TELECOM Digest Wed, 9 Feb 94 23:20:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 71 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson PC Pursuit to be Discontinued April 1 (TELECOM Digest Editor) UC Berkeley Short Courses on High Speed Communication (Harvey Stern) ORSA Telecom Conference, March 1995 (Jane Fraser) Fiber Strangles Chicago Broadcasters (Alan Boritz) Audio Line Signal on Twisted Pair? (Ethan Ernest) Need Info on ISDN Phones (Al Cohan) Horrid AT&T 2500YMGK Sets (Randy Gellens) 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: Wed, 9 Feb 94 22:56:57 CST From: telecom (TELECOM Moderator) Subject: PC Pursuit to be Discontinued April 1 An internal memorandum was circulated recently to employees of Sprint announcing the discontinuance of the PC Pursuit program as of April 1. A copy of the internal memorandum was forwarded to the Digest along with a letter being mailed as of this date to customers of PCP and 'host customers' which receive connections from PCP users. The memo is first, followed by the letter to customers. ================== The following letters are being sent to our customers starting today. I want to briefly explain the phase-out plan and important differences between PC Pursuit services and Host outdial services. PC Pursuit and PC Business Call will be phased out at 12:01 AM, April 1, 1994. At that time we will cancel all remaining TAMS ID's which are identified to be PC Pursuit or PC Business Call. After this time, cus- tomers with these ID's will no longer be able to place calls to the outdial rotaries. However OUTDIAL CAPABILITIES WILL STILL REMAIN ON THE NETWORK FOR HOST-INITIATED OUTDIAL CALLS AND CALLS INITIATED WITH NON-PC PURSUIT TAMS ID'S. It is product management's intent to phase out all forms of outdial on the network within the next 12-18 months. During the next coming months, we will identify all outdial activities from all hosts and standard TAMS IDs, domestic and international, in order to quantify the impact of such a pbase out. However, at this time, we are cancelling PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall accounts only. We suggest no further responses be given to outdial opportunities in RFP's or opportunity requests. We will meet with you to discuss the phase out plan and ask for any comments or suggestions. There may be significant dissatisfaction displayed by some of our more vocal PC Pursuit customers. We have set up an 800 number so that these people can vent their frustration (see letter below). We would appreciate it if no product manager names were given to any customer, as these calls are extremely long, and for the most part, non-productive. Inquiries coming from the press should be directed to Media Relations, which will make arrangments to answer questions and conduct interviews. Norm Black at 404-359-6096 is the contact for all media inquiries or Evette Fulton at 202-328-7411. Stephen Rys (x-5743) or Paul Golder (x-5797) will handle internal issues associated with the phase out. ********************************************** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The copy of the above in my possession is not signed. Next follows a letter to customers dated January 24, 1994. PAT] Dear Customer: Over the past several months, Sprint has conducted a thorough business evaluation of the PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall services. Based on the results of this evaluation, Sprint's PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall services will be discontinued April 1, 1994. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you. We are talking this step in order to focus our resources on the growing demand for local dial-in access to online, "informatin provider" computer hosts which are directly connected to SprintNet. The continued growth in the number and variety of these dedicated hosts and host applications has minimized the need for PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall. Today, access to these host based applications far surpasses teh usage of dial-out access via PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall. Your PC Pursuit or PC BusinessCall ID/password will become inoperable on April 1, 1994 per this notification. No further charges for these services will be billed to your credit card or electronic funds transfer account after this April 1, 1994 date. If you would like to discontinue your service prior to April 1, 1994 please call 1-800-877-2006 between the hours of 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM, Monday through Friday, Eastern Standard Time. If you have already discontinued your PC Pursuit or PC BusinessCall service, please disregard this notification. (signed) Sprint Data Product Management **************************************** (The following letter is in the mail to five host customers which allow for PC Pursuit calls directly to their hosts.) January 24, 1994 Dear (personalized): Over the past several months, Sprint has conducted a thorough business evaluation of the PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall services. Based on the results of this evaluation, Sprint's PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall services will be discontinued, effective April 1, 1994. We regret any inconveneince that this may cause you or your users. All PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall customers are receiving the enclosed letter which includes a 60-day notice of the discontinuation of the services. On April 1, 1994, all PC Pursuit and PC BusinessCall ID/passwords will become inoperable, which will require that these users select an alternative method to access your host. If you would like to discuss alternative dial-up access to SprintNet, please contact your sales representative, or call 1-800-877-2006. (signed) Sprint Data Product Management *********************************** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So there you have it, officially from Sprint. PCP is discontinued as of April 1. The rumors have been going around for quite some time, since even before Sprint discontinued accepting new customers for the service a few months ago. FYI, a bit of history: the old Telenet system began operation in the early 1970's. Its email service called 'Telemail' was the first of its kind I think. Just about ten years ago, in 1983-84 the PC Pursuit service began, initially with just seven or eight cities which were on outdials, and about the same number of places which had local indials. But initially, the service operated in a different way. PC Pursuit had its own indials, and for purposes of security, it operated on a callback scheme. Users dialed into the PC Pursuit links, identified themselves, then were called back at the phone number of record at Telenet. Once connected by callback, *then* the user was allowed to make a single connection to the one of seven or eight places served including Chicago. After each call, the connection was dropped and the user had to dial back in again through the callback modems for another session. All connections were at either 110 or 300 baud initially, and within a year or so of starting the service, 1200 baud was available in quite a few places. Within about a year also, the callback scheme was dropped and users began calling in on the 'regular' indials for Telenet in their local area. I was a customer of PC Pursuit from its second week of operation through about two years ago, although in the last year or so of my membership I used it rarely. The Net Exchange BBS was started about a year after PC Pursuit itself started, and was intended as a place for users to ask questions and make comments. In the beginning, to reach the Net Exchange BBS, one had to use the Washington, DC outdials and dial a seven digit number, or dial direct to the same seven digit number (plus area code) if one could not 'get through' on PC Pursuit due to congestion. Since 1990, the Net Exchange BBS has been a distri- bution point for TELECOM Digest, with each issue of the Digest made available to NetXBBS users in the 'files' area. Initially, the service allowed unlimited nighttime and weekend useage for $25 per month, on open account billing. The open account billing was discontinued after a couple years because of considerable abuse and fraud by customers, and it was grandfathered only to those of us who had had it all along. All new customers had to pay by credit card or EFT. Toward the end of my subscription there were only two or three of us still on the system using open account billing. A few years ago, due to abuse by users who were racking up many, many (in the hundreds of) hours each month, the program was changed to allow for 25/50 hours per month at the rate of $25/$50 per month, with additional hours above the limit at an extra fee. Also a few years ago, the original Telenet network was sold to Sprint, the company which runs it today. As Telenet, it was part of GTE. In the late 1980's I wrote an essay which was distributed on Usenet and quite a few independent BBSs called 'Let Your Fingers do the Walking' which discussed a bug in the Telenet network at that time which permitted connection to *any host* -- 'authorized outdial' or not -- with a legitimate PC Pursuit ID/password. I listed several international points which could be reached via Telenet including the British Telecom Master Clock and the Master Clocks of a few other countries including Japan and the Hong Kong Telephone Company. I discussed connections to the host systems on several data networks accessible through those network's gateways to Telenet, and how to use the outdials of those other networks after first gatewaying to them via Telenet using ones PC Pursuit password. I included network addresses for several live, 'online' terminals at the help desks of those other networks where one could 'chat' interactively with whoever was on duty. Management at Telenet was quite upset with me for publishing that article, and the loopholes were closed shortly after it appeared on the net. From the beginning of the Telenet network until just a couple years ago, Telenet was assigned 'area code' 909 for its administrative use since all hosts on the network otherwise had addresses of the form xxxyyy or xxxyyyy where xxx was the area code where they were located and yyy or yyyy was the 'address'. 