TELECOM Digest     Thu, 19 May 94 11:19:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 236

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Problems With Call Return (Monty Solomon)
    Anyone Use AT&T Message Service? (markr@mcil.comm.mot.com)
    Help with Northern Telecom Meridian System (Lance Ware)
    "Free Trade" Rules (Dale Wharton)
    Wanted: Hand-held Challenge/Response Units (Paul Gillingwater)
    CRTC Now Regulates Canadian Independent Telcos (Dave Leibold)
    Proposed Upgrading of Canada Direct Service (Dave Leibold)
    Enormous Sprint Rate Increase! (John McHarry)
    Ruling on 800 Numbers From Payphones (Stephen Goodman)
    How Can I Ring Up Myself? (Joseph Herl)
    Free Long Distance via Cellular via Cellular One (Shawn Gordhamer)
    Wanted: Business Phone System (Drew Benson)
    Help: Need TyIN 2000 Developer's Kit From National Semiconductor (T Duong)
    New DLD Digest FAQ Available (Van Hefner)
    Info on Info Superhighway Wanted (Yanghee Choi)

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

From: Monty_Solomon@bmugbost.uu.holonet.net
Organization: BMUG Boston
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 06:06:33 EST
Subject: Problems With Call Return


Forwarded to the Digest, FYI:

 Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 15:58:07
 From: Russ Greene,Planet BMUG <Russ_Greene@bmug.org>
 Subject: Problems With Call Return

Below is a letter I'm sending to Pac Bell and the Public Utilities
Commission regarding my dissatisfaction with Call Return.

Feedback, comments and discussion are invited.

Attn: Manager
Pacific Bell
P.O. Box 31024
Walnut Creek, CA 94598

May 15, 1994

Dear Madam or Sir:

I'm writing to express my concern and dissatisfaction with the current
implementation of Call Return. Furthermore, I urge the discontinuance
of Call Return service. It is a bad idea.

My situation dictates that I make numerous calls to people who have
answered an ad that I run: people I do not know: When I reach
someone's answering machine I often choose to leave no message.
Sometimes I may reach a wrong number. Many times I get rude phone
calls from people who are utilizing Call Return. These calls come at
all hours of the day and night; sometimes moments after my call,
sometimes days later.

Here is an actual example of one of the problems I've had. I made a
phone call to someone on a Monday. Upon getting her answering machine
I elected to hang up. On Tuesday, more than 24 hours later, I received
a phone call from someone saying "Who is this?". I said "Whom do you
wish to speak with?". She said "You paged me. Who are you and what do
you want?" I said "I'm sorry, you must have the wrong number, I didn't
page anyone." (Remember, this is a day after I originally called this
woman. There was no way for me to make a connection in my mind between
the call I made on Monday and the call I received on Tuesday.)  She
said "Well somebody from your number called me. I just used Call
Return."

Eventually, after a heated discussion, I was able to convince this
woman that I wasn't going to give out my name and number to someone
who refused to identify herself, and that, were the tables turned, she
wouldn't want to do so either. I also educated her to the reality that
since she initiated the call it was appropriate for her to identify
herself to me first. When she did I was able to figure out who she was
by running her name through my data base file on my computer, a luxury
not everybody has at their fingertips. Everything worked out in the
end, this time, but it was a very uncomfortable process to get there
because she did not have the education or level of courtesy to deal
effectively with Call Return. In many cases things don't turn out as
well as they did in this example.

The lack of awareness and common courtesy, as exemplified by this
woman, is part of the problem. She was ill equipped, as so many people
are in our society today, to utilize Call Return in an effective and
courteous manner. If used properly the difficulties with Call Return
would be fewer. Even so, people utilizing Call Return are placed in
the awkward position of making phone calls to unknown numbers and
parties. This is wrong. If you don't know who you are calling and the
number you are dialing you don't belong on the phone. Period! It
follows then, that Call Return is a bad idea.

With the wide availability of answering machines and electronic voice
mail systems there really is no need for Call Return. Call Return, at
best, is another tool for telephone companies to profit from. In
reality, since it puts people in the position of calling unknown
numbers and parties and demands more skills in the communications
arena than many people have, it is more of a disservice to the general
public than anything else.

