2-May-88 21:20:27-EDT,9538;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 2 May 88 21:20:26-EDT Date: 28 Apr 88 19:25-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #70 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, April 28, 1988 7:25PM Volume 8, Issue 70 Today's Topics: Old Sprint billings Exchanges that look like area codes Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! Re: Illinois Bell ISDN Tariff Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #68 External 2400 baud hayes compatible modems for $139. ISDM Your call did not go through... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul_L_Schauble@cup.portal.com Subject: Old Sprint billings Date: Sun Apr 24 20:35:26 1988 To those who have just received a Sprint bill covering six months or more of calls. I don't know about the policies anywhere else, but in Arizona the Corporation Commission has determined that you have as long to pay the bill as the carrier took to send it. So, send them 1/6 of the bill for each of the next six months. Paul ------------------------------ From: dartvax!eleazar!marston.UUCP@seismo.css.gov (David Marston) Subject: Exchanges that look like area codes Date: 26 Apr 88 03:10:26 GMT the matching N0X area code? In article <1154@csuna.UUCP> abcscnge@csuna.UUCP (Scott "The Pseudo Hacker" Neugroschl) writes: >The answer to this is the same as the answer to how they distinguish a >one digit number starting with 0 :-) or, for those areas which still >do not require any prefix (Maryland a few years ago, maybe still) and >may need to deal with the new exchanges. They time out. If you reach >one of the possible ends of a number (after 1 or 7 digits) and don't >dial another digit within N seconds, it assumes you are done and goes >ahead. I have an alternate explanation. (This may cause various people to post examples of exchanges they've seen, but here it goes anyway.) I have only seen examples of N0X or N1X exchanges in major-city area codes that consist of a single local calling area. My first encounter was a few years ago when I saw an ad for a firm whose number was 212-603-xxxx. This was before the 718 split in New York City. 603 is the area code for my home state of New Hampshire, but I figured "no problem" as follows: anyone calling from outside the 212 area code would dial 1-212-603-xxxx to get this firm and there would be no ambiguity. People within 212 would ALL dial 603-xxxx, just seven digits, because any number in 212 can reach any other number in 212 without dialing 1 first. If a New Yorker dials 1-603-, you know that 7 more digits will follow and the call is destined for NH. .................David Marston decvax!dartvax!eleazar!marston marston@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU ------------------------------ From: roy%phri@uunet.UU.NET (Roy Smith) Subject: Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! Date: 26 Apr 88 18:57:11 GMT Reply-To: roy%phri@uunet.UU.NET (Roy Smith) covert@covert.DEC.COM (John R. Covert) writes: > B O Y C O T T C O C O T S ! ! Based on my experiences with COCOTs in New York, I'd say that the New England Telephone vs. COCOT example is typical. In New York, the NYTel pay phones are much cheaper than the Funny Fones, not to mention that they are, in general, less featurefull. I seem to remember having trouble making certain toll-free calls (i.e. they cost money). -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 ------------------------------ From: well!sac@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Steve Cisler) Subject: Re: Illinois Bell ISDN Tariff Date: 23 Apr 88 13:43:07 GMT Reply-To: well!sac@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Steve Cisler) >The idea is VERY simple, and as such, would take too long to explain here if nobody want's to hear about it. If anybody cares, or would like to discuss the idea here on the open net, send me a little mail. I'd like to hear more about it, as I was involved from a consumer standpoint during the Pacific Bell Project Victoria test in 1986. (It was a precursor of ISDN.) ------------------------------ From: kddlab!ndsuvax!ndsuvm1.BITNET!NU115247@uunet.UU.NET Subject: Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? Date: 27 Apr 88 00:46:47 GMT I would like to know if there is a path between BITNET and Compuserve?? In other words, can i send files that i have in my Compuserve logon to my BITNET logon and vice versa?? If there is such a path, how much does Compuserve charge to use it?? ( America, the land of the fee) What i'd like to do is send files from my Compuserve logon to my BITNET logon and download from BITNET becauseITNET doesn't charge me $12 and hour to download! Thanks for your help, ------- Jeff Cooper | Stress: The confusion created when the | mind overrides the bodies desire NU115247 @ NDSUVM1.BITNET | to choke the living shit out of | asshole who desperately needs it. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Apr 88 09:31:56 EDT (Tue) From: gmeeca!sb@tis.llnl.gov Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #68 There is a federal investigation of the phone companies that service hotels etc. These phone companies provide operators and very little else. Even if you use MCI from a hotel, they tack on an incredible service charge (like $21. for a call that normally costs $4.00). Are these third-party operator services one and the same as the services that support COCOTs? If this is either true, or if there should be an investigation, this present comittee (meeting out of Wash. DC presently investigating about 12 companies), should be informed of the wrong doings. --Bradley P.S. I live in MI, so we are a little behind the times here and do NOT have COCOTS as prominantly as elsewhere. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Apr 88 11:11:58 PST From: geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us (Geoff Goodfellow) Subject: External 2400 baud hayes compatible modems for $139. Reply-To: Geoff%fernwood.mpk.ca.us@unix.sri.com from the pass a long a great buy department: a local outfit is selling Supra 2400 baud hayes compatible modems for $139. i bought mine about 2 months ago, and have been using it with uucp via a pc with no problems. the place: CompuCat, 24500 Glenn Highway, Los Gatos, CA 95030 you can order via voice from 10am-5pm M-F, data 6pm-9am at 408-353-1836 or via data 24 hours (1200/2400 baud) at 408-353-4669. they accept major credit cards and ship via UPS. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Apr 88 23:27:01 EDT From: Michael Grant Subject: ISDM Dick Jackson, (whom I could not reply to directly...but that's for another list!), was wondering what ISDN buys someone. Well basically, it dosn't buy you anything if you are going to use it just for phone calls. If you use the 64K channels to push data down, like if you dial up from home, then ISDN becomes useful. The catch is that currently there are no devices that use ISDN yet. I think Hayes is selling, (or at least will be selling) a codec that would replace the modems on regular phone lines on ISDN lines. I've seen almost full motion, full color video phones that are supposed to work over ISDN. Of course every vendor uses their own compression standard and any two who want to talk have to have the same type of video codec at each end. You could build fax machine for ISDN. Power companies could use it to read your meters, (though I doubt this will happen much because the companies will want to pass off the costs to the customers, and the customers won't buy it). But in real life, it's definatly a bussiness/electronic enthusiast toy. I can't really see any reason for everyone to run out and get it. The biggest win of it would being able to run video over it, but it's not great video, and the video codec's are likely to be *very* expensive. -Mike ------------------------------ From: roy%phri@uunet.UU.NET (Roy Smith) Subject: Your call did not go through... Date: 28 Apr 88 21:09:23 GMT I just called Sun's service center and got the usual "dial 1 for software assistance, dial 2 for hardware assistance" message. I dialed 1 and got a recording saying, "da Da DAH! You call did not go through, please try again. 212 4T", which raises several questions. 1) What handles the "dial 1 for .." call redirection? Is it done at the CO or by the customers own PBX equipment? 2) What does the "212 4T" mean? Is there some universal code for these error messages or does each system use whatever codes it wants to? Presumably it's some sort of "all trunks busy" problem. 3) Why is the "da Da DAH!" always so loud? -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 3-May-88 22:21:34-EDT,14596;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 3-May-88 17:41:34 Date: 3 May 88 17:41-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #72 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, May 3, 1988 5:41PM Volume 8, Issue 72 Today's Topics: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dialing) Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! Re: Your call did not go through... Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? Re: Dial Up Porn Automated Alert System Re: foreign exchange in a shopping mall Re: Exchanges that look like area codes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dzoey@umd5.umd.edu (Joe Herman) Subject: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dialing) Date: 3 May 88 01:44:37 GMT From article <8804291646.AA06018@uunet.UU.NET>, by news@BBN.COM: Status: O > The point is, however, that some places, like Maryland for instance, > do not use a prefix 1 to identify toll call Must've been a while since you've been back to visit the Free State. I now get those annoying little "you must dial a 1..." messages whenever I try to dial long distance sans 1 prefix. I assume this is because they're running out of exchange numbers somewhere. In the old days dialing a 1 *did* signal a toll call, a local (intra C&P) toll call. For instance, to dial Bal'mer from College Park, all you had to do was dial 1 + seven digits. You didn't really need the 301 prefix. As long as we're strolling down memory lane, does anyone have a collection of mnemonics/name that went with exchanges? My folks still say "Juniper 8" for the 588 exchange. Joe Herman PC/IP Stuff University of Maryland, CP dzoey@terminus.umd.edu -- "Everything is wonderful until you know something about it." ------------------------------ From: jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton) Subject: Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! Date: 3 May 88 02:12:25 GMT Reply-To: jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton) Anyone can have an AT&T phone. If you like, you can order one by calling 800.451.2100. (They take AT&T Card Plus, American Express, Master Card, and VISA.) The item you want is: . AT&T Private Pay Phone. Introducing the affordable new AT&T Private Pay Phone that lets you keep all of the money it collects. Because it offers so much customer convenience, it's a terric traffic-builder for you. Plus it saves aggravation and lost business when people tie up your private-business or reception-area phones. The AT&T Private Pay Phone combines 90 years of AT&T know-how with truly high technology. Easy to use features make it easy for you to program rates. Vandal-resistant and nearly indestructable. All components are ruggedly constructed -- including armored handset cord and inner, stainless-steel cable. The welded steel housing, cover unit and chrome face plate make this phone similar to traditional AT&T coin sets. Own the pay phone that pays off in so many ways. Order your AT&T Private Pay Phone today. FCC registered. #10051X $1875 . (From the AT&T Source Book. Call the 800 number and ask for one.) They also sell the Mini Econo Shelf, the Public Telephone Enclosure, and the Universal Post. This thing looks JUST like the real thing. Guess why. =John Shelton= ------------------------------ From: dave@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Dave Goldblatt) Subject: Re: Your call did not go through... Date: 1 May 88 20:33:38 GMT >From article <3250@phri.UUCP>, by roy%phri@UUNET.UU.NET (Roy Smith): > > I just called Sun's service center and got the usual "dial 1 for > software assistance, dial 2 for hardware assistance" message. I dialed 1 > and got a recording saying, "da Da DAH! You call did not go through, > please try again. 212 4T", which raises several questions. > That's weird. Your call reached Sun? > 1) What handles the "dial 1 for .." call redirection? Is it done > at the CO or by the customers own PBX equipment? > Normally its by the company's own system. I'm not sure the Phone Co's do it at all; I think it can only be done by the PBX. > 2) What does the "212 4T" mean? Is there some universal code for > these error messages or does each system use whatever codes it wants to? > Presumably it's some sort of "all trunks busy" problem. > The "212" is the area code you are calling from. The next set varies; from (516) I'll get "516 3C", and it normally does signify the trunks are busy.. That's a message from the LD carrier tho' (although I think the locals can issue it as well) > > 3) Why is the "da Da DAH!" always so loud? > Because if it was quieter, you'd be able to hear all the line noise on your next call! :-) -dg- -- Internet: dave@sun.soe.clarkson.edu or: dave@clutx.clarkson.edu BITNET: dave@CLUTX.Bitnet uucp: {rpics, gould}!clutx!dave Matrix: Dave Goldblatt @ 1:260/360 ICBM: Why do you want to know? :-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 May 88 23:37:07 EDT From: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) Subject: Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? Reply-To: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU From: mdf@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) Date: 30 Apr 88 19:44:37 GMT So, there is no link between CompuServe and BITNET. It seems to me like the problem keeping that link from being created is insoluble. If you have any ideas on ways around the billing problem, I'd like to hear it. Yeah; they could simply NOT CHARGE FOR IT (y'know, include it as a SERVICE). Of course, this is probably too much to expect. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # {ames,cca,decvax,harvard,lotus,mit-eddie,rochester,soft21}!garp!henry ------------------------------ From: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) Subject: Re: Dial Up Porn Date: 3 May 88 05:21:19 GMT Reply-To: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) In article <1096@wa4mei.UUCP> rsj@wa4mei.UUCP (Randy Jarrett WA4MEI wa4mei!rsj) writes: > But I feel the main problem is the charges. >For years children have always been told that anytime a phone number has a 1 >in front of it that it is going to cost money to call. This "rule" doesn't work everywhere. For example, if one has measured service (n free local calls then some number of cents for each additional call), a local call can cost. More to the point however, is that in some area codes (415 is one, although that may change), toll calls within the area code do not require the 1 prefix. Even calls to other area codes (say, 404) are made by dialing the area code followed by the 7 digit number; the 1 prefix is not used. Since all of the pay-to-talk lines are either 976 (prefix) or 900 (area code), perhaps one should use a reliable rule. I'm not trying to call you folks bad parents or anything, but what else do you lock up besides the phone? My parents didn't lock the liquor cabinet and they told us where things like spare car keys and guns were hidden. My sister and I could even be trusted to do our homework before watching TV without putting a lock on it. Maybe the pay-per-call problem you folks have is more general. -andy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 2 May 88 18:27:20 EDT From: Ralph.Hyre@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu To: comp-dcom-telecom@rutgers.edu Path: ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu!ralphw From: ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: ISDM Date: 2 May 88 22:27:20 GMT References: <8804270327.AA25714@mimsy.umd.edu> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 36 In article <8804270327.AA25714@mimsy.umd.edu> mgrant@MIMSY.UMD.EDU (Michael Grant) writes: [about ISDN] >But in real life, it's definatly a bussiness/electronic enthusiast toy. I >can't really see any reason for everyone to run out and get it. The biggest >win of it would being able to run video over it, but it's not great video, >and the video codec's are likely to be *very* expensive. I'd imagine a market if someone built a box you could plug into your video camera & TV on one end, and your ISDN connected-PC on the other, plus some software, and that's all you'd need. Today, these boxes are typicaly known as frame buffers, and you can get them for an IBM PC for about $1000. TrueVision, and AT&T spinoff company based in Indianapolis probably has software for something like this already. All you really need is some memory and an A/D and D/A converter, Steve Ciarcia built one for $250 in BYTE, since you're bandwidth-limited anyway you can get away with switching between RGB channels on your camera for each frame to hack color. We have ISDN-speed stuff in Pittsburgh already. Services are coming. At CMU we have an option of getting MCN (Metropolitan Campus Network from Bell of Pennsylvania) service for $25/month. It currently provides asynch 300-19.2kbps (autobauding to the CO, at least) line running on the same copper as phone lines (which you plug into the back of a Gandalf DOV 640, probably the same thing Project Victoria used, since the case is the same color as a Mac) Amazingly little noise, my bits never get diddled at 9.6, at 19.2 they seem OK too. Real Soon Now, it will be 'uprgaded' to 64kbps, then people will want to run TCP/IP over it, to support things like Andrew File System and X Window System, connections. Disclaimer: I'm just a satisfied MCN user, don't ask me technical question about MCN because I don't know the answers. -- - Ralph W. Hyre, Jr. Internet: ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu Phone:(412)268-{2847,3275} CMU-{BUGS,DARK} Amateur Packet Radio: N3FGW@W2XO, or c/o W3VC, CMU Radio Club, Pittsburgh, PA ------------------------------ Date: 3-MAY-1988 04:16:26.64 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Automated Alert System I've recently noticed something odd about the Bell automated alert system. I'm not sure of the proper name of this system, but what it does is provide a caller with information about a number which is not in service. I'm sure everyone has heard it...An example of a basic message would be: "The number you have reached, 555-9494, has been temporarily disconnected, and calls are being taken by, Area Code 301 , 555-1209. Please make a note of it." I am referring to the Bell System machines that are found in New York, Connecticut, California (non-GTE, of course! ;-) ), Chicago, etc. DMS-100's don't count. I have noticed that whenever one gets one of these messages, in the background, one can hear many other messages at the samr time. For example, if the recording you are connected to is in the process of saying "...is not in service...", then in the background one hears "...being checked for trouble..." repeated over and over. In other words, it seems as if I am hearing the recordings of other callers as well. Moreover, its always the same "background" recording when the recording you have called says a specific phrase. While the "main" one is pausing between the first and second time the message is repeated, I always here "has been temporarily disconnected". At the end of the recording, when the message system drops to the re-order signal, I always hear "in area code" repeated over and over until the system cuts off. In other words, at specific parts of my message, I hear specific parts of other messages, and this does not seem to vary from one area to another. I realize this is a rather esoteric inquiry, but I am quite curious as to why this happens, and any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn ------------------------------ From: dmkdmk@uncecs.edu (David M. Kurtiak) Subject: Re: foreign exchange in a shopping mall Date: 3 May 88 11:45:41 GMT In article <8805021714.aa21738@ADM.BRL.ARPA>, cmoore@BRL.ARPA (Carl Moore, VLD/VMB) writes: > I was in Security Square Mall, in a western suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, > yesterday. I noticed, on a row of pay phones, 2 phones with a foreign > exchange... [Rest of article deleted...] The first time I ever noticed this was at the Greensboro/High Point/ Winston-Salem airport in North Carolina. The airport is partially in the Greensboro serving area, but also borders the High Point service zone. Even though High Point is only about 10 miles away (city to city), they are *VERY* toll calls. (NC's in-state rates are outragous!). While Greensboro has Southern Bell for a local provider, High Point has North State Telephone (a mom&pop telco). I suppose you can also look at it as 'competition' then, huh? A So. Bell local call costs $.25, while N. State is $.10... What a selection nowadays - there are AT&T calling card phones, So. Bell phones, and N. State., not to mention those dreaded COCOTS all in one location, right next to each other. *sigh* "ONE Bell System - it may work again." :-) ---- David M. Kurtiak UNC - Greensboro UUCP: dmkdmk@ecsvax.UUCP {decvax,rutgers,gatech}!mcnc!ecsvax!dmkdmk Bitnet: DMKDMK@ECSVAX.BITNET (mail ONLY) Internet: dmkdmk@ecsvax.uncecs.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 3 May 88 9:04:21 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Re: Exchanges that look like area codes I don't know of any N0X/N1X prefixes currently in use in Maryland, but an earlier posting by me mentioned new 202-915 (Washington, DC). The long-distance dialing instructions for Md., DC, and Va. were changed late last year (local calls are still made with just the 7 digit number, with exceptions I noted near Severn, Md.): OLD--in DC and all but outermost Md. and Va. suburbs, use areacode + number, even if within Md. or 703 area in Va.; elsewhere in Md. and Va. use 1+areacode +number. NEW--in Md., DC, and 703 area in Va., use 1+areacode+number. (In DC area, the 1+ is new requirement; elsewhere in Md. and 703, use of areacode within one's own area is new requirement.) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 6-May-88 20:59:16-EDT,13332;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 6-May-88 20:28:29 Date: 6 May 88 20:28-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #73 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, May 6, 1988 8:28PM Volume 8, Issue 73 Today's Topics: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #68 Directories -- Baby Bell vs. Old Independent Re: Dial Up Porn Re: Dial Up Porn Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? bitnet/compuserve link Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #68 Date: 3 May 88 18:50:11 GMT Personally, when I am in a hotel, I never use the room phone for outside calls, except when the other end is paying for it, because they often charge more than the pay phone down the hall for local calls. I use my MCI card for long distance, and my quarter for local, fro the pay phone (unless it's a COCOT, of course, but I haven't seen many of these.). Mark -- Mark Smith (alias Smitty) "Be careful when looking into the distance, RPO 1604, CN 5063 that you do not miss what is right under your nose." New Brunswick, NJ 08903 {backbone}!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 3 May 88 22:15 Subject: Directories -- Baby Bell vs. Old Independent Submitted-by: Greg Monti, National Public Radio Apparently, non-Bell company phone directories are allowed to show a whole lot more information about long distance, equal access, company code dialing and other features since these companies aren't required to be at arm's length from AT&T. The Centel book in Las Vegas, NV, has the following items of interest: - in-Nevada dir asst, both local and LD, is 555-1212, not 411; it's free. - time & temp is 118 - a description of the subscriber line charge notes that it "recovers a portion of the cost of connecting the customer to the national phone network that were covered by interstate long distance charges. It may be offset by a reduction in long distance charges." That's the first time I've seen an admission by a local phone company that the SLC eliminates the earlier subsidy. - a feature known as "call within" is available to any home or business: you can talk to other extensions of your own phone by dialing your own phone number, getting a busy signal and hanging up. All your phones ring. When you hear the ringing stop, someone must have picked up an extension. You pick up your extension and talk to others in your household. - a package called "Teen Talk" gives you a second line with touchtone ("for quick connections") and 3-way calling ("to plan those Friday nights easily") for $9.35 a month. Add toll restriction to that and it costs $11.85 a month. It must be a second line billed to the same party as the first one in that household. - Equal Access is explained. There's a $12.00 charge in Nevada to change default LD companies. To confirm if you have equal access, dial 777 and a recording will tell you. A list of LD companies serving the area is given along with their business/sales phone numbers and their 10XXX codes, along with an explanantion of how to use 10XXX codes and why they might be useful. Companies serving the area include Access Long Distance (10007), ATT (10288), American Network/American Telephone Exchange/Starnet (10050), First Digital Network (10230), MCI (10222) and Sprint (10777). Full-page-per-carrier "ads" are given for some of these which show services offered, numbers to call and how to access services provided by the various companies, but not rates. [Hmm, thought 10007 was TMC (Telamarketing Communications, i.e., PacBell.] - Long distance operator assistance for calls made outside the Southern Nevada Calling Area is reached by dialing 00 if your LD company offers operator assistance. The Centel book clearly notes that only AT&T and US Sprint curently offer this service. If you don't have one of these companies as your default LD carrier, the book notes, you'll have to dial 10288 + 00 to reach an AT&T operator or 10777 + 00 for a Sprint operator. - International dialing instructions are given, with a caveat that your LD carrier may not provide international service. If not, book suggests, use 10XXX to access an LD carrier that does. In all, quite complete information. The C&P directories here (DC, VA, MD) don't even come close. Greg Monti, National Public Radio, Washington, DC +1 202 822-2459 ------------------------------ From: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) Subject: Re: Dial Up Porn Date: 3 May 88 05:21:19 GMT Reply-To: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) In article <1096@wa4mei.UUCP> rsj@wa4mei.UUCP (Randy Jarrett WA4MEI wa4mei!rsj) writes: > But I feel the main problem is the charges. >For years children have always been told that anytime a phone number has a 1 >in front of it that it is going to cost money to call. This "rule" doesn't work everywhere. For example, if one has measured service (n free local calls then some number of cents for each additional call), a local call can cost. More to the point however, is that in some area codes (415 is one, although that may change), toll calls within the area code do not require the 1 prefix. Even calls to other area codes (say, 404) are made by dialing the area code followed by the 7 digit number; the 1 prefix is not used. Since all of the pay-to-talk lines are either 976 (prefix) or 900 (area code), perhaps one should use a reliable rule. I'm not trying to call you folks bad parents or anything, but what else do you lock up besides the phone? My parents didn't lock the liquor cabinet and they told us where things like spare car keys and guns were hidden. My sister and I could even be trusted to do our homework before watching TV without putting a lock on it. Maybe the pay-per-call problem you folks have is more general. -andy ------------------------------ From: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) Subject: Re: Dial Up Porn Date: 3 May 88 05:21:19 GMT Reply-To: andy@carcoar.stanford.edu (Andy Freeman) In article <1096@wa4mei.UUCP> rsj@wa4mei.UUCP (Randy Jarrett WA4MEI wa4mei!rsj) writes: > But I feel the main problem is the charges. >For years children have always been told that anytime a phone number has a 1 >in front of it that it is going to cost money to call. This "rule" doesn't work everywhere. For example, if one has measured service (n free local calls then some number of cents for each additional call), a local call can cost. More to the point however, is that in some area codes (415 is one, although that may change), toll calls within the area code do not require the 1 prefix. Even calls to other area codes (say, 404) are made by dialing the area code followed by the 7 digit number; the 1 prefix is not used. Since all of the pay-to-talk lines are either 976 (prefix) or 900 (area code), perhaps one should use a reliable rule. I'm not trying to call you folks bad parents or anything, but what else do you lock up besides the phone? My parents didn't lock the liquor cabinet and they told us where things like spare car keys and guns were hidden. My sister and I could even be trusted to do our homework before watching TV without putting a lock on it. Maybe the pay-per-call problem you folks have is more general. -andy ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 88 09:00:33 EDT From: Ray Hirschfeld Subject: Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? Date: 30 Apr 88 19:44:37 GMT From: mdf at tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) Reply-To: mdf at tut.cis.osu-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) To: TELECOM at MIT-MC Re: Is there a path from BITNET to Compuserve? ... So, there is no link between CompuServe and BITNET. It seems to me like the problem keeping that link from being created is insoluble. Maybe not. After all, there is a link between MCImail and the internet. The billing is simple: mail from MCImail to the internet is charged the usual fee; mail from the internet to MCImail is free. I don't know how it's REALLY paid for--for all I know the DoD pays MCI a fee for the connection. The link is supposed to be used only for official correspondence, but I don't know whether the definition of "official" is any more stringent than that required for use of the ARPAnet in the first place. It seems possible that MCI provides this service at no charge. The link provides revenues from outgoing messages that otherwise could not be sent, and the marginal cost of handling incoming messages might very well be small. If so, CompuServe could profit from the same sort of arrangement. Ray P.S. The reply-to: field in your message is incorrect. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 88 10:09:38 EDT From: "Barry C. Nelson" Subject: bitnet/compuserve link It is not surprising that it is difficult to connect Bitnet to Compuserve. Compuserve is a Public Data Network (PDN) while I believe Bitnet (and Usenet?) are supported by universities wishing to exchange files or mail amongst themselves. Although it may be possible to send a Bitnet file to some host which also has Compuserve access, this would require external billing, as has been mentioned on this digest. In this case, such a host would be acting as a 'gateway' to Compuserve and would probably be billed by Compuserve as any other X.25 subscriber. It would then be the job of that host admin to recover the actual cost from the Bitnet user, or absorb the Compuserve service cost. Since such gateway business would be costly, I would suspect that this service would be either very limited or, conversely, advertised for profit in order to offset capital and operating costs. Internetworking of Public Data Networks with private networks and public Value Added Network (VANs) is a highly political business. Bi-lateral agreements must be adopted at each link, and in many cases between remote end-points as well. America is one of the few places that a PDN has competition. In many countries, even a totally PRIVATE network must have a federal license to connect each site. Some such networks are actively monitored to detect ANY leakage of public data. We have been spoiled by ARPA-subsidized services, cheap PDNs and phones. Barry C. Nelson /Senior Systems Engineer / BBN Communications Corporation / 70 Fawcett Street, Cambridge, MA "This document contains statements of opinion by the author which are not attributable to BBN Communications Corporation or its management." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 88 11:28:27 EDT From: Michael Grant Subject: Re: BOYCOTT COCOTS! They cost $1675 from AT&T at the time this was posted. You need to get permission in some areas (such as MD) from the Public Utilities Commision before you install one of these. You will also need to order a special phone line from your local phone company. This special line is NOT like the pay telephone lines that your local phone company uses. It is a standard bussiness line with some special rates. In the Washington DC area, it will cost about $70 to install, $14 a month for dialtone, $2.00 a month for Touch-Tone, $2.00 a month to restrict collect and third party calls, another $1.00 a month to restrict 976 calls, and then another $2 - $5 for the customer access fee depending on who gets the billing. This does not include any taxes either. You also pay about $0.10 per call. You get to keep all the money that comes out of the pay phone though. These phones can act as bad as all the other COCOTS. They can be programmed to gouge your pocket just as badly. They do not offer operator assistance like local phone company pay phones. They do not get full call supervision from the phone company. There are probably ways to defeat the billing mechinism and make free calls. Now, in the Washington DC area, (and probably in other areas), you can ask C&P to put in a pay phone for you. If it's worth it to them, (if the phone will get used 15 - 25 times per day, and if it's where the full public can get to it), they will install it for free. They collect all the money out of it, and pay you a commision as follows: 4% of the take out of $51 - $100, and 6% of the take if it was over $100, (a month). For semi-public pay phones, (one that is not fully accessible, or one that won't drum up the 15 - 25 calls per day), C&P gets $244 to install, and $20.24 a month for service. The customer gets nothing back. -Mike Grant ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 8-May-88 00:11:03-EDT,10873;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 8 May 88 00:11:01-EDT Date: 7 May 88 21:55-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #74 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, May 7, 1988 9:55PM Volume 8, Issue 74 Today's Topics: Re: Automated Alert System wiretapping laws "Party" lines Question about 15 Apr Datamation Article Re: Automated Alert System Terminating "short" numbers. Was:(Exchanges that look like area codes) Conference Re: (.. naming exchanges ..) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: arnie@tikal.teltone.com (Arnold Koster) Subject: Re: Automated Alert System Date: 4 May 88 14:23:42 GMT Reply-To: tikal!arnie@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Arnold Koster) In article <8805040322.AA23478@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: > I've recently noticed something odd about the Bell automated alert system. > "The number you have reached, 555-9494, has been temporarily >disconnected, and calls are being taken by, Area Code 301 , 555-1209. Please >make a note of it." > I have noticed that whenever one gets one of these messages, in the >background, one can hear many other messages at the samr time. > Thanks, > -Doug >DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet >DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn These messages are recorded on a continuous multi-track tape belt, about 1-1/2 to 2 inches wide, with different messages on each track. What you are hearing in the background is the message that is recorded on the tracks adjacent to the one your message is on, due to head misalignment within the machine. The tones at the beginning of these messages are called SIT tones (Special Information Tones) and identify the type of message that follows. Arnie Koster ...uw-beaver!tikal!arnie arnie@tikal.Teltone.com -- Arnie Koster arnie@tikal.Teltone.COM ...uw-beaver!tikal!arnie ------------------------------ Subject: wiretapping laws Date: 4 May 88 11:42:47 EDT (Wed) From: mark@cblpf.ATT.COM (Mark Horton) Is anyone out there familiar with Congressional actions and intent in the wiretapping laws? I'm specifically thinking of domestic situations, such as recording your own line to spy on your spouse. It seems to me that Congress never intended to make this illegal, but the wording of the 1967 law prohibited it. Then they fixed it in the 1986 ECPA, but in an obscure way. I'd like to hear from anyone who really knows what really was intended. Also, if you know names of specific Congresspeople who worked on this aspect, I'd be most appreciative. Mark mark@cblpf.att.com horton@research.att.com (if your mailer won't MX) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 88 17:16:59 EDT Subject: "Party" lines From: David Watson Here in the Boston area, we have at least several 1-550- numbers which interconnect their callers, including "teen", "party", and "fantasy" lines. The cost is 20 cents for the first minute; 10 cents per minute thereafter. I'm not interested in participating in the controversy over the content available on some of these lines; this is probably the wrong group for that discussion anyway. I am, however, curious about how they work, and would like to hear from someone who has facts about the way they are implemented. When your call to one of these services succeeds, you hear a recorded message describing the rate structure and the purpose of the particular line. Then your call is assigned to one of a number of groups of about eight callers whose conversations are arbitrated by some gain control circuitry so that you generally hear only one person speak at once. There is sometimes a human "moderator" whose function is to check in on each conversation and bump any callers bothering the rest of the "cluster". A beep tone sounds every ten minutes. What's the history of these services? What is their official name? Did they suddenly spring into existence after the AT&T breakup? What is the nature of the arrangement between the providers of these services and the telephone companies? What percentage of the generated revenue do these businesses collect -- or are they phone-company operated in the first place? The number of eight-caller "clusters" seems to vary dynamically -- what determines the number of clusters? What technology is at the moderators' disposal? Can they re-assign a caller to a different cluster, for example? Are they responsible for enabling and disabling clusters? How do they keep track of the number of lines in use, and who is abusing them? What is the ratio of moderators to clusters? Is it a common arrangement that the 550 exchange in every area code is reserved for this type of service? How many of these services are there in, for example, New York? Chicago? Boston? How about rural areas? Is there an equivalent type of service accessible nationwide? Are there comprehensive lists of these services? Will ISDN (if it ever becomes prevalent in the home) drastically alter these capabilities, perhaps opening up new business opportunities? I apologize if these questions have been covered here before, but a good description of this class of phone service would be interesting. Pointers to articles would also be welcome. Thanks, -David Watson (david@dandelion.ci.com) Cognition, Inc. Billerica, MA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 May 88 16:17:29 edt From: Pat Sullivan Subject: Question about 15 Apr Datamation Article The article is titled "Govt IS Projects - Getting the Presidential Nod". Apparently there's something called "A Five-Year Plan for Meeting the ADP and Telecommunications Needs of the Federal Government" which is a joint plan created by OMB, GSA, and the Department of Commerce. The plan targets 15 major systems as Presidential Priority Systems (PPS) for FY88, "because of their size, complexity, importance, or because they represent precedent-setting applications of technology". There are also twelve so-called Future Priority Systems. The PPS and FPS list each have one Defense system: PPS has the Air Force Personnel Concepts III system and FPS has the DLA's Logistics Systems Modernization Program. I would like to find out two things: (1) How can I get a copy of this Plan? (2) Who are some contacts for it? Information will be much appreciated. Best, -Pat Sullivan Defense Communications Engineering Center Reston, VA. ------------------------------ From: jimmy@pic.ucla.edu Subject: Re: Automated Alert System Date: 5 May 88 06:33:14 GMT Reply-To: jimmy@pic.ucla.edu (Jim Gottlieb) In article <8805040322.AA23478@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: > > > I've recently noticed something odd about the Bell automated alert system. > > I have noticed that whenever one gets one of these messages, in the >background, one can hear many other messages at the same time. Those machines are mechanical with the voice stored on drums. Need I say more? GTE's are newer digital ones (since they were at least 10 years late in getting them). jimmy@denwa.UUCP ------------------------------ From: exptools%ihnp4%cbosgd%mtune@mtunx.att.com Subject: Terminating "short" numbers. Was:(Exchanges that look like area codes) Date: 1 May 88 15:40:33 GMT Reply-To: dbb@aicchi.UUCP (Burch) >In article <1154@csuna.UUCP> abcscnge@csuna.UUCP (Scott "The Pseudo Hacker" Neugroschl) writes: >>The answer to this is the same as the answer to how they distinguish a >>one digit number starting with 0 :-) or, for those areas which still >>do not require any prefix (Maryland a few years ago, maybe still) and >>may need to deal with the new exchanges. They time out. If you reach >>one of the possible ends of a number (after 1 or 7 digits) and don't >>dial another digit within N seconds, it assumes you are done and goes >>ahead. Well, in the numbering plan, there is one other way to dial OPERATOR, or any other short number that is not terminated by filling max digits; the # key. The # key is usually called the "STOP" key, by the way. This is useful, because one can cut right through to the local operator (0-#) or your designated LD operator (0-0-#) or your carrier of choice operator (1-0-X-Y-Z-0-#) without waiting for the timer to trigger. Have Fun! -- -David B. (Ben) Burch Analysts International Corp. Chicago Branch (ihnp4!aicchi!dbb) "Argue for your limitations, and they are yours." - R. Bach ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 May 88 12:05:36 EDT From: Jeffrey Bary Subject: Conference Telecommunications in Higher Education Sixth Annual Institute June 6-9, 1988 This highly successful institute has been cited by faculty members and administrators interested in telecommunications technology as impressive, well prepared and spontaneous. Institute topics include audioconferencing, slow scan T.V., graphics for teleconferencing, videoconferencing via satellite telecourses, computer conferencing and videodiscs. The institute is taught by nationally known leaderrs in the field. Low-cost campus housing is available in picturesque Greenwich Village. Earn two graduate credits or attend on a noncredit basis. For further information contact: Professor Deane G. Bornheimer Program in Higher Education School of Education, Health, Nursing and Arts Professions New York University, 300 East Building New York, NY 10003 (212) 998-5656 ------------------------------ From: rochester!cci632!jvz@rutgers.edu (John V. Zambito) Subject: Re: (.. naming exchanges ..) Date: 6 May 88 14:14:47 GMT Reply-To: rochester!cci632!ccird1!jvz@rutgers.edu (John V. Zambito) In article <2655@umd5.umd.edu> dzoey@UMD5.UMD.EDU (Joe Herman) writes: >As long as we're strolling down memory lane, does anyone have a >collection of mnemonics/name that went with exchanges? >My folks still say "Juniper 8" for the 588 exchange. In England They still use this method of naming exchanges. There are over 200 different exchanges. This puts a nice little twist in there Directory Assistance computers. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 10-May-88 21:07:40-EDT,8557;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 10 May 88 21:07:37-EDT Date: 10 May 88 20:04-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #75 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, May 10, 1988 8:04PM Volume 8, Issue 75 Today's Topics: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dialing) Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Running out of area codes Re: "Party" lines Chicago telco disaster? "Party Lines" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dialing) Date: 8 May 88 23:20:23 GMT In article <2655@umd5.umd.edu>, dzoey@UMD5.UMD.EDU (Joe Herman) writes: ... > As long as we're strolling down memory lane, does anyone have a > collection of mnemonics/name that went with exchanges? > My folks still say "Juniper 8" for the 588 exchange. >From one who grew up (or thought he did) in Maryland: 434 = HEmlock 4 946 = WHitehall 6 622 = MAyfair 2 474 = GRanite 4 And from nearby 202-land: 737 = REpublic 7 628 = NAtional 8 393 = EXecutive 3 224 = CApitol 4 (the Capitol Hill Centrex prefix, as I recall) -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 May 88 20:23:24 EDT From: riacs!ames!hc!csed-1!csed-47!roskos@rutgers.edu (Eric Roskos) Subject: Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) Recently, in a futile attempt to receive WEFAX satellite transmissions, I bought a VHF converter for one of my shortwave radios. Since the satellite broadcasts turned out to be discontinued, I started looking for other things of interest nearby, and found something unusual. On 152.780 MHz, there is what sounds like a telephone ringing, all the time. I have been listening to it for about 3 hours now (while doing other things) to see if anyone ever answers, but all that happens is that the amplitude of the ringing changes from time to time. It is a very normal sounding ring signal, like you hear when you place a phone call. I am wondering what this is? According to my frequency allocation tables, it says this frequency is allocated to "Mobile Telephone, Landline Companies," and that it is channel "JK". It is sent in FM mode, and is a very strong signal. The channel names listed in this table also do not seem to make much sense mnemonically, does anyone know what they mean? The channels listed, in order, are JL, YL, JP, YP, YJ, YK, JS, YS, YR, JK, and JR. ------------------------------ From: Date: 9 May 88 10:46:36 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: dukeac!klg From: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: (.. naming exchanges ..) Message-ID: <884@dukeac.UUCP> Date: 9 May 88 10:46:35 GMT References: <8804291646.AA06018@uunet.UU.NET> <2655@umd5.umd.edu> <9248@cci632.UUCP> Reply-To: klg@dukeac.UUCP (Kim Greer) Organization: Academic Computing, Duke University, Durham, NC Lines: 15 Keywords: DA In article <9248@cci632.UUCP+ rochester!cci632!ccird1!jvz@rutgers.edu (John V. Zambito) writes: +In article <2655@umd5.umd.edu+ dzoey@UMD5.UMD.EDU (Joe Herman) writes: ++As long as we're strolling down memory lane, does anyone have a ++collection of mnemonics/name that went with exchanges? ++My folks still say "Juniper 8" for the 588 exchange. + Ours was "Edison", until I was abut 10 yrs old. Then we moved & got a 537 exchange. Never did figure out what that one would be called. I also vaguely remember a "Franklin" exchange. -- Kim L. Greer Duke University Medical Center try: Div. Nuclear Medicine POB 3949 dukeac!klg@escgate Durham, NC 27710 919-681-2711x223 ...!mcnc!ecsgate!dukeac!klg ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 May 88 08:06:31 EDT From: simsong@westend.columbia.edu (Simson L. Garfinkel) Subject: Running out of area codes I'm thinking of writing an article about running out of area codes. Does anybody know of sources I could speak to? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 May 88 13:38:37 EDT From: think!johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: "Party" lines Reply-To: johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) In article <8805042117.AA21998@dandelion.CI.COM> david@dandelion.CI.COM (David Watson) writes: >Here in the Boston area, we have at least several 1-550- numbers which >interconnect their callers, including "teen", "party", and "fantasy" >lines. ... Here in Massachusetts, at least, the 550 prefix is an actual prefix which happens to be in the Bent Street CO in Cambridge. (I found out about this because that CO serves only a small part of Cambridge, and the building where I worked happened to be there.) The service provider orders 550 lines which cost the same as any normal business line and are electrically the same as well. The provider gets part of the cost paid by the subscriber, on the order of 5 cents/minute. It's up to the provider to arrange for the conference bridges, moderators, and all of the other stuff they need. The phone company only brings in the phone pairs and acts as the billing agent. I never learned where the hardware comes from. Some friends were trying with limited success to make a bridge on the cheap from a bunch of modified answering machines, but it never amounted to anything. -- John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something Rome fell, Babylon fell, Scarsdale will have its turn. -G. B. Shaw ------------------------------ From: dmkdmk@uncecs.edu (David M. Kurtiak) Subject: Chicago telco disaster? Date: 10 May 88 16:40:10 GMT I have been trying to call an exchange in Chicago for the past two days to no avail. A recording states that "Due to local telephone company problems in the area you are calling, your call cannot be completed. Please try again later". After a few calls to the AT&T operator and their long distance repair number, I finally found out that an Illinois Bell building serving the Chigago area caught fire and there was serious damage. I'm told that hundreds of exchanges are affected. (!!) Calls via MCI, Sprint, etc. also came up with similar results, just different recordings. From what I understand, Ill. Bell is working on the re-routing of calls through the office that burned, and service *may* be restored by Wednesday. Anyone else have any info. regarding this? Is this similar to the fire that hit the CO in New York City a couple years ago? I thought that disasters like these were preventable to a large extent by using halon and other measures... How can something of this degree occur with relatively modern equipment? Enough questions, I'm just curious.. A posting to this newsgroup would probably be most appropriate for discussion. Thanks for sharing! --- David M. Kurtiak UNC - Greensboro UUCP: dmkdmk@ecsvax.UUCP {decvax,rutgers,gatech}!mcnc!ecsvax!dmkdmk Bitnet: DMKDMK@ECSVAX.BITNET (mail ONLY) Internet: dmkdmk@ecsvax.uncecs.edu ------------------------------ From: Kenneth_R_Jongsma@cup.portal.com Subject: "Party Lines" Date: Sun May 8 09:03:52 1988 I think it's interesting the way the phone companies are selling something that used to be free. When I was in high school, it quickly became known when one of the local telco's recorded announcement machine was broken. Everyone would call{hGy a non-existant number and have a giant party line. Ther no charge of course and it was quite a bit of fun to see who you cv:ould get to give their number or school. Now the local telcos are charging .20 a minute? Along the same lines, it wasn't well known, but most telcos would give you a number if it wasn't in use. You did not have to take the one they assigned to you. Mountain Bell is now charging $50 for this! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 10-May-88 23:33:08-EDT,13181;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 10 May 88 23:33:05-EDT Date: 10 May 88 22:36-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #76 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, May 10, 1988 10:36PM Volume 8, Issue 76 Today's Topics: Central Office Fire in Chicago The Great Fire Re: Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Central Office Fire in Chicago Date: Sun May 8 21:13:57 1988 A fire Sunday, May 8 caused severe damage at the Illinois Bell switching center in Hinsdale, IL. Hinsdale is a western suburb of Chicago. As of this posting (11:00 PM Central time) the entire center is off-line, and nearly one hundred thousand subscribers in the west suburban area served from the Hinsdale office are without phone service. There is no estimate at this time as to when service to the affected communities will be restored. The Hinsdale office is also responsible for communications relating to air traffic control between Midway and Ohare Airports in Chicago and the FAA Center in Aurora, IL. Consequently, voice communications between control locations which depended on landline phones has been severely disrupted. Many airlines whose reservation systems are located in other cities also have foreign exchange service through the Hinsdale office, and this has been halted. The fire was struck about an hour after it started, but damage estimates are not yet available, nor specific plans made for the restoration of service to the affected area. Another update will be posted as soon as I have specifics. You can hear more precise reports by calling the internal employee newsline at the General Headquarters Building -- The Illinois Bell Communicator - 312-368-8000 Calls to the affected area at the present time are being intercepted with a recording 'all circuits are busy now'. ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: The Great Fire Date: Mon May 9 23:19:29 1988 In my earlier posting, details were very sparce and I was unable to be specific in describing the disaster which struck us here over the weekend. I now have a more detailed accounting for the net -- An extra alarm fire broke out Sunday, May 8 at 5:30 PM in the Illinois Bell Central Office, 120 North Lincoln Avenue, Hinsdale, Illinois. At the time of the fire, the Chicago area, and the west suburbs in particular, were experiencing a very bad electrical storm. There had been a great deal of lightning; rain was quite heavy, and winds were about 40 miles per hour. Fire Departments from 15 nearby communities battled the blaze before bringing it under control at about 8:30 PM. The fire was officially struck at 11:30 PM Sunday night. Deemed the worst disaster in the history of Illinois Bell, and one of the worst disasters ever in the telephone industry, the fire virtually gutted the two story building. The Hinsdale central office is a *major* switching center for the west suburban area. In addition to serving ten prefixes covering various communities including Oak Brook, Westmont, Darien, Hinsdale and others, the office housed the Directory Assistance Data Base for downstate Illinois; it served as the communications apex for air traffic control between Ohare, Midway, and the Aurora, IL aviation center; it was the headquarters for a majority of the cellular phone service in the greater Chicago area; *and* it handled long distance calls in and out of most of Dupage County, Will County and southern Cook County. *And the office is now almost gutted* The reason for the fire has not been detirmined, but fire department officials have reason to believe the building was struck by a tremendous bolt of lightning during the worst of the electrical storm which was in progress when the first fire alarms were called in at 5:30 PM. The fire caused another problem: the emission of toxic fumes which required the evacuation of several blocks of homes in the vicinity. These fumes came from batteries described as 'highly toxic' which were stored in the premises and a large amount of fiber optic cable. The Hinsdale office was very much a fiber optic center in the area. Because of the toxic release, at one point firemen working in the building had to be called out, in the interest of their own safety, and as firemen relieved each other working inside in ten to fifteen minute shifts, they were required to strip to their underwear and be hosed down with a special solution so that the contamination would not be carried elsewhere. After the fire was first reported, Illinois Bell employees on duty at the time followed company procedures by first notifying the Fire Department. Others then began fighting the fire, and a few began a process known as an emergency telephone tree, calling other employees and company management at home to notify them of the circumstances. Each employee thus notified was responsible for calling a few more employees. Within about an hour, while the fire was raging at its worst, several dozen employees had already gathered on location, waiting for a go ahead to begin clean up and restoration work. *But no one dreamed it would be nearly as bad as it was* Although the fire was struck at 11:30 PM, fire officials would not permit anyone to enter the building for several more hours, pending exhaustion of the toxic fumes. Illinois Bell employees were allowed access to the building beginning at 4:00 AM to survey the damage. Most of Monday was spent merely bailing out the water and removing the rubble from the fire. Emergency lighting was installed and cleaning crews began scrubbing soot from the walls, ceilings and floors. The cleanup was still in progress late Monday afternoon. At this writing (12:50 AM Tuesday, May 10), Illinois Bell has not announced any date that service will be restored. It is estimated that it will be at least 4-5 days before *emergency* service is restored. Hinsdale, you see, is also the main center for 911 services in over a dozen west suburban communities. Ordinarily in circumstances like this, the phone company will set up special phones in public areas. They will often times be mobile or cellular type instruments available for the public to use for emergency calls. But since Hinsdale *is* the cellular center for Chicago, even this option is not available. When the first firemen arrived on the scene, heavy black smoke was pouring out of all the windows on the first floor. By that time, employees were evacuating after having given up on their own emergency proceedures. What we are faced with now is a *major* traffic jam on the network in the Chicago area. Long distance calls in and out of the area are very sluggish in getting through. Directory Enquiry in downstate Illinois is only able to handle about ten percent of the calls they are receiving, those being requests that are being searched manually through paper directories on hand in the communities affected. Hinsdale was the major center for MCI/Sprint long distance also....and those services are severely crippled in the area. Obviously, data transmission lines and the like are dead. About 40,000 subscribers, representing 100,000 residents are without phone service for the indefinite future. In Hinsdale and the other communities affected, the Police Departments have stationed patrol cars a few blocks apart on the street, and residents have been told to go to the nearest police car to report emergencies. Illinois Bell has not announced -- as of Monday evening -- any schedule of priorities for restoration of service. Jim Eibel, vice president of operations for Illinois Bell said emergency phones would be set up within a day or two, when crews were able to reroute at least limited traffic through the LaGrange, IL center. Of equal importance of course is the restoration of 911 service, and the restoration of long distance service. Eibel said restoring service to the ten prefixes in the area, which would return regular phone service to local residents would probably not occur for 'several' days. Naturally, cellular service also has to be placed in the table of priorities somewhere. About fifty percent of the cellular service in the entire Chicago area is out right now due to the fire. Other Bell companies around the nation have responded by dispatching emergency crews to come to the aid of Illinois Bell, and these out of town crews will remain on site for several weeks as needed. In addition, while the fire was in progress, executives from MCI and Sprint met with their counterparts from Illinois Bell on location and immediatly offered their full assistance and cooperation during the period of turmoil we will be facing for the next several weeks. For up to the minute announcements during the next several days, it is recommended that you call a special recorded announcement service for company employees. Called the 'Illinois Bell Communicator', this recorded announcement will be updated 4-5 times daily, and can be recieved by dialing 312-368-8000, a number at IBT Chicago Headquarters Building. It goes without saying on this forum that everyone is requested to avoid making all but emergency calls into the Chicago west suburban area for at least the next several days. And if your call is met with an 'all circuits busy' message, kindly refrain from repeated dialing attempts, as this simply clogs the network even worse. A further update will be posted here when I have news available. The last fire to occur in a telephone center was in Manhattan a few years ago. You may recall the resulting damage and confusion from that situation. The last fire *in the Chicago area* occurred in the River Grove, IL central office in 1946...then an all manual exchange. Unlike that fire, considered bad at the time, the fire in Hinsdale this past weekend was many times worse, since Hinsdale is responsible not only for its local calling area but so many of the overall network services for the Chicago area. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton) Subject: Re: Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) Date: 11 May 88 01:27:58 GMT Reply-To: jshelton@ads.com (John L. Shelton) In article <8805090023.AA00938@csed-47.csed.com> roskos@csed-47.UUCP (Eric Roskos) writes: >Recently, in a futile attempt to receive WEFAX satellite transmissions, ... > >On 152.780 MHz, there is what sounds like a telephone ringing, all the time. ... > >I am wondering what this is? According to my frequency allocation tables, >it says this frequency is allocated to "Mobile Telephone, Landline Companies," ... > >The channel names listed in this table also do not seem to make much >sense mnemonically, does anyone know what they mean? The channels listed, >in order, are JL, YL, JP, YP, YJ, YK, JS, YS, YR, JK, and JR. The channels you mention are 11 of the 12 "IMTS" (Improved Mobile Telephone Service) channels put into operation in the early sixties. The original mobile telephone service was entirely manual. IMTS improved on this by making the mobile phone call almost entirely automatic. It worked as follows: 1. An idle telephone in a car hunts until it finds the "next" channel. All idle phones are listening to this channel, and a special tone or signal is broadcast on this channel to help the phones find it. (Perhaps your ringing sound *is* that signal.) 2. If a landline customer rings a mobile phone, the landline customer is connected to the idle channel; the mobile unit's id is broadcast on that channel, and the correct mobile phone recognizes and starts ringing. All other idle phones move to the next channel. 3. If a mobile user wishes to place a call, he/she picks up the phone. The mobile unit siezes the line (by transmitting a special id tone) and once again all other phones hunt to the next line. It is interesting to note that originally 12 frequencies were all that were available. Most cities had fewer than that because of interference with adjacent towns. (For much the same reason that no city has all 12 VHF channels.) Eventually another batch of 10 or 12 channels were allocated. Now, with Cellular Mobile Telephony, 666 channels have been allocated by the FCC, with 333 more in reserve. Since these channels can be reused within a city, the potential is there for many more customers. I recall inquiring once (in 1973) about the wait for IMTS service in Dallas, Texas, and being told the wait was 7 *years*. =John Shelton= ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 11-May-88 19:47:59-EDT,7586;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 11 May 88 19:47:51-EDT Date: 11 May 88 17:59-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #77 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, May 11, 1988 5:59PM Volume 8, Issue 77 Today's Topics: Calling from a resticted line using a calling card Re: Continuously ringing telephone (on VHF) Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: "Party Lines" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ssc-vax!shuksan!evans@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Gary Evans) Subject: Calling from a resticted line using a calling card Date: 10 May 88 21:54:17 GMT I have a phone line that is restricted such that I can NOT get an outside operator. I can call long distance with an 8 prefix and these calls will be charged to the company. The system is a 5ESS where dialing a 9+0 or an 8+0 results in a re-order tone. Thus, I am unable to use my ATT calling card (which uses 0+ dialing, i.e. 0 + number to call + card number), on this line. An other person in the office has a Sprint FON card which is used by first calling an 800 number, then entering the phone number and card number. This does work on the restricted line. Is there an 800 number to access the ATT network after which one could charge calls to a card or get an operator to place a collect call, etc? If anyone has a procedure for doing this kind of thing, I would appreciate knowing about it. And in the mean time, I will call ATT and try to get some info out of them... Thanks rcs uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 May 88 08:34:09 EDT From: prindle@nadc.arpa (Frank Prindle) Subject: Re: Continuously ringing telephone (on VHF) Ten or eleven channels on VHF would appear to be the old (pre-cellular days) mobile phone system. I ran into this many years ago with a home-brew VHF set (vacuum tubes no less!). If you would call a mobile number (they all had the same exchange), the call would be signalled out through the lowest unused channel (presumably the remote was scanning or listening on the lowest unoccupied channel too). Because so few channels were available, and had to cover a very large area (i.e. all of Philadelphia and it's suburbs), subscribers had to be severely limited and prices per unit of time were very high. The land-line signal was very strong because of the wide area coverage required. I've wondered what became of this service now that cellular is the standard. The constant ringing sounds like a remote tried to place a call to a land-line and it never answered; perhaps this is just a test signal generated by the mobile-phone company so the FCC won't take away their license or reassign those channels; perhaps they still have some customers? Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa ------------------------------ From: "Unix-to-Unix Copy" Date: 11 May 88 03:16:13 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: amethyst!rsm From: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu (Robert Maier) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: US Sprint and COCOTs Message-ID: <636@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu> Date: 10 May 88 13:16:09 GMT Sender: uucp@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Distribution: world Organization: Math. Dept., Univ. of Arizona at Tucson Lines: 62 Recently, to my extreme displeasure, I encountered my first COCOT. It was mounted on the outside wall of a convenience store just off the Interstate north of Phoenix. I tried to use it to place a US Sprint FON-Card (i.e., credit card) call, but found that impossible. It turned its touch-tone pad off after I placed the initial call to US Sprint's 800 number! So I decided to place my call through a US Sprint operator. I dialed 1-800-877-8000 again, and after a few seconds got one. But in order to place my call, she wanted to know the number of the phone I was calling from. That was impossible, because this wretched COCOT had no number on it. She told me she couldn't place my call without it, so I spoke to her supervisor. And to her supervisor's supervisor. Finally they managed to get Sprint Customer Service to trace my call. But all Customer Service could supply was my phone's exchange. They had no way of getting the final four digits of its phone number. This posed a problem, because (as I learned through overhearing the various conversations) US Sprint's billing software requires the operator to punch in all seven digits of the originating phone's number when placing operator-assisted calls. Finally the Customer Service type invented a random four-digit string for them to punch in. This nonsense occupied over 20 minutes of my time. (In order not to seem petty, I won't mention that I was standing outside, in shorts, in a freezing wind...) But it provides food for thought. It suggests that 0) COCOTs are anathema. (We already knew that.) 1) US Sprint's billing software is buggy. (We knew that too...) 2) The reason why US Sprint's monthly bills do not list the originating phone numbers of FON-Card calls is that they don't have them. (All the bills specify is the originating city, i.e., the exchange.) 3) In the case of operator-assisted calls, US Sprint operators normally are wholly dependent on the customer for the originating phone number. It's not clear whether they can even check whether the customer is giving the correct area code. Fellow US Sprint users are urged to complain about these points. The near-impossibility of placing US Sprint calls from modern COCOTs, their inability to resolve phone numbers completely, and the lack of security implicit in (3) altogether make US Sprint look less and less like a bargain... ====================================================================== Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 -- Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ From: steinmetz!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (William E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: "Party Lines" Date: 11 May 88 15:59:46 GMT Reply-To: kbsvax.steinmetz!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (William E. Davidsen Jr) In article <8805080903.1.124@cup.portal.com> Kenneth_R_Jongsma@cup.portal.COM writes: >I think it's interesting the way the phone companies are selling >something that used to be free. > >When I was in high school, it quickly became known when one of the >local telco's recorded announcement machine was broken. We found that there was one busy signal for the entire exchange, and that you could speak a word at a time between the beeps. I met a lot of girls that way... -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 14-May-88 02:24:11-EDT,4720;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 14 May 88 02:23:31-EDT Date: 14 May 88 01:31-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #78 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, May 14, 1988 1:31AM Volume 8, Issue 78 Today's Topics: Re: Chicago telco disaster? link between internet and MCImail Continuously Ringing Phone Re: Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dial ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: netsys!len@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Len Rose) Subject: Re: Chicago telco disaster? Date: 12 May 88 00:15:27 GMT Reply-To: netsys!len@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Len Rose) I also noted that many of our 800 calls are now being affected. Repeated calls to the ATT repair line,have revealed that no one knows when they will be back online.. So much for the damned Bell System breakup.. -- Len Rose - len@ames.arc.nasa.gov or {ames,decuac,ihnp4}!netsys!len "This better not be haga!" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 May 88 13:12:47 EDT From: Ray Hirschfeld Subject: link between internet and MCImail From a message from Annette DeSchon at ISI: Status: O The system is still somewhat experimental. We pay for the messages that Intermail sends out of our project budget, and therefore cannot afford to support a large volume of traffic. The guidelines for the use of Intermail, which appear in the instructions, are as follows: The use of DARPA supported facilites is for DARPA sponsored research activities and other approved government business. Anyone who wishes to get an updated copy of the instructions should send a message to "INTERMAIL-REQUEST@ISI.EDU". ------------------------------ From: edg@cup.portal.com Subject: Continuously Ringing Phone Date: Wed May 11 12:28:41 1988 An earlier posting explained the way IMTS frequencies work and suggested that the continuously ringing tone might be the idle channel tone. My recollection from earlier days of scanner listening (before the communications act of 34 was rewritten) was that the idle tone was a solid sine wave of about 1000 hz. I've heard the ringing phone on an IMTS channel (years ago) as well. It never answered. -edg edg@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: tedk%ihuxv%ihnp4%cbosgd@mtune.att.com Subject: Re: Continuously Ringing Telephone (on VHF) Date: 13 May 88 14:31:36 GMT Reply-To: ihuxv!tedk@moss.att.com (55624-Kekatos,T.G.) In article <8805090023.AA00938@csed-47.csed.com> roskos@csed-47.UUCP (Eric Roskos) writes: |Recently, in a futile attempt to receive WEFAX satellite transmissions, |I bought a VHF converter for one of my shortwave radios. Since the |satellite broadcasts turned out to be discontinued, I started looking for |other things of interest nearby, and found something unusual. | |On 152.780 MHz, there is what sounds like a telephone ringing, all the time. |I have been listening to it for about 3 hours now (while doing other |things) to see if anyone ever answers, but all that happens is that the |amplitude of the ringing changes from time to time. It is a very normal |sounding ring signal, like you hear when you place a phone call. | |I am wondering what this is? According to my frequency allocation tables, |it says this frequency is allocated to "Mobile Telephone, Landline Companies," |and that it is channel "JK". It is sent in FM mode, and is a very |strong signal. | |The channel names listed in this table also do not seem to make much |sense mnemonically, does anyone know what they mean? The channels listed, |in order, are JL, YL, JP, YP, YJ, YK, JS, YS, YR, JK, and JR. I am sure that if you repost your question to the HAM RADIO newsgroup, that the folks over there would know. Ted G. Kekatos ------------------------------ From: notes%hcx1%cbosgd@clyde.att.com Subject: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dial Date: 13 May 88 13:04:00 GMT I did grow up in MD and the GRanite 4 or 474 prefix was valid in our area. New Carrollton, near Greenbelt home of the Nasa Spaceflight Center... Anyway, in the mid to late 60's they changed all our phone numbers to a 552 exchange and the letters died (Greenbelt remained 474). ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 16-May-88 21:51:18-EDT,10972;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 16 May 88 21:51:17-EDT Date: 16 May 88 20:44-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #79 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, May 16, 1988 8:44PM Volume 8, Issue 79 Today's Topics: proposed rate cut in western Fairfax Co., Va. Fiber optics Five-Year Plan TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS 2600? Hinsdale - Wednesday night update ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 May 88 0:30:31 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: proposed rate cut in western Fairfax Co., Va. Washington Post, Sept. 16, 1987, page B7 had an article where it was proposed to replace the tolls from western Fairfax County, Virginia, to Md. suburbs of Washington DC with a small flat surcharge on one's phone bill. A specific prefix mentioned was 378 (this is Chantilly--lumped in with Herndon--in 703 area). It was noted there would be objections from Maryland, where it is a toll call from Gaithersburg to northern Va. ------------------------------ From: cyrus@sol.unm.edu (Tait Cyrus) Subject: Fiber optics Date: 15 May 88 19:27:34 GMT I am looking for information on fiber optics. I am thinking about building a very special purpose 100 Mbit computer communications channel using fiber. The problem is that I am also building the computers which means that I am starting from scratch and can't just buy some existing hardware to convert from RS232 to fiber. I want to serialize some data, say 32-40 bits wide, for transmission over fiber. What do I need to do this? How do I do it? Who manufactures fiber devices suitable for placing on a PC board? What is the cost? ANY information will be greatly appreciated.. -- Tait Cyrus (505) 277-0806 University of New Mexico Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 e-mail: cyrus@hi.unm.edu or cyrus%hi.unm.edu@ariel.unm.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 14 May 88 15:24:00 EDT From: ames!claris!sun!sundc!csed-1!csed-47!roskos@hc.dspo.gov (Eric Roskos) Subject: Five-Year Plan Awhile back someone asked how to get a copy of the five-year telecommunications plan for the Federal Government. I wrote back and told generally how to order it, but didn't have the literature at the office; I can't recall whether the reply ever appeared in the digest or not. In any case, I finally remembered to look it up while I was here at home. Here is the ordering information: Five-Year Plan for Meeting the Automatic Data Processing and Telecommunications Needs of the Federal Government: Volume 1 1986: 360 p.; ill. PrEx 2.12/4:986/v.1 S/N 041-001-00312-6 $17.00 Volume 2, Major Information Technology Systems Acquisition Plans of Federal Executive Agencies, 1986-1991 1986: 611 p. PrEx 2.12/4:986/v.2 S/N 041-001-00311-8 $25.00 There is no abstract given for these documents, the above is all that appears in the Subject Bibliography listing. The other report I mentioned which looks somewhat interesting is: NTIA Trade Report: Assessing the Effects of Changing the AT&T Antitrust Consent Decree. 1987: 132 p. C 60.9:87-19 S/N 003-000-00648-4 $6.50 Abstract: Examines the trade and related effects of possible changes in the 1982 AT&T consent decree. Focuses on the limits that the Federal courts now place on the commercial activities of the Bell companies and the implications of these limits from an international trade and national competitiveness standpoint. Evaluates the lifting of the three restrictions on the Bell operating companies: manufacturing; information services; and inter-LATA long distance services. These can be ordered from: Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402; you specify the stock number (S/N above), quantity, list that the item appeared on (SB-296), the title, the fact that it is a publication (as vs. a subscription), and the price; the price includes the shipping charges. If you are interested in this topic you should probably also ask for bibliography SB-296, which is free, since it includes the above information for a bunch of other telecommunications publications, as well as the order forms... ------------------------------ From: cck%COMPUTING-MATHS.CARDIFF.AC.UK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (C Carmock) Subject: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS Date: 16 May 88 18:03:34 GMT Is it true that In the USA local telephone calls are free of charge, or does this perate in bands. I.e. the more fixed fee you pay the wider the circle of toll free calls. Thanks. Clive Carmock (cck@v1.cm.cf.ac.uk OR cck@cf-cm.UUCP) (cck@v1.cm.cf.ac.uk OR cck@cf-cm.UUCP) [Yes, it's true. In *most* areas there are things called "local calling areas" which may be dialed for free from your phone. The charge for these calls is included in the monthly service charge. Some areas have "metropolitan" service areas which are not part of local calling areas but can be accessed for a fee (flat rate). I think Chicago is the only area which has mandatory measured service, but it is fairly reasonable. --jsol] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 May 88 17:52:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "Curtis C. Galloway" Subject: 2600? Is the newsletter "2600" still around? Does anyone have their address? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Curt Galloway ARPA: cg13+@andrew.cmu.edu UUCP: ...!{seismo, ucbvax, harvard}!andrew.cmu.edu!cg13+ Drop In Any Mailbox, Return Postage Guaranteed ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Hinsdale - Wednesday night update Date: Wed May 11 17:14:34 1988 The cleanup and service restoration goes on, slowly it seems, yet an overview shows tremendous progress at the Illinois Bell Hinsdale Central Office, in the wake of the disasterous fire Sunday night which gutted what IBT has termed 'one of the four super centers in the Chicago area'. Bell officials have still given no date for the complete restoration of service. The closest estimate is 'several days - perhaps another week'. Wednesday brought these accomplishments -- Five additional emergency telephone centers were installed in various areas. In addition to the center located outside the burned out building at 120 N. Lincoln Street, the huge communication trailers have been moved into shopping malls and near the City Hall. These centers are operating and attended 24 hours per day. Calls are placed free of charge for anyone with urgent business. The calls are limited to a few minutes and two calls per person. The users are then requested to go to the back of the line(s) and wait their turn again. The one center open on Tuesday was literally swamped for hours with hundreds of people waiting in several lines, snaking their way forward to the phones. Illinois Bell attendants rushed around taking notes and helping the customers establish connections. The five additional centers opened on Wednesday should relieve the crowding. Moving vans and trailer trucks blocked Lincoln for several blocks Tuesday night and Wednesday. Each contained new equipment and supplies for the office which is literally being built from scratch. As a truck was unloaded, another vehicle moved up into its place. Two Greyound busses were parked nearby, serving as places for employees to eat, rest and clean up between work shifts. I was amazed to see a virtual ant-hill like atmosphere when passing by earlier today. Dozens of people were busy at their assigned tasks. Some were painting and cleaning. Others were installing lighting, air conditioning and such. Carpenters were working to intall doors and windows. Several people were working with circuit boards, assembly line fashion, passing them along to others. The main switch, which they had hoped to save, now looks like it will have to be replaced -- if not in its entirety, then with virtually one hundred percent new components. The corrosion and rust from the high humidity level of Sunday night and Monday are very evident. The work is going on 24 hours per day. Workers take breaks when they must. When they quit after several hours, others who had been eating/sleeping in the Greyhound busses take their places. Directory Assistance has been restored for everyone except in the immediate area. The data base was rerouted through another central office. Microwave dishes have been installed and are being used by the hospitals, police and fire departments in the troubled area. Although residents still have no phone service and must go out into the street to locate police help, the police are now able to communicate among themselves, as are the hospitals. