appeared and say, "see, we told you it would be less by using MCI ..." but they glossed over the fact that the *local part of the bill* -- the part known as 'monthly service' with the charges for units or local calls if you lived in a place where such applied -- went up by fifteen or twenty percent. Whether customers paid it all to the local telco or paid some to local telco and some to MCI, the fact was the same amount of money more or less was paid every month; it was just divvied up differently. Yes, there were certain calling patterns or configurations where there was some slight decrease in the *overall monthly costs for telecom (regardless of who got paid how much in total)* but generally this was not the case. MCI knew that telecom managers 'knew' a lower long distance bill would appeal to corporate executives and that the same executives would be largely ignorant of the increase in local traffic, or would tend to blame it on 'employees making more personal calls than ever on the company phones during lunch hour ...' etc. MCI glossed over the fact that the higher charges of AT&T in those days included a *free ride* from your local exchange to the toll switch; or at least transparently so to the users. In other words, when you (using local telco/ATT conventional dialing of the day) pulled that 1 plus ten more, your local exchange sent you right to the toll switch; it could be across town, it could be in the next county ... wherever. The charge for that portion of the call was built into the AT&T rate. In 1974 I filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Comm- ission, asking that MCI be required in its advertising to plainly state that 'in many instances, local call charges will be applied to your local telephone company bill for connection to the MCI toll switch.' MCI resisted that mightily, but eventually they had to start doing it, as there were others climbing on them with the same complaint. I used Execunet in those days also; I know of what I speak. And have you forgotten about the 'local access fee' MCI used to charge when your call dropped off their network in the local community you were calling? Real bald-faced, they announced one day there would be a five cent fee added to each completed call 'because we have to pay the telco in the town your call is terminating in ...' and yet ... and yet despite that they still were busy claiming there would be great savings using them. MCI/Sprint in those early days in the middle 1970s got as far as they did through two things only: they built on the anger many people had with AT&T; people who wanted to 'get something over on the Phone Company', and with unsophisticated users who believed whatever they read, many of whom also had no love lost for Mother and her children. Like the fly-by-nights of today who express amazement when asking prospects, 'but wouldn't you like to pay less on your phone bill', MCI was banking on the fact that most users were unsophisticated enough about telephone service that they would not know the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit ... and y'all got what ya paid for. Yeah Jim, they were liars. MCI's first petition for service, filed with the Illinois Commerce Commission in 1968 was fraudulent on its face; but no amount of appealing by Illinois Bell could convince the Commissioners here of that fact. Today, twenty years later, they've changed their tunes to sing a more sophisticated version of the same thing they used to sing back then, but the fact still remains you can't beat Genuine Bell when it comes to quality of service. Again my best wishes to you and the dozens of new readers on board in the past month or so. Enjoy the Digest. I'll be back tomorrow! PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #316 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa08162; 13 Jul 94 18:28 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06597; Wed, 13 Jul 94 14:48:37 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA06588; Wed, 13 Jul 94 14:48:35 CDT Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 14:48:35 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407131948.AA06588@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #317 TELECOM Digest Wed, 13 Jul 94 14:48:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 317 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bridge vs. Router Performance (Scott D. Thomas) Book Review: "The Network Nation" by Hiltz/Turoff (Rob Slade) FAQ - Panel Type (Wes Leatherock) 500 vs. 700 Numbers, Not the Same (Wesley Kaplow) 800 ANI Number Changed? (Charles Buckley) *78/*780 Added to BAMS/DC (Douglas Reuben) Globalcom 2000 -- Are They Still Alive? (Rosemary Warren) History of Internet (Adam Gruen) SW Florida Area Code 941 (James Taranto) Pacific Bell Saves its Backside (Alan Millar) Central and Eastern European Telecom (Jane Fraser) What is Autodin (Thomas Hinders) Cellular Network Systems Design Software (George Emeka) Security Systems (Stewart Fist) Information Wanted on USA 'Dial-It' Numbers (John Hacking) 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, 13 Jul 1994 14:38:12 GMT From: sthomas@mitchell.hac.com (Scott D. Thomas) Subject: Bridge vs. Router Performance Organization: Hughes Aircraft Company I have a puzzeling (at least to me) situation. We have a simple network with a satellite link included. Orginally, we bridged three ethernet segments as shown below: ( ---- ) host bridge----sat. ---- /\ /\ ----sat.