Please, see that this service is terminated. Short of discontinuing
Call Return as an available service, if free, universal, Call Return
Blocking was available I would be satisfied that the public would be
served.

BMUG Boston 617-721-5840, East Coast BBS of The World's Largest Mac User Group



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The fact that she used it in an extreme way
does not make Call Return a bad idea. And there is something to be said about
the writer's discourtesy in reaching an answering machine and simply hanging
up without speaking, if even only to say that he did not wish to leave a
message and would call again later. Ordinarily, Call Return is a good idea
since it allows a person who has just missed (typically within seconds or
minutes) receiving a call due to being somewhere else. However in this case
the fact that the answering machine contained a blank spot -- however
discourteous that may have been of the caller -- should have told her the
caller did not wish to speak with her at that time.   PAT]

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

From: markr@mot.com (Mark)
Subject: Anyone Use AT&T Message Service?
Reply-To: markr@mcil.comm.mot.com
Organization: MCIL
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 11:24:16 GMT


Has anyone used the AT&T Message Service yet ?

I am currently living outside of the USA and usually use AT&T
USA-DIRECT to call the US.  Well, a few weeks ago, I called, using my
calling card, and got a busy signal.  After a few seconds, I hear a
[computer generated] voice asking me if I want to record a message and
have it sent at a later time followed by the prices. (I think it was
$1.75 or $1.25, something like that per minute) All I had to do was
press '#123' and I was prompted for a message and then was prompted at
the end for an OK message. (i.e. press 1 or 0 or something like that)

Well, it worked great ... has anyone else used this service?  I assume
it has been available in the USA for a while already.

Comments ?

Mark

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

From: lware@voxel.com (Lance Ware)
Subject: Help With Northern Telecom Meridian System
Organization: VOXEL
Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 23:30:38 GMT


I am hoping to tap into some of the wisdom of the net for assistance
with our Meridian phone system. Specifically, I want to integrate our
800 number into our system. Currently the line terminates at one
phone, and goes unanswered if the desk where the phone sits is vacant.

I am not sure how to do this, and PacBell's support is not very
helpful.  The 800 line has no incoming information, like the DIDs
that we have, and my manual doesn't seem to cover anything but the
basic installations.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Lance Ware   IS Manager & VOXEL Guru  VOXEL

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

Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 08:26:29 EDT
From: Dale Wharton <dale@dale.cam.org>
Subject: "Free trade" Rules 


This item appeared on a political economics network.

Dale Wharton   dale@dale.cam.org    M O N T R E A L    Te souviens-tu?

                                                Date: Tue, 17 May 1994
NAFTA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS   by Sid Shniad, Burnaby BC <shniad@sfu.ca>

In the runup to the passage of the North American Free Trade
Agreement, the Telecommunications Workers Union warned members and the
general public that the deal posed a threat to the Canadian
telecommunications industry.  An article in the May 16 issue of the
Canadian Communications Network Letter that focuses on the issue of
NAFTA and telecommunications indicates that our fears were well
founded.

The Newsletter quotes Muriel Bradford, the newly-appointed assistant
vice president of corporate affairs at Teleglobe Canada.  Prior to
being hired by Teleglobe, Bradford worked at the Department of
External Affairs and participated in the negotiations leading up to
the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, and the Uruguay Round of
GATT.

In Bradford's view, telecommunications policy today is being driven by
an increasing preoccupation with trade liberalization.  She feels that
as a consequence of liberalization, government bodies like the
Canadian CRTC and the US Federal Communications Commission will have
less and less control over telecommunications activities within their
domestic jurisdictions.

Speaking at the Canadian Telecommunications Superconference in Toronto
in early May, Bradford observed that "Domestic economic policymakers
and regulators will be left with fewer options than ever before, and
domestic carriers will no longer be able to expand and upgrade their
networks secure in the knowledge that their national markets will
remain shielded from foreign competitors."

This development doesn't seem to bother Bradford, who sees it as
providing her new employer with an opportunity to gain market share in
larger foreign markets, thereby allowing Teleglobe to move from
seventh place to third place among intercontinental carriers by the
end of the century.  For the rest of us, the prospect of government
helplessness and all-out international competition in the
communications industry does not appear so attractive.

