TELECOM Digest Tue, 3 Jul 90 00:04:36 CDT Volume 10 : Issue 465 Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Re: AT&T Red-Lining of Card Calls From Payphones [Robert Gutierrez] Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? [Art Berggreen] Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? [Darren Griffiths] Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? [Scott King] Re: Phony Bell Wanted (Not a Bell Phone) [Paul Krzyzanowski] Re: Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA [John T. Grieggs] Re: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe [Dell H. Ellison] FAX Isn't Facsimile Exchange, is it, Really? [Edward Greenberg] Who Is John Galt? [Peter da Silva] Monitoring Device Information Needed [Bruce W. Mohler] Bellcore Number Down During July [Carl Moore] Answering Machine Recommendations Wanted [Bill Darden] Telecom is OFF LINE Until July 8 [TELECOM Moderator] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gutierre@noc.arc.nasa.gov Subject: Re: AT&T Red-Lining of Card Calls From Payphones Date: 2 Jul 90 00:24:02 GMT Reply-To: gutierre@noc.arc.nasa.gov In article <59816@bu.edu.bu.edu>, the TELECOM Moderator writes: |> In recent issues of the Digest, people have mentioned their inability |> to use the AT&T Calling Card from certain payphones in the United |> States to call certain foreign countries. |> Sometimes payphones reject credit card calls to one country, while |> allowing the same type of call to other countries. This is very true of MCI. The red-lining entirely depends on the amount of fraud traffic of the previous week that the security department catches. A good instance is San Francisco. They are red-lined to the Phillipines, and always have been for the last three years. This was because of the LARGE fraudulent calls to that country. But calling from across the bay (Oakland and Berkeley) will let you get to the Phillipines, since the red-lining is by switch, and the Hayward switch covers those cities. Now, if you called 800-950-1022, because of a quirk in the DMS-250's, those card calls had to go to the Dominguez Hills, CA. switch, in which they were not red-lining the Phillipines (as of a year ago). (The quirk, I was told, was that the DMS-250's cannot return tone on FGD's, which the 800 calls come in on, as opposed to FGB's, which the regular 950-XXXX calls come in on...). Oh, how do they determine, by the _week_, which is the highest fraud country??? Well, any calling-card international call over a set amount of minutes is automatically tagged, and the home phone number of the account in question is called. Well, if they're using a calling card to begin with, they're probably not home, so the card is cancelled until the account holder calls back. But when the account holder calls back, he/she finds out that the card can't be reinstated until 3am the next day, when the CAC's (Card Authorization Computers) update themselves for new calling card numbers. I heard AT&T does the same thing, but can reinstate in thirty minutes to one hour. Is that true? |> Is this sort of red-lining legal? Is it discriminatory to block calls |> to, for example, Mexico or Colombia, while allowing the same payphone |> to handle calls to the UK or France? Is it discriminatory to allow |> residents in one part of town to make credit card calls from payphones |> while refusing other credit-worthy citizens in another neighborhood |> the right to do the same thing? My understanding is that a calling card is a privlege, as opposed to direct-dial access (so called FGD access). |> ....Since the Universal Card is a |> bona-fide credit card (in addition to its role as a phone card), are |> there violations of Federal Trade Commission regulations when AT&T |> refuses to extend credit (in this case both as the credit grantor as |> well as the seller) based on arbitrary red-lining of certain |> neighborhoods? This one is a good question. How much liability has AT&T assumed when it issued VISA/MC credit cards, and allowed payments of your calls on them. Do they have a disclaimer in their FCC Tariff stating "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" in re: Calling Card calls. Again, C/C calls are tariffed, but are they a right, or a privlege? Robert [Moderator's Note: All extensions of credit are considered a privilege and not a 'right'; however, extensions or denials of credit must be based on *legal* criteria. I can deny you the privilege of credit because you have not the ability or willingness to pay your bills; but I cannot base my decision on your ethnic background or country of origin, which seems to be what telco is doing by denying (for example) Iranians the right to call their homeland from JFK; residents of Colombia from calling home from Miami, or Mexicans calling from southern California while allowing people of British origin to call the UK from the very same payphones. By the way, AT&T did not call me back today. PT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 10:03:08 PDT From: Art Berggreen Subject: Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California In article <59846@bu.edu.bu.edu> TELECOM Moderator writes: X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 463, Message 7 of 8 >Word has been reaching us the past few days of the tragic fires >burning though parts of California, and the most disturbing news is >that apparently much of the town of Santa Barbara is in ashes. Perhaps >someone in the area could let us know what the effect has been on >telco service in that area, and other parts of the state. Rest assured, Santa Barbara is still here. We're not exactly a "town". The general area has approx. 