TELECOM Digest     Tue, 21 Feb 95 17:05:00 CST    Volume 15 : Issue 113

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages" (Rob 
Slade)
    Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API (John Michael Okeefe)
    NYNEX and PIN's (Doug Fields)
    Information Wanted About Tone Decoder SC11270 Chip (S. Ramanan)
    Cubix Remote Access Server (Daryl Morey)
    Peculiar Callbacks Received (Philip D. Martin)
    MPR Teltech Ltd Announces Home Page (Ross Parker)
    Source Inc. Opens Telephony WWW Site (Todd Bruning)
    Bell Atlantic Asks: How About Us as a LD Service? (Charles 
McGuinness)
    Using a Laptop Modem With ATT Public Phones (Thomas Hinders)
    NYNEX Pay Phones and the '#' Key (Thomas Hinders)
    Internet Conference Call Tonight (Mark Kelly)
    Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder (Richard Wildman)
    Humor at the FCC (was Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries) (B.Z. 
Lederman)
    FLeetwood Exchange in Seattle Area (Carl Moore)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 13:54:27 EST
From: Rob Slade <roberts@mukluk.decus.ca>
Subject: Book Review: "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages"


BKNRYLPG.RVW   950118
 
"New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages", Maxwell/Grycz, 1994,
1-56205-408-
2, U$29.99/C$39.99/UK#27.49
%A   Christine Maxwell
%A   Czeslaw Jan Grycz
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1994
%G   1-56205-408-2
%I   New Riders Publishing/MacMillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$29.99/C$39.99/UK#27.49 75141.2102@compuserve.com 
mckinley@mckinley.com
%P   802
%T   "New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages"
 
Will the real "Yellow Pages" please stand up?  Is it this one?  Hahn
and Stout's original "Internet Yellow Pages" (cf. BKYELPAG.RVW)?  NIS
(Network Information Services, the "yp" programs)? I suppose it
doesn't matter: we'll see all manner of "yellow pages" over time.
 
This outfit, the McKinley Group, is certainly serious about the task.
All entries have a standard format with title, rating (zero to four
STARs -- yes, they made an acronym of it), brief description, keywords,
audience, and user information, ending with a URL (Universal Resource
Locator) listing.  Once you get used to it, this is a very quick
overview containing almost everything you need.
 
For old hands at the Internet, this is a very handy resource.  For
newcomers, it might be a bit terse.  There are seven "chapters" of
introductory material.  These total a lot less than thirty pages, and
are very hard to follow, as they are interspersed with directory
entries.  The differences between mailing list programs are downplayed
and the explanation of URLs fails at several points.  (By the way,
don't expect any consistency in the use of forward and back slashes in
URLs here.)  (In fact, don't expect all the URLs to *be* URLs.)
 
The listings have a very heavy emphasis on mailing lists and
newsgroups.  ftp sites are far less common in the directory than on
the net.  There are a great many listings for commercial services
whose only Internet connection is that you can use telnet if you have
an account.  (If those systems are time sensitive, telnet might not be
what you want to use for access.)  There are paid advertisements, in
the same format as other listings.
 
You can't have everything in an Internet directory: the net is too big
and changes too fast.  Having done a few dozen searches, I found that
the total number of listings, and the index access, to be less useful
than the Hahn/Stout work.  Offsetting this, to a certain extent, is
the fact that the "keywords" in each entry act as a second level of
indexing.  Following a keyword search is something like reading a
Thompson Chain Reference Bible, but it does guide your search in
directions you might not otherwise have chosen.
 
(Ahem.  Most computer viruses are *not* obtained from downloaded
files.  Yes, you *can* have a virus attached to a Windows document.
VIRUS-L is also comp.virus.  And why does the "Computer Viruses"
keyword have CAD sites in it?)
 
The standard format and keyword linking are good features and promise
well for future editions.  The introduction, listings, index and
proofing need work.
 

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKNRYLPG.RVW   950118. Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      ROBERTS@decus.ca    
Institute for  Robert_Slade@sfu.ca 
Research into  rslade@cue.bc.ca    
User           p1@CyberStore.ca    
Security       Canada V7K 2G6      

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

From: jmokeefe@nachos.engr.ucdavis.edu (John Michael Okeefe)
Subject: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API
Date: 21 Feb 1995 20:42:58 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering - University of California - Davis


 I'm looking for a voice/data/fax modem that supports Microsoft's 
telephony API (TAPI). If you know of a modem that supports TAPI or
voice/data communication could you please E-Mail me with the name of
the modem and the manufacturers phone number?


