From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Mar 31 00:00:35 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2V50Y616168; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:35 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403310500.i2V50Y616168@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #152 TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Mar 2004 23:59:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 152 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Manchester, UK Exchange Fire (Jim Burks) <<================ More Fire News from Manchester, UK Fire (TELECOM Editor) <<========== Re: Western Union Clocks (Wesrock@aol.com) Cellular Tower Leases (Roy) Re: HDTV - Looking at an All-Digital World (jmayson@nyx.net) San Francisco ballpark becomes WiFi Internet hub (Monty Solomon) Re: "Virtual" Call Forwarding (Sammy@nospam.biz) Re: A Better Way To Squelch Spam? (jmayson@nyx.net) VOIP Seeks Its FCC Level (VOIP News) Vonage Sues AT&T for Trademark Infringement (VOIP News) VoIP Reaches Out, Wirelessly (VOIP News) SPA-3000 Unveiled by Sipura Technology at the Spring VON (VOIP News) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim Burks Subject: Manchester, UK Exchange Fire Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 03:14:47 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com A fire damaged a major BT cable tunnel in central Manchester, UK early Monday morning. This seems to be their equivalent of the Hinsdale, IL fire of the '80s in the US (see TELECOM Digest archives for details). Significant disruption of the phone network at least 100 miles from Manchester in some areas. Estimates are 150,000 lines affected, including the city ambulance dispatch radios, a number of call centres and web hosting centres. My company's high capacity leased lines in the area are still down as of Tuesday evening. News links: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/36645.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/36652.html http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=85790.html http://www.cybertrn.demon.co.uk/guardian/ Jim Burks Collierville, TN jburks2 (et) midsouth.rr.com ------------------------------ From: Editor X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #153 TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:14:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 153 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued (TELECOM Editor) <====== VoIP Provider to Block Eavesdroppers (VOIP News) Re: Cellular Tower Leases (John Levine) Re: AOL Connection Leads to $2500 Phone Bill (Marcus Jervis> All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Editor Subject: Fire Coverage From Manchester, UK Continued Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:00 UCT Here are some news reports from the UK newspapers for Tuesday, March 30 and Wednesday, March 31 regards the telephone exchange fire in Manchester, UK on Monday. PAT BT fire disrupts emergency services By Tim Richardson Posted: 29/03/2004 at 13:41 GMT A major cable fire in Manchester has brought chaos to the region as emergency services struggle to cope with a communication blackout. According to the BBC, emergency services have been stretched after the fire damaged communication links. Greater Manchester Ambulance Service said it was struggling after the fire damaged its radio network while some 999 services have also been hit. And because so many phone lines have been wiped out, there are concerns that people will be unable to access 999 services in the event of an emergency. At this early stage it's impossible to gauge the full extent of the incident that has wiped out more than 130,000 telephone lines. The Register has received a number of reports from readers about companies hit by the fire and unable to access their systems. From banks to airlines, it seems the fire has brought many companies to their knees. Mobile phone operator Vodafone said that some of its network had been hit and that it's working with BT to reroute calls elsewhere. While a statement on utility giant Powergen's website reads: "We're sorry but the Powergen website is currently unavailable. This is due to a major telecommunications failure in the North of England. We're working hard to restore the service as soon as possible. Our apologies again for any inconvenience caused." Fire crews are still dealing the incident deep down in tunnels beneath the centre of Manchester. Black smoke is reportedly billowing out as firefighters use emergency generators to ventilate the tunnels. Said BT in its latest statement: "A fire in deep level tunnels running beneath the streets of central Manchester has caused extensive damage to cables and widespread disruption to phone services in Manchester and the surrounding area. "The fire is affecting some 130,000 homes and businesses in the centre of the city. BT is currently assessing the extent of the damage and working to reroute and restore as many services as possible. "However, the true extent of the repair will not become clear until the fire authority have declared the site safe and BT engineers can gain access to the tunnels. It is not possible at this stage to say how long it will be before all services are fully restored." The fire broke out around 2.00am causing "extensive damage". ® ===================================== BT denies cable fire was in A-bomb exchange By Tim Richardson Posted: 30/03/2004 at 11:28 GMT While BT was tackling its underground cable fire yesterday, the burning issue for many Web watchers was whether the blaze was in an old telephone exchange buried deep below Manchester and designed to withstand a twenty-kiloton atom bomb. The Register was flooded with emails yesterday from people convinced that the fire had broken out in what is known as the "Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange". According to this fascinating insight into Manchester's Cold War past the "Guardian" was built in 1954 some 