The Telecom Digest for December 31, 2010 (End of Year Issue)
Volume 29 : Issue 355 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
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Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:38:11 -0800
From: John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: 911 "Friends-and-neighbors please call" list?
Message-ID: <ifj1kn$8l4$1@blue.rahul.net>
AES wrote:
> As a (partial?) solution to the 911 "can dial, but can't speak" or
> "unknown location" problems, would it make sense to maintain a short
> list of user-or-purchaser-supplied phone numbers (maybe 2 or 3 numbers)
> linked to every phone number that can call 911.
I think it would be more productive to allow text messages to be sent to
"911". Then phone owners can anticipate this problem by storing his own
canned messages in the phone to be sent in such situations, maybe by
"speed dial" buttons.
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:07:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: 911 "Friends-and-neighbors please call" list?
Message-ID: <894681.16923.qm@web111723.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Thu, 12/30/10, John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us> wrote
:
> AES wrote:
>> As a (partial?) solution to the 911 "can dial, but can't speak" or
>> "unknown location" problems, would it make sense to maintain a
>> short list of user-or-purchaser-supplied phone numbers (maybe 2 or
>> 3 numbers) linked to every phone number that can call 911.
>
> I think it would be more productive to allow text messages to be
> sent to "911". Then phone owners can anticipate this problem by
> storing his own canned messages in the phone to be sent in such
> situations, maybe by "speed dial" buttons.
Reminds me of the "nearby" [numbers] that operators called to try to
complete long distance calls in the days when not everybody had a
phone.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:21 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: For Some Travelers Stranded in Airports, Relief Is in 140 Characters
Message-ID: <p06240821c943139d21df@[10.0.1.2]>
For Some Travelers Stranded in Airports, Relief Is in 140 Characters
By KIM SEVERSON
December 29, 2010
ATLANTA - Some travelers stranded by the great snowstorm of 2010
discovered a new lifeline for help. When all else fails, Twitter
might be the best way to book a seat home.
While the airlines' reservation lines required hours of waiting - if
people could get through at all - savvy travelers were able to book
new reservations, get flight information and track lost luggage. And
they could complain, too.
Since Monday, nine Delta Air Lines agents with special Twitter
training have been rotating shifts to help travelers wired enough to
know how to "dm," or send a direct message. Many other airlines are
doing the same as a way to help travelers cut through the confusion
of a storm that has grounded thousands of flights this week.
But not all travelers, of course. People who could not send a Twitter
message if their life depended on it found themselves with that
familiar feeling that often comes with air travel - being left out of
yet another inside track to get the best information.
For those in the digital fast lane, however, the online help was a godsend.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30airlines.html
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 06:16:37 -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: <7sCdnZX2fcpbeIDQnZ2dnUVZ_rydnZ2d@giganews.com>
jsw wrote:
>
> Is it possible on a Step office to have a hunt group with more
> than 10 (9) lines?
I can't answer how it was done but I know it was done. The branch L.A.
County Superior Court in Pomona was in GTE-land and served by a stepper
in the 1970s. I would call the court at a busy time and hear it
ratcheted through 10 clicks, a brief pause and then another 10 clicks
before it returned a line busy signal. So, it would seem they had 20
lines in hunt.
No circle hunt, though. :-)
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:24:29 -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: <408993.30682.qm@web111702.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Fri, 12/31/10, Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com> wrote:
> > Is it possible on a Step office to have a hunt group
> with more
> > than 10 (9) lines?
>
> I can't answer how it was done but I know it was
> done. The branch L.A. County Superior Court in Pomona
> was in GTE-land and served by a stepper in the 1970s.
> I would call the court at a busy time and hear it ratcheted
> through 10 clicks, a brief pause and then another 10 clicks
> before it returned a line busy signal. So, it would
> seem they had 20 lines in hunt.
>
> No circle hunt, though. :-)
Rotary equipment from IT&T and other sources which signaled just like Panel
Type offices would circle hunt.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:03:05 -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: <647129.2895.qm@web111717.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Tue, 12/28/10, jsw <jsw@ivgate.omahug.org> wrote:
>
> One thing I'm still puzzled about ...
>
> Is it possible on a Step office to have a hunt group with more than
> 10 (9) lines?
>
> Was there maybe some circuitry to sense when all lines on a given
> level were busy and cause it to step upward one more level?
>
> I can see how this might be done with a set of vertical contacts,
> similar to that on the linefinder, but I never recall hearing about
> anything like this in service.
>
> Do you (anybody?) know?
That's exactly how it was done.
Most groups weren't that big, but in Oklahoma City there was an
incoming group of almost 100 "800" numbers which was routed through a
step office (because of capacity reasons) because the 4A could not
connect to and signal a subscriber line because it did not provide for
the usual supervision. (off-hook, on-hook?) One of the local engineers
figured out how to add one relay on the 4A that would allow it to
supervise as a subscriber line. (he had first asked Bell Labs and
then said it couldn't be done; aftet he reported to the Labs how he
had done so a letter came out from the Labs describing the method.)