Thanks,

John O'Keefe    
University of California, Davis  
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering  
Biomechanics and Sports Lab  
E-Mail: JMOKEEFE@ENGR.UCDAVIS.EDU 

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 14:27:36 -0500
From: Doug Fields <admiral@panix.com>
Subject: NYNEX and PINs


Some interesting information:

Having recently signed up with NYNEX when they offered their free-
weekend
airtime offer, I was assigned a pin I have to dial after my phone 
number;
I'm sure all telecom readers know this already. 

However, last night while driving back to the city from New Haven, in
SNET Cellular territory, I passed an accident on I-95 which had just
happened not ten seconds before, on the northbound side, near exit 17.
Seeing nobody on the scene I called it in to 911. Dial 911, hit send,
busy signal. Okay, *911, send ... it wants my PIN! This is a major
safety problem. (Eventually I get through and the state police says
thanks, we have troopers on the way.)

I objected to being required to have a pin from the start but they
will under no circumstances that I have found remove it. They did send
out a flyer saying that they will not charge airtime for the time to
dial the PIN, but who knows how accurate that will be.

Sorry if this isn't as detailed a report as you expect of people named
Doug, but I just thought you might want to tell anyone who may need
your phone your PIN -- you never know when *911 may save a life.


Cheers,

Doug Fields, http://www.interpage.net
PGP key: "finger admiral@panix.com"

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

From: udee059@kcl.ac.uk
Subject: Information Wanted About Tone Decoder SC11270 Chip
Date: 21 Feb 95 17:35:54 GMT
Organization: King's College London


Hello there,

I am looking for telecom IC chip used as a tone decoder --
Tone decoder SC11270 or SC11271 manufactured by Sierra Semiconductors.

Have any of you out there used this chip or heard about it? Please can
you let me know where can get more info and purchase this chip?

Email : udee059@bay.cc.kcl.ac.uk


Thanks in advance,

S. Ramanan    King's College London

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

From: dmorey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Daryl Morey)
Subject: Cubix Remote Access Server
Date: 21 Feb 95 15:24:18 GMT
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, US


Has anyone used Cubix products?  We are looking at their remote access
server solution for our dial-in lines.  We have pretty much picked
their product but I wanted to get some comments from the field.


Thank you,

Daryl   drmore@searle.monsanto.com

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 07:09:41 EDT
From: Philip D Martin 45-904-368-8859 3106 <MARTINDJ@utelfla.com>
Subject: Peculiar Callbacks Received


Hello everyone.  My name is D.J. Martin.  I work for Sprint/United
Telephone-Florida and am new to Internet and TELECOM Digest.  I have a
question that I cannot answer and have been to several sources seeking
advice to no avail.  If you have the time, I would like your thoughts
on it.
    
Scenario: A person pushes the play button of their answering machine
and has a message "the number you have dialed cannot be completed as
dialed.  You must use a zero or one."  This is an outgoing call
message.  Or they have a message of a operator asking if they can help
them.  Operators do not call people to assist them.  Although both
cases appear as an incoming message, no call was made from the
location.  This problem has been reported to me from all types of
central offices and answering machines.  I have called my home from my
cellular phone, reached my answering machine and left a message.
Twenty minutes later my cellular phone rang and it was my answering
machine with my outgoing message.
    
I would appreciate any ideas you have on this subject.  My address is
MARTINDJ@UTELFLA.COM
    

Thanks for your time.
    
D.J.  


TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Welcome to the Internet and this Digest.
You might want to correct your login name and the way your messages
go out to the net since they refer to you as Philip D. Martin. We've
touched on this topic from time to time, and one of the most common
reasons for the scenario you describe is that pranksters with three-
way (or more) calling like to hook together strangers at random just
to listen in amusement as the two (or more) called parties each angrily
accuse the other(s) of making the calls. After all, they know *they*
did not make it.  They dial your answering machine, let it start its
outgoing message, then quickly flash the hook, get new dial tone and
dial some(one)thing else, click again, and by that time your machine
is ready to start taking a message from the befuddled operator who
came on the line asking if she might help, or the intercept message
which announces 'your call cannot be completed as dialed'. Occassionally
they dial into a conference bridge then put the bridge on hold and 
dial some other person so that that person (or his answering machine)
get to hear several people talking at once on a call in the background
they know they did not originate. The person wakes up in the middle of
the night to a ringing phone, answers and hears these two other people 
having hot chat or whatever. Naturally his first reaction is he went
into the Twilight Zone or something. Or he comes home, listens to his
answering machine and hears two other people talking in a conversation
of their own on his tape; they are oblivious to the whole thing.

