TELECOM Digest Tue, 1 Feb 94 14:55:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 57 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The IIA "Free" Internet Account (Paul Robinson) Modems For 3002 Circuits Wanted (Javier Henderson) Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (Gordon Torrie) Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? (John R. Levine) Increasing Cordless Range? (Bill Leeke) Re: Snail Mail Newsgroup (Nigel Allen) Re: How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem? (Carl Oppedahl) Re: Multi-line BBS's (John DuBois) Re: Telephone Nunbers in France (markr@mcil.comm.mot.com) Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling (Carl Moore) Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling (dong@umiacs.umd.edu) Re: Unmetered Local Service (Steve Cogorno) Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted (Lars Poulsen) Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones (Kriston J. Rehberg) Re: Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1) (Carl Oppedahl) 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, 1 Feb 1994 13:00:36 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: The IIA "Free" Internet Account Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Awhile back there was talk here of a "free" account from the IIA (International Internet Association). One of the comments was that they required a credit card for people outside the local area who might use their 800 number so the company could bill them at 25c a minute. I personally coined the term for this: "The Nevada Plan". That's where a company provides a service in which they pay for the service via charges based on telephone calls into the service. A talk line in Nevada started this in which you dialed a specific 702 number and were connected. The kicker was that you had to call long distance via AT&T. AT&T gave them the 2c/minute fee for the connection. At least one other company has ticked off a similar deal with Sprint and with MCI for another service. For those of you going to one of the various convetions who would like to be able to contact your home computer, there is already a full internet service which is accessible as real "Nevada Plan" service -- all it costs is a call over AT&T to the provider's number -- and doesn't have additional charges larded onto it the way this 800 number thingy does. (They assess the charges via the credit card supplied to them.) The service is called Speedway, and the number -- which has to be called via AT&T -- is (10288) 1-503-520-2222. I have no connection with that company other than as someone who has used their service. The provider of speedway offers shell access to a Unix system, and includes full internet connectivity, including E-Mail, almost all national newsgroups, and the usual internet tools including whois, ping, nslookup, etc. The company also offers slip connections, and will act as a DNS receiver for DNS forwarded mail for those wanting their own domain name. All at no cost above the AT&T 12c a minute rates at night or higher during days. At my own request, they have added a gateway for outgoing SMTP mail, which is accessed via the command SMTP at the login: prompt. This is quite useful for a system that has an incoming mail gateway that wants a means to post mail which is possibly less expensive. Since the rate per minute is whatever AT&T charges -- which is probably less than 25c a minute except during daylight prime time and may be less if you have a calling plan -- this option is a suitable alternative to using IIAs overpriced "free" service (unless you happen to be in the local area of their service). Paul Robinson - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ From: henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com Subject: Modems for 3002 circuits Date: 1 Feb 94 09:13:06 PST Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA Can anyone recommend a pair of modems, in the 9600bps range, that will work on 3002 circuits? Thanks, Javier Henderson henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? From: gordon@torrie.org (Gordon Torrie) Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 14:22:24 -0500 Organization: Torrie Communications Services 92065034@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca (J. Guitard) writes: > I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the > Internet. At first I thought the only way to connect was through a T1 > line, but now I hear you can connect with a 9600 baud line. Someone > told me they were connected through their local internet provider. Who > are these local internet providers? What are the costs for these > lines and monthly fees, etc? Email me or post here. There is a file called the Public Dialup Internet List (PDIAL) that lists Internet service providers, the local calling areas each serves, the services they offer and outlines their rates. It lists many providers in North America and a few that are eleswhere in the world. Look for PDIAL015.ZIP on a local BBS. Gord Torrie ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 20:32 EST From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: INTERNET Connections: What's Involved? