TELECOM Digest Mon, 7 Mar 94 14:09:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 117 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson International vs. 900 Numbers (Will Martin) CBTA Call For Papers (Mary Nakoneczny) LD Headaches From Within an IBX System (Jonathan Lieberman) Clipped Again (A. Padgett Peterson) Pair-Gain, ADSL, HDSL Information Needed (Alex Cena) Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Phone Harrassment (Jim Thomas) Maps of LATA's in the US (Robert S. Mah) Need TAP/IXO For Alpha Pagers (George Cifrancis) Need Help With Minitel Files (Franck Nazikian) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 8:58:49 CST From: Will Martin Subject: International vs. 900 Numbers We've previously discussed the use of international numbers as opposed to 900 numbers or 800 numbers with billing for the sex-call industry; the way it works is that the caller pays the ordinary international-call rate and the provider gets a kickback from the foreign-country telco. I have a friend who recently started a 900-type call service (actually, he just provides the information and someone else actually arranged the 900 line and handles the business aspects) at 95 cents per minute for daily-updated data related to shortwave radio listening. Of course, as soon as this began, there was the usual fuss amongst some parts of the hobby about how this was too expensive and that it was inappropriate, etc. (Same sort of stuff Pat has to put up with regarding the "commercialization" issue.) One objection that IS valid, though, is that this service is not available to out-of-the-US people with the 900-number arrangement. There is a possibility it might be available to Canadian callers in the future, but that isn't definite. (In the past, this information was broadcast worldwide on a sponsored shortwave radio program, but the difficulties of keeping sponsors and the time it took to produce the program each day killed that off. During that period, though, it was freely available to anyone in the world who cared to listen and who could receive the signal. So there is an international audience but it is probably relatively small.) I'm wondering how feasible it might be to transfer this 900-service to one of the international-call arrangements. Looking through a recent men's magazine, I see a couple international-call sex services amidst the sea of 800, 900, and regular number ads. These advertise numbers in the 011-592-247-4XX and 011-373-969-00XX ranges. According to the Telecom Archives "country.codes" files, "592" is Guyana, and I recall that we mentioned that country's participation in this field before. But, unless I'm misreading the file, "373" is Moldova, and this seems very odd to me. Is Moldova really involved in this international sex-call kickback scheme? I would have thought the service to that country wouldn't have the capacity to support such a usage. I had thought these were only based in the South American/Central American/ Caribbean region. Am I being misled by the way the advertisers hyphenate these numbers? The way I show them is the way they appear in the ads. Anyway, how does one go about setting up such an arrangement? Is it at all feasible to even think about this sort of thing with a moderate volume of calls, or do the foreign telcos insist on such a high level of usage before they will begin to consent to such a scheme that the sort of special-audience appeal to a limited number of people that I'm talking about would never make it? That only the huge calling volume generated by sex-talk lines will make this setup practical or viable? (I do note that those international-number ads were larger than the run-of-the-mill 800- and 900-number ads; I guess thus more likely to generate higher call volumes.) With whom does one negotiate this arrangement? With the foreign PTT directly? With a US-based IXC? Or are there brokers who do this and you have to use their services and pay them a cut, because they have an "in" with the powers-that-be? What countries do support this sort of arrangement? Can anyone provide any sort of guesstimate as to the figures involved, such as how many cents per minute the info provider ends up with as the bottom line? Can these numbers be called as local from within their respective host countries? (I'm hoping that they are, because I wouldn't want a potential caller to be prevented from calling just because he lived in the same country where the service is based. Even though such a call wouldn't generate any revenue, it is still more important to make the information available to all.) As a separate side issue, I had first attempted to find out some international-calling information by looking in my local St. Louis 1994 Southwestern Bell white pages. I was shocked to find out that they have dropped ALL international-calling information or instructions. They replaced what I recall as several pages of country codes and instruct- ions/information with a paragraph telling people to contact their long- distance carrier for information. It sure seems that the local operating companies are taking advantage of the breakup environment to abandon their time-honored responsibility to inform and instruct their subscribers in at least the basic guidance needed to use the telephone system. Is this universal, or is this unfortunate change something local to the Midwest, and