TELECOM Digest Tue, 4 Jan 94 03:52:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 3 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin (Seng-Poh Lee) US Digital Cellular Standard (Weiyun Yu) Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (John C. Fowler) CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94 (Patrick Dowd) Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China? (Laurence Chiu) Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France (Jean-Bernard Condat) ISDN Cards for IBM PCs (Arie Markus) GSM-Phones From London (Sami Vainionpaa) GTE vs. Cellular One (Michael Judson) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lee@gdc.com (Seng-Poh Lee) Subject: GDC V.FAST Modem Bulletin Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 17:31:32 EST Organization: General DataComm Ind. Inc., Middlebury, CT What follows is a bulletin from General DataComm regarding the availability of our V.FAST modem. For LITERATURE ONLY, please call 1-800-777-4005 (outside the US, call (203) 792-0542). For TECHNICAL or PRODUCT questions, you may either fax your queries to (203) 758-9129, or send e-mail to vfast@gdc.com. Please include a daytime phone number. Please mention that you heard about it in TELECOM Digest. ---------------------------------------------------- General DataComm, Inc. 1579 Straits Turnpike. , Middlebury, CT 06762-1299 INTERNET BULLETIN GDC ANNOUNCES V.FAST MODEM AVAILABILITY Middlebury, CT, December 30 -- General DataComm has just announced immediate availability of their new V.F 28.8 Series modems. These modems operate at full duplex speeds of 28.8 Kbps (Kilobits per second) in each direction, with compressed file speeds exceeding four times that rate. Currently shipping V.F 28.8 models are the DeskTop standalone modem and SpectraComm 7" high density rackmount version for central site installations. The DataComm V.F 28.8 standard rackmount model will be available in January. These modems are guaranteed to meet the new V.34 ITU-T recommendations as soon as it is ratified. Units purchased now will be upgraded, free, over the phone line. With 2- and 4-wire, synchronous and asynchronous, dial up and leased line operations, these may be considered universal modems. Containing the ITU-T V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.32bis, V.34 and Bell 212A and 103 modulations and V.42/V.42bis error detection and correction with data compression, this modem covers speeds from 300 bps to 28.8 Kbps, with effective throughput up to 128 Kbps with data compression. V.fast - V.fastest! Currently there are few actual 28.8 Kbps modems in the market. Testing the DeskTop V.F 28.8 Series against two of these has shown GDC the clear winner in the speed race. From random, incompressible files, to data base and graphics files so common in LAN and multi-media applications, GDC bests the competition by as much as 100%. With over twice the speed in many applications, using lines that are typical of over 50% of the U.S. dial-up network, the results clearly indicate GDC modems provide the best high-speed solution. These tests are currently being confirmed by an independent testing laboratory. Speed Saves For modem users, this means that with graphics and database file transfers, they will be cutting their phone bill in half using GDC's modems over the other V.fast solutions, and saving significantly more over V.32bis or slower modems. Companies and individuals looking for high speed modems to meet their applications requirements, are sensitive to these cost issues. Buying the wrong modem could cost many times the price of the unit. In fact, it may be shown that, even if you were given a competitive modem at no cost, it would pay to purchase a GDC unit. The GDC V.F 28,8 Series may also be equipped with high speed interfaces - both ITU-T V.35, ITU-T V.24/V.28/ISO2593 and EIA/TIA 530-A, ITU-T V.10/V.11/V.24/ISO 2110 are available for international and domestic use. This is very important, since these interfaces may be required to actually achieve the inherent speeds available using these new modems. With approvals already received for more than 30 countries, and more on the way, the GDC V.F 28.8 should be considered the international modem of choice for multi-national concerns. FLASH Flash All GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems are currently shipping with FLASH memory, allowing feature enhancements to the modems to be implemented by upgrading the software electronically, rather than swapping PROM chips. This means that obsolescence is a thing of the past, and users will be able to keep their modems up-to-date by making a phone call and downloading code for: - invoking new features - implementing code enhancements - insuring compatibility with the V.34 standard - establishing connectivity with new software communication packages and other devices. Many of today's modems are based on modified V.32bis chip sets incorporating proprietary modulation firmware which cannot be upgraded to V.34 when the standard is ratified. Phrases like "V.fast technology", "V.32terbo", "V.fast Class" are commonly used to infer compliance with the V.fast recommendations. This may not, in fact, become a reality when the standard becomes available. GDC