TELECOM Digest Mon, 21 Feb 94 06:48:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 93 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Nynex and RBOCs (Bob Frankston) History of Numbers in UK (Richard Cox) U.C. Berkeley Short Courses on High Speed Communications (Harvey Stern) Asynchronous Transfer Mode (Ed Wolfe) Talking Caller ID Boxes? (Elana Beach) International Audiotext Provider Wanted (Fabrio Renato) Excel Telecommunications (Matthew L. Blackmon) AirTouch Communications (Michael Judson) 900 Numbers in California (Van Hefner) Need Textbook! (Dennis O. Gehris) Information Wanted on Network Card (Ethan Brofman) RBOC Names (Cliff Sharp) 100mbit Testers (Jack Pestaner) Telemate Source and Company (Steve Bauer) Frame Relay Information Needed (Peter Gibson) Last Laugh! New Element Discovered (John Shaver) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Bob_Frankston@frankston.com Subject: Nynex and RBOCs Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 20:16 -0400 {I should preface these remarks by saying that I'm not really suffering too badly due to this outage since I've got other ways of making outgoing calls and my computer data lines do work. But the tone does represent general frustration with the lack of a competitive marketplace.} It's too bad there isn't local loop competition yet. I like to fantasize innovative services. My phone (and a few hundred others) have been out since Friday even due to some sort of cable break. It is supposed to be restored by 5pm Monday (Of course, it's slipping day by day). I finally asked them to busy out my lines so that callers don't simply get a ringing that indicates I'm simply too arrogant to own an answering machine. Why isn't SOP to place an out of order signal on the line. The only explanation is they're the Phone Company (Capital letters since there is only one!!). Of course, if they had a modicum of intelligence they would provide a recording explaining the problem and offer free voice mail services until the serivce is restored and then automatically forward the message (like ATT does for its message forwarding service). But, again, why should they bother. When I call repair, I randomly get a service that asks me to key in my phone number (after waiting till I hear enough of their message because they can't hear tones while they are blabbering about how to operate the silly system). Of course, when I do get a repair person, the number doesn't appear on their screen. That would take some internal coordination. I'll writeup my ISDN experiences separately. I do have ISDN working but the sales literature hasn't been updated since about 1980 when they though 9600 bps was fast enough for LANs. They are clueless as to uses for the service. My wife's reaction on reading this is MONDAY 5PM!!!!!! She's not as calm about it. My reaction is moderated by my limited expectations. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Exactly where is/what caused this cable problem and why is it taking three or four days to fix? Be sure to ask for credit for the time your phone was out of service. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 94 18:23 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: History of Numbers in UK Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk Thomas Miles said, about numbering in the UK: > Before inter-office dialing arrived (so-called Subscriber Trunk > Dialing STD) in the '60s (I think) exchanges were known by name > (usually town, sometimes obscure eg Pangle). Numbers could be three, > four or five digits except for the big cities (London, Manchester etc) > which were All Figure Numbers, seven digits. BEFORE the STD system arrived here, all numbers on automatic exchanges had an exchange name, and between two and five numerical digits. Not all the numbers could be dialled directly when calling from outside the area served by each exchange. Two digit numbers were on very primitive exchanges, and in all cases the Post Office operator had to set up every out-of-area call to and from these numbers. In the six largest cities (London, Birmingham, Liverpool Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow) every exchange had a "local" name and the first three letters of this were the dialling code from nearby exchanges. This (almost) equated to the system used in the USA, except that in the UK it was always three letters and four digits - there were no cases of two letters and five digits. > Dialing the STD code for local calls worked, but I understand you got > charged a toll rate. Not true. The charges were the same, whether the "local" or STD codes were dialled. Except, of course, where the "local" code was a concatenation of other local codes designed to bypass the STD charging system. Until STD arrived, the UK had flat-rate-per-call calling for local calls; after that even local calls were charged by duration (except in Hull where the Post Office's warrant did not run!) > some numbers could be dialed in as few as seven or eight digits > from anywhere in the UK). Never seven digits -- the routing system would not accept less than eight. But eight digit (national) numbers still exist in a number of places (although they are mostly being phased out at the moment). > things are moving to everyone having a four digit STD 0XXX and a six > digit number. Not true. Things are moving to everyone having a ten digit (national) number -- some in the form four digits code + six digits local, but there are several parts of the UK where five digits code + five digits local will remain the standard -- at least as the current plan stands. And in the "larger cities" the original standard remains: three digits code, plus three digits district and four digits local number. The "larger cities" include London, Birmingham, Liverpool Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, plus the area round Newcastle which works differently. Next year (April 1995) five more cities will be added to the list: they are Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester. > Also, more All Figure areas have been created Only the one (Area code 091). This includes Newcastle, Washington, (*not* DC!) Durham and Sunderland. In all the other "larger cities", all calls within the city area are treated as a single zone for