the directories for areas that perhaps have greater proportions of international-calling populations have retained the general guidance and instructions for international calling? Regards and thanks, Will [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As you point out, there is always *someone* who is unable to participate. When you were doing it via the radio, there were those folks who were unable to receive the signal due to poor propo- gation that day. Via 900, there will those folks who phone lines are blocked and with international numbers, there will be still other problems. I am beginning to think the only practical way of handling this sort of thing is by using a local seven digit number and a method of screening incoming calls to obtain payment and letting it go at that. Then, anyone who wishes to call that number can do so, and you set some small fee based on the number of minutes they use the service, etc. They can pay by credit card or by sending a check, etc and when their bulk purchase of time runs out then they either have left instructions to automatically debit their account for more time or they send a new check or whatever. I've got a machine here which will do that; you enter your password and get to listen to the message you are entitled to hear, etc. Each time you call, the clock checks your account against available minutes remaining. Call or write me and maybe we can work something out. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 12:26:41 EST From: Mary Nakoneczny Subject: CBTA Call For Papers Now is the time to begin planning for the Canadian Business Telecommunica- tions Alliance (CBTA) annual Conference and Trade Exposition - TeleCon '94. TeleCon'94 will be held at the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario on October 11 to 14, 1994. The TeleCon '94 theme is ... IMAGINATION: Our Only Limitation -------------------------------- Today's technologies and more specifically, their applications are advancing by leaps and bounds. Nowhere is this acceleration more apparent than in the telecommunications industry. Products and services that are commonplace today existed only in our imaginations as recently as a few years ago. Likewise those innovations and applications that are currently just a fantasy will be a reality in the near future. The telecommunications world of tomorrow is limited only by our imaginations today. Qualifications? At TeleCon, we address the issues of the utmost importance to Canada's telecommunications professionals. Their needs are specific, their expectations, high. Therefore, the TeleCon'94 Conference Committee requires speakers who are well-versed in and have an excellent understand- ing of the industry, its technologies, services and standards. Telecommunications professionals -- like yourself -- will continue to make the CBTA's annual Conference and Trade Exposition the forecmost source of expert development for Canada's telecommunication industry. Benefits Making the commitment to speak at TeleCon'94 will earn you and your organization recognition and admiration from your peers along with the benefits of an excelllent high profile promotional opportunity. Further, you will have the opportunity to increase you "Networking" contacts and, as a designated speaker, you will be able to attend other sessions and planned delegate activities on the day of your presentation as a guest of the CBTA. Interested? Please submit a 250 to 300 word outline of your proposed session by Monday, March 21, 1994. If you are selected we will notify you in late April and the Conference Committee will request a 2500 to 3000 word synopsis of your session for publication in the TeleCon'94 Conference Proceedings no later than July 4, 1994. Following is a list of topics to serve as a guideline for your proposal. If you have a topic about which you would like to speak that does not fall into any of the categories below, but still related to the theme, feel free to submit a proposal on that topic. What is of paramount importance is the creative and innovative uses that have been (or will be) successfully applied to technical, managerial, economic or social telecommunications enterprises. * Multimedia / Digital Convergence * Innovative Uses of Telecommunications * The Virtual Corporation - Your Back Door Neighbour * What is the Next Step in the Information Revolution * The New Information Professional * What Are Customers Looking For? Organizational Design Requirements of Information Networks * ISDN * Has Education Kept Up with the Information Age? * The Evolving Global Telecommunications Industry * Toll Fraud / Security - What's it Costing You? * Will ATM Technology Work on Satellites? * Exploring the Internet * Why Mommy and Daddy Can't Access Bulletin Boards * The Electronic Highway * Imagine If ... In addition, the TeleCon'94 Conference Committee would like to present three (3) specific sessions focusing on the interest and needs of the financial community (i.e. banking, brokerages and insurance) as well as three (3) separate sessions on government priorities. Fax, Mail or Hot-Air Balloon your ingenious proposals to: John Westover TeleCon '94 Conference Co-ordinator Suite 1160 36 Toronto Street TORONTO, Ontario M5C 2C5 Fax Number (416) 359-9909 Tel Number (416) 359-2911 Ext. 2241 Since there is not a great deal of lead time you may also send your outline