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

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing this along. Sid used to
send things here to the Digest occassionally, but I have not heard from him 
lately. I think he grew angry at what he felt was the anti-union stance
of many readers here.   PAT]

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

From: paul@eunet.co.at (Paul Gillingwater)
Subject: WANTED: Hand-Held Challenge/Response Units
Date: 18 May 1994 21:36:50 GMT
Organization: EUnet EDV-Dienstleistungsgesellschaft m.b.H


I'm looking for suppliers of hand-held challenge/response cipher key
systems.  These will be used to improve security for a sensitive
on-line (dial-up and Internet) access.

I envisage they'll work as follows:

1. User connects via public network to our system;
2. Our system lets them log in as normal, but they then
 are "challenged" with a long code.
3. The user must enter the code into the hand-held unit,
 which provides the "response" using RSA or similar.
4. The user then enters the "response", which is validated
 against the expected value.  This may involve the use
 of a public/private key system also, for encryption
 of transmitted material.

I'm very hopeful that units such as I've just described exist -- if not,
perhaps someone wants to make them?  (e.g. based on HP-100LX).

Please reply in e-mail.  Commercial replies welcome (i.e. if you wanna
sell me something, go ahead.)  NB I'm posting from a guest account, so
don't bother anyone else here.


paul@actrix.co.at (Paul Gillingwater) :: Home Office in Vienna, Austria

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

From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold)
Date: 19 May 94 00:30:46 -0500
Subject: CRTC now regulates Canadian independent telcos
Organization: FidoNet: The Super Continental - North York, Canada 


[from Bell News, 16 May 94]

CRTC to regulate independent telcos

Only the federal government -- not provincial governments -- has the
authority to regulate the 50-some independent telephone companies in
Canada.

So decreed the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled that Telephone
Guevremont Inc. -- a Quebec-based independent telephone company --
should be regulated by the federal Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

The court's decision, handed down April 26, affects all other
independent telephone companies, including those that are members of
the Canadian Independent Telephone Association. Prior to the decision,
these companies were regulated by provincial agencies.

In its decision, the Supreme Court said that, as Telephone Guevremont
provides interprovincial and international communications services to
its customers, it should fall under the CRTC's jurisdiction.

The decision settles a dispute between Telephone Guevremont and the
Regie des telecommunications, the provincial regulator of Telephone
Guevremont and several other independent telephone companies
operating throughout Quebec.

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

From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold)
Date: 19 May 94 00:40:46 -0500
Subject: Proposed Upgrading of Canada Direct Service
Organization: FidoNet: The Super Continental - North York, Canada 


[from Bell News, 16 May 94]

New Canada Direct feature to make calling from one foreign country to
another cheaper, easier

Our mission to be a world leader in helping people communicate will
take another leap forward if the CRTC gives the green light to enhance
the Canada Direct[tm] service we offer.

We want to give our customers the opportunity to use their calling
cards to call from one foreign country to another and to make long
distance calls within foreign countries.

The Canada Direct service has been available since 1989 for customers
to call back to Canada from over 90 overseas destinations.

The country-to-country calling enhancement to Canada Direct that we
and our Stentor partners are proposing is a convenient way for Calling
Card[tm] customers to make international calls from one foreign
country to another or within a foreign country.

The new country-to-country calling feature of Canada Direct initially
will be offered from over 50 countries where Canadians do the most
international business. However, the service will not be offered from
the United States.

Ideally, we'd like to offer foreign country calling to all the
countries where the Stentor owners currently terminate overseas calls
direct dialled today.

However, Stentor and Teleglobe will respect the wishes of foreign
telephone administrations and will not originate or terminate calls in
countries whose foreign administrations have not given us approval to
offer the enhancement. Teleglobe will continue to negotiate with
foreign administrations to add more countries to the service.
A special long distance rate structure has been developed for the
country-to- country calling enhancement that is, in most cases, lower
than those rates for similar services offered by the major U.S.
carriers.

If the enhancement is approved by the CRTC, it will be introduced to
our customers starting June 20.

[sub-article]

"If we'd only known!"

About this Canada Direct enhancement we're asking the CRTC to approve
 -- is it a "nice to have" or a "need to have"?

Read what an article in Ottawa's The Citizen Valley had to say about
calling Canada from one foreign country.

Marjorie Evers of Nepean says she almost choked when she saw the size
of the bill for a call her daughter Tamara, 18, made from Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico.

