TELECOM Digest Wed, 22 Dec 93 12:39:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 833 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: Online Users Encyclopedia (Vedder Wright via Monty Solomon) Book Review: On Internet 94 (Dan L. Dale) Viewdata Terminal For Sale (Leigh M. Preece) Need Two to One Phone Line Switcher Help (andy@helios.njit.edu) Hardware Wanted For Compressing Data Over WAN Links (Ove Hansen) 911 Changes in Toronto (Tony Harminc) NEC NEAX 2400 Peculiarity (Will Martin) ATM Tariffs - Anyone Have the Facts? (D.E. Price) Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts (Tom O'Connell) Call For Papers - SIGCOMM'94 (Patrick Dowd) Looking For Papers on Cellular Phone Technologies (Dell'Elce Antonio) Info Highway: 21 Companies Don't Announce (Tara D. Mahon) Digital Cellular Information Wanted (Alex Cena) Source For Cellular Phone Accessories Wanted (drhilton@kaiwan.com) AT&T --> Earn Miles ON DL, UA, US (Eric Seiden via Monty Solomon) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 02:46:29 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Book Review: Online Users Encyclopedia FYI. From misc.books.technical. Newsgroups: misc.books.technical From: vwright@world.std.com (Vedder A Wright) Subject: Review: Online Users Encyclopedia Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1993 22:39:30 GMT Massive Telecom Book Arrives c 1993 Vedder Wright Bernard Aboba's "Online Users Encyclopedia" scoops the entire field with breathtaking scope from bulletin boards to the Internet, from how-to's to overview. This is a book for every level, beginner or advanced. It clearly stands out from the pack in tone, organization, and detail, offering specific information together with the big picture -- the "vision thing." The book is huge: about 800 pages on large format like a Sears catalog. The graphics and constant human touches help greatly to lead the reader through the daunting range of technical information it contains. The book is for both Mac and PC platforms. Unix tips and tricks are also found among the appendices. Other books don't attempt to tackle this scope. Of particular note is the detailed information for setting up SLIP and PPP connections to the Internet, together with reviews of TCP/IP software tools. The book contains helpful reviews of choice products, lists of sites, software and hardware discussion, and much more. The sections on compression utilities and file transfer are more detailed than any other book I have found. It's well-researched and well-organized. Yet Aboba doesn't lose sight of the purpose of all this: to communicate with other human beings. Vital human issues as well as the technical details are addressed, such as the role that bulletin boards play in relation to the Internet. Articles from online pioneers from Tom Jennings to Vinton Cerf help to inform us of the issues at stake. Vedder Wright vwright@world.std.com ****** The Online User's Encyclopedia, by Bernard Aboba Addison-Wesley Trade Computer Books ISBN: 0-201-62214-9 Suggested Retail Price: $32.95 Discounts: Single-copy discounts of 25% are available for schools and libraries; steeper volume discounts are available for user groups. For information, contact Addison-Wesley Special Markets at (617)944-3700, ext. 2915. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 17:42 EST From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com> Subject: Book Review: On Internet 94 From the publishers of Internet World. Title: on INTERNET 94 453 pages ISSN: 1066-9973 ISBN: 0-88736-929-4 Preface: Daniel Dern Edited: Tony Abbott Publisher: Mecklermedia, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport CT 06880 203-226-6967 Mecklermedia Ltd. Artillery House,Artillery Row,London SW1P 1RT 071-976-0405 Cost: US$45.00 Certainly one of the most comprehensive directories of Internet information services anywhere. For those of you that have ever requested a List Global from a Listserver, you will appreciate the tidy cross-referencing and healthy index. This is exactly what I was looking for when I first started using the Listserv and FTP-Server functions of the Internet. Other books on the Internet are great ... but reading them sometimes takes as much effort as navigating the Net itself. Jack Webb wanted "Just the Facts" well they are definitely in this book ... but can they keep it updated? Table of Contents Section 1: Discussion Lists and Special Interest Mailing Lists Section 2: Electronic Journals and Newsletters Section 3: Electronic Texts,Text Archives,Selected FTP Sites Section 4: Freenets and Other Community-Based Information Services Section 5: Campus-Wide Information Systems Section 6: Commercial Services on the Internet Section 7: Usenet Newsgroups and Other Mailing Lists Section 8: WAIS-Accessible Databases Appendix: List Review Service Subject Index END ------------------------------ From: mda03@keele.ac.uk (L.M. Preece) Subject: Viewdata Terminal For Sale Date: 22 Dec 1993 12:10:11 GMT [ Article crossposted from comp.terminals ] [ Author was L.M. Preece ] [ Posted on 21 Dec 1993 14:04:45 GMT ] Is anyone looking for a Sony Viewdata terminal ? It has composite video/RGB/TTL inputs and has inputs for an external modem. Also included is a Prestel type facility for hooking up to a phone line. You can access loads of places with it and maybe even Internet or your local server. Mail me back and I can furnish you with the model number and more specs. I am advertising it on behalf of a colleague and not my organization. Leigh.M.Preece. Keele University.Staffordshire.UK mda03@seq1.cc.keele.ac.uk ------------------------------ From: andy@helios.njit.edu (andy) Subject: Need Two to One Phone Line Switcher Help Organization: EIES2 - NJIT Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 15:54:21 GMT I am looking to either build or buy a device that will do the following: I need to plug two standard phone lines into a device that will detect which line is ringing and then connect the output to the line that is ringing. The device does not need to answer the call, just switch it to the output line. I realize two line phones and answering machines are readily available, but that is not my application, this is just an easier way to explain what I need. Any replies would be appreciated to: andy@helios.njit.edu For example: Line 1 Line 2 | | | | | | --------------------------------- | | | | | Device | | | | | --------------------------------- | | | Telephone or Answering machine [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Isn't the Radio Shack thing still úÿ available which allows two lines to be switched into one phone (either manually or automatically) still available? I've had one for a few years and it works fine. LEDs even tell you which line is currently switched. You can turn the automatic switching on or off, and choose which line you want to use for outgoing calls. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ove@neu.sgi.com (Ove Hansen) Subject: Hardware Wanted For Compressing Data Over WAN Links Date: 22 Dec 1993 17:17:09 GMT Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc. I'd be interested in receiving information about hardware products available for compressing data sent over WAN links. I've heard about a product called Symplex Datamizers and am awaiting more info about this, does anyone have any experience with Symplex and their products, or can anyone direct me towards other vendors offering similar hardware? Thanks in advance, Ove Hansen - Network Administrator e-mail: ove@neu.sgi.com Silicon Graphics Manufacturing S.A. (Switzerland) Phone : (41-38) 433 535 Chemin des Rochettes 2, CH-2016 Cortaillod Fax : (41-38) 433 900 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 17:23:36 EST From: Tony Harminc Subject: 911 Changes in Toronto I saw the following bizarre notice in the paper last week: NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC RE: 9-1-1, Auto-dial Alarm Devices In order to provide the citizens of Metropolitan Toronto with an effective, efficient emergency response service, the Metropolitan Toronto ambulance, fire and police service providers utilize the 9-1-1 emergency telephone system. Technology has recently been made available to the general public which allows an alarm device to auto-dial the 9-1-1 emergency number by pushing a button. On receipt of the call by an Emergency Operator a microphone is activated which acts as a one-way listening device for the operator. These alarm devices are intended to function without supervision by automatically accessing the 9-1-1 emergency system, implying that a need for an emergency service exists. The subsequent one-way transmission inhibits proper communications, resulting in unnecessary confusion and delays, monopolizing the time and efforts of emergency services personnel who would otherwise be serving the public in more appropriate ways. These calls should be received and verified by a private sector monitoring station, where the expertise and resources are available to manage such activity. For these reasons, effective January 1, 1994, the Emergency Services of Metropolitan Toronto will not respond to, or act upon any alarm transmitted directly to the 9-1-1 system, from any auto-dial alarm device. Members of the public are cautioned accordingly and advised to place no reliance on these alarm devices, which transmit an alarm directly to the 9-1-1 system, as a means of obtaining emergency response. Your best access to emergency services is a personal telephone call using the 9-1-1 emergency number or through a professionally monitored alarm system. Dated at Toronto this 1st day of December, 1993. (signed) Director, Metropolitan Toronto Ambulance Service Coordinator, Metropolitan Toronto Fire Chiefs Chief, Metropolitan Toronto Police Force -------------- Well, I can see their point, but in my humble-and-not-lawyer's opinion they are setting themselves up for a lawsuit. There is no technical means to differentiate a 911 call from an alarm auto-dialer from the case where a person manages to knock the phone off the hook, dial 911, and perhaps mumble a few words about the emergency. If they are really going to ignore 911 calls where the caller says nothing, then they've thrown out half the benefit of the expensive ANI-ALI system installed some years ago. Now what they may have *meant* to say is that they will ignore calls where the auto-dialer plays a pre-recorded message, which makes reasonable sense, but it sounds as though they've confused auto-dial burglar alarms with personal safety dialers. Tony Harminc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 04:39:52 CST From: Will Martin Subject: NEC NEAX 2400 Peculiarity When I make an outside-line call on our NEC NEAX 2400 system here at work (dialing 9 and then the local seven-digit number), the system has the annoying habit of giving me a ring-sound (in the handset or the speaker, depending which is turned on) and then a click that sounds *exactly* like the far end picking up on the call. However, it is not -- the ring sounds then continue until the called party answers or I hang up. What is going on that causes this initial ring-tone that I hear followed by that click? Is it the process of the unit selecting an outside trunk? If so, why does it give me a ring first? It is extremely bothersome -- that click sounds so much like the called party picking up that I am constantly reaching for the phone handset to start the conversation (our phones have speakers but no mikes, so we can start a call with the handset hung-up, but have to grab it to speak when the called party answers). It doesn't matter that I'm used to this and it happens every time -- I still can't train myself to ignore that initial click. If these are intentional sonic signals presented to me to indicate that the unit is working, I don't appreciate them. I'd prefer a pause of dead silence until it grabs a trunk and really begins the call. There's so little correspondence between the ring sounds I hear and the actual rings the called party's phone emits that I can't say if that first ringing I hear is before or after the called party's phone rings the first time. I'm guessing it is always internal-only; that the click is when the outside connection is made. Can anyone tell me just what is going on when I call out? When I dial the initial "9", am I handed off to a telco trunk then, or does the NEC just suck up all my dialled digits and only emit them to the telco switch after I finish? Or am I "talking" to the telco switch right after I dial the initial 9? I suspect the NEC waits until it detects a complete and valid-by-its-standards number before it passes it to the telco. That makes detecting and forbidding 976- and 900- calls easy. If the NEC holds the numbers and then passes them on later, how fast can it do this? Are the trunks it has to the telco higher-speed or special lines, or the same as any generic business-type phone line? Does it spit out DTMF at some far-higher-than-normal speed, or try to emulate human-dialling speed? (It would seem there isn't all that much time between the end of my dialling and that magical click ...) I have no experience with other competing phone systems -- we were on Centrex before we moved to the building which has this NEC NEAX 2400. So do other systems do the same thing? Regards, Will ------------------------------ From: dap@aber.ac.uk (D E Price) Subject: ATM Tariffs - Anyone Have the Facts? Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 11:57:55 GMT Dear All, I have just spotted some articles in the trade press about a tariff for ATM announced by the German Telecom. Does anyone have the full tariff for them or indeed for any other ATM provider (e.g. Sprint)? I want to be able to calculate charges for a range of customers so I need to know as much information as you have. Thanks in advance, Dave Price ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 11:02:43 -0800 From: fico!fico0!tjo@apple.com Subject: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts Someone in our firm is currently experiencing a "different" problem with our voice mail system. She will be leaving a message in someone's voice mailbox and the system will interrupt her, saying "To Send this Message, Press..."- as if she had punched a key, but she hadn't. The problem has been re-occurring. Our vendor (Octel) calls it "PROMPT INTERRUPTION", and says it happens when some individual's voice frequencies are very close to the tones generated by the keypad. The system interprets the voice as a key being punched. This seems odd, but I have HEARD of it on other systems. Has this happened to anyone else? Anyone come up with a solution to this problem? (Other than HORMONE PILLS?) Thanks, Tom O'Connell Fair, Isaac Co. - San Rafael, CA. Internet: fico!tjo@apple.com ------------------------------ From: dowd@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dowd) Subject: Call For Papers - SIGCOMM'94 Reply-To: dowd@eng.buffalo.edu Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1993 22:19:17 GMT Call for Papers ACM SIGCOMM'94 CONFERENCE Communications Architectures, Protocols and Applications University College London London, UK August 31 to September 2, 1994 (Tutorials and Workshop, August 30) An international forum on communication network applications and technologies, architectures, protocols, and algorithms. Authors are invited to submit full papers concerned with both theory and practice. The areas of interest include, but are not limited to: -- Analysis and design of computer network architectures and algorithms, -- Innovative results in local area networks, -- Mixed-media networks, -- High-speed networks, routing and addressing, support for mobile hosts, -- Resource sharing in distributed systems, -- Network management, -- Distributed operating systems and databases, -- Protocol specification, verification, and analysis. A single-track, highly selective conference where successful submissions typically report results firmly substantiated by experiment, implementation, simulation, or mathematical analysis. Papers must be less than 20 double-spaced pages long, have an abstract of 100-150 words, and be original material that has not been previously published or be currently under review with another conference or journal. úÿ In addition to its high quality technical program, SIGCOMM '94 will offer tutorials by noted instructors such as Paul Green and Van Jacobson (tentative), and a workshop on distributed systems led by Derek McAuley. Important Dates: Paper submissions: 1 February 1994 Tutorial proposals: 1 March 1994 Notification of acceptance: 2 May 1994 Camera ready papers due: 9 June 1994 All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality and relevance through double-blind reviewing where the identities of the authors are withheld from the reviewers. Author's names should not appear on the paper. A cover letter is required that identifies the paper title and lists the name, affiliation, telephone number, email, and fax number of all authors. Authors of accepted papers need to sign an ACM copyright release form. The Proceedings will be published as a special issue of ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review. The program committee will also select a few papers for possible publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Submissions from North America should be sent to: Craig Partridge BBN 10 Moulton St Cambridge MA 02138 All other submissions should be sent to: Stephen Pink Swedish Institute of Computer Science Box 1263 S-164 28 Kista Sweden Five copies are required for paper submissions. Electronic submissions (uuencoded, compressed postscript) should be sent to each program chair. Authors should also e-mail the title, author names and abstract of their paper to each program chair and identify any special equipment that will be required during its presentation. Due to the high number of anticipated submissions, authors are encouraged to strictly adhere to the submission date. Contact Patrick Dowd at dowd@eng.buffalo.edu or +1 716 645-2406 for more information about the conference. Student Paper Award: Papers submitted by students will enter a student-paper award contest. Among the accepted papers, a maximum of four outstanding papers will be awarded full conference registration and a travel grant of $500 US dollars. To be eligible the student must be the sole author, or the first author and primary contributor. A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for this competition. Mail and E-mail Addresses: General Chair ------------- Jon Crowcroft Department of Computer Science University College London London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom Phone: +44 71 380 7296 Fax: +44 71 387 1397 E-Mail: J.Crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk Program Chairs -------------- Stephen Pink (Program Chair) Swedish Institute of Computer Science Box 1263 S-164 28 Kista Sweden Phone: +46 8 752 1559 Fax: +46 8 751 7230 E-mail: steve@sics.se Craig Partridge (Program Co-Chair for North America) BBN 10 Moulton St Cambridge MA 02138 Phone: +1 415 326 4541 E-mail: craig@bbn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 11:42:18 GMT From: tdnycal@dsiaq3.ing.univaq.it (Dell'Elce Antonio) Subject: Looking For Papers on Cellular Phone Technologies Do you know of any network-available paper regarding celllular phones communication (I mean research papers, but anything else is also ok.) please email to me: tdnycal@dsiaq1.ing.univaq.it A. dell'elce ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 11:28:20 EST From: Bob Rosenberg Subject: Info Highway: 21 Companies Don't Announce An article that ran in the 13 December {Wall Street Journal} said that 28 companies were to about to announce their support for the Info Super Highway. We know that IBM, Apple, BellSouth, AT&T, CitiCorp, H-P, and Cable Labs were to take part in the announcement, but the other shoe hasn't dropped yet. Does anyone know the names of the 21 other companies that are/were going to take part in this PR fest? Or when/if this announcement will be made? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Bob Rosenberg bob@insight-corp.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 16:00:23 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Digital Cellular Information Wanted Some cellular carriers have made it known, which digital cellular technology they plan to adopt today and in the future. For example, McCaw and Southwestern Bell already are deploying TDMA digital cellular systems around the country, while Bell South is perceived to also be leaning toward TDMA given their intent to purchase infrastructure equipment from Hughes Network Systems. US West, Pactel Cellular and Bell Atlantic have announced CDMA deployment plans and MCI plans to use GSM for its PCS deployment. Does anyone know where Ameritech and GTE are with respect to digital cellular technology? What are the issues involved in the selection process. Thanks in advance, Alex M. Cena Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ From: drhilton@kaiwan.com (Doc) Subject: Source For Cellular Phone Accessories? Reply-To: drhilton@kaiwan.com Organization: kaiwan.com Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 01:16:47 GMT I recently bought an AT&T cellular phone, and would like to know of mail order houses or other outlets for accessories, such as extended life batteries. I have a couple of friends who also need such things as chargers, antennae, etc. We don't want to pay the rates charged by the cellular provider's outlet. Any suggestions? Best, drhilton@kaiwan.com - "Doc" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 02:08:51 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AT&T --> Earn Miles on DL, UA, US FYI. From rec.travel.air. Newsgroups: rec.travel.air From: darsys@pro-entropy.cts.com (Eric A. Seiden) Subject: AT&T --> EARN MILES ON DL, UA, US Organization: Pro-Entropy +1-305-265-9073 (DAR Systems Int'l -- Miami, FL) Date: Mon, 20 Dec 93 20:38:17 EST Call 1-800-7-REWARD and sign up. If you use AT&T for over $25/month in long distance calls, you can get enrolled at NO CHARGE. I responded to the ad in the paper and was pleased to find out you can apply five miles for each dollar to any ONE of the three airlines. In your first month get TRIPLE CREDITS too. There is no charge for this program -- it's designed to keep people with AT&T. (You can also apply credits to LD service rebates instead). Keep trying -- the line was busy for almost an hour before I got through. What a great idea! RealName: Eric A. Seiden (DAR Systems International: Miami, FL, USA) ProLine : darsys@Pro-Entropy [Call Pro-Entropy at 305-265-9073] Internet: darsys@Pro-Entropy.cts.com [24 hours a day of chaos at 14.4K] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #833 ****************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253