Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA10716; Fri, 27 Dec 1996 23:40:41 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 23:40:41 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199612280440.XAA10716@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #682 TELECOM Digest Fri, 27 Dec 96 23:40:00 EST Volume 16 : Issue 682 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Dialing Procedures and Charging (Re: NPA 570 For Colorado) (Mark Cuccia) Re: World-Wide Cellular Phone Rental? (Nils Andersson) Re: World-Wide Cellular Phone Rental? (David Whiteman) Re: COCOT 800-Access Charges (Jay R. Ashworth) Re: 385 or 435 to be Used for Utah (Linc Madison) Re: And the New Number is ... 949 (John Cropper) Re: And the New Number is ... 949 (Robert McMillin) Re: Bell Issuing Year-Long *Temporary* Numbers (David Esan) Re: Bell Issuing Year-Long *Temporary* Numbers (Nils Andersson) Re: Free Calls From Payphones/COCOTS (Roy Smith) 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: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* 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, 27 Dec 1996 11:21:53 -0800 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Dialing Procedures and Charging (Re: NPA 570 For Colorado) Nils Andersson wrote: > Mark J. Cuccia writes: >> 570-NXX-xxxx would mean Area Code 570, plus whatever local exchange; >> while 303-570-xxxx will continue to mean Area Code 303, plus local >> exchange 570 *within the 303 area code*. >> With overlays and mandatory ten-digit local dialing, such things *are* >> possible, and actually make *more efficient use* of numbering/code >> resources than area code splits do. > True, but I want to make another point. By Bellcore recommendations > (i.e. allowing seven digit or 1+ten or 0+ten) you do not need > "mandatory 10 digit dialling". It is quite feasible to allow good old > seven digits to mean same area code as caller. But you have a 'code conflict' and the switch requires a 'time-out' if you are going to have permissive seven-digit dialing in an overlay situation. i.e. local calls to (303)-570-xxxx dialed as just seven-digits, if coming from a number in the 303 area code will result in a three-to-five second delay, as a *local* call to a number in the 570 area code (570-NXX-xxxx) will require ten-digits. But being a *local* call, particularly in an *overlay* situation shouldn't have to *require* a '1+'. True, the '#' (pound) button can 'cancel' the wait to time-out. But how many in the general public will remember to hit a '#' after dialing a seven-digit local number in their own area code if there is a code-conflict situation. What about people who are pausing too long while dialing, while looking up the number? If they pause too long at the wrong spot, they will connect to (303)-570-nxxx rather than the 570-NXX-xxxx number they *intend* to reach. And rotary dial phones are still in use, and will continue to be. People who don't have a touchtone signaling device will be *forced* to wait for a 'time-out' on such dialed seven-digit calls. Over the decades, places have gone from local numbers of three to six digits in length to a more-or-less 'fixed' length of seven-digits. However, we are really part of a *ten* digit length number in the NANP. And with all of the need for number/code assignments these days, it would be better if everyone in the US and Canada thought of their telephone number as full ten-digits. If I am making a local call in my own central office switch and code, I must dial the number as seven-digits, and can *not* dial the number simply by its last four or five digits. This was possible in many rural areas, and still might be in effect in some places, but is vanishing. Of course, PBX's can dial 'shortcut' numbers within their PBX dialing group, but 'outside' calls usually require the '9+' exit code. Cellular phones aren't rotary but all touchtone. However, they also *require* the 'SEND' button be pressed ... with my cellular, I can *still* even make 0+ calls in the 504 area code as _0+seven-digits+SEND_, whether it is in my local cellular area (Bell South Mobility airtime only), intra-LATA toll (BSM airtime plus BellSouth wireline toll), or to the Baton Rouge LATA (BSM airtime, plus wireline _AT&T_ toll), or I can enter 0+504+seven-digits+SEND. Same goes for toll calls in 504 to the Baton Rouge LATA ... I can enter seven-digits+SEND, 1+seven-digits+SEND, 504+seven-digits+SEND, or 1+504-NXX-xxxx+SEND. And *NO* call even begins to 'set-up' to completion *until* the 'SEND' button is entered! > I am aware that there are some backward areas of the country (Texas > for one) that still insist that the presence or absence of "1+" has > something to do with how much a call