Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id IAA19886; Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:45:18 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 08:45:18 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199701101345.IAA19886@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #7 TELECOM Digest Fri, 10 Jan 97 08:45:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 7 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Internet-Based Personal Information Services (Paul Robinson) Re: Internet by Satellite (Paul Robinson) Re: ISPs vs RBOCs: Are the Battle Lines Being Drawn? (Lawrence Cipriani) Telephone Fraud in Tulsa (Tad Cook) 805 Split Report From Pac Bell (Tad Cook) Re: Calling US 800 From UK: Answer Supervision on Recorded Msg? (S. Cline) Re: Nynex Response to MCI Complaint (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Re: MCI Criticizes NYNEX Order Processing System (Steve Kass) Re: "True" Cost of Local Telephone Service? (Linc Madison) U.S. ROAs (Judith N. Oppenheimer) 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: Paul Robinson Subject: Re: Internet-Based Personal Information Services Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 01:01:28 -0500 Organization: Evergreen Software Ted Lee wrote: > The ...various directory (white pages... e-mail lists, etc) becoming > available on the net/web... be aware of...change ... expectations of > privacy... I doubt you can have much of an expectation of privacy if your name and number are listed in a published database. A "database" is anything which is a collection of information, so it includes such things as telephone directories, voter registrations, and so on. > Does anyone know how the... databases in those services > are compiled? Someone buys all 2000+ telephone directories for the U.S. - either the printed volumes or the microfiche edition from UMI of Ann Arbor, Michigan - and ships what they have to the Philipines, China or Haiti where people type in the information, or in the alternative, they scan the text of the white page listings with page scanners, then process the images with OCR software to get the original information. This used to be unlawful under the 1920s decision in {Pacific Telephone v. Leon}, but the Supreme Court overruled that in {Feist v. Rural Telephone Company} because, essentially, there is not even a minimal amount of "work" involved in having a mere list of information (all listed telephone subscribers) which is merely alphabetized -- by automated equipment -- and if there isn't even minimal work, or creativity, then the particular material is not protected by copyright, so says the Supreme Court. I note that until this decision occurred, access to the vast majority of telephone information for the U.S. was essentially unavailable, for ordinary people or small companies, mainly because telephone companies treated the raw data for telephone directories as if it were worth its weight in gold, if they would even license it at all. > I ask... surprised to find... my wife in at least one, but not all, > of them and yet she is *not* listed... in either our metropolitan > (Bell) directory or in the local (GTE or something community > directory). I thought perhaps someone here might know. Did you check all of the following: Private Sources: Criss-Cross Directory (Haines/R.L. Polk) Companies that produced these books did so by going out and canvassing neighborhoods since they could not copy the telephone book. Utility Company Records While there may be restrictions on reuse of data, with the deregulation of the electric industry - and probably natural gas too - they may start looking at their own records. Orders placed with commercial companies Many places routinely rent their mailing lists. Government Sources: Propery tax rolls (always a matter of public record) Courthouse records (being sued, filing a lien, filing a suit, filing a mortgage or trust deed, all of these are always public record) Voter Registration (in some places, all it takes is a small fee) Drivers License Registration (ditto) With state governments feeling the pinch of reduced Federal funding, {and} unfunded federal mandates (such as the check of purchasers of guns under the Brady Bill), some of them are looking at the databases they have generated as possible cash cows. My sister, who lives more than ten miles away in another state, received a letter here - of advertising - addressed to her, and yet, we are trying to figure out how come she got one. Then we remembered: one time, she ordered a gift subscription for my mother to TV Guide, and ordered it in her own name. So don't be surprised where stuff comes from. Paul Robinson (formerly PAUL@TDR.COM) ------------------------------ From: Paul Robinson Subject: Re: Internet by Satellite Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 01:45:59 -0500 Organization: Evergreen Software Rob Gordon wrote: > About a year ago...a small computer company in West Africa.. > wanted to establish itself as an ISP... their country's > telecommunications industry was being deregulated and > privatized... I came to the conclusion that a satellite link > would probably be the only way to establish a new independent > ISP in this developing country. Good luck getting a license to operate a satelite receiver, or a transmitter, or both. Knowing which officials you have to bribe and which merely can be reasoned with, is probably a full-time research project. Also, it's illegal under U.S. law for U.S. Citizens or American Corporations to pay bribes or kickbacks to foreign officials anyway - but that law, the {Foreign Corrupt Practices act} - is routinely ignored, although nobody admits it. > Just two days before I was to leave for Las Vegas, the military > dictatorship in this country executed a famous and respected author. That's all you had to say, it's enough. Nigeria has had a really bad reputaion, ever since it nationalized the oil industry in the 1960s. Without payment, of course. Generally, my preference is to stay out of counries that are still operating as dictatorships of any kind. They still have the nasty habit of nationalizing companies that they think are valuable but don't want to pay for their value. > Finally, just a few hours before I had to leave, I met a manager > from Hughes Network Systems who was able to provide a conceptually > detailed sketch of how to link a VSAT station with customer sites > using web servers, comm servers, routers, modems, etc. It is possible to do a lot of things. The problem is almost always money and political considerations. The local telecommunications monopoly in those countries is almost always part of the post office and thus any threat to it is a threat to government jobs and government power. Or if the telecommunications monopoly is a private company, it's a threat to the amount of bribes and kickbacks they'd be paying, not to mention the actual "taxes" that are the listed amounts. > the deal never happened... became more difficult... and the political > situation in the country seemed to be disintegrating. Countries with healthy political situations do not execute dissidents. Or put them in jail on trumped-up charges. Those type countries usually do not have much respect for private property or the rights of owners of same. Enough said. > I learned alot from this experience and I would still like to work > with this technology. If you are reading this message, you obviously > have access to the Internet, but as we all know, many remote areas of > the world do not. There are some places where phone service is so bad that Telex is still the preferred form of communication, especially since it's usually cheap in comparison to faxes, i.e. an order for something from an international source might use 20 words and cost about 50c U.S., whereas a single page of a fax might cost upwards of $3. > I think that satellite technology will be the only > way to deliver the information revolution to millions of people > in the developing world where there is a poor telecommunications > infrastructure. Wireless is the wave of the future considering the cost of running hundreds or thousands of miles of wire through remote areas. Hell, most of those countries don't even have enough roads to move produce to market before it rots, let alone telephone lines. When a village is 100 miles from the next town, wired costs are prohibitive. The most likely answer, if it can be done, is to use some form of cellular or wired connection with cellular or microwave relay. But cellular in the current concept - metering by the minute, both ways - is far too expensive to work except in the wealthiest areas of the most populated cities. There are many issues to consider in trying such a venture. Unless you have very deep pockets, a few politicians bought, and the patience of Job, you will have a difficult time. But if you can find a way to develop connections, there is potentially a lot of money to be made. The problem is getting in where it is to the advantage of some people to keep you (and others not lining their pockets) out. ------------------------------ From: lvc@lucent.com (Lawrence V. Cipriani) Subject: Re: ISPs vs RBOCs: Are the Battle Lines Being Drawn? Date: 7 Jan 1997 16:12:08 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies, Columbus, Ohio Reply-To: lvc@lucent.com I'm not going to be very popular with my reply. Facts are facts and there is no factual counter argument to what the telco's are saying as far as length of computer telephone calls to BBSs and ISPs v. voice telephone calls. Computer telephone calls to BBSs and ISPs are much longer [a few hours] than voice telephone calls [a few minutes] on average. However, being public utilities, you could argue they should respond to the changing needs of the public. And as usual, they are going to want of money to upgrade their systems to handle this traffic pattern. However, the FCC and public utilities commissions should ask themselves, and you [very pointedly] why people who don't even own computers [like my parents] should bear the cost of upgrading the phone system with higher rates for someone elses [dubious] benefit? In my