TELECOM Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 15:08:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 35 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Using Spare Channels on a T1 (Javier Henderson) Wanted: Reverse Phone Directory (Ted Hadley) AC 215 to 610 ... NOT (Thomas Hinders) GSM Phase 1 Documents (Bhaktharam Keshavachar) AT&T True Rewards (Richard Butler) ATM and DSP Chips (Dinesh Kulkarni) Signalling Off-Hook on an Unsiezed DID Trunk (Chuck Cox) Security Warning (Rich Greenberg) Bell Canada Rationalizes Rates For Calling Features (Mark Brader) Free Local Calls (Richard Cox) Extra-long 800 Numbers? (David C. LeDoux) Calvacom Distribution of TELECOM Digest (Earle Robinson) Re: Announcing networkMCI (Carl Spangenberger) Re: Announcing networkMCI (Andrew C. Green) Re: Are LATA Maps Available (Gregory P. Monti) Re: Are LATA Maps Available (Marty Lawlor) For Your Amusement (Mark S. Brader) No Bells? (James Taranto) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com Subject: Using Spare Channels on a T1 Date: 16 Jan 94 07:06:41 PST Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA Hello, I posted about this several months ago, and I only got one or two responses. I thought I'd post again ... Our company has the main facility in Ventura, CA, and we have smaller sites throughout California. Right now, we're just using regular phone lines to connect to these facilities for voice. For data, there's a T1 going from the Ventura site to the long distance carrier POP, and they run 56Kb circuits to each of the remote locations. We're currently using only seven channels on the T1, and expect to have a total of 12 in use by the end of the year. I'd like to know how complicated it'd be to use the remaining twelve channels for to route voice calls to our remote sites. Ideally, the extensions at the remote sites would look like regular extensions to everyone else in the network. Some technical details: The main facility has an AT&T System 75 switch. The remote sites have their own switches, though not all of them have the same model (or brand, for that matter). One of the facilities doesn't even have a switch, just three lines in a rotary (our smallest site). Thanks! Javier Henderson henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 14:11:03 PST From: tedh@cylink.COM (Ted Hadley) Subject: Wanted: Reverse Phone Directory I have a (hopefully) simple request: Is there a simple (and low cost) method of converting a residential telephone number to the name and address of the 'owner'? I called the public library and they had no such directory. I have two numbers I would like "reversed"; both are local to the San Jose, CA, area (one is Mountain View, the other is Sunnyvale). Please E-mail responses. Thanks much. Ted A. Hadley tedh@cylink.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The simplest and least expensive method would be to call one of the three libraries in the communities mentioned above and ask to speak with the reference librarian. Tell that person you need a couple lookups from the criss-cross directory. If they are not busy they will probably bring the book to the phone and read from it to you. You did not say which library it was that you called who told you they did not have such a book, but I'd be quite surprised if the San Jose library did not have one covering the immediate region. Almost all public libraries have a criss-cross directory at least for their own service area. Maybe the person who answered the phone mis- understood you (if you called one of those three). Ask specifically for connection to the reference librarian or the reference desk first. There are a few libraries whose board of directors has passed a rule against reading to patrons over the telephone from the criss-cross; usually these are cases where some deadbeat has been located by a collection agency via a phone call to the local library reference department to track down a phone at the address in question and the deadbeat has then called the President of the Library Board raising cain about 'violations of his privacy', etc ... rather than bother with defending their right to speak public information and having to choose between which patrons to offend (local service area people or the out of towners who want to use the criss-cross) the Board may just say to heck with it and tell the librarians to not quote the book over the phone any longer. It goes against their grain to ban the book entirely, so the compromise for those libraries is that people who want to use the criss-cross have to come in personally to see it. For some libraries also, it is an administrative problem: some libraries get literally *dozens* of telephone calls daily just for the criss-cross book alone; the