TELECOM Digest     Mon, 18 Apr 94 02:25:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 177

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Answering Machine With Voice Mail and Paging? (Frank Clark)
    Help Wanted - Switch Development (rtopp@delphi.com)
    Internet and the Info Highway (Scott Pope)
    Connect a Card Reader to a Cell Phone? (Andrew C. Green)
    What Does the Serial Port on NT Meridian Phones Do? (David Gingold)
    Telemarketer Game Rules (Steve Edwards)
    GSM and Airbags (Stewart Fist)
    Videocrypt Pirating (Stewart Fist)
    More on UK Code Change (Peter Campbell Smith)
    Hughes Gets $80M Indonesia Wireless Contract (Paul Robinson)
    Need Gammalink Fax Card (Larry Rachman)
    Access to Unpublished Phone Numbers (Robb Arthur)
    Telecommunications Development in Asia (Hwa-Lun L Liu)
    X.25 in Ecuador Needed (gretske@delphi.com)
    AT&T's ClearSpeak (Alok C. Nigam)
    Sprint Gopher (was Re: Sprint Upgrades Network to SONET) (Peter M. Weiss)
    Delaware Memo (Carl Moore)
    Does Sparc/SunOS Work Well With X25? (H.J. Lu)
    Unwelcome AT&T "Feature" (Steve Kass)
    Phone Fraud: How To! (Glen Roberts)
    Wanted: Books on ATM/Frame Relay/SMDS (Mark A. Cnota)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Fclark@deathstar.cris.com (Franclark)
Subject: Answering Machine With Voice Mail and Paging?
Date: 17 Apr 1994 19:23:37 -0400
Organization: Concentric Research Corporation


I need some advice. I own a small refrigeration company (two employees).
Currently we lease a phone line from an answering service. When the
customer calls in the operator dumps the message in my voice mail and
I am paged.  This is cumbersome, time consuming, and expensive.

With an eye to the future, when I can afford full time office
help, I am getting my own business line in June. I would like to be
able to capture the calls on an answering machine which would
automatically ring my pager(preferrably alphanumeric) upon receipt of
each call. Are there answering machines available with this
capability? Is software available to do this via modem?

Thank you in advance for any information.


Frank Clark   fclark@cris.com 

------------------------------

From: rtopp@delphi.com
Subject: Help Wanted - Switch Development
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 13:22:37 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)


I am interested in developing a telecom switch to provide message,
admin, security, and accounting to a variety of clients whose messages
would be relayed (by the switch) to one or more common carriers for
transmission.
 
If anyone has suggestions as to how to begin gathering information
about switch development I would be grateful.

------------------------------

From: scott_pope@wiltel.com
Subject: Internet and the Info Highway
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 12:55:31 PDT
Organization: WilTel


Does anyone have any thoughts on how the Internet will relate to the
Information Highway?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not how it *will* relate, but how it
*does already* relate to the highway ... the Internet is the backbone
for the whole concept, and it has been around for more than a decade
as old-timers will attest.   PAT]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 17:30:37 CDT
From: Andrew C. Green <ACG@dlogics.com>
Subject: Connect a Card Reader to a Cell Phone?


My father is exploring ways of setting up a credit card authorization
terminal for one afternoon's use at an outdoor concert. He has the use
of a standard card-swipe terminal which is normally installed in a
retail installation on what is thought to be a POTS line; i.e. when a
charge must be authorized, the card is swiped through the reader, the
machine opens the line, dials the local bank and eventually flashes
the result (e.g. authorization code or denial) on its display. In
other words, connect the box to a telephone line and it does its
thing.

The problem is that at the concert location, no land line is
available.  He would like to use a cellular phone if possible, but
there appear to be at least two distinct risks:

1) Whether the card-swipe terminal can be connected to the phone and
   function with it, even if the phone must be dialed manually;

2) Whether the transmission is secure.