Or maybe he takes your outgoing message and plays it into the incoming
message on someone else's machine. Maybe instead he takes your outgoing
message and plays it to a live but unwitting listener on the other end.
Everyone becomes convinced the phone system must have some major 
malfunction
going on. I said (or more) above because some people have two line 
phones
with three way calling on each line; they bring up a three-way call on
each line then use their own conference button to connect all four of
the innocent parties. Naturally at least one or two of the recipients
of the calls will be ignorant (I mean ignorant!) and that adds to the
'fun' of it all ...

As to your own answering machine taking a message then 'calling your 
cell
phone twenty minutes later to play your outgoing message' my assumption 
is 
that its not supposed to work that way; i.e. your answering machine is
not a real fancy one that makes outcalls. Therefore it might behoove you 
to stop and think for a few minutes and try to identify a person in
your life who has all these traits in common: (a) they know your home
phone number; (b) they know your cellular number; (c) they have three-
way calling; and (d) they like to play pranks with the telephone. I am
also assuming in the middle of this no one spoke up and said 'oh sorry,
hold on, the answering machine started" or anything like that. In other
words it was not a 'legitimate' call from someone at your home who
accidentally bumped the play button on the machine while they were 
dialing
your cell phone or whatever. 

I got one of those calls once. I looked at my Caller-ID box in the 
middle
of being harangued for waking someone up at 2 in the morning ... I asked
them, is your number xxx-xxxx? No, they said it was not.  I hung up and
then dialed the number on the display. I had to let it ring a good 
thirty
or forty times but was prepared to just leave my phone off hook the rest
of the night and let it ring all night if that was needed. Presently 
someone answers; a real innocent, questioning 'hello?' ... Too innocent
and too questioning; too naive ... he sounded to me like a young phreak
in about the 7th grade or so. 

"We like to play games with our phone at night do we?" ... 

"What do you mean?" ... 

"Tomorrow I am going to look up the address which goes with this phone
number then call your parents and talk to them ..."

"Oh, don't do that ..."  

Well, that was the clue right there.  There can be other reasons for
the scenario you describe but they are rare, and outrageously boring
to sit here and describe. Try and eliminate phreaking by (chronological 
or mental) children before investigating further.  PAT]

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

From: parker@mprgate.mpr.ca (Ross Parker)
Subject: MPR Teltech Ltd Announces Home Page
Reply-To: www@mpr.ca
Organization: MPR Teltech Ltd.
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 05:06:25 GMT


MPR Teltech Ltd. is pleased to announce the availability of
it's new home page.

MPR Teltech is a high-tech company that provides advanced
telecommunications systems and products.  Incorporated in 1979, it is
owned by BC TELECOM and serves an international portfolio of
customers.  The company employs more than 600 people at six locations
in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

MPR's home page includes an overview of the company,  a description of
its products and services, an MPR news category, and employment
opportunities.  The location of the MPR Teltech home page is:

<URL:http://www.mpr.ca/>

For more information on MPR Teltech's WWW home page, products and
services, contact MPR Teltech customer inquiries, 8999 Nelson Way,
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 4B5.  North America: 1 800 555-7700, International:
604 473-5888.

email: info@mpr.ca

(If you run into any problems accessing our home page, please email
our webmaster at 'www@mpr.ca' - thanks!)

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

From: source@unicomp.net (Todd Bruning / Kelly Jones)


Subject: Source Inc Opens Telephony WWW Site
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 12:25:30
Organization: UniComp Technologies International Corp -- Internet 
Service


Source, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, TX is the leading independent
provider for current and evolving business applications of computer
and telephony integration. Founded in 1971, Source supplies
technology-neutral product support, repair and consulting for all
major manufacturers equipment. Through its unique information
management system, Source provides an objective resource for more than
8000 customers.

