TELECOM Digest     Wed, 25 Jan 95 22:51:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 65

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money? (Dan J. 
Declerck)
    Corporate Creativity, was Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much is Real? 
(C. Jones)
    Re: Five Digit Phone Numbers (Linc Madison)
    Re: Freephone Forum vs. ITU Question (David Leibold)
    Re: Northern TeleCom Norstar Key System (sherim@delphi.com)
    Re: Internet Mail With Half the Address? (Ted Timar)
    Re: Help Needed With Displaying X Windows (Daniel R. Oelke)
    Re: Where to Find tpage? (John R. MacLeod)
    Re: Areas Covered by Phone Book (Wes Leatherock)
    Re: Radio Station Transmission Lines (Ron Kritzman)
    Re: GSM Cellular Operators List (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos)
    28.8k bps Modem (Victor Hu)
    What is an STD Coupler? (Richard Palmer)
    Re: Voice File Formats (Steve Rothkin)
    Re: Telephony Card/Software Needed 
(moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com)

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

From: declrckd@cig.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck)
Subject: Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money?
Date: 25 Jan 1995 18:45:20 GMT
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group


In article <telecom15.51.13@eecs.nwu.edu>, Paul Robinson 
<paul@tdr.com> 
wrote:

> Paul Barnett wrote me in response to my message:

>> Paul Robinson said:

>>> I'm going to raise an issue here because I think it relates to the
>>> issue of why nothing beyond lip service seems to be done by 
carriers
>>> about cellular fraud.

>> I think you made some good points about the impact of cellular 
fraud,
>> but I think you missed an important one (I didn't read real 
carefully,
>> so the omission may be mine):

>> Unlike software piracy, cellular bandwidth is a limited commodity.
>> Every fraudulent call has the opportunity to block a legitimate 
call
>> that would have resulted in some additional revenue. 

> I did make that point in part.  Additionally, and if a particular
> system is saturated, then some additional fraudulent unpaid traffic
> might cause legitimate, paid traffic to not get through.

>> Furthermore, there is the capital investment required to build and
>> maintain the facilities to provide the additional increment of 
bandwidth
>> used by fraudulent calls, in order to provide a satisfactory level 
of
>> service to the legitimate subscribers.

> Yes, but again, how much of the claimed losses are real chargebacks
> and out of pocket costs, and how much of it is illusory lost profits
> (some of which might never have occurred).

> If someone who can't afford cellular service places fraudulent 
calls, 
> certainly the cellular company loses revenue and perhaps has out of 
> pocket costs, but those calls would never have been made, so the 
company 
> would never have received the revenue from it.

Plain and simple ... ethically, there is NO difference between 
cellular 
fraud and calling card fraud.

Both of them require the carrier to purchase additional equipment or
potentially deny service to a paying customer.

The carrier can't always eat the costs. EVERYBODY pays for cellular 
fraud.

> About the only place where lost revenue might be a valid issue is 
for
> people who use fraudulent time, not because they can't afford to use 
the
> service, but because they cannot afford to have a particular call 
tracked
> to a phone issued in their name, again typically because they are 
involved
> in the manufacture and sale of unauthorized dried plant residues, 
and
> referred to by police and prosecutors as drug dealers. 

> This was the point I probably should have made: that if the cellular 
> companies were actually getting hit for $1 million a day in 
settlements, 
> I find it likely that they would have pushed for encryption a long 
time 
> ago.  What the $1 million figure probably represents is imaginary 
lost 
> profits from unbilled fraud, which is a whole different matter 
> altogether.  It means that their overall profit margin is less, it 
does 
> not mean they are actually *out* any money.  

Businesses exist solely for the purpose of making a profit.

BTW: the new digital systems (CDMA/TDMA, etc) will have much more 
robust 
authentication and encryption algorithms.  This will be another reason 
to 
move to digital.

> And this may be the reason cellular companies have essentially 
either 
> made customers eat most of the fraud, or barely done anything beyond 
lip 
> service to stop it.

I wouldn't say they've done nothing. There exist many methods to 
combat 
fraud, but they cost money!

Since they'll end up migrating to digital, which will probably fix the 
problem, why spend now??


