TELECOM Digest Thu, 10 Mar 94 01:27:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 122 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Trouble in the Phone Industry (D. Shniad) PR Summary: Undersea Fiber Cable US-Cuba (Russ McGuire) National Caller ID (Lynne Gregg) Caller ID and Mac/PC (James Snook) Internet Conferencing (Ralph E. Todd) Unzipping ISDN File in Archives (Jeff Shaver) Information on Used Telecom Equipment Dealer Wanted (Kenneth Leung) Changes in FROM Symbols on Orange Card Bill (Carl Moore) Re: Telephone Companies and the Time (Gregory Youngblood) Re: Telephone Companies and the Time (Clarence Dold) Re: Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Telephone Harrassment (Barry Mishkind) Re: Question About Random Dialing (John Coe) Re: Motorola Envoy Personal Wireless Communicator (Arthur Rubin) 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. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: D Shniad Subject: Trouble in the Phone Industry Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 11:20:45 PST The following article appeared in the March 1994 issue of {Labor Notes}: Phone Companies Obliterate More Jobs Big Cuts At Nynex, Pacific Telesis, GTE, as Re-engineering Proceeds -- by Kim Moody Three telephone giants launched the new year with a new round of job cuts. GTE Corporation, which owns local telephone companies across the country, said it would cut 17,000 jobs over three years. Baby Bells NYNEX and Pacific Telesis announced cuts of 16,800 and 10,000 respectively. The GTE workforce has already dropped from 160,000 employees in 1988 to 120,000 just before the latest cuts were announced. Employment at NYNEX has also fallen from nearly 100,000 in 1988 to about 76,000 last year. The latest NYNEX cuts are to be accomplished by the end of 1996. This latest wave of job slashing comes on top of earlier cuts of nearly 27,000 workers at other local phone companies in the last year and a half. Job loss in telecommunications is not linked to a slumping industry, troubled firms, or overseas competition. All the phone companies are profitable and growing. It results from deregulation, new technology, and the growth of competition over an expanding array of electronic services that use telecommunications technology for transmission. One side of this change is the burst of buyouts and joint ventures with cellular, cable, computer, and even publishing companies. In 1993, telephone companies spent over $50 billion on such growth in the U.S, and billions more abroad. PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING The other side of this re-organization into bigger multi- service operations, however, is the elimination of thousands of jobs through process re-engineering. Re-engineering is a term attributed to management guru Michael Hammer, whose 1990 Harvard Business Review article advised firms not to automate jobs, but to obliterate them. That is, find all the jobs that don't directly add to profitability and abolish them, while combining those that do. This is best done, the theory goes, through a consensual process conducted by employee-management teams. The final consensus, however, is never in doubt -- jobs will be obliterated. Union involvement is key to re-engineering in the highly organized telephone industry, and both the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have signed on. Process re-engineering teams are already at work at GTE, NYNEX, and US West. Not everyone shares the view that participation makes sense. A CWA rank and file newsletter in southern California, called the Hard Times Gazette, likened re-engineering at their GTE service center to an invitation to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan physician who assists suicides. FRONTAL ASSAULT AT NYNEX No sooner had the CWA and IBEW agreed to set up re-engineering teams at NYNEX than the company demanded that the union reopen the contract 18 months before it expires. NYNEX presented a mass of job-busting demands, including such flexibility favorites as the ten-hour day, four-day week, with six- or seven-day operations. A CWA statement announcing the opening of early negotiations on January 3 cited NYNEX executive Robert Thrasher's plan to downsize the workforce by 35%, consolidate work centers, merge New York and New England Telephone into `one enterprise,' combine job titles, and change the basis of regulation to encourage even more cost-cutting. The CWA statement, jointly signed by president Morton Bahr and vice president Jan Pierce, said the union would work with NYNEX during re-engineering if the company would guarantee jobs. The union submitted a long list of counter-demands aimed at increased job security. The actual substance of bargaining, however, appears to be over an attrition plan. The union insists there be no layoffs, involuntary downgrades, or forced transfers, or further outside contracting. Staff cuts would have to come from pension enhancements or other voluntary programs, the union said. The sweetener in the NYNEX demands is a proposal to add six years to both current age and service time, allowing for retirement as early as age 50, with a social security supplement until age 62. This will probably provide the basis for a settlement if the company drops its more