TELECOM Digest     Sat, 14 May 94 00:25:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 225

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Telecom Forum in NY (Jorge T. Negron)
    Need Weather-Resistant Phone (Kyle Rhorer)
    Footnote to A History of Underseas Cables (James H. Haynes)
    Loop Start to Ground Start Converter (Leroy Casterline)
    Alt.sex.beastiality.in.space.and.oklahoma (Dave Wade )
    Annoying Delays: LD Customer Service (Sudeepto Roy)
    Re: San Carlos Joins Internet (Javier Henderson)
    Re: San Carlos Joins Internet (Dennis Smiley)
    Dealing with Obscene Callers in the 90's (Paul A. Lee)
    Re: Local Competition -- Outside Plant vs Dialtone (Alan Leon Varney)

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

From: jnegron@photon.poly.edu (Jorge T. Negron)
Subject: Telecom Forum in NY
Organization: CATT
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 22:56:43 GMT


Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications (CATT)
Presents:

FORUMS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS PRACTICE
Supported in Part by the New York State Science and Technology Foundation
 
Polytechnic University, Five Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 
718-260-3050


NETWORK DESIGN AND ANALYSIS TOOLS

The design of computer networks has always been a difficult task and
it continues to become more challenging. With new network
architectures and carrier offerings emerging almost daily, and with
heterogeneous applications sharing capacity, building a network which
works at all, not to mention trying to optimize cost or performance,
is a formidable job.  Network planners and managers have therefore
become increasingly reliant upon automated tools to help with these
tasks.  These tools, which are interactive and graphically based,
allow the user to quickly analyze design alternatives, both
topological and architectural and to make key decisions about design
and configuration tradeoffs.

This talk will focus on the state of the art in network design and
analysis tools, their major functions, how such tools are architected,
how the user interacts with them, some of the algorithms used in these
tools, and on current challenges in extending such tools to deal with
increasingly large and diverse networks.  A live demonstration will be
given of INTREPID, a tool developed at the IBM T.J. Watson Research
Center and currently in use inside IBM.

SPEAKER: Aaron Kershenbaum is a member of the Network Design Tools
Group at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne.  His
current research is centered on algorithms and tools for the design
and analysis of high speed and multiprotocol networks. From 1978 until
1989, he was part of the Polytechnic University faculty where he
served as a Professor of Computer Science as well as heading the
Network Design Laboratory at Poly's CATT.  From 1968 to 1979, he was
part of the group at Network Analysis Corporation which did pioneering
work in network design, including the design of the original ARPANET.
Dr.  Kershenbaum is the author of the book, "Telecommunications
Network Design Algorithms" and co-authored the book "Network
Management and Control".  He is also the author of over 50 technical
articles and has supervised over 20 Ph.D. dissertations in the field
of network design. He is a fellow of the IEEE.

TIME & PLACE:
Tuesday, June 21, 1994   9:00AM - 10:30AM
Polytechnic University Auditorium
5 Metrotech Center Brooklyn NY
Trains: A, F, D, M, R, 4, and 5 are within 1 block of the Metrotech Complex

ADMISSION:

Corporate members of CATT's Associates Program and Polytechnic
students are invited free of charge. The fee for others is $5.00
Please be sure to call 718-260-3050 or FAX 718-260-3074 for a
reservation.


Jorge T. Negron (jnegron@photon.poly.edu)
Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications
5 Metrotech Center   Brooklyn, NY 11201

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

From: rhorer@medics.jsc.nasa.gov (Kyle Rhorer)
Subject: Need Weather-Resistant Phone
Date: 13 May 1994 22:55:51 GMT
Organization: KRUG Life Sciences, Inc.


I am looking for a manufacturer/distributor of a weather-resistant
phone for use as a house phone on the outside of a building.  It is in
an enclosure, but the normal consumer phones we have been using don't
stand up to the humidity of our South Texas climate :-) Please e-mail
and I will summarize if there is any interest.


Thanks,

Kyle

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

From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (James H. Haynes)
Subject: Footnote to A History of Underseas Cables
Date: 14 May 1994 00:08:42 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz


Another interesting facet of history, also from George Oslin's book,
is the relation between transatlantic cables and the U.S. purchase of
Alaska.