Dan DeClerck             EMAIL: declrckd@cig.mot.com
Motorola Cellular APD    Phone: (708) 632-4596   

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

From: cajones@Gateway.Uswnvg.COM (Carl Jones)
Subject: Corporate Creativity, was Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much is 
Real?
Date: 26 Jan 1995 00:59:51 GMT
Organization: U S WEST NewVector Group, Inc.


> Or even better ... These calls "would have been" at the Roaming Rate
> of $5/minute. Wow!.

Ok, let's get something straight.  If a cloner takes a number from
Seattle and uses it in New York to make fraudulent calls, the Seattle
company has to pay hard cash to the New York company because those
calls were put through using a MIN/ESN combination that belonged to
the Seattle company.  That money must be paid even though the calls
were fraudulent.  That is where the big losses occur.  It's not
cooking the books, it's not tax evasion.  It's a hard cash loss!  End
of story ...


I speak for everyone in a twenty mile radius around me  :) 
Any questions..E-Mail cajones@uswnvg.com...................

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

From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: Five Digit Phone Numbers
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 
guest)
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 00:43:08 GMT


My mother is from the small town of Goliad, Texas, about half way
between San Antonio and Corpus Christi (in the Corpus LATA).  Until
very recently, all local numbers were dialed as just five digits.
Until about ten years ago, all local numbers were 5-3xxx, but they are
now up to 5-2xxx and even 5-8xxx numbers.  However, as of a few months
ago, you now must actually dial the entire seven-digit number for 
local 
calls!  (All long-distance calls are eleven digits.)  They finally got
touch-tone some time in the late 1980's.

The reason for the change, however, is that the local calling area is
being expanded slightly, to cover points as far as 30 miles away.  It
will now be a local call to phone Fannin, Charco, Weesatche (all 30 or
so subscribers), and Victoria (a town of 50,000 or more with an 
airport
and two TV stations).

For you history buffs, Goliad is the oft-forgotten second piece of the
battle cry: "Remember the Alamo, remember Goliad!"


Linc Madison   *   Oakland, California   *   LincMad@Netcom.com

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

From: djcl@io.org (woody)
Subject: Re: Freephone Forum vs. ITU Question
Date: 25 Jan 1995 22:19:20 -0500
Organization: Internex Online (io.org) Data: 416-363-4151  Voice: 416-
363-8676


In article <telecom15.43.10@eecs.nwu.edu>, Judith Oppenheimer 
<producer@
pipeline.com> wrote:

> Because the International Freephone numbers, and domestic freephone
> numbers, will *co-exist* in the U.S., the U.S. Users Group has valid
> concerns that there will be confusion among U.S. consumers.

With regards to International Freephone service, it would seem that a
country code *other* than +800 should be used, due to the possible
confusion this would create with the domestic toll-free services, most
of which use an "800" code already. One potential problem is that
someone intending to call a domestic 800 number might try to use the
international format instead -- a company called as a wrong number
might have to pay the international charges.

How much of the international freephone system has been decided so 
far?


djcl@io.org

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

From: SHERI <sherim@delphi.com>
Subject: Re: Northern TeleCom Norstar Key System
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 17:12:26 -0500
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)


Daniel Aharonoff <ilink@netcom.com> writes:
 
> Would like to get some feedback on reliability, expandability, 
stability 
> on a Norstar switch by Northern Telecom. We are also looking to get 
a
> voice-mail that would compliment that system.
 
      I'm a certified installer of Norstar switches. I've been 
installing
them for two years. I would like to say that they are the best systems
I've installed so far.

      I've never heard any complaints from any customers. All had good 
things
to say about the systems. They are also very flexible when it comes to
expanding.

      Northern Telecom makes a voice mail systems that goes side by 
side with 
the Norstar systems. It's called Star Talk. There are different size 
voice 
mail systems. Norstar systems are also compatibile with other voice 
mail 
systems. 

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

From: tmatimar@isgtec.com (Ted Timar)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 11:12:00 -0500
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc.
Subject: Re: Internet Mail With Half the Address?


In Volume 15, Issue 53, Message 9, Jane McMahon wrote,

> Pat,

> How do find someone using Internet?

