From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 16 01:20:02 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA22422; Tue, 16 Nov 1999 01:20:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 01:20:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911160620.BAA22422@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #551 TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Nov 99 01:20:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 551 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Too Good to be True, I Guess (TELECOM Digest Editor) Please Help Identify Phone Location (D. Stakey) Re: Country Code Question (David Perussel) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Cortland Richmond) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Brett Frankenberger) Re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale! (John David Galt) Guam, Saipan, American Samoa (Re: Country Code Question) (Mark J. Cuccia) Is the Right of Freedom of Speech in Jeopardy? (Mike Jenkins) Re: That Foreign Country Between Arizona and Texas (Kim Brennan) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Bill Levant) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (lightgrw) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Peter Dubuque) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (John Levine) Channelbanks Question (Frederik Delvael) Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! (Tony Pelliccio) >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Bill Levant) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 21:58:31 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Too Good to be True, I Guess Has anyone else been having trouble using the free phone call in exchange for advertisements of http://www.dialpad.com recently? The first couple times I tried it, around two or three weeks ago, it worked quite well. Now for the past week or so, anytime I try to use it, it takes a LONG time for the java applet to appear, and sometimes it never does open correctly. No matter what I dial, I get a short burst of busy tone and that is all. Then to make matters worse, the button on the right side which is supposed to alternate between 'dial' and 'hangup' gets stuck in the 'hangup' mode and won't return to where I can dial a second time without exiting the applet and calling it up a second time. One day I got a reply on the little window saying 'no circuits' but usually I get nothing at all. I was told by someone that the service received a couple million signups in less than a month. Is that true? Maybe that is why I cannot reach it any longer. :( PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 21:08:40 -0500 From: D. Stakey Subject: Please Help Identify Phone Location I've been trying to locate the exact location of what I believe to be a public phone. Can you possibly help? It's pretty important. The number is (330) 385-0019. Should it be private, then the name and address would be a BIG help. Thank you! David ------------------------------ From: bbscornerSPAMBLOCK@juno.com (David Perrusel) Subject: Re: Country Code Question Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 02:24:47 GMT The Northern Marianas Islands and Guam are now part of the NANP (North American Numbering Plan) as of 1 July 1997. They now have area codes 670 and 671 respectively. Before they joined the NANP, these were country codes +670 and +671. American Samoa has not yet joined the NANP, though rumor has it they plan on doing so soon (maybe in 2000?) They are still county code +684 at this time, though they will probably become area code 684 if and when they do join the NANP. David Perrusel Webmaster - Telephone World http://phworld.tal-on.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 15:21:11 -0800 From: Cortland Richmond Organization: Alcatel USA Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? There are some exceptions to the rule preventing disclosure of radio transmissions. Amateur Radio is one of them. However, emissions from Part 15 unintentional radiators are NOT transmissions protected by law, in fact, they are limited by law. Part 15 devices are, of course, not protected from being interfered with. They "must accept" interference. Likely, one could make a hobby of listening to part 15 unintentional radiators, too, and escape punishment. Those of us with training in TEMPEST methods are prevented from revealing or confirming how this is done, but that is because the techniques themselves may be classified. Cortland On Sun, 14 Nov 1999 11:39:30 EST Michael J Kuras (mkuras@ccs.neu.edu) wrote: > So what's different about stray EMI? Can someone simply tune it in and > do what they want with it? Sure there are laws against cellphone > tapping, but that forbids interception of a specific frequency for a > specific purpose. > In general, however, I'd imagine that whatever EMF's are floating > around in the public domain are simply that: public domain. And Pat answered: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However, the Federal Communication > Commission *does* have a law saying that you may not *deliberatly* > intercept transmissions not intended for yourself, and that regards > those you do overhear or see, you may not, under the law, acknowledge > their existence or the contents therein. So while I can watch my > television or listen to the radio and tell you about what I saw or > heard -- these are *broadcasts intended for public consumption* -- > I cannot legally tell you what I overheard on my police scanner or > my amateur radio reciever. Nor am I permitted to use such the contents > of such transmissions to my own benefit; for example I overhear two > persons discussing some business transaction and then take action to > jinx the transaction or do it myself before the others have a chance. ------------------------------ From: rbf@rbfnet.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: 15 Nov 1999 22:19:48 GMT Organization: rbfnet In article , Anthony Argyriou wrote: > However, there are some precendents regarding ownership of EM > radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation > produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn > under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG > coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The > power company sued, successfully. I've heard this story and never bothered to check if it's a bogus urban legend or if it actually happened. Regardless, the case wouldn't be about 60Hz EM radiation. The portion of the power that is radiated is very small, and once it's radiated, it's gone forever from the power company, regardless of whether it ends up being harnessed by a farmer, heating the earth, or propogating off into space. They'd have a tough time claiming ownership of power that they routinely and knowingly transmit away from their lines. The stealing would be as a result of the farmer harnessing the *static* EM field created by the power lines. A direct result of that would be an additional, measurable, loss of power from the transmission lines (there would be an additional voltage "drop"[1] near the barn). -- Brett ------------------------------ From: John_David_Galt@acm.org Organization: Association for Computing Machinery Subject: Re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale! Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 20:58:45 GMT Eli Mantel wrote: > The title of AT&T's recent press release, "AT&T Migrates Toll Free > Listings to the Web" http://www.att.com/press/item/0,1354,2250,00.html > hides the more significant news, which is that AT&T is asking the FCC > to let it drop its toll-free directory assistance service effective > March 31, 2000. > AT&T's rationale for dropping this service is the economic > impracticality of offering the service due to the fact that there are > about 17 million unlisted toll-free numbers as compared to 2 million > toll-free numbers listed with toll-free directory assistance. > Nothing in the press release indicates just what AT&T proposes to do > with the number if their request is granted, but I've got to imagine > that there are a variety of ways to make money with this service. Many different carriers, both IXC and LEC, already have their own (or contract) bureaus in different parts of the country that you may reach when dialing an ordinary area code + 555-1212. Why should 800-555-1212 be any different? If AT&T chooses no longer to provide this service, I'm sure that other providers will be glad to do it. The number should NOT be considered available for new uses, or 800-555-xxxx will become as unusable as area code 700. John David Galt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 16:17:34 -0600 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Guam, Saipan, American Samoa (Re: Country Code Question) As of July 1997, Guam (+671) as well as Saipan and the Northern Mariana Islands (+670) became part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), aka World Zone '1', or Country Code +1. The Summer of 1997 began a period of "permissive" dialing from the world, as either their old "country" code, or under WZ-1. As of July 1998, the WZ/Country Code +1 or NANP dialing procedure became MANDATORY: (00)+670 became (00)+1-670 for Saipan / Northern Mariana Island (00)+671 became (00)+1-671 for Guam As for American Samoa, their ITU Country Code is still +684. There is a possibility that they too will become incorporated into WZ +1, the NANP, in two to three years, thus they could become +1-684. (i.e, from most parts of the world, 00-684 would become 00-1-684). These three areas, as well as three other (former) "UN Pacific Trust Territories" that had been under US administration (+680 Palau, +691 Micronesia, +692 Marshall Islands) all use NANP-like dialing, numbering, signaling, etc. procedures, including seven-digit (NNX-XXXX) local/national numbers. Please see my report on the US/UN Pacific Islands Telecom status as of Summer 1997, in the TELECOM Digest Archives for further info: http://telecom-digest.org/archives/reports/us-un.pacific.islands.tel MARK_J._CUCCIA__PHONE/WRITE/WIRE/CABLE:__HOME:__(USA)__Tel:_CHestnut-1-2497 WORK:__mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu|4710-Wright-Road|__(+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity-5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New-Orleans-28__|fwds-on-no-answr-to Fax:UNiversity-5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 16:36:33 -0600 From: Mike Jenkins Subject: Is the Right of Freedom of Speech in Jeopardy? Pat, I found this at http://www.tbtf.com/blog/#1, and it appears to be genuine. If it is, then the potential incursion of authority vs the right to free speech, is going to make for a hot topic, worldwide. From the tbtf log: "First-ever Usenet gag order. A Seattle judge has issued a ruling in a dispute that arose from a 6-month flamewar on a Usenet newsgroup. A man who uses the handle Two Buddha has been barred from posting anything -- even about skiing -- on the Usenet newsgroup rec.skiing.alpine. This court case is quite complicated, but the story on the Menweb site repays a reading. The implications for free speech on the Net go on for days." More can be found at http://www.vix.com/menmag/gagorder.htm Mike Jenkins (at my work address...) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We covered this in some detail over the last weekend. I've looked at some of the messages in the flame war there and they are pretty bad, and pretty tasteless, but I do not know who started what. There was so much to read I had to give up without reading it all. The really disturbing part of it to me is Police Officer Shirey thinking she has any say-so and using her authority -- misusing it in my opinion -- to send orders to the others there. Hopefully also, the judge will fall out of favor with whatever politicians got her in office and she won't be around much longer either. It really is bad news seeing a judge take over a newsgroup on the net and reading that the police have been monitoring it as well. That kind of thing can happen to any newsgroup on the net, and it is better to get it stopped as soon as possible. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kim@aol.com (Kim Brennan) Date: 15 Nov 1999 22:53:15 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: That Foreign Country Between Arizona and Texas > Please feel free to accuse me of linguistic/geographic nit-picking, but > this is something that has annoyed me for years. "America" has come, in > common global usage, to mean "United States." A decade ago, I bought an "American" car. It was a Volkswagen manufactured in Brazil. Still have it today actually. Kim Brennan Duo 2300c, PB 2400, VW Fox Wagon GL, Corrado SLC, Vanagon GL Syncro http://members.aol.com/kim Duo Info Page: http://members.aol.com/kim/computer/duo/duoindex.html ?'s should include "Duo" in subject, else they'll be deleted unread. ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 19:52:22 EST Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup > A King County District Judge today issued a far-reaching order that > may be a first-ever precedent in cyber-space, banning a man from > talking about Zoom skis, or any other skiing-related topic, in the > Usenet newsgroup Rec.Skiing.Alpine. In the US, at least, content-based regulation of non-commercial, non-obscene speech is ALWAYS unconstitutional. This judge must have cut a few too many constitutional law classes in law school. And, who died and left her Honor in charge of the Internet anyway? And, since when are bad manners a matter for the courts? I propose a protest. For one day, everyone posting to rec.skiing.alpine (or, for that matter, to any USENET group) should change their "from" address to read "two buddha". Let her Honor figure out who's who. Kinda like what happened in suburban Philadelphia last Hanukkah -- some lowlife firebombed a Jewish family's home, because it had a menorah in the window, and for the rest of the holiday, EVERY HOUSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, Jews and non-Jews alike, had a menorah in its window. Bill [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You make a very good suggestion. If a number of people posted in rec.skiing.alpine using the anonymous posting service offered at several places (such as the one at http://telecom-digest.org/postoffice ) and everyone signed their message with that name, it would leave things in quite a state of confusion to say the least. It would also be sort of interesting to see the results if the same people basically called the judge's blufff, saying something like 'I am in contempt like all the other Two Buddha people posting here. Stop me before I flame, stalk, and harass again.' PAT] ------------------------------ From: lightgrw@my-deja.com Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 03:03:12 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Bill Levant spoke, saying: > Uh, excuse me. What's wrong with this? > First of all, NJT didn't "win" the case; it was settled immediately > before trial. Seems the former owners of NJTransit.com, etc., didn't > want to litigate the case. We did not have the money nor the ability to fight the government on this one. Sometimes you have to take the easy way out or go bankrupt, which would you choose? > issues, but I JUST DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH ENFORCING TRADEMARKS > ON THE NET TO THE SAME DEGREE AS WOULD BE APPLICABLE OFF THE NET. > The net is not a "special place" where the usual rules shouldn't > apply ... it's part of the world. Sorry. I strongly disagree with that statement. New Jersey Transit Corporation has been running a website that they have promoted as the "official site of NJ Transit" for about four years. All during that time the domain name NJtransit.com was publicly available. Someday there will be an internet case where a person has enough money to stand their ground and defend the fact that businesses should not have forever to claim a trademark online if they already have a website. It is my view that New Jersey Transit Corporation forfeited their right to the domain name when they did not register it themselves and were promoting the website NJtransit.state.nj.us Furthermore, the letters NJ are common, the word transit is common. A domain name like NJtransit.com fits perfectly within our business model of New Jersey related informational websites. We have settled the case and are prevented from using any variance of the NJtransit name including the website domain that we planned to move the site to: NJmasstransit.com Now you tell me, should we be banned from using the domain name NJmasstransit.com? That is not the name of the company. It is a description of what NJ Transit does, but is it unlike an example of someone giving up coke.com and then being banned from using soda.com ? I don't think so. NJmasstransit.com is a very general term. That is the extent of their fear of us apparently. Well we are moving our entire website to NJave.com and we will have the most complete transportation website for the tri-state area. Content will beat them out. People came to our site in droves to go to pages that had nothing to do with NJ Transit. We were a directory of transportation links that included taxis, limo companies, airports, transit organizations, links, roads and highways, New York and Philly information as well. NJ Transit information comprised a small portion of our website. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you very much for writing. I am so happy you found the original message here and took the time to write a response. What happened to you could happen to any website on the net. None of us have the financial or other resources needed to fight these things alone. Of course we have a registrar sitting on millions of dollars in profit from fees charged for domain name registrations, but none of that money will ever be made available to netizens for legal assistance, etc. I find it fascinating that you were called a 'cybersquatter'; like someone just hoarding a name to make trouble for someone else. All the work you have done on the site meant nothing to them did it? Tell me this: when you get your new site NJave.com started, do you still intend to publish information about NJ Transit? My first reaction would be to script a 'blackhole' so deep that nothing with their name in it would ever see the light of day on a site that I published; it would be almost as though they did not exist at all. But as I think further about it, I know the importance of maintaining a *good* web site in a professional way. I do not know how you could provide a site giving transportation information without some references to them, despite how unprofessional and litigous they seem to be. A lot of us are sorry you chose to give up the fight, but you did what you had to do. Best of luck with future internet publishing efforts. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Peter Dubuque Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Date: 16 Nov 1999 01:04:12 GMT Organization: The Internet Access Company, Inc. Bill Levant wrote: > Now, I consider myself a liberal (perhaps somewhat less so than I > was in earlier years -- and considerably less so than our > libertarian-leaning Moderator), especially on freedom-of-speech > issues, but I JUST DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH ENFORCING TRADEMARKS > ON THE NET TO THE SAME DEGREE AS WOULD BE APPLICABLE OFF THE NET. > The net is not a "special place" where the usual rules shouldn't > apply ... it's part of the world. Sorry. The flaw in this argument is that having a trademark in one area of commerce does not give you carte blanche to use it in all other areas. For example, the American Broadcasting Company may have the exclusive right to use the initials ABC for TV, radio, and cable broadcasting purposes, but there are a whole host of businesses that use those initials legally and that are not infringing on the trademark, such as ABC Plumbing in Portland, OR; ABC Story Time Personalized Books in Reseda, CA; ABC Software in Fullerton, CA; ABC Daycare in Enfield, NH ... plus a whole range of other companies whose names abbreviate to ABC, like, say, "Allied Business Computers Inc." or something. My question to you is, lacking a trademark that specifically provides for Internet-based activities, why should the American Broadcasting Company have some inherently superior right to abc.com than any of these other businesses? Peter F. Dubuque - dubuque@tiac.net - Enemy of Reason(TM) O- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What gives them a superior right? Because they have more lawyers and more money to spend litigating, and an association of registrars on the net (operating through ICANN) who tend to favor big business over smaller businesses and individuals. If in your example, ABC Daycare had been in business with a website since 1993 as abc.com there is no doubt in my mind that the 'big' ABC would still run them off the net with the assistance and backing of ICANN to do it. If America On Line can decide it needs aolsearch and simply wrest it away from a black lady in New York who was running a web site matching African- American professionals with black-owned businesses by going to the registrar and making threats, then why couldn't a very large broadcasting corporation go and take abc.com away from some small daycare operation? Do you remember a couple months ago my analogy with the square peg and the round hole? The internet and the web was never designed for what corporate America is trying to make of it. All the conflicts we have seen on the net in the past five years or so have come about because big business will not come to grips with the reality that the web specifically and the net in general were not built to do what they want it to do. They won't accept that and go away; instead they are going to do their damndedest to drive everyone else away instead. All the small publishers, all the small business people, all the creative people maintaining web sites in the true tradition of the net for the past twenty years -- all must go! The Cerfing of the Net will not be complete until they have total control over each web site and each user. Why do you suppose you are no longer allowed to own your domain name? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 16 Nov 1999 01:01:38 -0500 From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> They'll transfer the ownership of NJTransit.com, NJTransit.org, >> NJTransit.net and 1-800-NJTransit to us immediately," said Jeffrey >> Warsh, the commuter agency's executive director. "We own the name and >> they were using it illegally. > Uh, excuse me. What's wrong with this? First of all, NJT didn't > "win" the case; it was settled immediately before trial. Seems the > former owners of NJTransit.com, etc., didn't want to litigate the > case. Indeed, NJ Transit won by intimidation. > And why not? Simple. NJ Transit is a registered service mark. You > couldn't legally open a store called NJ Transit, so why should the web > be any different? Sure you could. Trademarks and service marks have both line of business and geographic limitations, and it is absolutely normal and common for many businesses to use the exact same trademark. If I wanted to open, say, a surveying equipment company in California and call it NJ Transit, it's hard to see how the New Jersey company would have any case to dispute it. Or try looking up registered "Ford" trademarks, and along with the car trademarks, you'll find the well known modelling agency and a bunch of others. A very small number of trademarks can be considered "famous" which lets them contest similar marks outside of their usual lines of business (names like Coca Cola), but there are a lot fewer famous marks than trademark owners might like to claim. > I JUST DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH ENFORCING TRADEMARKS ON THE NET > TO THE SAME DEGREE AS WOULD BE APPLICABLE OFF THE NET. I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, trademark holders want all sorts of "rights" on the net that they'd never have in the normal world, and there's a distressing amount of blather by people who've never even read the relevant law. Trademarks and domain names just don't match up, particularly domains in .com/.org/.net that don't have any geographic or line of business qualification. Names on the net would be much easier to deal with if the .US domain were better managed so people were more willing to get geographic domains that better match businesses with local or regional rather than global scope. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner, http://iecc.com/johnl, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Frederik Delvael Subject: Channelbanks Question Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:18:11 -0500 Can anyone recommend cost-effective and reliable PC channelbank solutions for both T1/E1, and preferably running on Linux. If you know of other or more appropriate newsgroups for this type of information, please let me know. Best Regards, Frederik Delvael, Eng. Director of International Business Development - FaxMate Inc. Tel: 1 514 334-0889 or Toll Free: 1 888 329-1020 Fax: 1 514 334-7127 Email : frederik@faxmate.com Web site: http://www.faxmate.com 3773 Cte Vertu, Suite 100 St.Laurent, QC Canada H4R 2M3 ------------------------------ From: nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! Organization: Providence Network Partners Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 01:28:56 GMT In article , NeXTguru@mindspring.com says: > If we ever go into 11+ digits, can I have the 31337 NPA? (Oh c'mon, just a > joke against all the phreaker lurkers here.) > Joseph Mallett > jmallett@newgold.net > New Gold Technology > http://smegsite.com/ > http://newgold.net/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's note: I do not understand the joke. Would > you care to explain? PAT] Near as I can make out, 31EEP == Tony Pelliccio, KD1S formerly KD1NR == Trustee WE1RD [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess I am still too dense to understand it. Remember a television show forty years ago called 'Ted Macks Amateur Comedy Hour' ? His jokes were about as funny. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 22:01:48 EST Subject: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! > However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM > radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation > produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn > under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG > coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The > power company sued, successfully. Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in which this took place? Dates? Places?? I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. -- Bill (A firm adherent to the old Chicago news reporters' adage : "If your mother says she loves you, check it out!") ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #551 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 16 14:53:07 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id OAA18061; Tue, 16 Nov 1999 14:53:07 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 14:53:07 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911161953.OAA18061@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #552 TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Nov 99 14:53:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 552 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Announcing - PFIR: "People For Internet Responsibility" (Lauren Weinstein) 800-555-xxxx (re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale) (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: Country Code Question (David Leibold) Re: Country Code Question (Joseph Singer) Re: Country Code Question (Richard D.G. Cox) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Steve Sobol) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Mike Maxfield) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Anthony Argyriou) Re: Are There Laws Regulating Auto Redialing? (Geoff Dyer) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 99 11:16 PST From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Announcing - PFIR: "People For Internet Responsibility" [ Please feel free to redistribute this announcement as you see fit. ] ANNOUNCING PFIR: "People For Internet Responsibility" http://www.pfir.org ------------------------------------------- November 16, 1999 PFIR is a global, grassroots, ad hoc network of individuals who are concerned about the current and future operations, development, management, and regulation of the Internet in responsible manners. The goal of PFIR is to help provide a resource for individuals around the world to gain an ability to help impact these crucial Internet issues, which will affect virtually all aspects of our cultures, societies, and lives in the 21st century. PFIR is non-partisan, has no political agenda, and does not engage in lobbying. PFIR has been founded (in November, 1999) by Lauren Weinstein of Vortex Technology in Woodland Hills, California and Peter G. Neumann of SRI International in Menlo Park, California. Both have decades of continual experience with the Internet and its ancestor ARPANET, Lauren originally at the UCLA lab which was the ARPANET's first site, and Peter at the net's second site, located at SRI. Peter is the chairman of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Committee on Computers and Public Policy, and the creator and moderator of the Internet RISKS Forum. Lauren is a member of that same committee, and he is the creator and moderator of the Internet PRIVACY Forum. With the rapid commercialization of the Internet and its World Wide Web during the 1990's, there are increasing concerns that decisions regarding these resources are being irresponsibly skewed through the influence of powerful, vested interests (in commercial, political, and other categories) whose goals are not necessarily always aligned with the concerns of individuals and the people at large. Such incompatibilities have surfaced in areas including domain name policy, spam, security, encryption, freedom of speech issues, privacy, content rating and filtering, and a vast array of other areas. New ones are sure to come! While corporate, political, and other related entities most certainly have important roles to play in Internet issues, it is unwise and unacceptable for their influences to be effectively the only significant factors affecting the broad scope of Internet policies. There are numerous examples. While e-commerce can indeed be a wonderful tool, it is shortsighted in the extreme for some interests to treat the incredible creation that is the Internet as little more than a giant mail order catalog, with ".com" associated hype on seemingly every ad, billboard and commercial. Protection of copyrights in a global Internet environment, without abusive monitoring, is a challenge indeed. The Internet can be a fantastic tool to encourage the flow of ideas, information, and education, but it can also be used to track users' behaviors and invade individuals' privacy in manners that George Orwell never imagined in his "1984" world. PFIR is a resource for discussion, analysis, and information regarding Internet issues, aimed at providing a forum for *ordinary people* to participate in the process of Internet evolution, control, and use, around the entire world. PFIR is also a focal point for providing media and government with a resource regarding Internet issues that is not controlled by entities with existing major vested financial, political, or other interests. This is accomplished through the PFIR Web site, the handling of telephone and e-mail queries, and through digests, discussion groups, reports, broadcast and Internet radio efforts, and other venues. For full details about People For Internet Responsibility, including information regarding how you can participate in or keep informed about PFIR activities (including the PFIR Digest mailing list), please visit the PFIR Web site at: http://www.pfir.org Individuals, organizations, media, etc. who are interested in more information regarding PFIR or these Internet issues are invited to contact: Phone, Fax, or E-mail: Lauren Weinstein TEL: +1 (818) 225-2800 FAX: +1 (818) 225-7203 lauren@pfir.org Please send any physical mail to: PFIR c/o Peter G. Neumann Principal Scientist Computer Science Lab SRI International EL-243 333 Ravenswood Ave. Menlo Park, CA 94025-3493 USA Thank you very much. Be seeing you! ============ Lauren Weinstein Peter G. Neumann November 16, 1999 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 06:55:06 CST From: Mark J. Cuccia Reply-To: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: 800-555-xxxx (re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale) John_David_Galt@acm.org wrote: > Many different carriers, both IXC and LEC, already have their own (or > contract) bureaus in different parts of the country that you may reach > when dialing an ordinary area code + 555-1212. Why should 800-555-1212 > be any different? IMO, there is somewhat of a difference between (POTS NPA)+555-1212 and 800+555-1212. When calling to a POTS-NPA for directory, one is looking for a listing in a geographic POTS NPA. The calling party will then place the call via the long distance carrier they choose as the calling party to the number they (hopefully) receive from directory. For me, I'd _prefer_ the incumbent LEC or some entity formed by the consortium of LECs/CLECs in that distant NPA to provide directory/listings service. With 800+555-1212 for seeking (the possibility of) a toll-free 800/888/877/etc. number, the called "toll-free" party whose number is listed and ultimately called has chosen the carrier who will bill _them_ for the call. > If AT&T chooses no longer to provide this service, I'm sure that other > providers will be glad to do it. The number should NOT be considered > available for new uses, or 800-555-xxxx will become as unusable as area > code 700. Since there has been competition in toll-free since the mid-to-late-1980s, and if AT&T doesn't want to provide 800-555-1212 anymore, maybe some consortium of carriers, or maybe even Lockheed/NASC or Telcordia/DSMI should work out something for a single third-party under contract with the NASC/DSMI or ATIS-OBF-toll-free-SNAC should provide toll-free-directory for the NANP on 800-555-1212. I'm not exactly certain right now _WHO_ is involved with assigning, administering, etc. toll-free numbers and the toll-free number portability database -- I know that Lockhhed has been involved with it for a NUMBER of years (the NASC - Number Assignment Service Center) as well as a subsidiary of Bellcore-now Telcordia (the DSMI - Database Service Management Inc). JUDITH, some clarification here? As for the 800-555 prefix and 700, and other 800-555-xxxx (particularly -1212) issues: When 800-NXXs became assignable to "other carriers" in the mid-1980's, prior to full seven/ten digit portability under 800, Bellcore-NANPA (at that time) said that 800-555 (Directory, etc) and 800-855 (Services for the Hearing Impaired) would have their line-numbers assignments maintained by Bellcore-NANPA. Within the US, both 800-555-1212 as well as the TDD/TTY Operator on 800-855-1155 have been maintained by AT&T, which includes routing the calls to those numbers, regardless of _WHICH_ long-distance carrier is your "primary". Unlike POTS NPAs and SAC 700, you do _NOT_ dial a CAC (Carrier Access Code) 101-XXXX+ when calling to toll-free 800/888/877 numbers. The called 800/888/877 party's choice of long-distance carrier is who routes the call. When full toll-free portability came about in the early 1990's, there really was no change to the status of 800-555 and 800-855. BTW, in Canada, 800-555-1212 is still provided by Bell Canada/Stentor, as is 800-855-1155. In late 1994, Bellcore-DSMI and Lockheed-NASC decided to throw the 800-555 prefix into the portability pool. All (unassigned) line-numbers in 800-555 were now available for assignment to any desiring customer, and routing via any available carrier. Obviously 800-555-1212 and any other previously existing 800-555-xxxx line-numbers were "grandfathered" as being handled by AT&T, for the previously existing customers with those numbers (just a few involved, but mostly assigned to departments/offices of AT&T and the incumbent LECs - or in Canada by the incumbent Stentor LECs, such as the old 800-555-5050 or -5000? for "The Bell Answer Center"... and 800-555-8111 is/was for AT&T Leased Equipment (Lucent) Customer Service). But now we have 800-555-xxxx numbers handled by _NUMEROUS_ carriers, all chosen by the customer with that 800-555-xxxx number -- or at least chosen by carriers who "pre-reserved" the numbers and then assigned them to customers. There's Stentor/BellCanada/Teleglobe's "Canada Direct" card and operator services dialup, 800-555-1111, which when dialed from within Canada routes to an automated platform (with live-operator cut-thru option) in Vancouver BC or Montreal PQ. (This service is similar to AT&T's 800-CALL-ATT, or BellSouth/Qwest's 800-BELLSOU(th), or Bell Atlantic/Sprint's 800-ALL-CALL, or MCI's 800-COLLECT or 800-888-8000, etc). When one dials 800-555-1111 from the (continental) US to use their Stentor-Canada-LEC assigned card number (i.e, they are a Canadian who is travelling in the US) to place a card call (to Canada, the US, or many other countries in the world), or to place a collect call _BACK_ to Canada, the US-to-Montreal portion of the call is handled _NOT_ by AT&T, but by _MCI_! Also, there are _NUMEROUS_ "toll-free-directory" services out there with their own 800- dialup numbers, some (most? all?) use the 800-555 prefix. One is (was) reached with 800-555-1313. Many of these have sprouted up because of the charging/rate policies AT&T established a few years ago regarding how AT&T would charge other carriers for AT&T's 800-555-1212 to "look up" and spot numbers for requested listings that had toll-free numbers _NOT_ assigned/handled by AT&T! Many _NON-AT&T_ handled toll-free numbers _DO_ fall under the category of "desiring to be listed" (i.e., the customer or number-holder _WANTS_ their number to be publically known or available) but the carrier involved that assigned the number and handles the routing (and billing) of the call chooses _NOT_ to have AT&T's 800-555-1212 list the number due to a dispute between them and AT&T over the charges for the "look up"! IMO, _THAT's_ why we need an "independent, impartial" 800-555-1212 Directory in North America provided by Telcordia-DSMI or Lockheed-NASC/ NANPA, or an impartial company contracted by one of these two entities, with the concurrance of the FCC/FTC/CRTC/etc. Incidently, the FCC (with the concurracne fo Canada's CRTC?) has determined that there will be _NO_ assignments at this time (not even of -1212) to the 888-555 or 877-555 prefixes. And while 800-855 is reserved for "Hearing Impaired" services, there is now multiple carrier possibility of the -xxxx line-numbers. 800-555-1155 is still routed by AT&T in the US or Stentor's LECs in Canada, but there are other -xxxx line-numbers under 800-855 assigned to MCI and Sprint ... See http://www.nanpa.com/number_resource_info/800_assignments.html for other 800-855-xxxx line-number assignments. Curiously, there is no listing here for 800-555-1155! 800-555-1212 Toll-Free Directory in the NANP is a PUBLIC SERVICE, IMO, and before the FCC rubber-stamps AT&T's request to discontinue it (within the US), I would _HOPE_ that the FCC has a 'pair of what it takes' to look into various possibilities of NANPA/DSMI/NASC/TRA/etc. handling or contracting it out to an imparitial entity which would have listings for _ALL_ "published" toll-free 800/888/877/etc. toll-free numbers in the NANP, under a "fair and impartial, uniform" type policy --- and not just "give in" to whatever AT&T or any other big-company carrier chooses to discontinue. MARK_J._CUCCIA__PHONE/WRITE/WIRE/CABLE:__HOME:__(USA)__Tel:_CHestnut-1-2497 WORK:__mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu|4710-Wright-Road|__(+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity-5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New-Orleans-28__|fwds-on-no-answr-to Fax:UNiversity-5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail- ------------------------------ From: dleibold@else.net (David Leibold) Subject: Re: Country Code Question Date: 15 Nov 1999 23:03:04 -0500 Organization: Magma Communications Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada In article , Molinari Alessio wrote: > I'm dubious for North Marianna Island (00670) , Guam ( 00671) and > American Samoa (00684) country code. Are correct? From Italy I try to > do some phone test but I received also busy tone. . . . > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I believe that while the above three > *used to be* country codes, they are now considered USA area codes > instead. Am I correct? Instead of this person dialing the above as Northern Marianas and Guam are now under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) as +1 670 and +1 671 respectively (or 001670 and 001671 from Italy, in the normal European ISD format). Access via direct country codes +670 and +671 was officially discontinued as of 1 July 1998. American Samoa is still active as country code 684, and there is no word yet (to my knowledge) about it joining NANP, although this has been proposed. The NANP Administrator site (www.nanpa.com) lists +1 684 (NPA 684 within the NANP) as "Reserved for NANP Country". Considering that not all country codes are necessarily reachable by dialing, the busy signal on +684 (or 00684) seems to be up to the long distance or international carriers to fix. ------------------------------ Reply-To: dov@oz.net Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 22:30:54 -0800 From: Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Country Code Question Molinari Alessio wrote: > I'm dubious for North Marianna Island (00670) , Guam ( 00671) and > American Samoa (00684) country code. Are correct? From Italy I try to > do some phone test but I received also busy tone. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I believe that while the above three > *used to be* country codes, they are now considered USA area codes > instead. Am I correct? Instead of this person dialing the above as > country codes, should he be dialing the USA country code '1' followed > by the above as area codes? Please write him directly, but some > clarification here would be good also. PAT] The codes mentioned *used* to be country codes for those areas and for a while there was permissive dialing so that you could either dial it as "Australasia" country codes +670, +671 and +684 these US "protectorat" locations are now part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) so that someone in North America would just dial 1+ one of the three codes plus a seven digit number for a telephone in one of these locations. To dial from overseas now you must dial +1 670/671 or 684 to reach a party in these locations (from Italy you'd dial 00+1 670 XXXX.) Joseph Singer Seattle, Washington USA [ICQ pgr] +1 206 405 2052 [voice mail] +1 206 493 0706 [FAX] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:24 +0000 (GMT Standard Time) From: Richard@office.mandarin.com (Richard D G Cox) Subject: Re: Country Code Question Reply-To: Richard.Cox@office.numbering.com Organization: Mandarin Technology Molinari Alessio wrote on 15 Nov 1999: >> I'm dubious for North Marianna Island (00670), Guam (00671) >> and American Samoa (00684) country code. Are correct? The first two used to be; now the +1 equivalent code is considered to be correct. American Samoa *should* still be diallable as 00684. But there is no international regulator who can require network providers and other international telcos to change their routing tables; it is down to each of them to set their routings they way they see things. If only it were otherwise, life in the numbering industry would be a lot easier! > From Italy I try to do some phone test but I received also busy tone. Well, that's the same as I get using First Telecom, but calls via BT or NTL go straight to either reorder tone or invalid number RANN intercept. Several Telcos have to pass on the call setup message -- and may modify it or check it for validity -- or alternatively they may pass it unchecked. The international signalling that means "number invalid" is frequently misinterpreted by national Telcos as "number engaged" (now we're in the ISDN era, call-failure tones are often generated at the local, rather than the destination exchange, to save international circuit time). It is possible, therefore, that either the Italian Telco you are using, or some other network the call passes through, has misinterpreted the information about the changes in American Samoa, and has blocked 00684. (it is a code that is not dialled /that/ often from Europe!). I gather the Liechtenstein authorities are still having great difficulty persuading international operators to implement their "new" country code and trap calls to their old Swiss area code with a suitable announcement; There again, how many countries and local Telcos (particularly in the USA) have got their correct routing in place for the latest UK code changes? EVERYONE should NOW be able to dial UK (+44) area codes 20, 23, 24, 28, and 29 as well as our new mobile and paging codes 76, 77, 78, and 79. All these codes are followed by a further EIGHT digits. Richard Cox +44 29 2031 1131 To send genuine e-mail please remove the "office" from our e-mail address! ------------------------------ From: sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.Net (Steve Sobol) Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup Date: 16 Nov 1999 14:36:35 GMT Organization: New Age Consulting Service Inc., Cleveland, OH, USA On Mon, 15 Nov 1999 19:52:22 EST, Wlevant@aol.com allegedly said: >> A King County District Judge today issued a far-reaching order that >> may be a first-ever precedent in cyber-space, banning a man from >> talking about Zoom skis, or any other skiing-related topic, in the >> Usenet newsgroup Rec.Skiing.Alpine. > In the US, at least, content-based regulation of non-commercial, > non-obscene speech is ALWAYS unconstitutional. This judge must have > cut a few too many constitutional law classes in law school. And, who > died and left her Honor in charge of the Internet anyway? And, since > when are bad manners a matter for the courts? What an idiot the judge is. What is she going to do if I post? I'm not in her jurisdiction, nor are any of the Net surfers outside the US. I hope this gets challenged. The decision is ridiculous. North Shore Technologies Corporation - Steven J. Sobol, President & Head Geek 815 Superior Avenue #610, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, USA Phone +1 888.480.4NET sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net http://NorthShoreTechnologies.net Owned and loved by the dogs of JaMiSt Chinese Shar-Pei, Montville, Ohio :) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 08:46:11 -0800 Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup Organization: Our Lady of Perpetual Freedom From: tweek@netcom.com (Mike Maxfield) Bill Levant wrote: > In the US, at least, content-based regulation of non-commercial, > non-obscene speech is ALWAYS unconstitutional. This judge must have > cut a few too many constitutional law classes in law school. And, who > died and left her Honor in charge of the Internet anyway? And, since > when are bad manners a matter for the courts? ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Perhaps since Judge Ronald White made his opinion known in court and on record of Grady Ward's verbal opinions on Helena Kobrin in the US District Court for Northern California in (one of) the case of $cientology Vs. the Net. While I don't recall Ward actually getting punished for his verbal ... poetry about Kobrin, it really, IMO, IANAL, should have had no bearing on the case and therefore should not even have been brought up in court, much less brought up by the judge. Now if the judge had mentioned it in his opinion in a manner responding to the persecut///uh, prosecution as saying "While I too, find Ward's colorful verbiage disqusting, it has no bearing on this case." that would have been fine ... but that wasn't the context I saw it in. ------------------------------ From: Anthony Argyriou Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 23:54:31 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On 15 Nov 1999 22:19:48 GMT, rbf@rbfnet.com (Brett Frankenberger) wrote: > I've heard this story and never bothered to check if it's a bogus urban > legend or if it actually happened. Regardless, the case wouldn't be > about 60Hz EM radiation. The portion of the power that is radiated is > very small, and once it's radiated, it's gone forever from the power > company, regardless of whether it ends up being harnessed by a farmer, > heating the earth, or propogating off into space. They'd have a tough > time claiming ownership of power that they routinely and knowingly > transmit away from their lines. > The stealing would be as a result of the farmer harnessing the *static* > EM field created by the power lines. A direct result of that would be > an additional, measurable, loss of power from the transmission lines > (there would be an additional voltage "drop"[1] near the barn). Wrong. The power radiated is very small, but the power loss can be large if there is a coil to pick up the _variable_ magnetic field created by the AC. You can't do this trick with a DC power line, unless you vibrate the coil, to create AC. Anthony Argyriou ------------------------------ From: gldyer-nospam@geocities.com (Geoff Dyer) Subject: Re: Are There Laws Regulating Auto Redialing? Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:57:58 GMT On Fri, 12 Nov 1999 17:36:01 GMT, Andrew Tannenbaum wrote: > I'm looking for references to laws regulating automatic redialing > of telephone numbers. If I have a fax server that fails to connect > to my intended recipient, if I'm dialing the wrong number by accident, > my retry scheme might be quite irritating to the accidental victim. > Are there laws in countries outside the USA? Since I haven't yet seen a reply from David Clayton: 8-) For Australia (this is from my modem's manual, but every modem I've had says the same): "A total of 3 call attempts are allowed to a telephone number, with a minimum period between calls of 2 seconds: if the call doesn't connect after 3 attempts, 30 minutes must expire before automatic redialling may be initiated." The same manual also says for New Zealand: "Not more than a total of 10 call attempts shall be made to the same number for any single manual call initiation within a 30 minute period. There shall be at least 60 seconds between call attempts to the same number. Automatic calls to different numbers shall be not less than 5 seconds apart." Geoff (to e-mail me, remove any instances of "-nospam" from my address) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #552 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 16 16:28:06 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id QAA22606; Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:28:06 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:28:06 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911162128.QAA22606@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #553 TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Nov 99 16:28:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 553 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Too Good to be True, I Guess (Mark Shapiro) Call for Papers 14th ESM'2000, Ghent, Belgium (Philippe Geril) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Peter Dubuque) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Bob Goudreau) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Manny Olds) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Andrew) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (PhoneDude) Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! (Ethan Henry) Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! (Truman Boyes) 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion (Reuben Wall) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Bob Goudreau) Historical Information (Kdafni@aol.com) Re: ISDN Viruses (Mel Beckman) 31337 (Lisa Higgins) 31337 (Flor Riklef) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:33:30 PST From: Mark Shapiro Subject: Re: FWD: Too Good to be True, I Guess It seems to me you are correct in your assessment of too much traffic. What I have done to address this problem is to place the phone number on the address book and dial directly from there, which automatically resets the applet each time. I usually get through in about five to ten tries. The most annoying problem for me is the long delay between transmission and reception to calls within my own state (Hawaii). I also experience break up and static at times. My guess is that this is in part due to the long distances the data must travel from this location. It might also have to do with my choice of ISP, which is AltaVista Free. As an experiment, I'd like to try a cable modem or Ethernet link. A friend of mine in Hilo used his 56K connection via Prodigy with much better results on a call to the Mainland. TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Has anyone else been having trouble using the free phone call in > exchange for advertisements of http://www.dialpad.com recently? > The first couple times I tried it, around two or three weeks ago, > it worked quite well. Now for the past week or so, anytime I try > to use it, it takes a LONG time for the java applet to appear, and > sometimes it never does open correctly. No matter what I dial, I > get a short burst of busy tone and that is all. Then to make > matters worse, the button on the right side which is supposed to > alternate between 'dial' and 'hangup' gets stuck in the 'hangup' > mode and won't return to where I can dial a second time without > exiting the applet and calling it up a second time. One day I > got a reply on the little window saying 'no circuits' but usually > I get nothing at all. > I was told by someone that the service received a couple million > signups in less than a month. Is that true? Maybe that is why I > cannot reach it any longer. :( ------------------------------ From: Philippe Geril Subject: Call For Papers 14th ESM'2000, Ghent, Belgium Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:58:03 +0100 Organization: SCS Europe Bvba Reply-To: Philippe.Geril@rug.ac.be Dear Colleagues, This is to inform you that the webpages for ESM'2000 (May 23-26, 2000, Ghent, Belgium) the fourteenth European conference of SCS on computer simulation are now online. Please note that the submission deadline has changed to DECEMBER 20TH, and that the conference has been moved forward to the end of month of May. This was due to the fact that we were unable to obtain the conference rooms for the June period. Topics: Simulation in Supply Chain Management & Logistics Simulation in Education & Corporate Training Simulation in Biology, Medicine & Health Care Systems Simulation in Industry and Services Simulation Methodology, Tools and Standards Simulation and Operations Research Simulation in Control Engineering and Artificial Intelligence Simulation in Communication and Networks More information can be found on: http://hobbes.rug.ac.be/~scs ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 20 For more info go to: http://hobbes.rug.ac.be/~scs or you can contact me by email on Philippe.Geril@rug.ac.be Best Regards, Philippe Geril Tel: +32.9.233.77.90 SCS Europe Fax: +32.9.223.49.41 Coupure Links 653 E-mail: Philippe.Geril@rug.ac.be B-9000 Ghent URL: http://hobbes.rug.ac.be/~scs Belgium URL: http://hobbes.rug.ac.be/~phil ************************************************************************ Your information site on Computer Simulation - Concurrent Engineering - Multimedia http://hobbes.rug.ac.be/~scs ************************************************************************ ------------------------------ From: Peter Dubuque Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Date: 16 Nov 1999 17:17:36 GMT Organization: The Internet Access Company, Inc. John R. Levine wrote: > I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, trademark holders want all > sorts of "rights" on the net that they'd never have in the normal > world, and there's a distressing amount of blather by people who've > never even read the relevant law. > Trademarks and domain names just don't match up, particularly domains > in .com/.org/.net that don't have any geographic or line of business > qualification. Names on the net would be much easier to deal with if > the .US domain were better managed so people were more willing to get > geographic domains that better match businesses with local or regional > rather than global scope. I think the geographical restrictions on .us are its worst flaw. If you're going to get a .us domain, you might as well not have a website to begin with. Most people to have come on the net in the past probably don't even realize that .com isn't the only TLD. Perhaps this will change, but I'm skeptical. I've got a friend who's operated a BBS in Seattle for about eight years. The BBS name was taken from a popular turn-of-the-century comic strip, and naturally, when Internet access became feasible, she registered the corresponding .com address. Well, a few years later, along comes this small furniture chain from the Midwest with the same name. Someone at the company had apparently heard about how great this new Internet thing was, and decided they needed a Web presence for whatever reason. But lo and behold, their domain name was already taken. So they called out the lawyers. The BBS operator couldn't afford to fight them off, and in the end they agreed to let her use the name in the .seattle.wa.us domain. If they had seen any potential value in it, they would have denied her that as well. .us domain names are worthless. Oh, and PAT -- the questions I raised in my previous post were largely rhetorical. I fully realize that might makes right in this new world order -- that the interests of businesses take precedence over individ- uals, that national and international companies take precedence over local and regional ones, and that laws are meaningless if you can pay for enough lawyers. Peter F. Dubuque - dubuque@tiac.net - Enemy of Reason(TM) O- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:10:43 EST From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names lightgrw@my-deja.com wrote: > Bill Levant spoke, saying: >> ... but I JUST DON'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH ENFORCING TRADEMARKS >> ON THE NET TO THE SAME DEGREE AS WOULD BE APPLICABLE OFF THE NET. >> The net is not a "special place" where the usual rules shouldn't >> apply ... it's part of the world. Sorry. > I strongly disagree with that statement. New Jersey Transit > Corporation has been running a website that they have promoted as the > "official site of NJ Transit" for about four years. All during that > time the domain name NJtransit.com was publicly available. Someday > there will be an internet case where a person has enough money to > stand their ground and defend the fact that businesses should not have > forever to claim a trademark online if they already have a website. > It is my view that New Jersey Transit Corporation forfeited their > right to the domain name when they did not register it themselves and > were promoting the website NJtransit.state.nj.us Sorry, but I have to agree with Bill on this one. Why should a trademark (or service mark) owner's failure to use *every* possible permutation of the trademark name be grounds for having to "share" that trademark? For a non-Net example, consider the case of the International Business Machines Corporation. Do you also claim the right to set up a company called, say, "International Business Machines, Inc."? Whether it's "Inc." or "Ltd." or "Company", the suffix doesn't change the fact that you're violating the "International Business Machines" trademark, does it? Likewise with "NJ Transit": if that phrase is truly a trade or service mark of the transit authority, then the domain suffix should be irrelevant; njtransit.com, njtransit.net, njtransit.org, etc. would all be violators of the trade/service mark. > Furthermore, the letters NJ are common, the word transit is common. > A domain name like NJtransit.com fits perfectly within our business > model of New Jersey related informational websites. Continuing with the above example, the words "International", "Business" and "Machines" are also common. You still can't use 'em together in that order for your company's name, even if your business model is to sell business-related machines to the world. Bob Goudreau Data General, a division of EMC Corp. goudreau@rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: Manny Olds Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Organization: Persiflage Press Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 12:40:22 GMT Bill Levant wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is reconstructed from mail which > was lost Sunday evening. PAT] > Some years ago, in Baltimore, a woman named Sony opened an eponymous > (look it up) restaurant. A certain electronics company sued (can't > let the public confuse televisions with sushi, can we?) and she was > forced to change the name of the restaurant to include her last name > (which I can't recall at the moment). Funny thing, though; the neon > tubes spelling her last name "burned out" shortly thereafter, and were > NEVER replaced. Oh, well. "Sony Florendo's" in Owings Mills, MD. Originally named "Sony's" and specializing in a particular kind of Philipino turnover. What you ought to understand is that (according to experts quoted in news reports at the time) Ms. Florendo had an excellent chance win the case, if it ever were litigated. She was in a distinctly different business, it was her personal name, AND she had been using the name in the United States longer than Sony Corp. But Sony Corp. assaulted her with legal maneuvers until she couldn't afford to continue. She was forced to surrender, not because she was wrong, but because Sony Corp. has a lot more money to spend on lawyers than Sony Florendo. Which seems a lot like what happens to so-called "cybersquatters" now. Manny Olds of Riverdale Park, Maryland, USA "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." -- Edmund Burke ------------------------------ From: Andrew Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 16 Nov 1999 13:00:06 GMT Organization: Kill-9 Industries Bill Levant wrote: >> However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM >> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The >> power company sued, successfully. > Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in > which this took place? Dates? Places?? The version that I had heard, which I assumed to be true because it was plausible, is that farmer Jones noticed that a barbed wire fence that was running parallel to a power line was energized, so he decided to use it to power the lights in his barn. The power company got wise and issued a bill for the estimated power consumed. Andrew ------------------------------ From: PhoneDude Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:28:16 -0500 Organization: GTE Laboratories Incorporated Bill Levant wrote in message news:telecom19.551.16@ telecom-digest.org: >> However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM >> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The >> power company sued, successfully. > Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in > which this took place? Dates? Places?? > I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer > power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating > involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, > methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. Complete and total bunk. PD ------------------------------ From: Ethan Henry Reply-To: egh@klg.com Organization: KL Group Inc. Subject: Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 14:59:58 -0500 Joseph Mallett wrote: > If we ever go into 11+ digits, can I have the 31337 NPA? (Oh c'mon, just a > joke against all the phreaker lurkers here.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's note: I do not understand the joke. Would > you care to explain? PAT] It's 'hacker-speak' for 'Elite', spelled 'eleet' or "ElEET" where the E's become 3's, etc. It's up there with 'd00d', 'warez' and 'phreak'. Ethan ------------------------------ From: Truman Boyes Subject: Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:11:12 EST Organization: suspicious On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Tony Pelliccio wrote: > In article , NeXTguru@mindspring.com > says: >> If we ever go into 11+ digits, can I have the 31337 NPA? (Oh c'mon, just a >> joke against all the phreaker lurkers here.) >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's note: I do not understand the joke. Would >> you care to explain? PAT] > Near as I can make out, 31EEP > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess I am still too dense to > understand it. Remember a television show forty years ago called > 'Ted Macks Amateur Comedy Hour' ? His jokes were about as funny. > PAT] 31337 is phreaker talk for "elite". Punch it into a pager. It will make more sense. truman.boyes. ------------------------------ From: ubitech@yahoo.com (Reuben Wall) Subject: 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion Date: 16 Nov 1999 13:27:26 GMT I am searching for a product, and I was hoping someone reading can help point me in the right direction. I have to connect two modems together, each in different cities. I have a standard 2-wire analog modem interface on one side. I have a basic 4-wire interface on the other side. I need to connect them together! This is a leased line network (not dialup). There is no E&M signalling. There is a transmit, transmit return, a receive and receive return (4 wires). There will be no DC voltages on the link. I need an external "box" that will convert from a 4-wire modem to a 2-wire modem. I am not looking for the individual electronic componets, but a commercial product that will do this. Maximum speed is 2400 and MUST be full-duplex. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks and best regards, Reuben Wall Ubitech Systems Inc Please respond to: ubitech@yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:22:02 EST From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? PAT wrote: > ... This is why 'radar detectors' in automobiles are illegal. Anthony Argyriou responded: > Radar detectors are not illegal everywhere. It is _not_ illegal to own > or use one in California. Nor, indeed, in most of the United States. This topic comes up all the time in rec.autos.driving. In fact, the *only* US jurisdictions where radar detector use by automobile drivers is illegal are Virginia and the District of Columbia (Connecticut repealed its RD ban several years ago). Large interstate commercial trucks are another matter, due to a federal truck safety law passed a few years ago, but there is nothing illegal about using a radar detector in your personal vehicle in 49 of the 50 states. Bob Goudreau Data General, a division of EMC Corp. goudreau@rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest that federal laws -- however obscure they may be -- take precedence over state laws where they exist and when the federal law is more stringent. The federal law, as it appears in the Communications Act of 1934 with revisions, etc, says that you may not intentionally or deliberatly receive radio transmissions not intended for yourself, nor may you benefit from or acknowledge those you do happen to accidentally overhear. A general purpose, multi-band radio receiver is capable of tuning many different frequencies; 'accidental' reception of some transmission not intended for yourself is possible. A radar detector is manufactured to receive only a very limited number of transmissions, none of which are intended for you. You illegally acknowledge the transmission and benefit from it by slowing down your automobile, or perhaps you drive in a different direction entirely. I do not believe the Communications Act forbids possession of any receiver; only the inappropriate use of a receiver, but in the case of a radar detector, because of the limited range of transmissions it receives, there is no appropriate or lawful type of transmission it might be used to receive. Therefore they are illegal under federal law (appropriate sections of the Communications Act) even if not specifically addressed under various state laws. Today's trivia game! All these 'words' began as abbreviations for some longer phrase. All relate to radio. What were the original phrases? RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF At least a couple of them should be quite easy. (As usual, this note signed by PAT, the only person I know whose initials of his first, middle and last name when put put together spell his first name.) PAT] ------------------------------ From: Kdafni@aol.com Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:54:30 EST Subject: Seeking Historical Information To whom it may concern, I would like some additional historical information that could not be located within these pages. Specifically, for the purpose of research, I am looking for a chronological chart that will show the technological advancement in the phone system over the past 100 years. Your help will be kindly appreciated. KDafni ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:09:03 -0800 From: Mel Beckman Subject: Re: ISDN Viruses John S. Maddaus said: > As I said, we see the setup messages before the DMS100 and the called > number fields are blank. The equipment we use is special purpose and > is either reporting accurately the setup messages, or translating > literally control characters designed to hide the destination and > origination. Interestingly, the calling number for all of these calls > is "UNUSED". >> It sounds like you may be assuming that the originating LEC is sending >> a faulty message, but I think that's ruled out by the fact that the >> call gets routed to the destination. > Not necessarily the originating LEC. It is only a pass through. > However, a PBX could. I have already confirmed that with default > numbers populated that are not valid (such as 9998887777). Then you have a genuine mystery on your hands. But I would say that since you're using "special" equipment for your testing, that your test apparatus may be in error. Clearly there is no way for the DMS to route the call to you without the DMS first receiving destination DID for the incoming call. - Mel Beckman ------------------------------ From: Lisa Higgins Subject: 31337 Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 09:06:08 -0700 That's B1FF5p34K (Biffspeak) for ELEET (elite), which describes the awesome hacking powers of 500p3R-K-R4d1K3WL H4KK3r-D00D who used to post to Usenet from his big brother's C0mPU73r!!1!!! (Super-K-radical hacker dude who used to post from Usenet from his big brother's computer!) Or something like that. It's been a very long time, and I am SICK today, so that's my excuse if I am wrong. (Remember that stupid joke where you'd get a calculator and calculate this weight-loss formula for Dolly Parton, and the answer would come up as 55378008, and you'd say, "What would that leave Dolly Parton?" and you'd turn the calculator upside down, to peals of raucous laughter from all the other 12 year olds? Or not?) Lisa ------------------------------ From: Flor Riklef Subject: 31337 Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:25:55 -0600 31337 is "phracker-speak" for "elite", or more accurately in this case, "eleet". You know how it goes ... the alternating capital and lowercase letters ... substituting numbers for letters: "hey D00dz, cum find the b3st WaReZ on the Net H3r3!" Rik ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #553 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 16 21:55:19 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id VAA07193; Tue, 16 Nov 1999 21:55:19 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 21:55:19 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911170255.VAA07193@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #554 TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Nov 99 21:55:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 554 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Extract From - CRYPTO-GRAM, November 15, 1999] (John Shaver) Re: 800-555-xxxx (re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale) (J. Oppenheimer) Demonizing Technology (was URBAN LEGEND ALERT) (Arthur Ross) Must Telemarketers and "Researchers" Identify Themselves? (Jonathan Seder) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Bill Ranck) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Andrew) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Ross McMicken) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Ed Ellers) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Tony Pelliccio) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Bruce F. Roberts) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Coredump) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:55:16 -0700 From: John Shaver Subject: Extract From - CRYPTO-GRAM, November 15, 1999] Frank and Karen Williams wrote: -------- Original Message -------- From: Robert Miletich Subject: [53L] Extract from - CRYPTO-GRAM, November 15, 1999 To: 53listserv@ORATOR.USMA.EDU If you don't get the monthly Crypto-Gram, you don't get it. Bruce Schneier is a very timely security stud, reading his analysis is always provocative - for example, in this issue, a good discussion on the recent DVD Encryption Break. November 15, 1999 by Bruce Schneier Founder and CTO Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. schneier@counterpane.com http://www.counterpane.com CRYPTO-GRAM is a free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentaries on computer security and cryptography. Back issues are available at http://www.counterpane.com. To subscribe, visit http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html or send a blank message to crypto-gram-subscribe@chaparraltree.com Copyright 1999 by Bruce Schneier (extract) DVD Encryption Broken The scheme to protect DVDs has been broken. There are now freeware programs on the net that remove the copy protection on DVDs, allowing them to be played, edited, and copied without restriction. This should be no surprise to anyone, least of all to the entertainment industry. The protection scheme is seriously flawed in several ways. Each DVD is encrypted with something called Content Scrambling System (CCS). It has a 40-bit key. (I have no idea why. The NSA and the FBI shouldn't care about DVD encryption. There aren't any encrypted terrorist movies they need to watch.) It's not even a very good algorithm. But even if the encryption were triple-DES, this scheme Every DVD player, including hardware consoles that plug into your television and software players that you can download to your computer, has its own unique unlock key. (Actually, each has several. I don't know why.) This key is used to unlock the decryption key on each DVD. A DVD has 400 copies of the same unique decryption key, each encrypted with every unlock code. Note the global secret: if you manage to get one unlock key for one player, you can decrypt every DVD. But even if this were all perfect, the scheme could never work. The flaw is in the security model. The software player eventually gets the decryption key, decrypts the DVD, and displays it on the screen. That decrypted DVD data is on the computer. It has to be; there's no other way to display it on the screen. No matter how good the encryption scheme is, the DVD data is available in plaintext to anyone who can write a computer program to take it. And so is the decryption key. The computer has to decrypt the DVD. The decryption key has to be in the computer. So the decryption key is available, in the clear, to anyone who knows where to look. It's protected by an unlock key, but the reader has to unlock it. The DVD software manufacturers were supposed to disguise the decryption program, and possibly the playing program, using some sort of software obfuscation techniques. These techniques have never worked for very long; they only seem to force hackers to spend a couple of extra weeks figuring out how the software works. I've written about this previously in relation to software copy protection; you can't obfuscate software. It might be a bitter pill for the entertainment industry to swallow, but software content protection does not work. It cannot work. You can distribute encrypted content, but in order for it to be read, viewed, or listened to, it must be turned into plaintext. If it must be turned into plaintext, the computer must have a copy of the key and the algorithm to turn it into plaintext. A clever enough hacker with good enough debugging tools will always be able to reverse-engineer the algorithm, get the key, or just capture the plaintext after decryption. And he can write a software program that allows others to do it automatically. This cannot be stopped. If you assume secure hardware, the scheme works. (In fact, the industry wants to extend the system all the way to the monitor, and eventually do the decryption there.) The attack works because the hacker can run a debugger and other programming tools. If the decryption device and the viewing device (it must be both) is inside a tamperproof piece of hardware, the hacker is stuck. He can't reverse-engineer anything. But tamperproof hardware is largely a myth, so in reality this would just be another barrier that someone will eventually overcome. Digital content protection just doesn't work; ask anyone who tried software copy protection. One more lesson and an observation. The lesson: This is yet another example of an industry meeting in secret and designing a proprietary encryption algorithm and protocol that ends up being embarrassingly weak. I never understand why people don't use open, published, trusted encryption algorithms and protocols. They're always better. The observation: The "solution" that the entertainment industry has been pushing for is to make reverse-engineering illegal. They managed in the United States: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act includes provisions to this effect, despite the protests of the scientific and civil rights communities. (Yes, you can go to jail for possessing a debugger.) They got a similar law passed in the UK. They're working on the EU. This "solution" does not work and makes no sense. First, unless reverse-engineering is illegal everywhere on the planet, someone will be able to do it somewhere. And one person is all you need; he can write software that everyone else uses. Second, the reverse-engineer can-as in this case-work anonymously. Laws wouldn't have helped in this case. And third, laws can't put the cat back into the bag. Even if you could catch and prosecute the hackers who did this, it wouldn't affect the hacker tools that have already been, and continue to be, written. What the entertainment industry can do, and what they have done in this case, is use legal threats to slow the spread of these tools. So far the industry has threatened legal actions against people who have put these software tools on their Web sites. The result will be that these tools will exist on hacker Web sites, but will never be in public-domain software -- Linux, for example. The fatal flaw is that the entertainment industry is lazy, and is attempting to find a technological solution to what is a legal problem. It is illegal to steal copyrights and trademarks, whether it is a DVD movie, a magazine image, a Ralph Lauren shirt, or a Louis Vitton handbag. This legal protection still exists, and is still strong. For some reason the entertainment industry has decided that it has a legal right to the protection of its technology, and that makes no sense. Moreover, they are badgering legislatures into passing laws that prop up this flawed technological protection. In the US and UK (and possibly soon in the EU), it is illegal to circumvent their technology, even when you never use it to violate a copyright. It is illegal to engage in scientific research about the encryption used in these systems. It is illegal to peek under the hood of this thing you have legally bought. So not only does this system not work, it creates a black market where there was none before, while doing no social good in the process. This DVD break is a good thing. It served no one's interests for the entertainment industry to put their faith in a bad security system. It is good research, illustrating how bad the encryption algorithm is and how poorly thought out the security model is. What is learned here can be applied to making future systems stronger. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,32263,00.html http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?back=archive99/now1029.txt Summary of the DVD encryption scheme: http://crypto.gq.nu Geek stuff: http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/000548.html http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/000589.html http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/000609.html http://livid.on.openprojects.net/pipermail/livid-dev/1999-October/000671.html My essay on software copy protection: http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-9811.html#copy My comments on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0622/22wipo.html New Intel software obfuscation techniques that, I predict, will be broken soon: http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/in110999.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 19:06:02 -0500 From: Judith Oppenheimer Organization: ICB Toll Free News / WhoSells800.com Subject: Re: 800-555-xxxx (re: AT&T Puts 800-555-1212 Up for Sale) In a rush, no time to check tariffs etc., but for all practical purposes ... Mark J Cuccia wrote: > Since there has been competition in toll-free since the mid-to-late-1980s, > and if AT&T doesn't want to provide 800-555-1212 anymore, maybe some > consortium of carriers, or maybe even Lockheed/NASC or Telcordia/DSMI Strictly database management, takes orders from the FCC > should work out something for a single third-party under contract with the > ... or ATIS-OBF-toll-free-SNAC Strictly standards and practices, and operational issues -- not service provision. > should provide toll-free-directory > for the NANP on 800-555-1212. > I'm not exactly certain right now _WHO_ is involved with assigning, > administering, etc. toll-free numbers and the toll-free number portability > database -- I know that Lockhhed has been involved with it for a NUMBER of > years (the NASC - Number Assignment Service Center) as well as a > subsidiary of Bellcore-now Telcordia (the DSMI - Database Service > Management Inc). JUDITH, some clarification here? ONLY the FCC. DSMI etc., as well as ATIS/SNAC, all take their marching orders from the FCC. > Also, there are _NUMEROUS_ "toll-free-directory" services out there with > their own 800- dialup numbers, some (most? all?) use the 800-555 prefix. There are also 800-555-xxxx assignees who do not use those numbers for any form of directory assistance. > Incidently, the FCC (with the concurracne fo Canada's CRTC?) has > determined that there will be _NO_ assignments at this time (not even of > -1212) to the 888-555 or 877-555 prefixes. By letter dated April 2, 1998 to DSMI, the FCC directed DSMI "to place all "877-555-XXXX" numbers in unavailable status along with the "888-555-XXXX" numbers until the Commission has reached a decision on the issues related to the development of competitive directory assistance service." Rather strange, given the portable assignment of 800-555-xxxx numbers, and the denial of replication to those assignees ... What happened here, was that AT&T had a hissy fit at SNAC, wanting not only its replication of 888-555-1212, but ALL 888-555-xxxx numbers, claiming there would be customer confusion ... again, pretty odd given that other 800-555-xxxx's were already assigned elsewhere for non-800 DA purposes ... > 800-555-1212 Toll-Free Directory in the NANP is a PUBLIC SERVICE, IMO, > and before the FCC rubber-stamps AT&T's request to discontinue it (within > the US), I would _HOPE_ that the FCC has a 'pair of what it takes' to > look into various possibilities of NANPA/DSMI/NASC/TRA/etc. handling or > contracting it out to an imparitial entity which would have listings for > _ALL_ "published" toll-free 800/888/877/etc. toll-free numbers in the > NANP, under a "fair and impartial, uniform" type policy --- and not just > "give in" to whatever AT&T or any other big-company carrier chooses to > discontinue. As you've noted, there are already other toll free directory services available ... the usual issues are the sharing of customer files among carriers, and at what cost ... also, how to make money providing the service ... AT&T's release noted that of nearly 20 million toll free's "assigned", it had only "roughly 750,000" listed ... The big industry secret going back pre-888, is the fallacy of "exhaust" ... how *so* many toll free numbers are assigned to pager and voicemail systems, often held by the carriers themselves as the assignees pending sale of those services. Judith Oppenheimer, 1 800 The Expert, 212 684-7210 mailto:joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com Publisher of ICB Toll Free News: http://icbtollfree.com Publisher of WhoSells800.com: http://whosells800.com Moderator TOLLFREE-L: http://www.egroups.com/group/tollfree-l/info.html President of ICB Consultancy: http://JudithOppenheimer.com: 800 # Acquisition Management, Lost 800 # Retrieval, Litigation Support, Regulatory Navigation, Correlating Trademark and Domain Name Issues. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 14:19:07 -0700 From: Arthur Ross Subject: Demonizing Technology (was URBAN LEGEND ALERT) Bill Levant wrote in TELECOM Digest Volume 19 Issue 551 >> However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM >> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The >> power company sued, successfully. > Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in > which this took place? Dates? Places?? > I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer > power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating > involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, > methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. Flat out hoax IMHO. It is physically very implausible. There is a *good reason* that transformers have all that iron in them. While something like this is not totally impossible, it would present impedance matching difficulties that would make it thoroughly impractical. Not to mention the misunderstanding of E&M 101 that confuses "radiation" with magnetic coupling. I think this may be an example, like Y2K and the guy supposedly cooked by the microwave channel bank, of some kind of innate human need to perceive sophisticated technical threats - something about our modern society - perhaps a psychological urge to demonize technology that we find subconciously threatening. The willingness to believe these urban legends is perhaps a way to assuage pent-up hostility, in the same way that "action-adventure" movies are a way to sublimate the frustrations of daily life, bad bosses, etc. And there is no shortage of people, often with something to sell, willing to tell us that all those fears are completely justified and we have to protect ourselves (gee, that thread some months back about "surge protectors" comes to mind ...). Like all the stuff about "hackers" and eavesdropping on IP traffic and stealing credit card numbers. All of you out there who are beginning to write and tell me that these are real threats: STOP! I understand that these things are possible, do happen, and all that. But I do think that the good ol' standby methods of larceny will dominate by far for a long time - flat-out pilferage, stealing the physical credit cards, corrupting employees, dumpster-diving for the carbons, etc, etc. It's just that the old standbys do not make good scare headlines that sell the advertisers' products, while the mysterious techno-threats, however implausible and/or rare, *do*. Back to the subject of theft of power -- there are some places in the world where this IS a real problem, not in the bogus way that this hoax describes -- rather, in much more blatent, simple, old-fashioned ways. This brings to mind a living example from my newspaper clipping collection .... I've always thought that the sheer magnitude of the 40% "loss" estimate in the following is truly astonishing. From the Hindustan Times, a major English-language daily in New Delhi, India, Wednesday November 2, 1994 (spelling and usage errors are from the original): "DESU mafia causing 40 p.c. power losses "If the Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (DESU) reduces the transmission and distribution losses every by one per cent, the Undertaking can set-up a new plant of 200 MW capacity per year to meet the increasing power demand, according to engineers. "According to the experts, DESU is losing over 40 percent power it supplies to the consumers. DESU has not taken steps even after the formation of the Government in Delhi last year, to check the power losses. Rather transmission and distribution (T&D) losses have gone up from 22.5 per cent last year to over 40 per cent this year, a DESU engineer said. "Even if DESU checks the unprecedented loss, power requirements of Delhi-ites can easily be met and it would also be able to pay regularly to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for the power DESU purchases from the Corporation, without the perpetual accumulation of debt. DESU has to pay about Rs. 45 crore to NTPC every month. "The main T&D loss was due to power theft, with other violations like misuse of domestic load for commercial purposes, using load in excess to what had been sanctioned and peak load violation, contributing to the T&D losses. "DESU officials and other business houses cry that the losses were due to misuse of power by jhuggi dwellers. A DESU engineer said it was not true. He said illegal connections in jhuggi was causing hardly five per cent loss to DESU. The main culrpits in causing loss to DESU were industrial units, and commercial houses, and illegal high rise buildings. This section of society was mainly responsible for power theft. The engineer said ther was a mafia operating in the Capital causing T&D losses to DESU. "The engineer did not rule out the connivance of DESU staff with the industrial houses and commercial establishments in this racket, causing a big financial loss to the Undertaking, the engineer said. "...." [Indo-English glossary: jhuggi=slum (I presume), Rs=Rupees (about $0.03 US at the time of this article), crore = ten million] And, to provide the de-rigour telecom connection, this kind of thing is also very common in Indian telecom. Appartment blocks are often covered with a rats' nest of wiring, including many creative souls who piggyback on their neighbors' telephone service. Local operators actually require, in some places, PINs for wire*line* calls because service theft is such a widespread problem. Once saw a guy up a telephone pole in the middle of rural nowhere, with a butt-set clipped on the open-wire line - bet he wasn't the DoT maintenance guy. Makes one appreciate the good ol' US of A a lot more, eh? -- Best regards, -- Arthur (from Phoenix) ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Seder Subject: Must Telemarketers and "Researchers" Identify Themselves? Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:20:01 -0800 Organization: SyntelSoft Inc Lately, I have begun to ask telemarketers and "market researchers" to give me their exact company name, telephone number, address, corporate structure (corporation, sole proprietorship, etc), and agent for service of process before I disclose any information about myself or my business. Inevitably, the person who has telephoned me denies having even a phone number or address. Inevitably, their Caller ID is blocked or unavailable. Of course I don't give out any information at all to someone who won't identify themselves properly -- but I wonder if it is legal for people to call this way, and if not, what the penalties might be under Federal and state laws. Must a caller like this identify themselves? ------------------------------ From: Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 16 Nov 1999 21:23:36 GMT Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA PhoneDude wrote: > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. I'm sorry, but you are just plain wrong on this. High-tension lines, at least in the USofA are almost exclusively AC. I think there are some DC testbed lines set up, but not to any great extent. This is one technical argument that Edison lost. He favored DC transmission lines, but AC was more practical because you can easily transform the voltage with AC. ***************************************************************************** * Bill Ranck +1-540-231-3951 ranck@vt.edu * * Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Computing Center * ***************************************************************************** ------------------------------ From: Andrew Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 16 Nov 1999 22:22:27 GMT Organization: Kill-9 Industries PhoneDude wrote: > Bill Levant wrote in message news:telecom19.551.16@ > telecom-digest.org: >>> However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM >>> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >>> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >>> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >>> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The >>> power company sued, successfully. >> Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in >> which this took place? Dates? Places?? >> I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer >> power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating >> involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, >> methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. Tension is the French word for voltage and the term 'high tension' derives from the french 'haute tension' which neither connotes or denotes AC or DC, but simply means -- you guessed it -- high voltage. This is really beside the point, because the percentage of power lines that are DC is very tiny, and even if you were correct, you wouldn't be disproving the story. Methinks you don't have a clue what the word potential means in this context. > Complete and total bunk. Totally plausible. > PD Andrew ------------------------------ From: mcmicken@nospam.ix.netcom.com (Ross McMicken) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 22:31:54 GMT On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:28:16 -0500, PhoneDude wrote: > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. > Complete and total bunk. I was under the impression that the high voltage lines running across the country are AC. What you are saying is that the power companies generate AC power, convert it to DC for the trip through the high voltage grid, then convert it back to AC for consumer use? Sounds wrong to me. ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 18:20:16 -0500 PhoneDude wrote: > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is not > amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz signal on high > voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 hz are of too low a > potential to make this sort of thing possible. > Complete and total bunk. Your answer certainly is. Long-distance power transmission lines most certainly *do* handle 60 Hz AC rather than DC. If they used DC, it would be difficult (and inefficient) to step voltage up or down as needed, not to mention to convert the DC back to AC for local distribution. ------------------------------ From: nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Organization: Providence Network Partners Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 00:23:44 GMT In article , Wlevant@aol.com says: > I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer > power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating > involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, > methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. Were the lost lightbulbs fluorescents? If they were close enough to the radiating source those would light up. == Tony Pelliccio, KD1S formerly KD1NR == Trustee WE1RD [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not think there was such a thing as a 100 watt flourescent tube. Incadescent, yes, flourescent, no. 40 watt and 25 watt flourescent tubes are very common. Maybe some outdoor, all-weather type electric signs use 100 watt flourescents but they are special, and very expensive tubes. Hardly worth stealing electricity to use. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bruce F. Roberts Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 18:48:42 -0600 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services While there is continuing work on efficient AC/DC/AC conversion and /some/ lines are now DC the bulk of high tension, long distance, transmission lines are still AC at 60 Hz. PhoneDude wrote: > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. > Complete and total bunk. ------------------------------ From: coredump@NOxSPAM.enteract.com (Coredump) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 01:12:24 GMT Organization: Cores' Internet and Storm Door Company On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:28:16 -0500, PhoneDude wrote: > Bill Levant wrote in message news:telecom19.551.16@ > telecom-digest.org: >>> However, there are some precedents regarding ownership of EM >>> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >>> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >>> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >>> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The >>> power company sued, successfully. >> Citations, please. Name of power company? Name of farmer? Court in >> which this took place? Dates? Places?? >> I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer >> power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating >> involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, >> methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is Not True. Wherever did you get that idea ? > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. coredump@NOSPAM.enteract.com http://www.enteract.com/~coredump I'm in the middle of the Information Superhighway ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #554 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 16 23:46:08 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id XAA11652; Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:46:08 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:46:08 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911170446.XAA11652@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #555 TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Nov 99 23:46:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 555 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson DSC/Alcatel vs. Evan Brown, the Saga Continues (Evan Brown) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Brett Frankenberger) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Tony Pelliccio) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Kim Brennan) Re: 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion (Maurice R. Baker) Re: Is the Right of Freedom of Speech in Jeopardy? (Tony Pelliccio) VOIP Gateway forsale (Steve Qualls) Re: ISDN Viruses (Fred Goldstein) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Reed) Driving Me Crazy!!!! (Brian Crawford) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Derek Balling) Fence-Sitting on Telcoms Merger (Monty Solomon) Eleet (David B. Horvath) Re: An Anonymous Example (BPM Mixmaster Remailer) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:04:05 CST From: Evan Brown Subject: DSC/Alcatel vs. Evan Brown, the Saga Continues Nothing new in my lawsuit. We are still waiting for Judge Henderson to rule on DSC's June 10th hearing. (Second Motion to Compel and for Sanctions). I thought you would also be interested the DSC vs. Samsung lawsuit which is now in the Dallas County State District Court, Judge Evans presiding. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday, Nov 29th. My interest in this lawsuit is that it is probably a good indicator of what I can expect when my lawsuit goes to trial. The following article was in the Nov 16th Dallas Morning News business section. ------------------------ Judge imposes limits on Alcatel spectators Media lawyer says ruling is gag order 11/16/99 By Jennifer Files / The Dallas Morning News A state judge in Dallas on Monday barred spectators from portions of a high-stakes telecommunications trial unless they promise not to disclose some information discussed in the courtroom. The order, signed Monday by state District Judge David Evans, is intended to protect trade secrets at the heart of the 3-year-old lawsuit between Alcatel USA Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Media experts said it could limit the ability of news organizations to cover the case. The Dallas Morning News said the newspaper plans to seek appellate review. "The theory of the law is you don't stop speech; you punish if it's misused," said Terence M. Murphy, a partner with Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Dallas, who is representing The News. "This is in a sense a gag order," Mr. Murphy said. "If you sign the agreement, you are effectively gagged. If you don't sign the order, you can't go to court and these things are kept confidential and you are again gagged." The lawsuit was filed in 1996, after Samsung hired nine engineers from DSC Communications Inc., a Plano-based company that Alcatel bought. DSC alleged that Samsung had hired the employees to steal some of its digital switching technology, which operates telecommunications networks. Alcatel took over the case after buying DSC. The Paris-based company, with U.S. headquarters in Plano, is seeking $425 million in actual damages, plus punitive damages. Alcatel and an attorney for the company declined to comment. Technology companies hire away each other's employees all the time, and it's fairly common for companies to sue. Such lawsuits have increased as North Texas' technology job market tightens, said Ron Robinson, president of Richardson's Technology Business Council. "We never heard anything like this prior to three or four years ago. "It is a doubled-edged sword that we think is unfortunate in the marketplace. You can sue today and be sued tomorrow." This case is unusual because the former DSC workers never signed noncompete contracts, said R. Laurence Macon, who is representing Samsung, based in Seoul, South Korea. The company's main U.S. office is in Richardson. "This lawsuit is totally contrary to the climate of mobility that exists in these high-tech companies," said Mr. Macon, a partner with the San Antonio office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. DSC had a history of fighting hard to protect its trade secrets, Mr. Robinson said. The company won some previous Texas lawsuits that hinged on the concept of "inevitable disclosure," he said. "Inevitable disclosure says if you leave and go to another company, there's just no way you can't take the knowledge you gained ... and give your new company some advantage," Mr. Robinson said. In fact, Alcatel made the motion to seal the record in the case, which in turn spawned the gag order, Mr. Murphy said. The confidentiality order is intended "to prevent the unauthorized use or disclosure of the alleged trade secrets and proprietary information," according to the agreement that spectators would be asked to sign. It won't affect the entire trial, but spectators couldn't stay in the courtroom during discussions of exhibits that have been sealed without promising not to reveal them. Lawyers and witnesses can't let the jury know about the confidentiality order or make "any statement that would indicate that courtroom access is being limited or that any exhibit or testimony is or is not maintained under seal," according to the order. "There is precedent for having spectators sign such agreements," said Charles L. Babcock, a lawyer for the Jackson Walker law firm in Dallas. "Having members of the media sign such an agreement is a very serious matter," said Mr. Babcock, who added he does not know of such a precedent. Such an order could essentially require reporters "to attend a trial on the condition that they not report on it," Mr. Babcock said. Copyright 1999 The Dallas Morning News ------------------------------ From: rbf@rbfnet.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: 17 Nov 1999 00:41:35 GMT Organization: rbfnet In article , Anthony Argyriou wrote: > On 15 Nov 1999 22:19:48 GMT, rbf@rbfnet.com (Brett Frankenberger) > wrote: >> I've heard this story and never bothered to check if it's a bogus urban >> legend or if it actually happened. Regardless, the case wouldn't be >> about 60Hz EM radiation. The portion of the power that is radiated is >> very small, and once it's radiated, it's gone forever from the power >> company, regardless of whether it ends up being harnessed by a farmer, >> heating the earth, or propogating off into space. They'd have a tough >> time claiming ownership of power that they routinely and knowingly >> transmit away from their lines. >> The stealing would be as a result of the farmer harnessing the *static* >> EM field created by the power lines. A direct result of that would be >> an additional, measurable, loss of power from the transmission lines >> (there would be an additional voltage "drop"[1] near the barn). > Wrong. Not. Sigh. > The power radiated is very small, but the power loss can be > large if there is a coil to pick up the _variable_ magnetic field > created by the AC. You can't do this trick with a DC power line, > unless you vibrate the coil, to create AC. "Static" in the context in which I used it means "non propogating". Yes, of course the magnetic and electric field surrounding an AC transmission line are variable. And, yes, of course, that variability makes it easier to "steal" power from the line. But the power is being stolen from the non-radiating (i.e. non-propogating) fields, and such fields, at any frequency, are not themselves regulated by the FCC or the communications act of 1934. And the stealing of power from such fields induces counter-EMFs back into the power line, resulting in additional power loss for the power company. The radiating (propogating) fields represent power that is already lost, regardless of what is subsequently done with the power contained in said radiation. -- Brett ------------------------------ From: nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Organization: Providence Network Partners Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 00:46:02 GMT In article , TELECOM Digest Editor asked: > Today's trivia game! All these 'words' began as abbreviations for some > longer phrase. All relate to radio. What were the original phrases? > RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF RADAR = Radio Detection and Range, SONAR I don't know, same with LORAN. ELF = Extremely Low Frequency, AM = Amplitude Modulation, FM = Frequency Modulation, VHF - Very High Frequency and UHF - Ultra High Frequency. Or at least that's what I remember. == Tony Pelliccio, KD1S formerly KD1NR == Trustee WE1RD ------------------------------ From: kim@aol.com (Kim Brennan) Date: 16 Nov 1999 21:59:26 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing For PC Privacy? > RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF AM=Amplitude Modulation FM=Frequency Modulation VHF=Very High Frequency UHF=Ultra High Frequency. My brain cells have obviously had insufficient caffiene today as I can't remember the exact definition for RADAR and SONAR ... :( Kim Brennan Duo 2300c, PB 2400, VW Fox Wagon GL, Corrado SLC, Vanagon GL Syncro http://members.aol.com/kim Duo Info Page: http://members.aol.com/kim/computer/duo/duoindex.html ?'s should include "Duo" in subject, else they'll be deleted unread. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But you neglected to take a guess at LORAN and ELF. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Maurice R Baker Subject: Re: 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:10:09 -0500 Organization: AT&T Reply-To: mrbaker@att.com Take a look at (for starters) ---- http://www.tellabs.com/products/analog/index.shtml There are several devices shown there which probably will fit your need, depending on the specific situation, and provide the 2W-4W functionality. I'm sure several other companies make this sort of analog equipment (although not as common as it used to be pre-digital xmission ... this is becoming more and more a piece of 'legacy' hardware) but Tellabs came to mind first and in my experience, they have always been good with pre-purchase technical support, documentation (the correct term is "practices" in this case :-), etc. from the sales engineer who takes your call. In fact there is a "Request More Information" link on the above mentioned webpage with an e-form to fill out as well as a telephone number to call for more immediate support. Good luck ! I think it'll work out fine. Reuben Wall wrote: > I am searching for a product, and I was hoping someone reading can > help point me in the right direction. > I have to connect two modems together, each in different cities. I > have a standard 2-wire analog modem interface on one side. I have a > basic 4-wire interface on the other side. I need to connect them > together! > This is a leased line network (not dialup). There is no E&M > signalling. There is a transmit, transmit return, a receive and > receive return (4 wires). There will be no DC voltages on the link. > I need an external "box" that will convert from a 4-wire modem to a > 2-wire modem. I am not looking for the individual electronic > componets, but a commercial product that will do this. Maximum speed > is 2400 and MUST be full-duplex. ------------------------------ From: nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Is the Right of Freedom of Speech in Jeopardy? Organization: Providence Network Partners Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 00:38:09 GMT In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Jenkinmw@sverdrup.com: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We covered this in some detail over > the last weekend. I've looked at some of the messages in the flame > war there and they are pretty bad, and pretty tasteless, but I do > not know who started what. There was so much to read I had to give > up without reading it all. The really disturbing part of it to me > is Police Officer Shirey thinking she has any say-so and using her > authority -- misusing it in my opinion -- to send orders to the > others there. Hopefully also, the judge will fall out of favor with > whatever politicians got her in office and she won't be around much > longer either. It really is bad news seeing a judge take over a > newsgroup on the net and reading that the police have been monitoring > it as well. That kind of thing can happen to any newsgroup on the > net, and it is better to get it stopped as soon as possible. PAT] Let us not forget that "Two Buddha" has the right to appeal the judge's ruling. It'd be great if he could get the Supreme Court of the U.S. to issue a writ of certiorari. We'd see the judge who issued the original ruling off the bench in no time. == Tony Pelliccio, KD1S formerly KD1NR == Trustee WE1RD ------------------------------ From: Steve Qualls Subject: VOIP Gateway For Sale Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:50:09 -0500 Organization: WebNet Inc. I have a Multitech VOIP gateway up for auction at ebay paid $1500.00 bids start @200 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=201924289 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:53:41 -0500 From: Fred Goldstein Subject: Re: USWest Residential ADSL vrs. Qwest LD In V19I550, Paul Lustgraff wrote, about Guy Helmer's problem, >> A USWest customer rep said Qwest must be misunderstanding the "Megabit >> DSL" designation as not being a residential line. USWest says they >> are not sending Qwest disconnection notices. Qwest says there isn't >> anything wrong, but obviously something is broken in a system >> somewhere. Advice on how to get this insidious problem escalated and >> solved would be appreciated. > This has to be a US Worst problem, because it is happening to other > people in Iowa with other LD carriers, including AT&T. But it won't be a problem for long. Assuming Qwest takes ownership of USW, then it will become subject to Section 271 prohibitions on Bell in-region LD service. Qwest will have to give up all of its subscribers in the US West region. So Guy Helmer will have to get a new LD provider anyway! ------------------------------ From: Reed Organization: None whatsoever Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 19:56:54 -0700 > This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz > signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 > hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. > Complete and total bunk. Excuse me !! Nikola Tesla is rolling in his grave. The only way consumer electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer is via AC, Alternating Current, the entire distance, with step-up and step-down transformers as required. --reed ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 19:19:48 -0600 From: Brian Crawford Organization: Motorola NSS Subject: Driving Me Crazy !!!! I've written you with this before, no answer. I'm tempted to try again. Please help if you can. Dig deep in your memory banks: About eight or nine years ago, someone posted an (800) number for international call home services. It was a uniform number in which the last three digits were replaced with the country code for the country's call home service. For example, the number for U.K. callhome was (800) XXX-XX044, for Australia (800) XXX_XX061, etc. X was a constant. I've spent hours searching with the search engine with no luck. I've used this number as recently as 1995 with success, but have now lost it. Can you please help? Thanks, Brian Crawford tel;pager:800-759-7243 PIN 1570176 tel;fax:847-632-3733 tel;work:847-632-5801 org:Motorola NSS;3G CDMA BTS DSP Software Development (QC512) email;internet:qa0146@email.mot.com title:Senior Engineer [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The message you are referring to was in this Digest on Thursday, September 7, 1989, Vol 9 Issue 355. It was submitted by John Keator, via John R. Covert and has been reprinted below for your reference. ====================================== TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Sep 89 00:00:07 CDT Volume 9 : Issue 355 Today's Topics: Moderator: Patrick Townson Country Direct Numbers (John Keator, NPR, via John R. Covert DC Area Dialing Procedure Changes (Greg Monti, NPR, via John R. Covert) Directory Enquiries (UK) (Kevin Hopkins) Help, Weird Equipment Required! (Dave Madsen) New Jersey Bell Strike Settled! (Mark Robert Smith) [Moderator's Note: You should have received several Digests Wednesday evening/Thursday AM to catch up on the huge backlog of messages here. In a special edition of the Digest this weekend, Larry Lippman discusses a central office in great detail. To be distributed Saturday. PT] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Sep 89 18:57:40 -0700 From: "John R. Covert 05-Sep-1989 2128" Subject: Country Direct Numbers [This message, and the one that follows, were forwarded to the Digest by John Covert, who received them from the parties named at NPR. PT] From: John Keator, National Public Radio Date: 5 Sept 89 To: Telecom Digest Re: Country Direct Numbers In researching the availability of the reverse of USA Direct numbers for an upcoming international conference we are co-hosting I received the following list from AT&T. Most of these numbers are for collect calls only as many do not have calling cards. Denmark has the additional restriction of only being available from 3PM to 10 PM, (the time zone is not indicated,); apparently they feel the service only warrants one shift. ALL NUMBERS ARE 800- Australia 682-2878 Austria 624-0043 Belgium N/A Denmark 762-0045 Finland 232-0358 France 537-2623 FR Germany 292-0049 Hong Kong 992-2323 Italy 543-7662 Japan 543-0051 Korea 882-8256 Netherlands 432-0031 New Zealand 248-0064 Norway 292-0047 Sweden 345-0046 Switzerland N/A UK 445-5667 I'm sure there are others, but these are the countries I requested. There is apparently no single book with all numbers included. Now, I wonder what rate is charged for these calls? John Keator NPR Washington 202 822 2800 [Note from John Covert: I called Italy and Germany, both of which accept collect calls only (no credit cards) and charge as follows: Italy: 4721 L ($3.34)/min 6p-7a otherwise 6000 L ($4.25)/min Germany: DM 24 ($12.13) first minute, DM 3.22 ($1.63) ea addl minute] ========================= [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note in 1999: I hope the above is what you were seeking. It is doubtful many of those numbers are still operational, but who knows. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:53:51 -0800 From: Derek J. Balling Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names > Do you also claim the > right to set up a company called, say, "International Business > Machines, Inc."? Whether it's "Inc." or "Ltd." or "Company", the > suffix doesn't change the fact that you're violating the "International > Business Machines" trademark, does it? Keep in mind, of course, that if you don't use the trademark in the same sphere in which it is registered, then you are not technically violating the trademark. Thus the fact that there are many many companies who share popular names, because the two companies don't compete in the same markets, thus there is no chance of confusion. I'm drawing a blank for an example (because I'm at work and its been a long day) but I'm sure other readers of the Digest can happily supply them. :) D ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 02:36:48 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Fence-Sitting on Telcoms Merger Reuters 3:00 a.m. 15.Nov.1999 PST The US Justice Department, which would have to approve a planned US$115 billion telecoms merger of MCI WorldCom and Sprint, has not yet taken a position, a spokeswoman said Saturday. "The department is not leaning one way or the other on this transaction," spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. "We have just begun our review. When it is completed the department will make its decision based on the law and the relevant facts concerning this transaction." http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,32537,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:09:35 -0500 From: dhorvath@cobs.com (David B. Horvath, CCP) Subject: Eleet 31337 ELEET (a 3 looks *like* a backward E, a 1 looks *like* an L, and a 7 looks *like* at T). It is a cracker/phreaker wanna-be sort of thing. David B. Horvath, CCP Consultant, Author, International Lecturer, Adjunct Professor Board Member, ICCP Educational Foundation ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:40:04 -0800 (PST) From: BPM Mixmaster Remailer Subject: Re: An Anonymous Example Organization: mail2news@nym.alias.net >>> This is what it will look like. It will always be from the above >>> address, with a subject line, and then the disclaimer message >>> which is shown below. >>> -- >>> www.cotse.com/anonmail.htm >>> Message sent via the COTSE Anonymous E-mail. >>> This message did not originate from the address >>> in the from line. It originated from an anonymous >>> source. COTSE is not responsible for the contents >>> of this message. >> Wow, I actually saw someone using it already on one of the religious >> newsgroups. They were accusing someone of having sex with animals. >> Great public service, Pat! > In alt.rhode_island there was a post from "Benjamin Phelps" touting > the WBC's Nov. 22nd visit to Providence, RI. I can't wait, I've always > wanted a chance to speak to the 'reverend' face to face, shotgun in tow. > Guess who it said the poster was - yup - COTSE. So your argument is "People shouldn't make something that COULD be used to harm another person"? People shouldn't create remailers because they COULD be used to harass or slander someone else? What about telephones? People have spread plenty of slanderous gossip over telephone lines. What about automobiles - a person COULD use one to aid in a getaway from a bank robbery. What about ladders - a person COULD use a ladder to creep through an open second-story window and rape a child. What about rocks - a person COULD pick up a rock and smash someone over the head with it. What about rope - a person COULD use a length of rope to tie up a kidnap victim. Such a tired worn-out line of argument. Controlling human behavior is much more difficult than controlling things - things can be registered, taxed, legislated, regulated, and confiscated so much more easily. Kill somebody with a gun? - simple we'll simply ban guns and the problem will go away. People using pay phones and pagers to sell drugs? - no problem we'll merely build wiretap capability into the system to root out these evil-dooers. People using encryption to hide their subversive anti-government thoughts - right, we'll mandate key-escrow and key-recovery schemes into every encryption product sold to civilians. I posted this article using an anonymous remailer to protect myself from you and a government I have learned to fear. Steve living in the USSA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They keep telling me I am going to be in *big trouble* the first time someone uses COTSE (and all I do is point at it for Gawd's sake, I don't even run the cgi-bin for it here) to send them a nasty letter, etc. I keep asking them how come the postal service does not get in *big trouble* each time someone deposits an obscene letter in a mailbox receptable without a valid return address on it. They won't answer that of course; they have no answer except that postal service has big, powerful lawyers in the Justice Department working for it; a Usenet newsgroup moder- ator on the other hand is likely to be someone like myself: a person who cooks carrots and pees in the same pot, and feels grateful for that much a week from this coming Thursday (US Thanksgiving Day). Next thing you know, we will be in trouble for even telling people where the post office is located to start with; aiding and abetting them and all that. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #555 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Nov 17 16:00:41 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id QAA12114; Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:00:41 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:00:41 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911172100.QAA12114@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #556 TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 Nov 99 16:00:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 556 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Larry Finch) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (John Nagle) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (J.F. Mezei) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Michael G. Koerner) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Neal McLain) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Hudson Leighton) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Mike Riddle) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Cortland Richmond) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Al Dykes) Long Distance Power Transmission (was >WHOOP< >WHOOP<) (Danny Burstein) Re: Demonizing Technology (was URBAN LEGEND ALERT!) (Ted Byfield) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Larry Finch Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:01:19 -0500 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Reply-To: LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net Ross McMicken wrote: > On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:28:16 -0500, PhoneDude > wrote: >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is >> not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz >> signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 >> hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. >> Complete and total bunk. > I was under the impression that the high voltage lines running across > the country are AC. What you are saying is that the power companies > generate AC power, convert it to DC for the trip through the high > voltage grid, then convert it back to AC for consumer use? Sounds > wrong to me. This is done extensively in Europe (and has been for 20 years or more), but not much in the US. DC is better for long distance transmission because there is less energy loss through capacitance between the transmission lines and the earth. But the problem of converting from AC to DC back to AC (especially the back to AC part) is a difficult one. Larry Finch ::LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net larry@prolifics.com ::LarryFinch@aol.com PDCLarry@aol.com ::(whew!) N 40 53' 47" W 74 03' 56" ------------------------------ From: John Nagle Organization: Animats Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:46:42 -0800 Bruce F. Roberts wrote: > While there is continuing work on efficient AC/DC/AC conversion and > /some/ lines are now DC the bulk of high tension, long distance, > transmission lines are still AC at 60 Hz. > PhoneDude wrote: >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is >> not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz >> signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 >> hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. >> Complete and total bunk. Correct. Very few high-tension lines are DC. There are a few long DC links, typically between systems that don't run synchronized. An example is one between two of the home islands of Japan, shown at http://www.meppi.com/html/dc_transmission.html There's also a cross-Channel link between England and France. The concept is simple; a chopper feeding an L/C circuit for smoothing. But the scale is huge; acres of equipment are required for gigawatt-sized transmission systems. That's why such links are rare. As for running off ambient ELF, I know of at least one product design effort that tried to do it commercially for a low-power display at bus stops. (Solar panels get vandalized or stolen.) They didn't have time to develop it fully and went with batteries, but the concept is worth pursuing. The main problem is that you need some antenna length, which is a problem for small micropowered devices. You're not going to get much power this way, but you could charge up a capacitor for peak loads, and maybe drive a smoke detector or a pager. John Nagle ------------------------------ From: J.F. Mezei Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 01:15:32 -0500 Ross McMicken wrote: > I was under the impression that the high voltage lines running across > the country are AC. What you are saying is that the power companies > generate AC power, convert it to DC for the trip through the high > voltage grid, then convert it back to AC for consumer use? Sounds > wrong to me. An electrical engineer once told me that DC lines allowed much higher voltages and hence lower current (and lesser loss). If your line is long enough, at one point it starts to pay to get those lines in DC and convert it to AC at the city. For an example of a DC transmission line, you can look at the following PDF document from Hydro Quebec. http://www.hydroquebec.com/transenergie/en/pdf/network_map.pdf It shows a 450 kV DC line from Radisson to the USA border. (it is in green). So it is definitely not fiction. I beleive it was built after the original lines from the James Bay project. ------------------------------ From: Michael G. Koerner Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 01:10:49 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: mgk920@dataex.com Ed Ellers wrote: > PhoneDude wrote: >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is not >> amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz signal on high >> voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 hz are of too low a >> potential to make this sort of thing possible. >> Complete and total bunk. > Your answer certainly is. Long-distance power transmission lines most > certainly *do* handle 60 Hz AC rather than DC. If they used DC, it > would be difficult (and inefficient) to step voltage up or down as > needed, not to mention to convert the DC back to AC for local > distribution. ALL of what I call the 'high energy' power lines (the big tower transmission lines) that *I* know of are 3 phase AC. Some of them can really SIZZLE in humid weather, too. One of the BIGGEST drawbacks to DC is that it cannot be transmitted more than a few kilometers. We would need powerplants in nearly every neighborhood had DC been the selected standard. Reed wrote: > Excuse me !! Nikola Tesla is rolling in his grave. The only way consumer > electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer is via > AC, Alternating Current, the entire distance, with step-up and step-down > transformers as required. The *ONLY* reason that *I* can think of for an AC/DC/AC conversion in a public power grid is to turn 60 hz to 50 hz (and vice-versa) at international borders. The newer AC traction railroad locomotives use an AC to DC to AC rectifier/inverter system, this to turn the power from the main generator into a form of variable cycle rate AC that can be used by the traction motors attached to the wheels. Older design DC locomotives still have the 3 phase main generators, but the traction motors use the rectified DC directly. As Tesla learned long ago, 3 phase AC is the most efficient way to generate electricity -- for example, why do we have AC 'alternators' in our cars (with their diode rectifier banks) instead of DC 'generators'??? The AC power used in our homes uses ONE pole ('hot' wire) of the 3 phase main with the neutral '4th' wire being the power 'return'. The 'neutral' wire is a center wire between all three 'hots' and is also a direct ground connection. IMHO, a coil capture of energy from a nearby high energy power line is very plausable. Regards, Michael G. Koerner Appleton, WI ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 07:23:03 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! In TD V19:555, Reed wrote (quoting an earlier post written by (PhoneDude ): >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is >> not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz >> signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 >> hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. >> Complete and total bunk. > Excuse me !! Nikola Tesla is rolling in his grave. The only way consumer > electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer is via > AC, Alternating Current, the entire distance, with step-up and step-down > transformers as required. The statement that "'High-tension lines' are DC" is most certainly complete and total bunk. Virtually the entire power grid operates at AC. The most common frequencies are 60 Hz in North America and 50 Hz in Europe. In most of the rest of the world it's either 50 or 60 Hz. As Reed notes, "electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer ... via AC, Alternating current, ... with step-up and step-down transformers as required." Of course: transformers don't work at DC! Fundamental principle: if you want to induce a voltage into a wire with a magnetic field, there must be relative motion between the wire and the field. In a generator, the wire (rotor) is moved relative to a magnetic field. In a transformer, the wire (the secondary winding) is fixed, but the field "moves" over the course of each cycle. But it only "moves" if it's AC. PhoneDude is correct in noting that, "DC ... is not amenable to 'stealing' power with a coil" because if the so-called high-tension line really was DC, there would be no relative motion between the radiated magnetic field and the farmer's coil. But high tension lines *aren't* DC; they're AC. Still, the farmer probably wouldn't get much power. Most electric transmission lines are three phase, and consist of three physical wires, one per phase, plus one or more ground wires. Each of the three phase wires is continually radiating a magnetic field, but each field is 120 degrees out of phase with respect to the other two. The farmer's coil would receive magnetic fields from all three, so all three would induce voltages into the coil. But these voltages are equal and 120 degrees apart. Net result: they'd cancel each other out, leaving a net voltage of zero. The only way the farmer could steal power would be to install his pick-up wire right next to one of the phase wires, so that it would receive more voltage from one phase than from the other two. Unfortunately for the farmer, this arrangement might be difficult to hide. One last comment: in the United States, there is one notable DC link in the nationwide power grid. The entire power grid in the eastern US operates at 60 Hz AC locked to a master clock located at American Electric Power in North Canton, Ohio. The power grid in the western US also operates at 60 HZ, locked to a different master clock. For reasons I've never understood, our electric power industry has never been able to lock the two master clocks together. So the only way to transmit power between the two grids is by a DC link. And that's exactly what they do: somewhere in Nebraska, there's a DC link between two motor/generator sets. AC from one side is converted to DC, sent across the link, then converted back to AC. Some day before I die, I want to visit that link. Maybe I'll swing by Junction City to see if Pat wants to join me. Neal McLain nmclain@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: hudsonl@skypoint.com (Hudson Leighton) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 07:20:44 -0600 Organization: SkyPoint Communications, Inc. In article , Reed wrote: > Excuse me !! Nikola Tesla is rolling in his grave. The only way consumer > electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer is via > AC, Alternating Current, the entire distance, with step-up and step-down > transformers as required. There are DC power lines in the USA, there is one that runs from the Dakotas to near Minneapolis, MN. There is a large blue building with some very LARGE inverters in it. The reason for DC is that you only need two wires, so you save lots of money on wire and that also allows you to use lighter towers which also saves money. As I understand it the voltage is so high that the DC resistance losses are negligable. I have seen the "fluorescent light trick" done a couple of times, once at a power plant, and in the field. Both times it was around very high voltage power equipment. The bulb kinda glows, it does not fully light up. http://www.skypoint.com/~hudsonl ------------------------------ From: Mike Riddle Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 17 Nov 1999 07:27:02 -0600 Organization: Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish & Short Reply-To: mriddle@oasis.novia.net > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not think there was such a > thing as a 100 watt flourescent tube. Incadescent, yes, flourescent, > no. 40 watt and 25 watt flourescent tubes are very common. Maybe some > outdoor, all-weather type electric signs use 100 watt flourescents > but they are special, and very expensive tubes. Hardly worth stealing > electricity to use. PAT] Don't forget those relatively new fluorescent replacements for screw-in bulbs. They generally have their real wattage on the label, such as 23 watts, but prominent on the display will be "!!!!Same light as a 100 Watt bulb!!!!!" Truth in labelling? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent tubes but the room is quite bright. I'd be interested in knowing how they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the source being used.). PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 09:29:00 -0800 From: Cortland Richmond Organization: Alcatel USA Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! A fairly recent magazine article describes how one enterprising amateur radio operator keeps his HT battery charged up by rectifying RF from a nearby AM radio station. Actually, there are more than a few long-distance, super high-tension transmission systems in operation. I don't have the article handy, but there was a long discussion of them in the IEEE _Spectrum_ within the last couple of years. Cortland ------------------------------ From: adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 17 Nov 1999 13:30:24 -0500 Organization: Panix In article , Reed wrote: > Excuse me !! Nikola Tesla is rolling in his grave. The only way consumer > electric power is transmitted from generating station to consumer is via > AC, Alternating Current, the entire distance, with step-up and step-down > transformers as required. Oh ? Megavolt solid state DC-to-AC converters have been practical for years. High voltage AC can't be put underground due to capacitance losses and as I understand it has high losses due to corona discharge above ground if the volatge is high enough. We all know that the higher the voltage the less the I squared R loss is. Tesla was right, at least about this, but much ahead of his time. In the 70s they were working toward Megavolt transmission line for this reason. I used to be a member of the IEEE (Inst of Electric and Electronic Engineers). In the 70s they published research papers about megavolt DC transmission lines. I believe they are now in routine, if not widespread use for long haul power transmission. A web search of www.ieee.org shows many hits for "DC high tension" . I can't look at the articles because I don't have a members login. I bet there is a "State of Power generation/Transmission 199x" article that has statistics for transmission line power and voltage for the country and the world that would settle this discussion. Is there an engineer in the house? Yours, Looking for some real statistics. Al Dykes adykes@panix.com ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (Danny Burstein) Subject: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Date: 17 Nov 1999 00:04:39 -0500 In Ed Ellers writes: > PhoneDude wrote: >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is not >> amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz signal on high >> voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 hz are of too low a >> potential to make this sort of thing possible. >> Complete and total bunk. > Your answer certainly is. Long-distance power transmission lines most > certainly *do* handle 60 Hz AC rather than DC. If they used DC, it > would be difficult (and inefficient) to step voltage up or down as > needed, not to mention to convert the DC back to AC for local > distribution. OK, everyone. Put down the light sabers. (Note that in the following I'm talking about the common power arrangements in the US. Specialized industrial or rapid transit settings may be set up differently. 