---bridge bridge---DSU | | modem modem | | | ------------ --------- | | T1 | | | host bridge---DSU | | ------------- (BTW, for those of you wondering, we could not connect the DSU directly to the satellite modem because of signalling issues.) We tested the above configuration, and got poorer that expected results. We decided to replace the bridges with routers, one per segment. The throughput was tripled! I was under the impression that bridges were more efficient because of lower overhead, less complexity, etc. and therefore would offer the better performance. Does anyone have thoughts on the matter? Scott Thomas Hughes Information Technology Corp. e-mail: sthomas@mitchell.hitc.com phone: (703) 759-1382 fax: (703) 438-8430 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:17:30 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Network Nation" by Hiltz/Turoff BKNTNATN.RVW 940331 The MIT Press 55 Hayward Street Cambridge, MA 02142-1399 Robert V. Prior, Editor - Computer Science prior@mitvma.mit.edu Maureen Curtin, Int'l Promo. - curtin@mit.edu "The Network Nation", Hiltz/Turoff, 1978/1993, 0-262-58120-5, U$24.95 This book was originally published in 1978. It was intended as an interdisciplinary study of this new communications medium known as computer conferencing (CC) or computer mediated communications (CMC). Fifteen years later, the authors decided to reissue the book -- with almost no changes! Turns out to have been a sound decision. The authors have made a remarkably timeless work in an area of tremendous technological change. If not for the warnings in the preface to the second edition, it would probably be some time before even the astute reader realized the anachronisms of terminals as opposed to personal computers or workstations, 300 bps modems, and mainframes supporting thousands as opposed to networks supporting millions. Part of the value is the breath of topic. Basic concepts, social processes, cultural impacts, public access, research to be done, human interface studies, economics, politics and the human experience of communications are all brought together here. The scholarship is thorough. The writing is lucid. The analysis is prescient and insightful. (Each chapter starts with an excerpt from the mythical and futuristic "Boswash Times": some of the articles are startling in their accuracy. All are amusing and thought-provoking.) The original book was visionary. I appreciated the irony of the ending of the preface to the first edition. This foresaw that by the mid-1990s the home terminal would be as prevalent, and as commonly used, as the telephone. The original book entreated you to imagine that you were at breakfast with a cup of coffee-substitute (shades of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"!) heated on your solar stove and beginning to read your computer-generated daily news--in 1994! Well, solar stoves are a rarity (especially around Vancouver) and it was afternoon, but I had already read "news" for the day, plus all my email and digests. I am, however, a rarity, myself. Even though Vancouver is a fairly well "connected" community, only two others in my townhouse complex have modems, and neither has access to the Internet. The authors recognize this as their major mistake. If they had to make one, that is undoubtedly the preferred one. As they note in the preface to the new edition, everything they foresaw originally will probably come to pass -- it may just take a little longer. They also note, in discussion of the fact that CMC is taking longer than expected, the social inertia which resists changes to power and authority at all levels of society. It is instructive that the illustration they use comes from a corporate boardroom. Corporations have embraced the new data bases, financial modelling and record keeping capabilities of the computer. They have been less pleased with the active, slightly anarchic and socially powerful tools of computer mediated communications. A word of warning to boardrooms -- those who fail to master the new technologies for fear of losing place will likely lose all to those who master the technologies because of having nothing to lose. An excellent book; a classic in the field, yet it points to the future of a society as shaped by computer communications. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNTNATN.RVW 940331. 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: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 13:03:52 Subject: FAQ - Panel Type Thank you for adding me to the TELECOM Digest list. And now I have read the FAQ and I have a comment about what seems to be an omission on it. I have quoted below the section from the FAQ on the historical development of switching. This jumps from step-by-step to crossbar, and it seems to me there is an important omission where I have entered "************************". Step-by-step was limited in its routing flexibility and the fact that the routing was directly tied to the subscriber number. This made it particularly difficult to use in large metropolitan areas where many different routes might be required and became almost impossible to use the subscriber number for routing from many different locations in the area. Western Electric and IT&T devoted their attention to this issue. (In fact, for a long time Western Electric ignored step-by-step entirely and regarded it as something for towns too small to merit its attention. So all early dial systems, even in the Bell System, were step-by-step made by independent companies.) These two companies came up with systems that were conceptually similar although mechanically quite different. The subscriber number was dialed into a "sender," which made necessary translations to route the number, then signalled a distant power driven switch. The distant switch signalled back its location, and the "sender" gave it instructions where to slow down, then to stop and progress to another switch or connect to the subscriber line and apply ringing current. Both of these switches were motor-driven, with clutches, and were controlled by a distant sender. The Western Electric version, called "Panel Type," had wipers rising vertically through panels of contacts. The IT&T version, called "Rotary," had wipers moving in a circle through contacts arranged in a circle before them. These systems were conceptually so similar that a sender of one type could control a switch of the other type, and there were a few places where this actually occurred. However, provision need to be made for the fact that a Rotary switch could be arranged to hunt indefinitely in its circle, while a Panel Type switch would reach the top and have to stop. While a Rotary switch could be arranged to hunt indefinitely, this was probably not a common arrangement. These switches were widely applied. Most large cities in the United States, such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Kansas City, San Francisco and many, many more had almost all Panel Type dial equipment. (The Los Angeles metropolitan area was a notable exception, which because of the way the area grew had almost all step-by-step equipment at one time.) Paris, France, was noted as a great Rotary switch location. No doubt there were many others. These were, of course, the first common control switches and preceded crossbar