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Illinois Bell employees visited schools and shopping malls throghout the area. School children were given notices to take to their parents giving the locations of the emergency communication centers. *Do Bell employees have dedication to their calling?* I would say so... the internal newsline for employees (Illinois Bell Communicator 312-368-8000) on Wednesday asked that, 'employees not specifically assigned to restoration should *NOT* come to the site to assist. The limited working space was already overcrowded with people, working in some cases only 2-3 feet apart from each other at their tasks. Yet show up they did, by the hundreds if it was otherwise their day off Tuesday or Wednesday. Some came after their regular work was done; some to assist in the public communications centers; others to man the rest/feeding busses. How badly has the fire hurt folks? Hardest hit are not the teenagers of the village of Hinsdale, as they would claim (smile), but the businesses which relied heavily on data services. 400 agents of the Illinois State Lottery are off line.... Several dozen ATM's serving the banks are off line.... Two major telemarking firms have closed 'for the duration', idleing several hundred employees.... Stock and Option guys are tearing their hair out..... Radio Shack reports that several hundred cellular units have been sold in the past two days...units that function on channels assigned to Bell's competitor and are in service.... I'll have more news for you tomorrow, and will continue to provide updates until the crisis has passed. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 18-May-88 20:11:01-EDT,11677;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 18 May 88 20:11:00-EDT Date: 18 May 88 18:27-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #80 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, May 18, 1988 6:27PM Volume 8, Issue 80 Today's Topics: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS [TELECOM Digest V8 #79] re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS IMTS/MTS AIS in Canada ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ames!umix!uunet!csnz!paul@beaver.cs.washington.edu Date: Sun, 15 May 88 19:48:30 EDT Date: 16 May 88 10:27:46 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: csnz!paul From: paul@csnz.nz (Paul Gillingwater) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,comp.dcom.telecom,comp.std.internat,nz.general Subject: CCITT V22bis Summary: What does bis stand for? and CCITT vs Bell Keywords: bis,V22,CCITT,Bell Message-ID: <26@csnz.nz> Date: 16 May 88 10:27:45 GMT Reply-To: paul@csnz.UUCP (Paul Gillingwater) Distribution: world Organization: Computer Sciences of New Zealand, Wellington, NZ Lines: 35 Just from idle curiosity: what does the 'bis' stand for in CCITT V22 bis (2400 FDX)? Can someone breifly explain to the many comms novices who read this a bit more about CCITT standards, and why they are not compatible with Bell standards. In NZ the local PTT (Telecom NZ) REQUIRE any Bell/CCITT standard modems to have their Bell modes disabled (firmware change) before they will allow them to be connected to the network. I understand this is ostensibly because some of the Bell tones used are similar to exchange control frequencies, and crosstalk could interfere with other users of the exchange (e.g. by disconnecting them). The implications of this are that any LEGAL modem in NZ _cannot_ dial direct to the US for data access, but must go via NZ Telecom Pacnet gateway for protocol/standard conversion (hints of forestalling competitive networks?? :-), and this will only work for datasources that are actually connected to a recognised network with existing gateway. Does anyone from a CCITT-using domain have experience with this? Do we have to risk using ILLEGAL (i.e. Bell standard) modems to get access to sources in the US? What do PTTs in other countries do about this? Do they allow both standards to be used? Can someone on the US mainland summarise briefly what commercial networks are available with CCITT gateways accessible from NZ? (including X25). Also, how can I contact US bulletin boards without a Bell standard modem? Thanx, -- Paul Gillingwater, Senior Consultant Call my private BBS - Magic Tower, Computer Sciences of New Zealand Ltd NZ +64 4 753561 V21/V23 8N1 24hrs P.O.Box 929, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND Soon: V22/V22bis/Bell 103/Bell 212A Vox: +64 4 846194, Fax: +64 4 843924 "Scott me up, Beamie!"-Lounge Suit Larry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 May 88 10:26:14 CDT From: Paul Fuqua Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS [TELECOM Digest V8 #79] Date: Monday, May 16, 1988 1:03pm (CDT) From: cck%COMPUTING-MATHS.CARDIFF.AC.UK at MITVMA.MIT.EDU (C Carmock) Subject: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS [TELECOM Digest V8 #79] I think Chicago is the only area which has mandatory measured service, but it is fairly reasonable. --jsol] "Reasonable" is of course a relative term. My girlfriend lives in Willowbrook (312-986, right in the middle of the disaster area), and pays $21.95 flat-rate for a quite small local calling area (Westmont, Hinsdale, Darien), and message units for anything beyond that. In Dallas (214-340), I pay $14.95 flat-rate to talk to the entire city and most close suburbs, and there are no local message-unit calls. The closest equivalent is "Economy Service," which is a smaller monthly rate and a charge per call after the 25th local call. On a different note, my new phone books arrived, and on each page is a large notice that about two dozen prefixes will require the 817 area code after sometime in August, but will still be LOCAL calls. I recognise a couple of the exchanges (263, 265) as metro exchanges, but my sister in Grapevine has metro service (817-481), and her exchange isn't listed. I haven't checked, but since she has GTE service, the 817-local-call arrangement may be Bell-only. pf Paul Fuqua Texas Instruments Computer Science Center, Dallas, Texas CSNet: pf@csc.ti.com (ARPA too, eventually) UUCP: {smu, texsun, im4u, rice}!ti-csl!pf ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 17 May 88 10:29 Subject: re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Following up to a query from our friend in Wales (?), In the US (as in many other countries, I'm sure), there are separate local tariffs for business and residential telephones. In most urban areas, business phones are charged measured rates while residential phones are allowed flat rates. In most rural areas, flat rates prevail. And there are lots of "optional" plans. Local rates are set by state regulators who approve telco proposals, so there are many, many variations. A few examples and exceptions: In New York City, there are no flat rates, period. There are two message plans that residential users can subscribe to. One charges by the call, untimed, the other times calls. The untimed plan has a slightly higher rate than the first-five-minutes charge of the timed plan. These include time-of-day rates, so (I don't have exact numbers) timed day calls are about 7.5c for the first minute and 1.1c for additional minutes; late-night calls are about 3c for the first minute and 0.2c for additional minutes. Untimed calls are about 8.5 and 4c each. This is within the "primary" band (8 miles?); higher rates apply for longer distances within the NYC metro area. Still, intra-metro rates are lower than "toll" rates. In California, most residential users get flat rates, but can get measured rates for a lower monthly fee. Businesses are measured (at least in metro areas). The usage charge is banded, with intra-exchange, adjacent-exchange and nearby-exchange rates. Then there's toll, which applies even within some metro areas if it's far enough. In Massachusetts, all residential users are allowed flat rates, but can get measured rate for a lower monthly fee. Businesses, however, get measured rates ONLY if their local calling area exceeds 160,000 or so phones. Otherwise (non-metro) they can get flat rates. Within Boston, there are three bands, 1MU to 3MU, based on 8, 12 and 16 mile radii. All message rates are timed. Residential flat rate options in Boston Metro include: Contiguous: Free to your own and adjacent exchanges only. Suburban: Free to all of Metro except Boston Central. Metropoloitan: Free to all of Metro. Circle: Free within 20 miles radius (not offered everywhere) *Measured Circle: Discounted within 20 miles. *Bay State: Discounted (except weekday mornings) anywhere within Eastern/Central Mass., includes Metro. * these rates are also offered as supplementary to basic service. Yes, it's VERY confusing. In Denver and Atlanta, businesses and residences alike can get flat rates for the entire metro area (50 miles or so across). In New Jersey (typical of many), businesses are measured, residences are usually free for a small radius, but for a fee (per exchange or per band) residences can "buy" extended free calling areas. Confused? So's everyone else. The telcos mostly want to force everyone to go measured, but the people (and their government) generally resist, so residential customers usually get reprieved. fred ------------------------------ From: mips!mipseast!rogerk@mips.com (Roger B.A. Klorese) Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS Date: 17 May 88 17:47:12 GMT Reply-To: mips!mipseast!rogerk@mipseast.mips.com (Roger B.A. Klorese) In article <399@cf-cm.UUCP> our moderator writes: >[I think Chicago is the only area which has mandatory >measured service, but it is fairly reasonable. --jsol] New York City has message-unit billing for all local calls, and monthly service charges contain an allowance of message units. -- Roger B.A. Klorese MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!rogerk 25 Burlington Mall Rd, Suite 300 rogerk@mips.COM Burlington, MA 01803 I don't think we're in toto any more, Kansas... +1 617 270-0613 ------------------------------ From: ssr@cos.com (Dave Kucharczyk) Subject: IMTS/MTS Date: 17 May 88 23:17:45 GMT Reply-To: cos!ssr@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Kucharczyk) Someone posted asking about hearing continuous ringing on a VHF frequency. What you were hearing was MTS (Manual Telephone Service). Some of the Bells still have it as do numerous RCC's. MTS was the predecessor of IMTS. It was basically a duplexer and a radio set up to transmitt/recieve at the same time. You would manually step through the channels untill you found a clear one and then push your 'Push to talk' switch. When the base saw that it's squelch had been broken for more than a second it would transmitt a constant ring on the reverse (your receive) channel, and ring an operator at the same time. You would hear ringing untill the operator came on and asked for your mobile number and the number you wanted to call and put the call through for you. Needless to say you could key up and walk over anybody at will and you could listen to any other conversation or use bogus numbers, which brought on IMTS where the radio automatically ID's and finds open channels without operator intervention. dave ------------------------------ Date: 13-MAY-1988 01:35:51.29 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: AIS in Canada As a small addition to the post on AIS from last week, I called a "Not-in-service" number outside of Toronto, Ontario a few days ago, and was handed off to an intercept operator. After I told her the number I was trying to reach, she typed in into her computer, and it then told me what the new number was. I realize that they use this system in some "out-of-the-way" areas in the U.S., but didn't think a somewhat heavily populated area of Canada would still use such a system. At least in keeps the intercept operators busy up there! (Also, I've noticed that if the intercept op. is not in-state, or in the same country as in the case of Canada, when you reach one, they can't hear you, and say "If you are calling from out of state (or in Canada from "the States"), have your operator place the call. The local op then has to go through the inward operators to put the call through so that the distant intercept operator can be told the number dialed. This seems to be a rather time consuming and costly way to go about talking to a distant intercept operator...Any ideas on why they do it that way???) -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn . QUIT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 18-May-88 22:04:59-EDT,10681;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 18 May 88 22:04:56-EDT Date: 18 May 88 21:09-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #81 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, May 18, 1988 9:09PM Volume 8, Issue 81 Today's Topics: More COCOT Problems / NYC 1+ dialing Re: 2600? Strange error messages Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dial MCI Atlantic/Pacific Cables Submission for comp-dcom-telecom ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18-MAY-1988 03:24:57.20 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: More COCOT Problems / NYC 1+ dialing Another COCOT story, submitted for your inspection: Yesterday on the Mass Pike (I-90) I stopped at a Sunoco station, about 10 miles West of Newton. Unlike the other Mass Pike service stations, this one had the AT&T COCOTs. These are NOT AT&T Card Caller phones, which you see in Airports and Hotels, which have the video display screen. These are COCOT phones which AT&T makes, which have the little orange square in the upper left corner of the phone, making them look a lot like regular Bell Phones. In any event, I tried to place a calling card call, and when I heard to calling card tone, dialed "0" to ask the Alternate Operator Service (AOS) operator what the surcharge was for using a calling card. She didn't have any idea, and told me to call the 800 number listed on the phone. I called the 800 number, and I was told by a really charming lady that "Dis in only de answering service. I dunno nutin' 'bout no 'surcharge'!" Fair enough. I call the AOS operator, and ask for Long Distance. She says "Where are you calling to?" and I said, "Can you just get me the AT&T operator?!!". She refused (which I don't think they are allowed to do), so I dialed "0", got a New England Tel. operator, asked her for an AT&T operator, and then had the AT&T operator place the call at regular AT&T rates. This took about 10 minutes, and my call lasted for maybe 45 seconds! On the way back to the car, my friends asked me what too so long, and I told them about how bad the phones were inside. They then pointed to the Bell phones outside, and said I should NEVER use anything other than 'real' Bell phones...Guess all that advertising that the Bell Companies do really DOES pay off!! On a related note, last month I got a 'newsletter' from AT&T's Reach Out American Program (where you buy Long Distance by the hour), and it warned people not to use COCOTs for calling card calls, due to exessivly high charges...Sort of rediculous that AT&T sells these things (which are by far some of the WORST COCOTs as they don't let you get around using an AOS service that easily), and then warns its customers not to use them. I guess AT&T is ashamed of the COCOTs, and thats why it doesn't put its name on them... Finally, as to dialing 1+212-603-xxxx in NYC...The really interesting things start happening when you want to make a Calling Card (or operator assist) call. If you dial, for example, 0+603-555-1234, and you take a long time to dial it in, the calling card equipment thinks you are dialing the local number 603-5551, and hands you off to the NY Tel Calling Card system. After you enter your Calling Card number, you get the wrong number, and since you can't make an inter-LATA call after you dial a intra-LATA calling card call in downstate N.Y., you have to hang up and dial the whole thing again. I've seen people at Kennedy Airport with this problem, and usually they end up having to have the operators place the call. -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn ------------------------------ From: well!sac@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Steve Cisler) Subject: Re: 2600? Date: 17 May 88 23:54:11 GMT Reply-To: well!sac@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Steve Cisler) 2600: The Hacker Quarterly runs 48 pages now. Subscriptions are $15/year for individuals; $40 for corporate. Box 752, Middle Island NY 11953. BBS numbers 914/725-4060. Steve Cisler Connect: Libraries & Telecommunications ------------------------------ Date: 18-MAY-1988 03:50:27.21 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: Strange error messages I've noticed that when you call a non-working number in 413 (Western Mass), and there is no referral (ie, what the new number is), the call doesn't seem to 'go' to Mass, rather, it is intercepted at your local toll-center (?) or whatever handles such a call. For example, 413-458 is a valid exchange in Western Mass, specifically, for Williamstown / North Adams. Calls to working numbers in the 413-458 exchange go through fine, as do calls to the AIS system they have there (ie, when you get the "The number you have reached, 555-1212, is not in service recording.) Yet some calls just don't go through. A call without an AIS message which is NOT in service will return a (relatively) local recording stating " We're sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed. Please check the number, and try your call again. 203-2T". As I am calling from area code 203 (Connecticut), I hear 203-2T. From New York, I hear 718-2T, or from California I think it was 707-2T. All these calls were placed over AT&T. When I tried it over Sprint (by using the FON Card which I otherwise never use), I got a local, 'generic' recording in the 413-458 exchange saying "The number you have reached is no longer in service". IE, via Sprint, the call went all the way to Williamstown, and I heard a Williamstown recording. Over AT&T, the recording I heard went only as far as somewhere within Connecticut, and didn't go up to Williamstown. Is this an experiment tha AT&T is conducting to save money on calls that will not go through. IE, instead of having the destination exchange recording, why not stop the call before it goes over the long distance network, saving some equipment time and money. I doubt AT&T maitains tables of all the number that are in or out of service in the 413 area, so I presume my call did actually get to some piece of equipment in 413, only to be "told" that there was no referral, and that it could play a generic message for me on the Connecticut end. ( Perhaps this is some out-of-band signalling technique, so the call was held on my end until the equipment at the 413 end determined if the call should be sent up to 413 or held back in 203/CT.?) In any event, I haven't called anywhere else that has a similar system, so this seems somewhat unique. Any ideas on what this is and / or if my speculation is correct? Thanks, -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn [It's a combination of both. 413 toll center talks to the 203 toll center but the exchange is probably one that doesn't use that particular X000 suffix. Partial-exchanges like these are spread all over Mass, even in 617. --jsol] ------------------------------ From: mark@cbnews.att.com (Mark Horton) Subject: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dial Date: 18 May 88 16:02:50 GMT Reply-To: cbnews!mark@rutgers.edu (Mark Horton) In article <120500001@hcx1> notes%hcx1%cbosgd@clyde.att.COM writes: >Anyway, in the mid to late 60's they changed all our phone numbers to a >552 exchange and the letters died (Greenbelt remained 474). 55 is hard, but the Alaskans solved it nicely with KLondike. Maybe the rest of the country should have used KLudge! Mark ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: MCI Atlantic/Pacific Cables Date: Sun May 15 21:05:30 1988 On May 14, MCI International announced construction of a trans-Pacific fiber optic cable. Actually 3 fiber optic cables known as HAW-4/TPC-3/GPT, this arrangement is a consortium of 22 owners including MCI, which has the majority interest. These cables will provide digital service to Hawaii, Japan and Guam via the MCI switch in San Fransisco effective January, 1989. The cable will be extended to the Phillipines and Taiwan by June, 1989. By the fiuarter, 1990, the cable will be extended to Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. The trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable, known as TAT-8, is scheduled for opening in the last quarter, 1988. This will connect the UK and several European countries via the MCI switch in New York City. MCI is taking reservations now for folks who want permanent leased lines to Asia and Europe. I assume the cables will also be available for the casual user. MCI says anyone signing up now for a one, two or three year lease on the cable will receive a fifteen percent discount over the lifetime of the lease versus standard rates. Their press release listed several numbers to call for more information; I am listing two of them here -- New York City 212-607-6687 Chicago 312-819-6414 Before you know it, international calls will probably be as inexpensive as domestic long distance calls are now! Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: cmcl2!phri!dasys1!eravin@rutgers.edu (Ed Ravin) Date: 18 May 88 15:24:06 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: dasys1!eravin From: eravin@dasys1.UUCP (Ed Ravin) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 2600? Summary: their address, both real and virtual Message-ID: <4498@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 18 May 88 15:24:03 GMT References: Organization: Ministry of Information Retrieval, DZ-103 Lines: 14 2600 magazine is published quarterly. They can be contacted either at the address below or via electronic mail at 2600@dasys1.UUCP Address: 2600 PO Box 752 Middle Island, NY 11953-0752 U.S.A. -- Ed Ravin (at the Big | cucard!dasys1!eravin | "Put some fun between your Electric Cat Public UNIX) | eravin@dasys1.UUCP | legs-- ride a bicycle!" --------------------------+----------------------+----------------------------- Reader bears responsibility for all opinions expressed in this article. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 18-May-88 23:35:04-EDT,15629;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 18 May 88 23:35:03-EDT Date: 18 May 88 22:44-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #82 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, May 18, 1988 10:44PM Volume 8, Issue 82 Today's Topics: Hinsdale - Thursday update Hinsdale Update (Friday) Special Spkr Phone wanted... More Fun With COCOTs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Hinsdale - Thursday update Date: Thu May 12 18:12:59 1988 Life goes on.... Jim Eibel, Vice President Operations for Illinois Bell announced a restoration schedule for Hinsdale at a press conference on Thursday. While the news was not pleasant, it probably is realistic. Until now, IBT had responded to inquiries about service restoration by saying, 'in a few days'. The switch has been abandoned. Due to extensive corrosion from the water damage the night of the fire, the switch cannot be salvaged. Replacement will take 10-14 days of technicians working around the clock. Residents of Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Darien and Oak Brook who have no service should not expect to have service restored until *near the end of the month*. About 35,000 subscribers, representing a population of 100,000 people in those communities will continue to use the emergency communication trailers set up about town until further notice. Most emergency requirements in the area have been met by rerouting through the LaGrange, IL center. Emergency service for hospitals, police and fire agencies and certain other government agencies is in place now, or will be by the evening of May 15. The long distance toll center operation at Hinsdale has been rerouted to other centers for the most part, and residents of the several south suburban communities who have been only able to make strictly local calls for the past week will have their full service restored by May 15, albeit under somewhat cramped network facilities. Pagers, beepers, cellular service and similar functions are largely restored and the restoration will be complete by the evening of May 15. Again, some network congestion is to be expected for at least a couple weeks until the Hinsdale office is fully operational once again. WAS THE DAMAGE INTENSIFIED BY IMPROPER EMERGENCY HANDLING? The [Chicago Sun Times] for Thursday, May 12 reported an interview with an 'unnamed executive of Bell' who gave a somewhat different accounting of the tragic events last Sunday. According to this source, the fire was first noted in Springfield, IL, when an emergency alarm was automatically tripped by the Hinsdale office. This was about 4:30 PM. A human being in Springfield called the duty supervisor for Hinsdale to ask what was going on. According to the newspaper report, by the time office personnell got around to calling the Fire Department, *the lines had already burned out* -- making the call impossible. A supervisor stuck his head out the door at a minute or two before 5 PM and told a passer by to please go to the Fire Department immediatly. Apparently the person did not do so. Finally someone -- as yet unknown or unnamed -- went to the police station in Hinsdale to report the fire at about 5:15 PM...by that time, the phones throughout the area had already been dead for half an hour. If this report is true, then there need to be some very serious discussions at corporate level to find out why local employees discovered the fire *after* someone downstate manning a computer terminal, and why it took another 45 minutes for someone to go to the Fire Department personally if necessary, to rouse the firemen. Bell executives would not comment on the [Sun Times] report. For most intents and purposes then, the word is that network services for the greater Chicago area will be restored in total by Sunday evening. Local residents will be brought up gradually over the next 10-14 days as the new switch is installed. Updates can be heard on the Illinois Bell Communicator: 312-368-8000 ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Hinsdale Update (Friday) Date: Fri May 13 20:54:36 1988 The plot seems to thicken.... Illinois Bell has tossed in the deck and said rehab of the old switch is impossible. Since they are getting a new one, they are going with a #5 ESS from AT&T which was delivered to the site on Friday afternoon. Working around the clock, they say it will be operational for most subscribers by the end of May, and for all subscribers by mid-June. Several additional emergency communication trailers have been installed in the area, bringing to eight the number of such locations in the west suburbs where calls can be made. In addition, various company facilities in the area have opened their doors to the public and installed several lines where calls can be made. In a distressing development, Vice President of Operations Jim Eibel admitted in a press conference Thursday that there had been a *40 minute delay* in calling the Fire Department. The [Chicago Sun Times] had testimony from an 'unnamed executive' earlier saying the delay was more like an hour... The timetable for the afternoon seems to go like this now -- At 3:50 PM, Sunday, May 8, a technician in Springfield, IL got an alarm trip from Hinsdale, saying a fire was in progress. *THAT PERSON CHOSE TO IGNORE THE ALARM*. Due to the heavy rain and high winds, it was 'assumed' the alarm was false. Shortly after 4:00 PM, other alarms in Springfield induced our technican person to think the matter over more carefully. A decision was then made to call the weekend duty supervisor in Chicago and ask what it was all about. Where the newspapers and others in the media had first been told that the employees *on location in Hinsdale* had discovered the fire, now we find out that in fact NO EMPLOYEES WERE ON DUTY. THE BUILDING WAS DESERTED. The duty supervisor drives over and goes inside; discovers the fire -- then apparently well under way -- and goes to call the Fire Department. At this point, about a quarter past four, it is discovered by the duty supervisor that they cannot call for help *because the phones were already dead, and apparently had been dead all over town for several minutes at that point.* Around 4:20 PM, someone sticks their head out the front door and says to a passer by, 'Will you please call the Fire Department to come here.' This passer by may or may not have bothered; no one knows who it was. Let's give the person credit in assuming they probably went to the nearest pay phone and *tried* to call; but finding the phone dead walked away bewildered by it all. A little while later, the person in the doorway is able to convince a motorist driving past to go to the Fire Department. That person does so, and around 4:30 PM the first firefighters show up on the scene. What an utterly wasteful, ineffecient approach. We might term this the hour that cost several million dollars, since this delay probably cost them their switch. The new #5 ESS is coming from AT&T. Although Jim Eibel refused to discuss the cost, communications experts familiar with similar equipment from other manufacturers/distributors estimate the cost at sixteen million dollars. Eibel would not confirm or deny this estimate. Here are some questions you won't hear asked/answered on the Illinois Bell Communicator Line (312-368-8000) -- 1. Why did the person in Springfield who first got the alarm tripping decide that a fire alarm did not mean a fire was in progress? Why would a fire alarm mean anything other than a fire? 2. Whether it meant fire or not, why wasn't a call placed to Chicago immediatly, instead of several minutes later when other alarms had begun tripping? Why did the Springfield person need several symptoms of trouble before being induced to call for help? 3. Why, when the Springfield person called the duty supervisor in Chicago did s/he not also call the Fire Department and report the possibility of a serious problem, and advise them a supervisor was on the way to meet them at 120 North Lincoln Street in Hinsdale? *That would have saved about half an hour right there -- and maybe saved the switch.* 4. When the duty supervisor arrived at the site, seeing as how Springfield had not bothered to tell police/fire personnel to meet them on location, how come that person did not immediatly try to phone the Fire Department? Or did they? This is not yet known to me. Apparently the supervisor did attempt to call in a minute or two, but the phones were already dead. (Remember now, at this point the fire had apparently started nearly 20 minutes before, if the alarm trip in Springfield is to be believed.) 5. Why was there no one on duty at Hinsdale? Not even a watchman? Is this lack of any personnel on duty part of the 'economy' Bell talks about when they put so many major operations all under one roof? While many's the night and weekend a watchman would sit and do nothing, his salary would have been paid many times over before last Sunday night was ended. 6. Having discovered (a) the fire, and (b) the phones all being dead, why didn't the duty supervisor *immediatly* leave the premises, get in their car and drive to a police/fire station for help? Why didn't they drive 90 miles an hour, drive through red lights, honk their horn continously, yell and scream at the top of their voice as they were driving, and otherwise get help in there fast? Instead, the supervisor leans out the front door and asks a passer-by to call for help...a few minutes pass, and a motorist going by is also asked to secure help. The motorist, name unknown, did go to the Fire Department, and should be praised for this help. But it was no skin off his nose. What if he had ignored the plea like the first one did? 6. Why the lack of adequate fire protection in the building? I can understand why automatic ceiling sprinkers would be frowned upon: if activated, they would do as much damage as the firemen did, if you want to think of the firemen's heroic efforts as 'damage' under the circumstances. I have splendid news for the heirarchy at IBT: Halon has been invented! This charming chemical can be sprayed in *great quantities* on everything in sight and its endearing charm is that it *makes fast work of fires*. Halon can be dispensed from the ceiling, through piping just like conventional water sprinklers. But what did Bell say when asked why Halon was not in place if they were so concerned about potential water damage to the switch? Well, said Jim Eibel, it would have cost too much money also.... Well now folks, you see what your false economy has cost you in real terms. And its not a matter that you could write a check today for 20 million dollars or so and like magic have everything operational tomorrow. And quite frankly, 20 million is a *low -- very low -- estimate* of the cost to Illinois Bell, to say nothing of the tremendous economic hardship caused in the areas affected. Like I say, these questions are not likely to be answered with any candor anytime soon. It may well take a forced confrontation to get the answer, which isn't likely to be broadcast on the Communicator. I began entering this message with the idea in mind that I would conclude with a demand that Jim Eibel, and the people who report immediatly to him either resign or be fired. Now I am not so sure. Maybe there are valid reasons for the 40-60 minute delay which caused the worst disaster in the history of the telephone industry to occur last week. If there are valid reasons, perhaps Jim Eibel will see this message and kindly enlighten us. But in the event Bell decides to try and recoup its losses from this event through its rate base instead of its stockholders, then I think without question Eibel and the people around him who set policy which even begins to tolerate the sloppy handling of last weekend's emergency have got to go. Spiegel Catalog is located in Oak Brook. Hundreds of employees laid off work for the duration....the phones are their lifeblood. Eight telemarketing firms in the area closed until further notice. An insurance claims processing center. Numerous sales and service organizations doing business on the phone. Travel agencies; theatres and restaurants taking reservations. All in a bind. When asked about restitution to the community, Eibel noted that the affected subscribers would receive credit on their phone bill. No one has to pay for the period - now up to a month in some cases, ha ha! - when service was not operative....as for other restitution, Eibel says its not corporate policy. No, and I can't blame him on that point: no one has a constitutional right to phone service. No one has a right to be that reliant upon it. But it was the fault of his own people -- and the policies he helped write -- which made the disaster as bad as it was. We do not have a right to demand phone service at all times; we do have a right to expect the telco to take prudent and reasonable steps to provide continuity of service; something apparently lacking in priority when 'the economy involved in operating a central office' was considered in the operation of Hinsdale. ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!shuksan!evans@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Gary Evans) Subject: Special Spkr Phone wanted... Date: 18 May 88 23:34:52 GMT First of all - This is NOT Gary. It is Roger Swann on Gary's system. 'inews' on the ssc-vax is having a problem right now. Please send email replies to uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark. Now to the meat of the matter: I had an idea for the phone used in a lab area: The situation is one where there are persons in the room, but no one is usually near the phone. So, when the phone rings someone has to walk over 20ft to get the call. And as a result, no one _wants_ to answer the phone. Callers that let the phone ring many, many times, are usually the only ones to get answered. My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the call, so what, no problem. Does anyone out there know if such a device is currently being marketed??? Again, this is -> Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ Date: Wed 18 May 88 22:33:24-EDT From: Bill Wisner Subject: More Fun With COCOTs A certain COCOT design once prevalent in the Boise, ID area (and undoubtedly elsewhere) had a bug whereby if one 'clicked' the switchhook at just the right moment, the phone would be spoofed into thinking it had been paid when actually it hadn't. Needless to say, this design didn't stay prevalent very long. (The three such phones I knew of were hastily replaced by standard issue Mountain Bell pay phones.) ..b ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 19-May-88 18:58:50-EDT,9102;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 19 May 88 18:57:59-EDT Date: 19 May 88 17:50-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #83 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, May 19, 1988 5:50PM Volume 8, Issue 83 Today's Topics: re: Mass 550 numbers Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... Modular Connectors Re: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom (really: what does 'bis' mean?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 19-MAY-1988 03:18:14.69 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: re: Mass 550 numbers In response to Dan Watson's question(s) in Digest #73 about Mass. 550 numbers, yes, in New York we have the same system. NY Tel recently renumbered a lot of these services. Previously, there were some interactive 976 numbers, as well as the standard recordings, and "premium" 976 numbers that charged rather high rates (like San Francisco has). New York Tel is now changing the services over to the "new" numbering scheme: 976 - General recordings, such as Weather (1212), Time (1616), sports, etc. (I think that only Chicago has a similar system) 970 - Premium services, including pornographic ones, although not all HAVE to be at a higher cost. Generally, the 970 will contain the more objectionable services. 540 - Interactive services, which callers can activate using a Touch Tone phone. (Trivia questions, Horoscope, wake-up calls 540-WAKE, etc...) 550 - Chat lines, billed at $.20 for the first minute, and $.10 each additional, and are somewhat regional. (IE, Long Island has one, NYC another, etc. I wonder what it would be like for someone with Three-way Calling to conference the two of them!!) 900 Svc- These are the hardest to understand. I though 900 numbers were national numbers, which any caller in the U.S. or Canada could access for a specific fee, usually $.50 for first minute, and $.35 cents for each additional. (Certain services were blocked from Canada, and other Premium services tended to cost more, but overall 900's fit the above pattern). Now, in New York and New Jersey, there are two 900 "exchanges", 909 and 999 which offer REGIONALIZED conference (chat) services, at about $.85 per minute. Callers from 201, 212, 914, 516, and 718 area codes can call, and be conferenced with other callers from the same area. (One of the 900 services says 215-Philadelphia can also access its chat line, but I suspect callers from 215 only get to talk to other callers from 215, and no one from the NYC area.) Some of these servies even charge you a "toll" if you are near them. IE, if you are calling from certain sections of Westchester, besides the normal rates, you pay a toll charge! That never happened with other 900 numbers! These seem to be "acting" a lot less like the "old" 900 numbers and more like a 700 number, or some sort of phone number which transfers your call to a specific service and allows for special billing. Are 900 numbers regulated to the same extent (if at all) by local public service commissions? Or are they a way to get around regulation which may exist by using the 976/970/550/540 system? Finally, perhaps the reason that the numbering system in New York and Mass are the same is that both NY Tel and and New England Tel are part of NYNEX. Here in Connecticut, we don't have any of these, and the only 976 number is for race track results (976-xxxx will get the recording...IE, there seems to be only one 976 number...The weather is still WEather6/936...) Good thing NYNEX wasn't able to buy SNET some while back...Otherwise, we would have these silly TV ads on at 2AM for the 900 services...You really have to see them to believe them! They are INCREDIBLY idiotic! Any corrections/additions/deltetions/etc. are greatly appreciated, as always.... -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn ------------------------------ From: amdcad!amdcad.AMD.COM!rpw3@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Rob Warnock) Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Date: 19 May 88 08:12:28 GMT Reply-To: amdcad!amdcad!rpw3@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Rob Warnock) +--------------- | In Denver and Atlanta, businesses and residences alike can get flat | rates for the entire metro area (50 miles or so across). +--------------- Yes, when I lived in Atlanta, it was said to have "the largest toll-free local calling area in the world". Rob Warnock Systems Architecture Consultant UUCP: {amdcad,fortune,sun,attmail}!redwood!rpw3 ATTmail: !rpw3 DDD: (415)572-2607 USPS: 627 26th Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 May 88 09:57:16 PDT From: ultra!ted@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Ted Schroeder) Subject: Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... Roger Swann writes in V8N82: > My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would > automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the > room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line > had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the > call, so what, no problem. That's the way we use the phone in our lab right now. We have something called SRX (Shared Resource Exchange) phones (and probably a PBX to go with it), that has a handsfree mode. This allows anyone in the company to treat the phone like an intercom. It works great. I use it all the time in my office too. The address on my instruction manual says: Shared Resource Exchange 15926 Midway Rd Dallas, TX 75244 Ted Schroeder ultra!ted@Ames.arc.nasa.GOV Ultra Network Technologies 2140 Bering drive with a domain server: San Jose, CA 95131 ted@Ultra.COM 408-922-0100 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 May 88 11:54:56 PDT From: HECTOR MYERSTON Subject: Modular Connectors We are badly in need of information the use of modular telephone plugs and jacks OUTSIDE THE U.S. We have information on US standard RJXX and the British Telecom BTXX series. Are there others out there?, which countries use US or BTI?. Application is to provide guidance to people travelling with portable Faxes. Since Fax machines all comply with the same CCITT group standards, their use overseas should be routine (unlike Modems where standards and approvals differ). Hopefully there is some way of connecting the network better than screwdriver/hammer/alligator clips. Reply to this Newsletter or to Myerston@kl.sri.com. I will summarize responses. Tks. +Hector+ ------------------------------ From: ehr@uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) Subject: Re: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom (really: what does 'bis' mean?) Date: 19 May 88 18:46:16 GMT In article <8805152348.AA10963@dsiramd.dsir.govt.nz>, paul@csnz.UUCP writes: [ ... text deleted ... ] > Just from idle curiosity: what does the 'bis' stand for in > CCITT V22 bis (2400 FDX)? Can someone breifly explain to > the many comms novices who read this a bit more about CCITT > standards, and why they are not compatible with Bell standards. [ ... more text deleted ... ] "Bis" means the second item with the same number. It appears from time to time in the numbering of serial publications. For standards, it presumably means a revised version of the standard which has been associated with the previously stated numbering. "Bis" comes from the Latin -- "bi" = 2 -- as in binary. Hope this helps. -- Ernest -- My opinions are my own and probably not IBM-compatible.--ehr Ernest H. Robl (ehr@ecsvax) (919) 684-6269 w; (919) 286-3845 h Systems Specialist (Tandem System Manager), Library Systems, 027 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 22-May-88 20:37:15-EDT,13231;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 22 May 88 20:37:11-EDT Date: 22 May 88 19:33-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #84 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Sunday, May 22, 1988 7:33PM Volume 8, Issue 84 Today's Topics: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: Mass 550 numbers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rbd@neon.gatech.edu (Richard B. Dervan) Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Date: 20 May 88 12:37:41 GMT Reply-To: rbd@neon.gatech.edu (Richard B. Dervan) In article <21675@amdcad.AMD.COM> amdcad!amdcad!rpw3@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Rob Warnock) writes: >Yes, when I lived in Atlanta, it was said to have "the largest toll-free >local calling area in the world". Actually, a small city about 30 miles east of Metro Atlanta has a larger toll- free calling area than Atlanta. Conyers, Ga can place calls to the entire toll-free Metro area, plus to a few towns east of it, such as Covington, which people in Atlanta can not. -Richard | Richard B Dervan BitNet: ccoprrd@gitvm1 | | Office of Computing Services ARPA : neon!rbd@gatech.gatech.edu | | Georgia Institute of Technology or : rbd%neon@gatech.gatech.edu | | Atlanta, Ga 30332-0275 "If it was meant to be, it will be.| | (404)894-6808 (Work) If it wasn't, it still COULD be." | | uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,rutgers}!gatech!neon!rbd | ------------------------------ From: rja Date: 20 May 88 11:18:26 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: edison!rja From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS Message-ID: <1529@edison.GE.COM> Date: 20 May 88 11:18:25 GMT References: <399@cf-cm.UUCP> <334@mipseast.mips.COM> Organization: GE-Fanuc North America Lines: 25 In article <334@mipseast.mips.COM>, rogerk@mipseast.UUCP (Roger B.A. Klorese) writes: > > In article <399@cf-cm.UUCP> our moderator writes: > >[I think Chicago is the only area which has mandatory > >measured service, but it is fairly reasonable. --jsol] > > New York City has message-unit billing for all local calls, and monthly > service charges contain an allowance of message units. > -- > Roger B.A. Klorese MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. > {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!rogerk 25 Burlington Mall Rd, Suite 300 > rogerk@mips.COM Burlington, MA 01803 In Virginia, no customer (business or residence) can be forced to go with measured service. Flat rates are the rule. In the Northern Virginia area around the District of Columbia (the capital of the USA), local flat rate service includes ALL of the district (area code 202). From the Maryland side of DC, I believe they can also call ALL of DC as a local call. I believe that the very largest cities in the US often have a smaller local area ( but still several thousands of lines ) and measured service (message units) for the rest of the Metro area. I cannot see measured service being forced on those of us in Virginia, as the Commonweath's Corporation Commission feels strongly about flat rate service. ------------------------------ Date: Thu May 19 17:12:36 1988 From: mordor!lll-crg!lll-winken!ddsw1!karl@rutgers.edu (Karl Denninger) To: codas!comp-dcom-telecom Path: ddsw1!karl From: karl@ddsw1.UUCP (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Chicago telco disaster? Summary: One view of the impact and other items of interest. Keywords: Great fire of '88?? Message-ID: <1097@ddsw1.UUCP> Date: 19 May 88 22:12:34 GMT References: <5058@ecsvax.UUCP> Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.UUCP (Karl Denninger) Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL Lines: 96 In article <5058@ecsvax.UUCP> dmkdmk@UNCECS.EDU (David M. Kurtiak) writes: > > >I have been trying to call an exchange in Chicago for the past two days >to no avail. A recording states that "Due to local telephone company >problems in the area you are calling, your call cannot be completed. >Please try again later". After a few calls to the AT&T operator and >their long distance repair number, I finally found out that an >Illinois Bell building serving the Chigago area caught fire and there >was serious damage. I'm told that hundreds of exchanges are affected. (!!) >Calls via MCI, Sprint, etc. also came up with similar results, just >different recordings. From what I understand, Ill. Bell is working on >the re-routing of calls through the office that burned, and service >*may* be restored by Wednesday. > >Anyone else have any info. regarding this? Is this similar to the >fire that hit the CO in New York City a couple years ago? I thought >that disasters like these were preventable to a large extent by using >halon and other measures... How can something of this degree occur >with relatively modern equipment? Enough questions, I'm just curious.. > >A posting to this newsgroup would probably be most appropriate for >discussion. Thanks for sharing! Well, we're on the outside of Chicago, and luckily a good ways from the hub that burned. Illinois Bell's central office facilities in Hinsdale were nearly destroyed by fire May 8th. The building was gutted, all the equipment (read: the switch) is being replaced. They are currently re-wiring the building, top to bottom, and have stated that 30,000 of the 35,000 lines that were completely off the air now have a dialtone -- sometimes. IBT also openly admits that service will be spotty and horrid in general for some time (probably mid-June). The fire's exact cause is still undetermined, but it is believed that it started in one of the racks on the lower floor. In any event, it was over an *hour* from the time the first alarm was seen in Springfield's monitoring station until fire equipment arrived on the scene! The fire alarm was not locally connected, there was no halon or sprinkler system, and phones were already out by the time someone tried to call it in from the local area (about 20-30 minutes after the first indication of a problem). Our first indication that something was wrong was when we went to complete a wiring job on that Sunday AM and found that the cellular phones didn't work -- all throughout the city. The real fun and games began Monday, when we tried to contact some of our business customers -- and got nowhere. The situation is not nearly back to normal yet -- several of our clients still cannot dial or receive long distance calls, our service here (50 miles away) is spotty as well. It's very common to redial a call a dozen or more times before it goes through; the remaining capacity is badly overloaded. Today things seem better -- for the first time since the fire we got a normal news feed, a good sign that our computers (and humans) can once again reach each other by phone. It also seems a little better -- calls that were a "no chance" attempt a few days ago now go through after a half-dozen tries or so.... And my car-phone is working properly again. There are a few questions I want to ask of Illinois Bell: 1) Why was that building, which is (obviously) extremely important to the integrity of the network: a) Un-manned (a single person would have prevented this) b) Not have a fire alarm connected with local fire departments c) Have no fire-suppression system installed (yeah, Halon is expensive. How expensive is something like *this*?) 2) Who's going to pay for this obvious negligence. We the customers? 3) What is IBT going to do to *prevent* future occurrances? I believe that IBT should be forced to bear, without passing through, the cost of this disaster. As with other businesses who make mistakes, they should have to pay out of their own pockets (and/or insurance, if there was any -- somehow I doubt that there was considering that they didn't even bother with a local fire alarm!) When I moved to Chicago about three years ago, it took IBT three weeks to get two residential lines correctly installed. My phone would ring and no one would be on the other end -- and calls to my number would ring someone else's phone! IBT failed to make good on their "will be working by xxx" time at least a half-dozen times -- and when the phone finally did ring, my custom calling features were missing. Two more weeks elapsed before those worked, and even then the "*70" disable for call waiting was inoperative (this they told me they *couldnt* fix). That little episode left me with a strong feeling that IBT was incapable of performing their job with competence. This fiasco leaves no room for doubt. Ps: To all of the IBT employees who are working right now to restore to normalcy the phones in Chicagoland -- a big thanks. I have a few more choice words for IBT management, but those I will keep to myself. -- Karl Denninger | Data: +1 312 566-8912 Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. | Voice: +1 312 566-8910 ...ihnp4!ddsw1!karl | "Quality solutions for work or play" ------------------------------ From: jimmy@pic.ucla.edu Subject: Re: Mass 550 numbers Date: 21 May 88 04:17:49 GMT Reply-To: jimmy@pic.ucla.edu (Jim Gottlieb) In article <8805192151.AA29742@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU.MIT.EDU> DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU (Douglas Scott Reuben) writes: > > 900 Svc- These are the hardest to understand. I though[t] 900 numbers > were national numbers, which any caller in the U.S. or > Canada could access for a specific fee, usually $.50 for > first minute, and $.35 cents for each additional. (Certain > services were blocked from Canada, and other Premium services > tended to cost more, but overall 900's fit the above pattern). > > Now, in New York and New Jersey, there are two 900 > "exchanges", 909 and 999 which offer REGIONALIZED conference > (chat) services, at about $.85 per minute. Callers from I run three of the (900) numbers in New York (and Chicago), so let me explain. The (900) prefixes, like those of the (800) area code have been allocated to telcos and long-distance companies. This is a temporary fix in the (800) arena until the BOCs have SS7 going full blast. I don't know what the eventual plan is for (900). The traditional (900) numbers that you speak of are those provided through AT&T. Currently, AT&T only offers vote-counting and mass announcement service on (900). There is an option whereby a small percentage of calls placed to one of these numbers can be routed to a live person (this is what they do on David Letterman), but there is no way to route all calls to a normal, analog telephone line. The 321 and 999 prefixes are assigned to Telesphere International, a long-distance company that primarily serves the lodging and shared-tenant markets. (909 is an AT&T prefix.) Right now, the only area served from their New York switch is the NYC LATA. Philadelphia can not currently access it. Within a few months though we will be adding equipment in Philly which will also serve South Jersey, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and D.C. eventually. About the middle of next month, Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Boston will be backhauled into the New York switch. Telesphere's plan is to reach 60%-65% of the U.S. television households by the end of the year. The other big players have really blown it on this one. Since AT&T can serve the entire country right now, they are in the perfect position to capture this market. Likewise, MCI and Splint currently cover most of the country. But all three keep delaying their (900) offerings, and when queried at the ICA show this week report nothing will be done this year. Re. pricing: We are able to set any price (within reason) for the first minute and for additional minutes. We are paid by Telesphere about 4 months after the calls take place, placing a severe cash flow problem on many vendors right now. > Some of these servies even charge you a "toll" if you are > near them. IE, if you are calling from certain sections No. There are no toll charges to call (900) numbers. If you have seen this mentioned in ads, it is only vendor stupidity. > ...Otherwise, we would have these silly TV > ads on at 2AM for the 900 services...You really have to > see them to believe them! They are INCREDIBLY idiotic! Ours included, I'm sure. or ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 24-May-88 00:15:12-EDT,10650;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 24 May 88 00:15:10-EDT Date: 23 May 88 23:14-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #85 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, May 23, 1988 11:14PM Volume 8, Issue 85 Today's Topics: 900 & 700 Equal Access re: MCI Transpacific Fiber Local Calling Areas Re: Continuously ringing telephone (on VHF) Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Old Exchange Names - Chicago ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21-MAY-1988 04:08:53.17 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: 900 & 700 Equal Access Just wanted to say "Thanks!" to everyone who responded to my posts about AIS and 900 Services. I'm having trouble replying directly to a few addresses, so I wanted to say that I *am* indeed getting the messages... Sorry to have to post this way, but some of the addresses are really tough for our mailer... Thanks, -Doug DReuben@Eagle.Weslyn ------------------------------ Date: 21-MAY-1988 04:29:51.63 From: Douglas Scott Reuben Subject: re: MCI Transpacific Fiber I thought AT&T was laying TAT-8 in place? Isn't this the cable that will break up into two sections near the English coast, and one section will go to southern England, while the other one will connect to the Northeastern French coast? I saw a display of this at the AT&T exhibit in New York City at the AT&T Building, and they seem to imply that they are mainly responsible for this. Maybe MCI is doing the Pacific Cable (too bad!...they'll screw it up fer sure ;-) ), but I think AT&T is a VERY substantial part of TAT-8. Or are we talking about different things? -Doug DReuben%Eagle.Weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet DReuben@Eagle.Wesleyan ------------------------------ From: Phillip_M_Dampier@cup.portal.com Subject: Local Calling Areas Date: Fri May 20 21:37:36 1988 [+--------------- [| In Denver and Atlanta, businesses and residences alike can get flat [| rates for the entire metro area (50 miles or so across). [+--------------- [Yes, when I lived in Atlanta, it was said to have "the largest toll-free [local calling area in the world". Heh, it seems every telco on the planet wants to make this claim. Rochester Telephone Corporation in Rochester, New York makes the same claim. A few years ago, they made much over the fact that before the Bell Fiefdom broke up, they were the largest independent telco on the planet. City of Rochester (and bordering suburbs) residents can place calls to areas like Kendall to the west and Sodus & Williamson, NY to the east, which is in area code 315. Interesting that we can make toll free calls to NY Telephone numbers using the icky digital switches they use in more rural areas. More clicks than the analog phone systems NY Tel has also used. To the south, we can reach communities such as Lima, NY and to the north, Lake Ontario stops the calling area. It is a huge local calling area for us, and for $14.85 a month for residential service with touchtone, I'm not yelling. Roch Tel's little empire is presently adapting to AT&T #5ESS switches in all of their exchanges. They are also buying up any little telcos in NY/PA/OH that they can get their hands on. So who has the largest local calling area? Where are those mappers to tell us! ------------------------------ From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Continuously ringing telephone (on VHF) Date: 19 May 88 04:10:02 GMT In article <8805111234.AA29347@NADC.ARPA>, prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle) writes: ... > I've wondered what became of this service now that cellular is the standard. The IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service) is still offered, and is finally useable. It used to be terribly over-crowded (in major cities) because of the limited number of channels and large demand for service. Now that most users have gone to Cellular, the IMTS channels are generally available. The transmission quality is poor, compared with the UHF Cellular service. Why would anybody want it today? Cellular serves most of the 300 largest cities. It is now being deployed along the major corridors between. But for a lot of rural areas, small towns, and back roads, Cellular is not available yet. IMTS, for all of its technical shortcomings, is mature, and serves a far larger area. My partner in Sussex County, NJ, still uses IMTS, because the local phone company there (not NJ Bell) offers it. Cellular hasn't arrived yet in that corner of the state. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 May 88 15:32:05 PDT From: Jeff Woolsey Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Reply-To: nsc!woolsey@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Jeff Woolsey) Gee, and I thought Minneapolis/Saint Paul was the largest toll-free calling area in the world. It's about 75 miles from end to end. Three cheers for the home team and all that. -- -- Scrape 'em off, Jim! Jeff Woolsey National Semiconductor woolsey@nsc.NSC.COM -or- woolsey@umn-cs.cs.umn.EDU ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Old Exchange Names - Chicago Date: Thu May 19 20:28:43 1988 Someone started a discussion about the names for telephone exchanges long ago. Here are the ones I remember in Chicago. I am sure there are some I have forgotten. To find the modern day equivilent, swap the first three letters for numbers. In cases where there are two letters and a number at the end, this is a prefix which started after 1946 but prior to 1960 when all number calling began phasing in. AMBassador ANDover ARDmore AUStin AVEnue BAyport-1 BITtersweet BRIargate BOUlevard BIShop BUckingham-1 CALumet CANal CAThedral CENtral DEArborn DIVersey DRExel DORchester DANube EDGewater ESTebrook EAStgate FAIrfax FINancial FRAnklin GRAceland GUNderson HARrison HAymarket-1 HILltop HOLlycourt HUDson HUMboldt HYDe Park INTerocean INDependence IRVing JUNiper KEDzie KILdare LAFayette LAKeview LIncoln-9 LUDlow MAJestic MIChigan MIDway MItchell-6 MULberry MUseum-4 MERrimac NARaganset NEVada NEWcastle NATional NORmal OAKland OPEra (later ORchard-3) OVerhill PALisaides PENsacola PORtsmouth PROspect PULlman RADcliffe RANdolph RAVenswood REgent-1 ROAnoke RODney ROGers Park SAGinaw SPAulding SEEley SPRing SHEldrake STAte SOUth Chicago TRIangle TUXedo UNDerhill UPTown SUNnyside SUPerior VICtory TUXedo BELmont STEwart TAYlor DELaware LOngbeach-1 KENwood ENGlewood These are the ones I can remember. I am sure I missed some. All these were in the city proper as I recall. I added some on the bottom of the list rather than go back and insert them where they belonged. The only names that still remain are the offices which are now switching centers with several prefixes grouped together in them. The ones that come to mind from the above list are Kedzie, Franklin, Mitchell, Wabash, Rogers Park, Edgewater, Hyde Park, Superior, and Kenwood. There are switching centers which did not even exist when we used exchange names rather than numbers, such as Lakeshore, and Illinois-Dearborn (named for the intersection it is on). Some special service prefix names then are unrelated to their numbers now -- FIRe (347), POLice (765), OFFicial (then used for telco business offices) is now 633 and not related in any way. WEAther (932) used to get the forecast. The oldest central office in Chicago is 236. It began in 1879 as 'the central', and when a second exchange was started within a year or two later it became 'Central'. With the advent of automatic dialing, it became CENtral. Later it was CE-6, and for twenty five years now, 236. There were a bunch of exchange names in the suburbs. I could not begin to remember or name them all. UNIversity, DAVis, GREenleaf, EUClid, FORrest, TOrrence-2, GRAnite, ORChard, VANderbilt, TIlden-4, and IDLewild come to mind. The conversion to dial began in 1939, and the existing exchanges took their first three letters for dialing. Where there were duplicates, they were eliminated. With about half of Chicago converted to automatic dialing in 1942, the war effort suspended further conversions until 1946 because the Western Electric Company was doing entirely war related production. The conversion resumed in 1946 and was finished with the final subscribers cut over in 1951 in the AVEnue central office. Ohare Airport opened a few months later, and used an ORChard exchange for a while (Ohare used to be known as Orchard Field). The ORChard numbers all eventually went to Skokie, IL and Ohare took "686-xxxx" numbers. The change to all number prefixes began in 1960, but the letters and numbers were used interchangeably until about 10 years ago when more and more prefixes were being opened which never had a name in the first place. Now it is quite rare that you see a telephone number referred to in that way. All during the conversion from manual to dial, the operators were scared to death they would lose their jobs. The union fueled those rumors in part. Bell kept saying no one would lose their job -- and no one did. When Ohare Airport opened, six months or so following the final dial conversion, there were more operators handling calls in the AVEnue office from people dialing '0' then there had been *before* the conversion when everything was manual. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 24-May-88 23:15:06-EDT,10751;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 24 May 88 23:15:03-EDT Date: 24 May 88 21:26-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #86 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, May 24, 1988 9:26PM Volume 8, Issue 86 Today's Topics: Intercepts vrs. OCC's Explain why.... CCITT bis Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Intercepts vrs. OCC's Date: Wed May 18 19:57:39 1988 Doug Rueben at Wesllean asks why sometimes a live intercept operator cannot hear you -- If calling via AT&T she *can* hear you. But when using some of the OCC's, those companies do not open the mouthpiece on your phone until they detect a connection has been established on the other end. Since an operator is never treated as an answer *for billing purposes*, your mouthpiece never comes open and you are talking to no one when you try to respond to the intercept operator. The suggested recording they are supposed to use in these circumstances goes like this -- DAH DAH DEE! Under some circumtances, you may not be able to talk to an AT&T operator when using the services of other long distance companies. Please call your long distance company for assistance. This is a recording [switch number]. They do not all bother with the same recording. Since the vast majority of intercepted calls are handled by a recorded announcement -- a one way call requiring no response from yourself -- its becoming increasingly a moot point. There are a few different approaches. Most seem to simply take what you have entered and read back a response. In a few cases, a live operator questions you, then bubbles it in and the equipment responds. In these cases, one additional message has to be available, not needed on the completely automated systems -- "The number you have dialed, xxx-xxxx *IS* a working number. Please try your call again." Obviously the all automated version would announce the *wrong* number you had dialed (if that was the case), and what was wrong with it. If you had dialed the right number you would have gotten your party. Another version -- used by a small company in Florida I connect through now and then -- answers "GTE Operator, what number did you dial?" You tell her, and she recites it back to you *an actual human but using the identical message of the computer* "the number you dialed, xxx-xxxx etc.." Another odd one is a live two way conversation for the whole thing. We have a couple prefixes here in Chicago which for some reason I don't know are answered "Chicago Special Operator, what number did you dial?". They look it up and give a manual reply. These are few and far between now days. Patrick T. ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Explain why.... Date: Wed May 18 20:31:48 1988 Here is a good one someone well versed in ESS might be able to explain to me -- I have one line here I rarely use for anything but outgoing modem calls. The number used to belong to a restaurant -- one that did not pay its bills -- and I was forever getting alot of wrong numbers. Not wanting to bother, I wanted to call forward it to someplace where an intercept would head off any further calls. Obviously, not just any old intercept would work, since most read back the number 'dialed', and call forwarding to something like that would only confuse the caller worse, thinking the wires were crossed, etc. So I had to find a nice, generic, all purpose 'number is not in service' message without any specific reference to *what number* was being challenged. I found it in our local 950 exchange. 312-950-0000 returned a nice plain message, 'the number you dialed is not in service, please check the number and dial again, or ask your operator for assistance.' Best of all, a call to 950 was free! No unit charges for calls forwarded, etc. This very convincing recording helped me get rid of nuisance voice calls to my computer line for nearly a year..... Then one day....I tested it myself to be sure it was still working, and got a new recording, "the number you dialed (m-y--n-u-m-b-e-r) is being tested for trouble! Please try your call again later." Hmmmm... A call to 950-0000 brought a recording that 950-0000 was being tested for trouble, and to try again later. Repeat test dialing via my number, and again I was told *my number* -- not 950 -- was the one being tested for trouble. As soon as I got home, naturally I pulled off the call forwarding right away after making a couple more test calls first. When actually dialing the seven digit number of my computer line from another line, I got the recorded message reading back my number with the report. When I used my STARLINE/CENTREX feature to dial it as an intercom call, I instead got a live operator asking what number I dialed. When I gave her my number, she insisted the call should go through, and to try it again. When I gave her 950-0000 she seemed to think that was rather odd, but found it being tested for trouble. After taking call forwarding off, naturally any calls to my number rang through normally. The STARLINE intercom function worked normally. I tried to re-establish call forwarding to 950-0000 and it would not be accepted. Apparently the central offices are programmed to disallow call forwarding to certain numbers like 976, 1-900, 950, etc...but I assume our office here (Chicago-Rogers Park) had not previously been thus programmed, at least where 950 was concerned. It apparently got programmed one night while I was forwarded already, and once I was off I could not get back on it. Not to worry, I have since found a whole bunch of *bizzarre* intercept messages -- all generic, no reference to number dialed -- and am using them to stall bill collectors -- oops, I mean to avoid 'annoying wrong numbers'. My question to the ESS whiz kids out there is, during the interim while I was forwarded to 950-0000 *after* the office was reprogrammed and before I took it off on my end, HOW did the system manage to transpose 950-0000 into my totally unrelated number and come up with the 'testing for trouble' message on MY number? Illinois Bell has a few seven digit numbers used for testing purposes; they each have a different generic intercept message on them; each accepts call forwarding to them; each is a free call. Some of the oddest recordings are -- "Due to equipment trouble, your call has been blocked. Please dial again." "Due to equipment trouble, your number was not captured for billing purposes. Please hang up and redial your call." "The call you have dialed is considered a local call. To place a local call, you must first dial 9, then the desired seven digit number." "The number you have dialed is not in your calling permission area. Please dial your attendant for assistance." "The number you dialed cannot be reached from outside the customer's premises." And this truly strange one -- "The voting has been concluded. There is no charge for this call." Those would probably just prompt the caller to keep dialing me over and over, hoping to get through, so I use a plain old 'not in service at this time' I found in the batch of numbers. If you are curious, try a few for yourself: 312-856-1521 1522 1523 1524 But I do want to know how my number got twisted up in the ESS to get intercepted and 'tested for trouble' when it was the end number that was actually in that status. Pat T. [It is possible that someone called telephone repair, explaining that your line was out and asked them to fix it. --jsol] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 May 88 16:31:12 EDT From: chris@cos.com (Chris Rohrer) Subject: CCITT bis Since the CCITT is a European organization and is headquartered in the French speaking country Switzerland, French is used in many places in the recommendation naming system. Bis in French means 'second' or 'again'. So V.26bis is just a second version of V.26. There is another word you might see in this place too. Ter means 'third' in this kind of usage. So V.26ter is a third version or modification or alternate usage of V.26. There are odd looking words like these for fourth, fifth etc. but I've never seen them used by the CCITT for recommendation naming. Chris Rohrer, COS "Anything I say can not be construed to be the opinion of COS" ------------------------------ From: jeff@tc.fluke.com (Jeff Stearns) Subject: Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... Date: 23 May 88 21:08:21 GMT In article <775@shuksan.UUCP> evans@shuksan.UUCP (Roger Swann) writes: > >I had an idea for the phone used in a lab area: > >The situation is one where there are persons in the room, but no >one is usually near the phone. So, when the phone rings someone >has to walk over 20ft to get the call. And as a result, no one >_wants_ to answer the phone. Callers that let the phone ring many, >many times, are usually the only ones to get answered. > >My solution would be to hookup a speakerphone type device that would >automatically answer the line after a few rings. Then anyone in the >room could answer the phone by just speaking loadly after the line >had been _picked up_. If no one happened to be there to catch the >call, so what, no problem. > >Does anyone out there know if such a device is currently being >marketed??? I have a friend who used to live in Switzerland; he tells me that he was fond of such a feature in his father's office phones. All telephones could act as speakerphones. The handset did not need to be lifted to answer a call; any ringing telephone could be answered simply by speaking to it. He tells me that it was common practice for officeworkers to yell "He's not here!" at ringing phones to shut them up. Sorry; he doesn't know the manufacturer (this was more than 10 years ago). Jeff Stearns jeff@tc.fluke.COM John Fluke Mfg. Co, Inc. (206) 356-5064 -- Jeff Stearns Domain: jeff@tc.fluke.COM Voice: +1 206 356 5064 If you must: {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff USPS: John Fluke Mfg. Co. / P.O. Box C9090 / Everett WA 98206 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 27-May-88 02:21:12-EDT,12263;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 27 May 88 02:21:10-EDT Date: 27 May 88 01:00-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #87 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, May 27, 1988 1:00AM Volume 8, Issue 87 Today's Topics: Submission Toll-free zone Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Re: Hinsdale - Thursday update Re: Explain why.... Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... How are V&H Coordinates Computed, Who Computes Them? Re: CCITT bis Phone Company Billing Question 2 line wiring ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Phillip_M_Dampier@cup.portal.com Subject: Submission Date: Thu May 19 11:19:04 1988 Two brief questions: 1) I notice that the Bell companies use intercept operators that will seem to use a script when talking to a caller. A few times, I was able to hear them and they couldn't hear me, and I always got: "I'm sorry, you cannot be heard, please dial 0 for operator assistance." Why? Protocol? 2) I would love to find out who does the telco recordings. It seems most of the Bell systems use one lady (syndicated telco recordings?), whereas the independents, in CA, FL, and Rochester Tel here in NY all use a man. Who are these people, and how do telcos obtain these nationally "acclaimed" recordings... why don't they use their own custom recordings more often. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 May 88 09:27:53 EDT From: "Barry C. Nelson" Subject: Toll-free zone RE:Subject: Local Calling Areas >So who has the largest local calling area? >Where are those mappers to tell us! It may not have been exactly "toll-free", but in Italy (and many other places, I'm sure), there is ONLY measured service which is accomplished with mechanical counters. They count clicks, the frequency of which goes up with the distance (non-linearly). Your monthly bill shows up with a grand total of the clicks used during the previous month; no number called, no dates, no time-of-day, no toll-call breakdown. (Great for accounting :-) Over the years I used the service, I noticed that calling New York, San Francisco or Tokyo cost THE SAME, about $75.00/hr, since the poor little counter was already going as fast as it could. Therefore, since it didn't COST any more for a given number of minutes, then it must be "toll-free", right? So, my "toll-free" area was most of the world outside Europe! ;-) Doncha' luv statistics? Barry ------------------------------ From: steinmetz!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (William E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: TOLLS/LOCAL CALLS? Date: 24 May 88 14:58:09 GMT Reply-To: crdos1!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (bill davidsen) Looking at the map in our phone book, the toll free area seems to be about 60 mi wide by 75 high. Unfortunately there's no scale or markings of exact city locations, and the areas delimited by exchange don't follow any physical boundaries. There are still some big ones out here. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me ------------------------------ From: gast@CS.UCLA.EDU (David Gast) Subject: Re: Hinsdale - Thursday update Date: 24 May 88 23:48:29 GMT Reply-To: lanai!gast@seismo.CSS.GOV (David Gast) In article <8805121812.1.137@cup.portal.com> Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.COM writes: > > [discussion of the fire at IBT]. >Pagers, beepers, cellular service and similar functions are largely restored >and the restoration will be complete by the evening of May 15. > It seems to me that order of the restoration of services is slightly mixed up. Certainly, emergency service should be restored first, but why should cellular service get priority over regular phone lines? IBT's primary responsibility is to provide telephone service to the people and businesses within its service area. The fire has obviously disrupted its ability to provide telephone service. Fixing competetive service first seems to indicate further abdication of IBT's responsibilities. (No one on duty, no fire fighting equipment, etc are others). This abdication will be only more severe if IBT asks the rate payers to pay for the damage. I can see the next ad for IBT's cellular service: Buy a cellular phone today. Don't be without service after the next fire. If IBT does not fix cellular service, then cellular customers could go to other companies, but regular customers do not have the option of switching phone companies. It seems unfair. These opinions may only be my own, but I hope the Illinois Public Service Commision (or whatever its name is) adopts similar feelings. David Gast gast@cs.ucla.edu {ucbvax,rutgers}!ucla-cs!gast ------------------------------ From: @ats.ucla.edu@seismo.CSS.GOV (Bob Felderman) Subject: Re: Explain why.... Date: 25 May 88 18:13:00 GMT Reply-To: chiron!feldy@seismo.CSS.GOV (Bob Felderman) In article <8805182031.1.137@cup.portal.com> Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.COM writes: > >And this truly strange one -- > >"The voting has been concluded. There is no charge for this call." This is probably where calls get forwarded from 900-xxx-xxxx numbers during one of those times when you can call a number to vote on who won a debate, or who's going to win the super bowl. After the end of the vote tallying, people may still call. The calls generally cost $0.50. Bob Felderman feldy@cs.ucla.edu UCLA Computer Science ...!