The Source Home Page gives complete information on products and services
as well as information on current industry issues. Current issues 
discussed
include effects of the recent changes in the North American Numbering
Plan (NANP), T1 implementations, and what to look (out) for when 
choosing a vendor to repair telecom equipment. Upcoming information
will include such topics as ISDN, PBX topis, digital switches, and 
others. 


Source, Inc.,  Telecom Sales and Support - 214.450.2700 
Visit our home page for telecom gear and technical information,
http://sourcetele.com/sourcetele,  E-mail to source@unicomp.net     

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 23:34:39 -0500
From: marks!charles@jyacc.jyacc.com (Charles McGuinness)
Subject: Bell Atlantic Asks: How About Us as a LD Service?


Yesterday, around dinner time (ain't it always that way), I got an
interesting call.  It was a market research call (you know, let's play
100 questions).  This one was (clearly) Bell Atlantic trying to figure
out how to get into the long distance market (surprise, surprise!).
The questions focused on two main areas:

(1)     Trying to expand their 10NJB business

I live in Hoboken, NJ, which is right across the Hudson from New York
City.  Because of an exception in the MFJ, Bell Atlantic is currently
allowed to provide LD service into NYC, which you access by the
carrier code 10NJB.  They wanted to know if I knew of it, how I heard
of it, etc.  Then they asked if I'd consider making them my default
carrier. (No) They then went through various proposals for pricing and
packaging plans for calling into NYC.  None were particularly good (I
had a hard time stiffling a laugh when he suggested a $.15/minute rate
all the time). Other plans were a fixed fee for a fixed number of hours.
Somehow, a fixed fee for unlimited hours wasn't on the list.  The only
thing unusual was interest in whether I have a home computer and how
much "work at home" I do.  I guess those ISDN trials will be underway
soonest.

(2)     Testing the waters for full LD service

They asked me some questions that were clearly oriented towards
scoping out the full interlata LD market.  Nothing exceptional here.
What would make me switch (price).  How much of a percentage discount
would it take to make you switch (percentage of what, I asked -- no
answer).

I can only hope that their offering is better put together than their
survey ;-)


Charles McGuinness


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ameritech now has a survey company they
use to call everyone who called Repair Service within the previous 
week. They start out by asking questions about your opinion of Repair
Service (how fast were you answered, how quickly were repairs done, etc)
but soon enough they get into questions about Ameritech as a long 
distance
carrier, and how would you like that?  The repair questions are 
positively
phony; its the LD stuff they want to talk about, but its like they are
trying to be cool and very casual about it. Their final question was,
'are you aware that Ameritech and AT&T are two separate companies?'. I
thought for a minute trying to thing of a good answer to that and 
finally
I said, "No! Really? When did that happen?".   PAT]

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

Date: 21 Feb 1995 11:12:21 EDT
Reply-To: THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM
From: Hinders, Thomas <THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM>
Subject: Using a Laptop Modem With ATT Public Phones


The instructions for using the Data Port on the ATT Public phones are
confusing (dialing the line waiting for the modem to answer).

Why can't you dial-through?

Thanks in advance ... reply directly and I'll summarize and re-post.


Tom Hinders thinder@ssw.com   Lotus Dev

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

Date: 21 Feb 1995 11:12:21 EDT
Reply-To: THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM
From: Hinders, Thomas <THINDER@SOFTSW.SSW.COM>
Subject: NYNEX Pay Phones and the '#' Key


When I am in New York City, and I call back to our voice mail system
using our 1-800 number, I am often cut off in mid-call.  It would seem
NYNEX is "sensitive" to the number of #'s pushed.

Is there an explanation?  I do not encounter this problem when I'm in
DC or Atlanta ... only NYC.

Thanks in advance ...  reply directly, I'll summerize and re-post.


Tom Hinders   thinder@ssw.com  SE Lotus Dev

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

From: mkelly@gabriel.resudox.net (Mark Kelly)
Subject: Internet Conference Call
Date: 21 Feb 1995 20:39:07 GMT
Organization: Resudox Online Services


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sorry to report this message reached
me only yesterday!  It was stuck in a queue somewhere.  Better late than
never I guess ... maybe some of you will participate.   PAT]

The following may be of interest to some members of this newsgroup or
alternatively, to people you know who aren't very familiar with the
Internet.

