TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Nov 93 00:32:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 768 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Canadian Govt Database Updates (Tyson Macaulay) Query For Network Designers on a LAN/WAN Problem (Dean Pentcheff) Serial Protocol For NT TCM/MPDA (Bill Riess) GSM Interference (was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?) (Erik Ramberg) Custom Cable Makers? (David Morgenstern) Mobilnet Pushing Credit Card Verification Over Cellular (Barry Lustig) Fiber Amplifiers and Solitons (Fred Bertsch) Terse 800 Failure ... Oh My! (Scott M. Pfeffer) Compression With ISDN (Roger Fajman) Watch Those Memos: TCI Memo Text (Reed Vance) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 15:54:13 EST From: Tyson=Macaulay%DTP%DGCP=HQ=ADMSR@dgbt.banyan.doc.ca Subject: Canadian Govt Database Updates ***** ATTACHMENT: G:\DATABASE\00ANNOU.N18 ***** Latest additions to Industry and Science Canada's Internet database ******************* Dernieres additions a la base de donnees Internet Industrie et Sciences Canada All files are available via anonymous ftp gopher and listserv unless otherwise stated. Tous les fichiers sont accessibles par le truchement de la commande GOPHER ou LISTSERV du protocole de transfert de fichier (ftp) anonyme, sauf indications contraires. Anonymous ftp to debra.dgbt.doc.ca /pub/isc Gopher to debra.dgbt.doc.ca port 70 If you Gopher into the database a WAIS search-engine is available to scan the entire database for keywords. Do to the large number of files this is the recommended approach -- if available. Si vous entrez dans la base de donnees a l'aide de la commande Gopher, une ressource de recherche WAIS permet de rechercher des mots cles dans toute la base de donnees. En raison du grand nombre de fichiers, voici l'approche recommandee, s'il y a lieu. Send Listserv commands to Listserv@debra.dgbt.doc.ca with the command / Lancez les commandes Listserv a Listservdebra.dgbt.doc.ca a l'aide de la commande get isc 00readme in the body of the message/ a l'interieur du message. This file will give more details about listserv access. / Ce fichier vous permet d'obtenir plus de details sur l'acces a listserv. New files in /pub/isc: *** Insight.zip Information Technology Statistical Review 1993 / Revue statistique de 1993 sur la technologie de l'information This is a software package contaning IT information for the Canadian and US IT industries in hypertext format. This program is to run on PC and requires about 9 megs of free disk space. Instructions for installation and running are included in the zip file: Il s'agit d'un progiciel qui contient des renseignements sur la technologie de l'information (TI) pour les industries de la TI au Canada et aux Etats-Unis, en format hypertexte. Ce programme tourne sur les PC et necessite quelque 9 Mo d'espace disque. Les instructions d'installation et d'execution sont incluses dans le fichier comprime (zip); Be sure to decompress this file using the command / Prenez soin de decomprimer ce fichier a l'aide de la commande: pkunzip -d insight.zip *** privacy.protection.in.telecommunications.english This file is concerned with the privacy implications of telecommunications services made possible by new technology and market changes. Its particular focus is that privacy issues should be dealt with as a telecommunications-specific matter, taking into account the need to balance the cost against the benefits of telecommunications service innovations. The paper proposes that privacy principles be developed through a public consultation process, and implementedon by the telecommunications carriers and service providers. *** protection.privee.telecommunications.francais Ce fichier a trait aux repercussions de la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels en matiere de services de telecommunication, protection maintenant possible grace a la nouvelle technologie et aux changements qui caracterisent les marches. Il permet, notamment, d'assurer que les questions relatives a la protection des renseignements personnels soient traitees strictement dans le contexte des telecommunications, et de tenir compte de la necessite de trouver le juste equilibre entre les couts et les avantages des innovations dans le domaine des services de telecommunications. Dans cette communication, nous proposons que les principes regissant la protection des renseignements personnels soient elabores dans le cadre d'un processus de consultation, puis mis en oeuvre par les entreprises de telecommunications et les fournisseurs de services. *** isc.programs.english This file contains information about the various government programs available from ISC to aid in technology development by the private sector in Canada. All documents are available in English and French. *** programmes.isc.francais Ce fichier contient des