{rutgers,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!feldy ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 88 12:29:30 CDT From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI Subject: Re: Special Spkr Phone wanted... I'm somewhat confused by the subject discussion. Won't the normal sounds in an office or lab (people talking, printers or other equipment running, background Muzak, etc.) keep these voice-responding phones in a constant off-hook condition, or at least often jumping off-hook for random periods of time? Even if there is some sort of gain control to set a trigger level or threshold below which the phone won't respond, won't that mean you'll have to shout to answer it? I can see it working in a normally-very-quiet environment, but not in any real-life office or lab I've ever been in, during a normal work day. It does sound ideal for use after hours, say where one person is in a large area where there are many phones. They wouldn't have to run around to find which phone is ringing. (But wouldn't the ringing of one phone put all the others off-hook, due to the sound level? If any of the others are on the same line, that would answer the incoming call! And then, if no one was in the office to keep talking, it would then hang up automatically. Hmmm... The next generation beyond the answering machine. Call and be hung up on without human intervention... :-) Will Martin ------------------------------ From: gatech!bgsuvax!gruber@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (John Gruber) Subject: How are V&H Coordinates Computed, Who Computes Them? Date: 25 May 88 15:55:44 GMT I know where to find the official V&H coordinates, used to compute mileage for long-distance calls to calculate their price. I would like to know who calculates these, and more to the point, what equations are used to set the V&H coordinates from the location of the NNX, presumably expressed by longitude and latitude. How are the V&H coordinates computed for calls spanning less than 40 miles? Can anyone help? Can anyone suggest a source of information? John Gruber tut!bgsuvax!gruber gruber%andy@relay.cs.net (419) 372-2911 -- John Gruber University Computer Services UUCP:..!cbosgd!osu-eddie!bgsuvax!gruber Bowling Green State University CSNET: gruber%bgsu@csnet-relay Bowling Green, OH 43403-0125 ------------------------------ From: jackson@ttidca.TTI.COM (Dick Jackson) Subject: Re: CCITT bis Date: 26 May 88 14:51:01 GMT Reply-To: jackson@ttidcc.tti.com (Dick Jackson) In article <8805212031.AA00810@cos.com> chris@cos.COM (Chris Rohrer) writes: >Bis in French means 'second' or 'again'. So V.26bis is just a second >version of V.26. There is another word you might see in this place too. I am adding the following information because it is obviously of critical importance to one's telecom exptertize. "Bis" is actually the Latin for twice. The French use the word (among other things) to shout for a repeat of a song - just as we use the French word "encore". Dick Jackson ------------------------------ Date: 23 May 88 17:21:47 EDT (Mon) From: larryc@mtuxo.att.com (L.CHESAL) To: mtunx!rutgers!comp-dcom-telecom Path: mtuxo!larryc From: larryc@mtuxo.UUCP (XMRH6-L.CHESAL) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: (none) (really Maryland +1 dialing) Summary: more exchanges Message-ID: <1923@mtuxo.UUCP> Date: 23 May 88 21:21:45 GMT References: <8804291646.AA06018@uunet.UU.NET> <2655@umd5.umd.edu> <165@westmark.UUCP> Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Lines: 17 > In article <2655@umd5.umd.edu>, dzoey@UMD5.UMD.EDU (Joe Herman) writes: > ... > > As long as we're strolling down memory lane, does anyone have a > > collection of mnemonics/name that went with exchanges? > > My folks still say "Juniper 8" for the 588 exchange. > I'm amazed I could remember this. From my youth: 374-xxxx ESsex 4 in Newark, NJ (my Grandma's #) 322-xxxx FAnwood 2 in Fanwood, NJ 382-xxxx FUlton 2 in Clark, NJ and from some long forgotten TV commercial (for some reason I think it had to do with upholstery): Call Murray Hill seven seven five hundred, that's MU7-7500 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1988 9:10:10 PDT From: "Anthony E. Siegman" Subject: Phone Company Billing Question What legal relationship exists between me and my local phone company for those charges on my residential phone bill where the local phone company (PacTel in my case) is only acting as "billing agent" (or whatever the appropriate term may be) for services provided not by it but by others? In particular, suppose $2000 in charges for a 976 dial-a-porn number, or some long distance service, suddenly appear on my phone bill (let's leave it undecided whether they're legitimate charges or not); and I refuse to pay. a) So long as I pay my local phone company for any legitimate telephone services which THEY provided (including possibly part of the access to these other services), can they cut off my phone service, or take any other punitive measures, based on my refusal to pay the charges for which they are only the "billing agent"? b) Can they charge, or try to charge, interest on the unpaid portion? c) If answer to either of the above is yes, doesn't this assume some legal relationship between me and them, in which I've agreed to put my phone service at hostage to these other services? When I placed my order with PacTel for >telephone< services, none of these other things existed. When did PacTel and I enter into any legally valid agreement on these broader issues? [Copies of any replies direct to siegman@sierra.stanford.edu (arpa) or w6.c93@stanford (BITNET) would be appreciated; I don't always get to see this bboard.] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 88 13:16:24 PDT From: king@kestrel.ARPA (Dick King) Subject: 2 line wiring I know that the two lines of a phone wire are red/green, and black/yellow. Does the yellow do for line 2 what the red does for line 1, or the green? -dk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 31-May-88 19:45:03-EDT,13828;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 31 May 88 19:45:01-EDT Date: 31 May 88 18:42-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #88 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, May 31, 1988 6:42PM Volume 8, Issue 88 Today's Topics: New AT&T dialable countries Why cellular was restored so fast Re: Submission Various Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) mnemonics AT&T announces new phone systems speaker phones Looking for an answering machine ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 27 May 88 01:14 Subject: New AT&T dialable countries AT&T has added the following direct-dialable countries: 227 Niger 238 Cape Verde 267 Botswana 676 Tonga* 977 Nepal Tonga is a bit strange -- it was originally supposed to go in about two years ago and was cancelled; then it was supposed to go in with the other four and was supposedly cancelled again -- but it works, except via TSPS. Botswana was previously dialable by Sprint, but since Sprint never issued orders to have local operating companies put in the code 267, it was not really dialable for any Sprint customers except those with leased lines into Sprint switches. Now that AT&T has had the code put in, anyone can also call it on Sprint. /john ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 27 May 88 07:10 Subject: Why cellular was restored so fast Although the fact that cellular is a competetive service may have been somewhere in the equation, the real reason cellular service was restored so quickly is two-fold: 1. It allowed IBT to use cellular phones in emergency phone centers to provide temporary service to people whose service had not yet been restored. 2. Cellular service is really easy to restore. The cellular switch for Chicago was not in Hinsdale; all that had to be done to restore cellular service was to reconnect the land-line facilities going through the Hinsdale office which interconnected the cell sites in the area. If there actually was a cell site in Hinsdale, replacing it involved bringing in only about two or three new 19 inch racks, and hooking them up to power, trunk facilities, and the antennas on the roof -- something that can be done in just a few hours. /john ------------------------------ From: uchuck@uncecs.edu (Charles Bennett) Subject: Re: Submission Date: 27 May 88 12:32:15 GMT You are right, the recordings ARE syndicated. I don't remember who they are but, I saw a TV program(PM Mag or some such) where they interviewed the couple. They do most of the recorded messages in the US. Including the Time-and-Temperature stuff. -- -Chuck Bennett- UNC - Chapel Hill 919-966-1134 uchuck@ecsvax.UUCP uchuck@unc.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 88 09:08:54 PDT From: HECTOR MYERSTON Subject: Various This is a reply to various items in Volume 8 Issue 87 o (For Phil Damper re: "The Lady"). The lady in all of the old Bell System announcements is from Atlanta and has surfaced from time to time on talk shows etc. Apparently she is not exclusive as many other vendors such as Voice Mail companies use her as well. o (For Barry Nelson re: "Clicks"). It is not strange that calls from Italy to New York and San Francisco are priced the same since the reverse is also true!. We often find people routing calls over private facilities to get "closer" (ie routing Europe calls from the West Coast to NYC), the cost of International Calls is not dependent on where (in the US) it enters the system. o (For Will Martin re: Auto Answer). The feature works one-way only. You can >answer< the phone by yelling at it, you cannot >initiate< a call that way. Thus background noise etc is a problem only while the call is ringing. Panasonic has the feature on intercom calls on their KSUs and it works OK. o (For John Gruber re:V&H). Calls are priced by a system called CAMA, Centralized Automatic Message Accounting. Private lines are priced by Rate Elements one of which is the IOC or inter-office channel. V&H are used to figure IOC mileage in a straight-forward way (The square root of one tenth the sum of the differences squared). MTS calls, on the other hand, use a more complicated algorithm still based on the V&H but biased towards charging more proportionally for short distances. I am sure it is spelled out in the MTS tariff. I have it in Datapro Reports on Telecom but it is to complicated to detail here. If you can't find it locally let me now. (Report TC23-003-108). +Hector+ ------------------------------ From: mdf@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) Subject: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) Date: 27 May 88 23:48:21 GMT Reply-To: mdf@tut.cis.osu-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) My house was built in the 1920's and was wired for telephone with 3 wires. I can understand two or four, but three? Why? -- Mark D. Freeman (614) 262-1418 Applications Programmer, CompuServe mdf@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu 2440 Medary Avenue ...!cbosgd!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mdf Columbus, OH 43202-3014 Guest account at The Ohio State University ------------------------------ From: cucstud!wb8foz@ames.arc.nasa.gov (David Lesher) Subject: mnemonics Date: 28 May 88 00:35:40 GMT Reply-To: cucstud!wb8foz@ames.arc.nasa.gov (David Lesher,Guest) - - >and from some long forgotten TV commercial (for some reason I think it had >to do with upholstery): Call Murray Hill seven seven five hundred, > that's MU7-7500 Anybody who has lived in Cleveland in the last 30 {?} years will cringe at Garfield One 2323 Garfield One 2323 A friend reported seeing it in graffiti on a men's room wall in Nice. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 May 88 08:47:12 EST From: swlabs!jack@uunet.UU.NET (Jack Bonn) To: uunet!comp-dcom-telecom Path: swlabs!jack From: jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Toll-free zone Message-ID: <1017@swlabs.UUCP> Date: 27 May 88 13:47:09 GMT References: <8805270503.AA05256@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) Organization: Software Labs, Ltd., Easton, CT Lines: 38 In article <8805270503.AA05256@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU> bnelson@CCB.BBN.COM ("Barry C. Nelson") writes: >It may not have been exactly "toll-free", but in Italy (and many other places, >I'm sure), there is ONLY measured service which is accomplished with mechanical >counters. They count clicks, the frequency of which goes up with the distance >(non-linearly). Your monthly bill shows up with a grand total of the clicks >used during the previous month; no number called, no dates, no time-of-day, no >toll-call breakdown. (Great for accounting :-) When I was working on a telephone switch for the European market, I thought that this would be an area where U.S. technology could improve their service the most. Detailed billing (like that we have in the U.S.) would bring the Europeans into the 20th century. We had everything we needed: called number, calling number, answer time, termination time. What a treat. Then I was told that it would never attain popularity. I was told that most of the world was very wary of having records kept of where and when calls were placed by them. They felt that it would invade their privacy to have this record kept _anywhere_ and that this record could not be kept without the possibility of them falling into the wrong hands. By the time I finished thinking about it, I felt that maybe they were right. As a side note, one of the more humorous advances that I heard about in this area had to do with reading the counters that kept track of the meter pulses. I the U.K., the meters are kept in the CO and were read periodically for the purpose of billing. To save effort they had devised a scheme to have a camera traverse the bank of meters in an automatic manner. A picture was taken of each group of 4 counters which were then more easily read by someone working at a desk. Now there's progress. -Jack -- Jack Bonn, <> Software Labs, Ltd, Box 451, Easton CT 06612 uunet!swlabs!jack ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 May 1988 09:23 MDT From: Keith Petersen Subject: AT&T announces new phone systems The following is presented "as-is" for its informational value. Be sure to turn on your "hipe filter" when reading. --Keith Petersen ---cut-here--- AT&T INTRODUCES SEVERAL NEW CONSUMER PRODUCTS PARSIPPANY, N.J. (MAY 26) PRWIRE - AT&T today announced a new phone system for homes and small offices that gives customers features previously available only on more expensive and complex business systems. AT&T also introduced two answering machines, a memory telephone and a typewriter with a new way to correct errors. The new AT&T System 2000 is the first phone system to give customers access to two telephone lines and an intercom throughout a home or office without requiring extensive rewiring of phone outlets or installation of separate control boxes. The two-line system uses a new technology to carry more than one conversation over existing one-line telephone wiring, similar to the way cable television distributes many channels over a single cable. A customer who now has one-line service simply installs a second local telephone company line near an existing phone outlet and plugs the system's master phone into both the old and new lines. The customer can then plug up to five System 2000 extension phones into existing phone outlets to use the intercom and both phone lines throughout the home or office. The suggested retail price for the master phone is $349.95. Extension phones are priced at $219.95 each. The System 2000 will be available at Phone Centers and selected retailers during the second half of 1988. The first of AT&T's two new answering machines, the dual-cassette AT&T 1320, features a digital LED display and enables the owner to call in from any Touch-tone phone to retrieve messages, update the machine's outgoing announcement or change the security code. Model 1320 owners also can give a code to special callers. A caller using a Touch-tone keypad can call, enter the code and cause the machine to beep. This signals the owner that a special call is coming in, even if the machine's speaker volume is turned down and the owner is not listening to incoming calls. If the owner doesn't answer, the caller can leave a message. The suggested price for the AT&T 1320 is $139.95. In a second new answering machine, AT&T used computer chip techology and a microcassette to deliver the efficiency of a two-tape answering device in a very compact machine. The AT&T 1300 answering machine can be turned on from any telephone and automatically stops its greeting and resets if the owner decides to take the call after the machine has answered. It is priced at $79.95. Both machines are available now in AT&T Phone Centers and will be sold by selected retailers later this year. AT&T's new Memory Telephone 530 features a 12-number memory, a hold button an indicator that lights when an extension phone on the same telephone line is in use and other features. All of the features are controlled from the phone's keypad, which is in the handset. It sells for a suggested retail price of $79.95, is available now at AT&T Phone Centers and will be sold by retailers during the second half of 1988. AT&T's Model 6110 electronic typewriter has a one-line memory, an electronic dictionary and a new feature that helps typists make quick and easy corrections. The typewriter sells at AT&T Phone Centers for under $200. =END= ------------------------------ From: smp@pyr.gatech.edu (Scott Pfeffer) Subject: speaker phones Date: 31 May 88 14:06:55 GMT My brother wants to find a full-duplex speaker phone. Actually he wants the speaker part of one of these. He already has a phone and he justs wants to hook up the speaker to it. Can anyone give me info on where to get one, or on a catalog? AdvTHANKSance, Scott -- Scott M. Pfeffer "Juggla Jr." Georgia Institute of Technology ...{bone}!gatech!gitpyr!smp ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 May 88 12:39:09 PDT From: dmr@csli.stanford.edu (Daniel M. Rosenberg) Subject: Looking for an answering machine Reply-To: dmr@csli.stanford.edu (Daniel M. Rosenberg) I'm looking for a relatively cheap answering machine... <= $100, with the following features: o Durability o Small size o It works If you have any recommendations, I'd be awful glad to hear them. Thanks, -- ## Daniel M. Rosenberg /////// CSLI/Stanford //////////////// +1 (415) 323-0389 ## INTERNET: dmr@csli.stanford.edu //////////// UUCP: {ucbvax, decvax}!csli!dmr ## I've my opinions, Stanford theirs. I don't speak for them, nor they for me.# ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 1-Jun-88 21:13:59-EDT,12659;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 1-Jun-88 20:28:09 Date: 1 Jun 88 20:28-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #89 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, June 1, 1988 8:28PM Volume 8, Issue 89 Today's Topics: Intellidial Re: European billing and privacy Re: Hinsdale - Thursday update Re: Three wire lines no 215-976 from Delaware TT charges dropped. Re: Another reason why cellular was restored so fast Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #88 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Intellidial Date: Tue, 31 May 88 21:48:53 -0400 From: Steve Elias a new feature from NYNEX: Intellidial. it's for multi-line residences. it has the following features: call hold call pickup -- pick up calls from the line which is not ringing call transfer -- transfer a caller to another number when you are through intercom -- abbreviated code for in house calls three way calling touch tone service -- wow! optional features: call waiting -- ick call forwarding variable -- the usual call forwarding call forwarding busy -- forwards only when your line is busy call forwarding no answer -- forwards when an incoming call is not answered speed calling 6 the service costs $7 to $10 per line per month, depending which features you select... it's not worth it for me -- call forwarding on one of my two phone numbers does the basic job at 1/8 the cost... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Jun 88 00:15:24 EDT From: johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: European billing and privacy Reply-To: harvard!ima!johnl@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (John R. Levine) In article <8805271347.AA16475@swlabs.UUCP> jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) writes: >Then I was told that [call billing] would never attain popularity. >I was told that >most of the world was very wary of having records kept of where and when >calls were placed by them. They felt that it would invade their privacy >to have this record kept _anywhere_ and that this record could not be kept >without the possibility of them falling into the wrong hands. France Telecom has come up with an interesting compromise. You get an itemized bill, but they leave off the last four digits of each number called. That way you can tell generally where you called and whether the amount charged is right, but not the identity of the party called. By the way, I was surprised to see that you can buy a phone in a retail store in France and take it home and plug it in, just like in the USA except that the French modular plug can be piggybacked one on top of another, and is large and sturdy enough to support ringing current of about 100 amps. Are there any other countries that allow you to use your own terminal equipment? -- John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something Rome fell, Babylon fell, Scarsdale will have its turn. -G. B. Shaw ------------------------------ From: syap@ur-tut.cc.rochester.edu (James Fitzwilliam) Subject: Re: Hinsdale - Thursday update Date: 1 Jun 88 05:38:48 GMT Reply-To: syap@tut.cc.rochester.edu (James Fitzwilliam) In article <12629@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> lanai!gast@seismo.CSS.GOV (David Gast) writes: * *In article <8805121812.1.137@cup.portal.com> Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.COM writes: *> *> [discussion of the fire at IBT]. *>Pagers, beepers, cellular service and similar functions are largely restored *>and the restoration will be complete by the evening of May 15. *> * *It seems to me that order of the restoration of services is slightly *mixed up. Certainly, emergency service should be restored first, but *why should cellular service get priority over regular phone lines? One of the earlier articles on this (fascinating) topic mentioned that in cases of wide service outage the telco often sets up cellular convenience phones in the affected neighborhoods, but that in this case since the cellular service was zapped in the same fire, this was not possible. By restoring cellular service first, IBT can set up emergency phone stations pending full service restoration. Disclaimer: This answer is based on what I've read on the subject, so if I'm completely off target I welcome correction! Another service this fire has interrupted that I haven't seen mentioned is GEnie access in several neighborhoods; alternate numbers are being provided. (My source is "New on GEnie") I assume this also affects CompuServe, The Source, etc. etc. Hopefully this incident will prompt the telcos' insurance carriers to apply pressure to get adequate fire protection installed for the switching centers -- far less expensive than the losses that could occur. James domain: syap@tut.cc.rochester.edu path: rochester!ur-tut!syap "Piano is my forte" (-: GEnie: FITZWILLIAM ======================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Jun 88 08:49:01 EDT From: prindle@nadc.arpa (Frank Prindle) Subject: Re: Three wire lines Many homes are wired with 3-wire cable. This supports a single phone line with 2-party service. The third wire is connected to ground (earth) and serves two functions: it is the return path for ringing current for both parties, and a fixed resistance from tip to ground (when the phone goes off- hook) is used by the CO equipment to identify one party (i.e. the "tip" party) for billing purposes. Such a line requires a phone modified for tip or ring party connection (rearrangement of the ringer connections and use of an additional hookswitch contact pair). Needless to say, this is virtually impossible with any phone except the old AT&T 500s and 2500s and their equivalents. Modular cables for today's single line phones don't even carry the third wire through to the phone! Plugging a new phone into a ring party jack might just work, but in a tip party jack, it will likely bill calls to the wrong party if they go through at all. This service is no longer offered by most LOCs, but customers who have kept the service through the years must be permitted to retain it (it is charged at a flat rate for local calling, usually several dollars a month cheaper than individual line flat rate). Due to the sparsity of the remaining 2-party line service in major cities, most such lines are, it reality, private lines. It is less of a bargain in light of the fact that only a very limited number of phones can be made to work with it. There is generally no service charge if a customer willingly wants to do away with it; the LOC will gladly switch you to private service, but you are on your own to rewire (or toss) the phones. The three-wire house wiring will remain behind for centuries to confuse all but the dedicated phone historians. Four-wire wiring became the rule much later (probably in the late 50s and early 60s) when lighted phones started to appear ("It's little, it's lovely, and it lights!"). Sincerely, Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa [thanks to Patrick Thompson of Cup.portal.com and Rich Wales of UCLA for submitting similar responses to this question. --jsol] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Jun 88 10:35:22 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: no 215-976 from Delaware I just attempted a call from Delaware to 215-976-xxxx and got a recording saying that such calls are permanently blocked! ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!shuksan!evans@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Gary Evans) Subject: TT charges dropped. Date: 27 May 88 20:02:49 GMT NOTE: This is note Gary! This Roger Swann using Gary's system to post since my system (ssc-vax) has an 'inews' problem right now. Messages to me can be e-mailed to the address below. In my latest bill from Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB), there was a note explaining a change in the tariffs covering Touch Tone service for all customers in Washington State. That being the removal of the 50 cent charge for Tone service. This reduction also includes the special service packages, (serveral features bundled for one price). The notice inferred that the tone feature would now be active by default on all phone lines...(save those few where tone service is not yet available). The notice also inferred that it was the BOC that instigated the change, but I wonder if it wasn't really the state Utilities Commission that forced the new tariff? I am also waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since this change will mean a BIG drop in revenue for PNB, they will surely try to recoup it in some other area... What is the norm in the rest of the land? Bell, GTE, others Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ From: gatech!ihnp4!ihlpf!jjs@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Sowa) Subject: Re: Another reason why cellular was restored so fast Date: 1 Jun 88 13:45:50 GMT Reply-To: gatech!ihlpf!jjs@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (54442-Sowa,J.J.) In article <8805271115.AA08520@decwrl.dec.com> covert@covert.DEC.COM (John R. Covert) writes: >Although the fact that cellular is a competetive service may have been >somewhere in the equation, the real reason cellular service was restored >so quickly is two-fold: > >1. It allowed IBT to use cellular phones in emergency phone centers to > provide temporary service to people whose service had not yet been > restored. > >2. Cellular service is really easy to restore. The cellular switch > for Chicago was not in Hinsdale; all that had to be done to restore > cellular service was to reconnect the land-line facilities going through > the Hinsdale office which interconnected the cell sites in the area. If > there actually was a cell site in Hinsdale, replacing it involved bringing > in only about two or three new 19 inch racks, and hooking them up to > power, trunk facilities, and the antennas on the roof -- something that > can be done in just a few hours. > >/john 1. The Hinsdale, Illinois Office (does/normally should have) provided distribution services to both the wireline and non-wireline cellular providers. Even though from the location of the MTSO the wireline office was hit harder. 2. The Ameritech Mobile Hinsdale cell site was reconfigured to provide service to the outage area. Cellular is used also by emergency services not only for the business class. Restoration service was enhanced by site personal having the ability to communicate with distribution services. 3. Evan Richards, the Illinois Bell Telephone representative handling the disaster recovery for the Hinsdale office, recently lateraled from Ameritech Mobile Communications Inc. to the IBT side of the Ameritech Corporation. 4. The level of service provided to cellular was not initially at normal high quality since it was only patched also. It is also easier to patch one or two light guide cables and get service restored faster then having to engineer, ship, install, test, and cutover new frames. Jim ------------------------------ Date: 1 Jun 88 15:44:52 PDT (Wednesday) From: Thompson.PA@Xerox.COM Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #88 Re: ---------------------------------------------------------------- >Subject: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) >Date: 27 May 88 23:48:21 GMT >Reply-To: mdf@tut.cis.osu-state.edu (Mark D. Freeman) >My house was built in the 1920's and was wired for telephone with 3 >wires. I can understand two or four, but three? Why? The three wire are TIP, RING and GROUND (or SLEEVE in the CO). In a residence phone with multi-party service it was used to split the ringing circuit. For two party service they would ring from either TIP or RING to GROUND. The conversation took place across TIP and RING. Geoff Geoffrey O. Thompson Xerox Corporation 475 Oakmead Parkway Sunnyvale, CA 94086 U.S.A Telephone: (408) 737-4690 ARPA Mail: Thompson.OSBUNorth@Xerox.COM ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 3-Jun-88 23:53:16-EDT,11692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 3 Jun 88 23:53:14-EDT Date: 3 Jun 88 22:33-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #90 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, June 3, 1988 10:33PM Volume 8, Issue 90 Today's Topics: Looking for old autodialer taking photographs of meters Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Local phone booth invaded by COCOT! talk lines through Allnet Re: TT charges dropped. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: r-michael@cup.portal.com Subject: Looking for old autodialer Date: Thu Jun 2 02:05:03 1988 I am wondering if anybody has any leads on where I can get an old autodialer. It is a "Strategy", and was made by Technology Applications Corp. out of Mountain View, Calif. (silicon valley). Looking up that company shows no listing, and I was told they were out of business. Does anyone know otherwise??? This was a very unique autodialer in which it held 60 numbers, and each memory location was fully programmable to execute a given set of commands, which included Bell AND OCC dial tone detection, busy tone detection (all 3 within 10 to 20 milliseconds), loops to other memory locations, 1/2 and 1 second delays, flash and disconnect comands, and others I cannot think of at this time. I was the proud owner of one, but it died an early (I hope) death. Since I cannot find the company, I would hope to find another one in working condition. Anyone who owns one of these knows how good they are, and might have bought a spare that they never had the need for, and might want to find a new home for. Of course, I only have one use for the autodialer. It is perfectly suited for radio contests, which I have used my dear, departed old dialer for until it's untimely demise. If you can give me any leads, I would very much appreciate it. Please write: r-michael@cup.portal.com r-michael@portal.UUCP r-michael%cup.portal.com@sun.com or bang your way to: {uunet, ucbvax, sun}!portal!cup.portal.com!r-michael or snail mail to: Robert M. Gutierrez MCI Trouble Reporting Center 274 Brannan St., 6th Floor San Francisco, CA. 94107 Thanks for your help in advance. Robert Michael..... (P.S...I do read this column/news every day, if your mailer chokes on my address.) ------------------------------ From: mcvax!cwi.nl!dfk@uunet.UU.NET (Daniel Karrenberg) Subject: taking photographs of meters Date: 2 Jun 88 15:52:06 GMT In article <8805271347.AA16475@swlabs.UUCP> jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) writes: >.... >I the U.K., the meters are kept in the CO and were read periodically for the >purpose of billing. To save effort they had devised a scheme to have a >camera traverse the bank of meters in an automatic manner. A picture was >taken of each group of 4 counters which were then more easily read by >someone working at a desk. > >Now there's progress. In Germany the (mechanical) meters in the CO are grouped in square blocks of about 20x20. They have "handheld" cameras with a tubus (english?) that exactly fits over one such block. The reason for taking the pictures is not only to read them at a desk but also to have some tangible proof in case of transcription errors. And yes, that technology is still in widespread use. -- Daniel Karrenberg Future Net: CWI, Amsterdam Oldie Net: mcvax!dfk The Netherlands Because It's There Net: DFK@MCVAX ------------------------------ From: umix!teemc!uucp@uunet.UU.NET Date: 2 Jun 88 19:05:53 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: teemc!mibte!jbh From: jbh@mibte.UUCP (James Harvey) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: How are V&H Coordinates Computed, Who Computes Them? Summary: Here is a solution... Keywords: V&H Coordinates Message-ID: <2608@mibte.UUCP> Date: 2 Jun 88 17:33:06 GMT References: <2310@bgsuvax.UUCP> Organization: Michigan Bell Telephone Company Lines: 114 In article <2310@bgsuvax.UUCP>, gruber@bgsuvax.UUCP (John Gruber) writes: > > I know where to find the official V&H coordinates, used to compute mileage > for long-distance calls to calculate their price. > > I would like to know who calculates these, and more to the point, what > equations are used to set the V&H coordinates from the location of the > NNX, presumably expressed by longitude and latitude. How are the V&H > coordinates computed for calls spanning less than 40 miles? > > Can anyone help? Can anyone suggest a source of information? > > John Gruber tut!bgsuvax!gruber gruber%andy@relay.cs.net (419) 372-2911 > -- > John Gruber > University Computer Services UUCP:..!cbosgd!osu-eddie!bgsuvax!gruber > Bowling Green State University CSNET: gruber%bgsu@csnet-relay > Bowling Green, OH 43403-0125 Offered without warrenty of any kind: Here is a short FORTRAN program that we used for years to do the calculations. The input is in Latitude and Longitude, the output in V&H. There is a lot of double precision as you are doing spherical trig over small angles. I have been unable to get this to compile on our UNIX Pyramid machine. It says "Bad Magic Number" whatever that is. * * V AND H CONVERTER PROGRAM * IMPLICIT REAL*8 (A-Z) DIMENSION LL(2),VH(2) INTEGER*4 IVH(2) DATA YES/1HY/,ANS/1H / WRITE(5,100) 100 FORMAT('0 THIS PROGRAM CALCULATES V-H COORDINATES FROM ', & 'LATITUDE/LONGITUDES.'/' ENTER ALL LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES', & ' IN THE FOLLOWING MANNNER:'/' DDD,MM,SS'/) 200 WRITE(5,300) 300 FORMAT(' LATITUDE ? ',$) READ(5,400)LADEG,LAMIN,LASEC 400 FORMAT(3F) WRITE(5,500) 500 FORMAT(' LONGITUDE ? ',$) READ(5,400)LODEG,LOMIN,LOSEC LL(1)=LADEG+LAMIN/60.+LASEC/3600. LL(2)=LODEG+LOMIN/60.+LOSEC/3600. CALL LLVH(LL,VH) IVH(1)=VH(1)+.5 IVH(2)=VH(2)+.5 WRITE(5,600)LADEG,LAMIN,LASEC,LODEG,LOMIN,LOSEC 600 FORMAT(' FOR LATITUDE ',F5.1,' DEG ',F4.1,' MIN ',F4.1,' SEC', & /' & LONGITUDE ',F5.1,' DEG ',F4.1,' MIN ',F4.1,' SEC') WRITE(5,700)IVH(1),IVH(2) 700 FORMAT('0 V-H COORDINATES ARE: V- ',I4,' H- ',I4) WRITE(5,800) 800 FORMAT('0 CONTINUE? (Y/N) ',$) READ(5,900)ANS 900 FORMAT(A1) IF(ANS.EQ.YES)GO TO 200 STOP END * * SUBROUTINE TO DO THE ACTUAL LAT + LONG TO V AND H CONVERSION * SUBROUTINE LLVH(LL,VH) IMPLICIT REAL*8 (A-Z) DIMENSION LL(2),VH(2),AI(5),BI(7) DATA DEGRAD/.0174532925199432958D0/, & EX,EY,EZ/.40426992D0,.68210848D0,.60933887D0/, & WX,WY,WZ/.65517646D0,.3773379D0,.6544921D0/, & PX,PY,PZ/-.555977821730048699D0,-.345728488161089920D0, & .755883902605524030D0/, & RADIUS,ROTC,ROTS/12481.103D0,.23179040D0,.97276575D0/, & TRANSV,TRANSH/6363.235D0,2250.7D0/, & GX,GY/.216507961908834992D0,-.134633014879368199D0/, & A/.151646645621077297D0/, & Q,Q2/-.294355056616412800D0,.0866448993556515751D0/, & AI/.9943549D0,.00336523D0,-.00065596D0,.00005606D0,-.00000188D0/, & BI/1.00567724920722457D0,-.00344230425560210245D0, & .000713971534527667990D0,-.0000777240053499279217D0, & .00000673180367053244284D0,-.000000742595338885741395D0, & .0000000905058919926194134D0/ LAT=DEGRAD*LL(1) LAT2=LAT**2 LAT=(AI(1)+(AI(2)+(AI(3)+(AI(4)+AI(5)*LAT2)*LAT2)*LAT2)*LAT2)*LAT LONG=DEGRAD*(LL(2)-52.D0) X=DCOS(LAT)*DSIN(LONG) Y=DCOS(LAT)*DCOS(LONG) Z=DSIN(LAT) E=(EX*X+EY*Y+EZ*Z) W=(WX*X+WY*Y+WZ*Z) IF(E.GT.1)E=1 IF(W.GT.1)W=1 E=DBLE(ACOS(SNGL(E))) W=DBLE(ACOS(SNGL(W))) HHAT=(E**2.0-W**2.0+0.16D0)/0.8D0 VHAT=DSIGN(DSQRT(DABS(E**2-HHAT**2)),(PX*X+PY*Y+PZ*Z)) VH(1)=TRANSV+RADIUS*(ROTC*HHAT-ROTS*VHAT) VH(2)=TRANSH+RADIUS*(ROTS*HHAT+ROTC*VHAT) RETURN END -- Jim Harvey | "Ask not for whom the bell Michigan Bell Telephone | tolls and you will only pay 29777 Telegraph | Station-to-Station rates." Southfield, Mich. 48034 | ihnp4!mibte!jbh or try ulysses!gamma!mibte!jbh ------------------------------ Date: Thu 2 Jun 88 23:35:40-EDT From: Philip A. Earnhardt Subject: Local phone booth invaded by COCOT! Well, the neighborhood telephone booth was just converted from a NE Tel phone to a COCOT. I fail to understand how such conversions could possibly serve the public interest. COCOTS could marginally be useful in a place where there had been no pay phone, but converting an existing location is a total loss. Why aren't the Bell operating companies fighting these beasties? Are there any local regulatory commissions that are stomping on COCOTS? Is there any possibility of expunging the planet of these devices? Who should I be writing to? --phil ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: talk lines through Allnet Date: Thu Jun 2 21:24:28 1988 Locally there are commercials airing for two talk lines that give their numbers as 1-0-444-1-700-975-TEEN and 1-0-444-1-700-975-GABB. Yes, they advertise the entire string for using Allnet's secondary carrier code. Presumably, someone with Allnet for 1+ service could start with 1-700-. I'm not about to shell out to try them, so I don't know what would happen if one tried to reach them through any other carrier, nor can I say whether people with established Allnet accounts would see the charges on the Allnet bill or the bill from the LOC. "Locally" means WFLD-TV, channel 32, the Fox affiliate in Chicago. ------------------------------ From: gatech!ihnp4!ihlpf!lyourk@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Loran N. Yourk) Subject: Re: TT charges dropped. Date: 3 Jun 88 23:14:51 GMT ] ] ] In my latest bill from Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB), there was a note ] explaining a change in the tariffs covering Touch Tone service for ] all customers in Washington State. That being the removal of the 50 ] cent charge for Tone service. ...... ] ] The notice also inferred that it was the BOC that instigated the ] change, but I wonder if it wasn't really the state Utilities ] Commission that forced the new tariff? TT service costs the TELCOs less than pulse dialing. The main reason for this is the time to dial is less with TT and less dialing times means less digit receivers meaning less cost. Nearly all of the digit receivers purchased by the TELCOs the past few years have the capability to receive both TT & pulse digits; the TELCOs have to restrict a line from being able to take advantage of TT. (this applies to non electro-mechanical central offices). How long it takes other TELCOs to do drop charges for TT remains to be seen. ] Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark Loran Yourk ihnp4!ihlpf!lyourk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 4-Jun-88 14:54:18-EDT,19197;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 4 Jun 88 14:54:16-EDT Date: 4 Jun 88 13:46-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #91 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, June 4, 1988 1:46PM Volume 8, Issue 91 Today's Topics: Washington metro local calling -- from Greg Monti at NatPubRadio 900/950/550 codes -- from Greg Monti at NPR Prefix Assignment -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio Exchange names -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 3 Jun 88 10:04 Subject: Washington metro local calling -- from Greg Monti at NatPubRadio > Date: Sun, 15 May 88 0:30:31 EDT > From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) > Subject: proposed rate cut in western Fairfax Co., Va. > > Washington Post, Sept. 16, 1987, page B7 had an article where it > was proposed to replace the tolls from western Fairfax County, > Virginia, to Md. suburbs of Washington DC with a small flat surcharge > on one's phone bill. A specific prefix mentioned was 378 (this is > Chantilly--lumped in with Herndon--in 703 area). It was noted there > would be objections from Maryland, where it is a toll call from > Gaithersburg to northern Va. Another Post Monday "Washington Business" section article in November 1987 noted that the Virginia Corporation Commission had approved a "telephone democracy" plan to settle the matter. The gist of the story is that subscribers to C&P exchanges in Northern Virginia which are outside the Washington Metro area but inside the local calling area to DC would eventually receive ballots in the mail from C&P. They would be asked whether they would like to join the Washington Metropolitan exchange area. If they joined, their flat-rate local phone service bill would increase by some nominal amount (50 cents or $1 a month, I think). In return, about 1 million phone numbers in suburban Maryland areas which are part of the Washington Metro would be added to their local calling areas and would no longer be long distance. Presumably, dialing would be reduced from 11 digits to 7 which is technically possible since there are no prefix duplications (did they see this coming?). There's one catch: voting would be tallied by prefix. If a majority of the existing customers in your prefix voted to go Metro the whole prefix would go, whether you liked it or not. If the majority voted against joining the Metro, the whole prefix would stay non-Metro whether you liked it or not. Presumably, you could change your phone number for the usual charge if you didn't like the results in your prefix. It was unclear from the story how, if at all, non-responses might be counted. The involved prefixes are: Herndon Zone (Herndon, Sterling Park and Fox Mill CO's): 263, 378, 391, 430, 435, 437, 444, 476, 481, 689, 826, 860. Braddock Zone: 239, 250, 266, 278, 830. Engleside Zone: 339, 440, 455, 781. There are three other prefixes (Dulles 260, 661 and Lorton 690) which are local to DC but not in the Metro which are NOT affected by this since they are Contel-controlled prefixes and this is a C&P proposal. Many customers in these zones already have Metro numbers by paying Foreign Exchange charges to connect to the nearest Metro CO. Special prefixes were often set up to handle this: Herndon prefixes with Fairfax-Vienna Zone local calling area: 264, 450, 471, 478, 620, 648. Braddock prefixes with Fairfax-Vienna Zone local calling area: 631, 968. Engleside prefixes with Falls Church-McLean local calling area: no special prefixes set aside, but use 451, 569, 644, 866. Engleside prefix with Arlington-Alexandria Zone local calling area: 550. Engleside prefixes with Arlington-Alexandria Zone local calling area: no special prefixes set aside but use 355, 360, 660, 664, 765, 768, 780, 799. What exactly happens to the people paying FX charges? Do they continue paying FX charges (which I'm sure are more than $1 a month) to get basically what their neighbors are getting for 50 cents or $1? Are they forced to change their phone numbers to one of the newly-voted-in prefixes to enjoy the 50 cents or $1 monthly rate? Or are the FX charges reduced to the level of the 50 cents or $1 which the voted-in people are paying? Presumably, folks in the three affected zones would continue to enjoy the same local calling area in the opposite direction (away from DC) that they enjoy now. This means that the local calling area from Herndon would extend from Leesburg, VA, to the west to Bowie, MD, to the east, a distance of about 49 miles end to end, rivaling the Atlanta calling area previously reported. I haven't heard of any voting results yet but trying to dial suburban Maryland from a C&P 830 pay phone gives "cannot be completed as dialed" indicating no change yet. This is not the first time Virginia has allowed (or encouraged) voting by prefix to influence your phone rate structure. The previous time was also in 1987, when Contel customers in Prince William County could vote on whether their prefix would, for a fee of 50 to 80 cents (I think) per month get cut-rate long distance within Northern Virginia. (Most Contel prefixes are long distance from most C&P prefixes.) A 10-minute weekday daytime call from Dale City to Arlington, currently costing about $3.00, would cost 39 cents under the new plan. Presumably, the reverse (from C&P to Contel) would also be true, but the Post story explaining this one didn't say. I don't know what the results of the voting were. Here's the Gaithersburg part of the story: only a minority of those living outside the Metro in Northern Virginia have elected to pay FX charges to have Metro numbers. In Gaithersburg, MD, which is also just one zone outside the Metro and is local to DC, the situation is reversed. There are 8 local prefixes in the Gaithersburg Zone and ELEVEN additional FX prefixes for people in Gaithersburg who have Metro numbers. It looks like, if voting were to occur here, there'd be a substantial groundswell of support for going Metro. About 5 years ago an eccentric Maryland State Delegate (Mr. Robin Ficker) who apparently lives in the Gaithersburg Zone tried to cajole C&P Telephone into making Gaithersburg part of the Met. C&P's response, in those days before dereg, was that "even if we charge you more by expanding your local calling area, that's only half the story. People in Maryland exchanges south of DC and in Virginia exchanges would also have _you_ added to _their_ local calling areas. Should we force them to pay extra, too, when you were the only one asking for it?" Gaithersburg was never added to the Metro. Now that Virginia has set a precedent by allowing voting, maybe C&P-Maryland and Maryland regulators will have changes of heart. There are two other zones in Maryland which fit the general description of being local to DC but outside the Washington Metro: Ashton (east of Gaithersburg) and Laurel (east of Ashton). If both of these join the Metro sometime in the future, there'd be local prefix duplication across area code boundaries, a bridge to cross when one comes to it. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 3 Jun 88 10:08 Subject: 900/950/550 codes -- from Greg Monti at NPR > Date: 19-MAY-1988 03:18:14.69 > From: Douglas Scott Reuben > MIT.EDU> > Subject: re: Mass 550 numbers > > In response to Dan Watson's question(s) in Digest #73 about > Mass. 550 numbers, yes, in New York we have the same system. > NY Tel recently renumbered a lot of these services. Previously, there > were some interactive 976 numbers, as well as the standard recordings, and > "premium" 976 numbers that charged rather high rates (like San Francisco > has). [Edited for brevity.] > New York Tel is now changing the services over to the "new" numbering > scheme: > 976 - General recordings, Weather, Time, sports > 970 - Premium services, pornographic, objectionable> > 540 - Interactive services > 550 - Chat lines, billed at $.20 for the first minute, and $.10 > each additional > 900 Svc- These are the hardest to understand. I though 900 numbers > were national numbers... > > Now, in New York and New Jersey, there are two 900 > "exchanges", 909 and 999...Some of these servies even > charge you a "toll" if you are near them... > > Any corrections/additions/deltetions/etc. are greatly > appreciated, as always.... > > -Doug You seem to be confusing prefixes with area codes. 976, 970, 540, 550 are prefixes, dialed as ordinary 7-digit local calls. 900 is an area code, part of a 10- or 11-digit number. 900 numbers don't have any "location" so they can't be "near" anything. They're charged in a toll-like manner (by the minute) with only one set of rates from anywhere. It IS possible for 900 and 909 to be prefixes in areas which allow use of 1 or 0 as the center digit of prefixes. The two are easily distinguished, with 900 prefixed calls dialed locally as 900-XXXX and from elsewhere as (1)NPA-900-XXXX. 900 area code calls would be (1)900-NXX-XXXX from EVERYWHERE. I believe all 900 area code numbers are controlled and billed by AT&T, not by any local operating company. Oh, by the way, AT&T has stopped carrying inter-LATA calls to 976 and 970 prefixes. They may be the last long distance company to have done so. Previously, not only did AT&T allow these calls to go through, they only charged you for a direct-dial call to the called city and did not pass on the premium charge of the 976 provider to you. I could call NYC sportsphone for 1 minute for .19 from Virginia after 11PM while a local caller in NYC would pay .50 or whatever the charge is. Greg Monti, National Public Radio, 2025 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 +1 (202) 822-2459 ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 3 Jun 88 10:10 Subject: Prefix Assignment -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio How are prefixes assigned as an area code grows? Area Codes were assigned nationally by evaluating the time it took to dial digits on a rotary phone and assigning the most commonly dialed area "low numbered" digit combinations. Are prefixes assigned the same way? A "time value" number could be calculated as the sum of the three digits in the prefix (with zero counting as ten). The quickest to dial prefix (without N1X/N0X) is 221, with a time value of 5 (2+2+1). The one that takes the longest to dial is 999 (value 27). With N1X/N0X prefixes allowed, the shortest one is 211 (4) and the longest 900 (29). Here in Virginia, the shortest to dial prefix, 221, serves Triangle, a small town 40 miles south of Washington. Meanwhile, the busy Barcroft office, serving parts of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County, is stuck with 998, among others. Sometimes, things are done logically. At Dulles Airport, which always had 661 as its only prefix since its inception, recently got its second prefix, 260, a low number numerically, but with a higher time value (18) than its predecessor (13). I assume BellCore assigns prefixes, even to non-Bell operating companies since there'd be bedlam otherwise. Do they discriminate and give prefixes with zeros in them to non-Bell companies? In Northern Virginia, Contel has 22 prefixes in its service area, 7 of which end with a 0 (32%). If things were truly random, only 10% of prefixes would end with a zero. SPECIAL PREFIXES: In most area codes, there are special prefixes set aside for either internal phone company uses or for special services, some of which probably haven't been invented yet: 976, 970: mass announcement 974: business office 954: repair service 958: reserved but unused most places, reads your number back in NY area 959: reserved but unused 950: slightly hacky long distance company access There are also the high-volume prefixes for radio station contests and such, but they're different in every area code. How did AT&T, which laid these out before divestiture, know that there'd be specialized services and how many there'd be so they'd know how many prefixes to set aside? Lucky guess? There must be a lot of power to the set-aside. If an area code fills up, it's split rather than using these prefixes for ordinary phone numbers. Greg Monti, National Public Radio, Washington, DC +1 (202) 822-2459 ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 3 Jun 88 10:11 Subject: Exchange names -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio What prefixes stood for: Area Code 301 (Maryland): Rockville GArden 4 = GA4 = 424 Rockville POplar 2 = PO2 = 762 which, ironically, could have been... ROCkville = ROckville 2 = RO2 = 762 Capitol Heights PENnsylvania = PEnnsylvania 6 = PE6 = 736 (735 also exists in this CO) [Pennsylvania Avenue runs near or through here.] Annapolis ANNapolis = ANnapolis 6 = AN6 = 266 (263?, 267, 268 also exist in this CO) (261 is the FX for those who want metro Washington number) (269 is the FX for those who want metro Baltimore number) Area Code 202 (District of Columbia): Woodley EMErson = EMerson 3 = EM3 = 363 (362, 364 also exist in this CO) Woodley WOOdley = WOodley 6 = WO6 = 966 Woodley KEllogg 7 = KE7 = 537 Georgetown FEDeral = FEderal 3 = FE3 = 333 (337, 338 also exist in this CO) Midtown FEderal 1 = FE1 = 331 Lincoln LINcoln = LIncoln 6 = LI6 = 546 (543, 544, 547 also exist in this CO) [Capitol Hill area near Lincoln Park.] Downtown ST3 = 783 (don't know what the word was) (785 added later) Downtown METropolitan = MEtropolitan 8 = ME8 = 638 (637 also exists in this CO) Downtown EXEcutive = EXecutive 3 = EX3 = 393 (395 is in the same neighborhood and serves the Old Executive Office Building near the White House but is part of Federal Telecom System, not technically in a C&P CO) Downtown TIme 4 = TI4 = 844 [time of day] Downtown WEather 6 = WE6 = 936 Dupont DUPont = DUpont 7 = DU7 = 387 Dupont COLumbia = COlumbia 5 = CO5 = 265 Dupont ADAms = ADams 2 = AD2 = 232 (234 also exists in this CO) Dupont MORgan = MOrgan 7 = MO7 = 667 (666 also exists in this CO) Dupont HOBart = HObart 2 = HO2 = 462 [The Dupont exchange includes the Adams Morgan neighborhood which includes Columbia Road and Hobart Street as major drags.] Georgia PARk = PArk 7 = PA7 = 727 (722, 723, 724, 728? also exist in this CO) Far Southwest JO1 = 561 (don't know what the word was) (562, 563 also exist in this CO) Area Code 703 (Northern and Western Virginia): Arlington ARlington 6 = AR6 = 276 Arlington JACkson = JAckson 2 = JA2 = 522 (524, 525, 527, 528 also exist in this CO) (521 exists in Arlington, but in the Columbia Pike CO) Falls Church JEFferson = JEfferson 3 = JE3 = 533 (532, 534, 536, 538 also exist in this CO) Old Town KIng 8 = KI8 = 548 (549 also exists in this CO) [King Street is a major drag.] Old Town OV3 = 683 (don't know the word for this one) (684 also exists in this CO) (685 exists in an adjacent CO, Columbia Pike in Arlington) Herndon HERndon = HErndon 7 = HE7 = 437 (435 also exists in this CO) Lorton OX0 = 690 (This one's just a guess.) [Ox Road is main drag.] Orange ORAnge = ORange 2 = OR2 = 672 Lewinsville TYsons 3 = TY3 = 893 [Tysons Corner area.] Fredericksburg FREdericksburg = FRedericksburg 3 = FR3 = 373 (371, too) Area Code 516 (Long Island, New York): Glen Cove ORiole 1 = OR1 = 671 (674, 676 also exist in this CO) Oyster Bay WAlnut 2 = WA2 = 922 (921 is in adjacent CO, Syosset) Bayville Originally "Twin Harbors 5" which was a manual exchange not having a directly translatable digit combination; when the automated CO (served to this day out of Oyster Bay with a hardwire pair running from the next town to each of the 4,000 or so phones in Bayville) opened in 1960, it became NA8 = 628 but had no word associated with the "NA". (624 now also exists in Oyster Bay) Hempstead IVanhoe 5 = IV5 = 485 (and several other 48's) Babylon MOhawk 1 = MO1 = 661 (and several other 66's) Massapequa LIncoln 1 = LI1 = 541 (and at least one other 54) Massapequa PYramid 8 = PY8 = 798 (and 795, 799) Merrick/Freeport FReeport 8 = FR8 = 378 (379 too) Merrick/Freeport MAin 3 = MA3 = 623 Lynbrook LYnbrook 9 = LY9 = 599 Area Code 718 (part of NY City): Bayside BAYside = BAyside 9 = 229 (and several other 22's) Bayside HA8 = 428 (don't know what the word was although HAvermeyer was used in at least some areas of Queens) Astoria AStoria 8 = AS8 = 278 (and other 27's) I'm sure more will spring to mind eventually. Some older cities like New York and Philadelphia were the last to get rid of the old letters or words. There are still some businesses in Philadelphia who publish stationery, business cards and billboard signs with 2-letter, 5-digit phone numbers. Such artifacts are extremely rare (and old-looking) here in the Washington area. Here's a question: when did the last place that did it switch to 7-digit local phone numbers? I think NY City did it in 1946 (from 6 digits). My hometown, Bayville, listed above went right from a manual exchange to 7 digits in 1960. Washington DC did it in 1960 (from 6 digits). [MEtropolitan-1234 became MEtropolitan 8-1234 with the "T" converted to its equivalent "8" to make the translation easy for Joe Average to remember.] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 4-Jun-88 16:53:31-EDT,13509;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 4 Jun 88 16:53:29-EDT Date: 4 Jun 88 15:50-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #92 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, June 4, 1988 3:50PM Volume 8, Issue 92 Today's Topics: Re: Three wire lines Re: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) Re: TT charges dropped. Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #88 Multi-Line BBS on a Mac][... Intellidial = Starline (IBT) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Three wire lines Date: 4 Jun 88 03:57:17 GMT In article <8806011249.AA04333@NADC.ARPA>, prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle) writes: > if a customer willingly wants to do away with it; the LOC will gladly switch > you to private service, but you are on your own to rewire (or toss) the phones. > Actually, when the CO applies ringing between tip and ground, it also applies ground to the ring side of the loop, thus applying a dead short accross the ringer that is not supposed to be ringing. Similarly, the tip side is grounded when the `ring party' is being alerted. A useful by-product of this is that a standard phone wired for `bridged ringing' will ring correctly when either the tip party or the ring party is rung on a two-party line. If your phone is arranged for ring party ringing, it will work correctly with private line bridged ringing, as the tip side of the line is normally at ground potential anyway. My local telephone book (from NJ Bell) indicates that customers with two-party lines are not provided modular jacks, and may not purchase their own telephone instruments! This exception to the usual equipment rules results from the opportunity for toll-fraud that results when the tip party's phone is not wired for tip party identification. NJ Bell also states that two-party is a `closed service' which means that existing customers may keep it, but no new two-party service is offered. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) Date: 4 Jun 88 03:43:48 GMT In article <14528@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, mdf@TUT.CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (Mark D. Freeman) writes: > > My house was built in the 1920's and was wired for telephone with 3 > wires. I can understand two or four, but three? Why? In those days, two-party telephone lines were common. Your phone and someone else's phone shared a pair of tip/ring wires. Only one of you could actually use the line at a time. For incoming calls, one of your numbers caused ringing to be applied between tip and ground. The other number caused ringing to be applied between ring and ground. The bells in your phones were wired between the appropriate side of the line and ground. Thus you need three wires to each set: tip, ring, and ground. The third wire (usually colored yellow) was probably connected to the ground terminal of your protector. For outgoing calls, the party who rings tip to ground was wired so that when the set is off hook, one coil of the set ringer was connected between tip and ground, without the usual blocking capacitor in series. This high-impedence, low-resistance ground on the tip side of the line could be detected by the central office for originating party identification. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: TT charges dropped. Date: 4 Jun 88 04:03:15 GMT In article <792@shuksan.UUCP>, evans@shuksan.UUCP (Gary Evans) writes: > In my latest bill from Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB), there was a note > explaining a change in the tariffs covering Touch Tone service for > all customers in Washington State. That being the removal of the 50 > cent charge for Tone service. ... > I am also waiting for the other shoe to drop. Since this change will > mean a BIG drop in revenue for PNB, they will surely try to recoup > it in some other area... It may, in deed, mean a drop in revenue, but it may not mean a drop in operating profit. If everybody uses touchtone, the total originating register occupancy drops drastically, from ~20 seconds per call to ~6 seconds per call average. If they can handle more calls with the same equipment, or handle the current traffic load with less equipment, they save. Encouraging touchtone availability also encourages the use of value-added services that require end-to-end signalling, and these services generate revenue. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #88 Date: 4 Jun 88 04:07:17 GMT In article <880601-154524-5927@Xerox>, Thompson.PA@XEROX.COM writes: > >Subject: Three wire lines (was 2 line wiring) ... > The three wire are TIP, RING and GROUND (or SLEEVE in the CO)... Ground and Sleeve are not equivalent. Sleeve is used to mark a line as being busy. It is grounded sometimes. Ground, on the other hand, is always grounded, and (as the original poster reported) is used to selectively ring the parties on a two-party line. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: noao.arizona.edu!djnowak%iseesun.UUCP@oddjob.uchicago.edu (David Nowak) Subject: Multi-Line BBS on a Mac][... Date: 4 Jun 88 03:10:40 GMT A friend of mine, Bud Grove, runs a BBS which he hosts on a Macintosh][. He is currently running Red Ryder Host, a commonly used telecom program for this purpose. Bud's BBS, called the Hughes Aircraft Co. BBS, has hundreds of people from all around the world uploading software to it and using the mail service it provides. Bud is looking for some way to expand the number of input ports on his Mac][ and is even willing to consider using a different software package, if need be. Anyone out there have any ideas of what Bud can do to upgrade his BBS to give it multiple phone line access with multiuser capability? I will summarize all responses on the net. Dave Nowak djnowak@iseesun.DPL.SCG.HAC.COM ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Intellidial = Starline (IBT) Date: Thu Jun 2 17:38:19 1988 Steve Elias discussed Intellidial, an offering available in New York which adds several features to residence phone lines. We have had the same service here in Chicago now for about two years. Here it is called STARLINE. We get the same features he discusses, and a few more -- Distinctive ringing (two short or one long) to distinquish intercom call from outside call. Distinctive call waiting tones for the same reason. The speed dial capability is 30 numbers (*21 through *40). The intercom speed dial capability is 6 numbers (#2 through #8) Cancel call waiting (which turns on 'forward on busy') is *70. The cost here is about $5.50 per line/month in addition to normal line charges. If you have only two lines, in a relativly small space, then STARLINE or Intellidial is an overkill. Where it comes in very handy is in a large house where there are phones in several rooms. Under Intellidial or STARLINE, all phones get their own number, provided the phones in each room are wired like a star from the central block in the basement or wherever. If the phones are all wired in series one to another, then of course there is no way to get distinct and separate central office service to each one. A company out in the Seattle area (Melco) makes an *excellent* small EPBX for home use. You mount the controller next to the place where the lines come into your home. The Melco Model 212 EPBX can handle 2 outside lines and up to 12 internal extensions. It runs on house current through a step down transformer you plug into a wall outlet near the control box. The extensions are numbered 21 to 32. 0 (as in Operator) defaults to 21. The two outside lines default to extensions 21-22 in the event of power failure shutting down the system. By using 'call forwarding', either/both outside lines can be set to ring on the extension of choice. By defualt they ring on 21 (line 1) and 22 (line 2). Call forwarding is implemented by dialing 51xx (line 1) or 52xx (line 2), where xx is the extension you wish to ring on incoming calls. Regardless of which extensions actually ring on incoming calls, a common audible lead on the control unit allows an incoming call to be noted in any range of hearing. Pick up the incoming call from any extension (if not the one the call is being automatically routed to) by dialing 7 for Universal Pickup. Flash and hang up to put a call on hold. Pick up from any other extension by dialing 60xx. Pick up from holding extension by lifting receiver and flashing. Calls left on hold more than one minute ring back holding extension as a reminder. After 12 rings, held call is abandoned if not retrieved by some extension somewhere. Extensions dial each other with two digits. A long single ring indicates an extension to extension call. Two short rings, a pause and two more short rings indicate an outside call, either by virtue of an outside line being forwarded there or by virtue of call being picked up elsewhere and transferred to your extension. To transfer an outside call, flash, dial desired extension number, announce call and hang up. To conference, flash, announce conference, and flash again. Dial 4 to terminate on a connection on the control unit which can be used for paging. A contact on the unit can be wired normally open (closing when 4 is dialed to key a microphone) or it can be wired normally closed (opening when 4 is dialed to cut off background music while an announcement is made.) Dial 9 for an outside line. One of the two lines can be designated as first choice, the other as second choice in a rotary. Force a connection to a given outside line by dialing 81 or 82. Do not disturb an extension is implemented by the extension dialing 35. Any further *internal* calls to the extension will be busied out until the next time the extension goes off hook. Incoming calls from outside will still ring through, overriding do not disturb. Do not disturb from a given outside line is implemented by any extension dialing 61 or 62 for the desired outside line. Incoming calls from that line will not ring through, nor will the common audible be sounded. Calling party hears ringing with no answer. Dial 63 to disable the common audible only. Calls will ring through to extension designated. Dial 64 to cancel any/all prior suspensions. Dip switches in the control unit allow the proprietor to set certain conditions: Disallow 9 for outside calls, all extensions. Disallow the use of 61-62-63-64 to suspend incoming calls. Disallow outgoing calls forced onto the first/second line by dialing 81/82. The control unit is about the size of an Apple II computer, or one of the small Epson MX-80 printers. Existing house pair wiring works fine. Since the Melco 212 is insensitive to polarity, to disallow outgoing calls period from any given extension, simply reverse the polarity on the wires of that given extension. It will be able to dial 9, but not break dial tone on either outside line. The control unit weighs about ten pounds and is mounted easily on a wall. I hooked one up for a neighbor and it took me about one hour total to bring up 8 extensions to it from around his house and put in three common audibles (second floor, garage, basement), using spare pairs I found around house. The Melco generates it own dial tone, ringing tone and busy signal. Its limitations are it has only one internal talk path, and only one dial tone generator. If two extensions go off hook at the same time, one will get dial tone, the other will get nothing until the first one has completed dialing. Likewise, the total number of extensions that can be used at one time is 4 (2 on outside calls, and 2 talking to each other on the internal link.) I think Melco is asking about $600 for the unit; they are (or were) in stock and can be shipped out air frieght for arrival in a day or two at an extra charge. For you folks with larger applications, they also offer the 424 (4 trunks; 24 extensions) and 824 (8 trunks; 24 extensions). These latter two are considerably more money, but have several internal talk paths, call restriction and a variety of additional features suitable for a small office.) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 5-Jun-88 20:34:17-EDT,6222;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 5 Jun 88 20:34:16-EDT Date: 5 Jun 88 19:51-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #93 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Sunday, June 5, 1988 7:51PM Volume 8, Issue 93 Today's Topics: Source for Panasonic 616 switch diamond state bell questions Re: Exchange names -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio ISDN and Pacific Bell's Project Victoria ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: umix!umich!eecs.umich.edu!neti1!mew@uunet.UU.NET (Michael E. Wilens) Subject: Source for Panasonic 616 switch Date: 4 Jun 88 20:06:27 GMT Reply-To: umix!umich!eecs.umich.edu!umix.cc.umich.edu!neti2.UUCP!mew@uunet.UU.NET Some time ago, I remember someone posting information about a good (read that cheap) source for Panasonic 616 PBX switches. Would some please repost that source as I am looking to purchase either a 616 or 1232 in the near future. Thanks for your help! Michael Wilens email: uunet!umix!neti2!mew NETI, Inc. mew%neti2.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu USmail: 315 West Huron, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 voice: (313) 994-4030 -- Michael Wilens email: uunet!umix!neti2!mew NETI, Inc. mew%neti2.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu USmail: 315 West Huron, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 voice: (313) 994-4030 ------------------------------ From: tom uffner Subject: diamond state bell questions Date: 4 Jun 88 23:05:56 GMT Reply-To: tom uffner i just got phone service through diamond state bell and i have some questions about problems i'm having. my area code is 302 & exchange is 292 (newark). newark, de is equal access, right? is it legal for them to block my access to long distance companies via 10-xxx ? i find that i can't access any carriers at all and i certainly did not request this in any way. (when i signed up they asked who i wanted for my default carrier so i'm sure i should have equal-access) what do i do about this? second, do they actually prevent tone from working if you don't ask for tone, ie. am i wasting $1.40/month by paying for a tt line? -- Arpa: tom@vax1.acs.udel.edu Uucp: ...{ihnp4,unidot,uunet}!cfg!udel!udccvax1!tom "Themes were useless; Destiny was here and the foot pedals were bleeding." ------------------------------ From: tli%sargas.usc.edu@oberon.USC.EDU (Tony Li) Subject: Re: Exchange names -- from Greg Monti at National Public Radio Date: 5 Jun 88 07:07:40 GMT Reply-To: tli%sargas.usc.edu@oberon.USC.EDU (Tony Li) Another exchange: Washington (Area code 202) Anacostia (Far Southeast) LUdlow 2 = LU2 = 582 Tony Li - USC University Computing Services - Dain Bramaged. Uucp: oberon!tli Bitnet: tli@kylara, tli@ramoth Internet: tli@sargas.usc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jun 88 17:08:34 EDT From: Pat Sullivan Subject: ISDN and Pacific Bell's Project Victoria This ad appeared in the 23 May 88 issue of Communications Week,, p. 25: PROJECT VICTORIA - SPECIAL LICENSING OPPORTUNITY Pacific Bell hereby announces its intention to license others to make, use, lease, and/or sell Pacific Bell's proprietary, patented multiplexing system known as Project Victoria. Project Victoria enables a single, twisted copper pair in a telephone company's local loop plant to simultaneously transmit seven channels: two voice, one 9.6 data, and four 1.2 data channels. Although several aspects in the develop- ment of this system currently remain uncompleted, Pacific Bell strongly believes that significant business opportunities exist for Project Victoria licensees given the current state of this system. More detailed information regarding the licensing of Project Victoria will be made available by Pacific Bell at two half-day seminars. They will take place on June 7 and June 21, 1988. The seminars are free of charge and will be conducted at Pacific Bell's offices located at 2600 Camino Ramon, San Ramon, California. The seminars will not be repeated. For additional information, or to reserve your seat at one of Pacific Bell's seminars, please contact T. D. Walker at (415)823-2772 NLT five working days before the seminar you are interested in attending. (end of ad) *********************************************************** This raises many questions, such as: - Given that ISDN or at least ISDN metropolitan islands are expected near-term, why does PacBell think anyone would buy this or be able to make money with it? (Possible answer: this may not require a digital CO switch or SS #7?) - Can the seven different channels be independently switched? It doesn't sound like it. - Has PacBell looked at the effect that long holding times from full-period data will have on CO switches that weren't sized for that? This concern becomes acute if Victoria is supposed to be a CPE applique which will extend the usefulness of old plant. When I first heard of Project Victoria, it was supposed to be an "ISDN-like" demonstration capability at a time when standards had not jelled and industry commitment to ISDN was uncertain. Since then, ISDN standards have come a long way and industry commitment appears to be solid, so I'm hard put to see what Victoria could offer unless it would be a matter of breathing new life into old plant without the capital-intensiveness of ISDN. Any information from knowledgeable folks is requested and would be greatly appreciated. (I wish they had scheduled a seminar for the DC area.) I will summarize responses and furnish upon request. -Pat Sullivan Reston, VA. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 6-Jun-88 20:51:33-EDT,9885;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 6 Jun 88 20:51:32-EDT Date: 6 Jun 88 19:57-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #94 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, June 6, 1988 7:57PM Volume 8, Issue 94 Today's Topics: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! Panasonic Key Systems Re: Washington metro local calling -- from Greg Monti at NatPubRadio CCITT from NZ Posting for comp.dcom.telecom. (Dial 9 vs. 911) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Jun 6 00:40:15 1988 From: root@gryphon.cts.com (Super user) To: rutgers!comp-dcom-telecom Path: gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser From: hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com (Harv Laser) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Looking for an answering machine Message-ID: <4349@gryphon.CTS.COM> Date: 6 Jun 88 07:40:11 GMT Sender: root@gryphon.CTS.COM Organization: People-Net [pnet02], Redondo Beach, CA. Lines: 32 dmr@CSLI.STANFORD.EDU (Daniel M. Rosenberg) writes: >I'm looking for a relatively cheap answering machine... <= $100, >with the following features: > o Durability > o Small size > o It works > >If you have any recommendations, I'd be awful glad to hear them. > >Thanks, > >-- >## Daniel M. Rosenberg /////// CSLI/Stanford //////////////// +1 (415) 323-0389 >## INTERNET: dmr@csli.stanford.edu //////////// UUCP: {ucbvax, decvax}!csli!dmr >## I've my opinions, Stanford theirs. I don't speak for them, nor they for me.# Check out the "PhoneMate" brand, model 5000. It's tiny. Uses one micro-cassette for incoming/outgoing messages. Microprocessor controlled and VERY quiet operation. Has beeperless remote for message retrieval including a "toll saver" feature - if you call in your machine from the other side of the planet, if it doesn't pick up on the first ring you have no messages waiting and you can hang up and not be charged for the call. Also has a "personal memo" feature. All in all a well-made very compact quiet full-featured unit. I think it retails for $100... shop around for a discount. I've had one for a couple years and like it a lot. Harv Laser, Sysop, The People/Link AmigaZone. Plink: CBM*HARV UUCP: {ihnp4!scgvaxd!cadovax, rutgers!marque}!gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser INET: hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 6 Jun 88 09:36 Subject: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! Can we please stop clogging the newsgroup with recollections of individual exchange names? I guess I didn't mind the rather comprehensive, several-columns-wide list of a whole city's exchanges, but to read a screen or two of headers and footers for one or two is too much, and frankly I think we've had enough. Unless it's really interesting or of historic note, the fact that 763 used to be SMEgma-3 in East Overshoe is really not what a lot of us read the net for! So much for curmudgeonliness this Monday morning. With regard to Greg Monti's question about prefix assignment, no, it's not like NPA assignment. Bellcore assigns NPAs when a telco requests one. But each state or NPA has one lead telco who owns its prefices. Old NPAs were based on names, not dial-pulls. Later NPAs, especially in the boonies, were based on what combinations of digits required the least step-by-step hardware to route correctly. For example, if a town had 4-digit dialing with all numbers beginning with "4" or "6", then you could be pretty sure no other local CO prefix began with 4 or 6. (I.e., 980-4000 could call 980-4111 by dialing 4111. OF course, such towns usually reserved 41xx for information!) Smaller telcos ask the lead telco for a prefix when they need one. Art Brothers' Beehive Tel in Utah (he's a columnist for Telephone Engineering & Management as well as the industry's lead curmudgeon, running a tiny telco in the desert) asked for a new prefix for new territory. They had to ask Mountain Bell; there is no love lost between the two. So Mt. Bell gave him "234". Sounds good, no? Well, there were LOTS of uncompleted call arrivals. Turns out 234 is a VERY BAD prefix since kids playing with phones like to dial 12345678! And most of the non-calls went to 234-5678. fred ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jun 88 09:20:18 PDT From: HECTOR MYERSTON Subject: Panasonic Key Systems The following are places that I know sell the KXT-616D/61610 KSU systems someone asked about: Tele-Com Products Duarte CA (800) 423-4840 Pro Com Supply Corp San Diego (800) 988-4400 ABM Kansas City/Dallas/L.A> (800) 234-3396 Graybar (All over) Caveats: 1. I have no connection with these other than as a customer. 2. The sell to "dealers" although the term is loosely interpreted 3. Most offer mininal support/information (in return for low price) 4. Panasonic is a rats nest of model numbers, the same instruments seem to have different numbers, prefixes (PA vs VA) etc etc 5. Not all KSUs listed as XXYY are fully equipped for XX lines and YY extension, many require expansion cards, some special sets (The 616 >is< fully configured and uses plain (2500) sets. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Washington metro local calling -- from Greg Monti at NatPubRadio Date: 5 Jun 88 11:10:32 EDT (Sun) From: uunet!daitc!otishq!usenet@rutgers.edu (Usenet login) This is to kick in some time in september! This was from Contell HQ! (I should know, I live LD from work!). _ _ ___ | | |_| _ ___________ _____ _____ __/ / | |__ _ ____ | |__ / _____/ // _ // _ // / | || || . || | /__ // / // __// ___// / / |__|_||_||__ ||__|_|/_____// __//____//____//____/ ..!daitc!otishq!highspeed |_____| /_/ "Hello Computer!" --- _ _ ___ | | |_| _ ___________ _____ _____ __/ / | |__ _ ____ | |__ / _____/ // _ // _ // / | || || . || | /__ // / // __// ___// / / |__|_||_||__ ||__|_|/_____// __//____//____//____/ ..!daitc!otishq!highspeed |_____| /_/ "Hello Computer!" ------------------------------ From: Glenn_A_Story@cup.portal.com Subject: CCITT from NZ Date: Sun Jun 5 16:19:13 1988 >>From: paul@csnz.nz (Paul Gillingwater) >> In NZ the local PTT (Telecom NZ) REQUIRE any Bell/CCITT standard >> modems to have their Bell modes disabled (firmware change) before >> they will allow them to be connected to the network. I understand >> this is ostensibly because some of the Bell tones used are similar >> to exchange control frequencies, and crosstalk could interfere >> with other users of the exchange (e.g. by disconnecting them). >> The implications of this are that any LEGAL modem in NZ _cannot_ >> dial direct to the US for data access, but must go via NZ Telecom >> Pacnet gateway for protocol/standard conversion (hints of >> forestalling competitive networks?? :-), and this will only work >> for datasources that are actually connected to a recognised >> network with existing gateway. The manual I got with my Hayes modem said that Bell 212 mode (1200 bps) and the CCITT mode for 1200 bps were very similar, and often work interchangably (They didn't say what the difference is--does anyone out there know??) This means you should be able to connect via direct dial to most U.S. modems at 1200 bps. Moreover, at 2400 bps, CCITT is the only widely used standard--it's what my Smartmodem 2400 uses, for example). Thus at 2400, you should have no problems on this account. As an aside, I used to make direct-dial calls from Tokyo to my company's headquarters in California. About 30-40% of the calls got as far as "carrier detect", and were thereafter successful. The remaining calls showed carrier detect momentarily and then disconnected. I never knew why, although I theorized that it had to do with whether I got a cable or satellite circuit, but I didn't know which one worked.) Regards, Glenn ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Jun 88 13:16:28 PDT From: coffland@lll-lcc.llnl.gov (Douglas R. Coffland) Subject: Posting for comp.dcom.telecom. (Dial 9 vs. 911) Please post to comp.dcom.telecom. Subject: Dial 9 vs 911 We at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are implementing a new telephone system. To be specific, we are replacing our existing Centrex service with a 5ESS switch on-site. With the new implementation, we would like to change our emergency telephone number to 911. This, however, conflicts with dialing 9 for outside calls. We have looked at several ways to work around this. Some of the work arounds are timeout resolution, another emergency number besides 911, leaving it alone, and changing the outside access digit. Of those schemes mentioned, changing the outside access digit from 9 to 7 seems most appealing. My questions are as follows: First, is there some other easy way around this problem? Second, what have other PBX locations done to resolve this problem? If going to another first digit is the answer, is there some digit that is more well accepted than 7? Doug Coffland coffland@lll-lcc.llnl.gov ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 8-Jun-88 21:43:28-EDT,10614;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 8 Jun 88 21:43:27-EDT Date: 8 Jun 88 19:36-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #95 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, June 8, 1988 7:36PM Volume 8, Issue 95 Today's Topics: Re: no 215-976 from Delaware Country code for Caribbean locations Re: European billing and privacy Phonemate 5000 Answering Machine Cable vs Satellite connections overseas 911 Dialing T1 mux ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: James Cayz Subject: Re: no 215-976 from Delaware Date: 7 Jun 88 07:29:18 GMT Reply-To: James Cayz In article <8806011035.aa06973@ADM.BRL.ARPA> cmoore@BRL.ARPA (Carl Moore, VLD/VMB) writes: >I just attempted a call from Delaware to 215-976-xxxx and got a >recording saying that such calls are permanently blocked! Weird... I just tried it also (sorry, I'm a bit behind in the news readings..). Called Diamond State Operator (plain ol' "0"), asked why. ... O - ~"The company has banned calls to that exchange. Sorry Sir."~ Me- "What company?" O - ~"Diamond State Telephone, Sir. Sorry."