Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 23:49:03 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #451 Message-ID: <8910152349.aa12975@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 15 Oct 89 23:45:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 451 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson A Letter From Australia (Jon D. Kendall) A Bit of Repeater History (Larry Lippman) Request: Small Key-System Recommendations (Kent Hauser) Request: Information On Gateway Services (Dadong Wan) Fun With Fonz (John Higdon) The Day The Bell System Died (Lauren Weinstein) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 15:42:20 EST From: kendall Subject: A Letter From Australia Organization: University of Tasmania Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au Dear Pat: Your moderated newsgroup is addicting, to say the least. I have spent the past four hours reading almost 200 articles of comp.dcom.telecom. But, then what better use of my time would there be on this windy, rainy Spring day? Anyway I understand a lot of the Chicago humour (Hudson 2-2700, etc) having lived in St Joseph, Michigan 15 years ago. By the way, I brought with me one of those great 2500 telephones. In Australia there is no touch-tone service, but fortunately the university has a PABX which accepts tones locally, converting them to dec. (pulses) for outside calls. Also, everyone else in the department has electronic warble ringers which contrast nicely with my bell ringer. Rich Zellich's story about a wrong number to Australia reminds me of something that I did whilst ringing for international operator assistance. I was living Davis, California at the time. I needed to find out the telephone number of friends in Tasmania so I naively dialled 011-6102-5551212 thinking that the domestic method of directory assistance would generalise to overseas directory assistance. Instead I rang a private residence. From her irritated explanation, I readily discerned that this was not the first wrong number the lady had received from North America. When I received the next month's Sprint 'phone bill I was very surprised to see that I had been charged the directory service fee for the call, not the usual per minute charge. I suppose that it was a bug in the software. I reckon that might be useful to the lady if she had any friends in North America. Jon Kendall@diemen.cc.utas.au.oz ------------------------------ Subject: A Bit of Repeater History Date: 15 Oct 89 13:03:19 EDT (Sun) From: Larry Lippman In article gentry@kcdev.uucp (Art Gentry) writes: > We use repeaters, spaced anywhere from 1 to 30 miles, depending on the > type of carrier technology. These repeaters are powered by DC current > carried down the same pairs of the transmission. Each direction takes > one pair, one for the E->W and the other for W->E (no, I'm sorry, but > AT&T does not go N->S or S->N ) Actually, all repeaters will > show an East/West transmission, just to keep things easy. The E/W designation on repeaters is carried over from the early days of telegraphic communication where the concept of a "repeater" originated, although in those days repeaters were of the relay-variety for morse code traffic. Most long telegraphic routes were in fact East-West in direction, and the arbitrary designation of E/W for the ends of a repeater remained throughout the telegraph era into that of the telephone. Also, lest someone feel that the concept of a PCM regenerator is *new*, consider that the morse telegraphic systems were in fact both digital and PCM, and thus such PCM regenerators were in use over 150 years ago! Furthermore, some of the early telegraphic systems, especially those used with submarine cable, were in fact bipolar in nature - not unlike that of a T1 line, although admittedly the data rates were a bit slower than 1.544 megabits/sec. :-) <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ From: Kent Hauser Subject: Request: Small Key-System Recommendations Date: 15 Oct 89 18:09:32 GMT Organization: Twenty-First Designs, Wash, DC We need to replace our 1A2 KSU because our new location has only 2-pair wiring. My question is who makes good electronic key systems? Our requirements are modest: 2-4 co lines. 8 or so extensions. Intercom. Speakerphone available. Some way to hook in answering maching on first line. Recommendations for equipment & good suppliers gratefully accepted. Kent Hauser UUCP: {uunet!cucstud, sun!sundc}!tfd!kent Twenty-First Designs INET: sundc!tfd!kent@sun.com [Moderator's Note: Would you be wanting an electronic key system or a mini- PBX? The latter will accomplish much of the same, and might even be more flexible, depending. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 15:45:45-1000 From: Dadong Wan Subject: Request: Information On Gateway Services Reply-To: Dadong Wan Organization: University of Hawaii I am looking for information on gateway services, which allow one point access to various information services, public as well as commercial, e.g. Dialog, CompuServe. The State of Hawaii has recently awarded DEC a contract for setting up such a service. I've heard that some regional Bell companies (eg, Nynex, Bellsouth) have been experimenting in this area, and am wondering if any of you out there know anything about how they have been doing on that. Please email me if you have some information to share. Many thanks. Dadong ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Fun With Fonz Date: 15 Oct 89 21:22:57 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows One of my clients has an ITT 3100 PBX whose routing tables I keep updated. It is a lot of fun playing with a switch that has Automatic Route Selection. Here are some examples of things that I have done with their system. Naturally, the customer wanted 976 blocking in their switch. No problem. The switch intercepts all 976-XXXX and NXX-976-XXXX calls and puts the caller through to a Pac*Bell number that returns the following recording: "The call you have made requires a twenty-cent deposit. Please hang up, listen for dialtone, deposit twenty cents, and try your call again." This is better than just returning reorder or some such, since when a person complains to management about how they get this recording "when they try to place a call", management knows what's going on. I have 611 routed to my home number. No one there is supposed to call telco direct, so this little trick saves unnecessary expensive calls to telco repair. For a while there was a joke line that did a satire on the Pac*Bell automated repair that was hilarious and I had 611 routed there instead! My cellular phone number is quite restricted since it can get rather expensive if people call to chat. For a while I had my portable phone number in their system speed dial, but when I changed my number another idea came to mind. I set up the system to intercept my old cellular number and translate it to my new one and put the call through. Then I gave out my old (out of service) number to everyone at that company. Had it printed on employee lists and everything. The fun began when certain people started complaining that my cellular phone had been disconnected. This could only mean that they were calling my number from somewhere other than the office. My explanation? "I'm sorry, my cellular phone can only be reached from the office." No other comment was offered. The psuedo phone knowledgeables still haven't figured that one out. In our area, a "1" is optional for long distance. It is not required, but won't interfere if used. The PBX however will send any long distance call prefixed by a "1" to "It is not necessary to dial a one for this call. Please hang up and try your call again." The amusement comes from watching the people from out of the area using the lobby phone. The company has Sprint Advance Plus WATS, which are dedicated WATS lines. However, when a user dials 0+ the system places the call on a POTS line and prefixes it with "10288" to ensure that an AT&T path will be taken. I don't trust default anymore. Actually the list of possibilities is endless and implementation is limited only by the amount of available free time. Fortunately, this particular system is progammable remotely, so whenever the whim strikes, so shall it be! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 00:12:30 EDT From: Lauren Weinstein Subject: "The Day Bell System Died" Return-Path: [Moderator's Note: It was good the first time it appeared, and since many of you were not reading the Digest in 1983, I thought it would be good to run it again. This originally appeared in TELECOM Digest on July 12, 1983. Enjoy. PT] Greetings. With the massive changes now taking place in the telecommunications industry, we're all being inundated with seemingly endless news items and points of information regarding the various effects now beginning to take place. However, one important element has been missing: a song! Since the great Tom Lehrer has retired from the composing world, I will now attempt to fill this void with my own light-hearted, non-serious look at a possible future of telecommunications. This work is entirely satirical, and none of its lyrics are meant to be interpreted in a non-satirical manner. The song should be sung to the tune of Don Mclean's classic "American Pie". I call my version "The Day Bell System Died"... Lauren ************************************************************************** *==================================* * Notice: This is a satirical work * *==================================* "The Day Bell System Died" Lyrics Copyright (C) 1983 by Lauren Weinstein (To the tune of "American Pie") (With apologies to Don McLean) ARPA: vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM UUCP: {decvax, ihnp4, harpo, ucbvax!lbl-csam, randvax}!vortex!lauren ************************************************************************** Long, long, time ago, I can still remember, When the local calls were "free". And I knew if I paid my bill, And never wished them any ill, That the phone company would let me be... But Uncle Sam said he knew better, Split 'em up, for all and ever! We'll foster competition: It's good capital-ism! I can't remember if I cried, When my phone bill first tripled in size. But something touched me deep inside, The day... Bell System... died. And we were singing... Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? Is your office Step by Step, Or have you gotten some Crossbar yet? Everybody used to ask... Oh, is TSPS coming soon? IDDD will be a boon! And, I hope to get a Touch-Tone phone, real soon... The color phones are really neat, And direct dialing can't be beat! My area code is "low": The prestige way to go! Oh, they just raised phone booths to a dime! Well, I suppose it's about time. I remember how the payphones chimed, The day... Bell System... died. And we were singing... Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? Back then we were all at one rate, Phone installs didn't cause debate, About who'd put which wire where... Installers came right out to you, No "phone stores" with their ballyhoo, And 411 was free, seemed very fair! But FCC wanted it seems, To let others skim long-distance creams, No matter 'bout the locals, They're mostly all just yokels! And so one day it came to pass, That the great Bell System did collapse, In rubble now, we all do mass, The day... Bell System... died. So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? I drove on out to Murray Hill, To see Bell Labs, some time to kill, But the sign there said the Labs were gone. I went back to my old CO, Where I'd had my phone lines, years ago, But it was empty, dark, and ever so forlorn... No relays pulsed, No data crooned, No MF tones did play their tunes, There wasn't a word spoken, All carrier paths were broken... And so that's how it all occurred, Microwave horns just nests for birds, Everything became so absurd, The day... Bell System... died. So bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? Ma Bell why did you have to die? We were singing: Bye, bye, Ma Bell, why did you die? We get static from Sprint and echo from MCI, "Our local calls have us in hock!" we all cry. Oh Ma Bell why did you have to die? [Moderator's Note: I knew you would like it! And my thanks to Lauren for having submitted it to the Digest now over six years ago. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #451 *****************************   Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 0:57:27 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #452 Message-ID: <8910160057.aa09406@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Oct 89 00:55:43 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 452 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Phonavision at the University of California (Henry Mensch) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Colin Plumb) Re: Making a Line Busy (Dave Levenson) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Steve M. Bellovin) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Patrick A. Townson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 18:35:34 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Phonavision at the University of California Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu (Pinched from the [New York Times] w/o permission: Calif. -- Students at two campuses of the University of California, at Berkeley and Los Angeles, have become the test market for a new public video-telephone booth called Phonavision. Its developers claim that it is the world's first video telephone for the general public. Each of the campuses has one of the large, silver-color phone booths in its student union. Phonavision opened last Monday for a week of free demonstrations. Starting Monday, video phone calls from one campus to the other will cost $10 for three minutes. "We view all this semester as a test," said Stephen Strickland, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based company, Communications Technologies, that developed the video phones. "We want to be sure that when we do go to market with this service, it's as good as it can be." "We feel we're probably six months to a year away from having a system that we can go out and market," Strickland said. "I see them in airport lobbies, hotel lobbies, shopping centers, indoor high-traffic locations." Video telephones are already widely used in business, he added. Phonavision callers speak to each other on standard telephone receivers. A snapshot-size image of their own face is projected on one half of a small screen, and the other half shows a picture of the person to whom they are talking. As a caller talks, the video screen shows small movements of the mouth or face. But sudden movements mean a distorted picture. With a tilt of a caller's head, for example, the image will move to the side in separate parts, starting with the top of the head and moving down in a wavelike motion. Annalee Andres, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., who has not yet selected a major, was one of the first students to try out Berkeley's new video phone. She and her friends crowded around the phone booth in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, taking turns talking to a student from UCLA. "I think it has a long way to go yet, but it's really cool," she said. "I can really see where it's leading." Ms. Andres speculated on the effects that widespread use of video phones would have. "What if they catch you and you're just out of the shower?" she asked. "It'll change dating." Daniel Ciruli, a junior from Tucson, Ariz., majoring in computer science, was enthusiastic about his trial session, but he said the fee would keep him away in the future. "It's a new toy," he said. "But at $10 for three minutes, with only one other Phonavision, it's not going to be something that students are beating down the door to use." The video phone booth offers other services: recording and dealing in videotapes and a place to send and receive fax messages. The booth accepts $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills, as well as Mastercard and Visa. Gary Li, a senior from Beijing, who is majoring in electrical engineering, started setting up Berkeley's phone booth in April. Since then he has spent about 20 hours a week repairing kinks in the system. Berkeley and UCLA were chosen as tryout spots for the new service because most students know somebody at the other campus, said Strickland, the company's chief executive. "That's a place where we can get novelty use," he said, adding that "Berkeley and UCLA have a reputation for being front-runner schools -- places that are innovative, that like new technology." Strickland said his company has spent almost three years developing Phonavision. He would not disclose total costs, but priced the video phone booths at $50,000 each. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: Colin Plumb Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Date: 16 Oct 89 00:08:13 GMT Reply-To: Colin Plumb Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: > You write: >> 416 recently removed the has allowed the implementation of NXX where >> previously only NNX was allowed. > Did you mean to delete "removed the"? Also, you are sure you are > referring to 416 (Ontario) instead of 415 (Calif.)? (If 416, it's new > info for me.) New to me, too, and while not at university I live in 416. One thing I rather like about the local phone service is that all LD calls must be prefixed with "1". If you try to dial an exchange in 416 that's not in the local calling area (i.e. metered call), you get a recording "You have dialled a number to which long distance charges apply" followed by dial-1-first instructions. I suppose you could do it if you changed the current 1+NNX-XXXX to 1+416+NXX-XXXX, but I'd think I'd have heard about it. From other discussions, I gather that in some places, normal 7-digit calls can be long distance, so you have to dig through the phone book to figure out whether it costs you anything. I prefer "leading 1 means special billing." I've never tried dialling an 800 number without the 1 to see if it works. I should sometime. -Colin ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Making a Line Busy Date: 16 Oct 89 02:43:54 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , owens-christopher@YALE. EDU (Christopher Owens) writes: > I have a two-line residential installation in which calls hunt to the > second line if the first line is busy. Periodically I want to force > all calls to the second line. What is the correct way to make a line > busy? ... There is a local number available in most central offices that is always busy. Here in NJ, we dial almost any prefix followed by 9970. You could place a call to that number, and then leave your set offhook. There is a tariffed service available in NJ called hunting cut-off controlled by customer. With this service, you get a key switch at your premises connected to an extra pair from the CO. When you close the switch, hunting is disabled. (Don't know what it costs.) I realize that what you want is not to disable hunting but to force it on all calls. Perhaps the telco has another service offering up its sleeve? Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 15 Oct 89 18:17:29 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , comcon!roy@uunet.uu.net (Roy M. Silvernail) writes: > Do you have measured service? What are the actual rates? Do you have > to juggle zones? Do you have a free-call area? If you were there for > the beginning of measured service, what was the introduction like? > (was there a public outcry? Was the public even consulted?) About 20 years ago, mandatory measured service was introduced to Pacific Telephone business customers. All new service orders went in as measured and existing customers were all converted over a year or two later. Back in those days, no one seemed very interested in the PUC hearings and this tarrif went through without any problem. People at PacTel fielded the calls from irate customers by responding that some customers would actually save money, since the monthly rate had been lowered (cut in half). But of course the vast majority of business customers started paying through the nose. Since that time, residence service has had the option of being measured. Unmeasured residence service is about $8.50/month while measured is about $4.50 with a $3.00 call allowance. A local call is $.05 for the first minute and $.01 each additional, with evening and night discounts. Pac*Bell has been trying to push the idea of universal measured service for years. They have offered various plans to the PUC (such as a service that includes 130 untimed calls/month and 15 cents for each call over--price: same as current unmeasured), but so far the PUC hasn't bought any of it. Now that Pac*Bell is unregulated for all intents and purposes, we may now probably count the days for unmeasured residence service. In my home I have a mix of measured and unmeasured lines (all in the same Commstar group). Any lines used exclusively for incoming calls are measured while out call lines are unmeasured. (Yes, they will mix measured and unmeasured lines in Commstar -- it is a common myth that they won't.) My prediction is that when they make all local calls measured, there will be some consumer groups that snort a bit but it will mostly happen without a wimper. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: smb@hector.att.com Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 12:49:13 EDT I'd promised myself I wouldn't comment on this subject any more, but this latest posting is much too inflammatory.... From: TELECOM Moderator I'm not sure if you can do this, given the login available to you, but you should distinguish between your role as moderator and poster. Most of the time this doesn't matter, but when it does -- i.e., when there's a controversial topic being discussed -- you should try to grant everyone equal access to the debate. For those of you who think Caller ID is the worst scourge to ever come to the telephone industry, consider this case from Van Nuys, CA about three weeks ago: [deleted] The autodialer was programmed to simply dial 911, which conneced to the Emergency Services dispatcher at the Van Nuys, CA, Police and Fire Department. 911 Caller ID service is conceptually very different than ordinary Caller ID. Note that I'm not speaking of the technical differences -- of which there are many -- I'm simply speaking of the benefit to society of having the facility available. [deleted] He noted that prior to the installation of Caller ID, there had been several objections to the service; 'violation of privacy' being the major complaint. Some people apparently felt they had the 'right' to talk to the police anonymously, and that this 'right' superceded the rights of the police and fire departments to administer their duties effeciently and effectively. "We think caller ID was responsible for saving Mrs. Rodgers' life." ``Efficiently.'' A marvelous word. There are parts of the world where the police can operate much more ``efficiently'' because there are no (enforced) prohibitions against, say, beating suspects. And the ``legislature'' makes life even easier for the police by requiring internal passports to travel within the country, official permission to live in certain areas, and lots of nice vague ``crimes'' suitable for arresting just about anyone. Efficient, certainly. But I don't think I'd like to live there. My point is not that Caller ID is or is not a good thing for emergency services. My point is that the issue is not that clear-cut. Factual premise 1: A number of big cities, and the federal DEA, have prosecuted numerous police officers for narcotics-related corruption. Factual premise 2: Many drug dealers have shown no hesitation in ordering the murder of community activists who have tried to shut down their activities. Question 1: if 911 calls have Caller-ID recorded (and all such calls are recorded in most cities, I might note), what are the odds on such a drug dealer bribing a cop to find out who made a particular call? Question 2: how many lives might that cost? Please note carefully what I did and did not say above. I did not say there are no benefits to Caller ID for the police. I did not say anything at all about Caller ID for other purposes. And I said nothing at all about the desirability, or the lack thereof, of current drug laws and policies. All I said is that the issue is very far from clear-cut, and that we should not blindly accept official pronouncements on the subject. --Steve Bellovin smb@ulysses.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 0:34:06 CDT From: Patrick A. Townson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I printed all of the above message not because this is the Social Issues Digest, but because I would not want Mr. Bellovin to think he was being censored. He implies in his first paragraph that one is unlikely to get a fair hearing or a chance to reply to a message since I did not botber to run the 'change name' program here and convert myself to Patrick Townson for the occassion. Everyone who reads this little Digest knows how bad I am about not allowing my critics the time of day or space in the Digest to reply. The item in particular appeared in several newspapers last week, including both the [Chicago Tribune] and the [Chicago Sun Times]. In addition, it was sent to me by the press clip service I use (yes, I take this Digest rather seriously, and I keep up on news relating to telecommunicatons.) I feel as moderator I would be derelict in not printing an item when it had been considered newsworthy by other media. It was a story that I, in my editorial judgment, considered worth repeating here. Mr. Bellovin, and another recent correspondent who forbade me to print his letter or mention his name point out rightfully that Caller ID when offered as a CLASS feature is different than when the same information is afforded the police in a 911 conversation. Yes and no. There are some technical differences, but the end result is the same: The caller is identified to the callee. And there are some remarkable similarities between the two as well. Some of you must surely recall, in your own communities, as I do in Chicago, how bitterly the concept of E-911 was fought by the same people who are fighting caller ID now in the public realm. Just as some organization now is fighting in the courts against Caller ID as a CLASS offering, the *very same organization* (through its Chicago branch) fought in the courts to prevent the police from having the name and number of the calling party back in 1973. So I think we split hairs and pick nits when we say caller ID as a CLASS offering is 'not the same as' caller ID when emergency services get the information. Caller ID is caller ID is caller ID. Either the caller is identified in some way to the callee, or he is not. It may be some folks who otherwise disapprove of caller ID for the public do not object to it when the police have the information, but we are still talking about the same basic thing. In community after community, when Enhanced 911 service has been installed or regular 911 converted to E-911, there have been complaints regarding violations of privacy, just as today the complaints are made. Van Nuys, CA was no exception. There were people there (maybe still are?) who strongly objected to it. I do not make Official Pronouncements here. I quote news, offer my own opinions, and *usually* entertain the views of others. I think I posted that story Sunday morning by prefacing it saying, "this has been in the papers lately'.....so what would Mr. Bellovin have me to do? Print nothing that might express an opinion? His complaint, along with Nameless, who forbade me to identify him should direct their comments about the matter to the authorities in Van Nuys, CA....that is who was in the news. TELECOM Digest is here to provide a forum for *all aspects* of telephones. Technical, social, political, consumer-oriented. The day I metamorphose into God on High and refuse to print alternative viewpoints is the day Mr. Bellovin and Nameless have valid complaints, with me at least. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #452 *****************************   Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 22:51:37 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #453 Message-ID: <8910162251.aa27627@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Oct 89 22:50:06 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 453 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" (Larry Lippman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" Date: 15 Oct 89 13:04:57 EDT (Sun) From: Larry Lippman In article gentry@kcdev.uucp (Art Gentry) writes: > > 2. When one of those lines is damaged out in the middle of nowhere, > > and the damage is _inside_ the cable, how do they locate it? > > Moreover, how do they splice in a new piece of cable? In other > > words, how do they connect up those hundreds of individual lines? > > It would be like trying to rewire a spinal cord. > Ahhhh, back in the good-ol-days....:-} All the wires within a cable > are color coded, in pairs. In larger cables, pairs were grouped into > bunches, which in turn, were color coded themselves. So while tedious, > it was not overly difficult to match pairs in a splice. Many Telecom readers are, to some extent, familiar with the color code used on polyethylene insulated cables (PIC) in which each pair is individually color-coded and arranged in groups of 25-pairs, with these groups in turn being identified with colored binder strings. The above color code uses ten colors, and begins with white/blue for pair 1, white/orange for pair 2, white/green for pair 3, etc., ending with violet/slate for pair 25; binder group identification is made with colored tape or string using the above ten colors. The complete color code has already been posted by others to Telecom, and it is not my intent to repeat it here. The above color code with individual pair identification is used on both inside station wiring and outside PIC distribution cable. However, pulp-insulated cable does NOT have identification of individual pairs. There is still a significant amount of pulp-insulated cable in service, especially with high pair counts of 1,500 to 2,700 pairs. Pulp-insulated cable uses only three pair colors: white/green, white/red and white/blue. Binder groups within the cable come in sizes of 25, 26, 50, 51, 100 and 101 pairs, depending upon the wire gauge, pair count and style of the pulp-insulated cable. For cables with 400 or more pairs, the binder group size is generally 100 or 101 pairs. Each of the pairs in such a binder group has the SAME color code! As an example, a 404-pair pulp-insulated cable will typically have four binder groups: (1) 100 pairs of white/green plus a red/blue tracer pair; (2) 100 pairs of white/red plus a red/blue tracer pair; (3) 100 pairs of white/blue with a red/blue tracer pair; and (4) 100 pairs of white red with a red/blue tracer pair. The total pair count in this example is 404 pairs, and note that there are 200 pairs which have a white/red color code. The tracer pairs are generally reserved as spare or maintenance pairs. To make matters even more confusing, many pulp-insulated cables have no binder strings or tape! The binder groups have a twist which allows their identification as a unit, and the relative position of the binder groups when the cable is viewed in cross-section allows the identification of the particular binder group. Such binder groups are therefore arranged in concentric layers, with each layer being divided into binder segments. There are also umpteen different binder coding schemes used for pulp-insulated cable. For the sake of simplicity, while I am using the term "binder group" in this article, in reality I am referring to a cable "unit", which may in fact not have any binding strings or tape. As a result of the above, believe me, a damaged pulp-insulated cable is a real mess! Also, bear in mind that PIC cable did not come into general use until the 1950's, so prior to that time pulp-insulated cable was the ONLY type of outside plant cable. Restoration of a damaged pulp-insulated cable is performed by tone tracing or other electronic identification means on EACH AND EVERY pair. Restoration starts by picking a red/blue tracer pair as a means of establishing telephone communication between the cable splicer and the central office. At least there aren't that many tracer pairs to choose from. :-) The cable splicer cuts back the cable and attempts to identify the binder groups, starting with the CO-side FIRST. Picking one binder group at a time, a craftsperson in the CO sends tracing tone on the first pair in a binder group. A test probe with a sensitive amplifier is used at the cable site to detect this test tone and therefore identify the pair. Such a tone tracing arrangement works by capacitive coupling between the test probe and the cable pairs, so a cable splicer can rapidly scan for tone by merely brushing the test probe against fanned-out cable pairs. As soon as the CO-side of a pair is identified, the pair is placed in a numbered slot on a "restoral board", and a connection is made to the pair using insulation-piercing clips. A restoral board consists of two boards (a CO-side and a subscriber-side) with 100 pairs of insulation-piercing connections on each board, with several feet of cable between the two boards. The restoral board has two functions: (1) to temporarily tag the identified conductors of a binder group; and (2) to provide a temporary electrical connection prior to splicing of the CO and subscriber sides of the severed cable. More than one set of restoral boards may be used in a cable break, but it does get crowded around the splice area pretty fast! Identifying the CO side of the severed cable is the EASY part, made even easier with the use of a "front tap shoe" which connects to a protector block in the CO. A front tap shoe may make contact with as many as 100 pairs at a time, and using a test cable will conveniently terminate the pairs on a test panel used to apply tracing tone. There are also semi-automatic cable identification devices, like those made by Automation Products, which send a coded signal on each of 100 pairs, so that no craftsperson is necessary in the CO other than to change the front tap shoe to another 100 pairs. A cable splicer uses a field identifier unit with a digital readout to identify the pair number on a given pair in the binder group under test. After the CO side of the binder group has been identified using the above method, next comes the NOT SO EASY part. A second cable splicer then heads for the closest cross-connection box on the subscriber side of the severed cable. The first task is to establish a talk pair to the cable splicer at the break. Local battery for talking is provided by a cable-splicer's test set, traditionally the WECO 76C, although newer devices are now available. The second cable splicer then successively sends tracing tone across each pair at the cross-connection box, which the first cable splicer identifies at the site of the cable break. The identified pairs are then placed on the subscriber-side of the restoral board, which not only tags their identity, but makes a temporary electrical connection. What makes identification of the pairs on the subscriber-side of the cable break difficult is that it is unlikely that the full pair count of the cable will terminate at just one cross-connect location. A high pair-count cable may in fact have its pairs terminated at a dozen or more different cross-connection points, EACH of which will have to be visited in order to send tracing tone to the cable break site and identify the full pair count. Sometimes pairs never even terminate at a cross-connect location, but instead terminate directly at a large customer location - which is yet another place that may have to be visited. In most instances, none of the above tracing effort is necessary in the case of a PIC cable break, since each pair in PIC cable is by its very nature self-identifying through its own color and that of its binder group color. One does not truly appreciate this "feature" of PIC cable until one experiences the effort necessary to repair a pulp-insulated cable. Installing new pulp-insulated cable was not so difficult since at intermediate splices pairs in a binder group were merely joined at random. Identification was only necessary at termination points. An additional problem is that in most cases it is not possible to pull enough slack in a damaged cable to reconnect the severed pairs. A length of jumper pair wire is therefore placed in the splice, and now one has TWO splices for every pair: one for each side of the jumper. Yet another problem is that the sheath must be cut back at least a foot in each direction of the cable break in order to "visualize" and therefore identify the binder group placement. For a badly mangled cable it may be necessary to splice a complete length of cable between the severed ends since 2-feet is about the limit to the length of any one splice case. And to make matters even worse, how would you like to be a cable splicer doing this work 15 feet above the ground working in a small tent in sub-zero weather? A motor vehicle accident that knocks down a utility pole will create this exact situation! While a cable splicer's job has little glamor, it does have some excitement and some hazards, and it is just as essential as that of a switchman in the CO. One of the most common hazards in working with aerial cable today is electric shock from streetlight fixtures with a broken ground that are attached to a utility pole. In large cities with extensive underground distribution, telephone cables may often share manholes with high-voltage electric power distribution cables. The ultimate nightmare of a cable splicer is to accidentally cut into a power cable instead of a telephone cable; a lead-sheathed power cable is indistinguishable from a lead-sheathed telephone cable. Such an accident has in fact happened on more than one occasion over the years. In previous years the job of a cable splicer was more artisan in nature, especially involving the working of lead used to join the lead sheaths of cables and make splice cases. The ultimate display of "lead craftsmanship" was in the "wiping of a joint" which formed the rounded end of a splice case where the cable entered the larger diameter splice. While many lead-sheathed cables still exist, today there is very little hot lead work; lead cables are usually fitted into conventional two-part separable splice cases using sealing tape and a compression-type closure. In previous years, many a cable splicer has been burned from spilled molten lead or spilled hot paraffin (used to "boil out" moisture from damaged pulp-insulated cable). I'll close this article with an interesting bit of "cable trivia". First, some background. Many CO buildings still in use in large cities were constructed between 1915 and 1930. Such buildings have seen many generations of telephone apparatus and have been "modernized" on a number of occasions. New apparatus is always installed and wired before old apparatus is removed. Telephone cable in CO buildings is supported on "cable rack", which may be as wide as 24 inches. Cable is built up in layers, with the oldest cable being at the bottom of the cable rack; the bottom layer is laced to the cable rack with waxed twine ("12 cord", for the benefit of any WECO people reading this who have "paid their dues" :-) ). Each successive layer of cable is laced to the previous layer. It is not unusual in a large CO to have a SOLID mass of cable 2 feet wide by 2 feet high on a single cable rack. In the above situation, much of the lower "layers" of cable in a cable rack will be non-working cable which connected apparatus that was removed years ago. The labor necessary to remove such old cable is significant, so usual practice is to just leave the lower layers in place. As a shortage of wiring space develops, an operation referred to as "cable mining" is performed to remove the bottom layers of cable and re-stitch the upper, working layers back to the cable rack, thereby freeing up space for new cable layers. Cable mining is only done when absolutely necessary, so if space is still available it is not unusual for a cable rack to have bottom layers of cable that are 60 or more years old. Such a situation still exists today in many older metropolitan CO buildings. An interesting "environmental" problem has been "discovered" in the past 10 to 15 years which now dictates that cable mining be conducted with the utmost care. There are actually two problems: 1. Plastic sheaths for central office power and signal cable did not come into general use until the 1950's. Prior to this time cable sheaths were made from cotton or silk. In the case of power cable, some styles of cable were covered with an asbestos sheath to prevent accidental fires. While asbestos-sheathed power cable has not been used since the 1950's, much of this cable still remains on cable racks. 2. While it may be hard to imagine today, large CO's were periodically plagued with mice during the 1920's and 1930's. These mice would chew on cable, thereby causing faults. Mice particularly loved the area around cord positions at DSA and toll operator facilities; the mice like to run on the inside multiples of such cord boards. Crumbs of food brought in by operators would attract such mice. In an effort to control this mice problem, some brilliant WECO engineer (who in all fairness did not know any better) during the 1920's came up with the clever idea of impregnating the cloth sheath of central office and switchboard cables with ARSENIC in order to deter the mice from chewing the cables. As a result, some CO cable installed during the 1920's and 1930's contains arsenic. So, today, some cable mining must be carried out with the utmost caution in order to avoid the hazards of asbestos and arsenic! <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #453 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 0:15:46 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #454 Message-ID: <8910170015.aa30321@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 00:15:32 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 454 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Roger B.A. Klorese) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (John R. Levine) Re: Caller ID saves A life! (William Berbenich) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Eliot Lear) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Lang Zerner) 911 Improvement Surcharge In Chicago (David W. Tamkin) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Peggy Shambo) A Light Touch (Dave Horsfall) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 16 Oct 89 21:46:05 GMT Reply-To: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (Patrick A. Townson) responds sarcastically to Steve Bellovin: >He implies in his first paragraph that one is >unlikely to get a fair hearing or a chance to reply to a message since >I did not botber to run the 'change name' program here and convert >myself to Patrick Townson for the occassion. Everyone who reads this >little Digest knows how bad I am about not allowing my critics the >time of day or space in the Digest to reply. I don't know, I read the following paragraph and didn't notice anything like what you claim you see, Patrick: >> I'm not sure if you can do this, given the login available to you, but >> you should distinguish between your role as moderator and poster. Most >> of the time this doesn't matter, but when it does -- i.e., when there's >> a controversial topic being discussed -- you should try to grant everyone >> equal access to the debate. Steve made the simple request that you should change your login name, if possible, when participating in a discussion, so that your opinions don't seem like the blessed consensus of the Digest. Nowhere was he anywhere near as condescending as you, and you trivialize his concerns. He was not claiming that you were denying access (although your little explanation, which I omitted, about why you forwarded Steve's message indicates that you are in fact doing so: his message should not have appeared so he shouldn't think you were stifling him, it should have appeared because it is important). As for the subject matter, your entire thesis seems to reduce that the concern of individuals for their constitutional rights is trivial in the face of a facility that saves lives. The case can be made that everything from in-home police surveillance to drunk-driver roadblocks to searches of random black men walking through white suburbs either has or could potentially save lives. The truth is that the cost factors are often the other way around: not that freedoms must be sacrificed to save individual lives, but that sometimes and unfortunately, lives are the necessary cost of maintaining our freedoms, even innocent lives. ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I want to live where it's always Saturday." -- Guadalcanal Diary ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 16 Oct 89 06:33:03 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: > He noted that prior to the installation of Caller ID, there had been > several objections to the service; 'violation of privacy' being the > major complaint. Some people apparently felt they had the 'right' to > talk to the police anonymously, and that this 'right' superceded the > rights of the police and fire departments to administer their duties > effeciently and effectively. This, of course, is a bogus argument of the first order. From the San Jose Pac*Bell telephone directory under the heading "911" (and I'm sure included in every directory issued from Pac*Bell): "Notice! _Dialing 9-1-1 and Your Privacy_ When reporting an emergency by dialing 9-1-1, your number (including non-published number) and address may be automatically displayed on a viewing screen. This information enables the emergency agency to quickly locate you if the call is interrupted. If you do not wish to have your telephone number and address displayed, use the appropriate 7-digit emergency number." Very simply, if you want to remain anonymous, don't dial 9-1-1. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 15 Oct 89 17:41:01 EDT (Sun) From: "John R. Levine" In article telecom-v09i0450m01 our Moderator writes: >For those of you who think Caller ID is the worst scourge to ever come >to the telephone industry, consider this case from Van Nuys, CA about >three weeks ago [in which a small child dialed 911 and the dispatcher >sent help based on the address display that E911 provides.] Some of us left wing wackos who dislike the way that telcos are introducing Caller ID think that 911 is a fine example of how Caller ID should work. If you dial 911, your call gets IDed. If you dial the cops' regular seven-digit number you don't get IDed. Many people have made technically straightforward proposals to allow ID to be turned on and off per call and per line. I believe that if the telcos implemented them you would see the opposition to Caller ID disappear. If you want not to answer calls from phones that don't provide ID, that's fine, I'll send a postcard. As has been noted here before, Enhanced 911 is technically different from the Caller ID that has caused all of the argument. As far as I know, no telco proposes to provide the calling phone number's address to Caller ID users like they do to 911. By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it off. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: 16 Oct 89 09:57:06 EDT From: WBERBENI@gtri01.bitnet Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! For those who wish to phone anonymously, most emergency services still maintain a regular CO line. Here in Atlanta, where 911 does not yet have full metropolitan area coverage, that option is still possible. Prior to my move to Atlanta from Mountain View, California, that option was possible . The way I was able to obtain the number was by calling Pac Bell and explaining that I wanted to program my autodialer with the number - the only trouble was that the autodialer would only accept either 7, 10, or 11 digits into its storage and I therefore needed the 7 digit number. Pac Bell gave it to me, I dutifully programmed it in, and the autodialer was ready to summon help for my household - however, were I able to call EMS but not able to speak, help would have been seriously delayed. wberbeni@gtri01.gatech.edu Georgia Inst. of Technology [Moderator's Note: If your autodialer's only objection is the lack of seven digits -- as opposed to the digits '911' themselves (for example, IBT speed dialing won't permit 911, 411 and certain others), -- then you can use filler digits of the form, '911-1111' or '911-####' to make the quota required. The network will start processing the call after the 911 is dialed, and the last four filler digits will have been given out long before the PD comes on the line anyway; no one will be offended by extra beeps in their ear. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:42:53 -0700 From: Eliot Lear Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I'd like to commend Steve for once again demonstrating that one of the hottest issues of the early seventies is still with us today - the individual's ``right'' to privacy. I don't propose to argue those rights, now. How can Caller ID be offered so that it does not intrude on the individual's right to privacy? When in doubt, allow configurability. Avoid making policy decisions in implementation, but allow for them in the future. It would be nice if phone companies would give the individual the option, up to any particular phone call, whether caller id should be given, as well as what the default should be. The win, here, is that individuals will be able to decide which is more important, and when. The lose, of course, is that if they pick the wrong default and forget about it, Van Nuys would be just another tragedy; or in Steve's example, some cop would end up a little richer at the expense of another's well being. Eliot Lear [lear@net.bio.net] ------------------------------ Date: Mon Oct 16 01:24:55 1989 From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Organization: The Great Escape, Inc Patrick-- Unlike some who object to the idea of a moderator editorializing, I support your position that your opinion is as valuable to a discussion as is anyone else's, and that therefore you have not only the right, but a moral obligation to state your views (so long as you are cognizant of and responsibe with the added weight they carry by virtue of your position). As long as you are careful not to take action which might curtail others' expression of their (possibly opposing) views, there is little sound argument against your expressiion of your own. However, after your recent request that telecom readers refrain from posting on the merits and disadvantages of Caller ID, I opine that it was irresponsible of you to post your "Caller ID Saves A Life!" article. While it is an interesting news story, it is fairly obvious that you posted it to advocate your personal position that Caller ID is in the main a good thing. By using your authority as moderator to enable the broadcast of your personal view on a topic, after using that same authority to curtail the broadcast of others' views, you have carelessly (I hope) neglected you responsibility as moderator to maintain a realistic and honest presentation of the views of the Usenet telecom community. If you feel it beneficial (as I agree it was in the case of the Caller ID debate) to request curtailment of a discussion here, I hope that in the future you will take the pill along with the rest of us. With respect, Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: Yes, I know I said Caller ID had occupied a huge amount of space here; and yes, I did suggest some time back it was time to move on to other things. But frankly, if the microcosm of society which makes up Digest readership is any indication, Caller ID is going to be a hot topic for the next few years. I really don't know which way to go with the discussion. It does seem a shame not to touch on 'Caller ID in the news' -- and we *will* be seeing more and more of it in the news -- yet the very real practical limitations of a Digest such as this preclude having the discussion go on and on forever. Be assured though, that for every position or posture taken here, ample space will be given to the 'loyal opposition'...whichever side of the argument that is. Thanks for writing. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:57:58 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Monday morning, October 16, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that he would submit to the city council a plan to increase city telephone taxes by 95c per line per month, earmarked for improvements to 911 service. Currently there is no such flat charge, simply a percentage tax rate on local telephone service. Daley's spokespeople commented that 911 service here has been a mess for years, and that many of the suburbs charge $1.00 per line per month, so 95c should not be unreasonable. There were no details about what is currently wrong or about what specific improvements Daley has in mind. (Despite the address, I live in Chicago; the Rosemont post office is more convenient for my location and travel patterns than any inside the city.) David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 ------------------------------ From: Peggy Shambo Date: Sat Oct 14 19:46:50 1989 Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Reply-To: peggy@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Peggy Shambo) Organization: ddsw1.MCS.COM Contributor, Mundelein, IL In article Lee_C._Moore.WBST128@ xerox.com writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 440, message 5 of 12 >Because of a service person who went wild in my house, I am now >shopping for a new answering machine. I am taking this opportunity to >by a top-of-the-line machine. Is there any machine that is currently >considered the best, hottest or most feature-full (consumer) answering >machine? >If there is sufficient interest, I will summarize for the group. Well, I don't know a heck of a lot about top-of-the-line answering machines, but my curiosity has been piqued as to the nature of this "service person" and what really happened to the old answering machine. Enquiring minds want to know. Does this qualify for the "sufficient interest" clause? :-) Peg Shambo | Anybody know of any IDMS/ADSO positions in peggy@ddsw1.mcs.com | the South of England? (London, Southampton, | Portsmouth, Bournemouth would all be nice) ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: A Light Touch Date: 13 Oct 89 02:00:05 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA I found this in the "Sydney Morning Herald", 10th October 1989: A Light Touch The State of Missouri is suing a company that sells light bulbs over the telephone, alleging the company claims that all its employees are handicapped whereas they may have nothing more disabling than hang- nails or hay fever. The lawsuit said workers for Local Handicapped Workers Inc had phoned thousands of people since April, asking them to buy light bulbs for up to $7 each (!) from its all-handicapped employees. Investigators said that when they posed as job applicants at the business, supervisors told them they could earn up to $770 a week and that "handicaps" could include pregnancy, hangnails, allergies or the need for eyeglasses. Applicants without handicaps were advised to come back when they "had thought one up". Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #454 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 1:06:58 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #455 Message-ID: <8910170106.aa22507@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 01:05:33 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 455 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Projections for V&H Table Coordinates (David W. Tamkin) Re: V&H Table Coordinates (Joel B. Levin) Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? (Tom Wiencko) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Carl Moore) Re: AT&T as a "Backup" For US Sprint et al (Dave Levenson) Re: What is SONET? (Paul Elliott) Re: 7 khz Technology for ISDN (Vladimir Taft) Re: SW56, ISDN Comm Cards For Macintoshes (Vladimir Taft) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (Fred Goldstein) Re: Some Comments on the History of Repertory Telephone Dialers (F. Linton) Re: The Day The Bell System Died (Stan M. Krieger) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Projections for V&H Table Coordinates Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 17:04:19 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" John R. Levine contributed to issue 450, volume 9: | The V&H tape uses some other projection that I expect is intended to | make equal distances equal. Intended, perhaps, but not successful. A projection that makes equal distances on the earth's surface equal on a plane map is impossible unless the area being mapped is a mesa top. As long as the distances between points are to be calculated as Pythagorean diagonals, something has to break down somewhere. My guess is that the coordinates are based on many projections of small areas; there would still be a problem in joining these smaller maps, but perhaps the theory is that with greater distances the error is less significant as rate bands become larger and fewer. With Illinois Bell, though, the coordinates are gospel: there is an eight-mile band for local calls, and the Chicago-Irving and Schiller Park CO's are a few feet more than eight miles apart. Illinois Bell dutifully charges a call between those two districts in the eight-to-fifteen mile band. On the other hand, the Chicago-Canal East and Chicago-Canal West switches, being in the same building, have the same coordinates assigned, so the distance between them never comes into consideration, though it is perhaps almost as great as the excess over eight miles in the distance between the Schiller Park and Chicago-Irving switches. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: V&H Table Coordinates Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:24:23 EDT From johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us: >The V&H tape uses some other projection that I expect is intended to >make equal distances equal. Any given projection is tuned to the area >that it is intended to display; the Albers projection is tuned for the >lower 48 . . . I also have no definitive answer. I have seen the map of the contiguous 48 states displayed against the grid, and an explanation that comes to mind is that the grid is tilted to allow the map to occupy the greatest amount of space within its bounding box, i.e., to maximize the scale used with certain coordinate limits. I don't know why this might be important, though. /JBL ------------------------------ From: Tom Wiencko Subject: Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? Date: 16 Oct 89 02:27:23 GMT Reply-To: Tom Wiencko Organization: Wiencko & Associates, Inc. In article Jim Henry I would like to design a system which allows a telephone caller to >check the status of an order by telephone without human intervention. I recently researched a similar application, and found a company which seems to handle this type of requirement very well. The vendor is Innovative Technology, Inc. in Roswell Georgia. They make a clever little board (which is not really cheap, but gets the job done) and better yet, there is a lot of software out there written by this company and by other companies to handle all sorts of touch-tone response applications. I have not used their product myself, but have talked to people who have used it and have demo-run some applications using it. Seems pretty slick. They are at 404/998-9970. Disclamer: I am not associated with Innovative Technology. Tom Wiencko (w) (404) 977-4515 gatech!stiatl!tom Wiencko & Associates, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 9:29:52 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Yes, there are some cases where 7D call can be long distance (within your own area code). This exists in California at least in 213, 818, 415, 408; New Jersey (201,609); and recently it was noted in the Digest that 1+7D within 313 area in Michigan will reduce to 7D (preparing for N0X/N1X there?). I noted years ago that 1+ was not necessary on pay phones on 475 and 478 in Delaware (302). ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: AT&T as a "Backup" For US Sprint et al Date: 14 Oct 89 23:29:09 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , myerston@cts.sri.com writes: ... > Such outages are usually reported as "SPRINT fiber cut, AT&T > circuits overloaded" as if each were equally to blame!. The fact that > the OCCs routinely use AT&T facilities to complete calls to remote > locations is equally unknown to press and public. When an excavation project severed a fiber optic link here in New Jersey last year, the AT&T customers noticed a huge increase in circuits-busy conditions. The AT&T network managed to complete a few calls, but the blocking probabilty went way up. MCI customers, on the other hand, were unaware of the outage, and experienced normal circuit availability. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 16 Oct 89 16:55:12 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , gamiddleton@watmath. waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes: > I read in the newspaper today about some Northern Telecom fibre-optic > equipment that uses a signalling technology called SONET. Does anybody know > what SONET actually is? SONET is an acronym for Synchronous Optical NETwork. It is not really a signaling technology, but rather is the North American fiber optic transmission standard. The SONET standard is described in Bellcore TA-TSY-000253 (Issue 3, July 1988). SONET transports telephony signals as payloads of multiple DS0 (Dee-Ess-Zero) channels, each DS0 being 64 Kbit/s arranged as 8 bits/channel with an 8000 Hz channel repetition rate. 24 channels are grouped (with one frame bit) into a frame; the resulting signal is called a DS1, and is the basic T1 signal. I won't go into the various signaling and framing formats here (unless someone really twists my arm). SONET provides for several optical transmission rates; these are: STS-1, OC-1: 51.840 Mbit/s, 672 DS0 channels STS-3, OC-3: 155.52 Mbit/s, 3x OC-1 ... and on, up to: STS-48, OC-48: 2488.32 Mbit/s, 48x OC-1 (STS-N = Synchronous Transport Signal level N, the signal description) (OC-N = Optical Carrier level N, the STS-N after conversion to light) Note that the data rates above do not correspond exactly to the number of DS-0 channels being transported. This is due to additional overhead data in the SONET signal. The SONET signal uses laser light sources and single-mode fiber. Here at Optilink, we were amused to see the Northern Telecom press release (in which they claimed to be the first), as we have had a SONET digital loop carrier system in field-trials at several sites for a few months now. The article in the paper was a bit sketchy, so perhaps they are indeed first at _something_SONET_, but certainly they are not alone in the field. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Vladimir Taft Subject: Re: 7 khz Technology for ISDN Date: 13 Oct 89 22:57:22 GMT Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA 7 kHz audio standard uses a more sophisticated encoding algorithm which provides better quality than the older standard (8-bit PCM) at the same bit rate of 64 Kbps. As far as the rest of your questions - sorry, I have not seen the article. Vladimir Taft ------------------------------ From: Vladimir Taft Subject: Re: SW56, ISDN Comm Cards For Macintoshes Date: 13 Oct 89 22:52:17 GMT Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA I would recommend to call Sofcom Inc. (division of Hayes) in San Francisco. The name of the president of the division is Mr. M. Drabkin. Get the number by calling (415) 555-1212 (Sorry, I do not have it handy). Regards, Vlad Taft ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 16 Oct 89 19:19:27 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , comcon!roy@uunet.uu.net (Roy M. Silvernail) writes: > Do you have measured service? What are the actual rates? Do you have > to juggle zones? Do you have a free-call area? If you were there for > the beginning of measured service, what was the introduction like? > (was there a public outcry? Was the public even consulted?) Here in Mass., there are measured residence options but mostly it's flat-rate. Business is measured-only IF there are more than 160k local lines, otherwise you can get either. I.e., the boonies are flat, but Boston is measured. Measured local service, particularly for residence, is a truly awful idea. The usual justification is that it's "fair" that people who use more should pay more. But what is fair about monopoly rates that don't correspond to costs? Most local measured service plans don't have any relationship to costs whatsover. The classic study was done in Denver in the mid-1970s, where local calls can go up to 53 miles. The cost of the typical local call turned out to be under a mill a minute. Only the longest were around 2c/minute. It's no doubt part of the Colorado PUC's public record, but I don't have a reference. New York State is fairly rigorous about cost-based rates. New York City, with its extremely high percentage of tandem switching, is all measured. Costs vary with time of day, and there are multiple distance zones. Residence can be timed or untimed. Untimed is about 8c/call peak hour, timed about 7c plus a penny a minute after the first five. I don't have the details handy. But in any case, NYC is NOT typical of the rest of the country! I once worked at a firm whose major business was intervening in telco rate cases. Measured local service was a common telco ploy to raise rates. The cost of measurement typically exceeded the cost of the calls being measured! Thus it was actually padding the rate base, costing the ratepayers money, and not buying any actual benefit. If overpriced local calls cause people to talk less, then the actual cost/minute of the network will go up. That's terribly counterproductive and makes poor public policy. Typically 80% of telco local cost is fixed, 20% usage-sensitive. What usage sensitive pricing plan was like that? Usually it gets more than 50% of revenue from usage. Local calls, especially within a short distance (not the Atlanta/Denver multi-office extended local areas) are incredibly cheap, on a marginal usage cents per minute basis. If the telco could really justify the rate on the grounds of cost, it would be economically valid and "fair". But then it would be too cheap to bother with. Which means they really shouldn't bother, but they always come back again and again... fred ------------------------------ From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: Some Comments on the History of Repertory Telephone Dialers Date: 16 Oct 89 19:38:40 GMT In article , kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > > A few years later year came Son of Rapidial, more commonly > known as Magicall. > Ah, yes, the Magicall! I picked one of these up at the New Haven Boulevard flea market a few (ten?) years ago, only to learn that the thing needs a power supply (P/S) and a dialer unit (D/U) (all I got was the box with the four-inch-broad tape ribbon and R/PB head). Has anyone any suggestions regarding the voltages and current ratings that missing power should produce, and which voltage is applied where in the tape box? Alternatively, can anyone suggest a source for either P/S or D/U? Respond directly, and I can supply relevant part numbers w/o boring everyone else. Many thanks! -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU Bitnet: FLINTON%eagle@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 xt 2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ From: stank@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (Stan Krieger) Subject: Re: The Day Bell System Died Date: 16 Oct 89 19:50:08 GMT Organization: Summit NJ > "The Day Bell System Died" > Lyrics Copyright (C) 1983 by Lauren Weinstein > (To the tune of "American Pie") > (With apologies to Don McLean) About the time of divestiture, there was a show on PBS about the AT&T breakup, and over the closing credits there was a satire on "Breaking up is Hard to Do" (I think it was "Breaking up is Hard on You"). Does anyone have the words to that one? Stan Krieger Summit, NJ ...!att!attunix!smk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #455 *****************************   Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 7:50:55 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #456 Message-ID: <8910170750.aa05033@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Oct 89 07:50:08 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 456 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson 708 Prefixes To Be Removed From 312 (Doug Blair) Potpourri: Thoughts About 708 (David W. Tamkin) Touch-Tone service in Australia (Henry Mensch) Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Wayne Folta) New Book: The Cuckoo's Egg (Alain Arnaud) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Joel B. Levin) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Mike Morris) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 708 Prefixes To Be Removed From 312 Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 16:26:04 CDT From: Doug Blair Patrick: Just got through typing in all the prefixes that are going to move to 708. Gotta drive a little awk script to make that move on 11/11/89. Now there's no sense in everyone all typiing it in is there? So, if it hasn't been sent into the dcom.telecom file yet, please do so with the appended list. If you'd like the script too, let me know. ___ _ _ _ _ | || |_ ___ _| ||_| ___ __ _| |_ Doug Blair Obedient Software Corp. | | || .\/ ._\/. || |/ ._\| \|_ _| 1007 Naperville Rd, Wheaton IL 60187 |___||___/\___/\___||_|\___/|_|_| |_| obdient!blair blair@obdient.chi.il.us The following prefixes will move from area code 312 to area code 708 on November 11, 1989. Note that 555 (directory assistance) and 591 (high volume calls - radio stations etc) and 976 (dial-it phone programs and recordings) will remain in both 312 and 708. This info typed from an Illinois Bell pamphlet dated 5/15/89 and is subject to change! 201 206 206 208 209 210 213 215 216 218 223 228 231 232 234 240 244 246 249 250 251 253 255 256 257 258 259 260 272 279 289 290 291 293 295 296 297 298 299 301 303 304 305 307 310 314 317 318 319 323 325 328 330 331 333 335 336 339 343 344 345 349 350 351 352 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 364 365 366 367 369 371 377 381 382 383 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 402 403 405 406 409 412 416 418 420 422 423 424 425 426 428 429 430 432 433 437 438 439 441 442 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 455 456 457 458 459 460 462 464 466 469 470 473 474 475 479 480 481 482 484 485 490 491 492 495 496 497 498 499 501 503 505 506 510 512 513 515 516 517 518 519 520 524 526 529 530 531 532 534 535 537 540 541 543 544 546 547 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 560 562 563 564 566 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 584 587 590 591 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 603 605 612 614 615 617 619 620 623 627 628 629 632 634 635 636 639 640 647 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 662 665 668 669 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 687 688 689 690 691 692 695 696 697 698 699 705 706 709 713 717 719 720 724 729 730 739 740 741 742 746 747 748 749 754 755 756 757 758 759 766 771 773 780 788 789 790 795 796 798 799 801 803 806 810 816 817 818 820 823 824 825 827 830 831 832 833 834 835 837 839 840 841 843 844 848 849 850 851 852 857 858 859 860 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 872 877 879 882 884 885 887 888 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 904 905 910 913 916 920 926 931 932 934 937 940 941 945 946 948 949 952 953 954 956 959 960 961 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 971 972 974 976 979 980 981 982 983 985 986 990 991 998 --- --- --- ------------------------------ Subject: Potpourri: Thoughts About 708 Date: Sun, 15 Oct 89 17:46:49 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Just a few stray thoughts after reading some recent issues: Yes, Boushelle Carpet Cleaners still advertise in metropolitan Chicago that their phone number is "HUdson three, two seven hundred." The rugs you are having cleaned by Boushelle might have been purchased from Lincoln Carpeting, whose jingle includes "NAtional two, nine thousand, NAtional two [ring ring], nine thousand." The video for Lincoln's commercial reads "NA2-9000" but I think Boushelle's spells out "HUdson" or "Hudson". Neither displays the prefix as "483" or "622". However, with the upcoming area code split, the videos for both now show a small, silent "(312)" to the upper left. Business cards, outdoor signs, and trucks are beginning to show the 708 area code here, and business in the city of Chicago are beginning to include the (312) instead of just naming seven digits. No advertising that I've seen in newspapers or on television or heard on radio as yet gives 708 for any suburban business. Our choke prefix here is 591. It will be seven-digit dialable from both 312 and 708 (708 callers will still be charged for a call to Chicago-Canal East), but I believe that outside area code 708 one will have to dial appropriately to reach area code 312: +1 708 591 XXXX will not work. There are only two local telcos in 312 and 708 (not counting cellular companies). Illinois Bell covers almost everything, but Central Telephone has two CO's whose areas both straddle the 312/708 border. The two companies are handling directory assistance rather differently: If you are calling from Illinois Bell service in Chicago and want DA for a 708 suburb or are calling from Illinois Bell service in a 708 suburb and want DA for Chicago, you'll have to dial 1-NPA-555-1212, but it will be charged only 30c, same as the cost to call 411 for your own area code. I'm not sure about calls from IBT-owned payphones to DA for the other side of the city limits; they currently do not charge for 411. (Of course, from a COCOT, it's whatever the traffic will bear. I seriously doubt that any COCOT, even those along the 312/708 borders, will treat an eleven-digit call to DA for the other side any differently for a call to DA in another state.) Presumably, during the grace period, 411 will be acceptable for requesting numbers in the other area code; Illinois Bell could not give me a definite answer on that nor on the cost of DA calls from payphones to the other side of the line. From Centel service, however, DA for 708 and 312 will be maintained in a single location, and you will dial 411 for either. The operator or the recording will include the area code when he/she/it tells you the number. DA will still be 30c per call (but with two free calls per line per billing cycle, free from Centel-owned payphones). 708 will, quite unnecessarily, be the first disjointed NPA: of the four geographic holes in the city of Chicago, one will be in 312, one is a tiny patch condemned for a future highway interchange that has no phones, but the other two will be partly in 312 but mostly in 708. Thus 708 will be in three pieces. The mess could have been avoided by keeping in 312 five of the prefixes that are going into 708 (covering four suburbs), and I don't know whether this lame-brained notion was IBT's or Bellcore's idea, but as with the way IBT is handling directory assistance, the people at Centel just shake their heads and sigh. I live a block's walk from each of these two extra borders between the codes and a half mile from the outer perimeter of Chicago (where the bulk of 708 begins); if anyone will be in the area and wants a tour of places where adjacent houses or stores will be an eleven-digit call apart or where it will require an eleven-digit call to reach the police or fire department, let me know. Included will be two shopping plazas in Harwood Heights that have stores in alternating area codes. I do know of one business in Chicago that realized they'd been assigned a Niles prefix and howled at IBT about it; they now have a new number and will stay in 312 with their neighbors. I hope they are making IBT pay for their new stationery, new advertising, and notice to existing customers. One curiosity is that as a Centel customer in Chicago I can dial two area code 708 numbers with three digits: 411 reaches a Des Plaines number (probably on the 699 or 391 prefix) and 611 reaches (708) 698-9955 in Park Ridge. Likewise, Illinois Bell's area code 708 customers will dial 611 and reach (312) 509-2510 [at least from suburbs along the northern edge and the northern part of the western edge of Chicago]. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 Jolnet is a public access system, where every user expresses personal opinions. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 05:36:16 -0400 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Touch-Tone service in Australia Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu Mr. Kendall states in his recent item that there is no touch-tone service in Australia; I must disagree. I lived on Australia's Gold Coast from January until June of this year, and the only phones I saw there which were *not* touch-tone were coin-operated payphones. In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many regions, though. From Mr. Kendall's network address, I see he is in Tasmania, which may be regarded as something of an outpost (with respect to new features) as far as Telecom Australia is concerned. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) Subject: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 16 Oct 89 22:37:04 GMT Reply-To: folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP (Wayne Folta) Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Lines: 18 The price of cellular phones has been dropping recently, so I got a reconditioned phone for $230 (Fed. Expressed to my door). It comes in a backpack, with a magnetic-mount antenna. I'd like to put a little work into it and make a nicer, more permanent set-up, so: Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? Why is the Radio Shack window- mount antenna so much smaller than my magnetic mount? And why does the Radio Shack antenna have such a large passive coupler (I think) base? I would like to disguise the antenna, to avoid break-ins, as the rest of the system will be hidden. Any clever ideas here? Maybe use the FM antenna? Maybe an antenna in the back window? Wayne Folta (folta@tove.umd.edu 128.8.128.42) ------------------------------ From: Alain Arnaud Subject: New Book: The Cuckoo's Egg Date: 16 Oct 89 14:05:34 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I picked up a new book over the week-end, titled "The Cuckoo's egg or Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage". It is by Clifford Stoll, and the publisher is Doubleday. Here's a synopsis of the write-up on the inside flap. "For months a computer intruder moved through a maze of American military and research computers like an invisible man - until Clifford Stoll saw his footprints. Over a year later, to the delight of the baffled CIA, FBI and NSA, Stoll nailed him, and wound up on the front page of the New York Times. With all the supense of a classic spy novel. Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist turned Unix systems administrator at Lawrence Berkeley lab when his discovery of a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on the system. Instead of simply expelling the intruder, Stoll let him wander through the system while carefully rewcording every keystroke. Thus began a year of stalking an elusive, methodical hacker who was prowling the nation's conputer network, (Arpanet, Milnet...) using numerous techniques- from simply guessing passwords, to exploiting software bugs in gnu-emacs, to setting up bogus programs, to gain umauthorized access to American computer files on several military, government and academic computer systems..." Excellent book, a real page turner with lots of details on Unix systems and the Internet. This book is as good if not better than Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of the Machine". Alan Arnaud Std Disclaimer + Just a consultant Guest Account: arnaud@angate.ATT.COM Permanent Account: uunet!ecla!arnaud ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 13:18:44 EDT >Picture it: a small boy next to a huge pile of cookies with chocolate >around his mouth, and the jingle >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" Wow. You don't say what that was for, or where, it was used, but I remember that phone number from radio commercials for a Boston area carpet cleaner (or maybe seller). Was that it? Or were there more than one metro areas with commercials plugging that same number for local firms? ------------------------------ From: Mike Morris Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: 16 Oct 89 20:42:28 GMT Reply-To: Mike Morris (John Boteler) writes: >In discussing how our analog brains work, the subject of telephone >number jingles in advertisments came up. She pointed out how such a >simple device could jog our memories. >It must have worked because I have never forgotten this one. >Picture it: a small boy next to a huge pile of cookies with chocolate >around his mouth, and the jingle >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" While not a telephone number, or even a jingle, it reminded me of a gag "memo" that was on the San Diego PD watch commanders bulletin board one April 1st a number of years ago... Before I type what it said, a little info is necessary: Most police departments use a "ten-code" on their 2-way radio: 10-1 means "You're in a bad radio transmission location, I can't hear you", "10-2" means "Your radio signal is good, go ahead", "10-4" is "affirmative", "10-7" means "out of the car, away from the radio", "10-8" means "In the car, available for assignment", etc. There are also the "Code" signals such as "Code 3" meaning that red lights and siren are in use, "Code 4" meaning "Everything's OK, no assistance required", "Code 7" meaning "Out of the car for lunch or dinner", etc. The memo went something like: Units going 10-8 from Code-7 will use proper grammar! No longer will we be "10-8" we will be "10-EATEN"! Since I was in San Diego only for one day (the April 1st of the memo), I have no idea if "10-eaten" was used on the air... Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov ICBM: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard PSTN: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard cat flames.all > /dev/null ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #456 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 1:00:20 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #457 Message-ID: <8910180100.aa19310@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 01:00:07 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 457 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson San Fransisco Horror (TELECOM Moderator) Update on 415 Area Code (Linc Madison) Noise Problems from "Metering Pulses" in Europe and Asia (Larry Lippman) Small Phone System (David C. Troup) Dialing Procedures in Dallas (Linc Madison) Payphones and Calling Cards (Linc Madison) Voice Mail & Ringmaster (Richard S. Walker) Billing of Yore (Johnny Zweig) Re: NUA for Compuserve? (Rupert Mohr) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 0:08:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: San Fransisco Horror At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is about 200 people, and this may be a low estimate. A large fire is burning out of control and has destroyed much property. I wish nothing but the best to our readers in the San Fransisco and Oakland area, and I hope that as communications are restored we will receive detailed reports of the disaster, particularly in reference to telecom activities. Berkeley is totally off line at this time, and email contact is not possible with the sites in the San Fransisco area. We seem to have been hit with so many disasters recently. First came the storm on the east coast; then a few days ago, the storm in the south which affected Texas and Louisiana.....and now this new horror. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 01:51:36 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Update on 415 Area Code Organization: University of California, Berkeley I had a little time to kill this weekend, so I did a little research, with a little help from two Oakland directories (June 1988 & 1989) and one San Francisco (Sept. 1989). In the one-year span between the two Oakland books, 29 prefixes were added. At that rate of consumption, the supply of NNX prefixes would've been exhausted by mid-1992. If 415 weren't being split, the supply of NXX codes would run out by about 1996. I went a bit deeper, though. Area 415 includes one area north of San Francisco, Marin County. Everything else north to the Oregon border is 707. Seemed logical to me that Marin should've been thrown in with the relatively uncrowded 707. It turns out that out of 30-odd prefixes in Marin and about 130 in A/C 707, there are only 7 duplications -- *all* in San Rafael on the 415 side. Neither area has significant growth in number of prefixes assigned. The other interesting thing to note is which N0X/N1X prefixes are coming on line first. The first three were 302, 502, and 709. The next few include 506, 516, 601, 705, and 706. The interesting part comes from looking at the NPAs corresponding to these combinations: Delaware, western Kentucky, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Long Island, Mississippi, northern central Ontario, and northwest Mexico (hack). All except for 516 are areas of low population where people in this area are relatively unlikely to call. (In fact, the way I found the last five is that if you dial, for example, 214-XXXX, the system waits for you to dial the last three digits so it can give you its "You moron, dial 1 first" recording.) I'm just curious why Pac*Bell decided to pick on Lawn Guy Land ;-) Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Noise Problems from "Metering Pulses" in European and Asian Countries Date: 16 Oct 89 20:05:29 EDT (Mon) From: Larry Lippman In article H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in} writes: > >> ... The usual system of billing > >> calls elsewhere is with "metering pulses". Each pulse is worth so much > >> money. On a local call, the pulses go by very slowly and on an > >> international call the pulses come rapid-fire. > In India too, where we have these metering pulses, most places dont > not get itemized billing. However, the new electronic exchanges that > are now being set up provide metering pulses only as a sort as > "backward compatibility" to the local exchanges that demand it. > BTW, these metering pulses cause havoc with dial-up data-comm. They > are audible right through the subscribes phone set. We have spent a > good amount of time with various combinations of modems and metering > pulse rates. Metering pulses generated by central office apparatus in various European and Asian countries may be a problem for data communication users. There are different metering pulse schemes in use throughout the world, but I believe the most common method uses simplex pulses of 50 Hz AC. Using a repeating coil in a trunk circuit, 50 Hz is pulsed through a single primary winding. There are two secondary windings, one of which is placed in series with the tip side of the line, and the other is placed in series with the ring side of the line. The secondary windings are arranged so that their phases are *opposed*, which means that no 50 Hz tone will be audible in the station instrument. The meter is an electromechanical counter which is sensitive to 50 Hz signals, and is connected with one side to ground, and the other side connected to BOTH tip and ring using two series capacitors. While the meter is located in the central office, the system is intended that "private meters" can be used at subscriber premises. The effective method of signaling as described above is simplex. However, the inaudibility of the 50 Hz metering pulse is only as good as the longitudinal balance of the cable plant. Cable plant in poor condition, especially that which may be subject to effects of moisture will result in a longitudinal imbalance, thereby increasing the detected level of these metering pulses. An appropriately designed impedance network located at the station may be used to correct for longitudinal imbalance of the cable plant and thereby reduce the level of the metering pulse. I have an off-the-wall suggestion for such a crude, but perhaps effective balance network. Obtain a 2,500 ohm wirewound potentiometer and two 0.22 uF non-polarized capacitors rated for 200 WVDC. Connect the wiper arm of the potentiometer to a GOOD earth ground. Connect the tip side of the telephone line to one side of the potentiometer using the first 0.22 uF series capacitor; connect the ring side of the telephone line to the other side of the potentiometer using the second 0.22 uF capacitor. Adjust the potentiometer for minimum audible level of the metering pulses. While I have not had firsthand experience with metering pulses in the U.S. (where they are not used), I did acquire some knowledge of the topic back in 1977 when I was involved with a project for the government of Egypt. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ From: "David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz" Subject: Small Phone System Date: 17 Oct 89 03:22:27 GMT Organization: Carroll College Dept of Artificial Intelligence I have stumbled across a box about the size of a Telebit Trailblazer which reads: TelExpand (system 1) R.M. Fuller Company The front has l.e.d.'s for... In use; Privacy mode; delayed response; priority response; call forward; pager alert; answer machine; remote access. The back panel has two phone jacks - wall and phone. a program and single/multi switch. And on the bottom, the sticker reads: TeleExpand Advanced features telephone system R.M. Fuller Company 902 industry Drive Seattle, Wa 98188 So! Anyone know how to use this? Anyone ever HEARD of this unit? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks. "We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, knowin' that ain't allowed"__ _______ _______________ |David C. Troup / Surf Rat _______)(______ | |dtroup@carroll1.cc.edu : mail _____________________________|414-524-6809___________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:11:48 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Dialing Procedures in Dallas Organization: University of California, Berkeley Various contributors have referred to the horrible situation in Dallas. As a former resident who still visits frequently, I can tell you it's quite confusing, and largely needlessly so. First of all, Dallas (and all of Texas, at least the Bell parts) have had MANDATORY 1+ dialing since the introduction of DDD. It has never been possible to dial NPA-NNX-XXXX. Dallas and Fort Worth are toll to one another, but there are some prefixes in the area that are desig- nated "Metro", meaning calls to/from both Dallas and Fort Worth are local. Until quite recently, a subscriber with a Metro number could call from or be called by any telephone in the expanded area with just the 7-digit number. As a result of the recent introduction of NXX prefixes and the upcoming new area code, several changes have occurred: 1) To dial from Dallas to Tyler (both 214), you must dial 1+214+NXX-XXXX. However, to dial from Fort Worth to Waco (both 817) you dial only 1+NNX-XXXX. Same applies with 0+ calls. 2) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Fort Worth Metro number, you MUST dial 817-NNX-XXXX. If you dial just the 7 digits, you get an error message. If you dial 1+817-NNX-XXXX, you get error msg. 3) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Dallas Metro number, you MUST dial 214-NXX-XXXX, *even though* it's a local call in the same area code!! Same error messages as above. 4) To call out from any Metro number, I believe (I'm not certain) you must dial only the area code for local calls, but 1+ if it's toll and so on. The upshot is that you MUST dial 1 if it's toll, and you MUST NOT dial 1 if it's not toll. You must dial the area code whenever dealing with a Metro number, though. However, to make things even WORSE, in Houston, along the border between 713/409, some local calls are 1+713-NNX-XXXX or the same with 409 from 713. Got that? There'll be a quiz later.... Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu P.S. (dead thread, I know, but...) My all-time favorite call sign, which I didn't see in the discussion here, is a TV station in Chicago: WTTW, your Window To The World. A station here in San Francisco is now using that slogan (KTSF-26), so I wonder what's happened to the Chicago WTTW. [Moderator's Note: WTTW-Channel 11 is still operating in Chicago. It is our Public TV station, and they still use 'Window To The World' as their slogan. My main concern now, Link, is what happened to YOU in the earthquake. Communications with Berkeley have been lost for several hours. Let us know you are safe, and what's happening out there. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 02:22:35 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Payphones and Calling Cards Organization: University of California, Berkeley I've recently had occasion to make a few long distance calls from payphones, and have a few of my own stories to add to the collection. The local COCOTS payphone intercepts as "invalid number" 10288, 10222, 10333, and 10777. It also tried to charge me out-of-state DA charge for an in-state DA call. (I was just testing it -- in-state DA is free from Pac*Bell payphones.) However, it allowed 950-XXXX and 800 access numbers and didn't disable the keypad. I tried (from a *real* payphone == Pac*Bell) to make some calls on my MCI and Sprint calling cards. Dialing 10XXX-0-NPA-NXX-XXXX and then punching in my card number at the tone gave me "invalid card" responses on both carriers. (No, I *didn't* switch them around.) The Sprint intercept particularly surprised me, because it cut in immediately after the fourth digit. Since they now assign random 14-digit numbers (instead of the old YOUR-HOME-PHONE+XXXX), I was surprised that they intercepted as soon as they saw that I wasn't dialing the XXXX of the target number. Both of my cards work fine with the appropriate 950/800 number, and the Sprint operator who came on-line after I punched my number in twice was able to enter it from his console without problem, but their computers don't accept their own calling cards. I was calling from Sunnyvale, Calif., and other places in the San Francisco LATA. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 09:02:19 edt From: "WALKER,RICHARD S" Subject: Voice Mail & Ringmaster I have a Voice Mail card (PC Systems) in my 286 and I'd like to set it up to recognize different rings that Southern Bell's Ringmaster service offers. Does anyone know if a programming solution is possible? ------------------------------ From: Johnny Zweig Subject: Billing of Yore Reply-To: zweig@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 16:43:53 GMT I am curious if people know how long-distance billing used to be handled in days of yore. In particular, how did it evolve as technology went from patch cords to SxS to *ESS? I mean, in 1921 I gather you placed a long-distance call by telling the local operator to patch you through -- where did the billing information reside? I am also curious about how hotels have charged for phone-usage in the days since they started doing so. Before PBX's, it seems like they would either have had to guesstimate the charges or have some complicated arrangement with the phone company to inform them at the time the call is made how much it costs. Johnny Curious [Moderator's Note: Years ago, operators kept manual paper tickets which they wrote up as they placed each call. These tickets were stamped in a clock when the connection started, and stamped again when it ended. The tickets were collected by clerks who went around to each operator position picking them up every few minutes. The clerks computed the time and charges for each ticket, and when the subscriber had requested this information they were called back with details. The tickets were sorted by calling number and placed in each subscriber's folder where they were held for billing. Other clerks continually kept pulling these folders and posting tickets on the appropriate ledger card. Like today, subscribers were on cycle billing; that is, a certain number were billed each working day of the month. There were 22 billing cycles per month. I have in my grandparent's papers a phone bill from Illinois Bell dated May 13, 1931. The statement has a *handwritten* list of the long distance calls, plus a handwritten cover sheet showing the total bill for the month was $3.60. Hotels had an arrangement with telco which was that they (hotel) guarenteed payment for all guest calls in exchange for a commission for handling the call, as well as billing and collecting. Following a long distance call, the hotel was notified, usually within minutes and always within an hour of the charges for the call. They added this to the guest's bill and the guest paid when checking out, or immediatly, depending on his credit. The telco billed the hotel once a month, and gave typically a 10-15 percent discount on the total bill. If as sometimes happened, telco failed to quote time and charges in a timely way and the guest checked out without paying -- because the amount was not known by the cashiers when he paid his bill -- then telco had to absorb those charges. Usually in high traffic locations, telco would call the hotel every few minutes to quote time and charges for the calls just completed. Sometimes they used a telex machine to transmit this information. PT] ------------------------------ From: Operator Subject: Re: NUA for Compuserve? Date: 16 Oct 89 15:23:00 GMT Organization: RMI Net Aachen * W. Germany CompuServe has 3132 as NUA for its network and then asks Host name: Rupert ***************************************************************** ___ ____ ___ _ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ /__/ / / / / /\ / /__ / /__//__// /__//__ /\ / / \ / / __/_ / / /__ / / // //__ / //__ / / ***************************************************************** * addresses: uucp rmohr@infoac.rmi.de rmohr@unido.bitnet * * cis 72446,415 Fax 49 241 32822 * ***************************************************************** ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #457 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 2:02:25 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #458 Message-ID: <8910180202.aa20639@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 01:59:41 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 458 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Caller ID at American Express (John Croll) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Bob Jacobson) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Roger B.A. Klorese) Re: Technical Specifications of TTY Machines (Michael S. Cross) Re: Wrong Number (Bob Goudreau) Re: Telecommunications in Belgium - Part 2 (Alain Fontaine) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Brian Kantor) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Scott D. Green) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Stephen Tell) Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Dennis Brophy) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 06:35:59 -0700 From: croll@wonder.enet.dec.com Subject: Caller ID at American Express At the risk of being the straw that broke the camel's back... In Telecom V9:454, John Levine (johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us) writes: >By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my >bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the >caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my >card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number >and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it >off. I remember reading in Forbes (I think, it was some time ago) that American Express Customer Services folks used to greet callers by name as they answered the phone, taking advantage of the features of the 800 version of Caller ID to automatically look up the caller's account. They no longer do this, because it was so disconcerting to their customers. They received so many complaints from enough people that they either turned it off, or instructed their people to no longer say anything about it. The article didn't say explicitly whether they had turned it off, however. From this, my own conclusion is that the reaction to caller ID isn't so much the explicit invasion of privacy as the fear that Big Brother is always watching. I know that this is just about the same thing, but there is a difference between the abstract feeling that your privacy isn't perfect and having your nose rubbed in it every time you make a phone call. After all, many times when you call someone you wind up telling them who you are, anyway; having them greet you with your name before you even get a word out is, to say the least, disconcerting. It puts the control of the conversation immediately into the callee's hands, instead of the caller's. John ------------------------------ From: Bob Jacobson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 17 Oct 89 07:52:08 GMT Reply-To: Bob Jacobson Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA Caller ID for 911-E (enhanced) services has never been a source of controversy. California state law explicitly provides for the sharing of personal telephone information, including telephone numbers, with emergency service providers via the 911 service. Regrettably, in many rural areas, telephone providers -- particularly the larger firms, Pacific Bell and GTE California -- have not yet upgraded their systems to provide 911-E. It is unlikely that a call to Sears or American Express is going to save someone's life. Oh, wait: I can just envisage a teenage girl now, screaming at her parents, "I've just got to call and order those new jeans or I'm going to die!" Thank goodness for Call ID: next time, the department store can anticipate this need and mail out a solicitation to the family. How nice. ------------------------------ From: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 17 Oct 89 21:33:10 GMT Reply-To: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA In article johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us writes: >Some of us left wing wackos who dislike the way that telcos are >introducing Caller ID think that 911 is a fine example of how Caller >ID should work. If you dial 911, your call gets IDed. If you dial >the cops' regular seven-digit number you don't get IDed. ...but in many areas it is difficult, if not impossible to reach an Emergency Services Dispatch Center with a seven-digit number. In Boston, for example, we were told that if we called the seven-digit number for the local police station, they could not guarantee emergency response. ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I want to live where it's always Saturday." -- Guadalcanal Diary [Moderator's Note: But the theory is, if you have a dire emergency -- which is the *only* valid reason for calling 911 -- then you obviously will want the police/fire/paramedic people to be able to immediatly locate you with your emergency circumstances. If all you want to do is call 911 to snitch on your neighbors, or report your car stolen, these are not *emergency* problems, and you should be using the seven digit administrative number. Here in Chicago a huge number of calls to 911 are not *emergencies* at all, but simple complaints or requests to file police reports, etc. 911 is only to be used when *immediate* intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, or a fire going on *now*, etc. And for those conditions, how could anyone object to being immediatly identified and assisted? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Sep 89 08:14:09 CDT From: msc@ihc.att.com (Michael S Cross) Subject: Re: Technical Specifications of TTY Machines Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories [Moderator's Note: Michael Morris passed along this letter received from Mr. Cross, in response to an earlier article in the Digest. PT] I just finished reading your description of the TTY machines and just wanted to say hello. The building I am in now is one of the last TELETYPE buildings left standing. Just after divestiture we became AT&T TELETYPE then just AT&T, we are now AT&T Bell Laboratories (for about 1 1/2 years). We don't make printers anymore :-( Now our standard products are the 6500 Multifunction Communications Controller (IBM 3270 Market) and the 630 MTG. We are moving to Naperville IL next Feb. providing the building is complete. The land has been sold to developers who are erecting a shopping center as we "speak". About the only things left to remind us of TELETYPE are the Water Tower and our computer names. My main machine, ttrdc, was shutdown last week and we have aquired a mail-server named 'ihc' for Indian Hill Court, the name of our new building. (this is a NetNews-server, cbnewsc) I feel sad that we are loosing our "heritage", but data communications just ain't what they used to be. Gotta go now, take care! Michael S. Cross (msc@ihc.att.com) (312)-982-2018 AT&T Bell Laboratories, 5555 Touhy Ave., Skokie, IL 60077 ______________________To Live is to risk Dying____________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 14:14:18 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Wrong Number Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >61 is the Australia country code, and 8 is the city code for >Adelaide. In taking some notes from a recent New York Times >Magazine, I had to catch myself confusing 61_2 (city code is >that of Sydney) with area 612 in Minnesota, where I have been >to this year. This seems to be not-uncommon practice for Australian firms. I've seen some ads for various other Australian companies where the same thing was done: the country code and city code are run together and displayed inside parentheses. For example, (617) xxx xxxx. This is *extremely* misleading for North American readers, who are used to North American numbers in exactly the same format, but where the 3-digits-inside-parens refers to the area code. (In particular, the above example parses out to a number in the Boston vicinity.) Readers will naturally assume that the number in the ad (which being placed in a US magazine was obviously intended for a US audience) refers to a US office of the company. Of course, such companies are getting exactly what they deserve: less business because potential customers can't reach them. This will continue until they list their numbers according to internationally accepted standards: +61 7 xxx xxxx, for example. Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 16:34:57 +0100 From: "Alain FONTAINE (Postmaster - NAD)" Subject: Re: Telecommunications in Belgium - Part 2 - Numbering and dialing On 9 Oct 89 16:03:46 GMT you said: >This is an historical artifact. Some (ten?) years ago all telephone >numbers in Belgium were changed. Before that time a telephone number >consisted of a two digit area code (including leading zero) and a 6 >digit local number, or a three digit area code plus a 5 digit local >number. So a telephone number was always 8 digits including area >code. This changed overnight throughout Belgium to a telephone number >of 9 digits including area code. In most places the local number got >an additional digit. The exceptions were the cities with area codes >(at that time) of 04, 07 and 09; there the area code was changed and >the local number unchanged. The historical note is correct (it was done nicely, if I remember correctly). And since then, no new area number has been attributed. And I still believe that we could see a 04, 07 or 09 zone again some day... >When I was in Belgium this summer I checked it, but as far as I know >all special numbers are 3 digits starting with either 1 or 9. I >remember something like 985 information in French and 995 information >in Dutch. But I believe this is different for the different areas. >I.e. some areas do not have information in French, while others do not >have it in Dutch while a few in the German speaking part have also >German numbers. Three digit numbers for special services were replaced on October 30, 1987 by the new numbers I described, all over the country. It may be that the 995 (French) and 975 (Dutch) for information did remain as aliases for those poor stangers who come in Belgium once in a while, and insist on relying on their old notes instead of getting up to date information from, say, a telephone directory. Is that not nice of us??? There is no technical reason to explain the fact that service is not available in any language all over the country : pure politics: _(. >Like most places in Europe letters were not used very much. I >remember a Belgian telephone that had the French layout for letters >(that was some 30 years ago), but these letters were never used. The >only reason was probably that the telephone was French made. (The >French layout is similar to USA/UK layout, except for the position of >letter O, which was, together with Q and Z, positioned with digit 0.) The letters have been used much more in France. When, in the early sixties, we were listening to some French radio stations, we always heard telephone numbers (in Paris) starting with three letters (exchange name) and then, uh, four digits. /AF [Moderator's Note: My favorite Paris exchange was 'OPEra'. PT] ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 17 Oct 89 20:35:54 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: UCSD Network Operations In article folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP (Wayne Folta) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 456, message 4 of 7 >Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little >curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with >horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? A non-technical explanation: The cellular antenna is really two vertically-polarized antennas of approximately 1/2 wavelength, and the curly part can be viewed as a delay line to cause the two sections to work in phase. Thus the antenna has an effective "gain" (i.e., works better) than a simple antenna. I have a similar antenna for my ham radio equipment, except that as it's for a frequency that is about half that of the cell-phone band, my antenna is about twice the size. - Brian ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Oct 89 10:10 EDT From: "Scott D. Green" Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves a Life A great human interest story, but is this news? This is exactly what Enhanced 911 was designed for. Doesn't the dispatcher, in addition to displaying the calling phone number, also get a location on the display? Those callers requiring anonymity CAN call a non-emergency standard 7D number in most communities. Anyway, we could be on the verge of another CallerID go-round, if we're not careful. ------------------------------ From: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Date: 17 Oct 89 21:11:51 GMT Reply-To: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill I notice from this list that our NPA (919, North Carolina) is 8th from the top. In my last bill from Southern Bell was an insert saying that shortly we will be required to dial the whole 1+10 digits for long distance calls. I suspect that these observations are related; does anyone know if 919 is in for a split or are NXX prefixes now going to be assigned here? I've notice no N0X/N1X prefixed yet; but don't have definite information. Steve "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and is in black and white, chances are, it's a MACINTOSH!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 21:27:10 PDT From: Dennis Brophy Subject: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service How does the phone service work during an earthquake? I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? It is also intersting to note that Portland has NO local operator assistance this evening: "All circuits are busy." I guess if I wanted to make a collect call from a pay phone I would not get a Portland operator either. (Is there such a thing as a local Portland operator, or is the call being routed to another site in the nation which would explain this?) I've heard from others in Portland, that they have been performing three-way-calls using MCI (not AT&T) from their homes to connect people in the Sacramento area with people in South San Francisco cities. So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? [Moderator's Note: This issue of the Digest was prepared and ready for transmission when this message arrived in the queue. The Digest was held and this message was 'pasted on' the end. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #458 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:57:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #459 Message-ID: <8910181957.aa11400@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:50:27 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 459 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Disaster Communications (Ihor J. Kinal) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Evelyn C. Leeper) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Antonio Desimone) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Ken Jongsma) The Big One (Hector Myerston) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Louis A. Mamakos) PacBell Disaster Press Release (PacBell, via TELECOM Moderator) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Krishna Prasad) San Jose Report (Tom Ace) Twenty Miles South on 880 When It Hit (Doug Faunt) [Moderator's Note: This issue of the Digest is devoted entirely to news and views about the tragic events of Tuesday night in San Fransisco. I am sorry to report that some of our regular participants from the Bay Area still have not notified me of their present circumstances. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ihor J Kinal Subject: Disaster Communications Date: 18 Oct 89 11:56:27 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Watching the news reports, it was interesting to note that ABC managed to have power and communciations sufficient to broadcast out. It was obvious that power was out, since the blimp shots showed no lights, except for autos on the highways, so it wasn't unexpected that most phone lines were down or overloaded. One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so they were unable to give damage estimates. I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. Something on the nature of meteor-bounce communications [I've read recent articles that even trucks on their cross-country trips can communicate back to their base with something like this]. It's low band-width, so you store a message, and the equipment waits for a short time period until a meteor shower occurs, but aparently the wait is never long. It would appear to be the ultimate backup, as long as the radio itself is not buried. Speaking of communications, ABC constantly showed us the same picture from the blimp that was there to cover the ball game. My wife asked a very good question - why not send the blimp south towards the epicenter, to give a direct report??? Given the state of highways, etc, it would obviously get there quicker than anything except a helicopter, and presumably most of those were engaged in local disaster relief. Ihor Kinal att!cbnews!ijk ------------------------------ From: Evelyn C Leeper Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 18 Oct 89 16:02:48 GMT Reply-To: ecl@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Evelyn C. Leeper) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? We got through via AT&T to our in-laws in Mountain View at 5:40 PM PDT last night. I believe at some point AT&T started blocking inbound calls in order to save the trunks for outbound calls, which seems reasonable. Whether this blocking was total or whether some number of calls were let through isn't clear. I find it a bit of a miracle that my in-laws who have no power, no gas, and probably no water service, have a phone that worked throughout all this--my father-in-law called home right after the quake to say he was okay and the phones worked fine. And it's not MCI who installed all those working lines and phones either. I admit to a certain bias, but I am proud of how well AT&T's installations have performed through the crisis. Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 201-957-2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com If I am not for myself, who is for me? If I am only for myself what am I? And if not now, when? --Hillel ------------------------------ From: Antonio Desimone Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 18 Oct 89 17:07:38 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories From article , by dennisb@pdx.mentor. com (Dennis Brophy): > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? First, let me tell you that I don't *know* the answer, and second, that I know only a little about how the long-distance network is run (and of course don't represent AT&T...). BUT, I can speculate. If an emegency developed and generated focussed overload in my (hypothetical) network I would block calls destined for the emergency so that those circuits would be available to those calling out from the affected area (if I had the ability to exercise such controls). A better question might be, how successful is MCI/AT&T in completing calls out of the Bay area? (But these are only my opinions and uninformed speculations!) Tony DeSimone AT&T Bell Laboratories Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!tds386e!tds ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: Wed Oct 18 10:15:52 1989 From: Ken Jongsma My primary mail system is through Portal near Cupertino and of course I had no sucess in reaching it this morning. Sprint just reports all circuits busy. AT&T alternates between all circuits busy and an interesting message with words to the effect of "Due to the earthquake in the area you are calling, your call could not be completed." Early this morning calls were going through ok. I suppose as people are waking up and trying to call friends, the system is jamming up. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 18 Oct 89 14:36 PST Subject: The Big One Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] Small sampling of the effects of the Big One in the SF Bay (mid-peninsula and the City): Our 4000 line PBX come through unscathed, all earthquake-braced gear didn't miss a beat, late-install T-1 Mux "walked" about 18 inches but stayed upright and within the slack in the cable. Local service was amazingly unaffected, emergency calls within the first 1/2 hour (before the 1st after-shock) went through on 1 or 2 tries. Outgoing LD not much problem. When I called out-of-state numbers I invariably found they had been trying unsuccessfully to call this way. AT&T has implemented some kind of "flow-control" giving us (NPA 415 and 408) a better Outgoing GOS. Most people I have spoken to have lost, at most, A/C power. Those with limited battery backup may go down soon. Some major hotels in SF are in this boat. Cellular was jammed as a result of resulting (road) traffic jams. I had not problems calling my home from outside the area but got fast-busies on almost every other call. All-in-all Disaater Recovery Planning seemed to pay off. (Personal Note: If you have cable TV at home keep a residual antenna around. Cable was out, most local TV stations came up in fairly short order). ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 09:42:12 EDT From: "Louis A. Mamakos" Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Organization: The University of Maryland While there were news reports regarding telephone problems in the SF Bay Area, connectivity via the NSFNET and BARRNET existed to at least NASA/Ames and Stanford. I fingered a bunch of likely machines looking for people that I know, but it seems as if most of them had left their machines. I noticed that later on in the early morning NASA/Ames dropped off the network.. perhaps their UPS finally gave up the ghost? louie [Moderator's Note: Berkeley was off line from loss of power early in the evening. I don't know when they came back up. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 12:18:19 PDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: PacBell Disaster Press Release [Moderator's Note: Pacific Bell has issued the following press release relating to communications in the San Fransisco area. PT] PACIFIC BELL WITHSTANDS SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE; HOWEVER PUBLIC URGED NOT TO CALL BAY AREA TO AVOID 'GRIDLOCK' SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Bell's telecommunications network has withstood Tuesday's devastating earthquake with minor damage, however, the extraordinary numbers of people calling in and out of the Bay area are causing sporadic delays in service. "Pacific Bell's precautionary efforts demonstrated that despite the strength of a 6.9 earthquake, the local telecommunications system remains, essentially, intact," said Jerry Sinn, chair of the company's Emergency Operating Center in San Ramon. The majority of telephone service delays are due to an overload of the network caused by customers picking up their telephones and calling friends and loved ones following the quake. "We are joining with other telephone companies throughout the country in urging the public not to call into the Bay area for at least 24 hours, so that the network can handle emergency calls without delay," said Sinn. Within hours telephone crews on site were assessing damage, relaying information to the Emergency Operating Center which in turn began coordinating restoral efforts. Technicians and telephone operators are standing by in Los Angeles and Sacramento to join in the restoral efforts if necessary. "Preplanning is the key word here," Sinn continued. "Since the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, Pacific Bell has instituted a number of measures to minimize damage to its telecommunications network." They include: o The modernization of telephone switching equipment which allows fast restoral due to its solid state components; o Telephone central offices which now have reinforced flooring and mechanical braces above equipment frames and steel reinforcements in the underground vaults; o A computerized network monitoring system that enables managers to re-route calls going to and from affected areas; o Fiber optic cables which have been installed with 25 feet of extra cable. This slack absorbs the pulling strain that an eartquake generates; o Pacific Bell has participated in a number of local, state and national emergency preparedness drills to ensure our effectiveness. Telephone customers can also do some "pre-planning" by looking through their Pacific Bell White Pages directory. In the front of each directory is a Survival Guide which outlines basic emergency procedures and preventative measures, including earthquake assistance. 10/18/89 /CONTACT: Lissa Zanville of Pacific Bell, 213-975-5547/ ------------------------------ From: houdi!ksp@att.att.com Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 16:26 EDT Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Dennis Brophy writes about the Bay Area earthquake: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? > I've heard from others in Portland, that they have been performing > three-way-calls using MCI (not AT&T) from their homes to connect > people in the Sacramento area with people in South San Francisco > cities. > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? To begin with, it seems that all the telephone networks deserve to be congratulated for doing as well as it did considering the magnitude of the quake. But to answer the specific question that Dennis asks... In emergency situations like this, it is far more important for people in the area to be able to call out for help than for people to call in. It is also far more efficient -- for example, my brother in Mountain View, (near San Jose) called me in NJ (and he got through easily) , and I called everyone else who might have been concerned about him, which is far more efficient than everyone trying to call him. Therefore, AT&T has sophisticated network management controls and trunk reservation, which were selectively blocking calls into the Bay Area last night, and giving priority to calls coming out. So while there were some difficulties calling in on AT&T, I am yet to see a report that calling out was difficult. I have no idea if the OCCs have such controls, but I suspect that they don't, which would explain why Dennis could call in. I will bet that calling out was much harder on any OCC, though. Krishna Prasad ksp@houdi.att.com AT&T Bell Labs Holmdel, NJ 07733 (201) 949-2619 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 11:55:11 PDT From: "Tom Ace @ PCB x2021" Subject: San Jose Report A short report about phone service in San Jose after the earthquake: Dial tone took a while to get, often 10 seconds or so during Tuesday evening, sometimes more. Toll calls often got reorder or "busy circuits" recordings, but some went through. I only made a couple important ones and didn't talk for too long. From my small sample of calls, the system appeared to have bent under the tremendous load but didn't break. (I use AT&T for long distance). We didn't lose our T-1 line from here (Mentor Graphics San Jose) to our headquarters in Oregon. From telecom digest #458, about AT&T not completing incoming calls: >So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into >the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? It wasn't a question of inability, it was a conscious decision. I heard on the news that AT&T deliberately chose to block incoming toll calls except emergency ones (presumably placed by an operator). I assume the reasoning was that people here were better able to choose which calls were important than people outside who wanted to call in. Considering how overloaded the network was, it didn't sound like a bad decision to me. Tom Ace tom@sje.mentor.com ...!mntgfx!sje!tom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 17:35:53 -0700 From: Doug Faunt N6TQS 415-688-8269 Subject: Twenty Miles South on 880 When It Hit This telecom reader survived. I was on 880, about 20 miles south of the Cypress Structure, when it hit. Since I normally bypass that section, anyway, I got home to verify that all the effect I had was books on the floor, and then went to the Oakland EOC to provide amateur radio communications. The telecom related issue is: I was actually able to get through to Florida and Boston last night, about 7:00PM. Today the message I get when trying to call Boston is: "RA3 Channel 1" repeated. What does this mean? Grateful to be OK, Doug [Moderator's Note: Thanks for writing. I suspect many people in the Bay Area are grateful and have much to give thanks for this evening. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #459 *****************************   Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 21:34:19 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #460 Message-ID: <8910182134.aa23087@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Oct 89 21:30:15 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 460 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Yet Another Area Code Split (David Kuder) Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service (Steve Buyske) Itemized Billing (was Re: Long Distance Indicator) (Dave Horsfall) Automated Operator Assistance (Ken Jongsma) How Do You Complain About Call Blocking? (James Olsen) Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia (Jon D. Kendall) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Bill Cerny) Breakin' Up is Hard on You (mar@athena.mit.edu) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 13:15 PDT From: David Kuder Subject: Yet Another Area Code Split This appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989 [Los Angeles Times]. Typed in without permission. All views are those of Robert A. Jones. One editorial observation, East L.A. is largely Hispanic, South-Central is largely black. Both are lower income areas. The Westside is an upper income area where the only color that counts is the color of your money. "Forget Signs - What's Your Area Code?" by Robert A. Jones There is a building in Pasadena where they make new area codes for Southern California. If you call directory assistance, the operator will not admit this building exists. Its number is unlisted. But somewhere in the dungeons of this Pac Bell office, right now, a new area code is being planned for L.A. Not all of L.A., of course. Just certain parts. Once again, the city has outgrown 213 and some neighborhoods must be marked for exile to a new number, a new identity. Eventually, in the next three or four years, a visitation will take place in the dark of night. Whole blocks, small cities, will be taken away, never to see 213 again. If you don't understand the repercussions, think of it this way: there are only three area codes that mean anything in this country. They are 212 in Manhattan, 202 in D.C., and our own 213. Everyday, from dawn to midnight, 212 gets on the horn to 213 and vice versa. In turn, both 212 and 213 light up the fiber-optics to 202. These three form a troika of codes; they run the country, and you're either in this troika or you're out. Soon, a big chunk of L.A. will be out. Take a look at a map of 213 and you will see how hard the choice will be. Compared to this, the 818 thing was easy. With 818, Pac Bell simply ran the boundary down the ridge line of the Hollywood Hills. Everyone to the north was out. Ther was such a logic to it that the whining of the 818's was fruitless. This time there is no geography to use. That means the company has to make its decision on cultural grounds. Should the Westside be lopped off? Just picture the wailing. Or should downtown become the cultural amputee, cut off from its telephonic roots? In truth, Pac Bell could go after the smaller players, like East L.A. or South-Central. There's one major problem with this strategy: it would leave the company vunerable to the charge that Latinos and Blacks had been gerrymandered out of the code, leaving 213 to the rich whites. As I say, this could get ugly. And there's the matter of the new number itself. This country has been gobbling areas codes so fast that only a few remain available. The phone company won't reveal these numbers, but that's O.K. We've made a our own calculations, based on the arcane rules of area code formation. This list of possibilites looks pretty much like this: 310, 410, 903, 909, 910. In my mind, there is only one choice. The numbers ending in 10 are entirely too friendly for L.A. They're codes for suburbs. And 903 is nowhere, a nebbish. That leaves 909, a great code. Nine-Oh-Nine has dark power, it's sort of a Darth Vader number. Nine-Oh-Nine could carry on the struggle with New York. All of which leads me to my modest proposal. As we know, show biz has always existed as a separate community in L.A., a world that's hidden and unavailable to the minions. Swell. Let's recognize that, draw a circle around the show biz neighborhoods and give them this new power code, 909. Then the rest of the city, with the old 213, could disengage and go its own way. =========================== [Moderator's Note: I won't even bother to correct some of his errors, but I have to wonder where he gets the impression that 212/202/213 is all that matters in the network. And I suppose the same sort of sinister implications could be made about our impending 312/708 split: Chicago (the minority is in the majority; blacks and latinos are about 2/3'rds of our population) gets 312, and the rich, white people in the suburbs get 708. To me, they are just numbers, and frankly, I think the author of this piece in the El Lay Times is one doughnut short of a full dozen. PT] ------------------------------ From: buyskes@lafcol.uucp Subject: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service Date: 16 Oct 89 13:25:43 EDT (Mon) I thought the Digest's readers might be amused by this story: A friend of mine, a new graduate student at Princeton, manages to actually get new phone service during the strike. The only problem is that the number NJ Bell told her is actually the number of some office at the Princeton Seminary. Well, by good fortune she gets a wrong number, asks the person what number they dialed, and so discovers her true number. But since information is giving out the seminary number to people who ask for her number, she calls NJ Bell to straighten things out. NJ Bell: No, we can't change your listing to the number that actually reaches you, because that number belongs to someone else. We'll adjust the switching so that you can be reached at the number we originally told you. Friend: But that number is an office at Princeton Seminary. NJ Bell: Oh, you're right. In that case I'll have to disconnect your service immediately. We will call you as soon as we have your new number. Needless to say, after two weeks she still doesn't have service, although she calls NJ Bell regularly. We're all looking forward to seeing her first bill. Steve Buyske uucp : rutgers!lehi3b15!lafcol!buyskes Mathematics Department Bitnet : BUYSKES@LAFAYETT Lafayette College Easton, PA 18042 ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Itemised Billing (was Re: Long Distance Indicator) Date: 18 Oct 89 03:10:16 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: | | I wonder how many of the readers out there are really aware of the fact | that the itemized billing that we have in the US and Canada is somewhat | unusual in the world telephonic community. Not as unusual as you think. We have it Down-Under as well, but only on the later exchanges. Naturally, Telecom charge for it. Local calls aren't shown (but the number of calls made is, since they cost money), and STD/ISD (long distance) are broken down by date, time, destination, number, tariff, duration and cost. Nice! Enables me to say "Oi! I didn't make any phone calls to Auckland! I don't even *know* anyone in New Zealand!" and get the charge reversed. Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ Subject: Automated Operator Assistance Date: Wed Oct 18 10:05:37 1989 From: Ken Jongsma Ohio Bell Telephone is implementing automated operator assistance in the Cleveland area in the next few weeks. It appears to be the same system that Michigan Bell is using in Western Michigan. Callers from Touch Tone phones are given directions on which button to press for collect or third party billing, then asked to record their name. The switch then plays the name back to the billed party and asks for confirmation of billing. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: James Olsen Subject: How Do You Complain About Call Blocking? Date: 18 Oct 89 15:24:21 GMT Reply-To: olsen@hx.lcs.mit.EDU (James Olsen) Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Cambridge, MA. 02139 Nomad@cup.portal.com writes: >Nashville, TN - Tried to make a AT&T calling card call from a >payphone in the airport. 10288 did not work, so I tried 00. That >got me a local operator ... she transferred me to the AT&T operator >... I explained that I was at the airport and calling from a COCOT >that would not accept 10288 ... she was surprised to hear of the >problem because "they aren't supposed to block access anymore". I've noticed a lot of expensive call-blocking COCOT's being installed in this area (usually replacing honest New England Tel. units). We all know that the goverment will do nothing about it, unless people raise a big enough stink. My questions are: To whom should we complain about call blocking? (The FCC and the state PUC?) What's the best way to make a complaint? (Is there some formal complaint procedure which will have more effect?) Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Oct 89 14:29:40 EST From: kendall Subject: Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au (Dr. Jon D. Kendall) Organization: University of Tasmania I was surprised to hear from Mr. Mensch in his recent article that the Gold Coast has touch-tone service. A quick ring to one of my friends in Telecom-Australia revealed that I was quite mistaken. Indeed, Telecom is gradually phasing in touch-tone service and hopes to have all major urban areas covered by 1991 or so. Even here in Hobart, Tasmania the service is available for a few exchanges. On the Gold Coast up in Queensland where a lot of new development is taking place, it is relatively easy to build new exchanges with the touch-tone capability. It is much more costly to replace exchanges as will be done here. Nevertheless I am quite content to wait for the service, preferring to live in a much more pleasant climate and less corrupt (according to the newspapers) environment than Queensland. Here in Tasmania we move through life at a sure and steady pace. Don't take this last part too seriously -- just a bit of interstate rivalry, ha, ha. In any case I have touch-tone service as does almost any organization here with its own PABX. The University of Tasmania has an ASB 900 SPC PABX which has been adequate for our needs. ------------------------------ From: bill@toto.UUCP (Bill Cerny) Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 18 Oct 89 15:03:51 GMT In article , John R. Levine writes: > By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my > bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that > looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the > caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my > card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number > and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it > off. When American Express starting routing their Megacom traffic over the primary rate interface (PRI), they also subscribed to Calling Number Delivery (no monthly, just 3 cents per number delivered). When the agents answered, "Good morning Mr. Goldberg, how may I help you?" the customers were awestruck, and wanted to know how they knew their identity before answering the call. This resulted in much more time wasted than was saved thru auto-retrieval of the account with CND. I was told that AmEx changed the script for their agents: greet, ask for the acct. number (verify it with what's already on the screen), and say, "Yes Mr. Goldberg, I have your records right here..." The agents are discouraged to discuss any of the wizardry of the new system, since AmEx's purpose for subscribing to CND is to save time. Bill Cerny "The cost of living just went up another $1 a fifth." Internet: bill@toto.cts.com - W. C. Fields ------------------------------ From: mar@athena.mit.edu Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 15:00:44 -0400 Subject: Breakin' Up is Hard on You Someone asked about this, so I dug it out of my archives. -Mark Date: 28 Jan 84 00:55:06 EST From: Don Subject: Breakin' Up is Hard on You "Breakin' Up is Hard on You" Doo doo doo down doobie doo down down, The deal is going down, doobie doo down down, The rates are going up, uppy, up, up, up, Breakin' up is hard on you. Don't take Ma Bell away from me, I've gotten used to monopoly, When they divest, then I'll be blue, Yes breakin' up is hard on you. Remember when you'd make a call, And you'd get through -- no sweat at all, Now you'll wait the whole night through, Cause breakin' up is hard on you. They say that breakin' up is hard to do, And so they put the screws to you, Don't say it's fate my friend, Including breakin' up, They're also jackin' up the rates again. A. T. and T., Don't say goodbye, Don't wanna use no MCI, You'll pay bills out the wazoo, Cause breakin' up is hard on you. They say that breakin' up is good to do, But then they send six bills to you, Don't say it's fate my friend, Including breakin' up, They're also jackin' up the rates again. I beg of you, don't take my phone, I want to lease, don't want to own, Reach out and touch some other fool, Yes breakin' up is hard on you. Doo doo doo down doobie doo down down, The deal is going down, doobie doo down down, The rates are going up, uppy, up, up, up, Breakin' up is hard on you. (repeat and fade as in song) Written by The American Comedy Network (C) Copyright 1984 If you'd like to obtain a copy of the single, call ACN at 203/384-9443 (Reprinted here without permission) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #460 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 0:06:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #461 Message-ID: <8910190006.aa32438@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 00:05:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 461 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Area Code NineOhNine (Jon Solomon) Damage Report (Tom Limoncelli) Earthquake and Berkeley (Jim Haynes) Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones (Fred E.J. Linton) Re: Dialing Procedures in Dallas (Eric Schnoebelen) Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? (Edward S. Sachs) Re: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Enviromental Problem" (Tad Cook) Re: What is SONET? (Tad Cook) Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia (Jim Breen) Re: Small Phone System (Jim Gottlieb) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:20:44 EDT From: jsol@bu-it.bu.edu Subject: Area Code NineOhNine Yes, Patrick, that's exactly what I feel too, however I must point out that the average number of donuts per capita income per person is about 2. It seems there is also a gaping hole around 12; some get more, some get less. In any case, Los Angeles politics is a big deal. I'm fairly sure that Beverly Hills won't get out of 213. Just too much money there. And Hollywood? Think about it. All those Hollywood types who have to use area code 909 or 818 or 213......... Hmm, maybe it would make sense to use 909 in downtown LA, but they're essentially right. Just like New York City, area code 213 has a larger saturation than area code 818. Even in Boston, 617 is getting nearly full; even though they just split the code already. It poses a real problem: How do you evenly split an area code so that the growth flows nearly evenly in both codes? I suspect 617 will go to NXX codes before it splits again, at least now that there is no non-Electronic/Digital switching in 617, so changing that shouldn't be much of a problem. However, I will miss the dial-1-is-a-toll-call feature of this area, meaning that if I call a number, I won't know if I have to pay for it or not. jsol [Moderator's Note: Jon Solomon was the founder of TELECOM Digest and the moderator for several years. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Tom Limoncelli @ Drew Univ." Subject: Damage Report Date: 18 Oct 89 21:18:59 GMT I hope this is useful, it was posted on soc.motss. It's not phone related, but you might report that SRI and Menlo Park have been reported to be ok. Newsgroups: soc.motss Subject: Re: Motsser Quake Report Message-ID: <67312@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> From: amz@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Arnold M. Zwicky) Date: 18 Oct 89 15:20:34 GMT Summary: not so bad in menlo park Elizabeth Zwicky (zwicky@spam.istc.sri.com) reported by phone last night that she was fine, that SRI suffered no serious damage, and that the surrounding area in Menlo Park was not in bad shape. arnold ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 19:46:12 -0700 From: Jim Haynes Subject: Earthquake and Berkeley [Moderator's Note: Berkeley was off line from loss of power early in the evening. I don't know when they came back up. PT] Small nit - Berkeley was off the line before the quake because of some problem with the T-1 circuits. It came back midday today. ------------------------------ Date: 18-OCT-1989 15:57:08.10 From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones I post the attached because I failed thrice when trying to reply directly to Mark Holtz (Wesleyan depends on well-connected UUCP mailers in the big wide world). Forgive, please, this trespass. > From: mholtz@sactoh0.uucp (Mark A. Holtz) > I am kinda wondering. . . . is there still some areas in this country > that still have payphones for a dime? Well, yes, New Haven (CT) is one such place; so is Middletown (CT). -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU Bitnet: FLINTON@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 xt 2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 (OR, maybe, 72037.1054@CompuServe.COM ) F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ From: Eric Schnoebelen Subject: Re: Dialing Procedures in Dallas Date: 18 Oct 89 21:53:14 GMT Reply-To: Eric Schnoebelen Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx. In article rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu (Linc Madison) writes: -Various contributors have referred to the horrible situation in -Dallas. As a former resident who still visits frequently, I can tell -you it's quite confusing, and largely needlessly so. To add some additional comments and confusion to the Dallas calling situation, here are my comments. For the record, I have a personal metro line from GTE, at my home in Lewisville ( a far north Dallas suburb, actually closer to downtown Ft. Worth than downtown Dallas...ten minutes to DFW, forever to anywhere else :-) I originally got my metro line because I was frequently calling a girlfriend who lived in southwest Ft Worth, and the long distance charges were killing us. -3) To call from a regular Dallas number to a Dallas Metro number, you - MUST dial 214-NXX-XXXX, *even though* it's a local call in the same - area code!! Same error messages as above. This is not true, at least not with my metro number (214-434-1329, to be disconnected at the end of the month :-( ) I and my friends call my number as 434-1329 all the time, from all over Dallas. -4) To call out from any Metro number, I believe (I'm not certain) you - must dial only the area code for local calls, but 1+ if it's toll - and so on. To call Ft Worth, I have to dial 817-NXX-XXXX, to call Dallas, I just dial NXX-XXX. In Ft Worth, people must dial me at 214-434-XXXX. -The upshot is that you MUST dial 1 if it's toll, and you MUST NOT dial -1 if it's not toll. You must dial the area code whenever dealing with -a Metro number, though. I get the impression that at least one prefix in 214/817 is still reserved for true metro service. I hear the radio stations and Ticketron/Rainbow tickets advertising thier call in lines in the 787 exchange, with out listing the NPA. 787 is also ( obviously ) the choke exchange for Dallas/Ft Worth. -Got that? There'll be a quiz later.... Did I pass? [ picking on teacher time :-) ] ------------------------------ From: Edward S Sachs Subject: Re: Measured Service: What Does It Cost? Date: 18 Oct 89 14:11:44 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article , goldstein@delni.enet. dec.com writes: > That's terribly > counterproductive and makes poor public policy. Typically 80% of > telco local cost is fixed, 20% usage-sensitive. What usage sensitive > pricing plan was like that? Usually it gets more than 50% of revenue > from usage. I think that this breakdown is not quite true, because the phone lines typically feed into concentrators at switching centers, which can provide service to only a fraction of the phones (typically 1/8 or 1/16 for residential lines) at a time. High usage lines need to be fed in at 1/2 (or even 1/1), resulting in higher equipment cost at the telco. Thus, the 'fixed' cost quoted above needs to include a component indicating the usage (% of time phone is in use). -- Ed Sachs AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL att!ihlpb!essachs, e.s.sachs@att.com ------------------------------ From: amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu Subject: Re: Cable Repair, Splicers and a Cable "Environmental Problem" Date: 19 Oct 89 01:56:04 GMT Organization: very little I enjoyed Larry Lippman's description of cble splicing and mining. Wasn't it a cable mining operation that set off the Hinsdale fire? Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs.washington.edu Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 19 Oct 89 02:00:07 GMT Organization: very little Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England Telephone Co! Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: Touch-Tone Service in Australia Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:32:38 GMT In article , henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) quotes earlier correspondent: > In Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, I found that touch-tone service was > non-existent; it did seem to be an up-and-coming thing for many > regions, though. ............... You can't have looked too hard. Most exchanges (CO's) in the larger cities have had DTMF capability for several years. It is there for the asking, however most telephone customers are prepared to go on using their good old rotary-dial telephones. Part of this is due to the Australian regulatory system. Telecom Australia, the PTT, is the sole provider of exchange lines and has the right to provide , as part of the package, the first 'phone in each site. For most people, getting the touch-phone service means either buying a new phone, or getting Telecom to change over (for a fee), plus paying Telecom to change the line from Decadic to DTMF. Small wonder most people stay with rotary dialling. My Institute has a modern ISDN-compatible PABX network. All our handsets, and all our exchange lines, are DTMF. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: Small Phone System Date: 19 Oct 89 03:21:58 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles In article carroll1!dtroup@uunet.uu. net (David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz) writes: >I have stumbled across a box about the size of a Telebit Trailblazer >which reads: > TelExpand (system 1) > R.M. Fuller Company >So! Anyone know how to use this? Anyone ever HEARD of this unit? > Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks. That's a great little unit! I'm not familiar with all of its features, but we use it in a mode where it answers a line and asks for a security code. It then allows you to enter a number and it uses 3-Way Calling on that line to conference you and that party. We use them to check some of our 976/900/0990 lines in distant cities/countries since those numbers can often not be dialed from outside. Unfortunately, it seems that the company that manufactured them has gone out of business and we are unable to get a hold of any more units or find another product with the same functionality. Any information to the contrary would be welcomed. Jim Gottlieb E-Mail: or or V-Mail: (213) 551-7702 Fax: 478-3060 The-Real-Me: 824-5454 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #461 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 22:27:04 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #462 Message-ID: <8910192227.aa31957@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 22:25:47 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 462 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (John Higdon) Phone Service at Monterey Peninsula (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) What Works in a Disaster (Ole J. Jacobsen) Re: Disaster Communications (Kenneth Illgen) Re: Disaster Communications (Jim Budler) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Gary Segal) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (John Higdon) Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage (Will Martin) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Daniel M. Rosenberg) [Moderator's Note: Another issue of the Digest devoted to the Event. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Higdon Subject: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 19 Oct 89 03:55:46 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows Last night, a night that will live in infamy, I finally arrived at a friend's house in the Mojave desert. I was supposed to leave on Saturday, but because of one thing and another the trip got delayed. It's about a seven-hour drive from the Bay Area to the High Desert, so to kill the time I listen to my favorite CDs. I let myself in, my friend not being at home, and proceeded to check my machine for messages. Reorder. Again and again. Thinking that the 800 translations might be messed up for some reason, I dialed the POTS number (you should always know the POTS number for 800 service!). Again, reorder. So I made a "thing" of it and dialed over and over. Finally I got an "all circuits are busy" recording. At that point, I just figured that Contel was messing up and looked elsewhere for entertainment. On went the TV, and it comes up with scene after scene of collapsed buildings, freeway structures, and then suddenly a shot of a very familier structure--the Bay Bridge. It seemed that while I was driving through Bakersfield, it was the "big one". With mouth hanging open, I watched all of the damage footage. Then they revealed the epicenter. No it was not SF or Oakland but in the Santa Cruz Mountains -- thirty-five miles CLOSER to my house than to the area so badly damaged. At that point I became a little anxious. How were my relatives in town? Was my house still standing? How were my clients faring (that I had left in the hands of an assistant)? No amount of dialing could break through. Then I realized that my desert friend had a 950 Telesphere account. SUCCESS! I made call after call using that account, noting the sluggishness of the Bay Area COs, which were probably completely overloaded. But the point is that I got through and determined that everyone was OK, my house was OK, but my clients were hit hard. I came home. On the way home, I listened to SF radio to get a feeling for what was going on and at one point spokepersons for AT&T and Sprint were crowing about how they were blocking calls from outside the area so that the local Bay Area network would not be overworked. Well, I am about to write a letter of appreciation to Telesphere and a show-cause request why I shouldn't cancel my AT&T and Sprint accounts. Thanks to Telesphere, I was able to handle some emergencies over the phone (not to mention putting my mind at ease). That was NO THANKS to AT&T and Sprint. Now, who is backing up whom? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 11:59:00 PDT From: "Jeffrey M. Schweiger X2502" Subject: Phone Service at Monterey Peninsula Thought I'd pass along a few personal observations on phone service following the earthquake, from the southern portion of the affected area, the Monterey Peninsula (actually we were closer to the epicenter than San Francisco, and while not downplaying the tragedy of the damage in the San Francisco/Oakland area, the physical damage in and around Santa Cruz is extensive). I have MCI dial 1 service. I was initially unable to call the east coast (to inform family of my status), using my dial-1 MCI service. I, instead received a 'circuits busy' recording. I thought I would then try AT&T via 10288 - I wasn't even able to finish dialing. Announcements were made over the radio stations operating (not having a battery operated TV, I didn't know or care whether any TV stations were transmitting), that AT&T was intentionally restricting long distance service in and out of the affected areas, in order to support emergency communications. I was finally able to reassure my family by switching back to MCI, but using 950-1022, as opposed to dial-1. This worked without much difficulty. I realize that my above experiences are not described to the level of technical detail normally seen on this group, but thought they might be of interest. Jeff Schweiger ------------------------------ Date: Thu 19 Oct 89 15:39:33-PDT From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: What Works in a Disaster After the big quake here Tuesday night, it was understandably difficult to make both local and long-distance calls. Dialtone was not the ever- present commodity that we're used to. The radio adviced people to use the phone as little as possible. Pac Bell reported handling one million calls per minute in the hours following the disaster I helped a friend contact her worried parents in New York, and finally succeeded after some 10XXX hacking, the carrier which worked was 311 which I believe is AllNet. In answer to someone's question to this list: The reason big carriers like AT&T are somtimes unable to provide service in situations like this is quite simple: Overload. The "little" guys are nice to use as backups (like my 10311 hack) in such situations, how many people have AllNet as their default carrier anyway? Ole ------------------------------ From: "Keneth..Illgen" Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 19 Oct 89 12:15:19 GMT Reply-To: "Kenneth..Illgen" Organization: Air Force HQ, The Pentagon In article ijk@violin.att.com (Ihor J Kinal) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 459, message 1 of 10 >One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had >lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so >they were unable to give damage estimates. >I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. I can't speak for CHiP but in most instances emergency services backup communications systems are prioritized. Radio traffic is initialy used for determining injuries and hospiital space. While the networks are rightfully interested in physically damaged areas the police, fire and medical departments have to use their limited frequency range to coordinate rescue efforts. >Speaking of communications, ABC constantly showed us the same picture >from the blimp that was there to cover the ball game. My wife asked a >very good question - why not send the blimp south towards the >epicenter, to give a direct report??? I was very frustrated with all the network coverage being focused on S.F. and Oakland. My loved ones are in San Jose and Palo Alto. I understand that S.F. is the major media center and naturally the best base of operations. Regarding the blimp; it's a slow moving craft and would not have made it far enough south before darkness set it. I think ABC and/or Goodyear made the right decision to keep it in the S.F/Oakland area. ------------------------------ From: Jim Budler Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Organization: EDA Systems,Inc. Santa Clara, CA Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:09:53 GMT ijk@violin.att.com (Ihor J Kinal) writes: } One of the networks called the CHiP, and they stated that they had } lost phone communications with most of their sites in the area, so } they were unable to give damage estimates. } I WAS SURPRISED THAT THE STATE POLICE DON'T HAVE BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS. I don't know about the CHP themselves, but the general emergency services backup system for the area was based on cellular telephones. It didn't work. Ref: Two local TV interviews with members of the Emergency Services. Jim Budler jim@eda.com ...!{decwrl,uunet}!eda!jim compuserve: 72415,1200 applelink: D4619 voice: +1 408 986-9585 fax: +1 408 748-1032 ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 19 Oct 89 15:31:50 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004 On the eve of Tuesday's quake, I was able to get through to a friend at Stanford on MCI. I was about to try AT&T after getting re-order a couple of times, but the call went through on what would have been my last try on MCI. The number was (415)328-xxxx. I believe my friend said that he lives in Menlo Park. Damage there was minimal, his area was suffering only from a power outage. I was quite amazed at the ease I had getting through! I succeded at about 10pm Pacific time. Gary Segal @ Motorla C.I.D. ...motcid!segal or uunet!motcid!segal ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 23:03:24 PDT Reply-To: John Higdon Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? Around here, not very well. Cheap shot, sorry. > I had to send a fax to San Jose this evening, and AT&T would not > complete the call, but MCI was able to reach my destination in San > Jose with out a problem. Why would AT&T stop service while MCI > permits inbound calls to the Bay Area? According to AT&T spokespeople, they were doing this as a "service" to keep the traffic on the Bay Area's phone system down. I guess it never occurred to anyone that there might be reasons for people from outside an area to call in during a disaster. I was able to get through on Telesphere from the Victorville exchange (California High Desert) but not on AT&T or Sprint. > It is also intersting to note that Portland has NO local operator > assistance this evening: "All circuits are busy." I guess if I wanted This was happening in Victorville, also. My theory is that there are many more people than usual calling the operator because their dialed calls don't go through. You called the operator, no? So did I. > So, what is happening here? Why can "little" MCI make its way into > the Bay Area while AT&T cannot? Policy, mainly. But it is also interesting to note that since the quake, my little teapot computer has only been able to contact other teapots. My big neighbors (except for pacbell) either don't answer at all, or if their modem does answer it appears that the computer is dead. All my news at the moment is coming from a small neighbor (who is somehow still getting a feed.) It has been said that a communications network is better served by a lot of small entities rather than one behemoth one. I never believed it; maybe it's true. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 12:53:51 CDT From: Will Martin Subject: Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage Glad you posted that note that mentioned your wife's query about the blimp not moving South. I asked the same thing at the time (to the wall and to my wife; unfortunately I could think of no way to ask anyone who really could do anything about it) -- it was an obvious way to get info out of the more-severely-affected regions and there were plenty of other sources of aerial coverage of the SF area. I did notice that the blimp was by far the best camera platform, giving the most stable images. Perhaps ABC felt that having those better pictures of the SF area was a "competitive advantage" in its coverage and did't want to lose them, trading them off for unknown results that the blimp might get further South. Also, I don't know the blimp's ground speed -- it might have been that it couldn't get far enough before dark to provide any viewable images. One aspect of the total earthquake coverage has been bothering me -- the reports had mentioned "silicon valley" in passing, but gave it no real attention. I thought that each of those semiconductor fabrication plants and other electronic industries in that area had underground tanks of various toxic or lethal chemicals used in the manufacture and cleaning of their products. I had thought that a lot of the waste or used chemicals had to be stored on-site because of difficulties in their disposal, also. (There were legal restraints on trucking them out, or limited numbers of firms who provided toxic-waste disposal services.) So there would be large amounts of both fresh, unused, but still dangerous chemicals, and also toxic waste, sitting in tanks all over that area. If the earthquake ruptured even a relatively small percentage of those tanks, the pollution would be severe. It would contaminate the ground water and be like Love Canal spread out over the whole silicon valley area. Does anyone know if these fears are justified, or am I imagining nonexistent dangers? Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ From: "Daniel M. Rosenberg" Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Date: 19 Oct 89 23:07:16 GMT Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U. telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and >all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is >Berkeley is totally off line at this time, and email contact is not >possible with the sites in the San Fransisco area. >From Stanford, Internet service was available clear to everywhere within hours of the quake. (Well, I made it to Pennsylvania anyway a few hours later.) This was well before the phone service came back in. Pacific Bell had -- I believe -- no physical damage to the phone network, but it was way overcrowded. I believe that when the quake hit they switched over the to A/B/C setup discussed here a while back, where A phones (emergency, police, fire, etc.) got dial tone, and B and C phones -- everyone else -- were switched back and forth as to who got dial tone. The Stanford campus telephone network worked continuously with no problems. Long distance outward via AT&T, Sprint and MCI was scrambled. It turned out that Telesphere was useful for something; their network was quite clear and turned out to be an easy way to calm my nervous parents. ITI (10488) also worked. I am hoping this was ITI (aka ITT) and I didn't have everyone in my dorm make a $50 3 minute transcontinental or cross-state call. Long distance inward was clogged full until last night (Wednesday). Today, everything seems to be back to normal. # Daniel M. Rosenberg // Stanford CSLI // Eat my opinions, not Stanford's. # dmr@csli.stanford.edu // decwrl!csli!dmr // dmr%csli@stanford.bitnet ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #462 *****************************   Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:32:00 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #463 Message-ID: <8910192332.aa27611@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:30:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 463 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (David Kuder) Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (Joel B. Levin) Re: Yet Another Area Code Split (Carl Moore) Re: Area Code NineOhNine (Jon Solomon) Re: A Letter From Australia (Dave Horsfall) Re: PC Systems to Handle Phone Inquiries (Macy Hallock) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Gary L. Crum) Re: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service (Mark Robert Smith) Call Waiting Override (Jean-Pierre Radley) Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Carl Moore) AT&T Supplies Sourcebook (David Dodell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 11:57 PDT From: David Kuder Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 10:22:38 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) To: David Kuder Cc: eecs.nwu.edu!telecom Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Message-Id: <8910191022.aa27204@VMB.BRL.MIL> According to earlier articles in Telecom, 903 is already set aside for upcoming split of 214 in Texas. And when N0X/N1X area codes run out, area codes will have to generalize to the NXX form. Also, I believe it's Bellcore that assigns new area codes (but it's the local companies that draw the boundaries?). I guess I wasn't clear enough in the header of my news article. That was a transcription of a L.A. Times article. All the first person references are those of Robert A. Jones, the author of the article. I am aware (from reading the Telecom Digest) that his list of area codes was incorrect. Forgive me for not editorializing the transcription. Let me reiterate for the readers of the digest that other than the first paragraph of my message, the article was the work of and the opinions of and the knowledge of Robert A. Jones. David A. Kuder Comp.lang.perl, the time is now! 415 438-2003 david@indetech.com {uunet,sun,sharkey,pacbell}!indetech!david ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 12:10:10 EDT >Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 13:15 PDT >From: David Kuder > >This appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989 [Los Angeles Times]. >"Forget Signs - What's Your Area Code?" by Robert A. Jones ... >[Moderator's Note: I won't even bother to correct some of his errors, but >I have to wonder where he gets the impression that 212/202/213 is all that >matters in the network. . . . I think the author of this piece in the >El Lay Times is one doughnut short of a full dozen. PT] David does not say whether this is an [op-]editorial or other column or a news story. I thought it was meant as a humorous column, and not bad at that. That's not a place I believe actual facts necessarily have any use. Regards / JBL [Moderator's Note: Interesting you mention it. Some of my detractors say the same thing about this Digest: the part about the actual facts having any use. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 10:22:38 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Yet Another Area Code Split According to earlier articles in Telecom, 903 is already set aside for upcoming split of 214 in Texas. And when N0X/N1X area codes run out, area codes will have to generalize to the NXX form. Also, I believe it's Bellcore that assigns new area codes (but it's the local companies that draw the boundaries?). Also, 917 is unused. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 18:17:52 EDT From: jsol@bu-it.bu.edu Subject: Re: Area Code NineOhNine Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 18:04:38 -0400 From: clements@BBN.COM Sorry, I think we are having a basic misunderstanding... > From Lexington you can call 508 numbers, but from Cambridge you can't. > I can't call Concord or Framingham or any of the other areas outside of > the "don't dial 1" area.... > Note that if you don't have Metropolitan service, you get charged message > units for calls placed to areas outside of your immediate local calling > area but inside the metropolitan service boundary. You don't dial 1 for > these calls either. I know all that. These seem to be examples of what I was saying, namely that there is NOT and has not recently been the "feature" that you can tell what is a free call by whether you have to dial a "1". But in your telecom posting, I thought you were saying that there WAS such a feature and that you would miss it when it goes away: "However, I will miss the dial-1-is-a-toll-call feature of this area, meaning that if I call a number, I won't know if I have to pay for it or not." ????? /Rcc In Cambridge, Somerville, and Everett and Boston this is the case. It is not the case in Lexington. I had forgotten about the case of the numbers that are either in 508 or can dial 508 numbers included in metropolitan service. Let me point out that my experience with Metropolitan service is the cities listed above. Those are places where I have actually lived and have had dial-1-means-toll-call service for about 6 years. It is true that in many cases, particularly in outlying areas of Mass., that dial-1-means-toll-call is not implemented. Here it is, and therefore I will miss it when it goes away. jsol ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Re: A Letter From Australia Date: 19 Oct 89 01:41:06 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article , kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au writes: | | In Australia there is no touch-tone service.... Speak for yourself, Taswegian! It's being introduced in many parts of the mainland, but I can't speak for the funny little island to the south of us.... :-) :-) :-) Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ From: fmsystm!macy@hal.uucp Date: Thu Oct 19 07:50:47 1989 Subject: Re: PC Sytems to Handle Phone Inquiries? Organization: F M Systems Medina, Ohio USA In article you write: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 455, message 3 of 11 >In article Jim Henry org writes: >>I would like to design a system which allows a telephone caller to >>check the status of an order by telephone without human intervention. >I recently researched a similar application, and found a company which >seems to handle this type of requirement very well. The vendor is >Innovative Technology, Inc. in Roswell Georgia. They make a clever >little board (which is not really cheap, but gets the job done) and >better yet, there is a lot of software out there written by this >company and by other companies to handle all sorts of touch-tone >response applications. This product is sold in its unmodified form as the "Nita" auto-atendant and voice mail system. Nita is sold by authorized contract dealers nationwide (of which I am one). And it works very well. Nita is also sold on an OEM basis by ITI to VARS with a set of development tools for development tools for enhanced applications such as the voice response application described. Based on my installation of several of these systems, I can attest to the quality of the product and ITI. I'm very impressed. I have not purchased or installed any of the enhanced versions by VARS for "value-added" applications. I'm told the Nita makes an execellent platform, though, and these enhanced applications work well. (Like most products of these types, the quality of the VAR and testing behind it determines the ultimate quality of the enhanced product) ITI publishes a booklet giving the names, addresses, phone no.'s and a brief description of the enhanced product's application. When you call ITI at (404) 998-9970 you will get a Nita, dial 411 for a directory. The name of the national sales manager is Jim Shriver. ITI will not sell to end users directly, but they will help you get information on dealers and/of VARS. Be aware that the Nita requires a stable, quality hardware platform to operate. It will operate on a XT or AT platform. Several clones work, but there are many issues concerning BIOS and disk operation that need to be addressed if you intend to use you own machine to run this system (if the dealer will even permit it...) One of the principal obligations of a dealer is hardware configuration and setup. Initial setup of the software is a bit complex, as well. Nita is made to work with darn near any phone system that will support single line (2500) phones as stations. And there's so much more, but I've taken up too much net bandwidth already. Disclaimer: I am a satisfied independent ITI dealer. I like this product. As a courtesy to the net, I will answer e-mail questions, time permitting. I would prefer not to sell this product outside my service area (Ohio). I do not receive any payment, commission, or even recognition for sales or promotion, other than my own sales. Just trying to do right by the net...there's a lot of stuff out there that _doesn't_ work nearly as well... Macy Hallock 150 Highland Dr. macy@NCoast.ORG F M Systems Inc. Medina, OH 44256 {uunet|backbone}!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!macy +1 216 723-3000 Fax +1 216 723-3223 uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: "Gary L. Crum" Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Date: 18 Oct 89 23:09:08 GMT Organization: University of Southern California From reading literature, it seems to me that a "hot" answering system would be Teleflex, a "telephone handling system" that works with Macintosh computers to interact with callers using touch-tone, sound digitizing, voice synthesis and modem signaling. Teleflex costs about $3000 not including a host Macintosh. It is programmable using a graphical method -- a flow diagram with icons is created. I don't have one for my residence yet, but I would like to see such sophisticated systems in homes. You know, "Crum residence. To page Gary press 1. To leave a voice message press 2. To begin FAX transmission press 3. To connect with Gary's UNIX system press 4." Do you people think that things like UUCP and FAX machines can deal with pauses in their dialing sequences? I hope so. Call (818)700-0510 for more information about Teleflex, and please tell them that Gary Crum of USC referred you to them. I am not currently affiliated with the Magnum, the developer of Teleflex, but I would really like to work on such products. Gary ------------------------------ From: Mark Robert Smith Subject: Re: Fun With NJ Bell Customer Service Date: 19 Oct 89 15:35:21 GMT Organization: Rutgers - The Police State of New Jersey I too have had difficulties with NJ Bell Customer Service. I, being a Rutgers student, had to apply by mail for service. The NJ Bell form contained some service options, but not the CLASS services which I wanted for my line. So, I called the Customer Service number, and was forced to ask my question in response to the question "Is this an emergency". I was told to call after the phone was turned on, and request those services. After the strike ended, I got my service on a Saturday. I called the Operator and asked her for the number (the form said to do this). Then, on Monday, I called to have the services added to my line. At that time, my connection wasn't in the billing computer yet, so I had to wait a week. I called back a week later, and successfully had the services added. At that time, I was told that the $21 connection service charge for those services would be waived, since I couldn't order them on the form. So, two weeks later, my phone bill arrives. Yup, a $21 connection charge for the CLASS services. I called the phone company, and after waiting for 5 minutes for a human, got one. I explained the process, and the fact that I was promised a waiver, and the woman (a very rude woman) on the other end said "Well, Why didn't you write those services in on the form?" I told her I was told not to, and could a please speak to a supervisor. After a 10 minute hold, she returned and said "the $21 will be adjusted, Mr. Smith". I paid the bill minus the $21, so it will be interesting to see what happens next. Mark Smith, KNJ2LH All Rights Reserved RPO 1604 You may redistribute this article only if those who P.O. Box 5063 receive it may do so freely. New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063 msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ From: Jean-Pierre Radley Date: 17 Oct 89 21:15:56 GMT Subject: Call Waiting Override Reply-To: jpr@dasys1.UUCP (Jean-Pierre Radley) Organization: TANGENT Sorry, I know this be an old topic. Am I correct that *70 is not the universal method to override call waiting, that different telcos have other codes or methods? Jean-Pierre Radley jpr@jpradley.uucp New York, NY 72160.1341@compuserve.com [Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:29:53 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Based on notes arriving via TELECOM Digest, I have the following to pass along: 416, Ontario, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) 919, North Carolina, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) 313, Michigan, 1989? (1+ removed from 1+7D for toll calls within it) When N0X/N1X area codes run out and NXX area codes become necessary, I take it that that will be known, too. (For example, 1+7D is still in use in Delaware. Where area codes and prefixes can use the same 3 digits, it is necessary for leading 1 to mean that "what follows is an area code", and use of NXX area codes would force that meaning of leading 1 into use in areas not already having it, right?) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 07:50:32 mst From: David Dodell Subject: AT&T Supplies Sourcebook I was recently in my local AT&T Phone Center and noticed a booklet entitled "The AT&T Supplies Sourcebook" Thought the individuals on this mailing list might be interested. First, the order number is 1-800-451-2100 (Mon to Fri, 8 am to 8 pm EST) Contents: Telecommunications - Telephone Accessories - Telephone Sets - Thermal FAX Paper - Headsets - Headset Jacks and Adapters - Headset Accessories Cords, Cables and Adapters - 4 conductor wiring, 8 conductor wiring and associated jacks and adapters - Headset cords/supplies for 4/8 conductor equipment Special Needs - Hearing and Speech Amplification Special Services - 800 directories, Long Distance Certificates - ATT Card, ProAmerica, Readyline Overall, a few interesting things. I'm sure you could get a free copy of the catalog by calling the 800 number and asking. David ------------------------------------------------------------------------- uucp: {decvax, ncar} !noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell uucp: {gatech, ames, rutgers} !ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell Bitnet: ATW1H @ ASUACAD FidoNet=> 1:114/15 Internet: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #463 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 0:56:34 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #464 Message-ID: <8910210056.aa27546@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 00:55:51 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 464 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem (Jeff Glassman via Julian Macassey) More on Apartment Door Answering Systems (Richard Snider) Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Eric Wagner) Routing, Boxing, etc. (Ninja Master) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Ben Ullrich) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Lang Zerner) Re: AC 617, was Area Code NineOhNine (John R. Levine) Re: What is SONET? (John R. Levine) Re: Call Waiting Override (George Wang) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: julian macassey Subject: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem Date: 20 Oct 89 00:31:26 GMT Organization: The Hole in the Wall Hollywood CA U.S.A. I received the following from Jeff Glassman, WA6ENI via amateur radio; via tcp/ip for the curious. Jeff is the night manager of a GTE CO. He is responding to a tale I sent him (yes, via ham radio) that ran here a couple of weeks ago about DMS100 CPC problems: From wa6eni@wa6eni.ampr.org Thu Oct 19 15:38:09 1989 Received: from wa6eni.ampr.org by n6are.ampr.org with SMTP id AA3045 ; Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:38:00 PDT Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 15:45:09 GMT Message-Id: <1560@wa6eni.ampr.org> From: wa6eni@wa6eni.ampr.org (Jeff Glassman) To: n6are@n6are.ampr.org I work in a WECO 1AESS owned by GTE. Actually it is a very nice switch and very well behaved. We are going to be upgrading to G feature package for our 911 folks. That story about the DMS 100 really brought a smile to my face. As an equipment maintainer who is usually the only person who is in the CO I can appreciate the goings on. I have a similar story to relate. There is a customer out of my CO who happens to want to call forward his phones at the exact time that we are doing a translation data assembler back up tape. There is a period of time when a customer cannot execute any recent changes to their line (call forwarding variable, speed call variable etc.) while the verificaton between the primary and secondary translators os occurring. This only takes about 5 min. but it just happens to occur at the time that he leaves his premises. He thought his call forwarding was broken and kept reporting to 611 who would always find it to be a Test-OK when they checked it. This went on for months with no resolution. Supervisors had been out to insure him that there was no problem and kept showing him the proper ws to use call forwarding. (HE ALREADY KNEW HOW TO USE THE @#$% CALL-FOWARDING!!) In desperation he watched one of the outside plant persons dial up the CO and noted the number. He called into the CO, got the day shift person who informed him what the problem was and that there was no way that anything could be done about it. ("I just do my job - I don't set policies...") When he called me at the CO (at 3:30am) and gave me his story with all the names of who he had contacted and what he had tried, I was amazed! NO ONE had ever explained to him that the situation occured for only five minutes at a time and only once or twice a week. He had never even thought of trying it after a few minutes because he thought that it was repeatedly breaking and being repaired in the morning. Needless to say I was able to straighten him out on what the situation actually was in just a few minutes. The whole incident just showed me how important communications is within a communications company, and how little information actually makes it through from one section to another of the company. If that customer had not taken matters into his own hands and gotten hold of me there is no telling what it would have taken to get his "problem" solved. I hope that incidents such as this are rare and isolated but I fear that they are getting more common all the time. =============================== Yours, Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian n6are@k6iyk (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 ------------------------------ From: rsnider@xrtll.uucp Subject: More on Apartment Door Answering Systems Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 14:37:37 EDT Dave Levenson writes: >This may mean that the 5ESS supports ADAS. It may also be a CPE-based >version of the same service. Perhaps the armored panel phone in the >foyer detects the touch tone from the resident's set and unlocks the >door? I don't remember seeing any brand name on the set. >When I visit, the directions on the phone tell me to dial # and their >appartment number. When I lift the handset, there is no battery or >sound in the receiver. When I enter the #, I hear what sounds like CO >dialtone. I then enter their three-digit appartment number, and hear >the three touch-tones in the receiver. As soon as I have entered >three digits, the phone dials their 7-digit number, using >pulse-dialing (I hear the pulses in the handset). The microphone is >dead (i.e. no side-tone) until after dialing is complete, but is >enabled during ringing. >When they answer, they dial 9 to admit me. I hear the first few tens >of milliseconds of their tone signal, and then silence. About 500 >msec later, the entry door goes "thunk-buzzzzzz" and I am given >access. >Does anyone recognize this system? I don't think that this is CO based at all. I have seen many of these types of devices on apartment buildings from various different manufacturers which function in this manner. When new tenants move into a building, the Super will get their phone number and program it into the machine. When someone comes to visit, they key in a number (Apartment number or other) and the device then picks up an ordinary phone line and calls that apartment. It recognizes certain DTMF frequencies from the remote end to unlatch the door. These devices are becoming quite popular since it is easier to pay for 1 phone line over many years than it is to run intercom wire to every apartment and then have to pay for service when it breaks. Richard Snider Where: ..uunet!mnetor!yunexus!xrtll!rsnider Also: rsnider@xrtll.UUCP An unbreakable tool is useful for breaking other tools. ------------------------------ From: Eric Wagner Subject: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 18 Oct 89 17:12:16 GMT Organization: gte Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) have been responsible for brain/eye damage. When I did some calculations, this damage didn't seem impossible. I think the newer models operate on 800MHz (?). If that is true, then the wavelength would be: c / f = 186000 mi/sec / 800000000/sec x 5280 ft/mi = 1.2 feet This results in a halfwave of about 7 inches (just about the size of the skull). Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone consider this before approving the 800MHz frequency? Eric Wagner (wagnere@gtephx) AGCS (formerly GTE), Phoenix (602) 582-7150 UUCP: {ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!hrc | att}!gtephx!wagnere ------------------------------ From: Ninja Master Subject: Routing, Boxing, etc. Date: 19 Oct 89 21:49:01 GMT Organization: The P.L.O. Two Questions..... One, would someone mind describing how and what equipment is used to detect false winks (i.e. Blue Boxes). Two, I was recently told by a member of WisBell that routing codes are a function of AT&T. When did this start? I thought the local BOC's set the routing codes...... Thanks....... -=+NINJA MASTER+=- ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Organization: sybase, inc., emeryville, ca. Date: Thu, 19 Oct 89 23:08:29 -0700 From: ben ullrich > By the way, I called American Express last week to argue about my > bill. Amex has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that > looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the > caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my > card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number > and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it > off. I doubt they've turned it off. They'll always ask for your account number for identity verification, just as they ask for your name after getting your account number. I've noticed that most of the time, I don't hear any typing or delays as I give them my account number, as if they are reading it on their screen instead of typing it in. I should test this by calling in on my unlisted number sometime, and see if the response is any different from when I call from my other, listed number, the one that appears on their records. ben ullrich consider my words disclaimed,if you consider them at all sybase, inc., emeryville, ca "When you deal with human beings, a certain +1 (415) 596 - 3500 amount of nonsense is inevitable." - mike trout ben@sybase.com {pyramid,pacbell,sun,lll-tis}!sybase!ben ------------------------------ From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 20 Oct 89 10:15:38 GMT Reply-To: langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) Organization: The Great Escape, Inc In article johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us writes: >[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >looks up the phone number of each call and translates it to the >caller's card number. When the person who answered asked me for my >card number, I asked whether she could tell it from my phone number >and she said she couldn't. Either she was lying or they've turned it >off. I recall having read a few little "FYI" type articles in various technical and marketing trade rags that said Amex got a lot of nasty letters and calls from customers who were startled, perplexed, and/or annoyed at Amex about the addition of the "service." Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people (myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least one person encountered communication difficulties because he was calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. I still have one or two of the articles floating around somewhere. If you're really interested, though, you'll probably get a faster response from a commercial text-retrieval service or library CD periodicals index. Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" ------------------------------ Subject: Re: AC 617, was Area Code NineOhNine Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 20 Oct 89 11:12:43 EDT (Fri) From: "John R. Levine" In article you write: >Even in Boston, 617 is getting nearly full; even though they just >split the code already. ... Is that really true? A recent message shows 330 prefixes, which looks to me like it's less than half full. There are 339 in 508. Or am I missing something? Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ From: "John R. Levine" Subject: Re: What is SONET? Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 16:39:36 GMT In article amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs. washington.edu writes: >Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England >Telephone Co! No, that's SNET, pronounced snet, or perhaps SNET Co., pronounced snetco. When I lived in New Haven, all sorts of events happened at the SNET Co. auditorium. Since SNET was an AT&T affiliate rather than a subsidiary, they are not subject to all the restrictions on the RBOCs and they set up a subsidiary sonorously named Sonecor which attempts without notable success to make big bucks in unregulated businesses. SNET lives in my memory as the only phone company ever to send me a "pay or we'll turn off your phone" letter before they even sent the bill. John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650 johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl Massachusetts has over 100,000 unlicensed drivers. -The Globe [Moderator's Note: I might add that SNET Financial Services, Inc. is a big lender of money for people who buy computer systems. In my real life work, they are a client of ours. They lend *huge* amounts of money to commercial borrowers, and function as a factor for computer brokers. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 15:08:23 -0500 From: George Wang Subject: Re: Call Waiting Override Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign >[Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 >for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines >as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An >example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area >without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] Well, I'm not Dave, but I do know from first hand experience that Morton Grove's switching station does NOT allow call waiting override with *70.... Although I live in Skokie, Skokie is spilt into service by Skokie's switching station and Morton Grove's switching station... Unfortunately, we got stuck with Morton Grove's switching station and using the modem with call waiting is a real pain!! Disconnects galore!! BTW, does anyone know why Morton Grove doesn't have this ability?? Does it have to do with the station's switching technology?? Is there anything we can do as telephone service customers? A petition? Hmmmm...... George Wang University of Illinois gcw20877@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #464 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 1:52:12 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #465 Message-ID: <8910210152.aa29342@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 01:50:13 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 465 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Earthquake - Lessons Learned (Hector Myserston) Amazing Quake Stories (Guy A. Finney) Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage (John G. De Armond) Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service (Marc T. Kaufman) Re: Disaster Communications (Brian Kantor) Re: What Works in a Disaster (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (Edward Greenberg) Re: San Fransisco Horror (Kent Borg) [Moderator's Note: Coverage of the Event continues in the Digest. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 20 Oct 89 08:50 PST Subject: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] The following is my opinion of the earthquake aftermath based on talking to many fellow Telecom folks in the area (SL-1 Users, TCA and many vendors): o I found 0 instances of properly installed PBXs and other gear suffering major damage. I am sure there are some but either the whole building has been evacuated or the damage has not been discovered. o MANY people had power-related problems beyond the capacity of the battery backup. Many PBXs do not handle power loss and subsequent restoral well. Many cards fail shortly after the event. o Traffic has to be controlled in the Network or at the Central Office. No amount of training or lecturing is going to stop users from checking on their family and friends immediately after an event. o Central dispatch/Trouble Numbers, usually 800- numbers are useless in a major event. Even when you can call in to them, they cannot call IN to the appropriate people in your area. Same for remote paging. LOCAL contacts are a must. o Cellular overloaded worse than land lines. o Carriers who controlled traffic took (in my opinion) a bum rap. The resellers mentioned in previous messages were able to complete calls only because the underlying carrier maintained some measure of Network Discipline. o One interesting side effect of telecom problems was the issue of ATMs. Many people really on them almost exclusively for ready cash. Loss of service (computer or line) is attributed to "the phone lines". o I was called by several present (and former!) interconnect contractors offering help within 24 hours. Most had more man-power on hand than required. MITEL is running large ads offering 24-hour turn-around on repairs. o Radio, I think, did great. Not to much panic or exageration. Amazingly enough from the time I got home about two hours after the earthquake I was able to watch local TV coverage using an outside antenna. While some stations came and went, at least one was on the air at all times. [I live in the South Bay 20 - 30 miles from the epicenter, we lost stuff from shelves etc but did NOT lose power through all of this]. All-in-all it seems like telecom was more part of the solution than of the problem. Of the people I know I would say almost all are now fully operational including the ones in SF after power restoral. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 12:18:27 MST From: gaf@uucs1.uucp Subject: Amazing Quake Stories We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was answered, and the conversation went something like: "Hey, what's happening there?" "We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big crack in the wall now ..... " I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. Guy Finney It's that feeling of deja-vu UUCS inc. Phoenix, Az all over again. ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!uucs1!gaf sun!sunburn!gtx!uucs1!gaf ------------------------------ From: "John G. De Armond" Subject: Re: Blimp Use and Eathquake Coverage Date: 20 Oct 89 19:15:10 GMT Reply-To: "John G. De Armond" Organization: Radiation Systems, Inc. (a thinktank, motorcycle, car and gun works facility) In article wmartin@stl-06sima.army. mil (Will Martin) writes: >Glad you posted that note that mentioned your wife's query about the >blimp not moving South. >I did notice that the blimp was by far the best camera platform, >giving the most stable images. Perhaps ABC felt that having those >better pictures of the SF area was a "competitive advantage" in its >coverage and did't want to lose them, trading them off for unknown >results that the blimp might get further South. Before we attribute too much malice to ABC, we should note the technical reason the blimp stayed in the SF area. The blimp, which is strictly a camera platform in these circumstances, must stay within short-haul microwave range of the ground station that services it. In this case, the ground station was at the stadium. Remember, the blimp does not normally carry recording equipment or long distance microwave gear. There is a defined limit on weight and power consumption. John De Armond, WD4OQC | Manual? ... What manual ?!? Radiation Systems, Inc. Atlanta, GA | This is Unix, My son, You gatech!stiatl!rsiatl!jgd **I am the NRA** | just GOTTA Know!!! ------------------------------ From: "Marc T. Kaufman" Subject: Re: Bay Area Earthquake Phone Service Date: 20 Oct 89 04:15:25 GMT Reply-To: "Marc T. Kaufman" Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University In article dennisb@pdx.mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) writes: > How does the phone service work during an earthquake? Right now (9pm, Thursday 10/19), I can call ALMOST everywhere, including San Francisco, which was inaccessable from Woodside (also in 415) until this morning. The only place I can't currently reach is Los Gatos, which is GTE. Santa Cruz never went away. I don't know how I'll be able to tell when Los Gatos is back, since this is one of GTE's worst service areas even without an earthquake. :-) My wife is currently out of state, and she has more trouble reaching me than I have reaching her. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu) ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 20 Oct 89 11:33:03 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: University of California, San Diego Network Operations There is a statewide police radio service in California, but it can get congested easily and I recall seeing bulletins asking that it not be used for anything but the highest-priority traffic in times of emergency. Much of it piggybacks on microwave circuits, some of which were not in operation because of fallen or twisted towers and power problems. The CERFnet, BARRNet, Calinet, and associated computer networks mostly kept running throughout much of this, although there were some outages due to power failures at a few key points, and coincidently a circuit between Stanford and Berkeley had failed a couple of hours before the quake hit. We had communications from San Diego to Stanford and UC Santa Barbara at all times; UC Santa Cruz came back online in a couple of hours once they had their emergency power up, and UC Davis and UC Berkeley were back early in the morning. UC San Francisco was back on-line before noon the following day. The UC Office of the President in Oakland was never offline. Most of this network is T1, much of it over PacBell and MCI fiber, with a few microwave links. None of it is dialup, so this traffic did not impact congested voice circuits. The E-mail community was passing "health and welfare" sort of traffic using electronic mail for much of the night, and I know that many families slept easier that night because of the electronic mail capabilities of the various computer networks. Although I handled little of this traffic myself, I certainly saw lots of it go through to the quake area. In the last day or so, we've seen a peak of more than 20% over our normal E-mail load, and we're as far south in California as you can get - more than 400 miles away from the quake. I expect that's because we're well-connected and much of the normal E-mail routing into the Bay Area is still in the process of coming back online. - Brian ------------------------------ From: "Fred R. Goldstein" Subject: Re: What Works in a Disaster Date: 20 Oct 89 16:23:41 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes... >I helped a friend contact her worried parents in New York, and finally >succeeded after some 10XXX hacking, the carrier which worked was 311 >which I believe is AllNet. >Ole According to the list that was posted here some time ago, 10311 is SaveNet. I tried to call my sister in Berkeley at 11:40 EDT the night of the quake. AT&T and Sprint had recordings, MCI a fast busy. 10444 (Allnet) got through with no problems. Their transmission still sounds analog noisy, and I don't know anybody who actually uses them as 1+ (around here), and they probably didn't do anything about the quake, but they got through. Amazing how few people know about 10xxx. ------------------------------ From: Edward Greenberg Subject: Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 21 Oct 89 00:36:14 GMT Reply-To: Edward Greenberg Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} I kinda think that it's a good idea to divide traffic capability between incoming and outgoing during a disaster. John H. suggests that he should have gotten through on ATT or Sprint, but if this was true, not only would we have a massive jam incoming, but no outgoing service either. As it was, I made one outgoing ATT call and reassured everybody outside the area by notifying my parents. Someone put it well: Better to let the people in trouble call out for help. -edg Ed Greenberg uunet!apple!netcom!edg ------------------------------ From: Kent Borg Subject: Re: San Fransisco Horror Date: 20 Oct 89 18:26:58 GMT Reply-To: Kent Borg Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 457, message 1 of 9 >At the time this is written, chaos is reigning in the Bay Area, and >all telecommunications are knocked out. The latest death count is Maybe at the time you wrote that, but by some time near 8PM PDT (11PM EDT) there where some phones with working long distance service--both incoming and outgoing. I was at a friend's house when the earth rumbled. Being near Boston we didn't feel it, and not watching TV or listening to the radio, we didn't know it happened. We found out when we got a call from another friend. She was calling from her apartment in San Francisco. She had no electricity and didn't have a battery powered TV or radio, so she phoned us to find out what was going on. We turned on the TV to find out. Later we called her back to tell her what we knew. The call to SF took a few tries to go through (maybe 10 minutes worth). We were impressed. Our call to SF was made by AT&T, I am told the sound quality was normal (I didn't talk to her myself). Kent Borg "Then again I could be foolish kent@lloyd.uucp not to quit while I'm ahead..." or -from Evita (sung by Juan Peron) ...!husc6!lloyd!kent ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #465 *****************************   Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:49:28 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #466 Message-ID: <8910211649.aa13638@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:45:38 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 466 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Introduction to SONET (Stephen Fleming) Keep at Least One Rotary Phone (Ole J. Jacobsen) NATA Unicom '89 (TELECOM Moderator) 717-564 Discrepancy (Carl Moore) Code-a-Phone 2600 (Otto J. Makela) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Kenneth Illgen) Re: Cellular Telephone Prices (Kenneth R. Jongsma) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Rune Henning Johansen) Re: Parsing Dialed Digits (Jeff DeSantis) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Jeff DeSantis) Sprint Shoots Itself in the Foot on the Radio (Jay Maynard) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: portal!cup.portal.com!fleming@apple.com Subject: Introduction to SONET Date: Tue, 17-Oct-89 07:24:41 PDT >10/13/89 17:04 3/171 gamiddleton@watmath.waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) writes: >I read in the newspaper today about some Northern Telecom fibre-optic >equipment that uses a signalling technology called SONET. Does anybody know >what SONET actually is? SONET stands for Synchronous Optical Network. It is not a signalling technology (as the term would normally be understood in this newsgroup) but rather a new international standard for transmitting very-high-bit-rate signals (up to 13 gigabits per second) over single-mode fiber; Northern Telecom has also extended the system to work over digital microwave radio. Current announcements include 2.4 Gb/s products, which will be the fastest in the world when they ship next year. The major advantages of SONET are: * Multi-vendor compatibility (allowing optical mid-span meets between equipment from different vendors... e.g., Northern Telecom and AT&T. This has been an ongoing scandal for years, with an explosion in proprietary formats coinciding with divestiture and rapid advances in fiber optic technology) * Capability to extract one or more constituent signals in mid-stream (all asynchronous systems require full demultiplexing to DS1 or sometimes to analog VF, which is INCREDIBLY awkward, expensive, and prone to mistakes) * Standardized operations, administration, and maintenance. If you're not involved in the day-to-day business, it's not obvious that, with the massive growth of fiber optic capacity, the major technical challenge is no longer getting the bits into the pipe... it's making sure the right bits go in the right place and get billed to the right customer. (A massive oversimplification.) * Provision of new services to be named later. For example, some of the extensions to SONET now being negotiated relate to fiber to the home and switched multi-megabit data services for corporations. Unlike previous systems, where you would have to rip out the entire terminal electronics to provide a new service, SONET allows new services to be provisioned without disturbing the synchronous structure. Some new services will be provisionable purely via downloaded software, with no change in terminal electronics. SONET began its life at Bellcore in 1984. After a tortuous approval process, it is now accepted by the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe (at least... perhaps others as well). It is the first major transmission standard to be PROACTIVELY determined, rather than the old method of "well, let's see what AT&T shipped and make that a standard." As such, it bids fair to revolutionize the transmission and (to some extent) switching portions of the public network. One of the best tutorials I have seen on SONET is by Ballart and Ching in the March 1989 issue of IEEE Communications. I added a more-accessible introduction in my article published in the June 15th issue of TE&M. I'd also be happy to reply to questions of general interest via E-mail or over the net. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Stephen Fleming | Internet: fleming@cup.portal.com | | Director, Technology Marketing | Voice: (703) 847-7058 | | Northern Telecom +-------------------------------------| | Federal Networks Division | Opinions expressed are not | | Vienna, Virginia 22182 | those of Northern Telecom. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Sat 21 Oct 89 07:56:00-PDT From: "Ole J. Jacobsen" Subject: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone In the wake of the earthquake I have been having problems getting through to a friend in Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz. Dialling the number usually results in a fast busy. One trick I learned from the UK is to dial the number slowly with a rotary phone. Amazingly it seems to work here too. Perhaps the slow dialling results in a "pass on" to the next switch, the way the UK phone system was described here a while ago. I am not insisting that this is the case here, I honestly do not know, but what I report is true. Any explanations would be much appreciated, and I will always keep a rotary dial phone handy. Ole ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 1:31:44 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: NATA Unicom '89 The North American Telecommunications Association (NATA) will host the 17th Annual Expo and Conference for telecom professionals December 5-7 in Dallas, TX at the Infomart Exhibition and Conference Center. Entitled 'Spanning the Networks', this year's presentation will have over 400 exhibitors; 8000 people in attendance; over 30 conference sessions co-sponsored by TeleStrategies; and a special interest seminar for the Pay Telephone Industry sponsored by the American Public Communications Council. Special events and guests include -- Monday, December 4 "Public Communications Industry Forum". (pre-session) This forum will address legal and regulatory issues at the state and federal levels which affect all members of the public communications industry. Admission to the forum will be by special invitation only. Tuesday, December 5 will be given over to conference sessions and the Exposition. Wednesday, December 6 features special guest Malcolm S. Forbes, Jr. In addition, a special closed-door seminar will be offered entitled, "Toll Fraud - How to Spot It; How to Prevent It". Admission will be by invitation only, and is open only to members of the COPT industry. Inquire at the time of registration. Thursday, December 7 brings Harry Newton to the exposition, in a special presentation entitled "The Harry Newton Extravaganza". This is open to all. Admission for the full package of events is $395 for Non-Members of NATA if received before November 17, or $495 if received after that date. NATA members will pay $250/350. Admission to the exhibit hall only is $25 prior to November 17, and $35 after that date. Luncheon with Malcolm Forbes on December 6 is $25 if purchased separately. For more information, to register or receive a copy of the conference information booklet and complete schedule of seminars and events, contact the North American Telecommunications Association as follows -- NATA Unicom '89 333 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1600 Chicago, IL 60601 Phone: 800-328-6898 or 312-332-2037 Hotel arrangements can be made through the same number. The main office of NATA is -- North American Telecommunications Association 200 'M' Street NW - Suite 550 Washington, DC 20036 If any of our readers decide to attend -- at least the Exposition portion -- please write a report afterward for the Digest. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 15:11:34 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: 717-564 Discrepancy What about this discrepancy? I called the Bellcore number and got PAXTANG for 717-564, but when I asked AT&T operator (by using 00 on an AT&T phone) what the place name for 717-564 was, I got Harrisburg. I do know Paxtang to be part of the Harrisburg (Pa.) area, but what databases are involved? ------------------------------ From: "Otto J. Makela" Subject: Code-a-Phone 2600 Date: 20 Oct 89 15:38:55 GMT Organization: Justice HQ, Mega-City One I've been looking around for a phone answering machine to use for call screening and message recording. I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a-Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: 16s of digital outgoing message, micro- casette for message recording and remote message retrieve with 3-digit security code (gives 512 combinations, if the salesperson had it right) plus a few more. The price tag over here in Finland is around US$230, which makes it pretty resonable. Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? * * * Otto J. Makela (otto@jyu.fi, MAKELA_OTTO_@FINJYU.BITNET) * * * * * * * * Phone: +358 41 613 847, BBS: +358 41 211 562 (CCITT, Bell 2400/1200/300) * * Mail: Kauppakatu 1 B 18, SF-40100 Jyvaskyla, Finland, EUROPE * * * * freopen("/dev/null","r",stdflame); * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------ From: "Keneth..Illgen" Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 21 Oct 89 14:35:41 GMT Reply-To: "Kenneth..Illgen" Organization: Air Force HQ, The Pentagon In article asuvax!gtephx!bladder! wagnere@ncar.ucar.edu (Eric Wagner) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 464, message 3 of 9 >Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer >cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular,...hand-held models... >have been responsible for brain/eye damage. I read about the same thing. I personally don't think it would have any effect on an individual unless they had a 7" antenna stuck in their skull. I wonder (seriously!) about individuals that have pins and such in their bodies and the half-wave matching effects around a particular frequency. Any ideas? ken ******************************* ****************************** * "Maybe we should drop an H- * * Kenneth Illgen * * bomb on them".. Hawkeye * * HQUSAF Air Staff LAN * * * * The Pentagon, Washington * * "Don't try to get on my * * good side".. Col Flagg * * * illgen@hq.UUCP ******************************* ------------------------------ From: Kenneth_R_Jongsma@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Cellular Telephone Prices Date: Tue, 17-Oct-89 09:53:40 PDT Someone mentioned that the cost of a cellular telephone had dropped to the $200 range in their area. (Not to be confused with airtime rates) Anyway, several local electronics stores in the area have been advertising transportables for $87. The catch is that you have sign up for 6 months of service with one of the local carriers. These may be refurbished units, but they did have the full 832 channels and were 3 watt transmitters. They did want an "installation" fee of around $50. Presumably to activate the account, since their can't be anything to installing a portable! I assume the carriers are paying a kickback to cover the low cost of the units - at least that's a practice mentioned in one of the business magazines. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 89 16:11 +0100 From: Rune Henning Johansen Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! I'm quite sure that the fire department in Oslo uses "caller ID" for emergency calls. In addition to the obvious safety-reason already mentioned, there is another advantage: They can also avoid and/or detect false alerts. [Moderator's Note: When 911 was implemented here over ten years ago, the false-alarm rate (at least the malicious ones) dropped to almost zero. For many years, the Chicago Fire and Police Departments were plagued with malicious false-alarms. Typically the Fire Department responded to over two dozen false (or do you say phalse? [smiling sweetly :-)] ) alarms *daily*. Police responded to many more, some of which were simply malicious attempts to lure a police officer into a dangerous situation. As some people began finding out the hard way that there were no more games with the phone, these ugly activities virtually ceased. We still get a tiny number of false-alarms, mostly from people unaware of how it works; usually children playing. PT] ------------------------------ From: Jeff DeSantis Subject: Re: Parsing Dialed Digits Date: 20 Oct 89 14:13:45 GMT Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA In article vrdxhq!pbs!PCRABLE@eecs. nwu.edu (VAX WIZZ) writes: > How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three >digits as the country code ? It depends on the first two digits. If the first two digits are a valid country code, then you do not have to look at the third digit. For example, if the first two digits are 44, you know you have a call to the United Kingdom. Another approach would be to consider all country codes to consist of three digits. In this case all 44X (440-449) country codes would be calls to the United Kingdom. Either approach requires maintaining a list of country codes against which you can verify the call's country code. ------------------------------ From: Jeff DeSantis Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Date: 20 Oct 89 19:00:24 GMT Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA >"How many cookies did Andrew eat? > > ANdrew 8-8000" > >Was that it? Adams & Sweet, South Boston, Carpet Cleaners & Used Carpet Sales ------------------------------ From: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Subject: US Sprint Shoots Itself in the Foot on the Radio Date: 21 Oct 89 17:07:17 GMT Reply-To: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX The Texas-Arkansas football game is being broadcast on KTRH radio even as I write this. The sound quality is awful: lots of static, narrow bandwidth, and fading. I wondered what kind of string they were using on their tin cans. The rotten quality was due to the network feed; local commercials sound as good as ever. Imagine my surprise when I heard a US Sprint commercial: "You don't know it, but you've been sampling the high quality of US Sprint's fiber optic network. ...only our fiber optics could make this broadcast as high quality as it is." Yeah, right. Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can jay@splut.conmicro.com (eieio)| adequately be explained by stupidity. {attctc,bellcore}!texbell!splut!jay +---------------------------------------- Send richard@gryphon.com your NO vote on sci.aquaria; it belongs in rec. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #466 *****************************   Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 12:36:52 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #467 Message-ID: <8910221236.aa29989@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Oct 89 12:35:39 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 467 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Risk of CO Fires (Larry Lippman) Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dik T. Winter) Earthquake Phone Service (Anthony E. Siegman) Earthquake Report, Berkeley (Linc Madison) Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Risk of CO Fires Date: 20 Oct 89 00:11:27 EDT (Fri) From: Larry Lippman In article amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver.cs. washington.edu writes: > I enjoyed Larry Lippman's description of cable splicing and mining. > Wasn't it a cable mining operation that set off the Hinsdale fire? It could be, but I am not certain; I have encountered different versions of an explanation for the Hinsdale fire, both from public and "inside" sources, so I don't know what to believe. In any event, cable mining DOES INDEED provide an opportunity for a fire under some circumstances if care is not exercised. The problem is that in older CO buildings the -48 volt office battery is distributed using wires having RH and RHW insulation types. This insulation is rubber, and covered with varnished cloth. Prior to 1950, the rubber used was natural, with newer cable using neoprene or butyl rubber. Over the years much of this rubber will age and devulcanize, especially on cable which has been subject to excess heat from overload conditions. As a result, the insulation will deteriorate such that movement of the cable would cause the rubber and outer cloth covering to literally crumble to dust - thereby exposing bare conductor. DC power distribution in large electromechanical CO's results in some serious current. In WECO CO's, most major battery feeders use 750 MCM copper conductors, in which the copper is almost one inch in diameter. A heavy conductor is also used to keep the battery feed impedance to a minimum, thereby reducing impulse noise and crosstalk. A 750 MCM conductor may intermittently carry with safety about 750 amperes, and hence will be fused between 500 and 1,000 amperes, depending upon the power distribution design. Such a 750 MCM conductor has the capability of a *SERIOUS* amount of short-circuit current. Almost all battery feeders in older CO's are protected by fuses which have a certain amount of thermal delay before opening on an overload condition. The ability of such an exposed conductor to strike and maintain an arc - all before blowing a fuse - is simply *AWESOME*. While I did not witness the event, I have seen the aftermath of a 750 MCM conductor carrying -48 volts burn through a 5/8" steel threaded rod cable rack support - like a knife through butter, but instead spewing molten metal - BEFORE the fuse ever opened the circuit! Power cables run directly on cable rack, protected from the supporting metal only by a small, thin piece of fibre insulation. I have also, ahem, personally destroyed my share of small tools in past years due to accidental short circuits between -48 volt battery and ground. It is EASY to start a fire if one is careless. The risk associated with cable mining is that old power cables, whose insulation is being held together on a wing and a prayer, will then crumble upon being disturbed, thereby exposing the conductor to potential short-circuit. Power feeders will usually survive more than one generation of telephone apparatus, which is why power feeder cables many years old will still be in service. While ESS apparatus is usually installed with new batteries, power apparatus and power distribution wiring, older power feeders often remain to supply trunk circuits, carrier, transmission and ancilary facilities. As I see it, the former Bell System and present RBOC's must shoulder some responsibility for the risk of CO fires. It has only been in recent years that smoke detectors have been commonplace in CO's. The traditional method of fire detection - still in service in many CO's - is to run "fire wire" around cable rack and apparatus which is deemed to be vulnerable to fire. Fire wire is a low-melting point wire similar to solder; it is about 10 AWG in size. When the temperature reaches a certain point (I don't remember the setpoint), the fire wire melts and opens a circuit. The problem with fire wire is that it is fragile, easily damaged and the fire wire splices are often intermittent. The result is that fire wire causes many a false alarm - which is then ignored. Also by the time fire wire melts due to an actual fire, one is in *deep* trouble since this is hardly an early warning detection system. Another problem is that the Bell System has traditionally sought to "take care of its own" and has thereby tried to avoid any embarassment with a fire department due to false alarms. The net result is that it has been rare for a CO fire alarm to be called into a fire department without a craftsperson investigating the matter first - a situation which can lead to serious delay and damage in the event of a real fire. The above attitude of avoiding "embarassment" and "adverse publicity" still exists. I personally know of an example which rather shocked me. A few years ago an employee of a contractor accidentally fell off a truck at the New York Telephone Franklin St. CO in Buffalo, NY. The employee was knocked unconscious. The security guard (this is the main CO in Buffalo, so there are full-time guards) did NOT call 911 for an ambulance, but instead called a *private* ambulance service which resulted in a significant delay in response as opposed to 911. The security guards apparently have standing instructions to call a private ambulance, and NOT to call 911 unless it is a "dire emergency". Why a private ambulance? Because then there will be no public record of any accident and no risk of a police report. Not a good attitude. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 01:48:05 +0100 From: "Dik T. Winter" Subject: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Some time ago there was some discussion on this list about access codes in different countries to dial international numbers. Going through my archive I found a booklet from the Dutch PTT which shows them. I repeat the list here. Note, the list is from December 1987, so things might have changed. If you are in another country and have to dial +31 20 592 4101 (my office phone number) you replace the + by the digit sequence indicated below. A minus sign indicates that you have to wait for a second dial tone. A period indicates no country code should follow. Albania unknown Austria 00 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 030. For Yugoslavia for areas with codes starting with 4, 5 or 6 040. For Italy in stead of 0039 050. For Switzerland in stead of 0041 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 900 For Sovjet Union and Turkey from Eisenstadt, Graz, Innsbruck, Kitzbuehel, Klagenfurt, Reutten, Vienna and Wattens (possibly needed for more countries) Belgium 00- (wait only needed on some extensions.) Bulgaria 00 Danmark 009 DDR 06 000 In Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Rostock and Schwerin Cyprus 00 Czechoslovakia 00 Finland 990 France 19- Germany 00 Gibraltar 00 Greece 00 09. For Cyprus in stead of 00357 Hungary 00- Iceland 90 Ireland 16 Italy 00 Luxembourg 00 050. For Germany in stead of 0049, but a change is announced Malta 0 (Yes a single zero) Netherlands 09- Norway 095 Poland 0-0 Portugal 00 07 In Porto 09790. For Turkey in stead of 0090 or 0790 Roumania unknown Spain 07- 9567. For Gibraltar in stead of 07-350, except in Cadiz Sovjet Union 6 Sweden 009 Wait for second dial tone after country code Switzerland 00 Turkey 9-9 United Kingdom 010 0001. For Dublin in stead of 0103531 United States 010 Yugoslavia 99 ===================================== Who said that 00 was the most natural? The Dutch PTT booklet did not explain dialling from Ireland to the United Kingdom. That follows here (in the same format): Ireland 16 030 To United Kingdom (the 0 of the areacode is dialled, as I show here) in stead of 1644 031 To London in stead of 16441 032 To Brimingham in stead of 164421 033 To Edinburgh in stead of 164431 034 To Glasgow in stead of 164441 035 To Liverpool in stead of 164451 036 To Manchester in stead of 164461 080 To Northern Ireland (remark as above) in stead of 1644 I do not know what the dialling instructions become when London splits into 071/081. There is no short dialling for 091 (Tyne & Wear), that is from Ireland 03091 and not 039. This is all from a 1988 Dublin telephone directory. This booklet handled also only within Europe dialling (I entered the US as an extra). I speculated on the use in Austria of 00 vs. 900 (in some cities for some countries 900 is international access). From an Austrian telephone directory I have the following information: in the cities I mentioned 00 is international access if the country code starts with 3 or 4 (i.e. it is in Europe) otherwise international access is 900. Is it complicated enough already? What about South- and Central-America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Africa? Good luck with international dialling! dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ From: "Anthony E. Siegman" Subject: Earthquake Phone Service Date: 22 Oct 89 00:22:32 GMT Reply-To: "Anthony E. Siegman" Organization: Stanford University A not totally trivial point is that the quake shook a lot of handsets off their receivers (or should that be the other way round?). Anyway, this can cut off phone service to a lot of residences and offices even without real physical damage, especially if you have a lot of phones and don't realize this has happened. Also, you can't use any of the phones 'til you get 'em all back on hook. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 04:36:07 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Earthquake Report, Berkeley Organization: University of California, Berkeley Thanks for your concern, Patrick. I and most of Berkeley came through unscathed. FIRST OFF, I WANT TO **SQUELCH** A RUMOR that has spread internationally. The library system of the University of California at Berkeley DID NOT burn down! There was a fire at Hustead's Towing Co., which is across the street from Berkeley High School and one block down from the city's main public library. Speculation got garbled into "UC Berkeley Library on fire." OK, on to telecom-related issues. Here at my home, I had uninterrupted service on all utilities, including telephone and hot water (the latter much the envy of my friends across the bay). I was out and about at the time of the quake, and didn't realize how big it had been until about 6:30. I promptly tried to call my parents. My roommate (who has his own line) was trying my line because his line was "dead." Not true; we just had to wait up to a minute for dialtone. (I guess maybe one of the transbay pipelines carrying the raw dialtone from the wells or mines broke ;-) I dialed Texas on my default carrier, US Sprint, to a fast busy. I redialed 10288-1+ and got through on the first try. My parents were then able to field calls from and place calls to at least a dozen concerned relatives/friends across the country. I, for one, think that giving outgoing calls priority was a good move. Even as late as yester- day (Friday) there were major problems getting connections Transbay. Areas of S.F. and Santa Cruz County are just now getting phone service. (For those unfamiliar with the area, San Francisco is opposite Berkeley and Oakland.) Ole's comment about slow dialing was true, but you didn't need to dial slowly *pulse*, just slowly. Dialing at my normal clip got a fast busy 9 times out of 10, but pausing three to five full seconds between digits greatly improved things. Pulse was easier only because it built in a certain level of delay. Phone service into Santa Cruz, even from within this area, was dicey Tuesday evening until nearly midnight. The usual hacks of dialing a 950 number to use a long distance company other than Pac*Bell didn't work. Friends have told me they had problems dialing in even Friday and Saturday from outside California. Call volume this weekend is expected to be quite heavy, as all the people who just got "I'm alive" messages out Tuesday call back with all the details. I'm still reeling in disbelief: I frequented both collapsed freeways and have been to many other of the devastated areas. I called my parents out of pure reflex before I even realized the state of things. I've only yesterday and today managed to contact some people in S.F. I haven't logged on earlier because I haven't been on campus since Tuesday at about 4:35 pm. and I had my Macintosh disconnected to guard against aftershocks and power irregularities. I'm sorry if this is rambling, but perhaps my incoherence even this many days afterwards tells something of its own story. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Date: 22 Oct 89 00:37:57 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , myerston@cts.sri.com writes: > The following is my opinion of the earthquake aftermath based on > talking to many fellow Telecom folks in the area (SL-1 Users, TCA and > many vendors): > [...] > o Cellular overloaded worse than land lines. Not GTE Mobilnet. In fact, I found my handheld to be much more useful than any of the landline telephones that were at the various sites. It *never* failed to complete a call at anytime after the event. In fact, some of my initial info obtained before I returned to the area was from calling people with cellular phones. I understand that Cellular One (PacTel Mobile) had some major problems and was asking people through the media to avoid using their cellular phone except for emergencies. > o Carriers who controlled traffic took (in my opinion) a bum rap. The > resellers mentioned in previous messages were able to complete calls > only because the underlying carrier maintained some measure of Network > Discipline. Unfortunately, it's the results that count. If you can't make calls on one carrier and you can on another, all of the reasons, justifications, self-congratulations, reputations, and press relations don't count for one damn. The carrier that completes my calls when another won't gets my thanks and deserves my patronage. > o Radio, I think, did great. Not to much panic or exageration. > Amazingly enough from the time I got home about two hours after the > earthquake I was able to watch local TV coverage using an outside > antenna. Shortly before I returned to the area, I watched KABC-TV out of LA. They were in "continuous coverage" mode and were switching to sister-station KGO-TV for periods of time. The San Francisco anchor people were professional, calm, informative and even under adverse conditions and a lack of commercial power, were able to produce an on-the-fly report with continuity and smoothness. When they would cut back to the Ken and Barbie anchors in LA, they talked in over-dramatic tones, and were almost a parody of themselves. As a southland resident later said, "You would have thought the quake was in LA." John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #467 *****************************   Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 13:43:30 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #468 Message-ID: <8910221343.aa05533@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 22 Oct 89 13:41:28 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 468 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine (David G. Cantor) Re: Call Waiting Override (David W. Tamkin) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Bob Jacobson) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (John Higdon) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Kent Borg) Re: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone (John Higdon) Re: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago (Roger Clark Swann) Re: 717-564 Discrepancy (Lang Zerner) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 16:54:53 PDT From: dgc@math.ucla.edu In Telecom digest #464 Otto J. Makela asks: . . . I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a- Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: 16s of digital outgoing message, micro-casette for message recording and remote message retrieve with 3-digit security code (gives 512 combinations, if the salesperson had it right) plus a few more. The price tag over here in Finland is around US$230, which makes it pretty resonable. Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? We have a Code-a-Phone 2770 which has all of the features described plus a time/day-of-week "stamp" which leaves that information at the end of each message. It uses a 9-volt battery, in case of power failure (useful with the "Banana Republic" power company that serves us -- Southern California Edison), which maintains the clock and outgoing message, but the machine doesn't answer when there's no power. It operates on 10 volts AC, from a little plug-in transformer (so with a different transformer, it would probably run on 240 volts in Europe, unless it really needs 60 Hz). We've had it for about 6 months, and, as I recall, it cost slightly over $100.00. So far it's worked well. It's reliable and easy-to-use (if you read the instruction manual and get used to the multi-function keys). I would recommend it. David G. Cantor Department of Mathematics University of California at Los Angeles Internet: dgc@math.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Call Waiting Override Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 15:29:28 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" In volume 9, issue 463, Jean-Pierre Radley asks: | Sorry, I know this be an old topic. Am I correct that *70 is not the | universal method to override call waiting, that different telcos have | other codes or methods? and Patrick Townson replies: | [Moderator's Note: You are correct. Some use 70#; most allow use of 1170 | for rotary dial phones, and sometimes 1170 will work from touchtone lines | as well. Some CO's using older generics don't even have this option. An | example is Morton Grove, IL; about the only place in the Chicago area | without this capability. David Tamkin, is that correct? PT] Patrick asked me because I live in the same city as he but have a different local telco with a few differences in the way custom calling features are implemented. For example, where he lives Illinois Bell has call waiting superseding hunt-from. A second call into a hunt-from line with call waiting will give the call waiting beep instead of hunting; if call waiting has been overridden, however, it will hunt. But where I live, Centel has hunt-from superseding call waiting, and call waiting is useless on any line in a rotary except the last one. I'm not sure that overriding call waiting is still unavailable in Morton Grove. Anyhow, here is the way the codes work from Centel phones in northeastern Illinois (except from Des Plaines prefixes 298 and 82[VAnderbilt]7, on which custom calling and equal access are not yet available: customers wishing equal access or custom calling features must get a new phone number): x below is just what you expect: 0 to suspend call waiting, 2 to establish call forwarding, 3 to terminate call forwarding, 4 to program Speed Call 8 [Centel prefers the terms "Speed Call" and "Touch Call" to those used by BOC's], 5 to program Speed Call 30; n is a digit from 2 through 5: 7x works, tone or pulse 117x works, tone or pulse, but 1170 sits and thinks for several seconds first Tone only: 7x# works, even for 70# *7n works, but *70 returns fast busy (!) #70 suspends call waiting; otherwise #7n returns fast busy It seems that *70 was misprogrammed by Centel as #70. One thing I have noticed with call forwarding here is that you can pull it off without getting charged for the set-up call. If you dial 72# (or *72, or 1172, or whatever) and the number to forward to and get no answer (because you hung up before the party COULD answer, with luck before they heard ringing) and then do it a second time, then on the second try Centel does not connect you; it simply gives confirming beeps and a fresh dialtone, and call forwarding functions. Sometime in the last month they reprogrammed call forwarding to work when the forwarding line is busy with an outgong call, even if it doesn't have call waiting or if call waiting is suspended, and for 72# and its variants to return fast busy if call forwarding is already in effect (you have to cancel the previous forwarding number with 73# first). David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. [Moderator's Note: I think the reason the use of '1170' causes the network to sit and wait for more input is because of the various 7x codes, 70 is the only one which could conceivably be an area code. 71 isn't used. Telco figures some people hit the '1' twice by accident, intending to dial 1-70x-yyy-zzzz. So on 1170 it waits to see what else you have in mind. PT] ------------------------------ From: Bob Jacobson Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 22 Oct 89 00:50:18 GMT Reply-To: Bob Jacobson Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA If Caller ID is such a hog in a conference dedicated to discussions of telephone technology, why not put it in a soc.privacy conference? On the other hand, maybe because it is the central issue in the developing telecom industry, putting *everything* in another conference would really turn us into policy ostriches, no? I don't think it's "splitting hairs" to note that Caller ID as a commercial service is quite different from 911-E emergency service. Technology is more than the sum of its parts, and how a technology is used determines what we think about it and how we regulate its use. This type of critical discrimination is essential to wise technology assessment and the moderator of a conference so much in the middle of things should be able to exercise it well. The new Caller ID law recently enacted in CA permits a user to block ID display on a call by call basis. However, it only blocks display, not carriage of the identifying information. Thus, the local pizza delivery boy may not get your phone number if you block, but the telecom manager at Mr. Pizza will be able to provide corporate HQ with a list of all calls made to all of the local shops, with identifying data. Pretty soon we're gonna have pizzas designed by neighborhood taste. I hope I live among the pepperoni lovers. ============================== [Moderator's Note: Responding specifically to the third paragraph of Mr. Jacobson's letter, and in general to the rest, I would remind all readers that a series of articles in the Telecom Archives discusses Caller ID in a pizza delivery application. During September, 1988, RISKS published a series of articles, including two from myself, debating the merits of Caller ID. Will Martin kindly forwarded this to the Archives on 9-14-88, and it is filed as 'pizza.auto.nmbr.id'. Use 'ftp cs.bu.edu' to get your copy. Log in anonymous, use a non-null password, then 'cd telecom-archives' and pull the file. PT] ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 22 Oct 89 00:00:30 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , asuvax!gtephx!bladder! wagnere@ncar.ucar.edu (Eric Wagner) writes: > Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer > cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that > hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) > have been responsible for brain/eye damage. Everything is harmful today if you ask the right (wrong) person. I have been working around high RF fields of every wavelength for a quarter century. As my posting should reveal, my brain is only moderately messed up, and as of this writing, I have yet to grow my third horn:-) > When I did some calculations, this damage didn't seem impossible. I > think the newer models operate on 800MHz (?). If that is true, then > the wavelength would be: > c / f = 186000 mi/sec / 800000000/sec x 5280 ft/mi = 1.2 feet > This results in a halfwave of about 7 inches (just about the size of > the skull). Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone > consider this before approving the 800MHz frequency? So if you had done a little more homework, you would have found that the minimal transfer of energy occurs when the transferee is exactly one wave length. The Federal government considers 100 MHz to be the most harmful frequency since the human body is just over 1/2 wavelength, where the most energy is transferred. Now, getting to reality. I work almost daily around FM transmitters of the 20KW variety and effective radiated powers of around 100,000 watts. Using inverse square law, the energy being absorbed by my body is enormously greater than anything you could get from a cellular phone at any distance and is at the more harmful frequency of 100 MHz. I also spend a lot of time in front of STL antennas that emit hundreds of watts ERP at 950 MHz. In short, those of us who have spent our adult life around megawatts of RF are somewhat amused by those that are so upset over the .6 watt from a handheld cellular phone. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Kent Borg Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 20 Oct 89 18:52:40 GMT Reply-To: Kent Borg Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA In article Brian Kantor writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 458, message 7 of 10 >In article folta@tove.umd.edu.UUCP >(Wayne Folta) writes: >>X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 456, message 4 of 7 >>Can anyone tell me about cellular phone antennas? Why the little >>curly part of the antenna (does it have something to do with >>horizontal v. vertical polarization?)? >The cellular antenna is really two vertically-polarized antennas of >approximately 1/2 wavelength, and the curly part can be viewed as a >delay line to cause the two sections to work in phase. Thus the >antenna has an effective "gain" (i.e., works better) than a simple >antenna. I always thought the main reason the center loading coil was there to let everybody know that you have a cellular telephone, i.e., that it was put there for marketing reasons, to give cellular telephones an identity and to look cool. How much gain is it really worth? One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular telephone. This might not be a good thing. How easy is it to change the serial number on these puppies? They certainly would have very little fence value if it were impossible to make calls because the radio identifies itself and has been reported stolen. Maybe they don't get stolen much... Anybody know? Kent Borg "Then again I could be foolish kent@lloyd.uucp not to quit while I'm ahead..." or -from Evita (sung by Juan Peron) ...!husc6!lloyd!kent ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Keep at Least One Rotary Phone Date: 22 Oct 89 09:21:17 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , OLE@csli.stanford.edu (Ole J. Jacobsen) writes: > In the wake of the earthquake I have been having problems getting > through to a friend in Ben Lomond near Santa Cruz. Dialling the number > usually results in a fast busy. One trick I learned from the UK is to > dial the number slowly with a rotary phone. Amazingly it seems to work This might work *from* a SXS (which is what I believe Ben Lomond still is) but would have absolutely no effect from any crossbar or electronic office, digital or analog. Touch tone is converted to rotary pulses for a SXS office and it is remotely possible that things could be busy enough that vacant levels would be found only at the end of switch travel and the converter might not wait long enough whereas your slow dialing might. But when dialing into a SXS office from a common control office, you have absolutely no control over the pulse rate. If you were dialing from the metro Bay Area, you were using a common control office, there being no SXS left anywhere in the greater Bay Area. And if so, what you experienced was coincidence. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Roger Clark Swann Subject: Re: 911 Improvement Surcharge in Chicago Date: 22 Oct 89 06:04:44 GMT Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA I was shocked to read the posting recently about the $0.95 and $1.00 surcharges being placed on phone lines in the Chicago area for 911 service. Here in the Seattle area the 911 surcharge is only $0.30 per line, per month. When E-911 service was installed county wide about seven years ago, the surcharge was $0.50, but after a couple of years, the County and US West ( then Pacific Northwest Bell ) said the administration of the system, was costing much less than expected and the rate was reduced. As for the issue of privacy, I don't remember ANY outcry regarding privacy at the time. The installation of the system and the method of payment were put to a county wide vote and the margin of passage was overwhelming. Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company | ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 717-564 Discrepancy Date: 20 Oct 89 14:49:22 PDT (Fri) From: Lang Zerner I know nothing. I got the number from a hacker BBS a couple of years ago, and the source was a random scan of the Bellcore exchange. Sorry. Lang ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #468 *****************************   Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 0:55:47 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #469 Message-ID: <8910230055.ab27955@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Oct 89 00:55:08 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 469 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Quake Kudos to PacBell, Finger to Idiots Phoning Relatives (John Gilmore) TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (John Gilmore) Re: What is SONET? (Michael Hui) Re: What is SONET? (Tad Cook) Re: Caller ID at American Express; How Do THEY Know Your Phone? (J Gilmore) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (John Higdon) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Brian Kantor) Re: Disaster Communications (Tad Cook) Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned (Eliot Lear) AT&T Building in Oakland Damaged; 'cpsc6a' Dead (Roger Taranto via Gilmore) Ringing SFCA From Australia (Jon D. Kendall) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Quake Kudos to PacBell, Finger to Idiots Phoning Relatives Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 15:27:25 -0700 From: gnu@toad.com [also posted to ca.earthquakes, can't crosspost since this is a modgroup.] mbr%cornelian@Sun.COM (Mark Bergman) wrote: > I would like to personally salute all of the city planners, > architects, and engineers for creating such incredible newer buildings > and skyscrapers [that survived the earthquake without damage]. The folks I would like to thank are: ==> Pac Bell <== Their equipment worked throughout, as far as I could tell! That must have taken great planning and good engineering. Nobody on our block had dialtone, but our phones rang four or five times on the night of the quake (friends calling to check on us, who we quickly told to hang up). Even the lack of trunks and dialtone could be prevented. The problem was the obnoxious people who all tried to call their relatives, tying up trunks and dialtones for days. A possible solution when in an overload situation is to only allow one outgoing call per hour at ordinary phones. Don't even let someone compete for dialtone if they have made a call in the last 60 minutes. This would limit the overload to the local central offices rather than tying up trunks, and would offer dialtone to a lot more callers. It would also automatically throttle autodialers like Unix machines. Exemptions for the emergency lines around PBXes; locations that need emergency comm (police, hospitals, utilities, media); pay phones (so real emergencies can be reported even if every idiot on your block has used up their one call -- social pressure will push emergency callers to the front of the line at a pay phone, and keep call duration way down). Of course, education would help, but people have already been told to only use the phones for emergency calls. They just think it is an emergency if they haven't heard from brother or sister since the quake. Get real! Does it really matter if you find out how your friends or relatives are TODAY, or next week? They will end up in the same shape anyway. Meanwhile people calling to report fires, get ambulances, or tell the local radio station what is going on are SOL, while you chat about how the stars are pretty with all the lights out and how much emergency liquor you have. John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com "Watch me change my world..." -- Liquid Theatre ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 16:41:12 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would just be something like "PPP". Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to define. (I could go ahead and do this, but I can't get Sun to support it since they want to go with standards even if they are brain dead standards. They say Suns talking to Suns is not interesting. I say getting ANY two pieces of data equipment talking over ISDN would be a miracle at this point.) Please reply by email since I usually don't have time to read Telecom. [Moderator's Note: But please cc: telecom so all of us can share. PT] ------------------------------ From: Michael Hui Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 22 Oct 89 19:44:15 GMT Reply-To: "Michael M.Y. Hui" I was on the hardware design team of NT's new SONET product line. I designed two ASICs for that product, both involved intimately with the SONET protocol. Currently I am _not_ with Bell-Northern Research anymore. BNR was the R&D arm of NT that actually did the product development. In order to keep myself out of hot water, please only ask (if you want) questions of a nonproprietary nature. This much I will share with you all: The NT offering implements nearly EVERYTHING in the SONET standard. It is very unlikely that it won't be able to work with any other manufacturer's equipment. Yes, it was designed by a very competent team of engineers. It's also very unlikely that we have overlooked subtleties in the standard. The system was subject to extensive chip level, multi-chip level, system level simulation, using our mainframes and Zycad hardware simulation engine. There were still changes to the standard during our development time frame. Most of those have been incorporated into the hardware. The inclination is strong at this point for other telecom engineers to come on stream and debat how/whether/what parts of the standard we implemented. Please keep in mind the proprietary nature of your company's projects, as well as my former employer's rights to their trade secrets. If you really want to know the whole story, please apply for a job in the SONET development group at BNR. It's a good company to work for. I heartily recommend it. Now, if only I could get my hands on the silly sales brochure ... ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 23 Oct 89 00:21:56 GMT Organization: very little In article , amc-gw!ssc!tad@beaver. cs.washington.edu writes: > Seriously....I always thought SONET referred to Southern New England > Telephone Co! OOPS! I just realized that I must have been thinking of SNET, and entirely different animal, of course! Never mind. Tad Cook Seattle, WA Tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 3288544 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 16:22:50 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express -- How Do THEY Know Your Phone #? ben@sybase.com said: > I should test this by calling in on > my unlisted number sometime, and see if the response is any different > from when I call from my other, listed number, the one that appears on > their records. Why would your phone number appear on the records of a credit card company? Or is that just one more blank on the application form that you filled in without thinking? It's certainly none of their business... [Moderator's Note: None of their business you say? Maybe they never have to call *you* to get you to pay your bills, but it is a common enough thing. Credit is not a lawful entitlement or a right -- it is a privilege you are given. In exchange for the credit grantor considering you worthy of credit and a minimal financial risk, you agree to provide a phone number and other information. You provide what the creditor wants; the creditor provides what you want. Why do you assume the creditor has bad motives with your phone number? PT] ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 23 Oct 89 02:27:48 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , lloyd!sunfs3!kent@husc6. harvard.edu (Kent Borg) writes: > One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of > outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the > coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. > Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular > telephone. This might not be a good thing. If you really don't want people to know you have a cellular phone, use a handheld. I had a standard cellular car phone for a couple of years. When it died, rather than pay a fortune to have it repaired I decided to move to a handheld. I never expected it to work very well in the car, particularly while in motion, and was certainly surprised to find that it worked better! There had obviously been some improvement in the transceiver technology in those intervening years. Needless to say, I find that my handheld is all I need for mobile communications and there is no unsightly antenna on my truck. Not really yuppie-approved, but such is life. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 23 Oct 89 04:00:59 GMT Reply-To: Brian Kantor Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. In article Kent Borg writes: >I always thought the main reason the center loading coil was there to >let everybody know that you have a cellular telephone, i.e., that it >was put there for marketing reasons, to give cellular telephones an >identity and to look cool. How much gain is it really worth? Roughly 6dB (~4x signal strength, or given all else equal, about twice the range) over an equivalent 1/4-wavelength stub, which would be about 3 inches long. You can use the little 3-inch whip if you don't mind the reduced range. There is another factor: the radiation angle of the curly-whip antenna is lower and tends to hit the cell-sites better, whereas the 1/4wave has a real high radiation angle and the signal tends to shoot off into space. If you happen to live in an area where the cell sites all are on top of good tall mountains (like the 6,000 ft ones around San Diego and Los Angeles), the 1/4wave antenna will actually work better close in to the foothills. >One good reason for getting rid of the open coil would be so bits of >outdoors don't get stuck in there, changing the inductance of the >coil, and screwing up the performance of the antenna. Older design antennas had the coil encapsulated in a plastic tube, which broke every time it went through the car wash, and had much more wind resistance so that the antenna bent away from the vertical at highway speeds. Lack of verticality is a SERIOUS range killer; if the antenna were to fall over horizontal, you'd face a theoretical 20dB loss in signal strength. >Another reason would be so that people won't know you have a cellular >telephone. This might not be a good thing. How easy is it to change >the serial number on these puppies? They certainly would have very >little fence value if it were impossible to make calls because the >radio identifies itself and has been reported stolen. Maybe they >don't get stolen much... Anybody know? They get stolen a lot. You can buy a disguise whip which doesn't look much like anything, but it's got poorer range. Hide the handset, since it's the glittering attractive thing. And you might want to drill a hole in the center of your car roof and put in a real antenna instead of the glass-mount type. Not only will it look less like a typical cellphone install, but it'll also have better range. Changing the serial number of a stolen cellphone theoretically shouldn't be terribly hard, since it's just burned into a ROM chip, but I'm told that they stopped putting the ROM in a socket and started covering the soldered-in chip with epoxy to make it much much harder to do. My friend at a local two-way shop says they have to exchange the main circuit board on the rare occasion when the ROM goes bad, since there's no way to get the chip loose without destroying the board. Apparently that didn't used to be the case. - Brian ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Disaster Communications Date: 22 Oct 89 18:55:56 GMT Organization: very little Ihor Kahal asked why ABC didn't send the blimp south to survey damage. I'll be that the blimp had to be line-of-site with a stationary truck with a dish that could not track it over the horizon. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP MCI Mail: 328-8544 KT7H @ N7HFZ ------------------------------ From: Eliot Lear Subject: Re: Earthquake - Lessons Learned Date: 22 Oct 89 23:43:01 GMT Organization: Natl Computer Resource for Mol. Biology It's true that GTE Mobilenet didn't appear to suffer any damage. However, they certainly did max out shortly after the quake. My guess is that they were having problems getting PacBell circuits, like the rest of us. HOWEVER! I *was* able to call long distance almost immediately after the quake, from my Celphone. Eliot Lear [lear@net.bio.net] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 17:23:40 PDT From: John Gilmore Subject: AT&T Building in Oakland Damaged - 'cpsc6a' Dead gaf@uucs1.uucp wrote: > I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, > so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any > buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 20:00:47 pdt From: rtech!rtech!rog (Roger Taranto) Subject: cpsc6a According to one of our employees, whose husband works at AT&T in Oakland, cpsc6a won't be back for awhile. It seems that the AT&T building is structurally okay, but the insides have been condemned. Everything inside will have to be gutted and rebuilt. This includes the machine, cpsc6a. I know you two talk to cpsc6a; please forward this information to anyone else you know of who talks to cpsc6a. It's interesting that it is one of the newer buildings in downtown Oakland. -Roger ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Oct 89 14:29:23 EST From: kendall Subject: Ringing SFCA From Australia Reply-To: kendall@diemen.utas.oz.au (Jon D. Kendall) Organization: University of Tasmania In reference to Dennis Brophy's article I must say that I find it amazing that telephone service to the SF Bay area continued as well as it did given the magnitude of the disaster. I rang friends in Los Altos Hills (between SF and San Jose) around 06:30 hrs. CA time with minimal effort. Granted it did take a few times to finally get past the 'OTC circuits busy to that area' message but I did get through. The Australian OTC connects to AT&T in America so, as far as AT&T's service is concerned, it was working very well for us. For that matter, I rang a friend earlier in Davis (916) at around 0:30 hrs. CA time Wednesday morning who could not ring anybody on MCI because the MCI access was out. Is this because MCI's access comes from the Bay Area? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #469 *****************************   Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 0:27:56 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #470 Message-ID: <8910240027.aa21977@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 24 Oct 89 00:25:04 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 470 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Earthquake Report from Berkeley and Elsewhere (Joe Konstan) Comments on Payphones (Ken Jongsma) Apartment Door Answering System at Duke University (Stephen Tell) Caller ID Boxes (mende@aramis.rutgers.edu) Unequal Service (John Higdon) More on Amex and Caller ID (John R. Levine) Re: Parsing Dialed Digits (Dr. T. Andrews) Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones (Dr. T. Andrews) [Moderator's Note: Just one issue of the Digest this morning. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 19:01:54 -0700 From: Joe Konstan Subject: Earthquake Report from Berkeley and Elsewhere This is a bit late, since I flew out of SFO Thursday, returning only this afternoon (Monday). I will focus predominantly on Telecom-related issues, though I'd like to update a few remarks made by others in prior submissions. 1. I was at my office in the CS Division at UCB when the quake happened. Most computers here were never down; the building shook; but it stood. Someone in the next office had a small TV (we did not lose power) and we watched the coverage for a while as the TV stations came on the air. One thing I noticed was that TV reception was MUCH BETTER THAN USUAL, I speculate that this could be because the Twin Peaks (SF) transmission tower was not usable, so those of us in the East Bay received only an Oakland broadcast, rather than two transmissions. 2. One thing I haven't seen mentioned here was the continuous reference made by the TV anchors to the phone book. Earthquake emergency information is printed in all the Pac Bell phone books I've seen, and was a quick source of information. 3. From UCB, I phoned a number of places. I called my fiancee (about two miles away, in Berkeley). I needed an average of 3-4 tries per completion, with some calls getting reorder, others "circuits busy." The first time I got a ring, I realized that power was out (our answering machine did not pick up). Later that evening (about 11pm) we found out that our power was back on by calling the answering machine again. Useful machine. I found I was able to place calls much more effectively than others in the area (University Centrex? 415-642-xxxx). As a result, I relayed messages out of the area for many people. I was able to reach NY, Sacramento, Davis, and most of the Bay Area except for SF itself pretty consistently. In all cases, I was relaying quick "your family is fine" messages since most of the people I spoke with had trouble calling out. (My own guess is that many had never had to wait for dial tone, plus the fact that few people stayed at the University, so our exchange was relatively free). 4. My grandmother (in Washington D.C.) managed to get through to my home just minutes after the quake. This was the last call in from outside the area that we received for many hours, but she was able to tell everyone that we were fine. As a side note, I agree with what AT&T did. The one exception to the "If I need help, I'll call" is the case of a person living alone who might not be able to get to a phone. I think this can be handled as a special case or locally. BTW, why doesn't AT&T retain "disaster authority" over its lines, to prevent resellers from mishandling the situation and from using capacity that AT&T customers could use? 5. Note that at all times, even with blackouts in Berkeley a few miles from the I-880 collapse and the Bay Bridge, the phones worked. In a previous local blackout, our phone was the only source of light we could easily find (used it to find candles). This time we were better prepared, but the reliability of the phones always amaze me. 6. The death count Patrick cited seems to be overly high (not his fault, that was the best knowledge at the time). At present, under 60 are confirmed dead, with expectations around 100-150. All-in-all, we were very lucky, especially for the fact that the quake struck before dark. 7. TV coverage (not quite telecom, but related) really helped get the nation aware. The fact that this occurred during the World Series created a tremendous instant awareness, and that led to a great deal of aid. I feel sorry for the other disasters which are not being given the great press coverage (apparently another huricane or tropical storm, according to Nightline), but am grateful for the help we are getting. 8. Two quick things. Public transit has really picked up the slack. BART is running tremendously (a couple of short closing of the Trans-Bay tube, but otherwise regular service, extended to help people compensate for the bridge closing. The busses and ferries are indispensible, and are really doing a wonderful job. Finally, I have a lot of stories (I took a bus ride through most of SF trying to get to the airport, and saw the crowds of tourists leaving the city (even spoke with many)) which don't belong here, but I'm happy to talk with anyone who isn't already innundated with stories about the Quake! Joe Konstan konstan@postgres.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Ken@cup.portal.com Subject: Comments on Payphones Date: Mon, 23-Oct-89 08:21:07 PDT A few comments on some payphone experiences I had on a recent trip: 1) Most people do not understand that they may not get AT&T when making a call from a payphone. I sat and watched one person try 4 or 5 times to make a credit card call. He was trying 0+, 1+ and a few other ways and kept hanging up when he got NTS operators. I finially got up and showed him how to dial 10288. At least he realized he wasn't getting AT&T. Another grandmotherly looking lady was happily punching in her card number for several calls. I hope she doesn't have a heart attack when the bill comes. 2) Somebody other than AT&T has the 0+ concession at Atlanta. The card on the bottom of the phone makes this reasonably clear, but you have to know what they are trying to say. There was a statement to the effect: Dial 1-800-288-xxxx for rates. Maybe it's my ^^^ suspicious mind, but they could have selected a different prefix. 3) Back in the days of the Bell System, AT&T would not let you advertise funny names as numbers (i.e. 1-800-car-rent) in the Yellow Pages. Or at least if you did that, you were told to put the corresponding number in the ad also. I happen to agree with that philosophy, as I find it very hard to dial such numbers. Times Change. I was in several airports this week that did not have AT&T as the 0+ concessionare. At each airport there were large lighted signs that said, "To use AT&T, you must first dial 10-ATT." The number 10288 did not appear anyplace on the ad. 4) In Milwaukee, the 0+ concessionare is MCI. I wanted to use Sprint but rather than dial the 800 number to make a credit card call, I thought I'd try dialing 10333+0+NPA+NXX+XXXX and entering my foncard number. After three recordings saying my card number was wrong, I got a Sprint Operator. She already had my card number, but asked me to repeat it just to verify it. She said it should have worked, but it took her several tries before the computer would approve the number. This being the first time I had tried calling this way, I have no idea if it was a one time glitch or a problem with Sprint's card authentication procedures. 5) Also at Milwaukee, MCI is perfectly happy with my AT&T card number, but Sprint won't take it. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Subject: Apartment Door Answering System at Duke University Date: 24 Oct 89 00:51:05 GMT Reply-To: tell@oscar.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill At Duke University, where I was a student until recently, they are installing a similar system designed by fellow EE and friend. Briefly, here's how it works. A weatherproof phone is installed by the front door; its line runs through the custom hardware located down in the basement. These are speakerphones of some sort, with DTMF dial and large buttons for 'on' and 'off.' A delay in the on/off hook makes manual pulse- dialing impossible, which is important (see below). The phone line is restricted to local calls only. A visitor calls a resident's 7-digit phone number, and asks to be let in. The resident presses '#' and a solenoid unlocks the door. The box down in the basement designed by my friend works somthing like this. It has a DTMF decoder, and listens as the visitor dials. Stored in EPROM are the phone numbers of all of the residents of that dorm. If there's a match, it listens for the resident to dial '#'. When it hears a '#', it breaks the line on the speaker-phone side, and makes sure that it is still hearing the '#', so only the resident and not the visitor can trigger the lock. Pulse dialing is forbidden because someone could pulse dial any number in town, then dial a number in the dorm in DTMF, and convice the person who answered to press the '#' key. Storing the number list in EPROM is ok because phone numbers are fixed in rooms by the Duke Telephone system, and don't change from year to year. (Duke owns a 5ESS, and is the largest private phone company in North Carolina, I'm told. Somthing like 15,000 lines) If phone numbers ever did change, they could run the thing over to the EE department and burn a new EPROM. Steve Tell tell@cs.unc.edu CS Grad Student, UNC Chapel Hill. Former EE/CS student, Duke University, Durham, NC ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Oct 89 10:48:55 EDT From: mende@aramis.rutgers.edu Subject: Caller ID Boxes I am looking into getting CallerID, and wanted to know if there were any other boxes for it other than the standard one that they try to sell you. If you have see any of the other boxes, please respond and Ill summarize. /Bob... {...}!rutgers!mende mende@aramis.rutgers.edu mende@zodiac.bitnet ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Unequal Service Date: 23 Oct 89 19:09:28 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows Even for days following the 5:04 pm shock, dialtone was agonizingly slow in the crossbar offices, while electronic offices seemed to be unaffected. This brings up an issue: even for basic service, there are unequal levels even though customers pay equally. As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. For those of you served by real telcos who upgraded long ago, this is not an issue. But there are many prefixes in San Jose alone still "served" (term loosely used) by #5 grossbar. Pac*Bell needs some kind of incentive to get its act together. My mother's telephone is connected to crossbar and she thought that her phone was knocked out for days. She didn't know that she could have used it by simply waiting the two or three minutes for dialtone. And we're talking days after the event. Are there any other telcos out there that seem to feel that crossbar is appropriate for telephony as we move into the '90s? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Subject: More on Amex and Caller ID Date: 23 Oct 89 22:04:41 EDT (Mon) From: "John R. Levine" I mentioned in a previous message that I had heard that American Express had a Caller ID-like feature on their 800 number, and had tied it into their computer so they could guess who you were based on your phone number; but that when I called Amex a while ago the rep claimed they couldn't do that. Several private messages have opined that Amex still gets the caller's number, but they'd retrained their reps to act as though they couldn't tell since customers found it creepy and identifying a caller by the number he is calling from is unreliable and confusing. ("Hello, Mrs. Smith!" "No, this is Ms. Jones, and you can just forget where I'm calling from.") So when I called Amex this month (Compuserve keeps billing me for usage on an account that I cancelled six months ago) I called from my computer's phone line. The rep asked me if my phone number had changed. Hmmn. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Parsing Dialed Digits Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 8:04:58 EDT From: "Dr. T. Andrews" Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand) )> How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three )> digits as the country code ? ) It depends on the first two digits. ) If the first two digits are a valid country code, then you do not have ) to look at the third digit. Sorry, this doesn't work. Some country codes (mainly for toy countries) are special cases of others. Consider "countries" like the Vatican (looks like a particular exchange in Rome Italy) or San Marino. You have to examine rather a lot of digits to decide whether the call is to Rome Italy or the Vatican. I believe that the list of country codes posted here some time ago also listed several French-speaking island countries as having country codes which started with the French 2 digits and were followed by another digit or two to specify the country. ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 10 Cent Pay Phones Date: Sat, 21 Oct 89 9:57:19 EDT From: "Dr. T. Andrews" Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand) I have been out of town for a while, and found a 10-cent pay phone. North Bilerica, MASS seems to have them. I found one right at the remains of the station there. (They don't take very good care of their stations up there. Shame on them.) ...!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner [Moderator's Note: That seems to be the case everywhere. The Lawrence Avenue CTA station in Chicago is absolutely the *pits*. Ceiling falling in, and total filth. The Amtrack Union Station downtown is bad also. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #470 *****************************   Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 0:01:15 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #471 Message-ID: <8910250001.aa03395@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 25 Oct 89 00:00:38 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 471 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Torsten Dahlkvist) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Fred Goldstein) Re: What is SONET? (Paul Elliott) Re: Risk of CO Fires (Jay Maynard) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Tom Hofmann) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (Danial Hamilton) CPA 1000 w/Computer (David C. Troup) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (David A. Cantor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Torsten Dahlkvist Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 24 Oct 89 09:55:32 GMT Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: >I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I >have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of >like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you >ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would >just be something like "PPP". >Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN >standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; >once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to >define. (I could go ahead and do this, but I can't get Sun to support >it since they want to go with standards even if they are brain dead >standards. They say Suns talking to Suns is not interesting. I say >getting ANY two pieces of data equipment talking over ISDN would be a >miracle at this point.) O.K. let's see. First of all, you must bear in mind the basic differrence between ISDN and TCP/IP (apart from the speed). TCP/IP is packet-oriented. ISDN is still circuit-switched in the normal operating modes (i.e. unless you connect via some interworking unit in the exchange for hooking up with other networks). This means that in order to connect one Sun to another via ISDN you have to create a link between them - in a fashion similar to when two modems connect: sending the dialling information to the exchange which then offers the call to the other machine which responds if it finds the call compatible. This also means that you are subject to all the normal "telephony" hassles, like the receiving party (your file-server?!) beeing busy with another call and refusing to talk to you... All the information to set up and disconnect calls is transferred on the D-channel and this is already completely standardized, if rather complex. The compiled binaries to handle these things in our ISDN equipment are about 150 kByte large and the work to write the stuff took a couple of man-years. As far as I know, the hardware available in the SPARCstations is roughly equivalent to the stuff we used. If you really want to go through with this you won't have to worry about what to do for a while. ;-) Once the call is set up you have your 64 kbit data link. What you do with it is basically up to you. If you're content to go at <64 kbit speeds you can adopt the standardized rate-adaption scheme with frames providing sync patterns and some additional data (not likely to be usable in your case). If you go for the full 64 kbit speed you do indeed have an 8 kByte/sec byte-oriented link. The ISDN standard doesn't go any further than that. The upper layers of the OSI-model are _not_ included in the standard! You can compare a SPARCstation with built-in ISDN-chip with a PC with a built-in modem chip. What you have is roughly equivalent to the hardware of a modem but no software. After you decide what kind of use you need you can set it up accordingly. Write the "auto-dialling" software and you can connect it to another machine with a similar interface. After that you can use any old protocol for the data transfer. Regard the ISDN port as basically similar to a serial port and make it login-able (start a getty on it) to allow remote users and/or semi-manual protocols like Kermit or UUCP. If you want to use the ISDN link as an alternative to TCP/IP, you're probably best off using it to TCP/IP-connect a remote machine to an Ethernet system at some other location. (You still have to write the ISDN software to connect the link.) That way you could use the existing TCP/IP software with fairly few and simple changes to route through the ISDN terminal interface chip. That solution would probably please Sun too. It uses a standard... :-) I'm sorry if this doesn't sound too cheery. I'm afraid that until some ISDN protocol software goes public (ours is NOT!) there's little you can realistically do, unless you're in a position to start a university project or something similar to get a large team to help you. The work is HUGE! My suspicion is that the reason Sun put that chip in the SPARCstations is that they hope some university will rise to the bait. It would certainly boost ISDN if it happened (and that chip is cheap compared to the cost of a SPARC :-). Please get in touch if there's anything else I can answer for you. Torsten Dahlkvist ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 23 Oct 89 16:12:49 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes... >I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >really an ISDN speakerphone chip). The problem is data encoding; I >have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links, sort of >like storing data in main memory with bit stuffing just in case you >ever need to do clock recovery on main memory. My preference would >just be something like "PPP". Okay, it's like this. ISDN provides "circuit mode" and "packet mode" data services. The "packet mode" is essentially X.25, with call setup either inband (after making a circuit call to the X.25 switch) or modified to use ISDN out of band signaling (i.e., Q.931). In any case, CCITT X.31 tells you all about packet mode. Circuit mode is just like modems, but faster. You get 64 kbps per second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. It is NOT byte oriented at this point! So HDLC is quite natural, but byte-oriented protocols (i.e., DDCMP) are technically possible too. HDLC chips do all the work anyway, you don't ever put stuff-bits in main memory. To run async or lower speeds, you use rate adaptation. Two standards exist: V.120 is new and HDLC_based, while V.110 is older and more popular among Europeans than Americans. And you can of course create your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. (Northern Telecom has one called T-link that's widely used.) So to do framing, you can use essentially any L2 protocols. I wouldn't advise SLIP on my worst enemy (well, maybe if I really didn't like him and wanted his errors to go undetected) but ISDN isn't anything special in that regard; you just use whatever L2 that both ends agree to. fred ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: What is SONET? Date: 24 Oct 89 20:58:36 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , hui@joplin.mpr.ca (Michael Hui) writes: > .... > The NT offering implements nearly EVERYTHING in the SONET standard. It > is very unlikely that it won't be able to work with any other > manufacturer's equipment. > .... > The inclination is strong at this point for other telecom engineers to > come on stream and debate how/whether/what parts of the standard we > implemented. > .... In my posting answering (some of) the SONET questions, I mentioned my "amusement" at the NT press release (or used words to that effect). I don't know if Michael is referring to my posting here, but if so, I never intended to imply that NT's implementation was anything but superb. Actually, I have no info on the NT design other than the few paragraphs I saw in the newspaper. ... I just re-read my original post, and find that I used the phrase "_something_SONET_", and this looks suspiciously like what his comments were referring to. What I meant was that the transport of SONET requires many pieces of equipment at various places in the network, and that the NT product may be the first in it's area, but was not the first SONET equipment to hit the field. I did not intend to imply that it only implemented a subset of SONET or anything like that. Anyway, enough humble apology from me for now. On the other hand, if this wasn't referring to my posting....never mind. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Subject: Re: Risk of CO Fires Date: 23 Oct 89 11:49:35 GMT Reply-To: Jay "you ignorant splut!" Maynard Organization: Confederate Microsystems, League City, TX In article kitty!larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) writes: > The above attitude of avoiding "embarassment" and "adverse >publicity" still exists. I personally know of an example which rather >shocked me. A few years ago an employee of a contractor accidentally >fell off a truck at the New York Telephone Franklin St. CO in >Buffalo, NY. The employee was knocked unconscious. The security >guard (this is the main CO in Buffalo, so there are full-time guards) >did NOT call 911 for an ambulance, but instead called a *private* >ambulance service which resulted in a significant delay in response as >opposed to 911. The security guards apparently have standing >instructions to call a private ambulance, and NOT to call 911 unless >it is a "dire emergency". Why a private ambulance? Because then >there will be no public record of any accident and no risk of a police >report. Not a good attitude. (paramedic mode on) This kind of thing kills people. That security guard, unless he is an experienced street EMT, has little to no concept of the necessity of getting fast qualified help to seriously injured people. Anyone who is knocked unconscious for any period of time is seriously injured. He needed an emergency ambulance, right then. There are any of a number of serious injuries that can kill within the time it takes to get a non-emergency ambulance there, most of which are not obvious as such. Wouldn't OSHA have something to say about that? I do know that if such a thing were to happen at either of GTE's COs in League City, there'd be charges filed... Jay Maynard, EMT-P, K5ZC, PP-ASEL | Never ascribe to malice that which can jay@splut.conmicro.com (eieio)| adequately be explained by stupidity. {attctc,bellcore}!texbell!splut!jay +---------------------------------------- Send richard@gryphon.com your NO vote on sci.aquaria; it belongs in rec. ------------------------------ From: Tom Hofmann Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: 23 Oct 89 07:32:43 GMT Organization: WRZ, CIBA-GEIGY Ltd, Basel, Switzerland From article , by dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter): > Austria 00 > 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 > 030. For Yugoslavia for areas with codes starting with > 4, 5 or 6 > 040. For Italy in stead of 0039 > 050. For Switzerland in stead of 0041 > 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks extremely Austrian :-) > Germany 00 From West-Berlin (and only from there) the country code for East Germany is 037 instead of 0037. > United States 010 Wasn't it 011 (resp. 01 for operator assistance/phone card)? Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP ------------------------------ From: Danial Hamilton Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 24 Oct 89 15:03:54 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004 > If you really don't want people to know you have a cellular phone, use > a handheld. I had a standard cellular car phone for a couple of years. > ... > ... Needless to say, I find that my > handheld is all I need for mobile communications and there is no > unsightly antenna on my truck. Not really yuppie-approved, but such is > life. I don't care who says it's safe, I just can't feel comfortable about radiating 800 MHZ RF energy 3-4 inches from my brain. ------------------------------ From: "David C. Troup - Skunk Works : 2600hz" Subject: CPA 1000 w/Computer Date: 23 Oct 89 17:35:04 GMT Organization: Carroll College Stealth Rock Climbing Club Does anyone know if one can send the output of the Radio Shack CPA-1000 (phone accountant) to a computer instead of the little printer in the unit itself? (for REAL computerized call accounting). Has anyone tried this sort of thing before? In case you don't know about the unit, the CPA-1000 will keep track of all calls made outgoing and incoming. Outgoing, time of call, number dialed, any flash-switchhook(for pbx), time completed. Incoming-number of rings, if picked up, time, any number pressed, switchhook and time completed. Currently, it prints out all information on a 1.5 inch width paper...I would like to have the output go to my computer (apple IIgs) for call accounting storage. Thanks in advance! "We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, knowin' that ain't allowed" _______________________ |David C. Troup / Surf Rat _______)(______ | |dtroup@carroll1.cc.edu : mail ___________________________|414-524-6809_________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 06:01:12 -0700 From: "David A. Cantor 24-Oct-1989 0857" Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles From Telecom Digest vol 9 iss 466: >>"How many cookies did Andrew eat? >> >> ANdrew 8-8000" >> >>Was that it? >Adams & Sweet, South Boston, Carpet Cleaners & Used Carpet Sales No, it is Adams & Swett. Two t's, one e. Dave C. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #471 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 4:18:48 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #472 Message-ID: <8910260418.aa26454@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 04:15:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 472 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Experiencing the Earthquake From the 12th Floor (Philip Stanhope) Earthquakes and Telephones (Anthony E. Siegman) Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? (J. Philip Miller) Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) (Gary L. Dare) Long Distance Carrier Info Sought (Phil Howard) Dialling Luxembourg from Austria via 00432 (Wolf Paul) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dik T. Winter) Re: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem (Jeff Woolsey) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Dell Ellison) Cartoon (Ron Higgins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 09:33:46 EDT From: phil@goldhill.com Subject: Experiencing the Earthquake From the 12th Floor > From: gaf@uucs1.uucp > Subject: Amazing Quake Stories > We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who > noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T > counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was > answered, and the conversation went something like: > "Hey, what's happening there?" > "We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big > crack in the wall now ..... " > I'd heard that AT&T was on the 10th floor of some building in Oakland, > so I don't know how apocryphal this is. Haven't heard of any > buildings that tall sustaining that kind of damage. I was on the 12th floor of a hotel in Emeryville at the time of the quake. The hotel was about 3/4 mile from where a section of the bridge collapsed and a 1/2 mile from the 880 collapse. It was not possible to move during the quake (I would have loved to at least get to the door frame but barring crawling I wouldn't have made it there.) As far as damage, the hotel had its exit stairwells exposed to the outside so each landing could be seen from the outside. Once outside you could see that there was a crack in the landing of every floor but more so on the lower floors. Walls in my room did crack - the interior bathroom walls in particular. Every piece of furniture was turned over (or on it's side) except for the chair that I was sitting in and the king size bed. The nightstand, sitting table, TV, and bureau were all toppled. I had never been a quake before so this was quite an experience. My best estimate was movement of a foot up and down and side to side. I've since heard that the area I was in was built on land fill (or should I say bay fill) and suffered ground movement of around a foot as opposed to a few inches in the Berkeley hills. The first question that I asked after getting out of the building was if this was a normal quake. That was perhaps the most frightening aspect of the whole thing - not knowing how to gauge the event with no reference point. Needless to say, I don't want to be on the top floor of a building the next time. I'll see what happens in two weeks when I'm back in the bay area. As far as communications goes, I was able to make calls into SF without any problem at around 7:30 west coast time. They completed as if nothing had happened. Dial tones came quick, however, completion of a call took many many tries. I was able to get to an international operator who then routed me somewhere (I don't know what she did) and was able to get to my wife in Boston around 8:00 west coast time. After that call I called my travel agent's 800 number and got through after two tries. I then had them get me a flight from Sacramento to LA the next morning (I was supposed to fly out of SF). Philip Stanhope Manager of Product Engineering Gold Hill Computers, Inc. Cambridge, MA. phil@goldhill.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Oct 89 14:32:21 PDT From: "Anthony E. Siegman" Subject: Earthquakes and Telephones One thing the earthquake did in my house was to shake the receivers off the handsets (or should that be the other way around?) of every one of the half-dozen or so phones in my house, even though the phones themselves stayed on the counters or tables. Had to track 'em all down and put 'em all back on hook before I could have any phone service, or anyone could reach me. Expect this was not uncommon in other homes and offices, and could be a major reason for busy signals for some time after the quake. ------------------------------ From: "J. Philip Miller" Subject: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? Date: 25 Oct 89 20:22:57 GMT Reply-To: "J. Philip Miller" Organization: Washington University (St. Louis) MIS Week (10/9) reports the aprehension of a 15-year old hacker who used his Amiga personal computer to tap into two mincomputers at Grumman. The youngster was from Levittown, Long Island and stumbled into the computer by using a random dialing device [sic] attached to his computer. Grumman security was able to detect the intrusions, and the computer's recording of the boy's telephone number led police to his home. Does this imply that there are modems which will record Caller-ID, or does anyone know what technology was used here? While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do not need to key their number in for display on the pager. J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067 Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110 phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - Internet (314) 362-3617 phil@wubios.wustl - bitnet uunet!wucs1!wubios!phil - UUCP C90562JM@WUVMD - alternate bitnet [Moderator's Note: Yes, I think there are modem/Caller-ID devices in one neat little box. A hackerphreak here in Chicago (six blocks down the street from me, on Artesian Avenue to be exact!) was caught burglarizing a computer at Bell Labs/Naperville about a year ago because his phone number was captured by the equipment out there. Some places *do* have this capability now, even if Caller-ID as such is not being marketed to the public in many areas of the country. Its not that the Sisters Bell don't treat all their subscribers equally; its just that some subscribers are more equal than others. Bell Labs; AT&T offices; all the in-laws get juicy extras not yet available to the general public; as do some very large subscribers who ask nicely. Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] ------------------------------ From: Gary L Dare Subject: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) Date: 25 Oct 89 21:29:57 GMT Organization: Columbia University, New York Since we touched a bit on Canadian technology efforts in telecom, can someone give us an update on Telidon? When I left Winnipeg in 1983, there was a big deal over a testbed for an interactive video service using Telidon technology. Test site was Headingley, just outside of Metro Winnipeg limits and the site for Manitoba's largest provincial jail. (-; Has any of this survived and gone into the Canadian ISDN efforts? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Je me souviens ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gary L. Dare "No matter where you go, > gld@cunixd.cc.columbia.EDU there you are! > gld@cunixc.BITNET -- Buckaroo Banzai ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 15:32:44 -0500 From: Phil Howard KA9WGN Subject: Long Distance Carrier Info Sought I'd like to find out what the access codes (and corporate names, if different) are for the following companies doing long distance carrier business in the state of Illinois (and anywhere else): Tele-Sav TeleConnect Thanks. [Moderator's Note: The first one I don't know. Teleconnect is a/k/a Telecom USA. 10835 is their access code, however at least here in IBT-land you must make prior arrangements with Teleconnect; else calls through 10835 will fail. PT] ------------------------------ From: wolf paul Subject: Dialling Luxembourg from Austria via 00432 Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 9:21:09 MET DST Tom Hofman writes: > From article , by dik@cwi.nl > (Dik T. Winter): > > Austria 00 > > 00432. For Luxembourg in stead of 00352 > 0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a > small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole > system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks > extremely Austrian :-) Well, if they wanted to make some special arrangement for dialling Luxembourg, even though the reasons for this escape me, their own country code offers itself as the best candidate: it will never be needed, in Austria, to dial Austria; thus they can re-use it for some other purpose without fearing that it may be reassigned by the CCITT at a later date. If they pick any other 00XX combination, at some later time it may be assigned to some other country, which currently shares a country code with some other country, i.e. if Canada should ever be given its own country code, or some of the Carribean island nations. There are some other features of the Austrian phone system which look much more typically Austrian, such as the fact that it has the second-most expensive fee structure in Europe; that while they have finally introduced "toll-free" numbers (really they are charged as local calls from everywhere in Austria) they have not restricted these to one special area code (like 800 in US, 0800 in UK, etc.), so you can't easily tell from looking at the number whether it is toll-free or not: I have seen numbers advertised as toll-free with at least three different area codes. Call Forwarding is finally available, at a cost of AS 420/month -- that is $35. My entire phone bill (overseas calls excluded, but including unlimited local calling and all the extras like Call Forwarding and Call Waiting, etc.) was rarely as high as that while living in Dallas, TX. Wolf N. Paul, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Schloss Laxenburg, Schlossplatz 1, A - 2361 Laxenburg, Austria, Europe Phone: (Office) [43] (2236) 71521-465 (Home) [43] (1) 22-46-913 UUCP: uunet!mcvax!tuvie!iiasa!wnp W.U.ESL: 62864642 DOMAIN: iiasa!wnp@tuvie.at TLX/TWX: 910-380-8748 WNP UD ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:21:37 +0100 From: "Dik T. Winter" Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Tom Hofmann writes: > > United States 010 > Wasn't it 011 (resp. 01 for operator assistance/phone card)? How embarassing. Of course. Rereading my original posting I saw also that one line was dropped somewhere; to dial Belfast from Ireland you dial 084, and not 080232. dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ From: Jeff Woolsey Subject: Re: 1ESS Call Forwarding Problem Date: 25 Oct 89 09:22:56 GMT Reply-To: Jeff Woolsey Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} I'm having an odd call forwarding problem on a DMS-100 (209-832). If I try to forward to a number out of the LATA, then, having no-pick, I must prefix with 10XXX. If I don't wait for the number to answer, and attempt to set it up again, it "takes", but forwards through it get either reorder or the last successful forward. All other forwarding permutations work, including allowing the 10XXX-dialed number to answer. Bizarre! Pac*Bell repair took two weeks to isolate it this far, and I haven't followed it up for a while. ------------------------------ From: Dell Ellison Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 25 Oct 89 16:05:17 GMT Organization: gte In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > If you support legislation against junk fax, then I would assume that > our elected representatives are already aware of the problem, their > fax machines being overrun with unsolicited advertisements. > What I'm trying to say is that either there is a problem or there > isn't. If there is, you don't need to create a situation with faxing > campaigns. If there isn't, then those who are so concerned with junk > fax need to get a life and move on. What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? ------------------------------ From: Ron Higgins Subject: Cartoon Date: 25 Oct 89 22:24:36 GMT Reply-To: Ron Higgins Organization: Lightning Systems, Inc. _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__o__/ \__o__/ !________Bill, have you gotten !_______You bet, Joe. I into ISDN yet? have 3500 lines. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__o__/ \__o__/ !________Well, you lucky devil. !_______Heck, I don't know. You have 1500 more than How about you? I do. What do you use yours for? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - _____ _____ / . . \ / . . \ ! : ! ! : ! \__-__/ \__-__/ !________Hmmmmmm...... !_______Hmmmmmm...... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Reproduced without permission from the Oct. 15th 1989 issue of TE&M Original cartoon by John Reed, director-engineering, Turnkey Engineering, Richardson, Texas ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #472 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 5:20:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #473 Message-ID: <8910260520.aa25965@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 05:15:00 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 473 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson "Disaster Authority" (Jeff Frontz) Cordless Phone Search (Matt Simpson) Cheap Cellular Phones (MJK2660@ritvm.bitnet) Re: Unequal Service (Dave Levenson) Re: Unequal Service (Tad Cook) Re: Caller ID Boxes (Tad Cook) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes and Area Codes (Bob Goudreau) Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question (John Higdon) Cellular Phone Hook-up (Gerald E. Yingling) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (Robert Wier) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jhf@cblpe.att.com Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:59 EDT Subject: "Disaster Authority" In TELECOM Digest V9 #470, Joe Konstan writes: >BTW, why doesn't AT&T retain "disaster authority" over >its lines, to prevent resellers from mishandling the situation and from >using capacity that AT&T customers could use? I don't think this is very feasible. My understanding is that "resellers" buy trunks that are "nailed up" via a DACS (or something similar). In order to reclaim capacity, AT&T would have to disconnect the reseller in question. I doubt this would sit very well with the FCC. One thing that might change this is a new (to me, anyway) philosophy that I've heard: all types of service should be handled by the normal message network. This would (I think) allow customers to use a software defined network that would mimic a network of "nailed up" trunks. With an SDN, a customer would fall under the reign of network controls. Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com Home: +1 614 794 3986 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 09:11:39 EDT From: "Simpson, Matt" Subject: Cordless Phone Search I'm looking for a phone for my barn. Instead of burying underground cable from the house to the barn, I decided to get a cordless phone, with the base unit in the house. Since I don't want to (won't remember to) take the handset back to the house for recharging, I need a unit with a separate recharge cradle. I would also like to have 2-way paging/intercom capability between base and handset. I have been able to find phones with one or the other of these features, but not both. Does anyone have any suggestions? One store told me they sold a Sony model with the intercom capability which did not come with a separate recharge cradle, but one could be ordered for it however they were temporarily out of stock. I found that model at another location, but the salesperson there could find no info about ordering a recharge cradle. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 11:36:54 EDT From: MJK2660@ritvm.bitnet Subject: Cheap Cellular Phones In the Rochester NY area there have been several vendors selling cellular car phones in the $90 price range. Part of the agreement is that you subscribe to a particular cellular service for 12 months. The rates have just been reduced to $10/month and 17.5 to 25 cents a minute for local (several county area) airtime. I contacted one of the vendors and they do receive a "kickback" from the cellular company but I don't know how much it is. With some of the tales I hear about other areas (75 cents a minute!!) I think we are very fortunate here. ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 26 Oct 89 02:26:47 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of > an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than > "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. For those of you > served by real telcos who upgraded long ago, this is not an issue. But > there are many prefixes in San Jose alone still "served" (term loosely > used) by #5 grossbar. Pac*Bell needs some kind of incentive to get its > act together. The cost of providing service with an electromechanical office is higher than the cost of providing service with an electronic office. Revenues for electronic offices are already higher than for electromechanical offices, because some percentage of the subscribers buy the extra-cost custom calling features. It would seem that the incentive is already there! But the real cost of either office depends upon how long it lives. Swapping out a central office switch before its time plays havoc with a delicate balance of rate-of-return and depreciation schedules. The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the telco _and_ the regulators. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 26 Oct 89 01:01:13 GMT Organization: very little John Higdon proposes that customers served by crossbar COs be charged less than those served by digital offices. Actually, it costs MORE to maintain a crossbar switch. In many cases the telco would love to scrap out the old switch, but the PUC claims that it still has years of service left and is not ready to be written off. In Washington State, US West shocked me and a lot of other folks by scrapping ALL of their electomechanical switches, even in the tiniest of communities. Some Northern Telecom salesman showed them how even with the big up front cost, they could save so much on maintainence and get so much more revenue from new services that there was a very quick payback. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Caller ID Boxes Date: 26 Oct 89 00:55:15 GMT Organization: very little San/Bar makes an ANI display for CLASS services. (This is in response to a request for sources of these things) Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP [Moderator's Note: And the Hello Direct people offer one in their catalog also. I don't know who manufactures it for them. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 18:34:53 edt From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Reply-To: goudreau@rtp48.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) writes: >Based on notes arriving via TELECOM Digest, I have the following to >pass along: >919, North Carolina, 1989? (need area code on toll calls within it) A blurb I saw in the local paper a while ago mentioned that 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance dialing would replace 8-digit LD in all of NC starting early in 1990. This supposedly applies to *both* 919 and 704, and to all telcos (Southern Bell, GTE, Carolina Telephone, and a host of little Mom & Pop operations). No mention of when 919 (which is getting fairly full) is scheduled to split, or how it would be split. Anyone care to speculate on who will get left out in the cold (i.e., the new NPA) when this does happen? It isn't an obvious split (like, say, 617/508) since 919's two largest urban areas (Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro/Winston-Salem) have roughly the same population but are about 80 miles apart. If one urban area has to get assigned to the new NPA, which one is it? The alternative would be to leave *both* of them in 919, thus potentially making both 919 and the new NPA exceedingly contorted, perhaps like 619 in California. Now, on a completely different note... Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and "11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Antenna Question Date: 26 Oct 89 03:35:54 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , motcid!hamilton%cell. mot.COM@uunet.uu.net (Danial Hamilton) writes: > [regarding handhelds] > I don't care who says it's safe, I just can't feel comfortable about > radiating 800 MHZ RF energy 3-4 inches from my brain. Those of us using handhelds and other cellular phones appreciate those who don't like using them for whatever reason. It means less traffic for the rest of us :-) Seriously, I can respect those who are cautious. What really gets to me is when our government decides that we must be protected from all manner of harmful influences and passes laws that prevent those who are willing to take the risks from doing so. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Gerald E Yingling Subject: Cellular Phone Hook-up Date: 25 Oct 89 17:54:16 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I have a question about hooking up a cellular phone. First the problem. My wife bought a transporter car phone that has a cigarette lighter plug for "in car" use. Most of the time she keeps it plugged into her cigarette lighter, however, apparently there is enough drain on the car battery that if she does not use the car for several days and forgets to unplug the phone, the car battery goes dead. I think this is the problem: The cigarette plug is wired this way: ---------------------- < o o o o | "Molex" type plug ---------------------- | | | NC |----- | | ^ | | jumper | + - to cigarette lighter plug Note only two wires from car battery to the phone. I think this is the way a "permanent" phone would be hooked up: o o o o | | | | | | ignition | | switch | | | | | + + - car battery I believe two sources of power are needed, one unswitched (hot all the time) to keep the electronic lock active and some minimum reset circuitry alive, and a switched source (from ignitition switch) to provide transmit power. This would prevent battery going dead with the "cigarette" lighter approach. This might account for the jumper in the cigarette lighter/phone plug (first diagram). I would like to wire a new plug in the car so that my wife could unplug it, plug in the "internal" battery and have a portable phone. However before I messed around with this, I thought I would tap the expertise of the net and solicit advice. Assuming my assumptions are correct about two power sources, I'm not sure which terminal is switched and which is not switched (without trying and risking damage?). I traced the battery polarity so that is not a problem. The phone is a GE CF1000. Thanks for any help. Jerry Yingling 312-979-1639 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 21:44:26 mst From: Robert Wier Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles I remember a widely run tv commercial about 20 years ago (?) by the Sheraton Corporation advertising their toll-free reservation --> 800 325 3535. There wasn't anything particulary humorous about this, they just had a REALLY catchy tune to which the numbers were sung. Plus since the number was so redundant (lots of 3's and 5's) it could also be sung somewhat in a round-robin fashion (like row, row, row your boat). My choral group in high school liked to sing this to get our music teacher upset :-). Coincidentally enough, I currently have one number which has a 325 prefix (although not the same suffix), and also one that has a 523 prefix. I believe that the number is still in use, for Day's Inns now. But they don't use the old commercial (a shame...) - Bob Wier Northern Arizona University summer:Ouray, Colorado winter:Flagstaff, Arizona USENET: ...arizona!naucse!rrw | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #473 *****************************   Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:03:32 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #474 Message-ID: <8910262303.aa14694@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:00:44 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 474 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Proposed Tariff for Billing Name & Address Service by NY Tel (Curtis Reid) 1-800-US-INFO-1 ext. 901 (AT&T Information On Call) (Lenny Tropiano) Quake Stats (Ken Jongsma) Centrex Strikes Again (John Higdon) Caller-ID for Pagers? (Robert E. Seastrom) Caller-ID for Pagers? (Christopher K. Davis) Tones on International Calls (Holly Aaron) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Carl Moore) Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Joel B. Levin) Re: Caller ID Device (Louis J. Judice) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Jim Breen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 14:14 EDT From: "Curtis E. Reid" Subject: Proposed Tariff for Billing Name & Address Service by NY Tel I read a notice of proposed tariff filing for billing name and address service by New York Telephone in the legal section of the newspaper yesterday. I quote: Notice is hereby given that a proposed tariff has been filed with the Public Service Commission, to be effective December 1, 1989, to introduce Billing Name and Address (BNA) Service. BNA Service is the provision of the complete billing name, street address, city or town, state and zip code for a telephone number assigned by New York Telephone. BNA Service is provided for the sole purpose of permitting the customer to bill its telecommunications services to its end users. [ Rates shown here ] Further, an amendment to the offering of Non-Published Service has been filed to specify that BNA information on a non-published number will be provided to a BNA subscriber when a call utilizing the BNA subscriber's service originates from that non-published number. End quote. Now, my question is this similar to reverse directory that readers has been discussing here? Or, is this similar to the way that AT&T pass the number to another telephone company for the purpose of billing? This tariff is a bit unclear as to what the real purpose is for. Curtis Reid CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet CER2520%RITVAX.Bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Internet) CER2520@vaxd.isc.rit.edu (NYSernet) ------------------------------ From: Lenny Tropiano Subject: 1-800-US-INFO-1 ext. 901 (AT&T Information On Call) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 00:00 EDT In my mail today (US mail that is), I received my AT&T Information "On Call" catalog. It basically is a service, run by AT&T, that offers free advice and information on various amounts of topics... Some which are, but not limited to... AT&T Information "On call" catalogs (Item #8777) free Club Med Vacations (Item #3534) free Car Buyers Guide (Item #3538) free Moving (Item #3556) free JC Penney's catalog (Item #3549) $4.00 (includes shipping) Learning to Fly (Item #3509) free "Shopper's Advantage" (Item #3516) free Microwave Cooking (Item #3517) $9.95 (includes shipping) ...etc... Call up 1-800-USINFO-1 (1-800-874-6361), with a touch tone phone and type in ext. 901 when prompted. (Or with rotary only phones wait and speak your choices). Then key in the item numbers (8777 will get you more AT&T Information On Call catalogs, so order that...). Chargable items are put on AMEX, Discover, MasterCard or VISA. They said, 7-10 days for shipping. I haven't received anything yet, but ordered a few free items. | Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems [w] +1 (516) 589-7930 | | lenny@icus.islp.ny.us Telex; 154232428 ICUS [h] +1 (516) 968-8576 | | {ames,pacbell,decuac,hombre,sbcs,attctc}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny | +------- ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752 -------+ ------------------------------ From: Ken@cup.portal.com Subject: Quake Stats Date: Thu, 26-Oct-89 13:01:46 PDT Communications Week had some hard info on communications right after the quake. Here are some extracts: The quake hit at 5:04PM. Within hours, Pac Bell was seeing 1 million call attempts *per minute*! AT&T reported 17 million call attempts between 2AM and 10AM the following day. Pac Bell Cellular reported 10 times normal calling volume. AT&T reported 144.7 million calls nationwide for the 24 hour period starting midnight. 27.8 million were directed into the bay area with 9.5 million completed. AT&T let 70% of the outgoing calls complete giving the rest a recording. AT&T let 30% of the incoming calls complete. MCI blocked 50% of the incoming calls to the three area codes affected. MCI has a system network capacity 120-150% higher than average peak loading. Sprint blocked dynamically with the blocking adjusted at a 5 minute rate. Switches generating the most traffic were blocked at 60%. Less busy switches were blocked at 10, 20 and 45% levels. Seven out of 60 Pac Tel Cellular cells were knocked out. Four were restored quickly - the rest are still out. GTE Mobilnet had only 2 cells down out of 80. All in all, I think all the carriers performed admirably. Pac Bell had completed a quake drill Aug 3. Ironically enough - they simulated a 7.0 quake in San Jose. The actual quake was 6.9 with a center only 20 miles away. MCI's capacity surprised me (120-150% of peak). I rather suspect AT&T's is much high than that. ken@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Centrex Strikes Again Date: 27 Oct 89 02:12:10 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows I had lunch today with an engineer who works with the San Francisco School District. We were discussing matters earthquake and he confirmed something that I brought up some time ago in this forum for which I was soundly dismissed. He was cursing the decision of the school board to go with centrex. For two days following the earthquake, prople in the school offices (and the associated radio station, KALW) were unable to so much as phone down the hall. It seems the CO serving the area had sustained some damage and dialtone was extremely slow for an abnormal period of time. So while those people with those "unreliable" on-site PBXs were having difficulty making outside calls, those with "the most reliable phone system in the world" (Pac*Bell advertising hype) couldn't so much as talk to their secretaries at the front desk. There was another major Pac*Bell embarassment: The Bush-Pine office (SF's main downtown CO). It seems that no one bothered to test the fancy turbine standby generators under load. They regularly powered them up, but just let them spin. Under load following the earthquake, they broke down. The CO ran on its batteries until they went dead, then it was good-night. The downtown financial district CO and the tandem were dead. Fortunately, they were able to get a portable unit connected shortly thereafter. I'm sure there were some downtown business that were delighted they went with centrex, also. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Well, it is not like an earthquake happens every day or a central office is overloaded for several days running as a routine thing. Everything has disadvantages. *In general*, my belief is that centrex is superior to PBX almost anytime. I've also seen PBX's break down and disrupt communications in a company for an entire day or two pending repairs. Those people were angry they did not have centrex. You really just have to make an informed choice and go with it. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 13:19:44 EDT From: "Robert E. Seastrom" Subject: Caller-ID for Pagers? In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, J. Philip Miller writes: > While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging > services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do > not need to key their number in for display on the pager. In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, Patrick Townson (Telecom Moderator) comments: > Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great > idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] I would be really unhappy if the pager companies were to do this and not allow for an override. To give a few examples: At Worldcon '89, I would page my roommate to see about plans for dinner. Since it wasn't terribly urgent, I didn't include a priority code (see below) and paged him with *my* pager number. Then, I didn't have to stay right next to a particular pay phone and keep other people from using it (I'd stay in the vicinity, so that I could call back promptly, when he returned my page. This would not be possible if Caller-ID automatically ID'ed my phone for me... In the main circle that I associate with, we have a set of agreed-upon three-digit codes that can be appended to a phone number. The 100 series identifies specific people; other codes mean specific things (411=need information, 611=something's broken, 911=run, don't walk, to the nearest phone and call immediately), unallocated 3-digit codes are priority codes that tell how urgent it is that the call be returned, 200s meaning at your leisure, 800s meaning call ASAP. If there weren't an override on the number that Caller-ID sent out, it would be impossible to add these codes to the end of the number we were paging with. ---Rob [Moderator's Note: Granted, it might be better to have the switch answer and say, 'To default, press # now; else enter the desired digits.' PT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 17:49:38 EDT From: Christopher K Davis Subject: Caller-ID for Pagers? >>>>> On 25 Oct 89 20:22:57 GMT, The Moderator (Patrick Townson) said: PT> [Moderator's Note: [...] Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital PT> pagers, I think it is a great idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of PT> it? PT] It's not really that great. For example, I often used my mother's pager to tell her things she didn't need to call for -- (or couldn't, as with pay phones that won't take incoming calls) like "The track meet's over, come pick me up" or the like. Usually I'd punch in my birthday so she'd know it was me, and the "context" would make the message clear. Neat idea, but in practice, it's more useful to use arbitrary numbers. ------------------------------ From: Holly Aaron Subject: Tones on International Calls Date: 26 Oct 89 21:50:39 GMT Reply-To: Holly Aaron Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA When I make international calls sometimes I hear an odd sequence of tones right before the call goes through. Does anyone know what these are for? aaron@aludra.usc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 9:02:10 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes So 704 is far less full than 919? Also requiring 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance in 704 is along the "statewide uniformity" lines of what was done in New Jersey (in NJ, there is a case of 7D local calls from 609 area to an exchange area having N0X/N1X in 201). But in Virginia, 703 has 11-digit intra-NPA long-distance and 804 still has 8-digit. 703 (and 301, which covers all of Maryland) includes DC area suburbs, and the DC area had to get N0X/N1X prefixes. Afterthought: I believe San Diego, CA is a big urban area in its own right. However, it was put in area 619 when 714 was split. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 16:50:59 EDT >From: Bob Goudreau >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and >"11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" >and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? In olden days (e.g. the sixties), in many places Information (remember that?) was 113, Repair was 114, and Long Distance was 110... as I recall. Probably when 011 was selected some areas were still using these older numbers, or at least they were still reserved. /JBL ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 08:50:14 -0700 From: "Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007" Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Hi Patrick - the Caller ID Display Device in the Hello Direct catalog is branded "AT&T" - and if I recall is $99.95. Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! Lou Judice DEC [Moderator's Note: A full year yet! That's a pity. Ours in Chicago- Rogers Park is set for fourth quarter '89, but so far nothing has been publicized. PT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 01:06:59 GMT gnu@toad.com asks, of ISDN > The problem is data encoding; I > have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on > the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of > encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be > talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it > that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN > links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links....... They are NOT byte-oriented 8000 byte/sec; it is BIT oriented 64000 bps. You can put any protocol you like on an ISDN B-channel. Protocols have been standardized for the D-channel, as this is for signalling and packet traffic. There *are* ISDN standards for mapping lower speeds onto a B-channel. Check out standards I.460-464 from the CCITT Red Book for starters. > Can anyone on Telecom provide details on upper level ISDN > standardization efforts? All I have found was low level protocols; > once you get to the 8000 bps byte stream, it's left up to the user to > define........ This is how it should be! There are standards for various things to intercommunicate over ISDN, such as Group 4 Fax, etc., buter there must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a bit-pipe service. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #474 *****************************   Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 0:05:08 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #475 Message-ID: <8910270005.aa00126@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 27 Oct 89 00:01:09 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 475 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors (TELECOM Moderator) Overseas Modem Transfer Request (Max Feil) Re: Amazing Quake Stories (Joel B. Levin) Re: 011 vs. 11 (John R. Levine) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Cyril Bauer) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID at American Express (Kim Greer) Re: Unequal Service (John Higdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 23:32:56 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies under its jurisdiction at a meeting held last week, I have learned. The directors of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell will step down on the day they would have stood for re-election, Ameritech spokesman Mike Brand said Wednesday. In the case of Illinois Bell, that date is February 22, 1990. The five Bell boards are vestiges of the old days, when telephone companies were tightly regulated utilities with partial public ownership, Brand said. For example, when AT&T was the *majority* owner in the Bells, there were still a few minority stockholders. Illinois Bell for example was 97 percent owned by AT&T, and 3 percent by private individuals. Ameritech now feels the individual boards are cumbersome and not needed because the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech, which is based here in Chicago, and don't have their own shareholders. The dual system of boards created fractured reporting responsibilities for executives who were directly supervised by the Board of Directors of one of the Bell companies; Ameritech's senior management and the Ameritech Board of Directors. Brand explained that dissolving the Bell company boards is 'part of an effort started in July to create a structure in the company that promotes integration, streamlines decision making and speeds implementation of decisions.....' In July, Ameritech announced a realignment of corporate executives and reporting lines in an effort to create a more competitive corporate structure. At last Wednesday's meeting, the decision to dissolve the boards of the other non-Bell subsidiaries was also made. In the case of the non-Bell companies which are subsidiaries of Ameritech, those boards are comprised entirely of inside managers, and will be dissolved by the end of this year. No Bell company executives are affected by the move and the companies' operations are not affected in any way. Illinois Bell directors who will be stepping down include: William Bunn III, chairman of Marine Bank, Springfield, IL. Franklin Cole, chairman of Croesus Corporation. Dr. John Corbally, retired president of the MacArthur Foundation. Daryl Grisham, president of Parker House Sausage Company. Alan Hallene, president of Montgomery Elevator, Rockford, IL Donald Nordlund, chairman of Multi-Fresh Systems. Barbara Proctor, chairman of Proctor & Gardner Advertising. Arthur Velasquez, president of Azteca Foods. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Max Feil Subject: Overseas Modem Transfer Request Date: 26 Oct 89 23:12:07 GMT Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada I would like to find the best way of transmitting fairly large amounts of data from overseas. I need to transfer a minimum of 4-5 megs daily of heavily compressed binary data via modem on public overseas dialup lines. The system is basically meant to replace standard fax transmissions with a more cost-effective system that will use a PC for image scanning and data compression at one end and a similar PC for uncompression/printout at the other. I would appreciate any and all help in finding a suitable modem or transfer mechanism for this task. The connection will be from Toronto Canada to Hong Kong in order to take advantage of discounted Canadian toll charges. (Hong Kong to North America and U.S. to Hong Kong seems to be more expensive). From Toronto the information will pass into the continental U.S. To be feasible, I need a data rate of at least 9600 bps with full error detection/correction via a protocol such as MNP. I have heard of >30Kbps rates with such modems, but is this only for local lines? How does the potentially reduced bandwith & increased noise/dropouts of overseas connections affect the maximum data rate I can achieve? I have heard that some high speed modems degrade excessively in noisy conditions. I need the fastest rate possible. Daily transfer will be at least 4-5 megabytes, with 2 or 3 connections made per day. What are my options for modems I can connect to a PC? I am currently getting 30% compression on my scanned text/drawings using Pkarc compression software (widely used on bbs's). I have heard of other schemes that can be used to highly compress image data, but I need to know what's commercially available. I have investigated the use of public packet networks, but the connect and per kilopacket charges are much to high. I am very interested in any help somebody from the telecommunications/modem/ibm pc world can give me. Thanks in advance. Max Feil max@bnr-rsc.UUCP or utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!max Bell-Northern Research (613) 763-3093 P.O Box 3511 Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Y 4H7. ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Amazing Quake Stories Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 16:02:13 EDT >From: gaf@uucs1.uucp >We heard from one of the traffic monitoring people at US West who >noticed something peculiar around 5:05 PM Tuesday. He called his AT&T >counterpart in Oakland to see what was happening. The call was >answered, and the conversation went something like: >"Hey, what's happening there?" >"We've got an earthquake here, and, ..... oh ..... there's a big >crack in the wall now ..... " In 1971, when the Arpanet, the original component of the Internet, was still young (approximately 16 IMPs, or packet switching nodes), monitoring its state was still very ad hoc-- another engineer and I periodically checked to see if any line states were changed or if any IMPs had failed to send their one line status message to our local teletype. Remember, this was when networking-as-we-know-it was mostly unheard of and remotely monitoring a private data circuit from a location thousands of miles away from either terminus of the circuit was a thing of the future. One morning in August, around 9:05 am several of the lines terminating in Los Angeles died, and with symptoms indicating it was not an IMP that crashed. After performing our usual tests, we called the Long Lines number in Los Angeles. We were informed that they had had an earthquake, there were some cracks in the building, and it would be a while before service was restored. (It was only a few hours.) Though we had no details, we in Cambridge knew about the earthquake well in advance of the news bulletins! /JBL ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 011 vs. 11 Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 26 Oct 89 17:41:16 EDT (Thu) From: "John R. Levine" In article goudreau@rtp48.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes: >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead [analogous to 00 in most of Europe.] It seems to me that misdialing 11-number for 1-number is a very likely sort of dialing mistake, either because your finger bounces, or if you have a rotary dial some random click on the line sounds like a 1. Using 11 for international would mean lots of mistaken non-revenue international calls. (Recent messages have reported how even with the current scheme people have dialed Australia instead of Minneapolis when numbers start with 612.) Besides, there are probably still places where you don't have to dial 1 before long distance, and in places like that they usually ignore any leading 1 digits. If I were Bellcore I'd permanently reserve 11 as an error. On the other hand 011 is pretty hard to dial deliberately and nearly impossible to dial by mistake. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Date: 26 Oct 89 17:05:04 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. I would sugest the Panasonic unit. I have tried a few and the easiest and most reliable I have found is the Panasonic. They make models that do most everthing that you could possibly want to do. Take your pick, they work. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 27 Oct 89 03:30:17 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , gtephx!phobos!ellisond@ asuvax.EAS.ASU.EDU (Dell Ellison) writes: > What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected > representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 26 Oct 89 12:08:30 GMT Reply-To: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC In article langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) writes: >In article johnl@esegue.segue. >>[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID that >I recall having read a few little "FYI" type articles in various >technical and marketing trade rags that said Amex got a lot of nasty >letters and calls from customers who were startled, perplexed, and/or >annoyed at Amex about the addition of the "service." >Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier >to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people >(myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least >one person encountered communication difficulties because he was >calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied >customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of >Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. Actually, I would prefer that a company that is dealing with my money, would be able to be able to tell who I am. With phone fraud as rampant as it is, I encourage technology that will allow Amex or whoever to filter out spooks trying to weasal out info/money of mine. I prefer that a company that I'm dealing with to have instantly available information concerning my address/phone#/etc. (NOTE: I did not say that I prefer every XYZ Corp. to have it, just the ones I deal with). This saves having to waste time having someone re-type in my name/address/location/ account#/etc every time I call them. Kim Greer Duke Univ Med Ctr klg@orion.mc.duke.edu ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 27 Oct 89 03:53:04 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another > by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; > the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the > telco _and_ the regulators. Ah-hah! That explains a lot. Up until recently, we had the "big four" crossbar offices: ALpine, serving Cupertino, west San Jose, and Campbell; ANdrews, serving Willow Glen and upper Almaden; CLayburn, serving the east side and foothills; and AXminster, serving a small part of San Jose and southeast Santa Clara. ALpine just went DMS. And guess which famous computer company has its think-tank and corporate offices in Cupertino. As someone said, some customers are more equal than others. All those other areas mentioned above are bedroom districts. Where I live in Willow Glen, the highest tech business you are likely to find is a grocery store. Our crossbar should be replaced around 2015, if we're fortunate. Those other areas are the same way: nothing but houses and shopping centers. I suppose crossbar is here to stay in San Jose! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #475 *****************************   Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 1:40:20 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #476 Message-ID: <8910280140.aa29081@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Oct 89 01:35:04 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 476 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down (Kim Greer) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Daniel Karrenberg) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Steve Forrette) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (Steve Forrette) Re: Unequal Service (Marvin Sirbu) Re: 011 for International (Linc Madison) Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? (Dave Levenson) Re: Caller ID for Pagers? (Gary Segal) Re: Caller ID Device (Dave Levenson) Re: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors (Lang Zerner) [Moderator's Note: Remember, we return to standard time Saturday night. Clocks should be set back one hour at 2:00 AM Sunday morning. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Subject: Re: Telesphere Came Through; AT&T/Sprint Let Me Down Date: 26 Oct 89 11:39:55 GMT Reply-To: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: + [stuff deleted about finding out there was an earthquake] +At that point I became a little anxious. How were my relatives in +town? Was my house still standing? How were my clients faring (that I +had left in the hands of an assistant)? No amount of dialing could +break through. Then I realized that my desert friend had a 950 +Telesphere account. SUCCESS! I made call after call using that +account, noting the sluggishness of the Bay Area COs, which were +probably completely overloaded. +On the way home, I listened to SF radio to get a feeling for what was +going on and at one point spokepersons for AT&T and Sprint were +crowing about how they were blocking calls from outside the area so +that the local Bay Area network would not be overworked. Well, I am +about to write a letter of appreciation to Telesphere and a show-cause +request why I shouldn't cancel my AT&T and Sprint accounts. Thanks to +Telesphere, I was able to handle some emergencies over the phone (not +to mention putting my mind at ease). That was NO THANKS to AT&T and +Sprint. Now, who is backing up whom? John, I sympathize with you. I really do know the feeling - I had the same experience trying to call my parents and brother in Charlotte in the aftermath of Hugo (the hurricane, not the car :^). I was mad at "the phone company" for not letting me through. Little did I know at the time that it really wasn't their fault, as there were thousands of lines down, as the eye of Hugo went right over Charlotte. (My neighbor who works at Duke Power told me that they had replaced over 4500 utility poles in Charlotte, to say nothing of Rock Hill, Gastonia, etc., and they still weren't through.) My folks got their power back seven days later, and the phone was back working on the eighth day. Anyway, what has this got to do with the Digest and your posting? I think the thing to remember is that AT&T and Sprint were not "crowing"; they were trying to do exactly what was the best option under the circumstances: prevent the network from crumbling under the weight of NON-EMERGENCY calls. I head on ABC at one point in a 5 minute period, there were over a million calls that were logged trying to get into San Francisco. (I think I got those numbers right). The tv networks were telling people not to call in, explaining the problem. Let's face it, the vast majority of incoming calls would do nothing the help the situation in the face of big time destruction. The system *had* to be alive to respond to outgoing EMERGENCY calls that had to do with saving lives and getting outside help in. I agree with the decision to block incoming calls, even if the lines were not down. Again, I sympathize with you, but I think you are wrong. What is the alternative? - letting literally millions of people trying to call into SF, SJ, etc. with little or no chance of getting through tie up the circuits? Most incoming calls were low priority; the outgoing were the most critical at the time. Kim Greer Duke Univ Med Ctr klg@orion.mc.duke.edu ------------------------------ From: Daniel Karrenberg Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: 27 Oct 89 10:09:12 GMT Organization: European Unix sytems User Group cgch!wtho@relay.eu.net (Tom Hofmann) writes: >> Austria 00 >> 060. For Germany in stead of 0049 >0041 for Switzerland and 0049 for Germany works as well, at least in a >small village near Innsbruck where I have tried it. Anyway, the whole >system, especially dialling the OWN country code for Luxembourg, looks >extremely Austrian :-) 0049 didn't work in Vienna last time I tried. Confused me a lot! Daniel Karrenberg Future Net: CWI, Amsterdam Oldie Net: mcvax!dfk The Netherlands Because It's There Net: DFK@MCVAX ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 04:00:48 PDT From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article you write: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 464, message 3 of 9 >Is there any truth to the rumor that the emissions from the newer >cellular phones can be unhealthy? In particular, I have heard that >hand-held models (with their antennae located right next to the head) >have been responsible for brain/eye damage. > ...... >Is this true? Can this cause real damage? Did anyone consider this >before approving the 800MHz frequency? I have a rear-window capacitive-mount antenna for my cellular phone, and the instructions that came with it stated that people should keep all parts of themselves at least 6 inches from the antenna whenever the phone was in use! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 04:46:13 PDT From: Steve Forrette Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Last time I checked (year or so ago), Roseville Telephone (near Sacramento, CA) still charged 10 cents for local calls. An interesting corollary is that Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, CA, happens to straddle the service boundary between Roseville Telephone and the *real* telephone company (Pacific Bell) - so, local calls cost 20 cents at the south end of the mall and 10 cents at the north! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:17:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Marvin Sirbu Subject: Re: Unequal Service Besides large corporate customers, other factors which affect the decision to replace a switch include the rate of growth and the growth in the use of data. The marginal cost of adding capacity to a crossbar is very high; if growth in lines or call holding times is fast enough, it is cheaper to put in a new switch than continue to upgrade an old one. In addition to being the home of a large computer company, Cupertino has experienced rapid growth as well. Marvin Sirbu CMU ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:42:29 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: 011 for International Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article , Bob Goudreau: >Does anyone out there know why "011" was chosen as the international >access code here in the North American Numbering Plan? If it were up >to me, I'd probably pick "11" instead (i.e., "1" for long distance and >"11" for *very* long distance, the way many European countries use "0" >and "00"). Is there currently some special meaning assigned to "11"? As has been noted in a couple of recent articles, "11" is reserved for certain custom calling features from pulse-dial phones. For example, I can dial 70* to cancel call waiting, or I can dial 1170. This scheme is in wide use across much of the country. The one thing I would've changed is that it seems logical to me to say, "Dial 01 for international, and then 1 if it's direct-dial or 0 for operator assistance," to make it more analogous to domestic calls. Thus we would have 011/010 instead of 011/01. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? Date: 28 Oct 89 01:50:40 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , RS%AI.AI.MIT.EDU@ mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Robert E. Seastrom) writes: > In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, J. Philip Miller writes: > > While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging > > services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do > > not need to key their number in for display on the pager. > In TELECOM Digest V9 #472, Patrick Townson (Telecom Moderator) comments: > > Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great > > idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? PT] ... > [Moderator's Note: Granted, it might be better to have the switch > answer and say, 'To default, press # now; else enter the desired > digits.' PT] No!!! Use the Caller-Id default if the caller enters nothing at all. Otherwise, let the caller enter the digital message to be displayed. Believe it or not, there are still a few telephone subscribers who use pulse-dial equipment. Some smart business telephone systems prevent their users from dialing extra digits for end-to-end signalling -- primitive but effective toll-diversion. With the present radio paging equipment, they cannot send any message at all! Automatically-generated Caller*Id would be better than no ID at all, wouldn't it? Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Caller ID and Pagers Date: 27 Oct 89 21:33:05 GMT Organization: Motorola INC., Cellular Infrastructure Division Two comments: First; Using caller ID to automaticlly key pagers sounds like a good idea, however I see one problem with it. Sometimes you want to leave a number other than the number that you are calling from, perhapes even some pre-aranged code. (One of my co-workers likes to "spell" his name in numbers - remember spelling "Shell Oil" - 710.77345 on your first calcualtor?) If we're going to have caller ID key into a pager system, the system should have an option to enter a different number. Of course, all of this is moot with voice pagers. Second; >[Moderator's Note: Yes, I think there are modem/Caller-ID devices in >one neat little box. A hackerphreak here in Chicago (six blocks down >the street from me, on Artesian Avenue to be exact!) was caught >burglarizing a computer at Bell Labs/Naperville about a year ago >because his phone number was captured by the equipment out there. It would be interesting to know what happened in this case. Did the caller-ID constitute an illegal wire-tap here in Illinios? If the phreak had a good laywer, that could have been part of his defense. As far as I know, IBT doesn't give residential subscribers the option of disabling caller-id; at least I've never been given the option nor have I seen any mention of it in my bill. Gary Segal @ Motorla C.I.D. 1501 W. Shure Drive ...!uunet!motcid!segal Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Disclaimer: The above is all my fault. +708 632-2354 [Moderator's Note: 'What happened in that case', as reported here in the Digest at the time was the phreak was indicted by a federal grand jury; was found guilty; was placed in the custody of the Attorney General or his authorized representative for a period of one year which was served concurrently with three years federal probation. No, there was no 'illegal wire-tap'. That is a crock, and the judge over east who thought it up will be overruled on appeal. When you observe some person intruding onto your property, burglarizing your property or stealing from you and you report what you have witnessed, you are not 'guilty' of spying on the burglar or invading his privacy. PT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 28 Oct 89 01:54:42 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: ... > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! That's interesting -- when a subscriber in Peapack calls us in Warren, we get their caller id number NOW. They send it, but they don't receive it. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Lang Zerner Subject: Re: Ameritech Dissolves Bell Boards of Directors Date: 28 Oct 89 03:23:52 GMT Reply-To: langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) Organization: The Great Escape, Inc In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 475, message 1 of 8 >In an effort to streamline decisionmaking, the directors of Ameritech >dissolved the boards of directors of the five Bell operating companies >...the Bell companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ameritech Wow! I never knew this. Ameritech owns every basic service provider in the country? Why isn't this in violation of antitrust laws? How is it any different than before, when AT&T had a big "monopoly" (I hope there's *some* difference!). Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!" [Moderator's Note: Ameritech does NOT 'own every basic service provider in the country.' They own FIVE telephone companies in the midwest part of the United States. In the past, AT&T owned almost two dozen telcos across the country operating under the 'Bell' name. And at the time of divestiture, no one said *how* AT&T had to go about divesting itself; just that it had to. In other words, AT&T could have created one large company called "Bell Telephone", and as long as it was separated from AT&T it would have met the requirements of the decree, although it is likely such a new entity soon would itself have been sued for anti-trust violations. GTE owns more telephone operating companies than Ameritech, or for that matter, any of the other newly formed holding companies previously part of AT&T. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #476 *****************************   Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 2:47:44 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #477 Message-ID: <8910280247.aa31283@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Oct 89 02:45:30 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 477 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes (Linc Madison) Re: 919 Split (And What We're Seeing in 312) (David W. Tamkin) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Richard R. Grady, Jr.) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (Thomas E. Lowe) Re: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine (Al Donaldson) Re: Cordless Phone (Cyril Bauer) Re: Cartoon (Cyril Bauer) Writing Specifications of Call Forwarding & Retry Busy (CCBS) (Anthony Lee) Net Address of US Sprint in Kansas City? (Peter J. Dotzauer) Accessing the Federal Reserve Network (Peter J. Dotzauer) [Moderator's Note: Remember that we return to standard time tonight. Clocks must be set back one hour at 2:00 AM Sunday. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 14:49:25 PDT From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Allowing NXX Prefixes & Area Codes Organization: University of California, Berkeley In the list of area codes and NXX's posted here recently, the number given for 312 was 769. I'm rather shocked by this figure if it's correct -- even if the figure of 769 includes reserved NXX's like 555, 950, etc., that leaves only 15 available. That sort of brinksmanship with the phone system is rather unusual. Are you sure it wasn't 679 instead of 769? [784 NXX's are possible = 8*10*10 - N11/N00; as I said, this doesn't account for other "special case" reserved prefixes like 555, 950, 976, and in some areas 970, 540, etc. All the N11 and N00 are reserved. Here in California, for example, we can dial 811-4094 from any Pac*Bell phone in the state and talk to Pac*Bell billing for Berkeley numbers, toll-free.] Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 919 Split (And What We're Seeing in 312) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 22:38:35 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" Bob Goudreau wrote in Digest Volume 9, Issue 473, about area code 919: | It isn't an obvious split (like, say, 617/508) since 919's two largest | urban areas (Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro/Winston-Salem) have roughly | the same population but are about 80 miles apart. If one urban area | has to get assigned to the new NPA, which one is it? The alternative | would be to leave *both* of them in 919, thus potentially making both | 919 and the new NPA exceedingly contorted, perhaps like 619 in California. Or like 409 in Texas, which completely circumscribes the part that kept 713? "Same population" means comparable numbers of residences. Here in northeastern Illinois, more prefixes are switching to 708 than remaining in 312, and more population will be switching to 708 than staying in 312. Even though the prefixes remaining in 312 tend to be fuller, there are more actual telephone lines going to 708. The key, I think, is not Illinois Bell's fable that "area code 312 is historically associated with the city of Chicago" but that once the 312/708 boundaries were drawn, there were more business customers on the city side than on the suburban sides. It is a greater annoyance for a business to get an involuntary telephone number change than for a residence. Compare the backlash against changing the name of a sidestreet to that against changing the name of a commercial thoroughfare. (The result here is not very good: a large majority of the prefixes and of the growth potential are on the same side of the line [indicating that the line should have been drawn differently], and moreover that side that is getting the new code.) The choices in North Carolina are either to draw a small area encompassing the larger cities a la Houston and let the surrounding band get the new code, or to separate the two metropolitan clusters and assign the new code to the side of the line with fewer business customers. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 ------------------------------ From: "Richard R Grady, Jr" Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 27 Oct 89 17:47:01 GMT Reply-To: r4@cbnews.ATT.COM (richard.r.grady..jr,54354,mv,3a018,508 960 6182) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >In article , gtephx!phobos!ellisond@ >asuvax.EAS.ASU.EDU (Dell Ellison) writes: >> What if the problem of junk fax is wide-spread, BUT the 'elected >> representatives' just happen to not have the problem??? >From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a >problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. Whenever a law is proposed to ban junk fax, everyone who opposes the ban informs the elected representatives about his/her opposition, via an unsolicited fax (How dumb can you get?). So *only* elected representatives have a junk fax problem!!! Dick Grady r_r_grady@att.com ...!att!mvuxd!r4 The above opinions are mine, and not necessarily those of my employer. ------------------------------ From: Thomas E Lowe Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 27 Oct 89 13:16:11 GMT Reply-To: tel@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (thomas.e.lowe,ho,) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? I'm sure there are very few fancy features in this model, but how about the quality? Is the range as good as more expensive models? How about sound quality and reliability? The company offering this deal is Jersey Cellular. Has anyone in NJ had experience with this outfit? Thanks! Tom Lowe tel@hound.ATT.COM or att!hound!tel 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!) ------------------------------ From: Al Donaldson Subject: Re: Code-a-Phone 2770 Answering Machine Date: 26 Oct 89 04:36:42 GMT Organization: ESCOM Corp., Oakton, VA > Otto J. Makela asks: > . . . I have a sales blurb for a device called the Code-a- > Phone 2600, which would seem to be what I need: ... > Does anyone have hands-on experience with these devices ? When I saw this message I recalled my somewhat embarrassing encounter with my new 2650. Following is from my mail folder earlier this year. (By the way, I think I paid US$65 at a discount store.) Al ================ You'd commented that my answering machine sounded really muffled, and today I found out why. The machine is a Code-A-Phone 2650 combined answering machine-phone, with the outgoing message recorded in memory rather than on tape. Since Code-A-Phone has a good reputation for quality, I was really disappointed when I heard the outgoing message played back. At first I'd thought it was because it was next to the Sun, and the fan noise might be affecting the recording. Nope. Then I played around with holding the handset various ways (my, what a neat idea, using the handset as the microphone for the answering machine..), but that didn't make any difference either. Then I just sort of gave up and figured that it was a result of a poor design, not enough memory to store the voice properly, or such. Finally, today I called Code-A-Phone (no 800 number...) and spoke with a lady there. I explained I was really disappointed with the voice quality, and unless they had some answer I was going to get rid of the machine. She asked if I had any music or other equipment on in the background, and I told her about the computer but said that turning it off didn't make any difference. She asked how close I was to the mike and I said I'd tried holding the handset at various distances and angles but that didn't seem to make any difference either. Then she told me that I'm not supposed to use the handset, but am supposed to talk into the microphone. Microphone?? Sure enough, hidden in the base of the machine is a tiny little hole, not labeled, for the microphone. The user manual doesn't mention where the microphone is; it just says "When the message light starts flashing, speak toward the microphone." So I was talking into the handset, the only obvious microphone on the beast, which was about 3 ft away from the real microphone. Sheesh. What would it have cost them to to stamp the word "microphone" next to the hole and/or print a line explaining that the microphone is separate from the handset? ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Date: 27 Oct 89 17:47:11 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. How about an alternative? I saw someplace a jack that a person cold put into the a.c. power. Transmission takes place over the a.c. line along with the supervisory commands for on and off hook. I don't know how well it works or if and where you can find it. I'll look around in the books that I have and leave another note on here when I find it. This is if you so desire. Paging could be done with the ringback feature in your area if the telco allows it. Otherwise another device could be added with very little cost using the f.m. over the power lines too. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) Subject: Re: Cartoon Date: 27 Oct 89 17:46:46 GMT Organization: People-Net [pnet51], Minneapolis, MN. I like the cartoon. I have been wondering myself what the end user has been doing with them. UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, uunet!rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!cy ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!cy@nosc.mil INET: cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org ------------------------------ From: Anthony Lee Subject: Writing Specifications of Call Forwarding & Retry Busy (CCBS) Date: 26 Oct 89 03:04:02 GMT Reply-To: anthony%batserver.cs.uq.OZ@uunet.uu.net As part of my PhD work, I am trying to write formal specifications of supplementary services. I don't even have informal specifications of simple services such as Call Forwarding or Retry Busy. There are many questions about access: With Call Forwarding, does the subscriber have to subscribe to CF before using it or are there cases where it is just generally available? To use Call Forwarding, a subscriber lifts off the handset and dials the appropriate code. If it is OK for the subscriber to use CF then would he/she receive a confirmation tone? What is the term for the process of making CF available on one's telephone?. Is it called "enable" ? Within the switch itself what is the general term for actually forwarding the call? Would it be called "activation" ? In general what is the term for making a supplementary service available for a telephone ? And what is the general term for actually executing that service? To make this even more complicated, in the Retry Busy service, when the subscriber hears an engaged tone and dials the code for Retry Busy, is that the "enable" part of the service ? And when the switch next scans the destination, would that be called the "activation" part of the service? Even better would some kind soul who works for a telco like to post their specification for supplementary services? I realize a lot of documents must be proprietary but surely supplementary services have been around long enough such that there must be some old docoument lying in the bottom of some filing cabinet. I like those stuff posted about Starline Services but they seem to aim at the customer not the programmer. Anyway thanks in advance. Cheers, Anthony Anthony Lee (Humble PhD student) (Alias Time Lord Doctor) ACSnet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz TEL:(+617) 3712651 Internet: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (+617) 3774139 (w) SNAIL: Dept Comp. Science, University of Qld, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Net Address of US Sprint in Kansas City? Date: 28 Oct 89 01:18:00 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC Does anyone know the net address of US Sprint, specifically its Kansas City offices? I have been told US Sprint is on Telenet, but how is that accessible from the internet or uucp? Peter Dotzauer: Numerical Cartography Lab, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH VOICE: (614) 292-1357 FAX: 292-9180 DATA: 293-0081 BITNET: ts3285@ohstvma UUCP: ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd FIDO: 1:226/50 ARPA: pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] [Moderator's Note: If Sprint is 'on Telenet' what this probably means is they have an electronic mailbox on the Telemail Mail Service of Telenet. Maybe someone who recalls the messages some time ago about the use of gateways to get from Internet to elsewhere will recall the way it is done with Internet <==> Telenet. I don't remember. It might also mean one or more of their computers is connected to the Telenet data network, in which case you are probably not invited. PT] ------------------------------ From: "Peter J. Dotzauer" Subject: Accessing the Federal Reserve Network Date: 27 Oct 89 20:29:21 GMT Organization: Ohio State Univ IRCC What are the prerequisites to access the Federal Reserve network for initiating financial transactions between accounts (e.g. between my checking account and the account of a utility to pay an electric bill)? I have read that Checkfree, Inc., a company that provides certain home banking and electronic bill paying services, uses the Federal Reserve network, that is also used by banks to transfer funds. Banks are compelled to cooperate with that company, or otherwise they would violate federal banking regulations. If a non-bank entity like Checkfree can access the Federal Reserve network to transfer funds, why can I not do that myself, or can I? Peter Dotzauer: Numerical Cartography Lab, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH VOICE: (614) 292-1357 FAX: 292-9180 DATA: 293-0081 BITNET: ts3285@ohstvma UUCP: ...!osu-cis!hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu!pjd FIDO: 1:226/50 ARPA: pjd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu [128.146.1.5] [Moderator's Note: I believe Checkfree *is* considered a bank for the purpose of routing and funds transfer through the Fed. And I suppose if the banks and the FRB were willing to accept you as a 'bank' you would be permitted to use the network also. But calling yourself one does not make you one; and I suspect Checkfree has substantial reserves on deposit which guarentee its performance, in the same way the check-printing companies have to have an excellent relationship with the banks, in order to be given access to account numbers, customer names, etc. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #477 *****************************   Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 9:45:02 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #478 Message-ID: <8910290945.aa19082@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 29 Oct 89 09:42:18 CST Volume 9 : Issue 478 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Rate Comparison to Hong Kong (John R. Covert) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (Dave Levenson) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (John Higdon) Re: Unequal Service (David Lewis) Re: Unequal Service (David Lesher) Re: Caller ID at American Express (David Lewis) Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? (John Higdon) Re: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? (Jim Gottlieb) Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Dan Sahlin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Oct 89 09:00:38 -0700 From: "John R. Covert 27-Oct-1989 0929" Subject: Rate Comparison to Hong Kong >The connection will be from Toronto Canada to Hong Kong in order to >take advantage of discounted Canadian toll charges. (Hong Kong to >North America and U.S. to Hong Kong seems to be more expensive). From >Toronto the information will pass into the continental U.S. Although I expected calls from Hong Kong to either the U.S. or Canada to be more expensive than the reverse direction, the assertion that calls from Canada to Hong Kong were less expensive than from the U.S. surprised me, since I knew that Canadian rates to Europe were drastically higher than U.S. rates to Europe. Canada has recently lowered overseas rates. Rates to, for example, West Germany are still quite a bit higher from Canada than from the U.S. Canadian rates to Hong Kong are only lower for the first minute; additional minute charges from the U.S. are lower. You will save money originating the calls from Canada only if they are fairly short calls. And unless you also need the data to be in Canada, too, anyway, or have private circuits, you'll lose that savings on the additional call transmitting it across the border. Here is the comparison: Canada: 4p-12a 8a-4p 12a-8a Don't forget tax. Canadian tax is significant: 19% (11 Fed, 8 Prov). 2.19 1.76 1.53 1.46 1.17 1.02 U.S. tax is only 3% Federal, and most states do not tax out-of-state calls. AT&T 5p-11p 10a-5p 11p-10a Notice the time differences. Canada 3.62 2.72 2.17 and AT&T are similar, but Sprint has 1.35 1.03 .81 reversed the peak and medium periods. Sprint And finally -- there are new digital circuits to Hong Kong. I've gotten 8a-6p 6p-12a 12a-8a some _wonderful_ connections on AT&T. 3.3666 2.5840 1.8445 Other carriers may have them as well. 1.2825 .9888 .7938 /john ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 29 Oct 89 03:18:50 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , tel@hound.att.com (Thomas E Lowe) writes: > I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. > Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? > I'm sure there are very few fancy features in this model, but how > about the quality? Is the range as good as more expensive models? > How about sound quality and reliability? > The company offering this deal is Jersey Cellular. Has anyone in NJ > had experience with this outfit? I have been driving around NJ with a Novatel cellular phone since 1986. It has never required maintenance, and works pretty well all over the state. Yes, there are a few "dead spots" -- mostly in the less-travelled areas and in the "hill country" of western Morris and northern Somerset counties. Novatel makes a large product line. The model 1260 (which I have) is a 3-watt unit (the max allowed) and is no-longer manufactured. Remember that the company who sells and installs your mobile phone gets to activate your service with Cellular One, or Metro One, or Bell Atlantic or Nynex (depending upon where you live). They get a piece of the action for every minute of air time you use. Their loss-leader price usually requires that _they_ activate your service, and that you keep it for some minimum period. They make back on your air time what they probably lose selling it at that price. They also have to make a monthly quota of new service activations, to keep their service reseller status. The deal is probably not bad, all things considered. Back in '86 they sold for about $1,500 plus installation! Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 29 Oct 89 06:11:50 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , tel@hound.att.com (Thomas E Lowe) writes: > I have seen ads here in NJ for Novatel Car phones for 88 dollars. > Has anyone out there had any experience with Novetel phones? A friend was trying out one of their handhelds. He brought it by and we did an informal comparison with my GE Mini (made by Mitsubishi), also a handheld. The audio quality was terrible; the voice was almost unintelligible because of a weird peak in the audio spectrum. In places where my GE was solid, the Novatel was experiencing severe fade on the same system. It's possible that it was, for some reason, working a different cell, but overall the performance was unimpressive and it certainly didn't hold a candle to the GE. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 28 Oct 89 18:21:54 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: ] In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. ] net (Dave Levenson) writes: ] > The schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another ] > by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; ] > the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the ] > telco _and_ the regulators. ] Where I ] live in Willow Glen, the highest tech business you are likely to find ] is a grocery store. Our crossbar should be replaced around 2015, if ] we're fortunate. Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. Crossbars stopped being installed in about 1970, if memory serves correctly. The longest depreciation schedule I know of is 40 years, so you should be able to get rid of it by, oh, about 2010... ;-) ] I suppose crossbar is here to stay in San Jose! Well, a good solid 8.0 earthwake with the epicenter directly under your CO should be able to encourage the telco to modernize... ;-) again! David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 14:06:26 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher For a long time, Cleveland {has} had unequal service, in the reverse direction. 471-1212 got you a time recording, which in crossbar, panel or step offices timed out after about 2 minutes (unless it was New Year's Eve). But if you moved into a ESS, you got 20 seconds - two annoucements. If you called as the second call of a threeway, you got one. Bang. Needless to say, this made it hard to set your digital watch. I complained. OBT denied there was a problem, but said if there was, it must be in my CPE,{;-)} and they would check it for a $40.00 visit charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the tariffs forbit me from charging them, and threatened to disconnect my service for not registering my answering machine. About this time I moved elsewhere. But I did learn something. Always write letters to the business office. They HATE that. (I am not sure if only the supervisers can read, or they have an elite section....) Further, each letter I got back came signed by "your service rep." =================== A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFMG Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Caller ID at American Express Date: 28 Oct 89 18:18:31 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) writes: > In article langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang > Zerner) writes: > >In article johnl@esegue.segue. > > >>[American Express] has been reported to have an 800 version of Caller ID > >Apparently, someone at Amex marketing thought it would be friendlier > >to answer the phone, "Good morning Mr. Zerner." A lot of people > >(myself included) thought it was pompous and not beneficial. At least > >one person encountered communication difficulties because he was > >calling from another cardholder's phone. Enough of these dissatisfied > >customers wrote and called in nastygrams expressing their dislike of > >Amex' use of the technology that Amex ended up pulling the idea. First, technical commentary. AT&T offers a service which I believe is called Account Match (although I wouldn't swear to it, and it may be a Service Mark if it is). Customers who subscribe to AT&T 800 service and who have an AT&T PBX can get a direct trunk connection from the AT&T Point of Termination to their AT&T PBX. Over this trunk connection AT&T will deliver the ANI (Automatic Number Identification) of the calling party. The AT&T PBX can then send the ANI to an attached application processor (which, surprise surprise, AT&T will be happy to provide) which will do a database lookup and fetch the account record corresponding to the calling ANI. This is not *exactly* calling number delivery; instead, it's a service built on ANI delivery. Calling number = ANI for almost all residential numbers; however, calling number != ANI for a large number of moderately sized business numbers -- ANI is the *billing* number, and many businesses have a single billing number defined for centralized accounting. Therefore, if you're calling from a Centrex line, or from a PBX trunk, the ANI may be irrelevant to the calling party number. (If you're calling from a PBX, of course, the calling number itself may be irrelevant unless the PBX sends it to the CO, and I don't know if any do.) Another note; I've heard that MCI is sponsoring/has sponsored an "ANI Developer's Conference". MCI will begin providing ANI to 800 customers in the near future, and wants to build a base of applications like the above to offer as well. In the anecdote I heard (from an unnamed source at AT&T Naperville), the customer didn't cancel their service; they just instructed their operators to stop greeting callers by their name and collecting their name *first*, so they would present the appearance of using the name to look up the account... This story also allows us to launch into an exciting discussion of bypass, if anyone is so moved... Like, I hear from sources that AT&T is offering ISDN PRI access from its long distance point of termination to customers with AT&T PBXs and trying to steal a march on the LECs... Disclaimer: AT&T? What do I know from AT&T? I work for Bellcore, and *everyone* knows that there's no connection between AT&T and Bellcore. (Hello, Judge Green!) David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Caller-ID for Pagers? Date: 29 Oct 89 06:01:03 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > No!!! Use the Caller-Id default if the caller enters nothing at all. > Otherwise, let the caller enter the digital message to be displayed. This would solve one of the most frustrating problems a pager user can face. How many times have you suddenly found your pager going off repeatedly with no number in the display? Someone mistakenly gets your pager number thinking it is perhaps an ordinary telephone number or even someone else's pager number. Sometimes this can go on for days and it renders your pager useless. If the caller's number was put in the display as the default, you could call them and inform them that they have a wrong number. As it is now, you can only hope that they will figure out that the number they have isn't doing them any good. And find it out soon! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: Of course John, your plan, which sort of hints at using a self-remedy to cure the problem would likely be rejected by those who dislike or hate Caller-ID. They would say you have no right to know the identity of the caller, particularly since the call was not intended for you anyway. They would probably suggest you should be asking the telco to trace those calls; and that the telco would then, in their good time deal with the problem. Are you sure that finding out the identity of the caller not-intending-to-reach you wouldn't be a violation of their privacy or (ahem!) an 'illegal wire tap'? PT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: Hacker Caught by Caller-ID? Date: 29 Oct 89 01:45:00 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan In article "J. Philip Miller" writes: >Does this imply that there are modems which will record Caller-ID, or does >anyone know what technology was used here? If a company is experiencing hackers, they can request the telephone company to track all incoming calls to their modem lines (just like other annoyance calls). I suspect that this is how the hackers were found, rather than through some Caller-ID/Modem device. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424 ------------------------------ From: Dan Sahlin Subject: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Organization: SICS, Swedish Inst. of Computer Science Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 11:02:57 GMT As I understand it, "011" is used as the international prefix in the US, whereas the international recommendation is "00". Are there some other numbers starting with 00 preventing it to be used as international prefix? In Sweden, we have some numbers starting with 00 (for instance 000 for the operator), so we cannot follow the international standard. Here, no number may be a prefix of another, but in the US the operator is reached by "0" and international calls start with "011". How is that possible? /Dan Sahlin (dan@sics.se) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #478 *****************************   Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 20:34:23 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #479 Message-ID: <8910292034.aa05471@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 29 Oct 89 20:30:12 CST Volume 9 : Issue 479 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson High-voltage Cable Theft (Seattle Times via Roger Clark Swann) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (John Gilmore) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Tad Cook) Re: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) (Bill Cerny) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (David Lesher) Re: Cordless Phones (Tad Cook) Re: Caller-ID and Pagers (ficc!peter@uunet.uu.net) Computerwise, Where's Duke University? (Enice E. Bradley) Telephone Wars (David Lesher) How to Disable Call-Waiting (Amitabh Shah) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Roger Clark Swann Subject: High-voltage Cable Theft Date: 27 Oct 89 04:51:33 GMT Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA I know that the following is not directly phone related, but is utility related and it is a followup to some of the recent postings here. Reprinted without permission The Seatle Times - Thursday, October 26, 1989 High-voltage Theft Cuts Lester's Power It was a high-wire act of the high voltage variety. During recent weeks, thieves scaled a utility tower in a desolate area of southeastern King County, disconnected cables - some of which were live - and made away with 11,000 feet of copper wire worth $14,700 to the company, although far less if sold to a scrap metal dealer. "It is one of the dumbest things I've heard of," said Puget Power spokeswoman Jude Noland. Coming into cantact with the 7,200-volt current of the power lines would be like experiencing "your own personal San Francisco earthquake," Noland said. "It is extremely risky." Police and Puget Power officials speculate that the thieves are experienced line workers. They also had to be well equipped: The wire weighed several tons and would require a commercial winch to roll, a Puget Power official said. Noland said the theft was discovered late last week when a worker sought the cause of an outage that affected customers in Lester and the National Weather Service station nearby. Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company | ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 12:59:19 PST From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate It seems clear that either nobody is doing IP over ISDN, or they don't read Telecom! My thanks to the authors of the several useful responses; however, there seem to be some misconceptions about ISDN in general among Telecom readers. goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com wrote (others said similar things): > You get 64 kbps per > second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. > It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. > It is NOT byte oriented at this point! I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D channels are contained in the frame. The AMD speakerphone chip provides byte oriented access to all ISDN B-channels and routes *bytes* among the different interfaces (audio in, audio out, two B-channels, microprocessor port, and serial interfaces). But we don't even have to refer to the standards; we have brains. If you are sending raw audio data over this link, the network had better retain byte synchronization, or the 8-bit audio samples would quickly garble into unintelligibility (7 chances out of 8 to get the wrong byte sync, unless the network maintains it for you). > Two standards exist... And you can of course create > your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. This begs the question of interoperability, which was my whole point. If I "create my own" IP-over-ISDN standard, and you implement it another way, we can't talk to each other even though we can dial each others' computers. Someone else said "what's the point -- ISDN only runs for two or three miles anyway". I don't know where they got that idea. Last I heard, ALL of the >500-mile AT&T switching centers went to digital transmission years ago, and they have been pushing digital encoding back toward the CO's ever since. ISDN is the standard for the stretch between the CO and the customer. (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 28 Oct 89 08:18:28 GMT Organization: very little Dell Ellison says "what if the problem of JUNK FAX is widespread"... Don't forget....I am still looking for a single verifiable first person account from someone actually victimized by abusive junk fax. So far all of the stories I have tried to track down have been "friend of a friend" (FOAF) urban legend type stuff. All I have found is evidence of the ocassional ad from a fax paper seller in California. With all of the legislation concerning this "problem", can't just ONE victim step forward? (OOPS....I said "don't forget" above, and realized I may not have posted this stuff here before...just on alt.fax and various BBS echoes. I am trying to determine if the type of abusive junk fax publicized by the media is for real, or just urban legend). ------------------------------ From: bill@toto.UUCP (Bill Cerny) Subject: Re: Whither Telidon? (Was: What is SONET?) Date: 29 Oct 89 04:32:18 GMT In article , gld@cunixd.cc.columbia. edu (Gary L Dare) writes: > Since we touched a bit on Canadian technology efforts in telecom, can > someone give us an update on Telidon? The (Canadian) gov't sponsored Telidon trials of the early 80's have spawned commercial offerings in Bell Canada ("Alex") and SaskTel ("Agritex"). The Canucks are pretty proud of their Telidon efforts, which they claim delivered the present-day North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS, pronounced "nap-lips"). Now here's the twist: Bell Canada will offer Alex in Toronto next spring, in addition to Montreal where Alex was launched a couple years ago. SaskTel reports that the "Grass Roots" program available over Agritex (at a mere $0.10[Canadian]/min.) is quite popular. How do these companies justify the continued operation of these videotext services when American companies (viz., Pacific Telesis) cite exhorbitant investment and poor public interest as reasons for avoiding similar videotext gateways in the U.S.? Contacts: Ross Richardson, SaskTel (306) 777-3905 Alex Marketing Group, Bell Canada (514) 870-6881 Bill Cerny bill@toto | attmail: !denwa!bill | fax: 619-298-1656 ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Date: Sat, 28 Oct 89 13:47:53 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher For a LONG time, and maybe still today, Wapaconeta {sp} OH, a small burg south of Toledo, had a 5 cent payphone. This town's claim to fame was being Neil Armstrong's birthplace. It seem to me the telco said they got enough dimes and quarters already that they didn't need to change the phone out. A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: tad@ssc.UUCP (Tad Cook) Subject: Re: Cordless Phone Date: 29 Oct 89 19:29:38 GMT Organization: very little In his posting, Cyril Bauer talks about a system using carrier current transmission on the power line for telephone extensions. Although this can work, there are a couple of problems with this. One is with all of the powerline noise filters and spike blockers that we have on our computers and electronic gear now. The ones with just an MOV are not a problem, but the better quality ones with filtering act as a big bucket for all the RF. Another problem is that power wiring at a premise is divided between the two legs of the 220 VAC line. A signal transmitted on one leg wont go to the other very well. One way around this is to hook a cap between the two 220 VAC legs at the service entrance to couple the signal between the two legs. One mod that may work with the noise filters is to put series inductors between the noise filter and the line. This would present high impedance to the RF. Many noise filters already have inductors, but if there is a capacitor on the line side, there would still be a problem without external inductors. Tad Cook tad@ssc.UUCP ------------------------------ From: ficc!peter@uunet.uu.net Subject: Caller-ID and Pagers Date: Sun Oct 29 09:31:36 1989 When you call one of these fancy automatic operators, they generally say something like "to select a service, enter 1 now, or hold and an operator will take your call". This way if you can't generate tones you go back to the default action. So a smart paging service would respond with something like "to enter a number, enter 1 now, or hang up and your number will be automatically generated". ------------------------------ From: Enice E Bradley Subject: Computerwise, Where's Duke University? Date: 28 Oct 89 14:37:47 GMT Reply-To: Enice E Bradley Organization: Rutgers University, Newark, NJ Hello!!! Does anyone know the BITNET or UUNET address for Duke University? Thanks. Eugene Bradley I can be reached at either of the following addresses SLOW: FAST(recommended): Eugene Bradley P.O. Box 774 bradley@andromeda.rutgers.edu Orange, NJ 07052 <<<<<<<<<< "What you gonna do...when the Hulkster runs wild on you?" >>>>>>>>>> -Hulk Hogan, Champion of the World Wrestling Federation ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Telephone Wars Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 19:07:42 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher A subject not mentioned here recently is that of telephone wars. A friend of mine spent some time in Lawrence, KS in the mid 50's. He told me there was a full fledged WAR going on between the existing rural system and the {?} BOC that was trying to move in. This meant cable cutting, pole sawing and even fistfights between employees! I don't recall the exact outcome, but I feel sure that the big guns must have won. One side effect was the PILES of magneto wall phones left over from the upgrade to common battery service. The telco piled them up outside the {only} CO, for the garbage man to cart off. Lee at that time drove a 56 Caddy ambulance. He FILLED it up, while the employees laughed at him. "Who could want that old junk?", they said. Of course, 20 years later, he sold them for $100.00+ each. ===================== A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: Amitabh Shah Subject: How to Disable Call-Waiting Date: 29 Oct 89 20:44:54 GMT Reply-To: Amitabh Shah Organization: Cornell University Computer Science Department I saw a couple of articles here about using "#70" or "1170" to disable call waiting, but it wasn't exactly clear to me as to WHEN does one push those buttons? Is it before making a call, or while on the call? Also, is there a way to disable call-waiting while using your computer to dial out? I'd appreciate a general answer, as well as the specific sequence to use in the 919 area code. Thank you in advance. Amitabh Shah shah@cs.cornell.edu--(INTERNET) Dept. of Computer Science shah@cornell------------(CSNET) Upson Hall -- Cornell University { ... }!cornell!shah-----(UUCP) Ithaca NY 14853-7501 (607) 255-8597----------(VOICE) [Moderator's Note: Here is your general answer: [Whatever 70] works in your community goes at the start of whatever you are dialing; for example, you would enter *70 (beep,beep,beep) 123-4567. If your computer is doing the dialing out, then just add the [whatever 70] to the front of the string being dialed. Here we get three beep tones to acknowlege it, but it is *not* necessary to build in a pause between the 70 and the rest of the string; that is, you can dial right on through the 'beep,beep,beep' if you wish. Call-Waiting then remains cancelled or suspended for the remainder of that call only. Once you go on hook, normal Call-Waiting is restored. If you otherwise have a valid reason for flashing your hook in the middle of a call -- that is, if you have three way calling -- without cutting yourself off, then you can also suspend Call-Waiting on an incoming call, or at some point in the middle of an outgoing call: When you flash, and get the tone spurts, dial [whatever 70]. It should suspend Call-Waiting and immediatly return you to the call in progress you left on hold. You obviously cannot use this second method on a modem call, since the temporary loss of carrier would make the modem disconnect. For *specifics* in your community, ask your business office. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #479 *****************************   Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 23:17:28 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #480 Message-ID: <8910302317.aa00996@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 30 Oct 89 23:15:38 CST Volume 9 : Issue 480 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Sci.crypt Is Asking About Phone Scramblers (John Gilmore) Technical Session Ideas Wanted for ICA (David J. Buscher) 7Khz Digital Channels (Hector Myerston) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Peter Joseph Desnoyers) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Torsten Dahlkvist) Re: Caller ID Device (David Lewis) Re: Caller ID Device (Fred E.J. Linton) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Oct 89 13:38:24 PST From: John Gilmore Subject: Sci.crypt Is Asking About Phone Scramblers From pacbell!ames!ncar!unmvax!ariel!hydra.unm.edu!ee5391aa Fri Oct 27 21:34:05 1989 From: ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) Newsgroups: sci.crypt,sci.electronics Subject: Retitle: Voice scrambling/encryption Message-ID: <843@ariel.unm.edu> Date: 28 Oct 89 04:34:05 GMT Sender: news@ariel.unm.edu Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM I don't remember who posted this -- rn bombed every time I tried to followup, so this is coming from pn. Quote: I've seen a device that fits over your phone advertised in this last summer's issues of High Times (what? You don't read HT?) . Basically you have one at each end and it fits over the handset. It has a keypad and allows some fairly large number of possible codes. The person on the other end must be using the same code. I'm pretty certain it was digital. I believe that each handset device was about $100. It seemed fairly reasonable. :Unquote No, I don't read HT, not being a druggie, and preferring to keep a low profile (LP). Howsowhatyoumayever, this sounds like the "scrambler telephone" advertised in the latest cataloguette from Phoenix Systems. To wit: "Protect your phone conversations from eavesdropping techniques and devices. Our Scrambler Phone Attachment converts ordinary conversation into unintelligible sounds and then the receiving unit reconverts it back to ordinary conversation that is as clear as the original transmission. Protects against taps, recorders, extension pick-ups, linesman's handsets, phone company monitoring or scanners that pick up mobile cellular phone transmissions. Works with almost any shape or type of phone -- including cellular phones and pay phones! Portable -- take it with you anywhere you go to protect your private phone conversations. Scrambling can be controlled by code, with up to 52,488 possible code combinations. No wires to connect, simply strap it to the phone with its elastic strap and it is ready to use. Runs on the standard 9-volt battery. One unit must be used for each phone engaged in the conversation (minimum of two phones). Conference calls can be made with the Scrambler Phone attachment provided all participants are using one." They ask $299.95 each, and they don't even pay the postage. But then, who does? I dunno. It might constitute reasonable short-term security, but 52,488 combinations aren't gonna scare off any experienced cryptanalysts, or even any stubborn private investigators. I suspish (I've never worked with these models, so I don't KNOW) that it wouldn't take terribly long to decipher a good recording of a "secure" conversation made with these units. How about it? Is anyone out there familiar (as in hands-on) with this type of gear, and has anyone any experience in penetrating them? (Assuming, of course, that you're permitted to talk about it.) Phoenix Systems, if anyone's interested, is a macho supply company of the sort that seems popular out here in the West, not unknown in the Southeast, but is far too politically incorrect to be permitted in the Northeast. They are: Phoenix Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 3339 Evergreen, CO 80439 303-277-0305 I'm not connected with them; I've never even ordered from them. They musta gotten my name from a purchased mailing list. I think I'll move to Phoenix, and start a mail-order macho supply house called Evergreen Systems...nah, I guess I won't. Let's keep it going; it's getting interesting, d I've been to Australia, so now I know what the inside of a kangaroo's pouch feels like. -- Anon. Duke McMullan n5gax nss13429r phon505-255-4642 ee5391aa@hydra.unm.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 09:02:45 EST From: "David J. Buscher" Subject: Technical Session Ideas Wanted for ICA As a member of the International Communications Association (ICA) Technial Program Committee I would like to solicit ideas from Telecom Digest readers about possible topics/speakers for the 1991 Conference technical sessions. The ICA is an organization of over 600 companies represented by their telecommunications managers. At one time the ICA was viewed as a "voice" organization, but in recent years has been transitioning to a voice and data organization. Technical sessions should be of interest to all levels of telecommunications professionals. The categories of sessions include 2 hr. tutorials, 1 hr. mini-tutorials, Feature Sessions with "Name" speakers, special open sessions, moderated discussion sessions and case studies given by member companies. This year's conference, 1990, is scheduled for May 22-24 in New Orleans and has adopted a track format for technical sessions. The tracks are: 1990 Technoligies Telecom Risk Management Connectivity Management of the Telecom Function Regulation Network Management International Basics of Telecommunicatiions E-Mail ideas to dave@aplvax.jhuapl.edu or mimsy!aplcen!aplvax!dave and I'll summarize to the Digest. Dave Buscher (301) 953-5709 / (301) 792-5709 Johns Hopkins Univ. APL Milnet dave@aplvax.jhuapl.edu Johns Hopkins Rd. USENET mimsy!aplcen!aplvax!dave Laurel, MD 20707 ------------------------------ From: myerston@cts.sri.com Date: 30 Oct 89 09:32 PST Subject: 7Khz Digital Channels Organization: SRI Intl, Inc., Menlo Park, CA 94025 [(415)326-6200] "Normal" telephone channels have, since Day 1, carried a portion of spectrum of human speech consisting roughly of from 300 to 3500 Hertz. In transmission consider a channel to be 4KHz in the analog world or 64Kbps in the digital world. The 64Kbps are arrived at by the PCM technique of sampling at twice the highest frequency and coding into 8 bit bytes. Obviously PCM is not the only way of coding and other, more innovative and effective techniques of A/D conversion exist. Typical is ADPCM which permits coding of the 4KHz channel at 32Kbps giving (roughly) a 2 for 1 gain. Recently there has been movement (in the form of CCITT recommendations and a Bellcore Technical Advisory) to use similar techniques not to increase channel capacity but to provide higher fidelity channels specifically a 7KHz audio channel which: o Uses "standard" 64Kbps transport, signalling and interfaces o Provides data capability in addition to the improved audio The question is: Does anyone have further information on this? (applications, products, plans). The specs are Bellcore Tech Advisory TA-TSY-000948 CCITT Recommendations H.221 and G.725 ANSI Draft T1Y1/88-050 R2 Any information, opinion, speculation, even flames will be welcomed!. ------------------------------ From: Peter Joseph Desnoyers Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 30 Oct 89 02:45:45 GMT Reply-To: desnoyer@apple.com Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA In article Torsten Dahlkvist writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 471, message 1 of 8 >In article gnu@toad.com (John >Gilmore) writes: >>I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine >>comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, >>really an ISDN speakerphone chip). Could someone set my mind to rest? I have heard several times that the SparcStation has an ISDN basic rate interface on-board. Other people, including people who should know, have insisted that Sun is not shipping any products with a basic-rate interface. Or does it have (as implied above) no ISDN interface, but just a CODEC for sound input that could be used in an ISDN system? Peter Desnoyers ------------------------------ From: Torsten Dahlkvist Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 30 Oct 89 11:23:08 GMT Reply-To: Torsten Dahlkvist Organization: Ellemtel Utvecklings AB, Stockholm, Sweden In article munnari!cit5.cit.oz.au! jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen) writes: >gnu@toad.com asks, of ISDN >> The problem is data encoding; I >> have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on >> the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of >> encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be >> talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it >> that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN >> links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links....... >They are NOT byte-oriented 8000 byte/sec; it is BIT oriented 64000 >bps. You can put any protocol you like on an ISDN B-channel. Protocols >have been standardized for the D-channel, as this is for signalling >and packet traffic. Ah, maybe we should realize that there are more and less absolute truths in these matters. The basic ISDN-frame is byte-oriented and the hardware (in this case the ISDN-chip in the SPARCstation) ALWAYS provides a frame sync to allow you to read the bit stream byte by byte. Why? Because the TELEPHONY transmission is byte oriented. If you've ever listened to bit-shifted PCM you will realize that some way of syncing your codec is essential to the function of a phone. In the bit-oriented datacomm standards specified, this frame sync is simply ignored, as far as the interface to other equipment is concerned. It is still likely to be used internally, however, since all chipsets I've seen so far were intended for both telephony and datacomm. It is possible that the SPARCstation hardware doesn't provide any way for user software to use the frame sync. In that case you may indeed have to go bitwise. If the frame sync is available, though, there's nothing to prevent you from designing your own, BYTE-oriented standard and try to get the world to accept it. (:-) >[...] there >must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a >bit-pipe service. Aren't there ANY byte-oriented protocols around that could be used to form a basis for a bytewise link over ISDN? There are obvious advantages. Torsten Dahlkvist ELLEMTEL Telecommunication Laboratories P.O. Box 1505, S-125 25 ALVSJO, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 727 3788 ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 30 Oct 89 13:49:20 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: > In article , judice@kyoa.enet. dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: > > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! > That's interesting -- when a subscriber in Peapack calls us in > Warren, we get their caller id number NOW. They send it, but they > don't receive it. If a central office is connected to the SS7 network (requiring hardware additions and software modifications), but does not have the CLASS software (more software additions, which cost more $$), the CO will transmit the calling party number with the SS7 Initial Address Message, so another CO with the CLASS software will be able to provide the appropriate CLASS services using the number, but the CO without CLASS software will, appropriately, not be able to provide CLASS services. Since it's SS7 connected, the CO without CLASS software (which I'm guessing is the case in Peapack) actually does receive the calling party number -- it just can't do anything with it... David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: "Fred E.J. Linton" Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Date: 30 Oct 89 20:18:26 GMT In article , judice@kyoa.enet. dec.com (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: > Hi Patrick - the Caller ID Display Device in the Hello Direct catalog is > branded "AT&T" - and if I recall is $99.95. I can confirm that. > Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not > scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! Here in SNETCO-land (CT), sample responses by various phone reps to my inquiries whether there's any signal present at my phone between the first and second rings of an incoming call (for this box to decode) have included: "Well, if it's an AT&T-built device, it won't work unless AT&T is your primary carrier" -- SNET billing questions service-person; "Caller-ID? Never heard of it. May be in developmental stages." -- another SNET billing questions service-person; "Oh yes, that, we were getting ready to beta-test it, but we're gonna wait until we see how those court cases turn out." -- SNET public affairs rep; "Yes, that box should work, those signals are part of all the calls we handle, we couldn't do our billing if they weren't there." -- MCI service rep; "You'll have to ask your local phone company." -- HelloDirect rep. Other sources (thanks John Higdon and friend) have suggested that until SNET offers CLASS services, there may indeed be no signal AT MY PHONE for the HelloDirect/AT&T box to decode. If I had reason to think such a signal might indeed be there after all, that box would tempt me -- any other CT-specific advice, please? Thanks. -- Fred ARPA/Internet: FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU (preferred) Bitnet: FLINTON%eagle@WESLEYAN[.bitnet] (also works) from uucp: ...!{research, mtune!arpa, uunet}!eagle.Wesleyan.EDU!FLinton on ATT-Mail: !fejlinton ( ...!attmail!fejlinton ) Tel.: + 1 203 776 2210 (home) OR + 1 203 347 9411 x2249 (work) Telex: + 15 122 3413 FEJLINTON CompuServe ID: 72037,1054 ( OR, maybe: 72037.1054@CompuServe.COM ) F-Net (guest): linton@inria.inria.fr OR ...!inria.inria.fr!linton ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #480 *****************************   Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 0:15:26 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #481 Message-ID: <8910310015.aa04517@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 89 00:15:04 CST Volume 9 : Issue 481 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Partners to Tackle Telecom Software ("Computing" via Kevin Hopkins) Charging Teleco For Your Time (Kevin Hopkins) Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon ("Governing" via Will Martin) NYC Time and Weather (Yoram Eisenstadter) 312/708 Prefix Lookup (Greg Monti via John R. Covert) LEC Bypass (Jeff Frontz) Re: Tones on International Calls (Douglas Scott Reuben) Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes (Dolf Grunbauer) US Sprint on Telenet (Steve Forrette) No Nx0 in DC? (Carl Moore) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Partners to Tackle Telecom Software Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 14:34:23 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins Hot on the heals of AT&T buying the UK software and communications house ISTEL, which used to be part of the Rover Group (makers of the Sterling, one of the most successful cars ever in the US market :-), another US-UK link up in the software/telecoms industry: "PARTNERS TO TACKLE TELECOMS SOFTWARE Hull telephone operator Kingston Communications and US company Cincinnati Bell joined forces last week to attack the European market in software applications for the telecommunications industry. The joint venture company, CBIS-Kingston, will be based in London and aims to become a 100 million dollar concern over the next four to five years, with acquisitions likely to boost growth. CBIS, the information system subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, sees the UK as a beach-head into Europe, according to president David Cook. "A disadvantage for CBIS was we didn't have a presence in Europe, so we started to look for a joint venture partner," he said. Kingston managing director Ray Matthews said the company's partner's plans matched its own strategy to broaden the base of its activity, as less than 10% of its revenue comes from outside the Hull area. CBIS and Kingston will each own half of the joint company. Software applications for customer management, billing systems, inventory control, operational support systems and network management will be brought from the US and adapted to the European market, said Cook. CBIS serves 80% of the the US cellular market in billing and customer management systems." (Reproduced without permission from "Computing", dated 19th October 1989.) +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Subject: Charging Teleco For Your Time Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:21:48 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins In v9i478 David Lesher said: -> ... they would check it for a $40.00 visit -> charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit -> turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the -> tariffs forbit me from charging them, ... Over here someone took British Telecom to the courts to recover "lost earnings". BT had given the subscriber two separate occassions on which their engineer would turn up to fix a problem, but the engineer failed to show. As the subscriber had stayed off work on both occassions the court awarded him 100 pounds, which was all he applied for as he just wanted to make the point. Since then BT have been offerring bill credits if your phone is not repaired within 2 working days or the engineer fails to turn up. The current credit is 5 pounds, against a quarterly rental of 15 pounds. I think all utilities have taken note of the court's judgement as it set a precedent over here. +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 12:27:02 CST From: Will Martin Subject: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon The following article is in the Nov '89 issue of GOVERNING (a magazine for state and local government topics), p. 16: OREGON LETS YOU UNPLUG PHONE SOLICITORS To people who hate being interrupted during dinner by a surprise phone caller with a once-in-a-lifetime offer, the state of Oregon says it understands. Since October 3, junk phone calls are illegal in the state if a phone customer has asked not to receive them. The package of four related laws was the result of hundreds of consumer complaints, says John MacKellar, information director of the Oregon Public Utility Commission. "The legislature attempted to respond to the concerns of the citizens who were receiving the calls and not liking it, and at the same time allow the telemarketing industry to operate," MacKellar says. One law encourages telephone companies to offer customers a "no solicitation calls" symbol in telephone directories. The symbol, placed beside the customers name, would tell telemarketers that they would waste their time calling and risk penalties as well. Customers may seek damages of $200 or more plus legal costs from those who violate the new laws. Repeat offenders may receive an additional fine of up to $25,000. The symbol idea is modeled after a trial program in the current Salem, Oregon, phone directory. The Salem experiment, approved last summer by the commission, allowed rsidents ot have the symbol placed by their names at a cost of $5. Florida was the first state to enact such a law, followed by Washington state, says Leah Durall, state legislative assistant for the Direct Marketing Association. Another Oregon law requires telemarketers whose businesses are not already regulated by another agency to register with the state Department of Justice. The third law prohibits the use of automatic dialling and announcing devices, known as ADADs, except for certain purposes such as use by doctors and dentists to remind patients of appointments. The same law forbids "junk faxing" of unsolicited advertisements. Durall says 29 states have laws regulating ADADs. The fourth law allows businesses to seek damages if they receive defective goods or none at all after doing business with a telephone solicitor. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:45:26 EST From: Yoram Eisenstadter Subject: NYC Time and Weather An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual 976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. For the price of listening to a brief ad at the beginning of the message, you can get both the time and weather for the cost of a normal local call. I called several times, and got an alternating sequence of two ads: one giving an 800 number for a travel agency, and the other giving the number to call to place an ad on this service (the number is in area code 404, i.e., the Atlanta area). For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: 212-753-TIME (753-8463). (This service seems to be especially useful for those of us whose PBXs disable calls to 976 numbers.) Cheers..Y ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 17:10:25 -0800 From: "John R. Covert 30-Oct-1989 2010" Subject: 312/708 Prefix Lookup (from Greg Monti) FOR TELECOM DIGEST From: Greg Monti Date: 30 October 1989 Re: Automated 312/708 Prefix Lookup For those interested, Illinois Bell has a nice little do-it-yourself prefix lookup for the 312/708 area code split. You must have a true tone generating phone. Dial 800 234-6876 (this DOES work outside Illinois, works from DC). A recording summarizes the split and it effects on Chicago area dialing procedures. Then, you are allowed to punch in up to five currently-active prefixes in area code 312. An automated device reads back the prefixes you punched in and tells you what area code they will be in after 11 November 1989. Handy. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia. Work +1 202 822-2459 ------------------------------ From: jhf@cblpe.att.com Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 13:07 EST Subject: LEC Bypass In TELECOM Digest V9 #478, David Lewis writes: >This story also allows us to launch into an exciting discussion of >bypass, if anyone is so moved... Like, I hear from sources that AT&T >is offering ISDN PRI access from its long distance point of >termination to customers with AT&T PBXs and trying to steal a march on >the LECs... I don't think that the customer in question has to have an AT&T PBX. According to my copy of the Switching Products/CCS7 Information Guide* dated June, 1988, there are nodes on the CNI ring called "D-channel signaling link nodes": The D-channel signaling link node provides the network connection interface for L[ink] Access Protocol D (LAPD) protocol users (Q.931 protocol). The LAPD protocol is the 64-Kb/channel DS1 signal having 23 B-channels (data and voice) and one D-channel (signaling). D-channel signaling link nodes are connected to the private branch exchange and local area network, which use the primary rate interface for signaling to the 4 ESS switch. * This publication is available from the AT&T Customer Information Center at 800-432-6600. The select code is 256-002. Jeff Frontz Work: +1 614 860 2797 AT&T-Bell Labs (CB 1C-356) Cornet: 353-2797 att!jeff.frontz jeff.frontz@att.com Home: +1 614 794 3986 ------------------------------ Date: 30-OCT-1989 17:33:35.95 From: "DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN)" Subject: Re: Tones on International Calls In response to the posting from 10/27/89 from "aaron@aludra.usc.edu": I'm not sure exactly what tones you mean, but I've heard tones myself when making international (as well as some domestic) calls. I think what you are hearing are "MF", or multi-frequency tones. These are similar to Touch Tones (2 tones), but at a different pitch. They were, and to a smaller extent are used as a signalling mechanism between switching equipment. Since these tones are audible, they are refered to as "in-band", ie, you hear it on the voice channel. "Out-of-band" signalling, sometimes using the acronym "CCIS" (Common Channel Interoffic Switching) uses a separate (data?) channel to send information between switches, so you don't hear the tones. (The calls usually go through faster as well.) Depending on where you call from and where you are calling to, you may hear the MF tones, especially if you call a very rural area, although there are plenty of routes for in-state Connecticut calls that I hear MF tones on as well, so it's really hard to predict until you try it. You may also hear MF tones when you call some non-working number (ie, the number you dialed is being signalled, via MF tones, to the eqipment that says "The number you have reached xxx-xxxx has been changed.." (I think this is called "AIS"). 215-987-4444 is a good example of this, but you don't always hear the MF on that one... Also, if you are in a Crossbar exchange that has been converted to Equal Access (ie, you can actually dial 10xxx to route your calls, and NOT just being able to choose a 1+ carrier : 718-793 is an example of the former and 718-268 is an example of the latter...) you may hear MF tones if you make an AT&T Op. Assist call by dialing 0+A/C+number. (At least 718-793 does this..) This is also true in a few rural exchanges near Poughkeepsie, NY, where a 0+ call from an (1ESS?) payphone will give lots of MF before you get the AT&T "boing". (It seems to go in two bursts: The first one seems to be the number of the payphone, and the second one seems to be the 0+ number dialed in...I can't decode MF tones by hearing them, so I'm not too sure about this...) Anyhow, so to answer your question, I think this is what you are hearing, and they are not only restricted to international calls. I sometimes hear a LONG tone (sounds just like a DMS-type call wait, but a bit longer) when I make international Calling Card calls (ie, 01+), but I doubt that's what you are talkling about... I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable readers of the Digest would be able to fill you in on how MF tones are used - I'm sure I couldn't explain international routing codes very well. (What is an "international sender", anyhow?) Hope this was of some help... Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet dreuben%eagle.weslyn@wesleyan.bitnet (and just plain old "dreuben" to locals!! :-) ) ------------------------------ Organization: Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems, Subject: Re: Dutch PTT Booklet: International Access Codes Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 11:44:53 MET From: Dolf Grunbauer In article you write: >Some time ago there was some discussion on this list about access >codes in different countries to dial international numbers. >Albania unknown You cannot make direct calls from Albania to the outside of the country. You have to go to the post office and ask for a call abroad. They cannot deal with it right away, but they call Italy and the Italians make the call for you (if you are lucky :-). It helps when you know Italian, so you can help the telephone operator to make the connection. Otherwise it may take hours. The above was true at least until July, 1985 (which happened to be within one year after the death of Envir Hoxha), and it may be changed by now. Dolf Grunbauer Tel: +31 55 433233 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems UUCP ....!mcvax!philapd!dolf Dept. SSP, P.O. Box 245, 7300 AE Apeldoorn, The Netherlands ------------------------------ From: Steve Forrette Subject: US Sprint on Telenet Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 00:00:00 CST (responding to the person who asked for Sprint's 'network' address) I believe that US Sprint *owns* Telenet... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 9:21:59 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: No Nx0 in DC? I notice several prefixes ending in 0 in Md. & Va. suburbs, but none in DC itself. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #481 *****************************   Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 1:41:47 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #482 Message-ID: <8910310141.aa30199@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Oct 89 01:35:51 CST Volume 9 : Issue 482 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 (TELECOM Moderator) AT&T Strikes Back: Countersues MCI (TELECOM Moderator) Time to "Disconnection" (Louis J. Judice) Re: 10 Cent Payphones (Mike Trout) Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles (David A. Cantor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 1:23:08 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 David Tamkin has written in TELECOM Digest regarding the unusual characteristics of the new area 708, and he has pointed out that it will be in three disconnected parts, surrounded in part by 312, and surrounding 312 in another area. Saturday evening, David took me on a most unusual tour of the northwest side of Chicago and the adjoining suburban area, and pointed out just how ragged the boundary line will be. This is not entirely the fault of Illinois Bell: Unlike most areas of Chicago, where the boundary line between Chicago and a neighboring community is well-defined, with the boundary being down the middle of a major street, or at a clearly defined intersection, the boundary line between Chicago, Harwood Heights and Norridge (two towns completely surrounded by Chicago), Park Ridge, Rosemont and Ohare Airport (politically part of Chicago, but geographically in Rosemont) and Unincorporated Norridge Park Township is difficult at best to discern. We simply drove along the boundary as much as possible, except that on several occasions it literally cut through middle of a block between houses, went through back yards, skipped around in funny ways, at one point cuts through the woods and across a river, and in general is very elusive. One house had *two* sets of street numbers on it, a four digit number in the Chicago style and a three digit number in the Park Ridge style. Apparently the boundary between Chicago and Park Ridge runs through the house! I asked David if per chance the people had an extension in their bedroom if it would have to be changed to 708! Unincorporated Norridge Park Township sits squarely in the middle of it all and does not 'belong' to any city, but is governed only by Cook County. Not only will there be two area codes beginning in a few days, but there are already two telephone companies, and the difference between them is sometimes just between two houses sitting side by side. Both telcos will have both 312 and 708 prefixes. These are not places across the street from each other, mind you -- that would be sort of easy to figure out and get used to -- these were cases of houses next to each other on the same side of the street, in an area where the same street is known by one name on one side of the street (whatever town it is) and by another name on the other side of the street in a different town! All Illinois Bell service in the area comes from the Chicago-Newcastle central office. *Chicago* service via Centel comes from Newcastle also, but from the Centel CO on Minor Street in Park Ridge known also as Newcastle. Where the real fun begins is the way Illinois Bell's Newcastle office has gotten sloppy in assigning prefixes over the past two or three years. There are prefixes intended only for the people politically in Chicago. There are prefixes intended only for the people in Harwood and Norridge. There are prefixes intended only for the unicorporateds and some for the people in Rosemont. Ohare Airport has its own Chicago prefixes, and is served by Illinois Bell, but the perimeters of the airport have Centel service with prefixes out of Park Ridge. Go across the street into (politically and in actuality) Rosemont, IL and Illinois Bell has the service on 708....leaving Ohare Airport on 312. Although Newcastle serves several little areas, as noted above, one reason for the distinction in prefixes is where 911 service will go. In the unincorporated area, for example, the residents get Chicago phone service, but have a distinct exchange on which 911 will *not* ring the Chicago PD, since they don't get the same police. On Harlem Avenue around Lawrence Avenue (7200 West at 4800 North) David pointed out two shopping malls -- little shopping strips actually, with a parking lot in front of them -- where about half the stores in the group will remain 312 and the other half will be 708....in no particular order; i.e. the first store is 708, the next two are 312, the next one is 708, etc. In this area, which *eventually* turns into Harwood Heights for a few blocks and once again becomes Chicago a bit further south, the street name and numbering system remain the same: four digit numbers running consecutively as on any 'normal' street. One could never tell that one had left Chicago, entered Harwood Heights and walked back into Chicago on crossing the street a couple blocks down. When those people ordered phone service in the past, apparently they said their address was 4xxx North Harlem in *Chicago*, or 4xxx North Harlem in *Harwood Heights* when in fact it was the opposite community! Now in theory, the Bell service rep who took the order should have consulted the street address book and told the subscriber, 'well, you are actually in community X'.....or at the very least when the CO got the order to wire the service they should have looked at the street guide and selected the appropriate prefix, community-wise. I can't really blame the new-comers for not knowing for sure at first what exact *political* territory they were in; David even got me dizzy driving up and down all those side streets following imaginary (or sometimes real) markers. So the people who *said* they were in Harwood Heights (whether they were or not, and when IBT did not verify it) are stuck with 708 starting in a couple weeks. Those who *said* they were in Chicago (whether they were or not, and when IBT did not verify it) get to stay in 312. Ergo, an eleven digit call between the shoe store at the front of the mall and the clothing store next door! Centel on the other hand seems to have pretty well verified all their addresses and number assignments. And you have Centel service on 312, but your neighbor next door or across the alley has Illinois Bell on 708. An eleven digit dialing sequence to call the lady next door. Not just one or two of these instances mind you, but an area of several blocks on the northwest side of (for all practical purposes) Chicago. Even the 213/818 situation at the dividing line is not this bad. David says it is....that the split in El Lay is just as confusing around the boundary line as the one here on the northwest side, but I don't see how it could be. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 0:35:29 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: AT&T Strikes Back: Countersues MCI AT&T struck back last Thursday at advertising claims made by MCI Communications Corporation and received two rulings from the Federal Communications Commission affecting regulation of its long distance services. AT&T said in a countersuit against MCI filed in Washington, DC that MCI was misleading consumers through false and deceptive advertising in its business and residential long distance service. AT&T's filing denied similar allegations made by MCI in a suit filed October 10. Victor Pelson, AT&T group executive, said MCI unfairly compared its discount service with AT&T's regular long distance service rather than its discount service. Pelson also denied claims that the quality of MCI voice service was superior to AT&T's, or that its facsimile service featured fewer garbled transmissions than AT&T's. "We intend to clarify any misconceptions in the market," said Merrill Tutton, AT&T Vice President for consumer marketing. MCI spokeswoman Kathleen Keegan Thursday responded that, "our ad claims are accurate....We will soon be filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to cause AT&T to cease its advertising campaign." Also on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission upheld a decision giving AT&T greater freedom to compete for big corporate customers but rejected another pricing plan by AT&T. The FCC voted unanimously to uphold a pricing plan known as Tariff 12, which lets AT&T offer corporate customers a package of communications services. AT&T contends it is at a disadvantage because MCI does not have to submit detailed filings to the FCC before they can serve customers. MCI had challenged Tariff 12, asking the FCC to overrule it and prohibit AT&T from offering full service communications packages to its customers. In the second item, the FCC declared unlawful a pricing plan known as Tariff 15, that AT&T had applied solely to a single customer, the Holiday Corporation, owner of the largest hotel chain in the United States. The FCC said AT&T could no longer justify the special rates to a single customer to meet competition when MCI was making the same service available to customers generally. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 06:25:59 -0800 From: "Louis J. Judice 30-Oct-1989 1021" Subject: Time to "Disconnection" I never realized this until it was demonstrated to me, but at least in NJ on the Peapack Central Office, if you call person "A", person "A" can hang up, and pick up their phone up to about 15 seconds later without disconnecting "B". This is without any phone features, etc. If the calling party hangs up, of course the conversation is over. I also suspect that if the "called-party" is on a PBX, etc., that this "grace period" is not given. What is this, why does it exist? It is "dependable" or just a fluke? Is the 15 second limit a standard of some sort? /ljj ------------------------------ From: Mike Trout Subject: Re: 10 Cent Payphones Date: 30 Oct 89 19:20:58 GMT Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY In article , c152-ft@cory.berkeley. edu (Steve Forrette) writes: > Last time I checked (year or so ago), Roseville Telephone (near > Sacramento, CA) still charged 10 cents for local calls. An > interesting corollary is that Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, CA, > happens to straddle the service boundary between Roseville Telephone > and the *real* telephone company (Pacific Bell) - so, local calls cost > 20 cents at the south end of the mall and 10 cents at the north! It's been pointed out in this group before, but I figured I'd mention again that payphones of the Taconic Telephone Corp. (upstate New York between Troy and Poughkeepsie) charge a nickle for local calls. NSA food: Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110 (518) 783-1161 "Who watches the watchmen?" --Epigraph of the Tower Commission Report, 1987 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Oct 89 09:39:11 -0800 From: "David A. Cantor 30-Oct-1989 1236" Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles Re Telecom Volume 9 : Issue 473 >Date: Wed, 25 Oct 89 21:44:26 mst >From: Robert Wier >Subject: Re: The Lighter Side: Phone Number Jingles >I remember a widely run tv commercial about 20 years ago (?) by the >Sheraton Corporation advertising their toll-free reservation --> 800 >325 3535. [...] >I believe that the number is still in use, for Day's Inns now. But >they don't use the old commercial (a shame...) No, Sheraton is still using that number, but Days Inns uses a similar number; viz., 800-325-2525. Dave C. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #482 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 0:56:55 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #483 Message-ID: <8911010056.aa23585@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 00:55:55 CST Volume 9 : Issue 483 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Martin B. Weiss) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Paul Elliot) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Peter Desnoyers) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (H. Shrikumar) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Johnny Zweig) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Giridhar Coorg) Standardized Software Interfaces to ISDN PC Cards (Michael L. Robins) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Martin B Weiss Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 14:42:46 GMT Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Services In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > . . . First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). In the context of ISDN, 64Kbps means 64000 bits per second. It is derived from 8 bits/sample*8000 samples/sec=64,000 bits/sec. > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. The problem is not the lack of frame sync, but the need for a signalling mechanism to send "off-hook" and "on-hook" signals (as well as pulsing digits). The original T1 carrier was developed in an era of in-band signalling, so this "bit robbing" approach was the preferred choice. Nobody in the early 1960's ever imagined using T-carriers in the way they are used today. 64Kbps channels will be available with the widespread implementation of out-of-band (or common channel) signalling, such as CCIS and CCITT Signalling System 7. Martin Weiss Telecommunications Program, University of Pittsburgh Internet: mbw@idis.lis.pitt.edu OR mbw@unix.cis.pitt.edu BITNET: mbw@pittvms ------------------------------ From: Paul Elliott x225 Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 16:48:39 GMT Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > (omitted) > I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame It is my experience that when referring to _communications_ data rates, Kb/s and Mb/s refer to the decimal Kilo and Mega, so these are used as power-of-ten multipliers. (I am trying to ignore the capitalization issue here, but have to ask anyway: can anyone out there tell me what the rule is for 1000-based vs. 1024-based suffixes?). > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. > But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus > relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit > ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low > order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) T1 has a couple of problems in the transport of 64Kb/s data, but the poor, overloaded frame bit isn't one of them. There are two reasons for the 56Kb/s requirement (these being eliminated in newer equipment): 1) Robbed-bit signaling -- In most circuits (meaning either connections or equipment, take your pick), per-channel, connection-state signaling is sent one frame in six. One bit of the eight bits ("octet", in telecom parlance) in each channel is "robbed" to carry this signaling. This only causes a minor increase in noise for a voice (or analog modem signal), but the one bit in 48 hit obviously precludes full use of the channel, hence the 7 bit, 56 Kb/s rate. Several techniques are used to eliminate the robbing of the bit; one method is DMI BOS (Digital Multiplexed Interface, Bit Oriented Signaling), in which one channel in the T1 frame is appropriated to carry the signaling for the remaining 23 channels (this is similar to the method used by the European 2.048 Mb/s digital trunk, which by the way, we _do_ call "2 Megabit", throwing my earlier comment into question -- I guess useage is a matter of history and culture, your mileage may vary). Of course, the B-channel in the ISDN connection eliminates the robbed-bit requirement as well. 2) Ones Density -- The T1 signal format is AMI (Alternate Mark Inversion), so the clock must be recovered from the data transitions. This necessitates a minimum ones-density (15 consecutive zeroes max). Much T1 equipment "features" a zero-suppression method in which an all-zero channel has a bit (or bits) set to insure that "bad data" in one channel does not impair the performance of the remaining channels. Naturally, the receiving equipment cannot differentiate the resulting data pattern from one that had been purposely sent, so a data error results. Again, a reason for 56 Kb/s. Newer equipment provides methods of encoding an all-zero channel that are reversable. One method, called B8ZS (Bipolar Eight Zero Substitution) sends a special pattern of BPVs (Bipolar Violations, violations of the AMI line code rules) for the zero-byte. Another is called ZBTSI (Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange) and is too involved to explain here (I can! Trust me!). The frame bit has problems of it's own, and has been the subject of much baroque engineering, and the butt of many nerdy engineer's jokes (we're a riot at parties). In defense if the F-bit, the T1 format was designed a _long_ time ago, and it was actually rather elegant for the hardware implementations at the time. Paul M. Elliott Optilink Corporation (707) 795-9444 {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott "I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." ------------------------------ From: Peter Desnoyers Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 18:01:30 GMT Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: > > You get 64 kbps per > > second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. > > It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. > > It is NOT byte oriented at this point! > I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" > implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). Second, the frame > sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) > contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D > channels are contained in the frame. The prefix for 10^3 (kilo) is k. Lowercase. Hence 64kb/sec. Anyway, on the subject of ISDN data framing: ISDN circuit-switched data calls guarantee "8 kHz integrity". (as compared, for instance, to "service data unit integrity" for packet switched calls. I take this to imply that octet boundaries are preserved from one end to the other. However, this is sort of a moot point. First, none of the protocols standardized for transmission over ISDN are byte-oriented, so if you are talking to someone else it doesn't matter. Secondly, unless there has been a sudden glut of byte-oriented comm chips for ISDN applications in the last couple of weeks, you're either going to be hooking a bit-oriented comm chip to your ISDN B channel, or you're going to be suffering an interrupt every 125 microseconds. Kind of puts such an interface out of reach of any UNIX-based workstations I can think of. Anyway, does anyone have an answer to my previous question: Does the SparcStation actually contain an S/T interface? If so, why don't they ship Q.931 software and provide a comm chip? Peter Desnoyers Apple ATG (408) 974-4469 ------------------------------ From: "H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}" Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 31 Oct 89 20:24:47 GMT Reply-To: "H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}" Organization: NCST, Bombay, Indian, currently at UMass, Amherst In article gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes: >It seems clear that either nobody is doing IP over ISDN, or they don't >dont read Telecom ... Yup, seems so. I had expected to learn much from this thread. BTW, a related thing came to my mind. (though it works on primary rate) The people at Rutherford Labs, UK, are using ISDN to bridge two Cambridge Fast Rings. Of course, they always have to use the Cambridge ring, and the others always have to use TCP/IP :-) but they have an interesting gadget that they have designed. They call it a RAMP. It connects to a primary rate ISDN coax pipe. and to the LAN on the other. When any connect requests arrive that need the bridge to work, a B channel call is requsted to a similar box at the other end. Additional B channels are allocated and dropped as traffic needs vary. (neat, also explains the name). This works well as the ISDN call setup times are found to be acceptably small. But it is not so easy as that, because ISDN guarantees byte ordering in the channel, but a connect request on channel number 12 here may materialise is any of 1-30 at the other end. They have some suitable protocol to sync this. I remember they had also mentioned running X-windows and NFS over it, so they have some TCP experience with it as well (foggy here). This was presented at the recent SIGCOMM '89 in Austin, TX, this September. I can dig up the reference if need. shrikumar ( shri@ccs1.cs.umass.edu, shri@ncst.in ) ------------------------------ From: Johnny Zweig Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Reply-To: zweig@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 03:05:20 GMT Maybe I'm less well-informed than I believe myself to be, but I can see no reason why one couldn't configure a host to run SLIP over an ISDN channel. All SLIP says is "we'll use a few special characters and a naive escaping mechanism to delimit packets on a serial line". That's it. So if two hosts agree to send ordinary IP-packets over the serial lines using SLIP, it should be a snap. If one of those hosts gateways packets onto the Internet, presto! The issues of addressing and routing are still troublesome and need a bit of head-scratching. But if host W.X.Y.Z (Internet address) wanted to place an ISDN call directly to host I.J.K.L and send IP-packets between themselves (i.e. let the phone-network do the routing), there should be no problem patching existing software to accept the packets. One trick would be to have gateways with a number of ISDN-based serial lines and a set of public-use IP addresses so that someone could dial-in and talk to the Internet as host public7.isdn.uiuc.edu for example -- similar to some dialups that are run nowadays. Certainly all the authentication and whatnot is done at a higher layer than IP, so it should be no problem. I have heard rumors of brain-damaged ISDN lines that clobber bit 7, and do other byte-mangling (for example, if you treat a serial channel as PCM and recode the data as MPCM for long-haul and reconvert to PCM, you will make garbage out of the bits), but I think the ISDN is evolving toward a "byte pipe" architecture, at least at the physical and data-link layers. I can think of at least one implementation of IP that will be configurable to take advantage of such an ISDN-based transport mechanism (the one I'm writing ;-). Johnny TCP+IP+ISDN=Happy Folks ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 15:14:36 EST From: Giridhar Coorg Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate >Someone else said "what's the point -- ISDN only runs for two or three >miles anyway". I don't know where they got that idea. Last I heard, >ALL of the >500-mile AT&T switching centers went to digital >transmission years ago, and they have been pushing digital encoding >back toward the CO's ever since. ISDN is the standard for the stretch >between the CO and the customer. I would imagine that just like digital transmission, ISDN would encompass any stretch because as far as the system goes, all it needs to know is a series of 0's and 1's(of course, it is very crudely put). Basically, the stretch between the CO and the customer needs to be digital under the ISDN requirements. Depending on the type of system design, whether it is a T1 or T2(European and also in India), a multiplexed PCM link (a 24 or 30 channel ) would be extended. One of the major requirements of ISDN is the compatibility to CCITT # 7 (a signalling specification) for inter CO signalling. >(There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 >relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the >bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" >(8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. >But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus >relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit >ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low >order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) I would say that there are two different standards based on T1 or T2, these being the Primary Rate Interface and the Basic Rate Interface. The basic rate interface for T2 systems has the 2B+D characteristics totalling 144kbps with each B channel accomodating 64kbps and the D channel accomodating 16kbps(for signalling and now slow speed packet switching), the primary rate interface for T1 systems has 30B+D characteristics. ====Giridhar==== ------------------------------ From: Michael L Robins Subject: Standardized Software Interfaces to ISDN PC Cards Date: 1 Nov 89 04:55:35 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I am posting a feeler to see how many users on the 'net' are interested in the concept of a standardized interface for software applications. Specifically, the North American ISDN User Forum has an expert group looking at an Application Software Interface so that applications can talk to smart ISDN co-processor boards. The market has typically seen these devices in the MS-DOS arena, but more are coming along that will be using OS/2 and the UNIX(tm) Operating System. The problem today, is that each hardware vendor has supplied their own interface, thus a given software application will usually only work with a single vendors' hardware. The ASI Working Group is trying to get agreement among vendors to supply a standard set of functionality (primitives) as well as a standard way to access the functionality. Having a standized method will promote new ISDN applications, and promote the ISDN marketplace. The ASI Working Group is not a standard body, but has many representatives from the ISDN arena (hardware and software vendors) participating, and in the future will be presenting it's work to some formal standards body. The NIU Forum is sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); formally the National Bureau of Standards, and open to all. Interested parties can contact me vial e-mail. Mike Robins att.com!houtz!mlr ------------------------------ --End of TELECOM Digest V9 #483 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 1:51:15 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #484 Message-ID: <8911010151.aa13483@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 01:50:59 CST Volume 9 : Issue 484 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Unequal Service (John Higdon) Re: Unequal Service (Macy Hallock) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Ellen Keyne Seebacher) Re: Caller ID Use by Pagers (David W. Tamkin) Re: Caller ID Question (John R. Levine) Strange Recording (Mike Koziol) ANI In Use by Radio Station? (Thomas Lapp) Re: Anti-junk-call Laws In Oregon (Henry Mensch) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (Michael H. Warfield) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Seth Robertson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 31 Oct 89 18:03:34 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami. edu (David Lesher) writes: > About this time I moved elsewhere. But I did learn something. Always > write letters to the business office. They HATE that. (I am not sure > if only the supervisers can read, or they have an elite section....) > Further, each letter I got back came signed by "your service rep." Letters at least used to be the biggest guns you could fire. Years ago in Pacific Telephone days, a client chose to venture into the brave new world of CPE. They had a ComKey 1432 and upgraded to a PBX from an independent vendor. This was in 1977 or so. Our "service" rep was supposed to handle the conversion of the lines to ground start trunks, add additional lines, etc. From the beginning, it was a mess. The lines were not converted properly, or on time; the hunting was messed up; and there were numerous other problems. Throughout all of this, our rep was unavailable, or uncooperative. The customer and I were so fed up that I wrote a letter to the "manager" of the business office. This triggered a response from someone who was very apologetic and who said things would be made right. In the meantime, our "rep" called me and whined about the letter I wrote. He said that he was now taking considerable heat and tried to lay a guilt trip on me. I reminded him how we had repeatedly tried to get him to perform and asked that he look at it from our perspective. A day or two later, a supervisor called to tell me that our "rep" had been properly processed and would I be so kind as to tell them if I had any further trouble. At that point I related the conversation with the rep in which he whined about my letter. This supervisor was aghast and got off the phone. Later that day, the sup called back to tell me that our rep had been let go (!) and that we would have a new one. I wasn't really too happy about causing someone's termination, but I was certainly impressed with the action that my humble little letter seemed to trigger. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) Subject: Re: Unequal Service Date: 31 Oct 89 01:49:57 GMT Reply-To: macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) Organization: F M Systems Medina, Ohio USA In article westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 473, message 4 of 10 >In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John > Higdon) writes: >> As an incentive to upgrade, I would propose that anyone served out of >> an electromechanical office be charged some fixed amount less than >> "equivalent" service out of an electronic office. >But the real cost of either office depends upon how long it lives. >Swapping out a central office switch before its time plays havoc with >a delicate balance of rate-of-return and depreciation schedules. The >schedule for a given central office may be pushed one way or another >by the demands of the major business subscribers in its serving area; >the over-all schedule is probably pretty well cast in stone by the >telco _and_ the regulators. Of course, the replacement Central Office had better work, too. GTE replaced our SXS office in Medina, Ohio (a class 4 office with POP for the IXC's) with a Automatic Electric No. 1 EAX a few years ago. The thing could barely handle the load, it seems. It went down several times. GTE apparently ordered a GTD-5 digital switch a few months after the EAX went in, and installed it less then two years after the 1 EAX went into service. Now I'm no fan of the GTD-5, but it was a real improvement over the 1 EAX. If it weren't for the SXS office's SATT (Stowger Automatic Toll Ticketing), I would say the the SXS would have been best left in place until the GTD-5 became available. I'll post some GTD-5 stories to this group shortly, along with a description. Hint: its a bunch of intel 8086 processors working together. Kinda like an AT&T 6300 PC, but less reliable. Anyway, the Ohio PUC asked a few questions about this early CO replacement (about 23 years early...) and was told the CO was reused as pieces parts in other No. 1 EAX offices in Ohio. The way I heard it, from my sources, most of it was recycled indirectly to a scrap recycler. A fitting fate...but paid for by us ratepayers in the end. Such is the price paid by ratepayers for a company that tried to beat Bell at vertical integration. Macy Hallock 150 Highland Dr. macy@NCoast.ORG F M Systems Inc. Medina, OH 44256 {uunet|backbone}!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!macy +1 216 723-3000 Fax +1 216 723-3223 uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: Ellen Keyne Seebacher Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 31 Oct 89 17:12:25 GMT Reply-To: Ellen Keyne Seebacher Organization: University of Chicago Our moderator writes, in response to Roger B.A. Klorese, >Here in Chicago a huge number of calls to 911 >are not *emergencies* at all, but simple complaints or requests to >file police reports, etc. 911 is only to be used when *immediate* >intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, >or a fire going on *now*, etc. And for those conditions, how could >anyone object to being immediatly identified and assisted? PT] Patrick, there is a very good explanation for this. On a number of occasions, I have called the police to make a report of some sort: drag racers at the Museum of Science & Industry keeping the neighbors awake; a followup on at least one of the occasions our car was stolen; a request for officers to take a report on the time I was assaulted on the El platform (no longer urgent, since the incident was over long before I arrived at work to make the call). I could think of several other examples, but these are a start. On *every* single occasion, I called the local police HQ -- and was told to *CALL 911* to make the report. This is not only outrageous, it's potentially life-threatening to those who are trying to get through while I'm reciting the details of a minor crime. I have complained repeatedly, especially to the police and, of course, to my aldercreature. I have never, ever received any indication that anybody gives a damn (the alderman's staff keep promising to call me back), or that new guidelines (or legislation) will be introduced to try to correct the problem. What can we do, as common grunts, to get the situation changed? A frustrated, Ellen Keyne Seebacher University of Chicago Computing see1@tank.uchicago.edu Instruction/Research/User Svcs. [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, you are correct, at least here in Chicago. I've gotten the same rap from Police HQ, however the supervisors in the actual 911 dispatch area tell me I am correct and the brass upstairs is wrong for pushing my call back to them. Its a case of some people not wanting to do their job, and pushing it off on someone else. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Use by Pagers Date: Thu, 26 Oct 89 10:56:45 CDT From: "David W. Tamkin" J. Philip Miller asked in Telecom Digest, volume 9, issue 472: | While speaking of Caller-ID implementations, I have wondered whether paging | services utilize Caller-ID to send to digital pagers so that the callers do | not need to key their number in for display on the pager. Patrick Townson responded: | Regards using Caller-ID to feed digital pagers, I think it is a great | idea. I wonder if anyone has thought of it? Like the American Express customer who called from a public phone (or from work/home when the phone number on the account was home/work) and got misidentified, consider the person calling into a pager from a phone other than the one where he or she will be reachable. There has to be a way to override the automatic sending of the number dialed from and to leave a message with a different number for returning the call. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 31 Oct 89 17:40:51 EST (Tue) From: "John R. Levine" Does Caller ID provide the calling number or the billing number? Seems to me that it probably provides the billing number, since that's what ANI is already set up to collect. Besides, for calls originating from a PBX the PBX never identifies the originating extension anyway. Just another reason why Caller ID is misnamed. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 10:07:43 EDT From: Mike Koziol Subject: Strange Recording Last night I received a call at work. It was a female computer generated voice that said "Plese wait while I try to connect you". A few seconds of silence (approximately 10), then "I am still trying to connect you, please wait", another period of silence then "I am still unable to connect you, are you still there?", to which I replied yes. Then a five second delay with the last message "I am sorry that I was unable to connect you, thank-you", at which point the caller hung up. Anyone have any clues to who or what had called me? [Moderator's Note: I do think you got an automated junk-call and somehow the telemarketing reps all got behind in their work and the machine was unable to find anyone available in a reasonable timto give you whatever the pitch was. And you cannot hang up on those things; if you do without it completing its cycle of obnoxiousness, it will call back in a few minutes and start over again. A human being has to feed information to it saying 'this number has been successfully contacted'. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 21:45:28 edt From: Thomas Lapp Subject: ANI In Use by Radio Station? Reply-To: mvac23!thomas@udel.edu Here in the Wilmington, DE area a local radio station is running a contest in which they announce three digits in a period of a half-hour or so. If the three numbers are contained in the phone number OF THE PHONE YOU ARE CALLING FROM, by being the "correct" caller to the station, you win. Several times while listening I hear the Dee Jay say that you can only call in IF THE NUMBER YOU ARE CALLING FROM matches. It got me to wondering if the radio station uses ANI to verify winners. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? [Moderator's Note: It may be the people at the station verify by calling back with some nondescript question such as 'did you just call our office?' which only the *correct* originating caller would understand. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 07:42:28 -0500 From: Henry Mensch Subject: Re: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon Reply-To: henry@garp.mit.edu We have them here in MA also ... they don't do you any good if the calls are placed from outside the state, though. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # / / ------------------------------ From: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 31 Oct 89 15:17:07 GMT Reply-To: "Michael H. Warfield (Mike" Organization: Lanier Network Knitting Circle - Thaumaturgy & Speculums Division In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >From all evidence presented so far, nobody seems to be having a >problem. Ergo, no problem. At least it's not widespread. Here's an interesting side note though. In a recent newsletter to their subscribers, Compuserve has been touting the ease of setting up and customizing marketing and advertising strategies through their fax mailing services and databases. Are we just beginning to see the junk fax problem? If services like Compuserve start making mass "fax mailings" convenient (although not exactly cheap) is the real weight of the junk fax problem just around the corner? As with anything, as the popularity of this strategy increases, the cost will, no doubt, come down, as more services like Compuserve start competing for this advertising money. Considering the obscene weight of junk mail in the U.S. mail system and the expense of fax supplies, this would seem like a good problem to prevent before it becomes a problem. If you wait until operations like Compuserve have a large vested interest in preserving this annoyance, you'll play h*ll getting rid of it. If you try taking away something that a bunch of "Mega-corps" already abuse, they'll have you right in court protecting their right to go on abusing it. It's always easier to prevent it in the first place than it is to stop it once it's started. Michael H. Warfield (The Mad Wizard) | gatech.edu!galbp!wittsend!mhw (404) 270-2123 / 270-2098 | mhw@wittsend.LBP.HARRIS.COM An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it! ------------------------------ From: Seth Robertson Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Reply-To: Seth Robertson Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 02:31:51 GMT In article yoram@link.cs.columbia. edu (Yoram Eisenstadter) writes: >An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual >976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. >For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: >212-753-TIME (753-8463). I called and checked the time given against my computer's WWVB synchronized time (synchronized using ntp, Network Time Protocol, to within 2 ms) and it was around 12 seconds fast. Not too surprising, perhaps, but interesting nevertheless. To be fair, I also called Illinois Bell's time and they were within the granularity of the program I was using to check it. -Seth Robertson seth@ctr.columbia.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #484 *****************************   Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 23:51:36 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #485 Message-ID: <8911012351.aa25434@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 Nov 89 23:50:46 CST Volume 9 : Issue 485 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson A Kind Reply (Was: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Bernard Mckeever) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Fred Goldstein) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Dave Fiske) Re: NYC Time and Weather (John R. Levine) Re: Caller ID Boxes (Phantom) Re: Caller ID Question (Dave Levenson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bernard Mckeever Subject: A Kind Reply (Was: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate) Date: 31 Oct 89 16:19:20 GMT Reply-To: bmk@cbnews.ATT.COM (bernard.mckeever,54236,mv,3b045,508 960 6289) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories At first I was going to post a strong reply to the following paragraph, but rather then start an argument decided to quickly review how the original T1 framing and bit robbed signaling came into use, and how it got to todays form. Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. > (There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 > relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the > bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" > (8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. > But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus > relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit > ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low > order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) T1 carrier was first used in the Bell System in the 1960s' and has undergone several major changes while still maintaining the original 1.544 Mb/s bit rate. Early systems connected to D1 banks and the design intent was to provide local exchange service on existing cable for distances up to 25 miles. Before T-carrier local exchange service was provided by one of several vintages of N-carrier [another story]. The channel bank provided a means to convert 24 voice frequency signals into 24 digital channels [time slots] that were combined using Time Division Multiplexing [TDM]. Each VF signal was sampled 8000 times per second and encoded into a 7 bit word [remember this is a D1 bank] and one more bit was added to the 7 bit word to indicate the signaling status of the trunk or circuit contained in the time slot. To each group of 24 channels a framing bit was added so the system could distinguish each channel. So 24 time slots X 8 bits per slot + 1 frame bit = 193 bits/frame, and so it remains today. 1.544 Mb/s is the frame rate [8000/s] times the bits in a frame. For D1A and D1B banks signaling information was sent in every frame, the encoding of the voice signal was linear and used a Mu 100 coding scheme. This was enough for exchange service but was not good enough for toll grade service. Later systems were developed to provide toll grade service and to improve special service applications. Changes to the bit rate were not practical because of the embedded plant, something else had to be done. Some idiot :-) figured out that you did not have to send signaling information 8000 times a second, maybe every 6th frame was enough. Witness the birth of the 12 frame Super Frame [SF]. Now each channel used a non-linear encoding scheme [Mu 255] and 8 bit encoding was provided for 5 of every 6 frames. In the 6th [signaling] frame the least significant bit was robbed to provide on hook off hook information. In frame 6 the A signaling bit information is sent, in frame 12 the B bit. This system can be referred to as 7 and 5/6ths encoding. Digital Data [Dataport] was never a big item in the network of the 60s' and early 70s'. Because of bit robbing, digital service only has access to 7 bits [56kb/s] per time slot per frame. That does not mean that the 8th bit is wasted, it is used for network control. In fact for subrate digital data only 6 bits are available. Anyway without clear channel no bit rate higher than 56 kb/s are allowed over the network. [this does not include secondary channel capabilities] To provide clear channel, several changes had/have to be made. All maintenance signals have to be performed out of band. No loopback or yellow alarm codes are allowed in the bit stream. The customer has total control over all 8 bits. For this to be allowed and still meet line code restrictions, several new zero code suppression schemes have been developed. Bipolar 8 Zero Substitution [B8ZS] inserts a unique code for every consecutive 8 zeros detected. Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange [ZBTSI] uses a data link to tell the far end that a BYTE of 8 zeros has been substituted for. What data link? The latest framing scheme uses a 24 frame Extended Super Frame [ESF] to derive, framing, signaling, CRC6, and a data link, So now we have signaling in frame 6=A, 12=B, 18=C, and 24=D. The 4 kb/s data link also contains yellow alarm information, and is capable of other maintenance functions. The CRC6 code is used for PATH performance monitoring. One thing to remember ESF does not mean clear channel you must have zero code suppression that may or may not require ESF. None of this comes cheap. B8ZS can not be used with many older multiplexers [M1C] and ZBTSI and ESF require new or additional equipment. D5 banks have provided B8ZS and ESF since 1984, D4 now provide both functions. ZBTSI requires a translator and ESF. The bottom line is that NOW the customer can use the full 64 kb/s capability of each and every channel. ISDN will be transported over the network using clear channel capabilities that have been installed. ------------------------------ From: goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 1 Nov 89 14:46:33 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Littleton MA USA In article , gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) writes... >goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com wrote (others said similar things): >> You get 64 kbps per >> second. It's "raw bits" (oat hulls, wheat chaff...) and no more. >> It's isochronous (sync) so you need to have some framing technique. >> It is NOT byte oriented at this point! >I beg to differ. First, the rate is 64000 bits per second; "64kbps" >implies 65536 bits per second (at least to me!). My mistake was saying "kbps per second", which is redundant. But a lower case k means "1000" and an upper case K means "1024" in the Byte Magazine Style Sheet (or did when I was there in 1975). The telco world is not based on 1024s anyway. It is always called 64 kbps meaning 64000 bps. Wires aren't chips. >Second, the frame >sent between the on-premises ISDN interface and the terminals (phones) >contains its own framing, and individual BYTES of data for the two D >channels are contained in the frame. The AMD speakerphone chip >provides byte oriented access to all ISDN B-channels and routes >*bytes* among the different interfaces (audio in, audio out, two >B-channels, microprocessor port, and serial interfaces). The Layer 1 framing allows you to recognize bytes or bits. The HDLC protocols are bit oriented and don't align with layer 1 bytes, yet the D channel is HDLC (LAPD) and the B channel is often HDLC. Even async terminal adaptation using V.120 is HDLC bit-stuffed. Many ISDN chips include HDLC processing too. But you retain the option of taking eight bits at a time and, as is done with HDLC, ignoring any implicit byte alignment. >But we don't even have to refer to the standards; we have brains. If >you are sending raw audio data over this link, the network had better >retain byte synchronization, or the 8-bit audio samples would quickly >garble into unintelligibility (7 chances out of 8 to get the wrong >byte sync, unless the network maintains it for you). Yes, if you're doing audio, you retain the byte synchronization. That doesn't mean you have to for data, but it's there. What's your beef? ISDN lets you have it your way, and even McDonalds uses it. >> Two standards exist... And you can of course create >> your own if you want, since it's end-to-end. >This begs the question of interoperability, which was my whole point. >If I "create my own" IP-over-ISDN standard, and you implement it >another way, we can't talk to each other even though we can dial each >others' computers. In context of IP, what else is new? IP never specifies a single subnetwork. You want X.25? LAPB? SLIP, gag, cough? ISDN doesn't care, it is a subnetwork or a physical layer but no more. >(There *is* this problem with the idiots who designed the AT&T T1 >relays not putting in enough frame sync, so they had to steal the >bottom bit of one 8-bit subchannel as frame sync -- leading to "56K" >(8000 7-bit samples) rather than "64K" (8000 8-bit samples) service. They made that mistake in 1959, but it was a doozie. >But I read that they have a plan in place to upgrade those bogus >relays -- and meanwhile, they could just software-route the real 8-bit >ISDN traffic through one of the subchannels that doesn't get its low >order bit munged by the relays. Technical corrections welcomed.) There are two ways to solve the restriction (one's density and consecutive 0's, both met by 7/8 coding or inverted HDLC). One is called ZBTSI (zero byte time slot inversion) which is a weird and complex hack that runs over Extended Superframe T1s and is implemented edge-to-edge. The other, preferred one (in the network) is B8ZS (bipolar 8 zero substitution) which substitutes a specific bipolar violation pattern for a string of 8 0's on the T1. New transmission equipment uses B8ZS but there's some old T1 around, so if you have no alternative route you'll be unable to make a "64k clear" call, but may be able to make a "64k restricted" call. That's only in America; Europeans always had a bit transparent equivalent of T1 (E1). fred ------------------------------ From: Dave Fiske Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Date: 1 Nov 89 19:29:17 GMT Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY In article , yoram@link.cs.columbia. edu (Yoram Eisenstadter) writes: > An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual > 976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. For the price of > listening to a brief ad at the beginning of the message, you can get > both the time and weather for the cost of a normal local call. I > called several times, and got an alternating sequence of two ads: one > giving an 800 number for a travel agency, and the other giving the > number to call to place an ad on this service (the number is in area > code 404, i.e., the Atlanta area). > For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: > 212-753-TIME (753-8463). I can't speak for NYC, but this was the way Time/Temperature information was handled in Conn. prior to the big divestiture. As part of divestiture, the BOCs were forbidden to run Dial-It services, right? In the old days (old meaning the '60s and '70s), you looked in the white pages under Time or Temperature or Weather, and you dialed the number and you heard either a message reminding you to use the Yellow Pages for your shopping, or an ad for a local bank or someplace who had sponsored the service. Then you heard the time and/or temperature. (Naturally, it would make no sense to have the ad at the end!) So, anyway, now we've come full circle. Actually a new phenomenon has appeared: TV and radio stations offering recorded weather information. These are handy, except for the fact that nobody cares what the weather is going to be, unless they expect nasty weather, in which case the numbers are always busy. "MAN CHOKES TO DEATH -- Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) ON A SNAKE!" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef ------------------------------ Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: 1 Nov 89 14:30:40 EST (Wed) From: "John R. Levine" In article you write: >[In New York City] ... for the price of listening to a brief ad at the >beginning of the message, you can get both the time and weather for the cost >of a normal local call. ... Not a bad deal, considering that the last time I called the 976 weather number in New York, I got an ad as well. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID Boxes Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 18:29:50 EST From: phantom The Calling Line ID display unit advertised in the 'Hello Direct' catalog is made by none other than AT&T, The Right Choice (TM). I wonder if the $99 price tag is comparable to the San/Bar unit mentioned in Tad Cook's article. Perhaps some particulars or pointers to San/Bar would help? Thanx. Bote going away soon: uunet!cyclops!csense!bote changing soon: {zardoz|uunet!tgate|cos!}ka3ovk!media!cyclops!csense!bote to this: ...!media!csense!bote ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 2 Nov 89 03:01:50 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: > Does Caller ID provide the calling number or the billing number? > Seems to me that it probably provides the billing number, since that's > what ANI is already set up to collect. Besides, for calls originating > from a PBX the PBX never identifies the originating extension anyway. > Just another reason why Caller ID is misnamed. In NJ Bell's service area, Caller*ID provides the originating number, not the billing number. This is true if the originating number is unlisted. It is true if the originating number is one that is originate-only. It it true if the originating number is an outgoing PBX trunk, or a centrex station. It's also true if the originating number is an ADAD or other telemarketing machine. I don't know which (if any) PBXs make use of it, but AIOD (automatically idendified outward dialing) is available as a tariffed service from NJ Bell. If your PBX uses AIOD, then the billing number includes your PBX extension number. I don't know what Caller*ID does if AIOD is in use. (If anyone in NJ who is behind an AIOD-equipped PBX would like to experiment, give me a call at 201-647-0900 and I'll tell you what my Caller*ID display says.) Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #485 *****************************   Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 4:49:12 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #486 Message-ID: <8911020449.aa04281@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Nov 89 04:45:24 CST Volume 9 : Issue 486 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Nynex and Speech Recognition (Dave Fiske) Automating Speed Selection in Kermit (Terence J. McKiernan) Touch-tone Fee (Kim Ciula) Local Inter-NPA Calls and Number Conservation (Phantom) AT&T's ACUS Service (Bill Fenner) Emergency Communication Service Denial (David Bank via Mark Robert Smith) NTT Challenges Hackers (markw@gvl.unisys.com) Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer (Bennett Broder) PABX Communications With Local Telco (Mike Bunnell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dave Fiske Subject: Nynex and Speech Recognition Date: 31 Oct 89 14:25:34 GMT Organization: BRS Info Technologies, Latham NY This is from the New Technologies section of the 4th quarter issue of Voice Processing magazine: Nynex Corp. will use speech recognition software to replace live operator assistance on certain calls to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, according to Network World. With speech recognition, the system will intercept calls made to disconnected or changed telephone numbers in areas served by electromechanical switches and will ask callers to speak the number they dialed, one digit at a time. Other applications will include setting up conference calls and call forwarding and adding recognition capabilities to software packages Nynex sells to end users, such as automated telemarketing and call-handling centers. And the great part is: machines don't need health insurance! "ANGRY WOMEN BEAT UP SHOE SALESMAN Dave Fiske (davef@brspyr1.BRS.COM) WHO POSED AS GYNECOLOGIST" Home: David_A_Fiske@cup.portal.com Headline from Weekly World News CIS: 75415,163 GEnie: davef ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 08:17:46 PST From: "Terence J. McKiernan" Subject: Automating Speed Selection in Kermit Help! Can someone out there in netland help me with a Kermit problem? I am using Kermit 2.32/A on an IBM PC, connected through COM1 to a Bytcom 24/12ADH 2400/1200 baud Hayes-compatible modem. I am trying to implement speed selection in a Kermit script. The modems I call are a mixture of 2400 and 1200 baud. The 2400 baud modems are connected to a Sun 3/280 running 4.3 BSD UNIX. Its ttys & gettytab are set up so that the ports connected to the 2400 baud modems initially pick up at 1200. They are speed selectable by sending a break; successive breaks rotate the ports through speeds of 2400, 300, and back to 1200. The problem: I can manually speed select, i.e. if I call one of these modems at 2400 baud by using the Kermit "connect" command and entering "atdt number", I can get the Sun to go up to 2400 by pressing Ctrl-Break. Alternately, I can assign a key to send Ctrl-Break with the Kermit SET KEY command. For example, SET KEY \315 \KBreak allows be to send breaks using F1. This works fine. However, I want to be able to automate this process. I wrote a bit of Kermit script: output at dt (number) \13 input 20 CONNECT :loop output \Kbreak input 5 login if success goto done goto loop :done echo This thing finally worked! Unfortunately, it never reaches the "done" part -- the breaks sent by the script don't seem to be the same as those sent through the keyboard, even with SET KEY. Using the long break \Klbreak has similarly disappointing results. However, even if I interrupt this script in the middle, connect, and send the breaks by hand, it suddenly works, and I get the login prompt. I have run the above script with SET INPUT ECHO ON and all I see coming through is garbage like "xf''f''''", a sure indicator of a baud problem. I have written a modem-testing program in Kermit script that connects and logs in at 1200 baud on these same modems, so they're recognizing something Kermit sends. So.... Does anyone know what's wrong? Are the \Kbreaks somehow different in a script? Any suggestions? Please reply by e-mail; I will post a summary and send results and my modem tester to anyone who wants it. Thanks! Terry McKiernan terry@math.ucla.edu ------------------------------ From: Kim Ciula Subject: Touch-tone Fee Date: 31 Oct 89 19:45:11 GMT Reply-To: Kim Ciula Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Computer & Information Science Monday I called Ohio Bell to ask them to remove touch-tone service on my phone and was told I'd have to pay a $9.30 service fee to do so! Is this common? What is involved in removing touch-tone service from a line? (Not much, I expect...) Kim Ciula ..and on Wall St., the Tao is unchanged in moderate trading... ------------------------------ Subject: Local Inter-NPA Calls and Number Conservation Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 17:19:57 EST From: phantom I have been reading articles from others around the U.S. describing the various schemes used to split Number Plan Areas. Am I going video-blind or are they really serious about local calls to a new NPA using 11 digits?? 1+ dialing??? WHY?! I help operate a ham repeater in the Washington D.C. area, and we are thanking our lucky stars that we didn't get shafted with this inconsistent scheme. We now restrict toll calls on our repeater simply on the presence of a leading '1' or '0'. That's it. The scheme D.C. is going to will preserve this sensible arrangement. With the '1+' scheme for some local calls, we would be forced to maintain a list of exchanges, both existing ones and new ones as they come on line (sometimes on a weekly basis it seems!), which is simply impracticable for a volunteer group. This doesn't even consider the PBX maintainers who are strapped with unnecessary reprogramming burdens from this brain-damaged scheme. Nor does it take into account the additional routing burden on the BOCs for intra/inter-LATA routing or local/LD routing. I find that mapping all '1+' calls to toll and all others to local facilities makes sense; perhaps too much sense to be implemented, huh? My 2 cents, plus 25 cents for each additional minute. Bote going away soon: uunet!cyclops!csense!bote changing soon: {zardoz|uunet!tgate|cos!}ka3ovk!media!cyclops!csense!bote to this: ...!media!csense!bote ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 11:48:49 EST From: Bill Fenner Subject: AT&T's ACUS Service AT&T announced a new service at Penn State's University Park campus this fall, called ACUS long-distance service. With this service, each student gets their own PSC (Personal Security Code). The PSC identifies the student, no matter which room he is calling from. Each student gets their own bill, with only their calls on it. No more roommates squabbling over who made what calls! Finally, I think, the nightmare is over. Hardly. You get a generous $150 credit limit. If you exceed your limit, your account is immediately suspended, pending (partial) payment. You also get a service charge if you don't pay your bill right away. So I get this bill, for $3.01, right? If I don't pay it right away, it says, I'll get charged an extra 25 cents for the finance charge, plus the long-distance service will be *immediately disconnected.* For $3.01! Thanks, AT&T, I love ya. Fortunately, 10xxx works (10288 gets you a normal AT&T line, without the ACUS on it, and everything else works as usual.) I was able to get the standard Sprint, MCI, ITT and Telesphere recordings from 700-555-4141. I didn't try any others (didn't have my handy dandy TELECOM Digest list o' numbers around)... Anyway, I've been trying to spread the wisdom of the 10xxx around... I've been suggesting that one roommate uses AT&T, the other use Sprint, or some combination thereof... that way, one roommate can pay one LDco bill, the other can pay the other. Unfortunately, not very many people know about the 10xxx yet... (I've been thinking of putting up posters and holding a seminar on the evils of ACUS :-) Are there any other students out there who have ACUS service on their dorm lines? Does 10xxx work? Any horror stories to share? Bill Fenner wcf@hcx.psu.edu ..!psuvax1!psuhcx!wcf sysop@hogbbs.fidonet.org (1:129/87 - 814/238-9633) ..!lll-winken!/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 12:20:53 EST From: Mark Robert Smith Subject: Emergency Communication Service Denial [Moderator's Note: The following was noted in the group indicated, and Mr. Smith kindly sent it along to the Digest. PT] >From: unkydave@shumv1.uucp (David Bank) >Newsgroups: misc.emerg-services >Subject: Emergency Communication Service Denial >Message-ID: <4378@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> >Date: 1 Nov 89 06:05:49 GMT >Reply-To: unkydave@shumv1.ncsu.edu (David Bank) >Organization: NCSU Computing Center I was recently driving to work on I-40 when I encountered a knot of cars and trucks on an overpass. As the grouping cleared, I noticed a gray American sedan on the shoulder, shoved up against the guard rail. I went past, pulled over on the shoulder, put on my hazards, and went on investigate. Out of this car comes this 25+ish woman. She says a tractor-trailer ran her off the road and into the guard rail. She was a bit shaken, bit otherwise OK. He car sustained body damage only. The rig driver had simply driven right on down I-40 and never stopped. At her request, I went to summon the State Highway Patrol. I knew of some pay phones about 2 miles down the road, so I hopped into my car and headed there. When I got to them, I pressed "0" to get the operator. A middle-aged woman answered "GTE" and I responded "Please connect me with the State Highway Patrol, I need to report a traffic accident" Now the fun starts. She says "Please deposit a quarter" Yes, that's right. I'm trying to make an admittedly not serious emergency call and she's asking me to deposit a quarter. When I say "Why? This is an emergency call!" she simply says "Yes, please deposit a quarter" Now on the front of this phone is a GTE label. Also, it says "Free Calls: Emergency (Dial "0") - 911 is not available in RTP. I mention this to her and she says "I haven't been instructed to do that" and then hangs up on me. I was struck speechless. I pressed "0" again and said to the operator, when she answered, "Your supervisor......PLEASE" When that worthy came on the line, I explained what had just happened. She apologized profusely and said "Hold on a minute, we'll connect you" FIVE minutes later, I finally heard "Emergency" from a State HP dispatcher. In summary, I sure am glad there was no one seriously injured back at that accident scene. I'd hate to think of some poor slob bleeding to death or dying of internal injuries as GTE played musical policies on emergency calls and took 5 minutes to contact the bloody State HP. Have they ever heard of liability???? Jesus Christ, what kind of idiots do these people hire for them to request payment for an emergency call. Granted, in this situation, there was no pressing need for police response. It was quite a routine accident. But at NO time should a citizen be required to pay to contact a police or other emergency service dispatcher! That first operator, wherever she is, needs a firing to set her straight on that. As well as her supervisor, who can't seem to train those under her in the proper way to handle emergency calls. Unky Dave unkydave@shumv1.ncsu.edu ------------------------------ From: markw@gvl.unisys.com Subject: NTT Challenges Hackers Date: 1 Nov 89 21:59:29 GMT Reply-To: markw@gvl.unisys.com Organization: Unisys Defense Systems, Great Valley Labs, Paoli, Pa [A copy of the following article appeared on one of our bulletin boards here at work. I have no idea when or where it was originally published - MHW] NTT: Calling All Hackers Tokyo - Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. has issued a provocative challenge: the Japanese communications giant will give 1 million yen ($6803) to any computer hacker anywhere in the world who can break its FEAL-8 data communications security code by August 1991. Why the unusual move? The company wants to debunk a rumor circulationg in Europe that its security code has been cracked. The FEAL-8 code, developed by NTT in 1986, is widely used in Japan and overseas to protect datacom systems and integrated circuit cards from illegal access. ------------------------------ From: Bennett Broder Subject: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer Date: 1 Nov 89 20:11:27 GMT Organization: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, N.J. 07764 Most modern answering machines will get off the line when you pick up the handset of a phone connected to them. Some will even do this for any extention on the line. Unfortunately, my older Panasonic answering machine (circa 1985) just keeps on talking and recording. I understand that it is relatively simple to build an outboard device to perform this functionality. The 'DAK' catalogue has one listed called the 'phone slasher' selling for $9.90 + $2.00 shipping and handling. This looks like a nice device, with led indicators to show (I presume) which device is active. But, being a hobbiest by nature, I would like to build one myself. Does anyone have such as circuit that they have (successfully) built? Bennett Broder Monmouth College ..princeton!moncol!ben Computer Services ..rutgers!petsd!moncol!ben W. Long Branch, NJ 07764 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 20:56 EDT From: Nutsy Fagen Subject: PABX Communications With Local Telco In a relatively simple manner, could someone explain how a local telco communicates with a PABX in terms of incoming/outgoing phone numbers? I realize there usually isn't one discrete wire for every extension available on the PABX. I've also noticed, when using a calling card from my dorm room, that one of two numbers will appear for the origin. Does this mean anything spectacular (one 'number' can only run so many lines, or maybe we have several separate services entrances, for backup)? I'd also heard that our ATT System 85 was capable of communicating with Rochester Tel regarding what phone number was being called FROM, but it was not implemented. (I know that all calls from campus to 911 show up as the same source and address) Thanks in advance for any answers. Mike Bunnell mjb8949 @ RITVAX ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #486 *****************************   Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 5:36:45 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #487 Message-ID: <8911020536.aa04154@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 2 Nov 89 05:35:07 CST Volume 9 : Issue 487 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Centrex Strikes Again (Macy Hallock) Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Edward Greenberg) Re: 100th Anniversary of Coin Phones (David Lesher) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Phantom) Re: Strange Phone Call (Louis J. Judice) Re: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 (Edward S. Sachs) Re: What is SONET? (John Clarke) Terminal Emulator Packages - Which is Best? (Gary Nome) 'Pulse' Dialing (Mike Bunnell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: fmsystm!macy@hal.gatech.edu Subject: Re: Centrex Strikes Again Date: 31 Oct 89 13:59:14 GMT Reply-To: macy@fmsystm.UUCP (Macy Hallock) Organization: F M Systems Medina, Ohio USA In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 474, message 4 of 11 >So while those people with those "unreliable" on-site PBXs were having >difficulty making outside calls, those with "the most reliable phone >system in the world" (Pac*Bell advertising hype) couldn't so much as >talk to their secretaries at the front desk. >There was another major Pac*Bell embarassment: The Bush-Pine office >(SF's main downtown CO). It seems that no one bothered to test the >fancy turbine standby generators under load. They regularly powered >them up, but just let them spin. Under load following the earthquake, >they broke down. The CO ran on its batteries until they went dead, That is odd. In my telco days, we tested the CO standby generators weekly without load and monthly with a load. We would pull the main breakers to the power room and do a "cold startup". At my suggestion, the CO's I worked on had the generators started up, and then were loaded when they were warmed up (after two-three minutes) on all "warm" tests. The reason all tests were not done "cold" was explained to me as related to excessive wear on the engines occured on "cold" startups. At another CO I worked at (in an urban area), the decision was made to add gas-turbine generator because the diesels were overloaded, and there was no more space in the basement to put in more diesels generators. The turbines generated very little vibration, and could be mounted on the roof, while the diesels had to have a special, isolated foundation poured due to the noise and vibration. I always wanted to like the turbines, they seemed more space-age. Practical experience was different. The turbines did not like to take a load "cold", they had to have timing controls to allow them to start, get up to speed and a bit warm before being loaded. And did they ever use fuel! Mechanical repair was more frequent and more complex. I guess they did what they were supposed to, but the diesels had my confidence. >[Moderator's Note: Well, it is not like an earthquake happens every >day or a central office is overloaded for several days running as a >routine thing. Everything has disadvantages. *In general*, my belief >is that centrex is superior to PBX almost anytime. I've also seen >PBX's break down and disrupt communications in a company for an entire >day or two pending repairs. Those people were angry they did not have >centrex. {Soap box mode on} Well, I'm not sure I can agree... In Ohio, at least, Centrex is more expensive, has less features, allows less flexibility and reliquishes control of your communcations to an outside agency that often has revenue "enhancement" instead of customer service on its mind. In GTE CO's reliability is much poorer than Bell CO's, as well. We've also run into several situations where the customers's special services (WATS,FX's,Tie trunks) were not correctly installed into Centrex systems as well. In one instance, we found a customer was paying for 12 CCSA trunks into his centrex, but we could only put up nine outgoing CCSA call at 3:00 AM (office was closed, too). Bell called it a paperwork error from six years ago! The customer never knew, 'cause he had no trunk lights on his console, and no on site tech could tell him (or test for it easily). He had reported "too many busy's on dial 8" to the telco several times. The Corporate Communications Dept. back at headquarters relied on the telco for info. Mind you, though I've worked on both sides of the fence, I am most likely prejudiced. My company sells telephone systems, and we spend a great deal of time fighting the Telephone Co's attitiude (we know telephones and you don't) and bureauracracy. Centrex, IMHO, just gives them more control and revenue, with little added responisbility (just read the tarriffs). Most of the organizations I run into that have Centrex are those that do not want to know anything about communcations and the managers are "CYA"ing. Most of these same organizations would never do the same thing with their data proccessing. >You really just have to make an informed choice and go with >it. PT] Actually, that's the greatest truth of all. Getting that information to make the choice is the tough part...and it seems as though too many people still do not want to take responsibility for the very thing they often call the "lifeblood" of their organization. Centrex is too often an excuse or cop-out rather than an informed decision, IMHO. And the Telco's do their best to promote this kind of thinking. Shades of 1967! Centrex does have a place, and will always have applications it does better, but it is only a part of the many choices available today with modern telecommunications. {End Soap Box mode} Macy Hallock 150 Highland Dr. macy@NCoast.ORG F M Systems Inc. Medina, OH 44256 {uunet|backbone}!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!macy +1 216 723-3000 Fax +1 216 723-3223 uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy ------------------------------ From: Edward Greenberg Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Date: 31 Oct 89 18:06:33 GMT Reply-To: Edward Greenberg Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} In article dan@sics.se (Dan Sahlin) writes: >in the US the operator is reached by "0" and international calls start >with "011". How is that possible? In the US, calls to "0" don't immediately cut to the operator, but the central office waits for additional digits, then decides what to do. If you dial 011 + country code + number, it sends the call to international direct dialing with whatever long distance company you're presubscribed to. When you dial 0 + area code + number, it sends the call to either a machine or and operator, who gets your billing, then puts up the call. Only by dialing operator and waiting for a timeout (or sometimes dialing 0#) do you get an operator by her (him) self. Note that to make a credit card or third party billed overseas call, US customers dial 01 + country_code + number. It's a complex decision tree, and it's a wonder that people understand it at all. -edg Ed Greenberg uunet!apple!netcom!edg ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Re: 100th Anniversary of Coin Phones Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 21:47:10 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher PT: Why not share your ex-employee knowledge re: the coin collection department? In Cleveland, the "nickle-snatchers" drove special "nickle-wagons" around and brought all the (full) boxes back to the "nickle works", a highly secret location :-} next door to the area's largest surplus electronics store. I was never inside, but friends who were said it made the Federal Reserve Bank look like swiss cheese. The nickle wagon, sagging under the weight, drove into the 'airlock'. The outer door closed, then the inner door opened. It continued inside. Then someone unlocked the special racks full of locked coin boxes, and rolled them into a room full of women (no sexism here, just the facts) wearing special smocks with no pockets. A camera in the ceiling watched while they open, counted, sorted and bagged the money. Brinks was a regular visitor. Emptied boxes were reset, and sent over to section that stacked the racks full of empty boxes, for the next day's runs. And you wondered why that call cost a quarter;-} No wonder they want you to use your calling card. A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 17:34:42 EST From: phantom Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count VLB/VMB writes: >"You" write: >> 202 and 301 will have more room now that they must dial a 1 to other >> DC area codes. >This wording is confusing. The upshot of earlier notes in & out of >Telecom is that Md. & Va. suburbs are being removed from area code >202; therefore, 202 will have more room. Of course, if NNXs are removed from 202 giving it more space, the converse must be true for both 703 and 301. Since those NNXs previous verboten in those two because they formerly were in use in D.C. will be available soon, 703 and 301 will be able to use them in suburbs like Silver Spring, Tyson's Corner, and other bustling officeburbs. >Local calls in the DC area will require 10 digits >if crossing area code boundary (no leading 1, which is required on >toll calls from there), thus permitting some current 11-digit local & >extended area calls in the DC area to reduce to 7 digits later. There is no case in the Washington Metropolitan calling area in which a call of 11 digits ('1+') is local or toll-free. If you pick the phone up and dial a seven digit TN it will cost you the local rate, whatever your service plan is. If you dial 11 digits it will cost you whatever your carrier of choice charges you for toll calls. Simple, for now. My father can't understand why he has to put 1+301 in front of a number which is a toll call to Gaithersburg now. I can't wait to hear him hit the ceiling when he has to add NPA to make a local call across the creek to his brothers! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 07:06:40 -0800 From: "Louis J. Judice 01-Nov-1989 0959" Subject: Re: Strange Phone Call The voice asking you to "please hold", "unable to connect you", etc. sounds like the auto-notification option of a voicemail system like ASPEN. When a message is received in your "in" box, you can establish a list of phone numbers where ASPEN will call you to notify you that you've received voicemail. When ASPEN does this, it opens with a very generic message, assuming that a switchboard operator or receptionist may answer the call, and possibly not know who in the world YOU are... "Stand by... Stand by... Stand by... this is an automated message handling system, with a message for < your name prerecorded > If is available to receive a message, press 1. etc..." It's a pretty strange message, and very few people around here even know about this. Lou Judice Digital Equipment Corp. Piscataway, NJ ------------------------------ From: Edward S Sachs Subject: Re: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 Date: 1 Nov 89 15:45:06 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article , telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: > When those people ordered phone service in the past, apparently they > said their address was 4xxx North Harlem in *Chicago*, or 4xxx North > Harlem in *Harwood Heights* when in fact it was the opposite > community! In a similar vein, I recall an article in the newspaper (I believe that it was the Chicago Tribune) some time back which reported that businesses were paying sales taxes to the wrong municipalities, for similar reasons (not just Chicago/Suburb, but also Suburb/Suburb). Ed Sachs AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL att!ihlpb!essachs, e.s.sachs@att.com ------------------------------ From: Stripper Subject: Re: What is SONET? Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 19:05:30 EST Someone (I lost the original message) asked "Northern Telecom talked about SONET. What is SONET? Well, allow me to quote directly from the NT press release: The new products are compatible with international Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) standards for high-speed transmission of information on fiber optic networks. SONET standards were designed to exploit the virtually unlimited bandwidth of end-to-end fiber optics transmission and assure industry-wide compatibility of transmission equipment throughout the network This was all part of NT's announcement of FIBERWORLD, a set of products that are completely fiber dependent, which include access, transport and switching products. John Clarke McMaster U. Hamilton, Canada Disclaimer : I have no relation to NT, and am only a student. Of course, if NT sees this, and wants to hire an up and coming young engineer ... :-) ------------------------------ From: Gary Subject: Terminal Emulator Packages - Which is Best? Date: 31 Oct 89 18:05:10 GMT I am in the process of evaluating different terminal emulator packages in order to adopt one as a standard within the company. What I'd like to know is - Which package are you using? What rev-level is it? What do you like about it? Where can it be found? Thanks! Gary gnome@oliven.atc.olivetti.com (hplabs,ames,sun,pyramid)oliveb!oliven!gnome ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 21:08 EDT From: Nutsy Fagen Subject: 'Pulse' Dialing During pulse dialing, what exactly happens to the line? I've been led to believe that each pulse is actually shorting out the phone line, which then registers at the switch. If so, doesn't this cause an excessive amount of wear and tear on the equipment? Along the same lines, is it probable that pulse dialing will be dropped by any telcos BEFORE actually switching over to full digital. And while I'm at it, is there a rough timeline for having a completely digital telephone network, including residential telephones? Thanks. Mike Bunnell MJB8949 @ ritvax ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #487 *****************************   Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 0:00:28 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #488 Message-ID: <8911030000.aa17075@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Nov 89 00:00:05 CST Volume 9 : Issue 488 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Charging Teleco For Your Time (Mike Morris) Re: Charging Teleco For Your Time (Jim Gottlieb) Re: Caller ID Question (Mark Robert Smith) Re: Caller ID Question (David Lewis) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Scot E Wilcoxon) Re: Caller ID Boxes (Dave Levenson) Re: Caller ID for Pagers (Phantom) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Dr. T. Andrews) Re: Time to "Disconnection" (Dave Levenson) Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count (Carl Moore) Re: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon (Bob Clements) Recent Overview ISDN Cite Needed (Dr. Bruce C. Klopfenstein) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Morris Subject: Re: Charging Teleco For Your Time Date: 1 Nov 89 07:43:20 GMT Reply-To: Mike Morris K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk writes: >In v9i478 David Lesher said: >-> ... they would check it for a $40.00 visit >-> charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit >-> turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the >-> tariffs forbit me from charging them, ... >Over here someone took British Telecom to the courts to recover "lost >earnings". BT had given the subscriber two separate occassions on which >their engineer would turn up to fix a problem, but the engineer failed to >show. As the subscriber had stayed off work on both occassions the court >awarded him 100 pounds, which was all he applied for as he just wanted to >make the point. Since then BT have been offerring bill credits if your >phone is not repaired within 2 working days or the engineer fails to turn >up. The current credit is 5 pounds, against a quarterly rental of 15 >pounds. >I think all utilities have taken note of the court's judgement as it set a >precedent over here. A friend who runs a small business has 4 lines as a 3-line hunt group plus one line. A while back she lost the last hunting line and the isolated line for 3 days. I suggested that she call Pacific Telephone and ask for credit, as PT could verify that she had reported the outage to 611 the same day. PT quite readily granted her a credit of 1/30 of the monthly charge per line per day (it was a 30-day month). While she didn't ask, she told me that the service representative reacted to her request as if it was standard procedure. In reference to the above item from the UK, I wonder if anybody in the US has taken the telco to small claims court. And what would the telco do about the no-attorneys rule? Mike Morris Internet: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov Misslenet: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard Bellnet: 818-447-7052 #Include disclaimer.standard Radionet: WA6ILQ ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subt(ject: Re: Charging Teleco For Your Time Date: 2 Nov 89 08:56:12 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan >In v9i478 David Lesher said: >-> ... they would check it for a $40.00 visit >-> charge. I countered with a $40.00 charge for MY time if their visit >-> turned up zilch. They announced again there was no problem, said the >-> tariffs forbit me from charging them, ... When I was in the interconnect business (back until 1984), there were cases when Pacific Bell was having trouble tracking down a problem and asked for our help. We would bill them for our time in such cases, and they would pay. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424 ------------------------------ From: Mark Robert Smith Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 2 Nov 89 17:07:18 GMT Organization: Rutgers - The Police State of New Jersey I get a lot of calls from what I believe is a Centrex system in my area code (in NJ), and I get varying results for Caller ID. Most of the time, I get ??? (no ANI available), but a few times I have gotten the extension's direct number, and once I got the "main number", which is a different exchange from the extension direct numbers. Mark Smith, KNJ2LH All Rights Reserved RPO 1604 You may redistribute this article only if those who P.O. Box 5063 receive it may do so freely. New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063 msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Caller ID Question Date: 2 Nov 89 18:13:15 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: > Does Caller ID provide the calling number or the billing number? > Seems to me that it probably provides the billing number, since that's > what ANI is already set up to collect. Besides, for calls originating > from a PBX the PBX never identifies the originating extension anyway. > Just another reason why Caller ID is misnamed. Caller ID, and all the other CLASS (SM) feature package, use the calling number, not the billing number. ANI is, indeed, set up to collect the billing number. The billing number is sent by an Equal Access End Office (EAEO), via Equal Access Multifrequency (EAMF) signaling, to an Access Tandem (AT). The AT sends the billing number -- ANI -- to the interexchange carrier, either via MF signaling or via Common Channel Signaling (CCS). ANI is available just about everywhere, because the vast majority of end offices in the ex-Bell System have been converted to EAEOs. Caller ID and the other CLASS features don't use MF signaling; instead, they use CCS -- Signaling System #7, or SS7. SS7 has fields to transfer *both* the billing number and the calling party number. Therefore, CLASS features act on the calling party number, and the billing number can be delivered to the interexchange carrier. CLASS isn't available in a whole lot of places, because many end offices in the ex-Bell System haven't yet been upgraded to handle SS7. Unless the end office is SS7 connected, CLASS won't work. I don't know if any PBX offers a SS7 interface, or if any LEC offers SS7 connectivity to CPE. I also don't know how PBXs handle ANI delivery and such (CPE? CPE? We're not allowed to do CPE!). David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: Scot E Wilcoxon Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Date: 2 Nov 89 17:21:21 GMT Reply-To: Scot E Wilcoxon Organization: Data Progress, Minneapolis, MN Our moderator writes, in response to Roger B.A. Klorese, >Here in Chicago ... 911 is only to be used when *immediate* >intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, The purpose of 911 varies, the only common use is that it is an easily remembered and quickly dialed emergency number. Here in Minneapolis, any call which requires a police car is directed to 911 because it is answered by the police dispatchers. Citizens are encouraged to report suspicious activities to 911, as the dispatchers are aware of calls in progress and assign priorities. When most dispatchers are busy, calls do get answered with "911, is this an emergency?". Minneapolis does use Enhanced 911, with dispatch information routinely sent to radio-linked terminals in each police car. CLASS services are not available yet in this area (a council member was recently shown on TV getting yet another harrassing phone call, and she did not seem able to stop it :-). Scot E. Wilcoxon sewilco@DataPg.MN.ORG {amdahl|hpda}!bungia!datapg!sewilco Data Progress UNIX masts & rigging +1 612-825-2607 uunet!datapg!sewilco I'm just reversing entropy while waiting for the Big Crunch. ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller ID Boxes Date: 2 Nov 89 21:48:11 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , csense!root@uunet.uu. net (Phantom) writes: > The Calling Line ID display unit advertised in the 'Hello Direct' > catalog is made by none other than AT&T, The Right Choice (TM). Actually, the Caller*ID unit in 'Hello Direct' looks a whole lot like the one they sell over the counter at Sears in NJ for $79.00. This unit has the AT&T name and logo on it, but on the bottom, it says it is made by Colonial Data Technologies (of Connecticut) and that the AT&T name an logo are used under license from AT&T. (It also says it was made in Hong Kong.) Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Caller ID for Pagers Date: Tue, 31 Oct 89 18:18:33 EST From: Phantom Professor Miller asks whether anyone knows of a paging installation using Calling LINE ID to display the number called from for convenience. I submit that this is impractical since there are many occasions when the number to be called back should be completely different from the number called from. Nice idea, but not in many situations. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 7:19:02 EST From: "Dr. T. Andrews" Organization: CompuData, Inc. (DeLand) ) ... For the price of listening to a brief ad at the beginning of ) the message, ... both the time and weather ... a normal local call. I don't think that this is very unusual. Advert and then time is an Established Institution(tm) here in Florida. Banks and car dealers are the usual providers. They have made some advances, though. Those curious about the time in DeLand may call 904 734 7300; it sounds like the announcement of time and weather are both provided with voice insertion. Weather announcements won't replace looking out the window. ....!bikini.cis.ufl.edu!ki4pv!tanner ...!bpa!cdin-1!ki4pv!tanner or... {allegra attctc gatech!uflorida uunet!cdin-1}!ki4pv!tanner ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Time to "Disconnection" Date: 1 Nov 89 16:27:00 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , judice@kyoa.enet.dec. com (Louis J. Judice) writes: > I never realized this until it was demonstrated to me, but at least in > NJ on the Peapack Central Office, if you call person "A", person "A" > can hang up, and pick up their phone up to about 15 seconds later > without disconnecting "B". This is without any phone features, etc. This is generally true throughout NJ Bell territory. If the calling party goes on-hook, the call is disconnected (the called party is left high-and-dry for about 20 seconds, and is then given dial tone). But if the called party goes on hook, the call remains up for about 20 seconds. If the called party goes back off hook during this "grace period" the conversation may continue. I'm not sure this is _universally_ true. It is certainly not true where the called party is behind PBX, unless the PBX implements the same "grace period" feature. Some ACD equipment makes use of this feature. When a call is (finally) transferred from the "please hold on..." recording to a live agent, it is momentarily placed on-hook (usually for less than one second). If the call is still present, it is then connected to the live agent. If not, it is dropped, and the abandoned call counter is advanced. This saves considerable agent time, in cases where the CO does not send forward disconnection to the ACD in a timely manner. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 9:29:41 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Numerical List of NPA's and NXX Count Where is your father located? "toll call to Gaithersburg" would seem to indicate southern Prince George's County (Md.) or Virginia, assuming the DC area. Earlier notes in Telecom point out some 11-digit local calls which might be reduced to 7 digits later in the DC area: o from 621,261,858 etc. in Maryland to 569 at Severn, Md.; this is because 569-xxxx at those "from" points currently gets that prefix in Springfield, Va. o extended area calling from Va. suburbs to some Prince William (Va.) points; this is because the latter duplicates some DC and Md. suburban points. The other way around, it's already been reduced to 7 digits. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Anti-junk-call Laws in Oregon Date: Thu, 02 Nov 89 09:39:53 -0500 From: clements@bbn.com >[ henry@garp.mit.edu ] >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 484, message 8 of 10 >We have them here in MA also ... they don't do you any good if the >calls are placed from outside the state, though. If "them" means junk calls, yes, we have them. It "them" means anti-junk-call laws, well, not much. We have a law that says you can be added to a list which it is illegal to place AUTOMATIC calls to. No protection against the human slime. And, as Henry says, no protection against out-of-state slime. Bob Clements, K1BC, clements@bbn.com ------------------------------ From: Bruce Klopfenstein Subject: Recent ISDN Overview Cite Needed Date: 3 Nov 89 04:04:31 GMT Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh. I am updating my telecom files and am seeking a recent intro/ overview of ISDN and B-ISDN article from the periodical press. This is for an intro to new media technologies course I am teaching. Please email your replies, and thanks very much for your help! Dr. Bruce C. Klopfenstein | klopfens@andy.bgsu.edu Radio-TV-Film Department | klopfenstein@bgsuopie.bitnet Bowling Green $tate University | klopfens@bgsuvax.UUCP Bowling Green, OH 43403 | (419) 372-2138; 352-4818 | fax (419) 372-2300 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #488 *****************************   Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 0:46:00 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #489 Message-ID: <8911030046.aa11280@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Nov 89 00:45:24 CST Volume 9 : Issue 489 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (John Higdon) Re: California Junk Fax Bill (John Higdon) Re: Parsing Dialed Digits (Bob Goudreau) Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! (Donald L. Ritchey) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Charles Balan) Re: Strange Recording (Thomas E. Lowe) Re: Caller ID Device (Dave Hsu) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 2 Nov 89 17:42:11 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , c152-ft@cory.berkeley. edu (Steve Forrette) writes: > I have a rear-window capacitive-mount antenna for my cellular phone, > and the instructions that came with it stated that people should keep > all parts of themselves at least 6 inches from the antenna whenever > the phone was in use! I'm sure you're aware that this warning is undoubtedly required by some government agency (EPA?) and is not there because they have some experience with brain-frying of people in the back seat! Golly, no such warning came with my (client's) 40KW FM transmitter and its associated 5 bay antenna (100KW ERP), but you won't find me climbing the tower with the system energized. Somehow, even with the "warning" I'm not terribly afraid of the 3 watts coming from the cellular antenna. The FM antenna? That's another matter. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: California Junk Fax Bill Date: 2 Nov 89 17:58:05 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , mhw@wittsend.lbp.harris. com (Michael H. Warfield) writes: > If you wait until operations like Compuserve have a large vested > interest in preserving this annoyance, you'll play h*ll getting rid of > it. If you try taking away something that a bunch of "Mega-corps" > already abuse, they'll have you right in court protecting their right > to go on abusing it. It's always easier to prevent it in the first > place than it is to stop it once it's started. Not really. There are several problems with this whole thread. First, look at the Subject line. Even if every state in the Union passed a really "tough" fax bill, it would mean absolutely nothing. No state has any control over messages that originate in another state. You would end up with the same success that has been seen controlling junk phone solicitations (none, for those of you who have been asleep). So what we need to discuss is a *Federal* junk fax bill. With the number of laws on the books at the federal level, unless there is a damn compelling reason for its existence, I'm against it. Even if a bunch of "Mega-corps" start doing this (and, mind you, this is all still a "just suppose"--with people wanting to pass laws before any need is really demonstrated, the ultimate in prior restraint), if people hate it and refuse to respond or buy products pushed by junk fax, those perpetrating it will stop. No one is going to purposely alienate his audience. If, on the other hand, it works, then it may not be the big terror that people have supposed it to be. There are already enough laws in the country without people dreaming up "what-ifs" as justification to pass more of them. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 12:44:03 est From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Parsing Dialed Digits Reply-To: goudreau@rtp48.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC In article tanner@ki4pv.uucp (Dr. T. Andrews) writes: >)> How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three >)> digits as the country code ? >) It depends on the first two digits. >) If the first two digits are a valid country code, then you do not have >) to look at the third digit. >Sorry, this doesn't work. Some country codes (mainly for toy >countries) are special cases of others. Consider "countries" like the >Vatican (looks like a particular exchange in Rome Italy) or San >Marino. You have to examine rather a lot of digits to decide whether >the call is to Rome Italy or the Vatican. Apparently then, you consider both the USA and Canada (along with much of the Caribbean) to be "toy countries", since they are both special cases of the country code "1". In fact, by this logic, there is not just one country code for the US, but many: +1201, +1202, ..., +1919 (along with much, but not all, of +1809xxx for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands). The problem with the use of the term "country code" is that it misleadingly gives the impression that there is a one-to-one mapping between nations and international dialing codes, which is false. Remember, the original question was "How can I tell whether to take the next two or the next three digits as the country code?", not "How can I determine which political entity is the destination of this call?" The poster you quoted was therefore correct in his assertion that country codes are limited to a maximum of three digits. The allocation and distribution of numbers within a country code is a matter left to the authority (or authorities) within the code area itself, not to the authority that establishes country codes (named something like CCITT, I believe). Bob Goudreau +1 919 248 6231 Data General Corporation ...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!goudreau 62 Alexander Drive goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 16:47:42 CST From: Donald L Ritchey Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Re: (Message-ID: ): X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 484, message 3 of 10 > Our moderator writes, in response to Roger B.A. Klorese, [ deleted ] > Patrick, there is a very good explanation for this. > On a number of occasions, I have called the police to make a report of > some sort: drag racers at the Museum of Science & Industry keeping the > neighbors awake; a followup on at least one of the occasions our car > was stolen; a request for officers to take a report on the time I was > assaulted on the El platform (no longer urgent, since the incident was > over long before I arrived at work to make the call). I could think > of several other examples, but these are a start. > On *every* single occasion, I called the local police HQ -- and was > told to *CALL 911* to make the report. This is not only outrageous, > it's potentially life-threatening to those who are trying to get > through while I'm reciting the details of a minor crime. > I have complained repeatedly, especially to the police and, of course, > to my aldercreature. I have never, ever received any indication that > anybody gives a damn (the alderman's staff keep promising to call me > back), or that new guidelines (or legislation) will be introduced to > try to correct the problem. > [Moderator's Note: Unfortunatly, you are correct, at least here in Chicago. > I've gotten the same rap from Police HQ, however the supervisors in the > actual 911 dispatch area tell me I am correct and the brass upstairs is > wrong for pushing my call back to them. Its a case of some people not wanting > to do their job, and pushing it off on someone else. PT] Another explanation for this apparent discrepancy between the Bosses and the Workers is that the Bosses probably want the usage of 911 to be as high as possible. This would provide high usage figures for the administrative budget hearings (where everyone wants a larger slice of the pie) to justify increases in staff or for equipment upgrades. We are getting ready to go through an election out in Kane County over the Enhanced 911 (E911) issue, to justify a $0.50 per month line charge for each phone line in the county. I suspect that emergency services supervisors in city or county government need high usage peg counts to justify the need for the rather expensive equipment, services, and staff required to provide this service. Also, salary paid to supervisors in many of the these government agencies may depend upon the number of employees under said supervisor (a boss with 20 employees would like to add 10 or so more so that he/she can get promoted to the next step on the salary scale). This is a very powerful incentive for a headquarters official to tell you to use 911 when the Admin number would do as well. An additional reason for the request to use 911 (a little less sinister) is that if the call would involve the dispatch of a patrol car, then the 911 service bureau would provide a central place for monitoring the status of all dispatched patrol cars. A subversion of the 911 system, but it could be another case of the users (the police headquarters) of the system making it fit their needs, instead of using it as it was designed. #include Don Ritchey dritchey@cbnewsc.att.com (or in real life) dritchey@ihlpb.att.com AT&T Bell Labs IH 1D-409 Naperville, IL 60566 (312) 979-6179 ------------------------------ From: unccab@calico.med.unc.edu (Charles Balan) Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Date: 2 Nov 89 20:29:09 GMT Reply-To: unccab@uncmed.med.unc.edu (Charles Balan) Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine >In article yoram@link.cs.columbia. >edu (Yoram Eisenstadter) writes: >>An enterprising company has devised a cheap alternative to the usual >>976 numbers for time and weather in New York City. >>For those who are interested, the number for NYC Time an Weather is: >>212-753-TIME (753-8463). This is interesting. When I moved from Fla. area code (305) [It has since changed to some other] I was used to calling the time/temp line, but there was none here in the (919) Chapel Hill area. But about 2 years ago, some enterprising person decided to make a "free" number available, with advertising. It was very popular with students and it incorporates the weather forecast taken from *another* local number. I often want to know what the expected high or low is going to be and usually call when I am waking up in the a.m. to see what I need to wear that day. :-) But I have never heard that they used the expensive 976 numbers for this item. Incidentally, I never checked the time against the standard time. It is close enough for government work :-) BTW: the number is (919) 933-3333 easy to remember, eh? Charles Balan UNCCAB@med.unc.edu , UNCCAB@uncmed.uucp , UNCCAB@unc.bitnet %%%%% They're from Aliens.....I seen 'em! %%%%%%%%%%%% ------------------------------ From: Thomas E Lowe Subject: Re: Strange Recording Date: 2 Nov 89 13:28:42 GMT Reply-To: tel@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (thomas.e.lowe,ho,) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article MJK2660@ritvm.bitnet (Mike Koziol) writes: >Last night I received a call at work. It was a female computer >generated voice that said "Plese wait while I try to connect you". A ... >[Moderator's Note: I do think you got an automated junk-call and somehow >the telemarketing reps all got behind in their work ... American Express uses such a system to call their customers who are late in paying their bills. Every night, their mainframes generate lists of clients to call and download them to smaller systems. During the day, these smaller systems dial the customers numbers. As soon as an answer is detected, the customer information is displayed on the next available agent's screen and the customer is connected to that agent. If no agents are available, I would assume it plays some sort of announcement, but I don't think they have that problem too much. They spent big bucks in traffic engineering studies and programs to determine when to make calls and not to make calls. An interesting legal consideration is that once the phone is answered FOR ANY REASON, they must make their speach, and cannot call back for another 30 days (I think 30). This includes answering machines, kids, dogs, anything. (don't know about modems/faxes). It is a fascinating, non junk-call use of automated outbound telemarketing systems. I forget the numbers, but it do believe it has improved agent productivity more than a couple fold. Disclaimer: This is all what I have heard from unofficial sources outside of AT&T and as far as I know, none is proprietary. If any numbers or facts are wrong, please correct me. Tom Lowe tel@hound.ATT.COM or att!hound!tel 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!) ------------------------------ From: hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Reply-To: hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) Organization: Merriversity of Uniland, College Purgatory Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 20:26:17 GMT In article judice@kyoa.enet.dec.co (Louis J. Judice 26-Oct-1989 1007) writes: X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 474, message 10 of 11 >Hi Patrick - the Caller ID Display Device in the Hello Direct catalog is How do you get a Hello Direct catalog? Could somebody email me the relevant phone number? >Unfortunately, NJ Bell tells me that my C.O. (Peapack) is not >scheduled for CLASS Calling Services until JANUARY, 1991!!! >[Moderator's Note: A full year yet! That's a pity. Ours in Chicago- >Rogers Park is set for fourth quarter '89, but so far nothing >has been publicized. PT] Caller ID goes into operation in my area (Potomac, Maryland) starting Thursday, October 2. Local residential rate is $6.50 per month, no option to conceal your phone number planned. Dave Hsu UMd EE Computer Facility hsu@eng.umd.edu "When a man with a katana meets a man with a [GAU-8] Avenger, the man with the katana dies." - Samurai Cat [Moderator's Note: If it started October 2, I assume you have signed up? Can you give us any specifics of how it works in your application? Regards 'Hello Direct': 1-800-HI-HELLO should get you what you want. Please mention TELECOM Digest when calling. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #489 *****************************   Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 1:52:32 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #490 Message-ID: <8911030152.aa26937@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Nov 89 01:50:50 CST Volume 9 : Issue 490 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Three Press Clips: British TMA Convention ("Computing" via Kevin Hopkins) More Phone-card Phraud (Jim Gottlieb) NTT Baits Hackers (David Gast) CT-2 - A Low-cost Mobile Phone in the UK (Phil Herlihy) FAX Switch Box (David Dodell) Cryptic Abbreviations (Daniel, of Melbourne Australia) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: British TMA Convention (01/03). Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Thu, 02 Nov 89 18:41:47 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins It seems the Telecommunications Managers Association had a convention in Brighton, on the south coast of England, last week. As ever "Computing" was there to report on it and Kev is here to type it in for you. These three articles are reprinted without permission from the issue dated 2nd November 1989 and cover talks by all three "sides". My comments inside (). "SERVICE FAILS TO SATISFY USERS' NEEDS by Rupert Widdicombe User views on what constitutes good service are in stark contrast to those of British Telecom (BT) and Mercury, it emerged at last week's Telecommunications Managers Association (TMA) convention. The TMA, representing over 800 telecommunications professionals in UK and international companies, which account for a significant proportion of BT and Mercury's national revenues, surveyed its members and found BT and Mercury wanting. TMA representative Adrian Squires commented: `BT and Mercury target their own businesses on self-set benchmarks that don't match user needs'. The survey concluded that BT's targets are insufficiently stretching and the company is not addressing the needs of the business user very well. Mercury, as sole national competitor, is not providing a level of service to stimulate true competition. (This is more so true in the residential market where Mercury are only serving the major cities and towns, usually only in England, and ignoring the rest of the UK.) BT marketing and sales director Nick Kane gave delegates a progress report on the Total Quality Management initiative, which has so far re-educated 20,000 managers, and relayed the latest improved performance figures. `However, we also know that your perception is different and that there is a discrepancy between our measurements and those of the customer', Kane concluded. BT, Mercury and the TMA will meet again later this year. BT's ambitions to become a global player and its increasing IT activity are also causing the association some concern. `There is too much emphasis on developing the worldwide business, not in terms of money but in people, when there should be much more focus on national service issues', Squires said. `Until BT has sorted out the problems on its own network, there must be some doubt over its credibility as an IT player', he added." (BT seem to have greatly improved the reliability of their network over the last year or two, in response to some very bad press. BT now need to improve the range of services offered over their network.) ==================== My comments inside (). "BT LAYS DOWN ITS PLANS TO GROW ABROAD British Telecom is planning more overseas acquisitions in a bid to become a worldwide telecoms company. BT chairman Iain Vallance said at the convention: `British Telecom's specific goal is, quite simply, to become the most successful worldwide telecoms group'. Vallance said acquisition of the X.25 network Tymnet from McDonnell Douglas in the US, a 20% stake in the US mobile communications company McCaw Cellular, and a 25% stake in Network Information Services in Japan will pave the way for BT. (Can people in the States tell us how big/important are Tymnet and McCaw Cellular? These might be "nice little earners" for BT but are they important companies? The same for NIS in Japan, I believe there is a contributor to the digest from that part of the East.) `Investing in such acquisitions is vital, and we shall continue with these strategic moves', he said. He added that companies from large multinationals down to much smaller enterprises were demanding one-stop shopping for telecommunications to serve their global operations. Vallance identified three building blocks to strengthen BT's global position: mobile communications, value added network services and systems integration. `Developments in mobile communications are making it easier to bypass the fixed link networks' Vallance said. BT will not let regulations which prevented it from bidding for one of the new mobile licences stop the company from supplying equivalent services under its existing licence. The BT chairman said the company's role in open systems through its open network architecture was the route to systems integration. =================== My comments inside (). "MERCURY PLEDGES STIFF COMPETITION Mercury will take on British Telecom in all sectors in the 1990s, making the option of a third national operator unnecessary, Mercury managing director Gordon Owen said last week. A review of the two company national policy is due to start next year and one of the options telecom watchdog Oftel will consider is increasing the number of licences. `A third operator is not the way way to go forward, but there is a need to look at competition in the local loop', Owen told the TMA conference last week. Licensing cable television operators to supply communications services to the home or office would be one way of increasing competition in a sector dominated by BT, but Mercury will use the new generation of mobile communications to bypass the fixed local links. `In 1984, as far as our customers were concerned we did not exist. We now offer the only all digital network in Europe. By the 1990s we will be a complete competitor to BT', Owen told delegates. (Mercury had better pull their socks up then because according to my calendar the 1990s are only 59 days away! As far as most people in the UK are concerned the only telephone company is BT. The government gave Mercury a license to stop people complaining of BT becoming a private monopoly, rather than a public one, when it was sold off in 1984. Since then Mercury has picked and chose the most lucrative markets and places to serve. It would be in the interest of the UK customers if more competition were allowed from 1991 when the new telecommunications licenses are issued, or else compel BT to provide complete equal access for long distance calls across the whole of the UK rather than parts, and Mercury to pride the alternative service for the whole of the UK.) Mercury will move into the higher levels of IT, as BT is currently trying to do. However it is not going to rush in. `A number of computer companies have tried to get into telecoms and failed, and vice versa,' Owen commented, citing IBM and AT&T as two examples. +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: More Phone-card Phraud Date: 2 Nov 89 10:17:06 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan Stolen from The Japan Times, 10/31/89: "Two men were convicted by Tokyo District Court Monday for tampering with NTT telephone cards to increase the number of calls they can make. ... [They] violated the Securities Transaction Law, the court ruled. Kawai was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and Sakaki was given an 18-month suspended sentence. Two presiding judges ruled that using falsified telephone cards in pay phones is tantamount to using securities. However, another judge ruled in a separate case in September that tampering with a telephone card does not constitute use of a security, so legal observers say it will be up to the Supreme Court... According to Monday's ruling, Kawai changed about 1,600 telephone cards, each good for 500-yen worth of telephone calls, into cards worth 20,000 yen. He sold the altered cards to acquaintences for as much as 3,500 yen. Sakaki also sold about 320 tampered cards for about 2 million yen. One of the presiding judges ruled that using tampered telephone cards on public telephones is the same as misleading Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. into believing the cards--false securities--are genuine." Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 19:26:51 -0800 From: David Gast Subject: NTT Baits Hackers > Tokyo - Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. has issued a provocative > challenge: the Japanese communications giant will give 1 million yen > ($6803) to any computer hacker anywhere in the world who can break its > FEAL-8 data communications security code by August 1991. Why the > unusual move? The company wants to debunk a rumor circulationg in > Europe that its security code has been cracked. The FEAL-8 code, > developed by NTT in 1986, is widely used in Japan and overseas to > protect datacom systems and integrated circuit cards from illegal > access. This offer seems pretty naive. First, it's an invitation for anyone to try to crack the code, so they couldn't be prosecuted for trying. Secondly, if someone did crack it, do you really expect them to reveal it for $7000? I would guess they might try to take significantly larger amounts. NTT should watch out for former S&L sleaze attempting another rip off of the public. :-( David Gast gast@cs.ucla.edu {uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 12:28:46 GMT From: Phil Herlihy Subject: CT2 - A Low-cost Mobile Phone in the UK Here in the UK we are seeing the launch of a low-ish cost alternative to cellphones: a roaming cordless phone. The technology is referred to as 'CT2'; brand names of Phonepoint and Zone Phone are being promoted. The user carries a small handset (some fold up!) which can make *outgoing* calls when within range (a few yards) of a static base station. Stations, which can handle multiple calls, are being installed in the walls of a number of well-sited buildings in high-streets, shopping centres and railway stations. They are still fairly rare, although I found I have one within 5 minutes walk of my home in NE London. Compatible base stations are available for use in the home or office; eventually - the idea is - you carry the same handset around wherever you go, and all calls you make end up on the same bill. A limitation is that you can't take incoming calls; a pager may be used to get round this. This may be the first implementation of CT2 in the world. If it catches on, (there has been eager talk of a big market gap between POTS and cell-phones) maybe I'll be able to ring Auntie in Australia on the office phone - at home? {My employer has an interest in one of these ventures, although I'm not working in any connected area. From the advertising, "our" handset (Phonepoint) looks to be half the bulk of the other one, so it looks like we can expect to *stuff* the competition once again!} ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Nov 89 00:26:43 mst From: David Dodell Subject: FAX Switch Box Being the recent purchaser of a FAX machine for my office, I've now reached the point of deciding if I need a seperate phone line for the FAX machine. 95% of the traffic from the FAX is outbound, which at the moment, sits on a back private line in my office. To get inbound faxes, I manually turn on the machine. Since almost all of the FAXs are outbound, I can't seem to justify the expense of another phone line, so the thought of the switchboxes come to mind. However, I have seen them advertised in all shapes and prices. Can anyone offer some feedback on "best" choice, or on these items in general? David ------------------------------------------------------------------------- uucp: {decvax, ncar} !noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell uucp: {gatech, ames, rutgers} !ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!ddodell Bitnet: ATW1H @ ASUACAD FidoNet=> 1:114/15 Internet: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org ------------------------------ From: U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au Subject: Cryptic Abbreviations Date: 3 Nov 89 13:12:56 (UTC+11:00) Organization: The University of Melbourne Could someone please explain some North American abbreviations: COCOT NXX-XXXX (why 'N' ) Thanks, Daniel U5434122@ucsvc.unimelb.edu.au (University of Melbourne) [Moderator's Note: COCOT = 'Customer Owned Coin Operated Telephone' however sometimes it is stated in reverse as, 'Coin Operated Customer Owned Telephone'. In other words, a 'private pay-phone', something that's been plaguing the United States since about the time Judge Greene delivered himself of his ruling; in his wisdom, of course. 'NXX-XXXX' is just a way of describing a theoretical phone number, but I don't think it is quite the way you described it. Perhaps readers will comment on how we have come to describe phone numbers with 'N' and 'X', etc. PT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #490 *****************************   Date: Sat, 4 Nov 89 0:14:19 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #491 Message-ID: <8911040014.aa22233@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Nov 89 00:13:18 CST Volume 9 : Issue 491 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Jim Breen) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (John Gilmore) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (John Higdon) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (Carl Moore) Re: AT&T's ACUS Service (Linc Madison) Re: Touch-tone Fee (John Higdon) Re: CT2 - A Low-cost Mobile Phone in the UK (Will Martin) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (Mark Feblowitz) Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Dave Horsfall) Industry Nicknames (Bernard Mckeever) What Does NAM Mean? (Ben Thornton) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim Breen Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 06:29:23 GMT In article , euatdt@euas11c05. ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist) writes: > In article munnari!cit5.cit.oz. > au!jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen) writes: > >They are NOT byte-oriented 8000 byte/sec; it is BIT oriented 64000 > >bps. You can put any protocol you like on an ISDN B-channel. Protocols > >have been standardized for the D-channel, as this is for signalling > >and packet traffic. > Ah, maybe we should realize that there are more and less absolute > truths in these matters. > The basic ISDN-frame is byte-oriented and the hardware (in this case > the ISDN-chip in the SPARCstation) ALWAYS provides a frame sync to > allow you to read the bit stream byte by byte. Why? Because the > TELEPHONY transmission is byte oriented.......... Ok I'll bite. WHERE in the Red or Blue books does it say the B channels are byte oriented. Of course, the networks will go to a lot of trouble to maintain synch, which they do out of band, i.e. using the F bits on the S bus, and timeslot 0 on the primary access. If SPARC terminals are adding a frame synch, that's terrific for them; provided they are always talking to other SPARC terminals. > In the bit-oriented datacomm standards specified, this frame sync is > simply ignored, as far as the interface to other equipment is > concerned...................... I'll say they they ignore them; they never see them. I maintain synch info is NOT sent on the B channel. > >must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a > >bit-pipe service. > Aren't there ANY byte-oriented protocols around that could be used to > form a basis for a bytewise link over ISDN? There are obvious > advantages. Sure, there are several: HDLC, LAPB, etc. etc. Different pairs of users make up their own minds. Of course, if you are using your B channel to access a service, such as a packet-switched network, you will have to fall into line with that network. Here in Australia Austpac access will be available through the B channel, with LAPB as the link protocol. It will be available for BRA users over the D channel, in which case LAPD will be used. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 23:46:05 PST From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate well!peterd@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Peter Joseph Desnoyers) wrote: > Could someone set my mind to rest? I have heard several times that the > SparcStation has an ISDN basic rate interface on-board. Other people, > including people who should know, have insisted that Sun is not > shipping any products with a basic-rate interface. The Sun SPARCstation-1 contains an AMD 79C30 ISDN speakerphone chip. This chip has an ISDN basic rate interface on chip, but requires some passive components (e.g. transformers and a "TransZorb" surge protector) to couple it to the phone line. In early SPARCstation-1's, there are locations on the circuit board for these components, but the components themselves are not provided. You can buy them and solder them in yourself, though. The actual wires that would plug into the wall come out of the "audio" DIN jack (the same one where you can cable up a microphone). However, later versions of the SPARCstation-1 board do not even have for these components. There is no convenient way to make such a SPARCstation-1 talk ISDN. The engineers who built in the ISDN chip would like very much to see it used for ISDN. The holdup is in the software people at Sun, who don't see much use in supporting it. This has resulted in the hardware people saying "well then we won't even bother putting it in". The result is that *maybe* in a few years you will be able to spend hundreds of dollars for an S-bus board and software to do ISDN, which but for a lack of cooperation and two bucks a machine, would have been a standard feature in today's machines. If *you* would like to see ISDN support in Sun's desktop machines, please send email to your Sun sales rep. They can forward it to the SPARCstation-1 product marketing folks, who will see if there really is a customer desire for this. I think it'd be the cat's pajamas for interconnecting a home Sun with an office network, or connecting up multiple small offices within a city (e.g. real- estate offices networking to a common database of properties & maps & photos). Not to mention being 4x as fast as a Telebit modem for good old email and netnews. ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations Date: 3 Nov 89 21:06:03 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , U5434122@ucsvc.ucs. unimelb.edu.au writes: > NXX-XXXX (why 'N' ) [Moderator's Note:] > 'NXX-XXXX' is just a way of describing a theoretical phone number, but > I don't think it is quite the way you described it. Perhaps readers > will comment on how we have come to describe phone numbers with 'N' and > 'X', etc. PT] C'mon Patrick. It's just that way. 'N'=2...9 (or any digit on the dial with exchange letters associated with it) and 'X'=0...9 (or any digit, period). A valid LA area phone number could be '200-1010' or, if you will, 'NXX-XXXX'. Yes? (FYI, 200 is a cellular prefix.) John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 15:08:06 EST From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations N means any single digit EXCEPT 0 or 1. X means any single digit. No two of any of these symbols necessarily represent the same digit. As to how the symbols N and X were chosen for this, I don't know. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 01:51:12 PST From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: AT&T's ACUS Service In article Bill Fenner (wcf@hcx.psu.edu) writes: >AT&T announced a new service at Penn State's University Park campus >this fall, called ACUS long-distance service. With this service, each >student gets their own PSC (Personal Security Code). The PSC >identifies the student, no matter which room he is calling from.... This sounds very similar to the system used in the dorms at UC-Berkeley, although my understanding was that it was more the University than the telco or LD Co that put this into place. There was one HUGE hitch: if you ever accepted a collect call, you were hit with a HEFTY surcharge, to the tune of $20 or some such absurdity, to cover the administrative cost of manually assigning the charge to your account. I don't have first-hand experience with the system, though, 'cause I'm a CO-OPER! In the co-ops, we just have Centrex nightmares.... but I've already written about those here. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: Touch-tone Fee Date: 3 Nov 89 18:11:56 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , ciula@cis.ohio-state.edu (Kim Ciula) writes: > Monday I called Ohio Bell to ask them to remove touch-tone service on > my phone and was told I'd have to pay a $9.30 service fee to do so! > Is this common? What is involved in removing touch-tone service from > a line? (Not much, I expect...) Depends. In an electronic office, it is a simple matter of typing in the new feature (or denial thereof) at the control console. Obviously, there is some paperwork involved, but at least in California, there are very few times you are charged for "removal" of a service. A notable exception is removal of lines from hunting, where there is a $20 charge for any hunting change including removal. On a crossbar office, hard wiring in your vertical file determines whether you get a tone receiver-equipped originating register or not. This is really the only way they have of restricting TT in that type of switch. Some crossbar COs are fully TT equipped and are incapable of denying TT service. I suspect, not being in Pac*Bell territory, that you have an electronic office, however. In any event, a charge to remove service is usually designed to make the customer think twice about his action. No telco wants to give up the free money that things like TT charges generate and if they can convince you that keeping the service would be cheaper in the long run, they have successfully protected their revenue. Charges for activation/deactivation of non-essential features are usually rubber stamped by state utility commissions. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 12:57:09 CST From: Will Martin Subject: Re: CT2 - A Low-cost Mobile Phone in the UK Since pagers appear to be the normal complement to these outcall-only totable phones, why not save the user the need of carrying two separate boxes and just build the pager into the portable phone unit? It could be designed so that the number to call was not only shown on the pager display, and stored in its memory, but was also made available to the telephone part of the unit. Then the user would only have to press one button -- something marked "Return Call" or the like -- and the phone would automatically dial that number. If the pager has a memory and lets you display the last "n" numbers it received messages on, that display circuit could be linked to the phone so you can hit "Return Call" and automatically dial whatever number is currently shown in the display. This sounds like a good "next-step-up" for the product line. Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 10:06:06 EST From: Mark Feblowitz Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine In article cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Cyril Bauer) writes: > I would sugest the Panasonic unit. I have tried a few and the easiest > and most reliable I have found is the Panasonic. They make models > that do most everthing that you could possibly want to do. Take your > pick, they work. I second that strongly: 5 years ago, the 3-family in which my sister rented an apartment burned. Her apartment was on the first floor and suffered substantial water and smoke damage. Her 3 year old Panasonia answering machine was soaked. She gave it to me and bought a new one. I cleaned the circuit board, record/playback heads, and the drive belt with alcohol, and replaced the incoming and outgoing tapes. Five years later, it still works flawlessly. About 3 years ago, I replaced the speaker, whose diaphragm was also soaked in the fire, so that I could hear the messages better. If and when I need a new one, I'll go get a Panasonic. The standard disclaimer: I have no relationship to the aforementioned company except for that of "satisfied customer". ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Date: 4 Nov 89 02:27:29 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article dan@sics.se (Dan Sahlin) writes: | As I understand it, "011" is used as the international prefix in the | US, whereas the international recommendation is "00". Are there some | other numbers starting with 00 preventing it to be used as | international prefix? For starters, Australia uses 000 as the emergency number (like 911 in USA and 999 in GB). By the way, we have a whole swag of operator-assist numbers, depending on the service. For example, 1100 is "Service difficulties and faults", 013 is (local) directory assistance etc. Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ From: Bernard Mckeever Subject: Industry Nicknames Date: 3 Nov 89 19:12:35 GMT Reply-To: bmk@cbnews.ATT.COM (bernard.mckeever,54236,mv,3b045,508 960 6289) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories All industries use jargon or nicknames that are well accepted in work related conversations. The telephone field has some of the most unique. What follows is a "short" list of nicknames for common devices found in and around a central office. I've left plenty of items off the list so that others can add any that they find interesting. Telephone Test Set used by almost all technicians to place calls and check switch operations ....AKA..Butt Set/Buttinski/Goat 21A Transmission Test Set.......AKA..Juke Box D3/D4 Portable Test Set.........AKA..Foot Stool Orange Stick/Spudger .........AKA..Nose Picker 72 Type [?] Projection Meter....AKA..Mickey Mouse Contact Cleaning Spray..........AKA..Instant Switchman 35 Type Fuses...................AKA..Grasshopper A Point To Ponder: Why is it that the Bell System referred to any test set with a handle as portable? I mean a Volkswagon has handles. Some of those test sets rivaled a Volkswagon in size and weight. ------------------------------ From: Ben Thornton Subject: What Does NAM Mean? Date: 4 Nov 89 01:20:42 GMT Organization: Video Associates Labs, Inc. A friend asked me recently if I knew what the acronym NAM means in the context of telecommunications. Can anyone hazard a guess on this one? Ben Thornton packet: WD5HLS @ KB5PM Video Associates Labs uucp: ...!cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!val!ben Austin, TX fidonet: 1:382/40 - The Antenna Farm BBS ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #491 *****************************   Date: Sat, 4 Nov 89 13:31:18 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #492 Message-ID: <8911041331.aa02823@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Nov 89 13:30:55 CST Volume 9 : Issue 492 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Toll Calls in Australia (U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au) T1 Test Equipment Info (Bob Steinbeiser) Internet Address for Telemail (Gerald H. Orita) Is This V&H Data? (Dave Levenson) 1-700-NXX-XXXX (David W. Tamkin) Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco (Lars J. Poulsen) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (Eric Schnoebelen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: U5434122@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au Subject: Toll Calls in Australia Date: 3 Nov 89 12:55:25 (UTC+11:00) Organization: The University of Melbourne With all the discussion about how to tell whether a call is toll or local, I thought I would let everyone know the Australian system. In Australia, the network is divided into zones. Several zones are grouped into areas with the necessary area codes. Intra-area calls do not require the area code. Inter-area calls always require an area code. Calls within a zone, or to an adjoining zone are considered local and are charged 21c, untimed. Zones meeting at a point are considered adjoining. Calls to a non adjoining zone are toll, and to signify this five short pips are heard at the beginning of the call. Charging begins when the pips have ended. This allows both the caller and the called to know that the call is toll (called 'STD' in Oz, for 'Subscriber Trunk Dialling'). Australia also uses meter pulses, with each unit equal to a local call fee, 21c. This has the advantage that if you want to ring Perth from Sydney to say,"Hi, I made it safely" and you can do it in less than 20 seconds it will only cost 21c even in peak times. Messages less than 7 seconds can be sent overseas for the cost of a local call, since there is no minimum time, just the 7 second metering. ( 10.59 seconds for off peak to USA ). ------------------------------ From: steinbeiser Subject: T1 Test Equipment Info Date: 3 Nov 89 14:25:12 GMT Reply-To: steinbeiser Organization: BroadBand Technologies I am looking for any information on T1 testing gear. I need to test a SLC 96 type system, and need a tester that can detect and inject the variety of errors that are common to T1 testing (BPVs, logic, frame, CRC errors, slips etc.). I also need to check the state of the signaling and data link channels, and would like to be able to examine the data in each DS0. Some kind of data interface to this tester is required for future test automation and logging (IEEE 488 or RS232). I am familiar with the TBERD from Telecommunications Techniques, and Model 802A DS1 Frame Simulator from Tekelec, but I,m sure the must be a better one out there for my application. Any specific recomendations, or general T1 testing info would be great. Thanks in advance for your help! Bob Steinbeiser BroadBand Technologies RTP, NC 919-544-6850 X255 rgs@bbt.uucp ------------------------------ From: "Gerald H. Orita" Subject: Internet Address for Telemail Date: 3 Nov 89 17:42:58 GMT Reply-To: "Gerald H. Orita" Organization: National Geophysical Data Center, Boulder, Colorado I would like to know if there is an Internet address for Telemail. We would like to excess Telemail through Internet instead of through modems. I would like suggestions. Thanks in advance. Gerald H. Orita E-mail - gho@ngdc2.colorado.edu ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Is This V&H Data? Date: 4 Nov 89 04:04:52 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA I have come upon a copy of a database -- about 8 Mbytes -- which I think is a recent dump of the "V & H tape" mentioned in this newsgroup. It consists of tens of thousands of records of 168 bytes each. A random slice of three lines (folded to fit on your 80-column display) looks like: 0563402564NORTHEATON05634025640216748070111011003200563702569NORTHEATONOH 062281YY1NETNOHXARS1RM 0565902594BB000000OBRLOHXA01T0565902594BDOBRLOHXA0 1TCLEVELAND 0615560561 0557402543CLEVELAND 05574025430216749070101011003200558802539CLEVELAND OH 062281YY1CLEVOH7474EERA0557502544BB000000CLEVOH620GT0557502544BDCLEVOH620 GTCLEVELAND 5150000082 0555702353YOUNGSTOWN05557023530216750070101011003220556102340YOUNGSTOWNOH 062281YY1STRTOH7575AERC0556502350BB000000YNTWOH780GT0556502350BDYNTWOH780 GTYOUNGSTOWN5150082050 It appears that columns 1-5 are probably the `V' co-ordinate, and that columns 6-10 are `H'. The city name appears columns 62-71, and in a shorter form, in columns 11-20. The state is in columns 72-73. The area code is in columns 32-34, and the exchange code is in columns 35-37. This would decode the last of the above three lines as: v h city st alt-city npa nnx 05555 70235 YOUNGSTOWN OH (YOUNGSTOWN) 216-750 Can anybody tell me what the rest of this stuff is? Is there a Bellcore tech ref that gives the full format for this tape? I think this is public information -- part of somebody's tariff filing, if I'm not mistaken. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If it is public, then I'm willing to share it, but don't ask me to transfer 8 Mbytes over the net! I have it on 8 MS-DOS high density 5 1/4" diskettes. I can probably compress it and save some space, but it will still take several days at 2400 bps! Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ Subject: 1-700-NXX-XXXX Date: Wed, 1 Nov 89 10:30:40 CST From: "David W. Tamkin" My primary long-distance carrier (Telecom*USA) treats calls to 1-700-NXX-XXXX as a request to use them to reach a number in your own area code, even if it is in the same LATA as the calling point. 1-700-555-4141 gets their carrier identification recording, but 555-4141 reaches local directory assistance, so I guess there is at least one exception. A call to 312-830-1210 appeared on my long distance bill, and Telecom*USA explained to me that since it was within my LATA and I knew I hadn't dialed 10835-1-312-830-1210, I must have dialed 1-700-830-1210. I'm already in the habit of dialing 1708 before calls to the Chicago suburbs (yes, it has worked from my exchange since August at least), and apparently I doubled the 0 in trying to reach jolnet at 1-708-301-2100. Is this true of any other carriers? David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us {attctc,netsys}!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ From: lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) Subject: Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco Reply-To: lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California Date: Fri, 3 Nov 89 17:48:07 GMT In article MJB8949@ritvax.bitnet (Nutsy Fagen) writes: > In a relatively simple manner, could someone explain how a >local telco communicates with a PABX in terms of incoming/outgoing >phone numbers? I realize there usually isn't one discrete wire for >every extension available on the PABX. Unlike many other contributors here, I'm not a "pro", so my explanation may be simplistic; on the other hand you may find it more readable ... A PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) is a smaller version of what the phone company has in the central office. As the technology moves down the price scale, it is very likely that many families will soon have one in their home, and the following explanation will be in terms of such an installation. Our hypothetical house has 5 phones, a modem and an answering machine, each of which has a number: - 21 kitchen - 22 livingroom - 23 master bedroom - 24 teenage daughter's room - 25 study: desk - 26 study: modem line - 27 study: answering machine It also has two lines to the outside world, each of which has been assigned a phone number by the phone company. To call from any phone in the house to any other phone, you pick up, get dial tone and then dial the 2-digit number shown above. To dial from any phone in the house to any outside number, you dial an access code (usually a single digit) and then the outside number. What happens to incoming calls is programmable. Uusually, each outside line is programmed to ring at one particular number, and if not answered there, forward to a different one. So you may have line 1 ring the study and forward to the answering machine if there is no answer. And have line 2 start in the teenage daughter's room and forward to the answering machine. Note in all of this, that as far as the phone company is concerned, this is an ordinary house with two phone lines. There is no special handling in the central office for these two numbers. > I've also noticed, when using >a calling card from my dorm room, that one of two numbers will appear >for the origin. Does this mean anything spectacular (one 'number' can >only run so many lines, or maybe we have several separate services >entrances, for backup)? The PBX programming ability varies widely. PBX's used to be VERY expensive and not very programmable, until the computerized telephone technology scaled down. Today, a PBX has a PC-class computer built in, and the amount of programming ability that is built in is generally limited by what the manufacturer thinks the customers can handle without being confused. Remember that in a small office, these things are generally handled by a secretary (or a lawyer, or an accountant) who has no computer programming background. It is more cost effective to limit the functionality than to have support people on the telephone training people in using the features of the system. And peopel who misprogram the things will be complaining about how "unreliable" the things are. In general, a small system will EITHER have one access code which picks outgoing line A if it is open, line B if line A was busy. OR it will have two access codes: One for line A or one for line B. It sounds like your system uses the first of these options. > I'd also heard that our ATT System 85 was capable of >communicating with Rochester Tel regarding what phone number was being >called FROM, but it was not implemented. (I know that all calls from >campus to 911 show up as the same source and address) Larger systems have many more features than described above. This is justified because they will be managed by professionals with specific training in programming telephone systems, who can therefore be expected to understand more complicated features. They also tend to be able to talk to the central office about things that do not make sense on normal subscriber lines. Such access trunks are more expensive than ordinary lines. Among the things that the feature-rich trunks can handle, are DID (Direct Inward Dialing) and its counterpart, ANI (Automatic Number Identification). DID is used in a situation where you have been issued a "real" phone number for each extension (each phone in the house) instead of one for each line you have to the central office. When the call comes in, the central office tells the PBX which number was called. ANI is the opposite: On an outgoing call, the PBX tells the CO which extension the call came from. What you are describing above, sounds like the PBX's on campus have hardware and software to do these things, but the central office they are connected to is not set up for using these features. And now for the more confusing part. Some customers like the features of a PBX, but they don't want the hassle of maintaining it. So the phone company gives them a line for each instrument, and SIMULATES a PBX in software at the central office. This is called CENTREX. A large CENTREX system is often ACTUALLY implemented by the phone company installing a PBX on the customer's premises. In such a case, they may also serve some other customers out of that switch but with a software "firewall" preventing use of the centrex features for the ordinary subscriber lines. Such a phone-company owned "PBX" (I put it in quotes, because being phone-company-owned, it is not "private") is called a TANDEM switch. / Lars Poulsen (800) 222-7308 or (805) 963-9431 ext 358 ACC Customer Service Affiliation stated for identification only My employer probably would not agree if he knew what I said !! ------------------------------ From: Eric Schnoebelen Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations Date: 4 Nov 89 06:12:40 GMT Reply-To: Eric Schnoebelen Organization: Central Iowa (Model) Railroad, Dallas, Tx. - [Moderator's Note: - - 'NXX-XXXX' is just a way of describing a theoretical phone number, but - I don't think it is quite the way you described it. Perhaps readers - will comment on how we have come to describe phone numbers with 'N' and - 'X', etc. PT] Well, it is my understanding (coming from my former boss, and ex-AT&T network design engineer) that the Bell system (Bell Labs, Bellcore, etc ) used/uses N to represent the digits two (2) through nine(9), but not the digits zero (0) or one (1), while X represents the entire range. As an example of this, we have old documents around that discribe the phone numbers as being of the format NPA-NNX-XXXX, which all needed to be changed to NPA-NXX-XXXX when the Bellcore, and the operating companies started allowing such.. (and to be honest, there is much code that thinks the format should be NNX, at least in comments and variable names.. :-) As to the NPA, well, that stands for Numbering Plan America, or Numbering Plan Area, depending upon who is doing the talking. (That company has employees with a wealth of experience, from switch installation to network management to network design, so the answer usually varied a little, depending upon who you were talking to. But the basic information was always the same.) Eric Schnoebelen eric@egsner.cirr.com "My other computer is a Convex" schnoebe@convex.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #492 *****************************   Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 13:38:45 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #493 Message-ID: <8911051338.aa05766@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Sun, 5 Nov 89 13:35:40 CST Volume 9 : Issue 493 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 (David W. Tamkin) Area Code Splits Make Even Tabloid News (Thomas Lapp) Re: What Does NAM Mean? (Dave Levenson) Re: What Does NAM Mean? (John Higdon) Re: Industry Nicknames (Dave Levenson) PBX Use in Residences (TELECOM Moderator) New Tutorial in Archives (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: The Strange Boundaries of 312/708 Date: Sat, 4 Nov 89 11:39:13 CST From: "David W. Tamkin" In volume 9, issue 497, Edward Sachs quotes Patrick Townson: | In article , telecom@eecs.nwu.edu | (TELECOM Moderator) writes: | | > When those people ordered phone service in the past, apparently they | > said their address was 4xxx North Harlem in *Chicago*, or 4xxx North | > Harlem in *Harwood Heights* when in fact it was the opposite | > community! | | In a similar vein, I recall an article in the newspaper (I believe | that it was the Chicago Tribune) some time back which reported that | businesses were paying sales taxes to the wrong municipalities, for | similar reasons (not just Chicago/Suburb, but also Suburb/Suburb). On tour night Pat and I discussed the possibility that some of these entrepreneurs in Harwood Heights had given their addresses to Illinois Bell as "Chicago" but that IBT should have found the truth out from their street guides. Since then I've noticed that several of the stores with Chicago prefixes clearly state "Harwood Heights, Illinois 60656" on their business cards or "4xxx N. Harlem, Harwood Heights" in their ads. And I guarantee you that they know damn well to charge only 7% sales tax, not the 8% rate applicable in Chicago. The only cases I know where a Chicago location was assigned a suburban prefix were a security agency (assigned a Niles prefix despite being nowhere near the city limit) who got their number changed to a Chicago prefix; a florist shop on the Chicago side of a border street (I refuse to believe that the florists told IBT that they were in Harwood Heights, but clearly it was a case of some IBT employee's being unable to read their street guide correctly); and one insurance agent on another border street, who might have a Chicago line as well but shows only a suburban number on the outdoor sign. All the other anomalies are Chicago prefixes in suburbs, most of which (except for that one strip along Harlem Avenue) were probably assigned at customers' requests in the first place. I'm not counting businesses that have both a Chicago line and a suburban line; they're covered. What happened with IBT is that when they switched to charging by CO distance instead of by service area, IBT employees lost track of political boundaries and seemed to understand only CO districts: to them, any location is in the same town as the CO from which its phones are wired. (One of them swore to me that a Chicago address in the area wired from the River Grove CO, with a 589 prefix on its phone [a prefix intended for Chicago, one that will remain in 312] was *in* River Grove, for example.) Another stuck an "Area Code 708" sticker on a Chicago coin phone in the same area; the tenant on the property is thoroughly convinced that he'll be in area code 708, and I couldn't persuade him otherwise (prefix 625 for anyone interested). On a related note, Cellular One here announced that all its service will remain in 312, but that they will be opening additional prefixes for area code 708; any customer wishing to have cellular service from them in 708 instead of 312 must return to the dealer to get the phone rekeyed. (Cellular One picks up the tab and has specified in its announcement that the dealers are NOT to charge the customers.) Ameritech Mobile [the only other cellular provider I know of here] uses blocks of numbers on Illinois Bell land prefixes, I think, so those will be in whichever area code the prefix normally serves. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us ...!attctc!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 13:20:20 est From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Area Code Splits Make Even Tabloid News From the USA WEEKEND (a nationally distributed supplement to Sunday newspapers): WINDY CITY BREAKS UP Can't remember your phone number now? Uh-oh. With the soaring number of telephone lines, for homes, offices, cars and fax machines, we're running out of number combinations. So more of the USA is being separated by area codes: Chicago gets hit Nov. 11 when its outlying suburbs become 708. Next in line: Texas, New Jersey. Soon you might have to dial an area code even if you're on the edge of a city and just phoning across the street. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: What Does NAM Mean? Date: 4 Nov 89 13:21:56 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , val!ben@cs.utexas.edu (Ben Thornton) writes: > A friend asked me recently if I knew what the acronym NAM means in the > context of telecommunications. Can anyone hazard a guess on this one? In a cellular telephone set, the telephone number, and a number of other installer-administerable parameters, are generally stored in a rom chip. This chip is called a Name and Address Module, or NAM. Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: Re: What Does NAM Mean? Date: 5 Nov 89 05:21:00 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows In article , val!ben@cs.utexas.edu (Ben Thornton) writes: > A friend asked me recently if I knew what the acronym NAM means in the > context of telecommunications. Can anyone hazard a guess on this one? It's a term from cellular service which means "number assignment module". It was originally a prom that was "blown" by the vendor of the phone for the customer. It contains the assigned telephone number of the cellular phone, as well as the system ID number and a lot of other information pertaining to the home system. The NAM also contains the allowed features for the phone itself such as dial out capability, whether or not roaming is allowed, end-to-end DTMF signaling, etc. Nowadays, a prom is no longer used but rather things like EEPROMs or low-drain memory hold the information. The advantage of this is that NAM data can be easily changed without having to re-burn and re-install a physical component. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Industry Nicknames Date: 4 Nov 89 13:20:02 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , bmk@mvuxi.att.com (Bernard Mckeever) writes: > All industries use jargon or nicknames that are well accepted in work > related conversations... > A Point To Ponder: Why is it that the Bell System referred to any test > set with a handle as portable? I mean a Volkswagon has handles. Some > of those test sets rivaled a Volkswagon in size and weight. Perhaps they followed the Army's nomenclature here. When I did some contract work at a large aerospace firm on a Department of Defense project, we built a `portable' device -- it was big and heavy, and had six handles around it. On the sides, we had to paint, in three-inch letters: "SIX-MAN CARRY". I guess anything can be considered `portable' if enough people get involved in the carrying! Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Nov 89 14:35:48 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: PBX Use in Residences In the last issue of the Digest, Lars Poulsen mentioned the use of small PBX equipment in a residential setting. I had such an arrangement for about four years and found it very flexible and useful. I used a device called Melco 212, from the company by the same name out in the Seattle, WA area. The 212 had, appropriatly, 2 outside trunk lines and 12 internal extensions, which was ample for my application. The extensions were numbered 21 to 32. Zero ('0') was an alternate address for extension 21. If I recall the extension assignments correctly (this was about four years ago I quit using it), they were -- 21 (or 0) my office at home, first line (21 & 22 were on a two line phone) 22 my office at home, second line (it did not hunt) 23 near the sofa in my office, for use by guests 24 my bedroom 25 living room (first line, on a two line, turn button phone) 26 kitchen 27 basement workshop area (27 & 28 were on a two-line turn button phone) 28 basement furnace/water/utility meters area 29 my brother's bedroom 30 bathroom wall phone 31 living room (second line on a two line, turn button phone) 32 9th floor elevator machinery room (outdoor phone in a locked, weather proof box; I had an 'antenna farm' on the roof, with owner's blessings). I lived on the first floor of a nine story building; the phones to the basement and to the ninth floor went through building house-pairs. The extensions dialed each other with the assigned two digit code. The two outside lines were accessed by dialing 9 to select a line at random, or by 81 and 82 to specifically select line one or line two. The two lines from the CO were set up so the first would hunt the second when busy. The PBX could be programmed to shunt the incoming lines to any extensions of choice -- 51 + ext. caused all incoming calls on line 1 to ring . 52 + ext. caused all incoming calls on line 2 to ring . If was otherwise engaged, then a 'call waiting' tone was given. Normal call-waiting rules applied; just flash, and get waiting outside call. Call-waiting was NOT available from extension to extension however. By default, after a power shutdown, or during a power shutdown, incoming calls rang extensions 21 (line 1) and 22 (line 2) respectively. Extension 21 & 22 were fixed to go straight through to the CO in the event of a power shutdown, and to ring for incoming calls in the same way. 'Do Not Disturb' was available as follows -- 60 silenced bells and common audible on all incoming calls, both lines. 61 silenced bell and common audible on incoming calls, line 1. 62 silenced bell and common audible on incoming calls, line 2. 63 silenced common audible only, but allowed assigned extension to ring. 64 cancelled all silent conditions previously assigned with 60 ==> 63. 65 from any extension busied out the extension until the next time that extension went off hook; except that if incoming CO calls were assigned to that extension, they would ring through; inside calls would receive a busy. Conditions 60 == > 64 could be restricted -- or made unavailable -- by use of a dip switch on the unit, to prevent people from inadvertently creating a Do Not Disturb status. 7 was assigned to Universal Pickup. Any incoming CO call could be picked up by dialing 7 from any extension when you heard the actual bell ringing or the common audible. Up to 4.0 ring equivilance could be loaded on the unit in the form of common audibles. We used two pleasant 'bird chirp' sounders; one in the basement and one in the elevator roof-top area. These were places where the normal bell ringing would not be heard otherwise. 39 was a ringback, when dialed from any extension, to test the line. A dip-switch on the unit restricted the use of '9' if set; forcing outgoing calls to be specifically dialed over 81 or 82, provided you told people how to use those codes. Calls to 9 got a re-order tone if this switch was set. Dialing 4 fed your audio to a paging device and closed (a normally open) or opened (a normally closed) relay. So you could have background music and cut the music off when paging if desired. I used 4 in a different way: I fed it to a third CO line for my personal, outgoing only modem call use. I used the normally open relay to keep that line 'on hook' when not in use. Dialing 4 took that line 'off hook' and gave dial tone to the modem. By using a beehive lamp tied into that third line, if I was at my terminal and saw the beehive flashing, I would dial 4 and answer that line, but since it was for modem use, whether or not the line got answered was not a priority. Thus if I was not there, the flashing beehive lamp disturbed no one. The Melco 212 unit was a small device. It weighed about ten pounds, was only about twelve inches high by about six inches wide, and three inches deep. It mounted on the wall right at the place where the three CO lines entered our building. It operated on 110 AC; required a grounded outlet. Everything on it was modular. Installation time is usually about fifteen minutes, however it took me longer because I had to chase down some idle house-pairs in a dusty, poorly labeled cabinet, and make sure they went where I wanted them. So why did I change to Starline/centrex? When we moved about four years ago, I no longer had control over/easy access to a couple hundred house pairs as in the past, and I did not feel like wiring my new apartment. But I would recommend the Melco 212 and other small mini-PBX units to people who have a lot of area geographically to cover while needing only one or two actual CO lines. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 13:07:04 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: New Tutorial in Archives An excellent new addition to the TELECOM Digest Archives is an article by Julian Macassey entitled "How Telephones Work". Mr. Macassey wrote this originally for publication elsewhere, but has given it to the net for safekeeping in the Archives. To read this article, or review other materials in the Archives, you must have the ability to use ftp at your site. Enter 'ftp cs.bu.edu'. When Boston responds, enter password 'anonymous'. Enter a non-null password of your choice. Enter 'cd telecom-archives'. Enter 'ls' to review the files, which include Volumes 1,8 and 9 of the Digest; several other articles of interest and reference materials. Macassey's article is filed under 'tutorial'. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #493 *****************************   Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 1:56:30 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #494 Message-ID: <8911060156.aa21868@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Nov 89 01:55:04 CST Volume 9 : Issue 494 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Breakdown of 312/708 Prefixes (David Tamkin) Some Residents Can't Beat the Rap (Thomas Lapp) Caller ID and Cellular Systems (Louis J. Judice) A New Use For Caller-ID (David Lesher) Caller ID in Chicago (Bob von Borstel) Unusual Subscriber Equipment (David Lesher) Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer (Richard H. Gumpertz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Tamkin Subject: Breakdown of 312/708 Prefixes Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 15:57:12 CST This is a breakdown of all prefixes in 312 and what is becoming of them upon the split November 11. There are a few changes since the May 15 listing that Illinois Bell has been mailing out. ============== 13 prefixes that will be served by both codes (either because, like 591, 611, 796, and 976, they will have aliases in 708 or because like 411 and 911 their current service will be partitioned between 312 and 708): 200 340 411 555 591 611 796 911 950 958 959 970 976 ============ 31 NXX patterns that are not valid prefixes: 7 of form N00: 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 5 of form N11: 211 311 511 711 811 6 that match the NPA codes in Illinois: 217 309 312 618 708 815 2 that match intra-LATA NPA codes from other states: 219 414 11 available: 203 212 320 415 494 514 760 809 903 912 999 ============== 345 prefixes that will remain in 312 (covering the city of Chicago; Section 2 of unincorporated Norwood Park Township; Acacia Park, Mt. Greenwood, and Westlawn Cemeteries; and Cellular One mobile service: Chicago Zone 3 service on prefix 867, traditionally treated the same as locations inside Chicago, covers suburban areas and will be in area code 708): 202 204 207 214 220 221 222 224 225 226 227 229 230 233 235 236 237 238 239 241 242 243 245 247 248 252 254 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 271 273 274 275 276 277 278 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 292 294 302 306 308 313 315 316 321 322 324 326 327 329 332 334 337 338 341 342 346 347 348 353 363 368 372 373 374 375 376 378 379 380 384 399 401 404 407 408 410 413 417 419 421 427 431 434 435 436 440 443 444 445 454 461 463 465 467 468 471 472 476 477 478 483 486 487 488 489 493 502 504 507 508 509 521 522 523 525 527 528 533 536 538 539 542 545 548 549 550 558 559 561 565 567 568 569 580 581 582 583 585 586 588 589 592 601 602 604 606 607 608 609 613 616 621 622 624 625 626 630 631 633 637 638 641 642 643 644 645 646 648 649 650 651 659 660 661 663 664 666 667 670 684 685 686 693 694 701 702 703 704 707 712 714 715 716 718 721 722 723 725 726 727 728 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 743 744 745 750 751 752 753 761 762 763 764 765 767 768 769 770 772 774 775 776 777 778 779 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 791 792 793 794 797 802 804 805 807 808 812 813 814 819 821 822 826 828 829 836 838 842 845 846 847 853 854 855 856 861 871 873 874 875 876 878 880 881 883 886 889 890 899 901 902 906 907 908 909 914 915 917 918 919 921 922 923 924 925 927 928 929 930 933 935 936 938 939 942 943 944 947 951 955 962 973 975 977 978 984 987 988 989 992 993 994 995 996 997 ============== The remaining 411 prefixes will be in NPA 708, including prefix 867, whose place name is Chicago Zone 3, but which serves suburban locations. (All other prefixes of Chicago Zone 3 will stay in 312.) If anyone wants a specific list of those 411 NXX's, I'll be happy to email it. The following Central Offices will be divided after the split: Chicago-Newcastle: 569, 631, 763, 774, 775, and 792 in 312 457, 647, and 867 to 708 Des Plaines: 694 in 312 296, 297, 298, 299, 390, 391, 635, 699, 803, 824, and 827 to 708 Frankfort: 720 from 312 to 708; 469 in 815 Park Ridge: 380, 399, 693, and 714 in 312 318, 518, 692, 696, 698, 823, and 825 to 708 Plainfield: 904 from 312 to 708; 254, 436,and 439 in 815 River Grove: 589 and 625 in 312; 451, 452, 453, 455, and 456 to 708 Schiller Park: 992 in 312; 671 and 678 to 708 Summit: 229 and 586 in 312; 458, 496, 563, 594, and 839 to 708 Otherwise, land-line prefixes wired from Chicago CO's will remain in 312 and those wired from suburban CO's currently in 312 will be in 708. David Tamkin P.O Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 | BIX: dattier dwtamkin@chinet.chi.il.us (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 | GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN Everyone on Chinet has his or her own opinion about this.| CIS: 73720,1570 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 13:35:46 est From: Thomas Lapp Subject: Some Residents Can't Beat the Rap Reply-To: mvac23!thomas@udel.edu From the Associated Press. It appeared in our Sunday paper here on Nov. 5: LOS ANGELES -- The heavy beat of rap music is resounding in two neighborhoods near a powerful radio transmitter, with songs like, "Wild Thing" following some residents even into the bathroom. "You can walk in my yard when it rains and hear 'rap, rap, rap' music on the chain link fence," said Tanya Busko, a 27-year resident of the affluent hillside community of Silver Lake, about 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. "It's awful. It's unbelievable. At night, it's unbearable," she said. Residents of Silver Lake and adjacent Echo Park grumble that KDAY-AM is too loud and even brags about the potency of its 50 000-watt signal. They cite promotional ads boasting that the station's rap music is everywhere -- "in cars, at the beach, in living rooms, even in the shower." KDAY President Edward J. Kerby said his station has broadcast from its 3 1/2-acre site for 24 years, focusing its signal toward downtown with a narrow beam that keeps it from interfering with other broadcasters. As a result, KDAY's rap music -- the format since 1982 -- can sometimes be heard as far away as Hawaii and Japan. Busko says no room in her house is free from the signal. "In the bathroom, you can hear it coming through the toilet plumbing," she said. "I can go in my bedroom, which has no appliances or radio, and hear the rap music coming from the wiring in the walls." Kerby said inexpensive, low-quality household electronics equipment act as makeshift radio receivers in residents' homes. He said the volume of complaints, roughly 250 a year, prompted the station to hire a technician to help mute unwanted signal reception. "Over in the artsy Silver Lake area, every time somebody puts in a new home recording studio, I can count on losing my guy for two or three days," Kerby said. Katherine Deaton, an official at the Federal Communication Commission's Long Beach office, said KDAY has been checked for illegal power boosting but none was found. Pacific Bell officials said they are fielding increasing complaints about rap music interference from telephone customers in the two neighborhoods. -- end of story as printed -- - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 09:20:11 -0800 From: "Louis J. Judice 05-Nov-1989 1211" Subject: Caller ID and Cellular Systems I wonder how/if Caller-ID and related service can/will be handled on cellular systems. My Novatel mobile phone certainly has the "ability" to display things, one would think that manufacturers could provide the intelligence in a cellular phone's logic to provide the proper decoding to support Caller-ID. Incidentally, I've often thought that a REALLY neat feature for cellular would be for cell-sites to transmit a bit of data on the control channel that could be decoded by phones such as: - Location of Cell Site - Area Code you're in - In-bound roamer access number Maybe in the next generation digital system??? Lou Judice Digital Equipment Corp. Piscataway, NJ 201-562-4103 PS: The C.O. adjacent to Peapack (Somerville/Bridgewater), now offers CLASS calling services, according to announcements included in bills this month. I am now trying to concince my freind to order it so I can play with it. ;) ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: A New Use For Caller-ID Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 14:32:27 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher It seems to me that a good use of CID would be answering services. At least in those {civilized} areas of the country without mandatory measured/metered service an option to an expensive OPX line to the service is call forwarding. The problem is, how does the service know who was being called? If they have a dedicated 'forward to' line for each client, costs go way up, and if not, they must resort to the "may I help you" bs typical of 800 order-takers. But if you made a simple software change (all software changes are simple--ask any hardware man :-} ) so the calls forwarded to the service showed the FORWARDING number, then the service could answer with "Dr Frankenstein's office" or such. A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 [Moderator's Note: Actually, a lot of the answering services here use a form of DID (direct inward dialing) to get the information. The service may have hundreds of numbers assigned to them which they hand out one by one to customers. They do *not* have a line for each number. Maybe they have only a couple dozen lines from the CO, along with a pair which functions sort of like a control pair. This control pair sends information about the caller, i.e. 'the call on pair 16 arrived in the CO looking for TRansylvania 6-8000. Then the answering service computer pulls that file and sees that TRansylvania 6-8000 is Drs. Jeckell and Frankenstein, Brain Surgeons. The computer then looks for an answering service position which is not busy, and puts the information about these gentlemen on the attendant's screen. It gets pair 16 inbound and hands it to the appropriate attendant who can then use the appropriate answer phrase. Assuming only a few subscribers are receiving calls at any given time, a handful of CO trunks can serve several hundred subscribers. You can get a block of numbers from telco without actual pairs to go along quite cheaply. Essentially the answering service has no idea who is being called until the CO tells them a call came in to a certain number; here it is on one of your common trunks; and the service looks up the record to see who would be getting calls on that particular CO number. And it takes less time than perhaps half of one ring to go from the CO to the answering service computer and on to the attendant's terminal. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 16:28:06 -0600 From: Bob von Borstel Subject: Caller ID in Chicago Being a fellow resident in Chicago, I'm curious. Does Illinois Bell support 'Caller-ID' now, if only un-officially? Meaning if I buy this AT&T Caller-ID box and hook it up to my phone will it work? Our house is served by the Mitchell CO which I think has a #5ESS. [Moderator's Note: The Mitchell CO? My, you *are* way out far south. I think Mitchell is a remote office served by Chicago-South Chicago. I dunno what you get there. Yes, IBT does 'support Caller-ID unofficially', meaning they use it in CO's thus equipped for their own purposes. I will pass this question to David Tamkin. Perhaps he knows a bit more about it than I, and can tell you what is what, re: Mitchell specifically and Chicago in general. PT] ------------------------------ From: David Lesher Subject: Unusual Subscriber Equipment Date: Sun, 5 Nov 89 14:19:39 EDT Reply-To: David Lesher The story from Larry Lippman about old equipment brings back memories. A friend of mine and I went to a hamfest about 10 years ago. He bought what looked to be a 55B 3A speakerphone control unit for $1.00. It wasn't. It said 51A on the back. Now JB and, between us, own or have seen a LOT of subscriber equipment. (Maybe not as much as Macy, but still a lot) We were baffled. We looked in every BSP we owned. We asked various friends elsewhere in the country. Nobody know anything. I finally gave up, and asked a fellow ham who worked for OBT (This was considered cheating, as they were the ENEMY ;_} ) about it. It took him several weeks, but he came up with a (xeroxed) BSP. It was, of course, the home interphone unit. It still works for JB's front door, with a t-1 element in the mailbox, inspired no doubt by Maxwell Smart. A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335 ------------------------------ From: "Richard H. Gumpertz" Subject: Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer Date: 6 Nov 89 03:45:49 GMT Reply-To: "Richard H. Gumpertz" Organization: Computer Problem Solving, Leawood, Kansas In article moncol!ben@princeton.edu (Bennett Broder) writes: >I understand that it is relatively simple to build an outboard device >to perform this functionality. The 'DAK' catalogue has one listed >called the 'phone slasher' selling for $9.90 + $2.00 shipping and >handling. This looks like a nice device, with led indicators to show >(I presume) which device is active. But, being a hobbiest by nature, >I would like to build one myself. >Does anyone have such as circuit that they have (successfully) built? I have purchased a few of the DAK devices. They are a clever device. For the best explanation of how they work, go to a local BIG library and get a copy of US Patent 4726048 -- it explains it in great detail along with several variations on the device. To sum things up, it includes a thyristor that is biased to fire when no other devices are on the line and drop out if another phone (without such a devioce) picks up. By using such a device on EACH phone in the house, it can be used as a mutual-exclusion device, allowing only the first phone to go off-hook access to the line. I use them with multiple modems on a single line -- they work great! =============================================================================== | Richard H. Gumpertz rhg%cpsolv@uunet.uu.NET -or- ...uunet!amgraf!cpsolv!rhg | | Computer Problem Solving, 8905 Mohawk Lane, Leawood, Kansas 66206-1749 | =============================================================================== ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #494 *****************************   Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 23:45:40 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #495 Message-ID: <8911062345.aa20590@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Nov 89 23:44:16 CST Volume 9 : Issue 495 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Danny Wilson) Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate (Jim Breen) Re: Time to "Disconnection" (Dave Horsfall) Re: PBX Use in Residences (Joe Talbot) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Mark Anderson) Re: T1 Test Equipment Info (Brian Woodroffe) Re: British TMA Convention (Jim Gottlieb) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Danny Wilson Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Date: 5 Nov 89 22:48:37 GMT Organization: IDACOM Electronics Ltd., Edmonton, Alta. In article well!peterd@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Peter Joseph Desnoyers) writes: # >In article gnu@toad.com (John # Gilmore) writes: # >>I am interested in hooking up SPARCstations over ISDN. The machine # >>comes standard with an ISDN terminal interface chip (the "sound" chip, # >>really an ISDN speakerphone chip). # Or does it have (as # implied above) no ISDN interface, but just a CODEC for sound input # that could be used in an ISDN system? From Sun's description, the chip is simply a CODEC (a dual channel analog/digital converter). The fact that this CODEC is the same one as used in a piece of ISDN equipment (the AT&T phone) is a red herring to imply some kind of ISDN compatibility. They could have chosen _any_ kind of A/D (almost) but having a common CODEC to an ISDN phone doesn't make an ISDN interface. (My decades old Apple II has the same kind of 7404 hex inverter as the latest CRAY XMP/S super computer -- my apple must be compatible In article , euatdt@euas11c05. ericsson.se (Torsten Dahlkvist) writes: > In article munnari!cit5.cit.oz.au! > jwb@uunet.uu.net (Jim Breen) writes: > >gnu@toad.com asks, of ISDN > >> The problem is data encoding; I > >> have seen no documentation of standard ways to encode data passing on > >> the 8000 byte/sec channel for IP. I have seen references to ways of > >> encoding e.g. 9600 baud async "RS232" traffic over ISDN, but I will be > >> talking ISDN-to-ISDN, so can use the full bandwidth. Rumor has it > >> that somebody had standardized bit-oriented protocols (HDLC) over ISDN > >> links, which is ridiculous since they are byte oriented links....... Most of the equipment development for ISDN today is slanted towards BOP's over the B-Channels for _data transmission_. Voice traffic has been standardized to use a frame-aligned coding scheme that is supported by standard CODEC chips. mu-law is used in Japan and North America, while A-law is used in the ROW (rest of world) Data transmission over the B-Channels is mostly X.25 at this point, however, _massive_ developments are underway in Japan for porting the Telematics protocols (CCITT T.series) to run. The obvious reason for this is not to run germany's infamous Teletex, but rather ISDN Group IV fax. These protocols are all bit oriented and use an HDLC subset as the layer 2 (what we are all talking about). Another interesting development I just heard about is a ISDN-based remote floppy disk copier: you put the disk in here, push a button, and it is transmitted over "there" over the ISDN. It is also based on a HDLC varient -- BOP. > >[...] there > >must NEVER be a standard protocol above Layer 1. ISDN is to be a > >bit-pipe service. > Aren't there ANY byte-oriented protocols around that could be used to > form a basis for a bytewise link over ISDN? There are obvious > advantages. I don't personally see the advantages to using a byte oriented procedure for this kind of communications... The most widespread byte-protocol, BSC3270 (bisync), is very much a dead horse - aside from being a pretty gross protocol. Other ASYNC based, byte protocols are really not that useful or widespread to support any kind of advantage over the BOP's. Danny Wilson danny@idacom.uucp IDACOM Electronics alberta!idacom!danny Edmonton, Alberta X.400 danny@idacom.cs.ubc.cdn C A N A D A Voice +1 403 462 4545 ------------------------------ From: jwb@cit5.cit.oz (Jim Breen) Subject: Re: TCP/IP over ISDN Basic Rate Organization: Chisholm Institute of Technology, Melb., Australia Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 21:52:32 GMT In article , coorg@dad.bgsu.edu (Giridhar Coorg) writes: > One of the major requirements of ISDN is the compatibility to CCITT # > 7 (a signalling specification) for inter CO signalling. This is so, but its not a problem that concerns users. The mapping between the ISDN signalling packet standard (I.450/1) and the ISDN User Part of CCS#7 (Q.700+) is messy, but fortunately an internal Telco problem. BTW, every time I look at the wierd link standard for CCS#7, I give thanks for LAPD, which is really just good old HDLC. Thank heavans CCS#7 was kept off the D channel. _______ Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics & /o\----\\ \O Digital Technology. Chisholm Inst. of Technology /RDT\ /|\ \/| -:O____/ PO Box 197 Caulfield East 3145 O-----O _/_\ /\ /\ (p) 03-573 2552 (fax) 572 1298 ------------------------------ From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Re: Time to "Disconnection" Date: 6 Nov 89 01:41:54 GMT Reply-To: Dave Horsfall Organization: Alcatel STC Australia, North Sydney, AUSTRALIA In article , westmark!dave@uunet.uu. net (Dave Levenson) writes: | If the calling | party goes on-hook, the call is disconnected (the called party is left | high-and-dry for about 20 seconds, and is then given dial tone). But | if the called party goes on hook, the call remains up for about 20 | seconds. If the called party goes back off hook during this "grace | period" the conversation may continue. I'm not sure this is | _universally_ true. It's certainly true in Australia anyway, and we ain't exactly at the forefront of technology. A handy way to continue the conversation away from screaming kids, spouse, pets etc :-) Note that in Oz, when the calling party hangs up, the callee just gets BEEP BEEP BEEP..... and NO eventual dial tone. Trivia time: it used to be a lark to call someone from a public phone, then walk away leaving the phone off-hook. Said callee was then denied service until the exchange got around to un-blocking it. 'Course, you had to find another phone to notify them... With the new AXE switches this is no longer true - the callee merely hangs up for a few seconds (20 I think) to clear the call. Ahh, the fun of stagger-by-stumble and cross-bar exchanges... Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave ------------------------------ Subject: Re: PBX Use in Residences Date: 6 Nov 89 01:42:41 PST (Mon) From: Joe Talbot PBX's are wonderful in the home! I use a Panasonic KX-T61610 (6 line x 16 stations) with a mix of Electronic display phones, 2500 sets, some strange phones (my Taiwaneese coin phone, my AT&T coin phone, a dialless "Prison" charge a call) and a cordless phone for backyard use. It's equipped with 4 "real" outside lines and two PBX stations from the other PBXs in the house, one Harris 110, and my prized Stromberg-Carlson XY "compact" (100 lines, 8 trunks). I have a Watson board in my XT clone that answers the phone, plays automated attendant/call screener transferring appropriate calls (emergencies) to my bedroom while sleeping. It also pages (through the phone speakers) reminder messages (Sunday 10PM "trash reminder") and does wake up calls. It also sets the day or night mode on the Panasonic so that the UNIX machine can start answering the 800 number at midnight and silence all of the ringers on that line.Even the door has a full duplex speaker that rings specific phones (even the answering machine!). The combination of the Panasonic and the Watson really solves all of my unusual communications needs. Panasonic also has a 3 line/8 station system (KX-T30810), and a 12 line/32 station system. The 61610 is around $650. Mine is loaded and a 1232 is in my future. joe@mojave I finally changed my dumb signiture. People were always telling me what a great signature I had. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Nov 89 23:27 -0800 From: Mark Anderson Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather yoram@link.cs.columbia.edu (Yoram Eisenstadter) writes: > For the price of listening to a brief ad at the beginning of the message, > you can get both the time and weather for the cost of a normal local call. Here in Vancouver, there is a free service called "In Touch" that seems to be a part of the Talking Yellow Pages. It offers local and national weather along with news, business and sports information, soap opera updates, local entertainment information, and community events. These recordings are accessed just like advertisers' Talking Yellow Pages messages, by dialing a local number and entering or speaking the appropriate 4-digit code. The service seems to be offered by the Dominion Directory Company Ltd., who publish the phone books and who run the TYP, I assume. I'm not sure how Dominion is related to B.C. Tel. (In general, how are directory-publishing companies related to phone companies?) The few In Touch numbers I've tried have no advertising at all, although one new Tourist Information service is apparently sponsored by a local tourist guide. Mark "Am I suspended in Gaffa?" ------------------------------ From: Brian Woodroffe Subject: Re: T1 Test Equipment Info Date: 6 Nov 89 11:53:07 GMT Organization: HP, Queensferry Telecomms (UK) Might I suggest the Hewlett-Packard 3787B digital data test set. The HP3787B covers testing at DS1, DS0 (A and B) and DS1C; it combines TX and RX in one box. I think it covers all your stated needs. Some idea of what it does can be gained from the HP catalogue entry, summarised :- Drop & Insert: (assuming suitable framing) An individual timeslot (64k or 56kbit/s) DDS, 2.4k, 4.8k, 9.6k, 19.2k and 56kbit/s primary and secondary channels (DS0A or DS0B). 4kbit/s Datalink (DS1-ESF) 4kbit/s Fs channel (DS1-Ft) 8kbit/s R channel (DS1-T1DM) Measurement Capability: Frequency: DS0 (64kbit/s), DS1 (1.544Mbit/s), DS1C (3.152Mbit/s). Framing: DS1(SF,ESF,T1DM & Ft only), DS1C and DS0B. Line codes: B8ZS, AMI. Error types: Logic (Binary), BPV, Frame Word, CRC-6 Word. Error results: Error count, Error Ratio, Error Seconds, Error Free Seconds, %Error Free Seconds. Error Analysis: %Availability, %Unavalability, %Severely Errored Seconds, %Error Seconds, %Degraded Minutes, Count Consecutive SES, Count SES, Count ES, Count Deg Min. Alarm Seconds: Instrument Power Loss Seconds, Signal Loss Seconds, AIS seconds, Frame Loss Seconds, Test Pattern Loss seconds. Frame Slips (Controlled): Duplicate frames == positive slips, deleted == neg. Protocol Analyser INterface: RS232 4-wire synchronous interface. DDS primary or secondary channels, ISDN 'B' & 'D' channels (64k, 56kbit/s), ESF datalink, T1DM R, or D4 Fs channel. DS1/DS1C signal voltage: Positive & Negative peak voltage. DS0 Bit Monitor: Selected received customer bytes. Signaling Bits: A,B (SF) or A,B,C,D (ESF) signalling bits can be set or displayed for a 56kbit/s circuit. Jitter measurement: (opt001): 0.00 to 10.0UI Filters: LP, HP1, HP2. Measurements: Hit Count, Hit Bit Count, Hit Bit Ratio, Hit Seconds, Hit Free Seconds. The HP3787B is available with an option to run from a DC supply. The HP3787B is fully programmable by either RS232 or HPIB (IEEE-488). The HP3787B incorporates a printer for logging of results. +--------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Brian Woodroffe | HPDESK: Brian Woodroffe/HP1400/B1 | | Hewlett Packard Ltd | ARPA: bww@hpsqf | | Queensferry Telecomms Division | bww%hpsqf@hplabs.hp.com | | South Queensferry | UUCP: ..!hplabs!hpqtdla!bww | | West Lothian | JANET: bww%hpqtdla@hpl.hp.co.uk | | Scotland EH30 9TG. | PHONE: +44-31-331-7234 | +--------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ Disclaimer: You are advised to check the specifications and applicability yourself. ------------------------------ From: Jim Gottlieb Subject: Re: British TMA Convention Date: 6 Nov 89 04:49:40 GMT Reply-To: Jim Gottlieb Organization: Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan In article K.Hopkins%computer- science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk writes: >Vallance said acquisition of the X.25 network Tymnet from McDonnell Douglas >in the US,... a 25% stake in Network Information Services in Japan will >pave the way for BT. >(Can people in the States tell us how big/important are Tymnet and McCaw >Cellular? These might be "nice little earners" for BT but are they >important companies? The same for NIS in Japan,... NIS is a major player (don't know if it's THE major player or not) in the packet-switching business here in Japan. They link up with Tymnet's system in the U.S. I don't have any sales figures, but I know that they are worried about future growth potential. Coincidentally, I met with their president about two weeks ago, and they are very worried that the availability of point-to-point digital connections (like ISDN) will eliminate the need for packet services. They are looking for new businesses to expand into, but at this time they rely solely on selling packet services. The intelligence of BT's investment will not be known for some time. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ or or Fax: (011)+81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: (011)+81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #495 *****************************   Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 0:38:55 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #496 Message-ID: <8911080038.aa17767@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 8 Nov 89 00:37:23 CST Volume 9 : Issue 496 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Zone Phone (Johnny Zweig) Dreams of the Phone System (Peter da Silva) Funny Incoming Calls, Fax? (Chris Schmandt) Music On Hold For Merlin (Gabe Wiener) Local Calls in the UK & Recovering STD Codes (Kevin Hopkins) The Daily Centrex Bummer (John Higdon) Re: Caller ID and Cellular Systems (Dave Levenson) Re: Caller ID and Cellular Systems (Gary Segal) Re: What Does NAM Mean? (W. T. Sykes) New Telecom Expansion List in Norway (TELECOM Moderator) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Johnny Zweig Subject: Zone Phone Reply-To: zweig@cs.uiuc.edu Organization: U of Illinois, CS Dept., Systems Research Group Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 19:35:32 GMT I saw on a TV show called "Byond Tomorrow" a bit about a product in England called a Zone Phone. Evidently the thin is cheap, portable, only capable of placing outgoing calls, and only works when within 100 meters of a base station (though according to the story, there are plenty of them around London so they come in handy). I guess the idea is to be a poor-man's cellular. It also mentioned that the technology was digital. Anyway, does anyone know more about Zone Phones? I am particulalrly interested in _how_ much cheaper they are than portable, and whether there are provisions for security (i.e. DES encryption of the outgoing PCM data would be slick, no?). -Johnny Curious ------------------------------ Subject: Dreams of the Phone System Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 7:12:53 CST From: Peter da Silva A respite from the NPA/ANI/COCOT/AOS flames... Last night I had a dream in which I was making a call from a pay phone. I stuck my credit card in the slot, and the dialtone was interrupted by a computer generated voice: "Mister , you have a message from . Please push 1 if you would like to take it now." The <> mark what sounded like sampled inserts. OK, you telecom futurists... when will this service be available? You better hurry... it was a 15-cent payphone. (aside: my subconscious is pretty trusting: it didn't even wait for me to enter any sort of ID code) `-_-' Peter da Silva . 'U` -------------- +1 713 274 5180. "*Real* wizards don't whine about how they paid their dues" -- Quentin Johnson quent@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu ------------------------------ From: Chris Schmandt Subject: Funny Incoming Calls, Fax? Date: 7 Nov 89 02:34:53 GMT Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA I got a funny call; or rather, 3 of them, today. Answer the line. Silence, beep, silence, beep. About once every 3 (4?) seconds. I figure its a fax or modem waiting for carrier (which I can't whistle!). But why the occaisional beeps? I seem to recall something about faxes identifying themselves as faxes? This repeated 3 times in a few minutes. On the third call I got wise and transferred the call to our fax number. But when I went to the machine, nothing had come out. Any ideas? chris ------------------------------ From: Gabe Wiener Subject: Music On Hold For Merlin Reply-To: Gabe Wiener Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 23:30:17 GMT Hey folks. I just had a Merlin Plus system put in and I have one technical question that neither the AT&T installer nor the 800 "customer service" # could answer. For the Music-On-Hold input, what kind of signal level does it expect? Does it want a line-level signal such as that which comes right out of a tuner? Or does it want an amplified speaker-level signal? Thanks, Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ. "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings gabe@ctr.columbia.edu to be seriously considered as a means of gmw1@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu communication. The device is inherently of 72355.1226@compuserve.com no value to us." -Western Union memo, 1877 ------------------------------ Subject: Local Calls in the UK & Recovering STD Codes Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Tue, 07 Nov 89 17:46:19 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins In the UK most calls, if not all, within your STD (area) code are classed as local, but there is no easy way to determine which other calls are also classed as local. A few years ago most local calls used a special local code (usually starting with a 9) instead of the STD code, so that helped. This method has been scrapped in the larger metropolitan areas and is being phased out in other areas, so as to free up codes for new exchanges. As an example, here in Nottingham (STD 0602) the local call area consists of all calls to 0331, 0332, 0509, 0602, 0607, 0623, 0636, 0664, 0773 and 0949 numbers. Calls to 0331, 0607, 0623, 0636, 0773 and 0949 need a local code, and will not connect with the STD code (at my last attempt), whilst some calls to 0509 need the local code - but not all. Easy to remember, no. All calls in the UK are measured in units, including local calls. A unit is 4.4p (5.06p including VAT) and the amount of time you get for your unit varies with distance of the call and the time of day during which you place your call. Also BT are phasing out the least populous STD codes and placing their subscribers on the exchanges in the nearest large town, so as to recover some spare STD codes. Thus 0331 STD code is being phased out and 0332 used instead of it in the Derby area, and in Nottingham 0607 STD code is being phased out and 0602 used instead. The 0331 and 0607 codes seem to serve the outlying districts of the above towns. Here's the list I have (some place names approximate): 0221 becomes 0225 (Bath) 0605 becomes 0603 (Norwich) 0230 0234 (Bedford) 0607 0602 (Nottingham) 0231 0232 (Belfast) 0657 0229 (Barrow-in-Furness) 0240 0494 (Amersham) 0660 0434 (Hexham) 0251 0252 (Aldershot) 0696 0430 (Market Weighton) 0275 0272 (Bristol) 0701 0705 (Portsmouth) 0281 0753 (Slough) 0735 0734 (Wokingham) 0321 0323 (Eastbourne) 0755 0752 (Plymouth) 0331 0332 (Derby) 0774 0772 (Preston) 0336 0975 (Strathdon) 0781 0782 (Stoke-on-Trent) 0338 0339 (Braemar) 0791 0273 (Brighton) 0391 0253 (Blackpool) 0804 0803 (Torquay) 0402 0708 (Romford) 0826 0382 (Dundee) 0421 0703 (Southampton) 0838 0631 (Oban) 0441 0792 (Swansea) 0853 0768 (Penrith) 0448 0539 (Kendal) 0867 0865 (Oxford) 0486 0483 (Guildford) 0906 0903 (Worthing) 0498 0434 (Hexham) 0907 0902 (Wolverhampton) 0537 0533 (Leicester) 0927 0923 (Watford) 0541 0387 (Dumfries) 0930 0768 (Penrith) 0566 0822 (Tavistock) 0940 0946 (Whitehaven) 0587 0539 (Kendal) 0965 0697 (Aspatria) 0596 0768 (Penrith) 0966 0539 (Kendal) 0601 0604 (Northampton) 0990 0276 (Camberley) and 0344 (Bracknell) Also, the following are unused STD codes in the UK, according to the BT Phone Book. I know that 0831 is used for something, though I know not what (BT paging ?). Can anyone help me with that code, and any of the others that are used. The will most likely be used for special services such as pagers rather than as true area codes. 0201, 0374, 0385, 0390, 0401, 0426, 0447, 0459, 0500, 0552, 0585, 0589, 0632, 0640, 0645, 0649, 0682, 0739, 0741, 0783, 0802, 0831, 0839, 0850, 0881, 0891, 0893, 0894, 0897, 0901, 0921, 0941, 0956, 0958, 0961, 0973, 0976, 0979, 0987, 0996, 0998 and 0999 +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: John Higdon Subject: The Daily Centrex Bummer Date: 7 Nov 89 23:59:41 GMT Organization: Green Hills and Cows As those of you outside the Bay Area may not be aware, we have had aftershocks from the Loma Prieta quake almost daily. And after each one, dial tone is very slow. A while back, I mentioned that right after the "big one", my Centrex-using friends were out of luck for two days while the CO was restored. In a moderator's note, Patrick mentioned that an earthquake was a rare enough occurance that one would have to consider Centrex to be generally reliable. Well, I just got a follow-up call. It seems that after every single one of these "major" aftershocks, dialtone disappears for about an hour. This means no calls to the front desk, no calls to the mailroom, not even activation/deactivation of forwarding or features. I suspect that this particular customer is going to be having some serious conversations with Pac*Bell about "the most reliable business phone system in the world". Still think that Centrex is so reliable/wonderful? John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! ------------------------------ From: Dave Levenson Subject: Re: Caller ID and Cellular Systems Date: 7 Nov 89 03:42:24 GMT Organization: Westmark, Inc., Warren, NJ, USA In article , judice@kyoa.enet.dec. com (Louis J. Judice 05-Nov-1989 1211) writes: > I wonder how/if Caller-ID and related service can/will be handled on > cellular systems. My Novatel mobile phone certainly has the "ability" > to display things, one would think that manufacturers could provide > the intelligence in a cellular phone's logic to provide the proper > decoding to support Caller-ID. Here here!!! I think that's an excellent use for Caller*ID. This is because on a cellular phone, a large part of the cost of the incoming call is paid by the recipient of the call, and only if the call is answered. When the phone rings in my car, I sometimes wonder who is calling -- it's often a wrong number, and it often costs me about 55c to find that out. Unfortunately, however, the cellular companies apparently use DID trunks into their switch from the C.O. and the current CLASS services are only available on standard loop-start and ground-start trunks. The ring power that is present on these trunks during incoming call alerting is what triggers the Call Identifier box to enable its modem. On DID trunks, there is no ring power applied, so some other kind of signalling would be needed. When the technology is available, though, I'd pay extra for a cellular phone that provides a Caller*ID display, and even trade in my present phone (also a Novatel) that doesn't! Dave Levenson Voice: (201) 647 0900 Westmark, Inc. Internet: dave@westmark.uu.net Warren, NJ, USA UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave [The Man in the Mooney] AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Gary Segal Subject: Re: Caller ID and Cellular Systems Date: 7 Nov 89 16:31:44 GMT Organization: Motorola INC., Cellular Infrastructure Division judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (Louis J. Judice 05-Nov-1989 1211) writes: >Incidentally, I've often thought that a REALLY neat feature for >cellular would be for cell-sites to transmit a bit of data on the >control channel that could be decoded by phones such as: > - Location of Cell Site > - Area Code you're in > - In-bound roamer access number >Maybe in the next generation digital system??? Actually, the phone does know which cell site it is on, but only as a channel number. Since each channel is used only on one cell within a given reuse pattern, it's not to hard to figure out which cell the phone is on. Of course, you need to have access to the channel allocations that the service provider uses, as well as the locations of the cells. Which is not something easily obtained. Note that which cell your phone is one it not nessecarly the cell the phone is IN. Because of all those fun radio effects such as multi-path reflections and Ralyeigh fading, a base station that is actually further from the phone may have a BETTER signal, which would cause the network to switch the phone to that base. Of course a downtown area with lots of tall building is going to have lots of bizzare radio effects. In addition, cell size varies widely depending on the anticipated traffic density of the area. Therefore when you are driving allong I-94 in downtown Chicago, you may change cells every 0.5 mile (an hour drive :-), but outside of the city cell size is much larger. Add to this confusion the fact that in an active market, new cell sites are being added rather frequently to increase system capacity. (Just last month, Ameritech added another switch to double overall system capacity. To bad it wasn't a Motorola switch :-( ) What this all boils down to is that phone location can be estimated, but accuracy depends on the size of the cell it is in as well as the current radio conditions. If you really need to know where you are, your better off with a satellite based positioning system :-) Gary Segal @ Motorla C.I.D. 1501 W. Shure Drive ...!uunet!motcid!segal Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Disclaimer: The above is all my fault. +708 632-2354 ------------------------------ From: W T Sykes Subject: Re: What Does NAM Mean? Date: 6 Nov 89 14:07:33 GMT Reply-To: wts@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (wts) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories In article val!ben@cs.utexas.edu (Ben Thornton) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 491, message 11 of 11 >A friend asked me recently if I knew what the acronym NAM means in the >context of telecommunications. Can anyone hazard a guess on this one? NAM - often means "National Account Manager" in AT&T parlance. William T. Sykes AT&T Bell Laboratories Burlington, NC att!winken!wts ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 23:42:15 CST From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: New Telecom Expansion List in Norway Effective as of today, readers of TELECOM Digest in Norway will be serviced from a new expansion list maintained by Erik T. Naggum. A copy of each Digest is forwarded to the gateway there, and is re-distributed to anyone who asks to be added to the list. For more information on receiving TELECOM Digest at a site in Norway contact: Erik T. Naggum And my thanks to Mr. Naggum for making this arrangement possible. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #496 *****************************   Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 1:34:34 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #497 Message-ID: <8911080134.aa29891@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Wed, 8 Nov 89 01:33:28 CST Volume 9 : Issue 497 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Caller ID in Chicago (David W. Tamkin) Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Linc Madison) Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Brandon S. Allbery) Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer (Linc Madison) Re: NYC Time and Weather (Scott D. Green) Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco (David Lewis) Re: The Hottest Answering Machine (John Tsang) Re: Caller ID Device (Dave Hsu) Re: PBX Use in Residences (Dave Speed) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (David L Kindred) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Caller ID in Chicago Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 10:43:16 CST From: "David W. Tamkin" Bob von Borstel wrote in volume 9, issue 494: | Being a fellow resident in Chicago, I'm curious. Does Illinois Bell | support 'Caller-ID' now, if only un-officially? Meaning if I buy | this AT&T Caller-ID box and hook it up to my phone will it work? | Our house is served by the Mitchell CO which I think has a #5ESS. Patrick Townson replied: | [Moderator's Note: The Mitchell CO? My, you *are* way out far south. | I think Mitchell is a remote office served by Chicago-South Chicago. I | dunno what you get there. Yes, IBT does 'support Caller-ID | unofficially', meaning they use it in CO's thus equipped for their own | purposes. I will pass this question to David Tamkin. Perhaps he knows | a bit more about it than I, and can tell you what is what, re: | Mitchell specifically and Chicago in general. PT] It baffles me that Pat would think I'd know, but here is what I can tell you. Chicago-Mitchell is a CO in the southeasternmost part of the city, opposite corner from Newcastle (where I live). Its only prefix is MItchell 6, and it serves roughly the Hegewisch area (southeast of Lake Calumet), the only part of Chicago where the earth is legally round, just past the area where pigeons are forbidden to fly under criminal penalty. Until 1954 or 1955 the area was served from the Chicago-South Chicago CO. Then the area was cut to the newly opened Mitchell office and all phone numbers there changed to the MItchell 6 prefix. The two districts together make up Chicago Zone 9. Illinois Bell has been providing caller ID on calls to 0perator and to 911 for several years, and on calls to their service representatives for business customers. I don't think that they've been including the information in regular subscriber-to-subscriber calls. My guess is that the box wouldn't work yet in Mitchell. You might want to try one out in Summit, however, where Ameritech is doing some experimenting. David W. Tamkin dattier@jolnet.orpk.il.us ...!attctc!jolnet!dattier P. O. Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 BIX: dattier GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 The opinions above are mine. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 02:43:10 PST From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article Dave Horsfall writes: >In article > dan@sics.se (Dan Sahlin) writes: >| As I understand it, "011" is used as the international prefix in the >| US, whereas the international recommendation is "00". Are there some >| other numbers starting with 00 preventing it to be used as >| international prefix? >For starters, Australia uses 000 as the emergency number (like 911 in >USA and 999 in GB). ^^^ >Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz.AU >dave%stcns3.stc.oz.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.AU!dave Oy! I found that surprising, since in Australia the digit to dial for calls outside a Centrex or similar system is "0" instead of "9" in U.S. Thus, a call to the U.S. from an Australian Centrex is 0-0011-1-etc. To then have "000" as emergency seems it could have high potential for misdials. "Emergency? No, I'm trying to reach France!" Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: "Brandon S. Allbery" Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Reply-To: "Brandon S. Allbery" Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 18:05:52 GMT I just saw an AT&T ad in USN&WR that claimed that "00" is international directory assistance. ++Brandon -=> Brandon S. Allbery @ telotech, inc. (I do not speak for telotech.) <=- Any comp.sources.misc postings sent to this address will be DISCARDED -- use allbery@uunet.UU.NET instead. My boss doesn't pay me to moderate newsgroups. ** allbery@NCoast.ORG ** uunet!hal.cwru.edu!ncoast!{allbery,telotech!bsa} ** ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 03:05:39 PST From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer Organization: University of California, Berkeley In article Richard Gumpertz writes: >>Does anyone have such as circuit that they have (successfully) built? >I have purchased a few of the DAK devices. They are a clever device. >To sum things up, it includes a thyristor that is biased to fire when >no other devices are on the line and drop out if another phone >(without such a devioce) picks up. By using such a device on EACH >phone in the house, it can be used as a mutual-exclusion device, >allowing only the first phone to go off-hook access to the line. I >use them with multiple modems on a single line -- they work great! I bought two of them, even though my phone line has a single jack. I have them in cascading precedence order: the answering machine picks up if nothing else is on the line. If I pick up my phone, that knocks the answering machine off-line (otherwise I would have to manually kill the machine before it would let me have the line). Lastly, if I am using the modem and thoughtlessly pick up or kick over my telephone, I don't lose the modem connection. The modem goes into the high priority slot of the first box, and then the second box goes into the low priority slot of the first. The second box then has phone and answering machine, respectively, on high and low ("phone" and "ans" as labelled). (I tried to make a diagram, but vi won't cooperate.) No more fumbling for the stupid machine if I pick up on the 4.00001st ring, and no more tearing my hair out because I knocked the phone over in the middle of a 300K file transfer. One other thing about the device I bought (called "Message Stopper"). I opened it up, and it looked like would work only on the primary line of a two-line jack. Linc Madison = rmadison@euler.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 10:08 EDT From: "Scott D. Green" Subject: Re: NYC Time and Weather Both free in Philly, just like you remembered it: TIme 6-1212 WEather 6-1212. Both from Bella PA, time seems to be pretty darn close to what it should be; the weather is NWS, updated hourly. ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco Date: 7 Nov 89 15:28:19 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) writes: > A large CENTREX system is often ACTUALLY implemented by the phone > company installing a PBX on the customer's premises. In such a case, > they may also serve some other customers out of that switch but with a > software "firewall" preventing use of the centrex features for the > ordinary subscriber lines. Such a phone-company owned "PBX" (I put it > in quotes, because being phone-company-owned, it is not "private") is > called a TANDEM switch. Um, no it's not. A tandem switch is a switch which is used "in tandem" with two other switches to connect a call. To try to explain... You pick up your phone and dial 765-4321. The switch that your phone is connected to analyzes the number and determines that the exchange 765 is not one it directly serves -- the phone at 765-4321 is connected to some other switch somewhere else. The switch then goes to a "routing table", basically a lookup table. It finds the exchange 765, and an associated "trunk group" -- a set of trunks (wires, or coaxial cables, or fiber optic cables, or digital microwave links, or whatever) which run from "your" switch to another switch. In some cases, the routing is such that there is a direct trunk link between your switch and the switch which serves the 765 exchange. If so, the trunk group found in the routing table will be one corresponding to that direct link, and your call will be sent over that direct trunk group. This is the case if there's a large volume of traffic between the two switches. In other cases, there is no direct link between the two switch. In this case, the call will be sent to a switch which is, in some sense, a "hub" -- it has trunk links to a large number of local switches. This switch will examine the 765 exchange in its routing table, and route the call to the proper local exchange. This second switch, the "hub", if you will, therefore works "in tandem" with the other two switches -- the source and destination end offices -- to complete the call. It's therefore known as a tandem switch. (I could get into a discussion of Class 5 Offices and Class 4 Offices and Heirarchical versus Non-Heirarchical Routing and Access Tandems, but that would just unduly confuse the issue... :-)) Meanwhile, back at the main thread... A phone company has a number of options for providing a large Centrex customer with service. They may, in some cases, locate a switch on the customer premises. It's not usually a PBX, more often a CO switch, but the lines between the two are blurring sufficiently that it's not a distinction worth making -- save to say that a CO switch often has more stringent availability requirements, and therefore often (*though not always*) is more reliable. Another approach often used, instead of running 7000 wire pairs, is to locate a Remote Switching Unit, or RSU, on the customer premises. An RSU is a "module" of a central office switch which has a control link and a transport link to the main switch. The control link is essentially an extension of the switch control bus, usually running over fiber these days; the transport link is a high-capacity fiber link. The RSU isn't a switch in that it has no standalone "intelligence", instead being directly controlled by the central processor in the main switch, but it has a switch fabric which can connect two lines which both subtend it or can route a call to the main switch for further routing. This reduces the need for cable plant to a remote location. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 06:57:29-1000 From: John Tsang Subject: Re: The Hottest Answering Machine Reply-To: John Tsang Organization: University of Hawaii In article mdf0%shemesh@gte.com (Mark Feblowitz) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 491, message 8 of 11 >In article cy@pnet51.orb.mn.org >(Cyril Bauer) writes: >> I would sugest the Panasonic unit. I have tried a few and the easiest >> and most reliable I have found is the Panasonic. They make models >> that do most everthing that you could possibly want to do. Take your >> pick, they work. >I second that strongly: 5 years ago, the 3-family in which my sister >rented an apartment burned. Her apartment was on the first floor and >suffered substantial water and smoke damage. Her 3 year old Panasonia I also strongly agree particularly to the fact that they have a lot of features: (If I don't remember incorrectly) the KT-1427 or some higher model # has almost all kinds of things and remote control you can think of -- including Remote Room Monitor -- however, only bad thing are the outgoing message seemingly is too short of 1/2 min., which may not be enough for business operation announcement of operation hours and introduction, and, the annoying beep during 2-Side-Conversation- Recording. But, there should be much more new models now? Anyone knows any better one -- for business or for home use? (I need to get one for my restaurant and one at home ASAP.) ------------------------------ From: hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) Subject: Re: Caller ID Device Reply-To: hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) Organization: Merriversity of Uniland, College Purgatory Date: Tue, 7 Nov 89 20:38:00 GMT In article hsu@eng.umd.edu (Dave "bd" Hsu) writes: >Caller ID goes into operation in my area ... Thursday, October 2. >[Moderator's Note: If it started October 2, I assume you have signed >up? Can you give us any specifics of how it works in your application? Duhhhh. I meant to say *November* 2. Dave Hsu UMd EE Computer Facility hsu@eng.umd.edu "When a man with a katana meets a man with a [GAU-8] Avenger, the man with the katana dies." - Samurai Cat [Moderator's Note: Well in any event, have you signed up? Please give us all the details. PT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: PBX Use in Residences Date: 7 Nov 89 15:37:59 PST (Tue) From: Dave Speed Patrick - Where might these be available from ? Any *used* units avail ? Would they handle a Telebit ? David L. Speed - warp speed inc ; data purveyors since 1989 << When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. >> (known universe) !ames!pacbell!sactoh0!dspeed or dspeed @well.uucp 8908 Van Gogh Circle, Fair Oaks, CA 95628 BELL: (916) 863-7226 Attn: this message is CopyLeft 1989 : %include standard disclaimer [Moderator's Note: Sorry to say, I don't have any of the paperwork from my old Melco 212 system around here. They are (were) in Washington State. But Mitel makes the same thing. If someone has the address of Mitel or Melco, please mail it to Mr. Speed. PT] ------------------------------ From: "David L Kindred (Dave" Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Date: 8 Nov 89 00:28:25 GMT Organization: Telesciences CO Systems, Inc. In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: In article , c152-ft@cory.berkeley. edu (Steve Forrette) writes: > I have a rear-window capacitive-mount antenna for my cellular phone, > and the instructions that came with it stated that people should keep > all parts of themselves at least 6 inches from the antenna whenever > the phone was in use! My $.02 -- is the through glass antenna warning because of harm to a person sitting too close, or because the inherent equivalent circuit of the human body would interfere with the through glass coupling?? EMail: kindred@telesci.UUCP (...!princeton!telesci!kindred) Phone: +1 609 866 1000 x222 Snail: TeleSciences C O Systems, 351 New Albany Rd, Moorestown, NJ 08057-1177 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #497 *****************************   Date: Thu, 9 Nov 89 0:18:47 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #498 Message-ID: <8911090018.aa19863@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 9 Nov 89 00:18:11 CST Volume 9 : Issue 498 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Time to "Disconnection" (Al L. Varney) Caller ID On My FAX Machine? (Richard P. Gruen) KERMIT Problem Response Summary (Terence J. McKiernan) Need E-Mail Information for Michelin (Mathew Zank) Televideo 925 Terminal User's Manual (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: varney@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (Al Varney) Subject: Re: Time to "Disconnection" Date: 6 Nov 89 21:04:19 GMT Reply-To: varney@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Al Varney) Organization: AT&T Network Systems In article judice@kyoa.enet.dec.com (Louis J. Judice) writes: >I never realized this until it was demonstrated to me, but at least in >NJ on the Peapack Central Office, if you call person "A", person "A" >can hang up, and pick up their phone up to about 15 seconds later >without disconnecting "B". This is without any phone features, etc. >If the calling party hangs up, of course the conversation is over. I >also suspect that if the "called-party" is on a PBX, etc., that this >"grace period" is not given. >What is this, why does it exist? It is "dependable" or just a fluke? >Is the 15 second limit a standard of some sort? See "DISCONNECT" below: And in article , westmark!dave@uunet. uu.net (Dave Levenson, 1 Nov 89) writes: >This is generally true throughout NJ Bell territory. If the calling >party goes on-hook, the call is disconnected (the called party is left >high-and-dry for about 20 seconds, and is then given dial tone). But >if the called party goes on hook, the call remains up for about 20 >seconds. If the called party goes back off hook during this "grace >period" the conversation may continue. I'm not sure this is >_universally_ true. It is certainly not true where the called party >is behind PBX, unless the PBX implements the same "grace period" >feature. DISCONNECT: change from off-hook to on-hook that persists beyond a prescribed time limit and can last indefinitely thereafter. (Bellcore LSSGR,6.3.5.2) But you want details? OK. "True" disconnect (no Flash allowed): 0-200 ms Hit { "false" disconnect?} 200-400 ms Hit or disconnect {each switch draws the line within this range} > 400 ms TRUE Disconnect Disconnect (Flash allowed - e.g., line has 3-way calling) 0-200 ms Hit 200-300 ms Hit or Flash 300-1100 ms Flash 1100-1550ms Flash or disconnect > 1550ms TRUE Disconnect These apply to caller and called parties. When CALLER disconnects, the CALLED party gets no dial tone for 10-12 seconds because, in most cases, they don't want to make another call. Good switch design tries to give dial tone to the lines most likely to be able to complete a call. Most of the time the CALLED party doesn't disconnect right away, the party either missed the switch-hook or is still scribbling down the message, etc. When CALLED party disconnects first, a 10-12 second "timed-release" period starts. The connection to the CALLER remains, such that a CALLED party off-hook will result in a stable talking connection again. Why? Don't know, but a good guess is historical. The party answering might answer, realize it's for another household/business associate, hang up and yell for them to answer their extension. Alternatively, the answering party could hang up and run to another extension. The reason could also be related to false disconnects when operators dropped off or bridged on to TOLL or COIN calls via switchboards. For old-timers, the term DISCONNECT applied to only the CALLER and the term HANG-UP was reserved for the CALLED party. For inter-office trunks: 0-150 ms Hit {in talking state, shorter in other states} 150-500 ms Hit or disconnect > 500 ms Disconnect The above is a condensation and re-write of information in the Bellcore LSSGR, TR-TSY-000506, a Module of TR-TSY-000064; the AT&T Practice 781-030-100, "Notes on Distance Dialing", Iss. 1, 1975, later called "Notes on the Network" and then re-titled/edited as "Notes on the Intra- LATA Network" by Bellcore after you-know-what. PLEASE don't design any equipment or program based on the above information. BUY Bellcore's documents (and AT&T's, if they apply). I've left out 4 pages of exceptions, extensions and special cases that will allow you to almost work in the real world, but not quite. And finally, in , lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen, 3 Nov 89) reads: >In article > MJB8949@ritvax.bitnet (Nutsy Fagen) writes: >> In a relatively simple manner, could someone explain how a >>local telco communicates with a PABX in terms of incoming/outgoing >>phone numbers? .... and he (lars) writes: > ANI (Automatic Number Identification) ... On an outgoing call, > the PBX tells the CO which extension the call came from. > ... a phone-company owned "PBX" (I put it in quotes, because being > phone-company-owned, it is not "private") is called a TANDEM switch. In #1/1A ESS(tm), it's called CENTREX-CU [CUstomer premises, vs. the more "normal" CENTREX-CO [Central Office]. It's still mostly a class-5 switch, just on non-TELCO property. One of the major differences between the PBX ANI (used to be called AIOD-Automatic Identified Outward Dialing(?)) and REAL ANI (sent only between Central Offices and other TELCO equipment) is the PBX could be slow or broken or just plain lie! The older AIOD data link basically indicated the low-order digits of the last outgoing call -- too many calls at once and the "last" call and associated digits could be confused. It's major purpose is in generating Call Detail records for the PBX customer: The AMA Billing still goes to the designated Billing Address for the PBX. Most "modern" PBXs generate Call Detail records locally, along with more data than most administrators could possibly use. (This applies to switches also.) > A PABX (Private Automatic Branch eXchange) is a smaller version of > what the phone company has in the central office. .... #small flames Common misconception; a PBX/PABX is not a central office switch stripped- down. PABXs don't follow most of the rules of central offices (like the DISCONNECT stuff above) and almost none of the rules of trunking. Each vendor can do as they please as long as the customer is happy and the TELCO (or by-pass carrier) doesn't object. The rules in the LSSGR, etc. are there for a reason (too bad Bellcore doesn't give the reasons), and many of the reasons are there because of Operator/Emergency Services, TOLL requirements, outside plant facilities, CAMA, AIS and a requirement to be compatible with things that exist in only a few places (and in requirements). If PABXs could operate with minimum customer complaints, accurate Call Records and maximum reliability in the real world of backhoe fade, lightning, open wire facilities, digital facilities that fail and fade Off-hook, cheap phones /answering machines/ modems/other PBXs, EMR, foreign voltages, abusive customers, World Series overloads, two-party lines, 8-party lines, cord boards, COIN lines, earthquakes, heat, humidity, dry heat, cold and non-stop operation, maybe they would approach a central office in capabilities, even if they don't have the size to support 90,000 lines. #flames off Sorry, I realize PABXs are complex and do some things a central office would have a hard time doing (including meeting the National Electric Code), but all those standards for REAL switches aren't in there just to fill space. One MAJOR casualty of divestiture is the knowledge base that knew WHY the specs said a particular thing. Al Varney, AT&T Network Systems, CCS7 Network Services Customer Support, Lisle, IL This note and I are NOT official spokespersons for AT&T ------------------------------ Date: Mon 6 Nov 89 14:34:44-PST From: "Richard P. Gruen" Subject: Caller ID On My FAX Machine? My FAX machine (a Murata M1200) reports on the last 20 calls, be they transmit or receive, placed or received. There's a space in the call log for "Location" which in about a third of the cases shows a ten-digit phone number. This is true for local calls which I dial with 7-digit numbers; for intra-LATA 10-digit calls; for genuine long distance calls (although if I dial a leading 1, the log doesn't show it); and even a 10-digit translation of the telephone number i reached after i used an 800 number which showed the actual area code and phone number instead of the 800 number. I've gotten a number back even when the other party's header line (the one with their time and date and logo) didn't have an included FAX number. So the question is, am i seeing Caller ID, or is there some part of the G3 FAX protocol which provides these numbers? If it's caller ID, can I suppress it? [Moderator's Note: I think what you are seeing is simply the phone number programmed into the handshaking routine on the other modem. This is just whatever the other party decides to put in there. We have the same thing on the faxes in our office. You could as easily program the phrase '000-000-0000 Not Your Business, Inc' in there as you could give the true phone number and your company name. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 10:12:16 PST From: "Terence J. McKiernan" Subject: KERMIT Problem Response Summary Light at the end of the tunnel for those of us who live in a KERMIT-only world: ... A few weeks ago I posted a plea for help with a KERMIT script problem. I was trying to cycle a remote port up to the proper connect speed by sending breaks. I was trying to send \Kbreaks, which was wrong because \Kbreak is a KERMIT verb, not a character. \B was the proper output character, as pointed out by Eric Boehm in Albany. Thanks, Eric! Here is a summary of responses. Thanks to all who wrote in. Terry McKiernan terry@math.ucla.edu ---------- From emb978@leah.Albany.EDU Wed Nov 1 11:23:40 1989 Here's a script fragment that I use to cycle a data switch: :LOOP PAUSE 1 INPUT 1 login: IF FAILURE OUTPUT \B REINPUT login: IF FAILURE GOTO LOOP Eric M. Boehm EMB978@leah.Albany.EDU EMB978@ALBNYVMS.BITNET ---------- From dg%lakart.UUCP@XAIT.Xerox.COM Thu Nov 2 09:22:05 1989 One suggestion to try (yes, it's a hack, but hey... if it works) If you can, do the following: Change the baud rate to the lowest available (75 is preferable, but 300 might just cut it), and send a NUL ('\0') character. That may look like a break to the getty on the SUN - it works for our Integrated Solutions BSD4.3 system. Of course, it goes without saying that you change it back after sending it. :-) Yours, dg@lakart.UUCP - David Goodenough +---+ IHS | +-+-+ ....... !harvard!xait!lakart!dg +-+-+ | AKA: dg%lakart.uucp@xait.xerox.com +---+ ---------- From thomas@mvac23.uucp Thu Nov 2 14:50:54 1989 Have you tried sending this problem to the Kermit Distribution folks at Columbia University? They may have an answer for you or may send the question on to the author of C/kermit who might have an answer. Let me know if you don't have an address. I can come up with the address of the Kermit-Digest which answers questions just like yours. - tom internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? ---------- From mcohen@BRL.MIL Mon Nov 6 10:55:52 1989 Thank you for the information. We have a similar configuration to yours - but ours has a Gandalf PACX (a digital switch) between the modem and host mini. We can't use 2400 bps speed even though everything is capable of it. The powers don't choose to set up the configuration files for it yet. You can program a break for any length of time (at lease in kermit). Some terminal emulators have two breaks (like the vt100): short and long. Short is .232 sec and long is 3.5 sec according to the manual for our vt100 lookalike terminal. Break is defined as "the space state" as in mark/space to define the bits in a character. I think the rest state for the line is mark. You can get a very short break for some purposes by typing a null character (eg ^@). Well that's the end of my expertise. Good luck. Marty Cohen mcohen@brl.mil {uunet|rutgers}!brl!mcohen Custom House Rm 800, Phila. PA 19106 (215)597-8377 ------------------------------ From: Mathew Zank Subject: Need E-Mail Information for Michelin Date: 8 Nov 89 05:08:14 GMT Organization: NetCom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 997-9175} Can anyone send me the Telex number for the Michelin Company in France. A Fax number can do also. [Moderator's Note: Have you consulted the Telex Directory and/or telex directory assistance? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 18:58:29 PST From: "Jeffrey M. Schweiger X2502" Subject: Televideo 925 Terminal User's Manual I have a friend who is trying to use a Televideo 925 terminal with a 2400 bps modem to access a Defense Data Network (DDN) Terminal Access Controller (TAC) node running at 1200 bps. The terminal is presently set for 2400bps operation. She needs to reset the terminal's dip switches to allow 1200bps operation, but has misplaced the user's manual. She received a 'brush off' when calling Televideo's customer service, and we have been unable to locate a Televideo 925 User's Manual around here. We'd appreciate it if any comp.dcom.telecom readers could be of help in locating such a manual. Thanks, Jeff Schweiger (schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #498 *****************************   Date: Thu, 9 Nov 89 1:51:28 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #499 Message-ID: <8911090151.aa12712@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 9 Nov 89 01:50:59 CST Volume 9 : Issue 499 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Chicago Cellular Prefixes and the 312/708 Split (John R. Covert) Re: Chicago Cellular Prefixes and the 312/708 Split (David Tamkin) Small PBXs (Larry Rachman) D4 Channel Banks (Doug Faunt) T1 vrs. T2; and Info (Lance Ellinghouse) Re: Cheap Cellular Phones (Thomas E. Lowe) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 14:53:08 -0800 From: "John R. Covert 06-Nov-1989 0932" Subject: Chicago Cellular Prefixes and the 312/708 Split I just talked to both Chicagoland cellular providers, and got the following information: Ameritech currently has the following Chicago (312) prefixes: 415 909 914* 805 802 718 [Summit, see below.] These, of course, remain 312. The following Ameritech prefixes will remain in area code 312, although they are in suburban rate centers: 550 (LaGrange), 590 (Arlington Heights), 502, 919 (Northbrook) For one year, they will still have suburban rate centers. At the end of that time they will be changed to Chicago rate centers. Ameritech customers who would like to keep suburban rate centers may change their numbers to 708-710 (LaGrange) or 708-370 (Northbrook). Cellular One has a "area-code split hotline" which required me to wait ten minutes. Then the person really didn't want to give me a list of prefixes. She told me that all of their prefixes are Schaumburg prefixes, although it turns out that there are two Chicago prefixes (+) among them. The rest are Rozelle. 659, 504, 815(?), 569(+), 401, 613, 315, 608, 203, 316, 607, 618, 320(+). As was previously mentioned; these remain in 312. The A/C split person said "we're working on moving them to Chicago." 815 doesn't exist, even though Cellular One had it on their list. 708-217 will be the only new Cellular One suburban prefix for now. Ameritech included 914 in the codes which are Chicago codes. However, 914 is currently a Summit rate center. Landline phones in Summit in prefixes 458, 496, 563, 594, 839 are moving to 508. However, 229 and 586 numbers are Chicago rate centers and are not moving. (I think Summit has been a topic of discussion in the past.) /john ------------------------------ From: David Tamkin Subject: Re: Chicago Cellular Prefixes and the 312/708 Split Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 10:44:25 CST Pat Townson solicited my input on a submission by John Covert about the effect of the 312/708 split on cellular service. OK, here goes (the citations are from John Covert): > I just talked to both Chicagoland cellular providers, and got the following > information: Information at which I only guessed, and John has cleared up. Thank you, Mr. Covert, for completing the task. > Ameritech currently has the following Chicago (312) prefixes: > 415 909 914* 805 802 718 [Summit, see below.] > These, of course, remain 312. According to Illinois Bell, 415 is not in use. Calls to the others are treated by IBT as calls to Summit and by Centel as calls to Chicago Zone 8 (except to 914, which both treat as a call to Summit). I believe these are in the Hickory Hills cellular switch: IBT's landline CO in Hickory Hills is considered part of the Oak Lawn rate center, but it's possible that the cellular switch in Hickory Hills is on the other side of town. Illinois Bell tends to list cellular prefixes' locations as the CO whose landlines cover the location of the cellular center. > The following Ameritech prefixes will remain in area code 312, although > they are in suburban rate centers: > 550 (LaGrange), 590 (Arlington Heights), 502, 919 (Northbrook) 550 is listed by IBT as being in Wheaton (but staying in 312); however, La Grange makes more sense. More on 590 down below: it's a problem. > For one year, they will still have suburban rate centers. At the end of that > time they will be changed to Chicago rate centers. > Ameritech customers who would like to keep suburban rate centers may change > their numbers to 708-710 (LaGrange) or 708-370 (Northbrook). > Cellular One has a "area-code split hotline" which required me to wait ten > minutes. Then the person really didn't want to give me a list of prefixes. Nova Cellular (who resells service from both Ameritech Mobile and Cellular One [the Cellular One name here is used by Southwestern Bell, not by Bell South as I may have said before] as well as selling equipment) are offering information on how the split will affect cellular customers at (312 becoming 708) 571-4200. Perhaps someone less shy than I can probe their soources as Mr. Covert did with the cellular providers themselves. What was the hotline number at Cellular One? (312 becoming 708) 882-2181? 1-800-CELL-ONE? Those are their regular customer service numbers, but I too have heard them advertised as a source for area code split information. Mr. Covert might have reached someone who had no special designation for providing area code split information. > She told me that all of their prefixes are Schaumburg prefixes, although it > turns out that there are two Chicago prefixes (+) among them. The rest are > Rozelle. The Roselle (with an S) rate center includes the towns of Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, and Bloomingdale as well as Roselle and parts of others. All IBT landline prefixes from the Roselle, Schaumburg, and Schauburg North CO's, plus those prefixes in the Willowcrest CO that are assigned to subscribers south of I-90 and Cellular One service from Schaumburg, make up the Roselle rate center. Cellular One's installation is in Schaumburg, so it can easily be Schaumburg to them but Roselle on the rate center list. > 659, 504, 815(?), 569(+), 401, 613, 315, 608, 203, 316, 607, 618, 320(+). According to IBT, 203, 618, and 815 are not in use. 569 is a landline prefix from Chicago-Newcastle (formerly wired from the Elk Grove CO) used for foreign exchange service to the northwestern suburbs, but apparently Cellular One has a block of numbers on it. (The same is true of Ameritech Mobile's space on 590: Illinois Bell confirmed that 590 is a landline prefix in Arlington Heights. A friend mentioned that a friend of hers had service on 569, and my brother's car phone is on 590.) All telephone numbers I've seen on 569 are from 2000 on up, so possibly the lower numbers are used for cellular service or the highest one's above the top of the block beginning at 569-3000, used by United Airlines' reservation agents. [Flash: I just checked with IBT's audio response service again, and there are these changes since yesterday: 309 (!) and 320 will be in 312, 217 (!) and 999 will be in 708, and 590 "will be 312 for cellular customers and 708 for all other customers." That leaves 203, 212, 415, 494, 514, 618, 760, 809, 903, and 912 available, assuming that state boundaries mean nothing but that LATA boundaries still do. Having a specific question to ask, I swallowed my shyness and called both Illinois Bell and Ameritech Mobile to ask about 590. Each claimed to be unaware that it was shared with another provider; each concurred that whatever 590 phones they controlled would go the the respective area code (708 for IBT and 312 for Ameritech Mobile); neither could provide me any guide, say by groups of specific thousands, to which 590-XXXX's were theirs and which were from the other company. 569 is not a problem because its land lines as well as its cellular lines will be in 312.] 320 is apparently in the Chicago-Congress cellular CO or divided between there and the Chicago-Wabash landline CO a couple blocks away. The other prefixes on that list (besides 203, 569, 618, and 815) are Cellular One service from Schaumburg; maybe the cellular lines on 569 are in Schaumburg too. IBT lists them as Willowcrest because the Schaumburg cellular installation is in the area where landlines come from the Willowcrest CO. > As was previously mentioned; these remain in 312. The A/C split person said > "we're working on moving them to Chicago." 815 doesn't exist, even though > Cellular One had it on their list. Neither do 203 and 618, as far as I can tell. > 708-217 will be the only new Cellular One suburban prefix for now. So much for the sanctity of prefixes that match NPA's in the same state. 309 has also been assigned, it turns out. > Ameritech included 914 in the codes which are Chicago codes. However, 914 > is currently a Summit rate center. Landline phones in Summit in prefixes > 458, 496, 563, 594, 839 are moving to 508. However, 229 and 586 numbers > are Chicago rate centers and are not moving. (I think Summit has been a > topic of discussion in the past.) John's division of IBT landline prefixes from the Summit CO is correct, but the suburban ones will be in 708; they are not moving to Massachusetts. David Tamkin P.O Box 813 Rosemont, Illinois 60018-0813 | BIX: dattier dwtamkin@chinet.chi.il.us (708) 518-6769 (312) 693-0591 | GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN Everyone on Chinet has his or her own opinion about this.| CIS: 73720,1570 ------------------------------ Date: 08 Nov 89 07:53:57 EST From: Larry Rachman <74066.2004@compuserve.com> Subject: Small PBXs Recent comments on the topic of residential/small business PBXs have encouraged me to share my experience with the Panasonic KX-T61610. I installed one here about 6 months ago (replacing a two year old KXT-616) and have found it to be *wonderful*. The nicest feature is that you can freely mix and match propriatary Panasonic keyphones and ordinary single line stations, without any special hardware or configuration. The feature/key phones use the second cord pair to pass key and lamping information between the station and the PBX; if the PBX looks for the data and can't find it, it assumes you've attached a plain phone. I operate my business from my home, so its handy to be able to configure for the house line to ring everywhere *but* the office, and for the office lines to ring only in the office, but for everything to be answerable everywhere. If the kids ever beat an 85% average, they'll get extensions, and I'll have a chance to use the toll restriction and SMDR capabilities. You need at least one proprietary featurephone to configure the system, which is done through the station keyboard and LCD screen. You can dump the entire configuration to the SMDR printer for easier reading, or archiving. Between the phones, modems, fax, and so forth, I'm using 12 of the 16 station ports. I'm sure that the rest will find homes fairly soon. At (New York Telephone) Centrex rates, the switch pays for itself every 6 month or so, and I get both Key and PBX features! TeleCom Products (somewhere in California: 1-800-888-PHON) will ship one of these for about $650 (or its little brother, the KXT30810, for about $375). Tell them you're a phone store, and ask for the catalog. -Larry Rachman [--I don't own or work for either Panasonic or TeleCom -- my only relationships with these firms are the usual 'Capitalist acts between consenting adults'.] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 09:06:43 -0800 From: Doug Faunt N6TQS 415-688-8269 Subject: D4 Channel Banks I'm looking for sources and reccomndations for D4 channel banks, which I think is the correct solution for this problem. This is the problem, any suggestions for other solutions are solicited. I have a "remote" site going into operation. T1 lines are cheap and easy in this situation. Metallic pairs aren't. I want to put up to 24 telephones in the remote site, connected to my AT&T System 75. The 75 T1 interface apparently can only be set up as a tie trunk using E&M signaling. What I need is a channel bank that will either let me connect 2500 sets to that T1 channel, or a pair of channel banks that will let me connect stations on one end to station ports on the other end. A distinct advantage, but probably not a requirement, is to be able to use my 7406 digital telephones at the remote site. Thanx, Doug ------------------------------ From: lance@hermix.UUCP (Lance Ellinghouse) Subject: T1 vs T2; and Info Date: 8 Nov 89 17:02:36 GMT Organization: Mark V Systems, Ltd., Encino, Ca. Ok, dumb question time!! I keep hearing about T1 and T2 service. I know that T1 carries more (from previous posts). I also know that connecting to the Internet takes a T1 line (from word of mouth). Ok, now the questions: 1) What exactly is the difference between a T1 and T2 line? 2) What is the difference in Hardware that is needed to use them? 3) What is the difference in costs? (This is regional and I would like a general idea if at all possible) 4) How does one hook a computer to a T1 or T2 line? and what software is needed? 5) Who do you contact for T1 and T2 install/maintance? 6) Can a T2 be used for Internet? or only T1? is there something cheaper? 7) anything else you can think of.... Direct answer are not needed if you can point me in a direction to look. I read Telecom as much as possible and have found it to be full of answers to other questions that I have had! Either post or E-mail (and I will summerize if people want). Thanks! Lance Ellinghouse Mark V Systems, Ltd. UUCP: ...!hermix!lance ARPA: hermix!lance@anes.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 22:36:09 EST From: Thomas E Lowe Subject: Re: Cheap Cellular Phones Date: 9 Nov 89 03:35:57 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories I recently posted requests for people having experience with "Cheap Cellular Phones" from Jersey Cellular. I received one reply which is below. From jgy@hrmso.att.com Wed Nov 1 09:34 EST 1989 To: hound!tel Subject: re: jersey cellular (cheep phones) Tom, I bought the $288, NEC 3700 at jersey cellar yesterday and thought I'd give you a few comments; The total bill was $437; Price does not include installation (75-100) or an antenna (50-100). Rates went up at 4:30pm yesterday (right after I got mine), the selection of plans were: "Advantage": $29 per month AND 55 cents per minute PEAK, 35 NON-PEAK "Alternate Heavy usage": $49 per month AND 40 cents per minute PEAK & NON-PEAK "Alternate Off Peak": $15 per month AND 75 cents per minute PEAK, 25 NON-PEAK PEAK hours are 0700 - 2100 (yuck!) They talked me into the advantage plan, on reflection the $14 difference would pay for 70 minutes of peak calling ( 1400 / ( 75 - 55 ) ). You can change plans for $10.00 Finally, if you decide to get a phone from them consider the following offer: If I give them your name as a referral when you sign up they will give me a $50.00 credit to my account, If you want to do this I'll give you $25.00, fair ? Once signed up you'll have the same opportunity of course. John Young p.s. They said installation would take 45 minutes, it took an little over 1 hour. Tom Lowe tel@hound.ATT.COM or att!hound!tel 201-949-0428 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Room 2E-637A Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733 (R) UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T (keep them lawyers happy!!) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #499 *****************************   Date: Thu, 9 Nov 89 2:33:45 CST From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V9 #500 Message-ID: <8911090233.aa14935@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> TELECOM Digest Thu, 9 Nov 89 02:30:28 CST Volume 9 : Issue 500 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (Bill Huttig) Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? (John R. Levine) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (David Lewis) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (Jeff DeSantis) Re: Cryptic Abbreviations (Kevin Hopkins) Re: Dreams of the Phone System (B.J. Herbison) Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains (Brian Kantor) Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco (Alex Beylin) Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer (Ken Thompson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bill Huttig Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Date: 8 Nov 89 17:23:28 GMT Reply-To: Bill Huttig Organization: Florida Institute of Technology, ACS, Melbourne, FL In article rmadison@euler.berkeley. edu (Linc Madison) writes: >Oy! I found that surprising, since in Australia the digit to dial for >calls outside a Centrex or similar system is "0" instead of "9" in >U.S. Thus, a call to the U.S. from an Australian Centrex is >0-0011-1-etc. To then have "000" as emergency seems it could have >high potential for misdials. "Emergency? No, I'm trying to reach >France!" Reminds me of when I was in Tallahasees (81-84) Centel had the Time & Temperature number of 118. I moved off campus for a semester and naturally I picked up the phone and dialed 9-118 since I was use to dialing 9 for off campus, and I got 911. Bill ------------------------------ From: "John R. Levine" Subject: Re: Why Not 00 as the International Prefix in the US? Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 16:55:14 GMT In article "Brandon S. Allbery" writes: >I just saw an AT&T ad in USN&WR that claimed that "00" is international >directory assistance. Actually, 00 is your long-distance company operator. The traditional AT&T way to get international directory assistance is to call the operator, hence dial 00 (or, I suppose, 10288-0). I have also gotten international DA from AT&T's international information center at 800-874-4000. In the past, if you got international DA through the operator, they'd charge you for the call unless you called the number you got afterwards. The one time I got DA from the 800 number, they asked me for the number I was calling from but didn't charge me. Anybody know how they charge now? John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650 johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl Massachusetts has over 100,000 unlicensed drivers. -The Globe ------------------------------ From: David Lewis Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations Date: 5 Nov 89 18:03:16 GMT Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ In article , U5434122@ucsvc.ucs. unimelb.edu.au writes: > Could someone please explain some North American abbreviations: > NXX-XXXX (why 'N' ) Warning: I started writing a response to this and ended up trying to provide a shorthand explanation of the North American Numbering Plan. The strict answer to the question provided is three lines down; the rest is further information.... lots further...] As to why "N" and "X", I don't know. "N" is ex-Bell System shorthand for a digit in the range 2-9; X for a digit in the range 0-9. They came into use, as far as I know, at the time that all-number dialing came into use (when exchanges became known by number, instead of NAme...) North American Numbering Plan (NANP) (that which defines the syntax for telephone numbers in North America) syntax for a telephone number is: N(0/1)X-NNX-XXXX OR N(0/1)X-NXX-XXXX. The first has been the syntax since the introduction of all-number dialing until the introduction of "interchangeable codes" -- 3-digit codes which can be either an exchange or an area code (NPA code, or Numbering Plan Area code, in NANP parlance). It made for simpler switches, since the switch can do a three-digit analysis -- if the second digit is 0 or 1, it has to collect seven more digits; if the second digit is 2-9, it has to collect four more digits. Unfortunately, it also restricts the number of available NPA codes and exchange codes. Therefore, the NANP has been modified to permit interchangeable codes. This is first being implemented according to the second syntax above -- the second digit of an exchange code, in areas which have implemented interchangeable codes, can now be 0-9 instead of being limited to 2-9. This adds 152 new available exchanges in each NPA (although practically the number is something less, because the "home NPA" and N00 codes are not recommended for use as exchanges). The second step, interchangeable NPA codes, will result in NPAs being of the format NXX as well, instead of N(0/1)X. That will come about when the available set of NPA codes is exhausted, predicted to happen sometime around 1995. This also gets into a discussion of dialing methods, which came up in another post. (I do seem to digress a bit, don't I...) Given the use of interchangeable exchange codes (I really should use the proper terminology -- "interchangeable CO codes"), switches can no longer simply examine the second digit dialed and determine whether it's an NPA code or CO code. This is the reason Bellcore is recommending the "Prefix method" of dialing -- 7D and 1+10D being allowable dialed numbers, 1+7D and 10D not being allowable. This is a "clean" technical solution -- leading 1 means collect 10 digits, no leading 1 means collect 7 digits (plus special cases like N11). Unfortunately, as has been pointed out, it's not so clean a solution when considering customer toll restriction. What is considered a "toll" call and what is considered a "local" call is not a strictly technical decision, and will become less and less easily mapped to home/foreign NPA considerations (particularly with more and more cases of multiple NPAs in a single city, for example). A leading 1 may or may not be toll; no leading 1 may or may not be toll. CO switches have the appropriate routing and billing tables loaded to keep track of that -- but CPE doesn't. I suppose the paranoid out there could argue that this is all a BOC plot to destroy competition with CPE in the Toll Restriction Service market, but I don't believe that's the case. Far more important an issue is that not using the Prefix method requires a timer after the seventh digit dialed to determine if end of dialing is reached. This adds to call setup time -- after dialing seven digits when you mean to dial seven digits, the CO switch has to wait and see if you intend to dial an eighth -- and increases the probability of error -- you forget the number halfway through, so dial NPA-NXX-X and stop to look up the remainder, and the switch times out and places the call to NPA-NXXX. Granted, that's unlikely given that the syntax is such that most people remember NPA-NXX- then stop to look up the XXXX. The call setup time considerations are most definitely not trivial, though -- consider trying to sell state regulatory agencies on increasing the call setup time by two seconds for *every* phone call placed by every Joe Random in the state, to make it easier for "all them big corporations with all their fancy equipment" to have toll restriction or other dialing plan services in CPE... I'd rather not, myself. Apologies for the digression. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower." ------------------------------ From: Jeff DeSantis Subject: Re: Cryptic Abbreviations Date: 8 Nov 89 20:15:21 GMT Reply-To: jjd@necis.UUCP (Jeff DeSantis) Organization: NEC Information Systems, Acton, MA In article , U5434122@ucsvc.ucs. unimelb.edu.au writes: >> NXX-XXXX (why 'N' ) Quoting from the second edition of: Engineering and Operations in the Bell System Copyright 1977, 1983 by Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Page 115. "The following set of symbols is commonly used in discussing the numbering plan and dialing procedures: N = Any digit 2 through 9. X = Any digit 0 through 9. 0/1 = Either 0 or 1." Page 118 footnote 11. "Although all-number calling is now the system standard, telephone numbers have an alphanumeric tradition. Despite the personal appeal of names (which often had local geographical significance, for example, MUrray Hill 7-1234) rather than all-number codes, letters were a basic barrier to the use of the full range of dial-code sequences and numbers were commonly referred to as "2L+5N" to call attention to the alphanumeric usage. It should be noted, though, that the alphanumeric format also used the "3-4" character subgrouping." No longer quoting. I also remember as a child (mid '50s) making my first phone calls by picking up the handset, waiting for the operator to say "Number please", and replying "RE8" followed by the four digit phone number I wanted. A few years later when we got rotary dial phones, the prefix was changes to AT4, then sometime in the sixties I remember the prefix changing to 284 (no real change since AT4 is 284). ------------------------------ Subject: ReL Cryptic Abbreviations Reply-To: K.Hopkins%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Date: Wed, 08 Nov 89 10:18:49 +0000 From: Kevin Hopkins I think it would be useful if someone could compile a list of terms and initials that are frequently used in the digest. It could then be left on cs.bu.edu for anonymous ftp and would be especially useful for new readers (and some of us that get confused every now and then :-). I am willing to compile it if pushed, but I think someone in the States would be better suited as most of the terms apply to the US and the list could be compiled quicker as email wouldn't have to hop across the Atlantic all the time. Any takers? +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ [Moderator's Note: I quite agree with you, and if one or more users will compile this, I'll gladly make it available in the Archives. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 05:58:11 -0800 From: "B.J. 08-Nov-1989 0855" Subject: Re: Dreams of the Phone System > Last night I had a dream in which I was making a call from a pay > phone. I stuck my credit card in the slot, and the dialtone was > interrupted by a computer generated voice: > "Mister , you have a message from . Please > push 1 if you would like to take it now." > OK, you telecom futurists... when will this service be available? You > better hurry... it was a 15-cent payphone. I don't think you should wait for the service--you should contact Stephanie directly to find out what's in the message. B.J. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Nov 89 10:21:51 -0800 From: Brian Kantor Subject: Re: Cellular Phones Frying Your Brains Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. The 6-inch warning is because of the imminent proximity of lawyers. The chances of anything happening even from touching the antenna is small, but by including this warning, the company has a better defense against the inevitable lawsuit. - Brian ------------------------------ Subject: Re: PABX Communications With Local Telco Organization: Chrysler Financial Corp., Southfield, MI Date: 8 Nov 89 14:07:59 EST (Wed) From: Alex Beylin In article David G Lewis writes: >(I could get into a discussion of Class 5 Offices and Class 4 Offices >and Heirarchical versus Non-Heirarchical Routing and Access Tandems, >but that would just unduly confuse the issue... :-)) I, for one, would like to see such a discussion. Overall, I have to say that in the last few month comp.dcom.telecom has moved to the top of my .newsrc due to postings by people like David and Larry. Please, if time permits, do go into discussions of how things work. On a side note, did anyone ever assembled a reference list for telephony textbooks, from basic to complex? Alex Beylin, Unix Systems Admin. | +1 313 948-3386 alexb%cfctech.uucp@mailgw.cc.umich.edu | Chrysler Financial Corp. sharkey!cfctech!alexb | MIS, Distributed Systems ATT Mail ID: attmail!abeylin | Southfield, MI 48034 ------------------------------ From: Ken Thompson Subject: Re: Need Circuit for Answering Machine Killer Date: 8 Nov 89 21:17:25 GMT Reply-To: Ken Thompson Organization: NCR Corporation, Wichita, KS I used the following circuit with my machine: ________| |________ | | | | | 10uF | | | _____________|_____/\/\/\/\_____|__________ 1Kohm Put it in series with one leg of the pair to the machine only. The cap. passes the ring signal. The resistor is the key here. With the machine off hook the line has a higher resistance, current is relatively constant. The machine thinks it is on a longer drop pair and works normally Lift any phone in the house and most of the current goes to the phone. If the machine checks the current in the loop or has a vox circuit, it does not matter, it thinks the caller has hung up and it also disconnects. Ken Thompson N0ITL NCR Corp. 3718 N. Rock Road Wichita,Ks. 67226 (316)636-8783 Ken.Thompson@wichita.ncr.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V9 #500 *****************************