by several decades. In fact, Panel Type was so pervasive in large cities in the United States that the first crossbar switches, No. 1 crossbar, designed for use in large cities, originally signalled exclusively by emulating Panel Type revertive pulsing. For a while that was true even when one No. 1 office was signalling another. It seems to me that leaving out these motor-driven mechanical switches with a type of common control leaves out a significant milestone in the development of later dial equipment. This is particularly the case since this was the predominant dial equipment in the nation's largest cities for several decades. - - - Q: How many different types of switches are there, how do they differ, and what switches are most commonly found in use? A: The original telephone switches were manual, operator-run switchboards. Today, these are generally found in developing countries or in certain remote locations as newer types of switches allow for connection to automatic telephone service. Step-by-step was the first widely-used automatic switching method. This was an electro-mechanical system which made use of rotating blades and mechanical selection of various levels. Dial pulses would be used to cause the switches to select switch groups until the whole number was dialed. Some step-by-step facilities still exist today, but will eventually be replaced by more modern forms of switching (typically a digital facility). Step-by-step, with its mechanical nature, can be difficult to troubleshoot and maintain, and does not inherently support touch tones or special calling features without special addition of equipment. ************************ Crossbar was the next step in electro-mechanical switching. Rather than the rotary/level switches used in step-by-step, connections were completed by means of a matrix of connectors. The configuration of crossbar matrix elements was under "common control" which could route the call along a variety crossbar elements. Step-by-step's "progressive control" could not be rerouted to avoid points of congestion in the switches but was rather at the mercy of which numbers would be dialed by the telephone users. Electronic switches were developed in the 1960's. These were often reed ..... etc. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks very much for your additional comments for the FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions file for this mailing list. The FAQ editor is David Leibold, a long-time participant in the Digest, and I imagine he will be quite happy to include some or all of your comments in the next revision of the FAQ, which is done more or less once a year as his time and resources permit. David, I know you are reading this, so please touch bases with Wes. And welcome to the Digest, Mr. Leatherock. You and several others this week. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kaploww@cs.rpi.edu (Wesley Kaplow) Subject: 500 vs. 700 Numbers, Not the Same Date: 12 Jul 1994 23:08:39 GMT Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA I believe that there is a significant difference between 700 numbers and 500 numbers. Each IXC has the full range of 700 numbers to allocate any way they please. This means that if you are trying to reach a person with an AT&T 700 number you must use 10+ATT, for example, to reach the correct person. The 700 namespace is therefore not unique, and this would probably cause confusion as the default IXC for any phone may not be the one you want if you simply 1+ dial. The 500 area codes are being distributed by Bellcore. This means that each 500 number is unique, and any IXC will be able to handle it. Wesley K. Kaplow Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AT&T Bell Laboratories kaploww@cs.rpi.edu w.kaplow@att.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well yes, you are correct in your explanation of the difference. My original comments were more of a question about the duplication of service between AT&T's new program and the established Easy Reach service. I wonder if the two will continue to run parallel of if they will eventually be merged into the new 500 service, or what? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 03:45:11 -0700 From: ceb@netcom.com (Ch. Buckley) Subject: 800 ANI Number Changed? 1 800 852 9932 used to provide ANI service in the US, but now I get "your call cannot be completed as dialed" (which is strange, because usually with bogus or out-of-area 800 numbers, the message is different). Does anyone know the new number (if any)? Or is my local exchange (a PacBell 5ESS) doing something funny, and the original number still valid but kept at arms length? Replies per mail preferred, but digest postings read too. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) Subject: *78/*780 Added to BAMS/DC Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 23:57:32 PDT I just got a call from Bell Atlantic Mobile, who recently assumed my NYNEX/NY account since I have a Jersey number. After months of trying to get the B-Side version of Do Not Disturb to work in DC/Baltimore, they finally put the codes in this morning. Previously, it you had a NYNEX/NY account and used voicemail or No-Answer-Transfer, you could not turn Automatic Call Delivery "ON" or "OFF" in the DC market (00018), and if you registered (had your phone on) there, unanswered calls would not go back to voicemail or your NAT destination for over 4 hours! When I was a NYNEX customer, NYNEX maintained that they were having a bit of a dispute as to which codes should be used: BAMS likes to use the FMR *18/*19 codes for BOTH automatic call delivery and Follow Me Roaming, while NYNEX wanted to use *78/*780 for automatic call delivery, and *18/*19 for FMR (although *780 will deactivate ALL remote call delivery, even FMR, which is an odd and awkward implementation). This back-and-forth buck-passing went on for four months or so, and since the A side now has automatic call delivery to DC and apparently no problem with their Do Not Disturb feature, I put NYNEX on my "things to do list" and figured it wasn't worth the aggravation of dealing with them. Since I became a BAMS customer, however, I figured it was all one company now (BAMS services Jersey and DC), so I gave them a call about this, and after some "Oh, the FCC prevents this ... It's illegal ... its not in our tariffs" (you can tell they are owned by a Bell Co! :)) I got the right person and apparently the *78/*780 codes are in place as of now. Hopefully they can now get their other features to work, such as Call Forwarding in most of NYNEX's upstate area (unlikely -- NYNEX says this can result if fraud...oooooh! I think NYNEX calling itself a cellular carrier constitutes some sort of fraud ;( ), CF in SNET territory (more likely), and Call Waiting in sections of the Boston system. We'll see ... Doug CID Technologies (203) 499 - 5221 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Doug, I honestly beleive many or most of the bugs in the cellular phone networks of the USA and the improvements in service have been due in large part to your very tenacious stance. You attack them like a bulldog and just keep on barking and snapping at them until you get your way ... and that's good. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ra_warr@pavo.concordia.ca (Rosemary Warren, Logically Yours) Subject: Globalcom 2000 -- Are They Still Alive? Organization: Concordia University Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 03:25:00 GMT Earlier this year, there was a notice from a gentleman who represented the above-mentioned company. He was looking for representatives to assist in marketing prepaid long-distance calling cards, particularly with advertising. I signed up to receive more information and a sample card. Eventually I received the sample card, which I had some difficulty actually getting to use. Anytime I phoned the number on the back, it was "temporarily suspended". Calls to customer service were helpful, although usually a tad vague, and I actually did get to place a call -- bad reception, but placed nonetheless. Then one day in May, I could get thru to the access number! But wait a minute -- how come when I type in the pin number it says I have an invalid card? Puzzled, I phone the customer service 800 number ... no longer functioning from Canada. So I try the alternate number (area code 310) collect ... accepted. It seems that there was a card theft and they would like all their cards back so that new pin numbers could be issued. Being a phone card collector, I balked at the idea, explaining I'd like to retain my card for my collection. Fine, I was told: I should send a fax with the pin number and other information to get a new card. I did so -- adding some comments about how the system could be enhanced to serve Quebec, where I had been approached to sell these cards. No word, no card. Weeks scrolled by slowly. The numbers I had for Globalcom all quietly ceased to be in service, despite the insistence of directory assistance (and having the nerve to CHARGE me d.a. for non-servicing numbers). The salesrep who first introduced me to Globalcom no longer returns my e-mail (from either account). Is Globalcom 2000 still in business? The snail-mail address I have is in West Los Angeles (area code 310). Even though the rates on their cards are more expensive than Bell Canada and card caller debit cards, they did have a very good idea -- with some small modifications, it could compete well in Quebec. According to the sales rep, they had a dozen "satisfied" Canadian reps, including one in Vancouver. (Names were promised upon recipt of my sales app, which I hadn't mailed in because I wanted to test the system first.) Any details most appreciated. Any used phonecards appreciated too. :) Rosemary Warren ra_warr@pavo.concordia.ca *please limit quoteback* ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 14:39 EST From: Adam Gruen <0006449096@mcimail.com> Subject: History of Internet How do I find out more about the history of the creation and construction of the internet? If you have any source information you can share, please send it to me. Especially useful would be citations on secondary source materials including books, journal articles, or media articles. Less useful would be personal anecdotes. If you had direct working experience with Bob Kahn, Vint Cerf, or the construction of ARPANET or NSFNET, however, I'd like to hear the story. Thanks! Adam Gruen MCI Corporate Archives ------------------------------ From: taranto@panix.com (James Taranto) Subject: SW Florida Area Code 941 Date: 12 Jul 1994 23:09:45 GMT Organization: The Bad Taranto The 813 area code is being split, according to a July 1 article in the {Orlando Sentinel}. Customers in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties (the northwest corner of 813, including Tampa and St. Petersburg) will remain 813; the remainder of the area will become 941. Cheers, James Taranto taranto@panix.com ------------------------------ From: Alan Millar Subject: Pacific Bell Saves its Backside Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1994 03:19:08 PDT Reply-To: Alan Millar My local phone company, Pacific Bell, started printing phone bills on both sides of the paper this month. A handy helpful paragraph was included in the phone bill, stating how much paper and money this would save. It also reminded everyone to check the back side of each page so they don't miss anything. This reminder, of course, was printed on the back side of the page. Alan Millar E-Mail: amillar@bolis.SF-Bay.org ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 14:02:11 EDT From: fraser@ccl2.eng.ohio-state.edu Subject: Central and Eastern European Telecom Does anyone know anything about: - the Alliance of Universities for Democracy, - TeleCommerce Development Centers in Central and Eastern Europe, or - an April 93 conference, financed by the World Bank, held at Christian Brothers University, on telecommunications marketing issues in Central and Eastern Europe? Thanks for any leads. Jane Fraser, Ohio State University, fraser.1@osu.edu, 614-292-4129 ------------------------------ Date: 13 Jul 1994 12:30:12 EDT From: Hinders, Thomas Subject: What is Autodin? The subject says it all ... what is Autodin? I'm familar with Autovon (voice) ... but not Autodin. Thanks ... please reply directly and I'll summarize and re-post. 