150,000 people. The fire was BAD though. Almost 500 homes were destroyed (and got too close to mine as well). The phone system did get very overloaded during the fire, causing problems for emergency services. Art Berggreen ACC ------------------------------ From: Darren Griffiths Subject: Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? Date: 2 Jul 90 22:39:25 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. In article <59846@bu.edu.bu.edu> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >Word has been reaching us the past few days of the tragic fires >burning though parts of California, and the most disturbing news is >that apparently much of the town of Santa Barbara is in ashes. Perhaps >someone in the area could let us know what the effect has been on >telco service in that area, and other parts of the state. Well, I'm not from the area, but I used to be and still have many friends there so I know a bit about what's going on. The fire started on highway 151 near Painted Cave. It burned down the highway and the San Marcos valley. A major residential area sits at the bottom of this valley and was entirely destroyed. Of the 500+ homes with major damage about 300 were completely destroyed. As far as phone service is concerned it was incredibly good. Many of my friends were evacuated, some for two days and they found out about the condition of their homes by calling and seeing if the answering machine picked up. The night the fire started the phones were out to the Hidden Valley area for a few hours, this was the area of about 3000 homes close to the path of the fire. The next day many calls into the area were greeted with a message "Due to the forest fire in the area you are calling your call cannot be completed at this time, please try your call later." If you called two or three times in a row you did get through though, also switching to a different long distance carrier sometimes helped. AT&T, as is my experience with most phone service, was the most reliable path into the town Cheers, --darren ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 19:37:21 PDT From: Scott King <6500king%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu> Subject: Re: Is Santa Barbara Completely Destroyed? In reguard to your posting about Santa Barbara... I live here, and I have seen the damage. I believe that Mark Twain said "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". Granted, there are around 470 homes destroyed, but most of those were in the hills and asking for it (eg. surronded by a lot of brush) There were about ten businesses destroyed, but each only employeed about four people. Although the "sundowners" (a local version of a Santa Ana wind) were resposible for the damage on the first day, they quit on the second day and allowed the fire to be contained (the sundowners had been blowing for about 3 weeks). All in all, I would say that we should stop whining and start to count our blessings. The whole city would be gone had this happened a week prior. In summary, I would say that 1200 people lost their homes, 50 people lost their jobs and 100,000 people stepped in to help in some form. Scott King ------------------------------ From: paul@alice.UUCP (Paul Krzyzanowski) Subject: Re: Phony Bell Wanted (Not a Bell Phone) Date: 2 Jul 90 20:05:59 GMT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill NJ In article <59815@bu.edu.bu.edu>, jamesd@techbook.com (James Deibele) writes: > would pause and ask if I needed to get the other call. Since I don't > have the click anymore, and some people don't ever give me the chance > to get a word in edgewise, I'd like to have a bell that sounds like a > phone ringing --- I'd like to keep it next to the phone, and push (or This probably isn't what you want, but I recently saw a small device at a card store that produces one of four sounds depending on the button you press: a ringing telephone (a call on another line), static (bad connection), a nasal secretary ("you have a call on line 4"), and a busy office (lots of phones ringing). - Paul Krzyzanowski paul2allegra.att.com ------------------------------ From: "John T. Grieggs" Subject: Re: Touchtone Fee Abolished in CA Date: 2 Jul 90 20:58:59 GMT Reply-To: grieggs@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (John T. Grieggs) Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA >Lang Zerner writes: >> I don't know if anyone has reported this yet, but PacBell has finally >> given in to my incessant whining and removed the "value-added" fee for >> Touch-Tone service. Another data point: I recently moved to a PacBell service area from a GTE service area (finally!). The customer service rep was a lot friendlier than I am used to, and was a LOT more knowledgable about stuff. I refused Touch-Tone service, to see if tones would work anyway, since the start-up fee and monthly service fee are no different whether you get them right away or later. Tone dialing works, so I saved the $3.00 startup fee and the $1.20 monthly service fee. Nice to win one. John