From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 26 03:07:28 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id DAA14931; Thu, 26 Oct 1995 03:07:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 03:07:28 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199510260707.DAA14931@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: telecom-recent Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #451 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 95 02:30:00 EDT Volume 15 : Issue 451 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ITA Scam is a Done Deal (Tom Crofford) Re: How to Make Dial-Up Stay Up as Long as Possible (Richard Neveau) Cellular Phone Caller ID (Colin A. Johnson) Email Over the Telephone? (Paul Dixon) Area Code Authoritative List (Bruce Pinsky) I Need Help Finding Cellular Modems (Michael A. Manzelli) A WWW Usenet Newsgroups Archive System on Internet (Gang Cheng) Looking For Business Partner(s) in China (Zhenjun Zhu) CDPD and Ardis (Greg Baxter) Subject/Author Index Now Updated (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available 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: 500-677-1616 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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, 25 Oct 1995 16:28:51 -0500 From: tomc@xeta.com (Tom Crofford) Subject: ITA Scam is a Done Deal I posted a message a couple of months ago about how an ITA company billed me for two months of "voicemail" on my SBC telephone bill. I contacted SBC and ITA. SBC told me they could refuse the billing, but ITA would probably turn my account over to a collection agency. ITA said I had subscribed to a personal ad/voicemail service by calling an 800 number. Needless to say, I did not do this. In this case, ITA was the billing agent for an Absolute Communications (based in NYC). Absolute Communications can be reached via U.S. Mail only. They apparently do not have telephones. ITA removed the second month's billing when I called, but refused to remove the first month's billing. I contacted my Senator, Don Nickles, and asked for his assistance. He corresponded with the FCC. SBC also sent me a couple of letters and offered again to stop payment. SBC also contacted ITA on my behalf. Today SBC called me at the office and told me ITA had removed the first month's billing from my account. Reba at SBC told me ITA had apparently just received the FCC's inquiry. This is the first time any company has attempted to rip me off personally on my telephone bill. As a telecom professional, these practices tremedously insult me. As I told Don Nickles, I hope Congress can find a way to eliminate these ridiculous practices without adversely affecting the freedoms that make U.S. telecom and the Internet so powerful. Tom Crofford tomc@xeta.com 918-664-6876 fax [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We have discussed Absolute Telecom here in the past. They are also very fond of advertising 800 number for hot chats and being very casual about mentioning in the introductory message how much it will cost. Their billing goes through Integratel for that part of it. We printed their address here, and also an 800 number for them in New York. I agree though the phone number was a joke; the line was *always* answered by a malfunctioning answering machine with no outgoing message on it. They never returned any calls either. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Richard Neveau Subject: Re: How to Make Dial-Up Stay Up as Long as Possible Date: 25 Oct 1995 22:03:44 GMT Organization: DSC Communications In Dallas at least you can pay for "dedicated" dial-up. You are the only one with the number and it is EXPECTED you will be on 24hrs x 7days. You can even get dedicated single IP OR dedicated LAN (a network on your end). Of course 28.8 or ISDN. Even low priority on the 2nd B channel of ISDN so you only get the 128K when ISP is not 'busy'. I would hate to have to deal with the telco's and get a real dedicated line if I was in a hurry to get 'on-line' !! In most parts of the country it seems ISP's could use a little more competition. In Dallas we have enough of a real free market that you can get just about any flavor hookup you need. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Who are the other telecom companies operating there? PAT] ------------------------------ From: colinaj@ix.netcom.com (Colin A. Johnson ) Subject: Cellular Phone Caller ID Date: 25 Oct 1995 23:05:15 GMT Organization: Netcom I am trying to find out how caller ID works on cellular phones. I have been getting the ignore message when I call people with call blocking on. When I called AT&T wireless services they said that I need to start my calls with *82 and then the number. Is there a way to get caller ID to show up on my phone display when people are calling my cellular phone? Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Colin ------------------------------ Date: 25 Oct 95 17:08:32 -0700 From: PDIXON.US.ORACLE.COM Subject: Email Over the Telephone? Does anyone know of a service that will read email messages over the telephone? I had a hack worked out with MobilComm text paging, but it was too expensive. Paul [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interestingly enough, ATT Mail did this quite a few years ago when they first opened that service to the public. ATT Mail was around for awhile previously as an employee-only thing, and I guess in the late 1980's it 'went public'. One of the things I liked about it when I was using it back then was that you could call from any phone and have your mail read to you by a synthesized voice. I do not know if they are still offering that feature or not. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bpinsky@cisco.com (Bruce Pinsky) Subject: Area Code Authoritative List Date: 26 Oct 1995 00:28:34 GMT Organization: Cisco Systems, Inc. Reply-To: bpinsky@cisco.com I've searched the archives and I've searched at Bellcore. Is there any authoritative, up to date list of all the North American area codes? Thanks, Bruce Pinsky Cisco Systems, Inc. + Sr. Internetwork Supt Engr+ 170 West Tasman Drive + Phone: (408) 526-8874 + San Jose, CA 95134 + Fax: (408) 526-8787 + Cisco Systems Inc. + E-mail: bep@cisco.com + [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, area codes are a hard thing to keep up with these days. There is a file in the archives with areacodes which is out of date (and any day it gets updated it seems to be out of date a week or so later!) and there is a feature of the Telecom Archives Email Information Service called AREACODE which will return the geographic location of an area code based on the input given. It too is out of date ... perhaps one of our regulars who works on this from time to time -- I am thinking of Carl Moore, because it really is his baliwick -- will fetch the copy now in the archives and send it along to me with as many corrections and updates as he can think of. It would be good to have an updated table there. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sfd48@ix.netcom.com (Michael A. Manzelli) Subject: I Need Help Finding Cellular Modems Date: 26 Oct 1995 01:24:34 GMT Organization: Netcom I own a small communications buisness that deals with many Fire Dept. and Hazardous Materials units. I have been receiving many requests for Cellular Fax Machines and cellular PCMIA cards. My problem is that none of my suppliers carry this item, nor know where to get them. I look forward to any information any one can give to me. SFD48@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: Gang Cheng Subject: A WWW Usenet Newsgroups Archive System on Internet Date: 25 Oct 1995 23:10:47 GMT Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, USA We at Northeast Parallel Architecture Center (NPAC), Syracue University have developed an archive system for searching/reading USENET newsgroups, mailing lists and personal mailbox from WWW. An Oracle database server is used to store/manage mails and two search/navigation interfaces accesible by any WWW browser to the archive are provided: one is an advanced search interface allowing queries with various options such as query by mail header, by date, by subject (keywords), by sender. The other is a Hypermail-like navigation interface for users familiar with Hypermail. We offer free access to this archive for the Internet community. Check the URL: or . The whole archive is automatically updated in every 30 minutes. Currently the following newsgroups (total 67) are archived in the database, including this newsgroup/mailing-group: (..) shows the current total number of mails archived in the database alt.comp.compression (46) comp.ai (375) comp.ai.neural-nets (152) comp.ai.philosophy (464) comp.arch (549) comp.benchmarks (202) comp.compression (388) comp.compression.research (28) comp.databases (704) comp.databases.object (181) comp.databases.oracle (2461) comp.dcom.cell-relay (175) comp.dcom.frame-relay (149) comp.dcom.isdn (929) comp.dcom.lans.fddi (55) comp.dcom.lans.misc (71) comp.dcom.net-management (96) comp.dcom.servers (98) comp.dcom.sys.cisco (898) comp.dcom.telecom (380) comp.dcom.videoconf (149) comp.graphics.visualization (139) comp.infosystems (93) comp.infosystems.gis (406) comp.infosystems.www.advocacy (247) comp.infosystems.www.announce (869) comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi (1647) comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html (3995) comp.infosystems.www.authoring.images (679) comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc (634) comp.infosystems.www.browsers.mac (681) comp.infosystems.www.browsers.misc (577) comp.infosystems.www.browsers.ms-windows (2095) comp.infosystems.www.browsers.x (467) comp.infosystems.www.misc (1157) comp.infosystems.www.servers.mac (256) comp.infosystems.www.servers.misc (209) comp.infosystems.www.servers.ms-windows (602) comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix (724) comp.lang.basic.visual.database (601) comp.lang.basic.visual.misc (2474) comp.lang.c++ (3764) comp.lang.java (1850) comp.lang.oberon (170) comp.lang.perl.announce (27) comp.lang.perl.misc (1702) comp.lang.rexx (265) comp.multimedia (1202) comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc (1546) comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools (493) comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32 (1163) comp.os.ms-windows.setup (608) comp.parallel (80) comp.parallel.mpi (41) comp.parallel.pvm (103) comp.protocols.tcp-ip (358) comp.security.misc (515) comp.software-eng (459) comp.sources.unix (8) comp.sys.sgi.graphics (188) comp.sys.sun.admin (948) comp.unix.admin (837) comp.unix.aix (1261) comp.unix.misc (337) comp.unix.programmer (658) comp.unix.solaris (1881) syr.general (218) The following mailing lists (total 8) are archived: hotjava-interest (mailing-list) (788) java-announce (mailing-list) (8) java-interest (mailing-list) (1479) java-porting (mailing-list) (279) perldb-interest (mailing-list) (173) sp-discussion (mailing-list) (51) win95-l@peach.ease.lsoft.com (mailing-list) (507) www-vrml (mailing-list) (3235) This system is still under development and more functions are planned to add to this system. Please send your comments to: Gang Cheng (gcheng@npac.syr.edu). Thanks, Gang ------------------------------ From: zhuz@qucis.queensu.ca (Zhenjun Zhu) Subject: Looking For Business Partner(s) in China Date: 26 Oct 1995 03:40:02 GMT Organization: Computing & Information Science, Queen's University A telecommunication and cable TV company in a booming area of Shanghai-Pudong Area, China is seeking joint venture relationship with one or a few North-America or European companies. This company has been a leader in providing cities and towns of China with cable television services. Its objectives are: o Building the infrastructure to facilitate the provision of services, including cable TV, and data and voice communication. o Providing complete networking solutions to the customers in the booming area of Pudong and Shanghai. There will be large number of domestic and foreign businesses opening in the next 10-20 year and the market for data and voice communication services is huge. o Promoting the advances in the telecommunication and computer communication technologies in China, in both hardware and software. The joint venture partner can help the Chinese partner in making more technological progress, standardizing the products and services. It is also expected that the foreign partner(s) make investments into the joint venture in forms of equipments and technology. As one of the benefits, the foreign partner will get an entrance into the huge Chinese market and get the help from Chinese partner in aspects which require dealing with Chinese legal, financial and other government agencies in order to run a business. There are huge potential market for companies which are seriously looking at the China market. If your company is interested in discussing this issue in further details, or obtain more information, please contact Zhenjun Zhu E-mail: zhuz@qucis.queensu.ca Mail address: 13-302 15 MacPherson Ave. Kingston, Ontario Canada K7M 2W8 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am told phone service in China is expanding and growing at an incredible pace. Is that correct? PAT] ------------------------------ From: gregbaxter@aol.com (GregBaxter) Subject: CDPD and Ardis Date: 26 Oct 1995 00:52:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: gregbaxter@aol.com (GregBaxter) Where is a good place to start... We need to send packet data over RF to remote non-wire laptops. Cellular cdpd and Motorola's Ardis comes to mind I guess. We want to place this data on laptops fed from a Unix server. Any ideas? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 01:41:20 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Subject: Subject/Author Index Now Updated The subject/author index for this Digest has been updated as of October 25 to include all issues through 450. You may wish to pick up a copy in the Archives for future reference. You should also note that the SEARCH command in the Telecom Archives Email Information Service uses this index, along with the previous indexes for volumes 9-14. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #451 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Oct 26 23:21:58 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA17258; Thu, 26 Oct 1995 23:21:58 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 23:21:58 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199510270321.XAA17258@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: telecom-recent Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #452 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 95 21:59:00 EDT Volume 15 : Issue 452 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telephone Nostalgia and Old-Time-Radio (Mark J. Cuccia) "Networking Personal Computers With TCP/IP" by Hunt (Rob Slade) Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner (Brian C. Shensky) USWEST Files For ISDN Tariff to Be Set in Utah (Vince Hadley) Phone Service in China (Hao Shen) Frontier Telecom Experiences? (Randolph Fritz) Digest is Now Encrypted on Usenet (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available 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: 500-677-1616 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Telephone Nostalgia and Old-Time-Radio Date: 25 Oct 1995 15:12:44 GMT Organization: Tulane University Just a bit more of old exchange names and telephone numbers used on an old radio drama -- for those interested in nostalgia. Last night I heard an episode of "Nightbeat" starring Frank Lovejoy on the weeknight WHEN RADIO WAS, a syndicated Old-Time-Radio program. The episode originally aired in July 1950 and was entitled `The City at Your Fingertips'. In the series Nightbeat (NBC Radio, early 50's), Frank Lovejoy played a newspaper reporter who specialzed in crime and murder stories. I don't remember offhand where the series took place -- whether it was Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, etc., but the actual production of the radio program was from Hollywood, of course. In the episode `The City at Your Fingertips', Frank Lovejoy was a bit bored and thought about 'doodling' with the telephone. He mentioned that there were some six million possible telephone number combinations of a seven digit local number. (Actually that is or was not *exactly* correct and will be explained later). He just picked up the telephone and randomly dialed a seven digit number. Of course we know that this *could* be considered a form of harassment, but he reached some woman who was locked in her estranged husband's studio apartment. She told him that her husband was mentally sick and had left her locked in there and would probably return to kill her. She had tried to call her husband's doctor but the answering service said that he was out and would check in occasionally that evening. Since Frank Lovejoy was playing the part of a newspaper reporter in this series, this type of situation was right up his alley. He tried to get her to determine the exact location of where she was, but she didn't exactly know. He did give her his phone number (BUtterfield exchange), but since he dialed her randomly, he didn't have her's, and forgot to ask her the number. He did get the telephone number of her husband's doctor, and he kept getting the answering service everytime he called. Other exchange names used were ANdover, EDgewater, RAndolph, and even MEridien for the time-of-day recording. One interesting thing -- at one point, Frank Lovejoy calls the operator and asks how to call the Police. The operator told him to dial `211'. Many larger cities used 211 to call for a Long Distance operator. The use of 911 as a standard code for Emergencies didn't come around until 1966 or 67. The operator did say that she could ring the Police directly, though. Throughout the drama, Frank Lovejoy kept getting several incoming calls -- from his editor and from a drunk! He called the operator and asked if it was possible for the Operator to block out incoming calls except from the Police, the doctor, and the woman. The Operator said that they could only block incoming *Long-Distance* calls (since at that time Long Distance comming into his city would still be manually handled at a toll board). Local calls were handled by automatic dial equipment and the operator had no control over blocking out incoming local calls. And there was no such thing as Call-Waiting or Caller-ID back in 1950. I enjoyed hearing the grinding and clickity-click of the old style metal rotary dials -- the older style of bells ringing -- and the sound-effects of and *older* dialtone, busy, ring indication, etc. Frank Lovejoy was going frantic waiting for the desperate woman to call him back -- or get a call from her husband's doctor -- but he still kept getting calls from this drunk. And he was also on the phone trying to inform the Police about the situation, however he randomly dialed the woman on the phone -- and didn't ask her for her number. There was no way he could give the Police the number! Well, eventually the receptionist for the answering-service of the woman's husband's doctor called and said that she got through to the doctor who knew where the woman actually was -- and that the husband had been taken off to a hospital or asylum -- and that the woman was safe but under sedation. Frank Lovejoy asked why they hadn't called earlier -- and was told by the answering service receptionist "Well, I've *been* calling you but *your* line has been busy!" In many ways, this radio drama reminded me of another one -- Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry Wrong Number" which was performed several times on CBS Radio's "Suspense" series back in the 1940's and 50's, starring Agnes Moorehead. (Barbara Stanwick did the movie -- including the Lux Radio Theater performance of the movie version). And, of course, this was in 1950 -- back when there was electromechanical switching technology in place. While automated long distance switching was just in its first stages for full nationwide service, most toll and long-distance calls were still handled by operators. And the actual number of possible seven digit combinations was *really* 5,400,000 back in 1950. Most locations using two-letter exchange names did *not* use any names/letters from the 55, 57, 95, or 97 combinations. San Francisco *did* have the KLondike exchange name used back then, but that was probably one of the few places that did use 55x for any local exchanges. Most exchange name locations also did *not* use `0' as a third digit, as it could have been confused with the letter `O' which is really the numeral `6'. There are eight numbers on the dial with letters (I don't think any areas ever used the letter `Z' for significant letters of dialable exchange names -- and not all dials back then had Z with the 0/Operator hole on the dial). You multiply 8x8 and get 64 possible combinations -- subtract out 4 (the 55, 57, 95, 97) and then multiply 60 by 9 (for the third digit) and get a possible 540 three-digit exchanges available in a large city or areacode. Multiply 10,000 possible line-number comibinations within a central office code with 540 possible codes/exchanges, and you get 5,400,000 -- not six million. When exchange names were dropped -- but before N0X and N1X exchanges were introduced -- you could have 64 possible `NN' exchange combinations -- and possible number of exchanges was 640 (if you include such special ones as 950, 555, 976, 958, 959, 970, etc), which means 6,400,000 possible numbers. When N0X and N1X codes are introduced, you get a possible 800 codes- but in practice they normally don't use the N11 codes, so you get 792 codes and 7,920,000 possible numbers. And if Frank Lovejoy was just `doodling' around with the telephone -- I wonder what he would have got if he had dialed an N1X or N0X code or began something with a `1'. It is possible that it could have been 'ignored' by the switch (absorbed), or it could have been a 11X service code used in some areas. And then again, he might have dialed `0' as his first digit and cut through to the operator right away, regardless of whatever followed- 0+ dialing didn't exist in 1950, neither! How far we have come since 1950- But right now, I'm looking at my BLACK rotary dial (metal dial) Western Electric 500 deskset on my desk -- with the number card stating "UNiversity 5-5000, EXT.5954" MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@law.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 13:39:44 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Networking Personal Computers With TCP/IP" by Hunt BKNPCTCP.RVW 950725 "Networking Personal Computers with TCP/IP", Craig Hunt, 1995, 1-56592-123-2, U$29.95 %A Craig Hunt %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1995 %G 1-56592-123-2 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$29.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %P 408 %T "Networking Personal Computers with TCP/IP" Most computer users work on PCs. Personal computers are cheap and widely available, with a variety of support resources (not the least of which is the guy-next-door-down-but-two). Some computer professionals, however, would make the case that PCs are not "real" computers: PCs have much more in common with consumer goods than information technology. There is a very real gap between those who use internetworks and workstations, on the one hand, and those who use PCs, on the other. The very concept of a network is one of the distinctions. To computer professionals, a network is a system of different communications links which allow computers to exchange data and distribute processing tasks. To a PC user, a network is a wire-that-runs-around-the-office-and- we-all-share-a-printer. It's no wonder the two sides don't communicate. Hunt's book is primarily aimed at network administrators for larger systems who are beginning to integrate PCs into the structure. There are some very helpful tips about Intel/BIOS/ISA hardware, operating system(s), and utilities. DOS, Windows, Windows 95 and NT systems, and TCP/IP implementations are addressed. Email, file, and print services are covered. There is even a chapter devoted to the integration of NetWare and TCP/IP. Among the appendices, a list of vendors and texts is particularly helpful. The book assumes a technical background, but no specific knowledge of the PC itself. The material is generally quite clear, however, and those familiar with personal computers may also find this a very helpful introduction to some of the concepts and activities in the wider computing world. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKNPCTCP.RVW 950725. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest. ROBERTS@decus.ca rslade@cln.etc.bc.ca rslade@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca "If you do buy a computer, don't turn it on." - Richards' 2nd Law of Security Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0 ------------------------------ From: shensky@umd.umich.edu (Brian C. Shensky) Subject: Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner Date: 26 Oct 1995 17:56:03 GMT Organization: University of Michigan I have noticed that connecting the fax machine directly to the Fax/modem does not supply the line voltage necessary to send the data over the line. So what does one do? Easy: steal the voltage from your existing line. What I do is take a third phone off the hook and wait for it to go "dead": past the initial dialtone, past the "please hang up" recording, and finally, past the grinding hang-up-the-goddam-phone blaze tone. Eventually, the line goes dead, while voltage is still being passed through the line. Now you can send from the fax to the PC all on a single line. Make sense? Brian SHENSKYbrian 313.454.9603 (home) shensky@umich.edu (email) 313.780.3213 (page) http://www.umich.edu/~shensky (www) ------------------------------ From: vhadley@ee.utah.edu (Vince Hadley) Subject: USWEST Files for ISDN Tariff to be Set in UTAH Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 18:30:15 GMT Organization: University of Utah Computer Center USWEST will be filing for a tariff to be set for ISDN service possibly by the end of October (in the next few days). Estimates have it that they will be asking for possibly $70+ for Basic rate service. They are also planning to increase the already expensive commercial rates by 45%! Other telecoms in other states have it much lower ... around $25-35 per month. And added to that there is no gaurantee that you'll even see a flat rate for ISDN but a measured service as in some states like Arizona, although Colorado managed to get it set as a flat rate. After all, it is only your money ... This tariff is being filed through the Utah State Public Service Commission which acts to regulate these tariff requests. Ordinarily, there is an almost rubber stamp approval of these tariffs unless there is sufficient opposition to them. The commission will usually schedule a hearing date only a week or two after recieving the tariff being filed so there is no time to lose. In order to have any impact on these proposals you will need to request to appear before the Public Service Commission in _Writing_ in advance. These are the people the commission pays the most attention to. Their address is: Public Service Commission Heber Wells Building 160 East 300 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111 Just showing up to the hearing has little impact, comparitively speaking, although it would still help. If you want to request to appear before the commission you must write them a letter stating so, although you _may_ be able to go down to the office and sign in that you want to appear before the commission in advance of the hearing date. We need to "PACK the house" if we are going to have any effect. These tariffs have been overturned/reconsidered/investigated before, but only with _outstanding_ (overwhelming) opposition to them- so you can indeed affect the outcome. Tell (and bring) your friend/nieghbor/associate/boss. What is ISDN? In possibly over simplistic terms, ISDN is a digital rather than analog interface that you set up between your home/business and the telephone company. Through this interface, which is much more efficient than your present analog connection, you can achieve data connection rates up to 128K when connecting to other ISDN users! This is several times faster than the fastest modems. Through this type of connection you can also continue to use the phone for voice purposes. and your normal analog modem although ISDN will begin to replace that kind of connection. Further comment by others more knowledgeable about IDSN implementation, it's use, and the other issues involved, is encouraged in order to inform others. ISDN will become widely used by almost everyone in the next few years, so this tariff affects most everyone that uses a modem now or might in the future. ------------------------------ From: hshen@gac.edu Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 12:42:57 -0500 Subject: Phone Service in China > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am told phone service in China is > expanding and growing at an incredible pace. Is that correct? PAT] That's absolutely correct! Regards, H' Hao Shen E-mail: hshen@gac.edu Student, MCS Dept. URL: http://www.gac.edu/~hshen/ Gustavus Adolphus College Voice: (507) 933 - 6184 St. Peter, MN 56082, USA FAX: (507) 933 - 6277 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've heard a lot of wild statistics tossed around on this. Some are saying new phones are being installed in China at the rate of five or six to every similar installation in the USA ... that there are more new installs there in a month than the entire USA has in six months. True or false? Any solid figures? PAT] ------------------------------ From: randolph@netcom.com (Randolph Fritz) Subject: Frontier Telecom Experiences? Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 19:14:40 GMT Having hard some thoroughly rotten customer service experiences with both ATT and MCI, I recently sat down and thoroughly researched my available long distance carriers. The choices narrowed to two: Arcata, a northwest regional carrier, and Frontier, the emerging national carrier. Unfortunately, it's hard to evaluate service quality for these firms. So I'd like to hear customer service experiences with these two firms; tell me what's good (or bad) about 'em. Randolph ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Digest is Now Encrypted on Usenet Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 20:12:00 CDT Starting with this issue of the Digest, the single messages going out to Usenet (as opposed to the larger newsletter style seen by mailing list subscribers) are using a form of encryption to authenticate them for the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup. This authentication works with 'cancelbots', software designed to immediatly cancel messages which do *not* have the proper authentication attached. By doing this, I believe the spams and other inappropriate messages placed here will, if not cease entirely, be greatly reduced. The 'cancelbots' operate at various sites around the world and their sole task is to examine all incoming news for the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup. Seeing something that is not appropriate for the group -- meaning it does not bear my *authentic* approval, the 'bot' immediatly kills the item *and* it generates a cancel via a few very well connected sites where the cancel message is introduced almost immediatly to the news stream. I am then provided with a copy of the spam or other inappropriate item. In addition, I have aliased-out certain sites from which the majority of the spam seems to originate, and I have also taken measures to forbid those same sites from receiving the Usenet comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup feed. I don't intend to say what sites they are, but I am sure you will notice them by their absence. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #452 ****************************** TELECOM Digest Fri, 27 Oct 95 12:14:00 EDT Volume 15 : Issue 453 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Change of Address For Digest and News Group (TELECOM Digest Editor) Name and Address Authentication With LD Carrier? (L.K. Chen) Multiport Serial Solutions (Steve Winter) Call Waiting and Caller Id - Is It Actually in Place? (Scott Atwood) TCP/IP Mechanics: Document Covering TCP/IP - tcpip.zip (B. Vandecasteele) Need Information to Reduce Power Consumption on Cell Phones (Cathy Lyton) Need Help With Old Key Telco Equipment (John McClellan) Pin Out Needed For Siliconix DG508 (Dave McNeill) Pay Phone TDD Wanted (Rito Astorga) DS3 Systems Distance Learning (Richard Shelor) Directory Information in Oregon Down? (rsprang@internet.cnmw.com) Re: Reverse Engineering Voice Mail (Amos Shapira) Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives (Chris Gray) Re: AT&T's Bait and Switch Tactics (Chris Sullivan) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Doug Reuben) Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada ... (Peter M. Weiss) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at massis.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Change of Address For Digest and News Group Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:30:00 CDT Effective at this time, ALL correspondence to the Digest including editorial submissions, administrative requests, flames, spams and other correspondence should be sent to our new address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu This is also the site where the Telecom Archives is housed. Over all, it should be a great place to work from, and I think I will like it here. News admins: please change the pointers on comp.dcom.telecom at your site to reflect this change as well. ----------------------- A word of thanks to the fine people at Northwestern University who assisted me with many resources for about eight years ... your generosity was and remains greatly appreciated. PAT ------------------------------ Subject: Name and Address Authentication With LD Carrier Organization: Lunatic Haven BBS Reply-To: dreamer@mlc.awinc.com From: lkchen@mlc.awinc.com (The Dreamer) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 95 18:27:27 MST Don't Long Distance companies check to see if the person's name and address actually correspond to the actual customer and that person even wants anything to do with them? I've been getting bills from Sprint Canada, addressed to my first initial and last name at my address, for phone lines that aren't mine. They claim that that the bills came about when they aquired STN. So, I must have been an STN customer. The thing is I've never been an STN customer. I have one phone line that is with Sprint Canada, and I have it listed with my full name and address and I pay for it. I have had this line with Sprint Canada ever since competition came in. I have another line that is with fONOROLA, also have had this ever since competition started. And, again I signed up with my full name. I would've thought that you had to sign up with a full name ... but apparently 'L' is considered a full name as opposed to an initial ... my local white page listing is a single 'L' ... so its entire possible somebody decided to screw me from my white page listing. I'm the only Chen in this small city. I called Sprint Canada a couple months ago and the rep called the number that I was getting bills for, and it clearly wasn't me. So, they assured me that I could disregard these false bills and that it would be taken care of. Well, now I have a notice from a collection agency saying that Sprint Canada has filed a claim against me. It continues to be addressed to 'L Chen'. Well, I call Sprint Canada and once again they assure me that I can disregard these notices and that it will be taken care of. Other than this total lack of security and lack of action in doing something about it, I have been satisfied with my service up to this point but I think this is enough for me to go looking for a different long distance provider. Email: dreamer@lhaven.uumh.ab.ca or dreamer@mlc.awinc.com PHONE: +1 403 526 6019 FAX: +1 403 529 5102 CIS: 74200,2431 Praxis Society K12 BBS: +1 403 529 1610 Lunatic Haven: +1 403 526 6957 Packet: VE6LKC @ VE6PAQ.#SAB.AB.CAN.NA ------------------------------ From: Steve Winter <74107.210@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Multiport Serial Solutions Date: 27 Oct 1995 00:03:45 GMT Organization: compuserve.com Press Release: The STB 4COM card is now available with alternate addressing that allows up to four of the cards (16 serial ports) in one machine using Ray Gwinn's famous SIO drivers under OS/2. It also works quite well with Linux and other Unix based platforms. You can share one IRQ per card under OS/2 with Ray Gwinn's SIO drivers. A 4 port, 16bit, High Speed serial I/O card, that provides four high performance RS-232 Asynchronous Serial Communications ports, each on one separate IRQ, or allows sharing one or more IRQs. Each port INDEPENDENTLY configurable by jumpers for addresses: h3E8, h2E8, h1E8, h1A8, h3F8, h2F8, h1F8, h2A8 and for IRQs 15, 12, 11 10, 5, 4, 3, 2 * With address option You CAN use 4 4COM Cards in one machine * Address option gives h100, h108, h110, h118, h120, h128, h130, h138 There is no additional charge for alternate addressing, just ask for it. LIFETIME manufacturer's warranty & free tech support from STB. Works fine with DOS, DESQview, DV/X, Windows, and OS/2 2.+ These products are available from the following vendor: For Orders *ONLY* 1-800-SELLCOM(735-5266) Ext 9 (VISA/MASTERCARD) For Technical Questions, leasing, or outside USA call 919-286-1502 or 24 hour FAX at 919-286-4617 As seen in SysOp News, BBS Callers Digest The sun never sets on the PRIME network 919-286-2100 300-33600bps ------------------------------ From: scotta@primenet.com (Scott Atwood) Subject: Call Waiting With Caller Id - Is it Actually in Place? Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 22:13:54 MST Organization: Primenet US West in the Phoenix (AZ) area is suppose to have Call Waiting-Caller ID sometime before the end of the year ... (yeah right). I have read a few threads regarding the spec's, but all refer to the BellCore TR-NWT-000030 document. Is this spec available on the net, or libraries or does one have to shell out the $$ to receive it? I've tried to contact the local telco reps and they are of NO help. They went on to say that even they don't have a CW-Caller ID unit available for us to buy (recommended trying Radio Shack :-) ). So far I have gathered that after the CW signal is sent the caller-Id unit must [mute the handset] , send one of the [A,B,C or D] Touch Tones at which time the CO will send the Caller_ID burst. Am I even close to what is necessary? Anybody developed hardware, software to allow our fine computers to gather the info? Thanks for reading, ScottA ------------------------------ From: bvandecasteele@usr.com (Bert Vandecasteele) Subject: TCP/IP Mechanics: Document Covering TCP/IP - tcpip.zip (0/1) Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:34:18 GMT Organization: US Robotics Hi, Some time ago I decided to make up a document that describes most of the protocols from the TCP/IP suite. The whole idea was to make one document that bundles the existing RFC's, standardizations and documents and adding graphics to it. I have attached the zipped WORD 6.0 document to this message. For those who are interested, please take a look at it (you might actually read it if you want to ...). Could someone out there convert the .doc to PS and repost it to the TCP/IP newsgroups ? Please let me know where I was right/wrong, where the errors are, what should be deleted/replaced/added, and most of all: should I continue or rather give up? (also important: what about copyrights from the original documents? Can I use the documents in this way?) I hope this document can be of any help to people who want to find out about the 'mechanics' of a TCP/IP based networks. Kind regards, Bert Vandecasteele Distelstraat 4 9000 Gent Belgium Email : bvandecasteele@usr.com Fax : +33 20870404 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Bert's document is quite lenthy, and I am not sure how well it would transmit using email, so I have placed it in the Telecom Archives for review by interested persons. Look in the /technical sub-directory of the archives under the filename 'tcp/ip.specifications'. The archives is ftp'able at ftp.lcs.mit.edu. Don't forget to use type I for binary for best results. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lytan@alpha.ntu.ac.sg Subject: Need Information on Reducing Power Consumption on Cell Phones Date: 27 Oct 95 13:33:25 +0800 Organization: Nanyang Technological University - Singapore Hi, Does anyone have any ideas on how companies have tried to reduce power consumption on cellular phones? Thanks, Cathy lytan@ntuvax.ntu.ac.sg ------------------------------ From: maus@skypoint.com (John McClellan) Subject: Need Help With Old Key Telco Equipment Date: 27 Oct 1995 05:56:33 GMT Organization: SkyPoint Communications, Inc. Hi, I scavenged the following items from a building that was about to be demolished and I'm wondering what exactly this stuff is and if its worth anything anymore. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks. ------------ Several cabinets labeled: Western Electric 1A2 Key Telesystem 620 A2 Cabinet (8 slots, 8 fuses, 2 small 66-type connector blocks) (total of five of these) Each has several 400D KTU's marked as: ISS 2, 8,10,12,14,15 also three 400G CO/PBX Line Ckts. ------------ Cabinet #1 (big) Tellabs 262 PO-6 6ckt NCTE assy w/power with: Rockwell Wescom 4112-11 Data Channel Interface 7305-45 4417A Data Channel Termination (3 empty slots) ------------ Cabinet #2 (small) Tellabs 262 UPO-2 universal ntwk terminating assy. with 2 cards ------------- Cabinet #3 (big) Tellabs 262 UPO-9 universal network term module with: five - 6044 Network Term. Modules one - Wescom 7305-45 Data Chan Interface two - Wescom 4112-11 Data Chan Interface ISS2 8001 power supply 66 Block connector ------------- Cabinet #4 (small) Western Electric DAS 829 ALIA series 5 44A2 Data Mtg -------------- T-105 Power Unit Tone Commander Thanks, Maus [TLEECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would say you have yourself an interesting phone system, considering you got it all for free. I hope you can get it to work. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@davemac.demon.co.uk Subject: Pin Out Needed For Siliconix DG508 Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 13:11:27 GMT I need the pin-out information for a Siliconix DG508 analogue multiplexer. Any clues? dave mcneill ------------------------------ From: Rito Astorga Organization: Our Lady of the Lake University Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 10:02:28 CDT Subject: Pay Phone TDD Dear Sir, I've always seen you help out alot of people with equipment they need or need to know about. Well hopefully you can help me out, I'm trying to locate a TDD that can be used on a pay phone. Either new or used, what I understand it can be a booth or compact. I got a $1300 dollar price on a booth (half booth if you will) and a $280 dollar price on a compact from Graybar, and we as a poor university cannot afford such high prices. Hopefully you can me out, Thank you in advance! Keep up the good work! RITO J. ASTORGA (210) 431-3999 Our Lady of the Lake University Telecom System Manager Here's to number "7"... thanks for the memories Mickey! 1942-1995 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Anyone have any suggestions for Rito? I imagine this would be for use by students at their school. Part of the reason Rito says 'dear sir, I have seen YOU help out, etc' is because the real helpers are those of you who read the Digest. Please see what can be done. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Richard Shelor Subject: DS3 Systems Distance Learning Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:00:39 -0400 Organization: Delaware Technical & Community College If there is anyone out there that has experience with Bell Atlantic Distance Learning equipment I would truly be thankful for any guidance regarding technical info with respect to the operation of DS3 fiber Optic Distance Learning Systems. I am also interested in any tech manuals of the new version that would contain this type of info. Thanks, rshelor@outland.dtcc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 95 00:49:32 EST From: rsprang Subject: Directory Information in Oregon Down? I have been trying to call directory assistance for Oregon for several days - 503-555-1212. The phone rings, but I never get any answer. Any idea what is wrong? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No idea at all. I tried it a few minutes ago and got through on the first ring. A half-ring actually. PAT] ------------------------------ From: amoss@humus.cs.huji.ac.il (Amos Shapira) Subject: Re: Reverse Engineering Voice Mail Date: 27 Oct 1995 10:40:09 GMT Organization: Inst. of Comp. Sci., Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel cartierg@sra.com (Gene Cartier) writes: > their interface specs; others have been less forthcoming. While some > vendors do support the loose Audio Messaging Interchange Specification > (AMIS) others don't. Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to Could someone please describe or give pointers to more information about this AMIS standard? I'm sub-contracting for a company which builds such voice-mail boxes (Comverse) and I think they might be interested (unless they allready implement this, which I have a slight doubt about). Cheers, Amos Shapira 133 Shlomo Ben-Yosef st. Jerusalem 93 805 ISRAEL amoss@cs.huji.ac.il ------------------------------ From: cgra@btmaa.bel.alcatel.be (Chris Gray) Subject: Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives Date: 27 Oct 1995 11:46:52 GMT Organization: Never was my forte Reply-To: grayc@btmaa.bel.alcatel.be In article , goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes: > [...] I prefer the "mess" of several competing long distance > carriers to the neat but painful certainties of being forced to bend > over and pay the outrageous rates typically charged by monopoly > state-owned carriers in most other countries. Countries such as the UK and Australia manage to have competing carriers without making mincemeat of their numbering system, and I daresay the same goes for Finland ... the US numbering goulash is the result of hanging on for too long to what "seemed like a good idea at the time". If you ask me a Flag Day is long overdue. Chris Gray Chris_Gray@bcs.org.uk Compuserve: 100065,2102 http://plato.digiweb.com/kiffer/ ------------------------------ From: hllerith@delta1.deltanet.com (Chris Sullivan) Subject: Re: AT&T's Bait and Switch Tactics Date: 26 Oct 1995 19:48:01 GMT Organization: Delta Internet Services, Anaheim, CA Buxboyy@aol.com wrote: > I recently received a call from AT&T (regarding my residential > service), and they offered me a $70 check, and 50% off their regular > rates for the next three months, if I would "switch back" to their > service. Having been lied to by them once before, where they promised "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Since AT&T is so hot on having their customers tell MCI and company to "put it in writing", you should have done the same. I had a similar instance happen, myself. After getting screwed once by AT&T, when they called a second time and offered me some large chunk'o'change to come back, I requested that the rep "put that in writing", and I'd consider it. Funny thing happened. I never got it in writing, and I've never gotten another call from AT&T asking me to switch back. This is real humorous, considering a recent call from an MCI rep not only got me the facts "in writing", it also included a $10 credit certificate on top of it, totally unsolicited. I'm beginning to seriously reconsider who exactly the sleazeballs are in the long-distance market. Chris Sullivan | 714-648-9433 | At what point does technology hllerith@deltanet.com | Orange, CA | become indistingushible from magic? ------------------------------ From: dreuben@interpage.net (Doug Reuben) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 05:10:26 EDT Recently, PDIXON.US.ORACLE.COM wrote: > Does anyone know of a service that will read email messages over the > telephone? Well, to be brief, we offer a service which will let you hear the HEADERS of your messages over the telephone, and if you determine that the message merits further attention, you may fax it to yourself or anyone else worldwide. (We also do offer text -> voice, ie, the message is read to you, but it is *very* crude and we do not think it would be very useful. It's certainly not the pleasant AT&T "boing" voice , or a HAL-9000 voice saying "Good Morning, Dave, you have three new e-mail messages. Shall I play them now?" It's mainly for the unusual case where you may want to glean more information from a piece of e-mail than the header will provide, and are not near a fax. But it is available if you are desperate and no one else out there is offering this. And yes, we do plan to upgrade this shortly, provided we find the right suppliers and general interest in such a project...) > I had a hack worked out with MobilComm text paging, but it was too > expensive. I'm curious how this worked. Did it pick up the text from the alpha pager and convert it? Sounds interesting! As a more general question, is there really any sort of interest out there in such a service? We keep asking our customers if they have any interest in e-mail -> voice, but the responses we get back indicate that faxing and paging are much more of a concern, and thus we concentrate on that. (And no, we didn't let them hear the thing first; if they did, they'd never want to use it! :) ) To me, the idea of voice transcription of e-mail, especially for depostion to voicemail is very exciting. But each time I approach the topic with the majority of our customers, I get a polite "That's nice", and not much more. Am I missing something? I'd appreciate hearing any comments from people who think that we should concentrate more energy on our voice services (so I can forward it on and prove I'm right! :) ), or if you feel otherwise, perhaps let us know why you think *quality* e-mail to voice is never going to be a popular item. Thanks in advance for any input! Doug Reuben * dreuben@interpage.net * +1 (203) 499 - 5221 Interpage Network Services -- http://www.interpage.net, telnet interpage.net E-Mail Alpha/Numeric Local/Nationwide Paging, WWWFax, and E-Mail <-> Fax Svcs [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Have you looked at all into how ATT Mail was doing it a few years ago? That might be a good starting place. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 11:13:31 EDT From: Peter M. Weiss Subject: Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada ... Organization: Penn State University Of course the TELECOM DIGEST would now need to be translated to French ;-) Pete Weiss -- Penn State [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You people from State Penn get some odd ideas. I can barely get out an English version of the Digest some days, let alone like my competitors at {Readers Digest} translate each issue into 45 different languages. Aybe-May I-ay ould-cay ut-pay an-ay edition-ay out-ay in-ay ig-pay latin-lay. Enough already! Have a nice weekend all! PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #453 ****************************** From ptownson Mon Oct 30 22:41:32 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA13826; Mon, 30 Oct 1995 22:41:31 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 22:41:31 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199510310341.WAA13826@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #454 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 30 Oct 95 22:38:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 454 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? (Robert Levandowski) Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? (John Higdon) Re: Area Code Authoritative List (bkron@netcom.com) Re: Which PBXs Have BRIs Compatible With NI-1? (John Romano) Re: AT&T Switch Access via PC (John Romano) Re: Pay Phone TDD (Dave Levenson) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Henry Baker) Re: Cellular Modems (Arthur Knight) Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone (John Gilbert) Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? (Steve Samler) Telephony Programmer Needed (Dan Monaghan) Caller-ID Interface (m1english@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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available 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: 500-677-1616 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Robert Levandowski) Subject: Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 19:15:54 GMT In randolph@netcom.com (Randolph Fritz) writes: > Having hard some thoroughly rotten customer service experiences with > both ATT and MCI, I recently sat down and thoroughly researched my > available long distance carriers. The choices narrowed to two: > Arcata, a northwest regional carrier, and Frontier, the emerging > national carrier. Unfortunately, it's hard to evaluate service > quality for these firms. So I'd like to hear customer service > experiences with these two firms; tell me what's good (or bad) about > 'em. I've had exceptional customer service from Frontier. They have pleasant phone reps; they handle problems quickly and courteously; billing errors seem uncommon; they're more than willing to put your cellphone on a discounted-LD billing plan (unlike some other companies I contacted); they monitor your calling-card usage, and they really do call you if the usage becomes unusual. Of course, Frontier is also a hometown product here; it used to be RCI Long Distance, a part of Rochester Telephone. Now, Rochester Telephone the LEC is part of Frontier Corp., and Frontier Long Distance, Frontier Cellular (previously NYNEX Mobile/RochesterTel Mobile/Advantage Cellular/ Mountain Cellular), and a few others are part of Frontier Corp. as well. The only problem I've had with Frontier is that they don't accept calling cards issued by Southern New England Telephone, although as far as I know they do take AT&T and Baby-Bell calling cards as well as their own. Frontier's Frontrunner plan is a pretty good deal. Good discounts, and they give you half-off on major (and some minor!) holidays. Frontier is supposedly available everywhere now, due to their acquisition sprees. (Check out http://www.frontiercorp.com to see a map of their companies; it's almost scary how they're growing.) You should be able to force calls through Frontier with the 10xxx code: 10211. Just a satisfied customer... Rob Levandowski News Administrator and UNIX Technical Assistant, UNIX Group University of Rochester Computing Center -- Rochester, New York rlvd_cif@uhura.cc.rochester.edu [Opinions expressed are mine, not UR's.] ------------------------------ Organization: Green Hills and Cows Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 18:51:37 -0700 From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? randolph@netcom.com (Randolph Fritz) writes: > Having hard some thoroughly rotten customer service experiences with > both ATT and MCI, I recently sat down and thoroughly researched my > available long distance carriers. The choices narrowed to two: > Arcata, a northwest regional carrier, and Frontier, the emerging > national carrier. Unfortunately, it's hard to evaluate service > quality for these firms. So I'd like to hear customer service > experiences with these two firms; tell me what's good (or bad) about > 'em. I have a T1 to Frontier. Several years ago, I signed up with MCI to do some various telephone projects including IP and some experimental services. I had assumed that since several of my clients had been using MCI (on my recommendation) that I would get some consideration in terms of service quality and price. Hah! The MCI experience was the worst telecom disaster I have gone through in this decade. The fallout was enormous. I missed service commitments, was nickeled and dimed almost to death, could not get the services and signaling that I required, not to mention the threats of lawsuits that ocurred. I "switched" (switching T1 service is a bit more complex than switching dialup carriers -- to say the least) to West Coast Telecommunications through a reseller. What a difference! ALL promises were kept, all signaling worked as advertised, and all prices were exactly as quoted. There were no spurious charges (as with MCI), no price escalations (as with MCI), and no confusing shell games with quantity discounts, etc. (as with MCI). And the prices were VERY LOW -- lower than anything MCI had with all the discounts combined. Somewhere along the line, WCT was bought up by the conglomerate that is now Frontier. A short time ago, the reseller I was working through apparently stopped paying its bills and I ended up cut off for a brief time until I was able to re-establish an account directly with Frontier. But the service is still excellent, the prices are still low, and the company is still easy to deal with. Unlike AT&T, MCI, or any of the "we're so big we don't really need or care about your business" companies, you can reach real people at Frontier who know what they are talking about and know about you and your requirements. I cannot begin to tell you what a pleasure it is to deal with a company that actually provides a great product at a very competitive price -- and cares about its customers to boot. As some of you may know, I am breaking a long-held silence concerning what LD company I actually use. While I won't quote rates (that is between you and your salesperson), I WILL say that Frontier's rates are lower than any of the usual hooey that you see plastered all over the net. In short, I would say that Frontier is definitely a company worth looking into. John Higdon | P.O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | +1 500 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 | http://www.ati.com/ati | ------------------------------ From: bkron@netcom.com (BUBEYE!) Subject: Re: Area Code Authoritative List Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 01:16:53 GMT > I've searched the archives and I've searched at Bellcore. Is there > any authoritative, up to date list of all the North American area codes? Sure thing. Here's one that's up to date as of today, 10/27/95. 