After the 1858 ocean cable failed and the transcontinental telegraph
line was completed Hiram Sibley, president of Western Union, decided
that a route up the west coast of America, across the Bering straits,
and across Russia to Europe offered the most likely prospect of
success.  Work started on this project, which was abandoned when the
1866 ocean cable proved successful.

In the course of the work Sibley visited Russia to see about buying a
right-of-way along the coast of Alaska, then Russian territory.  A
Russian noble told Sibley that for the kind of money he was offering
Russia would just about be willing to sell the whole territory.
Western Union decided it didn't want to be in the real estate
business; so Sibley suggested to Secretary Seward that the U. S.
government should take advantage of the Russian offer to sell.

Other figures mentioned in connection with this event are Leo Tolstoy,
who was made a count in recognition of his work promoting telegraphy
in Russia, and a U.S. diplomat named George Kennan.  Oslin doesn't say
so, but I would presume the latter is an ancestor of the living
diplomat with the same name.

Alaskan natives built suspension bridges using some of the steel wire
left behind when the telegraph company abandoned the project.


haynes@cats.ucsc.edu   haynes@cats.bitnet

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

Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 16:30:29 -0600
From: Leroy Casterline <casterli@csn.org>
Subject: Loop Start to Ground Start Converter


Dear telecom wizards,
 
My company has a box that connects between a PBX and the CO on PBX
analog loop start trunk ports, as follows:
 
-----                  -----                  -----
| P |    loop start    | B |    loop start    | C |
| B | <--------------> | o | <--------------> | O |
| X |                  | x |                  |   |
-----                  -----                  -----
 
We now have a need to connect in a similar fashion in a gound start
environment, as follows:
 
-----                  -----                  -----
| P |   ground start   | B |   ground start   | C |
| B | <--------------> | o | <--------------> | O |
| X |                  | x |                  |   |
-----                  -----                  -----
 
Does anyone know of an existing device which could be connected
between our box and the PBX, and between our box and the CO, so that
we can work in the above environment without re-engineering our analog
interface or changing our software?

 
Thanks,
 
Leroy Casterline   Cahill Casterline Limited   303/484-2212

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

Date: Fri, 13 May 94 14:11:15 MDT
From: djw@aerie (Dave Wade )
Subject: Alt.sex.beastiality.in.space.and.oklahoma 


> I, too, am interested in the possibilities of satellite hookup to the
> net.  Can it be done? (doh -- anything *can* be done) Is it done?  How
> expensive is it?  Who do I talk to?

& From djd@netsys.com Thu Jun  3 13:55:52 1993
& From: Duane Dubay <djd@netsys.com>
& Subject: Your Order
& To: djw@lanl.GOV
& Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 12:48:12 -0700 (PDT)

& David,
& Thanks for your Usenet order.  Your order # is ...have any questions 
& about the status of your order.
& The complete charges are $1828.00.  $1800 for the system and 
& $28.00 for shipping and handling.  Per your rquest, it will be 
& shipped COD.  I can let you know when it ships so you can be 
& prepared for delivery.
& If you have any questions, let me know.

& Thanks!

& Duane J. Dubay                       
& PageSat Inc.          "Where cyberspace and outerspace are one"
& 992 San Antonio Rd.
&Palo Alto, CA.  94303  (415) 424-0384 or Email djd@pagesat.com

And one final additional comment, there is a usenet newsgroup about
pagesat also ... just in case you need more information from another
satisfied customer ...

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

From: sroy@qualcomm.com (Sudeepto Roy)
Subject: Annoying Delays: LD Customer Service
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 13:16:38 -0800
Organization: Qualcomm Incorporated


Hello Fellow Netters!

Wonder if this is the right newsgroup to voice my indignace about
customer service from Long Distance companies.  In any case, I hope
that AT&T, Sprint and MCI are reading this!