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: uezechuk@mlsma.att.com Date: 13 Jul 94 10:52:00 GMT Subject: Cellular Network Systems Design Software Hi, I am looking for "THE CELLULAR ENGINEER" a software package by Neil J. Boucher, which is claimed to be a comprehensive software package for cellular systems design. Neil Boucher is also the author of "The Cellular Radio Handbook" which I found very useful. Any ideas as to who seels this package and for how much. Additionally, are there any other similar packages which address design problems for cellular network infrastructure. All help very deeply appreciated. George Emeka Appollo Com UK. ------------------------------ From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Finger Print and Retinal Image Security Systems Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 12:55:00 GMT Can someone give me contacts for companies who are producing, or well advanced in the development of finger-print or retinal-image (or other high-tech) security systems. Has anyone had any experience of how reliable and effective these are? Has there been further development of home-bus or small-business intelligent wiring standards which incorporate security features? The last information I have is of the Philips D2B standard, and that's at least two years old. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 14:19:00 +1000 From: JOHN.HACKING@telecom.telememo.au Subject: Seeking Information on USA Dial-It Services [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some mail I got recently. Anyone care to answer Mr. Hacking? PAT] Hi there. My name is John Hacking and I got your Internet address from TELECOM Digest. I wonder if you can help me? I work for Telecom Australia as Product Manager for Premium Rate Calls. The products I look after include Dial-it Information services (eg. time, weather, sport results - 25 cents per call), 0055 services (recorded voice announcements - competitions, horoscopes, up to 75 cents per minute), and InfoCall 190 (live advice, fax on demand, data access - up to $5 per minute or $30 per call). I am trying to find a list of Canadian and American Dial-it type services if such things exist up there. Any ideas? If you like, I can send you a list of Australian Dial-it services in return. The sort of thing I'm looking for might be the talking clock, weather info, local news etc, but anything would be appreciated. If you want to try out Australian dial-it services you could try calling: +61 7 1194 Time (East Coast) +61 7 1196 Weather (Brisbane) +61 7 11661 Dial-a-hit +61 7 11634 Your stars These calls cost 25 cents (local call charge), in Australia, so it should only cost you normal international call rates. It costs us $1.35 per minute to call USA peak, so I assume your costs would be similar. I am particularly interested in Canadian services as the Commonwealth Games is coming up in April and I want Australians to call Canada!!! If you can't help me could you please forward this message to a user group or person who could. My details: John Hacking Product Manager Premium Calls Telecom Australia 11th floor 131 Barry Parade Fortitude Valley Queensland 4120 AUSTRALIA Voice: +61 7 8386426 Fax: +61 7 832 0891 Thank you. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well John, let's see what the readers have to say. I bet this time tomorrow you know more about the Information Provider by Telephone business in the USA than you ever cared to know. It is indeed a big business here and one that's made at least a few people wealthy. Unfortunatly, publishing electronic Digests does not get one very rich unless you have a very respected long time business (such as one of the major news services) and charge a fortune of your readers. Neither applies in my case. Corporate and individual sponsors of TELECOM Digest continue to be welcomed and very appreciated. The International Telecomm- unication Union in Geneva, Switzerland provides a monthly grant which helps out tremendously here, but they cannot go it alone. If your company would like to help with the cost of this Digest and be listed in the masthead as a corporate sponsor, please contact me. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #317 ****************************** Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu by MINTAKA.LCS.MIT.EDU id aa24303; 15 Jul 94 15:51 EDT Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11386; Fri, 15 Jul 94 11:20:03 CDT Return-Path: Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA11377; Fri, 15 Jul 94 11:20:01 CDT Date: Fri, 15 Jul 94 11:20:01 CDT From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9407151620.AA11377@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V14 #318 TELECOM Digest Fri, 15 Jul 94 11:20:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 318 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson China Eyes Cellular Market (Cedric Hui) A New Obnoxious Telecommunications Patent (Patents List via Monty Solomon) Has Anyone Tried the New Voice Mail Modems? (Andrew S. Gelina) IP Over Cable TV (Lubos Elias) An Australian Modem in Germany? (Justin Bessell) Mobile Communications (Lars Kalsen) Long Distance Telemarketers (Ed Gehringer) External Modems That Talk FAX (Dan J. Declerck) Public Payphones (Bruce Maltz) Wanted: Internet Access from a Rural Exchange (Tom Olin) "Interactive Telecommunications"? (at5021s@acad.drake.edu) Networld/Interop'94 in Atlanta (Atiwan Prakobsantisukh) Wanted: Names of ISDN/ATM/FDDI Books (G.A. Grigoryants) Sale: Northern Telecom Norstar Phone System (Christopher George) Pager and Pager Network (Curtis E. Reid) 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: chui@netcom.com (Cedric Hui) Subject: China Eyes Cellular Market Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 06:30:03 GMT While Baby Bells eye the wireless market by join forces to create new ventures here, companies on the other side of the globe follow suit: BEIJING (AP) -- Eight Chinese makers of cellular phones plan to set up a joint company next month to compete with foreign manufacturers, an official newspaper said Sunday. The China Daily's Business Weekly said the new Jinfeng Telecommunications Co. will seek to seize market share from Motorola Inc. of the United States and Ericsson Telecom AB. Those two companies dominate China's market in hardware and switching equipment respectively, the newspaper said. Portable phones and pagers have become a status symbol among the new class of well-to-do Chinese created by the country's market-style reforms. China will have around 1.2 million cellular phone owners and ten million pager users by the end of this year, the China Daily said. The report didn't say how the products planned by Jinfeng would differ from those currently manufactured separately by