renseignements sur les divers programmes gouvernementaux offerts par ISC, destines au developpement technologique par le secteur prive au Canada. Tous les documents sont disponibles en anglais et en francais. *** videotheque.library.english This is a catalogue of the video library that ISC makes available to the private sector in Canada for free. All files are in both English and French. An order-form file is included individually. *** videotheque.bibliotheque.francais Il s'agit d'un catalogue de la videotheque qu'ISC met gratuitement a la disposition du secteur prive au Canada. Tous les fichiers sont disponibles en anglais et en francais. Un fichier de formules de commande y est inclus. In addition to these new files in /pub/isc there are three new subdirectories with several hundred files, these directories are only available via anonymous ftp and gopher. Outre ces nouveaux fichiers dans /pub/isc, trois nouveaux sous-repertoires sont associes a plusieurs centaines de fichiers; ces repertoires ne sont accessibles que par le truchement des commandes ftp et gopher anonymes. /pub/isc/technology.networking.guide The **Technology Networking Guide -- Canada** documents Canadian private and public sector technology information sources, services, programs and contacts. These files are intended to aid Canadian business in the location of technology expertise, assistance and opportunities which will create new business and help the expansion of existing industries. Le **Guide de la gestion de la technologie en reseau - Canada** documente les sources d'informations technologiques des secteurs public et prive au Canada, les services, les programmes et les ressources qui s'y rattachent. Le but de ces fichiers est d'aider les entreprises canadiennes a recenser l'expertise technologique, a obtenir l'assistance necessaire et a repertorier les possibilites de creation de nouvelles affaires, tout en contribuant a l'expansion des industries existantes. /pub/isc/isc.publications.english This directory contains a list of publications sponsored by the department of Industry and Science Canada. The publications are arranged chronologically according to sector area. Information for obtaining each publication is made available along with the abstract. /pub/isc/publications.isc.francais Ce repertoire contient une liste de publications parrainees par Industries et Sciences Canada. Les publications sont classees dans un ordre chronologique, par sujet. Le resume fourni contient les renseignements de commande de chaque publication. Questions or comments should be addressed to: Veuillez faire parvenir tous commentaires ou questions a l'attention de: Tyson Macaulay Internet Applications Consultant Industry and Science Canada 7th Floor, Journal Tower North 300 Slater Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C8 (613) 993 7882 e-mail / courrier electronique: tyson@debra.dgbt.doc.ca tyson.macaulay@crc.doc.ca File updated / Mise a jour de fichier: Nov 18, 1993 ------------------------------ From: dean2@tbone.biol.scarolina.edu (Dean Pentcheff) Subject: Query For Network Designers on a LAN/WAN Problem Date: 18 Nov 1993 14:01:49 -0500 Organization: Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia I'm working at the University of South Carolina in the Biological Sciences Department. We've begun to explore the possibilities of setting up a network to provide scientific information and images to secondary schools in the state. The idea is to provide a network for teachers and students to correspond, and also to provide some Internet access (via such tools as Mosaic for Windows and Usenet News). The original plan was very simple: one computer per school with a high-speed modem. There are about eight schools involved, so we figured on a modem bank on this end with eight modems. They'd dial in and get connected to our host machine and use SLIP for TCP/IP connectivity. Fine. Then, in talking with the teachers, it became evident that we had to set up multiple machines per school (essentially one per science/math classroom) or the whole thing would be sort of useless. Now we're in over our heads and need some help to think about this. I'm assuming that the basic way to go about this would be to set up a LAN at each school (perhaps 10Base2 Ethernet cards in each computer since that's what I'm familiar with). I assume there's a way to link that network with our host at USC. What do we need? We're pretty clueless. I'm assuming that we need something like the following: School _Some flavor of phone line PC--| / PC--| / PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--|-Magic Box 2--Campus net PC--| | or our host PC--| | | School | PC--| | PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--| | School | PC--| | PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--| I don't know what "Magic Box 1" is. Are there devices that can can be directly