201 NEW JERSEY 202 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 203 CONNECTICUT 204 MANITOBA 205 ALABAMA 206 WASHINGTON 207 MAINE 208 IDAHO 209 CALIFORNIA 210 TEXAS 212 NEW YORK 213 CALIFORNIA 214 TEXAS 215 PENNSYLVANIA 216 OHIO 217 ILLINOIS 218 MINNESOTA 219 INDIANA 281 TEXAS 301 MARYLAND 302 DELAWARE 303 COLORADO 304 WEST VIRGINIA 305 FLORIDA 306 SASKATCHEWAN 307 WYOMING 308 NEBRASKA 309 ILLINOIS 310 CALIFORNIA 312 ILLINOIS 313 MICHIGAN 314 MISSOURI 315 NEW YORK 316 KANSAS 317 INDIANA 318 LOUISIANA 319 IOWA 334 ALABAMA 360 WASHINGTON 401 RHODE ISLAND 402 NEBRASKA 403 ALBERTA, YUKON, NW TERRITORIES 404 GEORGIA 405 OKLAHOMA 406 MONTANA 407 FLORIDA 408 CALIFORNIA 409 TEXAS 410 MARYLAND 412 PENNSYLVANIA 413 MASSACHUSETTS 414 WISCONSIN 415 CALIFORNIA 416 ONTARIO 417 MISSOURI 418 QUEBEC 419 OHIO 423 TENNESSEE 441 PUERTO RICO & CARIBBEAN 456 INTERNATIONAL 501 ARKANSAS 502 KENTUCKY 503 OREGON 504 LOUISIANA 505 NEW MEXICO 506 NEW BRUNSWICK 507 MINNESOTA 508 MASSACHUSETTS 509 WASHINGTON 510 CALIFORNIA 512 TEXAS 513 OHIO 514 QUEBEC 515 IOWA 516 NEW YORK 517 MICHIGAN 518 NEW YORK 519 ONTARIO 520 ARIZONA 540 VIRGINIA 541 OREGON 562 CALIFORNIA 601 MISSISSIPPI 602 ARIZONA 603 NEW HAMPSHIRE 604 BRITISH COLUMBIA 605 SOUTH DAKOTA 606 KENTUCKY 607 NEW YORK 608 WISCONSIN 609 NEW JERSEY 610 PENNSYLVANIA 612 MINNESOTA 613 ONTARIO 614 OHIO 615 TENNESSEE 616 MICHIGAN 617 MASSACHUSETTS 618 ILLINOIS 619 CALIFORNIA 630 ILLINOIS 701 NORTH DAKOTA 702 NEVADA 703 VIRGINIA 704 NORTH CAROLINA 705 ONTARIO 706 GEORGIA 707 CALIFORNIA 708 ILLINOIS 709 NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR 710 GOV EMER TELECOM SVC 712 IOWA 713 TEXAS 714 CALIFORNIA 715 WISCONSIN 716 NEW YORK 717 PENNSYLVANIA 718 NEW YORK 719 COLORADO 770 GEORGIA 801 UTAH 802 VERMONT 803 SOUTH CAROLINA 804 VIRGINIA 805 CALIFORNIA 806 TEXAS 807 ONTARIO 808 HAWAII 809 PUERTO RICO & CARIBBEAN 810 MICHIGAN 812 INDIANA 813 FLORIDA 814 PENNSYLVANIA 815 ILLINOIS 816 MISSOURI 817 TEXAS 818 CALIFORNIA 819 QUEBEC 901 TENNESSEE 902 PRINCE EDWARD IS & NOVA SCOTIA 903 TEXAS 904 FLORIDA 905 ONTARIO 906 MICHIGAN 907 ALASKA 908 NEW JERSEY 909 CALIFORNIA 910 NORTH CAROLINA 912 GEORGIA 913 KANSAS 914 NEW YORK 915 TEXAS 916 CALIFORNIA 917 NEW YORK 918 OKLAHOMA 919 NORTH CAROLINA 941 FLORIDA 954 FLORIDA 970 COLORADO [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So ... the above list was correct as of October 27? Good, will it stll be correct on November 1? grin ... PAT ------------------------------ From: John Romano Subject: Re: Which PBXs Have BRIs Compatible With NI-1? Date: 30 Oct 1995 18:51:58 GMT Organization: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) wrote: > Lars Poulsen said: >> Case in point: We bought a couple of AT&T 8503 voice terminals to play >> with on the public network, but it turns out that these can not be >> made to work with the public service provided out of an AT&T 5ESS >> switch. (According to the support staff at AT&T's PBX group: This >> voice terminal is specifically for use with System 85 and Definity >> PBXs.) This surprising information explains why the manual doesn't >> describe how to program a SPID into the units. > I literally spent an hour and a half on the phone with AT&T (being > conferenced with four people at times) trying to get this same question > answered. Sourcebook says 8503 is ONLY for Definity and System 75/85. > The engineering group that designed the unit said it is for public use > as well because the System 75 is emulating the same protocol as 5ESS. > I took the engineer's word over the customer service droids at > Sourcebook, but hey, it did take the first person I talked to 15 > minutes to even FIND the phone in her computer so who knows what's > going on over there. I have used 8510's and 8520's on Definity G2s, G3V1, and 5ESS custom without any problem. As far as I know there are no 85xx sets that will work with NI-1 (BTW you can convert a 75xx set from custom to NI-1 or vice versa with a ROM change, although I'm not sure whether a conversion kit is generally available). The Definity G3 line just started to support NI-1 as of Version 3 or Version 4. I moved to another company with a Meridian PBX before that conversion was complete so I can't add any details. John Romano Telecommunications Engineer JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory Eyes: smiley@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu Ears: (301) 953-6061 ------------------------------ From: John Romano Subject: Re: AT&T Switch Access via PC Date: 30 Oct 1995 19:05:21 GMT Organization: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory sean.doherty@channel1.com (Sean Doherty) wrote: > I would like to use the PC and modem on my desk to access a System 75, > G2 and G3 switch. I've tried using Procomm Plus's ATT 4410 emulation > but something is funny with the keyboard. What software/emulations > are other tech's using? Does any body have any suggestions? Is their > an AT&T BBS with these type of utilities? Any thoughts would be > greatly appreciated. AT&T sells a program called Terronova which works very well. We also have an *old* (the highest speed the program will go is 9600) 513 emulator which did the job even though it had no sophisticated features. There's also G3-MA, the high end AT&T management system. BTW, you can't dial directly into a G2 with a terminal emulator program. You need Manager 2 software which can access the procs. John Romano Telecommunications Engineer JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory Eyes: smiley@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu Ears: (301) 953-6061 ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Pay Phone TDD Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 01:55:47 GMT Rito Astorga (ASTOR@lake.ollusa.edu) writes: > I'm trying to locate a TDD that can be used on a pay phone. Ultratec (800-482-2424) makes utility-grade TDD devices for this purpose. They are designed to bolt onto the shelf below the phone in a conventional payphone booth or enclosure. They connect with the phone line, and when a call is placed to a TDD device, the machine unlocks and its keyboard and display slide out in view of the operator. I think this company also offers portable devices suitable for accoustic coupling to a handset on a payphone or a non-pay phone. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that TDD-equipped payphones be provided in buildings where large numbers of payphones are installed. Ultratec makes most of the ones currently installed. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 15:55:43 GMT In article , dreuben@interpage.net (Doug Reuben) wrote: > Recently, PDIXON.US.ORACLE.COM wrote: >> Does anyone know of a service that will read email messages over the >> telephone? > Well, to be brief, we offer a service which will let you hear the > HEADERS of your messages over the telephone, and if you determine that > the message merits further attention, you may fax it to yourself or > anyone else worldwide. On a recent trip to Europe, a number of my associates were furious that most of the public telephones don't have '*' and '#' touch tone keys that work, and hence they couldn't access their voice mail!! I also understand that other pay phones don't allow touch tones at all, once the call is made, so that revenues from the pay phone are 'enhanced'. Perhaps the first order of business for some of these services is to offer an alternative keying that doesn't require '*' and '#'. Voice recognition to bypass these payphone bandits would also appear to be an important requirement. www/ftp directory: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/hb/hbaker/home.html ------------------------------ From: Arthur Knight Subject: Re: Cellular Modems Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 10:56:25 CST Pat, I am a relatively new reader of your interesting comp.dcom.telecom. In your recent issue of the digest, there is an inquiry regarding cellular modems etc. There is a company named TELLULAR that makes cellular fax machines all in one case that is used my many emergency responders in Canada. I do not have the name of a U.S. vendor, but perhaps with the name of the company, Mike Manzelli can track them down. I tried to send this info to him directly but could not get it to go. The address shown in the inquiry is "sfd48@ix.netcom.com. Thanks very much for your assistance in this matter. Art Knight artk@hsc.mb.ca ------------------------------ From: johng@comm.mot.com (John Gilbert) Subject: Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 16:10:32 -0500 Organization: Motorola LMPS The Unipage paging terminal is popular with many paging companies. There is a method of alpha paging entry that is available on some Unipage systems that doesn't require a modem and terminal. Unipage terminal Alpha entry using DTMF. 1. Access pager as you would for a normal numeric message. With a normal page the "*" key should send a dash. The "#" key should send the page and hangup. 2. Enter "**". You are now in Alpha mode. Use the alpha characters on the keypad in the following manner: 3. Press the key that contains the alpha character you want to send. To send an "A", "B" or "C" press the "2" key. 4. Press the "*" to "shift left." Press the "#" to "shift right." The center character is entered without pressing either key. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to send additional characters. 1(Q.Z) 2(ABC) 3(DEF) 4(GHI) 5(JKL) 6(MNO) 7(PRS) 8(TUV) 9(WXY) * 0(Space) # 6. Press "*#" to shift back into numeric mode, if necessary. Example To send the message "Call home.": access the pager dial: **(alpha mode), 2#(C), 2*(A),5#(L),5#(L),0(space),4(H),6#(O),6*(M), 3(E),1(.),(hangup). As you can see -- it is cumbersome, but it works! John Gilbert johng@comm.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 21:59:37 EST From: Steve Samler Subject: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? My company operates a fax back service where users order news articles. Callers enter six digit story ids where the # key is used as the delimiter between the story numbers. We are getting reports from some users that the system does not recognize the pound key. I know that the other keys work because they are required to enter a user id and a password to enter the system. Doctor offices seem to have more than their fair share of this problem but I also hear reports from others as well. I tested the system down to 60ms dtmf pulse width prior to deployment. System configuration is two T-1s: One via Sprint and one via Nynex. Any ideas out there on this one? ------------------------------ From: kpm@inforamp.net (Dan Monaghan) Subject: Telephony Programmer Needed Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 14:29:40 GMT Organization: InfoRamp Inc. We need a programmer with expertise in telephony technology to program a fax on demand system for us. Please Email me if you can help or point me in the right direction (or call me at 416-390-9699.) Thanks. ------------------------------ From: m1english@aol.com (M1English) Subject: Caller ID Interface Date: 30 Oct 1995 15:33:49 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: m1english@aol.com (M1English) Hi, I am looking for some information regarding interface of Caller ID system with Sun Workstations. I am working on a project using ORACLE on Sun Solaris and the client wishes to have an interface to the Caller ID system so that when a phone call comes in, the number will be sent to the system we are developing and the corresponding information of the caller stored in the database will be displayed automatically. Please email me if you have any information regarding this subject. I really appreciate any help you can give. Thank you very much. M.L. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #454 ****************************** From ptownson Tue Oct 31 00:24:58 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA19319; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 00:18:43 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 00:18:43 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199510310518.AAA19319@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #455 Status: R TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 95 00:18:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 455 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NYNEX Voice Messaging (Stan Schwartz) Trouble in NYNEX Town (Nicholas Spill) Give Me a Break AT&T! (Stuart Zimmerman) Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? (Bill Shields) Station Bell Cutoff (Karl Imhoff) Exchange Radio Telephone Service (Scott Montague) Calling Cards With 950 Access (Matthew D'Elia) Scope.FAQ (John Seney) Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? (Ed Marion) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Stan Schwartz Subject: NYNEX Voice Messaging Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 22:07:12 -0500 Forwarded FYI to the Digest From: Mike Pollock[SMTP:pheel@panix.com] Sent: Saturday, October 28, 1995 2:11 PM To: Stan Schwartz Cc: John Malfa Subject: Voice Messaging COMPANY NEWS (sm) provided by Dow Jones/News Retrieval Copyright (c)1995 Dow Jones & Company 10/26/95 Voice Messaging -2-: Table: Voice-Mail Who's Who Several Baby Bells -- relative newcomers to the field -- may be closer to the goal of universal voice mail. Nynex Corp. says it will roll out a new linking service, knitting together residential customers and businesses regardless of what phone systems they use, in the next nine months. In August, it began offering messaging services to a few thousand customers in some New England markets, and it hopes to wire up New York eventually. U S West Inc. expects to offer a similar service early next year in its 14-state region. Nynex and some rival Bells have already had discussions about eventually linking their networks to provide nationwide messaging -- a cheap alternative to long-distance if the caller doesn't need to actually converse. If the Bells win entry into the long-distance business, Nynex says it could begin trials of a nationwide system one year later. Bell Atlantic Corp. in April began testing a "community messaging" service for Montgomery County, Md., which has 300,000 households. So far, organizations generally like the service but family users are reluctant, unfamiliar with the technology and fearful their mailboxes will be stuffed with telemarketing pitches. One customer, Fields Road Elementary School in Gaithersburg, sends out a "voice newsletter" to inform dozens of parents about field trips and other events. Several day camps and community groups use it to contact members, paying 15 cents to 25 cents for each recipient. In California, some 600,000 residential customers of Pacific Telesis Group subscribe to a voice mailbox, and about 126,000 of them use it for voice messaging. FranCine Gadsden of Oakland rents her mailbox for $6.50 a month and frequently messages a dozen friends who get together once a month. Each message costs up to 20 cents. "I tell all my friends who don't have it that they're still in the Stone Age," she says. Voice-Mail Who's Who 1994 VOICE-MAIL MARKET REVENUE SHARE (millions) Octel 20.0% $396 AT&T 16.5 332 Northern Telecom 14.0 274 Siemens-Rolm 7.0 141 Boston Technologies 5.0 106 Centigram 4.5 90 Source: Yankee Group (END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-26-95 6 23 AM Copied from the PRODIGY(R) service 10/28/95 18:59 COMPANY NEWS (sm) provided by Dow Jones/News Retrieval Copyright (c)1995 Dow Jones & Company 10/26/95 Voice Messaging: Efficient And Cheap But Still Too Limited By Gautam Naik Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal When Congress was about to kill the Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration last July, Terry Neese wanted to galvanize opposition quickly. So she got on the phone and left a rousing voice-mail message for 4,000 far-flung entrepreneurs -- with a single call. The office survived. "There was no time to send mailings," says Ms. Neese, a lobbyist. "I don't see how this would have happened without voice messaging." Voice messaging -- a sort of e-mail for the voice -- is transforming the humdrum voice mailbox into a potent communications tool. It lets a user leave a message in someone's voice mailbox -- or simultaneously in many people's mailboxes -- without having to converse directly. Properly used, it can be a low-cost, efficient way to communicate. But pushing voice messaging out to the masses has been a quixotic crusade at best. Most of America's 30 million voice-mail users treat their voice mail as a fancy answering machine. And the biggest makers of voice-mail systems use proprietary designs that are incompatible. "All the machines talk a different language. It's a Tower of Babel out there," says Tom Oliver, chief executive officer of VoiceCom Systems Inc., a voice-mail provider. Dennis King, founder of Applied Voice Technology Inc., Kirkland, Wash., says industry leaders such as AT&T Corp., Northern Telecom Ltd. and Octel Communications Corp. used incompatibility originally to hold onto customers. "They didn't want upstarts to enter the market," he says. Now voice-mail companies, spurred by the saturation of their markets and the boom in zap-it-anywhere electronic mail, are trying to undo past mistakes. They are adding bells and whistles, including digital technology, and trying to link incompatible systems. Many customers use voice messaging to avoid wasting time playing phone tag. More than 80% of phone calls don't reach the intended party, studies show. Replying to a message is more efficient with voice messaging, too; the recipient touches a single key and gets the caller's mailbox. "It eliminates 50% of wasted conversation and small talk," says Todd Crockett, a Cleveland real-estate agent and avid user. DuPont Co.'s automotive-finishes unit would typically spend two weeks mailing product updates to its roving sales force. Now the same information is created, "addressed" and sent instantly to the voice-mail boxes of 365 sales reps, many of whom work from home. First Chicago bank saves on long-distance charges by using digital technology to squeeze a 60-second message into a 20-second slot and send it over its internal network. Some 11,000 bank employees exchange more than two million messages a month. General Electric Co. links 150,000 phones in 350 locations with an Octel system. Last year, when a supplier ran out of crucial chips for GE appliances, the chief buyer at GE's appliance division sent out a query to 25 buyers at other GE divisions around the world. The message turned up one division that had a surplus of the scarce parts. Still, makers are a long way from the ultimate "universal" voice-mail system. Eight major players, all with rival designs, hold 72% of the $2 billion-a-year voice-mail-systems market, according to Yankee Group, a research firm based in Boston. The biggest voice-mail providers have bickered for years over how to develop a common design standard. Octel, the No. 1 player with 20% of the market, recently started a new service that bridges rival systems. But all the parties that want to communicate with one another must subscribe to OcteLink, and it's costly: Equipping 10,000 workers would cost an extra $10,000 to $20,000 a month. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-26-95 6 19 AM Copied from the PRODIGY(R) service 10/28/95 19:00 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 11:48:05 -0500 From: ntp@netrunner.net Subject: Trouble in NYNEX Town Pat, I much enjoy your newsgroup and am troubled by two telecom issues concerning my otherwise wonderful trip to New York (lived there for seven years and loved it but glad to escape to Miami Beach and live like a human being -- (I shave, I wear socks, I have no pastels or unstructured jackets). 1. The new yellow NYNEX calling card pay phones. Used several in Manhattan (with my MCI Preferred calling card) and after approximatly three minutes got cut off -- preceded by message: "We're sorry, calls to this number are not allowed." Yes, I was calling different numbers -- out of state. In small print beneath the printed instructions in the booth/panel were the words (something like this): For calling cards, collect and 800# calls. Can NYNEX cut off calls on their payphones if you use a competing service? This sort of tactic doesn't bode well if they want to get into the long distance market, does it? 2. Using my Bell South Mobility phone in New York I was informed by a recording that I now need a 4 digit pin number or I could place an "independant operator-assisted call for $1.95 a minute". Really, I have roamed before in Manhattan -- but BSM have not informed their users of the terrors of PIN registration nor do I want to pay "phone sex" rates for a mere long distance call (which I am probably being charged transport for as well). Can't wait to see this next bill from BSM -- transport and roaming charges for listening to these charges/changes! There are several questions embedded here: why have a PIN number if you are roaming? why didn't the cellular companies design more security overtheir analog transmissions in the first place? Is digital transmissions/phones more secure? Why the outrageous operator assited charge? Why couldn't I use my MCI calling card on my cellular calling an 800 access number, and so on? With more choices, more technology and more marketing savvy than engineering savvy this is all getting rather messy isn't it? Thanks for all your info and help. Nicholas Spill ntp@netrunner.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 15:13 EST From: Stuart Zimmerman <0007382020@mcimail.com> Subject: Give me a break AT&T! I have been skeptical lately when I have read claims about sleazy practices from AT&T. Not good old Ma Bell! A call from AT&T soliciting their "Small Business Advantage" program convinced me otherwise. Their representative, Robin from their Camp Hill, PA center claimed that a particular competitor billed for busy and unanswered calls. While most long distance carriers have call supervision and therefore such claims are generally not true, what made her claim so ridiculous is that the competitor she named was SNET (Southern New England Telephone, the local telco). (She was talking about Intrastate calls, although SNET offers Interstate calls through a wholly owned subsidiary. SNET was not part of an RBOC and was one of the first Telcos to offer Interstate long distance.) Come on AT&T, at least make your falsehoods credible! (I had told her that I was a telecommunications consultant!) By the way, I don't usually use SNET for long distance calls, but when I have, they have not billed for unanswered or busy calls. Further, if SNET was not able to detect busies and unanswered calls, how could AT&T? AT&T gets its supervision information from SNET. Thanks for letting me vent! Stuart Zimmerman Fone Saver, LLC "We perform an unbiased analysis of your home or business long distance bill and find ways to save you money! - Guaranteed." 007382020@mcimail.com 1(800)313-6631 ------------------------------ From: bshields@cts.com (Bill Shields) Subject: Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 06:44:07 GMT Organization: CTS Network Services I have been asked to look into the feasibility of creating an interface to a standard telephone (via an RJ-11 jack) which meets the following requirements: 1. Provides sufficient power for standard line-powered telephone. (+5 VDC and +12VDC are available - step-up via DC-DC converter?). 2. Simulates a standard "ring" signal. (115/6.3v transformer connected "backwards"?). 3. Detection of "off-hook" condition (TTL level output). 4. Performs 2-wire to 4-wire conversion (standard ICs available?). 5. Decode DTMF signals (plenty of ICs available - any favorites?). Note that none of this needs to meet any agency approvals since there will be NO connection to the Telco. Any hints, suggestions, pointers to reference materials, app notes, schematics, etc. would be VERY appreciated! So far, I've managed to bury myself in various texts, but I am clearly out of my element here and I have the deep suspicion that I'm trying to re-invent the wheel - and that there may be others out there for whom this would be considered trivial. Can any of you telephony wizards help? I should mention that IF this project actually got to the commercial development stage (and that's a big IF), I could actually afford to PAY someone who could contribute their expertise. In the meantime, I'm trying to determine if this is actually feasible at a reasonable cost OR if the marketing dreamers should be sent back to their cave :-). All input and/or comments welcomed and appreciated! Regards, Bill bshields@cts.com ------------------------------ From: Karl Imhoff Subject: Station Bell Cutoff Date: 30 Oct 1995 16:51:35 GMT Organization: Software AG of North America, Inc My father recently recieved a notice from AT&T requesting that he return the STATION BELL CUTOFF that is listed as being leased to him. The lease stated that there is/was no charge for the equipment, but that they would like to have their equipment back. He has standard residential service in Western Maryland with Bell Atlantic. Any clue as to what this is, where it may be located, or anything else would be appreciated. Thank you, Karl Imhoff, RCDD Email sakxi@sagus.com Software AG of North America, Inc. ------------------------------ From: 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca (Scott Montague) Subject: Exchange Radio Telephone Service Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 01:14:02 GMT Organization: Queen's University at Kingston Reply-To: 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca I work in Northern Ontario during the summers at Missinaibi Provincial Park. This wilderness park is located 88km up a logging road from the small town of Chapleau, located between Wawa and Timmins on Hwy. 101. Needless to say it would be impractical to run a phone wire all that distance for just one customer, let alone costly. So, the provincial park subscribes to Bell Canada's Exchange Radio Telephone Service. This service consists of a VHF or FM Radio Unit which is connected to the building's phone jacks. The radio unit is connected to a Bell supplied antenna, on top of a customer supplied tower. The radio unit is usually powered by a 12 volt 10 amp car battery, but will be replaced with a special power supply for buildings with reliable power. The customer has to apply for a frequency license with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, and has to comply with the radio act (no swearing, etc.) as the frequency is publicly accessible. Installation of the service can cost thousands of dollars as a tower is also required at the CO to receive the transmissions. This is in no way related to cellular service. So what happens? When I pick up the phone the radio unit checks to see if the frequency is in use, and if so will squawk *VERY VERY LOUDLY* at me. This is for the people who have four party service. Otherwise, it will open up the frequency and I'll hear a CO generated dialtone. I can dial normally (normally for the switch (an old crossbar switch) that is). When I hang up, I have to remain off the line for several seconds before it actually hangs up (this is to avoid interference causing hang-ups). This service has its problems though. You have to wait a LONG time to redial. If there is interference (sun spots, etc.) you can't use your phone without tricking the radio unit. If you want to speak to someone else on your four party service, you have to use a "push to transmit" button as you are on the same frequency. Of course to ring the other party, you have to go through the operator. You have to bring back the radio unit each time you suspend service (luckily not the power supply or the antenna). If you use a battery, you have to worry about keeping your conversations short and keeping the battery charged and filled with water. Also, it is VERY expensive, with the frequency license, high installation costs, and high monthly costs. On the other hand you have reasonably reliable telephone service where you wouldn't otherwise have any service at all. You get to deal with a special Radio Services branch with two of the best Bell Canada employees (Mary and Gerry), prompt service (once I suggested the power supply for the park they got up there within 2 days... from over 350 km away!), and great repair service (under 2 days for problems at the park, same day for problems at the CO). Plus you also get to use the phone as an excuse to hang up on people or ask the operator to perform special services. It's great! I've also convinced them to put in a Charge-a-call payphone on the same frequency for the use of the campers. This is using a relatively new technology that allows two phone lines per frequency (but not digital). My question for all those Digest readers (and you too Pat) is: does anyone else know if their phone company offers such a service? Does it operate the same? Or is Bell Canada unique in this service, as much of its covering area is remote locations. I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's adventures with this service. Or am I and others in Northern Ontario just living in the past? Scott 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca / Apukwa of 4th \ Scouting: Improving tommorow *Proud to be Canadian* \ Kingston Cubs / through the youth of today. <> ------------------------------ From: tsumatt@ix.netcom.com (Matthew D'Elia ) Subject: Calling Cards With 950 Access Date: 30 Oct 1995 15:04:34 GMT Organization: Netcom Does anyone know which long distance companies still offer calling cards using 950 numbers for access? Matthew D'Elia ------------------------------ From: john@wd1v.MV.COM (John Seney) Subject: Scope.FAQ Organization: MV Communications, Inc. Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 11:02:25 GMT IF you want the complete version of this Digital Scope.FAQ file sent to you automatically, send me (john@wd1v.mv.com) an EMAIL where the subject contains the text "subscribe scope.faq". Or go to the WWW page listed at the end of this file. This file contains the first "page" to give you a sense for it. FALL / 1995 DIGITAL SCOPE.FAQ - VERSION 2.00 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::Date/Time | O O :: :: /\ | :: :: / \ | O O :: :: / \ /\ | :: ::__/ \ / \ /`| O O :: :: \ / \/ | :: :: \ / | O O :: ::1.5 GHz BW \/ 10 GS/s |________:: ::________________________|A B C D :: :: rise 1.5 ns | x x x :: :: fall 4.9 ns | x x x :: ::_________________________________:: ::(*) (*) (*) (*) (*) (*) :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::: ::: Dear Technologist(s): This Digital Storage Scope.FAQ file contains many (but not all) of your answers to the more "Frequently Asked Questions" re: Digital Storage Oscilloscopes (DSOs). The answers and suggestions come from > a decade of my experience as a DSO sales engineer in Boston, MA. The opinions are mine and represent no company or service - they are meant simply to be helpful, generic, and easy to understand. Thanks to the hundreds of responses to the earlier versions of this FAQ. Feel free to contact me anytime (john@wd1v.mv.com) if you have additional questions or comments. If you want the next version of this file sent to you automatically, send an EMAIL where the subject field contains the text "subscribe scope.faq". \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ KEY ISSUES REVIEWED IN THIS FAQ (in order of appearance) * DSO INDUSTRY TRENDS (Whats happening in DSO technology this year?) * DSO FORM FACTORS (What types of DSOs are there?) * PRIMARY DSO FUNCTIONS (What can DSOs actually do?) * COMPARISONS (How can I best compare various models) * APPLICATIONS (What are the most common DSO applications?) * ADCs (What speed do I really need on each channel?) * BANDWIDTH & TRIGGER (What numbers and functions are right?) * ARCHIVAL & MEMORY (How fast, how deep, and can I get more?) * DISPLAYS (What am I really looking at?) * MEASUREMENTS (How much is my signal changing over time?) * DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING (How can I obtain more useful information?) * DEMOS & PURCHASING (How can I see and get the DSO I really need?) Best regards, John D. Seney, WD1V Internet: john@wd1v.mv.com 144 Pepperidge Drive AOL: jseney@aol.com Manchester, NH 03103-6150 AX.25 Pkt: wd1v@wb1dsw.nh.usa.na (H) 603-668-1096 TCP/IP Pkt: wd1v@wd1v.ampr.org macnet world wide web home page: http://www.mv.com/ipusers/wd1v Macnet Roster - "Whos Who" of all amateurs using Mac Computers Macnet Test - Amateur Radio Test Simulators Macnet Collection - 10 Disks of Amateur Radio and Scientific Prgms LeCroy Corporation - Test and Measurment Sales Engineering Serving NE Massachusetts, NH, and ME WWW http://www.lecroy.com NASDAQ: (LCRY) (O) 800-553-2769 (F) 603-627-1623 (P) 800-SKYPAGE #5956779 All opinions are my own, including Digital Storage Scope.FAQ To obtain the latest copy automatically, simply send me an EMAIL with "subscribe scope.faq" in the subject field. or: WWW http://beam.slac.stanford.edu/www/library/w3/dso.html ------------------------------ From: ezx@ix.netcom.com (Ed Marion) Subject: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? Date: 28 Oct 1995 12:34:46 GMT Organization: Netcom Does anyone know why Countries like Canada, Bermuda the British Virgin Islands, and the Carribean in general are all accessible from within the USA with a 1 + Area Code + number? All other countries (even Mexico) require 011 + etc. I can't figure this one out either. Guam, a USA territory, requires you dial 011 + etc. to send a FAX. The rates to these countries can be onerous. About $1 min to the Cayman Islands, for instance. So, dialing 1-809 + Cayman Islands seven digit phone number) can rack up some serious charges. I've called Southwestern Bell and asked if we could block 1+ 'international' area codes. Their answer was terse: NO! We have an 800 number with Sprint and turning it off for Canada, Carribean, etc. (or any combination of area codes) is no problem. What gives? A small business or individual that does not have a programmable PBX really has no control, other that blocking all 1+ calls and strict employee training. Recently, a new employee racked up about $120 in LD to Canada (AC 905) because she thought it was in the USA. The same LD time to a USA number would have cost only about $60. For that matter, with NAFTA and all that, why does it cost about 25 cents per minute to call suburban Toronto from Houston during business hours, when it only costs 12 cents per minute to call Seattle which is 500 miles more distant? On 800 inbound, it is even worse ... 56 cents vs 16 cents. Any comments? Best regards to y'all from: Edward Marion, General Manager of EZX Corp. "The EZ-Forms Automation Company" Email: ezx@ix.netcom.com or EZXHOU@aol.com Compuserve: 76350,3111 Americal Online: EZXHOU Mail: EZX Corp, 403 E. NASA Rd., Suite 377, Box 58177, Webster (Houston), TX 77598-8177 USA Voice:713-280-9900 FAX:713-280-0099 BBS:713-280-8180 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I can tell you that much of what you are complaining about is really just an accident of history. The area codes for North America were in place for many years before the concept of international direct dialing (thus requiring the use of 011 and country codes) was even thought of. It just made 'good sense' in the mind of someone back in the 1950's to put Canada and the USA together in one dialing plan back then. There were politics involved of course, and that is why Canada and the USA got area codes but Mexico did not. Hawaii became part of the USA prior to IDDD so it got an area code also even though it is not connected to our mainland. Guam on the other hand only became dialable after IDDD was installed, so for whatever reason it got a country code rather than an area code. Like Puerto Rico, it is a territory of the USA, but the island known as PR has an area code it shares with other (completely non- related countries) while the territorial island known as Guam has a country code of its own. Midway Island is a US territory and it shares an area code with a US state, namely Hawaii with 808. I would say the two biggest factors in how the numbers came to be assigned as they are over the years are politics (relationships between governments and between various phone companies) and arbitrary decisions made long ago by people who never would have dreamed how extensive our telecom network is today. If it was all to be done over today would things be different in the North American Numbering Plan? I think so. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #455 ****************************** From ptownson Tue Oct 31 13:23:42 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA20738; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 13:09:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 13:09:09 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199510311809.NAA20738@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #456 Status: R TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 95 01:06:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 456 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? (bkron@netcom.com) Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? (Jonathan Elgart) Re: Pin Out Needed For Siliconix DG508 (Bryan Douglas) Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? (Sam Clason) Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? (scotta@prime) Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives (John R. Levine) Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives (Bob Goudreau) Re: Directory Information in Oregon Down? (Danny Burstein) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Henry Baker) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada ... (Carl Moore) Re: Telecom in China (Andrew Decker) Still More MyLine Improvements (TELECOM Digest Editor) Change of Address Reminder (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 06:20:13 GMT From: bkron@netcom.com Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Steve Samler writes: > We are getting reports from some users that the system does not > recognize the pound key. I once had a problem like this to deal with. Believe it or not, the problems were occurring because the affected callers were using those phones where the # key was mapped to some other function, such as "memory" or "redial". Despite the fact that the key had # on it, it also said something else right next to it. When pushed, it would not emit the tone at all! We had to change the system to one with a fixed number of digits to eliminate the problem. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 05:49:09 GMT From: us30@netcom.com (Jonathan Elgart) Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Steve Samler (steve@individual.com) wrote: > My company operates a fax back service where users order news > articles. Callers enter six digit story ids where the # key is used > as the delimiter between the story numbers. We are getting reports > from some users that the system does not recognize the pound key. I > know that the other keys work because they are required to enter a > user id and a password to enter the system. I've had experience with phone systems that do not send out tones on the * and # keys ... unless you first press * # consecutively during your phone call. Then any further uses of these keys, for the rest of that call, will send out tones. No one seemed to understand why the phones would be set up this way, but we all needed to learn this technique so we could page each other. Sorry, I can't remember the brand name of the phone system, but you might suggest this technique to your callers. By the way, these were phones that did not have their own outside phone numbers, but shared lines on one main number, such as in hotels or in office rentals. In our main office, where every desk had its own 703-538 number, we had no such problem. Jonathan Elgart, 448 Ward St., Newton, MA 02159, U.S.A. us30@netcom.com, elgartj@bc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 07:08:04 CST From: bkdougla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Subject: Re: Pin Out Needed For Siliconix DG508 EN A0 NC A1 A2 3 2 1 20 19 Key _____________ / \ V1 4 | | 18 GND S1 5 | | 17 V+ NC 6 | | 16 NC S2 7 | | 15 S3 8 | | 14 S6 \_____________/ 9 10 11 12 13 S4 D NC S8 S7 TOP VIEW LCC ------- A0 1 | | 16 A1 EN 2 | | 15 A2 V- 3 | | 14 GND S1 4 | | 13 V+ S2 5 | | 12 S5 S3 6 | | 11 S6 S4 7 | | 10 S7 D 8 | | 9 S8 ------- TOP VIEW SOIC and Dual In Line Source: Siliconix Data Book, DG508A If you can't get a copy of the data sheet from your TEMIC/Siliconix rep let me know. Bryan Douglas Alcatel Richardson, TX voice +1 214 996 5945 fax +1 214 996 6867 ------------------------------ Date: 30 Oct 95 16:28:55 GMT From: sam@nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) Subject: Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? In scotta@primenet.com (Scott Atwood) writes: > I have read a few threads regarding the spec's, but all refer to the > BellCore TR-NWT-000030 document. Is this spec available on the net, > or libraries or does one have to shell out the $$ to receive it? > So far I have gathered that after the CW signal is sent the caller-Id > unit must [mute the handset] , send one of the [A,B,C or D] Touch > Tones at which time the CO will send the Caller_ID burst. Are the European and the American CW signals the same (two "knocks" of some length and frequency)? Any European standards on CW/CLI? Who knows, one might even be able to use the same protocoll :-)... Sam http://www.nada.kth.se/~sam, sam@nada.kth.se, +46 701234567 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 20:56:31 GMT From: scotta@primenet.com Subject: Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? Organization: Primenet The Phoenix [AZ] market is suppose to receive the Call Waiting-Caller ID sometime by the end of the year. USWest claims they don't have a "special" box for sale to receive the CW-CID and suggested calling Radio Shack (smile). From reading some past posts, the BellCore TR-NWT-000030 document has the specs. Is this document on the net, at libraries or is it necessary to purchase (big bucks) the doc. So far I've gathered that following the call waiting tone, the "box" must mute the handset, send the _upper_ DTMF digits [A,B,C,D] then receive the Caller-ID info burst. Anybody have any further DETAILED information on this subject? I've also searched the net looking for a manufacture / reseller of a Caller-ID box that can handle the call waiting feature with no luck. Thanks, scotta@primenet.com ------------------------------ From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) Subject: Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service Reply-To: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn In , 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca (Scott Montague) writes: > I work in Northern Ontario during the summers at Missinaibi Provincial > Park. This wilderness park is located 88km up a logging road from the > small town of Chapleau, located between Wawa and Timmins on Hwy. 101. > Needless to say it would be impractical to run a phone wire all that > distance for just one customer, let alone costly. So, the provincial > park subscribes to Bell Canada's Exchange Radio Telephone Service. > My question for all those Digest readers (and you too Pat) is: does > anyone else know if their phone company offers such a service? Does > it operate the same? Or is Bell Canada unique in this service, as > much of its covering area is remote locations. I'd be interested in > hearing anyone else's adventures with this service. > Or am I and others in Northern Ontario just living in the past? There is a similar service available in parts of the United States. Under the FCC's rules it is known as the Rural Radio Service, and it operates on a variety of UHF and VHF frequencies. It is only used in very isolated locations, however, because of the cost. Back in the late 1970s, when I first worked at the FCC, I granted a license to a one-man telephone company who wanted to put in a single radiotelephone in a desert town consisting of a Mormon community. In the US, the telephone company or other provider gets the license for both the base station and the subscriber station. Michael D. Sullivan Email to: mds@access.digex.net Bethesda, MD, USA Also: avogadro@well.com 74160.1134@compuserve.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you talking about Beehive? I think that is its name. One employee/owner and eight subscribers. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 15:53:00 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > Countries such as the UK and Australia manage to have competing carriers > without making mincemeat of their numbering system, ... Actually, LD competition has hardly affected the US numbering plan at all. There's an optional 10NXX or 101XXXX prefix if you want to use a carrier other than your default, and you dial 00 for a long distance operator. The renumbering in the NANP is due to a large increase in local numbers, which is happening partly because local service is so cheap that lots of individuals and small businesses have multiple phone lines, and partly because flexible interconnection rules have made it technically and economically possible to integrate a lot of stuff into the numbering space that used to be non-dialable, e.g. PBX extensions, pagers, and voice mail boxes. Adding NXX area codes was always part of the plan, it's just happening sooner than originally expected. Most of the screwups are due to myopic PBX owners being unwilling to upgrade their equipment, often because inept or less than honest PBX vendors didn't tell them that it'd be necessary. It's also worth remembering that the UK and Australia each have one local telco (well, 1.01 in the UK) and two LD carriers, one of which is the local telco. In the NANP we have hundreds of LD carriers and thousands of local telcos, which makes the situation somewhat more complex. We also have five times as many people as the UK and probably eight times as many phones. We're now gearing up for local service competition, which will be a lot more difficult, since one of the rules is that you can switch telcos without changing phone numbers. I don't think any other countries are even considering that. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 10:19:53 -0500 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives Chris Gray (Chris_Gray@bcs.org.uk) writes: >> [...] I prefer the "mess" of several competing long distance >> carriers to the neat but painful certainties of being forced to bend >> over and pay the outrageous rates typically charged by monopoly >> state-owned carriers in most other countries. > Countries such as the UK and Australia manage to have competing carriers > without making mincemeat of their numbering system, and I daresay the > same goes for Finland ... the US numbering goulash is the result of > hanging on for too long to what "seemed like a good idea at the time". What precisely do numbering plans have to do with long-distance competition? The Digest did recently conclude a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of fixed-length vs. variable-length numbering plans, which I guess is what the "mincemeat" and "goulash" comments refer to. (Then again, I don't think you can favorably compare the UK to the NANP in the "mincemeat" department -- there are several times as many area codes in the UK, even though its population is one fifth the size of the NANP and it covers about 1/80th of the land area.) But I know of no way in which long-distance competition has affected the numbering plan itself. Indeed, callers need do nothing special at all to invoke their default LD carrier. If they want to choose a non-default carrier for a particular call, they simply dial a special prefix to identify the desired carrier. How exactly does this compare unfavorably to the schemes used in Australia, Finland and the UK? > If you ask me a Flag Day is long overdue. I'm not sure what this means. The U.S. already has a national holiday known as Flag Day, but I don't imagine that was what you were referring to :-). Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Re: Directory Information in Oregon Down? Date: 28 Oct 1995 21:15:29 -0400 In rsprang writes: > I have been trying to call directory assistance for Oregon for several > days - 503-555-1212. The phone rings, but I never get any answer. > Any idea what is wrong? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No idea at all. I tried it a few > minutes ago and got through on the first ring. A half-ring actually. PAT] Aside from all the other possible causes, keep in mind that more and more long distance carriers (and cellular phone groups, etc.) are re-directing your directory assistance call to a third party, rather than to the local (or distant) RBOC. These can range from full fledged groups to just a couple of folk in a backroom with a cdrom. So ... you might want to try rerouting your DA call through another IXC (interexchange carrier) and hope they'll connect you for real. BTW, when I first pointed this out about a year ago numerous reps from telcos denied that anyone was doing this. Alas, I was right, they were wrong, and the public is suffering as they get old and inaccurate info. (And, needless to say, the person calling DA is -not- getting any reduction in their call charge). dannyb@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 05:55:43 GMT From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone In article , dreuben@interpage.net (Doug Reuben) wrote: > Recently, PDIXON.US.ORACLE.COM wrote: >> Does anyone know of a service that will read email messages over the >> telephone? > Well, to be brief, we offer a service which will let you hear the > HEADERS of your messages over the telephone, and if you determine that > the message merits further attention, you may fax it to yourself or > anyone else worldwide. On a recent trip to Europe, a number of my associates were furious that most of the public telephones don't have '*' and '#' touch tone keys that work, and hence they couldn't access their voice mail!! I also understand that other pay phones don't allow touch tones at all, once the call is made, so that revenues from the pay phone are 'enhanced'. Perhaps the first order of business for some of these services is to offer an alternative keying that doesn't require '*' and '#'. Voice recognition to bypass these payphone bandits would also appear to be an important requirement. www/ftp directory: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/hb/hbaker/home.html ------------------------------ Date: 30 Oct 1995 22:08:15 GMT From: jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com (Jeffrey Rhodes) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone Reply-To: jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. AT&T Easylink Service (aka AT&T E-Mail) has offered text-to-speech conversion of E-Mail over a telephone dialup 800 number for more than five years! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 18:11:56 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada ... Two thoughts about this issue, which is being voted on now -- How does the Quebec-leaving-Canada proposal compare to what Newfoundland was like before it joined the Canadian federation? Also notice that some prefixes have the place name "Ottawa-Hull", and at least some can be reached in either 613 or 819? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As far as phone service is concerned, bear in mind the country of Newfoundland ceased being such back about 1947 (I think that was the year) when it became a Canadian province. The differences in phone service between then and now are so extreme that an accurate comparison is impossible. Even our own experience with Hawaii and Alaska over 35 years ago are hard to compare. They were both assigned area codes shortly after their admission to statehood. Oklahoma and Arizona became states in the early years of this century; whatever limited phone service they had at that time probably just continued in place, so remote from today's telecommun- ications network were they. I had a very old relative who passed away a couple of years ago who had a copy of her birth certificate which stated, quite correctly, that she was born in 1900 in Tulsa, Indian Territory. There were times when this caused some confusion when she needed to produce identification for one reason or another. A couple of places even said to her 'you have to have been born in the USA or be a citizen of the USA' (for whatever they were doing). "Where do you suppose Tulsa is located?" she would ask patiently. "Are you an Indian," they would ask. Dumb, dumb, dumb. State officials offered to give her a revised copy of her birth certificate showing she was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma if she wanted one; but she never did bother with it. As for the confusion bound to result from the Ottawa-Hull 613/819 phone exchange, we don't know at this point what Quebec plans to do with its phone service, or if it intends to make any changes at all. I don't think there will be any changes at all over the next year or two, at least until the formal period of negotiations they have planned are completed. I guess we will know the results soon, and I for one refuse to give an opinion or stick my nose into it. People in the USA should butt-out and let them attend to their own affairs up there. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 10:22:56 GMT From: ADECKER@bear.com (Andrew Decker) Subject: Re: Telecom in China > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am told phone service in China is > expanding and growing at an incredible pace. Is that correct? PAT] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've heard a lot of wild statistics > tossed around on this. Some are saying new phones are being installed > in China at the rate of five or six to every similar installation in > the USA ... that there are more new installs there in a month than > the entire USA has in six months. True or false? Any solid figures? The Government of China has announced various medium- to long-term plans to extend and upgrade China's communications infrastructure. While the details vary depending upon the sector (and to some extent the report), in general, the Government is attempting to increase the aggregate number of access lines by 10+ million per year (essentially building an RBOC every year!) and to roll-out wireless (GSM and other services) throughout the country. In order to speed the development of this infrastructure, the Government recently created a second national carrier called Lian Tong (also known as China United Telecommunications Corp. or Unicom). Lian Tong is backed by the Ministries of Power; Electronics Industry; and Railways and has about 16 lesser shareholders including a number of state controlled financial and industrial concerns. Lian Tong has been authorized to build wireline and wireless networks throughout the country. To date, they have sponsored GSM networks in a number of cities and are beginning to attempt to organize groups to develop local exchange wireline networks and long-distance backbones in the various provinces. Both Lian Tong and the Ministry of Posts and Telecom (MPT) are doing deals at a furious rate to exploit opportunities. Foreign ownership of the assets and involvement in the operations of networks is still technically prohibited. However, there are an increasing number of innovative financing and operating arrangements that effectively circumvent the prohibition. For more information I recommend International Technology Consultants (telephone 301-907-0060) who publish a monthly newsletter on Chinese telecom developments. Pyramid research also publishes an Asian newsletter that includes China. Andrew Decker Tel: 212 272 3787 Senior Managing Director Fax: 212 272 3092 (Office) Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. 800 728 8950 (Personal U.S.) 245 Park Avenue 510 927 2557 (Personal Intn'l) New York, NY 10167 email: adecker@bear.com U.S.A. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 08:12:03 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Still More MyLine Improvements Don't those people *ever* get done making improvements to their product? Their latest addition to the MyLine 800 number software is something called 'voice screening'. Here is how it works: Someone calls your MyLine 800 number in the usual way, and they get your recorded announcement to 'please stand by while call is transferred to me' (or whatever you choose to say for the greeting). Instead of it just ringing through to your normal number or your priority call number as in the past (or going to voicemail on no answer) now if you wish, you can use 'voice screening' before answering the call. The system asks the caller to state his name. While he is waiting, the system rings you and the name of the caller is given. You then have the choice of accepting the call, or pressing a key on your phone and sending the call to voicemail, with the caller being told you are unavailable right now. The caller hears none of this of course; he is just waiting on hold while you decide (based on his name or whatever he recorded as his 'name') whether to take the call or not. This is in addition to the improvements announced a couple weeks ago of 'virtual call waiting' and 'call conferencing'. So far as I know, MyLine is the only 800 service to offer call waiting on an 800 line. Now, if they would only pass along the ANI they get, converting it to Caller ID for the outgoing side of the call ... hmmm ... Steve, is that a good idea or not? Steve Betterly at Call America informed me there is no shortage of 800 numbers where they are concerned; there is still enough to assign one promptly to each new customer of MyLine service. If you prefer, you can have a regular number in the 415/408 area code instead. This is for the benefit of people who get a lot of international calls where an 800 number might be hard or impossible to dial. You can check out earlier messages in this Digest about the benefits of MyLine 800 service or send email to: betterly@callamer.com and request complete details. Billing to credit cards is okay. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 08:33:50 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Subject: Change of Address Reminder Please make certain you have changed the address for TELECOM Digest and comp.dcom.telecom effective at this time. All correspondence to the Digest is to be sent to: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu. By 'all correspondence' I mean all editorial submissions, all list maintainence requests; all 'not for publication' comments, etc. Usenet news admins: pointers for the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup should also refer to the above address. Please make the needed changes in your records today. ----------------------- Just a further reminder also that beginning this past week, ALL outgoing stuff to the newsgroup is authenticated with encrypted approval meaning spam will bounce. Cancelbots operating at various locations continually watch the comp.dcom.telecom newsfeed for stuff which does not belong there -- meaning it does not have my encrypted approval -- and cancels it out with cancel messages sent out immediatly to a few very well connected sites. The spammer or other miscreant poster is not notified, nor is his submission returned. He gets no warnings, no second chances. The item in question does come to me for manual review of course, in the event I want to override the cancelbot and make the item available, which is unlikely considering most of what gets caught that way. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #456 ****************************** From ptownson Wed Nov 1 00:13:35 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA03381; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 23:55:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 23:55:20 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511010455.XAA03381@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #457 Status: R TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 95 23:55:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 457 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Report From China (tallmendinger@pyr.com) Newfoundland Telephones Before 1949 (Nigel Allen) Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada .. (Chris Gettings) Licenses and Regulation (khh@access4.digex.net) When Was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? (Michael Moore) Private Line No. 9 Out Now; No. 8 Free Upon Request (Tom Farley) Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device w/ocu/bri Interfaces (Doug Neubert) Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia, No Go (Robert Casey) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 16:28:29 GMT From: tallmendinger@pyr.com Subject: Telecom Report From China Some more detailed information on Telecom in China based on our own research: Explosive Growth in China's Telecom Markets China's telecom sector is growing at an unprecedented speed. In 1994 alone, China added 10.8 million new telephone subscribers and nearly one million new lines of trunk switching, installed nearly 26,000 kilometers of fiber optic lines, interconnected its cellular networks nationwide, cut over a national digital data network, and completed construction on its first major SDH fiber optic trunk line. Liberalization is providing an additional push to China's telecom market, and will be a major factor driving market growth during the 1995-2000 period. Newly licensed second network operator China Unicom and datacom services provider Ji Tong are already implementing large-scale network construction projects which will change the competitive face of the Chinese fixed and wireless voice and data communications markets. The MPT is investing a total of $9.5 billion (RMB 80 billion) in 1995. Plans call for China's switching capacity to increase by 14 million lines by year-end 1995. During the first six months of 1995, China's exchange capacity had already grown by 7.48 million lines to reach a total 56.25 million lines. The MPT is targeting 12 million new telephone subscribers this year, up from 10.8 million and 5.8 million in 1994 and 1993 respectively. Annual growth in telecom traffic averaged 45.9% during the 1991-1994 period. Nevertheless, overall teledensity is extremely low, reaching only 2.3% at the end of 1994 -- leaving plenty of demand for expanded networks and services. Transmission construction also continues to gather speed. China is completing construction on 22 fiber optic trunk transmission systems by the end of 1995, under the Eighth Five Year Plan. Already, work has begun on the construction of 16 new SDH trunk lines, as part of the Ninth Five Year Plan. SDH technology (up to STM-16) has already become the de facto equipment standard in MPT long-haul transmission procurement practices. Moreover, provincial transmission systems are increasingly coming to rely on SDH technology. This growth translates into tremendous opportunity for foreign investors and telecom equipment vendors. Every major foreign telecom equipment supplier is rushing in to join up with Chinese manufacturers in joint venture production agreements, while an increasing number of foreign operators are investing in telecom projects in exchange for revenue sharing agreements. Competition Spurs Growth and Opportunities Changes in China's regulatory policy have put an end to MPT's monopoly on telecom services. Last year two new entrants were given the green light to begin telecom services: China United Telecommunications Corporation (Unicom) and Ji Tong Communications Corporation have already begun to irrevocably alter the competitive landscape of China's telecom market. Unicom, which is backed by the powerful Ministry of Electronics Industry, Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Electric Power, has already cut over GSM digital cellular networks in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, with a combined capacity of roughly 80,000 subscribers. The new operator's extensive plans include the construction of a nationwide VSAT network, a national long distance voice network, and extensive submarine fiber optic transmission links along the coast of China. Unicom has already invested $84.3 million in cellular networks and will invest an additional $722 million to build out GSM networks in 16 additional cities this year. Ji Tong has made a splash in China's data communications market through its ambitious Golden Projects initiatives. The company's "Golden Bridge" network has already begun installation and will provide high speed data communications services across China by the end of the decade. Hughes is supplying the first round of VSAT terminals for the Golden Bridge, which will interconnect with existing data communications networks throughout the country. The liberalization in telecom services has opened up new opportunities for foreign carriers looking to break into China. Already, many foreign operators, such as BellSouth, GTE, Hong Kong Telecom, NYNEX, Singapore Telecom, and Sprint, have signed MOUs and cooperation agreements in China to serve as technical consultants, financial backers and network integrators for both MPT and non-MPT operators. While foreign companies are still prohibited from holding equity stakes in telecom operating ventures in China, a growing number are involved in revenue-sharing agreements with Chinese operators in exchange for investment and technical assistance. Cellular Services Climb to New Heights China added more new cellular subscribers last year than all of Southeast Asia combined, reaching a total of 1.56 million subscribers. A seemingly insatiable demand for cellular services will continue to drive growth in this lucrative segment of the market. Pyramid expects an additional 1.7 million subscribers to sign on during 1995. Cellular subscribership will reach over 15 million by the year 2000, with a nearly equal distribution of analog and digital subscribers. MPT's analog TACS-A and TACS-B networks now permit interprovincial roaming; the two networks will soon be interconnected, allowing for national automatic roaming. At the same time, GSM networks are springing up across the country, with both new operator Unicom and China's local and provincial MPT subsidiaries racing to gain market share. Significant drops in handset prices and cellular tariffs are also spurring the growth in subscribership. While the TACS infrastructure market has been dominated by Motorola and Ericsson, the emergence of the GSM digital standard in China is providing other vendors the opportunity to enter the market. CDMA, while still not a fully developed technology, has potential to capture some of the market as well over the next several years, particularly if it is successfully deployed in nearby Hong Kong. Provincial Level Telecoms Networks Increasingly Important Telecom Markets in China also provides detailed analyses of telecom activities in each of China's 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. Provincial-level Posts & Telecommuncations Administrations have become an increasingly powerful independent force driving the development of China's telecom market. Provinces and municipalities are taking on increased responsibility for funding, planning, installation, and interconnection of networks. Particularly in the prosperous coastal provinces such as Guangdong and in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, new technologies such as SDH transmission, GSM cellular networks, ATM switching, and high speed digital data networks are being tested out well in advance of their adoption at the national level. Provinces and municipalities are also forging links with foreign operators and suppliers independently of the MPT; a case in point is Beijing Telecommunications Administration's 1994 agreement with Hong Kong Telecom, which calls for HKT to invest nearly $260 million in the expansion of Beijing's GSM network and the construction of a fiber optic link between Beijing and Hong Kong. Investment from the provincial PTAs themselves is becoming increasingly significant: Guangdong will invest $1.26 billion in telecom network development in 1995, while Beijing and Shanghai will invest $640 million and $470 million respectively T E L E C O M M A R K E T S I N C H I N A (US$ 2,850), a new report from Pyramid Research, Inc. (available Dec 1995), presents a comprehensive view of telecom equipment and services markets in China. This new report provides detailed information and analysis of market and investment opportunities, spending and development plans, new liberalization and reforms in the services sector, competitive strategies of foreign and local suppliers and operators, new service and technology trends, and equipment market growth opportunities by sector. For further information on this report or other information (newsletters, reports and consulting) on telecommunications in developing countries please contact info@pyr.com Todd Allmendinger Senior Associate Pyramid Research, Inc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 14:01:50 -0500 From: Nigel Allen Subject: Newfoundland Telephones Before 1949 Organization: Internex Online Carl Moore asked about telephone service in Newfoundland before 1949. In the capital city of St. John's and the rest of eastern Newfoundland, service was provided by an investor-owned company, Avalon Telephone Co. Ltd., which took its name from the Avalon Peninsula. I think Avalon was partly owned by Bell Canada. Around 1970, the company changed its name to Newfoundland Telephone, and a subsequent reorganization turned Newfoundland Telephone into a wholly-owned subsidiary of a new holding company, NewTel Enterprises. NewTel is partly owned by BCE Inc., the former Bell Canada Enterprises. In the rest of Newfoundland, telephone service was provided by the Newfoundland government's Department of Posts and Telegraphs. When Newfoundland joined Canada, the telecommunications side of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs was turned over to Canadian National Railways, which also received the never-very-healthy Newfoundland Railway. CN's telecommunications division provided telegraph and Telex service throughout Newfoundland, and telephone service within the areas not served by Avalon Telephone/Newfoundland Telephone, until 1980, when a new CN subsidiary, Terra Nova Telecommunications Inc., took over the CN Telecommunications operation in Newfoundland. (This was at the same time that Northwestel, originally a CN subsidiary, took over the CN Telecommunications operations in the Yukon, the western half of the Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia, and that CNCP Telecommunications was formed from the merger of Canadian Pacific's telecommunications division and the bulk of CN Telecommunications.) Terra Nova Tel was run from Gander, a small Newfoundland community best known for its international airport, although the company's president -- who was also the head of CN's communications division -- was located in what had been the CN Telecommunications headquarters at 151 Front St. West in Toronto. Terra Nova Tel also provided Telex service in St. John's and elsewhere in Newfoundland, and operated Newfoundland's last telegraph office in St. John's until it was closed in 1983. These services were provided in connection with CNCP Telecommunications, later Unitel Communications Inc. About five years ago, Terra Nova Tel was purchased by Newfoundland Telephone, which is now the only local exchange carrier in Newfoundland. (At some point in the 1960's, Bell Canada sold its Labrador operations to Newfoundland Telephone.) After the sale, Unitel set up Unitel Newfoundland in partnership with Fortis, an electricity company. As for regulation: I assume that the Newfoundland government regulated Avalon Telephone before 1949, although I do not know if the government did so directly or through an independent regulatory tribunal. Certainly there was a Public Utilities Board in Newfoundland after 1980, and probably much earlier. As for the areas served by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs prior to 1949, the telephone and telegraph rates would have been established directly by the government. After 1949, CN Telecommunications and Terra Nova Tel would have been regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and its predecessors (the Board of Transport Commissioners for Canada and later the Canadian Transport Commission). A few years ago, a Supreme Court of Canada decision placed Newfoundland Telephone under federal jurisdiction, so authority for regulating the company was transferred from Newfoundland's Public Utilities Board to the CRTC. Nigel Allen (who has never visited Newfoundland) 52 Manchester Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1V3, Canada Telephone (416) 535-8916 Internet: ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:24:18 -0700 From: gettings@econnect.net (Chris Gettings) Subject: Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada .. As you may already know, the referendum in Quebec resulted in a "Non" vote by a margin of about 1%. So, for the time being, Quebec will remain part of Canada. Some view this as part of an inexorable slide to independence for Quebec, as the vote resulted in more "Oui"s than at the last vote. Expect another referendum in two or three years. Christopher C. Gettings gettings@econnect.net www.econnect.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I read today that as the vote was more throoughly counted and audited the margin was down to less than one percent ... more like a quarter of a percent. Personally I think the separation would be tragic, particularly for the provinces to the east which would be cut off from the rest of Canada. Here in the USA I don't think any such thing could happen; I do not think there is any provision whatsoever for a state in the union to decide to withdraw from the country although I suspect in a couple of the western states there is a prevailing attitude by many of the citizens that they would if they could. I know that on a few occassions officials in Illinois have suggested they would like to see the City of Chicago separated from Illinois and made into a state of its own to reduce the dreadful drain on the state treasury caused by Chicago in areas of welfare, human services, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: khh@access4.digex.net Subject: Licenses and Regulation Date: 31 Oct 1995 18:46:45 GMT Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA Following is an excerpt from the book *Federal Broadband Law* by John Thorne, Peter W. Huber, and Michael K. Kellogg. All of chapter 1 can be seen at http://khht.com/huber/home.html. --------- 1.4 Entry(41) Who will be permitted by the government to build broadband networks? Given how loudly government has been promoting the "information superhighway," this question might seem idle. It isn't. Entry into the broadband business is strictly controlled through a labyrinth of franchise procedures and license requirements. The franchising of communication technologies is not new. Soon after the printing press arrived in England, Henry VIII decided that the risks of sedition required control by the Crown. When it became impossible to limit the number of presses, the government tried its hand at licensing books.(42) Licensing today is always undertaken in sorrow, not anger. It is a matter of necessity.(43) Franchises are required by the laws of physics, it is said: spectrum is scarce. Or by the laws of economics: monopoly is cheaper and more efficient than competition. Or by the inherent scarcity of orbital slots in which to park satellites.(44) Or by logistics: franchises are needed to protect the public from the inconvenience of too much digging in the public streets. When transmitters, wires on telephone poles, underground conduits, or simply our patience are in short supply, and under monopolistic (or at best oligopolistic) control, the government must step in to ration and dole out the poverty, protesting its reluctance loudly as it does so. And often protesting all the way to the bank. Government entities that issue licenses have noticed that they can collect pay-offs for doing so.(45) With telephone service, the most common model is a local or state tax on receipts. With cable, franchise fees are more commonly paid in cash or kind-free wiring for schools, television studios for favorite charities, free TV time for city officials, and so on.(46) The federal government recently began cashing in directly, by selling spectrum for wireless telephones at auction to the highest bidders, or to bidders judged to be most diverse, marginalized, or politically correct.(47) Antitrust law and the First Amendment have been the two main federal tools available to sanitize the process.(48) The inherent inefficiency (or worse) of the franchising process has grown clearer with each new advance in broadband technology. Virtually every locality in the country now has not one wireline network, but two; wireless alternatives are advancing and multiplying, as well. With digital broadband technology, every network is capable of carrying voice, video, and data, or soon will be. On the constitutional front, government clearly could never get away with licensing paper-and-ink presses the way it currently licenses electronic ones. Press licenses were effectively abolished in the United States by the ratification of the First Amendment in 1791. For most of this century, courts distinguished celluloid and emulsion, radios and tuners, photons, phosphors, fiber-optic glass, and countless other electronic substitutes for ink and paper. Franchises, licenses, and permits are still the norm for these media, not the exception. But licensing remains the quintessential prior restraint; it creates countless opportunities to chill or to censor by way of bureaucratic wink, nudge, or frown. The First Amendment presumption is that other, post hoc means to any legitimate regulatory ends are strongly favored, if they can be concocted in any reasonable way. They can be. The old rationales of scarcity and natural monopoly no longer persuade. The clamor of people who want to deploy new electronic presses faster than regulators can process their permits is reaching a crescendo.(49) Property rights and anti-trespassing rules are needed in telecommunications, as in all other free markets. Licenses are not. [Endnotes 41 through 49 can be seen at http://khht.com/huber/home.html.] -------- Copyright 1995 John Thorne, Peter W. Huber, and Michael K. Kellogg. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. All rights reserved. Electronic copies of this document may be distributed freely, provided that this notice accompanies all copies. ------------------------------ From: mmoore@tad.eds.com (Michael Moore) Subject: When was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? Date: 31 Oct 1995 17:45:46 GMT Organization: EDS Technology Architecture I wondering if anyone has any info about when the COILED telephone cord was invented/patented and/or when it came into common use. I'm doing some research and have not been able to find an answer to this question anywhere else. I will also take suggestions on where to look for this info. Thanks in advance, mmoore@tad.eds.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All the old 'French style' phones from the 1930-40 era (with the little fingers on the top on which the reeiver rested) had straight cords. Straight brown *cloth* cord was used a lot in the same time period, with black rubber cord beginning to be prevalent around 1940. Of course, in those days, phone instruments lasted for *years and years and years* without ever needing repair of any kind, so maybe they started using rubber instead of cloth earlier but were still phasing out the older phones (with cloth cords) in 1940. The early 500 model phones from around 1950 or so also had straight cords at first, but I recall seeing one with a coiled cord in the early 1950's. I was only a child; I cannot remember where I saw it. In the early to middle 1960's all new installs used the 500 desk set with coiled cords however there were still plenty of the old 'French style' phones around as well. The ones that had never needed repair to the handset still had straight cords but those which had new or replacement receivers nearly all had coiled cords. Payphones in the 1950's began getting their straight cords replaced by coiled cords, but armored cable from phone to handset on payphones did not appear until sometime in the 1970's with any regularity, which was about the time the three-slot (5/10/25 coins) payphones began getting phased out and they started putting trapdoors on the coin return chute to keep people from getting inside the phone with bent coat hangers to fetch the money back out before the operator had a chance to hit the 'collect or return' buttons on the switchboard. I found a real gem a few years ago. A friend who earns his living doing repairs and maintainence to tower (steeple) clocks, bells and carillons took me along to help him re-align the hands on the clock in the tower of Holy Family Church. He also cleaned up and fixed the gears on the bell mechanism which made the bell chime on the hour and quarter-hours. Holy Family Church was constructed in the 1860's and the notation on the clock machinery in the tower said it had been installed by the 'Southwick Clock and Bell Company' of England in the year 1921. The company had gone out of business in 1928, but their schematics and documentation file for those old tower clocks had been passed along and the docs for HF Church were finally located in the archives of the Timex people in Chicago. With those in hand he did a pretty good job of getting the clock and bells restored. But I digress ... HF Church had a 1A2 system. Six button five line phones with a hold button. Three or four outside lines in rotary hunt, with one of the buttons marked 'ICOM' and a dial intercom with a bunch of stations. *Way up there*, in that clock tower, an *ancient* key phone still in working order. Dial tone on all the lines, the lamps illuminating properly, the hold button working, etc. Straight -- not coiled -- rubber cord to the handset, the little round barrel-like buttons instead of the square ones used now, a clear colored (rather than red as used now) hold button, etc. Taking the cover off the punch down block mounted on the wall nearby I found a note handwritten in the most exquisite penmanship from a phone installer long since dead and forgotten telling others who might come after him what he had done: "Six pairs from here terminate on the IT in the basement at the rectory. House pairs on row two." Signed with his name, the notation "Illinois Bell" and the date in May, 1931. Like President Carter, I had lust in my heart. Oooh, I wanted that phone! The other phones on the system were much newer. It looked to me like no one had used that phone for at least 20 years or perhaps longer. In the basement of the rectory next door to the church, the phone box had a note in the same hand- writing telling phone men of the future that "Six pairs on row two go to Sexton's phone in tower clock." (and furthermore that) "Wabash cable 239, pairs 16-24 multipled to (some nearby addresses). Fifty pair cable to the new building." Again his name, and the 1931 date. The 'new building' was apparently the boy's high school Holy Family Church built around that time. I found a 'new' (1980-ish) key phone for them and swapped it for the 1930's model, which about sixty years later was still working fine. That's how Western Electric made things back then. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tom Farley Subject: Private Line No. 9 Out Now; No. 8 Free Upon Request Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 11:46:31 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) The November-December issue of _private line_ (No. 9) is now out. Send me four dollars if you want it. Issue number 8 is now my sample issue - send me a snail mail address if you want a free copy of that. I'll get your request in the mail in about a week, just as soon as I get my subscribers' copies posted. November-December contains a look at an AT&T cable station, an update to the Digital Telephony Bill, an index to volume 2 of _private line_, a review of Def Con III and an article on propagation basics of point to point microwave systems. Among other things. It's my best effort so far and it contains 17 photographs. September-October, the free sample issue, contains a long article introducing Canadian telecom. It also has an article on Outside Plant. The feature article was written by Damien Thorn on cellular test mode scanning. Its four parts are: Accessing Diagnostic Modes, Oki Test Mode Commands, Motorola Diagnostics, and a Motorola Test Mode Command Summary. _private line_ is a hardcopy, alternative publication about the telephone system. Text of back issues 1-6 are on line. Issues 7 and 8 will be when I get a little more time to convert them to ASCII. Gopher or FTP to: etext.archive.umich.edu/pub/Zines/PrivateLine Another useful URL is: gopher://gopher.etext.org:70/11/Zines/PrivateLine Subscriptions are $27.00 for six issues per year. My address is: private line 5150 Fair Oaks Blvd. #101-348 Carmichael, CA 95608 CA USA I don't take credit cards but I can bill you. Back issues are $5.00 apiece. E-mail me if you want a list of their table of contents. Corrections and comments are always welcome. Submissions are also encouraged. Voice is (916) 488-4231. My fax number is (916) 978-0810 and my e-mail address is privateline@delphi.com Thank you! Tom Farley ------------------------------ From: dougneub@ix.netcom.com (Doug Neubert) Subject: Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device w/ocu/bri Interfaces Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 13:03:27 GMT Organization: Netcom I am looking for a vendor who makes a Split-T or fractional T-1 device that is drop and insert and will give me my choice of cards. It would have XN-56/64k V.35/449/530 card. Also an OCU-DP card w/5 ports. Last but not least a BRI drop point. If anyone knows who makes this box please drop me a line or E-mail me. Thanks, Doug Neubert Telsource Corp. Cleveland, Ohio 800-788-8824 x305 dougneub@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: wa2ise@netcom.com (Robert Casey) Subject: Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia, No Go Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 00:26:45 GMT I needed to find out the phone number of some company in British Columbia, "Softlanding Software". Dialed 604-555-1212 and got a robotic voice asking what city, then a pause which I said a puzzled hello (hoping it really was human), then it asks for the "listing". I said Softlanding Software. Machine hands me off to an actual human, who demands "what city". I don't know what town this company is in I explain. "Can't you just do a search for "Softlanding Software". "No, sorry, that's impossible", "What do you mean impossible, how many "Softlanding Software"'s are there in your province?! She says "probably only one, but I need the city for it". I'd have to search the entire province." I say, well do it. "The system doesn't permit that. She compares it to searching the entire state of Washington. I didn't (and still don't ) see what the problem is, other than poor software. A database program should let one hunt down info by various different incomplete inputs. What this Canadian phone company (is it some sort of government agency up there? THAT would explain it!) seems to have is an exact equivalent of a physical card file (like what libraries used to do) indexed by city. I could understand them not being able to find an entry in an unknown city if it meant searching thru thousands of paper cards, but a computer should be able to handle this no problem. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #457 ****************************** From ptownson Wed Nov 1 01:25:48 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA07425; Wed, 1 Nov 1995 01:15:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 01:15:15 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511010615.BAA07425@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #458 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 95 01:15:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 458 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson DejaNews - Search the Past Year's USENET Traffic (via John Shaver) Big Brother - He's Everywhere! (Michael J. Kuras) Chicago Ameritech Cellular PINs Required? (Andrew C. Green) Telecom History Web Site (Ken McCarthy) Telephone Key-Pad Standards (Andy Cobham) Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager (Bruce Albrecht) GH337 and Mobile "Modem" (Antnio Sousa) BONeS vs. CACI Network Modeling Question (James Kovaly) Physical Layer Testing For Fiber Optic Transmitters and Receivers (Mirman) GPT and Ringmaster (Jaap Doogers) Another UK Number Change (Clive D.W. Feather) Head of French Hacker Group Was Secret Service Agent (JeanBernard Condat) ETSI Standards Needed (Patricio Boric) Specs For HM9102A Telephone IC (David Nyarko) Towing Pirates (Gideon Yuval) Cable Services License Renewal Help Wanted (Joe Mortz) Multiple Phones on Cellular Line (Lisa R. Owen) New Area Code Shows Up on Caller ID (David A. Cantor) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Shaver, John Subject: FW: DejaNews - Search the Past Year's USENET Traffic Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 07:48:00 PST Passed along FYI to the Digest. John From: queens-list-owner Subject: DejaNews -- search the past year's USENET traffic Date: Monday, October 30, 1995 10:05AM From: Keith Bostic Reply-To: queens-list@netcom.com Ever wonder who some slimebucket is when he crawls out from under his rock and splatters some trash on the mailing list you read? Well, now ya can just go and see what he's been up to elsewhere on USENET. DejaNews is a searchable archive of the last year's USENET news all crossreferenced and indexed for your research use. http://www.dejanews.com From: http://www.dejanews.com Scope and size of DejaNews DejaNews has the largest collection of indexed archived Usenet news available anywhere. While WAIS servers typically contain only articles from a limited number of newsgroups, DejaNews gives you access to most of the usenet postings (articles posted to groups that match alt.*, soc.*, talk.* or *.binaries are excluded) in the last month. This amounts to over 4Gbytes of searchable data. Selected groups have an extended history of up to a year. As resources allow, we will plan to eventually offer an entire year of history on all of the groups (except the excluded ones described above). If you'd like to have the full-year history of your favorite group available now, just send us email to groups@dejanews.com and let us know. We'll pull the last year's articles for that group off the archive and add it to the database. Once it has been added, you'll get an email confirmation that it's now available. Performance DejaNews is extremely efficient and fast. Even searches that span huge quantities of data are finished on the server in a few seconds. Reliability DejaNews has server redundancy and backup to ensure that you always have efficient access. If you can reach the backbone, you can reach DejaNews. DejaNews is dedicated to maximum uptime and we have the resources to back up that commitment. Target your search to get what you want, fast and easy with these powerful search and retrieval options. Pattern Match Searches for articles that contain words that match a pattern using shell-like pattern matching. eg: doct* finds articles containing any of the following words: doctor, doctors, doctrine... Filtered You can limit the results of your searches to a subset of the database that satisfy limiting conditions (newsgroups, author, posting date). Topic thread Retrieves the entire thread of articles on a particular topic. First you find an article of interest using a regular article search, then you can retrieve the entire thread so you can put the article in context and see what others have to say about the topic. Author profile Helps you determine the credibility of the author of an article by showing you a history of their posts and useful statistics on their posting habits. Time sensitivity The latest news on a particular subject is often much more important than older news. DejaNews has the capability of weighting recent documents as more important so that they will take precedence over older documents in the results of a search. See the "how to" guides for help on putting these features to work for you. What is Usenet? Usenet is a worldwide electronic public message service that hosts over 9,000 topic-specific newsgroups. Typically, users post questions and the Usenet community responds - exchanging everything from artichoke soup recipes to tips on installing a web server. Researchers have turned to Usenet to identify experts or uncover areas where research is needed. Businesses and entrepreneurs have found that Usenet provides a unique opportunity to improve customer relations and increase visibility by posting answers in their area of expertise. Companies have found it a valuable tool for recruiting employees and monitoring trends and markets. But have you thought about how Usenet could help you plan the perfect vacation, or help you get a good deal on a big-screen TV? How DejaNews helps you use Usenet: The good and bad news is: Usenet has proven so useful and popular since it began in 1979, that the traffic of messages had grown to over 80 megabytes per day. With this much potentially useful, but practically overwhelming amount of information, one needs a system that provides the capacity and functionality to effectively search the news. DejaNews is this system. ---------------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And personally, I think it is a really great service. There is the usual complaining and whining from the privacy freaks about how it is such a terrible thing that someone is able to track someone else's postings and presumably make a profile of that person, but to my way of thinking it is the height of lunacy to post messages on Usenet where they are seen by millions of people in thousands of newsgroups and then (apparently) *not* expect others to pay any attention to what you have written. All that is happening here is that a systematic compilation is being made of the things people talk about. If you don't like it, then don't post. I've even had people write me to complain about the index of authors and subjects for this Digest which I have compiled over the past several years. They think it is just terrible that anyone who wishes to do so can get a list of everything they have written here. Let's face it, the real culprit here is the computer, isn't it? If it were not for computer record keeping, a lot of records theoretically available for inspection would be as a practical matter nearly impossible to obtain or review due to the sheer size of the listings. You who argue about the invasion of your privacy should remember that the computer is what has made it all possible, so start by unplugging yours. Well not everyone agrees with me. The next message in this issue talks about (who else!) ... Big Brother. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 15:51:19 -0400 From: mkuras@ccs.neu.edu (Michael J Kuras) Subject: Big Brother - He's Everywhere! Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University This is from the 23 Oct 95 {Boston Globe}: DEJANEWS SPARKS PRIVACY CONCERNS DejaNews Partners, an Internet service that catalogues and indexes Usenet messages, is under attack for the service's potential to violate Internet users' privacy. The service makes copies of every Usenet message and indexes them for easy retrieval. For instance, by typing in someone's name, you can track the messages they posted to various newsgroups over a given period of time. Some Internet users resent the "Big Brother" aspects of the service: "No one ever mentioned to me that it was possible to take a different program and run a search on what you've written," says one. "When you post to Usenet, it automatically gets propagated to tens of thousands of computers," replies DejaNews's president. "So anybody who posted something to Usenet, and then later on has any kind of privacy concerns about it must have seriously misunderstood what they were doing." DejaNews can be reached at < http://dejanews.com/ >. This service is supported by corporate sponsers who get a 6"x1" ad at the top of each page. (I just turn off 'Auto Load Graphcs' and I hardly notice the intrusion.) I tried it out by performing a search of messages I posted in the last month. Each reference to the msg's I posted is hot-linked so I can point-and-click to instantly view the text. It's both interesting and admittedly a little disconcerting. On the other hand, doing a keyword search on 'Slaton' shows what kind of bandwidth this, uh, gentleman is generating. ----------------------------------------- michael j kuras www.ccs.neu.edu/~mkuras mkuras@ccs.neu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'm glad to have a service like DejaNews available. It is an extremely valuable reference tool on an increasing cluttered and noisy net. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 10:17:50 -0600 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Chicago Ameritech Cellular PINs Required? I received a puzzling piece of mail from Ameritech recently which seemed to imply (it was _very_ carefully worded) that I needed to call them and set up a PIN for my cellphone service as part of their Ongoing Battle Against Telecommunications Fraud. It did not actually say that this was mandatory, nor did it say that it was purely optional, only that I should be calling such-and-such a number and setting it up. An enclosed glossy brochure covered the usual questions and answers, which I won't rehash here; we all know the issues and the details. Basically, I don't want the PIN. I make only light use of my two cellular phones anyway, and don't want to mess around with manually entering the PIN for each call, especially while driving. I do not frequent busy areas where someone would be trolling for numbers. I have not called the PIN service number yet; I tend to think I'll get more knowledgeable advice here. Does anyone else have more insight on what Ameritech is planning to do with this in the Chicago area? Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Adobe Systems, Inc. (formerly Frame Technology) Advanced Product Services 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@frame.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: emedia@netcom.com (Ken McCarthy) Subject: Telecom History Web Site Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 03:38:04 GMT History buffs: The Net is 150+ years old. Check out http://www.e-media.com/telecom for a web version of George Oslin's "The Story of Telecommunications" which tracks the history of electronic communications from 1844 (when it all began with the telegraph) through to today. If you like it, pass it on. Thanks, Ken McCarthy E-Media and telecom history buff [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And thank you for reminding us that the net did not start with AOL's decision to let their subscribers use it, nor for that matter even with the early days of Usenet in the late 1970's. Some think it is a relatively new phenomenon. Not really it isn't ... just the tools we use on it are new. PAT] ------------------------------ From: q11478@email.mot.com (Andy Cobham) Subject: Telephone Key-Pad Standards Organization: Motorola GRO-A/P Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 03:00:41 GMT I am in the process of researching standards and/or regulations regarding telephone (conventional telephone and/or cellular phones, -- both analog and the new GSM digital) keypad layouts. I have been advised that the ITU recently issued a recommendations (ITU-T Recomm- endation E.161) which outlines the criteria behind a new "Standard Keypad Layout". I have not been able to put my hands on a copy of this new "Recommendation". Can anyone help me out with a copy via my EMail address if possible I would be most grateful. EMail address is: Q11478@EMail.MOT.COM ------------------------------ From: albre011@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Bruce Albrecht) Subject: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager Date: 31 Oct 1995 22:08:09 -0600 I am looking for Unix sources to send messages to an alphanumeric pager. I've been told that there was one posted a while back, perhaps to alt.sources. Does anyone know a location for this, or an approximate posting date? For that matter, are the ixo files in the telecom-archives/technical directory adequate for writing one from scratch? ------------------------------ From: Antnio Sousa Subject: GH337 and Mobile "Modem" Date: 30 Oct 1995 17:48:21 GMT Organization: telepac Hi, I've recently seen a post referring that the DC12 "modem" that fits with Ericsson's GH337 only works at 2400? Can anybody confirm or not? Thanks in advance, Antonio Sousa ------------------------------ From: jkovaly@mindspring.com (James Kovaly) Subject: BONeS vs. CACI Network Modeling Question Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 15:33:40 -0400 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. I am currently evaluating two network modeling tools, the BoNES product from Systems&Networks and the Comnet III product from CACI. Has anyone had any experience with either or both of these products that they would like to share? Thanks, jkovaly@mindspring.com James Kovaly Network Design Engineer Bellsouth Cellular ------------------------------ From: imirman@optoelectronics.ultranet.com (Ilya Mirman) Subject: Physical Layer Testing For Fiber Optic Transmitters and Receivers Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 14:15:30 GMT Organization: UltraNet Communications, Inc. I am curious: when do people stop testing the physical layer or fiber optic transmitters and receivers? Obvously, the individual components get tested during their manufacture (spectral characteristics, pulse performance ("EYE"), Error Rate performance, etc. Presumably, they are also tested once integrated into the system manufacturers' boards. But, at some point (deployment, maintenance, etc.) people no longer look at the eye diagrams or spectral characteristics -- instead, they look for "higher layer" issues, such as sending packets, system jitter, etc. My question: when, exactly, does the "physical layer" testing stop, and higher level testing begin? Thanks! (feel free to e-mail me...) ------------------------------ From: jaap.droogers@solair1.inter.nl.net (jaap droogers) Subject: GPT and Ringmaster Organization: NLnet Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 10:03:11 GMT We are using an GPT iSDX large PBX. For costs registration we use the Ringmaster program. The problem is that every day we have one or two calls with no costs although the calls took more than three minutes. Has anyone a solution for us? Thanks, Jaap Droogers Leeuwenhorst Congres Centrum Langelaan 3 2211 XT NOORDWIJKERHOUT The Netherlands ------------------------------ Subject: Another UK Number Change Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 10:37:55 GMT From: Clive D.W. Feather The UK National Code Change, completed this April, was supposed to solve our numbering problems for the forseeable future. Well, many of us foresaw that other places were still running out of numbers. Oftel announced recently that Reading numbers are about to change again. 0734 XXXXXX became 01734 XXXXXX, and will now become 0118 9XX XXXX. Parallel running will start in April 1996, with the final changeover in January 1998. According to posters in uk.telecom, there already exist 01734 90XXXX and 01734 04XXXX numbers. No-one is sure how these will interact during parallel running. Clive D.W. Feather | Work: clive@demon.net | Gateway House Senior Manager | Home: clive@stdc.demon.co.uk | 322 Regents Park Road Demon Internet Ltd. | Tel: +44 181 371 1000 | Finchley | Fax: +44 181 371 1281 | London N3 2QQ ------------------------------ From: JeanBernard_Condat@eMail.FranceNet.fr (JeanBernard Condat) Reply-To: JeanBernard_Condat@eMail.FranceNet.fr Subject: Head of French Hacker Group Was a Secret Service Agent Date: 31 Oct 1995 18:38:42 GMT Organization: FranceNet Bonjour, In the October 12th issue of {Intelligence Newsletter}, I note the following text that the editor accept to put at the end of this email. Don't hesitate to send me all your comments related at this fact ... Regards, Jean-Bernard Condat 47 rue des Rosiers, 93400 Saint-Ouen, France Phone: +33 141238807, portable phone: +33 07238628 JeanBernard_Condat@eMail.FranceNet.FR ============================================= A Computer Spy Unmasked For years Jean-Bernard Condat has undoubtedly been France's best-known computer hacker. Appearing on television talk shows, launching provocative operations and attending computer seminars, he founded the Chaos Computer Club France (CCCF) in 1989 as France's answer to the renowned Chaos Computer Club in Germany. French journalist Jean Guisnel revealed this week in a book entitled Guerres dans le Cyberespace, Internet et les Services Secrets (Cyberspace War, Internet and Secret Services) published by the Editions La Decouverte (ISBN 2-7071-2502-4) that Condat has been controlled from the outset by the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire. A student in Lyons where he followed music and information technology courses, Condat was taken in hand by the local branch of the DST in 1983 after committing some "minor misdemeanor." The DST organized his participation in hacker meetings abroad. Guisnel said that from 1989 onwards "Jean-Luc Delacour, Condat's handler at the DST, decided that his proteg‚ was ready for bigger and better things." He asked Condat to start up CCCF, then worked to promote his public image in order that the largest number of hackers would gravitate towards him. The DST printed hundreds of T-shirts and thousands of post cards for him. When Thomson and Pechiney found that hackers were trying to break into their systems Condat enabled the French counter-espionage service to trace the intruders. When he was taking part in a television program in 1991 in which he was to demonstrate how to hack into a system his handler dictated what he should say in his earphones. Questioned by Intelligence Newsletter, Condat admitted he had worked for the DST over a 52 month period and written up 1,032 reports during that time. He claims, however, that he broke with the DST in 1991 and that he intends to shortly publish an account of what he calls his "turpitude." Whether true or not, Condat worked for several years for the SVP company before leaving it a few months ago to take over a key function: he is now system operator for the France forum on Compuserve. Guisnel cites any number of cases of how "Internet is controlled to the bone" by such measures as turning around hackers, systematically bugging computer networks and manipulating newsgroups. "If no serious company should confide its correspondence to the network and if no government should use it to transmit sensitive information the reason is that the NSA is watching and that all the network's communications physically travel through the U.S., and very probably through computer filters at its installations at Fort Meade, Maryland," Guisnel said. He said the conclusion was that advanced encryption programs like PGP needed to be used if one wants to communicate in a secure manner on the Internet. Citing the debate raging in the U.S. over computer security which has made little impact in Europe, Guisnel called on France to authorize the use of encryption by everyone and criticized the country's reactionary policy in that score. He said the attitude, while defensive in nature, was all the harder to understand because its first consequence was to increase the vulnerability of French companies, to the benefit of NSA. Copyright 1995 Indigo Publications. All rights reserved. This news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Indigo Publications. For more information and sample issues, please mail to indigo1@dialup.francenet.fr. ------------------------------ From: pboric@ctc-mundo.net (Patricio Boric) Subject: ETSI Standards Needed Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 13:43:06 GMT Organization: CTC Mundo I need to get several standards from ETSI, specially those related with EURO ISDN If somebody knows where I can get them, please let me know. ------------------------------ From: davidn@ziprobes.com (David Nyarko) Subject: Specs for HM9102A Telephone IC Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 15:08:23 GMT Organization: Z.I.Probes. Inc, Edmonton, Alberta Hi, Could I have specs and equivalents for the HM9102A IC. It is in a tone/pulse telephone with redial. Who manufactures this chip? The marking 8918CZ is also found on the chip. It might be a date code. My email address is: davidn@ziprobes.com My fax no. is 403-463-1567 ------------------------------ From: gideony@eskimo.com (Gideon Yuval) Subject: Towing Pirates Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 00:12:31 GMT The AAA's newsletter for Washington state warbs about "towing pirates", who interecept cellular calls to the AAA, tow the car, and then start playing games. And I thought cellular snooping was go-to-jail stuff ... ------------------------------ From: joemortz@rain.org (Joe Mortz) Subject: Cable Services Renewal Help Needed Date: 31 Oct 1995 07:03:38 GMT Organization: RAIN Public Access Internet (805) 967-RAIN Looking for Cable TV franchise renewal information for small group of concerned "consumers" ... referrals, suggestions will be appreciated. Joe Mortz (805-564 0824) ------------------------------ From: Lisa R. Owen Subject: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Date: 01 Nov 1995 04:40:27 GMT Organization: Hilco Technologies, Inc. Hi, I'd like to know how to have more than one cellular phone on the same phone line. As far as I know, this is legal under FCC guidelines (I want to make sure of this, though), but the primary service provider (Southwestern Bell, for example) can't provide that reprogramming service for you. I don't know of any companies in the St. Louis area that provide this service, or exactly how they would be classified (a friend of mine just had this done in Atlanta). Thanks for your assistance! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Everything I have heard about this and all the discussions we have had about it here in the past would seem to indicate you are *wrong*. More than one phone per number is a definite no-no where cellular companies are concerned. Perhaps readers with more specifics on this will write you direct and explain it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David A. Cantor Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 17:10:36 EST Subject: New Area Code Shows Up On Caller-ID The new area code 860 showed up today, 10/31, for the first time on my caller ID unit on a local call. The last local call I received with the old area code 203 was on 10/29. David A. Cantor +1 860.444.7268 (444-RANT) 453 Bayonet St., #16 Connecticut has a new area code. New London, CT 06320 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #458 ****************************** From ptownson Wed Nov 1 03:05:37 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA11554; Wed, 1 Nov 1995 02:56:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 02:56:03 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511010756.CAA11554@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #459 Status: R TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 95 02:56:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 459 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Music-While-on-Hold (Arsen Darakdjian) WA State Order on Local Interconnection (Glenn Blackmon) Re: Telecom in China (John W. Pan) Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? (John McGing) Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? (Stan Schwartz) Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? (Stephen Knight) Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? (A. Hawthorn) Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? (Steve Cogorno) Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? (bgriffis@capital) Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? (Malcolm Osborne) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Tim Shoppa) Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone (Michael J Kuras) Re: Area Code Authoritative List (Stuart Zimmerman) Re: Area Code Authoritative List (Linc Madison) Re: Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone (Barry Margolius) Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service (Martin McCormick) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: adarak@deltanet.com (Arsen Darakdjian) Subject: Music-While-on-Hold Date: 1 Nov 1995 00:19:49 GMT Organization: Unique Computer Systems This >should< be a fun project for those telephone guru's: I was wondering if anyone can help me build a device that will allow me to put music while the phone line is on hold. I don't know the specifics or the changes in the phone line when someone is put on hold, but there must be some change because the phone recognizes that the line is on hold by blinking. I am able to get the music onto the line by putting both wires from the microphone jack off the radio ON TO the ground/tip wires of the phone. Now, that works, but all the time! That is the reason for the device ... it will know when the line is on HOLD status and allow the music to play until the hold is off. I obviously intend to keep the radio on all the time with the micro- phone jack cable plugged in, but need this device to notice the change in the line and allow the current to go through when put on hold, and stop the current (from the microphone jack) when the handset is picked up (or line is put off-hold). Any suggestions? adarak@deltanet.com ------------------------------ From: Glenn Blackmon Subject: WA State Order on Local Interconnection Date: 1 Nov 1995 00:56:52 GMT Organization: Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission The Washington Utilities and Transportation on Oct. 31 issued an order setting the terms and conditions for interconnection of new local exchange companies with the existing networks. The commission ordered the incumbents, US West and GTE, to interconnect with competitors at mutually agreed-upon meet points and to use "bill and keep" or mutual traffic exchange as an interim compensation mechanism. The commission accepted US West's offer to file a tariff unbundling the local loop and directed the company to do so within 30 days. A news release and the order may be found at: http://www.wln.com/~wutc3/iconnect.html Glenn Blackmon glenn@wutc.wa.gov Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission ------------------------------ From: JohnWPan@aol.com Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 15:27:29 -0500 Subject: Re: Telecom in China ADECKER@bear.com (Andrew Decker) wrote: > While the details vary depending upon the sector (and to some extent > the report), in general, the Government is attempting to increase the > aggregate number of access lines by 10+ million per year (essentially > building an RBOC every year!). Depending on who you talk to, the telephone penetration in China is one to five percent, with big cities like Beijing and Shanghai reaching as high as 30%. Now if the government wants to increase penetration by one percent per year for the next ten years. That's one RBOC per year. It is not going to happen. An excellent piece on telephones in China is a folksy {New York Times Magazine} article by Nancy Berliner, September 5, 1993. While two years old, things have not changed that much. Some are willing to pay US $5000 (several years average annual salary) to get connected, which exceeds the per line capital cost. What percentage of the total population are so wealthy or so willing? A call from Shanghai to New York costs US$6.00 per minute, ten times the cost from New York to Shanghai. Needless to say, China outlawed callback companies. Because it is such a lucrative business, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT), while wanting to increase revenues, does not want anyone else dipping into their turf. However, the Ministry of Power, Electronics, and Rail (MPER), using right-of-way it owns as leverage, won an inter-ministerial fight to gain the right to enter the telephone business as well. Not mentioned by Andrew Decker is the fact that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has its own telephone system and owns ALL the radio frequency spectrum. It too is vying to enter the telephone business, using spectrum as leverage. Clandestine telephone systems are popping up all over, usually with the blessing (bribe) of the local mayor or governor. That's the "incredible pace" PAT mentioned. Most popular are turnkey wireless systems packaged in several suitcases. However, when MPT in Beijing finds out, it dispatches the army to dismantle and confiscate the equipment, provided of course that the army is not part of the scheme. By that time, the entrepreneurs have already recouped their investment, packed up and started business elsewhere. Who are these telephone guerrillas? They are usually overseas Chinese who maintained relations with the mayors of their old home town. Profits are converted on the black market and smuggled out. For major companies investing in telecommunications in China, the big issue is repatriation of profits, which is prohibited. What AT&T does is to open a factory. The profits from operations are used to pay wages in the telephone factory. The telephones are then shipped out. Boeing, in like manner, ships out airplane tails as payment for airliners it sells to China. No money comes out. Old Shanghai is different. Prior to 1949, ITT owned, and covered the city with telephones. After that, the People's Republic confiscated the phone system and disconnected all private telephones. Thus with excess capacity, reconnecting today is easy, provided the district manager, the number assignment clerk, the mainframe operator, the lineman, the installer, and the billing clerk all have received proper "gifts" which are recurring, else the phone will cease to work. For the newer parts of Shanghai, however, there is simply no telephones at all. The information presented here comes from newspaper articles, personal visits, and recent reports from visitors from China. Disputes welcome. ------------------------------ From: jmcging@access.digex.net (John McGing) Subject: Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? Date: 31 Oct 1995 21:05:21 -0500 Organization: Digital Express, Maryland Reply-To: jmcging@access.digex.net I use Allnet for my Cellphone (they cut a deal with our employee association and Bell Atlantic) and they get the LD traffic. And I got a bill a week ago from Frontier telling me that Allnet and Frontier have merged and now to write the check out to Frontier. Service seems good, people seem profesional; and I had no problems with the Allnet people either. Of course, my first bill was for $.07. Good price for a LD call from the cellphone to Des Plaines, IL from Baltimore but I did feel foolish writing the check. jmcging@access.digex.net JOHN.PF on GEnie Team OS/2 http://www.access.digex.net/~jmcging [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: AT&T has a policy on their cellular billing for long distance calls which says if your bill is less than five dollars, you may put off paying it for three months, or until it goes over that amount, whichever comes first. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Stan Schwartz Subject: Re: Frontier Telecom Experiences? Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 22:04:34 -0500 In TELECOM Digest V15 #454, Robert Levandowski wrote: > You should be able to force calls through Frontier with the 10xxx code: > 10211. Going back to when I had an account with Frontier when they were called RCI, in areas where Frontier isn't the LEC, you have to have an account with them before they will allow a call over 10211. They also didn't bill through my LEC (NYNEX, at the time). They used to have great rates for intra-state, inter-LATA New York State calls, as well as six-second billing. I dropped them after they discontinued their 950 service. They grandfathered those of us who had it, but they raised the rates so high it didn't make sense to use them. Stan ------------------------------ From: sdk@cci.com (Stephen Knight) Subject: Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? Organization: Northern Telecom Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 22:21:08 GMT In article , scotta@primenet.com (Scott Atwood) wrote: > US West in the Phoenix (AZ) area is suppose to have Call > Waiting-Caller ID sometime before the end of the year ... (yeah right). > I have read a few threads regarding the spec's, but all refer to the > BellCore TR-NWT-000030 document. Is this spec available on the net, > or libraries or does one have to shell out the $$ to receive it? > I've tried to contact the local telco reps and they are of NO help. > They went on to say that even they don't have a CW-Caller ID unit > available for us to buy (recommended trying Radio Shack :-) ). Northern's PowerTouch 350 (aka Vista 350) can do CallerID w/ Call Waiting. > So far I have gathered that after the CW signal is sent the caller-Id > unit must [mute the handset] , send one of the [A,B,C or D] Touch > Tones at which time the CO will send the Caller_ID burst. From TR-NWT-000030: "For data transmission, however, a CPE alerting signal (CAS), consisting of a pair of frequencies will be used. When the CPE receives this signal correctly, it will reply with an ACK to the SPCS indicating readiness to receive information (see SR-TSV-002476). The SPCS will then send the relevant data to the CPE". > Am I even close to what is necessary? Yep. Altho, it should be pointed out that it's not limited to just the CO sending the information (which could make for some confusion). steve knight nortel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 23:39:00 -0500 From: ahawtho@emory.edu (Andrew B. Hawthorn) Subject: Re: Call Waiting With Caller ID - Is it Actually in Place? In the Atlanta area BellSouth is offering two new services -- Call Waiting Deluxe and Call Director. Call Waiting Deluxe delivers the Caller ID information for Call Waiting calls. It currently sells for around $6/mo. Call Director is an integrated service of Caller ID Name and Number Delivery with Anonymous Call Rejection, Call Waiting Deluxe, MemoryCall Voice Mail Service, and Three-Way Calling. Call Director gives you the same features as conventional Caller ID and Call Waiting Deluxe, but also allows you to direct the second incoming call. As I understand it, when a Call Waiting call is received, the name and number are displayed on the screen of the phone and the phone user can select an option from a menu. The menu allows the phone user to switch between calls, send the second caller directly to their voice mail, or send a message to the second caller asking them to hold while the phone user completes their call and answers the incoming call. It currently sells for around $16/mo. As I understand it, both services require the Nortel Powertouch series of telephones (http://www.nortel.com/english/phones/power225.html). BellSouth is selling these phones when the service is ordered. I would love either of these two services, but I don't want to part with my Nortel M9417 two line Caller ID phone. If there are any Nortel people out there who know if a Powertouch with two line capabilities and the ability to handle the Call Waiting Deluxe is in the works, please let me know! Andrew Hawthorn ahawtho@emory.edu ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 13:31:36 PST Steve Samler said: > as the delimiter between the story numbers. We are getting reports > from some users that the system does not recognize the pound key. I > know that the other keys work because they are required to enter a > user id and a password to enter the system. I'm almost positive I know what it is: PBX equipment. Doctors offices often have Merlin systems (don't know why, but every doctor I've been to has had some type of Merlin). Anyway, many PBX systems use the # key for features. If you dial # instead of it sending the actual DTMF, it waits for a code and then processes that feature. On a Merlin you can avoid this by typing ## each time you want to send a #. Toshiba phone systems have a similar "feature." TO deactivate, use **##. See the user's manual from the PBX for more info. Steve cogorno@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: cccef.bgriffis@capital.ge.com Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice Systems? Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 17:14:10 PDT Organization: GE Capital News Server You may want to find out what type of phone system callers with problems are using. I was in an offfice with an older Toshiba Strata and it did not emit a pound (I couldn't get into my voice mai!) There was a workaround -- I contacted a rep. from Toshiba. I don't remember the sequence now as we swapped the system out. ------------------------------ From: Malcolm Osborne Subject: Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? Date: 31 Oct 1995 17:01:43 GMT Organization: Telkom S.A. Ltd ezx@ix.netcom.com (Ed Marion) wrote: > Does anyone know why Countries like Canada, Bermuda > the British Virgin Islands, and the Carribean in general are > all accessible from within the USA with a 1 + Area Code + number? > The rates to these countries can be onerous. About $1 min to > the Cayman Islands, for instance. So, dialing 1-809 + Cayman > Islands seven digit phone number) can rack up some serious charges. > A small business or individual that does not have a programmable PBX > really has no control, other that blocking all 1+ calls and strict > employee training. Recently, a new employee racked up about $120 in > LD to Canada (AC 905) because she thought it was in the USA. The same > LD time to a USA number would have cost only about $60. > For that matter, with NAFTA and all that, why does it cost about 25 > cents per minute to call suburban Toronto from Houston during business > hours, when it only costs 12 cents per minute to call Seattle which is > 500 miles more distant? On 800 inbound, it is even worse ... 56 cents > vs 16 cents. Isn't the reason for higher charges for crossing international borders due the continued use of the Inter-Administration Accounting system, whereby each country has to pay a share of the traffic between themselves? I have seen it mooted that telcos should change to a `sender keeps all' policy. Perhaps then there could be parity in tariffs, irrespective of destination. Malcolm Osborne Pretoria South Africa EMail: osbornmc@telkom03.telkom.co.za ------------------------------ From: shoppa@altair.krl.caltech.edu (Tim Shoppa) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone Date: 31 Oct 1995 19:29:33 GMT Organization: Kellogg Radiation Lab, Caltech In article , Henry Baker wrote: > On a recent trip to Europe, a number of my associates were furious that > most of the public telephones don't have '*' and '#' touch tone keys that > work, and hence they couldn't access their voice mail!! > Perhaps the first order of business for some of these services is to offer > an alternative keying that doesn't require '*' and '#'. Voice recognition > to bypass these payphone bandits would also appear to be an important > requirement. A more direct solution would be to go to the local Radio Shack and get one of those pocket autodialers which generate touch-tone phones and send them out of a small speaker that you hold up to the phone's mouthpiece. I've used these with good success from payphones and hotel phones in Europe. (As a matter of fact, I didn't see a single touch-tone phone in the part of central Italy I was in last summer!) > I also understand that other pay phones don't allow touch tones at all, > once the call is made, so that revenues from the pay phone are 'enhanced'. Watch out with these US payphones, though. I swear that some of these have *disconnected* me when I've tried to use a pocket autodialer after the touch-tone pad was disabled. Tim shoppa@altair.krl.caltech.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 15:32:45 -0400 From: mkuras@ccs.neu.edu (Michael J Kuras) Subject: Re: E-Mail Over the Telephone Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University Recently, PDIXON.US.ORACLE.COM wrote: > Does anyone know of a service that will read email messages over the > telephone? I read this off of Edupage this week ... COMPUSERVE BY PHONE CompuServe will offer a new feature that allows subscribers to access the system using just a telephone. Code-named CallingAll Card, the service will allow a user to call an 800 number and check stock quotes, flight information and handle e-mail and faxes. Eventually users will be able to have their e-mail read to them via text-to-voice software. "We're opening up CompuServe to millions and millions of people that don't own computers as well as CompuServe users on the run," says the company's strategy manager. (Wall Street Journal 26 Oct 95 B3) michael j kuras www.ccs.neu.edu/~mkuras mkuras@ccs.neu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 11:28 EST From: Stuart Zimmerman <0007382020@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Area Code Authoritative List The list sent in by bkron@netcom.com (BUBEYE!) was well done but slightly incomplete. Area code 441 is is not the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. It is actually Bermuda (which is not part of the Caribbean). Area code 860 for Connecticut was missing. Stuart Zimmerman Fone Saver, LLC 007382020@mcimail.com 1 (800) 313-6631 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That lack of 860 might have been my fault in the editing process. I had a terrible time getting that message edited. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Area Code Authoritative List Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 16:38:19 GMT BUBEYE! (bkron@netcom.com) wrote: >> I've searched the archives and I've searched at Bellcore. Is there >> any authoritative, up to date list of all the North American area codes? > Sure thing. Here's one that's up to date as of today, 10/27/95. Well, actually, there are two corrections. > 441 PUERTO RICO & CARIBBEAN Area Code 441 is specifically Bermuda, which actually isn't in the Caribbean, it's in the Atlantic. It does not cover any area outside Bermuda. The rest of Area Code 809 (Puerto Rico, Caribbean, Bahamas) is not affected by this change. > 562 CALIFORNIA This area code is not yet in service, pending revision by the CPUC. (The test numbers may work, but there are no "real" numbers yet.) Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * LincMad@Netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And yet Linc, even with your eagle eyes for accuracy, you apparently overlooked 860 which got left out somehow. I'll tell you, these new area codes are a real pain to try and keep up with aren't they. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bfm@pobox.com (Barry Margolius, NYC) Subject: Re: Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:39:01 GMT I have come across two methods of "touch-toning" alpha messages that I like better than the one you describe. I've not seen either of them used in paging, but here they are: 1. Press the letter key once for the first letter, twice for the second letter, thrice (I love that word) for the third letter. Your "call home" example would be: 222 2 555 555 * 44 666 6 33. This system is, to me, the easiest to use, but is subject to error as the user must pause between each letter of the alphabet, e.g. to differentiate AA from B. 2. Your first keypress indicates which set of three letters, the second keypress is 1,2, or 3 to indicate which letter. So "call home" becomes 23 21 53 53 * 42 63 61 32. This is a bit tougher for the human, but safer since all letters parse as two digit combinations. Barry F Margolius, New York City bfm@pobox.com For PGP Key, finger bfm@panix.com ------------------------------ From: Martin McCormick Subject: Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service Date: 31 Oct 1995 17:30:13 GMT Organization: Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK I was tuning my HF receiver around 26.0 megahertz one day a few years back when the sunspot cycle was much higher and heard what sounded like a wireless telephone of some kind. The voices had a Canadian accent and I seem to recall hearing the name of a town or some other reference that let me know that the signal originated from Canada. I remember hearing dial-tone and pulse-dialing sounds with the dial-tone being the modern duel-frequency style. From what little I heard, it sounded like it might have been one of these radio telephone systems for isolated areas. It appeared to be working quite well at the time. I have also heard similar type transmissions on roughly the same frequencies which appeared to come from somewhere in Latin America. Conversations were in Spanish and the dial-tone and other sounds lead me to believe that the phone system that the radio telephone was connected to was a rotary stepping system with lots of clicks and curchunks. If the link from the outlying telephone to the switch is also somewhere in the 26 megahertz range, then those poor souls must have to contend with all the illegal CB-type activity between about 25.5 and 26.965 megahertz. Since the radio telephone uses full-duplex operation, any carriers or other interference on either of the two frequencies will really bother somebody. Much of the pirate radio traffic in the 26 megahertz range is a mixture of single sideband, AM, and occasional FM, but it doesn't really matter since any kind of strong signal would pretty well trash the system. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK 36.7N97.4W OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications Group ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #459 ****************************** From ptownson Wed Nov 1 19:28:39 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id TAA02352; Wed, 1 Nov 1995 19:21:26 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 19:21:26 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511020021.TAA02352@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #460 Status: R TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 95 19:21:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 460 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telephone Key-Pad Standards (Judith Oppenheimer) Appalachian Regional Commission Unveils Telecom Initiative (Nigel Allen) Ameritech Problems (Alex Strasheim) Wanted: Dialogic 21D/41D With Stylus Software and Diagnostics (Les Kula) These Sleezeball Companies Are Killing Me! (Johnny Castaldi) Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems (John S. Hope) Service Centres For GSM Cellular Phones (Giuliano D'Ambrosi) Selective Answering Machine (Theodore Wayne Hong) Re: Audio Signal Directly Into Phone Line (Mike) Re: Audio Signal Directly Into Phone Line? (Scot E. Wilcoxon) Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (Curtis Wheeler) Re: When was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? (John Shriver) Re: Old Los Angeles Prefixes (Michael Hollomon, Jr.) Re: Using *69 To Get Caller's ID (Ph0ne Phreak) Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople (Philip Spencer) Re: Last Laugh! Trying to Call the Nowhere Man (Scott Montague) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: producer@pipeline.com (Judith Oppenheimer) Subject: Telephone Key-Pad Standards Date: 1 Nov 1995 17:20:01 -0500 Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM) In comp.dcom.telecom q11478@email.mot.com (Andy Cobham) said: I've got a copy buried somewhere. Email me your fax number, and I'll see if I can dig it up. Essentially, the new worldwide standard mirrors the U.S. keypad, with the addition of Q on the 7 and Z on the 9. After this was adopted, the U.S. modified its standard with these additions so that there is supposed to be one consistent standard. Judith Oppenheimer, President Interactive CallBrand(TM): Strategic Leadership, Competitive Intelligence Producer@pipeline.com. Ph: +1 800 The Expert. Fax: +1 212 684-2714. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 02:34:29 -0500 From: Nigel Allen Subject: Appalachian Regional Commission Unveils Telecom Initiative Organization: Internex Online Here is a press release from the Appalachian Regional Commission. I don't work for the Commission, but I thought people here would find the press release interesting. Appalachia is the area in the U.S. defined by the Appalachian mountains, traditionally synonymous with coal-mining and poverty. The region is more economically diversified and better off today than it once was, but it still suffers from a lot of poverty. Here's the press release: ARC Unveils Telecommunications Initiative Contact: Duane J. DeBruyne of the Appalachian Regional Commission, 202-884-7663, E-mail ARCnews@arc.gov JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 27 -- Jesse L. White Jr., federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), today announced that the ARC has adopted as a major policy goal the deployment of "a modern, cutting-edge telecommunications technology infrastructure" throughout the 13-state region to ensure that "the information superhighway not bypass Appalachia as the national highway system did some four decades ago." Speaking before the Mississippi Library Association in Jackson, Miss., White said that carefully planned telecommunications networks, backed with widespread education and training, would "contribute mightily toward removing distance and ruralness as two of the most significant barriers to economic development in Appalachia." "Education, training, planning, coordination, and most importantly, state, regional and federal cooperation must be laid as the foundation stones to the introduction of new technology in Appalachia, regardless of the hardware, software, RAM, bits or bytes," said White. "The Appalachian Regional Commission pledges its best effort to help communities and institutional centers throughout the region gain access to, and participate in, all of the benefits offered by today's worldwide telecommunications revolution." In addition to telecommunications, ARC is also launching major initiatives covering civic leadership development and globalization of the Appalachian economy. The Appalachian Regional Commission was created by Congress to serve as a partner with the 13 governors of Appalachia to improve health, education and economic opportunities throughout the region. Press release forwarded to the TELECOM Digest by Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen ------------------------------ From: alex@proust.suba.com (Alex Strasheim) Subject: Ameritech Problems Date: 1 Nov 1995 19:23:25 GMT Organization: Suba Communications We run a small ISP in Chicago, and we can't get Ameritech to set up our hunt groups properly. Some lines don't get hit by incoming calls at all, and other lines drop in and out periodically -- the behavior of the hunt groups actually changes every five or ten minutes. Sometimes a group will ring through (ie., no modem answers), even though we can check each line individually and they'll all answer. Then it will work again ten minutes later. We've tried all sorts of things -- calling Ameritech every day, calling the office of the President (which gets their attention, but doesn't get the problem fixed), etc. My question here is pretty general: how do people go about getting these types of problems fixed? What do you do when the telco denies that there's a problem? Are there consultants who can get things fixed up for us, people who understand how the phone system is wired together? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: lkula@eng.sun.com (Les Kula) Subject: Wanted: Dialogic 21D/41D With Stylus Software and Diagnostics Date: 1 Nov 1995 21:17:23 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc. Reply-To: lkula@eng.sun.com WTB: Dialogic 21D (two-line) or 41D (four-line) voice board for PC with Stylus Innovations Visual Voice Pro applications software for Windows 3.X. I also need the diagnostics program that comes on a floppy with Dialogic 41D four-port card. I'm buying used 41D and the seller does not have the floppy any more. Respond by email please. Thanks, Les ------------------------------ From: CASTALDI@flash.rowan.edu (Johnny Castaldi) Subject: These Sleezeball Companies Are Killing Me! Date: 1 Nov 1995 18:05:58 GMT Organization: Rowan College of NJ I am the telephone administrator for a large college in New Jersey. Every month on my Bell Atlantic phone bill there are several extra charges for companies like Telesphere, Integretel, Discount calling card, Joe Schmoe telephone company and the like. I added toll billing exception to my account, but low and behold, they keep coming. I called my account team to complain, and they tell me that I can't do anything about it because they simply bill for these companies. I can't even refuse to pay these because they just go past due on my Bell bill. After months and months, Bell forgets that they were other company charges and want to come after me for these charges. Has anyone come up with a way to stop this from happening? Ever try to call Integretel (1-800-736-7500)? They tell you to call back at midnight! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: By toll billing exception, I think you actually mean Billed Number Screening. You might try asking for it that way just be certain you and Bell Atlantic are speaking the same language. Each of those companies billing you is supposed to have a phone number listed on their billing page where you can call them. A lot of those may actually wind up going back to Integratel, and yes, Integratel makes it quite difficult to reach them at any normal hour of the day. As they say, call them at midnight. You need to get on as many screening databases as possible. Bell Atlantic uses the one all the 'traditional' telcos use, including AT&T as well as MCI and Sprint which have pretty much gained acceptance as 'traditional' telecom companies. Integratel does their own thing as we know, and even then with 'Bell' and 'Integratel' notified, you'll only be covering about 95 percent of the possibilities. What you really need to do is vigorously contact all the sleazeball companies at the phone numbers listed on each page of your phone bill. You'll need to do it and follow up for a couple months with each of them. Before you call *any* of them, have a list of every single number on your phone system. You'll want each and every one of them listed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jhope@sam.neosoft.com (John S. Hope) Subject: Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 07:24:31 GMT Organization: NeoSoft Internet Services +1 713 968 5800 Does anyone know of a company that makes a modem multiplexor. That is, I need a box that will accept one phone line and be able to switch between async posts depending on what command strings I issue. I will be using one phone line to dial into the management functions of several systems. Please provide any information you have including product name, model, company contact, and any experience with the product. Thanks a million, John Hope ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 17:49:22 +0100 From: giuliano.dambrosi@sintesi.inet.it (Giuliano D'Ambrosi) Subject: Service Centres For GSM Cellular Phones I live in Italy and notice the quick increase of cellular GSM mobile phones. Now, many companies sell phones but, if one of these sets does not work, it has to be sent to manufacturer to be repaired. There is no Service Centre who has schemes and spare parts for GSM mobiles. This sems to me a "non sense" on account of times and costs this disorganization requires. As in Germany and UK, to remain in Europe, like in US, I think, these mobile phones have a large circulation, I think manufacturers will use the same methods to organize service here in Italy; so, does anyone know if Service Centres exhist in those countries and are they able to repair phones or only replace them with others? Is it possible to buy spare parts, like any other technical equipment? Regards, Giuliano D'Ambrosi Email: giuliano.dambrosi@sintesi.inet.it Sintesi Srl Phone: 0481-43045 via G. Galilei 7 - Monfalcone (GO) Fax : 0481-411963 ------------------------------ From: uceetwh@ucl.ac.uk (Theodore Wayne Hong) Subject: Selective Answering Machine? Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 20:18:40 GMT Organization: University College London I've recently moved from the US to the UK, and I brought my answering machine with me. It's hooked up to the local switchboard here, and the phone part works fine. I thought the answering machine part did too, until I discovered that it didn't answer outside calls, only internal ones. Now outside calls do have a different ringing pattern (two rings instead of one), but I can't see what would cause the answering machine to ignore calls from outside ...? Theodore Hong t.hong@ucl.ac.uk ------------------------------ From: malong@neocom.ca (Mike) Subject: Re: Audio Signal Directly Into Phone Line Date: 31 Oct 1995 21:14:44 GMT Organization: Neocom Communications In article , dlevasseur@sun1.anza.com says: > In TELECOM Digest #437, ron@tgivan.wimsey.bc.ca wrote: >> How can I play audio directly into the phone line? I'd like to >> connect an RCA-style input to a phone jack so I can play audio >> directly from the stereo/computer output into the phoneline. What >> interfacing electronics is required? > You might try tracking down a "music-oh-hold" device, if such a beast > exists. Please be aware that FCC and Industry Canada rules prohibit > the sale of devices that don't limit the energy sent out over the > telephone line. As such, the line-level audio from your RCA output > can't be legally connected to the phone line without something to > limit its output power. This said, it is certainly possible to > "illegally" connect your RCA jack to a telephone connection. > I believe some of the devices used to *record* telephone conversations > (sold in the "back" sections of many electronics magazines) could be > pressed into service to provide this function. You might consider > using this setup with a telephone having mute capability to prevent > your telephone from adding unwanted signals and distortion to your > RCA-jack audio signal. An isolation transformer capable of carrying > the telephone line's DC current is also recommended. I can provide > information on such transformers if you like. > Coincidentally, I am in the process of helping develop a product that > allows (among other things) the playback of sound card audio out to > the telephone line. This device *has* been approved in accordance > with FCC rules (soon Industry Canada) and we hope to have it available > early in 1996. Send me a private e-mail for more information. Years ago I used to install "WIRED MUSIC" lines for the local phone company in Toronto, basically various ethnic groups wanted to send there own type of music to subscribers all over the city so the owner of "MUSIC COMPANY A" would set up a small studio in his basement and order a music loop from Bell, he would then set up a mickey mouse little amp and cassette player and pump anything he wanted to into the line. The termination suplied by the phone company was just a simple 900 ohm isolation transformer and the audio would go into a bridge in the serving central office and then could be xconnected to virtually anywhere in the world (if ya got the money). The equipment in the CO was made by McCurty and consisted of analog bridges and amps. It was that simple for a fellow to start up his own little "WIRED MUSIC NETWORK". OH YA! the phone company would get reaal mad if the main leg (sender) would crank that little $100 amp to the sky and spill chinese music over everybody's voice lines. Mike ------------------------------ From: sewilco@fieldday.mn.org (Scot E. Wilcoxon) Subject: Re: Audio Signal Directly Into Phone Line? Date: 31 Oct 1995 15:57:56 -0600 Organization: FieldDay In article , TGI wrote: > How can I play audio directly into the phone line? I've seen one inexpensive device in computer stores which looks like it may have a number of uses for comp.dcom.telecom readers. It is called "Voice Mail for the PC" by Reveal. It connects to a phone line, RS-232 serial port, and has two mini stereo phono jacks for a sound card. From the description it seems to be an RS-232 controlled phone circuit which uses a sound card instead of a handset. Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@fieldday.mn.org ------------------------------ From: Curtis Wheeler Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 09:55:48 -0800 Organization: Chevron, La Habra, CA Lisa R. Owen wrote: > I'd like to know how to have more than one cellular phone on the same > phone line. As far as I know, this is legal under FCC guidelines (I > want to make sure of this, though), but the primary service provider > (Southwestern Bell, for example) can't provide that reprogramming > service for you. I don't know of any companies in the St. Louis area > that provide this service, or exactly how they would be classified (a > friend of mine just had this done in Atlanta). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Everything I have heard about this and > all the discussions we have had about it here in the past would seem > to indicate you are *wrong*. More than one phone per number is a > definite no-no where cellular companies are concerned. Perhaps readers > with more specifics on this will write you direct and explain it. PAT] The FCC ammended part 22 late last year and made all cloning, including for your own use, illegal. One ESN, one phone. Many carriers are beginning to offer the service. Here in Northern California you can get it from GTE -- I think they call it "The 1 Plan". You can have your number assigned to a second phone that has it's own ESN. The catch is ... that second phone can't roam. Not all carriers offer the service. If your's doesn't, you're out of luck for now. Curtis Wheeler - Pleasanton, CA ------------------------------ From: John Shriver Subject: Re: When was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? Date: 1 Nov 1995 18:51:59 GMT Organization: Shiva Corporation There were coiled handset cords in the cloth cord era. I've seen some on old phones for sale. However, I have never seen one in any sort of reasonable condition. They weren't very durable. The rubber ones (on 302 sets), and the later plastic ones on the 500 set, were durable enough to see wide use. I think I haven't seen coiled handset cords on anything older than a 302 set. That would give us a date of the early 1930's, when the 302 came out. I suspect what made the coiled cord practical was the shift from cloth insulation of the individual tinsel conductors to rubber insulation. That had the body to hold the coiling. The overall wrapper remained cotton or rayon. They may have been an extra cost option back in the 1930's and 1940's. Plugs were an extra cost option (presumably per month). Long cords (to the plug) were also an option. When my mother first got a long cord in the 1950's, it was a one-time fee, and you got one long cord forever, even if you moved. Long cords are quite uncommon on old desk phones, from the French (202) phones right up through the pre-modular 500 set. Coiled cloth cords are fairly common on old operator's headsets. I suspect the ones with coiled cords were for supervisors, who were wandering about. Do note that all WECo cords have a date code stamped on one of the metal strain relief. Thus, given a coiled cord, dating it is easy. Cords are usually dated in the IV-36 style, which would be April 1936. I've also seen extensible AECo cloth cords, but they weren't coiled. More of a braid, with one elastic member threaded through. Quite cool. ------------------------------ From: mhollomo@ix.netcom.com (Michael Hollomon, Jr.) Subject: Re: Old Los Angeles Prefixes Date: 1 Nov 1995 04:26:03 GMT Organization: Netcom In article , gershwin@hollywood.cinenet. net says: > Does anyone know of a source of information where one can find the > verbal representations of prefixes in the Metro L.A. area? For > example, in the fifties and early sixties, many Miracle Mile-area > prefixes were designated as WEbster-x-xxxx; many of those "93" > prefixes are still in use today. I would like to know what the verbal > designations of those prefixes were. I know that the Crenshaw district's 29 prefix was called AXminster. That's about all I know. There was also another called RIchmond. But I don't know what part of town that was in. If you find out others, please email me. I'd like to know. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: an197001@anon.penet.fi (Ph0ne Phreak) Subject: Re: Using *69 To Get Caller's ID Date: 01 Nov 1995 19:21:47 GMT Organization: Internet Online Services In article , glnfoote@freenet.columbus. oh.us says: > Can someone explain the exact workings of the Ameritech offering > of "Call Back" as it is used from a single residential line. In my > part of the country, this is the *69 function and calls (dials) the > last person to call you. > According to the friendly people at the business office here> it works totally in the central office with the person who > initiates the call back hearing _nothing_ until the ringing signal is > passed. This eliminates the possibility of capturing the actual > number by recording the tones. This is supposedly mandated > by the Ohio Public Utility Commission at the request of those > businesses (battered women and the like) that need this protection. > Is this right, or did something get left out in the explanation. The way *69 works (correct any errors, please): The exact working in a 1AESS: Associated with every line, there is a call store memory that has in it, among other things, the number of the last person who called it (if known, if not known the number of the incoming TRUNK is put there). Now, when you dial *69, the system just looks at yer call store memory and completes a call between them and you. Nothing special, nothing worth 0.75, and NO extra DTMF tones invloved. bspline ------------------------------ From: spencer@leonardo.net (Philip Spencer) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople Date: 1 Nov 1995 22:29:09 GMT Organization: Zanto Films In article , haverj@huachuca-emh17.army. mil says: > I was just stepping into the shower this morning when my SO handed me > the phone, telling me it was someone from a long distance company. I > was eager to get into the shower; my conversation went like this: > Me: Hello? > Him: Hello, sir. I'm from . How would > you like to save money off your long distance calling? > Me: If I told you that I was very happy with my current carrier, would > that preclude any further conversation? > Him: Actually, no, sir. I have to hear a certain number of "no's" before > I let you go. > Me: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. > Him: Have a nice day, sir. Him: Am I speaking to the man of the house? Me: You're trying to sell me something, aren't you? Him: (Ignoring me) Have you considered a subscription to the Los Angeles Times? Me: Look, give me your home number and I'll call you back and discuss it. Him: This is a business... Me: Yeah, I know but give me your home number. Him: I don't think I can do that... Me: Well then you understand why I don't like being disturbed at home either. Interestingly my wife's number is a sequentially close to mine, we can always tell a machine dialler because it'll hit hers about three to four minutes later. This time the solicitor was a female. She followed her script, I followed mine. She hung up without even discussing why I wanted her home number. ------------------------------ From: 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca (Scott Montague) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Trying to Call the Nowhere Man Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 23:24:47 GMT Reply-To: 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca Hello Pat! I've repeated that mantra you insisted I say 100 times before posting again to the digest, specifically "I will not cause Pat to publish anything incorrect in his digest, I will not cause Pat to publish anything incorrect in his digest, I will not...". Just so you know, you can now call +1-705-234-2222 and get a *LIVE* intercept operator. Hey, didn't I say a few weeks ago you could also call +1-705-864-1160? Well you can, but it seems that the old stepper switch serving that exchange is a little unreliable in forwarding. Oh well. In case you forgot, the people at Bell Canada's Radio Services tell me that some American LD carriers will not allow a voice path to Bell Canada (a highly reputable company) until after supervision. I'd be interested in knowing if you or any of the Digest readers have any trouble communicating with the intecept operator. If things are working OK, after giving the number to the operator they should get a recording saying "At the customer's request, the service at 234-2222 has been temporarily disconnected. The customer can be reached at 864-1710.". In the new fangled automated systems (pretty much everywhere in NA), the ANI of the called number is passed to the intercept generator. The intercept generator then looks at it's tables, and replies with the appropriate intercept. If the called number doesn't have an entry in the computer's tables, the intercept replies that the number is a valid one. This was the problem that Gary Shapiro originally had. Of course, in these old switches in Northern Ontario they have no way of telling what the called number was. So instead you get an operator who types in the number you say you called, and the intercept generator gives you the appropriate message. If you want to hear the weird recording Gary did, give them a working number. Try 864-1710. You'll get the recoding saying "the number you dialed should be in service". And yes, it is sort of weird to hear if you DID dial a working number. Just a little ***CAVEAT***, if you try to call these numbers during the operating season (Late April-Early October) you will get friendly Provincial Park staff. Of course, as this digest is read worldwide, you might be calling at rather unfriendly hours. So please, unless you have a question pertaining to Missinaibi Provincial Park (+1-705-234-2222) or The Shoals Provincial Park (+1-705-864-1160), don't call during the operating season. Hope this makes up for my past mistakes, Scott 4sam3@qlink.queensu.ca / Apukwa of 4th \ Scouting: Improving tommorow *Proud to be Canadian* \ Kingston Cubs / through the youth of today. <> ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #460 ****************************** From ptownson Wed Nov 1 22:06:27 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA12896; Wed, 1 Nov 1995 21:56:58 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 21:56:58 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511020256.VAA12896@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #461 Status: R TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 95 21:56:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 461 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner - fax_scan.pcx (0/1) (Doug Krahmer) Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? (Mark Peacock) Research Sources Wanted on Telecom Companies (Art Durdag) Re: Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? (Ross Oliver) Re: Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? (Roger Snyder) Story From PacBell Very Doubtful (Bren Smith) We Need Telecom Technicans Around the World (jputman@eden.com) When Will They Get Things Together? (Henry Mensch) Re: Need Info on Reducing Power Consumption on Cell Phones (John Dreystadt) Re: 1+ Dialing To Canada and the Caribbean (Ronald D. Havens) Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives (Tony Harminc) Caller ID Specs Needed (Chip Sharp) Re: E-mail Over the Phone (Part 2) (Steve Samler) Re: TCP/IP Specifications (Percy Cave) Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (Jeffrey Rhodes) 900 Mhz Headset Wanted (Ernie Holling) Re: Use Analog Modem on Digital Line (Jack Warner) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: jonk@blkbox.com (Doug Krahmer) Subject: Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner - fax_scan.pcx (0/1) Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 03:44:24 GMT Organization: ElectraSoft shensky@umd.umich.edu (Brian C. Shensky) wrote: > I have noticed that connecting the fax machine directly to the > Fax/modem does not supply the line voltage necessary to send the data > over the line. So what does one do? Easy: steal the voltage from > your existing line. > What I do is take a third phone off the hook and wait for it to go > "dead": past the initial dialtone, past the "please hang up" > recording, and finally, past the grinding hang-up-the-goddam-phone > blaze tone. Eventually, the line goes dead, while voltage is still > being passed through the line. Now you can send from the fax to the > PC all on a single line. Make sense? I have a simple diagram of a device to keep the line voltage up. Just decode the .PCX file. Doug Krahmer, ElectraSoft Contact: Internet: jonk@blkbox.com Fidonet: Doug Krahmer on 1:106/10000 FAX: 1-713-499-8423 Voice: 1-713-261-0307 Snail Mail: 3207 Carmel Valley Dr. Missouri City, TX 77459-3068 FaxMail for Windows: WWW: http://www.blkbox.com/~jonk/ FTP: ftp://ftp.blkbox.com/pub/dos/fax_v426.zip BBS: 1-713-499-5939 CIS: GO PCFF, Search FaxMail AOL: GO keyword: Software, Library Search: FaxMail [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Because of the size of this file, it has been place directly in the Telecom Archives where it can be located as /technical/fax.machine.page.scanner. Remember, it is a .pcx file and it would be a good idea to set the transfer type to 'I' (binary) when getting it using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Nov 95 13:01:06 CST From: Mark Peacock Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing the Pound Key With Intervoice? > I've had experience with phone systems that do not send out tones on > the * and # keys ... unless you first press * # consecutively during > your phone call. Then any further uses of these keys, for the rest > of that call, will send out tones. No one seemed to understand why > the phones would be set up this way, but we all needed to learn this > technique so we could page each other. Sorry, I can't remember the > brand name of the phone system, but you might suggest this technique > to your callers. I have run into this with electronic Northern Telecom Meridian sets. You hit the # key to activate out-bound DTMF signalling after dialing. This must be configurable because it doesn't happen on all Meridian sets. Perhaps the switch configuration doesn't have enough DTMF generators. Mark Peacock Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group Detroit, Michigan mpeacock@dttus.com ------------------------------ From: artd@sipemi.com Date: Wed, 01 Nov 95 10:29:30 PST Subject: Research Sources Wanted on Telecom Companies Dear Mr. Townson: I am a research associate at the firm Emerging Markets and Investors Corporation located in Rosslyn, Virginia. I am interested in acquiring information on telecommunication companies around the world. I would like to know if you are aware of any free services that may be available, where I would be able to find research on Telcom companies; not only financial data, but also information such as digitalization%, lines per employee, etc. I would appreciate any consideration that you may give to my question. Sincerely, Art E. Durdag ------------------------------ From: reo@netcom.com (Ross Oliver) Subject: Re: Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? Organization: The Air Affair: http://www.airaffair.com/ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 23:25:52 GMT If you want a pre-packaged solution, a company called Teltone makes a black box that does everything you want, as well as off-hook dialtone, and ring the other device when you dial a series of DTMF digits. It retails for about $300. Teltone also offers a variety of ICs that perform telephone functions, such as ring detection, disconnect detection, etc. If you want a cheap or homebrew solution, there have been two articles this year in either Popular Electronics or Electronics Now on building a simple phone line simulator. Ross Oliver reo@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: rsnyder@panix.com (Roger S.) Subject: Re: Telco Simulator - Design Challenge? Date: 1 Nov 1995 15:16:53 -0500 Organization: The Print Shop Bill Shields (bshields@cts.com) wrote: > I have been asked to look into the feasibility of creating an > interface to a standard telephone (via an RJ-11 jack) which meets the > following requirements: I would think that one of the availble telephone testing/stimulator boxes would do what you are looking for. Radio Shack used to sell one, and I've seen them availble elsewhere. Roger ------------------------------ Date: 1 Nov 1995 16:37:51 -0800 From: Bren Smith Subject: Story From PacBell Very Doubtful I woke up the other day to a dead phone line at home. Hmmm, I'm thinking, did I pay the bill on this? Yeah, I did. So I run to the back alley, and check the line at the demarc with a butt set. Hmmm, still dead. Must be a Pac Bell problem. Using my second line I call PacBell Repair and ask them to test my primary. The rep. says there's no problem and that it must be my wiring. I tell the rep. that I'm at the demarc with all internal wiring removed and that it can't be my wiring (oh, stupid me). She says that they can't be out with a service person until tomorrow. I then ask them if they can remote call forward my dead primary line to my secondary line (remembering what Linc has tried this in the past). They tell me, and this is the real pisser part, that the PUC tariffs prevent them from forwarding my line. When I asked why, the rep. explained that it was to prevent "unfair competition". I'm thinking, "yeah, right who else competes in the local exchange market?" Anyway, to make a short story even longer. The rep. ran another test on my line and it still checked out ok according to them. It turns out that I had a short in my internal wiring, and when I removed it from the demarc it took a few minutes for the CO equipment to detect that the problem was fixed and to restore service. As a side note, when I left for work that morning, I noticed not one, but two Pac Bell repair trucks parked across the street from my house with the repair guys sitting in their truck. So, the question for me still remains. Can PacBell prevent me from Call Forwarding my primary to my secondary because of tariffed restrictions, or were they just snowing me? bren@dantz.com bren@ccnet.com Bren Smith aka NetBoy |510/253-3048 voice Dantz Development |510/253-9099 fax 4 Orinda Way, Bldg C |bren@dantz.com Orinda, CA 94563 |"Practice safe government - use kingdoms" ------------------------------ From: jputman@eden.com Subject: We Need Telecom Technicans Around the World Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 06:33:12 GMT Organization: Adhesive Media, Inc. New World Telecom L.L.C. needs qualified professional telecommunication technicians around the world. Applicants should be able to work in on-premise phone rooms of large businesses. Also should own laptop computer with available communications port and Windows 3.1 or higher, digit-grabber, PhD or similar device to listen to C.O. side of line and detect dialed digits, telephone test set and be PBX (PABX) knowledgeble, able to work closely with NWT on equipment programming and be certified, bonded and insured. Applicants interested should send email to: jputman@eden.com or newworld@eden.com ******and place --technician-- in the subject line.