Chicago Public Library has a telephone line and a full time employee for just that purpose -- taking calls of the 'will you look in the criss-cross and give me the phone number and residents' names at XXX ZZZZ Street.' When you call, the line is always busy as the woman gets several dozen such calls every day of the week. Some libraries get more long distance calls each day from out of town people (frequently collection agencies and other investigators) asking for information from the criss-cross than they do local calls from their own service area patrons about other reference topics. By the way, if it is a large library in a bigger town, try asking the switchboard to connect you with the 'Business and Technology Department'. They nearly always have a local criss-cross as well. A five minute or less phone call that costs about a dollar will tell you all about the address or phone number you want. No need to use fancy services or pay big $$. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jan 1994 09:58:09 EDT From: Hinders, Thomas Subject: AC 215 to 610 ... NOT Although AC 610 was activated on Jan 8th I am receiving complaints from folks who claim that they are unable to reach me via my "new" AC. The orginators are in AC 212, 302, and 703. They indicate they are getting a "fast busy" when they are placing the call. Some are business ... some are private ... using a variety of LD carriers. I can "imagine" that lots of switches, PBXs etc need to be updated ... but it is not very comforting to be passing out my "new" AC (including business cards!) and not knowing if the number will work. Tom Hinders/Soft-Switch +1 610 640 7487 (v/vm) <----- old AC 215 +1 610 640 7511 (f) Internet: thinder@SSW.COM X.400: C=US A=Telemail P=Softswitch S=Hinders G=Thomas ------------------------------ From: keshavac@enws202.eas.asu.edu (Bhaktharam Keshavachar) Subject: GSM Phase 1 Documents Reply-To: keshavac@enws202.eas.asu.edu Organization: Network Systems Lab, Arizona State University Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 18:58:52 GMT Hi, I have a question about the GSM documents. Has the ETSI frozen the GSM specs for the Phase I implementation? If so what is the version number which is fully compliant with Phase I implementation? What about Phase II implementation? Has ETSI finalized the Phase II documents? How about the GSM packet radio services group? Have they published any standards? I am particularly interested in the latest documents and Phase I documents for GSM specs 04.08 (layer 3), 04.06 (layer 2), 05.02 (MAC), 05.08 (RSLC) and 05.10 (synchronization). How much does ETSI charge for these documents if I want to buy them? (Seriously considering this). Please post or e-mail. I will publish a summary if we collect good information. Thanks in advance, Regards, Bhaktha ------------------------------ From: rbutler@cc.bellcore.com (butler,richard) Subject: AT&T True Rewards? Date: 16 Jan 1994 10:10:49 -0500 Organization: Bell Communications Research Awhile ago, there was an article posted here about the AT&T True Rewards program. This article has disappeared from my site now but I have a couple of questions: In that article the author said he was able to get credit under this plan for all his long distance back to January of 1993. Is this true? Have others tried this? I tried, but no go and it almost seemd to good to be true anyway. Will they really give you all that credit? I'd really appreciate hearing from the poster of that article to confirm this, or anyone else that has successfully gotten this credit. Thanks for the information. Rich Butler rbutler@cc.bellcore.com ------------------------------ From: dkulkarn@aristotle.helios.nd.edu (Dinesh Kulkarni) Subject: ATM and DSP Chips Date: 16 Jan 1994 17:27:25 GMT Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Hi ! I had a few questions about the intersection of ATM and DSP architectures and algorithms. Here they are: 1. What are the typical algorithms used in processing of full-motion video, images and audio packetized into ATM cells of 48 bytes? In particular, how does this level of packetization affect the signal processing steps undertaken and the architectures that perform these steps? Of course compression/decompression algorithms are important, but other than that, how about algorithms arising out of user-interaction and manipulation? In other words, if the flow is not directly from the source to a rendering device like a monitor or a speaker, what are the important classes of algorithms? 