I suspect that the hardware connectivity might be solvable, but I have
some obvious concerns about transmission security. My gut feeling is
that a digital cellular connection would be the minimum required, and
ideally a spread-spectrum PCS (like I used to have :-( Please note
that this is for one afternoon's use for a non-profit organization, so
cost is a consideration. If hardware can be specified, we can then go
off and hunt it down to ask for one day's loan.

In any event, we'd appreciate any input you might have, either here in
TELECOM Digest with PAT's approval or privately via Email. My father
can be contacted directly at the CompuServe address below:

Anthony R. Green
73211.1200@CompuServe.COM


Andrew C. Green
Datalogics, Inc.          Internet: acg@dlogics.com
441 W. Huron              
Chicago, IL  60610-3498   FAX: (312) 266-4473

------------------------------

From: gingold@Think.COM (David Gingold)
Subject: What Does the Serial Port on NT Meridian Phones Do?
Date: 17 Apr 1994 18:51:45 -0400
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation


I've got a Northern Telecom Meridian phone on my desk.  It has a DB-25
connector on the back, which I suspect is a serial port.  (The
connector hooks to a small PCB in the base, which in turn plugs into
what might be an ISDN plug inside the base?)

Is this a serial port?  Does anyone know how to talk to it and what I
can do with it?  In particular, I'd like to program my workstation to
dial the phone.


dg

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 22:30:36 PDT
From: Steve Edwards <newline!steve@UCSD.EDU>
Subject: Telemarketer Game Rules


About six or so months ago, someone posted the "rules" to a game to
play on telemarketers. It was based on a point system -- x points if
you got the telemarketer to tell you their name, y points if you got
them to lose their temper, z points if you got them to curse, etc. It
was quite humorous.

Do you remember this post? Can you repost it or point me to it in the
archives?


Thanks in advance,

Steve Edwards      Internet: steve@newline.uucp      Voice: +1-619-723-2727
Newline               CompuServe: 73677,3561           Fax: +1-619-731-3000


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If I had the time I would go back in
the archives and look for it. I'm sure it was more than six months ago.
If anyone has a copy and sends it in I will try to find room to print
it here again.   PAT]

------------------------------

Date: 18 Apr 94 00:03:44 EDT
From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: GSM and Airbags


I've just received by fax a photocopy of a story from the {Guardian
Weekly} (UK) dated April 3.

It is headlined "Mobile phone set off airbag" and the story is about a
couple of instances where (it is claimed) GSM handsets have set off
airbags in luxury cars in Europe.  I'm interested to find out whether
this stuff is true, or an urban myth.  I think it's probably myth,
because I can't imagine anything easier to shield from EMI than an
inertia switch in a car.

However the story quotes Lawrence Donegan and says "Safety experts
issued a warning ... not to use mobile phones while driving..."

The story also quotes Viv Stephens, head of the Industry Research
Centre as saying that it is possible for mobiles to trigger airbags.

Can anyone give me a contact to either Lawrence Donegan (possibly a
technical journalist) or Viv Stephens (Industry Research Centre) -
which I presume is in the UK?

I've tried to track similar stories in Germany, and sources tell me
that the German Road Transport Research Unit is working on the
problem, but when I contact them they deny it.  BMW, VW and Mercedes
are also reported to have had airbag blow-outs with GSM, but they also
all deny it.

Someone's not telling the truth.

------------------------------

Date: 17 Apr 94 07:03:36 EDT
From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:Videocrypt Pirating 


I've been told by a usually reliable source that the full confidential, 
proprietary details of the Videocrypt video scrambling system are being 
released this week on some international bulletin boards.

This is the system licensed by (and part-owned?) by Rupert Murdoch's
News Datacom and used by the Sky network across Europe.

The decoding system has apparently been successfully pirated for some
time in Europe, and a flourishing business has grown up around it.
One source says that there are almost as many pirated Sky systems as
legit at the present time.  Now someone is about to publish the full
details.

My information also is that once the information becomes public, it
will be relatively easy for anyone with above-average technical
ability to break the code in real-time on a home PC, and view Sky for
free.

If all the above is true, I'm interested in knowing what the pirates
stand to gain from releasing the information on bulletin boards.
Surely, it is more profitable to keep the information to yourself, and
have something to sell.  Or is this a move to force Videocrypt's hand
in some way?

Once a scrambling system has been compromised to this degree, it is
probably better that it is broken up completely, but it still seems to
be a strange thing for anyone to do.  Does anyone have information or
an explanation?

------------------------------

From: campbellsm@lish.logica.com (Peter Campbell Smith)
Subject: More on UK Code Change
Organization: Logica, London
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 02:56:54 GMT


 From the Oftel leaflet "A day to renumber" (Oftel is the UK
government telecomms regulatory body):

Code changes will start to be available mid-June 94, so call-barring
equipment or payphones that analyze the dialed number need to be
changed by then.

The new codes will be available everywhere from 1 August 1994, and the
00 prefix for outgoing international calls will be available then
also.

Old and new codes will run in parallel from 1 August 1994 until
PhONEday, 16 April 1995, when the old codes will cease to be
available.

The new national codes are the old ones with an added 1 after the 0
(so 071 becomes 0171, 0234 becomes 01234) except:

0532 xxxxxx becomes 0113 2xx xxxx
0742 xxxxxx becomes 0114 2xx xxxx
0602 xxxxxx becomes 0115 9xx xxxx
0533 xxxxxx becomes 0116 2xx xxxx
0272 xxxxxx becomes 0117 9xx xxxx

The following are unchanged (no added 1): (free) 0500, 0800, (local
rate) 0345, 0645, (premium rate) 0336, 0338, 0640, 0660, 08364, 0839,
0881, 0891, 0898, (mobile) 0374, 0385, 0802, 0831, 0836, 0850, 0860,
0956, 0958, 0973, 0976, (paging) 0941, (other) 0910.

Paging numbers other than 0941 will get the added 1.

Service codes such as 100, 151, 999 etc remain unchanged.

Incoming international calls change accordingly, eg +44 71 222 1234
becomes +44 171 222 1234 and so on.

Further details: Oftel leaflet line 071-634 8756, BT 0800 010101, Mercury
0500 041995.


Peter Campbell Smith, Logica plc, London.  Voice: +44 71 637 9111
Fax: +44 71 344 3638  Internet: campbellsm@lish.logica.com

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 18:04:35 EDT
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <PAUL@TDR.COM>
Subject: Hughes gets $80M Indonesia Wireless Contract
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA


{Washington Post} Digest, April 14, Pg D12:

"Hughes Network Systems of Germantown [Maryland], a unit of GM Hughes
Electronics, won a contract for a fixed wireless telephone system in
Jakarta Indonesia, valued at more than $80 million.  The system will
initially serve 250,000 subscribers and is expected to grow to 800,000
subscribers."

------------------------------

Date: 17 Apr 94 21:50:12 EDT
From: Larry Rachman <74066.2004@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Need Gammalink Fax Card


I'm looking for a used Gammalink Gammafax XPI (I believe its called)
fax card, or something similar. The right card will sit in a PC next
to a Dialogic D41 and talk to it via the MIVP connector. What I'm NOT
looking for is a conventional fax modem that connects directly to a
phone line via an RJ-11.
 
Reply via email, phone, or fax.
 

Larry Rachman   74066.2004@compuserve.com
516-427-1112 (voice)   516-427-0656 (fax)

------------------------------

From: Robb Arthur <gic_inc@DELPHI.COM>
Subject: Access to Unpublished Phone Numbers
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 20:54:25 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)


To anyone who can help us out: 

We are looking for the phone number to a Mr. John Patrick Quirk, 44
Boston Post Rd., Guilford, CT., 06437.  The number is unpublished, he
is running scams that have totalled over $200,000. We are trying to
locate him and serve him with a subpeona.  If you can find out his
phone number or can confirm his address as it shows, I would appreciate 
it. Send any information by fax at (602)443-4040 or voice 1-800-966-2468, 
Attn. Darryl Biggs.