charging purposes ... in 091 there are three separate charging zones. > Beginning next year, the STD goes up to five digits Only some of them! > STDs were assigned in alphabetic sequence based on the major routing > exchanges, not geographically Not quite. Every exchange was put in a group (for charging purposes) and the group was given a name -- usually that of the town or county etc -- from which one or (usually) two letters were extracted. These letters, plus an arbitrary digit, became the rounting code (which was always prefixed with a "0"). Thus I was (and still am!) 0CA2 for CArdiff; while a village six miles away was put in the 0GG6 group (for GlamorGan county). Some letter combinations were a little artificial, but that was unavoidable given the need to make the best use of all the available codes! And PAT added: > telephone area codes here are a hodge-podge; they are whatever they > are wherever they are. 212 is in New York and 213 is in California > some four thousand miles away. 316 is in Kansas while 315 is also in > New York, with 312 in Chicago, 313 in Detroit and 314 in St. Louis. I understood that the US system was designed to minimise the register holding time, for pulse dialing callers. Thus New York, the most popular destination, got 212 ... Los Angeles 213, etc. There were other rules limiting adjacent combinations but that was the basic way the system was set up. With all that effort to reduce register holding times, it's a bit odd that telcos still charge *extra* for tone dialing! Richard D G Cox Mandarin Technology, P.O. Box 111, Penarth, South Glamorgan, Wales: CF64 3YG Voice: 0956 700111 Fax: 0956 700110 VoiceMail: 0941 151515 Pager 0941 115555 E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request ------------------------------ From: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu Subject: U.C. Berkeley Short Courses on High Speed Communications Date: 20 Feb 1994 19:58:01 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley 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 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 20:41:40 EST From: Ed Wolfe Subject: Asynchronous Transfer Mode Organization: Penn State University I'm working a paper for a data com class and need some information on ATM. Does anybody have information relating to this? Please send replies to CEW108@PSUVM.PSU.EDU. Thanks in advance, Ed ------------------------------ From: elana@netcom.com (Elana Beach) Subject: Talking Caller ID Boxes Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 21:07:04 GMT I figure that by now, someone has invented and is marketing Caller ID boxes for the blind that speak instead of (or as well as) putting the number on a LCD display. Where do I find one? I am not visually impaired, but it sure would be convenient to be able to just listen for the ID when the phone is ringing rather than having to stop what I am doing and always run to the box to look at it. Any ideas out there? Elana ------------------------------ From: renato@phantom.com (Fabrio Renato) Subject: International Audiotext Provider Wanted Date: 20 Feb 1994 23:06:37 GMT Organization: [MindVox] / Phantom Access Technologies / (+1 800-MindVox) I am looking for a reliable international audiotext provider company. Any help would be appreciated. ------------------------------ From: blackmon@cs.utk.edu (Matthew L. Blackmon) Subject: Excel Telecommunications Date: 20 Feb 1994 11:49:53 -0500 Organization: CS Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Greetings: Has anyone heard of a long distance carrier named Excel Telecommunciations? My friend has been invited to join in this "business opportunity", however in my experience and with my industry knowledge (albeit limited, see my .sig), it strikes me as not being legitimate, although they make many claims that I am trying to verify. Please note that I have absolutely no interest in this project, other that the fact that being the "computer and phone guy" gets me tapped for free advice more often that I like. :-) Anyone else with that problem? Please email me, and I will post a summary if there is any (unlikely) interest in the follow-up (please email me about the summary also to avoid the "inevitable" me-too posts).. Thanks for any help that you can offer. Matt Blackmon blackmon@cs.utk.edu mblackmo%utmck_mis@wpgate.utk.edu Department of Computer Science Manager, Network Engineering and Technology The University of Tennessee The University of TN Medical Center Knoxville, Tennessee 37916 615.544.6110 ------------------------------ From: judson@crl.com (Michael Judson) Subject: AirTouch Communications Date: 20 Feb 1994 22:24:48 -0800 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] Is there anybody who likes the name of PacTel's new spin-off communications division: AirTouch Communications? I was reading an article regarding the name decision and they brought up the fact that UAL's name change to Allegis failed because the name itself was not popular. Does anybody else see this happening to Airtouch? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think it is sort of a cute name. I like it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: vantek@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 01:27:21 EST Subject: 900 Numbers in California Pacific Bell, which 'sells' regional (900) numbers has a brochure that they send out to prospective users of the service. Here's a quote from the brochure: " * California 900 Direct programs are assigned a specific telephone prefix based on the nature of their program content. The prefixes are: 844 General Audience, recorded (including interactive). 505 General audience, live (one-on-one and group-bridged services). 