opinion, if you want to tie up the phone system with long duration phone calls to BBSs or ISPs then you should pay for it. This doesn't mean I think the telcos should have a license to rip you off and charge a lot more money than necessary to accomplish this. They can park a box between their switches and subscriber lines that listens to incoming touch tones. If the call is going to a known ISP/BBS then the call can be routed through a separate data network to that ISP/BBS and there is no need to even go through the central office switch. This is already a product, and described in the 1/97 issue of {Computer Telephony} magazine, I believe it's made by Rockwell. Personally, I'm in favor of eliminating all telephone monopolies and letting the marketplace, not bureaucrats in companies or government, decide how to price access to telephone networks. In a free market pricing would probably be strictly usage sensitive, but then a lot of people would still be complaining they can't get the Internet for $19.95/month not matter how much time they are on the phone. Gee, too bad. ------------------------------ Subject: Telephone Fraud in Tulsa Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 01:57:09 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Tulsa, Okla., Sees Rise in Incidence Telephone Fraud By Becky Tiernan, Tulsa World, Okla. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 3--That January phone bill may indicate company productivity, and it may not. Two popular telephone scams have made their way to Tulsa. Answer Phone, a Tulsa answering service located at 4200 E. Skelly Drive, was the unwilling recipient of more than $1,000 in long distance charges as a result of one telephone fraud scheme. According to Ann Garrett, incoming president of Answer Phone, a con artist dials a company's 800 number and poses as an telephone operator or a company employee. The con artist asks the company operator for an outside operator, and from there, makes a slew of long distance calls at the company's expense. "We got hit early in November," said Garrett, whose company handles a number of Tulsa area 800 numbers. "Normally, our operators handle the same numbers over and over, so they can pick up on patterns. But during this four-day period, he got lucky and kept getting a different operator. Finally, one of our supervisors picked up on it and we notified AT&T." Answer Phone had heard customer reports of long distance problems. When a con artist, posing as an AT&T supervisor, called and explained that he was checking the long distance lines, operators accommodated his request for an outside line. "Because we have a close working relationship with AT&T and our operators know that, they trusted him," Garrett said. "Tulsa's a pretty trusting place," she continued. "This is one of those scams that infuriates people and makes the cost of business go up. AT&T has been wonderful in forgiving the charges, but they're actively looking for the guy." In a scam that hits people on a personal basis, con artists send urgent messages to people via fax, e-mail and pager. The message includes a phone number. That phone number, in reality, is a 900 number somewhere in the Caribbean. "The real problem with this scam is the cost of the call -- about $25," said Garrett. "Unless you recognize the number on your bill, you may never know they got you." Beware of these area codes: 242, 246, 268, 345, 441, 664, 670, 758, 767, 787, 868, 869 or 876. "If you see a number that you don't recognize, on your pager or that comes over your fax, ignore it," said Garrett. In 1985, telephone fraud was a $500 million industry. In 1996, it is a $1.2 billion industry. Most of the 900 area code groups are based overseas. According to Michelle Cochran of the Better Business Bureau, the scam doesn't seem to be widespread in the Tulsa area. "We haven't been getting a lot of people calling us, but we've gotten a lot of warnings over the wire," she said. "It does happen and companies need to be aware." That happy news could change with the next billing, when companies find that they've been duped. To report a scam to AT&T, contact Lee Ann Kuster, with the Telephone Fraud and Scams department at (602)482-0108 or via e-mail at lkusteratATTmail.com. ------------------------------ Subject: 805 Split Report From Pac Bell Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 02:27:32 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) (This is a Pac Bell press release) Different Area Code to Be Introduced in 805; New Three-Digit Number Will Ease Demand for Phone Numbers SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 2, 1997--Due to increased demand for telephone numbers, another area code will be introduced in portions of Central and Southern California that now use the 805 area code. The new area code is expected to be in use by early 1999. A telecommunications industry group representing more than 30 companies is currently developing and evaluating various options for splitting the 805 into two area codes, known as a geographic split. Geographic splits have been the traditional