TELECOM Digest     Wed, 18 May 94 03:28:00 CDT    Volume 14 : Issue 235

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Bell Canada Equal Access Update (Bell News via Dave Leibold)
    The Future of Telephony (Part 2) (mmm@cup.portal.com)
    Information Request on Global Products (Garland Sharratt)
    AP Reporter in Eastern Europe Needs Assistance (Frank Bajak)
    European Phone Line Specs (Dexter Wm. Francis)
    How to Contact Telegroup of Fairfield? (Joseph Doo)
    Re: Cable Dates in History (B. Z. Lederman)
    Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine (Paul A. Lee)
    Re: Cellular Privacy? (Timothy L. Kay)
    A Telephone Exchange Open Day (Arthur Marsh)
    Re: Samples From Telecomworldwire - Part 1 (Tony Harminc)

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

From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold)
Date: 17 May 94 00:31:06 -0500
Subject: Bell Canada Equal Access Update
Organization: FidoNet: The Super Continental - North York, Canada 


[from Bell News, 16 May 94]

We'll roll out Equal Access orders over six weeks.

Taking advantage of an innovative approach offered by the CRTC, Bell
and our competitors have agreed in principle to a plan to phase-in the
introduction of equal access orders over a period of six weeks,
beginning July 1, 1994.

Under equal access, customers can select an alternate long distance
company and dial "1" + the area code + the telephone number" to make a
long distance call on that network - just as they presently do with
Bell.

The conversion to equal access is a massive undertaking for Bell from
network, systems and human resources perspectives.

So while Bell has met its commitment to having the technical capability 
in place to offer equal access in the vast majority of our digial
switches for July 1, taking a phased-in approach was crucial in order
to protect the integrity of the network and ensure that there would be
no service disruptions for customers.

In late March and early April, Bell approached carriers and resellers
who were seeking equal access and proposed a roll-out plan that would
see its competitors' initial primary interexchange carrier (PIC) orders 
processed in an incremental manner over a 13-week period (approximately 
110,000 PIC orders per week).

In response to objections voiced by some competitors, the CRTC
initiated a new "staff review" procedure -- basically a meeting,
mediated by commission staff, that gathered representatives from all
the parties in "an informal and efficient process to identify the
issues requiring resolution, to establish the pertinent facts and to
facilitate resolution of the outstanding issues."

The two day session, held on April 25 and 26 in Hull Quebec, involved
a "lively exchange of views" according to Barry Dixon, vice-president,
Carrier Services, who headed up Bell's delegation.  Other members of
the team were Jennifer Moore, Phil Rogers and Bill McIntyre, and
Stentor representatives John Elliot, Jean-Francois Leger and Ernie
Goldberg.

At the end of the session, commission staff issued a non-binding
opinion regarding the appropriate resolution of the issues under
debate.

Bell has since confirmed our willingness to implement the staff
recommendations.

Competitors agreed to provide Bell with detailed forecasts of their
requirements by May 11, and to closely adhere to consumer protection
requirements for obtaining proper authorization from customers wishing
to be changed to a competitor.

In return, Bell will increase our processing of PIC orders to an
average of 200,000 per week, which will shorten the roll-out period
from three months to six weeks. We will also attempt to increase this
capacity if the processing goes smoothly.

There was general agreement that resolution of PIC disputes and
problem situations between competitors would be streamlined until
after the initial implementation period.

In a more controversial part of the opinion, staff recommended that
Bell -- unlike the other carriers and resellers -- not receive
notification that customers have switched to other carriers, until
after the initial PIC processing period is completed. This period is
defined as the earlier of six weeks or the time it takes to process
the PIC changes taken prior to July 1 (estimated at 1.2 million).

Since these notification reports are a primary tool for quickly
identifying and rectifying unauthorized PIC changes, the measure will
hamper Bell's ability to monitor whether safeguards to protect
customers from being moved against their consent are working. It will
also prevent Bell from getting a fast start on implementing planned
win-back activities - by approaching customers who have moved to a
competitor to attempt to "win" them back.

Other features of Bell's implementation plan include:

* pre-processing a total of 10,000 PIC change orders beginning on
June 24 in Bell Ontario and June 27 in Bell Quebec; these orders will
actually take effect on July 1.

* processing 1,000 PIC orders per day for all carriers and resellers
(including Bell), plus a proportionate share of the remaining
processing capacity, based on the actual number of PIC orders each
company has in the system.

Bell will work closely with each of the companies involved in order to
monitor and manage the implementation process to the benefit of all
parties.

Adjustments to speed up the roll-out will be considered as all parties
gain experience with the process.

