Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA27618; Tue, 28 Jan 1997 09:12:33 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 09:12:33 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199701281412.JAA27618@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #23 TELECOM Digest Tue, 28 Jan 97 09:12:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 23 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson March ISDN Event in Tampa (Bob Cameron) Re: Using a "700" Number to Dial Around (Keith Brown) Re: Czech, Slovak Republics to Split Country Code 42 (Bob Goudreau) Re: Ordering a Dedicated Modem Line (Rick R. Cox) Re: Today's FCC Forum on Bandwidth (Tim Gorman) Re: Today's FCC Forum on Bandwidth (John R. Grout) Cisco Could Enter PBX Market (Adam Gaffin) Ameritech's Procrastination ... Indiana Down to the Wire (John Cropper) Re: Telstar 401 Goes "Poof" (Lauren Weinstein) Apple Responds to FCC Spectrum Decision (Bennett Kobb) Breaking my Own Rule ... (Eric Florack) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ccg4isdn@ix.netcom.com (Bob Cameron) Subject: March ISDN Event in Tampa Date: 27 Jan 1997 15:56:35 GMT Organization: Netcom Full Week of ISDN Related Activities Planned for Tampa March 3 - 7, 1997 The North American ISDN Users Forum, Florida ISDN Users Group and attendees of Bellcore's Industry Seminar on the 1997 Version of National ISDN CPE Guidelines are all converging at the Doubletree Airport Hotel in Tampa, Florida the week of March 3, 1997. The North American ISDN Users' Forum (NIUF) meeting will be cosponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Cameron Communications Group. NIST (http://www.niuf.nist.gov/misc/niuf.html) is a not-for-profit arm of the Federal Government's Department of Commerce. Cameron Communications Group (http://www.ccg4isdn.com) conducts courses on ISDN Installation and Troubleshooting, Advanced ISDN Protocol Analysis, and ISDN Router Interoperability and has specialized in ISDN since 1987. The Florida ISDN Users' Group (http://www.fiug.org) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering the growth of ISDN throughout Florida. It provides member education, a collective voice for influencing ISDN service deployment and tariffs, and coordinates communication of users' issues to the NIUF. Members of the FIUG will conduct a series of tutorials and panels for both NIUF and FIUG participants on Monday, March 3. Details on Monday's sessions are posted on the FIUG and NIUF web sites. There is no charge for attending these sessions. The regular NIUF steering committee meetings will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 4 & 5. Details are available on the NIUF web site. There is a charge for these sessions. On Thursday and Friday, March 6 & 7, Bellcore will host an industry seminar on the 1997 Version of the National ISDN CPE Guidelines. It will cover features that are planned to be generally available by at least one switch provider by the fourth quarter of 1997. These are detailed in Bellcore Publications SR-3887 and SR-3888. There is a fee for attending these sessions but participants are entitled to a 50% discount on the purchase of these documents. More information is available at http://www.bellcore.com/NIC. This week is an excellent opportunity to gain a broader perspective on ISDN issues and technology. Bob Cameron http://www.ccg4isdn.com ------------------------------ From: Keith Brown Subject: Re: Using a "700" Number to Dial Around Date: 27 Jan 1997 16:13:32 GMT Organization: CallCom International Jay R. Ashworth wrote in article ... > Charles Holcomb (cholcomb@tpd001.dp.tpd.dsccc.com) wrote: >> On of my relatives can not use her LD carrier's PIC code to dial >> around her LEC for her long distance calls in her LATA. >> I was told you can use a 1-700-xxx-xxxx to be able to dial around and >> still use your prefered LD carrier. > Um, maybe ... >> Is this true, and why is it not mentioned by LD carrier's?? > It depends on the carrier. Some plug it to high heaven. >> What excatly is the "700" number used for?? 700 access is still around and in use by some service providers. It was used mainly as you say a "dial around". But with the break up of the local toll markets, it will be short lived as local toll markets around the country open up to CLEC competition. It is just a matter of time now! Keith Brown CallCom International http://www.callcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 11:11:43 -0500 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: Re: Czech, Slovak Republics to Split Country Code 42 Dave Leibold writes: > A note on a Slovakia telecom information webpage indicates that the > telephone systems in the Czech and Slovak Republics will split into > separate country codes effective March 1997. > Country code +42 was originally listed in ITU's 1964 list as Czechoslovakia > (which became the separate republics in recent years). > The new country codes will be: > Czech Republic +420 > Slovak Republic +421 I wondered about the chances of confusion during the cutover; would any of the new +421 numbers in Slovakia collide with any old-style +42 1 numbers in the Czech Republic? (New +420 numbers in the Czech Republic won't be a problem, since there are currently no area codes beginning with 0 in either country.) A quick consultation with the Telecom Archives' Country Code database highlighted the problem: all Slovak area codes begin with 7, 8 or 9, and thus will change to +421 7, +421 8 and +421 9. Unfortunately, a number of Czech codes lie in the 17, 18 and 19 ranges (although 10 through 15 are vacant, and 16 doesn't collide): 17 Karlovy Vary 181 Rokycany 182 Plasy 183 Stribro 184 Tachov 185 Blovice 186 Klatovy 187 Susice 188 Horsovsky Tyn 189 Domazlice 19 Plzen So, unless these area codes were recently changed to move them out of the 17-19 range, it