From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 30 10:43:20 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA25612; Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:43:20 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:43:20 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608301443.KAA25612@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #451 TELECOM Digest Fri, 30 Aug 96 10:43:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 451 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 360 Communications to Offer Residential Long Distance Service (Nigel Allen) 281 NXX List Details (John Cropper) 972 NXX List Details (John Cropper) Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA (Michael J. Wengler) Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Shalom Wertsberger) Re: Alaska Has Moved! And a New Way to Call Cruise Ships (Keith W. Brown) Re: Alaska Has Moved! And a New Way to Call Cruise Ships (Steve Bagdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 23:12:43 EDT From: Nigel Allen Subject: 360 Communications to Offer Residential Long Distance Service Here is a press release from 360 Communications Company, a cellular company that used to be a division of Sprint. I found the press release on the PR Newswire web site at http://www.prnewswire.com/, and thought that it might be of interest to readers of this Digest. Has anyone here had experience with this company's residential long distance service? 360 Communications To Offer Residential Long Distance Service CHICAGO, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- 360 Communications Company (NYSE: XO) today announced it will begin offering residential long distance service this month in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Within the next few months, 360 will expand its residential long distance offering to customers in Alabama, Florida, New Mexico and South Carolina. 360 Communications will offer residential long distance service through 360 Long Distance, a wholly owned subsidiary, and plans to leverage its strong local market presence, distribution channels and customer relationships to compete with other major long distance providers. "360 has a distinct advantage over other long distance carriers and resellers because we have local retail stores, brand loyalty and outstanding customer service. We recently completed two market trials in Norfolk, Va., and in Mansfield, Ohio, and we experienced strong consumer endorsement for 360 Long Distance service," said Dennis Foster, president and chief executive officer of 360 Communications. "Our cross-sell opportunities are markedly significant and support our strategy of offering bundled services to our customers. We've been providing cellular long distance service to our customers for years, and now we're offering the added convenience of having one company with a strong local presence serve their cellular and residential long distance needs. "By providing bundled cellular and residential long distance service to existing 360 customers, we're positioned to gain a portion of the nearly $6 billion long distance business in the markets where we operate. This strategy also will attract new cellular customers and retain existing customers," Foster added. Initially, 360 will market its residential long distance service to existing cellular customers. 360 customers who sign up for residential long distance service will receive 360 free minutes of either local cellular or domestic long distance minutes -- 60 free minutes per month in the first, second and third month of service and another 60 free minutes per month in the 13th, 14th and 15th month of consecutive long distance service. 360 also will credit customers $5 on their first long distance bill to cover any charges they may incur from their local telephone carrier for changing long distance service. Customers may pay their long distance bills wherever 360 currently accepts bill payments, including participating Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and SAM's stores. Chicago-based 360 Communications provides wireless voice and data services to more than 1.75 million customers in nearly 100 markets in 14 states. In addition to the New York Stock Exchange, 360 Communications' stock is traded on the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco under the symbol XO. forwarded by Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ CV available on request ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: 281 NXX List Details Date: 29 Aug 1996 22:01:10 GMT Organization: Pipeline SUBURBAN HOUSTON AREA CODE CHANGE INFORMATION EXCHANGE PREFIXES MOVING FROM AREA CODE 713 TO 281 ON NOVEMBER 2, 1996 212 213 218 230 232 233 239 240 242 243 244 251 255 256 257 259 261 262 263 264 265 269 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 282 283 286 287 288 289 291 292 293 294 298 315 316 319 320 323 324 326 328 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 350 351 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 366 367 368 369 370 371 373 374 375 376 378 379 383 385 388 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 405 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 437 438 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 452 454 456 457 458 459 463 469 470 471 474 476 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 514 517 530 531 532 533 534 537 538 539 540 544 545 548 550 554 556 558 559 560 561 563 564 565 566 568 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 595 596 597 614 632 634 637 647 689 775 807 812 820 821 835 837 838 839 842 843 847 852 855 856 859 860 870 872 873 874 875 876 878 879 884 890 893 894 897 922 927 929 930 931 933 934 955 970 980 983 985 986 987 992 996 997 998 999 ALL OTHER FORMER 713 EXCHANGE PREFIXES REMAIN IN THE 713 AREA CODE. Permissive dialing period begins November 2, 1996. Permissive dialing period ends May 3, 1997. NXX 430 will move back to 713 in April 1997. Test number: (281) 792-8378 gives recording if successfully dialed. Source: SouthWest Bell area code hotline. Accuracy of sources not guaranteed. John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: 972 NXX List Details Date: 29 Aug 1996 22:01:48 GMT Organization: Pipeline SUBURBAN DALLAS AREA CODE CHANGE INFORMATION EXCHANGE PREFIXES MOVING FROM AREA CODE 214 TO 972 ON SEPTEMBER 14, 1996 203 204 205 206 207 208 216 217 218 219 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 233 234 235 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 245 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 266 269 270 271 272 273 274 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 303 304 305 306 307 308 313 315 316 317 318 322 323 326 329 334 335 336 338 345 346 347 355 365 366 370 377 378 379 380 382 383 385 386 387 389 390 392 393 394 395 396 397 399 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 409 412 413 414 416 417 418 419 420 422 423 424 425 427 429 431 432 434 435 436 437 438 441 442 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 461 462 463 466 468 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 479 480 481 483 484 485 486 487 488 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 501 504 506 509 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 524 525 527 529 530 531 539 540 541 542 544 545 547 548 550 551 552 554 556 557 558 561 562 563 564 566 568 569 570 571 572 574 575 576 578 579 580 584 585 586 591 592 593 594 596 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 633 635 636 641 642 644 646 647 650 659 660 661 662 663 664 666 667 669 676 680 681 682 684 685 686 687 690 694 699 701 702 705 708 709 710 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 721 722 723 724 726 727 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 738 751 752 753 756 758 766 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 778 779 780 782 783 784 788 789 790 791 795 798 799 805 809 814 830 831 837 838 840 842 843 845 846 851 853 864 866 867 868 869 872 873 875 876 878 881 882 883 884 886 887 888 889 893 901 907 909 915 916 917 918 919 921 923 924 927 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 937 938 952 960 962 964 966 968 975 980 982 985 986 988 991 994 995 997 ALL OTHER FORMER 214 EXCHANGE PREFIXES REMAIN IN THE 214 AREA CODE. Permissive dialing period begins September 14, 1996. Permissive dialing period ends March 14, 1997. Test number: (972) 792-8378 gives recording if successfully dialed. Source: SouthWest Bell area code hotline. Accuracy of sources not guaranteed. John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: Michael J. Wengler Subject: Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 08:59:17 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM, Incorporated; San Diego, CA, USA Reply-To: mwengler@qualcomm.com Tad Cook wrote: > The last two calls, which have 809 area codes, might look like regular > long-distance numbers within the United States. But they're really > phone calls to the Dominican Republic. And thus get charged pretty large charges. Interestingly, to make a scam like this work requires the cooperation of the phone company itself in Dominican Republic. Some of revenue from the international call is passed by the US long distance carrier to the phone company which carries the call once its inside the the Dominican Republic. That charge has to be very large in order to even have the possibility of a scam like this, because the D.R. phone company has to pass a portion of that large charge on to the scam ad placers in order to make the whole thing work! So don't let anybody think that the culpable party is difficult to find! We have hard-wired connection to the guilty: the D. R. phone company receiving the revenue from these calls! And don't think those charges are hard to recover. Those fraudulently induced calls can just be "charged back" to the D. R. phone company against later revenues for legitimate calls made from US to D. R. I think it should be a trivial matter for the FCC or the Congress to make a law REQUIRING the domestic US companies that carry these fraudulent calls to, when they are identified do the following: 1) use their records to reimburse defrauded customers for charges to these scam numbers and 2) chargeback these calls PLUS a 100% processing fee to the foreign phone companies who are participating in the scams. The foreign phone company could plead innocence or breach of contract, but the American company could simply say "we must follow US law, sorry." The foreign phone company could plead that they thought this was a "valid business" on the part of the scammers, and the US company could say "as you see it wasn't, so examine your deals and determine for yourselves whether the fraud chargebacks are small enough so that you should continue in this line or not. But US law now states that fraudulently induced revenue to you will be charged back. Take it up with the scammers you paid off." Another reform that could be considered: a set of standards for remining in the NANP (North American Numbering Plan, the people you reach by dialing 1+AreaCode+NXX-XXXX). Most people don't even realize there are "international" calls within the US+CANADA international dialing code of 1+. With long distance to Canada costing from 10 to 25 cents/minute, there is no opportunity for scamming off long distance charges. Essentially, calling Canada is in the range of cost you expect when dialing a 1+AreaCode call. Perhaps places like the D. R. want to stay in the NANP. Then they should be required to: 1) Have charges to companies delivering them calls which are in the same range as what US-Canada companies must have. This will result in D.R. area code calls costing in the expected "1+AreaCode range." 2) Meet and agree to various fraud protection chargeback stuff that US and Canadian callers take for granted. OTHERWISE, it should be a very simple matter to reprogram North American switches to see a "011+" before the "1809" which could serve as the D.R.'s international code, without requiring much change outside of North America. Then the scammer's going to have to get you to dial the international access code to perpetrate their scam. The last plausible reform is a required voice message which announces to US and Canadian callers when they dial the "expensive" area codes that are actually international "The area code you have dialed will be charged at international rates. If you have dialed in error, hang up now." ------------------ EDITORIAL COMMENT: The US and Canada users have a right to expect all "1+" calls to be in a certain range of charge, associated with domesticity. The cost to require by law the US and Candian companies to guarantee this is minimal with current technology. The D.R. or any other "1+" location that costs more than the most expensive Canada to US call as one benchmark should have their inclusion in "1+" dialing revoked, or at least the US+Canada customer making the call should get an info message while waiting for call to complete. NANP applies in general to an extraordinarily high-quality telephone network in terms of technology, service, and business practices. The very small part of NANP which inclues excessive charges and/or business practices like arranging kickbacks of international revenues to scam artists should simply be kicked out! Mikey ------------------------------ From: Shalom Wertsberger Subject: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 20:19:08 -0400 Hello Pat, Sprint advertised on TV in January/February their "Friday Free" program. The promise was that if I switch service over to them and spend at least $50 /month I will be entitled to one full year of free calls, every Friday, anywhere in the world, up to $1000/month. I joined in. However, in April they sent me a letter (signed by a Robin Loyed) stating that as of April 18 nine countries (including Israel, Equador, Mainmar and others) are off the Friday Free. Instead they offered me the great discount of paying 75% REGULAR RATE ($1.10 / minute after discount, more than anyone else ...) for calls they promised I will have free ... I called and faxed but got no meaningful response. The claim is that due to high volume they got high rates of incomplete calls. This explanation sounds bogus to me. I am certain that the bandwidth is there but they would not lease it. I also offered them the option: if they meet technical difficulties, I will accept monetary compensation instead. (After all a business have to respect its commitments). They off course told me to get lost (in so many words.) I approached the AG of Maine, and they sent letters as well. Sprint responded saying that making me pay for what they promised for free is a "fair and reasonable" act. And they said they could not offer me any other solution. I also sent an "informal" complaint to the FCC on June 7, but so far did not even get an acknowledgment from them. I sued in District Court. Their lawyer appeared and claimed that the court had no jurisdiction, only the FCC. The judge dismissed the call. I checked some of the references cited by the lawyer. One, Wegoland vs. Nynex (27 F.3d 17, 2d Cir. 1994) simply stated that even if the carrier committed provable fraud the matter is out of the jurisdiction of the courts due to "filed tariff doctrine". Since the FCC is not responding and you can not collect damages for such fraud, and due to limited funds, I decided to drop the issue for now. If however there is a class action suite going on, I would love to join in on it. Any data will be appreciated. Also any publicity you can give this letter is welcome. I hope more people will learn about the fraud Sprint commits and avoid them. Thanks, Shalom Wertsberger [TELECOM Digest Editior's Note: Quite a routine, isn't it? "Even though we commit a crime (in this case, fraud) the court cannot touch us because we have tariffs ...". And I can tell you right now if you ever think you are going to get in touch with Robin Loyed, you can forget it. He does not accept phone calls, in fact he dodges them. His main purpose at Sprint apparently is to function as a buffer to keep customers from getting through to anyone in any real decision-making capacity. If you call Sprint and ask to speak with him, now they laugh at you. The only advice I can give you is that if you -- and other users of Sprint -- do not have a *total, complete freeze* on all accounts payable the company alleges are due to them, then you should have. Do not pay them any money, for any reason, at any time. All I can suggest is that to the extent possible, you 'take it out in trade' with them; use their service to the extent you have credit coming on 'Free Friday' calls and when they demand payment for it, tell them they are going to have to sue you. Tell them payment of their account will be considered when you have actually spoken about the matter with Robin Loyed himself on the phone and gotten their contract violations cleared up. Now if you have no complaints with Sprint; have never had them stiff you on a contract or for calls you did not make, etc then the above does *not* apply; you should pay your bills which are legitimate. But for those folks who were fooled into signing up for Free Fridays only to have the company cancel the plan once they signed you up, the *only* way you are going to get the company's attention is by withholding their payments. Don't worry, they'll ask what for eventually. Then your answer is you want to talk to Robin Loyed and you want Sprint to honor its contracts, or they can sue which gives you a great opportunity to countersue. At least you ran up their legal bill a little for them; their attorney had to appear to respond to you, and he did not do it out of the goodness of his heart. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Keith W. Brown Subject: Re: Alaska Has Moved! And a New Way to Call Cruise Ships Date: 29 Aug 1996 23:28:42 GMT Organization: CallCom International David Whiteman wrote in article : > My parents are once again going on another cruise. Some of you may > have recall my previous problems in calling them through Imarsat. > This time I received an advertisement from Princess Cruises about a > new way to call a cruise ship by calling a 900# (1-900-CALL-SHIP). I > do not know whether this new method works for all cruise ships or just > Princess Cruises, whether the call signal is better or worse, or > anything else. I have not used this new service. The ad does mention > the price is $8.95 per minute, and you do not need the vessel ID > number or any ocean region code. Inmarsat rates have dropped! AtlW: $6.97 per minute Ind: $6.97 per minute Pac: $6.97 per minute AtlE: $6.97 per minute Keith W. Brown International Long Distance URL: http://www.callcom.com E-mail: newsinfo@callcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 02:25:51 GMT From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: Alaska Has Moved! And a New Way to Call Cruise Ships dbw@autopsy.com (David Whiteman) said: > My parents are once again going on another cruise. Some of you may > have recall my previous problems in calling them through Imarsat. > This time I received an advertisement from Princess Cruises about a > new way to call a cruise ship by calling a 900# (1-900-CALL-SHIP). I > do not know whether this new method works for all cruise ships or just > Princess Cruises, whether the call signal is better or worse, or > anything else. I have not used this new service. The ad does mention > the price is $8.95 per minute, and you do not need the vessel ID > number or any ocean region code. Sounds as if Princess Cruises has purchased bulk time from InMarSat, and is reselling this time to the public. > Also readers may remember in previous postings the problems I had in > trying to reach my parents by fax. (The advertisement only mentions > calling by voice, not fax) As before my parents are on a cruise ship > in the Alaska area. I tried using both the Imarsat ocean code for the > Pacific Ocean which did not go through, nor did the ocean code for the > Indian Ocean work, which was the code that worked last time. This > time the code for Atlantic Ocean-East worked, so Alaska magically > moved from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Of course in > fairness I must mention that on this trip my parents are on a > different cruise ship, belonging to a different company, and probably > a different position in Alaska. Going into the technical reasons for how an earth station chooses an InMarSat satellite again would not be very productive, but let's leave it at that the earth station can choose a particular satellite (whether or not it's the strongest), or the strongest satellite (whether or not it's the closest). It all depends on how the earth station is configured. > For those not recalling the previous articles there are a class of > telephones which are called Marisat or Inmarsat. Each phone has a > seven digit number, and can use one of four satellites numbered 871, > 872, 873, or 874. In theory you reach a phone by dialing 011 (or the > international dialing code for your country), then dialing the > satellite ocean code for the particular ocean your caller is in, then > the id number. However sometimes because of overlapping satellite > coverage, a different satellite provides better reception. That is > how such funny occurrances occur like Alaska moving from the Indian > Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. The comment I refrained from making the last time will have to be stated now. What's the big deal! It similar to cellular -- if the number doesn't go through, try the other one. You have four ORs (Ocean Regions). If one doesn't work, go onto the next one -- but I'd be *darned* suprised if the boat could reach AOWR (Atlantic Ocean West Region)! Granted, cruise lines should have a toll or toll-free number that you could call to find out which OR the boat is in. But since (the last time I checked) you don't get charged for an imcomplete call, just keep trying ORs until you find the right one (or at least a busy signal). Steve B. bagdon@rust.net (h) USFMDDKT@ibmmail.com (w) http://www.rust.net/~bagdon Katharine aNd Steve (KNS) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #451 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 30 11:20:32 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA29602; Fri, 30 Aug 1996 11:20:32 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 11:20:32 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608301520.LAA29602@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #452 TELECOM Digest Fri, 30 Aug 96 11:20:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 452 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Jim Hurley) BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order (Mike King) Re: Telegraph and Cable In Europe? (Andreas Pavlik) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Yigal Arens) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (John R. Levine) Re: Privatizing The Big Lie (Dave Penkler) Re: Spammer of the Day For Your Consideration (Will Roberts) Need Help With Digital Muxes (Robert McMillin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 96 10:40 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > Sprint advertised on TV in January/February their "Friday Free" > I joined in. However, in April they sent me a letter (signed by a > [reneging on parts of the promise] > I called and faxed but got no meaningful response. The claim is that > due to high volume they got high rates of incomplete calls. This > I also sent an "informal" complaint to the FCC on June 7, but so far did > not even get an acknowledgment from them. I have also sent an "informal" complaint, but have not heard back from the FCC. Just before I wrote this, I tried to call them, but all I can get is a recording. I, like you, agreed to accept monetary compensation for Sprint's breech of contract, but (not surprisingly) Sprint declined. > I sued in District Court. Their lawyer appeared and claimed that the > court had no jurisdiction, only the FCC. The judge dismissed the call. There's another approach to take. Sprint told me that they have the right to change their "contract" with me at any time, simply by filing a revised tariff. If so, Sprint violated truth in advertising laws by not making that clear in their advertisements. I think the approach to take is this: either (1) Sprint does not have the right to change the terms of our agreement, in which case Sprint is in breech of contract, or (2) Sprint DOES have the right, in which case they violate truth in advertising laws, and, more importantly, EVERY FUTURE ADVERTISEMENT MUST CARRY A DISCALIMER. Who has jurisdiction over truth in advertising? > If however there is a class action suite going on, I would love to > join in on it. Any data will be appreciated. Also any publicity you > can give this letter is welcome. I hope more people will learn about > the fraud Sprint commits and avoid them. I'm in the same situation. I don't have the resources to sue Sprint. If there's a class action suit, I'd also like to know about it. For that matter, if a laywer wants to represent me (us) against Sprint, I'd be happy to offer the usual 30% commission. I would sue for $12,000 (the maximum amount of the contract) in compensatory dammages, and as much as possible in punative, for willful breech of contract. In my case, Sprint also cut off my calling card the last day free calls to Israel were still offered. One of Sprint's employees freely admitted that my card was cut off "becuase of my calling pattern." (This is not the fraud-detection unit.) > The only advice I can give you is that if you -- and other users of > Sprint -- do not have a *total, complete freeze* on all accounts payable > the company alleges are due to them, then you should have. Do not pay I tried this, but my Sprint bills are billed through my local telco, and my telco sent me a disconnect notice. I can't afford to have my business number disconnected. Joel (joel@exc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is good news for you. Your local telephone service *can not be disconnected* for failure to pay the long distance portion (when the long distance carrier is another company). That is an FCC regulation going back to earlier this year or maybe last year. It was ruled that was primarily as a way to protect consumers against bogus charges for 900 service, etc. Your phone bill *should* that notice printed on it somewhere. Now they may continue to carry it on the bill until such time as the long distance carrier issues credit, but they cannot disconnect you for it. I recommend you immediatly get in touch with your local telco and your local regulators. Also, inform telco you need to be have your long distance changed from Sprint to something else right away. Let your local telco know you are in litigation with Sprint over this, although you do not need to get into all the details. As for persons who are billed independently by Sprint, if you are paying them anything at the present time, you are paying them too much. I believe the 'false advertising' claim would take precedence over the 'tariff controls' claim, but that is what a court is for, to rule on these things. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jim Hurley Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Organization: James Hurley & Associates Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:14:43 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editior's Note: Quite a routine, isn't it? "Even though > we commit a crime (in this case, fraud) the court cannot touch us because > we have tariffs ...". And I can tell you right now if you ever think you > are going to get in touch with Robin Loyed, you can forget it. He does > not accept phone calls, in fact he dodges them. How about calling Whoopi Goldberg? :) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: People have tried to sue famous people for advertising endorsements they made on behalf of companies but those cases always lose. The courts say the famous person was simply being employed to make those claims, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 00:35:59 PDT Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 17:05:02 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order For Information Contact: John Schneidawind (202)463-4183 BACKGROUND: The text of the Federal Communications Commissions August 8 interconnection order was published in the Federal Register today. The FCC's interconnection order sets the terms and conditions for local telephone companies to open their networks to competition. With its publication in the Federal Register, the FCC's order can be appealed. The following statement about the FCC's interconnection order should be attributed to Walter Alford, BellSouth general counsel: "BellSouth has concluded that the FCC has gone far beyond the intent of Congress with this massive order, which displaces private negotiations and usurps the states' authority to bring competition to the local marketplace. "For this reason, BellSouth will appeal the FCC's August interconnection order and will ask the court for an expedited hearing. We do so for the following reasons: -- The states should be in charge of the framework for establishing local telephone competition by overseeing the negotiations of competitors in their communities. But the FCC has imposed an elaborate set of federal rules on the states without any regard to local needs and conditions. The FCC has vastly exceeded its jurisdiction, as well as the intent of Congress, in implementing Section 251 of the Communications Act of 1996. -- The FCC's method of pricing unbundled network elements at incremental cost thwarts another intention of Congress, which was to establish full-fledged competitive networks. The prices at which BellSouth will be required to lease parts of its network are so low that competitors will be discouraged from building new telephone networks and the jobs Congress expected to be created will be lost. BellSouth does not object to giving discounts. We object to giving excessive discounts -- about 40 percent or more - three to four times what Congress intended. The FCC's pricing methodology, in effect, allows a Big Government federal agency to take BellSouth's property without just compensation. "The last thing BellSouth wants to do is hold up competition in the local exchange market because it is the condition for our entry into long-distance. For this reason, BellSouth has pushed to open our markets as fast or faster than any other company. With 19 interconnection agreements signed, our track record proves it. "We want to get into long-distance as soon as possible because BellSouth's customers want a complete package of telecommunications services. On the other hand, AT&T and MCI can be expected to do anything they can to protect their cozy long-distance cartel. "BellSouth seeks an immediate resolution of these issues so that customers can enjoy the benefits of real competition in telecommunications." ---------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Andreas Pavlik Subject: Re: Telegraph and Cable In Europe? Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:15:58 -0700 Organization: University of Vienna Jeff Shinn wrote: > I understand that in many European countries, telex/cable/telegraph is > often-used for business and personal communications. In these > countries the postal authority offers this service, whereby persons > can send and receive messages at those offices. Similarly, businesses > use this form of communications to a great degree. > So, just how extensive is this type of communication "over there"? Within Europe the use of telegrams for business purposes is virtually non-existent any more and also the use of telex went down since fax is available. Nevertheless a few companies still have cable addresses on their letterhead paper. I cannot imagine that they are ever used. Telegrams are mainly used for personal greetings and congratulation purposes. As far as I know within Austria "telegrams" are now transmitted by fax to the receipient's post office. In larger cities the telegram is then delivered by an "express carrier", in rural areas next day by the mail carrier. The basic fee is about 3 US$, there is no word fee any more, but one "block" of text (about half an A4 page) costs about 1 US$. For an additional fee telegrams are also accepted by phone or fax. As the main purpose are congratulations, the message can come with a greeting card or in an envelope which sounds "happy birthday to you" (or the equivalent German song) when it is opened. The fee for international telegrams is still by the word, to the United States it is about 5 US$ basic fee plus 1.40 US$ per word. Somewhat off-topic: Since May 1st, 1996, the Oesterreichisce Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung (Austrian Post and Telegraph(!) Authority) is no government agency any more, but a company with the name "Post- und Telekom Austria AG" (PTA). The only owner, however, is the Federal Government, but a partial privatization is scheduled for 1998. The cellular phone networks are now run by a subsidiary named "Mobilkom Austria". Andreas Pavlik University of Vienna Vienna, Austria ------------------------------ From: arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 21:39:51 -0700 Organization: USC/Information Sciences Institute Yigal Arens wrote: > (I'm from LA. When roaming in San Francisco, a local caller needs to call > my LA number, a LD provider transmits the call back up to SF, and I also > pay roaming charges there. Why?) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tell your friend to start dialing into > the number for the roaming port in San Francisco. ... PAT] That's fine with me, but how do I find out that number? I see it on my long distance bills, but that is long after I get back ... Of course, this still doesn't solve the problem of the person who doesn't know that I'm roaming. Yigal Arens USC/ISI arens@isi.edu http://www.isi.edu/sims/arens ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 01:30:41 GMT Organization: Netcom In response to a question about inter-city roaming charges, PAT said : > Tell your friend to start dialing into the number for the roaming port > in San Francisco. Then he will pay for just a local call and you will > pay only whatever roaming charge applies for roamers making/receiving > local calls in SF. ... but ... I could be wrong, since it's been a while since I last did this, but I think that my cellular company (Comcast/Metrophone - Philadelphia Metro "A" side carrier) charges LD on *any* out of the area roaming call. For example, if I am in Baltimore (where I frequently travel) and I call a Baltimore local number, I pay: .99 / minute roaming charge A N D long distance from Baltimore to Philadelphia WHYZAT ? Bill ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 96 10:42 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > I live in Los Angeles and have a contract with a local cellular service > provider. When I'm in San Francisco and a friend of mine in San > Francisco calls me on my cell phone, charges accumulate as follows: > - My friend pays long distance charges to my cellular number in LA; > - I pay my long distance provider for transmitting the call from LA to > San Francisco; > - I pay the roaming charges for receiving the call in San Francisco on > my cell phone. > Can someone explain the logic behind this (other than that more people > make money off it)? I would think that once the "system" figures out > that I'm in San Francisco, ... There's not one system, there's many. Your cell switch in Los Angeles knows only that the call's coming from Pac Bell, who in turn know only that it's coming from his LD carrier. In general, forwarded calls follow the forwarding path, e.g. if you had regular landline call forwarding and you forwarded your LA number to an SF number, calls from SF will still be charged a southbound toll to the caller and a northbound toll to the forwarder. I suppose that with increasing SS7 connectivity it'd be possible not to set up the two toll calls, but the billing would be tricky. For example, what happens if someone calls you from Santa Monica? Does he pay the message units to LA, an unexpected inter-LATA toll to SF, or what? As Pat noted, if your friend knows that you're in SF, he can call the local roamer number and avoid the toll charges. Some cell carriers even have an option to notify callers of the roamer port number rather than forwarding the call. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof ------------------------------ From: dave@hptnoa02.grenoble.hp.com (dave) Subject: Re: Privatizing The Big Lie Date: 30 Aug 1996 16:11:37 +0200 Organization: HP Grenoble In article The Old Bear writes: > A more rational approach would be to restructure the basic local loop > between subscriber premises and the frame at the telco central office > to digital facilities (over existing phyical media) and to grab > digitized data (internet, video, home security, etc) there, at the CO > end of the local loop, BEFORE it enters the switched portion of the > network. Such digital data then would be handled on appropriate > non-switched and routed facilities, while voice telephony, digitized > between the customer premises and the central office, would be delivered > to the telco switch and continue to be handled via the more appropriate > switched network. Instead of adding active equipment to the frame would it not be better to do it on the line units of the switch. Is this not how X.25 coming over the D or B channels is handled on 5ESS ISDN Line units? The packet protocol is terminated on the line card which avoids occupying valuable synchronous switching resources in the connection modules. Does it not make economic sense to do a similar thing with IP PPP/SLIP coming into a line unit on B channels. An IP packet exchange processor could terminate the PPP/SLIP and forward IP packets to an IP router function on suitably dimensioned digital facilities. Would those who know please care to comment. Cheers, Dave PENKLER | E-Mail: Dave_Penkler@grenoble.hp.com Telecom Systems Business Unit| Hewlett-Packard France | Telephone: +33 7662 1446 5 av R. Chanas - Eybens | Fax: +33 7662 5323 38053 Grenoble Cedex 09 | GSM: +33 0715 0256 FRANCE | ------------------------------ From: oldbear@arctos.com (The Old Bear) Subject: Re: Spammer of the Day For Your Consideration Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 14:31:17 -0400 ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) writes: > The following is an UPDATE and is self-explanatory. >> From: Careerpro1@aol.com >> Message-ID: <960824185151_186930904@emout12.mail.aol.com> >> To: ray.normandeau@factory.com >> Subject: Re: Resume Xpress Now posting to 127+ databases >> My company, OnLine Solutions, Inc., has a service ResumeXPRESS! that >> distributes resumes for job candidates. We accept resumes from >> third parties (on a wholesale basis) who sell the service to their >> clients. >> A third party independent contractor (Marc Morris at CareerNet) hired >> a marketing firm and/or purchased an email list that was supposed to >> contain only names of recipients who had indicated an interest in >> receiving ads. Obviously that was erroneous. We still have not >> figured out why you and many, many others have received multiple >> emails. I have been assured that this has been stopped. >> I truly am sorry and will be diligent in monitoring such options in >> the future. >> Wayne Gonyea >> OnLine Solutions, Inc. I just wanted to put in a word for Mr. Gonyea. He is part of James Gonyea's organization which has been one of the pioneers of bona fide executive search and job counselling on the internet and the author of several books about using the internet as a tool for employment searches. James Gonyea was instrumental in bringing a number of major companies together into a not-for-profit cooperative ("OCC") which sponsored a Gopher server and later a web site via which they could post job opportunities and solicit resumes. At the time, this was one of the first uses of the internet as a conduit of information directly between 'buyer' and 'seller' without going through an intermediate broker like an executive seach firm or head-hunter. This continues as the "Online Career Center" at http://www.occ.com/occ/ The Online Career Center, the Internet's first career center, is a non-profit employer associationsponsored by leading corporations. Corporations sponsor this career center through a one time membership fee of $3,900 and $240 annually after the first year. Currently, there are 16,000 to 18,000 job postings and 14,000 to 16,000 resumes in the database. Over 250 member companies have their web pages linked and 500 colleges and universities. When non-member companies are added to the total, 3,000 companies post to this site. Six million people access this site in a month which averages to 96,000 per day. The Online Career Center has been in existence since 1992 and is based in Indianapolis. Gonyea's current venture is the Internet Career Center which is an outgrowth of his activities with America Online's Career Center, and is now accessible from the broader internet. I believe this enterprise differs from the OCC in that it is a for-profit operation. Here is some background from http://iccweb.com/ : Gonyea & Associates, Inc. is a Florida-based corporation, specializing in the delivery of career, employment, and business development guidance and information electronically (online) to clients worldwide. Gonyea & Associates is owned and managed by James C. Gonyea, a nationally recognized authorand expert with 25+ years of experience in career and employment guidance. In March of 1989, James Gonyea opened the first electronic online career and employment guidance agency. Known as the Career Center, this forum area remains today as the premiere career and employment agency open to the general public and accessible by anyone with a computer and modem. Gonyea & Associates' main mission is to continue to provide online career and employment guidance and information electronically to individuals nationwide and around the world. As a result, the Internet Career Connection was established to service clients worldwide. Gonyea & Associates is staffed by the following individuals: James C. Gonyea - President and CEO Pam Gonyea - Vice President Wayne M. Gonyea - General Manager, Help Wanted-USA Kevin Machos - Director of Operations Korie D. Gonyea - Administrative Assistant Don Wood - Data Processing Specialist If you wish to contact us, please feel free to do so by phone, fax, mail or email: Gonyea & Associates, Inc. 1151 Maravista Drive New Port Richey, Florida 34655 813-372-1333 - voice 813-372-0394 - fax Email: careerdoc@aol.com To the best of my knowlege, these folks are highly legitimate (unlike a lot of turkeys on the 'net) and have always tried to operate in an appropriate manner. This note is just to set the record straight. I have no interest in any of Gonyea's activities but have used them as an example of businesses which make appropriate use of the power of the internet. It is very doubtful that they would jeopardize their reputation with an intentional spam. Cheers, Will Roberts The Old Bear oldbear@arctos.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not think it was those folks at fault. It was the fellow who told them he could do their emailing for them -- who then proceeded to send spam and junk mail -- who is to be blamed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Subject: Need Help With Digital Muxes Organization: Charlie Don't CERF Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 16:47:51 GMT My company is in the process of deciding whether to make the (painful?) transition to digital telephony. We recently upgraded our phone system to a Norstar Plus, which can handle T1s. The theory is that we get a T1 from our LD carrier (currently AT&T, though that's up for review), and then route all our LD calls through it. However, this brings up a problem: first, all our bids so far presume that we'll route *all* our LD calls through the T1. Since about a third of our lines are dedicated modems or faxes, and the LEC T1 can't terminate phone calls to a local number, we have to retain some kind of connection with GTE, our local provider. (There are also some dialup modems.) Now, it appears to me that one problem with a mixed POTS-local and T1-long-distance scheme is that our Nortel system has to generate busy for the fax/modem lines in cases where the fax is dialing out over the LD T1 but an incoming call is simultaneously arriving on the POTS. BUT, since the fax came in over a POTS circuit, the customer then has to pay for the privilege of hearing a busy! Therefore, the only sensible way to handle everything in one big box is to go fully digital with both our LD carrier and GTE. We'd also like to add a frame relay data link (possibly carrying voice) to our Dallas office. (We're in LA.) Obviously, we'd need to split out the data channels on the *before* they get to the T1. Any pointers the audience could provide on hardware needed to do this, as well as any gaping logic holes in the above, are welcome. TIA. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #452 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Aug 30 11:58:08 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA03852; Fri, 30 Aug 1996 11:58:08 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 11:58:08 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608301558.LAA03852@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #453 TELECOM Digest Fri, 30 Aug 96 11:58:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 453 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson BellSouth Commercials Will Feature 'Celebrity' Customers (Mike King) BellSouth Signs Interconnection Agreement With Winstar (Mike King) Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer (John Holland) Optus Launches Global Managed Data Services (Prabha Aithal) Re: What Does a Call Cost? (P. Morgan) Re: BellSouth Ending Flat-Rate ISDN (Stephen Satchell) Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? (Wes Leatherock) Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? (Ken Colburn) Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Telegraph and Cable In Europe? (John R. Levine) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Commercials Will Feature 'Celebrity' Customers Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 00:35:03 PDT Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 17:48:54 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH COMMERCIALS WILL FEATURE 'CELEBRITY' CUSTOMERS For Information Contact: David Rogers BellSouth Telecommunications (404) 529 8053 Bogues, Cox, Fuentes, Judd, Torres, Winans... NEW BELLSOUTH COMMERCIALS WILL FEATURE 'CELEBRITY' CUSTOMERS ATLANTA (Aug. 26, 1996) BellSouth Telecommunications will launch its biggest ad campaign ever on Sept. 3 with a series of television commercials designed to solidify the company's position in a competitive communications marketplace that is giving consumers more and more choices. To help establish BellSouth as the customer's best choice for communications, the company for the first time is utilizing a diverse array of celebrities from its nine state region to appeal to its diverse customer base. In the TV spots, Muggsy Bogues, Courteney Cox, Daisy Fuentes, Naomi Judd, CeCe Winans and Nestor Torres deliver the message that every customer is treated like a star. "The key to this advertising campaign is that these stars are very recognizable and have very strong ties to the BellSouth region," said Judi North, president of Consumer Services for BellSouth Telecommunications. The Hispanic population continues to grow throughout the BellSouth region. As part of its commitment to this important customer segment, BellSouth has enlisted two celebrities with Hispanic roots. MTV Star Daisy Fuentes and musician Nestor Torres will make Spanish language commercials promoting BellSouth's Complete Choice plan and MemoryCall service. The commercials spots highlight the BellSouth services used by the celebrities and point out that the same services that make their lives easier are available to all BellSouth customers. The services featured in the commercials include BellSouth Caller ID, MemoryCall service, additional phone lines and the Complete Choice plan. BellSouth Complete Choice, which is available in most states, combines customers' local phone service with up to 18 optional features for one fixed rate and includes Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding and Call Block, among others. "As competition increases, our customers will be bombarded with more and more messages concerning telecommunications products and services," North said. "Using celebrities can help us break through the clutter, helping reinforce the BellSouth brand and improving viewer recall." Cox, who is originally from Birmingham, Ala., is nationally known because of her role in the top rated TV show "Friends." Nashville resident Judd, a native of Ashland, Ky., earned her early reputation singing with daughter Wynonna. Bogues was a basketball star at Wake Forest University and now plays for the NBA Charlotte Hornets. Winans, who made her mark in Nashville as a popular singer of R&B and contemporary Christian music, recently teamed with Whitney Houston on the hit duet, "Count On Me," from the "Waiting To Exhale" soundtrack. Fuentes, who is based in Miami, is well known among youthful MTV watchers and is a worldwide model. Torres is a renowned jazz flutist who also resides in Miami. The commercials will run on a rotating schedule in BellSouth's nine state area. As the campaign moves forward, plans are to add new commercials featuring additional celebrities. BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, provides telecommunications services in the nine state BellSouth region, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. For more information on BellSouth, visit our site on the World Wide Web at http://www.bellsouth.com. ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Signs Interconnection Agreement With Winstar Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 00:36:31 PDT Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 16:29:12 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH SIGNS INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT WITH WINSTAR FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Chandler BellSouth Telecommunications (404) 529 6235 BELLSOUTH SIGNS INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT WITH WINSTAR Nine State Agreement Is The Nineteenth Signed To Date (Atlanta, GA) August 26, 1996 BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) announced today it reached its nineteenth local interconnection agreement by signing a regionwide pact with WinStar Communications, Inc. This agreement allows WinStar to provide local telecommunications services to business and residential customers in competition with BellSouth. WinStar currently has been certified to provide local service in three BellSouth states Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, and has filed with state commissions to offer local service in Louisiana and North Carolina. "We've continued to negotiate with our competitors, and continued to sign interconnection agreements that result from these negotiations as was intended by the national legislation," stated Roger Flynt, Group President of Regulatory and External Affairs for BellSouth. "We remain committed to promoting competition in the entire industry, including long distance, even though confusion and uncertainty on the future of fair and open competition exist due to the FCC's recent order on interconnection," noted Flynt. The agreement sets the terms on how BellSouth and WinStar will interconnect their networks. These terms include: non discriminatory rates, terms and conditions for local interconnection; interim number portability; and the resale of BellSouth's services and network capabilities. With this agreement, BellSouth has now signed agreements with regional and national competitors, including: Time Warner, Intermedia, Teleport Communications Group, Hart Communications, The Telephone Company of Central Florida, Southeast Telephone Company, American MetroComm, Payphone Consultants, Georgia Comm South, MediaOne (US West Subsidiary), National Tel, Business Telecom Inc. of Georgia, Intetech, and the Florida Cable Association. BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing and other information services to more than 25 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. Its telephone operations provide service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world for approximately 21 million telephone lines in a nine state region that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. ------------------------ Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: John Holland Organization: Ericsson Systems Expertise, Dublin, Ireland Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:08:25 GMT Subject: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer Hi Patrick, Some of your readers may be able to help me. I'm looking for a good simple (if possible!) description of connection oriented and connectionless data transfer. I believe in connectionless each packet contains all the information it needs to traverse the network, where as with connection oriented means that a 'logical' connection must be first set up, data transfered and then the connection torn down. Really I'm looking for some good examples I can latch on to. I can't quite grasp how a 'logical' connection is set up. How do the packets get routed? Thanks in advance! John Holland Technical Trainer/Developer Ericsson System Expertise Limited Adelphi Centre Dunlaoghire Co. Dublin PH:353-1-2072698 FX:353-1-2802014 ------------------------------ Date: 30 Aug 1996 16:36:26 +1000 From: Prabha Aithal Subject: Optus Launches Global Managed Data Services. Media release August 30, 1996 Optus Launches Global Managed Data Services Optus Communications has launched its Global Managed Data Services (GMDS), offering premium quality, reliable and highly cost effective international frame relay services to the corporate sector. The launch follows extensive trials of the service with 15 customers, including Fidelity Investments and James Hardie Industries Ltd. GMDS is highly cost competitive, and can bring corporate customers savings of up to 50% over leased line solutions. This brings international data communications within the reach of organisations who have previously found them unaffordable. A key feature of GMDS is its outstanding geographic coverage, with connections to 27 countries including most major European and Asia destinations, and the USA. Optus' GMDS Frame Relay is being provided via the Cable & Wireless Group's Global Digital Highway (GDH), an advanced managed platform using leading edge optical fibre circuits around the globe. Cable & Wireless is one of Optus' major shareholders. It has established expertise in telecommunications and a history of providing excellent, innovative services in the Asia Pacific region. Optus Director of the Corporate and Government Division, Mr John Filmer, said: "The launch of a GMDS Frame Relay service confirms Optus' standing as a global player for the corporate and government marketplace. "GMDS provides our customers with an extensive and robust network for high speed data transfer. It's amongst the best in the world. "Our parent provider, Cable & Wireless, rated highly in the Data Communications Magazine users' survey of international frame relay service providers. We are more than competitive on cost effective pricing and in the speed and accuracy of fault handling." A key feature of GMDS is its ability to offer end to end global service management. This provides fast and accurate fault handling; managed by 24 hour a day, 7 days a week multi-lingual service management centres in key sites around the globe. GMDS also allows flexible billing options, defined by the customer. The bill is provided in an easy to read format, covering all GMDS connections in the customer's network. Optus will also consult with customers to provide service design assistance, providing optimal network configuration, using a team of network specialists. Optus is currently offering special introductory pricing. Customers signing a two year contact in the next three months will automatically receive the discounts normally available on a three year contract. They will also receive free installation in Australia, and the first month's charges will be waived at the Australian end. GMDS Technical Specifications The robust GDH network is engineered to meet all committed information rate (CIR) needs, with CIRs of 16 Kbit/s to 768 Kbit/s available. (The CIR is a fixed level of bandwidth capacity set to meet a user's average needs). This makes the GMDS ideal for 'bursty' traffic - at peak times a customer can send data in excess of their CIR. The bandwidth will always be there to match customers' requirements for flexibility and scalability. With its suitability to bursty traffic, GMDS facilitates LAN interconn- ectivity, so applications include e-mail, remote database access, and file transfer. For more info: contact Public Affairs, Optus Communications, OCS29 URL: http://redback.optus.com.au/optusnews/releases ------------------------------ From: P Morgan Subject: Re: What Does a Call Cost? Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 21:56:36 +0100 In message dcstar@acslink.aone. net.au (David Clayton) writes: > This will also be a significant problem here in Australia, as we are > changing from state based Area Codes to much broader regional Area > Codes, (as an example, one Area Code will cover an area which is > approx. 2/3 the area of the mainland USA). As everyone is aware, the UK is small enough to fit several times into some states/provinces/territories, but we too have an interest in such problems, as we move on from last years code change to new proposals. (For those not aware, the geographic codes for Aberdeen etc etc were changed last year and the significant starting digit is now a "1" so Aberdeen went from 0224 to 01224. Regional codes, with a "2" are now under discoussion, and one suggestion would renumber London 0171/0181 to 020, but there's a lot more chaos before that comes about.) We now have "personal" numbers, also known as "numbers for life", with a "7" to identify it, and the plan is to move all information lines, to "8", which will include a wide range of charge bands, from free to the current maximum of US$2.25/minute. Future "mobile" phones will be allocated codes in the "4" section. > * Before the first ring, modem tones are transmitted down you phone > line with information regarding the call cost etc. which is displayed > on a device which may be similar to the CID boxes that are used in > North America. Quite a nice idea. Some time ago I suggested the UK regulator "Oftel" should set up a similar service, which uses the calling party's number (from CLI) and prompts them to enter the number they would dial, and would then report the cost per minute... The regulator would have details of tariff from the carriers, and accessing a different carrier is most commonly done via an access code, so "1620" gets Energis and "1601" get ACC etc etc so the regulator could report accurately even if one doesn't use the "popular" national carrier BT (British Telecom). > * You may then have to confirm that you want the call to proceed, or > if it going to cost you more than you are prepared to pay, you may > want to end it. At present, most of the free (800) codes are charged when a call is made from a mobile phone. Similarly if I dial a USA 1-800 number, I get a warning "the call you are making is not free -- you will be charged at international rates if you continue" (giving one the option to hang up). It is OK for the infrequent call, but you'd perhaps want a mechanism to tell your exchange (a) the max charge you want without prompting, also (b) to give you the information anyway, and finally, (c) to get the number no matter what the cost, as I'm in a very big hurry!! > to pass this information in the required format, (especially for older > equipment). But surely a voice reporting "the call you are making will be charged at xxx per minute" would mean there would be no need for fancy modem equipment at customer and exchange ends, "just" at the exchange. > The whole point of this would be to have the information of what a > call is going to cost available to the consumer before the call is > made, not after the event when the bill arrives. Another benefit would > be the opportunity to record this data for your own bill reconcilation. Make that an option -- there's not a massive take-up of caller display everywhere -- since it costs US$6/quarter here, plus the equipment. > P.S. If this turns out to be one of those original, practical, and > very profitable ideas, would whoever eventually develops it, (and Good luck with getting royalties from a Telco :-> Peter. http://www.ultranet.com/~pgm/radio.htm nagrom@pobox.co.uk Tel: +44 7050 136 126 <- follows me around! Northern Wales, UK ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 22:59:50 -0700 From: satchell@accutek.com (Stephen Satchell) Subject: Re: BellSouth Ending Flat-Rate ISDN Organization: Satchell Evaluations In article , John W Warne wrote: > There is a move afoot in BellSouth to file in all States to eliminate > flat-rate ISDN service. > In my opinion, this move is designed to eliminate the use of ISDN for > "nailed up" data interconnection. Some of us users have moved to this > type service to substantially reduce the costs associated with dedicated > private lines. > The purpose of my message is *not* to start debating the issue of > long call time durations on the network, but is really intended as a > "heads-up" for others in the same circumstance. This change can have a > $40,000.00 impact on our budget. When you consider that BellSouth has been calling for ISPs to end flat-rate access to the Internet in favor of measured service, this makes a great deal of sense. During the ACTA petition flap, I had researched an article for The Net magazine and got an offical statement from BellSouth to this effect. Their rationale: modem calls lasting for hours (or days) fall outside of the assumptions made when developing switch plant and trunk plant. Their concern is that excessive modem usage can cause denial of service to other voice callers at worst, and increased costs and degraded service at best. Discussions with Lucent people pretty much debunk the switch problem, but the trunk utilization problem remains. I had a chance to talk to Nevada Bell about this, and they tell me that here in Northern Nevada they haven't seen any problems with trunks. They *have* seen problems with week-long ISDN calls which interfere with regular maintenance, although to be frank NV Bell demonstrates little concern about knocking those connections down when they have to. One concern is that Nevada Bell hasn't provided a residential ISDN rate yet -- ISDN here is $80/month. Interesting, though, that Bell Atlantic has a trial going in Virginia of a low-cost leased-line option that could also relieve the congestion in the switches. This is based on a failed video-on-demand system, and they are trying to recast the investment as an Internet access method. I'm trying to learn more about it. Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations http://www.accutek.com/~satchell ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 16:41:41 GMT In connection with Pat's comments on this subject: > ... Anyone could have (but usually only the larger > commercial accounts had) a 'cable address'. A 'cable address' was > what would these days be referred to on your computer network as > an 'alias' for delivery purposes. Instead of the sender needing to > know your complete name and address for the purposes of delivery, > all he needed to know was your 'cable address'. > For example, the cable address 'Housereps' was for the House of > Representatives. Here in Chicago I recall that 'Symphony' was tbe > cable address for the Orchestral Association, the management side of > the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Cable addresses were almost invariably > cutesey little words and short phrases. A couple others I remember > seeing a lot were 'Largest Store' for Sears, Roebuck and 'Beacon Hill' > but I do not remember who that was. Pat, I sent and received a lot of telegrams in an earlier day, and I don't recall a "cable address" ever being used for a domestic message, and it would seem to be pointless. The name and address of the addressee are (or were) free on domestic messages ... not like on overseas messages ("cablegrams") where there is a charge for every word including every word in the name and address. Surely the cable address for Sears must have been LARGESTSTORE, not Largest Store, which would have been two words. A cablegram would be addressed, for example, LARGESTSTORE CHICAGO (USA). (No charge was made for the "USA".) I believe there was a charge (monthly, perhaps?) for a cable address. And it was valid only for the carrier you registered it with. Many overseas carriers had offices in major cities like Chicago, and a message sent from overseas via RCA Communications or one of the Mackay/Cable and Wireless companies (and many others) would have been handled directly with the Chicago addressee by the carrier's Chicago office. (To points not served by the overseas carrier, they would interchange with Western Union, deliver by telephone or TWX, or whatever. And, of course, even to points at which they had no office some of the overseas carriers had tielines to a teletypewriter in some major companies' message centers.) Also, in some cases, there might be different cable addresses registered for different departments. Remember, in overseas telegrams the address is chargeable, so "Attn: Purchasing Department" or "Attn: Machinery Sales" would have been additional words. But would have been free as part of the address on domestic telegrams. [ ... text deleted ... ] > Larger customers quite often had a teletype machine on their premises > which was used to send/receive messages through the local Western > Union office eliminating the need for a messenger, but these were > customers getting fifty or sixty or even a hundred telegrams daily and > quite often sending that many out as well or perhaps they had a 'telex > machine' hooked directly into the network bypassing the local > telegraph office completely. The teletypewriter (isn't Teletype still a registered trademark?) on the customers' premises were called "WUX," and that plus the company name was sufficient address. For example, Johnson Company WUX CGO (or was it CHGO? larger places had standard abbreviations to eliminate the need for sending the full city and state on every telegram) would have been sufficient for Johnson Company if they had such a tieline. (Some of the abbreviated addresses were not entirely obvious, but many of them were.) I don't believe there was any network to hook into, at least not when Western Union was a common way to communicate. Telegrams were sent from telegraph office to telegraph office. Telex service was different, where you connected directly with the distant Telex machine, like TWX service. (I assume you could also probably use your Telex to send a telegram to the Western Union office for transmission in the usual way. After all, you could only connect by Telex to customers who had Telexes [and of the same carrier].) Western Union did have company offices on the premises of large customers. When the place I was working was the Western Union agent in a town in Oklahoma, we were on a single line (from the Oklahoma City Western Union office) which was shared with the Western Union-operated office at a large oil company 40 miles away. (Yes, Western Union had a lot of agency offices in smaller towns, in addition to the railroad offices at almost every railroad station which had an agent/telegrapher, which was practically everywhere in those days.) Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: ezwriter@netcom.com (kEN Colburn) Subject: Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 18:34:00 GMT Wow $40?!? Thrifty Drugs has fax machines; You could have faxed your parents and had them pick up the fax there for $2. Just a thought. My Mom's Net rules: No running on the Net with scissors! Don't read email from strangers. Let your sister get online for awhile, dammit! Shut up, I'm on the modem! ezwriter@netcom.com http://www.mainelink.net/~writer/poster/Poster.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa/Jeff) Subject: Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? Date: 30 Aug 1996 01:12:50 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net A nice book describing the history of Western Union is "The Story of Telecommunications" by George P. Oslin. (Mercer University Press, 1992.) Mr. Oslin served as public relations director for Western Union for 35 years. Until the 1960s, it was cheaper to send a message by telegram than by long distance telephone. But new technology allowed AT&T to continue to lower long distance rates. Labor costs eat away at Western Union. By the late 1970s the bulk of WU's business was wiring money. News articles in the last few years about WU said they wanted to provide financial services for low-income people, such as wiring money, money orders, and the like. How much they got into is unknown. Western Union isn't the official name of the company anymore. To protect the name's public perception, the parent company gave itself a new name. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Aug 96 18:36:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Telegraph and Cable In Europe? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > I understand that in many European countries, telex/cable/telegraph is > often-used for business and personal communications. ... > So, just how extensive is this type of communication "over there"? For many decades, Telex was the only usable form of electrical communication in much of the world. It often worked more reliably than phones, and you could use it easily even if you and your correspondent didn't speak the same language and were in different time zones. These days, I get the strong impression that telex world-wide will be as dead as it is here. The reason? Fax. It now does everything that telex did, and a lot more, and usually at lower cost. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #453 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Sat Aug 31 01:29:01 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA11882; Sat, 31 Aug 1996 01:29:01 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 31 Aug 1996 01:29:01 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608310529.BAA11882@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #454 TELECOM Digest Sat, 31 Aug 96 01:29:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 454 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Canada, Caribbean, International (Mark J. Cuccia) anon.petit Closes (Tad Cook) TCI Adds Phone, Net, Security Services (Tad Cook) Rural Phone 40km From CO Question (Jean-Francois Mezei) BellSouth Changes Their Minds! (305/954) (Ron Schnell) Re: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent (David K. Burris) Re: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent (Stuart Zimmerman) Re: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent (wschochet@aol.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 18:37:11 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Canada, Caribbean, International The traditional LEC and intra-region (monopoly) DDD toll carrier for the Dominican Republic is "Compania Dominicana de Telefonos", aka CODETEL. It has been associated with GTE for several decades. Their homepage is: http://www.codetel.net.do/ From what I've been told, when the various other NANP Caribbean locations were planning on new area codes, the Dominican Republic has been quite firm in wanting to keep 809 as their area code. Presently, Bellcore's NANPA webpages (http://www.bellcore.com/NANP/newarea.html) indicate new area codes for every other NANP Caribbean location, except for the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. I have been told that the Turks and Caicos Islands (located just southeast of the Bahamas) have area code 649 reserved for them, and the US Virgin Islands have area code 340 reserved for them. A few months ago, I mentioned that in 1993, at the annual 809/NANP Carriers' meeting, the non-US NANP Caribbean carriers 'voted out' Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virign Islands from 809. Bellcore 'reserved' area code 340 for both, and last year, Steve Grandi's new area code compilation list showed 340 for Puerto Rico. That has been changed, as 787 was announced for Puerto Rico last December, to go into effect in March of this year. Permissive dialing of both 809 and 787 for calls to Puerto Rico will continue until early in 1997. However, as is the case in most other areas leaving 809 into their own new NPA codes, any *new* Central Office (NXX) Codes for those locations will be assigned and routed/switched such that they are available *only* via the new area code. Use of 809 to reach new NXX codes, *even during permissive dialing* will result in either a vacant code recording or in reaching an existing location in 809 which has had the same NXX central office numericals for some years. Most of the various NANP Caribbean locations are leaving 809 into their own new area codes, due to geopolitical and cultural reasons, as well as more efficient routing and switching, and billing and rating, from within the NANP, as well as from outside of the NANP, based on six (or seven) digit translation of the (+1)-NPA-NXX code. Also, many Caribbean locations don't want to be associated with fraud, which seems to be prevalent on calls *both to and from* the Caribbean, particularly with, *but not exclusively associated with*, the Dominican Republic. Such fraud includes cellular cloaning, calling card and other toll fraud, and the more recent 'premium rate' (or as I call it, PAY-PAY-PAY per call) calls, including sex/porno lines, psychic lines, tarot card lines, astrology lines, etc. From what I understand about the billing from the (continental) US to the NANP Caribbean, calls to (and from) Puerto Rico (a US commonwealth) and the US Virgin Islands are billed on a tariffed distance basis, using the V&H co-ordinates. The rates are similar to, and discount periods and package plans usually apply to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands as they would on any other domestic call within the US, including calls to Alaska and Hawaii. Calls from the (continental) US to the non-US NANP Caribbean are billed at 'fixed' international rates. The point of origination in the (continental) US isn't calculated in any distances for billing. Time-of- day discounts can and do apply, but they aren't the same as for 'domestic' rated calls, nor for calls from the US to Canada. The prices for calls from the (continental) US are usually those also associated with the non-NANP Caribbean (+53 Cuba, +509 Haiti, +297 Aruba, +599 Dutch Antilles, French Antilles, Guadeloupe, Martinique, etc.) or to the countries of Central America and parts of South America. There are usually no day-of-week discounts on most 'international' calls anymore, although AT&T (Bell System) usually gave international discounts on Sundays up until the 1970's. Calls from Canada to just about every location in the Caribbean, whether NANP or not, whether US (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands) or not, are all billed as 'international', at Teleglobe's tariffed rates, authorized by the CRTC. Teleglobe is still the international monopoly for calls from Canada (except to the US), but that might be changing next year. I don't know how calls from Alaska or Hawaii are presently being billed for calls to Canada or the Caribbean (including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands). Some years back, these calls were billed under a different rate schedule than for calls to Canada and the Caribbean, which was more like an 'international' schedule rather than a 'domestic' one. Back then, even calls from Alaska and Hawaii to the US-NANP Caribbean locations of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands were billed as 'international' rather than 'domestic'. Calls between Alaska and Hawaii were supposed to be 'domestic' interstate rates, as well as calls from those two states to the contiguous forty-eight states. Calls within Canada have their own rate schedules. There have been intra-province rates schedules, as well as inter-province, or inter-company rate schedules. Most of the major (Stentor) telcos in Canada cover most or all of an entire province. Calls between two different provinces usually involve more than one connecting telco. Sometimes, calls *within* the same province might involve two different toll-connecting telco. There might be different rates for such. Calls from Canada to the US are billed on a 'direct' basis between the telco and a US Long-Distance carrier (traditionally it was AT&T), based on V&H distances. Calls from Canada to Alaska or Hawaii might be treated differently, and could even seem like an 'international' call depending on from where within Canada the call originated. Again, this might be changing as there is more competition in Canada, including the loss of Teleglobe's 'exclusivety'. While GTE's Codetel is the 'traditional' telco for the Dominican Republic, there is at least one other company operating in the Dominican Republic that I've noticed in Bellcore TRA's NANP documents. This company is known as "Tricom". They probably have some 809-NXX codes 'assigned' to them. Offhand, I don't know if they are a cellular/paging/wireless provider, a 'voicemail' provider, or a soon-to-be competitive LEC. I don't know if their 809-NXX codes are the ones being used, quoted in these 'call back' messages in the recent 809 pay-per-call scams. Most long distance carriers do block calls to the 976 pay-per-call exchange. I don't know how the new 555-xxxx numbers will be handled, however. There is discussion on that in the various industry forums, as to network interconnection, routing/switching, and rating/billing. While the new numbers in 555 might be similar to 976, it might be difficult to block certain numbers in 555, as many of them are legit telco-provided numbers, particularly directory assistance. For the most part, calls to 976 are handled only by the LEC, as intra-NPA or intra-LATA type calls. If there are certain NXX prefixes in 809 (and the recently split off Caribbean area codes) which are higher-rated pay-per-call prefixes, I don't know how the traditional IXC's (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc) could be authorized to charge the added on premium charges on top of the per-minute tariffed international 'MTS' charges. By the way, pay-per-call scams in the Caribbean don't seem to be associated with just the Dominican Republic. There also seem to be pay-per-call scams to the non-NANP Caribbean French and Dutch Antilles country codes. Again, I don't know if the charges are the tariffed international per-minute rate, or something higher. If they are billed at an even higher rate, I don't know how the international tariffs filed with the FCC would allow such. The non-US NANP Caribbean has traditionally been handled by Cable and Wireless and ITT. Cable and Wirelsss (usually in association with a local company or the island government) serves the 'British' Caribbean locations of Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands, and the 'British West Indies' (British Virgin Islands to Grenada, including Barbados). It serves as the local telco, the DDD toll telco within the island country (if large enough), and the 'interconnecting' or 'international' carrier between islands and connecting to other companies for calls to and from the rest of the world. Cable and Wireless has also been involved in local or interconnecting other 'British' parts of the world, such as Ascension Island, St. Helena, the Falkland Islands, (British) Guyana, Belize (formerly British Honduras), etc. Traditionally, subsidiaries of ITT (such as Globe-McKay or All-America Cable and Radio) at-one-time-or-another has been a part owner and/or the interconnecting 'international' carrier for the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, as well as the non-NANP points of the French and Dutch Caribbean, Cuba, (parts of) Mexico, non-British locations of Central and South America, and many other parts of the world. ITT also purchased some of Bell (AT&T's) international holdings in Latin America and Europe (both equipment and part interest in the networks), in the late 'teens' or early 1920's, when AT&T decided to concentrate on its domestic operations (including parts of Canada through Bell Canada and Northern Electric). Also, Cable and Wireless, ITT, subsidiaries of them, or joint ventures of them with local government, have also been heavily involved in Telex (and public telegram service) in the same areas of the world where they were also involved in telephone networks. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: Tad Cook Subject: anon.petit Closes Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 19:45:34 PDT Popular Internet Server Closes After Child Pornography Claims By MATTI HUUHTANEN Associated Press Writer HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Stung by child pornography allegations, a Finnish computer operator on Friday shut down one of the world's most popular ways to send e-mail on the Internet anonymously. At least one group, a British organization that has used the Finnish "anonymity server" to prevent suicides among despondent people who don't want to give their names, said it regretted the decision. Johan Helsingius, a private computer consultant who has operated the electronic message relay service since 1993, vigorously denied the pornography allegations but said he had received calls from people accusing him of pedophilia. "This is a blow for Internet users and computer privacy, but I feel I've no choice," Helsingius said Friday. "It's a lie, and it's not even possible." Anonymous servers or "remailers" are used by people to discuss banned issues in politically unstable countries and other sensitive matters like suicide, family violence and also sexual deviations. About 7,500 messages passed daily through Helsingius' service, which acts as an electronic filter, stripping the return address from data and relaying it to a destination in seconds. On Sunday, The Observer newspaper in Britain quoted an FBI adviser as saying up to 90 percent of all child pornography he'd seen on the Internet had been supplied through Helsingius' remailer. Helsingius said his computer can handle only messages smaller than 16 kilobytes, a way of measuring data. To send a single image, including sexually explicit material, a computer needs many kilobytes -- usually more than 100. Helsingius said he would sue The Observer over the "unjustified accusations." The Samaritans, a British group who counsels people contemplating suicide, have about 100 computer contacts per week. About 40 percent want to remain anonymous. "He's really been doing a great service to people; he's done nothing but helped," said Emma Borton of the Samaritans. Finnish police who have followed Helsingius' activities say they found no evidence of child pornography. "We think it's a pity that he's had to close down the server because of something he hasn't done," said Detective Sgt. Kaj Malmberg of the Helsinki Police. However, police officers have raided Helsingius' office five times, mainly because of complaints he has broken copyright laws or relayed messages insulting foreign nations' officials. Last week, a court ordered Helsingius to identify an Internet user suspected of stealing files from a Church of Scientology computer and disseminating them on the Internet via the anonymous remailer. Helsingius said he would appeal. "It's a bit like the Wild West," he said. "There don't appear to be any fast rules about what you can do and can't do." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I understand Clive Feather also got a horrible smear in that same piece of trash reporting. I wonder what it is going to take for people on the net to finally understand this simple concept: ** Newspapers; i.e. the traditional print media, are NOT your friends. ** Shall I repeat that a few times? Newspapers are not your friends. For many years, newspapers have been in trouble financially. Readership is down, and circulation problems mount. You do not see a single large city afternoon paper anywhere in the USA any longer. Many cities only have one newspaper when years ago they had ten, like Chicago and New York. Then along comes the Internet and all the newsgroups -- as crummy as some of them or a large majority of them are -- and all the stuff the newspapers used to sell to you each day is now coming to you for free or at greatly reduced costs. Not only are the newspapers not your friends, for the most part the newspapers *hate* you. Your newsgroups, mailing lists, e-zines and similar have cut greatly into their territory. Oh, I know they run their own web pages and online sites and such ... they have to play the game; they cannot stay out of the loop entirely, but they are not one bit pleased with the idea of you -- just a peasant and commoner -- being able to speak as you wish unimpeded or publish what you want with the ease it is done these days. So, they are going to work hard at silencing the net using all the tricks they know. A good newspaper reporter -- like any good police officer -- will lie, distort what is said, create all sorts of innuendo, etc to discredit the persons or institutions they are after. A dash of pedophelia tossed into the pot full of lies and half-truths never hurts either, and is bound to further drive a wedge between the victim and many members of the public who were heretofore somewhat indfferent on the matter at hand. Helsingius says he is going to sue them? What could they care? He has some full-time job for forty hours a week, rent to pay, a few mouths to feed and a bunch of other bills like all the rest of us. The way the newspaper looks at it, he will run out of steam soon enough, and they'll be home free, like they always are after they discharge some of their poison into society. And if Clive Feather has any ideas about attempting to vindicate himself, he can forget it also. Talking to a newspaper reporter is like talking to a police officer: they'll sound sympathetic and friendly, then they will twist and distort -- if not just completely lie -- about whatever you told them. The best way to deal with any newspaper reporter is by NOT dealing with them; refuse to have anything to do with them. Let them write down in the paper whatever it is their employer wants to have there; it saves everyone a lot of time and grief. Some of the writers at the {Chicago Tribune} are just plain rotten to the core and ignorant as they can be when it comes to computer news and the Internet. And the {Tribune} is not the only paper with reporters like that. And remember for the third, and hopefully last time: newspaper publishers are NOT your friends. They regard the net in a hostile way; they do not like the general public communicating so freely. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: TCI Adds Phone, Net, Security Services Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 20:10:22 PDT TCI to Add Computing, Telephone, Security Services in Tulsa, Okla. By Melanie Busch, Tulsa World, Okla. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Aug. 29--"Pick a deal." Any deal. That's how TCI Cablevision of Tulsa general manager Rick Comfort describes the many services, including Internet access, the cable company will be able to provide customers in the future once it completes the five-year replacement of its network. The company is currently upgrading its cable system throughout the Tulsa area, enabling it to offer high-speed computer-modem service, telephone service and home security along with traditional cable television. The system -- costing about $50 million -- should be completed next year or early in 1998, Comfort said. Called a "hybrid fiber-coaxial" system, the network combines traditional coaxial copper lines with fiber-optic lines, which are strands of glass that have a much greater capacity to carry information. One day, TCI will be able to offer customers Internet access faster than that available using computer modems. Internet users will be able to access pages of the World Wide Web -- the portion of the Internet that combines text with graphics and pictures -- in seconds instead of minutes. They will be able to view video, graphics and music. Signals sent along the new network are supposed to have sharper images and truer colors. Fiber-optic lines also are more reliable than coaxial cables because they are less likely to be affected by weather, Comfort said. The local system also is being upgraded to allow for two-way communication. It will be at least two to four years before Tulsans will be able to access cyberspace through cable, however, he said. "These things are not out there now," Comfort said. "They're just good ideas." Cable modems, which some companies will make available at the end of the year, allow computer users to get access to the Internet -- a global system of computer networks -- over their cable television lines, which are faster than telephone lines. In May, Zenith Electronics Corp.'s shares jumped to their highest level since the 1980s when it unveiled a cable modem developed with U.S. Robotics Corp. Motorola Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. also are developing a cable modem. In addition to cable modems, several companies also are speeding up their plans to make Internet-ready televisions. Many analysts predict the Internet-ready television market will be one of the hottest of next year. Cable companies are jumping in line with telephone companies, who are rolling out a competing, albeit slower, technology called integrated services digital network, or ISDN. TCI, which is based in Englewood, Colo., and the nation's other large cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Cablevision Systems Corp. have been preparing to offer access to the Internet and other online services. When they do go online, advocates say, they will be able to get people on the information superhighway at speeds hundreds of times faster than regular phone lines. Plans by cable companies to venture further into the telecommunications arena have struck fear in the hearts of telephone companies, which will have to invest billions to upgrade their lines if they want to reach the carrying capacity of cable. Oklahoma's largest phone provider, Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., plans to offer Internet access by the end of this year, said Steve Dimmitt, executive director for entertainment and information services marketing. "By offering Internet access, Southwestern Bell is getting closer to its goal of serving as one point of contact for all customers' communications needs," he said in a written statement. Southwestern Bell spokeswoman Michelle Leith said customers will be able to receive their phone bill and Internet in a "competitively priced package." "Southwestern Bell will be an aggressive competitor in the Internet-access market," she said. "The Internet-access market is a growing market, but our strong brand name will give us an advantage." Earlier this year, TCI said it formed a business unit devoted to developing products for the Internet. It has joined Comcast, Cox Communications Inc. and San Francisco venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers to form a company called At Home. The three cable companies have access to 40 percent of the people in the country. The group will begin testing Internet service in the San Francisco area in about two months, a spokeswoman said. The service will cost between $20 and $40 monthly. Officials at Tulsa Internet provider WebTek believe cable will make it much easier for more households to come online and will contribute to the "information explosion." "It's something that's been coming for a while," said WebTek president Brent Johnson. "It's something that needs to be there. It will help with the effective use of the Internet." The faster access to the Internet will keep more people surfing the World Wide Web, Johnson said. Many people get frustrated as they wait for access to the network. "Up until now, it's been limited by speed of modem and telephone lines," he said. "With the new technology ... it will be very, very fast." With cable lines already running into the homes of many people, some believe local Internet service providers will be driven out of business. Johnson doesn't believe so. "People are getting on the Internet so fast now. I don't think anyone is going to see a decrease in their numbers. I don't think it will adversely affect anybody," he said. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The above is just another example of the *dumb* stories newspapers run about the Internet. I am sure the reporter thinks she wrote a great article and is quite pleased with herself. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jean-Francois Mezei Subject: Rural Phone 40km From CO Question Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 21:29:04 +0000 Organization: Vaxination Informatique Reply-To: jfmezei@videotron.ca At the cottage, in the Laurentians, north of Montreal, the telephone we have (a party line!) is located some 40km from the Central Office in Arundel. The wires pretty well follow the road all the way and there are three very small villages between the CO and our cottage. I would be interested in knowing what sort of equipment would lie between the CO and the telephone, what it woudl look like and where it would be located. FWIW, it is a rotary telephone and the dial tone is more of a humm than a city dial tone. As well, if there is equipment between the CO and the telephone, does this mean that the cables that run on the telephone poles also carry power for that equipment? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 96 07:16:57 EDT From: Ron Schnell Subject: BellSouth Changes Their Minds! (305/954) Well, I don't know if it had anything to do with my and others yelling and screaming, but apparently, with no announcement, one can now dial a 1+ for for digit calls, whether it is toll or not, to dial from 305 to 954 and visa versa. I find myself commending BellSouth for their swift action once again. For those of you who missed the original thread with the subject "End of permissive dialing in 954", BellSouth's implementation was really dumb, in that if the call was not a toll call, dialing a 1+ was disallowed, breaking winfax, and who knows what other software and probably even PBXs. Now, if it is a toll call, you must dial one. If it is a free call, you can dial one. Ron ------------------------------ From: David K Burris Subject: Re: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent Date: 30 Aug 1996 15:26:07 GMT Organization: Netcom In article telecom16.443.6@massis.lcs.mit.edu, ritz@onyx.interactive. net (Chris Mauritz) said: > Is there anything we can do to prevent MCI et al from covertly > switching over our long distance carrier without our permission? > MCI has switched me from AT&T to their service twice in the last six > months without my permission. It's becoming a major nuisance. Christopher, depending on who your local carrier is, Bell South offers a "pick freeze" to prevent LDC's from switching you without your consent. Changing your LDC requires confirmation from you. Contact your local carrier customer service to check on this type of service. I believe this is known as "slamming", LDC's covertly changing your LDC without your knowledge. David K. Burris dburris4@ix.netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also please remember that the rules were changed and the local telco is no longer permitted to disconnect your service for failure to pay any portion of the other than their own part. That includes long distance charges from the (some would think) untouchable big three. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 11:54:16 -0700 From: Stuart Zimmerman Reply-To: f_save@SNET.Net Organization: Fone Saver Subject: RE: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent In TELECOM Digest Vol. 16, Iss. 443, Chris Mauritz asked: > Is there anything we can do to prevent MCI et al from covertly > switching over our long distance carrier without our permission? Easy. Call your LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) and request that they block any changes to your LD without your direct approval. This is often called a PIC freeze. Most LECs do not charge for this. A complaint to the FCC may also be in order. (See their Web site at: http://www.fcc.gov) -- Fone Saver, LLC Phone: 1-800-31-FONE-1 Web: http://www.wp.com/Fone_Saver E-Mail: f_save@snet.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The FCC has become next to useless. I understand they no longer offer any help at all with informal complaints, so overwhelmed is their staff with complaints from the general public regards telco misconduct. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wschochet@aol.com (WSchochet) Subject: Re: MCI Stealing My LD Without Consent Date: 30 Aug 1996 13:11:04 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: wschochet@aol.com (WSchochet) You need to send a letter to your local phone company telling them that any changes in long distance service can come only from you and only in writing. This will solve your problem. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #454 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 3 09:36:19 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA00971; Tue, 3 Sep 1996 09:36:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 09:36:19 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609031336.JAA00971@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #455 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Sep 96 09:36:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 455 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Helsingius Shuts Down anon.penet.fi Server in Finland (Monty Solomon) Phone Firms Unhappy With Business Links (Sean E. Williams) Another Assault on Privacy (Babu Mengelepouti) Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 Pic (Rolf K. Taylor) GTE Offers Internet Connection in Fort Wayne (Tad Cook) Will Indian Telecom Privatisation be Scrapped? (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Help Me Replace My Watson Card With Something More Modern? (George Swan) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 04:16:55 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Helsingius Shuts Down anon.penet.fi Server in Finland Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A similar report on this was published in the Digest over the holiday weekend, but Monty's report adds some new information. The complete report on 'pedophiles on the net' as it appeared in the {London Observer} is online in case you did not see the article when it appeared in the newspaper. Set your browser to: http://www.scallyway.com to read the false report the paper printed. PAT] Begin forwarded message: Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:33:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Agre Subject: Helsingius shuts down anon.penet.fi server in Finland =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 13:17:02 -0500 From: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh) Subject: FC: Helsingius shuts down anon.penet.fi server in Finland This is a sad day in the history of the Net. Hundreds of thousands of people had accounts on Julf's pseudonmyous server and many netizens relied on it daily to preserve their privacy online. (Unlike cypherpunk remailers, it's not truly anonymous since Julf keeps records of what anon id maps to what email address.) From Azeem's report and the press release below, Julf's move seems to be in response to a Finnish court's preliminary decision that the privacy remailers could be violated by court order -- something the Scientologists have been pushing. Still, I'd be surprised if Julf's decision wasn't prompted in part by the hideous London Observer article that falsely accused him of being a middleman in the distribution of child porn -- check out a scan of the Sunday cover at: http://scallywag.com/ -Declan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 17:11:51 +0100 From: Azeem Azhar Subject: [ALERT] Penet is dead Hello all, I just got off the phone with Johann Helsingius who runs the anon.penet.fi anonymous e-mail service. 1. He has decided to close the service. 2. This is not related to the article in The Observer. It is, in fact, due to a decision of a lower Finnish court on petition from the Church of Scientology. Penet went to court last week and made the decision today. The implication of the decision is that e-mail over the Internet is not protect by the usual Finnish privacy laws. 3. The server is currently down while Julf re-writes the software. Once it runs again, it will be phased out for private use, but groups such as the Samaritans and human rights agencies should be able to use it. 4. They are appealing against the decision. 5. Julf expects that revisions in Finnish law to provide a safe legal status for anonymous remailers will be in place at the earliest in Spring next year. 6. Once again: this is unrelated to The Observer's scandalous reporting. Your faithful furry friend, Azeem ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 17:15:41 +0100 From: Azeem Azhar Subject: [ALERT} Penet is dead (correction) Sorry . . . a slight error: > 2. This is not related to the article in The Observer. It is, in fact, > due to a decision of a lower Finnish court on petition from the Church > of Scientology. Penet went to court last week and made the decision > today. The implication of the decision is that e-mail over the Internet > is not protect by the usual Finnish privacy laws. The implication of the court's decision (rather than Penet's to shut the server) is that e-mail over the Internet is not protected by the usual =46innish privacy laws. Sorry! [Julf's press release. -Declan] PRESS RELEASE 30.8.1996 Johan Helsingius closes his Internet remailer Johan Helsingius from Helsinki has decided to close his Internet remailer. The so-called anonymous remailer is the most popular remailer in the world, with over half a million users. "I will close down the remailer for the time being because the legal issues governing the whole Internet in Finland are yet undefined. The legal protection of the users needs to be clarified. At the moment the privacy of Internet messages is judicially unclear." The idea of an anonymous remailer is to protect the confidentiality of it's users' identity. The remailer itself does not store messages but serves as a channel for message transmission. The remailer forwards messages without the identity of the original sender. Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet usage. Therefore all decisions and changes made in Finland arouse wide international interest. "I have developed and maintained the remailer in my free time for over three years now. It has taken up a lot of time and energy. Internet has changed a lot in these three years -- now there are dozens of remailers in the world, which offer similar services." "I have also personally been a target because of the remailer for three years. Unjustified accusations affect both my job and my private life" says Johan Helsingius. He surmises that the closing of the remailer will raise a lot of discussion among the Internet community. "These remailers have made it possible for people to discuss very sensitive matters, such as domestic violence, school bullying or human rights issues anonymously and confidentially on the Internet. To them the closing of the remailer is a serious problem", says Helsingius. Child porn claims proven false Last Sunday's issue of the English newspaper Observer claimed that the remailer has been used for transmitting child pornography pictures. The claims have been investigated by the Finnish police. Observer's claims have been found groundless. Police sergeant Kaj Malmberg from the Helsinki Police Crime Squad is specialized in investigating computer crimes. He confirms that already a year ago Johan Helsingius restricted the operations of his remailer so that it cannot transmit pictures. "The true amount of child pornography in Internet is difficult to assess, but one thing is clear: We have not found any cases where child porn pictures were transmitted from Finland", Kaj Malmberg says. Ground rules need to be clarified There are several large network projects going on in Finland at the moment, such as the TIVEKE project run by the Ministry of Communications and the Information Society Forum project run by the Ministry of Finance. Johan Helsingius is participating the work of these projects. Projects assess the political and social issues of networks and the impact of these issues in the long run. These projects also need the support of daily, practical work to help short-term decision-making. Johan Helsingius is now taking an initiative in the development of the daily network rules. He wants to set up a task force to discuss the practical problems related to ethical and civil rights issues in connection with the Internet. "I will try to set up a task force which will include Internet experts together with representatives of civic organizations and authorities. The task force could take a stand on issues such as the network's practical operation methods and the misuse of the network. I hope that the results of this task force will support the development of the network", he says. For further information, please contact Johan Helsingius Oy Penetic Ab tel. +358 0400 2605 e-mail: julf@penet.fi ------------------------ fight-censorship is at http://www.eff.org/~declan/fight-censorship/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 19:00:01 EDT From: Sean E. Williams Subject: Phone Firms Unhappy With Business Links PHONE FIRMS UNHAPPY WITH BUSINESS LINKS by Steve Orr from the Rochester {Democrat and Chronicle} Sunday, September 1, 1996 Most of us, especially at home, use a standard telephone line to link our computers to cyberspace. Data goes out over the phone line and is gathered up at the far end by an online service provider, who boosts it onto the Internet for us. We pay the residential flat fee for that phone line at home, and the online service providers pay a standard business fee for their lines. And there, they get a break. Business customers pay the phone company a flat monthly fee plus a per-minute usage charge for _outgoing_ telephone calls. But online providers don't make outgoing calls on their data lines. Everything's incoming -- and thus not billed. Everybody's happy -- except for Frontier Corp. and its Rochester Telephone subsidiary, and other local telephone companies. Internet and other data transmission are a fast-growing part of their business. In some cases, they say, the growth is coming too fast. "Modems and the growing use of the information superhighway really put a great strain on our infrastructure," said Jon Pomeroy, Internet marketing manager at Frontier. He said the average data call here is 35 minutes versus 6 minutes for the average voice call. (Pomeroy wasn't sure if Rochester Tel had studied how many data and voice calls the average user makes daily; I'd guess voice calls are much more common.) Some would argue that the Internet service providers and other online companies don't pay their fair share -- and deprive Frontier of the money it needs to pay for infrastructure improvements needed to handle all the data traffic. Many local telcos -- Rochester Tel among them -- would like to be able to charge online companies a special access fee, similar to the fee paid by long-distance companies. Such fees are now barred by the Federal Communications Commission; several larger telcos plan to ask for that ban to be lifted. Pomeroy said Frontier is following the regulatory moves carefully. If the FCC acts, state regulators still would have to give their okay before an access fee could be charged. Local Internet service providers hope that never happens. "If they did that I'd have a major problem with it," said John Warren of NetAccess, a Brighton service provider. The fear is the access fees could drive some Net companies out of business, and raise rates high enough that folks would be discouraged from going online. Stay tuned. The FCC will take up the matter in the coming months. Contact Steve Orr with your comments, ideas or suggestions [...] sorr@rochesterdandc.com ----------------------- Mr. Orr didn't mention this in the article, but it should be noted that Frontier Corporation currently provides its own PPP and ISDN Internet access in the Rochester area. It does this through its LEC unit, Frontier Communications of Rochester. Frontier Communications' "Frontier Internet Service" is also marketed by Frontier Corporation's other LEC, Rochester Telephone, as "Rochester Telephone Internet Access." If there are any questions regarding the corporate structure of Frontier Corporation and how it relates to Rochester Telephone and Frontier Communications of Rochester, you may wish to refer to Frontier Corporation's WWW page at http://www.frontiercorp.com/ ------------- mailto:sew7490@rit.edu http://www.rit.edu/~sew7490 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA Mobile/Voicemail/Pager: +1 716 748-2960 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reason he did not mention it in the article is because the phone company is a major advertiser in his newspaper. Newspapers don't publish things that their advertisers do not want to see in print. Now I cannot really blame them on that point; after all, I would not print negative things about Microsoft here when they were involved with this Digest. But let's be honest about it, okay? You think the newspaper is going to tell its readers that telco has its own plans regarding Internet service and that telco might have an agenda of its own to drive the ISP's out of business? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 11:26:07 PDT From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: Another Assault on Privacy July 10, 1996 ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE An e-zine on cyber-liberties cases and controversies at the state and federal level. [. . .] * Five More States Assault Net Speech; ACLU Plans Challenges to Three [. . .] Georgia H.B. 1630, enacted May, 1996: A new law in the Peach state may criminalize the common use of pseudonyms on the Net, and may also prohibit unauthorized links to web sites with trade names or logos. The law makes it a crime to transmit any data that "uses any individual name ... to falsely identify the person." The use of vanity e-mail addresses or pseudonyms on computer networks is common practice, and safeguards user privacy in sending and obtaining information online. The law is certain to inhibit people from obtaining sensitive information online. For example, an abused woman may be afraid to seek out online information or help if she is forced to reveal her true identity. The law also makes it a crime to "use[] any ... trade name, registered trademark, [or] logo" that would "falsely state or imply that [the user] has permission or is legally authorized to use [it]." Since the statute contains no standard for determining when a user has "falsely implied" permission, it could prohibit web links to sites with trade names or logos. The ACLU of Georgia has joined with the Atlanta law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in seeking an opinion from Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers restricting the application of the law. If a favorable opinion is not forthcoming, they plan to file suit. ------------------------------ From: ac219@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Rolf K. Taylor) Subject: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC Date: 3 Sep 1996 00:05:13 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: ac219@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Rolf K. Taylor) Many may know that one can force a call through a particular long distance carrier by dialing 10xxx+1+the area code and number. This works for ISDN as well, and it really comes in handy when you long distance company cannot handle a data call to a particular location, or your local telco forgot to set you up with a long distance carrier. (BTW only the big three can handle long distance data "switched data" call in the first place, and even ATT cannot connect everyone to anyone). In many locations this can also be used to force a "local long distance" ie intralata toll call, through a LD carrier rather than your RBOC. In any case, enough background. ATT will charge a surcharge for this type of connection, but suffice it to say, at least it can get you connected. I recently had a Bell Atlantic customer find out that the 10288 "10ATT" code no longer works for him. B.A. says that ATT has terminated their shared database arrangement with them and it is tough luck. This customer is a broadcaster who is sending digital audio down ISDN. He orders many ISDN lines every year. It is difficult enough to get the lines put in. Now he finds he has lost the ability to use this valuable troubleshooting code. ATT says to use 1800callatt. But how can he use it with a data call? No way. Thoughts/comments would be appreciated. Please send copies of any replies to: Rolf@Zephyr.com Thanks in advance, Rolf K. Taylor TEBR Electronics East Cleveland, OH 44118-1103 ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: GTE Offers Internet Connection in Fort Wayne Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 01:10:53 PDT GTE Offers Internet Connection in Fort Wayne, Ind., Market By Lynne McKenna Frazier, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News FORT WAYNE, Ind.--Sep. 2--GTE has begun selling its Internet connection in the Fort Wayne market. The local telephone company's service, GTE Internet Solutions, is being built in partnership with UUNET Technologies Inc. UUNET is the largest commercial service provider, which resells its network to Internet providers. By using the UUNET network already in place, GTE also expects to begin operations with a reliable, high-quality network, according to William Kula, spokesman for GTE in Irving, Texas. The company is stressing its role as a single-source communications provider. GTE entered the long-distance market in May in Indiana and is the nation's largest local telephone service provider. AT&T plans to compete in GTE's core local telephone markets, including Fort Wayne. Last week, GTE said it would try to block such challenges, arguing the rules for local telephone competition are unfair. GTE Internet Solutions access will be offered through dial-up models up to 28.8 kbps, dedicated lines operating at 56 kbps through 45 mbps or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines up to kbps. Monthly charges are $19.95 for unlimited monthly access or $8.95 for five hours of access and $1.95 for each additional hour. For information on GTE Internet Solutions, visit company's home page at http://www.gte.net or call GTE at 1-800-363-8483. ------------------------------ Subject: Will Indian Telecom Privatisation be Scrapped? Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 18:18:22 PDT From: rishab@dxm.org (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh) Reply-To: rishab@dxm.org The Indian Techonomist: bulletin, August 31, 1996 Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh. All rights reserved Will Indian telecom privatisation be scrapped? August 31, 1996: Well before the events of the past fortnight, when the former Communications Minister responsible for India's privatisation programme for telecom services was charged with corruption on a grand scale, doubts had arisen over the privatisation process itself. It is, today, exactly one year after the opening of bids for basic telephony services - a term which includes wireline, fixed wireless, and potentially multimedia services - across the country. In the months since, the unusual clarity and transparency of a tender worth some $30 billion over the next 15 years in licence fees has been hidden behind a curtain of fog that started its descent immediately after the opening. Privatisation of cellular and pager services have proceeded to operate fairly smoothly, not a single licence for basic services has been issued. Pessimism is growing in the telecom industry - which has recovered, perhaps too hastily, from its elatively wild optimism at the time of the first tender - and people are beginning to mutter that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will scrap the basic service licences altogether. That would be unwise, as the alternatives are not appealing - for the DoT, at any rate: the current process was never thought optimal for either telecom providers or their customers. After the retirement of R K Takkar, the top DoT bureaucrat during the tendering process, and the general elections the government has taken a vary lackadaisical attitude to the privatisation process, in particular the disagreements between private operators and the DoT regarding the terms for connectivity between their networks. Although the DoT has extended the deadline for operators agtreeing to its terms to September 12, nobody is likely to sign on the dotted line. What the DoT would do next is unclear - yet it does not have many options. The government's choice It could agree to operators' demands, or come to some sort of compromise. Many of its stipulations, such as one calling for private operators to pay for upgradations to its network - which will compete with one private licensee in each of 20 geographical circles - stem from its lack of finances to pay for rapid investment in infrastructure. None of the licence revenue will reach the DoT itself - everything goes straight into the treasury - and though India's DoT has one of the world's most profitable nationwide networks (providing the exchequer with a handsome surplus every year) its financial management is poor, as the latest report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's office (the government's accountant) shows. Yet it cannot expect an understanding response from private providers if it continues to ignore blithely their own concerns - such as the need for immediate constitution of an independent telecom regulator, for which an Presidential ordinance has lapsed and legislation remains pending. This compromise and getting on, for the DoT, would be the most attractive way out. It is the only practical way of laying a hand on the money from licence fees, although this will become more of a concern to the Finance Ministry as the DoT will never actually get to use it. The next option, of having yet more bids, perhaps by scrapping all those past - tainted politically by association with Mr Sukh Ram, the allegedly corrupt former Minister - is easily dismissed. The last round of bidding to take place received only one participant, and even if the DoT were to remove most of its demands - such as illogical reserve prices - a much better response it unlikely in any further tender. Potential bidders are simply exhausted. An option occasionally favoured by the leading right- wing opposition party, the BJP, has been to return to the first, apparently corruption-free round of bids, scrapping all the controversial decisions (of Mr Sukh Ram) that led to two more, one to go (there are still 10 circles without any potential takers after numerous first-round bids were unnecessarily rejected). This is not going to cause much cheer in the industry; although some - BPL-US West and Birla-AT&T - will benefit from lucrative licences that were lost in the following confusion, others such as Tata-Bell Canada, RPG-NTT and Reliance-NYNEX will not enjoy losing their licences won in the second round of bidding. Besides, most of the first round bids are now widely thought to be too high, unless the DoT behaves itself on the matter of operational and interconnect agreements, of which there is no guarantee. The choice of much of the rest of Asia, of handing out build-operate-transfer or similar arrangements to private companies based on subjective criteria will never pass India's Parliament and courts; and in terms of fairness and transparency, there is not much to say for such methods, however rapidly they may lead to actual project implementation. As a senior banking- industry source puts it, India had the "most structured privatisation process" in the Asia-Pacific region - until Mr Sukh Ram decided on a more active role for himself, that is. And more objective methods of selecting DoT franchisees are likely to face the same inertia as as tenders for independent, competing licensees. There is one penultimate, very cynical option for the DoT - to do nothing. This would be an admission of the government's greed for licence revenues having absolutely overridden the country's need for investment, and would suit all those in the DoT who benefit, as did, allegedly, Mr Sukh Ram, from a monopsony's power to extort bribes from equipment suppliers. Thankfully, even the Communist parties, which jumped at the opportunity provided by the discovery of $1 million in cash in the former Minister's home to call for the total dismantling of the privatisation process have quietened down somewhat. The case for free competition Perhaps the only way out, then - and in all likelihood the only the mainly poorer circles left with no licensees so far - will be to issue multiple non- exclusive licences to all comers, without any competitive bidding to restrict licensees to one per region. It should be noted that this was never ruled out - the expensive cellular, pager and basic licences are all non-exclusive and the DoT retains the option to hand out more before the end of the licence term. A free-for-all approach (supervised by the independent regulator) will have its own problems, such as how to address the need to upgrade rural infrastructure. Ways can be found around this, partly by the DoT making more of an effort to demonstrate the potential of a 400- million plus market, currently with no access to - leave alone possession of - a phone. There could be rules governing technical standards and rural connectivity obligations - once again, administered by an independent regulator rather than the DoT itself, as the case is at present - while keeping revenue sharing very flexible, perhaps just limited to payment for accessing the DoT network. This relatively free competition will need a major shift in the DoT's mindset, in particular a return to the recognition that the need of 900 million Indians for better communications surpasses that of the government for licensing revenue. It is, a pessimist would say, extremely unlikely to happen, as the DoT will do anything - even agree to a reasonable interconnect agreement! - to forestall free competition. But if the government were to take this solution seriously, it would be a remarkable feat even in the global context. It could even bring last year's optimism back. For more information, follow the links from the hypertext version of this document at: http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/31aug96.html The Indian Techonomist: weekly summary. http://dxm.org/techonomist/news/ Copyright (C) 1996 Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (rishab@techonomist.dxm.org) A4/204 Ekta Vihar 9 Indraprastha Extension New Delhi 110092 INDIA May be distributed electronically provided that this notice is attached ------------------------------ From: gswan@io.org (George Swan) Subject: Help Me Replace my Watson Card With Something More Modern? Date: 2 Sep 1996 00:25:37 -0400 Organization: Internex Online (shell.io.org), Toronto, Ontario, Canada I bought a Watson card eight years ago. It is a digital answering machine. It stores your messages on your hard drive. It was programmable. It contained a Texas Instruments DSP, and when you weren't running the answering machine program, you could run a modem program, which downloaded a program into the DSP's memory, making it act like a modem. I thought it was kind of cool, and I got my money's worth out of it. Now I'd like to replace my Wang 14.4 modem with: * something faster; * capable of understanding caller-id; * able to dial out even when my call answer service alters my dial tone; * like the Watson, I'd like it to be capable of storing voice message, but I'd like it to use the caller-id information to organize the voice messages; * like the Watson, I'd like it to be able to interpret touch tones; * like the Watson, I'd like it to be able to dial out at specific times, and play voice message to the receipient, under software control. Your help will be appreciated. You might wonder, why don't I put my Watson back into commission? No caller-id, and the modem only runs at 1200 baud. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #455 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 3 10:32:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA06501; Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:32:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:32:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609031432.KAA06501@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #456 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Sep 96 10:32:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 456 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Jersey May Conserve Telephone Numbers (Tad Cook) MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet (Justin Hamilton) Pacific Bell At Hand(sm) Premieres A Must-See Website Guide (Mike King) 414 NPA Residents Prefer Split to Overlay (Tad Cook) PC Boards That Support SS7 Signalling From E1/T1 Link (Barry Gold) Directly Accessing UART Registers Under Windows? (Eric Nelson) North America Dialing (Feico Nater) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tad Cook Subject: New Jersey May Conserve Telephone Numbers Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 16:33:33 PDT New Jersey May Conserve Telephone Numbers Pending Area Code Decision By Raymond Fazzi, Asbury Park Press, N.J. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News NEWARK, N.J.--Aug. 29--Faced with choosing between two area code expansion plans that would inconvenience millions of telephone customers, the state Board of Public Utilities is considering a third option: buying time by conserving telephone numbers. BPU President Herbert Tate said last week that such a plan is feasible because, even though the state is running out of telephone numbers, about one million numbers have been stored away by companies planning to compete with Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, the state's local telephone monopoly. Devising a system in which numbers are doled out on an as-needed basis could delay the need for new area codes, he said. Under the current number distribution system, Bell Atlantic-New Jersey is required to allocate telephone numbers to potential competitors, upon request, in blocks of 10,000 numbers, state regulators said. "It's not efficient," Tate said. "We want to find out whether there are any methods the telephone companies can use to conserve telephone numbers." Tate stressed, however, that the BPU has yet to make a decision on how to proceed. All the alternatives -- the two area code expansion plans and the possibility of delaying any action -- will be reviewed in public hearings at the BPU's Newark headquarters next month, he said. The agency expects to make a decision by the first week in October, Tate said. It will be the BPU's second round of hearings on the issue. After taking testimony earlier this year, agency officials said more information was needed and put off a decision. Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, meanwhile, has been pressing for a decision, saying that telephone numbers will be depleted in the 201 area code by June 1997, and in the 908 area code by October 1997. A company spokesman argued that a number-rationing plan will not solve the problem. "We're at ground zero," Bell Atlantic-New Jersey spokesman Timothy Ireland said. "We've got to get new area codes soon." How to create the new area codes has been the subject of ongoing debate. Under a proposal touted by Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, the 201 and 908 area code regions of northern and central New Jersey would each get an additional area code, which would be assigned to new telephone customers. This would require customers in these area codes to dial ten digits on all their calls. The other option, supported by competitors of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, would split the 201 and 908 area codes in half, creating two new area codes. This is the way area codes have traditionally been expanded, and would force customers and businesses in the new code areas to take on new telephone numbers. In public comments submitted to the BPU earlier this year, businesses supported the overlay plan by a margin of 21 to 6. This is presumably because of the costs incurred by businesses that have to change their telephone numbers, BPU Executive Director Michael Ambrosio said. Individual customers preferred the geographic split plan by a margin of 31 to 4, with another 21 suggesting alternatives, BPU officials said. Members of the public may submit comments on the plan until Sept. 16 or speak at a public hearing to be held that day from 1 to 4 p.m., and 5 to 7 p.m.,2 Tate said. The agency will also take testimony from experts on the issue on Sept. 6 at 10 a.m., he said. ------------------------------ From: JHamilton@Bridge.BellSouth.Com (Justin Hamilton) Subject: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 20:58:04 GMT Organization: BellSouth ATG lab Reply-To: JHamilton@Mindspring.Com I've been looking into the possibilities of getting ISDN internet access. I would keep my existing POTS line for voice, and have the ISDN dedicated to the computer. I decided to checkout MCI's web page to see what they had. Eventually I found a page which contained info on "internetMCI Access for Home" and the pieces that caught my eye were: UNLIMITED ACCESS Software Cost: $0.00 Registration Fee: $0.00 Monthly Fee: $19.95 Local Access Hours: Unlimited! and internetMCI's Dial Access platform supports both analog (up to 28.8Kbps modems) and ISDN (integrated switched digital network) connections equaling 56/64 Kbps. and Key features supported by our universal dial platform include: Internet Access via asynchronous dial-in modems (up to 28.8Kbps speeds) ISDN BRI Digital Access at 56/64 Kbps Routed IP connectivity to both private and public networks and finally: To order internetMCI Access please call 1-800-550-0927. So I did, and the rep, whose name I didn't get (sorry), told me that they did not support ISDN and, although they will, she did not know when. Why do companies like MCI do this? Oh well ... If anyone has any good ISDN ISP's they can recommend, I would appreciate it much ... 8) Justin Hamilton http://www.mindspring.com/~tmenet JHamilton@MindSpring.Com - Rated #1 National ISP by C/NET JHamilton@Bridge.BellSouth.Com Member of B.U.G. Birmingham's Premier User Group http://www.bfc.net/bug [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They do it largely because it looks good in their advertising and they know -- like Sprint -- that no one will really be able to stop them in their claims. Now in the next article in the Digest this morning, let's see what Pacific Bell has to say for itself today ... what glorious and self-serving news they want to tell us about. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell At Hand(sm) Premieres A Must-See Website Guide Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 16:55:29 PDT Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:07:00 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell At Hand(sm) Premieres A Must-See Website Guide FOR MORE INFORMATION: David A. Dickstein, Pacific Telesis (415) 896-1800 dadicks@legal.pactel.com Jennifer Weissman, Antenna Group (213) 975-4074 jennifer@antgroup.com Pacific Bell At Hand sm Premieres A Must-See Website Guide PASADENA, Calif. -- Californians can now utilize the vast information- gathering power of the World Wide Web to access a wealth of purchasing information with today's launch of Pacific Bell At Hand sm (point to http://www.athand.com ), a comprehensive on-line guide to merchants and services throughout the state. The free-to-use guide combines editorial content from 45 popular books and magazine titles with 1.2 million merchant listings and information from more than 65 advertisers. Pacific Bell At Hand has taken an innovative and ambitious approach for an on-line guide by thoroughly covering the entire state. By focusing on the area Pacific Bell has served for over 100 years, At Hand taps into the high concentration of Web users in the state in which approximately 40 percent of the world's Web traffic originates or arrives. "We've used this new medium to create a truly useful guide that combines the functionality of a directory with the entertainment and reference value of books and magazines," said Jeff Killeen, CEO of Pacific Bell Interactive Media, Inc. "At Hand puts all this organized information at users' fingertips, then provides personalized services such as maps and lists to make their shopping easier." Jeff Rios, manager of interactive services for The Good Guys, a consumer electronics retailer, explained why they chose At Hand for their first Internet advertising effort. "The information Pacific Bell At Hand has pulled together would be costly and time-consuming for people to research on their own. We think this will be genuinely helpful for our customers. At Hand is a one-stop, problem-solver for shoppers." Electronic, Theme-based Merchant Guides At Hand is designed to make purchasing decisions more efficient and convenient for the need-it-now shopper while also providing the best possible information resource for the category enthusiast or careful purchaser. For example, shoppers who want to find a gift for a golfer can easily locate promising merchants near their home or work locations, find out store hours, and quickly get maps on any scale. Golf enthusiasts will be able to browse golf course reviews from Foghorn's California Golf and get tips from the pros in Golf Digest. And if they're thinking about making that big investment in a good set of clubs, they can peruse equipment reviews and find out about sales and special promotions. Pacific Bell At Hand is organized according to an original and efficient hierarchy that groups hundreds of merchant categories into 13 themes. Comprehensive listings are included for all 13 theme guides. Initially, three of the guides have been enhanced with information such as business hours, credit card acceptance and special services. Ten additional guides will be completed in the months to come. The three showcased guides, House & Home, Entertainment & Leisure, and Sports & Outdoors are interwoven with articles and information from 45 books and magazines displayed next to related merchant listings. Integrated Editorial Content At Hand offers recognized editorial opinions to help shoppers make better purchasing decisions. Editorial content provided by 14 well-known publishers, including Harper Collins Publishers, Hearst HomeArts, New York Times Company Magazines Group and American Express Publishing, is featured throughout the enhanced guides. Titles such as People Weekly's "Picks and Pans," Zagat's Restaurant Surveys and Playbill offer engaging and useful content accessible within At Hand's Entertainment & Leisure. House & Home is decorated with content from Good Housekeeping, Food & Wine and over 1,000 Los Angeles Times Syndicate's "Do-It-Yourself ... Or Not?" columns. Golf Digest, California Camping and Ski Country Access Guide bring all of California out to play on Sports & Outdoors. Tim Albright, new media manager of American Express Publishing, said, "Pacific Bell's premier customer base and powerful brand make it a strong online partner to showcase Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine. Many of our readers are on the Internet and we believe At Hand's extensive California database of restaurants, hotels, spas and vacation areas broadens the resources available to our audience." Relevant Advertising At Hand is a new kind of advertising medium for both consumers and merchants. Consumers encounter only advertising relevant to the content they are interested in, and advertisers benefit by being in the right place at the right time. With its unique ability to deliver messages to interested audiences, At Hand provides advertisers a cost-effective method for reaching the large audience that is rapidly coming on-line. "We targeted mainstream retailers and services that have strong California presences to make sure customers see the businesses they know and trust," said Carla McMorris, At Hand's director of marketing, advertising and sales. "More than 20 national advertisers are on board, while many regional and local advertisers have found that At Hand is a place on the Web that is ready-made for them." Customized California Mapping At Hand's mapping function has been developed in cooperation with Thomas Brothers Maps, the West Coast leader in cartography. As a result, it may be the most detailed and scalable mapping function available on a commercial website today. Users of At Hand can specify any area in California, from a one-mile radius around a specific address to an entire city, and print out maps locating the retailers they have selected. Corporate Description Pacific Bell At Hand is the product and service of Pacific Bell Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis Group which is a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. At Hand acts as a localized and personalized electronic intermediary through which users can access a wide variety of theme-based information resources and through which businesses can advertise, communicate and transact with consumers. Pacific Bell Interactive Media is located at 35 North Lake Avenue, Suite 300, Pasadena, Calif. 91101. For business information call (888) 4AtHand, fax (818) 585-9774. The information email address is: reachus@athand.com. At Hand is a trademark of Pacific Telesis. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners ----------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: 414 NPA Residents Prefer Split to Overlay Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 20:02:43 PDT Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Technology Column By Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Aug. 29--An overwhelming majority of people in Wisconsin's 414 calling area prefer splitting the region into two area codes to help solve the problem of a quickly diminishing supply of phone numbers. In a survey released this week by a group of telecommunications companies, both residential and business customers said they favored a geographic split over a so-called overlay system. With a geographic split, generally much of metropolitan Milwaukee would remain in the current 414 area, while calling areas north of Port Washington would become part of a new area code. Since 1995, 30 new area codes have been added in the United States as explosive growth in telecommunications has mandated the need for more and more phone numbers. Of those 30 new area codes, 28 opted for the geographic split. The latest estimates show that Wisconsin will run out of phone numbers by the first quarter of 1998. In an overlay method, new phone numbers are automatically assigned a new area code. All calls local and long distance would require punching ten digits. The results of the survey give more credence to one side of the telecommunications industry that supports the concept of a geographic split. But despite a clear signal that people in the survey favored a geographic split, the area code issue has engendered a split of its own among phone providers, and now state regulators need to settle the matter this fall. On one side is Ameritech, MCI Corp. and other traditional phone companies that want the 414 calling area split because they believe that is what their customers want. On the other side are pager and cellular companies -- though not Ameritech's cellular unit -- who are in favor of an overlay. That's because with a geographic split, cell phone users would have to come into a store and have their phones reprogrammed. GTE Corp., the state's second-largest local phone company, also is in favor of the overlay because most of its customers lie outside of metropolitan Milwaukee and would be forced to change to a new area code if the 414 region was split in two. The exact boundary to divide the 414 area code a region of eastern Wisconsin stretching from Green Bay to Kenosha under a geographic split scenario will be decided by the state Public Service Commission. But a tentative line leaves most of metropolitan Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha safe from change. On the north, West Bend, Newburg and Port Washington would remain 414. To the west, the Oconomowoc area and to the southwest, Whitewater, Delavan and Lake Geneva all would stay 414. Milwaukee-area communities that would be just over the line include Belgium, Waubeka, Kewaskum, Allenton and Slinger. Boiled down to the basics, the survey tells us that we don't like change. When confronted with either splitting 414 into two area codes or starting out with a new way to dial phone numbers, most people prefer the split. The survey was conducted last May by Affina Research of Troy, Mich., for more than a dozen local telephone and cellular companies with customers in the 414 area. In the survey, 878 residential and business customers were surveyed. Here are some of the results from the survey: Among residential customers, 69 percent said they preferred a geographic split while 26 percent supported the overlay plan. Among business customers, 77 percent preferred the geographic split while 20 percent were in favor of an overlay plan. In both cases, the rest were undecided. The biggest reason in favor of the split is that people felt it would be less confusing. Other major concerns: Phone users did not want to punch ten digits to make a local phone call under the overlay plan. Also, with an overlay, they said they were concerned about calling a phone number down the block with a different area code. The biggest point in favor of an overlay was the belief by proponents that it would last longer and be easier to use. Some industry experts believe that in a few years we might all be dialing a 10-digit telephone number, as the need for more phone numbers continues to grow. Using ten digits would ensure consistent dialing across the country. Not everyone is pleased with the results of the survey. Atlanta-based BellSouth Cellular Corp., which has pushed for the overlay, said the survey was biased in favor of the geographic split. The company operates the Cellular One franchise in southern Wisconsin. Bill H. Brown, manager of state regulatory matters for BellSouth Cellular, complained that the survey is biased because Affina, the survey company, weighted results so that customers living in metropolitan Milwaukee would have more say. But Mary F. Danielak, Affina's executive vice president, said weighting figures in surveys is a standard research technique. Although more people in the northern part of the 414 calling area were queried, Danielak said the survey weighted comments from people in the southern 414 area more simply because there are more people there. BellSouth and others are seeking to delay state public hearings for at least a month and they want to add two more hearing dates so that consumers have more time to digest information about the plans. The delay also is being sought by, among others, GTE, which in Wisconsin has its headquarters in Wausau; Northeast Telephone Co., Pulaski; and PageNet of Wisconsin, Brookfield. The PSC is planning to conduct hearings Sept. 16 in Green Bay, Sept. 17 in Oshkosh, Sept. 18 in Waukesha and Sept. 19 in Watertown. Wisconsin is running out of phone numbers because of two trends. First, there's a growing appetite for communications devices everything from pagers to a second phone line in the home that is driving demand for a dwindling supply of phone numbers. Second, deregulation is bringing new companies into local phone markets and they are asking for phone numbers now so they can assign them to potential customers. A single area code accommodates seven million to eight million phone numbers. Lee Bergquist and the Journal Sentinel's business staff can be reached on-line at jsbiz@execpc.com ------------------------------ From: barry gold Subject: PC Boards That Support SS7 Signalling From E1/T1 Link Date: 2 Sep 1996 07:36:56 GMT Organization: enumclaw Please can anyone name/recommend some vendors who can handle SS7 signalling (preferably ISUP) on a PC (preferablly an NT OS). Any help or direction will be sincerely appreciated. Thanks, barry ------------------------------ From: eric@ns.net (eric nelson) Subject: Directly Accessing UART Registers Under Windows? Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 06:09:17 GMT Organization: NextGen Systems Internet Services In an application (16 bit, windows) I recently finished, I needed to know the exact moment when the UART was empty. The API calls would only let me know when the ram fifo was empty. The only thing I could think of was to read the bit in the uart which tells when it is empty. My understanding is I can't do this under NT. Can someone tell me a 'legal' way to access the UART registers, or some driver which will give me this information? Also, some other groups to post this request to? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: effect@worldaccess.nl (Feico Nater) Subject: North America Dialing Date: Tue, 03 Sep 96 12:25:48 GMT Organization: Taal Effect This must be a simple question to you North-Americans, but not to me. My question is: how do you dial a number in North America? First, let me explain how this is in my country. In my country, the Netherlands, everyone has two numbers: an area code and a subscriber's number. An area code is (since last year) three or four digits, and its first digit is zero. A subscriber's number is (since last year) seven or six digits, and its first digit is never zero. Together, area code and subscriber's number have ten digits. Area codes are non-conflicting. That means that, if 023 is a valid area code, there are no four-digit area codes which begin with 023. This is unlike Britain where area codes may be conflicting, and the first digit of the subscriber's number gives more information. Area codes are published including the initial zero, but officially, this zero does not belong to the area code. When calling from abroad, this zero must not be dialed. To make an interlocal call (to another area), one dials the area code and the subscriber's number. To make a local phone call (in the same area), one dials just the subscriber's number. However, it is possible to dial all ten digits, and this will not be more expensive. A call to the same area, and to neigboring areas is rather cheap, a call to a remote area is more expensive. So far the situation in the Netherlands. Now for North America. An area code is three digits, and a (what do you call it?) is seven digits. The middle digit of an area code is 0 or 1 (I don't know why). What exactly does 'long distance' mean? Is it the same as a call to another area? To dial to another area, one dials all ten digits, preceded by 1. Is that always right? So the first digit of a subscriber's number is never 1. Correct? To dial to the same area, one dials just the seven digits. Is that right? Someone told me that if the first three digits of the subscriber's number are equal, it is sufficient to dial only the last four digits. Is that correct? And if so, how does the CO know whether you are going to dial four or seven digits? How does one dial from Canada to USA vice versa? Is it just as if they are one country? What is the price of a phone call? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Perhaps readers would like to respond direct to the correspondent with answers to the several questions he raises here. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #456 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 3 14:49:14 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA02946; Tue, 3 Sep 1996 14:49:14 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 14:49:14 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609031849.OAA02946@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #457 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Sep 96 14:49:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 457 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Hang-up Detection in Analog Line? (Avi Ilan) Used Cellular Equipment? (Ken Jongsma) Help With Standard Modem on Leased Line (Lukas Zahas) Area Codes in Java Applet Format (Robert L. Platt) Can't Bill LD DA to Calling Card (Philip Evans) Silly People: They Faxed in Their Bomb Declaration (Danny Burstein) Description of Coding Techniques Wanted (tbrink@teleport.com) Point to Point Microwave Radio? (visualsoft@aol.com) Fixed to Mobile Calls in UK? (Jesus Redondo Velasco) Seeking Broadcast Fax Services (Gordon Schultz) Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (David Gadbois) BellSouth Warns of New Telephone Scams (Mike King) Mitel SX-2000 Light Provisioning (Andy Spitzer) Re: Latest ITU Bulletin Available (Stephen Geis) Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA (Brian Bunin) Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA (John Nagle) Re: BellSouth Launches Internet Access Service (John R. Levine) Re: BellSouth Launches Internet Access Service (Mike King) Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA (Mike Fox) Re: Rural Phone 40km From CO Question (Jock Mackirdy) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Avi Ilan Subject: Hang-up Detection in Analog Line? Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 09:58:57 -0400 Organization: Tel-Aviv University Computation Center Hi all, In analog line, is there a way to detect that someone hang-up the phone even when Im not listen to the special beep signal of the telephone exchange. If there is a way I would be happy to know about that. Thanks in advance, Avi Ilan - ilani@shani.net ------------------------------ From: Ken Jongsma <73115.1041@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Used Cellular Equipment? Date: 3 Sep 1996 01:37:23 GMT Organization: CompuServe, Inc. (1-800-689-0736) My company has a bulk rate deal with a cellular provider. I can purchase a new phone through the provider, but the prices, while not particularly high, are more than I'd like to pay. (With the exception of a flip phone for $79, all the others are $200 or more. (I realize that most advertised phone prices are subsidized by a contract kickback.) Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could buy a used phone or where there might be good deals on mail oder new units? Thanks, Ken 73115.1041@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: lzahas@bu.edu (Lukas Zahas) Subject: Help With Standard Modem on Leased Line Date: 2 Sep 1996 21:32:15 GMT Organization: Boston University Is it possible to use a standard, off the shelf modem on a two-wire analog leased line? We would like to connect a PC and a piece of test equipment together with 2400 baud modems. The tricky part is the phone line will periodically be taken away from the modems, and when they get the line back, they should be able to start talking again without any special commands from us. In the limited experience I have with leased line gear, I know they don't get any special commands to start handshaking, they just start talking (I think). Anyone have any advice? Lukas Zahas lzahas@bu.edu ------------------------------ From: rlp@bga.com (Robert L. Platt) Subject: Area Codes in Java Applet Format Date: 1 Sep 1996 21:41:03 -0500 Organization: Real/Time Communications - Bob Gustwick and Associates I have rewritten the program 'areacode.c' by Ken Yap, Kelly Smith, et. al. as a Java applet. The applet allows users to look up U.S. and Canadian area codes using a Java-enabled Web browser. I've made the applet available at URL: http://www.realtime.net/~rlp/Java/AreaCode.html Source code for the original areacode.c and the applet AreaCode.java are available at this location, too. Bob Platt rlp@acm.org ------------------------------ From: pevans@mindlink.bc.ca (philip evans) Subject: Can't Bill LD DA to Calling Card Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 14:50:42 GMT Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada I was in Nova Scotia over the summer. When I dialed 0-604-555-1212 (same format as that used to charge ordinary calls to the card) I got a recording that said "please dial 1 or 0, followed by the area code ..." Then a warm body told me that MT&T cannot charge these calls to my card. Further, the operator cannot do a station-to-station or person-to-person call to that number either. What's up? (The recording is obviously broken, I'll write them about that). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 23:18:49 EDT From: danny burstein Subject: Silly People: They Faxed in Their Bomb Declaration Let's see now. What are the chances that they knew enough to do it from a non-traceable (at least back to them) phone line? Do the central offices in Memphis have SMDR records? Does a bear s*t in the woods? danny 'let's see that videotape from Joe's Bar and Fax Service for 4:15 pm' burstein (with apologies to the AP for forwarding their clip as-is> dannyb@panix.com --------- Forwarded message ---------- > Pro-Animal Group Claims Blast > MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- An animal rights group claimed responsibility > for a firebombing attack Saturday that burned a truck at an egg > production facility. > The Animal Liberation Front sent a facsimile to The Commercial Appeal > in Memphis and other news organizations saying that the attack was on > "behalf of more than a half-million chickens imprisoned and in forced > labor at the factory farm." > Federal, state and local authorities were investigating the predawn > incident at RusDun Farms Inc., located near Collierville, which is 22 > miles east of Memphis. > The group, which has sabotaged research laboratories, furriers and > meat plants around the world, said incendiary devices were planted in > four trucks and in the loading dock area. It also said that warehouse > air-conditioning units were sabotaged. > However, RusDun president Melvin Russell said only one truck actually > burned. > Investigators, including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and > Firearms, were withholding further details of the incident. ------------------------------ From: Tom Subject: Description Wanted of Coding Techniques Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 02:29:08 -0700 Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 I am looking for a good description of the various coding schemes 2B1Q used in ISDN, AMI and CMI. Thanks, Tom ------------------------------ From: visualsoft@aol.com (VisualSoft) Subject: Point to Point Microwave Radio Date: 03 Sep 1996 05:45:31 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: visualsoft@aol.com (VisualSoft) Hi, Does anyone know of a list where they discuss point to point microwave radio? I'm thinking primarily of radio operating in frequencies from 1 GHz to 50 GHz. Thanks, John ------------------------------ From: Jesus Redondo Velasco Subject: Fixed to Mobile Calls in UK? Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 12:56:59 (MET) How does it work a phone call from a fixed line to a mobile in UK? I don't know whether a BT subscriber can select the carrier (i.e. Mercury or BT) that will convey his call to the mobile operator's network. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks in advance, Jesus Redondo DIT-UPM e-mail: jrv@dit.upm.es Ciudad Universitaria s/n Fax: +34 1 5432077 28040 Madrid Spain ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 15:59:36 -0400 From: Gordon Schultz Reply-To: gs@sourcesgroup.com Organization: The Sources Group Subject: Seeking Broadcast Fax Service I must fax twice every business day about 40 pages to 14 different sites. Needless to say it ties up my fax for most of the day. Does anyone know of a broadcast fax service that charges less than 20 cents a page? You may e-mail me directly, if you wish. Thanks, Gordon Schultz Concord, Mass gs@sourcesgroup.com ------------------------------ From: gadbois@cs.utexas.edu (David Gadbois) Subject: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell Date: 02 Sep 1996 18:27:10 -0500 Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin Southwestern Bell has a service called "Positive ID" that lets you set up access control lists so that only calls from certain numbers or with a password are completed to a given trunk or number (the glossy brochure isn't clear on this). It also can give you audit reports of incoming calls. This service seems like a good cheap way to restrict access to dial-in modems. Does anyone have anything good/bad/ugly to say about it? How does it interact with other features, especially call forwarding? What are the risks involved versus other access restriction methods such as Caller Line ID, dial-back systems, smart cards, or plain vanilla passwords? Thanks, David Gadbois [TELECOM Digest Editor's Ntoe: This service is basically a big expansion of the existing service known as Call Screening. In Call Screening, you can set up a personal list of numbers that you do not wish to have reach you. Those callers are given a message from the central office saying 'the party you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at the present time ...'. Instead of this 'allow all, deny xxx, yyy, zzz' approach, the service David describes begins from the opposite direction and says essentially, 'deny all, allow xxx, yyy, zzz'. Think of it much like an .htaccess file for your web page. I do not know how well the SW Bell scheme works as of yet. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Warns of New Telephone Scams Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 00:34:23 PDT Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 18:21:18 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH WARNS OF NEW TELEPHONE SCAMS BELLSOUTH WARNS OF NEW TELEPHONE SCAMS Telephone scam artists don't appear to be slowing down, and you could be the next victim, according to BellSouth media relations manager Bill Todd. "The most recent scam we've heard about is where someone calls your home and says they are with the FCC, or Federal Communications Commission," Todd said. "Or, they will say they are with the fraud division of `the phone company.' They tell the customer that excessive charges have been made to the customer's calling card, and they need to verify their calling card number and the four-digit personal identification number, or PIN. "Never give out that kind of information. Nobody from any regulatory agency or telephone company will ask you for your calling card number and/or PIN code, so don't give it out," Todd said. "They also will never ask you to accept third party-billed calls on their behalf." Todd said consumers should also remember to shield their calling card numbers at pay telephones. Calling card numbers can be sold and used for long distance fraud, making unsuspecting victims of consumers who do not keep these numbers private. "If you have any reason to be unsure of a call's legitimacy, ask the caller for his or her name, and the company they work for. Tell the caller you intend to call the company yourself to verify their work information. "Also, if you think you or someone you know is the target of a fraudulent telephone marketing scheme, call your local district attorney's office, the Better Business Bureau, or register a complaint with the Alabama Attorney General's office," Todd said. ---------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 96 14:48:50 GMT From: woof@telecnnct.com (Andy Spitzer) Subject: Mitel SX-2000 Light Provisioning A T1 connection from Bell Atlantic to our Mitel SX-2000 Light carries DID trunks. Whenever an outside caller dials one of our DID numbers, the cadence of the audible ring tone that the PBX generates is not the USA normal "2 seconds of RING, followed by 4 seconds of SILENCE", but instead is approximately of the form: 1 second of RING short gap of SILENCE 1 second of RING 3 seconds of SILENCE The company that installed and provisions the PBX has spoken with Mitel, and insists there is no way to change this cadence to 2 seconds of RING, 4 seconds of silence. Please note: I am not discussing the ringing of the PHONES on the PBX, but rather the audible ring tone that a caller hears when dialing our DID numbers. I appeal to the wisdom of TELECOM Digest readers: Can a Mitel SX-2000 Light be provisioned to generate USA standard audible ring tone on DID trunks? If so, would some kind soul please let us know how? The PBX is running (load/version/generic/???): MS2007-F-NA-00, Edition SX.N16.1.1 Thanks for your time. Andy Spitzer woof@telecnnct.com The Telephone Connection 301-417-0700 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 17:06:31 +0200 From: Stephen Geis Subject: Re: Latest ITU Bulletin Available Zev Rubenstein said: > Readers of TELECOM Digest may find the Operational Bulletins issued by > the ITU to be a valuable resource. The latest one (# 625) is now > available. ... > To track when they become available, monitor the following URL: > http://www4.itu.ch//itudoc/itu-t/op-bull.html To find the operational bulletin, rather than using the URL given in the posting (which is subject to change), readers should point to http://www.itu.int and click on the item "Operational Bulletins" in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector section of our home page. The operational bulletin may be downloaded only by registered users of ITU's Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES). TIES registration is free to participants in ITU activities (see the TIES FAQ at http://www.itu.ch/special/faqties-q.html) Stephen GEIS Information Services Department International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Geneva, Switzerland e-mail: stephen.geis@itu.int ------------------------------ From: brian.bunin@mountaingate.com (Brian Bunin) Subject: Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA Date: Mon, 02 Sep 96 18:19:35 GMT Organization: Great Basin Internet Services, Reno, NV In article , slichte@cello.gina. calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) wrote: > Tad Cook writes: >> U.S. Consumers Ripped Off in Calls to (809) Area Code > Here is another side to the scam, sorry about all Caps, but that is the > way it was sent to me. > SCAM ARTISTS ARE TRYING TO GET AROUND THE U. S. REGULATIONS > GOVERNING PAY-PER-CALL SERVICE IN THE 900 BLOCK BY OPERATING > OVERSEAS. PEOPLE ARE REPORTING THAT THEY ARE GETTING MESSAGES > ON THEIR ANSWERING MACHINES TELLING THEM THAT IT IS IMPORTANT > THAT THEY CALL A NUMBER BEGINNING WITH 809. WHEN THEY DIAL > THE NUMBER, THEY HEAR A LONG RECORDED MESSAGE. WHEN THEIR > TELEPHONE BILL COMES, THERE IS A HUGE CHARGE RELATING TO THE > CALL. etc ... I'm confused. How can they be billed for other than the time the connection was in place? How can someone make money on this as the LEC and your LD Carrier are the ones billing you? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You need to go back and read the thread on this topic in the Archives. We have covered it here on a couple of occassions. The information provider (in this case the persons receiving the calls in the foreign country) guarentees the carrier a certain volume of traffic each month in exchange for a percentage of the carrier's profits. Here in the USA as one example, AT&T works with a fellow in Nevada who operates a conference bridge for gay men. He stirs up the traffic; AT&T 'backs him up' by billing for it; and they give him a few cents for every minute of traffic. So he offers his service for 'free', telling the callers there is no charge to use this service, 'all you pay is toll ...', and of course everyone used to calling 900 numbers with big premium fees attached thinks this is a great deal. Now the same thing happens in other countries. Customer of the poor telco in some far away place says to telco he will generate lots of traffic just for the sake of stirring it up if they will cut him in on the action. So he runs advertising all over the place in the United States depending on the kind of calls he wants to deal with. People here start calling there in massive numbers. The telco in that country rubs their hands in glee and licks their chops as they watch their resulting balance on the books of AT&T (usually a deficit in AT&T's favor) decrease. Soon they are collecting lots of money from AT&T for calls AT&T is billing to USA customers, and needless to say they show their gratitude by giving some of it to the guy who made it all possible; the guy with his conference bridge; the guy who managed to induce a closeted gay guy in North Dakota to chat for an hour with another anonymous and closeted gay guy in South Dakota via a conference bridge in Guyana or wherever. Now all this *is* legal -- stirring up traffic for the sake of stirring it up, just to generate revenue for calls that would never have occurred had not someone suggested it -- but there is supposed to be something of perceived benefit to the original caller; some form of gratification or reward or enlightenment, etc. In the case discussed, the callers were getting nothing at all except a message telling them to call another (equally) long-distance point. In turn, that second number had some sort of nonsense, and a third telephone number to call was also involved. The people running the scam (and that may very well be the foreign telco itself without anyone on their end prompting them to do it) watch the inbound traffic from the USA make them rich. Check out the Telecom Archives at http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/back.issues for more details on this, or if you prefer FTP you can connect with us at ftp hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/common/telecom-archives/archives. PAT] ------------------------------ From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) Subject: Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 10:39:05 GMT Michael J. Wengler writes: > Tad Cook wrote: >> The last two calls, which have 809 area codes, might look like regular >> long-distance numbers within the United States. But they're really >> phone calls to the Dominican Republic. > And thus get charged pretty large charges. Why is the Dominican Republic still in the NANP? Why don't they have their own country code? Saudi Arabia used to be in the NANP, before international direct dialing worked, but that was a long time ago. John Nagle [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, so you remember when Saudi Arabia had a USA area code, do you? Yeah, that was a long time ago, like around 1970 perhaps. Anyone remember *what* 'area code' it was? I can't remember. It was that way because a certain very large oil company in New York with branches in Saudi Arabia wanted to make lots of calls there daily with ease in dialing. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 10:49:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: BellSouth Launches Internet Access Service Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > BELLSOUTH LAUNCHES INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE > BellSouth provides the service with two attractively-priced plans: > 1) an unlimited usage plan priced at $19.95 per month; This wouldn't by any chance be one of the RBOCs that's been moaning and groaning about how their network is being destroyed by ISPs and wants to charge them by the minute for incoming calls, would it? What a bunch of two-faced slimers. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I recently heard someone say that John Levine was stealing unix accounts intended for space aliens and using them to post to Usenet news groups. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Re: BellSouth Launches Internet Access Service Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 16:49:45 GMT John R. Levin responded to this posting: >> BellSouth provides the service with two attractively-priced plans: >> 1) an unlimited usage plan priced at $19.95 per month; > This wouldn't by any chance be one of the RBOCs that's been moaning and > groaning about how their network is being destroyed by ISPs and wants to > charge them by the minute for incoming calls, would it? Actually, I've not been watching on an RBOC-by-RBOC basis. I do know that in PacBell land, it hasn't been overtly mentioned. As a matter of fact, PacBell is pushing people to get additional lines (NPA saturation be dammed) for online activities, and recommending flat-rate plans. Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike Fox Date: 03 Sep 1996 09:29:42 GMT Subject: Re: US Callers Ripped Off in Calls to 809 NPA > Another reform that could be considered: a set of standards for > remining in the NANP (North American Numbering Plan, the people you > reach by dialing 1+AreaCode+NXX-XXXX). > Perhaps places like the D. R. want to stay in the NANP. Then they > should be required to: [...] > OTHERWISE, it should be a very simple matter to reprogram North American > switches to see a "011+" before the "1809" which could serve as the > D.R.'s international code, without requiring much change outside of > North America. Then the scammer's going to have to get you to dial the > international access code to perpetrate their scam. Hear hear! It's been really interesting listening to all these discussions of ripoff calls to foreign countries in the NANP at the same time we are adding more foreign countries to the NANP (670, 671). Talk about asking for fraud! I don't think that international codes can be more than three digits though, so that specific remedy would be a problem. We should just kick them out and make them get their own damn code. Why make it easy for them when the reason we would be doing it is because they harbor fraudsters? Of course, just beginning that process of kicking them out may be enough to fix the problem. Later, Mike [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The only thing is, sweetheart, 670 and 671 are not assigned to 'foreign countries' any more than 808 is assigned to a foreign country. 808 is of course the state of Hawaii and the territory of Midway Island. 670 and 671 are the territories of Guam that other place in the Pacific Ocean whose name escapes me at the moment. By the way, Puerto Rico isn't a foreign country either, although the status of New Mexico has not yet been clarified in the telemarketing department at Columbia House (i.e. the old Columbia Record Club). ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jock Mackirdy Subject: Re: Rural Phone 40km From CO Question Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 22:55:56 GMT Jean-Francois Mezei wrote: > At the cottage, in the Laurentians, north of Montreal, the telephone we > have (a party line!) is located some 40km from the Central Office in > Arundel. The wires pretty well follow the road all the way and there are > three very small villages between the CO and our cottage. > I would be interested in knowing what sort of equipment would lie > between the CO and the telephone, what it woudl look like and where it > would be located. FWIW, it is a rotary telephone and the dial tone is > more of a humm than a city dial tone. > As well, if there is equipment between the CO and the telephone, does > this mean that the cables that run on the telephone poles also carry > power for that equipment? AFAIK, it would not be possible to operate a standard rotary dial phone over 40km of copper line without some form of digit regeneration (and speech amplification). The distortion of dial pulses and the line loss would be too great (assuming we are not talking 800lb. per mile conductors). Are you sure that your party line is not served by a concentrator situated in the nearest village or perhaps mounted on a telephone pole? It would share its phone numbering range with the CO on which it is parented. Concentrators were used to some extent in the UK but mainly to alleviate a chronic shortage of pairs to the CO. The maximum line length from your telephone to such a device would probably be 5km or less. There is a modern digital equivalent (the pictures I have seen are of Ericsson AXE-10 equipment). Jock Mackirdy Business Advisory Services, Luton (UK) E-mail: jockm@basluton.demon.co.uk Independent telecomms. and business advice ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #457 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 3 16:33:25 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA15438; Tue, 3 Sep 1996 16:33:25 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 16:33:25 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609032033.QAA15438@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #458 TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Sep 96 16:33:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 458 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: "Industry Standard" vs "Telco Grade" (Tom Sweet) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Paul Wilson) Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? (jseder@syntel.com) Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? (Lynne Gregg) Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions (jseder@syntel.com) Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions (John R. Levine) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Tor-Einar Jarnbjo) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Stanley Cline) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Yigal Arens) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (John L. Meissen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tom Sweet Subject: Re: "Industry Standard" vs "Telco Grade" Date: 3 Sep 1996 17:00:18 GMT Organization: GTE You might find this interesting too. HIGH SPEED (28.8 KB/Sec) V.34 MODEMS ON THE TELEPHONE NETWORK The technology of dial modems has reached the point where they are pushing the theoretical limits of how much data can be passed over an analog telephone connection. The latest type of high speed modem is built per a standard called V.34. Under the best of conditions these modems can pass data at 28.8 kb/sec. The data speed that can be supported on an analog circuit is a function of the bandwidth of the channel and the noise on that channel. Wide bandwidth, low noise connections, can carry more data than narrow bandwidth, high noise connections. The telephone network was designed to provide a connection with enough bandwidth so that voices could be heard clearly and that the speakers voice could be recognized. That's why the bandwidth of a voice channel is from 300 Hz to over 3000 Hz. Noise is inherent in a telephone system and can have many sources. The telephone company will try to control noise so that it is not objectionable to most people. Any attempt to increase bandwidth or reduce noise, costs money. So the bottom line is that the telephone company will try to provide a good quality voice connection at a reasonable cost. Some connections on the telephone network are better than others. If two subscribers who are located close to the central office call each other, they will probably have an excellent connection with high bandwidth and low noise. Loaded cable pairs and digital loop carriers have less bandwidth than non loaded cable. The frequency response of non-loaded cable is not as good as for loaded cable. Digital switches have less bandwidth than analog switches. Universal digital loop carriers will have more noise than integrated digital loop carriers, because of the extra digital to analog conversion in the central office. Even though some of these facilities and switches have more noise and less bandwidth than others, none of them are objectionable for a good voice connection. Their placement in the network is based on cost, voice quality, demand (how any customers need to be served in an area), and features (digital switches offer more features than analog switches). The telephone network is designed to provide good voice service on most connections at a reasonable cost. Any connection can be made up of combinations of local facilities, multiple switch connections, and multiple interoffice facilities. Because of these variables, not all connections will be the same. Some connections will be better than others. Modem manufacturers have taken advantage of the fact that some connections will have higher bandwidth and less noise than other connections. When connections are ideal, the new modems can run at 28.8 kb/sec. If there is less bandwidth or more noise, the modem may end up running at a lower speed. These modems are designed to adjust their speed to deal with less than ideal conditions. As conditions permit they will run at 26.4kb/sec or 24.0kb/sec or 19.2kb/sec or less. The additional variable is the modem itself. Some modems will deal with line conditions better than others. The telephone company cannot guarantee any minimum speed on any connection on the telephone network. Some modems deal better with the normal limitations of the telephone network than others. The telephone company must, however, ensure that it is providing good quality voice service. Some impairments may not be detectable with a simple voice test. Things to talk to the telephone engineers about: Any local loop less than 12,000 feet should be non-loaded (if there is loading on a loop of less than 12,000 feet there is usually only one load. A single load is of no benefit.) Any local loop 12,000 to 18,000 feet can be loaded but must have at least two loads. (Non-loaded is acceptable but may cause V.34 modems to reduce speed on some connections). Any local loop over 18,000 feet must be loaded. There must be no loads on the bridge tap or beyond the customers terminal, regardless of the length of the pair or the bridge tap. (Bridge tap is ok as long as its less than 6,000 feet.) Noise on a cable pair must be no more than 20dbmC Message noise on a digital loop carrier must be no more than 28dBmc and notched noise must be no more than 45dBmcO with -13dBmO holding tone. A 5ESS line wired to a universal digital loop carrier must have RANGEX = Y in translations. Data service on very short loops served by a 5ESS may be improved by setting the RANGEX = Y in translations. Some of the things that have affected v.34 modems in particular are: Universal digital loop carrier. Analog to digital conversions that take place in digital loop carrier channel banks and digital switches cause quantizing noise. This noise is not objectionable for conversations but multiple conversions can limit modem speed because of the additive effect of the noise. Long local loops: When using these facilities a V.34 modem sometimes will not run at 28.8kb/sec. They still work very well, but at a slower speed. Lars Poulsen wrote in article ... > Someone said: >> modems that are installed are not $140 USR Sportster modems either. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 12:14:29 -0700 From: Paul Wilson Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Jack Decker (jack@novagate.com) writes: > So, in this press release, we have GTE on record as saying that a > continuous connection to the Internet is a desirable thing - not that > we needed GTE to tell us this, but it's refreshing to hear a phone > company admit that a 24 hour per day connection is desirable, rather > than blaming Internet users who spend time online as the reason that > the phone system is "going to Hell in a handbasket" (as some of the > "Baby Bells" are apparently trying to do)! Jack, I have not read GTE's press release, but I would imagine it propaganda for their new Internet service. Secondarily, they are trialing ADSL as the facility to provide this service. Other LECs also have ADSL trials in progress. One of the problems to be addressed is the affect asyncronous bandwidth will have on the existing services (specifically DS1) in the network. ADSL is essentially data over voice and therefore its use by traditional ISPs would not be as simple as an ADSL modem at your location and one at the ISP. Your voice and data would still need to be separated at the LEC switch location. I doubt if you or I would want to pay for a full time data connection and I doubt ISPs would want, or could, pay for full time connections to every subscriber. GTE can push it because they have the copper to your premise or business anyway; using ADSL to provide Internet service will be a bonus and a "full time connection" will not cause a burden on the switch since that traffic will not hit the switch. Believe me the "Baby Bells", along with other LECs, have been made aware of the additional burden of Internet traffic through experience. And that experience has not been good. When you realize that very few computer users are Interent users you realize the problem will only grow worse if that traffic continues to traverse the public switch network as it grows. Paul Wilson Rowlett, Texas ------------------------------ From: JSeder@syntel.com Subject: Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? Date: 2 Sep 1996 20:10:32 GMT Organization: BRAINSTORM Networks Reply-To: JSeder@syntel.com I recently bought an analog cellular phone (MicroTAC Lite II) which I rather expect to discard after the initial one-year contract. I paid $89 for the phone, slim NiMH battery, smart charger, and activation, with a one year commitment. I understand that PCS-based wireless (like GSM) will begin its nationwide rollout in the spring of 1997. The compact telephones and advanced services will be very attractive, and I suspect I will replace my analog cellular phone with something like a Nokia 9000 -- a full-function PDA with telephone -- sometime in 1997. PCS will be aggressively priced (the providers have to get current cellular users to switch), and because of that, current cellular providers are beginning to cut prices and offer special deals on two-year commitments. Analog cellular will have better coverage and voice quality than the PCS services. If you want a phone that will work from a lonely highway late at night, analog is the best choice. PCS will be for urban areas. Based on my own experience, the quality of TDMA-based digital cellular is unacceptable. Give it a try before you buy it. CDMA-based systems might be better, but availability is limited. All digital cellular phones are "dual mode", I think, so you can always run analog (albeit at a higher rate). I believe that PCS gives more bandwidth to voice channels than digital cellular -- 9600 baud vs 5600 (experts, please step in!) -- so it approaches "toll quality". > Also, does anyone have analog or analog/digital phones they like well > enough to recommend? I've been eyeing the Motorola Micro-Tac Elite > and the Nokia 232 (both are about the size I'm looking for) The Elite is much smaller and more expensive than the 232. Maybe you mean the Lite II/XL. Basically, you get what you pay for. This is a very competitive marketplace. > "user-friendly" The better phones store 100+ numbers, have a directory lookup function, lock up, have authentication firmware (not yet used by the providers), long-life small batteries, and are pretty easy to use. You should read the manual carefully. > (e.g., information about the particular cell my phone happens to > be using) I don't think any phones provide this. I'm not sure what I would do with this sort of information. All phones give a signal strength display and a "roaming" indication. I hope this is helpful and not too inaccurate. It has been said that the fastest way to get good information on the Internet is to post bad information. Let's see if that rule applies. ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? Date: Tue, 03 Sep 96 12:10:00 GMT James Crawford Ralston \ qralston+@pitt.edu inquired about new TDMA phones, and expressed particular interest in phones that "gives me all the possible information it can (e.g., information about the particular cell my phone happens to be using)". Currently, TDMA phones support such services as Caller ID and Message Waiting Indicator. AT&T Wireless is set to offer the next generation of digital wireless phones (called Digital PCS or IS-136) nationally (where AT&T Wireless coverage now exists). These phones are indeed capable of displaying "neighborhood" location in addition to delivery of Caller ID and MWI info. Digital PCS or IS-136 phones also support short messaging (i.e., sending numeric or text messages to the phone as you would a pager today). For more information on TDMA and AT&T Wireless PCS (IS_136) you can write me at lynne.gregg@attws.com or check out our new Web Page at http://www.attws.com/mm/. Regards, Lynne ------------------------------ From: JSeder@syntel.com Subject: Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions Date: 2 Sep 1996 20:19:56 GMT Organization: BRAINSTORM Networks Reply-To: JSeder@syntel.com I got the following information from Cellular One in advance of a recent trip to the East Coast: If I use my cellular phone there, a charge of $0.75/minute applies. If I call a number in Boston, that's the only charge. If I call a San Francisco number, I pay $0.75 plus long distance charges. If someone calls me from San Francisco by dialing my 415 cell phone number, I pay $.75 plus long distance. If someone in Boston dials my San Francisco cellular number, both they AND I pay long distance charges (in addition to my $.75 airtime charge). But -- someone in Boston can dial 617-633-7626, and at the tone dial my San Francisco cellular number, and NEITHER of us will pay long distance charges -- I pay the airtime charge, and that's it. Call your Cellular One rep to get additional local access numbers. Maybe someone from Cellular One can jump in here? I don't have my bill yet, so I can't tell you what really happened, but all this seems reasonable and not unfair. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Readers should note that '7626' spells 'ROAM' and the use of areacode + xxx + ROAM (7626) is almost universally established in the USA for roaming purposes. The little roaming guides I have received from Ameritech, Frontier and Cellular One all list the numbers to call all over the USA for the local 'roaming port' in that community, and with very few exceptions all the numbers end with 'ROAM'. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 13:58:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > One of the questions I couldn't get a coherent answer to, though, was > how roaming is billed with long distance charges. For example, suppose > I am in Albuquerque and use my cellphone as a roamer, making two outbound > calls -- one to San Francisco and the other to Albuquerque. Will I pay > long distance charges on one, the other, or both calls? To San Francisco, definitely (and not with your preferred IXC, either, nor at a rate that will please you.) To Albuquerque, nobody can tell you. Maybe they'll charge 2 or 5 cents min as a local access charge, maybe they'll charge some random toll rate from one part of Albuquerque to another, maybe they won't charge you toll at all. Roaming toll charges are a great black hole that nobody can explain. For example, on my current bill I have a roaming call on SBC/Cell One-Boston to Gardner, Mass. which I in fact placed while in Gardner. Toll: ten cents/min on top of the per-minute charge, although the last I heard, they charged their local customers no more than five cents/min toll for in-area calls. I also have two calls on Comcast-Mercer N.J. to Princeton N.J. placed while in or near Princeton, also ten cent/min toll. But I have a call from Springfield Mass. to Cambridge Mass., on BAM/NEX, an actual inter-LATA toll call for which they charged me twelve cents/min, and a call from Boston (SBC/Cell One, again) back to my home in upstate N.Y. for which they charged me an outrageous fifty cents/min toll on top of the airtime. Next time I'll call my 800 number. Confused? I sure am. Nobody at any customer service number has ever been able to explain roaming toll charges. They can barely explain roaming airtime. For that matter, my local cell carrier is in the process of an oddly botched combination of the switches in Syracuse and Ithaca. Both are considered local, same SID, but when I'm physically in range of the Syracuse switch, Cell One charges the toll themselves rather than handing it to my IXC, at toll rates which nobody can explain. They seem to be charging 15 cents/min, although their published toll rates are 20 cents. They promise long distance routing will be fixed this week. We'll see. > The other question I couldn't get a coherent answer to is whether the > digital service is in a completely different frequency band from the > traditional analogue service, It's the same band. A new band would have cost them several billion dollars. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com ------------------------------ From: bjote@cs.tu-berlin.de (Tor-Einar Jarnbjo) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: 3 Sep 1996 16:05:18 GMT Organization: Technical University of Berlin, Germany Yigal Arens (arens@ISI.EDU) wrote: > I live in Los Angeles and have a contract with a local cellular service > provider. When I'm in San Francisco and a friend of mine in San > Francisco calls me on my cell phone, charges accumulate as follows: Well, to extend the problem a little bit, I have always wondered about something. When I roam in Germany with my Norwegian GSM-cellular, the German networks are pretty aware of my Norwegian phone-number, as this is passed on with outgoing calls (CLID). When another cellular-subscriber is booked into the same network, which in my case happens pretty regulary, it should be _very_ easy to not route this call via Norway, making the caller pay for an international call, and making me pay for roaming, but it ought to be _very_ easy, to route and charge this as a network to network call, making it as cheap as possible. Regards, Tor-Einar Jarnbjo, bjote@cs.tu-berlin.de Fetschowzeile 11 13437 Berlin, Germany ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 00:03:12 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: scline@usit.net In comp.dcom.telecom, grendel6@ix.netcom.com wrote: > this, but I think that my cellular company (Comcast/Metrophone - > Philadelphia Metro "A" side carrier) charges LD on *any* out of the > area roaming call. For example, if I am in Baltimore (where I > frequently travel) and I call a Baltimore local number, I pay: > .99 / minute roaming charge > A N D > long distance from Baltimore to Philadelphia > WHYZAT ? If you are in Baltimore and call BALTIMORE (not Philadelphia) This makes no sense at all, since your call is NOT going from C1/SBC's Balto-DC switch, to Comcast in Philly, back to Baltimore in any way. The call goes directly from C1 Balto's switch to the number you are calling (if local.) It is possible that Comcast is "surcharging" roaming calls, in lieu of a daily fee, but I doubt that's the case. Or the "toll" charge is actually an interconnect fee imposed by C1/Balto-DC, showing up as "toll." Why this would appear on the "local" portion of your bill, rather than with roamer charges, is not clear to me. With roaming in general ... If you are RECEIVING a call using any form of call delivery (NACN/FMR/FMR+/NationLink/MobiLink/IS-41): You will be charged roamer airtime (whatever that may be) and a long distance charge from your home city to your roaming city (unless special arrangements are in place, such as within Tennessee with GTE Mobilnet and Bachtel Cellular.) HOWEVER, GTE Mobilnet also supposedly adds "home" airtime for calls forwarded using NACN or NationLink to points OUTSIDE Tennessee. Their excuse (the same excuse as all carriers that charge airtime for call forwarding and No-Answer Transfer:) You're tying up circuits in their switch. **IS-41 SS7 cannot "redirect" a call without it going through the MTSO (unlike landline SS7, which can.) BellSouth Mobility, in contrast, does NOT charge "home" airtime for forwarded roaming calls. If you are RECEIVING a call using a ROAMER PORT: You will pay no LD. You will pay the normal roamer airtime charges. The caller will pay any message units/LD charges (if any) for the call to the roaming city. If the roaming city and the caller are local calls to each other, than NO LD is involved. If you are PLACING a call: You will pay roaming airtime. You will POSSIBLY pay an interconnect fee (9c/call in AirTouch Atlanta system, 2-3c/min elsewhere) to the LEC (this is often listed as a "toll" charge which is a bit misleading IMHO.) If the call is local to the ROAMER CARRIER service area, you will pay only airtime + any interconnect fee. If the call is to OUTSIDE the roamer carrier's calling area, you will pay airtime, the interconnect fee, and long distance -- billed by the ROAMER CARRIER (not the IXC you use in your local area. GTE's Follow-Me Roaming Plus and AT&T Wireless do allow "portable" PICs, but the vast majority of carriers don't.) Note that the local calling area for roamers may not necessarily be the same as the local calling area for "local" customers. For example: US Cellular in Knoxville does not charge LD for *its Knoxville customers* to call anywhere in NPA 423 or 615, but roamers are charged LD (by USCC) for calls outside the Knoxville LATA (to Chattanooga, etc.) The same holds true for GTE Mobilnet all over Tennessee -- Tennessee GTE customers pay no long distance for any in-state calls (while in the state) but roamers from other carriers pay LD for calls outside the local *MTSO's* coverage area (which, with an A-band carrier, may span multiple LATAs.) In *isolated* cases, LD has been charged even for "local" calls -- when USCC had Dalton, GA (mentioned in the Digest frequently) calls were routed from the Dalton cell site to a MTSO in Farragut, TN -- 140 miles away. Roamers were for a time charged LD *from the MTSO back to Dalton* since no local trunking seemed to be available (and USCC has a history of gouging roamers anyway.) In this case, one used to be able to place a LOCAL call from Knoxville to a USCC customer in Dalton, by using the Knoxville-Farragut roamer access number! (It also signaled phones in the Dalton area.) Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://pobox.com/~roamer1/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 ------------------------------ Organization: USC/Information Sciences Institute Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 22:12:36 -0700 From: Yigal Arens Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes > I suppose that with increasing SS7 connectivity it'd be > possible not to set up the two toll calls, but the billing would be > tricky. For example, what happens if someone calls you from Santa Monica? > Does he pay the message units to LA, an unexpected inter-LATA toll to > SF, or what? Your proposal is at least as good as mine. But I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to come up with a system that selected a path that would reduce network traffic, but not at the expense of increasing cost to the caller. Basically, calls from far away from LA would be routed directly to SF -- since that would either keep the cost to the caller constant (if it's from NY, say) or reduce it (if it's from the SF Bay Area). Calls from close to LA would take the same route they do today. With SS7 anything will be possible ... Thanks for helping me out with the roamer number. My wife, who happens to be visiting San Francisco with her cell phone at this very moment, is already making use of it! Yigal Arens USC/ISI Phone: 310-822-1511 4676 Admiralty Way Fax: 310-822-0751 arens@isi.edu Marina del Rey, CA 90292 http://www.isi.edu/sims/arens ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@teleport.com (John L. Meissen) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: 03 Sep 1996 17:26:02 GMT Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 In article , Yigal Arens wrote: > I live in Los Angeles and have a contract with a local cellular service > provider. When I'm in San Francisco and a friend of mine in San > Francisco calls me on my cell phone, charges accumulate as follows: [description of routing deleted for brevity] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tell your friend to start dialing into > the number for the roaming port in San Francisco. Then he will pay for > just a local call and you will pay only whatever roaming charge applies > for roamers making/receiving local calls in SF. PAT] How does one find this number? Also, I mentioned this to a friend in the San Francisco area, and he responded. > I don't know, but I'm going to try to find out! When I was in LA > recently I used my phone quite a bit, then found out that the local > roaming charge was $15.95 per connection. Wow! Is this typical for roaming charges? jmeissen@teleport.COM jmeissen@pyramid.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ask your cellular carrier to send you a copy of whatever they have in print pertaining to roaming. What I got from Frontier was a little pamphlet with several dozen phone numbers listed for roaming ports in cities and towns all over the USA and Canada. The pamphlet also mentioned the use of *18 to set up (what Ameritech calls) Fast Track roaming service and the use of *19 to shut off Fast Track. It mentioned that when an Ameritech customer (and by extension, a Frontier customer where they are reselling Ameritech) roams in any of the several Ameritech markets, i.e. Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Dayton and many other places, "... there is no need to initiate Fast Track roaming, since the computer will locate you wherever you are in Ameritech's five state region and automatically begin transferring your calls to you." I think that is a rather nice feature, and Ameritech charges nothing extra for it. I pay 35/18 cents per minute in my home Ameritech market (Chicago) and a flat rate of 50 cents per minute in any other Ameritech market. Now if you do NOT want to receive calls in the Fast Track mode while roaming (you only want incoming calls via the roamer port) then you can still use *19 to turn off Fast Track, which had been automatically initiated the first time one of the towers in the city where you are traveling caught a glimpse of you. It then stays off until you dial *18 to turn it back on again. Actually I pay 35/18 cents per minute in the Milwaukee area also since my phone has a dual (Milwaukee/Chicago) NAM. One little item which caught my eye suggested that if you are an Ameritech Cellular customer and you travel much between two cities which are both Ameritech markets that you get the dual NAM in your phone activated with a number in that other city and switch the phone to that mode when in that city to '... take advantage of Ameritech's 35/18 rates in that city as well ... but even if you don't, Ameritech will never charge its customers more than fifty cents per minute with no additional fees for roaming anywhere in its own territories ...' The other neat thing with Ameritech Cellular service at least where I am concerned as a Frontier wholesale customer of Ameritech is that they charge next to nothing for calls involving a combination of long-distance and airtime. I called someone long distance from my home territory on my cell phone, talked for about ten minutes at night rates and got a bill of two dollars. I figure $1.80 was for airtime ... Ameritech Cellular uses its own (Ameritech) long distance; they must give it away if you are already paying airtime, or maybe its the airtime they give you free if you make a long distance call, I don't know which. If I go up to Milwaukee on the Greyhound bus, my phone keeps a very strong signal all the way, even without the antenna extended. If I get to Milwaukee and switch to the Milwaukee NAM then calls back to Chicago cost me a grand total of about 35 cents per minute, airtime and all. If I stay on the Chicago NAM up there the same call costs about 50 cents per minute, but interestingly, it is totally transparent to people who call me. They dial me (on Chicago number) and in a second or two they hear it ringing and I get the call in Milwaukee at 50 cents per minute. Having signed up with Frontier for Ameritech service I can't see myself changing anytime soon. Curiously, I have to use a pin when on the Milwaukee NAM either when actually in Milwaukee or when on that NAM as a 'roamer' here in Chicago. But the Chicago NAM does not ever require a pin, regardless of location. In general I would recommend Ameritech (or one of its resellers such as Frontier) to anyone who happens to live in one of Ameritech's various markets if for no other reason than there are so many cities where you can travel with Ameritech 'roaming agreements' for flat rate roaming service, automatic location service, etc. The little pamphlet I got did not however say a word about charges *in other non-Ameritech markets*; just that 'other charges will apply'. And when you call to ask them on the phone about roaming in non-Ameritech places they don't seem to have any reliable or authoritative answers either -- just like all the others. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #458 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 4 13:15:15 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA04885; Wed, 4 Sep 1996 13:15:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 13:15:15 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609041715.NAA04885@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #459 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Sep 96 13:15:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 459 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Florida Leads Fights Against Phone Card Fraud (Tad Cook) NYS-PSC Sues to Block FCC's Local Telecom Rules (Danny Burstein) Phone Technology and Privacy (Tad Cook) Line Conditions and Modems (John Cropper) The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse (Mark Boolootian) Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Joel M. Hoffman) Looking For Constructive Criticism of Web Page (Carla Legendre) How to Find Nynex Agent or Reseller? (Anita M. Wilcox) Discount International Phone Providers (Ratnadeep R. Damle) Re: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet (Henry Mensch) Re: Hang-Up Detection in Analog Line? (Mariana Sanchez) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tad Cook Subject: Florida Leads Fights Against Phone Card Fraud Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 01:25:28 PDT Florida Leads the Fight Against Phone Card Fraud By Mark Silva, The Miami Herald Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News TALLAHASSEE--Sep. 4--The proliferation of pre-paid telephone cards has made dialing from a pay phone as easy as the swipe of a magnetic stripe. But this also has opened new territory for swindlers, the government says, and has provided criminals new masks for disguising themselves in phone calls. Now companies that issue pre-paid phone cards in Florida without first licensing their business with the state will face fines, under path-finding rules that the Florida Public Service Commission is developing. "It sends a strong signal," said Joe Garcia, a PSC member from Miami. "At least these will be a stimulus, a shot across the bow to make sure that any unsavory customers ... will understand there's a new sheriff in town." Industry experts say Florida is leading the way in the regulation of a still-evolving business with fines approved by the PSC on Tuesday. Yet, the PSC still is hung up on the question of what rules to place on a business born within the last few years yet already totaling $1 billion nationwide. With pre-paid phone cards, a customer pays a fee for a card that enables the caller to use a pay phone for a limited amount of time. Companies that issue the cards purchase time from phone companies and resell it at a profit. These cards are hot sellers among tourists entering the country, college students or anyone who wants to buy a temporary calling card. Occasionally, though, customers have found themselves holding worthless cards. And in the hands of criminals, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the cards are another means of masking calls and covering trails. "There are countless renegade companies that have no intention of cooperating with any state regulation," said Kelly Pennington, a special agent with the DEA in Miami. "Without some punitive action, there is no incentive for those companies that are not complying to start complying." Among 30 or more companies that Pennington has come across in the past four years, he says, the majority were operating under the table. Although it's estimated that more than 500 companies are selling the cards nationwide, only 104 have registered to do business in Florida. The PSC says "the large disparity" suggests there are many companies avoiding regulation of any kind -- or taxation -- by the state. The PSC's vote Tuesday means that companies that fail to register can face fines of at least $1,000, starting in December. "Florida is breaking ground nationally," said Howard Segermark, executive director of the International Telecard Association in Washington. Still, the PSC faces a question tougher than fining scofflaws: what to require from legitimate companies selling the cards. The PSC's staff has proposed to require that a pre-paid phone card: Show its face-value. This includes both the total dollar-value of phone calls available to the purchaser of the card and the cost for each minute that the card is used. Display its expiration date, if there is one. If not, the card is active until the full value of its pre-paid calls are made. Display the name and address of the company that sold the card, along with a toll-free phone number that a purchaser can call for help in the event of trouble. Complaints should be addressed within 24 hours. Big, legitimate companies in the business say there are too many variables in the services they offer to print everything on a card -- for instance, one card may be "rechargeable" for more time, making its face value meaningless. Printing an address on a phone card is no guarantee for a consumer, says Martha McMillan, representing MCI. "If you're dealing with an unscrupulous company, they could make up a phony address," she said. The fines for companies ignoring the state's requirements to register with the PSC are a good start, Segermark said. "It doesn't matter what regulations you adopt, if the bad guys are going to ignore them," Segermark said. "I think that fines could encourage more compliance. Some of our members say, $1,000? Let's work from $10,000." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 07:02:58 EDT From: danny burstein Subject: NYS-PSC Sues to Block FCC's Local Telecom Rules (from the NYS PSC web page, at www.dps.state.ny.us. dps= dep't of public service) STATE OF NEW YORK Public Service Commission John F. OMara, Chairman Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 Further Details: (518) 474-7080 http://www.dps.state.ny.us 96062 NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION FILES SUIT AGAINST FCC Albany, September 3 -- The New York State Public Service Commission has petitioned the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to annul the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) First Opinion and Order establishing rules to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The New York Commission has been a national leader in establishing policies to promote the development of competition in the local telecommunications market. In its various competition- related dockets, the Commission has tailored its competitive policies to reflect local market conditions and local public policy concerns. We realize the FCC opinion is intended also to further the development of local competition, said New York State Public Service Commission Chairman John OMara. However, despite FCC Chairman Hundts recent assertions, we believe it substantially violates the regulatory scheme preserved in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and established by Congress in 1934, which reserves to the states the regulation of intrastate communications. The New York State Public Service Commission argues that the FCC order is an intrusion on the states authority to set local telecommunication policies, and it would undercut a regulatory scheme which, by relying on the states to serve as regulatory laboratories, has provided a marriage of innovation and public responsibility that has served the nation well for over half a century. Among other things, the FCC opinion would preclude the state from carrying out the plans it has for bringing competition to the local exchange and preserving universal telephone service at reasonable rates for all customers in a way best suited to the needs of New Yorkers. http://www.dps.state.ny.us/PRESS/96062.WPD-2.t ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Phone Technology and Privacy Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 15:57:47 PDT Big Brother Inc.? Gizmos for Evading -- or Snooping on -- Callers Via AP By GAUTAM NAIK The Wall Street Journal As large phone carriers race to smarten up their networks, an enterprising array of tiny companies are also trying to reach out and grab customers eager to dodge unwelcome callers. Some of their futuristic products, typically peddled by mail or on the Internet, chill privacy experts. Among the more intriguing: The JunkBuster, a $99 gadget from PreFone Integrated Products Inc. of Troy, Ohio, plugs in like an answering machine and wards off telemarketing calls. Before the phone rings, callers hear a prerecorded message that warns telemarketers to hang up, citing the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Law of 1992. It also tells them to "Place this number on your `Do Not Call' list." (Should the salesperson persist, PreFone promises to assist customers in collecting the fine they are entitled to under the law.) Ordinary callers are told to press 5, and the phone rings the usual way. For $150, PreFone sells another gizmo for identifying callers by the sound of the telephone's ring. A user's mother, for example, might be told in advance to press 4 every time she calls, a code that triggers a distinctive ring. Hello Direct Inc. in San Jose, Calif., sells a $60 gadget that "electronically alters your voice so it can fool unwanted callers," according to the company's catalog. A woman's voice can sound like a man's; an adult's can sound like a child's. The user has a choice of 16 separate "masking levels." Businesses, too, are beginning to make use of similar technology -- often to snoop on potential customers. CTI Interactive Inc. of Atlanta markets a system that harvests incoming phone numbers via Caller ID, then uses them to retrieve the callers' names and addresses from a separate database. The software can even spit out the average income of a particular neighborhood. Among CTI's customers is Premier Ford Lincoln Mercury, a car dealership in Columbus, Miss. At a cost of $5,500, plus a $990 monthly fee, Premier has installed a computer, CTI's software and a special Caller ID device called Whozz Calling made by Zeus Phonstuff Co. of Norcross, Ga. With this setup, Premier's sales manager can continually monitor how employees handle customer phone inquiries. And because the name and address of every caller is automatically recorded, follow-up is easier. Premier's owner Bill Russell says, "now we know where our prospects are located," and can direct marketing accordingly. Sales have risen by 25 to 30 cars a month since the phone system's installation, he adds. Retrieving such customer information is perfectly legal. Nonetheless, privacy experts are worried. Now that businesses can identify and track even casual callers without their knowledge, phone numbers have become keys to unlock storehouses of electronic data. To weed out potentially troublesome tenants, for example, a realtor could identify a caller surreptitiously and then search for his or her name in an electronic registry of landlord-tenant court cases. Another business might match callers' names with census data, to pinpoint the demographics of their neighborhoods by race or income. "The melding of data bases raises profound privacy questions," says Don Haines, a legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Big Brother is not necessarily a government surveillance scheme. It can just as readily be a private business." ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Line Conditions and Modems Date: 3 Sep 1996 21:35:59 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 03, 1996 17:00:18 in article , 'Tom Sweet ' wrote: > You might find this interesting too. > HIGH SPEED (28.8 KB/Sec) V.34 MODEMS ON THE TELEPHONE NETWORK > The technology of dial modems has reached the point where they are > pushing the theoretical limits of how much data can be passed over an > analog telephone connection. The latest type of high speed modem is > built per a standard called V.34. Under the best of conditions these > modems can pass data at 28.8 kb/sec. The data speed that can be > supported on an analog circuit is a function of the bandwidth of the > channel and the noise on that channel. Wide bandwidth, low noise > connections, can carry more data than narrow bandwidth, high noise > connections. What he said is pretty much consistent with the types of connections I get on average: Local "clean": 28.8-31.2, with an occasional 33.6 Local "narrow": lucky if I get 19.2, and it backs down to 12.0 Most LD carriers cross-US: 24.0 to an occasional 28.8 >> Someone said: >>> modems that are installed are not $140 USR > Sportster modems either. I've found that price usually has very little to do with modem performance; the key factor is the company's consistent quality of product. I've heard horror stories galore about every company in the market. My 2c, from firsthand experience: Avoid: Cardinal (above the 2.4k models): 32% failure rate with intermittent use (29 out of 91 units customers of mine had took a dirt nap in a year or less) Practical Peripherals (14.4k models): 33% failure rate with daily use (4 dead out of 12 in TWO MONTHES TIME at one of my accounts that "wanted to save some money") Marginal: Hayes (14.4 and 28.8): One failure, but rampant connection problems in some of the 28.8s I've used, especially the PCMCIA line. (one unit failed after eight months of daily use out of fifty installed). Zoom (14.4 and 28.8): No failures, but did not negotiate well with ANY line noise. Some problems connecting to other brands as well. No problems, ever: USR (9.6, 14.4, 28.8, 33.6): The header says it; I recommend these as I've never had a bad unit, having tried purchasing through various sources. Sportster is not as good with throughput as higher-priced Courier, but for a 10-20 cps difference in tests, you get alot for the money. Motorola: They've supplied the midrange end for years, and are now in the PC-end of things. Always a top-notch product. Our Motorola on our AS/400 has been running for over 5 years, and never complained once (it's outlasted two prior boxes that it was attached to). John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: booloo@cats.ucsc.edu (Mark Boolootian) Subject: The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 13:51:52 PDT Pat, I thought you might be interested in the following: Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 18:33:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Phil Agre To: rre@weber.ucsd.edu [An RRE subscriber has found the spammers' secret clubhouse. Don't flame or trash them, but I think it would be great if somebody wanted to monitor the list and/or read the archives and write a thoughtful commentary on the spammers' methods and thinking. I should say that not everyone on the list is a spammer, but many are.] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 18:43:31 -0500 From: <> You might be interested to know about a list that appears to be gaining in credibility among Internet marketers, the DEMA (Direct Email marketing Association) list. I detest unsolicted commercial email but joined the list just to keep tabs on what they're up to. Topics include such things as which newsgroup email-gathering software is the best, how to make your unsolicted email targeted for the group so it's more easily accepted, etc. I was mildly amused once that the moderator clipped a poster's sig file because it exceeded the "6 lines dictated by netiquette"! I emailed and asked, "Is it ok to waste someone else's resources but not your own?". He wasn't amused, though. Needless to say my comments didn't make it to the list. DEMA postings are archived at http://kww.com/dema/. ----------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Wouldn't it be great if somehow someone eventually brought the nuisance of spam and junk mail on the net to a screaming halt once and for all? What nerve they have to talk about the requirements of netiquette! By their very existence on the net, spammers and junk mailers violate the very core of netiquette. No, by all means, just because those people send out jillions of pieces of unsolicited email every day and spam every newsgroup they can find, that is no reason for anyone to go and wreck their secret clubhouse. I have to wonder though how *they* would like getting at least a dozen copies of the same 'make money fast' letter in their mail each day. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 10:12:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > Easy. Call your LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) and request that they > block any changes to your LD without your direct approval. This is > often called a PIC freeze. Most LECs do not charge for this. A > complaint to the FCC may also be in order. (See their Web site at: > http://www.fcc.gov) -- Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written response to a written inquiry? Joel (joel@exc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It used to be years ago the FCC did help out members of the public who wrote to them with complaints. They would explain how to file informal complaints and help the public in getting things resolved. I think in the past few years their volume of mail -- as the public has learned more and more about their rights where the carriers are concerned, etc -- has grown so heavy they cannot begin to work on it all. Also, I think some of the commissioners in recent years are a lot more friendly with the carriers than they used to be. Now-days I would consider the FCC to be pretty ineffectual at resolving public complaints. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Carla Legendre Subject: Looking For Constructive Criticism of Web Page Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 17:46:49 -0700 Organization: CITI Hi, We just launched a site for commmunications research and we're looking for constructive criticism. The site is not graphics-intensive, since it's meant to be a utility for gathering information. Please check us out at http://www.ctr.columbia.edu/vii -- any and all comments or questions are welcome. ------------------------------ From: uplink@uplinktech.com (Anita M. Wilcox) Subject: How to Find Nynex Agent or Reseller? Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 10:36:55 GMT Organization: UpLink Technologies Reply-To: uplink@uplinktech.com Hi, I'm trying to find an agent/reseller of Nynex to provide me with frame-relay circuits in Massachusetts. I have an ISP, I just need to get circuits for my clients. The reseller I used before (CTC) in a word, sucks! As soon as I signed the contracts, it's like they disappeared off the face of the earth. I had to resort to calling them every half hour and filling up their voicemail and paging them nonstop just to get a response to my call. I do NOT want to deal with them anymore, since they are obviously uninterested in my business (which is too bad for them, since I expect to have requirements for lots of services). My problem is that I can't seem to find any other agents to provide me with the services I need. The phone book wasn't much help and I didn't find anything on the Net. I called Nynex directly, but got shuffled off and transferred several times before I reached someone who told me that they would call me within 48 hours. Well, it's been 3 days and no call yet. This is getting ridiculous! If anyone has a number of someone to call at Nynex or of a reseller/agent, please let me know. Thanks in advance! Anita ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 10:20:42 EDT From: Ratnadeep R. Damle Subject: Discount International Phone Providers I have recently come across three companies which provide steeply discounted international phone rates. I have never heard of these companies before, and was wondering if anyone has any information on them. The following questions come to mind, but any other information which you have would be appreciated: 1. Has anyone used any of these companies before, and are they legitimate? 2. How can they provide rates which are so steeply discounted? 3. What is the quality of the connections provided? 4. Are there any "hidden" costs which are not detailed in the provided information? 5. How reliable is the service (can I get access at any time, or are there limited periods of operation only)? 6. Are there any other companies which provide similar services which any of you can recommend? The companies: *Primecall Seattle, WA *Kallback Seattle, WA *New World Telecommunications Teaneck, NJ Thanks in advance for your help, (Mr.) Ratnadeep Damle Washington, DC rdamle@mil3.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 22:28:02 PDT From: henry mensch Subject: Re: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet > From: JHamilton@Bridge.BellSouth.Com (Justin Hamilton) > Subject: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet > Date: Mon, 02 Sep 1996 20:58:04 GMT > I decided to checkout MCI's web page to see what they had. Eventually > I found a page which contained info on "internetMCI Access for Home" > and the pieces that caught my eye were: > internetMCI's Dial Access platform supports both analog (up to > 28.8Kbps modems) and ISDN (integrated switched digital network) > connections equaling 56/64 Kbps. Elsewhere in that selfsame web site MCI tells the customer to phone their local office if they require ISDN dialup capability, so I did. (Actually, I sent a few faxes ... my experience with their tech support is that they take days and weeks to answer) ... this was months ago, and I still have no answer. In short: MCI comes up short. Why anyone would take them seriously to provide their dialtone if they can't provide the services they say they provide is beyond me. # henry mensch / po box 14592; sf, ca 94114-0592 / # http://www.q.com/henry/ ------------------------------ From: sanchema@telefonica.com.ar Subject: Re: Hang-Up Detection in Analog Line? Date: Wed, 04 Sep 96 10:02:00 PDT Avi Ilan wrote: > In analog line, is there a way to detect that someone hang-up the > phone even when Im not listen to the special beep signal of the > telephone exchange. > If there is a way I would be happy to know about that. We still have many analog exchanges in our network, but depending on the provider, they have different ways to identify the hang-up. The most used is a change in the voltage (i.e. when the line is not being used, there's -48 V/-60V depending on the provider, when you hang up, it turns to 48 V/60 V for a slot of time and then return to a level of reference, others falls to a lower level like -20 V or something of the sort), an other signal is a burst of noise out of band (you work between 400 Hz-4000 Hz aprox. and the burst is in the range of tens of kHz) when the hang up takes place. There are in the market a number of dispositives that measure these parameters and can detect the changes made in the line. You would first determine which kind of parameters must be measured in your system. Regards, Mariana Sanchez ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #459 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 4 17:01:25 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA04152; Wed, 4 Sep 1996 17:01:25 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 17:01:25 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609042101.RAA04152@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #460 TELECOM Digest Wed, 4 Sep 96 17:01:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 460 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? (Ian Angus) Albanian Telecom Network Modernized; AT&T Direct Service Started (N Allen) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Bill Sohl) Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC (Jack Adams) Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC (Stuart Zimmerman) Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC (John R. Levine) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Jeffrey Rhodes) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Michael J. Wengler) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ian Angus Subject: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 16:07:35 -0400 Organization: Angus TeleManagement Group Bell Canada Proposes Win-Win Solution to Internet Tariff Battle By Ian Angus, Angus TeleManagement Group (Reprinted with permission from the September issue of Telemanagement magazine) It looks as though the Bell-ISP dispute is finally over. After months of public acrimony followed by even more months of private negotiations, technology trials, and engineering studies Canada's largest telephone company has filed a tariff which should make everyone happy. Tariff Notice 5806, submitted to the CRTC on August 1, has three major features: 1.Bell withdraws its opposition to the use of Centrex for dial-up data services. Internet Service Providers who have been using Centrex may continue to use it, paying standard Centrex rates. ISPs and others who wish to convert from other access services to Centrex may do so. 2.The Information Service Access Line tariff will be withdrawn. Customers who are now using ISALs may convert to other lower-priced access services for their inbound data connections. 3.Bell proposes to introduce a new service, ISP Link, which is specifically designed for high-volume inbound data services. The new service offers digital trunks at rates which are lower than the current rates for digital trunks under the Megalink and Digital Exchange Access (DEA) tariffs. Bell asked the CRTC to approve the changes by September 1, for implementation on September 12. Bell vs ISPs The Bell-ISP battle began in the fall of 1995, when Bell engineers discovered that some new Centrex customers were putting an unusually heavy load on the local phone network in major cities. These customers were Internet Service Providers who had installed Centrex lines to allow customers to dial in to their operations. Bell's product management group then realized that using Centrex for such a purpose was contrary to the tariff even though it was installed on the recommendation of Bell sales reps, and even though the ISPs had signed contracts with Bell. The tariff says that a Centrex line connected to a computer is an ISAL, and subject to a much higher monthly rate. (ISPs in Toronto were paying from $22.60 to $39.00 a month for each Centrex line; each ISAL would cost $85.50.) Bell sales reps began telling their ISP customers about the price increase and the ISPs rebelled. Using their Internet know-how, they organized letter-writing and phone campaigns and threatened boycotts of Bell services. It was David vs. Goliath and David was getting all the good press. Bell offered to negotiate, suspending any price changes until a new tariff for an ISP service was approved by the CRTC. Win-Win Bell's proposals offer a win-win solution to a very messy conflict. ** Internet Service Providers get to keep Centrex lines. This was the biggest bone of contention. ** ISP Link offers an attractive alternative for the largest ISPs and online service providers. Luring such customers away from Centrex will reduce the traffic problems which the sudden growth of the ISP industry produced last year. (ISP Link connects to the trunk side of Bell's switching equipment, and so bypasses the Line Concentrator Modules which caused all the difficulty with high volume Centrex use. For details, see http://http://www/isp-bell/ib.html In order to achieve this solution, however, Bell had to take a hit to its pocketbook, by eliminating the ISAL tariff. The Telecom Act prohibits undue discrimination in telco tariffs which means that Bell can't let ISPs use Centrex or ISP-Link, while forcing banks, universities, and other large customers to pay the ISAL rate for identical service. So the ISAL Tariff has to go, and current ISAL users will migrate to ISP Link or Centrex. Some estimates suggest that Bell's revenues could drop by three to five million dollars a year as a result. That's not chicken feed, but it's a small price to pay to end a marketing and public relations nightmare. Any other approach for example, requiring all ISPs to use ISP Link would have further poisoned relations between Bell and many of its fastest-growing customers. ISP Link For several years, Bell has offered bundles of 23 or 24 digital circuits under its Megalink (ISDN Primary Rate) and Digital Exchange Access (DS-1) tariffs. Those services are widely used to provide inbound and outbound trunks on PBXs and Automatic Call Distributors. ISP Link provides a Megalink or DEA service which is limited to inbound data calls only. It will support: ** Incoming data-only calls. ** Incoming data calls from analog modems, switched 56 Kbps services, or ISDN 64/128 Kbps services. (ISDN works on Megalink only.) ** Non-dedicated 800/888 calls. Calls must terminate on ISP Links. ** Equivalency within a Megalink System Group or within a DEA System Group. ** Up to five one-way incoming numbers and up to five hunt groups per DEA Link service. ** Up to five inward numbers and up to five Virtual Facility Groups per Megalink/ISP Link service. ** Direct Inward Dial (DID) service. The following features will not be permitted on the ISP-Link service: ** Outbound calling. ** Analog speech. ** Calling Line Identification and Calling Name Display. ** 900 and 976 calls. ** Overflow outside a System Group. ** Emergency Call Completion using AIN switch redirect or 800/888 emergency call completion. Monthly Rates ISP Link rates are based directly on existing tariffs the only new item is an ISP Link charge of $22/Link/month. A separate Link is required for each simultaneous incoming call. For Megalink, the price is the Megalink Access rate (charged for each 23B+D or 24B connection to the customer fromthe telephone network) plus the appropriate number of ISP Link charges. For DEA, the price is the DEA Access rate (for each DS-1) plus the PSTN termination charge ($216/month/DS1) plus the appropriate number of ISP Link charges. In each rate group, the Access rate varies according to the rate group in which the service is provided, the number of Megalinks or DEAs, and the length of the contract. The bottom line: if this tariff is approved, Megalink-ISP Link customers will pay between $37 and $61 per channel per month, and DEA-ISP Link customers will pay between $37 and $56 per channel per month. (If Direct Inward Dialing is required, DID charges apply in addition.) This is more than most ISPs have been paying for Centrex locals, but it adds digital access, so that ISPs can support their ISDN Basic Rate or switched-56 customers over the same trunks as their analog customers. This should simplifying configuration planning and reduce management costs. Installation Charges Bell's tariff filing includes two proposals to reduce the up-front cost of installing ISP Link. The normal installation charge of $25 for each ISP Link (maximum $575 per order) will be waived in the first six months. Centrex customers who change to ISP Link will have their Centrex contract termination charges waived, if the ISP Link contract period is the same as that on their Centrex contract, and if they take the same number of ISP Links as they had Centrex locals. A Marketing Solution From Bell Canada's point of view, there were three different problems to solve in this case. ** Technical: The Internet is radically changing traffic patterns on local telephone networks. Modifying the network to handle the change will be costly. ** Tariff: The Tariff is explicit. Centrex lines connected to computers must pay the ISAL rate. ** Marketing: With local competition just around the corner, Bell was in a public relations nightmare. It was being denounced on all sides as anti-Internet, anti-competition, anti-entrepreneur. The situation became a crisis because middle managers at Bell saw only the first two issues, and dealt with them in a business-as-usual manner. The crisis was resolved when senior marketing managers (most notably Group VP Don Morrison and VP Terry Mosey) recognized that the marketing problem had to be solved first. Allowing the ISPs to keep Centrex solves the marketing problem. Abolishing the ISAL tariff solves the legal problem. And introducing ISP Link if it is effectively sold and supported by Bell sales and technical personnel will reduce, if not eliminate, the technical problem. These proposals all require CRTC approval, but we'll be surprised if the regulator raises any major objections. If we're right, the battle is now over. IAN ANGUS ianangus@angustel.ca Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca 8 Old Kingston Road tel: 905-686-5050 ext 222 Ajax ON L1T 2Z7 Canada fax: 905-686-2655 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 20:50:35 GMT From: Nigel Allen Organization: 8 Silver Avenue, Toronto ON M6R 1X8 Subject: Albanian Telecom Network Modernized; AT&T Direct Service Started For most of my adult life, I have been fascinated with Albania and how isolated and Stalinist it was until the Party of Labor of Albania finally lost power a few years ago. Albanians are now more free politically, but ordinary people are no better off economically than they were before. Still, it's good to see that the phone system is improving. What follows is a press release from AT&T that I found on the company's Web site. (AT&T press releases can be found at .) ----------------------- Albanian Telecom network is modernized; AT&T Direct Service introduced TIRANA, Albania -- AT&T and Albanian Telecom today announced the availability of direct, digital communications between Albania and the U.S. This development more than triples the available telephone circuits between the two countries and improves sound quality. To make this possible, AT&T provided an earth station and worked closely with Albanian Telecom on its installation and maintenance. In addition to these network improvements, AT&T announced the availability of its AT&T Direct(sm) Service in Albania. AT&T Direct Service helps tourists and business travelers in more than 85 countries call more than 200 countries with the help of an English-speaking operator. To use the service in Albania, people call +00800-0010 from any hotel or residential phone. Some phones may require a coin or card deposit to access local service. The balance of the call is billed to an AT&T Global Calling Card or made as a collect call. AT&T, incorporated in 1885, provides communications services to businesses and consumers in more than 200 countries. Its Worldwide Intelligent Network carries more than 200 million voice, data, video and facsimile messages every business day. For more information, reporters may contact: Valerie Hasselbach - AT&T +355-42-35035 (Albania, Rogner Hotel) +32-2-676-3196 (after Sept. 5, Belgium) vhasselbach@attmail.com Phil Coathup - AT&T +44-1527-354935 (U.K.) pcoathup@attmail.com Laura Qorlaze - Albanian Telecom +355-42-32087 or 32169 (Albania) KEYWORDS: earth_station, digital_communication, global_calling_card forwarded by Nigel Allen ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ ------------------------------ From: billsohl@planet.net (Bill Sohl) Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 18:08:15 GMT Organization: BL Enterprises Paul Wilson wrote: > Jack Decker (jack@novagate.com) writes: >> So, in this press release, we have GTE on record as saying that a >> continuous connection to the Internet is a desirable thing - not that >> we needed GTE to tell us this, but it's refreshing to hear a phone >> company admit that a 24 hour per day connection is desirable, rather >> than blaming Internet users who spend time online as the reason that >> the phone system is "going to Hell in a handbasket" (as some of the >> "Baby Bells" are apparently trying to do)! > ADSL is essentially data over voice and therefore its use by > traditional ISPs would not be as simple as an ADSL modem at your > location and one at the ISP. Your voice and data would still need to > be separated at the LEC switch location. I doubt if you or I would > want to pay for a full time data connection and I doubt ISPs would > want, or could, pay for full time connections to every subscriber. If residential ISDN was affordably priced, then a D channel virtual connection (X.25 packet) could be left up for indefinete time periods without incurring usage costs except for incoming and outgoing email. The X.25 connection wouldn't likly be cost effective for WEB access (in either direction), but it could provide that instant email reception at low cost. > GTE can push it because they have the copper to your premise or > business anyway; using ADSL to provide Internet service will be a > bonus and a "full time connection" will not cause a burden on the > switch since that traffic will not hit the switch. > Believe me the "Baby Bells", along with other LECs, have been made > aware of the additional burden of Internet traffic through experience. Not really that worse than teenagers on indefinite calls in flat rate calling areas. The connection is all that matters, usage (i.e. data or voice) should be immaterial to the telco. Resources are the same for ither type of call. > And that experience has not been good. When you realize that very few > computer users are Interent users you realize the problem will only > grow worse if that traffic continues to traverse the public switch > network as it grows. Most internet traffic does not traverse the telco switched network except in the local Intra-switch arena. Few people make long distance calls for internet access and those that do pay long distance rates for the time they are connected. I dial a local exchange number for access to my ISP so the only resources being used is one intra-switch connection. That's identical to what a teenager uses for a two hour connection to their friend(s). I live in a town with 20,000 plus population. At any one time I really doubt that there is any more than a couple of hundred switch connections used for internet access. That's in sharp contrast to the volume of voice calls. One question: I find the comment that MOST computer users ae not internet users to be totally the opposite of what I see and hear in this area. It may be true in some parts of the country, but I suspect not in the NY/NJ/CT tri-state area. Bill Sohl (K2UNK) billsohl@planet.net Internet & Telecommunications Consultant/Instructor Budd Lake, New Jersey ------------------------------ From: Jack Adams Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 08:57:30 -0400 Organization: AT&T Laboratories Reply-To: jacka@ffast.ffast.att.com Rolf K. Taylor wrote: > Many may know that one can force a call through a particular long > distance carrier by dialing 10xxx+1+the area code and number. > In many locations this can also be used to force a "local long distance" > ie intralata toll call, through a LD carrier rather than your RBOC. > In any case, enough background. ATT will charge a surcharge for this > type of connection, but suffice it to say, at least it can get you > connected. Oh really? My 10288 ... calls are all lower than equivalent BA rates within my LATA. > I recently had a Bell Atlantic customer find out that the > 10288 "10ATT" code no longer works for him. B.A. says that ATT has > terminated their shared database arrangement with them and it is tough > luck. I sense some confusion here. The agreements that are no longer being honored are the so called Mutual Card Honoring Agrements (MHAs). These agreements were reciprocal and applied to 0+ calls only. Ie, a LEC calling card would be honored for LD 0+ toll calls by AT&T (And most of the other IXCs) and conversely, the LECs would accept AT&T's calling card for intraLATA 0+ calls. These MHA's are being dissolved for reasons that I won't comment on. However, this is not the case with carrier override for 1+ or 7 digit intralata calls. This is a function of digit translation tables in each local switch and has little to do with the MHAs. I suspect that Rolf's example is confusing 0+ MHA rejection with 1+ which continues to work at least as far as I can determine. > This customer is a broadcaster who is sending digital audio down ISDN. > He orders many ISDN lines every year. It is difficult enough to get > the lines put in. Now he finds he has lost the ability to use this > valuable troubleshooting code. > ATT says to use 1800callatt. But how can he use it with a data call? > No way. Agreed, the "Call ATT" service flat out won't work in his case. 10ATT.1.NPA.NXX.XXXX or 10ATT.NXX.XXXX continues to work. Jack Adams|AT&T Labs|jacka@ffast.ffast.att.com|908.870.7051[voice] 908.261.1303[page]|908.313.4358[mobile]|908.870.7286[fax] "Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." ...Mark Twain ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 09:50:38 -0700 From: Stuart Zimmerman Reply-To: f_save@SNET.Net Organization: Fone Saver Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC In TELECOM Digest V16 #455 ac219@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Rolf K. Taylor) wrote: > In many locations this can also be used to force a "local long distance" > ie intralata toll call, through a LD carrier rather than your RBOC. > In any case, enough background. ATT will charge a surcharge for this > type of connection, but suffice it to say, at least it can get you > connected. I recently had a Bell Atlantic customer find out that the > 10288 "10ATT" code no longer works for him. B.A. says that ATT has > terminated their shared database arrangement with them and it is tough > luck. Your client should still be able to use the 10288 code to get to AT&T if he establishes an account with AT&T for the phone numbers involved. This is often called secondary service. (There also should avoid the per call surcharge.] Depending on the type of service, there may be a $5 per month charge if he does not use at least $5 per month of AT&T service. Have him call AT&T sales to set it up. (Their residential number is 1-800-222-0300. Their commercial service number is 1-800-222-0400.) The biggest problem with this is that they will usually screw up the order and change the default carrier. You may want to call Bell Atlantic and ask for a PIC [Primary Interexchange Carrier] code freeze first. Fone Saver, LLC Phone: 1-800-31-FONE-1 Web: http://www.wp.com/Fone_Saver E-Mail: f_save@snet.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 16:43:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. [re intra-LATA ISDN calls sent to an IXC via 10XXX (is that enough acronyms for you?)] > ... I recently had a Bell Atlantic customer find out that the > 10288 "10ATT" code no longer works for him. B.A. says that ATT has > terminated their shared database arrangement with them and it is tough luck. Someone's blowing smoke in your direction. The shared database business only affects calling card calls placed via 0+10D. If he's dialing direct, and there's intra-LATA toll competition in that area, the call should work. Can he still dial 10288-1-number between voice phones in the same prefixes he's trying to use for data calls? If so, I suspect that the problem is that someone at the central office messed up the programming on the ISDN lines. If he can't even make the voice call, BA has really messed up their switch and need to be leaned on, perhaps with assistance from the state regulators. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - MIT econ prof ------------------------------ From: jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 08:59:48 PDT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article , writes: >> I suppose that with increasing SS7 connectivity it'd be >> possible not to set up the two toll calls, but the billing would be >> tricky. For example, what happens if someone calls you from Santa Monica? >> Does he pay the message units to LA, an unexpected inter-LATA toll to >> SF, or what? > Your proposal is at least as good as mine. But I'm sure it wouldn't > be hard to come up with a system that selected a path that would > reduce network traffic, but not at the expense of increasing cost to > the caller. Basically, calls from far away from LA would be routed > directly to SF -- since that would either keep the cost to the caller > constant (if it's from NY, say) or reduce it (if it's from the SF Bay > Area). Calls from close to LA would take the same route they do > today. > With SS7 anything will be possible ... I wouldn't count on any of the current SS7 ISUPs in North America to be able to straighten out the "hairpin" of cellular/PCS/GSM call delivery to a roamer. A carrier may elect to absorb the long distance for call delivery to incur roamer airtime, but this does not mean that path minimization has occurred. ISDN can barely do path minimization within a single switch and SS7 is between multiple switches. Also, the billing problem of who pays how much remains confounding as long as long distance is distance and time sensitive, eg. intra-state long distance is subject to state sales tax. It is interesting to note that call delivery (as opposed to call forwarding) to a roamer is similar to call routing for Number Portability. There is the potential to solve the hairpin routing for both but this probably won't happen since Local Number Portability as defined by the FCC rules is only concerned for portability within a "Rate Center" which means one part of the LNP hairpin will never be a long distance call. Since the cellular/PCS/GSM industry is maybe one tenth of the non-mobile landline local loop industry, it may be more effective to concentrate efforts towards National Number Portability to solve the hairpin path a roaming call takes. Jeffrey Rhodes at jeffrey.rhodes@attws.com ------------------------------ From: Michael J. Wengler Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 14:02:51 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM, Incorporated; San Diego, CA, USA Yigal Arens wrote: > Yigal Arens wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tell your friend to start dialing into >> the number for the roaming port in San Francisco. ... PAT] > That's fine with me, but how do I find out that number? When you arrive at the place you will be roaming, dial 611 (or *611 if that doesn't work). This is a free call. Ask the service person you finally get (probably having to wander through voicetext hell to get there.) "I will be roaming in this area for a few days. I want people to be able to call me on a local number here. What is the roamer access number?" Hopefully, you will be given the number. When your callers call you at this number, they will hear a dialtone after dialing this number. At that point, they have to dial your regular cell number including areacode to get you. > I see it on my long distance bills, but that is long after I get back ... I've seen the numbers you mean, but they were different for different calls. These are NOT the numbers you want! I think these are dyanmically assigned numbers, and probably change for every call you get. > Of course, this still doesn't solve the problem of the person who > doesn't know that I'm roaming. You want calling to be handled differently than it is. I think you want one whole layer more signalling than is currently implemented. It COULD be done the way you say, and possibly will sometime, but for the present, its not unreasonable for a call dialled to your home area code to have to wander through your home area code on the way to wherever you actually are. An added complication: suppose someone in or near your local area calls your cell phone. Do they get charged for a long distance call because you are actually somewhere else, even though they dialed local? That seems unfair. My opinion is free. My employer's opinion costs big bucks. But their products are just dandy! See them at and . ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #460 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 01:51:33 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA28763; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 01:51:33 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 01:51:33 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609050551.BAA28763@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #461 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 01:51:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 461 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ITU Bulletin Number 626 Now Available (Zev Rubenstein) UCLA Short Courses on Communications (Bill Goodin) 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons (hhzietz@aol.com) Percent of USA With Toll Alerting (Greg Monti) Technical Question on GSM (alkamman@slip.net) Fibre Optic Cables / Networks, Need Information (Philip Ber) Re: Why is the Internet So Slow? (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Internet Overload and DNS (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: What Does a Call Cost? (Tor-Einar Jarnbjo) Re: Can ISP Dial-ins Really Cause Blocking in the CO? (Jock Mackirdy) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Phil Ritter) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 20:20:00 +0000 From: CMS!WIRELESS!zev@wireless.attmail.com (Rubenstein,Zev) Subject: ITU Bulletin Number 626 Now Available ITU Operational Belletin No. 626 is now available. Below is a summary of its contents. Zev Rubenstein Nationwide Telecommunications Resources ------------------------------------------- SUMMARY of ITU Operational Bulletin # 626 APPROVAL AND DELETION OF ITU-T RECOMMENDATIONS A listing of new, approved Recommendations is provided. Services and applications that may be impacted by these Recommendations include: facsimile, digital compression, multimedia conferencing, cooperative document handling, open document architecture and binary file transfer. A listing of deleted Recommendations is provided. Services and applications that may be impacted include: facsimile apparatus for document transmission. Recommendation T.2 and T.3 are deleted. SHIP STATION SELECTIVE CALL NUMBERS Numbers 69900-69999 have been assigned to Malaysia ASSIGNMENT OF SIGNALLING AREA/NETWORK CODES SANC 4-009 has been assigned to the Republic of India LEGAL TIME CHANGES Provided is notice of time changes in specific countries MESSAGE HANDLING SERVICE BELGIUM PUBLINK has been authorized to provide Message Handling Service TELEPHONE SERVICE AUSTRALIA Provided are changes to the telephone numbering plan in Australia BAHAMAS A new geographical area code (NPA) 242 has been assigned to the Bahamas NAMIBIA Changes to Namibia's telephone numbering plan are provided ST.KITTS & NEVIS A new geographical area code (NPA) 869 has been assigned to St. Kitts and Nevis SIERRA LEONE A new number range beginning with "8" in Sierra Leone for Audiotex service has been announced. Administrations are requested to open access to this number range. INAUGURATION OF UNIVERSAL FREEPHONE NUMBER FOR INTERNATIOANL FREEPHONE SERVICE. ADVANCE INFORMATION AND TIMETABLE Provide are general guidelines for the application and assignments of UIFN numbers DATA TRANSMISSION SERVICE LUXEMBOURG The data network identification code (DNIC) 270 5 has been allocated to LUXNET OTHER COMMUNICATIONS YUGOSLAVIA The special call sign 4N140 has been authorized Call-Back Cyprus Call-Back is formally prohibited in Cyprus REPLIES TO THE QUESTIONAIRE ON CONDITIONS FOR PROVISION OF CALL-BACK SERVICES The results of a questionaire concerning Call-Back are provided (Note 44 provides comments provided on behalf of the USA by the FCC) AMENDMENTS TO SERVICE DOCUMENTS LIST OF COAST STATIONS Changes to the List of Coast Stations are provided for the following countries: Australia Denmark Spain LIST OF SHIP STATIONS Changes to Sub-Section 2A are provided LIST OF DATA NETWORK IDENTIFICATION CODES Changes are provided for the following country: Luxembourg LIST OF INTERNATIONAL SIGNALLING POINT CODES IPSC changes are provided for the following country: Republic of India LIST OF NAMES OF ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT DOMAINS Conatact information for PUBLINK (Belgium) is provided. LIST OF ISSUER IDENTIFIER NUMBERS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CHARGE CARD SWITZERLAND New IIN Assignment: 89 41 20 Assigned to: Modacom AG DIALING PROCEDURES Changes to the dialing procedures of the following country is provided: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ANNEX TO ITU OPERATIONAL BULLETIN A revised annex "List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164 Assigned Country Codes" is included. ------------------------------ From: BGoodin@UNEX.UCLA.EDU (Goodin, Bill) Organization: UCLA Extension - contact Postmaster@unex.ucla.edu for problems Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 17:13:58 -0700 Subject: UCLA Short Courses on Communications Three short courses on communications with Bernard Sklar and frederick harris at UCLA. On November 18-22, 1996, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Communication Systems Using Digital Signal Processing", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors are Bernard Sklar, PhD, Communications Engineering Services, and frederick harris, MS, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, San Diego State University. As part of the course materials, each participant receives a copy of the text, "Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications", by Bernard Sklar. This course provides comprehensive coverage of advanced digital communications. It differs from other communications courses in its emphasis on applying modern digital signal processing techniques to the implementation of communication systems. This makes the course essential for practitioners in the rapidly changing field. Error- correction coding, spread spectrum techniques, and bandwidth-efficient signaling are all discussed in detail. Basic digital signaling methods and the newest modulation-with-memory techniques are presented, along with trellis-coded modulation. The course fee is $1495, which includes the text and extensive course notes. These course materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. __________ On December 2-3, 1996, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Advanced Digital Communications: The Search for Efficient Signaling Methods", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructor is Bernard Sklar, PhD, Communications Engineering Services. The approach taken in this course is quite different than in a basic course. Here, we begin with some system requirements and understand how to make reasonable design choices. The requirements then drive us toward the selection of some candidate systems. The course reviews system subtleties in transforming from data-bits to channel-bits to symbols to chips; it also reviews the Viterbi decoding algorithm. Other important topics include trellis-coded modulation, power- and bandwidth-efficient signaling, and spread spectrum signaling. The course emphasizes fading channels and how to mitigate the effects of fading, with specific examples of how various mobile systems have been designed to withstand fading. These systems include the Viterbi equalizer in the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and the Rake receiver in CDMA (IS-95). The course also examines the recently discovered Turbo codes, whose error-correcting performance is close to the Shannon limit. The course fee is $895, which includes the text and extensive course notes. These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. _________ On December 4-6, 1996, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Multirate Digital Filters and Applications", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructor is Professor frederick harris, Electrical and Computer Engineering, San Diego State University. This course is an introduction to multirate digital filters, which are variants of non-recursive filters, and incorporate one or more resamplers in the signal path. These embedded resamplers affect changes in sample rate for upsampling, downsampling, or combinations of both. Changes in sampling rate as part of the signal processing is a feature unique to sampled data systems. and has no counterpart in continuous signal processing. Benefits include reduced cost for a given signal processing task and improved levels of performance for a given computational burden. This economy of computation has become an essential requirement of modern communication systems, particularly battery-operated equipment. Specific course topics include: Introduction to sample rate conversion, Non-recursive (finite impulse response) filters, Prototype FIR filter design methods, Decimation and interpolation, Multirate filters, Two-channel filter banks, M-channel filter banks, Proportional bandwidth filter banks and wavelet analysis, Polyphase recursive all-pass filter banks, Multirate filter applications. The course fee is $1195, which includes extensive course materials. These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. __________ For additional information and complete course descriptions, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucla.edu http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses/ These courses may also be presented on-site at company locations. ------------------------------ From: HHZietz@aol.com Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 18:37:11 -0400 Subject: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons Previous articles mentioned exorbitant charges for calls made by inmates of jails or prisons. This is apparently the case where the penal institution contracts with an "alternate operator service". I am curious as to what would happen if a prisoner attempts to call a toll free number under those circumstances. For example, if relative sets up a toll free number at thier residence to receive calls from the inmate. Could / would a surcharge be billed to the 800/888 number itself? Would such a surcharge be billed through the Responsible Orginization that provides the toll free service, or would it be billed separately? Could / would the 800/888 access be blocked? It is never blocked out in the real world (ha ha). An inmates civil rights are limited (I think), so could that disallow some of the FCC requirements for access to toll free services? I would like to receive responses from people with personal or practical experience, as well as any theoretical answers. I encourage any direct responses, as well as ones to the group itself of course! (No spam please, I am a vegetarian. Please do not confuse a "vegetarian" with the "vegetables" that send or respond to spam!) Thank you in advance! HH Zietz@aol.com. PS: Patrick, Congratulations once again, fifteen years can seem like an eternity, except when you love what you do. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yep, this Digest started fifteen years ago last month, in August, 1981. As far as I know, 800/888 calls are blocked on all jail phones, as are calls to 900/976, 500, and anything else which is not considered a 'regular' call. Your own personal calling card will not work either. Calls to the '0' operator or the '00' oper- ator go to intercept and 'call cannot be completed as dialed'. The only thing which will work is zero plus ten digits, since all calls have to be made collect. The responding operator who places the collect call for you sees on her screen that you are a prisoner with a cautionary note to take care that no fraud occurs. She has been trained to respond to you as rudely as possible considering your less than dirt status. If you don't like it, then don't be an innocent person who gets hassled by a police officer with an ax to grind or a quota to meet or a dislike for 'your kind'. If the person you are trying to call for assistance has a 'collect block' on their line, i.e. billed number screening, well that's just too bad. That'll teach your family (friend) to sign up for those fancy services the telephone company offers. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 23:18:26 -0400 From: cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) Subject: Percent of USA With Toll Alerting With all the talk on the group about what 1+ dialing stands for, I thought it might be interesting to review what parts of the US have/don't have 1+ for toll alerting. The TOLL ALERTING dialing plan: home NPA, local call: 7 digits (10d or 1+10d may also be permitted) home NPA, toll call: 1+10d foreign NPA, local call: either 7d or 10d (or 1+10d?) foreign NPA, toll call: 1+10d The NON-TOLL-ALERTING dialing plan: home NPA: 7d (1+10d may also be permitted) foreign NPA: 1+10d The non-toll-alerting states are: Number Population State of NPAs (millions) ----- ------- ---------- ME 1 1.3 NH 1 1 RI 1 1 VT 1 1.6 NY 9 18 NJ 3 8 PA 5 12 WV 1 2 IL 9 12 CA 13 32 ---- ------- --------- 10 44 88.9 The 10 non-toll-alerting states are 20% of US states. The 44 non-toll-alerting NPAs represent about 25% of the NPAs in the US. The 88.9 million people living without toll alerting represent about 33% of the US population of 267 million (my estimate). Greg Monti Jersey City, New Jersey, USA gmonti@interramp.com ------------------------------ From: alkamman@slip.net Subject: Technical Question on GSM Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 12:24:21 GMT Organization: Slip.Net When we use the GSM phone with a GSM card the GSM network does only record the GSM card data or also the serial number of the telephone we are using? In other words: Does the network notice that I am using my GSM card on my friend's Siemens instead of on my own Philips? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: ber@ecf.toronto.edu (BER PHILIP) Subject: Fibre Optic Cables / Networks, need info Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 23:30:23 -0400 Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility I am looking for information on who the largest (or most prominant) fibre-optic cable manufacturers are? Also, I am wondering what companies install the fibre-optic networks for the major telcos (Bell, MCI, Sprint etc)? Or is it done in-house? Thanks in advance, Philip Ber Computer Engineering University of Toronto ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 13:06:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Why is the Internet So Slow? Organization: Excelsior Computer Services >> I am performing some research and am interested in hearing from anyone >> with an interesting theory of why Internet access is so slow? >> For instance, >> Is it the data com backbone, the protocol, the routers, the >> Servers, or the browsers? > Most people who complain of slow Internet access do so when using Web > browsers, since its now the most widespread real-time Web use. A great My problem is telnet. I would >really< like to be able to use my machine from remote sites, but telnet is much too slow, unless I'm on a local network. Keyboard response times are generally > .5sec (unusable), and significant gaps of up to ten seconds are common. And here in NYC (Nynex and Sprintnet), packet losses of up to 40% across networks are common. Feh. Joel (joel@exc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: How about significant gaps of up to thirty seconds at times when things are really hopping? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 13:01:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Internet Overload and DNS Organization: Excelsior Computer Services In article is written: > The possibility of a "meltdown" seems real to me given the growing > traffic load, technical problems as with the routers and DNS updates, > reflective routing by certain backbone operators, and various > technical problems. DNS is certainly an area for improvement. The original idea was that the Internet would be divided into domains, with a hierarchical look-up strategy. To find a computer called a.b.c.edu, I would find c.edu from the .edu server, and then b.c.edu and finally a.b.c.edu. But there were only a few thousand .edu domains, so that was easy. Now, the vast majority of sites end .com, and, in fact, there's very little structure. DNS basically consists of contacting one of seven computers to look for a.com, which is basically the same as just looking up a. If one of the main servers goes down, everything slows down drastically on the whole internet. I would propose 26 servers for each major DNS server, one for each letter of the alphabet. Then foo.com would be serviced by the "f" server, but bar.com by the "b" server. Each secondary server would have to memorize not just two or up to seven DNS computers, but at least 52 (2 * 26) computers. Joel (joel@exc.com [hopefully one day to be served by e.dns.net]) ------------------------------ From: bjote@cs.tu-berlin.de (Tor-Einar Jarnbjo) Subject: Re: What Does a Call Cost? Date: 4 Sep 1996 17:52:43 GMT Organization: Technical University of Berlin, Germany David Clayton (dcstar@acslink.aone.net.au) wrote: > I have observed a increasing quantity of correspondence in the Digest > regarding the issue of no longer being able to determine what sort of > call type is being made by analysing the dialed digits. Well, not exactly what you suggested, but the Norwegian Telecom runs a free number, where you can either enter one phone-number and let the system tell you the charge for a call from your number (known because of CLID) to this number, or you can enter two numbers, and you'll know what a phone-call between those two numbers costs. As Norway still only have one phone-company, a call from A to B will always cost the same as a call from B to A :-). Regards, Tor-Einar Jarnbjo, bjote@cs.tu-berlin.de Fetschowzeile 11 13437 Berlin, Germany ------------------------------ From: Jock Mackirdy Subject: Re: Can ISP Dial-ins Really Cause Blocking in the CO? Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 21:35:50 GMT lars@anchor.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) wrote: > Both in TELECOM Digest and on the COM-PRIV mailing list, the issue has > been raised about telephone companies complaining to the regulatory > authority that home access to the Internet through modem dial-in to > a local ISP places an undue burden on the local exchange facilities, > and the telco wants a regulatory change to put an end to this "misuse" > which is caused by the availability of flat rate local calling. Which is precisely why the UK telcos will not consider a move away from "per-second" metering of all calls, local, regional, national and international. Of course data calls cause increased traffic, which leads to blocking on CO's which were provisioned on the basis of typical voice call holding times. If (as an example) a typical voice call is assumed to last two minutes and the average call from a computer user lasts five minutes (which may well be an understatement), then there is 2.5 times the traffic to carry. In the UK with call metering, the telco gets a return on that increased holding time and can invest in more equipment and inter-office trunks but where there is flat rate call charging the telco loses out. Jock Mackirdy Business Advisory Services, Luton (UK) E-mail: jockm@basluton.demon.co.uk Independent telecomms. and business advice ------------------------------ From: RitterP Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 17:25:11 -0700 > ...much discussion by many folks re: the "hairpin" path used to > deliver a call to a wireless phone while roaming ... The solution to this "problem" is actually well known and part of the proposed standards for the "wireless intelligent network". The solution is called "efficient routing" and requires that the originating switch (1) recognize the number as wireless and (2) initiate a "locate" request to the wireless subscribers home system (their "home location register", or HLR) to return a routing number. If the subscriber is "home", the routing number is the same as the wireless MIN. If they are roaming, then a "temporary local directory number", or TLDN from the system that the mobile is visiting is returned and the call is routed directly to the visited system. The technology is simple and can be rolled out with software changes in the landline network [stated as if this is a small thing :-)]. The real difficulty is (as usual) in the billing arrangements. Nobody seems to agree who should pay toll to whom and which carrier should be used. I'll try to explain: 1. In the simple case, the call originator (lets call them the "land party", even though we all know that they could be mobile) is "local" to the mobile's normal rate center (the one associated with its NPA-NXX) and the mobile is roaming. Here, assuming that we could get the call data into the mobile system's billing system, the toll could be applied to the mobile customer. Of course, the system would need to ensure that the mobile customer's PIC'd carrier is used for the call, which can be troublesome when there are proprietary long distance carriers used by some mobile providers that are not accessible from landline networks (e.g., AirTouch long distance, etc.). 2. Assuming that you apply toll as in (1), what do you do when the mobile is roaming "near" home but is called from a phone that is a long way away (e.g., a Los Angeles mobile in San Francisco is called from a land party in Boston). You don't want all of the long distance charged to the mobile, as in (1), but there is no mechanism to "separate" the toll. Perhaps you could recognize this case and charge the toll to the land party [or perhaps not]. Perhaps you could try separations, but you run into trouble if the two parties to the call disagree about which IXC to use ... 3. And if the mobile is roaming halfway between its "home" system and the land parties location ... I could go on with other scenarios, but you can see that this is a troublesome problem. There may be solutions on the horizon that mitigate some of these issues, but somebody is going to have to agree to "eat" more than their fair share of the toll -- probably the wireless customer, which does not make many wireless carriers too happy. As usual, it is not the technology preventing the implementation of a solution to this problem, but the complex nature of the carriers involved (the originating LEC, the IXCs, the "home" CMRS provider and the "visited" CMRS provider). Expect to see some carriers/LECs/IXCs to provide limited solutions based on regional systems and/or "affinity" relationships (can you say "Friends & Family"? I knew you could) but don't expect any really acceptable, consistent solutions without regulatory "assistance". Phil Ritter RitterP@CoxPCS.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #461 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 13:13:21 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA12444; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 13:13:21 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 13:13:21 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609051713.NAA12444@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #462 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 13:13:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 462 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Email to FCC Chairman About Universal Service and Online Seminar (R Hauben) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Rich Osman) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Michael P. Deignan) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (mexitech@netcom.com) GSM Page Updated (Matthew McDonald) Sales Tax on Long Distance (Linc Madison) Nailed up Lines Are Also Fault Tolerant (Gary Johnson) How to Determine Current LD Provider (Bob Hogue) Internet Fax Mailing List (Richard Shockey) Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons (Brian Brown) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rh120@labdien.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Email to FCC Chairman About Universal Service and Online Seminar Date: 5 Sep 1996 11:04:51 GMT Organization: Columbia University Open email to Reed Hundt, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission I wondered if you could explain a bit about the nature of the online seminar mailing list on Universal Service that Bob Carlitz is moderating? In welcoming the seminar you wrote: > To Seminar Participants: > Greetings and good luck in beginning your on-line course! Bob Carlitz > has set up a great example of the way technology can increase > communication, learning, and participation in public debate. > As you know, Universal Service policy will impact all Americans, but it's > especially important for our education hubs: schools and libraries. > Universal Service can help bridge the gap between the information > "haves" and "have nots" by giving every child the tools and knowledge > essential for the 21st century. > I look forward to reading your course discussions in the official FCC > record, and thank you for your contribution to this important > policy-making process. > Best Regards, > Reed Hundt > Chairman, Federal Communications Commission Reed, my questions are: In comments to the FCC on the issue of Universal Service, in email, and in questions raised at the INET '96 (the Internet Society Meeting) in Montreal to the FCC chief of staff who gave a talk for you, and in a Report from INET '96 circulated on the Internet after the conference, I stressed the importance of opening up the comment process in the rule making procedure so that those who would be affected by the rule making on the issue of universal service in the new Telecommunications Act would have a chance to provide input to the FCC on this issue. Others have supported this sentiment. Yet no one from the FCC ever commented on these comments nor made any effort to talk about the need for some form of online process to open up the rule making process. Instead there was this online seminar announced. Who is funding it and why? And what is the role of the FCC in the online seminar? Is the online seminar to be a means for the FCC to justify removing universal service from the home telephone user by raising the cost of their service to subsidize school and library service because corporate entities will be getting all kinds of lower prices from the new telecommunications law? Why was the online seminar created with a strict moderator to direct discussion away from the broad set of issues that need to be discussed and considered in any rulemaking process regarding universal service? Why wasn't the unmoderated prototype created by the NTIA online hearing on the issue of the future of the Net held in Nov. 1994 followed, where there were newsgroups created and a mailing list and public access terminals made available around the country to provide for a broad set of views and input? (See http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ -- especially chapter 11 and 14 describing that online conference.) Didn't the Communications Act of 1934 charge the FCC with promoting "a rapid, efficient, nationwide and worldwide wire and radio communications service with adequate facilities at reasonable charge"? Has that changed? Has the FCC now become the U.S. Department of Education obligated to provide service to the schools and libraries at the cost of the home user? Previously the Department of Education was obligated to oversee what was provided to the schools and libraries out of general tax funds. Has the new telecommunications act changed that so that the home telephone user is now obligated to support lower prices for the schools and libraries for undefined telecommunications services and at the expense of POTS for the home user? The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was drafted with no discussion nor input allowed from the home user, those who have the need for the universal service provision. Instead the teleco's and even some nonprofits had a means to promote their interests to those in the U.S. Congress. But laws, especially laws regarding telecommunications infrastructure need to be crafted considering the interests of all involved. If the issue before the FCC is the issue of universal service, then the needs and interests of the home user have to be solicited and considered. In my efforts to participate in the current seminar, just as in my efforts to contribute comments to the proceedings, I have tried to raise the questions involving the interests and concerns of the home user. These should be similar to the interests of those involved in the schools and libraries. However, instead of the FCC encouraging seeing this similarity of interest, there seems to be the encouragement that schools and libraries seek how to get lower rates at the expense of the home user. Subsidizing school and libraries at the expense of the home telephone user cannot provide for universal service. It can only provide for the taking away of universal service where the home user is seen as needing a certain minimal level of service (traditionally called POTS - Plain old telephone service). Is there some reason why the FCC has not addressed this issue? Also, the issue of providing funds to schools and libraries for telecommuni- cations should be part of what the U.S. Department of Education funds out of general tax revenue, not a burden on the home telephone user. Or it should be the concern of the National Science Foundation, or other appropriate government body. The National Science Foundation demonstrated that by providing start up funding for access to the Internet to colleges and universities it helped make that access broadly available in the academic community. The U.S. government should be drawing on these lessons and creating a similar way to make access available to schools and libraries. But it isn't the home telephone user who can be asked to subsidize such access or it will lead to the taking away of universal service rather than a means of implementing universal service. Regardless of what the telecommunications act of 1996 states, the job of the FCC is to provide Congress with the information and background to understand the needs and interests of those for whom universal service was crafted over 50 years ago. A moderated seminar with a moderator who is encouraging schools and libraries to see their interests as different from those of the home telephone user cannot be helpful in sorting out the principles to guide universal service rulemaking. Also an online moderated process which discourages the broad discussion that is needed to determine the principles that are needed to guide rulemaking can't be helpful. Since I have clearly asked for an online process, I wondered why instead of anyone from the FCC ever contacting me or discussing what I was proposing, a strictly controlled and moderated seminar was set up to narrowly focus the issues that could be discussed. Who is funding this effort and why? And why isn't the FCC willing to help open up the rule making process so that appropriate rules can be drafted? In the development of the Internet, J.C.R. Licklider, who was one of the important visionaries helping to guide the earliest developments that led to the Net, recognized that when there is a need to figure out a real problem, a broad investigation is necessary to solve the problem. "There's a lot of reason for adopting a broad delimitation rather than a narrow one because if you are trying to find out where ideas come from, you don't want to isolate yourself from the areas they come from." (see quote in Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet, chapter 8, http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/) Ronda rh120@columbia.edu ae547@yfn.ysu.edu Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook ------------------------------ From: osman@NTCSAL01DA.ntc.nokia.com (Osman Rich NTC/Dallas) Organization: Nokia Telecommunications Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 17:42:39 +0300 Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Our highly esteemed moderator said: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It used to be years ago the FCC did > help out members of the public who wrote to them with complaints. > They would explain how to file informal complaints and help the > public in getting things resolved. I think in the past few years > their volume of mail -- as the public has learned more and more about > their rights where the carriers are concerned, etc -- has grown so > heavy they cannot begin to work on it all. Also, I think some of the > commissioners in recent years are a lot more friendly with the > carriers than they used to be. Now-days I would consider the FCC > to be pretty ineffectual at resolving public complaints. PAT] While commisioner bias and increasing workload a likely factors, all of this is exacerbated by **substantial** staff reductions. ------------------------------ From: kd1hz@anomaly.ideamation.com (Michael P. Deignan) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: 5 Sep 1996 00:39:42 -0400 Organization: The Ace Tomato Company In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Joel M. Hoffman : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It used to be years ago the FCC did > help out members of the public who wrote to them with complaints. > Now-days I would consider the FCC >to be pretty ineffectual at resolving public complaints. PAT] This isn't just a trend with carriers, either. The FCC is pretty much ineffectual at resolving *ANY* kind of public complaint. For example, many of the amateur radio bands have turned into a cesspool of filth due to illegal operators and operators that just do not obey the regulations. Although we're self-policing, we don't have any police powers, so even if you do "catch" someone, they know there isn't much anyone is going to do about it. On the other hand, if someone interferes with a commercial service, it always seems that the FCC responds immediately. Could it be they are merely living up to the 'money talks' syndrome. The poor public can't compete financially with major commercial vendors. MD [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, I would say 'money talks' has a lot to do with it. It is the same way with law-making in general. A long time ago laws were passed which had to do with the welfare of the public in general. Now the laws that are constantly being passed and pushed off on us have to do with corporate profits. Large companies and institutions come first and the individual comes last. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mexitech@netcom.com (Patrick) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 20:18:20 GMT Joel M. Hoffman (joel@exc.com) wrote: >> Easy. Call your LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) and request that they > Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of > reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever > been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written > response to a written inquiry? It has been my personal, up front experience that the best way to get anything from the FCC is to make your complaint to the actual field agents, these guys need action, they are so bored :-). Believe me, it does work, and if it doesn't the States Public Utilities need to justify their budgets and love a good story, but better make it true. Patrick mexitech@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: matthew@sv.net.au (Matthew McDonald) Subject: GSM Page Updated Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 09:19:30 GMT Organization: Netspace Online Systems Reply-To: matthew@sv.net.au Mat's GSM Page has just undergone a major renovation, this includes a Major update of the GSM operators list, a new Sim card picture area, and more ... -GSM Phone Secrets Codes and special functions that aern't documented -GSM Information All the information you need on the GSM Network -Phone Information Specifications and Information on ALL GSM Mobile Phones -Manufacturer and GSM Links Links to Phone Manufacturers and Other GSM Pages -GSM Network's WorldWide A List of ALL GSM Networks Worldwide -Sim Card's WorldWide Pictures of Sim Cards from around the Globe -GSM Quick Reference Guide A Ready Reference to Codes for the GSM Network -Service Centres Service Centres Worldwide -Battery Information Information on all types of Batteries And more to come ... |\ /| --------------- \ / --------------- Matthew McDonald \ / Email: Tasmania Australia \ www.sv.net.au/~matthew / matthew@sv.net.au +61 41 Matthew / GSM and Piazza Info \ Files etc: +61 416 288 439 / \ matthew@trump.net.au _______________ / \ _______________ |/ \| ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Sales Tax on Long Distance Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 02:31:39 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , jeffrey.rhodes@attws. com wrote ("Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes"): > Also, the billing problem of who pays how much remains confounding as > long as long distance is distance and time sensitive, eg. intra-state > long distance is subject to state sales tax. Actually, *all* long distance calls are subject to state sales tax. There was a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the mid-1980's (?) that allowed states and municipalities to tax interstate long distance charges. I checked into this when I moved to Berkeley and found the (quite substantial) municipal utility tax applied to all of my calls. At the time, the federal tax was about 3% and the city about 9%, I think. The municipal tax applied even on international calls. Never mind the principle that "the power to tax assumes the power to destroy" and the states and cities do not have jurisdiction to prohibit interstate calls. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: gjohnson@dream.season.com (Reality is a point of view) Subject: Nailed up Lines Are Also Fault Tolerant Date: 4 Sep 1996 22:18:03 GMT Organization: season.com [205.179.33.0] While watching the ongoing communication wars I've noticed a common complaint from the common carriers. 24x365 line usage ties up their resources. There has been debate on the size and scope of this problem. Odds are good that it is at least a minimal problem. And I'm one of them, so I was trying to think of a fair break for all. It occurred to me that the typical 24x365 customer has a computer nailing up that line. Software would allow that computer to deal with random disconnects. Quite a different situation than voice. If the phone company regularly dropped voice lines their customers would get upset. Or do, depending. Digital customers might get upset too. But there might be some sort of balance that could fit both the customers and the vendors needs without a war. It would probably be best to have some game theorists deal with developing rules that would lead to fairness on both sides. Off the top it seems that critical numbers would be the range of drops per month/week/day/hour/etc, time delay before trying to reconnect, and the range of time between drops. Some sort of advance warning would also be cool. Before any 24x365 users say "Hey, what about me being in the middle of a critical download!" remember that the CO's have a similar complaint. TCP/IP can deal. At least until broadcast packets using strong encryption make the whole mess obsolete. Gary Johnson gjohnson@season.com Freedom? CAMPAIGN '96: Juck 'em if they can't fake a toke. ------------------------------ From: bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue) Subject: How to Determine Current LD Provider Date: 4 Sep 1996 17:31:53 GMT Organization: Youngstown State University--Computer and Information Sciences With all of the horror stories about slamming, it just occurred to me that there is (or used to be) a number that one could call to determine the long distance carrier that was currently assigned to that person. I think it was a 700-number, though it may have been an 800. I think it simply gave a recording with the name of the LD carrier. Does anyone know if such a number still exists? If so, I think it would help unsuspecting consumers who would then be able to just check once a month or so to ensure that they still have the provider they want. I understand that the local provider can be requested (in writing, I believe?) not to switch LD providers without consent, but I think this dial-up service would be good as a periodic double-check. Bob Hogue Computer Science & Information Systems Internet: bob@cis.ysu.edu Youngstown State University Phone: 330-742-1775 Youngstown, OH 44555 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are thinking of 700-555-4141 and/or 700-555-1212 in some areas. Yes, it is still working as noted. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rshockey@ix.netcom.com (Richard Shockey) Subject: Internet Fax Mailing List Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 18:05:01 GMT Organization: Nuntius Corporation Members of this group who have a interest in Internet Fax may wish to take a look at this new list. The ietf-fax mailing list covers the integration of FAX techology and the Internet. It is mailing list for a BOF held at the recent Montreal IETF meeting, and may lead to a full IETF Working Group. To see what has gone on before, please see the mailing list archive at http://www.imc.org/ietf-fax/ To subscribe to the ietf-fax mailing list, send a message to: ietf-fax-request@imc.org with the message: subscribe If you need to contact a human about this mailing list, please send a message to: phoffman@imc.org Richard Shockey Developers of Fax on Demand Systems President For Business, Industry, Government Nuntius Corporation and Media Markets. 8045 Big Bend Blvd. Suite 110 St. Louis, MO 63119 For a Demonstration Call: Voice 314.968.1009 x110 314.968.3461 FAX 314.968.3163 Internet rshockey@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ From: bfbrown@csn.net (Brian Brown) Subject: Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 16:07:42 GMT Organization: SuperNet Inc. +1.303.296.8202 Denver Colorado HHZietz@aol.com wrote: > Previous articles mentioned exorbitant charges for calls made by > inmates of jails or prisons. This is apparently the case where the > penal institution contracts with an "alternate operator service". > I am curious as to what would happen if a prisoner attempts to call a > toll free number under those circumstances. For example, if relative > sets up a toll free number at thier residence to receive calls from > the inmate. > Could / would a surcharge be billed to the 800/888 number itself? > Would such a surcharge be billed through the Responsible Orginization > that provides the toll free service, or would it be billed separately? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As far as I know, 800/888 calls are > blocked on all jail phones, as are calls to 900/976, 500, and anything > else which is not considered a 'regular' call. The ANI information digits passed to service bureaus with 800 access (in particular, phone sex service bureaus use this) have a special code for prisons. They also have codes for hotels, pay phones, businesses, private residences, hospitals, etc. In the case of one particular phone sex bureau with which I am familiar (I set up their phone services), they refuse ALL pay phone and prison calls. Whenever they receive the ANI information digits indicating either of these instances, the trunk does not go off hook. Similarly, their 900 services (which, from a strictly telecom view, function exactly like 800, except that the FCC allows you to charge the originating number for services) refuse calls not only from prisons and pay phones, but also hotels and hospitals (where the likelihood of a disputed 900 charge is very high). Now, keeping in mind that the 800 numbers generally require a credit card to be processed, it stands to reason, "why not accept them from payphones?" The answer is this: it used to be that, when credit cards were stolen, one of the easiest ways the thieves had to see if they were valid were to call a phone sex number, enter the card, and see if it worked. If it did, the thieves would rush to the nearest electronics/other store and max it out. Since these types of service bureaus caught on and refused pay phone calls, an interesting thing happened: now the preferred venue for testing stolen credit cards has become gas stations which let you "pay at the pump". If the card is refused, they drive away scot-free and toss the card (as opposed to going inside a business to try the card and risking a clerk identifying the thieves). If the card is authorized at the pump, they fill up their car and drive to the nearest electronics store. As far as charging extra for the 800 numbers, most 800/900 service bureaus negotiate a low, fixed rate per minute of long distance (e.g. $0.10 or less, based on volume) and pay exactly that no matter where the call originated in the continental U.S. The numbers are generally blocked (as are most toll-free numbers) outside the continental U.S. I don't see how they could be charged variable outside-their-contract rates for any calls from prisons or elsewhere. In addition, I believe Pat's assumption that 800/888 calls and 900/etc. calls are blocked by the prison pirates, where the normal FCC reg's don't apply to their phones. Normally, public pay phones have to accept 800/888 calls, but not 900/976/500 etc. calls. Brian Brown Visionary Consulting ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #462 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 16:00:17 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA02892; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 16:00:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 16:00:17 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609052000.QAA02892@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #463 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 16:00:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 463 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Malcolm Caldwell) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Darryl Smith) Re: Percent of USA With Toll Alerting (John Cropper) Re: Percent of USA With Toll Alerting (Bob Goudreau) Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? (Jack Decker) Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? (Ian Angus) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Steven Lichter) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Bob Schwartz) Re: The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse (Matthew B. Landry) Re: Privatizing The Big Lie (Bill Sohl) Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer (Tim Ottinger) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: malcolm@abu.cs.ntu.edu.au (Malcolm Caldwell) Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: 05 Sep 1996 15:10:57 +0930 Organization: Northern Territory University > "I will be roaming in this area for a few days. I want people to be > able to call me on a local number here. What is the roamer access > number?" > Hopefully, you will be given the number. > When your callers call you at this number, they will hear a dialtone > after dialing this number. At that point, they have to dial your > regular cell number including areacode to get you. It would be nice if GSM had a similar service for international roaming. At the moment (as I understand it) if I am visiting a country with a GSM network (eg the UK) with my Australian GSM phone, people in the UK who want to ring me have to ring my Australian number (+61418...) and pay for the call to Australia. Then I have to pay for the call from Australia to the UK + roaming charges. I would not be surprised if this situation was never fixed -- it generates revenue form these international phonecalls. Malcolm Caldwell - Network Supervisor Email:malcolm@it.ntu.edu.au Information Technology Support Ph: +61 89 466631 Northern Territory University,Darwin Fax: +61 89 466630 CASUARINA 0909 Australia ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 20:00:57 +1100 From: Darryl Smith Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Hello from Australia. When it comes to mobile phones here in Australia there is no such thing as roaming as such. Sure the roam light on my mobile goes on, but it means nothing. Here in Australia we have the concept of caller pays. With mobiles for long distance it is the distance between phones which generally determines the cost of the call. There are generally different prices for over 165 Km and less than 165 Km. We have area codes (014) (015) (018) (019) and maybe another dedicated to mobile phones regardless of what part of the country people are in. If they are on a digital phone, their number has an area code of (014x) where x designates the carrier. Thus the caller has no idea of what he is being charged for a call to a mobile. The number gives nothing away about location. Calls too and From the mobiles go through the carrier for that mobile phone. Sure it is possible to use a calling card, but these calls are charged at the local call rate (even though they are to free call numbers, freecall numbers are charged on mobiles) so it is more expensive to choose your carrier with a calling card. Whilst we are on mobiles in Australia I may as well explain the mobile situation here -- Telstra (Formally Telecom Australia) is the government owned former monopoly. It competes in the Analogue mobile phone network with Optus which sells time on the Telstra Analogue network. The Analogue network has over 3,000,000 subscribers (Australia's population is only 18,000,000) and will be switched off before 1 January 2000. There are three digital networks country wide -- Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone with over 150,000, 150,000 and 100,000 respectively. And the digital system is TOTALLY incompatable with the analogue system. This was done so that the new entrants would be given an equal playing field with the government owned telstra. And people are still buying the analogue (AMPS) mobiles in droves although digital phones are starting to become a similar price without too many strings. Many people feel that the government will delay the mobile turn off -- after all three million analogue phone users is a lot of voters who have spent a lot of money on their phones. Penetration of mobile phones here is such that 95% iof the population is covered with a cellular service (Which is amazing concidering the size of the country and the number of people) and more than 20% of the population have a mobile phone. Darryl Smith, BE, VK2TDS vk2tds@ozemail.com.au ; Sydney Australia Pacific Power - The former monopoly NSW government owned power generator. ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: Percent of USA With Toll Alerting Date: 5 Sep 1996 06:42:03 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 04, 1996 23:18:26 in article , 'cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti)' wrote: > With all the talk on the group about what 1+ dialing stands for, I thought > it might be interesting to review what parts of the US have/don't have 1+ > for toll alerting. > The non-toll-alerting states are: > Number Population > State of NPAs (millions) > ----- ------- ---------- > ME 1 1.3 > NH 1 1 > RI 1 1 > VT 1 1.6 > NY 9 18 > NJ 3 8 > PA 5 12 > WV 1 2 > IL 9 12 > CA 13 32 > ---- ------- --------- > 10 44 88.9 > The 10 non-toll-alerting states are 20% of US states. > The 44 non-toll-alerting NPAs represent about 25% of the NPAs in the US. > The 88.9 million people living without toll alerting represent about 33% > of the US population of 267 million (my estimate). Greg's info is out-of-date with respect to WV (According to BellCore 01/96, WV is 1+10D (mandatory) for HNPA toll). As for the others listed above, the following have "permissible" (optional) 1+10D for HNPA toll: ME, NH, NJ, PA, CA Four of NY's NPAs (315, 518, 607, 716) also have the option of 1+10D for HNPA toll (212, 718, and 917, where the bulk of the population is, is LOCAL within each NPA anyhow). NY NPA 914 is the *ONLY* NPA in the state without the option of 1+10D ... population 1.8 million On the list above, only RI, VT, and IL have NO "permissible" HNPA toll options when it comes to non-toll-alert dialing. John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 11:57:58 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Percent of USA With Toll Alerting cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) writes: > The non-toll-alerting states are: > Number Population > State of NPAs (millions) > ----- ------- ---------- ... > VT 1 1.6 The only correct datum in the above entry is the number of NPAs. Vermont's population is only about one-third of what is listed, and the NANP "Numbering Plan Area Codes - 1996 Update" document lists Vermont's HNPA toll dialing procedure as 1+10D, not 7D. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: jack@novagate.com (Jack Decker) Subject: Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 07:56:53 GMT Organization: GTE Intelligent Network Services, GTE INS On Wed, 04 Sep 1996 16:07:35 -0400, Ian Angus wrote: > Bell Canada Proposes Win-Win Solution to Internet Tariff Battle [.....] > Bell sales reps began telling their ISP customers about the price > increase and the ISPs rebelled. Using their Internet know-how, they > organized letter-writing and phone campaigns and threatened boycotts > of Bell services. It was David vs. Goliath and David was getting all > the good press. I hope that the phone companies of the United States understand that if they try to impose usage-based charges on customers that have been accustomed to having flat-rate service, it is not going to happen quietly. I would bet you that not only the FCC, but every congressman and every senator in this country will be deluged with mail from angry Internet users. If you think the protest against the Communications Decency Act was loud, I assure you that it wasn't a drop in the bucket compared to what you will hear when Internet users perceive that their very access to the net is being threatened. If they perceive that there is a problem, then I strongly suggest that they begin looking for technical solutions, not regulatory ones that will cause grief for everyone concerned. I would hope that the folks at the FCC are smart enough to realize that having to deal with hundreds or thousands of letters, faxes, and telephone calls each week from Internet users is not going to be any picnic. I'll bet that there will be even more mail about this than the bogus "petition to ban all religious broadcasting" that has generated bags upon bags of mail to the FCC for the last couple of decades. > ** ISP Link offers an attractive alternative for the largest ISPs and > online service providers. Luring such customers away from Centrex will > reduce the traffic problems which the sudden growth of the ISP industry > produced last year. (ISP Link connects to the trunk side of Bell's > switching equipment, and so bypasses the Line Concentrator Modules > which caused all the difficulty with high volume Centrex use. For > details, see http://http://www/isp-bell/ib.html This in a way supports the idea that there ARE technical solutions available to deal with the supposed increased usage caused by Internet users, but the phone companies are apparently reluctant to talk about them unless and until they perceive it is to their benefit to do so. It would be interesting to know just what other solutions the telcos might come up with if they were absolutely convinced that they couldn't use this issue for political leverage. Jack ------------------------------ From: Ian Angus Subject: Correction: Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 12:33:36 -0400 Organization: Angus TeleManagement Group In my article on the Bell Canada-ISP dispute, I gave an incorrect URL for the site where we posted information on the dispute. It should be: http://www.angustel.ca/isp-bell My apologies for the error. IAN ANGUS ianangus@angustel.ca Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca 8 Old Kingston Road tel: 905-686-5050 ext 222 Ajax ON L1T 2Z7 Canada fax: 905-686-2655 ------------------------------ From: slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: 5 Sep 1996 11:02:50 -0700 Organization: GINA and CORE+ Services of The California State University joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) writes: > Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of > reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever > been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written > response to a written inquiry? Yes it does work, in March of this year I filed an informal complaint when I was charged for calling an 800 number from a hotel phone, it was not so much the charges, but being told by the hotel people it was a telephone company charge, which in fact it was not. It took about 5 months to get a reply and by then the problem has bee resolved on its own between myself at the parent company of the hotel which changed their policy as they had gotten a lot of complaints. The complaint did get a life of its own though. PacBell and the PUC also got involved and each one replied, with the PUC asking for more information. It appears they must not be able to read since I included both written and copies of the room charges. Just last week I got copies of a letter from the hotel company to the FCC which explained their side, saying they credited the charges back to me and no longer charge for this. The strange part of the letter was their saying it costs more to supply telephone service to a hotel room then it does to my phone, which I suppose is true, but this hotal chain is mainly for business people, with data phone in each room and a lot of other free stuff. Until this year they never did charge for local calls or incoming fax, this has now changed. SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours, Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II and Macintosh computers. ------------------------------ From: Bob@BCI.NBN.com (Bob Schwartz) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 09:35:14 +1200 Organization: BCI In past years I have filed many informal complaints with the FCC, and won all of them. I even got a thank you from them! First, it may help to understand what happens when a complaint is filed: A number is assigned to it and a copy of your letter is sent to the offending party/carrier. The carrier has to reply within a certain number of days from when they recieved notice from the FCC unless they ask for more time. The reply comes in the form of a letter to you from the carrier with a copy to the FCC. You have some limited time period to reply. Eventually the FCC writes you saying that the carrier has responded and that you may file a formal complaint if you want to. THE CONTENT OF THE CARRIER'S RESPONSE MAY NOT BE REVIEWED BY FCC STAFF very carefully. One advantage to taking this route is that you get outside of the "normal" customer service channels. Such complaints are often "fielded" by the president's office. Your issue may have been hung-up (pun) by a person whose job depended on their not understanding you or on not responding to you. An informal complaint generally gets your issue out of limbo. I have also filed a Formal Complaint with the FCC with the help of an attorney. I won the formal complaint but it took much longer than the one year limitation the FCC has/had to clear complaints. (All the while interest was compounding, as ordered.) I have also made a request for declaratory ruling. In the last ten years the FCC seems to have lost much of it's reverence. About ten years ago Sprint got way out of control and introduced the industry to a new low standard of "accuracy". After many many complaints were filed the FCC "chided" Sprint but did not issue sanctions. Next came a monumental wave of slamming (from many carriers), along with thousands of complaints and the FCC ultimately allowed the industry to police itself with self imposed standards. We all know how successful that was in long-run. Now there are some penalties asessed for stuff like slamming but they seem to be low enough to make slamming be worthwhile. This creates more complaints and the machinery slows to a near halt. I should note that I am not an attorney and that all of my complaints were filed on behalf of clients and under my company name, only after repeated attempts and escalations to solve issues were made directly with the offending party. The Bill Correctors complaint/decision established guidelines for recieving credit for unanswered calls ;) . Anyone can file a complaint whether they have recieved monetary damages or not. BOB ------------------------------ From: mbl@mail.msen.com (Matthew B Landry) Subject: Re: The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse Date: 5 Sep 1996 18:41:14 GMT Organization: Flunkies for the Mike Conspiracy Our Beloved Moderator wrote: > all means, just because those people send out jillions of pieces of > unsolicited email every day and spam every newsgroup they can find, > that is no reason for anyone to go and wreck their secret clubhouse. Sarcasm duly noted. I believe the point of asking people not to "wreck their secret clubhouse" was simply that if we did so, they'd find a new "clubhouse" and it would be secret again. At least the way things are now, we can sit back and watch them, while they're deluded into thinking that their discussions are still closed off. Matthew Landry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone else also responded on this thread early Thursday morning and unfortunatly the item got lost in processing; otherwise I would run it here also. If the person will write again, I'll be glad to include it in this thread. PAT] ------------------------------ From: billsohl@planet.net (Bill Sohl) Subject: Re: Privatizing The Big Lie Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 17:52:49 GMT Organization: BL Enterprises dave@hptnoa02.grenoble.hp.com (dave) wrote: > In article The Old Bear > writes: >> A more rational approach would be to restructure the basic local loop >> between subscriber premises and the frame at the telco central office >> to digital facilities (over existing phyical media) and to grab >> digitized data (internet, video, home security, etc) there, at the CO >> end of the local loop, BEFORE it enters the switched portion of the >> network. Such digital data then would be handled on appropriate >> non-switched and routed facilities, while voice telephony, digitized >> between the customer premises and the central office, would be delivered >> to the telco switch and continue to be handled via the more appropriate >> switched network. > Instead of adding active equipment to the frame would it not be better > to do it on the line units of the switch. Is this not how > X.25 coming over the D or B channels is handled on 5ESS ISDN Line > units? The packet protocol is terminated on the line card which > avoids occupying valuable synchronous switching resources in the > connection modules. Does it not make economic sense to do a similar > thing with IP PPP/SLIP coming into a line unit on B channels. An IP > packet exchange processor could terminate the PPP/SLIP and forward IP > packets to an IP router function on suitably dimensioned digital > facilities. The packet protocol could be done today using an existing X.25 packet connection. It may not be that elegant, but it should work. In essence, you would simply use an X.25 packet call to an ISP and once that was established you'd have a virtual connection to the ISP. You'd just need a terminal adapter that accepted the ppp input data and then broke it up into X.25 packets. Bill Sohl (K2UNK) billsohl@planet.net Internet & Telecommunications Consultant/Instructor Budd Lake, New Jersey ------------------------------ From: Tim Ottinger Subject: Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 13:49:11 -0500 Organization: CSC Reply-To: tottinge@csci.csc.com > Some of your readers may be able to help me. I'm looking for a good > simple (if possible!) description of connection oriented and > connectionless data transfer. I believe in connectionless each packet > contains all the information it needs to traverse the network, where > as with connection oriented means that a 'logical' connection must be > first set up, data transfered and then the connection torn down. Really > I'm looking for some good examples I can latch on to. I can't quite > grasp how a 'logical' connection is set up. How do the packets get > routed? To be blunt, connectionless is "send and pray" and connection-mode is guaranteed delivery or you'll know about it. Or that's the way you should think about it, anyway. Basically, your telephone is connection-oriented. You connect up front, and you get 'uh-huh' every few minutes while you're talking. When the other person hangs up, you get a click and a buzz. A radio is connectionless. If nobody's listening, nobody hears you. If someone's listening, there's not a guarantee they heard everything you transmitted (they could drop out early, or drop in late). Did that help? Tim Ottinger, Sr Tech tottinge@csci.csc.com CSC Communications Industry Services 217-351-8508x2420 TRIS Division -- Cellular Billing and Support Fax 217-351-2640 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #463 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 17:52:23 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA15813; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 17:52:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 17:52:23 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609052152.RAA15813@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #464 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 17:52:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 464 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 4th Int'l Conf on Spoken Language Processing (Jim Polikoff) Attempted Slam by AT&T (Ross E. Mitchell) SWBT Splitting 214 (Guy J. Sherr) Re: Florida Leads Fights Against Phone Card Fraud (mexitech@netcom.com) Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (TELECOM Digest Editor) Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? (Andrew C. Green) Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (David Richards) Re: Help Me Replace my Watson Card With Something More Modern? (S Plichta) Re: North America Dialing (John Cropper) Re: Mitel SX-2000 Light Provisioning (Bill Garfield) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Matt Holdrege) Re: 48 V PC Power Supply (Glenn Wells) Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions (Marty Brenneis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: polikoff@asel.udel.edu (Jim Polikoff) Subject: 4th Int'l Conf on Spoken Language Processing Date: 5 Sep 1996 12:46:01 -0400 Organization: AI duPont Institute ICSLP 96 -- Update and Reminder Fourth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing ****** October 3-6, 1996 Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel Philadelphia, PA, USA ****** ICSLP 96 offers a strong and diverse program covering all aspects of spoken language processing. ICSLP 96 presents an opportunity to keep up with the latest research and developments as well as network among other speech professionals. Registration information, as well as other information about the conference, can be found on our WWW site at http://www.asel.udel.edu/icslp/. This site provides registration forms, information about hotel accomodations, airfare information, and general information about Philadelphia as well as listings of the full contents of the technical program. _____________________Registration Information______________________________ Full registration includes: Admission to technical sessions, Reception, Banquet, Proceedings (printed & CD-ROM) Limited registration includes: Admission to technical sessions, Reception, Proceedings on CD-ROM Early Registration fees: Member* Non-Member Student Full $425 $525 $250 Limited $300 $400 $150 Late registration: After July 1, add $60 After August 9, add $100 Additional Tickets: Banquet $60 Reception $50 Additional Proceedings: Printed $125 CD-ROM $15 * Sponsoring and Cooperating Organizations: University of Delaware Alfred I. duPont Institute The Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of Japan American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Australian Speech Science and Technology Association European Speech Communication Association IEEE Signal Processing Society Incorporated Canadian Acoustical Association International Phonetic Association Linguistic Society of America ICSLP 96 Contact Information ---------------------------- ICSLP 96 Applied Science & Engineering Laboratories A.I. duPont Institute P.O. Box 269 Wilmington, DE USA 19899 E-mail: ICSLP96@asel.udel.edu URL: http://www.asel.udel.edu/icslp/ Phone: +1-302-651-6830 TDD: +1-302-651-6834 Fax: +1-302-651-6895 ------------------------------ From: rem@world.std.com (Ross E Mitchell) Subject: Attempted Slam by AT&T Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 17:46:48 GMT Yesterday, I got a call that went something like this: AT&T: Hello, Mr. Mitchell. This is AT&T. I'm calling to give you a billing update. I want to let you know that from now on your AT&T bill will be a part of your local phone bill. Many customers were complaining about having to pay separate bills, so we've decided to have it put on your NYNEX bill. And, furthermore, because of the cost savings to us, we're going to give you a 20% discount on your next bills. ME: That's very interesting. AT&T: (after verifying my address to make sure the records were correct) I'll just transfer you over to our quality control people so they can make sure you're not inadvertently switched to another carrier, OK? ME: But, I'm not an AT&T customer. AT&T: ...click... ------Wow------ I hadn't expected the boiler room approach from AT&T. And the hang-up was instantaneous and premeditated; he didn't want me to get any further with his management. I'm sorry I didn't play along until I had "quality control" on the line. Unless they were in on the scam, they might have been able to weed out a bad apple. Regards, Ross ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 09:45:01 -0500 From: Guy J. Sherr Organization: Engineering Subject: SWBT Splitting 214 Local news announcements in Dallas and Fort Worth have been made. Southwestern Bell is splitting NPA 214 into NPA's 214 and 972. Chiefly, telephones in Dallas proper keep their 214 area code. Phones outside the city itself will be taking on area code 972. The split is effective 9/14. THERE IS NO PERMISSIVE DIALING PERIOD AS THE 214 NPA IS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. ------------------------------ From: mexitech@netcom.com (Patrick) Subject: Re: Florida Leads Fights Against Phone Card Fraud Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 20:38:32 GMT Tad Cook (tad@cascadia.ssc.com) wrote: > TALLAHASSEE--Sep. 4--The proliferation of pre-paid telephone cards has > made dialing from a pay phone as easy as the swipe of a magnetic > stripe. > With pre-paid phone cards, a customer pays a fee for a card that > enables the caller to use a pay phone for a limited amount of > time. Companies that issue the cards purchase time from phone > companies and resell it at a profit. > Occasionally, though, customers have found themselves holding > worthless cards. And in the hands of criminals, according to the > U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the cards are another means of > masking calls and covering trails. > "There are countless renegade companies that have no intention of > cooperating with any state regulation," said Kelly Pennington, a > special agent with the DEA in Miami. "Without some punitive action, > there is no incentive for those companies that are not complying to > start complying." > The PSC says "the large disparity" suggests there are many companies > avoiding regulation of any kind -- or taxation -- by the state. This is such a crock. Beginning with DEA, they believe every business is hiding some kind of drug deals. These guy's are mostly cowboys and now they want to jump into more regulation and whining about pay phones. Ridiculous. The second thing is, when is it new information that all governments want more money. That pay phone, and every thing about it is taxed unto death. It is just another attempt at grabbing the money. In real life, show me a company that isn't paying the taxes as stated for the operations they are doing and I will show you four "burro-crats" that aren't doing their jobs correctly. There is just about no industry in the world easier to get your taxes from than the utility service business. The audit trail is ad naseum! This is just another reporter, sitting around drinking a few with the local DEA and some low level official burro-crat making up an assenine story for the masses. It is a total crock. With cards such as Mondex and VISA CASH call, this is real money; don't these people keep up with technology? It was used at the Atlanta games and I don't see Georgia whining. AT&T, Nortel's Millenium, all of these have smart card interfaces. Is Florida going to say to their telecom industry, no, we only want rotary pay phones at Disneyworld. Yea, you betcha bucko! And lastly, this story reminds me of Capt. Midnight, back in the mid 80's it was claimed anybody could go down to Radio Shack and buy what was needed to attack HBO's satellite transponder. Every newspaper in the country carried the fall out. Like you could by a Klystron from Radio Shack. I was working in satellite at the time, and my boss asked me over lunch who I thought could acquire the technology. I even got the city right within four hours. Although not the name. Patrick mexitech@netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 17:00:00 EDT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas News on the television this afternoon is that the latest display of fury by Mother Nature in the form of Hurricane Fran is on the way to the coast of the Carolinas and is due to hit between about two a.m. and five a.m. Friday morning. Hopefully our readers in that part of the country will survive intact and write to us over the weekend with reports of damage to the telecommunications network. The resulting high winds and heavy rain are expected to also cause some havoc into areas of Virgina as well, but not nearly to the extent expected along the Carolina coast. FEMA is already on location; presumably restoration of damaged telecommunications services will commence early on. I'll publish what information I get on it over the weekend. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 17:20:00 EDT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking about their new cellular security technology. They claim that starting in October (and being phased out from that point through the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they make cellular calls. They're not saying *what* they have in mind to replace PIN's; only that their new system will be greatly superior. They mention that 'PINs may still be needed in some parts of the USA when our customers are roaming outside our own five state territory, but they'll be obsolete around here.' What do you suppose they have planned? PAT ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 09:44:32 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Cellular Phones: Analog v. Digital? JSeder@syntel.com writes: > The better phones store 100+ numbers, have a directory lookup function, > lock up, have authentication firmware (not yet used by the providers), If you are referring to new anti-cloning measures here, by coincidence there was an item on the news (NBC-TV 5) last night saying that Ameritech is announcing new security measures coming soon which will eliminate the need for a PIN number, something they only just _started_ within the past year. The details were sketchy, but based on what they said about not requiring new phones in order to implement the new security measures, I get the idea there's some tracking of individual phone characteristics or "fingerprints" involved. > I hope this is helpful and not too inaccurate. It has been said that > the fastest way to get good information on the Internet is to post bad > information. Let's see if that rule applies. Were that the case, someone would have shot me a long time ago. :-) Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell Organization: Ripco Internet BBS, Chicago Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 22:01:51 GMT In article , David Gadbois wrote: > Southwestern Bell has a service called "Positive ID" that lets you set > up access control lists so that only calls from certain numbers or > with a password are completed to a given trunk or number (the glossy > brochure isn't clear on this). It also can give you audit reports of > incoming calls. > This service seems like a good cheap way to restrict access to dial-in > modems. Does anyone have anything good/bad/ugly to say about it? How > does it interact with other features, especially call forwarding? > What are the risks involved versus other access restriction methods > such as Caller Line ID, dial-back systems, smart cards, or plain > vanilla passwords? It is Calling-Line ID, with the phone company doing Call Screening for you, the major advantage of this would be to prevent false denials caused by the CID information on the phone line being corrupted by line noise. Caller-ID is little better than the Internet 'identd' protocol as a means of screening, in that it only protects against casual attacks. There are several known methods of causing the telephone system to forward false CID information. ------------------------------ From: Scott Plichta Organization: Endeavor Technologies, Inc. Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 19:13:59 +0000 Subject: RE: Help Me Replace my Watson Card With Something More Modern? Reply-To: splichta@dca.net Good luck. I have been looking, but the software doesn't seem to be there! In case anyone has read about the new Sportster and would offer that as a suggestion: I bought the new Sportster Vi (voice internal) 33.6 modem. It comes with software which promises all that you have mentioned. First of all, it doesn't work under Windows NT and I haven't heard good things about it under Win95. The software is QuickLink Message Center by Smith Micro and is a serious liability to an, unfortunately , shaky product. The Sportster is having alot of problems, especially in the 32 bit world, and USR is way to overwhelmed to address the concerns through tech support. For anyone needing validation, look at the USRobotics Forum on CompuServe and try to find a positive message! They also claim to support distinctive ring, but it has no documentation and isn't supported by the QuickLink software. I have the Zoom V34i sitting here waiting to be installed as it has excellent support for distinctive ring (in the documentation), but the one I have doesn't have the voice support. Good luck. I hope you rsearch is more successful than mine has been! There are expensive Dialogic based solutions, but I think it is overkill (and, for me, overbudget). Please fill me in on any private responses that may be helpful. Scott Plichta Endeavor Technologies, Inc. Exton, PA 19341 ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com Subject: Re: North America Dialing Date: 4 Sep 1996 01:08:08 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 03, 1996 12:25:48 in article , 'effect@worldaccess.nl (Feico Nater)' wrote: > This must be a simple question to you North-Americans, but not to me. > My question is: how do you dial a number in North America? There is a "general rule", but it has many exceptions, depending on your location, and regional company. Dialing info for each NPA is being incorporated into the monthly NPA spreadsheet I distribute. When the data is completely compiled (later this month), I'll try extracting it, and see if I can make an 80-column version of it available as a post. John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: bubba@insync.net (Bill Garfield) Subject: Re: Mitel SX-2000 Light Provisioning Date: Wed, 04 Sep 1996 03:05:18 GMT Organization: Associated Technical Consultants In article woof@telecnnct.com (Andy Spitzer) writes: > A T1 connection from Bell Atlantic to our Mitel SX-2000 Light carries > DID trunks. Whenever an outside caller dials one of our DID numbers, > the cadence of the audible ring tone that the PBX generates is not the > USA normal "2 seconds of RING, followed by 4 seconds of SILENCE", but > instead is approximately of the form: > 1 second of RING > short gap of SILENCE > 1 second of RING > 3 seconds of SILENCE > The company that installed and provisions the PBX has spoken with > Mitel, and insists there is no way to change this cadence to 2 seconds > of RING, 4 seconds of silence. Your service organization is correct. There is no way to change this. MITEL "ringback tone" returned to the caller over the DID trunk uses a unique "European" cadence, ... Ring..Ring ..... Ring..Ring ... etc. It is well documented that certain low cost modems and fax machines of marginal design look only at the tone "cadencing" and not the actual tone frequencies, thereby misinterpreting MITEL D-I-D ringback as BUSY. This is a design defect of the modem or fax machine if it misinterprets the MITEL ricgback cadence as busy. As a point of information, the Rockwell predictive dialers in use by many telemarketing agencies will also misinterpret MITEL DID ringback as BUSY, resulting in the MITEL end-user complaining of incessant one-ringer/hangup calls, often at 10-20 minute intervals throughout the business day, often for weeks on end. Your LEC should be able to trace this through their Call Annoyance Bureau, though it takes patience on everyone's part. In the MITEL SMDR logs these specific calls will be noticeable by their duration, typically five seconds, and the ring duration field containing only * * * To provide -temporary- relief for the end user, build a class of service with a seven-second "DELAY RING" timer, and an 18-second CFNA timer. Then place the TARGETED set in a broadcast group (Superset key appearance on another set). Then edit the Multiline Set *Group* assignment form for the targeted extension and make the PRIME appearance a DELAY RING. Be sure to then visit the Change Attribute form to assign the "special" class of service to the set. Pain in the neck, I know, but it puts the fire out, especially when its happening in the executive wing. Been there, Done that. Bill Garfield MITEL-Certified SX2000S/SG COAM (self-maintained) ------------------------------ From: holdrege@eisner.decus.org (Matt Holdrege) Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Organization: DECUServe Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 20:33:00 GMT In article , billsohl@planet.net (Bill Sohl) writes: > If residential ISDN was affordably priced, then a D channel virtual > connection (X.25 packet) could be left up for indefinete time periods > without incurring usage costs except for incoming and outgoing email. > The X.25 connection wouldn't likly be cost effective for WEB access > (in either direction), but it could provide that instant email > reception at low cost. Telco's would love for us to use the D channel for things like email. That would leave the interoffice PSTN facilities untouched. We may see this type of usage next year. > Most internet traffic does not traverse the telco switched network > except in the local Intra-switch arena. Few people make long distance > calls for internet access and those that do pay long distance rates > for the time they are connected. I dial a local exchange number for > access to my ISP so the only resources being used is one intra-switch > connection. That's identical to what a teenager uses for a two hour > connection to their friend(s). It's the local inter-office trunks that are being ties up and it costs LEC's big bucks to add more trunks and more ports to their switches. > I live in a town with 20,000 plus population. At any one time I > really doubt that there is any more than a couple of hundred switch > connections used for internet access. That's in sharp contrast to the > volume of voice calls. Let's see. A couple hundred users divided by 24 ... let's say 8 T1's running to a POP in a nearby town. Maybe the AOL, or MSN (or whatever) POP is on a switch 50 miles away. So the Internet is taking up 8 T1's, 16 T1 switch ports, and repeaters along the way. That's a lot of hardware. It's also a lot to maintain and keep track of. Most importantly, it's a huge investment that the phone company didn't plan on making. The PSTN was built on the fact that on average, phone calls last three minutes. The Internet blows that out of the water. The RBOC's and GTE are run by bean counters. When the bean counters made their long range budget plans, they didn't have a clue of what impact the internet would have on their network. Now they don't have the budget to upgrade all those interoffice trunks. ------------------------------ From: GWells@kudonet.com (Glenn Wells) Subject: Re: 48 V PC Power Supply Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 18:52:06 GMT Organization: KudoNet On-Line Services In article Jeff Regan writes: > I am looking for a PC Power Supply that operates off of 48V DC Central > Office Battery instead of standard 120/208 VAC. IE: Instead of > plugging your PC into a standard electrical outlet, or UPS, run it off > a string of batteries. > It would need to generate all the required PC voltages (+/- 12V and > +5V I believe) with their respective current requirements (ie: what- > ever those are for a standard 230W power supply.) > It would also need to be a drop in replacement for the regular PC power > supply into a standard minitower or tower case. Why put a DC/DCconverter in your pc? Why not install a DC/AC inverter (48vdc / 115vac) and keep your regular AC supply. It will also reduce the noise associated with the DC/DC converter. Glenn Wells ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 19:13:26 PDT From: Marty Brenneis Subject: Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions JSeder@syntel.com wrote: > If someone in Boston dials my San Francisco cellular number, both they > AND I pay long distance charges (in addition to my $.75 airtime charge). > But -- someone in Boston can dial 617-633-7626, and at the tone dial > my San Francisco cellular number, and NEITHER of us will pay long > distance charges -- I pay the airtime charge, and that's it. Call your > Cellular One rep to get additional local access numbers. There is a new scam in Los Angeles, CA with the A side carrier. (LA Cellular) If the roamer has Follow Me Roaming (FMR) turned on you cannot access their phone thru the roamer port. You must call their home number and let the system route the call from their home. This means that if I am there with a friend and wish to call them, I must pay LD and air charges to home, then they must pay LD and air charges back to LA. I tested the system and found that if we turned off the FMR, the local roam port would work. The B carrier in LA (Airtouch) does not do this sort of game. The roam port always works. In San Francisco on the B carrier the roam ports even work for local phones. This means that friends in Santa Rosa can place a local call to the roam port and reach my phone rather than paying the toll charges to San Francisco where my cell number terminates. On a positive note for LA cellular I saw an ad that says they do not charge for cellphone to cellphone calling within their system. Marty 'The Droid' Brenneis droid@well.com Industrial Magician droid@kerner.com (415)258-2105 ~~~ KAE7616 - 462.700 - 162.2 ~~~ KC6YYP ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #464 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 18:57:03 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id SAA21630; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 18:57:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 18:57:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609052257.SAA21630@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #465 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 18:57:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 465 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (Felipe Rodriquez) Companies Dump Macs as Loyalists Lose Faith (Tad Cook) AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Tad Cook) ISDN D Channel For Low Bandwidth Net Acccess (Eric Smith) US-Mexican Data Communications (Steve Collins) Re: North America Dialing (Steve Hayes) Re: Another Assault on Privacy (Barry Margolin) Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer (Lars Poulsen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Date: 5 Sep 1996 18:20:22 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses Contact: Felipe Rodriquez (felipe@xs4all.nl) XS4ALL Internet BV (http://www.xs4all.nl) Postbus 1848 1000BV Amsterdam Fax: +31-20-6274498 GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL, WITH 3100 WEBPAGES German internet providers, joined in the Internet Content Taskforce (ICTF), started censoring the Dutch website www.xs4all.nl, containing 3100 personal and commercial homepages. This act of censorship is caused by the webpage of a magazine that is banned in Germany, Radikal (http://www.xs4all.nl/ ~tank/radikal/). A German prosecutor sent the following message to the ICTF (http://www.anwalt.de/ictf/p960901e.htm): "Under the following addresses in Internet: http://www.serve.com/spg/154/ http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal//154/ and using the link on page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/angela1/radilink.htm one can call up the entire edition of the pamphlet entitled "Radikal Nr. 154". Parts of this pamphlet justify preliminary suspicion of promoting a terrorist organization under ' 129a, Par.3 of the German Criminal Code, public condoning of criminal activities penalizable under ' 140 no.2 of the German Criminal Code and preliminary suspicion of inciting to criminal activity under ' 130a Par.1 of the German Criminal Code. The Public Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice has therefore initiated a criminal investigatory procedure against the parties disseminating this pamphlet. You are herewith informed that you may possibly make yourself subject to criminal prosecution for aiding and abetting criminal activities if you continue to allow these pages to be called up via your access points and network crosspoints." Providers in Germany are already blocking packets to and from the host www.xs4all.nl. The 3100 websites on this server include the Kurdistan Information Network (http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/), the very popular Internet Charts (http://www.xs4all.nl/~jojo/) and the world famous Chip Directory (http://www.xs4all.nl/~ganswijk/chipdir/). XS4ALL has not received any request from the German Government regarding the homepage of Radikal. Without any prior contact the German prosecutor decided that the XS4ALL website needs to be blocked for German Internet Users. XS4ALL is awaiting legal advice, and will investigate if legal procedures against the German government are possible. Censorship on Internet usually has the opposite effect. Internet users consider it a sport to publish censored materials. Many users have already published the Radikal website on other Internet hosts. Here are some of the URL's: http://burn.ucsd.edu/%7Eats/RADIKAL/ http://www.jca.or.jp/~taratta/mirror/radikal/ http://www.serve.com/~spg/ http://huizen.dds.nl/~radikal http://www.canucksoup.net/radikal/index.html http://www.ecn.org/radikal http://www.well.com/~declan/mirrors/ http://www.connix.com/~harry/radikal/index.htm http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal/index.htm Xs4all Internet will rotate the IP-numbering of the website www.xs4all.nl to ensure that it's 3100 userpages will all remain available for any internet-user. Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 pgp Key fingerprint = 32 36 C3 D9 02 42 79 C6 D1 9F 63 EB A7 30 8B 1A ------------------------------ Subject: Companies Dump Macs as Loyalists Lose Faith Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 14:37:29 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Companies Dump Macintosh Computers as Loyalists Lose Faith By ALEX MARKELS The Wall Street Journal "Buy a PC. They're cheaper. And the Mac is going to disappear." This bit of advice, from one computer shopper to another more trouble for the already-battered Apple Computer Inc. The shopper who dispensed the advice is Jeffrey Bade, a computer specialist at Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., and, more to the point, a decade-long devotee of Apple's Macintosh computer. Mr. Bade bought his first Mac while in college in 1984, subsequently became a Mac programmer and sang the machine's praises far and wide. "I was a real evangelist," he says. But when Dow Chemical pulled the plugs on its nearly 9,000 Macs last spring, Mr. Bade gave in, explaining: "It's just not worth fighting for anymore." Frustrated with a product that is no longer state-of-the-art, onetime Macintosh zealots like Mr. Bade are losing their religion. And as their employers seek to cut costs by limiting the computer systems they support, many of these devotees have stopped defending the computers they once persuaded their companies to buy. The result: Corporate users are dumping the Mac in droves. In March, Northern Telecom Ltd. said it would replace 30,000 Macs with "Wintel" machines, computers equipped with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and Intel Corp. microprocessors. Eli Lilly & Co. is weeding out 7,000 Macs. Ernst & Young will purge about 2,000 Macs by the fall, and Monsanto Co. will drop that many within a year. Numerous others, including big users like Pacific Telesis Group and KPMG Peat Marwick, are now reviewing their buying plans. It is an ironic turn of events for Apple, which used to brag about how Macintosh became popular in corporate offices only after fans sneaked the computers through the back door. Although business sales account for only about a third of Apple's revenue -- and thus are less important to the company than to rivals like Compaq Computer Corp. -- Apple's unit-based market share among large and medium-size U.S. businesses has fallen by about 50 percent since the third quarter of 1995, International Data Corp. reports. "We are obviously not happy" about corporate defections, admits Steven Angelo, a vice president for strategic marketing at Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif. But Mr. Angelo says that the Macintosh still has fervent corporate fans, especially among those who use it for graphics applications. Indeed, when Northern Telecom first announced its switch to Windows, "some people had a Big Mac Attack," says Bill Conner, an executive vice president who oversees computer networking there. Nevertheless, the Macs are going. Mac fans at Lilly also complained. "But we said, `Hey, you can't blame us for delays in their systems or the fact that if you walk into any computer store most of the software is for Windows, or for (Apple's) falling market share or their debt being downgraded," says Edward B. Tunstall, Lilly's chief information officer. "That shut people up pretty fast." The Mac's famously easy-to-operate system has long been a major selling point with corporate buyers, who consider the costs of training and supporting users. But with both Windows 95 and its more powerful cousin, Windows NT, employing a Mac-like screen format, Apple has lost much of its user-friendly edge. "Once NT came out (with the Windows 95 user interface), that was it," says Seth Gersch, chief administrative officer at Montgomery Securities Inc. in San Francisco, which recently dumped 1,100 Apple computers. An Apple enthusiast from the beginning, Mr. Gersch once persuaded his company to use Macs for its brokerage applications, arguing to his bosses that the Mac was like a Ferrari while International Business Machines Corp.'s PC was a Ford Model-T. "Now, it's the reverse," he says. Corporate users say the Macintosh crashes more often than Windows NT. Even worse, while programs for Wintel machines proliferate, software for the Macintosh has become less plentiful. Darren Starr, a computer consultant and self-proclaimed Mac fanatic who was among the first to install Apple computer networks in Silicon Valley businesses, says his eroding enchantment with the Mac ended altogether last month when the manufacturer of a key computer program for the Mac told him it would no longer sell or support the product. "I used to say that it didn't matter if there were more programs available for Windows machines, as long as there was at least one of what I needed running on the Mac," he says. "But now there isn't even that." At Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture-capital firm that financed Netscape Communications Corp., a conversion from Apple to Windows systems will be finished by next spring. Kleiner partner Kevin Compton, who spent years advising businesses to use the Mac, knew the tide had turned when he recently asked his children what computers they wanted in their bedrooms. "They said they wanted the same ones they had at school. So I asked them, `Which Mac is that?"' Mr. Compton recalls. "They said, `No, Dad, we use Windows."' It doesn't help Apple salesmen knocking on corporate doors that other high-profile Mac users are throwing in the towel. Stewart Alsop, a longtime Mac booster and widely published computer columnist, wrote his first story on a Windows computer in July. In giving up the Mac, he wrote in InfoWorld magazine, "the plain truth is that I am ... giving up what amounts to very little." Even Mike Boich has called it quits. In 1985, as Apple's original "evangelist," Mr. Boich set out to pique the interest of software developers. Now, "I'm sitting here typing on my Thinkpad," an IBM laptop, he says. "If I want the coolest applications the day they're released, or if I go surfing the Internet to download software, invariably it's Windows stuff that's available." Today, Mr. Boich is president and chief executive officer of Rendition Inc., Mountain View, Calif., which makes graphics chips for Intel-based computers. An evangelist-turned-pragmatist, he and his new company have declined to make comparable chips for Apple machines. As for his former disciples in corporations, he says, "I would imagine it's not a good career move to buy more Macs." ------------------------------ Subject: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 14:44:18 PDT From: tad@ssc.com AOL fed up with `spam'; On-line service to block junk e-mail By Janet Rae-Dupree Mercury News Staff Writer America Online Inc.'s users are fed up with junk e-mail and they're not going to tolerate it anymore. So the nation's largest on-line service announced Wednesday it will block messages from Internet sites that flood subscriber mailboxes with missives hawking everything from get-rich-quick schemes to fad diet plans. The bulk-mailed messages are known as "spams," a name based on the Monty Python comedy troupe routine about mindless offerings. "Spamming" has been a cyberspace issue for at least three years as new Internet users discovered their electronic mailbox was no more immune to unwanted advertising than their regular "snail mail" postal box. Compuserve and Prodigy, two of the nation's other major on-line services, already have begun blocking some bulk mail messages. But America Online is the first to wage open warfare on "spammers." Until now, the Internet community has tried vigilante spam justice; angry users fed up with junk mail have spammed back at the companies or individuals who provide a home base for the commercial bulk mailers or resorted to other, sometimes more drastic, electronic measures. "Receiving unsolicited junk e-mail is the No. 1 complaint we hear from our members," said Steve Case, AOL chairman and chief executive. "As the leader in this new medium, we believe the time has come ... to protect the interests of our members by limiting this annoying and inappropriate use of the medium." Oddly enough, cyberspace's self-proclaimed "Spam King" applauded AOL's decision. "I'm repentant. I've got religion. I see the light now and I'm done with the old way of spamming," said Jeff Slaton, who just last year bragged that for $425 he would broadcast any message any time to millions of people's e-mail accounts, whether they wanted it or not. "I think AOL is right on target," Slaton said. "The Internet is the Wild West with no laws and regulations and it's time now for the community, and that includes me, to start abiding by some code of conduct to avoid inevitable chaos." But Slaton does plan to send out one last spam from his new server, lightningbolt.com, on behalf of his new advertising company, IQ Internet. This last bulk message, scheduled to roll out in the next few weeks, will offer recipients a choice: Receive no further bulk-mail messages at all, designate what sort of advertising they would be interested in reading or give Slaton's company permission to send anything and everything. Readers who don't respond probably will get additional messages from Slaton's company, but he hasn't yet decided how to handle silent recipients. "There will be no need for AOL or anyone else to block us because we will be sending wanted mail," he said. The concept would be similar, he said, to the "no-mail" list maintained by the Direct Marketing Association, whose members honor written requests from people who do not want their postal box filled with paper junk mail. Internet sites to be blocked by AOL, however, cannot be rejected so easily. AOL did not release an exhaustive list of the sites it would block but included five examples of outfits that have "refused to work with AOL or have ignored requests to do so" -- cyberpromo.com , honeys.com , answerme.com , netfree.com and servint.com . Cyber Promotions Inc. of Philadelphia, which owns three of the domains, filed suit against American Online in April claiming that AOL's demands that it stop sending bulk mail was interfering with its business. "Maybe one of the reasons for their action is that AOL sees us as a competitive threat," Cyber Promotions President Sanford Wallace said. "Unlike the pop-up screens that AOL forces all its members to see before they can get into their accounts, we're a little more responsible in our position." AOL acknowledged that its plan is not perfect, because bulk mailers can quickly and inexpensively switch to new domain names. So AOL also plans to create a new feature that will let users filter out unwanted messages themselves. The only option now is either to click "ignore" on unwanted messages, delete them or forward them to AOL's terms-of-service department as part of a complaint. David Phillips, associate general counsel at AOL, said the company believes its 6 million subscribers will be pleased by the decision to block specific sites. "Could it potentially restrict a legitimate e-mail? Yes. Is that the price that members appear willing to pay to put a limit on the number of junk e-mails that they receive? I think overwhelmingly that's the case," he said. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 14:18:32 PDT From: Eric Smith Subject: ISDN D Channel For Low Bandwidth Net Access Bill Sohl wrote: > If residential ISDN was affordably priced, then a D channel virtual > connection (X.25 packet) could be left up for indefinete time periods > without incurring usage costs except for incoming and outgoing email. > The X.25 connection wouldn't likly be cost effective for WEB access > (in either direction), but it could provide that instant email > reception at low cost. This is a great idea. My on-demand ISDN currently brings up a B channel periodically for DNS serial number checks and various other things. I'd really like to keep occasional low-volume traffic on the D channel. This would also be useful for pinging my server. Presumably it would also have lower latency than dialing and circuit-switched B channel call, negotiating PPP, and authenticating. Ideally I think I would want to use PPP multilink, configured to keep the D channel link open at all times and bring up B channels on demand. Unfortunately the equipment I am using (Telebit NetBlazer LS) doesn't currently support use of the D channel for anything but signalling. Anyone know if the Bit Surfer Pro, Courier I-Modem, or Waverunner support D channel data? Cheers, Eric ------------------------------ From: stevec@epcorp.com (Steve Collins) Subject: US-Mexican Data Communications Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 13:44:19 GMT Organization: Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. Reply-To: stevec@epcorp.com Anyone have any tips on doing data comm between the US and Mexico? I probably would consider combining voice and data. Presently I have a small m-wave shot across the border. But I need to put in a more cohesive strategy as I move more production "south of the border". The favor of an email reply is requested. Any and all replies will in turn be replied to. If your name is not included in the body of the text, you are included on an informational basis. Steven Collins | Voice: (513) 629-2485 Data Communications Mgr. | Pager: (513) 629-2486 Eagle-Picher Industries | Fax: (513) 721-7126 Cincinnati, Ohio | 45202 USA | EMail: SteveC@epcorp.com ------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 96 07:00:58 EDT From: Steve Hayes <100112.606@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: North America Dialing Feico, As someone who lives in Britain but works a lot with the North American phone system, perhaps I can clarify some of the questions you've raised. First point to keep in mind is that, while European countries have dominant phone companies who have established pretty firm country-wide standards, things in North America are much less consistent. There are big variations between different phone companies, between states (state governments set many of the regulations) and even from one area to another for historical reasons. Second point is that traditionally, North American area codes cover large geographical areas. This means that calls from one number to another in the same area code may well be long distance. In contrast, British area codes (and Netherlands ones too, I expect) are geographically quite small and long distance charges depend only on the area codes of the calling and called parties. With area code splits in North America, some are now geographically small (as 212 always was) but there are still plenty of big ones around. A North American phone number consists of three chunks: a three digit area code, a three digit office code and a four digit subscriber number. I'll write this as (AAA) BBB-CCCC. The first digits of the area and office codes are never 0 or 1. At one time, the second digit of the area code was always 0 or 1 and the second digit of the office code was never 0 or 1 but this no longer applies. The charge for a call is based on distance, not on area codes. The distance is determined by looking at both the area code (AAA) and the office code (BBB) using the famous V&H tables. In many cases of course all the office codes in a distant area code will fall into the same distance charging band and will be charged at the same rate. Local calls to numbers in the same area code can always be dialed as seven digits (BBB-CCCC). In some cases where local numbers used to be shorter, they were padded out to seven digits by adding "absorb" digits at the start and locally you may still be able to dial the original shorter number. It used to be common with step-by-step. Does anyone know if this still happens? In many areas (depending on regulations, etc.) long distance calls must be dialed as 1+10 digits (1-AAA-BBB-CCCC), even if the called number is in the same area code as the caller. This alerts the caller to the fact that there may be a toll charge. In other areas, this is not required and long distance calls in the same area code can be dialed as seven digits only (BBB-CCCC). 1+7 digit dialing is no longer permitted. In some cases, a caller's local calling area will extend into one or more different area codes. Sometimes the system is set up to allow calls to these numbers to be dialed as ten digits only (AAA-BBB-CCCC). This can be done where AAA is not used as an office code in the caller's own area code (or perhaps where a call to that office code in the caller's own area code would be long distance and would have to be dialed as 1+10 digits -- does anyone know if there are cases of this?). Even where it can be done this way, it may not be and 1+10 digits may be required. There used to be a variation of this scheme known as "Community Dialing" where local calls to the nearby area code could be dialed as seven digits because either the office code was not used in the caller's own area code or it would be long distance and would have to be dialed as 1+. Does anyone know if there are still places where this is allowed? Except in these special cases, calls to a different area code must always be dialed as 1+10 digits. The system uses the 1+ to know to expect a ten digit number to follow. There has been a recent argument here in TELECOM Digest about whether local calls should be allowed to be dialed as 1+10 digits. There is no agreement about this. In some areas, these calls go through and are charged (or not charged) as local calls. In other areas, they may be disallowed or even charged as toll calls. In the preceding, I didn't point out that 1+ calls can also be dialed as 0+ (0-AAA-BBB-CCCC) to allow them to be charged to a calling card, collect/reverse charge or third party. There is no special procedure for dialing calls between countries within the NANP (country code 1). They will usually be dialed as 1+10 digits but some may even be local. The international access code to dial outside the NANP is 011 (or 010 for calling cards, etc.) So far as what is meant by "long-distance": it is a call which isn't "local". The simplest definition of a local call is that it is one which costs no more than a call to your neighbour. In many North American areas, unlimited local calls are included in the basic line rental charge (which tends to be higher than here in Britain where we pay high local call rates). In other areas there may be a small per-call or per-minute charge. In many cases, residential lines get unlimited local calls while business lines are charged for them. Local calling areas vary widely in size and shape. They are typically 8-15 miles (13-25 km) in radius but some are much larger. In many cases the user has a choice of paying a higher line rental in exchange for a larger local call area or lower local call charges. There may also be a grey area between local and long distance with extended or message-unit charging areas. This varies a great deal from place to place and is very confusing. Anyway, I hope that this doesn't leave you more confused than before. The basic rule is that, if it's possible, there will be somewhere where they do it that way! Steve Hayes, Swansea, UK, 100112.606@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Another Assault on Privacy Date: 3 Sep 1996 11:57:44 -0400 Organization: BBN Planet, Cambridge, MA In article , Babu Mengelepouti wrote: > Georgia H.B. 1630, enacted May, 1996: ... > The law makes it a crime to transmit any data that "uses any > individual name ... to falsely identify the person." The use of vanity > e-mail addresses or pseudonyms on computer networks is common practice, > and safeguards user privacy in sending and obtaining information online. > The law is certain to inhibit people from obtaining sensitive information > online. For example, an abused woman may be afraid to seek out online > information or help if she is forced to reveal her true identity. From the brief quote above, it doesn't seem like this law would prohibit use of pseudonyms or anonymous posting. It sounds to me like it's intended to prohibit people from identifying themselves as *someone else*, i.e. forging a posting from Bill Clinton or your boss. I'm not sure that a new statute is necessary for this, though; it seems like existing fraud laws should handle these situations well enough. > The law also makes it a crime to "use[] any ... trade name, > registered trademark, [or] logo" that would "falsely state or imply that > [the user] has permission or is legally authorized to use [it]." Since > the statute contains no standard for determining when a user has "falsely > implied" permission, it could prohibit web links to sites with trade names > or logos. Making a link to a site doesn't necessarily "use" the trademark, unless the text of the link contains the trademarked name. For instance, if the link says "Click here to go to another site" it doesn't use the trademark; on the other hand, if it says "Click here to go to the Sun Microsystems web page" it might imply permission. A disclaimor of association with Sun Microsystems might be sufficient to avoid the above clause; if the page has links to lots of sites a blanket disclaimor should be sufficient (this is commonly used in print media to avoid trademark problems). Barry Margolin BBN Planet, Cambridge, MA barmar@bbnplanet.com - Phone (617) 873-3126 - Fax (617) 873-6351 (BBN customers, please call (800) 632-7638 option 1 for support) ------------------------------ From: lars@anchor.RNS.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer Date: 5 Sep 1996 15:37:40 -0700 Organization: RNS / Meret Communications In article John Holland writes: > I'm looking for a ... description of connection oriented and > connectionless data transfer. I believe in connectionless each packet > contains all the information it needs to traverse the network, where > as with connection oriented means that a 'logical' connection must be > first set up, data transfered and then the connection torn down. Really > I'm looking for some good examples I can latch on to. I can't quite > grasp how a 'logical' connection is set up. How do the packets get > routed? Here are some samples of connection oriented networks: - X.25 - Frame Relay - Telephone - Telex And some examples of connectionless (packet) networks: - Internet - NetWare - Ethernet (with bridged-together segments) - and to some degree ATM Bear in mind, that in all networks, useful work is generally performed by two stations (end nodes) passing some amount of data back and forth, which software on those stations will see as: - establishing a logical connection - sending and receiving data on that connection - releasing the connection. The logical connection may be the opening of a file, or it may be a handshake with another program. It may even be a terminal logging in to a server computer. The difference between the connection-oriented network and the connectionless network is in whether all the network components between the two end nodes are aware of the connection, or not. In a connection oriented network, the connection request from the originating end node ("system A") is processed by software in the network switch closest to system A (let's call it "switch B"). This switch then creates in its own working memory a connection control block, and figures out which path through the network the data will take. It then reserves resources on that channel to carry the connection, and passes the call request to the next switch ("switch C") which also creates a connection block and finds the next switch in the chain. Eventually, the connection request is passed from "switch Y" to the destination end node ("system Z"). Now, when data is being passed from system A to system Z, each switch can easily track the data and pass it on. If a switch becomes in-operational, the connection will have to be re-established. In a connectionless network, system A knows that data leaving the local area needs to be passed to switch B; switch B receives the message, but is not particularly aware that this packet has special significance to the end nodes as a connection request packet ... it is just data addressed to system Z. Switch B consults its map of the network, and determines that the best current path to system Z goes via switch C. And so on. If a link or a switch becomes in-operational, the network repairs itself as soon as switches learn about the failed components and find an alternate route. In a richly connected net, this will usually allow the connection to survive. Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@RNS.COM RNS / Meret Communications Phone: +1-805-562-3158 7402 Hollister Avenue Telefax: +1-805-968-8256 Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Internets: designed and built while you wait ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #465 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 21:58:27 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA09872; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 21:58:27 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 21:58:27 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609060158.VAA09872@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #466 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 21:58:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 466 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson WUTCO Telex in the Late 1950's and Early 60's (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: North America Dialing (Linc Madison) Re: 414 NPA Residents Prefer Split to Overlay (James E. Bellaire) Re: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet (E. Castleman) Re: Technical Question on GSM (Henry Baker) Re: Technical Question on GSM (E. Robinson) Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons (Bob Knoll) Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (John Cropper) Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Robert Bulmash) Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud (Tom Olin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 18:26:50 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: WUTCO Telex in the Late 1950's and Early 60's I recently had a chance to look at some scattered 1950's and 60's back issues of the Western Union Technical Review at a local area library. This technical journal came out about four times a year. Individual issues weren't as large as the Bell System Technical Journal (now the AT&T Technical Journal) nor the Bell Laboratories Record (now AT&T Technology). And both of the Bell/AT&T journals had more issues per year than did the Western Union Technical Review. Incidently, does anyone know what will happen to the two AT&T journals, now that Lucent (formerly Western Electric, including Bell Labs) will be splitting off? The articles in the Western Union Technical Review weren't as 'theoretical' as the Bell journals, as the Western Union articles were more related to electronic telecommunications technology itself, rather than chemistry, physics or math theory. There were articles on Western Union's telegraphic facsimile service, private-line switched teletype networks for major corporations, data processing and communications, etc. By the later 1950's issues, there were articles devoted to a new public switched telegraphic service from Western Union ... Telex. While automated public switched Telex service had been available in Europe and other parts of the world going back to the 1930's, it was not introduced in North America until the mid-to-late 1950's. AT&T (Bell) did have TWX service in the continental USA since 1931, but it was (until mid-1962) a *manually* switched public teletype service, handled by cordboard operators. Around 1956, CN Telegraphs (a division of Canadian National Railways) introduced public switched/dial Telex service. Two years later, in 1958, the Western Union Telegraph Company began Telex service in the USA. The first WUTCO Telex exchange was in the New York City area. It was basically a step-by-step tributary exchange off of the CNT Montreal step-by-step Telex exchange. Around 1960, WUTCO had established more Telex exchanges in the continental USA, and increased traffic due to the popularity of the service caused WUTCO to do some reconfiguration of their US Telex network switch homing and hierarchy. A 1962 article on the Telex network in WU Technical Review was about the new model 32 teletypewriter machine being introduced in Telex service. Teletype Corporation (a subsidiary of the AT&T/Bell's Western Electric) manufactured these machines. The article also describes how Western Union's Telex service was fully integrated with the Canadian Telex network for 'seamless' transmission of messages, and also that the US Telex network had gateways with Mexico's Telex network. Further articles in the 1960's began to cover data processing and computers. There were some articles on ASCII code. One article on ASCII and the Teletype Corp. model 33 and 35 machines (the ones used by 8-level 110-speed TWX service) mentioned that some Western Union private teletype networks might be using ASCII code with model 33/35 machines, but that the basic public Telex network would continue to use 5-level Baudot at 66-speed. There is an article in a mid-1960's issue regarding Western Union's new computer-enhanced Telex service, to later be known as Infomaster. This was a store-and-forward system which could receive and store Telex messages for later retransmission, transmit a message to multiple parties, etc. One of the features of this new WUTCO computer system was to be able for a Telex subscriber to send a message to an AT&T TWX subscriber! When the computer received instructions that the number to deliver the message text to was a TWX subscriber, it would punch out the entire text on 5-level paper tape. An attendent would tear the tape off of the tape punch, and then retransmit the tape, originating the message over a '3-row' (Baudot 5-level) older TWX machine (those TWX machines which used their own geographic *telephone* area codes). The Telex originated message to a TWX subscriber could also go to a '4-row' (ASCII 8-level) TWX machine, as the WUTCO attendent would retransmit their received 5-level Telex tape over a '3-row' TWX machine, but was able to dial the '4-row' TWX customer which had a special 4-row 'N10' TWX area code. While this method of tearing off a physical punched tape and then manually retransmitting it might seem primitive, WUTCO's new computer system did allow such formatting for the customer to indicate various types and formats of messages and a capability to transmit from Telex to TWX. In many ways, this could be the beginning of 'email' service, as there was some form of effort made to interconnecting two differently owned (and competing) networks, each with its own different character sets. And even though TWX did have a 5-level code (the older '3-row' TWX), some of its symbols characters weren't the same as 5-level code for symbols characters used in Telex. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: North America Dialing Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 09:54:48 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , effect@worldaccess.nl (Feico Nater) wrote: > This must be a simple question to you North-Americans, but not to me. > My question is: how do you dial a number in North America? > First, let me explain how this is in my country. > In my country, the Netherlands, everyone has two numbers: an area code > and a subscriber's number. An area code is (since last year) three or > four digits, and its first digit is zero. A subscriber's number is > (since last year) seven or six digits, and its first digit is never > zero. Together, area code and subscriber's number have ten digits. > Area codes are non-conflicting. That means that, if 023 is a valid > area code, there are no four-digit area codes which begin with 023. > This is unlike Britain where area codes may be conflicting, and the > first digit of the subscriber's number gives more information. Your description of UK area codes is incorrect. They are also non- conflicting. The only previously-existing examples of conflicts were situations where, for example, 0234 was the neighborhood for a medium- sized town, and 02345 was an immediately adjacent small town. However, in Britain today, all area codes are either four digits (0171) or five digits (01222). The total number of digits is 11, if you include the initial zero. > Area codes are published including the initial zero, but officially, > this zero does not belong to the area code. When calling from abroad, > this zero must not be dialed. That is because the zero is not actually part of the area code, from the technical point of view. It is simply an indicator that an area code follows. > So far the situation in the Netherlands. Now for North America. > An area code is three digits, and a (what do you call it?) is seven > digits. The middle digit of an area code is 0 or 1 (I don't know > why). It used to be true that the middle digit of an area code was always 0 or 1, and the second digit of a seven-digit local number was *never* 0 or 1. The reason was that this allowed switches to tell by looking at the first three significant digits whether the call was in the same area code or a distant one. The reasons for this system have origins in major technical differences in the way that signalling and switching are performed in the North American telephone network, compared with the European network. > What exactly does 'long distance' mean? Is it the same as a call to > another area? In the old days (pre-1984), "long distance" meant any call outside the immediate local area. In many areas, all local calls were included in the basic monthly charge, so a "long distance" call was any that incurred a per-minute charge. (Many areas now have charges for local calls, including sometimes on a per-minute basis.) In the post-1984 era (1984 is the date of the breakup of the AT&T monopoly, not a reference to George Orwell), "long distance" has gotten somewhat more confusing. The United States is divided into "LATAs" (Local Access and Transport Areas). A toll call within the same LATA -- similar to a toll call to an adjacent local region in the Netherlands -- is handled by the local telephone company (although this monopoly is now being relaxed in many areas). Any call outside your LATA must be handled by a long-distance company (AT&T, MCI, Sprint, LDDS, etc.), although the local telephone companies (Pacific Bell, BellSouth, Ameritech, NYNEX, etc.) are now approaching the point of being allowed to sell "long distance" (outside of the subscriber's LATA). > To dial to another area, one dials all ten digits, preceded by 1. Is > that always right? So the first digit of a subscriber's number is > never 1. Correct? To dial to the same area, one dials just the seven > digits. Is that right? Someone told me that if the first three > digits of the subscriber's number are equal, it is sufficient to dial > only the last four digits. Is that correct? And if so, how does the CO > know whether you are going to dial four or seven digits? Calling from the USA to any point in the North American Numbering Plan (USA, Canada, and several Caribbean countries and territories) the dialing sequence proceeds as follows: (1) optional special codes, such as *67/*82 to suppress/enable transmission of your number to the other person's Caller ID box, *70 to disable call waiting, etc. (2) optional carrier code, if you want to use a long-distance company other than your default carrier. For example, 10288 for AT&T, 10222 for MCI. (3) '1' if the call is direct-dialed, '0' if the call is operator-assisted (collect/reverse charges, person-to-person, charge to a telephone calling card, or bill to a third number). In either case, you dial the destination number as below. (4) the three-digit area code and seven-digit local number. It used to be possible to dial just 1+NNX-XXXX for a long-distance call within your own area code, but this dialing sequence is now prohibited, because there could be a conflict between 1-334-2345 and 1-334-234-5678. (334 is now the area code for half of the state of Alabama, but the rest of the example is fictional.) > How does one dial from Canada to USA vice versa? Is it just as if they > are one country? Dialing from the US to Canada is as shown above. Dialing from Canada to the US and to the Caribbean is very similar, but you omit step 2, and some of the codes in step 1 may be different. Dialing from points in the Caribbean part of the NANP may differ from island to island, but in all cases a distinction is made between dialing within the NANP and dialing outside. > What is the price of a phone call? One significant difference between the way calls are priced in the US and the way they are often priced in Europe is that the price is always quoted in cents per fixed time unit, rather than seconds per fixed cost unit. In most cases, the time unit is one minute, but some companies bill in units of one-tenth minute (6 seconds). The price also depends dramatically on whether or not the call crosses a state line. It may be much more expensive to call a community 500 km away in the same state than to call something 5000 km away on the other side of the country, but it varies from state to state. The price also depends on the time of day and on the discount plan you choose from your long-distance company, and on the volume of calls you make. To some extent, the cost often depends on distance, with "rate bands" of, for example, 0-11 miles, 12-25 miles, 25-100, 100-500, 500-1000, 1000-3000, and 3000+. The prices to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and the Caribbean may be handled differently, with their own rate schedules and international tariffs (except AK and HI), even though they are not dialed like other int'l calls. The price of one minute of long-distance during peak day rates is generally around $0.25 to $0.35; in off-peak, it is generally about $0.10 to $0.15, but those are only "ballpark" estimates. Rates to Caribbean countries may be around $1/minute, which is often more expensive than calling to the Netherlands. Many long-distance companies offer special discount plans to callers who make many international calls, though. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 Sep 96 13:23 EST From: James E. Bellaire Organization: Twin Kings Subject: Re: 414 NPA Residents Prefer Split to Overlay Tad Cook forwarded: > Since 1995, 30 new area codes have been added in the United States as > explosive growth in telecommunications has mandated the need for more > and more phone numbers. Of those 30 new area codes, 28 opted for the > geographic split. The latest estimates show that Wisconsin will run > out of phone numbers by the first quarter of 1998. Actually some of those 28 opted for an overlay and the courts forced the geographic splits. Complaints by cellular and potential competitive phone companies spawned the court's decisions. > On one side is Ameritech, MCI Corp. and other traditional phone > companies that want the 414 calling area split because they believe > that is what their customers want. > On the other side are pager and cellular companies -- though not > Ameritech's cellular unit -- who are in favor of an overlay. That's > because with a geographic split, cell phone users would have to come > into a store and have their phones reprogrammed. Overlays must not be discriminating against cellular anymore if Ameritech wants them. Amazing how the phone company changes its position when it suits them. Maybe Ameritech managers should go into politics ... :) > Among residential customers, 69 percent said they preferred a > geographic split while 26 percent supported the overlay plan. Among > business customers, 77 percent preferred the geographic split while 20 > percent were in favor of an overlay plan. In both cases, the rest were > undecided. Nice to see that customers are actually understanding the difference. > Atlanta-based BellSouth Cellular Corp., which has pushed for the > overlay, said the survey was biased in favor of the geographic > split. The company operates the Cellular One franchise in southern > Wisconsin. The same BellSouth / Cell One that operates in Chicago and refused an overlay? Nice to see that both cell operators can't make up their minds. James E. Bellaire (JEB6) bellaire@tk.com WebPage available 23.5 hrs a day http://user.holli.com/~bellaire [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jim, your error here is that it is not BellSouth ... it is Southwestern Bell which d/b/a/ Cellular One in the Chicago market in competition to Ameritech. They are the 'A' carrier here in competition to Ameritech. When you go down to St. Louis however, then it is flipped around: Ameritech becomes the 'A' carrier competing against Southwestern Bell Mobility, the 'landline' or 'B' carrier. The BellSouth people are on the other side of the continent essentially. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ecastle@mindspring.com Subject: Re: MCI Advertising as ISDN ISP, But Doesn't Have it Yet Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 20:20:44 GMT Organization: MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. Reply-To: ecastle@mindspring.com JHamilton@Bridge.BellSouth.Com (Justin Hamilton) wrote: > To order internetMCI Access please call 1-800-550-0927. > So I did, and the rep, whose name I didn't get (sorry), told me that > they did not support ISDN and, although they will, she did not know > when. > Why do companies like MCI do this? I used to work for MCI, and must say that it's difficult for such a large communications company to offer a service like ISDN Internet access though a mass market channel. It's not an excuse, but a partial explanation of why such conflicting messages are sent. I know MCI has intended to offer ISDN service for quite a while, and perhaps it was rolled out before the customer service reps could be trained appropriately. Or perhaps it still isn't available but they're getting your attention ... > Oh well ... > If anyone has any good ISDN ISP's they can recommend, I would > appreciate it much ... 8) I find it interesting that you are a MindSpring customer and looking for information regarding ISDN ISPs. If you're in Birmingham, MindSpring currently offers 64kbps ISDN service, and will offer 128 shortly. If you're not in Birmingham, you should be aware that in two weeks, MindSpring will begin offering ISDN access in nearly 300 POPs nationwide. I'd expect that you are quite familiar with such MindSpring service facts, since you're a member of B.U.G. and even include the #1 Ranking pitch in your signature! Just making sure ... ;> Elizabeth Castleman MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. http://www.mindspring.com 404.815.0770 ------------------------------ From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker) Subject: Re: Technical Question on GSM Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 16:53:01 GMT In article , alkamman@slip.net wrote: > When we use the GSM phone with a GSM card the GSM network does only > record the GSM card data or also the serial number of the telephone we > are using? > In other words: > Does the network notice that I am using my GSM card on my friend's > Siemens instead of on my own Philips? According to a report I found on the internet: "Overview of the Global System for Mobile Communications", (jscourias@neumann.uwaterloo.ca), GSM has several databases, including "HLR" (Home Location Register), "VLR" (Visitor Location Register), "EIR" (Equipment Identity Register) and "IMEI" (International Mobile Equipment Identity). "An IMEI is marked as invalid if it has been reported as stolen or is not type approved". So, I would say that the network _does_ notice which phone you use your SIM card on, but whether it "records" it or not in any kind of a permanent record is probably up to the service provider. ------------------------------ Date: 05 Sep 96 18:03:11 EDT From: erobinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Technical Question on GSM No reason for the GSM network to care what phone you use. So, no it doesn't pay attention to your phone, and can't know whether you are using the one you bought orginally, or another one. Some of the better GSM phones offer an optional password to prevent use of the phone in case another GSM sim is used, until the proper password is given when the new sim is mounted in the phone. This means that if your phone is stolen, it can't be used by someone else with another GSM account. -er ------------------------------ From: BKnoll123@aol.com Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 15:38:42 -0400 Subject: Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons Please excuse my ignorance as to the difference between a jail and a prison. Is there a legal difference, or is it a matter of semantics? My question: If someone is arrested (and allowed to make one call?), would a toll free number work from the place that a person is first taken to by the police? The scenario would be if either a bail bond company or an attorney had a toll free number. I invite all responses, even direct ones to me. (no spam, and hold the mustard please.) BKnoll123@aol.com Bob Knoll [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A 'jail' is a place where persons who are awaiting trial are held and persons who have been convicted of minor crimes -- generally in violation of local ordinances or petty misdemeanor crimes are confined. Confinement is for not more than one year and typically a much shorter period of time. In Illinois for example, a misdemeanor crime cannot have more than one year in confinement and (the more serious) felony crime cannot have less than one year plus one day in confinement. A 'prison' on the other hand is a place for the confinement of persons on a longer term basis -- one or more years -- and generally involves state-level or federal-level crimes. The terms 'prison', 'penitentiary' and 'correctional center' are used interchangeably with the second term going back to the 18th century when it was assumed after a period of time the person confined would become penitent and the third term being an invention of the last half of this century by the federal government in an effort to play games with words and show that the person confined had eventually been corrected in his behavior. All those terms including 'jail' get blurred together sometimes, but a jail is typically for short term confinement and a prison is for long term confinement. As far as police officers are concerned, once you have been arrested you become a 'prisoner'; they make no distinction as to the facility where you will be confined, tortured, sexually assualted and otherwise left to rot. Why should they worry about it? A 'free' phone call is defined as a call *you* do not have to pay for. No one ever said the government has to pay for it either. Your parents or a friend (no doubt some other scumbag like yourself) can pay for it. The administrative phones at the police station are capable of calling an 800 number I am sure; but like toilet facilities for prisoners at the local police station they are as often as not 'out of order' and unable to be used. So they are not going to deprive you of your liberal-judge-at-the-Supreme-Court rights; certainly you can make your phone call when you get to the jail; no doubt they also have a restroom you can use. The fact that you may be in police custody several hours or an entire day "... because NCIC is down, and it may be several more hours before we get your prints back ..." is not relevant. No one is denying you anything. They just have to follow administrivia. Remember, the Supreme Court outlawed police officers torturing people (although it still happens a lot in Chicago and Skokie to name but two examples) but one thing the court did not outlaw was administrivia! So to anwer your question, yes the police station phones can call 800 numbers if you are allowed to use one. PAT] ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Date: 05 Sep 1996 17:44:48 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Aug 30, 1996 13:14:43 in article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to 'Jim Hurley ': >> [TELECOM Digest Editior's Note: Quite a routine, isn't it? "Even though >> we commit a crime (in this case, fraud) the court cannot touch us because >> we have tariffs ...". And I can tell you right now if you ever think you >> are going to get in touch with Robin Loyed, you can forget it. He does >> not accept phone calls, in fact he dodges them. > How about calling Whoopi Goldberg? :) Errr, Jim, Whoopi is spokesperson for MCI, not Sprint ... You want "The Dime Lady", AKA Candice Bergen... :-) John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Sep 96 10:37:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Organization: Excelsior Computer Services >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: >> The only advice I can give you is that if you -- and other users of >> Sprint -- do not have a *total, complete freeze* on all accounts payable >> the company alleges are due to them, then you should have. Do not pay > I tried this, but my Sprint bills are billed through my local telco, > and my telco sent me a disconnect notice. I can't afford to have my > business number disconnected. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here is good news for you. Your local > telephone service *can not be disconnected* for failure to pay the > long distance portion (when the long distance carrier is another > company). That is an FCC regulation going back to earlier this year > or maybe last year. It was ruled that was primarily as a way to Yes. I read that here several months ago. But, nonetheless, I did receive a disconnect notice from Bell Atlantic, even after I told them the charges were in dispute. They told me that after 30 days, it didn't matter, and that if Sprint didn't tell Ball Atlantic that they would refund the money, I was liable for it. Future inquiries I sent were ignored, and I came within one day of having my service cut off. I had told Bell Atlantic that as soon as they sent me a fax stating clearly that I was required to pay disputed charges, I would pay them. They ignored my request. I finally reached someone fairly high up, who understood my point, and, basically, agreed to do me a favor. The matter is still pending. The bottom line is, sadly, the law is irrelevent here unless you have the resources to sue ex-post-facto. In the short run, if you fight the big LD carriers, you'll lose your service. Joel (joel@exc.com) ------------------------------ From: prvtctzn@aol.com (Prvt Ctzn) Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Date: 05 Sep 1996 10:52:36 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: People have tried to sue famous people > for advertising endorsements they made on behalf of companies but those > cases always lose. The courts say the famous person was simply being > employed to make those claims, etc. PAT] About three years ago Lloyd Bridges (Mike Nelson of Sea Hunt) was sued for his promotion of an an investment firm named `Olde' . I believe he had to pay up. Robert Bulmash Private Citizen, Inc. http://webmill.com/prvtctzn/home ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 08:56:22 -0400 From: Tom Olin Subject: Re: Another Victim of Sprint's Free Friday Fraud Reply-To: tro@partech.com > How about calling Whoopi Goldberg? :) At the least, this would be interesting, since she pitches for MCI. Tom Olin Telephone: +1 315 738 0600 ext. 638 PAR Government Systems Corporation FAX: +1 315 738 8304 8383 Seneca Turnpike E-mail: tom_olin@partech.com New Hartford, NY 13413-4991 WWW: http://www.partech.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #466 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 23:01:19 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA16928; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:01:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:01:19 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609060301.XAA16928@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #467 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 23:01:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 467 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: How to Determine Current LD Provider (John Cropper) Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions (Yigal Arens) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (grendel6@ix.netcom.com) Re: SWBT Splitting 214 (John Cropper) Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order (The Old Bear) Re: Telecommunications Dictionaries on the Web (Stephen Geis) Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer (Jack Perdue) Re: Channel Bank With ACD? (Joe Polito) Re: TCI Adds Phone, Net, Security Services (mexitech@netcom.com) Re: Interesting Patent Question (Dan J. Declerck) Re: DFW Dialing (was End of Permissive Dialing in 954) (John R. Levine) Re: DFW Dialing (was End of Permissive Dialing in 954) (Al Varney) Re: Privatizing The Big Lie (Al Varney) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: How to Determine Current LD Provider Date: 5 Sep 1996 22:06:21 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 04, 1996 17:31:53 in article , 'bob@cis.ysu.edu (Bob Hogue)' wrote: > I understand that the local provider can be requested (in writing, I > believe?) not to switch LD providers without consent, but I think this > dial-up service would be good as a periodic double-check. You can do what is called a "PIC code freeze" with a simple telephone call to most LECs. This supposedly prevents unauthorized changes of your LD provider without written consent, but some unscrupulous providers (coughHEARTLINEcough) have had cases of their agents actually *forging* signatures to slam customers. The 700-555-4141 (or 1212) number Pat provided is the best method, and I recommend (and have personally done) both. John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) Subject: Re: Confusing Cellular Promotions Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 17:32:43 -0700 Organization: USC/Information Sciences Institute Marty Brenneis wrote: > On a positive note for LA cellular I saw an ad that says they do not > charge for cellphone to cellphone calling within their system. I'm quite sure this is not the case. I'm an LA Cellular subscriber, so I would have noticed ... LA Cellular did have a promotion a while back, where for a one time fee of about $30 you could get twelve months of up to 240 minutes a month free airtime on cellular-to-cellular calls. This required a new contract, or a renewal. This promotion ended after a relatively short time. I was told by an LA Cellular rep -- who may or may not have been well-informed -- that they figured they were losing money on it. I do know that at the time, my wife bought a cell phone, we both picked up that deal, and the bills for both our phones combined are now roughly half(!) what the bill was for my phone alone before. Obviously, most of the calls I was making and receiving before that were to her. Yigal Arens USC/ISI arens@isi.edu http://www.isi.edu/sims/arens ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 00:52:27 GMT Organization: Netcom In comp.dcom.telecom (a few days back), I asked why: Comcast/Metrophone (Philadelphia Metro "A" side carrier) charges LD on *any* out of the area roaming call. For example, if I am in Baltimore (where I frequently travel) and I call a Baltimore local number, I pay: .99 / minute roaming charge A N D long distance from Baltimore to Philadelphia WHYZAT ? ... and Roamer1@pobox.com (known to his friends as SCline@usit.net) said: > If you are in Baltimore and call BALTIMORE (not Philadelphia). This > makes no sense at all, since your call is NOT going from C1/SBC's > Balto-DC switch, to Comcast in Philly, back to Baltimore in any way. > The call goes directly from C1 Balto's switch to the number you are > calling (if local.) > It is possible that Comcast is "surcharging" roaming calls, in lieu of > a daily fee, but I doubt that's the case. Or the "toll" charge is > actually an interconnect fee imposed by C1/Balto-DC, showing up as > "toll." Why this would appear on the "local" portion of your bill, > rather than with roamer charges, is not clear to me. ... to which I say: That's interesting. I merely assumed that the items showing up in the "toll" column of my bill (in the "roaming" section, though) *were* toll charges (understandably, I'd think) and I never checked the rates to see if the amounts look like proper LD charges (though that's clearly not a science, either). If they're some kind of weirdo "access" or "interconnect" charge, that would make sense, but it would have been nice of Comcast to *tell* me, since it's nowhere in their literature or my contract. Does anyone know of someone who resells in the Philadelphia metro market who's worth switching to ? Listening to PAT rave on about Frontier is -- almost -- enough to get me to move to Ameritech-land. Being able to switch without a cancellation fee would be a plus. Bill ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: SWBT Splitting 214 Date: 6 Sep 1996 01:14:08 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 05, 1996 09:45:01 in article , 'Guy J. Sherr ' wrote: > Local news announcements in Dallas and Fort Worth have been made. > Southwestern Bell is splitting NPA 214 into NPA's 214 and 972. Chiefly, > telephones in Dallas proper keep their 214 area code. Phones outside > the city itself will be taking on area code 972. > The split is effective 9/14. THERE IS NO PERMISSIVE DIALING PERIOD AS > THE 214 NPA IS COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. Well, yes and no ... The traditional "permissive dialing period" in the case of 214 will be used solely as "pre-recorded re-direction to 972". That is if you have a soon-to-be 972 number, anyone dialing your 214 number after 9/14 will get a recording telling them to re-dial using 972. 214 still has about 60,000 numbers scattered throughout, and will exhaust those within the quarter after the cutaway. After that, they will begin reassigning prefixes, probably as early as November 1, on a selective basis. The "really bad news" is that 972 will probably exhaust (going into the split with nearly 500 of the 770+ prefixes), as early as 3Q99 (about a year before 847 is due to exhaust). 214 may last until 4Q2002, if that ... John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 20:25:43 GMT From: The Old Bear Subject: Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order On Fri, 30 Aug 1996 Mike King quoted BellSouth: > "BellSouth has concluded that the FCC has gone far beyond the intent of > Congress with this massive order, which displaces private negotiations > and usurps the states' authority to bring competition to the local > marketplace. > "For this reason, BellSouth will appeal the FCC's August interconnection > order and will ask the court for an expedited hearing. We do so for the > following reasons: > -- The states should be in charge of the framework for establishing local > telephone competition by overseeing the negotiations of competitors in > their communities. But the FCC has imposed an elaborate set of federal > rules on the states without any regard to local needs and conditions. > The FCC has vastly exceeded its jurisdiction, as well as the intent > of Congress, in implementing Section 251 of the Communications Act of > 1996. This kind of goes in the opposite direction of what the Federal court recently determined concerning the regulatory powers of the state in Massachusetts. (Even though that matter was video dial-tone, the question of state regulation vs. federal deregulation was the same.) Please see the following press release: --------begin included text--------- New Telecom Company First Competitor To Challenge Nynex, Cablevision in Boston RCN Launches Unique Integration of Residential Voice, Video, Internet Services BOSTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first true challenge to phone and cable monopolies in Boston, RCN, Inc. announced today it has begun offering competitive local and long-distance telephone service, video programming and Internet access to residents in the greater metropolitan Boston area. RCN, which last week announced a plan to merge with C-TEC Corporation (Nasdaq: CTEX, CTEXB) of Princeton, is utilizing the extensive fiber-optic network of MFS Communications Company, Inc. (MFS) (Nasdaq: MFST) as its primary distribution vehicle. RCN will offer a wide array of telecommunications services in major metropolitan areas to residents of multiple dwelling units such as apartment, cooperative and condominium complexes, as well as hospitals, hotels and universities. Earlier this month, RCN announced a similar service offering in New York City and a national rollout of urban telecommunications systems, initially focused on Northeastern metropolitan areas. "We're launching our service in Boston and New York City, and rolling it out to other Northeastern cities, because phone and cable rates in this area are higher, and customer service is poorer, than in any other region in the country," said Boston native David C. McCourt, chairman and CEO of C-TEC. "These residents have, for decades, been captive customers of the incumbent phone and cable monopolies," McCourt continued. "Our package of high-quality, innovative services at lower costs, combined with superior customer care, will make us a strong competitor in the emerging market for integrated communications services. Many companies are talking about offering these services at some future date, but we're actually doing it and we're already serving customers right here in Boston." By the end of this month, the company will be providing telephone, video and data services in approximately two dozen buildings in the downtown Boston area. In addition, approximately 250,000 additional subscribers live within one mile of the MFS network utilized by RCN that extends from the downtown area to Cambridge and surrounding suburbs. "The important alliance we're developing with RCN will be beneficial to both our companies as well as residential customers in major urban markets," said James Q. Crowe, chairman and CEO of MFS. "We're pleased that RCN will be able to use bandwidth on our advanced fiber network to provide a broad range of services to customers." RCN is offering subscribers video programming at rates below those of Cablevision, local telephone rates that are below those of Nynex and long-distance rates that are below those of the major long-distance carriers. In addition, the company will be offering substantial discounts, up to 33 percent, for those video customers who also subscribe to the local phone service. The company also announced the opening of a high-tech corporate office at 419 Boylston Street in Boston, where potential customers can sample the services and experience RCN's vision of the future of communications. FCC Order, Court Ruling Favorable to RCN The company's announcement comes in the wake of two recent favorable rulings by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a ruling by the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. The FCC's recently announced interconnection and number portability orders will facilitate competition in the local phone market and "will be of great benefit to the urban residential customers RCN is serving," said McCourt. "The orders are significant because it will allow us to more easily negotiate fair and equitable access agreements with local exchange carriers in major metropolitan areas throughout the country and allow customers to keep their telephone number when they switch to RCN," McCourt said. The decision late last month by the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts concurs with RCN's position that the FCC has jurisdiction over RCN's video dialtone (VDT) service. The ruling resolves the uncertainty which Cablevision had raised as to RCN's authority to offer competitive video services in Boston. The Court denied the Massachusetts Cable Television Commission jurisdiction over RCN's provision of video programming and rejected Cablevision's motion for leave to intervene in the case, stating that the state proceeding "threatens to hamper or destroy a technology which, if successfully implemented, offers consumers a viable and attractive alternative to the existing cable television system monopoly." "We are gratified that the Court ruled in our favor and saw through Cablevision's attempt to prevent the citizens of Boston from realizing the benefits of competition for video programming," McCourt said. MFS is a leading provider of communication services to business and government. The company currently has service in operation or under development in 52 metropolitan areas worldwide. C-TEC Corporation, headquartered in Princeton, N.J., is a diversified, international telecommunications and high-technology company with interests in local telephone, long-distance telephone, cable television and engineering and communication services. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 10:29:47 +0200 From: Stephen Geis Subject: Re: Telecommunications Dictionaries on the Web Florian Damas asked: > Are there any good telecommunications dictionaries on the Web > in English with the translations of the terms in French? The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) maintains a multi-lingual Terminology database (TERMITE). TERMITE contains all the terms which appeared in ITU printed glossaries since 1980, as well as more recent entries relating to the different activities of the Union (in all some 56000 entries). Entries are in English, French, Spanish and Russian. For the moment, the database is available only through a gopher query interface, but a true Web interface will be operational in the near future. Termite is the last item on page http://www.itu.ch/special/itu-databases.html (gopher URL is gopher://info2.itu.ch:70/11/.1/Termite) Stephen GEIS Information Services Department International Telecommunication Union (ITU) e-mail: stephen.geis@itu.int [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One similar thing I should mention -- although it is an interactive glossary only, and in English only -- is the GLOSSARY command in the Telecom Archives Email Information Service. Like SEARCH and AREACODE, the two other interactive search commands, GLOSSARY sent to the Telecom Archives in email will return the meaning of the acronym or abbreviation you submitted. Most people use the Telecom Archives Email Information Service only to get back issues of the Digest and some of the files available, however the above three commands SEARCH, AREACODE and GLOSSARY, all with following provide a good way to get a very quick answer to inquiries in those areas. If you are not familiar with TAEIS, you might like to get a copy of the help file and look at all the things you can obtain via email from the archives including of course all the back issues for the past fifteen years. If you send a blank letter (no subject, no text) to the address tel-archives@massis.lcs.mit.edu you'll get back a help file, but to insure it read your name/address correctly and to get a more compre- hensive selection of files the first time around, I suggest you send a letter to the same address but include these commands in UPPER or lower -- but not Mixed -- case: REPLY yourname@site HELP INFO INDEX END and if you want to try the others I mentioned, include commands such as: GLOSSARY COCOT GLOSSARY ISDN AREACODE 414 SEARCH "some string you wish to find" that last one will dump hundreds of entries on you if you are not selective (it looks at article titles and author names since 1989) so be selective. Watch for the results in your email a few seconds to a couple minutes later. Address: tel-archives@massis.lcs.mit.edu PAT] ------------------------------ From: jkp2866@tam2000.tamu.edu (Jack Perdue) Subject: Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 18:17:26 GMT Organization: Silicon Slick's Software Supplies and Support Services John Holland wrote: > Some of your readers may be able to help me. I'm looking for a good > simple (if possible!) description of connection oriented and > connectionless data transfer. I believe in connectionless each packet > contains all the information it needs to traverse the network, where > as with connection oriented means that a 'logical' connection must be > first set up, data transfered and then the connection torn down. Really > I'm looking for some good examples I can latch on to. I can't quite > grasp how a 'logical' connection is set up. How do the packets get > routed? My networks prof used an analogy (when describing UDP vs. TCP over IP). Connectionless (UDP) is like the postal service. You put a letter in your mail box (with an address) and hope that the post office will deliver it correctly. Then, the recepient writes a reply and sends it to you, again hoping the mail service will deliver it. The conversation starts and stops whenever one of the two parties sends the other a letter. Connection oriented (TCP) is like a telephone call. You dial a number and a connection must be established between the two parties before a conversation can take place. The conversation ends when one of the parties hangs up. Probably simpler than what you were looking for, but HIHs, jack jkp2866@cs.tamu.edu ------------------------------ From: Joe Polito Subject: Re: Channel Bank With ACD? Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 22:24:13 -0400 Organization: Watson Communications Reply-To: jpolito@watsoncomm.com System Administrator wrote: > I'm looking for a cheap/simple/easy way to bring in a voice T1 to a modem > bank, and do some basic hunting or LRU (least-recently-used) ACD features. > Right now, US West charges $4/line/mo for busy hunting, or $6/line/mo for > busy/no-answer hunting, and they don't offer an LRU type of hunt. I > already have to buy a channel bank to break out the T1 into analog lines > to go to the modem bank, and I though there might be some more intelligent > channel banks that could do busy/busy-no-answer/LRU hunting. > I know that these types of features are available on modem racks like the > USR Total Control, but as an ISP, I can't afford equipment like that and > still remain competitive and solvent. An intelligent channel bank like > this, if the price is right, could let me still use low-cost modems but > avoid some problems common to a non-intelligent modem pool. You may want to look into a used digital telephone system. The system could be less expensive than a channel bank in the long run. Some mid size systems can support up to seven or eight T1's and allow the features that you are looking for in hunting. (By the way the feature is called UCD "uniform call distribution".) One of the system that we provide is the Toshiba DK280 system. It can hold up (7) T1's, provide for UCD, break channels down to SLT and Digital telephones. It of course can also be your telephone system for Admin, Customer Service, Etc. Good Luck, Joe Polito Watson Communications ------------------------------ From: mexitech@netcom.com (Patrick) Subject: Re: TCI Adds Phone, Net, Security Services Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 10:40:57 GMT Tad Cook (tad@cascadia.ssc.com) quoted the Tulsa World: > Aug. 29--"Pick a deal." Any deal. That's how TCI Cablevision of Tulsa > general manager Rick Comfort describes the many services, including > Internet access, the cable company will be able to provide customers > in the future once it completes the five-year replacement of its > network. So what is new? I used to sell cable franchises years ago for TCI and we had two programs that always worked: Rent a citizen and promise them technology. That got us into the bidding, but keeping us there was a reality check; every system has to pay for itself. There is nothing in life that is free: as the old hippie saying goes: Ass, grass or gas, nobody rides for free! So far all the huha over cable getting into the business has not produced one tangible, viable system. Even when tests were conducted in very upscale neighborhoods. > The company is currently upgrading its cable system throughout the > Tulsa area, enabling it to offer high-speed computer-modem service, > telephone service and home security along with traditional cable > television. They are probably in danger of losing their franchise (36 channels and had to promise the city council something. That has happened all over the country lately. Wireless will eat their lunch for them, no problem bucko! > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The above is just another example of > the *dumb* stories newspapers run about the Internet. I am sure the > reporter thinks she wrote a great article and is quite pleased with > herself. PAT] Amen, I am willing to bet 90% of the article was done by search engine, cut and paste and the editor is too ignorant to know how it is done. Patrick mexitech@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: declrckd@cig.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck) Subject: Re: Interesting Patent Question Date: 05 Sep 1996 14:44:59 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group JOHN M ELLIOTT (stellcom@ix.netcom.com) wrote: > I manufacture a product which uses voice mail to retrieve lost items. > My competitor has an almost identical product which uses voice mail > He claims he is getting a patent on his product because voice mail > use is unique for this service (retrieving lost items). I say you > can't patent interactivity. Any comments? Yes, you can ... IBM has a patent on the method for scheduling a meeting between disjoint sets of schedules. DEC has a patent for context sensitive help. Dan DeClerck EMAIL: declrckd@cig.mot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 96 10:55:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: DFW Dialing (was End of Permissive Dialing in 954) Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > John R. Levine stated: [in response to a lame plan to require 1+ for toll and forbid it for non-toll] >> Yuck. It's really convenient that here in the more enlightened part >> of the country, we can dial eleven digits on any call, local, toll, or >> whatever. ... > You guys from New York, Chicago, and California easily forget that in > *most* of the country, there is *still* flat-rate local calling. Heck, I don't need *asterisks* to remember that, we have flat rate local calling right here in upstate New York and I still really like our dialing plan that doesn't make a distinction between local calls (which indeed cross two different telcos) and toll calls because I JUST WANT THE DAMNED CALLS TO GO THROUGH, EVEN IF THEY'RE GOING TO COST ME 15 WHOLE CENTS. Thanks, I feel better now. > If I'm making a toll-call, I want to know. On the other hand, I *don't* > want to make long distance calls, and I will *never* dial 1+ because > 1+ would be *required* for toll. Hmmn, it never occurred to me that there are people who don't think their friends are worth a 15 cent toll call. But now I stand corrected. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 640 Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 387 6869 johnl@iecc.com "Space aliens are stealing American jobs." - Stanford econ prof "John Levine is stealing Unix accounts intended for space aliens to post in Usenet news groups." -- Usenet telecom moderator ... ------------------------------ From: news@ssbunews.ih.lucent.com Subject: Re: DFW Dialing (was End of Permissive Dialing in 954) Date: 03 Sep 1996 15:43:41 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies In article , John R Levine wrote: > When DDD was young, I can see that making a toll call by mistake would > have been a problem, since there was a three-minute minimum and a > domestic call across the country could cost something like $1.50 back > when you could buy a reasonable lunch for that amount. But now, a > one-minute domestic toll call costs me at most 12 cents, for which I > can buy almost 1/4 of a package of M&M's. What's the big deal? On November 10, 1976 (the 25th anniversary of DDD), the mayor of Englewood, NJ once again called the mayor of Alameda, California, just as prior mayors had done on November 10, 1951 with the first coast-to-coast DDD call. But times had changed -- in 1976, Englewood had a woman mayor. Another change was in the call itself. In 1951, that three-minute call cost $2 and took 18 seconds to set up (vs. 30+ seconds for an operator-dialed call). In 1976, it cost 52 cents and took eight seconds to set up. In 1996, it costs about 35 cents and takes one or two seconds to set up (and many seconds less to dial via DTMF). Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ From: news@ssbunews.ih.lucent.com Subject: Re: Privatizing The Big Lie Date: 03 Sep 1996 16:38:28 GMT Organization: AT&T In article , dave wrote: > In article The Old Bear > writes: >> A more rational approach would be to restructure the basic local loop >> between subscriber premises and the frame at the telco central office >> to digital facilities (over existing phyical media) and to grab >> digitized data (internet, video, home security, etc) there, at the CO >> end of the local loop, BEFORE it enters the switched portion of the >> network. > Instead of adding active equipment to the frame would it not be better > to do it on the line units of the switch. Is this not how > X.25 coming over the D or B channels is handled on 5ESS ISDN Line > units? The packet protocol is terminated on the line card which > avoids occupying valuable synchronous switching resources in the > connection modules. On the 5ESS switch, the B- and D-channels are split out via the ISDN BRI line unit (8/card) or the standard 48-channel T1 trunk card for PRI. In either case, the D-channel bit stream is directed to a packet handler, which can then split the X.25 packet data from the Q.931 call-related and maintenance commands. Several dozen BRIs (or a dozen or so PRIs) can be supported by a packet handler. These packet streams are on an interface separate from the switching matrix of the switch. B-channel X.25 packet requires a request (via D-channel or internal provisioning) which in effect sets up a call/connection to an available packet handler -- from then on, the B-channel packets are interpreted by the packet handler. Most other digital switches do seem to take the approach of splitting X.25 and Q.931 packets at the BRI line card level. They then route the X.25 packet traffic (usually after some multiplexing of other X.25 streams) via the switch fabric to a packet handler that handles ONLY X.25 traffic. > Does it not make economic sense to do a similar thing with IP > PPP/SLIP coming into a line unit on B channels. An IP packet exchange > processor could terminate the PPP/SLIP and forward IP packets to an IP > router function on suitably dimensioned digital facilities. Of course, you would then be connected to only one fixed IP provider, and might have problems ever upgrading to whatever protocol replaces PPP/SLIP. Always trade-offs ... Al Varney - just my opinion ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #467 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 5 23:50:05 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA22398; Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:50:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:50:05 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609060350.XAA22398@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #468 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Sep 96 23:50:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 468 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Capacity and Flat Rate (Tim Gorman) Re: Capacity and Flat Rate (Eric Florack) Re: Cellular Roaming (Babu Mengelepouti) Re: 1-800 Charge From Payphone? (Stanley Cline) Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? (Robert McMillin) Re: Companies Dump Macs as Loyalists Lose Faith (Steven Lichter) Canadian Local Calling Areas Web Page (Ray Chow) Comm. SW for TelRad Dig. BX 8 / 18 KSU (emt@holli.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tim Gorman Subject: Re: Capacity and Flat Rate Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 21:57:17 -0500 >> This is where the common sense starts to lead you astray. Capital >> investment is not expense. It doesn't get paid off in less than a >> year. You must earn on the investment, you must place sufficient >> earnings in depreciation to replace the investment when it is >> obsolete, and you need to earn a contribution to net revenue. The >> modems that are installed are not $140 USR Sportster modems either. >> They are industrial grade design intended for 24x7 operation for >> decades with zero downtime -- and they are much more expensive. > Fine. You're still talking about a massive amount of cash that will > easily meet those requirements. But don't forget all of the associated costs of capital (cash) that must be considered. >> This is yet another case where common sense will lead one astray. You >> are speaking as if the telecommunications market is a zero sum game. > It is when the government is regulating it ... particularly the more > liberal among us who tend to view *everything* financial as a zero sum > game. We obviously disagree here. I don't believe this is a zero sum game at all. Government intervention just skews cost allocations, it doesn't change the bottom line. >> It is not. While the telco's will certainly see some areas where they >> lose market share they will also find other areas where they will pick >> up market share. And this does not even factor in the growth antici- >> pated from a competitive market. > The traditional telcos will see little if any growth, if any, until > they are able to undercut a world-acecss system, time unlimited, for > $20/mo. There are a few who are offering ISP services for that kind > of money; Frontier is one such. Many people consider that we are headed into an era of severe blocking on that world-wide access system within the next year. It is already apparent today in certain areas. >> You should also try Internet phone sometime. While usable for some >> things it's quality and even usability is hardly ubiquituous. It will >> be quite some time before investment in sufficient data packet >> infrastructure, be it frame relay, ATM, or something different exists >> in sufficient capacity to make "droves" leaving the present >> infrastructure anything more than a pipedream. > Oh, but I have! > Ya know, we heard complaints about quality of connection back when MCI > started. Remember? Noisy connections, crosstalk, etc. Yet look where > that is today. They grew at the rate they did, despite these problems, > because of a /*slightly*/ cheaper price than the vaunted AT&T. They grew at the rate they did because they invested heavily in their infrastructure. The larger carriers are only now beginning to see the payback on the infrastructure they installed. This infrastructure is what enabled them to offer a quality service without all of the noisy connections, uncompleted calls, etc. If they had NOT upgraded, they would have never been able to play in the market. > Now, consider, please, the reaction when you're able to call all over > the world, for $20/mo. You don't think folks are going to allow for > some problems at that price? I've tried it too. It is most definitely not ready for prime time. I am most definitely not taking out my current phone line and relying on Internet phone. I sincerely doubt if it will be significantly better for more than two years. Using infrastructure designed for packet data for carrying short-holding time, point-to-point, delay vunerable audio is not going to be commercially successful for some time yet to come -- regardless of the price. >> The fact is that all this complaining about modems sucking up >> capacity is utter nonsense, on several levels. The telco would >> be involved no matter what the traffic on the wire is, no matter >> what format it is. Matter of fact, I suggest that capacity >> problems would be far WORSE, if not for the modem. Modems convey >> information far faster than voice, after all. And the information >> would need to be transmitted in /some/ form. Or are you suggesting >> we'd all be using the USPS? >> Wire? You mean the local loop? Do you really think this discussion is >> about the local loop? > Isn't that what the argument about capacity always ends up getting to? > Capacity at the LEC? This has nothing to do with the wire.That's your common sense leading you astray again. It has to do with the network fabric ports available in your line terminating module, the number of network fabric ports available in the trunk modules, the number of facilities between central office nodes, and usage patterns. > The point of discussion is cost allocation. If a local network between > two central offices need 100 trunks (using typical assumptions for > voice traffic) and growth in long holding time data calls necessitates > an increase in the number of trunks to say, 200, then why should the > users making the long holding time data calls not pay for the > additional infrastructure they cause to be placed? Why should the > cost of this infrastructure be placed on those only making voice > calls? > This is an odd argument; Wasn't so long ago we heard from the AT&T folks > that we should be subsidizing the long distance services by way of the > local bills. When it meant that the consumer was going to pay more, this > was supposedly a valid argument. Now suddenly, because the telco isn't > being allowed to raise prices, it's suddenly not a valid argument. > Hmmmm. What you heard was the hollering about the local bills going up as local service lost the subsidies it had traditionally been getting from long distance service. AT&T has never hollered that local service should subsidize toll, they have hollered about the exact opposite scenario! There remains a significant amount of subsidy to be undone. Most local commission have done what they could to hold down local service costs by keeping intraLATA toll rates artificially high and subsidizing local service. This is the last great subsidy that is going to have to be undone as local service competition hits the markets. Those areas that haven't been working on this over the past couple of years are going to hear a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from subscribers as their local bill goes even higher. >> Again, your common sense is misleading you. The discussion concerning >> modems has nothing to do with channel bandwidth but, instead, how long >> that bandwidth is tied up to a specific call and not available for >> other use. > Bandwidth is a function of time, no? Mind, I'm talking about bandwidth > at the switch level, which is what you're seemingly basing your billing > structure on ... Yes, bandwidth is a function of time. But keep in mind that a central office is not a dynamic bandwidth allocating type of node. It is basically a point-to-point reconfiguration switch dedicating fixed bandwidth paths. It doesn't matter whether you are sending any data down that point-to-point dedicated path, it is still tied up and unavailable for any other use. You wind up with exactly the same considerations in a frame relay switch where guaranteed bandwidths are sold. >> Suffice it to say that the "data" providers in this country do not >> have the infrastructure available to handle today's voice traffic with >> the same grade of service available in today's voice network. > Again, neither did MCI and such a few years back. Yet, look at the > growth of them. Again, *price* is the issue. When the internet providers start putting in the infrastructure needed to handle significant amounts of voice traffic with a quality high enough to satisfy a most customers it is doubtful if $20 per month, flat rate, call anywhere, anytime service will be available. >>> I'm sorry, but I find it hard indeed to work up any sympathy for >>> telco's cries of 'foul'. >> Your common sense has lead you into developing a strawman that doesn't >> even resemble what is being discussed. This is not a cry of foul from >> the telco's. It is a recognition of a need for equitable cost allocation. >> Expecting my grandmother to pay the freight for your 24 hour long data >> call is what is foul. More and more state commissions are becoming >> aware of this and are making inquiries of the industry as to how it >> can be handled. As I pointed out before, if it were free then local >> calls would be free, toll calls would be free, there wouldn't be any >> coin phones, and no need for 800 service. That just isn't the case. > So, rate equity is what you're arguing for? It is also what several state PUC's that I know of are also looking for. Right down to investigating if "idle" modem data calls can be identified by the central office switch and automatically disconnected. > (mumble) > Tell me, Tim ... when my prices get jacked up (by nearly triple, based > on my normal use) to cover the supposed cost of my longer calls, are > your grandfather's rates going to be /lowered/, or will the extra > money simply end up in someone's pocket? You are still caught in your zero sum game. Having those who tie up point-to-point paths for 24 hours pay the freight for their usage doesn't lessen in any manner the infrastructure necessary to serve my grandparents service needs. So there is nothing that would drive my grandparents rates to be lowered. The only thing that would drive that to happen would be if a totally usage based billing scheme was to be introduced. Personally, I suspect the PUC's are going to have to begin moving in that direction sooner or later in order to "unhide" cost skewing we see today. Tim Gorman - SBC (I speak only for myself) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 10:28:08 PDT From: Eric_Florack@mc.xerox.com (Florack,Eric) Subject: Re: Capacity and Flat Rate >>> This is where the common sense starts to lead you astray. Capital >>> investment is not expense. It doesn't get paid off in less than a >>> year. You must earn on the investment, you must place sufficient >>> earnings in depreciation to replace the investment when it is >>> obsolete, and you need to earn a contribution to net revenue. The >>> modems that are installed are not $140 USR Sportster modems either. >>> They are industrial grade design intended for 24x7 operation for >>> decades with zero downtime -- and they are much more expensive. >> Fine. You're still talking about a massive amount of cash that will >> easily meet those requirements. > Ah, but you're arguing that *everyone* who uses the network pay for > this "massive amount of cash," rather than the folks that are > driving the network away from the old provisioning model. No. It's clear that these should have been addressed under seperate cover, because the issues are now confused. My fault. I'll strive for better clarity in future. That said: In this situation, I'm suggesting that even based on the take from just the people who are currently paying for ANI, (and for the purpose of the discussion, I suggested a 50% use/50% rate) that the numbers were more than enough to pay off the investment within a year ... even excluding the fees beng paid by local governments for use of the same bloody system. >>> This is yet another case where common sense will lead one astray. You >>> are speaking as if the telecommunications market is a zero sum game. >> It is when the government is regulating it ... particularly the more >> liberal among us who tend to view *everything* financial as a zero sum >> game. > Oh, you mean its those *darn liberals* who want to assign the increased > costs to the high volume users, rather than spread them around to > everyone! Geeze, I thought you'd be blaming liberals if you were > arguing in favor of pay-as-you-go for increased usage! You can't have this both ways, Tad. If we're talking about a regulated service, thena regulated service it needs be. If there were real competition at the LEC level, I'd not have a problem with any pay-as-you-go scenario, since competition would bring down the price to a managable level, by removing the zero sum philosphy. But, since we decidedly do /not/ have such competition, yet, and since we're still operating under that zero sum game, regardless of what the folks like Frontier will tell you ... >>> It is not. While the telco's will certainly see some areas where they >>> lose market share they will also find other areas where they will pick >>> up market share. And this does not even factor in the growth >>> anticipated from a competitive market. >> The traditional telcos will see little if any growth, if any, until >> they are able to undercut a world-acecss system, time unlimited, for >> $20/mo. There are a few who are offering ISP services for that kind >> of money; Frontier is one such. > But we're talking about the pricing of the local loop here ... the last > mile that the ISPs depend on to get to their customers! Yes, we are. Tell me, when people move away from the traditional telcos and over to newer 'non-traditional' dialtone how will the traditionals be 'growing'? I thought this was a zero sum game? >> The point of discussion is cost allocation. If a local network between >> two central offices need 100 trunks (using typical assumptions for >> voice traffic) and growth in long holding time data calls necessitates >> an increase in the number of trunks to say, 200, then why should the >> users making the long holding time data calls not pay for the >> additional infrastructure they cause to be placed? Why should the >> cost of this infrastructure be placed on those only making voice >> calls? > This is an odd argument; Wasn't so long ago we heard from the AT&T folks > that we should be subsidizing the long distance services by way of the > local bills. When it meant that the consumer was going to pay more, this > was supposedly a valid argument. Now suddenly, because the telco isn't > being allowed to raise prices, it's suddenly not a valid argument. > Hmmmm. I think there is some serious confusion here. It was the other way around. AT&T long distance subsidized local service, not the reverse. I stand gladly corrected. Clear error on my part, and had I checked my own typing, I'd have caught it. Alas, I did not. Long day ... That said, there's one more point to be made; the long-time calls alone are not the problem; it's the combo of the long time calls, and the short timers. Fact is, that one of the things we suppsoed;y pay for is reliablity; even if we're not making a call, the telco has the ability to get the call through. Cost distribution based on realiability, not on actual phone use ... IE: with some reserve designed into the system, is a long standing practice. So why is data traffic imposed upon to take the brunt of the overage? Fact is, Telco under-designed, and should now pay the cost. /E ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 01:06:40 GMT From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: Re: Cellular Roaming > One of the questions I couldn't get a coherent answer to, though, was > how roaming is billed with long distance charges. For example, suppose > I am in Albuquerque and use my cellphone as a roamer, making two outbound > calls -- one to San Francisco and the other to Albuquerque. Will I pay > long distance charges on one, the other, or both calls? The salesman I > spoke to from CellularOne seemed quite certain that I would pay long > distance on the call to Albuquerque, but not on the call back home to > San Francisco, even though the San Francisco call is the one that uses > real long distance facilities; except for authentication and billing, > no part of my call within Albuquerque will touch any long distance lines. You are right, the salesman is stupid. You are physically located in Albuquerque, so if you want to call Jeff Slaton (who coincidentally lives there), you will pay "only" your roaming airtime rate. Make sure that the roaming rate is for *all* areas of the US and not just for their "other markets in California." The roaming seems less expensive than usual; ATTWS charges 75 cents per minute for roaming within the "northwest network" for phones out of their Pacific Northwest markets for example, but 99 cents per minute outside of the "northwest network." Often, if you're roaming on a carrier other than your home carrier, they will charge up to $3.00 per day "access fee." For instance, if I take an ATTWS phone to Las Vegas, I'd pay 99 cents per minute for airtime (plus long distance, of course), but since ATTWS is the A carrier there I would pay no surcharge. On the other hand, if I were to take an ATTWS phone to Omaha, where the A carrier is Airtouch, the roaming rate would be 99 cents per minute plus $3.00 per day "access fee." You should call *611 and verify whether there is a daily access fee when you enter a foreign market. > The other question I couldn't get a coherent answer to is whether the > digital service is in a completely different frequency band from the > traditional analogue service, and what the transmission characteristics > of the two are. I know that the sound quality of a digital call that is > breaking up is very different from the sound of an analogue call breaking > up, but does one signal fare better with hilly terrain or downtown > buildings or basements or other impediments? The digital service they are selling isn't. My understanding of the way that "digital" is done under AMPS/TDMA cellular systems is that they take the same amount of bandwidth that they would give to an analogue call, and put multiple calls on it (hence TDMA, or "Time Division Multiple Access). This means that your bandwidth is "comp- ressed," which always results in poorer quality voice transmission than analogue. This only aggravates an existing poor-quality transmission (i.e., if you are in an area where the service is poor, it will be *really* poor with digital). Digital doesn't mean better in this case, except for the cell carriers: it's harder to snarf esn/min pairs from digital phones (though I hear it can still be done), and they can fit more calls in the same amount of bandwidth, while charging around the same amount of money for them. I.E., free extra capacity for them/more profits. New PCS wireless phones, which should be coming on the market in most areas soon (Baltimore/Washington already has Sprint Spectrum), do in fact operate on a different frequency band from AMPS cellular phones. I understand that they are better suited for shorter-distance transmissions, but as I've never personally used one I can't really vouch for the quality. Also, we won't really know how well-suited the frequencies are until PCS are fully deployed in the rugged Northwest, or the Plains states where single cells are required to cover vast distances. ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Re: 1-800 Charge From Payphone? Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 00:03:20 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: scline@usit.net In comp.dcom.telecom, marks10254@aol.com (MarkS10254) wrote: [COCOTs charging for 800/888] > Is this legal? In Texas, the PUC approved a charge of up to 25 cents for calls to 800/888 numbers. (This is also the home of the "I Don't Know" LD company, etc.) North Carolina also allows a charge of up to 25c for 800 calls, but on the phone on which the sign was posted, there was no charge. In Tennessee, COCOTs canNOT charge (yet anyway) -- with new FCC regs around the corner, they may be able to soon. > WHAT REVENGE DO I TAKE? Use a "Genuine Bell" (or GTE or ALLTEL or Citizens Telecom or whoever the LEC is) phone. PAT says ... > Some COCOT owners just as a matter of public goodwill are not charging > for 800/888 calls since the public perception of those calls as 'free' A number of COCOTs around here were charging for *888* but not *800* calls. One was charging $3 _per_minute_ thinking that NPA 888 = "long distance." Two quick calls to the owner's CellularOne voicemailbox, and the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, got that fixed. Now all the payphone operators around here seem to be "clean" with 888 numbers (finally!); some, however, are overcharging for calls to NXXs added as far back as late 1994. (The NXXs aren't in the phones' rate tables, so they think they're long distance.) So here I go again, with even more complaints to the TRA, and to ALLTEL and BellSouth Mobility (because most of the prefixes involved are theirs.) Needless to say, neither ALLTEL nor BMI is happy that COCOTs demand extra money for LOCAL calls to their customers. > you pay them for the call itself or you pay them 'something extra' > for the use of their phone even though the charge for the call itself ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is the same excuse being discussed over in misc.consumers about ATM surcharges; banks claim they are charging "for the use of their ATM". IMHO, banks and (most) COCOT owners are greedy; further, some COCOT rates make no sense. Consider this: Three-minute call from COCOT in Chattanooga, TN (423-892-xxxx) to a number in Atlanta, GA (404-607-xxxx): Using coins: $1.00 Using LEC calling card and COCOT AOS: $7.30 Using 1-800-CALL-ATT with LEC calling card (bypassing COCOT LD): about $2 Using Voicenet calling card (bypassing COCOT LD): $0.525 WHY WHY WHY? Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://pobox.com/~roamer1/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 ------------------------------ From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Subject: Re: How Are Telegrams Sent Today? Reply-To: rlm@helen.surfcty.com Organization: Charlie Don't CERF Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 00:53:31 GMT On 29 Aug 1996 18:12:50 PDT, hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa/Jeff) said: > By the late 1970s the bulk of WU's business was wiring money. News > articles in the last few years about WU said they wanted to provide > financial services for low-income people, such as wiring money, money > orders, and the like. How much they got into is unknown. Judging by the Spanish-language advertisements I see around LA, I would say "a lot". Between them and American Express, there's probably a couple billion dollars or so shipped annually to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and so on. Some of it's probably drug money, but by far the bulk is Juan sending money home to his family. (There was an article on this subject a couple years ago in {Forbes}.) More recently, I've seen indications that Western Union is acting as a payment agent for the local utilities. The Gas Co. in particular has been closing up payment offices at a furious clip over the last few years, and I suspect it's their poorer customers who would be suffering if it wasn't for the Western Union offices. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) Subject: Re: Companies Dump Macs as Loyalists Lose Faith Date: 5 Sep 1996 19:55:28 -0700 Organization: GINA and CORE+ Services of The California State University tad@ssc.com quotes the {Wall Street Journal}: > Companies Dump Macintosh Computers as Loyalists Lose Faith > By ALEX MARKELS > The Wall Street Journal > "Buy a PC. They're cheaper. And the Mac is going to disappear." > This bit of advice, from one computer shopper to another more trouble > for the already-battered Apple Computer Inc. I tend to agree that dealing with Apple can be very frustrating, not the computer but the companies support. You have to go through a real maze to get the right person and then you may wind up waiting for a long time for a real person to get there. The biggest problem I have found with Apple is they will upgrade to newer machines and live the older ones in a lurch. This happened with the Apple IIgs, which was the first computer to use Icons in 1986, they never really took advantage of what they had, they really could have made a nice machine. Then when they went to the Mac's, which did start in 1984, each time they went forward the new programs would not work on older machines, some of which were less then six months old. I have a PB100 which is maxed out and a lot of software will not work on it. I really had to look for a fax program and did find one that was shareware, no brouser will work on the 100 and anything that requires color stops the machine. I still use it because it does all the stuff I need. Also Apple waited to long to let the MacOS out to others. But the IBM Clones also are hard to deal with. I have an old 286 which can't be upgraded because everything is custom for it, beside why should I buy a new machine. Many companies, mostly in printing and high graphic users still use the machine as do many that need the CAD options. When I do get a new machine it will be a Mac Clone as they are a good machine and are a lot less money. SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours, Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II and Macintosh computers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Sep 96 10:05:09 GMT From: Ray Chow Subject: Canadian Local Calling Areas Web Page Reply-To: czg@inforamp.net Information about local calling areas for Canadian area codes should now be available at: http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/Information/NEST/technol/communic/lca Enjoy. ray chow / canada / czg@inforamp.net / aa813@freenet.hamilton.on.ca ------------------------------ From: emt@holli.com (emt) Subject: Comm. SW for TelRad Dig. BX 8 / 18 KSU Date: 5 Sep 1996 02:17:17 GMT Organization: HolliCom Internet Services I picked up a new customer with a TelRAD Digital BX 8 /18 system. He has the software, however it is corrupted. If you have a copy, could you please email me a zip of it. Larry Electro-Mechanical Tech. 317.296.3661 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #468 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 6 10:43:10 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA03177; Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:43:10 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:43:10 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609061443.KAA03177@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #469 TELECOM Digest Fri, 6 Sep 96 10:43:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 469 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pager Fraud From 809 NPA (Tad Cook) Telecom Conference in Bucharest, October 29-30 (Gabriela Cogorno) Critical Issues for Internet Telephony/Meeting (Gill Cable-Murphy) Re: The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse (Dave Keeny) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Jeff Spidle) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Robert Sinclair) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Richard W. Museums) Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer (John De Hoog) Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Richard DeYoung) Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC (Art Kamlet) Re: Attempted Slam by AT&T (Daniel Ganek) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Pager Fraud From 809 NPA Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 00:21:04 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Possible Pager Fraud Scheme Spurs Phone Company Action By Stephen Keating, The Denver Post Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 6--While driving with her husband on Labor Day, Brenda Villella saw an unfamiliar long-distance number on her pager. Thinking it might be a colleague on vacation needing to contact her, she dialed the number on her cellular phone. "It's a recorded male voice that says, '(impotence) is nothing to be ashamed of. We can help you,"' recalled Villella, who hung up before the solicitation continued. "I was so embarrassed," she said. Thousands of pager customers across the country may have received the same page and subsequent bizarre enticement from a phone number in the Caribbean, prompting phone company officials in the United States to take action this week. AT&T yesterday blocked access to that particular number in the 809 area code, which serves Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands. "Our security people asked us to do it," said AT&T spokesman Randy Shields in Denver. "We believe that there may be an intent to defraud." US West, for which Villella works as a manager, notified its employees about the pager ploy this week after several phone-company workers received pages from the same 809 number, which is similar to area codes that serve New Jersey and South Carolina. "My co-worker and I both received the page on the same day," said Leroy Williams, a US West business analyst in Denver. "Initially, we thought it was a joke from our boss. I didn't dial it back." US West spokesman Jeff Garrett advised: "If you don't know who's calling, don't return the page." Charges for a daytime call from the continental United States to the 809 area code are at least $1 a minute, though it is unclear whether this particular call carries other toll charges as with 900-number sex lines. Officials suspect that pagers across the country are being contacted either by random or sequential dialing programs. Pager and cellular companies typically buy blocks of 10,000 sequential phone numbers. "It's sort of a shotgun approach to marketing," said Scott Forsythe, vice president of Contact Paging in Denver, which serves 50,000 customers in Southwestern states. "It's an abuse of the communications networks." The apparent scam follows a direct-marketing trend in the $4 billion paging industry, which serves 35 million people. Restaurants increasingly use pagers to notify wandering patrons when their tables are ready. PepsiCo is supplying pagers to more than 200,000 teens and young adults across the country, then beeping them once a week to call a toll-free number for music, food and merchandise offers. Phone sex solicitations by pager are a new twist, and likely illegal. "It's the first time I've heard of this kind of thing," said Rick Hagan, general manager of Pagenet, which serves 100,000 subscribers in Colorado. Both Hagan and Forsythe said they have yet to hear complaints from their subscribers about the 809 number solicitations. Phone lines that offer sex talk, astrology advice and other toll services are a billion-dollar industry, but patrons usually know what they are dialing and the charges. Soliciting someone to dial such a service without notifying them of the charges can be prosecuted as telecommunications fraud. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Anyone remember when this very same scam was being perpetrated in New York City with the 540 exchange, another premium charge exchange? That would have been five or six years ago. Everyone got up in arms about it and all over the USA companies were busy issuing memos to their employees warning them about it, not even realizing that 540 is like 976 in the sense that it cannot be dialed from outside the local area code in most cases, and that furthermore, 540 is/was unique to the 212 area code. Well, now with this latest incarnation, I'll probably over the next six or eight months get dozens of articles from well-meaning people at companies all over the USA wanting me to warn everyone. Of course unlike 540/976 this one *can* be dialed from anywhere so I guess it is worth a mention from time to time. Even though according to the press release AT&T has blocked calls to that number, I'm suire there are other carriers which have not. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 06 Sep 96 08:54:05 EDT From: TELECOMS <101574.674@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Telecom Conference in Bucharest October 29-30 Dear Mr Townson, Following Mr. Nigel Allen email I am writing to you with regards to our fourth international conference and exhibition in Telecommunications in Central and Eastern Europe and the the Baltic States to be held in Bucharest on the 29-30 of October 1996. The conference focus on Romania and its rapid progress towards telecoms liberalisation. Telecommunication Ministers, International and Regulatory Institutions and Representatives from the industry will attend to the conference. As soon as you send me your details (fax number and address) I will be sending you a program for your information. If you have any queries do not hesitate to contact me. Gabriela Cogorno PR/Marketing Executive ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 09:49:36 -0400 From: Gill Cable-Murphy Subject: Critical Issues for Internet Telephony/Meeting On behalf of Dr. Lee McKnight I am extending to you an invitation to attend the Internet Telephony Interoperability (ITI) Consortium meeting at MIT on Monday, September 9, 1996. For your information enclosed is a copy of the draft agenda. If you would like to attend, or if you have any questions concerning ITI, please contact Lee McKnight (mcknight@rpcp.mit.edu) (617-253-0995). INTERNET TELEPHONY INTEROPERABILITY CONSORTIUM MEETING DRAFT AGENDA Sept. 9 MIT Building 10-105/Bush Room Critical Issues for Internet Telephony 8:30am - Registration, coffee and continental breakfast 9am - Welcome and Introduction Dan Roos, Director, CTPID, MIT David Clark, Chair, ITI Advisory Committee, and MIT Laboratory of Computer Science 9:15am - Overview of the ITI consortium and its Role in the Internet Telephony Industry Lee McKnight, MIT Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development John Wroclawski, MIT Laboratory of Computer Science 10am Compression Algorithms for Internet Applications Mike Buckley, Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies 10:30am 11am coffee 11:30am Architecture Requirements for Scalable Internet Telephony Brough Turner, Director, Data Products, Natural MicroSystems Hakon Styri, Telenor AS 12pm - discussion 12:30 pm - lunch 1:30pm - Internet Telephony Applications: Future Trends John Clayton, NetPhone Harvey Kauffman, Netspeak Stuart Patterson, Voxware David Sokolic, Vocaltec (tentative) Andrew Sears, moderator 2:45pm - Internet Telephony in the Real World Mike O'Dell, Chief Scientist & VP, UUNET 3:15pm - discussion 3:30pm ITI Consortium New Members Short Presentations Southwestern Bell Technology Resources, Inc:. Bach Hoang/Telecom Italia:`Francesco Marconi, Tiziana Talevi, Luca Fantolino, etc. 4pm - coffee 4:30pm - A Spanning Layer for the Internet and Telephony: Future Challenges David Clark, MIT Laboratory of Computer Science W. Russell Neuman, Harvard University 5pm discussion 5:30pm end ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Re: The DEMA Web Site: The Spammer's Secret Clubhouse Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 09:16:10 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techniques Corporation Reply-To: keenyd@ttc.com From the DEMA site on page http://kww.com/dema/exclude.html: > "If you are an individual who doesn't want to receive any direct e-mail, > you can add your e-mail address to our EXCLUDE E-MAIL LIST by sending > e-mail to: dema@kww.com. For the subject you must use "NO DIRECT > E-MAIL." If your e-mail address is different from the location where > you are sending e-mail from, then put your e-mail address in the body > of the message, otherwise, the message area should be left blank." It remains to be seen whether this list, or others of its type, will be effective. I'm guessing it will take quite a while, if ever. Most of the bulk e-mailers, I believe, are mailing on behalf of a third party and getting paid by volume, or are simply new to the Internet and have no awareness (or care) that they are helping to trash the sense of community the Internet and Usenet used to have. These people have paid their $20 a month and are here to make money, not to listen to old-timers whine about how the neighborhood is going downhill. Dave ------------------------------ From: jeff spidle Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 00:37:11 -0700 Reply-To: jspidle@vnet.ibm.com Bill, I have to disagree, I do not think that ISP providers have connections to each CO switch in a local area. The call may be local/untimed and not intra-switch. I know that a large ISP uses, remote call forwarding (RCF), to provide local access when it is not cost effective to have equipment in that calling area. When RCF is used the call is transfered to ANY destination; this is often an 800/888 number. The call, looks like a local call, but is interswitch. The largest blocking problem on a class 5 (local CO) switch is when the ISP lines are provisioned on the same switch ports as normal lines. The switch line modules have many line (local) ports and few output ports to the switch; ie 2000 local loops into the line card and only 192 output ports. The switch only sees 192 calls from/to that line card at one time, MAX. If you are on the same line card and 192 users call an ISP on the same line card you will not get dial tone or receive calls. In reference to ISDN the D channel is always active. The D channel is how the CO sends the setup message to your TA to get it to ring on an inbound call. jeff spidle IBM Global Network Technology Assessment (ex)SS7/ISDN Architecture/Engineering jspidle@vnet.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: Robert Sinclair Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 20:04:40 -0700 Organization: Sinclair & Associates Reply-To: robert-s@gvn.net TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking > about their new cellular security technology. They claim that > starting in October (and being phased out from that point through > the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor > encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they > make cellular calls. They're not saying *what* they have in mind > to replace PIN's; only that their new system will be greatly > superior. They mention that 'PINs may still be needed in some parts > of the USA when our customers are roaming outside our own five state > territory, but they'll be obsolete around here.' > What do you suppose they have planned? Hmmm ... Sounds like they are may be using some form of transciever signature ID or perhaps more advanced computer based velocity and/or usage tracking. I'm curious to know myself. Robert-s ------------------------------ From: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 5 Sep 1996 23:44:58 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to eliminate the pin. Richard W. Museums Sarfity Distributors, AT&T Wireless Master Distributor, NY, NJ, and CT. DBA Cellular Communications Connection [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think -- am not certain -- they claimed customers would be able to use their existing phone. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dehoog@super.zippo.com (John De Hoog) Subject: Re: Connectionless/Connection Oriented Data Transfer Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 04:05:50 GMT Organization: Zippo Reply-To: dehoog@super.zippo.com John Holland wrote: > Some of your readers may be able to help me. I'm looking for a good > simple (if possible!) description of connection oriented and > connectionless data transfer. I believe in connectionless each packet > contains all the information it needs to traverse the network, where > as with connection oriented means that a 'logical' connection must be > first set up, data transfered and then the connection torn down. Really > I'm looking for some good examples I can latch on to. I can't quite > grasp how a 'logical' connection is set up. How do the packets get > routed? I can't give you much in the way of technical detail, but it seems to me a very good example of the difference between a connectionless and connection-oriented network is the Internet itself, and how we access it. If you have a dialup connection, you first establish a connection with the Internet on a connection-oriented basis. That connection must remain "live" all the time; otherwise the information that established it will be lost. After that, however, while you are Web browsing, data are exchanged on a connectionless basis. In this case routers and the transmission network provide end- to-end routing service using Internet protocol. The information that routes each packet is contained in the packet itself, in its header. So there can be "breaks" in the connection without requiring that the physical connection be reestablished each time. So long as you are hooked up to your provider, you are part of the connectionless network, but as soon as you hang up, you are back to the connection-oriented mode. Right now NTT here in Japan is devising a connectionless network called OCN expressly as an Internet access network and backbone network. There is a fairly detailed description of it, complete with diagrams, at the following URL (in English, with the usual non-native mistakes, but mostly clear). http://www.nttca.com/ocne/ On this network, I will have an Ethernet connection in my home, connected on one end to my computer and on the other end to a router. I will always be connected to the Internet, in the sense of not having to dial up to establish a physical connection. The IP address information I send will be used to route data packets. I will be sharing this vast connectionless network with all the other Internet users, and we will have as much bandwidth as is available at the time, depending on traffic. Posted by John De Hoog, Tokyo dehoog@super.zippo.com In real life: dehoog@mars.dtinet.or.jp ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 00:24:39 -0700 Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn Reply-To: mds@access.digex.net The Old Bear wrote: > On Fri, 30 Aug 1996 Mike King quoted BellSouth: >> -- The states should be in charge of the framework for establishing local >> telephone competition by overseeing the negotiations of competitors in >> their communities. But the FCC has imposed an elaborate set of federal >> rules on the states without any regard to local needs and conditions. >> The FCC has vastly exceeded its jurisdiction, as well as the intent >> of Congress, in implementing Section 251 of the Communications Act of >> 1996. > This kind of goes in the opposite direction of what the Federal court > recently determined concerning the regulatory powers of the state in > Massachusetts. (Even though that matter was video dial-tone, the > question of state regulation vs. federal deregulation was the same.) In fact, the question of state v. federal jurisdiction was not the same. The Telecom Act is very specific in each of its many sections as to where the jurisdiction is being allocated. It is quite different in the case of OVS (open video systems, which is roughly equivalent to video dial tone) and in local interconnection. The FCC took a very broad view of its jurisdiction regarding interconnection, to the exclusion of the states, and BellSouth believes that the FCC was overly expansive -- contrary to the statute's particular provisions. Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Maryland, USA mds@access.digex.net / avogadro@well.com / 74160.1134@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: Richard DeYoung Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 6 Sep 1996 14:01:17 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] ------------------------------ From: kamlet@infinet.com (Art Kamlet) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC Date: 5 Sep 1996 23:38:19 -0400 Organization: InfiNet Reply-To: kamlet@infinet.com In article , Rolf K. Taylor wrote: > ATT says to use 1800callatt. But how can he use it with a data call? > No way. I don't understand the issue? No matter how the call is placed, it first has to be set up and then can be used for voice, data, whatever. The 800-call-att is part of getting the call set up -- it asks for an AT&T calling card number or such, but it will get the call set up. From that point on, why would data be a problem? Art Kamlet Columbus, Ohio kamlet@infinet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It really should not be a problem. When I use arrangements like that for wahtever reason, I set my modem just to do 'ATD' without anything following. I manually get the connection through whatever service I am using, and once the distant end answers with carrier (modem tones) I just tap my return key and my modem goes on line, hears the carrier at the other end and connects, the same as if it had dialed the whole number itself. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ganek@apollo.hp.com (Daniel Ganek) Subject: Re: Attempted Slam by AT&T Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 14:27:42 GMT Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Chelmsford, MA In article , Ross E Mitchell wrote: > Yesterday, I got a call that went something like this: > AT&T: Hello, Mr. Mitchell. This is AT&T. I'm calling to give you a > billing update. I want to let you know that from now on your AT&T bill > will be a part of your local phone bill. Many customers were complaining > about having to pay separate bills, so we've decided to have it put on > your NYNEX bill. And, furthermore, because of the cost savings to us, > we're going to give you a 20% discount on your next bills. > ME: That's very interesting. > AT&T: (after verifying my address to make sure the records were correct) > I'll just transfer you over to our quality control people so they can > make sure you're not inadvertently switched to another carrier, OK? > ME: But, I'm not an AT&T customer. > AT&T: ...click... > ------Wow------ I hadn't expected the boiler room approach from AT&T. > And the hang-up was instantaneous and premeditated; he didn't want me to > get any further with his management. > I'm sorry I didn't play along until I had "quality control" on the line. > Unless they were in on the scam, they might have been able to weed out a > bad apple. Are you sure you heard them correctly? I bet it was some company called ATNT or something that sounds like AT&T if prounced quickly. I say this because, as you should know, AT&T has always used NYNEX for billing until VERY RECENTLY. They are currently in the process of switching to separate billing and I wouldn't be too surprised if a lot of people don't like it (I don't) and this company is trying to take advantage of the situation by impling that you can keep "AT&T" NYNEX billing. dan ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #469 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 6 11:32:25 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA08242; Fri, 6 Sep 1996 11:32:25 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 11:32:25 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609061532.LAA08242@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #470 TELECOM Digest Fri, 6 Sep 96 11:32:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 470 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The Internet Dictionary" by Crumlish (Rob Slade) Canada Direct From the USA? (Jim Jordan) Resources For Finding Old Exchange Names? (Chris Holst) International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaints) (Babu Mengelepouti) Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes (Babu Mengelepouti) Re: Cable Modems (Russ Nelson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 10:25:41 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Internet Dictionary" by Crumlish BKINTDCT.RVW 960610 "The Internet Dictionary", Christian Crumlish, 1995, 0-7821-1675-2, U$12.99 %A Christian Crumlish xian@netcom.com %C 2021 Challenger Drive, Alameda, CA 94501 %D 1995 %G 0-7821-1675-2 %I Sybex Computer Books %O U$12.99 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 info@sybex.com %P 226 %T "The Internet Dictionary" As a very basic guide, there is less useful material in "The Internet Dictionary" than in Pfaffenberger's "The Internet in Plain English" (cf. BKINTIPE.RVW). Even Hoffman's "The Instant Internet Reference" (cf. BKININRF.RVW) provides more helpful direction on common Internet applications, although it doesn't have as many references. Crumlish does not succeed in being either as funny or as informative as "The New Hacker's Dictionary" (cf. BKNHACKD.RVW), despite the fact that he must have known it existed: he gave it an entry. (Two entries, in fact, one of which is in error. "The Hacker's Dictionary" was not Eric Raymond's publication, but the earlier book by Guy Steele.) TNHD contains explanations of the history, derivation and full implications of the terminology. The short entries Crumlish provides only barely scratch the surface meaning of certain items, such as B1FF. B1FF is not merely prototypical, but is almost a Platonic ideal of the wannabe Internaut. Netizens used to create spoof posts and mailings from B1FF to encourage the legend that he really did exist. While few entries are positively misleading, the reader really can't trust the material. The entries for "Trojan horse" and "worm" aren't bad, but the one for "virus" is. A "letterbomb" is possible, but it is unlikely the average user will ever see one. The reader can't trust much of the internal information, either. "Hack" points to "crack"--which doesn't exist. "Cracker" points to a non-existent entry for "real world". (Too bad: I was rather looking forward to that one.) Entries may or may not indicate the part of speech or pronunciation. Ordering is odd: symbols get a separate section, but are arranged in alphabetical order by the "name" Crumlish assigns to them. ("!" is listed as exclamation, not "bang". Fair enough, but "!" comes before "/", and after "//". Why? "//" is "double slash".) Numbers, on the other hand, are arranged as if they were spelled out in full. (Does "System V" come before or after "system operator"? Neither: it isn't listed.) (Where would you look up "^H"? Not under symbols, not under C [for "caret H" or "control- H"], but under H.) Crumlish, like C, ignores whitespace: "crack root" comes after "cracking". Another oddity is the inclusion of entries for various Internet service providers and BBSes. As these are listed alphabetically by name, they are unlikely to be of any use. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKINTDCT.RVW 960610. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | Omne ignotum pro magnifico. Institute for rslade@vanisl.decus.ca | - Anything little known Research into Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1/ | is assumed to be User .fidonet.org | wonderful. Security Canada V7K 2G6 | - Tacitus ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:17:00 -0400 From: jim jordan Subject: Canada Direct from the USA? I just received my new Bell Canada calling card. In with the card was the handy-dandy Canada Direct leaflet with the numbers for getting a Canadian operator from several different countries and have the call billed at Canadian international rates to your Stentor-alliance-member calling card. Included with the leaflet was a note that Canada Direct was now (or would soon be, pending CRTC approval) available from the United States by dialing 1-800-555-1111. Is this a response to the progressive dishonouring of calling cards that do not belong to the companies handling the call, a response to the proliferation of unpredictable and potentially unreasonable rates for various combinations of originating phone owner, LD carrier and payment method, or both? W. Jim Jordan, Nortel, PO Box 3511 Station C, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4H7 Canada ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:31:59 EDT From: Chris Holst Subject: Resources For Finding Old Exchange Names? Pat, I've been lurking on the Digest for a while and was looking through the archives this morning and noticed the little section on exchange names in the history section. Interesting information, but very locally specific. Is there a general or standard resource for finding old exchange names in various parts of the US. I'm specifically interested in the 212 and 215 area codes. All for now, cdh [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You mean like 'Pennypacker' in 215 and 'Pennsylvania', 'Circle', others in 212. We've talked about it here at various times, but I do not think there is an archives file on it. If a 212 and 215 reader old enough to remember forty years ago wants to supply such listings, I'll be glad to put them in the archives, and I assume they would mail a copy to you as well. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 11:37:18 GMT From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) Michael J. Wengler quoted Tad Cook and responded: > Tad Cook wrote: >> The last two calls, which have 809 area codes, might look like regular >> long-distance numbers within the United States. But they're really >> phone calls to the Dominican Republic. > And thus get charged pretty large charges. > Interestingly, to make a scam like this work requires the cooperation > of the phone company itself in Dominican Republic. Some of revenue > from the international call is passed by the US long distance carrier > to the phone company which carries the call once its inside the the > Dominican Republic. That charge has to be very large in order to even > have the possibility of a scam like this, because the D.R. phone > company has to pass a portion of that large charge on to the scam ad > placers in order to make the whole thing work! The telco in the Dominican Republic is Codetel, a subsidiary of none other than GTE ... > And don't think those charges are hard to recover. Those fraudulently > induced calls can just be "charged back" to the D. R. phone company > against later revenues for legitimate calls made from US to D. R. It's pretty difficult to prove that they were "fraudulently induced." I don't remember whether it was here or not, but for instance the country of Sao Tome hosts many phone-sex bridges (in fact, the phone sex bridges are the entire phone system in Sao Tome -- according to the World Alamanac, they don't even *have* a phone system). Sao Tome, incidentally, is an island country sitting on the equator off the African coast. > I think it should be a trivial matter for the FCC or the Congress to > make a law REQUIRING the domestic US companies that carry these > fraudulent calls to, when they are identified do the following: 1) use > their records to reimburse defrauded customers for charges to these scam > numbers and 2) chargeback these calls PLUS a 100% processing fee to the > foreign phone companies who are participating in the scams. You keep saying that they're fraudulent calls. The call was not fraudulent. It was a legitimately placed call to the Dominican Republic. Don't get me wrong, I think that it's a pretty despicable practice. But if it were so easy to chargeback international calls, what would stop a customer from placing *legitimate* international calls and then charging them back? Incidentally, the charges for calling Canada have gotten outrageous through most of the major carriers as of late -- up to almost $1.00 per minute during the day. Yet I don't see anyone clamoring to create restrictions against Canadian companies advertising their phone numbers. There are numerous phone sex services operating out of British Columbia advertising here in the Pacific Northwest, for instance. > The foreign phone company could plead innocence or breach of contract, > but the American company could simply say "we must follow US law, > sorry." The foreign phone company could plead that they thought this > was a "valid business" on the part of the scammers, and the US company > could say "as you see it wasn't, so examine your deals and determine > for yourselves whether the fraud chargebacks are small enough so that > you should continue in this line or not. But US law now states that > fraudulently induced revenue to you will be charged back. Take it up > with the scammers you paid off." The problem is that how do you differentiate between a legitimate call and one that you consider "fraudulent?" The customer placed a long distance call, they knew they were placing a long distance call and that they would be charged for it; they just didn't pay attention to the fact that they were calling the Dominican Republic. His LD carrier may wish to issue a one-time "goodwill" credit, but in any case he's probably learned to be more careful what he calls in future. > Another reform that could be considered: a set of standards for > remining in the NANP (North American Numbering Plan, the people you > reach by dialing 1+AreaCode+NXX-XXXX). Most people don't even realize > there are "international" calls within the US+CANADA international > dialing code of 1+. With long distance to Canada costing from 10 to > 25 cents/minute, there is no opportunity for scamming off long > distance charges. Essentially, calling Canada is in the range of cost > you expect when dialing a 1+AreaCode call. That rate would be applicable for calls between border communities in this area ... for instance from Blaine, WA to White Rock BC or from Point Roberts, WA to Tsawwassen, BC, but almost all rates to Canadian points are mileage-banded and they're getting nearly as expensive as calls to Mexico (with some notable exceptions, such as Sprint's ten cents per minute deal to all of Canada on weekends, or the American Travel Network calling card with a flat rate of 21 cents per minute to anywhere in Canada, all day every day). There isn't any real reason other than telco profits to have rates so high but they've risen dramatically. > Perhaps places like the D. R. want to stay in the NANP. Then they > should be required to: > 1) Have charges to companies delivering them calls which are in the same > range as what US-Canada companies must have. This will result in D.R. > area code calls costing in the expected "1+AreaCode range." > 2) Meet and agree to various fraud protection chargeback stuff that US > and Canadian callers take for granted. The Dominican Republic is not alone in this practice. There are several 011-international services that operate in a similar manner. The problem is that most people don't know that 011 means international any more than they know that 809 (or 604 or 416 or 403 for that matter!) is international. What are you going to do when Guam and American Samoa are brought into the NANP? I doubt that the rates to those points are going to decrease any ... and because they're technically US points, it'd be pretty interesting to see what the access charges will be to those points and what will be kicked back from the telcoes there to phone sex services. > OTHERWISE, it should be a very simple matter to reprogram North American > switches to see a "011+" before the "1809" which could serve as the > D.R.'s international code, without requiring much change outside of > North America. Then the scammer's going to have to get you to dial the > international access code to perpetrate their scam. Talk to anyone who's ever done it and you'll realize that it's never a simple matter to "reprogram a switch" to do anything. To do so requires that every single toll switch in the country be reprogrammed. Also, it would in effect require that a whole set of new country codes be added to the translation tables and then translated back to NPA's for routing. You're talking thousands of man-hours and probably millions of dollars to make up for a few STUPID people who didn't check where they were calling first. If I were the carrier I'd rather give all calls to the Dominican Republic away for free--it'd be cheaper. > The last plausible reform is a required voice message which announces to > US and Canadian callers when they dial the "expensive" area codes that > are actually international "The area code you have dialed will be > charged at international rates. If you have dialed in error, hang up > now." Same as above, not only that you inconvenience everyone who is calling the Dominican Republic and other such countries *intentionally* because they have to wait for a stupid message to play before their call goes through. And if you do it to the Dominican Republic, you have to do it for Bermuda and Canada and every other foreign point in the NANP. It doesn't make any sense. > EDITORIAL COMMENT: The US and Canada users have a right to expect all > "1+" calls to be in a certain range of charge, associated with > domesticity. The cost to require by law the US and Candian companies > to guarantee this is minimal with current technology. The D.R. or any Where do you get that idea? I'd be interested in seeing some figures on how reprogramming every toll switch in the country (remember that there are MANY MANY carriers that would *all* have to do this) is "minimal". > other "1+" location that costs more than the most expensive Canada to > US call as one benchmark should have their inclusion in "1+" dialing > revoked, or at least the US+Canada customer making the call should get > an info message while waiting for call to complete. NANP applies in > general to an extraordinarily high-quality telephone network in terms > of technology, service, and business practices. The very small part > of NANP which inclues excessive charges and/or business practices like > arranging kickbacks of international revenues to scam artists should > simply be kicked out! The problem is small to begin with and the whole thing is a matter of consumer education. Rather than a knee-jerk-let's-get-government- involved-to-DO-SOMETHING!! response, it would make more sense to educate the public. And our good friends in the media are doing a wonderful job of educating the public. So they should do more of same and then they make themselves look good ("consumer advocates"), and it doesn't cost anyone any money. The solutions that you're proposing are all VERY expensive and time-consuming. I hope that the FCC and our legislators have more sense than to adopt such ill-considered practices. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 13:52:03 GMT From: Babu Mengelepouti Subject: Re: The Path a Roaming Call Takes arens@ISI.EDU (Yigal Arens) wrote: > I live in Los Angeles and have a contract with a local cellular service > provider. When I'm in San Francisco and a friend of mine in San > Francisco calls me on my cell phone, charges accumulate as follows: > - My friend pays long distance charges to my cellular number in LA; > - I pay my long distance provider for transmitting the call from LA to > San Francisco; > - I pay the roaming charges for receiving the call in San Francisco on > my cell phone. > Can someone explain the logic behind this (other than that more people > make money off it)? I would think that once the "system" figures out > that I'm in San Francisco, there would be no reason to continue > routing the call in such a roundabout way. Why can't my friend's call > just be routed directly to me in San Francisco, without the SF-LA-SF > segment? OK, so there'll be a, say, one minute long distance charge > to him for the call to LA until some switch is informed about my > location. Surely this is technically feasible. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tell your friend to start dialing into > the number for the roaming port in San Francisco. Then he will pay for > just a local call and you will pay only whatever roaming charge applies > for roamers making/receiving local calls in SF. PAT] This might merit some technical discussion ... here's how follow-me roaming works in an ACD (automatic call delivery) market: - You turn on your phone in a "foreign" (roaming) market. That market recognises you as a roamer and notifies MobiLink (if you're on B side) or NACN (if you're on A side). When someone calls your LA number, the system first looks for you in LA. When it can't find you there, it sends the call to MobiLink which then forwards your call to the San Francisco cellular system. This incurs a toll charge to the party calling you, because they're calling the LA system looking for you, and you incur a LD charge to get their call from the LA system to the San Francisco system. Every market has a roamer access number, and these are designed specifically for the purpose you're speaking of. The number is local to the system *you are in*. So the person in San Francisco will dial a number local to them, in San Francisco, receive a dialtone, and enter your mobile number in format NPA/NXX-XXXX (your mobile number including the area code). This means that they're looking for your phone *in the San Francisco* system. This makes much more sense. On the other hand, it makes sense to use ACD when someone in LA is trying to reach you on your mobile in San Francisco -- makes the fact that you're there totally transparent. What you're theorizing isn't technically feasible, because he's calling LA, and being forwarded from the LA system to the San Francisco system. There's no way to disconnect his call and route it directly to San Francisco with it being a local call, because he's already placed a call to LA. It would be like me visiting Pat in Skokie and expecting that because I've forwarded my home phone in Seattle to Pat's phone in Skokie, if someone calls my phone in Seattle from Skokie, they shouldn't have to pay long distance charges because the call eventually ends up at Pat's house, also in Skokie. The fact remains that the call is going to Seattle first and being forwarded out of Seattle. Sure, I imagine that the LD carrier could figure out that the call was originating from and terminating in the same place, but how could they route the call out of their toll switch to Ameritech to complete at local rates, and since the call was sent to them in the first place, they might think they're entitled to the revenue stemming from use of their facilities. ------------------------------ From: nelson@crynwr.com Date: 06 Sep 1996 06:29:24 GMT Subject: Re: Cable Modems Lars Poulsen writes: > 3. Systems that have achieved significantly useful uplink bandwidth, have > generally had to rebuild much of the low-level infrastructure to make it > work. It would have been cheaper to run a new pair of telephone wires to > the homes. (But then the telephone company would be more likely to win the > game than the cable company. In OZ, they are the same, in the US, the game > is perceived to be a horserace between the telco and the cable company.) NYNEX hasn't been investing in their cable plant recently, probably due to regulatory uncertainty. That might change since the Telecom bill passed. I see that they've recently run fiber from Potsdam north to Norwood. That's the only fiber stringing I've seen them do recently. Time-Warner (formerly Newchannels) has been stringing fiber just about as quick as they can. I just discovered another run in the village of Potsdam. Only goes two blocks, but it connects one main street to another. Time-Warner owes $25 billion, so that's one-quarter of the amount to rewire America. And they're doing it -- at least they're part of it. I also found a company making FTTH (fiber to the home) equipment. They're using analog video, with the lower frequency bands reserved for multiple voice. The backchannel uses another fiber. Per-house equipment cost is $1400 to $2000 per home. Data rate stinks -- 56Kbps, basically another voice channel. They have concentrators that go into neighborhoods. http://www.opticalsolutions.com. The business plan is to replace the coax and twisted pair going into the house. They're positioning it to independent telephone companies that haven't updated their outside plant lately. > 5. There are about 15 incompatible modulation schemes, most of which can > provide 10-30 Mbps "downstream", but most of which provide only a shared > upstream capacity of around 2Mbps. Some systems derive NO upstream bandwidth > from the cable, but use a telephone call (V.34) for the upstream path. > Clearly, there is a significant mismatch between the hype and the reality. Yup. We're talking pre-standard days here. Part of what you're seeing, however, is different equipment aimed at different markets. Some people want to Do Stuff Now, so they'll select the no upstream bandwidth option. What is clear, however, is that just putting in reverse amplifiers isn't going to cut the mustard. You either have to put in actual routers with a foot on each cable segment, or else you have to use fiber distribution. The other thing that's clear is that many countries are working on FTTH. Just do an altavista search on FTTH and you'll find many foreign-language documents. -russ http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | PGP ok 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | Corporations persuade; Potsdam, NY 13676 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | governments coerce. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #470 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 9 10:19:13 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA02733; Mon, 9 Sep 1996 10:19:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 10:19:13 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609091419.KAA02733@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #471 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Sep 96 10:19:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 471 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Hughes Electronics May Buy Panamsat (Rob Hall) IBM to Unveil Internet Banking Alliance (Tad Cook) Community Dialing Still Exists (Jack Winslade) Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing (Update) (Stanley Cline) Complaining *Effectively* - Telcos, FCC, Others (Carter Bennett) Airphone Doesn't Take Visa? (Joel M. Hoffman) Northern User's Group (mikegackst@aol.com) Information on DID Trunks Needed (Dennis Wong) Why Not 8-Digit Phone Numbers? (Tad Cook) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rob Hall Subject: Hughes Electronics May Buy Panamsat Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 12:37:47 +0800 Friday, September 6, 1996 FRONT PAGE Hughes Electronics May Buy Panamsat Telecom: Acquisition would boost El Segundo company to world's No. 2 satellite operator. By JUBE SHIVER Jr., Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON--In a bid to extend its domestic communications satellite dominance around the globe, aerospace giant Hughes Electronics is negotiating to acquire Panamsat Corp. in a deal reportedly worth nearly $3 billion, sources confirmed Thursday. The talks, which have been rumored for weeks in the trade press, come five months after Panamsat disclosed it had hired the investment banking firm of Morgan Stanley & Co. to explore a possible sale. If a deal is reached with the Greenwich, Conn.-based satellite operator, El Segundo-based Hughes would become the world's No. 2 satellite company behind the giant government-owned satellite consortium, Intelsat, and be well positioned to become a force in the global delivery of video programming by satellite. "What this deal would do for Hughes ... would be to add a substantial international component to their operations," said Tony Trujillo, a marketing manager for Intelsat. Executives at Hughes and Panamsat declined to comment. But challenging Intelsat, which has 24 satellites and the backing of more than 140 member nations, may prove tough even for a giant such as Hughes. Although Panamsat's four satellites can transmit video programming and data services to almost any country in the world, the company and its partners have only been able to gain entry to a few oversees markets, including South Africa, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America, a company executive said. And Thursday, a federal court in New York handed Panamsat another setback when it dismissed a 1989 antitrust lawsuit in which Panamsat alleged that Comsat Corp. and other Intelsat partners conspired to prevent the development of rival satellite systems. In the $1.5-billion suit, Panamsat alleged that Comsat refused to purchase time on Panamsat's satellites, used unfair pricing practices and interfered with Panamsat's efforts to do business around the world. U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan, however, ruled that Panamsat failed to show sufficient evidence of a conspiracy. Nevertheless, Hughes is said to be pushing hard to close the deal with Panamsat despite also being stymied by sticky tax issues that have hamstrung the Mexican media conglomerate Groupo Televisa, which owns 40.5% of Panamsat. (Another 40.5% is owned by the Anselo family and the remaining 19% of the company is publicly owned.) Televisa could face a huge capital gains tax bill because the value of its stake in Panamsat has ballooned to $1 billion from $200 million in only five years, industry analysts say. But Televisa is said to be eager to cash out its position in the burgeoning satellite market, which is expected to explode with competition over the next decade as more than a dozen firms invest more than $30 billion to launch new generations of satellites aimed at increasing global telephone and video communications. Hughes, the No. 1 builder of satellites, already has a strong presence in the domestic satellite business and a hugely successful direct broadcast satellite subsidiary called DirecTV, which has signed up 2 million customers in two years. Although DirecTV is not part of the Panamsat deal, it could be the model for Hughes' global satellite ambitions, some experts say. "Hughes has designs on an international direct-to-home service" similar to DirecTV, said Scott Blake Harris, a Washington communications lawyer, who recently served as chief of the Federal Communications Commission's international bureau. DirecTV is "not the driving force behind the deal," said Harris, but he added: "Panamsat is perhaps the most aggressive of the new competitors to Intelsat ... What you have seen over the last couple of years is the globalization of satellite service." Copyright Los Angeles Times ------------------------------ Subject: IBM to Unveil Internet Banking Alliance Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 14:25:35 PDT From: tad@ssc.com IBM to unveil Internet banking alliance SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter) - International Business Machines Corp. has made an alliance with more than a dozen major banks to provide consumer banking services using Internet technology, IBM and industry executives said Friday. The consortium will be dubbed Integrity and will be owned equally by IBM and each of the partners. Banks will be able to use IBM's worldwide private network as well as the Internet to enable their customers to do their banking electroni- cally. Specific details of the banking arrangement have yet to be worked out, one of the executives said. IBM and the banking instititutions involved are due to unveil the Integrity project in New York on Monday. The alliance is one of several industry projects that IBM's Internet Division is establishing to help large companies utilize the Internet. The banking alliance will have competition from other electronic banking services being organized by companies like Intuit Corp., America Online Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Just this week, Intuit and America Online said a number of leading financial institutions would offer their customers online banking via AOL, using software developed by Intuit known as BankNOW. At an Internet and Electronic Commerce conference in San Francisco this week, Intuit Chairman Scott Cook said the new service targets people who want to use electronic transactions to speed up their banking. Cook said he expects the new service will differ from what the IBM-led consortium might provide. NationsBank has been among companies frequently mentioned as participating in the IBM consortium, but a spokesman late on Friday declined to discuss a Wall Street Journal report that it would be involved in the consortium. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 96 16:22:24 -0600 From: jsw@ivgate.omahug.org (Jack Winslade) Subject: Community Dialing Still Exists > There used to be a variation of this scheme known as "Community > Dialing" where local calls to the nearby area code could be dialed as > seven digits because either the office code was not used in the > caller's own area code or it would be long distance and would have to > be dialed as 1+. Does anyone know if there are still places where this > is allowed? In the Omaha-Council Bluffs area, which straddles the Nebraska-Iowa border and the 402-712 boundary, this is still the case. Calls from either side of the river {note 1} in the local calling area can be dialed using seven digits IF the call is considered to be a 'free' call from the point of origin. There's still quite a bit of disparity concerning what is and is not a free call. There are many cases in the outer reaches of the local calling area where a call to a seldom-called community miles away in the opposite state is toll- free and seven digits, but a call to a neighboring community is long-distance and is billed at extortive intrastate rates. A semi-recent change here has resulted in two prefixes hosted out of one local CO that are toll between each other. Both 402-359 (Valley, NE) and 712-366 (Council Bluffs-Manawa) are served by remote DMS units from Omaha's 84th & Harrison office. Although the local calling areas of each overlap, they do not include each other, making a call from one to the other an interstate toll call. I wonder if those calls are actually switched to the carrier's facility and back to the same CO ?? Note 1: An occasionally-mentioned item here is the case of the community of Carter Lake, Iowa. This is geographically on the Nebraska side of the river, but politically in Iowa. It's just northeast of the downtown Omaha area. Carter Lake has 712-347, which is hosted from a large ESS installation in downtown Omaha, which also hosts most of the 402-34X prefixes. It is rumored that at one time, this prefix could be dialed using either area code 402 or 712. Carter Lake got the shaft as far as local calling is concerned. Most of the outer reaches of the local calling area on the Iowa site are toll from Carter Lake, even they are free from other points in the Omaha area. Good day. JSW ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing (Update) Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 14:11:19 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: scline@usit.net I have mentioned either here or in c.d.t.t about some unusual calling and pricing situations in northwest Georgia, specifically: 1) The Trenton area, where callers must obtain a "foreign exchange" line to have local service to Chattanooga (just 15 miles away), while people much further from Chattanooga (nearly 60 miles away) can call "locally" to Chattanooga, and 2) The fact that Ringgold, GA is a local call to Dalton, GA even though the areas are across a LATA boundary. I have talked to both the Ringgold and Trenton telcos, and have found some details out: Trenton ======= Previously mentioned: Customers in most of Trenton Telephone Co.'s service area (706-657 and 706-462) must obtain a "398" prefix number (706-398, out of a different CO) to have local calling to Chattanooga (15 miles away.) Otherwise, calls are intraLATA long-distance. New info: The cost of a "398" number depends on whether one wants to only RECEIVE calls from Chattanooga, or one wants to be able to call TO and FROM Chattanooga local. For the former case (receive-only) Remote Call Forwarding is used, and "averages" about $12/mo. For those who want unlimited calling to and from Chattanooga, one must obtain a FX line in the 398 prefix/CO -- which is just seven or eight miles away from the 657-462 CO (I drove the distance today); cost "averages" about $65-70(!)/mo. (The 398 CO also is capable of CLASS services such as Caller ID that are unavailable in the 657/462 COs.) Yet Trenton can call areas of northeast Alabama, FURTHER AWAY AND OVER A LATA BOUNDARY, as LOCAL, untimed calls! Also, Trenton Telephone bases the cost of *all* "basic" services (Trenton-only, RCF, and FX) on distance from the CO; those further out from the CO pay more than those closer to the CO. (I asked for a specific rate, and was asked where I would be getting service. Since I wasn't inquiring about service for a *specific address*, I was given "averages" instead.) Has anyone else heard of such oddball pricing? This pricing scheme sounds acceptable for T spans and maybe ISDN, but for plain POTS lines?! There appears to be no fiber (or very little) used by Trenton Telephone; most lines are copper from customer to CO. Trenton Tel also has no equal access (but IXC calling cards' 800/888 numbers can be used.) On the BellSouth side, calls to Trenton (non-398) are ridiculously cheap: 10c/min days, 5c/min night/weekend. BellSouth's $23 "Area Plus" plan, which extends local calling to a 40-mile boundary (based on V/H tables), does not include independent LECs. (One small regional IXC, DeltaCom, doesn't charge for calls to points 16 miles away or less using the V/H tables. For some in BellSouth areas LD to Trenton, a *DeltaCom customer* -- they are not set up for "casual calling" -- could force PIC calls through DeltaCom and avoid all LD charges.) Never mind that areas much further from Chattanooga can call Chattanooga -- and the reverse -- as a local call, or unlimited calling TO Chattanooga is cheap ($3/mo or so, from the Bledsoe Tel Co-Op areas.) IMHO, Trenton Telephone is CONTINUING to SEVERELY gouge its customers and the Georgia PSC needs to do something -- NOW. $70 for a FX line in a CO just eight miles away (the result of a company's utter stupidity), is ridiculous. Ringgold ======== Previously mentioned: I said that Ringgold can call Dalton (which is in another LATA) as a local call. New info: That applies only to those that have *AT&T* as their LD carrier. (I'm not sure if one not PICed to AT&T can dial 10288+1 and not pay LD charges; in such a case they may be subject to the 80c/call surcharge but for long calls, the "sur"charge would be less than in-state LD.) According to Ringgold Telephone Co., AT&T agreed to handle Dalton/Ringgold calls as "local" (actually, still LD and re-rated to no-charge) before Ringgold Telephone converted to equal access; since RTC moved to equal access last year, other IXCs (MCI, Sprint, etc.) have shown no interest in doing the same. (DeltaCom, mentioned above, may handle Ringgold/Dalton calls as "local" using the 16-mile-V/H rule.) Why Ringgold and ALLTEL (Dalton LEC) don't run fiber between themselves (not being Baby Bells, they CAN do this, right? With other interLATA local situations, PICed IXC does not matter) is a mystery to me. Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://pobox.com/~roamer1/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 All opinions are strictly my own! ------------------------------ From: Carter Bennett Subject: Complaining *Effectively* - Telcos, FCC, Others Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 01:52:46 -0500 Organization: East Texas Internet Ahoy! >> Easy. Call your LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) and request that they >> block any changes to your LD without your direct approval. This is >> often called a PIC freeze. Most LECs do not charge for this. A >> complaint to the FCC may also be in order. (See their Web site at: >> http://www.fcc.gov) -- Well, depending on where you live, the FCC may not be your best bet for complaints. Here in Texas, the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) has regulations that often impose stricter requirements on utilities than anything the FCC hands down. And they take a dim view of things not going the way they require them. And they *DO* act on valid complaints. http://www.puc.texas.gov If you have any sort of complaint about *any* government regulated service or operation (including telcos), be sure and don't overlook any regulatory agency that might not have as high a profile as the FCC. Joel M. Hoffman wrote: > Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of > reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever > been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written > response to a written inquiry? Absolutely! I have had pleasant and constructive experiences on several occasions when FCC personnel were involved -- with three of the FCC's bureaus. And -- Pat? Somebody? check me on this -- it *used* to be a federal law that any WRITTEN correspondence properly directed to a federal agency must be replied to within ten business days. There were some conditions where delays could be justified, but the idea was that mail just couldn't go ignored. Mind you, this was a number of years ago that I last checked on that. It may be different now. But, yes. I have chatted with FCC folks many times and have found them to be as helpful as any federal employee can be expected to be. One thing that helps: Don't call them saying you have a complaint. Call them saying you have questions. Complaints can be answered with "we appreciate your input" form letters. Questions, if properly asked, can't. Instead of telling the bureaucrats that you "demand action" (they *HATE* hearing that), ask them if they can help explain or clarify some issue or another. Listen to what they have to say. *THEN* ask what suggestions they might have if you're having trouble with . Y'see, government employees *LOVE* looking up and reciting regulations or policies. [Think about it. Have you ever encountered one that didn't?] This makes them feel authoritative. Something surprising and bizarre -- a number of public servants actually enjoy coming up with ways to fix problems. This gives them a feeling that they're accomplishing something. But I can't think of anyone who likes to fill in ream after ream of complaint checklists. Typing addresses onto form letters isn't much better. The "I-have-a-question" approach can take a little longer to implement, but listen carefully -- this can bring up a wealth of useful or interesting information up that you might not have known about. Sometimes you can quickly work your way up the chain of command by asking a question that isn't very easily answered. Consider questions that might be answered with "Hmmm. I don't know -- let me refer you to a supervisor/specialist." Finally (and this doesn't go for just the FCC) -- KEEP A LOG!! It doesn't have to be fancy. Just a text file on the computer will do. *ALWAYS* write down dates, times, names, phone numbers, information that you're given, addresses, things you've discovered on your own -- *EVERYTHING*. And just as important, KEEP THE LOG AFTER YOUR PROBLEM IS RESOLVED! Things that don't seem important at the time can be absolutely priceless down the road. Don't forget to log when you leave voicemail! It really raises eyebrows when you can say, "I called for Mr. Harold Shyster on September 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21 and 22 and none of my calls were ever returned or acknowledged." Expect contadictory information (and outright lies), and keep notes to combat it. When someone tells you something that doesn't add up with what you already know, you should be able to go back to the log and say, "Well, on September 14 at 11:45, I spoke to Brunhilda Doe (202-NXX-XXXX) who heads up the Committee on Telewrangling at the FCC's Cable Services Bureau, and *she* said ..." That alone can make the difference between getting what you want and getting a lot of runaround. Cheerio! Carter Bennett If I had foreseen rap music on the carter@e-tex.com horizon, I wouldn't have worked Coalition for Constructive Whining so hard to get rid of disco. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The ten day response requirement in theory applies to the Freedom of Information Act. I say in theory because in actual practice they always write you back within ten days asking for an extension of the allowed time, telling you they will get back to you 'as soon as they can' at some unspecified future date. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 96 21:55 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Airphone Doesn't Take Visa?? Someone tried to call me today from an airplane, and to charge the call to Visa, but they were told that only MasterCard, Amex and AT&T calling cards (but NOT AT&T universal cards unless you know the PIN for the phone part of the card) are accepted. Anyone know what's going on? Thanks, Joel (joel@exc.com) ------------------------------ From: mikegackst@aol.com (Mikegackst) Subject: Northern User's Group Date: 8 Sep 1996 22:09:06 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: mikegackst@aol.com (Mikegackst) Does anyone know the address on the Web or an Internet site that has a group for Northern information? I get tired waiting to talk to a tech at support, when a group could have the answer to my problem that has happen to them. I have tried Northern's web site to find a group with no success. Any info will be appreciated. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Dennis Wong Subject: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 19:33:40 -0700 Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada Reply-To: a15283@mindlink.net What I know is that DID trunks allow outside callers to call a specific extension on your PABX by dialing a regular telephone number and not having to ask the switchboard operator to connect the call to that particular extension. Can somebody explain to me how the central office signals the PABX to ring that particular extension? Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? Please explain this to me. Thank you, Dennis Wong a15283@mindlink.net ------------------------------ Subject: Why Not 8-Digit Phone Numbers? Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 14:13:25 PDT From: tad@ssc.com This is from the {San Jose Mercury News}: Q&A on the News Q I keep reading about the trouble the telephone company is having because it is running out of phone numbers for each area code. Why doesn't it just add one more digit to the seven-digit numbers we use now? Ramon Castillo, San Jose Craig Hosoda, Santa Clara A The numbering plan now in use -- three digits for an area code, three digits for a prefix and four digits for a line number -- was conceived in the 1930s and implemented in the '40s. All telecommunica- tions equipment -- from the huge switching equipment that processes telephone traffic to the pager you stick in your pocket -- relies on this standard. To add a digit "would involve a complete revamping of the entire network from A to Z," said Pacific Bell official Dave Miller. In describing how disruptive it would be, he began to run out of superlatives, saying the change would be "enormous," "herculean," "would lead to mass confusion -- and potentially mass hysteria." "It would impact virtually every consumer and business in the country," he said. "It would far outstrip concerns Californians are having now with new area codes." And if that doesn't talk you out of it, it would also be extremely expensive. However, that doesn't mean it will never happen. The simplest solution to the area code crunch is being implemented first -- doing away with a rule that the middle number has to be a 0 or a 1. Allowing 2s through 9s as second digits in area codes should buy an additional 25 to 30 years. After that, Miller said, the industry will probably have to consider making phone numbers one digit longer. There have been proposals to make the area code four digits, to make the prefix four digits, or to make the line number five digits. Q&A on the News is written by Karl Kahler. If you have a question, call (408) 920-5003, fax (408) 288-8060, send e-mail to kkahler@sjmercury.com or write Q&A on the News, 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, Calif. 95190. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #471 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 9 11:03:15 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA07357; Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:03:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:03:15 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609091503.LAA07357@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #472 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Sep 96 11:03:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 472 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Beginnings of Dial Service in Toronto and Montreal (David Leibold) Recommended "EXchange" Names (Mark J. Cuccia) Cherry Banned in California (Rob Hall) Employment Opportunity: Jobs for Telecom Engineers (gao@io.org) Cheaper Multi-Area Code Access - AIN or FX? (Nicholas Marino) SPAM Injunction (John Cropper) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 23:59:09 EDT From: David Leibold Subject: The Beginnings of Dial Service in Toronto and Montreal During the weekend, I came across a book entitled "Machine Switching in Montreal and Toronto" by the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, dated ca. 1923. This was a publication for Bell staff to prepare them (and Bell customers) for the introduction of step-by-step switches and their interaction with existing manual switches. The book bore a small stamp indicating "Bell Telephone Company, F.H. Cressey, 47 Ontario St. W., Montreal". It's uncertain whether this book originally belonged to said F.H. Cressey long before it arrived in the library, or whether this person was a key contact for Bell. Bell Canada's main Montreal office is not on Ontario Street these days. The dial figures were coloured red, while letters were in black. The arrangement of letters on the dial was the same as it is known in North American practice today (starting with ABC on the 2 hole, no Q or Z, 0 was labelled "OPERATOR"). Numbering in Toronto and Montreal was in a two-letter four-figure format for single-party numbers (e.g. GRover 2468) with an additional letter identifier for party-line numbers (e.g. MAin 2160 J - that is, dial seven digits total). Mention was made of the use of leading zeroes in numbers under the automatic switching format (e.g. LOmbard 0007, with a note not to confuse 0 and O). There were some photographs and drawings included, including a dial diagram with some of its parts labelled: governor, off normal springs, impulse springs, impulse cam. The following numbers were the original dialable services for those customers using "machine switching": 0 Operator 110 Long Distance operator 113 Information 114 Repair Clerk 1191 Reverting Call (i.e. ring other party on a 2-party-line) Calling from manual to automatic exchange: The "A" operators had access to outgoing trunks to the new automatic switches; to dial the GRover 2468 example, an operator would select the trunk to GRover, then dial just the 2468. Automatic to manual exchange calling: Two methods were described, but automatic callers would always dial the local manual exchange number (long distance dialing would not appear in Canada until the mid-1950s). 1) Selector and Connector: from the descriptions, this apparently means SxS switching would connect to the manual phones automatically and directly. This would obviously be a one-way automatic calling arrangement. Initially, the Montreal-Plateau and Toronto-Adelaide exchanges were mentioned as having the Selector and Connector method available. 2) Call Indicator: The "B" boards at the manual offices would have number indicator display boards installed. SxS subscribers would dial the manual exchange number (presumably represented as a dialable letter-number format). The operators at the manual exchange could then determine the dialed number on the call indicator displays. The display panels were formatted like this (with a lamp lit to indicate each digit): 0 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 W 1 4 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 6 M 7 8 9 7 8 9 7 8 9 7 8 9 F 0 0 0 0 J The 0 & 1 at the left would be the "ten thousands" digit, followed by successive digits of the called phone number. The party line letter is indicated on the far right (W, M, F or J; or in another diagram or picture, this was in the order MJFW). The various parts of the modified manual exchange board were: - Cord & plug - Disconnect lamp - Assignment lamp - Teamwork display key - Home display key An incoming call would be indicated by the assignment lamp, then the operator would press the home display key to bring the called number on the display panel. If the number was already engaged in a call, the operator would connect the caller to a busy signal (via a "busy-back jack"). Otherwise, the call would be connected by the operator, and the caller would hear the ringing tone for the called party. The teamwork key would be used to have an adjacent operator handle a call. The called number could then be indicated on the adjacent operator's number display board. Apparently the "busy-back" tones could be encountered by subscribers even before the advent of automatic switching. This might have been seen as more efficient than having the operator announce that the number was busy. In any event, it would at least be a familiar tone for those subscribers whose exchanges converted from manual to machine. David Leibold aa070@freenet.toronto.on.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 18:21:48 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Recommended "EXchange" Names The following is a list of *recemmended* names for dialable/quotable telephone EXchange names. It comes from AT&T/Bell's publication "Notes on Nationwide Dialing, 1955". This reference book was revised for 1956 as "Notes on Distance Dialing" and under that title was revised further in 1961, 1968 and 1975; to take on the title "Notes on the Network" in 1980; further name changes have occurred over the years of this reference book as it was revised in 1983, 1986, 1990, 1994, and the current 1996 edition. Bellcore took over publication of this reference book's revisions beginning with the 1986 edition. I don't have a copy of the 1956 edition, but I would assume that the recommended EXchange name list is included in there, too. The original list show the 'full' name *and* the recommended *abbreviation* for use in the printed telephone directory. I will only list the 'full' names here. Many cities with EXchange names had for decades been using names which are not from this list. They were not necessarily required to change the names, although some places might have changed the name to 'conform' with the recommendation. These names were supposed to have been chosen such that pronouncing the name should easily identify the first two significant dialable letters of the word, as well as quoting the two letters themselves wasn't supposed to be confused with *other* 'like-sounding' letters which were associated with different numbers on the dial. Direct customer dialing of long-distance nationwide calls was becoming popular, phased-in, throughout the 1950's and early 1960's. AT&T recommended these 'generic' EXchange names to the local Bell (and independent) telcos for areas which had only used local numbers of two, three, four or five numerical digits which were moving to a standard seven-digit (2L-5N) format for full incorporation into the North American DDD Telephone Network. These names were considered 'generic' enough for use 'anywhere' in the US and Canada, without any local differences in pronunciation or spelling in the first two letters. However, many areas still continued to use local names with unique or difficult sounds and/or spelling. Please note that the 55x, 57x, 95x and 97x ranges are not included. In the original list, it states "Reserved for Radiotelephone Service". Note that there are no vowels on the 5, 7, 9 digits on the dial. It was considered difficult to form words/names easy to pronounce from the letters JKL, PRS, WXY. However, San Francisco had their KLondike exchange (55x), and in the later 1950's and early 1960's, fictitious exchange names in radio/TV/print entertainment and advertisements used KL-5 or KLondike-5. This is really the origin of the '555' exchange, which has also been used for directory assistance, and now also the newest version of 'info' lines. As for "Radiotelephone" service in the 55, 57, 95, 97 (JKL/PRS/WXY) ranges, I do remember many older mobile phones had ID numbers of the form "KK-xxxx" or "WJ-xxxx", etc. By the late 1950's, AT&T decided to abolish 'official' use of EXchange names and rather go to "All Number Calling". One of the reasons which was given was that when international customer dialing would eventually become available, letters might be confusing as many countries had their letters on different digits, had some different character letters (Germanic and Scandinavian countries, as well as the Cyrillic alphabet used on Russia's dials), used different alphabets entirely (China and other Asian countries), some counries didn't even use letters on their dials at all. ANC has become an international standard, using 'decimal' digits for all telephone numbering as well as domestic and international traffic worldwide, although letters have made a "return" in marketing use. I think that the ITU even has a current international recommendation for placing letters on the dial, as marketing functions use them. The traditional North American dial's use of letters is the standard, including the rarely used (in North America)'Z' and 'Q' letters. Many *OLD* (1930's and 40's) North American dials had the 'Z' on the '0' (zero), and many North American operator keysets also have had the letter 'Q' on the '1' (one). I think that the current International standard uses either the QZ on the '1' or on the '0'; or the 'Q' with PRS on the '7' and the 'Z' with the WXY on the '9'. Another reason to change to ANC was because there were little or no names available from the four earlier mentioned number series. While those series were reserved for Radiotelephone (as well as *test* functions, such as ringback, reaching telco official departments, ANAC/ANI readback, etc), these four series should also be used as "POTS" numbers, as Bell was concerned about the increased use of numbering and code resources (similar to today). Automated dial-in paging (beepers) was becomming available in the late 50's and early 60's. Many PBX's were being automated for full dial-in from outside with a 'standard' seven-digit number such that every department or even employee in a company (or every guest room in a hotel or hospital) would have a distinct 'standard' direct-dial-in telephone number. And even computer modems and data processing systems with dial-up lines over the telephone network were coming into use beginning in the late 1950's. In a 2L-5N situation, the third character of the EXchange was a numerical digit. It was recommended *NOT* to use the digit '0' (zero) for the third digit, during the EXchange name days. That didn't mean it was never used, only that it was *rarely* used. By converting to ANC, it shouldn't matter if the third digit of a numerical exchange prefix was a '0' (zero). In North America, the changeover from letters/names to ANC was in a phased process. Some small to medium size towns which had local numbers of five digits (or less) were converted to DDD-standard seven-digit numbers with *NO* EXchange name used, as early as the late 1950's! The conversion of existing names began around 1960. In cities which had mixed 2L-5N and full numerical seven-digit numbers usually had new wirecenters/NNX codes introduced with all-number NNX codes from 1960-on. New Orleans had virtually converted to ANC (as far as the 'official' telephone directory) by 1966. Some cities finished their conversions in the early or mid 1970's (Chicago, New York City), and I think that Philadelphia didn't 'officially' complete conversion to ANC until 1980 or even later. Even though we are 'officially' on an ANC basis, there is nothing which prohibits one from still quoting their telephone number with the old EXchange names ... just look at my contact info in my 'sig-line'. I give the old (and valid) EXchange names as well as the corresponding numerical format, with *full international/domestic* preliminary codes. This list might help those who would like to use an old-style EXchange name if their current NN(X) office code never did have an old EXchange name from the 1950's or earlier. 22x: 23x: 24x: 25x: 26x: 27x: ACademy ADams CHapel ALpine AMherst BRidge BAldwin BElmont CHerry BLackburn ANdrew BRoad(way) CApital BEverly CHestnut CLearbrook COlfax BRown(ing) CAstle CEdar CHurchill CLearwater COlony CRestview CEnter CIrcle CLifford COngress CRestwood CEntral CLinton 28x: 29x: 32x: 33x: 34x: 35x: ATlantic AXminster DAvenport DEerfield DIamond ELgin ATlas AXtel DAvis DEwey DIckens ELliot ATwater CYpress EAst(gate) EDgewater FIeldbrook ELmwood ATwood FAculty EDgewood FIeldstone FLanders AVenue FAirfax EDison FIllmore FLeetwood BUtler FAirview FEderal FIrestone 36x: 37x: 38x: 39x: 42x: 43x: EMerson DRake DUdley EXbrook GArden GEneral EMpire DRexel DUnkirk EXeter GArfield GEneva ENdicott ESsex DUpont EXport HAmilton HEmlock FOrest FRanklin EVergreen EXpress HArrison HEmpstead FOxcroft FRontier FUlton HAzel IDlewood 44x: 45x: 46x: 47x: 48x: 49x: GIbson GLadstone HObart GRanite HUbbard GYpsy GIlbert GLencourt HOmestead GReenwood HUdson HYacinth HIckman GLendale HOpkins GReenfield HUnter HYatt HIckory GLenview HOward GReenleaf HUntley HIllcrest GLobe INgersoll GRover HUxley HIlltop GRidley IVanhoe 52x: 53x: 54x: 56x: 58x: 59x: JAckson JEfferson KImball JOhn JUniper LYceum LAfayette KEllogg KIngsdale JOrdan JUno LYndhurst LAkeside KEystone KIngswood LOcust JUstice LYnwood LAkeview LEhigh LIberty LOgan LUdlow LYric LAmbert LEnox LIncoln LOwell LUther LAwrence LInden 62x: 63x: 64x: 65x: 66x: 67x: MAdison MEdford MIdway OLdfield MOhawk ORange MAin MElrose MIlton OLive MOntrose ORchard MArket MErcury MIssion OLiver MOrris ORiole MAyfair NEptune MItchell OLympia NOrmandy ORleans NAtional NEwton NIagra OLympic NOrth(field) OSborne NEwtown 68x: 69x: 72x: 73x: 74x: 75x: MUrdock MYrtle PAlace PErshing PIlgrim PLateau MUrray OWen PArk(view) REd(field) PIoneer PLaza MUseum OXbow PArk(way) REd(wood) RIver(side) PLeasant MUtual OXford RAndolph REgent RIver(view) PLymouth OVerbrook RAymond REpublic SHadyside SKyline OVerland SAratoga SHerwood 76x: 77x: 78x: 79x: 82x: 83x: POplar PRescott STate PYramid TAlbot TEmple POrter PResident STerling SWathmore TAlmadge TEnnyson ROckwell PRospect STillwell SWift TAylor TErminal ROger(s) SPring STory SWinburne VAlley TErrace SOuth(field) SPruce SUnset SYcamore VAndyke VErnon 84x: 85x: 86x: 87x: 88x: 89x: THornwell ULrick TOwnsend TRemont TUcker TWilight TIlden ULster UNderhill TRiangle TUlip TWinbrook VIctor(ia) ULysses UNion TRinity TUrner TWinoaks VIking UNiversity TRojan TUxedo TWining VInewood VOlunteer UPtown 92x: 93x: 94x: 96x: 98x: 99x: WAbash WEbster WHitehall WOodland YUkon WYandotte WAlker WElls WHitney WOodlawn WYndown WAlnut WEllington WIlliam(s) WOodward WYman WArwick WEst(more) WIlson WOrth WAverly YEllowstone WIndsor YOrktown MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: Rob Hall Subject: Cherry Banned in California Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 12:35:38 +0800 Phone Company Banned From State for 2 Years By MICHAEL G. WAGNER, Times Staff Writer SAN FRANCISCO--An Illinois telephone company accused of illegally switching the long-distance service of more than 7,000 Californians has been ordered to stop doing business in the state for two years. T harsh penalty, believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, will cost Cherry Communications Inc. millions of dollars in lost revenue during its two-year suspension, regulators said Friday. The company must also send $20 refunds to every customer it switched. "The commission wanted to send a loud message that 'slamming' is illegal in California," said Larry McNeely, chief investigator for the Public Utilities Commission. Slamming is the practice of switching telephone customers from one long-distance company to another without their authorization and often without their knowledge. State and federal regulators estimate that more than a million American telephone users have been slammed in the last two years, including several hundred thousand in California. More than 400,000 California phone customers are projected to become victims of the illegal practice this year. Cherry Communications, a company with about 500,000 customers in 36 states, built its business through high-pressure telemarketing and aggressive door-to-door sales techniques, officials say. Regulators say Cherry's agents frequently misrepresented themselves as employees of other phone carriers such as Pacific Bell, forged customer signatures on forms authorizing the changes, and made thousands of improper switches. State regulators estimate that 2,800 customers were slammed by Cherry in the Los Angeles area and about 700 to 800 in Orange County, many of them Vietnamese and Latinos. Customers will be given their choice of a new long-distance firm once Cherry ceases operation. Cherry was started in 1991 by James R. Elliott, 43, a former real estate whiz whose Westchester, Ill., company had been in the business of leasing bank-card-processing equipment before it ventured into pay phones and, finally, residential long-distance service. Elliott, who owns Cherry, was convicted of mail fraud in June 1984 for defrauding two federal loan programs of $135,000. He was sentenced to three months in jail and five years' probation, according to records. In February 1986, he pleaded guilty to single counts of mail and wire fraud in connection with loans made to him by an Illinois savings and loan on whose board he served. He was sentenced to six months in jail and 4 1/2 years of probation, records show. Elliott would not comment. But company President David Giangreco acknowledged the company's marketing problems, which he attributed to growing pains. "All the problems that we encountered are pretty much a microcosm of the failings of the industry," he said. "It came to our attention late last year that in the course of our sales activity, a small percentage of field representatives have engaged in conduct improper in nature, and the situation was [aggravated] by a lack of controls." Giangreco said the firm, which he estimated has monthly revenue of $40 million to $45 million, has since reformed its practices and no longer uses commission sales agents, whom he blamed for the high volume of slamming complaints. Copyright Los Angeles Times ------------------------------ From: gao@io.org (GAO) Subject: Employment Opportunity: Jobs For Telecom Engineers Date: 8 Sep 1996 15:46:17 -0400 Organization: Internex Online (shell.io.org), Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dear Netters, I just saw a posting in which one complains lack of job ads. Our company is hiring. Here is the ad. GAO Research & Consulting Ltd. is a fast growing technology house. It has established itself as one of the world's leading suppliers of advanced digital signal processing (DSP) technologies for the communications industry. Its current products include V.34 modem, DSVD, and H.324 video phone software in C and DSP assembly. The company has R & D positions available. Qualications include Ph.D., M.Sc, OR, B.Sc. in communications, digital signal processing, or speech processing Knowledge OR experience with SOME of the following Trellis encoder, Viterbi decoder, equalizer, echo canceller, timing and carrier recoveries. Speech processing (preferrably speech compression) Digital signal processing Digital signal processors C programming Assembly programming If you don't have education or experiences in communications or speech processing, you are encouraged to apply if you consider yourself as a top engineer or programmer or a quick learner. You are cordially invited to read our home page. Please contact: Alan or Chase GAO Research & Consulting Ltd. - DSP for Communications 55 Nugget Avenue, Unit 204 Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1S 3L1 Fax: (416) 292-2364, Tel: (416) 292-0038 Email: gao@io.org WWW: http://www.io.org/~gao ------------------------------ From: Nicholas Marino Subject: Cheaper Multi-Area Code Access - AIN or FX? Date: 9 Sep 1996 10:26:10 GMT Organization: Net Access - Philadelphia's Original ISP I run a business in New Jersey which is similar to an Internet Service Provider. I would like to have local access points in each of the three area codes in New Jersey. Each local access point must somehow terminate in my main facility in the 908 area code. When I asked Bell Atlantic for a solution, the answer was always Remote Call Forwarding. Three different reps told me that this was absolutely the cheapest way. A no brainer. Not one of them bothered to ask how many minutes per month would be carried on these metered RCF lines. In my case, if I chose a RCF arrangement, I'd probably end up with billed in the $20,000 - $30,000 range. Instead, I insisted on installing FX lines, which are a fixed cost per month ($45 per month between 201 and 908), but with a steep $400 per line installation fee. I'll end up saving mucho bucks by NOT listening to the Bell Atlantic reps, who are supposed to know what they're talking about. Might there be an even better way? I've heard of something called Single Number Service. What really irks me about the RCF situation is that I MUST call BA to discuss my phone service. I'm totally relying on their reps to give me accurate advice. In this case, I would have been totally screwed by taking that advice. And it wasn't just a single stupid rep -- I'm not exaggerating what I say that I asked three different reps to solve my business problem and all suggested RCF. ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com Subject: SPAM Injunction Date: 8 Sep 1996 14:21:39 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 07, 1996 07:39:26 in article , 'G Thurman ' wrote: (Original message did NOT appear in TELECOM Digest) (Post deleted, save the sig line) >> Paul Wareham >> Image Processing and Communications Lab >> Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering > What may be more interesting is that America On Line, last week, was the > first major ISP to announce complete blocking of ALL traffic from servers > that allow large cross postings such as this. AOL was sued by Cyber Promotions, and a preliminary injunction has been filed on behalf od CP against AOL actually blocking the mass-posts. The actual hearing is scheduled for mid-November ... > Since there are great plugins for spelling, video, etc. maybe someone > will write one that blocks cross postings at the user level. How about services restricting mass-posting to a few (say five maximum) newsgroups at a time. If its made unbelievably difficult, some won't bother, and those that do will develop carpal-tunnel in short order ... John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #472 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 9 11:59:23 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA13422; Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:59:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:59:23 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609091559.LAA13422@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #473 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Sep 96 11:59:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 473 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Anonymous Remailers Report (Tad Cook) Germany Censors XS4ALL: Letter to German Providers and ICTF (F. Rodriquez) BellSouth Update on Hurricane Fran (Mike King) BellSouth Joins Court Challenge to FCC Interconnection Order (Mike King) Canada to USA (was Re: North America Dialing) (Mark J. Cuccia) "Roaming" in Home Territory (Rupa Schomaker) Help With Rolm System Needed (Michael Muderick) Using a USA Cellular Phone Overseas (Joel M. Hoffman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Anonymous Remailers Report Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 01:52:14 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Finland-Based Anonymous Remailer Pulls the Plug By Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News HELSINKI--Sep. 8--If Johan Helsingius is feeling a little bruised these days, you can't blame him. He's a successful businessman -- co-founder of a major European Internet-access company -- and one of Finland's army of Internet pioneers. But Helsingius has drawn what has become unwelcome attention for his personal hobby -- so much so that he's abandoned it for the time being. His hobby was an "anonymous remailer," a computer service that let anyone send anonymous electronic mail messages to anyone else. Helsingius shut the remailer down about ten days ago after an August court decision -- a case where the Church of Scientology, charging violation of copyright laws, demanded and received access to e-mailers' identities. Internet users can still send anonymous e-mail on many other systems. But when it became clear to Helsingius that outsiders could force him to disclose the identities of his system's users, he decided to pull the plug, at least until the legalities are better resolved. About 8,000 messages a day were passing through the remailer, a computer that stripped off all information that might identify the sender and then forwarded the message to the intended recipient. They came from all over the world, said Helsingius. But one person's privacy is another person's shield for anti-social activities, critics said. And Helsingius was attacked because, some charged, his server was allowing people to violate copyrights -- or worse. Meanwhile, Helsingius says he was libeled in a recent article about child pornography in the Observer, a London newspaper. He's now deciding where he should file a libel suit against the newspaper, which linked his remailer to distribution of child pornography. In fact, he said, the remailer had been set up so that it couldn't send large binary files (the kind that contain digitized photos). Finnish police have been quoted as saying there was no evidence Helsingius' system was being used as a conduit for such materials. He didn't close the remailer in response to the article, he said; the timing was a coincidence. It was actually a long-running battle with the Scientologists that led to the remailer's closing, he said. The church had already lifted the system's veil about a year earlier, when it persuaded Finnish authorities to issue a search warrant on the grounds that the remailer was being used to send copyrighted material. He said last month's court ruling in the Scientology case -- again requiring him to open his records (he's appealing the decision) -- made it clear that, for now, Finnish e-mail is no longer protected by the kinds of privacy laws that protect phone conversations. "That completely nullified the purpose of the server," he said by phone last week. The purpose was to make it possible for people to say unpopular things -- and for whistle-blowers to act -- free of retribution. Helsingius, 35, is a member of Finland's largest minority: citizens of Swedish ancestry. Relations between the Finnish majority, which for decades was dominated by a Swedish-speaking ruling class, have not always been smooth. "Being part of a small minority I've always been sensitive about the issue of being able to express your view," he said in Helsinki in July. Seeing both sides That sentiment fuels his defenders, legion across the Internet, who call anonymous remailers essential tools for whistle-blowers and other public-spirited people who have very good -- and perfectly legal -- reasons to keep their names private. "To some extent I agree with both sides," Helsingius said before closing his service. "Of course, I still feel the pros (of running the anonymous server) outweigh the cons." The United States was a major source of anonymous e-mail on his system. "Americans are more careful about the amount of authority they give government," he said. "Europeans are used to the fact that government is everywhere and interfering in everything. Europeans think government behaves OK. That's true to some extent, but naive." A large percentage of the remailer's messages also came from people in the former Soviet bloc. "They're the ones who really understand the need for privacy," Helsingius said. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED To learn about anonymous remailers and Internet anonymity in general, point your Web browser to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Anonymity/ Pseudonymity Archive at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Anonymity/. ------------------------------ From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: Germany Censors XS4ALL: Letter to German Providers and ICTF Date: 8 Sep 1996 18:39:58 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses Hello, This is an email I just wrote to Michael Schneider, the guy that advised German Internet providers to censor www.xs4all.nl and www.serve.com. He will probably forward the text to the German Public Prosecutor General, who should also read it. I try to make them understand that censoring is not very effective on the Net, and that they should stop it right now. At the same time I threathen to sue both of them for free-speech infringement and damages. We'll see what happens. Censoring the Net is _the way_ to make bestsellers, when will the governments understand ? -------------------------------------------- Hello Michael, > http://www.anwalt.de/ictf/p960901e.htm > > It now contains a digest of the complete occasion including parts of the > letters I wrote to the Public Prosecutor General. I read it yesterday. Thanks. > I would appreciate, if you portray the activities of ICTF entirely and > exactly. I consistently state that the German providers were forced to censor by the Public Prosecutor. This is also what people understand from the press-releases we sent. Even so the entire www.xs4all.nl website is blocked, with 3100 pages, in order to censor one single homepage. Regardless who is responsible for the censor-actions, it is an outrage that 3100 xs4all customers are censored by Germany. Without a single phonecall, fax, email or letter to Xs4all internet or the user that placed the Radikal pages on our website. If there are pages that are not accepted by Germany, then Germany can always confront us, or the website owner, in a Dutch court of law. It may interest you to know about some developments: There are a number of mirrors for the Radikal site. All sorts of people have spontaneously started to copy the websites to their own system: http://burn.ucsd.edu/%7Eats/RADIKAL/ http://www.jca.or.jp/~taratta/mirror/radikal/ http://www.serve.com/~spg/ http://huizen.dds.nl/~radikal http://www.canucksoup.net/radikal/index.html http://www.ecn.org/radikal http://www.well.com/~declan/mirrors/ http://www.connix.com/~harry/radikal/index.htm http://www.ganesa.com/radikal/ http://www.denhaag.org/~radikal There are more mirrors than just these, but I did not get the entire list. According to the German General Prosecutors opinion these sites would also need to be blocked. Expect the list of mirrors to grow, and expect to be forced to block that growing list of sites on the Net. Realize that a lot of internetusers consider it a sport to redistribute censored information. The way to write a bestseller on the Net is to have it censored by some government. It has the opposite effect. The entire issue 154 of Radikal has been posted in German newsgroup by anonymous users. German users can still use remote (non-German) proxy-servers to access all the Radikal information on Internet. People have posted information about these remote proxyservers in German newsgroups. Xs4all uses rotating IP-numbers for its services. The IP-numbers of certain sites and services are changed every couple of hours. A static ip-filter would certainly not be enough to block www.xs4all.nl. We have asked our parliament and department of Foreign Affairs to help us fight this blunt German censorship. We have also asked the EFF, CPSR and EPIC for advice, and to spread our press-release. A fax was also sent to CNN, Wired, and other press-services. We have discussed starting legal procedures against Germany and the ICTF with our lawyer. If any political and diplomatic actions fail to stop this act of blunt censorship, then we will most probably start litigation against the German government and the ICTF, for damages and violation of the European right on free-speech. It is clear that censoring 3100 pages, to prevent one of them from being published, is an infringement of European free-speech legislation. We have adviced the provider behind www.serve.com, that is also censored, to engage in the same kind of procedures. Please inform the German Public Prosecutor General that the censoring actions have been ineffective, and that Radikal is now on many different websites and is being distributed widely on the entire Internet. Continuing to block this growing list of sites would be an impossible task, what happens if Germany demands to block AOL, EFF, Compuserve, Prodigy, The Well, Netcom and Demon Internet next week? Providers would be forced to block large part of Internet. I don't think that's what anyone would like to happen. Kind regards, Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 pgp Key fingerprint = 32 36 C3 D9 02 42 79 C6 D1 9F 63 EB A7 30 8B 1A ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Update on Hurricane Fran Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 10:57:14 GMT ----- Forwarded Message ----- Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 15:12:48 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH UPDATE ON HURRICANE FRAN BELLSOUTH UPDATE ON HURRICANE FRAN Hurricane Fran made landfall last night in Cape Fear, N.C. There is extensive damage in Wilmington through Raleigh and Greensboro. The Dillon, Marion and Mullins areas near Florence were the hardest hit in South Carolina. The company is assessing the damage, but as of 10 a.m., EDT this morning: * 64 Central Offices are running on generators, * 598 DLC sites are on emergency power, * 512 generators are in transit from Jacksonville, Fla., Atlanta and Columbia, S.C., to the hardest-hit areas to temporarily restore phone service to customers. * Approximately 200 technicians are in transit from across the region to assist in the restoration efforts. Widespread power outages prohibit the entry of our technicians into many areas, but some restoration efforts have already begun. ### Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The above was received late Friday here, and over the weekend restoration of service went full steam ahead. As we know, this time everyone was ready for the disaster, with FEMA and many emergency crews standing by reading to move in immediatly when the storm was over, thus a lot of valuable time was saved. As severe as it was, complete restoration may not take nearly as long as previous storms of this nature elsewhere. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Joins Court Challenge to FCC Interconnection Order Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 10:57:52 GMT ----- Forwarded Message ----- Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 15:17:06 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH JOINS COURT CHALLENGE TO FCC INTERCONNECTION ORDER For Information Contact: Bill McCloskey 202-463-4129 John Schneidawind 202-463-4183 BELLSOUTH JOINS COURT CHALLENGE TO FCC INTERCONNECTION ORDER WASHINGTON -- BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today joined Pacific Telesis Group and Bell Atlantic Corporation in asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's order which set terms and conditions for interconnection of competing local telephone networks. The FCC and state commissions have authority to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which opened local telecommunications to competition and permits new entrants to interconnect with and resell the services of incumbent local telephone companies such as BellSouth. BellSouth has supported competition and successfully negotiated 20 interconnection agreements in its nine-state telephone operating territory, allowing local exchange competition. BellSouth will argue that the FCC had no right to supplant these marketplace agreements or the intent of Congress with its minutely detailed rules. The joint appeal is one of several filed around the country by telephone companies and state regulators. One of the principal questions raised in the appeals will be whether in promulgating its interconnection rules, the FCC exceeded the scope of its authority and invaded territory that Congress has reserved for the states. "The Commission seems to be taking over regulation of local telephony which is entrusted to the states," said Walter Alford, BellSouth executive vice president and general counsel, "this does not square with the deregulatory intent of Congress." "We have taken this action to sweep away these roadblocks to competition and will ask the Appeals Court to expedite its review of these issues," Alford said. "We want to move quickly to competition, therefore we feel we must act to keep the Commission from undermining the interconnection agreements we have reached through voluntary negotiations and state-conducted arbitration proceedings. "We believe customers will lose if BellSouth is forced to sell services to our competitors at FCC-dictated below cost rates, because we will not be able to maintain our network to the quality level our customers expect and demand," Alford said. In the request for expedited consideration the three companies will propose that initial briefs be filed by October 14th with final briefs to be due December 9th. BellSouth is a $17.9 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing, and information services to more than 25 million customers in 17 countries worldwide. ### Internet users: For more information about BellSouth Corporation visit the BellSouth Webpage http://www.bellsouth.com ----------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 11:25:24 GMT From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Canada to USA (was Re: North America Dialing) Linc Madison wrote in response to the NANP numbering, dialing and billing inquiry posting of Feico Nater : > Calling from the USA to any point in the North American Numbering Plan > (USA, Canada, and several Caribbean countries and territories) the > dialing sequence proceeds as follows: > (1) optional special codes, such as *67/*82 to suppress/enable > transmission of your number to the other person's Caller ID box, > *70 to disable call waiting, etc. > (2) optional carrier code, if you want to use a long-distance company > other than your default carrier. For example, 10288 for AT&T, 10222 > for MCI. > (3) '1' if the call is direct-dialed, '0' if the call is > operator-assisted (collect/reverse charges, person-to-person, charge > to a telephone calling card, or bill to a third number). > In either case, you dial the destination number as below. > (4) the three-digit area code and seven-digit local number. (snip) >> How does one dial from Canada to USA vice versa? Is it just as if they >> are one country? > Dialing from the US to Canada is as shown above. Dialing from Canada > to the US and to the Caribbean is very similar, but you omit step two, > and some of the codes in step one may be different. While an *excellent* and *comprehensive* description of the NANP and our dialing procedures, calls from Canada to the US do not necessarily omit step two anymore (i.e. the use of 10-xxx/101-xxxx+), as there are now competitive carriers and resellers in the north country. One can choose primary carriers for their toll calls (although there aren't "LATA's" as we know them in the USA) as well as place toll calls on a 'per-call' basis via some carriers other than their chosen primary toll carrier, by using these "Feature Group D" or "Equal Access" codes, 10-xxx/101-xxxx+. Some of the competitive Canadian carriers and resellers with 10xxx/101-xxxx codes or 950-xxxx access numbers include Unitel, fONOROLA, Sprint-Canada, etc. Even the major "Stentor" local Canadian telcos have such codes assigned to them for use, such as if one has Unitel as their primary carrier, but chooses to place a toll call either within their province, to another province/territory in Canada, or to the USA, but through the routing *and* billing facilities of their own Canadian "Stentor" LEC. Presently, only Teleglobe is authorized to carry traffic from Canada to non-US international points, and the local Stentor company (whether as a primary carrier or using each one's 10-xxx/101-xxxx code) interconnects to them for such POTS international traffic. That might be changing next year, however. The carriers and resellers who wish a code will request them from Bellcore NANPA, usually with the Candaian Government's Industry Canada "Canadian Numbering Administrator" as an intermediary. These numbering resources for carrier selection (including the 950-xxxx) are assigned by Bellcore NANPA on a unique non-conflicting basis. The same numbers are not assigned anywhere else to other carriers in other parts of the NANP. The same applies to Canadian (and Caribbean or US Pacific) requests for 456-NXX, 500-NXX and 900-NXX 'central office' codes, 555-xxxx line numbers, and other miscellaneous NANP numbering/code resources issued, assigned or reserved by Bellcore NANPA for possible or future use NANP-wide. The 600-NXX codes are still something 'unique' to Canada, and are assigned directly to Canadian telecom entities by the Canadian Numbering Administrator, according to the "600 Assignment Guidelines". Special Area Code 600 traces its history back to the old special area code for four-row TWX service in Canada, introduced in 1962. During the 1980's, other data or ISDN services began to be assigned 610-NXX codes, while TWX was becoming obsolete. When Bellcore NANPA requested 610 to be returned for assignment elsewhere in the NANP for relief of a geographic "POTS" area code, Canada requested 600 as a 'swap'. This swap took effect in a flash-cut on October 1, 1993, and 610 went into effect for the split of 215 of the Philadelphia PA area in early 1994. Canada's 600 is used for data services, ISDN, "caller pays" cellular and future "satellite mobile phones" in Canada. However, we cannot dial the 600 Canada special area code from the USA. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: rupa@rupa.com (Rupa Schomaker) Subject: "Roaming" in Home Territory Date: 9 Sep 1996 07:42:01 -0700 Organization: Rupa Schomaker Consulting I have had an interesting experience a couple of times while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. There are some sections of the road where my cellular provider (LA Cellular) has horrible coverage -- which perhaps is understandable. The place where this happens most often is just north of Laguna Beach by the state park (moro canyon?) south of Crystal Cove. The odd this is that during those times my cellphone will go into ROAM mode. If I attempt to dial I get an intercept welcoming me to (and I'm paraphrasing from memory) the cell company of Baja California. It then gives me instructions on how to call the United States. If I then turn my phone off and then back on the phone goes out of ROAM mode. Laguna Beach is over an hour north (driving like we do in southern california) of San Diego. I would assume the cells for the Baja California network are somewhere south of that. a) how the heck is my phone even picking up the signal (which, while very staticy is no worse than some of the low coverage areas for LA Cellular here in CA). b) Is there something I should do. I assume someone is out of spec, what authorities do I approach? There is also a radio station in Baja California *just* south of the border. They play alternative rock and it "sounds" just like a US station. Anyway, their signal is very strong. They are one of two or three stations that I can get clear reception here in Laguna. When I travel to Los Angeles (another hour north) this station still comes in loud and clear. (91.1 FM, 91X) I suppose there are fewer regulations on signal strength in Mexico? Or are there other reasons? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have a similar experience from time to time. If I go into a certain basement of an office building here in Skokie, my cell phone completely loses the Ameritech signal, but it does NOT go into 'no service' mode. Instead it goes into 'Roam-A' mode meaning it seems to think there is a signal from an A carrier that it is hearing. I come back upstairs from the basement and outside, and the signal strength goes back to normal but the phone *stays on the Roam-A side of things* and at that point latches on quite nicely to Cellular One of Chicago, who of course won't accept my calls without going through Cellular Express ("... dial star 8655 to place your call"). 8655 of course spells the word 'TOLL'. I have my phone set in the so-called 'standard' mode, meaning in this case first use the B carrier, then try to roam with a B carrier and if that is impossible then roam with an A carrier. I can see why the signal gets lost down in the basement, but what I do not understand is what sort of spurious signals there are in the basement which the phone interprets as an A carrier it can talk to. The same thing may be happening in your case. I recall a few years ago when we were driving down Highway 54 in Missouri. The phone had been out of touch with the world for an hour at least, showing 'no service' on the indicator when all of a sudden it chirped to get my attention and the display said we had a nice strong signal from an A carrier. I was curious and made a call to '0' and also to *611 because I wanted to ask who they were and where they were. Neither one gets me any carrier at all. Then I notice we are driving past some large factory of some sort with a couple of radio towers nearby. I assume the signals which radiated from those confused the cellular phone somehow. As soon as I turned the phone off and back on, it went back to 'no service'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: am004d@netaxs.com (Michael Muderick) Subject: Help With Rolm System Needed Date: 9 Sep 1996 09:44:09 GMT Organization: Philadelphia's Complete Internet Provider My son has a Rolm 61000 digital phone in his dorm room. Is there anyway to attach a visual indicator to let him know when it is ringing? In an old analog system I could put a neon light with resistor across the tip and ring. Anything similar? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 21:52:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Using a USA Cellular Phone Overseas I'll be in Israel for a few weeks this winter, and I'd like to be able to use my phone. I understand that Israel uses exactly the same system that we do, so it should be possible. I have two questions, one practical, one technical: 1. Is there a company in Israel that will do this for me for only a few weeks, perhaps if I give them a credit card or even a deposit? 2. What would the company have to know about my phone, or, perhaps, my phone know about the company, for this to work. Can I "program" this myself? How would I do it? Thanks, Joel (joel@exc.com) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #473 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 12:00:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA09725; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 12:00:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 12:00:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609101600.MAA09725@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #474 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 12:00:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 474 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "World Wide Web Journal: Key Specifications of WWW" (R Slade) Ameritech Offers Nationwide Directory Assistance (Tad Cook) BANM to Provide Authentications Service in New England (Dana Rozycki) Alaskan Yellow Pages Now On Line (Ed Bennett) Modem Dialing by Hand [was Re: Bell Atlantic and ATT 10288 PIC] (J Hoffman) Listen Backlog Limit (X.25 sockets/Sun) AKA in a Funk (Michael Kudryashev) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Al Hartkopf) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Bob Goudreau) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:25:09 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "World Wide Web Journal: Key Specifications of WWW" BKW3JI12.RVW 960611 "World Wide Web Journal: Key Specifications of the World Wide Web", Connolly, 1996, 1-56592-190-9, U$24.95/C$35.95 %A Tim Berners-Lee et al %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1996 %E Dan Connolly %G ISBN 1-56592-190-9, ISSN 1085-2301 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$24.95/C$35.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %P 356 %T "World Wide Web Journal: Key Specifications of the World Wide Web" The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is developing a partnership between industry and academic workers. The aim is to promote development and standards research in order to facilitate the realization of the full potential of the Web. In partnership with O'Reilly and Associates, the Consortium is producing the World Wide Web Journal on a quarterly basis. (cf. BKW3JIS1.RVW) This issue of the Journal gets back to basics: the specifications for the Web and its applications. The articles are the RFCs (Requests For Comments), Working Drafts, and reports for technical committees and subcommittees that are pertinent to the operations of the Web. Included are specifications and working papers for URIs (Universal Resource Identifiers), URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), relative URLs, HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) 1.0, PEP (the Protocol Extension Protocol), HTML (HyperText Markup Language) 2.0, file uploads for forms, HTML tables, internationalization, PNG (Portable Network Graphics), style sheets, rating services and systems, and label syntax. Some documents are the final specifications: others are still "in-progress". copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKW3JI12.RVW 960611. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and association publications. roberts@decus.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca aa046@freenet.victoria.bc.ca "So, concerning the above message, you think Rob Slade is responsible?" "Heavens, no! I think Rob Slade is terribly *ir*responsible!" Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ Subject: Ameritech Offers Nationwide Directory Assistance Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 01:08:42 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Call to Local Directory Assistance can Yield Information from Entire Country By Jon Van, Chicago Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 10--In a move anticipating its entry into the long-distance business -- and one that gives callers a break -- Ameritech Corp. expanded its 411 directory assistance service Monday to include phone numbers for the entire country. It is the first regional Bell company to offer this kind of service, although others are preparing similar services. Ameritech operators now will provide phone numbers and area codes for any part of the United States to customers in the Chicago area, whether the caller knows the target's area code or not. At least initially, the price for a long-distance number will be 30 cents, the same as asking for a local number, the Chicago-based company said. Eventually, the price for long-distance assistance will go up, although local assistance will stay the same. Ameritech's price is a fraction of what others charge for long-distance directory assistance. Calling an area code and 555-1212 to obtain a phone number now costs an AT&T Corp. customer 85 cents, a company spokesman said. Using the AT&T national long-distance service at 1-900-555-1212 costs 75 cents for up to two attempts to locate a number. Frank Mitchell, an Ameritech spokesman, said the main reason for expanding the service is the proliferation of area codes throughout the country. "You may be trying to reach somebody and you know what state and city they're in, but you don't know their area code," Mitchell said. "Our customers were telling us they need a service where they don't have to know an area code to dial directory assistance." Currently, the call-completion option from local directory assistance isn't available for long-distance calls. But it is likely to be available sometime next year, when Ameritech hopes to offer long-distance service. The national service is limited to Chicago-area Ameritech customers for now, but it said it probably will introduce it to other markets it serves over time. Many analysts see directory assistance as becoming a major competitive tool to win long-distance customers. "As Ameritech enters the long-distance business, offering national directory assistance is one of the cards they want to be holding," said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research Corp., a telecommunications consultancy based in Livingston, N.J. "When you dial 411 to get an out-of-town phone number, and they offer call completion, they've just captured a call with a very good margin." Terry Barnich, president of New Paradigm Resources, a Chicago-based consultancy, said: "I'd guess Ameritech has a war room where they're looking at every way they can push the envelope today in anticipation of freedom to offer long-distance service tomorrow. This is certainly an example of doing just that." Philip H. Bonello, general manager of Lombard-based Metromail On-line Services, a recent spinoff of R.R. Donnelley and Sons Co. of Chicago, said his firm had worked with Ameritech for nearly a year to set up the national service. "Ameritech is the first regional Bell to do this, and others have similar services in preparation," Bonello said. "This will help local companies gain market share in long distance once they enter that market. It turns their 411 service into a gateway to making long-distance calls. "Competitors will have to allocate a lot of resources to advertise their services to overcome the built-in advantage of the 411 service." The federal telecommunications law enacted in February enables long-distance companies, cable TV firms and others to begin offering local phone service in competition with regional Bells, like Ameritech, which had been regulated monopolies. In exchange for giving up the monopolies, local phone companies will be allowed to offer long-distance service. By late this year several firms, including AT&T, the nation's biggest long-distance carrier, and No. 2 MCI Communications Corp. plan to offer local service in competition with Ameritech. ------------------------------ From: Dana.Rozycki@octel.com Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 14:30:23 -0700 Subject: BANM to Provide Authentications Service in New England September 4, 1996 Andrea Linskey (908) 306-7845 BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX MOBILE PROVIDES MOST ADVANCED WEAPON IN THE WAR ON FRAUD Company First to Provide Authentication in New England WOBURN, Mass. -- Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile today announced it is the first wireless carrier in New England to provide a sophisticated fraud prevention service, called Authentication, to its customers. Authenti- cation uses an advanced encryption technology that makes it almost impossible for a customer's cellular phone number to be cloned -- replicated and used illegally. The crime costs the industry more than $1.5 million a day. Authentication service, which is virtually instantaneous and provided at no additional charge, makes wireless calling easier for customers, while giving even more protection against thieves who steal cellular phone numbers for criminal use. Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customers in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where Authentication has now been deployed, simply need an Authentication-ready phone to take advantage of the service. Customers who wish to verify if their phone is authenticatable can check their owner's manual, contact Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customer service or their nearest Communications Store. Customers who use personal identification numbers (PINs) to deter fraud no longer need to use a PIN to make calls within the New England region or any other region with Authentication, if they have an activated, authenticatable phone. Prior to Authentication, when a PIN user made a call, the network would prompt the caller to input the PIN before the call was connected. Now, New England area customers with authenticatable phones will be required to use their PINs only when roaming in areas where Authentication has yet to be launched. Authentication technology identifies cloned phone numbers immediately, before costly communications can take place. The cellular network and the Authentication-ready phones operating on it carry matching information. When a user initiates a call, the network challenges the phone to verify itself by performing a mathematical equation only that specific phone can solve. An authenticatable phone will match the challenge, confirming that it and the corresponding phone number are being used by the legitimate customer. If it doesn't match, the network determines that the phone number is being used illegally, and service to that phone is terminated. All this takes place in a fraction of a second. "With Authentication, fraud prevention becomes transparent to our customers, and we have the potential to reduce our financial losses -- it's a win-win situation," states Jack Plating, president of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's Northeast region. "Fraud doesn't just cost the industry millions, it inconveniences our customers. While customers have never been required to pay for fraudulent calls, they're frustrated with the problem nonetheless. We're aggressive about providing our customers with the technology to protect them from fraud, and we are encouraged that others in the industry are following our lead." "Authentication ultimately will do away with cloning fraud as we know it today," stated Tom McClure, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association director for fraud management. "According to studies by the industry's Fraud Task Force, Authentication technology will confound bandits for about twenty years. I applaud the work of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile and other wireless carriers that have deployed this new technology and that continue to wage war against high tech fraud." Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile was the first cellular carrier in the industry to bring Authentication to its customers. The service was initially launched in May 1996, in New York and Northern New Jersey and recently launched in Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. The company will roll out the service by year-end throughout its footprint, which covers a population of 55 million people and includes the communications-intensive Northeast corridor. NOTE TO EDITORS: Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's regional headquarters is located in Woburn, Mass., with a region-wide workforce of 1,025 people. The company recently announced a new voice-activated dialing service, TalkDialSM, which offers added convenience and time-saving benefits to customers. Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest in the United States. The company offers a full range of wireless personal communications services, including voice, data and paging. Based in Bedminster, N.J., the company has 3.8 million customers and 5,500 employees in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company was formed in July, 1995 through the combination of Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. SIDEBAR #1 (September 4, 1996): WHAT AUTHENTICATION MEANS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS For Our New Customers: New Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customers will receive the security of Authentication when they purchase any Motorola phone, Nokia's 100, 232 or 638 models, or Audiovox's 460, 560, or 850A models. Authentication is a regular feature of these phones, and there is no additional charge for the Authentication equipment or for the fraud protection service. For Our Existing Customers With Authentication-capable Phones: Existing customers who use Authentication-capable phones are those customers who purchased any Motorola phone, a Nokia 100, 232 or 638, or Audiovox's 460, 560 or 850A models since the fall of 1995. For these customers, Authentication will be activated from within the Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile network sometime over the next few weeks. Customers who wish to verify if their phone is Authentication-capable can either check their owner's manual, contact Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customer service, or their nearest Communications Store. Also, existing customers who have an Authentication-capable phone and use a personal identification number (PIN) to deter cellular fraud will no longer be asked for their PINs when making calls in regions where Authentication is deployed. For Our Customers Without Authentication-capable Phones: For our customers who own a phone without the Authentication feature, a PIN is still recommended to be the best way to deter fraud. Customers can sign up for a PIN by contacting Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customer service at 1-800-255-BELL, or calling *BAM toll-free on their cellular phone. SIDEBAR #2 (September 4, 1996): BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX MOBILE'S WAR ON CELLULAR FRAUD With a history of pioneering innovative anti-fraud technologies, BANM was the first wireless service provider to introduce the PIN system, making the cloning process more difficult. Last year, BANM reduced cloning fraud by more than 80 percent in its footprint by promoting use of the PIN. BANM's multi-tiered approach to fraud prevention also includes educational programs, new software systems, an in-house fraud task force, and other deterrents. BANM also actively works with law enforcement officials to pursue criminal and civil action against cellular bandits. Last year, the company assisted law enforcement in making more than 300 arrests along the East Coast and has helped write and enact legislation making cloning a felony. ------------------------------ From: Bennett, Ed Subject: Alaskan Yellow Pages Now On Line Date: Mon, 09 Sep 96 08:52:00 ADT ATU YELLOW PAGES NOW ON THE INTERNET ATU Telecommunications today rolled out the Internet version of The Official ATU Yellow Pages. The new service, called AlaskaDirect, can be found at http://www.alaskadirect.com on the World Wide Web. "ATU has broken new ground on the Internet with AlaskaDirect," said ATU Director of Product Management Blythe Campbell. "We think it+s the most user-friendly electronic Yellow Pages in the country." The AlaskaDirect site is designed to make the process of finding businesses easy by providing three ways to search: -- By Keyword. This traditional search method involves typing either a business name or category into an on-line form to see a list of matching businesses displayed on the screen. -- By Icon. All of the Yellow Pages categories were combined into ten main groups, each represented by a small picture, or icon. Visitors can click on the appropriate icon, then click on a sub-category icon to get a list of businesses. -- By Map. This system, which uses some of the most advanced data processing on the Internet, displays a map of Anchorage with all the businesses for one of the ten main groups plotted on the map. Users can scroll the map and zoom in all the way to street level, so they can see where a business is located. They can click on a displayed business to get a company+s name, address, and phone number. Like the printed version of the Official ATU Yellow Pages, AlaskaDirect is much more than a list of businesses. It includes a comprehensive community guide of Anchorage called "Discover Anchorage!" and links to other Alaskan sites on the Internet. The "Just for Kids" section is a jumping-off point for Internet sites, many in Alaska, which are suitable for children. AlaskaDirect also has a link to BigYellow, a national yellow pages, which allows visitors to find businesses nationwide, including Alaskan cities outside Anchorage. Links to and from ATU+s award-winning company home page are also provided. AlaskaDirect was a joint project of ATU and The Berry Company, which publishes the ATU directories under contract. It reflects ATU+s continuing commitment to the Internet as a means of promoting Anchorage+s economic development. Much like the print version of the Yellow Pages, AlaskaDirect was designed to be advertiser-supported. Local companies will be able to purchase advertising space in AlaskaDirect, as well as links to their own home pages. If they don+t have a home page already, The Berry Company will build one for them at competitive rates. AlaskaDirect is especially useful for new businesses who missed the deadline for the print version of the Official ATU Yellow Pages. And because it+s on the Internet, ads can be repeatedly changed and updated throughout the year. The costs are modest, with big discounts for companies who already advertise in the printed Yellow Pages. "AlaskaDirect is not a replacement for our printed Yellow Pages, it+s a supplement," Campbell said. "We+re using the Internet as another way of bringing buyers and sellers together." ATU Telecommunications is Alaska's largest local exchange company, serving the Anchorage area. With 150,000 switched access lines, it is the 21st largest telephone company in the United States. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 96 10:54 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Modem dialing by hand [was: Re: Bell Atlantic and ATT 10288 PIC] Organization: Excelsior Computer Services >[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It really should not be a problem. When >I use arrangements like that for whatever reason, I set my modem just >to do 'ATD' without anything following. I manually get the connection >through whatever service I am using, and once the distant end answers >with carrier (modem tones) I just tap my return key and my modem goes >on line, hears the carrier at the other end and connects, the same as >if it had dialed the whole number itself. PAT] This won't work with most modems, at least not by default, because the ATD command looks for a dial-tone. You'll get a "NO DIALTONE" error, not a connection. Joel (joel@exc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Then instead do ATO, or whatever your particular modem will deal with. Set it to not wait for dialtone. I am using a Hayes 28.8 Optima, V.34/V.FC + Fax. It works fine here. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kum@cs.UMD.EDU (Michael Kudryashev) Subject: Listen Backlog Limit (X.25 sockets/Sun) AKA in a Funk Date: 09 Sep 1996 18:52:52 GMT Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742 Reply-To: kum@cs.UMD.EDU Well, I've posted it couple of weeks ago, but didn't hear anything here or from Sun tech. support. I've been working on making the code fast enough, but, while getting some improvement, it's still far from 100% acceptance rate. Here it goes again: I've encountered a seeming limitation of backlog on socket listen -- looks like whatever you set it to when calling listen() doesn't matter -- the actual value seems to be 5. So, after backlog fills up, connections (X.25) are cleared (X.25 clear, code 00 f4, is being sent). (This is not an IP listen, but X.25) Is there a way to control it? I am running Solaris 2.5, X.25 9.02. Mike P.S. I'd appreciate getting answers Cc:'d to me - news propagation being what it is. I'll post any positive feedback. ------------------------------ From: bnr400!ingraih@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas Date: 10 Sep 1996 14:50:37 GMT Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor writes: > News on the television this afternoon is that the latest display of > fury by Mother Nature in the form of Hurricane Fran is on the way to > the coast of the Carolinas and is due to hit between about two a.m. > and five a.m. Friday morning. Hopefully our readers in that part of > the country will survive intact and write to us over the weekend with > reports of damage to the telecommunications network. The resulting > high winds and heavy rain are expected to also cause some havoc into > areas of Virgina as well, but not nearly to the extent expected along > the Carolina coast. FEMA is already on location; presumably restoration > of damaged telecommunications services will commence early on. I'll > publish what information I get on it over the weekend. Damage to lines has been widespread and severe. With poles on the ground, it will be quite some time before all service is restored. The power guys have to get the poles back up then the telecom guys can get busy. I never lost service here in Durham {course, I'm on an NT switch :)}, but some remotes (no doubt non-NT stuff) croaked in the coastal areas as early as 1730 Thursday. We lost the in-laws about then, but their elevation is about 6 inches. Lost the bro- in-law in Oriental, NC about 2400 Friday. Got him back by 0900 and the rest of them back by 1700 (could have been earlier, but was out playing lumberjack). The best of it was that critical services (hospitals, 911) stayed up and power is coming back quickly. We got ours back by Sunday. Worse part is the easy/fast repairs are done and the hard/long stuff is getting underway. Parts of Raleigh are being advised that they will not have power until the weekend. More remote area, like Johnston County and SE from there to the coast have "no estimated uptime" (argh) and that next week is the earliest they should expect power. Couple of gripes/observations: Someone, in their infinite wisdom, decided to get Carter Findley Stadium back online for the Saturday football game. I cannot, for the life of me, rationalise taking resources away from the public at large to repair a football stadium. To think of all the ice used/wasted there whilst hundreds of thousands of people desperatly needed it escapes me. Consider also that the vast majority of traffic lights were out and the inevitable conclusion is that the game should have been cancelled. On another point, it has been reported that crews from the power companies had been dispatched to SC about Wednesday/Thursday since there was a feeling Fran would come ashore around Georgetown. Since the crews were socked in down there, they did not really get started in this area until late Friday/early Saturday. Of course they have done a teriffic job and I certainly am not knocking their efforts. I just wonder about the wisdom of pre-dispatching crews given the unpredictable nature of hurricanes and the relative close proximity of costal Carolina to major strategic home bases. My Opinions Only, Al HARTKOPF@bnr.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 12:08:03 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas Our beloved Moderator quoth: > Hopefully our readers in that part of the country will survive > intact and write to us over the weekend with reports of damage to > the telecommunications network. The good news is that the telephone system, having almost all of its lines underground, has come through almost unscathed, at least here in the Raleigh-Durham area (over which Fran's eye passed very early Friday morning). The figures I saw in the newspaper quoted BellSouth and GTE as saying that fewer then 10,000 phone customers lost service in the region, compared to the hundreds of thousands who lost electrical power. At the peak Friday, over 80 percent of electrical customers in the area were without power, including my home. But BellSouth came through for us the whole time. Heck, even our GTE Cellular One phone worked on Friday. My kudos to the telcos. Congrats also to the Raleigh _News_&_Observer_ newspaper, which managed to provide home delivery every day without fail, even when the US Postal Service didn't. I don't know how bad the phone damage was to coastal areas such as Wilmington, but at least some of the people there still have phone service, judging by anecdotal evidence on radio and TV news. Perhaps even most do, although probably not on the island communities, where entire roadways got washed out. (Topsail Island, northeast of Wilmington, is now apparently *three* islands -- Fran cut a pair of new channels straight through.) Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Amazing isn't it; Mother Nature will do exactly as she pleases. You want a couple of new islands? Here you go ... boom! From one island, now three. And what computers, consultants, governments or dictators or bureaucrats made the decision to change the geography there and alter that land mass? For all of our advances in every field of knowledge; for all of our sophistication, we are just like our caveman ancestors. Mother Nature comes to visit with wind and rain, fire and disturbances in the ground under our feet and we huddle afraid; we try to hide, or run away to escape, the same as people did a million years ago. So advanced we are with all our computers and other devices, eh? There is nothing your computers can do to protect you or save you; Mother Nature mocks us all. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #474 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 14:25:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA24215; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:25:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:25:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609101825.OAA24215@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #475 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 14:25:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 475 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Jersey Exchange Name List (Lisa Hancock) Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names (Ken Elgart) Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names (Peter Laws) Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names (Joel B. Levin) Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory (L.F. Sheldon, Jr.) Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory (James E. Bellaire) Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory (Klein Gilhousen) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Stanley Cline) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Ed Ellers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa/Jeff) Subject: New Jersey Exchange Name List Date: 9 Sep 1996 19:08:32 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net The following is a list of exchange names used in New Jersey around 1960. You can load this table into a database or sort to group by name or town name. Note -- this is for historical purposes only, not current planning. New Jersey Exchange Names circa 1960 222 CApital 2 Long Branch 223 CAstle 3 Manasquan 225 CApe May 5 Cape May Court House 226 CApital 6 Caldwell 227 CAnal 7 Blackwood 228 CApital 8 Caldwell 229 CApital 9 Long Branch 231 ADams 1 Delaware Water Gap 232 ADams 2 Westfield 233 ADams 3 Westfield 235 BElmont 5 Moorestown 238 BErnardsville 8 Bernardsville 239 CEnter 9 Verona 241 CHestnut 1 Roselle 242 BIgelow 2 Newark 243 BIgelow 3 Newark 244 CHestnut 4 Island Heights 245 CHestnut 5 Roselle 246 CHarter 6 New Brunswick 247 CHarter 7 New Brunswick 248 BIgelow 8 Newark 249 CHarter 9 New Brunswick 254 CLifford 4 South River 255 CLoster 5 Closter 256 CLifford 6 Little Falls 257 CLifford 7 South River 259 CLearwater 9 Allentown 261 COlfax 1 Oradell 262 COlfax 2 Oradell 265 COllingswood 5 Collingswood 266 COlonial 6 Brigatine 267 AMherst 7 Mt. Holly 271 ARmory 1 Paterson 272 BRidge 2 Cranford 273 CRestview 3 Summit 274 ARmory 4 Paterson 276 BRidge 6 Cranford 277 CRestview 7 Summit 278 ARmory 8 Paterson 279 BRidgeton 9 Bridgeton 281 ATlantic Hls 1 Atlantic Highlands [Wasn't there also a few 28x 287 AValon 7 Avalon [in the form "ATlantic City" 288 ATlas 8 Hasbrouck Heights [covering city of same name? 289 BUtler 9 Bulter [I'm just positive of it. PAT] 296 AXtel 6 Tuckerton 298 AXminster 8 Bordentown 321 EAstgate 1 Marlton 322 FAnwood 2 Fanwood 327 DAvis 7 Ramsey 329 DAvis 9 Monmouth Junction 332 DElaware 2 Jersey City 333 DElaware 3 Jersey City 334 DEerfield 4 Boonton 337 FEderal 7 Oakland 338 EDison 8 Bloomfield 339 FEderal 9 Bayonne 342 DIamond 2 Hackensack 343 DIamond 3 Hackensack 349 DIamond 9 Toms River 351 FLanders 1 Elizabeth [Why not ELizabeth 1? PAT] 352 ELizabeth 2 Elizabeth 353 ELizabeth 3 Elizabeth 354 ELizabeth 4 Elizabeth 355 ELizabeth 5 Elizabeth 356 ELiot 6 Bound Brook 358 ELmer 8 Elmer 359 FLanders 9 Belle Mead 361 FOxcroft 1 Dover 362 FOxcroft 2 Blairstown 365 EMerson 5 Camden 366 FOxcroft 6 Dover 369 FOxcroft 9 Neshanic 371 ESsex 1 Newark 372 ESsex 2 Newark 373 ESsex 3 Newark 374 ESsex 4 Newark 375 ESsex 5 Newark 376 DRexel 6 Millburn 377 FRontier 7 Madison 378 FReehold 8 Freehold 379 DRexel 9 Millburn 381 FUlton 1 Rahway 383 DUpont 3 Newton 384 DUmont 4 Dumont 385 DUmont 5 Dumont 386 DUdley 6 Burlington 387 DUdley 7 Burlington 388 FUlton 8 Rahway 392 EXport 2 Trenton 393 EXport 3 Trenton 394 EXport 4 Trenton 396 EXport 6 Trenton 397 EXport 7 Lambertville 399 EXport 9 Ocean City 423 HAzel 3 Paulsboro 425 GArden 5 Hackettstown 427 HAwthorne 7 Hawthorne 428 HAzel 8 Haddonfield 429 HAzel 9 Haddonfield 432 HEnderson 2 Jersey City 433 HEnderson 3 Jersey City 434 HEnderson 4 Jersey City 435 HEnderson 5 Jersey City 436 HEmlock 6 Bayonne 437 HEmlock 7 Bayonne 438 GEneva 8 Rutherford 442 HIlcrest 2 Perth Amboy 443 HIlands 3 Highlands 444 GIlbert 4 Ridgewood 445 GIlbert 5 Ridgewood 446 GIbson 6 Englishtown 447 HIckory 7 Cedarville 448 HIghtstown 8 Hightstown 449 GIbson 9 Spring Lake 451 GLenview 1 Bridgeton 453 GLencourt 3 Oxford 454 GLencourt 4 Phillipsburg 455 GLenview 5 Bridgeton 456 GLenview 6 Gloucester 459 GLobe 9 Hope 461 HObart 1 Riverside 466 HOpewell 6 Hopewell 467 HOmestead 7 Swedesboro 468 HOpatcong 8 Hopatong 469 HOpkins 9 Bound Brook 471 GRegory 1 Passaic 472 GRegory 2 Passaic 473 GRegory 3 Passaic 475 GReenwood 5 Belvidere 476 GRidley 6 Milmay 478 GRidley 8 Mullica Hill 479 GReenwood 9 Bloomsbury 482 HUmboldt 2 Newark 483 HUmboldt 3 Newark 484 HUmboldt 4 Newark 485 HUmboldt 5 Newark 486 HUnter 6 Linden 487 HUbbard 7 Hackensack 488 HUbbard 8 Hackensack 489 HUbbard 9 Hackensack 492 HYacinth 2 Beach Haven 494 HYacinth 4 Beach Haven 495 HYacinth 5 Beach Haven 496 HYatt 6 Columbia 521 JAmesburg 1 Jamesburg 523 LAmbert 3 Paterson 525 LAmbert 5 Paterson 526 LAkewood 6 Lakewood (ND) 529 LAfayette 9 Cragmere 531 KEllogg 1 Deal 536 KEansburg 6 Keansburg 538 JEfferson 8 Morristown 539 JEfferson 9 Morristown 541 KImball 1 Cateret 542 LIberty 2 Eatontown 545 KIlmer 5 New Brunswick 547 LIncoln 7 Haddon Heights 548 LIberty 8 Metuchen 549 LIberty 9 Metuchen 561 LOgan 1 Hammonton 566 LOwell 6 Matawan 567 LOwell 7 Englewood 568 LOwell 8 Englewood 569 LOwell 9 Englewood 581 JUno 1 Bushkill 584 JUstice 4 Succasunna 586 JUniper 6 Mercerville 587 JUniper 7 Mercerville 589 LUther 9 Pitman 597 LYceum 7 Barnegat 599 LYric 9 Trenton 622 MArket 2 Newark 623 MArket 3 Newark 624 MArket 4 Newark 625 MAys Landing 5 Mays Landing 627 OAkwood 7 Rockaway 629 NAtional 9 Williamstown 632 NEtcong 2 Netcong 633 MEndham 3 Mendham 634 MErcury 4 Woodbridge 635 MErcury 5 Chatham 636 MErcury 6 Woodbridge 637 MErcury 7 Great Meadows 641 MIlton 1 Pleasantville 642 MItchell 2 Newark 643 MItchell 3 Newark 646 MIlton 6 Pleasantville 647 MIllington 7 Millington 648 MIlltown 8 Milltown 649 MItchell 9 Newark 652 OLiver 2 Ridgewood 653 OLdfield 3 Jersey City 654 OLive 4 Medford 656 OLdfield 6 Jersey City 657 OLdfield 7 Lakehurst 659 OLdfield 9 Jersey City 661 NOrth 1 Nutley 662 NOrmandy 2 Merchantville 663 NOrmandy 3 Merchantville 665 NOrmandy 5 Merchantville 667 NOrth 7 Nutley 671 OSborne 1 Middletown 672 ORange 2 Orange 673 ORange 3 Orange 674 ORange 4 Orange 675 ORange 5 Orange 676 ORange 6 Orange 677 ORange 7 Orange 679 ORiole 9 Vincentown 681 MUtual 1 Belmar 682 NUtley 2 Nutley 683 MUlberry 3 Paterson 684 MUlberry 4 Paterson 686 MUrdock 6 Union 687 MUrdock 7 Union 688 MUrdock 8 Union 689 MUrray 9 Washington 691 OXford 1 Vineland 692 OXford 2 Vineland 693 MYrtle 3 Barnegat 694 OXbow 4 Mountain View 695 OWen 5 Trenton 696 OXbow 6 Mountain View 697 OXbow 7 Newfoundland 698 MYrtle 8 Barnegat 721 PArkway 1 South Amboy 722 RAndolph 2 Somerville 723 RAymond 3 Wrightstown 724 RAymond 4 Wrightstown 725 RAndolph 5 Somerville 726 PArk Ridge 6 Park Ridge 728 PArkway 8 West Milford 729 PArkway 9 Lake Mohawk 731 REdwood 1 Orange 732 SEa Bright 2 Sea Bright 733 SEa Isle City 3 Sea Isle City 737 PEnnington 7 Pennington 738 PEpack 8 Peapack 739 SEaside Park 9 Seaside Park 741 SHadyside 1 Red Bank 742 SHerwood 2 Paterson 743 PIlgrim 3 Bloomfield/Montclair 744 PIlgrim 4 Bloomfield/Montclair 746 PIlgrim 6 Bloomfield/Montclair 747 SHadyside 7 Red Bank 748 PIlgrim 8 Bloomfield/Montclair 751 PLymouth 1 Belleville 752 PLymouth 2 Dunellen 754 PLainfield 4 Plainfield 755 PLainfield 5 Plainfield 756 PLainfield 6 Plainfield 757 PLainfield 7 Plainfield 758 PLateau 8 New Egypt 759 PLymouth 9 Belleville 762 SOuth Orange 2 South Orange 763 SOuth Orange 3 South Orange 764 POplar 4 Vernon 767 ROckwell 7 Berlin 773 PRescott 3 Passaic 774 PRospect 4 Asbury Park 775 PRospect 5 Asbury Park 776 PRospect 6 Asbury Park 777 PRescott 7 Passaic 778 PRescott 8 Passaic 779 PRescott 9 Passaic 781 RUmson 1 Rumson 782 STate 2 Flemington 783 STerling 3 Laurel Springs 784 STerling 4 Laurel Springs 786 STate 6 Andover 788 STone Harbor 8 Stone Harbor 789 SUnset 9 Westfield 791 SWarthmore 1 Fair Lawn 792 SWarthmore 2 Jersey City 793 SWeetbriar 3 Seaside Park 795 SWarthmore 5 Jersey City 796 SWarthmore 6 Fair Lawn 797 SWarthmore 7 Fair Lawn 798 SWarthmore 8 Jersey City 799 SWinburne 9 Plainsboro 821 TAlbot 1 Milltown 824 TAlbot 4 Newark 825 TAylor 5 Millville 826 VAlley 6 Perth Amboy 827 VAndyke 7 Franklin Boro 829 TAlmadge 9 Riverton 833 TEaneck 3 Teaneck 835 TEmple 5 Pompton Lakes 836 TEaneck 6 Teaneck 837 TEaneck 7 Teaneck 839 TEmple 9 Pompton Lakes 841 VIctor 1 Stroudsburg 844 VIking 4 East Millstone 845 TIlden 5 Woodbury 846 VIctor 6 New Brunswick 848 TIlden 8 Woodbury 853 ULrick 3 Upper Geenwood Lake 857 ULysses 7 Wenoah 861 UNderhill 1 Dennsiville 863 UNion 3 Union City 864 UNion 4 Union City 865 UNion 5 Union City 866 UNion 6 Union City 867 UNion 7 Union City 868 UNion 8 Union City 877 TRiangle 7 Burlington 878 TRinity 8 *Time Bureau* 881 TUlip 1 Glassboro 882 TUxedo 2 Ewing 884 TUxedo 4 Cape May 886 TUxedo 6 Cape May 887 TUcker 7 Whippany 891 TWinbrook 1 Wycoff 892 TWinbrook 2 Point Pleasant 893 TWinoaks 3 Pemberton 894 TWinoaks 4 Pemberton 895 TWilight 5 Mount Freedom 896 TWinoaks 6 Lawrenceville 899 TWinbrook 9 Point Pleasant 921 WAlnut 1 Princeton 923 WAverly 3 Newark 924 WAlnut 4 Princeton 925 WAbash 5 Linden 926 WAverly 6 Newark 927 WAlker 7 Somers Point 931 YEllowstone 1 Beaver Brook 933 WEbster 3 Rutherford 937 WEather 7 *Weather Forecast* 938 WEbster 8 Farmingdale 939 WEbster 9 Rutherford 942 WIldwood 2 Wildwood 943 WHitney 3 Cliffside 944 WIndsor 4 Leonia 945 WHitney 5 Cliffside 946 WHitney 6 Holmdel 947 WIndsor 7 Leonia 962 YOrktown 2 Erskin Lakes 964 WOodlawn 4 Camden 965 WOrth 5 Egg Harbor 966 WOodlawn 6 Camden 983 YUkon 3 Marlton 991 WYman 1 Kearny 992 WYman 2 Livingston 993 WYman 3 Milford 995 WYman 5 Milford 997 WYman 7 Kearny ------------------------------ From: elgart@netdepot.com (Ken Elgart) Subject: Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 09:23:31 -0400 In article , Mark J. Cuccia wrote: > The following is a list of *recommended* names for dialable/quotable > telephone EXchange names... As a follow-up to your post of the list of recommended exchange names (which I tried in vain to track down while I was employed at Western Electric) I thought I'd add some observations from that job and from my student days at the University of Buffalo. When I lived in Buffalo the area had 2L-4N dialing and my phone number (PArkside 6755) was dialed PA (72)-6755 but residents of Rochester which had DDD To Buffalo (and, I suspect, long distance operators) were instructed to dial the first *3* letters of the exchange name, thus to reach me they would dial PAR (727)-6755. While at WE I looked up, as a matter of curiosity, the office drawings of the last manual CO to convert to dial in New York City where I grew up. When the 'CIty Island 8' central office was converted the new exchange was ordered and installed as the TUlip 5 exchange but between installation and cutover New York Telephone decided to switch from exchange names to arbitrary 2-Letter combinations and it appeared in the new telephone directory as 'TT 5' which is dialed exactly the same as 'TUlip 5'. The dial conversion could in fact have been done without changing the exchange name as people elsewhere in New York City had been dialing 'CIty Island 8' for years, reaching a call indicator in front of the inward operator at 'CIty Island 8' who completed the call without their being aware that an operator was involved in the call. ------------------------------ From: plaws@comp.uark.edu (Peter Laws) Subject: Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names Date: 10 Sep 1996 15:31:15 GMT Organization: The University of Arkansas Mark J. Cuccia writes: > Please note that the 55x, 57x, 95x and 97x ranges are not included. In > the original list, it states "Reserved for Radiotelephone Service". > As for "Radiotelephone" service in the 55, 57, 95, 97 (JKL/PRS/WXY) ranges, > I do remember many older mobile phones had ID numbers of the form "KK-xxxx" > or "WJ-xxxx", etc. Sure. W and K are two of the radio callsign series assigned to the USA, the others being AA-AL and N. Those last two were almost exclusively military or government until the last 20 years or so. Peter "stuck in prefix 579" Laws ------------------------------ From: levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) Subject: Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names Date: 09 Sep 1996 19:48:14 +0000 Organization: BBN Systems and Technologies In article Mark J. Cuccia writes: > This list might help those who would like to use an old-style EXchange name > if their current NN(X) office code never did have an old EXchange name from > the 1950's or earlier. A few things come to mind: The ones I can remember in effect when we moved to Tucson in 1962 are on this list. Interestingly, for 29x: 29x: AXminster AXtel CYpress Tucson had all three of these -- if x was odd, it was CYpress; one even x was AXminster (as I recall) and the rest of the even x's were AXtel. Boston / Cambridge has lots of old names not on the list. A few examples, notable because they were originally used when dialling was 3L-4N instead of 2L-5N, so the first THREE letters matched. One subtle difference because of this is that the EXchange for 354 was spelled differently: 35x: ELgin ELliot ELmwood FLanders FLeetwood Of course, 354 in Cambrige was originally ELIot. (Other examples commonly quoted here in the past, mostly not on this list, include KIRkland (547), COMmonwealth (266), COPley (267), UNIversity (864), TROwbridge (876), etc. JBL Internet: levin@bbn.com | USPS: BBN Systems and Technologies or jbl@levin.mv.com | Mail Stop 6/2D Telco: (617)873-3463 | 10 Moulton Street ARS: KD1ON | Cambridge, MA 02138 ------------------------------ From: L.F. Sheldon, Jr. Subject: Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 14:56:18 -0500 Organization: Creighton University, Omaha Nebraska USA On 9 Sep 1996, Rupa Schomaker wrote: [Description of receiving Baja cellular and FM broadcast services along the California coastline deleted] > Laguna Beach is over an hour north (driving like we do in southern > california) of San Diego. I would assume the cells for the Baja > California network are somewhere south of that. > a) how the heck is my phone even picking up the signal (which, while > very staticy is no worse than some of the low coverage areas for LA > Cellular here in CA). Most of that path is over water -- and the conditions are conducive to such propagation. When I used to fly into Ventura county (Oxnard, actually) there were often times when the Oxnard tower could not hear me (or I, them), but conversations with Gillespie Field (near San Diego) worked just fine. > b) Is there something I should do. I assume someone is out of spec, > what authorities do I approach? I think nothing to do, and probably nothing out of spec. In fact, I'm betting that the FM stations _depend_ on the phenomenon). L. F. (Larry) Sheldon, Jr. Unix Systems Administration Creighton University Computer Center-Old Gym 2500 California Plaza Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. 68178 We are all faced with lsheldon@creighton.edu great opportunities 402 280-2254 (work) brilliantly disguised as 402 681-4726 (cellular) impossible situations. 402 977-2946 (pager) 402 332-4622 (residence) Bits and Pieces [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I may be mistaken, but I believe anytime a radio station 'depends on' skip as part of their signal they are operating illegally. There is nothing anyone can do about how radio signals propogate, but you are not supposed to deliberatly set things up at your station to abuse the circumstances. Memories: in the early 1970's when I was really into CB radio I lived in an eight-story building about a hundred feet tall and had my antenna on the roof -- not of the building itself -- but on the roof of the elevator machinery 'penthouse' which sat on the roof. My coax went up the elevator shaft from my room on the first floor of the building. What I lost in dissapation over that hundred plus foot coax run was more than made up for by the height of the antenna. I was operating legally since the antenna was not more than twenty feet in the air above the structure *on which it was mounted*. I lost maybe a half-watt getting up to the roof, but geeze, did that radio scream all over the Chicago area once it reached the antenna. To add to the fun, I was about a city block from the shore of Lake Michigan and the signal would bounce across the lake all the time. I would talk to this guy a lot in Michigan City, Indiana whose handle was 'The Warden', owing to the fact that that was his title at the Indiana State Prison where he was employed. Now I don't know if he was operating legally or not; I know I was. But one night The Warden said to me, "Pat, there is a guy in Benton Harbor, Michigan trying to 'break you' (reach me on the radio). He says he hears you coming through like gangbusters, but he just can't make the trip back to you ..." Benton Harbor is just about directly across the lake from Chicago, but quite a distance where CB radios are concerned, and the guy worked for the Heathkit factory when it was in business there. I listened for a couple minutes and I could hear the guy way, way out in the distance in the hash. Old people with an interest in amateur radio will recall that Citizens Band radio was the forerunner and virtual equivilent of Usenet newsgroups back in the 1960-70's. People got on the radio all over the USA night after night with conversations on every topic imaginable. As long as courtesy was maintained, it all worked out fine. Then eventually the trouble makers moved in and CB radio was lost as 'the voice of the people'. Like newsgroups today and government attempts to squelch and censor them, in the old days, the FCC would also sit and listen to the radio night after night, and when they finally would get a belly-full of all the illegal CB radio operators (once a year or so) and in particular the ones with the most ignorant speeches the FCC Enforcement Bureau would go into action. Unlike the docile FCC of today, they had enforcement agents back then with a real gestapo mentality. I do believe maybe the FCC agents then where used to train the FBI agents of today. ... In those days when the FCC got tired of listening to the pollution coming via the CB radios the agents would go out to the houses of the guys they were after; kick or chop down his door; smash up the radio; chop down the antenna, and cart it all away with them. For a couple days, the air would be *so quiet* as the other CB'ers maintained radio silence in order to hide. Then it would start up again, little by little, and soon the airwaves would be solid heterodyne night after night with the Nazis, the KKK, the Christians, the political theorists, the teenagers, the libertarians, the pedophiles and others doing their thing on the radio until the next time the FCC decided to react by raiding and shutting down the stations they disliked most as an example for the others. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 96 04:30 EST From: James E Bellaire Subject: Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory rupa@rupa.com (Rupa Schomaker) asked: > There is also a radio station in Baja California *just* south of the > border. They play alternative rock and it "sounds" just like a US > station. Anyway, their signal is very strong. They are one of two or > three stations that I can get clear reception here in Laguna. When I > travel to Los Angeles (another hour north) this station still comes in > loud and clear. (91.1 FM, 91X) > I suppose there are fewer regulations on signal strength in Mexico? > Or are there other reasons? Mexican stations are licensed by their government, much like the FCC licenses the stations in the US. Stations near the US border are listed in the FCC FM database. (available from www.fcc.gov and ftp.fcc.gov) The closest matching station for 91.1 that I could find was in Tijuana. Could '91X' be the following? XETRAFM 91.1 (Ch 216) Tijuana, BN (MX) International: C Operating primary assignment. TL: N 32 31 3 W 117 1 5 full-service FM station 100. kw ERT 136 m HAAT It looks like they have quite a license on that station, with permission to broadcast at 100kW. A 50kW station I listen to has a 'good condition' range of 80 miles. This Mexican station should be able to top that. James E. Bellaire bellaire@tk.com Webpage Available 23.5 Hrs a Day!!! http://www.holli.com/~bellaire/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jim, who was the outfit in Del Rio, TX with antenna and transmitter just across the border in Mexico safely out of reach of US authorities which sent a huge signal all over the USA night after night for many years? Are they still in business? As a kid I remember playing with my little radio in my room late at night and tuning in a *loud* signal all the time from a station which identified itself as 'Kxxx (forgotten) Del Rio, Texas' ... all the way up here in Chicago. Remember them? PAT] ------------------------------ From: kleing@qualcomm.com (Klein Gilhousen) Subject: Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory Date: 9 Sep 1996 16:52:22 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM, Incorporated; San Diego, CA, USA In article , Rupa Schomaker wrote: > I have had an interesting experience a couple of times while driving > up the Pacific Coast Highway. There are some sections of the road > where my cellular provider (LA Cellular) has horrible coverage -- > which perhaps is understandable. The place where this happens most > often is just north of Laguna Beach by the state park (moro canyon?) > south of Crystal Cove. > The odd this is that during those times my cellphone will go into ROAM > mode. If I attempt to dial I get an intercept welcoming me to (and > I'm paraphrasing from memory) the cell company of Baja California. It > then gives me instructions on how to call the United States. If I > then turn my phone off and then back on the phone goes out of ROAM mode. This is caused by the fact that UHF signals propagate over water much better than they do over land. Normally, cellular systems can be assumed to experience propagation loss proportional to the 4th power of the distance between the mobile telephone and the base station. This is substantially greater propagation loss then occurs in free space which is proportional to the second power of distance. In fact, 4th power propagation is necessary for high capacity cellular systems to work at all and is one of the reasons why cellular phones are prohibited from being used in airplanes where the 2nd power propagation law would apply. Over water propagation is nearly as good as free space and sometimes can be even better than in free space when temperature inversions over the water cause "ducting" effects. Hams have exploited these freak conditions to occasionally succeed in communicating from Hawaii to California on VHF frequencies. There are probably areas in Laguna Beach where a good over water path exists to Tijuana and the path to the nearby cell is effectively blocked by terrain (i.e., much worse propagation than 4th power of distance.) Klein Gilhousen QUALCOMM Incorporated ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:10:57 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: scline@usit.net In comp.dcom.telecom, joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) wrote: > Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of > reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever > been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written > response to a written inquiry? I have been in contact with the FCC, not only recently, but several years ago regarding payphone problems (blocking 950/888/10XXX numbers, overcharges, etc.) The FCC has always responded to the complaints, sometimes rather fast, sometimes rather slow. > carriers than they used to be. Now-days I would consider the FCC > to be pretty ineffectual at resolving public complaints. PAT] The Tennessee PSC was considered "corrupt", and replaced with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (who handles same things as PSC did, except for trucking which was handed over to the Public Safety Department.) The TRA has been *extremely* quick to respond to payphone complaints (although it takes a few calls.) The Georgia PSC, OTOH, is overloaded and understaffed ... it takes several weeks to resolve complaints with payphones (this is the only real experience I've had with any of the regulatory agencies.) Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://pobox.com/~roamer1/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On the other hand, as I said above, in the 1970's you did not have to take any complaints to the FCC; they were glad to bring their complaints to your door ... and how! It seems incredible, doesn't it that the agency which seems so docile today by comparison merely had to make a single phone call to the general manager of WLS (AM-890) in Chicago the night the DJ told the off-color (and mild by today's standards) joke back about 1960 to get them off the air. One evening about thirty-five years ago their DJ said something a little racy for those times. The FCC guy in Chicago heard it on the radio. A phone call was made to the station GM at home ... 'get off the air now' was the gist of the message. The GM called the station. WLS stopped the music they were playing and Art Roberts (who had taken over for the offending DJ) announced that, " ... on the direct orders of the Federal Communications Commission, WLS will sign off the air at this time ..." and following the usual station-id message they were gone for several hours until sometime the next morning when the station management appealed their case to the FCC. Their punishment for the remarks made by the offending DJ? For about two weeks following, they were required to play over the air a pre-recorded blurb (the first day, once each hour, then later a few times each day) from station management apologizing for 'the distasteful and vulgar remarks made live over the air by our DJ who has since been disciplined ...' and the blurb had to include the name and address of an FCC official ' ... who you can write if you wish to comment about our station and its programming ...' Can you imagine the FCC of today taking that sort of action with any radio or television station? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 22:50:01 -0400 Organization: Mikrotec Internet Services, Inc. (MISNet) Bill Sohl wrote: > Most internet traffic does not traverse the telco switched network > except in the local Intra-switch arena. Few people make long distance > calls for internet access and those that do pay long distance rates > for the time they are connected. I dial a local exchange number for > access to my ISP so the only resources being used is one intra-switch > connection. That's identical to what a teenager uses for a two hour > connection to their friend(s). > I live in a town with 20,000 plus population. At any one time I > really doubt that there is any more than a couple of hundred switch > connections used for internet access. That's in sharp contrast to the > volume of voice calls. It's very different in larger cities -- where I live (Louisville, Kentucky), we have perhaps a dozen end offices and each ISP has only one POP. This means that many Internet calls are taking up bandwidth on the LEC's interoffice fiber. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #475 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 16:17:21 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id QAA06792; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 16:17:21 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 16:17:21 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609102017.QAA06792@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #476 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 16:17:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 476 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: SPAM Injunction (Doug Sewell) Re: SPAM Injunction (Andrew C. Green) Re: SPAM Injunction (Nevin Liber) Re: SPAM Injunction (Linc Madison) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Robert Bulmash) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Bruce Pennypacker) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Rich Micheals) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Matt Ackeret) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Dave Keeny) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Bill Nott) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Melvin Klassen) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Derek Peschel) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (John Cropper) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Dave Keeny) Another Spammer With an 800 Number (Tim Russell) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: doug@cc.ysu.edu (Doug Sewell) Subject: Re: SPAM Injunction Date: 9 Sep 1996 15:09:18 -0400 Organization: Youngstown State University Thus spake : > AOL was sued by Cyber Promotions, and a preliminary injunction has > been filed on behalf od CP against AOL actually blocking the > mass-posts. The actual hearing is scheduled for mid-November ... And just this morning on my AOL account, I received another Cyber Promo spam. The sender was apparently a throw-away account, with Reply-To: set to an address at Cyber Promotions. AOL didn't filter that one out ... I hope AOL beats the tar out of Cyber Promotions in court. Unfortunately if they fail it's 'open season' on mailboxes. See also this post in news.admin.misc - I've edited some parts out for brevity: | From: xmailer@slip.net (Lightning Bolt) | Newsgroups: news.admin.misc | Subject: LIGHTNING BOLT ISP Online Sept. 30th! Responsible Emailer | Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 15:40:05 +0130 | Organization: IQ Internet | Lines: 51 | Message-ID: | NNTP-Posting-Host: chi-pm4-11.freeppp.com | | PRESS RELEASE | | We are establishing an Internet server specifically for the purpose of | "responsible" commercial mailing to "qualified lists" of Internet users. | We will NOT be sending unsolicited or broadcast bulk E-Mail to those who | | They've excluded .mil, .gov, and .edu (the original said .deu). | | * We have modified our system to identify and re-route to the bit-bucket | any and all incoming, substantial E-Mail from terrorists, preventing a | server shutdown or service interruption from flaming or attack. | | * We are maintaining a legal "offense" fund to aggressively purse and | litigate or prosecute those 30 to 50 terrorists that are the root cause of | most "flaming" and server attacks. | | There are, and will be, other additions and enhancements to our system to | help assure that the above criteria are met in every mailing, to every | address. | | For more information or to subscribe to our service, please call | (1-800) 351 8085 ask for Jeff Slaton or Larry Host. Jot down that number folks, I think these folks are looking for feedback from the net about it ... Doug Sewell (doug@cc.ysu.edu) (http://cc.ysu.edu/~doug/) Youngstown Ohio is now area code 330. You are your own worst critic. Strive for excellence, not perfection. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes indeed, everyone should jot down the number given, (800) 351 8085. When you get an opportunity soon, give Jeff or Larry a call to discuss their service. Now of course you may need to make several calls before you can decide what to do, and you may well want to give them the courtesy of a final call to let them know you decided not to subscribe to their service or use their product. Please remember that harassment via phone calls is illegal. I cannot and will not encourage anyone reading this message to make any phreak or hack attacks on (800) 351 8085. But by their own publication of the number and a solicitation for people who might be interested to call them, you are within your rights to call a *reasonable number of times* to consider doing business with their company. It may be much more convneient for you to place your calls from a pay station or from behind a PBX; someplace that the ANI generated as a result is virtually worthless. You'll know how to handle it, I'm sure. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 14:08:16 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: SPAM Injunction psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) writes (quoting others first): >> What may be more interesting is that America On Line, last week, >> was the first major ISP to announce complete blocking of ALL >> traffic from servers that allow large cross postings such as this. Whoa. What they were blocking was junk email from five particularly abusive sites. Excessive crossposting to Usenet newsgroups was not at issue and was not addressed. > AOL was sued by Cyber Promotions, and a preliminary injunction has > been filed on behalf od CP against AOL actually blocking the > mass-posts. The actual hearing is scheduled for mid-November ... I read the article and unfortunately the {San Jose Mercury News} seems to be playing fast and loose with the terminology, which is leading to some confusion here about whether the AOL/Cyber Promotions fight is over junk email (which it is) or Usenet spamming/excessive crossposting (which it isn't). A preliminary injunction was issued to allow Cyber Promotions to continue spewing unsolicited email to AOL users until the hearing in November. > How about services restricting mass-posting to a few (say five > maximum) newsgroups at a time. If its made unbelievably difficult, > some won't bother, and those that do will develop carpal-tunnel in > short order ... Hardly. Developing a script to do this is trivial. Spamming (more accurately abbreviated as Excessive Multiple Postings, or EMP) of separate substantially-identical posts to countless Usenet newsgroups, and Excessive Cross Posting (ECP) of advertising with ludicrously large crosspost headers spanning unrelated newsgroups, is currently fought by several sites, which issue advisory cancel messages which Internet sites may honor or ignore as they see fit. EMP and ECP issues within Usenet are not affected by the AOL/Cyber Promotions suit. You may want to read Usenet newsgroup news.admin.net-abuse.misc for more information on this topic. Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: nevin@cs.arizona.edu (Nevin Liber) Subject: Re: SPAM Injunction Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 13:27:17 -0700 Organization: University of Arizona CS Department, Tucson Arizona In article , psyber@usa.pipeline. com wrote: > AOL was sued by Cyber Promotions, and a preliminary injunction has > been filed on behalf od CP against AOL actually blocking the > mass-posts. The actual hearing is scheduled for mid-November ... > How about services restricting mass-posting to a few (say five maximum) > newsgroups at a time. If its made unbelievably difficult, some won't > bother, and those that do will develop carpal-tunnel in short order ... The problem with the Cyber Promotions is that they spam AOL email, not netnews. It is trivial to get 99% of the email addresses that are on AOL, since most users have profiles (equivalent to a .plan file in the Unix world), and AOL provides services where you can search profiles for any arbitrary text, including individual letters. Cyber Promotions email also tends to use a forged "From" line, so you can't trivially spam them back. It seems to me that if AOL provided users with a choice on whether or not to block the email, the lawsuit by Cyber Promotions would have very little merit left. Nevin ":-)" Liber nevin@CS.Arizona.EDU (520) 293-2799 http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/nevin/ ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: SPAM Injunction Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 14:01:00 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , psyber@usa.pipeline.com wrote: > AOL was sued by Cyber Promotions, and a preliminary injunction has > been filed on behalf od CP against AOL actually blocking the > mass-posts. The actual hearing is scheduled for mid-November ... It will be interesting to see on what basis Cyber claims that AOL is obligated to deliver their e-mail, given that no written contract exists between Cyber and AOL. Perhaps AOL can set up an "inclusion list" of its subscribers who wish to receive spam from Cyber. > How about services restricting mass-posting to a few (say five maximum) > newsgroups at a time. If its made unbelievably difficult, some won't > bother, and those that do will develop carpal-tunnel in short order ... This is actually a bad idea, unfortunately. Scripts already exist which will automatically post an article to hundreds or thousands of newsgroups, ONE AT A TIME. This procedure consumes far more resources than a single massive crosspost -- many news host programs can intelligently keep a single copy of a crosspost with pointers from each individual group, but will have to keep a complete copy of each one if it's individually posted to the same list of groups. The best solution is for each ISP itself to vigorously cancel any spam by its subscribers that is reported to it. If the spam gets cancelled before very many people can see it, it won't be worth the effort. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: prvtctzn@aol.com (Prvt Ctzn) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 8 Sep 1996 00:36:26 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , Richard DeYoung writes: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? What about junk e-mail that in fact was originated at the behest of, and at the instruction of AOL? It has happened. AOL did it. I am pursuing the matter with AOL, and when I am finished, AOL will be better educated for the experience ... and we all know the cost of education in America (on line). Robert Bulmash Private Citizen, Inc. http://webmill.com/prvtctzn/home [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do keep us updated on this, won't you? I know I want to hear the whole story; so do many others. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bruce Pennypacker Subject: Re:AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 9 Sep 1996 20:29:13 GMT Organization: Stylus Products Group, Artisoft Inc. In article telecom16.465.3@massis.lcs.mit.edu, tad@ssc.com said: > AOL fed up with `spam'; On-line service to block junk e-mail > By Janet Rae-Dupree > Mercury News Staff Writer > America Online Inc.'s users are fed up with junk e-mail and they're > not going to tolerate it anymore.> > So the nation's largest on-line service announced Wednesday it will > block messages from Internet sites that flood subscriber mailboxes > with missives hawking everything from get-rich-quick schemes to fad > diet plans. Well the lawyers are already getting involved in this. There was an update to this issue in a recent {Boston Globe}. One of the companies AOL targeted as a spammer has filed suit to prevent the company from going through with their plans. They've already convinced a judge to file a temporary injunction against AOL forbidding them to block the spam ... The spamming company claims that they'd go out of business if AOL and other companies started blocking their junk mail. (God forbid! ) Some lawyers that were interviewed said the suit could go either way. One lawyer says that since AOL is a privately held company they can do whatever they want. Since AOL's paying customers have had enough of the spam then AOL is just doing what they want by blocking it. Another lawyer likened AOL to a common carrier, claiming that they have no right to censor e-mail just like telcos can't censor telephone calls and must let them all go through. [Personally I think they should be allowed to block the spam. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 provides protection to fax users so that they won't get spam faxes. The Act was designed since a fax recipient has to pay for all received faxes in terms of toner, fax paper, etc. whereas snail-mail spam is paid for entirely by the sender. The same thing should hold true for e-mail spam -- if the recipient has to pay to receive mail they should be protected from spam.] A lawyer (or was it spokesman?) from the EFF said that these sorts of suits are likely to continue unless/until these spammers agree on some sort of voluntary regulation. Simply flagging spam mail in such a way that people can delete it without incurring on-line charges would probably be enough. Here's the {Boston Globe} article updating the AOL spamming lawsuit: Court strikes down ban on junk e-mail 09/07/96 By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff A battle over the right to regulate advertising on the information superhighway erupted yesterday when a federal judge ruled the on-line service America Online must stop blocking electronic junk mail sent to its subscribers by mass marketers. The temporary order is the latest development in a simmering dispute over electronic advertisements and who holds the rights to distribute them. Legal experts say the issue may settle the question of whether on-line services are private clubs whose owners can set limits on how they are used, or common carriers like phone companies and postal services, which have no control over the messages they transport. America Online, the nation's largest commercial computer network, this week moved to restrict mass mailings of unsolicited advertisements saying they had become the number one source of complaints among its six million members. "We believe we have the right to to protect our members from mass junk e-mail," said David Phillips, AOL general counsel. But one marketing firm that sends out e-mail ads, Cyber Promotions Inc. of Philadelphia, persuaded US District Judge Charles R. Weiner to bar the new policy. Cyber Promotions and AOL already have a suit pending in Weiner's court over e-mail policies, and Cyber Promotions argued that AOL's new policy would drive the company out of business before the lawsuit comes to trial Nov. 12. Weiner ruled that AOL must refrain from blocking Cyber Promotions mailings at least until the trial begins. Mass marketers such as Cyber Promotions solicit a variety of products and services ranging from children's books and credit cards, to promotions about how to make money on the Internet and where to go for low-rate home mortgages. In some cases, recipients don't know their electronic message is an advertisement until they open the mail and download the contents, which can take several minutes and add to the cost of time spent on line. AOL's Phillips stressed yesterday that Weiner's order is temporary, but said his company would appeal. He also vowed to continue efforts to protect AOL customers from unwanted e-mail. "We look forward to airing these issues at trial and are confident that we have a strong case," Phillips said. Legal experts are divided on whether AOL can restrict e-mail services. Lee Gesmer, a Boston attorney specializing in computer law issues, thinks that because AOL is privately owned, it can set limits on the kinds of e-mail it will deliver. "I view this as no different than an apartment building with a sign that says: No Solicitors Allowed," said Gesmer. In addition, Gesmer noted, the recipient of e-mail must pay to receive the message from his on-line service, while the sender foots the bill for ads sent through the US mail. But Boston civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate argued that AOL's e-mail service is a common carrier, like a telephone company. Just as telephone companies must deliver all calls, wherever they come from, Silverglate said e-mail providers must deliver all messages, regardless of the source. "I'm opposed to giving common carriers the right to censor," Silverglate said. Mike Godwin, staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a leading Internet civil liberties group, said that courts and legislatures are likely to regulate unsolicited e-mail ads, unless the advertising industry begins to police itself. Godwin said that the ideal solution would be a voluntary system for marking all e-mail ads. That way, a person who didn't want to read the ad could delete it from his mailbox without paying the price of downloading it. "I think if they have any intelligence they'll do this," Godwin said. ------------------ This story ran on page a1 of the {Boston Globe} on 09/07/96. Bruce Pennypacker | Stylus Products Group | Phone: +1 617 621 9545 Software Engineer | Artisoft, Inc. | Fax: +1 617 621 7862 Resident TAPI guru | 201 Broadway | http://www.stylus.com brucep@stylus.com | Cambridge, MA 02139 | sales: sales@stylus.com ------------------------------ From: ab663@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rich Micheals) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 9 Sep 1996 17:32:57 GMT Organization: National Capital Freenet, Ottawa, Canada Internet Service Providers should provide their users with "killfile" capability. Let the individual decide what they want and what to refuse ... ab663@freenet.carleton.ca ------------------------------ From: mattack@eskimo.com (Matt Ackeret) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 01:53:27 GMT In article , Richard DeYoung wrote: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] I don't know about any official news on this, but for a long time AOL has actually been pretty responsive to complaints sent to abuse@aol.com (cancelling people's accounts and such). Remember, send the full message, including headers for Usenet posts, to abuse@aol.com. ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 01:19:57 +0500 Organization: FredNet tad@ssc.com wrote: > AOL fed up with `spam'; On-line service to block junk e-mail > By Janet Rae-Dupree This may be old news already, but a federal judge has temporarily blocked AOL's blocking of junk mail, based on a suit by Cyber Promotions. >From http://cnnfn.com/digitaljam/wires/9609/06/junk_email_wg/ ... "We feel that America Online has violated the civil rights of their members and has violated our rights to send e-mail through the Internet, which AOL does not own," said Wallace, whose business employs six people. [endquote] Users *choose* to pay a particular ISP for Internet access, they are not *forced* to. And, if they choose to stay with a provider that has changed to a more restrictive e-mail policy, that is a *choice* not a violation of civil rights. If AOL had a monopoly on Internet access, I'd feel differently, but ISPs have been popping up exponentially, it seems, for the past couple of years. I also don't see how Cyber's right to send e-mail has been violated. Does their right to send e-mail mean that the rest of us must be forced to receive it? If AOL's members want to receive junk e-mail, they can switch providers or petition AOL to change its policy. If they don't want to receive it, what's wrong with filtering it out at right at the mail server front end? As long as AOL makes its policy clear to its users, there shouldn't be a problem. My two cents (more like fifteen cents if you count the above paragraphs), is that the judge was off-base in issuing his order to maintain the status quo until the suit is decided. I wonder how this bodes for his actual judgment in the suit. Regardless, I think we'll be seeing more and more Internet issues in federal courts over the next few years and the federal government will end up regulating it as sure as they would have if the CDA had passed. I hope I'm wrong. Dave ------------------------------ From: BNott@Bangate.compaq.com (Bill Nott) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Organization: Compaq Computer Corp. Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:50:14 GMT In article , deyoung@worldnet.att.net says: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] Or GNN, which is a subsidiary of AOL? (Saw one this morning from there.) Bill ------------------------------ From: klassen@UVic.CA (Melvin Klassen) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam Date: 9 Sep 1996 17:41:24 -0700 Organization: University of Victoria Richard DeYoung writes: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] Report all abuses to 'abuse@AOL.COM', and you get an immediate response. Also, look at http://WWW.AOL.COM/about/press/1996/960904e.txt ("AOL protects its members against junk E-mail"), which states, in part: AOL has been proactively contacting sites that serve as spam clearing houses and asked them to stop sending such solicitations. Several sites have refused to work with AOL or have ignored requests to do so. In response, AOL has taken steps to block these sites. The sites that AOL has blocked are known for sending unsolicited mail. They include: cyberpromo.com, honeys.com, answerme.com, netfree.com and servint.com. AOL seems to be "part of the solution, not part of the problem". ------------------------------ From: dpeschel@u.washington.edu (Derek Peschel) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 9 Sep 1996 20:09:07 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle In article , Richard DeYoung wrote: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] Richard and I (and many other people) are probably thinking the same thing: AOL is trying to eliminate junk mail sent TO its users. Wouldn't it be nice if AOL could also get rid of junk mail (and news) sent FROM its users? Derek ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: 9 Sep 1996 20:10:58 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 06, 1996 14:01:17 in article , 'Richard DeYoung ' wrote: > What about the junk mail that appears to originate from AOL users? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point. What about it? PAT] Good point, Rich ... AOL has to remember that SPAM is SPAM regardless of the can(ned service) from which it came ... :-) As for Slaton 'repenting' ... hell'd have to freeze solid (or melt for those fans of Dante's Divine Comedy), first ... John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not think he has repented of anything either. If you want to ask him whether or not he has repented, give him a call at (800) 351 8085 and ask. You might also want to ask him what the bill for his 800 number is each month. I think AOL might win their case in court if they were to point out that the email being sent to them invariably includes forged and false header information; the essence of someone writing a letter (in the regular mail) and deliberatly giving the wrong name and address as sender. It should be obvious there is some fraudulent intent. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 13:24:37 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techniques Corporation Reply-To: keenyd@ttc.com tad@ssc.com wrote: > "I'm repentant. I've got religion. I see the light now and I'm done > with the old way of spamming," said Jeff Slaton, who just last year [snip] ^^^! > "I think AOL is right on target," Slaton said. "The Internet is the > Wild West with no laws and regulations and it's time now for the > community, and that includes me, to start abiding by some code of > conduct to avoid inevitable chaos." > But Slaton does plan to send out one last spam from his new server, > lightningbolt.com, on behalf of his new advertising company, IQ > Internet. This last bulk message, scheduled to roll out in the next > few weeks, will offer recipients a choice: Receive no further [snip] My bulls**t detector pegged when I read this portion of the post. It's "time now" only because Slayton can see which way the wind is blowing and knows that if he doesn't change tactics he could lose his customer base. There is no repentance at work here -- it is simple self-interest and Slayton has certainly seen *that* light. When his last (?) bulk message rumbles across the Internet, I wonder if it will be primarily a self-serving advertisement for his new company. If anyone receives his message, I'd be interested in reading the text in this Digest or via e-mail. WRT the recent DEMA thread here, perhaps "no junk e-mail" lists might work if ISPs, which are in a position to affect Internet behavior, join ranks with their paying customers and with each other to force some degree of self-regulation on junk e-mailers. I'm encouraged by AOL's actions so far. Now, when do we start in on Usenet spammers? :) Dave [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not a single day goes past recently that I do not receive at least one -- and usually two or three -- copies of the Make Money Fast letter. You know, the one where you are to send a dollar to the names on the list and add your name to the the bottom. They always arrive here with anywhere from thirty to fifty or more newsgroups listed in the newsgroup line. And they are all from different people; that's how many dumb people are sending out that foolish letter. I just keep dumping them out; what's one piece of mail more or less each day around here where at any given time there are 600-800 items backlogged in the queue waiting for someone to read them. I suppose I could be onery about it and put the message in my editor, carefully remove the reference to comp. dcom.telecom from the newsgroups line, then push the whole thing back out in the news stream again. That way others could share the inspirational messages as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: russell@probe.net (Tim Russell) Subject: Another Spammer With an 800 Number) Date: 10 Sep 1996 07:56:00 GMT Organization: Probe Technology Internet Services PAT et al: Just thought I'd pass along another email spam I just received. This one is from a singularly clueless individual who, I think, may have some things to learn about Internet marketing. You'll note that, although they attempted to show up as an AOL user, they failed miserably. They're in fact mailing from Interramp. I've already complained to them. The kicker is that an 800 number was being advertised. Now, while of course I can't recommend that vast numbers of people call this number and hang up, the intent of the ad /was/ to get people to call, so perhaps you should call for further information. Especially from a payphone. And now, the message: >From starrcomm@aol.com Tue Sep 10 01:23:58 1996 >Received: from smtp1.interramp.com (smtp1.interramp.com [38.8.45.2]) > by elwood.probe.net (8.6.12/8.6.10) with ESMTP id BAA17441 for > ; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 01:23:57 -0500 >Received: from cd004561 by smtp1.interramp.com > (8.6.12/SMI-4.1.3-PSI-irsmtp) > id OAA04107; Sun, > 8 Sep 1996 14:50:24 -0400 >Message-Id: <199609081850.OAA04107@smtp1.interramp.com> >Comments: Authenticated sender is >From: "Starrcomm" >To: joe879@aol.com >Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 11:49:36 +0000 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: ~~ Hello ~~ >Reply-to: starrcomm@aol.com >Priority: urgent >X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.33) > >The Nation's Premeir Dateline is Here! > >Looking for a casual date? Or something more serious? >We can help you meet that someone special in your area >or any area code in the U.S. or Canada. > >Call Toll Free: 1-800-782-5633 >only $2.99 / minute ~ Must be 18 ~ V / Mc /Amex / Discover ---------------------- Tim Russell System Admin, Probe Technology email: russell@probe.net "A peace that comes from fear and not from the heart is the opposite of peace." - Gersonides [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks, Tim, for bringing this to our attention. On dialing, a recorded announcement explained the various offerings available to me. I was told that if I was under 18 or did not wish to be billed for the call I should hang up immediatly. After a pause of a couple seconds the recording continued by asking me to enter a credit card number. I was told if I did not have a credit card or if I was a 'rotary caller' I should hold the line. I did not stay on after that point. I would say there is about fifteen or sixteen seconds on the front end before it kicks over to some sort of billing mode. Some people though are clumsy about entering their credit card number. They press the wrong buttons by accident, etc. I do not know what happens then. If those fools have any brains at all, they most likely look at a database and refuse calls from payphones, but still, considering their request that you bill it to a credit card rather than the phone number, I'd think they would allow calls from payphones as well. If you want to investigate this service further and see what it can do for you then call 800-782-5633 and have your credit card handy. Remember! No hacking and no phreaking! Like with Jeff Boy, you may find it advantageous to call from a payphone or behind a PBX assuming they don't have those blocked off. It would be great though to see these folks receive the same generous pledges of support which were given to Jeff Boy back in June (remember the hundred thousand dollar goal set for Jeff?) ... but with only sixteen seconds or so before you have to come up with some numbers they want to hear, it will be more of a challenge. Good luck on your mission! Exterminate those cockroaches. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #476 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 17:29:06 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA14634; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 17:29:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 17:29:06 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609102129.RAA14634@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #477 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 17:29:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 477 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Recent BellSouth Louisiana Package Plans (Mark J. Cuccia) Unitel to Change Name to AT&T Canada (Greg Monti) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (gws@sunray.cb.att.com) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Erik Williams) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (K.M. Peterson) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Andrew C. Green) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (John R. Covert) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Bill Levant) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Brian Starlin) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Steve Bagdon) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Ron Kritzman) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Glenn Shirley) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:24:49 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Recent BellSouth Louisiana Package Plans Recently, I submitted to this Digest a reply article discussing Custom Calling and CLASS featues. I mentioned the dialing procedures in genral (including some historical changes in dialing and codes) as well as specific, when it comes to per-month or per-use pricing and billing of these "Vertical Servies". I had mentioned about the changes BellSouth introduced here in Louisiana earlier this year, where if you don't subscribe on a monthly basis to three certain features (3-Way, Call-Return *69=11-69, Repeat-Dial *66=11-66), you had them on a "per-use" basis, at 75-cents a pop. "Per-Use" 3-Way from non-digital #1AESS offices have required you to dial *71=11-71 in advance of the call to set-up the 3-Way flashing privilage. "Per-Use" 3-Way has been available in many/most #1AESS offices in Louisiana for about ten years now. But digital offices (#5ESS, DMS, etc) have never been able to use the *71=11-71 activation code. Earlier this year, full 3-Way flashing privilages were added to even non-monthly subscribing customers served from a digital switch. Many customers served by a digital switch, particularly those with children, were getting huge bills for "per use" 3-Way, as they had the 3-Way Flashing, although they didn't necessarily know that they didn't _subscribe_ on a monthly fixed-rate basis to 3-Way calling. BellSouth _will_ block, at no extra cost (similar to blocking access to the PAY-per-call codes/numbers: 900 area code, 976 exchange, and Louisiana's three-digit 211 "infoline" provided by the dominant newspaper in the LATA). I received an emailing from someone who worked in an office which handled requests from (some angry) BellSouth customers to have these pay-per-use CLASS and Custom Calling features blocked, who were furious about the fact that they had _BIG_ charges for these pay-per-use features, probably done by 'the kids'. He also informed me that in many parts of their nine-state area, BellSouth has a plan called "Complete Choice", for a fixed $26.00 to $32.00 per month, depending on the state, which allows virtually every CLASS and Custom Calling feature which is available in the serving switch. I called up BellSouth earlier this week to inquire, and it is available here in Louisiana, for (I think) $31.00 per month. You can get all of the 'traditional' Custom Calling services, as well as the 'original' CLASS features, including Caller-ID (Number and Name), touchtone (by itself it is now just nine-cents per month), Call-Forward-Busy, Call-Forward-No-Answer, and even BellSouth's "Ringmaster" which is the additional numbers on your line with distinctive ringing and CW patterns. At least here in Louisiana, "Memory Call" (BellSouth wireline's voicemail) is not a part of the "Complete Choice" fixed-price plan, and neither is Remote Call Forwarding, nor "Prestige" (BellSouth's multi-line feature plan, similar to some digital PBX features, such as Call-Park, Call-Pickup, Call-Hold, etc). You can still order these features if you are also under the "Complete Choice" plan, but they are still priced individually, outside of the plan. I presently have no need for Remote Call Forwarding. I only have one line, so I don't need any "Prestige" multi-line services/features. And I have BellSouth Mobility's "Mobile Memo" voicemail on my cellphone, and my home phone forwards on busy and no-answer to my cellular number. The inside wire maintenance 'insurance' plan is also not included as part of the "Complete Choice" price plan. Some of the new "ADSI" features, such as 'Caller-ID displayed during a Call Waiting beep' (BellSouth calls it "Call Waiting Deluxe), are also available as part of the "Complete Choice" plan. Of course, to take advantage of such new features (including "visual" CLASS or "visual" custom calling), you need to buy an ADSI-based phone or stand-alone ADSI-box. And some of these ADSI features are presently available in New Orleans, but only in the #5ESS (digital) switches. When my serving office switch (presently a non-digital #1AESS) can provide ADSI type features, I can add them to my "Complete Choice" pricing plan, at add them to my service at no additional cost, so I was told by the Business Office service reps. And even for those without "Complete Choice", for the entire year of 1996, Bell South in Louisiana isn't charging the one-time $17.00 'processing' fee to add features or change the 'type' of monthly service. Anyhow, for the past few years, Bell has been having more 'promotion' months where there was no $17.00 one-time fee, and some of them have been for two or even three consecutive months! Another recent offering from BellSouth in Louisiana is "Area Wide" Calling. It is also available for the same price as "Complete Choice". "Area Wide" gives a fixed montly flat rate for unlimited calling to the _entire_ "LOS" region, which covers roughly a radius of 40-50 miles within the LATA. LOS and Area-Wide plans don't cover anything outside of the LATA (even though it might be within Louisiana), and I don't think any of Louisiana's LATA's are 'small' enough such that there would be an entire LATA covered by the plan. Local Optional Service (LOS) was tariffed and available around 1991. It is an _option_ (as the name implies) which a customer can subscribe to, which allows a fixed monthly fee for unlimited calls to the old flat-rate local calling area, as well as a capped monthly rate to calls within an initial outer ring of exchanges outside of the old flat-rate local area. If one didn't reach the monthly price cap on calls to that first outer-ring exchanges, the per-minute rates (with time-of-day discounts) were a _LOT_ cheaper than 'traditional' 1+ intraLATA toll. A second outer-ring had the same highly discounted per-minute rates, but without a fixed monthly maximum cap. All calls made to points within one's LOS region (as well as the new "Area Wide") are dialed by these subscribers as 'just' the seven-digit number. There is no need to dial 1+ Home NPA prior to the number. (Of course, if any area codes in Louisiana are ever 'overlayed' or if we go to mandatory ten-digit local dialing in a few years, I would assume that calls to one's LOS or Area-Wide points, for those who subscribe, will be dialed without requiring the 1+, as these points _for that calling customer_ aren't 'really toll'.) Around 1980 or so, South Central Bell began to offer an optional Local Measured Rate plan for low-volume customers, based on local distance and time, with time-of-day and day-of-week per-minute discounts. This plan, now obsolete, was available only on calls within the 'traditional' local calling area, and there was _NO_ monthly maximum cap on how much you could be charged. This plan was completely replaced by LOS around 1991 or 1992. So, at least for residential customers, all local service calling plans for calls within the 'traditional' local dialing area are truly _MONTHLY FLAT_ rate for unlimited calling. (When optional Local Measured Rate came out around 1980, South Central Bell in Louisiana also offered optional _Message_ rate calling. You paid a fixed fee which gave you a monthly allowance up to ten completed billable local calls, with all additional completed billable local calls charged at ten-cents, regardless of local distance, duration, or time/day those additional calls were placed. This plan was available to residential lines _only_, and isn't offered anymore, unless you had it and continued to be 'grandfathered'.) It is possible to get "Complete Choice" and "Area Wide" togather for a special discounted price! I am now on both plans, and with all taxes (state, federal, local), 911 fee, intrastate access, FCC charge, fund for the hearing impaired, compliance with the ADA, other fees etc. and ad nauseum, as well as the separate fee for optional Inside Wire Maintenance, my basic monthly BellSouth service is going to be just a little over $50.00 per month! I now have all BellSouth "Touchstar" (CLASS) features available from my switch (I didn't want *57=11-57 Call Trace, however), and all traditional Custom Calling features, as well as CF-busy/no-answr. I can add many new features when they become available in my area's switch. And I have a _MUCH_ larger fixed monthly fee unlimited dialing area. All I will be paying on the BellSouth portion of the bill over that would be any inTRA-LATA toll calls to points outside of the "Area Wide" plan I might make (via BellSouth, which I _don't_, as I have been dialing them as 10-xxx/101-xxxx+), and any intra-LATA calls (local or toll) billed to my calling card and placed via BellSouth's inTRA-LATA-'only' TOPS. I asked the service rep's when "Complete Choice" and "Area Wide" calling became available for Louisiana, as I haven't really yet seen any public promotions of these plans. I was told Sunday 1 Sept 1996! It seems that BellSouth wants to become even _more_ "customer friendly" with the possibility of competition. Anyhow, even though I will criticize BellSouth when I feel they are wrong, overall, I have found that BellSouth gives the _BEST_ deals to the residential customer when compared to the services of GTE, the other RBOC's, other independent LEC's and the Canadian LEC's, as I read about them in these newsgroups! -- MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 00:10:14 -0400 From: cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) Subject: Unitel to Change Name to AT&T Canada An article in the September 9, 1996, issue of _The Wall Street Journal_ says that Candaian long-distance telephone company Unitel will change its name to AT&T Canada. AT&T currently owns one third of Unitel and is managing the company. The other two thirds are owned by banks who took control when Canadian Pacific and Rogers Communications walked away from their money-losing ivestments in Unitel. The article says the banks were the main advocates of using the AT&T name. Ownership will probably change again soon since Canadian law doesn't allow banks to own more than 10% of non-financial businesses for more than two years. AT&T cannot buy more of Unitel under current law, which limits foreign ownership of a telecom company to one third. The story notes that that restriction may be lifted. Greg Monti Jersey City, New Jersey, USA gmonti@interramp.com ------------------------------ From: gws@sunray.cb.att.com Date: Tue, 10 Sep 96 08:45:18 EDT Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Reply-To: gary.w.sanders@att.com Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Columbus Ohio. That's funny ... I am a Ameritech customer in central Ohio and have yet to be forced into a PIN. Its been an option for a number of months but never required. Maybe all my complaining about the PIN helped? Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR) gws@sunray.cb.att.com AT&T Columbus,Ohio 614-860-5965 ... Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And I am a Chicago customer of Ameritech (via Frontier) and have never been forced to use a PIN. But when I am on the Milwaukee NAM in my phone -- whether in Milwaukee or here in this area -- I am forced to use a PIN and it was not an option, pick- your-own-PIN kind of thing. A letter came one day and said here is the PIN which has been assigned to you. The letter only referenced my Milwaukee cellular number. PAT] ------------------------------ From: elw@saturn.net (Erik Williams) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 15:38:54 GMT Organization: Boston University Reply-To: elw@saturn.net I saw a brief spot on ?nightline? last night about authentication. They said that all phones will be backward compatible, but will not benifit form authentication. I believe it works like key password authentication, but am not sure. Would be interested in any info on this subject. Erik Williams elw@saturn.net www.saturn.net/~elw ------------------------------ From: KMP@portal.vpharm.com (K. M. Peterson) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 10 Sep 1996 16:52:52 GMT Organization: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated In article TELECOM Digest Editor writes: > Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking > about their new cellular security technology. They claim that > starting in October (and being phased out from that point through > the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor > encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they > make cellular calls. They're not saying *what* they have in mind > to replace PIN's; only that their new system will be greatly > superior. They mention that 'PINs may still be needed in some parts > of the USA when our customers are roaming outside our own five state > territory, but they'll be obsolete around here.' Here, the Boston _Globe_ ran a story about the same thing ... CellONE Boston is introducing RF "fingerprinting" and Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Mobil (BANM) is going to a challenge/authentication scheme using code in the phone. The article adds that only very recent phones have this programming. They also mentioned that CellONE feels that BANM's method is definitely the one to use, in the long term. The story should be available for a few days at Boston.COM by searching for 'Cellular and Cloning' at: http://www.boston.com/globe/glosearch.htm It's really a pretty interesting article. I suspect someone made a big sale of the technology, and the Cellular carriers are all jumping to roll it out as soon as possible. K. M. Peterson ------------------------------ From: fgoldstein@bbn.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:47:29 EST Organization: BBN Corp. In article museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) writes: > Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all > phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to > eliminate the pin. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think -- am not certain -- they > claimed customers would be able to use their existing phone. PAT] The Boston Globe ran a story on this yesterday, since both the A carrier (SBC Cellular One) and B carrier (Bell Awful NYNEX) are "eliminating" PINs. Cellular One is going to RF Fingerprinting, in which they try to determine whether the radio emissions match the ones from the correct cellphone. This works with all phones but is not 100% reliable. BAN is going to "authentication", which uses an encrypted value (not plaintext like ESN, and different on each call) in the setup sequence. Authentication, which is like a feature found in GSM and all other post-AMPS digital systems, only works in newer phones (late 1995 and beyond). We older-phone owners are stuck with our PINs, which will also be used in some roaming environments. Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com BBN Corp., Cambridge MA USA +1 617 873 3850 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 15:21:32 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out museums@aol.com (Richard W. Museums) writes: > Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all > phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to > eliminate the pin. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think -- am not certain -- they > claimed customers would be able to use their existing phone. PAT] They did indeed say that we could continue to use our existing phone; perhaps Mr. Museums could elaborate on what he is referring to ... It's worth repeating that it's only within the past year that we had to use PINs in the first place. As implemented here in Chicago, you'd dial your number as usual, press SEND, wait to hear a short double ring, enter your 4-digit PIN and press SEND again. Basically you are sending your PIN to the switch for database lookup; this is not the same as a PIN number which you might also program into your phone for locking purposes. Your call won't go through until the switch clears your PIN number. (When I say "switch" here I'm referring to the phone network as opposed to my own phone hardware.) The PIN handling which Ameritech added and is now advancing beyond has always been a system enhancement, not a user phone enhancement. Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 96 19:20:19 GMT From: John R. Covert Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out museums@aol.com (Richard W. Museums) wrote: > Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all > phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to > eliminate the pin. and Pat replied: > I think -- am not certain -- they claimed customers would be able to > use their existing phone. PAT] And here's the straight skinny (at least for Boston): The "A" Carrier (Cellular One / Southwestern Bell) is implementing the RF signature system. They are investigating for me exactly how many signatures they can support for a single mobile number. They know that they will be able to handle the service they offer where you have two phones with the same mobile number but two different serial numbers, two different transmitters, and thus two different RF signatures. However, I have a Motorola flip with adapters in two different cars. That means three different RF signatures with the same mobile number and serial number. I'm waiting to hear how many signatures can be supported, and how, for example, I register additional signatures for various friends' cars which also have 3W VAs which I might use if I were to visit them or they visit me. The "B" Carrier (Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile) is implementing the secure authentication system. This does require a new phone unless you bought one of the ones built in the last 9-12 months. BANM will discount replacement phones based on the number of years of continuous customer relationship. Since one of my cars has a rather rare type of adapter, the so-called "Extended System" which operates with its own number when the flip phone is _not_ plugged in, BANM was not yet able to confirm that Motorola has an encrypted version of this product, but is supposed to get back to me next week. What this might imply (I'm now leaving the realm of fact and entering speculation) is that "A" carriers are going with the signature system and will share signatures through the NACN and "B" carriers will be going with secure authentication and share crypto-keys through the GTE Mobil Data Services roaming authentication system. john ------------------------------ From: grendel6@ix.netcom.com (Bill Levant) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 02:14:27 GMT Organization: Netcom Recently, theTELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking > about their new cellular security technology. They claim that > starting in October (and being phased out from that point through > the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor > encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they > make cellular calls. They're not saying *what* they have in mind > to replace PIN's; only that their new system will be greatly > superior. They mention that 'PINs may still be needed in some parts > of the USA when our customers are roaming outside our own five state > territory, but they'll be obsolete around here.' Whereupon Robert Sinclair (robert-s@gvn.net) said : > Hmmm ... Sounds like they are may be using some form of transciever > signature ID or perhaps more advanced computer based velocity and/or > usage tracking. I'm curious to know myself. ... and museums@aol.com rang in with ... > Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all > phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to > eliminate the pin. ... and PAT then responded ... > I think -- am not certain -- they claimed customers would be able to > use their existing phone ... I think I heard a discussion -- maybe here -- about one-time authentication. When you first turn on your phone, you would do a PIN-like signon (i.e. call *ON or some such easy-to-remember code) and dial in your PIN. You are then good until your phone is turned off, or for some short period of time (say, an hour) or for the remainder of the day ... certainly, less of a pain in the tuchas than PIN numbers. Bill ------------------------------ From: Brian Starlin Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 22:35:34 -0700 Organization: North American Cellular Network TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking > about their new cellular security technology. They claim that > starting in October (and being phased out from that point through > the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor > encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they > make cellular calls. Most likely, it is the new IS-41 technology called "authentication." Authentication uses the private/public key encryption technology to determine if the phone is actually the subscriber's phone. The public key is sent by the phone. The authentication center uses the public key and it's known private key to verify the phone's identity. AT&T Wireless Services has already deployed Authentication in many of its markets. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 07:35:35 -0400 From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out This is from a piece of direct mail that I received yesterday, as I have two cellular accounts with Ameritech. ----- side 1 ----- Thank You FOR USING YOUR PIN!!! By October 31, 1996, Ameritech Cellular customers will no longer ned to use a PIN when making cellular calls in their local area. (See reverse side for the exciting details.) ----- side 2 ----- PIN was a huge success! Because of your support, PIN (Personal Identification Number) has been highly effective in substantially reducing the incidence of cellular fraud. Ameritech Cellular Services is pleased to announce that by October 31, 1996, you will no longer need to enter a PIN on any call originated withing your local Ameritech calling area. NO ACTION IS REQUIRED ON YOUR PART! You'll know you PIN is not required when you no longer hear the double beep. The potential for cellular cloning remains a challenge for the cellluar industry and we realize there is not perfect solution. That's why in the coming months we will be ontroducing more advanced technologies and gradually removing local PINS. This will give you continued protection, and greater ease and satisfaction when using your Ameritech Cellular phone. Again, no action is required on your part! Please note that you may still need to use your PIN when "roaming" outside of your local service area. Look for information updates in the Connections newsletter sent with your monthly bill. If you have any questions, please call 1-800-219-5438. ----- end ----- That should say it all. No change in user equipment. I wonder what they are doing? Has anyone bothered to call and ask? Steve B. bagdon@rust.net (h) USFMDDKT@ibmmail.com (w) http://www.rust.net/~bagdon [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If someone did call to ask, I am not sure Ameritech would feel like divulging the information. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ron Kritzman Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 16:40:48 -0700 Organization: Kritzman Communications MUSEUMS wrote: > Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all > phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to > eliminate the pin. AHA!! Now this makes all the sense in the world. PCS will be here soon and they're worried that customers will jump. Of course they want to sell you a new phone! Just -TRY- to buy a new phone without signing a two year contract. ------------------------------ From: Glenn Shirley Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: Mon, 09 Sep 1996 15:20:55 -0700 Organization: ADI Limited Robert Sinclair wrote: > TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> Ameritech has been on television all day today (Thursday) talking >> about their new cellular security technology. They claim that >> starting in October (and being phased out from that point through >> the end of the year) subscribers will no longer be required nor >> encouraged to use personal identification numbers (PINs) when they >> make cellular calls. They're not saying *what* they have in mind >> to replace PIN's; only that their new system will be greatly >> superior. They mention that 'PINs may still be needed in some parts >> of the USA when our customers are roaming outside our own five state >> territory, but they'll be obsolete around here.' > Hmmm ... Sounds like they are may be using some form of transciever > signature ID or perhaps more advanced computer based velocity and/or > usage tracking. I'm curious to know myself. Sounds like the RF signature authentication that was touted quite a few years ago now. Presumably some sort of signature of a mobile is taken when first put on the system (or after servicing). Maybe individual mobiles emit a fairly distinctive spurious noise pattern. Anyway when a call is made some sort of DSP algorithm is used on the RECC to compare the call to the signature. I know TRW (http://www.trw.com) have something that does this but I can't find anything on their web site about it. I can dig some information out of my anarchic filing system if anyone is interested. The June 1996 edition of Cellular Business (pg 86) has a few words to say about RFF (RF Fingerprinting) and mentions three companies that do it but provide no names or clues to their identities and very little other information. In my opinion the database of signatures would become obsolete fairly quickly as wouldn't these signatures changes as mobiles were banged around, dropped, aged etc. Glenn [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone wrote me to explain this very problem, along with the problem of atmospheric conditions and distance from the tower affecting how the network 'reads' or interprets the authentication it is given. According to my source, users will still have the PIN they always had; it just won't be necessary to use it; not that you can't use it -- as if anyone would if they did not have to. So let us say you and your trusty phone are somewhere doing things as you always do them and for some reason when making a call the network thinks it is not you ... you can still 'force the PIN'; that is, if the network says 'no' to your call attempt you can in effect say 'yes ... and I will prove it!' and then use the PIN as part of the call. If all goes well, you won't hear that 'double beep' after dialing the number where you are expected to enter your PIN. The authentication process will have handled it all. If you *do* hear the 'double beep' then it means authentication failed for some reason but you can override it provided you then insert the PIN as you used to do. I do not know if Ameritech has given this a lot of thought yet (the person who told me about it is an employee) but I guess it is being brought to their attention as a 'back up arrangement' for legitimate customers who get shafted accidentally when conditions are so poor transmission-wise that authentication is difficult or impossible (or the phone gets old and cranky and out of synch, etc.) PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #477 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 20:17:15 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA00432; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 20:17:15 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 20:17:15 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609110017.UAA00432@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #478 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 20:17:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 478 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC (Fred R. Goldstein) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (Robert Bulmash) Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons (Wes Leatherock) Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons (Marty Brenneis) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Anthony Pelliccio) Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (Tye McQueen) Re: Technical Question on GSM (Graham Tavener) Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order (Donald Crews) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Jock Mackirdy) Re: The Beginnings of Dial Service in Toronto and Montreal (Lisa Hancock) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: fgoldstein@bbn.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: Bell Atlantic and the ATT 10288 PIC Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:42:23 EST Organization: BBN Corp. In article kamlet@infinet.com (Art Kamlet) writes: >> ATT says to use 1800callatt. But how can he use it with a data call? >> No way. > The 800-call-att is part of getting the call set up -- it asks for an > AT&T calling card number or such, but it will get the call set up. From > that point on, why would data be a problem? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It really should not be a problem. When > I use arrangements like that for wahtever reason, I set my modem just > to do 'ATD' without anything following. Whoa. It IS a problem, because a "data call" in the original context refers to an ISDN Data Bearer Service call, *not* a voiceband call using a modem. The telco network is not doing the same thing. On an ISDN "data" call, there is no in-band tone setup. No touch-tone, nada, since the entire 64000 bps B channel belongs to the user. Call setup is done out of band on the D channel. If you were to dial 1800-call-att, and it were to answer (unlikely, since that number is probably not set up in the parallel universe of data calls, which *can* theoretically route the same number elsewhere form voice calls), then there'd still be no way to enter a calling card. 10xxx does work with ISDN data calls, but that's about it. Think about a rotary dial phone. Opposite direction technologically, but same lack of touch-tones. Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com BBN Corp., Cambridge MA USA +1 617 873 3850 ------------------------------ From: prvtctzn@aol.com (Prvt Ctzn) Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: 10 Sep 1996 14:48:15 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article someone asked: >> Has anyone, ever, gotten any help from the FCC? We've heard lots of >> reports (including my own) of the FCC's inaction. Has anyone ever >> been called back by someone from the FCC, or received a written >> response to a written inquiry? A recent experience with the FCC was as follows: I asked my Illinois State Attorney General to take action concerning a telemarketing firm's violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (a.k.a. TCPA - Telemarketing Callers Protection Act). The TCPA allows state A.G.s to pursue junk callers who violate the TCPA. But it requires the A.G. to first contact the FCC and wait for the Commission to respond. The A.G. wrote the FCC about my complaint in December, 1995. The FCC responded at warp speed (for the FCC). They replied in June. SIX MONTHS to send a two page letter ... (lower taxes = higher patience) BTW Regarding the above circumstance: Those who got a telephone solicitation at home from any division of * Household International * may want to contact me with the date and time of the call/s. e-mail to: prvtctzn@aol.com. Our members have collected over $45,000 from junk callers so far this year. We are looking for residents who got: - any junk call/s from * Colorado Prime * - multiple junk calls from * MCI *, after a Do-Not-Call request was made. - multiple calls from * Bell Atlantic * after a Do-Not Call request was made. - multiple calls from * MBNA * after a Do-Not-Call request was made. Bob Bulmash Private Citizen, Inc. http://webmill.com/pci/home ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 19:48:23 GMT Pat wrote in his note to the posting by HHZietz@aol.com: > ... If the person you are trying to call for assistance has a > 'collect block' on their line, i.e. billed number screening, well > that's just too bad. That'll teach your family (friend) to sign up for > those fancy services the telephone company offers. My experience was that this was one of the principal reasons people signed up for this service: to prevent getting calls from a relative or supposed friend in jail, or calls being made by a person in jail to someone in the household such as a son or daughter. As you note, these are collect calls, and often (usually?) billed at AOS excessive rates. Persons in jail often have plenty of time to make such calls. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are a lot of COCOTs around that people to place collect calls. And certainly, persons in jail would be using a COCOT. I was referring however to *innocent* (or at least not yet ajudicated guilty) persons who are frantically trying to reach someone to let them know where they are and what is going on for their first phone call. Persons who are not guilty of anything but being held in jail on account of some police officer who lied about them should be given a little more consideration, but that would go against the grain of what life in the United States is all about these days. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 17:46:55 GMT From: Marty Brenneis Subject: Re: 800/888 Calls From Jails/Prisons > now the preferred venue for testing stolen credit cards has > become gas stations which let you "pay at the pump". If the card is > refused, they drive away scot-free and toss the card (as opposed to > going inside a business to try the card and risking a clerk > identifying the thieves). If the card is authorized at the pump, > they fill up their car and drive to the nearest electronics store. Apparently many of the theives do not bother to fill their cars. When you run your card at the pump, it makes a $1.00 transaction to the credit card company. If this goes thru the let you pump gas, then they update theamount of the transaction. Some of the card companies use this as a possible fraud detection device. If they see the $1.00 transaction without the followup correction they flag the account. If a large purchace comes next, they can call the cops or whatever. Marty 'The Droid' Brenneis droid@well.com Industrial Magician droid@kerner.com (415)258-2105 ~~~ KAE7616 - 462.700 - 162.2 ~~~ KC6YYP ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Date: 9 Sep 1996 22:42:41 -0400 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , Matt Holdrege wrote: > The PSTN was built on the fact that on average, phone calls last three > minutes. The Internet blows that out of the water. The RBOC's and GTE > are run by bean counters. When the bean counters made their long range > budget plans, they didn't have a clue of what impact the internet > would have on their network. Now they don't have the budget to > upgrade all those interoffice trunks. The curious part of all this is that the big brains at what was once AT&T (Pre-divestiture) had no forsight to see that PSTN facilities might be used for something more than just babble. I suppose that being handed a lifetime monopoly might have something to do with that. But can anyone here tell me why the major switch manufacturers didn't notice this trend in the early 80's like the rest of us did? Another curious fact -- our AT&T Definity G3 switch handles all the digital sets we have as ISDN connections, or as close to ISDN one can actually get without calling it ISDN. I was astonished when I started reading some of the manuals they left there when the switch was installed. The really curious part is it does all this without a hicup using only an Intel 80386 CPU and a 4MB program store. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ From: tye@metronet.com (Tye McQueen) Subject: Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell Date: 9 Sep 1996 17:36:23 -0500 Organization: Texas Metronet, Inc (login info (214/488-2590 - 817/571-0400)) dr@ripco.com (David Richards) writes: > There are several known methods of causing the telephone system to > forward false CID information. Could you elaborate? The only ones I've heard mention of involve supressing CID or causing CID for some intermediate line to be delivered instead of the CID from the originating line. None of these methods do you any good if trying to break into a modem line which requires that you make a call that delivers the CID of one of a few standard residential lines that are authorized to call into that modem. > Caller-ID is little better than the Internet 'identd' protocol as a > means of screening, in that it only protects against casual attacks. Now, if TelCo deregulation gets moving well, then we might start getting closer to what you describe above. At the moment I can run an "identd" server at home and have it send whatever user identifaction I wish (though I can't see that being of any use in attacking other than the most strangely configured system). I can't just pay $19.95/month and get an SS7 link from a provider to help me provide long distance services from my home. Tye McQueen tye@metronet.com || tye@thingy.usu.edu Nothing is obvious unless you are overlooking something http://www.metronet.com/~tye/ (scripts, links, nothing fancy) ------------------------------ From: etlgmtr@goa.tei.ericsson.se (Graham Tavener) Subject: Re: Technical Question on GSM Date: 10 Sep 1996 09:26:00 GMT Organization: Ericsson erobinson (76004.1762@CompuServe.COM) wrote: > No reason for the GSM network to care what phone you use. So, no it > doesn't pay attention to your phone, and can't know whether you are > using the one you bought orginally, or another one. > Some of the better GSM phones offer an optional password to prevent > use of the phone in case another GSM sim is used, until the proper > password is given when the new sim is mounted in the phone. This > means that if your phone is stolen, it can't be used by someone else > with another GSM account. Also here in the UK at least, some airtime providers lock the SIM to the phone, so that you cannot decide to use you're phone with another airtime provider. In the UK they subsidise the cost of the phone, and hope to recover the profit from the call charges/rental fee etc. So in this case you would not be able to use the phone without the SIM card supplied. Graham ------------------------------ From: dcrews@jax-inter.net (donald crews) Subject: Re: BellSouth to Appeal FCC Interconnection Order Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:02:08 GMT Reply-To: dcrews@jax-inter.net If I understood the original article it wasn't that the FCC had oversteppped it's bounds completely but that they had not done what the federal ruling had intended by requiring the BellSouth to resale dialtone at much reduced rate from what it is sold to the customer at. Anybody that wants to come on in and sell their own dialtone at what ever rate they decide would probably be welcomed but don't tell BellSouth they have to sell their dialtone to someone at a greatly reduced rate so they can then in turn resale at a rate lower than we sell it know. BellSouth has by the way reached a number of agreements with numerous outside vendors to resale dialtone , but just not at the lower rate that ATT and some of their "competitors" want. Maybe I should go to the federal government and tell them I would like to start a Postal Service but, I will need the Postal Sevice to supply the trucks, carriers, and the routes but I will selll my stamps at a lower rate ! That ain't competition fella's. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Very little of divestiture over the past dozen years has been anything close to resembling competition. Most of it has been an anti-Bell agenda, beginning with Judge Greene who made no pretense at all of his dislike for AT&T and the way they did things. Neither of the original 'competitors' to AT&T (MCI and Sprint) were required to truely compete. AT&T was expected to hand them it all on a silver platter as are the local RBOC carriers today. Wouldn't you like to see some of the competition out there stringing wires, laying cable in the street, spending a hundred years or so and lots of money on research, visiting homes to install instruments, etc? Do you think it will ever happen? Competition now means telco is required to sell its dialtone at well below its own cost so that the competitor can mark up the cost outrageously but still price it below what telco sells it for in order for the competitor to be able to advertise to the public what great guys they are and what a ripoff the established telco has always been. But telco doesn't care, so why should you? As telco sees it, the quicker they can get into long distance and out of serving their most expensive and troublesome smaller customers, the better they will like it. No one has their hands clean. The newcomers will grow big and fat, the established telcos will grow fatter and sassier than ever in long distance, and as for you, you can keep on hurrying down to the payment office each month hoping you can get there in time before they cut you off. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jock Mackirdy Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 23:25:33 GMT Dennis Wong wrote: > What I know is that DID trunks allow outside callers to call a specific > extension on your PABX by dialing a regular telephone number and not > having to ask the switchboard operator to connect the call to that > particular extension. > Can somebody explain to me how the central office signals the PABX to > ring that particular extension? (A UK answer which should also be correct elsewhere.) You rent a block of DID extension numbers from the telco. When one of these numbers is dialled, the CO routes the call on a type of inter-office circuit (copper or ISDN) and sends the last few digits of the number to your switch. The PBX identifies the extension to ring from the digits received. > Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or > do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? No -- you need separate regular lines. The DID trunks are unidirectional and carry only DID traffic. Jock Mackirdy Business Advisory Services, Luton (UK) E-mail: jockm@basluton.demon.co.uk Independent telecomms. and business advice ------------------------------ From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa/Jeff) Subject: Re: The Beginnings of Dial Service in Toronto and Montreal Date: 10 Sep 1996 03:03:51 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net By the 1920s Bell System manual exchanges were fairly sophisticated in large cities. They used an "A" and "B" board layout. The "A" operator answered all calls and listened for your request. She then plugged into a trunk for whatever exchange you sought. This trunk connected her directly to a "B" operator, and the "A" operator relayed the number and the "B" made the final connection. They had ringing signals, busy signals, automatic ringing, etc to save time. IMHO, a job on a suburban board, with combined duties would have been more interesting than on a city board with very narrowly defined high volume duties. The most interesting would have been Long Distance. I wonder, in the days of more operator services, if there was a "pecking order" to various jobs -- was one type more desirable than another, did operators have a choice or ability to "bid", or was it assigned? The most boring to me would have been Information (directory assistance). In high school, now more years ago than I like to admit, boys operated our school PBX (a 555.) Some boys sought after school jobs doing that, but such jobs were restricted to girls in those days (1970s.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I had an after school job like that when I was in high school and for a couple years afterward, 1958-1962. I worked part time for the University of Chicago in the phone room starting when I was a junior (11th grade) in high school. During the summer when I was not in school I worked for UC full time in the phone room. Once I got out of high school I worked full time there for a couple more years on the midnight shift. Their old manual facility was a fourteen- or fifteen-position cordboard located at 58th Street and Ellis Avenue. Divided in three clusters around the large room, six positions were the 'university board' (MIDway-3-0800 with about four thousand extensions being served on 100 trunk lines in a rotary hunt); six positions were what they called the 'hospital board' serving the complex of four or five hospitals in the medical center on 59th Street (MUseum-4-6100 with about 2500 extensions being served on 80 or so trunk lines in a rotary hunt); and I dunno, three or four positions were up at one end of the room by themselves; those had five or six hundred extensions on a couple dozen trunk lines (NORmal-7-4700) in a rotary hunt. That group served the 'Computation Center' a couple blocks down the street. The mysterious 'Computation Center' was the place they housed the new things they had purchased just recently called 'computers'; a mystery to almost everyone except the few people actually involved with them. During the day and evening hours, all the positions were staffed but during the overnight hours the one or sometimes two operators who were there simply walked around the room and when one of the boards would buzz they would walk over and plug in, take the call then walk over to some other board that was buzzing and take a call there, etc. They also had some telex and TWX machines there in the same room; the 'frames' were across the hall from us there on the sixth floor. Users could dial their own extension-to-extension calls and outside calls, but all incoming calls came through the switchboard as did internal calls to '0' for the operator and a couple other special extensions. Plus, they had an 'answering service' for certain departments during overnight hours such as emergency maintainence, campus police and others. I loved the job although the pay was rotten. You were expected to like working for UC in those days because of *who they were* prestige-wise; not because they actually paid anything decent. :) All the student dorms had their own front desk and switchboard, but the 'trunk lines' on those boards were simply extensions off of the main board, so for example the building called 'Faculty Apartments' had its own board and operators with extension 4000 from us plus a few extensions in a rotary hunt which connected you to that sub-switchboard. They usually had a few direct outside lines of their own on those boards as well as the tie-line/extensions to the main campus board. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #478 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 10 21:41:28 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA10499; Tue, 10 Sep 1996 21:41:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 21:41:28 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609110141.VAA10499@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #479 TELECOM Digest Tue, 10 Sep 96 21:41:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 479 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (Georg Schwarz) Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (Peter Morgan) German Censorship: Latest News (Felipe Rodriquez) Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) (M. Wengler) Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) (S. Lichter) Employment Opportunity: Computer Telephony Developer (mahid@aol.com) BCE Mobile Shares Begin Trading on New York Stock Exchange (Nigel Allen) Information Wanted on PrepayUSA Telecom (The Rev. R. Geffen) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: schwarz@poseidon.physik.tu-berlin.de (Georg Schwarz) Subject: Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 21:33:07 +0200 Organization: Technical University Berlin, Germany wrote: > GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL, WITH 3100 WEBPAGES ^^^^^^^ This headline is really very unspecific and misleading. If, say, AOL and MSN and a few other internet providers in the States (just as an example) decided to cut access to that site for their customers, would you also write "US CENSOR DUTCH WEBSITE ..."? > German internet providers, joined in the Internet Content Taskforce > (ICTF), started censoring the Dutch website www.xs4all.nl, containing > 3100 personal and commercial homepages. This act of censorship is > caused by the webpage of a magazine that is banned in Germany, Radikal > (http://www.xs4all.nl/ ~tank/radikal/). As of Friday Sept. 6th, 1719 GMT, I do have zero problems accessing that URL trough my provider, DFN (Deutsches Forschungsnetz, German Research Network), which provides Internet access for all German academic institutions. (note that you should leave out the space character before the '~', otherwise you'll have problems, of course :-)) What is that "Internet Content Taskforce" you cite, anyway? > A German prosecutor sent the following message to the ICTF: > (http://www.anwalt.de/ictf/p960901e.htm): > Providers in Germany are already blocking packets to and from the I don't know which providers do so (please be more specific), but if some providers do so, it's on their own decision. They were, as you state, only officially informed that an investigation had been opened, they are not forced by any court ruling to do anything. > XS4ALL has not received any request from the German Government regarding Why should the German government (I assume you mean the Federal Government in Bonn) be involved in something like that? That's something the courts and public prosecutors have to deal with. And in a democratic country like Germany (or the Netherlands) they do not depend on the government. Plus, why should any German authorities write such a request to a Dutch company? I'm sure the Dutch would not like it at all if some German authority tried to request or force them to do anything on the basis of a German law. > the homepage of Radikal. Without any prior contact the German prosecutor > decided that the XS4ALL website needs to be blocked for German That's wrong! The German prosecuter, as can be read in the letter to which you have given the URLs, merely informed that company (companies?) about the ongoing investgation in conjunction with that magazine. He pointed out that companies who provide their customers with that material *might* commit a criminal act by doing so (in fact that's what he's investigating). He did not, however, demand from that companies to shut down access, nor would he have the right to do so without any court's ruling. The procesuters did by no means decide "that the XS4ALL website needs to be blocked for German Internet Users"! That claim of yours is totally unjustified. > Internet Users. XS4ALL is awaiting legal advice, and will investigate > if legal procedures against the German government are possible. In what way is the German *government* involved here??? > Censorship on Internet usually has the opposite effect. Internet users While this is correct, this is not of concern for the prosecuter's work. His job is to investigate into possible criminal activities. That whole story very much reminds me of what happened at CompuServe last year (I think). Bavarian prosecuters had informed CompuServe in Munich that they had got information according to which some newsgroups on CompuServe's server were said to contain material illegal by German law (was it child pornography? Sorry, I don't remember). They officially informed CompuServe that they had started an investigation into that matter (that's what they are obliged to). Without being requested by anyone, let alone by any court, CompuServe decided to cut access for their customers to a wide range of newsgroups. For technical reasons, CompuServe customers world wide were affected by that measure. Now CompuServe, to their US customers claimed that the German (or was it Bavarian?) *Government* had *ordered* them to "censor" those newsgroups. A number of US customers who believed this were so outraged that they staged a demonstation in front of the German consulate in Chicago (if I recall correctly) and threatened to boycott German beer. Later, CompuServe admitted that their press release did not reflect the actual facts (and blamed it on a transla- tion error!) So, before you start writing all capital headlines like "GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE" start thinking what you're actually saying. Georg Schwarz (schwarz@physik.tu-berlin.de, kuroi@cs.tu-berlin.de, PGP 2.6ui) Institut for Theoretische Physik +49 30 314-24254 FAX -21130 IRC kuroi Technische Universit Berlin http://itp1.physik.tu-berlin.de/~schwarz/ ------------------------------ From: P Morgan Subject: Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 22:00:15 +0100 In message felipe@xs4all.nl writes: > Censorship on Internet usually has the opposite effect. Internet users > consider it a sport to publish censored materials. However, soon in Singapore, and presumably in other countries in other parts of the world, the simple act of connecting to a "banned" system is, or will be, a criminal act. AIUI, the Singaporean authorities require any of their 150,000 internet users to have their web browsing requests restricted, or face penalties. > Singapore Internet service providers use computer "proxy servers" which > filter out requests for undesirable material. > Such material includes "issues pertaining to national security, > religious harmony and morals," said Ling Pek Ling, the director > of policy and planning at the Singapore Broadcasting Authority. Having visited Singapore and enjoyed my stay, I will not return to spend my tourist dollars there until this unwarranted restriction is removed. I'd urge you to comment on this to anyone who you know is planning to visit. If they must go, suggest they register a letter of complaint after the event. From the Singaporean Govt's web page http://www.gov.sg/ > The Government Feedback Unit - The Feedback Unit provides an official > channel for Internet users to give their views on Singapore Government > policies and national issues. This enables them to participate actively > in the decision-making process of the government. To submit your views, > please send email to the Feedback Unit The e-mail address shown by my browser was : pkshee@mcdpo.mcd.gov.sg Peter Morgan ------------------------------ From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: German Censorship: Latest News Date: 10 Sep 1996 22:38:09 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses Hi, An update about the German censorship situation: -There are now about 30 mirrors of the information that Germany is trying to block. This always happens spontaneously on the Net, and is a great effect. There's no way to always control all the mirrors, and block them. Especially because the information is only forbidden in Germany, and not in other countries. -A very effective service is the anonimizer at www.anonymizer.com. It anonymizes your identity in web-traffic, but as an extra it is also a open proxyserver for anyone to use, also Germans. If there would be a couple of hundred anonymizers around the world, then any ip-level or page-level censorship would be useless. If the standards for anonymizer are open, then I expect anonymizer to spread and do its work. Route around censorship. See for more information: http://anonymizer.cs.cmu.edu:8080/ Any German can access the forbidden Radikal URL's very easily by requesting: http://www.anonymizer.com:8080/http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal -Xs4all has used ip-number rotation on it's hosts, when you alternate the hostnumber, they cannot block it that easily. In the short run this has been an effective way to tackle ip-filtering. If necessary we can help other hosts to apply the same techniques. -Questions were asked to the European Commission by euro-politician Elly Plooij (VVD-liberal party). These can be accessed at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~felipe/germany.html -I threathened the ICTF with damage recovery, but they say they where forced to write their advice. The prosecutor threatens to confiscate equipment, and possibly arrest provider-managers. This fear seems to be very real, and is very dominating. The legal situation for providers in Germany is unclear, and that lack of clarity is abused by the German government to put much pressure on providers. I suggested that they start a test trial, to clear up the legal status of providers. But maybe they're so intimidated by the prosecutor that they'll keep on going with ineffective censoring and rough blockades. -In Germany there's lots of discussion going on about this censoring. There are a _lot_ of critics there, and it's clear to most that the current attempt to block our site is useless. -The ICTF at one point told XS4ALL that the censorship would be ended immediately if we remove the customer homepage, or put a password on it. In response I said that the information is not illegal in Holland. Neither have we received any formal request from a German official. To bend to this pressure, and remove the homepage, would create a precedent. Other countries would see 'benefits' and may start using the same techniques. Censoring a whole site always causes damage, and the other side could manipulate companies to enforce a new interpre- tation of 'free speech'. Site censoring acts are a form of blackmail, XS4ALL has economic arguments to censor our users, some of our customers depend on the German market and cancel their accounts. Bending to these pressures would redefine freedom of expression into a commercial risk. Any country would have the power to silence netizens around the world. I'm glad to see that Internet still routes around censorship, and makes censored documents into bestsellers. Does anyone have any further suggestions, or can anyone help in any way? Start up a email-letter campaign to the German prosecutor? More political pressure? Courts and lawyers? What else can we do? Regards, Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I dunno, Felipe. What can you do? Why don't we all go out tonight like I am going to do in a few minutes when this issue is finished and drink some good German beer. In fact I may go down to Ein Leiben Augustine, a restaurant in Chicago and have my dinner in the beer garden and listen to the German musicians with their accordions singing songs in German. The only problem I have is reading the menu; I might wind up with something I did not want to eat. Or I may just stay home and listen to an old recording I have of the Liebisleider Waltzes of Brahms sung in the original German recorded on Columbia Records about 1950 by the Mormon Tablernacle Choir and the Philadelphia Orchestra, followed by some rather high-camp transcriptions of Richard Wagner played by Virgil Fox. I wonder if I could get some government bureaucrats somewhere to censor this Digest? I certainly would like to have more readers. Maybe someone knows a government official I could bribe to issue threats against any site which carries comp.dcom.telecom or I could try to pay them a little extra if they would issue threats against me personally. Truthfully Felipe, I sort of agree with Georg Schwarz who wrote the first article on this topic in this issue of the Digest: it seems to me to be much ado about nothing, if I may quote Bill Shakespeare. If they want to censor you -- and as Schwarz points out it is not at all apparent that they are actually making any concerted or sophisticated effort to do so -- then God bless them. They lose out; not you. The example of Compuserve and the newsgroups was silly, because the people who run Compuserve are silly. They saw a chance to jump on the 'we are getting censored' bandwagon and stir up some excitement also, so they did it. From day one they could have organized things to simply deny service to any part of their network based on the originating node requesting it, i.e. customers calling via the node in Munich are told 'you cannot access this part of the Compuserve network'. Instead they cut off the feed to everyone knowing full well the uproar that would ensue. Maybe you at your site could watch for inbound traffic from German sites and respond the same way, eh? Or is it easier and more Usenet-like to create some sort of international incident? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael J. Wengler Subject: Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 10:35:39 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM, Incorporated; San Diego, CA, USA Babu Mengelepouti wrote: > Michael J. Wengler quoted Tad Cook and > responded: >> And don't think those charges are hard to recover. Those fraudulently >> induced calls can just be "charged back" to the D. R. phone company >> against later revenues for legitimate calls made from US to D. R. > It's pretty difficult to prove that they were "fraudulently induced." > I don't remember whether it was here or not, but for instance the > country of Sao Tome hosts many phone-sex bridges (in fact, the phone > sex bridges are the entire phone system in Sao Tome -- according to the > World Alamanac, they don't even *have* a phone system). Sao Tome, > incidentally, is an island country sitting on the equator off the > African coast. If telco/FCC gets more than two complaints "I was beeped to 809 555-4987" then TELCO does the chargeback to the DR Telco. Without much doubt, DR Telco will complain bitterly if the chargeback is unreasonable. Most likely, DR Telco will simply chargeback the scammers they are paying to increase their incoming calling volume from the US. The net will be to raise the cost of providing the scam, hopefully cutting the profit to DR enough that they stop the practice! Afterall, the ENTIRE purpose of this kind of business is so that people will be billed for "information services" as though they were regular phone calls being billed! If anybody doesn't like it, they can just 1) make people use Visa/MC/Discover to pay for their phone sex or other Information Service. SO -- don't "prove" they're fraudulent as in a criminal trial. Merely identify certain business practices, and raise the costs of doing business that way. Then DR Telco will simply have to get "cleaner" ways of increasing calling volume to DR. ****** The underlying issue is that I don't get billed for services I don't want at rates I don't understand. The only conceivably legitimate purpose for me to call some DR number at $1 per minute to hear a recording is that I want that information at that price. The price of being able to bill me over the phone is a VERY LIBERAL chargeback policy when fraud is alleged. And so the burden of billing proof is on the biller, not on the person being scammed, er, I mean billed. > You keep saying that they're fraudulent calls. The call was not > fraudulent. It was a legitimately placed call to the Dominican > Republic. The call was induced by fraud. Deliberate deception for the purpose of making money. Beeping someone to get them to dial a high-charge number for a service they have no interest in is deliberate deception for the purpose of making money. I'm not trying to put anyone in jail here, so lets not hold to "guilty without a doubt" thinking in standards of proof. Rather, I am trying to resolve what is in essence a commercial dispute about billing. In this case, put in a publicly known standard or rule that the DR Telco can be made aware of ahead of time, and then exercise it. Thus raising the cost of the bullshit activity to the point it stops being profitable to those who can profit from it. > Don't get me wrong, I think that it's a pretty despicable practice. > But if it were so easy to chargeback international calls, what would > stop a customer from placing *legitimate* international calls and then > charging them back? Customer doesn't charge back call. American Telco charges back call. They do a little investigation. Like 1) more than one complaint by diallers of that number? 2) odd changes in volume of calling to that number? 3) customer complaining has little record of ever calling that foreign country? SO if you decide to claim fraud on your call to your old high school friend in DR, but that friend hasn't all sudden started getting a lot of calls from US, and no one else complains, your request for chargeback is denied. But these scams rely on a reasonably high volume of calls being made. Not too tricky to pick them out of the data. > The problem is small to begin with and the whole thing is a matter of > consumer education. Rather than a knee-jerk-let's-get-government- > involved-to-DO-SOMETHING!! response, it would make more sense to > educate the public. And our good friends in the media are doing a > wonderful job of educating the public. So they should do more of same > and then they make themselves look good ("consumer advocates"), and it > doesn't cost anyone any money. > The solutions that you're proposing are all VERY expensive and > time-consuming. I hope that the FCC and our legislators have more > sense than to adopt such ill-considered practices. International relationships between phone companies are inseparable from the legal arrangements that support them. I am not suggesting that laws or regulations be put in place where none existed. I am suggesting that the large body of such laws and regulations be updated to exclude the use of what are clearly too high international long distance charges to support an end run around the rules for charging phone sex services on phone bills. In the US, charging a phone number as though it were a credit card for phone sex services is heavily regulated, with large protections for the person being TOLD they have to pay the bill by THE PHONE COMPANY, as opposed to by the business who claims they accessed the service. IF DR Telco wants to get in the business of providing phone sex or other Information Services to American customers, with billing done through American local telcos, then DR Telco can damn well suffer under the same restrictions as US 900 numbers! If you want to get rid of "government interference" eliminate the monopoly on providing local telephone service which currently applies to like 99% of phone users, and which scares them witless when the TELCO tells them "Joe Butthead in Dominican Republic says you owe him $8, and we're going to yank your only option at telephone service because we can't interfere in free enterprise." IMHO as always. Mikey ------------------------------ From: slichte@cello.gina.calstate.edu (Steven Lichter) Subject: Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) Date: 10 Sep 1996 11:18:50 -0700 Organization: GINA and CORE+ Services of The California State University Babu Mengelepouti writes: > The telco in the Dominican Republic is Codetel, a subsidiary of none > the GTE. You are right about that, except there are a couple of small operations other then that company and those are the main ones that are involved in all the fraud. Those other two companies were said up for one reason only, to make money and they have bought there way into it by paying the goverment. > It's pretty difficult to prove that they were "fraudulently induced." > I don't remember whether it was here or not, but for instance the > country of Sao Tome hosts many phone-sex bridges (in fact, the phone > sex bridges are the entire phone system in Sao Tome -- according to the > World Alamanac, they don't even *have* a phone system). Sao Tome, > incidentally, is an island country sitting on the equator off the > African coast. It is not that hard to prove at all. In several cases ads were ran in papers around the country advertising jobs, all the caller got was another number to call and then nothing other then a rather large phone bill. When people got smart, the scum then got a message center account; no real physical phone; and then referred the calls to the 809 number. Part of the call would say if it was for a product, check the number on your product for help; this caused many to think it was a legitiment call. You could not understand the name as it was answered. PacBell was working on two numbers and had taken those out of service when they found another one thanks to me. When my sister-in-law was calling looking for a job, she asked me about the 809 number. The paper removed the ad and the phone went out the next day. I heard that a few got stung, but it could have been a lot worse. This has and is still going on all over and it hurts the ones that can't afford it. The FBI will not do anything until a crime has been committed, what happened with their sting operations that they are so good at? It makes me wonder. SysOp Apple Elite II and OggNet Hub (909)359-5338 2400/14.4 24 hours, Home of GBBS/LLUCE Support for the Apple II and Macintosh computers. ------------------------------ From: mahid@aol.com (Mahi D) Subject: Employment Opportunity: Computer Telephony Developer Date: 10 Sep 1996 18:14:56 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: mahid@aol.com (Mahi D) Computer Telephony Developer - Experienced The paradigm for tomorrow's telecommunication networks will be computer telephony based distributed networks. Ether communications an aggressive start-up company based in Memphis is on the leading edge to this paradigm. We believe that the traditional telecommunication network comprising of separate data and voice networks along with its dependence on massive central office switches is a legacy of the past. We are developing the building blocks for an integrated, distributed, client-server based network that will revolutionize the telecommunication industry. We're looking for interested candidates who share in our vision and want to be part of a dynamic and innovative team to join our company in Memphis. We are presently seeking software developers to design, develop, code, implement, and test computer telephony applications. Some of the applications that are being developed are call centers, fax-on-demand, voice mail, automatic call distribution (ACDs), billing systems, debit card systems etc. These positions will involve a wide range of tasks including software research, analysis and design, implementation, documentation, testing, and support. The development and operating environment will be in Windows NT and C++. Knowledge of MVIP and experience with NMS cards a plus. Ability to function independently and meet aggressive schedules a must. These positions offer excellent opportunities for individual growth, providing you with challenging and beneficial experience in leading edge technologies such as computer telephony applications, ATM, Frame Relay, Internet etc. All interested candidates should possess the following: - BS/MS degree in computer science. - 3+ years experience in developing computer telephony applications. - Windows NT and C++ experience. - Effective written and oral communication skills. - AG-8/AG-T1/MVIP based application development a plus. Ether Communications provides an excellent salary package commensurate with experience and an attractive employee stock option plan. Qualified candidates should send resume and salary history to: mahiD@AOL.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 20:13:42 EDT From: Nigel Allen Subject: BCE Mobile Shares Begin Trading on New York Stock Exchange Here is a press release issued by BCE Mobile Communications Inc., a subsidiary of BCE Inc., which owns Bell Canada and substantial interests in other telecommunications carriers. I don't work for BCE Mobile or BCE Inc. BCE MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS INC., TSE, ME SYMBOL: BCX SEPTEMBER 10, 1996 World's Fastest Man Makes First BCE Mobile Trade on the NYSE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, September 10 -- Canadian double gold medallist Donovan Bailey bought the first 100 shares of BCE Mobile Communications Inc. stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange to launch the Canadian wireless company's listing today. "Donovan symbolizes everything we stand for," said Robert A. Ferchat, Chairman and CEO of BCE Mobile which offers the full spectrum of wireless telecommunications services under the name of Bell Mobility. "The pursuit of excellence, success born of effort and commitment, and an unstoppable, overwhelming desire to be the best." Mr. Bailey, who holds the informal title of "world's fastest man" by virtue of his world record in the 100 metre sprint at the Atlanta Olympics, is also a licensed investment consultant. He joined Mr. Ferchat on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange this morning to make BCE Mobile's first trade. BCE Mobile which also trades on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges (BCX), is 65 per cent owned by BCE Inc. - Canada's largest telecommunications company. BCE Mobile provides a full range of wireless services to 1.3 million Canadians in Ontario and Quebec. BCE Mobile has a current equity market capitalization of approximately C$2.8 billion. It has been profitable since 1993, earning C$51 million in 1995 on consolidated revenues of C$781 million. Its consolidated EBITDA margin for 1995 was 34 per cent, including 43 per cent on its cellular service operations. On June 30, 1996, BCE Mobile's capitalization consisted of 39 per cent debt and 61 per cent common equity. "Today, we've opened our doors to US markets and institutions," said Mr. Ferchat. "Our philosophy is to make it easy and convenient for our customers to do business with us and it should be the same for our investors. This listing will make it easier and more convenient for our U.S. investors to share in the success of BCE Mobile, one of the world's few wireless companies that provides the full spectrum of wireless services." These services include: Cellular - A state-of-the-art network provides services to more than 900,000 cellular subscribers One- and two-way paging - Bell Mobility is Canada's largest paging company with more than 350,000 pagers in service and voice paging currently in trials. The company is also licensed to develop paging services in the recently-released 900 MHz frequency. Airline passenger communications - Skytel Communications, a BCE Mobile company has equipped Air Canada's international fleet and is fitting out the domestic fleet with digital terminals that enable passengers to initiate and receive voice and data transmissions while in the air. Satellite Communications - Earlier this year Bell Mobility launched Canada's first commercially-available mobile satellite phone and data transmission service. Mobility Satellite enables customers to conduct business and stay in touch even in the most remote areas of North America, where no landline or cellular service exists. Bell Mobility is also a principal shareholder of Iridium Canada, which has a 4 per cent stake in the IRIDIUM satellite project for global satellite telecommunications and 20 per cent of the IRIDIUM North American Gateway. Radio - Bell Mobility provides mobile dispatch radio systems for commercial applications in the transit, public security and utility markets, specializing in systems integration of voice and data mobile communications. Data - The company's Data Solutions group provides a broad range of wireless data applications, including wireless point of sale, mobile fax, wireless LAN and Internet access. Bell-Ardis offers packet switching capability over a public mobile network. Personal Communications Services (PCS) - Bell Mobility was also recently awarded a license to provide PCS in the 2 GHz frequency. It has chosen Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), the North American standard, as its digital technology platform for both its digital cellular and PCS operations. NOTE TO TELEVISION NEWS PRODUCERS A video news release of the first trade ceremony involving Donovan Bailey on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange will be made available by the NYSE between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. EDT on Telestar 401, Transponder 19. For those stations with fibre-optic access, the VNR will be on the NYSE News Feed via fibre-optic loop from 2:30 to 2:45 p.m. on the Waterfront Loop #1630. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: BCE Mobile Angela Hislop (416) 213-3308 forwarded by Nigel Allen ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 96 21:44:42 GMT From: the Rev. R. GEFFEN Subject: Information Wanted on PrepayUSA Telecom I have a prepaid telephone card with the trade name "PrepayUSA (tm) Telecom", but with no city or address. Is it possible to know what company this is? Internet search engines do not show any such company name. They show an 800 number for Customer Service, but this gets you to an answering service, where I asked for the overseas rates, but got no reply. That number is 800-831-8560. I had supposed that the law required that the identity of the issuer be on the face of the card. Faithfully yours, (Father) Roger Geffen preferred E-Mail address pater@juno.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #479 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 11 11:43:05 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA07474; Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:43:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 11:43:05 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609111543.LAA07474@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #480 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Sep 96 11:43:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 480 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Erlang B/Erlang C Functions (Al Varney) Do Campus Residents Have Their Right to Choose LD Carrier? (Bin Lin) PCS in Argentina (Mariana Sanchez) AT&T WorldNet: Brain Dead Web Based Advertising (Philip Winston) New Telecoms Conference (Mesut Arpaci) 214/972 Confusion (John Cropper) RFP: DTMF Tone Decoder Board (James Harvey) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: news@ssbunews.ih.lucent.com Subject: Erlang B/Erlang C Functions Date: 11 Sep 1996 08:14:17 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies Long ago, Scott Townley (nx7u@primenet.com) provided the net with an Excel spread-sheet to compute Erlang-B and related values. I later provided some enhancements to the VBA functions that were part of the spreadsheet. Since then, I've been asked if I had an Erlang-C calculator or a function that would give an estimate of offered load given GOS and number of trunks. Well, here they are - in Excel VBA. (But this is a simple language, so it's easy to convert to C, Fortran or some other spreadsheet language.) I would ask that users run some verification of the functions with known results, because I haven't had the time to do much testing. The offered load estimator uses a very crude first-choice for GOS, but iterates in on the solution rather rapidly once it gets close. To get an idea of how really crude, try 'Load_ErlangB(.9999,1)'. Adding another '9' to the end of the first argument even slows down my Pentium 166 ... Also, the previous 'Rev_ErlangB' function has been re-named 'Trk_ErlangB', since it returns 'number of trunks'. Other than that, the new code replaces the entire old VBA module that was part of the spread-sheet. If you don't have the old spread-sheet, just insert the VBA code into a new sheet (a Module) and use the functions in other sheets. Hope this proves to be useful. Al Varney - no warranty on the code ------------------------ VBA text follows ---------------------- ' Erlang-B/Erlang-C Calculator ' by Al Varney (varney@lucent.com), August 1996, ' Original idea from a spread-sheet by Scott Townley (nx7u@primenet.com), February 1996. ' No Rights Reserved (but citations, as well as comments and suggestions, are appreciated) Function ErlangB(N, A) As Double ' N is number of trunks, A is offered load in Erlangs ' ErlangB calculates Lost Calls Cleared ' On error, ErlangB returns -1 ' Iterative formula: ErlangB(0,A) = 1, ' ErlangB(n,A) = A*ErlangB(n-1,A)/[n+A*ErlangB(n-1,A)] Dim Partial As Double Dim ntrunks As Integer Dim Ae As Double ' N must be integer If N <> Int(N) Then ErlangB = -1 Exit Function End If Ae = A Partial = 1 For ntrunks = 1 To N Partial = Ae * Partial Partial = Partial / (ntrunks + Partial) Next ntrunks ErlangB = Partial End Function Function Trk_ErlangB(gos, A, max) ' Trk_ErlangB calculates minimum trunks needed for a given grade-of-service (gos), ' a given offered load in Erlangs (A). A limiting maximum on the number of trunks ' must be supplied in (max). If (max) trunks is not sufficient, Trk_ErlangB returns -1. Dim Partial As Double Dim gos1 As Double Dim ntrunks As Integer Dim Ae As Double Ae = A gos1 = gos Partial = 1 For ntrunks = 1 To max Partial = Ae * Partial Partial = Partial / (ntrunks + Partial) If Partial <= gos1 Then Trk_ErlangB = ntrunks Exit Function End If Next ntrunks Trk_ErlangB = -1 End Function Function Load_ErlangB(gos, N) ' Load_ErlangB calculates approximate offered load for given number of trunks (N) ' and grade of service (gos). If errors exist on input, Load_ErlangB returns -1. Dim load1 As Double Dim gosgiven As Double Dim gos1 As Double Dim Nt As Integer Dim incr As Double Dim i As Integer ' N must be integer If N <> Int(N) Then Load_ErlangB = -1 Exit Function End If ' gos must be <1 for ErlangB If gos >= 1 Then Load_ErlangB = -1 Exit Function End If Nt = N gosgiven = gos load1 = Nt gos1 = ErlangB(Nt, load1) If gos1 > gosgiven Then ' Case for offered load less than number of trunks (normal case) incr = -(Nt * gosgiven) ' negative increment, just a guess.... For i = 1 To 5 Do load1 = load1 + incr gos1 = ErlangB(Nt, load1) Loop While gos1 > gosgiven load1 = load1 - incr ' restore good value incr = incr / 10 Next i Else ' Case for offered load greater than number of trunks incr = (Nt * gosgiven) ' positive increment.... For i = 1 To 5 Do load1 = load1 + incr gos1 = ErlangB(Nt, load1) Loop While gos1 < gosgiven load1 = load1 - incr ' restore good value incr = incr / 10 Next i End If Load_ErlangB = load1 ' use good value End Function Function ErlangC(N, A) ' N is number of trunks, A is offered load in Erlangs ' ErlangC is Lost Calls Delayed ' On error, ErlangC returns -1 ' Formula depends on ErlangB() formula (above), as follows: ' ErlangC(n,A) = ErlangB(n,A)/[1-((A/n)*(1-ErlangB(n,A))] ' ' Derivation: let Z = A*ErlangB(n-1,A) and ErlangB(n,A) = Z/(n+Z) {from ErlangB() above} ' then ErlangC(n,A) = ErlangB(n,A)/[1-((A/n)*(1-ErlangB(n,A))] can be re-written as ' ErlangC(n,A) = [Z/(n+Z)] / [1 - A/n + (A/n)*[Z/(n+Z)]] ' This uses [Z/(n+Z)] {called 'EBlast'} to track ErlangB(n,A) iteratively. Dim EBlast As Double, ECpartial As Double Dim ntrunks As Integer Dim Ae As Double ' N must be integer If N <> Int(N) Then ErlangC = -1 Exit Function End If Ae = A EBlast = 1 For ntrunks = 1 To N EBlast = Ae * EBlast EBlast = EBlast / (ntrunks + EBlast) ' Now have new ErlangB, now do ErlangC ECpartial = Ae / ntrunks ECpartial = EBlast / (1 - ECpartial + (ECpartial * EBlast)) Next ntrunks ErlangC = ECpartial End Function Function Trk_ErlangC(gos, A, max) ' Trk_ErlangC calculates minimum trunks needed for a given delay grade-of-service (gos), ' a given offered load in Erlangs (A). A limiting maximum on the number of trunks ' must be supplied in (max). If (max) trunks is not sufficient, Trk_ErlangC returns -1. Dim EBlast As Double, ECpartial As Double Dim gos1 As Double Dim ntrunks As Integer Dim Ae As Double Ae = A gos1 = gos EBlast = 1 For ntrunks = 1 To max EBlast = Ae * EBlast EBlast = EBlast / (ntrunks + EBlast) ' Now have new ErlangB, now do ErlangC ECpartial = Ae / ntrunks ECpartial = EBlast / (1 - ECpartial + (ECpartial * EBlast)) If ECpartial <= gos1 Then Trk_ErlangC = ntrunks Exit Function End If Next ntrunks Trk_ErlangC = -1 End Function Function Load_ErlangC(gos, N) ' Load_ErlangC calculates approximate offered load for given number of trunks (N) ' and grade of service (gos). If errors exist on input, Load_ErlangC returns -1. Dim load1 As Double Dim gosgiven As Double Dim gos1 As Double Dim Nt As Integer Dim incr As Double Dim i As Integer ' N must be integer If N <> Int(N) Then Load_ErlangC = -1 Exit Function End If Nt = N gosgiven = gos load1 = Nt gos1 = ErlangC(Nt, load1) If gos1 > gosgiven Then ' Case for offered load less than number of trunks (normal case) incr = -(Nt * gosgiven) ' negative increment, just a guess.... For i = 1 To 5 Do load1 = load1 + incr gos1 = ErlangC(Nt, load1) Loop While gos1 > gosgiven load1 = load1 - incr ' restore good value incr = incr / 10 Next i Else ' Case for offered load greater than number of trunks incr = (Nt * gosgiven) ' positive increment.... For i = 1 To 5 Do load1 = load1 + incr gos1 = ErlangC(Nt, load1) Loop While gos1 < gosgiven load1 = load1 - incr ' restore good value incr = incr / 10 Next i End If Load_ErlangC = load1 ' use good value End Function ------------------------------ From: Bin Lin Subject: Do Campus Residents Have Their Right to Choose LD Carrier? Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 20:54:21 -0400 Organization: Rachham Graduate School Dear All in this group: Residents in the Family Housing of the Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor are drafting a petition, protesting being deprived their right, to choose their long distance carriers freely, by the university's telecommuni- cation system. I am also a Family Housing resident suffering such unfair practice and finally find this news group for some HELP!: Do the rules in Telecommunications Act of 1996 cover the telephone extension users' right to select their long distance carrier freely? In many big schools and universities, the administrators only assign extension phone lines to residents living in campus and deprive those residents' right to choose their favorite long distance carrier. Although the phone numbers of those extensions seem the same as a regular one (area code + seven numbers), and there is NOT any technical difficulty to change those extensions to regular ones. By this DIRTY TRICK, on one hand, the school/university can deal with several long distance carriers to obtain extremely cheap rates; On the other hand, the school/university forces its extensions' user to pay their long distance call at outrageous rates. Of course, the school/university's rates might look like somehow lower than the REGULAR rates of its Long distance carriers. The administrators may boast: Well, we are working for our residents' benefits. We are you servants, dear student!. In fact, as a user of regular line (the school/university does not allow its residents to apply for a regular number from local carrier), you could obtain the promoting rates (much cheaper than discounted regular rates) from your long distance carrier. While one carrier's promoting program ends, you could switch to other carrier's. Another dirty trick, may be the most dirty one, of the school/uni- versity is: While it knows most of its residents buy calling cards for less expensive long distance calling, the school/university redesign its telecommunication system's program to leave only five or six outgoing lines for the 800 number of the calling cards. So, even though you get a calling card, you can hardly reach the server of that calling card, especially in the weekend. Then you have no choice to be squeezed by your servant, to pay it outragous money than it should earn. THE SCHOOL/UNIVERSITY IS NOT A SERVANT AS IT BOASTED, IT IS A DEALER! IT IS A CUNNING MERCHANT!!! Should not this kind of practice in school/university be prohibited? I know the basic spirits of our great country are freedom and democracy. And most important, students are the future of the United States of America, of the world. Our school/university should be the cradle of freedom, democracy and fair competition, NOT the sewer of arbitrariness, monopoly and avarice ... Dear All, if the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits the above practice of school/university, please E-mail me a sure answer. If the Act does not cover this situation yet, I strongly and earnestly request the FCC make an amendment to the Act concerning this kind of unfair and wrong practice, which is being widely applied in schools/universities around U.S.A.. As the Act of 1996 being enforced more and more completely off campus, the above dammed practices of telecommunication division in schools/universities will surely invoke stronger and stronger resentment in both campus and communities around the school/university. I am looking forward to your timely reply. Thank you. Bin P.S. Please also reply E-mail to frag@umich.edu -- a news group of residents in UM campus. Attachment: Some facts of the rates in the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 1. One day, I called the Information Technology Division (ITD) about their rate of long distance call. People there said ITD is our local server, and ITD has several long distance carriers (AT&T, MCI, SPRINT etc.) at the same time. The rates that ITD charges us is 80% of AT&T's regular rates. And they refused my request to switch from their long distance carrier to another one -- no explanations, just "NO, you SHOULD NOT!". 2. Then I called 1-800-222-0300 for AT&T's long distance call service. They said their regular long distance rates for China are: 11 am- 5 pm, $1.86 first min.+ $1.66 each subsequent min; 5 pm- 2 am, $2.63 + $2.44; 2 am-11 am, $2.28 + $2.03. 3. However, AT&T has a special promoting program with a much lower rate of ONLY $0.75/min, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for six months. Off-campus customer only need to call 1-800-222-0300 to join this promoting program. Tell AT&Ts representative your name, telephone number and address, and he/she could arrange with your local call carrier for that all. 4. As you know, our right for above service is deprived by ITD. So, I consulted AT&T's long distance call representative: whether it is illegal for ITD to impose family housing residents outrageous rates? What should I do? She suggested me to call 202-632-7553 for the FCCs assistance. Also, she thinks what ITD has done is unfair -- ITD could buy bunches of cheap long distance services from several carriers (MY GUESS: ITD could contract phones beginning with 313-763- with AT&T; 313-747- with MCI; 313 936- with SPRINT and so on. THEIR TRICK IS: If AT&T wouldn't offer it the cheapest rates, it could threat to switch 313-763- to MCI; If MCI wouldn't, then it could switch 313-747- to SPRINT . . . vice versa. Thus ITD can always get the cheapest rates, maybe lower than $0.75/min (for China, for example) from any of the long distance carriers.) Then ITD could make a lot of profit by dealing (imposing) long distance service to us with "less expensive regular rates". --------Family Housing Resident Action Group------------------- --------------Petition letter to ITD-------------- Dear ITD Chief officer: As a group of UM Family Housing residents and users of the telephone service provided by the UM Network Systems, we are writing you in regard to the unfair restriction of Family Housing residents to choose their own long distance provider. Although this issue has been brought up before and your rates had decreased on April 1, 1994, we find that our colleagues off campus have access to calling plans from other long distance carriers that offer less expensive rates for International Direct Dialing. This is important since a large population of the Family Housing Community are foreign students and scholars. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) clearly states in their documents that "customers have the right to use any long distance carrier they choose and to change carriers whenever they wish because different companies charge different rates, some much higher than others." As UM Family Housing residents using the services provided by the UM Network System, we are deprived of such a right and, as a consequence, have suffered economically because none of the promotional rates on the market are available to us and higher long distance rates (sometimes substantially higher) are often charged to us. Being locked into the UM Network Systems and paying higher long distance rates has been a target of complaints for many years. There has also been a great deal of dissatisfaction with the UM Network Systems' non-cooperating attitude in dealing with customer complaints in the past. We believe that the practice of confining users to one long distance calling plan is unfair and our right to use any long distance carrier we choose should be fully recognized and respected. Every effort should be made to put an end to such an unfair practice. We demand our freedom to choose our own long distance carrier. Although we are determined to resolve this issue through any possible means, it is our sincere hope that ITD could solve the problem for us. We hope to see a sincere effort for your cooperation in meaningful dialogue and resolution to our request. We look forward to your response. Family Housing Residents (Signatures here) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The school is not required under the regulations to provide you with 'one plus' dialing to the carrier of your choice. The school, nor any other property owner is required to allow you to install a telephone line, particularly not if they have already provided you with same. However the school cannot deny you the right to use any carrier of your choice in a couple of ways: You are allowed to have a telephone calling card with the carrier of your choice and make payments direct to that carrier. The school cannot deny you access to the carrier's 800 (or other dialup) number. The pay telephones nearby must also be programmed to allow such access to a carrier of your choice even if they happen to be 'defaulted' to another carrier. (That is, 'one-plus' calls go automatically to a carrier not of your liking.) Now you have mentioned that when attempting to use the calling card of the carrier of your choice, 'the school has limited the number of lines available so they are always busy ...' I do not think this is the case, and would appreciate a little more information about *where* the blockage occurs. First tell me this: do you dial a '9' or some other digit to receive 'outside dial tone' against which you dial the 800 number of the carrier you wish to use? Is it when you dial that digit to get an 'outside line' that your call is blocked due to congestion? If so, then it is not just people trying to get through to the carrier (although it may be a lot of those people on the line) but rather it is *everyone* who is trying to make an outgoing call to some place or another. In this case you would suggest to the telecom people that they might wish to increase the number of outgoing circuits which are available. I doubt they are deliberatly keeping the lines busy to force calls one way or another. Once the call gets out of the school's network and into the public telephone network there is no way the school can restrict you from getting the carrier's 800 number. Now, local congestion on your school's network may be a problem, but I would not ascribe the hostile motives to the problem as you are doing. If you are getting the outside line without difficulty but are getting a busy signal or no connection at that point to the carrier's 800 number then your complaint needs to be directed to the carrier in question, calling their attention to the specific number you are dialing and where you are dialing from, and the nature of the problem (line is always busy, etc). Giving them the times of day/days of week when this happens a lot would be useful also. Normally calling through a carrier's 800 number should be quite easy: just dial the number, hear new dial tone, dial the desired number, and when requested dial in your card number and pin. You suggest that the school has deliberatly structured things in order to gouge students on the cost of their phone calls. I do not think this is true. They are in the education business, not the telecommun- ications business. If anything, the company they are using negotiates with several carriers for the lowest possible rates, using the huge call volumes produced by the school phone system as leverage in getting good deals overall. While the cost of the calls you may specifically wish to make are not as good presently as they might be under some other temporary promotional program, my belief is that overall the long distance rates otherwise are at least average or better than average in most cases. You might also wish to suggest to the telecom people that given the large number of students and their families on campus which come from your native country, telecom might try to negotiate specific rates with one or more of the carriers they use to get better rates. I wish you luck in getting better rates on the calls you wish to make. If you are unable to detirmine where the congestion or trouble is *precisely* occurring which makes your outgoing calls so difficult, let us know and we can discuss that. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sanchema@telefonica.com.ar Subject: PCS in Argentina Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 09:53:00 PDT Hi you all! It was published in the Official Bulletin number 28.469, September 2nd that it was aproved the ruling for PCS in Argentina. Before the end of the year, three licences will be offer in public sale. The geographic areas will be three: Buenos Aires and surroundings, North Area of the Country and South Area of the Country (the same ones that for cellular services). As the fixed service companies are monopolistic in there own regions, those that would win these licences will be allowed only to provide mobile services during the exclusivity period (that's till 1997 if the Regulatory Office decides not to extend the period for another three years) and in no case can provide broadcast services. To guarantee the establishment of new operators, those companies that now are providing any kind of telecommunications services (even radio, TV and CATV!!!) will not be allowed to make an offer for these licences (specifically, those with a participation greater than 30% in their merges). Any digital technology can be applied to provide service (what about interconnectivity?). So, it seems that the local market is widening its horizon, but for the way the sevices are still stiffly divided, there is no comprehension of the way they are growing all around the world, missing quickly their borders. ISDN is called the "forbidden technology" as no company is allowed to provide the combination of services that ISDN support. I can understand that five years ago it was impossible to imagine the evolution that telecommunications is suffering now (at least not in this country, when we were not accustumed to have a stablished economy), but thinking of offering these licences under these terms when you see that everybody else are doing just the opposite, does not seems too reasonable. Any comments? Mariana Sanchez ------------------------------ From: winston@cs.unc.edu (Philip Winston) Subject: AT&T WorldNet: Brain Dead Web Based Advertising Date: 10 Sep 1996 20:53:24 -0400 Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Just a few links from AT&T's homepage is their "WorldNet Preview Page": http://www.att.com/worldnet/wis/athome/index.html They have pages describing all the great things one could access on the internet using AT&T's WorldNet service. They have "TODAY'S FEATURE" (I don't know how often it is updated) which today was describing swimwear fashions. They explain how Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is online and how there are "e-zines, such as, Bikini Online...". With each reference is a link to the following URL: http://www.att.com/worldnet/wis/road/deadhome.html Which says, Right now AT&T WorldNet members are using this link to find all kinds of cool information and having fun surfing the 'Net. Don't be left behind. Sign up for AT&T WorldNet Service now! [with a a link to "sign me up now"] So they've got a daily feature, on the web, which describes other sites on the web but instead of linking to those sites it has links to a page which basically says: if you were using WorldNet you could browsing that site right now! Um. Give me a break -- why is AT&T trying to trick people into using their internet access service? Is it really that bad they have to resort to this? Are they really be good citizens by completely misrepresenting how the internet and web work? Philip Winston winston@cs.unc.edu ------------------------------ From: Mesut Arpaci Subject: New Telecoms Conference Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 13:19:00 +0100 Organization: Bogazici Universitesi 5th Annual DECT Congress - London - September 23rd - 25th 1996 If you are interested in DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) technology and its applications in Cordless, Residential, Wireless Office, Local Loop, PSTN, Data and GSM Integration then why not check out the web site for the Congress at http://telecoms.iir.co.uk/dect/ The conference looks beyond the European Market and also includes comparisons with PHS, PACS, CT2 and other systems. Alongside the conference is the DECT Congress Newsgroup -- FREE to all registered delegates. ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: 214/972 Confusion Date: 11 Sep 1996 06:47:04 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 10, 1996 21:00:00, 'gordon@sneaky.lerctr.org (Gordon Burditt)' wrote: >> The traditional "permissive dialing period" in the case of 214 will be >> used solely as "pre-recorded re-direction to 972". That is if you have >> a soon-to-be 972 number, anyone dialing your 214 number after 9/14 >> will get a recording telling them to re-dial using 972. 214 still has >> about 60,000 numbers scattered throughout, and will exhaust those >> within the quarter after the cutaway. > My employer, a Dallas-area ISP, has been trying to find out what's > going on so they can inform users how to set up their software > (and some of it isn't prepared for 10-digit local dialing in the > obvious way). They've been getting somewhat contradictory > answers from local phone companies. They have been no more forthcoming with any of their counterparts *in the industry*, much less their own customers. It's taking considerable digging to obtain what little information I have now. >> After that, they will begin reassigning prefixes, probably as early >> as November 1, on a selective basis. > The consensus seems to be that there will be working identical (7-digit) > phone numbers in 214 and 972, belonging to different people, > as early as 9AM 9/14. Obviously, you can't use redirect recordings > in that situation, which will only affect a small percentage > of people in the area. 22 of the 76 duplicated NXXs (as of information to Sep 10) will redirect in some fashion (receive recordings). The primary problem is that the LEC has already scattered 69 duplicate codes on "both sides of the border", and is just waiting for the permissive cutover to reassign the remainder of each in its respective NPA. example: (214) 201-0000 through 5000 might be assigned to Dallas, while 6000-9999 assigned to say, Plano. After the cut, when Plano becomes (972), each side can assign the remaining 201 numbers not yet in use. The biggest problem is that 76 duplicate codes already exist as of 9/10 (source SWBT), 69 of which have partial to nearly full activity already. That is why some can redirect, and others will not be able to. Dallas is shaping up to be the most confusing split yet, and while both the Texas PUC and LECs will point fingers at each other for the 'disaster', both are to blame for dragging the situation out for almost two years ... Bear in mind the remaining 430, or so (affected) NXXs (moving to NPA 972) NOT duplicated will receive re-direct recordings when dialled from outside areas. Almost four million people will be directly affected within a week of the cutover, if SWBT is on target with their conversion (which they're not likely to be, given such a drawn-out process with the PUC). John Cropper * NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: James Harvey Subject: RFP: DTMF Tone Decoder Board Date: 11 Sep 1996 02:40:59 GMT Organization: FrameRate Labs, Inc. OVERVIEW FrameRate Corporation is seeking proposals for a DTMF Tone Decoder board defined in this RFP. The DTMF Tone Decoder board will be installed in an ISA slot on a PC and will decode DTMF tones presented to an analog input. The decoded tones will be available to software by reading an I/O address. HOW TO RESPOND Respond via email to DTMF@FRL.COM or to the following: FrameRate Corporation 3007 S. West Temple, Suite H Salt Lake City, UT 84115 (801) 487-0069 office (801) 487-0522 fax http://www.frl.com RESPONSE DEADLINE Proposals will be reviewed by engineering on September 16, 1996. MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS 1. Board shall mount in an 8 or 16bit ISA slot an operate with 386, 486, Pentium motherboards. 2. Board shall be addressable via reading a port address. Port address shall be jumper selectable or software programmable and shall not be fixed. 3. Board shall have the capability of decoding DTMF tone codes and placing the decoded digits into a register that can be read using an I/O read operation. 6. Board shall meet FCC Class "A" emission requirements for use in an office environment. 7. Function may be implemented using an inexpensive modem that can read and decode DTMF tones. QUANTITIES Estimated quantities for 1996 are 1000 units. First units are required 30 days after contract negotiation. TERMS & CONDITIONS 1. FrameRate will require escrow of the board design artwork if a custom solution is provided. 2. Vendor shall provide references. 3. Vendor shall provide documentation and sample code. 4. Preference will be given to vendors that have an established manufacturing facility and that can demonstrate the ability to meet delivery requirements. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #480 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 11 14:48:53 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA27107; Wed, 11 Sep 1996 14:48:53 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 14:48:53 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609111848.OAA27107@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #481 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Sep 96 14:48:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 481 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Blocked Email Controversy (Tad Cook) The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (TELECOM Digest Editor) Book Review: "Networking the Desktop: NetWare" by Connor/Anderson (R Slade) ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Dave Chapman) Strange Caller ID (Seymour Dupa) Any Cellular Traffic Engineering Classes? (Zuhair Moin) Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (David Richards) Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (Stuart McRae) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Stuart McRae) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Mark Cavallaro) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Re: Northern User's Group (Kent Wun) Re: Northern User's Group (Brent Ellacott) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Blocked Email Controversy Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 23:37:58 PDT From: tad@ssc.com By Rory J. O'Connor Knight-Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON -- America Online's recent decision to block some "junk" electronic mail from its system has ignited an important legal debate about the nature of companies that provide Internet access to individuals. Are such companies like newspapers, which have property rights and the ability to decide what information they carry? Or are they simply common carriers like phone companies? Those questions -- raised directly in a lawsuit brought against AOL by a thwarted bulk e-mail distributor -- are more than academic. The answers that come from courts and Congress are likely to profoundly effect online commerce, the privacy of Internet users, and possibly even free speech. "What we have here is a clash of cultures, and we have to revisit the arguments and see where we want to strike the balance between annoyance and free speech," said Lance Hoffman, director of the Cyberspace Policy Institute at George Washington University. The case itself appears simple. America Online was swamped by complaints from users who found the e-mail boxes, which they pay for, full of unwanted electronic ads. AOL blocked messages from some of the biggest e-mail senders, but one responded with a lawsuit claiming AOL was restricting its free speech and trying to put it out of business. Last week, a judge ordered AOL to lift the blocking, pending the outcome of the trial. AOL contends it has a right to block the messages, because it has a business arrangement with its customers. Just like a newspaper publisher, it can choose what information to transmit to its subscribers. That's where the simplicity ends. There are many other cases in which online services argue that they aren't like publishers at all. They claim they are "common carriers," like the phone company, just acting as conduits for information. Service providers argue, for example, that they shouldn't be held accountable for libelous or obscene material sent through their systems, especially in private e-mail. And they have vociferously opposed congressional proposals that they share at least some of the liability when a user posts or transmits copyrighted material without the owner's permission. Online services say it's not reasonable or economically possible to expect them to police every message that courses through their systems. "We don't want to be in the business of looking at the content," said Jeff Shafer, a spokesman for the CompuServe online service in Columbus, Ohio. "It would be unfair and detrimental to the building of the medium if there was a strict liability imposed for any communication that goes on this medium," said David Phillips, associate general counsel for AOL. "It would undermine the essential nature of the medium, which is interactivity." To some legal scholars, though, the AOL position illustrates the industry's wanting things both ways. "One reason we have a difficulty at the moment is that the online services can't make up their minds what they want to be," said Michael Froomkin, professor of law at the University of Miami. Some experts believe that either the courts or Congress will soon have to create a new legal definition for online services. "It's not a common carrier, it's not a publisher, it's not a newspaper, it's not a hotel. It's some of all of them, but none of them," said David G. Post, professor of law at Georgetown University. "It's an animal we've never seen before. The structure of the law needs to adjust." Even without such a definition, though, Froomkin and several other experts believe online services should be able to block e-mail if they choose. "This is not the U.S. Postal Service, after all," Post said. "Think of AOL as a private club that puts a phone in its lobby so members can take incoming calls. Then the phone starts ringing with all sorts of solicitations, and members complain. So the club gets Caller ID and starts blocking some calls." If users don't like the blocking rules, then the free market solves the problem: users can simply select another service whose rules are agreeable. But there are consequences. Extensive, wholesale blocking could stymie many business plans for online commerce. Those plans count on marketers being able to carefully target users, and use the virtually free e-mail pitch to reach them. "E-mail is an efficient, effective way to reach people if you want to market to them," Shafer said. "It's also an efficient, effective way to annoy them, if you choose to do that." Of course, if services can't block junk e-mail solicitations, users will wind up paying the bill. That imposed cost was a factor in legislation concerning another technology, facsimile machines, that prohibited "junk" commercial faxes from being sent unsolicited. Some legal experts said that concept could be extended to cover e-mail as well. "There are real, significant consequences to having you e-mail filled up with junk," said Mark Radcliffe, a Palo Alto, Calif., attorney who works with multimedia companies. "It's not like getting too much paper mail. You mailbox doesn't seize up; they just hold the extra for you at the Post Office." More difficult questions arise if the blocked message is not a commercial pitch, but political, even perhaps offensive. Many users might not wish to read e-mail from candidates espousing white supremacist views, for instance. But an online service that blocked such messages might run afoul of the Constitution - especially in a few years, if e-mail becomes part of a "universal service" definition being crafted by the Federal Communications Commission. "If it is political speech, what are the obligations of AOL? What if it's a message that says the Holocaust never happened," said Carey Heckman, director of the Law and Technology Policy Institute at Stanford University. "That's a tough issue." Blocking e-mail would also likely require that users be able to readily identify the sender of a given message. Thus, anybody who wanted to send e-mail would have to divulge his or her identity, Hoffman said -- effectively eliminating online anonymity. "There is a role for the anonymous pamphleteer, in the political context," he said. "You don't want to take that away." Some players are convinced the solution to the problem is not legal, but technical. They figure software will soon appear to let individuals manage their electronic mail so that they can easily choose which messages to accept and which to reject. "In the end, it will wind up being like parental controls," Shafer said. "A lot of people may choose to get this stuff. It gives them something to read. They may want to buy some of this. And we don't want to be regulated any more than we have to be." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:00:05 EDT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma I think AOL could resolve the problem of the court injuction against them immediatly if they would arrange things so that the subscribers (rather than AOL itself) did the blocking by using mail filter programs to do the job. And it would have to be the subscriber to AOL who specifically started the filtering program. It would work like this: 1) An AOL subscriber would write a (or adapt an existing) mail filter program as a voluntary thing and make it available free of charge to other subscribers. Users would be able to edit certain variables of their choice. For example, a user would click on a box saying 'yes, I want to use mail filtering'. The user would then get a place where he himself had to fill in the names of the sites/users/subject lines he did not want to see. AOL itself would not fill in any of these variables; the user would have to do it. 2) Subscriber's mail would then run through the personalized filter and user would never see it since mail he did not want to see would go to /dev/null or such. 3) If too many system resources would be consumed by having all those individual filters operating then perhaps there could be a 'community mail filter' maintained by an AOL subscriber on a voluntary basis, and that volunteer would be responsible for loading the variables in a single filter which operated for all subscribers who asked to use it. AOL itself would have nothing to do with operating the filter other than making sure that it met their technical requirements, etc. 4) Subscriber would be given options: (a) yes! I want all mail addressed to me sent through the community mail filter; (b) no, I want my mail delivered directly to me, and I understand I am responsible for paying the charges for mail I receive in either case. Perhaps one screen name might be used for what went through the filter and some other screen name would not be filtered. 5) AOL would put up an opening message to subscribers saying something like this: "Many subscribers have complained about unwanted email which clutters their mailbox. We attempted to respond by blocking delivery of mail from certain sites known to generate the mail our subscribers found most offensive, however on the (name of) Court ruled that the right of junkmailers to flood the mailboxes of our subscribers with unwanted email was more important than the right of our subscribers to be left alone and not hassled with unwanted mail they were stuck paying for. We are under a court order to not assist our subscribers in resolving this problem. "What has been done however is that certain subscribers of AOL who have the technical competency to do so have created a community mail filter. They have chosen to create this filter on their own and wish to voluntarily share it with other AOL subscribers at no charge. You'll find in the window dealing with email a place to sign up to use the community mail filter if you wish to do so. Instructions on how to use the filter are provided there, and all the technical aspects and scripting required have been provided by AOL customers as volunteers. AOL will host this program on our network as we would any popular and commonly used tool our subscribers ask for, but we may not, under court order, recommend for or against the use of the filter. If you elect to use the filter, then volunteer AOL subscribers will screen and eliminate mail from reaching you which they -- as fellow subscribers -- believe you would not want to see. They will show you the list of sites they have selected and explain their reasons for those selections. You are free to participate or not as you wish in the filtering of email, but AOL employees will not be able to discuss it with you further *other than the technical aspects* should you encounter problems. You can turn the filter on and off as you wish, bearing in mind that you remain responsible for the payment of charges pertaining to email sending/delivery as per the contract you have with AOL. These subscribers have volunteered to answer mail from others and explain the filter if you wish to know how it operates: name@aol.com name2@aol.com ------------------------------ Now I think that if a filter was installed in this way and it was very carefully noted that AOL itself made no recommendations as to its use and that it was completely an effort by subscribers helping other subscribers on a volunteer basis (much like the AOL members who volunteer a couple hours of their time now and then to serve as 'Guides' in exchange for a couple hours of free system time) that it would pass muster and effectively 'work around' the court order. After all, what are the junkmailers going to claim in court, that computer users do not have the right to help one another learn about ways to control and process their email, and that AOL should be forbidden to make available a script which its subscribers requested? PAT ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 10:30:38 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Networking the Desktop: NetWare" by Connor/Anderson BKNTDNTW.RVW 960614 "Networking the Desktop: Netware", Deni Connor/Mark Anderson, 1996, 0-12-185866-9, U$29.95 %A Deni Connor %A Mark Anderson %C 1300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 %D 1996 %G 0-12-185866-9 %I Academic Press Professional %O U$29.95 app@acad.com +1-617-232-0500 +1-800-3131277 %P 249 %T "Networking the Desktop: Netware" According to the Introduction and the table of contents, the book provides three sets of information. The first covers installation of the DOS, OS/2, Windows, and Windows95/NT operating systems and the Netware workstation clients. The second looks at connections to other types of networks, such as Macintosh, peer-to-peer, diskless workstations, IBM LAN, and TCP/IP. The final chapter deals with troubleshooting. Seldom, however, have I read a technical book that contains so little information pertinent to the stated topic. The level of detail is appropriate only to the rank beginner. Instructions rely completely on automated installation processes. NDIS and ODI are not even mentioned in the index, although they do get a terse reference in the OS/2 chapter. In addition, the collection of errors is fantastic and wide ranging. As only one example, the book indicates that IBM's PC-DOS is the only DOS that can accommodate multi- boot systems, states outright that PC-DOS is the only DOS to have backup and disk compression software, and foully slanders IBM by saying that PC-DOS ships with Central Point's desperately mediocre antivirus. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKNTDNTW.RVW 960614 Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. ============== Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | Slade's Law of Computer Institute for rslade@vcn.bc.ca | Literacy: Research into Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1/ | - There is no such thing User .fidonet.org | as "computer illiteracy"; Security Canada V7K 2G6 | only illiteracy itself. ------------------------------ From: dchapman@epix.net Subject: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 10:36:10 PDT Organization: epix.net I have been under the impression that ZIP Codes regularly cross area code boundaries. After all, ZIP boundaries are created by the convenience of delivering mail, and NPA's are derived from aggregations of wire centers. A colleague of mine has stated that the only time ZIPs cross into neighboring area codes are in very rural areas, where there is minimal effect. Any knowledge in this matter is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Dave --- dchapman@epix.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore keeps track of this sort of thing in detail so he could probably tell you a lot more, however the codes used in the one mprovement

lan instituted by the post office in the late 1950's typically cover much smaller geographic areas than telephone area codes and I think it is rare -- if it occurs at all -- that a ZIP code would be in parts of two area codes. PAT] ------------------------------ From: grumpy@en.com (Seymour Dupa) Subject: Strange Caller ID Date: 11 Sep 1996 15:04:26 GMT Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc. [ Article crossposted from comp.dcom.telecom.tech ] [ Posted on Fri, 06 Sep 1996 01:26:54 -0700 ] Yesterday, I received a call from a federal agency in Washington, DC (FAA Headquarters). Instead of receiving out of area, I got 700-243-0722. The person was calling from 202-267-XXXX. Does anyone have any idea why NPA 700 would show up on such a call? Perhaps something to do with the federal telephone system? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 08:28:32 PDT From: moinz@la.AirTouch.COM (Zuhair Moin) Subject: Any Cellular Traffic Engineering Classes? Hi, I was wondering if anyone know of any Cellular Traffic Engineering classes being offered. The ones that I have heard about are the University of Wisconsin, Madison and George Washington University but they are not available before mid next year. Any help in this regards is much appreciated. Thanks, Zuhair Moin ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell Organization: Ripco Internet BBS, Chicago Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:32:10 GMT In article , Tye McQueen wrote: > dr@ripco.com (David Richards) writes: >> There are several known methods of causing the telephone system to >> forward false CID information. > Could you elaborate? The only ones I've heard mention of involve > supressing CID or causing CID for some intermediate line to be > delivered instead of the CID from the originating line. The 'calling number' passed on by the switching system has a flag indicating that it was validated by the switch originating the call. To forge caller-ID, you simply need to get a call into the system with your false caller information, and get that flag set. > None of these methods do you any good if trying to break into a modem > line which requires that you make a call that delivers the CID of one > of a few standard residential lines that are authorized to call into > that modem. >> Caller-ID is little better than the Internet 'identd' protocol as a >> means of screening, in that it only protects against casual attacks. Specifically, 'calling number' information from DMS-served ISDN PRI circuits are always sent on as customer-provided and validated. It's also possible to configure a line to send arbitrary data if you have access to _any_ switch's control program. The problem is that once a call gets into the network, there's no additional checks -- I can originate a call in Alaska with CID showing that the call is from "Bill Clinton" in "Washington, DC" and the network will happily pass it on unchallenged. David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three My opinions are my own, Public Access in Chicago But they are available for rental Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased dr@ripco.com (312) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sure there are no checks made after the very first one. It is a lot like email or news groups. The software on the front end of the site you are using is supposed to do all the validations, fill in the blanks in the headers, etc. Then as other sites process the mail/news, moving it around the network they assume the information provided to them was correct because they are talking to another computer at that point instead of a human being. Now if a human user knows *how* to directly address the mail software at their site -- for example, sendmail -- and assuming they have shell access and can even get that far into the computer innards, of course they can say whatever they want about who they are and where the item in question came from, etc. One sendmail will happily pass it right along to another sendmail, no questions asked. What integrity there is in mail and news is largely due to the fact that most people do not know how to get past the guard at the front door, the daemon which says, "I will take your mail and news if you don't mind, and after I have properly identified you and attached your name and this site name to your missive I'll be glad to pass it along to the others inside." It used to be called 'security through obscurity', which is really no security at all. I am not at all sure the people who run the phone company are as naive about things as the people who put together the essence of Unix how many ever years ago. You say, "if I get the false information past the first point, whatever I say will be passed along ...' but **how** do you get that accomplished in a modern phone switch? I've heard people brag about such things but I still fail to see how one can go off hook, place a call and pass all that bogus information without leaving an audit trail a first-grade student with a 'connect-the-dots' coloring book could not follow and successfully put a bogus message on someone else's caller-id box. Of course you can have situations with telephone switches like the anonymous service in Finland where the administrator deliberatly puts out information different than what he took in but unless you have privileges with a telephone switch comparable to the root or super-user in Unix -- most people don't -- then how do you get to the point of freely altering the data? I guess I am saying the data you see on your caller-id box is as good as the competency level of the people who loaded the database to start with and for all intents and purposes it works just fine for whatever you need it for about 99 percent of the time. If you are going to suggest that you can go to Alaska and make yourself known as Bill Clinton of Washington, DC then how about a practical example for the readers here. Itemize it step by step. I don't think you can. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 1996 08:38:08 EDT From: McRae, Stuart Subject: Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell >> There are several known methods of causing the telephone system to >> forward false CID information. > Could you elaborate? The only ones I've heard mention of involve > supressing CID or causing CID for some intermediate line to be > delivered instead of the CID from the originating line. Well, I just read yesterday in a UK press article (which is at home so this is from memory) that BT just announced a facility to allow the caller to set the CID to be sent from their Basic Rate ISDN lines. If this is a standard facility from any ISDN-BRI line then I presume that any idea of security goes out of the window (though I guess BT may keep an audit trail if deception is discovered). The idea seems to be that you can show your 800 number, or the switchboard number, or the MSN extension of the specific originator, on the call. I don't know if ISDN provides a way for an ISDN recipient to receive two originator numbers (a physical one and a logical one)? We have had CLI on my office phone since BT opened up the service country wide, and it is very irritating that calls from some PABXs show a different caller number to the one your would use to call the caller. Others show the correct number, and yet others no data (possibly older equipment, or calls via another provider since we do not currently seem to propagate CLI across calls between service providers). Stuart ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 1996 08:26:08 EDT From: McRae, Stuart Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Dennis Wong wrote, > and Jock Mackirdy replied: >> What I know is that DID trunks allow outside callers to call a specific >> extension on your PABX by dialing a regular telephone number and not >> having to ask the switchboard operator to connect the call to that >> particular extension. >> Can somebody explain to me how the central office signals the PABX to >> ring that particular extension? > (A UK answer which should also be correct elsewhere.) Actually, as a non-technical person somewhat involved in these issues globally, it is clear to me that the technical detail is not necessarily the same everywhere, and there are distinct differences between European standard and US standard solutions. Starting with the terminology -- DDI in Europe and DID in the US. However, to the level of detail in the following answer, they are the same ... > You rent a block of DID extension numbers from the telco. When one of > these numbers is dialled, the CO routes the call on a type of > inter-office circuit (copper or ISDN) and sends the last few digits of > the number to your switch. The PBX identifies the extension to ring > from the digits received. >> Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or >> do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? > No -- you need separate regular lines. The DID trunks are unidirectional > and carry only DID traffic. As I understand it, this is true for the analogue part of the answer, but not for ISDN (in the Europe). Euro-ISDN allows DDI numbers to be routed to specific ISDN circuits (Basic Rate or Primary rate) which may also be used for outgoing calls. With analogue DID lines in the US, the standard 4 channel trunk is inbound only. I have also heard anecdotally that E&M signalling (as opposed to DID) can be supported in the US on some telco connections, and that these circuits can be configured for outbound use too. E&M is normally used for a PABX to PABX circuit. But I am far from being an authority on this. ISDN is altogether simpler to install and configure for this. For example, as a way of providing DDI to a computer fax application for routing it is rapidly replacing the alternatives in Europe (you just plug into a regular ISDN-BRI line or an ISDN-BRI port off a PABX). In the US you still need a DID trunk or an E&M port off a PABX. I have not heard of anyone promoting ISDN as an alternative for this in the US. Stuart ------------------------------ From: bluesky@atlcom.net (Mark Cavallaro) Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: 11 Sep 1996 12:46:22 GMT Organization: Blue Sky Technologies, Ltd. Co. In article , jockm@basluton.demon. co.uk says: >> Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or >> do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? > No -- you need separate regular lines. The DID trunks are unidirectional > and carry only DID traffic. Well, I have seen this done. There is no reason a local exchange can not provide bi-directional use of DID trunks. These trunk were developed for direct dial use, and telcos have bell shaped heads, so they never thought someone would want them to be two-way trunks. Mark A. Cavallaro Blue Sky Technologies, Ltd. Co. 810 Hazelwood Dr, Woodstock, GA, US 30188 770-516-6433 ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: 10 Sep 1996 22:18:49 -0400 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , Jock Mackirdy wrote: >> Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or >> do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? > No -- you need separate regular lines. The DID trunks are unidirectional > and carry only DID traffic. Not necessarily. We used Nynex FlexPath lines for some of our DID trunks and you can send traffic in both directions. Of course we've got about a dozen copper DID lines but we're phasing those out. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 14:28:17 +0000 From: kent_wun@nt.com Subject: Re: Northern User's Group Organization: Nortel Enterprise Mobility In article , mikegackst@aol.com (Mikegackst) wrote: > Does anyone know the address on the Web or an Internet site that has a > group for Northern information? I get tired waiting to talk to a tech > at support, when a group could have the answer to my problem that has > happen to them. > I have tried Northern's web site to find a group with no success. I believe last month Terry Grace (netmaster@pmh.on.ca) set up a list group. To join, send an Email to: LISTMASTER@PMH.ON.CA containing only the following: JOIN NORTEL_LIST@PMH.ON.CA Hope that helps you out. Cheers, Kent Wun Email (work): kent_wun@nt.com Nortel Companion Email (play): kwun@magi.com Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 13:05:14 +0000 From: Brent_Ellacott@nt.com Subject: Re: Northern User's Group Organization: Sales Try http://www.nortel.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #481 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 11 20:52:16 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA07784; Wed, 11 Sep 1996 20:52:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 20:52:16 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609120052.UAA07784@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #482 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Sep 96 20:52:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 482 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson PBX/Guest Systems (was Re: Do Campus Residents...) (Mark J. Cuccia) Internet Forum Europe 96 (Roberto Zicari) AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) (Eric Smith) Re: Loophole Allows Unregulated Bells (Antsmom) Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing (Wes Leatherock) Junk Email Legal Action (ctyrre01@purch.eds.com) Who Pays For Junk Snail Mail? (Isaac Wingfield) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Andrew C. Green) Last Laugh! Send No Money (John W. Shaver) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:05:49 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: PBX/Guest Systems (was Re: Do Campus Residents...) In Pat's response to Bin Lin : > First tell me this: do you dial a '9' or some > other digit to receive 'outside dial tone' against which you dial the > 800 number of the carrier you wish to use? Is it when you dial that > digit to get an 'outside line' that your call is blocked due to > congestion? If so, then it is not just people trying to get through to > the carrier (although it may be a lot of those people on the line) but > rather it is *everyone* who is trying to make an outgoing call to some > place or another. In this case you would suggest to the telecom people > that they might wish to increase the number of outgoing circuits which > are available. I doubt they are deliberatly keeping the lines busy to > force calls one way or another. Once the call gets out of the school's > network and into the public telephone network there is no way the school > can restrict you from getting the carrier's 800 number. Now, local > congestion on your school's network may be a problem, but I would not > ascribe the hostile motives to the problem as you are doing. > If you are getting the outside line without difficulty but are getting > a busy signal or no connection at that point to the carrier's 800 > number then your complaint needs to be directed to the carrier in > question, calling their attention to the specific number you are dialing > and where you are dialing from, and the nature of the problem (line is > always busy, etc). Giving them the times of day/days of week when this > happens a lot would be useful also. Normally calling through a carrier's > 800 number should be quite easy: just dial the number, hear new dial > tone, dial the desired number, and when requested dial in your card > number and pin. When I was a student at the University of New Orleans (UNO) in the early 1980's, there were two dormitory situations. One was the 'traditional' dorms, with two students to a room, and two rooms connected by a bathroom, as a "suite". A "suite" had a phone in each room, both phones on the same line and telephone number, getting dialtone from the toll-restricted PBX. The other on-campus "dorms" was for married students, in an apartment situation. Some of the married couple's apartments even had an extra bedroom for children. The "married/family" dorms had a telephone jack, with the loop coming from the *public* (neighberhood) central office, and not from the PBX. Students in the "married/family" dorms were responsible for their OWN telephone services, by directly establishing a standard residential account with South Central Bell. They even had listings in the regular New Orleans Metro white pages (unless they wanted to be unlisted or non-pub), and their numbers weren't associated with the Campus PBX. I don't know if they could have this 'outside' telephone number in the Campus/PBX telephone directory, but they could have this number in a separate student telephone directory, just like any student (on or off campus) could choose to be in such student directory, or choose to NOT be in. Also, I don't know if the University also had the capability to give them PBX service if the student in the married/couple's apartment dorms didn't want to get their own 'outside' telephone service. At the time (early 1980's), the UNO PBX system 'realtime' screened your dialed digits. Dialing 9- got you a line directly to the public switch. Rotary phones had their dialpulses recorded at the PBX, and the PBX REPULSED your dialed digit pulses over the line to the public telephone switch. Touchtone (DTMF) phones had a voice path from the PBX to and through the line at the public switch. However, the PBX was 'listening' for certain digit strings in DTMF, and would 'cut-you-off' if you entered a string it didn't like. The same applied if you were dialing from a rotary phone, but the PBX did have that 'extra' chance to NOT repulse the dialpulses if it didn't like what you dialed. The UNO PBX had no problems allowing you to dial 9-950-xxxx or 9-1-800-etc. In fact, the ONLY digits you could dial after 9+1- was 800 and certain other 'free' prefixes. In the early 1980's, we dialed Home NPA calls as 1+ seven-digits. Bell's business office and repair service numbers here have been 557-xxxx, and at one time, Bell wanted you to dial 1+ 557. It was (is) free, but now you dial it as 557-xxxx without the initial '1'. However, NPA-555-1212 was free in the early 1980's, but the PBX would cut you off if you dialed 9-1-NPA if the NPA wasn't 800, right after the first indication that you weren't dialing 800 for the NPA. We weren't able to dial 9-0-ANYTHING! All outgoing toll calls billed to another paying party (collect, 3rd party, card, etc), including local operator assistance were supposed to be placed through the PBX operator. However, at that time, the PBX didn't give proper ANI on outgoing 1-800- calls or 950-xxxx calls. An AT&T TSPS operator (or South Central Bell operator prior to divestiture) would come on the line asking for the number I was calling from. I could ask that operator to call me back if I needed *telco* operator assistance. She couldn't give me 'any other' operator assistance right away, on dialing an 800 or 950 number which needed an ONI, as her TSPS board was set up at that moment only to do ONI. After she called me back, she could assist me on any other type of call, however would not (could not) bill anything to the University's PBX trunks nor numbers, as those numbers/lines had a restriction/screening on her board. I don't know what the present situation of the UNO PBX is. I do know that shortly after divestiture the students in the dorm have had to bring their own phones, although I think that the lines still come off the PBX. And 9-1-411 has been blocked since 1983 or 84, while it was allowed prior to that. The PBX here at Tulane University screens ALL dialed digits BEFORE getting a public central office line/dialtone. Again, I can't dial 9-0-ANYTHING. I can only dial 'free' 9-1- type calls (such as 800 or 888). Company related toll calls and faxes are placed through the PBX automated toll features (probably with least cost routing) and billed to our departments. Since _I_ don't personally pay for company related toll calls, I don't care _who_ the carrier is. There is a special dialing sequence for those, and again, the PBX screens all digits including the company assigned PINs before trunking the call out of the PBX. From within the Tulane PBX, we also can now dial *83-10-xxx-0+ten- digits and *83-10-xxx-01+international for our personal calls billed to card, collect, and third party. All dialed digits are also 'pre- screened' before DTMF toning over the loop. Any 'PIN' number for cards is DTMF'd over the direct switched voicepath to the long distance company, however. I cannot use this method to reach a 0/00 operator (Bell or IXC), and the 10-xxx code IS required. However, the PBX isn't yet programmed to handle 101-xxxx. Of course, one could 'time-out' to the IXC operator by not entering a card number when requested. And by the way, the initial '*' can NOT be substituted with '11' on ANY PBX functions. Since there are 800 (and 888) numbers which have been known to generate charges (teleporn, telesleaze, etc), many PBX's are blocking access to those 800 plus _specific_ seven-digit combinations as they become aware of them. Of course, the ANI-Information Digits should show up in a LIDB to the telesleaze that the call comes from a PBX, but the PBX managers also want to prohibit access 'up front' to those numbers. It is quite possible that a 'guest' PBX (dorm, hotel/motel, hospital, etc.) might be blocking or limiting access to 800/888 and 950 numbers used to access an end-user's dialed choice of long distance carrier. This can be done by prescreening the dialed digits completely in PBX, or by 'realtime' screening the dialed digits as the end-user dials them, by the PBX. Many a COCOT (damn private payphone) have been known to do similar blockings and restrictions to 800/888 or 950 numbers as well. And I would guess that some Cellular entities (US Hellular?) pull similar tactics. Stanley Cline has reported on such! MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: localhost Subject: Internet Forum Europe 96 Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 20:59:43 +0000 Organization: J. W. Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt/Main Free tickets for the special events at Internet Forum Europe 96 and Object World Frankfurt 96, for the days of October 10 and 11, 1996 are available. Details at http://www.ltt.de Venue: Sheraton Conference Center (airport), Frankfurt/Main, Germany For more info, please e-mail the organizers at: LogOn@omg.org Regards, Roberto Zicari OWF and IFE Program Chair ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 23:29:28 PDT From: Eric Smith Subject: AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) In article kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation. com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) writes: > Another curious fact -- our AT&T Definity G3 switch handles all the > digital sets we have as ISDN connections, or as close to ISDN one can > actually get without calling it ISDN. I was astonished when I started > reading some of the manuals they left there when the switch was > installed. The really curious part is it does all this without a hicup > using only an Intel 80386 CPU and a 4MB program store. Why would that be curious? I'm guessing that it isn't ISDN, but rather is a typical proprietary digital PBX phone, which tend to be simpler (not designed by a gigantic committee like ISDN was). Perhaps someone familiar with the G3 can let us know. But even if it really is ISDN, it only takes a few hundred K of code to implement the basic ISDN protocols, and maybe another few hundred to add fancy features. And ISDN protocol processing certainly isn't CPU intensive. It's not like they're running the audio bits through a sophisticated low-bitrate speech coder or anything. (Well, they might if there is integrated voice mail, but it would be done on separate DSPs, not on the 386.) Cheers, Eric ------------------------------ From: Antsmom Subject: Re: Loophole Allows Unregulated Bells Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 21:56:12 -0700 Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc. Back in them old days, before dereg, PT&T (PacBell) & AT&T were automatically the only providers I was allowed. I remained faithfully theirs until last year when I received what I believed to be a better offer from MCI for my long distance carrier and changed over -- and have been happy with their service. Today, I received not one, but two letters from AT&T welcoming me BACK to AT&T and thanked me for selecting them as my new LD server. WHOA! I never authorized any change to my service. Called AT&T to find out who authorized the change and they told me my local carrier sent them the change order and I needed to handle the matter with them. They informed me about the ability to freeze my account. I called PacBell and submitted my complaint which only led me to having to wait 30-45 days for the results of an investigation into my account as to who requested the change and was told that I was only one of thousands of people who have been slammed recently. I asked how and why this slamming was allowed and was told that "they download our names from the computers and convert our services without our knowledge". I asked who "they" were and she couldn't answer exactly who "they" were nor could she tell me who's computers she was referring to. I can't help but think that AT&T might be going through their old lists and retrieving names of past customers and doing the slamming themselves. I can only wonder whether my next complaint letter to the FCC will do any good. Antsmom@earthlink.net ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing Date: 9 Sep 1996 20:50:10 -0400 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , Stanley Cline wrote: > IMHO, Trenton Telephone is CONTINUING to SEVERELY gouge its customers > and the Georgia PSC needs to do something -- NOW. $70 for a FX line in > a CO just eight miles away (the result of a company's utter stupidity), > is ridiculous. IMHO this isn't necessarily price gouging. I had an FX line here in Rhode Island about ten years ago and I was paying $60.00 a month for it. The part that really gets me about the RI scenario is that the foreign CO was just five air miles from my home CO. But Providence was only one mile from where I lived in North Providence. The funny thing about that town is that it's split into three distinctive calling zones. The eastern end of town borders Pawtucket, RI and therefore gets all 72x numbers and a calling area that includes Providence (down to Cranston) and Woonsocket/Bellingham MA. The middle of town gets 353 and 354 which have identical calling areas as Providence proper. The western end of town gets 231-3 and their calling areas include the extreme western part of the state in addition to Providence (again, down to Cranston). What's peculiar is that two cities that border Providence get our calling area -- they are East Providence and Cranston. Other towns have small areas that have the same coverage as Providence. So don't complain too loudly. You don't live in a state that's only 35x40 miles with several toll zones. ;) Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com (Wes Leatherock) Subject: Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 02:38:39 GMT roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) wrote: > I have mentioned either here or in c.d.t.t about some unusual calling > and pricing situations in northwest Georgia, specifically: > 1) The Trenton area, where callers must obtain a "foreign exchange" > line to have local service to Chattanooga (just 15 miles away), > while people much further from Chattanooga (nearly 60 miles away) > can call "locally" to Chattanooga, and But there is always someone who is near a boundary, and is unhappy with it. When the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (the public utility commission in Oklahoma) mandated wide-area calling plans for metropolitan areas in the state, they drew circles and mandated that all exchanges any part of which fell within the circle would be part of the WACP (unmeasured local service). The residents of Apache, Oklahoma, objected violently that they had little community of interest with Lawton, Oklahoma (the metropolitan area in whose WACP they fell) and objected to paying the higher monthly rate applicable under the WACP. I believe they were included anyway. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@hotelcal.com wes.leatherock@origins.bbs.uoknor.edu ------------------------------ From: ctyrre01@purch.eds.com Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 12:05:11 EDT Subject: Junk Email Legal Action Pat, Ed Foster at InfoWorld (www.infoworld.com) has again written on the subject of junk email. He now has a new way to stop it. Chuck Tyrrell Threatening legal action may be the quickest way off a junk e-mailer's list. Perhaps the strategy to follow with junk e-mailers is really basic. If something makes them squeal, keep doing it. Among the junk e-mail that readers have forwarded to me, I've noticed that nothing seems to get to the purveyors of unsolicited messages quite as much as a threat of legal action. Readers who regularly respond to junk e-mail with appropriate warnings seem to have better luck at actually getting removed from the sender's address list. And based on the way they sometimes respond, I'd also have to say that it shows the messages strike an exposed nerve with the junk e-mailers. One reader, for example, sent me this message he got in return after warning a junk e-mailer that he would take legal action if he continued to get messages from the e-mailer. "First off, I do not wish to be threatened like you did," the junk e-mailer replied. "Because of this I am asking that [the reader's online service] remove your account. This goes against its policies. E-mailing someone with the type of threat that I read in your message is not a wise thing to do. You have absolutely no idea who I am and what roles I may or may not play for this company." As the reader said, this certainly showed a lot of gall, but I think this type of reaction also demonstrates that legal threats do make them nervous. What types of legal threats can you make? There are still a lot of opinions about this, but a number of people feel that you can legitimately accuse the sender of a violation of the junk fax law. That's because the law is worded in a way that seems to include a computer being used for e-mail. United States Code, Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, says that "it shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine." A telephone facsimile machine is defined in Section 227(a)(2)(B) as "equipment which has the capacity to transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper." The junk fax law provides for a minimum award of $500 if you successfully sue a violator of the law, and it has been generally successful at eliminating the junk fax problem, which at one time threatened to get out of hand the way junk e-mail does now. I don't know whether the courts will rule that it applies to e-mail, because so far I haven't heard of anyone who has actually tried suing a junk e-mailer on the basis of Title 47. If anyone has, I'd like to hear about it. But even if Title 47 as currently written does not turn out to apply to junk e-mail, it at least provides a model that could prove effective. The basic principle is still the same, because both junk e-mail and junk faxes cost the recipient money. If one's illegal, the other should be, too. It might be good, though, to push for some additional wording specifically targeted at junk e-mail. From a practical point of view, it probably won't be as easy to catch the perpetrator of a junk e-mail message as it is to catch the sender of a junk fax, because frequently the return address of the bulk e-mailer is phony or already discarded. The way to get around that is to make sure that $500 fine is applicable to the advertiser as well, because the advertiser has to tell potential customers where to send money. How hard would it be for Congress to amend the law so it clearly covers unsolicited advertisements in e-mail form? In fact, knowing how focused our current national legislature is on protecting our moral standards from being corrupted by the Internet, I could even give them some extra motivation. I've now got tons of messages forwarded by readers, and many of them promote various porn offerings and worse, and not even an old pinko liberal like me could object to that stuff being banned. In the meantime, there's another legal avenue that victims of junk e-mail can consider. More on that next week. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 08:47:41 -0700 From: isw@hdvs.com (Isaac Wingfield) Subject: Who Pays For Junk Snail Mail? Bruce Pennypacker writes: > The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 provides protection to > fax users so that they won't get spam faxes. The Act was designed > since a fax recipient has to pay for all received faxes in terms of > toner, fax paper, etc. whereas snail-mail spam is paid for entirely by > the sender. This isn't true; snail-mail spam is largely subsidised by first-class mail rates. Remember that every time you get a bunch of scrap paper in your mailbox. This does offer an interesting argument to the spammers, though. Isaac Wingfield Staff System Engineer isw@hdvs.com Hyundai Digital Video Systems Vox: 408-232-8530 510 Cottonwood Drive Fax: 408-232-8145 Milpitas, CA 95035 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:12:38 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Bruce Pennypacker writes: > Another lawyer likened AOL to a common carrier, claiming that > they have no right to censor e-mail just like telcos can't censor > telephone calls and must let them all go through. A flawed analogy. A better one would be that of a telemarketer grabbing a list of cellular phone numbers, where the owners pay for their airtime even for incoming calls, and calling everyone with unsolicited sales pitches. The outcry would be long and loud. The issue is not of "censoring" e-mail as if content had anything to do with it. The issue is of swamping user accounts and capital equipment with data that was unsolicited, may cost the recipient in time and money, and cannot be ignored or deleted until it's been reviewed by the recipient. This last point is a major selling point of the junk e-mail software marketers. > Here's the {Boston Globe} article updating the AOL spamming lawsuit: > Court strikes down ban on junk e-mail > 09/07/96 > By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff If memory serves, Mr. Bray is a TELECOM Digest reader, so at least some members of the media are not totally clueless. :-) Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: Shaver, John W. Subject: Last Laugh! Send No Money Date: Wed, 11 Sep 96 11:20:00 PDT There used to be a station in Mexico with approximately the following advertisement. Send no money, just your name on a $20 bill to Clint, that is spelled K L I N T Texas for your genuine autographed picture of Jesus Christ. Satisfaction guaranteed. The station was physically located in Juarez Mexico and broadcast at 150 KW. The call letters may have been XERF or a similar combination. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, maybe I could try this promotion. People who enjoyed the Orange Card promotion would surely like this one as well. :) PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #482 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 11 23:48:49 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA25386; Wed, 11 Sep 1996 23:48:49 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 23:48:49 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609120348.XAA25386@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #483 TELECOM Digest Wed, 11 Sep 96 23:48:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 483 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Linc Madison) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Maddi Hausmann Sojourner) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Curtis Bohl) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Michael D. Adams) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Lisa Hancock) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Steven R. Kleinedler) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Steve Bagdon) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (mjg@ozzy.homer.att.com) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Richard Museums) Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (Matthew B. Landry) Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (Tim Shoppa) Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (username@qualcom.com) Reporting E-mail Chain Letters (Michael Chance) AIC Irresponsible Policy (Orin Eman) Structured Cabling Simplified (Gayle Rich) Last Laugh! Spam Attack: The Listening Place (Jot Powers) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:26:06 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , dchapman@epix.net wrote: > I have been under the impression that ZIP Codes regularly cross area > code boundaries. After all, ZIP boundaries are created by the > convenience of delivering mail, and NPA's are derived from aggregations > of wire centers. > A colleague of mine has stated that the only time ZIPs cross into > neighboring area codes are in very rural areas, where there is minimal > effect. > Any knowledge in this matter is greatly appreciated. Thanks in > advance. There is no particular correlation between ZIP Codes and NPAs, so there are, of course, many areas where a single ZIP Code is served by more than one NPA. States that are entirely served by a single NPA obviously do not have this circumstance, since ZIP Codes never, ever cross state lines. A ZIP Code that covers a large rural area may cross an NPA boundary. However, a ZIP Code in a large metropolitan area such as Los Angeles may also cross an NPA boundary. Here in the San Francisco area, the upcoming 415/650 split will divide a couple of ZIP Codes. The upcoming 214/972 split in Dallas will divide several ZIP Codes, as will the 713/281 split in Houston. The only area code split I know of that did take ZIP Codes carefully into account is the 416/905 split in Toronto (all Post Codes beginning with M kept 416, while all Post Codes beginning with L moved to 905). In the original 312/708 split in Chicago, 312 was confined almost exactly to the city of Chicago, but even in that example, there may be a few small areas where ZIP Codes cross the boundary. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: Maddi Hausmann Sojourner Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 15:41:02 -0700 Organization: General Magic, Inc. dchapman@epix.net wrote: > I have been under the impression that ZIP Codes regularly cross area > code boundaries. After all, ZIP boundaries are created by the > convenience of delivering mail, and NPA's are derived from aggregations > of wire centers. > A colleague of mine has stated that the only time ZIPs cross into > neighboring area codes are in very rural areas, where there is minimal > effect. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore keeps track of this sort of > thing in detail so he could probably tell you a lot more, however > the codes used in the one mprovement

