TELECOM Digest Sun, 14 Mar 93 23:40:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 177 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: Tell Me About Your Pager (Anthony J. Stieber) Re: Tell Me About Your Pager (Harold Hallikainen) Re: Tell Me About Your Pager (Samuelson S. Rehman) Re: NY World Trade Center - Some Telecom News (Joe George) Re: NY World Trade Center - Some Telecom News (Dave Levenson) Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted (Robert Berger) Re: Facsimile CNG Tone (Dave Levenson) Re: Quebec Yellow Pages Controversy (Dave Leibold) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber) Subject: Re: Tell Me About Your Pager Date: 14 Mar 1993 22:26:07 GMT Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee In article stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > What about using paging to get data TO remote equipment? Are there > any devices that are pagers with an RS-232 port, instead of a display? > This way, you could send (short) commands to remote locations, without > requiring a phone line be present. Yes, Motorola sells one called the NewsStream. SkyTel sells the same unit under the SkyStream name. Hewlett-Packard sells their Mobile Data Link cradle into which a NewStream slides into one side and an HP-95LX MS-DOS palmtop computer slides into on the other side. The NewsStream will also work without the cradle on MS-DOS and Macintosh laptop computers. Here's some contact information for these and other companies: Last Revision 1993.03.14 Packet and cellular radio modems and network providers, email gateways. The latest version of this file is available via anonymous ftp on the Internet as: csd4.csd.uwm.edu:/pub/Laptop/data.radio This information is in no particular order. I am but a customer of some of these companies. This information is not guaranteed, and may be outright wrong. Use at your own risk. Please send additions or corrections. Mobitex packet radio network and Mobidem packet radio modem: Ericsson GE Mobile Communications Inc., a division of Telefon AB LM Ericsson Wireless Computing 15 E. Midland Ave. Paramus, NJ 201-265-6600 201-265-9115 fax 800-223-6336 Packet radio network provider: RAM Mobile Data 10 Woodbridge Ctr. Drive, Suite 950 Woodbridge, NJ 07095 800-736-9666 airmail@ram.com Ardis packet radio network and packet radio modems: Iridium Satellite Digital Radio System Motorola 800-247-2346 EMBARC data pager (Electronic Mail Broadcast to A Roaming Computer): Motorola 800-EMBARC-4 800-362-2724 National paging and SkyStram: SkyTel 800-456-3333 x764 Satellite radio system: Ellipsat Carincross Holdings Pty Sydney, Australia Internet, UUCP, CI$, ATT, etc mail gateway for pagers and packet radio networks: Anterior Technology PO Box 1206 Menlo Park CA 94026-1206 415-328-5615 415-322-1753 fax info@fernwood.mpk.ca.us support@fernwood.mpk.ca.us Cellular phone data modem, fax, etc, interfaces: Axsys, Axcell Spectrum Cellular Corporation 2611 Ceder Springs Road Dallas, TX 75201 214-999-6000 214-880-0151 Axsys, Axcell dealer: Applied Engineering 3210 Beltline Road Dallas TX 75234 800-554-macs x401 214-241-6060 214-484-1365 fax Wireless 9600bps modem, UHF RF, 50-200 yards: $540, UK pounds 301 New Era Microsystems Ltd 24 Cargate Ave Aldershot, Hamshire GU11 3EW UK 44-252-345426 44-252-317699 fax Usenet to satellite uplink system: 415-424-0380 pagesat@pagesat.com GPS reciever, GPSpac: Palmtree Products, Inc. 145 Washington Street Norwell, MA 02061 617-871-7050 617-871-6018 fax Integrated cellular phone/modem: Vital Communications 1983 Marcus Ave., Suite 111 Lake Success, NY 11042 800-42-VITAL 516-437-4400 Satellite radio: Qualcomm Satellite radio: Inmarsat Mobile Telesystems AirLink wireless digital modems, 64kpbs to fractional T1: Cylink Corporation 310 North Mary Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086 800-533-3958 408-735-5800 408-720-8294 fax <-:(= Anthony Stieber anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony ------------------------------ From: hhallika@tuba.calpoly.edu (Harold Hallikainen) Subject: Re: Tell Me About Your Pager Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 19:40:10 GMT In article stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) writes: > gotten. I have service from PacTel Paging, and for $21 a month, I get > coverage throughout WA, OR, CA, and AZ. This is for a display pager. > Local coverage only is $9 a month. Our paging is from MetroMedia and runs $10/month for tone only for all of CA, parts of NV and AZ. > What about using paging to get data TO remote equipment? Are there > any devices that are pagers with an RS-232 port, instead of a display? > This way, you could send (short) commands to remote locations, without > requiring a phone line be present. I got some info from Motorola on just such receivers, as I recall (it's buried here somewhere ...). Such receivers could be used in the "data broadcasting" idea I mentioned before. In our applications, we need two way communications with the remote sites, so paging does not seem feasible for that part of the system. We have suggested people get a "rack mount cellular phone" and plug our system into that when no phone service is available at the site. There are also the radio link POTS "line extenders" that can be used to get POTS at a remote site by radio. > Also, why is there a delay in the delivery of pages? I can understand > when the system may get busy during the day, and pages are stacked up > in the queue, but even in the middle of the night, it can take upwards > of a minute for a page to be delivered. Sometimes, they come almost > instantly, then just a moment later, take almost a minute. There's no > way that the queue was empty, then suddenly built up to a big backlog, > all of a sudden in the middle of the night. Why are pages not just > sent out immediately? I would think the only reason for any delay would be a backed up queue somewhere in the system. Since my pages are broadcast throughout the state, there could be a lot of traffic somewhere else that is causing the backlog. I wonder if this is truly a "simulcast" system where all