costs. This paradigm died most > places when mechanical switches were carried out to the scrapyard (and > should be put to death where still alive). Where it is dead, seven > digit dialling would work just fine. The following relates to *billing* of calls, and the use of '1+': IMO, the use of a '1+' should mean 'put the call through, dialed as a full NANP ten-digit number, whether local or toll. Charge me toll if there is toll -- don't charge me toll if it is local/free (or charge me whatever local message units apply, in areas where there is no unlimited fixed-monthly-rate local dialing area). IMO, *absence* of a '1+' on a full NANP ten-digit number should mean to put the call through *only* if the call is local/free or, in the case of mandatory local measured/message rate 'below' the local price barrier or threshold. IMO, 'free' would include 800/888/877/etc. i.e., in a mandatory ten-digit dialing situation, such calls could be dialed (at the *customer's* whim) as either/both 1-800-NXX-xxxx and/or 800-NXX-xxxx. Same applies for 888 and the future 877, etc. IMO, if the customer has blocking against pay-per-call prefixes, calls to 900-NXX-xxxx, NPA-976-xxxx, and others, whether dialed with '1+' or without '1+' would result in a "call cannot be completed as dialed" type of recording. But if the customer desired access to such prefixes, such calls would be dialed a mandatory ten-digits (i.e. a local area NPA plus 976 on such '976' calls), but would *require* a mandatory '1+'. Any chargeable call (or call above a certain local price threshold) dialed in full ten-digits, but without a '1+' would result in the recording, "you must first dial a '1' or '0' when calling this number." The 1+ did have something to do *specifically* with the actual switching and routing the call in the electromechanical days. In other areas, it indicated the difference between seven-digit "home" NPA calls and ten-digit "foreign" NPA calls, whether or not either was 'local/free' or toll. Today, '1+' could be used as a 'toll-indicator', but permit all local/ free calls as well, while ten-digit calls without the '1+' would be available only for dialed NPA-NXX terminations which are 'local/free'. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE/CABLE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ From: nilsphone@aol.com (Nils Andersson) Subject: Re: World-Wide Cellular Phone Rental? Date: 27 Dec 1996 19:02:38 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com In article , joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) writes: > Does anyone have any details on this sort of service? At the moment > I'm mostly interested in Israel, but in the coming months Europe, too. I know the company (not in my head). They rent Irish and Swiss based GSM 900 MHz phones. The call charges are pretty steep; they have to be. Regards, Nils Andersson ------------------------------ From: dbw@autopsy.com (David Whiteman) Subject: Re: World-Wide Cellular Phone Rental? Date: 27 Dec 1996 06:45:15 GMT Organization: Network Intensive In article , joel@exc.com (Joel M. Hoffman) wrote: > In the back of an airline magazine, I saw an offer for world-wide > cellular phone rental, where I would pay only for calls (probably at > quite a high rate), and nothing for renting the phone or the cellular > service. But I forgot to keep the advertisement. > Does anyone have any details on this sort of service? At the moment > I'm mostly interested in Israel, but in the coming months Europe, too. Recently during random web surfing I found a web side for a company that rents international cellular phones. I have no idea of the quality of their service, or how relatively cheap or expensive their products are. The website is www.mobell.com and the company is Mobell Communications. They rent US cell phones, UK cell phones, GSM and MTS phones for over 30 countries, and the Planet 1 phone, which is Comsat's new portable satellite phone. ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: COCOT 800-Access Charges Date: 27 Dec 1996 16:58:24 GMT Organization: University of South Florida Dave Levenson (dave@westmark.com) wrote: > Jay R. Ashworth (jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us) writes: >> Ok, admittedly, they may have a financially sound motivation for this >> desire, although I'd be _really_ surprised if there was a good >> justification for their not noticing for _13_ years ... > Over the past 13 years, the volume of 800 traffic has increased from > 4% of the traffic to 24% of the traffic. (Why do you think we have > run out of 800 numbers?) When the users getting a free ride on the > payphone become that high a fraction, they _did_ get noticed. That it > took this many years to fix the problem is