hooked up to an Ethernet and relay packets to a remote site (bridge?). What type of phone line is appropriate? Is it possible to do this on a dialup line or is that a stupid idea? If so, what sort of leased line would be appropriate (keeping in mind that the cost of this _must_ be low). What's needed on our end? A modem for each incoming line? There must be another "Magic Box" on the other end - do we need just one (as diagrammed), or do we need one for each incoming phone line? How are those connected to the campus network? Or would we connect directly to our host? You see how lost we are? What are good sources of information on this sort of thing? Alternately, if there's someone out there who does this sort of thing professionally, I'd be extremely appreciative if you'd let me give you a call and pick your brain for 15 minutes. I suspect that to people in the networking biz, this is a pretty trivial thing to set up. Our problem is that we don't have the background to even begin to assess the multitude of possibilities. Thanks for any info or leads you can send me! N. Dean Pentcheff Biological Sciences, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia SC 29208 (803-777-8998) Internet addresses: pentcheff@pascal.acm.org or dean2@tbone.biol.scarolina.edu ------------------------------ From: bill_riess@il.us.swissbank.com Subject: Serial Protocol For NT TCM/MPDA Organization: Swiss Bank Corporation CM&T Division Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 23:10:08 GMT We are trying to interface a Northern Telecom phone to some of our computer applications in a Non-PC/MAC environment (ie: does NOT compete with NT's VISIT products). We may implement some VISIT-like features, but Northern Telecom says they have "no plans" to do anything in our envivonment. I have talked (at length) to Northern Telecom about the serial protocol used between their Meridian Programmable Data Adapter (MPDA) and the attached device (PC, Workstation, whatever.) This apparently is the same as used by their Meridian TelAdaptor TCM. This is the protocol a PC running VISIT Voice or VISIT Video uses to "talk" to the phone, controlling the various features and functions. The manual that comes with the TCM or MPDA does have some simple "AT" commands for control, but there is a "transparent" mode (activaed with "ATTSP!") that allows for access to the RAW SIGNALLING between the PBX and phone and "is used by some special software applications". This mode is used by the VISIT products. It seems Northen Telecom is rather secretive about how this stuff works, even though AT&T and Rolm publish and distribute equivalent information for their respective equipment. NT actually has the documentation, it is called "The TCM Loop Series (2616) Aeries Subset of x.11 Commands", Northern Document F2K90AC, but they are unwilling and/or unable to release it. My frustration makes me want to just reverse-engineer the protocol, which appears straight-forward, as I have done a similar thing previously. However, I'd rather spend my time more productively. Which leads me to my questions: Does anyone out there have documentation on this Protocol? OR Can you tell me how to obtain it? OR Can you suggest someone who does/can? OR Do you have an other approaches/ideas? Thanks! Bill Riess Swiss Bank Corp. 141 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago Illinois Phone: +1 312 554 5150 FAX: +1 312 554 5030 E-Mail: bill_riess@swissbank.com The opinions expressed above are NOT those of Swiss Bank Corp., and I will likely disavow they are mine if confronted. ------------------------------ From: erik_ramberg@SMTP.esl.com (Erik Ramberg) Subject: GSM Interference (was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?) Date: 18 Nov 1993 21:39:46 GMT Organization: ESL Inc. In article , dave@llondel.demon.co.uk (David Hough) wrote: > As any radio amateur worth his salt will know, 100% amplitude > modulation of a signal with what amounts to a square wave is bound to > cause problems. Still, look at it the other way: now we have something > else to blame when the TV picture breaks up into a mass of > interference :-) Huh?!? GSM uses GMSK, i.e. MSK with a Gaussian window. TDMA uses DQPSK, or a quaternary form of phase shift keying. Both of these formats are designed to fit within the channel bandwidth and are very different from the AM that you discribe. Though I'm sure nobody really knows what's to blame for the interference, if anything it's some strange intermod problem rather than directly attributal to the move to a TDMA type system. Erik Nothing that I say can be construed as the opinion of my employer. ------------------------------ From: davidm@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (David Morgenstern) Subject: Custom Cable Makers? Organization: California State University, Sacramento Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 