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

From: mmm@cup.portal.com
Subject: The Future of Telephony (Part 2)
Date: Tue, 17 May 94 22:38:06 PDT


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Part one of this article appeared awhile
ago in the Digest.  PAT]

Here are some more straight-line projections into the future:

ADVERTISING -- the cheapest long-distance phone rates will be for a
service in which each call is preceded by a 15-second commercial
before the connection is attempted.  Every five minutes, the
commercial reappears and is audible on both ends.  Until Congress
acts, the main use of this advertising medium will be cigarette
companies.

AROMAPHONE -- a hybrid integrated circuit will allow even the cheapest
phones to have smell input/output.  On the receive end, there's an
array of 1024 by 1024 resistive heating elements which are overprinted
with over one million polymer buttons impregnated with molecules for
all known smells.  When a button is heated, it releases some molecules.  
On the transmit end, an integrated circuit gas chromatograph and array
of lasers for measuring optical absorbance detects atmospheric
molecules, and a neural network associative memory recognizes the
button or combination of buttons that would approximate the smell.
The sensor is used during receiving to sense when a button is failing
to emit enough smell.  Common smells would have more than one button,
and the aromaphone would skip to the next button when one was used up.
Sooner or later the aromaphone cartridge will need to be replaced.

AIRPLANE PHONES -- the complete ban of smoking on airplanes and the
emerging technology of the aromaphone will converge in an airplane
phone which can make aromacalls to a service which sends tobacco smoke
data to the aromaphone.  Airline aromaphones will differ from the
consumer model in that their cartridges contain mostly nicotine and
tobacco flavor component buttons.  And rather than gently wafting the
aroma toward the user using a piezoelectric fan, the airline version
has a disposable mouthpiece which is sucked on.

ADAPTIVE SPEED DIALING -- many people have very regular calling
habits, such as the wife who always calls her husband at the beginning
of his lunch hour.  With adaptive speed dialing, the phone learns to
recognize this and automatically calls him when the phone is picked up
at that time of day.  People will have to learn to be quick to hit the
switch hook if they break their usual dialing habits, to prevent the
call from going through.

QUADRAPHONIC SOUND -- a brief flurry of interest will be created in
quadraphonic sound, when an inventor promotes a set-up to turn a room
into a room-size phone with four microphones and four speakers.  The
way he'll get the rubes to put up $1000 for a phone is through a very
slick demo in which you listen to a ping-pong game through the phone.
The popularity will decline suddenly once it becomes generally known
that ping-pong games are about the only thing that gives a good
impression of three-dimensionality.  The devices will be available
cheaply at garage sales for a few years, then prices will rise as
everybody starts talking about what a great investment they are as a
collectible (rumor started by collectors who hoard them).

PAYPHONES -- to combat ever-increasing amounts of theft from payphone
coinboxes and long-distance fraud, the "Fortress" phone will be
superseded by the "Terminator" phone.  The latter is equipped with
numerous non-lethal defense options, including repellent gas,
incapacitating gas, spray-on handcuffs and legcuffs, and a transponder
embedded in a sticky semi-solid which can be attached to the top of
the head by a little robot arm which pops out of the ceiling of the
phone booth.  Security managers at central locations will use the
phone's slow-scan video to view the scene and decide which systems to
activate.  (Laws against "spring traps" prohibit automatic activation
of these systems.)

SETI -- The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) while
performing an equipment calibration check will broadcast a copy of the
David Rhodes chain letter toward a nearby star.  Several years later,
the first contact with Earth will be made by the Galactic Police
demanding that David Rhodes be turned over for trial.

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

Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 16:58:00 -0400 
From: garland (b.g.) sharratt <garland@bnr.ca>
Subject: Information Request on Global Products 


This is a request for any information, references, etc., you might
have on the subject of the GLOBAL PRODUCT, i.e., a product that is
sold in a more or less standardized form throughout the world.  I am
making this request in support of my University of Ottawa MBA research
project (thesis) on the subject of "Global Products in
Telecommunications".

The question to be studied is whether or not there is the opportunity,
for any given product type, in the telecommunications market for a
single global product that could be marketed world-wide, as opposed to
different products by region.  The focus is more on product design
than on promotion.

The research will determine what has been the success of other
companies trying to do the same thing, and will investigate when this
is strategically the right thing to do, and when geographic markets
must be separately addressed.

Some of the issues to be investigated are:

    * How to convince customers to buy a global (more-common, 
      less-customized) product, instead of insisting on a completely 
      custom solution?  (Show them it is lower priced and higher 
      quality?)
    * What kind of product is suitable as a global product?
    * What kind of company can be successful with a global product?
    * What business environment factors encourage or discourage the
      adoption of a global product?

Although the main focus of my paper will be telecommunications, I am
researching the global product issue generally over all technology
fields.  Any assistance would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Garland Sharratt    garland@bnr.ca

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

Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 17:55:28 EDT
From: Frank Bajak <fbajak@ap.org>
Subject: AP Reporter in Eastern Europe Needs Assistance 


Patrick,

 I've now settled in to Berlin and have embarked on a series on
how telecommunications is changing the way folks are living in eastern
Europe ... not just on how the big U.S. and European telecom giants
are moving in, but certainly giving that subject its due.