via the Internet to: Mary J. Nakoneczny CBTA Conference Committee Member Internet ID: nakonem@mcc.gov.on.ca I will ensure that they are delivered to John Westover. ------------------------------ From: lie6@midway.uchicago.edu (Jonathan Lieberman) Subject: LD Headaches From Within an IBX System Reply-To: lie6@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: The University of Chicago Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 06:18:21 GMT Hello, I am a student at the University of Chicago, living in a dorm. The whole campus has a large IBX, using most (or all) of the 702 and 753 prefixes. This year my number changed from a 702 to a 753 number. Ever since then during aproximatly 35% - 50% of my long distance calls (both those that I originate, and when other people call me long distance) I hear other people (and they hear me) making long distance calls from within my building. I called the campus telecom folks who said, if you only have the problem when you are calling long distance, then it is an AT&T problem. I tried to call the AT&T operator tone, 8+xxxxxx, tone, 0, and I got a busy signal. Then I tried tone, 8+xxxxxx, tone, 10-ATT and I again I got a busy signal. Finally I called 1-800-operator, and waited for a person to appear and I had them transfer me. Sheesh! In any case eventually AT&T took my report. In my ignorace, it seems unlikely that this is an AT&T problem, since my line always seems to be crossed with people in the same building and this never used to happen until the numbers changed. Anybody have any thoughts? About the specifics of our system, I don't know if any of the following information is useful in describing the specific type of system that we have, all I know is that it is an IBX, so forgive me if the following is not useful: What I know: You can dial any 702-xxxx or 753-yyyy as 2-xxxx or 3-yyyy from within the system. Some phones (students') require an 8+ a 6 digit code to get an outside line, others (offices') require only a 9. There are 5-zzzz numbers that are only accessible from within the system, or through a 702-xxxx gateway. They offer a single package of services to students called "the big 3" that consists of call waiting (flash,*4), speed dialing (#4x), and three-way calling (call one person flash, *1, call the other flash,*1). On some phones internal and external calls ring differently. Jonathan Lieberman lie6@midway.uchicago.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Things have changed out there quite a bit since I worked in the old phone room thirty years ago and all calls went via the main switchboard on MIDway-3-0800. Then, in addition to the main switchboard where I worked, there were auxilliary switchboards in each dorm and quite a few campus departments. The dorms for example had switchboards with 20-30 extensions on them in a 'hunt group' and the local front desk clerk/operator in the dorm answered calls on those lines and in turn used the local switchboard to pass the calls to student rooms. Then the phone room was at 5801 Ellis on the sixth floor. Like yourself, I doubt that the problem you are experiencing now has anything at all to do with AT&T. There is more than likely a problem in the local switching system which is restricted to perhaps one or two circuits and when the 'luck of the draw' has your call using the troubled circuit then you get the problem you describe. It might help to isolate the problem a bit further with more specifics before going back to the admins with the complaint again. For example, do you always get the same people when this happens? You mention that they can hear you, but have you ever found out if *they* experience the same problem with still others on some percentage of their calls? Is there a certain time of day or night when this is more likely to happen than other times? Does it occur right from the instant when you dial your call and continue until/unless you disconnect and dial over or is it an intermittant thing which occurs at some point in your call and then drops out seconds or minutes later? Is there a method by which when this happens you could put the call on hold and use another phone to call the phone repair people so they could catch it right while it was happening? Quite a few years ago, when I lived near you and was serviced by the same telephone office as yourself (they call it Kenwood Bell, on the corner of 61st and Kenwood Avenue), I went for a couple weeks trying to make calls about midnight every night and *always* getting a trashy, nasty connection on my first attempt. I'd busy the line out and try again from my second line and get through okay. I never had this problem during the day -- always late at night or early in the morning. Finally a technician working nights took an interest in it and told me the next time it happened to hold the troubled circuit up on one line and call him on my other line. I did that, and while the connection was up he went in the frames (of course, frames are a thing now of the distant past) and found me; he came on the bad line (I was on there waiting for him per his instructions) and he said thanks very much, he found the booger ... and it was repaired that day. It appears the first selected trunk in a group of circuits from that phone office to another one was bad, and yes indeed, it was bad all day long but during the day when there were always calls