Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id BAA02943; Tue, 31 Dec 1996 01:44:52 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 01:44:52 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199612310644.BAA02943@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #686 TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Dec 96 01:44:00 EST Volume 16 : Issue 686 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson MCI Criticizes NYNEX Order Processing System (Mike Pollock) North American Numbering Council (Mark J. Cuccia) MCI Bait-And-Switch Beware (Ron Bolin) IntraLATA Operator Receiving InterLATA Calls? (Stanley Cline) Construction of New Telecom Infrastructure (R. Lipschult) Where Can I Find Used Phone Equipment (Paul Rob SJ) Employment Opportunity: Senior ISDN/ADSL/Cable Modem Designers (Steve Ide) Seeking Out Source For Bulk FAXing? (Gloria MacFarland) Should Pay Phones Post Rates (Lisa Hancock) Re: AT&T's New Prepaid Phone Card (Peter Corlett) Re: AT&T's New Prepaid Phone Card (Nils Andersson) Re: Prepaid Phone Card Scams (Peter Bell) 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 20:05:45 -0800 From: Mike Pollock Organization: SJS Entertainment Subject: MCI Criticizes NYNEX Order Processing System A recent report appearing on Yahoo: MCI Criticizes NYNEX Order Processing System for Delaying Customers' Ability to Switch Local Telephone Companies WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A seriously flawed NYNEX order processing system is delaying the ability of New Yorkers and New Englanders to switch their local telephone service to another company, MCI said today. The NYNEX system fails to meet system standards established by the Federal Communications Commission, MCI said. The FCC is requiring local telephone monopolies to install electronic order processing systems by January 1 to ensure that customers who chose to switch their local telephone company can do so easily and quickly, MCI said. The NYNEX system does not meet the FCC test because it is an interim plan that requires manual input from sales representatives and is not an electronic, system to system solution. The manual system can lead to serious delays and errors in processing customer sales orders and other pertinent information. A fully automated electronic order processing system better enables companies to share information required to handle new service requests, repair calls and billing information. Electronic systems allow competitors to more quickly and more effectively resell local network capacity at a lower cost to customer. "Customers want choices when selecting a phone company for local service," said Donald T. Lynch, MCI senior vice president for financial operations and accounting. "They won't tolerate inconvenience or delays. NYNEX is simply not preparing a system that can meet customer needs." "We already are competing with NYNEX through our own, state-of-the-art local networks. Allowing NYNEX to use this flawed order processing system would severely limit MCI's ability to expand local competition by competing in the resale market." "The ability to compete through resale is critical, because it gives customers a greater number of choices for local service and allows competitors to quickly reach more customers." MCI has discussed the problems inherent in the NYNEX system, known as a Graphical User Interface (GUI), with other companies planning to enter the local market in NYNEX territory. No other company felt the GUI system could handle a large volume of customer requests. The serious ordering and maintenance problems with the NYNEX system inhibit a competitor's ability to process new customers' requests and service their accounts. This in turn slows down the ability of competitors to provide high quality, low cost customer service and will therefore delay the expansion of local competition. Because the NYNEX order processing system is not fully automated, competitors must manually input information which needlessly limits the volume of customer requests that can be processed and delays a customer's ability to change local service providers. In addition, sales representatives cannot know electronically what features and services are available at a given local switch. In addition, sales representatives: -- have to make needless double entries using multiple computer screens; are unable to electronically save a customer service record on the current system; -- can only offer a customer one number, while NYNEX can offer a choice of three; -- must wait up to 24 hours to be notified of an editing error in the processing of a customer's order; -- do not have access to an on-line table of NYNEX maintenance codes and must receive additional training. MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., provides a full range of integrated communication services to more than 20 million customers. Credited with opening up the U.S. long distance market for competition, MCI is now leading the charge to bring competition to