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The Telecom Digest for December 30, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 353 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:

Is reading wife's e-mail a crime?(Monty Solomon)
Re: Prepaid SIMs in the USA(John Mayson)
Re: Prepaid SIMs in the USA(John Levine)
Phone jam-ups stymie fliers(Monty Solomon)
Re: ZIP Codes and barcodes(Richard)
Re: ZIP Codes and barcodes(Wes Leatherock)
CNAM for toll-free numbers(Tas Dienes)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(Sam Spade)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(Lisa or Jeff)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(Sam Spade)
Area codes would be nice, was: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? (danny burstein)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(Wes Leatherock)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(jsw)
Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers?(Lisa or Jeff)


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Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 02:08:15 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Is reading wife's e-mail a crime? Message-ID: <p06240812c9408e5a5460@[10.0.1.2]> http://www.freep.com/article/20101226/NEWS03/12260530/1318 Is reading wife's e-mail a crime? Rochester Hills man faces trial By L. L. BRASIER Free Press Staff Writer December 26, 2010 A Rochester Hills man faces up to 5 years in prison -- for reading his wife's e-mail. Oakland County prosecutors, relying on a Michigan statute typically used to prosecute crimes such as identity theft or stealing trade secrets, have charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony after he logged onto a laptop in the home he shared with his wife, Clara Walker. Using her password, he accessed her Gmail account and learned she was having an affair. He now is facing a Feb. 7 trial. She filed for divorce, which was finalized earlier this month. Legal experts say it's the first time the statute has been used in a domestic case, and it might be hard to prove ... http://www.freep.com/article/20101226/NEWS03/12260530/1318
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 07:26:10 -0600 From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Prepaid SIMs in the USA Message-ID: <AANLkTimdbBpcj2BTMME8pG03wH6nu_63es7Vz-snUx_=@mail.gmail.com> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> wrote: > I've heard of people getting a Sprint Blackberry, getting a cheap > Boost prepaid phone, and putting the SIM card from the Boost into > the Blackberry. Â Allegedly then you end up with a phone that gets > voice at the Boost rates, and free data. Â Haven't tried it myself, > and it's hard to imagine that Sprint wouldn't plug the loophole if > it does indeed exist. A SIM card with Sprint? What you said is more or less what I've heard. But when I go to look I find absolutely nothing and the braintrust here seems to back that up. I suppose the old adage is true: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. John -- John Mayson <john@mayson.us> Austin, Texas, USA
Date: 29 Dec 2010 18:41:56 -0000 From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Prepaid SIMs in the USA Message-ID: <20101229184156.28634.qmail@joyce.lan> >> I've heard of people getting a Sprint Blackberry, getting a cheap >> Boost prepaid phone, and putting the SIM card from the Boost into >> the Blackberry. Â Allegedly then you end up with a phone that gets >> voice at the Boost rates, and free data. Â Haven't tried it myself, >> and it's hard to imagine that Sprint wouldn't plug the loophole if >> it does indeed exist. > >A SIM card with Sprint? As we all know, there's no SIM card with Sprint phones. (Well, unless you mean Nextel, but that's not it here.) Some blog entries I've found say that if you call Boost and ask nicely, they will agree to move your account to a different compatible phone, presumably identified by the phone's MEID. R's, John
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:24:39 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Phone jam-ups stymie fliers Message-ID: <p0624081bc9411134202c@[10.0.1.2]> Phone jam-ups stymie fliers Airlines unable to handle calls after snowstorm By Katie Johnston Chase and Alexa McMahon Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent / December 29, 2010 As airlines were scrambling to get flight schedules back to normal yesterday, stranded travelers were struggling to reach them, sometimes being left on hold for more than an hour - or worse, disconnected from the call. Cali Archon of Portsmouth, N.H., tried calling JetBlue Airways for four hours yesterday morning to rebook her 15-year-old daughter's flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But each time, after about five minutes of recorded messages, the system told her: "Please try back at a later time. We are doing the best we can to manage our call volumes at this time. This call will end now.'' And then it did. ... http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/12/29/for_stranded_travelers_calling_airlines_its_hurry_up_and_wait/