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > I would like some info on what's involved in connecting to the > Internet. A good source is Susan Estrada's "Connecting to the Internet", O'Reilly, ISBN 1-56592-061-9. It describes the various ways to hook up, pros and cons, and has a lot of providers listed, in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. For a general introduction to the Internet, including a fair amount of discussion of how you hook up using a PC or a Mac, try "The Internet for Dummies", IDG Books, ISDN 1-56884-024-1. I think it's one of the most superb books ever written in the English language, but since I wrote it, I may be biased. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Bill Leeke) Subject: Increasing Cordless Range Date: 1 Feb 1994 17:31:33 GMT Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston IL USA I would like to increase the range of my cordless phone. Does anyone know if there is an easy way to do this? i.e. clip/screw a few resistors ... Would it be possible to put a linear amp on the base? Could you also increase the gain of the base antenna? Any suggestions welcome. BTW: Im only interested in the technical aspects of doing this. bailey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Remember that whatever you do, you also need to increase th handset's range accordingly. It is pointless to have the base be able to talk for a mile if the handset is not strong enough to get back to it. Remember also that the more distance you are able to cover with your cordless, the more others will be able to get back to your dialtone also, especially if you have an older style cordless. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 02:28:04 -0500 From: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca (Nigel Allen) Subject: Re: Snail Mail Newsgroup Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Canada Reply-To: ae446@freenet.carleton.ca In a previous article, roberts_n@svhdev.te.bt.co.uk (Nigel Roberts) says: > Some time ago there was an announcement of a mailing list or newsgroup > (I can't remember which) which covered the topic of the world's postal > services (a.k.a `snail mail'). The newsgroup is named alt.snail-mail, and has had some lively discussions recently about postal operations and policies. Most of the messages deal with the U.S. Postal Service, but private courier companies and the postal administrations of other countries have also been discussed. Stamp collectors will find rec.collecting.stamps more interesting. Nigel Allen ae446@freenet.carleton.ca [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks also to Peter Weiss for the same answer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: How Can I Get Around a Pair Shortage Problem? Date: 31 Jan 1994 12:26:24 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In Barry Lustig writes: > A friend of mine lives in a coop apartment in New York City. He has a > run of four wire non-twisted pair running from the demarc in the > basement to his apartment. He would like to be able to run more than > two phone circuits to his apartment (modem, fax, phone, etc), but the > coop won't let him run any additional wire. Is there anyway to get > more that two phone circuits running over the four wires? Or perhaps BRI ISDN on one of the pairs and normal loop-start on the other ... Or perhaps BRI ISDN twice -- once on each of two pairs. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: spcecdt@armory.com (John DuBois) Subject: Re: Multi-line BBS's Organization: The Armory Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 04:14:38 GMT In article , Fred R. Goldstein wrote: > In article dannie@coplex.coplex.com > (Dannie Gregoire) writes: >> I'll direct this question to you if possible, as you are the true >> phone system guru. I asked it in the newsgroup a couple of months >> back with no useful response. I would like to know how some of these >> bulletin boards have 60-100 lines running into them (eg EXEC-PC). Do >> they simply have that many individual lines run or is there a nifty >> service that the TELCO offers through a PBX? I apologize if this is >> a stupid question, but it is one that has baffled me, and I gotta know >> the answer. Thanks for any help ... As a data point ... the systems here currently have 12 data lines. All but one (our ISDN line for IP connectivity) are analog lines, and cost $8.50/mo. ($3 of that for undesired "network access for interstate calling" which I'm told I can't skip), since they're measured rate, which makes sense for our purposes since they're dialin only. Pac Bell just pulls another five-pair cable each time we run out, and wires it up to another six-position network interface, which now are arranged in a nice row along the outside of the house. When we had used up the third set of lines (we have five voice lines too), I expected them to pull out the five-pair cables and replace them with a 25-pair cable, but they somehow managed to get not just one but (for a change) two more five-pair cables through the conduit. I doubt we'll need more than 25 pairs, so I don't get to see what they'd do next :) The data lines are connected to a motley assortment of modems which are on multiport boards. John DuBois spcecdt@armory.com KC6QKZ ------------------------------ From: markr@mot.com (Mark) Subject: Re: Telephone Nunbers in France Reply-To: markr@mcil.comm.mot.com Organization: MCIL Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 15:07:37 GMT In article mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk writes: > etm@email.teaser.com (Erik Thomas Mueller) said: >>> By the way, note that the current