T. Grieggs (Telos @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory) 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, Ca. 91109 M/S 301-320T (818) 354-0871 Uucp: {cit-vax,elroy,chas2}!jpl-devvax!grieggs Arpa: ...jpl-devvax!grieggs@cit-vax.ARPA ------------------------------ From: "Dell H. Ellison" Subject: Re: On the Trail of the Elusive Octothorpe Date: 2 Jul 90 21:22:12 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Hgts, IL In article <9236@accuvax.nwu.edu>, motcid!king@uunet.uu.net (Steven King) writes: > In article <9204@accuvax.nwu.edu> erik@naggum.uu.no (Erik Naggum) writes: > > #5 means "number five" > > 5# means "five lbs (pounds)" > >This has later been confirmed by several good dictionaries and > >reference works (read: theory), but I've never seen in it practice. I thought everyone used 'lbs.' I guess I was wrong. > I prefer calling it the "sharp" sign. It doesn't get confused with > the British pound, and is much less of a mouthful than "octothorpe". > That last sounds like it should be on the menu at a seafood > restaurant. I've found that most people (at least in the states) call it a pound sign. But I like to call it a Number Sign, because it's hard to confuse it with something else. (Many people are not familiar with music terminology.) .. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 08:42 PDT From: Edward_Greenberg@cso.3mail.3com.com Subject: FAX Isn't Facsimile Exchange, is it, Really? I think that FAX is just shorthand spelling for FACSimile, and has nothing to do with a particular "Exchange". ------------------------------ Subject: Who Is John Galt? Date: Sun Jul 1 18:44:21 1990 From: peter da silva John Galt is a sort of Buckminster Fuller on cocaine: an eccentric engineer who mixes philosophy and engineering in equal doses ... but instead of a sort of proto new-age without the flakiness, Galt's philosophy is a aggressive mix of social darwinism and sociobiology. Oh yes, he's also only a character in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", a political statement thinly disguised as fiction. ------------------------------ From: "Bruce W. Mohler" Subject: Monitoring Device Information Needed Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 9:47:10 PDT Patrick, In an article (Volume 10, Issue 463, Message 3 of 8), you write (as a postscript): > [Moderator's Note: There are commercial devices available which allow > what you want, and also accept incoming calls to tell you about the > temperature at the place where the device is located, then allow you > to listen to background noise for thirty seconds or so. In the event > of some problem (usually a choice of three or four problems) they call > out to up to four(?) different phones, and keep calling until someone > presses certain tones on the phone to reset the device. PT] Could you please point me to a source for these devices? Bruce W. Mohler Systems Programmer (aka Staff Analyst) bruno@sdcc10.ucsd.edu voice: 619/586-2218 [Moderator's Note: The last time I saw one advertised (a week or so ago) it was in the Global Computer Supply mail order catalog. I wish I had it here now -- I tossed it out -- so I could quote you the page and other details. I think it can tell if there is water in the vicinity (because a probe gets wet; a contact is shorted, etc); if there is a fire (because the temperature gets very warm in the area); if there is a break-in (because output of burglar alarm device is fed to this unit), and more. These units are also used in cold storage warehouses to tell if the power went off, i.e. the temperature is above a certain point. When you call in, a synthesized voice says "the time is 12:34:56 7/8/90". The temperature is X degrees. Everything is normal. Now listen!" ... and the built in microphone lets you listen for familiar (and unfamiliar) noises in the room. They also call you when activated, and chant their message over and over until you shut them off. Try Global (they have an 800 number), or other computer peripheral supply houses. Maybe someone with their catalog or a similar one will write you with info. Please, someone? PT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 10:35:23 EDT From: cmoore@brl.mil Subject: Bellcore Number Down During July On Saturday June 30, I called the Bellcore number at 201-644-5639, and the synthetic voice said that the person working on it is on vacation in July and to try again in August. The recording does identify Bellcore. ------------------------------ From: Bill Darden Subject: Answering Machine Recommendations Wanted Date: 2 Jul 90 23:20:33 GMT Reply-To: Bill Darden Organization: Northrop Research & Technology Center, Palos Verdes, CA I would appreciate recommendations on answering machines. Thanks, BiLL...... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 Jul 90 22:50:45 CDT From: TELECOM Moderator Subject: Telecom is OFF LINE Until July 8 This is just a reminder that TELECOM Digest and comp.dcom.telecom are off line this week while I am out of town. The messages appearing in this issue and the final one(s) Tuesday evening are what was left in the queue. *Please hold further articles until July 7 or 8 before mailing them in to this newsgroup* .... thank you! Patrick Townson TELECOM Moderator ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V10 #465 ****************************** -----