looks like there is a real potential for dialing error. Whether this results in a timeout (due to an insufficient number of digits being dialed) or a call to the wrong country depends on how long local numbers can be within the various area codes. Does anyone know for sure how many digits are used in each city? Another note about this change: I believe that once it takes effect, no two European countries will share a country code, with the exception of Switzerland and Liechtenstein sharing +41. There will still be one European country that shares a code with non-European countries: Russia shares +7 with the five ex-Soviet republics in central Asia. Three of these republics have Asian country codes reserved for their future use (Turkmenistan has 993, Kyrgyzstan has 996, and Uzbekistan has 998), but the other two (Kazakstan and Tajikistan) show no signs of any plans to leave the +7 integrated numbering plan. Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ From: RICK.R.COX@x400gw.ameritech.com (Rick R. Cox) Date: 27 Jan 97 07:26:34 -0600 Subject: Re: Ordering a "Dedicated" Modem Line > I ordered a second phone line from Bell Atlantic Monday, they said it > should be installed on Friday. I did the wiring myself I ran a modular > wire directly from the telco.'s termination box into my modem. > Needless to say, "it's a dedicated line." > OK, my question. Before the line is installed, just a POTS line, is > there a way to get a better grade line WITHOUT going digital or ISDN? > (If they are one in the same please excuse my ignorance.) > The second line that I ordered will, hopefully, be a solution to an > ongoing problem that I've been having with my connect preformance. > I use a Courier 336 v. everything. But, although it connects at > 19.2-24.0, it is constantly renegotiating it's connection. This > constant start-and-stop is very frustrating. I ran the gambit with my > phone co., they're useless. The ISP blames the phone co. I think that > I believe them. They are still in business after all. > With reguards to my question, I just need to know if I'm asking the > phone co. for the correct line (without going ISDN$$$.) It sounds like you have run into the traditional analog nightmare headfirst. My guess is that Bell Atlantic treats POTS service like we do at Ameritech. If a customer reports line noise etc. a technician is sent to the customer premise with a butt set. If the tech doesn't hear noise or static through the butt set there is no problem. Of course a modem is much more sensitive to noise than the human ear. And at higher speeds the problem is only intensified. Telcos feel justified with this situation because the customer is paying for a voice grade line, which in modem speed terms usually equates to an old 2400. Will adding a new line help the problem? It might, but then again it might not. How old is the cable in your area? New subdivision or one that's been around for 30+ years? The older it is the less likely this is to help. Of course the problem could be on your provider's end, in which case you have accomplished nothing by getting a new POTS line. You might be able to order a "conditioned" line. This used to be available, but I don't know if they still are or not. A "conditioned" line was a POTS line that was checked from customer premise to the CO with all noise sources removed to provide the cleanest analog line possible. I don't know if your telco offers them or not, but it doesn't cost anything to ask. As far as a digital line you probably have 2 choices. ISDN you seem to already know about. This is a good choice (in most areas) for short duration usage. Call it 2 - 3 hours per day max. Is it more expensive than POTS? Of course it is. But what are you getting for your money? Probably 6 times your current effective bandwidth. Considerably more reliable communication. And a greatly reduced frustration level. Worth a few bucks extra in my opinion, but I am spoiled. I have an ISDN line at home (this e-mail will travel across it) and would never consider analog again. Your other digital option in most areas is DDS (Dedicated Digital Service). These are usually available in 3 flavors; DS0 (56k or 64k dedicated), F-DS1 (or Fractional DS1, usually in the 384k to 512k ranges), and DS1 (also known widely as T1 or 1.544M). These are good choices, again in most areas, for 5+ hours of connect time, on average, per day. The limitation here is that this is a dedicated 24hr connection. You pay a flat rate, get unlimited usage, but can't easily change providers (if you are using the line in question to get to an Internet provider). With ISDN you just dial a different phone number. With any of the dedicated services to change to a different far end requires ripping the original circuit out and rebuilding it to the new far end. Usually resulting in the installation charges being billed again. I don't know if any of this will be of value to you, I can only hope it will. Keep in mind that I am very familiar with this stuff (the digital anyway) because it's my job to talk to customers about it. But my knowledge does have an Ameritech slant to it. You can reach my equivalent at Bell Atlantic by dialing 800-570-4736, according to a list published by Bellcore. Best of luck with this! Rick Cox Data Design Consultant Ameritech Team Data ------------------------------ From: Tim Gorman Subject: Re: Today's FCC Forum on Bandwidth Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:20:50 -0600 James Love posted the following: > I also suggested that the FCC create market incentives to get the LECs > to deploy any kind of digital services. (ISDN, xDSL, anything). > Since the LECs are basically monopolies in their own service areas, I > suggested making the major LECs (assuming they don't all merge with > each other) compete against each other for deployment, and have