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:44:01 -0800 From: Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: ZIP Codes and barcodes Message-ID: <vlalh6tmhic8cp1h7hmqrpu6fs42djiea6@4ax.com> On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:29:40 -0800 (PST), Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com> wrote: > >--- On Mon, 12/27/10, Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote: >> At the opposite extreme is mail handling in my town of Pahrump, NV, >> 60 miles from Las Vegas. Mail from Pahrump to Pahrump goes to Las >> Vegas for canceling and sorting, and back to Pahrump for >> distribution. We get next day delivery for such mail. Apparently, >> it's cheaper not to do cancellation in Pahrump. We used to have >> two mail slots in the post office: Pahrump and not-Pahrump; now >> there is only one. > >That happens in a lot of places any more. Sorting out the mail >manually at the originating post office is very time consuming. > >Some of the mail from Pahrump is going to other places. The first >time-consuming task in sorting the local mail manually to separate >the outgoing pieces. Is the collection box ouside the post office >the only place to mail letters in Pahrump? The main post office lobby used to have 2 mail slots for outgoing mail, Pahrump only and elsewhere. Mail put into the Pahrump-only box got postmarked Pahrump. The other mail got postmarked Las Vegas. Now they have only one slot for outgoing mail. Now there is only one slot.* I suspect that they decided that it was cheaper to send all the mail to Las Vegas for sorting. *Actually, the second slot is still there, but is labeled "Misdirected mail. Not for your box." >After all, telecommunications traffic - even local calls from >landlines - is done that way. Yup. Depending on the time of day and year, and the load, toll calls from New York to Florida might be routed through Denver. I heard about a situation in Boston. They need another switch in the downtown Franklin Street office, but had no physical space. So they used a short-haul microwave link to access the hardware in the suburbs. Mr. Moderator, you worked at Franklin Street office; did you ever hear about this? Dick ***** Moderator's Note ***** I don't think so: Franklin Street did have some "R" carrier microwave, but only the microwave was there: it went over to an L-carrier terminal at Bowdoin Square on coaxial cable. Franklin Street had the WADS office when I was there, which served TWX for a time after Western Union took it over, but no other Class 5 offices that I know of. Come to think of it, the "743" exchange, which was the N.E.T. centrex, was also served out of Bowdoin Square, so maybe that's the "suburban" office you're thinking of. I supposed there might be/may have been an ORM at "Boston Two" after I left, but Verizon always runs those on fiber. IIRC, the microwave antennas on the top of the building have been idle for years: there may be some links still in service between Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard, but I'll defer to those still working on them for that info. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:10:51 -0800 (PST) From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: ZIP Codes and barcodes Message-ID: <52901.43209.qm@web111724.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> --- On Tue, 12/28/10, Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote: [ ''' ] > Depending on the time of day and year, and the load, toll calls from > New York to Florida might be routed through Denver. There was a considerable article in the Bell Labs Record when somebody first figured out how to do this. The Wisconsin National Guard went to summer camp in Washington state, and when they started calling home in the evening it jammed all the direct trunks, then used the final route through the Sacramento machine and as a result tied up traffic all up and down the West Coast. Somebody figured out to punch new translation cards and put them in at 7 p.m. local time to make White Plains first choice from Washington state to Milwaukee, figuring Washington state-White Plains and White Plains-Milwaukee trunks would not be busy by that time (10 p.m. in the East). It worked like a charm and even White Plains-Norway (Ill.) final trunks had capacity for the overlow. Of course, such reroutes for special occasions, or just hourly variations, became routine before long. Wes Leatherock wleathus@yahoo.com wesrock@aol.com
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:48:28 -0800 (PST) From: Tas Dienes <tasdienes@gmail.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: CNAM for toll-free numbers Message-ID: <ea287588-c7e2-4626-9978-290ec7fe883f@m20g2000prc.googlegroups.com> I have toll-free numbers from a couple of SIP providers. When I call someone and send those numbers as my outgoing CID, I want the name that shows up to be my company name. My SIP providers say that they cannot set Caller ID Name (CNAM) for toll-free numbers, and as far as I can tell, the CNAM database does not even support toll-free numbers. Yet when I get calls from other companies with toll-free numbers, sometimes I do see a company name (though usually not). So it must be possible. Does anyone know how to do this? My initial guess was to try and get my number listed with toll-free directory services, as someone once mentioned that some carriers may get CNAM info from that database. I tried that; I got a TF number from Verizon, and I also tried listing another TF number with AT&T directory services. Neither worked. Thanks! Tas
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:53:24 -0800 From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <_fmdnSxUJ6Y5HobQnZ2dnUVZ_oSdnZ2d@giganews.com> Lisa or Jeff wrote: > > A resident of a such a small town told me the phone company told > people to use 7 digits and stopped referring to 5 digits. But 5 > digits continued to work until the exchange was cutover to ESS. (He > hoped to get a switch unit after the cutover but the old gear was kept > quite secure. I would think its value would only be scrap by that > point in time.) > It could have continued to work with SPC. A standard feature in the DMS-100 was 5 digit community dialing; i.e. dial the 5 digets plus the "#" sign. So far as I know, no LECs opted to implement this feature. It only saved one digit. But, with the advent of mandatory 10 digit dialing it would be more desirable today.