"We told her to call so we'd know she was safe," says Marjorie. "It
wasn't easy."

The Mexican operator insisted the call be billed to a third party.
Tamara has an uncle in Florida, and the call for approval, and the
bill, went to him. He passed it along to Nepean.

The 14-minute call cost $130 Canadian.

"And we're still waiting for the bills for four more calls." In the
remaining four, Marjorie accepted the charges.

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

Date: Wed, 18 May 94 10:21:48 EDT
From: mcharry@cwc.com (McHarry)
Subject: Enormous Sprint Rate Increase!


Sorry about the tabloidiac header, this concerns Sprint local service
in downstate Illinois.  Sprint very recently obtained an effective
rate increase of almost 100%, according to my parents' local paper.
What they have done is to get a 5c per call charge added on to the
basic service charge, which may have increased somewhat also.  The
area has been flat rate for at least 40 years. I wonder how they could
justify such a massive increase to the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Have they been operating at a loss for years?  Curious.


John McHarry (mcharry@cwc.com or mcharry@digex.net)

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

Date: Wed, 18 May 94 11:20 EST
From: Stephen Goodman <0003945654@mcimail.com>
Subject: Ruling on 800 Numbers From Payphones


Greetings all:

I seem to recall about three years ago there was a ruling from Judge
Greene regarding blocking 800 numbers on payphones.  It seems alot of
independent payphone vendors were blocking 800 number dialing on their
equipment thereby preventing people from using the long-distance
calling cards which used 800 numbers for access.  Does anyone know if
there is a document anywhere on the ruling?

(The ruling was made prior to October 1992.  I found an FCC document:
CC Docket 92-77 10/8/92 which ordered AT&T to provide 800 access on
their proprietary cards when I was doing my research.)

Thanks!!


3945654@mcimail.com

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

From: jherl@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Joseph Herl)
Subject: How Can I Ring Up Myself?
Date: 18 May 1994 15:50:59 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana


Our family is moving to a new house next week, and we will have the
same telephone number at both places for several days.  How can I call
between them?

Our phone company (Ameritech) representative doesn't think this is
possible, but I remember that it used to be possible years ago to
"call another party on the line," and this is similar.  We used to
dial a code number, hang the phone up and wait for it to ring, then
pick up the phone and talk when it stopped ringing.  Does anyone know
whether this is still possible?


Joseph Herl    Internet: jherl@uiuc.edu   School of Music
University of Illinois      Telephone: +1 217 333 8733
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA  Home phone: +1 217 355 9040


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's a great service that Illinois Bell
provides, allowing a number to ring at multiple locations for simply the
cost of two local services. Several years ago when I moved from one place
to another I used that arrangement to keep my phone service intact during
the move. After about a week, I had the old location discontinued. At
least in the Chicago 312/708 area, ringbacks are accomplished thus:

Dial 1-57x-last four digits. The 'x' is a digit 1-9. It varies from one
exchange to another so you have to test to see which works. For example,
if your phone number was 555-1212 then a ring back would be generated by
dialing 1-57x-1212. If you select the wrong 'x', then the result will be
a fast busy signal. If you select the correct 'x', then the result will
be a fresh dial tone. On hearing that new dial tone, quickly click the
hook once and note that the dial tone changed to a high pitch tone. Then
dial '6', and hang up. The phone will commence ringing and will ring for
up to three or four minutes in the normal way before timing out. You can
tell the other end has answered when the ringing stops. But when you then
lift the receiver again, the high pitched tone remains on the line. It
won't go away, so you have to talk over it. Obviously short to the point
calls are recommended.  Once you hang up, the line returns to normal in
a few seconds.  As a final example, if your number was 234-5678 then you
would dial 1-572-5678, but the '2' might be something else depending on
which exchange you are in. This works all over 312/708 but I do not know
about 217, which is the area for Champaign-Urbana.  This is *not* an
approved or tariffed service. It is for telco testing/repair purposes 
only so do not abuse it or count on it being there.   PAT]

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

From: shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer)
Subject: Free Long Distance via Cellular via Cellular One
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 17:58:37 GMT


If a person has a cellular phone in Rochester, MN (507) and forwards
calls to another Rochester number, a person in Minneapolis (612) can
call the Cellular One roamer number, enter the Rochester cellular
number, and be forwarded to the Rochester number.  There are no fees
for using call forwarding, and there is no airtime charges.  The
"roaming coordinator" said that there would be no charges billed, and
this is not a "normal" thing to do.