That saved a lot of holding time throught the network because every
incoming call previously had to wait while the call progressed with
step pulses.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:09:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: USA broadband isn't broadband per FCC report...
Message-ID: <30734.4813.qm@web111717.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Tue, 12/28/10, Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com> wrote:
[ ... ]
> Fortunately, "cable modem" has largely died out, but, unfortunately,
> "HSI" hasn't caught on as a replacement. I've heard it called
> "cable internet" and "cable DSL." I've even heard it called just
> "DSL" by folks who apparently think "DSL" is a universal term for
> HSI.
Cox Cable in Oklahoma City (and I presume in other places they serve)
within the last few months have been advertising a special including
a "cable modem" for one cent if you buy their high speed internet
service.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:06:52 -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: <cbd82a50-b1a7-4863-b4d0-93e44fc61f59@r29g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>
On Dec 28, 8:08 pm, jsw <j...@ivgate.omahug.org> wrote:
> Is it possible on a Step office to have a hunt group with more
> than 10 (9) lines?
>From the Bell Labs history:
"Due to the limited access inherent in each level of the sxs switch,
much effort was expended to obtain efficient gradings. In addition
the concept of providing access greater than 10 was adopted. This was
done by introducing an additional stage of 22 terminal switches, known
as rotary out-trunk selectors to reduce the number of succeeding
switches and trunks."--Ref. Trunk hunting Switches, Record, Dec 1928;
Improved Graded Multiple for sxs offices, Record Sept 1944.
"At the terminating end of the switch train, new level-hunting
connectors were developed that enabled the system to serve PBXs with
more than ten trunks without the grading of the connector multiple,
thereby obtaining better call completion." --Ref. "Level Hunting
Connectors" Bell Labs Record March 1929.
See also Bell Labs Record Sept 1927.
[It would be great if they could put old issues of the Record on-
line.]
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:17:44 -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: <241794.45434.qm@web111713.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Thu, 12/30/10, Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
> "At the terminating end of the switch train, new level-hunting
> connectors were developed that enabled the system to serve PBXs with
> more than ten trunks without the grading of the connector multiple,
> thereby obtaining better call completion."
>
> --Ref.> "Level Hunting Connectors" Bell Labs Record March 1929.
I went to the University of Okloahoma for two years and Oklahoma A&M
College (now Oklahoma State University for two years when Norman and
Stillwater were both manual offices. The OU number was 900 and the
Oklahoma A&M number was 1380.
When you asked the operator for the number you could hear them running
the tip over the group busy jacks (which emitted a tone) and when they
came to one that wasn't busy you could hear them running the jack
laterally then to find an unbusy line. The operators were so adept
that it took a while to realize what they were doing because it was so
fast the delay was not much more than the usual busy test on a single
line.
The group busy jacks I believe governed a strip of 20 jacks just to
the side in the multiple. They corresponded to the level hundting on
the SxS switches.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:11:14 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: USA broadband isn't broadband per FCC report...
Message-ID: <pan.2010.12.31.02.11.14.57847@myrealbox.com>
On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:06:54 -0600, Neal McLain wrote:
> >>> How about we dump "Broadband" and use a nice little TLA like "HSI"
> >>> (High Speed Internet)? ...
>
> >> You may have to fight at&t for rights to that "nice little TLA" --
> >> they're using "HSI" to name their at&t/Yahoo! DSL service....
>
> > Comcast also uses that TLA, so I think it may be considered generic.
> > In general, descriptive phrases are harder to trademark than coined
> > terms, and "high speed Internet" is clearly of that type.
>
> Several cable TV companies use "HSI." It's certainly better than "cable
> modem," an archaic term that morphed from the original definition of
> "cable modem" -- i.e., the modem itself. I guess we can blame Stewart
> Alsop for popularizing that term in his 1997 Fortune editorial "The Cable
> Industry's Big Dream," which concluded with the words "cable modems are a
> fantasy."
> http://tinyurl.com/Alsop-Modem
.........
> As for "Broadband," Great Thinkers of the cable TV industry (and their
> regulators) have for years been using that term to describe analog
> distribution networks.
.........
Yes, but in the context of the cable carrying multiple disparate services
that did not affect each other on the same media, "Broadband" is 100%
accurate.
That is the issue I keep banging on about, it is a specific technical term
that has been hijacked by so many fools that it is now almost worthless.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I used to try to explain to people that the RS-232 wiring specs for
"DCE" and "DTE" were not synonomous with "male" and "female". IBM
proved me wrong.
You'll get over it, David: the non-technical public always demands
acronyms and buzzwords to assign to things they don't, and can't,
understand.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:58:22 -0500
From: "Greg Monti" <gmonti@mindspring.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: CNAM for toll-free numbers
Message-ID: <003001cba89e$f7d965f0$6801a8c0@M10023>
On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 13:48:28 -0800 (PST), Tas Dienes
<tasdienes@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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?
