Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id OAA15555; Wed, 1 May 1996 14:33:22 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 14:33:22 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199605011833.OAA15555@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #208 TELECOM Digest Wed, 1 May 96 14:33:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 208 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Employee Communications Plan (E. William Horne) New Area Codes in 209, 408, 510 (Tad Cook) Update on French CT2 Network (Eric Tholome) FITCE Annual Congress: Vienna, Aug 27 - Sep 1, 1996 (Dominic Pinto) CDPD Coverage in Parkersburg, WV (Blair Shellenberg) 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. 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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: 01 May 1996 09:10:09 GMT From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Nynex Announcement on AT&T Calling Card Changes This notice was received today. PAT NYNEX EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN IMPORTANT NOTICE: CHANGES AFFECTING CALLING CARD CUSTOMERS Please Note: This is a message to all NYNEX employees about calling card changes taking place this week which will affect all NYNEX employees and customers. Please print this information out, make copies and distribute it to all of your employees and/or anyone else (both Management and Craft) who may not have Lotus Notes access. In addition, please post this memo in a highly visible place in your work location. Executive Summary: AT&T has given NYNEX notice that it is terminating the Mutual Card Honoring Agreement as of May 1, 1996, and has directed NYNEX to block intraLATA 0+ calls customers attempt to bill to their AT&T calling card. Until today, callers in the NYNEX territory have been able to make intraLATA calls over either the NYNEX or the AT&T network and to charge the calls to either the NYNEX or the AT&T calling card. IntraLATA calls originated by dialing 0 plus area code and number are generally carried by NYNEX and billed at NYNEX rates; calls originated by dialing an AT&T 800 number are carried by AT&T and billed at AT&T's rates. With the termination of the Mutual Card Honoring Agreement, customers will no longer be able to charge an intraLATA 0+ call to the AT&T card. This agreement had no set expiration date -- it could be terminated by either party on notice to the other. NYNEX would have preferred to leave the agreement in place and continue to give customers a choice in the way they place and pay for calling card calls. However, AT&T apparently wishes to migrate customers to a proprietary AT&T card and, at the same time, increase intraLATA calls on its network. AT&T will continue to allow customers to use NYNEX cards to charge calls placed on the AT&T network, and, pursuant to FCC regulations, NYNEX is required to let AT&T accept our card as long as they wish. AT&T is taking similar action to terminate Mutual Card Honoring Agreements with other local carriers around the country, but the NYNEX termination will be the first to take effect. WHAT IS THE MUTUAL CARD HONORING AGREEMENT? This is an agreement between AT&T and each Local Exchange Carrier. For NYNEX it means that NYNEX and AT&T each honor the others calling card on their network; AT&T accepts the NYNEX card for interLATA calls on their network, and NYNEX accepts the AT&T card for intraLATA calls on our network. Independent of which card is used for billing, the company whose network carries the call keeps the associated revenue. WHAT IS CHANGING? AT&T is unilaterally canceling the Mutual Card Honoring Agreement, and has directed NYNEX to block intraLATA 0+ calls which callers try to charge to the AT&T calling card. AT&T has informed us that as of May 1, 1996, NYNEX must refuse the AT&T calling card for local and regional calls on the NYNEX network; AT&T will no longer accept charges for these calls. If NYNEX completes these calls, it receives no payment. WHAT DO THESE CHANGES MEAN FOR THE CUSTOMER? Termination of the Mutual Card Honoring Agreement means customers will not be able to charge intraLATA 0+ calls to an AT&T card. However, the way in which AT&T is advertising these changes might lead some customers to conclude that they no longer have a choice as to how they place any calling card calls. Because 0+ dialing for intraLATA calls over the NYNEX network is cheaper for most calls than dialing the AT&T 800 number for such calls, customers may pay more, without realizing that they have a choice. This will affect all customers who live in the NYNEX region and those who pass through the NYNEX region. WHAT IS AT&T TELLING CUSTOMERS CONCERNING THESE CHANGES? AT&T has recently distributed letters, TV and print advertisements, and bill inserts directed to AT&T cardholders who make NYNEX calls. These communications are potentially misleading in a number of ways: AT&T implies that NYNEX, not AT&T, is terminating the Mutual Card Honoring Agreement and choosing to block 0+ intraLATA calls which the caller wants to charge to his AT&T card. Customers