TELECOM Digest Tue, 15 Mar 94 22:29:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 131 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson CO Fire in Los Angeles (Marc Wiz) Los Angeles Fire (Rich Greenberg) Telephone Interface Chip (Jun (June) Yang) Miscrosoft Visual Basic Drivers for IEEE Test Equipment (Bill Steedly) Telex Country Codes? (Donald R. Newcomb) Cut-Rate Domestic and International Calling Cards (Heikki Ketola) How to Study the Mobile Coding (Wen-Bang Liu) Nigerian Attempt to Defraud French Businessmen (Jean-Bernard Condat) UC Berkeley Short Courses on High-Speed Communications (Harvey Stern) Re: Video Conference Bridges (Sandy Kyrish) Re: National Caller ID (John Gilbert) Re: Why Caller-ID Instead of ANI? (Steve Forrette) Re: Prisoner Starts Own 900 Number (Darren Alex Griffiths) Decoding the Zipped ISDN File (Gary Nunn) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 12:47:39 -0600 From: Marc Wiz Subject: CO Fire in Los Angeles Organization: Wizywyg Software I just received this from a friend in L.A. who is also involved in telecom. ----------------- What a way to start the day. I'm listening to KFWB and they advise that Pacific Bell has had a major fire in the Downtown L.A. central office. Most of the 9-1-1 traffic from the San Fernandoi valley is failed along with a lot of the long distance carrier access. Apparently the fire started in a bettery charger on the 13th floor. More details as I get them ... ----------------- Anybody have anymore info? Marc marc@wiz.com Yes, that really is my last name. ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 11:15:39 PST Reply-To: richgr@netcom.com Subject: LA Fire Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) No details yet. Here is some preliminary info: The radio news reported a fire on the 13th floor of a pa bell building in downtown LA that affects part of the 911 service and also mentioned connections to MCI, et al. Power supplies and batteries were mentioned. Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677 N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 ------------------------------ From: junyang@cory.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Jun (June) Yang) Subject: Telephone Interface Chip Date: 15 Mar 1994 06:08:01 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley Hello, I am a UC Berkeley student working on a digital design project (a security system with dialing function). We need a component that receives the phone number (thru a 4-bit wire, in some binary coding) and dials the number. It then invoke a voice chip to play the recorded message. This component should be smart enough to tell whether the line is connected or busy, and, possibly, whether an answering machine is answering on the other end or not (of course we don't want the secuirty system to leave a message saying that the house has been robbed!). I know there must be some chips of this kind on the market, but I just couldn't find any good resource. Could somebody please help me out? Where can I buy this kind of chip and what will be a good resource for finding them? Hope that the price for the chip will not be too high. (We are poor Berkeley students :) We only have one month for this project ... please help!!! Thanx in advance! June Yang juney@uclink.berkeley.edu, junyang@cory.eecs.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ From: steedly@saturn.aitc.rest.tasc.com (Bill Steedly) Subject: Miscrosoft Visual Basic Drivers for IEEE Test Equipment Date: 14 Mar 1994 21:12:11 GMT Organization: TASC Is there anyone out there who has or knows of (ftp sites, etc.) programs developed under Microsoft Visual Basic to control any of the following communications test equiqment over an IEEE 488.2 interface: HP8593A HP83731A HP8782A HP3708A HP11758A TTC-1402 gigaBERT 1400 Tx and DRx CSA-907 Please e-mail any responses (I won't be able to read news) to: wmsteedly@tasc.com Thanks, William M. Steedly The Analytic Sciences Corporation wmsteedly@tasc.com 12100 Sunset Hills Road (703)834-5000x2884 Reston, VA 22090 (703)318-7900 FAX ------------------------------ From: dnewcomb@whale.st.usm.edu (Donald R. Newcomb) Subject: Telex Country Codes? Date: 14 Mar 1994 14:30:20 -0600 Organization: University of Southern Mississippi I'm confused over the assignment of Country Codes for Telex. I've been told that the CC for Albania is 604 and that one of the CCs used by INMARSAT is 581 but when I look in the AT&T directory of Telex and EasyLink addresses, it says Albania is 866 and INMARSAT Telexes are in the range 70X, 80X, 90X (where X = 2,3,4,5,6...). Does anyone have any information about the assignment of these Country Codes? Are they unique or do they depend on the country from which one sends the Telex? I have not seen this sort of confusion over telephone Country Codes. Donald R. Newcomb University of Southern Mississippi dnewcomb@whale.st.usm.edu dnewcomb@falcon.st.usm.edu ------------------------------ From: hketola@agsm.ucla.edu (Heikki Ketola) Subject: Cut-Rate Domestic and International Calling Cards Date: 15 Mar 1994 05:00:23 GMT Organization: The Anderson School at UCLA I have heard of a company that presumably offers calls to Finland at about $0.45 per minute. That does not sound unreasonable to me as one can call Germany for way less than that. Thanks a lot for any help you can give me. Heikki [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you are getting international calls between the USA and Europe for 45 cents per minute you are not getting a bad deal at all. I cannot imagine calling Germany from the USA for 'way less' than 45 cents per minute. PAT] ------------------------------ From: u7923803@cc.nctu.edu.tw Subject: How to Study the Mobile Coding Date: 15 Mar 1994 05:33:16 GMT Organization: Computer Center, National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan Hi, I am a student major in computer science. I am interested in coding theory. Recently, I want to study the topic of error correction in moving object, such as mobile phone. Can you list some books or papers which can help me? Thanks a lot. Best regards, Wen-Bang Liu My e-mail address is gcp77533@cello.cis.nctu.edu.tw ------------------------------ From: cccf@altern.com (cccf) Subject: Nigerian Attempt to Defraud French