February 21/95 at 8:00 pm EST, Advanced Multi-Point Conferencing (AMC)
and Resudox Online Services are jointly hosting an Internet Information 
Teleconference. Participation is free although if you are outside of
the 613 area code, long distance charges will apply.

The call will last about one hour and will cover basic Internet topics
like: the history, networking, tools, application, etc. A question and
answer session will be held at key points to answer any questions that
may arise.

Space is limited so if you are interested, please register by calling
1-800-900-4249 or sending me an e-mail. Please enclose your fax number
or e-mail address so we can get some 'follow-along' info out to you.


mkelly@resudox.net
Mark Kelly                          | Serving the North American
Advanced Multi-Point Conferencing   |   Conference Call Market
320 March Road, Suite 102           |           with
Kanata, Ontario                     |   CLEAR DIGITAL SERVICE
K2L 1Z8                             |   
1-800-900-4249 (Reservations)       |   Operator Dial-Out,Meet-Me 
1-613-592-5752                      |      and 1-800 Meet-Me

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

From: rich@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Richard Wildman)
Subject: Re: MCI Bureaucratic Blunder
Date: 21 Feb 1995 16:15:56 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site


Thought I would update this.  After my original posting I received
about 14 responses, most of which had similar horror stories to tell
about MCI billing problems.

As I mentioned previously, the bill was paid in full by credit card in
January.  This week (of 2/5), we had a phone call from MCI where we
were told we had not paid our bill -- I interrupted and told the
woman, "Yes, we had, by credit card."  "We already have the credit
card billing with the MCI payment on it" -- the exact amount she was
saying we still owed!  She hesitated a moment, and then said, oh yes,
I see it now!  Makes one wonder just how complicated a form she is
looking at, and what is wrong with their programmers if such a field
is not checked before the bill is flagged as not paid!

In addition, on Feb. 9, we received notice in the mail warning us that
our bill would go to a collection agency if we did not pay.  [This is
the second mail from MCI in the past week -- we did receive a listing
of calls made, though it did not appear to be a bill -- my guess is
that this resulted from an emailing to an MCI employee whose address I
pulled off of a news group, and who faxed the original posting to
MCI's Consumer Executive Customer Relations (Residential).]  In any
case, my wife called this time.  She got ahold of a woman and
explained the situation to her.  But no, the woman said, her records
did not show we had paid.  She, in turn, called another office, who
then told her, yes, we had paid!  The woman assured my wife that the
problem would be cleared up.  We are not holding our breath.

The MCI nightmare continueth.


RW


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what is the latest update now on this,
a couple weeks later?   By the way, *who are you*?  Your name is very
familiar to me for some reason.  PAT]

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

From: B. Z. Lederman <lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov>
Subject: Humor at the FCC (was: Re: How to Revive Nicad Batteries)
Date: 21 Feb 95 17:52:04 EST
Reply-To: Lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov
Organization: INTRANSIT (VNTSC)


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, BZ, I wish I'd had someone 
like
> you around a number of years ago to remind me about 'standard 
precautions'

    Many years before this, when I took my first FCC licence exam (I
think it was a Ham license, not my Radio Telephone License), there was
one question about the best way to protect people from high voltage
power supplies.  Like all exams it was multiple choice.  There was one
answer about bleeders and interlock switches on the access door which
was the answer they were looking for at the time, a couple of answers
which were close, and one all-time great answer:

    "Buy double indemnity life insurance."

At least there was a time when SOMEBODY in the government had a sense
of humor.

    P.S.: I refuse to say exactly how long ago this was.  But in case
anyone thinks I'm really old, when I got my first Radio Telephone
license I went around looking for a summer job in various TV repair
shops and met one owner who had his first Radio Telephone license on
the wall.  It was signed by Herbert Hoover, when he was still
Secretary of (I think) Commerce, before he was President.


B. Z. Lederman.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Hoover was in charge of the Federal
Radio Commission I believe (forerunner of FCC).   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 95 15:44:22 EST
From: Carl Moore <cmoore@ARL.MIL>
Subject: FLeetwood Exchange in Seattle Area


In notes for the Time-Life music collection (1959 Hit Parade) it says:
"Originally called Two Girls and a Guy, the groop changed its name [to
The Fleetwoods] at the suggestion of a Seattle record distributor, who
took it from his telephone exchange."

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #113
******************************

                                                                          