outrageous demands. It seems re-engineering will proceed, and only the pace of job loss is in question. Sid Shniad ------------------------------ From: rmcguire@wiltel20.wiltel.com (Russ McGuire) Subject: PR Summary: Undersea Fiber Cable US-Cuba Date: 9 Mar 1994 22:48:37 GMT Organization: WilTel Reply-To: rmcguire@wiltel20.wiltel.com (Russ McGuire) WilTel International, Inc. and EmtelCuba today (3/9/94) announced the first undersea fiber-optic cable between Florida and Cuba. Here is a brief summary taken from the press release: WilTel International, Inc., has signed an historic agreement with the Cuban national telephone company EmtelCuba (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones Internacionales de Cuba) to provide the first fiber-optic telecommunica- tions link between Cuba and the United States. The project will allow WilTel and other telephone companies to establish direct, high-quality telephone links between the U.S. and Cuba. Today, only a few circuits are available to accommodate the millions of U.S.-to- Cuba calls attempted annually. The cooperative venture, signed as a "Memorandum of Understanding," clears the way for WilTel and EmtelCuba to build the first modern broadband connections to the island nation. The project complies with U.S. Depart- ment of State guidelines which encourage cultural and communications ties between the U.S. and Cuba. The WilTel-EmtelCuba fiber-optic cable, called "CUBUS 1" is to be placed across the Straits of Florida between the southern tip of Florida and a point near Havana, Cuba, a distance of some 100 miles. WilTel, a full-service telecommunications company with a reputation for innovation, built a national fiber-optic network in the United States in the late 1980's by pioneering a technique to pull fiber-optic cable through decommissioned oil and gas pipelines. WilTel leases this capacity to other carriers as well as to business and government customers. Subject to government approvals, the undersea cable will begin carrying traffic within one year. "WilTel is pleased to play a pivotal role in strengthening communications between the people of Cuba and the people of the United States," said Roy Wilkens, WilTel president and chief executive officer. "This type of agreement should provide opportunities for improving relationships between our two countries, which already share so much in terms of geography and history." Salvador de la Torre, EmtelCuba's director, said the new submarine fiber- optic cable will replace an older microwave system that was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. For more information about WilTel or this agreement, please send e-mail to info@wiltel.com. ------------------------------ From: Lynne Gregg Subject: National Caller ID Date: Wed, 09 Mar 94 17:45:00 PST Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM wrote: > Some people in some cities have noted getting Caller-ID information > from people in other states, who are long distance calls. It's a > political, not a technical question. What it probably comes down to > is that the local telcos believe that providing calling party > information is a valuable service for which they think they shouldn't > have to provide it without compensation on calls delivered to a I think Paul hit the nail on the head. In my view, transmission of Calling Party Number should be coupled with the standard SS7 interconnection. Apparently the FCC sees it this way, too. Yesterday's ruling supports transmission of CPN at no added charge. Here's the news release. Regards, Lynne CALLER ID TO BE AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE; FCC ADOPTS FEDERAL POLICIES FOR REGULATION The Commission has adopted a federal model, effective April 12, 1995, for interstate delivery of calling party number based services. These services include caller ID, which is available today in many states, as well as services that will permit businesses to service customers more efficiently and will permit increased security of computer networks. The rules adopted today enable these services to become available to consumers and businesses nationwide and require free, automatic, per call blocking to protect privacy interests. They also require carriers to educated consumers about these services. The Commission also adopted rules to address privacy concerns raised by the reuse and sale of information generated by Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Specifically, the Commission found that a federal model for interstate delivery of calling party number is in the public interest, that calling party privacy must be protected, and that certain state regulation of interstate caller ID must be preempted. The availability of calling party number based service, including caller ID, requires end to end interconnection of SS7 networks between carriers, so that the calling party's number can be transmitted from the calling party to the called party. Interstate delivery of calling party based services is thus not feasible until interstate SS7 interconnection and calling party number delivery between local exchange carriers and interexchange carriers becomes widespread. The Commission noted that a consistent, nationwide interstate policy will contribute to the economic growth as businesses employ the new technology for a number of uses. These may include pay-per-view television, order entry verification, voice messaging storage, customized customer services, business fraud reduction, call routing, emergency dispatch, health care services, telephone banking, home shopping, dealer locator, and selective call message forwarding. While the technology for nationwide caller ID service is being deployed and used on an interstate basis, several regulatory and legal issues have delayed its introduction nationwide. Today's action supports the efforts of carriers, standards-setting bodies, states, equipment manufacturers, and others to provide caller ID in an efficient manner. In the federal model, the Commission recognizes the value and benefits to the public of this service and promotes the transmission of the calling party number from the originating carrier to the terminating carrier. The Commission has balanced the reasonable privacy expectations of both the calling and called parties and removed obstacles to the development of calling party based services posed by uncertainty and non-uniform state policies. In today's action, the Commission found that: *Common carriers using Common Channel SS7 and subscribing to or offering any service based on SS7 functionality must transmit the calling party number parameter (CPN) and its associated privacy indicator on any interstate call to connecting carriers; (The CPN is the subscriber line number parameter of the call set-up message associated with an interstate call using SS7. The calling party number parameter includes an associated privacy indicator.) In other words, local exchange carriers must transmit both the calling party number and its associated privacy indicator to IXC's and vice versa; *Carriers offering CPN delivery services must provide, at no charge to the caller, an automatic per call blocking mechanism for interstate callers. Terminating carriers providing calling party number based services, including caller ID, must honor the privacy indicator; *The costs of interstate transmission of CPN are so small that the CPN should be transmitted among carriers without additional charge; and *Carriers participating in the offering of any service that delivers CPN on interstate calls must inform telephone subscribers that the subscribers number may be revealed to called parties and describe what steps subscribers can take to avoid revealing their numbers. In the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in this proceeding, the Commission is seeking comment on whether more detailed customer education rules should be adopted and whether the policies adopted for interstate calling party number based services like caller ID should be extended to other services that might identify the calling party. The Commission also adopted rules to limit the use of information generated by ANI to call set-up, routing, screening, billing and collection, and other services by end users, with exceptions for most law enforcement and emergency uses and for marketing by the ANI recipient only. The reuse or sale of ANI would be prohibited absent affirmative subscriber consent, and carriers would be required to educate callers regarding ANI services. (ANI based services were developed in the pre-SS7 signaling environment as the billing telephone number of the calling party. Because this technology predates SS7 technology, ANI is not blockable in the same way as the calling party number in an SS7 network.) In considering whether to extend its existing rules governing disclosure of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) to cover residential and single line business customers as protection of their privacy interests, the Commission said it would seek comments through a separate public notice to be considered in the context of the Computer III Remand Proceeding. ------------------------------ From: jsnook@halcyon.com Subject: Caller ID and Mac/PC Date: Wed, 09 Mar 94 17:51:10 PDT Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. I am looking for an interface between USWest Caller ID and Macintosh or PC platform. If such an interface exists, where can we buy them and at approximatly what cost? James Snook jsnook@halcyon.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 09:50:29 -0500 (EST) From: Ralph E. Todd Subject: Internet Conferencing Greetings. I am a graduate student in the Telecommunications program at George Mason University; Fairfax, Virginia. In preparation for a term project dealing with organizational learning, I am in search of information regarding conferencing on the Internet. Specifically, I envision a moderated forum supporting concurrent access for at least 30 user sessions. Unix "talk" may be an option, but I beleive it would be kludgy for the moderator since it is limited to two-party conversations. My forum would essentially be an Internet talk radio, complete with delays, (lending generic context to the name "Talk Net"). Is anyone aware of the existence of such a forum? Any knowledge of technology or building blocks which could support it? By the way, my immediate application is electronically interactive graduate instruction. The prototype course, "Taming the Electronic Frontier," is taught by Dr. Brad Cox and televised on regional cable