************ Additional information and detailed questionairre's will be sent out upon contact. SPECIFY THE FOLLOWING: --Do you have word 6.0 Yes or No --What is your mail server software name- Eudora or Pegasus, etc. --Can you pkunzip documents Yes or No --Do you prefer BinHex or UUencode Other:_____________ **WE NEED QUALIFIED TELECOMMUNICATION TECHNICIANS IN ALL COUNTRIES OUTSIDE U.S.///this can be a very lucrative offering** ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 09:36:04 PST From: henry mensch Subject: When Will They Get Things Together? Can someone tell me where to look for information on when/whether California's PUC will sort out their differences with the local telephone companies (Pac*hell and GTE) with respect to the pro- vision of Caller-ID services? # henry mensch / po box 14592; sf, ca 94114-0592 / # http://www.q.com/henry/ ------------------------------ From: johnd@mail.ic.net (John N. Dreystadt) Subject: Re: Need Information on Reducing Power Consumption on Cell Phones Date: 01 Nov 1995 17:26:06 GMT Organization: ICNET... Your Link To The Internet... +1.313.998.0090 Reply-To: johnd@mail.ic.net In article , lytan@alpha.ntu.ac.sg says: > Does anyone have any ideas on how companies have tried to reduce > power consumption on cellular phones? Many ideas are being tried and used. One of the more interesting is where the cell phone determines how strong the signal getting to the cell tower is and reduces the output wattage if the tower is getting a very strong signal. I know about this because of problems in Mexico City where some locations have very sharp changes in signal strength as you moved. If you had a phone that did not try to lower the signal, you would notice some buzzing. If you had a phone that did lower the signal, disconnects were frequent. John Dreystadt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 21:33:56 -0500 From: RONALD.D.HAVENS@sprint.sprint.com Subject: Re: 1+ Dialing To Canada and The Caribbean Both Canada and the Caribbean are part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). Any point that is part of the NANP can be reached by dialing 1+. FYI, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands have an issue open at the Industry Numbering Committee (INC) seeking assignment of area codes so they can be included in the NANP. Mexico used to have two area codes (one for Mexico City, and one for northern Mexico), but they were "reclaimed" so they could be used for relief for exhausting domestic area codes. Some of the Caribbean nations (e.g., the Bahamas, Bermuda) have requested and been assigned area codes. When those are turned up they will no longer be part of the 809 NPA. The rates charged are the result of the decisions made by the individual service provders (e.g., AT&T, Sprint, MCI, etc.). Ron Havens Sprint ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Nov 95 17:38:01 EST From: Tony Harminc Subject: Re: Eliminate Dialing Weirdnesses - We Can Save Lives johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) wrote: > Adding NXX area codes was always part of the plan, it's just > happening sooner than originally expected. Most of the screwups are > due to myopic PBX owners being unwilling to upgrade their equipment, > often because inept or less than honest PBX vendors didn't tell them > that it'd be necessary. Actually the NXX codes are going into service exactly when predicted in the Bell System _Notes on Distance Dialing_, 1974 edition. Not bad, for predicting 20 years into the future. And it's worth pointing out that among those "inept or less than honest PBX vendors" are AT&T and Nortel, both of whom were fully aware of the 1974 timescale and what to do about it. I'd add "greedy" to the list of adjectives. Tony H. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 95 08:36:40 EST From: hhs@teleoscom.com (Chip Sharp) Subject: Caller ID Specs Needed I need the specs for delivering Caller ID over POTS lines. I'm sure there is a Bellcore or some other spec available somewhere. Could someone send me a pointer in the right direction? Thanks. Hascall H. ("Chip") Sharp Teleos Communications, Inc. Sr. Systems Engineer 2 Meridian Road Eatontown, NJ 07724 USA voice: +1 908 544 6424 fax: +1 908 544 9890 email: hhs@teleoscom.com web: http://www.teleoscom.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 10:33:17 EST From: Steve Samler Subject: Email Over The Phone (Part 2) I neither work for or represent either of these firms. Just passing on info their press releases. Enhanced Systems announced on October 30 a software module that would allow one to access and manage e-mail, voice mail, fax and pages via the WWW. The product also operates over TCP/IP. A Netscape or Mosaic browser is needed. First release is Feb. 96. Although the press release doesn't say exactly, one would presume that you would also need hardware from them as well as the software. Compuserve and Premier Communications announced a product called CallingAll Card on the 26th. The product let's you dial in to re-direct e-mail to a fax machine. Future features include picking up voice mail and faxes from your e-mail box. ------------------------------ From: Percy Cave Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 15:35:45 +0000 Subject: Re: TCP/IP Specifications Dear Mr. Townson: I am trying to locate the file which contains the specifications pertaining to tcp/ip cited in archieve release of 10/27/95. I tried finding this file at your ftp site: ftp.lcs.mit.edu, but I could not find the filename: tcp/ip specifications. Did I look in the wrong directory perhaps? please advise if you can. Confused, and somewhat lost. P.C. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Look for /technical/tcp.ip-specs. This got renamed for the Archives to get the slash '/' out of the name. A few other readers have likewise gotten confused by this. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jcr@creator.nwestattws.com (Jeffrey Rhodes) Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Date: 2 Nov 1995 01:07:22 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. Reply-To: jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com In article 17@massis.lcs.mit.edu, Lisa R. Owen writes: > I'd like to know how to have more than one cellular phone on the same > phone line. As far as I know, this is legal under FCC guidelines (I > want to make sure of this, though), but the primary service provider > (Southwestern Bell, for example) can't provide that reprogramming > service for you. I don't know of any companies in the St. Louis area > that provide this service, or exactly how they would be classified (a > friend of mine just had this done in Atlanta). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Everything I have heard about this and > all the discussions we have had about it here in the past would seem > to indicate you are *wrong*. More than one phone per number is a > definite no-no where cellular companies are concerned. Perhaps readers > with more specifics on this will write you direct and explain it. PAT] It is not legal to have two cellphones with the same ESN. Since the easiest way to get an extension cellphone is to "clone" the ESN, Lisa is warned that operating a cloned ESN cellphone is also illegal. Cellular switch vendors provide a cell-phone extension feature that uses the same cellular number (MIN) on two phones, each with different ESNs. This is legal but most carriers don't offer the service since it works poorly at best, within a carrier's own market, and looks like a cellular ESN tumbler to roaming markets that can disable the MIN/ESN on a national basis! These limitations are hard to explain to customers who want reliable service without unintended interruptions, hence few (if any) carriers offer this FCC-approved extension service. So it is not illegal to have two cellular phones with the same MIN and different ESNs, provided the cellular carrier is willing to support this operation. Most carriers will not support this operation and will permanently disable any MIN/ESN pair that they don't recognise! Anyone purporting to offer "two cell phones, same number" without the carrier's consent, is obviously offering illegal "cloned cell-phones" in which both cell-phones share the same MIN and ESN. The ESN is assigned by the original cell-phone manufacturer and it is a federal crime to alter this internally stored number. It is a federal crime to operate a cell-phone that has had the ESN altered or has an ESN that has been fraudulently assigned. It's hard to believe that nearly every day someone asks "are two cell-phones, one number legal?". P.T. Barnum suggested that there is a sucker born every minute. Basic judgment should tell people "if it's too good to be true, then it isn't". Now that cellular fraud busts are making news and some are behind bars, maybe the word will get out that: "Yes, the FCC approves extension line service for cell-phones but No, you can't have it because it looks too much like fraud when roaming." Jeffrey Rhodes at jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com ------------------------------ Reply-To: Holling@intech-group.com (Ernie Holling) Date: Wed, 01 Nov 1995 11:19:46 GMT Subject: 900 Mhz Headset Wanted From: Holling@intech-group.com (Ernie Holling) Hi, We're looking for a 900Mhz headset which has all the electronics in a holster with a light weight headset attached. If you are aware of one, please let us know brand and model. Thanks for the help. Ernie Holling Holling@Intech-Group.com The InTech Group, Inc. (610)-524-8400 Telecommunications Consultants FAX:(610)-524-8440 75 East Uwchlan Avenue, Exton, PA 19341 A Member of The Society of Telecommunications Consultants MultiMedia Telecommunications Association Building Industry Consulting Service International ------------------------------ From: jackeagle@aol.com (Jackeagle) Subject: Re: Use Analog Modem on Digital Line? Date: 1 Nov 1995 21:20:37 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: jackeagle@aol.com (Jackeagle) It is not cost effective or easy, but it can be done if the line is 64Kb or better (like ISDN). the modem has to be put in front of the analog to digital converter. Jack Warner Ken-Caryl Ranch, Colorado ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #461 ****************************** From ptownson Thu Nov 2 09:48:49 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA08683; Thu, 2 Nov 1995 09:43:13 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 09:43:13 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511021443.JAA08683@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #462 Status: R TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Nov 95 09:43:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 462 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (Joe J. Harrison) U.S. Publisher Comments on China's Computer Industry (hshen@gac.edu) Re: TELECOM Digest V15 #453 (Thaddeus Cox) Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner - fax_scan.pcx (Collin Park) US Phone Usable in France? (Chester Howes) Looking For Telephone With Call Blocking (Stephen Chin) Re: New Area Code Shows Up on Caller-ID (Alan Lange) Re: Area Code Authoritative List (Stan Schwartz) Re: Area Code Authoritative List (David Esan) Area Code Split in 617 and 508 (MA) (Scott D. Fybush) Two New Area Codes For Eastern MA (Jonathan Welch) Still More Area Code Information (Ronald D. Havens) Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? (David Esan) Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service (Michael D. Sullivan) Trying to Locate Konnex Corp (Georg Schwarz) GTE Actions (Steven Lichter) Make That Address Change! (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Joe.J.Harrison@bra0119.wins.icl.co.uk Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 12:25:13 +0000 Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Everything I have heard about this and >> all the discussions we have had about it here in the past would seem >> to indicate you are *wrong*. More than one phone per number is a >> definite no-no where cellular companies are concerned. Perhaps readers >> with more specifics on this will write you direct and explain it. PAT] > It is not legal to have two cellphones with the same ESN. But only in the US? I was very surprised to discover that Vodafone in the UK could not care less about this on their analog (E-TACS) system. A friend told me his local dealer was advertising this as a legitimate service (just bring in some old cellphone and we'll fix it to work on the same number as your existing connected one). It sounded to me like some kind of scam, and I didn't want my fairly telecom-clueless friend to get burned somehow, so I called Vodafone Customer Care and asked their advice. Vodafone told me they did not particularly care for people doing it and their network might occasionally blacklist one or both of the phones if they were turned on simultaneously in different locations. But that was it, not illegal or contrary to their conditions of service. So my friend went ahead, it worked fine for him and still does. The UK does have the same huge cloning phraud problem as does the US, at least on the analog stuff which is still fairly widespread. Even for cloners it is not illegal to mess with ESNs and MINs and equipment to do this is on open sale -- the criminality only comes in with any actual attempt (or intent?) fraudulently to obtain service. Joe ------------------------------ From: hshen@gac.edu Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 20:02:18 -0600 Subject: U.S. Publisher Comments on China's Computer Industry Source: Reuters Reported by: Ray ZHANG, Liedong ZHENG [CND, 10/28/95] Poor telecommunications and low income are becoming more and more prominent and serious problems in the face of China's emerging computer market, said a top U.S. publisher on Saturday. In an interview with Reuters, Patrick McGovern, chairman of International Data Group (IDG), remarked that today's computing advances are making information more valuable than ever. McGovern asserted that information is often "the more profitable part of industry. ... The Airline Guide is more valuable than the airlines. ... TV Guide was sold for $2.5 billion, [making it] more valuable than any TV network." "The limitation is the limited amount of telephone line capacity," said McGovern. At present, only 3.1 percent of China's households have access to a telephone. It is China's aim to achieve nearly eight percent penetration by the year 2000 by installing 100 million telephone lines over the next five years. Despite its limitations, China's computer industry is growing 30 to 50 percent each year. The state has also allowed numerous connections to be made on to the Internet. Following the initiation of market reform under DENG Xiaoping, IDG quickly entered the China market in 1980, and became the first Sino-U.S. joint venture in China. Today, IDG, a publisher of more than 250 technology- related magazines and newspapers in 68 countries, is one of the few firms allowed to own a publishing business in China. More importantly, it is one of the very few companies that has prospered in China despite the relative immaturity of the computer industry. With an average annual increase of 65 percent, IDG's revenue from China surpassed $50 million in 1994, comprising 4.2 percent of its $1.2 billion global revenues. On Saturday, IDG's chairman Patrick McGovern met with DENG Pufang, the son of paramount leader DENG Xiaoping. DENG praised IDG for raising China's awareness of the computer industry. McGovern praised Beijing for "embracing information technology five times faster than anyone expected." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 21:39:17 -0800 (PST) From: Thaddeus Cox Subject: Re: TDD For Payphone Use > to locate a TDD that can be used on a pay phone. Either new or used, > what I understand it can be a booth or compact. I got a $1300 dollar > price on a booth (half booth if you will) and a $280 dollar price on a > compact from Graybar, and we as a poor university cannot afford such > high prices. I don't know what the LEC in 210 has to offer, but here in Oregon USWest has standard Western Electric coin phones with a slide-out drawer containing a TDD, wired into the phone. Perhaps the gentleman would be able to convince his telco to install one on the premises? I assume this is being done to comply with Americans with Disabilities act or some such legal requirements. Thaddeus Cox - coxt@sparky.oit.osshe.edu ------------------------------ From: collin@hpycla.kobe.hp.com (Collin Park) Subject: Re: FAX Machine as Page Scanner - fax_scan.pcx Date: 2 Nov 1995 04:27:58 GMT Organization: HP Asia Pacific Product Operations, Kobe, Japan > located as /technical/fax.machine.page.scanner. Remember, it is > a .pcx file and it would be a good idea to set the transfer type to > 'I' (binary) when getting it using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. PAT] Apparently on 10/22 the ftp archives were moved from "lcs.mit.edu" to "ftp.lcs.mit.edu"; of course the file is really at /telecom-archives/technical/fax.machine.page.scanner Thanks and best regards, collin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite right on this. Somehow I got it wrong in the message. I guess after so many years of the archives at the one address, it is easy to type the wrong thing and then not catch it in the proofreading. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Chester Howes Subject: US Phone Usable in France? Date: Wed, 1 Nov 95 22:30:01 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) A customer at my local Radio Shack said he had sent a phone to a friend in Paris and the then found out the plug (US modular) wouldn't fit the jack in Paris. He want an adapter to mate the two. I told him I thought the phone systems were not even compatible; a phone made for the US market would probably not even work on the French phone system. Could anyone please advise if the systems are close enough for the phone to work there? TNX, Chester F. Howes ------------------------------ From: gencom@airmail.net (Stephen Chin) Subject: Looking For Telephone With Call Blocking Date: Thu, 02 Nov 1995 06:19:54 GMT Organization: General Communications Does anyone know of a telephone manufacturer that makes a phone which can block out numbers by putting in a code? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you referring to the *67 code used to block Caller-ID? There are a couple of companies which made adjunct devices to plug in before the phone which do this. When the phone goes off hook, the little device automatically sends out *67 at the start of the dialing string. Or did you have something else in mind? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 22:06:43 EST From: Alan Lange Subject: Re: New Area Code Shows Up on Caller-ID > David A. Cantor > The new area code 860 showed up today, 10/31, for the first time on my > caller ID unit on a local call. The last local call I received with > the old area code 203 was on 10/29. I, too, got 860 for the first time this past weekend, but only from the Bristol area prefix (860-548). Calls from Hartford and Farmington areas (860- 677, 674, 277, 258, 289, 313) as well as some other areas still report area code 203. It seems they are converting prefixes one at a time. Up until MCI turned it off, I got code 203 from both work (677) and home (667) at 800-my-ani-is. Alan Lange PGP keyID: bea6e65d Finger Print: 9edb0db49acf05d b2067981 20b42201 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It has been reported here recently that 800-MY-ANI-IS is no longer in service. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Stan Schwartz Subject: Re: Area Code Authoritative List Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 23:08:08 -0500 Stuart Zimmerman <0007382020@mcimail.com> wrote: > The list sent in by bkron@netcom.com (BUBEYE!) was well done but > slightly incomplete. Area code 441 is is not the Caribbean and Puerto > Rico. It is actually Bermuda (which is not part of the Caribbean). > Area code 860 for Connecticut was missing. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That lack of 860 might have been my > fault in the editing process. I had a terrible time getting that > message edited. PAT] Then lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) commented: > Well, actually, there are two corrections. > 441 PUERTO RICO & CARIBBEAN (description of 441 deleted) > 562 CALIFORNIA > This area code is not yet in service, pending revision by the CPUC. > (The test numbers may work, but there are no "real" numbers yet.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And yet Linc, even with your eagle > eyes for accuracy, you apparently overlooked 860 which got left out > somehow. I'll tell you, these new area codes are a real pain to try > and keep up with aren't they. PAT] A pain indeed! Lest we forget 864 which, according to today's report on WBTV in Charlotte goes into service on 12/3/95 for Northwestern South Carolina (the areas including and surrounding Greenville and Spartanburg). WBTV gave the already-tired report about PBX systems that can't handle the new-format area codes. Stan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, and did you think that was all? Nope, just as soon as the list gets printed, still more news on the changing area code scene is recieved here at Digest Headquarters. Read on for still more. PAT] ------------------------------ From: de@moscom.com (David Esan) Subject: Re: Area Code Authoritative List Date: 2 Nov 95 12:59:01 GMT Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY In article bkron@netcom.com (BUBEYE!) writes: > 441 PUERTO RICO & CARIBBEAN This should read BERMUDA. David Esan de@moscom.com ------------------------------ From: fybush@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush) Subject: Area Code Split in 617 and 508 (MA) Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 04:09:10 GMT NYNEX is beginning preparations for splits and/or overlays in both Eastern Massachusetts area codes, 617 and 508 (which was a geographic split from 617 in 1988). NYNEX says 617 will be exhausted by 1999, and 508 by 2000, according to current projections, and so splits or overlays in both are needed by late 1997. No word yet on what the new codes will be, or how things will split up, but I'd bet on an overlay for 617, which is a reasonably compact urban core surrounding and including Boston. A geographic split would be difficult, and could end up creating a second ring around Boston with a new code, leaving 617 serving only the city of Boston and a few neighboring areas (Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline perhaps.) An overlay would make more sense here. In 508, which forms a wide arc around Boston, a geographic split would be logical, perhaps with 508 remaining with the northern and western portions of the code, and a new code being assigned to the fast-growing area south of Boston, including Cape Cod. An overlay would make less sense in 508. The NYNEX official I spoke with today says none of the company's other New England NPAs (207 Maine, 603 N.H., 802 Vermont, 401 Rhode Island, and 413 Western Mass.) are in any danger of exhaustion. 413, in particular, is now slated for exhaustion in 2030! Scott Fybush - fybush@world.std.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 1995 08:31:18 -0500 From: Jonathan_Welch Subject: Two New Area Codes For Eastern MA This morning on WBZ radio (Boston, MA) there was a brief news blurb that due to the explosion of faxes, modem, pagers, etc. it would be necessary to add two new area codes. Overlaying them was mentioned, but not if they'd both go to help out 617 (Boston area) or 508 as well. Discussion wasn't planned to begin until next year. Jonathan Welch VAX Systems Manager Umass/Amherst JHWELCH@ecs.umass.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 20:56:18 -0500 From: RONALD.D.HAVENS@sprint.sprint.com Subject: Still More Area Code Information The FCC Common Carrier bureau has a factsheet on their home page that shows planned area codes and effective dates. Try http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/common_carrier/factsheets/areacode.txt Ron Havens Sprint ------------------------------ From: de@moscom.com (David Esan) Subject: Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? Date: 2 Nov 95 13:07:33 GMT Organization: Moscom Corporation, Pittsford NY In article ezx@ix.netcom.com (Ed Marion) writes: > Does anyone know why Countries like Canada, Bermuda > the British Virgin Islands, and the Carribean in general are > all accessible from within the USA with a 1 + Area Code + number? It is possible that this is also a result of both the Canadian and the US phone companies being owned by the same people. Bell would probably view this area as a single entity, and wanted to integrate the network. While there are many differences between the US and Canada, the similarities, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s were quite striking. The languages are nearly identical, a shared British heritage (which we reject, and then spent many years trying to emulate), the geographic divisions (Eastern population, Central Plains and Western Mountains and coast). Add to this the fact that 90+% of the Canadian population lives within 200 miles of the US border, suggests that the two countries have an integrated calling pattern. David Esan de@moscom.com ------------------------------ From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) Subject: Re: Exchange Radio Telephone Service Date: 2 Nov 1995 05:46:45 GMT Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn Reply-To: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you talking about Beehive? I think > that is its name. One employee/owner and eight subscribers. PAT] Yep. Beehive Telephone Co., formerly Silver Beehive Telephone Co., formerly The Telephone Co., owned by Arthur W. Brothers. Not certain he only has eight subscribers, though. Michael D. Sullivan Email to: mds@access.digex.net Bethesda, MD, USA Also: avogadro@well.com 74160.1134@compuserve.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well he may have more than eight customers now; that's what he had a few years ago. I don't think he will be applying for a new area code any time soon however. PAT] ------------------------------ From: georg@marie.physik.tu-berlin.de (Georg Schwarz) Subject: Trying to Locate Konnex Corp. Date: 2 Nov 95 07:55:10 GMT Organization: Berlin University of Technology Does anyone the address of Konnex Corp., USA (preferably their e-mail address, if they have one)? They are said to be the manufacturer of acoustic coupler modems for wireless telephones. I'd also like to know an adress of a representative/distributor for their products in Germany. Thanks. Georg Schwarz (schwarz@physik.tu-berlin.de, kuroi@cs.tu-berlin.de, PGP 2.6ui) Institute for Theoretical Physics +49 30 314-24254 FAX -21130 IRC kuroi Berlin University of Technology http://itp1.physik.tu-berlin.de/~schwarz ------------------------------ From: slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) Subject: GTE Actions Date: 1 Nov 1995 17:19:06 -0800 Organization: GINA and CORE+ Services of The California State University Below is the way that certain people in power at GTE treat employees. I have tried to work out the problem with no effect so I am now putting it in a public forum for all to see. If you want you can call GTE and let them know how you feel. You can contact the Chairman Chuck Lee in Stanford, Conn, Telephone Operatins in Dallas, Texas or GTE West in Thousand Oaks. I'm not going to list any phone numbers as GTE may try and claim I am violating some ethics since they could say I used company property to get the information. In early 1992 GTE received a Notice of Levy from the IRS. When I got my copy I notified GTE by certified letter, company mail and telephone that a Federal Court stay was in place. GTE already was aware of the stay. For some reason that I never was told something went wrong and my wages were taken for this levy, when this happened both my attorney at the time and myself advised GTE of that fact, yet 2 weeks later they were again taken. GTE was notified in plenty of time to stop the levy the first time and took no action, they again did the samething a second time even after they had said it was an error. This action caused me many problems with a loss of about $100,000.00 at the time, this has since increased to almost $250,000.00. GTE through its legal department offered to help me recover the money from the IRS. They found out that is would cost more to recover it then to just pay me. their offer was to pay me the lost wages if I agreed not to sue them. At this point I could not agree to this offer since my loss was much more then what they had offered. They then hired an outside attorney to settle this matter. They had agreed to cover my losses if I could prove that it was their erro, they already said it was and we were asked to supply copies and proof of all my losses; we did this and yet no action was done dispite repeated requests. Since I could no longer afford to fight them; I believe this was their plan all the time, but I have no proof. I have somewhat recovered from the damage that GTE had done to me and again I have attempted to settle this matter plus another one that has occured. I have given GTE one last chance to settle this matter before bringing it to the public via The Internet. If you are reading this through one of the newsgroups you know that I was unable to settle this. I will be sending copies of this to officers of GTE as well as others in an effort to force GTE to bring a settlement. As many you know I have defended GTE and helped some set problems cleared up, some in public, but most via E-mail as I felt it would be better that way. I will continue to help since the majority of GTE people want to help and have nothing to do with this problem. Please don't E-mail me as I may not be able to reply, you may make your comments in the Newgroups since GTE does monitor these groups for anything with GTE in it The above are my ideas and have nothing to do with whoever my employer is. SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours, Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II. slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Make That Address Change! Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 09:00:00 EST Incoming mail is indicating that although quite a few of you have made the requested address changes for the Digest and the Archives, there are still many readers using the old and now incorrect address. Please make these changes today if you have not already done so: ALL mail to TELECOM Digest including subscription requests and editorial submissions is to be sent to: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Pointers in the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup should be directed in the same way. If you need to have a personal address for email to me, you can use: ptownson@remarque.berkeley.edu. The Telecom Archives is located on the same machine as the Digest; but in the case of the archives we refer to it as: ftp.lcs.mit.edu Same place; ftp.lcs.mit.edu is an alias for massis.lcs.mit.edu. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #462 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Nov 3 01:23:41 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA21034; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 01:23:41 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 3 Nov 1995 01:23:41 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511030623.BAA21034@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #463 Status: R TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Nov 95 01:23:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 463 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Multiple Phones on Cellular Line (Gary Novosielski) Re: Old Los Angeles Prefixes (Gordon Winston) Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager (Dan Fandrich) Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager (Jeffrey C. Honig) Re: AT&T Switch Access via PC (Steve O'Brien) Re: Another UK Number Change (Rachael Rosen) Names Wanted at PUC - Colorado (cccef.bgriffis@capital.ge.com) Problem With AT&T Access in Italy (Mary Leugers) Re: Story From PacBell Very Doubtful (R.R.M. Tweek) Re: Still More Area Code Information (David F. Reynolds) Re: Still More Area Code Information (Linc Madison) Re: When was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? (Matthew B. Doar) Re: Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device w/ocu/bri Interfaces (larb0@aol.com) Re: Using *69 To Get Caller's ID (Hugh Pritchard) Re: 1+ Dialing To Canada and The Caribbean (Linc Madison) Re: Trying to Locate Konnex Corp. (Michael Schuster) Re: Need Information on Reducing Power Consumption (Jeffrey Rhodes) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: gary.novosielski@sbaonline.gov Organization: Small Business Administration Date: Thu, 02 Nov 95 22:31:53 -0400 Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Reply-to: gnovosielski@mcimail.com Jeffrey Rhodes writes: > It's hard to believe that nearly every day someone asks "are two > cell-phones, one number legal?". P.T. Barnum suggested that there is a > sucker born every minute. Basic judgment should tell people "if it's > too good to be true, then it isn't". Now that cellular fraud busts are > making news and some are behind bars, maybe the word will get out > that, "Yes, the FCC approves extension line service for cell-phones but > No, you can't have it because it looks too much like fraud when roaming." On the contrary, I think "basic judgment," or common sense, is what's behind these questions in the first place. What's hard for most people to comprehend (which accounts for the continual repetition of this question), is why it should be illegal to have a second (cloned ESN) phone even when no fraud is intended or attempted. That's what defies common sense. Until the FCC made it illegal (as we are told they did recently) it worked just fine in practice. It even worked fine while roaming, and didn't "look like fraud" at all, for the simple reason that it *wasn't* fraud. It was just a way to make legal phone calls, using one's own bona fide cellular account, and to pay for them in full, using either of two phones (both bought-and- paid-for) instead of just one. Certainly, using a cell phone modified to fraudulently bill someone else's account *should* be illegal (and would be, with or without FCC rule-making), but just to be sure, let's raid and bust all those "suckers" with the audacity to ask why they can't use their own second phone on their own account! Basic judgment just might be telling these people that the real (only?) reason such cloning was made "illegal" is that it deprives wireless carriers of their presumed "right" to charge double the revenue while they incur no additional expense. This might be called their "right" to treat their customers like ignorant suckers. Having two phones with the same number is intrinsically no more "fraudulent" than hooking up an extension phone in one's own home. Old Timers will recall that back when AT&T "Wireful" ruled the known world, this too was called "illegal". (for the same reason?) And why should it be? Every call made or received gets billed to the appropriate parties. No, I cannot make two calls at once, as I am only paying for one "line"; if I want that feature, I must pay for a second line. And of course if I hook up nine or ten extensions, there may not be enough voltage to ring the bells any more. But if I'm willing to live with the limitations, and it is not technically infeasible, then why *should* it be illegal to have an extension phone on the same number, either wired, or cellular. Granted it is, but why *should* it be? Certainly not just because Congress says so. Once upon a time, Congress said freeing slaves was illegal, too. Just because someone who clones their own phone can be put "behind bars" doesn't mean they belong there. Some will argue that it is because cloning might be, or could be, or would be (and let's face it -- ACTUALLY IS) used for fraud. If so, then rocks, hammers, computers, and telephones themselves should be outlawed. In fact, everything should be outlawed, because there isn't an object I can think of that someone, somewhere could not figure out how to use in the commission of a crime. Crimes -- actual crimes -- already are and should be illegal. "Potential" crimes, like fictional characters, do not exist. Let's get a grip. The fact that the "legal" cell-extension variant, i.e., same MIN, different ESN, is something the cell carriers can and do charge extra for is no coincidence. And the fact that it doesn't work as well as simply cloning the phone is ironic. Whose fault is that? Who designed the system, the ignorant suckers in the general public, or the high-priced talent within the industry? Two-ESN roaming doesn't "look like fraud" at all, any more than all Arab- Americans "look like" terrorists, or vice versa. It's just that the system we're relying on is so badly designed that it can't tell fraud from legal use. That's the fault of the system designer, not the innocent user. The user did not ask for a second-rate system. PT Barnum might well be amused at the sucker-per-minute birth rate of those in the wireless industry who staked their companies' future revenues on a technology that any bright fourteen-year-old could hack. Making a blunder of that magnitude is pretty embarassing. Sure, we all make mistakes, and then we live with them. But what arrogance to blame others (the non-suckers) for asking perfectly reasonable questions, or gleefully to make criminals of those with perfectly reasonable answers. An apologetic tone, not an arrogant one, from the wireless carriers would seem more appropriate to me. Don't get me started . GaryNovosielski GPN Consulting gnovosielski@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: gwinston@ior.com (Gordon Winston) Subject: Re: Old Los Angeles Prefixes Date: 3 Nov 1995 02:06:47 GMT Organization: Internet On-Ramp, Inc. Michael Hollomon, Jr. (mhollomo@ix.netcom.com) wrote: > In article , gershwin@hollywood.cinenet. > net says: >> Does anyone know of a source of information where one can find the >> verbal representations of prefixes in the Metro L.A. area? For >> example, in the fifties and early sixties, many Miracle Mile-area >> prefixes were designated as WEbster-x-xxxx; many of those "93" >> prefixes are still in use today. I would like to know what the verbal >> designations of those prefixes were. > I know that the Crenshaw district's 29 prefix was called AXminster. > That's about all I know. There was also another called RIchmond. But > I don't know what part of town that was in. If you find out others, > please email me. I'd like to know. Los Angeles: 22 = capital 23 = adams 25 = clinton 26 = angeles 29 = axminster 38 = dunkirk 46 = hollywood 62 = madison 65 = melrose 66 = normandy 72 = rampart 73 = republic 74 = richmond 75 = plymouth 75 = plesent 78 = sunset These are the only one's that I can think of off the top of my head. Others exist but usually relate to a street name. Ex Chief Deskman (Webster Office) ... That position existed when the telephone company cared about service. Gordon Winston, Spokane Wa. ------------------------------ From: dan@fch.wimsey.bc.ca (Dan Fandrich) Subject: Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager Date: Fri, 03 Nov 95 00:25:01 GMT Organization: Fandrich Cone Harvesters Ltd. In article albre011@maroon.tc.umn.edu writes: > I am looking for Unix sources to send messages to an alphanumeric > pager. I've been told that there was one posted a while back, perhaps > to alt.sources. Does anyone know a location for this, or an > approximate posting date? There is an indexing service for some of the source newsgroups and the larger ftp archives available at . You can search any of probably two dozen indices and newsgroups and are presented with a list of matching programs and the sites they are available. The alt.sources links, however, are broken since the archiving sites seem to have moved to a newer method of storing articles. Still, the information provided is enough to find the software you want. I know Wimsey has some kind of email to pager gateway set up -- I don't know if the software is one of the products they sell, but you could try asking at sl@wimsey.com. dan@fch.wimsey.bc.ca / MIME email ok / finger danf@wimsey.com for pgp key ------------------------------ From: jch@nr-atp.cit.cornell.edu (Jeffrey C Honig) Subject: Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager Date: 02 Nov 1995 17:26:45 GMT Organization: Information Technologies/Network Resources; Cornell University; In article albre011@maroon.tc.umn. edu (Bruce Albrecht) writes: > I am looking for Unix sources to send messages to an alphanumeric > pager. I've been told that there was one posted a while back, perhaps > to alt.sources. Does anyone know a location for this, or an > approximate posting date? For that matter, are the ixo files in the > telecom-archives/technical directory adequate for writing one from > scratch? I hacked on an expect script that I found. You can find it via my home page http://nr-atp.cit.cornell.edu/~jch, or directly via ftp://nr-atp.cit.cornell.edu/pub/tools/beep-0.2.tar.gz. You'll need Tcl and expect install on your system to use it. Jeff ------------------------------ From: sobrien@ozma.jefferson.co.us (Steve O'Brien) Subject: Re: AT&T Switch Access via PC Date: 3 Nov 1995 04:54:29 GMT Organization: SuperNet Inc. (303)-296-8202 Denver Colorado Sean Doherty (sean.doherty@channel1.com) wrote: > I would like to use the PC and modem on my desk to access a System 75, > G2 and G3 switch. I've tried using Procomm Plus's ATT 4410 emulation > but something is funny with the keyboard. What software/emulations > are other tech's using? I have been using a Procomm Plus for Windows for some time to administer both G3 and Audix systems. The 4410 emulator in the Windows version of Procomm works fine. The older Procomm for DOS did not seem to understand the function key setup strings that the switch sends when you change from screen to screen. Another technique that works pretty well is to set Procomm for DOS to emulate a vt102, and then program the function keys using the Alt-f8 keyboard setup. Program f1 as ^[OP, f2 as ^[OQ, f3 as ^[OR etc. up to f8 as ^[OW. Then tell the switch you are a 4410 terminal, and ignore the weird characters at the bottom of each screen. Steve ------------------------------ From: Rachael@walrus.ftech.co.uk (Rachael Rosen) Subject: Re: Another UK Number Change Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 00:43:34 GMT Organization: Tyrrell Reply-To: Rachael@walrus.ftech.co.uk Clive D.W. Feather wrote: > The UK National Code Change, completed this April, was supposed to > solve our numbering problems for the forseeable future. Well, many of > us foresaw that other places were still running out of numbers. > Oftel announced recently that Reading numbers are about to change > again. 0734 XXXXXX became 01734 XXXXXX, and will now become 0118 9XX > XXXX. Parallel running will start in April 1996, with the final > changeover in January 1998. > According to posters in uk.telecom, there already exist 01734 90XXXX > and 01734 04XXXX numbers. No-one is sure how these will interact > during parallel running. Are you sure about 01734 04xxxx ? How can you have a Reading number starting with 04 ? What does a local caller dial for this ? Surely no exchange numbers in UK start with a zero ? The only nubers I believe *can* start with a zero are things like 0800 free calls and 0345 / 0645 local rate numbers. Rachael Rosen Sig minimalist. ------------------------------ From: cccef.bgriffis@capital.ge.com Subject: Names Wanted at PUC - Colorado Date: Thu, 02 Nov 95 13:17:53 PDT Organization: GE Capital News Server Anyone out there know where to send a formal letter to the PUC in Denver, Colorado? I have an address and phone number (with eternal hold). A name would help! Need address and contact for business telecommunications related concerns. Primarily late delivery and poor problem determination/ resolution. ------------------------------ From: LEUGERS Mary Subject: Problem With AT&T Access in Italy Date: Thu, 02 Nov 95 10:53:00 PST Are there any readers out there who regularly use the toll-free number in Italy to access AT&T USADirect service? For a couple weeks now I've had intermittant problems with the call dropping, and a message from Telecom Italia (Italian telco) coming on saying that the number has changed. There doesn't seem to be any pattern as to when the call drops, but some days it's so bad I can't get a call out. Any readers out there know who I might contact at AT&T to report the problem? Thanks, Mary Leugers Mary.Leugers@omnitel.it ------------------------------ From: tweek@netcom.com (R R M Tweek) Subject: Re: Story From PacBell Very Doubtful Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 21:25:55 GMT Bren Smith wrote: > She says that they can't be out with a service person until tomorrow. I > then ask them if they can remote call forward my dead primary line to my > secondary line (remembering what Linc has tried this in the past). > They tell me, and this is the real pisser part, that the PUC tariffs > prevent them from forwarding my line. When I asked why, the rep. explained > that it was to prevent "unfair competition". I'm thinking, "yeah, right > who else competes in the local exchange market?" "Unfair Competition" Keeps YOUR competitors from calling the telephone company and having the telco forward YOUR line to him ... much like what happened over the Christmas holiday last year, where a plumber had three or four of his competitors phones forwarded to his plumbing business ... after first calling up the phone company and ordering up Remote Call Forwarding for his competitors. Those victim plumbers had the loneliest Christmas ever. tweek@netcom.com tweek@tweekco.ness.com tweek@io.com DoD #MCMLX SP-3 Fodder-Line: Rogue Agent Hubbard Thetan Scientology Clear OT Course Clam http://www.io.com/~tweek/ tweek@ccnet.com OT-7 Dr. Doo's little Llama [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But you would think that telco could call the man back on a line they could get through on and verify with him that he wanted it done. PAT] ------------------------------ From: daver@teleport.com (David F. Reynolds) Subject: Re: Still More Area Code Information Date: 3 Nov 1995 00:11:33 GMT Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 The fact sheet in question dates from August, so has far less info than is already available here. Correct path is: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/areacode.txt ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Still More Area Code Information Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 17:43:12 GMT RONALD.D.HAVENS@sprint.sprint.com wrote: > The FCC Common Carrier bureau has a factsheet on their home page that shows > planned area codes and effective dates. Try > http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/common_carrier/factsheets/areacode.txt Thanks for the tip, Ron. However, the URL as shown is incorrect. The capitalization is significant: FCC area code fact sheet Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ From: mdoar@acton.timeplex.com (Matthew B. Doar) Subject: Re: When was the Coiled Phone Cord Invented? Date: 2 Nov 1995 14:52:27 GMT Organization: Ascom Nexion I suspect that as soon as the plastic cords came out, someone must have coiled them. If you've never tried it, 200 degrees C for 20 mins, coiled tightly around a copper tube of the correct diameter and clipped on at both ends, worked well for me. Matthew B. Doar Ascom Nexion, Inc. mdoar@nexen.com 289 Great Road, +1 508 266 3468 Acton, MA 01720, USA ------------------------------ From: larb0@aol.com (LARB0) Subject: Re: Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device w/ocu/bri Interfaces Date: 2 Nov 1995 10:17:42 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: larb0@aol.com (LARB0) Not real sure about this, but check with AdTran ... they usually have a good selection of add/drop CSU/DSU devices for T1s. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 95 10:55 EST From: Hugh Pritchard <0006348214@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Using *69 To Get Caller's ID An anonymous bspline writes, >> Can someone explain the exact workings of the Ameritech offering >> of "Call Back" as it is used from a single residential line. > The exact working in a 1AESS: > Associated with every line, there is a call store memory that has in > it, among other things, the number of the last person who called it. > ... Now, when you dial *69, the system just looks at yer call > store memory and completes a call between them and you. I wonder if this call store memory would contain the last number (ANI) of a long-distance call, the kind of call that shows "Out of area" on my CallerID box. Hugh Pritchard, Hugh_Pritchard@MCImail.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My experience here has been that anything I cannot get on the caller ID box likewise cannot be re-connected using *69. In other words, if they had it for *69, they would give it to you on the caller ID box unless it was specifically marked private. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: 1+ Dialing To Canada and The Caribbean Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 17:33:26 GMT RONALD.D.HAVENS@sprint.sprint.com wrote: > Mexico used to have two area codes (one for Mexico City, and one for > northern Mexico), but they were "reclaimed" so they could be used for > relief for exhausting domestic area codes. Well, actually, Mexico used to have THREE area codes. 905 was used for Mexico City, 706 for northwest Mexico (Mexican city codes beginning with 6), and 903 for northeast Mexico. That's why I was a bit surprised to see 903 assigned for the 214 split when there were other N0/1X area codes still unassigned. I don't know exactly what the scope of those old Mexican area codes were; I know 706 included northern Baja, and 903 some of the border area with Texas, but I don't know, for example, whether they reached as far as Cabo San Lucas or Monterrey. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) Subject: Re: Trying to Locate Konnex Corp. Date: 2 Nov 1995 18:59:44 -0500 Organization: panix In article , Georg Schwarz wrote: > Does anyone the address of Konnex Corp., USA (preferably their e-mail > address, if they have one)? They are said to be the manufacturer of > acoustic coupler modems for wireless telephones. I'd also like to > know an adress of a representative/distributor for their products in > Germany. There is no Konnex Corp. The products you refer to are manufactured and marketed by: Unlimited Systems Corp. 5555 Magnatron Blvd, Suite J San Diego, CA 92111 (619) 277-3300 I have **NO** other contact information besides the above. Mike Schuster | schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM ------------------- | schuster@shell.portal.com | GEnie: MSCHUSTER ------------------------------ From: jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com (Jeffrey Rhodes) Subject: Re: Need Information on Reducing Power Consumption Date: 2 Nov 1995 21:20:21 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. Reply-To: jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com In article 9@massis.lcs.mit.edu, johnd@mail.ic.net (John N. Dreystadt) writes: > In article , lytan@alpha.ntu.ac.sg says: >> Does anyone have any ideas on how companies have tried to reduce >> power consumption on cellular phones? IS-136 "Digital Control Channel" provides a sleep mode negotiation with an IS-136 TDMA switch such that any page requests are synchronized with an IS-136 cellular phone's sleep pattern. Power consumption is reduced while sleeping. IS-136 cellular phones will be compatible with current analog and IS-54 TDMA switches. Someday this decade, AT&T will be able to offer telephone service in at least 80% of US homes and offices using IS-136 technology. Jeffrey Rhodes at jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #463 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Sat Nov 4 01:49:20 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA22560; Sat, 4 Nov 1995 01:49:20 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 01:49:20 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511040649.BAA22560@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #464 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Nov 95 01:48:30 EST Volume 15 : Issue 464 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Delay on Long Haul Circuits (Todd Martin) Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (via John Shaver) Bell Canada Files Residential ISDN (Ron Kawchuk) Michigan 313/810 to Get Overlaid! (Brian C. Shensky) ICS Busted for Securties, Mail and Wire Fraud (Tad Cook) Re: Chicago Ameritech Cellular PINs Required? (Dave Levenson) Anyone Have a Identa Ring/Ring Leader/Distinctive Ringing Box (J. Plescia) Powering the Optical Network Interface (Ted Quade) AT&T Employment in Wiltshire, UK (Anne Baillie) Lost Mail Due to Filter/Autoreply Problems (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Todd Martin Subject: Delay on Long Haul Circuits Date: 3 Nov 1995 16:50:29 GMT Organization: Silicon Systems We have a 128kbps circuit from California to Singapore. I estimate that we experience a 100ms delay. We would like to simulate the affects of increasing the bandwidth. The question is what can we expect for reasonable delay as the bandwidth increases. Is this reasonable and/or realistic: Bandwidth Delay ---------------- 128k 100ms 256k 50ms >512 30ms What I am confused about is how much is the delay dependent on bandwidth. If we were to increase the pipe to 256k would the delay be cut in half? I have heard that the 30ms delay is the (minimum) I could expect. What are others experiences with delays on long haul circuits? Todd Martin Silicon Systems, Inc. todd.martin@tus.ssi1.COM ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 95 10:06:04 MST From: John Shaver Subject: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service Forwarded FYI to the Digest: Comments by: Wendell Craig Baker A lot of people chatter about the amount of people in Europe who are seen wandering around chatting on their cellular phones. Why don't we have that level of service here ... etc. In Europe, the caller pays. In the U.S. the callee pays. This means you with the phone in your hand pay airtime charges for just answering the phone. Charges range from $0.50/min during daylight down to $0.25/min at night/weekends. Justice at last!!! W. Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 12:04:07 GMT From: Bell Atlantic To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Wireless Customers Can Save With Calling Party Pays FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: November 2, 1995 Paul Miller 804-772-1460 [paul.t.miller.jr.