means of providing area code relief in California. Another option, known as an overlay, cannot be considered until the year 2001 -- with the possible exception of the 310 area code -- under a recent ruling by the California Public Utilities Commission. In a geographic split, the existing area code is divided with part of the area keeping the existing area code and part receiving a new area code. For consumers and businesses, this means people who live or work in the new area code will need to change the area code portion of their phone number. Under California law, public participation and comment is obtained before the industry submits a proposed area code relief plan to the California Public Utilities Commission and administrators at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore), the organization that administers the North American Numbering Plan. Doug Hescox, California area code relief coordinator, said a series of meetings will be held before the end of June 1997 to seek public comment and input on potential area code options for splitting the 805 area code. Locations, dates and times of the public meetings will be announced at a later time, he added. Boundaries for the new area code, as well as the actual three-digit number, will be announced later in 1997. The 805 area code currently serves all of Santa Barbara County, the majority of Kern, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, the northern tip of Los Angeles County, including the cities of Newhall, Palmdale and Lancaster, and small portions of Monterey, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties. The 805 area 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 by the year 2001 to keep up with the state's record telephone number consumption. That consumption is being spurred by several factors, the two primary being the high-technology explosion of fax machines, pagers, cellular phones, modems for Internet access and data communications networks like ATMs and pay point services, all of which require phone lines. The other factor is the onset of local competition in California's telephone market, with each new provider requiring a separate supply of telephone numbers. At least ten of the 13 new area codes will be introduced by the end of 1998. California areas which have already announced the need for new area codes are: 310, 818 and 213 in the Los Angeles area, 619 in the San Diego area, 415 in the San Francisco Bay area, 916 in Northern California, 510 in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, 714 in Orange County, 408 covering the South Bay Area Peninsula and Central Coast areas, and 209 in the Fresno and Stockton areas. ------------------------------ From: roamer1@RemoveThis.pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Re: Calling US 800 From UK: Answer Supervision on Recorded Msg? Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 01:20:20 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: roamer1@pobox.com On Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:17:24 GMT was written: >> +1 800 342 8385 - Tennessee Only > Trouble with this one - first 2 tries a UK "equipment engaged" tone,=20 > 3rd try the standard announcement about being charged at=20 > international rates, interrupted half way through with a US fast busy=20 > tone. 4th try gets the same announcement followed by 2 rings, then=20 > "The number you have dialled cannot be reached from your calling area. >> +1 800 282 5813 - Georgia Only > "You have dialed a number that is not available from your calling > area. 909 1T". It appears that: 1) the calls are going to the LD carrier that services the toll-free number (Resporg lookups correct) -- state of TN number uses MCI, the recording is in fact from MCI. The other recordings are from AT&T, correct for those numbers. 2) they're entering the US LD network in California. (The recordings ending in 909-1T are from AT&T, in area code 909 -- in California.) =20 It's possible that other calls go into a switch in the NYC area. I have no idea about MCI (342-8385), or Sprint, or WorldCom, etc... So that leaves -- what happens with (California | New York)-only toll-free numbers? Anyone have any numbers for that? I still wonder what shows up for *ANI* for these calls! (Hint: AT&T's customer service number -- 1-800-222-0300 -- will usually read back the calling number.) 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: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Nynex Response to MCI Complaint Date: 9 Jan 1997 22:33:43 -0500 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , Mike Pollock wrote: > Mike - I was poking around newsgroups and came across your posting of > an MCI release criticizing us. Thought you might like the NYNEX side > of the story. > Jeff Gluck > NYNEX Media Relations > 212-395-2353 > Jeff_Gluck@SMTP.nynex.com Of course we ALL know that most of Nynex doesn't know what the other half is up to. This should not be confused with the propensity of Nynex to lie through their collective teeth. This is the same Nynex that largely disregards most of New England like an orphan child. Here in Rhode Island I've seen them bungle more rollout and implementation than you could shake a stick at. One of the things I'm very happy about is that here in Providence we now have a choice of who our local carrier is and it's only going to get more interesting once Cox Communications jumps into the fray. I wonder if Nynex is going to adapt or still plod along like the dinosaur it is; somehow I'm almost willing to bet on the latter. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com ------------------------------ From: steve@all-trades.com (Steve Kass) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 1997 14:07:10 EST Subject: Re: MCI Criticizes NYNEX Order Processing System Reply-To: steve@all-trades.com Organization: All Trades Computing In Volume 16, Issue 686, Mike Pollock wrote: > A recent report appearing on Yahoo: > 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. > [details about Nynex's GUI limitations ...] Forgive what might look like an advertisement, but I hope this will be of use to Digest readers. All Trades Computing, Inc., provides custom software to solve many of these problems. We can provide a Windows GUI for entering transactions and submitting files in Nynex's Electronic Interface Format (EIF) directly to the Direct Customer Access System (DCAS), Nynex's back end to the transaction processing system. Among the features are these: - The reseller's database is integrated into the system. This verifies account information, enters many fields automatically, e.g., sales rep name and number, provides a list of phone numbers associated with a BTN entered, etc. - All transaction requests are posted to the reseller's database in real time when the transaction is submitted to Nynex. Nynex's responses are transferred, processed and posted to the reseller's database automatically by scheduled ftp requests to Nynex. - Transactions cannot be sent to Nynex until all required information is entered, reducing the number of requests bounced back by Nynex. - Various ways of viewing requests are available: purchase orders by sales rep, all purchase orders written but not completed, all purchase orders sent to Nynex but not acknowledged, etc. We cannot address limitations to Nynex's DCAS, such as the length of time before acknowledgement of transactions. We are currently testing our product with a subset of the transactions that can be requested in the EIF format, including Convert with Final Bill, Centrex requests, Administrative and Remarks transactions and several others. Responses currently implemented include ACK, NAC, CSA, SEM and SOC. All 39 EIF transactions will be implemented after this testing period. We can customize our product for any reseller who provides us details about their customer database, and anyone interested in custom software for the telecommunications industry is welcome to contact us. Steve Kass VP, Systems Development All Trades Computing, Inc. steve@all-trades.com (212) 532-8038 ------------------------------ From: Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: "True" Cost of Local Telephone Service? Date: Thu, 10 Jan 1997 17:51:40 -0800 In article , swb@mercury.campbell-mithun.com (Shawn Barnhart) wrote: > I've often heard cited by Telcos and others citing Telco billing > practices that flat-rate local calling plans are either too low (for > heavy users) or too high (for infrequent users) and are the cause of > other dubious economics in telephone costs (LD termination fees, etc). > Does anyone know what the actual cost per minute of local telephone > service is? Well, as with many things, it depends on how you do the accounting. The *marginal* costs of providing you a local telephone call are almost nil. The key question is how you divide up the fixed costs (the cost of the wires from your house to the central office, the cost of the switching equipment, interoffice trunks, maintenance, etc.). How much of those fixed costs do you put into the basic monthly rate, how much into the cost of local calls, and how much into long-distance termination fees? There are also issues involved in rural/urban divisions -- over what user base do you average the costs? The other issue is, what additional costs will the telco have to bear under a given pricing scheme? The telcos are claiming that unmetered local calling is encouraging patterns of use (especially with dial-up Internet usage) that will cause them to incur large capital costs for additional equipment to handle the load. Of course, others dispute this claim. Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Telecom@Eureka.vip.best. com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 07:35:16 -0500 From: Judith N. Oppenheimer Organization: ICB Toll Free Consultancy Subject: U.S. ROAs Does anyone have a list of U.S. ROAs who are authorized to submit applications for universal freephone to the ITU? As usual, every carrier has a different story to tell, and the ITU registrar says he has no such list. TIA, Judith Oppenheimer ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #7 ****************************