television. Most of the students, including an entire section, are in the TV audience. These tele-students need a way to participate in the interactive dimension of the course. I am also investigating audio and video conferencing via POTS as well. Many thanks in advance. Ralph Todd > rtodd@mason1.gmu.edu (703) 658-9668 George Mason University Telecommunications Program [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What you are suggesting has been done many times in the past on Compuserve. The various forums have had special guest 'speakers' who were announced ahead of time. Using programs quite similar to the 'CB Simulator', these speakers and the program moderator would accept questions and comments from the 'audience' of people who were watching it all on their terminals/computers at home, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sshaver@nde.unl.edu (jeff shaver) Subject: Unzipping ISDN File in Archives Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 13:12:02 CST I recently ftp'ed the ISDN.deployment.data.zip file from the Telecom Archives, but I can't unzip it. PKZip 2.04(g?) tells me it's not a zip file. Any ideas? Thanks for your help! Jeff Shaver sshaver@nde.unl.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the person who contributed that file needs to get in on this discussion. It is possible it was corrupt when he sent it to me, and it is possible it got corrupted in the process of moving it from here to the archives ... plus which, maybe there is a different routine needed to 'unzip' it ... if it turns out the archives copy is bad, maybe we can try it over. I've not personally looked at it or tried to unpack it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kleung@netcom.com (Kenneth Leung) Subject: Information on Used Telecom Equipment Dealer Wanted Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 03:48:54 GMT I am looking for dealers of used telecom equipment such as AT&T Merlin phone sets and used AT&T PBXs. Any sources would be appreciated Kenneth C.P. Leung 1303 Walnut Hill Ln. 2nd Floor, Irving, TX 75038 Marketing Specialist Voice : 214-550-8371 Fax : 214-550-9269 Innovax Concepts Corp. AURORA Supermarket Application kleung@netcom.com Innovax Integration Partner Program ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 17:04:21 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Changes in FROM Symbols on Orange Card Bill My latest Orange Card bill came today (March 9). It has only three of those 3-character symbols in the FROM (abbrev. FRM) column: MAK apparently used for a call made from southern Delaware. ALl others were WDC (Washington DC?) and 800, and the WDC is apparently popping up for the calls I made from northern New Jersey??? (I don't understand the apparent spread of this use of WDC.) The 800 appeared for calls made in New York state, Vermont, plus one call from western Massachusetts. The billing is sent by LDS Telecommunications Corp. of McLean, VA. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Telephone Companies and the Time From: zeta@tcscs.com (Gregory Youngblood) Date: Wed, 09 Mar 94 16:06:11 PST Organization: TCS Computer Systems > Question 2: How do I find the person inside Cellular One Boston who is > in charge of setting the clock on the billing computer? I believe it is in the switch and not the billing computer. At least in cellular. As to who sets it, ideally it is set by someone who calls one of the atomic clocks and sets if off that. Though, I reluctantly admit that I used to set one of my switches by my watch ... :) Twice every year for day light savings etc. :) BTW, I know of at least one occurance where when the clock was set forward at the switch there was one caller that just would not hang up. The clock was changed and the caller had a 60 minute longer call.. :) Of course when this happened the tech notified customer service. ;) Greg The Complete Solution BBS Allfiles List: Anonymous UUCP Calls Accepted 707-459-4547 (24hrs, v.32) ~/tcsbbs.lst Login: nuucp Password: nuucp Telemate Distribution Site zeta@tcscs.com Cellular Telephony Groups ------------------------------ From: dold@rahul.net (Clarence Dold) Subject: Re: Telephone Companies and the Time Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 04:05:48 GMT Kent Borg (kentborg@world.std.com) wrote: > I am under the impression that phone companies need accurate frequency > sources for synchronous communications, but do they have any real need > for accurate time of day information? The switch that we use has no real idea of accurate time. It does use the clock on the span to keep an accurate clock, but if we "set" it off by a given interval, a year later it should still be off by _exactly_ that same interval. In practice, we drive a text script at it from a UNIX box that is slaved to WWV, but prior to doing that, it could easily have been off by a few seconds, although a minute is unlikely. Clarence A Dold - dold@rahul.net - Milpitas (near San Jose) & Napa CA. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 10:14 MST From: barry@coyote.datalog.com (barry mishkind) Subject: Re: Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Telephone Harrassment Organization: Datalog Consulting, Tucson, AZ >> A comment on the one-ring telephone harassment: A local Chicago talk >> show personality (Brian McCann on WLUP's Sunday afternoon "comedy" >> program) has encouraged listeners to "drive your friends crazy" with >> one-ring phone calls. He thinks it's a "victory" if the harasser can >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It sounds to me like it is time for >> someone to circulate Brian McCann's home telephone number publicly. >> Incidentally, the main switchboard for the business offices at WLUP is >> 312-440-5270. That is public information, it appears in the phone book >> By the way, if anyone thinks of something else callers to WLUP >> should not do -- something I may have overlooked -- write and let us > We certainly shouldn't suggest that messages be sent to the FCC, regarding > Brian's behavior ... especially to the new FTP location and email address > they have put on line. > pay and keeps dragging it through court. Years ago, the FCC's response > would have been to go out and padlock the transmitter after shutting it > off; I guess these days the big money involved with major radio stations > doesn't allow that to happen. PAT] Heheheh. The young folk have no idea, do they? When I was in college, I wondered why a local station was silent. It turns out the GM of the college station had been on the air when the feds dropped by to padlock the station for non-payment or something. A young kid, he hesitated, and the fed said something like "either get out of here, or we'll lock you in, too" ... Ray told me he had never done a sign off so fast ... and got out the door to see the padlocks go up. The station never returned (sort of like the MTA traveller ) ... Barry Mishkind barry@coyote.datalog.com Tucson, Arizona [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Only a few people probably remember when the FCC ordered our very own WLS (890 AM) off the air one night over thirty years ago -- about 1960 sometime -- when one of the DJ's of the 'new' managment (the team which dumped the Prairie Farmer, religion and soap opera format for hard rock music) uttered the word 'damn' over the air. Yep, that's all it took in those days. A telephone call from the FCC enforcement representative in this area to the home of the General Manager (it was late at night) followed by a call from the GM to the engineer on duty caused the station to go off the air. They went off so fast in fact they stopped the music they were playing in the middle of the song and the DJ did a formal identification process of the station (call letters, power, location of station, that they were licensed by the FCC, etc) and concluded by saying that 'the Federal Communications Comm- ission has ordered that this station remain silent until further notice and accordingly we leave the air at this time.'. That was it, and within five seconds or so of that they dropped the carrier and were gone. Maybe ten minutes had passed between the 'damn' and WLS being ordered off the air. That was a Saturday night, and they came back on the air about 10 AM the next morning, probably after the station attornies and management straightened it out with the FCC people. They were required by the FCC to play a recorded message *once every hour* for two days and four times per day for the rest of the week from the management of the station apologizing for the indiscretion and informing the listeners how to contact the FCC to file other complaints against the station if they wished to do so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: coej@jmbpo4.bah.com (John Coe) Subject: Re: Question About Random Dialing Date: 9 Mar 1994 18:52:35 GMT Organization: Booz, Allen, and Hamilton In article , gaupkg@fnma.COM wrote: > Is there a shareware program or commercial program available that can > dial randomly within a given area code and when it comes across a fax > machine log that fax number into a database. If anyone has any > pointers I would appreciate it. Could you please explain one practical/ethical use for such a database (other than the obvious, annoying use as a junk-mail fax list)? John Coe (coej@jmbpo4.bah.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There isn't anything to explain. You described the purpose of the compilation. To hell with the other 99 percent of the subscribers on the exchange who do not have a fax machine but get awakened at night (or sent running from their bathroom to the phone or whatever) when the phone rings only to have the caller disconnect when 'hello' is heard instead of a fax tone. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Motorola Envoy Personal Wireless Communicator From: a_rubin%dsg4.dse.beckman.com (Arthur Rubin) Date: 9 Mar 94 22:00:12 GMT Reply-To: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com In Ben Burch writes: > NOTE TO EDITORS: Motorola and Envoy are registered trademarks of > Motorola Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the > property of their respective owners. For what it's worth, Envoy-100 is also the name of an Email network run by Telecom Canada. Arthur L. Rubin: a_rubin@dsg4.dse.beckman.com (work) Beckman Instruments/Brea 216-5888@mcimail.com 70707.453@compuserve.com arthur@pnet01.cts.com (personal) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #122 ****************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253