909yyy or 909yyyy was used to connect with the Telenet administration itself. Numerous addresses of the form 909xxx connected to all sorts of test ports for network diagnostic purposes. Some were 'loop arounds', others presented curious results when one connected to them. So, about ten years after it started, PC Pursuit is dead. In the beginning it was a radical, very modern innovation. A decade later, it is just another way of connecting, and not a very good one at that. So from a nostalgic point of view, I am sorry to see it go, but from a business and effeciency standpoint, its demise is overdue. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 10:17:55 -0800 From: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu Subject: UC Berkeley Short Courses on High Speed Communication U.C. Berkeley Continuing Education in Engineering Announces 3 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 email: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Feb 1994 10:02:54 EST From: fraser@ccl2.eng.ohio-state.edu Subject: ORSA Telecom Conference, March 1995 Third ORSA Telecommunications Conference 20-22 March 1995 Sheraton Inn, Boca Raton, Florida Sponsored by the ORSA Technical Section on Telecommunications CALL FOR PAPERS The Third ORSA (Operations Research Society of America) Telecommunications Conference will be held in Boca Raton, Florida, 20-22 March 1995. In the tradition of the First (March 1990) and Second (March 1992) Conferences, both held also at the Sheraton Inn Boca Raton, the Third Conference will again focus on the theory and application of Operations Research to problems in telecommunications. FEATURED SPEAKERS: The Keynote Speaker will be Robert E. Kahn (NRI); and the Plenary Speakers will be Robert G. Gallager (MIT), Frank P. Kelly (Cambridge), Clyde L. Monma (Bellcore), and Jean Walrand (Berkeley). TOPICS FOR THE CONFERENCE INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO: ATM Networks Economics of Telecommunications Wireless Networks Performance Evaluation High-Speed Data Networks Queueing Models LANs and MANs Network Topology Video and Multimedia Loss Networks Network Management Routing and Scheduling Teletraffic Theory Congestion Control Polling Models Simulation Reliability Optimization Two kinds of submissions are invited: proposals for (i) organized sessions, and (ii) contributed presentations. A proposal for an organized session should include a one-page abstract for each presentation, and a cover letter from the session organizer that outlines the theme of the session; a proposal for a contributed presentation should include a one-page abstract describing the talk. All proposals and abstracts will be reviewed by the Program Committee. Send proposals and abstracts in triplicate to Keith W. Ross, Program Chair; for registration materials contact Mary T. Magrogan at the ORSA Business Office. IMPORTANT DATES: 1 September 1994: deadline for proposals and abstracts for organized sessions 1 October 1994: deadline for abstracts for contributed sessions 15 December 1994: notification of acceptance 1 February 1995: deadline for preregistration GENERAL CHAIR: Robert B. Cooper Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL 33431 bob@cse.fau.edu (407) 367-3673 PROGRAM CHAIR: Keith W. Ross Dept. of Systems University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 ross@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (215) 898-6069 MEETINGS MANAGER: Mary T. Magrogan ORSA Business Office 1314 Guilford Avenue Baltimore, MD 21202 magrogan@jhuvms.bitnet (800) 887-6772 ------------------------------ Subject: Fiber Strangles Chicago Broadcasters From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.UU.NET (Alan Boritz) Date: Wed, 09 Feb 94 20:13:04 EST Organization: Harry's Place BBS - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861 I came across a letter I wrote last year to the editor of Radio World on two issues dear to Pat Townson (fiber implementation and Chicago), and thought I'd share it one more time before retiring it. The issue that brought it up (in 1992) was Illinois Bell trying to sell (or push, depending on your perspective) fiber in place of preferred copper circuits. (May 18, 1992) Telecommunications fiber is the best and worst thing to happen to the broadcasting business. It makes possible better transmission characteristics than copper over comparably longer distance circuits, but *reliability* is the *real* issue. Customers served with fiber facilities (such as those described in "Fiber at Issue in Chicago, 5/6/92 {Radio World}) are *much* more vulnerable to circuit outages due to MUX (muliplexer) failures than due to physical circuit problems. As telcos scramble to install fiber backbone and other facilities to save on plant construction and maintenance expenses, they often overlook something as simple as MUX AC power. Where telco customers were used to either having telco provide circuit power (for POTS or similar service), or not having to provide circuit power at all (for local unloaded equalized program service), now the customer has to worry about whether or not someone may kick out the power cord for equipment for which he