17:00:51 GMT I've used one of these Radio Shack devices to tape record phone calls in the past (nothing nefarious). I would split the line and one side would go to the phone and the other to the tape recorder with the help of a little switch box with cables. But here's the problem. I'm working now in a place with a Meridian system, which won't let me do this. I would guess that if I could split the handle then I could do this. What I need is a special cable (with a bunch of capacitors and whatever) to divide the handle cable, with one side going to the handle, and the other to a regular tape recorder line in plug. Or second best, an adaptor for the device I already own ...? Does anyone know of some places that could do this kind of work? And how much? Or if you've seen it already done in a catalog? Please reply to davidm@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu. Thanks, David Morgenstern, davidm@sfsu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 18:57:08 -0500 From: Barry Lustig Subject: Mobilnet Pushing Credit Card Verification Over Cellular Organization: ICTV Systems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (408) 562-9200 In the "Quality Talk" newsletter issued with my latest bill from GTE Mobilnet bill was an article titled "New Mobile Merchant Captures More Sales". The article goes on to describe a product from Verifone that allows merchants to do credit card capture and authorization in the "field". Unfortunately, they don't mention anything about whether or not card numbers go out over the air in the clear. When will these folks start dealing with the reality of cellular snooping. barry [Moderator's Note: The 'reality of cellular snooping' is that there really isn't much of it and what there is is considerably overrated. Relatively few people bother doing it, although lots of people are excited at first knowing they can do it with their modified scanner, etc. Then after a week or less of listening to others, when they realize that unlike a soap opera they listen to on television, the calls they pick up on the scanner will be there a few seconds or a minute and drop off as soon as the tower they are monitoring passes the call, they get bored. Their scanner flips endlessly through 832 channels, hitting the same conversations over and over that they do not want to hear, so they have to reach over and step it up a channel to start the scan process again; then when one that does sound interesting comes along, its there a few seconds and the tower passes it off; finding where (what channel) it moved to is anyone's guess, and the folks sit there scanning and trying to follow it, but give up. As noted, after a week or so they get tired of the game and go back to listening to their local police frequencies, or other stable conversations where the radio either talks or remains silent but they don't have to keep stepping past stuff they don't want and chasing after what they find mildly interesting. The nature of how cellular phones work does not make them all that easy a target for repeated and constant listening to any one phone by any one snoop, etc where scanners are concerned. But what about the professional con-artist you say? The one who uses special equipment to capture ESN data (as one example) and install it in other phones? What real use do you think he has of your credit card number, particularly when he does not have your name and address to go along with it? Is he going to do a phone order for merchandise and have it come to *his* address to be signed for? People who wish to fraudulently use the credit of others want the *plastic* to present to merchants in a situation where the merchandise can be carried away on the spot. They don't like leaving audit trails; messy things like ANI records of their 800 call; a UPS delivery record of a package signed for by 'someone' in their residence, etc. The fleeting second or two that a credit card number is recited over a cellular phone poses no greater risk than the fleeting second or two you are punching digits at a cash station machine (for example) which has a hardwired landline phone to the bank's computer. Do you have equal concerns about the possibility -- quite remote -- that someone is tapping a multiple on the pair between the cash station and the bank to pick up tidbits of information regards card numbers and PINS? The chance of your credit card number getting abused by someone plucking it off the airwaves without your name, address and PIN to go along with it is equally remote. At least at the cash station, your account number and PIN are put in the machine and transmitted; is that a better deal to you? Phreaks being phreaks, they will always manage to rip some people off. But to *not* use cellular phones for card verification in remote settings (like an outside flea market for example) would drive the cost of credit higher