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:09:12 -0800 (PST) From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <f541d716-fb9b-413c-9522-da06fefd107c@w21g2000vby.googlegroups.com> On Dec 29, 1:53 pm, Sam Spade <s...@coldmail.com> wrote: > > A resident of a such a small town told me the phone company told > > people to use 7 digits and stopped referring to 5 digits.  But 5 > > digits continued to work until the exchange was cutover to ESS.  (He > > hoped to get a switch unit after the cutover but the old gear was kept > > quite secure.  I would think its value would only be scrap by that > > point in time.) > > It could have continued to work with SPC.  A standard feature in the > DMS-100 was 5 digit community dialing; i.e. dial the 5 digets plus the > "#" sign.  So far as I know, no LECs opted to implement this feature. > > It only saved one digit.  But, with the advent of mandatory 10 digit > dialing it would be more desirable today. I would presume that ESS could easily handle 5 digit dialing. But I suspect it went away because there were too many other exchanges being created and the 5 digits weren't enough to make the local exchanges unique. For instance, in border areas, residents could call across a state line to the opposite town using only seven digits. That made the exchange-codes in the border town had to be unique in both area codes. That was fine in the old days, but as they began to run out of exchanges that was no longer workable. So, the border people had to dial 10 or 11(+1) digits. As an aside, the Bell history mentions that long ago (1960s) Bell recognized they were running out of exchange-codes, and built/ programmed switches so that area codes could be an exchange code and vice versa. I believe this meant that the 1+ prefix would be necessary in places where it wasn't used before so as to differentiate the call. Regarding the previous posts regarding the term Centrex vs. "inward dialing", it appears from the history that the function was developed first and given a name later. In the early 1960s there were a few different combinations of machine types that would support Centrex. Some users had a 701 dial step-by-step PBX which was modified to accept digits from the central office; others were served by a step-by- step central office that was modified; still others were served by No. 5 crossbar or crossbar tandem. The two biggest features were direct inward dialing and identification of outward dialed calls so as to track charging and usage by extension. (I was employed at an organization that had ONI for that.) As time went on new features were added, such as automatic transfers and loop access consoles instead of direct trunk. ESS added more features. Note that back then the switchgear was located about half at the central office and half at the user's site. The tradeoff for central office location--which meant all loops had to come from the CO--was that repairmen didn't have to go out to the user's site for service.
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:55:31 -0800 From: Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <_fmdnS9UJ6a-GYbQnZ2dnUVZ_oSdnZ2d@giganews.com> Harold Hallikainen wrote: >I always thought they should broadcast 7 digit numbers > to be useful to the largest number of listeners. Of course, when 7 > digit numbers were broadcast, the prefix was WAlnut 5. > I'm amazed at the number of trucks I still see on the road with their 7-digit telephone number.