Shawn Gordhamer   shawnlg@netcom.com   Rochester, Minnesota  USA

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

From: drew@mtu.edu (Drew Benson)
Subject: Wanted: Business phone system
Date: 18 May 1994 13:23:48 -0400
Organization: Michigan Technological University
Reply-To: drew@mtu.edu


Greetings,

        I'm looking for an inexpensive phone system designed for
small-scale kinds of things.  Not more than eight outgoing lines.  I'm
open to suggestions of brands, features, etc. I don't care whether
it's new or used either.  Features and price are what matter.


Thanks,

Drew Benson (drew@mtu.edu)

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

From: anhtai@engin.umich.edu (Tai Duong)
Subject: Help: Need TyIN 2000 Developer's Kit from Nat. Semiconductor
Date: 18 May 1994 14:44:58 GMT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor


Hello everyone.  I need the Developer's Kit for National Semiconductor's 
TyIN 2000 voice/modem/fax card.  They gave many "Beta" copies out for free 
but I missed the boat.  I'll be willing to pay you for a copy for what
ever it is worth.  I don't think they have restrictions on them since
they were free and is basically a small manual.

For those who don't know what it is, the kit is mainly a manual that
gives specs on writing software to work with the card.  It also has
some simple examples.  I need to get my hands on some specs.  I want
to write a TSR that will automatically record a phone conversation as
soon as you pick up the phone for any incoming or outgoing calls.
Also, I want to write a simple executable to play and fast forward the
phone conversation.  I'll make the program freeware if anyone is
interested.

By the way, the TyIN 2000 is an excellent card.  It costs $89 right
now and has NSC's software to do voicemail and fax.  I found the voice
quality recordings excellent.  I would recommend it to everyone.  The
only thing I don't like is that Nat. Semi. Conductor is a bit secretive 
on their cards specs since I am having a hell of a time getting some so 
I can write these two programs.

Appreciate any help anyone can give me. 


Tai Duong (anhtai@engin.umich.edu)

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

From: VANTEK@aol.com
Date: Wed, 18 May 94 23:40:30 EDT
Subject: New DLD Digest FAQ Available


We have just released a new version of the Discount Long Distance
Digest Frequently Asked Questions file. Included in the FAQ is an
index of all subjects covered in previous issues, a short history of
the reselling industry, a resellers telecom Glossary, a brief listing
of major resellers, reseller/telecom books and magazines, a breakdown
of the latest carrier DDD rates and calling plans, and an appendix of
agencies and companies involved in various aspects of reselling.
Subscription information on Discount Long Distance Digest is also
included. To receive a copy of our FAQ File e-mail us at: telconet@aol.com. 

Be sure to include the phrase: 'Request-FAQ' in the Subject: Field.

Discount Long Distance Digest is a weekly moderated mailing list and
newsletter delivered free to any e-mail recipient with internet
access. We cover mostly issues pertaining to the resale of long
distance telephone service. We also give specific information on
resellers for people looking to get into the reselling industry,
including commission schedules, rates, underlying carriers, marketing
strategy, and requirements for becoming an agent. We also cover other
business oppertunities in the telecom industry such as pre-paid
calling cards, payphones, Operator Assisted Services, international
callback services, aggregation, and telephone bill auditing.


Van Hefner   Moderator   Discount Long Distance Digest

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

From: yhchoi@cd4680.snu.ac.kr (Yanghee Choi)
Subject: Info on Info Superhighway Wanted
Organization: SNU
Date: Thu, 19 May 94 06:42:28 GMT


Please send me any info (or info sources) on information superhighway
related documents/files/announcements/seminars/servers. I'll post what
I'll collect. Please send the info to yhchoi@smart.snu.ac.kr


Yanghee


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, that is a rather tall order. The
documents on the 'info highway' go on and on. In a way, it is almost
like asking 'send me what information you have on the Telephone Company'.
Everyone is running seminars on it these days it seems, and the speeches
being made and testimony being given before government agencies and
others has filled many an issue of this Digest among other things. Maybe
you should try to narrow your request somewhat.   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V14 #236
******************************