numbering plan in France is scheduled >>> to be replaced in 1995 by the uniform NPA + 8D where NPA = >>> 1 Ile-de-France (Paris, ...) >>> 2 Northeast France >>> 3 Southeast France >>> 4 Southwest France >>> 5 Northwest France > Oddly enough, France has roughly the same number of telephones as the > UK; but the UK is about to change from a 10 digit scheme to an 11 > digit scheme. I somehow doubt if the North West France zone will be > given code "5"; because that would entail callers dialling 05 to call > NW France. At the moment 05 is the French toll-free code, the > equivalent of 1-800 and 0800, which they call "numberos verts" - green > numbers. The French 05 will, I am told, in due course change to 0800. > A separate code (06?) has been allocated for mobiles. Speaking about adding a digit, is there any plan in the USA to add a digit when the system runs out of valid area codes? Or will they buy time by changing the N0X N1X requirement? Mark [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We *have* run out of area codes and 'they' have abandoned the N0X/N1X requirement. New area codes will be almost any three digit number. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Feb 94 01:14:41 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling Who'd use 011 to call INTO country code 1? Try +1 (instead of 011-1 or 1) in front of the 719 area code. ------------------------------ From: dong@umiacs.umd.edu (D.C.) Subject: Re: International Dialback Long Distance Calling Date: 01 Feb 1994 13:02:32 -0500 Organization: UMIACS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 I once saw somebody selling this type of dialback equipment on the Usenet. Does anybody have the information? Can you point to me where I can find such an equipment? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: cogorno@netcom.com (Steve Cogorno) Subject: Re: Unmetered Local Service Date: Tue, 01 Feb 1994 11:42:18 PST > Correct me if I am wrong but local call costs are very usage > insensitive (the costs of running a local telephone exchange will be > virtually the same if we are calling all the time or if we never use > our telephones). > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are costs involved with the > common equipment and the amount of it in place which to large extent > detirmined by how much the phone is used. Even so, why shouldn't > telco get paid for the value of the service? PAT] THe telco SHOULD get paid for the value of its service -- via the monthly service charge. Steve cogorno@netcom.com #608 Merrill * 200 McLaughlin Drive * Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1015 ------------------------------ From: lars@Eskimo.CPH.CMC.COM (Lars Poulsen) Subject: Re: Phone Line Simulator Wanted Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 19:20:13 GMT dej@eecg.toronto.edu (David Jones) writes: >> I am in need of a phone line simulator. It will be used to verify the >> functionality of modems for a large computing network. In article Proctor & Associates <0003991080@mcimail.com> writes: > Any of the Proctor Telephone Demonstrators will do this. There are > three models, from two to four lines, and the newest one will also do > Caller ID and CENTREX emulation. In the last couple of years, I have been using various such devices, ranging from simple ringdown boxes to small PBXes, for exactly this application. I have found a great variety in the quality of these units. Here are some issues: (1) Some ringdown boxes burn out, if they have to supply dial tone to both sides at once. I experienced this problem with some very inexpensive (USD 106 at Graybar!!) ringdowns. That made them unusable for my purpose, but they would work fine for one-way ringdown applications, and could indeed be strapped for one-way. (2) The TelTone TLS-3, considered by my colleagues in the voice-mail industry to be the Cadillac of line simulators has shown many problems on my bench: Weak ring signals (won't reliably trigger my ZyXEL modems), lots of glare (because it is slow to recognize a hangup; like many Centrex lines I have seen). This can sometimes be a nuisance when stress testing two-way dial-on-demand routers. (I wonder how the Proctor units compare in this respect.) (3) The Panasonics KX-T308 and 616 series have been great for this application, but they have a limited number of talk paths. For example, the 308 allows four simultaneous calls, the 616 allows 8, I think. So if you are using any trunk side connections, you may experience blocking on local calls. This is not well documented. (Actually, I think you can have blocking even if you don't have trunkside connections. I've moved away from the lab with the KX-T's - anyone care to test and report ?) Lars Poulsen Internet E-mail: lars@CMC.COM CMC Network Products Phone: (011-) +45-31 49 81 08 Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B Telefax: +45-31 49 83 08 DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK Internets: designed and built while you wait ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Landlines Pay Airtime To Call Some Cellular Phones Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 14:07:28 EST From: V2ENA81%OWEGO@zeta.eecs.nwu.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'New York pager scam' involved this guy who took out a very expensive (to call) phone line on the 540 (?) exchange in New York City. That exchange *only when calling from the LATA (212/708/914/516?)