25 hz anyone?) The power grid is a multi-tiered arrangement. Typical residential/ light industrial electricity is 60 hz ac, with wall voltage of 110v for common usage, (and a typical) 220 for high demand loads such as central air conditioners. Some industrial settings will also use higher voltages, but let's not get into the 277/440v stuff here. When power is transmitted over any sort of distance, higher voltages are used. Typically the "feeder" cables will carry 15Kv, also at 60hz. These feed into a local transformer which will then lower it to the 110/220v used in the neighborhood. The reason for boosting voltage is twofold. First, as you raise the voltage, you lower the amperage. This lets you use smaller cable. And second, it reduces the amount of power you'd be wasting getting the electricity from the generating station to your home. This also lets you move the generator farther away from the user. Historically it's been much easier to "transform" voltages in AC lines than in DC circuits. Hence, as some other correspondents have noted, the original Edison concept of wiring towns with DC, which would have needed generating plants every five or so miles, was dumped in favor of the AC systems. As you move power longer distances, you typically use higher voltages. The large "transmission lines" start off at 130Kv, with many in the 345kv range, and some in the 700kv zone. These are the lines that travel the hundreds, or even thousands of miles, to interconnect the various grids. While the vast majority of these are AC, things _have_ definitely changed in the past couple of decades. Quite a few of these interties are now high voltage DC "("HVDC"), and more are on the way. Reason? Recall that AC is, by definition, an alternating current. It's _very_ non-trivial to keep the different portions of the system generating in phase with each other. It's pretty easy to keep two generators that have a direct connection with each other rotating in synch, but ... we're talking lots and lots of separate generators, along with grid connections that aren't just 'point a to point b' but are dymaically switching second by second ... meaning that the "distance" between the generators is also switching. Even though speed of light is pretty fast, you do have to take wire distances into account. There are lots of other issues involved as well. Some _very_ unpleasant things happen when generators fall out of synch with each other, and hence there's been a big desire to move away from alternating current. Which gets us to modern times. While it _used_ to be quite painful to raise and lower DC voltages, usually involving conversions back and forth to AC, some new products are now on the market that make it much, much, simpler than the old ways. While I'll let folk with better brains than mine explain how giant lumps of silicon can now do these conversions, the fact is that DC _is_ in common, and increasing, use in transmission lines. For example, here's a snippet from the 1996 New England Electric System Annual Report from: http://204.164.80.219/annual96/textan96.htm NEERI's strong experience and partnership with ABB will make it a leading contender for large transmission development projects. Our extensive experience includes the high voltage direct current interconnection with Hydro-Quebec that delivers hydroelectricity from James Bay in Canada to New England [snip] In December, we proposed to build, own, and operate a 600-megawatt high voltage direct current submarine cable transmission connection between Connecticut and Long Island, which would introduce competitively attractive sources of power to Long Island. So yes, most of the transmission and just about all the feeder lines are 60hz AC, but a significant and growing number of them are DC. (As a side note, this relatively new ability to reliably and easily convert AC to DC and vice versa makes it _much_ simpler to integrate alternative energy sources into our existing power grid) Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:43:11 -0500 From: Ted Byfield Subject: Re: Demonizing Technology (was URBAN LEGEND ALERT) Arthur Ross professed: > I think this may be an example, like Y2K and the guy supposedly cooked > by the microwave channel bank, of some kind of innate human need to > perceive sophisticated technical threats - something about our modern > society - perhaps a psychological urge to demonize technology that we > find subconciously threatening. The willingness to believe these urban > legends is perhaps a way to assuage pent-up hostility, in the same way > that "action-adventure" movies are a way to sublimate the frustrations > of daily life, bad bosses, etc. That's the now-familiar song-and-dance, but the story told of a farmer who, were it not for a rapacious corporation, would have gotten power *for free*. If the story has a moral (and I think you're right that it does) its appeal lies not in technophobia but, rather, in its political commentary: it's anticorporate. The idea that "technology" offers us a Garden of Earthly Delights -- a world where we can explore freely, living off and learning from the fat of what WiReD called the "technosphere" -- is appealing idea, of course. And, really, it's a testament to people's faith in each other, because "technology" is, by definition, a *human* creation. Thus, on one side there are people like "creationists," who refuse to believe that something as incredible as the human race could just be "natural"; and, on the other side, are people who refuse to believe that animals could have languages or use tools -- "No way!," they say, "Those are *human* creations!" You're quite right that "technology" has a very promethean feel for many people: something that's maybe a bit too powerful for mere mortals with all their foibles. There's a fear of it, sure; but there's also -- obviously -- a fascination, and a very healthy one. And the idea that a clever farmer could just reach out and grab electricity from the sky, "because it's there," well, that's great: who couldn't love a story like that? But the flipside -- equally important -- is the mistrust of grasping greed: an anonymous, mindless corporation so hell-bent on profit that it foils "our hero" by brute institutional force. The reason that aspect is important is that it expresses a mistrust that has very potent political potential. Nowadays, as you know well, there are a lot of rump forces doing everything within their power to protect their (non-)right to rake in the bucks: the RIAA, whose constituents will sell you an oldies CD for which they don't spend one damned cent on marketing or royalties; the MPAA, which knows very well that the VCR "revolution" which brought movies into the home was only an opening shot; the database thugs like West Pub., who are effectively claiming that they own the law; ICANN, which is fronting for the idea that there can be "intellectual property law" without jurisdiction (or with *universal* jurisdiction); the endless-copyright and business-model patent people; etc., etc. Very, very few people support these ideas, and the proportion would shrink dramatically if more people knew what was going on. So, for that reason, I'll suggest that when you're confronted with an urban legend like this one, you look for signs of strength, not weakness, in it. Not stupidity, naivete, fear, but instead: shrewdness, hope, solid values. People aren't born stupid and fearful, they're taught to be so; and they can be taught to be clever and optimistic. Part of teaching these better things is, simply, emphasizing them. And, I'll tell you, if more people did this every day, it'd have impact. And that impact could be very practical, too. (/sermon) Cheers, Ted [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: (Applause from virtual congregation). Thank you for a very informative and good sermon today. One of the reasons, I suspect, that TELECOM Digest has been around for over eighteen years, as the second oldest mailing list on the internet is because I occassionally get something very good to print here. Ted's message today is one such occassion. And my thanks also to Arthur Ross for providing the message on which Ted built his fine response. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #556 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Nov 17 16:52:05 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id QAA14736; Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:52:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:52:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911172152.QAA14736@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #557 TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 Nov 99 16:52:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 557 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Michael Sullivan) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Darryl Smith) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Brian C. Roy) Re: 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion (Reed) Clashing Trademarks (was Re: NJ Govt Agency Wins Court Order (D. Burstein) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Mark Schumann) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (Bob Goudreau) Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names (L. Erickson) Prepaid Phone Card For Short Calls? (Mike Pollock) Re: Must Telemarketers and "Researchers" Identify Themselves? (Pete Weiss) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Michael Sullivan Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 06:43:14 GMT Pat, the federal law to which you refer, 47 USC 605, pertains to unauthorized reception of radio *communications*, not radio *transmissions*. There is a difference. Radio transmissions alone simply consist of a signal without any informational content, while communications are the content. Under Section 605, one may not, with certain exceptions, intercept radio communications without authorization and use either the communication or the fact of the communication. A radar signal is a transmission but not a communication. The signal transmitted has no information, intelligence, or other content. The police doppler radar works by simply sending out a series of pulses and then timing how long the pulses take to get back. Detecting the radio transmission and using the fact that there has been a radio transmission for one's own benefit does not violate the Communications Act in any way. The FCC has issued public notices to that effect. Moreover, the FCC has routinely granted equipment authorizations for devices -- radar detectors -- specifically designed to intercept such transmissions. State law is a different matter. As others have noted, only VA and DC prohibit radar detectors. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, VA actually prohibits possession of a radar detector in a vehicle, not only use. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest that federal laws -- however > obscure they may be -- take precedence over state laws where they > exist and when the federal law is more stringent. The federal law, > as it appears in the Communications Act of 1934 with revisions, etc, > says that you may not intentionally or deliberatly receive radio > transmissions not intended for yourself, nor may you benefit from or > acknowledge those you do happen to accidentally overhear. A general > purpose, multi-band radio receiver is capable of tuning many different > frequencies; 'accidental' reception of some transmission not intended > for yourself is possible. A radar detector is manufactured to receive > only a very limited number of transmissions, none of which are intended > for you. You illegally acknowledge the transmission and benefit from > it by slowing down your automobile, or perhaps you drive in a different > direction entirely. I do not believe the Communications Act forbids > possession of any receiver; only the inappropriate use of a receiver, > but in the case of a radar detector, because of the limited range of > transmissions it receives, there is no appropriate or lawful type of > transmission it might be used to receive. Therefore they are illegal > under federal law (appropriate sections of the Communications Act) > even if not specifically addressed under various state laws. Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Md., USA avogadro@bellatlantic.net (also avogadro@well.com) ------------------------------ From: Darryl Smith Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 18:33:43 +1100 Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? >> However, there are some precendents regarding ownership of EM >> radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in the US) radiation >> produced by its power lines. The case was a farmer who had a barn >> under some high-tension lines which had begun to sag. He put a BIG >> coil in the rafters of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The> >> power company sued, successfully. > I've heard this story and never bothered to check if it's a bogus urban > .legend or if it actually happened. Regardless, the case wouldn't be > about 60Hz EM radiation. The portion of the power that is radiated is > very small, and once it's radiated, it's gone forever from the power > company, regardless of whether it ends up being harnessed by a farmer, > heating the earth, or propogating off into space. They'd have a tough > time claiming ownership of power that they routinely and knowingly > transmit away from their lines. I work for the Power Company down here in Oz, but include a Standard Disclaimer. There are a few things to concider. In RF work when you have a COIL, there are two conditions: Loaded and Unloaded. Each transmission line has it's own inductance, which the electricity company can tell you, and attempt to minimise. This is basically self-inductance. The other case is when you have some type of loading added. This increases the inductance seen by the transmission line. Being inductance, it is charged for in the electricity tariff as VARS (Volt-Amps Reactive ... Basically Watts 90 degrees out of phase). In order to induce a current in a coil, you need to have some sort of a magnetic circuit. The transmission line generates a magnetic field. To tap into this field to induce a voltage, the field needs to pass through a coil. Basically if you want to induce voltage you need to have large area inside the loop of a coil. Because of the distance from a transmission line (minimum of 10m commonly for higher voltages) you need to use a lot of turns in your coil. And because of the geometry the area of the coil needs to be as bit as possible. This becomes a non-trivial exercise. In addition, the magnetic fields from the other two cables will cancel out some of the field. All in all a lot of copper is needed. But looking at the theory of transformers the transmission line becomes 1/2 a turn, and the coil many turns causing a VERY VERY high induced voltage in the coil. For every turn of the coil you would get double the transmission line voltage. But the power transfer will be very very low, meaning that in most cases even the resister in a multimeter will load down the coil. balancing this to provide voltage and load would be non-trivial. And if you can get that somehow worked out and actually get some energy transfer, open circuiting things will be very dangerous. My guess ... Urban Legend ... Get a few flourescent light tubes and use them with a ground wire at one end ... the results are easier and safer. Darryl Smith, VK2TDS POBox 169 Ingleburn NSW 2565 Australia Mobile Number 0412 929 634 [+61 4 12 929 634 International] ------------------------------ From: briroy@gcfn.org (Brian C Roy) Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: 17 Nov 1999 10:16:13 -0500 Organization: The Greater Columbus FreeNet Tony Pelliccio (nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com) wrote: > In article , TELECOM Digest > Editor asked: >> Today's trivia game! All these 'words' began as abbreviations for some >> longer phrase. All relate to radio. What were the original phrases? >> RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF > RADAR = Radio Detection and Range, SONAR I don't know, same with LORAN. > ELF = Extremely Low Frequency, AM = Amplitude Modulation, FM = Frequency > Modulation, VHF - Very High Frequency and UHF - Ultra High Frequency. > Or at least that's what I remember. Sound Navigation And Ranging Long Range Air Navigation Brian KB8TEY briroy@gcfn.org ------------------------------ From: Reed Organization: None whatsoever Subject: Re: 2 to 4-Wire Modem Conversion Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 20:20:07 -0700 It *might* work for you. Are the two modems otherwise compatible? Would it be better to find a second four-wire modem? --reed Reuben Wall wrote: > I am searching for a product, and I was hoping someone reading can > help point me in the right direction. > I have to connect two modems together, each in different cities. I > have a standard 2-wire analog modem interface on one side. I have a > basic 4-wire interface on the other side. I need to connect them > together! > This is a leased line network (not dialup). There is no E&M > signalling. There is a transmit, transmit return, a receive and > receive return (4 wires). There will be no DC voltages on the link. > I need an external "box" that will convert from a 4-wire modem to a > 2-wire modem. I am not looking for the individual electronic > componets, but a commercial product that will do this. Maximum speed > is 2400 and MUST be full-duplex. > Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (Danny Burstein) Subject: Clashing Trademarks (was Re: NJ Govt Agency Wins Court Order) Date: 17 Nov 1999 01:20:27 -0500 In Derek J. Balling writes: > Keep in mind, of course, that if you don't use the trademark in the > same sphere in which it is registered, then you are not technically > violating the trademark. Thus the fact that there are many many > companies who share popular names, because the two companies don't > compete in the same markets, thus there is no chance of confusion. > I'm drawing a blank for an example (because I'm at work and its been a > long day) but I'm sure other readers of the Digest can happily supply > them. :) As one recent example well demonstrates ... Those of us in the USofA are quite familiar with the "Exxon" gasoline brand (formerly Esso, and still marketed in some parts of the world under that name, and, perhaps, under "Humble Oil"). A key componenent of their marketing hype is the "Exxon Tiger", as in "put a tiger in your tank". Turns out that other groups also use a tiger in their advertising, with one of them being "Tony the Tiger" for "Kellogg's (sugar) Frosted Flakes". Now these two tigers coexisted happily in their separate worlds for these past umptity decades. Until ... well ... Recently [1], Exxon added small stores/markets to their gas stations. These places sell a bit of misc stuff, including food products. Apparently some member of the legal profession over at Kellogg's took umbrage at this and got all concerned about dilution of the Kellogg's trademarked tiger. So ... like all good corporations, they went to court over this. While I read about the case a few months ago, I'm afraid I can't pull up the dates of the original rulings, but as I recall the first judge ruled in favor of Exxon, basically saying that Kellogg's had waited too long. Hmm ... ah..., thanks to the magic of AltaVista ... First, a press report from 07-October-1998 discussing it: http://www.portal.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/981007/98100705.html "I was quite surprised. The Kellogg's tiger and Exxon tiger have peacefully co-existed for 30 years now. Their suit makes no sense," Jim Carter, Exxon vice president of marketing, told the Houston Chronicle. and ... http://www.mfforum.com/motm/motm875.html Battle Creek's Kellogg Co. sued Exxon for trademark infringement over the use of the Exxon "tiger in the tank," but a federal judge said that Kellogg's waited too long. The court pointed out that Exxon has had the tiger in the tank for thirty years and that was certainly enough time for Kellogg's to figure out that it had a claim against Exxon. Apparently Kellogg's has appealed the ruling. As per: http://poptartmonkeys.com/battlecreek.html At issue is alleged trademark infringement, which already has sent Kellog to the courts to stop Exxon, the Texas based global energy company, from using a tiger to promote its convenience stores. Kellogg says it resembled Kellogg's Tony the Tiger; the case remains in a Cincinnati court of appeals. [1] As an aside ... this isn't really new. Those of us above a certain age will recall that gasoline was often simply one commodity sold at a "general store". (And now I'll let Pat tell us about the hand pumps ...) Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not that ancient. PAT] ------------------------------ From: catfood@apk.net (Mark W. Schumann) Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Date: 17 Nov 1999 14:07:17 -0500 Organization: Akademia Pana Kleksa, Public Access Uni* Site In article , John R. Levine wrote: > Trademarks and domain names just don't match up, particularly domains > in .com/.org/.net that don't have any geographic or line of business > qualification. Names on the net would be much easier to deal with if > the .US domain were better managed so people were more willing to get > geographic domains that better match businesses with local or regional > rather than global scope. What was so wrong about njtransit.state.nj.us anyway? Around here we get monstrosities such as cityofcleveland.org and clevelandcitycouncil.org. There is no reason for local government entitities to have domains in .com, .net, or .org. There is no reason the Internet has to have a flat namespace. In article , Peter Dubuque wrote: > John R. Levine wrote: >> I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, trademark holders want all >> sorts of "rights" on the net that they'd never have in the normal >> world, and there's a distressing amount of blather by people who've >> never even read the relevant law. >> Trademarks and domain names just don't match up, particularly domains >> in .com/.org/.net that don't have any geographic or line of business >> qualification. Names on the net would be much easier to deal with if >> the .US domain were better managed so people were more willing to get >> geographic domains that better match businesses with local or regional >> rather than global scope. > I think the geographical restrictions on .us are its worst flaw. If > you're going to get a .us domain, you might as well not have a website > to begin with. Most people to have come on the net in the past > probably don't even realize that .com isn't the only TLD. Perhaps > this will change, but I'm skeptical. [snip] > If they had seen any potential value in it, they would have denied her > that as well. .us domain names are worthless. How do many small websites get most of their traffic? * Paid advertising links. * Free links from friendly related sites. * Keyword indexes on search engines. These are all methods by which the URL is not even necessarily seen by the user. It doesn't take any typing or even understanding to use such a link. Users who are led to the site and like it and who bookmark it will never have to type the URL. I'll grant there's a bit of a disadvantage in situations where you might have to include http://thing.locality.st.us in print advertising. But if that's a concern maybe you have deep pockets already. There are obvious long-term benefits to using the .us domain correctly. Let's not ignore them because .us is supposedly "worthless." In article , Derek J. Balling wrote: > Keep in mind, of course, that if you don't use the trademark in the > same sphere in which it is registered, then you are not technically > violating the trademark. Thus the fact that there are many many > companies who share popular names, because the two companies don't > compete in the same markets, thus there is no chance of confusion. > I'm drawing a blank for an example (because I'm at work and its been a > long day) but I'm sure other readers of the Digest can happily supply > them. :) There's a Unix bulletin-board product called XChange and an unrelated data-conversion utility, produced by another company, but also called XChange. (They may have capitalized the name differently.) I asked about this several years ago and was told more or less that the two companies' lawyers talked on the phone for a few minutes, agreed that they were in sufficiently different areas of business to avoid confusion, and left it at that. ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 09:55 EST Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Derek J. Balling wrote: > Keep in mind, of course, that if you don't use the trademark in the > same sphere in which it is registered, then you are not technically > violating the trademark. Thus the fact that there are many many > companies who share popular names, because the two companies don't > compete in the same markets, thus there is no chance of confusion. > I'm drawing a blank for an example (because I'm at work and its been a > long day) but I'm sure other readers of the Digest can happily supply > them. :) The examples people usually cite are "Apple" and "Sun", both of which apply to lots of companies in different businesses, including musical recordings and computers in each case. But it's hard to see what bearing that has on the "NJ Transit" subject being discussed. After all, the web-site in question was dedicated explicitly to discussing transportation issues in New Jersey, including the performance of the very government agency that owns the "NJ Transit" service mark! Given that level of geographic and industrial proximity, how easy would it be for company's owners to claim the sort of clear separation of business domains that allows different companies named "Sun Microsystems", "Sun Records" and "Sun America Insurance" to coexist peacefully in different industries? Bob Goudreau Data General, a division of EMC Corp. goudreau@rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: NJ Government Agency Wins Court Orders For Domain Names Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:54:52 PST Organization: Shadownet Derek J. Balling writes: >> Do you also claim the >> right to set up a company called, say, "International Business >> Machines, Inc."? Whether it's "Inc." or "Ltd." or "Company", the >> suffix doesn't change the fact that you're violating the "International >> Business Machines" trademark, does it? > Keep in mind, of course, that if you don't use the trademark in the > same sphere in which it is registered, then you are not technically > violating the trademark. Thus the fact that there are many many > companies who share popular names, because the two companies don't > compete in the same markets, thus there is no chance of confusion. > I'm drawing a blank for an example (because I'm at work and its been a > long day) but I'm sure other readers of the Digest can happily supply > them. :) Apple Computer and Apple Music. And they got into a fight when it became possible to play music on Macs. Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort ------------------------------ From: Mike Pollock Subject: Prepaid Phone Card For Short Calls? Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 22:49:08 -0500 Organization: It's A Mike! FreeWay long distance from BroadPoint Communications is completely free and works perfectly from pay phones. There's still a lengthy backlog for getting a new account setup, but once you do, you can call all you want. As their website says, they "call the concept 'sponsored communications.' Whenever you want to make a free call, simply dial [their] special toll-free 800 number then enter your PIN and the number you want to call. You'll then hear a brief commercial message. For each message that you listen to, you will earn two free minutes of talk time." Sign up at http://www.broadpoint.com/ --Mike ------------------------------ From: pete-weiss@psu.edu (Pete Weiss) Subject: Re: Must Telemarketers and "Researchers" Identify Themselves? Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 08:56:28 -0500 Organization: Penn State University -- Office of Administrative Systems On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:20:01 -0800, Jonathan Seder wrote: > Of course I don't give out any information at all to someone who won't > identify themselves properly -- but I wonder if it is legal for people > to call this way, and if not, what the penalties might be under > Federal and state laws. Must a caller like this identify themselves? I don't give personal info to any tele-critter who calls me up unsolicited regardless of their spiel. /Pete ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #557 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Nov 17 23:01:04 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id XAA28837; Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:01:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:01:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911180401.XAA28837@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #558 TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 Nov 99 23:01:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 558 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Daryl R. Gibson) Re: Country Code Question (James Kenny) Acronyms (Rich Osman) Definitions (Joey Lindstrom) Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Julian Thomas) Re: Customer Service (Mark W. Schumann) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Paul Wallich) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Paul Wallich) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Larry Finch) More About the Eleet (Adam Sampson) Need Link For CO Information (Andrew Mark) Re: An Anonymous Example (Geoff Dyer) "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities" (e cummings) Canadian 403 Area Code Split (Donald D) Another Spammer With an 800 Number ... (evans_the_swim@tesco.net) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:06:57 -0700 From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? I'm interested in how much the terrestial microwave part of AT&T's phone network is still being used. Judging by the sound quality on most calls I make over the AT&T network, most of my calls are being carried via Fiber, but I notice that the old AT&T Long Lines microwave towers are still in existance, at least here in Utah. In fact, one of those towers is the reason I'm actually writing. Throughout central Utah, there are a group of AT&T towers that move from Salt Lake City's Emigration Canyon, near where the first transcontinental telephone line was cutover, to a tower on the downtown US West building, and from there to a group of towers that follow the western Utah mountains for some 100 miles. At Scipio, Utah, another "corner" tower moves the signal westward, and it goes on to Nevada and California. The warning beacon on that tower, at Scipio, stopped blinking about a month or so ago. I figure the tower's not examined that much, so an AT&T crew probably won't wander by for a while, yet. Anybody know who I should report it to? As a photographer, I've always been interested in telephone poles. Usually, you're trying to get them out of a shot, but sometimes, they lend themselves to a nice shot (see http://newsline.byu.edu/gibson/power.jpg), and these ever-present microwave towers always seemed to be something to look at. I remember twenty-five years ago, climbing to the top of a local mountain (all right ... truth be told, I drove up there) and taking a close look at one of the microwave stations. It is still there, (and no doubt is still plastered with the warning signs stating that it was part of the defense network), and the warning beacon on top of the tower still blinks day and night as a warning to navigation, as does one on West Mountain, Utah, and one above Alpine, Utah. It's quite common throughout the west to see these Long Lines (now that was a good name, wasn't it? Too bad they changed it) towers on top of many mountains. Even today, a lot of US West traffic seems to go through microwave around here ... it's an easy way to get traffic above the mountains ... and the FAA has its own microwave network to bring RADAR signals into the flight control centers. AT&T seemed to do well siting those towers, as well. It's common now to see five or six cell towers near each AT&T tower. Daryl "As you ramble through life, brother, no matter what your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole" --Dr. Murray Banks, quoting a menu ------------------------------ Date: 17 Nov 1999 10:42:52 -0000 Subject: Re: Country Code Question From: James Kenny I agree that 670 and 671 and now NPAs, but I'm not so sure about 684. Our numbering information at http://www.active-numbers.com lists all three as international country codes, but only 670 and 671 as part of the NANP. I just tried calling Guam though (from the U.K.), and it is only dialable as +1671. +671 fails to busy. James Kenny, Active Numbers. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 06:01:27 -0600 From: Rich Osman Subject: Acronyms Here's what I know: LORAN = LOng RAnge Navigation Check out http://www.navcen.uscg.mil/loran/Default.htm And I believe SONAR is SONic bearing And Ranging. I've seen several 'de-acronymizations' of SONAR, and this is the one I find most believable. Another I've heard is SONic radAR, but I've seen mention of SONAR in open media (movies) before the existence of RADAR as a system and term was declassified. I've heard RADAR as Radio Direction and Range. In TELECOM Digest V19 #555 Tony Pelisse replied to Pat's questions: > In article , TELECOM Digest > Editor asked: >> Today's trivia game! All these 'words' began as abbreviations for some >> longer phrase. All relate to radio. What were the original phrases? >> RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF > RADAR = Radio Detection and Range, SONAR I don't know, same with LORAN. > ELF = Extremely Low Frequency, AM = Amplitude Modulation, FM = Frequency > Modulation, VHF - Very High Frequency and UHF - Ultra High Frequency. > Or at least that's what I remember. mailto:Rich@Osman.com http://www.rich.osman.com Rich Osman +1 972-879-2301 (Pager) POB 93167; Southlake, TX 76092 (Near DFW Airport) ARS: WB0HUQ ------------------------------ From: Joey Lindstrom Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:33:18 -0700 Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Subject: Definitions On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:46:08 EST, editor@telecom-digest.org wrote: >> RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF > AM=Amplitude Modulation > FM=Frequency Modulation > VHF=Very High Frequency > UHF=Ultra High Frequency. > My brain cells have obviously had insufficient caffiene today as I can't > remember the exact definition for RADAR and SONAR ... :( > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But you neglected to take a guess at > LORAN and ELF. PAT] RADAR = RAdio Detecting And Ranging SONAR = SOund Navigation And Ranging LORAN = LOng RAnge Navigation ELF = Extremely Low Frequency (below 300 Hertz) C'mon, hit me with another ... I dare ya. ;-) Juliet Oscar Echo Yankee ... From the messy desktop of Joey Lindstrom Visit The NuServer! http://www.GaryNumanFan.NU Visit The Webb! http://webb.GaryNumanFan.NU "Don't assume anything is just decoration." --Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Babylon From [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar detectors' doesn't it. If so, do we have a detecting device which detects radio detectors? Sort of a double spy as in spy-vs-spy, Mad Magazine style? That might be a good way to describe it; we are using a radio to spy and find out if someone nearby is using a radio to spy on us. Maybe someone could develop an 'anti-TEMPEST' detector to tell us if someone nearby was using that method of spying, by looking for the radiation *it* was emitting. But then PIN, as in 'Personal Identification Number' is frequently stated as 'PIN number' which seems to double things up on the end also. Since you dared me to give you another acronym, here goes. It is not a radio term. Beginning in 1946, and continuing through the present time, although not as much in recent years, Americans have donated to a charity known as 'CARE' because we care. In fact, in the years immediatly following the second war, we sent 'Care Packages' to these people to help them. What was the original phrase which eventually was forgotten in lieu of just using the word 'care'? Just to show you how acronyms can take on a life of their own and become words in their own right, consider the Postal Service's plan for improving mail delivery in the early 1960's: instead of the one or two digit 'zone numbers' used to sort mail which had been in effect for several years, the (Z)one (I)mprovement (P)lan codes had the entire USA divided up into sections numbered with five digits each. The Postal Service planned that out ahead of time, as did the people who asked Americans to provide 'Care Packages' ... the USPS liked the idea of people thinking the mail would 'zip right along' if it was properly sorted using Zip Codes. Zippie the Post- master reminded us of that all during the 1960's. Anyway, tell me about 'Care' ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 21:39:03 GMT (no, no, not how to send them!). I recently (Nov 16 6:47PM) received one of these. No originating number at the top. Poll - "should gay couples adopt kids". Yes or no - each with a 900 # to send a fax (for $2.95/minute). Includes a URL for results: www.pollresult.co.uk and an address: 21st Century Fax Ltd. in NYC, and an 800# to be removed from their list . Isn't there a way to go after these guys? ISTR something on this list not too long ago, but an archives search on Junk Fax didn't turn up anything useful. Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- Windows: Just another pane in the glass. ------------------------------ From: catfood@apk.net (Mark W. Schumann) Subject: Re: Customer Service Date: 17 Nov 1999 16:31:45 -0500 Organization: Akademia Pana Kleksa, Public Access Uni* Site In article , Dave Goodman wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This reminds me of the idiots working >> at inbound call centers who take orders for products advertised on >> television who, when they receive an order from someone in New Mexico, >> insist that they cannot ship outside the USA. And no amount of talking >> will convince them that New Mexico is in the USA and not part of >> Mexico. ... > Ah, yes. I lived in New Mexico for years, but traveled extensively. > The usual conversation on the east coast cocktail circuit was: > "Where are you from?" > "New Mexico" > "Oh. How long have you been in this country?" I was the doofus in that conversation once, but it wasn't my fault. Me: "Where are you from?" Stranger: "West... ah, Virginia." Me: "Do you mean the west _part_ of Virginia, or..." Stranger: "No, West Virginia is a separate state!" Me: [I _knew_ that, you made it complicated by pausing!] The lesson? I think sometimes West Virginians, New Mexicans, and New Englanders are expecting to hear doofusness where it ain't. ------------------------------ From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich) Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:14:10 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In article , sjsobol@NorthShore Technologies.Net (Steve Sobol) wrote: > On Mon, 15 Nov 1999 19:52:22 EST, Wlevant@aol.com allegedly said: >>> A King County District Judge today issued a far-reaching order that >>> may be a first-ever precedent in cyber-space, banning a man from >>> talking about Zoom skis, or any other skiing-related topic, in the >>> Usenet newsgroup Rec.Skiing.Alpine. >> In the US, at least, content-based regulation of non-commercial, >> non-obscene speech is ALWAYS unconstitutional. This judge must have >> cut a few too many constitutional law classes in law school. And, who >> died and left her Honor in charge of the Internet anyway? And, since >> when are bad manners a matter for the courts? When those bad manners include credible threats of assault with a deadly weapon (e.g. asserting ownership of the weapon, knowledge of the threatened person's whereabouts and intent to use it.) As it turns out comp.dcom.telecom may have been had, since the original article was written by one of the participants in the flamewar which occasioned the legal proceedings. see http://www.parrot.net/bestofbert/ for a somewhat more intemperate shot from the other side ... > What an idiot the judge is. What is she going to do if I post? I'm not > in her jurisdiction, nor are any of the Net surfers outside the US. But the guy who is the subject of the restraining order is (as are, apparently, the people whom he allegedly threatened with bodily harm). > I hope this gets challenged. The decision is ridiculous. It will be interesting to see what happens -- AFAIK courts have upheld restraining orders in meatspace even when those infringe on what might otherwise be considered protected speech. paul [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for writing. Very much, thank you! By coincidence, Tuesday night I had a rather long, very detailed phone conversation with someone who is a rather close-by neighbor of Scott Abraham; someone Scott does not know, but who is also extremely active on the net and who has met Scott in semi- public gatherings on various occassions over the past several years, but apparently not recently. They're both in the same neighborhood of Seattle, obviously. Since 'one of the parties involved' sent the rather self-serving notice here to c.d.t. which I printed, I'm sure the same party won't object to me relating a bit of the conversation I had with his close-by, but of unknown (to Scott) identity last night. It seems this problem with rec.skiing has been going on for years. This was not just some little Usenet flame war that 'got out of control'. The person alleges that Scott has been (in his words) harassing the participants in the newsgroup for at least a few years off and on. The person alleges that Scott is physically quite big; he stands about 6'5" tall, and weighs in excess of 300 pounds. He notes that 'Scott is the sort of person physically that one might be frightened by if any angry encounter was taking place.' He thinks that age-wise, Scott is in his late thirties, or perhaps forty years old. Scott operates a web site devoted to the topic of men who as young boys who were the victims of child sexual abuse. Scott alleges that as the result of 'recovered memory', he recalls that as a baby six months old, he was 'raped by his mother', and 'force-fed feces'. Many readers will recall that one of the hot topics in the 1980's dealt with 'recovered memory'; and those memories recovered in later life almost invariably dealt with sexual abuse as a child. All of a sudden, everyone was having these flashbacks, accusing their mother or father of such dreadful acts. I am sure you remember the era, with things like the totally ridiculous McMartin Pre-school sex abuse trial that lasted literally for nearly three years in California, and Police Officer (Gomez, was it?) in Wentachee, WA who was convinced that everyone in town was a member of a Satanic cult which molested and killed tiny babies, etc. Apparently the good officer's technique was to drag kids out of their homes, then tell the parents they would never see the kids again unless they signed the confessions he had ready for them. Frightened parents signed whatever was handed to them. He managed to stir up more hostility and suspicion and hatred between people in that town than had ever been seen before, driving wedges between family members, the members of an entire church, and more. In other words, a good, well trained, police officer. And who can forget the bunch of goofy people in Jordan, Minnesota about the same time who went on and on for more than a year, each claiming the others were into some extraordinarily kinky situation involving all the kids in town, satanic cults, the whole routine. Well, into this 'recovered memory' fiasco in the 1980's comes a well-regarded person in the field of psychotherapy who identifies it all as so much bunk. She did not deny that these things *could* happen or *might have* happened, but she gave some strong challenges to the whole 'recovered memory' crowd they never were able to answer satisfactorily. She said some child psychologists were deliberatly inducing the little folks to have fantasies which they would put into words to (in their minds) please the grownup people who were asking the questions. She was extremely critical of the techniques being used to 'recover memories'. She is to this day a highly regarded professor and researcher at a major university in the Seattle area. When she was battling the 'recovered memories' crowd back in the 1980's it seems her life was threatened, and she was stalked and harassed for several months afterward. Allegations have been made by some people familiar with the matter that Scott Abraham was one of those doing the stalking and harassing. He then suggested, as it is alleged he suggested in rec.skiing that 'he had a gun and would use it when he needed to'. Describing Scott Abraham as 'one very, very sick puppy', my phone correspondent on Tuesday night remembers Scott another way as well: "He would go to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings in the neighborhood; we met in different church basements and what have you. He would stand up to speak, but instead of the customary 'My name is Scott and I am an alcoholic' he would get into these incredible monologues about how he had been raped by his mother when he was a baby, and how she made him eat feces when he was six months old, etc ... never a word about alcoholism; people would ask him to please stick to the topic or reason for the AA group meeting and Scott would get very angry and threaten the person. This happened on at least a few occassions when I was in the same AA meeting that Scott was attending. And not only would he never talk about any alcohol problem and always talk about his mother instead, but there was no end to how lurid and detailed he could be in what he had to say with body-part names, etc. He would not stop, no matter who at the AA meeting asked him to stop." This person alleges that Scott's standard response to someone he dislikes is to stalk them, harass them, and email bomb them. He says the professor in Seattle got it after she offered irrefutable evidence against the 'recovered memory' people and the loonies who were accusing everyone else of molesting their children and being in satanic cults. He says the AA people who Scott was able to identify got it, and others who he could not identify by name in AA were nonetheless frightened because of his height and weight and his references to 'carrying a gun'. It seems he also goes to the trouble to find out where his perceived enemies are employed, then makes an effort to get them fired with whatever he can dredge up. While Scott Abraham operates his web site devoted mostly to male survivors of childhood sexual abuse, his younger brother, an accomplished musician in the Seattle area, operates a web site devoted to his art, and sharing it with netizens, but he feels compelled on his web site to defend their mother against the claims made by Scott, and he notes that in fact, far from being a victim of sexual molestation by his mother when he was six months old, Scott in fact molested him several times as a child. And this is the Scott Abraham against whom a restraining order was issued involving his Usenet postings, under provisions of the law in the State of Washington regarding stalking and harassment via computer. My phone correspondent Tuesday night said "imagine my surprise to read in TELECOM Digest about one of my near neighbors ... a fellow I have been watching with interest for a number of years while staying as invisible to him as I could for obvious reasons." He also pointed out that in his opinion, the comment about the Seattle Police Department having a 'three-ring binder' with Usenet postings was taken out of context. He alleges the SPD was not interested in Usenet in general, but rather, in the postings of Scott Abraham over the years. He claims this latest fiasco on Usenet was 'not the first time SPD had heard about Scott and investigated him; they had prior complaints about harassment and stalking.' He claims SPD only began to watch Scott in some detail via his writing on the net when the latest series of complaints arrived from other citizens in the community. "Detective Shirey was not and is not trying to 'spy on people in Usenet'; she was trying to gather specific evidence in various complaints as part of an ongoing investigation of Scott Abraham. The judge was not trying to 'take over a Usenet group as a moderator'; she was trying to find a lawful and constitutional way to keep a person who it is alleged was stalking and harassing other persons from continuing what he was doing. Just as a court order in a case like that might require that one person keep some distance between themselves and another person, or refrain from communicating with that other person, the judge's order was intended to force Scott Abraham to stay away from a place on the net (the skiing newsgroup) where others were meeting peaceably to have their discussions, etc. In addition to ordering Scott to keep his physical distance from the people who filed the complaint, the judge also ordered him to stay away from the virtual meeting place where the same people wished to be left alone. She did not tell him he had to remain silent on Usenet or could not use his computer to communicate or operate a web site. She merely told him he could not go to that group and continue to harass and stalk those people in ways that were becoming close to (or in fact) criminal in nature." Well ... that puts it all in a somewhat different light, doesn't it? My phone correspondent thinks that Detective Shirey and the judge are getting a bad rap. Instead of 'spying on the net and trying to moderate a newsgroup', they were responding to complaints filed by netizens involving a person 'already known to the Seattle Police Department as a troublemaker'; a person who, if all the allegations of his conduct about threatening a professor at the university there several years ago, his conduct at AA group meetings, his apparent mental illness and/or inability to deal in an appropriate way with the claims he makes about his mother, and his prior activities on Usenet are correct, certainly needs to be watched. Just as shouting fire in a crowded theatre is not covered by your rights of free speech, being someone who posts frequently in a Usenet newsgroup does not automatically qualify one for sainthood either it would seem. Since 'someone' was thoughtful enough to send along the original item to me to share with readers; I am sure that same 'someone' is pleased with this followup report, and I hope it receives the same wide distribution as the original report. I still contend we are on a slippery slope when police or judges involve themselves in the speech affairs of the Internet -- in any part of it short of out-and-out-fraud or using it to victimize others. But there are always exceptions to the rule, and perhaps Scott Abraham is one such exception. Maybe ... but since 'someone' submitted one side of the story, I trust you enjoyed reading, as Paul Harvey would phrase it, 'the rest of the story'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:23:50 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In article , nospam.tonypo1@ nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) wrote: > In article , Wlevant@aol.com says: >> I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer >> power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating >> involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, >> methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. > Were the lost lightbulbs fluorescents? If they were close enough to > the radiating source those would light up. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not think there was such a > thing as a 100 watt flourescent tube. Incadescent, yes, flourescent, > no. 40 watt and 25 watt flourescent tubes are very common. Maybe some > outdoor, all-weather type electric signs use 100 watt flourescents > but they are special, and very expensive tubes. Hardly worth stealing > electricity to use. PAT] If this one is a UL, it's an old one, since I heard it thirty years ago when I started out in ham radio. The version that I heard related to a transmitter (although it makes sense for powerlines as well) and said that the rule of law from the case was that you could extract 1/r^2 (far-field EM wave) from a radiating source but not 1/R (nearfield). Otherwise, in addition to the power generation options, the opportunities for passive jamming of transmissions seem clear. (For powerlines, whether AC or DC, this makes a fair amount of sense because in typical configurations there's a good bit of energy stored in the parasitic capacitor between the lines and the ground -- as also shown by the parade of people who end up burned without ever touching the high tension). paul ------------------------------ From: Larry Finch Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:50:23 -0500 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Reply-To: LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net Michael G. Koerner wrote: > One of the BIGGEST drawbacks to DC is that it cannot be transmitted > more than a few kilometers. We would need powerplants in nearly every > neighborhood had DC been the selected standard. You have it backwards. One of the ADVANTAGES of long distance DC power transmission is that it has no corona loss, so towers don't have to be as high and voltages can be higher. It thus is transmitted at lower currents and can be transmitted much further. It can also be carried on one wire, rather than 3. The DISADVANTAGE is that it must be converted from the AC the generator puts out to DC, then back to AC at the receiving end for local distribution. But for long distance transmission the added cost of rectification and inversion is justified. From the April, 1996 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Spectrum magazine: ============================== India boasts one of the latest examples of a high-voltage dc (HVDC) interconnection: the 1500-MW, 910-km-long system built to carry power from the coal-based plants in Rihand in the eastern part of India to Delhi's swelling load farther west [Fig. 1]. Then there is the 600-MW back-to-back tie that connects Texas with the eastern United States [Figs. 2 and 3]. ("Back-to-back" means that both ac-to-dc and dc-to-ac power electronic converters are located at the same site, because the two ac systems involved have different frequency controls and could not be interconnected otherwise.) Worldwide, more than 50 HVDC projects have been completed, for a total transmission capacity in operation of about 46 000 MW at voltages up to 600 kV [Fig. 4]. In the last two decades, the average HVDC capacity brought into service has been about 2000 MW per year, indicating a power electronic converter capacity of twice that figure, or 4000 MW. =============================== Larry Finch ::LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net larry@prolifics.com ::LarryFinch@aol.com ::(whew!) N 40 53' 47" W 74 03' 56" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:14:06 +0000 From: Adam Sampson Reply-To: azz@gnu.org Subject: Re: 3-2-1-Rrring! Joseph Mallett wrote: > If we ever go into 11+ digits, can I have the 31337 NPA? (Oh c'mon, just a > joke against all the phreaker lurkers here.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's note: I do not understand the joke. Would > you care to explain? PAT] 31337 spells "ELEET"; "elite" double-B1FFed. From the Jargon File: elite adj. Clueful. Plugged-in. One of the cognoscenti. Also used as a general positive adjective. This term is not actually hacker slang in the strict sense; it is used primarily by crackers and [warez d00dz]. This term used to refer to the folks allowed in to the "hidden" or "privileged" sections of BBSes in the early 1980s (which, typically, contained pirated software). Frequently, early boards would only let you post, or even see, a certain subset of the sections (or `boards') on a BBS. Those who got to the frequently legendary `triple super secret' boards were elite. A true hacker would be more likely to use [wizardly]. Oppose [lamer]. A number of "network administration" tools (BO included) use TCP port 31337 by default; if you find a machine of yours is listening on 31337, you should start worrying. Adam Sampson azz@gnu.org ------------------------------ From: Andrew Mark Subject: Need Link For CO Information Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 18:01:09 -0500 Organization: Globix Corp. During the past week, someone who's smart posted a link to a site which showed the configuration of the corresponding CO for all #s in the US. During this same period, someone who's not-so-smart, saw the link, used it for a little while and then managed to lose it. That someone (me!) needs to get back there. Can you help? Andrew Mark ------------------------------ From: gldyer-nospam@geocities.com (Geoff Dyer) Subject: Re: An Anonymous Example Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 13:03:49 GMT On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:40:04 -0800 (PST), in comp.dcom.telecom Pat wrote: > on the other hand is likely to be someone like myself: a person > who cooks carrots and pees in the same pot, Eeyew! Not while the carrots are cooking, I hope! Geoff (to e-mail me, remove any instances of "-nospam" from my address) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:58:00 -0500 From: e cummings Subject: "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities" Hi Pat, Here is a good one: Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:43:16 -0500 To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh Subject: FC: "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities" Sender: owner-politech@vorlon.mit.edu Reply-To: declan@well.com X-Loop: politech@vorlon.mit.edu X-URL: Politech is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ The Department of Housing and Urban Development thought it would be fun to give Haitian-Americans info about free or subsidized housing in French Creole. But someone screwed up, and came up with this pidgin variant instead. The result wasn't pretty. Lots of recriminations. Pretty funny -- or it would be, if it weren't our tax dollars paying for this. -Declan http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/17/124l-111799-idx.html "Rezedents rights and Rispansabilities" By "Sekretary Andrew M. Cuomo fella." "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities to elp mek yuh HUD-asisted owzing ah behta owme fi ahn yuh fambily." "Dis is a brochure distributed to yuh cawze Hud ah provide some fawm ahf asistance aur subsidy fi di whole apawtment buildin." "HUD prowtekss di rights ahf di tenants, ahn tenants gauwd dem own right tru rispansible be'aviah. Owah goal is fi guh beyan dat pawtnaship ahn create a sense ahf community." POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to majordomo@vorlon.mit.edu with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: Donald D Subject: Canadian 403 Area Code Split Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:21:41 -0700 FYI......... Hi Patrick, Just an update for you. Effective Jan 25,99 403 is for Southern Alberta 780 is for Northern Alberta Regards, Don ------------------------------ From: evans_the_swim@dontbothermewithspam.tesco.net Subject: Another Spammer With an 800 Number Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 08:49:13 GMT Organization: Tesco ISP Found this in my mailbox today: ********************************************************* This message is being brought to you by IBS Inc. & PBS To be removed from from further mailings please respond to this email with "Remove" in the subject line. ********************************************************* Dear Friend, [ spam deleted ] Or feel free to call us on our 24 hour voicemail at: 1-800-288-7363 P.S. ASK ABOUT OUR INCREDIBLE DEALER OPPORTUNITY [ well, we have LOTS of questions, don't we? ] IBS Inc.& PBS 7657 Winnetka Ave Canoga Park Ca. 91306 [ would be nice in a .ca resident could swing by and estimate the size of IBS and how big a phone bill they can handle...] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #558 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Nov 18 01:08:12 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA03278; Thu, 18 Nov 1999 01:08:12 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 01:08:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911180608.BAA03278@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #559 TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 Nov 99 01:08:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 559 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (James Gifford) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (John McHarry) Re: Urban Legend Alert (Bill Levant) Re: High-Voltage Transmission (was Urban Legend Alert) (Bill Levant) Re: AC-to-DC-to-AC (Bill Levant) Fluorescent Lighting (Ed Ellers) Re: USWest Residential ADSL vrs. Qwest LD (Bud Couch) Re: 'No PIC Fee' Doubled Last Month? (Vladimir V. Egorin) Re: New Improved Siemens Gigaset 2420 (tophatvideo@hotmail.com) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Matt Bartlett) Echelon Developments (Monty Solomon) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (lcs Mixmaster Remailer) Usenet Ban a Slippery Slope? (Monty Solomon) Dispute Over Student Web Site Sparks Lawsuit (Monty Solomon) Grokking the Privacy Lesson (Monty Solomon) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James Gifford Reply-To: gifford@nitrosyncretic.com Organization: Nitrosyncretic Press Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:52:18 -0800 Ross McMicken wrote: >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC ... > I was under the impression that the high voltage lines running across > the country are AC. What you are saying is that the power companies > generate AC power, convert it to DC for the trip through the high > voltage grid, then convert it back to AC for consumer use? Sounds > wrong to me. Some of the really high-power lines, such as the 1MV backbone that runs across Canada, are indeed DC. Almost everything below this level is AC. Mike Riddle wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office > in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent > tubes but the room is quite bright. I'd be interested in knowing how > they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used > in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the > source being used.). PAT] Different phosphors on the inside of the tube, mainly, coupled with some variations in the gas inside the tube. I love "full spectrum" fluorescents -- they are a near-exact dupe of sunlight -- but they're quite expensive (US$10-20 each). | James Gifford - Nitrosyncretic Press - gifford@nitrosyncretic.com | | See http://www.nitrosyncretic.com for the Robert Heinlein FAQ | | and information on "Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion" | [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I *love* 'daylight' flouresent lighting. It makes everything in the room around it seem nicer. Using it in an aboretum or a room with a lot of plants and flowers creates some wonderful lighting effects. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mcharry@erols.com (John McHarry) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 01:01:45 GMT On 16 Nov 1999 22:22:27 GMT, Andrew wrote with a faked identity: > This is really beside the point, because the percentage of power > lines that are DC is very tiny, and even if you were correct, you > wouldn't be disproving the story. O joy! You have invented the DC transformer. Edison is redeemed! ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:22 EST Subject: Re: Urban Legend Alert > A fairly recent magazine article describes how one enterprising > amateur radio operator keeps his HT battery charged up by rectifying > RF from a nearby AM radio station. Wasn't the April issue, was it ? Without a citation, this looks like ANOTHER version of the UL. Bill WA3RHP ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:20 EST Subject: Re: High-Voltage Transmission (was Urban Legend Alert) > The AC power used in our homes uses ONE pole ('hot' wire) of the 3 phase > main with the neutral '4th' wire being the power 'return'. Maybe yours does, in which case you get 208 nominal volts across any two "hot" poles instead of the more usual 240 (because the two poles are only 120 degrees of phase apart instead of 180; I no longer remember the math) but most of us (especially outside the big cities) get single-phase 120/240 volt service, using both poles of the step-down transformer, and the center-tap as neutral. Bill ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:21 EST Subject: Re: AC-to-DC-to-AC > For reasons I've never understood, our electric power industry has > never been able to lock the two master clocks together. __Can't__ or __won't__ ? Have they perhaps not done so to ensure that no single failure, no matter how widespread, CANNOT black out the entire country ? Bill ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Fluorescent Lighting Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 22:29:50 -0500 PAT, the TELECOM Digest Editor, noted in reply: > But they do put out about the same amount of light. I do not know > how or why. Look at any large office in the USA and the type of > lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent tubes but the room is quite > bright." The lamps are simply that much more efficient than incandescent bulbs. > I'd be interested in knowing how they make them to be 'warm', > 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used in a large room really do make > it seem as though sunlight is the source being used.). That's done by changing the phosphor characteristics -- cooler lights tend to put out more light per watt. The same is true for CRT phosphors, which explains why ordinary B&W TV CRTs are usually made to emit a *very* cool white, and why color TVs and computer monitors are often set up for cool white as well and have been since the late 1950s. (Studio color monitors are customarily set up for a white point of 6500 degrees K, which is very close to daylight, and professional B&W monitors are available with phosphors formulated for that white point so that they won't fool the eye into thinking that the color monitors' pictures are too warm.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What about the type of flourescent tube commonly called 'grow lamps'? At someone's house the other day, here in Junction City, I saw a large a couple of very large pot(ted) plants growing in the basement of their home. A light on a stand next to the plants was sort of a ultra-violet color. These folks also had a couple of flourescent tubes which where totally black, but when turned on in the (otherwise) darkness produced a kind of strange effect on things. Last couple of questions: Regarding incadescent lighting, do two smaller bulbs of (let's say) 25 watts each produce the same amount of light throughout the area as one bulb of 50 watts? In addition, I once knew a man whose job it was to change burned out lightbulbs. Some of the bulbs were in difficult to reach areas, that is, they required a stepladder, or scaffolding, etc. He said to avoid having to change the bulbs as often, he used bulbs at two or three times the amount of wattage desired, but half the voltage. That is, instead of a 100 watt bulb designed for 120 volts, he would use a 300 watt bulb designed for 240 volts (on a 120 line). It seemed to me as though the room was just as bright, but obviously the bulb was only getting 'half as much use' as a normal bulb, therefore it would not burn out for years at a time, he claimed. What about people who are too cheap to buy their own lightbulbs, so they steal them from Chicago Transit Authority subway trains. The bulb has a notation on it saying '50 watts, DC, Railway Lighting Company'. The subway trains run on DC through the third rail. Will the bulb work in a lamp at home? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bud Couch Subject: Re: USWest Residential ADSL vrs. Qwest LD Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:09:21 -0800 Organization: ADC Kentrox Fred Goldstein wrote: > In V19I550, Paul Lustgraff wrote, about Guy Helmer's problem, >>> A USWest customer rep said Qwest must be misunderstanding the "Megabit >>> DSL" designation as not being a residential line. USWest says they >>> are not sending Qwest disconnection notices. Qwest says there isn't >>> anything wrong, but obviously something is broken in a system >>> somewhere. Advice on how to get this insidious problem escalated and >>> solved would be appreciated. >> This has to be a US Worst problem, because it is happening to other >> people in Iowa with other LD carriers, including AT&T. > But it won't be a problem for long. Assuming Qwest takes ownership of > USW, then it will become subject to Section 271 prohibitions on Bell > in-region LD service. Qwest will have to give up all of its > subscribers in the US West region. So Guy Helmer will have to get a > new LD provider anyway! I haven't been following this thread, but it sounds a bit like what happened to me. I signed up for US West ADSL (megabit) Service. The next month's bill showed my AT&T long distance billing ceasing at about the same time as the DSL kicked in. Then I got a separate bill from AT&T, not only with all of my discount plans gone, but billed under the BUSINESS tariff. Essentially, my long distance rate went up about 4X. The problem is automated billing computers at the LD services. To make a long story short, I did get AT&T to reinstate my discount plans, recalculate my bill, etc, but the interesting part is what triggered this action. US West, as a billing routine, first did a "DISCONNECT Residential Telephone Service". This was enough for the billing computer at AT&T to decide that if the line wasn't "Residential Telephone", then the only other choice was "Business", and, obviously, none of my discounts applied. US West's billing then went on to "ADD Residential Megabit Data Service". AT&T's billing computer knows nothing of this, so it just ignored this. This is all somewhat understandable. I hope by now that AT&T has reprogrammed their billing computer to understand "Residential DSL", or "Residential Megabit", etc, so others don't have to go through this, but I somehow doubt it, based upon the responses of the AT&T customer service rep. The woman had the documents in front of her, but had absolutely NO IDEA what a DSL line was, and kept insisting that if it was a data line, that we couldn't possibly have telephone service over it. It took the statement, "I'm not paying this bill, and you aren't the only long-distance service in town," to get to a supervisor, who was also clueless. It finally took the supervisor actually calling a US West DSL sales rep in a three-way call to get it straight, and even then the supervisor had to be told three times that it was a residential telephone line with data carried over it. "Are you sure it's a RESIDENTIAL telephone line?", she kept asking. Each time, the US West rep would answer yes. AT&T finally agreed that, yes, my calls were coming from a residential telephone, and therefore they could reinstate my plans, etc. They even threw in a couple hundred free minutes. It appears to be straightened out now, but I'm watching my bills, expecting to have to do it over again. Bud Couch |When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.| bud@kentrox.com | -Tom Lehrer | Insert disclaimer here | "Therefore you're guilty!" -EEOC | ------------------------------ From: vladimir@math.uic.edu (Vladimir V. Egorin) Subject: Re: 'No PIC Fee' Doubled Last Month? Date: 17 Nov 1999 19:20:21 -0600 Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago Douglas Kaspar writes: I have also disconnected the LD company and was charged $0.54. It's not a big deal, but still rather funny: for me it's like charging people for not having a car. Vladimir > My guess is that the price increase has to do with your phone provider > being assessed a fee for the Universal Service Fund. ------------------------------ From: tophatvideo@hotmail.com Subject: Re: New Improved Siemens Gigaset 2420 Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 02:36:26 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. It seems that the answering machine in the 2420 has four outgoing messages, but does it have internal "mailboxes?" E.g., "This is the Smith residence; press 1 for Harv, 2 for Marge, etc." Thanks, John ------------------------------ From: Matt Bartlett Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:19:23 -0500 Organization: EarthLink Network, Inc. I recieved the same fax at a local HS radio station I do some volunteer work for. I'm no expert on the subject, but isnt a originating number required by law? Matt Julian Thomas wrote in message ... >(no, no, not how to send them!). >I recently (Nov 16 6:47PM) received one of these. No originating number >at the top. Poll - "should gay couples adopt kids". Yes or no - each >with a 900 # to send a fax (for $2.95/minute). > Isn't there a way to go after these guys? ISTR something on this list > not too long ago, but an archives search on Junk Fax didn't turn up > anything useful. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 21:51:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Echelon Developments Forwarded to the Digest, FYI: Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 15:25:18 -0500 From: Jacob Hale Russell Subject: Echelon Developments To: Cyber-Rights Two recent Echelon-related developments: 1) The ACLU launched Echelon Watch (http://www.echelonwatch.org) 2) This article was published: NSA patent reveals global monitoring technology Could improve governments' ability to instantly pinpoint what's being said in phone conversations anywhere in the world The US National Security Agency (NSA) has patented new phone tapping technology that could revolutionise surveillance of global telephone networks. The technology allows telephone conversations in any language to be monitored according to assigned meaning rather than key words for the first time ever. That is, the technology is designed to pinpoint the topic of a conversation even if conventional keywords aren't used. The technology employed by the US and UK government to monitor could in fact be far superior to this, as the patent was actually applied for in 15 April, 1997. The NSA already operates surveillance of international communications out of two military bases in Europe; Bad Ailing in Germany and Menwith Hill in the UK. Patent number 5,937,422 describes the NSA technology as, "A method of automatically generating a topical description of text by receiving the text containing input words." The patent also mentions "machine transcription" which means the process of converting speech into text. Although some technology of this nature is already commercially available, it is not thought to be capable of converting speech from an unknown source. The patent therefore seems to be a new development in this area as well. -> jrussell ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ CPSR Cyber Rights -- http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ To unsubscribe, e-mail: cyber-rights-unsubscribe@cpsr.org To reach moderator, e-mail: cyber-rights-owner@cpsr.org For additional commands, e-mail: cyber-rights-help@cpsr.org Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ ------------------------------ Date: 18 Nov 1999 02:40:27 -0000 From: lcs Mixmaster Remailer Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup Organization: mail2news@nym.alias.net [disturbing story snipped] {heavy sigh} Oh well, just another tentacle of the law-enforcement industry expanding into a new reservoir of potential perps and a new source of revenue for the politicians. The 'net itself may be immune to such monkeywrenching but the choke-point where the law-enforcement industry will apply pressure is the ISP, where users get their access. Just as CALEA forces telcos to wire the feds directly into the CO for ease of wiretapping so will ISPs be forced to put certain keyword-sniffers on all traffic in/out of their servers. Suspicious packets will be tagged, behavior will be monitored, dossiers will be kept and one day your access will be denied and there'll be a knock at your door from Agents Murphy and Brown. Steve living in the USSA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:17:42 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Usenet Ban a Slippery Slope? by Craig Bicknell 3:00 a.m. 16.Nov.1999 PST A brutal, months-long Usenet word brawl that cost jobs and came to death threats ended in a Seattle court Friday when a judge forbade one of the combatants to post new messages on pain of felony charges. The order, which prevents ski buff Scott Abraham from posting any messages on the Usenet newsgroup Rec.Skiing.Alpine (RSA), is intended to keep the flame war from erupting into the real world. Abraham and most of the disputants live in Seattle and have met offline. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32550,00.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But -- please see the additional details I provided in the issue of the Digest just before this one. It is a slippery slope indeed, but the police and court may be getting a bum rap in this case. It could be stated that police and the court was as interested in helping protect netizens in this case as they have been accused in the past of trying to spy, etc. It is worth noting also that 'ski buff Scott Abraham' had not posted a single ski-related message on the group for at least a month during October, when his only messages seemed to be part of the flame war going on. So it is not like he was exercising his free speech with messages about ski resorts and different kinds of skiing equipment and he was suddenly silenced because some one or more people had a disagreement with him on those topics. It was those people who had met him offline in Seattle who also read his remarks on Usenet who felt -- as did the judge apparently -- that there was a very strong likelyhood Scott was going to act out based on his remarks in the newsgroup; remarks that had nothing to do with skiing, and apparently had had little to do with skiing for some time. As part of the judge's order to leave the people alone and stay away from them offline, the order further said to leave them alone when online also. He is not forbidden to use the net, to post in any other newsgroup he wishes, or to run a web site giving his point of view of the whole matter. Just stay away from those people both in meatspace or realworld, and also in virtual world. By saying 'ski buff denied right to post messages in skiing newsgroup' as he does on his web site now, I think he is distorting the truth a little. There were few or no skiing messages there from him that I saw. I am not going to say a single one of the allegations against Scott Abraham are true; I just do not know. But there seem to be a lot of things not being said at his web site; I posted a few of those allegations here earlier, since 'someone' from over there saw fit to try and embroil me in their controversy. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 21:57:16 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Dispute Over Student Web Site Sparks Lawsuit By PAMELA MENDELS Earlier this year, a freshman at a Catholic high school in the suburbs of New York City was expelled because of the contents of a personal Web site he created at home. Now, the student and his parents have filed a lawsuit against Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, N.Y., and two school officials, saying the school's action violated the boy's free-speech rights. They are asking for at least $1 million in damages. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/cyber/education/17education.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Visitors to the {New York Times} web site are required to register prior to be allowed to read articles. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:21:50 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Grokking the Privacy Lesson by Chris Oakes SAN FRANCISCO -- Just last week, RealNetworks provided the Internet world with a case study of data collection gone wrong. Its RealJukebox software was caught red-handed collecting detailed information on user behavior and sending the data back to the company. In the aftermath of that embarrassment, do people in the data-collection business worry more about privacy? http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,32505,00.html ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #559 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Nov 18 13:32:24 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id NAA24918; Thu, 18 Nov 1999 13:32:24 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 13:32:24 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911181832.NAA24918@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #560 TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 Nov 99 13:32:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 560 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Lauren Weinstein) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Jason) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Julian Thomas) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (John Warne) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Ross McMicken) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Spam Trap) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Ray Normandeau) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Walter Dnes) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (evans_the_swim) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Dave Garland) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Darryl Smith) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Andrew) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Kenneth A. Becker) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Joseph T. Adams) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Robert Wiegand) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 99 09:40 PST From: lauren@vortex.com (Lauren Weinstein) Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? Greetings. The info at http://www.att.com/network claims that the domestic AT&T network is 97% fiber. You would be unlikely to hear the difference on most microwave circuits, which are primarily digital microwave. The burned out tower beacon is a matter for local aviation authorities/ FAA. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren@vortex.com Moderator, PRIVACY Forum -- http://www.vortex.com Co-founder, PFIR: People For Internet Responsibility -- http://www.pfir.org Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 11:00:10 -0500 From: Jason Fetterolf Reply-To: jason@itw.com Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? > I'm interested in how much the terrestial microwave part of AT&T's > phone network is still being used. Judging by the sound quality on > most calls I make over the AT&T network, most of my calls are > being carried via Fiber, but I notice that the old AT&T Long Lines > microwave towers are still in existance, at least here in Utah. I would also like to open this up to other telecom infrastrucure experts out there, and ask how much of MCI's network is composed of microwave transmission towers? And, what is the difference in sound quality between a call that is routed strictly through fiber (ignoring the copper at the term. and orig. ends) versus a call that is routed through a microwave tower? I recently moved to non-RBOC LEC territory, Conestoga Telephone is the LEC, HQ in Birdsboro, PA (about 50 mi NW of Philadelphia). I was informed that ALL MCI LD calls are sent to MCI's microwave tower atop Fancy Hill before being transmitted to the nearest switch (in Phila?). Conestoga Tel technicians indicated that Conestoga was actually contracted to lay the fiber/copper that takes the calls from the LEC's main switch in Birdsboro to the MCI Microwave tower atop Fancy Hill. Interestingly, Conestoga also offers its own LD service (using the Frontier network) that apparently(not confirmed) is routed directly to a switch in the "Phila area". Does anyone have any idea what the difference in voice quality might be in this scenario or with fiber vs microwave, especially in inclement weather or other non-optimal situations? I tried 1010222 dialaround test call vs Frontier network test call, and could tell no difference on a clear day. Thanks in advance for any info on this. Jason Fetterolf Apollo Concepts ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 16:14:52 GMT In , on 11/17/99 at 11:06 AM, Daryl R. Gibson said: > At Scipio, Utah, another "corner" tower moves the signal westward, and it > goes on to Nevada and California. The warning beacon on that tower, at > Scipio, stopped blinking about a month or so ago. I figure the tower's > not examined that much, so an AT&T crew probably won't wander by for a > while, yet. Anybody know who I should report it to? FAA? Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- Have you crashed your Windows today? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:42:32 -0500 From: John Warne Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? According to AT&T employees I have talked with, there is no current microwave use in the State of Florida by AT&T. Fiber has replaced all of it. The current FCC database no longer shows many previously- licensed microwave sites. Many AT&T sites still have the various horns on their towers. Abandoning in-place is less expensive than stripping the towers, or so I'm told. Many (some?) of the AT&T towers still support other kinds of communications antennas / services. Some have had cellular and PCS antennas installed. In addition, many of the sites I have visited in the SouthEast part of the US have an 8-bay 'bat-wing' antenna for AT&T 2-way communications. In addition, selected AT&T sites (such as Ellisville, FL, Jasper, AL, Signal Mountain, TN, Waldorf, MD, and others) have communications antennas associated with operational National Command Authority equipment. This allows POTUS to communicate with the military (and also make telephone calls ) and allows the military to operate systems known as "NIGHTWATCH," "TACAMO," and airborne elements of the nuclear response system. These are not the *only* means of communication, but are still being used today. I've visited a number of AT&T sites (some of them hardened, underground sites). They all have buried cables radiating from the sites. If interested, look at www.afn.org/~warnejw for some pictures and a tour of one underground AT&T site and some links to other resources on the web. There's a group of some 20 or 30 people 'out there' that have as a hobby researching these kind of sites that were involved in government projects to communicate when Armageddon broke loose. Daryl R. Gibson wrote: > I'm interested in how much the terrestial microwave part of AT&T's > phone network is still being used. ------------------------------ From: mcmicken@nospam.ix.netcom.com (Ross McMicken) Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 13:04:40 GMT On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:19:23 -0500, Matt Bartlett wrote: > I recieved the same fax at a local HS radio station I do some > volunteer work for. I'm no expert on the subject, but isnt a > originating number required by law? > Julian Thomas wrote in message ... >> (no, no, not how to send them!). >> I recently (Nov 16 6:47PM) received one of these. No originating number >> at the top. Poll - "should gay couples adopt kids". Yes or no - each >> with a 900 # to send a fax (for $2.95/minute). >> Isn't there a way to go after these guys? ISTR something on this list >> not too long ago, but an archives search on Junk Fax didn't turn up >> anything useful. I received a few faxes from these folks, and they all seem to originate in the UK, and would therefore probably not be subject to our laws. One fax had an 800 number to call to remove you from the list, and when I called it rang with the distinctive UK double ring. Transatlantic tariffs must have dropped if they can afford to send this many faxes. ------------------------------ From: Joseph S. Sperrazza Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:26:03 -0700 Organization: Mindspring Reply-To: Joseph S. Sperrazza Visit the following URLs: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html http://www.junkfaxes.org/ http://www.tcpalaw.com/ pollresult.co.uk does not appear to be a valid domain, according to http://samspade.org/t/ - perhaps it has already been disabled due to complaints? If you could do so, find out who provides the 800 number service and call them to complain of a violation of the TCPA (however, I have no clue how to determine the provider of a particular 800 number). ------------------------------ From: Ray Normandeau Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 17:27:43 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. In article , Matt Bartlett wrote: > I recieved the same fax at a local HS radio station I do some > volunteer work for. I'm no expert on the subject, but isnt a > originating number required by law? Yes, except for machines made before a certain year which are grandfathered. E.G.: my fax machines needs it but my 1987 fax card does not. If your fax "poll" has a Third Avenue address in NYC I think that is a mail drop. As time permits I may go to county clerk;s office here in NYC to research their corporate filing. I may sue both the faxer and the mail drop if I can show that the mail drop is an "agent" for the faxer. Mail drop may be required to file form with USPS saying that they are an agent for receiving faxers postal mail. With a subpeona I shoull be able to get info from USPS. There is Federal law which allows for collecting damages for unsolicited faxes. In searching for info on faxer do searches on "past" posting on Deja. You can also search with the 900 # as the string. ------------------------------ From: Walter Dnes Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 02:29:40 -0500 Organization: ICAN.Net Customer On Mon, 15 Nov 1999 07:00:41 -0800, Anthony Argyriou wrote: > However, there are some precendents regarding ownership > of EM radiation. The power company _owns_ the 60Hz (in > the US) radiation produced by its power lines. The case > was a farmer who had a barn under some high-tension lines > which had begun to sag. He put a BIG coil in the rafters > of the barn, and powered his farm from that. The power > company sued, successfully. Important question ... was the farmer picking up EMF that would have radiated naturally, or was his coil (inductance coil???) drawing power from the high-tension lines that wouldn't have otherwise left the lines? If he was drawing current that wouldn't have otherwise left the lines, it becomes cut and dried theft, just as if he had tapped into the lines physically. Walter Dnes ------------------------------ From: evans_the_swim@dontbothermewithspam.tesco.net Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:34:59 GMT Organization: Tesco ISP On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 06:43:14 GMT, Michael Sullivan wrote: > Pat, the federal law to which you refer, 47 USC 605, pertains to > unauthorized reception of radio *communications*, not radio > *transmissions*. There is a difference. Radio transmissions alone > simply consist of a signal without any informational content, while > communications are the content. Under Section 605, one may not, with > certain exceptions, intercept radio communications without authorization > and use either the communication or the fact of the communication. A > radar signal is a transmission but not a communication. The signal > transmitted has no information, intelligence, or other content. The > police doppler radar works by simply sending out a series of pulses and > then timing how long the pulses take to get back. Detecting the radio > transmission and using the fact that there has been a radio transmission > for one's own benefit does not violate the Communications Act in any > way. The FCC has issued public notices to that effect. Moreover, the > FCC has routinely granted equipment authorizations for devices -- radar > detectors -- specifically designed to intercept such transmissions. > State law is a different matter. As others have noted, only VA and DC > prohibit radar detectors. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, VA actually > prohibits possession of a radar detector in a vehicle, not only use. Indeed, this is the most recent interpretation of the part of the wireless telegraphy act that in the UK was used to outlaw radar detectors; no longer -- the transmission is not a "message" and so interception/unauthorised reception is not subject to proscription. ------------------------------ From: dave.garland@wizinfo.com (Dave Garland) Date: 18 Nov 99 01:15:34 -0600 Subject: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Organization: Wizard Information > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the > same amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any > large office in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 > or 40 watt flourescent tubes but the room is quite bright. > I'd be interested in knowing how they make them to be > 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used in a large > room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the source > being used.). PAT] The difference is in the fluorescent phosphor in the tubes. While none of them emits a continuous spectrum, the "warm" tubes emit more energy at lower (yellower) frequencies and the "cool" ones at higher (bluer) frequencies. The cool white phosphors seem to be somewhat more efficient (more light output for a given amount of power). "Daylight" are a mix attempting to approximate the color spectrum of daylight. It doesn't do that very well, so there are (rather expensive, like 10x the cost) "full spectrum" tubes as well. The technology is much the same as neon signs. The only real difference is the electrodes (which operate at much lower voltages). Much "neon" (the non-red colors) uses the same internal gas and phosphors as fluorescent lights; vendors of neon sign supplies even sell 4' sticks of "cool white" tubing, which the signmaker fills with argon gas and a smidge of mercury. The process is far more efficient than heating a wire white-hot to make light. -Dave ------------------------------ From: Darryl Smith Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 18:56:47 +1100 Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! G'Day > An electrical engineer once told me that DC lines allowed much higher > voltages and hence lower current (and lesser loss). If your line is > long enough, at one point it starts to pay to get those lines in DC > and convert it to AC at the city. DC Lines are most often used under sea rather than above ground. The reason is that with running DC in the water you can use the sea water as the return path ... As we all know Salt Water conducts electricity well ... therefore the resistance of the transmission line is reduced. The reason to run DC is to reduce inductive transmission line losses. This is the loss that causes adjacent bit interference in LAN cables, and one of the limits on the length of a phone line (the other is resistive loss) > One of the BIGGEST drawbacks to DC is that it cannot be transmitted > more than a few kilometers. We would need powerplants in nearly every > neighborhood had DC been the selected standard. OOPS ... They had better tell that to the people building the transmission line from the Australian main land to Tasmania. The longest hop will be over 250 kM. The issue is that DC cannot be moved around long distances at high currents until the losses become excessive. But if you increase the voltage high enough, the current becomes minimal ( I think a couple of amps are common). I know 1.2 MVolt is used somewhere in Africa. > The AC power used in our homes uses ONE pole ('hot' wire) of the 3 phase > main with the neutral '4th' wire being the power 'return'. The > 'neutral' wire is a center wire between all three 'hots' and is also a > direct ground connection. Under ideal circumstances the neutral wire should never carry any current. At both ends of transmission lines you will find a STAR-DELTA transformer. The Star has three windings with the common point the neutral connected to ground. On the other side the three windings form a loop with the three tap points connected to the transmission line. Therefore the transmission line actually 'Floats'. > Some _very_ unpleasant things happen when generators fall out of synch > with each other, and hence there's been a big desire to move away from > alternating current. All power stations have protection from this type of situation, but what happens when you put the wires in backwards and connect up :-) ... your generator capable of generating 660 MWatts is now actually a 660 MWatt load on the system. I have heard of this happening on a smaller scale in one of the banks down here in their computer center, at 60 MWatts. That is a horror senario for the next few months ... what if a few lines trip out leaving different parts of the grid self-synchronising, unconneted to each other? In the Olympic Village all the houses have solar power, with excess energy inverted to AC and fed back into the grid. I am not sure of the tarrif here but since there are no batteries, the capital cost is halved. Darryl Smith, VK2TDS POBox 169 Ingleburn NSW 2565 Australia Mobile Number 0412 929 634 [+61 4 12 929 634 International] ------------------------------ From: andrew@3.1415926.org (Andrew) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 18 Nov 1999 13:12:35 GMT Organization: Kill-9 Industries Larry Finch (LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net) wrote: > Michael G. Koerner wrote: >> One of the BIGGEST drawbacks to DC is that it cannot be transmitted >> more than a few kilometers. We would need powerplants in nearly every >> neighborhood had DC been the selected standard. > You have it backwards. One of the ADVANTAGES of long distance DC power > transmission is that it has no corona loss, so towers don't have to be > as high and voltages can be higher. DC does not have an advantage over AC in terms of corona loss (except in the the sense that a 765kv DC line has an advantage over a 765kv RMS AC line because the peak voltage of the AC line is actually 1082kv). Corona loss has nothing to do with tower height. Corona loss happens when the electric field at the surface of the wire approaches that needed to acheive dielectric breakdown in air, which is 3 million volts/meter and is a funtion of the voltage and diameter of the wire. What happens is the air around the wire ionizes and power is conducted away from the wire through the air. Andrew ------------------------------ From: Kenneth A. Becker Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:08:52 -0500 Organization: Wavestar Mike Riddle wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did not think there was such a >> thing as a 100 watt flourescent tube. Incadescent, yes, flourescent, >> no. 40 watt and 25 watt flourescent tubes are very common. Maybe some >> outdoor, all-weather type electric signs use 100 watt flourescents >> but they are special, and very expensive tubes. Hardly worth stealing >> electricity to use. PAT] > Don't forget those relatively new fluorescent replacements for screw-in > bulbs. They generally have their real wattage on the label, such as 23 > watts, but prominent on the display will be "!!!!Same light as a 100 Watt > bulb!!!!!" > Truth in labelling? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office > in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent > tubes but the room is quite bright. I'd be interested in knowing how > they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used > in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the > source being used.). PAT] This is one of those things that I've always found kind of neat and interesting. Your standard incandescent light bulb is a "black-body" radiator. That is, the frequencies that come out of such a bulb are really wide -- that is, while the light from it peaks in the visible range, it puts out electromagnetic energy from dc to daylight, literally. Not too much at the radio frequency end, of course, and, since this is a "wave the hands" explanation, I won't bother looking up the equations. The point of all this is, however, that a good deal of the energy emitted by said light bulb comes in the form of heat. Infrared, if you prefer. Now, florescent light bulbs are a different matter and are an example of quantum mechanics in motion. First, you ionize a gas, then continue to run electric current through it. The electrons around a random ion in the gas are continually being fed energy, popping up to a higher orbital shell, then dropping back down to a lower orbital shell. During that drop they give off a photon that contains the energy difference between the higher shell and the lower shell. Note that this is the same kind of thing that powers a laser; however, it's not nearly as well controlled as a laser for serveral good reasons, not the least of which is that the manufacturers of said florescents are a lot more interested in the efficiency of conversion of energy between the AC power and photons than they are in building home-based gas lasers. Now, it turns out with all this that the light coming off this quantum process is mostly in the ultraviolet. Cool, but rather hard to see by (and liable to give one a nasty sunburn if exposed to it for too long!). So, our buddies the manufacturers put a coating on the inside of the bulb. The coating is designed to absorb the UV and reradiate at lower frequencies - prefereably at as many lower frequencies as the manufacturer can figure out how to do. More quantum mechanics. Remember, we regard "normal" light as that made by that big "black body" in the sky -- the sun. And that light has, for all intents and purposes, a continuous spread of frequencies. This is where the florescent tube manufactures get busy. Maximum conversion of power energy to UV photonic; conversion of UV photonic to visible light; and trying to make the result pleasing to the eye. Imagine the fun they have changing the composition of the gas in the tube, the materials in the coating, and so on. I sometimes wonder what the R&D labs for these places looks like. Finally: One can find the response of the eye to light of differening frequencies in any number of reference manuals. It's pretty obvious from the above that the manufacturers of florescents aren't particularly interested in making photons of non-visible light -- they try to make it all go into the visible spectrum. Hence, not much in the IR. And >that< is why a 41-watt florescent puts out as much >>visible<< light as a 100 W incadescent black-body light bulb. Not as much energy going into heat. Ken Becker ------------------------------ From: Joseph T. Adams Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 18 Nov 1999 14:30:35 GMT Organization: Quality Data Division of JTAE PAT wrote, regarding 25/40 watt fluorescent vs. 100 watt incandescent lighting units: (sorry, I'm quoting this indirectly) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. Well, this is an easy one. :) Incandescent light works on the principle that anything that gets hot enough will emit photons. Unfortunately, it also will emit heat. Much of that 100 watts is lost as heat. Not a problem if it's cold and you're in a place like Canada where electric heating is used, but a waste of energy just about anyplace else. Fluorescent lighting works on a totally different principle. The phosphor need not and does not get hot in order to do its job. It simply takes one form of energy and converts it into another. As a result it is much more efficient; much less of the energy is lost as heat, so much more is available to be emitted as light. Joe ------------------------------ From: Robert Wiegand Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:31:57 -0600 Organization: Motorola CIG Mike Riddle wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office > in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent > tubes but the room is quite bright. I'm not an expert, but I believe that the difference is that flourescent lights produce less heat. Same light output and less heat equals less total energy used. > I'd be interested in knowing how > they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used > in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the > source being used.). PAT] I believe the difference is in the material used to coat the inside of the tube. Different materials glow different colors. Regards, Bob Wiegand bwiegand@sesd.cig.mot.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #560 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Nov 18 14:16:09 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id OAA26972; Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:16:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:16:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911181916.OAA26972@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #561 TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 Nov 99 14:16:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 561 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Lockheed/NANPA and the FCC (Mark J. Cuccia) Bell Atlantic Weirdness (Jeff Hecht) Re: Japanese Telephone Numbers (Michi Kaifu) Strange Question (Stan Ryther) Re: Need Link For CO Information (Julian Thomas) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Urban Legend) (Andrew) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Urban Legend) (L. Winson) Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Myron Harvey) Flourescent Lamps (was Urban Legend) (L. Winson) Re: Urban Legend Alert (evans_the_swim@tesco.net) Re: Definitions (Bob Goudreau) Re: "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities" (Jon Carpenter) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 12:40:47 CST From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: Lockheed/NANPA and the FCC This was put up on the FCC's website either yesterday or today ... http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/1999/db991117/nrcc9091.txt FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: November 17, 1999 Mike Balmoris at (202) 418-0253 Email: mbalmori@fcc.gov COMMON CARRIER ACTION FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION APPROVES TRANSFER OF NORTH AMERICAN NUMBERING PLAN ADMINISTRATION FUNCTION TO NEUSTAR Washington, D.C. Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order approving the proposed transfer of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) administrative functions from Lockheed Martin IMS Corporation (Lockheed) to NeuStar, Inc. (NeuStar). Lockheed's Communications Industry Services (CIS) business unit currently serves as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA). NeuStar is an affiliate of Warburg, Pincus & Co. (Warburg), a registered investment company with numerous telecommunications interests. In the Order, the FCC concludes that Lockheed currently is in violation of the FCC's neutrality requirements because it is a telecommunications service provider, but that it may, subject to the FCC's approval, cure its violation by transferring the NANPA functions to an entity that meets the neutrality requirements. The FCC also concludes that NeuStar, as currently structured, is in compliance with the neutrality requirements. Thus, NeuStar may assume the NANPA administrative functions, subject to the terms and conditions enumerated in the Order, for the remainder of the current appointment term, which will expire in November of 2002. NeuStar will be controlled by a voting trust, which will, in most instances, control the voting rights for Warburg's majority (54%) interest in the trust. NeuStar's five-member Board of Directors will be comprised of two Warburg employees, the CEO of NeuStar, and two unaffiliated directors. To ensure NeuStar's neutrality despite its affiliation with Warburg, the FCC has imposed certain conditions and safeguards. First, NeuStar will be required to comply with its proposed Code of Conduct, which seeks to ensure that NeuStar administers the NANP in a competitively neutral manner. Second, additional safeguards are imposed to provide for FCC oversight of the quarterly neutrality audits which NeuStar will undergo. Finally, NeuStar will be required to maintain its present organizational structure throughout its term as the NANPA. -- more -- Action by the Commission, November 12, 1999, by Order in CC Docket No. 92-237 (FCC 99-346). Chairman Kennard and Commissioners Ness, Powell and Tristani; Commission Furchtgott-Roth dissenting and issuing a statement. Report No. 99-53 -FCC- Common Carrier contact: Tejal Mehta at (202) 418-7397 TTY: (202) 418-2555 News about the Federal Communications Commission can also be found on the Commission's web site www.fcc.gov ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:01:07 -0500 From: Jeff Hecht Subject: Bell Atlantic Weirdness Something weird is going on with my home-business telephone account. Last month, I noticed that I wasn't charged for any out-of-state long-distance calls. A few days ago, Bell Atlantic called, asking for who handled my business account, using the name I sometimes use for consulting (which appears in a few industry directories but not on my phone account), saying that I was owed a refund on Bell Atlantic overcharges for several phone lines. I only have two lines under my name for business, and the overcharges were larger than any of the line charges that show up on my bill. I told that to the woman who called, and she said she would look into the account. No callback yet. Yesterday this month's phone bill arrived, again with no long-distance charges but a monthly service bill and a couple of credit-card charges from my long-distance carrier, AT&T. I called AT&T to ask what was going on; their records show no long-distance charges since August 12, although I've made calls. (I've also used a 1010xxx bypass for one of my clients, but I made other long-distance calls using a straight 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx format.) AT&T suggested I check 1-700-555-4141 to see who is my long-distance carrier. But when I try that from my business lines I get a recording "your call cannot be completed as dialled." I just tried that number from the family phone line, and it identifies my long-distance carrier on that line properly. Then I called Bell Atlantic. They thought the long-distance carrier on my voice line had been MCI since 1985; I had changed to AT&T a few years ago, and Bell Atlantic had been billing me for AT&T since then! AT&T still shows up as my carrier on my Bell Atlantic bill. Bell Atlantic also has AT&T as the carrier of record for my fax/modem line, which also shows no long-distance calls since Aug 12. (That may be right, since most long-distance calls on that line are to the client who uses the 1010xxx bypass.) The Bell Atlantic rep claimed to have no idea what was going on. It looks to me like Bell Atlantic's got some serious database problems. How did they get MCI as my carrier since 1985? (I wouldn't put MCI past slamming me -- they lost my account by slamming me from a low-rate to a high-rate service of their own -- but Bell Atlantic says the account hasn't changed since 1985, which probably means since the start of their records.) Why doesn't 1-700-555-4141 work on the two business lines? Where are the long-distance charges going? (I don't mind free long-distance calls, but the last time there was a billing glitch, I got an ugly surprise with a huge, spurious MCI bill spanning a few months.) How did Bell Atlantic pick up my business name when it doesn't appear on the account, and why did they think they had overcharged me so much? Any ideas? If it matters, I'm in one of the few innner Boston suburbs still in the 617 area code. Jeff Hecht, jhecht@world.std.com ------------------------------ From: Michi Kaifu Subject: Re: Japanese Telephone Numbers Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 00:24:39 -0800 These questions were posted two weeks ago, so it may be too late, but just quick answers for the heck of it. Mark Fine wrote: > 1. What is the phone number length in Japan? Is it equal for all Japan > regions and all telecommunications companies? Ten digits. Prefix "0" + Area code (1-5 digits) + Local code (0-4 digits) + Individual code (4 digits) Area code length is usually shorter for large cities (Tokyo"3", Osaka "6", Yokohama "45" etc.). Area code + Local code combination always equals 5 digits, so the total length is always 10 digits including the prefix for long distance calls. If you are calling within the same area code, the length varies from region to region. The rule applies to all Japan, all landline carriers. > 2. What is the phone number length in Japan for mobile phones? Is it > equal for all Japan regions and all telecommunications companies? 11 digits. Cellphone: Prefix "090"+8 digits, PHS: Prefix "070"+8 digits. Same for all regions, all carries. Sorry, cannot answer the other questions. and David Henry : > What I need is the complete list of codes collated by prefecture. Can anyone please point me to the correct URL? Cannot find on the Web in English, but it is listed on any telephone book (they call it "Hallo Page") in Japan. I know that there was an English version telephone directory several years ago, issued by NTT Tokyo branch. You may want to try it. If you can read Japanese, go to the MPT site and see the overview of telephone numbers. www.mpt.go.jp/top/tel_number/q_and_a.html Michi Kaifu ENOTECH Consulting michi@pop.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:59:54 -0500 From: Stan Ryther Reply-To: ryther.stan@hcds.com Organization: Syracuse Community Health Center, Inc. Subject: Seeking Traffic Formula While attending a recent Conference on Telephone Triage, Call Centers and Telemedicine one of the Participante mentioned something about a formula that was developed for staffing switchboards during the early history of the telephone. This formula had the mathematician's name attached, and supposedly was a calculus formula, but I cannot remember the name or the exact time period for this. I would like to look at it and see if it has implications for my staffing my own Call Center. Do you have any knowledge of this formula or how I might find out about it. Thanks muchly, Stan Ryther ryther.stan@hcds.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The name you are seeking is 'Erlang' as in Erlang Formula. See if that gets you what you need. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Re: Need Link For CO Information Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 16:17:39 GMT In , on 11/17/99 at 06:01 PM, Andrew Mark said: > During the past week, someone who's smart posted a link to a site which > showed the configuration of the corresponding CO for all #s in the US. I'm not the original poster, but tried it out. There were a number of comments to the effect that not all data on the site was correct. www.mapquest.com -- online maps -- and fill in the telephone area code search box. Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- "User error. Replace user and press any key..." ------------------------------ From: andrew@3.1415926.org (Andrew) Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Date: 18 Nov 1999 13:41:42 GMT Organization: Kill-9 Industries Danny Burstein (dannyb@panix.com) wrote: > While the vast majority of these are AC, things _have_ definitely > changed in the past couple of decades. Quite a few of these interties > are now high voltage DC "("HVDC"), and more are on the way. > Reason? Recall that AC is, by definition, an alternating current. It's > _very_ non-trivial to keep the different portions of the system > generating in phase with each other. It IS very trivial to keep a grid of connected AC generators in synch and this should be obvious to anyone who knows how an AC generator works. Once I bring my generator up to speed and connect it to the grid it will stay synchronized without any further intervention from me. Keeping the whole grid sychronized to a master clock is non-trivial, but this is not a motivation for using more DC. > It's pretty easy to keep two generators that have a direct connection > with each other rotating in synch, but ... we're talking lots and lots > of separate generators, along with grid connections that aren't just > 'point a to point b' but are dymaically switching second by second > ... meaning that the "distance" between the generators is also > switching. Even though speed of light is pretty fast, you do have to > take wire distances into account. There are lots of other issues > involved as well. There's a lot of switching noise on the grid (mostly from industrial customers) but this is not a synchronization issue. > Some _very_ unpleasant things happen when generators fall out of synch > with each other, and hence there's been a big desire to move away from > alternating current. Connected AC generators don't fall out of synch, and again, this is not a motivation for using more DC. Andrew ------------------------------ From: lwinson@bbs.cpcn.com (L. Winson) Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Date: 18 Nov 1999 18:31:48 GMT Organization: The PACSIBM SIG BBS > (Note that in the following I'm talking about the common power > arrangements in the US. Specialized industrial or rapid transit > settings may be set up differently. 25 hz anyone?) The commuter rail networks of Philadelphia, part of New Jersey, and Amtrak's NYC-Washington line are powered by 11,000 volt 25 Hz lines. This was the best power available when the first trains were electrified back in 1915 and has been maintained since. Some segments elsewhere have been modernized with 60 Hz, which eliminates the need for cumbersome frequency converters. Today's electric trains can be modified to use various currents, but most units require a shop modification, and only some can change power on the fly while in service. Originally, the older trains, all retired now, had different motors that required 25 Hz. In the 1950s-1960s, rectifiers became small enough that the trains began to rectify the AC current to supply 600 volt DC traction motors. (Diesel freight locomotives actually use the diesel engine to generate electricity on board to drive motors.) Railroads are moving from 600 volt DC traction motors to high-tech 3-phase AC motors controlled by sophisticated control systems. (I don't understand the new stuff, but supposedly the newest AC systems have more rugged motors and are more energy efficient.) Subway and streetcar (light rail) systems are powered by 600-750 volt DC, either from a trolley wire or third rail. Substations at close intervals rectify the current. > The power grid is a multi-tiered arrangement. Typical residential/ > light industrial electricity is 60 hz ac, with wall voltage of 110v > for common usage, (and a typical) 220 for high demand loads such as > central air conditioners. Some industrial settings will also use > higher voltages, but let's not get into the 277/440v stuff here. Even in local distribution, the power is still high, about 1,000 volts, and stepped down to 110/220 only on a block by block basis. > Reason? Recall that AC is, by definition, an alternating current. It's > _very_ non-trivial to keep the different portions of the system > generating in phase with each other. I had a tour of the local power station and asked about keeping the frequency in sync with the grid. They said it was not a problem. Minor variations from one generator just get absorbed by the grid. ------------------------------ From: Myron Harvey Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 04:40:57 -0700 On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 22:29:50 -0500, Ed Ellers wrote: > PAT, the TELECOM Digest Editor, noted in reply: snip > Some of the bulbs were in difficult to reach areas, that is, they > required a stepladder, or scaffolding, etc. He said to avoid having > to change the bulbs as often, he used bulbs at two or three times > the amount of wattage desired, but half the voltage. That is, > instead of a 100 watt bulb designed for 120 volts, he would use > a 300 watt bulb designed for 240 volts (on a 120 line). It seemed > to me as though the room was just as bright, but obviously the > bulb was only getting 'half as much use' as a normal bulb, therefore > it would not burn out for years at a time, he claimed. [PAT] snip Incandescent Lamp Life: In the late 50's my employer breadboarded a four stage frequency divider with transistors to investigate performance and reliability. Incandescent lamps were added to the collector returns so operation could be observed "off the bench". Unexplained changes of state of dividers were explained by a G.E. Small Lamps Division rep as due to use of a lamp with a crimped as opposed to a welded filament. An 8000 hour welded filament lamp was installed and in a matter of months exhibited lamp failures. G.E. said the 8000 hours was a rating of Mean Time to Failure, an implicit guarantee that half of the lamps would fail in 8000 hours. Standard usage was either undefined or proprietary. The rep then said there is something you can do. You should be aware that "the life of an incandescent lamp is inversely proportional to the 13th power of the operating current". Interesting that the power should be 13, as in Friday the .. So yes, the extension of lamp life is mind bending if you can tolerate lower light output and color change. Lamps on the towers supporting a 500 KW VLF transmitter antenna in Hawaii were 220 v. with 110 v. service when I was there in the early 50's. Someone went up once in the two years I served there to replace lamps. The "life" of off the shelf incandescent lamps for residential use are typically 750 ... 1000 hours. ------------------------------ From: lwinson@bbs.cpcn.com (L. Winson) Subject: Flourescent Lamps (was Urban Legend) Date: 18 Nov 1999 18:19:47 GMT Organization: The PACSIBM SIG BBS > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office > in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent > tubes but the room is quite bright. I'd be interested in knowing how > they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used > in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the > source being used.). PAT] A friend worked for the telephone company and was restoring old streetcars for a trolley museum. A phoneco CO was modernizing and replacing old incandescent fixtures with flourescent. They gave him the old fixtures, which were a very pretty glass arrangement. They looked great in the trolley car. (See, there is even a telephone connection to this thread!) A 40 watt flourescent lamp tube puts out about the same amount of light as a 75 watt incandescent bulb. Further, the flourescent light has less glare and doesn't need the kind of diffusion glass (which is inefficient) that incandescent lamps need. The disadvantage is that flourescent fixtures require a ballast and are larger than incandescent fixtures and thus cost more. But for office and industrial lighting, they are far more efficient. I remember when some highways had flourescent lamp fixtures, although these seem to be replaced by mercury-vapor or sodium-vapor. I myself don't care for the yellowish sodium vapor street lights, they give a very unnatural and glareful feel and sometimes is too stark and harsh. (I'd rather have an area lit by many small fixtures instead of a few big ones, even though that is less efficient.) Most flourescent lights are "cool white" because the other types cost more. I don't think most people notice the difference. In taking pictures, the cool white yields a green cast on daylight color film, which looks bad if people are the subjects. (An "FLD" filter is needed.) The warm white comes out better. The classic 40 watt tube has been around for years. But now they have new types of thin tubes that are brigther and of course the coiled tubes that replace an incandescent fixture. ------------------------------ From: evans_the_swim@tesco.net Subject: Re: Urban Legend Alert Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:34:56 GMT Organization: Tesco ISP On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:22 EST, Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) wrote: >> A fairly recent magazine article describes how one enterprising >> amateur radio operator keeps his HT battery charged up by rectifying >> RF from a nearby AM radio station. > Wasn't the April issue, was it ? > Without a citation, this looks like ANOTHER version of the UL. I remember reading about a "cheat" of a way to get amplification in a short-wave radio circuit "without" a power source -- you rectified the rf of a relatively powerful medium-wave station and used that to drive the gain stage of the rf you were really interested in. Using it to charge a HT battery? Maybe the radio station is right next door. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:38:38 EST From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Definitions > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and > Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar > detectors' doesn't it. If so, do we have a detecting device which > detects radio detectors? Exactly. And to raise the bar yet another notch, the police in Virginia use radar detector detectors to catch people who use radar detectors (which are illegal there). That would be a detector of a detector of a detector! It may sound silly, but at least it's accurately named, unlike the phrase discussed below: > But then PIN, as in 'Personal Identification Number' is frequently > stated as 'PIN number' which seems to double things up on the end > also. And the misbegotten phrase "PIN number" is often used in the same sentence as "ATM machine". Aargh! Don't get me started ... Bob Goudreau Data General, a division of EMC Corp. goudreau@rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: Jon Carpenter Subject: Re: "yuh as a rezedent, ave di rights ahn rispansabilities" Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 11:57:32 -0500 Pat, This has been covered extensively in Cecil Adams' Straight Dope web page. See: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991112.html http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991119.html Jon Carpenter carpenter@bsr.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #561 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Nov 19 00:45:04 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA19704; Fri, 19 Nov 1999 00:45:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 00:45:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911190545.AAA19704@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #562 TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Nov 99 00:45:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 562 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Wireless Tower of Babel (Arthur Ross) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Syd Barrett) Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup (Adam Sampson) Calling Card Without Payphone Surcharge! (Frank Prindle) Re: Definitions (Joey Lindstrom) Re: Definitions (Atri Indiresan) Re: Definitions (Ryan Tucker) Re: New Improved Siemens Gigaset 2420 (Steve Winter) Re: Dispute Over Student Web Site Sparks Lawsuit (Anthony Argyriou) Telemarketers and Voice Mail (The Old Fart) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Bob Schreibmaier) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Brett Frankenberger) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Mike Stump) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 13:46:16 -0700 From: Arthur Ross Subject: Wireless Tower of Babel From 11/18/99 WSJ - The Global Search Continues For a Single Wireless Standard By STEPHANIE N. MEHTA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL The global phone is coming. Sort of. Consolidation in the wireless industry is prompting cellular-phone makers to develop gadgets that bridge the jumble of wireless networks around the world. AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications PLC, which are forming an international venture, are pushing hard for "multimode" phones that will work on different networks on either side of the Atlantic. These network-agile phones may prove to be the only viable option for globetrotters who want to use their phones anytime, anywhere. Some industry executives had hoped the next generation of wireless networks, designed to handle Internet and data traffic, would coalesce along a single standard. But instead wireless carriers are as entrenched as ever, favoring next-generation technologies that closely resemble existing networks that cost billions of dollars to build. A 'Standards Tower of Babel' "There will be multiple broadband-wireless standards," said Mark Lowenstein, an analyst for the Yankee Group, a consulting firm in Boston. "We're expecting this standards Tower of Babel to continue for the foreseeable future." There are a half-dozen standards for wireless service in place today, ranging from Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, the digital mode favored by most of Europe, to Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, the upstart technology favored by the likes of Sprint Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp. By the end of next year, at least two phone makers are expected to introduce devices that operate on GSM networks and networks built around yet another digital standard, Time Division Multiple Access, or TDMA. "If GSM and TDMA converge, a dominant standard in terms of coverage and subscribers is formed," said Daniel Hesse, president of AT&T's wireless unit. AT&T operates on the TDMA standard; its partner British Telecom is a GSM operator. Other phone companies are promoting phones that seamlessly forge CDMA and GSM networks. "As consolidation happens, there is a need for companies to create and develop products that can seamlessly go across these technologies and protocols," said Ralph Pini, a senior vice president for technology and product development at Motorola Inc. "As we get some of the customer requests, we will respond to them and create products around these needs." To be sure, some customers already can use their phones in many markets around the world. The most popular standard world-wide is GSM, which boasts more than 230 million users, according to the Yankee Group. Phones introduced last year allow customers to use their GSM phones in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Competition Likely to Increase But GSM has attracted only about five million users in North America. The biggest carriers in the U.S. need to come up with alternate ways to deliver global reach to their customers. CDMA has more than 45 million customers world-wide, and digital TDMA has about 33 million customers. The competition among standards isn't likely to dissolve as carriers move to the next, or third, generation of wireless networks -- sometimes called "3G" for short. For starters, the deployment of 3G in the U.S. and Europe remains several years away; carriers have invested billions of dollars in their current networks and are looking for easy, less costly ways to upgrade their systems for data. Some analysts believe existing CDMA carriers will embrace CDMA2000, a technology that promises to deliver data to a wireless device at speeds faster than traditional laptop computers. It is expected that GSM and TDMA carriers will adopt another form of broadband wireless technology. "They are not going to be compatible," said Mr. Lowenstein of the Yankee Group. In some ways, carriers actually prefer a world with multiple standards. Today the companies use their standards as a marketing tool to differentiate themselves: GSM carriers in the U.S. boast that their phones work in Europe, CDMA carriers trot out studies that suggest their networks produce better sound quality. But CDMA-only handsets, for example, also serve to keep customers from taking their phones and jumping to a competing carrier. If customers could use their phone on any network, they might be more inclined to switch wireless phone companies much the way they switch long-distance carriers. Furthermore, not all carriers are aggressively pushing to deliver world-wide wireless services. "I'm not sure how much market there is" in providing international wireless services, said Richard Lynch, chief technology officer of Bell Atlantic's wireless unit. "It's a goal to be reached someday, but I don't think it is a guarantee of success in the marketplace." ------------------------------ Reply-To: Syd Barrett From: Syd Barrett Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 21:33:07 GMT Organization: @Home Network TELECOM Digest Editor Noted: > Scott Abraham is one such exception. Maybe ... but since 'someone' > submitted one side of the story, I trust you enjoyed reading, as > Paul Harvey would phrase it, 'the rest of the story'. PAT] Pat, one of the things I like about you is that, beyond having a prodigious amount of knowledge about telecom both in its current and historical contexts, you seem to provide a constant voice of reason and moderation in this group. But I guess that's what a moderator should be doing. Kudos! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for your kind words. With so many people jumping on the bandwagon regards this latest incident I thought it was important to have a few more details in place. Let's face it; as the net continues to grow, I think we are going to see police all over the place. I think all we can do is hope that when they must be involved for one reason or another -- and I really do suspect like any large community they are going to become more and more involved whether the rest of us like it or not -- that they know and respect the difference between 'spying' and legitimate investigations with a specific purpose; that they respect the many traditions we have developed here over the years; and that they respect our privacy. That may be a pretty tall order for some cops. I still do not know what to think in Scott Abraham's case. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:03:57 +0000 From: Adam Sampson Reply-To: azz@gnu.org Subject: Re: Court Imposes Gag-Order in a Skiing Newsgroup sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.Net (Steve Sobol) wrote: >>> A King County District Judge today issued a far-reaching order that >>> may be a first-ever precedent in cyber-space, banning a man from >>> talking about Zoom skis, or any other skiing-related topic, in the >>> Usenet newsgroup Rec.Skiing.Alpine. >> In the US, at least, content-based regulation of non-commercial, >> non-obscene speech is ALWAYS unconstitutional. [...] > What an idiot the judge is. What is she going to do if I post? I'm not > in her jurisdiction, nor are any of the Net surfers outside the US. That's a very reasonable viewpoint, but as far as I can tell the judge's ruling was only against the flamer[s]; the request that Declan McCullagh quoted on his Politech list reads just as a reasonable request to stop the flamewar, rather than any attempt at legal rank-pulling. It doesn't say "if you flame, we'll arrest you", but "not flaming is good for the group"; the same sentiment as expressed in most newsgroups' FAQ files. Here's the message: Date: 10/07 1:28 PM Received: 10/07 2:11 PM From: Leanne Shirey, Leanne.Shirey@ci.seattle.wa.us I am asking all participants in the RSA newsgroup to stop all postings that do not have to do with skiing. A truce is in order. Ignore anything that is not friendly and ski related. Not responding in any way will make all involved the better adults. If they have any questions they can e-mail me or call (206 684-8651). Please forward this to anyone on the group. I am asking ALL parties to stop the word war going on. I appreciate the cooperation of all parties involved. If we can gain a truce from all, I think the group can get back on track. Det. Leanne Shirey Seattle PD Adam Sampson azz@gnu.org ------------------------------ From: Frank Prindle Subject: Calling Card Without Payphone Surcharge! Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 16:40:23 -0500 I just found out that my ISP is now offering a calling card (VOIP) @ .09/min billed to a credit card http://www.voicenet.com/universal.html and the unusual thing is they claim there is no payphone surcharge even though access to their network is via an 800 number. I wonder how they are getting around the payphone surcharge. I can't believe they are just eating it. Anyway, if it's true (I'll find out soon, I just ordered one), it sounds like a deal if you call from payphones a lot. Only two possible drawbacks: a) it's VOIP so the voice quality may vary, I guess b) no statements by mail, must view at web site Then again, they could decide a month or two down the road to add the payphone surcharge after people are already signed up. Sigh. Sincerely, Frank Prindle prindle@voicenet.com ------------------------------ From: Joey Lindstrom Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:09:19 -0700 Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Subject: Re: Definitions On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 23:01:04 -0500 (EST), editor@telecom-digest.org wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and > Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar > detectors' doesn't it. If so, do we have a detecting device which > detects radio detectors? Sort of a double spy as in spy-vs-spy, Mad > Magazine style? That might be a good way to describe it; we are > using a radio to spy and find out if someone nearby is using a radio > to spy on us. Maybe someone could develop an 'anti-TEMPEST' detector > to tell us if someone nearby was using that method of spying, by > looking for the radiation *it* was emitting. Here in Alberta, before they finally decided to no longer go after people for having radar detectors in their cars, the cops did indeed have "radar detector detectors". Dunno how they worked tho. This one doesn't bother me, because a "radar detector" detects the useage of radar signals -- and a radar signal is, of course, a radio signal used for detecting and ranging. It "bends the rules" but doesn't break them. > But then PIN, as in 'Personal Identification Number' is frequently > stated as 'PIN number' which seems to double things up on the end > also. This one, however, *DOES* bug me. Holy redundant redundant, Batman! "Please type in your Personal Identification Number Number, please". :-) Sorta reminds me of that Dilbert strip, where Dilbert invites Wally to join his "T.T.P." Project ... and we find out that that acronym stands for "The T.T.P. Project". Wally declines, prefering to be Dilbert's arch-nemesis instead. > Since you dared me to give you another acronym, here goes. It is > not a radio term. Beginning in 1946, and continuing through the > present time, although not as much in recent years, Americans have > donated to a charity known as 'CARE' because we care. In fact, in > the years immediatly following the second war, we sent 'Care Packages' > to these people to help them. What was the original phrase which > eventually was forgotten in lieu of just using the word 'care'? "Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere" :-) Strange that this acronym is also just as ubiquitous in "other" countries too, such as here in Canada, when it's a specifically American term. Your turn. "LASER" :-) (but let's stay away from "FORD", "DODGE", and "PONTIAC", ok?) From the messy desktop of Joey Lindstrom Visit The NuServer! http://www.GaryNumanFan.NU Visit The Webb! http://webb.GaryNumanFan.NU Four years ago... no, it was yesterday. Today I... No, that wasn't me. Sometimes I... No, I don't. --Steven Wright [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer to your query about LASER is (L)ight (A)mplification by (S)timulated (E)mission of (R)adiation. But I cheated. I'll tell you can cheat also in just a minute. Regards CARE, USA'ans of the 1940-50's knew of it as the (C)ommittee for (A)merican (R)elief in (E)urope. Please recall, but I am sure our European readers do not need to be reminded, that in 1945-46 much of Europe was an absolute shambles as a result of the war just concluded. President Harry S Truman insisted that the United States would accept as much responsibility as it could to help our allies rebuild their countries, their businesses and homes, and their lives. Although there was direct government assistance, CARE was the agency used by individuals, community organizations, churches, etc who also wished to contribute. Now my question to you regards President Truman's middle name. What was it? If you look carefully where it appears above, and as long as you understand I did *not* have an error in punctuation, you'll have a big clue toward the answer. Now about that cheating. Many readers do not know about our inter- active glossary feature here at the Telecom Archives. It works like this: Send email to telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org The subject line does not matter. Make it anything. Flush with the left margin use these commands: REPLY yourname@email.address GLOSSARY LASER END You will get back email with a glossary lookup from several glossaries located at http://telecom-digest.org/archives/glossaries GLOSSARY always requires an argument, which should be upper case letters without a 'period' between the letters; in other words MFJ *not* M.F.J. You can have a complete set of my five glossaries by using the above routine like this: REPLY yourname@email.address SEND glossaries (or GET glossaries will work just as well) END To learn about the thousands of files available in the archives which you can have sent to you automatically in email and the many commands you can use to GET or SEND files, SEARCH article/author names since 1989 (with about sixty thousand article titles to pick through) plus lots of other things, try this: REPLY yourname@email.address HELP INFO INDEX END You will get back a list of all the commands my automated service understands and the proper syntax for each. You'll get a list of all the information files which describe how to search and use the archives, and you will get the latest index to the archives, which is compiled at 5:00 AM each day in addition to anytime a new issue of the Digest is released. Add the command VERBOSE if you want to see how your instructions are being interpreted, although if you make an error in your commands I automatically trigger VERBOSE in order to get a file back to you for review. If you are not sure if your email system will work correctly, then use the command TEST to get back a short test file. Don't forget to tell me about President Truman's middle name. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Definitions Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 19:18:34 -0500 From: Atri Indiresan In TELECOM Digest V19 #558, > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and > Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar > detectors' doesn't it. If so, do we have a detecting device which > detects radio detectors? Sort of a double spy as in spy-vs-spy, Mad > Magazine style? That might be a good way to describe it; we are > using a radio to spy and find out if someone nearby is using a radio > to spy on us. Maybe someone could develop an 'anti-TEMPEST' detector > to tell us if someone nearby was using that method of spying, by > looking for the radiation *it* was emitting. AFAIK, a radar detector is a passive device, and hence does not emit any meaningful radiation to do its task. The radar is the radiating device that is detected. However, since the radar detector is placed on the car's dashboard, it is quite visible to any police car that might happen to drive by. More sophisticated radar detectors are used by the military. Every so often, I read of US aircraft firing at ground targets in Iraq becuase they detected radar locking on them, persumably from anti-aircraft weapons. SONAR (SOund NAvigation and Ranging) uses the same principle as radar but is mainly used underwater. It emits a sound and listens for the echo. The problem with this, especially in a military combat situation, is that the opponent hears the sonar ping before you hear the echo. More recently, passive sonar devices have been used that simply listen for the sounds made by other ships/submarines, and I believe these are quite effective. > Since you dared me to give you another acronym, here goes. It is > not a radio term. Beginning in 1946, and continuing through the > present time, although not as much in recent years, Americans have > donated to a charity known as 'CARE' because we care. In fact, in > the years immediatly following the second war, we sent 'Care Packages' > to these people to help them. What was the original phrase which > eventually was forgotten in lieu of just using the word 'care'? I thought CARE was "Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere", but was not sure, and so, I cheated :) Looks like my memory was not wrong, just slightly out of date. Here's info from www.care.org: What does CARE stand for? When CARE was created in 1945, the acronym stood for the "Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe." In the 1950s, this was changed to the "Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere" and in the 1990s, it became what it is now, the "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere." > Anyway, tell me about 'Care' ... PAT] Just did, Atri [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If they say it was 'Remittances to' rather than 'Relief for' I'll take their word for it. They should know. And I thought it was 'Committee' rather than 'Cooperative'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rtucker+from+199911@katan.ttgcitn.com (Ryan Tucker) Subject: Re: Definitions Reply-To: rtucker+replyto+199911@katan.ttgcitn.com Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 23:33:15 GMT Organization: Time Warner Road Runner - Rochester NY In , Bob Goudreau spewed: > Exactly. And to raise the bar yet another notch, the police in > Virginia use radar detector detectors to catch people who use > radar detectors (which are illegal there). That would be a detector > of a detector of a detector! It may sound silly, but at least it's > accurately named, unlike the phrase discussed below: ... and many radar detectors can detect the detector detector detector, turning them into not only detectors of speed detectors, but detector detector detector detectors. I hope, for my sanity, the police techies don't do the obvious next step ... Ryan Tucker http://www.ttgcitn.com/~rtucker/ President, TTGCITN Communications Box 92425, Rochester NY 14692-0425 Please keep public threads public -- e-mail responses will be ignored. ------------------------------ From: steve@sellcom.com (Steve Winter) Subject: Re: New Improved Siemens Gigaset 2420 Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 21:43:59 -0500 Organization: WWW.SELLCOM.COM Reply-To: steve@sellcom.com tophatvideo@hotmail.com spake thusly and wrote: > It seems that the answering machine in the 2420 has four outgoing > messages, but does it have internal "mailboxes?" E.g., "This is the > Smith residence; press 1 for Harv, 2 for Marge, etc." No, it does not have separate incoming mailboxes. But really, you can generally tell who a message is for. You could just have the outgoing message say "press 1 for Harv etc, then pause and go "transferring your call please leave a message after the tone". Most people would never know the difference. Steve http://www.sellcom.com Cyclades Siemens EnGenius Zoom at discount prices. SSL Secure VISA/MC/AMEX Online ordering New Brick Wall "non-MOV" surge protection Now shipping the new enhanced Siemens 2420 Gigaset ------------------------------ From: Anthony Argyriou Subject: Re: Dispute Over Student Web Site Sparks Lawsuit Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 18:57:10 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com By PAMELA MENDELS > Earlier this year, a freshman at a Catholic high school in the suburbs > of New York City was expelled because of the contents of a personal > Web site he created at home. > Now, the student and his parents have filed a lawsuit against Albertus > Magnus High School in Bardonia, N.Y., and two school officials, saying > the school's action violated the boy's free-speech rights. They are > asking for at least $1 million in damages. Without reading further, but taking the facts stated here at face value, this is a tricky case. If it was a public school, the school has no right to regulate off-campus behavior unless it affects the school -- ie, if the student is libelling or threatening teachers on his website, or giving out stolen test info, or something like that. For a private high school, there should be a different legal standard. If the school informed the parents that students' behavior off-campus could lead to on-campus discipline, then the school should be allowed to do so. If the school has not previously notified the parents of such policies, then they are in breach of contract, regardless of free-speech rights. Catholic schools try to develop their students' moral character - evidence of failure is something they ought to be allowed to judge their students by, as much as they would judge academic failure. Anthony Argyriou http://www.alphageo.com/ ------------------------------ From: grouch@crosswinds.nut (The Old Fart) Subject: Telemarketers and Voice Mail Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 03:00:01 GMT Organization: Frontier GlobalCenter Inc. The other morning I discovered we had a voice mail message. This message (rather long) had been placed in our mailbox during the night by a telemarketer. Our setup here is to use an answering machine on our phone line. It grabs the line before a call would be diverted to voice mail. If we are on the phone, and choose to ignore call waiting, then the voice mail would get the call. Obviously, this particular call did not follow that path. Since, with our voice mail menu, there is an option to leave a message in someone else's mailbox, I assume anyone else would be able to do the same with my ours. But, the fact I have voice mail is not a published fact. A few questions: Did this telemarketer have a list of active mailboxes to work with)? Would the telephone company have to be the one to supply this list? Or, did they dial mailbox numbers at random, and if so, how did they know which ones were non-business mailboxes? Has anyone else run across this, and is it the next generation of voice spam? How legal is this? In a fit of rage, I hit the 'delete' button before even listening to the entire message, so I can't supply concrete facts about the caller. Please post replies -- this email account is seldom read. If you must reply by email, use a NET for the NUT! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would appreciate it if you would quit forging my name to your messages! PAT] ------------------------------ From: k3ph@dxis.monroe.pa.us (Bob Schreibmaier) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 19:19:55 GMT Organization: PenTeleData http://www.ptd.net In article , Joseph T. Adams wrote: > Fluorescent lighting works on a totally different principle. The > phosphor need not and does not get hot in order to do its job. It > simply takes one form of energy and converts it into another. As a > result it is much more efficient; much less of the energy is lost as > heat, so much more is available to be emitted as light. Now, if we could only get fluroescent lighting that doesn't absolutely obliterate radio reception in the MF and HF range ... 8^{) +------------------- \-\-\-\ ----------------------------+ | Bob Schreibmaier K3PH | E-mail: k3ph@dxis.monroe.pa.us | | Kresgeville, PA 18333 | ICBM: 40o55'N 75o30'W | +--------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: rbf@rbfnet.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: 19 Nov 1999 02:42:08 GMT Organization: rbfnet In article , Darryl Smith wrote: > That is a horror senario for the next few months ... what if a few > lines trip out leaving different parts of the grid self-synchronising, > unconneted to each other? At least in the US, this isn't all that uncommon. A few years ago, we had a couple of cascading events in the western grid, both resulting in the grid splitting into two or more isolated sections. They got them back in sync and reconnected them. (The loss of sync didn't cause the islanding. Other failues did, and then the preprogrammed protections let to the islanding.) -- Brett ------------------------------ From: mrs@kithrup.com (Mike Stump) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd. Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 03:01:07 GMT In article , wrote: > I'm sorry, but you are just plain wrong on this. High-tension lines, > at least in the USofA are almost exclusively AC. I think there are > some DC testbed lines set up, but not to any great extent. In http://nepa.eh.doe.gov/eis/eis0145/eis0145_1.html we see: In April 1988, BPA published the Intertie Development and Use (IDU) eis. This eis studied the environmental and economic effects of the use of the Intertie, including the Third AC Intertie. AC Intertie capacity after addition of the Third AC is expected to be approximately 4,800 megawatts (MW). Including the Third AC, total Federal and non-Federal Intertie capacity will be approximately 7,900 MW -- 4,800 MW on the two AC lines and 3,100 MW on the DC lines. BPA's September 1988 Record of Decision explained the decision to proceed with the Third AC construction project. At that time, BPA's decision on requests for non-Federal ownership access to the added capacity was deferred to the NFP eis process. DC accounts for about half of the Intertie capacity. If you wonder who BPA is, they are the people that light California. In http://www.abb.se/pow/l114.htm, we can read even more of the background and developement. I love the web, I love altavista; the sum knowledge of man at my finger tips. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #562 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Nov 19 17:16:03 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id RAA17273; Fri, 19 Nov 1999 17:16:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 17:16:03 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911192216.RAA17273@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #564 TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Nov 99 17:16:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 564 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Cryptographer's (No Longer) Secret FBI File (E. Cummings) Re: Warning: AT&T Bait and Switch With One-Rate Online Plan (msnina) Fraud Alert !-- I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom, (Joseph Gadoury) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave (Daryl R. Gibson) Mixing Fiber Types (SM/MM) (BobnRo) Re: Seeking Traffic Formula (Julian Thomas) Re: Seeking Traffic Formula (Michael Hartley) Calling 888 Numbers From Outside the US (Richard D.G. Cox) Re: Calling Card Without Payphone Surcharge! (Jim Weiss) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Julian Thomas) MD110 Digital Handset Simulation (David Clayton) Re: Definitions (Nathan) Re: Definitions (The Breeze) Re: Definitions (John M. Wendt) Re: Definitions (Brian Vita) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:43:38 -0500 From: E. Cummings Subject: A Cryptographer's (No Longer) Secret FBI File Hi Pat. Pretty spooky stuff here. Have you checked *your* FBI file yet? -ed Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 19:00:04 -0500 To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh Subject: FC: A cryptographer's (no longer) secret FBI file Sender: owner-politech@vorlon.mit.edu Reply-To: declan@well.com [I've known William for a number of years. He's a longtime privacy proponent and has been participating in IETF crypto-related working groups since the early 1990s. Recently he has been active in opposing wiretapping. I'm told OADR (keep reading) means Originating Agency Determination Required. --DBM] ******* Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 13:37:46 -0500 From: William Allen Simpson To: raven@ietf.org Cc: ietf-ppp@merit.edu, ipsec@lists.tislabs.com Subject: [Raven] FBI secret police [snip for clarity-DBM] Wonder of wonders, I just received a portion of my FBI Freedom of Information records yesterday. Apparently, their very existance was classified "SECRET", by "G-3", and was supposed to be "declassified on: OADR". Any idea what that means? However, most of the contents were still classified secret again by 60267NLS/BCE/JMS for reason 1.5(C), on May 25, 1999, to be declassified on "X.1". So, virtually the entire documents are blacked out, labeled "b1". The included handy reference guide lists "(b)(1)" as: "(A) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order" These records are from 1991, 1992, and 1993. The "predication for this investigation" is secret. The "Basis of the Investigation" is secret. The "Objectives of the Investigation" are secret. The "Status of the Investigation" is secret. Other smaller sections are blacked out with labels (b)(2): "related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the agency" and (b)(7)(D): "could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agent or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of records or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement agency in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by confidential source" It is particularly amusing that the latter is used to black out records of contact with my own parents (who refused to talk with them), copies of email that I sent, and my vehicle title (where I have the original copy). Somebody had a very heavy hand in the censorship. (Also amusing, the FBI was still using all cap teletype in '92 :-) What is less amusing is that the FBI spent over a year going to each place that I had email access and tried to convince them to revoke my access. They were successful in (at least) two places. They interviewed at least 11 people out of their Albuquerque, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis and San Francisco offices. Apparently, they investigated my IETF activities at Santa Fe, San Diego, Boston and Washington DC. They quote the Santa Fe and San Diego proceedings. They direct agents to IETF meetings, "to ascertain if subject came to any notice at the PPPWG meetings." They make specific reference to CHAP and DES. Various clear sentence fragments indicate a concern that the PPPWG meeting was taking place sponsored by Los Alamos, and that "these meetings attract interested persons worldwide." Another fragment indicates a concern that my PPP software was distributed by servers at White Sands Missile Base and mirrored at various universities. The most legible interview, still mostly blacked out, gives a hint as to the questions that were being raised: " stated that he believes the PPP is legal technology. However, if the government is attempting to restrict the dissemination of authentication protocols, he believes it is too late. It is like locking the barn after the horse has escaped (per ). "In summary, does not believe Simpson has engaged in breaking United States export laws regarding the export of cryptographic devices or is interested in violating such laws at the behest of a foreign power." The name blacked out appears to occupy 3 letters. My thanks to Karl Fox or Craig Fox! The instigator of the investigation appears to have a surname of 4 or maybe 5 letters. Thus, it is probably not "Atkinson". Perhaps it's the former IAB member that required the removal of the PPP LCP encryption option, refused to publish CHAP, and refused to grant the IPSec charter.... When the NomCom replaced the IAB, he was first against the wall. "Sources whose identities are concealed herein have furnished reliable information in the past except when otherwise noted." Gentlefolk, we have a stool pigeon in the roost, whose interests are contrary to the interests of the IETF and the Internet as a whole. It is a male. And he is regularly reporting IETF member activities for secret investigation. Beware. WSimpson@UMich.edu Key fingerprint = 17 40 5E 67 15 6F 31 26 DD 0D B9 9B 6A 15 2C 32 ------------------------------ From: msnina@my-deja.com Subject: Re: Warning: AT&T Bait and Switch With One-Rate Online Plan Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 11:36:03 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. In article , Mike Fox wrote: > AT&T's One-Rate Online plan promises ten cents a minute with no > monthly fee (except for the Gore taxes of course), and it specifically > includes in-state North Carolina Long Distance at 10 cents a minute. > At least on the day of this writing, you can see that at http://www.catalog.att.com/cmd/prodfaqs/index.html#eoffer4: > However, I just got my first bill and guess what, I was charged 12 > cents a minute for in-state NC long distance. When I called to > complain, I was politely told that the rate for NC had gone up to 12 > cents in mid-September. But the web-page excerpt I have included > above is from October 26! And yes, I did sign up for the plan in late > September, which means that at the time I signed up, AT&T's own web > page was promising a rate they don't deliver! I would never have > bothered to sign up for AT&T if their rates had been honestly posted, How's this one: I signed up for the AT&T One Rate International Plan. Twice now, since 1998, the rate to the country I call has gone up significantly. When I called they said the "promotion" had ended. Of course, there was never any mention of a promotion when I signed up, and after specifically asking if the new rate were a promotion (and being told "no") they just now gave me that same excuse for raising my rate again. If I don't get a full credit -- back to the original rate -- I am filing a complaint. I hope you do too. Nina ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 11:48:45 GMT From: jgad@pacbell.net (Joseph Gadoury ) Subject: Fraud Alert !-- I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom, Organization: SBC Internet Services FRAUD ALERT! I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom, Buyers united Phone Long Distance SCAM!! Q: How long would it take for AT&T or MCI to cancel their services if you would not pay their bills? A: At the most 3 months. (a fair estimate) Imagine! I have not paid I-Link Worldwide "NASDAQ: ILNK" invoices for the past 2 1/2 years and as of August, 1999 I'm still being charge Long distance phone calls that not only I have never made but my long distance provider has been MCI and AT&T for the past 2 1/2 years. Wait! Wait! it gets worst. The phone number they are billing me from is a number that was never register by me or my wife at any addresses I ever lived. "I have a letter sign by Pacific Bell to acknowledge that fact." For all details see the link below: http://www.scsioutlet.com I have found several people who has experience the same with these company, If you or anybody you know has had the same experience PLEASE EMAIL ME jgad@pacbell.net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 11:41:39 PST From: Daryl R. Gibson Reply-To: drgibson@drgibson.com Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave I appreciate all the replies I've gotten on my question. In particular, Arthur reminded me that the traffic on the microwave circuits are now digital, and I wouldn't be able to hear any difference. If I thought about it, I would have realized that. Dan Rosenzweig kindly sent me a phone number for Jim Mullins, the AT&T foreman over western states tower maintenance. I called him (he had already been forwarded the message) and spoke with him for a few minutes. He noted that he had spoken with his man in Arizona about the tower. He also told me that only about 20 percent of the capacity of the microwave towers is still in use, with most of the AT&T traffic having gone to fiber, and that AT&T's microwave towers (at least the ones I wrote about) are in the process of being sold to American Tower. American, as you no doubt know, is buying up a large percentage of the cell towers in the U.S. They combine multiple carriers' antennas onto one antenna mast. Apparently, they are doing this with microwave transmission towers as well. Thanks to all. "As you ramble through life, brother, no matter what your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole" --Dr. Murray Banks, quoting a menu Daryl R. Gibson, MCSE (801)489-6348, (702)734-6153 ------------------------------ From: BobnRo Subject: Mixing Fiber Types (SM/MM) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 20:49:02 GMT Organization: @Home Network Hi, I have a PBX with remote peripherals connected via OC-1's. The installer put in single-mode fiber from the OC-1 to the fiber patch panel. However, the fiber between the buildings is multi-mode. Then at the far end, between the fiber patch panel and the remote peripheral it is single-mode again. Things _seem_ to be working o.k., but we do see intermittent errors at the DS-1 level. Is it possible the errors could be due to the mix of fiber types? Is their any source (documentation) I can find that would state whether or not it is generally "o.k." to operate like this? The system's documentation does not address it. ..... RJ ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Re: Seeking Traffic Formula Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 17:46:59 GMT In , on 11/18/99 at 09:59 AM, Stan Ryther said: > While attending a recent Conference on Telephone Triage, Call Centers and > Telemedicine one of the Participante mentioned something about a formula > that was developed for staffing switchboards during the early history of > the telephone. This formula had the mathematician's name attached, and > supposedly was a calculus formula, but I cannot remember the name or the > exact time period for this. Probably A K Erlang. For more information, check out a good reference on telephone traffic theory. Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now. ------------------------------ From: Michael Hartley Subject: Re: Seeking Traffic Formula Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 11:19:10 -0000 > While attending a recent Conference on Telephone Triage, Call Centers > and Telemedicine one of the Participante mentioned something about a > formula that was developed for staffing switchboards during the early > history of the telephone. This formula had the mathematician's name > attached, and supposedly was a calculus formula, but I cannot remember > the name or the exact time period for this. Erlang ... put Edison to shame. Father of traffic theory. My hero. Erlang-C is the formula you need. Check a textbook for details, but for example you'll be able to calculate number of operator positions given arrival rate and service time. I have a useful Erlang calculator tool which runs under Excel but sadly it's copyrighted. I got it as part of the course material at a Frost & Sullivan training course some time ago. contact details for the author are: Tel: 1-604-596-9744 // Fax: 1-604-597-8994 // Internet: rparkins@infotel-systems.com Usual disclaimer -- I was just a satisfied customer of the course. I know I have code for Erlang formulae *somewhere* but we're moving offices today and it's in the depths of one of many boxes :+( I'll try to dig it out and post it sometime next week. Regards, Mike ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 19:01 GMT From: Richard@office.mandarin.com (Richard D.G. Cox) Subject: Calling 888 Numbers From Outside the US Reply-To: Richard@office.numbering.com Organization: Mandarin Technology Someone mailed me about a "Low cost merchant account for your business" but as the country I'm currently in cannot dial +1-888 numbers directly, I wondered whether any of your readers would like to check out whether there is anything available at 1-888-821-4576 that is worth following up? I'm told that that number should work from most payphones in the USA, so it would be really good to check that it CAN be dialed from as many of them as possible, just in case some COCOT operators have had it barred. I suppose you could even add it to your legendary Business Directory! Richard Cox ------------------------------ From: NBJimWeiss@aol.com (Jim Weiss) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 09:24:03 EST Subject: Re: Calling Card Without Payphone Surcharge! In a message dated 11/19/1999 2:19:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, Frank Prindle wrote: > I just found out that my ISP is now offering a calling card (VOIP) @ > .09/min billed to a credit card http://www.voicenet.com/universal.html > and the unusual thing is they claim there is no payphone surcharge > even though access to their network is via an 800 number. I wonder how > they are getting around the payphone surcharge. >> You'll probably find that they have a bong charge -- or a fixed fee per connection/call. In other words, they advertise no "payphone surcharge" and just collect a lesser fee per EVERY CALL -- payphone or not -- to compensate for not have a "payphone surcharge." Jim Weiss Network Brokers, Inc. "Providing Long Distance Services for Less" nbjimweiss@aol.com 305-252-1822; fax: 603-250-0817 ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 17:34:47 GMT In , on 11/18/99 at 09:26 AM, Joseph S. Sperrazza said: > pollresult.co.uk does not appear to be a valid domain, according to > http://samspade.org/t/ - perhaps it has already been disabled due to > complaints? [C:\tcpip]traceroute www.pollresults.co.uk traceroute to www.pollresults.co.uk (195.182.179.202), 30 hops max, 40 byte pack ets 1 itha-125terminal01.epix.net () 160 ms 150 ms 140 ms 2 itha-125.epix.net () 170 ms 160 ms 150 ms 3 bngh01-2b.epix.net () 150 ms 160 ms 160 ms 4 clsm02-7b.epix.net () 170 ms 160 ms 160 ms 5 svcr04-2.epix.net () 160 ms 170 ms 150 ms 6 router05.epix.net () 150 ms 150 ms 160 ms 7 cpbg01-7.epix.net () 170 ms 150 ms 160 ms 8 Serial1-1-0.GW1.PHL1.ALTER.NET () 160 ms 160 ms 160 ms 9 161.ATM4-0.XR2.DCA1.ALTER.NET () 160 ms 250 ms 150 ms 10 294.ATM7-0.XR2.TCO1.ALTER.NET () 170 ms 170 ms 170 ms 11 192.ATM9-0-0.GW3.TCO1.ALTER.NET () 170 ms 190 ms 160 ms 12 ntli-gw.customer.ALTER.NET () 180 ms 180 ms 190 ms 13 linx-gw1-lon-ATM1-0.router.cableol.net () 250 ms 260 ms 250 ms 14 194.168.23.110 () 280 ms 270 ms 460 ms 15 rebecca9-3.dccl.net () 480 ms 260 ms 250 ms 16 ntl-midlands-webone.dccl.net () 260 ms 260 ms 270 ms 17 ntl-midlands-webfusion2.dccl.net () 270 ms 270 ms 280 ms 18 www.webstart.co.uk () 260 ms 270 ms 270 ms Sam Spade finds it also - WEBSTART In , on 11/18/99 at 05:27 PM, Ray Normandeau said: > In searching for info on faxer do searches on "past" posting on Deja. Using the 800 number (with the -'s) http://x37.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=514084527&CONTEXT=943033330.17301685&hitnum=2 Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- To a cat, "NO!" means "Not while I'm looking." ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: MD110 Digital Handset Simulation Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:28:59 +1100 Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd. Reply-To: dcstar@acslink.aone.net.au Does anyone out there know of a product that can emulate an Ericsson MD110 Digital Handset? I know of products that simulate Nortel, Lucent etc. (Voicebridge) but I'm not aware of anything that does the Ericsson. Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@acslink.aone.net.au Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Dilbert's words of wisdom #18: Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience. ------------------------------ From: Nathan Subject: Re: Definitions Organization: bCandid - Powering the world's discussions - http://bCandid.com Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:30:37 -0600 Atri Indiresan wrote: > In TELECOM Digest V19 #558, >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and >> Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar >> detectors' doesn't it. If so, do we have a detecting device which >> detects radio detectors? Sort of a double spy as in spy-vs-spy, Mad >> Magazine style? That might be a good way to describe it; we are >> using a radio to spy and find out if someone nearby is using a radio >> to spy on us. Maybe someone could develop an 'anti-TEMPEST' detector >> to tell us if someone nearby was using that method of spying, by >> looking for the radiation *it* was emitting. > AFAIK, a radar detector is a passive device, and hence does not emit > any meaningful radiation to do its task. The radar is the radiating > device that is detected. However, since the radar detector is placed > on the car's dashboard, it is quite visible to any police car that > might happen to drive by. More sophisticated radar detectors are used > by the military. Every so often, I read of US aircraft firing at > ground targets in Iraq becuase they detected radar locking on them, > persumably from anti-aircraft weapons. The VG-2 radar detector detector works by listening for the characteristic emissions given off by the "super-hetrodyne" amplifier (I think that's what it does). Before super-hetrodyne, radar detectors didn't have much range; they were like the laser detection is today. The radar detector manufacturers then put these amplifier circuits in lots of radar detectors, and when they did, they found a funny thing happened. The radar detector would detect other radar detectors! The birth of the VG-2 concept is nigh. The makers of the radar detectors obviously didn't want radar detectors going off all the time because of other people's radar detectors, so they put in filters to remove the noise made by the radar detector. Some ingenious fellow decided police would probably like to know when radar detectors are being used, so he made one that listened only for the emissions of the super-hetrodyne circuit in radar detectors and filtered out everything else. Voila, we now can listen for radar detectors. Now people are getting their radar detectors taken away in Virginia, even though they're throwing them under the passenger seat when they get stopped. The dark days are upon us. Rejoice, for the ever-innovative radar detector crowd has thought up wondrous things! They made the radar detector listen for the super-hetrodyne circuit in the VG-2, and turn itself off for ten seconds after hearing one. Now that the radar detector is listening (or watching, in the case of laser) for so many things, they've also added things like listening for traffic information signals (the name escapes me right now) that some jurisdictions use in areas where there's been an accident or some other reason that drivers need to be on the alert. Thanks to the police, my radar detector does a lot more than most did not all that long ago. It also keeps me from getting tickets because I'm not paying attention to the road because I'm too busy chatting on my cellphone to concern myself with driving! (I'm just joking, and making this relate to telecom.) My description and spelling of "super-hetrodyne" may be off somewhat. I know it generally does what I said it does. It may not actually be an amplifier. The description comes partly from Whistler, whose documentation for one of their products induced me to do further research a while back. -Nathan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 12:02:02 -0500 From: The Breeze <"the_breeze_x "@hotmail.com.NOSPAM> Organization: Delphi Automotive - Delco Electronics Systems Subject: Re: Definitions Most radar detectors for automotive use are "super heterodyne." This means that they are not merely passive receivers of that frequency of radio waves. The antenna has a certain amount of controlled radar signal in it. When incoming [police] radar disturbs this signal the detector emits a warning. "Super-het" is more sensitive than a passive receiver. This is the small amount of radar signal that can be detected by detector-detectors. The real sloppy radar detectors can set off other radar detectors. Immunity to this "falsing" is a competitive advantage ... check out some ads or the (yearly?) radar detector review in "Car and Driver" magazine. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 14:33:12 -0500 From: John M. Wendt Organization: Delphi Automotive - Delco Electronics Systems Subject: Re: Definitions Joey Lindstrom wrote: > Sorta reminds me of that Dilbert strip, where Dilbert invites > Wally to join his "T.T.P." Project ... and we find out that that > acronym stands for "The T.T.P. Project". Then of course there's GNU: "GNU's Not Unix" > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer to your query about LASER > is (L)ight (A)mplification by (S)timulated (E)mission of (R)adiation. After MASER: M(icrowave)ASER ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:36:11 -0500 From: Brian Vita Subject: Re: Definitions At 11:01 PM 11/17/99 -0500, you wrote: > Since you dared me to give you another acronym, here goes. It is > not a radio term. As long as we're playing this game, how about SPRINT and MCI? Brian T. Vita, President Cinema Service & Supply, Inc. 75 Walnut St. Peabody, MA 01960-5626 (800)231-8849 - Sales (US & Canada) (800)329-2775 - Sales Fax (US & Canada) (978)538-7575 - Business Office (978)538-7550 - Business Office Fax www.cssinc.com ****Visit our new online web store!**** CSS is proud to be a member of ITEA & NSCA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those two are both very easy! MCI means Microwave Communications, Inc. which is how that company originally transmitted calls. Its recently merged partner got named by its first owner: (S)outhern (P)acific (R)ailroad (I)nternal (N)etwork (T)elecom- munications Department. So why does ITT, which means International Telephone and Telegraph have nothing to do with telecommunications and operate bakeries for bread? PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #564 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Nov 19 18:24:00 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id SAA20067; Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:24:00 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:24:00 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911192324.SAA20067@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #563 TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Nov 99 14:25:36 EST Volume 19 : Issue 563 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Rob Levandowski) Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN (Danny Burstein) Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Urban Legend) (J.F. Mezei) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Robert Berntsen) Re: Urban Legend Alert (Robert Berntsen) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP<) (R Berntsen) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP<) (M Koerner) Re: Detecting Radar Detectors (John Willkie) Re: Echelon Developments (Robert Berntsen) Area 716 Telcos Ordered to Allocate Blocks of 1000 (TELECOM Digest Editor) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: robl@macwhiz.com (Rob Levandowski) Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting Organization: MacWhiz Technologies Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 10:43:09 -0500 In article , Ed Ellers wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What about the type of flourescent > tube commonly called 'grow lamps'? At someone's house the other day, > here in Junction City, I saw a large a couple of very large pot(ted) > plants growing in the basement of their home. A light on a stand > next to the plants was sort of a ultra-violet color. These folks also > had a couple of flourescent tubes which where totally black, but when > turned on in the (otherwise) darkness produced a kind of strange > effect on things. To answer this, it's best to explain how fluorescent lamps work. They're filled with gas, and when turned on, an arc of electrical current runs through the gas along the length of the tube. The current excites the gas, causing it to give off ultraviolet light. If you had a fluorescent lamp tube made with clear glass, it would give off UV light -- possibly to the detriment of your body, depending on the nature of the UV light. To convert this to useful light, the glass is coated with a phosphor. When ultraviolet light strikes the phosphor, it gives off visible light. The nature of the phosphor controls the wavelengths of light that are given off. The most common fluorescent lamps are "cool white," meaning that the phosphor gives off light with a high blue component. By comparison, incandescent lights tend to give off light with a higher red component. It is possible to get flourescent lamps with a "warm white" phosphor which more closely matches incandescent lights, but they're not as easy to find. Humans seem to prefer the "warm" reddish glow of incandescent lights and "warm white" phosphor. > Last couple of questions: Regarding incadescent lighting, do two > smaller bulbs of (let's say) 25 watts each produce the same amount of > light throughout the area as one bulb of 50 watts? In addition, I The wattage of the bulb is a measure of how much power the bulb requires to operate. The amount of light given off by the bulb as a result of that operation is measured in "lumens." Generally, a single light bulb rated at X watts will give off more lumens of light than two light bulbs each rated at X/2 watts. The single bulb is more efficient. Therefore, if you have a choice between using a one-bulb or two-bulb fixture, it makes sense to go with the one-bulb fixture, because one large bulb will cost you less to operate for the same amount of light -- or, alternatively, one large bulb will give you more light for the same operating cost as two bulbs. Quoting from page 9 of "Wiring Simplified: 38th Ed.," by Richter and Schwan: "Three 60-watt lamps (total 180 watts) give 10% more light than five 40-watt lamps (total 200 watts). One 150-watt lamp gives twice as much light as five 25-watt lamps (125 watts). One 100-watt lamp gives 15% more light than three 40-watt lamps (120 watts)." > once knew a man whose job it was to change burned out lightbulbs. > Some of the bulbs were in difficult to reach areas, that is, they > required a stepladder, or scaffolding, etc. He said to avoid having > to change the bulbs as often, he used bulbs at two or three times > the amount of wattage desired, but half the voltage. That is, > instead of a 100 watt bulb designed for 120 volts, he would use > a 300 watt bulb designed for 240 volts (on a 120 line). It seemed > to me as though the room was just as bright, but obviously the > bulb was only getting 'half as much use' as a normal bulb, therefore > it would not burn out for years at a time, he claimed. What about Yes, using a bulb designed for a higher voltage will increase the life ... but it will also decrease the light output. The "long life" bulbs sold in stores are usually rated for 135 to 140 volts. They last four to eight times longer when run at 120 volts than bulbs rated for that voltage specifically. However, they put out 20% to 30% fewer lumens per watt. So, if you increase the wattage to compensate for the drop in light output, you end up spending 25% to 35% more in energy costs to get the same light. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch -- if you don't want to climb that ladder, you'll have to pay the power company for the convenience. Halogen bulbs last much longer than standard incandescent bulbs. They're designed for the normal line voltage. With normal bulbs, the filament inside the bulb boils off over time. It deposits on the glass of the bulb, making the bulb dim as it ages. Eventually, the filament gets so thin that it blows. With Halogen bulbs, the halogen gas causes much of the vaporized filament to re-deposit onto the filament. This causes the bulb to last much longer, because the erosion of the filament is slowed down. I personally recommend the "retrofittable" halogen bulbs from Sylvania and Philips to people who want to change bulbs less often. I've found that they generally last at least a year in normal use, and they give a brighter light than normal bulbs. They're about three times the cost of a normal bulb, but they're worth it in the long run. Just be careful about using them in fixtures which build up heat -- they do run much hotter than standard bulbs. Rob Levandowski robl@macwhiz.com ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (Danny Burstein) Subject: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT!) Date: 19 Nov 1999 02:26:23 -0500 In k3ph@dxis.monroe.pa.us (Bob Schreibmaier) writes: > Now, if we could only get fluroescent lighting that doesn't absolutely > obliterate radio reception in the MF and HF range ... 8^{) Well known problem since flourescents are gas discharge (similar to mercury vapo[u]r lamps) with the arc getting struck 120 times/sec (in the US) and lots and lots of nasty harmonics striking a large metal reflector. You can replace your old ballast with a high-frequency one (which will also be a bit more efficient, thus saving you power)[1]. Also you can do better grounding of the case. And there are some tricks you can attempt with various capacitors (but be super careful). Alternatively, you can always operate the lamps off Direct Current. Yes, there are, indeed, flourescent DC fixtures. Look for a junked 1960s era NYC subway car. (Note that many recent "DC" units actually convert the current to AC before feeding it to the lamp.) [1] Flourescent lamps require use of a ballast to regulate the current. Traditionally these have been small but heavy magnetic coil- type things attached to the fixture. They add about 15% to the rated lamp power. Hence a standard twin-40 watt flourescent fixture actually uses about 95 watts. That extra wattage is wasted as heat. For the past ten or so years, "high frequency" ballasts have been readily available. They're smaller, lighter, and claim to be more efficient. Oh, they're also more expensive and historically were more prone to failure. Ob telecom: as others have mentioned, the most common flourescent lamp is the "cool white" version, priced at roughly $1 for a four foot tube. Although people have grown accustomed to this, the colo[u]r rendition is horrendous. This is definitely noticable when trying to color match the wires in a standard 25 pair bundle. A very useful worktool to bring to the jobsite is a small and high intensity incandescent, or better today, tungsten-halogen lamp. The brighter and "better" light makes color matching much, much, easier. Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: J.F. Mezei Subject: Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Urban Legend) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 02:18:44 -0500 L. Winson wrote: > The disadvantage is that flourescent fixtures require a ballast and > are larger than incandescent fixtures and thus cost more. But for > office and industrial lighting, they are far more efficient. To add to this, in many office buildings, the fluorescent lighting fixtures actually run at 347 volts (something to do with 3 phase power lines I am told). This higher voltage to the fixtures allows the buildings to be built with much of the wiring of lesser gauge, hence big cost savings. ------------------------------ From: Robert Berntsen Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 12:46:11 +0100 >>> I think this is an urban legend. Try running a Deja search on "farmer >>> power line". Since there appears to be an alternate version circulating >>> involving a 50kW broadcast transmitter and a bunch of 100W lightbulbs, >>> methinks they're BOTH horsepoo. >> This story is false on its face. "High-tension lines" are DC which is > Not True. Wherever did you get that idea ? >> not amenable to "stealing" power with a coil. There is no 60 Hz >> signal on high voltage lines and normal transmission lines that ARE 60 >> hz are of too low a potential to make this sort of thing possible. Trying to resolve part of this debate: If you convey electrical power over long distance you have to have high voltage in order to get low current (Power = voltage * current) in order to minimize the resistance loss. Hence you can use thinner power lines. However, higher voltage increases the capacitive loss at a given capacitance. Capacitance can be lowered by separating the lines at longer distance, however increasing with distance. If you look at a high voltage transmission line and there are three lines, it is for sure AC, 3 phases. A DC line would be 2 lines. You do not need ground. On a 3 phase AC line every many miles the order is changed so the mid line would shift to one of the outer positions in order to keep the capacitance evenly between the 3 lines. Now if you try to use an ocean cable for power transmission, you can not separate the lines with a long distance and the capacitive loss would be very high. So an AC-DC-AC conversion would be attractive. You still need high voltage to minimize the resistance loss. All in all, if you make a calculation, taking into account cost for AC-DC-AC conversion, distance, cost of copper at different thickness, cost of masts with varying distance between lines, cost of mast with 3 versus 2 lines, number of points to convert back to "normal", maintenance and so on ... the power line constructors would possible end up with a DC transmission in some cases. About the stealing of power, I do believe that the "air gap transformer" would be very inefficient and would need a very big "antenna" to pick up a reasonable amount of energy. Probably the capacitive loss in the power lines would be much bigger, even for the small part of the power line that would be effected by this "antenna". And the "antenna" should be quite close to the lines. If anybody would care to spend the needed time, it would be quite easy to do the calculations. Regards, R. ------------------------------ From: Robert Berntsen Subject: Re: Urban Legend Alert Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 14:54:32 +0100 evans_the_swim@tesco.net wrote in message ... > On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:22 EST, Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) wrote: >>> A fairly recent magazine article describes how one enterprising >>> amateur radio operator keeps his HT battery charged up by rectifying >>> RF from a nearby AM radio station. Just a simple thought: If the transmitter has an RF output of 100 kW, and transmits this to a half sphere, it will yield approx 0.2 W pr. square meter at a distance of 300 meters. So it can be done if you have a fairly efficient antenna, big enough, and are sufficiently close to the transmitting antenna. However, using a solar cell, would be a much easier and probably a much cheaper way of charging the battery. I think, however, such stories are quit amusing, and that is the most important part or ... Regards, R. ------------------------------ From: Robert Berntsen Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 14:14:55 +0100 Danny Burstein wrote in message: > The power grid is a multi-tiered arrangement. Typical residential/ > light industrial electricity is 60 hz ac, with wall voltage of 110v > for common usage, (and a typical) 220 for high demand loads such as Just a small note: As far as I know, you can not find 110 volts nominal anywhere in the world. North-America has nominal 120 volt single phase/ 208 v (120 x sqroot of 3) 3-phase distribution, but also 240 volt single-phase with mid-tap earth (2 x 120 v) some places. "110 v" comes from where? My guess is that when distributing 120 v, the voltage falls with distance from transformer and therefore much equipment is designed for operating between 90 and 130, mid-point at 110. Incidentally, 220 v is also a rare voltage. Most of Europe is at 230 volt 50 Hz, UK has 240 v /50 Hz (nominally). > Some _very_ unpleasant things happen when generators fall out of synch > with each other, and hence there's been a big desire to move away from > alternating current. Generators do not fall out of sync. But a power distribution system can be unstable. That happened when the East Coast of US was blacked out (creating a birth boom nine months later). Keeping a large power system stable is a nontrivial task, that kept cybernetics busy for some time. Lower frequencies used for railway 50/3= 16.7 Hz in part of the world, possible 25 Hz(?) in the US, is in order to keep losses low. Inductive losses in locomotive electric motors, and capacitive currents in the distribution. High capacitive current, in itself not creating disipation, causes an additional resistive loss through the power lines and causes problems for the power plant adjusting the phase angle between voltage and current. Regards, R. ------------------------------ From: Michael G. Koerner Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 01:07:16 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: mgk920@dataex.com L. Winson wrote: >> (Note that in the following I'm talking about the common power >> arrangements in the US. Specialized industrial or rapid transit >> settings may be set up differently. 25 hz anyone?) > The commuter rail networks of Philadelphia, part of New Jersey, and > Amtrak's NYC-Washington line are powered by 11,000 volt 25 Hz lines. > This was the best power available when the first trains were > electrified back in 1915 and has been maintained since. Some segments > elsewhere have been modernized with 60 Hz, which eliminates the need > for cumbersome frequency converters. > Today's electric trains can be modified to use various currents, but > most units require a shop modification, and only some can change power > on the fly while in service. > Originally, the older trains, all retired now, had different motors > that required 25 Hz. In the 1950s-1960s, rectifiers became small > enough that the trains began to rectify the AC current to supply 600 > volt DC traction motors. (Diesel freight locomotives actually use the > diesel engine to generate electricity on board to drive motors.) > Railroads are moving from 600 volt DC traction motors to high-tech > 3-phase AC motors controlled by sophisticated control systems. (I > don't understand the new stuff, but supposedly the newest AC systems > have more rugged motors and are more energy efficient.) AC traction motors in freight railroad locomotives have proven to be essentially INDESTRUCTABLE in regular heavy service. To the best of my knowledge, North American railroads have yet to 'cook' an AC traction motor. They are extremely simple in design, the ONLY moving part is the rotor between the main bearings, NO brushes or other wear parts other than the bearings. There was an incident on 05-May-1998 where a 108 car loaded coal train was dispatched by Union Pacific with one less General Electric built 'AC4400CW' (about 3.5 megawatts of rated engine power) locomotive than usual (the unit was down, likely due to mechanical problems with the engine). With their four instead of the normal five units (two in the front, the other two 3/4 of the way back), they started up a 2+% grade in Tonopas Canyon (near Phippsburg, CO). The train slowed to about 0.35 km/h and grinded along up the grade at about 9 cm/second for quite some time BUT DID NOT STALL. In the end, the train's trip (and its incredible display of the capabilities of AC traction equipment) ended when a coupler knuckle on the lead coal hopper failed. NONE of the four units' 24 AC traction motors overheated. Said UP's general director, locomotive engineering and quality Mike Iden, "This situation would have been IMPOSSIBLE with DC motors" (emphasis added). ('Trains' magazine, November 1998, p66/67.) Regards, Michael G. Koerner Appleton, WI ------------------------------ From: John Willkie Subject: Re: Detecting Radar Detectors Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 03:26:41 PST As Atri Indiresan was quoted in TELECOM Digest V19 #558, > AFAIK, a radar detector is a passive device, and hence does not emit any > meaningful radiation to do its task. The radar is the radiating device that > is detected. However, since the radar > detector is placed on the car's dashboard, it is quite visible to any > police car that might happen to drive by. More sophisticated radar > detectors are used by the military. Every so often, I read of US aircraft > firing at ground targets in Iraq becuase they detected radar locking on > them, persumably from anti-aircraft weapons. AFAIK, every significant radio receiver in use above 100 Khz, since about 1932, employs superhetrodyne techniques, or a technique derived from superhetrodyne. As first developed by Major Edwin H. Armstrong during his days in Paris during World War I, superhetrodyne employs a local oscillator of a fixed "intermediate frequency, (IF)" that "beats" against a desired signal, and is algebraically combined with the incoming signal. The resulting output is the difference between the two signals, and is of low enough frequency to be trivially amplified and sent on to the audio amplifier and detector. An oscillator, of course is an emitter of radio frequency radiation. While not meaningful in any communications sense, it is significant from a "signals intelligence" sense, and is characteristic of a receiver. Indeed, the allocation of FM and TV stations is limited to protect receivers from the interference caused by the emission of other nearby receivers. For FM, the IF is specified as 10.7 mhz, and the protection is 53 and 54 channels (10.6 and 10.8 Mhz) above and below each station. For TV, the IF is specified as 45 Mhz, and the protection (called IF taboos) is 7 channels above and below a particular station. For television, the protection for IF is the most restrictive in the FCC's rules, aside from co-channel interference. While manufacturers are free to employ other IF frequencies, there would have to be a clear market benefit, as these receivers would more than likely cause (and receive) interference from other receivers. It is a trivial matter to direct an antenna and half sensitive receiver toward anoter receiver to detect the second receiver's IF. It would have to be specially designed for the purpose, of course, but would create repeatable results, and would have a wider capture angle than an officer's eyes. The "radar detectors" employed in military craft, of course, detect the primary emissions of intentional radiators -- target or search radars -- which are clearly more powerful than a receiver's oscillator. John Willkie P.S. Harry S Truman's middle name was S, which was short for "S", as clearly indicated by the moderator's note. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is correct. His 'middle name' was merely the letter 'S', nothing else. There were some witty pundits who wrote for the newspapers at the time who disliked him as much as the man he replaced (FDR). They suggested the 'S' stood for a four- letter word which began 'SH' and ended with 'T'. And when Harry would read about himself in the newspapers, he would call up the newspaper and give them hell. Thus the other common nickname for him, which was Harry 'Give em hell' Truman. He'd let you know right where you stood with him, no beating around the bush. His daughter Margaret was a rather accomplished pianist who also sang with the Metropolitan Opera. One day the music critic for the {New York Times} panned her perform- ance and Harry was just furious. He called the newspaper, ranting and raving, and ... just gave them hell. Newspapers all over the country picked up on it of course; not the music critic's review of her work, but the fact that Harry had made such a stink with the newspaper pub- lisher, whom he called personally to register his displeasure in one profane expression after another. The only other person occupying that office who cussed as much as Harry was Lyndon Johnson, who it is said after one outburst which went on for several minutes without him repeating himself, 'that would have even put old Harry to shame.' PAT] ------------------------------ From: Robert Berntsen Subject: Re: Echelon Developments Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 15:05:15 +0100 Monty Solomon wrote in message: > The US National Security Agency (NSA) has patented new > phone tapping technology that could revolutionise > surveillance of global telephone networks. > > Patent number 5,937,422 describes the NSA technology as, >-> jrussell Do not believe everything you read. This patent describes a text sorting method. All the words about possible sources of this text is just normal patent phrasing not to be excluded by a later combi-patent (patents that uses known technology in a new area). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 09:07:01 -0500 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Area 716 Telcos Ordered to Allocate Blocks of 1000 Possible news item: In the 716 area the Public Service Commission has ordered the telephone companies to start allocating telephone numbers in blocks of 1000 instead of 10000. That is because 45% of the available numbers are not in use. The full story is at: http://www.RochesterNews.com/1119716.html ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #563 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Nov 20 06:05:03 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id GAA10909; Sat, 20 Nov 1999 06:05:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 06:05:03 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911201105.GAA10909@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #565 TELECOM Digest Sat, 20 Nov 99 06:05:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 565 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (Al Varney) Re: Country Code Question (Linc Madison) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Bill Levant) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Curtis R. Anderson) Re: 2 to 4 Wire Modem Converter (Matt Peterson) Transmission of TV Signals (J.F. Mezei) Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) (Frank Prindle) Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Linc Madison) Re: Definitions (Kim Brennan) Re: Harry S Truman (Bill Levant) Re: Telemarketers and Voice Mail (Bill Levant) FCC Ruling Aids High-Speed Providers (Monty Solomon) Suit Says RealNetworks' Software is Real BigBrother (Monty Solomon) The Marker of a Criminal (Monty Solomon) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. 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Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: varney@ihgp2.ih.lucent.com (Al Varney) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Date: 19 Nov 1999 23:06:02 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies, Naperville, IL Reply-To: varney@lucent.com In article , Linc Madison wrote: > In article , my-deja.com> wrote: >> At the current rate the NANPA is using up area codes when will we run >> out of area codes? Do you think that we will move all codes to new >> scheme ie (xxx)-xxxx-xxxx as I have seen at lincmad.com ? Has anyone >> done any research into the cost of changing all the systems in North >> America (local, long distance, etc.) for this change? I was also >> wondering has any phone companies started upgrading their system to >> accomodate the change that might be nessary? Since the new numbering scheme is not yet final, upgrades are a little premature. I believe, as do others, that the cost TO THE PHONE COMPANIES will be less than the cost to other businesses (PBX owners, COCOTs, Call Centers, computer databases, etc.). The current perspective of the Industry Numbering Committee can be seen in their recent Draft report: >> As well the * codes ie *69 is 1169 why not change 1169 to 11169 etc. >> this would allow us to adapt some IUT recommendations ie 112 for police, >> fire, ambulance. > First, it's ITU, and second, 112 is not an ITU recommendation. It is > exclusively a European Union recommendation. And the US Congress has allocated "911" for police/fire/ambulance. Little chance for changing that ... The use of "*XX" codes is not a NANP issue. It is a Dialing Plan and Numbering Resource issue. So far as I know, there are NO RULES requiring a common meaning for "*XX" and "11XX" codes, nor are LECs required to offer any services tied to those codes. Just look at wireless for a precedent. Certainly there is no desire to tie any changes in "*XX" usage and other dialing plan prefixes to the NANP Expansion itself. >> As well why allow the use of 00 as well as 011? Yes 00 by itself does >> give you your long distance operator, but doesn't 0 by itself give you >> the local operator? > Why should we change to match the rest of the world? They deliberately > designed their numbering system to not conform to ours. Hmmm ... what's the European standard for customer-dialed Operator- requested International calls? Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 15:32:07 -0800 From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Country Code Question In article , James Kenny wrote: > I agree that 670 and 671 and now NPAs, but I'm not so sure about 684. > Our numbering information at http://www.active-numbers.com lists all > three as international country codes, but only 670 and 671 as part of > the NANP. I just tried calling Guam though (from the U.K.), and it is > only dialable as +1671. +671 fails to busy. Correct. GUAM: must use +1 671. Former use of +671 discontinued as of July 1998. CNMI: must use +1 670. Former use of +670 discontinued as of July 1998. AMERICAN SAMOA: must use +684. Proposed future use of +1 684 not yet official. The other places mentioned, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, are +691 and +692, respectively. They cannot be merged into +1 by the same method used for Guam and CNMI and proposed for American Samoa, because +1 691 and +1 692 are unassignable. At some future date, one or both may join the NANP, but with a new code. Perhaps +1 681 and +1 682 could be reserved as the nearest NPAs to the current country codes, but nothing official has been announced. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * Telecom(at)LincMad(dot)com * North American Telephone Area Codes & Splits >> NOTE: e-mail replies to the address in this sig will be read first! << ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:49:12 EST Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? > The warning beacon on that tower, at Scipio, stopped blinking about > a month or so ago. I figure the tower's not examined that much, so an > AT&T crew probably won't wander by for a while, yet. Anybody know who > I should report it to? The FAA, I think, at the nearest airport tower. They'll get on AT&T's behind right quick if the tower's in a bad place. Bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 22:22:00 -0500 From: Curtis R. Anderson Organization: Gleepy's Futplex Bar and Grill Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? John Warne wrote: > According to AT&T employees I have talked with, there is no current > microwave use in the State of Florida by AT&T. Fiber has replaced all > of it. The current FCC database no longer shows many previously- > licensed microwave sites. > Many AT&T sites still have the various horns on their towers. > Abandoning in-place is less expensive than stripping the towers, or so > I'm told. >> I'm interested in how much the terrestial microwave part of AT&T's >> phone network is still being used. AT&T still has a microwave relay tower right in my town (Town of Napoli, County of Cattaraugus, State of New York). Within the past two weeks, the obstruction beacon was replaced with a red colored xenon flash tube that fires at low intensity multiple times for about 1/2 second. There is a high intensity white flash tube for daytime use. Obviously, it must have been more cost effective to put a white flash tube on the tower for daytime use than it was to keep the striped orange and white paint job on it. The tower might also be used for cellular traffic because all the rural cell towers around here use the same lighting configuration. It must be a side effect of Route 17, the Southern Tier Expressway, becoming I-86 Real Soon Now. Maybe it has to do with American Tower buying it. Can tower types see if all of American Tower's assets use a white strobe by day and a red strobe by night? Curtis R. Anderson, Co-creator of "Gleepy the Hen", SP 2.5?, KoX Geek geezer with a minimal web page at http://gleepy.homepage.com/. I vacuum my cat regularly. ICQ: 50137888 mailto:gleepy@intelligencia.com UTM: PS 7036 7315, zone 17 ------------------------------ From: Matt Peterson Subject: Re: 2 to 4 Wire Modem Converter Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 20:55:31 -0900 A complete tellabs shelf with power supply (unless you have DC available) is probably overkill for this application. Try a RAD VSC (FXS to 2 or 4 wire E&M converter.) I have used these products where I needed single line 2/4 wire conversion. A complete tellabs shelf with power supplies and a single 6131B will cost a couple grand and it won't be fun wiring it up to a single device. RAD VSCs are available rackmount or in a desktop modem type case for $4-500. You might have to play some games with the signalling leads to get it to keep the line open. I've never hooked one up without using the E&M leads. Take a look at (for starters) http://www.tellabs.com/products/analog/index.shtml There are several devices shown there which probably will fit your need, depending on the specific situation, and provide the 2W-4W functionality. I'm sure several other companies make this sort of analog equipment (although not as common as it used to be pre-digital xmission ... this is becoming more and more a piece of 'legacy' hardware) but Tellabs came to mind first and in my experience, they have always been good with pre-purchase technical support, documentation (the correct term is "practices" in this case :-), etc. from the sales engineer who takes your call. In fact there is a "Request More Information" link on the above mentioned webpage with an e-form to fill out as well as a telephone number to call for more immediate support. Good luck ! I think it'll work out fine. Reuben Wall wrote: > I am searching for a product, and I was hoping someone reading can > help point me in the right direction. > I have to connect two modems together, each in different cities. I > have a standard 2-wire analog modem interface on one side. I have a > basic 4-wire interface on the other side. I need to connect them > together! > This is a leased line network (not dialup). There is no E&M > signalling. There is a transmit, transmit return, a receive and > receive return (4 wires). There will be no DC voltages on the link. > I need an external "box" that will convert from a 4-wire modem to a > 2-wire modem. I am not looking for the individual electronic > componets, but a commercial product that will do this. Maximum speed > is 2400 and MUST be full-duplex. ------------------------------ From: J.F. Mezei Subject: Transmission of TV Signals Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 01:13:03 -0500 For some time now, I have noticed that one or two TV channels I get VIA cable are *NOTICEABLY* MPEG video from time to time (a few days at a time). For instance, at times (very sporadic), the NBC channel is broadcast in such a way that you can see the squares of the MPEG compression (or whatever similar method is used) in certain parts of the screen, most noticeable around the mouth and eyes of a head. Such "events" are sporadic and last from one to a few days and may not be seen again for some time. However, I first noticed this on an NBC channel and rarely notice it on other channels. Are networks now distributing their signals over satellites in a digital fashion or the "good old analog" conventional method? Or would such pixelisation I sometimes noticed be produced by the cable distributor here in Montreal? What bugs me is that this is sporadic and rarely long lived. What sort of conditions would result in the picture quality being diminished? Also, is such a pixelisation common/always there in DSS broadcasts (which use digital compression of signals)? ------------------------------ From: Frank Prindle Subject: Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT!) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:26:02 -0500 dannyb@panix.com (Danny Burstein) wrote: > Well known problem since flourescents are gas discharge (similar to I know this is off-topic (but then again, isn't this whole thread?) but couldn't we at least spell this right: F L U O R S C E N T That other light (flourescent) sounds like something you have to bake in the oven. Sincerely, Frank Prindle prindle@nospamvoicenet.com (sans the nospam) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 15:52:21 -0800 From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting In article , PAT wrote: > Last couple of questions: Regarding incadescent lighting, do two > smaller bulbs of (let's say) 25 watts each produce the same amount of > light throughout the area as one bulb of 50 watts? Roughly speaking, in terms of light output of ordinary incandescent light bulbs, 1 @ 100W = 2 @ 60W = 6 @ 25W So two 25W bulbs will provide less total light than one 50W bulb. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * Telecom(at)LincMad(dot)com * North American Telephone Area Codes & Splits >> NOTE: e-mail replies to the address in this sig will be read first! << [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone sent me a not-for-pub note, at least not with his name on it, saying that a second light bulb of identical wattage only increases the amount of lighting by fifty percent; a third light bulb (in this cluster) of identical wattage would increase the overall lighting by only ten or fifteen percent, and that a fourth, fifth or subsequent bulb of identical wattage (in this cluster) would present a barely noticeable increase in the overall amount of light. So, he said if I put up 'several' sixty watt bulbs in a cluster together it will still amount of only a 'little over' a hundred watts of effective light. Something to do with the way the beams of light are spread around the area and that some of the beams of light are 'wasted' ??? Does that make sense to anyone? I am getting sleepy and have to quit for now, but maybe someone can explain it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kim@aol.com (Kim Brennan) Date: 19 Nov 1999 23:12:02 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: Definitions > Your turn. "LASER" :-) > President Harry S Truman insisted that the United Since you knew LASER, I'm sure you know MASER as well (the direct predecessor of LASER ...) As to old Harry ... I'll let YOU know a secret. Harry always put the period after the S. S didn't stand for anything, but he still put a period after it. Kim Brennan Duo 2300c, PB 2400, VW Fox Wagon GL, Corrado SLC, Vanagon GL Syncro http://members.aol.com/kim Duo Info Page: http://members.aol.com/kim/computer/duo/duoindex.html ?'s should include "Duo" in subject, else they'll be deleted unread. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How do you know? Did you ask him? Or did you merely read historical accounts and/or newspaper reports where other writers put the period after the 'S' because they did not know any better? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 18:57:11 EST Subject: Re : Harry S Truman > Now my question to you regards President Truman's middle name. What > was it? If you look carefully where it appears above, and as long as > you understand I did *not* have an error in punctuation, you'll have a > big clue toward the answer. He had none; the "S" doesn't stand for anything, and that's why it doesn't take a period. Bill (known to his friends as a vast repository of vaguely interesting -- but essentially useless -- information) ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 19:05:13 EST Subject: Re: Telemarketers and Voice Mail Could be either of the following non-nefarious explanations: 1) A temporary power outage at the office had the answering machine off line when the call came in, or 2) The line was busy (with someone else leaving a message on the machine, for example) when the call came in, so it bumped over to voice mail. Bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 22:11:35 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FCC Ruling Aids High-Speed Providers WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Federal regulators say big providers of local-phone service must share their conventional, copper lines with rivals who offer high-speed Internet access, a move that could soon bring cheaper, faster Web connections to millions of Americans. The Federal Communications Commission ruled the local Bells and GTE Corp. (GTE) have to allow independent high-speed supplier, such as Covad Communications (COVD), Rhythms NetConnections (RTHM) and Northpoint Communications (NPNT), to sell their service via the same phone lines over which consumers now receive phone calls. The Bells were given 180 days to comply. At present, customers who want to buy high-speed service from independent suppliers have to order a second phone line at a cost of about $20. The big local phone carriers, however, can provide phone and high-speed access over the same line, giving them a cost advantage that has basically shut the independents out of the consumer market. http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19991118/news/current/fcc.htx ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 23:06:53 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Suit Says RealNetworks' 'RealJukeBox' Software is RealBigBrother The Legal Intelligencer (November 10, 1999) Claiming their privacy was invaded by software from an Internet music site that secretly gathered information about their listening habits, three consumers yesterday filed a class action suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against RealNetworks Inc. The case could provide the first court test of the newly amended Computer Fraud and Abuse Act which provides a private cause of action by computer users against the unauthorized accessing of personal data. http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/stories/A9266-1999Nov9.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 23:18:25 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Marker of a Criminal by Declan McCullagh 3:00 a.m. 19.Nov.99.PDT You're driving home from a party on a chill weekend night and encounter your first unpleasant surprise of the evening: A police car behind you with its lights ablaze. Turns out you didn't halt entirely for that last stop sign, or so the friendly policeman says. But he doesn't seem nearly as congenial as he hands you a cotton swab and tells you to touch it to the inside of your cheek for a DNA sample. The second unhappy surprise: You're under arrest. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32626,00.html ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #565 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 22 00:30:22 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id AAA17904; Mon, 22 Nov 1999 00:30:22 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 00:30:22 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911220530.AAA17904@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #566 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Nov 99 00:30:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 566 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (John David Galt) Upcoming Areacode Changes (Leonard Erickson) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Brian Elfert) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Robert Bonomi) Unlocking GSM Phones (Patrizio Menchetti) Possible ANI Failure? (Buttmunch) Re: Need Link for CO Information (Michael J Kuras) Re: 2 to 4 Wire Modem Converter (Bruce F. Roberts) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (Richard D.G. Cox) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John_David_Galt@acm.org (John David Galt) Organization: Association for Computing Machinery Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 11:40:53 GMT Al Varney wrote: > The current perspective of the Industry Numbering Committee can be > seen in their recent Draft report: > I have read the report and find it rather shortsighted. Not only is the range of options presented overly narrow, but some major decisions are made, apparently arbitrarily, without any explanation. Quotations that follow are from the report. First an assumption which seems to be so automatic to INC that the report does not even state it, but just avoids any consideration of alternatives that reject it. The assumption is that the length of each NPA code will be the same, and the length of each number will be the same. I'm all for having the overall "national number" be a fixed length, but there is no reason to make each of its parts fixed-length unless you plan to continue allowing calls to be dialed without the NPA code -- and even then it may not be necessary, since many areas today do not allow seven- digit dialing. > 3.0 ASSUMPTIONS AND CONSTRAINTS > i. The expanded NANP must increase the quantity of NPAs in order to > ensure the availability of additional NPAs when the current supply is > exhausted Am I the only one who feels that the NANP has already been chopped up into small enough NPAs, and it would be nice if some of them were recombined? Certainly we must increase the total quantity of available numbers, but we should not rule out plans that keep the number of NPAs unchanged and just increase the quantity of numbers available within each NPA. > v) location portability will be supported throughout any given > portability pooling area and will not be restricted to rate centers; and This is a bad idea, as it will defeat the ability of customers to know (from NPA+prefix) whether a given call will be a toll call. > s. The N restriction (i.e., 2 through 9) will be removed from the C.O. > code field (i.e., D digit) coincident with the implementation of the > NANP expansion plan. This is a bad idea because it forces the following: > t. The conditions defined in the INC Uniform Dialing Plan will be > implemented before the NANP expansion plan is implemented. > Specifically, the use of the prefix 1 will be eliminated, and all > intra-NANP calls will be dialed on a ten-digit only basis. This is a very bad idea. It effectively eliminates the distinction between an area code and number, needlessly destroying important dialing convenience. This seems to be related to the assumption, discussed above, that NPAs will grow ever more numerous and smaller in area. Certainly if that happens then fewer and fewer calls will be between two numbers in the same area code. But that is precisely why it should not happen. * * * I propose a new option, which I list below. I've formatted it like parts 4 through 8 of the report, to allow for side-by-side comparisons. X.0 OPTION X-1 12-DIGIT NATIONAL NUMBER WITH VARIABLE LENGTH PARTS X.1 Description of Option This Option adds two digits to the national number, but varies the lengths of the area code, the central office code, and the subscriber number according to the population of the area covered by each NPA. Option X-1 does not release the first digit of the new Central Office Code to allow the use of the digits 0 or 1, but in areas where the NPA is four or five digits it does release the fourth digit of the NPA to allow 0 or 1. A twelve digit number is created with this option. The number format for this option is each of the following, as selected by local regulatory authorities in each area: NXX(XX) + NXX + XXXX NXX(X) + NXX(X) + XXXX NXX + NXX(X) + XXXX(X) (NX) + NXXX + XXXXXX where N represents digits 2 through 9, X represents digits 0 through 9, and: NXX(XX) a five-digit NPA with (XX) the additional two digits NXX a three-digit Central Office Code XXXX a four-digit line number NXX(X) a four-digit NPA with (X) the additional digit NXX(X) a four-digit Central Office Code with (X) the additional digit XXXX a four-digit line number NXX a three-digit NPA NXX(X) a four-digit Central Office Code with (X) the additional digit XXXX(X) a five-digit line number with (X) the additional digit (NX) a two-digit NPA NXXX a four-digit Central Office Code XXXXXX a six-digit line number NOTE: In the case of a two-digit NPA, the existing 10-digit number is used as the new Central Office Code and line number. The existing NANP format (NXX + NXX + XXXX) mathematically provides 6.4 billion numbers (800 x 800 x 10,000). Under option X-1, this number is increased 100-fold (by adding two X digits even though their position in the national number string varies) to 640 billion. Option X-1 therefore provides approximately a 100-fold increase in capacity relative to the existing NANP structure. Importantly, within each NPA that goes to longer local numbers (rather than a 5-digit NPA), the quantity of numbers is increased: * by 72 million (from 8 million to 80 million) for a 4-digit NPA; * by 792 million (from 8 million to 800 million) for a 3-digit NPA; * by 7,992 million (from 8 million to 8 BILLION) for a 2-digit NPA. Examples of expanded NANP numbers shown below assume that: - New York City (212) goes to a 2-digit NPA; - Dallas (972) remains a 3-digit NPA; - Las Vegas (702) goes to a 4-digit NPA; - Wyoming (307) goes to a 5-digit NPA. For example: 212 NXX XXXX becomes 29 212 NXX XXXX 972 NXX XXXX becomes 490 NXX0 XXXX0 702 NXX XXXX becomes 7020 NXX0 XXXX 307 NXX XXXX becomes 30700 NXX XXXX Non-Geographic NPAs would be changed as follows: 800 XXX XXXX becomes 80 00 XXX XXXX 888 XXX XXXX becomes 80 80 XXX XXXX 877 XXX XXXX becomes 80 70 XXX XXXX and so forth, making "80" the only toll free "area code" in the new system. After transition, 1 billion toll free numbers of the form 80 XXX XXX XXX will be available; all 9 digits will be "open". 900 XXX XXXX becomes 90 00 XXX XXXX Special Use Codes would be dialed as follows: N11 codes would stay N11 950 XXXX becomes 80 10 950 XXXX 212 555 1212 becomes 29 5555 555555 972 555 1212 becomes 390 5555 55555 702 555 1212 becomes 7020 5555 5555 307 555 1212 becomes 30700 555 5555 555 XXXX becomes 80 10 555 XXXX (and _please_ do not assign 555-5555 before implementation!) 4.2 Transition Plan For NPA codes of four or five digits, adding the specific new digit 0 in the fourth position of the NPA code creates a means to transition to the expanded format. (For the same reason, all of the initially assigned "80" and "90" numbers will have a 0 in the fourth position.) Since the fourth digit in the existing ten-digit NANP can never have a 0 or 1 in that position, introducing this value in the D digit position will provide the necessary indication for all switching equipment and operational systems to ensure identification of an expanded NANP number. Thus, transitioning will be accomplished through this unique assignment of 0 in the D digit location. For NPA codes of two or three digits, there will not necessarily be a zero in the fourth position of the complete number, so we must instead put the digit 9 in the second position of each initially assigned two- and three- digit NPA code. Because of these unique assignments, it will be possible to allow for a permissive dialing period (for 1+NPA+number and 0+NPA+number calls only), during which the network will be able to determine whether the caller was dialing a ten-digit or a twelve-digit number by checking the values of the B and D digits. (However, the dialing of same-NPA numbers without an area code cannot be permissive, except in two- and five-digit NPAs where the dialing instructions for these calls will probably be the same as today!) It is recommended that a six-month permissive dialing period be allowed to effect a smooth transition to the new area codes. During the transition period only four- or five-digit NPAs with 0 or 1 in the D digit position, and two- or three-digit NPAs with 9 in the B digit position, would be introduced. At the end of the transition period, both of these rules would be relaxed, but no NPA code could be the same as the beginning of another one, just as no country code can be the same as the beginning of another one. 4.3 Significant Advantages and Disadvantages 4.3.1 Advantages Will not only slow, but start to reverse, the present trend of dividing NPAs into ever tinier geographic areas, as well as the creation of overlay NPAs. Instead, a large metropolitan area which has many area codes before transition will be able to merge them into one large (2 or 3 digit) NPA. This will simplify the NPA map and make it easier to remember which area code you are in. Requires no prefix to accomplish the transition because a 0 in the new D digit of four- or five-digit NPAs, or a 9 in the B digit of shorter NPAs, is used as a transition indicator. Four- or five-digit NPAs retain the existing NPA code as the first three digits of the expanded area code. Five-digit NPAs also retain the existing seven-digit local number, unchanged. Two-digit NPAs retain the existing ten-digit number as the local number. Does not require implementation of the INC Uniform Dialing Plan. Use of the prefix 1 as a toll indicator can continue because no prefix is needed to support transitioning to this option. Continues to allow the dialing of same-NPA calls without an area code, and makes that ability more useful than now by allowing multiple NPA codes in a large metropolitan area to merge into one NPA. Enables switches to determine within the first five digits dialed (including the 0 or 1 prefix) whether the caller is dialing a ten- or twelve-digit number during transition period. All toll-free numbers -- including the present 950 and 555 numbers are combined into one pseudo-NPA with lots of room for growth, thus reducing subscribers' confusion over what numbers are toll-free. 4.3.2 Disadvantages Expanding the NANP by inserting digits into NPAs and telephone numbers in ways that differ from one NPA to another may be difficult to explain, may be hard to understand by the general public, and is user-unfriendly. A conversion table would need to be published, as other countries have done when adding digits to their systems. While all out-of-NPA calls will be the same length ("0" or "1" plus 12 digits), and all local numbers within a given NPA will be the same length, that local-number length will differ from one NPA to another. Does not allow permissive dialing of same-NPA calls dialed without an area code. Prohibits the opening of the D digit to 0 prior to the implementation of this option and during the transition period (but it may be opened to 1). Prohibits, permanently, the opening of the first digit of the Central Office Code (which will be B, C, D, or E depending on locality) to either 0 or 1. Does not allow release of the 80 N9X formatted NPAs for immediate assignment, as they are required for this expansion. Does not provide the Canadian industry and regulatory authorities with increased flexibility and autonomy in the use of NANP numbering resources. 4.4 Dependencies & Prerequisites This option cannot be implemented in the above manner if the D digit is released prior to NANP expansion. John David Galt ------------------------------ From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Upcoming Areacode Changes Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 14:21:28 PST Organization: Shadownet Condensed from various files at www.nanpa.com and from NNAG: 856 New Jersey (full cutover 13 Nov 99) 321 Florida (overlaid on 407 1 Dec 99) 858 California (full cutover 11 Dec 99) 669 California (overlaid on 408 8 Jan 00) 936 Texas (splits from 409 1 Feb 00) 979 Texas (splits from 409 1 Feb 00) 951 California (splits from 909 12 Feb 00) 636 Missouri (full cutover 26 Feb 00) 763 Minnesota (splits from 612 27 Feb 00) 952 Minnesota (splits from 612 27 Feb 00) 571 Virginia (overlaid on 703 1 Mar 00) 262 Wisconsin (full cutover 4 Mar 00) 631 New York (full cutover 1 Apr 00) 859 Kentucky (splits from 606 1 Apr 00) 865 Tennessee (full cutover 24 Apr 00) 662 Mississippi (full cutover 1 May 00) 863 Florida (full cutover 22 May 00) 935 California (splits from 619 10 Jun 00) 764 California (overlaid on 650 17 Jun 00) 278 Texas (overlaid on 734 8 Jul 00) 337 Louisiana (full cutover 10 Jul 00) 341 California (overlaid on 510 15 Jul 00) 564 Washington (overlaid on 360 29 Jul 00) 229 Georgia (splits from 912 1 Aug 00) 478 Georgia (splits from 912 1 Aug 00) 936 Texas (full cutover 4 Aug 00) 979 Texas (full cutover 4 Aug 00) 989 Michigan (splits from 517 19 Aug 00) 951 California (full cutover 9 Sep 00) 321 Florida (full cutover 1 Oct 00) 859 Kentucky (full cutover 1 Oct 00) 657 California (overlaid on 714 7 Oct 00) 442 California (splits from 760 21 Oct 00) 628 California (overlaid on 415 21 Oct 00) 679 Michigan (overlaid on 313 4 Nov 00) 935 California (full cutover 9 Dec 00) 763 Minnesota (full cutover 14 Jan 01) 952 Minnesota (full cutover 14 Jan 01) 989 Michigan (full cutover 20 Jan 01) 947 Michigan (overlaid on 248 3 Feb 01) 752 California (overlaid on 909 10 Feb 01) 442 California (full cutover 14 Apr 01) 229 Georgia (full cutover 1 Aug 01) 478 Georgia (full cutover 1 Aug 01) 424 California (overlaid on 310 ? ??? ??) 684 I American Samoa (joins NANP ? ??? ??) 684 I American Samoa (full cutover ? ??? ??) Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? From: belfert@foshay.citilink.com (Brian Elfert) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 15:31:08 GMT Curtis R. Anderson writes: > There is a high intensity white flash tube for daytime use. Obviously, > it must have been more cost effective to put a white flash tube on the > tower for daytime use than it was to keep the striped orange and white > paint job on it. I think tower operators would rather use the white lights during day and night, but resident complaints have squashed use of the white lights at night. A television tower 1/2 mile from my parents' house had white lights on it that were active 24 hours a day. Many residents complained, and after a year or so, the lights were red at night and white during the day. Brian ------------------------------ From: bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? Date: 21 Nov 1999 12:48:02 GMT Organization: Not Much Das 'blinking lights' are required by the FCC (co-operating with the FAA) on any tower more than 300' above ground level. The _quick_ way to get it fixed is notify any handy FCC field office, In article , Daryl R. Gibson wrote: > At Scipio, Utah, another "corner" tower moves the signal westward, and > it goes on to Nevada and California. The warning beacon on that tower, > at Scipio, stopped blinking about a month or so ago. I figure the > tower's not examined that much, so an AT&T crew probably won't wander > by for a while, yet. Anybody know who I should report it to? ------------------------------ From: Patrizio Menchetti Organization: Studio legale Menchetti Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 18:24:18 +0100 Subject: Unlocking GSM Phones > Some codes are based on the IMEI and can be calculated, but > not necessarily all of them. You can lock/unlock a phone from the > handset, or with a data cable depending on the model. Theres > nothing magical about it. GSM operators lock/unlock phones all > the time. The lack of answers to prepubescent Italian geeks on > alt.cellular.gsm can hardly be taken as proof that it can't be done. > However, as it is a service the telephone companies charge for > you can hardly blame people for not offering the service for free. > Steven I understand that my compatriots are more keen to act as conspirators than to report locks to the regulatory authorities (no, they don't need a lawyer to do that -- and lawyers' advertising is forbidden here BTW). In the European Union GSM handset locks are very likely to be in violation of competition (antitrust) law, as handset prices cannot be subsidized by traffic. Fines may amount to up to 10% of the aggregated turnover of the company -- and authorities do fine companies here. Patrizio Menchetti Avvocato Studio legale Menchetti Tel. +39 0583 419812 Fax +39 0583 316625 E-mail patrizio.menchetti@menchlaw.com *CHANGE OF ADDRESS / CAMBIO INDIRIZZO* New office address / nuovo indirizzo dello studio: Via di Poggio, 34 I-55100 Lucca, Italy Mail address / indirizzo per la corrispondenza: Casella postale 919 I-55100 Lucca, Italy ------------------------------ From: Buttmunch Subject: Possible ANI Failure? Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 13:52:43 -0600 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com I recently used the service available from http://www.dialpad.com . Basically this service allows you to call anywhere within the US free of charge to you. I assume that it uses some form of VOIP. Well anyway, I decided to call an ANI voice readback number. The readback number that I use is: 1-800-346-0152. It just keeps on ringing and doesn't pick up. I figured that there was some sort of problem with it, so I called from my phone. It gave me a readback to the PBX number that I am on. So I deduced from that there is no problem with the 800 ANI readback number. Doing further investigation I used my free personal 1-800 number available through http://www.ureach.com . I left myself a voice message. I then proceeded to check which number that it had originated from. It said that it was unknown. I then proceeded to check my call detail report. It listed the number as unknown. Now my question is, is it possible that dialpad could be causing some kind of ANI failure? In dialpad's FAQ it mentions somewhere that all 800 numbers are routed to a special underutilized gateway. I remember reading somewhere that party phone lines are capable of causing an ANI failure. 1-800-487-9240 has since been redirected to another service, and I can't tell which code that it is giving for the failure. Any answers would to this puzzling question would be appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 09:30:44 EST From: Michael J. Kuras Subject: Re: Need Link for CO Information The site http://www.dslreports.com maps CO locations to area code/exchanges. The 'deep' url is http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/coinfo. (Dont' want to trigger any lawsuits here. ;) I like this site. It offers what seems to be a thorough, non-biased overview of DSL technology & availability. As an aside: this site correctly shows that I'm ~27000 feet away from my CO. Unfortunately, it means the only DSL I can get is IDSL, which has a maximum up/down speed of 128/128. I haven't checked with any providers yet, but I just *know* that they're going to charge me the same monthly rate as someone who's 2000 ft from the CO and gets full speed. (grumble) Also, I'm not entirely sure why my speed will be limited; my local loop muxes onto a T1-speed Parigain modem not more than a few hunderd feet from my demarc. Why, then, will I be throttled to less than 10% of the possible throughput? Why will I forced to use IDSL? There's got to be a better way. michael j kuras finger for pgp key ------------------------------ From: Bruce F. Roberts Subject: Re: 2 to 4 Wire Modem Converter Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 19:29:10 -0600 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services A shelf is not necessary anyway. Tellabs and other make "apparatus cases" which hold 2 or 4 cards and the power supply can be the plug-in-the-wall "wall wart" design. Matt Peterson wrote: > A complete tellabs shelf with power supply (unless you have DC > available) is probably overkill for this application. Try a RAD VSC > (FXS to 2 or 4 wire E&M converter.) I have used these products where I > needed single line 2/4 wire conversion. A complete tellabs shelf with > power supplies and a single 6131B will cost a couple grand and it won't > be fun wiring it up to a single device. RAD VSCs are available > rackmount or in a desktop modem type case for $4-500. You might have to > play some games with the signalling leads to get it to keep the line > open. I've never hooked one up without using the E&M leads. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 15:44 +0000 (Penarth Winter Time) From: Richard@office.mandarin.com (Richard D G Cox) Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure On Wed, 17 Nov 1999, j$t@e~p~i~x.n!e!t (Julian Thomas) wrote: > Yes or no - each with a 900# to send a fax (for $2.95/minute). It would be particularly helpful to know the actual 1-900 numbers being used here, and from that be able to identify whatever IXC may be involved. Could the details be either posted -- or, if preferred, mailed to me? Richard Cox 029 2031 1131 To send genuine email, remove the "office" from my address. Thanks. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #566 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 22 01:09:04 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA18947; Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:09:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:09:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911220609.BAA18947@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #567 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Nov 99 01:09:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 567 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Starpower Changes Rates For Its Bundled Long Distance Service (P Robinson) Re: Definitions (Robert Bonomi) Re: Definitions (Peter Dubuque) Re: Calling 888 Numbers From Outside the US (Peter Corlett) Re: Wiretap Story Comes out Scrambled (Ari) Smart Number (Wiring65) Re: Transmission of TV Signals (Rob Levandowski) Re: Transmission of TV Signals (David Wilson) xDSL, FITx, HFC - Tech Info Wanted (Andrzej Kowalczyk Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Richard D.G. Cox) Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Leonard Erickson) Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) (Orin Eman) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rfc1394a@aol.com Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 04:34:07 EST Subject: Starpower Changes Rates For Its Bundled Long Distance Service From: Paul Robinson Sometime in the summer of 1998 I saw an ad in the paper announcing that Starpower could offer telephone service in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. At that time I lived in Ft. Washington, Maryland, and, obviously I had service with Bell Atlantic because there was no alternative. I've had service with BA for more than seven years when I lived in Silver Spring, Maryland and have had problems with them which I have documented here in other articles over the years. When there was an alternative, I abandoned Bell Atlantic faster than a Gypsy Roofing company leaves town. I know Starpower is currently, in effect, buying the service from Bell Atlantic at a discount and reselling it to me at a small markup, but that's irrelevant; the whole point was for me to be able to stop having to deal with Barf Atemetic even if the severing of my connection to them (pun intentional) is only symbolic. And the fact Starpower offers the service at a 5% discount over the incumbent (or should I say incompetent) telephone company is just icing on the cake. Don't get me wrong, though. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the installers and linesmen and lineswomen at Bell Atlantic who actually go out in the field and hook this stuff up. I have found them, in every case, to be good, professional people of the highest calber, who sometimes would even bend company rules a little or do just a little more than they had to in order to see to it the job was done, and done correctly. No, the problem with Hell Titanic is the backoffice people who either (A) misenter the orders for whatever service I order into the computer; (B) set the wrong options on my service; (C) disconnect my service by accident or mistake; and (D) issue me service that not only cheated me and when I was backbilled for the correct amount they owed me $80, but violated their own tariff schedule. These are just some of the mistakes that me decide to switch to someone else when it was possible to do so. When I moved to Virginia about a year ago, I first looked to Starpower to see if I could get service from them BEFORE I would do business with. And I could. So I did. Starpower also offers the option of using their Long Distance at 9c a minute 24/7 everywhere, even on intrastate and short-distance toll calls, so I took that too. In this month's bill, Starpower announced they were changing rates on their service. Since I take phone service with them they waive the $5.95 a month service charge. Well, Starpower announced that the rate has changed. They will no longer be charging 9c per minute for long distance. They are now charging 7c per minute. I cannot ever remember Bell Atlantic making any announcement of a reduction in what they charge, only the reverse whenever they made the obligatory PUC mandated warning. Sometimes you make a choice and you don't know if it's the right one. Sometimes you know right away. I knew that my choice was the right one. It's nice to have something like this reconfirm what you knew all along. Paul Robinson Formely TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM, PAUL@TDR.COM among others. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Definitions Date: 21 Nov 1999 12:25:20 GMT Organization: Not Much In article , Joey Lindstrom wrote: > On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:46:08 EST, editor@telecom-digest.org > wrote: >>> RADAR SONAR LORAN ELF AM FM VHF UHF >> AM=Amplitude Modulation >> FM=Frequency Modulation >> VHF=Very High Frequency >> UHF=Ultra High Frequency. >> My brain cells have obviously had insufficient caffiene today as I can't >> remember the exact definition for RADAR and SONAR ... :( >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But you neglected to take a guess at >> LORAN and ELF. PAT] > RADAR = RAdio Detecting And Ranging > SONAR = SOund Navigation And Ranging > LORAN = LOng RAnge Navigation LOng Range Aid to Navigation > ELF = Extremely Low Frequency (below 300 Hertz) > C'mon, hit me with another ... I dare ya. ;-) Oh, lets see here, RFI SHORAN PWM NAK AVC CTCSS (hint: pagers and 2-way radios) SCA QAM SSB/SC UCT HDX ERP TARFU ETB MUNG [snip] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Since 'Radar' is 'Radio Detecting and > Ranging', it sounds a little silly to speak in terms of 'radar > detectors' doesn't it. I don't see why. the original form was 'radio-based detection and ranging' (of remote objects). So, _what_else_ would you call a device that 'detects' when such a device is in operation. > If so, do we have a detecting device which > detects radio detectors? Sort of a double spy as in spy-vs-spy, Mad > Magazine style? That might be a good way to describe it; we are > using a radio to spy and find out if someone nearby is using a radio > to spy on us. Maybe someone could develop an 'anti-TEMPEST' detector > to tell us if someone nearby was using that method of spying, by > looking for the radiation *it* was emitting. A radio detector is capable of detecting another radio detector. It 'transmits' about as much energy as a conventional receiver, of equivalent construction, does. There is the 'minor' matter of knowing 'what frequencies' to look on, however. And the fact that 'quality' equipment -- whether it's a receiver or a 'radio detector' -- puts out a whole lot less 'signature' than cheap 'consumer' stuff. As for Mad Mag, the real world is in the 'spy-vs-spy-vs-spy' category. "Radar-detector detectors" are on the market. Law-enforcement types, in some jurisdictions where radar-detectors are prohibited by statute, use 'em. > But then PIN, as in 'Personal Identification Number' is frequently > stated as 'PIN number' which seems to double things up on the end > also. How about "What's the ISBN number for that book?" Or, even worse, "What's the ISBN book number?" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 16:16:44 EST From: Peter Dubuque Subject: Re: Definitions In Kim Brennan wrote saying Harry S Truman did put a period after the 'S' -- which meant nothing but 'S' -- even though the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, National Enquirer, Weekly World News and TELECOM Digest usually do not do so. So the TELECOM Digest Editor Queried in response: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How do you know? Did you ask him? > Or did you merely read historical accounts and/or newspaper reports > where other writers put the period after the 'S' because they > did not know any better? PAT] The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum (his presidential library) has an article on the matter, and a scan of his signature, at http://www.trumanlibrary.org/speriod.htm Peter F. Dubuque - dubuque@tiac.net - Enemy of Reason(TM) O- ------------------------------ From: abuse@cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett) Subject: Re: Calling 888 Numbers From Outside the US Date: 21 Nov 1999 21:25:52 GMT Organization: None Richard D.G. Cox wrote: > Someone mailed me about a "Low cost merchant account for your business" > but as the country I'm currently in cannot dial +1-888 numbers directly, I > wondered whether any of your readers would like to check out whether there > is anything available at 1-888-821-4576 that is worth following up? Whilst I don't generally spend money phoning up spammers (it's sometimes much more productive to phone the Administrative Contact for their domain or the upstream) I had to play. It appears that I can call this number using a Telco account from my Orange mobile phone, and thus presumably from a Telco account attached to a landline. It would appear that different UK telcos have different approaches to calling US numbers. When I last checked, British Telecom, and Mercury (subsequently rebranded Cable and Wireless) seem to have the same approach: to supervise the call, play a recorded announcement, and then attempt to connect the call. I have a charge on a bill for what I understand to be an invalid 1-800 number through this, when I made a test call. I've no idea whether this is still standard procedure, since I have no particular wish to pay either BT or CWC their extortionate rates for transatlantic calls. My old AT&T UK account was able to call 1-800 numbers without the supervisory announcement and accompanying charge for listening to this message, but alas the company was otherwise completely incompetent, IMO. For example they couldn't bill correctly, and they misimplemented CLIP contrary to Oftel rules, and I told them to get lost. To make sure I caused them as much hassle as they caused me, I made sure I overpaid them by a penny on the closing balance, causing them to send me a bill every month telling me that they owed me 1p (and that I should pay immediately.) I didn't actually think they'd still be sending them after a year, but they did. Anyway, it would appear that a number of smaller UK telcos actually use the US as a backup route for their calls. I suspect that this is because they have a significant amount of US bandwidth when compared with their UK bandwidth, and when the system gets congested, they only have US ports free, and thus calls go via there. This is particularly noticable at 6pm when cheap rate kicks in. I have often made a call via Telco and recieved the "Your number cannot be completed as dialled" message. Somehow, a call that is going a mile or so has ended up on the wrong side of the Atlantic! I've certainly seen a bill showing calls to 0121 449 xxxx as 1-441 214 49xx (with the last two digits lost). Is that number even valid? Another interesting feature of this US routing is the CLIP. It appears that calls routed within the UK show up as "Unavailable" or "Withheld" (i.e. Out of Area, or Private) and when they go via the US, the full number is presented. This seems entirely contrary to how I would expect it to work. I've just tested this now, calling the landline from my mobile. Firstly, I was told by an American lady that the line had been disconnected. The second time, I got through. I dread to think what is going on with them at times. It seems that to be able to call anywhere, you need about three or four telcos and be prepared to experiment. Wouldn't it be nice if there was just one that worked all the time? Still, perhaps I should try some 1-900 numbers and see if they connect at all, and if so, what shows up on the bill. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 11:51:50 -0800 From: Ari Subject: Re: Wiretap Story Comes out Scrambled Organization: SPAMMERS BEWARE Richard Shockey wrote: > Monty Solomon wrote: >> The IETF, an international group that sets standards for the Internet, >> wants the Feds to do their own dirty work. The group voted yesterday >> not to help governments with wiretapping efforts. > I'm not so sure this story is being accurately reported. Though the > NO votes in DC were very vocal, the abstentions were in the majority > IHMO. Strange ... from where I was in the Regency Room at the Omni during the IETF-46 plenary when Jeff Schiller took the show of hands for NO, YES and ABSTAIN, it looked like the majority were AGAINST providing wiretap enabling features in IETF protocols. And that **was** the announced result. > This issue is not going to go away in the IETF any time soon. That's for sure ... AND it will further energize end-to-end encryption use. Reply to: Ari (at) usa (dot) net ------------------------------ From: wiring65@aol.com (Wiring65) Date: 20 Nov 1999 22:07:48 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Smart Number Found an interesting url for unifying phone, fax, pager and mobile phone into one number at http://www.ipappliance.net/IPOneLine/IP_OneLine_Welcome.html ------------------------------ From: robl@macwhiz.com (Rob Levandowski) Subject: Re: Transmission of TV Signals Organization: MacWhiz Technologies Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 23:03:22 -0500 In article , J.F. Mezei wrote: > What bugs me is that this is sporadic and rarely long lived. What sort > of conditions would result in the picture quality being diminished? With DSS, there is a well-known phenomenon which can cause this effect. It's called "rain fade." It occurs when the line of sight from the satellite to the reception dish is obscured by meterological conditions -- rain, snow, sleet, etc. It's especially noticeable if the normal reception level is marginal. For example, if your DSS dish has a few tree branches along the line of sight, you may be fine on sunny days, but during heavy downpours your service may pixellate or cut out altogether. However, that's also due to the fact that DSS is using a relatively small 18" dish. I would think that cable companies and networks would be using larger, more robust dishes and signalling. > Also, is such a pixelisation common/always there in DSS broadcasts > (which use digital compression of signals)? With DirecTV, yes. Some channels have constant "artifacting" due to heavy MPEG2 video compression. It's especially visible in shadows or large areas of uniform color. DirecTV has expanded their channel lineup without signifigantly increasing their available bandwidth; as a result, they've cranked the compression up. To me, being "sensitized" to the pixellation from watching streaming video on the 'net, it's painfully obvious -- especially on a decent 32" or larger TV. In theory, the pay-per-view and "premium" channels get a bigger bandwidth chunk than channels like Food TV or Sci-Fi. Also, the PPV channels are supposedly stored precompressed, so the compression should be of higher quality than the "standard" channels which are compressed on the fly. However, when I watched the letterbox PPV of "Saving Private Ryan" on DirecTV, there was obvious artifacting throughout the film. In comparison, the DVD of SPR was free of artifacts. DVD uses a 10Mbps data stream, IIRC; I don't know what DirecTV uses. Rob Levandowski robl@macwhiz.com ------------------------------ From: david@uow.edu.au (David Wilson) Subject: Re: Transmission of TV Signals Date: 20 Nov 99 12:04:25 GMT Organization: University of Wollongong, Australia J.F. Mezei writes: > For some time now, I have noticed that one or two TV channels I get > VIA cable are *NOTICEABLY* MPEG video from time to time (a few days > at a time). Here in Australia I have noticed this problem on free to air ABC & SBS programs relayed by satellite to a local UHF transmitter. > For instance, at times (very sporadic), the NBC channel is broadcast > in such a way that you can see the squares of the MPEG compression (or > whatever similar method is used) in certain parts of the screen, most > noticeable around the mouth and eyes of a head. Such "events" are > sporadic and last from one to a few days and may not be seen again for > some time. Here the problem occurs for a couple of seconds at most. Some nights I would see one occurrence in an hour long program, on one particularly bad night I counted a dozen picture breakups and one sound loss during a half hour program. I contacted our national transmission agency and they confirmed that the signals are now transmitted digitally using MPEG compression and that occasionally they will run out of bandwidth for all the channels and some errors will occur. I also sent email to both broadcasters and the ABC said they would look into it -- no further information has been forth-coming but the errors seem to occur less often. David Wilson School of IT & CS, Uni of Wollongong, Australia ------------------------------ From: Andrzej Kowalczyk Subject: xDSL, FITx, HFC - Tech Info Wanted Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 11:15:23 GMT Organization: TPNET - http://www.tpnet.pl Hi, I am looking for any kind of tech info, specifications, etc. about xDSL, FITx, HFC. If you have any (electronic documents preffered) or you know where it is available please send me a message with addresses of the websites or/and documents in an attachment. Best regards, Andrzej guesswhoami@poczta.onet.pl ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 11:56 +0000 (Penarth Winter Time) From: Richard@office.mandarin.com (Richard D.G. Cox) Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting On Fri, 19 Nov 1999, robl@macwhiz.com (Rob Levandowski) wrote: > Therefore, if you have a choice between using a one-bulb or two-bulb > fixture, it makes sense to go with the one-bulb fixture, because one > large bulb will cost you less to operate for the same amount of light Cost-reduction is not always the only objective that "makes sense"! A one-bulb fixture has an inherent disadvantage -- that bulb will one day fail -- and when it does there will be no light output from the fixture. With a two-bulb fixture, when one bulb fails there will still be light (albeit at half power). The sudden failure of a lamp fixture can have serious safety considerations, whether in the home or a public place. And the cost savings may be extinguished by other resulting costs: if a single-lamp fixture fails in a public building, it may be necessary to call a janitor or electrician out to change the bulb; with the two-bulb fitting the situation can wait until the janitor is next in that area. Will the cost of the janitors (over)time be less than the cost of the power saved? Richard Cox 029 2031 1131 To send me genuine e-mail, just remove the "office" from my address! ------------------------------ From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 14:43:11 PST Organization: Shadownet Linc Madison writes: > In article , PAT wrote: >> Last couple of questions: Regarding incadescent lighting, do two >> smaller bulbs of (let's say) 25 watts each produce the same amount of >> light throughout the area as one bulb of 50 watts? > Roughly speaking, in terms of light output of ordinary incandescent > light bulbs, > 1 @ 100W = 2 @ 60W = 6 @ 25W > So two 25W bulbs will provide less total light than one 50W bulb. Actually, it all depends on the bulb. The packages for the bulbs should have a rating in *lumens*. That's the actual *light output* of the bulb. And it doesn't have as much to do with the wattage as you might think. And it pays to check both the lumens rating *and* the "average lifetime" rating. Because quite often you'll discover that in the long run, you'll get a better deal buying the *cheaper* bulbs. True, you may have to change bulbs more often, but I'd rather do that than pay twice as much money for a bulb that only last 50% longer! Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort ------------------------------ From: orin@wolfenet.COM (Orin Eman) Subject: Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT!) Date: 21 Nov 1999 22:25:49 GMT Organization: Wolfe Internet Access, L.L.C Frank Prindle writes: > I know this is off-topic (but then again, isn't this whole thread?) > but couldn't we at least spell this right: > F L U O R S C E N T And the spelling police have their foot firmly planted in their mouth. Try fluorescent, or even florescent. Orin ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #567 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 22 02:07:04 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id CAA21227; Mon, 22 Nov 1999 02:07:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 02:07:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911220707.CAA21227@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #568 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Nov 99 02:07:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 568 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Fluorescent Lighting (Sethu Rathinam) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (Adam Sampson) Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< ) (G Thomas) Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! (Leonard Erickson) Those Pesky Lamps (Bill Levant) Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP<) (Orin Eman) Re: Urban Legend Alert (Robert Bonomi) Light Bulbs (and Other Stuff) (Steve Hayes) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Fluorescent Lighting From: see-signature@noplace.nom (Sethu Rathinam) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:03:03 GMT > PAT, the TELECOM Digest Editor, noted in reply: .... > What about > people who are too cheap to buy their own lightbulbs, so they steal > them from Chicago Transit Authority subway trains. The bulb has > a notation on it saying '50 watts, DC, Railway Lighting Company'. > The subway trains run on DC through the third rail. Will the bulb > work in a lamp at home? PAT] The *incadescent* bulbs don't care whether you use AC or DC and work the same. They behave like "just resistors" on the circuit for all practical purposes. [For the mathematically inclined, Power = Voltage * Current; Voltage = Current * Resistance; Household voltage is 'constant' at 110V in some parts of the world and all that.] Sethu R Rathinam rathinam AT netins PERIOD net ------------------------------ From: bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Date: 21 Nov 1999 14:08:12 GMT Organization: Not Much In article , Cortland Richmond wrote: > There are some exceptions to the rule preventing disclosure of radio > transmissions. Amateur Radio is one of them. Any licensed ham will certify to the falsehood of that statement. Ham radio transmissions _are_ covered by the Secrecy of Communications section of the Communications Act. In article , Michael Sullivan wrote: [snip] Everything Michael said was find, up to this point ... > police doppler radar works by simply sending out a series of pulses and > then timing how long the pulses take to get back. *sigh* Here we go again, with some authorative-sounding MIS-INFORMATION. Police radar, works on a principle known as 'Doppler shift'. It does _not_ involve *TIMING* the pulses. It doesn't even _use_ pulses. It is a _continuous_ carrier signal, which is bounced off the object in question. The 'echo' from that object is FREQUENCY SHIFTED, upwards if the object is approaching, and downwards if it is receeding. The magnitude of that frequency shift is related to the speed the object is travelling at. The radar unit simply combines the signal it's transmitting, with the 'echo'. _Exactly_ the way any superhetrodyne receiver works, and gets a low frequency out (it's usually well under 1kHz) that reflects the speed of the object. A simple scaling (in the range of interest, the relationship is essentially linear) of the frequency, and you have speed in whatever 'convenient' units you desire. It's an _extremely_ simple design. The transmitter doesn't even have to have any significant long term stability. (It's got to be stable _short- term_, but a drift of 10 PPM per hour probably won't effect the second digit to the _right_ fo the decimal point.) Doing actual 'distance measuring' to the object, and computing 'delta distance over time' to get speed, requires a time-base with sub-nanosecond resolution to get accuracy of +/- 1mph. And being able to control/measure the start of pulse-transmission *and* the leading edge of the returning echo with similiar precision. This is doable, but =expensive=, even with todays technology. 25-30 years ago -- forget it. Something like that would probably occupy an entire semi-trailer, and cost well into seven figures. [snip] >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest that federal laws -- however >> obscure they may be -- take precedence over state laws where they >> exist and when the federal law is more stringent. The federal law, >> as it appears in the Communications Act of 1934 with revisions, etc, >> says that you may not intentionally or deliberatly receive radio >> transmissions not intended for yourself, nor may you benefit from ... OOPS! statute says "communications". A simple un-modulated carrier, or for that matter a carrier modulated with a _constant_ signal does *not* qualify as "communication". Furthermore, you _are_ allowed to *listen* to any such "communications" (with the exception of the analog cell-phone frequency band), intentionally and/or deliberately. There's an entire specalized hobby, a branch of 'short wave listening', that concentrates on 'collecting' various kinds of 'commercial' (*NOT* broadcast) radio transmissions. Including sending notices to the originating station, and requesting a confirmation that it -was- them that they heard. An exotic form of "QSL card" collecting. Trivia: Ship-to-shore telephone, from ships _far_ out at sea, and before it was mostly all on satellite relay, was considered a prime catch. The things forbidden by the Communications Act, as amended, etc. are: 1) disclosing the _content_ of the communication to any third party without the _express_ permission of all of the parties involved in that conversation. Note: you _are_ allowed to disclose to the _participants_ in that conversation. 2) retransmitting/rebroadcasting the communication without the express permission of the sending party. 3) *using* the _content_ of the communication for your own benefit/gain. These restrictions do _not_ apply with regard to a radio services operated by a public-service arm of a bona-fide government body. e.g. police, fire dept, etc. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 12:22:31 +0000 From: Adam Sampson Reply-To: azz@gnu.org Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) Robert Berntsen wrote: > Incidentally, 220 v is also a rare voltage. Most of Europe is at 230 > volt 50 Hz, UK has 240 v /50 Hz (nominally). Nope, we (the UK) are actually at nominal 230v now to comply with European standards. The change was made by first specifying nominal 230v with a wide enough voltage range that 240v met the standard, and then narrowing the range over the last couple of years. Adam Sampson azz@gnu.org ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 22:08:42 +0000 From: Graeme Thomas Subject: Re: Long Distance Power Transmission (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN) In article , Robert Berntsen writes > Incidentally, 220 v is also a rare voltage. Most of Europe is at 230 > volt 50 Hz, UK has 240 v /50 Hz (nominally). A couple of years ago this "changed". Continental Europe was mainly 220V, and the UK was 240V. They simultaneously changed the specifications so that it was a standard 230V. However, the permissable range covers 24V in the UK, and 22V in the rest of Europe, and I don't think that any of the power companies actually changed voltage. Graeme Thomas ------------------------------ From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT! Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 13:57:26 PST Organization: Shadownet LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net (Larry Finch) writes: > Michael G. Koerner wrote: >> One of the BIGGEST drawbacks to DC is that it cannot be transmitted >> more than a few kilometers. We would need powerplants in nearly every >> neighborhood had DC been the selected standard. > You have it backwards. One of the ADVANTAGES of long distance DC power > transmission is that it has no corona loss, so towers don't have to be > as high and voltages can be higher. It thus is transmitted at lower > currents and can be transmitted much further. Huh? Corona loss *does* have a frequency dependence, but at 60 Hz it's pretty damn small. The *voltage* dependence is far greater. > It can also be carried on one wire, rather than three. You mean *two* wires. Using the ground as a "return for the sort of power levels you are talking about is *not* advisable. It tends to create a *major* hazard zone around your grounding points. One of the big reasons for looking into DC transmission is the availability of "high temp" superconductors. mrs@kithrup.com (Mike Stump) writes: > In article , vt.edu> wrote: >> I'm sorry, but you are just plain wrong on this. High-tension lines, >> at least in the USofA are almost exclusively AC. I think there are >> some DC testbed lines set up, but not to any great extent. > In http://nepa.eh.doe.gov/eis/eis0145/eis0145_1.html we see: > In April 1988, BPA published the Intertie Development and Use (IDU) > eis. This eis studied the environmental and economic effects of the > use of the Intertie, including the Third AC Intertie. AC Intertie > capacity after addition of the Third AC is expected to be > approximately 4,800 megawatts (MW). Including the Third AC, total > Federal and non-Federal Intertie capacity will be approximately 7,900 > MW -- 4,800 MW on the two AC lines and 3,100 MW on the DC lines. > BPA's September 1988 Record of Decision explained the decision to > proceed with the Third AC construction project. At that time, BPA's > decision on requests for non-Federal ownership access to the added > capacity was deferred to the NFP eis process. > DC accounts for about half of the Intertie capacity. If you wonder > who BPA is, they are the people that light California. Actually, BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) provides power to the Pacific Northwest from various dams on the Columbia River, including Bonneville Dam. They export a lot of *excess* power capacity to California. And because of that, they wound up in charge of the Intiertie between the PNW power grid and the Southern California grid. The BPA main offices are only a few miles from where I'm typing this. BTW, California had better be looking for alternate power sources. We are seriously considering getting rid of most of the dams providing the power they buy. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do put out about the same > amount of light. I do not know how or why. Look at any large office > in the USA and the type of lighting. Always 25 or 40 watt flourescent > tubes but the room is quite bright. I'd be interested in knowing how > they make them to be 'warm', 'cool', and 'daylight' (which, if used > in a large room really do make it seem as though sunlight is the > source being used.). PAT] They get them by varying the phospor mix in the coating on the inside of the tube. Fluorescents get their name from the way they work. Inside the tube is a tiny bit of mercury vapor. It gets ionized, and gives of light. But most of this light is at wavelengths we don't want. Some blue, some green, and a *lot* of UV. So they coat the inside of the tube with a mix of various compounds that convert the UV (and maybe even some of the blue) to lower frequencies. The colors from the compounds mix to give an approximation of white light. So you get the different types by controlling which colors are produced, and in what proportions. Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You mention getting rid of most of the dams which supply the California power. Is the Godde Dam one that belongs to BPA or someone else? If it is the property of BPA, is Godde Dam one that is planned to be sold? (No snickering please, the dam was named after a person named Mr. Godde when it was built quite a number of years ago. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 10:08:03 EST Subject: Those Pesky Lamps > but couldn't we at least spell this right: > F L U O R S C E N T Evidently not. It's F L U O R E S C E N T. The other way, it looks like something that glows in the dark and smells real bad. Bill [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No Bill, the thing that 'smells real bad' is PUTRESCENT ... its state after it has putrified. PAT] ------------------------------ From: orin@wolfenet.COM (Orin Eman) Subject: Re: Flourescent Lamps (was Re: >WHOOP< >WHOOP< URBAN LEGEND ALERT!) Date: 22 Nov 1999 06:47:30 GMT Organization: Wolfe Internet Access, L.L.C orin@wolfenet.COM (Orin Eman) writes: > And the spelling police have their foot firmly planted in their > mouth. Try fluorescent, or even florescent. Me too. Of course, while a valid word, florescent has nothing to do with fluorescent. Orin ------------------------------ From: bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Urban Legend Alert Date: 21 Nov 1999 13:10:53 GMT Organization: Not Much In article , Robert Berntsen wrote: > evans_the_swim@tesco.net wrote in message ... >> On Wed, 17 Nov 1999 20:42:22 EST, Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) wrote: >>>> A fairly recent magazine article describes how one enterprising >>>> amateur radio operator keeps his HT battery charged up by rectifying >>>> RF from a nearby AM radio station. > Just a simple thought: > If the transmitter has an RF output of 100 kW, and transmits this to a > half sphere, it will yield approx 0.2 W pr. square meter at a distance > of 300 meters. So it can be done if you have a fairly efficient > antenna, big enough, and are sufficiently close to the transmitting > antenna. Actual energy density is considerably higher, because it is -not- transmitted over a half-sphere. Considerable effort goes into "compressing" it into a narrow range near the horizontal. Modern stations operate with 'effective power output' of half-a-megawatt and more. This with a licensed maximum of 50kw input to the final amplifier. Now, based on Bernsten's calculation above, 500kW effective should be good for 1.0w/square meter. > However, using a solar cell, would be a much easier and probably a > much cheaper way of charging the battery. The advantage I can see to the RF charger is it works _at_night_, as well as in the case of bad weather. In a farm setting, it's likely to be quite 'practical' to throw up a few hundred yards/meters worth of 'antenna'. > I think, however, such stories are quit amusing, and that is the most > important part or ... ------------------------------ From: Steve Hayes Subject: Light Bulbs (and Other Stuff) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 16:51:10 -0000 Hi Pat and everyone, In TELECOM Digest, V19, No. 559, Pat asked a couple of questions about light bulbs. Although I'm not a lighting engineer, I've somehow managed to pick up a few basics about the subject. Here goes -- hope it's reasonably interesting. Everyone knows that an incandescent light bulb has a filament (usually tungsten) which is heated to white heat by an electric current. The hotter the filament is, the more light it gives off (relative to the heat produced) and the bluer (less red or yellow tinted) the light will be. This is as others have pointed out regarding black body radiation. The surface of the sun is at something like (from memory) 6000K. However, tungsten melts at about 3700K so an incandescent light filament has to be kept much cooler than the sun and the light is always going to be more yellowish than sunlight is. Our eyes don't notice this so much but a colour photo taken by incandescent light with a daylight film comes out all wrong. The big limit on filament temperature is that, even below its melting point, the tungsten gradually evaporates and ends up on the inside of the glass bulb. This causes the glass to darken and eventually the filament will fail. Lowering the temperature even just a little bit greatly reduces the evaporation and lengthens the bulb life a lot, but it also means much less light for the input power. The electrical resistance of the filament rises quickly with its temperature. It is about ten times more when the bulb is on as when it is cold, hence the inrush current when a bulb is first turned on. This resistance change means that the bulb can tolerate moderate changes in voltage (10%) with much less change in filament temperature than you would expect. This effect is also sometimes used to stabilise oscillators or power amplifier bias circuits using a bulb which never gets hot enough to actually light up. If part of the filament is thinner than the rest, it will tend to get hotter. Its resistance will be higher and it will get even hotter (P=I squared times R). Tungsten will evaporate more quickly and it will get even thinner. Eventually it will fail. It will fail quicker if the bulb is turned on and off a lot. The thin bit sees the big inrush current. It heats up quicker than the rest and for a moment gets very hot. This effect can also be seen with some tubes/valves (remember those) where the heater ends flare brightly when the thing is first turned on before they settle down to an orange glow as the bulk of the cathode heats up. Normally, a bulb is designed for a particular life (e.g. 1000 hours). The designer has some idea of the filament quality and the current and chooses a filament thickness that will heat up at that current to the point where evaporation should cause it to fail after the design life. The resulting temperature decides the efficiency of the bulb. A higher current bulb has a thicker filament which can tolerate more evaporation. It will be designed to run a bit hotter than a low current bulb. That is why a 100W bulb gives more light than two 60W bulbs (one of Pat's questions). It is also why a low voltage bulb of a particular wattage is more efficient than a higher voltage bulb. A long-life bulb is a good bit less efficient than a standard bulb. For the same light output, you could use a lower wattage standard bulb and save far more on your electricity bill than you spend on extra bulbs. Long life bulbs should only be used where the bulb is hard to change. Of course, a fluorescent bulb might be a better choice. As for those things that go into the light socket and extend the life of the bulb: they drop the voltage and ruin the efficiency of the bulb. There used to be a bulb type called "photoflood" which gave a very bright light but only lasted about half an hour. I wonder if they still exist. If the bulb is filled with a halogen gas (fluorine?), there is a chemical reaction which causes evaporated tungsten to be redeposited on the hot filament. These bulbs can run hotter for the same life. They are more efficient and give a less yellow light. Unfortunately, the gas reacts with glass so they use quartz instead which makes them expensive. Low voltage halogen bulbs are common in spotlights, desk lamps and car headlights. There is unlikely to be any difference which would prevent using a DC bulb on AC so long as the AC rms voltage matches the design DC voltage. Often though the voltage doesn't seem to be marked, perhaps to deter bulb thieves. I wonder if there might be a problem using an AC bulb on DC, in particular if it might arc dangerously when the filament fails? Now to get a bit of relevance to telecoms: One way to extend the life of bulbs which turn on and off a lot is to pass a current through the bulb even when it is off (e.g. by putting a resistor across the switch contacts). The current is chosen so that the bulb doesn't quite light up but the inrush current when the switch closes is much less. This used to be done with phone switchboard lamps. Nowadays, we would use LEDs. An interesting experiment can be done using a CD or CD-ROM. If you look at the colours in its reflection of a light source, you can see the spectrum. With sunlight, the red and blue light looks about equal with the green much brighter (response of the eye, I imagine). With an ordinary light bulb, the red is much stronger than the blue. With a quartz-halogen bulb, the blue is still weak but not as much so. A fluorescent is the most interesting. You should see several distinct colours from the various phosphors instead of a continuous spectrum. Perhaps someone else will report the differences with the various types of fluorescent tube. Now on some completely different topics: Something like 30 years ago, I remember my dad mentioning the farmer who, in his version, was prosecuted for heating his chicken coop with electricity tapped with a coil from a nearby power line. I assumed the farmer was in the UK but perhaps not. Anyway, the story has been around a long time. I'm as sceptical as anyone else about whether this could really produce any detectable heat or light. There was a question about the rate for sending junk faxes to the US from the UK. Recently some of the smaller carriers here have been advertising rates of 2 to 3p (about 5 US cents) per minute to the US. This is cheaper than a local call is here! I don't see that they can make a profit but I suppose they hope that people who sign up will call other countries as well. In a few months I expect they will quietly put the rates back up to the usual 8p or so. Even that isn't too much for a junk faxer to pay to evade regulations. Like most radio receivers, radar detectors use superheterodyne circuits. They have local oscillators which may radiate and this is what radar detector detectors must pick up. Some radar detectors claim to be undetectable. I suppose their local oscillators are better screened. Steve Hayes South Wales, UK [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for sending along some very interesting responses to bring an end to the three threads noted above on RADAR, stealing electricity to heat chicken houses, and the discussion about light bulbs of one kind or another. They were all quite interesting threads, but we need to get back to telecom now, don't you think? If anyone has any final very precise, very concise, *short* comments to add, I'll run them Tuesday maybe ... or if anyone knows the disposition of Godde Dam, which was quite a tourist attraction at one time, I'll print that. Otherwise, let's try telecom again for awhile. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #568 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 22 14:37:05 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id OAA14300; Mon, 22 Nov 1999 14:37:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 14:37:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911221937.OAA14300@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #569 TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Nov 99 14:37:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 569 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ATT Ex-Vanguard Maine CDPD System Refusing All Roamers? (Doug Reuben) Re: Possible ANI Failure? (Dennis K. Wong) Re: Possible ANI Failure? (Diamond Dave) C. I. Host (Fred Atkinson) EXchange Name Project (G.A. Vandercook) Cellular Prefix Number in China (H.S. Jung) Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (Justa Lurker) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Roy Smith) How to Find Telecom Costs for Japan and China? (phoenix@visi.com) SANYO Phones? (Wayne S. Mery) ICANN Article (Ted Byfield) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Doug Reuben Subject: ATT Ex-Vanguard Maine CDPD System Refusing All Roamers? Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 04:56:18 -0800 Organization: Interpage Network Svcs * www.interpage.net Reply-To: Over the weekend, one of the people who works for Interpage was in Maine and reported to me that they were unable to connect to the ex-Vanguard now-ATT CDPD (data) network using their AT&T IP. AT&T CDPD customers have historically been able to roam onto Vanguard CDPD properties, indeed, when I used to have an unlimited AT&T Nationwide CDPD account I used it in Maine many times and found Vanguard's coverage to be excellent. (Indeed, the primary reason I had AT&T as my CDPD carrier was to use in Vanguard, and when they discontinued the nationwide plan I asked AT&T "Since you have already acquired Vanguard, will Vanguard be included in your unlimited rate?" and after a few weeks of checking, they said "No, not yet" [which I found to be quite odd] so I switched from them to Bell Atlantic, which has and is building out an extensive CDPD system in the Northeast, significantly larger than AT&T's even with the Vanguard acquisition -- see an upcoming post about *extensive* new BAMS CDPD in Southern New Hampshire) The problem with AT&T IP numbers in the ex-Vanguard Maine system seems to be that they for some reason show as registered to the AT&T network in Seattle (or Redmond), yet they will NOT register the roaming mobile side, ie, the person who takes his laptop to Maine and tries to register simply can not. Instead, the mobile gets "no response from network" followed almost immediately by "no given reason" from the result window in the CDPD connection software which is used to administer your CDPD connection (we use Watcher). While the "no response from network" is a common response for AT&T CDPD customers in many areas of New Jersey where AT&T *thinks* (wishes? hopes? ;) ) their coverage overlaps BAMS more extensive network (but generally less robust; BAMS's network seems to spend more time "initializing encryption" and sending overhead messages back and forth than sending any actual data in the NY/NJ Metro Market! VERY frustrating!) and tries to block AT&T CDPD customers from roaming onto BAMS, it is not common at all to ever see the "no reason given" message. With this in mind, I wanted to try out my BAMS IP on the ex-Vanguard Maine system, and EXACTLY the same thing happened. Normally, as a BAMS CDPD customer, I get a "Not authorized for SPNI 766", meaning that BAMS doesn't want to let me roam on the ex-Vanguard network in Maine. This time, however, it didn't do that, and just flatly refused to do anything other than return the "no reason given". I'm wondering if anyone else (assuming anyone else uses CDPD :) ) has had this experience with the ex-Vanguard properties lately. We also had a similar problem with "Trust Enabling" in the ex-Vanguard Allentown/Scranton, PA market two weeks ago, but AT&T fixed it. (I get the impression that AT&T is so cheap about allowing their people to roam that they go to such lengths to prevent roaming on "undesirable" systems to the extent that it adversely affects their customers -- there aren't all too many CDPD customers out there precisely because it can be so cumbersome to travel outside AT&T's relatively small coverage areas -- don't make it harder on them by playing games with roaming and denying service.) Finally, assuming anyone does use CDPD in Maine (except the local police, etc.), there is a system in Augusta which does not appear to be part of the ex-Vanguard system. It comes in right where the Maine Turnpike ends and meets up with I-95 (they are separate up there). I've never been able to access it (always a "not authorized for network") and no one at AT&T seems to know or care what it is. (They have this perhaps deserved smugness about how superior their network is and tend to scorn at the "other" carriers; I agree their network is a lot "smoother" and robust but their footprint in the Northeast is pathetic and with BAMS's recent expansions in CT and very recently Southern New Hampshire they need to buy a lot more than Vanguard to catch up.) BTW, for people who aren't familiar with CDPD, CDPD service is offered by Bell Atlantic, AT&T, GTE, Ameritech, SNET (including the RI A side), Comcast (I think they gave up), BC Tel, and the local telco in Nova Scotia(?), and perhaps one or two other carriers in the US. CDPD service operates over cellular frequencies yet is IP packet-based, giving you a permanent, fixed IP just like you would have if you obtained a dedicated dialup from a landline company like UUNET or PSI, etc. With CDPD, you can have full IP functionality (wirelessly!), including FTP, Telnet/Secure Telnet, Ping, Traceroute, and HTTP/WWW/SSL just as you would from a landline Internet connection. Speeds aren't great, but you never have to log out, and you can take your laptop anywhere there is CDPD coverage and use it like you were connected to a telephone line or fixed Internet connection. People can FTP, Telnet, Ping, etc., to you if you so allow them to and have the software to support it on your local system. AT&T and BAMS (and maybe GTE now) offer flat rate (unlimited) usage plans, starting at $39.95 per month for BAMS (800-308-DATA)and up to $70.00 per month for AT&T (800-552-3373) which allows unlimited use anywhere in their network (LA is coming online soon; it is the largest city in the US without CDPD coverage; San Diego to the south and Bakersfield to the northeast has it with GTE and Ventura to the northwest has it with AT&T). Anyhow, any info on what is going on with AT&T's CDPD service in Maine, as well as any general observations about the systems in that area would be welcomed. Thanks! Doug dsr1@interpage.net Interpage Network Services http://www.interpage.net +1 (617) 696-8000 (This post is also available on Wireless Notes at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) ------------------------------ From: Dennis K. Wong Subject: Re: Possible ANI Failure? Date: 22 Nov 1999 17:07:05 GMT Organization: Simon Fraser University Buttmunch wrote: > I recently used the service available from http://www.dialpad.com . > Basically this service allows you to call anywhere within the US free > of charge to you. I assume that it uses some form of VOIP. Well > anyway, I decided to call an ANI voice readback number. The readback > number that I use is: 1-800-346-0152. It just keeps on ringing and > doesn't pick up. I figured that there was some sort of problem with Probably when the ANI readback occurs, there isn't any answer supervision provided by the carrier that reads back the ANI. As for dialpad.com, the ringing tone you hear while you wait for it to connect is "fake" and is generated by the system itself. It overrides the "real" ringing tone or other tones at the destination before cutting you through when answer supervision is provided on the other end. I tried calling an 800 number which is a "home-country direct" number which connects you to an operator in another country. I called the one for China (they have a different ringing tone than North America), and heard the "fake" North American ringing tone before there was answer. ------------------------------ From: Diamond Dave Subject: Re: Possible ANI Failure? Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 07:08:54 -0500 Organization: Verio On Sun, 21 Nov 1999 13:52:43 -0600, Buttmunch wrote: > I recently used the service available from http://www.dialpad.com . Oh, you mean that service that only seems to work half the time, and when it does it doesn't work right? (grin) > Basically this service allows you to call anywhere within the US free > of charge to you. I assume that it uses some form of VOIP. Well > anyway, I decided to call an ANI voice readback number. The readback > number that I use is: 1-800-346-0152. It just keeps on ringing and > doesn't pick up. I figured that there was some sort of problem with > it, so I called from my phone. It gave me a readback to the PBX number > that I am on. So I deduced from that there is no problem with the 800 > ANI readback number. The problem with Dialpad is that you get FAKE ringing or FAKE busy signal generated by that Java applet on your computer. You do not get ANY progress tones from the real PSTN! And if the number you dial never answers, or the telco network sends you to a recorded message (i.e. number not in service) all you get is fake ringing. If the called party answers, the number sends back "answer supervision" where the calling telco can start billing. The problem with the infamous 800 number you put up is that it does NOT return answer supervision (i.e. no billing, even though it is a 800 number) so dialpad won't work. All you get is that annoying ringing! > Doing further investigation I used my free personal 1-800 number > available through http://www.ureach.com . I left myself a voice > message. I then proceeded to check which number that it had originated > from. It said that it was unknown. I then proceeded to check my call > detail report. It listed the number as unknown. Simple, Dialpad does not send ANI information. Not all systems do send ANI. PBX systems from large companies (and telemarketers) are famous for not sending ANI. Also some small market cheezy IXCs (long distance carriers) do not send ANI. > Now my question is, is it possible that dialpad could be causing > some kind of ANI failure? In dialpad's FAQ it mentions somewhere that > all 800 numbers are routed to a special underutilized gateway. I > remember reading somewhere that party phone lines are capable of > causing an ANI failure. 1-800-487-9240 has since been redirected to > another service, and I can't tell which code that it is giving for the > failure. Any answers would to this puzzling question would be > appreciated. When I tried calling myself on my regular POTS line, my caller ID said "out of area" which is normal for when the calling party is not sending ANI info. While I'm at it, I tried calling AT&T's infamous 800 number 800-CALL-ATT and the operator comes on the line with the automated response when there is an ANI failure -- "AT&T, What number are you calling from please?" So Dialpad is definately NOT sending ANI. But then again, maybe its a good thing! Dave Perrussel Webmaster - Telephone World http://phworld.tal-on.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 06:09 EST From: Fred Atkinson Organization: Personal Copy Subject: C. I. Host I've been using a Web hosting provider by the hame of C. I. Hosts to host my 'mishash.com' and my 'hamsearch.com' site. The 'hamsearch.com' site is completely CGI driven since it is a search engine. When I established my site with them over six months ago, they tried to make the main account 'mishmash' (mishmash@mishmash.com). Since I run a mailing list called 'mishmash' and since I intended to move my mailing list to that address, I told them that this was unacceptable. They made the main account 'fatkinson' which is my first initial followed by my last name. However, this arrangement prevented my mailing list controls from working. I'd asked them to try to fix this so I could move the 'Mishmash' mailing list to my Web site. So far, no results on that issue. In the last couple of months, I've had two incidents of them changing the file ownerships from 'fatkinson' to 'mishmash'. In both cases, when I asked them to change it back, the CGI on my site stopped working (which meant my search engine was dead in the water). Last time, they fixed it after I held on hold for a long time before finally getting picked up on their ACD to technical support. After some to do, they finally got it working again. Two nights ago, I tried to upload some files to my Web site. I discovered that they rejected me. When I logged onto the site via Telnet, I discovered that once again they had changed all my file ownerships back to 'mishmash'. I called and demanded that they undo the damage they had done. The on duty person changed my ownerships back to 'fatkinson'. At that point, my CGI went down again. I tried to call back and was held at bay by their ACD for an inordinate amount of time. Finally, I gave up and sent them a ticket by email. As of the next morning, the problem had *not* been resolved. Twice yesterday I held on hold on their ACD for over an hour and was never picked up by the technical support person in either case. So, again I sent a complaint via email. This morning I got an email response saying that the problem (that I demanded a recursive change of file ownerships to 'mishmash') had been resolved. When I checked the site, my CGI was still not working. I sent them an email informing them of that fact. I am looking for some suggestions as to how I can resolve this with them on a permanent basis (file ownerships are not changed, CGI scripting is fixed, and they fix the list controls so I can finally move my mailing list to my Web site). I am also looking for a cost effective host of better quality that I can move my site to. Can anyone with a good hosting provider send me a private email (fatkinson@mishmash.com) and share their experiences with me? I am also working with a local radio club to find a good quality provider to set up their Web site, so their would be a possibility of having two accounts. Thanks for any support you can provide. Fred ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 03:18:57 -0500 From: G.A. Vandercook Subject: EXchange Name Project Patrick, Any idea where this has moved to? I'm not a big phone phreak but visit sites frequently (OK, so I'm a little phone phreak) and my bookmark for the EXchange name project didn't work. Hope we didn't lose that gem. gav http://home.earthlink.net/~trafficgard/m40intro.html mailto://trafficgard@earthlink.net ------------------------------ From: H.S. Jung Subject: Cellular Prefix Number in China Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 18:14:12 +0900 Organization: Inet Internet Services Hello, I need the information on the cellular prefix number which is being put into service in China. Any comment on this would be really appreciated! Best regards, HS Jung ------------------------------ From: /dev/null@.com (Justa Lurker) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Organization: Anonymous People Reply-To: jlurker@bigfoot.com Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 13:57:32 GMT It was Sun, 21 Nov 1999 11:40:53 GMT, and John_David_Galt@acm.org (John David Galt) wrote in comp.dcom.telecom: >> > Quotations that follow are from the report. > First an assumption which seems to be so automatic to INC that the report > does not even state it, but just avoids any consideration of alternatives > that reject it. The assumption is that the length of each NPA code will > be the same, and the length of each number will be the same. It does make it easier to write numbers when the groupings are consistant. We are going to have a major transition period to whatever system they choose. Hopefully they will extend the length of the non NPA part of the code -- otherwise it's a waste to expand. >> v) location portability will be supported throughout any given >> portability pooling area and will not be restricted to rate centers; and > This is a bad idea, as it will defeat the ability of customers to know > (from NPA+prefix) whether a given call will be a toll call. Two options that will evolve over the next 15 years is how to pay for the ported numbers. Either caller pays, and the rates are negligible so people don't care if it is across town or country, or callee pays the difference to keep the same number when leaving the rate center. | 212 NXX XXXX becomes 29 212 NXX XXXX | 972 NXX XXXX becomes 490 NXX0 XXXX0 | 702 NXX XXXX becomes 7020 NXX0 XXXX | 307 NXX XXXX becomes 30700 NXX XXXX You have a big problem here. Only the n9x numbers are reserved for longer than ten digit numbering. And massive conversion tables would be needed to identify how each NPA changed. JL ------------------------------ From: roy@endeavor.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? Organization: NYU School of Medicine, Educational Computing Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 10:02:13 -0500 bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > Das 'blinking lights' are required by the FCC (co-operating with the FAA) > on any tower more than 300' above ground level. > The _quick_ way to get it fixed is notify any handy FCC field office Lights on towers go out all the time. From the FAA side, what's done is to issue a NOTAM (NOtice To AirMen), warning pilots about the problem, and there's lots of them. I just did a quick scan for NOTAMS containing the word "TOWER" for a 100 mile radius of White Plains, NY and found: !TEB 08/022 TEB TOWER UNKN (250 AGL) 1.5 NE LGTS OTS !TEB 08/014 TEB TOWER UNKN (250 AGL) 4.53 NE LGTS OTS !DXR 11/012 DXR TOWER 999 (75 AGL) 1 3/8 SE LGTS OTS !DXR 11/011 DXR TOWER 756 (100 AGL) 7/8 W LGTS OTS !DXR 11/007 DXR TOWER 701 (UNKN) 7/8 E LGTS OTS !MIV 10/017 N07 TOWER 722 (503 AGL) 5 NNE LGTS OTS !EWR 10/117 EWR TOWER 405 (280 AGL) 3.79 N LGTS OTS !POU 11/001 POU TOWER UNKN (893 AGL) 9.5 NW LGT OTS !BDR 11/017 N41 TOWER 1310 (350AGL) 3ESE UNLGTD !MIV 10/061 3N6 TOWER UNKN (240 AGL) 6.48 SSE LGTS OTS !BLM 11/001 BLM TOWER UNKN (201 AGL) 4.50 NE LGTS OTS !BLM 10/006 BLM TOWER 302 (202 AGL) 4.31 ENE LGTS OTS !BLM 09/001 BLM TOWER 571 (455 AGL) 3.45 NE LGTS OTS !HTO 08/002 HTO TOWER 330 (220 AGL) 4.99 N LGTS OTS !MIV 10/027 N12 TOWER 246 (210 AGL) 3 NE LGTS OTS !MIV 11/027 N40 TOWER 703 (UNK) 3.93 SE LGTS OTS !MIV 11/024 N87 TOWER UNKN (201 AGL) 3.4 E LGTS OTS !IPT 11/058 9N1 TOWER 620 (510 AGL) 4 W LGTS OTS !MJX 06/004 MJX TOWER 1049 (937 AGL) 18.4 SE LGTS OTS !MPO 10/003 MPO TOWER UNK (260 AGL) 3.6 S LGTS OTS !MPO 10/002 MPO TOWER 2123 (202 AGL) 3 SSE LGTS OTS !MIV 10/029 2N6 TOWER UKN (200 AGL) 4.31 NE LGTS OTS !IPT 09/064 N67 TOWER 779 (361 AGL) 4.81 S LGTS OTS Translating the first one into English, "22nd NOTAM issued in the 8th month of this year for Teterboro Airport, tower, unknown height above sea level (250 feet above ground level), 1.5 nautical miles northeast of Teterboro, lights out of service". Notice that some of these have been out for months; I see one (5th from the bottom) that's been out since June, and that's almost a thousand footer. Makes you wonder exactly how "_quick_" is defined :-) Roy Smith New York University School of Medicine ------------------------------ From: phoenix@visi.com Subject: How to Find Telecom Costs For Japan and China? Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 11:38:19 CST The company that I work for is looking at expanding into international locations. I was able to find the costs for most of the countries I needed but can find nothing (at least in English) regarding Japan and China. The location in Japan would be Tokyo and in China it would be Shanghai. I've gotten in touch with NTT's New York office but haven't heard anything back. I don't even know where to start in China. I need to find out what it costs to have a standard telephone line installed, as well as the monthly charges for the line. No outbound traffic on the line is anticipated so usage charges aren't important. If there is additional cost for having the number unpublished, I need to know that too. If anyone has direct experience with phone costs in these countries or can point me to an English-language source of information that *does*, I'd be appreciative. Thanks in advance, Tim Petlock phoenix@visi.com ------------------------------ From: Wayne S. Mery Subject: SANYO Phones? Date: 22 Nov 1999 16:46:22 GMT Organization: Lehigh University Interested in the SANYO CLT-986. Best prices after extensive search are $219 and $210 at phone-guys and soundradio respectively. (Price at introduction in Sept '97 was $299.) To say there is little feedback posted here to the NGs is an understatement. - Any info known about the new model supposed to be out 1Q-2Q 2000? - Positive or negative experiences of SANYO DSS models in general? - handset speakerphone experience? - Better prices to be found anywhere? - Has SANYO reworked it's distribution channels or having trouble? Vendors of SANYO phones are hard to find I found several stores and web sites in the past few days that stopped carrying them in the past year or two. TIA, Wayne S. Mery | Systems Programmer, Lehigh University 610-758-3983 wsm0@lehigh.edu | http://www.lehigh.edu/~wsm0 VSE/ESA 2.3 | http://www.lehigh.edu/lists/vse-l/ <---VSE mail list ** Save a Life ** ** Sign an Organ Donor card ** ** http://www.transweb.org for more information ** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 13:09:46 -0500 From: Ted Byfield Subject: ICANN Article I've written a short article about ICANN, in particular, about two lawyers for the law firm Jones Day Reavis and Pogue (Joe Sims and Louis Touton), who have played very central roles in the lurching process by which ICANN mutated from a "new IANA" into an entity positioned to promulgate intellectual property policy globally. This article is the first entry in a column/log that I'll be writing for Keith Dawson's TBTF, which some of you may know as a free newsletter. The current issue of TBTF is available at: Instead of just recommending TBTF, I'll say this: I liked it so much I decided to contribute. Cheers, Ted ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #569 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 23 01:08:09 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id BAA05797; Tue, 23 Nov 1999 01:08:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 01:08:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911230608.BAA05797@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #570 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Nov 99 01:08:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 570 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Operation Opt-Out: Portals (Monty Solomon) Re: Need Link for CO Information (Leonard Erickson) Caller ID Passed From ATT to Bell Atlantic to Local Provider (Randy Fine) Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (Al Varney) Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (Arnette P. Schultz) DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length (usbcpdx@teleport.com) Re: Definitions (Bruce F. Roberts) Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure (John R. Levine) Dialout Routing to the Best Operator Available For Destination (Cartaxeiro) International 800 Service (Jeff Shaver) Re: FCC Ruling Aids High-Speed Providers (John Nagle) Wireless Firms Seek Worldwide Empires (Monty Solomon) Online Map Accuracy (was Re: Need Link for CO Information) (Joseph Singer) One Last Word About Urban Legends and Stuff (Neal McLain) Putrescent Defined? (Gregory Ashley) Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb (Joey Lindstrom) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 00:38:18 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Operation Opt-Out: Portals http://opt-out.cdt.org/featured/ THIS WEEK'S FEATURE: Portals Dear Concerned Consumer, The portals -- major sites designed to be entry pages to the Web -- have begun to offer "personalized services." To use these services -- ("My Yahoo," "My Excite," etc. ) - the sites ask you for a lot of personal information. These personalized sites offer to provide you only information that fits your interests, but in the process you may be turning over information that could be sold to others and used in any number of other ways. For example, if you keep a personal calendar on paper or on your home computer, anyone, even the government, would have to come to you if they wanted to read it. Online, however, this same information could be used by the business who is holding it; sold to other companies; turned over to the government; or even just given to a lawyer who subpoenas it without your knowledge and consent. Most of the portals offer you the ability to give as much or as little personal information as you would like and some offer the ability to opt-out of the sale of this information to other companies. We recommend that you read over the privacy policy of the portal that you use and take a look at the information that you are providing them. You should try to limit the amount of personal information that you turn over to the amount you believe is necessary to get the service that you desire, often this is no information at all. Also, look to see if the company says that the information is being shared with other businesses -- often called "trusted parties" or "advertisers or business partners." If so, you can probably opt-out of this data sharing. We have provided you with a list of portals on the left. If you use one of these portals, you can find their policy and exercise your ability to stop them from sharing your data. If your portal is not on this list or if you find others to add, please send them on to us - suggestions@opt-out.cdt.org. Check back because this list will expand as new opt-outs are sent in. If you find sites that do not allow you to opt-out online, write to them and ask why they don't! copyright 1999 The Center For Democracy & Technology 1634 I Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 (v) 202.637.9800 (f) 202.637.0968 webmaster@cdt.org ------------------------------ From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: Need Link for CO Information Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 18:28:13 PST Organization: Shadownet Michael J. Kuras writes: > Also, I'm not entirely sure why my speed will be limited; my local > loop muxes onto a T1-speed Parigain modem not more than a few hunderd > feet from my demarc. In that case you can't get DSL *at all*. It doesn't go over digital links. It uses "extra bandwidth" by using RF over the copper pair. With the setup you are on, all you are allocated on that T-1 is your 64k voice channel. And *that* may be "shared" with your neighbors. So your only choices are ISDN, or something like a fractional T-1. On the plus side, you won't have to worry about speed losses due to "shared" bandwidth. Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 23:15:16 EST From: Randy Fine Subject: Caller ID Passed From ATT to Bell Atlantic to Local Provider Can't seem to get a straight answer from vendors. Have 800 number thru ATT. Bell Atlantic provides dialtone to local telco who connects 800 number to two local telco numbers in hunt group. Bell says they can pass ANI to local telco (for small fee). Local says they can receive ANI from Bell and display caller ID. ATT will not say if they provide (or can or will provide) caller ID to Bell. Any ideas, contacts, etc? TIA, Randy Fine comppart@mail.albany.net ------------------------------ From: varney@ihgp2.ih.lucent.com (Al Varney) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Date: 22 Nov 1999 21:15:08 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies, Naperville, IL Reply-To: varney@lucent.com In article , John David Galt wrote: > Al Varney wrote: >> The current perspective of the Industry Numbering Committee can be >> seen in their recent Draft report: >> > I have read the report and find it rather shortsighted. Not only is the > range of options presented overly narrow, but some major decisions are > made, apparently arbitrarily, without any explanation. INC is organized to have discussion and some level of agreement reached at each meeting. Anyone could volunteer to take more extensive notes and report them, thus capturing the reasoning for each decision. But INC operates from volunteers, not an army of staff members. I'd agree that the attendees may not have considered every possible option, but they considered every option PRESENTED. The ASSUMPTIONS are crucial, and were perhaps viewed by those too close to the problem. On the other hand, if every decision has to be debated for months, no progress will be made. It's not too late to get your comments reviewed -- but you can't do that via USENET. The comments have to be officially sent to the INC Secretary. I think these go beyond those previously discussed and deserve some discussion. Next meeting is in San Francisco, mid-January-2000 (post-Y2K). > Am I the only one who feels that the NANP has already been chopped up into > small enough NPAs, and it would be nice if some of them were recombined? > Certainly we must increase the total quantity of available numbers, but we > should not rule out plans that keep the number of NPAs unchanged and just > increase the quantity of numbers available within each NPA. In the list of eliminated options, #13, #14 and #15 would have resulted in longer Subscriber Numbers, retaining three-digit-only NPAs. You might want to examine the previous Expansion Report (referenced in interim5.doc) to determine why these were rejected. >> v) location portability will be supported throughout any given >> portability pooling area and will not be restricted to rate centers; and > This is a bad idea, as it will defeat the ability of customers to know > (from NPA+prefix) whether a given call will be a toll call. Note that this assumption only says the Expansion mechanism has to SUPPORT such wide-area pooling [restricted to intra-NPA by item iii)]. NANPA Expansion won't automatically change any porting/pooling rules (mostly rate-center based) in effect. (You could, of course, send your Portability/Pooling comments to the INC Secretary for discussion by the LNPA group.) Al Varney ------------------------------ From: kityss@ihgp24.ih.lucent.com (Arnette P. Schultz) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Date: 22 Nov 1999 19:35:59 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies, Naperville, Il Reply-To: apschultz@lucent.com Al Varney wrote: >>> As well the * codes ie *69 is 1169 why not change 1169 to 11169 etc. >>> this would allow us to adapt some IUT recommendations ie 112 for police, >>> fire, ambulance. > The use of "*XX" codes is not a NANP issue. It is a Dialing Plan > and Numbering Resource issue. So far as I know, there are NO RULES > requiring a common meaning for "*XX" and "11XX" codes, nor are LECs > required to offer any services tied to those codes. Just look at > wireless for a precedent. Certainly there is no desire to tie any > changes in "*XX" usage and other dialing plan prefixes to the NANP > Expansion itself. Not to disagree, especially in a public forum in front of customers and competitors, with my esteemed co-worker; BUT there is one case in which the *XX codes have been mandated by a US regulatory agency. The case of per-call "blocking" and "unblocking" (i.e. CLIR) of calling party number. The FCC's report and order on Caller ID did set *67 for per-call blocking and *82 for per-call unblocking. I believe this applies to all wireline and wireless public network carriers. They may have exempted PBXs, due to conflicts with existing codes in older PBXs, but for public telephone switches these are the codes. Not that the *XX(X) codes have any real impact on the NANP expansion. Arnette Schultz Lucent Technologies ------------------------------ From: usbcpdx@teleport.com Subject: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 20:09:30 GMT My house is 7,900' from the CO as per www.speakeasy.net/dsl/ yet US Worst reports the copper appears to be 20,000' Probably bridge taps or some such gubbage but when I ask (nicely) why, US worst sez I need a supoena to get their plant records. Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL b) if not, at least find out why? John Bartley, PC sysadmin for a large national government, so my opinions are obviously mine own. ------------------------------ From: Bruce F. Roberts Subject: Re: Definitions Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 19:00:20 -0600 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Robert Bonomi wrote: > RFI Radio Frequency Interference > SHORAN > PWM Pulse Width Modulation > NAK Negative Acknowledgement > AVC Automatic Volume Control > CTCSS Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System > SCA Society For Creative Anachronisms but probably not what you > meant. > QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation > SSB/SC Single SideBand/Suppressed Carrier > UCT UTC? Universal Coordinated Time > HDX Half Duplex > ERP Effective Radiated Power > TARFU > ETB > MUNG ------------------------------ Date: 22 Nov 1999 10:26:24 -0500 From: johnl@iecc.com (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: Junk Fax - Looking For Procedure Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> Yes or no -- each with a 900 number to send a fax (for $2.95/minute). > It would be particularly helpful to know the actual 1-900 numbers being > used here, and from that be able to identify whatever IXC may be involved. > Could the details be either posted -- or, if preferred, mailed to me? On my 21st century junk faxes, I've seen these numbers: 900-370-3200 900-680-3200 900-773-7500 900-773-6777 900-737-8888 900-407-7477 900-454-9300 According to the NANPA list, those are all AT&T. For junk fax lovers in the UK, here's the contact info they give: 21st Century Faxes Suite 401 302 Regent St London W1R 6HH "helpdesk" 0171 680 0020 John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com, Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner, http://iecc.com/johnl, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Hugo Cartaxeiro Subject: Dialout Routing to the Best Operator Available For Destination Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 15:09:35 -0000 Hi all, A few months ago, I read somewhere about a phone device to install between PABX and the telephone lines, that routes all outgoing calls to the best operator available for that specific destination (based on their rates). The operator rate information would be uploaded by a modem-data call or some internet connection. This could also be done trough a software operation on most recent PABX with that capability. Do you have any pointer on this hardware/device ? Reply by email to hugo@digidoc.pt. I don't read this newsgroup very often. Thanks in advance, Hugo ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 19:57:26 CST From: Jeff Shaver <00204922@bigred.unl.edu> Subject: International 800 Service I am looking for a reliable, inexpensive, true (no PIN) US 800/888/877 number that will ring overseas (Germany), with low/no minimums/fees. Anyone have any suggestions or know of anyone who might have such a service? Thanks, Jeff Shaver 00204922@bigred.unl.edu ------------------------------ From: John Nagle Organization: Animats Subject: Re: FCC Ruling Aids High-Speed Providers Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 18:44:53 -0800 Monty Solomon wrote: > WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Federal regulators say big providers of > local-phone service must share their conventional, copper lines with > rivals who offer high-speed Internet access This raises a good TELECOM Digest question: How does DSL wiring actually look at the CO end when DSL and analog voice share the same pair? Does the pair go into a splitter, then to a DSL port and an analog switch port, or is the analog switch port integrated into the DSL port? If there's a splitter, where does it go physically? In the frame? At the DSL line card? Or what? Is an analog line guaranteed that a major outage in the DSL gear can't take down the analog portion of the line? This is an issue if vendors share the copper. John Nagle ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:58:36 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Wireless Firms Seek Worldwide Empires By John Borland and Corey Grice Staff Writers, CNET News.com November 19, 1999, 12:20 p.m. PT Wireless phone companies are playing a high-stakes acquisition game, desperately seeking to grab global markets before their competitors do. Competition in the wireless world has sparked some of the biggest corporate mergers in history, with MCI WorldCom's record-breaking $129 billion deal for Sprint exceeded only by Vodafone AirTouch's hostile $137 billion bid today for German wireless firm Mannesmann. http://news.cnet.com/category/0-1004-200-1454002.html ------------------------------ Reply-To: dov@oz.net Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 06:20:09 -0800 From: Joseph Singer Subject: Online Map Accuracy (was Re: Need Link for CO Information) Sat, 20 Nov 1999 09:30:44 EST Michael J. Kuras wrote: > The site http://www.dslreports.com maps CO locations to area > code/exchanges. The 'deep' url is > http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/coinfo. (Dont' want to trigger any > lawsuits here. ;) > I like this site. It offers what seems to be a thorough, non-biased > overview of DSL technology & availability. Just be cautioned that the maps which are linked through are not accurate and at least three CO's that I checked are wrong and off by at least a few blocks. That said if you go to http://www.mapquest.com and type in the A/C plus C.O. code it seems to be accurate. The other information on dslreports.com appears to be accurate. Joseph Singer "thefoneguy" PO Box 23135, Seattle WA 98102 USA +1 206 405 2052 [voice mail] +1 206 493 0706 [FAX] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 07:25:00 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Some Final Words on Urban Legends Pat wrote: > If anyone has any final very precise, very concise, > *short* comments to add, I'll run them Tuesday maybe ... OK, I'll try. One more comment about AC vs. DC, which *does* have a telecom connection (assuming you concur with the notion that cable television is telecom). Cable TV systems use amplifiers spaced every 2000 feet or so to amplify the broadband signal. Amplifiers overcome the loss in the coaxial cable, and also provide sufficient level to drive the drops to individual residences. These amplifiers get their power from power supplies scattered throughout the distribution system. A typical power supply can power perhaps a dozen trunk amplifiers, plus the "line extenders" (smaller amplifiers that amplify short feeder lines that drive residential drops). Power supplies are fairly hefty steel boxes, measuring maybe 2 to 12 cubic feet, usually mounted on the side of utility poles. Each one is connected to the power company's 115-volt "secondary" line, usually on the same pole. Depending on the power company's billing policy, there may also be an electric meter on the pole, although many power companies bill cable companies a flat monthly rate per power supply, just like they bill for streetlights. The power from the power supply is distributed to the amplifiers over the same cable that carries the broadband signal. The typical distribution voltage in the USA is 60 volts, although 75-volt and 90-volt distribution is has become popular in recent years. Whatever the voltage, the waveform is a "rounded" AC square wave. The power supply itself consists of a stepdown transformer that, when properly loaded with enough amplifiers, "saturates." Each half-cycle of the incoming sine wave is simply clipped off because there isn't enough iron in the core of the stepdown transformer for the peak part of the cycle. A small inductor "rounds" off the corners to eliminate any spikes that would interfere with the broadband signal itself. This distribution method has some interesting advantages: - As several others have mentioned in this thread, at a given voltage, you can send more power using DC instead of AC. By the same token, you can send more power in a square wave than in a sine wave. - Each individual amplifier contains a "power pack" (a DC power supply) that converts the AC square wave into DC to run the amplifier circuits. The power pack uses a classic full-wave rectification circuit, but filtering the DC is easier: a square wave, when full-wave rectified, is practically DC already. - This method still retains the advantage of AC over DC distribution: immunity from corrosion at junctions of dissimilar metals. Some power supplies also contain batteries for backup power during power outages. Non-backup power supplies usually occupy a cubic foot or two; backup power supplies require up to 12 cubic feet. The earliest backup power supplies used standard 12-volt car batteries, but word soon got around that "those big boxes are full of batteries," and stolen batteries became a big problem. Modern backup power supplies use proprietary batteries that don't fit anything else. Last laugh: a recurring legend in the cable industry claims that solar-powered power supplies exist. You install them under streetlights so they run all night. Neal McLain nmclain@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 07:44:58 -0600 From: Gregory Ashley Organization: U S WEST Communications, Inc Subject: Putrescent Defined? > Subject: Those Pesky Lamps >> but couldn't we at least spell this right: >> F L U O R S C E N T > Evidently not. It's F L U O R E S C E N T. > The other way, it looks like something that glows in the dark and > smells real bad. > Bill > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No Bill, the thing that 'smells > real bad' is PUTRESCENT ... its state after it has putrified. PAT] Pat, based on my Webster's dictionary, PUTRESCENT could refer to something even before it has fully putrified. > Main Entry: putrescent > Pronunciation: -s&nt > Function: adjective > Etymology: Latin putrescent-, putrescens, present participle of putrescere to grow rotten, inchoative of putrEre > Date: 1732 > 1 : undergoing putrefaction : becoming putrid > 2 : of or relating to putrefaction Greg 402-348-8522 ( __ )=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=( __ ) | | Greg C. Ashley gashley@uswest.com | | | | Mass Markets & Design Services Analyst NE/IA | | |__| US WEST Communications, Inc. Omaha, Nebraska |__| (____)=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=(____) ------------------------------ From: Joey Lindstrom Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 07:52:13 -0700 Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Subject: Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb Q: How many TELECOM Digest mail list subscribers does it take to change a light bulb? A: 1,206 1 to change the light bulb and to post to the mail list that the light bulb has been changed; 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently; 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs; 27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing lightbulbs; 53 to flame the spell checkers; 41 to correct spelling/grammar flames; 6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb"; another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive; 156 to write to the list administrator about the light bulb discussion and its inappropriateness to this mail list; 109 to post that this list is not about light bulbs and to please take this email exchange to litebulb-l@XXXXXXX.com; 203 to demand that cross posting to grammar-l, spelling-l and illuminati-l at XXXXXXX.com about changing light bulbs be stopped; 111 to defend the posting to this list saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this mail list; 306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty; 27 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs; 14 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's; 3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this list which makes light bulbs relevant to this list; 33 to link all posts to date, then quote them including all headers and footers and then add "Me too"; 12 to post to the list that they are unsubscribing because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy; 19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three"; 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ; 44 to ask what is "FAQ"; AND 16 X-Philes to insist that the old bulb may not have been burned out at all -- just unscrewed a little: the bulb must be sent to a crime lab to see if Dr. Banton's fingerprints are on it. From the messy desktop of Joey Lindstrom Visit The NuServer! http://www.GaryNumanFan.NU Visit The Webb! http://webb.GaryNumanFan.NU I made a chocolate cake with white chocolate. Then I took it to a potluck. I stood in line for some cake. They said, "Do you want white cake or chocolate cake?" I said, "Yes". --Steven Wright ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #570 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Nov 23 16:26:22 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id QAA03644; Tue, 23 Nov 1999 16:26:22 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 16:26:22 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911232126.QAA03644@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #571 TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Nov 99 16:26:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 571 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Gradually, United Adopts Sprint Customs, Traditions (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? (Daryl R. Gibson) Book Review: "Implementing ADSL", David Ginsburg (Rob Slade) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Michael Maxfield) Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? (Cortland Richmond) Re: Need Link for CO Information (sam@merritt.houston.tx.us) Area Codes in Philipines (Jae) Re: How to Find Telecom Costs For Japan and China? (Michi Kaifu) Re: How to Find Telecom Costs For Japan and China? (David Esan) Re: How to find Telecom Costs for Japan and China? (Robert S. Hall) Change in Radio Player (TELECOM Digest Editor) Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution (Tad Cook) Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length (Myron Harvey) Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length (Julian Thomas) Re: International 800 Service (Jim Weiss) Re: International 800 Service (Jason Fetterolf) Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Online Map Accuracy (was Re: Need Link for CO Information) (C. Dold) Re: Upcoming Areacode Changes (Linc Madison) For Sale: Dictaphone 10 ch. 550 (Dave Raygor) Re: Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb (Justa Lurker) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 15:15:50 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Gradually, United Adopts Sprint Customs, Traditions The long, rather sordid history of Sprint, the long distance carrier has been discussed so many times in this newsgroup and elsewhere on the net that it hardly needs repeating now. People who have followed the company over the years remember all the fiascos in their billing, their out-and-out bait and switch tactics such as 'Friday Free', unless you actually used it beyond certain unpublished parameters in which case you found yourself removed from the program for no reason by a person who no one could ever get to come to the phone; their calling card which was good everywhere for making calls except not good for international calls from payphones in big cities and not good for anything from payphones in mid-town Manhattan; the 'free 9600 baud modem' thing several years ago which turned out to be a 2400 baud modem; telemarketers who would promise one deal and customer service reps who would insist no such deal existed, etc. When I first established phone service in Junction City, I called Southwestern Bell; after all, their directories -- with Junction City listings in them -- were all over town. When Southwestern Bell said to me, 'for Junction City/Fort Riley you need to call Sprint' I don't mind telling you fire shot out of my nose. I simply could not picture 'Sprint local service' being anything other than a repeat of Sprint long distance, and although there can be minor misunderstandings at one time or another, there had been enough of them over the years that I've just found it better to keep my distance from them as much as possible. Then someone explained United had absorbed Sprint, not the other way around; well okay, United isn't a bad bunch, let's try them out, and really I had no choice if I wanted local phone service since they do not have any local competition here. On establishing service I was told 'everyone must make a one hundred dollar deposit which is held for one year'. Okay fine, I gave them a debit card number tied into a Chicago bank I was using and let them take the hundred dollars they were demanding. Within a week or so, I get two letters on the same day: One from Sprint in Killeen, Texas thanking me for my deposit which would be held for *one year*. One from Sprint in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania thanking me for my deposit and telling me it would be returned in *three months* or applied to my account, whichever I preferred. The Junction City accounts payable office said they 'knew nothing about any Sprint office in Pennsylvania; it probably is part of some other division and has nothing to do with us'. I told them I wanted my money back in three month as the letter promised or I would go to the State Commission in Topeka. Lo and behold, three months later, the money appears as a credit on my bill, leaving me a large credit balance. (I use only local service from them, it costs about $25 per month, the credit balance ran for several months). Each month I walk several blocks from where I live to the phone office at 6th and Jefferson Street and pay in cash the balance due now that the credit has run out. For some reason in August, they elected to run another charge against the debit card number I had given them in February. I told the bank not to honor it. The bill for October comes, with the unpaid debit card amount of that month's bill *plus a twenty dollar charge*. I went down to the office at 6th and Jeffer- son, paid the full amount due for the month and spoke on the phone with a woman (like so many telcos, they refuse to ever meet with you in person; you have to sit in a little stall and talk on the phone with someone hundreds of miles away) who said she would arrange to stop any further debits and she would credit the twenty dollar fee which had been added on. The November bill comes, and not only was the 'unpaid charge' from October, along with the twenty dollar fee still there, but the current month charges as well. I pay the current month charges and ask again to please get it properly credited. *Instead, they turn around and try the debit card again, for the full amount due another time*. Again, my bank refuses to pay. In the meantime I pay my balance in full, what is actually due. A letter dated November 18 arrives in the mail today saying, 'since your payment of $50.48 remains unpaid, we will cut your service off on November 25.' A letter includes a local Junction City phone number to call. I call the number, but it actually rings in and is picked up in Killeen, Texas by the 'sales department' who say they have no idea how I got connected to them. As to be expected, they have no last names, they have no supervisors, and have no further recommendations other than of course just pay the bill. She finally connects me somewhere and I wind up in a queue with a few thousand other people. The person there tells me 'there must have been an overflow of calls on the phone, so you wound up in our office'. She volunteers to connect me with the Jucntion City 'accounts payable' office. I asked her if she meant 'accounts receiveable' and she said yeah, that is what she meant. Lady in Junction City -- where I am, and where I thought I was calling based on the local phone number shown on the disconnect letter -- answers, and looks up the record. I asked her point blank do you think we can handle this, or should I go see about the next bus going to Topeka and give it all to the Commission there and see if they have any solutions. She looks it up, sees that the debit card thing went through twice, was rejected once for the amount of the bill, went through a second time, was rejected for the amount of the bill plus twenty dollars for my audacity in telling the bank not to pay it the first time, and that now there is that charge plus *two* twenty dollar charges attached to my current bill. With the usual payment I made in their office at 6th and Jefferson, the bill now says $69 due, of which $40 is the two charges of $20 each, and $29 being the current month's charge which I will go and pay presently. She says she will be certain the debit card is not sent through any further, and she will remove *one* of the two twenty dollar charges. Why not both twenty dollar charges, I ask? Well, because the one is from a prior bill and she has no way to remove it; that should have been done by the previous rep I spoke with. Which one is that, the one I spoke to last month, or the month before that? I told her that's a really neat way to rip people off; put through a charge one month, when the customer complains about it you stall on correcting it, then later on you tell the customer now it is too late to do anything about it. Oh, and don't forget the late fees on the 'unpaid balance' each month; a balance you generated out of nowhere. She finally said she would 'see if it was possible to issue credit for that also but could not guarentee it'. I just told her my answer is that payment is refused, period, why don't you show your stuff, put through the disconnect your letter threatens, I'll go over to the Commission office and see if they can be of any help. Maybe *they* know how to get credit on the bill for a rip-off that occurred on some prior month's billing. In two separate letters received today dated November 18, they offer conflicting instructions: One says my phone will be disconnected on November 25 unless I remit to PO Box 89 in Junction City. The other letter tells me to be certain all payments go to Sprint at PO Box 190 in Plymouth, Indiana. Both letters give a 'local' (ie Junction City) phone number to call which really winds up in the sales department in Killeen, Texas where no one has any super- visor, last name, or other advice to offer, except they do offer to transfer your call into a queue with lots of other calls. It really is nice to see that United is learning to adapt to all the old customs and traditions that made Sprint so famous in the past, isn't it? PAT ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 11:18:28 -0700 From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Re: Is AT&T Still Using Microwave? roy@endeavor.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) wrote: > bonomi@diskless.agresource.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: >> Das 'blinking lights' are required by the FCC (co-operating with the FAA) >> on any tower more than 300' above ground level. >> The _quick_ way to get it fixed is notify any handy FCC field office > Lights on towers go out all the time. From the FAA side, what's done is > to issue a NOTAM (NOtice To AirMen), warning pilots about the problem, and > there's lots of them. I just did a quick scan for NOTAMS containing the > word "TOWER" for a 100 mile radius of White Plains, NY and found: > Notice that some of these have been > out for months; I see one (5th from the bottom) that's been out since > June, and that's almost a thousand footer. Makes you wonder exactly how > "_quick_" is defined :-) I can tell you how it was defined with AT&T Tower Maintenance. I sent the note out Wednesday, it was in TELECOM Digest Wednesday night/Thursday, I talked with the AT&T Foreman Thursday morning, and when I next passed that tower Sunday night (in a snowstorm) the light had been fixed, and had a bright white stobe, brighter than before, I believe. It's nice working with professionals ... and even though the Bell System is no longer alive, some of the dedicated professionalism that hallmarked it is still alive and well at AT&T. Daryl "As you ramble through life, brother, no matter what your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole" --Dr. Murray Banks, quoting a menu ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 12:35:06 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Implementing ADSL", David Ginsburg Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKIMADSL.RVW 990917 "Implementing ADSL", David Ginsburg, 1999, 0-201-65760-0, U$44.95 %A David Ginsburg %C P.O. Box 520, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 %D 1999 %G 0-201-65760-0 %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. %O U$44.95 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 bkexpress@aw.com %P 323 p. %T "Implementing ADSL" ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), along with many other new and desirable telecommunications technologies, is all too often presented in one of two ways. Either you get "this is new, and you need it!" uninformative boosterism, or you get packet structure specifications for those who need to program the core protocols into switches. It is, therefore, gratifying to find a book that gives you the hard core, and hardware, realities of the system. Chapter one presents the business case for ADSL, based on the usual "Internet users want more bandwidth" model, plus a budget relying on a number of relatively unsupported suppositions and the American telephone network business. Ginsburg does make a very important point all too often lost in other works: ADSL is not a networking protocol as such, but is more akin to a modem specification. Therefore the discussion of encoding methods that begins chapter two is very welcome for those who need to use and understand the technology, rather than merely programming packets. The further material on ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and alternate options (such as frame relay and Internet Protocol) at the higher layers helps the reader to see how these systems work together. Chapter three outlines the components of the ADSL architecture throughout a network, with the hardware parts mentioned being perhaps more directly related to that topic than the software that is reviewed. Many of the services presented in chapter four actually rely on ATM, PPP (Point to Point Protocol) and other higher layer protocols. Implementation is covered, with detailed configuration examples and screen shots from real products, in chapter five. Chapter six addresses the technology alternatives for providing high bandwidth access to the public. (By the way, a thousand fold increase is 100,000 percent, not 10,000 percent, and a hundred fold increase is 10,000 percent, not 1,000 percent. You're welcome.) This book will, indeed, be useful for those implementing ADSL. Service providers will find a wealth of information that has probably been confined to the engineering department up until now. Users will finally get a chance to understand what ADSL actually is, and where it fits into the rest of the alphabet soup. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999 BKIMADSL.RVW 990917 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca p1@canada.com Lucien, you got some 'splainin' to do! - Double Exposure http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:43:09 -0800 Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? Organization: Our Lady of Perpetual Freedom From: tweek@io.com (Michael Maxfield) Robert Bonomi wrote: > wrote: >> There are some exceptions to the rule preventing disclosure of radio >> transmissions. Amateur Radio is one of them. I'm a licensed ham, so I'll certify to something here. > Ham radio transmissions _are_ covered by the Secrecy of Communications > section of the Communications Act. I'll certify that Ham (Amateur) Radio Transmissions are indeed covered by section 705 of the FCC rules (47CFR sec 605), what is commonly refered to as the former Communications Act of 1934 (who knows what they call it since the rewrite a few years ago), but it doesn't cover it in the manner you suggest. [source: cornell.edu as directed to via the link from www.fcc.gov] Sec. 605. Unauthorized publication or use of communications * (a) Practices prohibited Except as authorized by chapter 119, title 18, no person receiving, assisting in receiving, transmitting, or assisting in transmitting, any interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception, [SNIP!] [...] This section shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress, or which is transmitted by an amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator. Mike N6QYA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 10:37:51 -0800 From: Cortland Richmond Organization: Alcatel USA Subject: Re: TEMPEST Brewing for PC Privacy? On 21 Nov 1999 Robert Bonomi (bonomi@diskless.agresource.com) wrote: In article , Cortland Richmond wrote: >> There are some exceptions to the rule preventing disclosure of radio >> transmissions. Amateur Radio is one of them. > Any licensed ham will certify to the falsehood of that statement. > Ham radio transmissions _are_ covered by the Secrecy of Communications > section of the Communications Act. Actually, they're not. It was amended some years ago to include: (see http://www.crblaw.com/act.htm) ... This section shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles or persons in distress, or which is transmitted by an amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator. So it's OK to tell someone Heard Island is on 14.025 up 3. Cortland, KA5S ------------------------------ From: sam@merritt.houston.tx.us Subject: Re: Need Link for CO Information Date: 23 Nov 1999 18:48:28 GMT Organization: PDQ.net (using Airnews.net!) Leonard Erickson wrote: > In that case you can't get DSL *at all*. It doesn't go over > digital links. > So your only choices are ISDN, or something like a fractional > T-1. What you mean to say is that he can't get ADSL or SDSL. IDSL he can get all day long. Sam ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 11:56:35 PST From: Jae Subject: Area Codes in Philipines A friend of mine in the Philipines gave me her number recently however there seems to be something wrong with it. The number she gave was (632-054)-474-etc ... however I can't seem to get through to her. I suspect the second three number group is errored; could you aid me by telling me the area codes in the Philipines? jae ------------------------------ From: Michi Kaifu Subject: Re: How to Find Telecom Costs For Japan and China? Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 00:40:23 -0800 Tim Petlockwrote: > I've gotten in touch with NTT's New York office but haven't > heard anything back. Hmm ... I worked there several years ago, and I always introduced this book if I receive a question like this. Maybe people are busier doing other things these days?? Anyway, there is an English book, published by Infocom Research, that shows major service descriptions and rates available in Japan, both NTT and competitors. Infocom shows it on their website, but only in Japanese. Try contacting books@icr.co.jp and ask for "Information & Communications Japan 1999". Unfortunately, you have to buy a paper book, but it's worth having it if you are going to be involved in telecom in Japan. > I need to find out what it costs to have a standard telephone line > installed, as well as the monthly charges for the line. No outbound > traffic on the line is anticipated so usage charges aren't important. If > there is additional cost for having the number unpublished, I need to know > that too. These info is on NTT East's web site (www.ntt-east.co.jp), but again, only in Japanese. (They have an English site, but only shows ISDN and leased circuit info.) Here's for you. Regular Single Line Phone for Business (NTT): Installation: 76440 yen (incl. tax) (BTW, it is almost $700. No wonder people are buying mobile phones instead. There is a reason behind it, but it's another story.) Monthly charge: 2,600 yen (Tokyo and other major cities. Cheaper in rural areas, cheaper for a residential line.) Tone dial (they call it "Push-fon"): Installation 2000 yen, monthly 390 yen No additional cost for unpublished number. Local calls cost 10 yen per 3 min. Long distance charge varies according to distance. Local service is also available from TTnet, a local competitor. www.ttnet.co.jp If you need further information about Japan, please contact me directly. Michi Kaifu ENOTECH Consulting michi@pop.net ------------------------------ From: davidesan@my-deja.com (David Esan) Subject: Re: How to Find Telecom Costs For Japan and China? Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 16:02:30 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. In article , phoenix@visi.com wrote: > The company that I work for is looking at expanding into international > locations. I was able to find the costs for most of the countries I > needed but can find nothing (at least in English) regarding Japan and > China. The location in Japan would be Tokyo and in China it would be > Shanghai. I've gotten in touch with NTT's New York office but haven't > heard anything back. I don't even know where to start in China. > I need to find out what it costs to have a standard telephone line > installed, as well as the monthly charges for the line. No outbound > traffic on the line is anticipated so usage charges aren't important. If > there is additional cost for having the number unpublished, I need to > know that too. If anyone has direct experience with phone costs in > these countries or can point me to an English-language source of > information that *does*, I'd be appreciative. It would seem to me that this information would be easily available via the appropriate embassies or consulates. There are attaches there whose job is to encourage business in their country, and they have the connections to get the information or to connect you to someone who can get you the information. I would expect that more countries would be happy to see an expansion going to their country and would work with you to get the answers. David Esan Veramark Technologies desan@veramark.com ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: Robert S. Hall Subject: Re: How to Find Telecom Costs for Japan and China? Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 18:00:01 +0800 > The company that I work for is looking at expanding into international > locations. I was able to find the costs for most of the countries I > needed but can find nothing (at least in English) regarding Japan and > China. The location in Japan would be Tokyo and in China it would be > Shanghai. I've gotten in touch with NTT's New York office but haven't > heard anything back. I don't even know where to start in China. I would suggest checking: http://www.chinatelecom.com.cn/english/tel_english_index.htm Although having just looked at it briefly myself, I don't think you're going to get monthly rental fee information from it. There is also Shanghai Bell, which has a link from China Telecom's web page, but it appears their web site is down, at least for the moment. Check out: http://www.sbell.com.cn Telecom costs in China are not unreasonable. The trick is to *get* the phone service installed. Don't even think about applying until all of your corporate license paperwork is in good shape. One thing you will find in many commercial buildings is that the building itself runs a PABX that services all of the tenants (usually with an IVR) so you may find you're entitled to a few lines when you sign a lease. Rob Hall Hong Kong ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 03:55:41 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Change in Radio Player At http://telecom-digest.org/radio.html you will now find a new service offering. The default is World Radio News in English, however links on the little player allow you to change to German language news or a multi-lingual presentation (various languages at various times of day.) You can also open a separate window on demand which has the program schedules for each language. This is a continuous live feed 24 hours daily and includes the news radio service which had been there. As before, the little player which appears on your screen at http://telecom-digest.org/radio.html can be minimized to the taskbar if desired, or moved around on the screen as desired for convenience. PAT ------------------------------ Subject: Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 02:25:03 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Mitnick ordered to pay $4,125 in restitution for hacking crimes By Linda Deutsch AP Special Correspondent LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, a computer vandal once on the FBI's most wanted list, was ordered Monday to pay "token" restitution of $4,125 to companies that suffered millions of dollars in damage from his exploits. U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer said she doubts the 37-year-old Mitnick can earn more than minimum wage. He has been prohibited for three years after his release from prison from any access to computers, cellular telephones, televisions or any equipment that can be used for Internet access. He is also prohibited from working as a consultant to computer companies. As part of a plea agreement reached in March, Pfaelzer also sentenced him to three years and 10 months in prison. With credit for time served, he will be eligible for release in a year. Prosecutors had asked that Mitnick be ordered to pay $1.5 million, claiming his notoriety and intelligence will eventually give him the chance to earn money through book, film or TV contracts. But the judge was required to consider what he could earn in the next five years. "There's nothing on the record by which the court can find that he can engage in anything other than a minimum-wage job," said defense lawyer Donald Randolph. Mitnick admitted in March to federal accusations he broke into the computers of several high-tech companies, stole software and installed programs that caused millions of dollars in damage. He pleaded guilty to five felony counts as part of the deal. Pfaelzer noted "he's caused a lot of damage" but said imposing a bigger restitution fee would be futile. Mitnick was one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives when he was arrested in 1995 in North Carolina after a cross-country hacking spree that attracted worldwide attention from fellow hackers. His victims included such companies as Motorola, Novell, Nokia and Sun Microsystems, and the University of Southern California. He was accused of breaking into a North American Air Defense Command computer, although the allegation was never proven. On Friday, Los Angeles County prosecutors dropped state charges against him for allegedly duping Department of Motor Vehicles workers into faxing confidential driving records to a copy shop in 1992. The hearing was attended by a large crowd of Mitnick supporters. ------------------------------ From: Myron Harvey Subject: Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 05:23:10 -0700 On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 20:09:30 GMT, usbcpdx@teleport.com wrote: > My house is 7,900' from the CO as per www.speakeasy.net/dsl/ yet US > Worst reports the copper appears to be 20,000' > Probably bridge taps or some such gubbage but when I ask (nicely) why, > US worst sez I need a supoena to get their plant records. > Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to > a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL > b) if not, at least find out why? Speakeasy is appearently speaking to you with slightly forked tongue. According to US West I am 23,000 ft. from the Littleton, CO central office but Speakeasy says 14,000+ ft from something called LTTNCOMA. This implies I would be served from "MA" what or where ever it is, but technically still from LTTNCO. Perhaps "MA" is co-located at LTTNCO and doesn't include POTS service and uses improved equipment analogous to the new ISDN equipment with 30,000 ft. range. Maybe your "MA" actually is 7,900 ft. from your home. That would place your "MA" about 12,000 ft. from your CO. Makes sense. If you should decide to check further be sure to go to Covads home page and see if your ISP of choice is a Covad partner. Mine isn't. ------------------------------ From: jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) Subject: Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 18:32:10 GMT In , on 11/22/99 at 08:09 PM, usbcpdx@teleport.com said: > Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to >a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL >b) if not, at least find out why? If US Worst is selling DSL themselves, try working with that end of the business. May not work, but worth a try? Julian Thomas: jt . epix @ net http://home.epix.net/~jt remove letter a for email (or switch . and @) Boardmember of POSSI.org - Phoenix OS/2 Society, Inc http://www.possi.org In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! -- -- Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change. ------------------------------ From: NBJimWeiss@aol.com (Jim Weiss) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 08:47:39 EST Subject: Re: International 800 Service Jeff Shaver <00204922@bigred.unl.edu> wrote: > I am looking for a reliable, inexpensive, true (no PIN) US 800/888/877 > number that will ring overseas (Germany), with low/no minimums/fees. > Anyone have any suggestions or know of anyone who might have such a > service? I offer this service with a $5 monthly fee and a rate of 20.6 per minute to Germany with 30 seconds minimum per call and each call rounded in six second increments. Service is billed to a major credit card. (This type service can be established to ring to any number in any country.) Jim Weiss Network Brokers, Inc. "Providing Long Distance Services for Less" nbjimweiss@aol.com 305-252-1822; fax: 603-250-0817 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:12:18 -0500 Reply-To: jason@itw.com Subject: Re: International 800 Service From: Jason Fetterolf Jeff Shaver <00204922@bigred.unl.edu> asks: > I am looking for a reliable, inexpensive, true (no PIN) US 800/888/877 > number that will ring overseas (Germany), with low/no minimums/fees. > Anyone have any suggestions or know of anyone who might have such a > service? Destia is a great choice for this application. They offer toll-free origination from Germany for $0.61/min, billed in 6 sec increments, with no set-up fees, no monthly recurring fees, etc. BTW, toll-free from UK @ $0.25, and from Canada @ $0.19. (However, the cheapest way to call from GE to US would be international callback-ask if you need more info) Background: They are a $500M international-focused carrier that offers this toll-free service with international origination from many overseas countries in Europe, Carribbean, SE Asia, etc. Destia is one of the few discount carriers that offer international toll-free; the big three offer this service also, but at much higher rates, and set-up fees, etc. Let me know if you need more info; I will be glad to help you to establish the service. Regards, Jason Fetterolf Apollo Concepts Telecom and Data Consulting 610-385-1110 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 09:52 EST From: FGOLDSTEIN@wn1.wn.net (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Thanks to John David Galt for his contribution. From a quick look, it appears that the ATIS most recent draft is indeed pretty weak. To call it "stuck in the box" thinking is to be very generous; rather, it's more like a sealed lead box with a tiny camera obscura hole. Okay, the Bellheads behind it like overlays, and overlays today (by FCC fiat) require all digits (NPA included) to be dialed, but that doesn't mean that lengthy dialing strings are a desirable long-term goal! Summary of ATIS thinking: By using only full-number dialing with no leading 1 (eg, 2127265000), you can expand the number of area codes and, optionally, prefixes, by sticking one or two 0s or 1s after the 3-digit NPA (21207265000 or 212007265000) for transition, and assign new 11 or 12 digit numbers without the transition digits. Or you use the 9 in the NPA for transition (29127265000) before going to a new batch of 4-digit NPAs. But you always dial them all. And there is no way that you could ever go back to 7 or 8 digit dialing, since the post-NPA number in the ATIS plan can now begin with 0 or 1. I consider that numbering-plan vandalism. Galt's alternative is a good start. I have, however, written up a rather detailed plan of my own, which I'm planning to send to ATIS and whomever else. It is closer to the new British plan, wherein the first digit implies the type of number (geographic USA, non-USA, nongeographic, free, premium-price, etc.) and the local number is, by default, 8 digits dialed alone. All NPAs are ALWAYS prefixed by the "1" when you need them, British-style, so you may as well represent it as "1212" or whatever, just as the UK (and many other countries) always show it as "0xxx" where 0 is their escape digit. In order to get to 8-digit local dialing, you do have to go through a transition when you're dialing all 11 digits (n9xx+nxx-xxxx for existing numbers). But ATIS stops there, as if it were a virtue, rather than an artifact. I agree with Galt that NPA does not have to be a fixed length. The sum of NPA plus local number should be a constant for geograhic calls. It must be DETERMINISTIC in all cases. But I accommodate "short codes", national numbers of fewer digits. 950s are used for that now, against their original intent I might add, but if Pizza Hut wanted to be 152-4PIZZA why not? In that example, though, 152 would deterministically be followed by six digits. (The NANP CANNOT accomodate variable-length numbers of the German style.) I also quibble with Galt's parsing of NPA+prefix. The problem is prefix exhaust, not number exhaust, so the last four digits of a geographic number are, in my plan, always 4 digits. Thousansds-block pooling is retained. And I think 8 digits is enough for any city *except* LA, but even then, a single 8-digit space (with number pooling, at least on the thousands) will accomodate everthing that was in 213 say ten years ago, with room to grow. I reserve a bit of space (137xx) for longer NPAs, which are used for places that only need 7-digit dialing. I doubt there will be more than a couple of dozen. But this does address one of the problems that ATIS has with 8-digit local numbers, which is inefficiency in sparsely-settled areas (Upper Michigan, for instance). Because this is a new NPA space, it can be assigned more intuitively. I suggest Canada getting 140-143, for instance, and the smaller NANP countries getting other 14xx ranges. So those "just a regular toll call" ads with Antigua numbers won't be such an obvious deception. Also, the whole 18x is toll free, 19x premium, and 17x divided between carrier-specific and private-network spaces. Calling Party Pays cellular also gets a distinctive space. (Note that for transitional purposes, 1N9x patterns are exceptions; 18908, for instance, is the transitional code for Hawaii, not a toll-free number.) The tricky part is the transition. It's entirely permissive, but takes six steps. You phase out 7 digit dialing, phase in 1n9xx/n9xx (the latter is temporary), and after 10 digit dialing is turned off, you can turn on the new area codes. You convert 3-digit to 4-digit prefix codes by adding a *second* digit (that is not 9) to replace the previously-nearby area code. Thus Illinois' 847-234-5678, already moved to transitional 8947-234-5678, might become 1312-2734-5678, while 7[9]73-234-5678 becomes 1213-2334-5678. After that, you enable 8-digit dialing. It's unambiguous because 4-digit prefix codes never get a 9 in the second (added) position, while transitional 4-digit prefix codes always do. (Shades of the old 0/1 rule! But in this case it is only effective during a permissive period, until old NPAs are finally shut down.) Again the idea is to figure out what an *ideal* NANP would look like, not to just expand the old plan. And then you figure out how to get there. I don't think the ATIS plans show that kind of "out of the box" thinking. ------------------------------ From: Clarence Dold Subject: Re: Online Map Accuracy (was Re: Need Link for CO Information) Date: 23 Nov 1999 15:41:08 GMT Organization: a2i network Reply-To: dold@network.rahul.net Joseph Singer wrote: > Just be cautioned that the maps which are linked through > are not accurate and at least three CO's that I > checked are wrong and off by at least a few blocks. That said if you go to > http://www.mapquest.com and type in the A/C plus C.O. code it seems to be > accurate. The other information on dslreports.com appears to be accurate. The map accuracy is quite likely to have the same granularity in both suppliers. I suspect that it is taken from V&H tables, which have accuracy of about .3 mile. My C.O. is positioned off by about 1,000 feet in the Mapquest site, I haven't looked at the other site. Clarence A Dold - dold@network.rahul.net - Pope Valley & Napa CA. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 00:15:56 -0800 From: Linc Madison Subject: Re: Upcoming Areacode Changes In article , Leonard Erickson wrote: > Condensed from various files at www.nanpa.com and from NNAG: > 858 California (full cutover 11 Dec 99) > 669 California (overlaid on 408 8 Jan 00) > 951 California (splits from 909 12 Feb 00) > 935 California (splits from 619 10 Jun 00) > 764 California (overlaid on 650 17 Jun 00) > 341 California (overlaid on 510 15 Jul 00) > 951 California (full cutover 9 Sep 00) > 657 California (overlaid on 714 7 Oct 00) > 442 California (splits from 760 21 Oct 00) > 628 California (overlaid on 415 21 Oct 00) > 935 California (full cutover 9 Dec 00) > 752 California (overlaid on 909 10 Feb 01) > 442 California (full cutover 14 Apr 01) Of course, all NPA relief in California, especially the overlays, is in limbo, pending the outcome of number pooling trials. I'd guess that the 935 split will go forward, since it's Phase II of a relief plan that's already partially implemented (619/858/935), and the 951 and 442 splits have a reasonable likelihood of going forward, but the overlays I wouldn't bet on right now. ------------------------------ From: Dave Raygor Subject: For Sale: Dictaphone 10 ch. 550 Organization: Giganews.Com - Premium News Outsourcing Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 12:08:54 -0500 Rack mount dictaphone 550 with 10 channel input. Make an offer. Dave knockin@speedfactory.net ------------------------------ From: /dev/null@.com (Justa Lurker) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb Organization: Anonymous People Reply-To: jlurker@bigfoot.com Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 13:28:16 GMT It was Mon, 22 Nov 1999 07:52:13 -0700, and Joey Lindstrom wrote in comp.dcom.telecom: > Q: How many TELECOM Digest mail list subscribers does it take > to change a light bulb? > A: 1,206 Hmmm ... Didn't include the folks that would 1) post in multipart mime HTML and their flamers, or 2) post a binary graphic or movie of changing a lightbulb, despite being a text only forum Can't give you a count for these two -- but there is bound to be someone! JL ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #571 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Nov 25 03:50:04 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id DAA06546; Thu, 25 Nov 1999 03:50:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 03:50:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911250850.DAA06546@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #572 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Nov 99 03:50:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 572 Inside This Issue: Happy Thanksgiving Day! GSMail News November 23, 1999 (Michael Hartley) Groups Initiate Court Challenge To FBI Wiretap Standards (Monty Solomon) Unimobile Article on TBTF (Shankar N. Udhay) Cellular vs. Paging (Triangulation) (sahmadi@my-deja.com) Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes (James Bellaire) SWBell Doesn't do Long Distance? (Mike) Re: Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution (Anthony Argyriou) Re: Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution (Justa Lurker) Re: Possible ANI Failure? (jprusik@my-deja.com) Who Wants to Be Awakened? Man With Unlucky Phone Number (Mike Pollock) Re: Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb (Steve Winter) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. 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Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Michael Hartley Subject: GSMail News November 23, 1999 Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 09:29:57 -0000 This from GSM mail, a useful mailing list. FYI- all's not quiet on the European mergers front, by any means. Vodafone-Airtouch are gunning for German conglomerate Mannesman who just happens to own UK mobile operator Orange. Initial friendly overtures failed to land Mannesman so the deal has gone to a hostile takeover, something which is reported as being a rare occurence in German business. Things are getting rapidly political. Watch this space. Mike VodafoneAirtouch- the new Borg - resistance is futile, you will be assimilated -----Original Message----- From: Mailing list agent [mailto:mdom@gsmag.com] Sent: 24 November 1999 03:22 To: gsmag@gsmag.com Subject: GSMail News November 23, 1999 ### Mannesmann Trade Unions Rally Around Management to Fence off Vodafone Takeover ### Germany (gsmag) - In a bid to rally behind Mannesmann's management to fence off Vodafone's takeover attempt, 3000 representatives for the IG-Metal trade union assembled on Tuesday in Dusseldorf (Germany). The trade unions bid was also supported by a keynote address by Wolfgang Clement, prime minister of the state of Northrhine-Westphalia. Mannesmann, parent company to D2 and Mannesmann Telecommunications currently unites three areas of industrial activity apart from telecommunications, now focused by the Vodafone Airtouch bid: Engineering, automotive, and steel tube production. In their keynote address, trade union members representing Mannesmann's sections mainly targeted the uncertainty surrounding what they consider to be Vodafone's weak strategy for the industrial giant's activities outside wireless communications. All speakers criticised what they conceive as a lacklustre commitment on Vodafone's behalf to maintain a consensual style of co-determination ("Mitbestimmung") of Mannesmann's policies through a network of industrial and company internal "constitutions" governed by law. Wolfgang Clement, prime minister of Northrhine Westphalia, expressed fear over the loss of his state's No. 1 position as a national German powerhouse for telecommunications were control over Mannesmann's fate to shift to the UK. Spear-headed by IG-Metall president and member of Mannesmann's board, Klaus Zwickel, labour representatives voiced their concern over what Michael Mngs, labour representative for Mannesmann Telecommunications, dubbed a "new age of slave trading and [industrial] colonialism". Said Mngs: "Compare this battle with a race of two soccer clubs for good players. Vodafone's offer to exchange 53.7 pieces of its shares for one Mannesmann share amounts to a club saying: 'Hey, we'd like your top player and are prepared to let you have two of our mediocre players'." While most speakers projected Mannesmann's recent success on the stock market as a common denominator of in-group feeling and value (failing to mention the stock's currently dangerous P/E ratios), no account was given of Mannesmann recently partaking in a hostile takeover operations in their Italian Omnitel and Infostrada ventures. By some accounts, most speakers failed to work out the systematic differences between Vodafone's action now and Mannesmann's earlier M&A activities, and no representatives from its Italian affiliates were invited to the congress to add legitimacy to speakers maintaining a difference between Mannesmann's then "friendly" takeovers of Omintel and Infostrada and Vodafone's now strongly condemned "hostile" takeover. Given the general mood of field-day rallying behind the management's defence strategy against Vodafone, it came down to Friedel Thoelkes -- union representative for the Mannesmann tube-making division (which is to be merged with the telecom activities) to allow for the company's socially embedded perspective withdrawal from the field -- to give a verbose description of current M&A frenzy in the telecomms sector. Said Thoelkes: "If I look at the current takeover activities within telecommunications, I wonder who will pay for this shit? Please excuse the explicit expression 'pay'. [...] In case of a successful merger Vodafone would pay several billions in annual interest alone, without down payment, a sum which would have helped to rescue [the near bankrupt German construction company] Philip Holzmann several times over." Demanding a European charter for transactions on the stock market, voicing support for outlawing "hostile takeovers", many revealed a latent fear of losing out in a company structure, culturally dominated by an Anglo-American way of business, while carefully trying not to make this concern an explicit point on their agenda. The impression with which observers could leave Tuesday's convention is that Vodafone's management will have to get a grip of consensual management German style in order to avoid industrial action, even in a successfully acquired Mannesmann. Beyond roadshows for analysts, this might mean that Vodafone could be well advised to get around one table with labour representatives from the company. It might also have to set up a task force to develop workable solutions for the integration of British and continental business cultures to avoid expensive dead ends. Today's convention gave an insight to the fact that simply leaving everything except for wireless telecommunications for the market to decide might turn out to be dangerous strategy. Inversely, crying "wolf" in calling for takeovers to be outlawed now that a German company became prey instead of predator for the first time could eventually backfire on Germany's capability to attract investment. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 01:04:13 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Groups Initiate Court Challenge To FBI Wiretap Standards http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/calea/release_11_18_99.html GROUPS INITIATE COURT CHALLENGE TO FBI WIRETAP STANDARDS; SAY FCC DECISION THREATENS COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY WASHINGTON, DC -- The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked a federal appeals court to block new rules that would enable the FBI to dictate the design of the nation's communication infrastructure. The challenged rules would enable the Bureau to track the physical locations of cellular phone users and monitor Internet traffic. In a petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the groups say that the rules -- contained in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision issued in August -- could result in a significant increase in government interception of digital communications. The court challenge involves the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ("CALEA"), a controversial law enacted by Congress in 1994, which requires the telecommunications industry to design its systems in compliance with FBI technical requirements to facilitate electronic surveillance. In negotiations over the last few years, the FBI and industry representatives were unable to agree upon those standards, resulting in the recent FCC ruling. EPIC and the ACLU opposed the enactment of CALEA in 1994 and participated as parties in the FCC proceeding. Today's court filing asserts that the FCC ruling exceeds the requirements of CALEA and frustrates the privacy interests protected by federal statutes and the Fourth Amendment. According to EPIC's General Counsel, David L. Sobel, "The FBI is seeking surveillance capabilities that far exceed the powers law enforcement has had in the past and is entitled to under the law. It is disappointing that the FCC resolved this issue in favor of police powers and against privacy." Sobel said that the appeals court challenge "raises fundamental privacy issues affecting the American public. This case will likely define the privacy standards for the Nation's telecommunication networks, including the cellular systems and the Internet." In a report issued last year, the ACLU warned that the Clinton Administration is using scare tactics to acquire vast new powers to spy on all Americans. "If the FBI has its way, the only communications medium invulnerable to government snooping will consist of two soup cans and some string -- and even then, I'd be careful," said Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director of the ACLU. "We are now at a historic crossroad," Steinhardt added. "We can use emerging technologies to protect our personal privacy, or we can succumb to scare tactics and to exaggerated claims about the law enforcement value of electronic surveillance and give up our cherished rights, perhaps -- forever." A separate challenge to the FCC ruling is being filed today in San Francisco by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which joined EPIC and the ACLU in proceedings before the Commission. The privacy groups are being represented on a pro bono basis by Kurt Wimmer and Gerard J. Waldron, partners at the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling. Background materials on CALEA, including documents filed by EFF, ACLU and EFF with the Federal Communications Commission, are available at EPIC's website: http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/ ------------------------------ From: udhay@NOSPAM.graycell.com (Shankar N Udhay) Subject: Unimobile Article on TBTF Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 19:26:06 GMT Organization: Gray Cell, Inc. Keith Dawson of TBTF was at our office a couple of weeks ago. He seems to have been impressed enough with our product, the Unimobile to write it up in the TBTF Log. Take a look -- he "got" what we're trying to do right away, which is impressive. Udhay http://tbtf.com/blog/1999-11-21.html Tuesday, November 23, 1999 11/23/99 10:45:46 PM Unimobile: a worldwide mobile device made of bits. During a California trip two weeks ago I had occasion to visit Gray Cell, the first Indian software company to win Silicon Valley venture capital. The company has been working quietly for three years in Bangalore and has now opened up an office in Campbell, CA in preparation for launching Unimobile. This is a free software "device" that can talk to nearly any mobile gadget anywhere in the world -- text-enabled cell phone, pager, PDA, email, and (of course) another Unimobile. I was impressed by the product focus Gray Cell has maintained in realizing the Unimobile device in "bits, not atoms." Gray Cell claims its database of worldwide phone services is the most comprehensive in existence, and I have no reason to doubt it. Do you know another service that can instantly tell you what telephone company issued the cell phone attached of any random phone number you choose to throw at it? If so I'd like to hear of it (and so undoubtedly would Gray Cell). The Unimobile isn't quite like anything that has come before -- Gray Cell is opening up a new market. The device may not initially have much application in the world of business. It's colorful, noisy, fast, and fun. The product is targeted at young, technologically savvy, and above all mobile consumers worldwide. The US lags much of the rest of the world in its uptake of mobile and wireless technology, so the Unimobile will at first find a larger audience elsewhere than it does on these shores. (Gray Cell tells me they have two entirely separate marketing plans, one for the US and one for everywhere else.) An American may need a little time at first to appreciate what the Unimobile can do, though I expect that a 15-year-old Finn who lives on her cell phone would get it right away, so the product and its Web site come with extensive tours, tutorials, and help getting started. (The TBTF Irregulars were privileged to test an early version of the Unimobile, and since many of us are Americans we may have influenced the amount and quality of handholding available in the product.) Gray Cell wants to build a worldwide community of connected users who chat constantly with people on their buddy lists, and don't want to give up chatting when they leave their desks and go out into the world. The company will offer a growing roster of services to this mobile community and draw revenue from sponsorships and other non-intrusive forms of partnership. The Gray Cell executives I spoke to were adamant that they will never beam advertising to Unimobile users -- they truly "get it" that a mobile device is even more personal than a personal computer. Blasting advertising to a user's Unimobile would be an act akin to marching a brass band into a Quaker meeting. When you download and register a Unimobile, you get a free email address -- mine is dawson@unimobile.com -- which you can point to your normal email POP box, or to any text-capable device you travel with. Any Unimobile user, or indeed anyone at all with Internet access, can message you at your Unimobile address and you will receive the message in seconds on whatever device you have configured at the moment. You can change the device's "skin" -- on-screen appearance and behavior -- to resemble your PDA, or your pager, or your cell phone -- complete with the look and feel of whichever brand and model you're most accustomed to. A number of skins will be included when the product launches and more will come from mobile device companies, hobbyists, etc. I expect Unimobile skins to be traded freely on Web sites the way Nokia ring tones are today. See what I mean about the product not being targeted to business users? This soft device is all about lifestyle. Unimobile is a 3-MB download. It runs only on Windows. Give it a try. Disclosure: I don't have any business relationship with Gray Cell, nor any financial interest in the company. One of their employees, Udhay Shankar, is a TBTF Irregular. Unimobile - The World's First Internet Mobile. Get yours at http://www.unimobile.com ------------------------------ From: sahmadi@my-deja.com Subject: Cellular vs. Paging (Triangulation) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 03:03:35 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Please, I would appreciate if anyone can help with the below questions: 1. Paging technology: protocol, network and frequency is used. 2. Whether Triangulation technique, finding location of the mobile, is possible with paging? With respect to triangulation: 1. Who's providing this service? Carrier companies? 2. If we, as a service company who's using, e.g AT&T network, are able to retrieve this triangulation location information from AT&T's database and show it to customer??? 3. How much would it cost for us? 4. What is the requirement, system design and business contract vise, for us? 5. How precise is this location information? What is the format of information? 6. Is this service available with 2-way paging? Or it's only restricted to cellular? ------------------------------ From: bellaire@tk.com (James Bellaire) Subject: Re: When Will the NANPA Run Out of Codes Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:32:32 GMT Organization: WinStar GoodNet, Inc. I just toasted my point by point reply. Oh well -- Here's the numbering plan that it led to ... Dial 0+ for national (NANP wide) calls; Dial 1+ for regional (within city or state) calls; Other digits are local calls. First ... transition all nxx-nxx-xxxx codes to 029-nxx-nxx-xxxx. The insert 9 is not locked in stone. Even though I originally suggested it (more of a discovery than an invention) we are not stuck on it. Second ... can the 0+ operator assisted / special billing. Keep 0 (pause or #) as local operator and 00 (pause or #) as LD operator access. Make 00+ an optional International (non-NANP) access in parallel with 01+ (separate issue). Third ... transition 029 codes to their final resting places. The final numbering would look something like this: 02st rc nxx xxxx US States ex/Major Cities st State Code (up to 90 states) rc Region Code (up to 80 within each state) 1rc nxx xxxx Regional Dialing within state or neighbors 7d would remain local number length within the 02 range (OPTION: large states could assign RCs of 20 through 99 as above small states could assign RCs of 12 through 19 small states could have 1n nxx xxxx regional dialing ) 029 nxx nxx xxxx Transitional 03x nxx nxx xxxx Major US Cities ^ City number 1 through 9 10d would be minimum number length for local in the 03 range 1nxx nxx xxxx Regional dialing within that city 10d would remain/become local dialing length as well 04x Additional Cities? 05x Additional Cities? 0600 xx nxx xxxx Special Purpose Replaces 600 numbers in Canada - first xx is a regional code 07xxx xxxx xxxx Canada - any way they wish to be divided (Could do a one step transition to 079 and get it over with) 0800 xxxxx xxxx Toll Free - any way that industry cares (All 08 codes eventually) 0900 r xxxxxxxx Pay per Call (National Assigned) (replaces 900 - r = rate range as in UK system) 0900 9r xxxxxxx Pay per Call (Regional Assigned) (replaces 976 - r = rate range, dialable within a single state/city) 0999 ic nxxxxxx Non Mainland ic Island Code - one per Island 1ic nxxxxxx Regional dialing within this special code It leave a lot of space for expansion and is generally easy to follow. The third step will require a translation table (029 npa => 02 st rc) or (029 npa => 03x npa). But it would work. James Bellaire ------------------------------ From: Mike Subject: SWBell Doesn't Do Long Distance? Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 20:39:56 -0600 Organization: Primary Network http://www.primary.net Pat, Interesting phenomena. I made a LD call from my workplace. I used my SWBell Calling Card. After dialing the call, I heard "Thank you for using Sprint." Calling SWBell, I learned that they "don't do long distance, but use Sprint as their LD provider." Is this strange, or is it just me? Mike J [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Nothing in domestic voice telecom is strange any longer. Here in Junction City on the other hand, Sprint is the local service provider and SWBell is the 'short long distance' (meaning local-toll) provider. Although Kansas Cellular was the 'A' provider (typically for the non-wireline company) and Cellular One is the 'B' provider (typically wireline), neither have any local telco opera- tions. Now Kansas Cellular is out of business and a company called 'AllTel' is handling the 'A' side, giving all kinds of deals including a package with discounts on their cellular service provided you make them your wireline long-distance default (one plus carrier) as well. Nothing is strange any longer. If there ever a situation where Aaron Copeland's song 'Simple Gifts' ( '... tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free) would apply, it would be in the telecom biz. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Anthony Argyriou Subject: Re: Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 18:14:00 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Linda Deutsch wrote (and Tad Cook passed on): > LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, a computer vandal > once on the FBI's most wanted list, was ordered Monday to pay "token" > restitution of $4,125 to companies that suffered millions of dollars > in damage from his exploits. Has the "millions of dollars" claim ever been substantiated? These companies don't report those losses in their quarterly statements, and the "lost sales" they claim likely wouldn't have happened. Ms. Deutsch states this suffering as a fact, when it is at best an allegation. > U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer said she doubts the 37-year-old > Mitnick can earn more than minimum wage. He has been prohibited for > three years after his release from prison from any access to computers, > cellular telephones, televisions or any equipment that can be used for > Internet access. Construction work and truck driving pay far better than minimum wage, but that's a big career jump to make at 37. > He is also prohibited from working as a consultant to computer companies. > As part of a plea agreement reached in March, Pfaelzer also sentenced > him to three years and 10 months in prison. With credit for time > served, he will be eligible for release in a year. Anthony Argyriou http://www.alphageo.com/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ms. Deutsch is like the other parrots in the news media. Someone says the phrase 'millions of dollars' and teaches her to mimick what she heard. I doubt she spent two minutes in research on the case herself; what some press release from the Justice Department said was good enough for her. Note also that Kevin Mitnick has already been in custody for more than four years while awaiting trial. The judge gives him three years and ten months then says he has one more year to serve? The clock starts running the minute they slap those handcuffs on you, not three or four years down the road when there has been enough of a stink that they have to give you a trial. But don't let a little bit of the law get in the way of Janet Reno getting her kicks. Perhaps you have read the latest scandal involving *her*; when she was prosecuting attorney in Florida back in the 1980's, the allegations are she encouraged a couple members of her staff of underlings to get up in court and lie in a criminal prosecution of a police officer on a child sexual abuse case. It went up and down the judicial ladder over a period of several years, and finally a few months ago the Appeals Court said the guy got a totally bum deal and ordered him released from custody, with the state of Florida having the option to retry him if they wished to do so. He is now going after her with a vengeance and says he intends to see if he can get Janet sent to prison one of these days. I love it! Meanwhile she tells us about the 'millions of dollars in damage' Kevin did, and he has to stay in prison for another year. PAT] ------------------------------ From: /dev/null@.com (Justa Lurker) Subject: Re: Mitnick Ordered to Pay Token Restitution Organization: Anonymous People Reply-To: jlurker@bigfoot.com (Replies to email will be POSTED) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:38:49 GMT It was Tue, 23 Nov 1999 02:25:03 PST, and tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) wrote in comp.dcom.telecom: > Mitnick ordered to pay $4,125 in restitution for hacking crimes > U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer said she doubts the 37-year-old > Mitnick can earn more than minimum wage. He has been prohibited for > three years after his release from prison from any access to computers, > cellular telephones, televisions or any equipment that can be used for > Internet access. > He is also prohibited from working as a consultant to computer companies. A nice catch 22. He can't earn money because of the restrictions so he can't pay money for the inflated damages. > Mitnick was one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives when he was arrested > in 1995 in North Carolina after a cross-country hacking spree that > attracted worldwide attention from fellow hackers. Probably one of the few top 10 to be freed after capture. JL [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You have to remember an important rule where the Justice Department is concerned: never give an ex-convict a chance at rehabilitation. You start allowing people to feel like human beings with a sense of worth and dignity, and you are going to have them talking back to you a lot more, making more trouble, as they perceive it. That's Kevin's big problem; they are scared to death of him, and they'll be doing everything in their power during his parole period to insure he screws up somehow so they can have him back. You also saw I assume where part of the terms are he is not even allowed to be near a *television set*; how could his parole terms be much more ridiculous and restrictive than that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: jprusik@my-deja.com Subject: Re: Possible ANI Failure? Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 14:01:43 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. In article : > Simple, Dialpad does not send ANI information. Not all systems do send > ANI. PBX systems from large companies (and telemarketers) are famous > for not sending ANI. Also some small market cheezy IXCs (long distance > carriers) do not send ANI. > So Dialpad is definately NOT sending ANI. But then again, maybe its a > good thing! I disagree, I think that dialpad is sending ANI information. I tried a different ANI service and got an originating number in the 760 areacode. -JP ------------------------------ From: Mike Pollock Subject: Who Wants to Be Awakened? Man With an Unlucky Phone Number Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 10:24:42 -0500 Organization: It's A Mike! By ALAN FEUER For a month, Stan Kemper was caught in a telephonic nightmare as he got hundreds of calls from aspiring "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" contestants because his telephone number is one digit from the quiz show's hotline. http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/regional/ny-stan-millionaire. html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To visit the New York Times web site requires advance registration and personal data from each user. PAT] ------------------------------ From: steve@sellcom.com (Steve Winter) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Changing a Light Bulb Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 23:30:09 -0500 Organization: WWW.SELLCOM.COM Reply-To: steve@sellcom.com Joey Lindstrom spake thusly and wrote: > 19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three"; > 4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ; What about the one or two that mention that they have a very good deal on a new kind of lightbulb. Very illuminating post, though ... Steve http://www.sellcom.com Cyclades Siemens EnGenius Zoom at discount prices. SSL Secure VISA/MC/AMEX Online ordering New Brick Wall "non-MOV" surge protection Now shipping the new enhanced Siemens 2420 Gigaset ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #572 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Nov 25 04:55:11 1999 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id EAA08572; Thu, 25 Nov 1999 04:55:11 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 04:55:11 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199911250955.EAA08572@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V19 #573 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Nov 99 04:55:00 EST Volume 19 : Issue 573 Inside This Issue: Happy Thanksgiving Day! A Couple Day's of Vacation (TELECOM Digest Editor) ADSL Speed Measurement (Gene Cartier) Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length (John Bartley) Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length (Jonathan Seder) Re: Cellular Prefix Number in China (Steven) Fraud Alert !-- I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom (Joseph Gadoury ) Starpower Billing Example (Paul Robinson) Question (Molinari Alessio) Re: Definitions (Joey Lindstrom) Re: Definitions (Kim Brennan) Is Your Cell Phone Killing You? (Monty Solomon) SBC and Prodigy Hope Late Is Better Than Never (Monty Solomon) New Telco Employee Seeks Knowledge (Terence Baughman) Privacy Advocates Rally Against DoubleClick-Abacus Merger (Monty Solomon) Antiquarian Bookseller Snoops Amazon.com's E-Mail (Monty Solomon) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copywrited. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occassional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 765 Junction City, KS 66441-0765 Phone: 415-520-9905 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe/unsubscribe: subscriptions@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. You can get desired files in email. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: A Couple Day's Vacation Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 4:30:00 EST First of all, to our USA readers, my wishes are extented to you for a very happy Thanksgiving Day. I hope you will take a few minutes today to reflect upon your circumstances and give thanks as appropriate. Try also please to help someone less fortunate during the days ahead as I shall do: I've been recruited to be a ringer for the Salvation Army here in Junction City on three weekdays in December. Consider something like that for yourself. I've not taken any time off from my newsgroup work for awhile now, and this seems like a good opportunity for a couple days, so look for me again here around the weekend. Please hold off on sending messages for at least a couple days so there is not an unweildy, unusable backlog. I'm also going to be working on trying to get the airwaves.com website re-established once again in its new home, compliments of John Levine. (But I have not yet told them on ARJ/rrb where it is going to be, so it will be a surprise to them hopefully). Anyway, maybe see you sometime Sunday, otherwise first of the week for sure. PAT ------------------------------ From: gene_cartier@sra.com (Gene Cartier) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 17:04:23 -0500 Subject: ADSL Speed Measurement I've noticed that my Bell Atlantic ADSL connection and thruput has been getting slower and slower over the past few months. Seems that they must be adding more folks to the traffic stream. Is there any freeware/shareware out there that I can run on my system to measure what thruput (upstream & downstream) that I'm actually getting. They are advertising 400kpbs, but I feel that I'm getting 1.2kbps. My home environment is Win 95 and Internet Explorer version 5. I live in the Washington D.C. suburbs. Do I have any recourse with the Virginia PSC to ensure that I'm getting what I pay for? Gene Cartier gene_cartier@sra.com ------------------------------ From: usbcpdx@teleport.com (John Bartley) Subject: Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:52:09 GMT On Tue, 23 Nov 1999 18:32:10 GMT, jata@aepiax.net (Julian Thomas) wrote: > In , on 11/22/99 at 08:09 PM, > usbcpdx@teleport.com said: >> Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to >> a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL >> b) if not, at least find out why? > If US Worst is selling DSL themselves, try working with that end of the > business. > May not work, but worth a try? Does not work. Never got to the point of selecting an ISP, and I would use US West if offered. They just don't want to spend the $$ to clean up their awful cable plant. On Tue, 23 Nov 1999 05:23:10 -0700, Myron Harvey wrote: > On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 20:09:30 GMT, usbcpdx@teleport.com wrote: >> My house is 7,900' from the CO as per www.speakeasy.net/dsl/ yet US >> Worst reports the copper appears to be 20,000' >> Probably bridge taps or some such gubbage but when I ask (nicely) why, >> US worst sez I need a supoena to get their plant records. >> Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to >> a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL >> b) if not, at least find out why? > Speakeasy is appearently speaking to you with slightly forked tongue. > According to US West I am 23,000 ft. from the Littleton, CO central > office but Speakeasy says 14,000+ ft from something called LTTNCOMA. > This implies I would be served from "MA" what or where ever it is, but > technically still from LTTNCO. Perhaps "MA" is co-located at LTTNCO > and doesn't include POTS service and uses improved equipment analogous > to the new ISDN equipment with 30,000 ft. range. Maybe your "MA" > actually is 7,900 ft. from your home. That would place your "MA" about > 12,000 ft. from your CO. Makes sense. Actually, I drove the distance from my house to the CO and got 7,600'. 300' of internal frame and such is reasonable to assume. > If you should decide to check further be sure to go to Covads home > page and see if your ISP of choice is a Covad partner. Mine isn't. Why should I? ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Seder Subject: Re: DSL, LEC and Absurdly Inflated Reported Line Length Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 17:43:34 -0800 Organization: SyntelSoft Inc I am 4750 feet from my CO. The copper used to measure 8000 feet. That was OK for 10 months but then my DSL circuit failed. After four MPO meets and 35 days, a Pac Bell tech very kindly climbed the pole across the street from me and (perhaps) unhooked some bridge taps. This shortened the circuit's measured length to 6000' and also brought it back to life. As I understand it, in California, pending further discussions, Pacific Bell will not remove bridge taps for CLECs. The reason is that it is too expensive, difficult, and time consuming. The plant records are not always complete and accurate, so removing bridge taps often entails climbing every pole and examining every connection between the CO and the customer. If you can get your DSL from US West, they might clean up the line. Otherwise, your ILEC is only obliged to rent the copper as-is, possibly cleaning it up to some minimal standard agreed to by your CLEC. The good news is that IDSL (ISDN) will work. The better news is that the ILECs are under some pressure to make the CLECs happy so that ILECs will be granted one object of their desire, the right to sell long distance and other potentially lucrative services. Also, it's bad business to make too many end users miserable, angry, frustrated, etc. But have some sympathy for what is involved in cleaning up these oft-reconfigured copper pairs. The fastest way to get good information on the Web is to post bad information ... no doubt others will hop in to straighten this out. usbcpdx@teleport.com wrote: > My house is 7,900' from the CO as per www.speakeasy.net/dsl/ yet US > Worst reports the copper appears to be 20,000' > Probably bridge taps or some such gubbage but when I ask (nicely) why, > US worst sez I need a supoena to get their plant records. > Any suggestions as to how I can press the issue to > a) get the line cleaned up so I can get DSL > b) if not, at least find out why? ------------------------------ From: Steven Subject: Re: Cellular Prefix Number in China Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 14:10:32 +0800 Organization: Prima Computer Original there was one, now there are quite a few. They start with 13 ... Steven hsjung@nuri.net says ... > I need the information on the cellular prefix number which is being > put into service in China. > Any comment on this would be really appreciated! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 08:36:30 GMT From: jgad@pacbell.net (Joseph Gadoury) Subject: Fraud Alert !-- I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom, Organization: SBC Internet Services FRAUD ALERT! I-link Worldwide, Wealthcom, Buyers united Phone Long Distance SCAM!! Q: How long would it take for AT&t or MCI to cancel their services if you would not pay their bills ? A: At the most 3 months. (a fair estimate) Imagine! I have not paid I-Link Worldwide "NASDAQ: ILNK" invoices for the past 2 1/2 years and as of August 1999 I'm still being charge Long distance phone calls that not only I have never made but my long distance provider has been MCI and AT&t for the past 2 1/2 years. Wait! Wait! it gets worst. The phone number they are billing me from is a number that was never register by me or my wife at any addresses I ever lived. "I have a letter sign by Pacific Bell to acknowledge that fact." For all details See the link below http://www.scsioutlet.com Better Business Bureau Report http://search.bbb.org/bbb/plsql/bbbweb.reportShow?sessid=5083517992&AddrId=1126000002525706 I have found several people who have experienced the same with these company, If you or anybody you know has had the same experience PLEASE EMAIL ME. jgad@pacbell.net ------------------------------ From: Rfc1394a@aol.com Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 06:45:57 EST Subject: Starpower Billing Example From: Paul Robinson A reader of TELECOM Digest asked me about my article on Starpower and wanted to know "if Starpower bills like Bell Atlantic bills for things like Subscriber Line Charges." The following came straight off of the bill they sent me. I live in Arlington, Virginia: Federal line cost charge $3.50 RCN Bundled Long Distance $.00 PICC Residential Single Line $1.04 Number Portability Charge $.23 Touch Tone $.00 Residential Access Line $.00 Premium Measured $14.24 Total Service Charges $19.01 Federal Excise Tax $.57 ---------- Total Taxes $.57 ---------- Total $19.58 I'll see if I can find a Bell Atlantic bill for comparison. We have three phone lines in our house, my sister has two from Bell and I have one from Starpower. One note, the term "premium measured" above I believe is misleading as to the best of my knowledge I have unlimited local calling. For long distance I work it in one of two ways. If I am calling a number I know I will only get an answering machine, I'll dial it direct as it only costs 9c a minute. (Which, as I noted in my previous article, is now 7c a minute). If I am going to call someone for any length of time, I'll use my prepaid calling card, which charges roughly 3 1/2 to 4c a minute with a 50c call charge. So basically, if I think I'm going to be on a call for more than ten minutes, I'll use my card. But I have the advantage I can use it at pay phones and at the office. Paul Robinson (Formerly Paul@tdr.com, tdarcos@mcimail.com, tdarcos@access.digex.net among others) http://paul.washington.dc.us ------------------------------ From: Molinari Alessio Subject: Question About Country Codes Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 13:18:59 +0100 > Dear Mr Patrick Townson thanks to do an answer at my question about North > Marianna Island (00670) and Guam (00671) . I have another question : Does there exist an official site of ITU where it's possible have correct information about area codes of each country up to date and information about country code and area code of each carrier? Alessio Molinari Network Management Misure qualita' - traffico *+39 02 41331.6204 *alessio.molinari@infostrada.it Via Lorenteggio n257 20152 Milano ITALY ------------------------------ From: Joey Lindstrom Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 16:26:17 -0700 Reply-To: Joey Lindstrom Subject: Re: Definitions On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 01:09:04 -0500 (EST), Robert Bonomi wrote: >> C'mon, hit me with another ... I dare ya. ;-) > Oh, lets see here, > RFI > SHORAN > PWM > NAK > AVC > CTCSS (hint: pagers and 2-way radios) > SCA > QAM > SSB/SC > UCT > HDX > ERP > TARFU > ETB > MUNG Me and my big mouth. :-) OK, I'll take a stab at 'em ... RFI = Radio Frequency Interference (starting me off with an easy one, eh?) SHORAN = SHOrt RAnge Navigation PWM = hmmm... I'll guess Pulse Width Modulation NAK = No AcKnowledgement or Negative AcKnowledgement AVC = Automatic Volume Control? CTCSS = Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System SCA = Single Connector Architecture? QAM = Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (I'm a long-time USR Courier owner) SSB/SC = Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier Modulation UCT = Universal Coordinate Time HDX = Half Duplex ERP = Error Recovery Procedure or maybe Effective Radiated Power TARFU = Things Are Really Fouled Up (one of my faves, along with SOL: Short On Luck) ETB = End of Transmission Block MUNG = Mash Until No Good (another fave) OK, I'll come clean. Some of 'em (four or five) I looked up at www.acronymfinder.com :-) From the messy desktop of Joey Lindstrom Visit The NuServer! http://www.GaryNumanFan.NU Visit The Webb! http://webb.GaryNumanFan.NU "Don't believe everything you see and hear, escpecially the promos for next week." --Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Babylon 5 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Several glossaries of technical terms are available for download at http://telecom-digest.org/archives/glossaries and individual lookups can be done from these glossaries via the Telecom Archives Email Information Service: email to: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Subject line does not matter, then for text, flush at left margin: REPLY yourname@site GLOSSARY acronymn you are seeking (i.e. RADAR or MFJ) END You will get back email immediatly with the answer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kim@aol.com (Kim Brennan) Date: 24 Nov 1999 02:15:58 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: Definitions > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How do you know? Did you ask him? > Or did you merely read historical accounts and/or newspaper reports > where other writers put the period after the 'S' because they > did not know any better? PAT] There was a documentary on Harry S Truman, and before he died he was asked about his middle initial. He stated that he always put the period there. To see this for your self, you can check the Truman archives. Here is an url to a direct reference. Truman: The "S" Period Kim Brennan Duo 2300c, PB 2400, VW Fox Wagon GL, Corrado SLC, Vanagon GL Syncro http://members.aol.com/kim Duo Info Page: http://members.aol.com/kim/computer/duo/duoindex.html ?'s should include "Duo" in subject, else they'll be deleted unread. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 01:15:34 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Is Your Cell Phone Killing You? By Gordon Bass, PC Computing November 15, 1999 9:00 PM PT It's the must-have accessory of the late 20th century. It confers status and power. It gives you access to the world wherever you are, whenever you want. But what if it's producing a tumor in your brain the size of a golf ball? More than 80 million Americans use a mobile phone. By 2002 another 30 million people will be signed up for service. Yet there's mounting scientific evidence that using a mobile phone is risky. After all, "for the first time in history, we are holding a high-powered transmitter against the head," said Ross Adey, a professor of biochemistry at the University of California at Riverside. And that transmitter is about an inch from your brain. http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/stories/all/0,6605,2386403,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:31:41 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: SBC and Prodigy Hope Late Is Better Than Never The media dutifully reported the news that SBC Communications is grabbing a fat stake in Prodigy, but the coverage carried the unmistakable whiff of two also-rans trying to get back into the game. SBC is the nation's largest local telco, and it covers plenty of turf when it does business as Ameritech , Pacific Bell and Southwestern Bell. Like most telcos, though, SBC has failed to get a fire going under its DSL services. The idea behind the new deal is that Prodigy will lend its brand to SBC's DSL service in exchange for selling SBC a 43 percent stake in the company. The deal also bestows SBC's 650,000 high-speed customers upon Prodigy. http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,7827,00.html ------------------------------ From: Steelerz75@aol.com (Terence Baughman) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 03:28:42 EST Subject: New Telco Employee Seeks Knowledge Hello! I have worked for a CLEC for the past 18 months and have decided to remain in the telecom industry as my career. What amazes me the most however, is how little I know. I have only a general idea of what a PON is, what an LSR is, etc., etc. Yet most amazing is how little everyone else knows -- even the trainers. Most of what I have learned is from people who work a specific job within the company or people who have worked for other carriers. Can you recommend any good reading material that would give me a good overview, specifically with regards to POTS, and the relationship(s) between ILECs, CLECs, ICXs, etc. Any help will be most gratefully appreciated! Sincerely yours, Terence Baughman e-mail: steelerz75@aol.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You may want to take a few hours some day when you have the time to spare and review the thousands of back issues of this Digest and the several hundred technical and other telecom-related files in our archives: http://telecom-digest.org/archives and see what those offer. While there, also check out many of the older book reviews given by Rob Slade here over the years. I am sure readers will have some other book suggestions as well. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 01:18:11 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Privacy Advocates Rally Against DoubleClick-Abacus Merger By Courtney Macavinta Staff Writer, CNET News.com November 22, 1999, 3:50 p.m. PT Consumer advocates are making a last-ditch effort to hinder the $1 billion merger of Internet advertiser DoubleClick with market researcher Abacus Direct, charging that the deal will be an assault on personal privacy. Although privacy groups have sent letters asking the companies' shareholders to reject the merger and have complained to the Federal Trade Commission about the privacy implications, approval of the deal is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow. http://news.cnet.com/category/0-1005-200-1461826.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 00:33:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Antiquarian Bookseller Snoops Amazon.com's E-Mail, Gets Slapped Selling books used to seem so, well, genteel. If it was, it isn't anymore. A federal prosecutor filed suit in Boston yesterday charging that an online dealer in rare and antique books intercepted e-mail between Amazon.com and its customers. The accused bookseller, Mass.-based Interloc, last year morphed into Alibris, a well-funded California startup. Alibris said it would plead guilty; it expected to pay a $250,000 fine. The Boston Globe assigned reporter Steven Wilmsen to the story and ran it on page 1, possibly because of the Massachusetts connection. Wilmsen turned up a few angles the other outlets missed, although the Wall Street Journal's Glenn R. Simpson did get one detail more nearly correct. Wired, ZDNet, and the Washington Post ran 8 paragraphs from Reuters; the New York Times linked AP copy from its technology front page. http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,7828,00.html ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V19 #573 ******************************