lan instituted by the > post office in the late 1950's typically cover much smaller geographic > areas than telephone area codes and I think it is rare -- if it occurs > at all -- that a ZIP code would be in parts of two area codes. PAT] I can name one, and it isn't rural at all: Mountain View and Sunnyvale, CA. There are portions of each in the other's area code. Mountain View is 415 (soon to become 650), Sunnyvale is 408. There's a section near the border where the area codes don't correspond to the town borders. The zip codes do correspond. Mountain View has over 70,000 residents and Sunnyvale over 120,000. This is smack in the middle of Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County). Maddi Hausmann Sojourner madhaus@genmagic.com General Magic, Inc. in beautiful Sunnyvale, CA 94088 USA If you like this address you will also like madhaus@netcom.com Visit my daughter's web page at http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~ds/ ------------------------------ From: Curtis Bohl Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 17:53:15 -0700 Organization: First National Bank dchapman@epix.net wrote: > I have been under the impression that ZIP Codes regularly cross area > code boundaries. After all, ZIP boundaries are created by the > convenience of delivering mail, and NPA's are derived from aggregations > of wire centers. > A colleague of mine has stated that the only time ZIPs cross into > neighboring area codes are in very rural areas, where there is minimal > effect. I know of several cases where zip codes cross area code lines. In an extreme case, a friend lives in Missouri, 1.5 miles from the Iowa boarder. He has a Hamburg, IA address (and zip code), but a Rock Port, MO phone number (and area code). When he was in college, he had to bring his parents property tax receipt to prove he lived in Missouri. cbohl@fnb-columbia.com ------------------------------ From: mda-960911b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 23:19:10 GMT Organization: Triskele Consulting Reply-To: mda-960911b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore keeps track of this sort of > thing in detail so he could probably tell you a lot more, however > the codes used in the one mprovement

lan instituted by the > post office in the late 1950's typically cover much smaller geographic > areas than telephone area codes and I think it is rare -- if it occurs > at all -- that a ZIP code would be in parts of two area codes. PAT] I don't have my ZIP code directory/maps handy, but I can think of a few cases where this would occur. Specifically -- around Washington DC. There are several DC zip codes which encompass territory both in the District (202) and suburban Maryland (301 + whatever the new overlay will be). Also, I suspect it is very likely that this sort of thing occurs or will occur in and around Chicago, thanks to the split of 312 into 312/708/630/847/773, and in and around Los Angeles, where umpteen gazillion new NPAs have been carved out of old 213 and 714. And finally, the zip code for Columbia, MD (and probably those for a couple of other communities) serves two (soon 4!) NPAs. I am told that Bell Atlantic subscribers in some or all of Columbia are currently allowed to choose their area code -- either 301 or 410. A coworker is expecting some degree of chaos when the new overlay NPA's go into effect. There will exist the possibility of having 4 different NPAs exising on one block. Michael D. Adams Triskele Consulting Baltimore, Maryland ma@triskele.com [TELECOM Digest Editors' Note: In the Chicago area, the city of Chicago uses 606xx and presently at least, that is all 312. Starting soon when 773 kicks in I imagine 60611/60614 may overlap those areas since the 312/773 division is not a clean break but actually will jog back and forth up and down a couple of side streets on the near north side. The north suburbs, where the VIP's live with the VIP (847) area code is entirely 600-602. The south suburbs which remained in 708 are all 605xx. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@cpcn.com (Lisa/Jeff) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: 11 Sep 1996 22:18:23 GMT Organization: Philadelphia City Paper's City Net I can say in my suburban area, there is NO correlation whatsoever between municipal boundaries, postal zip code zones, and telephone exchanges, except at the State Line (and even there there are exceptions.) ------------------------------ From: srkleine@midway.uchicago.edu (steven r kleinedler) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Organization: The University of Chicago Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 19:42:55 GMT In article , wrote: > I have been under the impression that ZIP Codes regularly cross area > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore keeps track of this sort of > thing in detail so he could probably tell you a lot more, however > the codes used in the one mprovement

lan instituted by the > post office in the late 1950's typically cover much smaller geographic > areas than telephone area codes and I think it is rare -- if it occurs > at all -- that a ZIP code would be in parts of two area codes. PAT] It happens fairly frequently. Looking at the jagged zag between 517 and 810 (formerly 313) in mid-Michigan, there are dozens of communities which straddle the area code line. I had a Gaines ZIP (48436), a Gaines phone (517-271-xxxx). Gaines was in a jutted out corner of 517. Anyhow, just around the corner from us, people had Swartz Creek ZIPs (4847?) and Gaines phones in 517. Most Swartz Creek addresses were in 313-635-xxx, but not all. Within three miles of my house, there were people who had: Gaines addresses, Durand phones (517), Swartz Creek schools Durand addresses, Gaines phones, Swartz Creek schools Swartz Creek addresses, Gaines phones, Durand schools It was really annoying going to school in a district where most everyone else had a different area code. (We also had rotary phones. And we couldn't dial 1, we had to dial 120. And we didn't connect automatically, we had to give an operator our phone number.) On the other hand, I only had to dial 4 digits to get across the street. Anyhow, there's 48436 in both 517 and 810, and I know that that's not all too uncommon. This message has been brought to you by Steve Kleinedler. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 06:57:43 -0400 From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) said > That should say it all. No change in user equipment. > I wonder what they are doing? Has anyone bothered to call and ask? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If someone did call to ask, I am not > sure Ameritech would feel like divulging the information. PAT] A thought -- the direct mail piece state 'Thanks for your support' - like we had a choice, here in Detroit! It was either use the PIN, or go to Cell One. That's like Ameritech land-line saying 'thanks for using our service'! I do see one nice problem taken care of, by forcing PIN use -- a reasonable amount of effort has been taken to ensure the the caller is the owner. Look at it this way -- they had a HUGE rollover problem with RF signaturing, to ensure that the person using the phone is the true owner. Short of having every person come in to verify that they are the owner, make a call and accept the RF signature, they had to make a good-faith effort that the person making the call was the owner (I'm sure there were lots of incidences of people not having PINs, getting snarfed, the snarfer assigns their *own* PIN, and the snarfer gets service until the true owner can have the PIN either removed or reassigned to a correct number). Now that everyone has PINs in Detroit, Ameritech can presume that everyone is the correct owner (short of those that have been cloned using the 'double-scanner' technique), and one day they will enter the pin, the RF signature will be accepted, and then no more PIN. But what a mess -- with RF signaturing, does this mean that my hands-free kit won't work now? Or what if my battery power level drops, or I use a different 'screw-on' antenna? PCS 1900 is coming (sooner or later), and I'll be glad when it's here. Later, Ron Kritzman said: > MUSEUMS wrote: >> Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all >> phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to >> eliminate the pin. > AHA!! Now this makes all the sense in the world. PCS will be here > soon and they're worried that customers will jump. Of course they want > to sell you a new phone! Just -TRY- to buy a new phone without > signing a two year contract. Total hogwash -- the fact that Ameritech wouldn't divulge, not what you said. It took me about 30 minutes and two cellular phones, and I had backward engineered the current PIN system in Detroit. There is no way to keep the knowledge out of the hands of the user -- the harder they try, the bigger the public relations mess. If they are afraid to divule the information, they are either (a) trying to protect industry secrets, but they are buying commercially available products or (b) afraid to admit that they have either bought inferior equipement or installed inferior solutions. Either install GSM (or a type of GSM authentication), or just admit that AMPS was a big mistake and is totally insecure from day one. BTW, I've been wondering when the AMPS push would come, to deal with the PCS avalanche. There were two issues to deal with, in the AMPS/PCS debate -- security and features. When *authentication* comes out (not RF signaturing), the security issues will be solved(?) -- although at the cost of replacing almost every phone in the hands of the user. Features -- now that's another question. But I'm seeing some intersting deals going on with the cellular providors, to get the new and continuing contracts -- free phones, life-time rate plans, life-time discounts, etc. Now is when it gets *interesting*. Steve B. bagdon@rust.net (h) USFMDDKT@ibmmail.com (w) http://www.rust.net/~bagdon ------------------------------ From: mjg@ozzy.homer.att.com Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 17:00:11 EDT Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Reply-To: mjg@cs.stanford.edu (Michael J Graven) AT&T Wireless recently introduced 'Authentication' in the New York metro market as well. To my understanding (which is surely imperfect) there exists an encryption chip within the phone which calculates a response to the provider's challenge, and this response is transmitted during the setup dialogue. Finally, the export restriction on my AT&T 6650 munitions (excuse me, officer, I meant "telephone") is both entertaining *and* useful. ... not that this TDMA/AMPS phone would work anywhere else in the world, though ... Michael J. Graven (mjg@cs.stanford.edu) Erstwhile Distributed Systems Services Analyst ------------------------------ From: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Date: 10 Sep 1996 23:14:40 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: museums@aol.com (MUSEUMS) NO NO NO NO ... This has nothing to do with RF signatures or fingerprints. AUTHENTICATION is a new software built into many new phones which the switch interogates the phone for shared secret data ... this has nothing to do with all that hype of RF fingerprinting. I can't believe there is so much bad information out there. Richard W. Museums Sarfity Distributors, AT&T Wireless Master Distributor, NY, NJ, and CT. DBA Cellular Communications Connection ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 17:39:45 EDT From: Matthew B Landry Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma Organization: Flunkies for the Mike Conspiracy In article TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > 1) An AOL subscriber would write a (or adapt an existing) mail filter > program as a voluntary thing and make it available free of charge to > other subscribers. Users would be able to edit certain variables of And watch out for flying pigs, too ... It would be a terrific idea, except that AOL's software is a custom-built closed system front end to a mainframe environment. We're not talking unix boxes here. It might be feasible to establish a system wherein the users uploaded .procmailrc (or something similar) files to the mail relay hosts and had the filtering done there, but that would require both a complete redesign of AOL's mail handling system and a LOT more computational muscle than they have now. In other words, it's not precisely "impossible", but it would take longer and cost more than the lawsuit they're currently fighting. And since AOL isn't the typical service provider, they can almost certainly afford to out-spend their opponents on lawyers and supplementary expenses. Having this issue settled legally once and for all is also a Good Thing. Besides, I'm more interested in stopping spam that goes the OTHER way (from AOL to the net, not from the net to AOL). :) Matthew Landry ------------------------------ From: shoppa@alph02.triumf.ca (Tim Shoppa) Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma Date: 11 Sep 1996 19:48:24 GMT Organization: Tri-University Meson Facility In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > 1) An AOL subscriber would write a (or adapt an existing) mail filter > program as a voluntary thing and make it available free of charge to > other subscribers. Users would be able to edit certain variables of > their choice. For example, a user would click on a box saying 'yes, > I want to use mail filtering'. The user would then get a place where > he himself had to fill in the names of the sites/users/subject lines > he did not want to see. AOL itself would not fill in any of these > variables; the user would have to do it. This has the problem that the mass mailings would then be sent from forged addresses. If the senders of junk electronic mail randomly make up "from" addresses, fixed filtering as you describe would become pretty much useless. The next step is to begin filtering based on the path that the messages physically took, but the bulk e-mailers would get around that, too. What is really necessary is something at the online provider that recognized a onslaught of bulk message coming in based on similarity of subjects or body texts. Unfortunately, this relies on a determination made by the provider, still not quite escaping the legal hassles that ISP's are worried about. > 3) If too many system resources would be consumed by having all those > individual filters operating then perhaps there could be a 'community > mail filter' maintained by an AOL subscriber on a voluntary basis, and > that volunteer would be responsible for loading the variables in a > single filter which operated for all subscribers who asked to use it. > AOL itself would have nothing to do with operating the filter other > than making sure that it met their technical requirements, etc. This is a better option, but more because of the legal worries of censorship allegations than because of system resources. Believe me, when AOL gets a million messages arriving from the same source, enough system resources already get eaten up or bogged down that the postmasters know it. The postmasters themselves don't need any sophisticated software to know what's going on - just like the local post office doesn't need sophisticated software to know that a dozen more mail trucks brought in incoming junk mail than the day before! IMHO, the problem will persist until the senders have to pay a charge for mail delivery. Analogies between paper mail and e-mail fail when you look at the cost structure: the cost difference between sending one or a million electronic messages is just too damn small right now. Once a reasonable cost structure is imposed, economics will force the mass e-mailers to actually become selective. Unfortunately, everyone else will have to begin paying a price. Tim (shoppa@triumf.ca) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing you are missing here is that AOL subscribers *do* have to pay for outgoing message deliver, yet where does a great deal of spam come from? Maybe they sent out spam and run up a big big with their service provider and then knowing they are gonna get kicked off the next day anyway they don't bother to pay the bill. PAT] ------------------------------ From: user name Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 12:51:02 -0700 Organization: QUALCOMM TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > I think AOL could resolve the problem of the court injuction against > them immediatly if they would arrange things so that the subscribers > (rather than AOL itself) did the blocking by using mail filter programs > to do the job. And it would have to be the subscriber to AOL who > specifically started the filtering program. An interesting idea, and certainly something I could appreciate as a user, but I keep wondering if AOL was thinking strictly of their users when they started blocking the email. After all, bandwidth is money, and if you could discard a significant amount of traffic as soon as it hit your system without pissing off your customers, you might save a few bucks. This motivation would be more in line with my impression of AOL's priorities. Just a thought. Brand [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure bandwidth is money, but AOL charges for incoming mail from *outside their own system (they would be unable to collect for otherwise) as well as all outgoing mail. Bandwidth is what they are selling there. Anything they can sell there they want to sell. But I understand there were so many complaints and they were making so many goodwill adjustments for customers as a result they decided to crack down. If the customers had been willing to pay for it, I am sure it would still be available without a court order to make it available. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael Chance Subject: Reporting E-mail Chain Letters Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 14:22:46 CDT Our Esteemed Editor wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not a single day goes past recently > that I do not receive at least one -- and usually two or three -- > copies of the Make Money Fast letter. You know, the one where you are > to send a dollar to the names on the list and add your name to the > the bottom. The U.S. Postmaster General has ruled that, if they ask you to send anything (including the dollar) via the U.S. Postal Service, then it falls under the "illegal chain letter" laws/regulations. I check out the USPS Web page, and while it has info on the traditional forms of chain letters, it doesn't say where to refer e-mail chain letters for investigation. Anyone know? Michael A. Chance FIRST Support Team Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., St. Louis, Missouri Tel.: (314) 235-4119 Email: mc307a@helios.sbc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You do not have to actually send/receive things in the mail yourself to be charged with various mail fraud violations. **If you cause someone else to deposit something in the US Mail that puts you in violation also.** As an example, you call on the telephone and apply for a credit card. You lie, create a nice piece of fiction for the interviewer taking your phone application and you get approved. You caused the creditor to deposit something in the mail, i.e. a piece of plastic, that they would not have mailed to you otherwise, and you also caused them to send you a monthly bill when you used the card fraudulently obtained. The mail fraud statutes cover your case. If someone puts up a message in a newsgroup saying 'send a dollar to each name on this list, add your own name to the bottom, etc' it may be that they did not use the mail for anything but the responding person was caused to use the mail. So yes, posting messages on the net soliciting others to use the US Mail for some fraudulent activity makes the message-poster in violation also. However if some business transaction takes place or some consideration is given for the money received -- however bogus that business trans- action may seem ('add me to your mailing list') -- then it becomes sort of marginally legal and it becomes a little harder, but not impossible, to prove that fraud was intended. All things have to be taken in context based on the business doing the advertising or making the solicitation for money, etc. But let's get real: chain letters are about the last thing the Postal Inspectors have time to bother with. They are far more likely to be involved in investigations involving *large* sums of money and false advertising claims by a direct mail company, etc. And of course don't forget that big kiddie porn operation the US Customs Service operates in south Florida. A lot of postal inspectors work there also, sending out the filth and trying to entrap people dumb enough to accept their mailings. There just is not enough time in the day to worry about every two-bit message on Usenet. PAT] ------------------------------ From: orin@netcom.com (Orin Eman) Subject: AIC Irresponsible Policy Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 20:00:13 GMT I got a call at work today from Associates Investment Corporation claiming I was overdue on my account and practically demanding that I give my checking account number to them so they could extract their payment. No way ... I pointed out that I had no way of knowing that they were who they said they were, but they still tried to say that all the big banks were doing it. I think this is a very irresponsible attitude. One should never give out such information over the phone, especially if you didn't originate the call. Anyway, I think any company doing this is irresponsible and should be avoided. Orin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'Check by phone' is a very common method of payment these days and all the banks do honor debit transfers made to customer accounts. You are quite correct it is not a good idea to give out that information over the phone unless you originated the call or you know for certain who you are speaking with. You as a consumer do have some protections in this however. Federal laws pertaining to banks provide that any merchant setting up that sort of arrangment with his bank has to have a good credit history, preferably a merchant account with Visa/MC and a few other things. He has to generate a piece of paper which looks like a check (encoding on the bottom and all) and submit it to his bank which in turn passes it though the system to your bank. You then get it back like any cancelled check. The only thing missing on it is your signature, and where your signature would go is the statement 'your depositer/account holder authorized this deduction'. Federal banking law provides that a 'casual' or one time debit in this way can be done without prior written authorization by yourself, but that more than one such transaction per merchant in a given period of time (for example, you authorize AOL to automatically deduct what you owe each month from your bank) requires the merchant to have your written authorization on file, just as AOL requires new subscribers who use that payment method to sign and return the little authorization card enclosed with the new member package. It is a very quick and convenient way to pay bills but you should make sure you know who you are dealing with. PAT] ------------------------------ From: drmcomm@netaxs.com (Gayle Rich) Subject: Structured Cabling Simplified Date: 11 Sep 1996 20:38:01 GMT Organization: Dalton, Rich & More IdentiComm Inc. is launching their new product, z|linx at the Networld + Interop Trade Show in Atlanta in September. z|linx is the first pre-assembled, pre-terminated, pre-tested structured cabling system that enables companies to rapidly organize, deploy, adapt and standardize closet-to-closet and closet-to-workstation communications and information networks. Through modular design, z|linx dramatically simplifies and speeds installation, troubleshooting and MACs (moves, adds, changes). It meets channel link performance to 100 Mbps, which facilitates rapid technological growth. And it protects network investments because it is portable. To obtain information about z|linx visit the IdentiComm site at http://www.identicomm.com, email us at simplify@identicomm.com, or call toll-free 1-888-667-7440. drmcomm@netaxs.com Dalton, Rich & More http://www.netaxs.com/~drmcomm 610-642-1020 ------------------------------ From: jot@tmp.medtronic.com (Jot Powers) Subject: Last Laugh! Spam Attack: The Listening Place Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 15:18:13 MST Pat - I know that we've already designated our Internet Educational Program recipients for the month, but I thought I'd pass this one along. There are a couple of things of note: 1) There are more domains listed in this header than I've seen in a while. 2) Look, isn't it nice to see that the 888 numbers are finally being put to good use. 3) It is a free call! What's more, the explanation (which naturally everyone would call just to hear ;) is probably about 30 seconds. 4) I've already mailed to the postmasters of the domains and provided notice that further mail from these people means I'll take them to small claims court so that they can donate to my benevolence fund. >From hugh@keever.net Wed Sep 11 14:46:07 1996 > Return-Path: > Received: from medtron.medtronic.COM by tmp.medtronic.COM (4.1/SMI-4.1) > id AA02560; Wed, 11 Sep 96 14:46:07 MST > Received: by medtron.medtronic.COM with UUCP id AA06035 > (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for jot@tmp.medtronic.com); Wed, 11 Sep 1996 16:45:36 -0500 > Received: from escape.com by relay3.UU.NET with ESMTP > (peer crosschecked as: escape.com [198.6.71.10]) > id QQbgti03305; Wed, 11 Sep 1996 17:37:37 -0400 (EDT) > Received: from gics2.glasscity.net (pool042.Max4.Cleveland.OH.DYNIP.ALTER.NET [1 > 53.37.161.42]) by escape.com (8.7.3/8.6.9) with SMTP id RAA00682; Wed, 11 Sep 19 > 96 17:11:17 -0400 (EDT) > Message-Id: <199609112111.RAA00682@escape.com> > Comments: Authenticated sender is > From: "The Listening Place" > To: hugh@escape.com > Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 16:32:16 +0000 > Subject: The Listening Place > Reply-To: hugh@keever.net > Priority: normal > X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.42a) > X-Filter: mailagent [version 3.0 PL44] for jot@tmp.medtronic.com > > ****************************************************** > > ATTENTION: DO NOT HIT REPLY !! Reply directly to this ad. > > ****************************************************** > > MAKE A FREE CALL AND EARN $15!!! > > Call THE LISTENING PLACE on Friday, Sept. 13th and earn > > $15 discount on future services!! At THE LISTENING PLACE > > you can find a friend, talk over a problem, or share a triumph. > > Have you ever wanted to talk to someone and just couldn't get > > anyone to listen? Well, WE listen!! We care and we show it. So, > > give us a call and let us show YOU. What have you got to lose? It's a > > FREE call and you earn $15!!! Please Call 1-888-225-1515. ------------- Jot Powers (602) 929-5418 Unix System Administrator, Medtronic Micro-Rel jot@tmp.medtronic.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I got so excited about the prospect of earning fifteen dollars I just could not wait until this Friday to check out the message so I called the number Wednesday night. I reached a place called Fantasy Island -- I hope it was not some international, overseas point that I get billed for -- where a woman named Anastasia (pronounced an-as-taw-zee-ah) answered the phone on a recorded message and told me she had been waiting for my call. She warned me that if I was not of majority age I had better hang up right away. She explained to me that the women of Fantasy Island will be taking phone calls on a regular basis beginning in October and the purpose will be to talk with guys about their fantasies and help them deal with it; I assume to help them act out their fantasies, etc. And what a bargain! The cost will be a mere $2.99 per minute when the service begins next month. But not to worry if you are a guy without much money or a student on a phone at school where the nasty old phone admin has Anas-taw-zee-ah's 888 number locked out against charges to the phone bill or you work for a company where the phone system is run very effeciently (rare, but possible) ... Anas-taw-zee-ah has a special gift just for you guys: a credit for fifteen dollars which can be used on your first consultation with the women of Fantasy Island. The way I was told to obtain my credit was by leaving a message after the signal tone, including my name and my email address. I was asked to spell out my email address so that it would be recorded correctly. I'll get back email explaining how to use the free gift the women of Fantasy Island are going to send me. The recording itself lasts 55 (!) seconds at which point you may record your response to the ladies. I am sure they will squeal in delight at what some of you have to say to them. Your own message to them can easily be a minute or two minutes in length, perhaps longer. You see, it is being run on some sort of telco voicemail; you know, the kind where if you press the '*' or '#' key at some point in the outgoing message it stops talking and asks you to either enter your password or 'the mailbox number you are trying to reach ...' And if you wait until your turn to begin speaking and then start pressing keys you get various prompts asking if you want to send your message or if you want to start over again, etc. It is really nice that the women of Fantasy Island **give you as long as you need** to make sure your message to them is correct. I could imagine some guys getting all upset and flustered and needing five or ten minutes to record something as simple as their email address and then still getting it wrong, or giving out their boss' or a co-worker's email address by accident or something ... imagine your boss squealing with delight when Anas-taw-zee-ah's free gift arrives just for him/her. You can reach the women of Fantasy Island at 1-888-225-1515 to claim your free $15 credit to be used on your first consultation later on. Call as often as necessary to make sure you understand the arrangements. Be certain to leave a detailed message for the ladies when it is your turn to speak. You might want to tell them about the types of fantasies you will want them to act out with you, to give them an idea of the kind of men they can expect to be working with. Be careful to give only your own, correct email address in the response you make, and if you need to start your message over again or play it back a few times for accuracy feel free to do so, but just don't be pressing the '#' and '*' keys at the very start of the call as this will likely get you into other areas of the voicemail system where you should not be. Remember, no hacking and no phreaking! And as always, pay stations are very convenient for a lot of people to use. Let's make the women of Fantasy Island squeal (although I am not sure it will be in delight!) when they get their phone bill next month. Dial 1-888-225-1515 today, and write this number where others will see it and use it as well. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #483 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 12 12:10:02 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA12139; Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:10:02 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:10:02 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609121610.MAA12139@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #484 TELECOM Digest Thu, 12 Sep 96 12:10:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 484 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The Internet Business to Business Directory" (Rob Slade) Ameritech Starts Countdown for Chicago Area Code Change (Tad Cook) Kevin Poulson Out of Jail (Tad Cook) BellSouth Employees Restore Service After Hurricane Fran (via Jim Jacobs) GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Jack Decker) Cellular Phone for Emergency Only? (Joseph Gutstein) 5th Annual DECT Congress (Mesut Arpaci) Any DAX (Ram Research) Developers Out There? (Barton Fisher) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 10:31:03 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Internet Business to Business Directory" BKTIBTBD.RVW 960613 "The Internet Business to Business Directory", Sandra E. Eddy/Michael M. Swertfager/Margaret M. E. Cusick, 1996, 0-7821-1751-1, U$29.99 %A Sandra E. Eddy 73510.3154@compuserve.com eddygrp@sover.net %A Michael M. Swertfager %A Margaret M. E. Cusick %C 2021 Challenger Drive, Alameda, CA 94501 %D 1996 %G 0-7821-1751-1 %I Sybex Computer Books %O U$29.99 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 info@sybex.com %P 689 %T "The Internet Business to Business Directory" In the same vein as the various "yellow pages" books (Hahn/Stout's "Internet Yellow Pages", cf. BKINTYLP.RVW, and "New Rider's Official Internet Yellow Pages", cf. BKNRYLPG.RVW) and the various "catalogues" from Krol on up (particularly Emery/Vincent's "Free Business Stuff From the Internet", cf. BKFRBUST.RVW), this is a collection of listings of business related resources, mostly Web sites, on the net. The Introduction makes a point of noting the distinctive that the book lists entries in two ways: as short descriptions and in tables. This is less helpful than it might otherwise be. There is no cross-reference between the types of entries, and not all listings in one format are included in the other. In fact, the tables are not included very consistently. There are large tables for organizations, economics, and US governmental agencies, but relatively few and small tables otherwise. (Two exceptions are the massive tables for newspapers and US travel.) The information is not particularly complete, nor are the entries necessarily the best in a given area. Although there is a section on computers, the only mention of viruses in the index points to Symantec's home page. A tabular entry under the title "Virus Checkers" points to one specific directory that contains F-PROT. The index is large but not, as noted, complete. The organization also leaves something to be desired. The various subsections are not "intuitively obvious", and it is often difficult to figure out what section you are in. In addition, it is hard to tell what entries like "Learning Japanese" are doing in categories such as "Shareware and Freeware". copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKTIBTBD.RVW 960613 Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. ====================== roberts@decus.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby that's even worse - Bill Watterson Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ Subject: Ameritech Starts Countdown for Chicago Area Code Change Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 00:34:15 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Ameritech Starts Countdown to Area Code Change in Chicago By Jon Van, Chicago Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 12--Concerned that Chicagoans may find adopting a new area code even more difficult than their suburban kin did, Ameritech Corp. officials said Wednesday they're launching a 30-day countdown to 773, which will supplant 312 outside the city's core. The phone company particularly fears that some Chicago businesses may not be able to communicate with their customers and vendors once the changeover occurs. This anxiety is based upon experience introducing two new area codes in the suburbs earlier this year. On Oct. 12, most Chicagoans will lose their historic 312 designation and get 773 instead. While all suburbanites went through an area code change in 1989 when the 708 code was created, this will be the first time for lifelong Chicagoans, said Doug Whitley, president of Ameritech Illinois. Earlier this year, suburbanites were hit again with area code changes when the 847 code and then the 630 code split off major parts of the old 708 area. "In the suburbs, where people should be used to this by now, we encountered our share of difficulties," said Whitley, "so we're especially concerned about preparing people for the changeover in Chicago where they've never done this before." "The thing we're emphasizing is that business people should check with their associates, especially those outside our region, to let them know they may have to reprogram their privately owned phone equipment to be able to call people here," said Whitley. Ameritech has sent more than 100,000 area code switch kits to Chicago businesses, he said. People can call 312-727-6232 to request the kits. The only part of the city that will keep its 312 area code is an expanded area around downtown that is roughly bordered on the north by North Avenue, on the west by Western Avenue and on the south by 35th Street. From Oct. 12 to Jan. 11, 1997, people can still dial 773 area calls as if they were in the 312 area, he said. Making matters more confusing, there are some exceptions to the new system. All Chicago city offices will have a 312 area code regardless of their location and all schools will have a 773 designation regardless of location. People living near the boundaries may not have the same area code as other people on the same side of the street. Those people can call 1-800-988-5888 to learn precisely which area code they're in. Businesses are a major concern because most vendors and customers have a variety of privately owned phone switching equipment, said Whitley. Some of the newer equipment will automatically accommodate the 773 code, but some older units must be reprogrammed specifically to handle 773 calls. "The point is that people must think about whether their equipment can handle 773 area code calls," Whitley said. "You can't just assume that it will." To a lesser extent, this is also true for residential customers. "We're urging people now to call their aunts and uncles and out-of-town friends, telling them to reprogram their speed dial functions so they reflect the 773 code, and people may have to reprogram their computer modems and fax machines as well," he said. "There's a lot to think about, and we want people to start thinking about it now." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reason the public schools will all be in area 773 regardless of location is because they are all served by a centrex at the school board administrative building which itself is in 773 territory on the southwest side of the city. Likewise, all City of Chicago administrative offices are served by a centrex which is in downtown Chicago in 312 territory. There are a few other excep- tions as well, such as federal government offices and post offices served by centrexes located in 312. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Kevin Poulson Out of Jail Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 00:59:52 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Ex-con hacker Poulsen forbidden to use computers BY CAROL MORELLO Knight-Ridder News Service LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Lee Poulsen can do amazing things with a computer and a modem, many of them illegal. He can tap the FBI's phones, rig radio call-in lines to win big prizes, even make his own calls traceable to the bowels of the phone company itself. But he is forbidden to use any computer for three years, even for schoolwork or a job. He considers his megabyte machinations an art form, like so many oils and brushes in the hands of Picasso. But to prosecutors, letting the 30-year-old Poulsen be in the same room with a computer is like handing a baseball bat to Al Capone. In a world increasingly driven by computers and plagued by a spreading rash of security breaches and viruses, authorities fear sophisticated hackers such as Poulsen can outwit all the barriers they conjure. Even among hackers, Poulsen's computer shenanigans are legendary. And that is why authorities made an example of him and he landed more hard time than any hacker in history. Fresh out of five years in prison, Poulsen now is forbidden to so much as touch a keyboard for three years. Under the terms of his probation, itchy fingers around a PC could send him straight back to jail. The irony is not lost on him. In libraries, he pointedly laments the demise of the card catalog and asks librarians to look up books for him in their computer indexes. Wanting to pursue higher education, he chose a field -- English literature -- that doesn't require computer literacy. He needs work, but most office jobs are out of the question, so he's pursuing an opening for a boot salesman at a country-western store. For now, he lives with his parents, although on the advice of his probation officer they stashed their new computer in a warehouse before he moved in. Fearful of crossing the line unwittingly, he has gone to the extreme of seeking permission to use automated teller machines and drive automobiles equipped with computer chips that regulate the engines. Poulsen has found being computerless such an impediment to normal life that he has asked the U.S. district judge who sentenced him to grant a little leeway to enroll in college courses -- as a student, not a teacher -- in computer science to get his degree. "I can do without computers for three years if I have to, but it's where my talents lie," said Poulsen, a slender, clean-cut blond who looks as though he belongs at a fraternity party instead of sitting outside a Santa Monica Starbucks swapping prison stories with a homeless ex-con who tried to cadge some change from him. "I have to pay almost $70,000 in restitution, and I have no chance of doing that without a computer job. There are a lot of legitimate opportunities in computers. I'm a reformed guy." Poulsen already lost one chance to prove it. As a teen-ager, he was a brilliant hacker who went by the handle "Dark Dante." Working on a cheap Radio Shack TRS-80, he got his thrills penetrating the Pentagon's computer web of military and research centers, as well as various universities and think tanks that work on classified military projects. It was all reminiscent of "WarGames," the hallmark movie of teen-age hacking culture. He was just 17 when the FBI and UCLA campus cops caught up with him in 1983. He was never charged because he was a juvenile, but his $200 computer was seized. As Poulsen tells it, he was ready to give up clandestine hacking for a legitimate job with a prestigious think tank near Stanford University that recruited him after publicity over his exploits. The job initially was boring, but he quickly advanced in pay and responsibilities. The Pentagon even approved his security clearance for military projects. Although he had made a smooth transition from renegade to government- approved hacker, Poulsen was surrounded by other computerphiles who talked about their hacking exploits. The 11th-grade dropout was hanging out with men who had master's and doctorates, but they were all hackers at heart. "We started swapping war stories about the trouble we got into and how to avoid it," Poulsen said. "It got the old juices going. I like something challenging." Soon Poulsen and a colleague were picking the locks of phone-company buildings and entering at night to purloin manuals, passwords -- anything that got him access to pearls such as the unlisted phone numbers of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco. In essence, Poulsen was living out a fantasy computer game, going in stealth to explore dark rooms filled with exotic goodies. "To be physically inside an office, finding the flaws in the system and what works, was intellectually challenging," said Poulsen, recalling the time he crawled through the transom to break into the local phone company's security office. "It proved irresistible. It wasn't for ego or money. It was for curiosity. A need for adventure. An intellectual challenge and an adrenalin rush. It was fun. And at the time, it seemed pretty harmless." Eventually, Poulsen got word that the FBI and the phone-company police were asking questions about him at work. Poulsen went into hiding, but he set up a voice mail where the feds could leave messages for him. He learned they were talking espionage, accusing him of infiltrating federal investigations of mobsters and former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Poulsen felt he was being set up, and figured out both low- and high-tech ways to elude capture. He rented an apartment and an office under an alias, dyed his hair and tapped FBI phones so he could determine which of his friends and family they were tapping. When his case was profiled on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries," he called in a tip that the real Kevin Lee Poulsen was the actor playing him on the program. He desperately needed cash to live on. So, using his computer expertise, he jimmied telephone lines during radio contests so he was guaranteed to be whatever number caller would win. He raked in $30,000 cash, a Porsche and a vacation in Hawaii. In the end, all his subterfuges came to nothing. He was caught in 1991 when authorities staked out the supermarket he frequented. In his contact-lens case, the FBI found a handcuff key he had stashed in case he was caught. Ultimately, the government dropped its espionage charges and Poulsen pleaded guilty to computer fraud, mail fraud, intercepting wire and electronic communications, money laundering, and removing property to prevent seizure. He spent five years in jail before his release in July. Today, he sounds only somewhat contrite. "By profiting as a hacker, I went over the line," he said. "I saw it as victimless. And they were giving the prizes away, anyway. But among hacker culture, it's accepted a hacker doesn't profit from what he does. With profit, the work is corrupted. I have regret, as far as moral decisions go. I just felt circumstances swept me along." Ordered to pay restitution for the prizes he swindled, Poulsen believes he should be permitted to get a degree in computer science so he can eventually get a well-paying job. His friends have designed a Web page in which he outlines his case in a letter to the judge: http://www.catalog.com/kevin The prosecutor who handled the case believes Poulsen needs supervision at the keyboard. "Two times before he's been involved in computers and abused them," said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schindler. "It would be foolish and foolhardy to look the other way and give him unfettered control over a computer." Poulsen said he just hopes to start building a life making legitimate use of the field he knows best. "I wasted years as a fugitive and in jail," he said. "Three more years of my life will be wasted if this obstacle remains. That's what I want to avoid. I just want to restart my life after being on pause for a while." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 00:01:05 -0400 From: BellSouth Subject: BellSouth Employees Restore Serive After Hurricane Fran [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jim Jacobs passed along this item issued by BellSouth, and he added a note when he sent it. PAT] "Pat, I usually don't get excited about press releases which tell you how wonderful a company is. What's interesting here is that BellSouth is giving customers located in areas that were hard hit by the storm FREE Remote Access Call Forwarding. My local Telco (GTE) and many others don't offer this service at any price." ---------------------- The report for Monday, September 8, 1996: BELLSOUTH EMPLOYEES RESTORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE; PROVIDE ICE, FREE PHONE BANKS, SERVICE ORDER WAIVERS As BellSouth employees removed trees, repaired phone lines and distributed generators to run the BellSouth telecommunications network during the commercial power outage resulting from Hurricane Fran, BellSouth Pioneer Volunteers focused on customers' needs for ice and other donated items. "Our primary focus is on helping customers who have temporarily lost telephone service, and we also are doing our part to assist people with other pressing needs," said Kathy Hawkins, BellSouth's Director for Corporate and External Affairs. BellSouth provides telecommunications service to customers in the Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Goldsboro, Mount Olive, Grantham and Princeton area. The company also serves two other areas hit hard by the hurricane: the Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach area and the Greensboro, Winston-Salem area. The BellSouth Pioneer Volunteers are bringing a truck filled with 6,000 bags of ice to the Carrboro Plaza shopping center around 6:30 on Monday morning. The shopping center is on N.C. Highway 54 between Carrboro and Chapel Hill. The American Red Cross will distribute the ice, with the help of BellSouth. The BellSouth Pioneer Volunteers also are bringing in an additional truck of ice to Raleigh on Monday to be given free to the public. The Wake County Emergency Operations Center will coordinate the ice distribution, as with all ice distributions in Wake County. "We earlier had provided a truck of 6,000 bags of ice to the people of Wayne County on Sunday," Hawkins said. "We had people lined up to receive the ice. We know this is one of the greatest needs in the area, so we want to do our part to help." The company also has taken steps to help customers who may have lost telephone service during the hurricane. "While our reports indicate that fewer than five percent of our customers have lost telephone service, we consider it a serious issue when any of our customers are without service," Hawkins said. "While we work to restore service, we are also providing banks of telephones on trailers for free local calls by the public during the disaster recovery." The company has placed one set of eight phones at the American Red Cross center at Garner High School at 2101 Spring Drive in Garner in Wake County; the second set of eight phones has been located at the American Red Cross center at Chapel Hill Senior High School on High School Road in Orange County. "We know how important it is for people to be able to make important calls after a disaster of this sort," Hawkins said. BellSouth is encouraging customers to use these telephones, as well as their own telephones, only for essential calls, to avoid tying up the network during this time of emergency. For customers who were displaced by Fran, BellSouth will waive installation and disconnection charges, both at a customer's permanent and temporary location. "We want customers whose homes were destroyed or damaged so severely that they have had to move to a temporary location to call us to disconnect telephone service at their homes and install service at their new locations," Hawkins said. "With this arrangement, callers to the previous telephone number will hear a recording giving the new number," she said. "When our customers return to their homes and restore their original lines, we will again waive the installation charges." In addition, BellSouth is offering free Remote Access to Call Forwarding, a service which allows customers to call from any location to forward incoming phone calls to another telephone number. Under usual circumstances, Call Forwarding must be programmed from the home location. Some customers' homes may have been destroyed or damaged too severely for anyone to return to them. "We're providing this for free because we know that some of our customers who sought shelter elsewhere can't even get to their homes conveniently," Hawkins said. "With Remote Access to Call Forwarding, customers can use their regular phone number but have it ring somewhere else or have messages from callers recorded and picked up at a later time." To help with restoration efforts, 117 crew members from Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee were arriving here today. From a centralized work location, they will be sent into the hardest hit areas to help restore service. Crews currently are fueling generators, removing trees from phone lines where the trees are not also on electrical lines, working outages where electrical lines are not also involved, keeping generators running at central offices that have lost commercial power and repairing cut lines. For safety reasons, BellSouth must come behind the electric companies when electrical lines also are down. For Information Contact: Kathy Hawkins, 833-5258 Lynn Roberson, 821-6849 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now that a few more days have passed, things are gradually coming back together on the east coast, but there still remains a lot of restoration to be done. Congratulations to BellSouth on their involvement over and above the call of duty. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 01:08:52 -0400 From: Jack Decker Subject: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Interner Service Provider? I have an account with a local Internet Service Provider called Novagate Communications Corporation. Their nearest POP is in Muskegon, Michigan on the 616-728 exchange, which is served by GTE. I receive service from the Whitehall, Michigan exchange (616-893 exchange). On more than one occasion, I've tried to dial into Novagate's POP during the evening hours (say between 9:30 and 11:00 PM) and have received an "I'm sorry, all circuits are busy now" recording. Persistent redialing will generally get me through, but it may take from 5 to 25 minutes. Now, you might assume that indeed, the circuits really are busy -- and that is exactly what I thought at first. But it bothered me that it happened in the late evening hours -- after all, you'd expect residential phone calls to start declining after about 9:00 or 10:00 at night. And neither of the two exchanges involved are small exchanges -- I would bet that Muskegon has close to 100,000 lines, if not more, while Whitehall has enough to warrant two exchange prefixes (893 and 894). And I know for a fact that the ISP in question doesn't have more than about 40 or 50 incoming lines total (unless they've added a bunch in the last two or three months). And also, I noticed that I never received these recordings until about a month or so before GTE started offering their own Internet service in this area. Of course, that may be entirely a coincidence, but it seemed a little suspicious to me. So tonight, when I started getting the recording again, I did a little test (actually I had done this same test once before -- more on that in a moment). I got on another phone line and started manually dialing a business that I knew was 1) on the same 616-728 exchange as Novagate's POP, 2) closed for the evening, and 3) physically located within a block or two of the building where Novagate's POP is located. NEVER ONCE did I get an "all circuits busy" recording on that number, even as the modem continued to redial on the other line and continued receiving the "all circuits busy" message. It probably took about six or seven tries at least to get through, and in that exact same time period I probably racked up about as many completed calls to the store (completed in the sense that I could let it ring three or four times and then hang up, without getting the recording). As I mentioned, I ran this test once before, I think a couple months ago or thereabouts. At that time I only had one phone line available, so I just took the computer offline entirely, and started manually dialing first the store's number, then Novagate's POP in succession. In about a half hour's time, I never once got the "all circuits busy" on the store number. I was actually able to connect to Novagate's modems only three times during that period! When I mentioned this data to the folks at Novagate, they indicated that they were aware of the problem but that GTE had been quite unresponsive in doing anything about it. Now, obviously my tests are not totally scientific, but if you asked me what my opinion is, I would have to say that I believe there is a very strong possibility that either GTE is doing something to cause the "all circuits busy" condition at Novagate's POP, or if we are to be charitable, they at the very least are simply not making any effort to fix the problem. Since GTE also offers Internet services, I believe that it is at least possible that someone at GTE may feel that it is to their advantage to let service to competitors degrade, so that Internet users will switch to GTE's service (which brings up a side point: Are there any newsgroups or mailing lists where GTE's Internet service is the topic of discussion? I'd be curious to know if users are discussing their service, the way they talk about AOL or some of the other major ISP's). Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone else in GTE land has experienced this same problem in connecting to their ISP, or if this is just an isolated case. And if, by any odd chance, anyone from GTE happens to read this, it would be much appreciated if you could find out why ONLY calls to Novagate's Muskegon POP seem to encounter the "all circuits busy" condition, when other calls to Muskegon virtually always seem to go through without a hitch (and also, why have the GTE folks here been unresponsive to this problem)? Jack ------------------------------ From: Joseph Gutstein Subject: Cellular Phone for Emergency Only? Organization: Cybernex Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 11:08:54 GMT My Mom, who lives in southern Florida, would like a cellular phone for emergency use only, ie. to call 911. Any idea about an inexpensive way to accomplish this would be appreciated. (About a year ago I read a post from a provider who was going to offer such a service but I never received a reply.) Thanks, Joe ------------------------------ From: Mesut Arpaci Subject: 5th Annual DECT Congress Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 14:08:47 +0100 Organization: Bogazici Universitesi 5th Annual DECT Congress - London - September 23rd - 25th 1996 If you are interested in DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) technology and its applications in Cordless, Residential, Wireless Office, Local Loop, PSTN, Data and GSM Integration then why not check out the web site for the Congress at http://telecoms.iir.co.uk/dect/ The conference looks beyond the European Market and also includes comparisons with PHS, PACS, CT2 and other systems. Alongside the conference is the DECT Congress Newsgroup - FREE to all registered delegates. ------------------------------ From: bfisher@mail.calypso.com (Barton Fisher) Subject: Any DAX (Ram Research) Developers Out There? Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 06:47:23 GMT Organization: All USENET -- www.net-link.com If you are ... please email me. Like to start a support group. Thanks, Bart bfisher@mail.calypso.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #484 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 13 11:06:55 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id LAA02973; Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:06:55 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:06:55 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609131506.LAA02973@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #485 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Sep 96 11:06:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 485 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (Will Roberts) Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (Mike O'Connor) Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma (Dave Keeny) Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' (Wizzard) Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (Felipe Rodriquez) Re: German Censorship: Latest News (Felipe Rodriquez) Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (David Richards) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Mike Fox) Telecom History "Avilton Mutual Telephone Company" (John W. Keating, III) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: oldbear@arctos.com (The Old Bear) Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:14:15 -0400 In Telecom-Digest: Volume 16, Issue 483, (Message 11 of 16) TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The thing you are missing here is that > AOL subscribers *do* have to pay for outgoing message deliver, yet > where does a great deal of spam come from? Maybe they sent out spam > and run up a big big with their service provider and then knowing > they are gonna get kicked off the next day anyway they don't bother > to pay the bill. PAT] However, this is not true. The following is from AOL member services: "Unlike some services, America Online does not charge a separate fee for sending or receiving e-mail. This means you can send as much mail as you like, whether it be to other America Online members or to the Internet and services such as Prodigy and CompuServe, at no additional charge. The use of e-mail is included in your low monthly subscription fee." Please note that while AOL has no charge for incoming or outgoing email, it does charge the normal per minute charges for connect time. Even this can be minimized by using AOL's "flash session" feature which allows AOL users the option of composing and reading mail off-line and scheduling the AOL client software to automatically connects at a pre-scheduled time and to exchange mail with the system. (Many legit AOL customers use this method to send and retrieve e-mail from their home telephones during hours when they are less likely to need use of their phone for other purposes.) (I believe that Compuserve used to charge for each item of email sent or received between its system and the internet but it no longer does so. You see fewer spams from Compuserve, however, because the Compuserve software does not lend itself to generating very large mailing lists.) Please be aware that AOL does have an ANTI-SPAMMING POLICY for its customers as part of its "Terms of Service" agreement and has set up a special mailbox for receiving reports spamming by AOL customers. If you receive unsolicited email from an AOL account, please report it to < abuse@aol.com >. And AOL does make an effort to enforce its terms of service. While not a spamming infraction, a teenage friend of my son managed to get his father's AOL account suspended because of alleged infractions of AOL's "Terms of Service". It took several phone calls and a written letter of apology to AOL to get the account reinstated. (The kid's father was so miffed at the kid that he took the kid's modem away. I think this is the 90's parental analog of taking away the keys to the car.) Of course, the real problem is commercial spammers. It is still possible to get an AOL account up and running instantly by just giving AOL a credit card number for billing purposes. Not all the people who open AOL accounts are honest or are using authorized credit card numbers... or using credit card accounts which are not in themselves free introductory offers which will be shut down after this single use. And, of course, there are also compromised legit AOL accounts where, through various subterfuges, someone has gathered a username and password from an unsuspecting legitimate customer. So that other family members can share an AOL account, or so that AOL users can maintain separate professional and personal identities, AOL also allows its customers to create up to five usernames on a single account, and to change four of those names whenever they like. Once a name is used and abandoned, that name cannot be re-used either by the same customer or anyone else --- so AOL can always track a user name back to a specific customer account even if that username is no longer valid. Hence, while you may reply to an AOL spammer and find your message returned by the AOL mail system marked "user unknown", sending email to < abuse@aol.com > reporting the "unknown" user still will allow AOL to identify the master account which originated the spam -- assuming that the spam came from AOL and not from some other system with a forged return address header. Of course, the most that AOL can do is suspend or cancel the account. Certainly not a major disincentive to spammers who just walk away and open another account. AOL is very clear on its desire to reduce or eliminate spam. (Hell, AOL wants to charge marketeers big bucks to reach its own customers via more appropriate channels built into the service... there is no advantage to AOL in letting just any $9.95 account bulk mail internally. And it certainly does nothing for AOL other than use up resouces to allow its customers to propagate spam outward.) One of the difficulties of controlling this, however, is that there are legitimate (as well as illegitimate) mailing lists. Scanning inbound or outbound traffic for multiple identical mail would zap not only spammers but also legit lists like TELECOM Digest. I have come to the point where I look upon most of this spam just like paper junk mail. Based upon the subject line and return address, it gets deleted unopened. Sometimes I get tricked (just like with paper mail) by something cleverly disguised to look like personal correspondence. Other times, I erroneously delete something (or throw something away unopened) which is from my bank, insurance company, or credit card company which looks like junk mail. Maybe this is just one of the petty annoyances of life in the late 20th century. Such is the pity. Cheers, Will Roberts The Old Bear oldbear@arctos.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 07:51:35 EDT Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma From: Mike O'Connor Reply-To: Mike O'Connor > I think AOL could resolve the problem of the court injuction against > them immediatly if they would arrange things so that the subscribers > (rather than AOL itself) did the blocking by using mail filter programs > to do the job. And it would have to be the subscriber to AOL who > specifically started the filtering program. Per AOL's press release, a user-level mail filter will be available later this month. Michael J. O'Connor Internet: mjo@dojo.mi.org InterNIC WHOIS: MJO http://www.coast.net/~mjo ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Re: The AOL Blocked Mail Dilemma Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 22:49:55 +0500 Organization: FredNet TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > I think AOL could resolve the problem of the court injuction against > them immediatly if they would arrange things so that the subscribers [proposed mail filtering snipped] > After all, what are the junkmailers going to claim in court, that > computer users do not have the right to help one another learn about > ways to control and process their email, and that AOL should be > forbidden to make available a script which its subscribers requested? I think that's a wonderful idea. I'm not a lawyer, but I would be suprised if it would be improper for AOL to design and implement the filter themselves and then give users the option of using it or not (defaulting to 'not'). They would not be encouraging users to use the filter, merely making it available as a service to users who would like to use it. Dave ------------------------------ From: Wizzard Subject: Re: AOL Fed Up With Spam; Slaton 'Repents' Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 22:48:17 -0700 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Bruce Pennypacker wrote: > Some lawyers that were interviewed said the suit could go either > way. One lawyer says that since AOL is a privately held company they > can do whatever they want. Since AOL's paying customers have had > enough of the spam then AOL is just doing what they want by blocking > it. Another lawyer likened AOL to a common carrier, claiming that > they have no right to censor e-mail just like telcos can't censor > telephone calls and must let them all go through. [Personally I think > they should be allowed to block the spam. The local telco's do offer a service to block selected numbers from your phone. I think there's a limit to the number, but AOL could possibly use this "precedent" to allow their customers to pick who gets blocked. I'm sure the spamming companies would be the first on everyone's list. Ray ------------------------------ From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Date: 11 Sep 1996 09:52:45 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses schwarz@poseidon.physik.tu-berlin.de (Georg Schwarz) writes: Dear Georg, > wrote: >> GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL, WITH 3100 WEBPAGES > ^^^^^^^ > This headline is really very unspecific and misleading. If, say, AOL > and MSN and a few other internet providers in the States (just as an > example) decided to cut access to that site for their customers, would > you also write "US CENSOR DUTCH WEBSITE ..."? Newsline headers are always unspecific, but let me refine our position. The German Prosecutor General is intimidating providers, throught the ICTF, to block access to one of our websites. The Prosecutor threathens by saying: "you may possibly make yourself subject to criminal prosecution for aiding and abetting criminal activities if you continue to allow these pages to be called up via your access points and network nodes" This has the effect of intimidating Providers into censorship, they would not want to risk a seize of their equipment, or the possibility of an arrest. If the US department of Justice would make it a policy to intimidate providers into blocking access to specific sites, I would use the headline: "US censors Dutch website" or something similar. > As of Friday Sept. 6th, 1719 GMT, I do have zero problems accessing > that URL trough my provider, DFN (Deutsches Forschungsnetz, German > Research Network), which provides Internet access for all German > academic institutions. Maybe DFN was not intimidated by the German Prosecutor. Otherwise the blockade may be effectuated, but useless. We have been changing the IP-numbers of our machines periodically, to make any attempt of censorship difficult. > He pointed out that companies who provide their customers > with that material *might* commit a criminal act by doing so (in fact > that's what he's investigating). And the result of that investigation may be confiscation of equipment and arrests of providers. What would you do if you where a provider ? Kind regards, Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 pgp Key fingerprint = 32 36 C3 D9 02 42 79 C6 D1 9F 63 EB A7 30 8B 1A ------------------------------ From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: Re: German Censorship: Latest News Date: 11 Sep 1996 10:16:22 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses Dear Pat, > Truthfully Felipe, I sort of agree with Georg Schwarz who wrote the first > article on this topic in this issue of the Digest: it seems to me to > be much ado about nothing, if I may quote Bill Shakespeare. If they > want to censor you -- and as Schwarz points out it is not at all apparent > that they are actually making any concerted or sophisticated effort to > do so -- then God bless them. They lose out; not you. In a way that is true. But in another way it is not. If countries force providers to block access to specific sites, this creates a pressure on the blocked site. This pressure could lead to the removal of the 'forbidden' information, even if it is not forbidden in the country of origin. By blocking us, some Germans are not able to access our site. Because of that reason some of our customers are cancelling their accounts. This creates a pressure on Xs4all to remove the disputed homepage, because of our commercial interests. If countries are successfull with this kind of commercial blackmail, then freedom of speech would become a commercial risk. Providers would forcefully remove information that is not forbidden in their own country, because information of some users could become a commercial risk. The real problem here is that the German Prosecutor uses intimidation, instead of going to court to clear up the fuzzy legal position of providers. The providers, as commercial entities, will want to avoid the risk of prosecution, and will try to comply with the intimidation. > Maybe you at your site could watch for inbound traffic from German sites > and respond the same way, eh? Or is it easier and more Usenet-like > to create some sort of international incident? PAT] It is an international incident, because the effects of the German Prosecutor's intimidation are international. We'll probably soon see other governments using the same techniques of intimidation to enforce blocking sites, even countries. I believe that we netizens should make enough noise to convince governments that censorship does not work, and has the opposite effect. They can try, but why should we even allow that ? But the lesson of this whole affair is that Internet is still resistant against censorship, and that it is impossible now to stop people from reading things they want to read. Regards, Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 pgp Key fingerprint = 32 36 C3 D9 02 42 79 C6 D1 9F 63 EB A7 30 8B 1A ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Organization: Ripco Internet BBS Chicago Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:22:25 GMT In article , Georg Schwarz wrote: > wrote: >> GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL, WITH 3100 WEBPAGES > ^^^^^^^ > That's wrong! The German prosecuter, as can be read in the letter to > which you have given the URLs, merely informed that company > (companies?) about the ongoing investgation in conjunction with that > magazine. He pointed out that companies who provide their customers > with that material *might* commit a criminal act by doing so (in fact > that's what he's investigating). Have you ever had your entire information system confiscated by the SS for distributing a file they wanted supressed? We have. It wasn't fun. Have you ever received a letter with a threatening tone on Government letterhead, stating that continuing to provide certain information could open you to legal penalties? Southland corporation (Operators of the 7-11 chain) did, and stopped selling a number of _legal_ adult (aka pornographic) magazines as a result. > He did not, however, demand from that companies to shut down access, > nor would he have the right to do so without any court's ruling. Usually a 'friendly' letter is enough ... > That whole story very much reminds me of what happened at CompuServe > last year (I think). Bavarian prosecuters had informed CompuServe in > Munich that they had got information according to which some > newsgroups on CompuServe's server were said to contain material > illegal by German law (was it child pornography? Sorry, I don't > remember). They officially informed CompuServe that they had started > an investigation into that matter (that's what they are obliged > to). Without being requested by anyone, let alone by any court, > CompuServe decided to cut access for their customers to a wide range > of newsgroups. While Federal officials may not be able to 'demand' that companies shut down information access without a court ruling, a well-phrased letter stating potential legal liability (as above, or with Southland) can have a chilling effect on the free exchange of information. If any corporation gets a letter from a Federal Agency, stating that they 'may be in violation' and the agency has 'started an investigation', the corporation's lawyers will STRONGLY recommend that they cover their collective ass and cut access. Immediately. Back when the Internet just linked a few Universities, American e-zines were distributed manually via hundreds of small Bulletin Board Systems around the country. One 'hacker' oriented magazine, Phrack, published an internal telephone company document describing the operation of the emergency 911 system. At worst, a copyright violation. The Secret Service finds out and goes ballistic; on May 8, 1990 they destroyed 28 BBSs in 13 cities. No charges were filed, they just confiscated anything remotely computer related and left a receipt. It took four years for them to return the hardware, and they never did apologize. Search for 'Operation Sundevil' on any web index. This is the censor's next step. David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three My opinions are my own, Public Access in Chicago But they are available for rental Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased dr@ripco.com (312) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail! ------------------------------ From: Mike Fox Date: 13 Sep 1996 08:45:13 GMT Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas bnr400!ingraih@uunet.uu.net wrote: > On another point, it has been reported that crews from the power > companies had been dispatched to SC about Wednesday/Thursday since > there was a feeling Fran would come ashore around Georgetown. Since > the crews were socked in down there, they did not really get started > in this area until late Friday/early Saturday. Of course they have > done a teriffic job and I certainly am not knocking their efforts. I > just wonder about the wisdom of pre-dispatching crews given the > unpredictable nature of hurricanes and the relative close proximity of > costal Carolina to major strategic home bases. BellSouth Mobility, the new PCS carrier in NC/SC/TN also fell into this trap. They sent all their generators to Wilmington (on the coast) so when the Raleigh-Durham area was severly damaged, they didn't have any generators here and had to ship them back. As a result, the BellSouth Mobility PCS service in Raleigh was mostly down for a day or two after the storm, until they got their generators back from the coast. The local newspaper said they started calling their customers to tell them that it would be back soon, but the overwhelming response was "I have more important things to worry about," so they stopped calling. The other cellular carriers did stay up. goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) wrote: > The good news is that the telephone system, having almost all of its > lines underground, has come through almost unscathed, at least here in > the Raleigh-Durham area (over which Fran's eye passed very early > Friday morning). The figures I saw in the newspaper quoted BellSouth > and GTE as saying that fewer then 10,000 phone customers lost service > in the region, compared to the hundreds of thousands who lost > electrical power. At the peak Friday, over 80 percent of electrical > customers in the area were without power, including my home. But > BellSouth came through for us the whole time. Heck, even our GTE > Cellular One phone worked on Friday. My kudos to the telcos. I didn't observe the same goodness Bob is reporting. True, my BellSouth landline made it through the storm on Friday morning, but by late Friday afternoon, several hours after the hurricane had left the area, my phone service went down for about 12 hours. About 50% of the people I know or have tried to contact in the Raleigh-Durham area lost their phone service AFTER it had survived the hurricane. I wonder if these are being reported in the numbers that the phone companies are giving. There were rumors that the phone company was pulling the plug on random people in order to free up lines for emergency use (I am on the same switch as a hospital), which would be understandable and I would support that move even if it cost me my service, but no credible source (i.e., newspaper article or "BellSouth progress report" ad in the newspaper) has confirmed this. As I write this my parents do not have reliable phone service yet, and they are getting by with my cellular phone, and they are NOT on the same switch as a hospital. They too had their phone service survive the hurricane only to have it go down a day later. Also it's worth noting that BellSouth has taken some nice measures: 1. They have set up temporary phone banks near areas with outages 2. They are waiving all setup and connection fees for people who have to move to temporary housing. The fees will also be waived to reconnect to houses that were hurricane damaged. This got me to thinking about how the phone companies could handle emergencies like this in the future. I have no qualms with pulling the plug on residential service to free up lines for emergency use, but I wonder if it could have been done smoother. Maybe a system like: 1. First pull the plug on second lines to the same address. Lines like this that are candidate to be pulled could be identified in advance and kept in a database. If that doesn't free enough up then: 2. Let people keep their dialtone but limit call length to five minutes or so. 3. If that still doesn't free up enough, pull the plug on every other house so people still have a working phone nearby, instead of blacking out entire neighborhoods like BellSouth appears to have done. This is all assuming that they actually did pull the plug on us to free up lines for emergency use, and it wasn't some other reason (like power line repair workers accidently cutting the phone lines). A tough situation all around and "thank you" to all those from the phone and power companies working around the clock to get things back. Later, Mike ------------------------------ From: John W. Keating, III Subject: Telecom History Question: "Avilton Mutual Telephone Company" Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 15:14:51 -0400 Organization: Keating Network Services Okay, here's one for the history buffs out there ... I've run across a stock certificate for a company located in Western Maryland known as "The Avilton Mutual Telephone Company". What is the history of said company? Was it bought out by C&P? Or did it just go under quietly? This stock certificate was dated in the early 1900's. (I don't have the certificate here at work, or I'd give an exact date.) One of the principals listed bore the surname of POPE. Thanks for any information on the company itself, or sources where I might find information about the company. John Keating ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #485 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Fri Sep 13 12:08:12 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA08997; Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:08:12 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:08:12 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609131608.MAA08997@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #486 TELECOM Digest Fri, 13 Sep 96 12:08:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 486 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Provider Under Siege (Mike Pollock) BellSouth Residential Service Rated Nation's Best (Mike King) Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile Sign Smart Phone Contract (Mike King) Private Information Available on Internet (Rich Dodge) IWANNT97 Call For Papers (Lee Giles) Interesting New URL For Your Review (TELECOM Digest Editor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 10:20:46 -0700 From: Mike Pollock Organization: SJS Entertainment Subject: Internet Provider Under Siege Glad I'm no longer pheel@panix.com! Internet Provider Under Siege By EVAN RAMSTAD AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- An unscrupulous computer hacker, taking advantage of a weakness in the construction of the Internet, has driven an Internet access company to its knees in an attack computer security experts say is one of the longest ever seen. The attack has prevented Public Access Networks Corp., the first company to provide Internet connections to New York City residents, from connecting its customers to the global data network for nearly a week. Thousands of individuals and dozens of companies have been affected, most in New York. The company, known as Panix, is small and privately-owned and may not survive if the attack persists. "It means 25 people could shortly be looking for work," said Alexis Rosen, president and co-owner of Panix. "We may well survive this. We know the business a lot better than most." The hacker is sending scores of requests for information each second to computers at Panix. But the requests have fake return addresses, which confuse the Panix computers. At the rate the fake requests are coming, Panix is unable to handle legitimate interactions with other computers. The attack, and news accounts of it, has given greater exposure to a problem with the Internet that many security experts and network design engineers are familiar with but rarely discuss publicly. Computers that provide information distributed through the Internet operate under the general assumption that they will be sending the information to a legitimate destination. If the request has a fake destination, the computer becomes tied up trying to find it. If one is not found the computer moves on to the next task. Computers are set up to handle only a few bogus requests simultaneously, not dozens or hundreds per second. Experts from Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Bell Labs and the CERT Coordination Center, a Pittsburgh-based group that responds to Internet security troubles, are helping Panix. But Rosen said, "There's no help to be had. This a problem fundamental to the structure of the Internet." The easiest solution would be for all other Internet access companies to filter their outgoing traffic to make sure the data has legitimate return addresses. But it could take months for companies to agree to that and take the necessary technical steps. "Until all people start filtering their traffic to assure there are no forgeries in the packets, this attack can continue unabated," Rosen said. "We've been batting around possible defenses," said William Cheswick, a Bell Labs scientist. But he said any kind of computer system can be overloaded. "It's an arms race," he said. "A lot of the easy solutions for dealing with the attack are looking for idiosyncrasies in it and separating the attack (data) packets from the other ones. That game only goes on for so long before we can't tell them apart again." Typically, hacker attacks on corporate computers are brief. The length of that Panix has been under siege is especially severe. It began last Friday, was interrupted Sunday evening but restarted Monday. Panix, started in 1989, has 6,000 individual subscribers and connects over 1,000 companies to the Internet. It also hosts World Wide Web sites for dozens of companies. Rosen, who is the technical wizard behind the service, has had little sleep since the attacks began. "What else would I be but tired and angry?" he said. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even with all the bogus addresses being sent, isn't there a likelyhood all or most of this is coming from one site somewhere? You'd think the header information would have a lot of stuff in common which could be used as a starting point. And if this guy is literally sending out that much junk, some site, somewhere should be seeing huge amounts of outgoing traffic to panix. I'd think he could work his way back through the header information and find some (legitimate) things in common on all of it. Also, instead of trying to answer it all on the spot with the obvious results, if there is any one address or subject phrase or something which is common to all the incoming mail in this problem why not quit attempting to reply to mail which meets that criteria sending it instead to /dev/null with perhaps one out of every hundred or one out of every thousand such items pulled for manual review and investigation? With that much traffic, some sysadmin somewhere ought to be able to see it leaving his site heading for panix. I had this happen to me not long ago, although in no where near the volume panix is experiencing. Someone started sending me bogus requests to sign up for TELECOM Digest. I guess they thought I would be so pleased to see all the new subscribers I would not realize it was a fraud. But the thing is I know historically about what amount of mail I am going to get here, I see major changes in volume (up or down) and once I started adding some of those names to the list and the mail all started bouncing I just looked through a half-dozen or so items of mail, found one site where everything was always passing through and slammed the brakes on that one. Now as I said, the volume was not at all like what panix is experiencing, but in a way, that's good. Whoever is doing this to him is not moving around from one site to another; they are sitting somewhere and running a script and I'll bet you anything the guy is going to get caught. You just cannot get that outrageous without people finding out about it. The guy can put whatever he wants in his header I suppose, but he has to be giving the mail to *someone*, doesn't he, on its way to panix? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Residential Service Rated Nation's Best Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 01:12:19 PDT Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 09:59:27 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELLSOUTH RESIDENTIAL SERVICE RATED NATION'S BEST NATIONAL STUDY SAYS CUSTOMERS RATE BELLSOUTH RESIDENTIAL SERVICE NATION'S BEST ATLANTA -Results of a national study of residential customers' satisfaction with their local telephone companies rank BellSouth as the customer's choice as top performer. According to BellSouth, this study reinforces it's leadership position in the highly competitive local telecommunications marketplace. The survey, conducted by international marketing information firm J. D. Power and Associates, polled customers of the nine major providers of local telecommunications in the U. S. Customers were asked how satisfied they were with their local telephone company's cost of service, corporate image, call quality, billing, and other areas of operations. BellSouth was ranked highest of the seven former regional Bell and two largest independent telephone companies. "We are extremely gratified to see that our customers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the service we provide, but we can't rest on our laurels," said Judi North, BellSouth president for Consumer Services. "We will use these survey results as a benchmark to ensure that we maintain our focus on meeting our customers' needs and expectations." BellSouth also is viewed as an industry leader in the sophistication of its network architecture, customer growth and its deployment and marketing of advanced telecommunications services. "Operating in nine southeastern states, BellSouth serves approximately 15 million residential telephone customers. During September, we will install our three millionth Caller ID customer and before the end of the year we will have over seven million TouchStar(R) features in service," North said. TouchStar features are optional advanced calling features such as Call Return, Repeat Dialing and Anonymous Call Rejection. Among the primary contributors to customer satisfaction, according to the study, were the "cost of service" and "company image." As the survey results indicate, BellSouth took positive strides in both of these areas during 1996. "This year, we introduced innovative new pricing plans for our residential customers that enable our customers to pay a single low monthly rate for a touch-tone equipped telephone line and their selection of other services. Our Complete Choice (SM) plan combines the line with the customer's choice of any optional convenience or security features-including the TouchStar features, Caller ID and Custom Calling Features. Our Area Plus(SM) plan packages the line and unlimited calling within an extended local calling area. Still another option combines both of those plans. These plans have been received very well in the locations where we've introduced them," North indicated. As for image, BellSouth was a huge winner in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. "As official local telecommunications provider, we had to perform flawlessly with the whole world watching," North said. "And that's just what we did. BellSouth carried close to 3,900 hours of uninterrupted video from July 19 through August 4. When you count hours of broadcast time, we originated approximately 100,000 video hours, and our network didn't miss a frame." Although "disaster preparedness/recovery" wasn't included in the survey, BellSouth has a proven record of performance. "We battle tornadoes, hurricanes and flooding on a regular basis in our geographic area. In fact, our network is engineered to withstand these and other natural disasters. We use extremely durable fiber optics, digital electronic equipment and experienced, dedicated employers to keep the area's lifeline-its telephone service-working," she said. BellSouth provides telecommunications services in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. With its headquarters in Atlanta, BellSouth serves approximately 22 million local telephone lines and provides local exchange and intraLATA long distance service over one of the most modern telecommunications networks in the world. For Information Contact: John Goldman, (205) 977-5007 ---------------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile Sign Smart Phone Contract Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 01:30:18 PDT Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:41:20 -0400 (EDT) From: BellSouth Subject: BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX MOBILE FIRST TO SIGN SMART PHONE CONTRACT BELL ATLANTIC NYNEX MOBILE IS FIRST TO SIGN "SMART" PHONE SERVICE CONTRACT Carrier to Provide Long Island Courier with Cellscape(SM) Service NETWORK WORLD UNPLUGGED, BOSTON -- Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile today became the first company to sign a customer contract for wireless Internet/intranet access service by inking a deal with Walsh Messenger Service Inc., a delivery company based in Garden City Park, Long Island and serving the New York City metro area. Systems integration and additional customer service is being provided by CRM Communications, Inc., located in Great Neck, Long Island. By using Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's Cellscape(SM) service and a new generation of "smart" cellular phones, 150 of Walsh's messengers will have real-time access to dispatch information on the company's intranet. They will also have information such as delivery times and package details that will help improve their productivity and customer service. Beginning in October, Walsh Messenger will use Cellscape service in place of pagers -- the company's current method of communicating with its couriers, which requires a return call from a pay phone that can sometimes cause delays and mistakes. "Increasingly, our customers who have a highly mobile work force want to give these workers remote access to data on their corporate intranets, including e-mail, as well as information on the Internet, but they don't have the flexibility to carry a laptop computer and cellular phone everywhere they go," said Mike Franklin, director-wireless data marketing for Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile. "Now, with the combination of Cellscape service and smart phones, mobile workers have all the pertinent information they need right in the palms of their hands." "Realizing we needed to upgrade our communications system, we decided to outfit our couriers with smart phones, which could be used as a cellular phone for direct communications with dispatchers and as a computer that enables two-way data transmission," said Joseph Pryor, manager, at Walsh Messenger. "We selected Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's service over other available options, because it fully meets our technical requirements and our need for coverage throughout New York City and Long Island. As a result of this investment, we anticipate better customer service based on more timely and accurate communications." "Walsh Messenger came to us with very specific requirements for supporting their mobile workforce," said Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's vice president-sales Lonnie Lauer. "We're happy to have the opportunity to put our wireless industry expertise, experience, and know-how to work for them." Scheduled for commercial availability in the fourth quarter, Cellscape will offer Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customers a full suite of services. By using browser-enabled smart phones, customers will have access to voice service, two-way messaging, e-mail, and a virtually unlimited number of information services, such as airline updates and stock quotes, all at the touch of a button. Cellscape Operation and Pricing Cellscape runs on UP.Link, a ground-breaking open software platform recently introduced by Unwired PlanetTM, Inc., a leader in wireless Internet technology. Next generation cellular phones will transmit information via Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile AirBridge(r) Packet service, which uses Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) technology to break down data into small bursts (packets) and transmits it over the cellular network using the Internet protocol. CDPD is efficient and cost effective for "near real-time" bursty applications, such as telemetry, alarms/security, messaging and automated transactions. Cellscape service will be available to customers by the end of 1996 in all of BANM's major markets and in those markets where the company has signed CDPD interoperability agreements. Specific rate plans and service packages will be announced when commercial service is available. Basic service package costs are expected to be as low as $25 to $30, including a usage allowance. Wireless Data Greenhouse For developers interested in writing vertical market HDML applications that will run over Cellscape, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile has made available the technology resources in its Wireless Data Greenhouse. This on-site laboratory is a one-stop, all-purpose testing ground for wireless data applications open to Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's customers, business alliances, and vendors. ### Editor's Note: Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest in the United States. The company offers a full range of wireless personal communications services, including voice, data and paging. Based in Bedminster, NJ, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile has nearly four million customers and 5,800 employees in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company was formed in July, 1995 by combining Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. For Information Contact: Maggie Aloia Rohr (908) 306-7757 Kristen Holmes (617) 620-7058 --------------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: rich@netcommcorp.com (Rich Dodge) Subject: Private Information Available on Internet Date: 13 Sep 1996 13:46:56 GMT Organization: Network Communications Corporation I just received the following information and wondered if anyone else is aware of this outfit. The letter suggests calling but you have to give your social security number which makes me a little nervous considering I'm talking to strangers. Subject: WARNING -- Personal Information Available on the Internet Date: Thursday, September 12, 1996 9:31AM PLEASE READ THIS Your name, social security number, current address, previous addresses, mother's maiden name, birth date and other personal information are now available to anyone with a credit card through a new Lexis database called P-Trax. As I am sure you are aware, this information could be used to commit credit card fraud or otherwise allow someone else to use your identity. You can have your name and information removed from this list by making a telephone request. Call (800)543-6862, select option 4 and then option 3 ("all other questions") and tell the representative answering that you wish to remove your name from the P-trax database. You may also send a fax to (513) 865-7360, or physical mail to LEXIS-NEXIS / P.O. Box 933 / Dayton, Ohio 45401-0933. Sending physical mail to confirm your name has been removed is always a good idea. As word of the existence of this database has spread on the net, Lexis-Nexis has been inundated with calls, and has set up a special set of operators to handle the volume. In addition, Andrew Bleh (rhymes with "Play") is a manager responsible for this product, and is the person to whom complaints about the service could be directed. He can be reached at the above 800 number. Ask for extension 3385. According to Lexis, the manager responsible is Bill Fister at extension 1364. The representative will need your name and social security number to remove you from the list. I suggest that we inundate these people with requests to remove your info from the list and forward this e-mail to everyone you know. ------------------------------ From: Lee Giles Subject: IWANNT97 Call For Papers Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 19:42:03 -0400 Organization: NEC Research Institute International Workshop on Applications of Neural Networks to Telecommunications (IWANNT*97) Melbourne, Australia June 9-11, 1997 Organizing Committee General Chair: Josh Alspector, U. of Colorado Program Chair: Rod Goodman, Caltech Publications Chair: Timothy X Brown, U. of Colorado Treasurer: Anthony Jayakumar, Bellcore Publicity: Atul Chhabra, NYNEX Lee Giles, NEC Research Institute Local Arrangements: Adam Kowalczyk, Telstra, Chair Michael Dale, Telstra Andrew Jennings, RMIT Maributu Palaniswami, U. of Melbourne Robert Slaviero, Signal Proc. Ass. (& local IEEE liason) Jacek Szymanski, Telstra Program Committee: Miklos Boda, Ellemtel Harald Brandt, Ellemtel Tzi-Dar Chiueh, National Taiwan U Bruce Denby, U of Versailles Simon Field, Nortel Francoise Fogelman, SLIGOS Tony Reeder, British Telecom Marwan A. Jabri, Sydney Univ. Thomas John, SBC S Y Kung, Princeton University Tadashi Sone, ATR Scott Toborg, SBC TRI IEEE Liaison: Steve Weinstein, NEC Conference Administrator: Susan M. Bennis IWANNT Conference Administrator Univ. of Colorado at Col. Springs Dept. of Elec. & Comp. Eng. P.O. Box 7150 Colorado Springs, CO 80933-7150 (719) 593-3351 (719) 593-3589 (fax) neuranet@mail.uccs.edu Dear Colleague: You are invited to an international workshop on applications of neural networks and other intelligent systems to problems in telecommunica- tions and information networking. This is the third workshop in a series that began in Princeton, New Jersey on October 18-20, 1993. and continued in Stockholm, Sweden on May 22-24, 1995. Suggested topics include: Internet Services Intelligent Agents Database Mining Network Management ATM Networking Wireless Networks Modulation and Coding Techniques Congestion Control Adaptive Equalization Speech Recognition Language ID/Translation Multimedia Networking Information Filtering Dynamic Routing Software Engineering Telecom Market Prediction Fault Identification and Prediction Character Recognition Adaptive Control Data Compression Credit Management Customer Modeling This conference will be at the University of Melbourne on the Monday through Wednesday (June 9 - 11, 1997) just before the Australian Conference on Neural Networks (ACNN) which will be at the same location on June 11 - 13 (Wednesday - Friday). We will enclose an advance program for the workshop as well as informa- tion for registration and hotels. There will be a hard cover proceed- ings available at the workshop. There is further information on the IWANNT home page at: http://ece-www.colorado.edu/~timxb/iwannt.html Note the following dates: Monday, Oct. 15, 1996: Abstract, summary due. Friday, Nov. 25, 1996: Notification of acceptance Monday, Feb. 10, 1997: Camera Ready Copy Due I hope to see you at the workshop. Sincerely, Josh Alspector, General Chair ------------------ C. Lee Giles / NEC Research Institute / 4 Independence Way Princeton, NJ 08540, USA / 609-951-2642 / Fax 2482 http://www.neci.nj.nec.com/homepages/giles.html ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Interesting New URL For Your Review Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 12:00:00 EDT I'd like to introduce Digest readers to Paula Pettis and her company Stuff Software. In addition to the development of Telecom Database Software, she provides a public service by making a list of new area codes and NXXs available each month at her web site. She is helping to sponsor the Digest for a short term, and after reviewing her web site myself yesterday I knew it would be a good one to recommend to all of you. Check out http://www.stuffsoftware.com and also please note that on our own web pages a link has been made to Ms. Pettis as one of the Other Interesting Sites ... Please visit her site at your convenience this weekend and let her know you read about her in TELECOM Digest. Thanks. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #486 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 16 13:02:10 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id NAA23652; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 13:02:10 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 13:02:10 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609161702.NAA23652@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #487 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Sep 96 13:02:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 487 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Technology Companies and Online Media (Tad Cook) Book Review: "The Internet Tool Kit" by Cedeno (Rob Slade) Minnesota Cut Off From the World For 12 Hours! (Ted Lee) Panix's Statement (was Re: Internet Provider Under Siege) (Danny Burstein) Question About Ameritech Voice Mail "Local" Call Charges (Sy Ali) October 1 CTI Meeting Agenda (Robert Becnel) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Technology Companies and Online Media Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 20:11:39 PDT From: tad@ssc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: See my own response to this article at its conclusion. PAT] On-line media blur journalism and PR By Cate T. Corcoran Special to the Mercury News THE INTERNET has created a strange new world where the companies creating the latest technology are also reporting on it, and the trend is raising serious questions about the objectivity of on-line media. Corporate ownership of radio, television, newspapers and magazines already has lowered the degree to which the media can be trusted for truly "objective reporting," critics say. But they fear this foray by high-tech companies into on-line publishing represents an even bigger threat to the public interest. "Computer companies are moving into the information business and looking to become content providers," said Jon Katz, media critic and book author who writes for GQ, Wired, and its on-line companion magazine, HotWired. "There's no longer any line of any sort between journalism and corporate America. "And I can't say that the line was all that clear before but it doesn't exist anymore. For the founders of American journalism like (Thomas) Jefferson and (Thomas) Paine this was their worst nightmare, that the capitalists would take over the press and control opinion. It's a tragedy, and the fact that it's happened unremarked on is unimaginable." The conflicts of interest in cyberspace are rampant, just as they are in the traditional media, where publishers have grown into huge conglomerates championing the interests of big business. Companies like General Electric, Westinghouse and Dow Jones own such media giants as RCA, NBC, CBS and the Wall Street Journal. (The Mercury News is owned by Knight-Ridder Inc. of Miami.) Critics differ on why "corporatization" of the media is dangerous. Some think computer companies make bad media owners because they don't understand the value of an objective editorial product and more closely monitor their publications than other corporate owners. Others say that the size and success of companies such as Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. gives them unprecedented clout among media owners and, thus, make them inappropriate publishers. It is becoming difficult for viewers and readers to distinguish between the companies making the news and those reporting the news. Some even fear Intel and Microsoft could use their dominance in the personal computer arena to create a monopoly in the media world as well. Thus, those companies would then control what type of information people get and how they get it. On-line conflicts of interest range from the relatively benign to the troublesome. On the one hand, companies of all sorts, not just computer companies, are putting up editorial information to lure visitors to their Web site. Examples include Levi-Strauss, Miller Brewing Co., and anti-virus software maker McAfee Associates Inc., which are all producing on-line consumer magazines analogous to Bennetton's Colors. These are usually on a smaller scale than printed efforts, but they are far more widespread because of the low costs of Internet publishing. The new Yahoo! Then there are service providers and "tool" makers, such as Yahoo! Inc., whose search engine is used to find information on the World Wide Web. Yahoo!'s primary business is high tech, but it is adding editorial content to its products to attract customers. Similarly, cable-modem service provider @Home last week unveiled its home page, a kind of Utne Reader for the Web that transforms existing information into something new by bringing together breaking news, government documents, original commentary and interactive features, such as subscriber polls. Technology companies also are investing in on-line content because they hope it helps make the Internet itself a successful business enterprise, ultimately helping to sell more of their products. In this vein, Web site developer Silicon Reef created "The Spot," a popular Net soap opera, and Intel is sponsoring the on-line sci-fi drama "EON-4." Salon1999, an on-line culture magazine, serves as a showcase for the publishing software of Abobe Systems Inc., which is a large investor in Salon through its venture capital arm. Meanwhile, Salon1999 also helps the company understand its publishing customers better, said Fred Mitchell, Adobe vice president of business development. "The Internet is still an unproven business opportunity," said Marty Taucher, a marketing manager for interactive media at Microsoft. "But investing in a compelling new publication with very credible journalists gives us the chance to test whether the Net can be successful." Success in this case means profits. Microsoft, Adobe, Apple Computer and Intel have invested in or started on-line publications to, ultimately, make money. Apple is another Salon investor, and Intel and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen own part of C/net an on-line computer trade magazine. Microsoft's many new ventures include Slate, an on-line political magazine, the travel magazine Mungo Park, and a forthcoming as-yet-unnamed series of city publications. Microsoft and NBC jointly produce MSNBC, an interNet news site and cable channel that compete with CNN. It's not surprising that Microsoft, which dominates its industry, would look for a new market to enter, said Jonathan Nelson, chief executive officer of prominent Web-site developer Organic Online. Intel adds that although it hopes its investment will be profitable, its primary interest is in selling more computer products, not becoming a content provider, said Intel spokesman Tom Waldrop. But on the Internet, the two are often synonymous. Microsoft and other technology companies are also getting into on-line publishing because they view the medium as an extension of their software products. Many industry insiders believe on-line products amount to a new format they call "hypertext," in which information is cross-referenced via electronic, non-linear links. "From a content, interactive standpoint, Microsoft has been in the multimedia business for a number of years," Microsoft's Taucher said. "We've been publishing content on CD-ROMs for six or seven years now, since we did Bookshelf. Over time, (we've been) getting more and more active in what is viewed as content for computers." On-line publishing is a natural for technology companies, since it takes tech savvy and a development budget to succeed there, Taucher said. C/net CEO Halsey Minor points out that many C/net readers come to the site to download free software and for that reason prefers to call his publication an on-line editorial service. Industry observers say computer companies don't understand editorial objectives and are more closely tied to their publications than other corporate owners. "The only reason Microsoft would be less effective (than other corporate-owned media) is that Microsoft is trying to create a publishing enterprise inside a culture that doesn't lend itself to that environment," said Stewart Alsop, an industry analyst with venture-capital firm New Enterprise Associates and former editor in chief of computer trade publication InfoWorld. "As an editor, I had as many run-ins with Microsoft as anybody in an attempt to be independent." Microsoft's MSNBC, like CNN, does cover high-tech stories and its staff includes current and former Microsoft employees. The editorial content is controlled by NBC, however, according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. At C/net, investors Intel and Microsoft co-founder Allen have no say over editorial content, according to CEO Minor. And Microsoft's Slate, while it doesn't review computer products, does comment on regulatory and other issues that affect Microsoft. Ironically, in an attempt to show the magazine's independence, Slate's first issue featured a round table discussion on whether Microsoft engages in unfair, anti-competitive practices. Alsop and Katz criticized the story for not taking a clear editorial stand on the issue and Katz also questioned whether Slate can reasonably take on such issues at all given its ownership. "It's not in my mind possible for Slate to cover monopolistic issues involving Microsoft when everyone at Slate works for them," he said. "It's just ridiculous to think that Slate is going to keep Microsoft honest anymore than the San Jose Mercury is going to keep Knight-Ridder in line." But the interests of other corporate-owned media are at least as far reaching, according to Ben H. Bagdikian former dean of University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. In his book, "The Media Monopoly," Bagdikian notes, for example, how General Electric -- which owns RCA and NBC -- not only makes household appliances, but is in the defense industry as well as banking and insurance. A key difference But GE didn't create NBC. It bought it, said Alsop. And that is the difference. Today's technology companies that are entering the media business are the creators of this new industry with a huge stake in its future. And most of the publications they have created use or report on the products the companies make. For example, C/net uses many of the same computer products it reports on, such as Microsoft's Active X programming language, which is a competitor to Sun's Java programming language. Intel and C/net plan to create a non-news site that showcases Intel technology and C/net content. Such a relationship could become a problem in a monopoly situation, said Jim Warren, computer columnist and open government advocate. Years ago, the U.S. government prohibited some movie studios from owning theaters and radio equipment companies from owning stations when they led to unfair advantages and anti-competitive behavior. Microsoft and Intel dominate the personal computer market in a way that companies such as GE don't dominate theirs, Katz said. "Westinghouse has a lot of reach with its radio stations, but none of these other companies control anything like 80 percent of their markets," he said. (Intel's microprocessors and Microsoft's Windows operating system software are used in more than 80 percent of the world's personal computers.) While the Internet market is extremely competitive, there is the potential for companies such as Microsoft and Intel to get a lock on both the creative content and the technology underlying the Internet, Katz said. "The issue really boils down to whether we want Bill Gates to control information in the next millenium or not." IF YOU'RE INTERESTED Cate T. Corcoran is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared in on-line computer publications SunWorld Online and The Site. MSNBC airs The Site, which is produced by Ziff-Davis Inc., on MSNBC's cable channel. The San Jose Mercury News maintains its own web site and has partnered with @Home to provide news for the @Home service. --------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I had misgivings about whether or not to clutter the pages of this Digest with the above 'sour grapes' item in the print media, and finally decided it would be good to include just as still further documentation of my claim that the print media *is not a friend of the net*. Remember when I said that a couple weeks ago? And *they* want to talk about objectivity in this media? *They* want to tell us how clean their hands are and how pure their thoughts are? What a laugh! They are 'not certain' if it is a good idea to have Bill Gates as a publisher? What a lot of unmitigated, collassal gall they put on display! I mean, who really cares what the print papers think any longer, considering the woeful display of ignorance most of them put out in view everytime they write about the electronic media. They get their facts about the net incorrect (look at the story last week about Panix; leading me among other people to think the problem was in -mail- rather than the header packets); getting them to issue a correction is nearly impossible; and if a story goes against the wishes of one of their major corporate advertisers it will never see print at all. And they want to say there are 'questions' about the objectivity of the electronic media? Let me repeat the basic premise here: print newspapers are becoming a relic. Years ago there were many, many more of them then there are now. There are no large city afternoon newspapers any longer. There is usually only one newspaper -- possibly two -- in very large cities which used to have a dozen or more papers. They used to have a lot of control over public opinion and thus considerable influence over their advertisers. Things are going downhill very rapidly in the print newspaper business. Not nearly so many people read them or pay any attention to them any longer. Distribution costs and problems are up, circulation is down, and the bottom line looks very grim. The print newspapers with their very large, full-page-ad-in-every- issue corporate advertisers had a nice thing going. The large utilities and corporations told the newspapers what they wanted to see and then Mr. Pulitzer told the common people what they were to believe, etc. It all worked out very nicely. But now the common people are running out of control. Everyone is a publisher; everyone says what they want. The large corporations are furious that all their millions of dollars in full page ads in the paper every day are not getting them anything except a lot more hate mail and complaints from the general public. The general public runs their own 'Letters to the Editor' feature each day in the form of Usenet. The print newspaper publishers cannot control this in any lawful, legitimate way, so instead they have their 'reporters' write all kinds of half-baked, cockeyed, highly inaccurate stories about the net in an effort to discredit what the people write. Toss in a dash of pedophelia here (always a sure seller in the print media anyway) and a little bit about 'computer hackers' from time to time as well to add to the effort to discredit this relatively new source of anquish for the print media and their accountants and advertisers. Get it straight once and for all: Newspaper publishers do not like you writing things on your computer and sending them all over the world for other people to read. They will discredit you whenever they can. Their inability to get you under control in what you write, read and talk about has eroded their bottom line worse than ever. Furthermore, large corporations do not like you writing things about them on your computer and sending them all over the world for other people to read. They pay the newspapers bribes (only they refer to them as advertising budgets) to carefully control what gets printed about them. Now that all seems to be for naught; Usenet is an end-run around the editor's red pencil. Add to this the fact that the newspapers are not at all happy that the major corporations don't need them any longer either; companies now run their own web pages and newsgroups. If I was running Knight-Ridder or a couple other of the large newspaper syndicates I would be screaming bloody murder also. And now after years of reading wildly inaccurate stories about the Internet in the print media, they are are going to tell us they question the objectivity and ethics of the people who write things on the net. Isn't that precious! The bottom line is newspaper publishers and reporters are not your friends. Remember that when you read your paper each day. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 10:27:26 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Internet Tool Kit" by Cedeno BKINTLKT.RVW 960612 "The Internet Tool Kit", Nancy Cedeno, 1995, 0-7821-1688-4, U$16.99 %A Nancy Cedeno nac@sirius.com %C 2021 Challenger Drive, Alameda, CA 94501 %D 1995 %G 0-7821-1688-4 %I Sybex Computer Books %O U$16.99 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 info@sybex.com %P 418 %T "The Internet Tool Kit" Reviewing technical books can be frustrating. Popular topics tend to attract a lot of mediocre treatments: a waste of good paper. Important topics tend to generate bad books, both because a lot of good technical people can't write, and because those who can make a buck off writing won't do proper research. And then there are overhyped works where the advertising budget far outweighs the value. It is, therefore, a positive joy to come across a genuinely good book in an important topic area. Cedeno's text is a lost jewel in the Internet library. Internet application clients -- the tools of the title -- are the face of the Internet to most users. This work explains the basic functions of ftp, telnet, mail, news, gopher, the World Wide Web, and more. However, the author has also collected basic information on a whole host of client programs, from the text based tools of the UNIX shell accounts to the Winsock based front ends. Where to get them, how to install them, and how to get started using them. Cedeno's material is clear and straightforward for the newcomer. The content is reliable. Given the volume of programs she deals with, there cannot be full documentation on every title. Still, even those who have worked with the Internet for years will find a great deal of value here, either in terms of programs they have not yet tried out, or in tidbits of helpful information for programs they use regularly. The explanation of the setup for a dialup IP (SLIP or PPP) account is possibly the best I have read anywhere. Buy this book. It's needed, and Cedeno needs enough sales to prompt Sybex to do further editions. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKINTLKT.RVW 960612 Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca Research into rslade@vcn.bc.ca User rslade@vanisl.decus.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ From: tmplee@MR.Net (Ted Lee) Subject: Minnesota Cut Off From the World For 12 Hours! Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 20:43:48 -0500 Organization: Minnesota Regional Network (MRNet) In case no-one else has mentioned it, the primary network that serves Minnesota (the Minnesota Regional Network) was cut off from the internet for 12 hours today. (My understanding is that *all* major nets and systems, private and public, in Minnesota ultimately get their connection to the rest of the world through MR.Net.) Following are the initial announcement that they had discovered they had been cut off and the final announcement indicating service had been restored: Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 10:35:22 -0500 (CDT) To: all@MR.Net Subject: NET-DOWN: MRNet isolated from rest of Internet... Greetings, MRNet has become isolated from the rest of the Internet. The T3 line to InternetMCI is up, but we are not receiving the routing table. We have no details on what happened, or the extent of the problem. InternetMCI is working on the problem, currently they do not have an estimated time to repair. According to MRNet's network monitoring we have been isolated since about quarter to 6 this morning (Sunday). Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 19:28:36 -0500 (CDT) To: all@MR.Net Subject: NET-UP: Routing restored from MCI Greetings, MCI routing was restored at 19:15 today. Downtime was over 12 hours. MRNet will be checking routing tables to see that we are getting most of the routes we should, and will be spot checking networks to make sure that our routing announcements are getting out. There has been no official word from InternetMCI as to the specific cause of this outage, or why it took more than 12 hours to fix. MRNet will be following up with InternetMCI to get an explanation on Monday. ---------------------- Dr. Theodore M.P. Lee Consultant in Computer Security PO Box 1718 tmplee@MR.Net Minnetonka, MN 55345 612-934-4532 ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Panix's Statement (was Re: Internet Provider Under Siege) Date: 15 Sep 1996 22:53:43 -0400 Here's the official statement we (Panix) released in regards to the internet attacks against us. At this time I can't give much more in the way of details, except to say that things are stable at the moment. A good analogy was in the {Wall Street Journal} article, which likened the attack to a group of folk tying up a political campaign by continuously making dozens of calls to their switchboard (ala Jerry Falwell). {The Washington Post} used the I Love Lucy skit in which she and her neighbor, Ethel, get overwhelmed working on the assembly line in the candy factory. (Actually, I think an even better one would have been the Saturday Night Live parody of this, but I better stop before I get carried away ...) Anyway here's the announcement: Panix, the NY area's oldest and largest Internet Service Provider, has been under attack from unknown sources since Friday, September 6 at about 5:30pm. Alexis Rosen, President and co-owner of Public Access Networks Corp., which runs Panix, said on Wednesday that attacks have been made against different computers on the provider's network, including mail, news and web servers, user "login" machines, and name servers-- all key computers that provide customers with access to one or more major Internet services. Attacks consist of flooding the machines with so much data that they cannot respond to legitimate requests, and faking the origin of the hostile data. This makes it impossible to trace its source without a major effort on the part of all Internet service providers between Panix and the attacking party. This is equivalent to needing the participation of multiple telephone companies in tracing the origin of an international call. The nature of the Internet, which is designed to let machines communicate with a minimum exchange of identifying information, makes *every* site on the Internet vulnerable to this sort of attack. No matter how much money, time, and engineering expertise is expended on the problem, the only solution involves strong cooperation on the part of all Internet service providers. 12 September 1996 _______________________________ dannyb@panix.com ------------------------------ From: syali@tigger.cs.uwm.edu (Sy Ali) Subject: Question About Ameritech Voice Mail "Local" Call Charges Date: 15 Sep 1996 18:59:35 GMT Organization: UW-Milwaukee, EE & CS Dept. Hi folks, your input on the below would be appreciated. On Friday September 13, 1996 we received our phone bill in the mail. It contained 455 local calls and charges for same (2-6 cents per local call), for a one month period. As this number was way out of line with prior usage (perhaps 30-100) locals per month, I called Ameritech customer service that evening to ask about the charges. I was connected to a customer service representative named Greg (position number 3841, based in an Appleton office) who proceed to explain to me that this inordinate number of local phone calls was due to our recent addition of voice mail. This service answers the phone when we are not available (functioning as an answering machine) but also transfers calls when the phone is busy (we find this latter service useful). Greg indicated that whenever a incoming phone call was routed to the voice mail, it counted as if we had made a local phone call, and thus the charge. Greg offered to reduce the local call numbers by half, however I found this inadequate for at least two reasons: (1) We were *never* at any time informed of this, in effect, per call charge. Neither the literature nor the conversations we had with customer service representative representatives indicated these charges. (2) The motivation behind it seem ludicrous (ie, calls were transfered from *our* phone to the voice mail *via* a local phone call). We were *already* paying extra for the voice mail service, also it seems the caller is paying for the call. (3) I did not feel that I should pay for telemarketer's machines to call me up and hang up our voice mail *and* incur a charge to us. The customer service representative indicated that, beyond reducing the current charges there was nothing that he could do. I then asked to speak to his supervisor, and he refused to connect me to his supervisor. I continued explaining my position (as outlined above) and re-requested a supervisor which I was again denied. At this point, Greg suggested that I move to Cuba where phone companies might be capable of tracking the calls I got (this is response to point (3)). I was astonished that such a suggestion would come from a customer service person. I then asked one final time to speak to a supervisor, was denied and terminated the conversation. As I had to be elsewhere, I later (about two hours later) contacted an Ameritech operator who transferred me to her supervisor (Amy Thompson at the Eau Claire toll office) who took down the details of my complaint (both the local charges for voice mail calls and the customer service treatment), and indicated that she would forward my complaint to the appropriate office. She indicated that they would contact me tomorrow (Sat September 14). On Saturday, having heard nothing from Ameritech, I contacted customer service once again, and was connected to Kevin (position 3734 also in the Appleton office). He indicated to me that the comments in my file were rather cryptic (his words) and requested the substance of my complaint. I reiterated the voice mail complaint as well the customer service complaint. Kevin was sympathetic and indicated that, while no manager was present on the weekend, my complaint would be addressed by a manager early next week (Mon-Wed). We like the voice mail (especially the busy transfer) and want to keep that service. Seeing as how we were never informed of the local call transfer charges (and also as we fundamentally disagree with them) I have requested that Ameritech remove these charges now and forever. In the event that they choose not to do this, I intend to complain to the Public Service Commission of WI. At this point I'm awaiting their response. I have two questions: (1) Is it legal for them to charge for local "transfered" calls to voice mail. Especially without informing us of said additional charges. Aren't add-on services tariffed? (2) Does anyone think it appropriate or fair that we are charged for these transferred calls? Is a complaint to the PSC likely to help? Thanks for your comments. Syed McRoy-Ali [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Suppose you had an off-premises answering service which took calls when you were unavailable. Would you feel that since you were paying the answering service for taking your calls, you should not have to pay for getting the calls transferred to the answering service in the first place? Or would you feel that since you were paying to have the calls forwarded, the answering service should be for free? That seems to me to be basically the argument you are making. To answer your question about tariffed services, call forwading is tariffed with the prices for the service plainly published. Everything I have seen about Ameritech voicemail includes a notation that 'additional charges will apply on calls forwarded'. As for your comment about 'telemarketers machines call us, reach our voice mail and hang up', that is **not** the fault of Ameritech. A lot of people flatly refuse to leave messages on 'answering machines' of any sort. Often times this refusal to leave a message is grounded in ignorance, the person's own arrogance about the importance of their message, or the experience of companies (such as telemarketers) in the knowing the futility (and wasted time on their part) in leaving messages. None the less, like having an 800 number where you agree to pay telco for the additional conveniences and ease you are providing your callers, you cannot blame Ameritech that some callers are people/companies that you do not wish to have contact with, to say nothing of having to pay for the unwanted contact. Although the comment by the service rep about 'moving to Cuba' was probably not warranted, I must say it was sort of clever. The more conveniences and ease you provide for persons who call you on the phone, the more calls you should expect to receive. You set some sort of line as to how much ease you want to provide your caller in terms of voicemail, answering machines, 800 service, etc. If I were handling your account for telco, then since you insist that no one ever told you that you would have to pay for voicemail as well as the calls transferred to voicemail, I would carefully explain it to you, and offer a one-time goodwill credit (as the service rep did) if I thought a credit was warranted to retain your patronage. But quite honestly, it has been advertised and explained rather exhaustively by Ameritech in the past. You have to decide if the additional cost is warranted in your business application. PAT] ------------------------------ From: becnel@crl.com (Robert Becnel) Subject: October 1 CTI Meeting Agenda Date: 15 Sep 1996 13:21:39 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [Login: guest] ANNOUNCEMENT Contact: Tony Zafiropoulos (314) 537-3959 September 13, 1996 Next Computer Telephony Integration User's Group Set For October 1 on the Hammer Technology Testing Platform for CTI Topic: The program will involve a demonstration of the widely-acclaimed Hammer IT product by Paul Mitchell, Regional Sales Representative of Hammer Technology. This product is a telephony test system designed to meet the complete needs of testing computer telephony and enhanced services systems and applications according to Hammer Technologies. Questions and answers welcomed. Date/Time: Tuesday, October 1, 1996; 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (approx) Location: Bridgeton Trails Library - 3455 McKelvey Road St. Louis, MO (one block south of St. Charles Rock Road) See map at: http://www.ctitek.com/ctiusers/library_map.html) Cost: None. New members welcomed monthly free of charge. Robert G. Becnel becnel@crl.com (email) http://www.crl.com/~becnel (www) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #487 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 16 15:28:03 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA11742; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 15:28:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 15:28:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609161928.PAA11742@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #488 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Sep 96 15:28:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 488 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Long-Distance Call Incentives Have Backfired (Van Hefner) No Slam by AT&T: Reseller Deception (Ross E. Mitchell) Dave Rhodes and Make Money Fast (Tad Cook) ISDN From Bell Atlantic (Rob Carlson) Mobicom'96 Advance Program (Pradeep Sudame) Lexis Confusion Grows: Their Phones Disconnected (TELECOM Digest Editor) Stupid Spamster Tricks (Marty Brenneis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 09:49:17 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: Long-Distance Call Incentives Have Backfired Long-Distance Call Incentives Have Backfired, Telecom Analysts Say By Mitch Maurer, Tulsa World, Okla. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 16--They are referred to in the industry as ``spinners.'' Their game is to regularly seek the best incentives -- often cash -- to switch long-distance companies. And the players are becoming increasingly sophisticated in a game that companies estimate may cost millions of dollars a year. According to a 1995 study, more than 19 million households switch long-distance companies at least once a year. Many times, it is because they are displeased with their long-distance company, but more often, analysts believe, it is because they have been offered money or something else in order to switch. Carriers began offering incentives several years ago in an attempt to increase their market share and revenues. Some analysts, however, believe that incentive programs have backfired, creating a subculture of people who actively seek to switch long-distance servers again and again in order to accumulate cash, frequent-flier miles or other rewards. ``This is an industry full of incentives right now,'' a telecommuni- cations analyst said. ``Which means the companies consistently are being forced to up the ante. The question is how far is it going to go? You can't keep buying customers repeatedly. The companies have to make a profit.'' There essentially are two tiers of spinners. The first is made up of those who simply accept and cash any check offered to them to switch service. The second tier -- one much more costly to the industry -- contains those individuals who actively contact long-distance companies in hopes of playing them off of each other to gain the largest incentive for switching or staying with a company. The practice even has spawned ``support groups'' designed to help customers decide when to play the game and what's the most they can expect the long-distance companies to ante up. John Dangler, director of business planning for AT&T, said his company is concerned about the constant switching of spinners. ``We view it as a problem,'' Dangler said. ``We question ourselves on a regular basis on the severity of the problem.'' Dangler said it is hard to pinpoint which customers are true spinners, compared with customers who just get hit with a good offer from a competing company. AT&T is changing its focus from pure cash incentives to smaller incentives up front with different bonuses -- such as a month of free long distance or long-distance credits -- after the new customer stays with the company a certain length of time. ``We and our competition also are getting better at targeting customers with enough expenditures to make sure the incentives are worthwhile,'' Dangler said. ``At the same time, I'm not sure anyone is spending any less money (on incentives); it is just much more focused.'' High-volume households are those that spend $50 or more a month on long distance. Those are the most targeted customers by the long-distance companies. MCI, the No. 2 long distance carrier, contends it offers cash incentives only during times when they absolutely are needed to protect market share. ``We don't like the idea of cash incentives, but we sometimes are forced to use them because of the offers our competition make,'' said Michael Tierney, spokesman for MCI. ``What we really look for is loyal customers who want MCI's long-distance services and perhaps some other services such as paging, Internet service or cellular phone service. MCI tries to offer incentives such as frequent-flier miles. Some customers -- sometimes referred to as ``mileage vultures'' so covet frequent-flier miles that they even will forego a discounted long-distance rate in exchange for freebie miles. Companies are trying several strategies to discourage spinners. MCI, for example, has a powerful computerized database that will kick out customers that keep switching servers. ``We're not going to call those people and offer them an incentive,'' MCI's Tierney said. ``It doesn't make sense if you aren't going to make us money. ``We think some people treated cash incentives as the 'silver bullet' of marketing, when in fact there is no silver bullet in this industry. You have to use smarter marketing to remain profitable and increase your customer base.'' Long-distance carrier Sprint quit giving cash incentives because it found customers did not stay with the carrier after another cash offer came along. Instead, Sprint offers customers a 10 percent cash-back program at the end of the year. ``We want to reward our customers and we want people who join Sprint to remain with us,'' said Catherine Goodson, spokeswoman for the No. 3 long-distance carrier in the United States. ``It costs a lot more to acquire a customer than to keep the ones you already have.'' AT&T's market share in the long-distance industry has shrunk from its high of 90 percent just before the court-ordered breakup in 1984, to about 54 percent now. MCI leads the competition, with 17.8 percent of the market share, followed by Sprint, with about 8.8 percent at the end of the second quarter. Fourth-place WorldCom Inc. was the only ranked competitor that grew market share last quarter, rising 0.2 percent, to about 4.5 percent. WorldCom, which has a large base in Tulsa and recently agreed to a $12.4 billion acquisition of MFS, sees cash incentives differently than many of its competitors. ``We don't offer cash incentives,'' said spokesman Chris Schein. The main focus for LDDS WorldCom is business customers, although the company does have competitive long-distance rates for residential customers, he said. According to a recent J.D. Power & Associates survey, customers likely will not slow down switching carriers. And with the new powers given carriers under legislation, the lucrative local telephone market probably soon will be the focus of new incentives. ``In the coming months, switching long-distance services from one carrier to another will take on a new dimension when consumers have a wider category of choices,'' said Zaiba Nanji, director of telecommuni- cation services at J.D. Power. ``These choices will include a primary carrier for long distance, local telephone and cable and all other telecommunication services.'' Van Hefner - Editor Discount Long Distance Digest The Internet Journal of the Long Distance Industry On The Web: http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ ------------------------------ From: rem@world.std.com (Ross E Mitchell) Subject: No Slam by AT&T: Reseller Deception Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 15:32:25 GMT A couple of weeks ago I wrote to report that someone identifying himself as being from AT&T had attempted to slam me. Now it turns out that it was really a company called American Business Alliance (ABA), out of Virginia. I've since gotten two more calls. The script is designed to make you think you are dealing with AT&T, when in fact you are dealing with this reseller. They tell you that they want to reward you for your loyalty to AT&T and are offering a "billing adjustment" to save you over 30% off of AT&T's normal rates. Then, before connecting you to the verification operator, they tell you that they want to be sure you are not "accidentally shifted to MCI or Sprint." In this way, they reinforce your belief that you are staying with AT&T. The first caller felt that even this script wasn't good enough so he didn't even bother mentioning his company's name (ABA) and that they were a reseller; he just simply said he was calling from AT&T! The second and third callers stuck more closely to the script. Even here though, the intent is to deceive people into believing that they are staying with AT&T when they are, in fact, switching to a new carrier. AT&T might wish to audit their resellers more carefully. Regards, Ross ------------------------------ Subject: Dave Rhodes and Make Money Fast Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 19:28:38 PDT From: tad@ssc.com 'Make Money Fast' Chain Letter Nets On-line Users By James Romenesko , Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 16--It took the "Dilbert" cartoon character, Dogbert, to point out the absurdity of millions of Internet users who have posted "Make Money Fast" messages on newsgroups over the years. "Don't you think that for your first crime you shouldn't attach your name and address and mail it to several thousand strangers?" the astute dog wondered in one cartoon panel. He's right; you probably shouldn't. But the legendary and illegal "Make Money Fast" chain letter, celebrating its tenth anniversary, still appears daily in almost every one of the Net's 20,000-plus newsgroups, and is more popular (and annoying) than ever. The Usenet search engine DejaNews (http://www.dejanews.com) shows 65,424 references to the keywords "Make Money Fast," a number that includes the original MMF postings and the usually vitriolic responses. ("Die evil spammer die." "Want to make money fast? Stop feeding it." "If I had a nickel for everytime someone told me how I could 'Make Money Fast!' I could ... well, I could make money fast.") You can blame this all on a mystery man who is supposedly named Dave Rhodes. He started it all around 1986 with the original MMF posting (a sample is found at http://members.aol.com/dehead25/money.html ) when he was, according to several Net accounts, a Columbia Union College student in Takoma City, Md. His letter, which has probably been reposted millions of times (with slight alterations), began: "My name is Dave Rhodes. In September (year varies) my car was reposessed and the bill collectors were hounding me like you wouldn't believe." Rhodes explained he then got into the world of "mail order," and sent $5 to the first two people on a list of four and added his name to the bottom. Then came the payoff, he claimed: "Today I am rich! I have earned over $400,000 to date and will become a millionaire within 4 or 5 months." He encouraged others to spread the letter, and they did -- to the dismay of many. According to the Net.Legends FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at http://www.math.uiuc.edu/tskirvin/home/legends/legends2.html , get-rich-quick king Rhodes was "recently voted number one on a list of people every Usenetter would like to see die an excruciatingly slow and painful death." Rhodes' scam has even inspired its own newsgroup, alt.make.money.fast, formed in 1994 to poke fun at the MMF spammers and quick-buck seekers, and to provide a place for those who are absolutely driven to post a MMF message. The alt.make.money.fast FAQ answers the question that many Internet money-seekers wanted to know: Where is an appropriate place to post MMF? The answer: "There is not really any appropriate place to post MMF, especially if you think you are going to make money. Of course, if you cannot resist the urge to post MMF, you are invited to post it to alt.make.money.fast (and not to any other group); think of alt. make.money.fast as your pressure release valve." The FAQ also offers this largely ignored warning: "Posting (MMF) violates the federal wire fraud statute, and undoubtedly various state anti-fraud laws as well." Still, there aren't any reports of MMF posters being tossed in jail for their sins against cyberculture, although some on the Net have claimed without evidence that Rhodes went to jail for starting the letter. All attempts to stop the MMF phenomonon over the years have failed. A "Make Money Fast Hall of Humiliation" Web page was intended to shame those who've spammed the Net with the posts, but its keeper eventually gave up; he had too many names and too little time. Trying to make a pre-emptive strike against MMF posters, the regulars on the newsgroup misc.invest are told to read the group's FAQ about the Rhodes letter. It notes: "Although the 'Dave Rhodes' letter has been appearing almost weekly in misc.invest, and it's getting pretty old, it's mildly interesting to see how this scam mutates. Sometimes our friend Dave went broke in 1985, sometimes as recently as 1988. Sometimes he's now driving a Mercedes, sometimes a Cadillac, etc., etc. The scam just keeps getting updated to keep up with the times." MMF posters are now using a new twist to encourage Netters to stuff their five bucks into an envelope: they preface the Rhodes letter with their own tale of initial chain-letter skepticism -- and then tell about the riches they received after shaking off those doubts. One recently posted letter noted: "It only cost me $5 and five stamps. So how much did I get in total return? $1,000? $5,000? Not even!!! I received a total of $23,343!!!" Until a few years ago, the MMF appeared in newsgroups about as often as the legendary Craig Shergold chain letter, which asked Netters to send get-well cards to young cancer patient Shergold, who hoped to get in the Guinness Book of Records for receiving the most cards. Shergold, now an adult who beat the disease, has assisted in a campaign to stop the chain letters and has been relatively successful. The Shergold posts now appear just occasionally, but the MMF solicitations show no signs of letting up -- evidence that charity can be diminished but greed can't. While some Netters respond angrily to MMF, often firing e-mail-bombs into the posters' e-mail accounts, others have simply made fun of the phenomenon with parodies. A man named Tom Lange posted his version of an updated Dave Rhodes letter recently on alt.comp.blind-users: "Hi, I'm Dave Rhodes and I'm in jail. As the money poured in, I thought my problems were solved for life. As it turns out, they were only beginning. I found out that the same geometric progression that made me rich had one major drawback. Since literally millions of people would see my message, the chances of someone reporting it to police was a virtual certainty." And in Lange's fantasy, somebody did and Rhodes paid the price. Another clever twist on Rhodes' scam is "Make Enemies Fast," found at http://www.cs.ruu.nl/ansb/makeenemies.html : "My name isn't Dave Rhodes, but who cares. I invented a new scheme, which guarantees to work all the time. Use it and you will never have to work anymore during your entire life. In fact, you will have so many enemies that nobody ever would consider you for any job of any kind for the rest of your life." One Web publisher even combined the Net's two annoying chain letters in a spoof he called "Make Money Fast With Craig Shergold" (http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/cvenour/simon/MakeMoneyFast.html). An amateur screenwriter has devised a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episode that features the Make Money Fast scam (http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/jgotts/mst3K/mmf.html ). And what about the man whose letter has inspired parodies, anger and scripts? The alumni office at Columbia Union College said last week it had no records on a former student or graduate named Dave Rhodes. "This is the first I've ever heard about this," said Columbia's Director of Public Relations Director Tamara Fisher. In fact, the legendary Rhodes might not exist; still, his name still has been immortalized in one Internet dictionary, published by SunExpert magazine: "Rhodes (n) -- unit of measure, the rate at which the same annoying crud is recycled by newcomers to the Net." ---------------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, they are wrong in claiming that Dave Rhodes first started his chain letter in 1986. It first started on *computer newsgroups* about that time, however lots of folks remember when Dave Rhodes used regular snail-mail delivered by the US Postal Disservice back in the 1970's. I received hundreds of those letters in postal mail years ago; maybe one every couple of weeks or so, along with lots of other worthless 'opportunity seeker' mail. The thing back then was that like most other aspects of business, it simply was not as convenient and inexpensive to send out millions of pieces of mail at a single time as it is now. Computers have made life a lot easier for everyone, including Dave Rhodes. 1986 was probably when the letter was computerized and set up for email/newsgroups, but it certainly was not when the scam first started. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: ISDN From Bell Atlantic From: Rob Carlson Reply-To: rob@cola.castle.net Date: Mon, 16 Sep 96 12:39:31 GMT Organization: The Cola Mail System South Plainfield, NJ USA Found on nj.events, thought your readers might be interested in this. From: pmoos@pluto.njcc.com (Philip N. Moos) Newsgroups: nj.events Subject: ISDN From Bell-Atlantic Message-ID: <50ng76$kf7@earth.njcc.com> Date: Thu, 05 Sep 1996 21:19:35 GMT Organization: New Jersey Computer Connection, Lawrenceville, NJ NEWS RELEASE ********************************************************* ******************************************************** BELL ATLANTIC For Immediate Release Contact: September 5, 1996 Joan Rasmussen (703) 974-8815 joan.m.rasmussen@bell-atl.com ACCESS TO CYBERSPACE BECOMES MORE AFFORDABLE FOR NEW JERSEY CONSUMERS Residential ISDN Rates Reduced 14 to 80 Percent for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey Customers NEWARK, N.J. - High-speed access to cyberspace from home soon will be more affordable and easy to get for New Jersey consumers. New pricing plans with lower monthly and installation rates for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey's residential ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) service were approved today by the Board of Public Utilities. The new rates, which take effect Oct. 1, are 14 to 80 percent cheaper than current rates for Bell Atlantic's ISDN service to the home. ISDN provides a quicker way to transmit and download data, graphics and images for consumers who use the Internet and on-line services or for telecommuters who need access to their corporate computer networks. In April, Bell Atlantic proposed a range of ISDN usage package options with price reductions off rates available since November, 1995 under a special rate authorization. Today, the BPU authorized Bell Atlantic to offer this pricing structure with interim rates set by the board which were similar, but slightly lower than Bell Atlantic's proposed rates. In the future, the BPU will establish permanent rates after it holds hearings. With the board's decision today, New Jersey becomes the fourth state where consumers can take advantage of Bell Atlantic's pricing packages with reduced ISDN rates. Similar pricing plans are already in effect in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Interim pricing plans for monthly residential ISDN service in New Jersey include five packages ranging from $31 a month for 20 hours of B-channel use to $108 monthly for 500 hours of B-channel use for voice, data or video transmission. ISDN provides two B channels that each transmit data at 64 kilobits per second (Kbps). For those who need an ISDN data connection 24 hours a day, seven days a week, an unlimited ISDN usage package now costs $239 monthly. Consumers who plan to use ISDN for only a few hours a month can buy measured service for $23.50 monthly plus a local usage fee of 1 cent per minute per channel. "These pricing packages make high-speed access very affordable for consumers, whether they want to surf the 'Net, go on-line or access their corporate computer network," said Len Lauer, Bell Atlantic-New Jersey president. "With the rapidly growing consumer demand for more bandwidth, we believe this type of pricing will help create a true mass market for consumer data services." Installation is now $125, a 25 percent reduction off previous installation charges for most customers. This does not include inside wiring, which may be required, and equipment installation. Both can be purchased from Bell Atlantic or other companies. Interim monthly rates are as follows: Measured - $23.50 plus usage charge 20 hours - $31 60 hours - $41 140 hours - $53 300 hours - $75 500 hours - $108 Unlimited - $239 For example, consumers who buy the 60-hour package can get 30 hours if they use both B channels or 60 hours when they use one B channel for voice, data or video transmission. Customers who use more time than the package they select will pay a local usage fee for the additional time - 1 cent per minute per B channel. Currently, Bell Atlantic's residential customers pay $23.90 to $26.08 monthly for ISDN service, plus usage charges of 2 cents per minute per channel during peak hours (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday) and 1 cent per minute per channel all other times. Under these rates, customers pay $59.90 to $98.08 when they use 60 B-channel hours compared with $41 under the new interim rates. "We are pleased at the board's approval today of the interim rates," said Curt Koeppen, Bell Atlantic vice president-ISDN. "In the near future, Bell Atlantic plans to promote our ISDN service so that New Jersey consumers are aware of these new reduced rates. We anticipate that many consumers will want to take advantage of the benefits of ISDN." ISDN is an all-digital network technology that combines voice, data and video signals on a single telephone line, and transmits them at speeds up to 128 Kbps - or as high as 500 Kbps with common compression techniques available in some of the ISDN-capable equipment. When compared with 14.4 Kbps analog modems, the increase in speed can be up to nine-fold. To order or receive information about Bell Atlantic's residential ISDN service, customers can call the Bell Atlantic InfoSpeed sales, provisioning and service center at 1-800-204-7332 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Customers also can send an e-mail message to isdncin@bell-atl.com. Information also is available on Bell Atlantic's residential ISDN home page at http://www.bell-atl.com/isdn/consumer. Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE: BEL) is at the forefront of the new communications, entertainment and information industry. In the mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing high-growth national and international business opportunities in all phases of the industry. ----------------- Rob Carlson .. Mail rob@cola.castle.net Pager 908-937-0452 .. Mail over 16kb to rob@cola.westmark.com ------------------------------ From: sudame@cs.rutgers.edu (Pradeep Sudame) Subject: Mobicomn'96 Advance Program Date: 16 Sep 1996 11:24:25 -0400 Organization: Rutgers University LCSR ACM/IEEE PRESENT M O B I C O M ' 96 RYE, NEW YORK, November 10-12, 1996 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION MOBICOM is the annual international conference, established to serve as the premier forum for addressing research issues on all aspects of the multi-disciplinary field of mobile wireless computing. TECHNICAL TRACKS: NOVEMBER 11-12 Two days of single track sessions, including Mobile and Wireless TCP Issues in Mobile Computing Mobility Management Mobile Applications Resource Allocation and Sharing LAN, MAC and ATM SPECIAL HIGHLIGHTS Tutorials (November 10): Mobile networking within IETF, WWW and Mobile Computing, Air interface standards, and Secure mobile communications, Keynote Talk by Dr. Victor Lawrence, Bell Labs of Lucent Technologies Panels on Software architecture for mobile networks and multimedia mobile networks Luncheon Talk by Prof. M. Satyanarayanan, Carnegie Mellon Univ. Exhibits: Opportunity to showcase your prototypes, demos Contact Exhibit chair: Peter Honeyman (honey@citi.umich.edu) FOR MORE INFORMATION Complete program and registration information can be obtained from WEB page: http://www.acm.org/sigmobile/conf/mobicom96 if you need more information on mobicom96 contact B. R. Badrinath (badri@cs.rutgers.edu, +1 908-445-2082, Fax +1 908-445-0537) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 13:33:13 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Lexis Confusion Grows: Their Phones Disconnected Last week a little blurb about Lexis appeared here telling of their database of private information on netters. This was not the only place it appeared; I have since found out the copy sent to me was forwarded from another Digest and not attributed (shame on the person who sent it here! Must I now stop and verify all those things?) Anyway, I was told in succession that they quit taking requests to remove data by phone and now require it to be in writing or via fax. Then the next message said even the fax phone number had been turned off with no referral. Furthermore, it is unclear if the data to be removed will be removed on any permanent basis or not since the Lexis database gets updated each time a new batch of information comes from their vendors; the people who supply Lexis with what it publishes. Therefore, your request to be removed might last all of a month or so and you find yourself back in their database again. Finally, there is some doubt about whether Lexis can be legally required to remove the information ... in short, lots of questions which remain unanswered at this point in time. Considering that almost all the information presented here and elsewhere about Lexis last week is obsolete as of a few days later, I'll hold off printing any of the several replies I have received until there is something definitive from the company itself. The Privacy Moderator, Lauren Weinstein is now working on getting as much accurate and up to date information as possible. He is attempting to contact the 'top people' at Lexis to record an interview with them which he hopes to present in a week or so. I'll share that with you as soon as Lauren shares it with me. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 09:35:20 PDT From: Marty Brenneis Subject: Stupid Spamster Tricks Here is another fool for the files. heh heh heh I have included the full header for your amusement. Note the reply address. This is where he has you send the remove requests. This one is a real scum sucking bottom feeder. Marty 'The Droid' Brenneis droid@well.com Industrial Magician droid@kerner.com (415)258-2105 ~~~ KAE7616 - 462.700 - 162.2 ~~~ KC6YYP -------------------------- Received: from LOCALNAME by smtp2.interramp.com (8.6.12/SMI-4.1.3-PSI-irsmtp) id AAA25992; Sun, 15 Sep 1996 00:50:56 -0400 Message-Id: <199609150450.AAA25992@smtp2.interramp.com> Comments: Authenticated sender is X-UIDL: 842839862.000 From: "Mailer" <==== Oh yeah? Let's blame AOL! Organization: Mailer@aol.com <==== Oh really? To: realopp@mail.cybernex.com <== Is this an exploder address or Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 14:05:28 +0000 a bogus address also? :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Hi! Reply-to: Mailer@aol.com <== You don't say (!) ? Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.33) Status: U X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Pardon the intrusion. Market study shows this may be of interest to you. If you have received this message in error, please hit delete. *********************************************************** A Personal Invitation Stop working for someone else! Put yourself in a position to leave the 9-5 grind behind!!! We invite you to listen to the most extraordinary and most powerful wealth building opportunity in the world and within a few minutes you will actually hear: * How you can make profits of $10,000 within the next 30 days! * You never have to leave your home! * A financial strategy 100 times more powerful than MLM or ANY OTHER BUSINESS! * Where you are paid directly and daily! (Don't wait for a company to pay you!) This is not MLM! This is not a pipe dream! This is a real business venture! 800-995-0796 Ext 9263. ************************************************************** ANY EMAIL ADDRESS PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET THAT INVITES COMMERCIAL SOLICITATIONS IS DEEMED AS A COMMERCIAL ADDRESS, AND AS SUCH IS ELIGABLE FOR ETHICAL AND LEGAL EMAIL SOLICITATIONS FROM DIRECT ELECTRONIC MAIL MARKETERS. IF FOR ANY REASON YOU OBJECT TO RECEIVING THIS MESSAGE PLEASE POLITELY REQUEST REMOVAL FROM MY LIST BY CLICKING ON THE REPLY BUTTON AND ENTERING "REMOVE" IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU DO NOT DO SO, I MUST ASSUME YOU WISH TO RECEIVE FURTHER MAILINGS. ------------------------ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So, readers should reply to a bogus address to be removed from the scum's mailing list. How about that! :) Here is a better idea: Let's take a look at 800-995-0796 and see what we find when the rock is turned over. The number is registered to a firm called 'Call 1-800', PO Box 388, Edwardsville, IL 62025. Their regular POTS number is 618-692-9372, in case anyone would care to cross-reference that for more information. When I called the 618 number, a woman answered the line as 'customer service' but did not have a great deal to say about the company. Directory assistance for all of 618 did not have any such company as 'Call 1-800' listed. It may be (not certain) the same company which does or did a 'check by phone' operation a few years ago there. What they seem to have operating there is a great big voicemail box with four digit extension codes for their subscribers. I tried a few four digit extensions at random (such as '1234') and always reached someone giving a pitch for one kind of business opportunity or another. If I needed assistance in finding out the proper extension I wanted, I was told to press the star key on my phone. If I pressed '#' or '*' in the middle of a call, the outgoing message was cut off and I was told to enter my security code. If I listened to the outgoing message completely I was then invited to leave a message and press the star or pound key when I was finished. Now in particular, extension 9263 got me someone with some valuable information about how I could soon be earning at least five thousand dollars per week and as much as fifty thousand dollars per month at a very easy, revolutionary task. Not to worry, I was told it was all legal and on the up-and-up, that I merely needed to leave my name and telephone number at the conclusion of the outgoing message which was two and a half minutes long in and of itself. If you count the small time at the beginning where I was instructed to press the desired extension or '*' for assistance, it was closer to three minutes before I was given an opportunity to leave my name and number. I did not wait to see how long my message to them could be, but I would think they would allow at least a minute or so, meaning the total time allowed per call might be four or five minutes. This system is not that large and a couple times when calling I got a busy signal, but someone did tell me they got them up on three trunks at one time. I did not verify that and your experiments may show different results. I would suppose there is ANI given by telco at least to the company, even if they do not necessarily pass it along to each extension subscriber, so the usual caveats about pay phones and such would apply. I would suppose that each subscriber is responsible for paying the calls to his/her particular extension, and since there are no particular gripes with anyone other than 9263, you might want to limit your inquiries to that particular number. Of course if the whole system gets clogged up and no one can reach the other subscribers as a result, that is an unfortunate by-product. Since they are asking netters to call and listen to their 2.5 minute message, by all means call and listen, but behave yourselves in a lawful way at all times, i.e. no hacking and no phreaking. And if you choose to leave a name and phone number for them to call back, make sure it is your own name and phone number. Obscenities, radio stations playing out to their recording, dead air and other nonsense not welcome. I wonder if there is a root password for the whole system as well as one for each subscriber's own voicemail box? Oh well, its none of my business and none of yours either. Remember, spamming and junk mailing on the net will cease when the perception that there is profit to be made by doing so is gone. The spammers long ago learned they dare not give a valid email address in their messages and now the task at hand is to demonstate by example that giving a toll free number is not very prudent either. So, let's get started, and meet the same goals we set for Jeff Boy a few months ago. 800-995-0796 'extension' 9263 unless you know of a few better numbers to press on your keypad. :) PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #488 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 16 20:47:16 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA17019; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:47:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:47:16 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609170047.UAA17019@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #489 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Sep 96 20:47:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 489 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Announcement Concerning AccessLine Technologies and ALTech (Alisa Moyer) Company Claims Lucent Technologies Infringed on Trademark (Mike Pollock) Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits (Tad Cook) ISC Meeting Agenda (Michael S. Baum) ISDN Call Forwarding Question (Chris Pearce) User of I.S.I.S D30 E1/T1 Please Help! (Joacim Dstedt) List Processor Results (Dana Rozycki) RJ12 Wiring Question (Andy Rowan) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 14:47:34 -0400 From: Alisa Moyer Subject: Announcement Concerning AccessLine Technologies and ALTech Contacts: Alisa Moyer Kimberly Tassin Applied Language Technologies, Inc. AccessLine Technologies, Inc. 617.225.0012 206.654.1001 moyer@altech.com ktassin@accessline.com ACCESSLINE TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES VOICE ACTIVATED ACCESSLINE SERVICES: AGREEMENT ENTERED WITH ALTECH FOR SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY BELLEVUE, WA, September 13, 1996 -- AccessLine Technologies and Applied Language Technologies (ALTech) announced today that they have entered an agreement whereby ALTech's advanced speech recognition software will be incorporated into the AccessLine System(R). AccessLine subscribers will now be able to control their AccessLine personal number service with conversational spoken commands. "ALTech provides an extremely powerful and flexible speech recognition core technology," said Fred Epler, senior vice president of advanced technology for AccessLine. "The large vocabulary and speaker-independent, natural language capabilities of ALTech are what we sought before developing a voice activated AccessLine System(R) user interface. Also, ALTech's high level application building blocks, or DialogModules(TM), that manage the 'conversation' between the system and the caller, allow us to develop applications in record time and get to market fast." AccessLine is the leading provider of personal number services and the AccessLine System is the most widely deployed system of its kind in the world today. With nine years of commercial deployment experience with carrier networks and end user customers, AccessLine has refined its existing user interface many times over. The new voice recognition capability takes this refinement to a new height, providing customers with a truly simple intuitive interface that responds to simple conversational speech patterns. ALTech's phonetic, speech-understanding software allows end users flexibility in giving instructions or commands. For example, a user might say, direct my calls to my home until 3 o'clock, or direct calls home for 2 hours, and the system will glean the pieces of information necessary to activate the correct instruction. Any command or request for information a user previously made through pressing keys on the touchtone keypad may now be spoken: direct my calls to my office until 10:00 p.m. -- send my calls to the board room speakerphone -- listen to my messages -- make a call -- forward all faxes to 555-1234. "This kind of ease-of-use and simplicity allows us to give end user customers what I believe they really hope for in a voice activated service, and something that will propel us further down the road to becoming a mass market product," added Epler. "We are very pleased to have been chosen by AccessLine to provide advanced speech recognition capabilities for their personal number service," said Bill Ledingham, vice president of marketing for ALTech. "AccessLine is a recognized leader in bringing enhanced service offerings to the telecommunications market. Our partnership will allow AccessLine to deliver unprecedented functionality to their customers and keep them positioned at the forefront of the industry." The voice activated AccessLine System provides busy professionals one of the best "personal assistant" solutions in the market today at a fraction of the cost of other products. Beta available early 1997. AccessLine will be unveiling the new voice activated AccessLine System user interface at PCS '96 in San Francisco at the San Francisco Convention Center, September 19-21, booth no. 1637. About AccessLine Technologies: AccessLine Technologies is the originator of the One Person, One Number(R) technology and was first to market with the single multi-function platform that delivers personal number functionality to service providers and their customers. AccessLine services are currently available in over 40 markets worldwide through licensees including AirTouch Cellular, Ameritech Cellular, Bell Atlantic Mobile, Bell Canada, Bell Mobility, Telia A.B. (Sweden), NetCom GSM (Norway), One Number Service, Inc. (Japan), Hyosung One Number Co., Ltd. (Korea), and other service operators in Europe and Asia. AccessLine offers the telephone and wireless industries an AIN-compliant service node platform that can deliver a full complement of personal communications services, including One Person, One Number, or segmented, enhanced service offerings targeted to particular markets. [http://www.accessline.com] About Applied Language Technologies: Applied Language Technologies is a leader in the development and implementation of advanced speech recognition and voice processing technologies for the telephony market. Based on technology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Computer Science, AL Tech develops and markets speech understanding software which provides large vocabulary, speaker-independent, phonetic speech recognition. ALTech's SpeechWorks(TM) and DialogModules(TM) software products contain a comprehensive set of features for automating telephone-based and net-based transactions and services. ALTech is a privately-held corporation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [http://www.altech.com] ### AccessLine, AccessLine System, and One Person, One Number are registered United States trademarks or service marks of AccessLine Technologies, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 10:55:40 -0700 From: Mike Pollock Organization: SJS Entertainment Subject: Company Claims Lucent Technologies Infringed on Trademark Company Claims Lucent Technologies Infringed on Trademark MURRAY HILL, N.J. (AP) - Lucent Technologies Inc., an equipment unit spun off from AT&T earlier this year, has been named in a federal lawsuit by a smaller company alleging trademark infringement. Lucent Information Management Inc. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., claimed in a suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., that the New Jersey company knew the "Lucent" trademark was already in use. Lucent Information claimed in the lawsuit that Lucent Technologies is creating "confusion in the marketplace" that interferes with the company's attempts to create an electronic office filing system. "While we haven't yet seen the lawsuit, we're confident that we've taken the proper steps to ensure we can use the name Lucent Technologies," said spokeswoman Lynda Beighley. According to the lawsuit, Lucent Technologies spent $50 million on its initial advertising budget to convince "the public that it was the only company in the U.S. using the name 'Lucent' for ... telecommunication and information systems." Lucent makes phones, network equipment, computer chips and other electronics and has sales of about $22 billion a year. ------------------------------ Subject: Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 00:01:55 PDT From: tad@ssc.com New Jersey Lawmakers Want to Scrap Area Code Proposals, Start Over By Raymond Fazzi, Asbury Park Press, N.J. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 13--Two plans for adding area codes are under consideration, but two state legislators Thursday came up with their own plan: Scrap the current proposals and come up with a new one. They said the current alternatives will confuse and inconvenience consumers and small businesses, and result in 29 municipalities being split into two different area codes. "Frankly, I find it outrageous that with all the technology that exists we can't come up with a better system," Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, said at a news conference Thursday. Assemblyman Sean F. Dalton, D-Gloucester, added: "Quite simply, Ma Bell should go back to the drawing boards with respect to this proposal." Wisniewski introduced legislation on June 3 that would make it illegal to assign more than one area code to a municipality. Dalton is one of the bill's sponsors. The focus of the controversy are two proposals devised by a telephone industry committee at the end of last year to deal with a diminishing supply of telephone numbers in New Jersey. The state Board of Public Utilities is holding a public hearing on the proposals Monday in Newark. It plans to make a decision by the first week of October. One plan, favored by Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, would result in new area codes being laid over the present 908 and 201 area code boundaries around the middle of next year. The other plan would split the two area codes geographically, resulting in four new area code boundaries. This has been the state's traditional approach to area code expansion and is favored by Bell Atlantic's emerging competitors. The two legislators said yesterday they consider both plans flawed, but that they favor proceeding with a geographic split plan that is revised so no municipalities are forced to live with two area codes. Under the current plan, 21 municipalities in the 908 and 201 area codes would be split into two area codes with a geographic plan. Another eight towns in the 609 area code would be split a year after. That would lead to a total of 53 municipalities in New Jersey with more than one area code -- nearly one out of ten municipalities in the state. Wisniewski said Bell Atlantic could align area code boundaries with municipal boundaries through software changes that reroute calls, but this was disputed by Bell Atlantic spokesman Tim Ireland, who called the idea "technically impossible." By splitting towns, the legislators said, the changes will make it hard for residents to know when they're calling a local number. This will make life particularly difficult for small businesses, Wisniewski said, because of their dependence on establishing a local identity. The assemblymen also cited confusion when it comes to placing emergency calls. Theresa Bronzella, emergency management coordinator in Gloucester County's Monroe Township, appeared at the news conference and said two area codes in her town could mean delays if someone forgets to dial the area code on an emergency call. "Just a few seconds can make a difference, and I don't want to see that happen," she said. The legislators rejected the overlay plan outright, criticizing its requirement that everyone in the new code areas would have to dial ten digits on all their telephone calls. The bill prohibiting area code splits (A-2117) has been assigned to the Assembly Transportation and Communications Committee. The committee chairman, state Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, R-Morris, is one of the bill's sponsors. ------------------------ (Don't these people have 9-1-1? No area code is dialed before 9-1-1, since each C.O. has non-blocking direct trunking to the Public Safety Answering Point. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tad, you beat me to the punch on this one. Theresa Bronzella is their emergency management coordinator? Maybe they need to hire a new one who understands the telcom network a little better. You are quite correct that 911 is 911 is 911. Whatever you reached on it before you will continue to reach in the future. Whatever operator answers the 911 call will see the correct area code on the screen along with the phone number, same as before. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 08:52:29 EDT From: Michael S Baum Subject: ISC Meeting Agenda MEETING NOTICE Please correspond with: Michael S. Baum, Esq. 33 Tremont Street Cambridge, MA 02139-1227 USA V: +1 617.661.1234 F: +1 617.661.0716 E: michael@verisign.com Subject: INFORMATION SECURITY COMMITTEE MEETING NOTICE Dear Committee Member: You are cordially invited to participate in a meeting of the Information Security Committee, Section of Science & Technology, American Bar Association, on Friday/Saturday, October 18-19, 1996, in Boston. The Committee will advance its development of commercial key escrow guidelines as well as consider digital signature legislative initiatives in the several States and other jurisdictions, and continue its consideration of digital signature evidence and liability. Consistent with Section policy, ISC meeting participants MUST be members of both the ABA and the ABA Section of Science and Technology. Please contact Ann Kowalsky, Manager Section of Science & Technology, at ABA offices in Chicago by phone: +1 312.988.5599, fax: +1 312.988.5628, or email: sciencetech@attmail.com for membership information. It is possible to become a paid member of the ABA and the ISC at the meeting. Dan Greenwood, ISC member, has kindly agreed to host the meeting at the Information Technology Division of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dan can be reached at 617.973.0071 or DGreenwood@state.ma.us for directions & logistical information. Meeting details appear below. I look forward to seeing you in Boston. Sincerely, Michael S. Baum Chair, Information Security Committee Section of Science & Technology, ABA --------------- INFORMATION SECURITY COMMITTEE October 18-19, 1996 Tentative Agenda (see "Meeting Details," next page) (In extended sessions, breaks will be taken as needed.) October 18, 1996 Friday 8:30-9:00 Greetings, breakfast, administrative matters. 9:00-9:30 Introductions, meeting logistics, Guidelines update, questions; PKI-relevant standards reports. 9:30-12:00 Legislative/Regulatory Update (including open conference call with digital signature leg./reg. drafting committee representatives in the US and abroad). 12:00-13:00 Joint lunch with Boston Bar Assn, Computer Law Committee. 13:00-18:00 Continuation of legislative/regulatory update with digital signature leg./reg. drafting committee representatives. 18:00-???? Watering hole discussions; possible continuation of work group meetings. October 19, 1996 Saturday 8:30-9:00 Breakfast, et cetera. 9:00-10:00 Presentation by Key Escrow work group. 10:00-12:00 Breakout sessions on work groups. 12:00-13:00 Working lunch and guest presentation on "Assuring Quality and the Accreditation of Certification Authorities" by invited representative of the Nat'l Inst. of Standards and Tech. 13:00-15:00 Presentations by Work Groups. 15:00-15:30 Path Forward; wrap-up. ISC MEETING DETAILS October 18-19, 1996 Members are urged to participate in one of the work groups that will be presenting/meeting during the ISC's meeting. "Addendum" Work Group Contact: Ruven Schwartz (rschwart@research.westlaw.com) Tom Smedinghoff (tsmed@mbc.com) Joe Wackerman (jwackerm@email.usps.gov) The Addendum Work Group will continue drafting a digital signature trading partner agreement -- integrating the principles of the Digital Signature Guidelines, and developing additional practical commentary for this model form of electronic commerce agreement. Evidentiary Work Group Contact: Stan Kurzban (qbjw99a@prodigy.com) or Serge Parisien (parisise@droit.umontreal.ca) The Evidentiary Work Group will complete and present a provisional outline for a tutorial on the evidentiary implications of digitally signed information and advance drafting of material for each section of the tutorial. Key Escrow Work Group (KEWG) Contact: Dwight Olson (73522.3542@compuserve.com) or Randy Sabett (rsabett@venable.com) The KEWG will focus on the legal and technical aspects of commercial key escrow. The group will seek to accurately explore all major issues surrounding this topic, and produce a set of draft guidelines for comment. The proposed guidelines are intended to facilitate secure electronic commerce by clarifying the rights and obligations of the parties involved in voluntary commercial key escrow. The work product may take one or more forms including: (i) a "restatement" of the relevant law and practice, (ii) a model state or federal law or international convention, (iii) a set of principles that can be incorporated by reference into agreements or used for the interpretation of legal aspects of voluntary key escrow, or (iv) a set of "gap filler" provisions. Liability Work Group Contact: Maureen Adamache (rmadama@magi.com) The liability work group will meet as necessary to discuss the apportionment of liabilities among PKI providers and users. Previously, this task was considered in the ISC's own work-product, the Digital Signature Guidelines. Future documents that will be considered include Certification Practice Statements, and digital signature legislative and regulatory work product. State Government Digital Signatures Laws & Regulations Contact: Dan Greenwood (DGreenwood@state.ma.us) The digital signature legislative and regulatory working group will compile, evaluate and compare the various emerging approaches by states and other jurisdictions. Work product will include a web-based comprehensive "one-stop shop" for jurisdictions wishing to review current approaches. First-time participants (who plan to attend the October 18-19, 1996 meeting) must request attendance and submit a brief work-product (typically 3-5 pages) relevant to the subject matter. Please contact Ruven Schwartz (v: 612.687.8095, f: 612.687.7907, or e: rschwart@research.westlaw.com) for details. Meeting Location: McCormack Building (Across Bowdoin Street from the State House) 1 Ashburton Place Room 1, 21st Floor Boston, Massachusetts USA (Contact: Dan Greenwood +1 617.973.0071) Meals: The cafeteria will be available for lunch on Friday for those ISC Members who choose to work through the joint lunch session. On Saturday we will probably order in pizza. Lodging: A very nearby hotel is the Holiday Inn, Government Center, 5 Blossom Street, Boston. The regular rate during our meeting dates is $219.95/night. However, the Reservation Supervisor (Kim) has offered a rate of $199.95 to Committee members who request the "Great Rate" plan. Call reservations at +1 617.742.7630. For a better (but more expensive) hotel near Government Center, try the Parker House at +1 617.227.8600. The Omni Parker House (nicer than Holiday Inn) quoted a rate of $169/night for a single with a king or queen bed and $119/night for a single with a double bed. The rooms are very small - but the hotel is nice. See also a Greater Boston Bed & Breakfast directory: http://www.inovatec.com/bb/resservc/GREATER/GREATER.htm. RSVP: Please confirm your intention to participate to Ann Kowalsky, Section Manager, Section of Science and Technology (sciencetech@attmail.com) as soon as possible. See you in Boston! ------------------------------ From: cpearce@incite.com (Chris Pearce) Subject: ISDN Call Forwarding Question Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 19:07:24 GMT Organization: Intecom I've tried posting this question to the ISDN newsgroup, but it isn't really a good resource for finding out ISDN implementation details. I'm hoping this forum can answer my questions. I am implementing call forwarding for my company's video PBX, but I don't have enough room in my schedule to implement the whole thing. Therefore, I am implementing a subset of the standards that I hope will work with most BRI stations that we hook up. My question is "What sequence of actions do people normally forward their BRI phones and how does the phone respond to the actions?" For example, does one go offhook, punch a line button, hear dial tone, press the forward button, hear another tone, dial the forward number, and get silence? Or does one go offhook, a line button automatically selecting, press the forward button, etc ... Or does one go offhook, press the forward button without receiving dial tone, etc ... Or does one leave the receiver onhook, press the forward button, and enter address digits ... In particular, I'd really like to know what ISDN messages are generally associated with user actions on a BRI phone. The ISDN specs are wonderful about telling you how you should respond in response to given sequences of layer three messages, but they are really awful about indicating what user actions might give rise to given message sequences. Chris Pearce, cpearce@incite.com ------------------------------ From: Joacim Dstedt Subject: User of I.S.I.S D30 E1/T1 Please Help! Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 23:11:34 +0200 Organization: TALSVARSKOMPANIET In February, 1996 I begun a new job as responsible for an audiotex system. I found out that the firm I was working for had recently bought all the equipment from another company in another town. I'm working with D30 E1T1 cards manufactured by a company called I.S.I.S in UK. They called there system VOICEMASTER D30. The software I use to build applications was made by a firm called KeyMann Solutions also located in UK. I don't think that any of these companys exists anymore. All my research has ended up in dead ends. The documentation I have is enough to make things going. But no more than that. Without getting into all the details I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF SUPPORT, CAN YOU HELP ME? Joacim Dstedt ------------------------------ From: dana.rozycki@octel.com Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 17:41:16 -0700 Subject: List Processor Results Pat -- I received the following kick-back from the Nortel users list recently mentioned. Dana ______________ Forward Header ___________________ Subject: List Processor Results. Author: "LISTMASTER@PMH.ON.CA" at P_Internet_mail Date: 9/14/96 7:02 PM 1: Join Nortel_list@pmh.on.ca No such list. Completed processing request at Sat, 14 Sep 1996 19:02:06 -0400 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing that along. All I know about it is what I read in the Digest, so perhaps someone has a better address for that list. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rowan@ocean.rutgers.edu (Andy Rowan) Subject: RJ12 Wiring Question Date: 14 Sep 1996 11:33:28 -0400 Organization: Rutgers University Hi, I'm wiring up some jacks in my house for two lines, but I've gotten conflicting answers on which way the wires should go. For the black and yellow, which is tip and which is ring? Or in other words, does the black correspond to the green, or does the yellow correspond to the green, in terms of polarity? I know that most new phones don't really care, but I have some old Western Electric touchtone phones that won't dial if the polarity is reversed. I know I can just figure out by trial and error to get it to work, but I'd rather not wind up with the house and the phone both wired backwards, so I wanted to know what the standard says. Anyone have a definitive answer? Andy Rowan Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ USA e-mail: rowan@ocean.rutgers.edu WWW: http://deathstar.rutgers.edu/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #489 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Mon Sep 16 23:35:12 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA04995; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 23:35:12 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 23:35:12 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609170335.XAA04995@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #490 TELECOM Digest Mon, 16 Sep 96 23:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 490 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Newsday Answers "Why Is the Internet So Slow" (Mike Pollock) Employment Opportunity: Person for Circuit Position (Robin Owens-Wright) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Chris Martin) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Bob Goudreau) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Matt Holdrege) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Dave Sieg) Happy Rosh Hashanna (Jon Solomon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:54:02 -0700 From: Mike Pollock Organization: SJS Entertainment Subject: Newsday Answers "Why Is the Internet So Slow" This story from Newsday addresses our ongoing question... The Internet in Knots By Lou Dolinar Staff Writer (9/15/96) Is the Internet turning into the LIE at rush hour? And if it is, is the next step a total collapse? Getting on and staying on is indisputably tougher. Down times are more frequent; file transfers are interrupted at the snap of a finger. More data is lost than ever before, experts say, and as anyone who watches his or her Netscape speed meter knows, the actual speed of file transfers rarely meets the theoretical speed of modems. Then there's the service outages, which have been growing almost as fast as the 'Net itself. America Online (AOL), for instance, recently left 6 million people in the dark for more than a day; Netcom, the largest direct Internet service provider in the country, dropped out of sight for 13 hours. And all of this is occurring even as providers are adding customers at an alarming rate -- they're attracting consumers who are increasingly sophisticated about the Internet's cutting edge, including the use of Internet-linked computers as telephones, radios, televisions and video parlors. And guess what? If you think the system has been particularly bad this summer, brace yourself. Worse is yet to come. College students -- historically, the heaviest and most adventuresome power users on the 'Net -- are returning in droves to their high-speed, local-area networks. "It's going to get worse before it gets better" says Bob Metcalfe, a former Bay Shore boy who invented Ethernet networking, making him a founding father of modern computing. "The outages are getting more frequent and deeper; the bogging will occur more hours of the day." For more than a year now, Metcalfe's been predicting breakdown, using his column in Infoworld magazine as a bully pulpit to urge the "bioanarchic intelligentsia," as he refers to those who see the Internet as some kind of biologically based social model, to clean up their act. He's predicting total collapse - a network-wide shutdown -- by year's end. That view's extreme, but a growing number of experts agrees that the 'Net is in trouble and may soon have to be restructured in a more professional, economically rational fashion. "I think Metcalfe's too pessimistic," says Hal Varian, dean of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley. "My forecast [for the next year or so] is that the Internet will slog, not bog. That is, it will continue to slog along at about the same levels of performance we see now." Varian, a recognized expert in the economic aspects of networks, nonetheless feels providers will soon have to charge more for services that use lots of Internet capacity, what the geeks call "bandwidth," including things such as long-distance telephone programs and video. While he knows that won't be accepted lightly, the alternative, he says, is chaos: "The business models currently used ... are just not viable in the long run." There are a number of reasons for the bogging of the Internet, experts say. Some can be fixed by throwing money and hardware at a problem such as when your Internet service provider tries to cram too many new users onto too small a system. Others are more bedrock, beginning with the simple fact that the Internet was never designed to do what it does today. Before we explain why this is important, let's review a little history. The Internet began during the Cold War as an experiment in self-repairing networks. The idea was that if the Russians nuked most of the Midwest, the Internet routing software would be smart enough to figure this out and send information from New York to Los Angeles by way of, say, Miami or Dallas. This led to a radically decentralized organizational design that was both anarchic and biological in form. Contrary to the prevailing philosophy, no mainframe computer rode herd over the system. Rather, a loose alliance of computers collaborated voluntarily, like a nest of ants, to move data around. The data was also designed to be protected against nuclear war. Messages and files were chopped into discreet little segments called packets before they moved across the network. Under this system, each packet carried the address of the recipient. Lose a couple of packets, the thought went, and the bulk of the message would still get to its destination. Meanwhile, other software would request the missing packets be re-sent from the original sender. Once all the pieces got to their ultimate destination, it was reassembled into its original form, much like the transporter in "Star Trek." The experiment worked and gradually became an operational network linking the military, think tanks and academia. It relied primarily on the resources of its member organizations, though the government stepped in later to create a common "backbone" of high-speed connections that reached from coast to coast. Because the Internet originated with the government, it's been heavily subsidized and essentially free to end-users, primarily in academia, for most of its life. Schools and other institutions paid for the service based on the capacity of the lines they used to connect to it, not for how long or how much they used it. Thus, and we're coming back to our own time now, there's no built-in billing scheme that grew as the Internet grew, a la the phone company. Apart from the subsidy, the original Internet could be free because it was an incredibly efficient store-and-forward system based on text - the least demanding thing a computer can move. The packet system, meanwhile, allowed text-based transmissions to be delayed without causing problems, which meant they could be held back in peak times and sent out at times of low load. Eliminating the "peak load" problem was part of the original scheme that made the Internet so robust. But what made it robust then, makes it less than suitable now for a growing list of real-time applications, like telephony. Last year, the government got out of the Internet business and turned over backbone responsibility to private firms. Seven companies, including MCI, now run their own backbone system. These companies, in turn, made money selling connections to other firms for their internal use, or for resale. Hundreds of retail service providers then chopped the connection up further and resold them to the public - much of the time based on capacity rather than actual use. The individal backbones and their clients are held together by a series of "interconnects" that pass data from clinets on one backbone to clients on another. In effect, they're the border crossing of the nations in cyberspace. What you're left with is a system that is not really owned by any single organization or group, so there is no way to "order" changes. Changes are made through coordination, through groups like the voluntary Internet Engineering Task Force, slowly and with much democratic debate. This was fine in the old days, when the users were primarily academicians or government bureacrats. But things have changed, and experts now say that the old Internet's design conspires against its success today. For example, connections between the various corporate backbones - never dreamed of by its original designers - have long been a sticking point: If backbone provider A invests heavily in equipment, and backbone provider B doesn't, A's data flow may overwhelm B and trash connections for A's users, the equivalent of an electronic balance-of-payments deficit. "You're getting advances at different rates in different places at different times," says MCI's Vinton Cerf in explaining how slowdowns occur. "You may get someone who's well prepared handing off to someone who isn't. This doesn't translate into global collapse, but it does translate into delays." In recent months, the backbone providers have begun requiring their connectees to meet a certain level of basic service, and the problem seems to be easing. The next step, according to University of California's Varian, will be to start charging: If a backbone company sends more information than it receives, it would have to pony up a "settlement fee" to the company it is flooding with information. Eventually, these fees may filter down to users, raising costs. That may address one problem, but unfortunately there are other bugaboos. For instance, many Internet experts have started referring to something called the "router crisis." Routers are computers dedicated to switching data on the Internet and a key building block of the system. Think of taking a cross-country trip from New York to Los Angeles by air. You get in your car, drive down the driveway, enter a local street, take the local street to the LIE, take the LIE to JFK, then park and fly across the country. Once there, you keep switching among another series of local streets until you finally get to your destination. If that's the Internet, every time you change streets, you go through a router - a typical transcontinental transmission makes a half-dozen local hops among progressively larger transmission lines, to the backbone. Then, just as you would make most of the trip in an airplane, the transmission covers most of the distance it must travel on the backbone. It then switches back to progressively smaller streets. Routers are smart. They contain something called a routing table that describes the structure of the Internet. They use this information to figure out the most efficient next hop. The routers also communicate among one another in the event a router or part of the network collapses, the routers automatically reconfigure their tables to reroute data around it. Jeff Schiller, who runs the networking operation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a member of the Internet Engineering Task Force, says the problem is that the Internet may be growing faster than the capacity of routers to understand and organize its structure. That occasionally will cause an individual router to crash, and when traffic is redirected elsewhere, everything slows down. When this occurs over and over, people start using the word crisis. Bottom line: Your connection is slower. A related problem is packet loss. If too many packets hit a router too quickly it does not have time to forward all the data to the next router and "drops" packets. Error-correction software calls for the missing packets to be re-sent, which in turn adds to the load on the router, which drops more packets, which calls for more resends, and so on. This rarely happened when loads on the network were light, but today, the phenomenon can bring transmissions to a crawl. One of Metcalfe's fears is that a simple crash could spread and overload adjacent routers, which would crash and take out more routers and eventually bring down the whole network. Some technical fixes have been applied, including faster routers and rearranging the way data is handled, but the jury is still out on whether the Internet is growing faster than the ability of routers to handle switching its traffic. Doomsayers note that overall packet loss, which was so low as to be virtually unmeasurable in the old days, has roughly doubled in the last year from an average of about one-and-a-half percent to 3 percent at any given time, and at times it has risen as high as 10 percent. On the other hand, latency -- the amount of time it takes a packet to travel from point A to point B -- has been improving steadily. Technical fixes have their problems, too. Both the AOL and Netcom outages occurred when the companies were installing improved router software -- something companies have been doing with increasing frequency to tweak routers into handling more traffic. Another question mark for the future is how well the 'Net will handle applications that demand lots of bandwidth, particularly what the experts call "real-time" communications. "The Internet moves text so efficiently it's practically free," says cyberskeptic Cliff Stoll, an expert on the UNIX operating system who does a nightly commentary on MSNBC. "But the much-vaunted futuristic services of the 'Net -- for example, real-time video, sound, fancy graphics, Java applets, video conferencing -- hey, those things consume the resources of the Internet like an army of drunkards in a beer warehouse." Stoll's suspicion is that even if the number of users stayed constant -- and it hasn't -- new applications will eat up bandwidth faster than it can be created by financially strapped backbone providers. The result, he says, will literally turn the Internet into something like the LIE at rush hour -- never quite enough capacity, and an unpleasant experience to be avoided unless your business demands it. The introduction of the World Wide Web, for example, has spurred a huge increase in traffic -- in terms of size, most of the content is photos and graphics. Why didn't that cause the Internet to collapse? some ask. The reason is that the Web, though it appears to the user as highly interactive, is still a store-and-forward system, after a fashion. You send a message to the Web site, it sends back the data, which you then browse with your own computer. A few seconds of electronic Hamburger Helper is annoying, but not disastrous. But what if you're trying to hold together a stream of canned audio or video? Or worse yet, to converse with someone, and the network keeps dropping parts of it? That's basically what happens in Internet telephony, still in its infancy but about to go big-time. To work properly, telephony needs guaranteed bandwidth, and it's one of the reasons the phone company organizes its network in a different fashion than the Internet. The whole basis of the Internet's efficiency -- the ability to smooth demand - just doesen't apply. Now take that a step further to videoconferencing over the Internet, which can use 10 or more times as much bandwidth. That's why Cerf and others say that fees eventually will be charged for some services. But no one is really sure. Or knows how to do it, since the Internet does not incorporate a billing scheme. All the router software would have to be rewritten and replaced to distinguish between, say, voice and text. Already-stressed routers would then have yet another task to handle. And billing systems cost money, big money, "The long-distance telephone system was designed from the ground up to bill people for use," Stoll points out. "Roughly half the cost of running the long-distance system is in the billing." What's all this mean for the average schlub who uses the Internet? Varian's scenario -- that it won't get much worse and may even get a little better if we're smart -- seems the most likely outcome. But don't be surprised if all those college students dump the Bay Area into that big bit bucket in the sky by Christmas. There are no miracles on the horizon. The one thing that isn't going to appreciably speed up the Internet, ironically, is faster modem access via ISDN or cable modems. The network, not your connection to it, is the problem. "The lack of high-speed access is good right now because it is keeping traffic off overloaded servers and backbones," Metcalfe says. The bottom line: Your costs will probably increase. Looking five years or so into the future, it's bye-bye flat-rate billing. We'll pay for service by quantity and time, just as we do now with regular utilities. For the most part, the Internet will be a more expensive, more boring, more professional place to hang out as all these costs gradually weed out the incompetent amateurs. It might not even be a place to hang out but, rather, a place to get work done. In fact, that may well have been the point of Metcalfe's argument all along - to be provocative and to accelerate the growing up, rather than the growth, of the Internet. "The Internet is not a living thing, it is not a model of political anarchy, it's not the future of civilization," Metcalfe says. "It is a computer network, one that's worked pretty well for a long time. "What we ought to do is throw a big party for all the people who invented it, thank them profusely and send them home. Then we should hire a new group of people to run it -- the kind of systematic people who run the phone company and the other utilitiy companies. "The Internet is a good thing," he adds. "It just needs adult supervision." http://www.newsday.com/plugin/plugmain.htm ------------------------------ From: techbus@ix.netcom.com (Robin Owens-Wright) Subject: Employment Opportunity: Junior Person for Circuit Position Date: 13 Sep 1996 23:29:49 GMT Organization: Netcom Permanent positions are located in Northern Virgina for a telecommunications company. Below is the information needed: * 2 Junior level telecommunications people * Should be able to place and track orders with the Bell's * Be able to do some circuit provisioning * Salary si $30-$40K Company has flex hours and casual dress code. Please either fax resume to 301-937-7983 or call 301-937-4662. If emailing the resume SEND AS A FLAT FILE DO NOT FORMAT. Just cut and paste as part of the email unless it can be sent as an attached WORD file. THANKS! ------------------------------ From: Chris_Martin Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 13:32:24 -0400 Organization: "NetEdge Systems" Mike Fox wrote: > goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) wrote: >> The good news is that the telephone system, having almost all of its >> lines underground, has come through almost unscathed, at least here in >> the Raleigh-Durham area (over which Fran's eye passed very early >> Friday morning). The figures I saw in the newspaper quoted BellSouth >> and GTE as saying that fewer then 10,000 phone customers lost service >> in the region, compared to the hundreds of thousands who lost >> electrical power. At the peak Friday, over 80 percent of electrical >> customers in the area were without power, including my home. But >> BellSouth came through for us the whole time. Heck, even our GTE >> Cellular One phone worked on Friday. My kudos to the telcos. > I didn't observe the same goodness Bob is reporting. True, my > BellSouth landline made it through the storm on Friday morning, but by > late Friday afternoon, several hours after the hurricane had left the > area, my phone service went down for about 12 hours. About 50% of the > people I know or have tried to contact in the Raleigh-Durham area lost > their phone service AFTER it had survived the hurricane. I wonder if > these are being reported in the numbers that the phone companies are > giving. There were rumors that the phone company was pulling the plug > on random people in order to free up lines for emergency use (I am on > the same switch as a hospital), which would be understandable and I > would support that move even if it cost me my service, but no credible > source (i.e., newspaper article or "BellSouth progress report" ad in > the newspaper) has confirmed this. As I write this my parents do not > have reliable phone service yet, and they are getting by with my > cellular phone, and they are NOT on the same switch as a hospital. > They too had their phone service survive the hurricane only to have it > go down a day later. Perhaps the BNR guy can tell us for sure ... but the experience that you had (service outage after x hours) is a result of the battery backup giving out in the RCCs located in many subdivisions. In ours (off Kildaire Farm Road) service was restored after the BellSouth truck pulled up with one of those yellow portable generators. It did take a while, depending on where you live, to get service. There were BellSouth generators at points all along Penny Road by the Sunday after the storm. > Also it's worth noting that BellSouth has taken some nice measures: > 1. They have set up temporary phone banks near areas with outages > 2. They are waiving all setup and connection fees for people who have > to move to temporary housing. The fees will also be waived to reconnect > to houses that were hurricane damaged. Still *my* favorite utility. > This got me to thinking about how the phone companies could handle > emergencies like this in the future. I have no qualms with pulling > the plug on residential service to free up lines for emergency use, > but I wonder if it could have been done smoother. I don't think it is a line issue, it's a power issue. chris martin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 14:28:47 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas Mike Fox writes: > About 50% of the people I know or have tried to contact in the > Raleigh-Durham area lost their phone service AFTER it had survived > the hurricane. I wonder if these are being reported in the numbers > that the phone companies are giving. For what it's worth, here are the final numbers as reported by Raleigh's _News_&_Observer_ this past weekend: Peak number of [phone] lines without service: 42,000 of 425,000 BellSouth customers [in all of NC? In the Triangle only? I don't know] 112,000 of 1.4 million [Sprint] Carolina Telephone customers in NC and Virginia 16,500 of 165,000 GTE customers in Durham and RTP [GTE's only service area in the state, I believe] This actually doesn't look too bad when compared with the > 1 million power customers without service at the peak. The numbers may be cooked a bit, though. Certainly the GTE figure (exactly 10% of the customer base) looks a bit suspicious to me. But the stats do jibe well with my anecdotal experience; of the 6 or 7 people we talked to (or tried calling) locally the day after the storm, only one (who lives outside of Chapel Hill) lost his line, and even that was for only part of one day. Other friends in Raleigh and Cary were all reachable, even though only one of them got power back in the first 24 hours after the storm. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: holdrege@eisner.decus.org (Matt Holdrege) Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Organization: DECUServe Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 19:48:00 GMT In article , Jack Decker writes: > I have an account with a local Internet Service Provider called Novagate > Communications Corporation. Their nearest POP is in Muskegon, Michigan on > the 616-728 exchange, which is served by GTE. I receive service from the > Whitehall, Michigan exchange (616-893 exchange). > On more than one occasion, I've tried to dial into Novagate's POP during > the evening hours (say between 9:30 and 11:00 PM) and have received an "I'm > sorry, all circuits are busy now" recording. Persistent redialing will > generally get me through, but it may take from 5 to 25 minutes. > And also, I noticed that I never received these recordings until about a > month or so before GTE started offering their own Internet service in this > area. Of course, that may be entirely a coincidence, but it seemed a > little suspicious to me. Having been formerly employed by GTE and having worked closely with GTE's internet staff, I can tell you that there is no monkey business going on here. The people who manage the Internet service and the people who manage the C.O.'s are as far apart as you can get in a multi-national conglomerate. The likely culprit is that the late evening hours are peak usage time for Internet/AOL/Compuserve access. Since those calls are usually nailed up for over an hour, I'm not surprised that you occasionally get an "All circuits busy" message. GTE and the RBOC's do need to beef up the interoffice trunks in some of its areas, but as I wrote earlier, they didn't budget for all this nailed Internet traffic. ------------------------------ From: Dave Sieg Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 23:15:49 +0000 Organization: Zeta Image, Inc. Your problem sounds very similar to one I recently discovered on a Bell Atlantic page ( http://www.ba.com/ea/fcc ). I wrote an article for our local Association of Internet Providers about the issue, located at http://kpt1.tricon.net/Org/aiip/esp.html . But in your case, it does sound definitive that the ISP's calls are being blocked, or shunted into a "choke group". Dave Sieg dave@tricon.net Zeta Image, Inc. ------------------------------ From: jsol@eddie.mit.edu Subject: Happy Rosh Hashanna Date: Fri, 13 Sep 96 19:37:05 EDT Happy Jewish New Year from JSOL to TELECOM readers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And I offer the same greetings to you and other readers. My best wishes go to everyone who is observing the very special nature of this week leading up to Yom Kippur. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #490 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 17 15:44:28 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA16105; Tue, 17 Sep 1996 15:44:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 15:44:28 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609171944.PAA16105@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #491 TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Sep 96 15:44:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 491 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Possible Solution to SYN Flooding Attacks (David Ofsevit) BANM Ends Equal Access (John McHarry) New Surcharge for Number Portability (Tad Cook) Date Set For 818/626 Split? (John Cropper) "Call Waiting Deluxe" From BellSouth (Ron Schnell) Random Network Generation (Matthew B. Doar) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Andy Spitzer) Schematics Info On QVF51A (rwalrond@interlog.com) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Derek Balling) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Brian Kantor) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Steve Bagdon) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:21:44 -0400 From: David Ofsevit Subject: Possible Solution to SYN Flooding Attacks The following was posted in the TCP/IP newsgroup. I am not familiar with the author, his company, or his product. I am passing this on verbatim, as it is related to the recent denial-of-service attack on Panix. David Ofsevit From: cklaus@iss.net (Christopher Klaus) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: SYN Flooding [info] Date: 13 Sep 1996 15:05:52 GMT [Below we have a software tool that will recognize SYN floods and correct the problem.] Possible solution to SYN Flooding attacks The attack is on! Both 2600 and Phrack, two of the biggest well-known underground hacking magazines, have posted exploit code to do one of the nastiest denial of service attacks that the Internet has seen so far. Hundreds of people have access to these programs to bring down services on the Internet. Many of these people are targeting their attacks at various organizations such as ISP. Panix, an ISP, has been under attack for quite a few days now and they have not been able to receive email. Many other ISPs are suffering from the SYN flood attack. This attack is being discussed on many mailing lists, newsgroups, and Thursday's Wall Street Journal (9/12/96). Fortunately a solution already exists as we discuss below. Everyone connected to the Internet relies on TCP/IP. When you establish a connection with TCP, you do a three-way handshake. The connecting host sends a SYN packet to the receiving host. The receiving host sends a SYN|ACK packet back and to fully establish a connection, the connecting host finally responds with an ACK packet. In a SYN flood attack, an attacker host sends many SYN packets and does not respond with an ACK to the SYN|ACK's. As the receiving host is waiting for more and more ACK's, the buffer queue will fill up and the receiving machine can no longer accepts legitimate connections. This means that attackers can block your email, web, or any other service you are providing on the Internet. To even make this attack worse, the code exploiting the problem randomizes the source address of the attacking host. Thus, the receiving machine gets packets that appear to be from all over the Internet, hiding the location of the attacker. Solution There are several things we can do to stop these attacks from being effective. With the routers for most ISP, they should be blocking any non-internal addresses from leaving their network and going to the Internet. This will stop an attacker if their ISP implements this. Unfortunately, this does not stop an attack from areas on the Internet that do not block that. But at least the ISP can feel comfortable to know that an attacker can not launch his attack from that ISP. Here are two methods of helping eliminate the problem. Some of the exploit code I have seen does not pick a random source port. It would be easy to block the attack with a router denying any packets coming from a specific source port. This may not be too effective because of the trivial nature of adding code to randomize the source port, sequence number, source address, and TTL. But it might help you temporarily if you notice the attacks have any pattern that can be blocked by router rules. Another way to fix this is to set the kernel maximum number of half open connections allowed (SO_MAXCONN) to a higher number than the default value. We have a tool that will look for SYN packets that do not get followed with ACK and clean the half open connections by sending a RST packet. This unclogs the port and allows legitimate connections to happen. This tool is called RealSecure (tm). To obtain a copy of the RealSecure tool, send email to majordomo@Iss.net and within the body of the message, type: subscribe realsecure RealSecure (tm) is a comprehensive attack recognition and real time response tool that ISS is alpha testing and will expire in 60 days. Christopher William Klaus Voice: (770)395-0150. Fax: (770)395-1972 Internet Security Systems, Inc. "Internet Scanner finds Ste. 660,41 Perimeter Center East,Atlanta,GA 30346 your network security holes Web: http://www.iss.net/ Email: cklaus@iss.net before the hackers do." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 19:25:36 -0700 From: John McHarry Subject: BANM Ends Equal Access I have a Bell Atlantic/NYNEX mobile phone subscription. I went to one of their stores a couple of days ago to change my interexchange carrier PIC. To my surprise I was told that they are no longer subject to Equal Access rules and that if I wanted anyone other than BANM as my IXC it would cost me $1.00 per month. I was told the same thing on their customer service 800 line, but when I complained that they were trying to change the terms of my contract, they "waived" the charge and changed my PIC within a few minutes. Does anyone know if this anti-competitive move is now allowed? I certainly don't object to them offering a competitive long distance service, but there was no sales pitch that they were better, or cheaper, or even acceptable, just "stand and deliver"! Newt, what hath thou wrought?? ------------------------------ Subject: New Surcharge for Number Portability Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:22:15 GMT From: tad@ssc.com This is a portion of an article that appeared in the {Wall Street Journal}. Phone Companies Call for Customer Surcharge By BRYAN GRULEY The Wall Street Journal The new telecommunications law is supposed to increase competition and lower the price of local telephone service. But some of the nation's biggest phone companies want to remind customers that competition itself has a price -- in the form of a new surcharge on their monthly bills. Local phone companies are lobbying the Federal Communications Commission for a charge to cover the cost of enabling customers who switch to rival carriers to keep their old phone numbers. No one's sure how big the charge might be, but Nynex Corp., one of the Baby Bells, estimates $1 to $2 a month per phone line -- whether a customer elects to change carriers or not. Long-distance companies, consumer advocates and other opponents are howling that the proposed charge is just a gimmick to offset the drain local phone companies could suffer as rivals invade their monopolies. They point out that Nynex currently has more than 16 million access lines, so even a $1-a-month surcharge would generate nearly $200 million a year, allowing the company to recoup its costs in as little as two years. "If we see (a surcharge), we will complain loud and long," says Ruth Michalecki, director of telecommunications at the University of Nebraska. Other critics say the surcharge would make a mockery of telecommunications deregulation. "Consumers are going to be outraged," says Gene Kimmelman, co-director of the Consumers Union's Washington office. "It makes no sense that you have to raise consumer bills in order to open up the phone network to competition." Many customers are reluctant to change a phone number that is familiar to family and friends, or is printed on business cards, stationery and advertising, which may discourage them from switching to a new phone company. So the telecommunications law requires all carriers to offer "number portability." "It's crucial to true competition," says FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. But how the costs are tallied, who incurs them and how they'll be recovered are the subjects of a furious industry debate at the FCC. The agency has been flooded with comments from every major player in the business, including cable-television and wireless-communication companies, all jockeying for every possible advantage in the new, deregulated era. AT&T Corp., the long-distance giant, puts the industry's potential cost of technology changes needed for portability at $1.9 billion, spread over five years. Nynex's guess is closer to $4 billion, with its own share at $400 million. Today, the switches that route calls through the nation's telephone network know instantly where to send them. The first three digits identify a switch operated by the local phone company in a particular area code. That system must change to accommodate customers who want to buy service from a new local carrier while keeping their existing numbers, rather than be assigned new ones. The likely solution is a collection of centralized databases containing all phone numbers in a given region or state. When someone makes a call, the signal will zip first to a database to determine where the call should go. The extra costs lie in creating these databases and upgrading network software to use them. ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Date Set For 818/626 Split? Date: 16 Sep 1996 22:14:08 GMT Organization: Pipeline While digging in the faxback archives of SWBT, BellSouth and USWest, I stumbled across the following previously unreleased information. Details on the 818/626 split: Permissive Dialing Begins: 06/14/97 Mandatory Dialing Begins: 01/17/98 No test number available at this time, nor finalized details on geographic boundary (which was still in dispute as late as May). Inquiries to both BellCore and PacBell have returned only silence, as is typically the case. This information was apparently made available by PacBell to other LECs as early as 7/5/96. I also turned up a previously unpublished test number for 888, listed as 888-250-0870. Calls to it only produce an interrupt message that "the call cannot be completed as dialed". John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 609.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 18:23:46 EDT From: Ron Schnell Subject: "Call Waiting Deluxe" From BellSouth I ordered this feature, which is a fancy name for CNID during Call Waiting, from BellSouth. While I am waiting for my hardware to arrive, I noticed the tone has begun to come through the line during the call waiting interruption. Another, less desireable feature, that I noticed is that answering a call-waiting now takes at least twice as long. No matter when you decide to flash over, it makes the normal clicking sounds it would make while it switches. After it is done, I expect the person to be there, but instead it pauses for almost a second, then clicks again, and the person is there. Any 5ESS jockeys out there know why? I always end up saying "Hello", and nobody is there, then I have to wait for the later click. Ron ronnie@space.mit.edu ------------------------------ From: mdoar@nexen.com (Matthew B. Doar) Subject: Random Network Generation Date: 16 Sep 1996 18:43:08 GMT Organization: Ascom Nexion, Acton Massachusetts Reply-To: mdoar@nexen.com Announcing a new model, algorithm and C++ code for generating random networks. Useful for researchers who need to construct models of networks to test routing algorithms, the code produces networks with thousands of nodes, interconnected with redundant links as desired, in a hierarchy of networks. The parameters of the model are straightforward and have real-world meanings. The C++ code (tested with g++, SunOS 4.1.4) and a paper describing the model are available from: ftp://ftp.nexen.com/pub/papers/tiers1.0.tar.gz (325K, includes the paper) ftp://ftp.nexen.com/pub/papers/tiers.ps.gz (284K, just the paper, gzip) ftp://ftp.nexen.com/pub/papers/tiers.ps (1M, just the postscript) Gnuplot (Version 3.6), the freely-available plotting package for many platforms can be used to view the resulting topologies. Gnuplot v3.6 can be found at ftp://cmpc1.phys.soton.ac.uk/pub and http://www.dragonsoft.com Matthew B. Doar Ascom Nexion, Inc. mdoar@nexen.com [www.nexen.com] 289 Great Road, +1 508 266 3468 Acton, MA 01720, USA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 96 19:13:24 EDT From: woof@telecnnct.com (Andy Spitzer) Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Dennis Wong asked: > [On DID trunks] can somebody explain to me how the central office signals > the PABX to ring that particular extension? While there are many types of DID trunks (E&M, T1, ISDN, etc) all have one characteristic in common, they all communicate to the PABX the NUMBER that the caller dialed. There are various methods of passing this number, technically known as 'DNIS' (Dialed Number Information Service). Each trunk type has a slightly differerent method of passing the DNIS, (except for ISDN which is radically different) and it varies from switch to switch, and country to country, so this discussion will be limited to 'CAS' (channel associated signalling non ISDN) methods. The basic flow goes something like this: When a call comes into the PABX on a DID trunk, the Central Office (CO) 'seizes' the trunk (goes off-hook). This seizure informs the PABX that a call is about to be delivered, and it should prepare to receive the DNIS. The DNIS is often sent as 'DTMF' (Touch Tone (T)Lucent) tones (other methods are 'MF' tones (Multi-Frequency), and dial-pulses). So, to prepare to receive the DNIS, the PABX puts a DTMF receiver (a device that can convert the tones into digits) on the line. When the receiver is ready, the PABX signals the CO to send the DNIS. It does this by sending a 'Wink' (a brief off-hook/ on-hook). The Wink informs the CO the PABX is ready to receive the DNIS, so it 'outpulses' (dials) the DNIS DTMF tones. By inspecting the DNIS, the PABX can determine the number that was dialed. It is the job of the PABX to 'translate' (map) the DNIS information (the number dialed) to an extension (the phone on a desk). Often, the last 3 or 4 digits of the DNIS are used as the extension: DNIS Extension ---- --------- 301-555-1100 100 301-555-1101 101 etc. However, in most modern PABXs the mapping can arbitrary. In practice, the CO just sends the last 3-5 digits of the dialed number, as often the area-code and extension part (NPA-NXX) of all the numbers the PABX serves are the same (301-555 for example) so there is no need to waste time sending them. In summary: CO Seizes PABX Winks CO Outpulses DNIS digits PABX translates DNIS digits to extension Now the PABX knows what extension to ring! > Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or > do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? It is not possible to make outgoing calls on DID trunks; by definition they are inbound only. However, in many places you can order Bi-Directional trunks, which are both inbound and outbound. They work the same as DID (in that they deliver DNIS) but can be used for outbound as well. One usually doesn't use "regular" CO lines for outgoing calls, because they cost more than outbound only DOD trunks. Bidirectional trunks usually cost more than the prices of one inbound (DID) and one outbound (DOD) trunk combined! Depending on the calling patterns of the PABX users, one may need a different number of inbound trunks than outbound trunks (help desks need lots of inbound, fewer outbound, pollsters need lots of outbound, fewer inbound). Splitting them up may lower the total monthly bill. Also, there is an additional item to consider when using bidirectional trunks. Have you ever picked up the phone to make a call, and found someone else on the end of the line who had just called you? That situation, where both an inbound and outbound call want to use the trunk at the same time is called 'glare'. Glare prevents the calls from being completed and is something to avoid. By separating trunks into DID and DOD, glare is avoided. Hope that helped! Andy Spitzer woof@telecnnct.com The Telephone Connection 301-417-0700 ------------------------------ From: rwalrond@interlog.com Subject: Schematics Info On QVF51A Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 02:24:17 GMT Organization: InterLog Internet Services Reply-To: rwalrond@interlog.com Does anyone have info and/or a schematic diagram on the QVF51A. Please e-mail me directly. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:44:45 EST From: Derek Balling Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Jack Decker wrote: > Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone else in GTE land has experienced > this same problem in connecting to their ISP, or if this is just an > isolated case. And if, by any odd chance, anyone from GTE happens to > read this, it would be much appreciated if you could find out why ONLY > calls to Novagate's Muskegon POP seem to encounter the "all circuits > busy" condition, when other calls to Muskegon virtually always seem to > go through without a hitch (and also, why have the GTE folks here been > unresponsive to this problem)? Maybe I can shed a little light on a POSSIBLE explanation for this. (Not discounting the possibility that I can envision GTE arranging the ISP's lines to all show up on one line card or whatever so that he will constantly blow the "average load" the card is expected to be able to deal with in simultaneous calls) ... it is entirely possible that the ISP has subscribed to CentraNet (GTE's centrex service), and has got a Line:NAR ratio of less than 1:1. (ie. 2 lines to each NAR). If the ISP had 30 lines and 15 NARS, he could only GET 15 calls from the outside world at one time. What is possible is that the ISP may be a NAR or two short, either tbecause he was sold the Centranet service and sold on the cheap rate without realizing the drawback of having to pay for extra NARs, or simply because of a problem in the CO where they haven't allocated him enough NARs. (I don't work for GTE any longer so I can't remember what the "default" line:NAR ratio is for Wisconsin, sorry) In some states, it IS 1:1, which would indicate simply a misappropriation in the CO. Or it could indicate something anticompetitive, as you suggest. Derek J. Balling | "Every man dies... but not every man dredd@megacity.org | really lives..." http://www.megacity.org/ | - Mel Gibson, Braveheart ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 23:10:30 -0700 From: brian@nothing.ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. If the ISP has its incoming service set up as simple PBX trunks, the phone company will give you an 'all circuits busy' recording when it really should just be giving you a busy signal. Confusing but not nefarious. Brian ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 07:39:20 -0400 From: bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Jack Decker said: > Since GTE also offers Internet services, I believe that it is at least > possible that someone at GTE may feel that it is to their advantage to > let service to competitors degrade, so that Internet users will switch > to GTE's service (which brings up a side point: Are there any newsgroups > or mailing lists where GTE's Internet service is the topic of > discussion? I'd be curious to know if users are discussing their > service, the way they talk about AOL or some of the other major > ISP's). > Anyway, I'd like to know if anyone else in GTE land has experienced > this same problem in connecting to their ISP, or if this is just an > isolated case. And if, by any odd chance, anyone from GTE happens to > read this, it would be much appreciated if you could find out why ONLY > calls to Novagate's Muskegon POP seem to encounter the "all circuits > busy" condition, when other calls to Muskegon virtually always seem to > go through without a hitch (and also, why have the GTE folks here been > unresponsive to this problem)? Are you sure that GTE is actually *providing* service, or are they just *reselling * ISP service? Everyone is on the bandwagon to offer ISP, cellular, cable, etc - but most usually it comes down to the companies are only reselling the service, not providing the service. For all we know, GTE might be reselling Novagate, and shooting themselves in the foot! Steve B. bagdon@rust.net (h) USFMDDKT@ibmmail.com (w) http://www.rust.net/~bagdon ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #491 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Tue Sep 17 19:49:03 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id TAA15547; Tue, 17 Sep 1996 19:49:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 19:49:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609172349.TAA15547@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #492 TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Sep 96 19:49:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 492 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Email 2 to FCC Chairman: Universal Service and Online Seminar (R. Hauben) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? ( Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (Doug Stewart) Re: RJ12 Wiring Question (Robert Milton) Re: RJ12 Wiring Question (Andrew C. Green) Re: RJ12 Wiring Question (Michael Stanford) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Robert Milton) Re: Technology Companies and Online Media (Daniel Lance Herrick) Media Conspiracies (was Re: Technology Companies) (Dan Gilmor) The Press Doesn't Like Us (was Re: Technology Companies) (Eric Florack) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rh120@namaste.cc.columbia.edu (Ronda Hauben) Subject: Email 2 to FCC Chairman: Universal Service and Online Seminar Date: 17 Sep 1996 20:31:12 GMT Organization: Columbia University The following was sent via email to Reed Hundt at the FCC via email Open Letter 2 to Reed Hundt, Chairman of the FCC Re: About censorship and the FCC record on Universal Service and the Need for an unmoderated Open hearing on the Universal Service: I sent the message below to the online seminar that will become part of the FCC record on universal service. Instead of posting it to the list, the moderator told me that it wouldn't be posted. Previously I had been told a message wouldn't be posted, and that I should call the moderator to talk about it. After talking with him, he subsequently posted the message. However, this time, he didn't post the message to the list. Unfortunately this supposedly open online seminar is being censored and therefore the record being sent to the FCC will represent the views of those who are favorable to what certain interests want in the record, but the claim will be made that the record is reflective of a broad set of views. That isn't the case unfortunately. The FCC is involved in difficult rulemaking processes involving whether to maintain and extend universal service or to take it away and instead give corporate interests cut rates at the expense and high rates for home telephone and Internet users. Unfortunately by limiting the views available in the online seminar the moderator is helping to create a record that will be able to be used to justify the taking away of universal service from the home user. This is what happens when private interests are involved rather than having the FCC itself or some other government entity sponsor the online hearing. The record will then represent the private interests who already have lots of means of having their views represented in the record. Below is the post that has been censored out of the FCC seminar. One wonders how many others have been discouraged or kept from participating in the online seminar on universal service for the FCC rulemaking. The post was sent to us-nd@info-ren.pitt.edu to be included as part of the online seminar. The post was in response to a valuable post by Frank Odasz to the online seminar. My post is in response to his titled "Reality Check". I am asking that the FCC record include the following post and that it also include the notice that the online seminar record only represents the views of those whom the moderator has allowed to be represented. More importantly, I am asking that the FCC sponsor an open unmoderated online hearing in the tradition of the NTIA online hearing on the future of the Net held in November 1994. I am asking that the FCC hold the online hearing on the issues of how to continue and extend universal service in the rulemaking that is currently ongoing to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996. That Act was passed with no input allowed by those for whom universal service is important and needed. Instead the telecom's were given all sorts of means to influence the wording and passage of the law. Instead of continuing that closed process in an issue as important as the telecommunications infrastructure and provisions in the U.S. there is a need to open up the process so that the FCC can hear from all those who are interested in putting their views into the record. No way has yet been provided for that to happen. I am asking that an online unmoderated hearing held by the FCC or another appropriate government entity, that it be broadly announced, with public access terminals made available for those who do not yet have Internet access, and with a temporary newsgroup and mailing list facilities set up so those who are interested in contributing to the record will have a means to do so. I look forward to hearing your response to my request. Sincerely, Ronda Hauben P.O. Box 250101 New York, N.Y. 10025-1531 Email:rh120@columbia.edu P.S. My post that was censored from the online seminar that will become part of the FCC record follows: >Will the big communications corporations preempt these budding >'bottom-up' community networks? Citizens will determine the >winners through their participation. But not all citizens have the choice of determining such winners if they don't have a community network in their area. And there is a need for government subsidies to support the creation and encouragement of such community networks as a matter of national policy (now some such get govt support in the U.S. while other areas don't) Forming a freenet or community network in a large metropolitian area like New York City without government encouragement and support seems virtually impossible. Somehow there is a need to oversee what government does, rather than remove government from the picture as only government can provide for a broad policy that covers all areas of a country as large as the U.S. In the U.S. there are large multinational corporations with powerful means to promote their interests. There is a need to have government help citizens deal with these corporations - otherwise the basic obligations of a society to provide for the health and well being of the population are lost out in the pressure of the big corporations to gain what they can without any regard for the cost to society. >The reality of the situation is that creating autonomously >controlled local networks demonstrating the authenticity of >widespread purposeful citizen participation can only be achieved >through a "Win-Win" ongoing partnership between the builders, and >the users, of our emerging National Information Infrastructure. There is no emerging National Information Infrastructure. There is the government paid for and built Internet which has been given over to private entities without any concern for the public opposition to this giveaway. (This public opposition was voiced at the NTIA online conference in Nov. 1994 as well as in other forums such as those help by the former OTA.) Also, the history of the development of time sharing, the ARPANET and then the Internet provides valuable lessons toward broadening access to the Internet. Instead of studying this history, however, there is a rush to throw out all the lessons. Our online book "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" documents this history and demonstrates that government support for and even funding of computer networking has been crucial. Even more importantly, government oversight over and encouragement of computer networking has led to a constantly evolving and valuable resource that has now put new questions to the fore such as how to make access to this available to all. But it seems impossible to do so without looking at the past history and development and building on it. >Worse even, are discussions without leadership which are reduced >to circular hodge-podge messaging, where the same issues are >discussed over and over again with no one summarizing, archiving >and disseminating former quality messages and "collected >knowledge." When value and knowledge are not aggregated, and >decisions not reached, forward progress is lost. I agree that there is a need for archiving past Usenet materials and also mailing list discussions of important issues. The NTIA online conference has been archived and there is a summary of it in our online book, but it didn't seem that most of the people taking up these issues in this online seminar have been pointed to that material and asked to build on it. >It is the specific processes by which citizens aggregate >knowledge and engage in purposeful public problem-solving, >effectively, that we need to turn our focus. Without a national >"knowledge collection" effort in understanding how to leverage >these dynamics effectively, to allow us to define the direction >forward in realizing our joint potential, we'll continue to >be...virtually clueless. But the problem isn't with people. There is clearly a battle on now, with big corporate interests in the U.S. trying to grab what they can despite whose expense. And we haven't figured out a way to make the U.S. govt recognize that there are citizens in the U.S. (not just customers for the corporations). Hence the corporate interests are expending all manner and means to have government entities act in their interests, and there seem few means for the citizen and the Netizen to have their voices heard beyond that of the Internet. And thus there is no real desire for corporate interests to make Usenet or email available to all in the U.S. but they are interested in making web access to their ads (or even email access to their ads) available to all. We don't want www access to ads, and want to find a way to stop such commercial ads from polluting Usenet or email. We want and need to be able to communicate with each other, to hear our problems and try to help each other find solutions. That is the promise the Internet holds out, but there is a need to get government officials like the FCC or Congress recognize that there are Netizens and citizens who have a right and need to be heard and it is important that there be such means available. Ronda rh120@columbia.edu Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ ------------------------------ From: prospc@mindspring.com (Dee Cash) Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 21:41:31 GMT Organization: PROS & CYBERSOFT 615-831-9973 x 1 Reply-To: prospc@mindspring.com holdrege@eisner.decus.org (Matt Holdrege) wrote: > In article , Jack Decker > writes: >> I have an account with a local Internet Service Provider called Novagate >> Communications Corporation. Their nearest POP is in Muskegon, Michigan on >> the 616-728 exchange, which is served by GTE. I receive service from the >> Whitehall, Michigan exchange (616-893 exchange). >> On more than one occasion, I've tried to dial into Novagate's POP during >> the evening hours (say between 9:30 and 11:00 PM) and have received an "I'm >> sorry, all circuits are busy now" recording. Persistent redialing will >> generally get me through, but it may take from 5 to 25 minutes. >> And also, I noticed that I never received these recordings until about a >> month or so before GTE started offering their own Internet service in this >> area. Of course, that may be entirely a coincidence, but it seemed a >> little suspicious to me. > Having been formerly employed by GTE and having worked closely with GTE's > internet staff, I can tell you that there is no monkey business going on > here. The people who manage the Internet service and the people who manage > the C.O.'s are as far apart as you can get in a multi-national conglomerate. > The likely culprit is that the late evening hours are peak usage time > for Internet/AOL/Compuserve access. Since those calls are usually > nailed up for over an hour, I'm not surprised that you occasionally > get an "All circuits busy" message. > GTE and the RBOC's do need to beef up the interoffice trunks in some > of its areas, but as I wrote earlier, they didn't budget for all > this nailed Internet traffic. I agree LEC's have to increase their trunk capacity soon. www.cybersoftsystems.com Dee Cash 615-831-9973 x 1 Computer & Network 615-742-4815 Internet solutions & programming Amptron Intel VX chipset system board with Cyrix P150+ processor ------------------------------ From: Douglas Stewart Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 17:14:36 -0500 Organization: University of Mississippi NDES Matt Holdrege wrote: > GTE and the RBOC's do need to beef up the interoffice trunks in some > of its areas, but as I wrote earlier, they didn't budget for all > this nailed Internet traffic. They don't have to though. If I remember correctly, FCC regulations allow you to be blocked 5% of the time. The ironic thing is that cellular operators are held to a higher standard (2%). I guess it's because the wireline laws are much older. Douglas L Stewart douglas@olemiss.edu http://www.olemiss.edu/~douglas ------------------------------ From: robert milton Subject: Re: RJ12 Wiring Question Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 15:32:13 -0700 Organization: Texas Networking, Inc. Andy Rowan wrote: > I'm wiring up some jacks in my house for two lines, but I've gotten > conflicting answers on which way the wires should go. For the black > and yellow, which is tip and which is ring? Or in other words, does > the black correspond to the green, or does the yellow correspond to > the green, in terms of polarity? > I know that most new phones don't really care, but I have some old > Western Electric touchtone phones that won't dial if the polarity is > reversed. I know I can just figure out by trial and error to get it > to work, but I'd rather not wind up with the house and the phone both > wired backwards, so I wanted to know what the standard says. > Anyone have a definitive answer? Andy, Green is Tip and red is Ring. Yellow would be considered as T1 and black as R1. On some very old systems you tied yellow to green to make the ringer work on the phone. This would a very old phone. I hope this helps. Robert ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 09:31:43 -0500 From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: RJ12 Wiring Question rowan@ocean.rutgers.edu (Andy Rowan) writes: > I know that most new phones don't really care, but I have some old > Western Electric touchtone phones that won't dial if the polarity is > reversed. I know I can just figure out by trial and error to get it > to work, but I'd rather not wind up with the house and the phone both > wired backwards, so I wanted to know what the standard says. > Anyone have a definitive answer? My answer was originally going to be simply that as long as you observe the R/G/Y/B labeling on the hardware connectors throughout the house, you'll be fine, but in addition to that I have to add on the basis of personal experience that the repair people climbing the telephone poles these days don't seem to bother with polarity anymore anyway. On two separate occasions in two different towns recently I've had a couple of older phones quit dialing after recent repairs in the neighborhood (one a line drop replacement, the other some unspecified neighborhood problem) resulted in reversed polarity. I simply swapped the wiring on the phones affected, and everything was fine once again. Andrew C. Green (312) 266-4431 Datalogics, Inc. 441 W. Huron Internet: acg@dlogics.com Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ From: Michael Stanford Subject: Re: RJ12 Wiring Question Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 11:05:05 -0400 Yellow = Ring, Black = Tip. But it is best to test with the AT&T Telephone Line Tester (part number 953B in a bubble pack at AT&T stores and sometimes places like Office Depot), a little piece of yellow plastic with an LED for a few bucks. ------------------------------ From: robert milton Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 15:57:06 -0700 Organization: Texas Networking, Inc. Andy Spitzer wrote: > Dennis Wong asked: >> [On DID trunks] can somebody explain to me how the central office signals >> the PABX to ring that particular extension? > While there are many types of DID trunks (E&M, T1, ISDN, etc) all have > one characteristic in common, they all communicate to the PABX the NUMBER > that the caller dialed. There are various methods of passing this > number, technically known as 'DNIS' (Dialed Number Information Service). > Each trunk type has a slightly differerent method of passing DNIS, (except > for ISDN which is radically different) and it varies from switch to switch, > and country to country, so this discussion will be limited to 'CAS' (channel > associated signalling non ISDN) methods. The basic flow goes something like > this: > When a call comes into the PABX on a DID trunk, the Central Office (CO) > 'seizes' the trunk (goes off-hook). This seizure informs the PABX that a > call is about to be delivered, and it should prepare to receive the DNIS. > The DNIS is often sent as 'DTMF' (Touch Tone (T)Lucent) tones (other methods > are 'MF' tones (Multi-Frequency), and dial-pulses). So, to prepare to > receive the DNIS, the PABX puts a DTMF receiver (device that can convert the > tones into digits) on the line. When the receiver is ready, the PABX signals > the CO to send the DNIS. It does this by sending a 'Wink' (a brief off-hook/ > on-hook). > The Wink informs the CO the PABX is ready to receive the DNIS, so it > 'outpulses' (dials) the DNIS DTMF tones. > By inspecting the DNIS, the PABX can determine the number that was dialed. > It is the job of the PABX to 'translate' (map) the DNIS information > (the number dialed) to an extension (the phone on a desk). Often, the last > 3 or 4 digits of the DNIS are used as the extension: > DNIS Extension > ---- --------- > 301-555-1100 100 > 301-555-1101 101 > etc. > However, in most modern PABXs the mapping can arbitrary. > In practice, the CO just sends the last 3-5 digits of the dialed number, as > often the area-code and extension part (NPA-NXX) of all the numbers > the PABX serves are the same (301-555 for example) so there is no need to > waste time sending them. > In summary: > CO Seizes > PABX Winks > CO Outpulses DNIS digits > PABX translates DNIS digits to extension > Now the PABX knows what extension to ring! >> Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or >> do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? > It is not possible to make outgoing calls on DID trunks; by definition > they are inbound only. However, in many places you can order Bi-Directional > trunks, which are both inbound and outbound. They work the same as DID (in > that they deliver DNIS) but can be used for outbound as well. > One usually doesn't use "regular" CO lines for outgoing calls, because > they cost more than outbound only DOD trunks. > Bidirectional trunks usually cost more than the prices of one inbound > (DID) and one outbound (DOD) trunk combined! Depending on the calling > patterns of the PABX users, one may need a different number of inbound > trunks than outbound trunks (help desks need lots of inbound, fewer > outbound, pollsters need lots of outbound, fewer inbound). Splitting > them up may lower the total monthly bill. > Also, there is an additional item to consider when using bidirectional > trunks. Have you ever picked up the phone to make a call, and found > someone else on the end of the line who had just called you? That > situation, where both an inbound and outbound call want to use the > trunk at the same time is called 'glare'. > Glare prevents the calls from being completed and is something to avoid. > By separating trunks into DID and DOD, glare is avoided. Andy, I hate to disagree with you but DNIS and DID are two seperate services. DID service for example uses 3,4 or 5 digit inpulsing. In other words the user dials 301-555-7788 and the CO strips of the 301-555 and sends 7788 over the trunk group and route index assigned to the customer, hence the pbx then directs the call to the proper phone. If that number is not programmed in the pbx the it follows the route assigned by the pbx; ie busy tone, operator intercept etc. On the other hand DNIS is a service used by the pbx to direct a number not not in the pbx to a DID; ie ATT ready line service. The customer has an 800 number 1-800-800-XXXX. In programming the pbx we send this 800 number to a DID number; any number in the customer's range. Now the question can a DID be used for DOD? The proper answer is yes, however you must have a PBX that will accept ISDN. Order the service as CALL-BY-CALL type. You will have 23 voice channels plus a D-CHANNEL. The 23 can be used both ways. Contact your vendor if other than NORTEL. If they can't help call NORTEL; we'll be glad to upgrade you to a new system to accept ISDN. Robert Milton ------------------------------ From: daniel lance herrick Subject: Re: Technology Companies and Online Media Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:44:03 -0400 Organization: Allen-Bradley Company Commenting on a scare piece about electronic media from a paper newspaper, our Esteemed Moderator wrote: > Let me repeat the basic premise here: print newspapers are becoming > a relic. Years ago there were many, many more of them then there are > now. There are no large city afternoon newspapers any longer. There > is usually only one newspaper -- possibly two -- in very large cities > which used to have a dozen or more papers. They used to have a lot > of control over public opinion and thus considerable influence over > their advertisers. Things are going downhill very rapidly in the > print newspaper business. Not nearly so many people read them or pay > any attention to them any longer. Distribution costs and problems are > up, circulation is down, and the bottom line looks very grim. Pat, Your nostalgic remarks (within the polemic) suggest you might be interested in some things I have collected at http://www.dlh.com/dlh/newspap/index.htm It is four essentially complete newspapers from the 1700's. I've learned that John Peter Zenger's newspaper is in the collection, but haven't entered any more since identifying it. dan dlh@dlh.com (BTW. If you look at the annual or semi-annual comparative reports of newspaper circulations, you might notice that, while most major papers have decreasing circulation, the {Washington Times} is moving in the other direction. You might find hints of why at http://www.washtimes.com/ ) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 08:46:31 PDT From: Dan Gillmor Reply-To: Dan Gillmor Subject: Media Conspiracies (was Re: Technology Companies; Online Media) As a longtime reader of your valuable Digest, and someone who tries to maintain a reasonably thick skin about criticism, please let me raise a few points about some of your recent postings. I emphasize that I'm speaking only for myself, not my organization. I'm sorry you hate the print media with such vehemence, but I'd like to suggest that you're overstating the case. The posting of Cate Corcoran's story about conflicts of interest in the electronic media, and your response, are the latest case in point. (By the way, does anyone bother to even ask for permission to make those postings? If you're going to nail us to a wall, perhaps you could do it without encouraging your contributors to violate copyright laws.) You can fairly criticize the print media for sucking up to advertisers on occasion. But the conflict of interest that advertising presents is obvious: It's right there in front of the readers' noses. Contrary to your (typically) flat assertion that you'll never see a print publication criticize a major advertiser, we ran a series last year on questionable practices in the computer retailing industry, and named names including our largest advertisers. Cate Corcoran's story, on the other hand, was about the new electronic media and their tendency to be owned by -- or have business partnerships with -- the very people/organizations they ostensibly cover. And they often fail to disclose these arrangements in their coverage. Are you suggesting that this is something we should ignore, that consumers shouldn't know about? My company has a small investment in Netscape, which I disclose when I or anyone who writes for me does an article in which Netscape is a significant subject. Unfortunately, the newer media don't even bother to do this in many cases, and I think that's noteworthy. Don't you? By the way, I fully agree that the Observer piece about Julf Helsingius was about the yellowest piece of crap in a long time. It doesn't prove your point, though. Lots of reporters, including me, came back with stories about the remailer and Helsingius that put the matter in proper perspective. A lot of us have been battling for the free-speech rights of online users for a long time. I'm as appalled, and angered, by lousy reporting as anyone; it makes all journalists' jobs harder. I'm also as enthralled by the Net and its potential as anyone. And I'd argue that most print journalists -- at least the ones who write about this stuff -- feel the same way. In general, I think your conspiracy theories about the print media wanting to kill the electronic media are simply and visibly not true. In the case of my own organization, we would not be pouring resources into this area if we didn't believe that it is, in a very key way, our future. Respectfully, Dan Gillmor, Computing Editor E-mail: dgillmor@sjmercury.com San Jose Mercury News Voice: 408-920-5016 750 Ridder Park Drive Fax: 408-920-5917 San Jose, CA 95190 http://www.sjmercury.com/business/gillmor/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 08:46:06 PDT From: Eric_Florack@xn.xerox.com (Florack,Eric) Subject: The Press Doesn't Like Us (was Re: Technology Companies; Online Media) Pat, I've been watching your comments on this topic with some interest, and would like to respond to some of them. To a large extent, we agree on the symptoms we see, but disagree as to the causes, as you will see. > And *they* want to talk about objectivity in this media? *They* want > to tell us how clean their hands are and how pure their thoughts are? > What a laugh! As I say, we're in full agreement here. > They are 'not certain' if it is a good idea to have Bill Gates as a > publisher? What a lot of unmitigated, collassal gall they put on > display! I mean, who really cares what the print papers think any > longer, considering the woeful display of ignorance most of them put > out in view everytime they write about the electronic media. Two points, here. First and foremost, consider the parallels between this item on Gates being a publisher, and the stand that many took regarding the phone company being merely a carrier of information, but an information PROVIDER, as well. The big difference I see in those two situations is that the telco is a regulated service. The big similarity is that both telco and Microsoft are arguably, monopolies. I would argue that there has been a long-standing effort to get Microsoft under the control of the government, too; they've just not figured out how to do that yet ... though I suspect they will. Secondly, the press' ignorance is not limited to the technology issues, it's just more demonstrable, particulalry amongst a bunch of techies like us. (grin) I can tell you from a long personal history in the electronic media that this ineptness extends to nearly every type of story covered. > They get their facts about the net incorrect (look at the story last > week about Panix; leading me among other people to think the problem > was in -mail- rather than the header packets); getting them to issue a > correction is nearly impossible; and if a story goes against the > wishes of one of their major corporate advertisers it will never see > print at all. And they want to say there are 'questions' about the > objectivity of the electronic media? Although I'm sure that is a factor in some situations, I'm less than convinced is the factor in the majority of cases. This was the case historically, but in the last 25 years or so, those causes have shifted somewhat. > Let me repeat the basic premise here: print newspapers are becoming > a relic. Years ago there were many, many more of them then there are > now. There are no large city afternoon newspapers any longer. There > is usually only one newspaper -- possibly two -- in very large cities > which used to have a dozen or more papers. They used to have a lot > of control over public opinion and thus considerable influence over > their advertisers. Things are going downhill very rapidly in the > print newspaper business. Not nearly so many people read them or pay > any attention to them any longer. Distribution costs and problems are > up, circulation is down, and the bottom line looks very grim. Agreed, so far. > The print newspapers with their very large, full-page-ad-in-every- > issue corporate advertisers had a nice thing going. The large utilities > and corporations told the newspapers what they wanted to see and then > Mr. Pulitzer told the common people what they were to believe, etc. Again, to some degree this is true, but things have changed somewhat, in who controls the press these days. Consider that today, we have the spectre of control meaning nearly as much in the court of public opinion as actual control. If the ownership, and business interests exercised as much control over the output of the press as you suggest, would we not hear screams coming from the leftists occupying the 'reporting' positions, 85% of whom voted Democrat last time out? I daresay we would ... and consider, please, that the ability of such people to manipulate public opinion is nothing short of the stuff of novels. Since they are NOT so screaming, and since the left has, by actual measurement by countless watchdog groups, undue sway on what gets printed, I suggest the ownership and business interests don't have quite the level of control you credit them with. I submit that you are correct on the issue of the forthcoming demise of major media. I also submit you are quite correct in your assesment of the public speaking up being the cause. I ALSO submit, however, that the major reason for this is the tilted to the left content of the traditional media. Consider the meteoric rise in the subscriptions of such publications as, for example, {The American Spectator} and consider the equally meteoric rise of such radio shows as Rush Limbaugh ... even while the fate of some of the more traditional papers and press outlets has been drooping. The traditional press is as uneasy with these as with the spectre of a Bill Gates being a publisher. The mainstream press' vitriol with these shows is comparative to their vitriol with the computer networks in general, in that the levels are commenserate with the amount of influence on the public each has. The reasons are close to what you suggest; the public, in each case, to varied degrees, is now out of their control. > The general public runs their own 'Letters to the Editor' feature each > day in the form of Usenet. The print newspaper publishers cannot control > this in any lawful, legitimate way, so instead they have their 'reporters' > write all kinds of half-baked, cockeyed, highly inaccurate stories > about the net in an effort to discredit what the people write. Toss in > a dash of pedophelia here (always a sure seller in the print media anyway) > and a little bit about 'computer hackers' from time to time as well to > add to the effort to discredit this relatively new source of anquish > for the print media and their accountants and advertisers. What's amazing is, this angle has been disproven several times over, but they keep printing it. And, the public who in large part, just barely knows which side of the keyboard to type on, has trusted them ... until just recently. > If I was running Knight-Ridder or a couple other of the large newspaper > syndicates I would be screaming bloody murder also. And now after > years of reading wildly inaccurate stories about the Internet in the > print media, they are are going to tell us they question the objectivity > and ethics of the people who write things on the net. Isn't that > precious! The bottom line is newspaper publishers and reporters are > not your friends. Remember that when you read your paper each day. PAT] Which brings to mind an interesting question I'll pose to the group: Are such groups as Ziff-Davis, who are pushing computers in their publications, (and who have been, invariably singing the praise of the great God Microsoft) included in this assesment? There would seem some degree of basic conflict, here. R, /E ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #492 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 18 14:05:12 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA08008; Wed, 18 Sep 1996 14:05:12 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 14:05:12 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609181805.OAA08008@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #493 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Sep 96 14:05:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 493 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Jock Mackirdy) Re: Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits (Michael D. Adams) Re: Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits (John Cropper) Re: Kevin Poulson Out of Jail (Ed Ellers) Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory (David Breneman) Signal Propagation (was Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory) (Joel M. Hoffman) Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas (Bill Crick) Re: AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) (Sam Chi-Kin) Re: BANM Ends Equal Access (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? (M. Sullivan) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jock Mackirdy Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 23:46:56 GMT woof@telecnnct.com (Andy Spitzer) wrote: > The basic flow goes something like this: > When a call comes into the PABX on a DID trunk, the Central Office (CO) > 'seizes' the trunk (goes off-hook). This seizure informs the PABX that a > call is about to be delivered, and it should prepare to receive the DNIS. > The DNIS is often sent as 'DTMF' (Touch Tone (T)Lucent) tones (other methods > are 'MF' tones (Multi-Frequency), and dial-pulses). So, to prepare to > receive the DNIS, the PABX puts a DTMF receiver (a device that can > convert the tones into digits) on the line. When the receiver is > ready, the PABX signals the CO to send the DNIS. It does this by > sending a 'Wink' (a brief off-hook/ on-hook). The UK implementation treats the PABX as another Central Office, so simply seizes the junction and sends loop-disconnect 10pps pulse trains. There is no "ready" signal. > Also, there is an additional item to consider when using bidirectional > trunks. Have you ever picked up the phone to make a call, and found > someone else on the end of the line who had just called you? That > situation, where both an inbound and outbound call want to use the > trunk at the same time is called 'glare'. The UK term is more prosaic -- "call collision". It happens on regular PBX line groups which are overloaded or where the hunting sequence for a free line is the same from both the PBX and the central office. Jock Mackirdy Business Advisory Services, Luton (UK) E-mail: jockm@basluton.demon.co.uk Independent telecomms. and business advice ------------------------------ From: mda960916b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) Subject: Re: Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 00:27:38 GMT Organization: Triskele Consulting Reply-To: mda960916b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) On Mon, 16 Sep 1996 00:01:55 PDT, tad@ssc.com wrote: > (Don't these people have 9-1-1? No area code is dialed before > 9-1-1, since each C.O. has non-blocking direct trunking to the > Public Safety Answering Point. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tad, you beat me to the punch on > this one. Theresa Bronzella is their emergency management coordinator? > Maybe they need to hire a new one who understands the telcom network > a little better. You are quite correct that 911 is 911 is 911. Whatever > you reached on it before you will continue to reach in the future. > Whatever operator answers the 911 call will see the correct area code > on the screen along with the phone number, same as before. PAT] Out of curiosity, does all of New Jersey have E-911 or 911? I believe that some communities still do not have 911 service, and where emergency calls are via standard seven or ten digit phone number. However, I would think it unlikely that too many places in New Jersey don't yet have 911. Michael D. Adams Triskele Consulting Baltimore, Maryland ma@triskele.com ------------------------------ From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) Subject: Re: Lawmakers Meddle With Area Code Splits Date: 16 Sep 1996 23:17:49 GMT Organization: Pipeline On Sep 16, 1996 00:01:55 in article , 'tad@ssc.com' wrote: > New Jersey Lawmakers Want to Scrap Area Code Proposals, Start Over > By Raymond Fazzi, Asbury Park Press, N.J. > Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News > Sep. 13--Two plans for adding area codes are under consideration, but > two state legislators Thursday came up with their own plan: Scrap the > current proposals and come up with a new one. Another case of technically clueless legislators trying to make the public happy ... (interim fluff deleted) > The two legislators said yesterday they consider both plans flawed, > but that they favor proceeding with a geographic split plan that is > revised so no municipalities are forced to live with two area codes. > Under the current plan, 21 municipalities in the 908 and 201 area > codes would be split into two area codes with a geographic > plan. Another eight towns in the 609 area code would be split a year > after. > That would lead to a total of 53 municipalities in New Jersey with > more than one area code -- nearly one out of ten municipalities in the > state. > Wisniewski said Bell Atlantic could align area code boundaries with > municipal boundaries through software changes that reroute calls, but > this was disputed by Bell Atlantic spokesman Tim Ireland, who called > the idea "technically impossible." Can be done to a degree, but could create splits elsewhere, furthering the problem. "Big pain in the a**" would be a more accurate assessment when it comes to forcing the boundaries around municipalities... > By splitting towns, the legislators said, the changes will make it > hard for residents to know when they're calling a local number. > This will make life particularly difficult for small businesses, > Wisniewski said, because of their dependence on establishing a local > identity. Perhaps, but many 'border businesses' that do YP advertising have gone to 'local call from xxx-xxx exchange(s)' in their ad. > The assemblymen also cited confusion when it comes to placing > emergency calls. Theresa Bronzella, emergency management coordinator > in Gloucester County's Monroe Township, appeared at the news > conference and said two area codes in her town could mean delays if > someone forgets to dial the area code on an emergency call. > "Just a few seconds can make a difference, and I don't want to see > that happen," she said. BUZZZZ ... wrong Theresa. 9-1-1, and enhanced services at the receiving end (which displays full ten-digit number, and in many cases address as well) will cause that arguement to evaporate in a puff of logic. NJ residents are already paying for the development of that service in their monthly BA bill anyhow; simply accelerate the border communities' implementation. > The legislators rejected the overlay plan outright, criticizing its > requirement that everyone in the new code areas would have to dial ten > digits on all their telephone calls. Gee, they shouldn't visit NYC too often, then... :-) > The bill prohibiting area code splits (A-2117) has been assigned to > the Assembly Transportation and Communications Committee. The > committee chairman, state Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, R-Morris, is one > of the bill's sponsors. It'll die in committee long before (or long after) the point is relevant anyhow. Should the bill block action, it can't gather enough support before the end of the session, and will die on the floor. > (Don't these people have 9-1-1? No area code is dialed before > 9-1-1, since each C.O. has non-blocking direct trunking to the > Public Safety Answering Point. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Tad, you beat me to the punch on > this one. Theresa Bronzella is their emergency management coordinator? > Maybe they need to hire a new one who understands the telcom network > a little better. You are quite correct that 911 is 911 is 911. Whatever > you reached on it before you will continue to reach in the future. > Whatever operator answers the 911 call will see the correct area code > on the screen along with the phone number, same as before. PAT] Not everybody everywhere has *enhanced* 911 (with address), yet Pat ... even in the busy northeast corridor. Couple that with the occasional (or frequent, in this case) EMA director that has no clue how the equipment operates in the first place, or what to do when a number comes in that they don't immediately recognize, and you have such insane testimony at public hearings. I've seen other agencies along the 201/908 border that have the boundaries clearly marked, and the areas served by EMS personnel, so I know for a fact that a split can be integrated into the system. John Cropper, NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ: 6o9.637.9434 Toll Free: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 6o9.637.943o email : psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: Ed Ellers Subject: Re: Kevin Poulson Out of Jail Date: Mon, 16 Sep 96 14:49:47 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) writes: > But he is forbidden to use any computer for three years, even for > schoolwork or a job. > He considers his megabyte machinations an art form, like so many oils > and brushes in the hands of Picasso. But to prosecutors, letting the > 30-year-old Poulsen be in the same room with a computer is like > handing a baseball bat to Al Capone. > The prosecutor who handled the case believes Poulsen needs supervision > at the keyboard. > "Two times before he's been involved in computers and abused them," > said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schindler. "It would be foolish and > foolhardy to look the other way and give him unfettered control over a > computer." Just shows how dumb some people can be. The problem is not "unfettered control over a computer." The problem is unfettered control over a computer *that can access other systems.* Denying him access to card catalogs, ATMs, cars with microprocessors, or even a personal computer (without a modem) is just vindictive. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But prosecutors, police officers and people of that ilk generally are a vindictive bunch, with a 'get even' mentality. They've essentially fixed things so he cannot get a job as the overnight clerk at an Amoco station since that would involve using 'computers' such as the one that connects the pumps to the cash register or God forbid, the tie-in to the ATM network for customers who pay with their Cash Station or credit cards. But those people are like that; never content with the punishment handed out by the Court, they do their own thing to add a little more punishment of thier own. I mean, do you think they really like the idea of people they have declared to be scum proving themselves otherwise? PAT] ------------------------------ From: david.breneman@attws.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory Date: 16 Sep 1996 19:14:13 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article kleing@qualcomm.com (Klein Gilhousen) writes: > Over water propagation is nearly as good as free space and sometimes > can be even better than in free space when temperature inversions over > the water cause "ducting" effects. Hams have exploited these freak > conditions to occasionally succeed in communicating from Hawaii to > California on VHF frequencies. There are probably areas in Laguna > Beach where a good over water path exists to Tijuana and the path to > the nearby cell is effectively blocked by terrain (i.e., much worse > propagation than 4th power of distance.) I experience this all the time. ATTWS has a cell tower five miles from my house, but it's over the crest of a hill to the east of me. When I turn on my phone in my front yard, I get United States Cellular in Grays Harbor, 100 miles to the west. I guess it's a clearer shot across Puget Sound and Hood Canal than it is over the crest of the Rosedale Hill. Of course, we get crummy TV and FM reception, too. David Breneman Unix System Administrator AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. david.breneman@attws.com Ph: +1-206-803-7362 Fx: +1-206-803-7410 ------------------------------ From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Signal Propagation (was Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory) Date: 15 Sep 1996 17:33:16 GMT Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > This is caused by the fact that UHF signals propagate over water much > better than they do over land. Normally, cellular systems can be > assumed to experience propagation loss proportional to the 4th power > of the distance between the mobile telephone and the base station. Why? Is this because of land? Because of other signals? Because of buildings? > 4th power propagation is necessary for high capacity cellular systems > to work at all and is one of the reasons why cellular phones are > prohibited from being used in airplanes where the 2nd power > propagation law would apply. Yes, but cellular phone use is banned in airplanes even when they are on the ground in the airport. >That's< what I don't understand. If you're stuck in a plane, on the ground, waiting 90 minutes to take off, it would be especially convenient to be able to call the pople planning on picking you up. But you can't, at least not with your cell phone. Joel (joel@exc.com) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:14:29 +0000 From: bill crick Subject: Re: Fran on the Way to the Carolinas Organization: Bell Northern Research Mike Fox wrote: > I didn't observe the same goodness Bob is reporting. True, my > BellSouth landline made it through the storm on Friday morning, but by > late Friday afternoon, several hours after the hurricane had left the > area, my phone service went down for about 12 hours. About 50% of the > people I know or have tried to contact in the Raleigh-Durham area lost > their phone service AFTER it had survived the hurricane. I wonder if > these are being reported in the numbers that the phone companies are > giving. There were rumors that the phone company was pulling the plug > on random people in order to free up lines for emergency use (I am on > the same switch as a hospital), which would be understandable and I > would support that move even if it cost me my service, but no credible > source (i.e., newspaper article or "BellSouth progress report" ad in > the newspaper) has confirmed this. As I write this my parents do not > have reliable phone service yet, and they are getting by with my > cellular phone, and they are NOT on the same switch as a hospital. > They too had their phone service survive the hurricane only to have it > go down a day later. Is it possible that they started running out of battery, or diesel backup power? I know in Hurricane Andrew, some switches had limited backup power due to water getting into the diesel fuel tanks, requiring some fairly extreme power management actions to maintain service. Bill Crick Nortel Technologies ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:47:55 +0800 From: SAM, Chi-Kin Organization: Tecnologia Electronica Hermes Subject: Re: AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) On Tue, 10 Sep 1996 23:29:28 PDT, Eric Smith wrote: > In article kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation. > com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) writes: >> Another curious fact -- our AT&T Definity G3 switch handles all the >> digital sets we have as ISDN connections, or as close to ISDN one can >> actually get without calling it ISDN. I was astonished when I started >> reading some of the manuals they left there when the switch was >> installed. The really curious part is it does all this without a hicup >> using only an Intel 80386 CPU and a 4MB program store. The 4MB progran store is only for the database, the program code is stored on Flash Rom on the CPU card, which is much more than 4MB. (I assume you talking about G3s/i). BTW, most of the boards (so called circuit packs) have on-board CPU. Also depend on the point of view, the NETCON (network control can be consider as another CPU.) > Why would that be curious? I'm guessing that it isn't ISDN, but > rather is a typical proprietary digital PBX phone, which tend to be > simpler (not designed by a gigantic committee like ISDN was). Perhaps > someone familiar with the G3 can let us know. It is real ISDN. > But even if it really is ISDN, it only takes a few hundred K of code > to implement the basic ISDN protocols, and maybe another few hundred > to add fancy features. > And ISDN protocol processing certainly isn't CPU intensive. It's not > like they're running the audio bits through a sophisticated > low-bitrate speech coder or anything. (Well, they might if there is > integrated voice mail, but it would be done on separate DSPs, not on > the 386.) The integrated voice mail may comsider a embeded system with their own CPU, Hardisk and tape running under a variety of UNIX OS. If you are familiar with UNIX and once see how the voice mail bootup, you will see how similar between them! SAM, Chi-Kin (Mr.) at Hermes Electronics Technology Co. in MACAU Tel: +(853) 963609 Fax: +(853) 511456 PGP key available via email e-mail: cksam@macau.ctm.net Mailing-addr.: P.O.Box 831, Macau, ASIA ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: BANM Ends Equal Access Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:30:28 -0700 Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn Reply-To: mds@access.digex.net John McHarry wrote: > I have a Bell Atlantic/NYNEX mobile phone subscription. I went to one > of their stores a couple of days ago to change my interexchange carrier > PIC. To my surprise I was told that they are no longer subject to Equal > Access rules and that if I wanted anyone other than BANM as my IXC it > would cost me $1.00 per month. I was told the same thing on their > customer service 800 line, but when I complained that they were trying > to change the terms of my contract, they "waived" the charge and changed > my PIC within a few minutes. > Does anyone know if this anti-competitive move is now allowed? I > certainly don't object to them offering a competitive long distance > service, but there was no sales pitch that they were better, or > cheaper, or even acceptable, just "stand and deliver"! Newt, what > hath thou wrought?? The 1996 Telecom Act specifically eliminates any obligation of commercial mobile service providers to provide customers with a choice of 1+ equal access IXCs (Primary Interexchange Carrier or PIC) and allows the Bell companies to provide long-distance as part of their mobile service. Accordingly, BANM *could* refuse to PIC you to anyone but themselves. They didn't; instead, they offered to allow you to select a PIC for a $1/month fee (which they ultimately waived). Many non-Bell cellular carriers have never allowed you to select a PIC at all, and they often even blocked 10xxx access; the law puts the Bells on a more even keel with their competition. Thus, unless the $1 fee were unreasonably discriminatory, this would appear to be permissible. Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Maryland, USA mds@access.digex.net / avogadro@well.com / 74160.1134@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local Internet Service Provider? Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:53:58 -0700 Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn Reply-To: mds@access.digex.net Douglas Stewart wrote: > Matt Holdrege wrote: >> GTE and the RBOC's do need to beef up the interoffice trunks in some >> of its areas, but as I wrote earlier, they didn't budget for all >> this nailed Internet traffic. > They don't have to though. If I remember correctly, FCC regulations > allow you to be blocked 5% of the time. The ironic thing is that > cellular operators are held to a higher standard (2%). I guess it's > because the wireline laws are much older. The FCC does not have blocking standards for either landline or cellular operators in its regulations. In fact, for cellular the Commission has specifically declined to impose any such blocking standards. The standards (which are only objectives, not mandatory regulations) are whatever is generally accepted in the industry. When cellular started, AT&T set its objective as landline-quality, which meant 2% blocking at busy hour. This was then (and is now, to the best of my knowledge, the standard for obtaining dial tone at the local level within some reasonable time (e.g., 10 seconds). Blocking levels in long-distance networks were substantially higher at that time, but may have been raised with the tremendous growth in capacity due to the establishment of multiple, duplicative fiber-optic networks with massive capacity. As I said, blocking standards are objectives. They are what a system is engineered for, given historical average busy-hour usage patterns. In simple terms, if historical usage patterns show that at the peak hour in a given network 100 minutes of traffic will be offered, the system is engineered (i.e., sufficient cellular transceivers, trunk groups, or line cards installed) to handle 98 minutes, for 2% blocking. On Mother's Day, or when there's a hurricane or flood warning, or (in cellular) when there's a massive traffic jam, the network may be offered 1000 minutes of traffic, but there's only enough capacity to handle 98 minutes, so blocking goes up to 90.02% for a while. You get the wuu-woo-wee tones or a reorder (fast busy) signal and try again a few times or wait before trying again. This doesn't violate any FCC regs; it's a fact of life when there aren't an equal number of circuits and subscriber lines and everyone decides to pick up the phone at once. Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Maryland, USA mds@access.digex.net / avogadro@well.com / 74160.1134@compuserve.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #493 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 18 15:21:19 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id PAA16672; Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:21:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:21:19 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609181921.PAA16672@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #494 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Sep 96 15:21:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 494 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Increasing Phone Numbers Require New Area Codes (Tad Cook) Area Code Plans Divide New Jersey Businesses & Residents (Tad Cook) Junk E-mailers and 'Control' Newsgroup (Dave Keeny) Internet vs. Nuclear War (was Re: Why Is the Internet So Slow) (Eric Smith) Telecommuting Jobs List (Bill Potter) For Sale: Panasonic Small Business Phone Systems (Timon Sloane) GTE and the Internet (Chris Kern) Help Wanted: Integrated Voice Application Programmer (Robert L. McMillin) Re: Date Set For 818/626 Split (Lauren Weinstein) Re: List Processor Results (Bryan K. Douglas) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Mike Seebeck) Re: RJ12 Wiring Question (Tom Thiel) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Increasing Phone Numbers Require New Area Codes Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:30:57 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Increasing Phone Numbers Require New Area Codes Around Big Cities By Bruce Hight, Austin American-Statesman, Texas Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 17--Telephone numbers are a growth industry. On Saturday, a new area code for suburban Dallas, 972, took effect. In November another new area code, 281, will take effect in suburban Houston. And on Monday a group of telephone industry, consumer group and regulatory officials at the Texas Public Utility Commission is scheduled to make recommendations for adding four area codes in Texas next year. The PUC is expected to act by early December. For now, Austin and Central Texas will keep the 512 area code, whose calling area slides south along the Texas coast through Corpus Christi. Bill Adair, a Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. employee who specializes in area codes, said Austin is not projected to run out of telephone numbers until early 2000, causing a split sometime in 1999. But Austinites probably can count on retaining 512. Generally, central cities retain the existing area code. And Austin has something else going for it: The telephone industry apparently prefers not to disrupt the phone numbers of state officials and the big state bureaucracy. When the 512 area code was last split, in 1992, San Antonio, though the larger city, got the new area code (210). Adair, who was not involved in that split, said, "My guess is that there's a rotunda in Austin that had something to do with that." The boom in telephone numbers and the need for new area codes isn't happening just in Texas. Southwestern Bell says that in the ten-year period ending in 1994, 25 area codes were created. By the end of this year, 23 new area codes will take effect. For businesses such changes can be expensive as they change stationery and otherwise try to get the word out to customers. A new area code is needed when the demand for telephone numbers exceeds the available (about eight million). Besides population growth, several forces have driven up the demand for telephone numbers: Cellular telephones. In 1991, when the 512 area code included San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi, 33 of the three-digit prefixes were reserved for cellular customers. That dropped to 24 in 1992 when San Antonio was split into a separate area code. By next year 54 of the prefixes will go to cellular, and cellular will require 97 prefixes by 2002. On a smaller scale, the same thing is happening with pagers. And a new type of wireless telephone, personal communications services, will need still more numbers. Fax machines and personal computers. Individuals and businesses have bought fax machines and personal computers and added new telephone lines dedicated to their use. Ed Whitacre, chairman of SBC Communications Inc., owner of Southwestern Bell, recently reported that "customers are buying not just one but in some cases two and three additional lines, and our research has found that nearly two-thirds of our additional line customers list data as their primary use." New competitors. Competition for local customers is almost here and already telephone numbers are being assigned to the new players for distribution to their future customers. Telephone numbers are assigned in blocks of 10,000. That means if a competitor uses only 3,000 of a block, the remaining 7,000 are wasted. The industry and the PUC are studying ways of changing the way numbers are assigned so that fewer go unused. The old Bell System created area codes in 1947 and implemented them in 1951; New Jersey's 201 was the first. The original plan required a middle digit of 0 or 1, and some numbers were reserved for special uses, such as 911, 411 and 800. In all, 144 three-digit numbers were available. The last of the original area codes, 610, was assigned to Pennsylvania in 1993. Meanwhile, a new format using the digits 2 through 9 took effect, adding 640 new area code numbers. The expanded area code pool makes possible up to 5 billion new numbers. Texas started with five area codes: 214 for Dallas and Northeast Texas; 817 for Fort Worth and North Texas; 713 for Houston and Southeast Texas; 512 for Central Texas and South Texas, and 905 for El Paso and West Texas. The first change for Texas came in 1962, when West Texas was split between 905 for El Paso and West Texas and 806 for Amarillo and the Panhandle. In 1983, the area around metropolitan Houston was split off as 409; in 1990 the Northeast Texas area outside metropolitan Dallas was carved out as 903; and in 1992 San Antonio was separated into 210. Now, the metropolitan area around Dallas is being divided into 972 with most of the actual city remaining 214. One result is what area specialists call a doughnut, a circular area code surrounding the central city. The same will happen in November when the new 281 area code surrounds the Houston area. But that's not all. The 817 area will be divided into three area codes sometime next summer. Fort Worth will remain 817, while the area north of the city will become a new area code that includes Wichita Falls and south of the city a new one that includes Waco. Similarly, the 210 code will be split into three with San Antonio at the core. --------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I disagree with the statement above that 'the last of the original area codes 610 was assigned in 1993'. The X10 codes were *not* part of the original package which included only the ones with middle digit of zero or one and last digit of (if middle digit zero) one through nine or (if middle digit one) two through nine. The last of that 'original' bunch was 909 back about 1991 or 1992. Then they used the X10 codes over a period of a year or two prior to the latest series of numbers. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Area Code Plans Divide New Jersey Businesses & Residents Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:16:35 PDT From: tad@ssc.com Area Code Plans Divide New Jersey Businesses, Residents By Dennis P. Carmody, Asbury Park Press, N.J. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News NEWARK, N.J.--Sep. 17--No matter which plan state regulators adopt to introduce two new area codes into New Jersey, some people will be left unhappy. That was about the only thing backers of the opposing plans could agree on at Monday afternoon's public hearing on area codes before the state Board of Public Utilities. "Overlay is a permanent fix," said Ed Van Benschoten, a Warren Township resident and a Bell Atlantic retiree. "With overlay we do not have to be here five years from now (carving out additional area codes) when those new area codes are exhausted." He also pointed out that traditional large geographic area codes are a remnant of the days when telephones were rotary dial. Giving large areas the same three-digit code reduced the amount of time spent dialing, since the caller rarely had to call outside the area. Saving dialing time is also why older area codes, such as New Jersey's 201, New York's 212 and Philadelphia's 215, are low numbers, he said. But while some business owners decried the cost and inconvenience of being forced to change telephone numbers, others said it would be equally inconvenient under an overlay plan to use a mix of the new and old area codes at the same business as new fax, pager and cellular telephone lines are established. Joseph A. Hovarth, vice president of material services at Somerset Medical Center, said his hospital has 1,200 telephone numbers today and adds 40 to 50 lines a year. If those new numbers had different area codes, many callers could become confused, he said. Leo Duran, owner of a Livingston public relations firm, said the cost of new stationery and signs including a new area code would be small compared to the cost of lost business from clients unwilling to work with a company like his if he has what appears to be a distant area code. Blossom A. Peretz, the state's Ratepayer Advocate, called on Bell Atlantic to provide the BPU with more information on exactly how many telephone numbers are still available in the 201 and 908 areas. Peretz and companies, like AT&T, that are looking to compete in New Jersey's local telephone service market suspect Bell Atlantic may be hoarding some of the 201 and 908 numbers. If business owners are forced to choose local service under the overlay plan, many would probably go for a 908 or 201 number, giving Bell Atlantic an unfair competitive advantage if it holds all those numbers, Peretz said. Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, told the board he favors a traditional geographic split, but one that respects town boundaries. He has introduced legislation that would force area codes to conform to town boundaries. The proposed split plan would divide 29 towns in two. ---------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just another example of how newspapers get things wrong after they interview so-called experts. Consider Ed, the 'Bell Atlantic retiree' they quoted saying '201 is a low number ...' I count 13 pulls (2+10+1) on that compared to 5 pulls for 212 (2+1+2) or 6 pulls each for Chicago (3+1+2) and Los Angeles (2+1+3) or 7 pulls each for the people in Pittsburgh (412) and 214-land. 314 (St. Louis) and 413 each have 8 pulls. Milwaukee with 414 only has 9 pulls, compared to Washington, DC (Our Nation's Drug and Crime Capitol) which gets 14 pulls on its 202. What Ed and the newspaper failed to point out was that there was a specific reason for zero as the middle digit or one as the middle digit. Any state with only one area code (originally) got '0' as the middle digit in the code assigned to them; states with more than one area code (orignally) got '1' as the middle digit in the various codes assigned to them. There was consideration given to the shortness of the number where rotary pulsing was concerned, which is why 212/213/312/313/412, etc where given to the most populated areas of the country. And no matter how many times this topic gets rehashed and debated in public forums there will always be people like Joseph Hovarth who don't seem to feel that telco could and probably would make exceptions to the 'new installs get new area code' rule in cases of centrexes in large institutions and the people who feel that telco is just doing this out of greed to make more money and/or make life difficult. (A lady on the radio here last night insisted the only reason Ameritech went from 312 --> 312/708 --> 312/708/847/630/773 was to create 'more long distance calls'). PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Keeny Subject: Junk E-mailers and 'Control' Newsgroup Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 09:39:46 +0500 Organization: Telecommunications Techniques Corporation Reply-To: keenyd@ttc.com It looks like one or more junk e-mailers may be generating their mailing lists by filtering addresses from cancelled messages in the 'control' newsgroup: > This email is intended for persons that are interested in > electronic marketing and online business. Your email addresses > was selected because you were listed in the net abuse newsgroup > as someone who probably had their message deleted. If you are > interested My junk e-mail reception went from three or four per week to six plus per day immediately after receiving this message. The common denominator among the new e-mailings seems to be that I am 'BCC'd, the 'From' address is real, but not necessarily the sender's, and the 'To' address *seems* to be the sender's, or at least from his/her domain. My guess is that the senders are using the same junk e-mail software and mailing list. BCC-ing the targets allows them to "multicast" a single e-mail message w/out having their list show up in the 'To" header. An interesting, if unscientific data point: on the web page http://infobot.hartley.on.ca/dspam.html you can sign up for *more* junk e-mail, or remove your address from their mailing list. They display the following statistics: > Registrations were last tallied at Wed Sep 18 08:44:49 EDT 1996 > [STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!] had 05308 registrations. > [MORE! SEND ME MORE!] had 00031 registrations. 99.4% of respondants want the junk e-mail to stop. What a surprise. Dave ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 18:15:58 PDT From: Eric Smith Subject: Internet vs. Nuclear War (was Re: "Why Is the Internet So Slow") The Newsday article which Mike Pollock forwarded to the TELECOM Digest perpetuates one of the Great Myths of the Internet: > Before we explain why this is important, let's review a little > history. The Internet began during the Cold War as an experiment in > self-repairing networks. The idea was that if the Russians nuked most [...] > The data was also designed to be protected against nuclear war. It is true that Paul Baran invented packet switched networking for those reasons, although he didn't use the term "packet". Also, the network he proposed was not self-repairing. It simply had multiple redundant paths between any pair of nodes. It's rather difficult to repair a node that just got vaporized by a nuclear weapon, but the network would have been able to route packets between other nodes. Baran showed a network of nodes with three to four links each was nearly as robust as a full mesh. However, the ARPANET was *not* intended to survive a nuclear war. It was only intended to demonstrate the viability and usefulness of the packet switching concept. And today's Internet offers even less redundancy than the ARPANET. Reference: "Where Wizards Stay Up Late : The Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon (Simon & Schuster, 1996, ISBN 0684812010) ------------------------------ From: Bill Potter Subject: Telecommuting Jobs List Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 18:25:13 -0400 Organization: TELECOMMUTER'S DIGEST Telecommuter's Digest is a monthly publication which currently lists more than 200 available positions for those interested in telecommuting or working out of the home. The job listings include Full-Time/Part-Time/Contract positions from a variety of employers across the country. Positions of all types are included (Bookkeepers, Consultants, Computer Personnel, Graphic Designers, Programmers, Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Technical Writers, Medical Transcriptionists, Web Designers,...). We have scanned hundreds of newsgroups and employment publications searching for Telecommuting opportunities. We have been building our list of telecommuting resources for more than 2 years now and have reached our initial goal of listing 100 telecommuting positions. We hope to be listing more than 300 positions by December 1996. From the response that we have been receiving and the quality of our resources, we are well on our way to reaching that milestone. Employers Advertise for Free !!! Subscription Information: One Monthly Issue $7.95 Annual Subscription $49.95 6 Month Email Subscription $10.95 Subscription Information and Payment can be forwarded to: TELECOMMUTER'S DIGEST P.O. BOX 86062 GAITHERSBURG, MD 20886-6062 Comments or Suggestions can be sent via Email to: tdigest@erols.com ------------------------------ From: timon@timonWare.com (Timon Sloane) Subject: For Sale: Panasonic Small Business Phone Systems Date: 17 Sep 1996 17:56:15 GMT Organization: timonWare inc. I have two Panasonic Small Business Phone Systems for sale. Both are excellent systems for a small business. I have simply outgrown these systems. Panasonic KXT-616 supports up to 6 outside lines supports up to 16 extensions perfect condition w/ all manuals an excellent simple system for the novice. asking $600 or best offer Panasonic KXT-123211D supports a maximum of 12 outside lines, currently configured for 4 supports a maximum of 32 extensions, currently configured for 16 OK condition. Working, but could use a software upgrade ($90 from Panasonic) Includes all manuals This is a more advanced and expandable system. asking $500 or best offer I'd prefer someone who could pick them up in the SF Bay Area, but I'll ship if the buyer pays shipping costs. For more info, email or call 415-948-9100 x101. Timon Sloane timon@timonWare.com timonWare inc. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 11:13:15 CST From: Chris Kern Subject: GTE and the Internet Without snipping all of the various responses to the GTE busy signal crisis ... noting in advance that I work for GTE Supply (neither the phone company nor the internet company) ... and having a non-GTE ISP ... First of all, GTE is in the internet reselling business. In fact GTE has entered into a partnership with UUNET just this year to resell their services nationwide (a rather reputable company I would think). Also, busy signals are a common problem with most ISPs due mainly to the ever increasing demand. My ISP is always seeking to update/increase their lines from BellSouth because of the same exact problems. Finally, since the internet service is a reselling situation and mostly required for a "one stop shop" solution to market, it is unlikely that there is any sort of degradation of competition plans ahead, especially with the onset of local competition looming. (The ISP will be able to choose between LECs soon!) Basically you are accusing the marketing department of having enough technical expertise to sabotage the competition. :-) CK WORK: chrikern@gtes.com HOME: lakaytis@america.net HOMEPAGE: http://www.america.net/~lakaytis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 23:03:29 -0700 From: Robert L. McMillin Subject: Help Wanted: Integrated Voice Application Programmer Syseca, Inc. is looking to hire an integrated voice application programmer, contract or long-term. Applicant must have an extensive background in Unix and C, with Digital Unix and/or Oracle database greatly preferred. Familiarity with Dialogic devices and software (in particular, voice telephony and speech synthesis applications) are essential. The application we're hiring for will be a telephone-based technician dispatch and logging system driven by an existing SCADA system, using an Oracle database. This project is for an upgrade to the city of Chicago's light rail system. The job will be performed in Los Angeles, with possible travel to Chicago during and after system installation. The need for this position is IMMEDIATE. E-mail resumes directly to me (ASCII only), or you can mail or fax them to the following locations: snail: 4553 Glencoe Ave., Suite 100 Marina Del Rey, CA 90292 Attn: Rob McMillin fax: 310-301-3350 Syseca, Inc. is a global systems integration and software company, serving customers in the transportation and energy markets. EOE and all the rest. Robert L. McMillin | Do you *really* think Syseca pays me for these opinions? rlm@syseca-us.com | personal: rlm@netcom.com | rlm@helen.surfcty.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Date Set For 818/626 Split Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 11:12:20 PDT From: Lauren Weinstein John Cropper's statement is correct. As of all recent reports, fighting is still going on regarding the boundaries of the proposed 818/626 split. The administrative law judge had already made a determination which would have allowed the major portion of the San Fernando Valley that is part of the city of L.A. to maintain long-time code 818 (with a reasonbly clean split line approximately along municipal boundaries). However, the various East Valley areas of Glendale and their environs, which would have gotten 626 under the plan, have protested, instead proposing a rather convoluted boundary that would enable them to keep 818 instead, and cause the rest of the valley to be split essentially arbitrarily. At last word, a decision was due about now, but there's no way to know at this point whether the delays will force a push back of the various split dates. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 11:19:17 CDT From: bkdougla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Bryan K. Douglas) Subject: Re: List Processor Results The following Welcome file from Nortel_List may help. Perhaps the list name *is* case sensitive. Contact postmaster@PMH.ON.CA if you still have problems. Bryan Douglas Alcatel Telecom Richardson, TX ----- Begin Included Message ----- From: Douglas_Bryan_K/nsih1_RICHARDSON/alcatel/US/Telemail/alcanet@audopen.aud.alcatel.com Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 10:15:27 -0500 Subject: Welcome to the Nortel_List. To: bkdougla@aud.alcatel.com This email message gives you important information about using this list - please save it for future reference. For information on leaving the list, e-mail listmaster@pmh.on.ca with the word HELP in the message body. Purpose: This list is intended for installers and administrators of Northern Telecom products. It is in no way affiliated with Northern Telecom or my current employer. Being a relative "newbie" to the telecom world, I began a hunt for information sources relating to the switch we use. As I am originally from the data world, my first stop was the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup to look for a mailing list such as this. Not being able to find any I thought it might be useful to start one. Rules: Basically there aren't any. Anyone is welcome to join. I do ask that posts be related to NT products and kept at a professional level. I will not hesitate to ban or suspend users, without notice, who abuse this list. Comments: I'm always open to comments (and sometimes criticism). If you have a suggestion, problem or whatever, drop a note to postmaster@pmh.on.ca. Have fun and post often. Sending mail to the list ======================== To send a message to all Nortel_List list members, use a message with the following form (the email address is case insensitive): -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: Nortel_List@PMH.ON.CA Subject: PROBLEM WITH LOADING PRODUCT Can anybody help me unzip my file? -------------------------------------------------------------- Leaving the list ================ To stop receiving messages from Nortel_List you will need to send a message to the list manager called "listmaster@PMH.ON.CA" with a command to remove you from the list. The list manager controls who belongs to the list. For example: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: listmaster@PMH.ON.CA Subject: leave Nortel_List -------------------------------------------------------------- If you receive a message saying you are not a member but you are still getting messages, you could be subscribed as a different email address. In one of the errant messages, check for the "X-ListMember:" clause in the header of the message. It will have the form: X-listMember: netmaster@pmh.on.ca [Nortel_List@PMH.ON.CA] which means that this message was from the list called "Nortel_List" and sent to the email address "netmaster@pmh.on.ca". You can now leave the list by sending the message: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: listmaster@PMH.ON.CA Subject: leave Nortel_List netmaster@pmh.on.ca -------------------------------------------------------------- Requesting digests ================== Instead of getting each message from the list seperately, you may ask the list server to send you a compendium of all the messages that were sent that day. To do this, send a message to the list server with the command "DIGEST". For example: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: listmaster@PMH.ON.CA Subject: digest Nortel_List -------------------------------------------------------------- The list manager will send you a confirmation message back and every 24-hours you will receive a single email message with a contents and each message listed in it. Requesting Files ================ This list has a set of files associated with it. These files may contain new software releases, frequently asked questions etc. The list server provides two commands to allow you to collect these file: DIR and GET. If you wish to obtainly a list of all the files associated with this list, send the following message to the list manager: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: listmaster@PMH.ON.CA Subject: dir Nortel_List -------------------------------------------------------------- In return, you will get two messages. One is a transaction report (telling you the command was completed) and the second will be titled "Directory for Nortel_List" and would have a contents like: -------------------------------------------------------------- Directory for the list Nortel_List 1 INML301C.ZIP 2535788 bytes 2 INML302D.ZIP 2671264 bytes Directory for Nortel_List has 2 entries. -------------------------------------------------------------- Now you know the names of the files, you can request one to be sent to you using the GET command. Taking the example of INML301C.ZIP, we could use the command: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terry Grace To: listmaster@PMH.ON.CA Subject: get Nortel_List inml301c.zip -------------------------------------------------------------- Again, you will get two messages - the transaction report and a message containing the MIME encoded file (or the file if it is a text file). Where to report problems ======================== Should you still have any problems or questions, please email postmaster@PMH.ON.CA who will be happy to help. ----- End Included Message ----- ------------------------------ From: seebeck@lace.colorado.edu (Mike Seebeck) Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: 18 Sep 1996 18:02:23 GMT Organization: University of Colorado at Boulder In the US we can get DID analog trunks on copper. These are inbound only. You rent a block of numbers from the RBOC. When one of these numbers is dialed the call is routed to any of your DID trunks. The RBOC then sends the digits which represent the internal extension number to your PBX for routing to the correct port (phone, modem). Digital DIDs on T-1s (copper or fiber) can be two-way. Rbocs have different names for Ts tha can handle two-way DIDs and CO trunks on the same T. (Super Trunk, Advanced T, etc.) ------------------------------ From: tomthiel@aol.com (Tom Thiel) Subject: Re: RJ12 Wiring Question Date: 18 Sep 1996 14:03:44 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , rowan@ocean.rutgers.edu (Andy Rowan) writes: > I'm wiring up some jacks in my house for two lines, but I've gotten > conflicting answers on which way the wires should go. For the black > and yellow, which is tip and which is ring? Or in other words, does > the black correspond to the green, or does the yellow correspond to > the green, in terms of polarity? Black is Tip, Yellow is Ring. The two-line jack you describe is an RJ-14. An RJ-12 is used for A-lead control on a 1A2 key system (whole 'nuther ballgame). ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #494 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 18 17:35:26 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id RAA03942; Wed, 18 Sep 1996 17:35:26 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 17:35:26 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609182135.RAA03942@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #495 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Sep 96 17:35:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 495 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: ISDN From Bell Atlantic (Fred R. Goldstein) What Should I Do With Frontier? (Robert Freimer) Re: Technology Companies and Online Media (Richard Layman) German Providers Continue to Censor XS4ALL Network (Felipe Rodriquez) Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable (Gene Retske) Info Request: WE 660 Autodialer Installation; Supplies (paulf@ultranet.com) Another Spammer With a Toll Free Number (Dermot Barry) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: fgoldstein@bbn.com (Fred R. Goldstein) Subject: Re: ISDN From Bell Atlantic Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:51:51 EST Organization: BBN Corp. In article Rob Carlson writes: > Residential ISDN Rates Reduced 14 to 80 Percent > for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey Customers Doncha just love it? BA wins a preposterously, onerously high rate, designed explicitly to discourage widespread use, and declares it a big rate reduction! That company's mendacity is truly astonishing. > The new rates, which take effect Oct. 1, are 14 to 80 percent cheaper > than current rates for Bell Atlantic's ISDN service to the home. What rates? In any objective analysis, following established regulatory procedures, ISDN would be priced based upon what differs from analog. ISDN is, after all, nothing but a digital interface into the SAME network. ISDN "voice" calls are identical to analog-line calls. ISDN local "data" calls are almost the same; they may use separate, but identical, transmission. (ONLY the subscriber line interface is different; the ISDN line card in the CO lacks the analog circuitry of a POTS line card, but has an ISDN line driver chip instead, plus a packet handler connection instead of analog signaling.) Here in Mass., the DPU determined that since ISDN lines cost $7.40/month more to provide than analog, the basic price of ISDN (before options) should be an $8 surcharge over analog, for any voice calling plan. Simple, no? In Delaware, the PUC determined that ISDN should be $28.02/month, flat rate, based on around a $13 premium over POTS. Tennessee followed similar logic to set the rate at around $26, rather lower than Bell South wanted. But BA had a temporary "trial" tariff for resi ISDN that was measured ONLY, 2c/minute. It didn't get a lot of users (7 in DE, 87 in PA, etc.). Resi analog is, of course, flat rate in all BA states. Under the new "interim" tariff, all usage is measured, but you can prepay discounted "callpaks" of hours, and pay the full measured rate if you exceed your callpack. Genuine flat rate is $239/month in NJ, a whopping $10 less than BA wanted, and only around $229 above analog. Hit 'em hard with a wet noodle, that NJ BPU! This is about the same result that BA got in MD, the state historically best known for competing with NJ for the title of "finest government that money can buy". So why's this up to an 80% rate decrease? Why under BA's pretzel logic, somebody who *never* hangs up an ISDN call on both B channels would, under the previous "trial" rates, have paid over $1700/month! For this money you could have run a T1, or several 56k leased lines, so nobody would actually *do* this (except by accident). But $239/month is a big reduction compared to that. And a Chevy Beretta at $40,000 is a huge savings compared to a Lamborghini, but so what? BA's real product, folks, is Centrex. And with Centrex, you don't pay for intercom calls, voice or data. They WANT high-volume ISP subscribers to get on a Centrex belonging to the ISP, an internal-only line brought to the subscriber site for around $50-150/month, depending on distance. That'll tie up three transmission channels, but it's Centrex, which is by definition good, while non-Centrex resi ISDN is by (BA's warped) definition bad. > Similar pricing plans are already in effect in Virginia, Maryland > and Pennsylvania. Delaware didn't go along. BA has openly flouted that state's commission and is charging the old fully-measured rates to their resi subscribers there. All seven of them. This is outrageous behavior! If you disagree with the regulator, just ignore them? More pioneering by BA ... BTW, I'll sell you my 1993 Toyota for only $30,000. It's a great bargain, since my "list price" for it is $90,000. Never mind that somebody else will sell one just like it for under $8000. If it works for BA, why not try it? Maybe I'll Make Money Fast! Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com BBN Corp., Cambridge MA USA +1 617 873 3850 Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 21:28:40 EDT From: Robert Freimer Subject: What Should I Do With Frontier? I was hoping for some advice about a dispute I am having with Frontier Communications. Last fall, I switched to Frontier's HomeSaver for my domestic long distance, since it was described as $.10/min for out-of-state calls from 5pm to 8am. This worked as promised until last month when my wife's calls to Puerto Rico came in at $.34/min, which was quite a shock for 84 minutes worth. I called up to complain and was told that the rate was $.34/min for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, even though in the same bill there was an insert describing the program and listing the same $.10/min rate for state-to-state calls with no exception for AK and HI. There clearly was miscommunication at the beginning when they described their program to me. They deceptively did not mention the AK and HI exception, which certainly contributed to my assumption that PR was also included. I don't think my assumption was unjustified given that both MCI and Sprint include AK, HI and PR in their similar programs and I had them compare their program to Sprint Sense. Unfortunately, I do not remember the exact language the sales rep used, but it certainly did not mention "continental". I called back and talked with a supervisor who was completely unsympathetic. She was even unwilling to accept my suggestion that we split the difference. I don't see why I should pay them 240% extra over what Sprint would have charged me through my secondary account. Besides filing an informal FCC complaint about their deception, what other steps should I take? Do I have the right to refuse payment on the difference? They bill me separately, so their only easy recourse is to cut off long distance service. Thanks, Robert Freimer [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Generally Frontier is pretty good about resolving complaints they see about themselves in this Digest, and I hope this holds true in your case. Not having seen the advertisement in question, your bill or their response it is hard for me to say who is right, but some Frontier people read this Digest regularly so maybe they'll be in touch with you. I still feel their cellular service (via resale of Ameritech) is about the best and have been seriously thinking about giving them my long distance traffic on one of my lines also. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 06:15:31 PDT From: Richard Layman Subject: Re: Technology Companies and Online Media I think your comments gave newspapers a bad rap. (And I know the following post is a bit much also.) Yes, it's true that newspapers have conflicts of interest that are often unreported. E.g., James Squires book about working for the Chicago Tribune documents upper management involvement in news coverage/editorials. Other examples (often pilloried in the "Darts and Laurels" feature of the _Columbia Journalism Review_) abound. Most newspapers don't have consumer reporters anymore because they angered advertisers, etc. And yes "media" companies that grew out of "newspaper" companies have conflicts of interest between their sectors. E.g., using Chicago since that is where TELECOM Digest heralds from, the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune, is the largest owner of television stations in the U.S. They also own the Chicago Cubs. Do you think that influenced how the Chicago Tribune covered the firing of Fay Vincent as baseball commissioner, over trying to move the Chicago White Sox to the American League West division, affecting televising the Sox on WGN? The Tribune Company, btw, owns a piece of America Online; Knight-Ridder was an investor in Netscape Communications, etc. Nonetheless, newspapers have a tradition, kept to by and large, of avoiding conflicts of interest in coverage. Which is why you can find a newspaper editorializing about something that actually opposes what other parts of the company might prefer. New media/Software companies weren't founded with the same norms. So already MSNBC, the new cable news channel owned by NBC and Microsoft, ran an episode of "The Site" (produced by Ziff-Davis, the computer magazine publisher) which obfuscated Netscape qualities in their comparison of Netscape 3.0 to the new version of Internet Explorer. The kinds of conflicts discussed in the _San Jose Mercury News_ article need to be addressed. Nonetheless, it's true that newspaper circulation has been dropping for decades. This is a function of many factors, a major one being the rise of television news and the replacement of the "written" culture by the "visual" culture. Afternoon newspapers have bit the dust in favor of the "5 O'Clock News." (This has some tragic implications, see for example the July 1996 issue of the _Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science_ for a number of articles on the media and politics.) Cost per impression (advertising reach) led advertisers (which are really the purveyors of goods and services who need to advertise to sell their products) to focus their dollars on the newspaper with the highest circulation in a particular market. Consolidation of various sectors, department stores, banks, supermarkets, etc., further accelerates this trend. This leads to one strong paper and one weak one, which in most markets, eventually fails. (See the discussion of this in Ben Bagdikian's _The Media Monopoly_.) [N.b. the _Washington Times_, which I do get, can only go up in circulation, because it is less than 15 years old -- not necessarily because of their conservative viewpoint. However, they do not provide audited circulation numbers. And btw, their news judgement is often seriously clouded by their politics.] And yes, newspapers don't have space ad infinitum for "letters to the editor" and more news and analysis about local issues. This is a reason that I find the concept of online newspapers so exciting -- the digital doesn't have the same kind of space limitations of the printed product. Regardless, a local newspaper reaches a lot more people in the market than USENET ever could. For example, the _Washington Post_ reaches 80-90% of the adults in the Washington region at least once/week. And, just as importantly, usually the metropolitan newspaper is the only institution that really crosses all political and social and economic boundaries within a particular region. Finally, I believe that saying that newspapers are against the Internet is ridiculous. Check out the Monday business section in the_Los Angeles Times_, or _New York Times_. Each focuses on "the information industries" to use the phrase from the NYT. On Mondays also, the _Washington Post_, the _Financial Times_ (of London) -- "Media Futures", and _The Independent_ (of London) -- "Network" all run special features about online/Internet issues. On Thursdays, the _Philadelphia Inquirer_ and the _Hartford Courant_ do the same. _Investors Business Daily_ has a page on "Computers and Technology" most days of the week. Day in and day out, the _Wall Street Journal_ and _USA Today_ along with most of the above papers, provides important, reasonably accurate coverage. Do they make mistakes? Yep. Sometimes issues aren't written about very well, take the Communications Decency Act for example -- _Time_ magazine really screwed up with their cover story on "Cyberporn." This happens because newspapers (and all media) "report" on what politicians and other opinion leaders say and do. They don't always check on what they're told or provide analysis (Joe McCarthy, among others, used this to his advantage in years past). When they do provide analysis, journalists are often criticized. Here are some stories that have bugged me over the past year or so: 1. Is society coming to an end if America Online or Netcom is offline for 1/2 day? No, but it is a pain in the !@#$%% for those of us who use those systems, and therefore is newsworthy. 2. Ann Landers column has had many pieces about how the Internet is breaking up relationships. Where's the story here? People with a foundering relationship will probably break-up, Internet or not. 3. Should people using the Internet to seek out investment information treat every word as gospel that they find in an online chat area? Or should they take what they read and evaluate it before going forward? In the nonvirtual world, people still fall for those Nigerian bank scams every day. Caveat emptor. 4. Are credit cards fundamentally any less secure within Internet-based transactions than they are when given to a waiter or store clerk? Not really, and you're still protected by the same laws that cover stolen credit cards (limiting liability to $50 total, etc.). So newspapers don't always get it right. (But PAT, the articles I read in the New York Times wrt Panix were pretty clear about the packet header issue.) But, wrt the Internet, just because the laudatory coverage comes with some coverage about the warts -- bugs in software, security issues, bandwith, email header forgery, system outages -- doesn't mean that newspapers are against the Internet. Note wrt my conflicts of interest. 1. I prefer print journalism and read the Washington Post, NYT, WSJ, USA Today, Washington Times, and Financial Times most days, and the Los Angeles Times and Investors Business Daily in bulk every two weeks. 2. I love newspapers and have been reading them since I was 8 years old. 3. In junior high and high school I delivered the Detroit Free Press (owned by Knight-Ridder). In college I delivered the Ann Arbor News (owned by Advance Publications -- the Newhouse family). 4. I enjoy reading books about newspapers and journalism and media. 5. I'm on the online-news listserv about digital publishing issues. 5. I still remember the first day the Detroit News re-appeared on our doorstep after a couple hundred day strike in 1967 or 1968. Richard Layman, Mgr., Business Development, and Research Producer Computer Television Network, 825 6th St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-4325 ---- 202-544-5722 ---- 202-543-6730 (fax) ---- rllayman@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: German Providers Continue to Censor XS4ALL Network Date: 17 Sep 1996 09:45:21 GMT Organization: XS4ALL, networking for the masses GERMAN PROVIDERS CONTINUE TO CENSOR XS4ALL NETWORK German providers have continued their ip-filtering actions against Dutch provider XS4ALL. These ip-filtering actions where started after the German Authorities ordered the providers to block access to a specific document on the XS4ALL website. The document is not illegal in Holland, and is the property of one of XS4ALL's customers. So far German authorities have not contacted XS4ALL, no official requests where made to remove these documents from our server. Xs4all customers are prevented from communicating with German internetusers, because Email is not passed through a number of German internet routers. Xs4all customers are prevented from accessing German websites. Therefore German providers, particularily EUnet Germany GmbH, are violating article 10 of European Convention on Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. this right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information an ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers." They are preventing our Xs4all subscribers to execute their rights of free expression. Some of our customers have terminated their account at Xs4all, because of these restrictions, that were imposed by German providers, after an order from the German government. These restrictions have caused a major disruption on the business interests of XS4ALL Internet BV. Felipe Rodriquez - XS4ALL Internet - finger felipe@xs4all.nl for http://xs4all.nl/~felipe/ - Managing Director - pub pgp-key 1024/A07C02F9 pgp Key fingerprint = 32 36 C3 D9 02 42 79 C6 D1 9F 63 EB A7 30 8B 1A ------------------------------ From: Gene Retske Subject: Re: GTE Says Continuous Internet Connection Desirable Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 07:29:18 -0400 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services Anthony S. Pelliccio wrote: > In article , Matt Holdrege > wrote: >> The PSTN was built on the fact that on average, phone calls last three >> minutes. The Internet blows that out of the water. The RBOC's and GTE >> are run by bean counters. When the bean counters made their long range >> budget plans, they didn't have a clue of what impact the internet >> would have on their network. Now they don't have the budget to >> upgrade all those interoffice trunks. > The curious part of all this is that the big brains at what was once > AT&T (Pre-divestiture) had no forsight to see that PSTN facilities > might be used for something more than just babble. I suppose that > being handed a lifetime monopoly might have something to do with > that. But can anyone here tell me why the major switch manufacturers > didn't notice this trend in the early 80's like the rest of us did? > Another curious fact -- our AT&T Definity G3 switch handles all the > digital sets we have as ISDN connections, or as close to ISDN one can > actually get without calling it ISDN. I was astonished when I started > reading some of the manuals they left there when the switch was > installed. The really curious part is it does all this without a hicup > using only an Intel 80386 CPU and a 4MB program store. Actually, the G3R uses what AT&T THOUGHT should be the ISDN standard. When the standard was "agreed" upon, AT&T ended up with basically a proprietary interface. ISDN sets came later. The original G3R CPU was an 80286, not a 386, and this was the "arch angel". The architecture is distributed, every circuit pack, and the carriers themselves also have CPU's, often 80186's. Gene Retske ------------------------------ From: paulf@ma.ultranet.com Subject: Info Request: WE 660 Autodialer Installation and Supplies Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 01:47:16 GMT Organization: UltraNet Communications, Inc. 1. What voltage is required on the white and blue leads to power the dialer? 2. Is there currently a source for the plastic programming cards? Please respond directly to paulf@ma.ultranet.com Thanks. ------------------------------ From: dermot@ix.netcom.com (Dermot Barry) Subject: Another Spammer With a Toll Free Number Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 23:04:41 GMT Pat, I got this one in my mailbox a couple of days ago. (I've left all headers intact.) I called the number and got a message from some company called Emerald Marketing or somesuch telling me how much I could earn in a Network Marketing scheme, all for just an initial investment of $100. I have not tried the fax number or e-mail address. I'm sure other readers would like to hear the message and fantasize about what they could do with all that extra income. Dermot Barry Return-Path: Received: from Mail.BeachLife.Net ([204.49.138.2]) by ixmail3.ix.netcom.com (8.7.5/SMI-4.1/Netcom) id KAA14524; Sun, 15 Sep 1996 10:07:52 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ballen ([204.49.138.16]) by Mail.BeachLife.Net (post.office MTA v1.9.3 **** trial license expired ****) with SMTP id AAF240; Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:05:44 -0500 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "Barbara" To: "Creating Wealth" Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 12:03:12 +0000 Subject: Financial Independence Reply-to: netprofits@beachlife.net BCC: Return-receipt-to: netprofits@beachlife.net Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v2.42a) Message-ID: <19960915165355072.AAF240@ballen> Status: RO We thought you might find this interesting. To be removed from our mailing list, email and place "Remove" in the subject line. Thank you. ****************************************************************** We're Paying Out Over $300,000 Per Day !!!! 6 Days Per Week !!!! Are you tired of getting in on the "ground floor" and then having the basement cave in after 3-4 months of hard work? Do you feel like you've hit a brick wall in the income you've generated from programs in the past? How many times have you heard, "Keep at it. You'll get there in 2-5 years?" Then how about something new? Would you like to hear about a company that has grown to almost 200,000 representatives in just 15 months? A company that's doing over $2 million per week already? How would you feel representing the number #1 company in its industry and being in on the hottest growth market in the world? Can you see the smile on your face when you see $10,000 come in your mailbox in the next 60 days? If this is you, then we need to talk. Call 888-932-2273 toll-free for a 2 minute recording giving more information. (Do not leave a message at this number. You will be given another number to call.) Then pull down our 10 page fax-on-demand to get the full details at 904-654-7727; ext. and document # 6168. At this same number there is also an expanded audio presentation option as well. Don't lose out! Call Now ! ID CODE # 101 --------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, at least this one told the truth about who she is and how to reach her. I suppose that could be considered in mitigation. Note my finger results below: massis-ptownson> finger ballen@beachlife.net [beachlife.net] Account Name: Barbara Allen Email address: BAllen@beachlife.net massis-ptownson> finger netprofits@beachlife.net [beachlife.net] Account Name: Netprofits Email address: netprofits@beachlife.net massis-ptownson> finger @beachlife.net (Normally this would produce a [beachlife.net] list of all users on line on Empty request not allowed the site. They don't allow it.) massis-ptownson> finger postmaster@beachlife.net [beachlife.net] Account Name: Mail Administrator Email address: Postmaster@Mail.BeachLife.Net massis-ptownson> finger root@beachlife.net [beachlife.net] No information available ----------------------------- So whoever they are, you can at least write to Barbara and the postmaster; something that sophisticated spammers/junk mailers learned long ago was not a good thing to permit. 888-932-2273 presents a message about a 'network marketing' scheme which is not identified as to exactly what you would be selling. It does stress *this is not MLM* and early in the message there is a reference to 'free long distance calls for the rest of your life' which leads me to believe you might be selling long distance. The recording tells us that many reps are earning thousands of dollars each week ...'can you see the faces of your co-workers when you quit your job and walk away to full time freedom from debt ...' I'd like to see Barbara's face when she gets the phone bill next month. This is just the usual garden-variety voicemail setup. You press various keys as the message is playing and get various results. There is time on the end to leave a message in return although we are encouraged not to do that and to instead call a 904 number down in Florida where all the other fraud-hives are located. I doubt they are using any sort of ANI to block abusers, but the usual caveats would apply, and remember to stay legal. No hacking and no phreaking. Remember, junkmail and spam on the net will cease when the people who put it up no longer have the perception that it is going to Make Money Fast. There will always be a few bozos circulating the Dave Rhodes letter because they are ignorant and don't know any better. By effectively denying them an email address to receive inquiries and a toll free number to receive inquiries, you make their bottom line very narrow if not completely non-existent. No one (or very few people) will bother to call a junk mailer's phone if they have to pay for the call, and they know that. They don't send messages out to the net because they want to be part of our community; they do it because they heard from Slaton and others that it was an extremely inexpensive way to advertise; to cut a large bill for postage stamps out of their overall budget and make more money as a result. I think you can convince them otherwise. Barbara Allen at least seems more honest than some of them; she started off with legitimate mail headers. That may be her ethics and upbringing, or it may be no one has taught her how to forge the headers yet. :) PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #495 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 18 21:25:43 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA28271; Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:25:43 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:25:43 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609190125.VAA28271@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #496 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Sep 96 21:25:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 496 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Corrections in Area Code Articles (Mark J. Cuccia) Traffic Matrix Information Wanted (Vijay Agarwal) Re: 214/972 Confusion (Clayton R. Nash) Re: 214/972 Confusion (Tye McQueen) Win95 Voice/Data/FAX Software (Scott Temaat) Re: New Surcharge For Number Portability (John Stahl) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 16:34:17 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Corrections in Area Code Articles Re: Increasing Phone Numbers Require New Area Codes, Tad Cook relays the {Austin American-Statesman} article on Texas' area codes. (TELECOM-Digest issue No. 494) > The old Bell System created area codes in 1947 and implemented them in > 1951; New Jersey's 201 was the first. > The original plan required a middle digit of 0 or 1, and some numbers > were reserved for special uses, such as 911, 411 and 800. In all, 144 > three-digit numbers were available. > The last of the original area codes, 610, was assigned to Pennsylvania > in 1993. Meanwhile, a new format using the digits 2 through 9 took > effect, adding 640 new area code numbers. The expanded area code pool > makes possible up to 5 billion new numbers. > Texas started with five area codes: 214 for Dallas and Northeast > Texas; 817 for Fort Worth and North Texas; 713 for Houston and > Southeast Texas; 512 for Central Texas and South Texas, and 905 for El > Paso and West Texas. Actually, Texas started with four area codes in 1947: 713 for the 'southeast' quadrant, with Houston as the primary city 214 for the 'northeast' quadrant, with Dallas/Ft.Worth as the primary city 512 in the 'south' area, including San Antonio and Austin 915 in the 'west' and 'northwest' area, including El Paso and Amarillo The first split occurred in 1953 when 817 split from 915, which took the 'north-central' region, and also 'officially' taking Ft.Worth from 214. However, for years, the Dallas central office codes were 'protected' in the Ft.Worth area, and the Ft.Worth central office codes were likewise 'protected' in the Dallas area, thus allowing permissive seven-digit local dialing for several decades. > The first change for Texas came in 1962, when West Texas was split > between 905 for El Paso and West Texas and 806 for Amarillo and the > Panhandle. In 1983, the area around metropolitan Houston was split off > as 409; in 1990 the Northeast Texas area outside metropolitan Dallas > was carved out as 903; and in 1992 San Antonio was separated into 210. The second change occurred in 1957, not 1962, when 806 was split from 915. This new area code took Amarillo, and covered the 'northwest' region. Texas thus had six area codes from 1957 until 1983. By the way, the reference to 905 is in error, as it should be 915. "Area Code" 905 was a special *access* area code to reach Mexico City and vicinity, beginning circa 1970, and continuing until February 1991. Mexico is Country Code +52, but many customers in the US and Canada didn't have access to customer international dialing (and some probably still don't), so 90-5 was introduced to reach Mexico's city codes beginning with '5'. Mexico City's internal city code *is* simply '5' followed by a seven digit local number, and the surrounding towns and villages have five digit local numbers with a Mexican city code of the '59x' form. One could permissively reach Mexico City as if it were NANP as: 1/0+ 90-5+ NXX-xxxx and the surrounding towns/villages, again as if it were NANP as: 1/0+ 90-5+ 9X+ X-xxxx After being 'reclaimed' in 1991, 905 was thus assigned to the split of Ontario's 416 in the Toronton area, which took effect in October 1993. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I disagree with the statement above > that 'the last of the original area codes 610 was assigned in 1993'. > The X10 codes were *not* part of the original package which included > only the ones with middle digit of zero or one and last digit of > (if middle digit zero) one through nine or (if middle digit one) two > through nine. The last of that 'original' bunch was 909 back about > 1991 or 1992. Then they used the X10 codes over a period of a year > or two prior to the latest series of numbers. PAT] The N10 area codes (as well as the N00) were not used until the 1960's. They were reserved for various special 'non-geographic specific' functions. In 1962, when AT&T automated the thirty year old previosuly manually switched TWX network, by integrating it into the DDD Telephone Network, the new four-row ASCII eight-level 110 speed TWX machines in the US and Canada were assigned N10 area codes: 510, 610, 710, 810, 910. Toll-Free "Inward WATS" was assigned 800 in 1966, and 900 was assigned to 'mass-calling' services (now PAY-per-call or 'Dial-It') in 1969. The US portion of TWX was sold to Western Union Telegraph in 1970/71, but it was *still* being numbered/dialed, routed/switched over the Bell System's DDD Telephone Network until around 1982/83. (Canada's TWX wasn't affected by the sale of TWX). By 1982/83, WUTCO had cut TWX (by then called "Telex-II") into its own routing network, which included its original Telex (I), thus removing the US portion of TWX off the DDD *telephone* switching network. As far as AT&T was concerned, they 'reclaimed' 510, 710, 810 and 910 for future use, as now unassigned area codes. 610 was still active as an NANP area code, as Canada's TWX was still routed over the Telecom-Canada telephone network. The first re-assignment of an N10 area code was the 710 area code to the US Federal Government, which took place in 1983. Very little activity occurred on 710 until about two years ago, and there has been *much* speculation on really what 710 has been used for. The remainder of the N10's were re-assigned for general NANP 'telephone' use beginning in 1991: 510 was assigned to the San Francisco Bay area's split of 415, Sept. 1991 410 was assigned to the split of Maryland's only 301 NPA, Oct. 1991 310 was assigned to the southern California split of 213, Nov. 1991 210 was assigned to the split of Texas' 512 NPA, Nov. 1992 909 was the *last* old-style *and NOT* N10/N11/N00 form code to be assigned, to the split of southern California's 714 NPA, November 1992. The remaining N10 codes were 810 and 910. The US Government was requested by Bellcore to 'swap' 710 for 500, but nothing seemed to have come from this request. (By 1994 NPA 500 was assigned to "Personal Communications Services"). This *could* have allowed 710 to be assigned to 'general' NANP 'POTS' telephone numbers. Similarly, Canada was requested to 'swap' 610 for 600, so that 610 could be assigned to NANP general 'POTS' numbers. TWX had been diminishing in Canada (it was discontinued altogather in Fall 1994), but Telecom-Canada (now Stentor) had been using 610 for ISDN and "Datalink" services beginning in the mid-to-late 1980's. Canada complied with Bellcore's request, and 610 was swapped for 600, which took effect on 1 October 1993. 610 was then available for reassignment to the split of Pennsylvania's 215 area code in the Philadelphia area, which took effect in January 1994. 910 (one of the old TWX area codes) was reassigned to North Carolina's split of 909, taking effect in November 1993. 810 (another one of the old TWX area codes) was reassigned to Michigan's split of 313, taking effect in December 1993. So, it's how you look at what an 'old-style' area code really is. If you look at *any* code of the form N0X/N1X (except for N11), you *still* have 200, 300 and 400 with no 'known' assignment or reservation, except that they are reserved for a future 'easy-to-recognize' non-geographic-specific function. If you also remove the N00 codes from the pool, there were 143 geographic area codes, as 710 is a special US Government area code, and 610 was the 'last' old-style code to be assigned. If you look *only* at the 136 codes, by removing the N10 and N00 (as well as the N11) codes from the pool, then 909 was the last 'old-style' code to be assigned. By the way, the first N09 area codes weren't assigned until 1957, ten years after the area code scheme took effect. ------------------- Re: Area Code Plans Divide New Jersey Businesses, Residents, Tad Cook relays the {Asbury Park Press} article on New Jersey's area codes. (Also, Telecom-Digest issue No. 494) > "Overlay is a permanent fix," said Ed Van Benschoten, a Warren Township > resident and a Bell Atlantic retiree. "With overlay we do not have to > be here five years from now (carving out additional area codes) when > those new area codes are exhausted." > He also pointed out that traditional large geographic area codes are a > remnant of the days when telephones were rotary dial. Giving large > areas the same three-digit code reduced the amount of time spent > dialing, since the caller rarely had to call outside the area. Saving > dialing time is also why older area codes, such as New Jersey's 201, > New York's 212 and Philadelphia's 215, are low numbers, he said. (snip) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just another example of how > newspapers get things wrong after they interview so-called experts. > Consider Ed, the 'Bell Atlantic retiree' they quoted saying '201 is > a low number ...' I count 13 pulls (2+10+1) on that compared to 5 > pulls for 212 (2+1+2) or 6 pulls each for Chicago (3+1+2) and Los > Angeles (2+1+3) or 7 pulls each for the people in Pittsburgh (412) > and 214-land. 314 (St. Louis) and 413 each have 8 pulls. Milwaukee > with 414 only has 9 pulls, compared to Washington, DC (Our Nation's > Drug and Crime Capitol) which gets 14 pulls on its 202. What Ed and > the newspaper failed to point out was that there was a specific > reason for zero as the middle digit or one as the middle digit. Any > state with only one area code (originally) got '0' as the middle > digit in the code assigned to them; states with more than one area > code (orignally) got '1' as the middle digit in the various codes > assigned to them. There was consideration given to the shortness > of the number where rotary pulsing was concerned, which is why > 212/213/312/313/412, etc where given to the most populated areas > of the country. Yes, it is true that the *original* assignment scheme had the N0X codes assigned *one* code to a state/province/DC (or a provinical group, such as 902 being assigned to all of the "Maritime Provinces" in eastern Canada in 1947), and the N1X codes were originally assigned where states/provinces with *more* than one NPA. But even within the N0X group (one code to a state or province), there was a scheme to give the *populated* single-code states/provinces a 'shorter dialpull' code, according to projections as they were in October 1947: 201 NJ 301 MD 401 RI 501 AR 601 MS 701 ND 801 UT 901 TN 202 DC 302 DE 402 NE 502 KY 602 AZ 702 NV 802 VT 902 mrtm.prv. 203 CT 303 CO 403 AB 503 OR 603 NH 703 VA 803 SC 204 MB 304 WV 404 GA 504 LA 604 BC 704 NC 205 AL 305 FL 405 OK 505 NM 605 SD 206 WA 306 SK 406 MT 207 ME 307 WY 208 ID Look at the eastern corridor states: New Jersey (201), DC (202), Connecticut (203), Maryland (301), Delaware (302), Rhode Island (302). These got 'short' dialpull codes. I don't know how or why Colorado got a rather 'short' N0X code, 303, in 1947, but the above are the original 1947 assignments of the N0X codes, as they anticipated population and growth back then. But look at some of the assignments to the least populated areas: Idaho (208), Wyoming (307), Montana (406), New Mexico (505), South Dakota (605). These got 'long' dialpull codes. The AT&T planners in 1947 did come up with a good scheme that has lasted as long as it has, without any changes as drastic as those in other countries. Of course, population and growth might have differed some from what was projected in 1947. The only thing that major which has really occurred over the past few years, or even twenty years is that we have 'generalized' central office codes from NNX to NXX form by including N0X/N1X codes, and 'generalized' area codes from N0X/N1X to NXX form by including NNX codes. Ten-digit local dialing is just an extension of what our NANP unique number has been since 1947, by including the three digit area code in front of the seven-digits. I'm also not taking into account the less-than-seven-digit local numbers which were still around throughout the 1950's, but most all were eventually extended to seven digit local numbers by the early 1960's. But even the generalizing of both area codes *and* central office codes to NXX form isn't all that drastic when compared to what has been happening in other countries' numbering plans. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: 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: vijaya@comm.mot.com (Vijay Agarwal) Subject: Traffic Matrix Information Wanted Organization: MOTOROLA Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 20:48:21 GMT Hi! I need some real life traffic data collected from a telephone network. Basically what I need is traffic matrix for a telephone network at different time of day along with the configuration of the network. By configuration, I mean the network topology and no. of trunks connecting the various exchanges. I need these measurements only for voice data. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks, Vijay Agarwal * phone: (847) 576-7425 Private Radio Networks Engineering * fax: (847) 538-5131 Motorola, Inc. * email: vijaya@comm.mot.com ------------------------------ From: claytonn@onramp.net (Clayton R. Nash) Subject: Re: 214/972 Confusion Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 00:58:23 GMT Organization: personal internet service In article , psyber@usa.pipeline. com (John Cropper) wrote: >> The consensus seems to be that there will be working identical >> (7-digit) phone numbers in 214 and 972, belonging to different people, > example: (214) 201-0000 through 5000 might be assigned to Dallas, > while 6000-9999 assigned to say, Plano. After the cut, when > Plano becomes (972), each side can assign the remaining > 201 numbers not yet in use. > Not exactly. All 10,000 numbers are assigned in 214 to someone, and the numbers will also be opened in 972. For example, my home is 214-342-xxxx. All 10,000 numbers belong to this local switching center. However, the 972-342- block is already open. So any calls that cross the area code boundary as of 9/14/96 must dial ten digits. If they dial seven, they will reach their home NPA -- which may not be what they intended. As I understand it, routing is just done on the area code and first three digits, so all must be assigned (or available) in both area codes if it is duplicated. Also see: http://www.sbc.com/dfw/npa Clayton Nash claytonn@onramp.net ------------------------------ From: tye@metronet.com (Tye McQueen) Subject: Re: 214/972 Confusion Date: 18 Sep 1996 17:11:15 -0500 Organization: Texas Metronet, Inc (login info (214/488-2590 - 817/571-0400)) Here are the current 214 prefixes (NNXs) that are changing to the new 972 area code (NPA). This is based on two different sources in different formats and cross-checked so I hope there are no errors, but if so they are probably my typos. Both sources list their source as Bellcore, one from 8/22/1996 and the other from 9/3/1996. 203-206 334-336 431,432 539-542 641,642 731-736 842,843 927 208,209 338 434-438 544,545 644 738 845,846 929-935 216-219 346,347 441,442 547,548 646,647 751-753 851 937,938 221-231 355 444-459 550-552 650 756 853 949 233-235 366 461-463 554 659-664 758 864 952 237-243 370 466 556-558 666,667 764 866-869 960 245 377-380 468 560-564 669 766 872,873 962 247-264 382,383 470-477 568-570 677 770-776 875,876 964 266 385-387 479-481 572 680-682 778-780 878 966 269-274 389,390 483-488 574-576 684-687 782-784 881-884 968 276-289 392-397 490-499 578-580 690 788-791 886 975 291-299 399 500-501 584-587 694 795 888,889 980 301 401-407 504 591-594 699 798,799 893 982 303-308 409 506 596 701,702 805 901 985,986 313 412-414 509 601-609 705 814 907 988 315-318 416-420 513-519 612-615 708,709 830,831 909,910 991 322,323 422-425 524,525 617-629 713-719 837,838 915-919 994-997 325,326 427 527 633 721-724 840 923,924 329 429 529-531 635,636 726,727 Or, if you want to "grep" for them (yes, a bit of a strange format but one that is trivial to transform): ,203-204-205-206,208-209,216-217-218-219,221-222-223-224-225-226-227-228- -229-230-231,233-234-235,237-238-239-240-241-242-243,245,247-248-249-250- -251-252-253-254-255-256-257-258-259-260-261-262-263-264,266,269-270-271- -272-273-274,276-277-278-279-280-281-282-283-284-285-286-287-288-289,291- -292-293-294-295-296-297-298-299, ,301,303-304-305-306-307-308,313,315-316-317-318,322-323,325-326,329,334- -335-336,338,346-347,355,366,370,377-378-379-380,382-383,385-386-387,389- -390,392-393-394-395-396-397,399, ,401-402-403-404-405-406-407,409,412-413-414,416-417-418-419-420,422-423- -424-425,427,429,431-432,434-435-436-437-438,441-442,444-445-446-447-448- -449-450-451-452-453-454-455-456-457-458-459,461-462-463,466,468,470-471- -472-473-474-475-476-477,479-480-481,483-484-485-486-487-488,490-491-492- -493-494-495-496-497-498-499- -500-501,504,506,509,513-514-515-516-517-518-519,524-525,527,529-530-531, ,539-540-541-542,544-545,547-548,550-551-552,554,556-557-558,560-561-562- -563-564,568-569-570,572,574-575-576,578-579-580,584-585-586-587,591-592- -593-594,596, ,601-602-603-604-605-606-607-608-609,612-613-614-615,617-618-619-620-621- -622-623-624-625-626-627-628-629,633,635-636,641-642,644,646-647,650,659- -660-661-662-663-664,666-667,669,677,680-681-682,684-685-686-687,690,694, ,699 ,701-702,705,708-709,713-714-715-716-717-718-719,721-722-723-724,726-727, ,731-732-733-734-735-736,738,751-752-753,756,758,764,766,770-771-772-773- -774-775-776,778-779-780,782-783-784,788-789-790-791,795,798-799 ,805,814,830-831,837-838,840,842-843,845-846,851,853,864,866-867-868-869, ,872-873,875-876,878,881-882-883-884,886,888-889,893 ,901,907,909-910,915-916-917-918-919,923-924,927,929-930-931-932-933-934- -935,937-938,949,952,960,962,964,966,968,975,980,982,985-986,988,991,994- -995-996-997. The following NNXs are duplicated in the 214 and 972 NPA areas and so may not be subject to the grace period or to as long of a grace period (double checked for my typos but based on only one source -- a FAX I tripped over with no source shown on it): 220 267 268 290 309 375 376 381 388 391 443 464 465 467 489 503 528 537 559 565 566 583 643 645 648 652 653 671 698 730 741 742 743 754 760 761 767 849 857 858 859 860 861 863 871 879 953 954 So let us all know if there are mistakes or changes to this. Thanks to Southwestern Bell for one of my sources. The second source is probably also SWB (based on the use of identical fonts) but my copy doesn't retain any reference to them. GTE is sending me an electronic copy in a much different format so I'll cross check that when it makes it to my box. The basic geographic range is: It extends past all of Loop 12 except for a small patch near Irving where 183 crosses (west side) and stays within the partial loop of 625 and 20 except near Garland (NE side). Forest Lane is the north boundary and Jupiter Road and St Augustine Road are the east boundary. The south boundary is made up of Kiest Blvd, Camp Wisdom Road, and Simpson Stuart Road. The west boundary is not well labeled on this copy and my Mapsco(TM) isn't handy. Thanks, Tye McQueen tye@metronet.com || tye@thingy.usu.edu ------------------------------ From: Scott Temaat Subject: Win95 Voice/Data/FAX Software Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 16:29:11 -0500 Organization: ComputeAbility Solutions (http://www.serve.com/stemaat) Reply-To: stemaat@netdoor.com I have been trying to locate a Voice/Data/FAX application that really works. So far, I've had little luck. I'll admit my needs are a little different than most, and I'm willing to take that into account. But nothing I've seen so far even comes close! Here's what I'm trying to do: I have two telephone lines. Each has a voice/data/FAX modem on it. I wish to have a full voice-mail system set up on one line, and have a sinple answering machine type setup on the other, which is also the FAX and data line. The voice mail system is set up and working well, using Cheyenne Bitware on a Zoom VFP 14.4 V. However, I cannot get any of the all in one products to work correctly on my USR Sportster Voice 33.6 modem on the other line. Here is the functionality I want: Caller ID Distinctive Ring Detection Integrates with Win95 componennts to provide core functionality: * Win95 dialer: internet connectivity * MS Exchange: FAX and remote mail functions * Uses Win95 Default WWW Browser (whatever I've set) * Uses my choice of internet E-mail and news packages * Interfaces with CIS and AOL mail systems (Exchange does the first, and Focal Point does the second, so I know the scripting is available) * Win95 dialer for autodialing numbers * HyperTerminal or user selectable Comm package Voice Mail options (single or multiple mailboxes) E-mail automation and multiple e-mail users (multiple AOL screen names and internet addresses) I know such a product doesn't exist yet. Is there anyone on this list (or anywhere else you might know) that might be willing to develop something like this? If not, I guess I've got a lot of learning ahead of me ... Oh, and as long as I'm dreaming, if it had the ability to monitor both modems and eliminate the Bitware, that'd be even better. Hmmm ... I wonder if there might be a market for something like this?? Please feel free to share this with any programmer friend you might have, or to cross post to any relevant groups. Please send any replies to me via e-mail, as well as in the group. Thanks so much! Best, Scott Temaat mailto:stemaat@netdoor.com http://www.serve.com/stemaat ComputeAbility Solutions -- PC Solutions Provider http://www2.netdoor.com/~stemaat Personal Web page ------------------------------ From: John Stahl Subject: Re: New Surcharge for Number Portability Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:43:40 +0000 In TELECOM Digest V16 #491, Tad Cook relayed an article from the {Wall Street Journal}, which indicated that NYNEX wanted $1 - 2/month for number portability (the charge to allow a once-subscriber to keep their old phone number when they go with a new carrier). NYNEX is presently wholesaling 'dial-tone' (selling to others the ability to supply the monthly telephone bill for local service) to other LEC's, Independent telcos, LD company's and even AT&T in various cities in New York including (for starters) Albany and Syracuse. Since they own the plant (lines) from the CO's to their present subscribers, they will continue to make money on the whole transaction even if they were to be replaced in every portion of their territory as the 'billing' carrier. Adding a charge of $1 - 2/month for every one of these (once-) customers is tantamount to rubbing every citizens' wounds in salt because the new billing carriers will undoubtedly pass on this charge to them. NYNEX will probably make more money than before! The question is: How much money do they want to make? Looks like they want their cake and to eat it too. AND the NYSPSC will probably let them! John Stahl Aljon Enterprises Telecom/Data Consultants - Telecommunications/data systems design email: aljon@worldnet.att.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you said has been the message in this Digest for a long time now. All the Bells are anxiously awaiting 'competition' for good reason. They'll be able to get into the much more profitable long distance business and for all intents and purposes they won't lose much of their local business either, and what little they do lose will be made up for by everyone else with surcharges, etc. The only people hurt by local competition will be the subscribers. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #496 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Wed Sep 18 23:27:27 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA10575; Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:27:27 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:27:27 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609190327.XAA10575@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #497 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Sep 96 23:27:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 497 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Gordon Hlavenka) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Brian Kantor) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Charles Cryderman) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Greg Lucas) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (David W. Tamkin) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Michael D. Adams) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Scott D. Fybush) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Bob Goudreau) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Greg Monti) Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? (Robert Freimer) Re: AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) (Allan Rubin) Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed (Jock Mackirdy) Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell (David Richards) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: cgordon@worldnet.att.net Subject: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 18 Sep 1996 04:50:50 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services On Tue, 10 Sep 96 covert said: > However, I have a Motorola flip with adapters in two different cars. > That means three different RF signatures with the same mobile number > and serial number. I'm waiting to hear how many signatures can be > supported, and how, for example, I register additional signatures > for various friends' cars which also have 3W VAs which I might use > if I were to visit them or they visit me. Keep us posted on this; I have the same question. I'm a Chicago area former Ameritech customer who switched to Cellular One when mandatory PINs came around. I have a PT-550 flip with a 3W car kit. I have the feeling that only my car kit's signature is registered; I mostly use the phone in the car so it's likely that that's the signature they'd grab first. For a few weeks now, I've noticed that the phone operates very erratically out of the car. For example, even though the phone shows good RX signal strength it often takes multiple (5 or more!) attempts to complete a call. I press SEND, there's a brief burst of static, and the call drops. The call never rings at the other end. When the call drops, the signal strength meter drops to minimum for a few seconds, then goes back up to its former level. Dunno whether this signal drop is a cause or a symptom. Also, it's pretty much impossible for me to receive a call outside of the car. The phone rings just fine, but when I flip it open to answer it immediately hangs up. The receive signal strength goes through the same calisthentics described above. It could be my imagination, but it seems to me that these problems began about the time that Cellular One started talking up their new anti-fraud system. When the phone is running in the 3W adapter, it works just fine. I'm usually using the phone in areas with excellent coverage, so that's not the problem. I've spoken to Cellular One's service people a couple of times, but they either a) don't know or b) can't say whether my problem is related to the RF fingerprinting. (I'm suspecting it's "a" :-) Gordon S. Hlavenka O- cgordon@worldnet.att.net ------------------------------ From: brian@nothing.ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 18 Sep 1996 05:59:40 GMT Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. According to a brochure I picked up at Fry's the other day, LA Cellular is offering a locking technology for adding some measure of security: When you set up your account, you pick a PIN. At any time, you can dial a number that includes your pin and it will lock your phone out of the system -- outgoing calls to other than *611 (customer assistance) and 911 will be intercepted. Calls TO the phone will behave normally. You can dial another sequence (including your pin) to unlock the phone. Presumably the idea is that if people clone your phone but can't call anywhere because you have the phone locked, they'll get real peeved at the dude who sold them the cloned phone and he'll find some other number to clone. It didn't say if there was a way to have the system autolock when your phone doesn't respond to the 'are you there' polling that most cellular systems are now doing. I think that would help. If you have the sequences programmed into memory, it's not much protection against having your phone itself stolen and used, but perhaps you could store all but the last two digits or something like that. Brian ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 17:01:21 EST From: Charles Cryderman Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) came in with: > PCS 1900 is coming (sooner or later), and I'll be glad when it's > here. This works as long as you remember that you can not be moving during your telephone conversation. With PCS the cells are much small and unable to keep up with a moving automobile. Chip!!! ------------------------------ From: lucas@hyena.cig.mot.com (Greg Lucas) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 18 Sep 96 16:07:24 GMT Organization: Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group bagdon@rust.net (S and K Bagdon) writes: > A thought -- the direct mail piece state 'Thanks for your support' - > like we had a choice, here in Detroit! It was either use the PIN, or > go to Cell One. That's like Ameritech land-line saying 'thanks for > using our service'! They mean that they are glad you didn't switch to Cell One. > PCS 1900 is coming (sooner or later), and I'll be glad when it's here. It will be a long time before PCS has the rural coverage support that AMPS currently has. I won't switch until it does! BTW, Motorola is busy installing a CDMA PCS system in the Chicago area for Prime Co. > Later, Ron Kritzman said: >>> Clearly and simply the authentication being built into 90% of all >>> phones manufacturered today ... and yes, phones MUST be replaced to >>> eliminate the pin. >> AHA!! Now this makes all the sense in the world. PCS will be here >> soon and they're worried that customers will jump. Of course they want >> to sell you a new phone! Just -TRY- to buy a new phone without >> signing a two year contract. > Either install GSM (or a type of GSM authentication), or just admit > that AMPS was a big mistake and is totally insecure from day one. It is very unlikely that AMPS will be replaced by GSM in this country. However, the AMPS authentication spec is very similiar the European versions (TACS and GSM) and is robust. Motorola is currently adding this functionality into our infrastructure products. The major problem is that all of the phones need to be replaced -- it is obvious that Ameritech would like to avoid that situation. Greg Lucas lucas@cig.mot.com Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group Arlington Heights, IL 60004-1469 ------------------------------ From: dattier@wwa.com (David W. Tamkin) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:46:34 CDT dchapman@epix.net wrote in : > A colleague of mine has stated that the only time ZIPs cross into > neighboring area codes are in very rural areas, where there is minimal > effect. Mr. Chapman's colleague is mistaken. Inference from zip code to area code fails in many, many places. Telephone and postal boundaries are laid out without regard to one another and coincide only at state lines or where both authorities decide by chance to follow the same municipal boundary or natural physical feature. For example, each of the three zip codes serving Lincolnwood, Illinois (an older suburb adjacent to Chicago, nowise rural), extends into Chicago. Lincolnwood was cut over from 312 to 708 in 1989 with no changes in the zip codes, so all three of its zip codes straddled the 312/708 boundary until it became the 312/847 boundary last January. It will be the 773/847 boundary next month, but the three zip codes involved still have the same borders that they have had since 1971, one of them unchanged since 1964. Several other zips lie partly in Chicago and partly in suburbia. 60631 is splayed among three area codes: 312 (soon 773), 708, and 847. When 773 splits from 312 next month, the 312/773 boundary will be as urban as you can get on both sides, and it will slither giddily right through the interior of every zip code in its path. No zip code boundaries will change to follow the new area code line. Because all police stations, public libraries, and parks throughout Chicago have phone numbers that will remain in 312 and because all public schools in Chicago have numbers that will change to 773, almost every zip code in the city will have two area codes. (We will have the chief disadvantage of an overlay with none of the advantages.) David W. Tamkin dattier@wwa.com 2094393@mcimail.com "When lutefisk is outlawed, only outlaws will have lutefisk." -- bumper sticker I saw on a Nova ------------------------------ From: mda-960912b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:06:59 GMT Organization: Triskele Consulting Reply-To: mda-960912b@triskele.com > [TELECOM Digest Editors' Note: In the Chicago area, the city of > Chicago uses 606xx and presently at least, that is all 312. Starting > soon when 773 kicks in I imagine 60611/60614 may overlap those areas > since the 312/773 division is not a clean break but actually will > jog back and forth up and down a couple of side streets on the near > north side. The north suburbs, where the VIP's live with the VIP (847) > area code is entirely 600-602. The south suburbs which remained in > 708 are all 605xx. PAT] However, aren't there a few exceptions even to this. After all, Cicero and a smidgn of surrounding Chicago are 60650 (I think; I'm doing this from memory), yet Cicero is not in 312 (708 still, I think ...). Other likely candidates for this sort of thing would be 60642 (Evergreen Park and part of Chicago), 60655 (Merrionette Park and parts of Chicago), and 60643 (Calumet Park and 800+ West 127th and Vermont Streets in Chicago). Also, I thought that Lincolnwood's zip codes served parts of Chicago proper. Michael D. Adams Triskele Consulting Baltimore, Maryland ma@triskele.com Unless otherwise stated, I do not wish to receive commercial e-mail. Your sending me unsolicited commercial e-mail implies your acceptance of the contract available at http://www.rahul.net/starowl/email.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are correct on the ones you mentioned and David Tamkin in this issue also discussed Lincolnwood, Illinois, a small village 'nestled' in the far north neighborhoods of Chicago. PAT] ------------------------------ From: fybush@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 03:30:11 GMT Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) writes: > States that are entirely served by a single NPA obviously do not have > this circumstance, since ZIP Codes never, ever cross state lines. A *Almost* never, ever! As I've mentioned before on this newsgroup, I lived for a year at Deep Springs College, a tiny institution about ten miles west of the California-Nevada state line on California Route 168. We were served by the post office in Dyer, Nevada, and our mail at the time was addressed thusly: Deep Springs College Deep Springs, California via Dyer NV 89010 The address has gotten longer in ensuing years, and now includes a very long (six digits, I think) PO Box address in Dyer. That's all kind of funny, since the Dyer PO is a tiny trailer and Deep Springs likely accounts for half its mail (delivered daily by a hired carrier). The nearest California post offices were in Big Pine (93513) and Bishop (93514), and Big Pine would from time to time get some Deep Springs mail, which it would dutifully send across to Nevada and then to us. Just to keep this telecom-related, BTW, phone service was then provided by a 450-MHz two-hop radio link that connected Contel service in Bishop with a Panasonic KX-616 at Deep Springs. That was preceded by a wireline over the mountains to "Deep Springs Toll Station #2" and has, I'm told, been succeeded by a cellular link. -=Scott Fybush - fybush@world.std.com=- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 13:54:30 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) wrote: > States that are entirely served by a single NPA obviously do not have > this circumstance, since ZIP Codes never, ever cross state lines. Not quite true, according to the 1996 USPS "National ZIP Code (R) Directory". There is a small section entitled "Post Offices that serve more than one state", and some of them even share ZIP codes, according to the text I've excerpted below: Airport, KY 45275 is a branch of the Cincinnati, OH Post Office 45275 Junction City, LA 71749 is served by the post office at Junction City, AR 71749 Naval Base, ME 03801 is a branch of the Portsmouth, NH Post Office 03801 Andrews AFB, MD 20331 is a branch of the Washington, DC Post Office 20331 Reverie, TN 72395 is served by the post office at Wilson, AR 72395 Texhoma, TX 73949 is served by the post office at Texhome, OK 73949 Naval Annex, VA 20370 is a branch of the Washingon, DC Post Office 20370 Pentagon, VA 20301 is a branch of the Washington, DC Post Office 20301 Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 12:46:26 -0400 From: cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? On 11 Sep 96, mda-960911b@triskele.com (Michael D Adams) wrote: > I don't have my ZIP code directory/maps handy, but I can think of a > few cases where this would occur. Specifically -- around Washington > DC. There are several DC zip codes which encompass territory both in > the District (202) and suburban Maryland (301 + whatever the new > overlay will be). You're right, but I think that was fixed about 12 years ago. The southern part of Montgomery County, Maryland, which borders Washington, DC, shared several ZIP codes with DC. They were DC-style ZIP codes beginning with 200xx, and people living in that part of Montgomery had Washington, DC, mailing addresses. There was no danger of overlapping addresses as long as the street names were unique, because Montgomery and DC use the same street numbering grid, with 1,000 addresses to the mile, and the point of origin at the US Capitol dome. So, those ZIPs did cross a state line. The fix was to change the ZIPs to 208xx. For example, the Maryland portion of "Washington, DC 20015" became "Bethesda, MD 20815". > And finally, the zip code for Columbia, MD (and probably those for a > couple of other communities) serves two (soon 4!) NPAs. I am told > that Bell Atlantic subscribers in some or all of Columbia are > currently allowed to choose their area code -- either 301 or 410. Correct. There are four commonly-used possibilities for phone service in Columbia, which subscribers use to "skew" their local calling areas to their area of interest: - an ordinary Columbia number, which you get if you don't ask for anything special; your local calling area includes all of Baltimore City, but not the suburbs to the north and east of that, plus most of the corridor down to, but not including Washington DC. These numbers have 410 (and soon 443) area codes; - a "Baltimore Metropolitan" (also called "Ellicott City") number (410 or 443); can call Baltimore City and its N and E suburbs, but only as far south as Laurel, MD, and not including the inner Maryland suburbs of DC; - a "Laurel number" (301 or 240); cannot call Baltimore City locally, but can reach just up to the city line on the SW side; can call the NE suburbs of DC and can call all of DC as a local call; - a "Washington Metropolitan" (also called a "Berwyn") number, 301 or 240 area code; cannot call any inner Baltimore suburbs or city; can call as far north as Columbia and as far south/west as Northern Virginia Metropolitan Exchanges (those within about 15 miles of the White House). Of the four, this gives the largest number of prefixes in the local calling area. For anything but the basic Columbia service, there is a foreign exchange mileage charge per month. However, the switches serving these four types of prefixes are used so often that physically they're located in the same central offices. Subscribers in Laurel have the same four, commonly-used choices. > A coworker is expecting some degree of chaos when the new overlay NPA's > go into effect. There will exist the possibility of having four > different NPAs exising on one block. Yes. There will be four area codes in Columbia and Laurel once the two overlays get going. Greg Monti Jersey City, New Jersey, USA gmonti@interramp.com ------------------------------ From: robert@caliper.com (Robert Freimer) Subject: Re: ZIPs Crossing NPA Boundaries? Date: 17 Sep 1996 21:50:48 -0400 Organization: Caliper Corporation Others have already provided numerous counter examples of zip codes which cross NPA boundaries. An additional consideration is that I don't think there are official USPS definitions for zip code boundaries which exactly specify the location of each edge. My employer's GIS software comes with a five digit zip code database which will be slightly different from those of other vendors due to interpretation. There are also the problems of point zip codes and business addresses which are located in one region but numbered from another. Robert Freimer robert@caliper.com Software Engineer Caliper Corporation Mapping the Way 1172 Beacon Street, Newton, Massachusetts 02161 USA (617)527-4700 (617)527-5113 (Fax) http://www.caliper.com ------------------------------ From: arubin@mindspring.com (Allan Rubin) Subject: Re: AT&T Definity G3 (was Re: Continuous Internet Connection) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 09:48:24 -0400 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. In article Eric Smith writes: > In article kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation. > com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) writes: >> Another curious fact -- our AT&T Definity G3 switch handles all the >> digital sets we have as ISDN connections, or as close to ISDN one can >> actually get without calling it ISDN > Why would that be curious? I'm guessing that it isn't ISDN, but > rather is a typical proprietary digital PBX phone, which tend to be > simpler (not designed by a gigantic committee like ISDN was). Perhaps > someone familiar with the G3 can let us know. Actually the same G3 can run 100% ISDN (PRI and ISDN sets) withour any more memory or a bigger processor. Don't think about phone systems the way you think about your desktop PC. They really aren't comparable. The code on a phone system is written by the manufacturer to work on their one platform. On a PC, the code is written by thousands of vendors and have to try to interact with Windows, etc which created the need for huge processors and more memory. Remember the 8 bit Apple computer. It did spreadsheets and word-processing just fine -- but it couldn't do them both at the same time. Your G3 PBX is just processing phone calls ... ------------------------------ From: Jock Mackirdy Subject: Re: Information on DID Trunks Needed Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:07:31 GMT McRae, Stuart wrote: > As I understand it, this is true for the analogue part of the answer, > but not for ISDN (in the Europe). Euro-ISDN allows DDI numbers to be > routed to specific ISDN circuits (Basic Rate or Primary rate) which > may also be used for outgoing calls. True -- I was giving an analogue answer. ISDN connections/connexions are indeed bothway. In the UK if you rent a whole or part 30-channel ISDN link you are given a block of DDI/DID numbers free. These connect you to the local exchange/central office. (Bi-lingual answer to help) . bluesky@atlcom.net (Mark Cavallaro) wrote: > In article , jockm@basluton.demon. > co.uk says: >>> Also, is it possible to make outgoing calls on the same DID trunks, or >>> do I have to get regualr CO lines for outgoing calls? >> No -- you need separate regular lines. The DID trunks are unidirectional >> and carry only DID traffic. > Well, I have seen this done. There is no reason a local exchange can > not provide bi-directional use of DID trunks. These trunk were > developed for direct dial use, and telcos have bell shaped heads, so > they never thought someone would want them to be two-way trunks. It's not about being bell-shaped. It's that a DID trunk is a slightly modified inter-office trunk. The signals required are totally different from a telephone line (no ringing current/ring trip circuitry for example). Jock Mackirdy Business Advisory Services, Luton (UK) E-mail: jockm@basluton.demon.co.uk Independent telecomms. and business advice ------------------------------ From: dr@ripco.com (David Richards) Subject: Re: Positive ID Service From Southwestern Bell Organization: Ripco Internet BBS Chicago Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 20:41:17 GMT In article is written: > if I get the false information past the first point, whatever I say > will be passed along ...' but **how** do you get that accomplished in > a modern phone switch? I've heard people brag about such things but I > still fail to see how one can go off hook, place a call and pass all > that bogus information without leaving an audit trail ... It's not a question of not leaving an audit trail. Since the change only affects the CLID signal and not billing or anything "important" the telephone company won't notice the problem until it's reported. > a first-grade student with a 'connect-the-dots' coloring book could > not follow and successfully put a bogus message on someone else's > caller-id box. I'm just a white hat, though I do occasionally let it get a little dusty and grey at times ... All 5ESS systems determine the CID information to be sent from the LEN (line equipment number) data. With the appropriate terminal and passwords remote access to the 5ESS configuration utility is possible, if not easy. You will leave an audit trail, but there are literally thousands of unsecured phone lines available. You can just cruise around with three to five old cordless phone handsets until you catch a dialtone. On the 5ESS switch, from the RCV:MENU you can change the variables to represent any valid number. Similar commands are available for DMS, while DMERT requires manual editing of hex data, no big deal to a real hacker. > If you are going to suggest that you can go to Alaska and make > yourself known as Bill Clinton of Washington, DC then how about a > practical example for the readers here. Itemize it step by step. I > don't think you can. PAT] Here's two ways to do it- 1. Get Bill Clinton's phone number. Method 1: 2. Call up Network General and ask for a 30-day evaluation on a PRI test unit/line monitor. There are two or three companies that make these ($15K) test units; they can actually be inserted between the CO and remote equipment and do pass-through data transparent to the remote site, as well as drop/add of channels for your use :-) 3. Find a phone company in Alaska serving a PRI circuit out of a DMS-100 switch. This might be harder in Alaska than say, Nebraska or a state where they have a lot of phone banks (served channelized T1 or PRI). 4. Go to Alaska. 5. Patch into the PRI right before it enters the customer premise. It's just a two-pair circuit, exactly like a regular T1. D-channel signalling is almost always on the last channel. The customer may have an outage of five to fifteen seconds when you cut in and then out again. 6. Pick up the handset (included with the test set), set your DN to Bill's phone number, and initiate a call. You can change the DN between calls, you don't have to stick to Bill's. Method 2: 2. Find or arrange an open dialout or 'cheese box' in Alaska. This allows you to call in from anywhere in the world on the first number, and get Alaskan dialtone on the second. 3. Call through to the switch software and make the appropriate changes. The records to change are well documented (if you know where to look). A friend of mine picked up a partial set of 5ESS operator's manuals, including some very interesting notes in the margins, at a flea market for $10. 4. Call back to your dialout. All subsequent calls will give CLID as Bill Clinton's number. Change the number by repeating step 3, but too many changes will eventually get some interest from the telco. David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three My opinions are my own, Public Access in Chicago But they are available for rental Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased dr@ripco.com (312) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Very well, what you suggest would work. At least I think it would; I don't see anything in your step-by-step explanation that is incorrect. Now as a practical, purely pragmatic matter, *who* really does this, and what is supposed to be their rate of return or benefit from the whole exercise? Admittedly, Alaska on the one end and Bill Clinton on the other may be an extreme example, so let us say you are in Chicago, have illicit access to a Chicago switch via the phone number used for access and the required documen- tation. I've always heard -- perhaps incorrectly -- that in these days of very modern phone switches nothing much really escapes their eyes and ears. Tones transmitted on the line which are inappropriate or out of context in their use, i.e. 2600 are 'heard' by the switch and while the call may progress as planned, the switch tells a human being what it has heard. In theory at least, changes made to a sub- scriber's service are reconciled with the paperwork for same on a regular basis. If the business office did not order the change, then why was it made? Years ago the task of *merely trying* to catch someone in the act of (shall we say) re-organizing things at telco to suit themselves was a monumental effort -- those old spaghetti-bowls of central offices had frames with unlabled jumpers everywhere you looked. To trace a single call you had to climb up and down on a ladder, walk several rows down in the room and start searching high and low there only to discover that the call came to your office from another exchange and you had to call someone over there and get them to send someone in the frames to do the same thing you were doing on your end, both of you hoping you got together on it somewhere before you heard that sickening sound when the relays would release with a noise that told you the tandem had collapsed and all your work in the past twenty minutes was wasted. "Ah, but we will catch that bastard the next time," the guys would say to each other, and of course they never caught him the next time either. But now, the switch knows all, sees all, hears all and tells all. A little monkey business going on, eh? Someone sitting at a terminal with a keyboard needs five seconds or so to have the switch spill its guts and tell the whole lurid tale. On the keyboard a tap tap here, and the screen displays an interesting story. A tap tap there, and it is recorded for posterity. A tap tap here and a tap tap there, and thank you very much, we'll be out to see you tomorrow at your house and when we arrive please answer the door so we don't have to kick it in to present you with an indictment from a federal grand jury while we go about seizing everything which looks like it might have something to do with telephones and computers. Now am I overreacting, David? I'll suggest that the 'audit trails' are watched a lot more closely than one might suspect, and yes, they know all about old-fashioned cordless phones and cruising for dial tone and such, and no, they don't haul grandma away to jail just because her dialtone was the one used. They're smarter than that. It has been said that Sprint for example no longer bothers to turn off polluted, fraud-ridden, phreaked-out calling cards. They just let the calls go through as they sit there and smile and make notes and let the phreaks write their own bus tickets to the courthouse. I suspect the local telcos are the same way with the ports into the switch. You just *think* they're not watching. And I've been told telco leaves cheeseboxes around for the same reason and that many switches 'seem to ignore' certain tones but in reality tell their human masters about it right away: "oooh! ... come look at this one!" Am I wrong, David? As a practical matter, how far can one really tamper with the switch via those ports without getting caught? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #497 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 19 12:43:21 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA03967; Thu, 19 Sep 1996 12:43:21 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 12:43:21 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609191643.MAA03967@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #498 TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Sep 96 12:43:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 498 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Corporate Sponsor For Digest (TELECOM Digest Editor) Philadelphia EXchanges, Circa 1946 (Mark J. Cuccia) MCI Internet Problem (amaw@newnorth.net) Sunday's Net Outage (Ted Lee) NANP - In or Out? (Jeremy Parsons) Sheath Slitter Tool Wanted (Tim E. White) 1965-66 PBX Features (Carl Moore) Re: *DSL, ISDN, 2B1Q etc (Czeslaw Piasta) Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing (Stanley Cline) Wanted: LDDS Stories (Robert L. McMillin) Is Reselling Good? (was Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local ISP) (Joel Hoffman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 11:27:01 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: New Corporate Sponsor For Digest I am pleased to announce that Zev Rubenstein and a business associate of his have agreed to assist in funding for TELECOM Digest at least for the near future. I wish them well in their new business venture with is described below, and which will be noted in each issue of the Digest in the 'masthead' or 'boilerplate' messages which appear as part of the mailing list edition of the Digest. Please let them know you appreciate their assistance. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from ** NTR ** * * Nationwide Telecommunications Resources, a nationwide resource for * * contract services, job placement and executive recruitment. If you * * are looking for a job or to fill a position: Fax resumes/requests to * * 510-673-0953; email resumes/requests to tech@ntr-usa.com; or call us * * at 510-673-9066. Watch this space for our website URL. * * NTR specializes in providing the highest quality engineers and * * IT professionals to the Telecom Industry * ************************************************************************* Also, ITU remains a sponsor as before. Thanks very much Zev! PAT ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:15:40 CDT From: Mark J Cuccia Reply-To: Mark J Cuccia Subject: Philadelphia EXchanges, Circa 1946 In Summer 1946, Philadelphia went from "3L-4N" local numbering to "2L-5N". This wasn't simply a change of the third letter of the exchange name to a digit. In Philadelphia in 1946, when the third "dialpull" changed from the third letter of the exchange name to a numerical digit, the numerical was *NOT* necessarily the corresponding number on the third letter. *MOST* of Philadelphia's exchanges changed over using a *DIFFERENT* numerical for the third dialpull. There weren't many other cities in the US which had 3L-4N. Unlike Philadelphia, most of those locations changed the third letter of most of their exchange names to the directly corresponding numerical digit. New York City had 3L-4N numbering until about 1930. Boston also had 3L-4N numbering. And Chicago changed from 3L-4N to 2L-5N around 1948 or so. There might have been one or two other large cities in the US with 3L-4N. I don't think that any large cities in Canada had 3L-4N local numbering. Outside of the US, Paris (France) had 3L-4N, as well as the larger cities in England and Scotland. There is a {Bell Telephone Magazine} article documenting the changeover: "Philadelphia Goes 2-5", by Harold S. Le Duc, volume 25 (1946), issue 3 (Autumn '46). The article begins on page 175 of v.25 (1946). I will summarize some of what the article contained, including a chart of the EXchanges in Philadelphia at that time: Bell had mailed fliers, bill inserts, etc. explaining the change, and also had MANY radio commercials and announcements beforehand (including translations to Yiddish, Polish and Italian for ethnic language local radio programs). There were several newspaper advertisements and announcements in the three daily newspapers, as well as in the thirty-four neighborhood weekly newspapers and the twenty-one ethnic and foreign languague newspapers (German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Jewish, and Negro) [I am using the identifiers as was printed in the 1946 article] Some 355,000 Philadelphia (and some 125,000 suburban) customers received letters from Bell, at that time the largest single mailing ever in the Philadelphia area. The Volunteer Service for the Blind distributed some 3,500 instruction cards printed in Braille. The Summer 1946 Philadelphia directory was the first to be split into separate Yellow and White pages. The entire directory had to be re-typeset. More than one-million directories were delivered between 3 June and 1 July of 1946. Customers were instructed not to use the new directories until 7:00 a.m. Friday 5 July 1946, the time of the cut. Tranisition information began an entire year before the cut. All Philadelphia area number cards had to be changed over. Many people were visited by repairmen and installers as well as by temporary employees with Bell of Pennsylvania, i.e. High School boys off for the Summer. Some people were mailed new number cards and according to the article, Bell called up those people with most reporting no problems changing the number card in the center of their dial. There were about 500,000 number cards or lines which had to be changed for the metro area. Recorded announcement equipment similar to that used in Time and Weather was used to instruct callers using the wrong code to dial the RIGHT code, after the cut took effect. Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. on Friday 5 July, 22 per-cent of calls were dialed with the wrong code. During the busiest hours (10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon) only 12 per-cent of calls were incorrectly dialed. All calls placed with a misdialed exchange code were properly intercepted up to 10:00 am, and most could be intercepted between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon. (I assume that callers dialing the wrong code received a re-order or maybe simply 'dead silence'). From 12:00 Noon Friday until 10:00 a.m. Monday 8 July, all calls dialed with the wrong code were intercepted with the recording. On Monday 8 July, between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon, only 5 per-cent of total calls in the area were dialed incorrectly. But due to heavy calling volume, intercept recordings were suspended in three switching offices. After 12:00 Noon on Monday 8 July, *ALL* misdialed codes were able to be properly intercepted with the recording. After one week, only 3.2 per-cent of calls were dialed incorrectly; after two weeks, only 2.5 per-cent were dialed with the wrong code; by 24 July, only 1.9 per-cent; at the time of writing of the article, only 1.2 per-cent (slightly more than one-in-100 calls). The initial intercept recording was: "Will you please dial the first *TWO* letters and the *FIVE* figures, as shown in the new directory? Thank you!" Some people were not hanging up and then going offhook for new dialtone before dialing; others would try to 'talk' back to the recording. The recorded message had to be changed to: "Will you please *HANG-UP* and dial the first *TWO* letters and *FIVE* figures, as shown in the new directory? Thank you! *This is a recorded message*" The woman who recorded the messages was interviewed on radio and in the newspapers, as she had become a sort of local celebrity. There were even some people who deliberately misdialed the exchange code, so as to hear the woman's recorded voice! The article also includes some photos of "window-scene" promotional displays, in office buildings and department stores (and probably the Bell of Pennsylvania main office building) which included "cute" props of WECO model #202 style telephones with arms and legs, and a head, indicating the old and the new style of number in their dial cards. One of the displays was styled like "construction" scene, with the 202-phone props working a crane on an overhead marquee of a telephone number, "popping-out" the third letter of the exchange, and inserting a digit. Bell also gave "open-house" programs in its offices and in public buildings, describing the change. A SMALL copy of an exchange dialing changeover/conversion chart is shown in the article. I tried to enlarge it when photocopying, and have transcribed it here. I am not certain of Philadelphia's geography, neither do I have any idea of where the switching offices and buildings are located in Philadelphia, nor which part of town each covers. I do understand that there were various CHANGES in central office names/codes since 1946, as well as new/additional central offices switches and codes. 2L-5N 3L-4N 222 = BAring-2 (was 227 = BARing) 229 = BAldwin-9 (was 225 = BALdwin) 236 = BElgrade-6 (was 235 = BELgrade) 247 = CHestnut-hill-7 (was 243 = CHEstnut-hill) 254 = ALlegheny-4 (was 255 = ALLegheny) 288 = CUmberland-8 (was 286 = CUMberland) 289 = BUstleton-9 (was 287 = BUStleton) 324 = DAvenport-4 (was 328 = DAVenport) 334 = DEwey-4 (was 339 = DEWey) 336 = DElaware-6 (was 335 = DELaware) 338 = DEvonshire-8 (was 338 = DEVonshire) NO CHANGE HERE 342 = FIdelity-2 (was 343 = FIDelity) 377 = FRemont-7 (was 373 = FRemont) 386 = EVergreen-6 (was 383 = EVErgreen) 389 = FUlton-9 (was 385 = FULton) 424 = HAncock-4 (was 426 = HANcock) 425 = GArfield-5 (was 427 = GARfield) 438 = GErmantown-8 (was 437 = GERmantown) 455 = GLadstone-5 (was 452 = GLAdstone) 468 = HOward-8 (was 469 = HOWard) 472 = GRanite-2 (was 472 = GRAnite) NO CHANGE HERE 473 = GReenwood-3 (was 473 = GREenwood) NO CHANGE HERE 535 = JEfferson-5 (was 533 = JEFferson) 545 = KIngsley-5 (was 546 = KINgsley) 549 = LIvingston-9 (was 548 = LIVingston) 563 = LOmbard-3 (was 566 = LOMbard) 567 = LOcust-7 (was 562 = LOCust) 624 = MAyfair-4 (was 629 = MAYfair) 625 = MAjestic-5 (was 625 = MAJestic) NO CHANGE HERE 627 = MArket-7 (was 627 = MARket) NO CHANGE HERE 628 = MAnayunk-8 (was 626 = MANayunk) 633 = OFficial-3 (was 633 = OFFicial) NO CHANGE HERE 634 = NEbraska-4 (was 632 = NEBraska) 644 = MIchigan-4 (was 642 = MIChigan) 686 = MUnicipal-6 (was 686 = MUNicipal) NO CHANGE HERE 722 = SAgamore-2 (was 724 = SAGamore) 725 = RAcliff-5 (was 722 = RACliff) 729 = SAratoga-9 (was 727 = SARatoga) 735 = PEnnypacker-5 (was 736 = PENnypacker) 739 = REgent-9 (was 734 = REGent) 745 = PIlgrim-5 (was 745 = PILgrim) NO CHANGE HERE 746 = RIttenhouse-6 (was 748 = RITtenhouse) 747 = SHerwood-7 (was 743 = SHErwood) 765 = POplar-5 (was 767 = POPlar) 766 = SOmerton-6 (was 766 = SOMerton) NO CHANGE HERE 768 = ROxboro-8 (was 769 = ROXboro) 774 = SPruce-4 (was 777 = SPRuce) 784 = STevenson-4 (was 783 = STEvenson) 839 = TEnnessee-9 (was 836 = TENnessee) 844 = VIctor-4 (was 842 = VICtor) 864 = TOrresdale-4 (was 867 = TORresdale) 877 = TRinity-7 (was 874 = TRInity) 922 = WAlnut-2 (was 925 = WALnut) 924 = WAverly-4 (was 928 = WAVerly) 947 = WIssahicken-7 (was 947 = WISsahicken) NO CHANGE HERE I think that OFFicial = OFficial-3 (633) was used to call into the Bell of Pennsylvania (telco) PBX for the business office and individual employees' lines. Repair Service was reached with 611, however. The MUniciapl-6 exchange was for City Hall and similar numbers. In 1946, Philadelphia used Panel and #1XB switching, not Step-by-Step. I also think that there were some remaining manual offices in Phialdelphia at that time. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK:mcuccia@law.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: amaw Subject: MCI Internet Problem Date: 18 Sep 1996 01:46:27 GMT Organization: Headwaters Telephone Company My ISP had problems because of a so called nationwide internet problem with MCI. However if this was a nationwide problem, how come I haven't read or seen anything in the news? Does anyone have any information? ------------------------------ From: tmplee@MR.Net (Ted Lee) Subject: Sunday's Net Outage Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 22:17:27 -0500 Organization: Minnesota Regional Network (MRNet) Following is the main body of a message that MR.Net sent out Monday to a technical, but not general mailing list (which is why I just saw it now only after inquiring) about Sunday's outage: "InternetMCI's network experienced periodic outages on national scale from approximately 3:30am til 10:00pm CDT yesterday. The effects of the outage were not uniform network wide. MRNet was one of the harder hit, CICNet and NorthWestNet were also badly hit. The Seattle area seems to be the hardest hit. Some InternetMCI customers are said to have seen nothing but slow downs. At one point the BGP routing to several of NAPs were affected. "The outage was caused by a bug in Cisco routers that was triggered certain network events. The nature of these events and why they have not shown up until now has not been determined. InternetMCI is still investigating all the data gathered from the failure, until this is complete nothing is being suggested or ruled out." Dr. Theodore M.P. Lee Consultant in Computer Security PO Box 1718 tmplee@MR.Net Minnetonka, MN 55345 612-934-4532 ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Parsons Subject: NANP - In or Out? Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 22:13:48 -0400 According to Bellcore, * The NANP is the telephone numbering plan shared by the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and fifteen Caribbean nations. * The North American Numbering Plan Administration, or NANPA, has managed the numbering plan since 1984. Now, from some recent comments about throwing countries out of the NANP, you would almost have thought that this wasn't the case at all ... International is international, so really if there is a concern, the option has to be either: (a) The NANP countries part company and seek separate unique codes, and in all likelihood no-one would stay in +1; (b) +1 to be restructured by agreement of the NANP countries, so each country has a unique prefix (not presently the case for US and Canada, which each has multiple prefixes), to make international destinations obvious; (c) NANP remains as it is, and carriers endeavour to ensure that their customers understand that 1-XXX may be domestic or international. Of these, only (c) is truly realistic in terms of the cost and benefit. Speaking from the Caribbean NANP, I could see some benefit in being able to tell calls to the US apart from calls to Canada, but I'm not about to ask for either or both of those foreign countries to be ejected from NANP ;) Jeremy Parsons ------------------------------ From: tewhite@mailbox.syr.edu (T E White) Subject: Sheath Slitter Tool Wanted Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:24:03 GMT Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY (USA) I am trying to locate the manufacturer or retailer of a sheath slitter tool that we used when I worked for US WEST. The tool was silver in color and had a razor blade type cutting blade in the middle. One could hold this tool on both ends and draw it down on the cable to open up the sheath(s). Then one could turn the blade perpendicular to the tool and wring the sheath around the circumference of the cable. Appreciate any help in locating where I can locate one of these tools. Please email any responses. Thanks, Tim White [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No guarentees, but you might check with Mike Sandman. His mail order catalog of telephone tools is very complete with things like this. Known as "Chicago's Telecom Expert", he has operated his business for several years and is pretty well known both here in this Digest and in general on the Internet. To get one of his catalogs see http://www.sandman.com or mailto:mike@sandman.com or contact his shop at 630-980-7710 in Roselle, Illinois. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Sep 96 17:12:43 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: 1965-66 PBX Features In my present office, I receive calls on a system which rings differently depending on whether the call is from within it or from outside. Now think of the following situation in a (fictitious) story in the "I Dream of Jeannie" TV series -- specifically the 1965-66 season (the black and white episodes, with the later four seasons being color): Tony Nelson (then a Captain?) receives a call from (judging by the voice) Dr. Bellows. But then we switch to the other end of that phone line, and find Jeannie speaking with the voice of Dr. Bellows! (Obviously made by using the voice of Hayden Rorke and having Barbara Eden move her lips to match it.) Jeannie is obviously calling from home, and I guess if it had really been Dr. Bellows calling, it would have been from the office. Getting into the matter of different ring- ing pattern is too technical for this show -- and did such a system even exist in 1965-66? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I had never heard of such a thin as 'distinctive ringing' in those years. It was not a feature sold to the general public until sometime in the late 1980's although I think centrexes and PBX's could do it awhile before that. Certainly not in the 1960's however. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Czeslaw Piasta - icpd Subject: Re: *DSL, ISDN, 2B1Q etc Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 12:19:09 -0400 Organization: Mitel Corporation John Agosta wrote: > In article , mcw@aus.hp.com (M C > Wong) says: >> Also, what exactly is 2B1Q encoding ? Where can I find the >> technical details of it ? > The best technical description of 2B1Q I have seen to date > can be found in: > "Microelectronics Data Book - Don't design without it." > (Issue 5) by Mitel Semiconductor. > I got my copy while at Mitel in Ottawa, Canada. I suppose you could > try reaching them on the telephone. Yes, you are right John, but why not to browse through Mitel pages on the WWW? Mitel Semiconductor's WWW Site: http://www.semicon.mitel.com/ How to find 2B1Q tutorial? Here you are: Please go into PRODUCTS --> IC Product Data Books ---> Applications Databook, and please choose "MSAN-127 2B1Q Line Code Tutorial". BTW, have you ever visited the above Web Site? There is much more to be seen there. Czeslaw_Piasta@mitel.com ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Re: Strange North Georgia Phone Pricing Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 18:51:53 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: scline@usit.net On 9 Sep 1996 20:50:10 -0400, kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) wrote: > it. The part that really gets me about the RI scenario is that the > foreign CO was just five air miles from my home CO. But Providence was > only one mile from where I lived in North Providence. The funny thing > about that town is that it's split into three distinctive calling > zones. The eastern end of town borders Pawtucket, RI and therefore I assume that North Providence has several COs. Here's an even more bizarre situation: Several COs on the Tennessee-Georgia border near Chattanooga have customers with *different local calling areas* SERVED OUT OF THE SAME SWITCH! For example, the "Rossville, Georgia Tennessee" CO (BellSouth calls it that) serves both Tennessee and Georgia customers; the Tennessee customers have a larger EAS calling area than do the Georgia customers. Customers served out of these COs *do* have different NPAs and prefixes, of course (423-867 for the "Tennessee side", and 706-858/861/866 for the "Georgia side.") Even worse, both Georgia and Tennessee customers pay Tennessee (read: "low" and "the same") rates for all services; accounts are adminstered out of Nashville, not Atlanta. Furthermore, the Rossville CO isn't set up for ISDN (although the switch is a DMS-100!), so they must provide it using FX (BellSouth term: "ANSA") from another CO. I don't have ISDN and don't know if they'd assign a 423 or 706 number in such a case. (I would want 423, for obvious reasons; I *believe* they'd issue a NPA 423 number from the "central" CO in downtown Chattanooga, even with the EAS/LD concerns.) I have never asked about getting a "Tennessee" line (out of the same switch) at my Georgia home [like BellSouth would want to do that], *although* BellSouth's new Area Plus, combined with remote call forwarding at the Rossville switch (from a 423 number to my number in 706), would include virtually everywhere that the TN-side EAS includes, probably at lower cost. Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://pobox.com/~roamer1/ CompuServe 74212,44 ** MSN WSCline1 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:39:56 -0700 From: Robert L. McMillin Subject: Wanted: LDDS Stories I'm involved in bidding out our company's LD services; I've got quotes so far from AT&T, MCI, and LDDS. Question: I've heard the MCI outage horror stories, both in this forum and from one of my fellow employees who used to work for an MCI customer. I'm wondering if LDDS has had similar lapses, and if so, what was the company's attitude about dealing with it. We're looking to get a T1 from whoever wins this bidding process, so I'm particularly interested in stories about downed T1s (and how long it took to get everything back up) ... or, if you've had especially good experience with them, I'd like to hear about that, too. TIA! Robert L. McMillin | Do you *really* think Syseca pays me for these opinions? rlm@syseca-us.com | personal: rlm@netcom.com | rlm@helen.surfcty.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Sep 96 23:01:00 EDT From: joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Is Reselling Good (was Re: GTE Blocking Calls to Local ISP) Organization: Excelsior Computer Services In article you write: > Are you sure that GTE is actually *providing* service, or are they > just *reselling * ISP service? Everyone is on the bandwagon to offer > ISP, cellular, cable, etc - but most usually it comes down to the > companies are only reselling the service, not providing the service. Here's what I don't understand: Basically, there are very few real service providers, in the sense of those companies that actually own things like telephone lines, switches, and service personel. Right? Do I understand correctly that the current "competition is good for me" claim is tantamount to suposing that I will get better rates if I let a third company make a profit off of me by selling me someone else's service? Isn't this like telling the public to buy retail because of all the money it will save them over wholesale? Joel (joel@exc.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What actually happens is the Big Three -- that is, the ones with the switches and the infrastruture -- have always sold to you on a retail basis. The resellers go to the Big Three and they make this offer: they guarentee huge amounts of traffic and they offer to take over the administration of same saving the Big Three a lot of expense. The Big Three are willing to treat *them* as wholesalers and give them very good rates. Now at this point the resellers attempt to sell this to you the user at a profit to themselves while still keeping your cost less than what the original Big Three retailers would have charged. The idea is the guy in the middle -- the reseller -- needs to buy cheap, keep his costs low, mark it up to make a profit for himself while still giving you a financial incentive to do business with him instead of direct with the Big Three. The Big Three (and that is just my name for them, there might be four which fall in that category) are relieved of the most expensive part of operating their business, namely the marketing expense which comes in the form of customer service, billing and collection. The reseller provides those functions and hopes to do a better job of it at a cheaper cost than the big guys. It is commonly accepted that customer service, billing and collection make up about 75 percent of what you pay for a call. Very short calls make nothing for the long distance carriers. In any business, payroll is between 80-90 percent of the business expense, the other 10-20 percent being supplies, raw material, etc. So it is not so much that you the public 'buy retail because it is cheaper than wholesale ...' as it is that you are very unlikely to get the Big Three -- the prime sources -- to sell to you at wholesale as long as they have to administer your account as well in small quantities. Now if you are in a position to go to AT&T with a few million dollars cash in hand and a firm guarentee -- a contract which is both enforce- able and worth the paper it is written on -- that you intend to use several million dollars per month of their service, well you bet AT&T would be happy to write a special tariff for you. And if you further agreed that you would buffer them from all the whining, belly-aching customers and deal with all the grief yourself, leaving them to just run the switch and maintain the wires, they'd make you an even better deal. But the point is, you are in no such position. If the Big Three were smart, they would look very closely at what makes the most successful resellers the successes they are, and they would copy them very closely. If the resellers can squeeze that extra few cents out of each phone call and give the public the rates that they do, then the Big Three could do it also. Now please do not get the idea all resellers save money for the public while making bundles of money for themselves due to the ineptness of the Big Three. The AOS (Alternate Operator Services) are also resellers and to a great extent are ripoffs although they do put their phones/services in places that telco has largely given up on. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* --- additionally --- ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from ** NTR ** * * Nationwide Telecommunications Resources, a nationwide resource for * * contract services, job placement and executive recruitment. If you * * are looking for a job or to fill a position: Fax resumes/requests to * * 510-673-0953; email resumes/requests to tech@ntr-usa.com; or call us * * at 510-673-9066. Watch this space for our website URL. * * NTR specializes in providing the highest quality engineers and * * IT professionals to the Telecom Industry * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #498 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 19 18:00:03 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id SAA10146; Thu, 19 Sep 1996 18:00:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 18:00:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609192200.SAA10146@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #499 TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Sep 96 18:00:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 499 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pacific Bell Mobile Services News Update (Mike King) Another Hack Attack! CIA Web Site Defaced, Closed Down (Tad Cook) Job Opportunities at Nuance Communications (Michael M. Hochberg) Newbridge 3620 and Wescom 360 For Sale (mikedtel@aol.com) Wireless Cable Technology (George Richie) Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) (Ronnie Grant) Re: Junk Email Legal Action (Adam Frix) Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? (jseder@syntel.com) Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out (Brian Starlin) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services News Update Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 12:29:35 PDT Three news items from Pacific Bell Mobile Services detailing their plans: Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 06:48:12 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services to Launch New Wireless Service in San Diego Nov. 1 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Bonniksen (213) 975-5061 John Britton (619) 237-2430 Pacific Bell Mobile Services to Launch New Wireless Service in San Diego Nov. 1 PCS Sound Quality, Affordability and Security Go Beyond Cellular PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Pacific Bell Mobile Services announced today that it will launch its new wireless telecommunications technology in San Diego on Nov. 1. The new technology is called Personal Communications Services ( or PCS. Unlike existing cellular service, PCS is 100 percent digital. Being digital, PCS offers superior sound quality, fewer dropped calls, greater affordability, a phone that features a built-in pager and answering machine, and protection from eavesdropping and cloning. "PCS goes beyond cellular," said Lyndon R. Daniels, president and chief executive officer, Pacific Bell Mobile Services. "To thousands of consumers dissatisfied with the quality of cellular and its huge fraud problems, PCS represents a dependable, reliable, secure and affordable alternative." Pacific Bell Mobile Services will sell PCS as an off-the-shelf product in 100 retail stores across San Diego County. The company has already signed up several retailers, including Circuit City, Kmart, Longs Drug Stores, Office Depot and Staples. "Our PCS product will be as easy to buy as an electric toothbrush," Daniels said. "Our packaging lets consumers see the actual phone and read why PCS is a better product and better value than cellular." Daniels added that the company will do away with gimmicky "free" and "one-cent" phone promotions used by cellular carriers to tie consumers to expensive long-term contracts. Ericsson "Flip" Phone to Sell for $149 Pacific Bell Mobile Services will brand and sell a phone made by Ericsson, a leading manufacturer of digital wireless telephones. The phone's model number is CF388, but it is commonly known as the "Flip" phone for its protective cover that flips down to reveal the keypad. The phone's dimensions are five-by-two-by-one inch. It weighs 7.93 ounces with the slim battery. With the high-capacity battery, the phone weighs 8.98 ounces. The Ericsson "Flip" phone also offers access to airtime information such as the length of a current call, last call or total call time for greater customer control over costs. Other features include battery strength indicators and the capacity to store 100 telephone numbers. The phone will sell at a suggested retail price of $149. It will include a phone, travel adapter, battery and antenna. Retailers will also stock accessories, including leather cases, car lighter adapters and batteries. Daniels said the company will announce its airtime rates and coverage area on Nov. 1. Customers who would like more information about the company's launch plans can call 1 (800) 574-7000. Californians had their first taste of PCS at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, where Pacific Bell Mobile Services was the convention's official provider of wireless telecommunications services. More than 700 convention attendees including Bob Dole, Jack Kemp and San Diego Mayor Susan Golding made nearly 450,000 PCS calls. Following its San Diego launch, Pacific Bell Mobile Services will expand its coverage area throughout California and Nevada during 1997. ------------------ Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services Signs Roaming Agreements with Four GSM-Based Carriers FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Bonniksen (213) 975-5061 Pacific Bell Mobile Services Signs Roaming Agreements with Four GSM-Based Carriers Company Plans to Offer Full-Feature, Seamless Roaming in Early 1997 PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Pacific Bell Mobile Services announced today that it has signed agreements that will allow subscribers of its new Personal Communications Services (PCS) to "roam" onto PCS networks operated by four other carriers across the United States. The roaming agreements are with APC, BellSouth Mobility DCS, Western Wireless and Omnipoint. The four carriers won licenses in Federal Communications Commission auctions to provide PCS in markets that cover 80 million people. Like Pacific Bell Mobile Services, the four carriers have selected a network standard known as Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications. GSM has a long track record of proven performance and reliability among nearly 20 million PCS users from 150 networks operating in 92 countries. Lyndon R. Daniels, president and chief executive officer, Pacific Bell Mobile Services, said the roaming agreements represent another milestone in the company's plan to bring a robust PCS technology to California and Nevada. "We have a straight forward objective -- to offer our customers full-feature, seamless roaming in North America and internationally," Daniels said. Daniels added that PCS roaming will be more advanced, yet simpler to use and of greater value than existing cellular roaming. "Seamless roaming on GSM-based networks will allow customers to use many 'home' feature sets, including voice mail notification, caller ID, call forward and short message service, while traveling in other parts of North America and the world," he said. "Today, cellular subscribers can only make or receive calls when they roam, and many cellular operators charge expensive roaming registration fees and premium airtime prices." PCS is the next generation of wireless telecommunications technology. Unlike existing cellular service, PCS is a 100 percent pure digital technology. PCS will offer superior voice quality, fewer dropped calls, greater affordability, protection from eavesdropping and cloning, as well as a phone that features a built-in pager and answering machine. GSM to Cover 225 Million People in North America In the United States and Canada, carriers that have selected GSM technology have already outlined a PCS footprint that covers more than 225 million people in North America. Additional Federal Communications Commission auctions for PCS licenses could further expand GSM coverage in the United States. By the year 2000, GSM subscribers are predicted to reach 150 million worldwide, representing 50 percent of all wireless subscribers. ------------------------------ Subject: Pacific Bell Mobile Services, Mitsubishi Sign $50 Million Contract for New Wireless Phones RELATED DOCUMENTS: * San Diego PCS Launch * GSM Roaming Agreements FOR MORE INFORMATION: Linda Bonniksen, Pacific Telesis Group (213) 975-5061 Jeff Nelson, Mitsubishi Wireless Communications, Inc. (706) 654-4510 Pacific Bell Mobile Services, Mitsubishi Sign $50 Million Contract for New Wireless Phones PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Pacific Bell Mobile Services announced today that it will purchase $50 million in new wireless phones manufactured by Mitsubishi Wireless Communications, Inc. The new phones will operate on the Pacific Bell Mobile Services PCS network, presently under construction in California and Nevada. PCS stands for Personal Communications Services, the next generation of wireless telecommunications technology. Unlike cellular service, PCS is a 100 percent digital technology offering superior voice quality, fewer dropped calls, greater affordability, protection from eavesdropping and cloning, as well as voice, text-messaging and data communications through a single, lightweight handset. Under the terms of the two-year agreement, Mitsubishi plans to begin delivering the new PCS phones to Pacific Bell Mobile Services by the second quarter of 1997. The phones will be sold as an off-the-shelf retail product co-branded by Pacific Bell Mobile Services and Mitsubishi. Pacific Bell Mobile Services and Mitsubishi will work together to ensure that the phone's design and user interface will make advanced wireless features ( such as short-text messaging ( easy to use. Terrence Valeski, vice president for marketing and business development, Pacific Bell Mobile Services, said the companies' collaboration represents steps wireless carriers and manufacturers must take together to penetrate the mass market. "Consumers will be much more demanding than business customers, so we must put a sharper focus on the user interface to make sure its more intuitive, especially for advanced new wireless services," Valeski said. "We are pleased to join Mitsubishi in the design process. Our partnership will result in a new wireless phone that stands up to intense consumer scrutiny." "Mitsubishi Wireless looks forward to working with Pacific Bell Mobile Services to provide PCS-1900 handsets to the emerging marketplace," said Katsuhiko Ueda, president and CEO, Mitsubishi Wireless Communications. "This agreement complements both companies, which are dedicated to providing consumers with quality wireless communications products and services, and as PCS expands Pacific Bell and Mitsubishi will be at the forefront." Pacific Bell Mobile Services plans to offer PCS in California and Nevada. The company has selected a network standard known as Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications. GSM has a long track record of proven performance and reliability among nearly 20 million PCS users from 150 networks operating in 92 countries. The company plans to distribute PCS phones through consumer electronics stores, drug stores and warehouse club retailers. Pacific Bell Mobile Services is the wireless communications subsidiary of Pacific Bell. Pacific Telesis Group, the parent company of Pacific Bell and Pacific Bell Mobile Services, is a diversified telecommunications company headquartered in San Francisco. Mitsubishi Wireless Communications, Inc. (MWCI) is a joint venture between the consumer electronics giant Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and the trading company Mitsubishi Corporation. Mitsubishi is a leading manufacturer of wireless communications products, offering a complete line of cellular phones, a portable cellular facsimile machine and PCS products assembled at its manufacturing facility in Braselton, Ga. The company is located at 2001 Cherry Drive, Braselton, Ga., 30517. Consumers can visit MWCI on the Web at http://www.mitsubishi.com or call (706) 654-9500. -------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Subject: Another Hack Attack! CIA Web Site Defaced, Closes Down Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 13:59:06 PDT From: tad@ssc.com CIA attacked, pulls plug on Internet site WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Central Intelligence Agency, that bastion of spy technology and computer wizardry, pulled the plug on its World Wide Web site on the Internet Thursday after a hacker broke in and replaced it with a crude parody. CIA officials said their vandalized homepage -- altered to read "Welcome to the Central Stupidity Agency" -- was in no way linked to any mainframe computers containing classified national security information. The site was tampered with Wednesday evening and the CIA closed it Thursday morning while a task force looked into the security breach, CIA spokeswoman Jane Heishman said. Part of the hacker's text read "Stop Lying." "It's definitely a hacker" who pierced the system's security, she said. "The agency has formed a task force to look into what happend and how to prevent it." The CIA web site (http://www.odci.gov/cia) showcases unclassified information including spy agency press releases, officials' speeches, historical rundowns and the CIA's World Fact Book, a standard reference work. The cyber-attack matched one that forced the Justice Department to close its Web site last month after hackers inserted a swastika and picture of Adolph Hitler. The penetration of the CIA homepage highlighted the vulnerability of Internet sites designed to attract the public and drove home the need for multiple layers of security. "You want people to visit, you want them to interact, but you don't want them to leave anything behind," said Jon Englund of the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group of leading software and telecommunications firms. ------------------------------ From: mmh@awesome.coronacorp.com (Michael M. Hochberg) Subject: Job Opportunities at Nuance Communications Date: 19 Sep 1996 17:12:39 GMT Organization: Nuance Communications Reply-To: jobs-algo@nuancecom.com Job Opportunities at Nuance Communications Nuance Communications develops and implements high-end, high-value speech recognition software and applications for its customers in the telecommunications, financial services, and other industries. The company is firmly committed to creating applications that first and foremost REALLY WORK -- exciting the people who use them and creating enormous benefits for the businesses which deploy them. Nuance was founded in 1994 as a spin-off of SRI International and is located in Menlo Park, California (half hour south of San Francisco). Nuance is currently seeking highly motivated and skilled individuals for positions in the speech recognition algorithms group. The algorithms group is primarily responsible for the continued development of Nuance's state-of-the-art speech recognition engine. Details on the open positions are listed below: SPEECH RECOGNITION ALGORITHM ENGINEERS The successful applicants would work with the speech recognition algorithms team in developing and refining techniques necessary to advance and apply Nuance's speech recognition and related capabilities. The ideal candidates will have: * MS or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science or related field * Three or more years of experience developing state-of-the-art speech-recognition, speaker-verification, or word-spotting systems * Experience with statistical pattern recognition techniques * Strong programming skills (C/C++/UNIX) * Telephone-based speech-recognition experience a plus DICTIONARY, LANGUAGE, and EVALUATION ENGINEERS The responsibilities for these positions include generating, acquiring, and maintaining pronunciation dictionaries; language porting responsibilities for Nuance's speech recognition engine; evaluation of speech-recognition system performance and analysis of the errors. The ideal candidates will have: * MS or PhD in Linguistics, Engineering, Computer Science or related field * Solid understanding of phonetics * Strong programming skills (C/C++/UNIX) * Speech recognition or similar experience a plus If you are qualified to fill one of these positions, and you are interested in working in a fast growing, start-up environment, please send a cover letter and resume to jobs-algo@nuancecom.com, or fax in the USA to (415) 462-8201, attn: jobs-algo. Michael M. Hochberg Phone: 415/614-8260 Nuance Communications Fax : 415/462-8201 Bldg 110, 333 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park, CA 94025 Email: mmh@nuancecom.com ------------------------------ From: mikedtel@aol.com (MikeD Tel) Subject: Newbridge 3620 and Wescom 360 For Sale Date: 18 Sep 1996 00:06:30 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: mikedtel@aol.com (MikeD Tel) I have the following items no longer needed: A Newbridge 3620 with trib module only, 7 months old. A Wescom 360 channel bank and all cards, 2 wire fx, 56k ocudp. If anyone in this group is interested, let me know. Mike 617-762-8800 ext. 25 ------------------------------ From: grichie@ibl.bm Subject: Wireless Cable Technology Date: 19 Sep 1996 00:23:22 GMT Organization: Internet (Bermuda) Limited Looking for leads to sites that contain background information on the development of Wireless Cable Technology. Any additional information will be appreciated. George ------------------------------ From: ronnie.grant@mogur.com (Ronnie Grant) Subject: Re: International LD (was Recent 809 Fraud Complaint Items) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 04:12:00 GMT Organization: TGT Technologies / The MOG-UR'S EMS: 818-366-1238 Wouldn't these folks be violating U.S. law by calling pagers? Excerpts from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act: 47 CFR 64.1200 (a): No person may: (a)(1): Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, (a)(1)(iii): To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call; Ronnie ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 09:47:50 -0500 From: 70721.504@compuserve.com (Adam Frix) Subject: Re: Junk Email Legal Action In article , ctyrre01@purch.eds. com wrote: > Ed Foster at InfoWorld (www.infoworld.com) has again written on the > subject of junk email. He now has a new way to stop it. (Article excerpts follow) > Threatening legal action may be the quickest way off a junk e-mailer's > list. > Perhaps the strategy to follow with junk e-mailers is really basic. If > something makes them squeal, keep doing it. Among the junk e-mail that > readers have forwarded to me, I've noticed that nothing seems to get > to the purveyors of unsolicited messages quite as much as a threat of > legal action. > Readers who regularly respond to junk e-mail with appropriate warnings > seem to have better luck at actually getting removed from the sender's > address list. And based on the way they sometimes respond, I'd also > have to say that it shows the messages strike an exposed nerve with > the junk e-mailers. > One reader, for example, sent me this message he got in return after > warning a junk e-mailer that he would take legal action if he > continued to get messages from the e-mailer. > "First off, I do not wish to be threatened like you did," the junk > e-mailer replied. "Because of this I am asking that [the reader's > online service] remove your account. This goes against its policies. > E-mailing someone with the type of threat that I read in your message > is not a wise thing to do. You have absolutely no idea who I am and > what roles I may or may not play for this company." > As the reader said, this certainly showed a lot of gall, but I think > this type of reaction also demonstrates that legal threats do make > them nervous. The reader Ed Foster describes is me. And what Mr. Foster quotes above is 100% accurate. And that was one of the more interesting responses I have ever gotten from an ISP. I have a standard reply whenever I get junk mail: The following junk mail was sent to me UNSOLICITED and UNWANTED by a user from your site. This is the same as unwanted and unsolicited junk faxes and telemarketing calls--all of which are ILLEGAL under federal law: By US Code Title 47, Sec.227(a)(2)(B), a computer/modem/printer meets the definition of a telephone fax machine. By Sec.227(b)(1)(C), it is unlawful to send any unsolicited advertisement to such equipment, punishable by action to recover actual monetary loss, or $500, whichever is greater, for each violation. Please stop this. You have been put on notice. I have recorded your site name; further UNSOLICITED and UNWANTED junk mail from your site will force me to follow up under federal law. Adam Frix 70721.504@compuserve.com cc: jccheezum@uspis.gov * * * * * I look at the header and discover the true originating system, and forward the entire piece of mail with the above prepended to the top. Apparently, this particular ISP really, really didn't like what I had to say. But upon further discussion, it turned out that he really did tell his user to cut it out. A week later, I received the same junk from that same user -- and this time this ISP assured me that he cancelled that user's account. But nonetheless, it amused me that the first response from that particular ISP was to tell me that he would try to pressure CompuServe (from where I post all my mail) to cancel *my* account. It's a fascinating world. Aloha, Adam [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your standard notice shown above is a very good one. Readers might like to copy it to a file and keep it for their own use. PAT] ------------------------------ From: JSeder@syntel.com Subject: Re: Complaining to the FCC: Does it Help? Date: 19 Sep 1996 00:25:07 GMT Organization: BRAINSTORM Networks Reply-To: JSeder@syntel.com It's important to copy the FCC on your complaint letters. One of my DID trunks was slammed by a long distance carrier, which didn't bother to (a) see if the line was even eligible for long distance service, (b) didn't compare the address on the LOA form to the prefix location, (c) didn't compare the zip code to the prefix location, (d) ignored my first letter asking them to cancel this arrangement, and, worst of all, (e) kept me on hold for thirty minutes when I first called to complain. The amount of money in dispute was only $5.96, but they got me very angry! I cc'd the FCC on my correspondence with them, and read soon after the matter was cleared up that the FCC had proposed a $200,000 fine -- that's right, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, alleging that they had "falsified or forged documents that led to five [that's right, FIVE] peoples' long-distance service being switched ... without permission." If you don't complain to the FCC, no one will have a chance to see a pattern of activity that is inconsiderate, incompetent, or perhaps criminal. The folks at the FCC like to have cases that permits them to justify their existence by catching crooks. ------------------------------ From: brian.starlin@attws.com (Brian Starlin) Subject: Re: Ameritech Says Cellular PINs Being Phased Out Date: 19 Sep 1996 17:57:54 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services Reply-To: brian.starlin@attws.com PIN codes are a stopgap measure at best. They are a hassle for the customer and cause problems when roaming in areas where the feature code is not accepted. Some carriers have started putting RF fingerprinting in place. But RF fingerprinting is very difficult to implement for roamers. But, the true, forward-looking carriers are implementing authentication. Authentication uses public/private key technology. The phone and the authentication center use private keys that are never transmitted over the air. The public key is sent over the voice channel or the control channel, depending on the type of authentication. The authentication center (usually the home location register), will use it's algorithms to decode the public key and authenticate the phone. Info on key technology is at http://www.rsa.com. The carriers had to wait for certain standards to be implemented by switch vendors to enable authentication. The CTIA estimates that authenticating phones will outnumber non-authenticating phones in two years and represent 90% of all phones in seven years, given an assumption that all phones manufactured after 1996 are authentication capable. _____ _____ \ )____________ ____________( / > | Phone: )_____________________________( Fax: | < /____|206-580-5123| Brian Starlin |206-580-5110|____\ \____________|Email: brian.starlin@nacn.com|____________/ \_____________________________/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* --- additionally --- ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from ** NTR ** * * Nationwide Telecommunications Resources, a nationwide resource for * * contract services, job placement and executive recruitment. If you * * are looking for a job or to fill a position: Fax resumes/requests to * * 510-673-0953; email resumes/requests to tech@ntr-usa.com; or call us * * at 510-673-9066. Watch this space for our website URL. * * NTR specializes in providing the highest quality engineers and * * IT professionals to the Telecom Industry * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #499 ****************************** From ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Thu Sep 19 20:05:04 1996 Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id UAA21873; Thu, 19 Sep 1996 20:05:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 20:05:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199609200005.UAA21873@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #500 TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Sep 96 20:05:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 500 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? (Sean Ian Denis Richardson) Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL (Helge Oldach) Re: A Short History of 911 Service (Carl Moore) Re: Signal Propagation (was Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory) (Eric Hunt) 412 Overlay Code Announced (Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter) Info Requested on 412 NAP Split (Dave Perrussell) Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names (Brian Kantor) Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant (leebert@io.com) Re: New Jersey Exchange Names (Anita Bonita) Database of Area Codes and Country Codes to Time Zones? (Chris Sells) Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory (Brian Kantor) What Services Are Offered by Concert? (K.T. Puah) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sean Ian Denis Richardson Subject: Re: Bell Canada ISP Dispute Nearly Over? Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 14:14:37 -0700 Organization: Fringetree Communications Reply-To: sidr@fringetree.com Regarding political posturing vs. technical solutions to increased usage of the local portion of the PSTN by internet users: Whether certain local phone companies try to lobby to ward off increased internet usage on their networks, or whether their spokespeople remain silent to buy time so that they will have a chance to know what they are saying when they *do* speak (which seems to be the other sort of response to the "internet usage crisis", as yet), technical solutions *will* be required, not just to guard against dial-tone denial for 911 etc, but also to guard against overload of local portions of the internet itself, which some people and companies are starting to rely on for critical services as well. The second of the Nortel news releases mentioned below cites a 100% growth rate over two years for data communications ... at that rate, as a character on Babylon 5 said, "The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote" -- even if a particular pebble is used to calling the shots. Data traffic will continue to swell until it eventually dwarfs conventional voice traffic; nothing a CEO or regulator says or does will change that; global links need local links as destinations: the local "internet usage crisis" *will* get solved, technically, sooner or later -- but sooner in the territories where LECs don't waste their energy but especially their time trying to fight the tide. However LECs are publicly stating their positions, however, we cannot exactly expect them to tip their hands as to their strategies, so I would not go looking at an LEC website for information on the technical solutions they might put into use. On the other hand, telephony equipment vendors have no reason to keep quiet about what they are trying to sell to the public carriers; Nortel, for instance, has two interesting news releases on their website: "Nortel Announces Internet Thruway for Public Carriers", Aug 28/1996, http://www.nortel.com/home/press/1996c/8_28_96235Internet_Thruway.html "Nortel Enhances Access Products to Help Telephone Service Providers Seize Internet Opportunities", June 25/1996, http://www.nortel.com/home/press/1996b/6_25_96196EnhancedAccessNode.html As outlined in the first news release and (to some extent) detailed in the second, Nortel is offering a package of technologies to "groom" long-duration and data calls off the carriers's voice network onto a data network, based on the dialed number, applying a combination of off-the-shelf technologies in a new way. This seems very similar to the service description Bell Canada gives for their just-approved IspLink service at: http://www.bell.ca/bell/eng/iway/ISPLink.htm Nortel states that their "Internet Thruway" technologies will go into service with a public carrier in 4Q 96. Just a guess, but perhaps this is not a coincidence? This sort of solution may be just in time. Another Nortel news release, "Consumers Gain a New Way to "Talk" to the Internet: Nortel Phones to Incorporate Sun's Java Technology(TM)", May 23/1996, http://www.nortel.com/home/press/1996b/5_23_96168SunJavaPhones.html, reports an agreement with Sun to incorporate Java into telephones ... the obvious inference being that it may become possible to use internet phones without a computer. Looking at another report, by Infoworld Electric, "Netscape, Microsoft plan H.323 Internet telephones this year", Sept 10/1996, http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?960910.phones.htm it appears that a de facto and extensible standard for internet telephony -- and videoconferencing -- is emerging, so within a year there should be some momentum gathering, keeping in mind that both Netscape and Microsoft are planning on giving away 'net phone applications with their browsers. I'd like to offer a comment on the whole idea of short call-hold times in terms of generations of technology and people, messaging, communication, and connectivity: People now use alphanumeric pagers for the same purposes that telegrams were sent: to get a message to someone. A three minute call does not allow for much more: setting up an appointment, reporting an ETA, quick fact checking, a simple question and answer -- two-way messaging. Of course, as telephones first became common, long-distance, bidirectional, real-time messaging was a wonderful new technology. It is still wonderful, but it is no longer new. This sort of usage -- a super-instantaneous telegraph -- was inevitable, both because in the early days of telephony the phone could not offer much more, and because of mind-set. All joking about teenagers on the phone all evening aside, those who have grown up in an environment with ubiquitous telephones and quality service think of the telephone as a communications device, not a messaging device. If the weather is ugly or if I don't want to fight traffic, I'll phone rather than not communicate. If I want customer service or I want to place an order or ask about availability, I'll pick up the phone. If I need to meet with someone for half an hour but driving there and back would take longer than the meeting, I'll dial them up. In that sense, the telephone system is competing with the automobile much more than the telegraph, even at local distances. Automobiles allow ordinary people the chance to go to most inhabited places on their continent at 30 or 55 or 65 miles per hour, one place at a time -- assuming the highways are built and places of interest locate near them. Full-time high speed local links should allow ordinary people to get information of all sorts to come to them, from most inhabited places on the globe, within seconds, many at the same time -- assuming that fast and robust data networks are built and places of interest connect to them. A Lourve website cannot begin to compete with the experience of actually walking through those galleries, but for those who cannot travel to Paris, it's surely better than nothing. A "furniture gallery" website cannot replace actually going to a showroom and looking at, and feeling, the quality of the fastenings and fabrics, but it would have to be better than picking up the phone and asking if they have xxxx -- certainly for figuring out if it is worth the drive. Actually going out in the world to a location connects you to everything about it, while a data network can only connect you to a digital representation of that place. But for many purposes, more and more all the time, that will suffice; and it must be better than no connection at all. As the data network grows in size, speed, and robustness, people will find ways to make use of it that go far beyond messaging or even communication. On a 40 or 50 year horizon, I think we can expect that teenagers will have gone beyond expecting to be able to talk for hours whenever they want, to expecting to be connected to all the places they are interested in, all the time (or at least whenever they want, for as long as they want). A data network that dwarfs the PSTN will make that possible. This is where the idea of trying to fight the tide and lamenting for the good old days where untimed calls lasted only 3 minutes on average becomes so much of a bad joke on those who fall into that trap. Today there are very few individuals or small businesseas who can afford a T-1 to their door, but ADSL promises comparable bandwidth and capacity, and in a generation a full-time 'net connection will be an ordinary thing to find in a household, just as a telephone is commonplace today. Obviously DSL connections, and any successor technologies, will bypass local voice exchanges -- but surely the equipment to do that will be co-located with today's central offices. So, LECs, do you want to start getting ready for that, or would you prefer to complain about the tail wagging the dog? Nortel is offering their "Internet Thruway" today to public carriers that consider themselves mostly as telephone companies. If the present public carriers are willing to redefine themselves as connectivity providers rather than telecommunications or messaging providers, they will surely find ways beyond the investment and provisioning hassles attendent on building up a new major industry to maturity from its present infant state. If not? If not, Nortel and its competitors will find someone else to buy the equipment to do the job. Sean Richardson sidr@fringetree.com http://www.fringetree.com ------------------------------ From: hmo@sep.hamburg.com (Helge Oldach) Subject: Re: Germany Censors Dutch Website WWW.XS4ALL.NL Organization: Somebody Else's Problem Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 05:43:31 GMT felipe@xs4all.nl writes: > schwarz@poseidon.physik.tu-berlin.de (Georg Schwarz) writes: >> wrote: >>> GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL, WITH 3100 WEBPAGES >> ^^^^^^^ >> This headline is really very unspecific and misleading. If, say, AOL >> and MSN and a few other internet providers in the States (just as an >> example) decided to cut access to that site for their customers, would >> you also write "US CENSOR DUTCH WEBSITE ..."? > Newsline headers are always unspecific, but let me refine our > position. The German Prosecutor General is intimidating providers, > throught the ICTF, to block access to one of our websites. This statement is entirely wrong. I don't know where you have your information from (you did not explain), but it is simply not true. ICTF is just a loose cooperation of some few providers and in no way the executing force of the prosecutor general. Georg is perfectly correct with his statement that your subject line is misleading. Now calm down again. I am increasingly getting the impression this is an XS4ALL advertising track. Helge ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Sep 96 14:40:14 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: A Short History of 911 Service Church St. and Church St. in Mount Laurel, NJ? Which way do those streets run? Perhaps one of them could be called N/S Church St. and the other one called E/W Church St. Some towns have a boundary between North and South and between East and West; I am not familiar with Mount Laurel, however. I see E,W,N,S Wacker Drive in Chicago. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The reason you see all four directions on Wacker Drive in Chicago is because of the direction the (one single) street is facing. Picture a letter 'L' turned 45 degrees to the left, or a letter 'T' with the left side of the top piece missing. It begins east of Michigan Avenue and runs east and west on the south bank of the Chicago River. It runs that way for several blocks west until it gets a bit west of Franklin Street, approximatly at where the two branches of the river (north/south) meet. That stretch of Wacker Drive is the east and west (of State Street base number zero) portion. When Wacker gets past Franklin as noted above, it bends about 45 degrees to the south and runs north/south from that point. West Wacker becomes North Wacker after that bend in road and remains that way until it crosses Madison Street which is the dividing line between North and South with Madison Street going east/west as base number zero. Wacker then continues several more blocks to the south where it is known as South Wacker Drive. This strangeness would not have occurred if the north/south portion had been given a different name than the east/west portion. To add to the confusion somewhat, there is also a street named 'Lower Wacker Drive'; it runs directly underneath the street above it and tends to be a dirty, dingy thing where all the homeless people live in the crevices and tiny passageways which connect the tunnels between the downtown skyscrapers above. As you go to the east end of Wacker/Lower Wacker then you connect with 'Lower Michigan', East (South Water) Street, the Chicago Tribune loading docks on the river, some abandoned railroad yards, etc. Movie producers tend to like Lower Wacker and the far east end of Wacker for certain scenes. Charles Wacker was a VIP (very important politician) around here in the 1930's. I think he was a commissioner of something. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ehunt@bga.com (Eric Hunt) Subject: Re: Signal Propagation (was Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory) Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 14:30:38 -0500 Organization: Lil' Ole' Me In article , joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) wrote: > planning on picking you up. But you can't, at least not with your > cell phone. From my one trip to Europe, it appears that they can over there! Everyone was yakking on their cell phones on the ground up until we actually started accelerating down the runway, and then it took the flight attendents saying something to make people quit. And the doors to the cockpit stay open during flight. It was most weird to be sitting on an aisle seat and look through the front windows of the plane as we taxi'd around everywhere. This was in June on a trip to Milan, Italy with a layover in Paris. Air France. Eric Hunt ehunt@bga.com (preferred) Austin, TX hunt@metrowerks.com http://www.realtime.net/~ehunt ------------------------------ From: Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter Reply-To: jjc@pobox.com Subject: 412 Overlay Code Announced Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 16:46:56 -0400 It was announced today that 724 will be the overlay code used for relief of the 412 area code. I assume this has been announced because the final order of the PUC was issued last week. The final order says that seven digit dialing should be permitted as much as technically possible. Bell has said that it is, and that dialing within your area code will be seven digits and to the other area code will be eleven digits. They have not said that dialing eleven dogits within you area code would be permitted or not. As you can imagine, the CLEC's are saying this is anti-competitive. While I agree with the overlay solution, I think this 7/11 digits will make this very confusing. We should have gone to ten digit dialing. Later, jeff jjc@pobox.com ------------------------------ From: diamond@interserf.net (Dave Perrussell) Subject: Info Requested on 412 NAP Split Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 00:49:14 GMT Organization: The BBS Corner I heard today (Sept 18th) that the 412 NAP (area code) - Southwestern Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area) will be split with an overlay. The new area code will be 724. Does anyone know when this will take effect? BTW: I do NOT like overlay splits for an area code. I feel this would cause more confusion than it is worth. I'm curious what the Moderator and other readers of this newsgroup think. Dave Perrussel Webmaster - The BBS Corner ------------------------------ From: brian@nothing.ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) Subject: Re: Recommended "EXchange" Names Date: 19 Sep 1996 05:27:29 GMT Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. Mark Cuccia recalls that two-letter combinations started the phone numbers of mobile stations. In fact, that designated the channel (i.e., receive and transmit frequency) upon which the mobile radio was operating. The two letter channels were assigned to the Bell company in the area. The non-wireline (now called the "A") carrier (the "RCC" - Radio Common Carrier) got a different set of frequencies and each tended to choose their own 'designators' for them. Note that you could not DIAL these numbers. You called the mobile service operator and asked for the number. At first the operator would just page the mobile on that frequency, later, decoders were used which allowed the mobile to be selectively called, lighting a lamp and sounding a buzzer, and optionally sounding the vehicle horn and/or flashing the headlights. I recall that my mobile phone back in 1973 was YL-74950. That meant that it received on 154.54 and transmitted on 157.80 MHz. Hi-band VHF (150-170 MHz) was the most popular in this area, but low-band was used for people who really got out in the boonies -- I recall we installed low-band mobile phones for some surveyors, highway construction companies, and a water prospector, all of whom were apt to find themselves far from civilization and in need of phone service. From my old records, those Bell channels were: ch mobileRX mobileTX [low band] ZO 35.26 43.26 ZF 35.30 43.30 ZH 35.34 43.34 ZM 35.38 43.38 ZA 35.42 43.42 ZY 35.46 43.46 ZR 35.50 43.50 ZB 35.54 43.54 ZW 35.62 43.62 ZL 35.66 43.66 [hi band] JL 152.51 157.77 YL 152.54 157.80 JP 152.57 157.83 YP 152.60 157.86 YJ 152.63 157.89 YK 152.66 157.92 JS 152.69 157.95 YS 152.72 157.98 YR 152.75 158.01 JK 152.78 158.04 JR 152.81 158.07 [uhf] QC 454.375 459.375 QJ 454.400 459.400 QD 454.425 459.425 QA 454.450 459.450 QP 454.500 459.500 QK 454.525 459.525 QB 454.550 459.550 QO 454.575 459.575 QR 454.600 459.600 QY 454.625 459.600 QF 454.650 459.650 QS 454.700 459.700 QH 454.750 459.750 QW 454.800 459.800 QL 454.850 459.800 QX 454.900 459.900 QM 454.950 459.950 Brian Kantor University of California at San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093-0124 USA brian@ucsd.edu ------------------------------ From: leebert@io.com Subject: Re: Exchange -> Location Map Wanted; NYNEX Still Ignorant Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:38:15 GMT Organization: Illuminati Online Reply-To: leebert@interramp.com tmitariffs@aol.com (TMITARIFFS) wrote: > Second point of information: While Bellcore information is probably more > accurate, all parties should be aware that vendors do not use BellCore to > price any distance-sensitive service. Wire Center V&Hs from The National > Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) Tariff 4 (Filed with the FCC, monthly) > is what ALL Vendors use for pricing exchage services. The V&H Coordinates > provided by BELLCore and NECA can be different, (and suprisingly, both can > be wrong). NECA, however, is used for all pricing issues. > AT&T FCC 10 provides Rate Center information and is alsop an industry > standard for pricing. We are considering developing a LERG decision-support and analysis system, which would convert the NECA & Bellcore data into a relational db for user research. It would allow network drill-down and report miles between WC, Tandems, EO's and remotes, show CAB calculations, etc. I'm wondering if there are any other such products out there (other than Lattis, which doesn't) that already do this. I've been told there aren't. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 10:22:09 -0400 From: Anita Bonita Subject: New Jersey Exchange Names Dear Pat and Lisa: A friend forwarded your list of New Jersey exchange names circa 1960, and what a trip down Memory Lane! I can still remember seeing phones with the COlfax 1 and DIamond 7 exchanges. A couple which you may wish to add to your list: NOrth 4 and NOrth 6, headquartered then, as now, in Westwood. (I moved to Westwood as a two-year-old in 1960, and I've had a 664 number ever since ... or, as my New York City born-and-raised parents call it to this day: "Nawth Faw.") Thanks again for a truly entertaining list. Anita Bonita [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome. I have a couple of large mailings going out over the weekend with more history of exchange names. You might like those also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: csells@teleport.com (Chris Sells) Subject: Database of Area Codes and Country Codes to Time Zones? Date: Thu, 19 Sep 96 13:19:30 GMT Organization: Sells Brothers -- Windows Software I'm looking for a database of area codes and country codes to time zones so I can tell someone what time it is where they're about to call. Anyone know of such a database? Thanks, Chris Sells ------------------------------ From: brian@nothing.ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) Subject: Re: "Roaming" in Home Territory Date: 19 Sep 1996 05:42:52 GMT Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd. rupa@rupa.com (Rupa Schomaker) writes: > I have had an interesting experience a couple of times while driving > up the Pacific Coast Highway. > The odd this is that during those times my cellphone will go into ROAM > ... Baja cellular... The radio propagation phenomemon is well-known to ham radio operators in the area; we refer to it as 'salt water coax', an acknowledgement that UHF radio signals (which cellular phones use) travel very well across the water. As the California coastline curves, you're actually getting nearly a straight across-the-water shot to Tijuana. If the strongest signal your phone hears is not your local carrier but IS the right kind of service (i.e., A or B), it'll lock on to it anyway and light the ROAM indicator. I often experience the same problem when driving near the Mexican border. It's even worse when up on one of the mountains along the border; when working on our mountaintop radio equipment, my phone almost always went into ROAM mode and selected Cel-Tel (the Baja cellular system). The quick solution is to lock it into HOME-system-only mode. On a Motorola phone, it's probably RCL-* and then select with the * and # buttons, STO to save. If you regularly travel in areas where you need to roam, but NOT select the Mexican system, you may be able to set your phone to lock out that specific system. Some phones (the recent Motorola flip sets for sure, and probably others) have a "system lockout" selection, where you can list some small number (in mine, 5) of systems that it should NOT roam to. Brian ------------------------------ From: ektpuah@pacific.net.sg (K T Puah) Subject: What Services Are Offered by Concert? Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 15:58:03 GMT Organization: Pacific Internet, Singapore Reply-To: ektpuah@pacific.net.sg Hello, Does anyone know what are the services offered by Concert (a joint venture company of BT and MCI in the US)? Thanks and best regards, K T Puah ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* --- additionally --- ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from ** NTR ** * * Nationwide Telecommunications Resources, a nationwide resource for * * contract services, job placement and executive recruitment. If you * * are looking for a job or to fill a position: Fax resumes/requests to * * 510-673-0953; email resumes/requests to tech@ntr-usa.com; or call us * * at 510-673-9066. Watch this space for our website URL. * * NTR specializes in providing the highest quality engineers and * * IT professionals to the Telecom Industry * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #500 ******************************