guarantees its modems can be upgraded to the V.34 standard via download. Competitive modems still have to physically update the hardware as well as the software when upgrading products. Loss of the use of the modem while transporting it to and from the manufacturer for upgrade, disruption of service while the service technician replaces the chip and tests it, and the costs of providing services during these times are typical costs associated with other modem updates for your prospect. "These costs are avoided using the new GDC software upgrade technology. With GDC, a phone call does it all." says Dick Drake, Director of Marketing for Transmission Products. In January, GDC will begin compliance testing with the proposed V.34 standard, insuring GDC will be ready to implement the changes necessary when the standard is ratified. In addition, there are a number of new features already in the works. These include: Automatic Dial Restoral (ADR) for backup of leased lines with dial circuits; Password and Security Callback; V.25bis serial dialing (sync and async); and Remote Configuration of modems from other locations. How Upgrades Work There are two characteristics built into the V.F 28.8 that allow upgrades to be achieved over the phone line. First is the ability of the hardware, in this case a universal communications platform, to change it's functionality based on the resident software provided. The second characteristic is the ability to download the modem-defining software by connecting to the GDC Bulletin Board (BBS). The new software containing the desired features and operational characteristics -- the modem personality -- for the upgrade are then loaded down to the internal FLASH memory of the V.F 28.8 modem. Since the modem has the capability of storing up to four custom configurations, along with four fixed pre-defined profiles, and up to ten customer-defined phone numbers, these are also saved so the customer retains all unique operational parameters during this upgrade process. Safety Concerns In addition to the approved modem standards, many modem customers are concerned with safety issues. The V.F 28.8 Series has passed UL safety tests for lightning protection (UL1459) and for flammability (UL94V0). And heat is not an issue. With less than six watts of power consumption, our V.fast modems produce much less heat than our competitors with 12 watts, or more. This translates into greater safety, reliability, and savings for the customer. Digital Impact In some cases, users may wish to use the new V.F 28.8 modems as a substitute for, or backup of, digital circuits. With effective throughput speeds exceeding 100 Kbps, applications abound: 1. The V.F 28.8 Series is ideally suited for backup of Switched 56 Kbps analog or 64 Kbps digital leased lines using the dial-up network. Speeds are now compatible with many LAN-to-LAN applications. This insures both reliability and cost efficiencies. 2. Many managers are taking a hard look at the costs of upgrading to an all-digital network. Some of the benefits they see by staying with high-speed modems are: a. Modems fit in existing networks, and can be incrementally added as required versus installing a whole new digital system. b. Modems provide the only universal connectivity worldwide. c. Installation, training and support are all minimized with modems versus having to retrain, re-equip, and re-educate the department when switching to new technology. d. Modem technology is inherently more cost effective. e. Most MIS managers are more "comfortable" with modem technology, and the GDC V.F 28.8 Series may be changed into a managed modem with minimum network disruption with a simple download. Equipment obsolescence is virtually eliminated. 3. Generic applications, using modems as just another design element, are appearing from non-traditional sources. Applications from medical (CAT scan data transfer), to multi-media (training and manual field updates) are appearing daily. Many of these, due to larger file sizes, require higher speeds and universal transport - ideal for the GDC V.F 28.8 Series modems. 4. Most large users have occasion to work overseas. Many are multi-national. The GDC V.F 28.8 Series is currently homologated (approved for use) in thirty countries. In most cases, GDC is the only game in town (and country). "It would be a shame for a user to get new V.fast modems for his U.S. offices and then find out that his overseas offices, where he spends big communications bucks, can't use all the available speed because they implemented a proprietary system with a modem not approved in this country." said Drake. General DataComm, Inc. is a leading provider of multimedia networks and telecommunications equipment worldwide. Based in Connecticut, GDC serves corporate customers and telephone operating companies throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. ------------------------------ From: weiyun@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Weiyun Yu) Subject: US Digital Cellular Standard Organization: Information Services, Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 00:35:12 GMT It has come to my attention that the digital cellular standards adopted by US carriers are not going to be compatible with what we have adopted in Australia, GSM. I am interested in finding out a bit more about the US systems but cant find any FAQ on the subject. My specific questions are: 1. What are the pro and cons of the US standards vs GSM. 2. Is there going to be some degree of compability encorporated into the 2 standards so that international roaming could be achieved. 