the > FCC reward LECs that had the highest penetration of digital lines to > residential consumers, and punish those that have the lowest, by tying > deployment to Universal Service fund contributions (or something else > that really mattered) to a ratio of that company's penetration rate to > the average penetration rate. This would force the LECs to compete > against each other. I thought this would leading to some surprising > changes of heart among the LECs. The FCC staff wasn't too receptive > to this proposal. Since part of the reason for the Universal Service Fund is to assist in those areas with high cost lines, this would seem to be penalizing those very consumers who are to be helped with the USF. I'm not surprised that the FCC staff was not too receptive to such a proposal. While the concept may have merit, a different target should be considered. Tim Gorman SWB ------------------------------ From: glhpx10!j-grout@uunet.uu.net (John R. Grout) Subject: Re: Today's FCC Forum on Bandwidth Date: 27 Jan 1997 13:03:30 -0600 Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Reply-To: j-grout@uiuc.edu Monty Solomon writes: > The second panel ended up talking about various technologies and > economic incentives to take POTS, ISDN or other digital calls off the > circuit switched network at the central office, and send the data via > packet switched networks to the ISPs. PacBell wants to charge ISPs > about $45 per "port" for the equivalent of an incoming and modem for > this service, which is more than what they pay now for POTS and a > modem or ISDN. ... > We suggested PacBell provide the FCC with data from their own ISP showing > the percent of subscribers that can connect at any one time, and compare > this to capacity of the PacBell voice network. I think both of these are important points to consider when an LEC like PacBell is also acting as an ISP. As was reported last year in c.d.t, San Jose State University has outsourced their ISP function to PacBell, allowing people around the San Francisco Bay Area to call local modem banks for access to the SJSU network. One major source of potential profit for such outsourcing contracts is that Pac Bell could route modem traffic off the voice network at each CO onto its own co-located modem banks, terminal servers, and Internet routers (reducing the use of the circuit-switched network between COs). As an alternative to paying "port" charges, shouldn't independent ISPs be allowed to co-locate their own Internet POPs (points of presence) on LEC premises? John R. Grout j-grout@uiuc.edu Department of Computer Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ------------------------------ From: Adam Gaffin Subject: Cisco Could Enter PBX Market Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 17:19:20 -0500 Organization: Network World Fusion Reply-To: agaffin@nww.com Cisco probes voice market By Jim Duffy Network World, 1/27/97 If your voice carries, Cisco Systems, Inc. wants to carry your voice. Over the next 12 months, sources said, the company plans to outfit its routers, switches and remote access gear with products to turn your data internetwork into an integrated voice/data speedway. By extending voice support across frame relay, ATM, IP and Ethernet, Cisco believes it can offer a higher performance, lower cost voice/data infrastructure than traditional time-division multiplexer suppliers. Cisco is also assessing its chances of breaking into - of all places - the PBX market, which has long been the domain of vendors such as Northern Telecom, Inc. and Lucent Technologies, Inc. Internally, Cisco has assembled a voice marketing team charged with rationalizing the company's entry into this arena, and identifying obstacles and adversaries. You can get the entire article online at Network World Fusion, http://www.nwfusion.com. If you haven't used the site before, you'll have to register first, but it's free (and once in, you can bookmark any page and not have to log in again). Enter 0430 in the DocFinder box on the home page to bring up the Cisco article. Adam Gaffin Online Editor, Network World agaffin@nww.com / (508) 820-7433 "So, in 1996, CD-ROMs through Federal Express will emerge as the information superhighway." - Bob Metcalfe ------------------------------ From: John Cropper Subject: Ameritech's Procrastination ... Indiana Down to the Wire Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 17:59:41 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Reply-To: psyber@mindspring.com I just got off the phone with an Ameritech rep concerning NPA 765. It seems, with just a few days before permissive dialing is set to begin (February 1st), there is NO official prefix list for NXXs moving from 317 to 765. (My list, compiled in late November, and posted to Pierre Thompson's and my websites, was based on ACTIVE NXXs and LATA information at the time. I updated that list in mid-January on my website). Meanwhile, prefix lists for 440 (mid-August), and 920 (late-July) are available ... (920 is available either on my website, or Ameritech's, and 440 is forthcoming from both sources) ... Isn't it strange how Ameritech was apparently caught off-guard by Indiana's change, one they knew about for almost fourteen months? Ameritech, you listening? :-) 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://www.lincs.net/ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Telstar 401 Goes "Poof" Date: Mon, 27 Jan 97 22:15:30 PST From: Lauren Weinstein > From: elvis_p@bellsouth.net > Wasn't there a solar flare about the same time? I hear that the solar > flare flamed T-401 and now they are going to replace it temporarily with > T-302 till a higher power replacement is launched this summer. There is (as far as I know) no definitive understanding of why T-401 failed. A solar event was in progress, and had been for