than it already is, forcing everyone to pay more. The credit granters would rather take a risk on an occassional -- very occassional, very rare, INHO -- fraud by an opportunistic person who just happened to be tuned in scanning, just happened to land on the channel handling your call; just happened to have a pen and paper handy and just happened to have a criminal mindset all at the same time that your credit card number was passed. I agree. PAT] ------------------------------ From: fbertsch@msc.cornell.edu (Fred Bertsch) Subject: Fiber Amplifiers and Solitons Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 00:07:54 GMT I've heard that AT&T already has some Er doped fiber amplifiers in some terrestrial lines, and next year they plan two submarine cabels using them. Are other telecom carriers far behind? It seems as though the technology should be significantly cheaper than recons- tructing the signal electronically. How about solitons? I seem to remember that NTT managed to generate them. Is that true? Anyone else? Fred ------------------------------ From: sp9183@swuts.sbc.com (Scott M. Pfeffer) Subject: Terse 800 Failure ... Oh My! Date: 19 Nov 93 02:25:28 GMT Organization: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company After reading an article about Ascend Corp. in this newsgroup I called the number listed in the article after hours. To make a long story short, the recording at Ascend gave an 800 number to call for customer service ... I called the number, but accidently misdialed: 1 800 272-3631 as opposed to the number I should have ... In any event, I got the following: One ring. "Click" High-paid male announcer's voice saying "A system error has occurred. Goodbye." "Click" Delay Dialtone. Time: 8:10 pm From: St. Louis Date: 11/16/93 Weird. I wonder who the carrier was ...? I wonder where the problem was ...? I wonder what this world has come to ...? Reminds me of the old days when terse young men used to serve as operators (way before any of us were cognitive human beings ...) Scott Pfeffer Information Services, Southwestern Bell Telephone [Moderator's Note: I just got the same message by trying the number now from Chicago. It is not a carrier recording, it is a customer's recording, probably from a voicemail system misprogrammed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Roger Fajman Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 21:09:02 EST Subject: Compression With ISDN > While some modem purveyors are claiming much faster speeds, these are > the result of data compression which works just as well over ISDN as > over a modem. If you stick to apple-apples comparisons it's still 128 > Kbps vs. 28 Kbps and that's a big difference by any measure. Yes, of course it's true that it's possible to do compression over ISDN. But is it practical today? As far as I know, there is no standard way of doing compression over ISDN and that ISDN terminal adapters sold today generally do not have compression. True or not true? If not, please mention some manufacturers and model numbers. Roger Fajman Telephone: +1 301 402 4265 National Institutes of Health BITNET: RAF@NIHCU Bethesda, Maryland, USA Internet: RAF@CU.NIH.GOV ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 13:43:52 CST From: Reed Vance Subject: Watch Those Memos: TCI Memo Text This is supposedly the text of the infamous TCI Memo. This was passed to me from someone on the telecomreg Listserv:Telecomreq LISTSERV. To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: TCI MEMO TEXT Here's the full text of the memo from TCI Cable COO Barry Marshall to the troops: As we move into the regulatory environment, it's important to remember something vital ... under regulation, we can't simply adjust our economics anymore. We have to take the revenue from the sources that we can, when we can. To that end I want to remind each of you that the transaction charges for upgrades, downgrades, customer-caused service calls, VCR hookups, etc. are vital new revenue sources to us. We estimate that by charging for these functions we can recover almost half of what we're losing from rate adjustments. We have to have discipline. Much like the install fee problem, we cannot be dissuaded from the charges simply because customers object. It will take a while but they'll get used to it ... they pay it to other service providers all the time ... and it isn't free with the phone company! Please hang in on this and installs, and we can still have a great fourth quarter when we have our heaviest volume. The best news of all is, we can blame it on reregulation and the government now. Let's take advantage of it! Reed Vance Irving, TX USA rvance@metronet.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #768 ****************************** ****************************************************************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253