3. What is the future of digital cellular? Is there going to be a third standard that can be used world wide? Does anyone know the answers? Dr Weiyun Yu "Why Me?" | Internet: weiyun@ucc.su.oz.au Dept of Surgery, Uni of Sydney, Australia | Voice: 61+2-692-3851 Personal opinions only... | Fax: 61+2-692-4887 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 00:02 EST From: John C. Fowler <0003513813@mcimail.com> Subject: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones The following is from an interesting insert in my December telephone bill. A SPECIAL NOTICE TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN COLORADO: EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 1994, YOU WILL BE BILLED FOR CALLS YOU MAKE TO CERTAIN CELLULAR TELEPHONE NUMBERS. If the cellular phone you are calling begins with 1 + 579, you will be billed for the cellular airtime charges and also any long distance charges associated with the call when applicable. Like most other 1+ calls, there will be a charge for placing calls to these cellular 1+ numbers. The cost of the call will depend upon the cellular customer you call. (The charges for these calls are deter- mined by the cellular carriers, not by U.S. West.) If there are any questions about cellular airtime charges that appear on your bill, to the above prefix, please call the Customer Inquiry Center at 1-800-USW-BILL. A couple of comments: Colorado is one of those states where any non-local call requires that a 1 be dialed before the number. Currently, 1 + 7D can be used, but 1 + NPA + 7D will need to be used after February 27, 1994. Also, the use of the 579 prefix may not apply to other states. For example, my mother, who lives in Dixon, New Mexico, has a regular phone number on the 579 prefix there. I wonder what kinds of people will be using "caller-pays" cellular service. John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: dowd@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dowd) Subject: CFP - ACM SIGCOMM'94 Reply-To: dowd@eng.buffalo.edu Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo Date: Mon, 03 Jan 1994 14:46:32 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. 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. Authors 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. 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 ------------------------------ From: lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) Subject: Cellular System in Guangzhou, Mainland China? Date: 03 Jan 1994 10:22:36 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access, California Reply-To: lchiu@crl.com I plan to travel to mainland China in the near future. I am hoping to be able to use a cellular phone in the area but from distant recollection I think they use GSM. I don't know of any US provider that uses GSM and hence would have no idea how to purchase a phone that uses that standard. Does anybody have any ideas on how to get one? Purchasing one in China would be exorbitant I would imagine. An an aside I think Hong Kong uses AMPS and with the massive amount of trade between Senzhen (sp?) -- the new economic zone in southern China, I wonder what system they use there? How would one roam between the two areas? Laurence Chiu | Walnut Creek, California Tel: 510-215-3730(wk) | Internet: lchiu@crl.com ------------------------------ From: cccf@altern.com (cccf) Subject: Ludwig's Book on Viruses Forbidden in France Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 9:25:34 EST Translated in French language by Jean-Bernard Condat, Mark A. Ludwig's book "The Little Black Book of Computer Viruses" is actually available in all bookstores for 198 FF. The editor of this event is: Addison-Wesley France (41 rue de Turbigo, 75003 paris, France; Phone: +33 1 48879797, Fax: +33 1 48879799). Monday Dec. 27th, Addison-Wesley France received a legal pursuit to stop the diffusion of all issues of "Naissance d'un Virus" immediately. The judgment became definitive on Dec. 30th at 11:00 at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. Followed the increadible text, piece of humor :-) +++++++ ASSIGNATION EN REFERE D'HEURE EN HEURE devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris L'an mil neuf cent quatre vingt treize et le VINGT SEPT DECEMBRE A Dix Heures Cinquante Cinq minutes A LA DEMANDE DE : LA SOCIETE PRESSIMAGE SARL au capital de 250 000 francs - inscrite au RCS Paris B 332 127 828 dont le siege social est 19, rue Hegesippe-Moreau 75018 Paris agissant poursuites et diligences de ses representants legaux domicilies audit siege Ayant pour avocat Maitre Eric ANDRIEU, avocat associ{ demeurant a 75017 Paris - 22, rue Fortuny - Toque R 047 - Tel: 47637426 - Telecopie: 42272675 J'AI DONNE ASSIGNATION A : 1/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig domicilie aux editions Addison-Wesley France 