2. Is there any literature on this topic, that you would care to recommend? Survey papers accessible to non-DSP-type but technical people would be perfect as my knowledge of DSP is limited to a basic graduate-level course. Thanks a lot. Dinesh ------------------------------ Subject: Signalling Off-Hook on an Unsiezed DID Trunk Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 10:03:53 -0800 From: Chuck Cox Hi, I would like signal to the central office that a DID trunk should not be used, but that it should not be taken out of service. I have a situation where I can not provide a wink start to the central office. If the CO siezes the line and doesn't get a wink, I am afraid that they will (eventually if not immediately) down my trunk. Can I signal an off-hook by reversing polarity on ring and tip on an otherwise idle line and prevent the CO from siezing the line? I could not find the issue addressed in ANSI T1.405-1989. Any help or references would be appreciated! Thanks, Chuck chuck@timberline.almaden.ibm.com ------------------------------ From: richgr@netcom.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Security Warning Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 16:05:34 GMT The latest issue of "2600" magazine ("The Hacker Quarterly") has a 2 page listing of telephone numbers under "Passageways to the Internet". All USA and Canada except for three numbers listed at Eindhoven U, nl. Mostly universities, except "Cisco terminal servers, Chicago", two numbers listed as 312-413-xxxx and several just listed with a city in Indiana. Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677 N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play: richgr@netcom.com 310-649-0238 ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Bell Canada Rationalizes Rates For Calling Features Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 11:43:35 GMT Currently, Bell Canada classifies calling features into three groups. "Custom Calling Features" includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Ident-a-Call (distinctive ringing), Three-Way Calling, and Speed Calling. "Call Management Services" includes Call Display (caller ID), Call Return, and Call Screen (blocking of calls from selected numbers). And "Telemessage Service" includes Call Answer, Extension Call Answer, and Voice Mail. The classification into groups matters because it affects the charging. Any one Custom Calling Feature costs $4.00 a month (Canadian, plus tax, residence rate); any two, $5.50; any three, $7.50; any four, $9.50; all five, $11.50. Any one Call Management Service costs $4.75 a month; a second or third one is $2.25. And the Telemessage Services are similarly grouped together. In my case, I have Three-Way Calling and Call Return, and have found it annoying that there is no discount for this combination. Well, they're fixing that. All the features are being lumped under the general title of SmartTouch Services, and a simplified pricing scheme is being adopted. Call Answer, Call Display, and Call Waiting will be $5.00 a month; Extension Call Answer and Voice Mail will be classed as "options" at $2.00 a month; and all the other services will be $3.00 a month. However, each service (but not options) after the first one is reduced by $1.00 a month. So my charge for Three-Way Calling plus Call Return goes down from $8.75 to $3 + $3 - $1 = $5. I like it. Incidentally, as usual with Bell Canada, the bill insert announcing the change (which is effective January 22) is in English and French. For those who may be curious, here are the French names for each of the above services, and their translations back into English. SmartTouch Services services Etoiles (Star Services) Custom Calling Features (The French version of the brochure Call Management Services uses no names at all for these Telemessage Service groups of features) Call Waiting Appel en attente (Call in Waiting) Call Forwarding Renvoi automatique (Automatic Resending) Ident-a-Call Appel personnalise (Personalized Call) Three-Way Calling Conference a trois (Conference of Three) Speed Calling Composition abregee (Abridged Dialing) Call Display Afficheur (Poster) Call Return Memorisateur (Memorizer) Call Screen Selecteur (Selector) Call Answer TeleReponse (TeleAnswer) Extension Call Answer TeleReponse multiusagers (Multi-User TeleAnswer) Voice Mail TeleCourrier (TeleMail) Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 12:15 GMT From: Richard Cox Subject: Free Local Calls Reply-To: mandarin@cix.compulink.co.uk mzmijews@mgzcs.demon.co.uk (George Zmijewski) said, referring to the UK: >> the idea of free local calls is unknown here. :-( That's not quite true. "Bundled" local calls (nothing is *ever* free!) have been available for some time in the independant Grand Dutch of Hull. We discussed Hull's special status in the Digest some time last year. Now the new "local-loop competitors", the Cable TV companies, are starting to offer their customers free local calls within their system ... but