can mistakenly conclude from these communications that NYNEX is to blame for this inconvenience. Through these communications, AT&T confuses customers and hurts NYNEX's reputation in the marketplace. AT&T implies that 0+ intraLATA calls dialed by AT&T cardholders have been carried by AT&T all along (rather than by NYNEX), and that using the AT&T 800 number is just a better way of dialing these calls. Customers may not understand that by changing dialing patterns, they are changing service providers and may be charged higher rates. AT&T is trying to divert intraLATA calls to its own network by confusing and misleading customers, rather than by competing fairly and openly on the basis of price, quality, or service. AT&T also implies that customers must dial the-AT&T 800 number to avoid having their calls blocked ("Call 1-800-CALL-ATT to get around the block", "Don't get blocked", "Always dial 1-800-CALL-ATT"). This is not true. Customers remain free to place intraLATA calls by dialing 0+, provided they charge the calls to their NYNEX card, or use another method of payment. POINTS TO EMPHASIZE: These changes are being made by AT&T. AT&T refuses to let NYNEX accept the AT&T Calling Card for intraLATA calls on the NYNEX network. If customers use a NYNEX calling card, which is available for free, they can still dial intraLATA calls the way they always have, and the call will go through. In many cases, using the NYNEX network is less expensive than using the AT&T network for intraLATA calling card calls. AT&T has the right to restrict its calling card so that it can only be used on the AT&T network. AT&T does not have the right to imply that NYNEX is to blame for the resulting customer inconvenience, or to mislead customers regarding their options. NYNEX EXTRA MESSAGE included in the NYNEX Bill: The NYNEX Extra for the MAY 1996 billing periods will include a message to both business and residential customers concerning the MCHA termination. The following information will be provided to all customers: URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL CALLING CARD CUSTOMERS: Beginning May 1, 1996, AT&T has directed NYNEX to reject the AT&T Calling Card for local and regional calls made by dialing 0 + AREA + NUMBER. It is AT&T, not NYNEX, that is eliminating this choice for AT&T Calling Card holders. However, you can continue to use your NYNEX Calling Card to make all calls -- local, regional and long distance -- by dialing 0 + AREA + NUMBER. The message to residential customers will also include the following: Remember -- your NYNEX Calling Card number starts with your area code and is followed by your home telephone number plus PIN. AT&T's card does not start in the same way. Finally, all customers will be provided with the number to call if they need to order a NYNEX Calling Card. Those numbers are: New York Residence: 1-800-771-5656, Operator 108. New England Residence: 1-800-499-5200, Operator 154. New York Business: 1-800-771-5656, Operator 425. New England Business: 1-800-499-5200, Operator 168. ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: New Area Codes in 209, 408, 510 Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 23:39:48 PDT New Area Codes Needed in 209, 408 and 510; Running Out of Numbers, New Codes Planned For Mid-1998 SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1996--Due to increased demand for telephone numbers, new area codes will be introduced in some or all of the areas that now use the 209, 408 and 510 area codes in California. The three new area codes are expected to be in use by mid-1998. A group comprised of representatives from the telecommunications industry is currently developing and evaluating different options for introducing the new area codes. Under California law, public participation and comment must be obtained and final approval received from the California Public Utilities Commission before a new area code can be introduced. Administrators at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore), the organization that administers the North American Numbering Plan, also review the plan for compliance with industry guidelines and then assign the new area code. Bruce Bennett, numbering plan administrator for Pacific Bell and coordinator of the industry area code relief efforts for the 209, 408 and 510 area codes, said a series of meetings will be held before the end of October 1996 to seek public comment and input on potential area code relief. Locations, dates and times of the public meetings will be announced at a later time, Bennett said. Boundaries for the new area codes, as well as the actual three-digit numbers, will be announced later this year. The areas now served by the 209, 408 and 510 codes are the latest in a series of regions in California that need area code relief. Today, California has 13 area codes, more than any other state. Plans call for doubling that number from 13 to 26 over the next five years to keep up with the state's record telephone number consumption. This growth is being spurred by the high-technology explosion of fax machines, pagers