sites transmit the pages simultaneously, or do they maintain local queues and distribute pages to each site in some manner similar to usenet news. Is there just one queue for this system? Or is there one for each site. I don't know if the paging frquency I'm on also handles voice pages, but, if so, I'm sure that would really slow things down. What are the rates on voice pagers now? I'd expect them to be the most expensive, based on air time requirments. Are voice pages put on the air live, or are they stored and aired in sequence, allowing several incoming phone calls simultaneously leaving voice page messages. Harold Hallikainen ap621@Cleveland.Freenet.edu Hallikainen & Friends, Inc. hhallika@oboe.calpoly.edu 141 Suburban Road, Bldg E4 phone 805 541 0200 fax 544 6715 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-7590 telex 4932775 HFI UI ------------------------------ Reply-To: sam@ssr.nca.com From: sam@ssr.nca.com (Samuelson S. Rehman) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 14:18:33 -0800 Subject: Re: Tell me About Your Pager >> transmitter control systems. On an alarm, the system would dump >> transmitter parameters to the on call tech's pager (alphanumeric). > What about using paging to get data TO remote equipment? Are there > any devices that are pagers with an RS-232 port, instead of a display? > This way, you could send (short) commands to remote locations, without > requiring a phone line be present. We have developed a technology for transmiting encapsulated data in a paging frequency, called Newspager (has been operating in four countries for about three yours now), which has a serial port connected to it. You can read and write to the built-in database system from your PC. In fact, one of our licensee (HPL Hong Kong) has been using Newspagers to driver and supply information to PCs for about a year now. The version manufactured by Motorola is called Inflo, which has a serial that supports up to 9600 bps, and another version by Uniden which supports 4800 bps serial I/O. (You can call Motolora or send email to info@nca.com for details). > Also, why is there a delay in the delivery of pages? I can understand > when the system may get busy during the day, and pages are stacked up > in the queue, but even in the middle of the night, it can take upwards > of a minute for a page to be delivered. Sometimes, they come almost > instantly, then just a moment later, take almost a minute. There's no > way that the queue was empty, then suddenly built up to a big backlog, > all of a sudden in the middle of the night. Why are pages not just > sent out immediately? Well, there are mainly two reasons for that. First you have to understand, to save battery, pager addresses are assigned to one of the seven fixed frames withing a POCSAG batch. Therefore, if you want data to be sent immediately, you will have to generate a new batch for each page you sent, which will obviously waste a lot of airtime. Therefore, like in most comm. protocol, the "encoder" will wait for a certain amount of time, hoping that the next packets can fit in the free slots and generate a completely filled batch. So, it back to that "Speed against Size" problem again. Secondly, most paging terminals have to manage zones. It has to pick, resort and decide which packets should go to which queue, which in fact could be done by any 486 machine with a good piece of software ... but ... if you have seen some of the most popular paging systems, you'll realize that they are mostly hardware based and are not very intelligent machines. The US paging companies are notorious about their slow response time and transmission reliability. Look at some other countries and you'll be surprised how efficient and reliable a POCSAG frequency could be. Best Regards... Samuelson S. Rehman {Systems Programmer - RnD.NCA, Director of NIS Systems} Newspager Corp. of America voice:(415)873-4422 | fax:(415)873-4424 | email:sam@nca.com,sam@netcom.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: NY World Trade Center - Some Telecom News From: jgeorge@whiffer.atl.ga.us (Joe George) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 17:51:08 EST Organization: The Waffle Whiffer, Atlanta, GA In comp.dcom.telecom, bwhitlock@uiuc.edu writes: > The key to the IBM PC's not working was their keyboards. So, the > problem is, as you said, shielding. The capacitive mechanisms of the > keyboard would not work in the environment at the radio station. > Keyboards which use a different technology than IBM's would work. This is common not just with IBM PC's but with many different kinds of IBM terminals. They all seem to use similar technology in the keyboard s. I had a problem with a customer last week where a rather large space heater managed to grunge keyboard response on about 30 IBM 3196 (AS/400 type) terminals. Joe ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: NY World Trade Center - Some Telecom News Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 19:34:25 GMT In article , john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > Believe me, if any hair was going to be standing on end at any of my > transmitter sites, I would be the first to notice. And I can prove it: > my mug shot was in the 3/7 of the {San Jose Mercury}. The picture was > taken the week before. > [Moderator's Note: Don't let John fool you. His picture in the papers, > like that of Ann Slanders and her twin sister Scabby Van Buren was > taken thirty years ago. :) I've heard rumors that he is bald-headed, > his hair having fallen out after working around that radiation all > these years. :) PAT] No, Pat, John's right. I saw him in the flesh when I was out in San Jose late in 1992, and he really has a full head of white hair (unless it all fell out in the last three months!). Oh yes, and it wasn't standing on end the night I had dinner with him and a friend in Los Gatos. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 [Moderator's Note: Well then, maybe all that radiation caused him to grow more hair. :) PAT] ------------------------------ From: rwb@alexander.