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Perhaps it is about time for someone 
to
> write an article describing the Internet 'white pages' and how to 
use
> them. I think searching those would be a good way for you to start.   
PAT]

Three Usenet FAQs of use exist,

    in Comp.Mail.Misc,      "Updated Inter-Network Mail Guide"
    also in Comp.Mail.Misc, "FAQ: How to find people's E-mail 
addresses"
    and in Soc.Net-People,  "FAQ: College Email Addresses"

These in turn are archived at rtfm.mit.edu as (in order),

    pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/inter-network-guide
    pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses
    pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/college-email/part[123]

The last of these (College email addresses) is close to a year out of
date, so any volunteers to take it over would probably be extremely
welcome.


Ted Timar   tmatimar@isgtec.com

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

From: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Daniel R. Oelke)
Subject: Re: Help Needed With Displaying X Windows
Date: 25 Jan 1995 18:19:12 GMT
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc.
Reply-To: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com


In article 9@eecs.nwu.edu, mike@premisys.com (Mike MacFaden) writes:

> In article <telecom15.33.16@eecs.nwu.edu>, Ken Stack 
<stack@me.rochester.
> edu> wrote:

>> I am trying to fins a way to display x windows on my PC from my Sun 
at
>> work.  The problem is that my Sun at work does not have slip or ppp
>> for security reasons.  I have attempted to use PSI's interramp 
service

> 1) You need a SLIP or PPP link from home. If your workstation 
doesn't
> have it, then I suggest your sysAdm install a Terminal Server which
> does provide good security (companies: Livingston, Xylogics, Xyplex)

> 2) Get a copy of an X server that implements Low Bandwidth X (LBX) A
> good company to talk to is Network Computing Devices (NCD).
>

1 - you do not *need* a SLIP or PPP link if all you want to do is
    display X-windows on your PC.  

2 - NCD has a product called X-Remote.  It implements LBX over 
    a direct modem connection, and exports your Sun's x-windows
    into an MS-Windows environment.  I love it.  

For X-windows, this is the best solution (and cheapest) that I know
of.  If you want to do more on your PC -- then you might need an 
actual
network (i.e. SLIP/PPP) connection.


Dan Oelke            Alcatel Network Systems
droelke@aud.alcatel.com       Richardson, TX
http://spirit.aud.alcatel.com:8081/~droelke/

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

From: jrm@world.std.com (John R MacLeod)
Subject: Re: Where to Find tpage?
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 19:19:53 GMT


The `tpage' distribution is at lcs.mit.edu, in the directory
/telecom-archives/technical.

The FAQs and www search engines I tried were utterly useless in
finding this stuff, I just happened to notice telecom-archives and
went searching.

Look for ixo.program.scripts and ixo.tap.protocol (there are also
two unrelated files, pager.bin.uqx and pager.ixo.example, for 
Macintosh).

It turns out that the ixocico program at lcs.mit.edu can be made to
work with our pager service, "Pagenet". Just recognize the ACK
character at the end of the service's message packet, do not require
length 1. For example, ixocico should consider "PAGENET MESSAGE
CENTER<ACK>" equivalent to plain ACK.


John

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

From: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 15:47:27 
Subject: Re: Areas Covered by Phone Book?


Quoting Paul Robinson <paul@tdr.com>
 
> Benjamin P. Carter <bpc@netcom.com>, writes:
 
>> A typical phone book with both white and yellow pages has a
>> map with a large white area surrounding a smaller yellow area.
>> What is this map trying to tell me?
 
> The white area shows the limits of the white pages covered by
> that book.  In the case of the Los Angeles area, there can --
> and will be -- holes in that area because pieces will be covered
> by different telephone companies there.  The yellow area is the
> maximum area that yellow pages for that area will cover, and 
> again, may have holes.



        I believe the Los Angeles area was mentioned in this respect,
and if there are holes in the listings because of different telephone
companies that is a retrogression.
 