34m underground and was designed to withstand a Hiroshima-size atomic explosion and ensure that communications could continue in the event of Manchester being flattened. Yesterday, BT officials denied that the fire was anywhere near the underground exchange. Today, though, a spokesman told The Register: "The tunnel in which the fire broke out was built at the same time as the former underground 'Guardian' exchange - in the 50s. "The exchange no longer exists - it was decommissioned in the early 70s and all the gear removed. "The tunnel is and always has been a cable tunnel between the two BT (then GPO) buildings - Dial House and Rutherford House." No one at the telco was available at the time of writing to say if the tunnel was part of the bomb-proof underground structure. ® =================================== Cold-War History in Manchester The Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange Ever since I moved to Manchester in 1986 I've heard rumours about secret underground installations under the city centre. I particularly remember being told on several occasions about a secret nuclear bunker under Piccadilly Gardens. I have since found out that there is some truth behind these rumours. This web site reports my findings. Warning The Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange is NOT open to the public. Attempting to gain unauthorised access is trespass. Often it is very dangerous too: on more than one occasion people have died in the process of trying to gain access to such sites. If you attempt to enter a defence related site, even an apparently unused one, you should expect an unpleasant encounter with military police. Please do not pester site owners to gain access, this causes irritation to many of them. Instead, please join one of the specialist societies that can organise visits properly. Most of what I found out came from the excellent and highly recommended book: War Plan UK: The Secret Truth about Britain's "Civil Defence" by Duncan Campbell Published by Paladin Books in 1983 (Unfortunately it is now out of print) This book includes a map and description of the Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange and deep level tunnel system in Manchester. Duncan Campbell has kindly given me permission to reproduce this information here: I have had to remove the map at the request of the Geographers' A-Z Map Co Ltd. Manchester Guardian is an underground telephone exchange in the centre of Manchester built in 1954. It is 112 feet (34m) below ground and cost £4 million to construct. The main tunnel, one thousand feet long and twenty-five feet wide (300m by 7m), lies below buildings in Back George Street, linking up to an anonymous and unmarked surface building containing the entrance lifts and ventilator shafts. There are also access shafts in the Rutherford telephone exchange in George Street. Its purpose was to resist a Hiroshima sized twenty-kiloton atom bomb, and preserve essential communications links even if the centre of Manchester had been flattened. A deep level tunnel system runs east and west from Guardian. A mile-long (1.3km) tunnel runs west to Salford, and a thousand-yard (700m) tunnel runs to Lockton Close in Ardwick, where a modernised ventilator building marks the south-eastern extension of the Manchester deep level tunnels. In the event of an attack warning, Guardian's main entry shaft was to have been sealed by a thirty-five-ton concrete slab that could be positioned over the entrance. Staff could escape either by using built-in hydraulic jacks to lift the slab (if covered with debris) some weeks after attack, or via the deep level tunnels to Ardwick and Salford. Emergency stores contained six weeks' supply of food rations, and Guardian had its own artesian well, generators, fuel tanks, and artificial windows and scenery painted onto rest-room walls. The exchange was to survive even if the city it served was destroyed. The Manchester Guardian telephone exchange and deep level tunnels were one of several such systems built in the 50s. Similar installations can be found under London (Kingsway) and Birmingham (Anchor). By the time the exchange and tunnels were complete they were entirely vulnerable to more powerful Soviet H-bombs. I decided to try to locate and photograph the shafts and surface buildings described in "War Plan UK". To my surprise I found the surface buildings still intact, although they seemed to be in a bad state of repair. Their existence is still not common knowledge in Manchester. I wonder how much is left of the underground installations. Ardwick Shaft The entrance to the ardwick shaft can be found in a small fenced off enclosure in Lockton Close in Ardwick. Lockton close is first right off Grosvenor Street, which is off Downing Street. The entrance is adjacent to the Mancunian way, and I wonder whether the deep level tunnels where damaged by the extension of the Mancunian way which was added a few years ago. Karel Hladky, a visitor to this page made the following comment: "I don't think that the foundations of the new Mancunian Way - London Road flyover piers would go as deep as this - it is a steel bridge and would be a fair bit lighter than a concrete one". Perhaps this is why the new flyover was not a concrete construction, so as not to interfere with the tunnels (also see the reply to this site from BT). Ardwick Shaft Note the padlocked blast-proof doors and the ventilation louvers. These relatively new "No Parking" road markings in front of the entrance to the fenced enclosure may indicate it is still in occasional use (see the reply to this site from BT): Ardwick Shaft - Entrance to Compound Salford Shaft The entrance to the Salford shaft can be found in a small fenced off enclosure on Islington Street between Chapel Street and North Star Drive in Salford (close to Salford Crescent). As can be seen the design of the entrance building and enclosure are very similar to those found at the Ardwick Shaft despite being a couple of miles