41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 Paris 2/ LES EDITIONS ADDISON-WESLEY FRANCE prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit siege 41 rue de Turbigo - 75003 PARIS 3/ LES EDITIONS BORDAS prises en la personne de leurs dirigeants legaux domicilies audit siege 17 rue Remy Dumoncel - 75014 PARIS D'avoir a comparaitre le TRENTE DECEMBRE 1993 a 11 HEURES a l'audience et par devant Monsieur le President du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, tenant l'audience des referes au Palais de Justice de 4 boulevard du Palais - 75001 PARIS Vous devrez comparaitre a cette audience ou vous y faire representer par un Avocat inscrit au Barreau. A defaut, vous vous exposeriez a ce revues editees par Pressimage est, au-dela de leur contenu editorial, la remise simultanee a titre de prime aux acheteurs des journaux de disquettes informatiques pouvant etre utilisees sur les micro-ordinateurs de chacun. 2/ Monsieur Mark A. Ludwig est unnfiance de la part de la clientele de Pressimage qui peut craindre, en utilisant les disquettes editees par la requerante, d'introduire un virus dans son propre systeme informatique. Au surplus, la diffusion de l'ouvrage litigieux et de son annexe cree un SOUS TOUTES RESERVES Pieces versees aux debats: - livre "Naissance d'un virus" - justificatifs des activites de Pressimage. -------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is quite interesting. Perhaps one of our readers versed in French will translate the above for me, and I'll run the English translation in a day or two. It is not that common for books to be banned in the United States. Generally the only time a book will be censored (or banned outright) in the USA is when the govern- ment feels very threatened by it. Two which come to mind are "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" and "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia". Both were written by former operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency when George Bush was in charge of that agency. In both instances the government convinced a court that publication/distribution of the book would be quite harmful to the government's interests. When the books were finally allowed to be published they contained large amounts of blank space -- entire pages were completely blank in places -- as the authors and publishers attempted to comply with the court order while still printing *something*. When reading the books, I'd be on a page and halfway through a paragraph; the printed text would stop and resume perhaps an inch or two down the page with a note in the middle saying the text originally planned to appear there was removed by court order. In one section, the text stopped halfway down the page, and about a dozen completely blank pages followed with the text resuming about two- thirds of the way through the thirteenth page with the same notation on each of the blank pages. The books were deliberatly published that way with the gaping holes in the text throughout to show the public the large amount of stuff the government had censored. I believe the authors remain under government-imposed silence even today, over two decades after the books were written. Is there anyone in this room old enough to remember when {Ramparts Magazine} published AT&T's calling card check-digit secrets back in the middle 1960's? AT&T went to court at the time of publication and got an order banning that issue of the magazine. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 15:12:39 IST From: Arie Markus Subject: ISDN Cards For IBM PCs Hi, I would like to know if there are any ISDN cards for the IBM PCs yet. Please reply via direct mail as I am not subscribed. Any help would be appreciated. Arie Markus (VE3JLM/4X6JO) ------------------------------ Reply-To: comp.dcom.telecom@mpoli.fi Subject: GSM-Phones From London From: sami.vainionpaa@mpoli.fi (Sami Vainionpaa) Date: Mon, 03 Jan 94 03:14:00 +0200 Organization: Metropoli, Finland Hi, I live in Finland and I'm going to travel to London in the beginning of next year and I found out that GSM-telephones are quite cheap there (at least cheaper than in Finland) ;) But I don't know where to buy it. So I would appreciate to get all kinds of information (addresses, prices, tel. numbers, FAX-numbers, etc.) I am interested in knowing if GSM-phones have EUR-certifications; that proves they are European made. Especially interested in marks like: Ascom Crystal, Ericsson GH 197, Nokia 1011. ------------------------------ From: judson@crl.com (Michael Judson) Subject: GTE vs. Cellular One Date: 3 Jan 1994 23:47:43 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Does anybody have any comments regarding which cellular service is better, GTE or Cellular One? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Which* Cellular One and *which* GTE in *which* market area? Judging from the site where you logged in, it is likely you are referring to the Bay Area in California, but that might not be your physical location. 'Cellular One' is a trademark name for numerous carriers on the 'A' side; GTE has several telephone operating companies. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #3 **************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253