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The Telecom Digest for June 08, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 145 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Busy trunks--subscriber behavior(Sam Spade)
Re: There's no easy escape from cellphone risks(Sam Spade)
SecurIDs Come Under Siege / Security Breach Forces RSA to Offer to Replace Millions of 'Tokens'(Monty Solomon)
Projects Use Phone Data to Track Public Services(Monty Solomon)
Re: Caller Pays vs. Called Party Pays (was Re: DSL Reports: AT&T Caps Have Arrived)(Pete Cresswell)
Plumbers and other artisans(Arthur Shapiro)
Re: Busy trunks--subscriber behavior(Lisa or Jeff)

====== 29 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:31:15 -0700
From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Busy trunks--subscriber behavior  
Message-ID: <9OydnSuFnqMpeXHQnZ2dnUVZ_sednZ2d@giganews.com>

Wes Leatherock wrote:

>>If a lot of subscribers remained off-hook, no harm, no foul, unlike
>>a No 5 XBAR, which could crash given sufficient permanent off-hooks.
>>    [...]
>>The No. 1 and 1A would eventually dump the permanent off-hook to the
>>receiver off-hook (ROC) routine, then to suspend status ("dirty"
>>battery).  If traffic were really busy, the ROC tone would not be
>>provided.
>>
>>Nonetheless, the switch would be more apt to eventually provide dial
>>tone to a subscriber who remained off-hook (that is, until ROC
>>kicked-in) as opposed to a subscriber who would repeatedly plunge
>>the switch-hook.
>>
>>No doubt the No 5ESS would handlle the situation much the same
>>because of similar design policies for such matters.

If the subscriber remains off-hook waiting for dial tone in a very busy 
condition I don't believe the ROH routine would come into play until 
after dial tone were provided and not acted upon in the prescribed time.

As to the No 1/1A dropping to dirty battery after completion of the ROH 
routine, the continuous popping sounds you then heard were sounds of 
orders (machine instructions) being issued by the processor.




Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:33:57 -0700
From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: There's no easy escape from cellphone risks 
Message-ID: <D5-dnS1cc-zIeHHQnZ2dnUVZ_q2dnZ2d@giganews.com>

Wes Leatherock wrote:
>
> Several commentators in the U.S.A. have noted that the possible danger
> is about the same as the WHO cites for drinking coffee.
> 
> 
> Wes Leatherock
> wleathus@yahoo.com
> wesrock@aol.com
> 

Everyone at Starbooks is using their cell phones while drinking their 
coffee.  We need a study for that reckless behavior. :-)




Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 23:25:09 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: SecurIDs Come Under Siege / Security Breach Forces RSA to Offer to Replace Millions of 'Tokens' 
Message-ID: <p06240818ca1349ef8c5c@[192.168.182.16]>

SecurIDs Come Under Siege
Security Breach Forces RSA to Offer to Replace Millions of 'Tokens'

By SIOBHAN GORMAN And SHARA TIBKEN
JUNE 7, 2011

RSA Security is offering to provide security monitoring or replace 
its well-known SecurID tokens-devices used by millions of corporate 
workers to securely log on to their computers-"for virtually every 
customer we have," the company's Chairman Art Coviello said in an 
interview.

In a letter to customers Monday, the EMC Corp. unit openly 
acknowledged for the first time that intruders had breached its 
security systems at defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. using 
data stolen from RSA.

SecurID tokens have become a fixture of office life at thousands of 
corporations, used when employees log onto computers or sensitive 
software systems. The token is an essential piece of security, acting 
as an ever-changing password that flashes a series of six digits that 
should be virtually impossible to duplicate.

...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576369990616694366.html




Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 00:13:37 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Projects Use Phone Data to Track Public Services 
Message-ID: <p0624081eca134f69d507@[192.168.182.16]>

Projects Use Phone Data to Track Public Services

By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
June 5, 2011

When New Yorkers head underground, they cannot always be sure of what 
awaits them. The city's subway system can be mysterious, with daily 
delays resulting from minor emergencies, track work and other events 
in the tunnels that riders know they will never truly understand.

The city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been trying to 
provide a better sense of predictability in recent years by adding 
displays in stations that state when the next train is expected. Now, 
a Web development firm called Densebrain says that it can do the same 
thing at practically no cost, by analyzing how people lose phone 
service when they head underground.