going on, no one person would ever seize that first trunk all the time. Someone would place a call and get it, hang up in disgust and dial over. In the second or two interim, some other person would place a call and seize the bad trunk; they'd hang up and a third person would call. It was rare anyone got it two or three times in a row. When I was calling at midnight, the traffic was slow enough I *always* got the first selected trunk. By keeping it up on one line and dialing again on my second line, I'd always go around it. So you see, I suspect in your case it is much the same thing: some circuit between the campus phone exchange and Kenwood Bell (they are across the alley from each other coincidentally; the campus phone equipment is in the basement of the Center for Continuing Education on 60th Street) is bad; it is early in the selection of trunks used to place student long distance calls; no one person gets it enough of the time or with a consistency to pinpoint it. Everyone now and then gets it, considers it a fluke and hangs up to dial over; they then get a clean line because some other person got the bad one. You've noticed it is always another student which is helpful; and you've noticed it is always on a long distance call, which is also very helpful. Therefore, IMO (look, no 'H'; that's because I do not give humble opinions), one of the 'eight-level trunks' between the campus and Kenwood Bell is sour; who gets camped on it at any given time is anyone's guess. Get the name of a sympathetic person in the phone repair department; ask him if the next time it happens can you call him to go and look for it while you keep the connection up. If you want, print this note out and take it to show them; maybe that will be helpful. Let us know how this works out for you, and good luck. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 08:54:26 -0500 From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson) Subject: Clipped Again {Time Magazine}, March 14, 1994 > In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich > Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of > phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps. > When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it. This makes no sense to me. Today there is *no* privacy in phone calls so the question must have been worded so as to imply that there is for people to believe that Clipper provides *less*. > Government agencies will phase in use of Clipper technology for all > unclassified communications. Commercial use of the chip will be > voluntary -- for now. More loaded prose -- the point was missed that to use Clipper for its own "sensitive but unclassified" information meant that the gov thinks it is *good enough for government work*. > Rather than outlaw PGP and other such programs, a policy that would > probably be unconstitutional, the Administration is taking a marketing > approach. By using its purchasing power to lower the cost of Clipper > technology, and by vigilantly enforcing restrictions against overseas > sales of competing encryption systems, the government is trying to > make it difficult for any alternative schemes to become widespread. PGP is free for individual use -- you mean the government is going to *pay me* to use Clipper? > people who buy a nonstandard system might find themselves with an > untappable phone but no one to call. Except those who buy the same phone. > "The crypto genie is out of the bottle," says Steven Levy, who is writing > a book about encryption. If that's true, even the NSA may not have the > power to put it back. Never was in the bottle, just no one cared -- the corporate landscape is filled with the corpses and struggling small companies who thought that people did. Anyone know how many commercial STU-IIIs were sold last year? When I get some Clippers/Capstones, *then* I'll make my decision as to whether or not they are any good but I am getting bothered by all the people who want to deny me that chance. Warmer by the day, Padgett ps: > In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich > Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of 100,000,000 lemmings can't be wrong. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for pointing out that just maybe {Time Magazine} has its own axes to grind in this matter. Not that this Digest would ever be used to make some of my points perfectly clear, you understand :) ... PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Mar 94 10:00:38 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Pair-Gain, ADSL, HDSL Information Needed wood@odie.ee.wits.ac.za wrote: > I am looking for infomation on pair-gain which is a technique of > multiplexing (usually two) subscriber calls onto a single copper pair. > The reason I need this information is that I wish to investigate if it > could be used to improve the party line systems that we have in > operation here in rural areas. Try PairGain Technologies in Cerritos, CA 310-404-8811 dap@aber.ac.uk asked about Chips/Boards for ADSL or HDSL etc. > I am attempting to locate information on availability and Try PairGain Technologies 310-404-8811 Brooktree 619-452-7580 Level One Based in Folsom, California (I do not have phone# handy) > pricing for any chips/ evaluation boards/ products that support HDSL > or ADSL ... Tellabs 708-969-8800 Teltrend 708-377-1700 Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Mar 94 23:02 CST From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu) Subject: Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Telephone Harrassment A comment on the one-ring telephone harassment: A local Chicago talk show personality (Brian McCann on WLUP's Sunday afternoon "comedy" program) has encouraged listeners to "drive your friends crazy" with one-ring phone calls. He thinks it's a "victory" if the harasser can drive the victim to taking the phone of the hook so "they can't receive those important calls." He spent this afternoon (6 March) playing this game and exhorting others to do the same. The final touch, he believed, was to eventually call back and play a Jim Nabors' song ("You can't roller-skate in a Buffalo herd") to the victim. He claimed that it was especially fun to do to people with celluar phones. If I recall, the name of the program is "The Sunday Funnies," which runs for a few hours each week. Jim Thomas [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It sounds to me like it is time for someone to circulate Brian McCann's home telephone number publicly. Incidentally, the main switchboard for the business offices at WLUP is 312-440-5270. That is public information, it appears in the phone book so there is nothing secret about it; all I am doing is saving my readers the cost of a call to directory assistance. I cannot advocate that people engage in the same harassing tactics that McCann proposes, however you might want to voice your opinion to management at WLUP about McCann and his games. Do not engage in tactics such as putting 312-440-5270 on a Demon Dialer or having a modem dial the number over and over. Do not go to public toilets at the library, truck stop or bus station and put up messages saying for a good time call Brian at 312-440-5270. Do not play the same games -- even though we know who would win and who would lose, he being merely an amateur where these games are concerned. Instead, in a responsible way, call and voice your opinion to the program director and others at the station. If it is after business hours at the station, you may reach their voicemail, but don't get abusive. If I happen to locate Brian McCann's home phone number -- I'm sure all those dudes at WLUP keep their numbers non-pub -- I'll pass it along, since no doubt you'll want to counsel with him in person. Remember now, no one-ring/hangup harassing calls! You privacy freaks be sure to prepend *67 to your dialing string. Or since you are calling 'the Loop - WLUP' use your favorite loop-arounds, etc. By the way, if anyone thinks of something else callers to WLUP should not do -- something I may have overlooked -- write and let us know. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rmah@panix.com (Robert S. Mah) Subject: Maps of LATA's in the US Date: Mon, 07 Mar 1994 08:02:57 -0500 Organization: One Step Beyond Is there an official (or non-official) source that lists the LATA's for the United States? Canada would be nice as well. It would be of _great_ help if things were sorted by exchange number, postal (i.e. ZIP) codes or even on township/county lines. I tried the FCC, but one hour of bounced calls only yielded frustruation. Cheers, Robert S. Mah One Step Beyond rmah@panix.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore has quite a bit of this data. Maybe he will see your inquiry and respond after he finishes on his call to WLUP. PAT] ------------------------------ From: gc3@infinet.com (George Cifrancis) Subject: Need TAP/IXO For Alpha Pagers Date: 7 Mar 1994 14:02:07 GMT Organization: InfiNet - Internet Access (614/268-3639) Hi folks, I am looking for any info on the TAP (Telelocator Alphanumeric Input Protocol) or something called IXO. These are used for sending out alphanumeric messages on certain kinds of pagers. And I need the info to write my own programs. George Cifrancis III LV | Programmer/Analyst/System Administrator| Columbus, Ohio USA //3DO | Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation | gc3@infinet.com \X/AMIGA| MIS - Wide Area Net Support (AT&T/SUN) | [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try the Telecom Archives. Use anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu then after logging in, 'cd telecom-archives/technical'. All the IXO stuff is in there. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 10:51:41 GMT From: nazikian@DaVinci.mty.itesm.mx (Franck Nazikian) Subject: Need Help With Minitel Files [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The following was recieved in my mail today. Can anyone help this fellow out? Printed below as I received it. PAT] CII ITESM Franck NAZIKIAN Sucursal de Correos "J" MONTERREY N.L. 64849 MEXICO Tel: (52-8)-358-20-00 exts.50-76 Fax: (52-8)-328-40-81 Internet: nazikian@davinci.mty.itesm.mx I tried several times to use the software of the Minitel you put on the internet network (followimg the given instructions to unpack it), and I could "uudecode" it, but I could not uncompress it; the following sentence then appeared on my computer screen: $ uncompress minitel.tar.Z uncompress: 0653-059 The input file contains bad data; SIGSEGV signal received. What should I do to solve my problem? Best regards, Franck NAZIKIAN ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #117 ****************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253