Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA05023; Fri, 10 May 1996 14:05:58 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 14:05:58 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199605101805.OAA05023@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #232 TELECOM Digest Fri, 10 May 96 14:04:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 232 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Archives CD ROM (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: Can CID be Altered? (lr@access1.digex.net) Re: Is There an Auto-Gain Control on my Data Line? (Ken Stox) Re: Editorial: Overlaying Area Codes (Dave O'Shea) Re: Spurious 911 Calls From a PABX (Karen Joe) Re: PCS Basestation Location: What Does it Take? (lr@access1.digex.net) Want History of (US) Telecom Book (Leo J. Irakliotis) Re: 10-Digit Dialing is Easy (Bob Goudreau) Re: Toshiba Strata and Voice Mail (Al Niven) Re: 1-800 Number Calling Cards: What to Get? (Jeff Segal) Re: Last Laugh! Robin Loyed Has a Long Commute (TELECOM Digest Editor) Re: No More 10-ATT-0 (Linc Madison) Re: MCI True Lies (Michael Quinn) Re: Further Notes to Those Who Ordered Clocks (David Breneman) Re: Wanted: Email to GSM Notification (Jason Crellin) 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 America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 500-677-1616 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.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 partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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: Fri, 10 May 1996 13:11:26 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Telecom Archives CD ROM At the start of this year I mentioned that the Telecom Archives was being put on a CD-ROM, and that project is finished. The archives as they were as of the end of 1995 is now available and in stores everywhere. I believe the price in most places is $39.95, but that may vary at different outlets. I have nothing to do with that part of it. The disk can be searched for keywords and phrases. In addition, the indexes which have been available in the Archives itself for a few years now are also included. What you get are the past fourteen years of TELECOM Digest (almost every issue; there were a couple of issues along the way that got erased accidently in year's past); all the essays of George Gilder; all the special reports and special issues of the Digest from the past; the history of area codes files which were prepared by Carl Moore and others; the Frequently Asked Questions file; lots and lots more. Please look for it in stores where computer CD-ROMs are sold. The purchase price includes a small royalty to the Digest. ----------------------- The Telecom Archives remains a free, and open to all users repository of TELECOM Digest and related telecommunications topics. There is no charge for its use via anonymous ftp massis.lcs.mit.edu. In addition, a help file is available to use the Archives via email. Write to tel-archives@massis.lcs.mit.edu for a copy. PAT ------------------------------ From: lr@access5.digex.net (Sir Topham Hatt) Subject: Re: Can CID be Altered? Date: 10 May 1996 17:04:14 GMT Stan.Schwartz@IBMMAIL (usfunx2b@ibmmail.com) wrote: > For the last few weeks, I've been puzzled by a number that had been > appearing on my all of my CID devices (I'm up to 5 in the house). It > wasn't any valid NPA or NNX and the name showed up as "--------------". > Last night, it clicked. The number displayed is the first ten digits > of an account number that I have with a bank in the northeast. This > doesn't seem like mere coincidence to me. What piece of software is > able to manipulate CID, and does the FCC know about this? This has > the potential of rendering CID data useless. You wouldn't happen to have a scanphone or some similar device for accessing your account via the phone lines (or a credit terminal)? The CID string is just a old Bell 202 modem burst, so it's possible that some device is just fooling the CID boxes. Theoretically, the CID boxes aren't supposed to listen when the phone is off hook, but probably aren't real robust. ------------------------------ From: stox@dcdkc.fnal.gov (Ken Stox) Subject: Re: Is There an Auto-Gain Control on my Data Line? Date: 10 May 1996 17:06:47 GMT Organization: FERMILAB, Batavia, IL In article , Justin.Hamilton1@ Bridge.BellSouth.Com (Justin Hamilton) writes: > A quick question, is there anything I can ask my Telco to change on my > data line that may make it perform better? > Is there some Auto-Gain control they can twiddle? > I'm just wondering if I can push my V.34+ to it's absolute limits > since I only get 26.4Kbps to my ISP's V.34+ modems. Sounds like you might be on a SLC-96. If so, 26,400 is as good as it is going to get. Your only hope is to get off the SLC-96. Ken Stox ------------------------------ From: dos@panix.com (Dave O'Shea) Subject: Re: Editorial: Overlaying Area Codes Date: 10 May 1996 12:39:30 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Tad Cook (tad@ssc.com) wrote: > Editorial > {Merced Sun-Star} (Merced, California) on `overlaying' area codes: > The telephone company is proposing the worst idea since somebody came > up with playing Muzak for callers on hold. > It goes by the innocuous name of "overlaying," and it's a plan where > one area code could overlap another. > Under