303 Restricted adult material (live and recorded). Pacific Bell does not bill for programs on the 303 prefix. * When you apply for service, you will be asked to select a prefix based on the content of your program. A telephone number that is easily remembered by your customers can be an effective marketing tool. If the number you want is available, we will honor your request. In most cases, a number installed for you in any Pacific Bell Service Area will automatically be reserved for you in all areas. If you start a program in only one Service Area, you may be able to expand to other areas using the same telephone number." BTW, the connection charges, surcharges, and transport/billing fees from Pacific Bell are ludicrously high. It's no wonder that most (900) numbers are some kind of 'sex line' type of service. I can't see how anyone else could afford to pay those fees (nothing sells like sex). The biggest problem with running a (900) number (by FAR) is the amount of bad debt in the industry. You've got to factor-in the fact that between 30-50% of the people that call will never pay their bills (Pacific Bell certainly doesn't make any mention of the fact). Since you can not have your telephone service cut-off here for not paying a (900) bill there is very little incentive for these (900) callers to pay their bills. Even though these people routinely will not pay their bills (Pacific Bell does the billing on the local phone bill) you will still be charged (as the 900 operator) ten cents or more a minute for the billing, and that's for LOCAL calls. That doesn't of course factor in the intra/inter lata charges which you are responsible for if it's a long/short distance call (no intra-lata competition in this part of California). I imagine that other LEC's probably have a similar prefix 'code' for different types of services. I couldn't tell you whether the same (900) number could be duplicated by someone else nationally and still be available in a particular LEC area. Probably not. This would certainly cut-down the number of available numbers, if some of the numbers are available only nationally, and some are only available locally. Van Hefner Vantek Communications vantek@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 94 13:37:47 EST From: Dennis O. Gehris <73040.2353@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Need Textbook! I am teaching telecommunications courses in the College of Business at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (undergraduate and graduate). I need to select textbooks for next summer and fall. I have been examining the following textbooks: TELECOMMUNICATIONS: CONCEPTS, DEVELOPMENT, AND MANAGEMENT, by Blyth and Blyth, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1985 (This book includes the topics that I'd like to cover, but does not include any cases.) and NETWORKS IN ACTION: BUSINESS CHOICES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS DECISIONS by Keen and Cummins, Wadsworth., 1994 (This book includes cases but does not cover the topics that I'd like to cover.) The topics that I'd like to cover are as follows: History of Telecommun- ications, Regulation, Telephony, Networks, Data Communications, Services, Management, etc.) Can anyone recommend another telecommunications textbook? Please include the title, author, publisher, and copyright date, if known. Please send this information to dg@neptune.bloomu.edu (Internet). Thanks, Dennis Gehris ------------------------------ From: Ethan.Brofman@f3062.n106.z1.fidonet.org (Ethan Brofman) Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 13:05:08 -0500 Subject: Information Wanted on Network Card Hello, Can someone give me info on a network card? On the back edge of the card is the following: /// Standard Microsystems Corp. (c) 1985 Arcnet - PC100 \\\ /// I also have a boot prom on it. On the boot prom: NETWARE/SM ROM 817-132-003 REV A D300 4/16/86 I need ALL info on it. Please e-mail me because I don't read this group very often. Thanks a lot! Ethan Brofman ethan.brofman@f3062.n106.z1.fidonet.org ------------------------------ Subject: RBOC Names Date: Sun, 20 Feb 94 13:19:55 CST From: Cliff Sharp Remember all the hype, commercials, letters, etc. about the changeover from using the name Illinois Bell to going by Ameritech? The millions of dollars they spent to drive the name "Illinois Bell" out of our minds? I just happened to notice the cover of the Chicago Consumer Yellow Pages. It has a large Ameritech logo at top left, then at the right, in smaller but prominent letters, "The official telephone directory of Illinois Bell." ------------------------------ From: jackp@telecomm.ogi.edu (Jack Pestaner) Subject: 100mbit Testers Date: 20 Feb 94 22:36:13 GMT Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute Hi, Does anybody know of a tester that can qualify installed 100 mbit Level 5 cabling networks? We want to test, from RJ45 to RJ45 through the cable, to assure the net will function at Level 5. Thanks, jack ------------------------------ From: STEVE BAUER Subject: Telemate Source and Company Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 3:55:40 CST I presently use Telemate to analyse my SMDR data. It is a very complex program, but does a good job. Telemate is from CSI (Complementary Solutions, Inc.) 4250 Perimeter Park South #200 Atlanta, GA 30341 Telephone: (404) 936-3700 FAX (404) 936-3710 Internet: support@telemate.com Hope this helps. Steve ------------------------------ From: engage@netcom.com (Engage Communications) Subject: Frame Relay Information Needed Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Mon, 21 Feb 1994 03:47:18 GMT I am looking for information about Frame Relay, in particular: - Frame Relay services in this country - Frame Relay standards and certification procedures - Implementation details/tips regarding routers using Frame Relay. I would appreciate the names of books or magazine articles that would shed some more light on this subject. Also, does anyone know of a developers forum that I can subscribe to? Thanks! Peter Gibson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 5:58:38 MST From: John Shaver Subject: Last Laugh: New Element Discovered The heaviest element known to science is managerium. The element has no protons or electrons but has a nucleus composed of one neutron, two vice-neutrons, five assistant vice-neutrons, 25 pro vice-neutrons and 125 assistant pro vice-neutrons all going round in circles. Managerium has a half-life of three years at which time it does not decay but institutes a series of reviews leading to reorganization. Its molecules are held together by means of the exchange of tiny particles known as morons. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for a cute comment to start the new week! :) PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #93 *****************************