and cellular phones as well as competition for local telephone service. Ten of the 13 new area codes will be introduced by mid-1998. In addition to 209, 408 and 510, the other California regions which have already announced the need for area code relief are as follows: the 415, 916, and 714 areas will need new area codes as early as December 1997. In 213, a new area code will need to be introduced in early 1998. In three other state regions, three new area codes have already been announced and will go into effect in 1997. They are: 562 in Eastern Los Angeles, 760 covering portions of San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Mono, Kern and Inyo counties and 626 in Los Angeles County. The 209 area code currently spans 21 counties in the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra foothills, including Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and smaller portions of El Dorado, Alpine, Sacramento, Inyo, Mono, San Benito, Alameda, Monterey, Kern and Santa Clara counties. The 408 area code serves the South Bay Area Peninsula and Central Coast areas, which represent virtually all of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties and small portions of San Luis Obispo, Merced, Stanislaus, Fresno and Alameda counties. The 510 area code covers the East Bay area, which includes all of Contra Costa County and most of Alameda County and a small portion of San Joaquin County. For more information, call one of the following: Eric Johnson -- 209 area code including Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties and small portions of Kern, Inyo and Mono counties; 408 area code including small portions of San Luis Obispo and Fresno counties. Veryl Oakland -- 209 area code including Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties and smaller portions of Alpine, El Dorado, San Benito, Sacramento and Monterey counties; 408 area code including virtually all of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties and small portions of Merced and Stanislaus counties. Beverly Butler -- all of the 510 area code including Contra Costa County, virtually all of Alameda County and a small portion of San Joaquin County; 408 area code including virtually all of Santa Clara County and a small portion of Alameda County; 209 area code including small portions of Alameda and Santa Clara counties. CONTACT: Pacific Telesis Eric Johnson, 209/454-3602 (209 area) Veryl Oakland, 916/972-2813 (209 & 408 areas) Beverly Butler, 415/542-9468 (510 & 408 areas) ------------------------------ From: tholome@francenet.fr (Eric Tholome) Subject: Update on French CT2 Network Date: Wed, 01 May 1996 12:35:48 +0200 Hi everyone, Since Chevalier has just announced that they were to close their CT2 network in Hong Kong on June 30th, I thought it was the right time to give you an update on the French CT2 network, which now is the largest CT2 network (in terms of number of subscribers) in the world (around 100k subscribers these days I believe). Recap: the French CT2 network (called "Bi-Bop" and operated by France Telecom) offers cellular-like service in and around Paris (several thousand base stations) as well as in a couple of other French cities and in most French airports and big train stations. While making outgoing calls is straightforward, receiving incoming calls is possible but requires that the subscriber locates him/herself and does not move to another base station. It has been quite interesting to follow the evolution of the network. Technically speaking, nothing much has changed since they introduced the inbound functionality (late 1993 if I remember well). The same stands for coverage: I don't think there has been any major deployment of base stations since mid 1994. The major evolution has been in terms of number of subscribers as well as tariffs. Bi-Bop is clearly an alternative to real cellular solutions (like GSM). While it may have had a couple of advantages over GSM (like offering voice mail before the GSM operators could, like providing in-building coverage in shopping centers, like having longer battery life), it is clearly not a real cellular system (no handover from one cell to another, no location tracking mechanism allowing automatic incoming call routing, patchy coverage, etc.). Its major advantage over GSM was therefore in terms of costs. Prices of handsets have fallen from US$300 (in 1993) to US$120 now. You can also rent your hanset for US$6/month. Bi-Bop handset prices have always been comparable to the price of the low-end GSM terminals. The initial offer was at US$11/month + US$7/month for optional inbound service. Calls were charged at PSTN rate + US$0.16/min for airtime (incoming and outgoing). In 1993, this was approximately 3 times less expensive than the GSM offers (except that French GSM operators charge the calling party for incoming calls, not the subscriber). This managed to attract quite a few people and Bi-Bop has been successful to bring mobility to a market segment that would have had to wait several more years otherwise. This offer had attracted around 80k subscribers end of 1994. But in the mean time, GSM operators had lowered their price quite significantly (mainly the airtime charges), while improving their coverage, making Bi-Bop less and less attractive. In 1995, France Telecom introduced another Bi-Bop offer targeted at occasional users: no more monthly fee, but calls were charged at PSTN rate + US$0.36/min. Inbound service was still optional at US$7/month. While airtime was in some cases more expensive than with GSM, it was a very good plan for occassional users. Apparently, they managed to attract more customers and reached around 100k around end 1995. Note: this growth is still pathetic compared to the GSM subscriber base growth in France. 