@bell-atl.com] WIRELESS USERS CAN NOW SAVE ON AIRTIME CHARGES ARLINGTON, VA -- Until now, wireless phone users have been charged for all calls made on their wireless phone -- even calls coming from unknown or unwelcome callers. Now, with a new service from Bell Atlantic, the person who calls the wireless user is charged for those calls. Bell Atlantic's new Calling Party Pays service allows cellular companies to give their customers the option of having the caller pay the airtime charges. The announcement came today at Bell Atlantic's Carrier Services annual Wireless Forum in Washington, D.C. "Bell Atlantic's Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) makes this service possible," said Peter D'Amico, senior product manager for Bell Atlantic's Carrier Services line of business. "Bell Atlantic is the first to develop Calling Party Pays service that offers the flexibility of AIN-based features. This allows us to offer our wireless carriers a service that helps them meet the needs and requirements of their customers." Normally, incoming calls to cellular numbers are routed to the appropriate Bell Atlantic access tandem switch, serving a cellular carrier's mobile switching center. The tandem switch recognizes the called number as a cellular number and routes the call directly to the cellular carrier, which then completes the call to its cellular customer. With Calling Party Pays, incoming calls to wireless subscribers will be screened by the AIN platform to determine the proper call processing and billing instructions. An announcement will notify callers that they will be charged for the airtime. Callers will be able to bypass the announcement by pressing the "#" key on their phone. If billing data for the phone number associated with the incoming call is not available, AIN will instruct the tandem switch to play another announcement notifying the caller that he or she will be routed to the cellular customers' voice mail box to leave a message. "This service will significantly increase the usefulness of wireless phones, " said John Campanola, director - wireless product management for Bell Atlantic. "Customers will want to give out their cellular numbers and may even list those numbers in the phone directory." By using AIN technology, Bell Atlantic minimized the number of calls for which the caller cannot be billed and developed a service with features not previously available. Customers who use Bell Atlantic's Calling Party Pays can keep their current cellular phone number. Other similar services have been limited to dedicated NXX numbers that required customers to change their cellular phone numbers to a particular exchange. Calling Party Pays also offers customers several unique call-management features: * VIP (very important person) Number -- Cellular customers can give a VIP number to family, friends and clients. Those callers then enter the VIP number when they hear the announcement, signaling the AIN platform to bill the called party for air time. * VIP Table -- Customers can select up to six telephone numbers from which the calling party will not pay for the air time of incoming calls. * Toggle Option -- Customers can use an on/off option to deactivate Calling Party Pays for a period of time. Research by the Yankee Group shows that 69 percent of cellular users think about the cost of a cellular call every time they pick up their cellular phone. Also, 78 percent of cellular users say they would encourage people to call them if they didn't have to pay for receiving the calls. "We believe that cellular service is headed toward a new paradigm of stimulating network usage," said Mark Lowenstein, director - Wireless and Mobile Communications for the Yankee Group. "Services such as Calling Party Pays are at the forefront of this effort to make wireless a way of life for everyone." The Bell Atlantic Carrier Services line of business provides switched, special and wireless access to Bell Atlantic's telecommunications network. Carrier Services also is developing new wireless services, such as personal communications services, new access services such as Facilities Management Service, and increased network survivability through Bell Atlanticr IntelliLightsm services. Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE: BEL) is at the forefront of the new communications, entertainment and information industry. In the mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing high-growth national and international business opportunities in all phases of the industry. #### INTERNET USERS: Bell Atlantic news releases, executive speeches, news media contacts and other useful information are available on Bell Atlantic's media relations World Wide Web site (http://www.ba.com), by gopher (gopher://ba.com) or by ftp (ftp://ba.com/pub). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 1995 07:47:31 -0500 From: kawchuk@io.org (Ron Kawchuk) Subject: Bell Canada Files Residential ISDN Bell Canada filed for residential ISDN on October 27, 1995 $51 to $57 per month for 2 ISDN channels. (2B+D) Pay per call in peak (Business day) times. $1 per hour 7AM to 7PM weekdays per 64k channel... $2 per hour for 128K bps?? Request CRTC approval for Dec 1, 1995 If approved, this would be a precedent for local measured service (LMS) in Canada. For details on LMS in Canada, check out the HALT home page: http://www.io.org/~kawchuk/ Bell Canada's home page is http://www.bell.ca/ Ron Kawchuk Telecom Consultant and HALT co-founder. Ph: 905 281-1998 Fax: 905 279-9418 Internet: kawchuk@io.org Home page: www.io.org/~kawchuk HALT Fax-on-Demand: 416 798-7121 access code 4258( HALT). ------------------------------ From: shensky@umd.umich.edu (Brian C. Shensky) Subject: Michigan 313/810 to Get Overlaid! Date: 2 Nov 1995 18:32:11 GMT Organization: University of Michigan I just got off the phone with Ameritech. Apparently, in March 1996, they will hold a conference to announce, presumably, two new overlaid area codes for 313/810. If you recall, 313 was geographically split into 313 below 8 Mile Rd. and 810 North of 8 Mile Rd. in August 1993. So in addition to the geo split, Michiganians have to get used to these two codes being overlaid! Ameritech does *not* know what the new area codes will be yet. Enjoy! Brian SHENSKYbrian 313.454.9603 (home) shensky@umich.edu (email) 313.780.3213 (page) http://www.umich.edu/~shensky (www) ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: ICS Busted for Securties, Mail and Wire Fraud Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 23:40:51 -0500 Ten from Boca Raton, Fla., Accused of Securities, Mail, Wire Fraud By Ronnie Greene, The Miami Herald Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Nov. 3--Boca Raton -- the upscale city known for its wealth, its lushness and its white-collar crime -- was the setting for a bustling boiler room that defrauded 144 investors of $2 million, authorities said Thursday. A federal grand jury returned a 71-count indictment accusing 10 defendants of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and perjury. Five others have already pleaded guilty or plan to. They worked for International Communications Specialists, ICS, in a suite on West Palmetto Park Road. Their alleged scam: Selling unregistered securities to investors throughout the United States through a combination of lies and deceit. Using "lead lists" culled from other boiler rooms, salesmen called thousands of potential investors. Reading from scripts, they described ICS as an opportunity to "get in on the ground floor of the rapidly expanding wireless communications industry." Salespeople said ICS was offering interests -- at a cost of $10,000 to $17,000 apiece -- in revenues from mobile radio licenses and radio towers purportedly owned by ICS. The lie: ICS didn't own FCC licenses, as alleged, but merely options to purchase licenses. Still, salespeople described the investment as "safe" and inquired about the investor's net worth and past investments. "The information, as well as an assessment of potential investors' interest and perceived gullibility -- potential investors were often described as 'mooch' and 'controllable' -- were noted for use in further contacts with the potential investor," the indictment says. One principal allegedly used $11,225 of investors' money to buy jewelry for himself, his girlfriend and salespeople. The scam, which allegedly operated from September 1991 to February 1992, was investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Postal Inspection Service. The prosecutors are Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Murad and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krudys. Those charged Thursday: Richard Weber, 49, and Ira DiCapua, 36, of Boca Raton; Jon Stewart, 41, and Ira Cohen, 48, of Fort Lauderdale; Michael Harvey, 48, of Pompano Beach; Dwayne Shepherd, 35, of Plantation; James Michaels, 42, of Lauderhill; Wayne Axelrod, 25, of Chicago; Gary Nakkula, 42, of Brighton, Mich.; and Brandon Rios, 24, of Trenton, N.J. Previously, ICS sales manager Edward Ruppert and salesmen Jason Ruppert and Richard Marshall pleaded guilty to securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud. Michael LaCue, a salesman, and Joseph Cunha, a paid reference for the firm, agreed earlier this week to plead guilty, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Chicago Ameritech Cellular PINs Required? Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 03:54:46 GMT Andrew C. Green (acg@frame.com) writes: > I received a puzzling piece of mail from Ameritech recently which > seemed to imply (it was _very_ carefully worded) that I needed to > call them and set up a PIN for my cellphone service as part of their > Ongoing Battle Against Telecommunications Fraud. It did not actually > say that this was mandatory ... In the New York City area, PINs were introduced on an optional basis six months ago or so. They were optional, but with the subtle hint that if your cellular phone was `cloned' and you had not obtained a PIN, CellularOne (now called AT&T Wireless) would no longer drop the fraudulent charges from your bill. Recently, the use of a PIN has become mandatory for AT&T Wireless subscribers in the New York City area (SID 00025). As recommended, I have stored the PIN and its feature access code on a repertory-dial button on my cell phone, so it's only a single-button operation ... not too hard when driving. What bothers me about the PIN, however, is that it is sent out over the setup channel, in the clear, as part of the same access message that contains the mobile user's MIN and ESN. It probably won't take very long for the cloners to modify their listining equipment to capture the PIN along with the rest of the data they need. The PIN seems to be, at best, a temporary fix. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ From: Joe Plescia Subject: Anyone Have a Identa Ring/Ring Leader/Distinctive Ringing Box Date: 3 Nov 1995 14:19:03 GMT Organization: Plescia.Com Reply-To: jplescia@plescia.com Anyone have a identa ring / ring leader / distinctive ringing box for sale? Joseph P Plescia-Plescia Photo email jplescia@plescia.com 201.868.0065 201.868.0475fax ------------------------------ From: tquade@thud.unibase.com (Ted Quade) Subject: Powering the Optical Network Interface Date: 3 Nov 1995 15:17:52 GMT Reply-To: tquade@thud.unibase.com (Ted Quade) I am engaged in graduate research regarding the issue of powering the residential customer terminal equipment in an all-fibre (all-fiber) telephone system. I wish to make contact with other researchers in this area to exchange ideas and information. Please contact me via e:mail at tquade@thud.unibase.com or post to this news group as appropriate. Thanks for your time. Ted ------------------------------ From: Anne Baillie Subject: AT&T Employment in Wiltshire. Exciting Opportunities in GSM Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 12:53:48 GMT Organization: S-Com CSE AT&T requirements in Wiltshire. Exciting opportunities in GSM On the Web S-Com have been appointed as AT&T's recruitment advisers. AT&T have a continuous requirement for various roles within their GSM development centre in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. 16 People are currently required to be able to start from November onwards. Location Based in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Some roles may involve working at AT&T sites in New Jersey,U.S.A. and Nurnburg,Germany. Project Development of the next generation of GSM Base Station equipment. This project is being jointly developed across three primary locations. Roles 1. To develop the layer of software that interfaces the cluster management software with the application. Experience in initialisation and recovery of high availability systems advantageous. Must be a good team player. 2. Two developers required to develop the layer of software that interfaces the applications with the platform software in a fashion that removes as many of the platform specific dependencies as possible. Knowledge of realtime operating systems. 3. Performance Specialist. To Measure, evaluate and enhance the performance of the GSM Base Station Controller. Previous experience in performance monitoring and enhancement in realtime systems required. Excellent communication skills. 4. Software developer to develop the layer of software that interfaces a suite of commercial communications protocol stacks with the GSM application software. Knowledge of communications protocols (SS7, X.25, LAPD, TCP/IP). 5. To develop the layer of software that interfaces a commercial database management package with the GSM application software. Knowledge of distributed database managers. Experience in database development in a realtime system. 6. Lab Support (2 positions). Needed to install and support the test models and associated support equipment to be used in the development of the GSM Base Station Controller. Previous experience in installation and support of test models essential. 7. Physical Designer. To pull together the various pieces that will make up the GSM Base Station Controller into an ETSI compliant package. Previous experience in physical design with ETSI requirements is required. 8. System Integrators (3 positions). Needed to co-ordinate the merging of software and hardware subsystems developed at the various locations involved in this project. Previous experience in integrating diverse hardware/software essential. 9. Project Manager. To co-ordinate and track the efforts of the Base Station Controller team. Experience in managing development projects (predominantly software) required. 10. System Architect. To help define the architecture for the next generation GSM Base Station Controller. Experience in either GSM or AMPS essential. Rates Good rates. Start date November onwards. Contract length 18 months. Other lures A new international development centre. Please email your CV to Anne Baillie or Margaret Davies Contact us direct on 01296 311449 S-Com CSE, Buckingham House, Buckingham Street Aylesbury, HP20 2LA Phone 01296-311411 Fax 01296-436895 General enquiries / CVs Visit our Web site ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Lost Mail Due to Filter/Autoreply Problems Date: Sat, 04 Nov 1995 01:15:00 EST If you wrote to me on Friday evening, and primarily if you sent your mail via the newsgroup, then you will need to send it again. I was working on getting the autoreply turned back on when a large bunch of incoming mail got zapped due to 'cat >' rather than 'cat >>'. The difficulty with attempting to make any repairs or adjustments to mail software here is the large volume of constantly flowing inbound mail to the Digest. One slight, small error in the way something is written, then you put it in place, and bam! There go a dozen letters in the bit bucket. Yet without the use of filters, manual scanning of it all would be impossible. A couple days ago, I was entering something new in /etc/aliases and forgot a simple colon. Zoom! There goes about forty pieces of mail back to their senders as 'user unknown' ... that sort of thing. I will be watching the autoreply and the filters very closely over the weekend to see if more mail is getting lost. In the meantime, if you sent me something Friday night, try try again! Finally, the usual reminder: *all* mail for the Digest is now to be addressed to "ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu". If you have not yet changed your records or your newsgroup pointers, please do so at this time. I am running parallel on mail with delta for another couple weeks or so, but will then discontinue receiving from that end. Just because I toss out large amounts of mail due to my own buggy software does not mean you should not be sending it to the correct address to start with! PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #464 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Sat Nov 4 22:50:06 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA10939; Sat, 4 Nov 1995 22:50:06 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 22:50:06 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511050350.WAA10939@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #465 TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Nov 95 22:07:07 EST Volume 15 : Issue 465 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 888 Code Startup Not Delayed (Greg Monti) Re: These Sleezeball Comapnies Are Killing Me (mjf@noreturn.ibm.com) Alaska Interexchange Bandwidth (Philip Treuer) Selective Answering Machine from the UK (Dave LeVasseur) Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (James E. Bellaire) Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada (Wes Leatherock) Re: Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone (Hendrik Rood) Re: US Phone Usable in France? (Lars Poulsen) Re: Looking For Telephone With Call Blocking (Sheri Stritof) Re: Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia (Dan Fandrich) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 4 Nov 95 00:55:41 PST From: Greg Monti Subject: 888 Code Startup Not Delayed The electronic newsletter {Communications Today} reported in its November 1, 1995, issue that implementation of the new 888 toll-free code in North America will *not* be delayed from its intended start date of March 1, 1996. This was the reported consensus of a meeting at which "an Ameritech representative" advised the FCC that DSC Communications, the vendor providing the software patch required for Database Service Management, Inc.'s signal transfer points' (STP's) handling of the new numbers, would deliver that patch later than expected. In the meantime, the newsletter reported, some interexchange carriers expressed concern that Database Service Management might be "still too closely connected to the Bell companies." They did not want DSMI to be providing information on how many numbers each interexchange carrier holds. The {Communications Today} article notes that DSMI reported that the exhaust date for the availability of 800 toll free numbers currently is projected at April 20, 1996. As of October 29, 730,051 numbers remained available in the Service Management System 800 database. Greg Monti Arlington, Virginia, USA gmonti@cais.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So folks, get your 800 numbers while they last. Need a few more for anticipated projects in the future? Better get them now before its too late. Don't look to AT&T, Sprint or MCI for any; they play games with their largest customers pulling the strings. Go to one of the smaller vendors like Allnet, Call America or similar. Steve Betterly for example, at Call America tells me they still have an ample supply of 800's for their customers. Contact him at betterly@callamer.com if you want to get in on their MyLine 800 service. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mjf@NORETURN.raleigh.ibm.com Subject: Re: These Sleezeball Companies Are Killing Me! Date: 4 Nov 1995 19:01:44 GMT Organization: ISSC Southeast Region Reply-To: mjf@NORETURN.raleigh.ibm.com In , CASTALDI@flash.rowan.edu (Johnny Castaldi) writes: > Ever try to call Integretel (1-800-736-7500)? They tell you to call > back at midnight! I recently got slammed by Integretel and got the usual "call back some other time" on their 800#. I called my local telco (Bellsouth, formerly Southern Bell) to complain and they dialed the number for me and transferred me. Wouldn't you know it, I got through. I don't know if they have any kind of special dialing priveleges or if they just got lucky, but that worked for me. Later, Mike ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:44:06 -0900 From: treuerpj@alaska.net (Philip Treuer) Subject: Alaska Interexchange Bandwidth I'm writing from Alaska where most interexchange traffic is transported by satellite or microwave. Because of the high cost of service most interexchange voice traffic, which (I assume) in the lower 48 is carried on fiber over 64 Kbps circuits, is here compressed by the IXC's as much as five to one. In the future (after the interexchange networks are upgraded to digital), the IXCs say they will only guarantee data transmission over basic voice grade lines (i.e., using modem or fax) up to 9.6 kbps -- above that speed the IXC's have indicated that either the call will not go through or customers will have to pay extra for higher transfer rates. Currently rural to rural calls are generally limited to 4800 kbps data transmission (if that) using faxes and modems on voice grade circuits. What is the maximum bandwidth IXCs allow on voice grade calls in the lower 48? Do customers have to pay surcharges on swithched 56 or ISDN 64 Kbps voice calls that go over the interexchange network? Have any states attempted to define basic voice grade telephone service in such a way that guanantee customers the ability to transmit data at certain minimum speeds using fax and modems? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 15:50:27 CST From: Dave LeVasseur Subject: Selective Answering Machine From the UK In TELECOM Digest #460, Theodore Hong wrote: > I've recently moved from the US to the UK, and I brought my answering > machine with me. It's hooked up to the local switchboard here, and > the phone part works fine. I thought the answering machine part did > too, until I discovered that it didn't answer outside calls, only > internal ones. Now outside calls do have a different ringing pattern > (two rings instead of one), but I can't see what would cause the > answering machine to ignore calls from outside ...? The UK telephone system uses a third wire not found on (most) US telephone systems. The third wire is used to distribute the ringing signal, separate from the two wires that carry the voice signals. Your local switchboard use a similar arrangement which allows your machine to respond to the ringing signal, although it seems odd that an external ringing signal would be delivered in a manner different from that of an internal signal. The reason the third wire is used in the UK is due to a problem referred to as "bell tinkle" caused when rotary-dial systems falsely trigger a telephone's ringer. We call it "bell tapping" here in the US where it is less common (although on the increase) due to most calls being placed with DTMF tones. The three-wire method was introduced as a way of preventing burglars from being alerted when they triggered a store's automatic dialer. Evidently, thieves were able to escape capture by listening for "bell tinkle", a warning that the police were soon to be at the premises. I understand that a UK company makes a device called a "mod-tap" which makes the necessary conversion between three- and two-wire systems. This device reportedly sells for US$10 to US$15. Perhaps other TD readers will be able to provide more information on this company and its product. Dave LeVasseur Internet: dlevasseur@midcom.anza.com Midcom, Inc. Front Desk:+1 (605) 886-4385 Watertown, SD 57201 USA Fax: +1 (605) 886-3791 Amateur Radio: N0DL BBS: +1 (605) 882-0349 14.4-8-n-1 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Nov 1995 03:47:33 -0500 From: James E. Bellaire Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Jeffrey Rhodes wrote: > It's hard to believe that nearly every day someone asks "are two > cell-phones, one number legal?". P.T. Barnum suggested that there is a > sucker born every minute. Basic judgment should tell people "if it's > too good to be true, then it isn't". Now that cellular fraud busts are > making news and some are behind bars, maybe the word will get out > that, "Yes, the FCC approves extension line service for cell-phones but > No, you can't have it because it looks too much like fraud when roaming." GaryNovosielski replied: > On the contrary, I think "basic judgment," or common sense, is what's > behind these questions in the first place. > What's hard for most people to comprehend (which accounts for the > continual repetition of this question), is why it should be illegal to > have a second (cloned ESN) phone even when no fraud is intended or > attempted. That's what defies common sense. What people need is a second phone, with its own MIN and ESN, and a cellco that is willing to give a multiple phone rate that is within reason. > Until the FCC made it illegal (as we are told they did recently) it > worked just fine in practice. It even worked fine while roaming, and > didn't "look like fraud" at all, for the simple reason that it > *wasn't* fraud. It was just a way to make legal phone calls, using > one's own bona fide cellular account, and to pay for them in full, > using either of two phones (both bought-and- paid-for) instead of just > one. Cloned phones worked fine? Tho identical phones both reporting back to the cellco for tracking didn't confuse the switch? > [SNIP] > Having two phones with the same number is intrinsically no more > "fraudulent" than hooking up an extension phone in one's own home. Having a second line installed with the same number costs money everywhere I have been. These are NOT extensions within a single building. Cell phones are 'extensions' from the MTSO. > Old Timers will recall that back when AT&T "Wireful" ruled the known > world, this too was called "illegal". (for the same reason?) Old timers will also remember that the demarks and switches have changed completely since the old ones. More havoc could have been done to the network by CPE in the old days than now. > And why should it be? Every call made or received gets billed to the > appropriate parties. No, I cannot make two calls at once, as I am only > paying for one "line"; if I want that feature, I must pay for a second > line. And of course if I hook up nine or ten extensions, there may not > be enough voltage to ring the bells any more. But if I'm willing to > live with the limitations, and it is not technically infeasible, then > why *should* it be illegal to have an extension phone on the same > number, either wired, or cellular. If you want any of your extensions across town you will PAY for them, per link. In my home town it is about the same price for an off premises extension as it is a single line business phone, except you don't have to pay all the government per line charges on the extension. Cloning ESN allows a customer to 'steal' the extension service. They still may pay for the calls, but they don't pay for the service. You are using more than one link through their network. > [SNIP] > Some will argue that it is because cloning might be, or could be, or > would be (and let's face it -- ACTUALLY IS) used for fraud. If so, then > rocks, hammers, computers, and telephones themselves should be > outlawed. In fact, everything should be outlawed, because there isn't > an object I can think of that someone, somewhere could not figure out > how to use in the commission of a crime. Crimes -- actual crimes -- > already are and should be illegal. "Potential" crimes, like fictional > characters, do not exist. Let's get a grip. Cloning is a practice, not an object. Verbs are crimes, nouns are not. > The fact that the "legal" cell-extension variant, i.e., same MIN, > different ESN, is something the cell carriers can and do charge extra > for is no coincidence. And the fact that it doesn't work as well as > simply cloning the phone is ironic. Whose fault is that? Who designed > the system, the ignorant suckers in the general public, or the > high-priced talent within the industry? The network was designed for SINGLE phones, not extensions. Not bad for 15-20 years ago. > Two-ESN roaming doesn't "look like fraud" at all, any more than all > Arab- Americans "look like" terrorists, or vice versa. It's just that > the system we're relying on is so badly designed that it can't tell > fraud from legal use. That's the fault of the system designer, not > the innocent user. The user did not ask for a second-rate system. To a system that uses a matched MIN-ESN as a user/password link, seeing a user with more than one password can be confusing. They should be able to tell their switches that user MIN can use phone ESN1, ESN2 and ESN3. Then the search engine matching MIN-ESN would have to be able to accept any valid entry. Get the software designers to work it out. A fair price should be paid for 'extension' phones, either wired off- premises or celluar. If you want a lock so that only one phone in your shared setup can make a call at a time then PAY for the software to do that. Otherwise PAY for the ability to use the phones independently. Cloning gives a FREE service to customers, without the provider's consent. It is the right of any company to sell their product at the price they want. It is NOT the right of the consumer to take product without paying that price. James E. Bellaire (JEB6) bellaire@tk.com ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: If Quebec Leaves Canada Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 00:46:00 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As far as phone service is concerned, > bear in mind the country of Newfoundland ceased being such back about > 1947 (I think that was the year) when it became a Canadian province. > The differences in phone service between then and now are so extreme > that an accurate comparison is impossible. Even our own experience > with Hawaii and Alaska over 35 years ago are hard to compare. They > were both assigned area codes shortly after their admission to > statehood. Oklahoma and Arizona became states in the early years of > this century; whatever limited phone service they had at that time > probably just continued in place, so remote from today's telecommun- > ications network were they. Actually, Pat, the first commercial telephone service in Oklahoma was established in 1879, three years after the telephone was invented. It was a toll line between Tahlequah (capital of the Cherokee Nation) and Muskogee. Before I retired from Southwestern Bell Telephone, the historical files for Oklahoma (compiled during the Great Depression when business was slow, partly by Pioneers [retired employees] and partly by active employees) was in my office, and I had many occasions to answer questions about it or to prepare various written (and in later years video) materials involving the company's history in Okalhoma. The first commercial telephone line was established by a group of (Indian) promoters, who applied to the Cherokee Nation for authority. The files included the text of the Cherokee Nation legislature's act authorizing the line, providing for a gross receipts tax, and earmarking the tax for the Cherokee Nation's common schools. It carried the signatures of the presiding officers of both houses of the legislature and was signed by the principal chief (who, incidentally, had veto power). By statehood in 1907 Oklahoma had a reasonably developed telephone system for those times, with local and long distance service (and sometimes competition, with the Bell company (then known in Oklahoma as the Pioneer Telephone and Telegraph Company) already becoming the major player. There were also telephone connections with surrounding states and on as far as you could go in those days before repeaters. Note that much of the eastern and southeastern parts of what is now Oklahoma (including Tulsa, mentioned in your comments) were part of what was generally called "Indian Territory," although that was not a legal entity and the jurisdiction was that of the respective Indian tribes. The northern, northwestern and western parts of the state were "Oklahoma Territory," a territory regularly organized like other "territories" of the United States. But toll dialing ... in fact, any kind of dialing ... were almost or completely non-existent in 1907, and there wasn't even a philosophical basis for area codes. As you say, it was too remote to be relevant to today's telecommunications sytem. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@baremetl.com ------------------------------ From: hrood@xs4all.nl (Hendrik Rood) Subject: Re: Alpha Paging From DTMF Phone Date: Sat, 04 Nov 95 20:45:26 GMT Organization: Hendriks Humble Home Hero In article , bfm@pobox.com (Barry Margolius, NYC) wrote: > I have come across two methods of "touch-toning" alpha messages that I > like better than the one you describe. I've not seen either of them > used in paging, but here they are: > 1. Press the letter key once for the first letter, twice for the > second letter, thrice (I love that word) for the third letter. Your > "call home" example would be: 222 2 555 555 * 44 666 6 33. This > system is, to me, the easiest to use, but is subject to error as the > user must pause between each letter of the alphabet, e.g. to > differentiate AA from B. > 2. Your first keypress indicates which set of three letters, the > second keypress is 1,2, or 3 to indicate which letter. So "call home" > becomes 23 21 53 53 * 42 63 61 32. This is a bit tougher for the > human, but safer since all letters parse as two digit combinations. In the Netherlands we provide telephones for deaf-people that connects to displays with dtmf-decoders. They use a variant of the second system, but then with the * and # as an escape-code. Call home becomes something like #2 2 #5 #5 *# *4 #6 6 *3. This is used by a lot of deaf-people and it is called "teksttelefoon" or "texttelephone" in English. You can also get a Qwerty-keyboard with an DTMF-encoder using this system. There are people who run translation-services for deaf people behind a medium-prized 900 number. Dialling this number deaf people can communicate with speaking people, that do not use the display-gear In practice typing is a bit slow. Most alphanumerics use two dtmf-tones. This then comes to 200 ms pro character. But it is still fast enough to get a serious fast information flow. The problem is: telephones with these encoding use a different configuration in Several European countries. They also differ from the alphanumeric US-system. Hendrik Rood Stratix Consulting Group BV, Schiphol NL tel: +31 20 44 66 555 fax: +31 20 44 66 560 e-mail: Hendrik.Rood@stratix.nl ------------------------------ From: lars@spectrum.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: US Phone Usable in France? Date: 4 Nov 1995 21:44:07 -0800 Organization: Rockwell International - CMC Network Products In article Chester Howes writes: > A customer at my local Radio Shack said he had sent a phone to a friend > in Paris and the then found out the plug (US modular) wouldn't fit the > jack in Paris. He want an adapter to mate the two. Such adapters are readily available in the US. I have seen them in - large computer stores; - some Radio Shack stores; - electronic parts stores; - some "drug and discount" stores. They cost about USD 10.00 per adapter. > I told him I thought the phone systems were not even compatible; a phone > made for the US market would probably not even work on the French phone > system. While the French telephone company (and the French government's Direction de la Reglementation Generale) would like to emphasize the differences and insist that no equipment may be attached unless it has been verified in design reviews and laboratory tests to be officially compatible, the differences are of no practical importance, except for the plug. I have also used French manufactured modems here, and they worked fine, too. Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@RNS.COM Rockwell Network Systems Phone: +1-805-562-3158 7402 Hollister Avenue Telefax: +1-805-968-8256 Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Internets: designed and built while you wait ------------------------------ From: Sheri Subject: Re: Looking For Telephone With Call Blocking Date: 4 Nov 1995 11:56:26 GMT Organization: Network Access Services, Inc. gencom@airmail.net (Stephen Chin) wrote: > Does anyone know of a telephone manufacturer that makes a phone which > can block out numbers by putting in a code? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you referring to the *67 code used > to block Caller-ID? There are a couple of companies which made > adjunct devices to plug in before the phone which do this. When the > phone goes off hook, the little device automatically sends out *67 > at the start of the dialing string. Or did you have something else in > mind? PAT] The FANS-BM100 Blockmaster controls who sees your number/name on caller ID. It detects when you take your phone off-hook and will automatically send a request for blocking signal before you start dialing. You can also unblock any particular call if you're already set up with a permanently blocked number. The FANS-F250A features caller ID with post call preset so that any number can be preset as a preferred or as an unwanted number, red LED to warn of an incoming unwanted call and green LED to indicate an incoming preferred call. B.E.L.-Tronics AD100 has a call reject feature which allows the user to record up to 100 undesirable phone numbers and incoming calls from this list will receive a message stating call will not be accepted. B.E.L.-Tronics CF130 - Telephone also has a call reject feature which allows users to reject undesirable callers with a digital voice message. SNI Bouncer rejects nuisance calls without ringing your phone. I'll keep looking for other products that might fill your need. Sheri Stritof [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sheri, can you give us any ordering information or addresses for these products? PAT] ------------------------------ From: dan@fch.wimsey.bc.ca (Dan Fandrich) Subject: Re: Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia, No Go Date: Sun, 05 Nov 95 00:06:42 GMT Organization: Fandrich Cone Harvesters Ltd. In article wa2ise@netcom.com writes: > I don't know what town this company is in I explain. "Can't you just > do a search for "Softlanding Software". "No, sorry, that's > impossible", "What do you mean impossible, how many "Softlanding > Software"'s are there in your province?! She says "probably only one, > but I need the city for it". I'd have to search the entire province." Well, it is a big province. ;) I don't have any details about their directory database, but this is a problem to me on occasion as well (it probably comes as no surprise that BC Telecom is majority owned by GTE). It is useful to realize that their system can check cities which are in the same local calling area or nearby the one you ask for. Just say "Vancouver" and you've covered close to half the province, population-wise; if the listing wasn't found, say "Victoria" and you've probably covered 2/3. Since you're not looking for a forestry or mining company, it's almost a sure thing you'll get the listing. Dan dan@fch.wimsey.bc.ca / MIME email ok finger danf@wimsey.com for pgp key ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #465 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Nov 6 09:27:46 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA27486; Mon, 6 Nov 1995 09:27:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 09:27:46 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511061427.JAA27486@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #466 TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Nov 95 09:27:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 466 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Selective Answering Machine From the UK (Ole J. Jacobsen) Re: Selective Answering Machine from the UK (Martin D. Kealey) Re: Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems (Mike Morris) Re: Another UK Number Change (Matthew Richardson) Re: ETSI Standards Needed (Sergei Anfilofiev) Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (Dave Levenson) Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Trouble Recognizing Pound Key With Intervoice (Greg T. Schmidt) Environmental Education on the Web (Anne S. Crump) Web Page For History of the Internet (Kelly Breit) Re: Payphone Networking Directory (borids@aol.com) PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed (Rich Padula) Re: 900 Mhz Headset Wanted (Eric Friedebach) Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople (Ross Oliver) Last Laugh! Go Directly to Wall Street (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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 95 02:21:08 PST From: Ole J. Jacobsen Subject: Re: Selective Answering Machine From the UK The cheapest and easiest way around this problem is to purchase a so called Master Socket from a telecom dealer in the UK. (BT will apparently not sell you this since they are the only ones who are allowed to officially install it.). There is only one Master Socket in each house, and everything is slaved off of it. The Master Socket contains the magic capacitor required to make any UK phone ring using the three wire method described by another poster. Make a "tail" of US RJ-11 wire, that is a cord with your normal US plug at one end and open wires at the other. Connect the red and green US RJ-11 wires to pins 2 and 5 in the Master Socket on the input side (you can use a UK punch-down tool made of plastic to do this). Then use the cord with the UK plug that came with your machine to attach the answering machine to the Master socket. The RJ-11 "tail" goes to the US line or PBX, obviously. [==RJ-11-------[MS]{UK--------[UK phone] Be careful of one thing: In the UK you can get two kinds of cords for answering machines. Both have a UK plug at one end and a US plug at the other, but some are wired "straight through" while the other lot have the appropriate cross over to make red/green on the US side match up with pins 2 and 5 on the UK side. If your device has its phone line cord wired in, you won't have to worry about this. Good luck! Ole J Jacobsen, Editor & Publisher, ConneXions--The Interoperability Report, Interop Company, a division of SOFTBANK Expos, 303 Vintage Park Drive, Foster City, CA 94404-1138, USA. Ph: +1 (415) 578-6988 Fax: +1 (415) 525-0194. ------------------------------ From: martin@kurahaupo.gen.nz (Martin D Kealey) Subject: Re: Selective Answering Machine From the UK Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:02:44 NZST Being here in NZ (probably the only other country in the world that uses BT style wiring) I'm prompted to comment on this article. > The UK telephone system uses a third wire not found on (most) US > telephone systems. The third wire is used to distribute the ringing > signal, separate from the two wires that carry the voice signals. It should be noted that the three-wire signal is only between CPE, not from the exchange. There is simply a shared capacitor decoupling the DC line voltage from all the ringers, rather than each phone set having its own decoupling. The ringers are shorted out during pulse dialing, which effectively stops the bell tinkle. [ One of the benefits of this arrangement is that there is virtually no limit to the number of phone sets that can be attached to a line, since they impose no additional (capacitive) loading; of course, one might run out of current to drive the ringers, but that's the customer's problem. ] > I understand that a UK company makes a device called a "mod-tap" which > makes the necessary conversion between three- and two-wire systems. The signal accross the wire pair from the exchange is the same composite DC + AC ringing; however, it is conceivable that Theodore Hong's PBX could have a separate signal wire all the way from the PBX. However, if it is done this way, I would have expected the results to be reversed if there was to be any distinction. > In TELECOM Digest #460, Theodore Hong wrote: >> I've recently moved from the US to the UK, and I brought my answering >> machine with me. It's hooked up to the local switchboard here, and >> the phone part works fine. I thought the answering machine part did >> too, until I discovered that it didn't answer outside calls, only >> internal ones. Now outside calls do have a different ringing pattern >> (two rings instead of one), but I can't see what would cause the >> answering machine to ignore calls from outside ...? Maybe the "extension" that the fax machine is using is actually a hybrid trunk/extension port, so possibly it's done deliberately for inter-PBX signalling purposes ... or maybe external trunk calls are simply electrically connected to the extension, while internal calls run off the local "battery". I would be tempted to check on the extension concerned for: (a) DC voltage inversion, and (b) AC ringing frequency (16.7 Hz?) (c) AC ringing voltage (d) The adaptor connects the bell-wire from the extension socket to the external "phone" connector on the fax machine (it shouldn't). I had a problem once where the fax machine internally had a bridge rectifier across the line, and miss-wiring of the plug (involving the bell wire) resulted in the fax machine holding the line up IFF the line polarity was different. If voltage inversion is provided for signalling, then each incoming call would appear to be answered (due to the electrical short), while the fax machine would never see the ringing signal, and so not answer either. Martin ------------------------------ From: morris@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Mike Morris) Subject: Re: Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems Organization: College Park Software, Altadena, CA Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 07:26:11 GMT jhope@sam.neosoft.com (John S. Hope) writes: > Does anyone know of a company that makes a modem multiplexor. That > is, I need a box that will accept one phone line and be able to switch > between async posts depending on what command strings I issue. > I will be using one phone line to dial into the management functions > of several systems. > Please provide any information you have including product name, model, > company contact, and any experience with the product. An acquantance of mine runs a billing system for trunked radio operators, and installs a Black Box Corp. box and a Hayes compatible modem at each site. The BBC unit apparently has autoanswer and passwords, and allows him to select up to 8 different DB-25 RS-232 units. I do not know what the model number is, but BBC has some pretty sharp people -- call 412-746-5500. I don't thinkthey have an 800 number. Disclaimer: I am not associated with Black Box corp, not even as a satisfied user. Mike Morris morris@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us #include I have others, but this works the best. This message assembled from 100% recycled electrons (and pixels). ------------------------------ From: matthew@itconsult.co.uk (Matthew Richardson) Subject: Re: Another UK Number Change Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 10:48:49 GMT Organization: I.T. Consultancy Limited, Jersey In article , Rachael@walrus.ftech.co.uk (Rachael Rosen) wrote: > Are you sure about 01734 04xxxx ? How can you have a Reading number > starting with 04 ? What does a local caller dial for this ? Surely > no exchange numbers in UK start with a zero ? It is true that certain Reading numbers have been issued starting with a zero. They can only be dialled by prefixing them with 01734, even from within Reading, although they would then be treated as a local call. Not very good really! Best wishes, Matthew ------------------------------ From: Sergei Anfilofiev Subject: Re: ETSI Standards Needed Date: 6 Nov 1995 10:22:16 +0300 Organization: ZNIIS Reply-To: sanfi@zniis.msk.su pboric@ctc-mundo.net writes: > I need to get several standards from ETSI, specially those related > with EURO ISDN If somebody knows where I can get them, please let me > know. The best idea is to contact ETSI Publications Office: tel: +33.92.94.42.00 fax: +33.93.95.81.33 or use helpdesk@etsi.fr telnet.etsi.fr ftp.etsi.fr www.etsi.fr Hope this helps. Dr. Sergei Anfilofiev | Tel:(+7 095)368-9127 Chief of International | Fax:(+7 095)274-0067 Relations Department | E-mail: sanfi@zniis.msk.su ZNIIS, Moscow, Russia | ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 13:13:41 GMT John Shaver (steep-mo-m@huachuca-emh2.army.mil) writes: > Justice at last!!! and quotes from a Bell Atlantic press release: > Subject: Wireless Customers Can Save With Calling Party Pays Can anybody fill in a few details on this? In particular, if the caller is using a payphone, somebody else's phone, or a hotel room phone, how does Bell Atlantic handle the billing? Is the caller given the option of billing the call to a calling card or to his own telephone service? Does the AIN properly screen these calls to prevent billing to agregators, employers, etc? Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 23:40:27 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn If you don't think the 'long arm of the law' in the United States can't reach outside the USA when politically charged cases are involved, perhaps you should think again. In what is being hailed as a 'first ever', federal prosecutors have announced the conviction of a BBS system administrator and his wife *in Mexico* on charges of transmitting child pornography into the USA. Robert A. Copella, former vice-president at Rand McNally Corporation was sentenced in federal court in Newark, NJ last Friday to five and a half years in prison. Pamela J. Kneeland was sentenced to 18 months. Copella and Kneeland met for the first time in Chicago in April, 1993. He was 49, the father of three children and an expert in security devices for airline tickets and baggage, in addition to being a VP at Rand McNally. She was 24, a prostitute addicted to crack cocaine, and had been arrested 35 times in the previous year alone for soliciting for prostitution. After they began living togther, the government alleges they devised a scheme to distribute child pornography on a computer bulletin board system attached to a telephone line billed to Copella at his home in Northbrook, Illinois. The United States Customs Service began tracking Copella when a customs agent in Florida (at the big child porn distribution facility Customs operates there) learned about the Illinois operation being planned in 1993. Copella had responded to 'Confused Teen' and a couple other screen names Customs uses on America OnLine to entrap users. Realizing it would be sheer folly to set up a child porn distribution system here, Copella and Kneeland moved to Mexico early in 1994. There they began their distribution via an ISP in the United States using the long-distance telephone to call into the USA, download their material, etc. During a raid on their home *in Mexico* by Customs agents earlier this year, Copella and his lovely wife were arrested and charged with transmitting child pornography into the USA from another country, and brought to the USA for trial. I honestly did not think federal agents in this country could go to another country and charge residents of that country with violations of laws in this country. What they got them on was (although being elsewhere, outside the USA) sending child porn *into* the USA. I thought federal agents could only deal with what people here in this country did, for example, being in possession of it, or transmitting it around internally. I guess I was wrong. Even the US Attorney's office however agrees this is a 'first'. Poor Pamela ... whatever she learned about the legal system and justice in the USA after 35 visits to the women's lockup and Prostitute's Court in Chicago in 1992-93 alone, I doubt she was quite prepared for this, her first bigtime bust. Copella essntially said it was his thing and to leave her out of it, but the court disagreed, and sentenced her as well. Going from little or no knowlege at all of computers to helping operate a child pornography site on the net; quite an intro- duction to computers and the Internet, don't you think? PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 95 10:26:43 GMT From: Greg T. Schmidt Subject: Re: Trouble Recognizing Pound Key With Intervoice > I have run into this with electronic Northern Telecom Meridian sets. > You hit the # key to activate out-bound DTMF signalling after dialing. > This must be configurable because it doesn't happen on all Meridian > sets. Perhaps the switch configuration doesn't have enough DTMF > generators. The problem may also be related to a feature in Northern Telecom PBX's called End-to-End-Signalling. It needs to be set to yes in the configuration. (Specifically, Load 15, EEST in the Customer Data Block) Unfortunately, many techs that set up Northern's fail to do this. This will eliminate some '#' trouble with IVR's and voicemail with Northern's. Greg Schmidt gschmidt-c@rtc.gov (816) 968-7153 ------------------------------ Date: 06 Nov 95 05:04:19 EST From: Anne S. Crump <102626.2570@compuserve.com> Subject: Environmental Education on the Web Dear Mr. Townson: I gathered through your association with "Internet World" that you are interested in following new publications and services on the Web. You may also be interested in letting readers know about our new Web service. Our new electronic magazine on the Web is entitled "Science & the Environment." This "zine" is an educational news summary service that gives educators and students the latest news gathered from over 500 sources (many of which are unavailable to school libraries). The original articles are condensed, rewritten and enhanced by colorful photographs and graphics. Teachers are encouraged to select, photocopy and distribute articles from the eight chapters that comprise each bi-monthly edition. These articles then act as an up-to-date supplement for text books being used in environmental and science lessons. Pay us a visit the next time you are on the Web. Our address is: http://www.voyagepub.com/publish We think that you will find us quite compelling. I would also welcome any questions or comments you may have. Thanks! Sincerely, Anne S. Crump Managing Editor Voyage Publishing, Inc. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, my only 'association' with {Internet World} was that they ran a feature article about me and this Digest in their September, 1994 issue. I do think your Web page sounds interesting and worthwhile, and I am happy to let others know about it. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 1995 16:55:04 -0600 From: kelly.breit@netalliance.net (Kelly Breit) Subject: Web Page For History of the Internet Passed along FYI to the Digest: Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 09:30:19 -0500 From: Russell Kahn To: Multiple recipients of list BESTWEB Subject: Re: history of the Internet A nice compilation of the history of the Internet, complete with a chronological discussion and graphs showing growth of the Internet can be found at http://info.isoc.org/guest/zakon/Internet/History/HIT.html It goes through 1995. It includes links to other resources. Russ Kahn Instructor, Technical Communications State University of New York, Institute of Technlogy P.O. Box 3050 Utica, NY 13504 Home Page: http://www.arsc.sunyit.edu/~com400/Kahn.html ------------------------------ From: borids@aol.com Subject: Re: Payphone Networking Directory Date: 2 Nov 1995 12:12:48 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: borids@aol.com Your best bet is to contact APCC (American Public Communications Council). Ask them for a listing of state payphone associations ... wealth of information. Tel 703-385-5300 If you are interested in the Billing and Collections side of the telecom industry you can contact myself [Boris Gutierrez 818-794-1810]. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:41:33 GMT From: Rpadula@aol.com Subject: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed I've just received a package from BellSouth offering me Call Waiting Deluxe in conjunction with Caller ID. The gag is that you can get the name and number of the person on the other side of the call waiting beep. I presume this is using the ADSI signalling method, and they are offering to sell the display telephone, a PowerTouch 350, with the service for about $150. Does anybody have recommendations on this telephone? I understand that Northern Telecom (or Nortel or whatever it is they are calling themselves nowadays) makes a PowerTouch 350 phone; I wonder if this is the same unit, only with the BellSouth logo on the front. I would appreciate any comments, good or bad, about the phone and/or service. Thanks much, Rich Padula ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 17:19:48 -0800 From: aerostar@ccia.com Subject: Re: 900 Mhz Headset Wanted Holling@intech-group.com (Ernie Holling) wrote: > We're looking for a 900Mhz headset which has all the electronics in > a holster with a light weight headset attached. An extensive catalog I received from a company called Phone Central offers two cordless headsets, but not *exactly* what you are looking for: Inovonics 900 MHz Cordless Headset, INO-HEADSET, $388.27. This is a self contained unit; nothing to clip to your belt. Plantronics Handsfree Cordless, PLA-CT460, $218.60. This offers you the choice of two headsets; one that you slip into your ear or a headband- style headset. The actual remote has a belt clip. But this is a 46/49 MHz unit. You can contact Phone Central at 800-437-2160/708-299-3500. Eric Friedebach ------------------------------ From: reo@netcom.com (Ross Oliver) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople Organization: The Air Affair: http://www.airaffair.com/ Date: Sun, 6 Nov 1995 23:16:29 GMT I am so sick of phone solicitation that I don't even bother to be polite anymore. I made the mistake of donating to one of some "law enforcement takes the kids to the circus" drive a while ago, and now I must be on some "phone suckers" list because I have been barraged by similar solicitations ever since, usually Saturday mornings at 7:30am :-( Mostly I just hang up on them, but if I'm in a playful mood: Me: Hello? Voice: Hello, I'm calling from the San Jose Mercury News. [they call about once a month] Me: Oh yes, hold on just a moment. They usually last about a minute, although the longest has hung on for five minutes. This works best if you have a phone that you can put on hold that will automatically go back on-hook when they get a clue and hang up. Ross Oliver reo@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 22:43:06 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Subject: Last Laugh! Go Directly to Wall Street; Do Not Pass Go Anthony Sarivola, 40, of Allenwood, PA is a smart man. Using just his telephone he sold stocks in fake companies and earned more than one million dollars -- or should I say scammed more than one million dollars -- in the process. He incorporated the fake companies using fake names and fake addresses so that he could sell the fake stock. A couple weeks ago, Sarivola was arrested at his residence by Postal Inspectors and FBI agents, and charged with multiple counts of financial fraud. What makes this unusual is that his 'residence' in Allenwood is at the United States Peniteniary there. Already incarcerated on several convictions for fraud, Sarivola now faces trial on several additional charges. His entire 'office' consisted of a prisoner phone. Sarivola went about it all wrong. You are supposed to start out on Wall Street or at the Chicago Board of Trade and *then* wind up going to prison, not the other way around. PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #466 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Nov 6 16:50:24 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA26525; Mon, 6 Nov 1995 16:50:24 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 16:50:24 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511062150.QAA26525@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #467 TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Nov 95 16:50:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 467 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CFP: 4th Intl Conf on Spoken Language Processing (Jim Polikoff) New NYNEX "Unlimited Usage" Rates (Bill Rubin) Limits to Redialing? (Bren Smith) Book Review: "The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows" (Rob Slade) All Circuits Busy (cccef.bgriffis@capital.ge.com) RAS Enterprise Ready? (Daryl Morey) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: polikoff@castle.asel.udel.edu (Jim Polikoff) Subject: CFP: 4th Intl Conf on Spoken Language Processing Date: 6 Nov 1995 15:05:46 -0500 Organization: AI duPont Institute Fourth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing ****** October 3-6, 1996 Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel Philadelphia, PA, USA ****** ________________________ ICSLP 96 Organizers____________________________ H. Timothy Bunnell, Chair Richard A. Foulds, Vice-Chair Applied Science & Engineering Laboratories Wilmington, DE, USA ______________________________ICSLP______________________________________ ICSLP unites researchers, developers, and clinicians for an exchange on a wide variety of topics related to spoken language processing by humans and machines. Conference presentations range from basic acoustic phonetic research to clinically oriented speech training devices to speech-based natural language interfaces for man-machine interaction. ICSLP 96 will feature technical sessions in both oral and poster format, plenary talks, commercial exhibits, and daily special sessions. In addition, satellite workshops will be held in conjunction with the conference in the areas of interactive voice technology, spoken dialogue, speech databases and speech I/O, and the integration of gestures and speech. A new emphasis for ICSLP 96 will be on the clinical applications of speech technology, including the use of speech technology based applications for persons with disabilities. _________________________Conference Update________________________10/4/95 Dates to Note: January 15, 1996 - Paper abstracts due for review March 15, 1996 - Acceptance notification May 1, 1996 - Deadline for papers (camera-ready, 4 pages) Prospective authors are invited to submit papers relevant to spoken language processing in any of the conference Technical Areas. Abstracts of proposed papers must be received by the ICSLP 96 Organizing Committee no later than January 15, 1996. Only original, unpublished papers may be submitted. Papers will be selected by the ICSLP 96 Technical Program Committee and assigned for presentation in poster or oral format. English is the working language for the conference. Submission of an abstract implies a commit ment to submit a four page, camera-ready version of the paper and to present the paper in either an oral or poster for mat if the abstract is accepted. Participants will be expected to pay their own registration fees, travel, and accommodations for ICSLP 96. _____________________Submission of Abstracts____________________________ Abstracts must be received by the ICSLP 96 Organizing Committee no later than January 15, 1996. Abstracts may be submitted either by post or by e-mail following these guidelines: + One page, 400 word maximum + Technical Area(s) indicated in order of preference using the codes (A - X) below. + Title of the proposed paper clearly indicated + Preference for paper or poster clearly indicated + If sent by post, submit four (4) copies of the abstract + If sent by e-mail, use plain text (ASCII) format only Each abstract must also include the following contact information: + Author name(s)* + Postal mailing address + Phone number + Fax number + E-mail address E-mailed abstracts will be acknowledged by e-mail within 48 hours of submission. If you do not receive e-mail confirmation, we have not received your abstract! Please check the e-mail address and resubmit. Please do not e-mail multiple copies for any other reason. *Please be sure that the primary contact person is noted if it is someone other than the First Author. Mail or send abstracts to: ICSLP 96 Applied Science & Engineering Laboratories A.I. duPont Institute P.O. Box 269 Wilmington, DE 19899 E-mail: ICSLP-abstract@asel.udel.edu ________________________Technical Areas___________________________________ A. Production of spoken language B. Perception of spoken language C. Robust speech modeling and speech enhancement D. Speech coding and transmission E. Automatic speech recognition F. Spoken language processing for special populations G. Phonetics and phonology H. Spoken discourse analysis/synthesis I. Synthesis of spoken language J. Applications for people with speech/language/hearing disorders K. Databases and standards for speech technology L. Prosody of spoken language M. Speech analysis and parameterization N. Spoken language acquisition/learning O. Integration of spoken language and natural language processing P. Hardware for speech processing Q. Neural networks and stochastic modeling of spoken language R. Dialects and speaking styles S. Instructional technology for spoken language T. Speaker/language identification and verification U. Human factors and assessment in spoken language applications V. Spoken language dialogue and conversation W. Gesture and Multimodal Spoken Language Processing X. Other _____________________Registration Information______________________________ Full registration includes: Admission to technical sessions, Reception, Banquet, Proceedings (printed & CD-ROM) Limited registration includes: Admission to technical sessions, Reception, Proceedings on CD-ROM Early Registration fees: Member* Non-Member Student Full $425 $525 $250 Limited $300 $400 $150 Late registration: After June 21, add $60 After August 9, add $100 Additional Tickets: Banquet $60 Reception $50 Additional Proceedings: Printed $125 CD-ROM $15 * See Sponsoring and Cooperating Organizations. ________________________Satellite Workshops________________________________ The following Satellite Workshops will be held immediately before or after the ICSLP 96 conference. 1. IVITA The 3rd IEEE workshop on Interactive Voice Technology for Telecommunications Applications (IVTTA) will be held at the AT&T Learning Center, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, from September 30 - October 1, 1996. The IVTTA workshop brings together applications researchers planning to conduct or who have recently conducted field trials of new applications of speech technologies. Due to workshop facility constraints, attendance will be limited primarily to contributors. For further information about the workshop, contact: Dr. Murray Spiegel Bellcore 445 South Street Morristown, NJ, USA e-mail: spiegel@bellcore.com Phone: 1-201-829-4519; Fax: 1-201-829-5963 Submit abstracts (400 words, maximum 1 page) before March 15, 1996 to: Dr. David Roe IEEE IVTTA `96 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2D-533 Murray Hill, NJ 07974 e-mail: roe@hogpb.att.com Phone: 908 582-2548; Fax: 908 582-3306 2. ISSD-96 The 1996 International Symposium on Spoken Dialogue (ISSD-96) will be held on October 2 and 3 at the venue of ICSLP 96. It is intended to be a forum of interdisciplinary exchange between researchers working on spoken dialogues from various points of view. The first day is devoted to invited lectures followed by sessions of both invited and contributed papers, which will be continued on the second day as special sessions of ICSLP 96. Papers submitted to ICSLP 96 (Technical Areas H,L,O,U,&V) may be selected for presentation at the symposium. For further information about the symposium, contact: Prof. Hiroya Fujisaki, Chairman, ISSD-96 Dept. of Applied Electronics Science University of Tokyo 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, 278 Japan e-mail: fujisaki@te.noda.sut.ad.jp Phone: +81-471-23-4327; Fax: +81-471-22-9195 3. COCOSDA Workshop 96 COCOSDA Workshop 96 will be held on Monday, October 7 at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel. The International Coordinating Committee on Speech Databases and Speech I/O Systems Assessment (COCOSDA) has been established to promote international cooperation in the fundamental areas of Spoken Language Engineering. Previous meetings have taken place in Banff 1992, Berlin 1993, Yokohama 1994 and Madrid 1995. Program and registration information for COCOSDA 96 will be forthcoming in later announcements. For more information about COCOSDA, consult the Web Page at http://www.itl.atr.co.jp/cocosda. 4. WIGLS Workshop on the Integration of Gesture in Language and Speech (WIGLS) will be held October 7 and 8. This Workshop will consider the integration of gesture and spoken language in intelligent human/computer interfaces, advanced assistive technology for individuals with disabilities, telemanipulation and robotics systems, and human conversation. Gestures including hand postures, dynamic arm movements, facial expression, and eye gaze will be considered along with more traditional lip shapes and handwriting movements. For further information, contact: Dr. Lynn Messing A. I. duPont Institute P.O. Box 269 Wilmington, DE 19899 e-mail: messing@asel.udel.edu Phone: +1 302 651 6830; Fax: +1-302-651-6895 ______________Sponsoring and Cooperating Organizations________________________ The Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of Japan American Speech and Hearing Association (Pending) Australian Speech Science and Technology Association European Speech Communication Association IEEE Signal Processing Society Incorporated Canadian Acoustical Association International Phonetic Association For additional sponsoring organizations, contact ICSLP 96. ______________For more information about ICSLP 96, contact_____________________ ICSLP 96 Applied Science & Engineering Laboratories A.I. duPont Institute P.O. Box 269 Wilmington, DE 19899 Phone: +1 302 651 6830 TDD: +1 302 651 6834 Fax: +1 302 651 6895 Email: ICSLP96@asel.udel.edu WWW: http://www.asel.udel.edu/speech/icslp.html FTP: zeppo.asel.udel.edu:pub/ICSLP A two-page PostScript format copy of the most recent Conference Announcement and Call for Papers can also be obtained by anonyomus ftp. Connect to host zeppo.asel.udel.edu, cd to directory pub/ICSLP96, and get call.ps.Z in binary mode. The file must be uncompressed with a unix compatable uncompress program before being printed. This plain text version of the announcement is located in the same directory as file call.txt _______________________International Advisory Board__________________________ Hiroya Fujisaki - Founding Chair Science University of Tokyo Tokyo, Japan Jens Blauert Louis C. W. Pols Ruhr-Universitat Bochum University of Amsterdam, Bochum, Germany Amsterdam, The Netherlands Anne Cutler Lawrence Rabiner Max Planck Institute for AT&T Bell Labs Psycholinguistics Murray Hill, NJ, USA Nijmegen, The Netherlands Gunnar Fant Katsuhiko Shirai Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Waseda University Stockholm, Sweden Tokyo, Japan John Laver Kenneth Stevens Humanities Research Board of Massachusetts Institute the British Academy of Technology Edinburgh, Scotland Cambridge, MA, USA Joseph Mariani Yoh'ichi Tohkura LIMSI-CNRS ATR Human Information Orsay, France Processing Research Lab Kyoto, Japan J. Bruce Millar Victor Zue Australian National University Massachusetts Institute Canberra, Australia of Technology Cambridge, MA, USA John Ohala University of California Berkeley, CA, USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 95 15:29:50 EST From: Bill Rubin Subject: New NYNEX "Unlimited Usage" Rates NYNEX recently announced new packages for those of us in the NYC LATA to allow you to make an unlimited number of calls in the LATA (NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam) except your local calling area (ie that area whose calls are presently untimed, if you're in NYC, then it is all five boroughs). You can also include your local calling area for an additional fee, thereby basically giving you the entire LATA for a flat monthly rate. I called, they want $22.12 for me, which is apparently based on the average of my calls outside my local area (northern Westchester) from July 1994 thru June 1995, and then they added 8% for some reason that I could not understand (they originally told me they had SUBTRACTED 10%). For an extra $16 a month ($38.20 total) I can get northern Westchester as well, and basically all of my non-toll calls would be included for a set monthly fee. The plan does have its merits. If you're like me, and avoid making out of area calls until after 9pm, or 11pm, then with this plan you can call whenever you want and not worry about the time of the day, and moving the calls to the non (or less) discounted times might make it worthwhile. I could also choose just the $22 plan, and I could probably move several of my local area calls to other areas because they are online services, so I could call the Prodigy number in White Plains instead of the local Yorktown number and it would be free. It would be good for those of us in northern Westchester because most online providers tend to forget that all of Westchester is not a single calling area, and for us to call lower Westchester (ie White Plains) is a timed call, making an online service without a local number very expensive to use for extended periods. The plan could also be great news for people who still have two phone lines, one normal and one flat rate, since this gives you flat rate everywhere. On the other hand, I checked my most recent phone bills (past June) and they seem to be lower than the rates I had earlier in the year (they gave me the numbers they based the rate on and the regional usage ranges from $13.24 to 28.55 a month). Also, it is not clear how this rate would change in the future. The first time I called, I was told it would stay the same "forever". I don't really believe that. If you're in the NYC LATA, and want to find out what your plan would cost, call NYNEX at 1-800-682-8555. I think the extention you want is 103 (or is it 203)? Just ask for the unlimited calling plans. They also have a deal where you can buy a block of time and pay six cents a minute for the first hour, five cents after that. That is apparently geared towards people who make large numbers of short calls, and presumably not at off-peak times. I'd be curious to know how many people choose to sign up for this plan and how good a deal it really sounds like. Bill rubin@watson.ibm.com ------------------------------ Date: 6 Nov 1995 10:46:28 -0800 From: Bren Smith Subject: Limits to Redialing? I vaguely remember a product called a Demon Dialer on the market about ten years ago, that allowed you to redial busy numbers at some phenomenal rate per minute. It then seemed to disappear from the market. Is it true that the Demon Dialer disappeared because of LEC's limitations on the number of times you can redial within a certain time period? Bren Smith |510/253-3048 voice Dantz Development |510/253-9099 fax 4 Orinda Way, Bldg C |bren@dantz.com Orinda, CA 94563 |"Practice safe government - use kingdoms" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you are referring to how often modems can redial a number automatically (over any period of time) before they have to be reset and the process restarted. I do not believe there were any USA regulations on this, but there are (were) in Canada (limited to ten redial attempts before resetting) and since all the modem manufacturers in the USA wish to sell their products in Canada also, they complied with that ruling. The manuals for a couple of my older modems discuss that regulation. That is not, in my opinion, why the Demon Dialer is rarely seen any longer. Those things, like so many adjuncts to the phone years ago were intended to provide useful 'custom calling' features to the large number of people to whom such things were otherwise unavailable. There were conferencing units, speed dial units -- including one of the best I saw which was a touch tone pad you installed in the phone in place of the existing one with the elec- tronics built right into the pad -- and similar. Like pocket tone dialers, which had their heyday when a lot of services used touch tones and yet many phone exchanges were not equipped for touch tone, as the telcos modernized their central offices, many of the features we used adjunct equipment for in the past became available from telco. No dummies, the people at telco, they saw an increasing number of users in the 1970's using 'call extenders' to route calls to other numbers, so they gave us call forwarding. They saw people purchasing external speed dial devices (or getting phones with the same built in) and they gave us speed dialing. Speed dial appears to be one of the custom calling services that never did catch on, as most people still seem to prefer loading it into their phone rather than subscribing to telco's central office version. With busy redial however, especially since most telcos have dropped the monthly subscription fee and allow its use on a casual basis for a few cents each time used, it would seem more people like it that way instead of the external devices such as Demon Dialer which were prone to errors anyway, sometimes not catching the busy signal fast enough, etc. I think the Demon Dialer is still being made, and I think it comes from the people who made (make?) the Zoom modems. I have an old Demon Dialer setting around here someplace I got about ten or fifteen years ago. I never use it now and can't even find the power supply for it. Another good example was the 'Privecode' device from International Mobile Machines in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was the forerunner to 'call screening' which is now offered by most telcos. It sat on the line and grabbed incoming calls before your phone could ring even one time. Its synthesized voice would demand of the caller, 'enter your privecode number please', and if the caller did not enter the correct combination of digits, he was rudely disconnected. The device stored ten different user defined numbers which would cause the incoming call to always go to an answering machine or cause various ringing cadences to alert the subscriber to *who* might be calling based on the digits the person had keyed in. Then came Caller-ID and Call Screening from telco, and that was the end of the Privecode people. Someone still might be making the device; I have not seen one in years, and yes, I had one; it would have been about 1979-80. Generally, the telcos have taken every popular adjunct feature from ten to twenty years ago and turned it into a central office feature, putting many of the small telephone peripheral device manufacturers out of business in the same way answering machines (and specifically Phone Mate back in the late 1970's) put the live answering services out of business and now voicemail -- in your friendly telco's central office -- has severely dented the answering machine business. What is the one adjunct which is moving *out* of the central office and into the customer's hands? Pay-per-use or coin phone service. We are seeing more and more COCOTS with the programming in the phone itself rather than the phone exchange. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 12:40:48 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows" BKMOSAHW.RVW 951011 "The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows", Dougherty/Koman, 1994, 1-56592- 094-5 %A Dale Dougherty dale@ora.com %A Richard Koman rkoman@ora.com %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1994 %G 1-56592-094-5 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O 800-998-9938, fax: 707-829-0104, nuts@ora.com, brian@ora.com %O rick.brown@onlinesys.com mary@ora.com %P 262 %T "The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows" Less general, and more specific to the MS-Windows product than the companion volume for X, this work still provides one of the better overviews of Mosaic. The first four chapters are general explorations of the Internet, World Wide Web (WWW or W3), and the Global Network Navigator (GNN). Chapters five to seven give a great deal more detail than previous Internet guides on customization of Mosaic, multimedia extensions, and HTML (HyperText Markup Language). A final chapter looks at possible future directions, contacts, and resources. Appendices give reference guides to Mosaic and HTML. SLIP, unfortuantely, is only mentioned in the glossary. A great deal of the material here is simple, but some of it is quite important for the operation of Mosaic as a realistic tool. Performance considerations are touched on in a number of places, and the ability to "delay" (more accurately, "suspend") image file loading will likely be the single most widely used "customization" for veteran browsers. The discussion of the use (and limitations) of Mosaic for accessing gopher, WAIS, ftp, telnet, and news resources is also helpful for deciding when to do a quick job "through" Mosaic, or when to shut down and use the real tools. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994, 1995 BKMOSAHW.RVW 951011. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest. ROBERTS@decus.ca, rslade@cln.etc.bc.ca, rslade@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca "Information Superhighway" anagram - "When forming, utopia's hairy." Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0 ------------------------------ From: cccef.bgriffis@capital.ge.com Subject: All Circuits Busy Date: Mon, 06 Nov 95 11:16:34 PDT Organization: GE Capital News Server Follow Telecommers: I have been receiving a SIT tone and a message stating: "We're sorry, all circuits are busy. Please try your call later." when placing on-net calls to an office connected via T1 and mapped to our network. This does not happen all the time, but happens randomly. I tried calling the office before it opened -- no one was in, so my call should get through to voice mail. I got the "We're sorry" message. I tried again, and the call went through. I know I am not undertrunked in my office (no fast busies, I also get the same results when calling from ifferent offices). I know the remote office is not undertrunked (1 T1 w/12 both-way DIDs and 12 CO-BWT's for local calling, 1 T1 with 22 channels four-wire E&M, DTMF Wink signalling and two channels for Frame Relay). The LD carrier claims it is a PBX problem. The PBX vendor states that if it was a PBX problem I would get a fast busy, not an all circuits busy. How do I determine where the problem is? ------------------------------ From: dmorey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Daryl Morey) Subject: RAS Enterprise Ready? Date: 6 Nov 95 15:19:29 GMT Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, US I am evaluating Remote Access products for my companies planned move to remote node access in the next year. Currently we use remote control in a Cubix Communication server with US Robotics Total Control and pcAnywhere. I would appreciate opinions and experiences with RAS regarding whether the members of this group believe it is ready to be an enterprise solution. Our plan is to move to PPP remote access with dynamically assigned IP addresses. We would also like there to be security hooks to ideally a two level authentication process, like Security Dynamics SecurID card. What kind of security does RAS support? (CHAP, SecurID) Is this thing ready for the enterprise and how do you feel about Microsoft's vision for this product? If RAS is not the answer what would you recommend? Anyone who would like to get my experiences with US Robotics Total Control, Cubix Communication Servers, Novell's Netware Connect. SecurID and pcAnywhere can write me and I will be happy to give you advice based on my experiences. I have about two years invested in most of these products so I have been there. Thank you for your time, Daryl Morey ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #467 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Nov 6 18:23:56 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id SAA03228; Mon, 6 Nov 1995 18:23:56 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 18:23:56 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511062323.SAA03228@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #468 TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Nov 95 18:23:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 468 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Killer Application Myth (Mike Murdock) PRI/BRI Seminar Series, Southern California (Cherie Shore) Equal Access and Universities (Samuel Weiler) Bell Canada Centrex (Patrick A. Morin) Ascend Multiband Plus PDD Delay (Djung Nguyen) Need Signalling Document (Henry Stewart) ISC Securelink and ISDN Voice Phones (Joe Plescia) AT&T Mail Security Weaknesses (Greg Maydan) Re: US Phone Usable in France? (James Johnson) Re: US Phone Usable in France? (Lionel Ancelet) Re: Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia (Jim Cobban) Re: Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device (John W. Pan) Re: Story From PacBell Very Doubtful (Bill Fenner) Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? (Evan Ross) Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? (Jim Cobban) Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (John Dupont) When Did Los Angeles Get Dial Phones? (Mark S. Brader) Voice Mail Policy (ring001@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu) Re: 888 Code Startup Not Delayed (Sid Arora) Re: Research Sources Wanted on Telecom Companies (Robert Virzi) Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (Konrad Weigl) Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager (Bill Fenner) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Mike Murdock Subject: The Killer Application Myth Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 18:00:00 EST The Killer Application Myth With the continuing increase in competition in all telephony markets the basic transport of a telephone call has become a commodity. Major players in the long distance market are down to shaving pennies to differentiate their rates. As a result, most of the marketing campaigns are now focusing on intangible service aspects such as quality, customer service, future technology, and customer loyalty. The local loop has traditionally been a protected monopoly. As the prices of cellular services decline, and with the impending introduction of "micro-cellular" PCS services and other alternate service providers, competition for local dial tone will inevitably heat up. This increase in competition at all levels is forcing Service Providers to look for other means to distinguish their services from the competition. Most turn to providing "Enhanced Services" such as Voice Mail, Voice Dialing, and Single Number Service in order to generate additional revenue and customer loyalty. Most of these Enhanced Services require the provider to make a significant investment in an integrated Enhanced Services Platform upon which multiple services can easily be trialed and deployed. In order to justify the cost of these platforms the providers are searching for the "Killer Application". That is, the single application which will generate so much additional usage that it will offset the cost of installing the Enhanced Services Platform. The Killer Application is a myth. Many Service Providers, in trials, have deployed numerous enhanced services and received nothing more than a modest response from users. These services include Voice Activated Dialing, Pager Notification, Single Number Service, Short Message Service, and others. Customers have shied away from these offerings for several reasons. Most find the services difficult to use, particularly when DTMF input is required. In order to make the Enhanced Service appeal to the broadest market, many of these services have been endowed with seemingly endless features, options, and menus. This not only makes the service confusing but leaves the customer with the feeling that they are paying for too many features they do not use. The major reason, however, for the lack luster response to these services is basic human nature. People are intrinsically resistant to change, and in particular, resistant to any service which requires they change their behavior significantly. Each of us use telephony services in a different manner, and have unique telephony requirements. Before these enhanced services will be widely accepted they must resolve the above stated impediments. This means providing the user with the ability to customize the service to their specific requirements, using a natural human interface, your voice. The "Killer Application" is individual choice with a natural voice interface. For one individual the "killer application" may be voice mail with pager notification, for another it might be a Single Number Service with Fax Store and Forward, and for another Voice Activated Dialing with Call Screening. At any point the customer may decide they need to add Conference Calling to their feature set. If the customer is required to call a service representative to order this additional feature it is unlikely they will ever take this step. If, however, the customer can simply speak "Add Feature" and "Conference" and the Enhanced Service Platform automatically adds this feature to the customers current feature list, it is more likely that the service will be ordered and used. This is the concept of "Mass Customization" detailed by Alvin Toffler in his book The Third Wave. The ability for the consumer to easily customize their service to meet their individual telecommunications needs. This requires that the service provider have both a broad range of features and a natural human interface which is consistent throughout each of those features. Service Providers can no longer afford to look at each feature as an individual application. They must provide a broad range of features which when implemented are integrated with the existing features the customer is using. That is, the individual applications are simply features of a much larger service, which a customer can easily tailor to their specific needs at any time and as frequently as required. The ability for the individual services to be automatically integrated with the customers existing services is crucial to reducing the complexity of the service. For instance when a customer sets up a personal dialing directory for their Voice Activated Dialing service, and later adds Conference Calling, the new service should use the existing dialing directory. This would permit the customer to set up a conference call by speaking the name of the conferencees as they would if they were dialing them individually. Additionally, the services should always use a common human interface. Switching between Voice and DTMF input, or even between a female and male voice for different features is both confusing and frustrating. Customers have a natural distaste for dealing with computer voice systems. Much consideration should be placed in the "scripting" to ensure that the conversation is as natural as possible. Customers don't want a computer to annoy them with phrases like "Invalid option selection, please try again". Its not natural. They would much prefer a system which responded "Pardon me, I didn't understand what you said". The DTMF pad is a poor interface. Not only is the DTMF pad difficult to use (especially with a cellular phone while driving), but more importantly it is not a natural interface. Voice commands are. The improvements in recent years in voice recognition technology are sufficient to provide a much more interactive voice interface. Customers are willing to "suspend disbelief" and overlook their aversion to dealing with computer systems when the system has a more natural "conversation" with them. In order for customers to generate the additional revenues which providers are searching for, the services offered must provide value, and not simply features. Value is derived from the services ability to simplify a customers communications needs while providing enhanced services. The mythical killer application is not an application at all but a variety of features providing individual choice and flexibility, a natural easy to use human interface, and seamless integrated capabilities. Existing enhanced service applications will continue to find limited success until the user can build there own "killer application". Author: Mike Murdock, (mmurdock@digital.net) Director of Business Development Precision Systems, Inc. A leading provider of interactive 11800 30th Court N. enhanced services systems and software St. Petersburg, Fl. 33716 to the telecommunications market. Phone: 1-813-572-9300 (c) Copyright 1995 Precision Systems Inc. ------------------------------ From: cashore@PacBell.COM (Cherie Shore) Subject: PRI/BRI Seminar Series, Southern California Date: 6 Nov 1995 21:44:39 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Pacific Bell, in conjunction with Northern Telecom, is pleased to present the following seminar series. These seminars will put an emphasis on Primary Rate ISDN in a PBX environment, but will also include an overview of Basic Rate ISDN in a variety of applications. These seminars will be combined with a mini-trade-show, with participation by some of the most popular vendors of ISDN equipment, demonstrating applications of videoconferencing, remote LAN and Internet access, including: Ascend Intel Network Express Motorola ISDN Systems Corp 3COM Picturetel CLI The seminars will be held on the following dates and locations: Dec 5, in Anaheim, at 200 N. Harbor Place, from 1:30 to 4:30 Dec 7, in San Diego, at 525 B St, 17th floor, from 1:30 to 4:30 Dec 12, in LA , at 1010 Wilshire Blvd. , from 1:30 to 4:30 To reserve seats please call 800-655-ISDN. Cherie Shore cashore@pacbell.com ISDN Technology Manager, PacBell ------------------------------ From: weiler@condor.sccs.swarthmore.edu (Samuel Weiler) Subject: Equal Access and Universities Date: 6 Nov 1995 21:02:34 GMT Organization: Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, USA I've been told that universities providing telephone service in dormitory rooms are no longer considered "aggregators" as described in the equal access order. Is there any validity to that claim? Do the posting requirements (name and address of OSP, address of FCC Common Carrier Bureau Enforcement division) still apply? Secondly, with regard to rate information, must an OSP provide rate information over the phone 24 hours a day? The billing service used by Swarthmore only provides rates only via paper mail, and only have humans answering phones during business hours. The equal access order is at: ftp://ftp.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/legal-fcc/equal.access.rules Samuel Weiler ------------------------------ From: Patrick_Morin@QBC.Clic.Net (Patrick A. Morin) Subject: Bell Canada Centrex Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 16:44:00 GMT Organization: ClicNet Telecommunications I just heard that Bell Canada is refusing to sell Centrex lines to Internet Service Providers, at least in the province of Quebec. Just wondering if this is legal? Fun thing to notice, Bell is entering the ISP game, selling Internet services to end users, not just providers like with Worldlinx. Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 95 15:41 EST From: Djung Nguyen <0005398513@mcimail.com> Subject: Ascend Multiband Plus PDD Delay Does anyone see any significant Post Dial Delay when using the Ascend Multiband Plus? The Ascend unit has two ports; port number one goes to the T-1 and port number two goes to the PBX. The Ascend unit is basically used to separate out video signals from voice signals. The software version is 3.4R. The video works fine, however, when making a voice call, there is a 12-15 seconds delay. Is this an acceptable standard? It would appear to me to be too long and if there is a way to minimize this delay, I would like to know about it. What about an alternative configuration? Any help would be greatly appreciated. DJ Nguyen ------------------------------ From: henrys@primenet.com Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 07:10:59 -0800 Subject: Need Signalling Document I'm looking for a copy of "Telecommunications Planning:Signalling", produced by ITT Laboratories, Madrid in 1973. Does anybody have a copy or know where I can get one? Of course, I'll be happy to pay copying/mailing costs. Thanks a lot. Henry Stewart EFData Corporation (602) 350-3328 henrys@primenet.com ------------------------------ From: Joe Plescia Subject: ISC Securelink and ISDN Phones Date: 5 Nov 1995 04:33:01 GMT Organization: Plescia.Com Reply-To: jplescia@plescia.com Anyone have a good source for the ISC securelink internal ISDN card, s/t version. Also does anyone know of a good cheap source for a new or used ISDN voice set? Thanks in advance, Joe Visit our WWW SITE http://www.plescia.com Joseph P Plescia-Plescia Photo email jplescia@plescia.com 201.868.0065 201.868.0475fax Photofinishing, Studio, Imaging Paging, Beepers, Cellular Phones ------------------------------ From: Greg_Maydan@freddiemac.com (Maydan, Greg) Organization: Freddie Mac Date: Thu, 02 Nov 1995 14:29:38 -0000 Subject: AT&T Mail Security Weaknesses Does anyone know of any security weaknesses or break-ins of the AT&T mail system? I am looking for documentation to determine the security level of the AT&T mail system. This is a preliminary search so any information would help. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: stevej07@ix.netcom.com (James Johnson ) Subject: Re: US Phone Usable in France? Date: 6 Nov 1995 14:54:01 GMT Organization: Netcom I beleive all of the telephone service in France is ISDN with a proprietary NT1 interface. Normal analog POTS service may be available. Your best bet would be to ask the local service provider where your friend lives. ------------------------------ From: la@well.com (Lionel Ancelet) Subject: Re: US Phone Usable in France? Reply-To: la@well.com Organization: The Well Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 17:22:30 GMT Chester Howes wrote: > A customer at my local Radio Shack said he had sent a phone to a friend > in Paris and the then found out the plug (US modular) wouldn't fit the > jack in Paris. He want an adapter to mate the two. > I told him I thought the phone systems were not even compatible; a phone > made for the US market would probably not even work on the French phone > system. > Could anyone please advise if the systems are close enough for the phone > to work there? The friend in Paris is not supposed to use a US phone in France, for it doesn't have the French PTT approval (sort of FCC ID counterpart in France). However, US phone (and answering machines, and fax machines) do work fine in France. All that is needed is an RJ11-to-french-plug adapter. Easy to find in stores like Darty or BHV. Lionel "Imagination is more important than knowledge" A.Einstein ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 18:11:53 +0000 From: jim cobban Subject: Re: Trying to Get Info From 604-555-1212 British Colombia, No Go Reply-To: Jim Cobban Organization: Bell-Northern Research Canada In article , Robert Casey wrote: > ... What this Canadian phone company (is it some sort of government > agency up there? THAT would explain it!) ... The phone company in British Columbia is BCTel and it is a wholly owned subsiduary of GTE. Although some of the local phone companies in Canada used to be either government departments or crown corporations, that is wholly owned by the provincial government, that was never true in BC and is no longer true in any other jurisdiction. Jim Cobban cobban@bnr.ca Phone: (613) 763-8013 BNR Ltd. bnrgate.bnr.ca!bcars153!jcobban FAX: (613) 763-5199 ------------------------------ From: JohnWPan@aol.com Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 10:47:43 -0500 Subject: Re: Split-T or Fractional T-1 Device dougneub@ix.netcom.com (Doug Neubert) wrote: > I am looking for a vendor who makes a Split-T or fractional T-1 device ... Loop Telecom makes Split-T or fractional T with drop and add feature. Though it allows up to 4 XN-56/64k V.35/449/530, they do not, as yet, have OCU or BRI. You can call them at 408-254-9300 or fax 408-254-9200. ------------------------------ From: fenner@parc.xerox.com (Bill Fenner) Subject: Re: Story From PacBell Very Doubtful Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:34:02 PST Organization: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center In article , Bren Smith wrote: > They tell me, and this is the real pisser part, that the PUC tariffs > prevent them from forwarding my line. Interesting. When I came home to almost the exact same problem (except in my case, the problem was PAC*Bell's), I ended up talking to a manager because I was upset about being without phone service for three days, which was what the original rep told me. The manager offered the call-forwarding solution (I hadn't thought of it myself). Perhaps next time you should get upset enough to get transferred higher up the chain. Bill ------------------------------ From: eross@terraport.net (Evan Ross) Subject: Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 14:40:09 GMT Organization: Flashpoint Database Consulting Limited ezx@ix.netcom.com (Ed Marion) wrote: > For that matter, with NAFTA and all that, why does it cost about 25 > cents per minute to call suburban Toronto from Houston during business > hours, when it only costs 12 cents per minute to call Seattle which is > 500 miles more distant? On 800 inbound, it is even worse ... 56 cents > vs 16 cents. If this could be explained, maybe this would tell me why Toronto to Hamilton (about 40 miles) is C$0.34/minute (about US$0.25) during business hours ... Our 800 inbound was also charged at an average of 0.35 per minute. Evan Ross | 238 Davenport Rd., Suite 333, Flashpoint Database Consulting Ltd. | Toronto, ON M5R 1J6 +1-416-920-6926 | Fax +1-416-920-6936 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 18:02:10 +0000 From: jim cobban Subject: Re: Why is Canada and Carribean 1+ Instead of 011+ ? Reply-To: Jim Cobban Organization: Bell-Northern Research Canada In article , Ed Marion wrote: > Does anyone know why Countries like Canada, Bermuda > the British Virgin Islands, and the Carribean in general are > all accessible from within the USA with a 1 + Area Code + number? The simple answer is that when the area codes were first handed out the "foreign" areas which got them were areas where the phone service was provided by subsiduaries of AT&T or other US based phone companies, such as GTE. AT&T did not divest itself of its holdings in Canada and the Carribean until the 1956 consent decree. GTE still operates two of the local telephone carriers and one of the long distance carriers in Canada. If you look at the Carribean you will notice that not all of the islands are in area code 809. In the case of the island of Hispaniola half (Dominican Republic) is in 809 and the other half (Haiti) is not. Islands/countries in area code 809 used to have their telephone service provided by AT&T while those which use country codes had their telephone service provided by Cable and Wireless or some other carrier. Prior to the revolution Cuba would also have been in area code 809. As to why service to Canada is more expensive there are a lot of factors. There has only been competition in long distance in Canada for a little over a year. The two main competitors, accounting for over 90% of the total are Stentor (consortium of the local phone companies) and Unitel (formerly owned by a consortium of the railroads, then by one of the railroads and a cable TV company, and now by AT&T together with the banks which hold the debt). These two companies are overstaffed and overequipped compared to US companies which have spent the last 15 years pinching pennies. Further they are both required to subsidize local service, which is currently estimated to be running at about $6 per month per line. Lastly is the legislated requirement for your call to go through separate US and Canadian long distance carries, so there is at least one more hand in your pocket than on a long distance call within the US. Jim Cobban jcobban@bnr.ca | Phone: (613) 763-8013 BNR Ltd. bnrgate.bnr.ca!bcars153!jcobban | FAX: (613) 763-5199 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 20:24:53 +0000 From: john dupont Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd. > Research by the Yankee Group shows that 69 percent of cellular users > think about the cost of a cellular call every time they pick up their > cellular phone. Also, 78 percent of cellular users say they would > encourage people to call them if they didn't have to pay for receiving > the calls. I wonder if the research has determined how many of those people encouraged to call will resent being stuck with the bill. I would. Cellular users who choose this option may notice a drop in incoming calls rather that a rise. Just my opinion, not BNR's. jdd ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 95 11:39:30 EST From: msb@sq.com Subject: When Did Los Angeles Get Dial Phones? The current movie "Devil in a Blue Dress" is set in Los Angeles in 1948. The protagonist and apparently all of his neighbors are black: I mention this because it helps define what part of the city they live in. He has a dial phone. Is this realistic? When did Los Angeles get dial phones? Mark Brader, msb@sq.com, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto ------------------------------ From: RING001@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu Subject: Voice Mail Policy Date: Mon, 06 Nov 95 11:52:25 CST Organization: University of Alabama at Birmingham Our university/medical center is looking into establishing a voice mail policy to cover both individuals and departments. Naturally the regs will be different for individuals and depts. Is there anyone out there who has already established such a policy who would be willing to share it with us? If so please email me at ring001@uabdpo.dpo.uab.edu. Thank you for your attention to this post. ------------------------------ From: arora@risky.ecs.umass.edu Subject: Re: 888 Code Startup Not Delayed Date: 6 Nov 1995 15:22:52 GMT Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst The other day I called up the 800 directory (1-800-555-1212) and at the end of the recording where the lady announced the number I heard a little message announced to the caller something to the effect that in 1996 toll-free numbers may also start with the 888 area code. Sid 1-500-Hi-Sid-Hi // +1 413 253 7395 arora@kira.ecs.umass.edu s.arora@dpc.umassp.edu s.arora@ieee.org ------------------------------ From: rv01@gte.com (Robert Virzi) Subject: Re: Research Sources Wanted on Telecom Companies Date: 6 Nov 1995 16:21:29 GMT Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA In article , wrote: > I am interested in acquiring information on telecommunication > companies around the world. I would like to know if you are aware of > any free services that may be available, where I would be able to find > research on Telcom companies; not only financial data, but also > information such as digitalization%, lines per employee, etc. Perhaps you've already looked, but I would start by going through the past few years worth of annual reports from the firms you are interested in. Lots of info in those reports, although it can be hard to find underneath the gloss. Bob Virzi rvirzi@gte.com +1(617)466-2881 ------------------------------ From: weigl@sam.inria.fr (Konrad Weigl) Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Date: 6 Nov 1995 17:41:07 GMT Organization: INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis (Fr) In article , gary.novosielski@ sbaonline.gov writes: > Jeffrey Rhodes writes: >> It's hard to believe that nearly every day someone asks "are two >> cell-phones, one number legal?" > On the contrary, I think "basic judgment," or common sense, is what's > behind these questions in the first place. The GSM D2 Network in Germany offers two cards with identical Subscriber ID number for a small additional charge. It makes already sense if you have a phone in your car and a mobile in addition. Konrad Weigl ------------------------------ From: fenner@parc.xerox.com (Bill Fenner) Subject: Re: Searching for Unix->Alpha Pager Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:38:04 PST Organization: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center In article , Bruce Albrecht wrote: > I am looking for Unix sources to send messages to an alphanumeric > pager. I know of three: 1) 'sendpage', a perl script that a friend and I hacked up from an article in TELECOM Digest; 2) 'tpage', a few perl scripts and a couple of C programs; 3) 'hylafax', a FAX system that just happens to also do alpha paging. I prefer 'hylafax', not only because I like being able to send faxes, but also because I like its queueing system and in general trust the code more than 'tpage'. 'sendpage' has always worked for me but has no built-in queueing and error recovery depends on a human. I don't know where to get 'tpage' any more; 'hylafax' is available from ftp.sgi.com:/sgi/fax . Bill ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #468 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Nov 7 17:56:49 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA22389; Tue, 7 Nov 1995 17:56:49 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 17:56:49 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511072256.RAA22389@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #469 TELECOM Digest Tue, 7 Nov 95 17:56:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 469 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed (Peter Polishuk) Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed (Navneet Patel) Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed (Richard Eyre-Eagles) Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn (Eric Ewanco) Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn (Mike Sandman) Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn (Michael P. Deignan) Re: Physical Layer Testing For Fiber Optic Transmitters/Receivers (Gaines) Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: Another UK Number Change (David Hough) Re: Bell Canada Files Residential ISDN (Marcel Mongeon) Re: Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems (Richard Barnaby) Re: When Did Los Angeles Get Dial Phones? (Joseph Singer) Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (mjf@vnet.ibm.com) Re: Ascend Multiband Plus PDD Delay (Kevin Smith) Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople (G. Babb) Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople (Mike Rehmus) Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople (Mark Malson) Re: Last Laugh! Go Directly to Wall Street; Do Not Pass Go (David Whiteman) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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, 7 Nov 1995 13:38:42 +0000 From: Peter_Polishuk@nt.com Subject: Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed Organization: Nortel (Northern Telecom) In article , Rpadula@aol.com wrote: > I've just received a package from BellSouth offering me Call Waiting > Deluxe in conjunction with Caller ID. The gag is that you can get the > name and number of the person on the other side of the call waiting > beep. > I presume this is using the ADSI signalling method, and they are > offering to sell the display telephone, a PowerTouch 350, with the > service for about $150. Does anybody have recommendations on this > telephone? I understand that Northern Telecom (or Nortel or whatever > it is they are calling themselves nowadays) makes a PowerTouch 350 > phone; I wonder if this is the same unit, only with the BellSouth logo > on the front. > I would appreciate any comments, good or bad, about the phone and/or > service. The PowerTouch 350 is made by Nortel. BellSouth is a distributor of the phone, and Nortel does co-branding with them, so that they may place their logo on the phone. I am biased, but the PowerTouch 350 is a great phone. Especially with Caller ID on Call Waiting, you can choose to accept a call-waiting call, send it a message, or send it to voice mail. Once interactive services kick in, you will be happy you already have the phone!! For more info, call 1-800-NORTEL or contact me. Peter Polishuk Nortel Marketing Communications Switching Networks ESN 255-4295 or 992-4295 Peter_Polishuk@nt.