Businessmen Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 12:22:12 EST If you need some typical French stories related to hifg-tech perversions, don't hesitate to read my preface of the French edition of Lauren Ruth Wiener book's "Digital Woes" published under the title "Les avatars du logiciel" by Addison Wesley France (phone: +33 1 48879797, fax: +33 1 48879799, e-mail: gerardc@aw.com). I give a lot of typical stories that deal with millions of dollars and/or francs. Enclosed you can found the exact copy of an e-mail message received by fax from a accrediated accounting specialist of ... "international fraud" :-) Don't hesitate to write me directly. Jean-Bernard Condat General Secretary, Chaos Computer Club France e-mail: cccf@altern.com From: MR. OLA BENSON Fax : 234-1-884175 To : MR. JEAN-BERNARD CONDAT DATE: 7TH MARCH, 1994 Dear Mr. J. B. C., Thanks for your fax of the 4th March 94 and the contents therein. I want to thank your prompt response to my request and I wish to state and clearify you as thus: I am Mr. Ola Benson, an Accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in a contract award departement. This corporation is responsible for the oil lifting, Sales, Maintenance, Repairs, Construction of oil rig and Installation of oil mining equipments among other things for my country. Your company address was made available to me by an import agent who does extensive business with my country but my contracting you was not made known to him. Now the transaction which made me to contact you is very much intact due to its confidential nature for the interest of highly placed government officials that are involved. The project is that in 1991, we in the contract department awarded through the governmen contracts to foreigh contractors during which time we over-invoiced the contracts for our own personal use. The contract has since been completed and the actual contract value paid to the original contractor. Based on our previous deal with the contractors, we now want to purport your company as a subsidiary company to the original contractor a provision which we created wheroper understanding of the project before embarking on it. Revert back to me for your comments and for us to know what is your decision. I await for your confirmation fax. With best regards, (signed) OLA BENSON ------------------------------ From: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu Subject: UC Berkeley Short Courses on High-Speed Communications Date: 14 Mar 1994 18:57:54 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley U.C. Berkeley Continuing Education in Engineering Announces Three Short Courses on Communications Technology SONET/ATM-BASED BROADBAND NETWORKS: Systems, Architectures and Designs (April 18-19, 1994) It is widely accepted that future broadband networks will be based on the SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) standards and the ATM (Asynchronous transfer Mode) technique. This course is an in-depth examination of the fundamental concepts and the implementation issues for development of future high-speed networks. Topics include: Broadband ISDN Transfer Protocol, high speed computer/network interface (HiPPI), ATM switch architectures, ATM network congestion/flow control, VLSI designs in SONET/ATM networks. Lecturer: H. Jonathan Chao, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Brooklyn Polytechnic University. Dr. Chao holds more than a dozen patents and has authored over 40 technical publications in the areas of ATM switches, high-speed computer communications, and congestion/flow control in ATM networks. GIGABIT/SEC DATA AND COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS: Internetworking, Signaling and Network Management (April 20-21, 1994) This short course aims to provide a general understanding of the key issues needed to design and implement gigabit local and wide area networks. The topics are designed to compliment those covered in the SONET/ATM-Based Broadband Networks course (above). Topics include: technology drivers, data protocols, signaling, network management, internetworking and applications. Specific issues addressed include TCP/IP on ATM networks, design of high performance network interfaces, internetworking ATM networks with other network types, and techniques for transporting video over gigabit networks. Lecturer: William E. Stephens, Ph.D., Director, High-Speed Switching and Storage Technology Group, Applied Research, Bellcore. Dr. Stephens has over 40 publications and one patent in the field of optical communications. He has served on several technical program committees, including IEEE GLOBECOM and the IEEE Electronic Components Technology Conference, and has served as Guest Editor for the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. PERSONAL (WIRELESS) COMMUNICATION NETWORKS: Cellular Systems, Wireless Data Networks, and Broadband Wireless Access (April 20-22, 1994) This comprehensive course focuses on principles, technologies, system architectures, standards, equipment, implementation, public policy, and evolving trends in wireless networks. Topics include: modulation, coding, and signal processing; first generation systems; second generation systems; broadband networks; third generation systems; and applications and technology trends. This course is intended for engineers who are currently active or anticipate future involvement in this field. Lecturer: Anthony S. Acampora, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical Engineering, Columbia University. He is Director, Center for Telecommunications Research. He became a professor following a 20 year career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, is an IEEE Fellow, and is a former member of the IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors. For more information (complete course descriptions, outlines, instructor bios, etc.) contact: Harvey Stern U.C. Berkeley Extension/Southbay 800 El Camino Real Ste. 150 Menlo Park, CA 94025 Tel: (415) 323-8141 Fax: (415) 323-1438 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 13:25 EST From: Sandy Kyrish <0003209613@mcimail.com> Subject: Re: Video Conference Bridges All major codec manufacturers (i.e. CLI, PictureTel, VTel, GPT) manufacture or OEM video conference