1996 is starting to see drastic changes in the cellular world in France: on May 29th, Bouygues Telecom will open their DCS1800 network (DCS1800 is similar to GSM but at 1800MHz). They will probably go after the same market segment as Bi-Bop and steal some customers to the GSM networks too. We have already seen one GSM operator offering a new plan with a very low monthly rate, probably preparing for Bouygues' arrival. With the prices of GSM (and DCS1800) falling like tree leaves in October, there is less and less room for Bi-Bop ... France Telecom has just introduced two new plans for Bi-Bop: - one for heavy users: monthly rate US$16 (includes inbound service), calls are US$0.10/min for local calls, US$0.30/min for national calls. - one for occasional users: no monthly rate (includes inbound service), all calls are US$0.40/min, prepaid system. While I'm not sure that the first can compete with DCS1800, the second one may be attractive to occasional users (but France Telecom is not going to make big bucks with this one). With France Telecom seeing Bi-Bop revenues going down dramatically, the question clearly is: how long will Bi-Bop survive? Eric Tholome private account 23, avenue du Centre tholome@francenet.fr 78180 Montigny le Bretonneux phone: +33 1 30 48 06 47 France fax: same number, call first! ------------------------------ From: Pinto, Dominic Subject: FITCE Annual Congress: Vienna, Aug. 27 - Sep. 1, 1996 Date: Wed, 01 May 96 11:41:00 GMT FITCE was founded in 1961 to aid the establishment of good relationship between telecommunications engineers across European borders and to facilitate exchange of experience. Now FITCE numbers some 5000 members across the European Union, and includes telecoms and communications professionals from all the varying converging industries -- telecoms, IT, media, broadcast etc. This year's 35th Annual Congress is to be hosted by the Association of Austrian Telecommunication Engineers and supported by the Austrian PTT and by the Austrian Telecommunications industry. The theme of the Congress is Multi-Media Services on the Telecoms Networks of Europe. Keynote first day speaker will be Professor Peter Cochrane Head of Advanced Services at BT Labs, Martlesham Heath UK. This Congress coincides with Austria's millennium in 1996. In the year 1996 the name "Ostarrichi" (historical name for Austria) has been mentioned for the first time. Austria will be celebrating this historical moment with a lot of special exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events. The congress itself takes place in the Vienna Hilton hotel. There will be a full technical paper program (being finalised by the International Selection Committee), and a full social program. Registration fees are (in UK?) per person: Members ?76 (accompanying persons ?61), non-members ?152 (accompanying persons ?122). Travel and hotel is additional. Registration, hotel, and travel details are available from: Dominic Pinto FITCE UK, Room A604 81 Newgate Street London EC1A 7AJ UK. Ph +44 (0)802 246761, fax +44 (0)171 356-6482; e-mail dominic.pinto@itu.ch. ------------------------------ From: blair@instep.bc.ca Subject: CDPD Coverage in Parkersburg, WV Reply-To: blair@instep.bc.ca Organization: InStep Mobile Communications Inc. Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 16:00:54 GMT Hi There, From my understanding Cellular One is the cellular provider in Parkersburg, WV. Do they have any plans for CDPD coverage in this city? If any of the cellular carriers, particularly CDPD carriers, can send me some information it will be very useful. We are providing CAD (Computer Automated Dispatching) for taxi companies using mobile data terminals coupled with a CDPD modem. Using the CDPD network as our means of data transmission eliminates the costs, downtimes, lack of frequencies, and coverage issues typically associated with 2-way radios. If you can provide me with any useful information I can be reached at the following: InStep Mobile Communications Inc. Attn : Blair Shellenberg 1001 - 805 West Broadway Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 1K1 Canada (604) 872-7116 (604) 872-7125 Fax blair@instep.bc.ca If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch with me at your convenience. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Blair Shellenberg ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #208 ******************************