the $100 billion local market, offering American consumers for the first time the freedom to choose their local carrier. With quarterly annualized revenue of more than $18 billion, MCI is one of the largest and fastest growing telecommunication companies in the world. SOURCE MCI ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 14:22:26 -0800 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: North American Numbering Council The North American Numbering Council (NANC) which is supposed to take over numbering administration in World-Zone/Country-Code +1 from Bellcore NANPA at some point in the near future now has webpages of its own located at the FCC's website. The full URL is: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/WWW/NANC/ There are several webpages available from this homepage, as various text files (.txt), MS-Word (.doc) and Word Perfect (.wpd) documents and files to either be clicked to or downloaded. At the present time, Bellcore NANPA still does the majority of 'top level' numbering administration in the North American Numbering Plan. BTW, many of the industry forums and committees which I frequently refer to are undergoing a reorganization and renaming for 1997. Details can be found at ATIS' (the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions) website: http://www.atis.org click on "ATIS Committees": http://www.atis.org/atis/committe.htm then go to "CLC and IILC Reorganize, January 1, 1997": http://www.atis.org/atis/clc/clc.htm 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: Ron Bolin Subject: MCI Bait-And-Switch Beware Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 06:50:40 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises I just recently changed from AT&T to MCI. MCI promised significantly lower rates when they called me to switch. They had some third party call and confirm my change and service. After a month on MCI I found that they did not honor their rates and that the rates were actually higher than AT&T. I have a major problem with this kind of marketing. I call it a lack of integrity. Needless to say I switched back to AT&T and will never consider MCI again. Get it in writing before you change providers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you 'get it in writing before you change providers' then you probably never will change providers since all of them hate to write letters or make any written commitments. I do not know why it is, but getting any telemarketer -- not just the ones for phone companies -- to engage in written correspondence is almost impossible. Telephone companies in particular never like to write letters it would seem. PAT] ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: IntraLATA Operator Receiving InterLATA Calls? Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 07:18:45 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: roamer1@pobox.com BellSouth Mobility's long distance now appears to believe that intraLATA (LEC) operators can handle all calls, regardless of their destination ... I was testing some other things from my cellular phone earlier today (does 0+500 still work? Do some new access codes work?) and dialed 0+706+some number *outside* of the Chattanooga LATA ... the BELLSOUTH operator answered. I apologized and hung up, I looked at what I'd dialed and it *WAS* outside the Chatt LATA. I dialed a number in NPA 303 -- Denver, CO, far away from here -- and STILL got the BellSouth operator! Never mind LEC operators can't handle interLATA calls, and must hand them off to an IXC (often resulting in surcharges, as with AT&T, or just generally high prices, as with the "I Don't Care" family of companies.) And I still get charged airtime, even if I hang up to dial 10288, an 800 number, etc., as the calls supervise when the operator ANSWERS, NOT when a call is connected! Note that intRALATA calls (except for some specific prefixes) and calls dialed with access codes (10288, etc.) are not affected. As soon as a month ago, 0+ interLATA (and some intRALATA) calls were routed to an intercept -- "This feature is not currently available to you" -- but now *all* 0+ calls go to BellSouth. I can't understand this, as they should route the 0+ calls to either Sprint (the carrier providing BellSouth Mobility's "own" LD service) or AT&T (who GTE/CellOne, the bulk of other carriers, and even BSM when I'm ROAMING, rely on for 0+.) Or they could contract with an operator-service provider, such as USLD or MCI's "carrier operator services", to provide 0+ service. Or maybe BellSouth is *wanting* customers to pay the LD carriers' surcharges or high prices. I dunno ... This is not the first time BellSouth has messed up translations in the Chattanooga MTSO, of course -- at one time, some local calls were not, and were charged as INTERLATA [by BellSouth LD, LCI, and AT&T, depending on my "carrier of the month"] even they are both INTRALATA and LOCAL. They no longer charge for the calls -- after I complained -- but are *still* sending those calls through Sprint, instead of the LEC lines as should be done. BellSouth claims the problem is caused by the LECs serving the affected areas, but the LECs -- both indepen- dents -- claim it's BellSouth causing the problems. They are sending calls to Copper Basin, TN (inside the Chatt LATA; US Cellular is licensed to serve the area -- but they don't) and to the Bridgeport, AL area (in Chatt LATA, but served by Huntsville, AL BSM) to Sprint as well. Next thing I know, the LEC operator will handle *all* calls (BSM) or *none* at all (payphones, under new FCC regs.) It'll get even more confusing, as LATAs (for practical purposes) may soon have no meaning. Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! dba Catoosa Computing Services, Chattanooga, TN mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://www.pobox.com/~roamer1/ ------------------------------ From: rlipschult@aol.com (R. Lipschult) Subject: Construction of New Telecom Infrastructure Date: 30 Dec 1996 21:39:26 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com I am trying to locate info on the construction of the new tower, antenna and other infrastructure being built to make use of the bandwidths the FCC has been auctioning off since 1994. Where can I find out what has been built, by whom & where. Also the technical and market analysis needed to select sites & the equipment needed at those sites. Thanks for any info or other help. Rick Lipschultz Tel 847 677 4051 Fax 847 677 3846. email Rlipschul@aol.com ------------------------------ From: paulrobsj@aol.com (Paul Rob SJ) Subject: Where Can I Find Used Phone Equipment Date: 31 Dec 1996 03:37:51 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Is there a Web page or Usenet group that deals with used PBX equipment? I have some to sell, and I need to buy some. Thanks, PaulRobSJ@aol.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Buyers and sellers please respond directly to each otehr, and *not* to the Digest. Thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: sai1@mindspring.com (Steve Ide) Subject: Employment Opportunity: Senior ISDN/ADSL/Cable Modem Designers Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 13:52:23 -0400 Organization: interspeed If you are a very senior (ten years plus) designer/engineer guru who would like more than just a job but a unique opportunity to share in the profits of a new company in the boston area please contact me asap. We are a fully funded subsidiary of a well known 12 year old telecommunications firm wishing to expand into the high speed modem market. This is an opportunity to have all the excitement and rewards of a start-up without the risk. We have a fully equpped lab west of Boston -- t1/fr isdn and cable modem facilities . If your entreprenuerial spirit wants to be set free contact me for details. sai1@mindspring.com tel 617 455 7120 fax 617 455 7133. ------------------------------ From: mediabrokr@aol.com (MediaBrokr) Subject: Seeking Out Source For Bulk FAXing Date: 30 Dec 1996 16:59:48 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com We are seeking an out source to handle a large volume of our faxing. We are a marketing company based in Southern California. We develop qualified prospects for our clients, who range from Fortune 500 firms, to start ups doing a few hundred thousand dollars a year in business. We develop prospects for our clients' products via broadcast fax. Our volume has increased to a point where we need to develop an out source or out sources to handle our overload. Please consider the following: 1. Sprint can fax our one page marketing documents in approximately 54 seconds (this is the result of a 35,000 fax test to companies nationwide). Internally, we do about the same. Your technology must be able to approximately match this transmission rate. 2. We can move between 100,000 and 200,000 one page faxes monthly to an outside fax service. 3. We will pay only for the faxes which actually go through. 4. We need to be able to transfer lists and fax material to you electronically. 5. Off peak transmission is fine. 6. We will need logs for each phone book sent. 7. We would like to have a merge capability for cover sheets. However, this is not essential. 8. However you bill, if you cannot offer us a bid of at least nine to ten cents per completed fax, all services inclusive, you will not be competitive with a bid we have received to date. We are ready to proceed immediately. Please fax your company information to (805) 299 2825, or call (805) 299 2800, extension 8. Gloria McFarland, President, Media Brokers, Inc. Phone: 805-290-3388 Fax: 805-298-3399 Media Brokers is a marketing company, specializing in custom market development projects. We also offer lead management services for major corporations and sales organizations. If you would like more information, e-mail or fax us your name, company name, phone and fax number, or call us at our office in Santa Clarita, California. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Again I suggest that interested parties respond direct rather than through the Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Should Pay Phones Post Rates? Date: 31 Dec 1996 00:13:01 GMT Organization: Net Access BBS When I argue against private payphones, advocates say consumers should be able to make their own choices, rather than "big brother" (be it government or the phone company) making it for them. IMHO, private pay phones are generally a rip-off of consumers. To make them fair, why can't the law require prices be posted on near pay phones, in readable print? We have laws requiring supermarkets to properly price items on shelves or have accurate shelf stickers. Some states require gasoline pumps to have prominent prices, not just a tiny figure in the pump meter. Now that pay phones are unregulated, why can't we show a price card as well? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 20:32:51 GMT From: Peter Corlett Subject: Re: AT&T's New Prepaid Phone Card Organization: Metamedia In article is written: > More voice-recording prmpts are now heard -- first indicating how many > units are remaining on the card, and if enough, then instructing you > to enter '1' if the call is in the US, Canada or the Caribbean, then > the area code and local seven digit number; *OR* to enter the country > code plus city-code and local number of a country outside of North > America. > NOTE: *** "You do not need to enter the 011 before the country code, > because AT&T does it for you." *** > In other words, you are entering the 'full worldwide' telephone > number, without any 'access prefixes'. Calls within the NANP are > preceded with a '1' (which you do normally dial from a home/business > phone on 'station sent paid' calls, anyhow), and all calls to non-NANP > locations are dialed with the country code first, and then continuing. This all seems more logical when one remembers that the country code for the USA is 1, and so _all_ calls are dialed from the same point of reference, that is from an international level, back into the USA if necessary. People in the UK don't consider the idea of dialing the full international code for a call within the UK either, because it is not particularly useful for the Joe Public, but also because it doesn't work from most networks. Indeed, British Telecom have various test numbers starting 0044 (i.e. international call, destination UK) and many other networks haven't implemented this either. Interestingly, the aging, and well-hacked Cellnet ETACS analogue mobile phone service, to be retired soon, correctly routes a call starting 0044 to a UK destination. The biggest surprise about the BT test numbers, is that when one is found that gives answer supervision, it is itemised on the international section of the bill, and charged at a high rate, much higher than a call to the USA for example, and has the destination listed as `United Kingdom'. When BT's customer services [`Planet 150'] are challenged about these calls, they come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful excuses, but no real explaination. Hence the nickname `Planet 150', since one dials 150 to contact them, and they are clearly not on Planet Earth. ------------------------------ From: nilsphone@aol.com (Nils Andersson) Subject: Re: AT&T's New Prepaid Phone Card Date: 31 Dec 1996 04:36:44 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com In article , Mark J. Cuccia writes: > In other words, you are entering the 'full worldwide' telephone > number, without any 'access prefixes'. Calls within the NANP are > preceded with a '1' (which you do normally dial from a home/business > phone on 'station sent paid' calls, anyhow), and all calls to non-NANP > locations are dialed with the country code first, and then continuing. One interesting thing about this is that you can view the "1" as the normal prefix before area code, or you view it as a country code. I always thought this was an interesting coincidence(?). Regards, Nils Andersson ------------------------------ From: Peter Bell Subject: Re: Prepaid Phone Card Scams Organization: Yale University Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 23:00:00 EST Article says: > Last week, the commission said it fined I.S.C. International > Telecommunications, (copy is garbled here) ... service providers, > including AT&T, GTE and MCI. and you append: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting that AT&T was one of the > companies fined for poor performance in this area when considering > the marketing push they are making at this time according to the > earlier article in this issue by Mark Cuccia. PAT] Now, does the earlier article say ATT was one of the ones fined? Cause the one you've made the comment in respect to doesn't seem to; I almost think it might be saying that the bunco artists in questions were telling people the LD time they had was bought from ATT, GTE and MCI. Peter bell@pantheon.yale.edu ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #686 ******************************