the eight companies. It quoted Guo Youlu, an official at the Ministry of the Electronics Industry, as saying the new company expects annual revenues of ten billion yuan ($1.15 billion) by the year 2000. China's government has sought to build up domestic high-technology industries, sometimes with a coordinated strategy to limit the penetration of foreign producers. Last week, the government called for China to produce more than 90 percent of its automotive needs by 2000. The government already limits car imports with tariffs and licenses. In another news ... BONN, July 4 (Reuter) - Germany agreed on Monday to help China modernise its transport and telecommunications networks in a deal that could eventually produce billions of dollars in orders for Western companies. At the start of a five-day visit by a Chinese delegation, Prime Minister Li Peng and Chancellor Helmut Kohl set up a coordinating committee of government and business representatives to examine specific projects. "The chancellor confirmed that the German government was prepared to support the modernisation of the Chinese economy and the safeguarding of the policy of reform by increasing cooperation, encouraging direct German investment and expanding companies' cooperation with the People's Republic of China," Kohl's spokesman Dieter Vogel said in a statement. Horst Teltschik, a board member of luxury carmaker BMW and Kohl's former top former foreign policy adviser, will chair the committee along with China's deputy planning chief Ye Qing. Teltschik said four projects would be considered over the next 18 months: -- a 2,000-km (1,240 mile) rail and ferry link between the port of Dalian in northern China to Shanghai, which would later be extended to the southern province of Hainan; -- a 600 km (330 mile) rail link from the coalfields south of Peking to Huanghua; -- a new transport and communications infrastructure in the Huangshan region; -- a new international airport in the Pudong special economic zone near Shanghai. China estimates that if the projects are implemented as part of its economic planning up to 2010, they would have a value of around $5 billion, but German officials said the figure would be much higher. "An initiative like this has never been known until today, either nationally or internationally," Teltschik said. If the projects went ahead, they could also serve as a model for Germany. "We have so far not succeeded in Germany in organising, let alone implementing, the sensible integration of different forms of transport," he said in a statement. German electronics giant Siemens AG signed a contract on Monday setting up a joint venture in China to build and operate a coal-fired power station in Hanfeng at a total cost of around $1 billion. Siemens will have a 40 percent stake. The company said it also expected to agree other lucrative Chinese deals involving equipment for steel mills, telephone exchanges and other manufacturing joint ventures, but hailed the power station agreement as a milestone. "After operating successfully in the country's telecommunications, medical technology, plant construction and railway technology for years, the breakthrough in power plant technology that we have now achieved is a particularly important step," management board chairman Heinrich von Pierer said. Nine German companies are on the new coordinating committee: -- BMW, Siemens, ASEA Brown Boveri, Daimler Benz, Lufthansa, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom and Thyssen. Teltschik said the firms hoped they would be well placed to win Chinese orders if the projects go ahead. The two governments also set up a railways working group which will concentrate on building a high-speed rail link between Peking and Shanghai and signed a financial cooperation agreement worth 192 million marks ($120 million). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jul 1994 03:59:07 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: A New Obnoxious Telecommunications Patent Begin forwarded message: Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 08:58:04 -0400 From: srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) To: patents@world.std.com Subject: NEWS: A new obnoxious telecommunications patent OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just when you thought that telephone calling couldn't get any worse (due to annoying phone mail systems, and other such "breakthroughs"), along comes some technology that automatically switches your phone call, when it encounters a busy signal, to a node that provides advertising to listen to until the person you are calling is through, when it completes the connection. Having to listen to phone Muzak is bad enough while waiting, but now we have to listen to advertising? OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service (for subscription info, send 'help' to patents@world.std.com) (for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to patents@world.std.com) US PAT NO: 5,321,740 [IMAGE AVAILABLE] ANS: 1 DATE ISSUED: Jun. 14, 1994 TITLE: Telephone marketing system INVENTOR: Mark R. Gregorek, Mahwah, NJ Jeffrey C. Dillow, Sparta, NJ ASSIGNEE: Quantum Systems, Inc., Mahwah, NJ (U.S. corp.) APPL-NO: 07/718,080 DATE FILED: Jun. 20, 1991 ART-UNIT: 261 PRIM-EXMR: Thomas W. Brown LEGAL-REP: Panitch, Schwarze, Jacobs & Nadel ABSTRACT: A marketing system selectively modifies an existing telephone network by modifying a portion of the call processing software of the existing telephone network and by replacing at least a portion of an audible call progress signal generated by the telephone network by a prerecorded announcement. A calling party places a telephone call at a first telephone to a second telephone having a particular calling status. Once the call is made, a switch or an associated network signaling system determines the busy/idle status of the second telephone. In place of the usual ringback or busy signal, an announcement indicates to the calling party the status of the second telephone and a series of announcements are played for a predetermined period of time. During the announcements, the system continues to determine the status of the telephone line of the second telephone. The announcements are played until the call is completed or abandoned. We claim: 1. A marketing system for selectively modifying an existing telephone network by modifying a portion of the call