of course calls to other phone companies' customers are chargeable. And in a surprise move late last year the Mercury One-2-One service (A PCS service operating to the DCS 1800 standard) now offers customers on its domestic tariff free local calls in the off-peak period. These calls really are free, even though they are mostly to customers of BT ! As a result the service has been overwhelmed with customers despite what is reported to be less than ideal radio coverage, and a limited service area. Richard D G Cox Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 941 151515 E-mail address: richard@mandarin.com - PGP2.3 public key available on request ------------------------------ From: ledoux@pogo.den.mmc.com (David C LeDoux) Subject: Extra-Long 800 Numbers Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 03:39:30 GMT I have only been reading TELECOM Digest for a short time, but have found it to be very informative. I have a question for the gurus. Hopefully it has not already been discussed exhaustively. I have noticed a lot of toll-free (1-800) numbers and some 1-900 numbers that have 8 digits, e.g. 1-800-OPERATOR, and some that even have 9 digits, e.g. 1-800-JOES-DINER (don't call that one; I made it up since I couldn't remember any specific cases). Are the extra one or two digits simply ignored by the system, or are they used somehow for switching or bookkeeping? Thanks, David C. LeDoux ledoux@pogo.den.mmc.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Additional digits are simply ignored by the equipment. They are there only for the convenience of the person calling the number to help them remember what to dial. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jan 94 10:40:57 EST From: Earle Robinson <76004.1762@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Calvacom Distribution of TELECOM Digest Please note that the European forum (go eurfor) on CompuServe also has the TELECOM Digest in its library. Since CompuServe in France is much less expensive than Calvacom, especially with the upcoming price drop from $8 per hour to $4.80, those interested in the TELECOM Digest will find at a much lower cost for downloads through the CompuServe European forum. -er [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest is circulated by several online services as a convenience to their subscribers including as you point out CIS, where not only the European forum carries it but the telecommunications forum does as well. Check out the Library area in each forum. Also, the Digest can be read via the Net Exchange, a service for PC Pursuit customers (@c pursuit from any Sprintnet/Telenet prompt) and I think GEnie has it in their telecommunications roundtable area. Quite a few independent BBS's have the Digest including a few in Europe. So there are numerous places where one can obtain each issue of this journal but none the less, I am pleased to have Calvacom as part of the distribution circle. You can get a printed copy delivered to your fax machine of each issue (for a fee, unless you let me deliver it to your 800 number), or if you prefer you can have each issue delivered by snail-mail, again for a fee to cover postage, etc. You can even read the Digest on Usenet via comp.dcom.telecom if that's your thing, at least for the time being. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Carl Spangenberger Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 02:41:46 EST Organization: The University of Kentucky In article Paul R. Coen writes: >> Is that what the MCI TV commercials with the little girl with the >> pseudo-[B]ritish accent standing in a puddle spouting existential >> gibberish are all about? > Is it a girl? I thought it was a boy. Then again, I didn't look very Yes, it is a girl. She is British. > closely. All I noticed was an overly-perfect child dressed in weird > black clothes and a really ghastly hat. And the kid sounded like one > of the brats from _Mary Poppins_. See above, that is probably why she looks like a person from Mary Popins. >> And I thought they were just trying to finally beat AT&T for the worst >> imaginable ad campaign :-) Actually it is philosophic. > You know, I felt like I was watching some sort of weird one act play > that I didn't understand. Then again, considering that I *still* > don't understand what "networkMCI" is besides a new name for stuff > they already have, maybe that's okay. Does someone want to take a > stab at explaining it? The girl was standing in a virtual reality, it was a computer simulation. The girl said every thing can be represented by digital information, implying that the universe can be represented infinite amount of 1's and 0's. The girl represents the international information highway, because of the deal