Thank you.

------------------------------

From: hliu@mason1.gmu.edu (Hwa-Lun L Liu)
Subject: Telecommunications Development in Asia
Date: 17 Apr 1994 17:32:51 GMT
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA


I am a graduate student majoring in Telecommunications at GMU.  I am
currently working on a paper entitled "Telecommunications development
in Asia".  My focus is on the marketplace in Asia, for the emerging
technologies(e.g. ISDN, ATM, Frame Relay), covering China, Taiwan,
Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia.

If anyone is interested in this topic, or has something to contribute
to my paper, please contact me at hliu@mason1.gmu.edu.


Lynn

------------------------------

From: gretske@delphi.com
Subject: X.25 in Ecuador Needed
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 21:24:16 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)


I need an X.25 connection in Ecuador. Can anyone help?  The Public
networks such as BT and Sprint are not there.


Gene

------------------------------

From: nigam@mitre.org (Alok C. Nigam)
Subject: AT&T's ClearSpeak
Date: 18 Apr 1994 01:51:31 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation


I have heard that AT&T speaker phones use something called ClearSpeak,
which allows full duplex communication and much improved communications.
Does anyone know if this technology makes their speakerphones better
than others, or if this is just a marketing ploy?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The very same question has been asked
by at least a few people regards AT&T's other product with a similar
name, TruVoice. It is also intended to provide 'much improved communi-
cations'. Your guess is as good as anyone's.   PAT] 

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 16:29:15 EDT
From: Peter M. Weiss <PMW1@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Sprint Gopher (was Re: Sprint Upgrades Network to SONET)
Organization: Penn State University


Other SPRINT PR can be found by gophering to gopher.sprintlink.net.
 

Pete-Weiss@psu.edu     "The 'NET' never naps"             +1 814 863 1843
31 Shields Bldg. -- Penn State Univ -- University Park, PA 16802-1202 USA

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Apr 94 17:20:23 EDT
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@BRL.MIL>
Subject: Delaware Memo


In a separate mailing from my latest Delaware phone bill, I have
received a letter with the new Delaware dialing instructions, which
have previously been discussed in the Digest.

"To free up additional numbers, area codes will look like the first
three digits of a telephone number; i.e., will use the numbers '2'
through '9' as a middle digit, beginnin in January 1995." -- Not QUITE
right; the NNX area codes will appear as new area codes are needed.

Notice that, for remote call forwarding, "Bell Atlantic will automat-
ically reprogram, if necessary".  Long distance within Delaware is
affected.

"Remember to include the area code when dialing local fax machines
outside of your area code." -- What does this mean?  Local calls to
other area codes will continue to be just seven digits.  (From Delaware,
this is all along the Pa. border and at a FEW places along Md. border;
but FROM Pa.  TO Del. is 1 + 302 + 7D.)

------------------------------

From: hjl@nynexst.com (H.J. Lu)
Subject: Does Sparc/SunOS Work Well With X25?
Date: 17 Apr 1994 21:24:50 GMT
Organization: Nynex Science & Technology, Inc.


Hi,

We are using a Sparc 10 running SunOs 4.1.3 to talk to many remote
hosts with SVC over x25 links. The average size of the messages is
about 2K. Assume the traffic is not very heavy, we are wondering how
many remote hosts a process on the local host can handle with
reasonable performance.

Our mains concerns are:

1. The number of files a process can open.
2. The nummber of SVCs a process can handle without heavy performance
   hit.

Does anyone have experiences with x25 and Sun? Please email me.  I
don't read this group very often.


Thanks,

H.J.