processing software of the existing telephone network and by replacing at least a portion of an audible call progress signal including either a busy signal or a ringback signal generated by the telephone network by a generally continuous prerecorded announcement, the system comprising: means for placing a telephone call by a calling party at a first telephone; means for connecting the telephone call to an identified called station at a second telephone having a particular calling status; means for initially determining the busy/idle status of the second telephone, said determining means thereafter checking the busy/idle status of the second telephone at predetermined intervals prior to completion of the call; means for playing at least one generally continuous announcement to the calling party for a predetermined period of time during a time period when an audible call progress signal would have been provided to the calling party, said playing means determining the announcement to play based upon criteria established exclusively by the marketing system and independently of the identity of the called station; and means for terminating the playing of the announcement and completing the call to the called station, in the case of the second telephone having an initial idle status, said announcement terminating and call completing means completing the call when the second telephone is answered and, in the case of the second telephone having an initial busy status, said announcement terminating and call completing means completing the call when the status of the second telephone changes to an idle status and the second telephone is thereafter answered. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Too bad the folks reading the Patents mailing list are just finding out about this. We discussed it briefly here in TELECOM Digest about two or three years ago. I believe some long distance carriers may have already experimented with it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: GRIDE@UCSVAX.UCS.UMASS.EDU (ANDREW S GELINA) Subject: Has Anyone Tried the New Voice Mail Modems? Date: 14 Jul 1994 00:48:38 GMT Organization: University of Massachusetts at Amherst Does anyone, with a Macintosh particuliarly, have any experience with Voice Mail modems and software? How well do they perform? Are they a comparable personal version of commercial services? If anyone has any feedback, especially on FaxMac (?) VM software by Prometheus, please reply. I would also be curious to see how well the IBM versions worked. Can you have two modems running different versions of the same application, using two different COM ports, but the same messaging database? In other words, a two line version of the Voice Mail system? I asked some of the techs at Prometheus if they had ever tried this and they said they had never thought of it. Have any of you? Andrew ------------------------------ From: Lubos.Elias@uakom.sk (Lubos Elias) Subject: IP Over Cable TV Date: 14 Jul 1994 10:37:50 GMT Organization: UAKOM Banska Bystrica Hi, I am looking for information about possibility to provide IP service over cable TV wires. Are there any products? Thanks, Lubos Elias elias@uakom.sk ------------------------------ From: jbessell@mad.adelaide.edu.au (Justin Bessell) Subject: An Australian Modem in Germany? Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 17:30:50 GMT Organization: Department of Surgery, University of Adelaide Hi, I have a Hayes compatible 14.4 fax/modem which I use on the Australian phone system. Can anyone tell me if, and how I might get this to work on the European phone network. I am planning to visit Germany for three to six months next year and will be powerless without communications ability. Justin Bessell jbessell@medicine.adelaide.edu.au ------------------------------ From: dalk@login.dkuug.dk (Lars Kalsen) Subject: Mobile Communications Date: 14 Jul 94 08:50:11 GMT Organization: DKnet Hi - outthere, I am writing on a book (in Danish) about Mobile Communications. For this I need a lot of inspiration and a good feeling of what is going on in the area. The book will include the following subjects: - Analog mobile telephony (PMR, Cellular) - Digital Mobile Telephony (PMR, cellular) especially GSM. - Paging including ERMES. - Cordless Telephones including DECT. - Mobile Satellite Communications - Mobile Datatransmission - Wireless LAN's - Future Trends If you have any informations about: - articles, overviews or documents of interest - ongoing projects using mobile communications - technologies in the area - Internet sites with information. then please send a copy of the information to me -- either by ordinary mail or by E-mail. (You can also fax them to me -- my fax number is the same as my telephone number, so just call me and tell me that a fax is on the way -- then I will switch on my fax machine -- or if it fails first time because I pick up the telephone -- just send it again and I will know that it is a fax). Thank you very much. Greeting from Denmark, Lars Kalsen Kingosvej 5 D 9490 Pandrup Denmark Tel. (and fax) : +45 98 24 65 02 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 19:04:38 -0400 From: gehringe@eos.ncsu.edu Subject: Long Distance Telemarketers To get rid of junk calls ... -- --- --- -- ---- ----- You can join an organization called Private Citizen, Inc., P. O. Box 233, Naperville, IL 60566, (708) 393-1555. It costs $20 to join. They send a directory "twice a year to every firm that we believe to be involved in the Junk Call Industry [sic] (including firms that sell private information about you to telemarketers). The communication basically says that you demand a $100 fee for each junk call you get. Their brochure quotes the {Wall Street Journal} (among others), as saying, "Their [Private Citizen's] strategy is michievous, ruthless, and surprisingly effective." Since I joined about two years ago, I've received only about three telemarketing calls. However, during that time, I've received dozens of phone calls asking for donations to this and that cause, so apparently it only works for organizations who give you back something for the money you send them. Ed Gehringer, Dept. ECE & CSC, North Carolina State Univ. efg@ncsu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We've discussed 'Private Citizen' here in the past. The fellow operating the organization started it several years ago, and among