 The question is: where to start researching this monster. Any
ideas on databases available through the Internet or otherwise or
publications, preferably electronic but I can live with the others,
would be much appreciated.

 I'm looking for big picture comprehensive studies as well as 
looks at specific projects.

 In addition to raw data I am also interested in hearing from
folks who are directly involved in building the telecommunications web
in eastern Europe, by which I mean from eastern Germany down through
the Balkans and east to the Urals.

 
Frank Bajak  Frank_Bajak@mcimail.com
Associated Press Alt-Moabit 96-C
Correspondent  10559 Berlin
(49-30)-399-925-21      fax: 399-4341


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suspect you will be hearing from our
readers very soon as your note begins circulating around the net.  PAT]

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

From: francis4@applelink.apple.com (Dexter Wm. Francis)
Subject: European Phone Line Specs
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 22:08:38 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer


The ARRL Handbook has a section that details the available range of
voltage and current on U.S. phone lines.  Does anyone know what the
numbers are for phone systems in Europe?


df 

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

From: joe@solomon.technet.sg (Joseph Doo)
Subject: How to Contact Telegroup of Fairfield?
Date: 18 May 1994 06:39:20 GMT
Organization: Technet, Singapore


Is there a rep from Telegroup of Fairfield on this group?

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

From: B. Z. Lederman <lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov>
Subject: Re: Cable Dates
Date: 17 May 94 16:28:13 EST
Reply-To: lederman@intransit_tsc.vntsc.dot.gov
Organization: INTRANSIT (VNTSC)


In article <telecom14.208.9@eecs.nwu.edu>, Stewart Fist <100033.2145@
CompuServe.COM> writes:

> You'll probably get a couple of different replies to this query,
> because of the three attempts.  I've got a database on this trivia, so
> let me straighten it out now.  This is the main sequence of events:

    The information was interesting and useful.  But something I've
never seen clearly posted anywhere is when these early cables went OUT
of service, and why.

    I know the first one (that ran for 21 days) was burned out through
mis-use.  The rise time on the cable was very slow (it was basically a
large capacitor), and someone who didn't understand electrical
principles very well thought the signal would rise faster if it was
driven with a higher voltage.  It didn't.

    But I don't know when or why the other cables went out of service.
Does anyone?


B. Z. Lederman

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

Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 15:00:59 -0400
Subject: Re: Annoyance Calls From Answering Machine
From: Paul A. Lee </DD.ID=JES2CAOF.UEDCM09/@SMX.sprint.com>
Organization: Woolworth Corporation


I would add another course of action to Pat's suggestion of how Rodney
Weaver can deal with the automated annoyance calls. Since South
Central Bell seems to be lending only half-hearted (or half of some
_other_ anatomical entity) help in alleviating the problem, perhaps
Rodney needs to rattle a sabre at *them*, too.
 
I recommend sending appropriately covered copies of all correspondence, 
call logs, and other documentation to the state public utilities
commission (PUC) or public service commission (PSC). If the commission
itself isn't listed in phone directories, then the state bureau of
consumer protection or consumer affairs, or a state government
information office, should be able to provide an address or phone
number. Make sure to note on letters to the telco that the agency that
regulates them is being apprised of the situation, and of the telco's
inability to provide effective assistance in solving the problem.
 
*That* might break the impasse, even if the commission never gets
involved.  Utilities tend to get busy when the agency that regulates
them starts taking an interest.

 
Paul A. Lee                           Voice  414 357-1409
Telecommunications Analyst              FAX  414 357-1450
Woolworth Corporation            CompuServe  70353,566
INTERNET  </DD.ID=JES2CAOF.UEDCM09/@SMX.sprint.com>


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, it used to be the rule in many
or most telco business offices that who got attended to first and who
had to wait was a result of who made the most noise.  Many/most telco
business offices had a teletype machine (now-a-days I suppose it is a
fax machine) to the state PUC.  People who went to the PUC with their
problems then as now found that all that really happens is the clerk
at the PUC who listens to your tale of woe simply sends it over to the
telco, admittedly to a somewhat higher ranking person than the average
service rep, for resolution. Customers who write to the president or
chairman of the telco usually get shunted to highly placed flunkies who
in turn teletype or fax the problem to the business office people. 
Usually whatever telco says, the PUC accepts and that is the end of
the matter. None the less it is faster sometimes. The rule at Illinois
Bell for many years was first handle the commission complaints, then take
care of the management complaints. After that, deal with the walk-in
customers in the business office, and last, as time permits deal with
the subscribers who call on the phone! So the complaining subscriber
on the phone might have to make four or five calls to get his problem
resolved, but the Commission and/or management rarely had to ask more
than one or two times  :).  Seriously, that was the pecking order.  The 
Commission did not/still does not resolve anything; they simply
request that telco get the problem straightened out. When a message
came on the dedicated teletype line from the PUC, someone always
attended to it right away, at least most of the time.  PAT]

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

From: timkay@netcom.com (Timothy L. Kay)
Subject: Re: Cellular Privacy?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 21:14:54 GMT


I worked for Radio Shack when I was a kid.  At that time, HBO was
broadcasting via microwaves, and many people were building non-
sanctioned receivers.  (I say non-sanctioned rather than illegal
because, as far as I know, the legality of the home-built receivers
was never tested in court.)