* charges the callers in the same way that 900 or 976 service works elsewhere. This guy had a line which cost the calling party something like $20-30 each time they dialed it and he sent page messages to (apparently) thousands of pagers in the area asking them to call him back on his expensive number ... they responded by the thousands and he got a nice commission from telco -- just like you would get if you ran a 900/976 service. The people who called got very large charges on their phone bill, and the guy made a mint from it. PAT] NYNEX has created a new area code 917 for pager, cellular, and "certain other services", in addition to their 212 and 718 numbers. In an area where almost every tall office building has at least one PBX with direct-dial extensions, NYC is a pure example of the so-called "phone number shortage" myth. They just keep adding NPA's. If someone can explain how there could possibly be a phone number shortage, especially with the elimination of both 1 + 7D and the recent expansion of area code second-digit assignments please send me E-mail or post here to the Digest. I have always believed this to be an urban legend, especially in light of the elimination of 1 + 7D in the past ten years and the more recent second-digit area code allowance. Back to the original thought of the post, I always thought that the only pay exchanges in all of the NYC area codes was 976. This has nothing to do with 1-900, by the way. By the way, I don't see area code 708 in NYC. You probably meant 718 (Queens/Bronx/Bkln). Kriston J. Rehberg Internet External :krehberg@vnet.ibm.com Associate Programmer/Analyst FSC Internal RSCS :V2ENA81 AT OWEGO ENSCO, Incorporated FSC Internal AFS :v1ena81@legend.endicott Loral Federal Systems Co, Owego, NY Tel: 607-751-2180 :Tieline: 662-2180 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, that was a typographical error. I meant to say 718, not 708. PAT] ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Subject: Re: Case History of a Phone Rip-Off (Part 1) Date: 01 Feb 1994 10:29:35 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC In kindred@telesciences.com (David L Kindred ) writes: > for a minute, she realized that she was the only person in the office, > and that the lines couldn't be in use. At this point she picks up the > line, and "This is the Credit Union, may I help you?". One of the > people on the line mumbles something like "isn't so-and-so there?" and > hangs up. My mother then hung-up and was able to use the line to make > her call. The next day, she reported this event to NJ Bell. A day or > two after that, one of the phone lines went dead, and again NJ Bell > was involved. > As you might expect, the next phone bill was quadruple the normal. > Most of the "mystery" calls were to Manilla (sp?), and a few to > Panama. > This is where things stand for the moment. I'll report further on > whether NJ Bell/AT&T give her a hassle about the bogus charges, and > how long it takes to clear the "unexpected" connections. [deletia] > There have been numerous reports here about unscrupulous persons > making their own connections to other people's phone lines. The > person (or persons) involved here seem to have known that the lines > they "borrowed" were from a business, and what the normal working > hours for the business were. Only a few late nights led to the > discovery of the problem before the first bill showed up. Is there a > way a small business can protect themselves from this, or do we all > have to rely on the phone company straightening things out afterwards? This is a problem, and is going to be more and more prevalent as the years go on. Indeed how can a telephone customer protect himself/herself? Here in no particular order are a few thoughts. 1. If you get ISDN you will virtually eliminate this problem. The ne'er-do-wells who tap onto phone lines these days use very inexpensive conventional telephone equipment in their efforts, and cannot accomplish anything with an ISDN line (other than generating synch errors). It will be many years (perhaps a decade) before equipment to permit seamlessly connecting to an ISDN line becomes commonly available. 2. Before moving into a premises, do a security survey of the incoming utilities. Ideally the cable from telco passes underground, directly into your building. Ideally within your building the cable then goes straight to a room that nobody gets into without a key (ideally your key). Etc. Etc. 3. One bad situation is if your building is multi-tenant, and if the telephone wiring is in places that lots of people can get at (some public hallway in the basement, say). 4. Another bad situation is if there is a connection box outdoors, where anybody can get at it, with your non-ISDN dial tone ripe for the plucking. It is probably "locked" with a hex bolt that can only be "unlocked" by people who have such rare tools as socket wrenches. The key is to think about this *before* you move in. It is generally impossible to get the telephone company interested in the situation once you are there. "Yes, New Jersey Bell, that is *exactly* what I want you to do! Now get out here with that backhoe and put that line underground right now!" It is also generally impossible to get a landlord to do anything about this *after* you move in. Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #57 ***************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253