not because nobody noticed > it ... but that governmental action normally proceeds at a rather > stately pace! It's gone up that much? Ok. >> The "rule" I'm discussing is the implied contract that Dave feels that >> he, and his daughter at swim practice, have with "the telephone >> company". For many, _many_ years, it has been possible to place a >> call to a "so-called" toll-free number, without needing to carry any >> money, and many, _many_ customers have taken advantage of this >> capability. > That has not changed. The payphone compensation is paid to the > payphone operator (LEC or COCOT-owner) by the carrier, not by the > caller. There is still no need to carry change to make calls to 800 > numbers! Well, yeah, but see my earlier comments to Brett (I think it was) on this topic. Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us Member of the Technical Staff Junk Mail Will Be Billed For. The Suncoast Freenet *FLASH: Craig Shergold aw'better; call 800-215-1333* Tampa Bay, Florida http://members.aol.com/kyop/rhps.html +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: 385 or 435 to be Used for Utah Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 17:29:25 -0800 In article , psyber@mindspring. com wrote: (quoting the Deseret News Archives, 12/12/96) > Cellular phone customers in the affected area would need to have their > phones reprogrammed, Ott said. He was unsure about the cost. > Fax machines, modems or pagers would not need to be reprogrammed. This last point is flat wrong as far as fax machines. Fax machines in an area code MUST be reprogrammed, because the "station ID" is entered manually. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com ------------------------------ From: John Cropper Subject: Re: And the New Number is ... 949 Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 19:17:14 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Reply-To: psyber@mindspring.com Mike King wrote: > And the New Number is ... 949 > Plan Filed to Split Orange County's 714 Area Code > Most existing 714 customers in the northern portion of Orange County > would keep the 714 area code. Some of the communities that would > remain entirely in the 714 include: Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, > Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Orange, > Placentia, Seal Beach, Stanton, Westminster and Yorba Linda. The > majority of customers in Santa Ana and Tustin would also keep the 714 > area code. The 714 area code would also continue to serve very small > portions of Brea, La Mirada, La Palma, Los Alamitos and La Habra. > Most existing 714 customers in the southern portion of Orange County > would receive the new 949 area code. Some of the communities to be > served by the 949 include: Aliso Viejo, Balboa, Capistrano Valley, > Corona del Mar, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, > Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and > Santa Ana Heights. Most customers in Irvine would also receive the new > 949 area code. Sounds to me that the easiest explanation is that the border runs from the coast along Harbor Blvd, turns east along I-405, straddles mid-county along state route 55 (Costa Mesa Freeway and Newport Freeway), then turns and follows state route 91. > Several communities located along the new 714/949 split line border > would be served by both area codes, meaning part of the community > would stay 714 and part would receive the new 949. In Irvine, for > instance, most of the city would be served by 949, except a small > portion to stay 714. Other cities that would be served by both area > codes include: Santa Ana and Tustin, which primarily remain 714 and > Costa Mesa, which would be divided in half by the two area codes. When you're making am omelette ... > In planning area code splits, Bennett said the industry tries to avoid > dividing cities. "However, sometimes this cannot be avoided because > telephone wire center serving boundaries do not necessarily coincide > with city and county lines," he said, explaining that the telephone > wireline network has been in place for many years, while political > boundaries have changed over time. "Consequently, we cannot always > follow political boundary lines and still gain adequate area code > relief." > The Commission is expected to issue a final decision on the 714 area > code relief plan as early as January. Persons who wish to comment on > the plan may write to the: > California Public Utilities Commission > President P. Gregory Conlon > 505 Van Ness Avenue > San Francisco, CA 94102 -or- MindNumbed TURN sympathizers President Regina Costa c/o CPUC 505 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102 attention: NO OVERLAYS, OR WE'LL