I ran into an issue like this at one of my employer's offices. Our
outgoing numeric caller ID (not a toll free number) was being
displayed with four different CNAMs (Calling Names) depending on which
local phone company the recipient of each call was subscribed to.
Three of the four names were wrong, and one of the wrong ones was the
name of a competitor.
In the process of troubleshooting this issue, we found that:
- Each local phone company that receives an incoming call from another
company (whether local or long distance) receives only the 10-digit
calling number, but no name. The name must be looked up in a Line
Information Database (LIDB) to which the recipient's phone company
subscribes.
- There are on the order of 10 LIDB providers in North America
including Neustar, TNS, Qwest, Sprint and Verisign. The ones that
have familiar phone company names are run by corporate divisions
separate from the named phone company. They all sell LIDB services
to both related and unrelated phone companies.
- LIDB includes many data items besides CNAM, such as address, name of
the local company that serves that number, whether it's a cell or
pay phone, calling card validation info and other data that phone
companies can't operate without.
- Our Verizon business rep advised me to call each end-user phone
company and open a trouble ticket to request that the CNAM be fixed.
It took about 2 months of research and poking around by a staffer,
but the three phone companies with wrong CNAMs eventually started to
display the correct CNAM. We had to check by calling out to sample
recipients and having them report back what name they saw.
- Unlike the public DNS system used on the internet, there is
apparently no authoritative "name server" which will always return
the customer's desired CNAM for a given number and could therefore
be used to keep all other LIDB's up to date.
- Since we were not the customer who saw the wrong name displayed, we
had to open a trouble ticket as a non-customer, which means the
far-end phone company could not verify who we were through an
account number and had to trust us to give the right CNAM. The
three companies displaying the wrong name (which were corrected)
were Cablevision Optimum, Verizon, and Service Electric (cable).
- CNAMs are only displayed by the recipient's landline phone company
(could be copper, fiber optic, cable TV or internet VoIP provider).
You can't test for correct CNAM by calling to a cell phone. Cell
phones use the address book inside the phone to come up with a name
and don't use LIDB for that purpose.
I'll bet the same applies when the originating 10-digit number is
toll-free. You would need to find the names of each affected end-user
phone company that is displaying the wrong name and have each one fix
it. Then wait, and test it. You will have no idea if a rural
independent in western Nebraska is dispalying the wrong name until
someone there complains to you. Overall, not a stellar system.
Greg Monti, New York, NY
gmonti@mindspring.com
***** Moderator's Note *****
While there isn't a "root" LIDB database, the accuracy of the existing
ones could be dramatically improved by allowing them to copy some
items from the E911 database. For obvious reasons, the E911 database
providers pay a lot of attention to getting address info correct, and
those fields could be combined with information from other databases
to improve LIDB quality.
For less obvious reasons, the E911 database isn't currently available
for this purpose. Any sharing plan would have to include "Trusted and
Neutral Third Party" data escrow to prevent divulging the locations of
battered women's shelters, etc.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:58:33 -0500
From: "Gary" <bogus-email@hotmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon's FiOS
Message-ID: <ifl5kf$fcl$1@news.eternal-september.org>
"David Lesher" wrote in message news:ifd6fc$m86$2@reader1.panix.com...
> So the ONT's laser diode gets a time slot to transmit, and otherwise sits
> unlit?
It's been a while since I've looked at the details; but yea, that's
basically it.
The finer points that I don't recall are the details of "time slots." My
vague recollection is they are not at all like time slots on a TDM wire (T1,
E1, ...). I seem to remember they are dynamically allocated and there is no
concept similar to "frames."
Verizon ONTs have an interesting piece of optical hardware called a
triplexer. This device splits the two received wavelengths to the data and
video parts of the box while merging the upstream transmit wavelength onto
the network fiber. Similar to a diplexer in an RF system, but because it
handles three wavelengths it's gets the "tri" moniker.
On the video path, the optical energy is feed to a sensor that converts the
light to an electrical current. This is feed to a trans-impedance
amplifier. The output of this is a full spectrum RF signal that feeds the
coax in the home with broadcast video.
Happy New Year,
-Gary
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:31:14 -0700
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Is it possible to own a local number?
Message-ID: <rbfsh69t30q0rrnu9hvfjslaccnp6d2idd@4ax.com>
On Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:05:05 -0800, Sam Spade <sam@coldmail.com>
wrote:
>david wrote:
>> I'm thinking of porting my landline number to VOIP service. However,
>> I'm afraid that during the switchover someone may screw up and cause
>> my beloved phone number to be recycled and given to someone else.
>>
>> So, is there a way to purchase or own a local number outright, just
>> like one can register (and own) a domain name? So that no matter how
>> phone companies screw up, the number cannot be "lost" or reassigned to
>> someone else?
>>
>You are well-advised to port only between wireline/wireline,
>wireline/wireless, or wireless/wireless. And, even there you must do it
>correctly, or you can lose the number (which you never really ever "own.")
I've ported a number of times and I have never lost a number.
Regards,
Fred
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