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:10:24 +0000 (UTC) From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Area codes would be nice, was: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <ifg12v$4o4$1@reader1.panix.com> In <_fmdnS9UJ6a-GYbQnZ2dnUVZ_oSdnZ2d@giganews.com> Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> writes: >Harold Hallikainen wrote: >>I always thought they should broadcast 7 digit numbers >> to be useful to the largest number of listeners. Of course, when 7 >> digit numbers were broadcast, the prefix was WAlnut 5. >I'm amazed at the number of trucks I still see on the road with their >7-digit telephone number. Even more amazing is the prevalence of 7 digit numbers in "welcome to mumble mumble" guidebooks... -- _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:20:51 -0800 (PST) From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <886182.39839.qm@web111720.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> --- On Wed, 12/29/10, Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> wrote: > > I'm amazed at the number of trucks I still see on the road > with their > 7-digit telephone number. Why? In many placess with only one area code 10-digit dialing of a local number generates and error message to the caller. Wes Leatherock wleathus@yahoo.com wesrock@aol.com
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:53:12 -0600 (CST) From: jsw <jsw@ivgate.omahug.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <201012282153.oBSLrCDE097953@ivgate.omahug.org> >I am aware the SBC actually deployed some calling features on a No. 5 >XBAR on the north side of Kansas City, MO. A friend of mine subscribed >to them circa late 1960s. This then confirms some rumors and speculation among 'enthusiasts' that Ma Bell had developed some kind of a 'stored program engine' for the #5 Crossbar that would replace the relay-logic markers and senders and such, and give the #5 Crossbar the ability to do the fancy Custom Calling Features<tm> just like the 1E. This is the only first-person account I've heard of anything like this actually happening. I assume that it was never really rolled out simply due to the ESS deployment plans.
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:23:40 -0800 (PST) From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: History--Eight Digit US telephone numbers? Message-ID: <5ad48e70-9d0a-444d-9754-c2064b9a2f1e@c2g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> On Dec 28, 4:53 pm, jsw <j...@ivgate.omahug.org> wrote: > >I am aware the SBC actually deployed some calling features on a No. 5 > >XBAR on the north side of Kansas City, MO.  A friend of mine subscribed > >to them circa late 1960s. > This then confirms some rumors and speculation among 'enthusiasts' > that Ma Bell had developed some kind of a 'stored program engine' > for the #5 Crossbar that would replace the relay-logic markers and > senders and such, and give the #5 Crossbar the ability to do the > fancy Custom Calling Features<tm> just like the 1E. > This is the only first-person account I've heard of anything like > this actually happening.  I assume that it was never really > rolled out simply due to the ESS deployment plans. I checked the Bell Labs History 1925-75 and it does not appear that they hda replaced the relays with electronics in the common control unit. They considered it: "In 1970 a committtee studied the possibilities of modernizing the No. 5 crossbar by adapting stored-program control techniques. At that time, electronic technology was not low enough in cost for the new services to be provided at tariffs comparable with the ESS family and for administration cost reductions." It should be noted that about the same time Western Electric developed a new electro-mechanical (crossbar) PBX, the 770A, that was more cost- competitive than certain low-end ESS designs by Bell Labs. "Even though electronics was clearly the way to the future, the 770A enjoyed a number of years when it was the economic choice on a first-cost basis over comparable designs." (In 1970 I don't recall any electronic stand-alone cash registers, and I don't believe they became commonplace--more cost effective--until at least 10-15 years later. The cheap electronics we take for granted today was still in the laboratory in 1970. Anyone know when NCR ceased making stand-alone electro-mechanical and all-mechanical cash registers?) They used electronics and mini-computers to aid in translation, AMA recording, and in signaling and timing circuits. One innovation for No. 5 was the use of "wire spring" relays, replacing the U and Y type flat spring relays in 1953-54. They did experiment with custom calling features on No. 5 crossbar in Columbus Ohio 1963-65, Iowa and Mass 1966, and Ohio 1971. They found that those services were too expensive to be done in crossbar, so rollout had to wait until ESS. They used piggyback twister memory in some cases. The book is a bit vague on whether these tests were by an electronic or relay common control. I think the basic "logic" was still relay circuits, especially because it was done in the early 1960s when ESS itself was still under development. Further, the other comments above suggest electronics were still too new. I suspect that if they had a true electronic front end the cost of crossbar implementation would not have been excessively expensive. Last, all-new installations of No. 5 crossbar ended in 1976. [I am condensing a considerable number of pages from the book for this post. The footnotes refer to numerous Bell Labs Record articles for the feature trials; I'll post the specifics if anyone is interested in further research.] But let's note that when it comes to machine "logic", a relay performs the same function as a transistor or vacuum tube, it's only bigger and slower. In the 1940s, IBM built sophisticated _programmable_ digital computers--the Harvard Mark I and its own SSEC using mostly relay logic, and Bell Labs had a relay computer, too. Also in the 1940s, railroad switch control machines were deployed that used push- button control to automatically route trains and avoid all conflicting movements; these utilized extensive relay logic to test choices for safety and then execute the commands to switches and signals on the tracks. Thus, by the 1960s it certainly was possible for relay logic to handle features like call waiting.
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