~ ... ~ [not EXACT quotes, but DAMN close - remembering conversation from minutes ago] Ok, so what gives - did DE pass some weird law about no dial-a-porn #s while I was away on vacation? :-) :-) Oh, I tried the "backdoor" of dialing the # ( I tried 215-976-0000 ) as a long-distance #, and got a recording saying that the "1" asn't necessary, and to dial again with the "1"... Oh well... And isn't that a little unfair? I mean if Long Distance Company XYZZY doesn't service community ABC, I can alays find another LDC. But I can't find another local service, can I? Oh Well... James ------------------------------ From: mcvax!cgch!wtho@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Hofmann) Subject: Country code for Caribbean locations Date: 6 Jun 88 14:40:15 GMT As far as I know several Caribbean islands belong to the North-American telephone system (U.S.A., Canada; country code: +1) having the area code 809. Therefore, the international prefix for that region should be +1 809. From West Germany that's the correct code, indeed. However, here in Switzerland the code is +500 809. +1 809 doesn't work from here neither is there success with +500 809 from West Germany. Does that mean that there are regions on this world which haven't a single international access code? (Except the "+" which always differs.) I believed that every internationally accessible telephone number could be dialed as + where only the "+" differs. Isn't it CCITT's task to make those codes standardized? And since 809 obviously belongs to country code +1, won't +500 be used for another country in the future? Tom Hofmann E-mail: wtho@cgch.UUCP ...!mcvax!cernvax!cgch!wtho ------------------------------ From: Peter Kendell Subject: Re: European billing and privacy Date: 6 Jun 88 11:26:11 GMT From article <8806010415.AA19441@ima.ISC.COM>, by johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine): Status: O } } By the way, I was surprised to see that you can buy a phone in a retail store } in France and take it home and plug it in, just like in the USA except that } the French modular plug can be piggybacked one on top of another, and is large } and sturdy enough to support ringing current of about 100 amps. Are there any } other countries that allow you to use your own terminal equipment? I don't know about the 100 amps!!! But you can plug in your own terminals here in the UK so long as they have a British Telecom green sticker on them. Our sockets and modular plugs can also be piggybacked. You have to have BT install your first socket, but after that it's up to you. BT sell DIY extension kits. BT have been castigated in a recent Consumer's Association report for their declining standard of service since privatisation (foul word!!). The liberalising of rules for terminal eqpt. is one of the positive aspects. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Peter Kendell | | ...{uunet!}mcvax!ukc!stc!pete | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 09:36:12 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: Phonemate 5000 Answering Machine A recent exchange, re: Answering Machines (inexpensive) >dmr@CSLI.STANFORD.EDU (Daniel M. Rosenberg) writes: >>I'm looking for a relatively cheap answering machine... <= $100, >>with the following features: >> o Durability >> o Small size >> o It works >> >>If you have any recommendations, I'd be awful glad to hear them. >> >>Thanks, >> >>-- >>## Daniel M. Rosenberg /////// CSLI/Stanford THE ELICITED RESPONSE WAS: >Check out the "PhoneMate" brand, model 5000. It's tiny. Uses one >micro-cassette for incoming/outgoing messages. Microprocessor >controlled and VERY quiet operation. Has beeperless remote for >message retrieval including a "toll saver" feature - if you call in >your machine from the other side of the planet, if it doesn't pick >up on the first ring you have no messages waiting and you can hang up >and not be charged for the call. Also has a "personal memo" feature. >All in all a well-made very compact quiet full-featured unit. I >think it retails for $100... shop around for a discount. I've had one >for a couple years and like it a lot. >Harv Laser, Sysop, The People/Link AmigaZone. Plink: CBM*HARV MY RESPONSE: I have two PhoneMate 5000 answering machines, and they do have all the above mentioned features, at least in principle. The units are fine if you don't expect to get more than two or three messages before you "clean out" the messages by reading them. Because it is a one-cassette system, the tape sits ready to play your outgoing message, then has to wheel over (at normal speed!) to the first available blank space on the tape, which may take 5 minutes if the accumulated messages sum up to being that long. Meanwhile, the caller hears a loud "BEEEEEEP" for the duration. Try it next time you go away for a month!! (Yes, some people WERE that patient!) If that's no problem, consider: 1) The "beeperless remote" feature is very unreliable, you need an EXTREMELY GOOD connection for the thing to respond. 2) If you have power interruptions, the thing loses its cookies, forgets that you have messages, and assumes that your outgoing message is of unlimited length! What this means is that the people who call in after a power interrruption get to hear your greeting, then the accumulation of messages on your tape, some many months old if they are way out on the tape. 3)The advertised interrupt feature, where the unit detects an extension picking up the call, and cuts itself off, has NEVER worked. The above behavior has been observed at home and at work, in two towns with excellent phone service. I generally am used to these boxes, but would not buy another one. A two-cassette system, or a one-cassette system with a RAM-based digitized greeting would be better. If the limitations I describe are no problem, then by all means get it (or contact me for a great deal!). I've seen them retailing in the $50. range on occasion. Jerry Black, black@micro@ll-vlsi.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 09:41:22 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: Cable vs Satellite connections overseas This may be a retread for this question, but here it is: I know there is a way you can GUARANTEE that you get an undersea cable connection, rather than a random choice of satellite/cable, by dialing the appropriate prefix on a call to the UK. I'd like to know what the procedure is, and whether such options exist for calling other parts of the world, in particular Australia, where I have been calling a lot lately. Thanks. Jerry Black, black@micro@ll-vlsi.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 09:21:57 PDT From: HECTOR MYERSTON Subject: 911 Dialing 9 has been the "de facto" dial-out digit since the days of step-by- step switches when it was the top level, sometimes you still hear old operators talking about "Level 9". When private networks can about the next digit, 8 was chosen for "inside nets". 99% of the uses, including the military (9 for commercial, 8 for AUTOVON), most feds (9 for commercial, 8 for FTS) still adhere to that convention. Modern digital switches can, of course, handle any steering digit but changing it to 7, while technically reasonable might be a cultural risk. Making 911 the emergency number makes sense. Ours is not, but we allow for those who instinctively dial it in an emergency. Here is how we handle it: (1) If a user dials XXXX (our emergency number), no problem (2) If a user dials 911, the translations take it to the LD routing tables (seeing 9 as the steering digit and passing only 11). The tables are set up recognize 11 as a unique string, delete the two digits and insert XXXX. (3) Since the local 911 data base list only our main number (and address for the whole campus, we agreed with emergency services in the local area that all"outside" 911 calls will come from our emergency services people The 5ESS should be able to handle a similar digit manipulation, if not, make them fix it!!! ------------------------------ From: battle@umbc3.umd.edu (Mr. Rick Battle ) Subject: T1 mux Date: 7 Jun 88 17:39:32 GMT The University of Maryland is in the process of investigating T1 links between the Washington D.C. area and Baltimore. Data will be the only service provided. What experiences can netland provide about T1 and which brand of mux do you use? Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks many, Rick Battle battle@umbc3.umd.edu KB3NG@W3ZH ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 9-Jun-88 00:50:28-EDT,10540;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 9 Jun 88 00:50:26-EDT Date: 8 Jun 88 23:55-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #96 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, June 8, 1988 11:55PM Volume 8, Issue 96 Today's Topics: Telex access via dialup modem. Re: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! Re: Local phone booth invaded by COCOT! Ringback touch-tone service workshop on protocol test systems Dialing +1 809 locations with +500 from Switzerland ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 22:28:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Zalman Stern Subject: Telex access via dialup modem. I need some information on access to telex service via a dialup modem from either an IBM PC or an Apple Macintosh. I was wondering if anybody out there has any experience with services of this nature. I am interested in hearing about: - The telex system served. (I think there is more than one, but I am not sure.) - Protocols and baud rates supported. - Availability. - Cost. The system must be such that it stores telexes for later retrieval when someone dials up the service. (That is, the modem cannot stay attached continuously.) Please reply to me via mail and I will summarize to the net. Sincerely, Zalman Stern Internet: zs01+@andrew.cmu.edu Usenet: I'm soooo confused... Information Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 ------------------------------ From: princeton!pyrnj!argon!westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! Date: 8 Jun 88 03:22:51 GMT In article <8806061344.AA27219@decwrl.dec.com>, goldstein@delni.DEC.COM (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: ... > Well, there were LOTS of uncompleted call arrivals. Turns out > 234 is a VERY BAD prefix since kids playing with phones like to > dial 12345678! And most of the non-calls went to 234-5678. Back when modems were modems and autodialers were autodialers, if you leased an AT&T Dataphone(tm) with an 80x automatic calling attachment, you got two large boxes. One of these was the modem, and the other was the autodialer. On the front of the autodialer, there was a button labeled ST. This stood for Self-Test. What did the ST button on the autodialer do? It seized the line and dialed 1234567890. In New Jersey, at the time, we didn't have 1+ toll dialing, so initial 1 digits were ignored. (Permissive 1+, I think it's called.) So if you pushed the ST button, you'd ring the number 234-5678. You'd hear the party answer (there was a monitor speaker) but there was no way to talk to them. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | clyde | mtune | ihnp4}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Local phone booth invaded by COCOT! Date: 7 Jun 88 19:27:00 GMT I don't see that the Bell operating companies have any right to fight them. It's a competitive market now. Mike Berger Department of Statistics Science, Technology, and Society University of Illinois berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu {ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!berger ------------------------------ From: tj@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Terry Jones) Subject: Ringback Date: 8 Jun 88 22:10:00 GMT Reply-To: gpu.utcs!tj@uunet.UU.NET (Terry Jones) This is a simple one... so why can't I do it??? I want to make my phone ring. Used to be a few ways to do it. Namely 575-xxxx brief hangup full hangup or 41086 brief hangup full hangup Well I am in an exchange where none of these work. Has anybody got any more general info on this? tj ------------------------------ From: smb@research.att.com Date: Tue, 7 Jun 88 10:59:05 EDT Subject: touch-tone service When Touch-Tone service was first introduced, there were several rationales for the surcharge. First, of course, research, development, and deployment costs had to be recovered. This has presumably been done by now. Second, demand had to be limited; the Bell System (may it rest in peace) had a large installed base of leased telephones; if too many people wanted to convert to Touch-Tone, the older phones would be worthless. This, too, is no longer applicable; the leased phones went to AT&T, so the operating companies don't care what happens to them. Finally, the regulatory bodies had a philosophy of charging customers for value received, rather than on a pure cost basis; the excess was used to subsidize POTS. In an era of deregulation and competition, this doesn't work, either. ------------------------------ From: Danny Wilson Subject: workshop on protocol test systems Date: 8 Jun 88 20:33:28 GMT Call for Participation International Workshop on Protocol Test Systems Oct.12-14, 1988, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Scope of Workshop Protocol testing includes testing for conformance to protocol standards, passive arbitration, active diagnostic testing, performance evaluation, and others. ISO and CCITT are well advanced in defining abstract conformance testing methodologies. Using these methodologies, they are proceeding rapidly towards the standardization of test suites for the purpose of testing protocol implementations for conformance to the standards they purport to adhere to. Operational test systems are designed to provide the means of executing tests defined by the abstract test suites and their associated abstract methodologies. Since the early 1980's substantial working experience in designing and using operational test systems has been developed. Many problems remain, however. It is the intention of this workshop to bring together experts in the specific field of operational protocol test systems. Issues to be addressed include (but are not limited to) the following: o implementation of test methodologies including, but not limited to those defined by DP9646 o aspects of multi-layer testing o mixed OSI/non OSI environment testing o non OSI test methodologies o test management protocols, automated formulation of verdicts, and analysis of results o application layer testing issues o validation of executable test suites vs their abstract test suites o use of FDTs in deriving test suites o use of FDTs as test specification Languages o use of FDTs in the specification of test systems o TTCN to executable test language translation including automatic conversion o The issue of ANS.1 in protocol testing o HW/SW test system architectures o expert systems for protocol testing Workshop Format The workshop format will include invited papers and recorded discussion sessions. A typical discussion session will include short subject introduction presentations followed by open discussion involving workshop participants. Edited transcripts of each discussion will be distributed to participants and a summary published in Protocols-Subgroup Newsletter (IFIP Working group 6.1), the ACM SIGCOM Newsletter, and/or the Journal of Computer Networks and ISDN Systems. The final selected subject areas will be decided by the program committee based upon submitted position statements. To ensure close interaction and useful discussions, participation is limited to 50 people active in the area. To Participate Submit ten copies of a 1 to 2 page position statement to either of the program co-chairmen by August 8, 1988. The position statement should include a short biography and a description of the relevant current work. It should also include name, address, phone number and e-mail address (if available). Notification of acceptance together with the final program and registration materials will be sent out by September 2, 1988. Accepted statements will appear in the workshop proceedings. Program Committee : Samuel Chanson & Son Vuong (Co-chairs) Dept. of Computer Science University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1W5 Gregor Bochmann* (University of Montreal, Canada) Bill Davis* (IDACOM, Canada) Richard Linn (National Bureau of Standards, USA) Gerald Neufeld (University of British Columbia, Canada) Robert Probert* (University of Ottawa, Canada) Dave Rayner* (National Physical Laboratory, UK) Behcet Sarikaya (Concordia University, Canada) For further information please contact either of the program co-chairmen by mail, phone (Chanson: 604-228-6667, Vuong: 604-228-6366), or e-mail (chanson@ean.ubc.ca or chanson@ean.ubc.uucp or chanson@ubc.csnet or vuong@cs.ubc.ca or vuong@ubc.csnet or vuong@cs.ubc.uucp). Sponsoring Organizations: University of British Columbia, IDACOM Electronics Ltd., the Advanced Systems Institute of British Columbia, and the IEEE Computer Society, Vancouver Section. ------- * Will give an invited paper. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 8 Jun 88 22:10 Subject: Dialing +1 809 locations with +500 from Switzerland +500 is the Falkland Islands, probably not actually dialable from anywhere, and probably unlikely to be dialable any time soon. The Swiss PTT apparently didn't want to translate +1 809 xxx down to the number of digits necessary, so it requires you to tell it which of two routings to take to get there. It would be interesting to see which islands are dialed with +1 and which with +500. This is a list of the 809 locations: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jamaica, Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Bequia, Mustique, Prune (Palm) Island, Union Island), Trinidad and Tobago /john ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 10-Jun-88 21:42:31-EDT,8625;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 10 Jun 88 21:42:29-EDT Date: 10 Jun 88 19:48-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #97 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, June 10, 1988 7:48PM Volume 8, Issue 97 Today's Topics: Telex by modem Re: T1 mux COCOTs demand share of local telcos' profits N.J. prefix shifts Re: T1 mux ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Jun 88 09:49:41 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: Telex by modem >From: Zalman Stern >Subject: Telex access via dialup modem. > >I need some information on access to telex service via a dialup modem from >either an IBM PC or an Apple Macintosh. I was wondering if anybody out there >has any experience with services of this nature. I am interested in hearing >about: > > - The telex system served. (I think there is more than one, but I am not >sure.) > - Protocols and baud rates supported. > - Availability. > - Cost. > >The system must be such that it stores telexes for later retrieval when someone >dials up the service. (That is, the modem cannot stay attached continuously.) > > >Sincerely, >Zalman Stern >Internet: zs01+@andrew.cmu.edu Usenet: I'm soooo confused... There are probably numerous ways to do this, but the way I've used is to subscribe to MCI Mail, where you in effect are assigned your own telex mailbox. Messages are retrieved exactly as you want it, they are held for you to read them( A nuisance unless you like checking continuously). The last time I checked, there's an $18.00 annual mailbox charge (including the usual MCI Mail "privileges"), and the charge for sending telexes is pretty modest. I recall a letter to the UK was $3.00 or so. It is definitely available in Pissburgh and the usual modem baud rates are supported. JG Black, black@micro@ll-vlsi.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Thursday, 9 June 1988 12:11:42 EDT From: Eugene.Hastings@morgul.PSC.EDU Subject: Re: T1 mux If you're just carrying data, why use a mux at all? Several vendors make multiprotocol routers (cisco, Proteon, Wellfleet, etc.) or bridges (Vitalink, Wellfleet?) that can connect to a full bandwidth T1. If you do need a mux, I can vouch for Timeplex. They seem to be the Rolls-Royce of the market (they're not cheap), but they have great flexibility (you can get different assortments of synchronous ans asynchronous interfaces, and even change the alotted bandwidth on the fly), and have been very reliable. You may also be able to pick the brains (if you haven't already done so) of Jack Hahn and Mike Petry, both at UMd, involved with wide area TCP/IP networking. Gene ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 9 Jun 88 07:56 Subject: COCOTs demand share of local telcos' profits Mike Berger at the University of Illinois writes: >I don't see that the Bell operating companies have any right to fight them. >It's a competitive market now. I think he's partially right; we, the users of pay phones are the ones who have to fight them, because they only mean *higher* pay phone charges for us. Remember that what is being competed for is the ability to return the highest profit to the establishment allowing the pay phone to be placed. Here in Massachusetts that means that the local telcos are petitioning for the right to **raise** their payphone rates in order to be able to compete. But the telcos do have a right, and in fact a *duty*, to inform the consumers that using telco calling cards at COCOTs may result in higher charges. It's a strange world when a consumer uses a local telco calling card at one phone and gets charged the expected rate by the telco and at another phone and gets charged five times that rate, with the bill still rendered by the telco! The telco really has a duty to explain what's going on here. The local telcos also have a right to fight motions such as the following one filed by the "Massachusetts Payphone Association." It asks for a share of the profits from calls such as collect calls and New England Telephone credit card calls made from COCOTs and handled by New England Telephone's operators. Using the following logic, why shouldn't I also get a share of N.E.T.'s profits for calls I let visitors make from my home or office telephone? In Re New England Telephone Company Petition for an Advisory Ruling as to the Competetive Nature of Public Pay Telephone Service, D.P.U. 88-45. The Massachusetts Payphone Association ("Association") through its attorneys, hereby requests that the Department of Public Utilities ("Department") schedule for hearing the issues it and the Department raised in the above captioned proceeding, as expeditiously as possible. As evidenced from the Association's comments in this proceeding, New England Telephone Company's ("NET") current charges for directory assistance, as well as its failure to compensate providers of privately owned pay telephones for the origination of nonsent-paid intraLATA calls, are of considerable importance to the viability of the privately owned pay telephone industry in Massachusetts. Each day that these issues go unresolved costs the private pay telephone provider untold directory assistance charges, as well as losses in the form of opportunity costs which they cannot recover when users placing nonsent-paid calls deter callers who would have paid by coin from placing a call. The situation is further exacerbated by the elimination of compensation from intraLATA and interLATA nonsent-paid calls paid to the private pay telephone provider pending certification and tariffing of competetive operator service providers. Operator service providers recognized the entitlement of pay telephone providers to reasonable compensation for providing the facilities over which "0" calls are originated. Recognizing that the greater percentage of nonlocal calls from pay telephones are nonsent-paid, this lack of compen- sation has turned many a private provider into an eleemosynary institution, offering the availability of a pay telephone at no charge. If the increased availability of pay telephones is to continue, this aberration in compensation to the private pay telephone provider must be remedied posthaste. The Association therefore urges the Department to schedule a prehearing conference on these issues, and to schedule the earliest possible date for hearing consistent with the Department's public notice obligations. Respectfully submitted, MASSACHUSETTS PAYPHONE ASSOCIATION * * * * * * * * * * B O Y C O T T C O C O T S * * * * * * * * * * * /john ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Jun 88 17:01:19 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: N.J. prefix shifts 201-243 in Newark, NJ is apparently no longer in use. According to recent call guides, 243 appears in Princeton, NJ (609 area), a local call from some 201-area points. Remember, local calls AND your entire area code are reached with only 7 digits from most NJ points. 201-987 was listed back in 1976 as Little Falls (near Paterson). It was not in use in mid-1982. Now, 987 appears in Princeton (609 area, see above). Also, a recent list of area-code prefixes sent to me via email shows 2 such prefixes in Toms River, NJ (area 201), a local call from Barnegat (in 609); thus, part of 609 (which does require 1 before an areacode) is local to some area-code prefixes. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jun 88 11:32:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Martin Weiss Subject: Re: T1 mux I would suggest you examine the relevant Datapro Report. They often have summarized reviews of user responses to multiplexers. Data Communications magazine also carries these reviews of equipment. I don't know when their most recent survey of T1 Multiplexers was published. Although these are not scientific surveys, they do provide guidelines to product performance over a wide range of users. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 11-Jun-88 16:17:58-EDT,10202;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 11 Jun 88 16:17:56-EDT Date: 11 Jun 88 14:30-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #98 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, June 11, 1988 2:30PM Volume 8, Issue 98 Today's Topics: I Meet an Alternate Operator Service Owner Illinois (Gets A) Bell(yfull) Emergency vrs. outside lines [TELECOM is no longer going over USENET. If you sent mail to me saying you would volunteer to support a usenet/arpanet gateway for TELECOM, please resend as I have lost the copies I had. I want to decide between one of you and keep the rest of you available in case the one I decided upon gives too much trouble. Thanks. --jsol] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: I Meet an Alternate Operator Service Owner Date: Mon Jun 6 23:21:00 1988 Lew Caliento says business is very good, thank you. And he wants to thank those of you who unwittingly use his services and wind up with an extra charge to pay on your phone bill from time to time. Caliento runs an 'Alternate Operator Service' here in Chicago. It is based on the premise that most hotels, hospitals, university dormitories and the like don't make money when someone using their telephones places an operator-assisted or credit card call. So in August, 1987, Caliento set up shop at 162 North Franklin Street in Chicago, IL, 60606, doing business under the name Tel Com International, Inc. His office phone number is 312-807-4400, not that any of the readers here would ever want to call him or discuss his business practices with him. Caliento began substituting *his* operators for both Illinois Bell and AT&T operators. Now, everytime someone punches the '0' button on one of his client's phones, they get an operator in the dingy, dirty little office Caliento runs in the building on Franklin near Wacker Drive. They don't answer 'IBT Operator' or 'AT&T Operator', but rather, just 'Operator'. Somehow Caliento managed to work this deal out with Bell locally where unwitting callers expect to get a telephone company operator but through transparent switching, get his personnel instead. Pretty clever, huh? Then regardless of *what you ask for*, Caliento's operators place the call over MCI, Sprint, or some other discount long distance service. The user gets billed the AT&T price -- Caliento claims -- and Tel Com pockets the difference after paying a twenty percent commission to the owner of the phone. Caliento says the best part of all is the caller doesn't even know the difference! Oh yeah? A lousy connection for top dollar is what you get. So when you are in Chicago, and using a phone which may be suspect, such as a COCOT, or a hotel/hospital/dormitory type phone, before you actually place your call through the operator be sure to inquire -- 'Are you an Illinois Bell/ATT operator, or do you work for Lew Caliento?' The difference in cost for the call could be several dollars, as readers of this forum well know. Maybe you might like to inquire direct from Caliento if it constitutes fraud or otherwise violates FCC regulations when his personnel claim they cannot connect you to an AT&T operator, or when they claim that your ATT Calling Card is no good when you know it is. Or better still, drop a note to the Illinois Commerce Commission and the FCC and ask about the legalities of the Alternate Operator Service business. And if you get charged for a call you did not make, or get an outrageous bill for one you did make, contact Lew Caliento to see about a refund. Tel Com International, Inc. 162 North Franklin Street Chicago, IL 60606 312-807-4400 PS: In some cases -- not all -- you can override the Alternate Operator Service by punching 'double zero' (00) and get connected direct to an AT&T operator, provided that is what the phone is on. Or use '102880' which will raise an AT&T operator -- unless Caliento has convinced his client to have Illinois Bell block out access on the carrier codes. ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Illinois (Gets A) Bell(yfull) Date: Tue Jun 7 23:47:17 1988 On Tuesday, June 7, Illinois Bell threw in the towel and pulled the plug on all their '900 Dial It' party and conference lines *which they themselves operated*. This does not affect the services offered locally here by the Nine Hundred Service Corporation. Citing gross violations of the rules against passing complete names and phone numbers over the system; and complaining of the numerous public relations 'nightmares' they were facing from 'patrons of the service (Connections) who were just plain obscene; foul-mouthed and distasteful', Illinois Bell said the service was discontinued as of today. A spokesperson for Illinois Bell said they were tired 'of all the write offs we have to do from people who won't pay for it; claim they did not know there was an extra expense even after they had used for several hours a day all month; and then complain because someone made a vulgar suggestion to them.' The proverbial straw which broke the camel's back at Illinois Bell came in the form of a lawsuit filed by the parents of a young man who had met several other young persons over the Connections service while his parents were gone for a week. Through some deceptive practice or another, these young people located the home of the young man and proceded to go to the house and steal everything in sight, after having first had a two day party. Damages were estimated at $50,000 to the house, and about the same in stuff which had been stolen. Illinois Bell had a couple other lawsuits filed by people who claimed to have been offended in some way or another via Connections, and as the spokesperson said Tuesday, 'you might say we finally got a bellyfull, and decided to pull the plug on this nonsense.' ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Emergency vrs. outside lines Date: Tue Jun 7 23:33:13 1988 Doug Coffland at lll asks what to do about using 911 as an emergency number within the facility and still be able to use 9 for outside calls. I do not know the phone set up at lll, but it occurs to me if you are on a relatively modern ESS, you might ask your local telco to reroute 911 calls *made from lll phone lines to your own security department* if you feel your own security people are competent to respond without having outside help. That is, you would still maintain 9 for outgoing calls, and a person wishing to get emergency help would dial 9911, but instead of the 911 part going to the local police in your community, from your trunk lines only it would go to your security. Your security people would have a phone, or at least a line entry on a phone with several lines, which went direct to the local PD on a tie line. University of Chicago Police can contact the Chicago Police over a tie line which simply requires they go off hook on that line. The Chicago Police know the call is coming from U of C Security. Now if your user merely wants security, 9911 would get help. If it was a fire, or there was a need for an ambulance, etc, then the security person taking the call would hit a button to patch it off to the 'real' 911. He would tell calling party to hold for assistance, would hit the patch, and when the local PD came on the line merely announce lll was calling, from building X, location Z, etc, we need an ambulance or whatever, and security was leaving now and would meet the PD on location. Its generally a good idea in larger institutions to NOT allow your users to reach the local PD or Fire without your own security people screening the call and beginning their own emergency actions at the same time. In fact you would do well to have the local telco even take the pay stations around your premises and intercept 911 on them also, sending the call to your own security for handling. I am assuming now that your security force is of sufficient strength and quality to answer most service requests directly. Unless you are really desirous of using 911, you might use something simple and easy to dial like U of C. For the past fifty years, through manual switchboard to the most modern system in use now, campus security has been extension 2111, plus or minus a prefix on the front for off campus dialing. I would avoid getting away from traditional numbering schemes which use 9 for outside lines. If you go with 7 for example, the day will come when you need to expand the number of available extensions and then have to change things around again. I think University of Illinois at Chicago Circle uses HELP as their security number. And I believe it is restricted to calls within the campus, meaning you cannot access it from off campus; instead for security you have to dial the campus operator at 996-3000 and ask for security. You might also consider the ring down approach: At U of C, in addition to reaching security on 2111, all over the campus there are red phones from place to place -- typically right next to pay phones plus in some other more remote areas -- saying 'for emergency help, lift reciever and talk to the security representative'. Those phones have annunciators on them in the central security office which indicate where (geographically) the call is coming from. If nothing else, a person in trouble can simply pull the phone off the hook and leave it hanging...security will respond, especially if they hear background noises or cries for help. Typically on these calls, they will hit the patch to CPD and advise them 'we are on the way to xxxx Street, have a squad meet us please.' ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 12-Jun-88 18:06:30-EDT,7292;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 12 Jun 88 18:06:28-EDT Date: 12 Jun 88 16:59-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #99 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Sunday, June 12, 1988 4:59PM Volume 8, Issue 99 Today's Topics: Re: taking photographs of meters Re: Cornell's stupid phones (was re: hotel phone ripoffs) Submission for comp-dcom-telecom ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Peter Kendell Subject: Re: taking photographs of meters Date: 10 Jun 88 08:59:05 GMT From article <527@sering.cwi.nl>, by dfk@cwi.nl (Daniel Karrenberg): Status: O } } In article <8805271347.AA16475@swlabs.UUCP> jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) writes: } >.... } >I the U.K., the meters are kept in the CO and were read periodically for the } >purpose of billing. To save effort they had devised a scheme to have a } >camera traverse the bank of meters in an automatic manner. A picture was } >taken of each group of 4 counters which were then more easily read by } >someone working at a desk. } > } >Now there's progress. } } In Germany the (mechanical) meters in the CO are grouped in square blocks of } about 20x20. They have "handheld" cameras with a tubus (english?) that exactly } fits over one such block. The reason for taking the pictures is not only to } read them at a desk but also to have some tangible proof in case of transcription } errors. } } And yes, that technology is still in widespread use. } -- } Daniel Karrenberg Future Net: } CWI, Amsterdam Oldie Net: mcvax!dfk } The Netherlands Because It's There Net: DFK@MCVAX That's the method still in common use here. I've never heard of this 4-at-a-time scanning system. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Peter Kendell | | ...{uunet!}mcvax!ukc!stc!pete | ------------------------------ From: kevin@calvin.ee.cornell.edu (Kevin Tubbs) Subject: Re: Cornell's stupid phones (was re: hotel phone ripoffs) Date: 12 Jun 88 02:38:02 GMT Reply-To: calvin.ee.cornell.edu!kevin@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Kevin Tubbs) In article <2772@c3pe.UUCP> stein@c3pe.UUCP (Mike Stein) writes: > My theory is that their billing machine did not count any call that >lasted less than a minute - as all the "no pets" and most answering machines >were. The only ones I was charged for were those where the cats passed and >we got into more serious negotiation. I do the service for the phone system at a local motel, and it works this way too. A lot of the cheaper systems can't tell if the call completes at all, much less when. Billing starts after about a minute, even if you're listening to nothing but ringing or a busy signal. The most astounding, stupid, unbelieveable case of a phone system not knowing if/when calls complete is right here at Cornell. In order to "save money", Cornell bought an AT&T System 85. It is so retarded that it doesn't know when calls complete. They have a big problem with people making long distance calls, getting a busy or no answer, then they flash the hookswitch to to get dial tone and try again. If they flash too quickly, it puts the first call on "hold", and they end up getting charged for that non-existent call for as long as the handset is off hook! I'd better quit before I get tense and flamey, which is what talking about the Cornell phone fiasco does to me... -- Kevin Tubbs, 5152 Upson, Cornell University, Ithaca NY, 14853 (607) 255-8703 kevin@calvin.ee.cornell.edu {uunet,rochester}!cornell!calvin!kevin ------------------------------ From: stpstn!aad@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Anthony A. Datri) Date: 12 Jun 88 03:17:36 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: stpstn!aad From: aad@stpstn.UUCP (Anthony A. Datri) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Stupid question -- what is ISDN? Message-ID: <1821@stpstn.UUCP> Date: 12 Jun 88 03:17:35 GMT Reply-To: aad@stpstn.UUCP (Anthony A. Datri) Distribution: usa Organization: The Stepstone Corporation, Sandy Hook, CT Lines: 10 Excuse my ignorance, but just what is ISDN? All I've been able to find is useless babble in tabloids -- the kind of publications who call emacs "a unix program that runs on pyramids" -- @disclaimer(Any concepts or opinions above are entirely mine, not those of my employer, my GIGI, or my 11/34) beak is beak is not Anthony A. Datri,SysAdmin,StepstoneCorporation,stpstn!aad ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jun 88 02:31:48 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu In response to Greg Monti's (NPR) post about AT&T no longer handling 976 calls from one LATA to anther, I know of a few cases where this is not true. For example, I can call the Chicago 976 numbers (312-976-1212 for weather , 976-1616 for time, etc.), from anywhere in the country (I'm not sure about Canada, but see no reason why it wouldn't go through from there...). I can call the New York 976 numbers from almost anywhere, at least the major cities that I've been too recently. Connecticut 976, although it is only for lottery results, is also accessible from almost anywhere. San Francisco's interactive 976 numbers can also be reached by AT&T, as can San Jose's, although I have not tried to call Weather-Trak in San Jose lately. (Weather Trak was one of the main 976 numbers that my friends called it San Jose. In New York, Weather Trak is a non-976 number, 212-355-1212, which makes it cheaper to call from San Jose to New York City to use Weather Trak, at least in the evenings...) I know that Sprint and MCI eliminated 976 calls about 2 years ago, to avoid fraud, but this means that Sprint and MCI customers can not access these services either. I guess Sprint and MCI and the rest of the alternates figure this the reduction in toll fraud is worth a little customer dissatisfaction. (As if there isn't enough dissatisfaction allready! :-) ) As to 900 numbers, I realize that 900 is a special area code set up for mass announcements, but what I was curious about was how a 900 number, take for example 900-909-7000, which is a chat-line in the New York Metro area, can limit calls to area codes 212,201,718,914,and 516? I received a few good responoses to this, but unfortunately I can not summarize as I do not have access to my old account until next week. Oh, finally, not all LD companies have eliminated 976 access. A friend of mine in PA uses a small service called "Red Rose", which allows 976 calls. It's probably an AT&T reseller, so perhaps this has something to do with it. Not really sure... -Doug .. Dreuben@Eagle.Weslyn Dreuben%Eagle.weslyn@Wesleyan.Bitnet .. (temporarily at: usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 13-Jun-88 21:05:04-EDT,17479;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 13 Jun 88 21:05:02-EDT Date: 13 Jun 88 19:37-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #100 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, June 13, 1988 7:37PM Volume 8, Issue 100 Today's Topics: Chicago prefix names: 3-letter to 2-letter conversion (265 lines) CO generated noise in data Question ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: Chicago prefix names: 3-letter to 2-letter conversion (265 lines) Date: Sat Jun 11 21:32:55 1988 This is a list of the prefix names in effect in Chicago, Illinois, as of September 18, 1948, when dialing was changed from three letters to two letters plus a digit. It is intended to list only those in use in 1948, not all the named prefixes that were in use before the switch to numeric prefixes in 1960. I hope to submit those when I get more information about suburban prefixes. Four of the names in the first column debuted in the directory that announced the switch: Museum, Reliance, Uptown, and Wagner. Probably RELiance, UPTown, and WAGner were introduced as three-letter names between the publication of the previous directory and the changeover. However, that is unlikely for Museum, whose assigned digit does not match its third letter, since then customers assigned MUSeum would be changed to MUseum 4 after only a few months. Moreover, from then until the conversion to numeric prefixes, every named prefix installed in the city of Chicago mismatched on the third letter, both those consisting of additional digits to go with old names and those that had new names (BRoadway, LUdlow, MItchell, PRescott, and UNderhill). In the second column are the digits assigned to replace the third letter. Twenty-four prefixes (including MUseum 4) were assigned a digit that did not correspond to the third letter; I have indicated them with exclamation points. Ten others were assigned two digits apiece, generating ten additional prefixes, but in each of those cases one of the digits matched the third letter of the name. The third column shows the exchange that the prefix appears to have served, based on where it is used today or on what I could gather from directories of the time. In the cases of BRIargate, INTerocean, and LACkawanna, I know that wiring was from a suburban CO as indicated. I took the liberty of not repeating "Chicago-" before the names of the exchanges in this column. (A district is the area wired from a single CO, but an exchange is rather hard to define. It's an area that was considered a unity for setting rates and as such is still valid here for long-distance rates and for local calls placed from Central Telephone's service area in area code 312. Exchange boundaries are generally drawn along an amalgam of district boundaries and municipal borders.) Finally, the fourth column includes what happened to the numerical equivalent of the original three-letter prefix (and, if the digit did not match the third letter or if two digits were assigned, the numerical equivalent of the post- 9/18/48 version) if it is not still in use in the same area. Otherwise they are still there. (For example, COlumbus 1 as 261, both ESTebrook 8 and EStebrook 9 as 378 and 379, and MANsfield 6 as 626 are all in use in Chicago- Austin today.) Prefix new digit(s) Exchange Comments (present tense = 4/23/88) ABErdeen 4! Stewart 223 is BAldwin 3 in Grays Lake. ALBany 2 Humboldt AMBassador 2 Rogers Park ANDover 3 Franklin ARDmore 1! Edgewater 273 is BRoadway 3, Chicago-Rogers Park. ARMitage 6 Humboldt ATLantic 5 Oakland AUStin 7 Austin AVEnue 3 Kildare BAYport 1! South Chicago 229 serves the Chicago-Portsmouth exchange/Summit district overlap. BELmont 5 Humboldt BERkshire 7 Merrimac BEVerly 8 Beverly BIShop 7 Lafayette BITtersweet 8 Lakeview BOUlevard 8 Oakland BRIargate 4 Rogers Park Illinois Bell started to rename it BRoadway 4 but changed its mind. Until 1986 it was wired from the Evanston CO. BRUnswick 8 Humboldt BUCkingham 1! Lakeview 282 is AVenue 2 in Chicago-Kildare. BUTterfield 8 Hyde Park CALumet 5 Calumet CANal 6 Monroe There is now a Chicago-Canal CO. 226 is still CAnal 6 in Chicago-Monroe. CAPitol 7 Humboldt CAThedral 8 Franklin? CA 8-8000 was the time recording, which actually reached DEArborn 2-8000. In the mid-1970's the number for time was changed to 936-3636 and around 1981 to 976-1616. 228 is in Elk Grove Village. CEDarcrest 3 Beverly The new name BEverly 3 was phased in during 1958 and 1959. CENtral 6 Franklin CHEsapeake 3 Monroe CLIffside 4 Lafayette COLumbus 1! Austin 265 is in Chicago-Kedzie. COMmodore 4! Pullman 266 is in Chicago-Superior. CORnelia 7 Irving CRAwford 7! Lawndale 272 is CRestwood 2 in Northbrook. DANube 6 Calumet DEArborn 2 Franklin DELaware 7! Superior 335 is DEwey 5 in Hazel Crest (Homewood district/Harvey exchange overlap). DICkens 2 Humboldt DIVersey 8 Lakeview DORchester 3! Hyde Park 367 is in Libertyville, where 362 is EMpire 2. DRExel 3 Oakland EAStgate 7 Lakeview EDGewater 4 Edgewater ENGlewood 4 Stewart? It served the northern tip of what is now the Chicago-Stewart district and was dissolved in 1959. 364 now serves Elk Grove Village. ESSex 5! South Chicago 377 is in St. Charles. ESTebrook 8&9! Austin EVErglade 4! Humboldt 383 is EUclid 3 in Oak Park. FAIrfax 4 Hyde Park FINancial 6 Franklin FIRe 7 Wabash? Its only number was FIre 7-1313 for fire emergencies. After the change to 911 it became a Chicago-Wabash prefix. FRAnklin 2 Franklin FROntier 4!&6 Lafayette FRontier 4 was later dissolved. 374 is ESsex 4 in Chicago-South Chicago. 376 is FRontier 6 in Chicago-Lafayette. GRAceland 2&7! Lakeview GROvehill 6 Prospect HARrison 7 Wabash HAYmarket 1! Monroe 429 is in Tinley Park. HEMlock 6 Prospect HILltop 5 Beverly HOLlycourt 5 Rogers Park HUDson 3 Stewart HUMboldt 6&9! Humboldt HYDe Park 3 Hyde Park INDependence 3 Irving INTerocean 8 Pullman It was wired from the Blue Island CO until about 1953. IRVing 8 Irving JUNiper 8! Irving 586 is LUdlow 6 in the Summit district/ Chicago-Portsmouth exchange overlap. KEDzie 3 Kedzie The name was phased into KEystone 3 in 1959-62. The district and exchange are still named Chicago-Kedzie. KENwood 6&8! Oakland KEYstone 9 Irving KILdare 5 Kildare LACkawanna / TUxedo 9 Merrimac It served the River Grove district/ | NAtional 2 Chicago-Merrimac exchange overlap and at first| MErrimac 7 was canceled with the 1948 changeover. \BErkshire 7 Regular Chicago-Merrimac numbers were substituted at first but later were later NAtional 5 restricted to the Chicago-Merrimac district proper and NAtional 5 put into currently 589 and 625 service here. 522 is now LAwndale 2 (which name was part way phased into LAfayette 2 when numeric prefixes came in around 1960) in Chicago-Lawndale. LAFayette 3 Lafayette LAKeview 5 Lakeview LAWndale 1! Lawndale 529 is now LAwrence 9 in Roselle. The name LAwndale 1 was being phased into LAfayette 1 when numeric prefixes superseded names in 1960. The district is still named Chicago-Lawndale. LINcoln 9! Lakeview 546 is KImball 6 in Round Lake. LIVingston 8 Oakland LONgbeach 1! Edgewater 566 is LOcust 6 in Mundelein. MANsfield 6 Austin MERrimac 7 Merrimac MIChigan 2 Superior MIDway 3 Hyde Park MOHawk 4 Superior MONroe 6 Monroe MULberry 5 Kildare MUSeum? 4! Hyde Park 687 serves the Blue Island exchange/ Tinley Park district overlap. However, this one likely started as MUseum 4. NATional 2! Merrimac 628 serves Addison (Elmhurst exchange/ Lombard district overlap). NEVada 2!&8 Kedzie 632 is in Arlington Heights. NEvada 8 still serves Chicago-Kedzie as 638. NEWcastle 1! Newcastle 639 is MErcury 9 in Cary. NORmal / 2!& Stewart? \ NOrmal 2, with ENglewood 4 and \ 7 Hyde Park / WEntworth 6, served Chicago-Stewart's north tip, from 1948-55. 662 is now Waukegan's ONtario 2. 667 is still in Chicago-Hyde Park as NOrmal 7. OAKland 4! Oakland 625 is now NAtional 5 where LACkawanna had been used, in the Chicago-Merrimac exchange/River Grove district overlap. OFFicial 3 Franklin OFficial 3-9100 was Illinois Bell's business office. The prefix was used solely for their departments. 633 now serves Chicago-Monroe. PALisade 5 Kildare PENsacola 6 Kildare PLAza 2 Hyde Park POLice 5 Wabash? The only number was POlice 5-1313 for police emergency. After 911 came in, 765 became the Chicago-Wabash prefix for Chicago's main post office. PORtsmouth 7 Portsmouth PROspect 6 Prospect PULlman 5 Pullman RADcliffe 3 Stewart RANdolph 6 Franklin RAVenswood 8 Edgewater REGent 4 South Chicago RELiance 5 Portsmouth It may have started as REliance 5. REPublic 7 Prospect ROCkwell 2 Lawndale RODney 3 Newcastle ROGers Park 1!&4 Rogers Park SACramento 2 Kedzie SAGinaw 1! South Chicago 724 is PArk 4 in Glenview. SEEley 3&8! Monroe SHEldrake 3 Rogers Park SOUth Chicago 8 South Chicago \ That's no typo: these two conflicted. SOUth Shore 8 Hyde Park / SOuth Shore 8 was phased out by the mid-1960's. 768 phones today are in the Chicago-South Chicago exchange. SPAulding 2 Humboldt SPRing 7 Kildare STAte 1!&2 Franklin STEwart 3 Stewart SUNnyside 4! Edgewater 786 serves Chicago-Wabash. SUPerior 7 Superior TAYlor 9 Monroe TRIangle 4 Stewart TUXedo 9 Merrimac UPTown 8 Edgewater It may have started as UPtown 8. VAN Buren 6 Kedzie VICtory 2 Calumet VINcennes 6 Stewart VIRginia 7 Lafayette WABash 2 Wabash WAGner 4 Oakland It may have started as WAgner 4. WALbrook 5 Prospect WATerfall 8 Pullman WEAther 4! Wabash? WEAther 1212, later WEather 4-1212 (actually 934 and any four digits), was the weather recording. It was changed to 936-1212 in the early 1970's and to 976-1212 in 1981. 932 serves Lombard now, and 934 serves Palatine. WEBster 9! Wabash As above, 932 serves Lombard. WELlington 5 Lakeview WENtworth 6 Stewart? It served the northern tip of what is now the Chicago-Stewart district and was dissolved in 1958 or 1959. During the 1970's, 936-1212 was the weather recording and 936-3636 the time. 936 now serves Chicago-Franklin. WHItehall 4 Superior YARds 7 Lafayette At the time, a few suburbs had named prefixes, which could not, however, be dialed from Chicago phones as far as I know: one had to request connection through the appropriate operator. They were as follows, with the digits they later acquired: Berwyn GUnderson (4), STanley (8) Calumet City TOrrence (2, for a while TOrrence 6 in Burnham) Cicero OLympic (2 and 6), TOwnhall (3) Evanston DAVis (8), GReenleaf (5), UNIversity (4,later also 9) Forest Park FOrest (6, absorbing River Forest's FOrest 9 in 1976-77) Hammond, Indiana Russell and Sheffield (changed to WEstmore 1, 2, and 3) Lincolnwood Towers (integrated into Skokie's ORchard 3, 4, and 5) Oak Park EUclid (3, later also 6), VIllage (8) River Forest Forest (9, integrated into FOrest 6 in 1976-77) Waukegan MAjestic (3), ONtario (2) David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com || sun!portal!cup.portal.com!david_w_tamkin ------------------------------ Date: 13 JUN 88 12:10- From: MLS9597%RITVAX.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: CO generated noise in data Here is a strange problem that I am having with my local telco: Rochester Telephone Company: Most of the time that I use my data line I get a burst of a few garbage characters every fifteen minutes in cycles that are approximately 3,18,33 and 48 minutes after the hour. After three months of pain, the telco has narrowed the problem down, they think, to the remote optically linked CO that services my part of the exchange. As best they can tell, the switch does some internal report generation every fifteen minutes or so and somehow fouls up my line. They have gone back to AT&T ( I think it is a 5ESS but I am not sure) via a group called PECK to look into the problem. Has anyone else had anything similar to this where the switch causes periodic or occassional noise in a digital system CO? Can anyone tell me anything about the organization with the initials PECK? Mike Slade ( slade.wbst@xerox.com or mls9597@ritxvaxa.bitnet) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Jun 88 16:39 EST From: Howie Ducat Subject: Question Someone gave me this wonderful free Speakerphone from Northern Telecomm. It has a 6-line modular plug, not a four. Is there any way for me to make it work? Howie Ducat ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 16-Jun-88 22:24:47-EDT,9162;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 16 Jun 88 22:24:46-EDT Date: 16 Jun 88 19:04-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #101 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, June 16, 1988 7:04PM Volume 8, Issue 101 Today's Topics: Re: TT charges dropped. PBX systems aren't retarded, Central Offices are! Any references for papers on ATM? Reminder: area code 508 Country code for Caribbean locations ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: flatline!erict@uunet.UU.NET (eric townsend) Subject: Re: TT charges dropped. Date: 6 Jun 88 02:19:34 GMT Someone wrote: ] In my latest bill from Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB), there was a note ] explaining a change in the tariffs covering Touch Tone service for ] all customers in Washington State. That being the removal of the 50 ] cent charge for Tone service. ...... ] ] The notice also inferred that it was the BOC that instigated the ] change, but I wonder if it wasn't really the state Utilities ] Commission that forced the new tariff? I did some digging a while back, as the local Bell Co. decided to levy really outrageous charges on modem users here in Houston. Things like "All modem usage will fall under full business data rates, even for bbs's, because all bbs's are businesses." (!) As I understand it, the TT charges were originally authorized in the early 60's, so that the phone co. could regain its losses for "inventing and installing" TT services. According to the authorizations I read, the Bell Co., if it so wished, could charge each TT user around $80 a month extra, just for using TT service. The wording allowed not only allowed the extra charge for TT service, but for "any means of communication using electronically generated tones, and combinations thereof" or something like that. Locally, SWB has read this to mean that all data lines could be charged an extra amount, up to $80/month/line, if SWB so wished. Needless to say, there are some lawsuits going. One local cb simulator operator (RoundTable, *not* a Diversi-Dial system) is suing SWB for unfair competition: He told the truth to SWB, and paid roughly $60/line/mo for rollover data service. Other cb sim operators told ma bell that they were not in any way a business or data service but that they wanted 14 rollover voice lines. The SWB people shrugged, said "ok", and let them have the lines for $14-20/mo/line. That's for rollover data service, folks. Needless to say, RoundTable soon went under from the unfair pricing. SWB said "big deal". Now they're in court. My suggestion is check out the PUC regs in your local area. The RoundTable owner did this several times, found out that SWB was wrong, told them, and they said "so what?". He then took SWB to court, showed the judge where SWB was wrong, and won some nice settlements. -- Know Future "Upgrade to 3.5+, you bozo." is not a valid reply to my 3b1 questions. :-) J. Eric Townsend ->uunet!nuchat!flatline!erict smail:511Parker#2,Hstn,Tx,77007 ..!bellcore!tness1!/ ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 14 Jun 88 09:21 Subject: PBX systems aren't retarded, Central Offices are! In V8I99, Kevin Tubbs flamed about Cornell's new AT&T System 85. Now I'm not known to be one of AT&T's major defenders, and I certainly wouldn't have advised Cornell to buy the S/85 (though they could have done a lot worse), but Kevin's flames are way, way off the mark. The S/85 doesn't know when an outgoing call is completed, but neither would any other PBX! The reason is simple; outgoing calls go through local telephone company Central Offices, and _they_ don't report, to the PBX, if the call was answered or not. Unless the PBX has some pretty fancy tone detectors (which aren't accurate, are costly, and are rarely found on PBXs), it has no way of knowing if the caller got busy, no answer or answer. So it times the call and figures a busy or no answer wouldn't go as long as a completed call. Got a better idea? Now if the CO would return "answer supervision", the PBX would bill accurately. Most modern COs are capable of it, but Bell companies, stuck in "screw the user" tradition, won't turn it on. Sometimes we get lucky, but it's not the norm. BTW there are a couple of exceptions. AT&T's 4ESS-based long distance services (Megacom, etc.) do provide answer supervision. And ISDN, when it arrives, will also provide it. It has also been requested by many users as part of the FCC mandated "Open Network Architecture" program, but that's turning into a regulatory morass that doesn't fit here... So don't blame the PBX, blame your local telephone company. fred ------------------------------ From: David Coffield Subject: Any references for papers on ATM? Date: 14 Jun 88 15:18:07 GMT Reply-To: David Coffield Can anyone mail me any references they may have to papers on ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks/architectures? I've only got one paper on this and the references in it aren't much help. Thanks, David Coffield. -- janet: david@uk.ac.lancs.comp Department of Computing arpa: david@comp.lancs.ac.uk University of Lancaster uucp: ...!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!david Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Jun 88 15:12:15 EDT From: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) Subject: Reminder: area code 508 Reply-To: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU This comes from ne.general; I thought telecom might be interested ... Article 250 in ne.general: From: marston@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (David Marston) Subject: Reminder: area code 508 Date: 16 Jun 88 14:06:56 GMT Reply-To: marston@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (David Marston) Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 23 At the time this is being posted, we have one month until area code 508 is officially implemented in Massachusetts. The cutover date is 7/16/88. Briefly, the following cities and towns represent the innermost ring of exchanges that will CHANGE from 617 to 508: Salem, Peabody, Middleton, North Reading, Wilmington, Billerica, Carlisle, Concord, Sudbury, Wayland, Natick, Dover, Walpole, Foxborough, Mansfield, Easton, Brockton, Avon, East Bridgewater, Bridgewater, Middleborough, Carver, Plymouth. Anything beyond that ring that was formerly in 617 will also change to 508. Okay, let's see the outermost ring of cities and towns that will REMAIN in 617: Marblehead, Swampscott, Lynn, Lynnfield, Reading, Woburn, Burlington, Bedford, Lincoln, Weston, Wellesley, Needham, Dedham, Westwood, Norwood, Sharon, Stoughton, Randolph, Holbrook, Abington, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, Plympton, Kingston. Those and all cities and towns closer in to Boston keep the same phone number. I suggest that you look around for files containing phone numbers, whether physical files or electronic databases, that will need updating. If your number will be changing, review your .signature and business cards, and ensure that phone lists within your organization will be reviewed. Your phone switch may know area codes for routing-optimization and your uucp files may need to change. If you know of other items to review, please post a reminder here. ................David Marston decvax!dartvax!eleazar!marston marston@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU ------------------------------ From: mcvax!cgch!wtho@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Hofmann) Subject: Country code for Caribbean locations Date: 16 Jun 88 06:48:19 GMT As far as I know several Caribbean islands belong to the North-American telephone system (U.S.A., Canada; country code: +1) having the area code 809. Therefore, the international prefix for that region should be +1 809. From West Germany that's the correct code, indeed. However, here in Switzerland the code is +500 809. +1 809 doesn't work from here neither is there success with +500 809 from West Germany. Does that mean that there are regions on this world which haven't a single international access code? (Except the "+" which always differs.) I believed that every internationally accessible telephone number could be dialed as + where only the "+" differs. Isn't it CCITT's task to make those codes standardized? And since 809 obviously belongs to country code +1, won't +500 be used for another country in the future? Tom Hofmann E-mail: wtho@cgch.UUCP ...!mcvax!cernvax!cgch!wtho ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 20-Jun-88 20:04:16-EDT,6838;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 20-Jun-88 18:34:52 Date: 20 Jun 88 18:34-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #102 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, June 20, 1988 6:34PM Volume 8, Issue 102 Today's Topics: Sprint Area Code change 508 Re: Intercepts vrs. OCC's answering machine compatibility: US/Europe Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 10:02:49 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: Sprint Attracted by the lower rates, particularly credit card surcharges, I signed up for the flashy FON card which Sprint has been heavily advertising. Plainly stated on the literature was "you do not have to sign up with us as your primary carrier to obtain & use the card". Well, lo & behold, I got the card, AND they involuntarily signed me up for Sprint as my default carrier at home! I called them, and the pleasant service agent struck out my account, and suggested I call my local company as well. The locals told me that Sprint does this all the time. A great way to build up customer confidence, by pulling a hoodwink job from the start! At least at first view, WHY would I want to sign up? The only advantage is to avoid dialing the 10777 prefix. The charges are the same whether you are signed up with them or not. Disadvantages: If you are signed up, your Sprint bill is a separate item, a check to be written & directly mailed to them; if a casual 10777-dialer, they simply bill through the local carrier, on the SAME BILL, a real convenience. Long- Distance directory assistance (at least the first few/month) are free on AT&T, they're 55 cents each on Sprint. The FON card seems pretty decent, but you have to use a random 14-digit number, which I'm not gonna memorize. AT&T cards are your 10-digit home number, followed by an easily remembered 4-digit number. I also wonder whether going through an 800-number diminishes the sound quality. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Jun 88 11:25 EDT From: JJC%CISV47 <@VB.CC.CMU.EDU:JJC%CISV47@Vms.Cis.Pittsburgh.Edu> Subject: Area Code change 508 Email 1.728 From: Jeffrey James Bryan Carpenter To: TELECOM@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Date: 17-JUN-1988 11:22 Subject: Area Code change 508 >Can someone send me a list or let me know where a list is available for FTP that lists the exchanges that are affected by the area code split in Mass. (508). Thanks, jeff ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Jun 88 05:51:50 EDT From: "Keith F. Lynch" Subject: Re: Intercepts vrs. OCC's > From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com > Doug Rueben at Wesllean asks why sometimes a live intercept operator > cannot hear you -- > If calling via AT&T she *can* hear you. But when using some of the > OCC's, those companies do not open the mouthpiece on your phone > until they detect a connection has been established on the other > end. You can be heard if you speak loudly into the earpiece. ...Keith ------------------------------ From: citrin@ji.Berkeley.EDU (Wayne Citrin) Subject: answering machine compatibility: US/Europe Date: 20 Jun 88 03:58:20 GMT Reply-To: ji.Berkeley.EDU!citrin@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Wayne Citrin) Will an answering machine manufactured for the American market operate properly in Switzerland? Please respond by e-mail. Thanks. Wayne Citrin (ucbvax!citrin) ------------------------------ From: rja Date: 20 Jun 88 13:13:32 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: edison!rja From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: PBXs & CBXs Keywords: Sys 85, Rolm Message-ID: <1547@edison.GE.COM> Date: 20 Jun 88 13:13:31 GMT Organization: GE-Fanuc North America Lines: 13 I read about the folks unhappy with the AT&T System/85 PBX. My experiences with the System/85 were very positive. Mind you it was at a DoD location and the Central Office was owned and operated by the DoD so it gave full support to the Sys/85. (The CBX might have been a 5ESS but more likely a 4ESS). It made me recall a few years back when I was with the University of Virginia during their transition from Centrex provided by Centel (ugh!) to a Rolm VLCBX (10K line switch). After the transition I wished they hadn't gone with Rolm. I assume that other folks have been happy with Rolm, but I had pretty frustrating experiences with them. ------------------------------ From: rja Date: 20 Jun 88 13:17:26 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: edison!rja From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Calling the Caribbean from outside the USA/Canada Message-ID: <1548@edison.GE.COM> Date: 20 Jun 88 13:17:25 GMT Organization: GE-Fanuc North America Lines: 9 From Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and most of E/SE Asia the Caribbean is a different country code than the USA/Canada, even for parts of the US that are in that Area Code normally like the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. For that matter parts of the US that are west of Hawaii are not in the US country code either (for example Guam and the Northern Marianas). Does anyone know why this would be true ?? ------------------------------ From: steinmetz!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (William E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #101 Date: 20 Jun 88 13:35:13 GMT Reply-To: crdos1!davidsen@uunet.UU.NET (bill davidsen) I have a simple question about area codes? Why have them apply to physical areas? If 617 is running out of exchanges, why not overlay 508 on the same physical area and add exchanges to that A/C. If AT&T can handle billing on 800 calls, it should be able to treat a ten digit call as local, or "in area code", too. Is this phone co policy, PSC, or what? Today's suggestion. Now that operators are not routing the calls, why not assign every person in the US a phone number, and let it follow him (her) around the country? I'm sure that will stir some discussion. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs | seismo}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 22-Jun-88 21:47:50-EDT,13692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 22 Jun 88 21:47:48-EDT Date: 22 Jun 88 19:49-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #103 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, June 22, 1988 7:49PM Volume 8, Issue 103 Today's Topics: Re: 617/508 Split PBX vs C.O. "Smartness" AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory International Telecharge, Incorporated ANI and Mountain Bell Re: phone dialing Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon 20 Jun 88 22:55:18-EDT From: Philip A. Earnhardt Subject: Re: 617/508 Split I have a simple question about area codes? Why have them apply to physical areas? If 617 is running out of exchanges, why not overlay 508 on the same physical area and add exchanges to that A/C. It would be a drag for the natives to keep track of the difference. Blocking geographic areas for a LATA seems to be the best way to minimize confusion for local callers. Also, how would you like to be one of the first neighborhoods that has to use 10 digits for virtually all telephone calls? Related question to the 617/508 split: isn't NET forbidden from providing inter-LATA service? Or will "inter-LATA" continue to mean the OLD 617 LATA? Has this changed recently? ------- [The "617 lata" as New England Telephone calls it will be what 617 is NOW. 508 and 617 will be the new "Eastern Mass. LATA"...... --JSOL] ------------------------------ From: westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: PBX vs C.O. "Smartness" Date: 21 Jun 88 00:02:12 GMT Fred R. Goldstein writes: > In V8I99, Kevin Tubbs flamed about Cornell's new AT&T System 85. > Now I'm not known to be one of AT&T's major defenders, and I certainly > wouldn't have advised Cornell to buy the S/85 (though they could have > done a lot worse), but Kevin's flames are way, way off the mark. > > The S/85 doesn't know when an outgoing call is completed, but neither > would any other PBX! The reason is simple; outgoing calls go through > local telephone company Central Offices, and _they_ don't report, to > the PBX, if the call was answered or not. Actually, the C.O. can, in most cases, report answer supervision to the customer equipment. The AT&T System 85 can, in deed, detect the answer supervision if it is reported. The problem is that the telco charges extra for this service, and Cornell, like many telephone service resellers, chooses not to pay for it. The '85 then uses "implied supervision", based upon call duration. Central Offices as old as Number 5 Crossbar (which was first deployed in about 1946) have offered answer supervision, which is reported to the originating subscriber by reversing battery polarity. If you pay for this service (it is tarrifed in many place, but possibly not in Ithaca?) it is as reliable as the telco's own billing. It is intended for Hotels, schools, and others who re-sell telephone service. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jun 88 14:32:23 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory I recently bought, by phone and with credit card, a copy of the ``AT&T Toll-Free 800 Consumer Directory''. It's the consumer version of their directory of 800 numbers. For those who want to buy a copy, the number of the AT&T sales operator is 1-800-426-8686. Price, including postage and handling, is about $15. But... does this directory include *all* relevant 800 numbers, or just those in the 800 exchanges owned by AT&T? MCI and US Sprint own a whole slew of exchanges, and even Western Union has one. I asked the sales operator whether its coverage extends beyond the AT&T exchanges, and she said yes. But the directory itself, on the page facing the inside cover, refers to its contents as ``AT&T toll-free 800 numbers''! No mention of MCI et al. Does anyone have any information on this? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 21 Jun 88 20:36 Subject: International Telecharge, Incorporated The Massachusetts DPU held a hearing today to consider the propriety of the rates contained in a filing by ITI for providing intrastate intra- and inter-LATA long distance service from COCOTs, hotels, and other locations. ITI is the company that, in January, charged me $3.55 for a call which N.E.T. would have charged 74 cents (or actually, nothing at all, since there was no answer, but that's only part of the story). I went to the hearing to object to their rates -- and found that they have adjusted their tariff twice since their original filing. Their intrastate rates are now the same as NET's intra-LATA rates and AT&Ts inter-LATA rates. Thus it looks as though their tariff will probably be approved. However, anyone who has received a bill from ITI via their local carrier for a call within the state of Massachusetts should ask their local carrier to remove the charge -- ITI has not yet been given permission to charge for calls within the state. Some interesting things came up during the hearing. ITI currently employs 800 operators in one operating center. They expect to expand to a few more centers, and expect to have no trouble hiring operators; AT&T will (according to ITI) be cutting back to five operating centers across the country. ITI's ability to validate calling cards will be enhanced when they are given access to an industry-wide validation system, which will also contain the database of pay-phones and phones with deny-third-party-billing. The avail- ability of this system to companies like ITI is currently a Judge Green issue. ITI processes their billing through the billing center in Kansas City, using data record formats as specified by Bellcore. Thus they can bill to any calling card issued by any of the B.O.C.s, large independents, and 700 of the 1400 small independents. Calls billed to the companies they don't currently have agree- ments with are free calls. ITI does not require COCOTs using ITI to use ITI exclusively; the person testifying was "amazed" at testimony that callers couldn't reach a different carrier of choice. Most of the issues I've raised in the past are really issues for the COCOT operators and not for ITI (although some AOS companies are still charging exhorbitant rates). The Massachusetts DPU will be holding a hearing on Monday, 25 July to discuss the COCOT issue. I'll be there if at all possible. /john ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 21 Jun 88 19:33:49 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: ANI and Mountain Bell Back in TELECOM Digest V8 #77 I reported on the difficulties I encountered in placing a US Sprint credit-card call from a COCOT with no number on it. The US Sprint operator, for operator-assisted calls, needs the phone number of the calling party. I didn't know it, and had no way of getting it. The underlying problem was not that the pay phone was a COCOT; rather the problem was that LOC operators refuse to tell pay phone users what number they're calling from! Today I set out to investigate why this is so. I first called Mountain Bell's pay phone service number. I asked them point blank: ``Your operators have ANI [Automatic Number Identification]; why won't they tell me what number I'm calling from?'' The two-part answer I got was curious: (1) The number of a pay phone would only be of use to someone receiving incoming calls. Mountain Bell does not support that, because it would mean a loss of revenue. [I'm missing something here. If a call is made from a non-pay phone to a pay phone, rather than the other way around, does that really represent a major loss of revenue?] (2) The tariff on file with my state's PUC states that pay phone numbers are proprietary information. [``We don't hafta help ya, so we're not gonna.'' I'm investigating this; details later.] Since no satisfaction was forthcoming, I called Mountain Bell's customer service number to find out if my area has an ANI dialup. Many regions have them; if you call one, a computer-generated voice will read you the number you're calling from. To place hassle-free US Sprint calls from numberless pay phones, it's exactly what I would need. Dealing with those characters was like pulling teeth; I had to say ``Let me talk to your supervisor'' quite a few times. One supervisor told me, with a straight face, that revealing the ANI dialup would open up a massive security hole. He tried to explain why, but his explanation was so confused I won't reproduce it here. Another supervisor said revealing the number would be ``illegal''. By talking sufficiently tough, I eventually made it up to the managerial level. Finally I got the straight goods: a District Manager admitted that all the talk about security holes, illegality etc. was so much eyewash. They do indeed have an ANI dialup, and keep it secret for a simple reason: they only have one, and they're afraid it would be overused if the general public knew it. Tough cheese for the general public who want to place US Sprint calls. By this time I'm plenty sore. As noted, I'll be taking this up with the local PUC. (Not to mention US Sprint, for failing to install their own ANI system.) Though if some kind soul would mail me the ANI number for southern Arizona... ====================================================================== Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ From: kevin@calvin.ee.cornell.edu (Kevin Tubbs) Subject: Re: phone dialing Date: 22 Jun 88 14:21:59 GMT Reply-To: calvin.ee.cornell.edu!kevin@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Kevin Tubbs) In article <311@sdrc.UUCP> scjones@sdrc.UUCP (Larry Jones) writes: >A number of local phone companies have been playing a little game like this. > [ description of how phone companies enable touch-tone service on your line, > then ask if you want to pay to keep it there.] This appears to be more common than I thought. Several years ago in Ithaca, NY, the 272-273-274-277 exchange was touch tone on EVERY line. Apparently they couldn't turn it off, although they charged anyone who had requested tone service. Lots of people used tone service without paying. A few years ago they installed a new switch, with the ability to disable tone dialing. At first every line could tone dial. One by one they disabled tone dialing for those whose records showed they werent paying for it. Since some people had been using tone sets for years and had a non-trivial investment in the equipment, a lot of them probably decided to buy tone dialing. When I moved into the area, I got two phone lines, one for residence use, the other for my part-time business. I only ordered tone on the residence line. For the first month or so following installation, both lines could tone dial. Then they disabled it on the business line. Fine with me. Just this past weekend, I discovered by accident that tone dialing was again working on the business line. I assume I will soon receive an "offer" to buy tone dialing on that line. I'll refuse, and in another three years we'll do it all again... By the way, I'm not sure which switch they use, but you can tell if a line has tone dialing by listening to the dial tone. If it goes "click-tone....." when you bring up dial tone, it is a tone dialing line. Rotary lines don't have the click, but the dial tone comes on slowly, sort of like someone quickly turning up a volume control. Also, dialing 958 will cause a computer voice to tell you what number you're calling from. -- Kevin Tubbs, 5152 Upson, Cornell University, Ithaca NY, 14853 (607) 255-8703 kevin@calvin.ee.cornell.edu {uunet,rochester}!cornell!calvin!kevin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Jun 88 10:05:05 +10 From: munnari!cs.adfa.oz.au!cxv@uunet.UU.NET (Christopher JS Vance) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #101 Telecom-REQUEST@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (JSol): > > And since 809 obviously belongs to country code +1, won't +500 be used > for another country in the future? > > Tom Hofmann E-mail: wtho@cgch.UUCP According to memory (from looking at the CCITT Red Book?), 500 is the country code for the Falkland Islands. Another name is used in Argentina for this area. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 23-Jun-88 22:36:23-EDT,4336;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 23 Jun 88 22:36:22-EDT Date: 23 Jun 88 21:00-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #104 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, June 23, 1988 9:00PM Volume 8, Issue 104 Today's Topics: Call Forwarding -- Legal Use? Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: myth%ultra.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Mark T. Hollinger) Date: 23 Jun 88 11:29 Subject: Call Forwarding -- Legal Use? Call Forwarding can be a great substitute for a foreign exchange, both because it is cheaper and because it can be used by anyone, not just the owner of the number being forwarded to. Consider the following example: When I lived in Princeton, NJ (609-683), I had friends in the nearby town of Belle Meade (201-874). We were within each other's local calling areas, and we all had unlimited/untimed local calling. My friends wanted to reach Telenet. Now, Telenet has a PAD that's advertised as being in Princeton, but it is actually in the Princeton Junction (609-799) exchange, which is not local to Belle Meade. Therefore, when my friends wanted to reach Telenet, they would call me and ask me to forward my calls there. After all, I was local to them and Telenet was local to me. So when they called back a few seconds later, they would be connected to Telenet at no charge. I could immediately disable Call Forwarding and continue to use my phone normally. I can't think of any reason why the above practice should be illegal. After all, I was paying for Call Forwarding, and isn't that exactly what the service is FOR? But this begs the question of how far one can legitimately go with the ploy. Could I order a phone line with the intent to have my calls forwarded to Telenet at all times, and use the line for outgoing calls only? Could one of my friends ask me to order the line, and then pay the bill for me? Could several of my friends get together and jointly reimburse me for the cost of the line, splitting it among themselves? Each of these proposals seems like a legitimate use of Call Forwarding on a residential line. Could this sort of arrangement be coordinated through local bulletin boards, enabling people who didn't necessarily know each other to pool their money and pay for the line? What if Telenet asked me to have the line installed? Suppose they were even willing to pay business rates for it? Would that be legal? If not, suppose I paid for the line myself but mentioned its existence to Telenet. Could they publicize the number (actually MY number)? Could they give me some sort of non-monetary compensation, such as free service on their network? Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of the tariffs in various areas can comment on the legal implications of this use. I would imagine that the regulations vary from state to state. Does anyone know the rules for ANY state? Mark "MyTH" (myth%ultra.dec@decwrl.dec.com) ------------------------------ Subject: Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? Reply-To: Lang Zerner Date: Thu, 23 Jun 88 10:45:20 EDT From: Lang Zerner Hi. I've been trying to find the ANI (Automatic Number Identification) dialup numbers for a few locations, but have had little luck. Does anyone know the ANI dialups for the following areas: Massachusetts (especially eastern MA) Maine (especially southern ME, Portland area) Southern CA (818, 805, 714 area codes esp.) I seem to recall someone once saying that there were two ANIs for his area code -- one for tone dialing, one for pulse -- so please let me know if you've tested the numbers you know on both dialing methods. Thanks much. Be seeing you... Lang Zerner langz@athena.mit.edu ...!mit-eddie!athena.mit.edu!langz "Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage..." -- Bill Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, I.v.19 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 28-Jun-88 20:01:01-EDT,6308;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.