These days, whenever you call the 800 customer service number of one
of the big three, it seems that you're made to wait for five to
fifteen minutes on an average before a voice that belongs to a real
person responds back.  Over the past few months, my friends and I have
been noticing these annoying delays in service.  You dial a number and
you're forced to wait and listen to music that you don't care about or
calling plans and advertisement that you care lesser. This is a
phenomenon that occurs round the clock -- I've called at traditionally
busy hours and traditionally wee hours (11p.m.- 7 a.m. for instance).

Mind you, I have no complaint about service.  Once an operator gets my
call, I can usually get my requests serviced easily.  In most cases,
whenever I metion that I had to wait for eight minutes the operator is
either bewildered or has the ready answer "Our networks are quite
busy, at this time of the day" -- at 1 a.m.?
  

Sudeepto Roy    Qualcomm Incorporated, San Diego, CA


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way they should respond to your query
is 'disproportionatly busy to the amount of staff on hand ...'. It is
not so much they are loaded with calls as it is they probably have only
two or three people serving the entire United States at that time of
night. As a test try calling three or four times at night versus three
or four times during the middle of the day in the middle of the week.
You'll find almost invariably you wait longer at night, despite the
smaller amount of calls since the limited number of people there are
still taking as many calls as during the day, and in all probability
they may be on manual filing/order taking if the computer is down for
updating and/or maintainence. If so, that would slow things down even
more.  

I've noticed the same thing when calling Illinois Bell at odd hours of
the morning. They have operated customer service 24 hours per day for
about a year now but time and again, my call to them at 4 AM returns a
recording saying to please hold for a representative, and that 'the
approximate waiting time will be greater than ten minutes'.  Less than
ten minutes, they state the approximate number of minutes on their
recording, more than ten is merely given as 'greater than ten'.  When
I do get through to someone, it is often times obvious that the
'system is down' since the rep does not have copies of any records and
is taking notes by hand. For questions such as 'what is my balance
due?' the answer will be he does not have that information available
at the present time and will call me back later if I wish. I call an
800 number, so they are paying for the time on hold; I guess they
figure it is still cheaper than having more help on duty.

What is really annoying though is when they leave their desk (at any
time of day or night) and *forget to unplug their headset* from their
work station. The Automatic Call Distributor which tosses incoming
calls out to the reps uses a plugged in headset as its basis for 
thinking a position is occupied and a person there is willing to take
calls. Normally the rep sits there and a 'click' in their headset
followed by hearing a person breathing on the other end tells them a
call has been given to them. If no headset is plugged in, the ACD
bypasses that position and moves to another idle one. So if you ever
call, wait on hold awhile and get 'answered', only to sit there and
hear talking in the background but no one actually talking to you then
you'll know what happened -- a headset is laying on the desk plugged
in while its owner has gone out to the bathroom or for coffee or
whatever. Given the volume of traffic they get, as soon as you abandon
the call to dial in again, there'll be an immediate seizure and some
other poor devil is now on that line waiting for a rep who never will
speak to him!  On a busy day/night you see, your hangup click in the
rep's ear is followed instantly (a half second later?) by a click and
breathing from the caller who follows you. Wires on the headset jack
make a loop when the headset is plugged in telling the ACD to toss
calls that way, thus the need to physically unplug it when leaving.  PAT]

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

Subject: Re: San Carlos Joins Internet
From: henderson@mln.com
Date: 13 May 94 14:51:09 PST
Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the clarification and >
correction. I guess I've no idea why they are in .com then.  PAT]

Look at their address ... scarlos@crl.com. CRL is just another
Internet services provider, looks like someone at City hall just got
an account there.

Just a thought.


Javier Henderson (JH21)    henderson@mln.com

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

From: smiley@crl.com (Dennis Smiley)
Subject: Re: San Carlos Joins Internet
Date: 13 May 1994 16:15:58 -0700
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access  (415) 705-6060  [login: guest]


> Why are they in the Commercial domain, and not the Government domain?

scarlos probably "rents" space from crl, like I do??


Dennis Smiley    smiley@crl.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you two are probably correct.
Until now, we were assuming that San Carlos had its own Internet drop
there ... obviously they do not if you examine the address.   PAT]