other times, a couple years ago here in the Digest we had a rather detailed account of how it operates. The reason his plan cannot be of assistance where calls from political and charitable organizations is concerned (it only is effective with commercial sales pitches) has to do in part -- maybe mostly -- with court rulings regarding the freedom of speech issues involved where politicians are concerned. Take for example the laws in some states which prohibit the use of autodialers to make sales pitches: charitable, religious and political organizations are specifically exempt from compliance. *They* can use such devices. I think also newspaper solicitors may be exempt from the ban on autodialers where such bans exist. Again, the exceptions are based on First Amendment issues where the callers and called parties are concerned. The distinction is made where 'commercial speech' is concerned. I think when 'Private Citizen' attempted to collect money on behalf of its subscribers where a political action group was concerned (making phone calls to everyone they could), they lost the case for the above reasons. Generally though, as the {Wall Street Journal} pointed out, it is an effective outfit. PAT] ------------------------------ From: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck) Subject: External Modems That Talk FAX Date: 13 Jul 1994 23:21:15 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group I need the address (e-mail or snail-mail) or phone numbers for companies that manufacture or sell external modems that can recieve and send Group 3 Facsimilies (FAX). Can anyone help me out?? Dan DeClerck EMAIL: declrckd@rtsg.mot.com Motorola Cellular APD Phone: (708) 632-4596 ------------------------------ From: bmaltz@euclid.com (Bruce Maltz) Subject: Public Payphones Organization: CNS On-line Services (800-592-1240 customer service) Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 05:32:06 GMT Anyone know where I can get a list of Public Payphones in the US? Bruce [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Huh??? You want a list of all the payphones everywhere, such as their phone number, the street corner they are located on, etc? I don't think there is any such list unless I am somehow misunderstanding what you are seeking. Maybe you can explain further or better describe what it is you are seeking to find. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jul 1994 12:25:01 +0500 From: tro@partech.com (Tom Olin) Subject: Wanted: Internet Access from a Rural Exchange If the subject line looks familiar, it's because I made essentially the same query last fall. My previous Internet service provider, Speedway, appears to be MIA and shows no signs of reappearing any time soon. So, here I am again. I want to find a reliable, relatively low-cost Internet service provider that provides PPP or SLIP access. Unfortunately, my home is located in a small exchange (315-861) that is long distance to everywhere that's anywhere. Thus, I don't have local access to all the usual major providers. Since I will have to pay long distance, I'd prefer not to have to pay for a host account on top of that. I realize that Freenets and similar systems generally don't provide PPP or SLIP, so my choices are few. That's why Speedway was perfect for me. They were free, but they could be reached only by AT&T long distance. They made their money by getting a cut of the LD charges. I've heard rumors of providers with similar set-ups, but I've never been able to find any. Any leads or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll be glad to summarize if there is sufficient interest. Tom Olin PAR Technology Corporation Voice: +1 315 738 0600 Ext 638 tro@partech.com New Hartford, NY Fax: +1 315 738 8304 ------------------------------ From: at5021s@acad.drake.edu Subject: Interactive Telecommunications? Date: 14 Jul 94 23:47:37 CST Organization: Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa I'm looking for info on where I can get a grad degree in the field of "Interactive Telecommunications" or related (such as Multimedia). Does any anyone out here have any ideas as to where I can go to find such information or even schools that offer such programs? Can anyone tell me what "interactive telecommunications" really is? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! (Please reply directly via e-mail if possile.) Al. (AWT001@ACAD.DRAKE.EDU) ------------------------------ From: atiwan@nwg.nectec.or.th (Atiwan Prakobsantisukh) Subject: Networld/Interop'94 in Atlanta Date: 15 Jul 1994 16:09:08 -0700 Organization: Academic and research support host at NECTEC, Bangkok, THAILAND Does anyone have any details about the program they could share with me? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 02:46:16 EDT From: Grigoryants G.A. Reply-To: Grigoryants G.A. Subject: Wanted names of ISDN/ATM/FDDI Books Hello! We are students from Moscow State University. Could you be so kind to advise some books about ISDN, ATM, with detailed information about Virtual Circuits and books about FDDI. Please be so kind as to mail us information; we do not have means to subscribe to newsgroup. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: cgeorge@netcom.com (Christopher George) Subject: SALE: Northern Telecom Norstar Phone System Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 13:55:20 GMT FOR SALE: Northern Telecom Norstar Digital Phone System Includes: 1 Norstar DR5 6 Line Expandable CPU/Software Unit. 3 Black M7208 Programmable Multi-line Phones. 1 Analog Convertor (for answering machine or fax modem). Complete User and Programming Documentation. The CPU/Software Unit has built in expandablity for additional lines and phones. It is perfect for any small business or startup. Features include: conference calling inter-office paging call forwarding caller ID speed dial call log recording voice mail compatable plus many many more... Purchased New for $2,660.00 on 4-19-93. Price $1,495 or best offer. Please email direct. Thank you, Chris George ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 1994 00:21:08 EDT From: Curtis E. Reid Subject: Pager and Pager Network PageNew York, a pager network company and is a division of Arch Communications Group, offers TDD paging service for deaf and hard of hearing customers. The TDD pager service is a dedicated TDD number that you call on a TDD. The service automatically an