from Ardwick. Salford Shaft Salford Shaft City Centre Entrance and Ventilator Shaft Building This is the city centre building containing the entrance lifts and ventilator shafts above the Guardian telephone exchange. This building is located on George Street between Princess Street and Dickinson Street. That is just behind the Odeon Cinema on Oxford Street. This is the entrance to the car park on George Street. Entrance Building - George Street The sign on the gate reads: POLICE NOTICE NO PARKING AT ANY TIME enquiries - 55 GEORGE ST 236-0430 Looking over the wall I saw a BT van parked in the car park which makes some sense given the telecommunications function of the site, although I would not expect the exchange to still be in use. Perhaps BT are just using the car park for their vehicles (see the reply to this site from BT). This is the building viewed from James Street. Entrance Building - James Street This would be the main loading bay into the building, possibly used for the installation of large telephone exchange equipment. The lift-shaft and thirty-five-ton concrete slab described in "War Plan UK" must lie just behind this door. Entrance Building - James Street Note the tall chimney-like ventilation shaft required to provide a supply of fresh-air to the underground installations below. The sign on the door reads: FIRE EXIT NO PARKING DAY OR NIGHT Apart from the two "No Parking" signs the building is completely unmarked. A visitor to this site was inspired to take some more pictures of this structure in the city centre. Rutherford Telephone Exchange This is Rutherford House on George Street, just behind Piccadilly Plaza. This is the renamed and renovated Rutherford Telephone Exchange, and as such contains shafts allowing access to the underground Guardian Exchange. Rutherford Telephone Exchange Some of the ground-floor windows seem to have very strong grills or shutters behind them. Perhaps this building was strengthened to make it blast proof as some other surface telephone exchanges were in the mid 70s. I recently (Jan 2002) received an email which indicates that the information about Rutherford House containing an entrance to the bunker is incorrect: "Your reference to Rutherford House as being one of the entrances is wrong. The main entrance is behind the doorman's office in a building across the Road, 26 York Street. The other entrance was in George Street. The building contained a passenger lift and a crane for winching materials to the tunnel below. I worked in Guardian 1966-69 and it was a very depressing place of work. If the weather was bad during winter, I could go 5 days without seeing daylight. Dark in the morning going to work and dark going home. Most people who worked down there wore glasses. Eyestrain brought on by fluorescent lighting." Information from another site: Guardian was a Trunk Non-Director exchange, opened 8.0 a.m. 7th December 1958. A second and larger Trunk Unit, 'Pioneer' was brought into service during November & December 1959, to complete the Trunk Mechanisation in Manchester. Manchester Civic Society Article Certain members of the Manchester Civic Society had a guided tour of the Guardian Exchange in 1997. Their newspaper, the Forum, carried an article about this tour in its December 1997 edition. The Civic Society have kindly given me permission to reproduce this article here: Underground Manchester - An Undiscovered World Beneath Our Feet. Pictures Taken Within the Underground Exchange I have obtained some pictures taken inside the underground telephone exchange. Unfortunately these are of a rather poor quality and I don't know when they were taken. I was particularly surprised to see the piano and pool table in the recreation room. They were planning to have quite a relaxing time sitting out armageddon down there! (but see the reply to this site from BT). THESE PICTURES ARE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MANCHESTER CIVIC SOCIETY AND WERE NOT TAKEN DURING THEIR VISIT TO THE EXCHANGE. Pictures Taken During the Construction of the Underground Exchange I have obtained some pictures taken during the construction of the underground telephone exchange. These pictures were kindly sent to me by BT in Manchester who also sent a reply to some of the points made on this site. I have recently (March 2002) obtained some more pictures taken during the very early phase of construction and some taken later but before the exchange equipment was installed. THESE PICTURES ARE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MANCHESTER CIVIC SOCIETY AND WERE NOT TAKEN DURING THEIR VISIT TO THE EXCHANGE. Final Comments As the Guardian underground telephone exchange and deep level tunnels still exist under the streets of Manchester and are no longer in use, I believe they should be opened to the public as a cold-war museum. It is essential, in my opinion, to preserve this recent history so that past mistakes are not repeated. Alternatively, the exchange could be converted into an interesting venue for a club or bar by some entrepreneur, as so many other derelict buildings in Manchester have been. See the reply to this site from BT. If anyone reading this has any more information on the underground installations in Manchester please email me at: atomic@cybertrn.demon.co.uk For a comprehensive list of the UK's Cold War defence infrastructure and related information visit the The Research Study Group pages. Duncan Campbell's home page has information on his current research and investigations. Readers of this page may also be interested in the Protect and Survive web site, an archive of UK civil defence material which also includes a comprehensive list of cold-war related links. Copyright 2002 © George Coney - Cybertron Limited Last updated March 12, 2002 *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owners, in one instance, George Coney, Cyberton Limited, in the other instance, The Register Newspaper. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------