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Berger) Subject: Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1993 02:48:18 GMT In article TELECOM Moderator notes: > the B carriers are owned by the local 'wireline' telephone company > in the area. In some rural areas the B carrier is also an independent company. My guess is the wireline companies don't consider such areas worth pursuing themselves and allow an independent to take the area ... [Moderator's Note: Well you have to remember a history lesson here. AT&T often used to accuse MCI of 'skimming the cream', but seventy years ago, the Mother Company was the biggest cream skimmer around. The majority of *rural* America did not yet have phone service in the 1920's. The lack of telephones and other basic utility services in rural areas was such a scandal that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the Rural Electrification Agency to provide federal loans to build and maintain Telephone Cooperative Societies in the hinterlands. The local farmers started the telephone co-op, strung the wires to the nearest point of contact with (preferably, if possible, out of principle) GTE or (as a last recourse if necessary) AT&T ... that's how much people disliked 'The Bell' even back then. Then they would hire the wife of one of them to run the switchboard, usually out of her home, with the Farmer's Daughter watching after the board when mom and dad went out, etc. AT&T claimed it was much too expensive to provide service to those areas; they were happy to let the government front the money even if the farmers were a sassy independent bunch who would string the wire another five miles if they had to to reach a central office they 'approved of' (i.e. a GTE operating company). AT&T knew the profits from the long distance traffic -- their baliwick -- would get back to them anyway. Then comes the 1950's and the farmers finally got their REA mortgages paid off. For the first time in a quarter-century the telephone cooperatives started making profits with no debt service monkeys on their back. Bingo, all of a sudden AT&T decides to start buying them up, 'in order to modernize the system'. The equipment was getting old and cranky, the farmer's wives were getting tired of working and with the daughters gone, good help was hard to find. Rather than go in debt all over again to replace the old switchboards, the farmers sold out to their long time nemesis, "The Bell", as they called it for whatever song and dance AT&T was willing to give them as payment. AT&T bought out dozens of those telephone cooperative societies once the blood, sweat and tears were out of the way, and overnight they just became part of the Bell System company in the region where they were located. Finally the federal government got sore and told AT&T they were not allowed to aquire any more opera- ing companies for any reason at all unless the operating company was in bad financial straits and in imminent danger of ceasing operations in which case AT&T *had* to take it! Watch rural cellular for a few years and see how the industry giants come in to take over once the little independents get the mortgage paid off. Same difference. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Facsimile CNG Tone Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 05:44:45 GMTn In article , desaulni@mprgate.mpr.ca (Richard W. Desaulniers) writes: [ regarding CNG tones from originating fax machines ] > I don't think this feature (i.e. being able to send CNG tones) is > mandatory, but should one expect all facsimile units manufactured > today to have that feature? What about the older facsimile units, do > they have this feature? Are there a lot of these older units out > there? Even on brand new units, the transmission of the CNG tone is under the control of the user. Most facsimile machines include a telephone handset, and can be used as an ordinary voice telephone. A user may pick up the handset, seize an outgoing line, dial a number, and converse. During the call, the user may place a document in the scanner, press a button usually labeled , and switch from voice to fax mode. When the user is manually dialing, the machine has no way to know whether the user intends to eventually enter fax mode, or to keep on talking. Therefore, most machines don't send CNG tones when they are being dialed with the handset off-hook in manual calling mode. If the user chooses to insert a document, enter a number, and then press , causing the machine to dial and attempt a fax conversation in automatic mode, then CNG tones are sent after dialing. Some users like automatic mode (most useful for unattended sending). Others like to dial and hear the call-progress tones, and only switch to fax mode when they hear the far end fax answer tone. Most fax machine users don't even realize that they are deciding whether or not to send CNG tones in this process. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 00:26:08 -0500 From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Dave Leibold) Subject: Re: Quebec Yellow Pages Controversy Quebec language debates aside, the Toronto Bell Canada white pages has English and French introductory sections. Nothing wrong with that, except that there are about nine other languages that are more common than French in Toronto, but less common than English (according to some recent Statistics Canada numbers as charted in {The Toronto Star}). Italian, Greek and Chinese are some of those prevalent Toronto languages. One Toronto TV station (Channel 47) even specialises in programmes in many languages. Perhaps an idea should be borrowed from the white page introductory sections of many other countries (Australia is one such country, I believe): a brief description of the phone service (emergency numbers, how to dial, etc) is translated into many languages. dleibold1@attmail.com and..... Dave Leibold - via FidoNet node 1:250/98 INTERNET: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.FIDONET.ORG ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #177 ****************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253