may or may not have control. Broadcasters with studio or transmitter facilities in multi-tenant buildings are *especially* vulnerable to program circuit failures due to power disruptions. Landlords are under no obligation to provide telecommunications utilities with AC power, let alone non-interruptible power sources. If telco merely "grabs" the nearest AC outlet and plugs in their MUX equipment, there's no telling what can happen when either maintenance can have building AC circuits turned off or (in a worse case scenario) the whole building is without AC power. All the standby power equipment in your studio and transmitter facilities won't do you any good if telco's MUX's are off-line. For example, even in the Empire State Building, New York Telephone has made no provisions for continuous (or even reliable) power for the equipment that feeds radio and television circuits upstairs with it's single fiber riser. It's a frightening thought that a communications system relied upon so much by so many would be planned so poorly. Broadcasters lose something very valuable when telco installs fiber in place of copper -- reliability. However, while telco's enjoy lower installation and operating expenses with fiber facilities, telco customers see no savings passed along for inferior service. Broadcasters should demand from telco *reliable* service responsibly planned and installed. We *can't* accept anything less. aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz Harry's Place BBS (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861 ------------------------------ From: ethane@panix.com (Ethan Ernest) Subject: Audio Line Signal on Twisted Pair? Date: Wed, 09 Feb 1994 21:44:05 -0500 Organization: ERNESTCO I am presently wiring my new office with eight nodes of connectivity (I'm trying to cover a lot of bases!) I've run 10base2 thin coax, RG56 Coax for Video/Cable, and two pairs (one spare) of 10baseT level3 eight conductor (four pairs 24g awg) plenum cable, which I plan to use for telephones and possibly 10baset or localtalk. My question is this: does anyone know whether it will cause problems or interference with either digital data or analog phone signals on the other pairs in the plenum if I use two pair of wires in the cable to run right and left line level (1-2V) audio signals? Since I've already sheetrocked most of the walls, this would save me a bit of time snaking separate lines! Any help greatly appreciated. E R N E S T C O ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Feb 94 13:44 EST From: The Network Group <0004526627@mcimail.com> Subject: Need Info on ISDN Phones I need to know a source for ISDN phonesxxx -- excuse me: voice terminals. I have heard that AT&T has a few of these but haven't heard of any other manufacturers such as Northern Telecom or others. Apparently the Northern product for Meridian Digital Centrex is not an ISDN phone. If anyone could help, I would appreciate it. Thanks in Advance, Al Cohan ------------------------------ From: RANDY@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: 09 FEB 1994 16:18:00 GMT Subject: Horrid AT&T 2500YMGK Sets In preparation for our move from a Dimension PBX to a G3, we are replacing our 7101 'voice terminals' with new ersatz 2500 sets. (I'm told that since we lease the PBX and the phones, we must exhange them all). These things are the same size as the classic 2500 sets of yesteryear. But they are cheap! They didn't even bother gluing in lead weights, as is typical with cheap equipment to give it that sold feel and heft. (They do have an empty compartment in the base that could hold a sand bag, to keep them from sliding off the desk.) The worst problem with these sets is the sidetone. At my normal speaking level, I can't hear any sidetone. This is disorienting. If I speak up even a little bit, I get a horrible buzzing distortion in place of sidetone. Co-workers (with louder voices I guess) report always hearing the dread buzzing. Besides the lightweight and cheap feel and the appalling sidetone, the sets suffer from bad sound quality in general, an irritating chirp instead of ringing, a message waiting lamp that flickers instead of blinking, and pushbuttons that don't feel right. All in all, pretty useless junk, I'd say. I'm very surprised that AT&T, of all companies, is pushing this schlock. Aren't they the ones who spent years investigating optimal telephone parameters for factors such as sidetone, ringing, speaker quality, etc.? How can they produce a set that is so far below their own standards? If we're going to have cheap plastic phones with obnoxious chirpers, we could at least have small ones (like the old 7101A sets), instead of these huge things. But I'm told AT&T no longer make the 7101 sets. In fact, I'm told that AT&T says these toy 2500s are their standard sets, sold in vast quantities, and they were surpised to hear of our complaints. Well, at least they are made in the U.S.A. Randall Gellens randy@mv-oc.unisys.com A Series System Software Unisys Corporation [Please forward bounce messages Mission Viejo, CA to: rgellens@mcimail.com] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #71 *****************************