the overlaying concept, it would be possible that a Merced > household with two phone lines could have two different area codes. > It's conceivable that your area code could be different from your > next-door neighbor's but could the same as someone in San Diego ... I have a household where there are four phone lines, and three different prefixes. So what? > While geographically splitting up an area code is easier on customers, > it's harder for the phone company. Pac Bell would prefer the > overlaying area code because it is cheaper to implement. Here in Houston, a geographic split was recently approved. Result: nearly half of the residents will have their phone number changed within the next few months. That's tens of thousands of signs, billboards, letterhead, business cards, invoices, answering services, audio announcements, directories, phone lists, autodialers, and so on all have to be changed. All at the expense of the subscribers. Onder the overlay plan, only *new* service would have been given the new area code. What you got your new phone number, you'd make not appropriately. And since the geographic split makes less efficient use of numbers, a third area code is predicted to be needed within a few years, meaning that several million people get the thrill of changing phone numbers yet again. I fail to see how this is a whole lot easier on the 50% of current customers that are affected. (note to self; buy Kinko's and Moore Business forms stock every time there's another area code split) > If Pac Bell confined the overlaying area code to one kind of service > -- ideally cellular phones that are already mobile -- it could work > with a minimum of trouble. But if the phone company assigns the new > area codes in a helter-skelter way, it will create a customer > nightmare ... The same Luddite nonsense was said when several exchanges covered the same area. People got used to it quickly, and the death toll was lower than predicted by the technophobes. ------------------------------ From: klj@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Karen Joe) Subject: Re: Spurious 911 Calls From a PABX Date: 10 May 1996 12:47:08 -0400 Organization: The George Washington University In article , Atri Indiresan wrote: > At the University of Michigan, we need to dial '9' to access external > lines. The switch is programmed in such a way that, if while dialing > 9-1-(long distance number), the pause is too long after 9-1, it > completes the call as 911. Have the telco change their digit interpretation table to send 91 to intercept tone, and 911 to the emergency 911 number. They should also be able to change their inter-digit timeout setting (usually around 6 seconds) to give the caller more time; this would extend set-up time for variable length calls (e.g., IDDD). Karen L. Joe Internet: klj@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Voice: 301 774-6571 ------------------------------ From: lr@access5.digex.net (Sir Topham Hatt) Subject: Re: PCS Basestation Location: What Does it Take? Date: 10 May 1996 16:54:02 GMT Organization: Intentionally Left Blank Bob Jacobson (bob@worldesign.com) wrote: > The location of basestations (miniature transceivers) for PCS, > personal communication services, is a complex process. I would be > interested in discussing with PCS network planners and engineers the > intricacies of this process, to better understand what is involved and > how the tools and techniques used can be improved. It's also a lie (that they are miniture) around here. I regularly follow the local planning hearings for siting these things and they are as instrusive and large as conventional cellular sites. Ron ------------------------------ From: irakliot@lance.colostate.edu (Leo J. Irakliotis) Subject: Want History of (US) Telecom Book Date: 10 May 1996 16:18:59 GMT Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 I am looking for one (two at most) books outlining the history of the telecom industry in the US. In particular, I am insterested in the era spanning from Theodore Vail's universal service vision, all the way to MCI's judicial fight in the late 1970s and AT&T's divestiture in early 1980s. If such a book is not available (yet), I will appreciate any reference(s) to papers, artixles, and other texts dealing with the particular subject. Direct responses via private email will be greatly appreciated. Regards, Leo Irakliotis irakliot@lance.colostate.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 10:55:48 -0400 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: 10-Digit Dialing is Easy Mark J. Cuccia writes: > IMO, there *SHOULD ALWAYS* be a *MANDATORY* '1+' required before *ANY* > toll call. All toll calls would be dialed as ten-digits, regardless of > whether it is in the Home NPA or in a distant NPA, and regardless of > "local" dialing procedures. Er, don't you mean *eleven* digits (1-NPA-NXX-NXXX)? Given that true ten-digit dialing (NPA-NXX-XXXX) also has a role to play (as you describe later), it is important not to confuse the two. > Local calls would be dialable as > ten-digits *anywhere and everywhere*-- it would be required in dense > metro areas while *strongly* recommended everywhere else. Less dense > areas would still be able to "get by" with seven-digits, although > telco's printed directories and directory assistance quoting should > always be in the full ten-digit