Urban planners, technology companies and officials from local 
governments see potential in projects like these that mine data 
collected from phones to provide better public services.

Boston is developing a system called Street Bump that uses a 
smartphone's accelerometer and GPS system to detect when a driver 
hits a pothole and then sends that information to city officials.

Techniques like this may help cities collect data that until recently 
would have required expensive network sensors.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/business/media/06transit.html




Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:17:38 -0400
From: "Pete Cresswell" <x@y.Invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Caller Pays vs. Called Party Pays (was Re: DSL Reports:     AT&T Caps Have Arrived) 
Message-ID: <3pkpu6h9epgdtutve3pfppmr2ivqgjf7oq@4ax.com>

Per Stephen:
>- it make free call, geographic independent numbers and low cost call
>services more common here.

- It would mean the end of the spam/telephone solicitor calls 
  that my cell phone has been getting more and more of as
  the bottom feeders move offshore and hide behind VOIP
  providers.

-- 
PeteCresswell




Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 16:16:25 +0000
From: Arthur Shapiro <art.shapiro@unisys.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Plumbers and other artisans 
Message-ID: <isiugp$11p5$1@si05.rsvl.unisys.com>

>***** Moderator's Note *****
>
>...I didn't make that much when I was a surgeon!"
>
>Bill Horne, who's father was a plumber

Straying off topic, but you'll have to chuckle:

I once had my plumber in the middle of a cashectomy at my home, and overheard 
him on a cellular phone call to his auto mechanic.  Apparently he needed major 
engine work performed on the plumbing van.  "HOW MUCH?!!!", etc., etc.  I 
imagine there's some sort of pyramid in the skilled trades; I wonder who's the 
top banana.

Art

***** Moderator's Note *****

I've made this into a separate thread.

Bill Horne
Moderator




Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2011 07:14:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Busy trunks--subscriber behavior 
Message-ID: <7a2c03c7-48b6-4b6b-b83d-7d6bf03a1884@em7g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>

On Jun 6, 6:17 am, Sam Spade <s...@coldmail.com> wrote:

> > Other BSTJ articles discussed what happens to subscribers if there are
> > too many off-hook (people trying to make calls) all at once.
> > Obviously this was something they had to provide for very early on as
> > emergency situations (eg major storms) would spark such calling.
> > Later, radio promotions and the like could do so.  One issue was
> > whether a subscriber had "a place in line" while waiting, that is,
> > were they served in turn, or randomly picked when a receiver became
> > available.  The BSTJ also gives rather complex statistical analysis
> > formulas on all of this (as well of course trunk group usage and
> > blocking).
>
> I don't know the technical reasons but I do know that 65 permanent ROHs
> would crash a No. 5 XBAR.  That was one of the reasons for 24/7
> maintenance staff to pickel those ROHes, thus rendering them harmless.-

ROH = 'receiver off hook' ?

I'm surprised ROH could do that kind of damage.  People taking their
phone off the hook to not get called, or, people leaving thier phone
off accidently are both extremely common.  In addition,a  short
circuit in a loop line may cause an off-hook.  Is this ROH situation
described in the literature anywhere?

According to the literature, ROH was forseen as an issue back in panel
development, and timers were included to cut out the subscriber after
a time interval has passed.  This timer also applied while dialing.
Timers continued in crossbar, and also included internally as call
functions were pased from one unit to another--if the next unit didn't
pick up in time, alternative action was taken.  The switch had
redundancy built into it.

Being a high complex electro-mechanical device often serving many
thousands of subscribers there was a risk of failure.  If a key
component failed the switch could work around it but obviously traffic
capacity would be reduced and dial tone might be delayed.
Accordingly, a large switch may get 24/7 staffing, although some of
that may be to take advantage of light traffic to do maintenance.

Certainly a high volume of traffic, either from subscribers or inter-
exchange trunks, would slow processing.  But the literature in BSTJ
suggests the switch would not "crash"--that is totally shut down--but
rather just be slow in handling calls.  It might work less efficiently
as components spend more time than normal trying to find alternate
paths over busy components or busy trunks, but eventually a call would
go through.

Perhaps I am splitting hairs on the difference between "no service at
all" and "very slow service", but to me there is a big difference
between a "system crash" where everything has failed and a restart is
necessary, and a "systems slowdown" that is a temporary problem.





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