------------------------------

Subject: Unwelcome AT&T "Feature"
From: skass@drunivac.drew.edu (Steve Kass)
Date: 17 Apr 94 22:22:18 EDT
Organization: Drew Univ Academic Computing


I had to leave an important message after hours tonight, and the party
I was calling warned me that to reduce their voice mail load, the
system was set up not to answer for 16 rings or longer.  The sanity of
that aside, I placed the call through AT&T and was unable to get
through.  Before the call was answered, AT&T informed me that my party
did not answer, and that they were sorry, I would now be disconnected.
I then successfully placed the call by dialing 10222+ .  I couldn't
help wondering if an AT&T operator could have placed the call with
this "feature" disabled.


Steve Kass/Math & CS/Drew University   
skass@herne.drew.edu/(201) 514-1187

------------------------------

From: glr@rci.ripco.com (Glen Roberts)
Subject: Phone Fraud: How To!
Organization: RCI, Chicago, IL
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 22:42:27 GMT


PHONE FRAUD!

The enticing brochure claims "Now, receive a discount on your long
distance calls -- including every toll call over 23 miles, Interna-
tional and Directory Assistance calls -- all without having to cancel
you current long distance carrier."

Budget Call says to dial "10368" before your number.

Well, I called and asked the cost. They said, I'll "save 10%" I asked
for the per minute rate. They wanted to know calling from where to
where. Ok, "708-356" to "312-670" Here are their rates:

          Day    Evening    Night

1st Min   $.304   $.273     $.1825
Addtl Min $.145   $.131     $.087

I asked if this would save me 10% "exactly" came the response "10% off
Illinois Bell" rates that is.

What does Illinois Bell charge me for that 708-356 to 312-670?

1st Min   $.163   $.147     $.098
Addtl Min $.065   $.059     $.039

So, a ten minute call in the day with Budget call will cost: $1.609
The same call with Illinois Bell (AmeriTech) will cost     : $0.813

That's not quite a 10% savings, but more like paying double!

When I confronted the Budget Call representative with this fact, she
claimed that she was sorry if she mis-spoke and that it was her first
day on the job. Well, the written literature gives no indication that
the service will help me pay twice as much for my calling.

Donna Reeves, Vice President of Budget Call returned my call and said
that they had old rates for Illinois Bell (and their checking tonight
confirmed what I said). She said on Monday she'd check with the Public
Service Commission and they would revise their rates to be at least
10% lower than Illinois Bell (AmeriTech). Additionally, she said that
no bills had been issued and any calls placed now would be billed at a
rate 10% lower than Illinois Bell's current rates. Incidentally, she
said that Budget Call is owned by Rochester Telephone.

Here's the info on Budget Call Long Distance Inc.
1-800-941-0368
Customer Service Center, 3441 W Henrietta Rd, Rochester, NY 14623


Glen L. Roberts, author, How To Spy On Anyone Without Getting Caught
Host Full Disclosure Live (WWCR 5,810 khz - Sundays 7pm central)
Box 734, Antioch, Illinois 60002. Fax: (708) 838-0316
Call the Surveillance Hotline: (708) 356-9646


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A cute cartoon I saw today showed a
picture of the Devil putting up a poster on a payphone which said,
'Save money on long distance calls: dial 666 before your number;
your eternal soul the first minute; 99 cents each additional minute."
I thought it was funny.   PAT]

------------------------------

From: mac@rci.ripco.com (Mark A. Cnota)
Subject: Wanted: Books on ATM/Frame Relay/SMDS
Organization: Ripco Internet BBS Chicago
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 1994 19:27:10 GMT


Could anyone give me the names/authors of some good books on the
subjects of ATM, Frame Relay, or SMDS? Anything from introductory to
advanced would be appreciated. If anyone knows of a bookstore in the
Chicago area that would have such books, let me know. I think the
subject matter is too specific to be found and most regular bookstores.

Thanks in advance!


Mark A. Cnota (mac@ripco.com)        Ripco Internet BBS  (312) 665-0065  
Chicago's Low-Cost Internet Alternative

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V14 #177
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