between MCI and BT (British Telecom) will allow MCI to link information services from US to BC. This one ups ATT which advertisements are US only. The girl is sophisticated which implies that MCI is. That is my interpretation of the commercial. I like it :) Carl Spangenberger Alternate Address: cspangen@ms.uky.edu opcarl@ukcc.uky.edu Computer Consultant ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 10:27:55 CST From: Andrew C. Green Subject: Re: Announcing networkMCI Paul R. Coen writes: > You know, I felt like I was watching some sort of weird one act play > that I didn't understand. Then again, considering that I *still* > don't understand what "networkMCI" is besides a new name for stuff > they already have, maybe that's okay. What you may be subconsciously reminded of is the embarrassing series of Infiniti car commercials back when the marque was first introduced. Rather than show the car, the ad agency decided to show soothing pictures of waves. That was all. Rather than provoke curiosity about the car, it raised questions about the competence of the advertising agency. ("Dammit, Bruce, I _told_ you the tide was coming in!" -- Dave Barry) Having seen at least two equally-uninformative commercials featuring the mystery girl, I share your puzzlement. One of the ads ends with an unexplained freeze-frame closeup on her reciting the name; the image freezes in midsentence while the soundtrack continues, truly a jarring sight to no apparent effect. More to the point, it appears MCI is aiming at a audience sophisticated enough to understand new product information, but MCI doesn't seem to realize that this same audience will tune out nonsense messages where no information is really there. The conclusion I draw is, "MCI has blown a ton of money on this, with no clear idea of what they want to say. This does not give me confidence in the company." AT&T, Ameritech et al have all had their share of annoying commercials, but at least you get a sense of purpose from them: "Here is our product; this is what it does; would you like to buy it, please?" MCI's message appears to be, "How do you like my hat?" Andrew C. Green Datalogics, Inc. Internet: acg@dlogics.com 441 W. Huron UUCP: ..!uunet!dlogics!acg Chicago, IL 60610-3498 FAX: (312) 266-4473 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 08:26:53 EST From: "Gregory P. Monti" Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available I think McGraw Hill's business publishing division sells a nice two- or three-color LATA map. I saw one posted many years ago at a data communications school where I was taking a class. About 20 by 30 inches, with state, countyn, LATA and RBOC boundaries along with the three-digit LATA numbers and LATA names. Every LATA has a number. The 100 series are in Nynex states, the 200 in Bell Atlantic states, 300 Ameritech, 400 Bell South, 500 Southwestern Bell, 600 US West, 700 Pacific Telesis, 800 offshore states and territiries, 900 continential US states and territories that are served only by non-Bell companies (such as Connecticut, Fishers Island NY, Navajo Reservation in AZ, etc). Sorry, I don't hgave a numnber or address for McGraw Hill. I suspect it's in northern New Jersey somewhere. Greg Monti Arlington, Virginia, USA gmonti@cap.gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 94 12:52:23 EST From: mel@roch1.cci.com (Marty Lawlor) Subject: Re: Are LATA Maps Available CCMI (Center for Communications Management Information), 800-929-4824, sells several versions: National Lata Map (in two sizes) as well as a State LATA Map Book. Marty Lawlor Northern Telecom ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.com Subject: For Your Amusement Date: 16 Jan 94 11:12:44 GMT Located elsewhere, passed along FYI and amusement: johnper@bunsen.rosemount.com (John Perkins) writes: The British ask "Who is that?" when requesting a person's name over the phone, whereas Americans ask "Who is this?" I wonder how this (that) happened? It's because we Americans know that the person to whom we're speaking is really inside the phone handset, therefore within the "this" zone. ------------------------------ From: taranto@panix.com (James Taranto) Subject: No Bells? Date: 16 Jan 1994 13:17:41 -0500 Organization: The Bad Taranto I got a catalog in the mail the other day from a company called Hello Phones. One item for sale was what they call the "Basic Phone." The ad declared: "No bells. No whistles. Just your plain, basic workhorse phone." I called the 800 number and asked, "If there are no bells, how are you supposed to know when it's ringing?" The reply was: "It's more of a saying kind of thing." Cheers, James Taranto taranto@panix.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #35 *****************************