#Chaos with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 28 Jun 88 20:01:00-EDT Date: 28 Jun 88 17:46-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #105 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, June 28, 1988 5:46PM Volume 8, Issue 105 Today's Topics: Re: Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? Re: Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? more questions on ANI #s Intercept operators / one-way transmission ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? Date: Fri, 24 Jun 88 09:08:59 -0400 From: Joel B Levin Greater Boston (worked in Arlington and Cambridge, plus a few other locations, a couple years ago): 1-200-NNX-DDDD (I always was successful using 555-1212). In 649 exchange (Tyngsborough / Dunstable, north of Lowell; also I think in Nashua NH but it mostly doesn't seem to work): 200-2622 (no 1+ or 1+NPA+). I would be interested in finding out ringback in southern NH. In most Mass. exchanges I tried, for a given number ringback was 981+the last four digits of the number. It was often necessary to flash or dial a code; also, sometimes a touchtone keypad test was available. /JBL -- UUCP: {backbone}!bbn!levin USPS: BBN Communications Corporation ARPA: levin@bbn.com 50 Moulton Street POTS: (617) 873-3463 Cambridge, MA 02238 [Thanks also to Ray@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU and LENOIL@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU for the ANI number information. --jsol] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Jun 88 13:51:47 PDT From: Jeff Woolsey Subject: Re: Anyone know any ANI dialup #s? I know several, but not for the areas mentioned (MA, S.CA). These numbers CAN be ferreted out empirically, as I have done (or had to do when they got changed). A plan of attack is helpful. First, go through the N11 numbers. (you might want to skip 411 and 911, and possibly 611 if it is repair service, and 711 if it is the test board.) 511 is ANI in some places. (Pacific*Bell went and used 811 as their statewide toll-free call-us exchange.) Next try the unassigned N00 area codes (200 through 600). Something may happen after 3, 7, or 10 digits, depending on how each CO handles undefined areacodes, and whether 1+ dialing is mandatory. Failing that, try N10. 1-510-XXX-XXXX is ANI in at least one place I know of, whereas 410-XXXX gets you Repair Service. Next, try unassigned area codes. Your phone book might be nice enough to list all of the assigned codes, in numerical order. As time goes on, the search through these is getting shorter. As with X00, you may need to dial up to 10 digits. 917 is ANI where I used to live. Next, try unassigned exchanges. Look through the front pages of your phone book (if you're so lucky) to find the list of valid exchanges, and complement the set. Try these. This is the most tedious part of the search. As before, you may need to dial 7 (or even 10!) digits in some cases. 760 is ANI where I'm living now. Sometimes it may require a specific seven digits. In another section of town ANI is 760-2222, and nothing else. If these things get enough abuse they might try harder to hide them. They might get buried in the Company Code dialing (10XXX#) or the TouchStar services (11XX or *XX). Who knows, they might even support and charge for this method. I haven't yet had to go to these lengths. Obviously these possibilities are more limited in places like NY, LA, Chicago and others where N0X and N1X are valid exchanges. You may also stumble upon other test lines this way, too. There is also the possibility that even if you do find the ANI #, it won't work from unlisted phones. -- And Leon's getting LARGER! Jeff Woolsey National Semiconductor woolsey@nsc.NSC.COM -or- woolsey@umn-cs.cs.umn.EDU ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Roger Clark Swann) Subject: more questions on ANI #s Date: 27 Jun 88 22:48:09 GMT The questions in the last couple of digests regarding ANI numbers (Automatic Number Identification) have brought up some questions of my own... Does anyone know what the ANI #s are for a 5ESS PBX ? I assume that there _may_ be one or two that are standard. Is this a true assumption? I am sure that these numbers can be programmed as desired... I have come across several phones here at the office that do not have a number written on them and it would be nice to find out the correct number w/o having to get hold of the telecom people, ( I am not sure what they would do if I did ask... probably fill out some papers to have the ATT service person come by and _check it_ in a few weeks...). Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 28 Jun 88 10:37 Subject: Intercept operators / one-way transmission >> ... why a live intercept operator cannot hear you > >> If calling via AT&T she *can* hear you. But when using some of the >> OCC's, those companies do not open the mouthpiece on your phone >> until they detect a connection has been established on the other >> end. > >You can be heard if you speak loudly into the earpiece. Nonsense and double nonsense. AT&T has implemented one-way transmission in all 4E toll switches. Your transmit path is not opened on AT&T calls until the distant end goes off-hook. None of the other common carriers have implemented this yet. Speaking loudly into the earpiece will have no effect. There are very few manual intercepts any more; almost all C.O.s can pass the dialed number into the automatic intercept system. But when you do get manual intercept, an AT&T operator flash-forward (you can't) to open the talk path so that you can give the intercept operator the necessary information. /john ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 30-Jun-88 20:18:52-EDT,15141;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 30 Jun 88 20:18:50-EDT Date: 30 Jun 88 18:22-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #106 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, June 30, 1988 6:22PM Volume 8, Issue 106 Today's Topics: Risks of answering machines Phone Installation Charges Watson Voice I/O System Legitimate Uses of Call Forwarding ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Jun 88 16:19:31 est From: Dave Horsfall Subject: Risks of answering machines [I can't remember if this has been dealt with before. If not...] From the Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 1988: Status: O ``Careless talk: it's a message machine Alan wasn't at home when his girlfriend Donna called him yesterday morning. Nor could he take his father's call. Or a call from his other girlfriend, Jenny. I know this because Alan owns an answering machine just like mine. It is so similar, in fact, that my remote control unit _lets_me_listen_to_his_messages_ [emphasis mine!]. The machine in question is a Tandy, but the 'Herald' has discovered that anyone can listen to messages left on most of thre many thousands of answering machines already in people's homes. This is because most remote-control answering machines have primitive codes, and many have none at all. [ ... 14,000 like this sold in a three-week sale ... ] [ ... how the remote tone coders work - just one of four tones ] [ ... Tandy had sold "tens and tens of thousands" of this model - the TAD-212 - and similar machines in 2 years ... ] Dick Smith stores [a consumer electronics chain] also sell answering machines which are activated by voice pattern. [The product manager] said the group had sold more than 20,000 such machines. By talking for a set period of time, keeping quiet for a set period of time, and then talking again, the machines can be activated. He said every machine responded to the same voice code. "You would not recommend that anybody leave vital information on an answering machine," he said. Ms. Phillipa Smith of the Consumers' Association said the privacy and security problems associated with these machines were "quite obvious". "I think most consumers would assume there was a built-in personal- identification system," she said. "This really is an area where technology has outstipped the law." -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel-STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz dave%stcns3.stc.OZ.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.OZ.AU!dave ------------------------------ From: gatech!bgsuvax!klopfens@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Bruce Klopfenstein) Subject: Phone Installation Charges Date: 28 Jun 88 21:43:25 GMT I have moved 4 times in 4 years and have fallen victim to the obviously not cost-based telephone "installation" charges. GTE in NW Ohio is charging about $60 for my change of address from one location to another in BG. My guess is that someone sits down at a terminal, keys in the change date and addresses, and that's about it. The ACTUAL cost to GTE must be a couple dollars. This "system" clearly discriminates against non- home-owners and others who move often. Are there any examples of cases in which consumers have successfully challenged these really outrageous charges? In case you're wondering, I carry my phone from one dwelling to the next (about 9 blocks in this most recent example), and just plug in the phone. There is no physical installation necessary. ------------------------------ From: jps%csd4.milw.wisc.edu@csd1.milw.wisc.edu (Jeff P Szczerbinski) Subject: Watson Voice I/O System Date: 30 Jun 88 19:13:50 GMT Reply-To: jps@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Jeff P Szczerbinski) Does anyone have any experience with the Watson Voice I/O system put out by Natural Microsystems? Aloha, Jeff P.s. Send mail directly to me to keep the load down on the net. Jeff Szczerbinski Univ. of Wisc. - Milwaukee -- Computer Services Division jps@csd4.milw.wisc.edu +1 414 332 3033 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Anarchy -- Its not the law, its just a good idea!" ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Legitimate Uses of Call Forwarding Date: Sat Jun 25 16:55:32 1988 Mark/Myth asks about legitimate and illegitimate uses of Call Forwarding. While tariffs vary from one state to the next, nearly every telephone company tariff regarding *residence* service, as opposed to *business* service state that the phone line is for the exclusive use of members of the household where the phone is located. Most tariffs for residential use clearly state that the service is not intended for resale. That would seem to disqualify any scheme to reduce toll charges for non-family members not in your household. Business service is generally not re-sellable under tariff, with the exception of business places specifically offering telephone service to members of the public such as hotels, motels, etc. Special tariffs allow resale of service in situations like university phone systems, etc. When your personal, *residential* phone service is manipulated or configured in such a way that an outside, unrelated party is able to pass through your line en-route to a third place, and some consideration (in the legal use of the word) is given in exchange for your having manipulated or configured the phone system to accomplish this, then resale has occurred. Resale can never legally take place in a residential setting. It can only take place in a business setting, and then under tariffs specifically relating to resale. Mark's idea has been tried over the years, and the phone company has always succeeded in squelching it once they found out. Example: In 1972-76, I operated a recorded advertising and promotional message for the Chicago Tourist Association. My daily, three minute commentaries consisted of a calendar of events for the days ahead plus a message from the sponsor. Using special recording/playback equipment provided by Illinois Bell, I used ten lines in rotary, each hunting to the next. We received typically about 2000 calls per day (not everyone listened to the entire message, which played out in 'barge in' style - that is, a caller came into a message in progress, and was timed out after hearing one complete message plus the portion he heard when first connecting.) In an effort to increase listenership outside the immediate metropolitan area of Chicago, one person agreed to install an 'unlimited callpac, untimed metro area' line at his home in Joliet, IL. Upon installation, he immediatly setup Call Forwarding. He used the line for his own personal calls, and any calls from his local calling area were forwarded to me. This induced perhaps an additional 20-30 calls per day from folks who were able to make a local call to Chicago through this link rather than a call with a toll charge. Illinois Bell got wind of this one day when the service representative tried to call *him* about some change in the order. She got forwarded to the recording, naturally, and said what is this sh--? We were served with notice to discontinue the forwarding IMMEDIATLY and to cease and desist in the future. I'd be reluctant to set up 'third party call forwarding' today as a routine thing under a residential setting. For businesses, where the phone rates are higher to begin with, Illinois Bell and many other telcos offer a service called 'Remote Call Forwarding'. This accomplishes essentially what Mark/Mirth has in mind -- but not really -- since the rates are configured to defeat the purpose. Under Remote Call Forwarding, a phantom number is established in what you, the subscriber, deems to be a desirable phone exchange. Desirability would be whatever factors you choose. When a call is received on the number, which only terminates in the central office itself, the call is automatically rerouted, at direct dial rates in effect at that time of day, to whatever number has been designated to receive the call. Remote Call Forwarding, or RCF cannot be manipulated or configured by the subscriber. When it is installed it is programmed at the central office, and reprogramming by the central office is necessary to change it in the future. Unlike conventional Call Forwarding, where an unlimited number of calls may be forwarded at one time, subject only to limitations on the number of calls which can be received at the end destination, RCF allows only one talking path at a time. More than one call at a time likely to hit the remote number for forwarding? Then buy two or more phantom numbers and forwarding paths says the telco! In some areas, regular call forwarding does in fact accept only one call to be forwarded at a time; but here in Illinois Bell territory, the software in most of the offices allows for any number of calls to hit the desired number and simply be passed along, provided the destination has the appropriate number of incoming trunks in rotary to handle the calls. DOES CHAIN FORWARDING MAKE SENSE FINANCIALLY? Let's assume you aren't concerned with tariffs or getting caught, and decide to establish some permanently linked phones, allowing a caller to hopscotch along to a final destination without paying a toll charge. Whether one person pays for a single long-haul connection or 2-3-4 people each pay for a single short-haul connection is of vital importance. It is very rare in these days of relatively cheap long distance service that a single long distance charge will ever exceed the cost of several short-distance calls hooked together. You'd have to study your own tariffs for information on this, but let me use Chicago as an example. Each phone has a local toll-free calling area, where for one unit (about four cents) you may talk as long as desired at no additional charge. Outside the local toll-free calling area, which is a distance of eight miles in most cases, calls are billed on a time plus distance factor. The clock is ticking every minute, and the units used begin to mount up immediatly. For me to call from the Chicago-Rogers Park central office to the Chicago- Lakeshore office, where Telenet's switch is located, is outside my local toll-free area. Therefore a call to Telenet is timed, and runs me about 3 units for every five minutes. I am local to the Chicago-Merrimac central office. Merrimac is local to Lakeshore. If a friend were to establish a phone line in their home, and leave it permanently call forwarded to Telenet for me, then I would pay one unit to call Merrimac, and they (or actually I) would pay one unit from Merrimac to Lakeshore. So you say, what is the problem then? Obviously an untimed call which costs *two units* is still cheaper than a call which is timed and lasts 45-60 minutes. This is true, provided the telco does not find out and raise a big stink. Their stink would be based on the premise that (a) I had no lawful right to residence service in a place that was not my residence, (b) that the people in the residence, if they were paying for the line were in effect reselling residence service to me, and (c) by the nature of the forwarded connection being always to the same business phone (Telenet), it would 'seem to them' that an attempt was being made to enhance the business service being purchased by the business (Telenet) without payment to the phone company for the enhancements obtained. Very well, then let us lawfully take subscription to a RCF line, which is a service offering available exclusively to business subscribers, at least here in Illinois Bell Land. After all, if there are only 2 or 3 of us using this link in common, there will seldom be a busy signal and no need for anything but the bare minimum: one number and one talking path. But business service in Chicago has NO local toll free calling! From a business phone, every call is timed; every call is one or more units depending on the length of time talked. My residence phone in Rogers Park would pay one unit for a call of unlimited time to Merrimac, but the business line would pay for as many units as used...and someone has to pay the bill. Therefore no savings in cost is available, since ALL phone bills have to be paid by someone. So the general rule of thumb that Mark should follow is don't try it on a residence line, if you plan to leave the link established all the time where eventually sooner or later -- probably sooner -- the Mother Company will find out what you have been up to and will punish you. And if you do it legitimatly using business service, be absolutely certain that the tariffs for business traffic in your community are such that two or three short-hauls linked together are cheaper than a single long-haul. It very rarely turns out that they are. And if you involve Telenet in any way, shape or form, such as asking them to publicize the line, give you free credit, etc, you can bet your last dollar if your link is a residence line, the telco will scream bloody murder when they find out. And you might consider the experience of the experts themselves: the Engineering Department at Telenet employs several people full time to do nothing but plan network in/outdial configurations in local communities. If such a link as you plan could be done without it costing *more*, then why wouldn't they do it themselves? We here in Chicago have been begging and pleading with Telenet for the past year (since the day when unlimited, untimed calls throughout metro Chicago were discontinued) to add service. We have asked them to bring in a line from Chicago-Merrimac, Chicago-Irving, and/or Chicago-Newcastle, all three of which would open a HUGE part of the metro area to local toll-free calling via Telenet. And Telenet has repeatedly said no! Because it would cost them an arm and a leg to provide even a modicum of service from those offices to their switch downtown. Many people have developed Call Forwarding schemes to link phones together and the plans have invariably wound up more complex, time consuming to administer and costly than they were worth. Best stick to occassional forays of sneaking your friend's call through on your Call Forwarding by advance notification as you are doing now...and hope the day never comes when your telco does like Illinois Bell and cuts out virtually all unlimited, untimed 'local' calls to show who is boss! Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 5-Jul-88 22:20:36-EDT,8588;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 5 Jul 88 22:20:34-EDT Date: 5 Jul 88 20:54-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #107 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, July 5, 1988 8:54PM Volume 8, Issue 107 Today's Topics: BOYCOTT COPTS! Risks of 911 emergency phone number Re: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! phone companies lose money on frequent moves! Re: AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply-To: pnet01!mtbill@trout.nosc.mil Date: Sat, 2 Jul 88 09:12:39 PDT From: mtbill@pnet01.cts.com (Mountain Bill) Subject: BOYCOTT COPTS! I've got a bunch of 1" x 1 3/4" stickers that declare: BOYCOTT THIS PHONE! Do not charge calls to your credit card from this phone: exhorbitant surcharges will be added to each call! Do Not Use Private Pay Phones! Just right for warning the public. Send a SASE, I'll send you 40 stickers (until my supply runs out). Let's get rid of a few COPT's this summer! Mountain Bill Box 20875 San Diego, CA 92120 UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!pnet01!mtbill ARPA: crash!pnet01!mtbill@sdcsvax.arpa INET: mtbill@pnet01.CTS.COM ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Jul 88 3:54:55 CDT From: Dan Jacobson Subject: Risks of 911 emergency phone number Risks of short emergency phone numbers with 1's at the end, (e.g. 911): One time I started to call the weather number, 976-1212, and changed my mind after dialing the "9", hanging up the phone (a click, = "1"). Then I changed my mind again and picked the phone back up (a click, = "1"). Before I started dialing again I noticed that the phone was ringing at the other end. I put the phone back down again to cancel what I thought would be an operator message. Instead, just before the phone made it to the cradle, I heard "Evanston Emergency..." It turns out that 9 + click + click = 911 = the local emergency number. I had to call them back and tell them everything was o.k. lest they think the bad guys were beating me up. This phenomenon arises with both tone and pulse phones. In addition, those dial locks for your phone aren't secure: a person just has to simulate the pulses by tapping rapidly on the hangup buttons, banging out the number. They don't need the dial. Dan Jacobson [jacobson@eecs.nwu.edu] ------------------------------ From: munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au!dave@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) Subject: Re: exchange names, ENOUGH ALREADY! Date: 3 Jul 88 23:02:38 GMT Reply-To: dave%stcns3.stc.OZ@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) In article <8806061344.AA27219@decwrl.dec.com> goldstein@delni.DEC.COM (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: ) )Smaller telcos ask the lead telco for a prefix when they need one. )Art Brothers' Beehive Tel in Utah ... asked for a new prefix for new )territory. They had to ask Mountain Bell; there is no love lost )between the two. So Mt. Bell gave him "234". Sounds good, no? )Well, there were LOTS of uncompleted call arrivals. Turns out )234 is a VERY BAD prefix since kids playing with phones like to )dial 12345678! And most of the non-calls went to 234-5678. ^^^ ^^^^ Trivia of the month - that just happens to be the number of Big Blue here in Sydney, Australia! They aren't even in the area serviced by that exchange either, but when you're as big as they are... -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel-STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz dave%stcns3.stc.OZ.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.OZ.AU!dave WordStar 4 - The thinking person's word processor ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 5 Jul 88 08:56 Subject: phone companies lose money on frequent moves! Bruce Klopfenstein writes, >I have moved 4 times in 4 years and have fallen victim to the >obviously not cost-based telephone "installation" charges. >GTE in NW Ohio is charging about $60 for my change of address >from one location to another in BG. My guess is that someone >sits down at a terminal, keys in the change date and addresses, >and that's about it. The ACTUAL cost to GTE must be a couple >dollars. This "system" clearly discriminates against non- >home-owners and others who move often. Are there any examples >of cases in which consumers have successfully challenged these >really outrageous charges? > >In case you're wondering, I carry my phone from one dwelling >to the next (about 9 blocks in this most recent example), and >just plug in the phone. There is no physical installation >necessary. From what I remember of tariff-hacking days, telephone companies actually lose their shirts on people who move often. The cost of moving somebody is pretty high. There are a lot of steps involved, even when it's all electronic switching and it's a "software" move. 1) You place an order. This takes some minutes time at the residence service center, while you speak to the rep and the order is processed. 2) The order is distributed. A change order is sent to the group who runs the CO, while another goes to the telephone directory center, another to billing, etc. Sure it's largely on-line, but people have to check and read these. 3) They have to verify that there's a good pair going into the new location, locate it on the frame/CO and make sure it can be activated, that it has modular jacks, etc. (I moved into a house, just this spring, with no modular jacks yet installed.) 4) Somebody has to enter the change at the CO at the right time. It's probably harder than most people imagine, since CO switches aren't exactly optimized to be user-friendly. (Though newer ones are: A DMS-100 is a lot easier than a 1ESS.) All small things, but they add up, given loaded costs. Maybe $60 is fully compensatory (it's more than NE Telephone charges here in Mass.) but it probably doesn't subsidize much. And in any case, since rates are uniform across the telco's service area, they can't charge you less just because you live in an area with a modern switch. How would you feel if you lived in a town that still had a stepper (half of NE Telco's COs are steppers, and GTE is probably higher) and were charged $80 while your city cousin paid $40? You didn't ask for the cruddier service of the stepper! So the charge is averaged among all users. It's probably the fairest way to do it. fred ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jul 88 15:13:12 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: Re: AT&T Toll-Free 800 Directory In Telecom Digest Issue #103 I brought up the ``Toll-Free 800 Directory'' sold by AT&T. The AT&T sales operator told me it covers all 800 exchanges, and a local telco service rep told me so too. That is *wrong*. An 800 number will be accepted for the AT&T directory only if its NXX is owned by AT&T. A good many people are misinformed on this. So how *does* one get hold of a printed directory of 800 numbers in the other exchanges? To investigate this, I talked to customer service reps at MCI, US Sprint, Western Union and New York Telephone, each of which owns at least one NXX in the 800 NPA. I asked them how to get a printed listing of their 800 numbers. The response was unanimous. ``There ain't no sech animal!'' One US Sprint supervisor told me solemnly that the AT&T directory covers US Sprint exchanges, too. Guess he's never heard of competition... I could investigate the other former BOCs, some of which I imagine also own 800 NXX's. (E.g., the former intra-state ones.) But I know what I'll find. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 7-Jul-88 22:36:50-EDT,5013;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 7 Jul 88 22:36:48-EDT Date: 7 Jul 88 20:40-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #108 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, July 7, 1988 8:40PM Volume 8, Issue 108 Today's Topics: ANIs Revisited, in Eastern Mass. kicks in the face from AllNet X.25 source Stickers For COCOTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 17:20:49 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: ANIs Revisited, in Eastern Mass. A few days ago, levin@bbn.com said that 981-xxxx would work. I guarantee it won't! About two months ago, 981 was assigned as the direct-dial prefix for Lincoln Lab, in Lexington. Try it now, and MY phone, or somebody's phone here, will ring. So what is the ANI number here?? the 1-200-xxx-xxxx doesn't seem to hack it. JGB ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: kicks in the face from AllNet Date: Wed Jul 6 17:51:15 1988 AllNet has just given its customers a couple of rude surprises. As of June 25, they raised their TravelMate rates on 950-1444 evenings (by 1c per minute) and nights (by 2c per minute) to 19c and 16c, respectively. Remember how they used to brag about billing in six-second increments? They now charge EVENING rates on Saturdays from 5 PM till 11 PM. TravelMate calls no longer count toward nor are eligible for volume discounts. And worst, for billings under $10.00 [before tax] to 1+ and Dial-Up customers, there is now a 90c bill handling fee added to cover the cost of printing and mailing the bill and posting the payment! According to their customer service department, a zero bill just won't go out (you won't owe 90c), but if your call usage is $9.99, you owe $10.89 plus tax! As is their usual gambit, I didn't know any of this until my AllNet bill for the cycle ended June 24 arrived in the mail on July 5. I've run up about $4 in AllNet usage since June 25, so now I figure I have two choices: (1) I can make enough of my long-distance calls between now and July 24 via AllNet to get the bill over $10 and cancel on July 24, or (2) I can stop using the account immediately and then protest the 90c as an ex-post-facto charge. [I have not used it since receiving the bill. To use the account after learning the new terms would, in all fairness, be construed as consent to them.] Either way, my AllNet account is history. Patronizing commercials and connections that sound as if you were sitting in a wind tunnel: don't you just love them? David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: ndmath!mag@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Bill Tims) Subject: X.25 source Date: 7 Jul 88 21:35:22 GMT Does anyone know where I can purchase source code for enclusion into an embedded product. Hopefully I can find one written in c. Thanks mag@ndmath!iuvax ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Stickers For COCOTS Date: Wed Jul 6 18:16:40 1988 Mountain Bill (V#8 #107) advertised stickers to put on COCOTS warning the public about the extravagent charges involved when placing a call from one of those phones. My sympathy is with him, but I can't honestly endorse vandalizing or defacing the property of someone else. If anything, I would prefer to see regulatory laws passed requiring that the proprietor of the phone post a sign in a conspicuous place -- such as on the little panel where dialing instructions are usually posted -- saying, "ALTHOUGH THIS TELEPHONE IS INTERCONNECTED WITH THE PUBLIC TELEPHONE NETWORK, AND CAN BE USED TO CALL ANY OTHER TELEPHONE ON THE NETWORK, IT IS NOT OWNED OR OPERATED BY THE LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANY. THE RATES CHARGED FOR USING THIS PHONE, EITHER THROUGH COINS DEPOSITED, THIRD PARTY/COLLECT OR CREDIT CARD BILLING MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN CHARGES FOR THE SAME CALL IF ORIGINATED FROM A TELEPHONE COMPANY OWNED/OPERATED PAY STATION. FOR INQUIRIES ABOUT THE RATES AND TERMS OF SERVICE FOR THE USE OF THIS PRIVATLY OWNED PAY STATION, CALL XXX-XXX-XXXX. (OWNERS NAME/ADDRESS HERE) This would offer a clear choice to the user. While Mountain Bill's stickers more succinctly reflect my own sentiments, I think they are unfair to the owners of the phone -- many times the proprietor of the store where the phone is located -- who himself may not realize what a nuisance his instrument is; and they are unfair to the general public which is largely ignorant of the controversy. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 9-Jul-88 23:30:01-EDT,3466;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 9 Jul 88 23:30:00-EDT Date: 9 Jul 88 21:30-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #109 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, July 9, 1988 9:30PM Volume 8, Issue 109 Today's Topics: re: notice on private payphones Re: X.25 source looking for an inexpensive way to get to Germany's Datex-P Network ... Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 8 Jul 88 0:32:58 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: re: notice on private payphones I have seen a few such phones in Delaware with a notice that their rates may exceed those of Diamond State Telephone. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 88 15:02:51 EDT From: chris@cos.com (Chris Rohrer) Subject: Re: X.25 source code for sale. I don't know if they sell the source, though (I kind of doubt it). TITN in Silicon Valley, California (and with an office in Arlington [Rosslyn] Virginia) has OEM x25 and other software in C and they claim it's portable to everywhere. Retix, in California sells various layers of OSI software (again in C) but I don't know if they have x25 or if you could buy the source. Omnicom in Vienna, Va, have Marben's Osilogie software distributing rights in the US. Marshall Rose (The Wollongong Group, Inc) would probably be a wealth of information and help for you. (Sorry, I don't have his mail address handy.) Chris (Chris Rohrer @ Corporation for Open Systems) -- chris@cos.com -- chris%cos.com@uunet.uu.net -- {uunet, sundc, decuac, hqda-ai, hadron}!cos!chris "Opinions expressed herein are mine and not necessarily shared by COS" ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Jul 88 02:10:26 EDT From: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) Subject: looking for an inexpensive way to get to Germany's Datex-P Network ... Reply-To: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU is telenet the only way? it seems kinda pricey ... # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # {ames,cca,decvax,harvard,lotus,mit-eddie,rochester,soft21}!garp!henry ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Jul 88 13:59:41 edt From: pec@necntc.nec.com (Paul Cohen) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #99 I would appreciate some help in understanding the CCITT spec G.721 concerning ADPCM. There are in fact two CCITT specs with this name, one written in 1984 and another written in 1986. In the 1986 spec it is mentioned that the two are incompatible, but no discussion of the differences is provided nor is there any mention of the motivation for making the changes. There is also the G.712 spec on toll quality. In the G.721 specs there are references to the G.712 spec, but there is no clear statement about the relationship between the two. My question in this regard is whether an ADPCM implementation which satisfies (one or the other) G.721 necessarily also satisfies G.712. Can anyone suggest answers or to these questions or suggest sources of information? ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 16-Jul-88 14:49:13-EDT,11113;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 16 Jul 88 14:49:10-EDT Date: 11 Jul 88 22:21-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #110 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, July 11, 1988 10:21PM Volume 8, Issue 110 Today's Topics: TELECOM Digest V8 #108 more on COCOTS, AOS and such Catalog of phone stuff Reminder: 617/508 split: this Saturday, 16 July; permissive until 15 Oct Routes To Datex-P ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 10 Jul 88 10:49:50 EDT From: Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #108 the ANI number for Cambridge is 200-1234. That's right. No leading "1". ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Roger Clark Swann) Subject: more on COCOTS, AOS and such Date: 10 Jul 88 20:18:53 GMT The following article was reprinted without permission from the Seattle Times, Sunday, June 26, 1988. ******************************************* Get Number On New Operators by Shelby Gilje, Times staff columnist You know your ABCs, right? And you are good at acronyms, too. I'll bet you pride yourself on being a winner a Trival Pursuit. OK. What does "AOS" stand for? Quick! Or you will lose your chance to "win" this game. Oops. Sorry, your time is up. You lose. But just so you'll know next time you're playing Trival Pursuit, or you personally encounter "AOS," it means alternate-opertor service, and it could hit you right in the wallet. Since the federally-ordered breakup of the Bell System companies, it seems as if dozens of new players have entered some part of the phone business. Alternate-operator service is a new aspect in telecommunications. What is it? Let's say you are out of town and pick up the phone in a hotel room to call home. You dail without speaking to an operator. You assume you'll be dealing with AT&T, the long-distance carrier more commonly known as Ma Bell. But you could be dealing with an AOS company. Or, let's say you are in your home town, you have a flat tire and go to a nearby restaurant to use a pay phone. You're in an unfamiliar neighborhood, but it shouldn't cost you any more than a quarter to phone home. Right? Not necessarily. You plunk in a quater. Then an opertor comes on the line and informs you that the call will cost several dollars, not 25 cents. So don't make any assumptions. Before you place a call, ask the operator what company he/she repesents and what the call will cost. AOS companies are in business in other states, too. So if your're vacationing elsewhere this summer, you'll want to ask the same questions. State agencies in Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ohio are considering regulations for AOS companies. Phones used by alternate-operator services may not look any different than other telephones. That's one reason the Washington state Legislature passed a law this year requiring alternate-operator services to disclose their names and rates to consumers. AOS companies contract with a hotel, motel, hospital, prison, campus - businesses that own pay phones - or other entities to provide operator services. In response to the new legislation, the Utilities and Transportation Commission has dratfed amendments to the Washington Administrative Code. Under these amendments the commission would require all tele- communications firms, including AOS companies, to provide information to the public upon request. Additionally, the commission would require an AOS company to: * Be registered and comply with all Washington state laws before a local company could act as a billing agent. (Not all AOS companies operating here are registered.) * Identify itself at the beginning of a call. * Not bill customers for incomplete calls. * As part of its contract with a hotel, motel, hospital, etc., post "in plain view" the name of its company and a sample of rates and charges for local and long-distance billing. * Give dialing directions to reach an operator for rate information. * Give dialing directions to reach other carriers providing service to the hotel, motel, etc. * Respond to cusomer complaints and disputes. * Not charge for emergency calls. Additionally, AOS companies would have to arrange automatic identification of the location from which an emergency call is being made. And the AOS company would have the correct police, fire, ambulance, poison control and other emergency numbers available for that area. If the AOS phone does not have these provions for emergencies, callers should be able to dial "zero" and be routed directly to a local operator who can put them through to the appropriate agency. The commission staff believes the proposed rules are the minimum requirements necessary to meet the new law. The utilities commission is asking for public comment on the amendments. To comment, write the Washingtion State Utilities and Transportation Commission, 1300 S. Evergreen Park Dr. S.W., Olympia 98504-8002. The commission also has invited AOS companies to comment on the proposed rules, though the commission does not believe the disclosures required will create a financial burden for these telecommunications companies. ********************** end of article Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jul 88 12:13:03 CDT From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI Subject: Catalog of phone stuff Every now and then there is a "where can I get ... " type inquiry on the list, like one a while back for cordless headset-type phones. I just received a catalog in the mail that carries this sort of thing (including just such a phone for $249), telephones, accessories, fax stuff, tools, modems, misc. The company is: Hello Direct, Inc. 2346 Bering Drive San Jose, CA 95131-9749 800-HI-HELLO (Yes, I know - barf :-) - (800-444-3556) (408) 435-1990 (Interestingly, that regular straight non-800 number is shown nowhere in the catalog or order form; it was on the letterhead of the accompanying cover letter. I include it because I recall Canadians on various net lists complaining when people give only an 800 number they cannot use. But why would this firm want local customers in the 408-area to use the 800 number? Surely they have to pay for it if a local call comes through the 800 route, don't they?) Anyway, this is for your info; you may want to get their catalog. I haven't ordered anything from them, so can give no consumer evaluation. Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 11 Jul 88 15:00 Subject: Reminder: 617/508 split: this Saturday, 16 July; permissive until 15 Oct AREA CODE 617 Abington, Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Canton, Chelsea, Cohasset, Dedham, Duxbury, Everett, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hinghamn, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Marshfield, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Nahant, Needham, Newton, Norwell, Norwood, Quincy, Pembroke, Plympton, Randolph, Reading, Revere, Rockland, Saugus, Scituate, Somerville, Stoneham, Swampscott, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth, Winchester, Winthrop and Woburn. AREA CODE 508 Acton, Acushnet, Amesbury, Andover, Ashburnham, Ashby, Ashland, Athol, Attleboro, Auburn, Avon, Ayer, Barnstable, Barre, Bellingham, Berkley, Berlin, Beverly, Billerica, Blackstone, Bolton, Bourne, Boxborough, Boylston, Brewster, Bridgewater, Brockton, Brookfield, Carlisle, Carver, Charlton, Chatham, Chelmsford, Chilmark, Clinton, Concord, Danvers, Dartmouth, Dennis, Dighton, Douglas, Dover, Dracut, Dudley, Dunstable, East Bridgewater, East Brookfield, Eastham, Easton, Edgartown, Essex, Fairhaven, Fall River, Falmouth, Fitchburg, Foxboro, Framingham, Franklin, Freetown, Gardner, Gay Head, Georgetown, Gloucester, Gosnold, Grafton, Groton, Groveland, Hamilton, Harvard, Harwich, Haverhill, Holden, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hubbardston, Hudson, Ipswich, Lakeville, Lancaster, Lawrence, Leicester, Leominster, Littleton, Lowell, Lunenburg, Manchester, Mansfield, Marblehead, Marion, Marlboro, Mashpee, Mattapoisett, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Mendon, Merrimack, Methuen, Middleboro, Middleton, Milford, Millbury, Millis, Millville, Nantucket, Natick, New Bedford, New Braintree, Newbury, Newburyport, New Salem, Norfolk, North Andover, North Attleboro, Northboro, Northbridge, North Brookfield, North Reading, Norton, Oak Bluffs, Oakham, Orange, Orleans, Oxford, Paxton, Peabody, Pepperell, Petersham, Philipston, Plainville, Plymouth, Princeton, Provincetown, Raynham, Rehoboth, Rochester, Rockport, Rowley, Royalston, Rutland, Salem, Salisbury, Sandwich, Seekonk, Sharon, Sherborn, Shirley, Shrewsbury, Southboro, Southbridge, Somerset, Spencer, Sterling, Stoughton, Stow, Sturbridge, Sudbury, Sutton, Swansea, Taunton, Templeton, Tewksbury, Tisbury, Topsfield, Townsend, Truro, Tyngsborough, Upton, Uxbridge, Walpole, Wareham, Warwick, Wayland, Webster, Wellfleet, Wendell, Wenham, Westborough, West Boylston, West Bridgewater, West Brookfield, Westford, Westminster, West Newbury, Westport, West Tisbury, Wilmington, Whitman, Winchendon, Worcester, Wrentham and Yarmouth. ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Routes To Datex-P Date: Sun Jul 10 07:13:45 1988 Henry Mensch asks if there is any routing to Datex-P other than via Telenet. You can always direct dial to their dial up number in one of the cities over there. But calling direct to their dialup is alot more expensive than Telenet. I really never thought Telenet was that bad on their rates. There was mention someplace, several months ago, of a gateway between MCI Mail and Datex-P, where a mailbox on MCI would actually function as a gateway to a specific user on Datex-P. I am not sure of the specifics, but the idea was, you would address the message to this box, and then the first two lines of the message itself had to be formatted a certain way where you would say FORWARD: and the name and box number of the Datex-P user. It would have been alot like the existing gateway between ARPA and MCI Mail which operates in that format now, but I don't think the one with Datex-P has gone beyond the talking stages yet. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 16-Jul-88 16:36:45-EDT,13371;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 16 Jul 88 16:36:43-EDT Date: 16 Jul 88 13:50-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #111 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, July 16, 1988 1:50PM Volume 8, Issue 111 Today's Topics: circular call hunting with New Jersey Bell The ESS Users Group 508 cutover -- correction extra characters Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Being a long distance carrier NANP Acess Code list Invitation to visit Disaster Research Center (DRC). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jsm@phoenix.princeton.edu (John Scott McCauley Jr.) Subject: circular call hunting with New Jersey Bell Date: 12 Jul 88 16:24:58 GMT Hello, A couple of months ago call hunting was discussed on this newsgroup. What I'd like to do is have two or three lines in a circular hunt group for my dorm suite, i.e. calls are automatically forwarded to the second line if the first one is busy, and vice versa. I seem to remember something about some telcos charging either a lot of money or only a dollar or two per month for this feature depending on what you ask for. Has anyone had this sort of service installed, what was it called (or the tarrif #?), and how much extra did it cost? My telco is New Jersey Bell and my exchange is 609 683, but wouldn't mind hearing about other telcos. Thanks, Scott jsm@phoenix.princeton.edu princeton!phoenix!jsm q3972%pucc.bitnet ------------------------------ From: jimmy@PIC.UCLA.EDU Subject: The ESS Users Group Date: 13 Jul 88 03:41:47 GMT Reply-To: jimmy@PIC.UCLA.EDU (Jim Gottlieb) [What happened to bridging this to Usenet? Most of us are not on the mailing list.] ESSUG, The ESS Users Group, a BBS for telephone enthusiasts, is back. It is being hosted on pnet06, on (714) 921-2252 (1200/2400). Access from other areas of California can be arranged through local Unix nodes. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 13 Jul 88 08:36 Subject: 508 cutover -- correction The list I sent with my recent reminder about the 508 cut has one correction: Marblehead appealed its assignment to 508 and remains in 617. /john ------------------------------ Date: Thu 14 Jul 88 11:19:04-PDT From: Paul Andrews Subject: extra characters I have a question regarding the use of TELENET versus COMPUSERVE. When using TELENET, I always see two certain characters echoed back to me , especially when I am typing fast. These are ASCII characters 17 and 19 ( I can't reproduce them here, but you can look them up in an IBM extended character set). However, I don't see them when using COMPUSERVE. It is very annoying to have to read what one has written with spurious characters are all over the place. I assume it has something to do with the way TELENET handles the data from my modem (Everex 2400E). Any ideas???? Thanks Paul Andrews CABELL.ANDREWS@BIONET-20.ARPA: No nose is good nose ------------------------------ From: ericb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) Date: 14 Jul 88 20:28:08 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: athertn!ericb From: ericb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom,misc.consumers Subject: Junk phone calls take a new low Summary: You can't get away; they even try to make you wait for them! Message-ID: <203@mango.athertn.Atherton.COM> Date: 14 Jul 88 20:28:07 GMT Reply-To: ericb@mango.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) Distribution: na Organization: Atherton Technology, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 45 Last night I received an automated "junk" telephone call that set a new low. You know these telephone solicitations originated by machines. Some states have passed laws requiring the purveyors (panderers?) to make initial contact in person (i.e., a human), and ask permission of the callee before unleashing the machine. Well, this time I answered the phone, and heard a recorded message say: "Hi! You have been reached by United Education and Software. Please hold for the next available operator." whereupon I started hearing the omni-nauseating Musak-on-hold. Right. I'm sitting in the privacy of my own home, and am interrupted by what should be an instrument for *my* convenience, and they expect me to wait while they put me on hold so I can later listen to a sales pitch? Even an unlisted number won't keep these dogs at bay, since they often dial numbers at random or in sequence, not from listings. Am I going to be forced to have an answering machine screen all my calls so as to avoid this? Quite an inconvenience to myself and the people that I *do* want to call me. The greeting wasn't even phrased in what I would consider to be a polite manner. "Hi!", rather than "Good evening." or "Hello." Sounds like the same sleazy sales technique of immediately using the victim's first name so as to elicit the impression that the salesdroid is someone (s)he already knows (a friend, perhaps?), and reduce the compulsion to hang up on the cretin. Does anyone know anything about this company or this new abuse of technology? I would dearly like to find out where they are, and write as scathing a letter to their president that I can come up with. At the time, I was not about to listen to n minutes of Musak'ed Carpenters (no, not a redundancy -- just an extreme) just to identify the company. Possibly a mistake, but not a big one... If you have heard of them, and can mail me any information, especially their address, please do. Operators are standing by... -- Eric Black "Garbage in, Gospel out" Atherton Technology, 1333 Bordeaux Dr., Sunnyvale, CA, 94089 UUCP: {sun,decwrl,hpda,pyramid}!athertn!ericb Domainist: ericb@Atherton.COM ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 16:34:18 EDT From: Subject: Being a long distance carrier According to my contact at Nynex, the FCC certifies long distance carriers. Once you are a certified long distance carrier, you are entitled to the subscriber database. -simson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 16:35:32 EDT From: Subject: NANP North American Numbering Plan. As you know, the country is about to run out of area codes. The current plan, acording to my contact at Nynex, is to remove the restriction that the middle digit of the area code be a 0 or a 1. This should go into effect sometime next year. -simson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 12:19 EDT From: "Steven H. Gutfreund" Subject: Acess Code list Several months ago I saw a very complete listing of access codes for long distance carriers. Where could I get ahold of this - I do not have direct FTP to the telecom archives. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jul 88 20:53:51 EDT From: "Bruce D. Crawford" Subject: Invitation to visit Disaster Research Center (DRC). To: Jon Solomon, Telecom moderator. Hi Jon. I am not a subscriber to the Telecom digest at present but thought this info might be useful to certain of your discussion participants, especially in light of the Hinsdale fire and of our own community Lifelines (power, water, sewer, phone, gas etc.) study which is just starting (sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency). AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DISASTER RESEARCH CENTER FOR Telecom Readers. Come to our open house in August ! The Disaster Research Center, the first of its kind and the only one in the United States, was established at the Ohio State University in 1963 and moved to the University of Delaware in 1985. The Center engages in a variety of sociological and social science research on group and organizational preparations for, responses to, and recovery from community-wide emergencies, particularly natural and technological disasters. Since the Center's inception, there have been over 496 different field studies. Teams have gone to earthquakes in Japan, Chile, Yugoslavia, Italy, Iran, El Salvador, Greece, California, and Alaska; hurricanes in the southern and eastern United States, as well as Japan; floods in Italy, Canada, and more than a dozen states; and tornadoes and hazardous chemical incidents in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. A dozen cities struck by major disasters have been restudied several years after the initial research. For purposes of comparison, Center personnel have also examined organizational responses to civil disturbances and riots. The Center has a number of professionals on its staff plus supporting clerical and secretarial personnel. It is directed by Professor E.L. Quarantelli, with the assistance of Professors Dennis E. Wenger and Russell R. Dynes, all of the Department of Sociology at the University. Recent studies have focused on: Social and organizational aspects of the delivery of mental health services and of emergency medical services in mass emergencies; and socio- behavioral responses to acute chemical hazards and the problems involved in mass evacuation and sheltering. Research underway includes the ways in which information relating to disaster is processed through news organizations, the organizational and public response to the Mexico City earthquake, and the role of local emergency response agencies. Center personnel have examined legal aspects of governmental responses in disasters, the emergence and operation of rumor control centers, mass media reporting of community crises, the functioning of relief and welfare groups in stress situations, and the handling of the dead in catastrophes. The research provides basic knowledge about group behavior and social life in large scale community crises as well as information which can be applied to develop more effective plans for future disasters. Besides storing its own data collected through in-depth interviewing, participant observations, and document gathering, the Center serves as a repository for materials collected by other agencies and researchers. The Center's specialized library, which contains the world's most complete collection --over 20,000 items-- on the social and behavioral aspects of disasters, is open to all interested scholars and public and private agencies involved in emergency planning. With over 400 publications, the Center has its own book, monograph, and report series. There are close relations with Canadian, Mexican, Australian, Swedish, Japanese, and West German disaster researchers, a number of whom have been visiting research associates at the Center for periods of up to a year, and collaborative field research is currently underway with groups in Japan and Mexico. An exchange program and very close ties with Italian researchers, especially the Mass Emergency Program of the Institute of International Sociology in Gorizia, Italy. Center activities have been supported by diverse sources including the Health Resources Administration; the Center for Applied Social Problems, National Institute of Mental Health; the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency; the Water Resource Research Program, Department of the Interior; the State of Ohio Department of Mental Health; but major funding has been from the National Science Foundation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If you would like more information concerning the Disaster Research Center or desire an updated Publications List, write to Margie Simmons, Office Coordinator, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19716, United States of America. ** Special note to Telecom Readers ** Anniversary Celebration Announcement The Disaster Research Center was formed in August, 1963. Thus, it will be 25 years old next month. To mark the occasion, an open house will be held at the Center's present location on the third floor of 102 East Main St., Newark, Delaware (U.S.A.). Time: Monday, August 22, 1988 1 - 5 p.m. We hope you can take some time to visit us. - E.L. Quarantelli, Director - Russell R. Dynes - Dennis E. Wenger (Information forwarded by Bruce D. Crawford, Computer Services Coordinator, Disaster Research Center). ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 17-Jul-88 23:36:53-EDT,11862;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 17 Jul 88 23:36:52-EDT Date: 17 Jul 88 22:04-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #112 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Sunday, July 17, 1988 10:04PM Volume 8, Issue 112 Today's Topics: Re: extra characters Local calls between 617 and 508 Running Out of Area Codes? We Get Our New PINS! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: extra characters Date: Sat, 16 Jul 88 17:19:14 EDT From: Bill Wisner ASCII characters 17 and 19 are equivalent to control-Q and control-S. These characters are used for flow control; ^S (shorthand notation for control-S) stops the flow of data, ^Q resumes it. Normally, terminals should either ignore such characters or deal with them properly (i.e., stop sending data on cue). But, I believe you mentioned you're dealing with IBM equipment? There is probably a TELENET terminal type that will disable this flow control, but I don't know what it would be. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 17 Jul 88 01:51 Subject: Local calls between 617 and 508 Concord (508 371) to Lexington (617 861) is a cross NPA local call. Since code conservation is not possible along the heavily populated 508/617 border, after the end of the permissive period (15 Oct) it will no longer be possible to dial just seven digits between the two towns. At the moment, dialing 1-617-861-9999 results in "please do not dial 1 for local calls". 617-861-9999 works. Non-local 617 calls require the 1 before the 617. This is the first known case of preserving a way to figure out if something is local when more than seven digits are required. /john ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Running Out of Area Codes? Date: Sat Jul 16 15:17:44 1988 In V8 #111, Simson comments 'we are about out of area codes'. Actually this is not true. There are still several available using the standard numbering practice of one or zero as the second digit, to wit -- 200 210 211 300 310 311 400 500 511 600 711 811 are open, plus a few of the 'more traditional' are left which do not use zero as the third digit. After that, the combinations 411 and 611 can be utilized. Presently, 411 is a short form of 555-1212 for local directory assistance in many communities, and 611 is a short form of addressing to reach the local repair bureau. Both of those can go on seven digit numbers quite easily; in fact here in Chicago, only the initial call for repair service goes to 611; subsequent follow up calls are placed to a 1-800 number. '200' is reserved by some phone companies for testing purposes. The combinations 410,510,610,710,810 and 910 are presently assigned to the Western Union Telegraph Company as area codes for Telex and TWX (Telex II) service. Of those, 410 and 810 are not too active and could be easily removed from that service and switched over to regular voice telephone area codes. So there are enough 'area code like' three digit combinations to go for several more years before there is any need to break entirely from the traditional style of numbering. What's driving us crazy here in Chicago though is the large, and ever increasing number of local prefixes built 'area code style'. We now have all kinds of prefixes with zero or one in second place. If you forget to put a one in front of a long distance call, no longer will the system at least cut you off in a second or two with an intercept message. Chances are, we have such a prefix, and with the better than ever quality of transmission on long distance calls, you forget the one, dial the area code and seven digits, the area code and four digits following ring a local number instead, and its only after the person answers you realize instead of calling Arkansas you got 95th Street instead. ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: We Get Our New PINS! Date: Sat Jul 16 13:49:43 1988 No one ever said AT&T was perfect. I've always been a supporter of the company, and have never yet seen a competitor with quite the class and reliability. Still, even Ma Bell, as we knew her for many years, can mess things up now and then. Consider what happened when I had to get a new PIN recently -- Early in June, I got mugged coming home on the subway one evening, and my wallet was stolen. The loss included a couple of credit cards, my state identification card (issued here for non-drivers in lieu of a driver's license), and my AT&T Calling Card. I put a stop on the credit cards the same evening, and about midnight that Friday night also put a stop on my calling card PIN. I have both the regular unrestricted PIN as well as a restricted ('Call Me') type PIN. The latter is useful since a relative frequently calls me late in the evening and I am able to charge it on Reach Out as long as a calling card assigned to my phone is used. I told the AT&T Representative to put a stop on the unrestricted PIN, and issue a new one. I said there was no reason to put a stop on the restricted PIN, since all it was good for was calling my number anyway. Furthermore, I had not been carrying the restricted card, therefore the mugger would not have known about that PIN. None the less, the next day my relative calls me to say the restricted PIN has also been cancelled. I call back to AT&T to get it turned on, and the rep says she will call me *at the phone number in their records* to read me the restricted and unrestricted PIN being issued. I asked why not just turn back on the old one? She said can't do it that way. She called and read me the PIN for each, and said the actual card would arrive in the mail 'in six weeks or so.' Several days later I went to my post office box and found a calling card from Illinois Bell. It had the PIN I had been quoted on the phone by the AT&T rep earlier in the week, and since the logo and design on the card was (to me) much more attractive than the plain AT&T card, I decided to carry the new Illinois Bell card in my wallet instead. It also has a magnetic strip for use in card reader type phones, etc. In case you are wondering, the Illinois Bell design is a blue plastic card, with white clouds and a long beige colored phone cord stretching across the clouds, with a message: Dialing Instructions On Back Side. It is quite an attractive piece of plastic. Two days later at the post office, I am asked to call at the counter for a package too large for my box. In it I found cards, this time from AT&T, and with the same PIN as the earlier IBT card and the phone quote. I called and asked why did I get five cards. You didn't order five, they asked? No I did not. Then about three days later, another box from AT&T too large for the mailbox, and this one had Call Me restricted cards. This, despite the fact that I never actually give out the Call Me cards to anyone; I just tell them the four digit PIN to append to the number when they hear the special tone. Two days later, my relative calls me. The new restricted PIN is dead once again. On a hunch I tried my Illinois Bell unrestricted PIN -- dead also. This was on the first of July, late in the day. I called 1-800-222-0300 and raised enough hell to make them think they got their fireworks a couple days early this year. The rep put me on hold while she called Illinois Bell to see what was up this time. She came back on to say nothing could be done because the computer was down until Tuesday, July 5, and would I please be patient. I gave a very snotty response in kind, asking if AT&T Reps were now getting their training from Sprint Customer Service. I concluded by telling her to cancel the Reach Out, cancel all cards and I would see if Sprint was able to do better this time. She did apologize and said a supervisor would call me back 'soon'. Lo and behold, Saturday about 8 AM I did get a call from a woman at AT&T who said she had the authority to look at the Illinois Bell data base and she was at that moment looking to see if she could detirmine the problem. I stayed on the line with her for close to 20 minutes while she puttered around, and she finally said for some reason she was unable to get the system to provide a PIN that would 'stick' with the file maintainence she was doing. "I'll get back to you,' she said..... Sunday, July 3 about noon: She called again and said the problem seemed to be that 'there has been so much activity on the account in recent weeks the system, as a security precaution, is not issuing a new PIN.' I told her of course there had been alot of maintainence; ten cards in my mail from AT&T alone, plus one from IBT, etc. She said, 'Illinois Bell certainly has messed this account up; I will make it my business to get it cleared up personally Tuesday morning when the business office is open...' and she again said I would have to do without for a couple days. Tuesday morning I went to the post office for my mail. Guess who had sent me *two more packages of five cards each* -- AT&T of course, with still different PINs than before, explaining why the PINS which had worked until the week before were suddenly dead. But nothing is simple in life. I tried the new PINS in the latest shipment, and they did not work either, because of the maintainence that had been done over the July 2-3 period by the woman who called me. When I got to my office Tuesday morning, I had a message to call Mrs. So and So at Illinois Bell. I called, and she asked me which PIN(s) -- of the several received from AT&T and themselves in recent weeks -- I would prefer. I said why don't we keep the one on the card IBT sent me three weeks ago, and the restricted one from the first batch from AT&T. Consider it done, she said. Give me until about noon, and try both PINs. When I went to lunch at 11:30 I tried, both worked, and have continued to work since with no difficulty. I called her back, thanked her profusely, and asked if we knew for certain this time, before I called my elderly relative and gave her still another worthless PIN. She told me they would be okay, but asked me to allow about 24-48 hours before assuming it would work all over the country. "We will merge tapes with the other Bell Companies later today, and with the GTE data base tonight sometime." Almost as an afterthought she added, "Say! Do you have a Sprint PIN or one from MCI? Let me check and see if those got bounced out also." I told her I did not have an active PIN from either of those companies at present. She complained, "AT&T is *always* taking orders on PINS and then duplicating or triplicating the orders, causing the PINS to cancel each other out, and sometimes violating our security procedure in such a way it causes the subscriber's Sprint PIN to bounce also." I told her that the AT&T rep from two days before had blamed IBT for doing the same thing and screwing up AT&T's files. She just laughed and said, "Judge Greene made the Right Choice, didn't he!" We let it go at that; my PIN has worked properly ever since. Aside from not enjoying getting mugged, I do hope I don't have to cancel/change my phone PIN again anytime soon. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 21-Jul-88 23:52:03-EDT,10495;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 21-Jul-88 22:49:26 Date: 21 Jul 88 22:49-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #113 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, July 21, 1988 10:49PM Volume 8, Issue 113 Today's Topics: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #110 Turns out 617/508 local cross area w/o 1 is *wrong* Reach Out? re: ADPCM Question [TELECOM V8 #109] XON/OFF introduction of N[01]X prefixes technical phone questions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Jul 88 08:42:50 EDT From: Marcia Breen Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #110 Regarding the 508/617 split, it was reported on the digest that Sharon was now in the 508 area code. This is incorrect; Sharon is still in the 617 area code. I would recommend referring the the map NE Tel distributed some time ago to find out what towns were reassigned. -Marcia Breen ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 18 Jul 88 11:59 Subject: Turns out 617/508 local cross area w/o 1 is *wrong* In V8#112 I wrote that I had discovered, with some pleasure, that calls from Concord to Lexington were set up to not permit 1-617-861-xxxx, but rather 617-861-xxxx. Continuing to poke around, I found that in Billerica, local calls to Burlington would work with either 617 or 1-617, whereas long-distance 617 calls required the 1. I thought this was even better. So I called the N.E.T. contact for the split to ask him which way was correct. Neither are. 1 is to be absolutely required for cross area calls, even if local. He will have things in Concord and Billerica and elsewhere changed. Sometime between 1992 and 1995, after all SxS offices in Massachusetts are removed, 1 will be removed for within-area calls, even if toll. /john ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 18 Jul 88 16:41:35 EDT From: Jerry Glomph Black <@ll-vlsi.arpa:black@ll-micro> Subject: Reach Out? Another mystery: I have been repeatedly barraged by AT&T to get me to sign up for their Reach Out America rate. This rate, neglecting their sign-up fee, is much higher than the normal rate for long distance calls at the night/weekend bracket except in the most extreme cases. Are they trying to hoodwink the unwary, or am I missing something? Jerry Black ------------------------------ Subject: re: ADPCM Question [TELECOM V8 #109] Date: Tue Jul 19 10:37:39 1988 From: chip@vector.UUCP (Chip Rosenthal) > From: pec@necntc.nec.com (Paul Cohen) > I would appreciate some help in understanding the CCITT spec G.721 > concerning ADPCM. There certainly was a lot of confusion with the ADPCM specs. As Paul noted, there are a couple of incompatible ADPCM techniques. As background, Adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM) is a method for digitally encoding speech. Normally, speech is encoded with pulse code modulation (PCM), which uses an 8-bit sample every 125usec. ADPCM uses a 4-bit sample every 125usec. It's advantage is that you only need 32Kbps of bandwidth for ADPCM as opposed to 64Kbps for PCM. With ADPCM coding, the next sample is predicted, and the 4-bit value is the difference between the actual value and the predicted value. The predicting technique depends upon the previous data, thus the term "adaptive". So, ADPCM allows you to double the number of conversations your line can carry with minimal degredation. In 1984, the CCITT released G.721 to specify an ADPCM coding technique. In the meantime, the ANSI T1Y1 committee was working on a standard for the USA. Fairly late in the process, the ANSI committee discovered a problem with the proposed algorithm. It did not work properly on 2400bps PSK modem signals. A modification to the algorithm was proposed, and adopted in July 1986. It is my understanding that the CCITT went back and adopted the T1Y1 recommendation to get around the same problem. There is one significant difference between the 1984 G.721 specification and the ANSI T1Y1 recommendation. The former uses a 16-bit quantizer (i.e. values range from 0000 to 1111), while the latter uses a 15-bit quantizer (values ranging from 0001 to 1111). This is to avoid long strings of zeros in the data stream. Older T1 lines step on bit seven of a channel if all eight bits are zeros, which would audibly corrupt an ADPCM signal. Thus, the two algorithms are not compatible. The AT&T M44 service gives you 44 voice channels on a T1 line using ADPCM. (A T1 line usually carries 24 channels.) The additional T1 bandwidth (2 8-bit channels) is used for bundled signaling so that "off hook" and similar status signals don't rob bits from the ADPCM channels. As a disclaimer, I'm not a totally impartial observer. Dallas Semiconductor makes speech compression IC's which support both ADPCM algorithms. On the other hand, these are my own opinions and not Dallas Semi's. --- Chip Rosenthal /// chip@vector.UUCP /// Dallas Semiconductor /// 214-450-0400 {uunet!warble,sun!texsun!rpp386,killer}!vector!chip I won't sing for politicians. Ain't singing for Spuds. This note's for you. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 19 Jul 88 08:28:27-PDT From: Paul Andrews Subject: XON/OFF >Subject: Extra characters > I have a question regarding the use of TELENET versus COMPUSERVE. > When using TELENET, I always see two certain characters echoed back to me , > especially when I am typing fast. These are ASCII characters 17 and 19 ( I > can't reproduce them here, but you can look them up in an IBM extended > character set). However, I don't see them when using COMPUSERVE. It is > very annoying to have to read what one has written with spurious characters > are all over the place. I assume it has something to do with the way > TELENET handles the data from my modem (Everex 2400E). Any ideas???? > Thanks > Paul Andrews CABELL.ANDREWS@BIONET-20.ARPA: > ------- ############################################################################# Stupid me.........I finally figured it out by myself............ Everex 2400 modems come with a communications program called called BITCOM. The XON/XOFF characters being echoed back can be eliminated by the following patch in the Bitcom terminal emulation file. Put it anywhere between INBUFFER and END. 0x11 0x00 0x13 0x00 I assume the INBUFFER section simply defines translations that take place when a character is read from the host port. The patch will therefore translate XON (hex 11) and XOFF (hex 13) to zero. I still don't know why I have this problem using TELENET and not COMPUSERVE. Disabling XON/XOFF on TELENET (DISA_FLOW) has no effect. Thanks to all who answered for setting me straight. Paul Andrews: CABELL.ANDREWS@BIONET-20.ARPA: ----------------- Steve Bauer.....the Fenwick Flash-------------------- go Steve go ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Jul 88 9:39:21 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: introduction of N[01]X prefixes We have just had a note in this Digest regarding the forgetting of leading 1+ for long-distance from 312 area (Chicago etc.). An old note from me pointed out that the first N0X/N1X prefix in New York City back in 1980 was 409, which was then unused as area code. I have now just seen a Washington (D.C.) Post article (Nov. 6, 1987, page F1) about the new 1+ requirement in that area, and it said that 917 (also an unused area code) was coming as a prefix in the Rockville area (in nearby Maryland). What were the early N0X/N1X prefixes in the Chicago area? ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Roger Clark Swann) Subject: technical phone questions Date: 20 Jul 88 22:52:33 GMT First, all in-house phones are tied to the main PBX system which is an ATT 5ESS system. However, in my lab area, all the phones are an ATT MERLIN system. So, I am often calling into that system or using it to make calls. There are a couple of things I find 'strange' [well, maybe 'strange' is too strong a word, 'interesting' maybe better] with the operation of the MERLIN system that I would like to find out about. * The lab area has several computers with fans running, so the noise level higher than one would find in most offices. When I am using lab the phone or talking to someone in the lab from another location, I can notice the background noise level raising and lowering as the person on the MERLIN end talks/stops talking. Is there some sort of automatic gain circuit in the MERLIN instrument that turns down the mic input when no speach is detected? Is this a 'standard' feature or would this be special equipment just for high noise areas? * Does the MERLIN digitize the audio path? This might have alot to do with how the question above is handled... * There is a feature on the line select keys of the MERLIN labeled; POOL (the other line select keys are labeled with 'real' seven digit numbers). The red LED defaults to this POOL key when the handset is on-hook. When the handset is lifted to make a call, a green LED lights on one of the keys marked with a real number, (indicating which line the hunt system found open), usually. Sometimes, however, the green LED on the POOL key lights. So, what line is this??? Like if I needed to tell some operator what number I was calling from... Perhaps someone in ATT land can put some light on the above items and make other general comments on how MERLIN operates... I have looked for a user manual on the system, but to date nothing... I will try to get some info from our telecom people, but don't expect much since they usually respond as a stone wall would. Thanks Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 26-Jul-88 21:52:43-EDT,5514;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 26 Jul 88 21:52:40-EDT Date: 26 Jul 88 21:04-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #114 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, July 26, 1988 9:04PM Volume 8, Issue 114 Today's Topics: 1+ dialing in 617/508 COCOTs at the Atlanta Airport letters on telephone dials exchange curiosity 25-pair to 6-wire RJ11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Jul 88 00:05:06 EDT From: Subject: 1+ dialing in 617/508 Perhaps we could petition the PUC to enforce a correspondence between having to dial 1 and the call not being local. It always bothered me that with Metropolitan Service I had to dial 18721000 for framingham which was not a toll but I also had to dial 14602000 for marlboro which was a toll call. The silly ESS should be smart enough now to figure it out. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 26 Jul 88 10:09 Subject: COCOTs at the Atlanta Airport All public payphones at the Atlanta airport, the nation's busiest, have been replaced with COCOTs. These payphones route your call via NTI -- the only warning you have is that you are told "Thank you" instead of "Thank you for using AT&T" when you dial a call with your AT&T calling card. 800 numbers do not work, I'm told. Apparently 10288-0 will get you to AT&T. /john ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jul 88 21:58:35 +0200 From: mcvax!cwi.nl!dik@uunet.UU.NET (Dik T. Winter) Subject: letters on telephone dials Everybody(?) knows how the letter leyout is on north-american dials. This is, however, not the only layout used in the world; here follow a few more: Digit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 North America ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PRS TUV WXY UK and France ABC DEF GHI JKL MN PRS TUV WXY OQ Danmark C ABD EFG HIK LMN OPR STU VXY (1) Germany A B C D E F G H J K Czocheslovakia A B C F H J K L M R Sovjet Union A V B G D E ZH I K L Notes: (1) In Danmark, 9 is associated with a-umlaut and o-bar. (2) I have a photograph of an american telephone where 0 is marked: Z operator 0 (3) The german telephones skip I, possibly because in older times german did not distinguish upper case I and J. (4) In the netherlands the german layout was used. The reason was that german telephones were used, the letters have never really been used here. (5) In most (all?) european countries the use of letters has faded out. (6) The sovjet-union layout is of course a transcription. Does anybody know of other layouts? -- dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 26 Jul 88 22:17:44 +0200 From: mcvax!cwi.nl!dik@uunet.UU.NET (Dik T. Winter) Subject: exchange curiosity All you americans know without doubt about the 903 and 905 area codes that dial into Mexico. In Europe many such situations do occur; however mostly where a (very small) country is dialled as if it belongs to an enclosing larger country: Andorra and Monaco through France, Liechtenstein through Switzerland and San Marino and Vatican City through Italy. Vatican City even has a normal Roman dial (there is only one subscriber in Vatican City :-)). On the german/austrian border there are a few curiosities: 1. Dialling (from Germany) area code 08329 dials into the austrian exchange of the "Kleinwalstertal", that is reachable from Austria through area code 05517. 2. Area code 08365 gives an exchange that serves two villages: Jungholz and Wertach; the first is in Austria, the second in Germany. The first is reachable from Austria through 05676; perhaps the second too. This is the only case I know of an exchange serving places in two different countries. -- dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland INTERNET : dik@cwi.nl BITNET/EARN: dik@mcvax ------------------------------ From: dartvax!coat!andyb.UUCP@seismo.css.gov (Andy Behrens) Subject: 25-pair to 6-wire RJ11 Date: 26 Jul 88 17:28:36 GMT Reply-To: dartvax!coat!andyb.UUCP@seismo.css.gov (Andy Behrens) We are using 25-pair cable to connect clusters of computer terminals to a host, breaking the 50 conductors into eight RJ-11 jacks (6-wire) at the cluster. I've noticed that different manufacturers wire their patch panels differently. Some use 50-pin: 1 26 2 27 3 28 etc. RJ11: 3 4 5 2 1 6 while others use 50-pin: 1 26 2 27 3 28 etc. RJ11: 3 4 5 2 6 1 I.e. the outside two conductors of the RJ11 are swapped. Is one of these two configurations wrong? Is there a standard way to do this? Andy Behrens {harvard,decvax,uunet}!dartvax!burcoat!andyb andyb%burcoat@dartmouth.EDU ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 29-Jul-88 03:02:00-EDT,10750;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 29 Jul 88 03:01:58-EDT Date: 29 Jul 88 01:41-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #115 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, July 29, 1988 1:41AM Volume 8, Issue 115 Today's Topics: No, 903 is *not* Mexico Reach Out? 0+ on local calls International dialing dial layouts and misdialed number s(Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #114) Call forwarding Looking for 232<-->422 Converters AOS (from John Keator, National Public Radio) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 26 Jul 88 21:29 Subject: No, 903 is *not* Mexico >All you americans know without doubt about the 903 and 905 area codes >that dial into Mexico. As has been mentioned a number of times recently in this digest, 903 is no longer assigned. 