format. > ... > Rural areas *should* still be allowed to use full ten=digits, > permissive seven-digits, and even four or five digits, as long as the > local dialing area is not really complex >... > Also, *any* local call *should* be dialable even as 1+ten-digits and > should not be charged any tolls. The "1+" would be *required* on all > toll calls (ten-digits) but shouldn't be prohibited even on ten-digit > local calls. So, to summarize these rules (which I like too), the uniform dialing plan for toll calls would become the one already used by a large majority of the NANP: 11 digits: always allowed and required ... while the dialing plan for local calls would standardize as: 11 digits: always allowed 10 digits: always allowed 7 digits: allowed in some (less dense) areas, but only for local calls within the same NPA 4/5 digits: *never* required, but allowed (in extremely rare cases) as a short-cut for local dialing *if* the telco permits, and only if there is no possibility of ambiguity Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: Al Niven Subject: Re: Toshiba Strata and Voice Mail Date: 10 May 1996 15:06:13 GMT Organization: Video, Voice, and Data, Inc. Putting voicemail on a strata is difficult but I have done it twice. Which strata do you have? 6 or 12? Basically you will need single line cards and a ring generator and a "tail", then you will be able to transfer callers into a mailbox and also have auto-attendant. You will loop back a line port to an analog station port in order to give the analog port touch tone capability. On the strata after you dial an analog port the handset "goes dead" so there would be no way to enter dtmf to retrieve your messages. So you have to do this "loop back". By the way, I have a Vicki dongle (Vicki Voicemail) sitting in my drawer which I could give you for $500 which is a real steal. I have installed over 15 brands of voice mail on something like 250 PBX's but I really don't do voicemail much these days as the money has graduated into custom ivr (interactive voice response) systems. Two analog ports, ring generator, and tail will probably cost $500 - get them from any secondary dealer listed in "Telecom Gear". Installation and loopback will probably cost another $300 from your local phone vendor. Al Niven Video, Voice, and Data, Inc. 292 Fifth Avenue, #201 NY NY 10001 212-714-3531 ------------------------------ From: jeffsegal@aol.com (Jeff Segal) Subject: Re: 1-800 Number Calling Cards: What to Get? Date: 10 May 1996 11:51:30 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: jeffsegal@aol.com (Jeff Segal) You might also consider using the NYNEX "Change Card" that is usable at the YELLOW payphones located around the campus and the city. They are much easier to use and make a great souvenier!. You can get cards from NYNEX Customer Service by calling 1-800-545-EASY. ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 15:41:48 GMT Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Robin Loyed Has a Long Commute Each Day In article I said: > ... www.switchboard.com reports precisely one Robin Loyed in all > of America ... > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: . . . . An entire check of 816/913 > produced only one listing for 'Loyed' ... Here's a listing for Robin Loyed in Texas: Loyed, Robin (male) [approximate birth date 00/54] Loyed, Roxanne (female) [approximate birth date 09/57] Loyed, W. Address: 601 Vicksburg Ct., South Lake TX 76092-9379 County: Tarrant Type: single family Purchase date: 10/5/1995 Mortgage amount: $370,000 Telephone: 1-817-481-9838 I hope this helps Sprint customers to get the information they need. I would stress however that there is no absolute proof this is the same party; nor under any circumstances should harrassing phone calls be made to him or family members. It may well be this is the same person whose earlier phone listing in Shawnee Mission, Kansas is no longer in service. You'll want to verify it is the same person before discussing any business matters, and a final attempt to reach Robin Loyed at his office would also be in order. In the event it is the person who works for Sprint, should he question why you are calling at home a valid response would be, 'because you do not accept phone calls at your office!'. Encourage him to accept phone calls at the office and offer to call him at the office if he agrees to become responsive to customers who do so. Remember: NO HARRASSMENT; NO REPEAT CALLS, ETC. If you are told not to call someone a second time, then honor that request. When I tried the number just now, an answering machine with a child's voice came on the line saying 'we are not home right now, leave us a message please.' PAT ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Subject: Re: No More 10-ATT-0 Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 00:40:04 -0700 Organization: Best Internet Communications In article , zev@wireless.attmail.com (zev) wrote: > Dave Yewell (and similarly Ron/Sir Topham Hatt) >> Zev, could be that way in your part of the world, but I was in >> Monterey CA yesterday, and could not use 102880 to call within the >> area code. The LD provider on the pay phone was not ATT, so I thought >> I could get ATT access with 102880 - no luck, just "sorry your call >> cannot be completed as dialed". > Try dialing with a 10-digit number. Here in Oakland, if I dial 102880 > and follow that with a 7-digit number, I get reorder after 3 digits > (when the CO can tell it's not an NPA), but if I dial 10 digits > (starting with my area code of 510) I get the AT&T bong tone and > branding. You cannot dial 0 + 7-digits for any call in North America on any carrier. It is prohibited everywhere. If you dial 0+ you must *ALWAYS* dial the area code, even if it is the same. This is because area codes and prefixes are now fully interchangeable. If you are dial 0-423-xxxx, for example, there is no way except timeout for the switch to tell whether you're calling 0-423-xxxx (in your own area code) or 0-423-xxx-xxxx (in eastern Tennessee). To keep the user interface as uniform as possible, you must now dial 11 digits for all 0+ calls. This applies for 0+, 10XXX-0+, and 101XXXX-0+. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 May 1996 19:29:00 GMT From: Quinn Michael Subject: Re: MCI True Lies This is a followup to my earlier note in TC Digest #225 about the discrepancy beween MCI's marketing rep, and the actual provisions of their long distance plan. After another fruitless discussion with a service rep the next day, I finally reached the "escalation desk", and spoke with a supervisor, who essentially corroborated what the customer service reps had told me. He said he would refer my complaint, and that I should receive a call within 96 hours. And indeed, I was called today by a knowledgeable and helpful manager in the "Executive Office", who apologized for the incorrect information I had received, expressed puzzlement at the source of the info that the telemarketer had used (never did he imply that I had misunderstood the terms), and offered to comply with the terms that the telemarketer had offered. By this time I had already shifted back to Sprint, so I declined. He also expressed concern for my multiple tries to reach a supervisor, asked for specifics on the times I had called, noted that are "escalation procedures" that the reps should have known and used, and indicated that they would take corrective action. Case successfully closed, albeit not without some frustration and wasted time, and as several TELECOM Digest readers kindly observed, the lesson learned is: get the offer in writing before jumping. ------------------------------ From: david.breneman@attws.com (David Breneman) Subject: Re: Further Notes to Those Who Ordered Clocks Date: 10 May 1996 19:56:21 GMT Organization: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. In article roellig@cig.mot.com (Eric Roellig) writes: > TELECOM Digest Editor writes: >> This is a note to those of you who contacted Jim Hill regards getting >> Western Union clocks. > I finally got mine last week. It's nice to hear that somebody got a response from Mr. Hill. I sent him email asking about the clocks and in response got a copy of the announcement posted here -- for all I know it could have been an autoreply. I sent mail again asking for a copy of the gif that the announcement said was available, but got no reply. Assuming he was having trouble with the picture, I sent mail again about a week later saying that the picture wasn't necessary, but I'd like to know if he had any left, and a description of them. Nothing in reply. A couple weeks later a followup. Again nothing. I never heard anything back except the original reply which, as I said, was verbatim what was posted here. Does anybody know of a reliable way to reach Mr. Hill? Or, if there are any clocks left? David Breneman "Better things for better living Unix System Administrator through radio telephony." AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. david.breneman@attws.com Ph: +1-206-803-7362 Fx: +1-206-803-7410 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am sorry to hear about your experience. All I can tell you is he is in Lompoc, California and I think perhaps he has a clock shop there although I do not know that for certain. At one point he wrote me and said if he had a dozen more clocks, he could have sold them all, based on the amount of mail he got. If he simply quit answering mail because he ran out of the clocks and got so much mail he could not respond to it all, that is one thing. If any of you sent money and did not get a clock that is quite different, but I have heard nothing like that from anyone. No one has reported any dishonesty, and most of those who wrote me said they did get a clock or an answer eventually from him. If anyone else knows a source for old Western Union clocks please let me know; I will post it here. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Jason Crellin Subject: Re: Wanted: Email to GSM Notification Date: 10 May 1996 12:59:41 GMT Organization: The Post Office (UK) I dont know of any commercially available software -- but I'd be interested in any details you obtain. It should be fairly simple to build a macro which composes a new message on receipt, and sends it via an email/ sms gateway to your phone. You could hardcode a standard notification or get it to strip out the title and part of the message (ie up to 160 characters). Sonnet Systems Limited (0181 664 6000) runs a commercial gateway to Cellnet, Vodaphone & Orange, though its relatively expensive. There are other commercial gateway providers but I dont have any details. Jason ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #232 ******************************