        At one time there were 30 or 40 telephone companies in the
L.A. area, and they somehow reached agreement (possibly at the
prodding of the P.U.C. or local civic leaders) to issue regional books
with the listings "interleaved" (all in one alphabetical list).  For
example, one for Northwestern, one for Central, etc.  The independent
exchanges were dotted all over the area.  There was no indication in
the listings as to what telephone company served what customer.  The
yellow pages were a different story and each company usually issued
yellow pages, and sold yellow page advertising, only for their
territory.  So a book would have complete white pages listings for the
area covered, but only yellow pages for the area served by that
telephone company.
 
        Now, of course, the independent companies have all been
absorbed by GTE and the only two players are Pacific Telephone and
GTE.  But I'd be surprised in the P.U.C. or public pressure would let
them go back to issuing directories with "holes" in the area covered.
 
        Yellow Pages directories, "locality" directories and
private directories, of course, are an entirely different story.
 
 
Wes Leatherock                                            
wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu                       
wes.leatherock@f2001.n147.z1.fidonet.org                       

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sometimes all the listings will be in 
one
book but in separate parts. For example, I remember seeing a couple of
books issued by Bell a few years ago which covered some regional area,
however after that part of the book finished, and some other pages 
were
put in the middle (maps, etc) then another set of white pages started,
with a notation saying something like 'alphabetical listings for 
Podunk'.
'Copyright 19xx, Podunk Telephone Company'.  So they were in the 
directory
of record for the area (the Bell System directory) but not actually 
merged
with it. Other times, such as with Illinois Bell and Centel, the 
Centel
listings for Chicago only are part of the Illinois Bell Chicago White
Pages, with no reference at all to the fact that they are part of a
different telco.   PAT]

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

From: ronk@eagle.ais.net (Ron Kritzman)
Subject: Re: Radio Station Transmission Lines
Date: 25 Jan 1995 15:50:03 GMT
Organization: American Information Systems, Inc.


Daniel Ritsma (ritsma@yu1.yu.edu) wrote:

> I am working for a small radio station that is now using two 8kHz
> lines to feed four tansmitters (AM).  On one line we feed three
> transmitters since they are for buildings next to each other; the 
other
> line is for a building some 150 blocks from here.

> Should we stick with analog lines or slowly move over to other types
> of communication by phone? The fact that we have to branch off led 
me
> to believe that we should go for digital transmition, so that we 
would
> have less noise and a better signal.

This sounds like the typical "carrier current" scenario.  We had the
same sort of setup when I was in college.  Since the 8 kHz line well
exceeds the bandwidth you can cram thru an AM radio, the two remaining
questions are noise and cost.  For your "close" string feeding the 
four
buildings -- is there enough noise on the line to be objectionable?
How about the 150 block run?  Your "yu" login tells me you're in NYC,
which means twenty blocks to the mile.  Thats about seven miles then,
give or take the zigzagging to and from the telco COs.  Presuming that 
the noise and bandwidth are acceptable on both lines, look at cost. 
What
will NYNEX hit you with for a digital line?

One more thought, especially if you want to save money.  Does the
school have some sort of dedicated carrier already connecting the
locations?  A T-1 maybe? And can the Telecomm or MIS dept or whomever
runs it, spare you a bit of bandwidth?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: New York City has twenty blocks to the
mile?  Gee whiz ... they must be very small blocks. In Chicago we have
eight blocks to the mile with the exception of one area just south of
downtown where there exist twelve blocks to the mile, and that's only
for about one mile.  On first reading the above, I thought there was a
distance of 15-18 miles involved.   PAT]  

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

From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos)
Subject: Re: GSM Cellular Operators List
Date: 25 Jan 1995 15:13:26 GMT
Organization: Delco Electronics Corp.


In article <telecom15.57.14@eecs.nwu.edu>, Lim Kong Hong 
<limkh@technet.sg> 
wrote:

> In Singapore, GSM subscribers have the option to subscribe to 
autoroaming 
> services to Hongkong, UK, Australia, Switzerland and Denmark. This 
means 
> that with their GSM SIM Card, they are able to send/receive call in 
the 
> above countries.

Could someone provide a brief explanation of GSM? A friend of mine in
Greece got a car phone with GSM and he was talking about the SIM card
and of course I had no clue as to what he's talking about.