sometime. Note however, that modern comm satellites are designed with knowledge of solar flares in mind, and most of the critical electronics equipment is duplicated so as to avoid total failure of all functions if overloads or similar events occur. Possibly of more interest are reports that orbit position station-keeping adjustments were in progress at the time of the failure, suggesting the possibility of propellant leaks (which might have induced unrecoverable positional variations) or explosion. Most likely we'll never know for sure, and last I heard the bird has been declared a loss. --Lauren-- ------------------------------ From: bkobb@newsignals.com (Bennett Kobb) Subject: Apple Responds to FCC Spectrum Decision Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 08:44:00 -0500 Organization: New Signals Press Apple CEO Gil Amelio has finally made a public statement regarding the FCC's recent action devoting 300 MHz of radio spectrum in the 5 GHz band to unlicensed National Information Infrastructure devices. The statement is in the form of the following two letters released yesterday by Apple's government affairs office. Bennett Kobb New Signals Press http://home.navisoft.com/nspi January 27, 1997 The Honorable Reed Hundt Chairman Federal Communications Commission 1919 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 Dear Chairman Hundt: I want to personally thank you and the FCC for making the U-NII band a reality, and believe we will look back at the Commission's allocation of 300 MHz for an unlicensed National Information Infrastructure band as a defining action. Apple applauds the FCC for creating a plan that will allow the development of limitless new wireless communications applications of immense benefit to the public. Apple appreciates your continued support for universal information access on behalf of students and teachers. The U-NII reduces the gap between creating or processing information and communicating it with others. In addition, the 90-plus percent of U.S. classrooms still without Internet access have a new way to overcome the high cost and complexity of wired connections. As soon as U-NII equipment comes to market, volunteers in projects such as NetDay will be able to get not only each classroom, but each student 'online'. In addition, Apple is pleased that the U-NII rules will provide for the development of longer reach community linkages for schools, libraries, and hospitals in rural and disadvantaged areas of the country and allow sufficient bandwidth for these participants in the National Information Infrastructure. We would not have made such rapid progress on the U-NII band had you not taken a direct personal interest in Apple's proposal from the beginning. Thank you for your leadership on this important issue. Sincerely, Gil F. Amelio Chairman and Chief Executive Officer * * * January 27, 1997 Larry Irving Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information National Telecommunications and Information Administration U.S. Department of Commerce Room 4713 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20230 Dear Secretary Irving: Since the last time you visited Apple, keynoting the 'Ties That Bind' conference, the FCC has authorized 300 MHz in the 5 GHz range U-NII, the unlicensed National Information Infrastructure band. You and your associates in NTIA played a vital role in creating this band by describing how U-NII operates, including that Community Networks should be included because they are needed particularly for educators and rural Americans. Moreover, authorization of the U-NII band was possible only because NTIA confirmed that unlicensed U-NII devices, properly regulated, can share spectrum with federal operations. This principle, demonstrated effectively in your 'Reply Comments' (August 14, 1995) on ET Docket 96-102, was a key factor for U-NII and suggests that such sharing arrangements can become an increasingly valuable spectrum management approach. Thank you for your support of U-NII band. I would like to invite you to Apple for another visit in the near future. Sincerely, Gil F. Amelio Chairman and Chief Executive Officer ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:37:28 PST From: Eric_Florack@xn.xerox.com (Eric Florack) Subject: Breaking my Own Rule .... The following is a direct quote from the Center for Strategic and International Studies report on GLOBAL ORGANIZED CRIME; the author who introduces the story swears it's true. -------------------------------- FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing thousands of medical records, the dozens of agents had worked up quite an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues. The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all conversations at the hospital. Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda. Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered? Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital. Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital? Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent. Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent? Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is. Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital? Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas. Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents? Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here? Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent? Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving. Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this? Agent: I have my checkbook right here. Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents? Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked. Pizza Man: I don't think so. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #23 *****************************