706 reaches those parts of Mexico that can be dialed with +52 6xx xxxxx; 905 reaches Mexico City (normally +52 5 xxx xxxx). Neither 905 nor 706 can be used from outside the U.S. and Canada. /john ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jul 88 11:43:00 EDT From: cvl!mgrant@cos.com (Michael Grant) Subject: Reach Out? My reaserch shows the Reachout-America plan to be cost effective if a) you are calling people more than 925 miles away, and b) you are using at least 1 hour a month. -Mike Grant ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Jul 88 10:46:34 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: 0+ on local calls I had a case or 2 in Virginia (703 area) where 0+703+number for a local call was not accepted, even though the "Out of change?" notice on the phone mentions use of 0+ for local calls. All 0+ calls from areas 301,202,703 require the area code. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Jul 88 08:58:46 EDT From: alanine.phri!roy@phri (Roy Smith) Subject: International dialing > All you americans know without doubt about the 903 and 905 area codes > that dial into Mexico. Interestingly enough, these area codes only cover part of Mexico. I can call Mexico City using area code 905, but to call Cuernavaca (about 100 km south of Mexico City) I have to dial 011-73-.... i.e. international prefix, country code, etc). Note that Mexico is one of those (many) places where phone numbers are not uniform in length throughout the contry; Mexico City has US-style 7 digit phone numbers (although they usually punctuate it xxx-yy-zz instead of xxx-yyyy). Cuernavaca numbers are only 6 digits. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Another tidbit. I was in Wales (UK) this summer and needed to call Dublin, Ireland from a public pay phone. I asked the operator how to place the call and she said I should dial "trebble aught one" (0001). What she didn't tell me was that I should follow that with the local Dublin phone number; I thought she was telling me how to dial a generic international call, with 0001 to be followed by the Ireland country code. /roy ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1988 11:55-EDT From: Ralph.Hyre@IUS3.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: dial layouts and misdialed number s(Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #114) >Digit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 >North America ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PRS TUV WXY >UK and France ABC DEF GHI JKL MN PRS TUV WXY OQ This is one instance where I might have wished we followed an overseas 'standard'. We had a problem with people (trying to) call XXX-JOBS(5627) for a career development center, but they would confuse '0' and 'O' and dial XXX-J0(that's Zero)BS instead, ringing our phone instead. It usually took 2 or 3 calls to convince the person that they were stupid, but I suppose that's why they were out of work in the first place :-) When I called the phone company to ask for a number change, they understood my problem because they had 30 or so lines in a hunt group starting at YYY-5000, and there was another one of these career places at YYY-5627(JOBS). Someone would dial 5027 instead and end up ringing a direct line normally accessed through their hunt group. - Ralph ------------------------------ From: cucstud!wb8foz@ames.arc.nasa.gov (David Lesher) Subject: Call forwarding Date: 25 Jul 88 00:22:34 GMT Reply-To: cucstud!wb8foz@ames.arc.nasa.gov (David Lesher,Guest) - In the past, a number set to forward allowed multiple calls to be in progress at once (provided, of course that the recipient number had rotary lines to handle them). This was a great advantage to many ports, because a 'fringe' phone could extend the local calling area. I now hear that our good friends at AT&T have rewritten the switch software to exclude this possibility. Anybody care to confirm/deny or otherwise expound? [when I got my Remote Call Forwarding lines installed, I was told that I could choose how many calls to forward at one time. --JSol] ------------------------------ From: "David C. White" Subject: Looking for 232<-->422 Converters Date: 27 Jul 88 23:56:44 GMT Reply-To: "David C. White" We are looking for a cheap 232<-->422 converter. Black Box sells one for $219 which seems a bit excessive considering that it doesn't take much in the way of parts to build one. If anyone knows a source that sells such a thing for a more reasonable price I would appreciate getting the company name, telephone number, and cost. Thanks in advance. -- Dave White Grass Valley Group, Inc. PHONE: +1 916.478.3052 P.O. Box 1114 Grass Valley, CA 95945 davew@gvgpsa.gvg.tek.com ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 28 Jul 88 02:02 Subject: AOS (from John Keator, National Public Radio) FR: John Keator, National Public Radio +1 202 822 2800 TOPIC: AOS From the Washington Post, 27 July 88 Status: O Excerpted without permission, abridged. CURBS SOUGHT ON OPERATOR PHONE FIRMS by Deborah Mesce Two consumer groups yesterday asked the Federal Communications Commission to order the five largest independent telephone operator services out of business, contending that the companies charge excessive rates. Telecommunications Research and Action Center, based in San Francisco, said their survey shows these providers' rates area as much as 3.5 times higher than those of the major long-distance companies. The companies, called alternative operator services or AOS companies, provide service to guests in hotels and motels and at pay phones, as well as at some hospitals and universities, which receive a commission from the AOS. The companies handle credit-card, collect and third-party billed calls, routing "0"-plus calls over lines leased from the major long- distance carriers. David Wagenhauser, staff attorney for the center, said consumers need to be protected from the high rates of these companies. "Just because these are transient consumers doesn't mean they should be moving targets," he said at a news conference outside the FCC headquarters. The FCC, prompted by a surge in complaints about AOS companies last spring, launched an investigation into the industry, which began developing about a year and a half ago. The agency also issued a consumer alert advising callers to ask operators what rates they would be charged. The FCC does not regulate the rates AOS companies charge for interstate long-distance calls. Several states, however, have begun considering regulation of the industry for intrastate calls. The consumer groups criticized the FCC for failing to take action against AOS providers. Greg Vogt, chief of the FCC's telephone enforcement unit, defended the agency against the criticism, noting its inquiry into the industry and its work on behalf of irate consumers seeking credit for AOS calls. The FCC also has been meeting with AOS companies, Vogt said. "I've been pleased with the response with the industry, admitting there are problems and working out solutions." ********************** Letter received from Gerald A. Hines AT&T Card Services Director AT&T, Basking Ridge, NJ Dear -----: Because you're a valued AT&T cardholder, I'm writing to you about an important matter. Recently, a number of hotels, hospitals, colleges and private pay phone companies have chosen firms other that AT&T to provide long distance operator and calling card services to their customers. As a result, from these locations, it could mean you'll pay higher prices for what you believe are AT&T calls. We believe it's important for our customers to be careful when making operator assisted or AT&T card or AT&T CALL ME card calls from any of these locations because not all of the "alternate operator services" readily identify themselves. Even though you think you're using your AT&T card to place AT&T calls, you could be using one of the alternative operator services. If this happens, you call will not be handled or billed by AT&T. Here's a course of action you can follow to reach you choice of AT&T when placing calls away from home or office: - When checking into a hotel, ask if AT&T is used for operator and AT&T card calls. If not, ask how the hotel operator can connect you to AT&T for "dial 0" calls. When you do reach an operator verify you're speaking with AT&T. - When dialing long distance card calls yourself, always listen for the "Thank you for using AT&T" message after you've entered your AT&T card number. If you don't hear it, chances are you've not reached AT&T. Immediately, hang up and redial the call -- without entering your card number -- and wait for the operator to answer. AT&T operators identify themselves when answering. If you have any doubts, ask what company the operator represents. If it's not and AT&T operator, ask how you can be connected to one. - When using your AT&T card from a rotary-dial phone, follow the same procedure. Before giving your card number to the operator, be user you have reached AT&T. ...If you have any questions, please call us at 800-222-0300 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 29-Jul-88 18:28:42-EDT,15045;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 29 Jul 88 18:28:40-EDT Date: 29 Jul 88 16:34-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #116 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, July 29, 1988 4:34PM Volume 8, Issue 116 Today's Topics: Hacking ESS's -- from RISKS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Jul 88 10:07:56 CDT From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI Subject: Hacking ESS's -- from RISKS The following series of messages are from recent issues of the RISKS Digest. I had expected them to show up in Telecom, too, but none of them were in the last Digest, so I'm forwarding them to Telecom just in case. Date: Fri, 22 Jul 88 09:39:16 PST From: geoff@Fernwood.MPK.CA.US (the tty of Geoff Goodfellow) Subject: Penetrating the Phone System PERSONAL COMPUTER USERS PENETRATING NATION`S TELEPHONE SYSTEM By JOHN MARKOFF with ANDREW POLLACK (c.1988 N.Y. Times News Service) NEW YORK - Sophisticated personal computer users are becoming increasingly adept at penetrating the nation's telephone system, raising questions about the security and privacy of the phone system, industry experts and law enforcement offiials say. The vulnerability of the phone system to such tampering has grown significantly in the past decade or so as telephone companies have largely replaced electro-mechanical call-routing equipment with computer-controlled switches. As a result, people with the expertise can illegally connect their personal computers to the phone network. With the proper commands, these intruders can do such things as eavesdrop, add calls to someone's bill, alter or destroy data, have all calls to a particular number automatically forwarded to another number or keep someone's line permanently busy, it was disclosed in an internal memorandum written by a manager of electronic security operations at the San Francisco-based Pacific Bell Telephone Co. and in interviews with company officials. Peter Neumann, a computer security consultant at SRI International Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., said telephone companies are only beginning to awaken to the security problems created by the increasing computerization of the telephone network. ``As far as our vulnerability, we all have our heads in the sand,'' he said. ``We have to redefine our notions of what we entrust to computers and to communication networks.'' Some personal computer enthusiasts, often called ``hackers,'' view the task of breaking into the telephone system as a test of their skills and only infrequently inflict damage, industry officials and consultants say. But others act with criminal intent. In his memo, the Pacific Bell security manager also warned that an electronic intruder could essentially disable an entire central switching office for routing calls, disrupting telephone service to entire neighborhoods. Furthermore, he said, organized-crime groups or terrorists might use such technology to their own advantage. The integrity of customer bills could also be compromised, he said. Customers might rightfully or wrongfully dispute expensive calls, claiming the calls were placed on their bills by computer hackers. Earlier this month, a teen-age computer enthusiast who requested anonymity provided The New York Times with the Pacific Bell memo, which was written a year ago. He said it had been obtained by a fellow hacker who illicitly eavesdropped on a facsimile transmission between Pacific Bell offices in San Francisco. The memo, which Pacific Bell verified as authentic, concluded that ``the number of individuals capable of entering Pacific Bell operating systems is growing'' and that ``computer hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their attacks.'' In one of two cases cited in the memo, a group of teen-age computer hobbyists were able to do such things as ``monitor each other's lines for fun'' and ``seize another person's dial tone and make calls appear on their bill,'' the memo said. One of the hackers used his knowledge to disconnect and tie up the telephone services of people he did not like. In addition, ``he would add several custom-calling features to their lines to create larger bills,'' the memo said. In the second case, police searched the Southern California home of a man thought to be breaking into the computers of a Santa Cruz, Calif., software company. They discovered the man could also gain access to all of Pacific Bell's Southern California switching computers. wFiles were found containing codes and employee passwords for connecting with -- or ``logging on to'' -- the Pacific Bell switching systems and related computers. The man also had commands for controlling the equipment. In another case involving tampering with telephone company switching equipment, local police and the FBI in the San Francisco area are investigating Kevin Poulsen, a former programmer at Sun Microsystems, said Joseph Burton, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Jose, and John Glang, a deputy district attorney for San Mateo County. Authorities searched Poulsen's apartment in Menlo Park in February as well as the residence of a suspected accomplice in San Francisco, the officials said. Poulsen was said to be in Southern California and was unavailable for comment. Burton said he could not discuss a current investigation. Glang would say only that the case had been taken over by the federal government because ``there are some potential national security overtones.'' But a security expert familiar with the case, who requested anonymity, said that Poulsen ``pretty clearly demonstrated you can get in and romp around inside a Bell operating system.'' ``What it pointed out,'' he said, ``was the serious vulnerability.'' Security consultants said other phone companies are equally vulnerable to such breaches. They noted that most phone service in the nation is provided by companies that were part of the Bell System until it was broken up in 1984 and still use similar equipment and procedures. Michigan Bell officials said they had caught an intruder who tampered with the company's switching equipment last year. A spokesman declined to give details of the incident but said no arrest was made. ``We have been able to tighten our security arrangements,'' said Phil Jones, a company spokesman. ``There were lessons to be learned here.'' Jack Hancock, vice president for information systems at Pacific Bell, said his company had also taken steps to make it tougher to penetrate its systems. He said, however, that the company had to strike a balance between security and cost considerations so the phone system would still be widely affordable and easy to maintain. ``We could secure the telephone system totally, but the cost would be enormous,'' he said. ``A public service will probably always have certain insecurities in it.'' Though Pacific Bell refused to disclose the security measures it had taken, the company said it had restricted the ability to dial into its computers from remote points. As computerized communications become more sophisticated, companies will be able to improve security at a reasonable cost, said Barry K. Schwartz, a systems planning manager at Bell Communications Research, which does research for the seven Bell operating companies. It will be increasingly possible to program a computer so it will only answer a call from an authorized phone, he said. Another new technology on the horizon, he said, is electronic voice verification. A security system using this technology would be able to recognize those authorized to gain access to a computer by their voice patterns. Telephone companies have long had to worry about electronic abuse of their networks. For several decades individuals have used electronic equipment to make long-distance phone calls for free. Some have used devices that generate a series of tones that provides access to long-distance lines. Telephone companies have installed equipment on their lines to detect and thwart such abuse. In other instances, people have used personal computers to find long-distance access codes belonging to other users. They do this by programming computers to keep trying various numbers until they hit upon one that works. But while costly, these kinds of abuse are not much of a threat to the integrity of the system because they do not affect the system itself. The new problems involving network tampering are arising, experts say, because the switches that route calls are now mostly electronic, meaning they are essentially big computers. If a customer wants an option like call forwarding or call waiting added to his or her telephone service, that is done by typing commands into a computer, not by moving wires and switches. Pacific Bell said 79 percent of its customers are now served by computerized switching systems. Experts say these electronic networks are especially vulnerable to tampering because it is possible to dial up the computers controlling the switches from the outside. Phone companies designed their systems this way to make it easier for them to change the system and diagnose problems. For example, a technician in the field trying to diagnose problems on a line needs to be able to dial certain test circuits in the central office. But such a dial-up capability can also be used by outsiders with personal computers and modems who know the proper numbers to call and the proper procedures to get on the system. The ability to eavesdrop on telephone calls is included in the system to allow an operator to check to see whether a line that is busy for a long time is being used or whether the phone is off the hook or the line is broken. One security consultant who requested anonymity said this capability had also made it much easier for law enforcement officials to wiretap a line. When the police receive court permission to conduct a wiretap, they can have the phone company dial up the switch serving the line so conversations can be monitored from a remote location. Obtaining the information needed to break into the phone system can be difficult, but intruders often do it by impersonating phone company employees -- a practice that hackers call ``social engineering.'' A teen-ager interviewed by Pacific Bell officials after his arrest told investigators that he had entered a number of Pacific Bell facilities in the San Francisco area disguised as a Federal Express delivery man in order to search for manuals and other documents, according to the company memo. The youth also said he had impersonated telephone security officials to obtain passwords and other information. ------------------------------ Date: 23 Jul 88 00:08:58 PDT From: "John T. Powers Jr. (Jac" Subject: Hacking central office switches - too easy? I read a New York Times article in the San Jose Mercury-News for Friday, 7/22/88 which spoiled my day. The title was fairly routine: "Computer users break privacy, security of phones". Being mildly interested in security, I read it anyway. If this article is correct, crackers have been playing games with Pacific Bell central office switches up to no less than a year ago, maybe even now. It appears that open modems were left on what I would call "console" ports, allowing crackers access to operator-class commands after guessing or otherwise obtaining passwords. Once logged on, "visitors" could reportedly disconnect a line, assign it to another account ("steal dial tone"), and who knows what other mischief. It would have been easy for them to make this kind of activity much harder than it evidently was. A simple callback system (something I introduced at IBM about 10 years ago, and common now) would, if used correctly, make it *much* harder to gain unauthorized access to a CO switch. In addition, it would probably warn of interest by unauthorized persons. Today, much more sophisticated security systems are not only available but cheap. It amazes me that a phone company, of all possible victims, would omit such a simple and effective barrier to mischief. It would have cost them almost nothing. I've toured a number of Pacific Bell COs, and their physical security looks pretty good to me. It's almost *inconceivable* to me that that they would leave a back door open via, of all things, the bleeping *telephone*. Anyone know how accurate this report is, and what PacBell did about it, if true? Does this remind you of another recent security horror story? Disclaimer: These are my views only... and even I might disclaim them later. Jack Powers IBM Almaden Research Lab powers@ibm.com Flames at 1200bps or less to 408/779-7472. Voice: 408/927-1495. Share water. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Jul 88 14:30:38 PDT From: Laura_Halliday@mtsg.ubc.ca Subject: re: Hacking central office switches John T. Powers Jr. writes (Risks 7.27): > It would have been easy for them to make this kind of activity much harder > than it evidently was. ... When I worked for BCTel, we had an even simpler solution: remote access to the console was over dedicated lines. Grossly unsophisticated, but effective. laura halliday laura_halliday%mtsg.ubc.ca@um.cc.umich.edu ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jul 88 16:57:32 GMT From: steinmetz!vdsvax!montnaro@uunet.UU.NET (Skip Montanaro) Subject: Hacking central office switches - too easy? John T. Powers wrote concerning the problems Pac Bell was having with crackers accessing their switches: A simple callback system (something I introduced at IBM about 10 years ago, and common now) would, if used correctly, make it *much* harder to gain unauthorized access to a CO switch. In addition, it would probably warn of interest by unauthorized persons. Today, much more sophisticated security systems are not only available but cheap. The problem, as I understand it from the article that was posted in Risks, is that the Pac Bell repair people need to dial in from wherever problems exist, in order to set parameters, run tests, etc. Callback modems are only useful if the party wishing access always calls from the same (or at most a few) location(s). User A dials in, says "I'm user A", and hangs up. The callback modem then calls the phone number associated with user A. A Pac Bell repair person won't have a fixed location at which s/he can be called. Skip Montanaro, GE Corporate Research & Development (montanaro@ge-crd.arpa) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 29-Jul-88 23:56:12-EDT,16677;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 29 Jul 88 23:56:10-EDT Date: 29 Jul 88 23:00-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #117 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, July 29, 1988 11:00PM Volume 8, Issue 117 Today's Topics: US Sprint Delayed Billing thanks for adding me back to the list Re: exchange curiosity Exchanges Overlapping Countries US Sprint invents fake "area code" Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #115 (International dialling) Re: AOS overcharges Looking for detailed info on AT&T Merlin systems ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Jul 88 17:50:31 PDT From: David Singer Subject: US Sprint Delayed Billing Just for fun, I used 10xxx dialing to place a call via US Sprint on April 13. It finally showed up on my GTE phone bill today, along with this statement from GTE: "GTE is obligated to bill all long distance calls on behalf of your long distance carrier. This includes backbilling of long distance calls, regardless of when the call was actually made." -- David Singer, singer@ibm.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Jul 88 22:06:18 EDT From: nuchat!siswat!buck@uunet.UU.NET Subject: thanks for adding me back to the list Thanks for adding me to the list. The odd thing is I was definitely on the list for several months, then stopped getting the mailings. I hope that didn't happen to lots of other people. Looking forward to receiving TELECOM again. By the way, a guy I know is having an amazing battle with Southwestern Bell before the Texas Public Utilities Commission. He runs a bulletin board system from a house and found out that SWB has two different rate structures for multi-line rotary service, depending on whether they like you or not. He managed to force SWB to admit they were giving preferential service to thousands of customers and got the tariffs modified. I get sort of lost in the details, but one the major issues is whether non-profit home BBSs should pay commercial rates for rotary service. Depending on how this goes here in Texas could give phone companies all over the country ideas about gouging the little folk. Anyway, I asked him once if he would like to write up something for this list and he wanted to know who gets this list. I said I didn't really know. Would you be interested in a more detailed submission on this from the horse's mouth? Thanks alot, A. Lester Buck ...!uunet!nuchat!siswat!buck ------------------------------ From: pkh <@NSS.Cs.Ucl.AC.UK,@cs.nss.ucl.AC.UK:pkh@computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk> Subject: Re: exchange curiosity ------ Date: Wed, 27 Jul 88 15:31:00 BST Sender: pkh@Cs Request for submission in the Telecom Digest. Following up Dik Winter's message in Telcom Digest V8 #114. There is also an oddity in the making of phone calls between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. In Ireland the area codes are of the form 0xx or 0xxx but the codes starting 03 all dial direct through to the UK. In the three figure codes the codes give direct access to the major cities in the UK, e.g. London # 01-xxx-yyyy is 031-xxx-yyyy and Manchester # 061-xxx-yyyy is 036-xxx-yyyy from Ireland, etc., but the other cities are accessed by putting 03 in front of the whole UK number, e.g. Nottingham # 0602-yyyyyy is 03-0602-yyyyyy. All these numbers can seemingly still by dialled using the international exchange prefix (16) plus the international number (e.g. 16 44 602 yyyyyy). From the UK, before Irelands automatic exchange's were in place (this Status: O was only about 4 or 5 years ago, excluding the major Irish cities) there was a kind of reciprocal arrangement from the UK to Ireland for the major Irish Cities only. This meant that Dublin # 01-yyyyyy could be dialled from the UK using 0001-yyyyyy, Cork # 021-yyyyyy could be dialled using 0002-yyyyyy, etc. Now that Ireland is fully automatic (give or take 1 or 2 towns) and it has the country code 353 the UK has withdrawn all the above prefixes, except for the 0001 one, and people must dial via the international exchange. Ireland has not withdrawn its 03x and 03xxx numbers though. The reason the special UK <-> Ireland numbers existed (and some still exist) seems to be because of the historical link between the two countries - Britain ruled Ireland until 1932 - and the amount of Irish people living in Britain. To make things even more complicated, people in the Irish republic can dial Belfast (in Northern Ireland, part of the UK) numbers direct using the code 084, so the UK number 0232-yyyyyy (Belfast) can be accessed directly from Ireland using 084-yyyyyy. +--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ | pkh%cs.nott.ac.uk@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!pkh | Department of Computer Science, | | or in the UK: pkh@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, Nottingham,| | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Exchanges Overlapping Countries Date: Wed Jul 27 20:57:40 1988 Our recent correspondent from the Netherlands tells of some peculiar exchanges which overlap the political boundary lines between countries in Europe. Although that is rare in North America, it happens occassionally here also. Usually it will be in the case of one or two small towns which sit almost squarely on the border between the United States and Canada. One will be on one side and the other will be on the other side. Typically either a Canadian area code will be extended a few miles into the States to pick up the one over here, or sometimes it will be in reverse. Check out the border communities in Maine, New York State, North Dakota, Montana and Washington State for examples of this. Another oddity is the small town which sits in the northwesternmost corner of Washington State. (Name of town escapes me for the moment). It is logically connected to Canada, but this little peninsula drops down from the Canadian mainland a few miles and that little area is politically part of the United States. It is in the 206 area code for billing purposes, but numbers there can be dialed 604-xxx-xxxx or 206-xxx-xxxx. You can get information for numbers in the town from either 604 or 206-555-1212. Their phone service is actually supplied by a Canadian phone company which also serves the Vancouver, British Columbia territory. There are alot of oddities about that town besides the dual area codes. The only way in or out of that part of the United States is through Canada. The children go to school in a school bus every day which leaves the States, goes 2-3 miles across the southern tip of Canada and comes back into the States. To the south, there are a couple of cases in remote areas of Arizona and New Mexico where the local area codes (602 & 505 respectively) drop down into Mexico for less than a mile or two, to provide service via 'toll stations' to very remote areas with only one or two phones for miles around. A few business places located in Mexico choose for whatever reason to have (in this case, truly) 'foreign exchange service' from Texas. And throughout the United States, there are many communities which straddle the border between one state and another. Typically the area code designation was an arbitrary decision at one time or another placing the community for billing purposes in one state or the other; often times either area code will work, but not always. In the same issue of TELECOM, a correspondent outlined the various ways letters will appear on telephone dials. Like him, I have also seen a dial with a /Z/ on the zero opening on the dial. (This was only once, and it was years ago, long before touch tone. I saw it on a rotary dial.) What I rarely see any more are the *sixteen button* touch tone pads, which were common many years ago on phones connected to the AUTOVON (Automatic Voice Network) system of the U.S. Government. The four extra buttons, which appeared to the right of the 3,6,9 and # buttons were marked A,B,C, and D. Does anyone remember what they were for, and what they did? I seem to recall having one such phone in my possession at one time many years ago and experimenting by hooking it to a regular line. The 'normal' buttons 0-9, # and * did what they were supposed to do, but it seems to me the A-B-C-D buttons emitted tones, but there was no reaction to them by the network. Does anyone remember the old card dialer phones, where you stuck a plastic card which looked sort of like a credit card into your phone? You shoved the card in all the way and a spring pushed it back up. The card had punch holes in it that you had earlier created, which dialed the desired number. Typically, the owner of one of those speed dial phones had a supply of 20-30 plastic cards, each punched for a desired number, which were kept in a little box attached to the side of the phone. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: cantor%dssdev.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Dave Cantor) Date: 29 Jul 88 05:17 Subject: US Sprint invents fake "area code" The blurb enclosed with this month's bill from US Sprint has new international dialing instructions. Several countries (Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Mustique, Nevis, Palm Island, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, and Union Island) are all listed with code "1 + 809". The instructions say to dial 1 + Area Code + 7 Digit Number to "Canada and All 809 Area Code Countries". Is 809 a code that US Sprint invented? Dave C. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jul 88 18:58:38 +0200 From: mcvax!cwi.nl!dik@uunet.UU.NET (Dik T. Winter) Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #115 (International dialling) > From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) > Date: 26 Jul 88 21:29 > Subject: No, 903 is *not* Mexico > As has been mentioned a number of times recently in this digest, 903 is > no longer assigned. 706 reaches those parts of Mexico that can be dialed > with +52 6xx xxxxx; 905 reaches Mexico City (normally +52 5 xxx xxxx). Excuse me. I had the correct number on file but did not look closely enough because it is too far away. > Neither 905 nor 706 can be used from outside the U.S. and Canada. True enough. I cannot use it. > > Date: Wed, 27 Jul 88 08:58:46 EDT > From: alanine.phri!roy@phri (Roy Smith) > Subject: International dialing > Interestingly enough, these area codes only cover part of Mexico. I > can call Mexico City using area code 905, but to call Cuernavaca (about 100 > km south of Mexico City) I have to dial 011-73-.... i.e. international I would expect 011-52; 73 means dialling into the USSR. > prefix, country code, etc). Note that Mexico is one of those (many) places > where phone numbers are not uniform in length throughout the contry; Mexico > City has US-style 7 digit phone numbers (although they usually punctuate it > xxx-yy-zz instead of xxx-yyyy). Cuernavaca numbers are only 6 digits. I > wonder if that has anything to do with it? Probably not. 905 area code is a hack, and as far as I understand it ought to go away when full 011 dialling is available. Note that there are only very few countries where the phone numbers are uniform in length. North america, France and Belgium I remember, I know no other country. In many countries even the numbers within a city are not equal length. In Amsterdam subscriber numbers are 6 or 7 digits. And in Germany, if you count private exchanges (or how do you call it?), numbers can vary a lot. For instance to get the Siemens operator in Munchen takes only 5 digits, to get an extension requires 8 digits. Also in Rome subscriber numbers vary from 4 to 7 digits. > > Another tidbit. I was in Wales (UK) this summer and needed to call > Dublin, Ireland from a public pay phone. I asked the operator how to place > the call and she said I should dial "trebble aught one" (0001). What she > didn't tell me was that I should follow that with the local Dublin phone > number; I thought she was telling me how to dial a generic international > call, with 0001 to be followed by the Ireland country code. Yes, that is a bit confusing around here in Europe. A number of countries have shortcut dialling conventions for nearby countries. The UK to many Irish exchanges, also Austria to Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia. Most of the PTT's around here issue a booklet named 'International dialling' or something like that. And you need it. For instance although international access is the same throughout the country in most countries, it is not so in Portugal or the DDR (and some other east-european countries). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jul 88 14:52:17 CDT From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI Subject: Re: AOS overcharges > The FCC does not regulate the rates AOS companies charge for > interstate long-distance calls. Several states, however, have begun > considering regulation of the industry for intrastate calls. Why not? They regulate what AT&T can charge, don't they? At least they did -- is this something that fell out from under the FCC due to deregulation? I thought AT&T still had to get approval for rate *reductions* [that always sounded pretty offensive! only *raises* should need approval!]. It would appear to me to be a simple thing to make the tariffed AT&T rates be the legal MAXIMUM that any other company could charge. Anyone could undercut them -- that would provide the "advantage of competition" that the deregulators laud -- but no one could charge more, and that would protect the consumer. If AOS companies couldn't hack it in that market, then they fail. So what? Its not as if there is any need for them, after all. They are a completely gratuitous industry, with no justification for their existence. Then, if the state PUCs would do the same for intrastate rates, the problem would be solved. (It would be a good time for the state PUCs to limit intrastate rates to be no higher than an interstate call of the same distance, too!) On a slightly different but related topic -- the only reason most of these companies get away with the sort of AOS and COCOT scams we've been reading about is that they get access to the consumer through the local telco billing. It would appear to be a good thing to cut that access off. Only allow the local telco to bill you for services they themselves provide. AT&T, Sprint, MCI, "The Grace L. Ferguson Airline, Telephone, and Storm Door Company", etc., all have to bill you directly. AT&T does that already for equipment rental (does anyone still rent their phones?). Other alternate LD services had long ago worked out chargecard billing and the like. So this will only hurt these AOS scum who don't deserve to collect any money anyway. (You still will have to not make calls from your hotel room and the like, but I learned long ago, before AOS erupted like a boil on the buttocks of the public, never to touch a hotel room phone, since you're likely to get some sort of bogus spurious charges anytime it goes off-hook.) Will Martin "You can never find a lynch mob when you need one..." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jul 88 15:51:54 PDT From: John L. Shelton Subject: Looking for detailed info on AT&T Merlin systems Is anyone aware of available information on the AT&T Merlin phone system? I am looking for: a. The protocol used between the telephone and the switch. It is hybrid: analog voice, digital signalling. b. The programming of the switch itself. AT&T doesn't list anything relevant in their documentation catalog. Thanks. =John Shelton= ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 1-Aug-88 21:20:12-EDT,12663;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 1 Aug 88 21:20:09-EDT Date: 1 Aug 88 20:03-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #118 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, August 1, 1988 8:03PM Volume 8, Issue 118 Today's Topics: odd phones COCOT in sheep's clothing odd cordless phone Re: extra characters Re: US SPRINT Delayed Billing Re: International & Irish Calls from the UK call forwarding change? Demon Dialers(TM) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Date: Fri, 29 Jul 88 21:02:29 PDT From: David G. Cantor In telecom #115, David Lesher statees In the past, a number set to forward allowed multiple calls to be in progress at once (provided, of course that the recipient number had rotary lines to handle them). This was a great advantage to many ports, because a 'fringe' phone could extend the local calling area. I now hear that our good friends at AT&T have rewritten the switch software to exclude this possibility. Anybody care to confirm/deny or otherwise expound? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, I have a foreign exchange (FX) line which I have set to call-forward to a two-line rotary. When I began to get unexpected "busy's" when dialing the FX line, I did some checking. Careful experimentation verifies the above statement. Specifically, if a call is being forwarded, the system won't forward another (even when the other line of the rotary is free). What is surprising is that both the FX and the two rotary lines are on General Telephone (GTE) exchanges; both are ESS. So I am reduced to two calls at a time on my FX: One out-going and one in-coming (forwarded) call. Here is a question of mine: Given the capabilities of the ESS, why isn't the FX line provided in software? At the moment, a special very long loop (about 15 miles) is run to provide my FX. Why doesn't the telco simply use call-forwarding type software (for incoming calls) to send the call to a special line on a local exchange and thus use their high-volume, low cost toll lines instead of expensive very long loops. Outcoming charges can be handled by the computer billing programs. dgc David G. Cantor Internet: dgc@math.ucla.edu UUCP: ...!{randvax, sdcrdcf, ucbvax}!ucla-cs!dgc ------------------------------ From: smb@research.att.com Date: Sat, 30 Jul 88 09:35:05 EDT Subject: odd phones Many years ago, I had an old rotary phone with 'Z' on the 0 digit. If I recall correctly, it was a 300-series phone, not the 500 series we're all familiar with today as the ``standard desk phone''. I also still have a card-operated dialer phone; it caused me a bit of trouble a few years ago. At the time, I was living in Chapel Hill, back when the university still owned the local phone system. The switch was quite old, and had some very odd dialing conventions. The university's lines had exchanges 933 and 966; dialing within those exchanges was 3-yyyy or 6-yyyy. Outside numbers were not preceeded with a 9 -- since no local exchange began with a 3 or 9, the full number was unambiguous. In fact, since all local exchanges had a first digit of 9, anyone outside the university could use 6-digit dialing. There were other oddities as well. (Since then, btw, Southern Bell was forced to buy the phone company, and they replaced the switch with an ESS.) At the time of this incident, the phone system had run out of numbers on the non-university lines, so 933 numers were assigned to outside customers. The university dialing conventions applied -- I not only shouldn't dial the full 7 digits, I couldn't. I used my dialer to reach the comp center's modem pool, which was 933-9911; I dialed 3-9911. But the dialer went too fast for the switch sometimes; the second digit was too much for it, and it decided to give me dialtone back. The dialer didn't realize this, and continued to dial the remainder of the number -- 911.... ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: COCOT in sheep's clothing Date: Fri Jul 29 18:53:11 1988 This afternoon (Friday, July 29) I slid a quarter into a coin phone that had been in its location for as long as I remembered. I was placing (or attempting: the party didn't answer) a call to the next CO district, and in fact the phone was located along the border street. The phone looked as it always had, like any Illinois Bell public phone. But when I had pressed seven digits, a voice said, "Thank you." I looked again. The entire face of the phone was identical to a telco coin phone, and the dialing instructions were in the same ink color and typeface that Illinois Bell uses. There were only two differences: Illinois Bell's name and logo were absent and down lower, next to the coin return, was a sticker giving a local seven-digit number to call if repair is needed. Then I noticed that the telephone number was on an NXX opened only about seven years ago, though there had been a coin phone in that location since time immemorial. COCOT providers must now just be converting, instead of replacing, existing telco installations. David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com || sun!portal!cup.portal.com!david_w_tamkin ------------------------------ From: smb@research.att.com Date: Sat, 30 Jul 88 16:14:45 EDT Subject: odd cordless phone I have an old phone that I presume to be cordless. It's marked ``Satellite Communications Corp''; it has a plug labelled ``charge'' in the back, and no other wires. It's labelled as operating on frequency ``channel E''. Does any one know what frequencies it might operate on, or equipment it might interoperate with? ------------------------------ From: westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: extra characters Date: 31 Jul 88 20:28:07 GMT In article <465@vector.UUCP>, CABELL.ANDREWS@BIONET-20.ARPA (Paul Andrews) writes: > > I have a question regarding the use of TELENET versus COMPUSERVE. > When using TELENET, I always see two certain characters echoed back to me , > especially when I am typing fast. These are ASCII characters 17 and 19 ( I > can't reproduce them here, but you can look them up in an IBM extended > character set)... These characters are generally called X-ON and X-OFF or DC1 and DC3. On most ASCII keyboards, they are represented by ^S and ^Q. When you receive the X-OFF character, the receiver is telling you to stop sending. It will send you the X-ON when it is again ready to receive data. Most systems allow you to pause their output by sending them the X-OFF (^S) character, and to resume by sending them the X-ON (^Q) character. -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Jul 88 17:04:42 EDT From: msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) Subject: Re: US SPRINT Delayed Billing I got bitten worse. I had MCI on my school phone, and the number was disconnected when I left for the summer on May 18. I made a few 10333 calls in April and early May to see if I could get them in so that the account would be closed when the bill got to NJ Bell. What has happened is that my account continues to bill me for the Sprint calls. No monthly fee, but I get "you better pay up or else" letters because my final bill has gone on for several months. I wouldn't suggest doing this, at least not in NJ. Mark Mark Smith (alias Smitty) "Be careful when looking into the distance, 61 Tenafly Road that you do not miss what is right under your nose." Tenafly, NJ 07670 {backbone}!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu Bill and Opus in '88!!! ------------------------------ Date: 1 Aug 88 08:01:57 PDT (Monday) Subject: Re: International & Irish Calls from the UK From: "hugh_davies.WGC1RX"@Xerox.COM <...Another tidbit. I was in Wales (UK) this summer and needed to call Dublin, Ireland from a public pay phone. I asked the operator how to place the call and she said I should dial "trebble aught one" (0001). What she didn't tell me was that I should follow that with the local Dublin phone number; I thought she was telling me how to dial a generic international call, with 0001 to be followed by the Ireland country code.....> The International access in the UK is 010, no matter where you're dialling from or to, with the exception of Dublin, which has a special arrangement - the '0001'. All other locations in Ireland are reached via an International call - 010 353, followed by area code and number. Hugh. ------------------------------ Subject: call forwarding change? Date: Sun, 31 Jul 88 21:18:54 EDT From: David Lesher In the past, multiple simultaneous calls could be forwarded by a given number, provided the destination had rotary trunks to accept them. This has been used to great advantage to extend the calling areas of many a *NIX port. I now hear that our good friends that write the ESS switch software have blocked this feature. Can anybody offer {confirmation, denial, comment}? wb8foz@cucstud ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Aug 88 17:23:48 EDT From: Ralph.Hyre@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu To: comp-dcom-telecom@rutgers.edu Path: ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu!ralphw From: ralphw@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: dealing with unwanted calls Date: 1 Aug 88 21:23:48 GMT References: <466@vector.UUCP> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 31 In article <466@vector.UUCP> ericb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) writes: >Last night I received an automated "junk" telephone call that >set a new low..... I answered the phone, and heard a recorded message say: > > "Hi! You have been reached by United Education and Software. > Please hold for the next available operator." > >whereupon I started hearing the omni-nauseating Musak-on-hold. Amazing! what will they think of next? >Am I going to be forced to have an answering machine screen all my >calls so as to avoid this? Quite an inconvenience to myself and the >people that I *do* want to call me. I've been thinking about putting a more-customizable type of answering machine on my line, and not announcing 'someone you want to talk with is on the phone' until the caller passes some sort of test, like knowing my 'secret code number' or something. Of course, I can pass out various 'secret code numbers' as needed, so the machine can identify callers and dispatch them appropriately. With caller number I.D., all of this external equipment might become unneccessary. Maybe when everybody's converted to touchtone (are any TouchTone tarrif's being successfully challenged?) this sort of system can become more widespread -- - Ralph W. Hyre, Jr. Internet: ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu Phone:(412)268-{2847,3275} CMU-{BUGS,DARK} Amateur Packet Radio: N3FGW@W2XO, or c/o W3VC, CMU Radio Club, Pittsburgh, PA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Aug 88 15:42:49 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: Demon Dialers(TM) What are the current regulations affecting Demon Dialers(TM) and similar devices? I'm looking for a telephone or accessory that will dial a number every few seconds until the call goes through, and would like to know if I'll have to build my own. If not, some pointers to sources would also be appreciated. Lest there be any misunderstanding, let me assure everyone that I do *not* intend to harass the Rev. Jerry Falwell. I'm just trying to get through to US Sprint Customer Service... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 2-Aug-88 21:53:17-EDT,12233;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 2 Aug 88 21:52:49-EDT Date: 2 Aug 88 20:41-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #119 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, August 2, 1988 8:41PM Volume 8, Issue 119 Today's Topics: Call Forwarding Capacity Area 809 Re: more on COCOTS, AOS and such Massachusetts 617/508/413 exchange listing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Call Forwarding Capacity Date: Fri Jul 29 21:54:12 1988 Responding to the item on 'how many calls can be forwarded at one time', JSol notes when he got his Remote Call Forwarding lines he was told he could choose how many calls to forward at one time. What telco meant was, you can choose *how many paths you would like to pay for*, and each path thus purchased will allow one more call to be forwarded simultaneously. Unlike Call Forwarding, Remote Call Forwarding is a business offering where a line terminates in a central office, with no physical wires going to a customer's premises. This phantom number in the central office is programmed to always forward calls to wherever, at the direct dial rate in effect at the time a call is received. The subscriber has no control over the programming of the forwarding. It has to be done when the line first goes in, and it stays that way until the service is discontinued. Typically one call at a time can pass through to some end destination via the remote number. In 'regular' Call Forwarding here in Chicago, there is no limit to the number of calls which can be forwarded at one time except for the capability of the final or end destination to receive the calls. In other words, if the end destination has ten lines in rotary, and you forward your calls to the first number in that hunt group, then ten people could call through your number to the end number all at the same time. This is not a universal thing. I think we have one or two prefixes here in Chicago using older versions of software which do not allow unlimited call forwarding. On the same subject, some of our prefixes here allow 'chain forwarding', while others do not. In chain forwarding, A forwards to B, B to C, C to D, and D to E. A call arriving on A is bumped along to B then C then D then E in a matter of an extra couple seconds or so. The only limit to chain forwarding is a practical one: The transmission gets very poor after 2-3 links. But the software in some of our central offices does not allow this. A can forward to B, and B can forward to C.....but a call dialed to A will still force its way onto B, and go no further, despite B's forwarding to C. And a call to B will forward to C *provided B was dialed direct*, and was not reached as a result of getting forwarded from A! Is all that clear? Its as though there were two ways to approach a line (1) by direct addressing of that number or (2) indirectly due to someone else forwarding. I don't think we have too many of this latter type left here. And what happens if A forwards to B and B forwards to A? In the past, it was allowed, and a call to either number would forward to the other number and ring through. The endless loop A to B and B to A seems to imply did not in practice exist. Some offices were programmed that A/B/A type forwarding would result in a busy signal for persons calling either number. Now the very newest software here prohibits that type of forwarding if the forwarder is in your same office. If A is forwarded to B, then attempts by B to enter *72-A will be met with a re-order tone, or possibly a 'your call cannot be completed as dialed' type message. Illinois Bell has also of late changed the software to prohibit forwarding to any 1-900 number, any 976 number, 911, 555-1212, any 950-xxxx number and a few others. The attempt will be blocked after dialing *72-976 or *72-1-900 for example. Question for the experts: If your phone is forwarding somewhere, you can use your phone to dial your own number and get forwarded to wherever. Why is it *when not on forwarding* that dialing your own number results in a busy signal instead of a 'call waiting' signal? Curiosity on my own phone lines: I have two lines, which hunt each other on busy or no answer after three rings. Both lines have call waiting as well. Due to call waiting, neither line is 'truly busy' for the purpose of getting the hunt feature to work...with one exception. If I enter the *70 sequence to cancel call waiting and then dial my own number, the other line will ring, and the call will hunt to the second line. If however I merely have two calls on the line, talking to one and holding the other, then the busy signal kicks in and the third call does not hunt to the other physical line. Its as though there were also different types of busies: engaging *70 at some point in a call creates one type of busy the central office recognizes as a situation where it should hunt another physical line, and simply being off hook, dialing your own number, or having two calls on one line via call waiting which it considers to be something other than a 'regular busy signal.' Does anyone have any ideas on this? Is it just a function of how the software is set up office by office? Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Area 809 Date: Sat Jul 30 22:46:36 1988 Dave C. asks, "Is area 809 an area code that Sprint created?'...no indeed. 809 has been around for 20 plus years as part of the North American Numbering Plan. Admittedly, it is an odd one, but there is nothing new about it. Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) started phasing into service in 1955, and was fully implemented by the early sixties with the exception of a few small independent phone companies that were holdouts for one reason or another. A/C 809 was assigned then, but not actually functional until maybe 1968-70, that is, where it could be dialed without operator assistance. 809-555-1212 is serviced by whatever Bell company occupies South Carolina, which is where the cable leaves the mainland and starts into the ocean heading south-southeast. There are 'make believe' area codes however. They are used for billing purposes by AT&T among others. Typically they start with '1' and take the form of '161' or '176', etc, followed by the standard seven digit number. These appear mainly on Miscellaneous Billing/Special Billing Credit Cards issued by AT&T. Their purpose is to provide a standarized number for people without a regular number who want AT&T credit cards. Examples would be persons in the military, students at a university who use payphones to call home, etc. Following divestiture, the job of assigning, maintaining and billing/ collecting for miscellaneous accounts was taken over by Cincinnati Bell. There are also a couple of three digit 'area codes' used for special billing purposes for large corporate customers; a few such three digit codes are used for the federal GSA; a few are used internally by AT&T and local Bell companies for their own long distance calls when away from the office, etc. A couple others are used in the few remaining situations in this country where 'toll stations' still exist. Nevada is full of these. Where the entire state of Nevada is A/C 702, the toll stations are reachable only with the assistance of your local operator calling 702-181 for Reno (NV) Microwave. Toll stations typically are numbered like 'Luning #1' or 'Luning #2'. To satisfy the requirements of the billing computer, the missing digits are usually plugged in as '181-702-0002' or similar, which I admit looks a little odd when you get your phone bill and see a long distance call to such a number. Finally, a few of those three digit combinations are also assigned to Sprint/MCI/other long distance companies to use for inter company billing with AT&T and local telcos, etc. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Aug 88 18:31:53 PDT From: marks@Sun.COM (Mark Stein) Subject: Re: more on COCOTS, AOS and such First of all, an apology if this message duplicates others recently on TELECOM. The USENET gateway was out of commission for awhile and hence I missed a bit of discussion. The message about COCOTS and AOS caught my eye. I had an experience I would like to relate, followed by a few questions for anyone who might know the answers. While on business in Dallas last year, I made a phone call from my hotel room to my home number, using the card-call procedure listed on the phone (something like dial 8, followed by areacode and number). I dialed, got the familiar "fading tone" that I am used to hearing, so I entered my 4 digit PIN (omitting the first ten digits since I was calling the home number). I was surprised to hear a live operator come on the line after a short delay and ask me what my calling card number was. I repeated the 4 digit PIN, and she keyed something in and my call went through. I thought this was very strange, but didn't really think about it again until my Pacific Bell phone bill arrived the next month. The call in question would have cost about $3.50 via AT&T, but I was billed something like $14.00 for it from some outfit I had never heard of before "as a service of PacBell." OK, now I knew why the operator had asked me for the calling card number. The alternative service probably couldn't automatically handle the shorthand number, and the operator had simply reentered it preceeded by the displayed called number. I called the BacBell business office to contest the charge, and after a brief discussion of the facts with a very pleasant woman (who sounded like she had heard this complaint before), she credited me with the difference between the billed amount and the "AT&T amount." She said something about returning the charge to the alternative service as uncollectable. So it worked out ok for me (that time), but I am left with some nagging questions. Is there any implied contract between myself and any alternative provider, based on my agreement with PacBell? Do the tariffs covering calling cards really allow the number to be so widely available/ accepted? Is this part of the "subscriber database" made available to certified LD services which was mentioned in a previous message? If so, are there any alternatives available to me, as a consumer, to tell PacBell that I only want my card honored by a specified list of providers? Or is the only solution to be aware of where you are making a call from and make sure that you are talking to an operator of the "right" company? Unfortunately, from what I have seen, it is this "consumer beware" attitude which seems to be required when dealing with both COCOTS and AOS. I applaud the proposal in the state of Washington to help bring this problem under control. Are there similar efforts underway in other states? Who can I write to in California to register my opinion? Thanks for any and all information in advance... Mark Stein Sun Microsystems, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Tue 2 Aug 88 20:38:24-EDT From: Jonathan A. Solomon Subject: Massachusetts 617/508/413 exchange listing In the file "XX:MASS.LINES.1" is the up-to-date listing of Mass. telephone prefixes for all three area codes. You may obtain this listing by anonymous FTP if you are an Internet site at XX.LCS.MIT.EDU. All other readers who would like a copy should send mail to TELECOM-REQUEST@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU asking me for a copy. Your copy will be returned by mail (so make sure your return path works). --jsol ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 3-Aug-88 22:14:24-EDT,11103;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 3 Aug 88 22:14:22-EDT Date: 3 Aug 88 21:05-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #120 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, August 3, 1988 9:05PM Volume 8, Issue 120 Today's Topics: call forwarding changes Re: Catalog of phone stuff Mexican city codes ISDN Information Re: COCOTs at the Atlanta Airport Making Sure Who It Is..... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: call forwarding changes Date: Tue, 02 Aug 88 23:30:53 -0400 From: Steve Elias the changes in call forwarding have taken place at my CO in Massachusetts... i checked today, and only one call can be call forwarded at a time. other callers get a busy signal. i use call forwarding to forward my calls to DID lines on a voice mail system -- so i don't lose much capability -- now only one caller at a time can leave me a message... i suspect that these changes were made about two months ago; i also noticed slight pecularities about the way that call forwarding responded when i forwarded to a DID number... these changes do kind of tick me off... but i guess there's no such thing as a free lunch... does anyone know if the call forwarding available with the 'Intellidial' service allows multiple calls to be call forwarded at the same time??? perhaps there is a reason to buy this service after all... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 88 11:03:21 CDT From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI Subject: Re: Catalog of phone stuff Re the "LiteSet Cordless" telephone I mentioned in the context of describing the "Hello Direct" catalog a couple weeks ago: I thought the list might be interested to know what the real wholesale price of this toy is. I just got a catalog from a mail-order wholesale house that carries it. This distributor is Santa Fe Distributing, 14400 West 97th Terrace, Lenexa, KS 66215 (800-255-6595 or 913-492-8288 in the Kansas City area). The Hello Direct people wanted $249 for the LiteSet Cordless, qty 1-2. Their price dropped to $243 for 3-4, and $237 for 5+. Big deal. The quantity one wholesale price in Santa Fe's catalog is $119. It is a Plantronics RF100-01. (No mention of quantity discounts.) (I haven't bought from this source in the past, though I have gotten items from similar places. You usually need to deal cash COD and give them some sort of a business name, implying that you will resell the goods. You need to order enough stuff to make that seem likely. For example, the last order I sent to one of these wholesalers was for 200 cassettes, plus then I hung on some one-each radios, headsets, etc., describing them as "samples".) Regards, Will Martin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 88 15:59:48 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Mexican city codes I have noticed in some call guides a note about calling the (business?) office for foreign city codes. As a V&H tape printout I have has a slew of Mexican place names I have trouble deciphering from their abbreviations (I have no "zipcode" directory comparable to that of U.S.), I am interested in finding the Mexican stuff. How much detail is available? On the V&H tape, where you would normally find the areacode-prefix combo (such as 301555 for Maryland directory assistance), you find 52zzzz where 52 is the country code for Mexico. Other sources show city code 161 for Ciudad Juarez (also called just Juarez, and appearing in a separate section of El Paso, Texas directory). So on the V&H tape you find 52161x, where x is 2,3,4,6, or 7. (That section of El Paso directory shows x-yyyy for Juarez phone numbers; x is defined above.) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Aug 88 18:52:57 EDT From: nfsun!kgeisel@uunet.UU.NET (kurt geisel) Subject: ISDN Information Are there any newsgroups/digests/mailing lists concerning ISDN yet? Has there been much ISDN discussion in this group? I am interested in any sources of ISDN information: current developments and research, sites which are using ISDN PBXs, etc. Are there any books or specifications available about ISDN? I have read introductory articles, but I am interested in technical details and the current plans that various phone companies are adopting to start incorporating this new techonology. I would also appreciate any insight anyone has about how ISDN will affect networking and networking protocols. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Kurt Geisel, Intelligent Technology Group, Inc. | | Bix: kgeisel | | ARPA: kgeisel%nfsun@uunet.uu.net US Snail: | | UUCP: uunet!nfsun!kgeisel 65 Lambeth Dr. | | Pittsburgh, PA 15241 | | If a rule fires and no one sees it, did it really fire? | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: mark@cbnews.ATT.COM (Mark Horton) Subject: Re: COCOTs at the Atlanta Airport Date: 2 Aug 88 21:33:31 GMT Reply-To: mark@cbnews.ATT.COM (Mark Horton) In article <485@vector.UUCP> covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) writes: >All public payphones at the Atlanta airport, the nation's busiest, have >been replaced with COCOTs. > >These payphones route your call via NTI -- the only warning you have is >that you are told "Thank you" instead of "Thank you for using AT&T" when >you dial a call with your AT&T calling card. I ran into the same gotcha. I spent quite awhile hunting for a real phone before settling for one of these things. I dialed a calling card call and got a message something like "Thank you for using NTI". I hung up quickly, unwilling to use another inflated rate carrier. >Apparently 10288-0 will get you to AT&T. Yes, it will. I had a problem at the time, since my local phone had been temporarily disconnected (due to moving) and Ohio Bell doesn't know how to temporarily disconnect anything, so they permanently disconnected it and had me order new service later. My AT&T calling card also became unauthorized during the same interval. The AT&T people found the card number missing from their database, but it appears that NTI would have been happy to place the call anyway. The AT&T operator was good enough to "charge it to the base number" anyway, even though he knew it was disconnected. I'm not sure what that means, I haven't seen a bill for it yet (and since I got my "final bill" from Ohio Bell, I'm not sure if I will.) ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Making Sure Who It Is..... Date: Tue Aug 2 22:12:27 1988 Mark Stein tells of the $3.50 phone call which turned into a $14.00 phone call when an AOS handled it. Some things to watch/listen for when placing long distance calls with a credit card: AT&T operators will answer by saying "AT&T Operator'. If the person who answers you does not say this, ask if they are AT&T. If not, ask to be connected to an AT&T operator. If they refuse to do it, then place your call elsewhere. It is inadvisable to place the call and assume you will get it charged back when the bill comes. You *can* do it that way, but beware! Some AOS' are taking the same approach now as the Nine Hundred Service Corporation: The phone company writes it off, and the AOS bills direct. If you neglect their bill, it *could* go to collection. One AOS is filing suit when the dollar volume warrants it. They have your name and address from the 'data base' records which they, like any telephone company, are entitled to have. If you dial your call direct, after inserting your card number following the special tone, you should hear a recorded voice saying, 'thank you for using AT&T'. If it is an intra-lata call, then the voice will say. 'thank you for using Illinois Bell' (or appropriate company). If you do *not* hear this message, then immediatly hang up and dial the number again without inserting your card number. When the operator answers, go back to step one and ask who they are. When you check into a hotel, motel, school dorm, penetentiary or whatever, don't hesitate to ask the local switchboard operator what company handles long distance, and how you would go about dialing into AT&T instead. Some of them will give you dirty looks for asking, just as a few AOS operators have told me -- by their silence and/or abrupt answer -- that I did not ask a good question. The AOS companies all get the data base, just as Sprint and MCI get it. The rules of divestiture allow for this. There is no method I know of for telling them to allow calls by one carrier and to not allow them by others. The AOS companies here in Chicago are getting very sneaky about this, as are the COCOTS. (By the way, COCOT means 'customer owned, coin operated telephone, for the person who asked me.) The COCOTS here are now using phones built EXACTLY like Bell's, and are going so far as to put the little decal on the front of the phone which says, 'out of change? use your foncard here'. The only real clue is to examine the panel with the dialing instructions and see who they say to call for business and repair matters. If it is not the repair number for your established local phone company, then it is not 'genuine Bell.' Some here have also gone so far as to have the Bell phone removed from the stand with the shelf and plastic siding, then installing their COCOT in the same shell with the Bell logo still intact on the housing! So take care and make sure you pick the right kind. Another clue is usually the 'thank you' message following dialing a local call. Also, train your ears to recognize the difference between the telephone company recording which exhorts you to pay for overtime, etc, versus the type of voice the COCOT phones have in them. Finally, if you lose money in a COCOT, do not hesitate to call the number given -- usually its free -- and demand a refund. I do it all the time when I use one of those pieces of junk and it is broken. However the COCOT will not send a cash refund; they will send a *check* for all of twenty five cents. At least Illinois Bell makes refunds with coupons which can be deposited at your bank or included with a future phone bill payment as you wish. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 5-Aug-88 23:52:34-EDT,12312;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 5 Aug 88 23:52:31-EDT Date: 5 Aug 88 22:29-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #121 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, August 5, 1988 10:29PM Volume 8, Issue 121 Today's Topics: Sprint Delayed Billing (Are they OK now?) a live ANI (automatic number identification) code NPA 903: The Final Word Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Map and Listing of Massachusetts Area Codes Re: Call Forwarding Capacity Saturday Evening Calls 1A2 KSU Music on hold info? Area code 809 (Was: US Sprint invents fake "area code") ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: amdcad!amdcad.AMD.COM!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Network News) Subject: Sprint Delayed Billing (Are they OK now?) Date: 4 Aug 88 06:16:56 GMT Reply-To: amdcad!crackle.AMD.COM!hayes@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Jim Hayes) singer@IBM.com (David Singer) writes in article <501@vector.UUCP>: > >Just for fun, I used 10xxx dialing to place a call via US Sprint on >April 13. It finally showed up on my GTE phone bill today [...] Wow, 3.5 months! I guess Sprint finally bought a CRAY to run their billing software on. Before it seemed like a PDP-11. --- A question follows this short tirade --- I told Sprint take a hike in January of 1987 after double billings, two different bills staggered at two week intervals(!), and some really awful customer "service". That was January of '87. In March of '87 I was still getting double bills for $0.00. It was time to call "customer service" again. I dialed the number, went outside and washed my car. Came back to find myself still on hold-- but I expected that. About 5 more minutes got me in. "Oh yes sir. We'll cancel both accounts immediately! Thank you for calling!" (How did I get two accounts?) May '87. I started getting "recharged" for calls I made in NOVEMBER and DECEMBER of '86. It was time for a letter to the president of the company. He gave me a very nice return letter, signed by him (or a ball-point bearing machine) promising that my problem would be taken care of in a few days, and regardless of the outcome, one of his staff members would contact me in 7 days. SILENCE for months.. The complaints to customer service continued at two week intervals. November '87. My refund arrived. I was amazed. All was quiet. The bills stopped. February '88. An envelope arrived. $0.00, make check payable to US Sprint. My phone call to customer service lasted about a minute or so. March '88. An envelope arrived: "WELCOME TO US SPRINT-- The materials you requested are enclosed." March '88 (two weeks later). Another envelope arrived: "WELCOME TO US SPRINT-- The materials you requested are enclosed." _ April '88. My FON cards arrived for two different accounts. It was fun explaing to them how I've been an MCI customer since '87. All is quiet. For the moment. --- My question: Is Sprint OK? Are they back to normal? Did they hire some witch doctor to give incantations over their computers? I can understand how merging two billing systems (US Telecom & Sprint) can cause problems, but sheesh... -James Hayes Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale CA. hayes@amdcad.amd.com /earth: file system full {ucbvax|sun|decwrl}!amdcad!hayes (Please delete anyone you can) Work: (408) 749-5726 Home: (408) 733-9814 ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: Wed Aug 3 22:00:34 1988 Central Telephone of Illinois, at least in its Des Plaines and Park Ridge districts in area code 312, gives ANI by dialing 290. I came across it by chance. It seems that they don't feel that the function is anything that needs to be hidden. I've even tried it on COCOT's. They required that I dial four dummy digits after the 290, since they demanded seven digits before sending your dialing on to the telco, but Centel ignored the extra four, gave me the number I was dialing from (frequently not printed on the face of a COCOT), and dis- connected. The COCOT's returned my money. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 88 11:38:45 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: NPA 903: The Final Word The following is taken from the 1980 edition of the former AT&T publication ``Notes on the Network''. [An] area of Mexico with a high community of interest with the United States is Northwest Mexico, particularly the Tijuana-Mexicali area. In 1963, NPA code 903 was assigned for North American dialing to this limited part of Northwest Mexico. Northwest Mexico is designated in Mexico's national numbering plan as zone 6; consequently, the digit 6 becomes the first digit of the 8-digit national number. In late 1980, the area served by NPA 903 was renumbered to conform with the Mexican numbering plan. To continue North American dialing into Northwest Mexico and to be consistent with the pseudo NPA scheme developed for Mexico City, NPA code 903 was replaced by pseudo NPA code 70 (6). Standardizing telephone numbering in this part of Northwest Mexico made all of Mexico accessible in the IDDD [International Direct Distance Dialing] format. Assigning code 70 (6) not only standardizes the pseudo North American interim plan for Mexico but expands the area served to include all of zone 6 in Mexico. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 88 13:43:51 EDT From: ileaf!io!wally!walters@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Tim Walters) Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Subject: American phones in Europe Keywords: europe Message-ID: <686@io.UUCP> Date: 3 Aug 88 14:40:22 GMT Organization: Interleaf Inc, Cambridge, MA Lines: 9 I may be moving to Germany in the fall, and have been trying to figure out what I can take with me. Can anyone tell me if U.S. telephones and modems can be adapted to work in Germany? Any information would be appreciated. -- ...!mit-eddie!ileaf!walters Tim Walters, Interleaf ...!sun!sunne!ileaf!walters Ten Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 88 16:50:36 EDT From: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU (Henry Mensch) Subject: Map and Listing of Massachusetts Area Codes Reply-To: henry@GARP.MIT.EDU I just got my New England Telephone bill today; they enclosed a listing and map of Massachusetts divided into communities and color-coded into 413, 508, and 617 area codes. The map says "For further information, please call 1 800 555 5000 (If you're calling from outside Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont, please call your New England Telephone Business office.)" I imagine you can get a copy of this map by phoning NET. # Henry Mensch / / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # {decvax,harvard,mit-eddie}!garp!henry / ------------------------------ From: ssc-vax!clark@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Roger Clark Swann) Subject: Re: Call Forwarding Capacity Date: 4 Aug 88 22:00:16 GMT From Telecom Digest Volume 8, issue 119 Status: O Patrick Townson writes: >On the same subject, some of our prefixes here allow 'chain forwarding', while >others do not. In chain forwarding, A forwards to B, B to C, C to D, and D to >E. A call arriving on A is bumped along to B then C then D then E in a matter >of an extra couple seconds or so. The only limit to chain forwarding is a >practical one: The transmission gets very poor after 2-3 links. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What??? Why??? How??? If A,B,C,D,E are in the same ESS office, Then the number of chains in the the forwarding should have nothing to do with the quality of the transmission since the controller looks up the forwarding route and tells the switch matrix to make the right *end* connections. In this case it would be connect A to E ( one link ). Now if A,B,C,D,E are located in different offices, then the chaining may effect the quality since the call would progress through each office in the chain. However, I would be surprised if one could notice a reduction in quality through only 3 ESS type offices... Am I totally washed up here or what??? Maybe someone that knows ESS system architecture could comment one the above... Roger Swann uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 88 19:15:15 PDT From: gast@CS.UCLA.EDU (David Gast) Subject: Saturday Evening Calls Recently, a poster pointed out that AllNet raised the price of Saturday Evening (5 PM - 11 PM) calls to evening rate from night rate. Has only AllNet done this or have most or all of the Long Distance Companies done so? Thank-you, David Gast gast@cs.ucla.edu {uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!{ucla-cs,cs.ucla.edu}!gast ------------------------------ From: tfd!kent@trantor.umd.edu (Kent Hauser) Subject: 1A2 KSU Music on hold info? Date: 4 Aug 88 20:26:18 GMT Where does one get the info on how to connect up a music on hold system for a 1A2 key system? I don't have access to a set of practices any more, but I need to do it. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Email response to me please. Thanks. -- Kent Hauser UUCP: sun!sundc!tfd!kent Twenty-First Designs Voice 202 872-1081 ------------------------------ From: mcvax!cgch!wtho@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Hofmann) Subject: Area code 809 (Was: US Sprint invents fake "area code") Date: 5 Aug 88 06:45:13 GMT From article <505@vector.UUCP>, by cantor%dssdev.