bridges, which are actually referred to as "multipoint control units" or MCUs. Each has benefits and disadvantages. Probably the most important issue for you wouldbe compatibility with the codecs you are now using. Although there are standards evolving in this area, some MCUs are not comaptible with some codecs, particularly those using proprietary algorithms and not the H.261 standard. If you do not currently have any video conferencing codecs, then you can make the whole package decision based on price, features, etc. Incidentally MCUs are generally above $50K in price. If you are not expecting to do a lot of multipoint videoconferencing, you might consider using a public network for your multipoint calls. ATT's Accunet Reserve and Sprint's Meeting CHannel, for example, each have the capability to hook multiple sites into a multipoint conference. You pay for the time used and a surcharge for the MCU. Sandy Kyrish 3209613@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: johng@ecs.comm.mot.com (John Gilbert) Subject: Re: National Caller ID Organization: Motorola, LMPS Date: Mon, 14 Mar 1994 13:16:41 -0600 In article , Lynne Gregg wrote: > 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. I didn't see any mention of caller name services so I suppose this isn't covered by the new FCC regulation. What is the position of the LECs with regard to LECs in other parts of the country doing data base lookups on their subscribers? Are the LECs going to provide this info on a reciprocal basis or does this still have to be worked out? John Gilbert johng@ecs.comm.mot.com ------------------------------ From: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) Subject: Re: Why Caller-ID Instead of ANI? Date: 15 Mar 1994 02:38:23 GMT Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. Reply-To: stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette) In , TELECOM Digest Editor responded to stevef@wrq.com (Steve Forrette): > IBT treats dialing 10xxx before a 312 or 708 number the same way > they treat dialing 10xxx before an 800 or 900 number; i.e they ignore > it and route the call according to other rules. Maybe some telcos > actually send the call to treatment. They do indeed. In fact, on every carrier that I've had service from, they will always return a recording in the event that the 10xxx code was dialed but cannot be used (either because of no intra-lata competition, or because it was dialed for an 800 or 900 number). I just checked this on a US West line, and upon dialing 10xxx-1-800-xxx-xxxx, it returns the following recording. "*SIT* Your call cannot be completed using the access code you dialed. Please check the number and dial again, or contact your long distance company for assistance." Steve Forrette, stevef@wrq.com ------------------------------ From: dag@ossi.com (Darren Alex Griffiths) Subject: Re: Prisoner Starts Own 900 Number Date: 14 Mar 1994 16:44:09 -0800 Organization: Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions, Inc. > TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In real practice, persons who have not been > charged with a crime are usually held in police lockups, and the ones here > all have Genuine Bell payphones. Those who have been charged with a crime > are usually free on bond (either because they posted the bond or were given > freedom based on their Recognizance). It is *hard* to get into Cook County > Jail ... very hard. It helps if you are a murderer, a rapist and very violent > as well as being a second or third time offender. My information doesn't agree with yours Pat. A friend of mine was recently stopped for speeding and detained because she had a overdue ticket for driving without registration, something she should be punished for but not a particularly horrible crime. She was told that she was being detained until she could either pay the overdue ticket or see a judge, and she was not being arrested; actually she told me that on the whole she was treated very well. There was a problem with the phones however. She was put into a holding cell, the cell did contain a a standard Pacific*Bell payphone and she had a number of quarters on her to make phone calls. However she did not have her phone book and needed to call information, the call would not complete and when she called an operator she was told that they weren't allowed to call information from a jail phone. I can understand that they may want to avoid newly arrested people from calling information to get victims numbers and then threatening them from behind bars, but those people are legally innocent, and in this case my friend was not legally under arrest. After she managed to convince one of the officers to loan her a phone book (as I said for the most part she was treated well) she tried to call a number of people to bring down the couple of hundred dollars required to get her out. She had trouble contacting anything more than answering machines and quickly ran out of change, that's when she found her calling card wasn't accepted and she was not allowed to do third number billing, she eventually had to call collect (at very high rates). All things considered the phone problems extended her detainment for two to three hours, not very pleasant or fair in my opinion. Cheers, Darren Alex Griffiths | dag@ossi.com Senior Software Engineer | (408) 456-7815 Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions Inc. | ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 07:46:40 EST From: gnunn@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil Subject: Decoding the Zipped ISDN File Pat I downloaded the file and took a look at it. The file has been uuencoded and you need to run it through a decoder, which comes in versions for almost any computer connected to the Internet. After running the file through the decoder you get the zipped file and PKUNZIP works just fine. Gary [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Readers who have had difficulty with the new ISDN Deployment file in the archives might want to follow the suggestion given above. If trouble still persists, then I have another copy of it here if you write and ask me for it. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #131 ****************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253