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 95 11:11:57 EST From: nap@snt.bellsouth.com (Navneet Patel) Subject: Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed Rpadula@aol.com (Rich Padula) wrote: > I've just received a package from BellSouth offering me Call Waiting > Deluxe in conjunction with Caller ID. The gag is that you can get the > name and number of the person on the other side of the call waiting > beep. The Northern telecom makes the PowerTouch 350 telephone. The BellSouth just provides it to it's customers. The logo on the phone is that of Northern Telecom. We have used PowerTouch 350 to test all ADSI service including CallWaiting Deluxe. There are other manufactures who makes ADSI phones (Phillips), but PowerTouch is less expensive and have proved very reliable in our testing. Navneet Patel Science & Technology BellSouth nap@snt.blsouth.com ------------------------------ From: rec@goodnet.com (Richard Eyre-Eagles) Subject: Re: PowerTouch 350 Telephone Information Needed Organization: GoodNet Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 00:05:56 GMT Rpadula@aol.com wrote: > I understand that Northern Telecom (or Nortel or whatever > it is they are calling themselves nowadays) makes a PowerTouch 350 > phone; I wonder if this is the same unit, only with the BellSouth logo > on the front. The '350 is a Northern Telecom phone. USWest sells these phones in conjunction with a service called _The Home Receptionist_ which provides screen driven custom calling and voice mail features. It also provides Caller Id on Call Wait. There is also a trial of a Home banking service. The services are available in Grand Junction CO and various other USW areas. You can get the phone/service through the home office consulting center. Richard Eyre-Eagles, KJ7MU Tempe, Arizona ------------------------------ From: eje@xyplex.com (Eric Ewanco) Subject: Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn Date: 06 Nov 1995 21:28:08 GMT Organization: XYPLEX In article ptownson@massis.lcs. mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) writes: > I honestly did not think federal agents in this country could go to > another country and charge residents of that country with violations > of laws in this country. Well, we are talking about *Mexico* here, where a few well-placed big peso notes (or better yet, greenbacks) in the hands of government officials could probably open a lot of closed doors for you. It was probably cheaper to go in and grab them than to try to extradite them (n.b. the above principle has a converse too). That of course doesn't make it ethical or legal. Eric Ewanco eje@world.std.com Software Engineer, Xyplex Inc. Littleton, Mass. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ethical and legal be damned! Since when were those considerations of any importance to a lot of people who work in federal law enforcement? PAT] ------------------------------ From: mike@sandman.com (Mike Sandman) Subject: Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn Date: Tue, 07 Nov 1995 02:50:12 GMT Organization: Mike Sandman Enterprises ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) wrote: > I honestly did not think federal agents in this country could go to > another country and charge residents of that country with violations > of laws in this country. What they got them on was (although being If the United States can go into another country, take it over, and bring its leader back to the United States and lock him up in jail forever (Panama), I'm sure they have no trouble getting anybody they want in any country. The only thing that scares me about that, is whether the wackos that lead other countries figure that what's good for the goose is good for the gander -- and arrests Clinton or whoever? What can the US say to that? Some say it's already been done when Cuba had Kennedy killed. Pretty scary! Mike Sandman 708-980-7710 E-mail: mike@sandman.com WWW: http://www.sandman.com Our 48 page catalog of Uniqueq Telecom Products & Tools is now on the World Wide Web. We have a fantastic assortment of Cable Installation Tools and Training Videos to help you use them. NEW "Basic ISDN" Training Video is now available. Also check out our Telephony History Page, which contains ads and articles from telephony related magazines from the first part of the century. ------------------------------ From: kd1hz@anomaly.ideamation.com (Michael P. Deignan) Subject: Re: Foreign Sysadmin Jailed For Computer Kiddie Porn Date: 6 Nov 1995 22:11:53 -0500 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > I honestly did not think federal agents in this country could go to > another country and charge residents of that country with violations > of laws in this country. What they got them on was (although being > elsewhere, outside the USA) sending child porn *into* the USA. I > thought federal agents could only deal with what people here in this > country did, for example, being in possession of it, or transmitting > it around internally. I guess I was wrong. Even the US Attorney's > office however agrees this is a 'first'. Are you sure it was customs officials and not the BATF? The BATF even has their own attack helicopters. I wouldn't be surprised if the BATF had planned a night-time raid into Mexican territory to "liberate" the evil porn-lords complete with support from the BATF SEALS. I wonder how many Mexican military men were slaughtered during this operation ... unless, of course, the Mexican government gave them permission to go into the country -- its pretty amazing what 80 billion or so in foreign aid will do to your indecisiveness ... MD [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the papers they said it was Customs. Anyway, I don't think the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Fire Arms has a child pornography division do they? Oh, maybe they do, who knows? Its the growing rage these days, to investigate the net for evidence of child porn in every newsgroup, at every site, etc. You have to wonder what goes through the minds of some of these people who start these investigations and keep on fueling them and feeding them. I mean, could *you* deal emotionally with having employment where your duties consisted of sitting logged in on a computer all day to America OnLine using a bogus screen name purporting to be a child or teenager trying to get some older person to 'start something'? And who can forget that lady in Minnesota who (thankfully) *used to be* a proesecutor there ... She had some fixation on child porn which led her to file criminal charges against hundreds of people in this one little town; everyone accusing the others; everyone convinced that *everyone else* was a molestor, etc. No matter who you were, you could not escape the stench and uglieness she created, she was that vicious in her fixation. Now come reports from Wenatchee, Washington, population 17,000 that a local police officer there is hung up on it. He is pushing his campaign to the limits with the result being dozens of people arrested including *half* the membership of one church. Teachers, ministers, parents, shopkeepers; he is rounding them all up with the most outlandish charges of child molestation and child pornography you have ever heard in your life. Apparently all he does each day is work on his 'investigation'. What must go through the minds of these people in their campaigns? It is a great way to help get this net under control: stop the world while we investigate and prosecute child pornographers. Don't take my word for it ... ask anyone at the FBI, Customs, etc. And you know who the real victims are? The children ... because this has gotten to the point that no one pays attention any longer in the real instances. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 11:24:08 +1000 From: J.Gaines@citr.uq.oz.au (Jerry Gaines) Subject: Re: Physical Layer Testing For Fiber Optic Transmitters/Receivers On Tue, 31 Oct 1995, imirman@optoelectronics.ultranet.com (Ilya Mirman) wrote: > I am curious: when do people stop testing the physical layer or fiber > optic transmitters and receivers? Obvously, the individual components > get tested during their manufacture (spectral characteristics, pulse > performance ("EYE"), Error Rate performance, etc. Presumably, they > are also tested once integrated into the system manufacturers' boards. > > But, at some point (deployment, maintenance, etc.) people no longer > look at the eye diagrams or spectral characteristics -- instead, they > look for "higher layer" issues, such as sending packets, system > jitter, etc. > My question: when, exactly, does the "physical layer" testing stop, > and higher level testing begin? I don't have the answer to your question, but I have a related topic I'm trying to attack: what is the market for tools which emulate SONET/SDH network transmission elements? The trade press and analysts have little to say about network emulation/simulation tools. But surely the growing complexity of networks, and the increasing cost of mistakes in network deployment, is driving a trend towards greater willingness on the part of network managers (public and private) to spend money on tools which let them simulate the transmission and switching performance of network elements, subnets (specifically, new subnets inserted into or added to an existing network) or entire networks. It seems to me that these kinds of tools will be particularly important for SONET/SDH networks, because the cost of screwing up is so high. It's one thing to rewire a corporate LAN, another altogether to dig up 1,800 miles of bidirectional, self-healing SONET loop ... The only insight I might have into your question is that the physical layer testing you describe is probably the principal consideration when one is trying to establish the performance characteristics of the element per se, in isolation. That layer of testing probably mostly phases out when one starts asking the question, how will this element behave in a network? At this stage the more important concern becomes higher layer characteristics like system jitter (transmission) or cell "burstiness" (switching, esp. ATM switching). One might infer from this that most of the physical layer testing probably takes place in an R&D lab or manufacturing facility; but once a vendor or carrier gets hold of the gear, and begins to plan how to deploy that element into a new or existing network, the testing focus shifts to network characteristics: how does this element perform when combined with others? Regards, Jerry Gaines CiTR Pty Limited Telecommunications Network and Services Management Brisbane, Australia - Boulder, Colorado J.Gaines@citr.uq.oz.au +61-7-3365-4321/phone http://www.citr.uq.oz.au ....4399/fax ------------------------------ From: Jeffrey Rhodes <71562.635@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Multiple Phone on Cellular Line Date: 7 Nov 1995 04:09:35 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services In article , gary.novosielski@ sbaonline.gov writes: > The GSM D2 Network in Germany offers two cards with identical Subscriber > ID number for a small additional charge. > It makes already sense if you have a phone in your car and a mobile in > addition. GSM will probably "sound" better than cloned US cell-phones, too. I doubt they'll ever be less expensive to use, or for that matter, less expensive than IS-136. Jeffrey Rhodes at jcr@creator.nwest.attws.com ------------------------------ From: David Hough Subject: Re: Another UK Number Change Date: Tue, 07 Nov 95 08:07:07 GMT Organization: Chaotic In article matthew@itconsult.co.uk (Matthew Richardson) writes: > It is true that certain Reading numbers have been issued starting with > a zero. They can only be dialled by prefixing them with 01734, even > from within Reading, although they would then be treated as a local > call. The numbers aren't supposed to be dialed direct. AFAIK they were issued to companies running premium-rate or free services. All such numbers map onto 'real' numbers somewhere, as do other number prefixes with special tariffs such as 0891, 0800, 0345 etc. Dave djh@sectel.com Tel +44 1285 655 766 Fax +44 1285 655 595 ------------------------------ From: marcelm@freenet.hamilton.on.ca (Marcel Mongeon) Subject: Re: Bell Canada Files Residential ISDN Date: 7 Nov 1995 14:19:14 GMT Organization: Hamilton-Wentworth FreeNet, Ontario, Canada. Ron Kawchuk (kawchuk@io.org) wrote: > Bell Canada filed for residential ISDN on October 27, 1995 > $51 to $57 per month for 2 ISDN channels. (2B+D) > Pay per call in peak (Business day) times. > $1 per hour 7AM to 7PM weekdays per 64k channel... $2 per hour for 128K > bps?? > Request CRTC approval for Dec 1, 1995 An interesting aspect of this proposal is that the peak rates for home internet usage is more like 7 pm to 12 midnight! Between 7am and 7pm the usage from home (unless it is a home based business or the like) should be relatively light. Marcel D. Mongeon aa001@freenet.hamilton.on.ca President, Hamilton-Wentworth FreeNet Technology Lawyer and Trade-mark Agent, Ontario, Canada Tel: (905) 528-5936 ------------------------------ From: barnaby@world.std.com (Richard Barnaby) Subject: Re: Sharing One Phone Line With Multiple Modems Organization: Business Support Services Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 07:04:28 GMT jhope@sam.neosoft.com (John S. Hope) wrote: > Does anyone know of a company that makes a modem multiplexor? That > is, I need a box that will accept one phone line and be able to switch > between async posts depending on what command strings I issue. > I will be using one phone line to dial into the management functions > of several systems. > Please provide any information you have including product name, model, > company contact, and any experience with the product. Call Baytech at 800-523-2702. They'll have more than you could possibly want. - a satisfied customer ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 06:42:10 -0800 From: jsinger@scn.org (Joseph Singer) Subject: Re: When Did Los Angeles Get Dial Phones? Reply-To: jsinger@scn.org msb@sq.com writes: > The current movie "Devil in a Blue Dress" is set in Los Angeles in > 1948. The protagonist and apparently all of his neighbors are black: > I mention this because it helps define what part of the city they > live in. > He has a dial phone. Is this realistic? When did Los Angeles get > dial phones? I don't know why it wouldn't be the "norm" to have dial telephones in Los Angeles in 1948. Dial phone central offices were installed from the early 20s on the east coast. The east coast cities very commonly had panel common control switching while I believe that Los Angeles was mostly step-by-step. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this. JOSEPH SINGER SEATTLE, WASHINGTON USA jsinger@scn.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Chicago had completely manual service until 1939, when the conversion began. The downtown area was converted first, followed by the neighborhoods one at a time. Conversion to dial was halted at the start of 1942 when Western Electric was seized by the government and put exclusively into the war effort. When industries were released early in 1946 to go back into regular production and service, the conversion to dial resumed in Chicago and continued until its completion in 1951 with the conversion of the central office which served the 'new' Ohare Airport. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mjf@vnet.ibm.com Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service Date: 7 Nov 1995 14:58:53 GMT Organization: ISSC Southeast Region Reply-To: mjf@vnet.ibm.com In , john dupont writes: >> Research by the Yankee Group shows that 69 percent of cellular users >> think about the cost of a cellular call every time they pick up their >> cellular phone. Also, 78 percent of cellular users say they would >> encourage people to call them if they didn't have to pay for receiving >> the calls. > I wonder if the research has determined how many of those people > encouraged to call will resent being stuck with the bill. I would. > Cellular users who choose this option may notice a drop in incoming > calls rather that a rise. I agree with this one. If I am crusing the yellow pages looking for a plumber, for example, and I call a number and am told I will be charged, I will hang up immediately and dial the next number in the book. If people are going to do this, they should provide an alternate, free number (maybe to an answering service), or have it set up so you can leave them a voicemail message if you don't want to pay. Also, how is the per-minute rate billed? What if I call a plumber who has not used up his prepaid minutes for the month? Is it free for me then? What if I call one plumber who's on a plan that charges him $.25 per minute, and the next call reaches one who pays $.50? Will the caller get any feedback or control over this, or will it be a standard rate? What about cell-to-cell? Will I get charged for BOTH my airtime AND his? It sounds like a good idea in many cases, but it remains to be seen how it's implemented. I for one am a cellular user but I would be extremely reluctant to make a call to someone on one of these plans, since so much of what it would cost appears to be out of my control. Later, Mike ------------------------------ From: Kevin Smith Subject: Re: Ascend Multiband Plus PDD Delay Date: 7 Nov 1995 18:41:41 GMT Organization: Ascend Communications Inc. Djung Nguyen <0005398513@mcimail.com> wrote: > The video works fine, however, when making a voice call, there is a > 12-15 seconds delay. Is this an acceptable standard? It would appear > to me to be too long and if there is a way to minimize this delay, I > would like to know about it. What about an alternative configuration? > Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is normal and cannot be modified. The receiving side - collecting the DTMF digits has a ten second timer to allow for "non-senderized" PBXs to complete forwarding all dialed digits. Kevin ------------------------------ From: gARetH baBB Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople Reply-To: gbabb@gink.demon.co.uk Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 19:07:48 GMT Organization: Gink In article , reo@netcom.com (Ross Oliver) wrote: > I am so sick of phone solicitation that I don't even bother to be > polite anymore. I made the mistake of donating to one of some > "law enforcement takes the kids to the circus" drive a while ago, > and now I must be on some "phone suckers" list because I have been The European Commission is at the moment coming up with a directive which if passed will force all telephone sales outfits to get *written* permission from people before phoning them. The report on the radio I heard was quite amusing, they had a represen- tative of the UK Telesales Association on and he was obviously "distressed" by it all. Serves him right :-) ------------------------------ From: Mike Rehmus Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople Date: 7 Nov 1995 14:24:08 GMT Organization: Portal Communications (service) reo@netcom.com (Ross Oliver) wrote: > I am so sick of phone solicitation that I don't even bother to be > polite anymore. I made the mistake of donating to one of some > "law enforcement takes the kids to the circus" drive a while ago, > and now I must be on some "phone suckers" list because I have been > barraged by similar solicitations ever since, usually Saturday > mornings at 7:30am The sad part is the people calling you work for a boiler-room operation and the police/firemen/your favorite group see very little of the $. Doubly sad is that this is the case for most charitable organizations. A great put-off is to ask them if their organization is as efficient as the Salvation Army. Then ask them what percent of contributions go to the group for which they are collecting. Then ask them if they are part of the group or a collection agency. When you ask them questions, they usually get very nervous. Fortunately, we have two of the best charities in the U.S. here in San Jose ... Second Harvest and the ubiquitous Salvation Army. The next most efficient group is a far distant third place. Best regards, Mike Rehmus [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: While it is true that the collectors keep the biggest portion of what is collected with the charity seeing only a small percentage of the overall amount, the fact is that the amount of money collected overall is so huge that the charity gets a lot more money than they could ever collect on their own, given their own resources and fund-raising abilities. The polioceman/fireman group would never come close to getting the amount of money they do if they tried to do it on their own. PAT] ------------------------------ From: markm@xetron.com (Mark Malson) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Getting Rid of Pesky Phone Salespeople Organization: Xetron Corporation Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 20:18:21 GMT In article , reo@netcom.com (Ross Oliver) wrote: > I am so sick of phone solicitation that I don't even bother to be > polite anymore. I made the mistake of donating to one of some > "law enforcement takes the kids to the circus" drive a while ago, I always tell the solicitor that I require a financial statement before I would consider pledging any amount of money. In these scams (like the one you mentioned), the fundraising organization typically gets well over half the money raised. Move over, Jim and Tammy Bakker. Most organizations do not want to go to the trouble, yet in many states they are _required by law_ to send you a statement if you ask for it. The worst offender I have had experience with is Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who immediately HUNG UP when I asked for a statement. Others will at least promise you one and then never send it. Some will pressure you for a pledge so they can fill in a number (and get their cut, no doubt) on the slip they mail you. And the rare few I've actually gotten a statement from were still not worthy of a donation. The only really good financial statement I've seen is the American Cancer Society's. Mark Malso markm@xetron.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 17:57:55 MST From: David Whiteman Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Go Directly to Wall Street; Do Not Pass Go In comp.dcom.telecom TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Anthony Sarivola, 40, of Allenwood, PA is a smart man. Using just his [stuff about how he cheated people while in prison.] > charges. His entire 'office' consisted of a prisoner phone. Pat, The {Los Angeles Times} and the {Los Angeles Daily News} stated that this prisoner used a cellular phone as his office which was smuggled in. David Whiteman dbw@primenet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The {Chicago Tribune} had him using a 'prisoner phone'. No matter, it still seems pretty fantastic. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #469 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Nov 7 19:54:03 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id TAA02925; Tue, 7 Nov 1995 19:54:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 19:54:03 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511080054.TAA02925@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #470 TELECOM Digest Tue, 7 Nov 95 19:54:00 EST Volume 15 : Issue 470 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Digital Telephony Overview (VTW Billwatch via Shabbir J. Safdar) Houston CO's (Bill Blackwell) 500 Service Information Wanted (Kathi Denial) The End of TelecomDocs (David Devereaux-Weber) Voice Mail Uses Different Frequencies Than Dialing? (Eric Levy-Myers) Man Accused of Scamming 1300 With Prize Notices (Tad Cook) Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (Gordon Burditt) Online Phone Book Wanted (Hank Nussbacher) Looking For Telecommuting Data (John Kennedy) Redirect/Forward Incoming Calls (Hari K. Maddali) Telecom Management Home Page (doster@vax.telcores.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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: shabbir@VTW.ORG (Shabbir J. Safdar, VTW) Subject: Digital Telephony Overview Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 23:11:31 -0500 Reply-To: vtw-announce@VTW.ORG VTW BillWatch #23 VTW BillWatch: A weekly newsletter tracking US Federal legislation affecting civil liberties. BillWatch is published at the end of every week as long as Congress is in session. (Congress is in session) BillWatch is produced and published by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org) (We're not the EFF :-) Issue #23, Date: Sun Nov 5 20:44:08 EST 1995 Do not remove this banner. See distribution instructions at the end. QUOTES FOR THE WEEK We culled these quotes while watching a CNN interview with James Kallstrom regarding the wiretap funding. The interviewer was completely unprepared, but it was interesting to read the quotes. I mean, really read the quotes. Note that the FBI is a pretty easy target these days. Let's look at the first one: The report in the NY Times was very misleading. We do wiretapping based on probable cause, where it's necessary. We do it through a process where every citizen's rights are protected. We don't want to protect the criminals. As we examine the above quote, it strikes the reader as curious to note that people are not criminals until after a trial. We can't stand for abuses. We have to monitor the system. Citizens who are not committing crimes should have a total right to privacy. VTW is quite relieved to see a high-ranking official of the FBI stating support for the right to privacy. Not just a little privacy, but TOTAL privacy. One wonders whether Mr. Kallstrom agrees with VTW's view that to enforce privacy we need access to strong non-escrowed cryptography. (probably not) This week's quotes are from James Kalstromm (Asst. Dir of the FBI) on CNN 11/2/95 (23:15pm). COMMENTARY ON FBI WIRETAP PROPOSALS You'd have to be living without television, newspapers, or radio not to have seen all the flap over the FBI's proposal for wiretap funding. There has been a tremendous amount of misinformation in the press and on the net, so we'd like to take this opportunity to put all of this into perspective. Having opposed this legislative measure last year, we are painfully well- informed on the nature of the debate. The wiretapping plan you're seeing debated now is actually the funding phase of last year's "Digital Telephony" bill, now known as CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) Sponsored by Sen. Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Edwards (previously D-CA), the bill was extremely controversial among civil liberties groups, but received very little mainstream press, and a moderate amount of debate on the Hill. The FBI had strongly suggested that advancing changes in technology would make it impossible for them to carry out court-authorized communications interceptions. Although they never produced public proof of a foiled interception, the general feel in Congress was to grant them the benefit of the doubt and give them a bill that would accomodate their needs. A bill was written that would require the telecommunications industry to build in wiretap functionality into their products, such as telephone switches. This is where the debate in the civil liberties community began. The Electronic Frontier Foundation used their connections and their position to hack up the bill to remove several provisions. The ability for any detective to issue an administrative subpoena (doesn't require a judge) to get transactional information such as who you called and for how long was removed, now requiring the approval of a judge. In addition, any inclusion of Internet services was removed. This meant that Netscape would not have to build in special wiretapping code should you fall under an a court-authorized interception order during an investigation. In addition, the FBI would now be forced to state publicly its requirements for wiretapping, and the justifications for the amount of wiretapping they wanted to do, so they could tell the communications companies what sorts of capability to build into their products. This probably seemed like a good compromise for the FBI at the time. They reduce the resistance to their bill, in exchange for which they had to publish some information that was probably semi-public anyway. They're probably kicking themselves now. The logic at the EFF was that Congress was going to pass such a bill this year anyway, so wouldn't we rather have one that improved privacy in some places and limited its scope in others, rather than let them get everything they want by working with legislators that are not privacy-savvy. Sort of an "enemy you know is less dangerous than one you don't" argument. Other groups disagreed. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Voters Telecommunications Watch both led an online campaign to fight the bill. In the end, the bill was passed without much floor debate and very little media attention. One stickler in all of this was the cost. The telecommunications industry said, rightfully so, that these additional features weren't market-driven (unless you're a Third World dictator buying telecommunications hardware to spy on your people) so they were basically being taxed unfairly. The FBI responded by saying that before any changes would be expected, the Federal Government would authorize the spending of US$500 million as reimbursement for their loss. This funding phase brings us to the present time. On Monday October 16 1995, the FBI published in the Federal Register it's requirements for wiretapping capacity. Civil liberties advocates salivated, knowing that for the first time in history, this backroom process that never saw any public accountability was going to be scrutinized in the light of day. Many civil liberties advocates hoped the media would finally report this as newsworthy, assuming that should the American people hear about it, they would be appalled. The media responded in spades, with paranoia about Big Brother and wiretapping abuses making front page news throughout the country. This couldn't have come at a worse time for the Administration. Reeling from the media flap over Waco and Ruby Ridge, law enforcement is not having its best public relations year. Civil liberties advocates went on the attack, deconstructing the published wiretap requirements and asking the FBI exactly what they needed all these wiretaps for. The root of the issue lies in a subtlety that no one anticipated. Civil liberties advocates thought the FBI, having previously conducted around 1,000 interceptions per year, would simply publish a number that gave them some "growing room" given some assumption that crime was generally increasing. Instead, the FBI published percentages. The report in the Federal Register said that if a telephone switch can accomodate X number of subscribers, then the switch must be capable of performing X * Y% of interceptions SIMULTANEOUSLY, where Y% has a minimum amount of .05%, but can rise as high as 1% if you live in a geographic area with lots of crime. Here is where the debate begins, and the misinformation seeps in. When you look at the number of subscribers, that number may be much different depending on how you interpret it. Assume that the phone switch that serves your area has 1,000,000 subscribers on it, and you live in a high crime area, such as VTW's birthplace, New York City. The math is simple, 1% of 1,000,000 subscribers is 10,000 simultaneous wiretaps. Isn't this a little high? Not only have there been only about 1,000 wiretaps authorized in recent years, but they weren't all at once, and all within the same neighborhood! To their credit, the FBI says they were misinterpreted. A close look at the announcement in the Federal Register shows them to be right. However you should be just as alarmed. The FBI claims that just because a telephone switch can accomodate 1,000,000 people doesn't mean they can all pick up the phone and dial a friend at once. If you look closely at the notice in the Federal Register, it says: the percentage is applied to the engineered subscriber capacity of a switch Presumably, if they had meant total subscribers, they would have said total subscribers. It would be uncharacteristic of the FBI is ask for less than what they need. However this doesn't actually make the numbers so much better than you should be unconcerned. The number is still appalling higher than anything previously requested, and you should be very concerned. Take the phone switch in our previous example. Assume that only half the subscribers can actually pick up their handsets and make a call simultaneously. That cuts the actual number of simultaneous required interceptions to 5,000, and that's just in New York. It's unreasonable for our government to fund such an activity without the FBI explaining their reasons for needing this much capacity. Has there been a great leap in the last few years of crimes for which interceptions are the only available tool? The Electronic Privacy Information Center is fond of pointing out that interceptions in the last few years have been primarily for drugs and gambling. EPIC asserts that not one wiretap has been authorized in the investigation of domestic terrorism such as the World Trade Center or Oklahoma City bombings. The second misinterpretation of these figures is the common printing of the fact that the FBI wishes to wiretap every 1 in 400 or 1 in 100 telephones. We're not really sure how anyone came up with these numbers, as that would apply to specific geographic areas only, not the country as a whole. To blanketly print these numbers without actually talking about the area they apply to is to resort to unnecessary hysteria. The FBI's proposal is chilling enough that we don't need that much hyperbole to justify public concern. Two groups are conducting high profile campaigns on this issue. We urge you to follow them and stay informed. Here is an alphabetical list: The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) is a new organization staffed by many of the people who previously worked on this issue at the EFF. CDT is attempting to answer such questions as: * Has the FBI met all the public accountability and oversight criteria required by the statute? and * Does the requested capacity accurately reflect the needs of law enforcement? You can monitor their work by checking out their World Wide Web page at URL:http://www.cdt.org/ The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is conducting a campaign to deny funding for the bill, a continuation of last-year's campaign to prevent the passage of the bill itself. You can monitor their work by checking out their World Wide Web page at: URL:http://www.epic.org/ ----------------------- SUBSCRIPTION AND REPRODUCTION INFORMATION You can receive BillWatch via email, fax, gopher or WWW: To subscribe via email, send mail to vtw-announce-request@vtw.org with "subscribe vtw-announce Firstname Lastname" in the subject line. To unsubscribe from BillWatch send mail to vtw-announce-request@vtw.org with "unsubscribe vtw-announce" in the subject line. Send mail to files@vtw.org with "send billwatch" in the SUBJECT LINE to receive the latest version of BillWatch. To subscribe via fax, call (718) 596-2851 and leave the information requested by the recording. You may unsubscribe by calling the same number. BillWatch can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.vtw.org/billwatch/ BillWatch can be found in Gopherspace at: gopher -p1/vtw/billwatch/ gopher.panix.com Permission to reproduce BillWatch non-commercially is granted provide the banner and copyright remain intact. Please send a copy of your non-commercial publication to vtw@vtw.org for our scrapbook. For permission to commercially reproduce BillWatch, please contact vtw@vtw.org. ___________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1995 Steven Cherry & Shabbir J. Safdar ___________________________________________________________________________ End VTW BillWatch Issue #23, Date: Sun Nov 5 20:44:08 EST 1995 ------------------------------ From: bear@electrotex.com (Bill Blackwell) Subject: Houston CO's Date: Tue, 07 Nov 1995 09:13:29 -0600 I am somewhat stymied in my dealings with Southwestern Bell (SWB, or Sharks Want Blood) in trying to find out switch-types installed in the Houston LATA Central Offices (area code 713). While getting a list of the CO names is rather straight forward (it's printed in the front of the phone book...), SWB says that there are "hundreds" of CO's in Houston, and that getting a list of the switch-types in them would be prohibitive. CombiNet (before they got bought out by Cisco) had a DB of just such a type as I'm looking for on the 'Net. However, in the great reshuffling that has undoubtedly occurred, this seems to have dropped off of the planet. (I've run the gauntlet of Voice Mail, and "Oh, that's not my department, let me transfer you..." at Cisco to no avail). Compunding this problem, is that I'd kinda like to know hwo the CO's are interconnected as well (the hip bone's connected to the jaw bone...;-)). I can understand networks, and this is just a big network, ...right? Help! If any of you gurus out there have such a list compiled, know of the location of such a list, can point me to books that have helpful suggestions, or just have new and _creative_ ways of telling me I'm an idiot, then I'd appreciate it. Oh, yeah, the reason that I need this is for a study into our "telecommuting options" and certain vendors' equipment seems to be telco-sensitive. So, having the desire to be an informed consumer ... Thanks, Bill Blackwell bear@hic.net Houston, Texas, USA ------------------------------ From: kathi_denial@unet.net.com (Kathi Denial) Subject: 500 Service Information Wanted Date: 7 Nov 1995 17:15:56 GMT Organization: N.E.T. Does anyone have any information regarding the 500 service offered by AT&T? What is the suggested way to program this into the PBX? Kathi Denial [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do we have information on AT&T 500 Service here? Do we? Do we! Anyone want to help Kathi out with the information she needs? Please respond to her. Kathi, you might also want to review the Telecom Archives and the back issues files for this topic. It has received a great deal of attention here over the past couple of years. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 13:40:27 -0600 From: David Devereaux-Weber Subject: The End of TelecomDocs TelecomDocs subscribers: This is the end of the list TelecomDocs. The FCC has implemented their own list to distribute the Daily Digest, and it no longer makes sense for us to provide this service. A most heartfelt thanks to Bob Keller for his tireless attention to this task. As Bob mentioned in his last post: If you want to subscribe directly to the FCC list, send an email message to: subscribe@info.fcc.gov with the following command in the body of the message: subscribe digest It will not be necessary for subscribers to unsubscribe from this list. We will remove it from the listserver. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, David Devereaux-Weber Barry Orton David Devereaux-Weber, P.E. djdevere@facstaff.wisc.edu The University of Wisconsin - Madison Division of Information Technology Network Engineering (608)262-3584(voice) (608)265-5838(FAX) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And beleive me, many of us are sorry to see you shutting down. Yours was a very valuable service. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Nov 95 11:34:49 EST From: Eric Levy-Myers Subject: Voice Mail Uses Different Frequencies Than Dialing? I recently installed a four line, non KSU, telephone system from TT Systems, Model 4012-TT. It works great, nice features, and low price, etc. However, in Bell Atlantic's voice mail (inside a Centrex, I guess) , the systems does not recognize the 3 or 6 key. For normal dialing, the 3 and 6 keys work fine. All the other keys work fine. Bell Atlantic blames the phones, without any suggestion as to why they work in the normal system and not in the voice mail. TT Systems says that some Telecom's have recently tightened the frequency requirements and they are working on a fix. But they seem utterly mystified as to why the telecom's have suddenly changed ("tightened") their standards. Anyone else have this problem? Help. Eric_Levy-Myers@mail.amsinc.com ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Man Accused of Scamming 1300 With Prize Notices Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 15:00:53 PST LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A scam that enticed 1,300 people into sending $39 each to collect bogus $50,000 prizes ended with the arrest of a man accused of sending the fake notices out by certified mail. Robert William Gordon III of Atlanta faces federal fraud charges for allegedly sending 1,400 letters telling recipients that they had won $50,000 and just needed to sign a certificate and send a check for $39 to collect. Responses poured in from 38 states and the District of Columbia, some sent by overnight mail, Attorney General Winston Bryant said. Recipients probably thought the letters were genuine because they were sent via certified mail and contained an impressive looking winner's certificate. Authorities became involved when a woman contacted Bryant's office last week to ask if the offer from Consumer Response Group was legitimate. Investigators dressed as Mail Boxes Etc. employees arrested Gordon Thursday when he checked his box. He faces arraignment Tuesday on charges of mail fraud, telemarketing fraud and use of fictitious identification. More than $50,000 in checks were awaiting him. None had been cashed, Bryant said. Gordon declined to comment, and his lawyer could not be reached. ------------------------------ From: gordon@sneaky.lerctr.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 19:52:18 GMT This announcement of caller-pays cellular service leaves out one very important part: how do I block calls to caller-pays cellular numbers? Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You don't. You pay your phone bill each month and be grateful that people who made phone calls on your system behind your back or while you were asleep were able to reach their party wherever they might be, on land or sea or in the air. You'll probably soon find yourself in the same situation as Kathi (earlier in this issue) who -- I assume -- found herself stuck with some 500 charges on a PBX she is responsible for, and now wants to know what to do about it. I imagine what will happen is that all the cell phones equipped in that way will have to be on their own prefix(es) for billing purposes. Once you find out the prefix(es) involved you could block them out I guess, the same way you block out 540 and 976. I can't imagine they would just leave them scattered around all over the place leaving PBX administrators helpless. Or would they? PAT] ------------------------------ Organization: Bar-Ilan University Computing Center, Israel Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 10:38:01 IST From: Hank Nussbacher Subject: Online Phone Book Wanted I need to backtrack a few phone numbers in the 914 and 718 area codes. a) Is there a system on the Web that will allow me to code in a phone number and get back the person's name and address? b) If the answer to (a) is no, I remember hearing of a CD that contained this information and that allowed searching. Where can I get such a CD? If someone has it -- would they be willing to do a few quick searches for me as a favor? Thanks, Hank ------------------------------ From: jken1485@uriacc.uri.edu (John Kennedy) Subject: Looking For Telecommuting Data Date: 6 Nov 1995 06:42:16 GMT I am a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island doing some research on telecommuting. I am trying to build a regression model to predict business usage of telecommuting. I have been searchng (to absolutely no avail) for either state by state numbers of telecommuters (cross sectional) or monthly for the last 4 years (time series)for the whole US. Is there anyone out there who can help me locate some of this info? I would appreciate it greatly. ------------------------------ From: hkmaddal@mail.delcoelect.com (Hari K. Maddali) Subject: Redirect/Forward Incoming Calls Date: 7 Nov 1995 22:03:08 GMT Organization: Delco Electronics Corp. Is it possible to "Re-Direct / Forward" incoming calls? If so, how and what is needed for say two incoming and two outgoing simultaneous call processing? Can we use a PC database to lookup, match and dial a forwarding phone number for an incoming call? Can we collect call traffic information and other statistics such as connect time, idle time, caller ID etc? What's an approximate cost $$$ for a system including software to handle four line traffic. I think the number of lines required depends on estimated call traffic and average length of each call. Is it cost effective to go through telco for some of these tasks if they can offer such services? Please advise. With so much tele-marketing fraud going on is it legal to have strictly a "Call Redirect / Forwarding" hub. Any information yuo have available on this will be very much appreciated. ------------------------------ From: doster@vax.telcores.com Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 14:00:09 -0600 Subject: Telecom Management Home Page TELECOM Digest readers may be interested in Telco Research's home page (it's 99.9% fluff-free). On it they will see: - articles about telemanagement - a glossary of telemanagement terms - telemanagement FAQs - hot-links to other telecom resources - industry "quotes" - product & company info (.01% fluff max.) - Spanish translation of products & services information The home page is updated monthly. More tutorials, articles, and hot-links will be added. Comments on our home page are welcomed. Our home page address is: http://www.telcores.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #470 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Nov 7 22:16:03 1995 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.1/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA13842; Tue, 7 Nov 1995 22:16:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 22:16:03 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199511080316.WAA13842@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Bcc: Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #471 TELECOM Digest Tue, 7 Nov 95 22:15:30 EST Volume 15 : Issue 471 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecommunications Bill Fails to Serve the Public Interest (Monty Solomon) Re: Telecom in China (Erez Levav) Re: Bell Atlantic Announces Caller-Pays Cellular Service (Raymond Hazel) Big Brother - He's Everywhere (Lionel Ancelet) Re: Powering the Optical Network Interface (Richard Kenshalo) Re: GH337 and Mobile "Modem" (Juergen Wichmann) Suggested Reading on Telecom Revolution (Rick Whiting) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 23:42:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Telecommunications Bill Fails to Serve the Public Interest Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM Forwarded FYI to the Digest: Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 11:10:23 -0800 From: Andy Oram Subject: Paper on telecom bill, adopted by CPSR We started talking about this paper (which grew out of my attempt to write a "Top 10" document) a few weeks ago on these mailing lists. CPSR has adopted and officially released this document. I hope members of these lists can spread it widely. Thanks for your encouragement and advice. Andy -------------------------------- U.S. Telecommunications Bill Fails to Serve the Public Interest 6 November 1995 A bill that will change the way we use telephones, television, and electronic networks is currently being considered by the U.S. Congress. The bill claims to promote industry growth, competition, and technological progress, but may well simply end up reducing diversity and public debate. It also sets precedents that we expect to be mirrored in other countries. So non-U.S. residents also have good reason to be concerned with the outcome of this bill. There are four major problems in the bill: 1. It allows oligopolies to form that control the information we receive on radio, television, newspapers, and electronic networks. 2. It allows gaps to widen between segments of society (rich and poor, educated and uneducated). 3. It censors public discussion on electronic networks. 4. It lets rates rise too fast and too much. This paper will examine each of these problems, after some introductory background. We may still have time to make significant changes. Why is the telecom bill important? Electronic media are not just another industry like shipping or manufacturing. They deal with the very stuff our minds are made of: the information we use to take political positions, the choices we have in educating ourselves, the cultural resources through which we define ourselves. The struggle over electronic media is a struggle for our thoughts and actions. Electronic media cover a range of giant industries, including radio, broadcast and cable TV, telephone companies, wireless communications and satellites, computer networks, and traditional news and publishing companies that are moving online. The category even touches on financial institutions and electrical utilities. The industries involved are eager to loosen restrictions on their behavior. They have poured large sums of money into influencing Congress, and lobbied intensively for the current versions of the bill: the Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995 in the Senate (S. 652) and the Communications Act of 1995 in the House (H.R. 1555). Unfortunately for the public, in removing these restrictions the telecom bill also removes historic protection for diversity of opinion and reasonable rates. The intent of the bill The stated purpose of telecom reform is to increase technology in homes and institutions. While we definitely support an expansion of electronic networking (the information infrastructure or information superhighway, as it is often called) we ask, "What will it be used for?" Many broadcasting and telecommunications companies seem to view their customers purely as consumers of entertainment or information. But we want individuals and institutions to generate content as well as receive it. We want to see advances in telecom improve public debate on important issues, provide a wealth of culture, and increase our links with one another. If Congress takes its role seriously in managing communications as a public resource, industry growth is quite compatible with universal service and providing an infrastructure for democracy. But currently, we see this bill restricting options and opportunities. Let us look at the problems. Problem 1. The bill allows oligopolies to form that control the information we receive on radio, television, newspapers, and electronic networks. The wave of highly-publicized mergers (along with less sensational but still important takeovers) that have reduced the number of people in control of broadcasting will continue after this bill is passed. Although the bill prohibits mergers between telephone companies and cable TV companies, the House version contains many exceptions, waivers, and exemptions that erode this protection against monopolies. For instance, mergers are permitted in communities with less than 50,000 population, and the two types of company are permitted to share some transmission facilities. Local telephone companies are allowed to enter the long-distance market too soon, before competition is likely to enter their traditional local market. Local telephone users may end up bearing the costs of expansion. The bill allows cooperation between companies that should be competitors, assuming that abuses will be stopped by anti-trust laws that are not adequate or appropriate for this kind of oversight. In a direct blow to diversity, the bill raises the percentage of national audience that a single person or company can reach from 25% to 35%. A larger foreign ownership of broadcast media is also permitted. Limits are removed on the number of radio stations that an individual can own. The bill makes it easier for broadcasters to keep their licenses indefinitely, without the hearings that are currently held. Finally, it gives existing broadcasters a large amount of unused television spectrum, instead of opening up the spectrum in an auction. Problem 2. The bill allows gaps to widen between segments of society (rich and poor, educated and uneducated). The 1934 communications act guaranteed universal service, meaning that everyone in the country could get telephone service at reasonable rates. The new bill contains protections for rural areas and the disabled, but leaves loopholes in the universal service guarantee. Some of the advanced information services could well become available only to affluent people or to institutions in privileged areas. Moreover, while there are some sections supporting access for schools and public agencies, these are vague and need stronger guarantees. Public libraries, the traditional place where all members of the public can get information, are given special rates in the Senate bill but not the House. Problem 3. The bill censors public discussion on electronic networks. Both houses of Congress have inserted sections in the bill criminalizing a broad range of information under the claim that it harms children. These clauses of the bill, while supposedly aimed at pornography, have such vague language ("indecency" and "sexual or excretory activities") that they could be used to censor literary classics and public health information. Given the open nature of networks such as the Internet, restrictions on sending material that children might look at ends up keeping everyone from speaking freely. The fear of being caught in the law's net will force many networks to shut down. Thus, the free flow of views we now have on the information highway could be replaced by a controlled set of ideas dished out by corporate broadcasters and monitored by prosecutors all over the country. By approving censorship, the Senate rejected a petition signed by 107,000 Internet users. The House voted overwhelmingly to reject government censorship, but sections imposing it were inserted into the bill almost at the last minute as part of a complicated amendment. We do not dismiss the concerns of parents who want to shield their children from inappropriate material. The whole point is that each parent defines what is "inappropriate" differently. There are more flexible and effective ways to screen what children see, than to have the government impose censorship on everybody. Problem 4. The bill lets rates rise too fast and too much. Cable TV rates for upper tier services (those offered for extra cost) are deregulated in the bill before there is adequate assurance of competition to keep the rates down. Cable operators are also effectively allowed to deregulate any services they choose by moving them from the basic tier to the upper tier. This would reverse the consumer protections passed in 1992. In other media, states can let rates for services rise with little justification. Both the Department of Justice and the FCC are severely restricted in their traditional powers to review competition and rates. As mentioned under Problem 2, rates are not regulated for advanced information services. These services could end up costing far more than necessary, just as cable TV companies now charge premiums for popular channels. Loopholes allow companies that own media (cables and phone lines) to charge artificially high rates to others who wish to lease them, or restrict the people leasing them to ineffective competitors. What we want Our communications channels are a public resource. As the telecom bill prepares to go into conference committee, we call on Congress to safeguard the public interest. * Promote diversity of programming by requiring carriers to provide services to other companies at reasonable rates. * Protect the free marketplace of ideas by preventing yet larger media monopolies and oligopolies. Keep regulatory safeguards in place until proof of true competition emerges. If telephone companies and cable companies merge in sparsely-populated areas that lack competition, continue price regulation. * Do not raise the limits on the percentage of markets owned by one firm or on foreign ownership. * Keep the requirements for interconnection and interoperability (the ability of different services to use each others lines and identical protocols) so that users anywhere can reach each other. Ensure that users can keep telephone numbers when switching companies. * Reject censorship, which is a big step ba