Most people were building their receivers using one of a very few
easily-available plans.  You could even get a professionally designed
(empty) printed circuit board for about $20.  So it was easy for me to
tell that a customer was building an HBO receiver when he asked for a
tell-tale list of parts.  I started preparing HBO bag-o'-parts ahead
of time so that I could get the customers on their way more quickly.
One item Radio Shack didn't have was microwave diodes.  I had to refer
them to another supplier for those.

One day, a memo came from Radio Shack corporate headquarters instructing 
employees to have nothing to do with the construction of HBO receivers.  
That memo was targeted directly at employees like me.  I will plead
the Fifth at this point.

Oh, by the way, with the next stock shipment, a new inventory item
arrived.  Yes, microwave diodes.


Timothy L. Kay


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Radio Shack/Tandy has always been in the
closet it seems regards illegal stuff. They are happy to sell it but
never want their employees to talk about it or encourage it.   PAT]

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

Reply-To: Arthur@cswamp.apana.org.au
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 01:46:52
From: Arthur@cswamp.apana.org.au (Arthur Marsh)
Subject: A Telephone Exchange Open Day


In the lead-up to the ballot in South Australia on whether Telstra or
Optus will be a subscriber's preferred long distance carrier, Telstra
had an open day last Saturday, May 14 1994 at one of their most recent
constructions, the Flinders Street Adelaide Communications Centre.

Besides a brief visit by Telstra's CEO, Frank Blount (ex-AT&T), which
I missed, there was much of interest to be seen.

The five story building (which cost AUD$42 million excluding equipment)
features dual mains electricity supply, 3 * 2 Megawatt General Motors
V16 diesel-powered generators with the capability of providing five days
of full power without refueling and generally over-engineered construction.

On display were working Ericsson AXE, Alcatel System 12 and Nortel DMS-100 
switch units. Also there was a demonstration of ADSL giving full motion 
video using 2 Mbit/s modulation over 4 kilometres of twisted pair cable, 
and fibre-to-the-pillar/coax to the home.

One technician also demonstrated optical fibre splicing and the use of
an optical reflectometer.

There was also a demonstration of morse code, but no mechanical exchange
equipment in sight. 

I was pleased to see a live display of current technology, which has
been all-too-rare in the past pre-competitive era.


 * Origin: Camelot Swamp MJCNA, Hawthorndene, Sth Australia (8:7000/8)
# Camelot Swamp bbs, data: +61-8-370-2133 reply to arthur@cswamp.apana.org.au

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

Date: Tue, 17 May 94 17:46:58 EDT
From: Tony Harminc <EL406045@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
Subject: Re: Samples From Telecomworldwire - Part 1


From: Darren Ingram <satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk>

> We would like to offer TELECOM Digest readers a special price on
> subscription to Telecomworldwire. The UK price is gbp700 per year for
> fax. ...

> WASHINGTON, USA/RIYADHI, SAUDI ARABIA- AT&T Corp has won a six-year
> US$4 billion contract to provide state-of-the-art digital switching
> and fibre-optic networks to Saudi Arabia, and within hours of the news
> being confirmed the contract was dogged with controversy. ...

> Ericsson said that it was surprised at the scope of the bid and the
> way in which it had been handled, and Northern Telecom said that it
> half expected the move as negotiations between AT&T and the Saudis
> were advanced when AT&T ended its exclusive supplier agreement with
> Bell Canada Ltd -- a NT offshoot -- earlier this year.

If this is the quality of detail that readers may expect, I would
suggest saving the 700 Pounds for something else.

See if you can find three errors of fact in the last sentence quoted.


Tony H.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Readers who wish to do so may send me
the 700 Pounds instead. I might be encouraged to make even further
improvements in this Digest as a result. In fact, I shall make a 
special subscription offer to the readers of Telecomworldwire and
send them a *free* subscription to this Digest. How's that for a
deal!  :)  Remember, TELECOM Digest is supported by the generous
contributions of its friends and corporate sponsors, the primary one
of whom is the International Telecommunication Union. But the ITU
can't do it all ... you need to help.  Thanks very much.   PAT]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V14 #235
******************************