PINCH YOU! > Bennett said two 714 geographic split options were presented to the > public for comment during meetings in June. Both plans used a > north/south Orange County split to create a new area code and were > very similar, except one also kept Huntington Beach, Westminster and > half of Fountain Valley in the 714 area code. > "In general, the public preferred the plan that included Huntington > Beach, Westminster and Fountain Valley in 714 due to a strong > community of interest between these cities and other nearby cities in > the 714," Bennett said. "There was also a concern that Santa Ana, > being the county seat, should remain in the 714. > "We were able to make those adjustments, although it shortens the life > of the 714 area code by almost a year." Other adjustments to the > original plan included keeping all, rather than only part, of Fountain > Valley in 714, Bennett said. Everybody's code-happy ... 'we gotta keep our code, we gotta keep our code'. This mentality will perpetuate the need for relief! > As proposed, the new 949 area code would last 18 to 22 years, while the > reconfigured 714 would last four to five years. Rediculous! Both codes should be split so that they both last an average of eight to ten years. > While customers who receive the new 949 area code will have to change > the area code portion of their telephone number, the new three-digit > code will not affect the price of telephone calls in any of these > areas, Bennett said. "Call distance determines call price and is not > impacted by the creation of a new area code," he said. "What is a > local call now will remain a local call regardless of the area code > change. Dialing patterns, however, will change! > Bennett also noted that when the new 949 area code is introduced, > there will be a six-month "permissive" dialing period during which > callers can dial either the old 714 or new 949 area code. If they're smart, they'll make it three months of dial-through, and three months of intercept recordings ... > Orange County is the latest in a series of regions in California > requiring 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. That consumption is being spurred by the > high-technology explosion of fax machines, pagers, cellular phones and > modems for Internet access along with the onset of local competition > in California's telephone market. Ten of the 13 new area codes will be > introduced by the end of 1998. This is the most accurate depiction of the situation to date. Of course, it IS PacBell who is reporting this fact ... :) > Plans for the 714 area code were collectively developed by a > telecommunications industry group representing more than 30 companies, > including Pacific Bell, GTE, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, AirTouch, Pagenet, > AT&T Wireless, MFS Communications Co., Teleport Communications Group > (TCG), the California Cable Television Association and others. This explains why new area code boundaries resemble voting districts. :) John Cropper voice: 888.NPA.NFO2 LINCS 609.637.9434 PO Box 277 fax: 609.637.9430 Pennington, NJ 08534-0277 mailto:psyber@mindspring.com http://206.112.101.209/jcbt2n/lincs/ ------------------------------ From: rlm@netcom.com (Robert McMillin) Subject: Re: And the New Number is ... 949 Reply-To: rlm@helen.surfcty.com Organization: Charlie Don't CERF Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 03:34:35 GMT On 26 Dec 1996 21:14:18 PDT, Mike King reposted a Pac*Bell press release, which in part read: > Most existing 714 customers in the northern portion of Orange County > would keep the 714 area code. Some of the communities that would > remain entirely in the 714 include: Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, > Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Orange, > Placentia, Seal Beach, Stanton, Westminster and Yorba Linda. The ^^^^^^^^^^ > majority of customers in Santa Ana and Tustin would also keep the 714 > area code. The 714 area code would also continue to serve very small > portions of Brea, La Mirada, La Palma, Los Alamitos and La Habra. Isn't Seal Beach entirely served by 310 (soon to be 562)? The only thing I can think of that might be in 714 is the Naval Weapons Station, but that's not even listed in my White Pages. (Hey, maybe they're in 710 ... :-) Does anyone know differently? > As proposed, the new 949 area code would last 18 to 22 years, while the > reconfigured 714 would last four to five years. Typical of what seems to be happening across the country. North OC residents can look forward to yet another geographic split in 2002 or so. My guess at the most likely boundaries are the Santa Ana River and/or Euclid Street. Most of Santa Ana, Anaheim (i.e., Disneyland/ Anaheim Stadium/the Arrowhead Pond), and Tustin, along with all of Orange, Yorba Linda, Placentia, the Silverado exchange, eastern Fullerton, and the eastern extremities of Garden Grove would remain 714. Cypress, Buena Park, La Palma, Stanton, western Garden Grove and Fullerton, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, and the 714 remnant of Costa Mesa would move to the new area code. Both area codes will exhaust in 2004 :-). The more I think about overlays, the more I like it. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: David Esan <103145.117@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Bell Issuing Year-Long *Temporary* Numbers Date: 27 Dec 1996 15:28:31 GMT Organization: MOSCOM > A description of being given a 281 number, that will change > into a 713 number in a year. I wouldn't blame SWBT too much for the mix up. The 281 overlay was in the works for nearly a year, when objections to an overlay were raised in the Texas PUC. They then ruled that the earlier 281 overlay had to be redone, and that the split had to be geographic. I am sure that the confusion that was created was tremendous, as existing exchanges had to be moved out of the new 713 area and those people, assigned a 281 exchange, had to be moved back into 713. All this in an area code that was running out of exchanges to begin with. BTW, there is a 713-290 exchange. In fact, according to my latest information, there are 764 exchanges in 713. Remember, there is a maximum of 800 possible exchanges, and there are a certain number that are reserved for various uses and therefore not available for use. ------------------------------ From: nilsphone@aol.com (Nils Andersson) Subject: Re: Bell Issuing Year-Long *Temporary* Numbers Date: 27 Dec 1996 19:16:20 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com > I can't find any records that indicate that there is a 713-290-XXXX > exchange. Why couldn't they create one so that new customers could > have a 713 number and wouldn't have to change their area code or > prefix? I find it terribly inconceivable that they are totally out of > 713 numbers in my area. Are they conserving these numbers? This kind of little shop of horrors is another illustration to why I believe the PUCs should bite the bullet and to overlays. Regards and Happy Solstice, Nils Andersson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 10:00:28 -0500 From: roy@mchip00.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Subject: Re: Free Calls From Payphones/COCOTS Organization: New York University School of Medicine Eric Friedebach wrote: > In 1987 I signed up for an 800 number from MCI for my small business > that sells technical data for old aircraft [...] > As this whole subject settles down, I guess the concept (and cost) of > using a public telephone to access your own number will be acceptable. I ran into an interesting problem related to 800 numbers and pay phones recently, related to aviation too. Every airport that has an instrument approach is required by regulation to have some way to communicate with Air Traffic Control from the ground, so you can close flight plans after landing, obtain pre-takeoff clearances, etc. If there is no ATC facility on the field, then there either has to be an RCO (Remote Communications Outlet; basicly an automated VHF tranceiver remoted over a leased line circuit back to an ATC facility) or a commercial pay phone. RCOs are relatively expensive to install, so only the busiest uncontrolled fields have them. The smaller ones just have a plain old public pay phone on the field somewhere. The FAA, in their zeal to ensure that pilots do indeed contact ATC when they are supposed to, provided a nationwide 800 number which connects you to the nearest flight service station (not actually an ATC facility, but they do relay messages to ATC, and that's good enough). This is also the same 800 number you use to obtain weather briefings. So, of course, you've got these pay phones, sitting out at small airports, getting used a lot. Unfortunately, 99% of the calls don't generate any coins into the coin box, because they are to the 800 number. So, this past summer, NYNEX decided to start yanking out all the "unprofitable" payphones at small airports. Of course, the phones do generate revenue producing calls, they just don't generate coins in the box. The FAA pays for all the 800 calls, via invoice at the end of the month on their 800 line. But, that's not the way the accounting is done, so NYNEX views the phones as "unprofitable", and pulled them all out. Roy Smith Hippocrates Project, Department of Microbiology, Coles 202 NYU School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #682 ******************************