Thanks,

Spiros Triantafyllopoulos                  Kokomo, IN 46904   (317) 
451-0815
Software Development Tools, AD/SI          
c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
Delco Electronics/GM Hughes Electronics    "Reading, 'Rithmetic, and 
Readnews"

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

From: Victor Hu <vhu@AGSM.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: 28.8k bps Modem                                                    
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 19:43:02 PST


Hello,

I just purchased a 28.8 K modem with the brand "Supra".  I paid extra
to get the 28.8 K instead of the 14.4 K.  Can someone help me with the
following?

1.  Is the bps across the twisted pair wire actually running at 28.8 
or 
14.4 when 28.8 is invoked? Or is it just data compression?

2.  What kinds of host supports 28.8K?  I only connect up to my 
university's computer which only runs at 9.6K max.

3.  What is the speed of fax machines?

My impression of my new modem:

1.  The Supra has a nice display (external version for the PC) that 
shows the mode of transmission.

2.  However, I found that it required a different initialization 
string 
than that suggested as default for modems that are Hayes compatible.  


Thanks very much,

Victor 

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

From: rdp@palmer.com (Richard Palmer)
Subject: What is an STD Coupler?
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 17:05:56 GMT
Organization: RD & MA Palmer MD PMC


My local telco (South Central Bell) has been charging me $18 a month
for an STP coupler.  I am apparently not using this, not in posession
of it, and there is some question in my mind if I ever was.  Could
some kind soul please tell me what this is, and if anyone has any
insights as to their responsibility about refunding erroneous charges
I would be very interested.

The South Central Bell representitive with whom I spoke told me that
the "statute of limitations" was six months.


Richard Palmer   richard.palmer@palmer.com   (504) 888-5315

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

From: srothkin@aol.com (S Rothkin)
Subject: Re: Voice File Formats
Date: 25 Jan 1995 10:20:19 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: srothkin@aol.com (S Rothkin)


Another reply to your message answered your question for all formats
except Vbase. If by Vbase you mean the indexed file used by VFEdit,

The file starts with a header record which can be read with the
following C structure (note that TD_BYTE4 should be defined to
whatever will evaluate to four bytes on your platform):

struct t_VFE_xfile_hdr
  {
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 IdxTot;        /* total indices allocated in the 
file
(including gaps) */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 SmpFrq;        /* Sample frenquency */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 IdxUse;        /* total indice used by phrases */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 dummya;        /* dummy */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 BytUse;        /* total bytes used */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 dummyb;        /* dummy */
  };


Following the header is an array of IdxTot entries of the following
structure. Entries are in order of phrase number. If you have gaps in
phrase numbers, there will be some entries with length 0.

struct t_VFE_xfile_index
  {
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 offset;        /* absolute offset in file */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 length;        /* length of the index */
   unsigned TD_BYTE4 Txtoff;        /* annotation text offset in file 
*/
  };

The rest of the file is the phrase data, and the annotation text
entered through VFEdit (if any). The offset and length fields of the
index entries control access to the phrase data and annotation text.


Steve Rothkin   Senior Systems Consultant, Granada Systems Design
Email: SRothkin@aol.com   Work: (914) 221-1617 ext. 217
Fax:   (914) 226-5779     Home: (914) 298-1242

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

From: moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Ramin )
Subject: Re: Telephony Card/Software Needed
Date: 25 Jan 1995 16:13:48 GMT
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc.
Reply-To: moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com


Paul Garfield (garfield@vanilla.cs.umn.edu) wrote:

> I've seen a couple similar questions posted but haven't seen an
> answer.  Please post the answer.  I'm looking for cards for IBM PCs
> that can handle phone calls.  I need to be able to program how the
> call is handled (when and what to play and record, what to do with
> touch tone presses, etc).  All I've seen is things for one line.  I
> want to start with about four lines but have the ability to upgrade 
to
> perhaps 24, so I need multiple (four or eight) lines per card.  What
> are good vendors for this and where can I go for information?  
Thanks.

Try Dialogics at 1-800-755-4444.  If you need some help with the 
software
drop me a line.


Ramin

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #65
*****************************

                                                                                                                       