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Dave Cantor): Status: O > The blurb enclosed with this month's bill from US Sprint has new > international dialing instructions. Several countries (Anguilla, > Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman > Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, > Mustique, Nevis, Palm Island, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, > Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, and Union Island) are all > listed with code "1 + 809". > > The instructions say to dial 1 + Area Code + 7 Digit Number to "Canada > and All 809 Area Code Countries". > > Is 809 a code that US Sprint invented? > > Dave C. I posted an article concerning the 809 area code some weeks ago with no response. So here it is again: As far as I know several Caribbean islands belong to the North-American telephone system (U.S.A., Canada; country code: +1) having the area code 809. Therefore, the international prefix for that region should be +1 809. From West Germany that's the correct code, indeed. However, here in Switzerland the code is +500 809. +1 809 doesn't work from here neither is there success with +500 809 from West Germany. Does that mean that there are regions on this world which haven't a single international access code? (Except the "+" which always differs.) I believed that every internationally accessible telephone number could be dialed as + where only the "+" differs. Isn't it CCITT's task to make those codes standardized? And since 809 obviously belongs to country code +1, won't +500 be used for another country in the future? Tom Hofmann wtho@cgch.UUCP ...!mcvax!cernvax!cgch!wtho ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 6-Aug-88 22:20:16-EDT,11897;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 6 Aug 88 22:20:10-EDT Date: 6 Aug 88 21:07-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #122 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, August 6, 1988 9:07PM Volume 8, Issue 122 Today's Topics: special relativity and US Sprint billing Swiss dialing anomaly for the Caribbean Finding the weather someplace else ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Aug 88 00:25:22 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu In reference to a post by Patrick Townson in Telecom V.8 #112, which dealt with the problems of reassigning a Bell PIN number after his card was stolen, I have found that dealing with the local Bell (or Heaven forbid!) GTE company usually gets the best results. - When my wallet was stolen in New Haven some time ago, I immediately called Southern New England Telephone to report the card stolen. I then called New York Telephone to get my cards with them changed as well. SNET took care of it over the phone. The rep. at the Customer Service office called me back at the number they had for me in their records, asked me what number I wanted, and assigned it to me. It worked fine a few hours later. The actual card came in the mail about a week afterwards. By the time I got to NY Tel, they had left the office for the day, so I decided to call AT&T to have them do it. AT&T explained that they couldn't let me choose the PIN over the phone, no matter what, and that I would still have to call NY Tel to get my "local" PIN assigned. After I asked the AT&T rep what the difference was, he said that it has to be activated locally by NY Tel, and that AT&T couldn't do it. I realized that this was nonsense, so I didn't bother with him any more. The next day, I called NY Tel, and they issued me a new PIN (which I requested), and the number worked about 1 hour afterwards. About 3 weeks later, I got AT&T cards for both the Connecticut number and the New York numbers, with the PINs assigned to me by both of the Bell Co.s. (I know...SNET wasn't a "real" Bell co...). Talking to AT&T seemed to be a waste of time, since the Bells seem to be the ones who assign and cancel the PINs. This experience proved useful to me when I was on vacation, and made "excessive" calling card calls trying to reach a busy number. (Over 32 calls or so in one hour tips off the people at your local Bell and they turn your PIN off if they can't reach you, usually...). New York Tel temporarily cancelled my PIN, and I was pretty upset since I did indeed need to use it a lot. I called AT&T (since NY Tel was closed), and they said that I would have to be issued a new one. Rather than bother with that again, I called NY Tel's emergency business office number, and they asked me what my old PIN was and said that it would be back in service by 6AM PDT. The next morning, the card worked, and I hadf NY Tel put a note on my account that I do tend to make "excessive" calling card calls and that in the future they should SPEAK to me before cancelling my card. (I never carry the cards with me, so it's hard for someone to get the PIN, although not impossible...). Thus, the local Bells seems to police calling card use as well, and seem to be much more in control (if not in TOTAL control) of the calling card system. AT&T appears to mere~rly ask the Bell Co. to assign cards for their customers, which will then work over the Bell System calling card their customers, which will then work over the Bell System calling card network. In the event of theft or fraud, it's the Bell Co. who cancels or suspends your card, not AT&T. I would suggest that anyone having trouble with their calling card should talk to their local company first. I don't mean to criticize AT&T, yet I would think they would be better off telling their customers to simply call the local business office and admit that some things are not under their control. - -Doug - P.S. Instead of allowing any digit to be used as the 2nd digit in an area code (which seems to be established plan to use when we run out of area codes), why not use inward dialing codes which are not used in any area. IE, if no area uses +077, why not make that an area code an allow customers to dial it directly? Or would that get too confusing since 1 and 0 are also used to designate toll and operator assited calls as well? (IE, how will 0-077-456-1234 be interpreted? Or 1-103-999-8888....) Silly question, I guess...:-) ------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 88 00:51:00 PST From: Subject: Reply-To: > From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com > Subject: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code > Date: Wed Aug 3 22:00:34 1988 > > Central Telephone of Illinois, at least in its Des Plaines and Park Ridge > districts in area code 312, gives ANI by dialing 290. I tried this, from my GTE line (805) 682-xxxx (Santa Barbara, CA). 290 yields (ring, ring, redirect, recording:) "We're sorry ... cannot be completed". 1-312-290-1234 yields (redirect, recording:) "Your call cannot be completed ... 818-4T". Since 290 does not require 7 digits before the rejection from the local switch, it seems like this prefix gets special handling (or is that true of unassigned prefixes in general ? The long distance call get rejected in the LATA router. Wouldn't it be nifty if it had gone thru ?. / Lars Poulsen ------------------------------ Date: 6 Aug 88 01:08:00 PST From: Subject: Reply-To: > From: ileaf!io!wally!walters@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Tim Walters) > Subject: American phones in Europe > Date: 3 Aug 88 14:40:22 GMT > Organization: Interleaf Inc, Cambridge, MA > > I may be moving to Germany in the fall, and have been trying to figure > out what I can take with me. Can anyone tell me if U.S. telephones and > modems can be adapted to work in Germany? Any information would be > appreciated. (1) It is probably illegal to attach anything to the telephone system in the federal republic that was not provided by Bundespost. They are the most agressive PTT in Europe in that respect. (2) The telephones will work, except that you have to change plugs on everything. The easiest way is to bring an extension cord from here, and buy an extension cord there and cut both and solder the appropriate halves together. Answering machines are subject to the same restrictions as tape decks in general: AC there is 220V/50Hz vs 110V/60Hz here. The ones that use DC motors will work behind transformers, the ones with AC motors probably wont. (3) Modems depend on the vintage. The latest set of standards, I think is compatible (2400 bps and up). 1200 and 300 bps sure ain't. So if you need to call the computers here, you need to bring modems (or use X.25 gateways). Either way, this is expensive (can you say 90 dollars an hour ?). If I were you, I'd bring my loose extension phones, a handful of extension cords and modular connectors, and one modem compatible with US standards. Also, I'd call TELENET, TYNMNET and Compuserve and ask what's the cheapest way to call them from west Germany. I have done most of these things a few years ago, when I moved back and forth between Copenhagen and California every year. One of the amusing things was the difference between Danish-built telephones for the Danish domestic market and the same telephones when purchased in the US. The Danish version had the keypad reversed to look like a calculator keypad. Hardly anybody her noticed that ; but everybody there noticed that my tropical green GTE Slimline had the keypad "backwards". / Lars Poulsen ------------------------------ Subject: special relativity and US Sprint billing Date: Sat, 06 Aug 88 10:03:38 -0400 From: Steve Elias as far as i know, US Sprint has managed to eliminate most relatavistic effects from their billing system and is billing people without applying Lorentz transforms to their bills, as they have in the past. i haven't heard any really drastic horror stories lately, and my own bills even include calls i made as little as 3 weeks before the bill arrives... last year, i got a bill for 10333 casual use calls that i had made 18 months earlier, but that may have been due to some relativistic effects at my local telcos billing system.. Sprints line quality continues to be the best in the business, at least from the Boston area. i often try other carriers, including ATT, and none can match the line quality Sprint provides... ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 6 Aug 88 10:32 Subject: Swiss dialing anomaly for the Caribbean >I posted an article concerning the 809 area code some weeks ago with >no response. So here it is again: > >As far as I know several Caribbean islands belong to the North-American >telephone system (U.S.A., Canada; country code: +1) having the area >code 809. Therefore, the international prefix for that region should >be +1 809. From West Germany that's the correct code, indeed. However, >here in Switzerland the code is +500 809. +1 809 doesn't work from here >neither is there success with +500 809 from West Germany. There already were several responses to your posting; some people pointed out that +500 is already assigned to the Falkland Islands. Maybe the Swiss P.T.T. is betting on there not being direct dialling to the Falklands any time soon. But the real question is WHY? I made some test calls from Geneva to various Caribbean points, and I think I have the answer. Consider the following theory: From Switzerland, there are two rates for calls to different parts of area Status: O code 809. A lower rate applies to those places which have an economic affinity to the U.S. than to those place which have an economic affinity to the U.K. Charge pulses are applied to the customer's meter by the local central office. In all other cases, the correct charge can be determined by examination of only the first four digits after the access code "00". This allows the local exchange to apply a different rate for the mainland U.S. than for Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii, based on 00 1 NPA. However, to determine which rate is to apply for the Caribbean, the local office would have to examine seven digits: 00 1 NPA NXX, something most are not capable of. Thus 00 1 809 results in one rate, and 00 500 809 results in another. The international office is capable of full examination of the digits after 809, necessary for proper routing, and is capable of blocking calls to those parts of 809 that must be dialled with 500 to get the proper rate. /john ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Aug 88 11:47:06 EDT From: Bernie Cosell Subject: Finding the weather someplace else I wanted a quick weather report for a place I was about to travel to, and it seemed to me that dialing 1-xxx-9361234 would be a neat hack. Well, it didn't work. _Is_ there some way to tap into the local weather services from "elsewhere"? __ / ) Bernie Cosell /--< _ __ __ o _ BBN Sys & Tech, Cambridge, MA 02238 /___/_(<_/ (_/) )_(_(<_ cosell@bbn.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 9-Aug-88 19:09:07-EDT,16461;000000000000 Mail-From: JSOL created at 9-Aug-88 18:38:31 Date: 9 Aug 88 18:38-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #123 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, August 9, 1988 6:38PM Volume 8, Issue 123 Today's Topics: RE: Finding the weather someplace else Re: Weather somewhere else North American 700 area code? Re: Finding the weather someplace else Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code more on COCOTS Confused Canadian how do you interface to the analog side of a Codec? (AT&T 7500) WeatherTrak ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Aug 88 01:44:46 CDT From: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) Subject: RE: Finding the weather someplace else > I wanted a quick weather report for a place I was about to travel to .. > _Is_ there some way to tap into the local weather services from "elsewhere"? my current LDS-Metromedia bill advertises their MLD-Global-Weather. so I took them up on their offer of a *FREE* trial call and got the weather in Berlin. to quote their flyer: you can get city-specific weather information, updated hourly, for 184 US cities. Each report gives the local time, temperature, relative outdoor temperature, sky condition, wind speed and direction, relative humidity, barometric pressure and the next day's forecast. In addition you can get time and weather information for more than 90 international cities (but it sure wasn't including all those details mentioned above). To use MLD-Global-Weather from tone-type phones presubscribed to Metromedia Long Distance one-plus service: - dial 1-700-321-000 - listen for the recorded announcement - enter the area code for the desired city for international city codes call customer service ... try 950-1011 and if you get a recording, call 1-800-227-6165 and after the tone, dial RES-2222 (8:30am to p:00pm Monday to Friday) and ask for more information ... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 88 17:30:46 EDT From: msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) Subject: Re: Weather somewhere else Most weather numbers are 976-1212 nowadays. It tends to vary by state. However, most states use 976 where they used 936 previously. You could of course call theirr local information number. Mark Mark Smith (alias Smitty) "Be careful when looking into the distance, 61 Tenafly Road that you do not miss what is right under your nose." Tenafly, NJ 07670 {backbone}!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu Bill and Opus in '88!!! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 88 15:50:23 PDT From: Larry Gilbert Subject: North American 700 area code? I was recently watching one of AT&T's infamous "slice of death" television ads; this one was promoting some whiz-bang conferencing service whose official name escapes me. The format of the number to call caught my eye: 0 700 xxx xxxx I'm familiar with 800 (WATS) and 900 (Dial-It(TM)), but 700? Does this have an official designation? If I remember correctly, 800 and 900 are not reach- able outside of North America; I assume the same holds true for 700? Any information would be appreciated. -- -- Larry Gilbert, larryg@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU, 1:152/201, +1 503 753 3511 (data) ------------------------------ From: Joel B Levin Subject: Re: Finding the weather someplace else Date: 8 Aug 88 18:14:32 GMT Reply-To: Joel B Levin In article cosell@WILMA.BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell) writes: (I wanted a quick weather report for a place I was about to travel to, (and it seemed to me that dialing 1-xxx-9361234 would be a neat hack. (Well, it didn't work. _Is_ there some way to tap into the local weather (services from "elsewhere"? I think a lot of the traditional numbers for services like time and weather are different in different regions of the country. Certainly I remember that the time and weather in Tucson were different from what they are here (a long time ago); but on further thought perhaps that is because all of Arizona is on one area code, so Phoenix would get the usual set. This I guess is a consideration for any area code serving a large geographic area. As a pilot, don't you have access to lots of phone numbers for weather information around the country? (And technically more useful information besides?) /JBL UUCP: {backbone}!bbn!levin USPS: BBN Communications Corporation ARPA: levin@bbn.com 150 CambridgePark Drive POTS: (617) 873-3463 Cambridge, MA 02140 ------------------------------ From: Pete Lancashire Subject: Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: 8 Aug 88 17:31:16 GMT In article , lars@acc.arpa writes: > > From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com > > Subject: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code from two exchanges in 503- you get: *$* Your call can not be completed as dialed, please check the number and dial again, 503 2T" Pete Lancashire petel@teksce.sce.tek ------------------------------ From: SPGDCM%cmsa.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU Date: Mon, 08 Aug 88 17:38:17 PDT Subject: more on COCOTS MSG:FROM: SPGDCM --UCBCMSA TO: NETWORK --NETWORK 08/08/88 17:38:17 To: NETWORK --NETWORK Network Address From: Doug Mosher Subject: more on COCOTS To: comp-dcom-telecom@ucbvax Some of the COCOTS here seem to have a computer-generated voice; I even wondered if it was located in the box. I was calling outside the local area, and the thing said stuff like "deposit sifty frents please". I was desperate so I put in some money. It then said "another fsen trents please", and so on. I never could get it right. Hmmmm, maybe this is a new revenue idea... ( ) ( Doug Mosher ) ( ...!ucbvax!cmsa!spgdcm ) ( 257 Evans, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA, 415/642-5823 ) more on COCOTS ------------------------------ From: Colin Plumb Subject: Confused Canadian Date: Mon, 08 Aug 88 20:41:56 -0700 I apologise if there's a better source for this information, but I'm going to be in this country for a while, and I do *not* understand all the long-distance carrier stuff. (I'm also insatiably curious about "ESS"'s and various techno-junk, but I really need to know the basics.) I'm used to a simple monopoly, where 0 gets you an operator (there's also 01 and 011, but I don't feel like worrying about that), 1 begins extra-charge calls (except 1-800, but all the x00 area codes are special), area codes are x{0,1}x, x11 is special, and exchanges are everything else. When I make a bunch of long-distance calls, they show up, along with basic phone service, on a single sheet of paper with a total at the bottom. I either give Bell the amount they ask for or complain. Okay, now in this country I get 4 or 5 bits of paper, bearing various figures, none of which is labelled "grand total", but one of which is. The others are basic phone service, "short" long-distance ("intra-LATA" is the term I've heard; what's a LATA?), "long" long-distance (like Toronto), and "thank you for paying $xx.yy last month." Furthermore, apparently there are funny prefixes you can dial to get different long-distance (inter-LATA, I assume) carriers, in which I'm rather interested, as my roommate has found one that's cheap to California (I'm in Oregon), but has high rates and *crummy* lines to Canada. There are also a zillion things you can do with * and # to bounce your calls to wherever you like, put people on hold, arrange conference calls, have your telephone convert PEP to V.32 (:-}), etc. Although they may not read this newsgroup, there must be others similarly bewildered; perhaps one of the Wizards of the Phone System out there could write up a North American Phone Atlas and Survival Guide that will tell me how to make use of this handset with 12 buttons I have plugged into the wall. For example, what was the upshot of the AT&T anti-trust suit? As I understand it, AT&T got turned into a bunch of smaller companies, some of which kept local telephone service in various areas of the U.S. (are they monopolies? Effectively, because of the horrendous cost of setting up a different set of local loops? What are they and aren't they allowed to do? What are and are not they doing? What happens to the bits I send down the line to them when I dial long distance? If I'm a long distance carrier, what are my rights and obligations re: these "baby bells"?) and AT&T, which is now one of many long-distance carriers (as well as the infamous "copyright *and* trade secret" people). Is there, in fact, more to the story? What are the invariants when I pick up a phone? I assume I don't get charged unless I get connected to somebody or thing. Is this true? What else have I got going for me? What do I have to make sure of? I've been hearing about the companies which get connected to hotel phones by being nice to the hoteliers and screwing the customers. Do they, in fact, own the cabling from the hotel to their switchboard, or does the LATA (if this is the term for a company as well as a geographical area) make the connection? Does the LATA do anything besides provide a copper path, like decode the dialling pulses/tones? What does the LATA get out of this arrangement? How much equipment does the ripoff artist supply? If A has carrier X, and B has carrier Y, what route does a call from A to B take? What about from B to A? Why can the calls have such dramatically different prices? (I noticed this esp. in Europe, where it was worthwhile to call someone, say "call me back at xxyyzzwwqq" and hang up, but it's true to a lesser degree within one country.) As you can see, I used to consider the phone a black box that would, when fed a sequence of digits, connect me to someone else. The correct sequence of digits was more-or-less unique. It now seems as though the phone system now needs to be modelled as an arbitrary Turing Machine (i.e. with an infinite amount of state), and applies a transformation slightly more torturous than Unix crypt(3) to my digit string to determine who, what, where, and when to connect me. This is rather embarassing to ask, since I understand all the technical stuff like Shannon's theorem, delta and predictive delta encoding, T0, T1, etc. data rates and formats (with all that 8-bit+every-nth-sample 7 bits stuff) and the like from reading Tannenbaum's Computer Networks and a number of similar books, I just haven't the faintest how the various *control* information flows around. (Well, I know something about the priority/immediate/flash/flash override stuff from a DoD telephone directory, but all the notes about "Autovon" escape me.) Many thanks. -- -Colin (plumbc@admin.ogc.edu) colour flavour grey cheque through "Z"="zed". In other words, civilization. :-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 88 11:21:34 MDT From: polygon!mehr@uunet.UU.NET (Mark Ehr) To: uunet!comp-dcom-telecom Path: polygon!mehr From: mehr@polygon.UUCP (Mark Ehr) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Sprint Delayed Billing (Are they OK now?) Message-ID: <315@polygon.UUCP> Date: 8 Aug 88 17:21:27 GMT References: Organization: Polygon Network Inc., Dillon, CO Lines: 45 From article , by amdcad!amdcad.AMD.COM!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Network News): Status: RO > My question: > > Is Sprint OK? Are they back to normal? Did they hire some witch doctor > to give incantations over their computers? > Sprint, I'm sorry to say, is still not quite up to snuff in their billing department. Their "customer service" has gotten somewhat better, however. Here is my story: I signed up for U.S. Sprint in September of '87 when our local phone company installed '1+' service. At that time, they did not have any facility for billing through the phone company, so I received bills directly from Sprint. All was fine until March of this year, when I decided to switch to MCI (mainly due to some of the rumors I had heard about Sprint's billing problems, and the fact that MCI had billing arranged through my local phone company). After the switch was made, I received a bill from Sprint for ~ $75.00, which I paid without really looking at too carefully. Later, on closer inspection, I noticed that most of the calls on that bill had been already charged to me on a previous bill. I called Sprint and explained the problem, and they agreed that I had a $44 credit due to me. This was 4/1/88. I still have not received any kind of refund check, although I regularly receive invoices from them that state "Balance Due: 44.00 CR" and asking for remission upon receipt! I have also been billed (this time through my phone company's bill) for calls made in January not previously charged to me as late as last month! Everytime I call their customer service number, the people I talk to are fairly friendly and helpful, but I get the same answer every time: "We do show that your refund check is in the system, but that it hasn't been released for payment. It will probably take 4-6 weeks for the check to be issued. Call us back if you haven't received it after that amount of time". (I am now on my 3rd 4-6 week cycle!) Anyway, the moral to this story is that U.S. Sprint is still out in the billing twilight zone. Will they ever return? I dunno. -- Mark Ehr c/o Polygon Network, Dillon, Colorado Usenet: {uunet,isis}!polygon!mehr CompuServe: 74000,3574 AppleLink: D1833 ------------------------------ From: soi!sun2!sam@husc6.harvard.edu (Sam Lipson) Subject: how do you interface to the analog side of a Codec? (AT&T 7500) Date: 8 Aug 88 17:26:57 GMT I'm in the process of building a (pair of) ISDN cards for the PC bus. I've got one B channel allocated for data and the other for voice. I've got an AT&T 7500 Codec for the voice channel, but am having difficulty understanding how I should interface to a telephone handset. I'd appreciate pointers, references, helpful hints, tutorials or any other information. Pointers to application notes for other Codec's, or handset info. are also welcome. [My AT&T salesperson leads me to believe there is no application note for the 7500.] I'm also looking for modular (i.e. telephone) connectors with wire wrap connections. Anyove ever seen such a thing? Thanks in advance, Sam Lipson Software Options harvard!soi!sam soi!sam%harvard.harvard.edu ------------------------------ Reply-To: pnet01!pro-mars!bill@trout.nosc.mil Date: Sun, 7 Aug 88 13:09:32 PDT From: bill@pro-mars.cts.com (Bill Cerny) Subject: WeatherTrak A company called Airdata (1-800-AIR-DATA, Dallas, TX) provides the WeatherTrak service for sponsoring companies around the country. The Phoenix paper sponsors WeatherTrak on 602-230-2323. You touch-tone the area code of the city and you'll hear their local time & temp, plus a short forecast. In large territory area codes (like 512) other cities are given non-NPA codes (e.g., 512 is San Antonio, 521 is Austin, 522 is Corpus Christi and 532 is Waco). Some international cities are included, coded by their name (e.g., 222 is ACApulco, 566 is LONdon, UK, 675 is OSLo, etc.). WeatherTrak even includes the North Pole, code 920. 8-) I will provide a city code table by e-mail to interested parties. -- Bill ARPA: crash!pro-mars!bill@nosc.mil (except in Nebraska) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 11-Aug-88 23:45:59-EDT,5888;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 11 Aug 88 23:45:57-EDT Date: 11 Aug 88 22:55-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #124 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, August 11, 1988 10:55PM Volume 8, Issue 124 Today's Topics: Long distance modem services? Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Demon Dialers(TM) Box Loading? Re: Call Forwarding Capacity ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Dan Kegel Subject: Long distance modem services? Date: 9 Aug 88 17:18:41 GMT Reply-To: dan kegel What digital (1200 baud, say) services are out there that allow you to dial a local number, then select a remote city and dial a number local to that city? They would presumably offer much lower rates than voice services. I understand "pc-persuit" is one, but I've no idea how to subscribe. We're having trouble dialling a bulletin board in Texas directly- we get lots of noise- so I thought using one of these services was worth a try. Please reply directly, I'll summarize to the net. Thanks... -- Dan Kegel "We had to get it passed before the columnists attacked!" srs!dan@cs.rochester.edu rochester!srs!dan dan%srs.uucp@harvard.harvard.edu -- Dan Kegel "We had to get it passed before the columnists attacked!" srs!dan@cs.rochester.edu rochester!srs!dan dan%srs.uucp@harvard.harvard.edu ------------------------------ From: xyzzy!dg-rtp!clegg@mcnc.org (Alan Clegg) Subject: Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: 10 Aug 88 14:50:46 GMT Reply-To: xyzzy!dg-rtp!clegg@mcnc.org (Alan Clegg) In article David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com writes: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > >Central Telephone of Illinois, at least in its Des Plaines and Park Ridge >districts in area code 312, gives ANI by dialing 290. I came across it >by chance. It seems that they don't feel that the function is anything >that needs to be hidden. ANI is available in the (919) area code of North Carolina (at least in the Research Triangle Park area) by dialing 711. I can do this from work thru our PBX, but when I tried it from my home phone, I got a dead phone for about 2 minutes.. When I picked up the receiver, I got a click and then nothing at all.... A few minutes later, dial tone was back... Any ideas on what may be happening here? -abc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 88 13:40:11 cdt From: hamilton@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Wayne Hamilton) Subject: Demon Dialers(TM) > What are the current regulations affecting Demon Dialers(TM) and > similar devices? I'm looking for a telephone or accessory that will > dial a number every few seconds until the call goes through, and would > like to know if I'll have to build my own. If not, some pointers to > sources would also be appreciated. > > Lest there be any misunderstanding, let me assure everyone that I do > *not* intend to harass the Rev. Jerry Falwell. I'm just trying to get > through to US Sprint Customer Service... i've seen modem manual references to some FCC restriction(s) on auto-redialing. the rixon modems we have offer a redial command consisting of the letter 'M' followed by a 2-digit number of times to retry; however, it refuses to accept 11 or more tries. my zoom modem will make 10 quick tries, then it waits for 5(?) minutes before making 10 more, and so on. wayne hamilton U of Il and US Army Corps of Engineers CERL UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,pur-ee,uunet}!uiucuxc!osiris!hamilton ARPA: hamilton@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu USMail: Box 476, Urbana, IL 61801 CSNET: hamilton%osiris@uiuc.csnet Phone: (217)333-8703 ------------------------------ Date: Thu 11 Aug 88 13:30:14-PDT From: Paul Andrews Subject: Box Loading? Hi............... Just a question out of curiosity. The lines often go out around here (Austin,TX) whenever it rains and as a result I always get a "ring/no answer" when trying to use the local 1200 or 2400 baud Telenet number. The explanation I always get is "Ohhhh....sorry, we are loading the box right because a trunk line was down. Things will be up and running in about 20 minutes". What are they doing? (and why does it always seem to happen to me!!!!!). Thanks.. Paul Andrews Paul Andrews: # CABELL.ANDREWS@BIONET-20.ARPA: University of Texas at Austin # Division of Medicinal Chemistry # Austin, Texas # ------------------------------ From: hodge!rusty@uunet.UU.NET (Rusty Hodge) Subject: Re: Call Forwarding Capacity Date: 9 Aug 88 07:18:39 GMT Our DMS CO could handle six hops of call forwarding. Originally, if you forwarded a number to itself, it would make the 6 hops and then give a 'please check the number or CONSULT YOUR INSTRUCTION MANUAL'. Eventually, they fixed this so that you would just get a busy. Oh, originally, you wouldn't get that recording unless you were calling your forwarded number from anything but the same number. It would sound busy to you. -- Rusty Hodge, HCR Inc, 1588 N. Batavia St. Orange, CA 92667 (714) 974-6300 rusty@hodge.cts.com [uunet vdelta crash]!hodge!rusty FAX (714) 921-8038 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 13-Aug-88 17:31:51-EDT,9637;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 13 Aug 88 17:31:04-EDT Date: 13 Aug 88 16:36-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #125 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, August 13, 1988 4:36PM Volume 8, Issue 125 Today's Topics: Re: Confused Canadian Responses to Vol 8, # 117 Re: Demon Dialers(TM) Re: Finding the weather someplace else ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: amossb@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (A Mossberg) Subject: Re: Confused Canadian Date: 12 Aug 88 14:49:15 GMT In article , plumbc@ogcadmin.ogc.edu (Colin Plumb) writes: > For example, what was the upshot of the AT&T anti-trust suit? As I > understand it, AT&T got turned into a bunch of smaller companies, some > of which kept local telephone service in various areas of the U.S. > (are they monopolies? Effectively, because of the horrendous cost of > setting up a different set of local loops? What are they and aren't > they allowed to do? What are and are not they doing? What happens to > the bits I send down the line to them when I dial long distance? If > I'm a long distance carrier, what are my rights and obligations re: > these "baby bells"?) and AT&T, which is now one of many long-distance > carriers (as well as the infamous "copyright *and* trade secret" > people). Is there, in fact, more to the story? AT&T, formally a monopoly that prevented other companies from entering the business (with some minor exceptions), got turned into a bunch of equally powerful oligopolies. The same companies that controlled local telephone service continue to do so (most areas of the country it is the former parts of AT&T, such as Southern Bell here in South Florida). The big advantage for other companies was the equal access requirement, which allowed them to compete effectively in the long-distance market, without the hassle of calling a special number and all. (Now it's just 1+ to your favorite LD company) Of course, it's also a very small number of companies in the LD market as well. The few small ones that were able to exist before AT&Ts break-up were absorbed into the giants (such as MCI) after the break-up. AT&T fought tooth and nail to prevent the break-up, and when they lost they apparently already had contingency plans so that no matter what the outcome they would profit greatly. aem - "How can you have free market capitalism when small companies are prevented from entering the market?" > -Colin (plumbc@admin.ogc.edu) > > colour flavour grey cheque through "Z"="zed". In other words, civilization. :-) -- a.e.mossberg - aem@mthvax.miami.edu - ...!uunet!miavax!aem Let me say at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. Che Guevara ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jul 88 09:25:54 edt From: rja Subject: Responses to Vol 8, # 117 -- A Query: Don't telephone users in countries that lack "fixed format" telephone numbers find it a bit confusing ?? Whilst in Hong Kong last year, I frequently found it confusing because telephone numbers were of several different formats and I wondered if I'd written down all of the numbers. Example of formats used: (5) xxx-xxxx, (5) xxxxxx , (5) xxxxxxxx, (5) xxxxx ( 5 is the area code for HK side, but the same dilemma exists on Kowloon side and in the NT which have different area codes.) It is probably a North American parochialism, but I MUCH prefer fixed format telephone numbers because you always know if you have the whole number and you still can distinguish long distance calls from local ones. It would also be really nifty if the EEC countries would get together and let folks within the EEC (and perhaps CH ) reorganise their dialing systems so that intra-EEC calls used a single area code scheme (perhaps prefixing the unique parts of the country code or some such) so that Europe could enjoy the advantage that Canada and the US already do of having easy consistent dialing within the continent. -- Response to the "A B C D" keys on Autovon phones The folks at Bell labs or Bellcore can give more details, but it is a true if little known fact that when tone dialing came into being, 16 tones were defined. I recall our early '70s AT&T/C&P Telephone phones not having the * or # keys. I'm sure that Autovon just used the other 4 tones labelling them A B C D. I dunno what they did though. -- Response to Area Code 809 query The Caribbean nations have for many years been in Area Code 809. It is part of the "North American dialing system" and was not invented by US Sprint. In some parts of the world outside N.A. one can reach those countries by +1 809 and save $$ on the call rate. In other parts, one has to use the more usual country code, etc. -- Query about Guam, USA If Hawaii is part of the usual US dialing system, and Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are as well, why isn't Guam ?? -- Regarding hacking switches The potential for problems exists in most electronic switches not just the AT&T ESS (tm ?) series. The ROLM VLCBX is also fun to try to secure apparently, since I'm aware of a large university with one that has had security problems. The problem will probably get worse before it gets better. I had a university physics professor once who claimed to have hacked AT&T back when the Cap'n Crunch technique still worked. They now separate control and data circuits so I doubt it would work. -- Query about Northern Telcom switches A fellow I work with has call-waiting on his home line. Whilst dialing up computers with his modem this is a problem. With AT&T 5ESS switches the user can temporarily diable this feature to eliminate the computer-modem hangup problem, how do you tell the NT electronic switches to do this (ie. what combination of keys do you press before dialing out ??) ______________________________________________________________________________ rja@edison.GE.COM or ...uunet!virginia!edison!rja ______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ From: davidc@pyr.gatech.edu (David Carter) Subject: Re: Demon Dialers(TM) Date: 12 Aug 88 22:53:33 GMT In article hamilton@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (Wayne Hamilton) writes: > i've seen modem manual references to some FCC restriction(s) on >auto-redialing. A manual I saw recently (either Supra or Everex) said it was a Canadian regulation that restricted automatic dialers to 10 tries. David Carter davidc@pyr.gatech.edu ------------------------------ From: mipos3!intelob!merlyn@decwrl.dec.com (Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge) Subject: Re: Finding the weather someplace else Date: 13 Aug 88 00:28:24 GMT Reply-To: merlyn@intelob.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz @ Stonehenge) In article , levin@BBN (Joel B Levin) writes: | In article cosell@WILMA.BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell) writes: | (I wanted a quick weather report for a place I was about to travel to, | (and it seemed to me that dialing 1-xxx-9361234 would be a neat hack. | (Well, it didn't work. _Is_ there some way to tap into the local weather | (services from "elsewhere"? | | As a pilot, don't you have access to lots of phone numbers for weather | information around the country? (And technically more useful | information besides?) Well, I use an on-line weather service all the time designed specifically for pilots. The trouble is, you have to know some things about piloting and how pilots view weather (a whole lot different, I found out!). If you can deal with the differences (like, not having temperature forecasts, and having to locate airports as points-of-reference), stop by your local FAA location and ask for the free IVRS guide. (You might even be able to call their "help" line at 1-800-FOR-IVRS [cute] to get a brochure.) It's free, but not toll-free. There are local numbers in 20 major cities (thank goodness Portland, Oregon is one of them). PP-SEL checkride on Monday... soon to be a terror-in-the-skies... -- Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095 on contract to BiiN Technical Publications (for now :-), Hillsboro, Oregon or ...!tektronix!ogcvax!omepd!intelob!merlyn Standard disclaimer: I *am* my employer! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 15-Aug-88 01:04:12-EDT,7796;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 15 Aug 88 01:04:11-EDT Date: 15 Aug 88 00:00-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #126 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, August 15, 1988 12:00AM Volume 8, Issue 126 Today's Topics: Re: WeatherTrak Re: American phones in Europe Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code hello from USENET... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gary@mic.UUCP (Gary Lewin) Subject: Re: WeatherTrak Date: 13 Aug 88 12:05:27 GMT > A company called Airdata (1-800-AIR-DATA, Dallas, TX) provides the WeatherTrak > service for sponsoring companies around the country. The Phoenix paper > sponsors WeatherTrak on 602-230-2323. You touch-tone the area code of the > city and you'll hear their local time & temp, plus a short forecast. .... > > I will provide a city code table by e-mail to interested parties. > > -- Bill > > ARPA: crash!pro-mars!bill@nosc.mil (except in Nebraska) For what it is worth, the Airdata number, 1-800-247-3282, is not accessible from the Dallas area. Something I found interesting, however, was an ad in the business section of the Dallas Morning News last Sunday (8-7-88). WeatherTrak is now available through The Dallas Morning News' 1-214-976-1122 number. The charge for the call is $0.50 plus long distance charges, if any. Weather information is available for approximately 180 U.S. and 100 International cities. If you do not have a touch tone phone, all you get is the Dallas forecast. Gary Lewin killer!mic!gary ------------------------------ From: wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) Subject: Re: American phones in Europe Date: 14 Aug 88 00:09:32 GMT Reply-To: wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) In article writes: >> Can anyone tell me if U.S. telephones and >> modems can be adapted to work in Germany? Any information would be >> appreciated. > >(1) It is probably illegal to attach anything to the telephone system > in the federal republic that was not provided by Bundespost. > They are the most agressive PTT in Europe in that respect. Correct, and that applies to phones, modems, and answering machines. >(2) The telephones will work, except that you have to change plugs on > everything. The easiest way is to bring an extension cord from here, > and buy an extension cord there and cut both and solder the appropriate > halves together. I don't think tone dialling works in Germany (and most of Europe), so make sure your phones are switchable to pulse dialling. Also, if they do pulse dialling, they sometimes have a switch to change the rate (10/20 pps). Use the slower setting. >(3) Modems depend on the vintage. The latest set of standards, I think is > compatible (2400 bps and up). 1200 and 300 bps sure ain't. So if you need > to call the computers here, you need to bring modems (or use X.25 > gateways). Either way, this is expensive (can you say 90 dollars an > hour ?). 1200 Baud full duplex (Bell 212A) is compatible with the corresponding CCITT standard -- don't know the number. 300 Baud is not, and they also have other strange standards (i.e. 1200/75) which are incompatible with US modems. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: wnp%dcs@killer.dallas.tx.us TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD ------------------------------ From: nbanks@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Nathan Banks) Subject: Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: 14 Aug 88 01:10:28 GMT Reply-To: nbanks@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Nathan Banks) Here in the Magic Land Of Plano, Texas GTE accepts 970-xxxx and plays back your ANI. There are supposedly a lot of other "maintenance" type of numbers but I have not been able to find any here. Has anyone heard of a number you can call, play DTMF tones to (either from your phone or from a recording ) and have the switch lady read back the digits to you? This is sort of like the scene in "Three Days of the Condor" where Robert Redford hacks someone's phone. I have heard that some CO's support such a number for purposes of testing DTMF generators at the customers premise. Just curious. Nathan Banks -- _ _ ___ Nathan Banks _ _ _ __) UUCP: nbanks@killer.UUCP BELLNet: (214) 964-3174 _ _ ___) USPS: 2701-C W 15th Street Suite 411 Plano, TX 75075-7523 USA ------------------------------ Date: 13 Aug 88 13:21:28 EDT (Sat) From: cas@mtuxo.att.com (C.STEVENS) To: att!comp-dcom-telecom Path: mtuxo!cas From: cas@mtuxo.att.com (43424-C.STEVENS) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Weather somewhere else Summary: Weather in London? Message-ID: <2409@mtuxo.att.com> Date: 13 Aug 88 17:21:27 GMT References: Organization: AT&T, Middletown NJ Lines: 12 Does anybody know the weather number for London England? I like calling every so often so I can know the weather (it's only $1 or $2). It's great in conversations! It used to be: "011-44-12-46-8091", but they changed it. -- The handsome guy [in the wchair]! (Not any more, just the handsome guy!) Cliff Stevens Jr. MT 1E228 Work: (201)957-3902 ...!inuxc!mtuxo!cas Home: (201)671-7292 ...!ihnp4!mtdcb!cas ------------------------------ From: chip@vector.UUCP (Chip Rosenthal) Subject: hello from USENET... Date: 14 Aug 88 19:08:06 GMT Reply-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) As of about two weeks ago, after a short outage, USENET readers once again are receiving TELECOM messages in the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup. This explains why the mailing list has become so active recently. I just wanted to mention to the (non-USENET) mailing list readers what's happening. The mechanics work as follows: USENET readers who wish to make a submission or respond to a TELECOM message send it into the mailing list moderator at telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu. When a new digest is published, the USENET moderator (yours truly) gateways the digest into the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup. Most of the available USENET software tends to handle individual messages better than compiled digests, therefore, the digest is broken down before transmission into USENET. All USENET messages have a unique message identifier, and in the case of comp.dcom.telecom this ID traces back to the issue number of the TELECOM digest from whence the message came. For example, message ID is the second message (m02) in TELECOM digest volume 8, issue 121. I mention this because you will often see something like: In article fred@widget-mfg.com writes: > Quoted text from an previous message... at the beginning of a response from a USENET reader. If you have any questions or comments on the USENET gateway, please feel free to contact me at: telecom-request@vector.UUCP -or- telecom-request%vector@killer.dallas.tx.us Please DO NOT bother the mailing list moderator with USENET issues. He is neither involved nor responsible for the USENET interface. Any foulups or problems are not his fault. They are probably mine. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 18-Aug-88 23:45:19-EDT,10965;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 18 Aug 88 23:45:15-EDT Date: 18 Aug 88 21:39-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #127 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, August 18, 1988 9:39PM Volume 8, Issue 127 Today's Topics: "A B C D" keys Call Forwarding -- 5ESS AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys Deamon Dialers Re: American phones in Europe Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: American phones in Europe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: crew@polya.stanford.edu (Roger Crew) Subject: "A B C D" keys Date: 15 Aug 88 05:45:13 GMT Reply-To: crew@polya.stanford.edu (Roger Crew) In article rja@edison.ge.com (rja) writes: > > -- Response to the "A B C D" keys on Autovon phones > > The folks at Bell labs or Bellcore can give more details, > but it is a true if little known fact that when tone dialing > came into being, 16 tones were defined. I recall our early > '70s AT&T/C&P Telephone phones not having the * or # keys. > I'm sure that Autovon just used the other 4 tones labelling > them A B C D. I dunno what they did though. On the military and NORAD networks, you'll find (touch-tone) phones with up to four extra keys down the right hand side labeled (I think --- it's been 10 years since I saw these), P, F, I, and PF (Priority, Flash, Immediate and Priority Flash), four successive levels of priority with which you could place an outgoing call. If you want to reach someone and he's busy talking to someone else, you can dial his number and hit P, which will cut him off from whomwever he was talking to, then ring his phone, which he can answer, and then he'll be talking to you. That is, unless his call was already a P level call, in which case you would need to use F to interrupt him... or I to interrupt F, ... PF to interrupt I. Figure that the vast majority of military phones have at most a P key. Figure that only a handful of people in the country are allowed to have phones with a PF key. Too bad they didn't implement this on the commercial network :-) I'm not sure whether this really matches the A,B,C,D keys refered to above, but considering the keypad layout, 1 2 3 P 4 5 6 F 7 8 9 I * 0 # PF it's likely. -- Roger Crew ``Beam Wesley into the sun!'' Usenet: {arpa gateways, decwrl, uunet, rutgers}!polya.stanford.edu!crew Internet: crew@polya.Stanford.EDU ------------------------------ From: ihnp4!ltuxa!jean@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Jean Airey) Subject: Call Forwarding -- 5ESS Date: 11 Aug 88 18:46:19 GMT Software within the 5ESS switch will specify how many simultaneous interoffice and intraoffice (two separate entries) call forwarding calls can be made between the base station and the forward-to-DN. The default value for interoffice calls is "1", for intraoffice calls is "99". the value may be set between 1 and 99 for either. Similarly entries may be made for the number of forwarding legs allowed. Value here are between 1 and 32. That particular value defaults to "5" but the limit will be considered exceeded if any individual line in a call forward chain has its limit exceeded. The normal practice would be to assign these values as part of what the BOC is selling as its "call forwarding" package -- ie everyone gets the same. The value may, however, be changed on an individual line basis. If they're willing to make the change, I'm sure it would not be free! Hope this helps. -- Jean Airey ihnp4!ltuxa!hrcca!jean AT&T -- Hickory Ridge Training Center (312) 971-5135 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Aug 88 10:16:49 EDT From: prindle@nadc.arpa (Frank Prindle) Subject: AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys Those 4 extra touch tones are used by the AUTOVON system so that an authorized operator can establish precedence for a call. They range from mildly preemptive (A) through something close to a national emergency (D - this call will go through under any circumstances). If you're used to talking on AUTOVON, you're familiar with the old "beep-click-dial tone", which means your conversation has just been preempted out of existence! If you try to send one of these tones directly from an extension (not going through the operator), you just get a recording in your ear telling you that you are not authorized to use that precedence; only a base operator can do it. One of these days, this dinosaur will be replaced by something new and wonderful and digital; until then, beep-click-..... Sincerely, Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Aug 88 22:28:00 EDT From: lloyd!kent@hscfvax.harvard.edu (Kent Borg) Subject: Deamon Dialers I once explored a lot of the country as seen from the Plus system's 800 number. The Plus is one of the automatic teller networks. You can find the location of the nearest teller by calling 1-800-THE-PLUS. You get a digital voice telling you to dial the area code and exchange of the phone from which you are calling. They then tell you the location of the nearest machine. (I got legitimate area code/exchange pairs from ads in Byte.) After an hour or so of phoning for tellers around the country, I got a complaining recording (can't remember what it said) and my call did not go through. Being curious I tried a different 800 number (1-800-4CIRRUS) and was refused there too. By the next morning 800 numbers were alive again. I was in Boston's Back Bay 424 exchange, some sort of electronic switch, about 3 years ago. Moral: Electronic switches keep track of deamon dialing. (I always thought 15 was the legal number of retries before a rest period (of how long?) is required.) Kent Borg kent@lloyd.uucp or hscfvax!lloyd!kent ------------------------------ From: munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au!dave@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) Subject: Re: American phones in Europe Date: 17 Aug 88 01:51:29 GMT Reply-To: dave%stcns3.stc.OZ@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) In article wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) writes: | | 1200 Baud full duplex (Bell 212A) is compatible with the corresponding CCITT | standard -- don't know the number. 300 Baud is not, and they also have other | strange standards (i.e. 1200/75) which are incompatible with US modems. 1200 bps full duplex (not BAUD!!!) is CCITT V22. 2400 bps is V22bis. 300 bps is V21, and 1200/75 bps is V23. Cute story: one of the Austpac services here has phone numbers of the form 019XX, where XX is 21, 22 or 23 for V21/22/23! Sort of broke down on 2400 though, you have to use 01924. Close enough I guess. -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel-STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz dave%stcns3.stc.OZ.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.OZ.AU!dave UUCP does it with a bang! ------------------------------ From: cca!bobcoe.UUCP@seismo.css.gov (Robert K. Coe) Date: 16 Aug 88 01:52:44 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: cca!bobcoe From: bobcoe@cca.CCA.COM (Robert K. Coe) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Sprint Delayed Billing (Are they OK now?) Message-ID: <32196@cca.CCA.COM> Date: 16 Aug 88 01:52:43 GMT References: Reply-To: bobcoe@AITD.CCA.com (Robert K. Coe) Organization: Computer Corp. of America, Cambridge, MA Lines: 19 In article amdcad!crackle.AMD.COM!hayes@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Jim Hayes) writes: }I told Sprint take a hike in January of 1987 after double billings, two }different bills staggered at two week intervals(!), and some really }awful customer "service". } }That was January of '87. In March of '87 I was still getting double }bills for $0.00. ... }February '88. An envelope arrived. $0.00, make check payable to } US Sprint. ... } [etc., etc.] Sheesh! Why fight it? I'd have sent them a check for the damn $0.00 and been done with it. -- => Robert K. Coe |Advanced| BobCoe@AITD.CCA.com <= => Computer Corp of Amer. | Info. | [...!]{garp,harvard,think}!cca!bobcoe <= => 4 Cambridge Center |Technol.| 617-492-8860, ext 428 <= => Cambridge, MA 02142 |Division| "Everyone should adopt a homeless dog." <= ------------------------------ Date: Thu Aug 18 06:41:57 MET 1988 From: mcvax!ethz!mr@uunet.UU.NET (Marc Raths) Subject: Re: American phones in Europe Date: 18 Aug 88 04:41:55 GMT Reply-To: mcvax!ethz!mr@uunet.UU.NET (Marc Raths) In article wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) writes: >In article writes: > >> US phones and modems in Germany ? > > > >(1) It is probably illegal to attach anything to the telephone system > > in the federal republic that was not provided by Bundespost. >Correct, and that applies to phones, modems, and answering machines. Who cares if you don't get caught ? (Swiss PTT is as bad as the German) It's almost impossible to detect remotely. >I don't think tone dialling works in Germany (and most of Europe), >so make sure your phones are switchable to pulse dialling. Tone dialling may work in some places but 10 pps pulse will for sure. (There is a difference in the on/off ratio too [60/40 vs 66/33] but this doesn't matter). > >(3) Modems depend on the vintage. The latest set of standards, I think is > > compatible (2400 bps and up). 1200 and 300 bps sure ain't. > >1200 Baud full duplex (Bell 212A) is compatible with the corresponding CCITT >standard... Bell 212A (1200 bps full duplex) is *NOT* compatible with CCITT V.22, it uses a different set of frequencies. But a lot of modems are switchable to either standard. CCITT V.22bis (2400 bps full duplex) IS compatible with the Bell standard (don't know the number). I've got a Worldport 1200 modem (switchable) and I've used both standards at 1200 - they *ARE* incompatible. -- Marc Raths Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Rigistrasse 53 UUCP/EUNET : mr@ethz.uucp or CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland ...!{uunet,seismo,ukc}!mcvax!cernvax!ethz!mr Voice : +41-1-361 5575 CSNET/ARPA : mr%ethz.uucp%ifi.ethz.ch@RELAY.CS.NET BITNET/EARN: mr%ethz.uucp@cernvax.BITNET ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 19-Aug-88 22:19:34-EDT,11302;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Fri 19 Aug 88 22:19:32-EDT Date: 19 Aug 88 21:00-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #128 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Friday, August 19, 1988 9:00PM Volume 8, Issue 128 Today's Topics: Re: Finding the weather someplace else Re: North American 700 area code? Weather in London Testing the tone pad Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Restricted code 212-540; area code mismatch in rejection message X.25 Packet Switch Info Wanted Re: "A B C D" keys ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jpederse@encad.Wichita.NCR.COM (John Pedersen) Subject: Re: Finding the weather someplace else Date: 18 Aug 88 15:43:31 GMT Reply-To: encad!jpederse@ucsd.edu (John Pedersen) In article werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) writes: |> To use MLD-Global-Weather from tone-type phones presubscribed to |> Metromedia Long Distance one-plus service: |> |> - dial 1-700-321-000 The number looks a little incomplete here. -- John.Pedersen@Wichita.NCR.COM N5DKQ NCR Engineering & Manufacturing EMC Engineering Wichita KS 316-636-8837 ------------------------------ From: westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) Subject: Re: North American 700 area code? Date: 13 Aug 88 15:53:35 GMT In article , larryg@jacobs.cs.orst.edu (Larry Gilbert) writes: ... > I'm familiar with 800 (WATS) and 900 (Dial-It(TM)), but 700? Does this have > an official designation? ... "Area code" 700 is similar to 800 and 900 in that it does not correspond to any geographical area. It is available to inter-lata toll carriers to offer carrier-specific value-added services. AT&T's Alliance Teleconferencing(TM) is one such service. What you get on any given 700+ number depends upon which toll carrier you are using. (MCI offers a Dow-Jones News recording on a 700+ number, for example.) -- Dave Levenson Westmark, Inc. The Man in the Mooney Warren, NJ USA {rutgers | att}!westmark!dave ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Weather in London Date: Mon Aug 15 21:37:44 1988 Stevens asks for the number to call for the weather forecast in London. Why not just call Directory Enquiry and ask him....calls to international directory assistance are always free.... Tell operator to give you Directory in London. Many, many years ago, the number in London was W-E-A-T-H-E-R. Does anyone remember when the number for the time of day in New York was NERVOUS? ------------------------------ From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.com Subject: Testing the tone pad Date: Mon Aug 15 21:34:30 1988 Nathan Banks notes that some phone companies maintain special test numbers that can be used, for among other things, to test the quality of the tone pad. We can do that here in Chicago, but it is not combined with any ANI that I know of. David Tamkin has noted that Centel (a tiny phone company here in Chicago which provides service to a couple of exchanges in Chicago-Newcastle and all of the the towns of Park Ridge and DesPlaines, IL) uses '290' for ANI. Illinois Bell, which serves everything else in the 312 area obviously cannot use 290 for a valid prefix, but they do not use it for ANI either. When I dial just 290 from my Illinois Bell/area 312 phone, I get a recording that the call cannot be completed as dialed after just those three digits. Illinois Bell uses 'area code' 200+xxx-xxxx for this purpose -- and the number varies from one central office to another, besides which they change the number every month or two. Apparently they do not like people using it. One exchange downtown (855) uses 200-555-1212 and has used it for years. But that exchange is very limited in scope; is limited to 2 or 3 fairly large centrex/DID customers, including AT&T Long Lines, which has its office phones on that exchange. If I dial 200-anything other than the *correct* number for the ANI, I get a couple seconds longer than usual of clicking and silence, then it cuts into a continuous high pitched tone. TESTING TONE PADS/RING BACK: For many years, we dialed 571 and waited for a new dial tone, then dialed '6', and hung up. The phone would ring back, and would continue ringing for up to about five minutes unless you answered it first. To test the tone pad, instead of hanging up, you dialed the '6' and then in succession hit the buttons 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-*-0-#, and the system would respond with a 'ticking sound' if the tone pad was calibrated properly. With the advent of ESS, we now have to dial one of several codes, and all *must* have a 1 as the first digit -- 1-571 through 1-577, followed by the last four digits of the phone number you are actually using. Where mine at home is 1-577-xxxx, at my office it is 1-574-xxxx, etc..... *There are actual prefixes 571 through 577 in area 312, so you can't call from outside the area code, and if dialing from within 312, if you forget to put on the 1, you will get an actual phone. As before, you get a fresh dial tone and either test the pad as above, or dial 6 and hangup to get a ring back. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Gary Wells Subject: Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: 15 Aug 88 22:09:36 GMT Reply-To: Gary Wells In article xyzzy!dg-rtp!clegg@mcnc.org (Alan Clegg) writes: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > >In article David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com writes: >>X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) >> >Research Triangle Park area) by dialing 711. I can do this from work thru >our PBX, but when I tried it from my home phone, I got a dead phone for >about 2 minutes.. When I picked up the receiver, I got a click and then >nothing at all.... A few minutes later, dial tone was back... > >Any ideas on what may be happening here? Not all offices treat ANI the same. In the first place, Automatic Number Indentification gives a readout to operators and other machinery, not back to the line. What you all are talking about is ANAC, Automatic Number Annouce Circuit. Older offices did this via ringing back the line if you dialed in the proper codes. For a while now, some offices have provided ANAC that speaks the number back over the line. Most offices, however, are now speaking the number only in the Central Offices, giving only a dead line to the field while the ANAC circuit holds the line. Partly this is a function of which one of several makers equipment is installed in the CO, partly it is to make sure the test equipment is available to the teleco forces when they need it, not tied up by phone phreaks. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still working on _natural_ intelligence. gary@percival ------------------------------ From: cantor%dssdev.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (David A. Cantor) Date: 18 Aug 88 22:41 Subject: Restricted code 212-540; area code mismatch in rejection message WeatherTrak is a service which gives you the weather for cities whose code number you punch in with touch tones. Until recently, I used WeatherTrak in New York City by dialing 1-212-355-1212, but recently they changed their number. There was a recording at the old number directing me to 540-3000. When I dialed it directly (1-212-540-3000) I got rejection messages from US Sprint, from MCI, and from AT&T indicating they could not complete the call. The AT&T message was "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. 508-2T." Funny, I was calling from a New Hampshire telephone (NPA 603), but got an area 508 message! I called the AT&T operator (10288-0#) for assistance, and the operator tried to dial the number, but got the same message I did. She guessed that the new number simply wasn't connected yet. I obtained the business phone number for WeatherTrak (800-247-3282) and spoke to a representative there. She told me that I could use the Philadelphia number, 1-315-222-2222, and that the New York number is "restricted" (I could hear the quotation marks when she said the word). She said that meant that it could be dialed only from a certain geographical area. One conclusion: 212-540 is another area-code and prefix that is used for special purposes. One question: Why would I get a message from 508-2T when dialing from an area 603 telephone? Dave C. ------------------------------ From: PHil@cup.portal.com Subject: X.25 Packet Switch Info Wanted Date: Thu Aug 18 19:44:35 1988 Please Post: WANTED: Recommendations for an X.25 Packet Switch Are you a packet switch equipment vendor? Do you have a piece of equipment you think will stand up to our application? Will consider NEW or USED equipment that can do the following: - at least 1 56k link preferably 2 - 4:1 ratio between incoming 56k lines and outgoing 19.2 - v.35 interface for high speed 56k link - at least 256 vc's per 56k link - 64 vc's for lower speed (19.2kbps) link minimum - take incoming calls and assign to out based on # of vc's active - be able to assign traffic to outgoing link by subaddress or call user data - program via async command port (terminal) - will have a high amount of traffic; will need big buffers, ability to handle RR RNR flow control expect 300 packet/second traffic - support different packet sizes, at least 64, 128, up to 1024 would be nice - clear confirmation handling needs to support CCITT 1984 spec - 30 day evaluation period - references from users who have had heavy duty applications This is what our setup would look like: PDN ----- 56 kbps x.25 --- switch -- 19.2 kbps x.25 -- computer 1 | |------- 19.2 kbps x.25 -- computer 2 If you think you have a piece of gear that can handle it, please contact Phil at 408/973-9111 immediately. ------------------------------ From: amossb@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (a.e.mossberg) Subject: Re: "A B C D" keys Date: 19 Aug 88 19:21:01 GMT Reply-To: aem@Mthvax.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg) In news item , crew@polya.stanford.edu (Roger Crew) wrote: >On the military and NORAD networks, you'll find (touch-tone) phones >with up to four extra keys down the right hand side labeled (I think >[ further description deleted] > >Roger Crew Your recollection matches mine, but there is one difference about autovon... I think they used 8 different frequencies than the standard DTMF.... ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 20-Aug-88 23:15:14-EDT,13748;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 20 Aug 88 23:15:12-EDT Date: 20 Aug 88 22:29-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #129 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, August 20, 1988 10:29PM Volume 8, Issue 129 Today's Topics: Re: "A B C D" keys Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: American phones in Europe Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Weathertrak number for Northeast is (215) 222-2222 Autovon phones with precedence buttons ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Aug 88 01:47:40 EDT From: Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu Several people have asked about ANI test numbers (Nathan Banks, most recently). Here are some of them I know (from places I've lived...) A/C 502 : 997-555-1212 A/C's 313,616,906,517 (all of Michigan Bell, as far as I know) : 200-222-2222 Some Northern Telecom digital switches : 191# As far as I know, 200-xxx-xxxx and 300-xxx-xxxx are by far the most common. The X's should be replaced with numbers 2 or greater, but they generally don't have to be the same (for what that's worth). Ringbacks: Can also be fun (not too practical, but fun..). The most common scheme is to use exchanges 951 through 959. As you probably know, physical switches usually handle 4 or more logical exchanges. (As an example, the one I'm on is the same machine for 994-, 995-, 996-, 761-, and 769-. The ringback "exchange" corresponds to where your exchange falls within the switch. Thus, the ringback for 994 numbers here would be 951-xxxx, that for 995 numbevrs would be 952-xxxx, up to 769 numbers, whose ringback is 955-xxxx. To use it, you dial the ringback exchange and the last four digits of your phone number. If it works, you should hear a dial tone. (If you hear a busy signal, you are on the right track but used an incorrect ringback exchange or the wrong last four digits (or, of course, that happens to be a valid number in your area and someone is using it)). At the dial tone, hang up for about 1/2 second. Then you should hear a higher tone. Hang up again and the phone will ring in a few seconds (until you answer it, or about 1/2 hour). Non-ESS areas tend to use 4 or 5 digit codes ending with 11 (e.g., 7911, 41911). For those, you just dial it and hang up. If you replace the 11 with a different last 2 digits (7928, for example), you will get a different ringing pattern (like 2 shorts and one long, etc.) Northern Telecom PBX switches I have used follow the former procedure except that the ringback exchange is always 18. Have fun... Miguel Cruz Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu ------------------------------ From: pglask@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (Peter Glaskowsky) Subject: Re: "A B C D" keys Date: 19 Aug 88 22:08:16 GMT in article <290@umbio.MIAMI.EDU>, amossb@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (a.e.mossberg) says: ) ) In news item , crew@polya.stanford.edu (Roger Crew) wrote: )>On the military and NORAD networks, you'll find (touch-tone) phones )>with up to four extra keys down the right hand side labeled (I think )>[ further description deleted] )> )>Roger Crew ) ) Your recollection matches mine, but there is one difference about ) autovon... I think they used 8 different frequencies than the standard ) DTMF.... That's correct: Bell Touch-Tone (TM) AUTOVON Columns 1209 1336 1477 1633 1620 1740 1860 1980 Rows 697 1 2 3 A 1020 1 2 3 FO 770 4 5 6 B 1140 4 5 6 F 852 7 8 9 C 1260 7 8 9 I 941 * 0 # D 1380 0 P Those priority codes are "Flash Override", "Flash", "Immediate", and "Priority", in descending order of priority. The trunking tones are also different. This information could be obsolete. -- . png | Sysop, the John Galt Line TBBS: 305-235-1645. | ARPA: pglask%umbio.miami.edu@umigw.miami.edu | uucp: uunet!gould!umbio!pglask ------------------------------ From: sfsup!smk@att.att.com Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Date: 11 Aug 88 17:49:33 GMT Path: sfsup!smk From: smk@sfsup.UUCP (Stan Krieger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom,misc.consumers Subject: Re: Making Sure Who It Is..... Summary: Why shouldn't all phones be required to support LD access codes? Message-ID: <3709@sfsup.UUCP> Date: 11 Aug 88 17:49:32 GMT References: Organization: Summit NJ Lines: 19 In discussions about AOS and COCOTs, and a "user beware" warning concerning which company is switching your Long Distance calls, all we really need is a regulation that requires all phones in areas which have universal access to support it. For example, I saw a private pay phone at a Denny's that I stopped at last night. I didn't plan to place any calls, but just to see what is supported and what isn't, I punched in (or tried to) 10288 (to force access to AT&T). As soon as I punched the "0", a recording came on telling me that the "call cannot be completed as dialed". What I want to know is "why not?". In hotel rooms I've had a similar problem. Where the instructions say 8+0+a/c+phone number for credit card calls, I tried 8+10288+ and even 9+10288+; it's apparently blocked at their PBX. All L/D carriers should be forced to play by the same rules; there oughta be a law. ------------------------------ From: pvab!robert@uunet.UU.NET (Robert Claeson) Subject: Re: American phones in Europe Date: 17 Aug 88 17:54:10 GMT In article , wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) writes: > I don't think tone dialling works in Germany (and most of Europe), so make > sure your phones are switchable to pulse dialling. Tone dialing works in most parts of Europe. But still, there are countries that only use pulse dialing, so a switchable phone is nice to have. > In article writes: > >(3) Modems depend on the vintage. The latest set of standards, I think is > > compatible (2400 bps and up). 1200 and 300 bps sure ain't. > > 1200 Baud full duplex (Bell 212A) is compatible with the corresponding CCITT > standard -- don't know the number. 300 Baud is not, and they also have other > strange standards (i.e. 1200/75) which are incompatible with US modems. And most modems are switchable for Bell or CCITT standards, including most Hayes-compatible modems (ATB0 for CCITT and ATB1 for Bell). ------------------------------ From: uchuck@uncecs.edu (Charles Bennett) Subject: Re: a live ANI (automatic number identification) code Date: 15 Aug 88 18:15:21 GMT In article , xyzzy!dg-rtp!clegg@mcnc.org (Alan Clegg) writes: > In article David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com writes: > > > >districts in area code 312, gives ANI by dialing 290. I came across it > > ANI is available in the (919) area code of North Carolina (at least in the > Research Triangle Park area) by dialing 711. I can do this from work thru I am in Chapel Hill, NC also area 919. A test of 711 nets no response. -- -Chuck Bennett- UNC - Chapel Hill 919-966-1134 uchuck@ecsvax.UUCP uchuck@unc.BITNET ------------------------------ Subject: Weathertrak number for Northeast is (215) 222-2222 Reply-To: franklin@turing.cs.rpi.edu Date: Wed, 17 Aug 88 11:48:16 -0400 From: Wm Randolph Franklin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Aug 88 20:04:18 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu Is New England Tel aware that the Charge-A-Calls on the MassPike (Sturbridge area, Eastbound, for sure, and probably elsewhere) are allowing * FREE * calls between the 508 and 617 area codes? I saw the new instruction card on the Charge-A-Call, which is some -what contradictory. It says "Calls in this area: Dial 0+ number" "Calls outside this area: Dial 0+AC+number" And then on the bottom it has a special section for "Calls between the 617/508 area", and says "Dial 1+617 or 508 and then number" ( or something like that). Now all this is fine from a regular coin phone, and I can understand why NET would include this right after the 617/508 split. But the Charge-A-Call instruction cards are made especially for Charge-A-Calls, and if you are in 508 and dial 1+617-number, it goes through for free! I wonder how long it will take NET to fix this...Probably when they see a lot of calls and no calling card to identify the caller...I wish they will keep it permanently! :-) -Doug usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 19 Aug 88 07:38 Subject: Autovon phones with precedence buttons I have in my hands an extract from the April 1968 Bell Laboratories Record, the cover of which shows one of the Autovon phones with the 16 button keypad. In the right column, from bottom to top, the buttons are labelled P, I, F, and FO. (Thus "A" is "Flash Override", "B" is "Flash", "C" is "Immediate", and "D" is "Priority".) The "*" button has a five-pointed star; the "#" button has an "A" -- but of course it sends the "#" tone, not the "A"/"FO" tone. In the late sixties I had the opportunity to use the phones. You initiate a call with a precedence higher than "Routine" by pressing the desired precedence level FIRST followed by the seven or ten digit Autovon number. If your phone is not authorized to use the precedence level you have requested, you get a recording. Using a precedence can cause interoffice circuits within the Autovon system to be released for your call and can also cause a directly connected Autovon phone to be released so that you can reach that party. The vast majority of phones having access to/from Autovon are not directly connected, but are connected through PBXs, and do not have access to the precedence system -- outgoing high precedence calls must be placed through local switchboard oper- ators; incoming calls will not cause individual stations to be released. The definition of the precedence levels is as follows: FLASH: Pre-empts lower precedence calls. May be pre-empted by the application of the FLASH OVERRIDE capability available to: (1) The President of the United States, Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff; (2) Commanders of unified and specified commands when declaring either Defense Condition One or Defense Emergency; (3) CINCNORAD when declaring either Defense Condition One or Air Defense Emergency and other national authorities as the President may authorize. FLASH precedence is reserved generally for telephone calls pertain- ing to: (1) Command and control of military forces essential to defense and retaliation; (2) Critical intelligence essential to national survival; (3) Conduct of diplomatic negotiations critical to the arresting or limiting of hostilities; (4) Dissemination of critical civil alert information necessary to national survival; (5) Continuity of Federal government functions essential to national survival; (6) Fulfillment of critical United States internal security functions essential to national survival; (7) Catastrophic events of national or international significance. IMMEDIATE: Pre-empts any telephone call of lower precedence. Immediate precedence is reserved for vital communications which: (1) have an immediate operational effect on tactical operations. (2) directly concern safety or rescue operations, or (3) affect the intelligence community operational role. (e.g. initial vital reports of damage due to enemy action; land, sea or air reports which must be completed from vehicles in motion such as operational mission aircraft; intelligence reports on vital actions in progress; natural disaster or widespread damage; emergency weather reports having an immediate bearing on mission in progress; emergency use for circuit restoration, use by tactical command posts for passing immediate operational traffic, etc.) PRIORITY: Pre-empts any telephone call of lower precedence. Priority precedence is reserved for calls which require prompt completion for national defense and security, the successful conduct of war, or safeguarding life or property, but do not require higher precedence (e.g. reports of priority land, sea, or air movements; administrative intelligence, operational or logistic activity calls requiring priority action; calls that would have a serious impact on military, administrative, intelligence, operational or logistic activities if handled as a ROUTINE call). Normally PRIORITY is the highest precedence which may be assigned to administrative matters for which speed of handling is of paramount importance. ROUTINE: Has no precedence over any other call and is handled sequentially as placed by the calling party. All official communications to which preceding precedences do not apply will be routine. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 21-Aug-88 22:04:00-EDT,6386;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sun 21 Aug 88 22:03:59-EDT Date: 21 Aug 88 21:04-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #130 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Sunday, August 21, 1988 9:04PM Volume 8, Issue 130 Today's Topics: Compatibility between V.22 and Bell 212A Autovon DTMF frequencies AT&T fought the breakup? Gimme a break! 2-line call forwarding loop AUTOVON phones and freqs Re: Weather somewhere else ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 19 Aug 88 08:08 Subject: Compatibility between V.22 and Bell 212A Having been a member of the design team of a product containing the Western Electric 212A modem chip, I can provide the definitive answer on the degree of compatibility which exists between the Bell 212A standard and the CCITT V.22 standard. It's very simple: Bell 212A modems can originate calls to V.22 modems, but cannot be called by V.22 modems. The V.22 answer sequence provides a pilot tone required by certain European telephone systems; V.22 modems will not handshake when originating a call unless this pilot tone is heard. The pilot tone does not interfere with the origination of a call from a Bell 212A modem, thus one-way operation is possible. I have used my product, which contains only the Bell 212A chip, in Europe to call V.22 modems. /john ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 20 Aug 88 08:43 Subject: Autovon DTMF frequencies >there is one difference about autovon... I think they used 8 different >frequencies than the standard DTMF.... Wrong. Standard freqs were and are used. ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 17 Aug 88 15:13 Subject: AT&T fought the breakup? Gimme a break! In TELECOM V8I125, A Mossberg replies, >AT&T, formally a monopoly that prevented other companies from entering >the business (with some minor exceptions), got turned into a bunch of >equally powerful oligopolies. The same companies that controlled >local telephone service continue to do so (most areas of the country >it is the former parts of AT&T, such as Southern Bell here in South >Florida). ...AT&T >fought tooth and nail to prevent the break-up, and when they lost they >apparently already had contingency plans so that no matter what the >outcome they would profit greatly. Just as Bre'r Rabbit fought tooth and nail to not be thrown into the briar patch, AT&T fought to keep its local telcos! In the pre-breakup days, AT&T made a fortune on long distance and used it, via an accounting gimmick called "separations", to subsidize its locals (and the independent camp-follower telcos). They happily shed them, in exchange for freedom from the 1956 Consent Decree's prohibitions against going into unregulated businesses (i.e., coputers). (Never mind how successful they have/haven't been in the computer biz.) In the original 1953 lawsuit (settled by divestiture), they were asked by Justice Dept. to give up Western Electric. They parried that thrust again in '82 by agreeing to the divestiture of the locals instead. (Of course, the locals fought back with "access charges" levied against AT&T and others, and are now profitable, thanks to gouging long-distance callers by the minute.) > Let me say at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true >revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. Che Guevara One of my favorite .sig quotes! fred ------------------------------ From: cantor%dssdev.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (DAVID A. CANTOR) Date: 20 Aug 88 12:14 Subject: 2-line call forwarding loop There has been some discussion of call forwarding chains in the digest recently. Here's my experience: I have two lines in my home. If I forward each of them to the other, any caller to either line gets a busy signal. I can call out on either line, of course. I sometimes set up my phones in this way so as not to be disturbed. Once, though, my phone did ring while I had them "busied out". An operator forced a call through to my phone at the insistence of a close relative of mine that it was an emergency. (It wasn't.) Dave C. ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 21 Aug 88 08:57 Subject: AUTOVON phones and freqs > Columns 1209 1336 1477 1633 1620 1740 1860 1980 > > Rows 697 1 2 3 A 1020 1 2 3 FO > 770 4 5 6 B 1140 4 5 6 F > 852 7 8 9 C 1260 7 8 9 I > 941 * 0 # D 1380 0 P A submission to V8#129 claimed AUTOVON has a special set of freqs shown above. AUTOVON uses the CCITT Standard Q.31 frequencies on the left; the freqs on the right were not the ones on AUTOVON phones; they were an experimental system which pre-dated AUTOVON. /john ------------------------------ From: Brian Tompsett Subject: Re: Weather somewhere else Date: 19 Aug 88 10:36:07 GMT Reply-To: Brian Tompsett In article cas@mtuxo.att.com (C.STEVENS) writes: >Does anybody know the weather number for London England? How about Scottish Weather? The wettest July since records began: +44 224 8091 (N & NW Scotland) +44 382 9081 (ditto) +44 31 246 8091 (S & SW Scotland) (Where "+" is 011 for North American readers) Brian > Brian Tompsett. Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, > JCMB, The King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland, U.K. > Telephone: +44 31 667 1081 x2711. > JANET: bct@uk.ac.ed.ecsvax ARPA: bct%ed.ecsvax@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 24-Aug-88 01:25:01-EDT,12940;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 24 Aug 88 01:25:00-EDT Date: 23 Aug 88 19:27-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #131 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, August 23, 1988 7:27PM Volume 8, Issue 131 Today's Topics: Re: Restricted code 212-540; 603/508 area code relation Re: "A B C D" keys Answering the phone Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Re: AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys 900 numbers and amazing bills STAR SERVICES Variable length phone numbers within a city Intelligent Network Re: AUTOVON phones and freqs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Aug 88 11:55:03 EDT From: ted@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Ede) Subject: Re: Restricted code 212-540; 603/508 area code relation In article you write: >One question: Why would I get a message from 508-2T when dialing >from an area 603 telephone? > >Dave C. 508 is the new area code for Eastern MA. I recently moved to North Andover, about 10 miles south of New Hampsire. When arranging for telephone service, the basic/cheapest option allowed for no cost (per call) calling to about 10 towns in the nearby area. One or two of the 10 towns was in Southern New Hampshire. I think it was Salem, NH. Were you in _Southern_ NH when you placed the call? It really surprises me that this local service spans area codes and states. Is this at all unusual? Ted Ede -- ted@mitre-bedford.arpa -- The MITRE Corporation -- Burlington Road | linus!mbunix!ted -- Bedford MA, 01730 -- Mail Stop B015 -- (617) 271-2524 | | - this line intentionally left blank - | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Aug 88 12:07:02 EDT From: ted@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Ede) Subject: Re: "A B C D" keys In article you write: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > >in article <290@umbio.MIAMI.EDU>, amossb@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (a.e.mossberg) says: >) >) In news item , crew@polya.stanford.edu (Roger Crew) wrote: >)>On the military and NORAD networks, you'll find (touch-tone) phones >)>with up to four extra keys down the right hand side labeled (I think >)>[ further description deleted] >)> >)>Roger Crew >) >) Your recollection matches mine, but there is one difference about >) autovon... I think they used 8 different frequencies than the standard >) DTMF.... > [frequency list deleted] I recently set up a Hayes, 1200 baud, external SmartModem on a PC. While reviewing the quick reference card, I noticed the available "digits" for dialing. They are 0-9,*,#,A,B,C,D. I tried dialing them and they worked fine. I got a "can't complete your number as dialed" message. I think in the good ol' days of in-band signalling, they were used by directory assistance operators to signal the switch that their line was available for incoming assistance requests. Ted Ede -- ted@mitre-bedford.arpa -- The MITRE Corporation -- Burlington Road | linus!mbunix!ted -- Bedford MA, 01730 -- Mail Stop B015 -- (617) 271-2524 | | - this line intentionally left blank - | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ From: limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) Subject: Answering the phone Date: 20 Aug 88 18:49:35 GMT I'm writing an answer-the-phone routine for my current project. The modem will be hayes compatable but I have to be able to handle various almost-hayes compatable modems. When answering the phone, I wait for "CONNECT" or "CONNECT 1200" but when should I expect the CD to come on? (where in the "CONNECT" message... beginning, end, etc) Is it different for various modems? Any other tips for generic answer-the-phone routines? Tom Limoncelli -- Tom Limoncelli -- Drew University, Box 1060, Madison, NJ 07940 TLimonce@Drew.Bitnet -- limonce@pilot.njin.net -- VoiceMail (201)408-5389 Drew College of Liberal Arts: male/female ratio: 2:3 student/pc ratio: 1:1 "The opinions expressed are mine... just mine." ------------------------------ From: phri!dasys1!mzank@nyu.edu (Matthew Zank) Date: 21 Aug 88 21:35:37 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: dasys1!mzank From: mzank@dasys1.UUCP (Matthew Zank) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Online library catalogs Keywords: Need Information Message-ID: <6062@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 21 Aug 88 21:35:36 GMT Distribution: usa Organization: The Big Electric Cat Lines: 8 I Like to have a list of numbers for public online library catalogs that you can call with your modem. I like to have any number or information about this. -- Matthew Zank MCI-MAIL: MZANK Big Electric Cat Public UNIX ..!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!mzank ------------------------------ From: "Kurt F. Sauer" Subject: Re: AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys Date: 22 Aug 88 14:58:52 GMT Reply-To: "Kurt F. Sauer" Some remarks have been made here on Telecom that the AUTOVON tone pad frequencies are different than those generated on Touch-Tone pads; they're not. Once, a few years ago, I talked an AT&T fellow who was replacing an AUTOVON telephone (which had been dropped and then crushed by machinery moving a big safe) out of the AUTOVON-style dial. I have it here; it makes nice Touch-Tones which our telephone system gladly accepts. Nothing, of course, happens when the right-hand column of keys is depressed, although the frequencies are specified in the original Bell Telephone Touch-Tone documentation (1633 Hz). The key caps on the telephone for the "P," "I," "F," "FO," "A," and "*" keys are removable (they pop off if you pry a little bit). And for those of you who really care, "P" means "Priority," "I" means "Immediate" (and for those of you who have been around for a LONG time, it used to mean "Operational Immediate," which is where the "OOOO" for "Immediate" on your AUTODIN traffic came from), "F" means "Flash," and "FO" means "Flash Override." Another precedence exists, the NCA precedence, and is documented in the AUTODIN architecture documents, but it takes direct operator intervention, and on AUTODIN is referred to as "VVVV." Trivia. 1 2 3 FO 4 5 6 F 7 8 9 I * 0 A P <- Note that the * is not a closed asterisk, as on standard Touch-Tone phones, but an open, five-pointed star, pointing up. Enjoy. Kurt F. Sauer Tulsa, Oklahoma ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 22 Aug 88 09:33 Subject: 900 numbers and amazing bills A few months ago, New England Telephone (and I'm sure other Bells) set up conference bridges for "party line" calls. They advertised them on late-night TV, and aimed at least one at teenagers. There were other providers, such as Talkabout (must be Aussie -- the pun is) too. They charged, around here, 20c for the first minute and 10c for each additional minute. Well, after the bills started coming in, NET couldn't take the flack and their intra-LATA talk lines ("dial 1-550-") were discontinued, or at least not advertised. Lately, the TV has been jammed with more such ads, most promising love and happiness and the girl of your dreams, etc., if you call 1-900-999-foo. These are rather like the discontinued intra-LATA talklines, but with a notable difference: Most charge between $.75 and $1.00 per MINUTE. (Last I heard, NET's service was a flat $2/call, instead of per-minute billing. Still an order of magnitude less, typically.) What's the difference? So far as I can tell, the new ones are operating under interstate tariffs, beyond the state DPU's ability to regulate. Since the FCC has no qualms at all about interstaste jurisdictional gouging (i.e., COCOTs, AOSs), these guys will continue until public pressure blocks them. THe most likely way to do that would be for the state regulators to prohibit telcos from being their billing agents. (Virginia just passed a rule prohibiting telcos from billing for AOSs, for instance.) In such a case, their bills would become rather difficult to collect. How many lonelyheart teenagers out there are going to be in for a rude surprise when their folks open up a $200 phone bill? This isn't deregulation, but there's no polite word for what it is. fred ------------------------------ From: ski%COMPUTING-MATHS.CARDIFF.AC.UK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (S I Khokhar) Subject: STAR SERVICES Date: 22 Aug 88 17:36:44 GMT Here in the Uk where we have to suffer from British Telecon (sorry Telecom!) we can put a call on hold, set up call forwarding, barring etc. I would be very interested to hear of the equivalents in the US and how they are used. Do you get them a a standard feature, or do you have to pay for each one that you have, just as we will have to pay `4.00 for EACH service we want, together with 10p for an automated alarm call, and 5p to be told how much the last call w We still have to pay for ALL local calls. I understand that in the US local calls made by a residential (non-business) line , at off peak times are free of charge. Is this right? Would any kind person be willing to tell me how much line rental in the US is on average. here it is `13.95 per quarter with metered units costing 5p each. They last for a varying length of time depending on the distance of the call and the time of day. Any help appreciated. ski@uk.ac.cf.cm.v1 OR ski@v1.cm.cf.ac.uk OR ski@cf-cm.UUCP. . ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Aug 88 14:36:03 EDT From: Jonathan Haruni Subject: Variable length phone numbers within a city In Tel Aviv, Israel, there have always been 6-digit phone numbers. Now I see that some places there have changed to 7-digit numbers, while others remain 6. The local area-code for Tel Aviv remains the same for both 6- and 7- digit phone numbers. Does anyone have first hand knowledge of how/why they've done this ? Different cities in Israel have always had different length phone numbers, but the area codes for the cities were also different, in such a way that when dialing from outside israel, the length of any phone number within Israel was always the same (7 digits). Now that is no longer true; some numbers in Tel Aviv require 8 digits. Seems silly to me. I'd love to hear any additional information. Jon. ------------------------------ From: munnari!uqcspe.oz.au!anthony@uunet.UU.NET (Anthony Lee) Subject: Intelligent Network Date: 22 Aug 88 23:41:09 GMT Is there anyone out there in the U.S. who is working for Bellcore in the areas of Intelligent Network ? Would you possibly know of someone in Bellcore that I could contact on subjects relating to the Intelligent Network project, enhanced 800 services, Virtual Private Network and other supplementary services ? My physical address is below: Anthony Lee ACSnet: anthony@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz TEL: (07) 3712651 (07) 3774139 (w) SNAIL: 243 Carmody Rd, St Lucia, 4067 Australia ------------------------------ From: pglask@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (Peter Glaskowsky) Subject: Re: AUTOVON phones and freqs Date: 23 Aug 88 01:38:17 GMT in article , covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) says: ) ) A submission to V8#129 claimed AUTOVON has a special set of freqs... ) ) AUTOVON uses the CCITT Standard Q.31 frequencies on the left; the freqs on ) the right were not the ones on AUTOVON phones; they were an experimental ) system which pre-dated AUTOVON. My fault. Like I said, I didn't know whether that information was still current. Sorry for the confusion. -- . png | Sysop, the John Galt Line TBBS: 305-235-1645. | ARPA: pglask%umbio.miami.edu@umigw.miami.edu | uucp: uunet!gould!umbio!pglask ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* ------- ------- 24-Aug-88 22:03:24-EDT,1826;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Wed 24 Aug 88 22:03:22-EDT Date: 24 Aug 88 20:36-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #132 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Wednesday, August 24, 1988 8:36PM Volume 8, Issue 132 Today's Topics: short digest resubmission ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed 24 Aug 88 20:35:23-EDT From: Jonathan A. Solomon Subject: short digest Since the following message requires a speedy response, and since it has been sitting around for 24 hours without new incoming text to send out, I have decided to send out a very short digest including one message (not counting this one). Enjoy, --jsol ------------------------------ From: smb@research.att.com Date: Tue, 23 Aug 88 20:05:18 EDT Subject: resubmission From smb Mon Aug 15 14:16:22 1988 To: Telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu Subject: Israeli Phone system Status: O Are American cordless phones usable with the Israeli phone system? A relative of my wife's wishes to bring back such a phone to Israel with her. I know that there is an AC line voltage difference. But (a) are the phone systems compatible? (b) if so, is DTMF signalling accepted by the Israeli phone system? (c) is it legal to install customer-owned equipment in Israel; (d) what are the applicable laws and regulations about use of those frequency bands? Since she's leaving soon, a prompt answer would be appreciated. --Steve Bellovin ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 25-Aug-88 22:03:21-EDT,8021;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 25 Aug 88 22:03:20-EDT Date: 25 Aug 88 21:17-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #133 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, August 25, 1988 9:17PM Volume 8, Issue 133 Today's Topics: Re: 900 numbers and amazing bills Re: STAR SERVICES Re: AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys re: Israeli Phone system ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott@eddie.MIT.EDU (Scott Statton) Subject: Re: 900 numbers and amazing bills Date: 25 Aug 88 12:52:44 GMT Reply-To: scott@eddie.MIT.EDU (Scott Statton) In article goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: > >A few months ago, New England Telephone (and I'm sure other Bells) >set up conference bridges for "party line" calls. They advertised >them on late-night TV, and aimed at least one at teenagers. There >were other providers, such as Talkabout (must be Aussie -- the pun >is) too. They charged, around here, 20c for the first minute and >10c for each additional minute. Well, after the bills started >coming in, NET couldn't take the flack and their intra-LATA talk >lines ("dial 1-550-") were discontinued, or at least not advertised. > While New England Telephone did have a party line of their own, most of the services were (and ARE) provided by independent companies. (I recently worked for one.) There is similar (identical!) service provided in New York, and neither NET nor NYT have any inclination of discontinuing these services. Some tidbits about the services: It is only reachable from WITHIN the LATA, long distance carriers aren't supposed to allow calls to terminate in 1-550 numbers. (Same thing with 1-540 in New York -- similar tarrif.) There MUST be a HUMAN moderator on duty 24 hours a day (That's what I did among other things), to (paraphrasing the tarrif) "Disconnect unruly or abusive callers" -- the products tend to be vertical market (and usually sexually oriented). I.E. there are 'gay chat lines' 'foot-fetishist lines' etc., ad nauseam. Every 10 minutes (5 minutes for teen-lines) you hear a "beep" tone. Each beep equals a buck! 900 service is a different kettle of fish altogether. There's about as many flavors of that as there are telcos. I.E. some are provided by AT&T, some are provided by the intra-LATA carrier, some are provided by OTHER carriers. (Similar to the way that 800 was divvied up). Another popular system is using 700 service under equal access. You see these advertised as 10xxx-1-700-nxx-xxxx. There, the IP is totally without tarrif, and his conscience is the only price setting agent. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ scott@eddie.mit.edu | I don't have any opinions. ------------------------------ From: scott@eddie.MIT.EDU (Scott Statton) Subject: Re: STAR SERVICES Date: 25 Aug 88 13:08:35 GMT Reply-To: scott@eddie.MIT.EDU (Scott Statton) In article ski%COMPUTING-MATHS.CARDIFF.AC.UK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (S I Khokhar) writes: > >Do you get them a a standard feature, or do you have to pay for each one that >you have, just as we will have to pay `4.00 for EACH service we want, together >with 10p for an automated alarm call, and 5p to be told how much the last call w >We still have to pay for ALL local calls. I understand that in the US local >calls made by a residential (non-business) line , at off peak times are free >of charge. Is this right? Would any kind person be willing to tell me how much >line rental in the US is on average. here it is `13.95 per quarter with >metered units costing 5p each. They last for a varying length of time depending >on the distance of the call and the time of day. > Well, my south-of-the-Equator friend, you make the assumption that there is a standardised telephone system within the United States. Special services, (Call forwding, etc.) are available on a location-by-location basis, with several 'basic' services that are almost universally available. As to free local calling areas, this varies from state to state, and even city-to-city. Some states have free local calling for residence AND business customers (California -- depending on the city) and some states don't have ANY free local calling (New York). Each state has a governing body, with a name like "Department of Public Utilites" or "Public Utilities Comission" that is a 'watchdog' for the industry. Any service that the telephone company wishes to carry, must be approved by this authority. Because of red tape, services that CAN be offered, are generally several years behind services that are technically feasable. For readers in the United States (and Canada, I believe) you live with something that we would find unthinkable -- you pay message units for INCOMING calls as well as outgoing. (At least in Britain, that is so). So -- in summary -- there is no "What's it like in the United States" or even within any one state. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ scott@eddie.mit.edu | I don't have any opinions. ------------------------------ From: elroy!suned1!efb@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Everett F. Batey II) Subject: Re: AUTOVON A,B,C,D keys Date: 25 Aug 88 13:56:20 GMT Reply-To: elroy!suned1!efb@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Everett F. Batey II) Urge reading the ITT Radio Handbook. Historically, and probably on many telco systems, operators used the non-DTMF to do what the older telco systems could not easily prevent the phone hacker / blue-boxer from doing. /Old fone hacker/ -- suned1!efb@elroy.JPL.Nasa.Gov sun!tsunami!suned1!efb efbatey@NSWSES.ARPA Any statements / opinions made here are mine, alone, not those of the United States, the DoD, the Navy, the Congress, the Judiciary, nor ... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Aug 88 09:44:00 PDT From: jbaker@ee.UCLA.EDU (Joe Baker) Steve Bellovin (smb@research.att.com) writes: >Are American cordless phones usable with the Israeli phone system? >A relative of my wife's wishes to bring back such a phone to Israel >with her. I know that there is an AC line voltage difference. >But (a) are the phone systems compatible? (b) if so, is DTMF signalling >accepted by the Israeli phone system? (c) is it legal to install >customer-owned equipment in Israel; (d) what are the applicable laws >and regulations about use of those frequency bands? > >Since she's leaving soon, a prompt answer would be appreciated. I have exactly the same questions for Greece. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, - Joe Baker, Dept. of Electrical Engineering 6731 Boelter Hall, UCLA, L.A., CA 90024 (213) 825-7079, 825-2327 ARPA: jbaker@ee.ucla.edu UUCP: {ihnp4|randvax|ucbvax}!ucla-cs!uclaee!jbaker ------------------------------ Subject: re: Israeli Phone system Date: Thu, 25 Aug 88 10:08:48 PDT From: cramer@Sun.COM > Are American cordless phones usable with the Israeli phone system? > A relative of my wife's wishes to bring back such a phone to Israel > with her. I know that there is an AC line voltage difference. > But (a) are the phone systems compatible? Yes. > (b) if so, is DTMF signalling accepted by the Israeli phone system? I don't believe so. Some of the switches are quite old. > (c) is it legal to install customer-owned equipment in Israel; I don't know. Frankly, I wouldn't worry about it. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 27-Aug-88 01:45:03-EDT,10962;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 27 Aug 88 01:45:02-EDT Date: 27 Aug 88 00:38-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #134 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, August 27, 1988 12:38AM Volume 8, Issue 134 Today's Topics: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom recording from another area code/long-distance call to ANAC Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #133 billing incoming calls \ cordless phones Paying for incoming calls image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: phri!dasys1!patth@nyu.edu (Patt Haring) Date: 23 Aug 88 16:53:13 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: dasys1!patth From: patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Sprint Delayed Billing (Are they OK now?) Summary: US SPRINT hires unemployable programmers ;-) Keywords: I hate US SPRINT! Message-ID: <6087@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 23 Aug 88 16:53:12 GMT References: Reply-To: patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) Followup-To: SMALL CLAIMS COURT action against US SPRINT Distribution: NA Organization: The BIG ELECTRIC CAT - NYC's Public Access UNIX (tm) system! Lines: 15 I cancelled TWO accounts with US SPRINT in January of 1986, made more than 25 phone calls trying to clear up the *misunderstanding* and they're still double billing me *mega sigh* even after I mailed 100+ pages of netter's complaints saved from misc.consumers to the Chief Exec at U.S. Sprint *double mega sigh* then spoke to his Executive Assistant who swore by all that's holy that I wouldn't be bothered again -- trip trop, trip trop - two months later the bills started appearing in my mailbox AGAIN! -- Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth -or- uunet!dasys1!patth Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Jessica: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 88 02:12:32 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu In reference to the letter that AT&T sent out to it's AT&T Cardholders about AOS (Alternate Operator Services)... - Why does AT&T manufacture COCOTS that don't let the customer choose an AT&T Card call by dialing 10288 directly? The COCOTs that AT&T makes tend to be some of the worst in respect to choosing a regular Bell operator. Almost universally, the owner of the COCOT blocks out all but the AOS services, and the AT&T COCOTs seem to be best at doing so! Looks like AT&T is trying to have it both ways...I wonder how their public relations dept. would answer a question like this... (Err...assuming they bother to answer, that is...) -Doug usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp) ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: recording from another area code/long-distance call to ANAC Date: Thu Aug 25 18:23:31 1988 Lars Poulsen, in Digest v8, #122, reported the following when he tried calling my local ANAC code from his location: ------------------------------ I tried this, from my GTE line (805) 682-xxxx (Santa Barbara, CA). 290 yields (ring, ring, redirect, recording:) "We're sorry ... cannot be completed". 1-312-290-1234 yields (redirect, recording:) "Your call cannot be completed ... 818-4T". Since 290 does not require 7 digits before the rejection from the local switch, it seems like this prefix gets special handling (or is that true of unassigned prefixes in general ? The long distance call get rejected in the LATA router. Wouldn't it be nifty if it had gone thru ?. / Lars Poulsen ------------------------------ Dave Cantor got a similar recording from an intermediate area code when he tried calling Weathertrak in New York from New Hampshire, as he said in Digest v8, #128: ------------------------------ When I dialed it directly (1-212-540-3000) I got rejection messages from US Sprint, from MCI, and from AT&T indicating they could not complete the call. The AT&T message was "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. 508-2T." Funny, I was calling from a New Hampshire telephone (NPA 603), but got an area 508 message! [ ... ] One question: Why would I get a message from 508-2T when dialing from an area 603 telephone? ------------------------------ ====== Since 290 [Centel's three-digit ANAC] is not a valid prefix in area code 312, Lars's long-distance company couldn't find it in its database. Surely Centel's ANAC facility here couldn't be expected to report the number from which it received a long-distance call! Patrick Townson cannot even call it from his location in Illinois Bell's part of area code 312. Both in his case of calling an invalid prefix in 312 from 805 and in Dave's case of dialing a restricted prefix in 212 from 603, the rejection message came from a third area code. I imagine that Lars's call got routed as far as area code 818 (a bit out of the way geographically but not unreasonably so) and Dave's call as far as 508 (not out of the way at all) because their long-distance providers had their switching centers and databases of reachable prefixes in those locations. Lars's call to a nonexistent prefix in 312 was rejected by a machine sitting in area code 818 and Dave's call to a restricted prefix in 212 was rejected by a machine sitting in area code 508, so those were the area codes in the announcements. David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: Phillip_M_Dampier@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V8 #133 Date: Fri Aug 26 05:59:05 1988 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, my south-of-the-Equator friend, you make the assumption that there is a standardised telephone system within the United States. Special services, (Call forwding, etc.) are available on a location-by-location basis, with several 'basic' services that are almost universally available. As to free local calling areas, this varies from state to state, and even city-to-city. Some states have free local calling for residence AND business customers (California -- depending on the city) and some states don't have ANY free local calling (New York). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not sure I agree with this. As far as basic services go, that can mean a dial tone and a rotary phone in some areas, and a touchtone phone and four custom calling features (call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling and speed dialing). The remark about New York State customers not getting any free calling is not at all correct. Here in Rochester, we pay around $16.00 for a local calling area that extends into an adjacent area code (Sodus to the East Byron to the west, Lima to the south). NY City does not have the free calling plans available, but the state does. NYNEX has carved up most of New York into their own little fiefdom (NY Telephone). Here in Rochester, Rochester Telephone is one of the few big independents, and after looking at the ripoffs in Buffalo and Syracuse, we are plenty proud of our telco, for now. ------------------------------ From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Date: 26 Aug 88 09:34 Subject: billing incoming calls \ cordless phones In Telecom V8I133, Scott Statton writes, >For readers in the United States (and Canada, I believe) you live with >something that we would find unthinkable -- you pay message units for >INCOMING calls as well as outgoing. (At least in Britain, that is >so). No, they do not charge for incoming calls in the UK, or anywhere else that I know of. Special services like 800 numbers, Enterprise, Freefone, etc., are reverse-billed, as are many X.25 lines, but not local exchange service. Trivia: In 1978, General Telephone of the Southwest filed a tariff for Carlsbad, NM which proposed per-minute billing for all time offhook, including incoming, failed, and outgoing calls. It was squashed by the PUC, and never mentioned again. (Plenty of folks are ready to intervene in any rate case that tries it again.) Re: Israeli or Greek cordless phones, Fat chance it would be legal. A cordless phone has two hurdles to face. The easy one is the line interface. It _might_ work, and it _might_ not get the PTT too upset (depending upon the way that country's lines work), but it also uses radio frequencies which, in the US, are set aside for such unlicensed use. Other countries do NOT use the same frequencies for their cordless phones, if they even have them. You could be transmitting on a police, business, radar, or broadcast frequency. This would (rightfully) get the authorities quite peeved! Operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on a basically random frequency is not a way to win friends in foreign governments. fred ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 26 Aug 88 09:37 Subject: Paying for incoming calls >For readers in the United States (and Canada, I believe) you live with >something that we would find unthinkable -- you pay message units for >INCOMING calls as well as outgoing. (At least in Britain, that is so). Who pays message units for incoming calls in Britain? Where did you get this information? I'm 99.44% sure you're 100% wrong. In the U.K., even cellular phone subscribers don't have to pay for their incoming calls (as we do here); the landline caller pays a higher rate when calling either Cellnet or Vodaphone (the two nationwide companies) numbers. which all begin with 0850 or 0836. /john ------------------------------ From: robert@eva.slu.se (Robert Olsson datoravd, EMC tfn 018-172581) Subject: image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted Date: 26 Aug 88 17:14:21 GMT Has anybody made an implementation of the codes in the CCITT T.4 telefax recommendation. I think it's called modified Huffman code and is used to compress scanned images in facsimile machines. I've stared at codes for some time now and may be capable of encoding from run lengths to Huffman codes - but decoding Huffman codes into run lengths ? To do that I would definitely need the algorithm. Where can I find it ? Or code? Robert Olsson Swedish university of agricultural sciences ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 27-Aug-88 12:51:29-EDT,14548;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Sat 27 Aug 88 12:51:27-EDT Date: 27 Aug 88 12:05-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #135 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Saturday, August 27, 1988 12:05PM Volume 8, Issue 135 Today's Topics: Re: Answering the phone PC-based call detail program available or possible? article cautioning travelers about AOS's and COCOT's (163 lines) CCITT facsimile standards ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigtex!james@astro.as.utexas.edu (James Van Artsdalen) Subject: Re: Answering the phone Date: 27 Aug 88 00:42:33 GMT Reply-To: bigtex!james@astro.as.utexas.edu (James Van Artsdalen) In article , limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) wrote: > When answering the phone, I wait for "CONNECT" or "CONNECT 1200" but > when should I expect the CD to come on? (where in the "CONNECT" > message... beginning, end, etc) Is it different for various modems? Yes it varies. The better modems appear to follow this sequence. The CONNECT message is printed, possibly indicating the modem-to-modem data rate. Carrier Detect is *then* asserted, and the modem then switches its data rate between then local machine and the modem if appropriate. I have however observed an older US Robotics Password to assert carrier detect *before* printing the CONNECT message. I'm not sure how standardized the behavior is after hangup. My Trailblazer is configured to switch back to 9600bps, though I don't believe it normally does so. I believe most stay at the last connected rate. The last common gotcha is that some modems will fail to fall "up" on answer. If there last call was at 1200bps, the modem will not answer at 2400bps but only 1200bps... -- James R. Van Artsdalen ...!uunet!utastro!bigtex!james "Live Free or Die" Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 328-0282; 110 Wild Basin Rd. Ste #230, Austin TX 78746 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 88 08:26 PDT From: Subject: PC-based call detail program available or possible? Message forwarded from a co-worker. Please respond directly to dbell@scu.bitnet -----------------cut here-------------------------- A CHEAPER CALL DETAIL RECORDING PROGRAM ? Needed: A program to monitor a serial port on a PC, store 80 character records on disk or tape, and run in background. Records must be readable by a PC data base program. Purpose: Replace expensive Call Accounting packages. Call Accounting, sometimes called Call Detail Recording, is an application that records, costs, and prints user bills for telephone calls on PBXs. Yet, in spite of several vendors supplying such systems (see August 1988 PC Magazine) we have yet to find one that has the combination of features we want at a price we can afford. Most vendors want 10 to 15 thousand dollars for a system to handle 100,000 call records. Yet, the problem would seem to be a relatively simple one for a PC-based system running a modern relational data base program. The data base program could be programmed, in its language, to generate all billing reports. It would seem, then, that all that is required is another program to record 80 character call records as they come in from the PBX over a serial port. This program would run in background continuously, storing records on either disk or tape. The data base program would read those records when needed to make reports. Has anyone heard of this approach? How about just the serial port program itself? Dennis Bell dbell@scu.bitnet ------------------------------ From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: article cautioning travelers about AOS's and COCOT's (163 lines) Date: Thu Aug 25 18:19:17 1988 The following article by Eric N. Berg appeared in the New York Times News Service's "The Artful Traveler" column, which I read in the August 21, 1988, Chicago Tribune: While vacationing recently in Vail, Colorado, Kirk Bloede, a New York investment banker, decided to call home. Using his AT&T credit card, he completed the call from a pay phone in a tavern, and as he said later, "I thought no more about it." After returning home, Bloede found that he had been billed by a company he had never heard of -- International Telecredit Inc. -- and that the cost, just over $5, was more than twice what he had paid for other calls of comparable length. "Not only was the price high -- more than $1 a minute," Bloede said, "but I didn't even know I was buying a more expensive product." Kenneth McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action, a San Francisco consumer group, recently paid another long-distance company, Elcotel, $5.13 for a six-minute call from a Berkeley, California, pay phone to Washington, D.C. The same call on AT&T would have cost $1.94 Though toll charges vary from company to company, alternative operator services (AOS's), as these companies are known, generally cost two to five times more than AT&T. Many people do not realize that the pay phone they use may be tied to an alternative operator company. Unlike conventional long-distance companies, such as MCI, U.S. Sprint, Allnet, and AT&T, AOS's are wholesalers. They provide long-distance service, including operator assistance, to hotels, motels, hospitals, owners of private pay phones, and others. The establishments then resell the service to the public, receiving a commission, ranging from 15 to 20%, on each call. The alternative operator service industry began about two years ago, when AT&T stopped paying commission to sellers of its long-distance service. Roughly forty companies have been formed, and they have been tried in virtually every major hotel chain, including Hyatt, Sheraton, and Hilton. Last summer the Sheraton Corporation offered AOS services in some of its hotels but abandoned it after guests complained about the rates. William Oates, Sheraton's manager of hotel systems and telecommunications, said that during the day, the alternative companies' rates exceeded AT&T's by up to 60%; evenings and weekends, the rates were more than double AT&T's. Major AOS companies include National Telecharge, National Telephone Service Inc., and Telesphere.e Some modifications are being made, according to Paul Gamberg, president of Operator Service Providers of America, a new trade group, which has recently initiated a code of responsibility. "Overcharging has been a problem to some degree, but it has been exaggerated," he said. Alternative operator service companies do not deal directly with the public, soa traveler can use one without knowing it. Operators are not required to identify themselves to callers, and because of billing arrangements, it is possible for a traveler to use and AT&T credit card and think the call is being routed by AT&T. Some companies bill in three-minute increments (rather than the actual time of the call), and some bill for calls that do not go through, while some charge up to twice what AT&T charges for operator assistance. For callers, then, the issues are twofold: first, how do you know if the call is being carried by an alternative operator service? Second, how can you avoid being billed more than you think is reasonable? When you stay in a hotel or use a pay phone in a restaurant or bar, ask the operator whom he or she works for. If it is AT&T or another carrier that you use regularly [submitter's note: or the local telco, of course], you will pay their rate. If it is a company you haven't heard of, chances are your call will be carried by an alternative operator service. In that case, you should ask what the call will cost before you place it. Generally, the rate will be cheaper if you bill your call to a major credit card such as VISA or American Express, because the alternative operator service's cost of billing is less through these cards than if you dial directly and your bill is prepared by a local Bell company. Nonetheless, if the price seems high, there are a number of choices. The easiest is to ask the operator to connect you to your regular long-distance phone compnay. You might also try dialing your company's 800 number. MCI and U.S. Sprint, for instance, maintain toll-free numbers in all major American cities. MCI's number is 800-950-1022; U.S. Sprint's is 800-877-8000. It is also sometimes (though not always) possible to use 10XXX codes to reach your regular carrier. Under a program worked out as part of the Bell System break-up, the caller first dials whatever digit it takes to make a long-distance call. In most hotels, that is an 8. You next dial 1 and 0 followed by a three-digit code to reach the carrier. (AT&T's code, for example, is 288.) Once you reach your long-distance company, complete the call by dialing 1 followed by the area code and number. Eventually, the hotel will receive a charge for the call and bill you by mail. Generally it is not possible to make credit-card calls using 10XXX (spoken as 10 triple X) dialing. The caller may still be frustrated, however, if the phone has been wired to route all calls only to an alternative operator service. This blocking of calls, including 10XXX sequences, is common. The only choice then is to find another pay phone, preferably one owned by one of the Bell companies. Under terms of the Bell System break-up, local phone companies may not automatically direct calls to any single carrier. The Federal Communications Commission, saying it has received hundreds of complaints about alternative operator services from consumers, has issued an advisory urging travelers to ask beforehand whether a call is being handled by an alternative operator service, and, if so, what the cost will be. At least twenty-five state regulatory commissions, as well as a committee of the House of Representatives, have begun inquiries into alternative operator services. AT&T has started mailing letters to its credit card holders, alerting them to the proliferation of alternative operator companies and suggesting things, similar to the advice given above, that card holders can do to avoid paying higher rates. One reason the FCC has hesitated to order changes in the way alternative operator services work is that they represent competition for other companies. To maintain their competitive position, though, the alternative operator services have had to innovate. One company, International Telecharge, offers operators fluent in several languages. Others, including Micro Devices Inc. and Automatic Communications Inc., are starting a service that allows callers to record a message if the party the caller is trying to reach is not home. The service redials the number every ten minutes until the party answers; the message is then played back. Industry representatives say that alternative operator services are making other adjustments. Many of them have cut prices in recent weeks. The code of responsibility requires members to post signs in hotel rooms and on private pay phones notifying users that their call is not being carried by a conventional long-distance company. It also requires alternative operator service operators to identify themselves each time they answer a call. And it condemns price gouging and the practice of blocking. About twenty-five of the forty alternative operator service companies, including most of the larger companies, have joined the trade association and, according to Gamberg, the association has the support of the FCC and state regulatory agencies. If consumers continue to pay more for AOS service than service from AT&T, he said, it is because the alternative operator service companies face higher costs than AT&T for billing and collection. Still, consumer activists remain concerned. They note that the practice of blocking remains legal, that operators are not compelled by law to identify themselves, and that, in any case, adhering to the new code of responsibility is voluntary. * * * [Submitter's note: yes, I am aware of several inaccuracies in Berg's article; I considered it more important to spread what was being told than to interrupt it just to repeat things that most of you aleady know. Still laughing at the thought that the code of responsiblity means anything, David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com] ------------------------------ Subject: CCITT facsimile standards Date: Sat, 27 Aug 88 09:18:49 -0400 From: Steve Elias >From: robert@eva.slu.se (Robert Olsson datoravd, EMC tfn 018-172581) >Subject: image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted >Has anybody made an implementation of the codes in the CCITT T.4 telefax >recommendation. I think it's called modified Huffman code and is used to >compress scanned images in facsimile machines. I've stared at codes for >some time now and may be capable of encoding from run lengths to Huffman >codes - but decoding Huffman codes into run lengths ? To do that I would >definitely need the algorithm. Where can I find it ? Or code? yes. the coding scheme is as you describe. the code that i wrote for this is in one of the PC-Fax hardware/software products available today. it's not mine to give away, but i could probably give you yet more free advice, Robert, if you can get mail to me. the algorithm itself isn't that complex -- optimizing it is a different story. regarding the algorithm: the principle of Huffman coding allows you to determine the value of a bit string of any length -- not a single one of the code strings is the same as the prefix to any of the longer code strings. another factor: be sure to re-re-check the piles of Huffman and run length codes after you type them in. a single typo will result in nasty bugs. by the way, there should be an addendum to the CCITT fax spec soon, which will standardize gray-scale fax images as well. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 29-Aug-88 23:50:45-EDT,12009;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Mon 29 Aug 88 23:50:43-EDT Date: 29 Aug 88 22:09-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #136 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Monday, August 29, 1988 10:09PM Volume 8, Issue 136 Today's Topics: Warning: free LDS-weather-call may show up on your bill, too! Submission for comp-dcom-telecom TDD line conflicted Re: Israeli Phone system Re: AT&T letter to AT&T Cardholders on COCOTs (AOS) Re: recording from another area code/long-distance call to ANAC Re: image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Aug 1988 11:08:36 CDT From: Werner Uhrig Reply-To: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) Subject: Warning: free LDS-weather-call may show up on your bill, too! a few weeks back I remarked about a free weather-report call LDS had offered in their last bill; well, wouldn't you know, it showed up in this month's bill !! and, would you be surprised that LDS-customer service blamed the computer? just in case YOU took them up on that free offer: check for that call on your next bill ... PS: does anyone know if we are still getting charged for a call by the non-ATT LD-companies if the phone rings more than a certain times (6?!) - I see too many 1-minute calls on my bill not to wonder ... - maybe ATT "improved" their service and started doing the same now... (just being sarcastic here) --------------------------> please send REPLIES to <------------------------ INTERNET: werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Internet # 128.83.144.1) or: werner%rascal.ics.utexas.edu@cs.utexas.edu UUCP: .....!cs.utexas.edu!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!werner ALTERNATIVE: werner@astro.as.utexas.edu OR werner@utastro.UUCP ------------------------------ From: kuling!news@uunet.UU.NET Date: 26 Aug 88 20:40:47 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: kuling!bmc1!eva!robert From: robert@eva.slu.se (Robert Olsson datoravd, EMC tfn 018-172581) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.dcom.modems,comp.dcom.telecom Subject: image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted Message-ID: <2535@eva.slu.se> Date: 26 Aug 88 17:14:21 GMT Organization: SLU, Swedish university of agricultural sciences Lines: 9 Has anybody made an implementation of the codes in the CCITT T.4 telefax recommendation. I think it's called modified Huffman code and is used to compress scanned images in facsimile machines. I've stared at codes for some time now and may be capable of encoding from run lengths to Huffman codes - but decoding Huffman codes into run lengths ? To do that I would definitely need the algorithm. Where can I find it ? Or code? Robert Olsson Swedish university of agricultural sciences ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 88 15:41 EST From: Timothy Stark <11TSTARK%GALLUA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: TDD line conflicted Hello Telecom Users: Last night, I went to Ely Center at Gallaudet University. There are the two pay phone booths on the wall. I tried to call to 1-800-855-1155 and put handle on TDD. I get "MAY I HELP YOU Q GA" message. I collect from 202 area code to call to 412 area code. A girl tried to call to the same phone number on other pay phone booth while I get complete dailing to 412 area code. Then, both TDD conflcted and put garbled messages on my tdd and her tdd the same time! What happened or line problems? I will show you that time suquence for both phones: Pay Phone #1 Pay Phone #2 ------------ ------------ I dialed to 1-800-855-1155 - null - "OPR NBR MAY I HELP YOU Q GA" - null - I collected from 202-544-8979 - null - call to 412-xxx-xxxx. "THANK YOU PLS HOLD" She dailed to 1-800-855-1155 (Completed dailing) (Completed connect to OPR) "XEBREHJD&SWNXSBSSGH" "SVVVSFGEUUHJSGBVBVBSTY" (Hung up, I tried to call (Hung up, She tried dial again.) again.) -- It results the same above! -- (Hung up, wait...) (Hung up, She tried dial again.) (I dialed again) "OPR NBR MAY I HELP YOU Q GA" (No ringing or no busy signal!) I believe that both crashed lines! What happened???? -- Tim Stark +=============================================================================+ | Timothy Stark | BitNet: 11TSTARK@GALLUA.BITNET | | Gallaudet University | Internet: 11TSTARK%GALLUA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU | | P.O. Box 1453 | UUCP: ...!psuvax1!gallua.bitnet!11tstark | | Washington, DC. 20002 | CSNET: 11TSTARK%GALLUA.BITNET@RELAY.CS.NET | | USA | QLink: TimS18 | +=============================================================================+ "The deaf people called the only university for the deaf." ------------------------------ From: munnari!stcns3.stc.oz.au!dave@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) Subject: Re: Israeli Phone system Date: 29 Aug 88 01:10:59 GMT Reply-To: dave%stcns3.stc.OZ@uunet.UU.NET (Dave Horsfall) In article smb@research.att.com writes: | Are American cordless phones usable with the Israeli phone system? In Australia at least, cordless phones are prohibited imports. That's not to say we don't have them here, but imports are likely to (and do!) use frequencies assigned to other services - emergency, bush fire etc etc. Since there is no standard for cordless phone freqs, I would guess this would apply to the rest of the world as well. -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU), Alcatel-STC Australia, dave@stcns3.stc.oz dave%stcns3.stc.OZ.AU@uunet.UU.NET, ...munnari!stcns3.stc.OZ.AU!dave UUCP does it with a bang! ------------------------------ From: dritchey@ihlpb.att.com Date: Mon, 29 Aug 88 09:37 CDT Subject: Re: AT&T letter to AT&T Cardholders on COCOTs (AOS) Summary: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu: In article (Message-ID: ), you wrote > Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 134, message 2 > > In reference to the letter that AT&T sent out to it's AT&T Cardholders > about AOS (Alternate Operator Services)... > - > Why does AT&T manufacture COCOTS that don't let the customer choose > an AT&T Card call by dialing 10288 directly? The COCOTs that AT&T makes > tend to be some of the worst in respect to choosing a regular Bell > operator. Almost universally, the owner of the COCOT blocks out all but > the AOS services, and the AT&T COCOTs seem to be best at doing so! Almost universally, number screening and the like is handled by a LD carrier in the nearest switching office. (I see no reason that an AOS need be any different.) The phone itself would very likely have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with blocking access to 10XXX numbers. (Most phones aren't that smart.) Almost any electronic switching system has the ability to block access to 10XXX calls. Our (AT&T's) Number 5ESS* has it, I am sure that most others would provide it as well. It is provided because that is what the customer (the telephone operating companies) ask for. If the COCOT provider uses a modern switch, I see no reason why blocking of 10XXX calls cannot provided on whatever switch they use. (* 5ESS is a registered trademark of AT&T) I would imagine (I have no proof, as I am not in that line of business) that AT&T sells its pay telephones like it sells any other type of customer owned equipment. The only difference here is that the phone is owned by one person for another to use. I also expect that AT&T would not be permitted to discriminate between customers based on anything other that their demonstrated ability (or lack thereof) to pay their bills. > Looks like AT&T is trying to have it both ways...I wonder how their > public relations dept. would answer a question like this... > (Err...assuming they bother to answer, that is...) Please note, I am not in public relations, I work in switching systems R&D. I DO NOT SPEAK FOR AT&T. I am addressing the question of how any switching system handles digit analysis. Any other comments are my own speculation about general business practices. AGAIN, I DO NOT SPEAK FOR AT&T. > -Doug > usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp) Don -- Don Ritchey (312) 979-6179, AT&T Bell Laboratories, IH 2F-416 att!ihlpl!dritchey or dritchey@ihlpl.att.com {for smart mailers} ------------------------------ From: brian@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Brian Cuthie) Subject: Re: recording from another area code/long-distance call to ANAC Date: 29 Aug 88 18:46:45 GMT Reply-To: brian@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Brian Cuthie) In article David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com writes: >When I dialed it directly (1-212-540-3000) I got rejection messages from US >Sprint, from MCI, and from AT&T indicating they could not complete the >call. The AT&T message was "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. >508-2T." Funny, I was calling from a New Hampshire telephone (NPA 603), >but got an area 508 message! > This gets even better ! I tried dialing 1-212-540-3000 from work, where we us MCI (ugh!), and got the following message everytime: "We're sorry. MCI does not complete calls to 976 at this time. 2BZ" WHAT !? I didn't dial a 976 number !! What's worse is: what if they *had* completed it ? I could have been charged out the whazoo for what I thought was a normal long distance call. What is going on here ?? Obviously there is some number translation going on here but who said they could do it to a more expensive number without telling me !? cheers, brian ------------------------------ From: elroy!suned1!efb@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Everett F. Batey II) Subject: Re: image compressing in facsimile machines - algorithm wanted Date: 28 Aug 88 07:25:34 GMT Reply-To: elroy!suned1!efb@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Everett F. Batey II) In article robert@eva.slu.se (Robert Olsson datoravd, EMC tfn 018-172581) writes: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > >Has anybody made an implementation of the codes in the CCITT T.4 telefax There are many ( software and hardware ). Unicon ( suned1!unicon!psc@elroy.JPL .NASA.Gov did ours. I STRONGLY urge you invest in the CCITT Red Book, in english from some outfit in Vienna, VA, USA. Or find your government rep to the CCITT for local availability. There are many qualities of implementations of Gp IV, 6X to 40X or better of compression and seconds to minutes to do the lookups. It appears the standard may be partly implemented ( like Gp III ) or VERY FULLY, MUCH better but slower. This is a LOT of work to implement. -- suned1!efb@elroy.JPL.Nasa.Gov sun!tsunami!suned1!efb efbatey@NSWSES.ARPA Any statements / opinions made here are mine, alone, not those of the United States, the DoD, the Navy, the Congress, the Judiciary, nor ... ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 1-Sep-88 01:52:12-EDT,7247;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 1 Sep 88 01:52:10-EDT Date: 1 Sep 88 00:56-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #137 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, September 1, 1988 12:56AM Volume 8, Issue 137 Today's Topics: AT&T PDS wiring... help! International Calls via MCI and US Sprint Credit Cards Submission for comp-dcom-telecom ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: unet!billp.unet.pacbell.COM!billp@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bill W. Putney) Subject: AT&T PDS wiring... help! Date: 30 Aug 88 17:56:19 GMT Reply-To: billp@unet.PacBell.COM () I'm wiring a new campus for telephone/data. I understand that there is a new (proposed?) standard for modular connector (RJ-45 - 8 pin) wiring that is being used by the operating companies. The new standard applies to intra-building wiring and provides 4 twisted pairs to each jack from an IDF. The idea is that ISDN is comming and this new wiring plan will facilitate that implimentation. It is also specified for the physical layer connections in 10baseT (or so I've heard). I think BellCore and AT&T calls this the Premise Distribution System (PDS). I got the idea when I started that "everyone" knew all about this and that I could just tell the contractor to "wire it to PDS spec." and like magic it would get wired right. As it turns out nobody knows what I'm talking about. Nobody knows what pairs go on what pins in the connector, this is the real problem. I have about 1000 locations to be wired and need some accurate information (in a hurry!). Please keep it simple like; tip pair 1 - pin 5 ring pair 1 - pin 4 ... Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 88 13:54:20 MST From: "Robert Maier" Subject: International Calls via MCI and US Sprint Credit Cards I recently determined which countries are reachable through MCI and US Sprint by means of their respective credit cards ("MCI Card" and "FON Card"). The following table lists them. MCI answered my request for information without difficulty. A supervisor at US Sprint told me that US Sprint normally does not release such information, considering it proprietary. However, he sent me a photocopy of an internal US Sprint document that lists the reachable countries. The below table does not indicate which, if any, of the countries are off-net (reached automatically through AT&T lines). A few weeks ago US Sprint introduced residential service to all direct dial countries, most of which are off-net. It is possible that some of the new off-net countries can be reached with US Sprint's FON Card, too. Country Country Code Credit Card Carriers ------- ------------ -------------------- Algeria 213 MCI Andorra 33 MCI, US Sprint Argentina 54 MCI Australia 61 MCI, US Sprint Bahrain 973 MCI Belgium 32 MCI, US Sprint Brazil 55 MCI Cyprus 357 MCI Denmark 45 MCI, US Sprint Ecuador 593 MCI Egypt 20 MCI Finland 358 MCI France 33 MCI, US Sprint French Antilles 596 MCI French Guiana 594 MCI French Polynesia 689 MCI Germany (East) 37 MCI, US Sprint Germany (West) 49 US Sprint Greece 30 MCI Guadeloupe 590 MCI Guam 671 MCI, US Sprint Honduras 504 MCI Hong Kong 852 MCI Ireland 353 MCI, US Sprint Israel 972 MCI Italy 39 MCI Japan 81 MCI, US Sprint Jordan 962 MCI Kenya 254 MCI Kuwait 965 MCI Liechtenstein 41 MCI Luxembourg 352 MCI Macao 853 MCI Malawi 265 MCI, US Sprint Malaysia 60 MCI Monaco 33 MCI, US Sprint Netherlands 31 MCI, US Sprint New Caledonia 687 MCI New Zealand 64 MCI, US Sprint Norway 47 MCI Oman 968 MCI, US Sprint Pakistan 92 MCI Papua New Guinea 675 MCI, US Sprint Portugal 351 MCI Qatar 974 MCI Saipan 670 US Sprint San Marino 39 MCI Saudi Arabia 966 MCI Senegal 221 MCI Singapore 65 MCI, US Sprint South Africa 27 MCI Spain 34 MCI, US Sprint Sri Lanka 94 MCI St. Pierre & Miquelon 508 MCI Sweden 46 MCI, US Sprint Switzerland 41 MCI, US Sprint Taiwan 886 MCI Tanzania 255 MCI, US Sprint Thailand 66 MCI Tunisia 216 MCI United Arab Emirates 971 MCI United Kingdom 44 MCI, US Sprint Vatican City 39 MCI Venezuela 58 MCI Yemen Arab Republic 967 MCI Zambia 260 MCI ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert S. Maier | Internet: rsm@amethyst.ma.arizona.edu Dept. of Math. | UUCP: ..{allegra,cmcl2,hao!noao}!arizona!amethyst!rsm Univ. of Arizona | Bitnet: maier@arizrvax Tucson, AZ 85721 | Phone: +1 602 621 6893 / +1 602 621 2617 ------------------------------ From: rja Date: 31 Aug 88 11:43:58 GMT Subject: Submission for comp-dcom-telecom Path: edison!rja From: rja@edison.GE.COM (rja) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Call Completion & Billing Message-ID: <1634@edison.GE.COM> Date: 31 Aug 88 11:43:57 GMT References: Organization: GE-Fanuc North America Lines: 36 In article , werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Werner Uhrig) writes: [stuff deleted] > PS: does anyone know if we are still getting charged for a call by the > non-ATT LD-companies if the phone rings more than a certain > times (6?!) - I see too many 1-minute calls on my bill not to > wonder ... > - maybe ATT "improved" their service and started > doing the same now... (just being sarcastic here) AT&T is the only carrier which always waits 5 seconds beyond the ACTUAL answering of the telphone on the other end before starting billing. In many cases both MCI and Sprint ASSUME the call is complete after a fixed period of time even though the other end might not have answered. Most of the remaining telcos also have circuits without complete call-detection equipment. In general though, if both ends of the LD circuit end in local CBXs that have been converted over to "equal-access" actual call detection equipment is probably being used. This is one reason I find it cheaper to use AT&T than MCI or Sprint. Another is that MCI and Sprint are at best 1 cent per minute cheaper on my typical LD calls -- it pays to comparison shop using your own "typical mix" of calls. Oh and AT&T bills correctly the first time and will give immediate "no-hassle" credit on wrong numbers. ** I am not affiliated with any telco or LD carrier ** ______________________________________________________________________________ rja@edison.GE.COM or ...uunet!virginia!edison!rja via Internet (preferable) via uucp (if you must) ______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 1-Sep-88 21:57:10-EDT,10900;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Thu 1 Sep 88 21:57:08-EDT Date: 1 Sep 88 20:26-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #138 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Thursday, September 1, 1988 8:26PM Volume 8, Issue 138 Today's Topics: Re: AT&T letter to AT&T Cardholders on COCOTs (AOS) AT&T manufactured COCOTs Telecommunicating from the Boonies RS232 Cables an interesting license plate... Re: Call Completion & Billing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 31 Aug 88 23:21:25 EDT From: johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) Subject: Re: AT&T letter to AT&T Cardholders on COCOTs (AOS) Reply-To: harvard!ima!johnl@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (John R. Levine) In article dritchey@ihlpb.att.com writes: >> Why does AT&T manufacture COCOTS that don't let the customer choose >> an AT&T Card call by dialing 10288 directly? ... > >Almost universally, number screening and the like is handled by a LD >carrier in the nearest switching office. (I see no reason that an AOS >need be any different.) The phone itself would very likely have >absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with blocking access to 10XXX >numbers. (Most phones aren't that smart.) COCOTs are. They are designed to be attached to regular phone lines but to hijack all of your toll calls to the AOS provider that serves the COCOT. The local telco has not particular fondtness for COCOTs and provides no special services for them other than perhaps to block incoming collect calls. The COCOT typically buffers up the number you dial and then prefixes it by a long string of digits that calls the AOS and passes it the number you want. COCOTs probably make most of their money from the AOS charging you $3.00 for a call that would normally cost 60 cents, so they have a vested interest in making it as hard as possible to bypass the AOS. On a somewhat different note, I notice that I can now stick a regular credit card in an AT&T card caller phone (a coinless phone that makes it hard to call LD companies other than AT&T but you do get regular AT&T rates) and it changes the call to that credit card. It sounds like it passes the card number as DTMF digits more or less the same way it passes the calling card number if you use an AT&T card. Is it possible to dial the digits yourself and charge calls from regular phones to your (e.g.) Visa card? -- John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869 { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something Rome fell, Babylon fell, Scarsdale will have its turn. -G. B. Shaw ------------------------------ From: covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) Date: 31 Aug 88 23:13 Subject: AT&T manufactured COCOTs In V8#136, Don Ritchey (312) 979-6179, AT&T Bell Laboratories, IH 2F-416 writes: >Almost universally, number screening and the like is handled by a LD >carrier in the nearest switching office. (I see no reason that an AOS >need be any different.) The phone itself would very likely have >absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with blocking access to 10XXX >numbers. (Most phones aren't that smart.) COCOTs are very different than normal payphones. Almost universally, COCOT payphones are microprocessor controlled, and the AT&T manufactured COCOTs are no exception. When the receiver is lifted, dial tone is provided by the phone itself. Digits are interpreted according to tables contained in the telephone, which contain entries detailing not only what digit sequences are allowed, but also which particular carrier to use for each call. The tables are completely under control of the owner of the phone, who can choose to allow or block access to any digit sequence. AT&T would probably get in serious legal trouble if they sold phones which could *not* block access to AT&T! In many cases, the phone doesn't even initiate dialing until *after* the billing information has been entered. A COCOT located in the Acton Center store accepts the billing information and is polite enough to use AT&T if an AT&T card is entered after the number, but contacts an AOS if "0" or nothing is dialed when the caller is prompted by the "bong" for billing information. /john ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 88 20:31:08 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu re: Weather Trak - Hmm....I tried that Weather Trak number for the North Pole, and the system told me it was 64 degrees and partly cloudy. Guess it's not as bad up there as I thought! :-) Seems like a mistake, although I doubt anyone noticed since I'm sure few people check out the temps at the North Pole with any frequency... - Also, Weather Trak recently changed it's numbers in New York. Previously, it was at 212-355-1212, a local call (10 cents) to people in the City, and maybe 20 cents or so for suburban callers. - Now, they put it on the interractive 540 exchange, at 540-3000, and charge 60 cents for the first minute, and 25 cents each additional, with no evening/night discount. - If anyone calls this new Weather Trak number, I would suggest calling another one long distance, such as 215-222-2222, which is Weather Trak in Philadelphia. It's exactly the same system, but you pay maybe 25 cents (daytime) or 14 cents (AT&T night w/o Reach Out America plan) for the initial minute. I can't see why anyone would call the New York 540 number, when they can call long distance for a lot cheaper. - I wonder if enough people will do this so that Weather Trak will go back to their old number, or at least a 976 number which under the new 976/970/550/540 plan in New York charges 28 cents per call (25 cents from a payphone, for obvious reasons...). - If anyone wants a list of Weather Trak "ports" which you can access I think I saved it somewhere. I'll dig it up if anyone care... - -Doug - usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp) ------------------------------ From: drd!mark@uunet.UU.NET (Mark Lawrence) Subject: Telecommunicating from the Boonies Date: 31 Aug 88 21:51:50 GMT Reply-To: drd!mark@uunet.UU.NET (Mark Lawrence) We have a customer who wants to do some mobile data communication. He has a car phone, see, and a computer and a modem and he wants to telecommunicate using his modem and carphone much as if he were at his desk. One problem -- this is in the boonies of western Canada and the carphone he has is a radio mobile phone, not the dial-type cellular phones we get spoiled with in metro areas. Seems it works more like a CB than a phone. Question: does anybody have any pointers as to how to use a modem in a situation like this? Are there special products (which don't require the leasing of a satellite channel and special video compression equipment or some such hi-tech nonsense) that handle datacomm in this kind of situation? Any experiences and pointers to vendors or consultants would be appreciated. Mark -- 5506 South Lewis | [uunet!apctrc,romed,tulsun]!drd!mark Tulsa, Ok 74105 (918)664-9010 | mlawrence@jarsun1.ZONE1.COM "Any Quantum Mechanic in the Service would give a month's pay to get his hands on one of these babies..." -- Forbidden Planet ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Sep 88 10:09:34 edt From: thinder@nswc-wo.ARPA Subject: RS232 Cables This is an open question to this group. If there is a more appropriate group to post this to, please tell me. I am a govenment employee at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Silver spring MD. We operate a fairly large Broadband LAN, and as you might expect make "lots" of connections via RS232 cables. I am directly involved in auditing the work performed by the contractor and this includes the cables that they make. We "understand" the standards as they apply to the connector and the signals, what we don't have is a standard that relates to the finished product, the completed cable and its assembly. If a group of us were to "disect" a cable we "might" aggree as to the "goodness" of a particular cable. What we seek is a standarnd that discribes in detail, tests that will adequately determine the quality of the completed product. Currently we use three types of connectors, solder type, AMP crimp pin, and a crimp pin type made by Terminal Data. These differnet connectors are used to meet differing cable requirements. In my research, I called several cable manufacturers and was "surprised" that they adhere to no single FED/MIL/EIA/other standard. The people at Black Box simply said they "only make good cables". So if anyone on this interest group has any ideas, please E-mail me your answers. Thanks, Tom Hinders Naval Surface Warfare Center Silver Spring, MD 20902 301 394 4225 thinder@nswc-oas.arpa ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Sep 88 13:17:05 edt From: harriss@market.Alliant.COM (Martin Harriss) Subject: an interesting license plate... While driving home from work the other night on route 287 in New Jersey, I noticed the following New York state license plate: C CRUNCH Anyone on this list claim ownership? or perhaps it was just a cerial company executive :-) Martin Harriss alliant!harriss ------------------------------ From: amossb@umbio.MIAMI.EDU (A. Mossberg) Subject: Re: Call Completion & Billing Date: 1 Sep 88 17:16:48 GMT Reply-To: aem@Mthvax.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg) In , wrote: >[...] >"typical mix" of calls. Oh and AT&T bills correctly the first time and >will give immediate "no-hassle" credit on wrong numbers. Well, that should be "tends to bill correctly". I've had plenty of errors, but far fewer than other LD carriers.. aem -- a.e.mossberg - aem@mthvax.miami.edu - aem@mthvax.span (3.91) This is no time to be fighting each other; What we need, what we need---Solidarity. Steven Van Zandt "Solidarity" ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest ********************* 6-Sep-88 20:38:35-EDT,13543;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from XX.LCS.MIT.EDU by XX.LCS.MIT.EDU with Chaos/SMTP; Tue 6 Sep 88 20:38:32-EDT Date: 6 Sep 88 19:25-EDT From: The Moderator (JSol) Subject: TELECOM Digest V8 #139 To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU Reply-To: Telecom@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU TELECOM Digest Tuesday, September 6, 1988 7:25PM Volume 8, Issue 139 Today's Topics: misattribution Re: AT&T PDS wiring... help! cordless phone Re: an interesting license plate... Group 3 Fax Protocol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com Subject: misattribution Date: Mon Aug 29 23:22:19 1988 In Telecom Digest, v8, #136, Brian Cuthie wrote this: *------------------------------ * *From: brian@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Brian Cuthie) *Subject: Re: recording from another area code/long-distance call to ANAC *Date: 29 Aug 88 18:46:45 GMT *Reply-To: brian@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Brian Cuthie) * * *In article David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com writes: *>When I dialed it directly (1-212-540-3000) I got rejection messages from US *>Sprint, from MCI, and from AT&T indicating they could not complete the *>call. The AT&T message was "Your call cannot be completed as dialed. *>508-2T." Funny, I was calling from a New Hampshire telephone (NPA 603), *>but got an area 508 message! *> * I wrote nothing of the kind! Dave Cantor wrote that, and I was quoting it from Digest v8, #128, in order to respond to it. David_W_Tamkin@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ From: nusdhub!rwhite@ucsd.edu (Robert C. White Jr.) Subject: Re: AT&T PDS wiring... help! Date: 2 Sep 88 20:05:31 GMT in article , unet!billp.unet.pacbell.COM!billp@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bill W. Putney) says: > Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 137, message 1 > X-Submissions-To: telecom@xx.lcs.mit.edu (Mailing List Coordinator) > X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > > I'm wiring a new campus for telephone/data. I understand that there is > a new (proposed?) standard for modular connector (RJ-45 - 8 pin) wiring > that is being used by the operating companies. The new standard applies to > intra-building wiring and provides 4 twisted pairs to each jack from an > IDF. The idea is that ISDN is comming and this new wiring plan will > facilitate that implimentation. It is also specified for the physical > layer connections in 10baseT (or so I've heard). > > tip pair 1 - pin 5 > ring pair 1 - pin 4 > ... How it works here: on the 66 block in your phone room: (repeated for every four pair) 66blk conductor color function 1 blue-white tip 2 blue ring 3 orange-white data out (out?) 4 orange data out (in?) e.g. current loop ish 5 green-white data in (out?) 6 green data in (in?) see above 7 brown-white power1 (rarely used) 8 brown power2 (rarely used) on any modular plug in the system: (meanings the same by color) modular conductor color 1 orange-white 2 orange 3 green-white 4 blue 5 blue-white 6 green 7 brown-white 8 brown You will note the odd jumbling of the color orders for the modular connectors. This keeps the blue pair (tip and ring) in the *center* of the modular jack so that any size plug (4, 6, or 8 wide) will line up these two conductors, thus making it safe to install eight-wide jacks throughout your building. Digital handsets, and hybred handsets use the orange and green pairs. Similarly twisted pair networks use these same conductors, so if you intend to use both digital instruments and a building-wireing lan, you will need two jacks or to do some non-standard wireing. Power 1&2 are for things like lighted keysets and princess phones. I am shure it is also "reserved for future use" Most of the AT&T sanctioned equiptment which combines an anilog(normal) handset and either a digital device *or* a LAN will contain the breakout for the analog set within the digital device. [Starlan cards, for instance, have three jacks; in; out; and phone; and act as the splitter. you plug the board into the wall and your phone into the board.] I punch down all my one network stuff here, and many of the phones related to them. I may have gotten the purpose of the individual conductors in a pair backwards (e.g. reversed tip and ring; or reversed data-in-in and data-in-out) But the color-coding and the wireing concept are correct, and properly in order. The blue and the blue-white are reversed on the modular connecters to keep the white, solid, white, solid... pattern in the connectors. You will also note that on every 66 block, you have 25 pair and the standard only uses the first 24. The last pair is waste unless you do something nonstandard. 50-pin-AMP-to-6-X-4pair-modular connectors are commonly available. If you use the 66blk wiring EVERY TIME, the connections will remain consistant, even if you are making a jack-to-jack connection through your building wiring. The modular spec is for left-to-right when you look at the top of the plug (connector side up/tab down) while holding the wire. (see figure) O O G B B G B B W S W S W S W S [ | | | | | | | | ] [ | | | | | | | | ] [ | | | | | | | | ] [-----------------] [^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^] [-----------------] [ ] [-----------------] *** *** Rob. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Sep 88 22:12:54 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu The New York 212-540 prefix is indeed a special one. One can only dial it in one's own area code. IE, from 914 (Westchester County), you can dial 540-3000, but not 212-540-3000 or any other number with the 540 prefix. - The same goes for the 550 "Chat Line" services in the New York Metro area. One can only dial 550-xxxx; if it's preceeded by an area code the call will not go through. - The 970 prefix used to allow you to put an area code in front of it when calling from the New York area, but then they put adlut messages there and stopped that, maybe because it would be easier to block if blocking was desired. - You can still call the 976 numbers in New York by placing an area code in front of 976-1212 for the region in which you desire weather. IE, 914-976-1212 gives you the weather in Westchester, 212 gives New York City, 516 Long Island, etc. - Both the 976 and the 970 numbers can be accessed from outside the New York area as a toll call. Some areas (Minneapolis, perhaps?) don't allow 976 calls from outside the area (612), but this is probably because the Bell Co. there puts all sorts of programs on the 976 prefix, like weather, chat lines, and interractive, and does not want out-of-area callers participating in local chat lines (??). Cities like LA do seem to be accessible from outside the area, so I'n not exactly sure shy some areas do indeed premit long distance callers to access their services and some do not. Anyonee have any ideas on this? - Finally, I noticed that the 450 "exchange" in New York is not used in 212 OR 718, which is odd, since almost every other exchange that the telco doesn't use for itself is occupied. Yet the 450 exchange doesn't seem to do anything. The minute you dial 450 (from both Crossabar and ESS/DMS/etc exchanges), you get a "Sorry..call can't be completed" message. What could they be saving this one for??? Hmmmm..... - Doug - usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Sep 88 22:11:20 EDT From: Christopher Chung Subject: cordless phone I am look for the longest range cordless phone I can get. Does anyone know what the longest range that is possible or exists? Who makes it and where can I get one? I would like to use it in a building but the problem is that there is a lot of steel and computers. We have tried a 1000 foot cordless and that almost does it. I think one that is a little stronger will just fit the ticket. Anyone know where I could get one to try? Chris ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Sep 88 22:33:32 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu Regarding ringback, New England Tel and Southern New England Tel seem to use the 951-xxxx to 998-xxxx pattern. In Middletown, CT, 992 to 996 worked fine, whereas in other areas in Mass and Rhode Island seem to use lower the 981 to 991 "prefixes". - New York City had/has(?) a weird system, where you dial 660 from any phone in any exchange, wait for a dial tone, and then dial 2# (or 112 from a rotary), get a higher pitched tone, hang up, and the phone rings. It no longer seems to work, but besides doing ringback, 660-4# would also "hang" your phone for a while. Callers would get a busy signal, and you couldn't get a dial tone for about 3 minutes. I'm sure there were other funtions as well, although I never figured them out. Is the 660 still used for anything? When I dial it I get a second tone, but none of the old numbers seem to do anything... - Oh, and incidentally, in case no one mentioned it, ANAC (ANI?) for 212/718 New York City is 958, and dialing exchange xxx-9901 will usually get a recording or computer telling you the area code and exchange you dialed. (IE, 516-484-9901 says "You have reached the Roslyn DMS, handling codes 621,625 626, 629, 686 and 484. ESS's and crossbars generally have a computer recording, although the 718-358 (FLUshing) 5ESS also has a 'DMS-type' recording.) - Does anyone have the ANAC code(s) for Westchester County and/or Connecticut (the non-NY Tel area of CT, which is most of it, . fortunately! :-) ) I've tried to find them for CT for some time, but there doesn't seem to be one. The linemen just call the operator and ask her. Guess it's just as good.... - Doug - usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Sep 88 23:09:10 EDT From: USEREAFJ%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu I also tried calling the weather in London and it appears to have been changed to a U.S.-type private provider system. When you call 44-224-8091 you get a recording telling you to call "0898-654-600" for the recording nearest you. Calling 44-1-246-8091 gives you a recording with the number 0898-600-290, which is a service provided by Cablecom. (The one in Scottland sounded like it was operated by a system called "Grandpa", but I may have missed the real name due to the accent or the static...) The recordings let you know that British Telecom stopped their own weather service on June 30th. - I can't seem to reach the 898 numbers, and I have tried 011-44-1-0898m as well as 011-44-1-898, and just 011-44-898-xxx-xxx. Maybe it's restricted to the U.K. only? - Also, dialing 44-246-8091 (IE, leaving out the 1 for London) yileds (yields) the time instead of the weather recording. How do people living in London manage to call the time? I recall when I was in London that one didn't have to dial a 1+ for the time or weather, so if the two numbers are the same except for the 1+, how does British Telecom distinguish between the two? (Or rather, how DID it, now that the weather has been changed?) Or is there a different number callers in London use? - Doug - usereafj@rpitsmts.bitnet (temp.) ------------------------------ From: unet!unet.pacbell.COM!childers@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Richard Childers) Subject: Re: an interesting license plate... Date: 6 Sep 88 17:13:32 GMT Reply-To: childers@unet.PacBell.COM (Richard Childers) In article harriss@market.Alliant.COM (Martin Harriss) writes: >X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp (USENET Telecom Moderator) > >While driving home from work the other night on route 287 in New Jersey, >I noticed the following New York state license plate: > > C CRUNCH > That person may be *claiming* to be 'the' Captain Crunch, but I am certain that the individual in question - *the* Captain Crunch - lives in the East Bay of The San Francisco Bay Area and is reachable occasionally at well!crunch. He's one of the individuals whom introduced me to UNIX, as a matter of fact ... -- richard -- "The leach's kiss, the squid's embrace, ..!{amdahl,ames,oliveb,pacbell}! The prurient ape's defiling touch: childers@chaos.unet.pacbell.COM And do you like the human race ? No, not much." -- Aldous Huxley, 'Ape And Essence' ------------------------------ From: jeff@gatech.edu (Jeff Lee) Subject: Group 3 Fax Protocol Date: 6 Sep 88 18:15:00 GMT I am doing some work where I need to understand the Group 3 fax protocol. Can anyone point me to the standards document or at least to someone who can get me a copy of the document? Thanks much, -- Jeff Lee c/o School of ICS / 225 North Ave. / Atlanta, Ga. 30332 Internet: jeff@gatech.edu postmaster@gatech.edu news@gatech.edu UUCP: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!jeff ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest *********************